Bullshit Artists

U.S. says it did not sanction holding Glenn Greenwald’s partner at Heathrow

"The White House spokesman confirmed that Britain alerted the US authorities after Miranda’s name appeared on a passenger manifest of a flight from Berlin to Heathrow on Sunday morning. 'I think that is an accurate interpretation of what a heads up is,' Earnest said. He would not rule out whether the US authorities had been passed any information from Miranda’s electronic equipment seized at Heathrow, which included his phone, laptop, memory sticks, DVDs and games consoles. 'I’m not in a position to do that right now,' Earnest replied." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. says it did not sanction holding Glenn Greenwald’s partner at Heathrow

India’s war on gold fails to protect the rupee, which keeps plunging

"The fresh currency falls also increased pressure on the debt markets. Yields on India's 10-year debt spiked above 9 per cent for the first time since late 2011, while Jakarta's cost of borrowing jumped 18 basis points to the highest level since March 2011. Over the weekend a range of senior figures including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tried to calm investor fears that the country's mixture of weakening growth and an unsustainable current account gap was pushing India’s economy towards a crisis point. Notably, officials ruled out capital controls on foreign investors." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIndia’s war on gold fails to protect the rupee, which keeps plunging

Fear of Fed Retreat Roils India

"After a growth spurt from 2006 to 2011, the country lapsed back into a plodding pace as economic reforms lost steam. India's government, in an effort to narrow the current-account gap, has tried to curb gold imports and announced a plan to buy more of the country's oil from Iran through what is effectively a barter mechanism. On Wednesday, the country reduced the amount of money residents and companies can send abroad, sparking fears of more-draconian measures. The government says these moves aren't a prelude to capital controls and that it doesn't plan to impose restrictions on companies repatriating profits." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFear of Fed Retreat Roils India

Watchdog: Fannie, Freddie should be required to recognize bad mortgages ‘immediately’

"Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are masking billions of dollars losses because of the level of delinquent home loans they carry, a federal watchdog said, and it said the companies should be required immediately to recognize the costs of some bad mortgages. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were seized by the U.S. government in September 2008 as rising mortgage losses threatened them with insolvency. The mortgage companies have cost taxpayers almost $188 billion to stay afloat. Fannie and Freddie have reduced their funds reserved to cover potential losses on bad loans due to the strengthening housing sector and higher home prices." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWatchdog: Fannie, Freddie should be required to recognize bad mortgages ‘immediately’

The Phony Trade-off Between Privacy and Security

"What Barack Obama, Mike Rogers, Peter King, and their ilk mean when they tell us that 'we' need to find the right balance between security and privacy is that they will dictate to us what the alleged balance will be. We will have no real say in the matter, and they can be counted on to find the balance on the 'security' side of the spectrum as suits their interests. Of course, our rulers can’t really set things to the security side of the spectrum because the game is rigged. When we give up privacy — or, rather, when our rulers take it — we don’t get security in return; we get a more intrusive state, which means we get more insecurity." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Phony Trade-off Between Privacy and Security

NYPD: Largest-ever gun seizure by an undercover cop was thanks to ‘stop and frisk’

"The Commissioner was also quick to claim that, despite the undercover officers’ involvement and all other apparent evidence to the contrary, the seizure points to success of the 'stop and frisk' policy. Kelly’s claim rests on a wiretap of one of the accused, Eddie Campbell, who is heard to say that he prefers not to come to New York because of the stop-and-frisk policy: 'I’m in Brownsville,' Kelly quoted Campbell as saying. 'We got like, umm, uh, whatchamacallit, stop and frisk.' Campbell is accused of selling 90 guns during 24 meetings with the unnamed detective. Another alleged dealer, Walter Walker, is said to have sold him another 116 guns." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNYPD: Largest-ever gun seizure by an undercover cop was thanks to ‘stop and frisk’

‘Drug free’ advocate: I smoked pot in college, of course

"David Evans, a criminal defense attorney and special advisor to Drug Free America Foundation, warned that marijuana combined the worst aspects of tobacco and alcohol. He said the drug was highly addictive and caused traffic accidents that killed young people and those who supported legalizing marijuana were naive and misinformed. 'You’re painting a very apocalyptic picture here, Mr. Evans, have you taken marijuana yourself?' Morgan asked. 'Yes, I smoked pot in college, of course,' Evans replied. 'You’re still alive,' Morgan remarked. 'You haven’t killed anyone. You haven’t gone crazy. You seem perfectly well. You seem reasonably rational.'" Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘Drug free’ advocate: I smoked pot in college, of course

U.S. officials: We didn’t ask the UK to detain Greenwald’s partner

"U.S. officials did not ask the British government to question the partner of the journalist who first reported secrets leaked by fugitive U.S. intelligence agency contractor Edward Snowden, the White House said on Monday. British authorities did, however, give their U.S. counterparts a 'heads up' before detaining the partner of American journalist Glenn Greenwald, Brazilian David Miranda, the White House said. 'This was a decision that they made on their own, and not at the request of the United States,' White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters at a briefing. 'This is something that they did independent of our direction,' he added." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. officials: We didn’t ask the UK to detain Greenwald’s partner

Jack Lew’s “Extraordinary Measures” on Debt Just “Cooking the Books”

"A little known story that got absolutely no coverage from the mainstream media surfaced last week about the reports from the Treasury Department’s Financial Management Service. The FMS reports both the Daily Treasury Statement and the Monthly Treasury Statement. According to these reports the federal deficit rose by $98 billion dollars in July, but somehow the federal government’s debt remained exactly the same at $16,699,396,000,000 for the whole month. It seems that Treasury Secretary, Jack Lew got a bit creative and magically decided to stop the addition of more debt from showing up in the reports. Wow, don’t we all wish we could do that?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJack Lew’s “Extraordinary Measures” on Debt Just “Cooking the Books”

NSA abuses contradict Obama and congressional claims of oversight

"Government officials from President Obama on down have insisted the nation's surveillance programs are subject to layers of oversight. 'I am comfortable that the program currently is not being abused,' Mr. Obama said in a press conference last week, when he announced new efforts at increasing transparency. 'Part of the reason they're not abused is because these checks are in place.' However, the latest revelation that the NSA violated privacy rules thousands of times, as documented in an internal report -- an internal report withheld from at least one leader in Congress responsible for oversight -- proves they were wrong." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNSA abuses contradict Obama and congressional claims of oversight