Iran to citizens: avoid U.S. travel due to ‘targeted Iranophobia’

"Iran has issued a travel warning to its citizens against visiting arch-foe the United States, an official said, after the death of an Iranian national reportedly following a grilling by US customs officials. 'Iranian citizens are advised to avoid non-essential travels to the US and, in case of visit, to exercise maximum caution,' foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in remarks reported by the ISNA news agency. The US is a 'high risk' destination for Iranian travellers, he said citing a 'targeted Iranophobia trend in the US and repeated incidents in which Iranian citizens are threatened and arrested there.'" Continue reading

Continue ReadingIran to citizens: avoid U.S. travel due to ‘targeted Iranophobia’

Democrat Kathy Hochul Plumps for Drones at Niagara Falls Air Base

"What's wrong with America? One thing for sure: its government. Here's one example. There's an air base in Niagara Falls. It's a U.S. Air Force base called the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station. It's run out of mission. It never had a good mission to begin with but that unproductive mission has run out. So now a local member of Congress has worked to get it a new mission, which would be DRONES. This will be approved today in the Defense Authorization Bill being voted in Congress. Drones and the military in general are one big pork barrel. This is what the U.S. Constitution has wrought by centralizing defense in the federal government." Continue reading

Continue ReadingDemocrat Kathy Hochul Plumps for Drones at Niagara Falls Air Base

Obama Orders Children Murdered

"As Obama grandstands and uses the Sandy Hook crisis to, in the words of Eric Holder 'brainwash the public' that guns are bad and the cause of violent crime and misery, We decided to show just a few of the documented cases of drone attacks that he personally ordered where children were killed. Drone attack after drone attack you will see the real face of the Globalists. This man does not care about children he cares about disarming the American people to bring in a totalitarian government." Continue reading

Continue ReadingObama Orders Children Murdered

Keep Families Together: An Anarchist Christmas Message

"Mass incarceration and mass deportation are not separate policies that both happen to destroy families. Rather, they are two different facets of the prison industrial complex. The same corporations that operate prisons for profit also profit by running immigration detention centers. These companies back politicians that support authoritarian laws on both immigration and criminal justice issues. When people of color have their families violently broken apart by the state, the prison industrial complex profits. This Christmas, I urge you to organize against the prison industrial complex and the state apparatus that have broken so many families apart." Continue reading

Continue ReadingKeep Families Together: An Anarchist Christmas Message

Deportations of illegal immigrants in 2012 reach new US record

"The United States deported more than 400,000 illegal immigrants in 2012, the most of any year in the nation’s history, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reports. In four years, the Obama administration has deported three-quarters of the number of people that President George W. Bush’s administration did in eight. And unlike Mr. Bush, Obama made no concerted effort to reform the US immigration system – a history that’s not lost on the president’s Latino supporters. Representative Gutierrez said some 90,000 undocumented parents of American-born children continue to be deported each year." Continue reading

Continue ReadingDeportations of illegal immigrants in 2012 reach new US record

Glenn Greenwald: Newtown kids v Yemenis and Pakistanis: what explains the disparate reactions?

"It's easy to express rage over the Newtown shooting because so few of us bear any responsibility for it and there is ultimately little we can do to stop psychotic individuals from snapping. Fury is easy because it's easy to tell ourselves that the perpetrator has so little to do with us and our actions. Exactly the opposite is true for the violence that continuously kills children and other innocent people in the Muslim world. Many of us empowered and cheer for the person responsible for that. US citizens pay for it, enable it, and now under Obama, most at the very least acquiesce to it if not support it." Continue reading

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: Newtown kids v Yemenis and Pakistanis: what explains the disparate reactions?

Asian economies turn to yuan

"A 'renminbi bloc' has been formed in East Asia, as nations in the region abandon the US dollar and peg their currency to the Chinese yuan — a major signal of China's successful bid to internationalize its currency, a research report has said. Seven out of 10 economies in the region — including South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand — track the renminbi more closely than they do the US dollar. Only three economies in the group — Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Mongolia — still have currencies following the dollar more closely than the renminbi, said the report, posted on the institute's website." Continue reading

Continue ReadingAsian economies turn to yuan

Older homeowners falling more into foreclosure

"Homeowners more than 50 years old are falling into foreclosure faster than any other age group, particularly widows whose husbands held the mortgage, said the New York Times. Foreclosures among homeowners over 50 increased by 23% over the past five years, resulting in 1.5 million foreclosures. The main reason for the rise in foreclosures is due to women outliving their spouses and not being able to cop with ballooning, medical costs, mortgage and pension cuts. About 6% of loans held by persons over 50 were delinquent in 2011, up from 1% in 2007. One of the problems is older Americans are saving less and borrowing more, said AARP." Continue reading

Continue ReadingOlder homeowners falling more into foreclosure

Chained CPI: Diet COLA for Social Security

"Before we discuss the nuances of the different measures of the CPI, it is important to keep in mind that millions of Americans rely on Social Security benefits for income protection. In fact, 65% of all beneficiaries rely on Social Security to provide 50% or more of their incomes, while 36% rely on benefits for 90% or more of their incomes. For non-married beneficiaries, including widows, the reliance is higher with 74% relying on benefits for 50% or more of their incomes and 46% relying for 90% or more of their incomes." Continue reading

Continue ReadingChained CPI: Diet COLA for Social Security

While Much of America Suffers with Stagnation, Washington’s Political Class Is Having a Very Merry Christmas

"In the town that launched the War on Poverty 48 years ago, the poor are getting poorer despite the government’s help. And the rich are getting richer because of it. The top 5 percent of households in Washington, D.C., made more than $500,000 on average last year, while the bottom 20 percent earned less than $9,500 – a ratio of 54 to 1. That gap is up from 39 to 1 two decades ago. It’s wider than in any of the 50 states and all but two major cities." Continue reading

Continue ReadingWhile Much of America Suffers with Stagnation, Washington’s Political Class Is Having a Very Merry Christmas