Friday, May 31, 2013

Obama to Sign U.N. Firearms Treaty Rejected by Senate

Photo: ZeroOne

Kit Daniels
Infowars.com
May 31, 2013



President Barack Obama will soon sign an international arms trade treaty previously rejected by the United States Senate.


The United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) establishes regulations for international arms sales. Categories of firearms listed in the treaty includes tanks, artillery, and small arms such as handguns. The U.N. General Assembly passed the treaty on April 2nd with a vote of 153-4, with the United States voting in favor. Obama intends to sign the treaty on June 3rd.

On March 23rd, Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.) introduced an amendment to prevent the U.S. from entering into the treaty. It passed by a vote of 53 to 46.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) introduced another amendment to ensure “that the United States will not negotiate or support treaties that violate Americans’ Second Amendment rights under the Constitution of the United States.” This amendment passed in the Senate by a voice vote.

Signatories of the treaty are encouraged to keep records on the recipients of imported arms and to introduce domestic legislation to support the treaty’s requirements, according to the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action.

Due to the Senate’s response to the treaty, Obama’s signature will be symbolic at best. According to Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution, the President “shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur.”

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Seeds Of Death - Full Movie

Memory Hole: Americans No Longer Know What Memorial Day Stands For

Anthony Gucciardi
Infowars.com
May 28, 2013

Americans no longer know the purpose of Memorial Day beyond a period of time in which burgers and hot dogs are grilled to perfection in ‘celebration’ of the holiday. So what are they celebrating?

As you can see in Mark Dice’s video below, in which Americans have no idea what they are celebrating through cookouts and family gatherings, the very meaning of Memorial Day is entirely lost. Of course Memorial Day, for those who may be unaware, is a day that is set aside as a holiday in order to remember those who have died while serving in any area of the United States military — a holiday that stems back all the way to the conclusion of the American Civil War in order to honor the Union and Confederate soldiers who were killed by either side. In other words, it’s not some new tradition that was created out of thin air.

As one of the individuals interviewed explained, he simply doesn’t care what the holiday is as long as he gets off from work for one day. Whether it’s celebrating our sovereignty, the countless men and women who died fighting under the nation, or really anything — as long as it means a day off from work, it doesn’t matter! Can you imagine this attitude when it comes to the reality of what’s going on in our countrytoday? It’s no wonder that the banks are getting away with funding Mexican drug cartels and other groups without a hitch.

If it means getting off from work and having some friends over, who really cares? Checkout the video below:



And it’s a holiday that passes through left verses right and even through the war debate when considering its deep roots back throughout United States history. At the very least, just knowing what the holiday represents amounts to a baseline level of elementary knowledge. I must say I am amazed. I’ve seen people sign away their constitutional rights through Mark’s clipboards, petition to ban war, and I’ve even conducted similar experiments myself, but these videos still surprise me.

As it turns out, people are so driven by mainstream media theater that they will actually, in many cases, derive their opinions from their favorite talking head. Such is the case with those who responded to my question of how many people they estimate are killed with rifles each year with ‘over 1 million’ and other wild figures that blew my mind (it’s actually only 348). And why would they think this? Well, many of them cited mass shootings as the reason. The ‘epidemic’ of mass shootings that they see on the 24/7 news cycle following any such incident.


The same mass shootings that the Department of Justice (DOJ) says kill a maximum of 35 people per year and divert a large amount of precious time and energy from law enforcement away from larger threats. Threats like thousands of deaths from blunt weapons, hands, feet, and knives that outnumber rifle deaths by the thousands.

I decided to cover this video and topic to get across this bottom line point: If we have individuals who simply do not care one bit to think about what they have been ‘celebrating’ each year for their entire lives, especially with Memorial Day representing something of real significance, are we really surprised how many people blindly go along with government and mega corporations? Whether they follow mainstream media theater, or simply live in a ‘pastime paradise’ full of mindless entertainment, remember that these are the people who call critical thinkers ‘conspiracy theorists’ for asking questions.

BPA study shows gender effects in mice

Steve Connor
The Independent
May 28, 2013

Further evidence has emerged showing that a chemical used widely in plastic packaging and the lining of drinks cans may be harmful to health.

The latest study has shown that bisphenol A (BPA) can affect the way genes work in the brains of laboratory rats, although other scientists have questioned the relevance of the findings to humans.

Researchers found that feeding BPA to pregnant rats was associated with lasting alterations to the “epigenetic” structure of genes in the brain tissue of their offspring, causing possible changes to certain aspects of sex-specific behaviour, such as chasing, sniffing and aggression.

[...] The researchers concluded: “This study provides evidence that low-dose maternal BPA exposure induces long-lasting disruption to epigenetic pathways in the brain of offspring….Importantly, our findings indicate that these BPA-induced changes occur in a sex-specific, brain region-specific and dose-dependent manner.”

Read full article

Texas Bans Drone Surveillance



Legislation pending in 31 other states

Steve Watson
Infowars.com
May 28, 2013


The Texas legislature passed a bill this past weekend that would see a blanket ban on capturing moving or still images on private property with an unmanned drone.

The legislation, House Bill 912, authored by Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Terrell, will make it a Class C misdemeanor for anyone to use a drone for surveillance of an individual without their prior consent. Further distributing any images captured as a result of such activity will be a class B misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $10,000.

The bill states that “Each image a person possesses, discloses, displays, distributes, or otherwise uses in violation of this section is a separate offense. An offense under this section for the disclosure, display, distribution, or other use of an image is a Class B misdemeanor.”

Exceptions to the legislation, known as the ‘Texas Privacy Act’, will be police use of drones to pursue known felons or conduct criminal investigations. Using drones to investigate misdemeanors will require a warrant. In addition, use of drones to survey accidents, disasters or potential hazardous spills will be permitted.

Another exemption allows media organisations that have permission to use drones to monitor any major news activity.

“With the privacy and property rights of Texans, it is important that specific safeguards are put into place which govern the purpose and manner in which drones may be used,” said Rep. Gooden.

The Senate passed the measure 26-5 Sunday, while House members also passed the measure 140-4. The bill will now go to the desk of Governor Rick Perry.

Texas is the latest trailblazing state to ban warrantless spy drones being used by police or government, in an effort to protect privacy.

Last month, Idaho became the second state in the US to ban drones as Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter signed legislation into law that restricts the use of unmanned vehicles by public agencies, and mandates that warrants must be obtained in order to collect evidence using the technology.

The bill was passed by both the Idaho House and Senate, and it strictly prohibits the use of drones to spy on anyone in the state, or to conduct surveillance of their private property, without the person’s express written consent.

In February, Virginia became the first state in the US to pass such legislation, as the state General Assembly approved a two year moratorium on drone aircraft, sending the legislation to Gov. Bob McDonnell’s desk.

Since that time, McDonnell, who has previously applauded the use of drones has sought to weaken the legislation to allow certain parties to use drones.

The move did not surprise anti-drone activists in the state who have pointed to his strong connections with law enforcement.

“He’s a former prosecutor, and law enforcement wants these (drones),” John Whitehead, president of the Charlottesville-based Rutherford Institute, a civil-liberties group said last week.

“Get ready, Virginia. The moratorium is an illusion. We will be one of the leading states” for drone use and technology. Whitehead added.

The approval of the Virginia moratorium came in the wake of the passage of legislation by city officials in Charlottesville, Va to keep drones out of their airspace altogether, making it the first US city to enact such a ban. Whether city officials will be able to extend their ban to federal drone aircraft or not remains to be seen.

Legislation has been introduced by lawmakers in 36 other states to regulate domestic drone use, and bills are still actively being considered in 31 states.

Recent reports have noted that the drone industry is engaged in an all out PR offensive to convince Americans that the unmanned vehicles are more than just tools for spying and assassinations.

Recent surveys suggest that most Americans now have significant reservations about the use of drones by government and law enforcement, with over half believing they have a right to shoot down a drone if it flies over their property without their permission.

Just how strictly the drone bans in Virginia, Texas, and Idaho will be implemented remains to be seen.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Another Gun Manufacturer Leaving Connecticut

 

Monday, May 27, 2013

Screen Shot 2013-05-27 at 1.41.04 PMConnecticut is the seventh-largest producer of firearms in the country, with gun manufacturers currently accounting for just under 3,000 direct jobs as well as the thousands of jobs supported through related industries — but thanks to the state’s recent outlawing of ‘high-capacity magazines’ and an ‘assault weapons’-ban expansion, that might be set to change. Last month, we already learned of PTR Industries’ announcement of their pending relocation from Connecticut after the state banned many of their products, and the NYT reported this week that they’re not the only ones:
In a state desperate to maintain and revive its industrial base, Mark Malkowski thinks he should be getting gold stars.
He started a manufacturing company at age 25, and in 10 years built it into an industry leader, with 200 employees, that sells 6,000 of its products every month at roughly $1,000 each. The company, Stag Arms, is currently almost a year behind in fulfilling orders. …
Post Continues on hotair.com


Read more: http://patriotupdate.com/2013/05/another-gun-manufacturer-leaving-conneticut/#ixzz2UYG9xuJO

Mother Dies In Courtroom While “Gasping for Breath” Officers Refused To Give Her Asthma Inhaler

AUTHOR Libertarian Girl
May 27, 2013 9:27am PST



There are thousands of people in jail for non-violent and victimless crimes. Our prison systems are over crowded and corrupt. Nearly everyday we see a new story on police abuse and tragedy in the criminal justice system. It makes no sense to throw people in jail that can’t afford to pay traffic tickets. They certainly can’t pay them behind bars. You would think debtors prisons were a thing of the past but they aren’t. One woman was thrown in jail over an unpaid traffic violation and she paid with the ultimate price, her life .
Dwana Vonica London-Richardson died, at age 45, on a courtroom floor struggling to breath, after being arrested and jailed over an unpaid parking traffic violation. Dwana was thrown in jail over a 2008 traffic ticket and then refused medical treatment.
Courthouse News reports that a federal lawsuit as been filed against the St. Clair County Sheriff, county jail administration, and the company that is responsible for providing health care to inmates.
Ayunna Johnae London, the daughter of the deceased victim, claims her mother died gasping for breath in the court after being treated callously and unconstitutionally. Her mother suffered from asthma and other health conditions yet the jail administration refused to get her medication, saying she was faking it, and then they let her die in the courtroom, according to Ayunna.
Southern Healthcare Partners which claims to be, “the leader in customized inmate medical solutions,” and services over 12 states was responsible for Dwanas’ care. Her daughter claims they failed to treat her properly.
Ayunna visted her mother two days after she was arrested and claims her mother was ill, couldn’t walk well, was suffering from breathing problems and pain in her legs. She also claims that the staff refused to acknowledge her illness.
On the morning of her court hearing Courthouse News reports:
“Ayunna headed to the St. Clair County Courthouse early that morning,” the complaint states. “She could not locate where court was being held. She saw deputy (or jailer) John Doe standing at the fire station, talking to a firefighter so she pulled into the station to ask where court was being held.
“When she pulled into the fire station, she saw her mother lying on the ground next to the police car with her legs extended under the police car.
“She asked them what had happened and her mother told her that she did not know, that she had just passed out. Ms. Richardson was sweating and struggling breathing.
“Ayunna had one of her mother’s asthma pumps in her car so she asked if her mother could sit in her car and get some air.
“Ayunna gave her mother the asthma pump but it was not working. Her mother’s breathing continued to get worse.”
London says the deputies still refused to take her mom to the hospital, and said would be locked up if she didn’t keep her court date.
“Ms. Richardson was unable to walk,” the complaint states. “Deputy (or jailer) Doe obtained an office chair from the courthouse and they used it to wheel Ms. Richardson to the courtroom.
“Ayunna set beside deputy (or jailer) Doe and her mother, fanning her mother, whose breathing continued to get worse.
“After sitting in the courtroom waiting for about twenty minutes, Ms. Richardson stated that she ‘could not take anymore,’ and she told deputy/jailer Doe that she needed help.
“Ayunna also pleaded with deputy/jailer Doe to get someone to help her mother.
“Deputy/jailer Doe responded as though he believed Ms. Richardson was just putting on.
“Ms. Richardson then stated ‘I need to lay down.’
“Ms. Richardson laid down on the courtroom floor and her body started to shaking.
“Deputy/jailer Doe took no action to assist Ms. Richardson or to clear the courtroom.
“Everyone in the courtroom watched as Ms. Richardson died in court, on the courtroom floor.
“Ayunna stayed beside her mother trying to do CPR to bring her back for about twenty minutes, but she failed.”
By the time emergency personal had arrived it was too late to save Dwana. Now her daughter is seeking punitive damages for constitutional violations, wrongful death and negligence. It’s an entirely backwards and corrupt practice to jail those who cannot afford to pay fines. To add injury to insult this woman was then refused medical care and paid her traffic ticket with her life.

40 Statistics About The Fall Of The U.S. Economy That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe

Michael Snyder
Economic Collapse
May 27, 2013
If you know someone that actually believes that the U.S. economy is in good shape, just show them the statistics in this article. When you step back and look at the long-term trends, it is undeniable what is happening to us. We are in the midst of a horrifying economic decline that is the result of decades of very bad decisions. 30 years ago, the U.S. national debt was about one trillion dollars. Today, it is almost 17 trillion dollars. 40 years ago, the total amount of debt in the United States was about 2 trillion dollars.
Today, it is more than 56 trillion dollars. At the same time that we have been running up all of this debt, our economic infrastructure and our ability to produce wealth has been absolutely gutted. Since 2001, the United States has lost more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities and millions of good jobs have been shipped overseas. Our share of global GDP declined from 31.8 percent in 2001 to 21.6 percent in 2011. The percentage of Americans that are self-employed is at a record low, and the percentage of Americans that are dependent on the government is at a record high. The U.S. economy is a complete and total mess, and it is time that we faced the truth.
The following are 40 statistics about the fall of the U.S. economy that are almost too crazy to believe…
#1 Back in 1980, the U.S. national debt was less than one trillion dollars. Today, it is rapidly approaching 17 trillion dollars…
40 Statistics About The Fall Of The U.S. Economy That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe National Debt 425x255
#2 During Obama’s first term, the federal government accumulated more debt than it did under the first 42 U.S presidents combined.
#3 The U.S. national debt is now more than 23 times larger than it was when Jimmy Carter became president.
#4 If you started paying off just the new debt that the U.S. has accumulated during the Obama administration at the rate of one dollar per second, it would take more than 184,000 years to pay it off.
#5 The federal government is stealing more than 100 million dollars from our children and our grandchildren every single hour of every single day.
#6 Back in 1970, the total amount of debt in the United States (government debt + business debt + consumer debt, etc.) was less than 2 trillion dollars. Today it is over 56 trillion dollars…
40 Statistics About The Fall Of The U.S. Economy That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe Total Debt 425x255
#7 According to the World Bank, U.S. GDP accounted for 31.8 percentof all global economic activity in 2001. That number dropped to 21.6 percent in 2011.
#8 The United States has fallen in the global economic competitiveness rankings compiled by the World Economic Forum for four years in a row.
#9 According to The Economist, the United States was the best place in the world to be born into back in 1988. Today, the United States is only tied for 16th place.
#10 Incredibly, more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities in the United States have been permanently shut down since 2001.
#11 There are less Americans working in manufacturing today than there was in 1950 even though the population of the country has more than doubled since then.
#12 According to the New York Times, there are now approximately 70,000 abandoned buildings in Detroit.
#13 When NAFTA was pushed through Congress in 1993, the United States had a trade surplus with Mexico of 1.6 billion dollars. By 2010, we had a trade deficit with Mexico of 61.6 billion dollars.
#14 Back in 1985, our trade deficit with China was approximately 6million dollars (million with a little “m”) for the entire year. In 2012, our trade deficit with China was 315 billion dollars. That was the largest trade deficit that one nation has had with another nation in the history of the world.
#15 Overall, the United States has run a trade deficit of more than 8 trillion dollars with the rest of the world since 1975.
#16 According to the Economic Policy Institute, the United States is losing half a million jobs to China every single year.
#17 Back in 1950, more than 80 percent of all men in the United States had jobs. Today, less than 65 percent of all men in the United States have jobs.
#18 At this point, an astounding 53 percent of all American workers make less than $30,000 a year.
#19 Small business is rapidly dying in America. At this point, only about 7 percent of all non-farm workers in the United States are self-employed. That is an all-time record low.
#20 Back in 1983, the bottom 95 percent of all income earners in the United States had 62 cents of debt for every dollar that they earned. By 2007, that figure had soared to $1.48.
#21 In the United States today, the wealthiest one percent of all Americans have a greater net worth than the bottom 90 percent combined.
#22 According to Forbes, the 400 wealthiest Americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans combined.
#23 The six heirs of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton have as much wealth as the bottom one-third of all Americans combined.
#24 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 146 million Americans are either “poor” or “low income”.
#25 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 49 percent of all Americans live in a home that receives direct monetary benefits from the federal government. Back in 1983, less than a third of all Americans lived in a home that received direct monetary benefits from the federal government.
#26 Overall, the federal government runs nearly 80 different “means-tested welfare programs”, and at this point more than 100 million Americans are enrolled in at least one of them.
#27 Back in 1965, only one out of every 50 Americans was on Medicaid. Today, one out of every 6 Americans is on Medicaid, and things are about to get a whole lot worse. It is being projected that Obamacare will add 16 million more Americans to the Medicaid rolls.
#28 As I wrote recently, it is being projected that the number of Americans on Medicare will grow from 50.7 million in 2012 to 73.2 million in 2025.
#29 At this point, Medicare is facing unfunded liabilities of more than 38 trillion dollars over the next 75 years. That comes to approximately$328,404 for every single household in the United States.
#30 Right now, there are approximately 56 million Americans collecting Social Security benefits. By 2035, that number is projected to soar to an astounding 91 million.
#31 Overall, the Social Security system is facing a 134 trillion dollar shortfall over the next 75 years.
#32 Today, the number of Americans on Social Security Disability now exceeds the entire population of Greece, and the number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the entire population of Spain.
#33 According to a report recently issued by the Pew Research Center, on average Americans over the age of 65 have 47 times as much wealth as Americans under the age of 35.
#34 U.S. families that have a head of household that is under the age of 30 have a poverty rate of 37 percent.
#35 As I mentioned recently, the homeownership rate in America is now at its lowest level in nearly 18 years.
#36 There are now 20.2 million Americans that spend more than half of their incomes on housing. That represents a 46 percent increase from 2001.
#37 45 percent of all children are living in poverty in Miami, more than 50 percent of all children are living in poverty in Cleveland, and about 60 percent of all children are living in poverty in Detroit.
#38 Today, more than a million public school students in the United States are homeless. This is the first time that has ever happened in our history.
#39 When Barack Obama first entered the White House, about 32 million Americans were on food stamps. Now, more than 47 million Americans are on food stamps.
#40 According to one calculation, the number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the combined populations of “Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.”

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Consumers Will Soon Have Devices In Their Hands To Detect GMO and Toxic Foods

Marco Torres
preventdisease.com
May 26, 2013

In the not too distant future, consumers will be able to run on-the-spot tests for environmental toxins, GMOs, pesticides, food safety and more with their smartphones and other hand-held devices.

Every human being on every developed nation on Earth, whether living in a rural or isolated area, in the middle of a large city, or near an industrialized area, now contains at least 700 contaminants in their body including pesticides, pthalates, benzenes, parabens, xylenes and many other carcinogenic and endrocrine disrupting chemicals.

We are being bombarded on a daily basis by an astronomical level of toxicity, all controlled by chemical terrorists on behalf of the food industry. Morever, many of these toxins affect our fertility and those of successive generations.

It’s time for people to know exactly what they are putting in their bodies and technology is coming to the rescue. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign researchers have developed a cradle and app that uses a phone’s built-in camera and processing power as a biosensor to detect toxins, proteins, bacteria, viruses and other molecules.

“We’re interested in biodetection that needs to be performed outside of the laboratory,” said team leader Brian Cunningham, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and of bioengineering at Illinois. “Smartphones are making a big impact on our society — the way we get our information, the way we communicate. And they have really powerful computing capability and imaging. A lot of medical conditions might be monitored very inexpensively and non-invasively using mobile platforms like phones. They can detect molecular things, like pathogens, disease biomarkers or DNA, things that are currently only done in big diagnostic labs with lots of expense and large volumes of blood.”

“Modern biological research is also allowing an extension of laboratory devices on to small computer chips to detect biological information within DNA sequences,” said biotech specialist Dr. Marek Banaszewski. “Bioinformatic algorithms within programs will aid the identification of transgenes, promoters, and other functional elements of DNA making detection of genetically modified foods on-the-spot and real-time without transportation to a laboratory.”

The wedge-shaped cradle created by Cunningham’s team contains a series of optical components — lenses and filters — found in much larger and more expensive laboratory devices. The cradle holds the phone’s camera in alignment with the optical components.

At the heart of the biosensor is a photonic crystal. A photonic crystal is like a mirror that only reflects one wavelength of light while the rest of the spectrum passes through. When anything biological attaches to the photonic crystal — such as protein, cells, pathogens or DNA — the reflected color will shift from a shorter wavelength to a longer wavelength.

The entire test takes only a few minutes; the app walks the user through the process step by step. Although the cradle holds only about $200 of optical components, it performs as accurately as a large $50,000 spectrophotometer in the laboratory. So now, the device is not only portable, but also affordable for fieldwork in developing nations.

In a paper published in the journal Lab on a Chip, the team demonstrated sensing of an immune system protein, but the slide could be primed for any type of biological molecule or cell type. The researchers are working to improve the manufacturing process for the iPhone cradle and are working on a cradle for Android phones as well. They hope to begin making the cradles available next year.

In addition, Cunningham’s team is working on biosensing tests that could be performed in the field to detect toxins in harvested corn and soybeans, and to detect pathogens in food and water.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Modular Solid State Technologies EMFT in Regensburg have also engineered an ingenius solution to detecting toxins – a glove that recognizes if toxic substances are present in the surrounding air.

The protective glove is equipped with custom-made sensor materials and indicates the presence of toxic substances by changing colors. In this regard, the scientists adapted the materials to the corresponding analytes, and thus, the application. The color change — from colorless (no toxic substance) to blue (toxic substance detected). The researchers also envision other potential applications for the glove in the food industry.

Other handheld devices currently in development are portable chemiluminescence detectors, but based on enzyme-catalyzed reactions emitting light. The detection devices for nucleic acids, biotin associated with the target DNA provides the handle for the chemiluminescent detection. The non-radioactive DNA detection chemistry will be able to readily identify single-copy genes in transgenic plants making them suitable for GMO detection.
Marco Torres is a research specialist, writer and consumer advocate for healthy lifestyles. He holds degrees in Public Health and Environmental Science and is a professional speaker on topics such as disease prevention, environmental toxins and health policy.

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Obama Expands Militarization of Police

therealnews.com
May 25, 2013



Men in heavy armor carry assault rifles, patrolling streets alongside armored personnel carriers. These are scenes from the manhunt in Watertown, following April 15′s Boston Marathon Bombings. After locking down the area, local, state, and federal agencies sent SWAT teams out in force in search of the remaining suspect. The images from those days are striking, and raise serious questions about how and when the use of paramilitary policing tools should be used.

SWAT teams originated in the late 1960s, but their use greatly expanded in the 1980s as the Reagan administration doubled down on the drug war. In 1988 the Byrne Grant Program passed Congress, allocating substantial funding for anti-drug policing. As money was awarded for drug arrests, resources shifted toward drug raids, increasingly using SWAT teams for this purpose. Meanwhile federal programs were introduced increasing training and cooperation between the military and domestic law enforcement to battle drug crime.

Other Reagan-era policies encouraged the transfer of surplus military hardware to law enforcement, which in the 1990s became firmly established by the Clinton Administration’s 1033 Program, incorporating millions of pieces of equipment designed for war zones into domestic policing agencies.

Read more

The United States Is In Fact An Orwellian Tyranny

Obama statements at the National Defense University

Lt. William J. Lawler II
libertycrier.com
May 25, 2013


The United States is in fact an Orwellian Tyranny that merely chooses not to implement full tyrannical measures. It only makes this decision because it does not yet have sufficient power to completely control the masses, i.e. we have not been made sufficiently docile, nor sufficiently dumbed down, fattened, sickened, and disarmed. When the government does have that power, and it will soon enough, it may then be too late to effectively resist.

During a speech on May 23 at the National Defense University at Ft. McNair in Washington D.C. in which Barrack Hussein Obama was called to the carpet by Medea Benjamin, one of his employers, for his actions relating to men who are illegally imprisoned by the United States Government, he stated: “Now, even after we take these steps one issue will remain, just how to deal with those Gitmo detainees who we know have participated in dangerous plots or attacks but who cannot be prosecuted, for example, because the evidence against them has been compromised or is not admissible in a court of law. But once we commit to a process of closing Gitmo I am confident that this legacy problem can be resolved consistent with our commitment to the rule of law.”

Think about this, the man who claims to be the President of the United States has just admitted that he is refusing to order the immediate release of prisoners that the government admits it has no evidence against. Yet in the same breath Obama states that the government “knows” the men committed crimes! How can the government know that somebody has committed a crime yet simultaneously have no evidence against him?! And worse yet, how can it continue to unlawfully imprison that person?! How can Obama announce that these men are guilty when they have never been found guilty in a court of law?! Barrack Hussein Obama has just announced to the world that he has the authority to unilaterally declare that someone is or is not guilty of a crime. The executive branch of government has now officially partially assumed the proper and constitutionally delegated role of the judicial branch. Also notice the Orwellian Double Speak as he claims that it is possible to “deal” with this issue consistent with the rule of law, while simultaneously violating the rule of law! The two practices are mutually exclusive and completely incompatible, yet he states that they work together. This is a whole new level of new speak and double speak. Non-evidence is actually evidence, tainted evidence is reliable evidence, illegal evidence is legal evidence, violating the law is upholding the law, and usurping the Constitution is adhering to the rule of law! This is the definitive definition of new speak and tyranny!

Also, let us not gloss over the fact that Obama refers to this situation as a “legacy problem” in a clear attempt to insinuate that he holds no responsibility for and is in no way accountable for this unlawful practice. Indeed, George W. Bush implemented this unconstitutional practice, but Obama continued it despite his crystal clear campaign promises to the contrary. From the moment that Obama took office and failed to order the immediate civilian trial or the release of every prisoner, he not only proved himself to not be a man of his word, he also immediately assumed culpability and responsibility for the actions of his predecessor and for every day thereafter that those human beings are denied their inalienable and God-given rights. In legal parlance this is called conspiracy after the fact, and it is a criminal offense.

At this moment all doubts as to the Orwellian and tyrannical nature of this dictator and of the United States Federal Government have been evaporated! There is now no room for doubt on where we stand! Who among us will idly stand by as men, against whom there is no evidence, rot in prison? How many American Citizens does this include? How long until this new legal standard is incorporated into and utilized in domestic criminal courts at the local, state, and federal levels? Or has it already been introduced and continues to be so incrementally? A close examination of the criminal justice system clearly demonstrates that this is indeed the case at every level of government, from traffic courts, to tax courts, to criminal courts, and “adjudicated hearings” conducted by the likes of the EPA, the NLRB, et al.

The judicial tyrants on the Supreme Court and other federal courts have bent over backwards to allow every form of illegally, unlawfully, and unconstitutionally obtained evidence by police and other government agents to be admissible in courts and used against the accused, essentially eviscerating the Fourth Amendment. They have also steadily chipped away at the right to a speedy trial, the right to confront you accuser, and the right to present evidence on your own behalf, while simultaneously increasing the so-called right of government law breakers to be immune from criminal and civil prosecution for their criminality, brutality, and lawlessness. No wonder so many people in government are afraid of an armed citizenry. An armed man is a citizen whereas an unarmed man is a subject. Or put another way, an armed citizenry will get to the point where they won’t take this abuse anymore and agents of the state will find that engaging in immoral and unconstitutional actions will more likely than not result in them being shot and killed by those whom they are oppressing, whereas an unarmed citizenry that finally gets to the point where they can’t take it anymore will have no choice but to roll over and take it-hard. History and the current world are replete with these kinds of societies.

All the while the one party system in Congress not only allows this to happen, but actively funds it with your money. Think about it. You spend on average 33% of every hour you work, every day you work, every week you work, every month you work, and every year you work, working to support these policies and practices. And when you are not working you are paying compound taxes that amount to an average of 33% of the costs for the goods and services that you consume and utilize every day. Essentially, the government says that it owns one-third of your life, whether you like it or not. At one time that figure was 0%, 1%, 5%, etc. One day it will be well over 50% and perhaps even 90%-100%. And there won’t be a damn thing you can do about it because by then you will have been fattened up, dumbed down, and disarmed. Perhaps we are getting what we deserve for allowing our government to do what it does to the sovereign peoples of foreign lands.

Keep in mind that the fact that most of these men are foreigners is not ok. The rights to habeas corpus, trial by jury, and due process are universal human rights that apply to all men. Remember that the Constitution does not grant these rights to Americans, it merely recognizes these preexisting rights which apply to all men by the nature of their very existence. As such, our government is obligated to apply these rights to all human beings with whom it interacts or comes into contact. If you have not yet attained a post-conventional stage of intellectual and moral development where just doing the right thing for the sake of doing what is right, is enough for you; then allow me to appeal to your selfish pre-conventional stage of intellectual and moral development and point out that it is also in your own best interest to oppose this tyranny because there is a direct inverse relationship between a government’s exertion of power over foreigners and foreign lands, and the amount of domestic freedom at home. As the exertion of foreign power increases, freedom at home decreases. This is because policies, procedures, practices, techniques, and technologies are invariably directed inward as opposed to exclusively outward. Proof of this is found throughout history but more recently is found in both of the Patriot Acts, both of the Military Commissions Acts, the NDAA, the de facto nullifications of the Posse Comitatus Act and of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, the actions of C.I.A. personnel within the United States, as well as the events at Ruby Ridge, Waco, and Boston, and the general militarization of local and civilian law enforcement.

And what will become of the prisoners that Obama has found guilty by public proclamation? My guess is a combination of the following: Secret Star Chamber type trials that invariably find everyone guilty, executive orders finding them guilty-this would merely formalize Obama’s public pronouncements of guilt, life in prison, death, handing over to third parties that will agree to do what we tell them to do to the prisoners-including murdering them. People like me will soon follow.

“Freedom is not bestowed upon by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature.” -Benjamin Franklin.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” -Lord Acton.

“A Republic, if you can keep it.” -Benjamin Franklin.

What are you waiting for? How much more of a clarion call do you require before you wake up and before you take action? Must you literally find yourself, a loved one, or a friend, dead, nearly beaten to death, about to die, or unjustly imprisoned, before you are ready to take action, and then wishing that you had already done so because at that point it will be too late?

It Is Time To Break These CHAINS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday, May 24, 2013

Mike Judge Defends Second Amendment & More In Exclusive Interview With Alex Jones

Infowars.com
May 24, 2013



Iconic animator Mike Judge, the man behind Beavis & Butt-Head, King of the Hill and Office Space, sat down with Alex Jones for an exclusive interview during which he defended the Second Amendment and covered a myriad of other topics.

RELATED: Animator Mike Judge: Idiocracy is Happening Now

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Holder OK’d search warrant for Fox News reporter’s private emails, official says

Michael Isikoff
NBC
May 23, 2013

Attorney General Eric Holder signed off on a controversial search warrant that identified Fox News reporter James Rosen as a “possible co-conspirator” in violations of the Espionage Act and authorized seizure of his private emails, a law enforcement official told NBC News on Thursday.

The disclosure of the attorney general’s role came as President Barack Obama, in a major speech on his counterterrorism policy, said Holder had agreed to review Justice Department guidelines governing investigations that involve journalists.

“I am troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable,” Obama said. “Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs.”

Read full article

56 percent want to go back to pre-ObamaCare system

Dana Blanton
foxnews.com
May 23, 2013

Majorities of American voters say their family will be worse off under the Affordable Care Act, and think it would be better to go back to the pre-ObamaCare health care system.

A Fox News poll released Wednesday finds that while 26 percent of voters say their health care situation will be better under the new law, twice as many — 53 percent — say it will be worse. Another 13 percent say it won’t make a difference.

Almost all Republicans (85 percent) and just over half of independents (51 percent) say they will be worse off under ObamaCare. Nearly half of Democrats expect to be better off (48 percent), while about one-quarter believe they will be worse off (24 percent).

Read more

Florida Cops Plan to Harass Gun Show Attendees

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
May 23, 2013


Illustration: Andy Warhol.

The Tampa Bay Times reports that the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office plans to “strictly enforce a county law mandating background checks for all customers at gun shows” and close down private firearms sales between individuals.

Working closely with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office will conduct an undercover operation at the Two Guys Gun Show in Largo, Florida this weekend.

The ATF has conducted numerous investigations of gun shows over the past decade. The ATF and the Justice Department claim gun shows are used by gangs and others, including Mexican drug cartels, to illegally peddle firearms used in murders and other criminal activity.

Seven counties in Florida have attempted to close the so-called gun show loophole by enacting a law requiring background checks of private gun sales.

“We’re going to make sure the ordinance is enforced,” Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri told the newspaper earlier this week. “The last thing in the world that I want to see, and I hope anyone wants to see, is a firearm fall into the hands of a person who’s prohibited by law from possessing one.”

Gualtieri sent Two Guys Gun Show organizer Guy Lemakos a letter to “remind” him of private vendors’ of government-mandated responsibilities under the ordinance. Lemakos told The Tampa Bay Times he will personally perform background checks on about 25 private sellers at the show, although he believes guidelines issued by the Sheriff’s office are unfair. Private vendors constitute around 20 percent of sellers at the show.

“I’ll do what I have to do, but I’m uncomfortable with it, because I’m not a cop,” he said. “It’s not the responsibility of a gun show owner to enforce the law.”

The police admit they do not have the resources or manpower to enforce the law. “Manpower is limited,” Hillsborough sheriff’s Col. Donna Lusczynski said.

Democrat Hillsborough County Commissioner Les Miller told the newspaper he will consider ways to find additional funding for the Hillsborough Sheriff’s Office to specifically enforce the background-check law at gun shows.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Amnesty Bill Swiftly Gains Senate Approval While America Focuses On “Scandals”

Donna Anderson
Infowars.com
May 22, 2013


Photo: Wikipedia

In what has to be the quickest, quietest approval process in history, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act got the go-ahead yesterday from the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill now moves to the Senate floor where it may pass again, just as quickly, if Americans remain distracted by the current “scandals” inside the White House.

The bipartisan “Gang of Eight” immigration reform bill passed in the Democratic-controlled committee by a vote of 13-5. All 10 Democrats on the panel voted in favor of the bill and they were joined by three Republicans – Jeff Flake of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Orrin Hatch of Utah.

Given it’s size and complexity, the 844-page bill, consisting of approximately 300 amendments passed with amazing speed in less than three weeks. But maybe it’s really not so amazing when you consider what’s on the line for both parties.

Republicans who’ve been accused of pandering to gun lobbyists and using the IRS, AP and Benghazi controversies to “make hay” don’t want to make more waves by fighting the immigration bill. Allowing the bill to pass without argument also gives the impression that the Republicans party cares about their constituents. And during the last election, Latinos voted overwhelmingly for Obama, so both parties, especially Republicans, want their share of the Latino vote next time around.

Senator Hatch’s swing vote is of particular importance and highlights one of the key reasons Americans need to avoid the “scandalous” distractions in Washington and pay closer attention to this bill. In order to get Hatch’s support, Gang of Eight negotiator Democrat Chuck Schumer of New York, raised the cap on the number of H1-B visas from 65,000 to 110, 000, and added provision to increase the number even higher to 180,000.

The H1-B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows U.S. employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in high-tech occupations.

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio was also appreciative of Hatch’s support:

“The Senate Judiciary Committee’s approval of Senator Hatch’s proposal to improve the H-1B visa provisions in the immigration legislation address key concerns shared by many conservatives,” he said in a statement. “We must modernize our broken legal immigration system to meet the needs of America’s 21st century economy and create jobs. Senator Hatch’s amendment provides important protections for American workers while also ensuring that fast-growing and high-tech firms can continue to create jobs here in America.”

But the AFL-CIO disagrees. “Hatch’s amendments would change the bill so high-tech companies can hire new immigrant employees without first making the jobs available to American workers,” wrote Ana Avendaño, assistant to the president for immigration at the AFL-CIO, in the email. “Hatch’s amendments would mean American corporations could fire American workers in order to bring in new immigrant workers at lower wages.”

The Congressional Budget Office will assess the fiscal cost of the bill over the next two weeks, and then it moves on to the full Senate. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is urging Republicans not to block the bill from a floor vote. The bill is expected to be enacted on or before October 1, 2013, which is the date set for funding the initial $6.6 billion Trust Fund.

IRS Official Invokes The Fifth, Angering Tea Party Patriots Group

Infowars.com
May 22, 2013

Lois Lerner told House investigators she didn’t do anything wrong and she didn’t break any laws, and then she invoked her Fifth Amendment Right to remain silent to avoid self-incrimination. But then, she’s already told so many lies, what difference does it really make? Nobody’s believe her, anyway.

Following the advice of her attorney, Lois Lerner, the IRS official responsible for granting tax exemptions, decided to plead the Fifth rather than risk entangling and probably incriminating herself in the tangled web of lies surrounding the IRS controversy.

Before clamming up, Lerner said, “I know some people will assume I have done something wrong. I have not,” she said. “I have not broken any laws. I have not violated any IRS rules and regulations, and I have not provided false information to this or any other congressional committee.”

Represtative Trey Gowdy, (R-S.C.) protested Lerner’s action. “You don’t get to tell your side of the story and then not stand for cross examination,” he said. “She waived her right against self-incrimination, she ought to sit here and answer our questions.”

Chairman Darrell Issa, (R-Calif.) said not to worry. Lerner could be recalled if committee lawyers determine whe waived her rights by delivering an opening statement.

However, Jenny Beth Martin, Tea Party Patriots Co-Founder and National Coordinator, was none too happy that Lerner was allowed to plead the Fifth. She says her group was one of those targeted and harassed by the IRS.

“While we respect Ms. Lerner’s use of the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment, we are disturbed she saw fit to trample over our First Amendment rights by harassing us and many other groups for our views.”

Facebook falling out of favor with teens

upi.com
May 22, 2013

Teens are sharing more about themselves on social media but many favor Twitter to avoid parents and “oversharing” they see on Facebook, a U.S. poll indicates.

While social media use is skyrocketing among teenagers, they aren’t happy with a Facebook community that involves “drama,” stress and their parents, the Pew Research Center said in a report released Tuesday.

Teens “dislike the increasing number of adults on the site, get annoyed when their Facebook friends share inane details, and are drained by the ‘drama’ that they described as happening frequently on the site,” the report said.

Read more

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

We need to listen to this

Governor Kills Funding For Florida Snitch Program

 


Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
May 21, 2013


Florida Governor Rick Scott has killed funding for a controversial “violence prevention program” in Florida which caused a public backlash after the Sheriff’s office in Palm Beach County encouraged people to report on their neighbors for anti-government rhetoric.

As we reported earlier this month, the program would have created a 24 hour hotline via which citizens could report “suspicious behavior,” prompting “a knock on the door and a referral to services” by specially trained deputies and mental health caseworkers.

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, a Democrat, stoked anger amongst conservatives when he suggested the program would be used to target political free speech deemed potentially violent by authorities.

“We want people to call us if the guy down the street says he hates the government, hates the mayor and he’s gonna shoot him,” Bradshaw said. “What does it hurt to have somebody knock on a door and ask, ‘Hey, is everything OK?’”

Following a public backlash from critics who denounced the program as a disturbing throwback to how political dissidents were imprisoned in Soviet mental hospitals for criticizing the state, Governor Rick Scott announced that the campaign would not receive taxpayer funds and the Sheriff’s office has said that it is now reconsidering the plan.

“Gov. Rick Scott vetoed $1 million from the state budget that was part of funding for the county’s “Violence Prevention Program,” designed to encourage communities to report suspicious behavior. Now the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office says it will “re-evaluate the feasibility of going forward,” reports the Florida Sun-Sentinel.

However, Scott’s reason for vetoing funding was because the whole state would have been paying for a local program, and apparently had little to do with public rancor over the proposal. Scott called the program a “very-well-intended project.”

Although the Sheriff’s office had previously indicated it would go ahead with the scheme even without state funding, the project now appears to be on the verge of being mothballed.

“The sheriff appreciates the fact that the Legislature saw fit to fund the program and the governor considered the program and its value before making the tough budget decision,” a spokeswoman said in a statement. “Given the lack for funding, the Sheriff’s Office will re-evaluate the feasibility of going forward, and continue with existing programs to combat violence in the community.”

Critics like former Soviet Union resident Dmitry Levin said the project bore hallmarks of belonging under a tyrannical regime, “It’s a specific telephone line to report your neighbor who doesn’t like the government,” he remarked. “When I read that, my jaw dropped. That’s KGB in its finest form. The next step would be, what, bonuses for reporting?”

However, as we have highlighted, Americans are already being targeted for “psychiatric evaluations” as a result of their political opinions.

Last year, former Marine Brandon Raub was forcibly incarcerated in a psychiatric ward by authorities in Virginia for political posts on Facebook.

In addition, authorities are greasing the skids for wider gun confiscation by expanding the definition under which a person can be declared “mentally ill,” to the point where harsh anti-government rhetoric is now being treated as a potential precursor to terrorism.

Veterans are already having their guns seized by police off the back of forced “psychiatric evaluations,” while the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is sending out letters to servicemembers warning them that “A determination of incompetency will prohibit you from purchasing, possessing, receiving, or transporting a firearm or ammunition.”

Monsanto CEO Says Public Not Playing Fair

Lee Ann McAdoo
Infowars.com
May 21, 2013


Monsanto CEO accused genetically modified food rivals of stirring up ‘reverse elitism’ through social media. Well, isn’t that rich?



As the huge global protest, March Against Monsanto, is set to take place May 25th, CEO Hugh Grant told Bloomberg opponents of his company are capitalizing on increased public concern regarding how genetically modified foods are made, and pushing anti-GMO sentiment through social media sites.

March Against Monsanto activists are protesting, among other things, the serious risks GMO’s pose to both health and the environment, ex-Monsanto executives steering government agencies like the FDA, Monsanto’s monopoly over the world’s food supply, and political favoritism.

Grant says those critics aren’t giving Monsanto the opportunity to feed the world with technological advances.

“I’d feel a whole lot better if it was marinated on a little where is that extra chicken going to come from or who is going to grow the new bushel,” Grant said, adding that, “There is space in the supermarket shelf for all of us.”

Perhaps if Monsanto wasn’t bankrupting small farmers over patent infringement, or suing dairy farmers for labeling their milk Monsanto-produced rBGH-free, critics wouldn’t have to ponder where their next meal will come from.

If Monsanto’s legal practices weren’t enough to enrage America’s agricultural sector, the passing of the so-called “Monsanto Protection Act” certainly has. The Act – co-authored by a senator that received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Monsanto – puts GM companies above the law by effectively banning courts from halting the sale, planting, harvest, or distribution of any GM seeds, even if those seeds are linked to illness or environmental problems.

“There is this strange kind of reverse elitism: If I’m going to do this, then everything else shouldn’t exist.” Grant told Bloomberg, saying opponents of Monsanto think there should be conventional agriculture or organic and nothing else.

The irony is that Monsanto pays millions of dollars a year lobbying politicians and funding thinktanks to combat opposition. Ex-Monsanto executives work on their behalf in government positions including the Supreme Court, FDA, EPA and USDA, all the while denying consumers the right to have labels and information regarding genetically modified products.

As if this wasn’t enough to affirm their omnipotent reach, Monsanto is embroiled in controversy yet again after State Department cables from 2005 to 2009 show the government lobbied foreign nations on behalf of the biotech giant.

Food & Water Watch summarized the cables showing how the United States has pursued policies to benefit the largest seed companies, including urging embassies to generate positive media coverage to sway public opinion.

The four goals of biotech diplomacy, according to Food & Water Watch, are to: Promote biotech business interests; Lobby foreign governments to weaken biotech rules; Protect U.S. biotech exports; and Press developing world to adopt biotech crops.

“The seed companies including Monsanto, DuPont, Pioneer, Syngenta, Bayer CropScience, and Dow Agro-chemical, are more commonly mentioned in the biotech cables than food aid.” According to the Food & Water Watch biotech report. “The State Department worked especially hard to promote the interests of Monsanto, the world’s biggest biotech seed company…Monsanto appeared in 6.1 percent of the biotech cables analyzed between 2005 and 2009 from 21 countries.”

Meanwhile, Grant is focused on the growing voices of concerned citizens who refuse to fall in line with government-approved biotech propaganda.

Monsanto has already purchased the approval of Washington to advance their agenda worldwide, yet anti-GMO activists armed only with their Facebook status threaten the endgame?

Well, if those stifled voices are able to unite into one glorious global uproar, Grant’s fears may be validated.

Ron Paul and Jim Rogers: Government confiscation of private bank accounts to happen here, too

J. D. Heyes
naturalnews.com
May 21, 2013

The United States has been a stable country for most of its 230-plus years, as well as a global hegemonic power since the end of World War II and the world’s primary superpower since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the crumbling of the Soviet Union in 1990. That kind of long-term stability has led many Americans – too many, in fact – to adopt an attitude of, “It can’t happen here – not to us,” attitude.

But according to long-serving former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, along with legendary investor Jim Rogers, things can – and very likely will – get tumultuous and chaotic in America in the near-term, because even the United States, with its Constitution and its centuries-old history, is not immune to political and economic events that besiege other nations. Since our economy is so large, it just takes longer.

Speaking at a Sovereign Man Offshore Tactical Workshop conference in Santiago, Chile, recently, Paul said, for example, that real unemployment in the U.S. was much higher than the current 7.7 percent figure represents, and that economically, the country is simply flat broke and going further in debt.

Things are bad and getting worse

“We’re going to have a calamity in economics and political crisis,” he said. “The economy, worldwide and certainly in the states, I think is a lot weaker than they tell us. I believe that the unemployment rate in the United States is over 20 percent.”

He also believes inflation is taking place, but much of that is caused by U.S. economic policy.

“Inflation could be defined as the increase in supply of money and credit, and everybody knows that they’re [the Federal Reserve] printing $85 billion a month and that could be considered inflation,” he said.

Bottom line: Things are bad in America and they are only going to get worse. Entire countries, especially in Europe, are just going bust. Moreover, the worse things get, the more dramatic the tactics of those in positions of authority.

None of this is new.

“This isn’t the first time that the world has been in this position. This time is not different. History shows that there are serious, serious consequences to running unsustainably high debts and deficits. And those consequences have almost invariably involved pillaging people’s wealth, savings, livelihoods and liberties… either directly or indirectly,” reports InfoWars.com.

“I would expect that there’s going to be a lot more chaos yet to come,” said Paul, “and it will not be limited to Europe. I think it’ll be a worldwide phenomenon…the states won’t escape it either…”

Added Rogers:

“The present head of the (U.S.) central bank (Ben Bernanke) does not understand economics and finance, and he does not understand currencies. All he understands is printing money. His whole intellectual career has been devoted to the study of printing money, and as you know, we’ve given him the printing presses. And he has said, ‘I’ll run the printing presses as fast as I have to.’”

Coming after your retirement account


As to the subject of wealth confiscation, as happened recently in Cyprus – where the government confiscated billions of dollars held in private bank accounts, as part of a temporary bailout deal with the European Central Bank – Rogers said he sees things a bit differently shaping up in the U.S.

“I suspect it won’t happen that way in the U.S.,” he said. “They won’t take our bank accounts, they will take our retirement accounts.” (For the record, private retirement accounts in the United States amount to a government bonanza – more than $18.5 trillion, according to a 2010 study by the Investment Company Institute).

The government will “take our 401(k)s, they will say, ‘You’ve all had such hard times earning money in your 401(k), so what we’re going to do, we’re going to save you, we’re going to give you government bonds, which are guaranteed, 30-year government bonds and you will get 3 percent, and you give us your retirement assets.’”

The current U.S. debt is nearing $17 trillion, or about 105 percent of our annual GDP (gross domestic product) of about $15.5 trillion.

“I don’t doubt [the confiscation] at all; and they will use force and they’ll use intimidation,” Paul added.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.infowars.com

http://youtu.be/CmqIerOV3EM

http://www.wnd.com/2012/11/now-obama-wants-your-401k/

http://www.ici.org/pdf/ppr_12_rec_survey-q2.pdf

Monday, May 20, 2013

Obama’s War on Terror is Endless, Permanent

Glenn Greenwald
guardian.co.uk
May 20, 2013

Last October, senior Obama officials anonymously unveiled to the Washington Post their newly minted “disposition matrix”, a complex computer system that will be used to determine how a terrorist suspect will be “disposed of”: indefinite detention, prosecution in a real court, assassination-by-CIA-drones, etc. Their rationale for why this was needed now, a full 12 years after the 9/11 attack:

Among senior Obama administration officials, there is a broad consensus that such operations are likely to be extended at least another decade. Given the way al-Qaida continues to metastasize, some officials said no clear end is in sight. . . . That timeline suggests that the United States has reached only the midpoint of what was once known as the global war on terrorism.”

On Thursday, the Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing on whether the statutory basis for this “war” – the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) – should be revised (meaning: expanded). This is how Wired’s Spencer Ackerman (soon to be the Guardian US’s national security editor) described the most significant exchange:

“Asked at a Senate hearing today how long the war on terrorism will last, Michael Sheehan, the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, answered, ‘At least 10 to 20 years.’ . . . A spokeswoman, Army Col. Anne Edgecomb, clarified that Sheehan meant the conflict is likely to last 10 to 20 more years from today – atop the 12 years that the conflict has already lasted. Welcome to America’s Thirty Years War.”

That the Obama administration is now repeatedly declaring that the “war on terror” will last at least another decade (or two) is vastly more significant than all three of this week’s big media controversies (Benghazi, IRS, and AP/DOJ) combined. The military historian Andrew Bacevich has spent years warning that US policy planners have adopted an explicit doctrine of “endless war”. Obama officials, despite repeatedly boasting that they have delivered permanently crippling blows to al-Qaida, are now, as clearly as the English language permits, openly declaring this to be so.

Gang of 8 Bill Would Legalize Tens Of Thousands Of Illegal Aliens With Criminal Convictions

Donna Anderson
Infowars.com
May 20, 2013

According to Center for Immigration Studies, if the amnesty bill proposed by Senators Schumer and Rubio should pass as it stands, tens of thousands of illegal immigrants with criminal convictions will automatically become full-fledged United States citizens. Who knows? One of them might become your neighbor.

Jessica Vaugh, Center for Immigration Studies, examined the most recent data from ICE’s Secure Communities program. This program alerts ICE when a non-citizen with a record in the DHS databases is arrested by a local or federal law enforcement agency.

“I found that nearly half of the criminal aliens who were removed under this program in the last six months are offenders who would qualify for legal status under the terms of the Schumer-Rubio bill. This amnesty would significantly curtail ICE’s interior enforcement programs, benefiting tens of thousands of criminal aliens.”

“In the most recent six-month reporting period (October 1, 2012, to March 31, 2013), ICE removed 38,547 aliens who had been identified as a result of an arrest by another agency. Of these, 45 percent (17,208) were lesser offenders who would be eligible for legalization under the Schumer-Rubio amnesty. These were classified as Level 3 offenders in ICE parlance (convicted of fewer than three misdemeanors on separate occasions), fugitives, prior removals and returns, illegal border-crossers, and over-stayers and visa violators.”

Vaughn also found that, of the total, 55 percent (21,339) were convicted of a felony or at least three misdemeanors, categorized as Level 1 and Level 2. The majority of these offenders would still be deportable, unless the Homeland Security Secretary waived their ineligibility for amnesty, which is entirely allowable under the bill.

Under the Schumer-Rubio bill, the DHS can waive ineligibility if the applicant was convicted when he was under the age of 18, or if he was originally admited as a refugee or someone seeking asylum. But it can also be waived if the offender was convicted under state laws aimed at immigration crimes, “such as alien smuggling, human trafficking, harboring illegal aliens, or identity theft, and anyone convicted after pleading ‘no contest’ instead of ‘guilty.’”

Vaughn also says the bill includes provisions that would require ICE to offer a bond hearing every 90 days to allow higher level offenders the opportunity to challenge deportation in court, and even aggravated felons would be eligible for options such as home confinement instead of actually going to jail.

According to Vaughn, Texas has the highest number of convicted criminals who would be granted amnesty instead of deported, followed by California, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, New York, Washington, North Carolina, Colorado, Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Nevada, and Illinois.

Not only are these people illegal aliens, they’ve also committed violent crimes while they’ve been hiding out in our country. Kenneth Palinkas, the president of the National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council, issued a statement today explaining why his union has officially decided to oppose the Schumer-Rubio amnesty bill.

“The USCIS Council was not consulted in the crafting of the Gang of Eight’s legislation,” Palinkas writes. “Instead, the legislation was written with special interests, producing a bill that makes the current system worse, not better. S. 744 will damage public safety and national security and should be opposed by lawmakers.”

And all those interviews, miles of paperwork and astronomical fees that Sanderson and Silber think will block the “Pathway to Citizenship?” Not to worry. Palinkas says the Department for Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services are already waiving fees for illegal aliens applying for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Currently there’s a 95 percent approval rating, so it would appear that the requirements to become a legal, law-abiding U.S. citizen really aren’t all that steep, after all.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Washington Signals Dollar Deep Concerns

Paul Craig Roberts
Infowars.com
May 19, 2013

Over the past month there has been a statistically improbable concurrence of events that can only be explained as a conspiracy to protect the dollar from the Federal Reserve’s policy of Quantitative Easing (QE).

Quantitative Easing is the term given to the Federal Reserve’s policy of printing 1,000 billion new dollars annually in order to finance the US budget deficit by purchasing US Treasury bonds and to keep the prices high of debt-related derivatives on the “banks too big to fail” (BTBF) balance sheets by purchasing mortgage-backed derivatives. Without QE, interest rates would be much higher, and values on the banks’ balance sheets would be much lower.

Quantitative Easing has been underway since December 2008. During these 54 months, the Federal Reserve has created several trillion new dollars with which the Fed has monetized the same amount of debt.

One result of this policy is that most real US interest rates are negative. Another result is that the supply of dollars has outstripped the world’s demand for dollars.

These two results are the reason that the Federal Reserve’s policy of printing money with which to purchase Treasury bonds and mortgage backed derivatives threatens the dollar’s exchange value and, thus, the dollar’s role as world reserve currency.

To be the world reserve currency means that the dollar can be used to pay any and every country’s oil bills and trade deficit. The dollar is the medium of international payment.

This is very helpful to the US and is the main source of US power. Because the dollar is the reserve currency, the US can cover its import costs and pay for its cost of operation simply by creating its own paper money.

If the dollar were not the reserve currency, Washington would not be able to finance its wars or continue to run large trade and budget deficits. Therefore, protecting the exchange value of the dollar is Washington’s prime concern if it is to remain a superpower.

The threats to the dollar are alternative monies–currencies that are not being created in enormous quantities, gold and silver, and Bitcoins, a digital currency.

The Bitcoin threat was eliminated on May 17 when the Gestapo Department of Homeland Security seized Bitcoin’s accounts. The excuse was that Bitcoin had failed to register in keeping with the US Treasury’s anti-money laundering requirements.

Washington has stifled the threat from other currencies by convincing other large currencies to out-print the dollar. Japan has complied, and the European Central Bank, though somewhat constrained by Germany, has entered the printing mode in order to bail out the private banks endangered by the “sovereign debt crisis.”

That leaves gold and silver. The enormous increase in the prices of gold and silver over the last decade convinced Washington that there are a number of miscreants who do not trust the dollar and whose numbers must not be permitted to increase.

The price of gold rose from $272 an ounce in December 2000 to $1,917.50 on August 23, 2011. The financial gangsters who own and run America panicked. With the price of the dollar collapsing in relation to historical real money, how could the dollar’s exchange rate to other currencies be valid? If the dollar’s exchange value came under attack, the Federal Reserve would have to stop printing and would lose control over interest rates.

The bond and stock market bubbles would pop, and the interest payments on the federal debt would explode, leaving Washington even more indebted and unable to finance its wars, police state, and bankster bailouts.

Something had to be done about the rising price of gold and silver.

There are two bullion markets. One is a paper market in New York, Comex, where paper claims to gold are traded. The other is the physical market where personal possession is taken of the metal–coin shops, bullion dealers, jewelry stores.

The way the banksters have it set up, the price of bullion is not set in the markets in which people actually take possession of the metals. The price is set in the paper market where speculators gamble.

This bifurcated market gave the Federal Reserve the ability to protect the dollar from its printing press.

On Friday, April 12, 2013, short sales of gold hit the New York market in an amount estimated to have been somewhere between 124 and 400 tons of gold. This enormous and unprecedented sale implies an illegal conspiracy of sellers intent on rigging the market or action by the Federal Reserve through its agents, the BTBF that are the bullion banks.

The enormous sales of naked shorts drove down the gold price, triggering stop-loss orders and margin calls. The attack continued on Monday, April 15, and has continued since.

Before going further, note that there are position limits imposed on the number of contracts that traders can sell at one time. The 124 tons figure would have required 14 traders with no open interest on the exchange to sell all together in the same few minutes 40,000 futures contracts. The likelihood of so many traders deciding to short at the same moment at the maximum permitted is not believable. This was an attack ordered by the Federal Reserve, which is why there is no investigation of the illegality.

Note also that no seller that wanted out of a position would give himself a low price by dumping an enormous amount all at once unless the goal was not profit but to smash the bullion price.

Since the April 12-15 attack on the gold price, subsequent attacks have occurred at 2pm Hong Kong time and 2 am New York time. At this time activity is light, waiting on London to begin operating. As William S.Kaye has observed, no entity concerned about profits would choose this time to sell 20,000 to 30,000 futures contracts, but this is what has been happening.

Who can be unconcerned with losing money in this way? Only a central bank that can print it.

Now we come to the physical market where people take possession of bullion instead of betting on paper instruments. Look at this chart from ZeroHedge. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-16/gold-demand-one-chart-physical-vs-etf The demand for physical possession is high, despite the assault on gold that began in 2011, but as the price is set in the non-real paper market, orchestrated short sales, as in the current quarter of 2013, can drive down the price regardless of the fact that the actual demand for gold and silver cannot be met.

While the corrupt Western financial press urges people to abandon bullion, everyone is trying to purchase more, and the premiums above the spot price have risen. Around the world there is a shortage of gold and silver in the forms, such as one-ounce coins and ten-ounce bars, that individuals demand.

That the decline in gold and silver prices is an orchestration is apparent from the fact that the demand for bullion in the physical market has increased while naked short sales in the paper market imply a flight from bullion.

What does this illegal manipulation of markets by the Federal Reserve tell us? It tells us that the Federal Reserve sees no way out of printing money in order to support the federal deficit and the insolvent banks. If the dollar came under attack and the Federal Reserve had to stop printing dollars, interest rates would rise. The bond and stock markets would collapse. The dollar would be abandoned as reserve currency. Washington would no longer be able to pay its bills and would lose its hegemony. The world of hubristic Washington would collapse.

It remains to be seen whether Washington can prevail over the world demand for gold and silver. Can the dollar remain supreme when offshoring has deprived the US of the ability to cover its imports with exports? Can the dollar remain supreme when the Federal reserve is creating 1,000 billion new ones each year, while the BRICS, China and Japan, China and Australia, and China and Russia are making deals to settle their trade balances without the use of the dollar?

If the consumption-based US economy deprived of consumer income by jobs offshoring takes a further dip down in the third or fourth quarter–a downturn that cannot be masked by phony statistical releases–the federal deficit will rise. What will be the effect on the dollar if the Federal Reserve has to increase its Quantitative Easing?

A perfect storm has been prepared for America. Real interest rates are negative, but debt and money are being created hand over foot. The dollar’s demise awaits the world’s decision how to get out of it. The Federal Reserve can print dollars with which to keep the bond and stock markets high, but the Federal Reserve cannot print foreign currencies with which to keep the dollar afloat.

When the dollar goes, Washington’s power goes, which is why the bullion market is rigged. Protect the power. That is the agenda. Is it another Washington over-reach?