“This featured chart depicts the explosion in Chinese gold imports from Hong Kong since January 2012, during which China imported an astonishing 1,206 tonnes of gold – 20% more than the nation’s latest official gold holdings of 1,054 tonnes. In the first quarter of 2013 alone, China imported 372 tonnes from Hong Kong, or nearly what was imported through the entire first half of 2012.” Continue reading →
“The US economy reached a turning point in the 1980s. Natural, healthy, sustainable growth gave way to credit-boosted phony growth. The ‘growth’ of the last 30 years was not like the growth of the 30 years before it. It was not based on rising productivity, increased wages and real capital formation. Wages stagnated. The only way people could increase their standards of living was by spending money they didn’t have. That’s where the credit came in, made possible by America’s post-1971 flexible paper money system. Spending money you don’t have is one of those things that economist Herb Stein had in mind when he said, ‘When something can’t go on forever, it will stop.'” Continue reading →
“Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell (R) and his family received another unreported $120,000 from the head of a dietary supplement company he promoted, the Washington Post reported Tuesday. McDonnell and his family are already being investigated for allegedly accepting a $6,500 watch and $15,000 in catering costs for his daughter’s wedding from Star Scientific CEO Johnnie R. Williams, Sr. in exchange for his help urging state health officials to approve the company’s anti-inflammatory supplement as an option for Medicare recipients, despite not being federally approved. McDonnell has argued that the payment toward the catering expenses was a gift for his daughter.” Continue reading →
“Greenwald told Reuters after speaking with Snowden on Tuesday that of the three countries that have offered Snowden asylum, Venezuela is better positioned ‘to get him safely from Moscow to Latin America and to protect him once he’s there,’ Greenwald said. ‘They’re a bigger country, a stronger country and a richer country with more leverage in international affairs.’ In addition to Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia have indicated they would offer Snowden asylum. Cuba’s president said he supported Snowden and countries’ offers of asylum, but did not put forth an offer from Cuba.” Continue reading →
“In a written ministerial statement to Parliament last week. British Home Secretary Theresa May announced that her government was banning khat, a mild stimulant plant from the Horn of Africa widely used by inhabitants of the region, some of whom have emigrated to United Kingdom and other Western countries and brought their habit with them. In doing so, May went directly against the advice of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), the public body charged with making recommendations on the control of drugs. ” Continue reading →
“Emery has already served four years of a five-year sentence in the US for selling marijuana seeds online from Canada. With the permission of prison officials in the Special Investigative Service (SIS), photos of his band were put up on Emery’s Cannabis Culture blog in April. Emery was under investigation by the same SIS authorities who gave permission for the photos; they claimed that the pictures had been taken with a prohibited smart phone. Officials put him in ‘the hole’ while they looked into the matter. On Tuesday, June 11, Emery was released from solitary confinement after a staff person admitted he had taken the photos.” Continue reading →
“The French Ministry of Culture announced Tuesday that people who illegally download copyrighted works off the Internet no longer have to fear being disconnected for a year under the nation’s controversial anti-piracy law, formally named the High Authority of Diffusion of the Art Works and Protection of the Rights on the Internet (HADOPI). The loss of HADOPI’s disconnection provision is more than just a victory for French socialists — it’s a defeat for U.S. industry groups, which fiercely lobbied prior French administrations to adopt harsh punitive measures against anyone who shares copyrighted content.” Continue reading →
“At a Planning Commission meeting Monday night in Dearborn, a leader with a libertarian group started by former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul raised questions about the city’s plan to tweak an ordinance that regulates the use of garages. In recent years, a growing number of residents — especially those in the Arab-American community — have transformed their garages into living spaces where they hang out, cook, smoke water pipes, and eat. Some have even installed sliding glass doors. City officials are concerned such activity is causing safety hazards, pointing to a fire in November that was started by a heater kept in a garage.” Continue reading →