It’s Good To Be The King

Dutch King tells citizens ‘to take responsibility’ as austerity implemented

"The king, who travelled through the streets of The Hague to address MPs and senators in an ornate horse-drawn golden carriage, said the transformation would be particularly noticeable in social security and long-term healthcare policies. The trade-dependent Dutch economy is in the fourth quarter of a recession and is struggling even as other European countries return to growth. The austerity measures will reduce Dutch households’ purchasing power by 0.25 percent in 2014. The budget announcement came with the government in free-fall in opinion polls. A poll said that the ruling Liberal-Labour coalition would lose around half its seats in parliament were elections held now." Continue reading →

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What it costs to raise a royal baby

"How much does it cost to live like a prince these days? William earns £35,000 ($54,000) or so as a helicopter air-sea rescue pilot for the Royal Air Force. More importantly, he is also supported by his father, Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, who has an annual income of about £19 million ($29 million), essentially real-estate income from the 133,000-acre Duchy of Cornwall estate. William and Harry also jointly inherited around £17 million ($26 million), before tax, from their mother’s estate. But for all American rubberneckers, here’s some good news. You could probably live like a prince for a lot less than that. Here’s where you’ll spend your money." Continue reading →

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Bloggers expose lavish lifestyles of Putin loyalists

"Bloggers who oppose Russian President Vladimir Putin are targeting top lawmakers loyal to the Kremlin with scandalous revelations about their luxury apartments and jet-setting lifestyles which run counter to their patriotic rhetoric. Top lawmakers and officials are obliged to declare property and income annually in a corruption-busting initiative proposed by Dmitry Medvedev under his presidency, but bloggers and investigative reporters have highlighted their undeclared wealth and assets." Continue reading →

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Donald Trump’s D.C. Hotel Will Be Luxury Hotel With Bulletproof Windows

"Here's another sign that corrupt and crony Washington D.C. continues to grow, while much of the rest of the country stagnates. Donald Trump is about to build a hotel in Washington D.C. He is leasing the US Post Office building from the government. The hotel is sure to house some of the greatest power freaks the world has ever known. Twenty years ago, Trump would have never considered building in D.C. Power, as opposed to entrepreneurship, is sadly growing in this country. Two 3,000-square-foot Presidential suites will feature fireplaces, two-person showers and bulletproof windows." Continue reading →

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The FEDsters Are Multimillionaires

"The senior officers of the Board of Governors are rich. So are some of the regional FED bank presidents. One of them is worth $50 million. Another owns 7,000 acres of land. He even owns gold. The FED is politically untouchable. Congress will not let the Government Accountability Office audit it. We hear of the need for more equality. The FED could use some. We hear of the need for transparency. Why doesn’t this include an audit? All the chatter inside the Washington Beltway about the role of democracy is great stuff for pulling the wool over the eyes of the voters. The cartel known as the state-licensed banking system has an enforcer. The FED is the enforcer." Continue reading →

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If Congress says no, can Obama strike Syria?

"Initiating airstrikes in Syria would undermine rather than uphold the credibility of the UN Charter, which generally permits the use of non-defensive force only with Security Council authorization. That has not been granted. The charter’s purpose is in fact to prevent individual states from engaging in the sort of international policing the US is proposing to undertake in Syria. Ultimately, it isn’t clear where the administration could turn for legal justification in the event of a no vote in Congress. Even without a strong legal foundation, if the administration decides to proceed with airstrikes, there isn’t much Congress could do to stop it." Continue reading →

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Ecuador seeks to extend libel penalties to cover social media

"The Ecuadoran government has proposed legal changes to punish libel disseminated over social networks like Twitter or Facebook, a top official said Wednesday. Alexis Mera, President Rafael Correa’s secretary for legal affairs, said the move aimed not to control content on social networks, but to extend to them the same rules that apply to other media. Under Ecuador’s penal code, slanderous libel, which involves a false accusation of a crime, carries a punishment of between six months and two years in prison. Correa has used the courts to sue for libel newspapers and journalists who have written critically about him." Continue reading →

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America’s real divide: The political class, and the rest of us

"The political class is subject to a different set of laws than the rest of us. Instead of a nation based upon the idea that all citizens have equal rights before the law, politicians, bureaucrats, and their minions are regularly shown special preference. In the words of George Orwell, 'some animals are more equal than others.' While some states are now liberalizing their drugs laws, America — the Land of the Free — has the highest incarceration rate in the world due to the War on Drugs. On the other hand, Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have both admitted to using marijuana when they were younger. Many other high government officials are on the record as marijuana users." Continue reading →

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U.S. Officials Are Above the Law of Nations and Ordinary Laws

"With regard to Nuremberg ideas of law and sanctions against aggressive war, the U.S. government considers itself above all that. It’s a case of 'now you see it, now you don’t'. If the U.S. decides to bomb somebody and wants to mention Nuremberg as a justification (or its equivalent like a charge of killing one’s own people), now you see it. If it decides its own officials can get away with aggression against Iraq, now you don’t. The fact of the matter is that the U.S. government regards itself as a law unto itself. It is the supreme and only superpower, by virtue of which what it says, goes. And what it says is law, it also claims." Continue reading →

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The State: Judge in its Own Cause

"Is this really a nation of laws, though? There’s an old legal principle, 'nemo iudex in causa sua,' which translated into English means 'no one should be the judge of their own cause.' But in fact all the laws theoretically limiting the state’s power are interpreted by — wait for it — officials of the state. The commission of the actual military, intelligence and diplomatic crimes themselves, the classification of documents that evidence those crimes, and the setting of civil and criminal penalties for revealing wickedness in high places — all these things are done by officials of the same government." Continue reading →

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