"Andrea Soros Colombel and her husband, Eric Colombel, have put their Greenwich Village townhouse at 10 W. 10th St. on the market for $29.5 million. The fully renovated, seven-bedroom home is a four-story Greek revival-style townhouse that dates back to 1844. It comes with an elevator, three wood-burning fireplaces and a state-of-the-art sound system." Continue reading →
"A mob of people showed up at a home in Woodstock, Georgia on Wednesday, responding to a Craigslist ad that promised free items in the home's small driveway. But when the man who posted the ad arrived at the sale, he discovered that the mob had barged inside the home and was taking everything the family owned. Michael Vercher, whose family lived there for 20 years before recently losing the home to foreclosure, looked like he hardly knew what hit him. 'They came in and just tore the place up. Everyone was inside the house; they were taking out items. There were cars around the block. It was like ants in and out of the house.'" Continue reading →
"Keep in mind that it is a Bernanke manipulated climb in prices. The capital goods sector (including housing) get the money first, but then it works its way to the consumer sector. Translation: As long as Bernanke continues to print aggressively, housing prices will continue to climb, eventually translating into higher prices for everyday consumer goods. 2013 is likely to be a very bad year for the economy---with tax hikes on top of it." Continue reading →
"What the profile doesn't tell you is that at the time, Bloomberg was able to provide the 'inside quote' at which the Fed's chosen Primary Dealers traded with the Fed. This quote was of utmost importance to traders at the time, especially bond traders. They needed Bloomberg's access to this inside quote to understand what the Fed was doing (The Fed didn't announce interest rate targets at the time). It remains to this day unclear why Bloomberg was allowed to provide the inside quote on his machines, when others were denied the ability to do so. I know this for a fact, since I was at the time a consultant to a major firm that was denied the right to publish the quote." Continue reading →
"His name is Bernard von NotHaus, and he is a professed 'monetary architect' and a maker of custom coins found guilty last spring of counterfeiting charges for minting and distributing a form of private money called the Liberty Dollar. Described by some as 'the Rosa Parks of the constitutional currency movement,' Mr. von NotHaus managed over the last decade to get more than 60 million real dollars’ worth of his precious metal-backed currency into circulation across the country — so much, and with such deep penetration, that the prosecutor overseeing his case accused him of 'domestic terrorism' for using them to undermine the government." Continue reading →
"A film about the killing of Osama bin Laden which will air two nights before the US presidential election has been re-edited to feature more footage of Barack Obama, prompting accusations Hollywood is trying to swing the vote. Harvey Weinstein, a studio head and prominent Democrat who has contributed to the president’s campaign, tweaked the film, Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden, to broaden Obama’s role." Continue reading →
"The nation's largest association of police chiefs, which has advised thousands of its members on the appropriate use of stun guns, accepted a $300,000 donation from the foundation associated with Taser International, the biggest supplier of stun guns to law enforcement. The contribution to the International Association of Chiefs of Police Foundation (IACP), the organization's philanthropic arm, represents the latest in a series of controversial relationships Taser has established with police, the primary source of the Arizona-based company's lucrative business." Continue reading →
"John Kiriakou's supposed offense – for which he was originally charged under the 1917 Espionage Act, which provides for the death penalty – was to speak critically of the torture program and identify one of the officials involved in it. Kiriakou, one of six officials being prosecuted by the Obama administration for 'leaking' information about the government’s crimes, accepted a plea bargain because he has five children. That fact, to use Jessen’s terminology, made him 'exploitable.' Accordingly, while the architect of the torture program, Bruce Jessen, will now hold forth from a Mormon pulpit, a whistleblower will spend at least 2 1/2 years in prison." Continue reading →
"In an internal-use-only document, NYC's Fire Department outlines its concerns about the increasing number of food trucks around New York. Not only are they serious fire hazards, but also a genuine terrorist threat. They say that it will be easy for evildoers to pack large quantities of explosive material into a food truck and conceal it. There's also a growing black market for permits, which opens the door for potential terrorist groups to obtain a truck with ease. The document says that, according to the Department of Homeland Security, 'a food cart can be used as an excellent surveillance platform due to their access and long duration stays.'" Continue reading →
"Because he thinks it is easier to hoodwink the public with a single target inflation rate than with a range. In the book, Inflation Targeting, which is co-authored by Bernanke, point targets versus range targets are discussed. Currently, the Fed has a price inflation target of 2%. Expect price inflation to climb above this level and for Bernanke to do as it says in his book and jawbone that inflation above target is simply 'because of unavoidable uncertainties.'" Continue reading →