US Federal Reserve chief rules out loans to the states
Testifying last Friday before the Senate Budget Committee, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke rejected any aid to state or local governments across the country that are facing massive budget deficits. “We have no expectation or intention to get involved in state and local finances,” Bernanke said, adding later that the states “should not expect loans from the Fed.”
More evidence of right-wing links to Tucson attack
While right-wing pundits and politicians continue to claim that it is illegitimate to hold them morally or politically responsible for the massacre carried out in Tucson, Arizona last Saturday, more evidence has emerged that the gunman, Jared Lee Loughner, drew inspiration from the political language and invective of the ultra-right.
Congress quietly prepares to renew Patriot Act
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) has introduced a little-noticed bill that intends to once again renew controversial provisions of the Bush administration's USA Patriot Act that are due to expire this year.
Snow present in 49 of the 50 U.S. states - Photograph
After big snow and ice events in the Southeast, Plains, and Midwest this week, 49 out of the 50 states currently have snow on the ground – yes, even Hawaii, where snow falls in Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea all winter. The only state that has avoided this icy blast is Florida. Does that make you want to go on a nice, warm vacation to the Sunshine State? You're not alone.
Obama Orders Military To Prepare For Spring Food Riots
A grim report prepared by France’s General Directorate for External Security (DGSE) obtained by Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) states that president’s Obama and Sarkozy have “agreed in principal” to create a joint US-European military force to deal exclusively with a Global uprising expected this spring as our World runs out of food.
TSA makes ‘nominal’ payment to settle suit over exposing 24-year-old’s breasts
A woman who had her breasts exposed during an airport search by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was to receive a "nominal" payment as a part of a settlement agreement, according to documents released this week. The 24-year-old woman was selected for "extended search procedures" prior to boarding a plane to Amarillo, Texas in 2008. A lawsuit claimed that the TSA agent pulled her blouse completely down while frisking her. "For an extended period of time" other agents made jokes about the incident. "One male TSA employee expressed to the plaintiff that he wished he would have been there when she came through the first time and that 'he would just have to watch the video.'"
Tucson tea party founder says Giffords to blame for getting shot
One tea party leader says that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) has herself to blame for getting shot in the head Saturday. The Arizona congresswoman shouldn't have attended an event "in full view of the public" if she had security concerns, according to Tucson Tea Party co-founder Trent Humphries.
Energy companies accused of 'profiteering'
Energy companies were last night accused of "profiteering" after new figures revealed the price of average household bills has soared by 37 per cent over the last three years - as wholesale prices for energy has fallen substantially.
It's a feeding frenzy of corporate looter sharks. Good by America, your corrupt incompetent government won't save you.
It's a feeding frenzy of corporate looter sharks. Good by America, your corrupt incompetent government won't save you.
Government Spy Infiltrated Antiwar Groups Before FBI Raids
There are major new developments in the case of the peace activists targeted by FBI raids last September. Lawyers for the activists in Minnesota and St. Paul have learned a government agent infiltrated their group and conducted extensive spying. Going by the name "Karen Sullivan," the agent began attending organizing meetings of the Twin Cities Anti-War Committee in the lead-up to the Republican National Convention. Sullivan then took an active role in the group, chairing meetings, handling bookkeeping, and communicating with dozens of other organizations. Anti-War Committee activist Jess Sundin spoke to Democracy Now! on Wednesday.
Helen Thomas: Freedom of Speech and the Zionist Albatross
On January 8 the Society of Professional Journalists’ Executive Committee voted to retire the Helen Thomas Lifetime Achievement Award. The SPJ’s full board is expected to give their final approval within 10 days. In the meantime, amidst the unrelenting backlash, Helen Thomas has rebounded as a columnist for a North Virginian community paper, Falls Church News Press.
What Kind of Country Attacks Its Own Human Rights Groups? Israel's Assault on Human Rights
Imagine a college student returning to her university after spending Christmas break at home. At the airport she logs on to the Internet to double check some of the sources she used in her final take-home exam for the course "Introduction to Human Rights." She gets online and begins to surf the web; however, she soon realizes that the websites of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are blocked. She calls the service provider's 800 number, only to find out that all human rights organizations' websites have indeed been restricted and that they can no longer be accessed from the airport.
Foreclosures Exceed 1 Million Last Year, Expected to Grow in 2011
Foreclosures are expected to peak while prices bottom out in 2011 as the nation's housing crisis trudges into its fifth year. [Lenders repossessed more than 1 million homes in 2010, and foreclosures could rise by 20 percent this year. (photo by Flickr user BasicGov)]Lenders repossessed more than 1 million homes in 2010, and foreclosures could rise by 20 percent this year. (photo by Flickr user BasicGov) Lenders repossessed more than 1 million homes in 2010, up 14 percent from the previous year and the most since 2005, according to a report released Thursday by RealtyTrac, a California-based company that tracks the foreclosure market.
Organic Ag in Jeopardy, USDA Close to Approving GE Alfalfa
The USDA seems to be paving the way for approval of genetically modified (GM) alfalfa with pleas for coexistence and cooperation. These will be needed. Organic alfalfa is the mainstay of organic animal feed. Organic standards exclude GM. But pollen from GM alfalfa transmits GM genes to organic alfalfa.
Let's Get This Straight: There Is No Progressive Equivalent to the Right's Violent Rhetoric
The shooting in Tucson was not an anomaly. It was an inevitability, and as long as we play this foolish game of "both sides are just as bad," it will be inevitable again. Both sides are, in fact, not "just as bad," when it comes to institutionally sanctioned violent and eliminationist rhetoric. An anonymous commenter at Daily Kos and the last Republican vice presidential nominee are not equivalent, no matter how many ridiculously irresponsible members of the media would have us believe otherwise.
See Something, Say Something: Loughner Bought Bullets at Walmart
In December of last year, DHS boss Janet Napolitano announced a government program with the participation of the slave goods trader Walmart to report terrorists and other miscreants.
Jobless claims jump, wholesale food costs surge
U.S. jobless claims jumped to their highest level since October while food and energy costs boosted producer prices, pointing lingering headwinds for an economic recovery that had been showing renewed vigor. A surge in exports to their highest level in two years helped narrow the trade deficit, however, an encouraging sign. Despite the more positive outlook for growth in recent weeks, the job market still appeared to be struggling. The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly to 445,000 from 410,000 in the prior week, the Labor Department said on Thursday. It was the biggest one-week jump in about six months, confounding analyst forecasts for a small drop to 405,000.
Gassing Palestinians: The Use of Lethal Gas in occupied Palestine
A new year begins and the terror of the Zionist entity continues. With the first day of 2011, Jawaher Abu Rahmah, 36 years old, died in hospital after being asphyxiated by the poisonous tear gas fired by Israeli occupation soldiers at Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals who were protesting the Israeli wall and the theft of Palestinian land in Bil’in the day before.
Hundreds dead in Brazil floods
Many residents of the three main towns in Serrana region have been made homeless by the floods [EPA] More than 350 people have been killed after floods and landslides devastated towns and villages in a mountainous area near Rio de Janeiro. Rescue workers were digging desperately on Thursday in an attempt to reach people buried after the equivalent of a month's rain fell on the Serrana region in less 24 hours, toppling houses and buckling roads.
May God Protect Global Bankers: Irish Leaders Castigated As Greatest Traitors Of All Time
The Irish Government has recently passed the harshest budget in the history of the State with further austerity promised for the next three years and perhaps for decades. Prime Minister Brian Cowen and Finance Minister Brian Lenihan have steered Ireland from the booming prosperity of a Celtic Tiger to a ruined shell of a country where unemployment, poverty, emigration, and despair are proceeding to destroy a once proud, industrious people.
They went from the 'Irish tiger' a few years ago to the Irish dead dog, after the bank took over. One wonders how much looting and greed humanity will tolerate from the banks before they stand up.
They went from the 'Irish tiger' a few years ago to the Irish dead dog, after the bank took over. One wonders how much looting and greed humanity will tolerate from the banks before they stand up.
01/12/11
JP Morgan Told Judge To Stop Paying Mortgage To Become Eligible For Loan Modification
In the latest stunner of disclosure in what goes on just below the murky surface of the biggest scam market in the world (that would be the multi-trillion residential debt market), we learn that a Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court judge, Peter Sikora, who is facing foreclosure on his million dollar (8 room) home. But that is not what makes him unique: after all the story of your average American who buys iPads and garter belts with money that should be going into mortgage payments is all too well known by now. What is amazing, however, is that the reason for his 12 month delinquency is that according to JP Morgan, who service the loan, the only way Sikora would be eligible for loan modification would be if he were in delinquency, which is what they advised him to do. That's right - a bank formally told a client to willfully default on a mortgage.
China Promises To Kill The Rich
The Chinese government is publically threatening to execute corrupt judges, as well as members of the security services, who are caught taking bribes. The government leadership is getting desperate about stopping the growing public anger against corrupt officials, and the threat of rebellion, or just widespread unrest, that it implies.
WikiLeaks founder faces “real risk” of rendition to US, torture and death
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared at Belmarsh magistrates’ court, London, yesterday for a preliminary hearing on the extradition warrant issued against him by Sweden’s public prosecutor. Assange is being held under virtual house arrest on £240,000 bail. The full two-day extradition hearing will take place February 6 and 7.
Silent Surge: A Shocking Act of Political Violence
Americans showed their remarkable collective wisdom once again last week, when a shocking act of violence was met with a steady calm across the political spectrum. Indeed, it seemed the entire country was united in a steadfast effort to downplay any disturbing implications of the despicable act and to keep doggedly to business as usual.
Tea party financier says the ‘rank and file’ are like him
Koch: 'best grassroots uprising since 1776' DavidKochhead Tea party financier says the rank and file are like him The American billionaire who inherited his father's oil wealth seems to believe that the followers of the movement that he self-financed are people just like him. "There are some extremists there, but the rank and file are just normal people like us," David Koch of Koch Industries told Lee Fang of ThinkProgress in a recent interview.
As Palen discovered, after you become rich in America nobody can call you a terrorist no matter what you say.
As Palen discovered, after you become rich in America nobody can call you a terrorist no matter what you say.
Blame the billionaires, not government workers
After looting the Treasury to bail out the banks, Corporate America and the politicians want to blame the budget deficit on public-sector workers. TURNS OUT that the bankers who scored trillions of dollars in government bailout money aren't responsible for the federal budget deficit in any way. Neither are the super-rich who will continue to enjoy an immensely lucrative tax breaks enacted during the Bush administration thanks to a bipartisan deal brokered late last year.
Brisbane braces for massive floods - Video
Thousands flee Australia's third-largest city before floods that are expected to sweep through scores of districts. Thousands of residents have begun evacuating the outskirts of Australia's third-largest city as other people piled sandbags outside their homes and stockpiled food amid rising floodwaters and more heavy rain. The streets of Brisbane in the state of Queensland were largely deserted, with 80 suburbs expected to be flooded if the Brisbane river bursts its banks as expected on Thursday.
01/11/11
Supreme Court ruling hints of difficulty for Obama insurance law foes
Rejection of a challenge to a federal law on body armor for felons suggests a reluctance to rein in Congress' powers under the Constitution's commerce clause. The Supreme Court may not be so anxious to rein in Congress' broad power to pass regulatory laws under the Constitution's commerce clause, the key point of dispute in the pending court battles over President Obama's health insurance law.
Wage Drop Has Been Worst In Decades
January 11, 2011 "Huffington Post" -- Wages for American workers have fallen dramatically since the financial crisis, in what will likely turn out to be the worst such plunge since the Great Depression, the Wall Street Journal reports. When hard times hit, employers typically are reluctant to reduce wages. But this downturn has been different: More than half the workers who found new work by early 2010 after losing jobs between 2007 and 2009 said their pay had dropped, according to Labor Department data cited in the WSJ. A full 36 percent said the new job paid 20 percent less than their former one.
'Our savings have vanished – we've lost everything'
Angry investors take to streets as Dhaka's stock exchange crashes. Andrew Buncombe reports.
Police in Bangladesh used tear gas and water canons to disperse angry protests by crowds of small investors after a dramatic free-fall plunge on the country's stock market caused the authorities to suspend trading.
Police in Bangladesh used tear gas and water canons to disperse angry protests by crowds of small investors after a dramatic free-fall plunge on the country's stock market caused the authorities to suspend trading.
US Federal Reserve makes $80.9bn profit
It seems that being the lender of last resort in a financial crisis has its benefits. The US Federal Reserve recorded $80.9bn (£52bn) profit last year thanks to the interest payments on the vast amount of US government and private debt it now owns.
War for the People; Profit for the Bankers
The Federal Reserve was set up in 1913 to finance both sides of two subsequent world wars. In other words, these wars were funded by the credit of the US taxpayer. Apart from profiting from it , the Illuminati bankers use war to enslave us with debt, enact social change and consolidate their power. The Federal Reserve has helped underwrite continued American military expenditures, even after the World Wars. As of 2009, "Defense" accounts for 23% of all American Federal spending. And therefore, the gargantuan size of the American Federal debt is related to the continuation of American military interventions abroad.
If we assume that such systems are primarily instruments of war, can we also infer that the World Wars could have been prevented in their absence.
If we assume that such systems are primarily instruments of war, can we also infer that the World Wars could have been prevented in their absence.
Big 'Corporate' Brother: Is Lockheed Martin Shadowing You? How a Giant Weapons Maker Became the New Big Brother
Have you noticed that Lockheed Martin, the giant weapons corporation, is shadowing you? No? Then you haven't been paying much attention. Let me put it this way: If you have a life, Lockheed Martin is likely a part of it.
'Before They Tighten Up the State Laws, I'm Buying More Guns'
Guy Adams finds a brisk trade at the Tucson shop that apparently supplied Jared Loughner. Trade was roaring at the gun counter of the Sportsman's Warehouse in Tucson on Sunday afternoon, where roughly 30 types of shotguns competed for shelf space with 100 pistols, 50 rifles and enough ammunition to fuel more than one decent shootout at the nearby the OK Corral.
US dollar 'unstable' reserve currency - Video
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has visited his US counterpart Barack Obama, discussing several issues including the reduction of the influence of the US dollar. As France is hosting G8 and the G20 this year, the Monday meeting was focused on reforming the world economy and preventing another global recession, particularly on the US dollar. Sarkozy considered the current model which uses the US dollar as the primary reserve currency as "unstable" and stressed that it "makes part of the world dependent on American monetary policy."
Spinning Unemployment in a Collapsing Empire
"The American Empire is on the rocks, despite its vast arsenal of nuclear weapons and its control over the foreign and domestic policies of its subservient puppet states." The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Friday that the economy gained only 103,000 new jobs in December—not enough to keep up with population growth—but the rate of unemployment (U.3) fell from 9.8% to 9.4%. If you are confused by the report, you are among the many.
Media whitewashes ultra-right in Arizona massacre
As more information has emerged about the 22-year-old gunman who carried out a massacre Saturday outside a Tucson supermarket, the American media has sought to downplay the clear connection between his attempted assassination of a Democratic member of the House of Representatives and the politics of the ultra-right.
Obama's chief of making business happy
Lance Selfa Lance Selfa is the author of The Democrats: A Critical History, a socialist analysis of the Democratic Party, and editor of The Struggle for Palestine, a collection of essays by leading solidarity activists. He is on the editorial board of the International Socialist Review. The latest occasion for good feelings was Obama's choice of William Daley as the new White House chief of staff, replacing Rahm Emanuel. Fred Malik, a long-time Republican fundraiser, called Daley "the first high-level Obama official who has held a real position in business. He understands the business community."
'One poor harvest away from chaos'
Millions of the world’s poorest people and the state of the global economy are threatened by the food price rises, writes Geoffrey Lean. Hunger pains: millions of the world?s poorest people and the state of the global economy are threatened by the food price rises. 'Within a decade," promised the top representative of the world's mightiest country, "no man, woman or child will go to bed hungry." Dr Henry Kissinger, at the height of his powers as US Secretary of State, was speaking to the landmark 1974 World Food Conference. Since then, the number of hungry people worldwide has almost exactly doubled: from 460 million to 925 million.
WikiLeaks chief: Charge Palin, Huckabee with ‘incitements to kill’
Charge Palin, Huckabee with incitements to killThe editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks called on US authorities to seek charges against high-profile Republicans Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee for "incitements to kill" by the use of "violent rhetoric" against the anti- secrecy outlet.
Even Lost Wars Make Corporations Rich
Power does not rest with the electorate. It does not reside with either of the two major political parties. It is not represented by the press. It is not arbitrated by a judiciary that protects us from predators. Power rests with corporations. And corporations gain very lucrative profits from war, even wars we have no chance of winning. All polite appeals to the formal systems of power will not end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We must physically obstruct the war machine or accept a role as its accomplice.
Past News
01/05/11
US Troops Execute 10 Afghan Children
01/02/11
16 Nightmarish Economic Trends To Watch Carefully In 2011
One Soul, Many Bodies: The Case for Reincarnation
12/21/10
Norwegian Politician: Planet X is Incoming 2,000,000 To Go Underground
12/18/10
An Open Letter to the Police - please circulate
12/12/10
HAARP: Secret Weapon Used For Weather Modification, Electromagnetic Warfare
12/07/10
The Underwear Bomber - Crushing Freedom With Phony Arab Terrorism
11/18/10
Body-scan Alert - Not Suffering Indignities at Airports
Videos
01/14/11
Keiser Report: Schizo-Psycho-Bermuda-flation (E112)
RussiaToday
This week Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, talk about the deepening crisis trapping America's poor and the trouble with maize prices in Mexico. In the second half of the show, Max talks to economist and author, Steve Keen, about the dangers of Minsky moments and neoclassical economists.
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