Big Lie

Exclusive: Dozens of CIA operatives on the ground during Benghazi attack

"Four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were killed in the assault by armed militants last September 11 in eastern Libya. Sources now tell CNN dozens of people working for the CIA were on the ground that night, and that the agency is going to great lengths to make sure whatever it was doing, remains a secret. Since January, some CIA operatives involved in the agency's missions in Libya, have been subjected to frequent, even monthly polygraph examinations, according to a source with deep inside knowledge of the agency's workings. The goal of the questioning, according to sources, is to find out if anyone is talking to the media or Congress." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingExclusive: Dozens of CIA operatives on the ground during Benghazi attack

It is capitalism, not democracy, that the Arab world needs most

"Hernando de Soto, a Peruvian economist, travelled to Egypt to investigate the causes of the Arab Spring. His team of researchers found that Bouazizi had inspired 60 similar cases of self-immolation, including five in Egypt, almost all of which had been overlooked by the press. The narrative of a 1989-style revolution in hope of regime change seemed so compelling to foreigners that there was little appetite for further explanation. But de Soto’s team tracked down those who survived their suicide attempts, and the bereaved families. Time and again, they found the same story: this was a protest for the basic freedom to own and acquire ras el mel, or capital." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIt is capitalism, not democracy, that the Arab world needs most

How Do Ponzi Schemes End?

"Detroit promised police officers, firefighters, teachers and other public employees pension and post-retirement health care benefits, but was unwilling to set aside the money needed to fund those benefits. The city attracted workers with a total compensation package that included current wages and future benefits. Since the future benefits were substantially unfunded, they can be paid only if future taxpayers pay them. But the future taxpayers never agreed to this deal. If they do pay, they will be paying for services delivered in the past. If they don’t pay, they won’t have to sacrifice any current city services. So the future taxpayers have flown the coop." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow Do Ponzi Schemes End?

Company pensions in peril as shortfalls hit record

"Young workers may want to start counting on something other than company pensions to fund their retirements. It turns out that the plans of S&P 500 companies are underfunded to the tune of $451.7 billion, a number that has grown some 27 percent in just the last year alone. Though many workers have switched to 401(k) plans over the years, pensions still have far more workers—91 million to 51 million. This year actually was supposed to be better for pensions under an accounting trick Congress approved in 2012. The move would allow corporations to use a 15-year average of bond yields, rather than the current level, to calculate their obligations." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCompany pensions in peril as shortfalls hit record

Government releases declassified documents on NSA spying authorization

"The U.S. Director of National Intelligence released three declassified documents that authorized and explained the bulk collection of phone data, one of the secret surveillance programs revealed by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. The declassification was made in the 'interest of increased transparency,' the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a statement. Much of what is contained in the documents has already been divulged in public hearings by intelligence officials as they sought to detail what was initially disclosed by Snowden." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGovernment releases declassified documents on NSA spying authorization

NSA director Keith Alexander insists mass surveillance programs respect privacy

"Alexander, who is usually shy of publicity, attempted to win over the 7,000-strong gathering of industry professionals in Las Vegas as part of a charm offensive to contain the damage and deter Washington from curbing the programmes. Security guards confiscated eggs – presumably intended to be thrown – minutes before the NSA chief spoke. A few hecklers interrupted, accusing him of 'lying', 'bullshitting' and not reading the constitution. 'I have read it. So should you,' he shot back, earning laughs and applause. He praised the audience and invited them to help improve NSA. The performance won over the hackers, who applauded warmly at the end." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNSA director Keith Alexander insists mass surveillance programs respect privacy

Guilty of Aiding the American People

"The 'aiding the enemy' accusation presumed that Manning’s distribution of classified material assisted al Qaeda. Actually, the information helps Americans by exposing U.S. war criminality. War criminality ranks among the most important types of government wrongdoing warranting transparency. We cannot debate foreign policy without knowing about its indecencies. What U.S. forces do abroad can endanger Americans at home. Some see the leaks, not the crimes, as the true scandal, but the Muslim and Arab world already know of these atrocities. The American people need to understand what U.S. occupations are like." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGuilty of Aiding the American People

The Pretense of Knowledge Is Alive & Well

"The Federal Reserve itself is a tool of the banks. It's a banking cartel. Trying to separate the banks from The Fed is an error. It's one big happy thieving family. Any (and all) government regulations that are put in place (or removed) are done for the benefit of the entire system. The best way to picture it is to think of a giant octopus. The head is The Federal Reserve and the sprawling arms are the banks. 'Regulations' and 'Deregulations' are just fodder for the masses out there to think that 'government is doing something'. To think that The Fed is some kind of 'regulator' is the same as thinking that the arsonist 'regulates' the fire." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Pretense of Knowledge Is Alive & Well

CFR Steps Up Attack on the Second Amendment Using Discredited Statistics

"In 2007 and 2008, some 29,000 weapons of various types and varieties were recovered at crime scenes by Mexican authorities. Of those, only 11,000 of them had serial numbers on them that would allow them even to be traced by the BATFE. And of those 11,000, just 5,114 were successfully traced back to sources in the United States. That’s 17.6 percent, not 70 percent or 90 percent. Just 14 percent of the 203,300 prisoners serving time in a state or federal prison in 1997 obtained their weapons from a gun shop, pawnshop, flea market, or gun show. An updated study by the DOJ in 2004 showed that the number dropped to 11 percent." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCFR Steps Up Attack on the Second Amendment Using Discredited Statistics

New EPA chief: Can we stop talking about regulations killing jobs, please?

"'Can we stop talking about environmental regulations killing jobs, please?' McCarthy said in a speech at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Embracing the need to cut carbon emissions should be seen not as a threat but as a 'way to spark business innovation,' she said. At the heart of Obama’s plan will be new EPA regulations that will target carbon emissions from existing power plants, which account for more than one-third of U.S. greenhouse gases and in many cases are fired by coal. McCarthy said the agency will try to replicate the success it had with the U.S. automotive industry." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew EPA chief: Can we stop talking about regulations killing jobs, please?