Wisconsin asks hunters to watch for marijuana fields

"Marijuana growing operations in Wisconsin, watch out: the U.S. Forest Service has instructed hunters to look out for fields in the state’s Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. In August, one fisherman in the state came upon a 8,000-plant growing operation worth $8 million. One Justice Department director explained that growers, rather than creating one large field of marijuana plants, now plant a larger number of smaller fields to thwart aerial detection. Police interviews with those who have been apprehended on growing operations revealed that most were undocumented immigrants." Continue reading

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Occupy hatches plot to destroy payday loan industry

"'The Debt Resistor’s Operations Manual' is 122 pages of some of the dodgiest financial advice we’ve ever seen. It’s no wonder the entire thing was published for free and written by 'an anonymous collective' of contributors. Here’s one of their more elaborate plans to upend the predatory payday lending industry, which involves finding 1,000 people from three different continents willing to commit fraud." Continue reading

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Oklahoma Doctors vs. Obamacare

"Three years ago, Dr. Keith Smith, co-founder and managing partner of the Surgery Center of Oklahoma, took an initiative that would only be considered radical in the health care industry: He posted online a list of prices for 112 common surgical procedures. The Surgery Center's consumer-driven model could become increasingly common as Americans look for alternatives to the traditional health care market—an unintended consequence of Obamacare. Patients may have no choice but to look outside the traditional health care industry in the face of higher costs and reduced access to doctors and hospitals." Continue reading

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Homelanders propose raising taxes on US Persons abroad to pay for “territorial taxation”

"In case you hadn’t already figured it out, this is the shape of things to come for U.S. Persons abroad: relentless bipartisan attacks on the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion. The latest effort in this direction contains provisions to phase out 20% of the FEIE every year until it is fully eliminated in 2017. It uses the taxes and penalties raised from U.S. Persons abroad to cut taxes on Homeland corporations, allowing them to repatriate their foreign profits with a waiver of 85% of the U.S. tax that would be due. The benefits of this tax cut will be denied to U.S. corporations which do not maintain their 'U.S. employment levels'." Continue reading

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US Bank Run Imminent? FDIC Expanded Deposit Insurance Ends Dec 31st

"With the media fixated on the fiscal cliff, no one seems to be noticing the fact that the FDIC’s expanded 100% coverage for insured deposits ends January 1st, 2013. As of January 2013 the FDIC stops offering 100% coverage for all insured deposits. That amounts to $1.6 trillion in deposits, 85-90% deposited with the TBTF mega banks. Once the insurance ramps back to $250,000 the FDIC risk amelioration offered to large depositors will cause them to flee from the insecurity of the much reduced FDIC coverage." Continue reading

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Geithner’s Final Trick: Bye Bye Dodd-Frank, Volcker Rule

"Late Friday, just before the sleepy Thanksgiving week when most Americans turn their sights to turkey, Geithner finally got around to dressing [down] his own turkey: Dodd-Frank. DF is the financial regulatory monster which will create havoc over the entire financial industry, with new rules and regulations. But not for FOG (Friends of Geithner). With a quiet pen stroke, Geithner exempted $410.8 trillion, or 64%, of the entire OTC derivatives market from impending clamp-downs, which mostly benefits FOG." Continue reading

Continue ReadingGeithner’s Final Trick: Bye Bye Dodd-Frank, Volcker Rule

Mentally disabled man playing with Legos fired upon by Seattle cop

"A police officer in King County, Washington opened fire on a mentally disabled man on Thursday, believing he was brandishing a gun, but later discovering the object was actually made out of Legos. The Seattle Times reported that the incident occurred in the morning hours, after several motorists reported a man waiving a gun at cars near a roadway. Police told the paper they’d encountered him before, and that he’s got a 'fascination with guns.' When the first officer arrived on the scene, he did not comply with her commands, so she opened fire." Continue reading

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Feds Expand Definition of “Cash” To Include Stored Value Cards

"Bitcoin and similar digital currencies make FinCEN’s currency reporting rules, and their expansion to encompass TPADs, obsolete before they’re even finalized. But don’t think for a minute that technological innovation will prevent these rules from coming into effect. Whether the initiative actually accomplishes anything is much less important than whether it appears to be accomplishing something. And it’s simply inconceivable to ask whether the wars are worth fighting at all, and if we should simply allow individuals to move their assets anywhere in the world, as they see fit, without government imposed restrictions." Continue reading

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Sanctions: More Deadly Than The Atomic Bomb?

"Comparing the effects of sanctions vs nuclear bombs. Contrasting the fatalities of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima to those of the sanctions imposed on Iraq in the 1990s. 'Genocide masquerading as policy' as one congressman put it. Should the US do the same to Iran? Are sanctions a legitimate 'diplomatic tool' to avert war?" Continue reading

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