Pepe Escobar: War on terror forever

"It's now official - coming from the mouth of the lion, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey, and duly posted at the AFRICOM site, the Pentagon's weaponized African branch. Exit 'historical' al-Qaeda, holed up somewhere in the Waziristans, in the Pakistani tribal areas; enter al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). In Dempsey's words, AQIM 'is a threat not only to the country of Mali, but the region, and if... left unaddressed, could in fact become a global threat.' With Mali now elevated to the status of a 'threat' to the whole world, GWOT is proven to be really open-ended." Continue reading

Continue ReadingPepe Escobar: War on terror forever

Fed Officials Recognized Upcoming 2007 Crisis But Weren’t Worried

"Federal Reserve officials in August 2007 saw the beginnings of the crisis in subprime mortgages and concluded that the U.S. economy would be able to withstand it, even as some Fed members warned that it could trigger a downturn, transcripts from their 2007 meetings show. The transcripts show the committee's slow grasp of the enormity of contagion that was to spread throughout global markets as a result of billions of dollars in low-quality housing assets that had been securitized into bonds and sold to banks and investors worldwide. The FOMC focused on the economy's performance and showed reluctance to alter policy until August." Continue reading

Continue ReadingFed Officials Recognized Upcoming 2007 Crisis But Weren’t Worried

Kyle Bass Tells ‘Nominal’ Stock Market Cheerleaders: Remember Zimbabwe

"Bass starts by reflecting on the ongoing (and escalating) money-printing (or balance sheet expansion as we noted here) as the driver of stock movements currently and would not be surprised to see them move higher still (given the ongoing printing expected). However, he caveats that nominally bullish statement with a critical point, 'Zimbabwe's stock market was the best performer this decade - but your entire portfolio now buys you 3 eggs' as purchasing power is crushed. Investors, he says, are 'too focused on nominal prices' as the rate of growth of the monetary base is destroying true wealth." Continue reading

Continue ReadingKyle Bass Tells ‘Nominal’ Stock Market Cheerleaders: Remember Zimbabwe

The Disappearing Gold

"The Bundesbank is just as fearful of a run as the Fed and will be only too willing to accept the Fed’s terms. What must be borne in mind is the root cause of the request. It was not the Bundesbank itself that originally wanted the transfer to take place; it was the German people who, quite rightly, have become distrustful of the fact that their gold has been in New York for so long and want to see it repatriated. It is not the banks who wish to correct the situation. Not one bank wishes to expose the inappropriate practices of any other bank. Their loyalty is to each other and not to their depositors." Continue reading

Continue ReadingThe Disappearing Gold

Biden Lies about Gun Control, Of Course

"Vice President Joe Biden insists that private ownership of so-called assault weapons should be forbidden because police 'are outgunned on the street by the bad guys and the proliferation of these weapons.' In fact, duty-related deaths of police officers declined in 2012 as compared to the previous year, continuing a decades-long trend. And there wasn’t a single instance in which a police officer was killed by someone using a so-called assault weapon. Many – if not most – of the so-called assault weapons used in crime are stolen from the police. Yet the government continues to send military-grade weaponry to local police departments." Continue reading

Continue ReadingBiden Lies about Gun Control, Of Course

Biden Lies about Gun Control, Of Course

"Vice President Joe Biden insists that private ownership of so-called assault weapons should be forbidden because police 'are outgunned on the street by the bad guys and the proliferation of these weapons.' In fact, duty-related deaths of police officers declined in 2012 as compared to the previous year, continuing a decades-long trend. And there wasn’t a single instance in which a police officer was killed by someone using a so-called assault weapon. Many – if not most – of the so-called assault weapons used in crime are stolen from the police. Yet the government continues to send military-grade weaponry to local police departments." Continue reading

Continue ReadingBiden Lies about Gun Control, Of Course

“Gun Violence”: The “National Conversation” We Won’t Have

"According to Clarence Dupnik – the craven, dim-witted functionary who presides over the Pima County Sheriff’s Office – about fifty SWAT raids of the kind that led to the murder of Jose Guerena occur within his jurisdiction every year, which is shocking. In Baltimore County, Chief Johnson’s Einsatzgruppen conduct more than 120 attacks of that kind annually, which are among the 1,600 military assaults carried out in Maryland each year, a figure that is genuinely horrifying. Gun-related violence by government-licensed killers is ubiquitous – and it is also a forbidden subject in the 'national conversation' our rulers have orchestrated for their benefit." Continue reading

Continue Reading“Gun Violence”: The “National Conversation” We Won’t Have

“Gun Violence”: The “National Conversation” We Won’t Have

"According to Clarence Dupnik – the craven, dim-witted functionary who presides over the Pima County Sheriff’s Office – about fifty SWAT raids of the kind that led to the murder of Jose Guerena occur within his jurisdiction every year, which is shocking. In Baltimore County, Chief Johnson’s Einsatzgruppen conduct more than 120 attacks of that kind annually, which are among the 1,600 military assaults carried out in Maryland each year, a figure that is genuinely horrifying. Gun-related violence by government-licensed killers is ubiquitous – and it is also a forbidden subject in the 'national conversation' our rulers have orchestrated for their benefit." Continue reading

Continue Reading“Gun Violence”: The “National Conversation” We Won’t Have

Pentagon Needs Battle Plan for Troop-Suicide Threat

"The Pentagon said this week there were 349 suicides by active-duty members of the armed services in 2012, as opposed to 311 combat deaths. Before you jump to conclusions about the plight of battle- traumatized veterans failing to readjust to life stateside, consider this astounding fact: More than half of troops who killed themselves had never deployed from the U.S., and 85 percent never saw combat." Continue reading

Continue ReadingPentagon Needs Battle Plan for Troop-Suicide Threat

Harvard Meta-Study Indicates Fluoride Reduces Children’s IQ

"A recent report from the U.S. National Research Council (NRC 2006) concluded that adverse effects of high fluoride concentrations in drinking water may be of concern and that additional research is warranted. Findings from our meta-analyses of 27 studies published over 22 years suggest an inverse association between high fluoride exposure and children's intelligence. The results suggest that fluoride may be a developmental neurotoxicant that affects brain development at exposures much below those that can cause toxicity in adults. In conclusion, our results support the possibility of adverse effects of fluoride exposures on children's neurodevelopment." Continue reading

Continue ReadingHarvard Meta-Study Indicates Fluoride Reduces Children’s IQ