FBI Trying to Infiltrate Keene, New Hampshire

"Apparently the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been trying very, very hard to infiltrate the KAC, judging from this account of the arrest of one of the club’s members, Rich Paul, on marijuana charges. Paul is going on trial for petty marijuana distribution offenses pursuant to testimony by an undercover FBI informant. It looks as if the trial is on state charges, but what’s interesting and disturbing is the interest the federal government has taken in the case. FBI agent Phillip Christiana apparently tried to pressure Paul into wearing a wire into the KAC and luring people into pot transactions, offering him immunity from prosecution in exchange." Continue reading

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Which Dominoes Are Next to Fall in Europe?

"As we saw in The Real Cyprus Template (the one you're not supposed to notice), once the smart money exits the at-risk banking sector, it is allowed to fall. This suggests that one way to identify which dominoes are likely to fall next is to look at the smart money's deposits in each nation's banks. If the smart money has pulled most of its capital out, ECB and Eurozone authorities have a diminishing stake in propping up the domino. As a result, its fall becomes increasingly likely." Continue reading

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Subprime ABS Securitizations Are Back As Absolute Worst Of The Credit Bubble Returns

"The $604 million issue from consumer lender Springleaf Financial, the former American General Finance, will bundle together about $662 million of loans secured by assets such as cars, boats, furniture and jewelry into ABS, according to a term sheet. Some loans have no collateral. Personal loans haven't been a part of the mainstream ABS market since securitizations from Conseco Finance Corp. in the late 1990s, according to Michael Dean, co-head of Fitch Ratings' ABS group. That market dried up as the recession hit and, under the weight of bad subprime loans, Conseco filed for bankruptcy in 2002." Continue reading

Continue ReadingSubprime ABS Securitizations Are Back As Absolute Worst Of The Credit Bubble Returns

Who Got the Fed Minutes in Advance of Everyone Else and Why?

"This is really an odd list and appears to be some type of very insider, VIP group. It contains major investment banks, such as Goldman Sachs, high powered law firms, such as Sullivan Cromwell and bank lobbying firms. I am on the list to receive FOMC minutes and other Fed releases, but did not receive the FOMC minutes in advance, like those on this list did. The real question is what is this list about, how does one get on it and do they receive any type notices from the Fed that are not released to anyone else? Indeed, the BIG question is why was this list put together?" Continue reading

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Obama would rather look stupid than interfere with the flow of cash to drug-war profiteers

"The White House spends all year traveling around the country talking about their 'third way' and their '21st Century Drug Policy' — that the focus needs to be on treatment and that we can’t arrest our way out of drug problems. That there’s too much focus on incarceration. At the same time, they’re dealing with severe national budget pressures, so you’d think this would be the perfect excuse to actually significantly reduce spending on things like domestic drug law enforcement. Well, the budget for domestic drug law enforcement was 9.4 billion in 2012, and they’re asking for 9.5 billion in 2014." Continue reading

Continue ReadingObama would rather look stupid than interfere with the flow of cash to drug-war profiteers

Missouri man arrested at hospital for refusing to leave gay partner

"A gay man was arrested at a hospital in Missouri this week when he refused to leave the bedside of his partner, and now a restraining order is preventing him from any type of visitation. Roger Gorley told WDAF that even though he has power of attorney to handle his partner’s affairs, a family member asked him to leave when he visited Research Medical Center in Kansas City on Tuesday. Gorley said he refused to leave his partner Allen’s bedside, and that’s when security put him in handcuffs and escorted him from the building. He said the nurse refused to confirm that the couple shared power of attorney and made medical decisions for each other." Continue reading

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Do Police See Guns as a threat to “Officer Safety”?

"The view that so-called weak gun laws endanger the lives of police doesn’t seem to be shared by many police officers. A survey of 15,000 active-duty police officers conducted on behalf of PoliceOne.com found that nearly all of them – 95 percent – said that a federal ban on high-capacity ammo magazines would not reduce violent crime. Seventy-one percent said that a federal ban on so-called assault weapons would likewise be useless as a crime reduction measure – and twenty percent said that it would actually have a negative effect on reducing violent crime." Continue reading

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Leaked report: Nearly half of US drone strikes in Pakistan not against al-Qaeda

"A trove of leaked classified reports has confirmed what many had suspected – US drone kills in Pakistan are not the precision strikes against top-level al-Qaeda terrorists they are portrayed as by the Obama administration. Instead, many of the attacks are aimed at suspected low-level tribal militants, who may pose no direct danger to the United States – and for many there appears to be little evidence to justify the assassinations. The statistics illustrate the breadth of the US ‘drone doctrine’ – which has never been defined by consecutive US administrations." Continue reading

Continue ReadingLeaked report: Nearly half of US drone strikes in Pakistan not against al-Qaeda

Atlanta: Anti-Police Rebellion, Rocks And Bricks Thrown At Police Cars

"Today, April 9th 2013, there was a riot in Edgewood, a neighborhood northeast of downtown Atlanta. Around fifty people gathered for a 'March Against the Police' with drums, banners, and a desire for vengeance at the playground in Edgewood Courts, an apartment complex in the back of the neighborhood. Edgewood Courts contains some of the few remaining low income housing units in Atlanta. Yesterday, the police pepper sprayed a group of kids and beat and arrested a man grieving over his lost father. All in all the police were forced to retreat 4 times — leaving the neighborhood completely. The crowd of people never backed down." Continue reading

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For Most Homeowners, Gov’t Foreclosure Deal Brings A Few Hundred Bucks

"The government’s largest effort to compensate victims of the banks’ foreclosure practices is finally sputtering to an end. But for most of those eligible – nearly three million borrowers – it won’t be much of an ending: they’ll be receiving a check for $300 to $500. For many borrowers, it’s a likely an unsatisfying end to a process defined by years of frustration. Only about 11 percent of eligible borrowers filled out complaints, a low response rate both consumer advocates and the Government Accountability Office attributed to borrower confusion and poor outreach by regulators and the banks." Continue reading

Continue ReadingFor Most Homeowners, Gov’t Foreclosure Deal Brings A Few Hundred Bucks