sound money

NSA is more than just a spy network, it’s global fascism

"Putting the overall theme of government abuse of power into perspective, this week provided a solid example of what should happen in an advanced civilized democracy. Luxembourg’s long-serving Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker announced his resignation this week over a spying scandal involving illegal phone-taps, alongside a number other highly corrupt activities. In normal times, what happened in Luxembourg should also happen in other countries like the US, or Great Britain - but these are far from normal times. What passes for normal in this bizarre epoch is anyone’s guess, and the same goes for what is deemed to be ‘legal’." Continue reading →

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ACLU Report Exposes Extent Of License Plate Surveillance

"The ACLU documents show the devices also give police the ability to look back in the past and perform a 'convoy' search to find vehicles that frequently travel together. A 'cross search' allows officers to create a list of vehicles that drove past a set of particular locations and times. This would, for example, isolate individuals that may be regular attendees at a political rallies or meetings. The ACLU report warned that this powerful tracking ability opens the door to abuse. The report found that US law enforcement agencies rarely place any limits on the use of ALPR. A New York police department says the use 'is only limited by the officer's imagination.'" Continue reading →

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New evidence gold on Earth created by ancient collision of dead stars in outer space

"About a decade ago, a team from Europe using supercomputers suggested that gold, platinum and other heavy metals could be formed when two exotic stars — neutron stars — crash and merge. Neutron stars are essentially stellar relics — collapsed cores of massive stars. Now telescopes have detected such an explosion, and the observation bolsters the notion that gold in our jewelry was made in such rare and violent collisions long before the birth of the solar system about 4½ billion years ago. People 'walk around with a little tiny piece of the universe,' said lead researcher Edo Berger of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew evidence gold on Earth created by ancient collision of dead stars in outer space

Housing’s Mini-Bubble Has Popped.

"Mortgage rates are up. Mortgage applications are down. New home permits are down. New home construction is down. Not a little down. 'Falling off the burning trestle' down. Bernanke did it. Let us not forget this after he retires next February. Bernanke did it. When the bad news on housing is on the evening news, recall once again: Bernanke did it. With QE3 pouring $40 billion of newly counterfeited money a month into Fannie/Freddie, and mortgage rates rising from 3.35% to 4.6% in two months, let us sing the chorus: Bernanke did it." Continue reading →

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Mission Creep: When Everything Is Terrorism

"One of the assurances I keep hearing about the U.S. government's spying on American citizens is that it's only used in cases of terrorism. Terrorism is, of course, an extraordinary crime, and its horrific nature is supposed to justify permitting all sorts of excesses to prevent it. But there's a problem with this line of reasoning: mission creep. The definitions of 'terrorism' and 'weapon of mass destruction' are broadening, and these extraordinary powers are being used, and will continue to be used, for crimes other than terrorism. Even as the definition of terrorism broadens, we have to ask how far we will extend that arbitrary line." Continue reading →

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Gold Is the Most Hated Investment You Might Want to Love

"Just as gold was about to peak at $1,923.70 per ounce in August 2011, speculative positioning in the gold futures market was at a record high, and the so-called smart money institutional investors held a record net long. With 20/20 hindsight, it’s obvious that wasn’t a good time to be going long gold. Measuring market sentiment, or the madness of crowds, can provide important clues at key turning points in securities prices. When sentiment moves from good to bad, to totally bleak, ignore the rampant pessimism and watch for incremental improvement. But one thing’s for sure: I don’t want to get caught up in the overcrowded short trade in precious metals right now." Continue reading →

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San Antonio Public School Officials End RFID Tracking Program

"After a drawn-out battle waged in court and within the community, school officials with the Northside Independent School District have announced their decision to stop using a student tracking program that relied on RFID tracking badges containing tiny chips that produce a radio signal, enabling school officials to track students’ location on school property. Students who refused to take part in the ID program were not able to access essential services like the cafeteria and library, nor would they be able to purchase tickets to extracurricular activities. According to Hernandez, teachers were even requiring students to wear the IDs to use the bathroom." Continue reading →

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Were Snowden’s Actions Justified? Ellsberg, Mukasey Debate

"When Edward Snowden exposed the existence of some of the National Security Agency's intelligence gathering operations, did he help or harm America? Jeffrey Brown gets debate from Daniel Ellsberg, co-author of the famous internal Defense Department study 'The Pentagon Papers,' and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey." Continue reading →

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Government Attempts to Dismiss Lawsuit Over Wrongful Arrest, Psych Ward Detention of Facebook Marine

"'It’s bad enough that the government is targeting military veterans for expressing their discontent over America’s rapid transition to a police state, but for any government official to suggest that they shouldn’t be held accountable for violating a citizen’s rights on the grounds that they were unaware of the Constitution’s prohibitions makes a mockery of our so-called system of representative government,' said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute and author of A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State." Continue reading →

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The United States Should Quit Meddling in Egypt

"Liberal demonstrations have claimed that the Obama administration had supported the Brotherhood and its former President Mohamed Morsi. Yet the Brotherhood has claimed that despite the U.S. government’s neutral rhetoric during the latest crisis—calling on all sides to rein in violence from their supporters—American diplomats secretly pressured the Brotherhood to resign itself to Morsi’s ouster by the Egyptian military, re-enter the political process, and thus legitimate the coup. Both sides are correct. How can this be?" Continue reading →

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