Massive Bank and High Profile Resignations Across the World [Archive] - Page 11

Sabrina

18th August 2013, 06:16

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/16/nsa-violated-privacy-rules-audit

US

NSA under renewed fire after report finds it violated its own privacy rules

Revelations that NSA collected records it was not permitted to acquire pile further pressure on intelligence chief James Clapper

The NSA serially violated its own restrictions on bulk surveillance, according to a report that puts further pressure on beleaguered intelligence chief James Clapper and strengthens claims by a leading Senate critic that a "culture of misinformation" exists at the agency.

The Washington Post reported, with information provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden, that internal NSA audits found thousands of instances where the powerful surveillance agency collected, stored and possibly searched through vast swaths of information it is not permitted to acquire.

The revelations contradict repeated assurances this summer from senior Obama administration and intelligence officials that the NSA's programs to collect Americans' phone records and foreigners' communications in bulk contain adequate privacy protections.

Such inappropriate or unlawful retention ranged from what an administration official told the Post was human error, to seeming technological flaws, to collection efforts that inherently involved transgressing the few boundaries that have existed on NSA bulk collection since 2008, when Congress broadened a basic law of surveillance, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

In one such case, an unspecified "incident" led to the retention of 3,032 files that the secret Fisa court had ordered NSA to destroy. Another involved the diversion of international communications traffic passing over through fiber-optic cables in the United States into a "repository" for temporary "processing and selection" – something that the Fisa court in 2011 ruled a violation the fourth amendment of the US constitution.

A third involved the interception of an unspecified "large number" of phone records from the Washington DC 202 area code in 2008, when an NSA "programming error" improperly entered 202 instead of 20, the country code for Egypt. The Post reported that the NSA did not report that improper interception of American communications to Congress or the Fisa court.

The overcollection revelations follow earlier disclosures by the Guardian last week that the NSA has the authority to conduct searches for Americans' identifying information in databases intended for surveillance on foreigners.

On the few occasions when intelligence officials have publicly discussed the impact their broad surveillance powers have on Americans, they have affirmed that all problems are mere accidents and are often promptly corrected.

A July 26 letter by James Clapper, the director of US national intelligence, to senator Ron Wyden, a member of the Senate intelligence committee, discussing the NSA's bulk collection of Americans phone records assured that "safeguards and controls" provide "reasonable assurance that NSA's activities are consistent with law and policy and help detect when mistakes do occur, as they inevitably do in activities this complex."

Those mistakes, Clapper continued, amounted to "a number of compliance problems that have been previously identified and detailed in reports to the court and briefings to Congress as a result of Department of Justice reviews and internal oversight. However, there have been no findings of any intentional or bad-faith violations."

Numerous intelligence and administration officials have made similar statements in congressional testimony and public speeches.

Wyden, a persistent critic of the bulk phone records collection, responded on the Senate floor that "these violations are more serious than those stated by the intelligence community, and are troubling." Wyden did not specify what he meant, citing classification restrictions, but urged senators to read NSA's secret compliance reports in designated congressional chambers.

"The violations I've touched on tonight are a lot more serious than [senators] have been told," Wyden said in his July 31 floor speech.

In an earlier speech, to the Center for American Progress, Wyden said a "culture of misinformation" exists inside the US intelligence agencies – directed not just at US adversaries, but the US legislators that are designed to oversee them and the US public in whose name they act.

"When did it become all right for government officials' public statements and private statements to differ so fundamentally?" Wyden asked. "The answer is that it is not all right, and it is indicative of a much larger culture of misinformation that goes beyond the congressional hearing room and into the public conversation writ large."

Clapper is perhaps the most prominent public example of that culture.

In March, the director of national intelligence testified to Wyden that the NSA does "not wittingly" collect any type of data on millions of Americans, a statement proven untrue by the Guardian's June publication of a Fisa court order for ongoing, bulk surveillance of Americans' phone records.

Clapper has since apologized to Wyden, saying first that it was the "least untruthful answer" he could give publicly and later that he made a good-faith error, having "forgotten" momentarily the NSA program, conducted ostensibly under the Patriot Act, that collected precisely such data.

Civil liberties organizations reacted with outrage to the latest disclosure.

"The number of 'compliance incidents' is jaw-dropping. The rules around government surveillance are so permissive that it is difficult to comprehend how the intelligence community could possibly have managed to violate them so often," Jameel Jaffer, the ACLU's deputy legal director, said in a statement.

"Obviously it's important to know what precisely these compliance incidents involved, and some are more troubling than others. But at least some of these incidents seem to have implicated the privacy of thousands or millions of innocent people."

The Post's report underscored the structural advantages the NSA possesses over the institutions that ostensibly oversee it.

The NSA is an organization that exploits a level of technical sophistication that most legislators, bureaucrats and judges do not possess. Accordingly, oversight of the NSA is frequently a matter of the NSA telling judges and lawmakers what its actions are.

Those assurances apply to the secret court that Justice Department and intelligence officials hold out as a critical, rigorous and independent check on the NSA's power.

"The FISC is forced to rely upon the accuracy of the information that is provided to the Court," the presiding judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or Fisa court, told the Post.

The secret committees in Congress that the administration and the intelligence agencies portray as a check on the NSA are in a similarly subservient position.

The Post reported that Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who chairs the Senate intelligence committee, did not even receive a 2012 NSA "compliance" reports until the Post brought it to her attention. It is unclear if the House intelligence committee did, but that committee's leadership is under fire from their colleagues in the House for withholding critical documents about NSA bulk collection on Americans ahead of a critical vote on surveillance law.

The NSA also instructs its officials to leave out collection of Americans' data in its reports.

A training slide published by the Post says that so-called "incidental" collection – in which Americans' communications data is swooped up by the NSA's activities surveilling foreigners – "does not constitute a … violation, so it does not have to be reported in the IG [inspector general] quarterly."

Yet administration officials have publicly testified to the rigor of their notifications to Congress and the Fisa court.

"If there are any significant issues that arise with the 215 [bulk phone records] program, those would be reported to the two committees [Judiciary and Intelligence] right away," deputy attorney general James Cole testified on July 31 to the Senate judiciary committee.

"Any significant interpretations of Fisa by the court would likewise be reported to the committees under our statutory obligation to provide copies of any Fisc opinion or order that includes a significant interpretation of Fisa, along with the accompanying court documents. All of this reporting is designed to assist the two committees in performing their oversight role with respect to the program."

Private US citizens have far less access to even basic information about surveillance. When Julian Sanchez, a privacy researcher at the Cato Institute, filed a Freedom of Information Act request for a congressionally mandated NSA compliance report, he was told in September 2012 "we can neither confirm nor deny the existence of records in these files responsive to your request." Sanchez noted: "The 'existence' of the reports I asked for is required by federal law."

Feinstein and her counterpart in the House, Mike Rogers of Michigan, have vowed that their committees will conduct thorough investigations of the NSA bulk surveillance activities. Both are vocal supporters of the programs, and their inquiries come as many of their colleagues in both political parties are agitating to vastly constrain and even end some of the NSA efforts.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

16 Aug

Sabrina

18th August 2013, 06:22

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2013/8/15_Asia_Shocks_West_By_Demanding_Their_Gold_Be_Sent_Home.html

Asia Shocks West By Demanding Their Gold Be Sent Home

After an initial $20 plunge, the price of gold turned violently higher and closed near the highs in what turned out to be almost a $50 trading range. In the aftermath of this turbulent trading, today one of the legends in the business shocked King World News when he said the reason for the wild trading action was that Asian central banks were demanding their gold, some of which is being stored in Western vaults, be sent home to Asia.

Keith Barron, who consults with major companies around the world and is responsible for one of the largest gold discoveries in the last quarter century, also spoke about the stunning reason for this game-changing move by Asian central banks. Below is what Barron had to say in this powerful interview.

Barron: “Gold and silver are having a fierce rally on the heels of a release from the World Gold Council, but I will discuss the remarkable events which are taking place behind the scenes that are the real reason for this rally in just a minute. First, this World Gold Council report discussed outflows of gold from the ETFs. They were also confirming what KWN has already reported -- that this gold is going straight into Asia.

Somebody from UBS was interviewed this morning, and they were also saying, ‘The gold leaving the COMEX vaults is likely headed to Asia.’ It’s obvious this is what has been happening for many, many months now. If you look at the premiums in Shanghai today, they are running at a steep $22....

Continue reading the Keith Barron interview below...

“So it’s become quite apparent that bullion banks have been taking the gold out of the ETFs and capturing the premium in Asia by selling the ETF gold overseas. But the interesting thing here is the physical demand, and I have been discussing this on King World News for some time.

There was a 37% increase in jewelry demand, a staggering 78% increase in gold bar and coin demand, and there was also a 63% increase in investment demand. These are remarkable numbers. There was a stunning 71% rise in total demand from India, and an 85% rise in demand from China.

There were some additional jaw-dropping numbers that have come out of China in a separate report. During the second quarter there were 385.5 tons of gold consumed in China through jewelry. That is a huge percentage of world production, and that figure is double what was recorded in the previous year. That’s absolutely astounding.

This data is also indicating a massive rise in the importation of gold into China from the previous year. Demand for gold is just exploding all over the place. In India they just increased the gold import duty once again. It’s been rising steadily from 2% to 8%, but India just raised it again -- this time to 10%.

It is highly likely that the Western central planners, the Fed and the ECB specifically, have demanded that the Indians impose these taxes and duties in a desperate attempt to choke off physical demand for gold in India. Western central planners can’t use much influence on China, but they can strong-arm India.

So there has been an attempt by the Central Bank of India to greatly decrease the amount of money going into physical gold, but it’s not working. People always find another way to get physical gold. Gold is now the most seized material at the borders and at the airports in India.

There is a very, very healthy black market for smuggled gold into India. This is what happens when you try to artificially kill demand. The people of India want the gold, and the authorities are desperately trying to kill it off and they are not being successful. So the gold is being supplied through the black market and smuggling, and that will just continue.”

Eric King: “These desperate attempts by the Western central planners to stop the flow of gold into India. It feels like whatever gold is left in Western central bank vaults is quickly being depleted. Meaning, they don’t have the gold to continue to supply to India and the rest of Asia after the most recent failed attempt to discourage physical buying blew up in their faces.”

Barron: “The Fed certainly doesn’t want to see the COMEX blow up. In our last interview I said to you that this price suppression in the gold market is not sustainable. You just can’t have this physical gold pouring, and I do mean pouring out of the West and going to the East without serious dislocations. And it will blow up the COMEX.

The Americans certainly don’t want to see this because that would precipitate an even greater run on physical gold. So the situation is becoming quite desperate and that’s why you are seeing the explosion in both gold and silver today. The Fed and the ECB are desperately trying to hold the system together, but at the end of the day they are losing the ability to control the rapid loss of confidence that is taking hold.

Western central banks claim that there is a lot of physical gold available for purchase. That is pure propaganda and a lie. I now have reason to believe that Asian central banks are requesting that their gold, some of which has been stored in the West, be sent to Asia. This is what is causing the short covering rally in gold. The Asians know the Western gold system is very close to collapse and they want the physical gold in their possession.

This is what is happening behind the scenes. A very large part of the 1,300 tons of gold that was shipped out of the Bank of England, and gold that is being shipped out of the Fed as well, is going into the vaults in China and other parts of Asia. There is a massive run on physical gold right now and this is creating a squeeze.

The bottom line is the Western fractional reserve gold system is now on the edge of collapse and the Asians know it. You can expect to see many more days like this in the future as the run on physical gold intensifies and the squeeze accelerates.”

(15 Aug)

Sabrina

18th August 2013, 06:31

http://www.aangirfan.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/alzawahiri-arrested-in-egypt.html

18 Aug

AL_ZAWAHIRI ARRESTED IN EGYPT

On 17 August 2013, the Egyptian authorities arrested Mohammed al-Zawahiri, the brother of al-Qaida's chief Ayman al-Zawahri.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, who works for the US government, and who was granted US residence.

Mohammed al-Zawahiri, leader of the Jihadi Salafist group, was detained at a checkpoint in Giza, across the Nile from Cairo.

Mohammed al-Zawahiri's group is allied with Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The authorities say that that Mohammed al-Zawahiri has commanded terrorists in the Sinai Peninsula.

full story at link

and

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2396138/Egyptian-security-forces-arrest-brother-al-Qaedas-leader-Ayman-al-Zawahri.html

And more from the UK's Daily Mail - and if they joined all the dots of who is working for who?? Sab.

Egyptian security forces arrest brother of al-Qaeda's top leader Ayman al-Zawahri

Mohammed al-Zawahri, was detained at a checkpoint in Giza

He is the leader of the ultraconservative Jihadi Salafist group

Ayman al-Zawahri is believed to be behind 9/11 attack and 7/7

He has a £15-million bounty on his head and is on the 'most wanted' list

full story at link

and

Can't vouch for the source, but no doubt common in various hot spots making prime time TV... S. (can't upload it as youtube)

Busted - Crisis Actors in Egypt & Syria

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fpmFIWm1dWw#at=172

Sabrina

18th August 2013, 06:59

http://www.thrivemovement.com/detroit-files-bankruptcy-despite-millions-hidden-investment-funds

Has been covered before, but worth repeating...

DETROIT FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY DESPITE MILLIONS IN HIDDEN INVESTMENT FUNDS

By Foster Gamble

Local, state and federal governments in the U.S. are in a serious financial crisis. Since 2010, thirty-six US governments have filed for bankruptcy. (See below for references.) Twenty-one states are not financially sound. Sixty-one of the largest US cities are poised to file for bankruptcy. Chicago owes $19B in pension payments they say they don’t have. Los Angeles is more than $30B in the hole. And it’s much the same in every major city — Philadelphia, Boston, Cincinnati, St. Paul, Jacksonville, New York, Baltimore…and more. Detroit is the largest American city to ever file for bankruptcy, and yet it’s just the next drop of rain in the gathering storm…

But what if I were to tell you it didn’t have to be this way, and that instead of filing for bankruptcy, these governments could all wipe out their debt, pay their bills, continue to employ their workers, and eventually minimize and eliminate the need for taxes? People are saying that Detroit doesn’t have the $3.5 billion to pay its former government employees — teachers, firefighters, police and more — BUT IT DOES!!!!

How is that possible? It’s a little known fact that governments are not just using your taxes to pay for government services, they are also investing your taxes in businesses all around the world, and making millions of dollars. Like big banks, they use your hard-earned money and invest it elsewhere to accrue interest over the years. Although the evidence for these funds is posted on the Internet annually, the mainstream media has colluded for forty some years to keep this quiet.

All municipalities, including Detroit, have two sets of accounting books — one is the public operating budget that you and I hear about, and the other is this investment fund. The key to paying workers and supporting our communities is in the second set of private books…there are literally trillions of dollars available in these government investment funds that were set up for “rainy days” and could be used to balance government budgets, and even have a surplus.

These reports can be discovered in what are called CAFR’s — Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports — that reveal the existence of trillions of hidden dollars across the United States. You can learn more about CAFR’s in my previous blog.

CAFR’s reveal that not only is there money available, but there is big money available in nearly every major city. For example, the small city of Stockton, California had at least $208 million in liquid investments when it filed for bankruptcy and in 2012 the “failing” state of California had $755 billion in its “rainy day” CAFR fund.

CAFR’s also reveal an accounting trick that governments and banks use to hide money from taxpayers: they confuse the labeling of “assets” and “liabilities”. This allows them to hide money they do have and imply that they don’t have enough. As Clint Richardson says:

“The fact is that 99% of the entire structure of municipalities across the nation could be out of debt tomorrow and still have money and investments to spare (be in the black) if it weren’t for the fact that governments enjoy, promote, and profit from the interest (usury) created by debt.”
Here’s an example of this type of deceptive accounting from Detroit: on page 41 of Detroit’s CAFR it lays out the scam in its “Statement of Net Assets”. The gist is that the City declares over $10.6 billion in “liabilities”, which it then “balances” against about $10.3 billion in “assets”. The trick used has to do with timeframe for the accounting. The government counts in the present all the money they will owe on contracts and pensions, so instead of amortizing the liability over the many years that they have to pay it, they instead count it all as due right now. Not only does this mean the government does not get to include any offsetting revenue that could be used to defray those costs, like fees and taxes collected in that timeframe, it also forces a negative balance by lumping all liabilities as due in the present when this is simply not the case. It would be like you adding the total cost of your mortgage in your yearly expense column.

In Detroit, this results in a “balance” that gets shown to the people as a negative $300 million dollars. But $9.1 billion of that is not due until sometime in the future — at the rate of about $300–400 million per year. So the $10.3 billion in assets that are real right now for Detroit could be used to rectify the situation and take care of human beings rather than be squirreled away for the politicians and bankers.

As Richardson puts it:

“…government is forcing itself to pay future liabilities today — which just happens to have the good-for-government and bad-for-the-people side effect of creating the unnecessary illusion that bankruptcy is needed. And so government is now the largest defaulting entity in history. And the people blindly support what they don’t understand, allowing that fraudulent government machine to place the responsibility for its actions upon the backs of those people in the form of sheer usurious debt, while laughing all the way to the bank.”
………

“Government is not in the business of helping people. It is a financial mega-corporation with branches in every square mile of the United States with investments in the entire world economy.”
There is no evidence that this will stop until we stop them. There’s talk of Obama now bailing out Detroit…with more of your tax money! And then what happens with the other cities? If Washington bails out the cities, who is going to bail out Washington? Can you hear the rattling of more debt chains coming — for you and your children’s children?

People talk about government “incompetence” in this type of situation, and “fiscal irresponsibility.” This is not ignorance or incompetence. This is blatant fraud.

So what can we do? Walter Burien has been working on exposing the CAFR scam for the last 20 years, and has worked out a brilliant solution with the following steps:

Publicize the truth of the money available.
Put the money to work for the people who funded it — that’s you!
Use the millions and billions in the government’s true asset funds as an endowment for the community.
Replace taxation with this investment fund as the source from which to meet community needs.
Burien calls this approach the “TRF” — Tax Retirement Funds — because that is just what they do: phase out and terminate the need for taxes.

Does all of this sound impossible? For a glimpse at a similar scam — a tip of the iceberg, check out the California state parks department getting caught just last year with $54 million squirreled away while claiming they needed to close parks.

Please help spread the word, demand truth from your representatives and press your local papers or radio and TV channels to cover this.

You can access state CAFR reports here.

http://cafr1.com/listings/Listings.html

We also encourage you to sign up in our Solutions Hub — simply click on “Find a Group” to search for others in your area who may be interested in working with you on CAFRs. If there aren’t any people listed in your area, consider registering a new group and make sure to list “CAFR” as your group focus. We will be updating the Solutions Hub to be more effective in the coming year — for now it can be a useful resource to connect with others.

Let’s take this tragedy and use it to inform how to take our power back!

Sources (links at the link)

Detroit: The Latest Bankruptcy Lie by Clint Richardson
Warning to all Police, Firefighters, Schoolteachers: Most Government Pensions to be Confiscated Within a Decade by Mike Adams
Walter Burien’s Website
Walter Burien explains the CAFR
Taxpayers Strike it Rich? by Foster Gamble

Sabrina

21st August 2013, 08:31

http://goldenageofgaia.com/2013/08/pervez-musharraf-indicted-over-benazir-bhutto-murder/#more-191264

20 Aug Pakistan

Pervez Musharraf Indicted Over Benazir Bhutto Murder

(via Golden Age of Gaia: Stephen: Remember, former Pakistan PM Benazir Bhutto was assassinated around three weeks after telling legendary British interviewer David Frost that Osama bin Laden was killed in 2001…)

Reuters in Rawalpindi – August 20, 2013

http://tinyurl.com/m2699g8

Pakistan’s former military leader Pervez Musharraf was formally charged by a court on Tuesday with murdering Benazir Bhutto, the ex-prime minister who was assassinated at a political campaign rally in 2007.

Musharraf was indicted during a short hearing at a court in the city of Rawalpindi, a move that adds to the problems facing the former president who returned from self-exile in March only to be entangled in three legal cases, barred from contesting elections and put under house arrest.

Public prosecutor Mohammad Azhar told reporters that the 70-year-old retired general was charged with murder, conspiracy to murder and facilitation of murder during a short hearing.

Musharraf’s lawyer said he denied all the all the charges and the cases against him were fabricated.
Militant groups have vowed to kill the former army chief, who was whisked to court under heavy security, with hundreds of police positioned along the road to the court.

Bhutto warned before her death that Musharraf should be held responsible if she was assassinated. His government was widely criticised for not doing enough to protect Bhutto when she returned to the country in 2007.

Nonetheless, many respected lawyers say the case against him is flimsy.

They believe the prosecution will struggle to prove a link between Musharraf and the assassination of Bhutto, who died after a gun and bomb attack on her car as she left a campaign rally in Rawalpindi.

At the time, Musharraf’s government blamed the assassination on Baitullah Mehsued, the Pakistani Taliban chief who was killed by a US drone strike in 2009.

Heraldo Muñoz, an assistant secretary general of the UN and chairman of a panel that investigated the death of Bhutto, has said there is no “proof of culpability” against Musharraf.

But Musharraf does bear “political and moral responsibility for the assassination”, Muñoz wrote in an extract of soon-to-be published book into the affair. He said Musharraf did not provide adequate security for the former prime minister.
He quotes a former Pakistani diplomat who said Musharraf taunted Bhutto, allegedly telling her: “I’ll only protect you if you are nice to me.”

Musharraf is a hate figure within the judiciary and may struggle to receive a fair trial. The enmity dates from 2007 when top judges were put under house arrest after he declared emergency rule – the subject of another of the three cases against him, for which he was formally indicted in June.

The third case relates to the killing during a military operation of a tribal leader in the insurgency wracked province of Baluchistan called Akbar Khan Bugti in 2006.

Potentially far more troubling for Musharraf was the government announcement in June that the former president should be tried for treason, a capital offence.

Only the government can pursue a treason trial and many analysts had assumed newly elected prime minister Nawaz Sharif would avoid picking a fight with the powerful army that does not want to see one of its former leaders imprisoned or executed.

Sabrina

21st August 2013, 08:39

http://goldenageofgaia.com/2013/08/obama-met-with-independent-financial-regulators-monday/#more-191311

20 Aug US

President Obama to Meet with Financial Regulators Monday

(Stephen: I just found this story, somewhat buried on CNN… My gut is telling me there is WAY more to this than is being said here. It also raises the question: who or what are ‘independent financial regulators’ and why would ‘they’ be regulating anything to do with our financial system or economy…You’ll notice their names aren’t mentioned.
And interestingly, this meeting some straight after a so-called ‘family vacation’ (meaning: time to sort out important matters secretly, with no media detail). So methinks some serious changes are afoot. So here is Monday’s story. Update: The second story is from Bloomberg. It says US Treasury-Secretary Jack Lew and Ben Bernanke – and the Comptroller of Currency (Thomas J Curry) – were also in attendance. Big stuff.)

President Obama to Meet with Financial Regulators Monday

By Leslie Bentz, Political Ticker blog, CNN, August 19, 2013

http://tinyurl.com/k6upr2q

(CNN) – President Barack Obama met Monday afternoon with “independent financial regulators” to discuss reforms to the banking industry and improvements in the housing market.

Fresh off his family vacation to Martha’s Vineyard, Obama specifically discussed the progress made in implementing the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law passed in 2010.

The White House said the heads of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Housing Finance Agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, among others, attended Monday’s meeting, which was closed to the press. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew also participated.

The meeting to discuss the Dodd-Frank reform bill, which Obama signed into law in July 2010, came at the conclusion of a series of speeches the president made recently on the mortgage and housing markets.

Dodd-Frank was passed in response to the financial crisis, which resulted largely due to the bubble burst of the inflated housing market. Three years later, many of the rules set forth in the legislation have yet to be completed, including those aimed at credit rating agencies.

Describing the meeting, the White House said the group went over ways their various agencies could continue cooperating to protect American consumers. They also discussed upcoming budget deadlines, which could have an effect on funding the different agencies’ programs.

UPDATE: Obama Meets With Financial Regulators on Dodd-Frank Progress

By Margaret Talev & Lisa Lerer, Bloomberg – August 20, 2013

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-19/obama-to-meet-financial-regulators-on-dodd-frank-implementation.html

President Barack Obama met with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and other financial regulators to urge quicker progress on implementing the Dodd-Frank law.

The closed-door meeting at the White House today also included Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew, the Comptroller of the Currency, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and the chairmen of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., National Credit Union Administration, and Securities and Exchange Commission.

The administration provided no details on the discussion.

Obama’s intent was to “convey to them the sense of urgency that he feels” about getting all the Dodd-Frank rules fully in place, deputy White House press secretary Josh Earnest said. “There’s no doubt they have a tall order.”

A White House statement released after the meeting said Obama also discussed the need for a simpler housing finance system “that better serves middle-class families” and cooperation among agencies involved in financial market regulation.

The Dodd-Frank Act, signed into law by Obama in July 2010, expanded the central bank’s power to oversee the largest financial institutions and gave regulators new tools aimed at preventing a repeat of the 2007-2009 financial crisis. It imposed new rules on derivatives, limits the ability of banks to trade on their own account and new rules for mortgages.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

By Katherine Rushton, The Telegraph, UK – August 19, 2013

JPMorgan Investigated by DoJ Over Possible Energy Market Manipulation

http://tinyurl.com/mjsxl59

JPMorgan faces further litigation after it emerged that the US Department of Justice is investigating whether the bank manipulated US energy markets.

The Wall Street giant has already agreed to pay $410m to settle a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) probe into allegations that it manipulated energy markets in California and the Midwest. The bank did not admit nor deny wrongdoing as part of the settlement, which was agreed last month.

The US bank hoped that would draw a line under the matter. However, the DoJ decided to weigh into the issue at around the same time as JP Morgan and FERC were thrashing out the final details of the settlement, according to reports.

The new investigation is being overseen by US attorney Preet Bharara, who is known for taking a tough stance on Wall Street wrongdoing.

Mr Bharara has also been leading a DoJ probe into the so-called “London Whale” scandal, which cost the bank more than $6bn last year. The DoJ brought criminal charges against two JP Morgan traders – Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout – earlier this month as a result of that probe. It has yet to mete out its punishment against the bank itself.

However, the DoJ is not the only regulator piling pressure on the firm, which ranks as biggest bank in the world by assets. It is facing at least six different probes from different regulators and law enforcers, according to company filings. JP Morgan has warned that it could be forced to pay up to $6.8bn in legal costs and fines if all the cases go against it.

America’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating claims that JP Morgan gave jobs to the children of influential people in order to help the bank win business.

The company allegedly hired Xiaoning Tang, the son of Shuangning Tang, a former Chinese banking regulator who is now chairman of the state-run financial firm, Everbright Group. JP Morgan secured several key deals from Everbright soon after Xiaoning Tang joined the firm, including advising one of its subsidiaries on a stock offering.

JP Morgan is also under federal criminal investigation for the way it sold mortgage-backed bonds, following a DoJ probe into the same issue, which found that the bank had broken civil laws.

JP Morgan declined to comment on the latest DoJ investigation but a spokesman said it was “working hard” to “strengthen business practices and address regulatory concerns”.

Sabrina

21st August 2013, 08:46

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2398628/BBC-pay-4m-120-victims-Jimmy-Savile.html

21 Aug UK

The BBC to 'pay out £4million to 120 victims of disgraced TV presenter Jimmy Savile'

120 Savile victims could be set to get £33,000 each in compensation

Amount is expected to be lower than the £4.1m paid to senior managers

Dame Janet Smith is due to publish inquiry results later in the year

A compensation package worth £4million could be paid out to 120 victims of disgraced TV presenter Jimmy Savile, it has been reported.

The exact amount is expected to be finalised when high court judge Dame Janet Smith publishes the results of her inquiry, which is looking into the culture and practices at the BBC during the years of Savile’s abuse, later in the year.
It is believed the amount will be less than the £4.1million the corporation's annual report revealed was paid to its senior managers, swollen by controversial ‘golden goodbyes’ for bosses forced out over the handling of the Savile affair.

According to The Mirror the amount of compensation paid out to Savile's victims will equate to £33,000 each.
Alan Collins, a solicitor at Pannone, representing a number of the presenter's victims, said it appeared 'unjust' for the victims to receive less than the BBC's senior managers.

He told MailOnline: 'In light of what some of the executives have got it seems wrong - it seems unjust.
A BBC spokesman said: 'The on-going Dame Janet Smith Review is independent of the BBC.

'It is inappropriate for us to comment on any potential allegations relating to Operation Yewtree or the Dame Janet Smith Review.

Separately, the BBC will continue to assist the police with any enquiries relating to Operation Yewtree.'
Earlier this month a man of 80 was arrested by police investigating decades-old sex crimes.

Dame Janet Smith is expected to publish the findings of her inquiry later in the year
The pensioner, who was held at an address in South London, was the 14th man arrested as part of Operation Yewtree.
The controversial investigation was sparked by the torrent of victims who came forward as Savile was exposed as the most notorious paedophile in British history.

Police said the suspect, who was arrested on suspicion of sexual offences, is linked to the disgraced TV presenter and radio DJ.

The man, who was not identified, was later released on bail until an unknown date in October.

Last week former Radio 1 and Top Of The Pops presenter Dave Lee Travis vowed to clear his name after he was charged with 12 sexual offences, some dating back to the 1970s.

The 68-year-old, one of Britain’s best known DJs, said he was ‘very much looking forward’ to proving his innocence after being charged as part of Operation Yewtree.

Earlier that week, former Radio 1 DJ Chris Denning, who was originally arrested in June, had his bail renewed until October.

The week before veteran entertainer Rolf Harris, 83, was arrested for a second time. Two other suspects, comedian Jim Davidson, 59, and his friend and DJ Mike Osman, 53, could soon learn whether they will face charges after files were passed to the CPS.

Gary Glitter, 69, and Freddie Starr, 70, are both on bail.

Two people have been charged. PR supremo Max Clifford 70, is accused of indecently assaulting seven women and girls, and former BBC driver David Smith, 67, is accused of sexually abusing a young boy. They will face trial next year.

Sabrina

24th August 2013, 22:51

Am not on my own PC and techno challenged to post links but do read David wilcoxs latest blog on his divinecosmos com site. Lots of interesting stuff including his idea that white hats in us military in anonymous group working to take down fed. Story on buzz feed on this recently. Wilcock also talks about Oklahoma bombing and white hat military deaths around this time. Looking at the amount of financial and corruption and abuse allegations coming out, it does look as tho useful info is coming from somewhere on some of this.. Think August and September could be interesting months... Some say tomorrow Sunday is a key day to visualise peace and anchor it to earth with powerful astrological happenings. Including sending these energies to Egypt and Syria.

Sabrina

27th August 2013, 06:53

After the Iraq debacle and war crimes, indications are that enough MPs and some legal experts are waking up enough to challenge UK Foreign Secretary, William Hague's, war mongering agenda and chemical weapons assertions. Is this one of the shift in consciousness tipping points?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10267108/British-fears-grow-over-legal-justification-for-Syria-strike.html

26 AUg

British fears grow over legal justification for Syria strike

David Cameron is facing demands to set out the legal justification for military action against Syria amid mounting unease over the scale and speed of Britain’s commitment to another conflict in the Middle East.

William Hague warned on Monday that force may be the only viable option in response to what the Government believes was a chemical attack by the Syrian regime which killed hundreds of people in Damascus last week.

Britain, America and France are united in their readiness to act and do not require any further United Nations resolution under international law, the Foreign Secretary said. John Kerry, the US secretary of state, described the chemical attack as a “moral obscenity” and warned that Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s president, must face “consequences”.

Mr Hague’s comments led to calls for ministers to “make their case” and detail the legal basis and long-term objectives of entering Syria’s bloody civil war.

As it emerged that the West could launch cruise missiles within days, a poll found wide public opposition to British involvement in “any kind” of military action in Syria. In a survey of 2,000 people by YouGov, only nine per cent supported sending British troops to fight in Syria, with 74 per cent against. Three-quarters backed sending humanitarian aid.

The Russian government warned that a strike without UN backing would be a “blatant violation of international law” that would worsen the situation on the ground.

On Monday night, the Prime Minister, who was on holiday in Cornwall, telephoned Vladimir Putin and told him there was “little doubt” that the Assad regime was responsible for the Damascus attack. The Russian president refused to accept that there was enough evidence of a chemical attack or that forces loyal to the regime were responsible.

In America, Mr Kerry said the evidence was “undeniable” despite attempts by the Assad regime to “systemically destroy” it. He said the US had “additional information” which would be reviewed with allies before any military response.
President Obama was consulting world leaders and US politicians, he added. “Make no mistake, President Obama believes there must be accountability for those who would use the world’s most heinous weapons against the world’s most vulnerable people,” he said.

Mr Cameron and Nick Clegg, his Liberal Democrat deputy, will decide on Tuesday whether MPs should be recalled this week amid demands by MPs from all sides for a debate and a binding “vote” before any action.

Labour formally demanded that ministers “make their case” to Parliament first. Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, said the Prime Minister must be “open about the objectives, the legal basis, and the anticipated effect” of any British military action in Syria.

“Given both the seriousness of the reported chemical weapons strikes in Syria, and the enduring and complex nature of the conflict itself, ahead of any action being taken I would fully expect the Prime Minister to make his case to Parliament,” he said. As the international crisis intensified:

• UN weapons inspectors trying to investigate the suspected chemical attack came under sniper fire.
• The Prime Minister said he would return early to Downing Street to coordinate Britain’s response. He will chair a meeting of the National Security Council on Wednesday.
• Mr Clegg cancelled a planned trip to Afghanistan.
• Britain’s most senior military commander, Gen Sir Nick Houghton, held talks in Jordan with his US, Turkish and French counterparts.
• Former military leaders argued that a strike would be justified, but should be strictly limited.
As commanders drew up possible targets a succession of MPs said that the Commons must be given full details of the Government’s objectives before authorising any strikes.
John Baron, a Conservative MP leading demands for Parliament to be recalled, said: “The more you intervene the more you become responsible for events on the ground. Essentially, it is a civil war. If the West intervenes without a UN resolution … I think there is a more serious risk of this escalating beyond Syrian boundaries.
“I think there would be deep scepticism about boots on the ground,” he said. “Mission creep is a real possibility once you have crossed the line.”
Michael Caplan, an international lawyer, told BBC Radio 4’s World at One that ministers could find themselves in a “controversial situation”.
“The difficulty here is there’s no threat as I understand it to the security of this country or the United States and therefore on what basis can we intervene?” he asked.
Mr Hague said that Britain faced a choice between military strikes or allowing tyrants to use chemical weapons “with impunity”. He said that diplomatic efforts at the UN had failed and it would be legal for countries to take military action in response to chemical attacks without Security Council backing.
Mr Hague declined to discuss “the military options” but refused to rule “in or out” a strike within days.
A resolution of the UN Security Council would provide the clearest legal authority for military action. But opposition from Russia and China makes it all-but impossible, according to British sources.
Instead, officials are pointing to the example of Kosovo, where the West intervened on humanitarian grounds.
Military leaders were divided on British involvement. Gen Sir Mike Jackson, former head of the Army, said: “Probably, at the end of the day, it has to be the lesser of two evils.” But a senior military source said the West had missed its chance to act while Assad was weakened.

and

another view:

http://www.aangirfan.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/syria-and-world-war.html

26 Aug

SYRIA AND WORLD WAR

(pix at link)

Anti-Assad forces "injecting substances into the bodies of victims to prepare false evidence against the authorities in Damascus." TERRORIST CHEMICAL ATTACK

In the Daily Mail, PETER MCKAY writes that:

As the West considers action against the ruling Assad regime in Syria, we must take note of a chilling warning from 1914

Peter McKay writes:

'As the centenary of the 1914-1918 Great War approaches, historian Christopher Clark points out that conflict's eerie, modern relevance...

'"Behind the outrage at Sarajevo was an ... organisation ... extra-territorial, secretive, scattered in cells across political borders, its links to any sovereign government were oblique."

We are thinking here of Freemasons dreaming of a Greater Israel.

The Black Hand assassinated the heir to the throne of Austria in Sarajevo.

"Leading members of the Black Hand apparently met with French and Grand Orient Freemasons at the Hotel St Jerome in Toulouse in January 1914 to arrange the assassination in Sarajevo..." - The Occult Conspiracy by Michael Howard. (The Biggest Secret - Chapter 11))

As a result of Sarajevo and World War I, the British grabbed Palestine and oil-rich Iraq. The French grabbed Syria.

Peter McKay writes:

'The West is drawing up a list of targets for Cruise missile strikes aimed at crippling the Assad regime.

'How will Syria's main allies, Russia and Iran, respond?

Victim of chemical weapons used by the USA in Falujah. (pix at link)

Peter McKay writes:

'Putin’s spokesmen deplore the poison gas attack, but suggest it might have been the work of the Syrian rebels, which include Al Qaeda elements.

'They point out that Assad's military is winning and doesn’t need to resort to using illegal weapons, and suggest that only the rebels stood to gain from the international anger aroused by such an attack...

The Sarajevo plotters of today hope for a Greater Israel, shown by the red line.

Peter McKay writes:

'The Sarajevo-style plotters of today ... dream of forcing rival blocs to take sides in a great war, in the hope it will somehow usher in a new... world....'

(We are thinking here of Jewish Freemasons dreaming of a Greater Israel)

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, who has been linked to Jimmy Savile and to the child abuse scandal in North Wales. (pix at link)

William Hague, the UK Foreign Secretary, is trying to arrange a war against Syria.

William Hague is like Sir Edward Grey, the UK Foreign Secretary who has been blamed for starting World War I.

William Hague is not what he seems.

Sir Edward Grey was presented to the world as being an honest decent gentleman.

In fact Sir Edward Grey Grey had several extramarital affairs and at least two probable bastard children.

What happened in Damascus is similar to what happened in Sarajevo.

Assad has been wrongly blamed for the 'gas attack' in Damascus.

The evidence that we have seen shows that the 'gas attack' in Damascus was organised by people connected to Israel and the CIA.

Serbia was wrongly blamed for the assassination in Sarajevo.

and

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/08/medias-reporting-on-syria-as-terrible-as-it-was-on-iraq.html

Media’s Reporting on Syria as Terrible as It Was on Iraq

Posted on August 26, 2013 by WashingtonsBlog

After Giving Mea Culpas for Horrible Iraq Coverage, Media Does the Exact Same Thing On Syria

story at the link

Sabrina

27th August 2013, 07:02

Further to post 2510, here's the link. Definitely worth a read from David Wilcock.

http://divinecosmos.com/start-here/davids-blog/1145-us-military-fed

CONFIRMED: US Military Alliance Defeating Federal Reserve

Dramatic new evidence reveals that a secret alliance of US military personnel are working to expose and defeat the Federal Reserve -- and the occult cabal of bankers and industrialists who run it.

The hacker group Anonymous has now gone public with its connection to the US military.

Vital new historical insights into this alliance are also presented here -- for the first time in well over a decade.

More surprises are very likely to be in store. These new developments were predicted in David's new book, now available for you to read!

[UPDATE FRIDAY 8/23: A major insider site we linked to was immediately destroyed by hacking after we published this article. See headline in red.]

full story at link (from 22 Aug)

and

Synchronicity Key: David Wilcock's Epic New Video, Part 1!

F0xwWesxI4A

At last! Enjoy David Wilcock's epic new YouTube comeback video!

50 minutes of incredible new information reveals that we are indeed witnessing the full exposure and takedown of the Cabal -- thanks to the work of an international alliance.

Disclosure is happening now. Watch as David takes you through a guided tour of the biggest headlines of the last four months, and shows how they are all leading up to something very big!

Even better, you will find out that this is the fulfillment of a cycle predicted in over 30 different ancient cultures around the world -- forecasting a coming Golden Age of seemingly impossible wonderment!

[UPDATED Same Night. New section on the deeper spiritual implications of "cyclical time" near the end of this piece, beginning at the red headline.]

IT JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER AND BETTER

Very few people seem to be aware of what is happening in the world right now.

You might be quite concerned, even nauseous, as the full scope of negativity and surveillance in our world is finally exposed.

Many people are going into a "dark night of the soul" experience right now -- feeling that all hope is lost, and doing whatever they can to distract the pain.

The news headlines we are seeing -- which I talk you through in this new video, step by step -- are building up to something much bigger than we could ever imagine.

I strongly recommend you read my previous article, CONFIRMED: US Military Alliance Defeating Federal Reserve, for the latest and most current information.

I would consider this "required reading" for everyone who cares about what is going on -- and the massive, transformative events that this is leading up to.

Many thousands of listeners were inspired by the three-hour radio show I just did on Coast to Coast AM with George Noory as well.

I made some very bold predictions in this radio show -- and I wouldn't have done that if I didn't have very strong faith in their validity, from multiple sources.

WE ARE ON THE THRESHOLD OF AN EPIC CHANGE

Now that Anonymous has revealed itself to be heavily staffed by patriotic US Military intelligence officers, the truth of the Alliance is finally becoming clear.

I have been in contact with multiple insiders who are aware of this alliance to varying degrees -- and the overall plan to restore freedom on earth.

Edward Snowden headed off to Russia -- and then never left.

For years now, we have been leaking intel on this site revealing that Russia is at the forefront of this alliance to defeat the murderous Federal Reserve.

At one point it was called BRICS -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- but it has since grown much larger than that.

A significant majority of the US military is now supporting the Alliance. This is a good thing, not a bad thing.

If the Federal Reserve cabal is not stopped, they will destroy our planet. We cannot afford to let them do that.

I have risked everything -- my life, my security and the people I care about -- to join this fight, and help spread the word about the positive nature of these events.

A CONSCIOUSNESS WAR

On some levels, this is a consciosuness war. The Cabal has systematically infiltrated and controlled the mainstream media -- in many different forms.

All the traditional outlets of magazines, newspapers, television news, television shows and movies have been compromised for many years.

There have always been books and radio shows that revealed the truth, but without video publicity and mainstream press, they have been ignored.

The Internet has been an incredible force of change. Without it, we may never have been able to defeat the Cabal.

The war is being fought for your consciousness. For how you think -- and what you think.

Surprisingly, this is all being allowed to happen by a loving, intelligent Cosmos.

A UNIVERSE WITHOUT BENEVOLENT GUIDANCE?

The "Powers that Were" have been the biggest, most powerful organized religion in the world -- for at least hundreds, if not thousands of years.

The true scope of the secrecy involved -- and the nature of the crimes that have been committed -- would make most people shake with fear.

This group does have a spiritual philosophy. The closest known analogue to it in mainstream philosophy studies would be Deism.

This group believes the Universe was created by a "Great Architect" who set up a system of natural laws, and then abandoned us.

In their belief system, "there is no God" -- no loving consciousness overseeing our evolution.

Instead, they believe the objective is to "become God -- where none had existed."

In my new book, The Synchronicity Key, I completely collapse this false belief system with the arresting truth of scientific fact.

You are about to see the first of an epic new four-part video series where I make the case.

SPECTACULARLY POSITIVE CHANGES ARE RAPIDLY APPROACHING

Is there any hope for humanity? Or are we doomed -- heading into a bottomless pit from which there is no escape?

A wealth of solid, provable evidence reveals that we are indeed on the brink of spectacular changes -- for the positive.

Comprehensive new evidence has exposed a natural cycle that affects human behavior -- on an individual and collective level.

This cycle is older than the Earth itself -- and is written into the basic laws of space, time, matter and energy.

The positive outcome of the events we are now seeing will be generated by laws as consistent and absolute as gravity itself.

more at link

Sabrina

27th August 2013, 07:56

And it keeps on coming out - even from Fox...

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/24/dhs-employee-behind-website-promoting-race-war-on-paid-leave/

US

DHS employee behind website promoting race war on paid leave

The Department of Homeland Security said Friday that an employee who runs a racist website predicting and advocating a race war has been put on paid administrative leave.

Ayo Kimathi, an acquisitions officer for Immigration and Customs Enforcement who is in charge of buying weapons and ammunition for the government, operates the website named "War on the Horizon." It includes descriptions of an "unavoidable, inevitable clash with the white race." Kimathi is black.

Kimathi, who calls himself the "Irritated Genie," told his supervisors that the website was set up to sell concert and lecture videos.

Kimathi has been with the department since 2009. His website criticizes whites, gays, those of mixed race, and blacks who integrate with whites. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups, earlier this week reported on Kimathi's role in running the site.

The report showed the site's content strayed far beyond concert promotion, warning about a coming race war. The website declares, “in order for Black people to survive the 21st century, we are going to have to kill a lot of whites – more than our Christian hearts can possibly count,” the Alabama-based SPLC said in its report.

One of Kimathi’s former supervisors at DHS told SPLC’s Hatewatch that, "Everybody is the office is afraid of him,” and that his co-workers are “afraid he will come in with a gun and someday go postal."

The supervisor, who was not named, continued, "I am astounded he's employed by the federal government, let alone Homeland Security." (really :))

Kimathi reportedly got the go-ahead from the government to create and maintain his website. That’s because as a law enforcement agency employee, he is required to get permission in writing if he engages in outside activities which includes everything from working a second job to volunteering.

The SPLC says Kimathi obtained official permission but did it by misrepresenting the true nature of his site.
"He told management that it was an entertainment website selling videos of concerts and lectures," the report said. "He called it simply WOH, never saying that WOH stood for War on the Horizon."

ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said in a written statement this week that the agency "does not condone any type of hateful rhetoric or advocacy of violence of any kind against anyone."

Kimathi hasn't responded to email and phone calls requesting comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

24 Aug

Sabrina

27th August 2013, 08:02

And I wonder why...

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/100-days-treasury-has-kept-debt-frozen-16699396000000

US

100 Days: Treasury Has Kept Debt Frozen at $16,699,396,000,000

(CNSNews.com) - The Treasury Department’s latest official daily accounting of the U.S. government’s receipts, expenditures and borrowings--released this afternoon at 4:00 p.m.--indicates that the legally limited debt of the federal government has now been exactly $16,699,396,000,000 for 100 straight days.

The Daily Treasury Statement released today showed the status of the government’s accounts as of the close of business on Friday, Aug. 23. Because the Treasury does no business over the weekend, the federal government’s debt did not change on Saturday or Sunday.

The statement for Aug. 23 said the federal debt subject to the legal limit set by Congress was $16,699,396,000,000—or $25 million below the current limit of $16,699,421,000,000. Every Daily Treasury Statement since May 17 has also shown the legally limited debt at $16,699,396,000,000, or $25 million below the limit.

During the 100-day period from Friday, May 17 to Sunday, Aug. 25, according to the Treasury, the legally limited debt of the federal government did not change.

On May 17, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew sent House Speaker John Boehner a letter indicating that the Treasury was then hitting the legal limit on the debt and that he would begin using “extraordinary measures” to allow the government to continue borrowing money without exceeding that limit.

“In total, the extraordinary measures currently available free up approximately $260 billion in headroom under the limit, as described below,” said an appendix to Lew’s letter.

Among the “extraordinary measures” Lew said he could take to create this “headroom” under the debt limit were: 1) not investing new money from the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund (CSRDF) in U.S. Treasury securities, which he said would create $6.4 billion in “headroom” per month, 2) not reinvesting $58 billion ion Treasury Securities held by the CSRDF that would be maturing and not reinvesting $16 billion in interest owed to the fund, which would create $74 billion in headroom, 3) suspending the routine daily reinvestment of $160 billion in special Treasury securities held by the Federal Employees’ Retirement System Thrift Savings Plan, which would create another $160 billion in headroom, and 4) suspending the routine daily reinvestment of Treasury securities held by the government’s own Exchange Stabilization Fund, which would create another $23 billion in headroom.

In a subsequent letter sent to House Speaker John Boehner on Aug. 2, Secretary Lew said he had originally calculated that the Treasury would stop using the extraordinary measures on Aug. 2. But on that day, he said his new estimate was that the Treasury would keep using extraordinary measures, and thus keep borrowing without running over the legal limit, until Oct. 11.

“I have determined that a ‘debt issuance suspension period,’ previously determined to last until August 2, 2013, will continue through October 11, 2013, the last day that Congress is expected to be in session before the Columbus Day recess,” wrote Lew.

In a new letter that he sent to Speaker Boehner today, Lew estimated that the Treasury can keep borrowing until “the middle of October” until it runs out of headroom.

“Based on our latest estimates, extraordinary measures are projected to be exhausted in the middle of October,” Lew wrote.

Lew told Boehner in this letter: “Moreover, it is not possible for us to estimate with any precision the date on which Treasury would exhaust its cash in this situation. The rate at which cash will be drawn down depends on factors that are inherently variable and irregular, including the unpredictability of tax receipts, changes in expenditure flows under sequestration and the willingness of investors to re-invest in, or ‘roll-over,’ Treasury securities.”

For the last 100 days, there has been no variability at all in the federal government debt subject to the legal limit: It has remained precisely $16,699,396,000,000.

Between now and mid-October when Lew expects to exhaust the extraordinary measures he is now using to keep the debt at that number, Congress and the administration will negotiate the spending bill or bills that are needed to fund the government after this fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.

Thus, under Lew's current estimate, the administration and Congress could negotiate new spending bills first—before the exhaustion of the Treasury’s “extraordinary” measures requires them to negotiate a new legal limit on federal borrowing.

CNSNews.com is not funded by the government like NPR. CNSNews.com is not funded by the government like PBS.

26 Aug

Sabrina

27th August 2013, 16:49

BANKSTERS GOING TO JAIL "The Week Review"

1I50aLx9Uts

Sabrina

27th August 2013, 16:55

The Real Risk at JPMorgan Isn’t Its Legal Mess

By SUZANNE MCGEE, The Fiscal Times

August 20, 2013
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2013/08/20/The-Real-Risk-at-JPMorgan-Chase.aspx

Remember that scene in Casablanca when Claude Rains, playing Captain Renault in the World War II-era city of the title, closing down Rick’s casino with the immortal words, “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here,” even as he gratefully pockets his own winnings?

Well, welcome to the Wall Street circa 2013. JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) seems to be mired in a perfect regulatory storm, with some of its European traders facing criminal charges in connection with the London Whale losses, its commodities operations still faced with uncertainty as its aluminum warehouse storage “scandal” continues, and now the “revelation” that the bank hired the children of top Chinese officials in hopes that this would help it win more business. (It may even have worked – surprise, surprise. Odds are, though, that the nepotism scandal will prove to be a non-starter on the regulatory front: Once that can of worms is opened, it’s hard to imagine where it will ever end.)

RELATED: JPMORGAN CHINA PROBE SENDS CHILLS THROUGH INVESTMENT BANKS

In all, The Wall Street Journal notes, the bank faces as least seven investigations by various regulators. Yet while the bank says its legal woes might – in the worst case scenario – add $6.8 billion in losses above its existing reserves, this isn’t in and of itself a reason to flee the stock.

Set those possible losses against the bank’s earnings performance, its valuation (only 8.6 times trailing earnings), its lavish 2.93 percent dividend yield (almost enough to put it into the Dogs of the Dow category). Then factor in that short positions by traders hoping to profit from a fall in the bank’s share price have declined by nearly 5 percent lately, and still account for only about 1 percent of all shares outstanding, and you have a recipe for a rapid rebound.

What will trigger that? Who knows. But the odds certainly favor it, once the headline risks abate.

The one real risk here? The bank doesn’t just need to persuade investors that it takes compliance and risk management seriously, but to really, truly take compliance and risk management seriously.

In his letter to shareholders earlier this year, CEO Jamie Dimon wrote that the bank “must and will do a better job at compliance.”

“Let me be perfectly clear,” Dimon wrote. “These problems were our fault, and it is our job to fix them. In fact, I feel terrible that we let our regulators down. We are devoted to ensuring that our systems, practices, controls, technology and, above all, culture meet the highest standards. We want to be considered one of the best banks – across all measures – by our shareholders, our customers and our regulators.”

Any further revelations of questionable losses or trading activity and the context in which investors view JPMorgan Chase will turn much darker – and rightfully so. Once is a bad error of judgment; twice is unforgivable.

But most of the risks that we know the bank will face – rising interest rates, a decline in mortgage refinancing, the need to satisfy regulators on both capital plans and an emergency liquidation strategy – are common to all banks. What all banks don’t share is JPMorgan Chase’s dominant market position and the intense focus of its management team.

If you want to stay away from this stock, do so because it is mismanaging its business, failing to maximize returns or dropping the ball on risk management – not because of headlines about litigation. Unless JPMorgan Chase has been manipulating global markets on a massive scale (of the kind I’ve only encountered in crime fiction), then the ongoing litigation might leave a slight but not lasting tarnish on its name that time will rapidly remove.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Deutsche Boerse says Eurex trading again after outage

FRANKFURT | Mon Aug 26, 2013 10:43am BST

(Reuters) - Exchange operator Deutsche Boerse said trading on its derivatives platform Eurex had been halted for over an hour on Monday, without giving an immediate explanation for the failure.

Deutsche Boerse said in a statement on its website that trading resumed at 0922 Central European Time, with a company spokesman declining to comment further.

The market impact of the trading glitch appeared to have been limited. A public holiday in London meant most traders in Europe's largest equity market were not at their desks, and trading volumes remained well below their daily average.

Global markets have faced technological glitches recently. Last week the Nasdaq (NDAQ.O) stock exchange halted trading for three hours citing a "connectivity issue".

Earlier this year, the Chicago Board Options Exchange delayed the start of trading there for half a day.

Deutsche Boerse last week said its cash and derivatives markets were available for 99.99 percent of the time in 2012.

(Reporting by Edward Taylor and Blaise Robinson; editing by Ludwig Burger and Keiron Henderson)

Visit stage2omega at: http://www.stage2omega.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

Sabrina

27th August 2013, 17:05

http://hipknowsys.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/benjamin-fulford-august-27-2013-latest.html

Latest from Benjamin Fulford.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Benjamin Fulford - August 27, 2013: Latest attempt to start world war 3 in Syria a sign of cabal desperation

The final take-down of the criminal cabal that illegally seized control of many Western countries is under-way according to multiple sources in the Pentagon, MI5, the Italian P2 Freemason Lodge and in various Asian power centers.

The ongoing attempts by these religious fanatic criminals to start Armageddon, this time with an operation in Syria is nothing more than a sign of desperation. The list of countries that has agreed to attack Syria based on the obvious cabal staged poisonous gas attack in Syria is also a list of the countries still under cabal control. These are the US, Canada (to my deep shame), France, Israel, Italy, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The fact that other NATO countries, notably Germany, are not participating is a sign the cabal no longer controls the NATO alliance. Globally, the cabal now controls only 8 out of the 195 nations on earth.

It is true these cabal controlled nations still control considerable military power on paper but it is extremely unlikely the pentagon will go along with this latest cabal gambit. From their point of view it is difficult to see what sort of legitimate US interests would be served by attacking Syria.

Instead, they realize this latest horror is just a desperate attempt to start war in order to save cabal control of the financial system. That is not going to be allowed.

On that front, a White Dragon Society representative will meet this week with holders of historical Asian bonds issued by the Federal Reserve Board in order to begin moves to either force the Feds to either cash them or be declared bankrupt. The bonds will be taken to the Bank for International Settlements for cashing after the UN, the governments of the US, the EU, Russia, China etc. are formally notified the money will be used to finance a massive campaign to end poverty and stop environmental destruction. If anybody objects, the specific names of the people or organizations trying to block this move will be publicized and legal action against them will be initiated.

Since the International Court of Justice at the Hague is a cabal controlled institution, it will probably be necessary to set up a special tribunal to carry out mass arrests of top cabal members before work to repair this planet can begin.

There will also be continued clandestine efforts to remove cabal proxies from public office in the 8 countries still under cabal control. England, the US and Canada are expected to be the first of the 8 cabal controlled countries that will be freed. This will be done primarily by using all legal tools available to remove the known cabal mass murderers who are in power in these countries.

Of course the cabal has no intention of going quietly. In addition to their increasingly desperate attempts to start World War 3, the cabalists are also trying to co-opt the coming revolution.

The plan to co-opt the revolution by the cabal is taking the form of controlled opposition. The pumping up of, and mass corporate propaganda media pumping up of people like Edward Snowden and Julian Assange mark them as officially sanctioned “rebels.” These highly publicized and lionized “whistleblowers,” despite supposedly having access to huge archives of intelligence files have somehow failed, for example, to find anything about 911, 311 or other cabal mass murder events.

In any case, the cabal controlled revolution scenario hopes to use these and other yet to be created anti-heroes to make it seem that a revolution has taken place. Of course, it will just be a case of putting the velvet glove back onto the recently exposed steel fist of cabal fascist control. This plan will fail.

In a separate cabal gambit, top cabal agent Adnan Sacly is travelling around Asia, particularly Indonesia, in an attempt to bribe or otherwise influence Asian dynastic families, according to a senior P2 Freemason official. . He is being hunted by operatives working for the Vatican as well as the CIA and is thus not expected to remain in action for very long, according to the P2 freemason official.

There is also trouble brewing on the economic front with China now joining the ranks of countries whose economies are imploding. Mass bankruptcies have begun among small and medium enterprise, according to a Chinese government official.

This means the controlled economic implosion that began with the Lehman Brothers crisis of 2008 has worked its way from weaker countries like Greece and the US and is now hitting previously strong economies like China. This is adding to the pressure to start the new financial system and pump money into the global economy ASAP.

However, although everybody is sick and tired of the old financial system, solving the question of who gets to control the money pump next is still going to take many months to solve before the new system can begin.

more at link..

Sabrina

28th August 2013, 06:50

Multiple good threads on Syria on Avalon. UK Parliament has been recalled and debates it on Thursday. Top brass ex UK military are speaking out against it. So called Alternative media have good exposes. Let's hope that this time enough of the public, lawyers, politicians, military etc. are waking up. No doubt the expert war crimes lawyers trying to line up Bush, Cheney, Blair and co. will be taking a great interest in the depressingly similar repeat scenarios being played out to us.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/the-heir-to-blair-david-cameron-makes-moral-case-for-attack-on-syria-in-echo-of-iraq-war-defence-8786783.html

(full story at link)

28 AUg

The heir to Blair: David Cameron makes 'moral case' for attack on Syria in echo of Iraq war defence

No sign that Britain will wait for mandate from UN Security Council as PM faces crucial test of authority with Parliament recall for debate on Thursday

...................

Syria crisis: UK and US vow that any military response is 'not about regime change' as Parliament is recalled

But Mr Cameron and his deputy, Nick Clegg, appeared to imply that such action could take place without a mandate from the UN Security Council – or without waiting for weapons inspectors to report on their examination of the site of the alleged attack in Damscus last week, during which hundreds are reported to have died. Foreign Office lawyers and the Attorney General, Dominic Grieve, are understood already to have examined the legal route for military intervention in Syria using a controversial UN “ humanitarian” exemption that allows action without the Security Council’s authority.

and behind the scenes, the good old money game:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/bu...s-8786917.html

28 Aug

Gold and oil prices surge, while world shares fall as Western intervention in Syria looms

Shares across the world fell yesterday as the prospect of military intervention in Syria sent jitters through the financial markets.

While stock exchanges in the Middle East predictably tumbled as the interventionist rhetoric in London and Washington intensified, Western markets also sank heavily as the uncertainty added to pre-existing worries about macro-economic issues such as the US Federal Reserve's plans for "tapering" its $85bn-a-month quantitative easing programme..........

Brenda Kelly, the head of strategy at IG, said: "Unrest in the Middle East and the potential for increased volatility tend to put the risk on the upside for oil, and any prolonged disruptions to pipeline supply could send the oil price back to this year's highs of $119."

Gold, also rose sharply, as did the Japanese yen and Swiss franc. Government bonds in the US, UK and Germany attracted large amounts of safe-haven investment.

(full story at link)

Sabrina

28th August 2013, 07:15

GlaxoSmithKline Case: China Charges British-American Couple

By Staff and agencies, The Guardian – August 27, 2013

http://tinyurl.com/lol3fwk

China has given the first official confirmation of charges against a British-American couple embroiled in the GlaxoSmithKline bribery case.

An announcement by the Xinhua News Agency said Peter Humphrey and his wife, Yu Yingzeng, who both operate private investigation firm ChinaWhys, had been detained since July on charges of illegally trading in personal information about Chinese citizens.

Xinhua said reports prepared by their agency included information that infringed the privacy rights of Chinese citizens. ChinaWhys says its services for corporate clients include screening potential employees or business partners.

The couple’s arrest had earlier been announced by their family and the British embassy in Beijing.

GSK has been accused by China of funnelling up to 3bn yuan (£312m) to travel agencies to facilitate bribes to doctors and officials. It remains unclear whether the couple’s arrest relates directly to that case but they were apparently arrested as part of the GSK investigation.

Humphrey and Yu’s ChinaWhys had done work with drug companies including GSK, according to sources of the Reuters news agency where Humphrey worked as a journalist in the 1980s and 90s. The ChinaWhys website says he has been a risk management specialist and corporate detective for 14 years.

Humphrey, a Briton, and Yu, an American, were detained in Shanghai on 10 July by police investigating bribery allegations against GlaxoSmithKline.

In China an arrest typically means police believe they have enough evidence for a case to be brought to trial. Detentions can last for weeks and end in release without charges being filed.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Brazilian Foreign Minister Resigns, Heads to U.N.

Reuters – August 26, 2013

http://tinyurl.com/ke2yu4y

Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota resigned on Monday after one of his diplomats acknowledged that he had helped a Bolivian senator, who had been accused of corruption, cross the border into Brazil.

President Dilma Rousseff accepted Patriota’s resignation but appointed him as Brazil’s envoy to the United Nations, her office said in a statement.

The current Brazilian U.N. ambassador, Luiz Alberto Figueiredo, will become foreign minister. A career diplomat, Figueiredo was Brazil’s lead negotiator in climate change talks until his appointment to the United Nations a year ago.
Patriota’s departure will help Brasilia avoid a diplomatic wrangle with neighboring Bolivia, where the leftist government of President Evo Morales was fuming over the escape to Brazil of opposition senator Roger Pinto.

Pinto, who had accused the Morales government of having links to drug traffickers, avoided arrest by seeking refuge in the Brazilian embassy in La Paz.

Brasilia granted him asylum but the Bolivian government denied him a safe-conduct to leave the country and he lived in the embassy for 15 months. Over the weekend, the Brazilian charge d’affairs helped Pinto flee across the border in a 22-hour dash in an embassy car.

Pinto’s flight “created a complicated situation” for Patriota, who appeared to have been disobeyed by a member of his diplomatic corps, a Brazilian government source said.

Rousseff picked Figueiredo to succeed Patriota because she was “very impressed” by his work coordinating negotiations between rich and developed nations at the Rio+20 environmental conference, said the source, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak.

Patriota is the first cabinet member to resign his post since a flurry of ministers left Rousseff’s government in her first year in office in 2011, including former Chief of Staff Antonio Palocci.

Under Rousseff, Patriota departed from the foreign policy of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his foreign minister Celso Amorim, who drew Brazil closer to Iran and Venezuela. Patriota took a more moderate line that included strengthening ties with the United States.

Sabrina

28th August 2013, 07:24

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/08/28/320851/us-bank-ceo-misuses-bailout-cash/

US bank CEO misuses bailout cash

28 Aug

Darryl Layne Woods, the chairman of Columbia, Mo.-based Mainstreet Bank, pleaded guilty on Monday to using bailout funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program to purchase a luxury condominium in 2009, U.S. Attorney Tammy Dickinson announced in a press release.

In January 2009, the bank received a cash infusion of more than $1 million from the federal government, the press release stated. Less than a month later, Woods spent more than $381,000 of those funds to purchase a seaside home in Ft. Myers, Florida.

“At a time when many other Americans were losing their homes, he was siphoning off public funds to buy a luxury vacation condo in Florida,” Dickinson said.

TARP injected more that $600 billion into banks and other financial companies in the wake of the financial crisis. Taxpayers are still billions of dollars in the red for the bailout funds that have yet to be repaid.

Woods proceeded to lie to regulators about how the money was used, according to Christy Romero, Special Inspector General for TARP. When the agency “required Mainstreet Bank to disclose how it spent TARP funds, bank Chairman and CFO Woods failed to tell the truth,” he said.

Woods faces up to a year in federal prison without parole, according to the press release. He also faces a fine of up to $100,000 and is barred from future work in the financial services industry. The Huffington Post

AHT/ARA

Sabrina

29th August 2013, 23:28

http://americankabuki.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/moodys-lowers-ratings-on-major-us-banks.html

Moody's Lowers Ratings on Major US Banks

story at link

Sabrina

29th August 2013, 23:43

Shift of power starting to happen...:) Alternative (or independent) media are playing their part, and now even the mainstream media are starting to ask questions about the legality and motive for an attack on Syria on both sides of the pond.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23892783

30 Aug UK

David Cameron loses Commons vote on Syria action

story at link

and

http://www.aangirfan.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/attack-on-camerons-zionist-cabal.html

29 Aug

ATTACK ON CAMERON'S ZIONIST CABAL

In the UK, the Non-Zionist faction within the elite has turned against David Cameron and his evil-smelling Zionist cabal.

The world's biggest news site, the highly influential Daily Mail, thunders: "If our MPs STILL have any doubts, they've a moral duty to vote no."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2405055/Syria-chemical-weapons-attack-If-MPs-STILL-doubts-theyve-moral-duty-vote-no.html

story at links

and

Quote from Financial Times (UK):

"The Joint Intelligence Committee ... did not produce a 'smoking gun'".

and

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/08/u-s-admits-it-has-no-idea-who-carried-out-syrian-chemical-weapons-attack.html

29 Aug US

U.S. Admits It Has No Idea WHO Carried Out Syrian Chemical Weapons Attack

Posted on August 29, 2013 by WashingtonsBlog

One Rogue, Low-Level Officer Could Have Carried Out Attack

Even though the U.S. government claims that the Syrian government is the perpetrator of the chemical weapons attack, it admits that it has no idea who in the government ordered the attack. It could have been a rogue, low-level military officer.

full story at link

ThePythonicCow

30th August 2013, 00:19

http://americankabuki.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/moodys-lowers-ratings-on-major-us-banks.html

Moody's Lowers Ratings on Major US Banks

story at link
The first paragraph of this story, for our viewing pleasure:

New York, August 22, 2013 -- Moody's Investors Service has placed the senior and subordinated debt ratings of the holding companies for the six largest USbanks on review as it considers reducing its government (or systemic) support assumptions to reflect the impact of US bank resolution policies. Four -- Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo -- are on review for downgrade. Two, Bank of America and Citigroup, are on review direction uncertain, as the rating agency considers the potentially offsetting influence of improvements in the standalone credit strength of their main operating subsidiaries, the ratings on which were simultaneously placed on review for upgrade. Included in the review are the short-term ratings of several of these bank holding companies, as described further below. Two additional banks, Bank of New York Mellon and State Street, whose ratings were previously placed on review for downgrade, are also included in this review.
So, it looks to me that the title provided to this report by the americankabuki.blogspot.co.uk website of "Moody's Lowers Ratings on Major US Banks" is incorrect. Moody's did not lower the ratings of these six largest banks, but put them on review as it considers whether to lower them.

Not lowered ... yet :).

gripreaper

30th August 2013, 00:41

Not lowered ... yet :).HA ha, Moody seems a bit moody these days about what to tell us about the psychopathic criminal banksters, as if we need Moodies to "rate" them? That is funny.

Mortgages were written to anyone who could fog a mirror and financed with money created out of thin air, blended and packaged into pools of junk securities and the cash flow rights sold to unsuspecting/unsecured investors, without proper transfer of the notes into the pools, banks avoiding the capital transfer taxes, clouding 70% of titles in the market, while the big banks then took those blended MBS and leveraged them to 1000 times their value, insured them against loss, then tanked the real estate market, collected insurance on those losses, stuck the taxpayer with the pile of toxic crap to the tune of 85 billion a month in stop-gap to infinity, unloaded the crap paper losses on the government, stole all the houses and kept all the tangible assets for themselves through lies and deceit and improper assignments, where no one really knows who has an interest in the alleged obligation, the banks with no skin in the game, making quadrillions in fees and profits, with nothing of their own at risk, totally destroying the global economies pushing 90% of the world to the brink of poverty and collapse.

So, they got paid at closing, got paid again from the insurance, got paid again from the bailouts, got paid huge fees every step of the way, got paid again from the investors, got paid again when they stole the houses from the homeowners, got paid again selling off the losers to the government, got paid again in monthly backstops to keep the toxic crap out of the market, and got paid again when they sold big blocks for future rentals to the likes of Blackstone.

And Moody doesn't know how to rate them? I'm not having any trouble rating them without Moody's help.

ThePythonicCow

30th August 2013, 05:07

And Moody doesn't know how to rate them? I'm not having any trouble rating them without Moody's help.
Yes, we know how to rate those banks.

But a separate and interesting question is when officialdom will down grade them, for that tends to be one of the key triggers to dramatic changes in the financial markets.

Reinhard

30th August 2013, 07:45

August 29, Reuters:

UPDATE 4-Zurich chairman Ackermann quits over CFO suicide

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/29/zurich-cfo-ackermann-idUSL6N0GU09F20130829

araucaria

30th August 2013, 08:22

Not lowered ... yet :).HA ha, Moody seems a bit moody these days ... I'm not having any trouble rating them without Moody's help.
Poor Standard?

KiwiElf

30th August 2013, 08:36

Banking Giant Pays Out Millions - Merrill Lynch commits to change in settlement
Filing: Merrill Lynch commits to major changes in $160 million discrimination-suit settlement

Associated Press
By Michael Tarm, Associated Press – 12 hours ago

http://nz.finance.yahoo.com/news/merrill-lynch-commits-change-settlement-155805575.html

CHICAGO (AP) -- As part of its $160 million proposed discrimination settlement with black financial advisers, Merrill Lynch has agreed to make sweeping changes that "may well change the landscape of Wall Street," attorneys said Thursday in court filings.

The documents filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago come days after attorneys for around 1,200 plaintiffs alleging racial bias announced a deal, which, if approved by a judge, would be one of the largest ever in a discrimination suit.

Among the measures, Merrill Lynch will create a "leadership council" to recommend ways to improve opportunities for African Americans; it commits to interviewing at least one minority candidate when selecting new executives, and it agrees to consider diversity issues when assessing directors' job performances.

Arguing the settlement has potential impact beyond Merrill Lynch, Thursday's documents urge U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman in Chicago to approve it.

"Class Counsel respectfully submits that this case and settlement may well change the landscape of Wall Street as well as discrimination and class action law," one filing says.

Plaintiffs accused the Bank of America-owned Merrill Lynch — one of the world's largest brokerages with more than 15,000 financial advisers — of steering black brokers away from the most lucrative business; as a result, under a compensation system emphasizing production, they earned less than their white counterparts.

A distinguishing feature of the settlement is that many black brokers who joined the suit alleging discrimination will stay on at Merrill Lynch and be included in new structures meant to address their concerns, said plaintiff attorney Linda D. Friedman.

Plaintiffs typically quit or are fired long before settlements in such civil cases, but in this case "the plaintiffs will be a part of the change," she said.

Merrill Lynch spokesman Bill Halldin issued a brief statement on Thursday calling it a "very positive resolution of the lawsuit filed in 2005 and will enhance opportunities for African-American financial advisers."

While it agreed to address issues of diversity in the workplace, Merrill Lynch doesn't admit any wrongdoing in the settlement. In filings during eight years of litigation, it denied the discrimination allegation and staunchly defended its compensation programs.

"All (financial advisers), regardless of race, are judged by the same metric," one of the company's filings argued. "The rule is simple: produce more, earn more."

Plaintiffs claimed discrimination pervaded Merrill Lynch, at least partly because the company employed relatively few African-Americans overall. In a 2009 plaintiffs' filing, they contended that fewer than 2 percent of the brokers at Merrill Lynch were black.

Other changes Merrill Lynch agreed to, according to Thursday's filings, include increasing the amount in its diversity fund to $1 million a year to pay for business development events for minority and female financial advisers.

A status hearing in the case is scheduled for Sept. 3.

Sabrina

30th August 2013, 09:50

(Rolf Harris - Australian UK based TV personality)...

http://blog.cps.gov.uk/2013/08/operation-yewtree-rolf-harris-charged-with-13-offences.html

29/08/2013 UK

Operation Yewtree: Rolf Harris charged with 13 offences

The Crown Prosecution Service has today authorised police to charge Rolf Harris with nine counts of indecent assault, contrary to section 14 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956 and four counts of making indecent images of a child contrary to section 1 of the Protection of Children Act 1978.

Alison Saunders, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS London, said:

"We have carefully considered the evidence gathered by the Metropolitan Police Service as part of Operation Yewtree in relation to Rolf Harris, who was initially arrested on 29 November 2012 over allegations of sexual offences. A file of evidence was passed to the CPS on 12 August 2013.

"Having completed our review, we have concluded that there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest for Mr Harris to be charged with nine counts of indecent assault and four of making indecent images of a child. The alleged indecent assaults date from 1980 to 1986 and relate to two complainants aged 14 and 15 at the time of the alleged offending."

The charges are:

• Six offences of indecent assault relating to a girl aged between 15 and 16 from 1980 to 1981.

• Three offences of indecent assault relating to a girl aged 14, in 1986.

• Four offences of making indecent images of a child between March and July 2012.

Ms Saunders said:

"The decision to prosecute has been taken in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors and the DPP's interim guidelines on prosecuting cases of child sexual abuse.We have determined that there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and that a prosecution is in the public interest.

"Mr Harris will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 23 September 2013.

"May I remind all concerned that Mr Harris has a right to a fair trial. It is very important that nothing is said, or reported, which could prejudice that trial. For these reasons, it would be inappropriate for me to comment further."

Sabrina

30th August 2013, 19:12

Useful for lining up criminal charges I wonder?

http://goldenageofgaia.com/2013/08/snowdens-release-contains-black-budget-summary-details/#more-192311

Snowden’s Release Contains “Black Budget” Summary Details

sage: This is a very long article but well worth the read. I think it’s HUGE news: not only does it fully summarize the Black Budget’s expenditures, it appears in a mainstream outlet. No longer can the secretive Black Ops existence be hidden or shuffled under the carpet. In the Washington Post article itself are many offshoot articles containing more in-depth information and interactive graphs – I’ve put the links to three of those at the very end of this story.

By Barton Gellman and Greg Miller, Washington Post – August 29, 2013

http://tinyurl.com/p7ly7ml

U.S. spy agencies have built an intelligence-gathering colossus since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but remain unable to provide critical information to the president on a range of national security threats, according to the government’s top-secret budget.

The $52.6 billion “black budget” for fiscal 2013, obtained by The Washington Post from former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, maps a bureaucratic and operational landscape that has never been subject to public scrutiny. Although the government has annually released its overall level of intelligence spending since 2007, it has not divulged how it uses the money or how it performs against the goals set by the president and Congress.

The 178-page budget summary for the National Intelligence Program details the successes, failures and objectives of the 16 spy agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community, which has 107,035 employees.

The summary describes cutting-edge technologies, agent recruiting and ongoing operations. The Post is withholding some information after consultation with U.S. officials who expressed concerns about the risk to intelligence sources and methods. Sensitive details are so pervasive in the documents that The Post is publishing only summary tables and charts online.

“The United States has made a considerable investment in the Intelligence Community since the terror attacks of 9/11, a time which includes wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Arab Spring, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction technology, and asymmetric threats in such areas as cyber-warfare,” Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. wrote in response to inquiries from The Post.

“Our budgets are classified as they could provide insight for foreign intelligence services to discern our top national priorities, capabilities and sources and methods that allow us to obtain information to counter threats,” he said.
Among the notable revelations in the budget summary:

●Spending by the CIA has surged past that of every other spy agency, with $14.7 billion in requested funding for 2013. The figure vastly exceeds outside estimates and is nearly 50 percent above that of the National Security Agency, which conducts eavesdropping operations and has long been considered the behemoth of the community.
●The CIA and the NSA have begun aggressive new efforts to hack into foreign computer networks to steal information or sabotage enemy systems, embracing what the budget refers to as “offensive cyber operations.”
●Long before Snowden’s leaks, the U.S. intelligence community worried about “anomalous behavior” by employees and contractors with access to classified material. The NSA planned to ward off a “potential insider compromise of sensitive information” by re-investigating at least 4,000 people this year who hold high-level security clearances.
●U.S. intelligence officials take an active interest in friends as well as foes. Pakistan is described in detail as an “intractable target,” and counterintelligence operations “are strategically focused against [the] priority targets of China, Russia, Iran, Cuba and Israel.” The latter is a U.S. ally but has a history of espionage attempts against the United States.
●In words, deeds and dollars, intelligence agencies remain fixed on terrorism as the gravest threat to national security, which is listed first among five “mission objectives.” Counterterrorism programs employ one in four members of the intelligence workforce and account for one-third of the intelligence program’s spending.
●The governments of Iran, China and Russia are difficult to penetrate, but North Korea’s may be the most opaque. There are five “critical” gaps in U.S. intelligence about Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs, and analysts know virtually nothing about the intentions of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

For the first time, we know where the $52.6 billion we spend on intelligence operations goes. Here’s the rundown.
Formally known as the Congressional Budget Justification for the National Intelligence Program, the “top-secret” blueprint represents spending levels proposed to the House and Senate intelligence committees in February 2012. Congress may have made changes before the fiscal year began on Oct 1. Clapper is expected to release the actual total spending figure after the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.

The document describes a constellation of spy agencies that track millions of surveillance targets and carry out operations that include hundreds of lethal strikes. They are organized around five priorities: combating terrorism, stopping the spread of nuclear and other unconventional weapons, warning U.S. leaders about critical events overseas, defending against foreign espionage, and conducting cyber-operations.

In an introduction, Clapper said the threats facing the United States “virtually defy rank-ordering.” He warned of “hard choices” as the intelligence community — sometimes referred to as the “IC” — seeks to rein in spending after a decade of often double-digit budget increases.

The current budget proposal envisions that spending will remain roughly level through 2017 and amounts to a case against substantial cuts.

“Never before has the IC been called upon to master such complexity and so many issues in such a resource-constrained environment,” Clapper wrote.

An espionage empire
The summary provides a detailed look at how the U.S. intelligence community has been reconfigured by the massive infusion of resources that followed the 2001 attacks. The United States has spent more than $500 billion on intelligence during that period, an outlay that U.S. officials say has succeeded in its main objective: preventing another catastrophic terrorist attack in the United States.

The result is an espionage empire with resources and a reach beyond those of any adversary, sustained even now by spending that rivals or exceeds the levels at the height of the Cold War.

The current total budget request was 2.4 percent below that of fiscal 2012. In constant dollars, it was about twice the estimated size of the 2001 budget and 25 percent above that of 2006, five years into what was then known as the “global war on terror.”

Historical data on U.S. intelligence spending is largely nonexistent. Through extrapolation, experts have estimated that Cold War spending probably peaked in the late 1980s at an amount that would be the equivalent of $71 billion today.
Spending in the most recent cycle surpassed that amount, based on the $52.6 billion detailed in documents obtained by The Post plus a separate $23 billion devoted to intelligence programs that more directly support the U.S. military.

Lee H. Hamilton, an Indiana Democrat who chaired the House Intelligence Committee and co-chaired the commission that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks, said that access to budget details will enable an informed public debate on intelligence spending for the first time, much as Snowden’s disclosures of NSA surveillance programs brought attention to operations that had assembled data on nearly every U.S. citizen.

“Much of the work that the intelligence community does has a profound impact on the life of ordinary Americans, and they ought not to be excluded from the process,” Hamilton said.

“Nobody is arguing that we should be so transparent as to create dangers for the country,” he said. But, he added, “there is a mind-set in the national security community: ‘Leave it to us, we can handle it, the American people have to trust us.’ They carry it to quite an extraordinary length so that they have resisted over a period of decades transparency. . . . The burden of persuasion as to keeping something secret should be on the intelligence community, the burden should not be on the American public.”

Experts said that access to such details about U.S. spy programs is without precedent.

“It was a titanic struggle just to get the top-line budget number disclosed, and that has only been done consistently since 2007,” said Steven Aftergood, an expert at the Federation of American Scientists, a Washington-based organization that provides analyses of national security issues. “But a real grasp of the structure and operations of the intelligence bureaucracy has been totally beyond public reach. This kind of material, even on a historical basis, has simply not been available.”

The only meaningful frame of reference came in 1994, when a congressional subcommittee inadvertently published a partial breakdown of the National Intelligence Program. At the time, the CIA accounted for just $4.8 billion of a budget that totaled $43.4 billion in 2012 dollars. The NSA and the National Reconnaissance Office, which operates satellites and other sensors, commanded far larger shares of U.S. intelligence budgets until years after the Cold War ended.
During the past decade, they have taken a back seat to the CIA.

The NSA was in line to receive $10.5 billion in 2013, and the NRO was to get $10.3 billion — both far below the CIA, whose share had surged to 28 percent of the total budget.

Overall, the U.S. government spends 10 times as much on the Defense Department as it does on spy agencies.

“Today’s world is as fluid and unstable as it has been in the past half century,” Clapper said in his statement to The Post. “Even with stepped up spending on the IC over the past decade, the United States currently spends less than one percent of GDP on the Intelligence Community.”

Dominant position
The CIA’s dominant position is likely to stun outside experts. It represents a remarkable recovery for an agency that seemed poised to lose power and prestige after acknowledging intelligence failures leading up to the 2001 attacks and the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

The surge in resources for the agency funded secret prisons, a controversial interrogation program, the deployment of lethal drones and a huge expansion of its counterterrorism center. The agency was transformed from a spy service struggling to emerge from the Cold War into a paramilitary force.

The CIA has devoted billions of dollars to recruiting and training a new generation of case officers, with the workforce growing from about 17,000 a decade ago to 21,575 this year.

The agency’s budget allocates $2.3 billion for human intelligence operations and $2.5 billion to cover the cost of supporting the security, logistics and other needs of those missions around the world. A relatively small amount of that total, $68.6 million, was earmarked for creating and maintaining “cover,” the false identities employed by operatives overseas.

There is no specific entry for the CIA’s fleet of armed drones in the budget summary, but a broad line item hints at the dimensions of the agency’s expanded paramilitary role, providing more than $2.6 billion for “covert action programs” that would include drone operations in Pakistan and Yemen, payments to militias in Afghanistan and Africa, and attempts to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program.

The black budget illuminates for the first time the intelligence burden of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. For 2013, U.S. spy agencies were projected to spend $4.9 billion on “overseas contingency operations.” The CIA accounted for about half of that figure, a sum factored into its overall $14.7 billion budget.

Those war expenditures are projected to shrink as the United States withdraws forces from Afghanistan. The budget also indicates that the intelligence community has cut the number of contractors it hires over the past five years by about 30 percent.

Critical gaps
Despite the vast outlays, the budget blueprint catalogues persistent and in some cases critical blind spots.
Throughout the document, U.S. spy agencies attempt to rate their efforts in tables akin to report cards, generally citing progress but often acknowledging that only a fraction of their questions could be answered — even on the community’s foremost priority, counterterrorism.

In 2011, the budget assessment says intelligence agencies made at least “moderate progress” on 38 of their 50 top counterterrorism gaps, the term used to describe blind spots. Several concern Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, an enemy of Israel that has not attacked U.S. interests directly since the 1990s.

Other blank spots include questions about the security of Pakistan’s nuclear components when they are being transported, the capabilities of China’s next-generation fighter aircraft, and how Russia’s government leaders are likely to respond to “potentially destabilizing events in Moscow, such as large protests and terrorist attacks.”

A chart outlining efforts to address key questions on biological and chemical weapons is particularly bleak. U.S. agencies set annual goals for at least five categories of intelligence collection related to these weapons. In 2011, the agencies made headway on just two gaps; a year earlier, the mark was zero.

The documents describe expanded efforts to “collect on Russian chemical warfare countermeasures” and assess the security of biological and chemical laboratories in Pakistan.

A table of “critical” gaps listed five for North Korea, more than for any other country that has pursued or is pursuing a nuclear bomb.

The intelligence community seems particularly daunted by the emergence of “homegrown” terrorists who plan attacks in the United States without direct support or instruction from abroad, a threat realized this year, after the budget was submitted, in twin bombings at the Boston Marathon.

The National Counterterrorism Center has convened dozens of analysts from other agencies in attempts to identify “indicators” that could help law enforcement officials understand the path from religious extremism to violence. The FBI was in line for funding to increase the number of agents who surreptitiously track activity on jihadist Web sites.
But a year before the bombings in Boston, the search for meaningful insight into the stages of radicalization was described as one of the “more challenging intelligence gaps.”

High-tech surveillance
The documents make clear that U.S. spy agencies’ long-standing reliance on technology remains intact. If anything, their dependence on high-tech surveillance systems to fill gaps in human intelligence has intensified.

A section on North Korea indicates that the United States has all but surrounded the nuclear-armed country with surveillance platforms. Distant ground sensors monitor seismic activity and scan the country for signs that might point to construction of new nuclear sites. U.S. agencies seek to capture photos, air samples and infrared imagery “around the clock.”

In Iran, new surveillance techniques and technologies have enabled analysts to identify suspected nuclear sites that had not been detected in satellite images, according to the document.

In Syria, NSA listening posts were able to monitor unencrypted communications among senior military officials at the outset of the civil war there, a vulnerability that President Bashar al-Assad’s forces apparently later recognized. One of the NRO’s functions is to extract data from sensors placed on the ground near suspected illicit weapons sites in Syria and other countries.

Across this catalogue of technical prowess, one category is depicted as particularly indispensable: signals intelligence, or SIGINT.

The NSA’s ability to monitor e-mails, phone calls and Internet traffic has come under new scrutiny in recent months as a result of disclosures by Snowden, who worked as a contract computer specialist for the agency before stockpiling secret documents and then fleeing, first to Hong Kong and then Moscow.

The NSA was projected to spend $48.6 million on research projects to assist in “coping with information overload,” an occupational hazard as the volumes of intake have increased sharply from fiber-optic cables and Silicon Valley Internet providers.

The agency’s ability to monitor the communications of al-Qaeda operatives is described in the documents as “often the best and only means to compromise seemingly intractable targets.”

Signals intercepts also have been used to direct the flight paths of drones, gather clues to the composition of North Korea’s leadership and evaluate the response plans of Russia’s government in the event of a terrorist attack in Moscow.
The resources devoted to signals intercepts are extraordinary.

Nearly 35,000 employees are listed under a category called the Consolidated Cryptologic Program, which includes the NSA as well as the surveillance and code-breaking components of the Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines.

The NSA is planning high-risk covert missions, a lesser-known part of its work, to plant what it calls “tailored radio frequency solutions” — close-in sensors to intercept communications that do not pass through global networks.
Even the CIA devotes $1.7 billion, or nearly 12 percent of its budget, to technical collection efforts, including a joint program with the NSA called “CLANSIG,” a covert program to intercept radio and telephone communications from hostile territory.

The agency also is pursuing tracking systems “that minimize or eliminate the need for physical access and enable deep concealment operations against hard targets.”

The CIA has deployed new biometric sensors to confirm the identities and locations of al-Qaeda operatives. The system has been used in the CIA’s drone campaign.

Spending on satellite systems and almost every other category of collection is projected to shrink or remain stagnant in coming years, as Washington grapples with budget cuts across the government. But the 2013 intelligence budget called for increased investment in SIGINT.

Counterintelligence
The budget includes a lengthy section on funding for counterintelligence programs designed to protect against the danger posed by foreign intelligence services as well as betrayals from within the U.S. spy ranks.
The document describes programs to “mitigate insider threats by trusted insiders who seek to exploit their authorized access to sensitive information to harm U.S. interests.”

The agencies had budgeted for a major counterintelligence initiative in fiscal 2012, but most of those resources were diverted to an all-hands emergency response to successive floods of classified data released by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.

For this year, the budget promised a renewed “focus . . . on safeguarding classified networks” and a strict “review of high-risk, high-gain applicants and contractors” — the young, nontraditional computer coders with the skills the NSA needed.

Among them was Snowden, then a 29-year-old contract computer specialist whom the NSA trained to circumvent computer network security. He was copying thousands of highly classified documents at an NSA facility in Hawaii, and preparing to leak them, as the agency embarked on the new security sweep.

“NSA will initiate a minimum of 4,000 periodic reinvestigations of potential insider compromise of sensitive information,” according to the budget, scanning its systems for “anomalies and alerts.”

For more detailed and further information about this story:
http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/national/inside-the-2013-us-intelligence-black-budget/420/
http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/national/2013-us-intelligence-budget-additional-resources/421/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/29/your-cheat-sheet-to-americas-secret-intelligence-budget/

PathWalker

4th September 2013, 09:15

Sabrina

6th September 2013, 23:44

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-09/03/c_132686796.htm

Jiang Jiemin removed from office: authority

BEIJING, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Jiang Jiemin, head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of the State Council and deputy secretary of the SASAC committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), has been removed from office because of suspected serious disciplinary violations.

Xinhua learnt the information Tuesday from the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee.

The official website of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Ministry of Supervision said on Sunday that Jiang is investigated over such violations.

I wonder what this means to the world.
It was not mentioned in the MSM. But removing Chinas prime minister is a big thing.

Benjamin Fulford says this about it:

09/03/2013

Update for readers. The official Chinese Xinhua news site has reported that Jiang Jiemin has been removed from office.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-09/03/c_132686796.htm

Jiang is the head of the Shanghai faction and his removal is expected to signal a major purge of that faction of the communist party, according to Chinese government sources. This could be a precursor to the unification of Taiwan and China, other intelligence agency sources say.

and

9/05/2013

Update
This came in from a pentagon source.

”Jiang jiemin is NOT jiang zemin, who still calls the shots as shanghai faction boss. The other jiang was head of petrochina, and xi is waging war against the oil faction. ”

We can confirm from our own sources that George Bush Sr. and the Nazi faction have been trying to bribe many Chinese power brokers with Iraqi oil. This could be a good sign then.

http://www.benjaminfulford.typepad.com

Sabrina

6th September 2013, 23:50

http://www.time4thetruth.info/2013/07/great-news-for-1st-september-2013.html

** Great News for the 1st September 2013 ***

Now this is what we call Music to the ears and soul :-)

This is the Cause:

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/motu_proprio/documents/papa-francesco-motu-proprio_20130711_organi-giudiziari_en.html

His Most Holy Francis issued an Apostolic Letter on July 11 and effective September 1, 2013. That has effectively stripped away the immunity of all judges, attorneys, government officials and all entities established under the Roman Curia

[Remembering: All corporations are established under the Roman Curia].

All of these "persons" can now be held accountable for war crimes, crimes against humanity,

[Remembering: Divine Spirit is humanity],

for the unlawful restrictions of the liberties of the divine spirit incarnate; for failure to settle the accounts; for continued prosecution of claims already settled, etc.

And here is the following Effect...

[Remembering that. Everything is Cause and Effect.]

Ben Bernanke announced that he is resigning the Federal Reserve effective September 1, 2013.

One of the Federal Reserve Governors has resigned effective September 1, 2013.

Janet Napolitano [Homeland Security] has resigned effective September 1, 2013.

I wonder how many others will be following suit...???

Divinus Unus Pro Totus

Sabrina

6th September 2013, 23:54

http://cyprus-mail.com/2013/09/06/attorney-general-resigns/

6 Sept Cyprus

Attorney-general steps down ahead of time (Updated)

ATTORNEY-GENERAL Petros Clerides has submitted his resignation, the government revealed yesterday.

Clerides, 67, will be leaving his post on September 15. Reports said he would have been retiring in a few months.

The outgoing legal chief was born in Nicosia and trained in Athens. He spent almost his entire career at the Legal Service, joining at the age of 26 as a legal assistant after only two years as a private lawyer.

In 2000, he was appointed deputy Attorney-general and in May 2005 Attorney-general.

In an interview with the Cyprus Mail three years ago, Clerides said: “My only goal is to leave this post and have a good name, nothing more… Not even in my most ambitious dreams did I ever imagine that I’d hold this position.”

His long career has not been without incident.

Having jurisdiction over all criminal cases, the AG is responsible for deciding whether a case should go forward or be withdrawn. He also has authority over private criminal cases.

Clerides came under heavy fire when he openly admitted on television that he had used his ‘nolle prosequi’ powers to drop charges against his son related to driving offences.

His handling of the high-profile Helios air crash and Mari explosion trials also attracted plenty of criticism while in February this year the Supreme Court censured Clerides over comments he made concerning an attempt to seize a ministerial car – in public – for an unpaid state debt.

More recently, Clerides and the government have traded blows over who was responsible for the legal preparations made to set up a Committee of Inquiry to investigate the causes of Cyprus’ near economic collapse.

After former president Demetris Christofias refused to take oral questions at the inquiry, the panel referred his refusal to the AG, calling on him to rule whether Chrisrtofias violated the law by refusing to cooperate.

Former attorney-general Alecos Markides waded into the fray saying that the panel inquiry was wrongly set up and therefore, technically, illegal.

The government pointed out that the AG had signed off on the establishment of the committee so it must be legal, at which point, Clerides countered that he signs off on many new beginnings but at no point was he asked or did he deliver a legal opinion on the establishment of the economic inquiry.

To date, Clerides has yet to respond to the committee of inquiry regarding Christofias’ refusal to play ball with the panel.

President Nicos Anastasiades will replace the outgoing attorney-general with Supreme Court judge Costas Clerides. The new top lawyer will be sworn in on September 16.

Costas Clerides, 61, was appointed Supreme Court judge in 2009.

He read law in London and was called to the Bar at the MiddleTemple.

After his return to Cyprus he practised law for 10 years before he was appointed district judge in 1988.

He was promoted to senior district judge in 1996 and district court president a year later.

The soon-to-be appointed Clerides has served as the president of the Limassol Assizes Court, administrative president of the Larnaca-Famagusta district court and, administrative president of the Nicosia-Kyrenia District Court.

He is married and has one son.

Sabrina

7th September 2013, 00:00

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/16-major-firms-may-have-received-early-data-from-thomson-reuters-20130905

5 Sept

16 Major Firms May Have Received Early Data From Thomson Reuters

By MATT TAIBBI

Readers may recall an ugly story that broke earlier this summer, when New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman rebuked the news/business information firm Thomson Reuters for selling access to key economic survey data two seconds early to high-frequency algorithmic traders. The story strongly suggested that some Thomson Reuters customers were using their two-second head start (an eternity in the modern world of computerized trading) to front-run the markets.

"The early release of market-moving survey data undermines fair play in the markets," Schneiderman said, back in the second week of July. Thomson Reuters suspended the practice of selling two-second head starts after Schneiderman insisted upon a change. Still, the firm defiantly refused to declare the change permanent and insisted that it had the right to "legally distribute non-governmental data" to "fee-paying subscribers."

It turns out that there's more to the story.

Back in June, journalist Simone Foxman at the global economic site Quartz reported that in addition to the two-second head start some Thomson Reuters customers were getting on the release of the University of Michigan Survey of Consumers, other customers may have been getting their data even earlier, "nearly an hour in advance" in some cases.

Rolling Stone has since learned that a whistleblower complaint has been filed to the SEC identifying 16 of the world's biggest banks and hedge funds as the allegedly even-earlier recipients of this key economic data. The complaint alleges that this select group of customers received the data anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour ahead of the rest of the markets.

The identity of these 16 firms has not been made public yet, but sources describe the firms as major financial institutions, many of them well-known to the general public. Their inclusion in this case would significantly expand the scope of the scandal.

Contacted by Rolling Stone today, the SEC declined to comment on the status of the case.

This is a complicated story and some background is probably necessary to explain what's going on.

full story at link

Daozen

7th September 2013, 00:27

Good to see this powerful thread coming up on the front page again.

Michelle Marie

7th September 2013, 08:50

TruthSeekerNotJudger

7th September 2013, 10:04

Agreed my friend.
You are NOT a Fear Monger. What you are saying is very accurate from what I know about the inside.
As if these people are going to give up their power and money because let's face it. They know what they are doing and have been doing it forever.
Create misinformation to let crusaders feel they are getting somewhere when they are just feeding right into their hands!

These people will NEVER relinquish power or wealth. They don't have time frames like we do. They create our Timelines.

I'm not trying to sound negative either! I just know for a fact that people in those positions don't get to where they are and then give it up. Think of every ex-president or prime minister in the western world and how they are so well taken care of after office and they live out their lives very comfortably.

As I said. I am not trying to be negative. I am seeking the REAL Truth! And don't be fooled by people offering quick alternatives. Thousands of years of production and control doesn't just get stopped and taken over and become positive. That is plain delusional!

But I sincerely wish everyone on this site the absolute best for their cause and hope I'm wrong about what I stated. But I will not be falsely optimistic when I know better.

Sabrina

8th September 2013, 18:34

http://www.activistpost.com/2013/09/10-signs-global-elite-are-losing-control.html

8 Sept

10 Signs The Global Elite Are Losing Control

Eric Blair
Activist Post

Karma is coming for the elite in a big way. As the Powers That Be head toward a devastating defeat in their war plans for Syria, signs are emerging that their rule over humanity is rapidly diminishing.

Over the last decade the global elite have been on a mad dash to consolidate power over the world. It's always been their plan like some evil villain in a comic book, but after 9/11 the plan went into overdrive and then turbo charged during the financial crisis of 2008.

Yet it's doomed to fail because humans are meant to be guided by their own free will, not controlled like livestock. The more the elite try to control humanity, the more entropy occurs. Entropy, for those who don't know, is the lack of order or predictability; a gradual decline into disorder.

Although the elite still enjoy a huge wealth advantage over the masses, they are now resigned to behaving like tyrants to maintain control. This, in turn, exposes their dark side which has been cleverly concealed for ages. Not anymore.

People are waking up in droves, at least as fast as the elite can build their full-spectrum prison matrix. Let them try. To paraphrase Victor Hugo, "No army can stop an idea whose time has come."

Here are ten signs that the elite are losing control over the people:

1. Official lies no longer effective: The lies they tell simply don't work anymore. There was a time when official lies, especially about war and peace, were believed. Because, after all, how evil would it be to lie about such things? Generally people want to believe they are being told the truth when life and death is at stake. The boy who cried wolf has cried one too many times. Even if they told the truth at this point, very few would believe them.

2. No confidence in politics: US politicians have a paltry approval rating. The trust in government is at all-time lows here and around the world. Mainstream polls show only 10% of the public has confidence in Congress. In other words, 90% don't believe in them to be competent to govern.

Watch this Town Hall exchange below where a man threatens US Senator John McCain with arrest for treason to his face. This would have never happened just a year or two ago:

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3. No confidence in media: The most recent polls show that 77% of the population no longer trusts corporate TV news. Is it any wonder why the establishment media failed to sell the lies about the alleged Syria chemical event? With all their monopoly might over the airwaves, they can no longer claim that black is white simply because officialdom says so.

4. Bankers rejected: Hungary recently became the first country to follow Iceland's lead by shedding international bankers (IMF) and is considering pursuing prosecution of past prime ministers who enslaved the people with debt.

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Look for this trend to continue even if nations decide to default to break free.

5. Vatican abruptly cleaning up its act: Under the previous Pope, Pope Benedict, scandals erupted from the Vatican ranging from covering up pedophile priests to money laundering and fraud. Benedict, in an unprecedented move, abruptly retired to make way for a seemingly much more likable Pope Francis. Pope Francis by all measures is working furiously to reclaim the church's peaceful and humble reputation. Whether this is genuine or a PR move, it's telling that the church was forced into such a drastic turnaround to save itself from losing all credibility.

6. Mutiny among soldiers: Finally. Soldiers, who are outlawed from making political statements, are steadily speaking out against US military adventurism. As Einstein famously said "The pioneers of a warless world are the young men (and women) who refuse military service."

7. Militarized police state: One of the darkest signs that the elite are losing their grip on power is the construction of the militarized police state specifically trained to combat domestic civil unrest. Local cops with tanks and other combat gear are working with Feds at Fusion centers, active Army units are on American soil for the first time in history, the NSA spy grid is being used by the IRS and DEA, and the elimination of due process for Americans under the NDAA are just some of the tyrannical moves made to secure the elite criminals from public backlash. They're clearly scared, and they should be given what they've done to the American people and the Constitution.

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8. Serious secession movements everywhere: A state seceding from a larger political entity used to be an ultra-fringe concept, until now. In America, secession movements are winning over the public in parts of Colorado and California. In Europe, serious secession movements are happening in Spain and Scotland, as well as several EU nations flirting with the idea of dropping out of the euro. Decentralization = Entropy!

9. GMO food being rejected everywhere: Control the food and you control the people. True in theory, but much more difficult in practice. GMO leaders like Monsanto are being exposed. All of their economic and political strength cannot defeat the spread of knowledge about the dangers of pesticide-soaked Frankenfoods. GMO fields are being burned in protest in America and around the world, informed nations continue to reject their products, and labeling laws are gaining traction.

10. Cannabis liberation: Many reading this will think marijuana legalization is a superficial development. However, it is a major signpost that the elite's grip is fading. Enormous resources have been spent to keep cannabis illegal. Cannabis has been a powerful medicine for physical, mental, and spiritual health throughout the ages. This single plant represents a huge threat to the power structures and their industries, hence its seemingly senseless illegality. The approaching global reversal of the tyrannical policy of prohibition is the first of many concessions to come.

Sabrina

9th September 2013, 23:36

CNBC News – September 8, 2013

Italian Mafia Assets Seized

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101014295

Syringes litter the floor of an abandoned school in the crime-plagued Scampia district of northern Naples, alongside tin foil used for crack cocaine, a filthy mattress and piles of clothing.

What was once a classroom is smeared with human waste and Coca Cola bottles filled with urine are stacked in one corner, alongside an abandoned children’s toy.

For years desperate addicts lived in the school, where the local mafia or Camorra sold hard drugs from a counter.
Now the building is part of a nationwide campaign to use confiscated gang assets to persuade youths from sink estates like Scampia that there is an alternative to drugs and working for the mob.

But while the program by the organization Libera has scored some notable successes and saved young lives, it will never be enough on its own to turn the tide against the enormous power of organized crime, which has flourished during Italy’s worst post-war recession as the legal economy withered.

Naples magistrate Antonello Ardituro told Reuters the confiscation of assets was a vital weapon, “more important even than the arrest and conviction of bosses,” because of its visible impact in challenging mafia power.

But he added: “Naturally this is not a problem that is on the way to being solved. The mafia is very deeply rooted in society through its infiltration of the economy and political institutions.”

While thousands of medium and small companies, the heart of the economy, go under in the recession, the mafia’s big problem, investigators say, is laundering a sea of cash generated by drugs, extortion, gambling and illegal disposal of toxic waste.

In a credit crunch the mob makes even more money, lending at extortionate rates to desperate small companies which cannot get finance any other way and then taking them over when the owners are unable to keep up the payments.

“The crisis to us means lack of liquidity, which the Camorra and other criminal organizations have in plenty. So it is a great ally for them,” said Paolo Romani, director of Avviso Pubblico, a group of anti-mafia local governments

Wrecked school
Libera is trying to reclaim the school in Scampia, an area of 80,000 residents said to be Europe’s biggest drug market, as a refuge for teenagers that will eventually host a theatre, cinema and restaurant where chefs and waiters will train.

When it took possession a few months ago, the extensive two-storey building was like a vision from hell, says local Libera leader Ciro Corona, 32. The clean-up will take at least a year.

“There was a 5 cm (2 inch) carpet of needles on the ground, vomit, excrement, blood everywhere. There was a terrible stench, there were buckets of needles where children played,” he says.

Addicts tore out aluminum windows and destroyed walls, ceilings and bathrooms to get at copper cables and water pipes to sell for drugs. They used classrooms as open toilets.

On the walls are reminders of a happier time before pupils stopped enrolling because of drug dealing. Photos show sports days and social events. A sign reads “End of Year Party”.

A few kms (miles) away, Corona’s group trains Scampia youths and young offenders as agricultural workers in a 15 hectare (34 acre) peach orchard and wine estate confiscated from a Camorra clan with links to Sicily’s Cosa Nostra.

“They used to dissolve bodies in acid here and plan killings,” he says.

Investigators believe the confiscation program, which has seized 6,500 mafia assets since a law allowing it was passed in 1996, has a powerful impact on organized crime.

“Taking away the assets that allowed the exhibition of prestige and maintenance of power is fundamental to defeating the mafia,” says Geppino Fiorenza, a leader of Libera in the Campania region heartland of the Camorra. “It shows that they are not invincible.”
But even the most optimistic mafia fighters harbor few illusions that this is enough on its own to defeat the mob.

Franco Roberti, Italy’s new national anti-mafia prosecutor, has said the country does not have the political will, or adequate police and judicial resources to fight the mob.

The euro zone debt crisis has pushed issues like crime into a back seat as governments fight to turn around the bloc’s third biggest economy and cut one of the world’s highest public debts.

Current premier Enrico Letta’s fractious left-right coalition struggles to do even that, let alone tackle a criminal network which the Bank of Italy says has an annual turnover worth 11 percent of GDP or around 170 billion euros.

Last year, 25 local councils in southern Italy were disbanded because of mafia infiltration, the highest number since 1993, as the mob used its wealth and muscle to corrupt politicians.

“The mafia is now more dangerous because it has been absorbed into the economic and political system,” Romani said.
Of Italy’s three main mafias, including Sicily’s Cosa Nostra and Calabria’s ‘Ndrangheta, the Camorra has been particularly skilful at transforming itself into a giant business with many links to legitimate activity.

“It would be mistaken to think of today’s mafiosi as simply people who intimidate,” says Romani.

“The Camorristi of today are the sons and nephews of bosses who are frequently highly educated and have the job of handling and investing the great capital made with drug trafficking.”

“They are like armed entrepreneurs,” says Egilio Giordano, 29, a Libera colleague of Corona. “Often the gunman is the one dying of hunger but he is the tip of an iceberg.”

The Camorra is particularly prone to clan warfare because it lacks the hierarchical structure of its Calabrian and Sicilian cousins. Scampia was the center of a feud which killed at least 70 people in the four years up to 2008. Another territorial war started a year ago.

“I don’t have any of my childhood friends any more. Eighty percent are in jail, or dead or ran away,” says Corona.

Bleak blocks
The area, dominated by bleak apartment blocks known as the “sails” because of their triangular shape, underlines the size of the task in fighting the Camorra.

With youth unemployment as high as 75 percent in Scampia, luring teenagers away from the Camorra is an uphill battle for Corona and his group.

“They can earn 150-200 euros for quarter of an hour’s work as a lookout for drug dealers,” he said.
Scampia is one of the biggest victims of a century of neglect in southern Italy, which saw a 47 percent decline in industrial investment between 2008 and 2012 alone.

Creating jobs is seen as the only way to break the stranglehold of rich mafia clans who dominate many areas as the prime provider not just of work, albeit illegal, but also health care and other social services.

“Nobody wants to be in the Camorra. The state is absent so somebody else is present. If those kids and other people didn’t break the law they wouldn’t eat,” says single mother Monica Cecchi, 43, an out-of-work cleaner.

Scampia’s “sail” apartment blocks, built without any infrastructure or shops nearby, are an example of how flawed public housing projects can foment crime. Some of the blocks have now been demolished and others are largely uninhabited, replaced by brighter, more attractive apartments.

But the area remains scarred by crime and the sign outside its graffiti-daubed railway station seems almost ironic. “If you believe in Scampia, you will find a sea of love,” it reads.

Sabrina

9th September 2013, 23:39

10 Sept UK

Potentially explosive evidence about Mark Thompson, the former BBC Director-General, has been handed to Lord Patten of Barnes hours before they clash in front of MPs today.

A confidential document passed to the BBC Trust chairman sheds new light on Mr Thompson’s claim that he was never told about sex abuse allegations against Jimmy Savile. It suggests that the Pollard inquiry was wrong to conclude that there was no reason to doubt Mr Thompson. Lord Patten is reviewing the evidence, which a trust official described as “potentially serious”.

The Times

Sabrina

9th September 2013, 23:45

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2414614/MPs-join-police-bid-suppress-list-hacking-firms-hired-private-detectives.html

7 Sept UK

Simon Cowell is on the 'hacking list' of private detectives' clients which MPs and police are trying to hide from the public

Serious Organised Crime Agency says 102 firms and individuals who hired 'hackers'

Commons Home Affairs Committee says it will publish list on Monday

Information Commissioner and Cabinet Minister Andrew Lansley among senior MPs trying to silence list

Simon Cowell is on an explosive list of blue-chip firms and individuals who used rogue private detectives, it emerged last night.
The music mogul is among the 102 names on the list drawn up by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) that the Commons Home Affairs Committee is threatening to publish on Monday.

The list is dominated by big law and finance firms and high street solicitors, but also contains two individuals – one of whom is multi-millionaire Cowell.

Soca has stressed that the presence of a name on the list does not amount to evidence of wrongdoing.

Officials say many clients of rogue investigators did not commission information-gathering activities or will not have been aware that the private eyes broke the law to obtain information.

Following a threat last week by Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home Affairs Committee, to publish the list, senior MPs lined up with Establishment figures yesterday to demand that it remain secret.

In what appeared to be a co-ordinated campaign, other Commons committee chairmen backed Britain’s most senior anti-terror officer, the Information Commissioner and Cabinet Minister Andrew Lansley to insist the plan to publish the list be shelved.
It has raised the stakes even higher in a long-running row over whether the list drawn up by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) should be made public. Mr Vaz has given Soca an ultimatum to publish the dossier by Monday – or see MPs do it themselves.

He said it gave an appearance of ‘injustice’ for law firms, insurers and other big businesses on the list to remain secret while journalists have been relentlessly pursued for links to phone hacking and other illegal practices.

But yesterday, Soca director general Trevor Pearce rejected this request and, in a strongly worded letter, called on Mr Vaz to think again.

The committee was bombarded with letters from senior figures saying it would do great harm to publish the list of 102 law firms, insurers, financial companies, banks and individuals who were clients of corrupt investigators.

They included warnings from Mr Lansley, who is Leader of the Commons, the Information Commissioner Sir Christopher Graham, and Sir Alan Beith and James Arbuthnot, the chairmen of Westminster’s Justice and Defence Select Committees, respectively.

Mr Pearce also said that he had the support of Met Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick, who is in charge of terrorism.
The onslaught alarmed MPs, with one senior committee source commenting: ‘This is very suspicious. It seems there is some sort of co-ordinated operation going on to prevent us from publishing what could be very embarrassing information.’

MPs were given two reasons for secrecy. Mr Pearce and the Information Commissioner claimed publication might compromise inquiries into whether those on the list could be prosecuted. Sir Christopher said: ‘It’s not clever to start a criminal investigation by publishing the names of everyone and everything you’re investigating.

Mr Lansley and the two committee chairmen took a different line, pointing out that when Mr Vaz received the list from Soca in July he gave an undertaking it would be kept confidential.

Mr Lansley said that, if Mr Vaz broke his word, future inquiries by MPs could be refused access to confidential documents.
Mr Vaz now faces tense talks with fellow committee members. They have so far insisted it is vital the public know the truth about relations between big firms and corrupt detectives.

Mr Vaz told Mr Pearce last week: ‘We’ve taken legal advice and we believe it’s important that this should be done.’
Tory member Michael Ellis said: ‘There don’t seem to me to be any issues of national security or other issues pertaining to the wider national interest.’

Sabrina

9th September 2013, 23:50

The S&P Fraud Case as Theater of the Absurd

By Paul M. Barrett September 04, 2013

US

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-09-04/the-s-and-p-fraud-case-as-theater-of-the-absurd#r=nav-f-story

Sometimes litigation throws such weird light on business and human affairs that it’s best to view the proceedings as ironic commentary on the underlying issues, rather than a rational search for truth, let alone justice. Such is the case with Standard & Poor’s defense against the federal government’s $5 billion fraud lawsuit.

The Justice Department, as you’ll recall, has accused S&P (MHFI) of helping cause the 2008 financial crash by inflating its ratings of esoteric subprime-backed securities. The company’s purported motive: pleasing the investment banks that pay its fees. The rating agency’s first line of defense was that it couldn’t be held liable for its claims of integrity because no sensible investor would believe its “AAA” rubber stamp.

In July, a federal judge in Santa Ana, Calif., brusquely rejected S&P’s “mere puffery” defense. If one read between the lines of his ruling, U.S. District Judge David Carter seemed incredulous that a company that bases its reputation on independent judgment would maintain with a straight face that it’s immune from legal consequences because no one takes its judgment seriously. “If no investor believed in S&P’s objectivity,” the judge wrote, “is S&P asserting that, as a matter of law, the company’s credit ratings service added absolutely zero material value as a predictor of creditworthiness?” It seemed like something from the theater of the absurd.

Now S&P has a new pitch that would make Samuel Beckett and Eugene Ionesco proud. The rating company has accused the Obama administration of “retaliation” for S&P’s downgrade of U.S. creditworthiness in 2011. “Only S&P Ratings downgraded the United States and only S&P Ratings has been sued by the United States, even though the S&P ratings challenged by the United States were no different than those of at least one other rating agency and other rating agencies have made the same assertions of ‘independence’ that are challenged in the complaint as against S&P,” the New York-based company said in the Sept. 3 court filing. In August 2011, S&P downgraded the U.S.’s 60-year-running “AAA” credit rating to “AA+” with a “negative outlook.”

The government, unsurprisingly, denies that its suit is merely a gesture of revenge. The Justice Department responded to questions about S&P’s filing by citing a Feb. 5 press conference announcing the case during which Associate Attorney General Tony West said there was “no connection” to the downgrade. S&P has presented no plausible evidence—in the form of memos or whistle-blower testimony—to support its retaliatory conspiracy charge.

More interesting than the pretrial finger-pointing itself are the bizarre, if inadvertent, incongruities S&P continues to highlight in court. Having initially gone with don’t-mind-our-puffery, S&P proceeds to invite comparisons between its woefully inaccurate (and suspiciously rosy) precrisis ratings and its so-far woefully inaccurate 2011 prediction that the entire U.S. government had become a less reliable investment. S&P was dead wrong about subprime securities during the housing bubble, and as the U.S. economy has slowly recovered from recession, it has been wrong again about the safety of buying Treasury securities. Maybe S&P is still trying to prove its point that no one ought to take it seriously.

S&P’s retaliation defense also highlights that its rivals, Moody’s (MCO) and Fitch, issued ratings similar to S&P’s and yet haven’t been named as defendants. Granted, the Justice Department hasn’t explained why it singled out S&P. Yet if one thinks about this a little more, S&P’s objection isn’t much different from that of any target of government law enforcement. It’s always sort of unfair when the feds go after some but not all alleged offenders. Unable to police misconduct on a truly systematic basis, the authorities often crack down on one high-profile player to send a message to the marketplace. The unlucky recipient of the government’s unmerciful attention almost always feels persecuted. Just ask Steven Cohen and his hedge-fund firm SAC Capital Advisors. The question is not whether “everyone is doing it”—it’s whether the Justice Department can show by means of testimony and documents that you did it.

Can the government make its case against S&P? That’s far from obvious. There’s a big difference between incompetence and fraud. Eventually, S&P will have to narrow its defense to the matter of whether its closely followed and highly lucrative predictions were faulty or dishonest. In the meantime, enjoy the strange theater.

Sabrina

9th September 2013, 23:58

Russia Today News Declares 9/11 An Inside Job False Flag Attack!

8 Sept - new evidence

N1Vi5YHxsLI

This seems to be pretty big news - tho' doesn't seem that prominent on RT now... leading to arrests anyone??

and via aangirfan

http://www.aangirfan.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/putin-puts-boot-in.html

RT tells us that the US government did 9 11.

RT tells us that al Qaeda works for the US government.

RT tells us that the terrorism in Europe and America has been done by the US government.

Putin is putting the boot in.

The rich 'feudal lords' in the USA and Europe have impoverished the peasants, and the peasants are wakening up.

10 Signs The Global Elite Are Losing Control

1. Official lies no longer effective

2. No confidence in politics

3. No confidence in media

4. Bankers rejected

5. Mutiny among soldiers

6. Militarized police state......

Sabrina

10th September 2013, 00:31

Benjamin Fulford Blurb: Fear and Hate Palpable as Final Cabal Take-Down Continues

Date: Monday, 9-Sep-2013 09:27:50

.

Weekly Geopolitical News and Analysis

Notice to subscribers： you can help support our activities by accessing pay per view videos now available at this site: http://www.benjaminfulford.tv/
Thank you.

Nuclear blackmail, threats of more sabotage against Fukushima, attacks on bloggers and the ongoing attempt to start war with Syria are all part of the death throes of the Sabbatean mafia cabal. On the Syrian issue, Pentagon sources say they are giving the Washington politicians enough rope to hang themselves with since it is helping prepare public opinion for mass cabal arrests.

As always though, the cabalists do not plan to vanish quietly into the night and are still hoping to use nuclear terror to star World War 3. In Asia, for example, cabal stooge UN Secretary Ban Ki Moon, together with envoys from cabal puppet Barack Obama, have been busy trying to convince North Korea to stage some sort of provocation but, the North Koreans are having no part of it, according to Chinese government sources.

Ban Ki Moon is the person who tried to bribe the dragon family with $100 million during the 2009 Chiasso incident in order to prevent them from cashing $134.5 billion worth of gold backed bonds they owned. Moon and fellow cabalists also put out lies that the bonds were fake and have been doing everything in their power since that time to keep their control of the money creation process out of the hands of the legitimate owners of historical global assets. Now that the dragons are making a new move,

http://2012indyinfo.com/2013/09/09/benjamin-fulford-blurb-fear-and-hate-palpable-as-final-cabal-take-down-continues/

Sabrina

10th September 2013, 20:58

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24042797

10 Sept UK

Nigel Evans resigns as deputy speaker amid sex offence charges

Conservative MP Nigel Evans has resigned as Commons Deputy Speaker, after the Crown Prosecution Service said he would be charged with offences including sexual assault and rape.

Mr Evans will be charged with eight offences in total, the CPS said. There are seven alleged victims.

Sabrina

11th September 2013, 07:20

http://www.alternet.org/elizabeth-warren-supreme-court-pocket-big-business

US

Elizabeth Warren: Supreme Court In the Pocket of Big Business

The progressive Senator from Massachusetts denounced the courts at a labor convention over the weekend.

The firebrand progressive Elizabeth Warren, a Senator from Massachusetts, went on the offensive against the Supreme Court at a labor convention Sunday. Warren told attendees at the AFL-CIO convention that the Supreme Court was too close to big business and warned of a “corporate capture of the federal courts,” Politico reported.

“You follow this pro-corporate trend to its logical conclusion, and sooner or later you’ll end up with a Supreme Court that functions as a wholly owned subsidiary of Big Business,” said Warren.

The Massachusetts Senator also lashed out at big banks for lobbying against more regulation. “The big banks and their army of lobbyists have fought every step of the way to delay, water down, block or strike down regulations,” she said.

AFL-CIO head Richard Trumka sounded a similar note at the convention. The Supreme Court, said Trumka, is “the best champion of corporate America.” The labor leader added that it “may take a constitutional amendment, because this Supreme Court, as currently constituted, equates money with free speech.”

9 Sept

Sabrina

11th September 2013, 07:30

Continuing theme across the world of truth seeping out and disbelief at the 'official' stories... long may it continue... more energy influxes on this at Equinox 22 September ? :)

A7tSfwkKaUo

Published on Sep 10, 2013
http://benswann.com/ Ben Swann Reality Check takes a look at claims by Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth about why they say the official story on the collapse of Building 7 is not only untrue, it is not possible. Also, a new poll shows that more and more Americans are now rethinking the official story.

Sabrina

11th September 2013, 07:36

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24039436

UK

Ex-DJ Chris Denning rearrested by Operation Yewtree police

Mr Denning also worked as a music producer

Former BBC Radio 1 DJ Chris Denning has been rearrested by detectives from the Operation Yewtree inquiry into allegations of sexual offences.

The 72-year-old, who has not been named by police, was arrested in east London and bailed until October.

He was originally arrested on June 3 on suspicion of sexual offences and later released on bail.

Mr Denning was one of the original Radio 1 team when the station was launched in 1967.

He also worked as a music producer for The Beatles, helped launch the careers of the Bay City Rollers and Gary Glitter and ran his own music and video production business.

The Metropolitan Police investigation, Operation Yewtree, was launched in the wake of sexual offence allegations against ex-TV presenter and Radio 1 DJ Jimmy Savile.

The operation has a number of strands. One is looking specifically at the actions of Savile, and the second at allegations of sexual offences against "Savile and others".

Mr Denning's arrest falls within a third strand, relating to allegations against suspects unconnected to the Savile investigation.

10 Sept

Sabrina

11th September 2013, 07:57

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10300520/Michael-Le-Vell-CPS-defends-prosecution-of-Coronation-Street-actor.html

On failed prosecution of UK Coronation Street soap actor. I don't know the truth of all of this, but the failure of the case conveniently sows the seeds of doubt in the public's mind when other high profile people come to court on abuse charges following the Savile enquiry, abuse in children's homes etc. Big question mark in my mind as to what's really going on here.

11 Sept UK

Michael Le Vell: CPS defends prosecution of Coronation Street actor

Prosecutors last night defended the decision to put Michael Le Vell on trial insisting it was in the public interest to let the jury decide on his guilt or innocence.

But supporters of the Coronation Street actor said the case should never have been brought and accused prosecutors of launching a celebrity witch-hunt in the wake of the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal.

Allegations first emerged in September 2011 when the girl at the centre of the case told her mother Mr Le Vell had raped her on three occasions.

The 48-year-old father of two was arrested and questioned three times over the allegations, before police informed him and the girl’s family the case was being dropped due to lack of evidence.

In February 2012 the girl’s family made a formal complaint asking for the decision to drop the case to be reviewed and the following month contacted the police again with “fresh allegations”.

Alison Levitt QC, the DPP’s principle legal advisor, reviewed the evidence and in February this year authorised Greater Manchester

But one legal source close to the case said the lack of evidence meant it should never have been taken to trial.

The source said: "There was not a shred of evidence to support the girl's claims. There was a basic lack of evidence. I have never known a case such as this to go to court with no evidence he had any interest in child pornography or other telling indicators.

"There was not even the remotest suggestion from anyone, other than the alleged victim, that he had even looked oddly at a child - let alone had a sexual interest in children.

"Any professional jury would have cleared him but in a court trial you can sometimes be swayed by emotion and not fact."
Mr Le Vell is one of a number of celebrities who have been charged with historic sex offences in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.

But prosecutors insisted each case was assessed on its merits.

A spokesman for the CPS said: “The Code for Crown Prosecutors requires the same test to be applied to every case – sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction - that remains the same and has not changed and each case is considered absolutely on its own facts and merits.

“There has been a fundamental shift in the way that we assess the credibility of the alleged victims in these cases, as demonstrated by the Savile and recent grooming cases such as that in Rochdale, but the evidential test remains the same under the code.

“In this case, the CPS determined that there was sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction. The judge agreed that this case should be put before a jury and that the jury should be the ones to decide on the evidence in this case. They have now done that and delivered their verdict after nearly five hours of deliberation.”

The spokesman added: “We of course respect the verdicts they have reached.”

Last night a friend of Mr Le Vell said: "Michael is obviously beyond relieved by the jury's verdict. But he has known all along he was innocent so for him the jury has just confirmed this to the public.

"His real fear is that his reputation may never recover from the fall-out of the trial. These type of allegations are the easiest to make, the hardest to defend and the most damaging to overcome.

"His demons are now out in the public domain and he doesn't know how people - including his huge army of fans - will feel about him as a result.

"He is firmly of the belief people accused of these types of crimes should be granted anonymity until they are found guilty.
"If these sex claims are wrongly made it is almost impossible to repair the damage no matter what a jury may decide."

Sabrina

12th September 2013, 05:56

http://2012portal.blogspot.ca/2013/09/planetary-situation-update-part-1.html

Cobra's take on it (take it if it resonates - don't if it doesn't :) )... but political/media shifts are certainly happening. Am currently enjoying Russian TV RT.com interviewer challenging Australian politician's nonsensical pat answers on Syria...

11 Sept

Planetary Situation Update Part 1

As predicted, massive operations of the Light forces have begun as September started.

The Eastern Alliance sprang into action. The Eastern Alliance is a loose group of BRICS government officials, Interpol personnel, members of Chinese and Russian military forces, White Dragons Society and Positive Templars who work under indirect guidance of the Resistance Movement to liberate this planet.

BRICS group has announced the creation of a new global bank that will become one of the building blocks of the new financial system:

http://rt.com/business/russia-brics-bank-g20-468/

Vladimir Putin, the spokesman of the Eastern Alliance, has made steps to expose the actions of the Cabal to the masses during the current Syria crisis:

http://www.raymondibrahim.com/from-the-arab-world/putin-puts-obama-in-hot-seat-what-will-you-do-if-rebels-are-ones-using-chemical-weapons/

http://rt.com/news/putin-g20-syria-meeting-511/

Behind the scenes, negotiations for the surrender of the Cabal continue. Large portions of Jesuit and Rothschild factions have already expressed their theoretical willingness to surrender at the Event.

This is the reason why current Jesuit white Pope Francis puts on a friendly face. He wants to get amnesty for himself and the Catholic Church.

However, the Rockefeller faction (Illuminazi Paperclip Kissinger / Bush / Cheney / Rumsfeld criminal syndicate) does not want to surrender, they want to fight to their bitter end, triggering nuclear World War 3 on their way down. Needless to say, the Light forces will NOT allow that to happen.

Also, their military intervention in Syria may trigger the action of the Positive Military in the United States, exactly in the same way the decision of the Muslim Brotherhood to get involved in Syria conflict has triggered the action of the Positive Military in Egypt.

Cabal's military intervention in Syria will not happen according to my intel sources, but the Cabal will continue to push things to the limit. That will only accelerate their exposure to the masses of humanity and speed up their downfall.

Silent war in Pentagon between positive and negative factions continues.

On the positive side, Anonymous is active again:

http://goldenageofgaia.com/2013/09/did-anonymous-penetrate-the-military-email-system/

On the other hand, the negative faction is threatening to use nuclear weapons. Again, that will NOT be allowed to happen. Also, the tension between positive and negative factions within the military has caused military personnel to lose faith in the command structure:

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/09/06/322306/us-deployed-nuke-force-before-syria-crisis/

It seems that everybody is against Rockefeller faction now. The Eastern Alliance is gathering global public opinion against them, the Positive Military is preparing to take action. During surrender negotiations, even members of Jesuit and Rothschild factions have expressed willingness to help taking them down. Also, as there is much less negative influence from the etheric plane, they can expect much more disobedience from their mid to low level minions.

According to the Resistance sources, if the Event would happen now, we could expect about 100,000 casualties worldwide as a result of the last minute destruction efforts of the Cabal and their minions before they are taken down and also as a result of the violent dysfunctional behavior of human masses, especially of Monarch mind control victims with their omega programming being triggered. However, that number is not easy to estimate as there are so many factors involved, it could be much lower or higher.

This number is still far too high to tolerate and the Resistance will do everything to decrease it, speeding up the process as much as possible at the same time.

I will post the second part of the planetary situation update next week.

Total victory of the Light is near!

Sabrina

12th September 2013, 06:05

http://theneedleblog.wordpress.com/2013/09/11/epistles-of-an-ex-officer/#comments

11 Sept UK

Examples of how allegations of abuse in children's homes in the London Borough of Richmond on Thames are ignored and covered-up at the highest level (allegedly).

Sabrina

12th September 2013, 06:16

http://theneedleblog.wordpress.com/2013/09/11/the-cps-and-the-michael-le-vell-trial/

Further to post 2550, more on the failed prosecution of UK Coronation TV soap actor in an alleged abuse case. A very important point here on the possible intended consequences (and you could play this out in abuse cases across the world)... There's an awful lot of abuse allegations implementing high profile figures at the moment and a lot of muddying the waters...

11 Sept UK

The CPS And The Michael Le Vell Trial

Yesterday, the jury at Michael Le Vell’s trial for child abuse found him not guilty on all counts. My first reaction was to first warn everyone that victim anonymity in sexual cases is for life, unless the victim themselves decide to waive that anonymity and secondly to suggest that the CPS had some very big and important questions to answer. Many of the stories in the MSM this morning are asking those very questions of the CPS.

For a very good timeline and overview of the role the CPS played in the Le Vell case please read this Daily Mail story.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2417002/Clash-lawyers-revived-dead-case-QC-overrulled-original-decision-charge-Le-Vell-victims-mother-complained.html

But very briefly, Michael Le Vell was originally arrested in September 2011. By Dember 2011 the Crown Prosecution Service had concluded that there was insufficient evidence to proceed to trial and no charges were brought against Le Vell at that time. The victim’s mother made a formal complaint in February 2012 and the victim made further allegations to the police in March 2012. However, it was not until after the Savile revelations hit the headlines that the CPS reviewed the case and came to the conclusion that there was sufficient evidence and Michael Le Vell was charged with 19 offences in February 2013.

I followed the trial in the MSM and it became increasingly clear even before the prosecution case had even been put that, in the absence of startling unreported evidence, there clearly was not sufficient evidence to convict Michael Le Vell.

So, why did the CPS change their opinion ?

Some, today, are suggesting that it was because of a ‘celebrity witch hunt’, the consequence of public hysteria and media hubris. This suggests that the CPS are susceptible to this kind of pressure and prone to kneejerk volte face.

I prefer to look at the consequences and ask, cui bono ? Who benefits ?

Michael Le Vell has clearly not benefited and nor has the victim. The alleged victim has had to give personal testimony in an open court and has not been believed. Other alleged victims in future cases have not benefited, the Le Vell case will be used in some circles to cast doubt on other cases.

Actually, the only group of people who will benefit from this CPS decision will be offenders who will all try and portray themselves as grievously maligned.

If we exclude the Nigel Evan’s case which does not involve minors, not one politician or member of the judiciary has been arrested for child abuse.

Now, if you wanted to make things easier for powerful paedophiles then sacrificing a few celebrities and throwing in a case like Le Vell’s which clearly had little chance of a conviction would be a good strategy to adopt following the public outcry which accompanied the Savile revelations.

Sabrina

12th September 2013, 06:29

Money Laundering Exposed As A Key Component Of The Housing Bubble's "All Cash" Bid

US

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/10/2013

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-10/money-laundering-exposed-key-component-housing-bubbles-all-cash-bid

In August 2012, when isolating one of the various reasons for the latest housing bubble, we suggested that a primary catalyst for the price surge in the ultra-luxury housing segment and the seemingly endless supply of "all cash" buyers (standing at an unprecedented 60% of all buyers lately as reported by Goldman) is a very simple one: crime. Or rather, the use of US real estate as a means to launder illegal offshore-procured money. We also identified the one key permissive feature which allowed this: the National Association of Realtors' exemption from Anti-Money Laundering provisions. In other words, all a foreign oligarch - who may or may not have used chemical weapons in their past: all depends on how recently they took their picture with the Secretary of State - had to do to buy a $47 million Florida house, was to get the actual cash to the US. Well good thing there are private jets whose cargo is never checked.

This is how we framed the problem last August:

... a foreigner who may or may not have engaged in massive criminal activity and/or dealt with Iran, Afghanistan, or any other bogeyman du jour at some point in their past, and is using US real estate merely as a money-laundering front perhaps? Sadly, we will never know. Why? As explained before, it is all thanks to the National Association of Realtors - those wonderful people who bring you the existing home sales update every month (with a documented upward bias every single time) - which just so happens is the only organization that actively lobbied for and received an exemption from AML regulation compliance. In other words, unlike HSBC, the NAR is untouchable, even if it were to sell a triplex to Ahmedinejad on West 57th street.

As a reminder, here is where the NAR stands on the issue of its most generous clients possibly being some of the worst criminal known to man, courtesy of Elanus Capital:

Many of you reading this will undoubtedly have spent time in an international bank and been forced to sit through countless hours of “know your client” and AML training. Fascinating to note that the National Association of Realtors lobbied for and received a waiver from such regulation. That’s right, realtors actually went to the U.S. government and said: we want to be able to help foreign business oligarchs and other nefarious business people launder money through the real estate markets of the United States – and prevailed.

Here's their official position:

"NAR supports continued efforts to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism through the regulation of entities using a risk-based analysis. Any risk-based assessment would likely find very little risk of money laundering involving real estate agents or brokers. Regulations that would require real estate agents and brokers to adopt anti-money laundering programs may prove to be burdensome and unnecessary given the existing ML/TF regulations that already apply to United States financial institutions."

Hat’s off to the NAR – that is some serious doublespeak. My translation: We’ll support you as long as we don’t have to support you.

If after skimming the above, readers are still confused what the reason is for the luxury segment of the US housing market continuing to rise in price even as all other segments of the quadruplicate US housing market as explained here languish, we suggest rereading it as many times as necessary.

It appears that a year later this too hypothesis has been proven. Earlier today the Post reported that "U.S. authorities announced Tuesday that they are seeking forfeiture of pricey Manhattan real estate linked to a fraud they say was uncovered by a whistleblowing Russian lawyer before he died behind bars. A civil forfeiture complaint filed against the assets of a Cyprus-based real estate corporation and other holding companies alleges that some of the proceeds from the $230 million tax fraud in Russia were laundered through the purchase of four luxury condominiums located in a Wall Street doorman building and two commercial spaces in prime locations in midtown and Chelsea."

The lately ubiquitous was quick to take credit:

“Today’s forfeiture action is a significant step toward uncovering and unwinding a complex money-laundering scheme arising from a notorious foreign fraud,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. “While New York is a world financial capital, it is not a safe haven for criminals seeking to hide their loot, no matter how and where their fraud took place.”

Oh but it is because quite simply nobody cares where the money comes from, the NAR is exempt from doing even the most cursory background check, and as long as the prevailing average home price rises, everyone is happy.

What is curious is where the source of the info came from:

The whistleblower, Sergei Magnitsky, was a lawyer for U.S.-born British investor William Browder. He alleged in 2008 that organized criminals colluded with corrupt Russian Interior Ministry officials to claim a fraudulent $230 million tax rebate after illegally seizing subsidiaries of Browder’s Hermitage Capital investment company.

He subsequently was arrested on tax evasion charges and died in prison in November 2009 of untreated pancreatitis at age 37. His death prompted widespread criticism from human rights activists, and the Russian presidential human rights council found in 2011 that he had been beaten and deliberately denied medical treatment.

Browder, who has campaigned to bring those responsible for Magnitsky’s death to justice, has claimed that one of the corrupt tax officials bought luxury real estate in Moscow, Dubai and Montenegro and wired money through her husband’s bank accounts worth $39 million.

That this is the first of many such money laundering schemes to be exposed is obvious to anyone. With the recent witchhunt of Russian, and other billionaires, in Europe following the Cyprus debacle, it is only logical that the vast majority parked their cash in what until now, was the last safe use of illicit funds: US real estate, where the policy don't ask, don't tell is more alive now than ever, and has spawned countless HGTV (and CNBC) shows highlighting the resurgent New York City (and other high end cities') housing market.

The bigger question is just how far will Bharara take this, and comparable such future actions. And more importantly, how will the panicked NAR lobby respond if suddenly a key source of "all cash, sight unseen" buyers disappears. Finally, if indeed money laundering is no longer possible into US real estate, kiss yet another of the several key spokes (alongside foreclosure stuffing, the private equity REO-to-Rent investment wave and the Emerging Market capital flow crisis) of the artificial housing recovery goodbye. Why?

Apartments in the luxury 35-story Manhattan high-rise can sell for more than $3 million, according to real estate websites. Amenities include a gym, a pool and rooftop deck.

Now take this single example and multiple by hundreds and thousands of times.

Sabrina

12th September 2013, 06:41

http://rt.com/news/snowden-sakharov-prize-freedom-eu-737/

12 sept

EU lawmakers nominate Snowden for Sakharov human rights prize

Members of the European Parliament have officially nominated whistleblower and former CIA employee Edward Snowden for the prestigious prize, which celebrates freedom of thought.

Edward Snowden "deserves to be honored for shedding light on the systematic infringements of civil liberties by US and European secret services," leaders of the parliament's Greens group Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Rebecca Harms said in a statement. "Snowden has risked his freedom to help us protect ours."

Snowden, a computer specialist and former contractor for the US National Security Agency (NSA), was the focus of an international manhunt during the summer after he leaked classified files of US government and UK surveillance programs, including spying on their closest allies, to the media.

He was granted temporary asylum in Russia in late July despite repeated requests for him to be extradited by Washington.

Snowden was put forward as a candidate by the European United Left/Nordic Green Left faction.

Christian Engstrom from the Swedish Pirate Party, who co-nominated Snowden for the award, said that the whistleblower has paid “a heavy personal price” for his “heroic” actions.

The prize is named after the Soviet dissident scientist Andrey Sakharov and honors people and organizations for their work in defending human rights and freedom of thought.

The official presentation of all the candidates for the Sakharov Prize will take place on 16 September, next Monday, the winner will be announced in October and the awards ceremony will take place in Strasbourg in December.

Previous laureates of the Sakharov Prize include Nelson Mandela, Chinese dissident Hu Jia and Reporters without Borders, a French based NGO that fights for freedom of the press. The winner receives a prize of 50,000 euros.

Andrey Sakharov was a physicist who designed the Soviet Hydrogen Bomb but soon after began to regret what he had done and became a campaigner for the destruction of all nuclear weapons. He became an advocate of civil liberties and civil reforms in the Soviet Union. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975.

Taurean

13th September 2013, 22:26

Friday 13th Sept 2013

The Day of Atonement

Happy Yom Kippur

Submitted by cpowell on Fri, 2013-09-13 18:39. Section: Daily Dispatches

2:43p ET Friday, September 13, 2013

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

London metals trader Andrew Maguire today tells King World News that two JPMorganChase employees a year ago provided the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission with documentation of the bank's manipulation of the gold and silver markets but the CFTC appears to have buried it. The documentation, Maguire says, is also in the possession of a law firm specializing in the representation of whistleblowers.

Of course if the CFTC is indeed sitting on such documentation of market rigging, it would support suspicions that JPMorganChase has been telling the truth when it has said that it has traded the monetary metals only for "clients" and that these clients are U.S. government agencies specifically authorized to rig markets secretly, like the Treasury Department's Exchange Stabilization Fund --

http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/international/ESF/Pages/esf-inde...

-- which, according to statute, "may deal in gold, foreign exchange, and other instruments of credit and securities" -- that is, agencies authorized to deal secretly in everything.

An excerpt from Maguire's interview is posted at the King World News blog here:

http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2013/9/13_Mo...

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Antii-Trust Action Committee Inc.

==============

Did you ever notice that all the BIG NEWS comes out on Friday?

Andrew Maguire: CFTC Has had metals market rigging documents for a year
http://www.gata.org/node/13010

So if all this is true, which I believe it is, then expect the following fallout:

1) The CFTC will have to make a public statement on Silver manipulation in September.

2) JP Morgan could be held liable for TRILLION$ as class-action lawsuits will be filed by all parties affected..investors, dealers, brokers, ETF's, mining companies, jewelery companies, industrial manufacturers, nations that hold bullion and on and on.

3) JP Morgan currently holds $120B in gold and silver derivatives that may be defaulted upon.

4) CFTC will be held to account for purposefully delaying the charges of manipulating the silver market.

5) GATA and all us "Silver Conspiracy Nuts" will have been proven RIGHT!

6) The collapse of JP Morgan will bring down every other bank in the world as it defaults on $70T in derivatives.

7) The total and complete destruction of the paper and electronic monetary system is inevitable.

7) YOUR PHYSICAL SILVER will become priceless!

How soon will all this happen? It's already started!

When will it hit the mainstream? It just did!

Watch out for next week as the walls of manipulation are crumbling down around the Bad Guys.

May the Road you choose be the Right Road.

Bix Weir
www.RoadtoRoota.com

Sabrina

15th September 2013, 20:13

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/larry-summers-and-the-secret-end-game-memo

THE CONFIDENTIAL MEMO AT THE HEART OF THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS

By Greg Palast

(pix of document at link)

When a little birdie dropped the End Game memo through my window, its content was so explosive, so sick and plain evil, I just couldn't believe it.

The Memo confirmed every conspiracy freak’s fantasy: that in the late 1990s, the top US Treasury officials secretly conspired with a small cabal of banker big-shots to rip apart financial regulation across the planet. When you see 26.3 percent unemployment in Spain, desperation and hunger in Greece, riots in Indonesia and Detroit in bankruptcy, go back to this End Game memo, the genesis of the blood and tears.

The Treasury official playing the bankers’ secret End Game was Larry Summers. Today, Summers is Barack Obama’s leading choice for Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, the world’s central bank. If the confidential memo is authentic, then Summers shouldn’t be serving on the Fed, he should be serving hard time in some dungeon reserved for the criminally insane of the finance world.

The memo is authentic.

I had to fly to Geneva to get confirmation and wangle a meeting with the Secretary General of the World Trade Organisation, Pascal Lamy. Lamy, the Generalissimo of Globalisation, told me,

“The WTO was not created as some dark cabal of multinationals secretly cooking plots against the people... We don’t have cigar-smoking, rich, crazy bankers negotiating.”

Then I showed him the memo.

It begins with Larry Summers’ flunky, Timothy Geithner, reminding his boss to call the Bank bigshots to order their lobbyist armies to march:

“As we enter the end-game of the WTO financial services negotiations, I believe it would be a good idea for you to touch base with the CEOs…”

To avoid Summers having to call his office to get the phone numbers (which, under US law, would have to appear on public logs), Geithner listed the private lines of what were then the five most powerful CEOs on the planet. And here they are:

Goldman Sachs: John Corzine (212)902-8281

Merrill Lynch: David Kamanski (212)449-6868

Bank of America: David Coulter (415)622-2255

Citibank: John Reed (212)559-2732

Chase Manhattan: Walter Shipley (212)270-1380

Lamy was right: They don’t smoke cigars. Go ahead and dial them. I did, and sure enough, got a cheery personal hello from Reed – cheery until I revealed I wasn't Larry Summers. (Note: The other numbers were swiftly disconnected. And Corzine can’t be reached while he faces criminal charges.)

It's not the little cabal of confabs held by Summers and the banksters that’s so troubling. The horror is in the purpose of the "end game” itself.

Let me explain:

The year was 1997. US Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin was pushing hard to de-regulate banks. That required, first, repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act to dismantle the barrier between commercial banks and investment banks. It was like replacing bank vaults with roulette wheels.

Second, the banks wanted the right to play a new high-risk game: “derivatives trading”. JP Morgan alone would soon carry $88 trillion of these pseudo-securities on its books as “assets”.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Summers (soon to replace Rubin as Secretary) body-blocked any attempt to control derivatives.

But what was the use of turning US banks into derivatives casinos if money would flee to nations with safer banking laws?

The answer conceived by the Big Bank Five: eliminate controls on banks in every nation on the planet -- in one single move. It was as brilliant as it was insanely dangerous.

How could they pull off this mad caper? The bankers' and Summers' game was to use the Financial Services Agreement (or FSA), an abstruse and benign addendum to the international trade agreements policed by the World Trade Organisation.

Until the bankers began their play, the WTO agreements dealt simply with trade in goods – that is, my cars for your bananas. The new rules devised by Summers and the banks would force all nations to accept trade in "bads" – toxic assets like financial derivatives.

Until the bankers’ re-draft of the FSA, each nation controlled and chartered the banks within their own borders. The new rules of the game would force every nation to open their markets to Citibank, JP Morgan and their derivatives “products”.

And all 156 nations in the WTO would have to smash down their own Glass-Steagall divisions between commercial savings banks and the investment banks that gamble with derivatives.

The job of turning the FSA into the bankers’ battering ram was given to Geithner, who was named Ambassador to the World Trade Organisation.

Bankers Go Bananas

Why in the world would any nation agree to let its banking system be boarded and seized by financial pirates like JP Morgan?

The answer, in the case of Ecuador, was bananas. Ecuador was truly a banana republic. The yellow fruit was that nation’s life-and-death source of hard currency. If it refused to sign the new FSA, Ecuador could feed its bananas to the monkeys and go back into bankruptcy. Ecuador signed.

And so on – with every single nation bullied into signing.

Every nation but one, I should say. Brazil’s new President, Inacio Lula da Silva, refused. In retaliation, Brazil was threatened with a virtual embargo of its products by the European Union's Trade Commissioner, one Peter Mandelson, according to another confidential memo I got my hands on. But Lula’s refusenik stance paid off for Brazil which, alone among Western nations, survived and thrived during the 2007-9 bank crisis.

China signed – but got its pound of flesh in return. It opened its banking sector a crack in return for access and control of the US auto parts and other markets. (Swiftly, two million US jobs shifted to China.)

The new FSA pulled the lid off the Pandora’s box of worldwide derivatives trade. Among the notorious transactions legalised: Goldman Sachs (where Treasury Secretary Rubin had been co-chairman) worked a secret euro-derivatives swap with Greece which, ultimately, destroyed that nation. Ecuador, its own banking sector de-regulated and demolished, exploded into riots. Argentina had to sell off its oil companies (to the Spanish) and water systems (to Enron) while its teachers hunted for food in garbage cans. Then, Bankers Gone Wild in the Eurozone dove head-first into derivatives pools without knowing how to swim – and the continent is now being sold off in tiny, cheap pieces to Germany.

Of course, it was not just threats that sold the FSA, but temptation as well. After all, every evil starts with one bite of an apple offered by a snake. The apple: the gleaming piles of lucre hidden in the FSA for local elites. The snake was named Larry.

Does all this evil and pain flow from a single memo? Of course not: the evil was The Game itself, as played by the banker clique. The memo only revealed their game-plan for checkmate.

And the memo reveals a lot about Summers and Obama.

While billions of sorry souls are still hurting from worldwide banker-made disaster, Rubin and Summers didn’t do too badly. Rubin’s deregulation of banks had permitted the creation of a financial monstrosity called “Citigroup”. Within weeks of leaving office, Rubin was named director, then Chairman of Citigroup – which went bankrupt while managing to pay Rubin a total of $126 million.

Then Rubin took on another post: as key campaign benefactor to a young State Senator, Barack Obama. Only days after his election as President, Obama, at Rubin’s insistence, gave Summers the odd post of US “Economics Tsar” and made Geithner his Tsarina (that is, Secretary of Treasury). In 2010, Summers gave up his royalist robes to return to “consulting” for Citibank and other creatures of bank deregulation whose payments have raised Summers’ net worth by $31 million since the “end-game” memo.

That Obama would, at Robert Rubin’s demand, now choose Summers to run the Federal Reserve Board means that, unfortunately, we are far from the end of the game.

Special thanks to expert Mary Bottari of Bankster USA www.BanksterUSA.org without whom our investigation could not have begun.

The film of my meeting with WTO chief Lamy was originally created for Ring of Fire, hosted by Mike Papantonio and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Further discussion of the documents I laid before Lamy can be found in “The Generalissimo of Globalization,” Chapter 12 of Vultures’ Picnic by Greg Palast (Constable Robinson 2012).

Follow Greg on Twitter: @Greg_Palast

Previously – 'The Con' Is Leaving a Trail of Blood Across the Planet

Sabrina

15th September 2013, 20:39

Good that this is getting an airing in the mainstream media at last. A totally discredited organisation - it's laughable that this charade continues..

EU president muzzles auditors who have refused to sign off the bureaucrats' accounts for last 18 years, telling them to tone down criticism as it 'erodes trust'

Herman Van Rompuy bid Europe's Court of Auditors for positive headlines

The watchdog has never signed off the EU budget since it began in 1994

It has consistently cited widespread irregularities, including fraud concerns

British MPs accuse Van Rompuy of whitewashing accounts to mislead public

The EU president has sent a shot across the bow of Europe's official spending watchdog warning it to rein in its criticism of Brussels and focus on promoting the union.

Herman Van Rompuy told Europe's Court of Auditors that he wants their findings to generate positive headlines with particular regard to Europe's £110 billion yearly spend.

The watchdog has been a thorn in the side of Brussels, publishing a series of critical reports on wasteful spending and refusing to sign off the EU’s budget for 18 consecutive years because of concerns about fraud.

'Your reports are not released into a void but into the rough and tumble of political life and media reporting,' he said on Thursday night. 'Every year, they generate headlines that ‘yet again the EU’s accounts have not been signed off’, with deceptive allegations of fraud and mismanagement. You and I know that such headlines can be misleading.

'Given this media handling of information, and its impact on public opinion in some countries, the court might want to give some further thought as to how it can encourage more nuanced reporting.

'It’s important that citizens can have the whole picture, with all its nuances.'

In June this year the watchdog was told it would have its funding slashed by 4.2 per cent.

'In the end we are all responsible for Europe and its image,' Van Rompuy went on. 'In times of crisis, it is more vital than ever to foster confidence. We should also be teaching, to convince Europeans and demonstrate clearly that Europe is not the source of problems, but the solution.'

His comments today angered British MPs who accused him of glossing over the EU's accounts to mislead the public.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage told the Daily Telegraph: 'The Court of Auditors which has not signed off the EU accounts for 18 years, is asked to go easy and provide good PR only for the EU,' he said. 'In which other banana republic in the world would the president publicly call for less exposure of waste of taxpayers’ money?.'

Tory MP Douglas Carswell added: 'Van Rompuy invokes euro idealism to try to get us to turn a blind eye to dodgy account keeping by his own Eurocrats.

'In doing so he discredits the very system he seeks to defend.'

13 Sept

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2420167/EU-president-Herman-Van-Rompuy-muzzles-auditors-tells-tone-criticism.html#ixzz2ezmSqCWz

Sabrina

15th September 2013, 20:49

NEW YORK TIMES

BREAKING NEWS4:36 PM ET

Lawrence H. Summers Withdraws Name for Job of Federal Reserve Chairman

(and see post 2557)

Sabrina

16th September 2013, 09:15

Further to last night's news - and Paul has a thread on it - just for the record, am including this as part of the interesting dance and shift of powers going on..:) And it's leading up to the Equinox on 22 Sept...

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/16/business/economy/summers-pulls-name-from-consideration-for-fed-chief.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&ref=global-home&adxnnlx=1379322425-CNnu8nprLETsoDvqvc5XHA

15 Sept US

Summers Pulls Name From Consideration for Fed Chief

WASHINGTON — For Lawrence H. Summers, President Obama’s preferred candidate to lead the Federal Reserve, the messy debate over a military attack in Syria was the final sign.

After weeks of opposition to his candidacy from an array of progressives, the president’s inability to rally Congressional Democrats on Syria persuaded Mr. Summers that his most important audience — the Senate, which must confirm a Fed chairman — probably could not be won over.

He concluded that the White House was also unlikely to overcome opposition to his candidacy from many of the same Democrats, who view him as an opponent of stronger financial regulation, according to supporters who insisted on anonymity to describe confidential conversations with him.

“Clearly Obama couldn’t bring his own most enthusiastic supporters to back him on an issue of national security,” one supporter said. “How was he going to corral them for Larry?”

Mr. Summers’s decision, which he shared with the president in a phone call Sunday followed by a letter, was described as reluctantly made and reluctantly accepted. Mr. Summers wanted the job and Mr. Obama wanted to pick him. But the public opposition of three Democrats on the Senate banking committee, the first step in the confirmation process, surprised the White House and forced a calculation that this was a battle the administration could not afford to fight.

The embarrassing setback reveals an administration increasingly hamstrung by occasional opposition of liberal Democrats, not just its familiar Republican opponents. It adds to the rocky nature of Mr. Obama’s fifth year, following the failure of a gun-rights bill, the stalling of an immigration overhaul and the lack of progress on a budget deal, on top of the back-and-forth over whether to conduct airstrikes in Syria to punish the Assad regime for a poison gas attack that killed hundreds of civilians.

The withdrawal of Mr. Summers also leaves great uncertainty around the selection of a new Fed chairman, one of the most important economic policy decisions Mr. Obama will make in his second term. The successor to Ben S. Bernanke, the current chair, will shape how much longer and harder the Fed pushes to boost economic growth and reduce unemployment. The next Fed chairman will play a leading role in determining how forcefully the government seeks to constrain the financial industry.

White House officials have described Janet Yellen, the current vice chairwoman, as a finalist, and her candidacy has received widespread attention, but it remains unclear how seriously Mr. Obama is considering her. He does not know her well and White House aides have seemed unenthusiastic about her, despite the substantial support she enjoys from Democrats and outside economists.

If Mr. Obama does not name her — or Timothy F. Geithner, the former Treasury Secretary and Fed official who is well-liked by the president but said to be uninterested in the job — many Fed watchers say they are uncertain where the president will turn.

Mr. Bernanke plans to step down at the end of January, leaving ample time for the Senate to confirm a replacement, but the uncertainty has unsettled financial markets just as the Fed, which is beginning to retreat from its stimulus campaign, tries to assure investors that it will not move too quickly

In a statement released by the White House on Sunday afternoon, Mr. Obama said he had accepted the decision by his friend, whom he praised for helping to rescue the country from the financial crisis that peaked in 2008.

“Larry was a critical member of my team as we faced down the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and it was in no small part because of his expertise, wisdom and leadership that we wrestled the economy back to growth and made the kind of progress we are seeing today,” Mr. Obama said in the statement.

He added: “I will always be grateful to Larry for his tireless work and service on behalf of his country, and I look forward to continuing to seek his guidance and counsel in the future.”

The withdrawal ends an unusually public and contentious debate that began when the president declared in a televised interview in June that Mr. Bernanke would depart, opening the replacement process to public scrutiny before a nominee was even named.

Mr. Summers had long been viewed by Mr. Obama and his economic advisers as Mr. Bernanke’s presumptive replacement.

Sabrina

17th September 2013, 07:47

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=361171

17 Sept

Barclays rapped over payments

LONDON: Barclays has been branded reckless by a British watchdog for failing to disclose payments of £322 million ($511m) in advisory fees to Qatari investors who helped bail it out during the financial crisis.

In its prospectus for a £5.95 billion ($9.4bn) share issue, the British bank said the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) planned to fine it £50m for its failure to adequately disclose the fees that have been paid over the last five years.

The payments were made under "advisory service agreements" linked to Barclays' emergency fundraising with Qatari investors, which helped the bank avoid taking a taxpayer bailout in 2008.

The FCA's findings are another blow to Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins, who took over a year ago and continues to be dogged by issues from the past.

It was the first bank to be fined for its part in a global scam to manipulate Libor interest rates and has set aside £5.5bn to compensate customers for mis-sold insurance and interest rate hedging products.

Barclays said it was fighting the FCA's findings.

The watchdog, which declined further comment, issued warning notices to Barclays last week.

The FCA and the UK Serious Fraud Office have been investigating for about a year the circumstances surrounding Barclays' controversial fundraising from Qatar in 2008.

Moreover, the US Department of Justice and Securities and Exchanges Commission are also probing the bank's relationships with Qatar, and the US Federal Reserve has asked to be kept informed. Qatar Holding invested £5.3bn in the bank in two fundraisings, which helped it avoid the government bailouts of rivals Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland. Qatar is still the bank's biggest shareholder with a 6.3 per cent stake.

Sabrina

17th September 2013, 07:53

http://en.mercopress.com/2013/09/15/pope-s-meets-with-the-father-of-liberation-theology-vatican-media-praises-the-peruvian-priest

More of the shift..

15 Sept Vatican

Pope’s meets with the father of liberation theology; Vatican media praises the Peruvian priest

Pope Francis' September 11 meeting with Dominican Father Gustavo Gutierrez was an informal one, held in the in the pope's residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae, and not listed on his official schedule., reports the Catholic News Service. However the news that Pope Francis had received the 85-year old Peruvian priest, who is widely considered the father of liberation theology, has excited interest far beyond the Vatican's walls.

full story at link

extract here:

Pope Francis' election was thus a powerful affirmation of the belief that the pursuit of social justice is a necessary consequence of Christian faith. But less than nine months before the papal conclave, a less heralded appointment had already signalled that this belief, as formulated in liberation theology, enjoyed favour at the church's highest levels.

When Pope Benedict named Archbishop Muller to head the doctrinal office, in July 2012, he surely knew that the man he was making the highest custodian of church teaching after the pope himself was an admirer and co-author of none other than Father Gutierrez. (CNS).-

Sabrina

17th September 2013, 09:22

Interesting to see what comes out on this one. S.

WND EXCLUSIVE 15 Sept

UNLOCKED! JFK MURDER SECRETS HIDDEN FOR 50 YEARS

No. 1 N.Y. Times bestselling author unveils ultimate Kennedy assassination book

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/09/unlocked-jfk-murder-secrets-hidden-for-50-years/#FHD4SQloQzu3FhCy.99

At the height of his presidential popularity, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was gunned down while riding in a Dallas motorcade, a singular tragedy widely regarded as the end of America’s post-war “age of innocence.”

At the time, a concerted effort was made by the Warren Commission, appointed by the Lyndon Johnson White House, to officially and for all time lay the entire blame on “lone gunman” Lee Harvey Oswald.

Now, 50 years later, recently declassified documents shed new light on what really happened, both leading up to and on the fateful day of Nov. 22, 1963.

Being released nationally this week, “Who Really Killed Kennedy,” by No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Jerome Corsi, is the culmination of decades of meticulous research.

Corsi, an acclaimed investigative journalist, has sorted through the mountains of evidence – the hundreds of books, the tens of thousands of documents (including all twenty-six volumes of the Warren Commission’s report), several films and countless photographs.

Note: Jerome Corsi will appear on the national radio program “Coast to Coast AM” Tuesday night and Wednesday morning discussing his new book.

His research, in addition to other locations, took him to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston and the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, Md.

Dissecting the Warren Commission’s conclusion that Oswald acted alone, he carefully and convincingly separates the unlikely from the real, and the speculation from the facts. Having personally known or met many of the key players in the JFK assassination drama, including a former top Soviet bloc intelligence official, Corsi reveals shocking information for the first time ever.

Secret details of JFK’s assassination are finally unlocked. Get your autographed copy of “Who Really Killed Kennedy?” by Jerome Corsi now!

Meticulously researched and fully documented, “Who Really Killed Kennedy?” is the definitive source for those who, after five decades, wish to truly understand how and why John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated – including information that has largely been hidden from the American people since the 1960s.

In this ultimate guide to the JFK assassination, readers will learn about:

the ballistic evidence that proves there was more than one shooter
the rarely studied final few frames of the Zapruder film that prove the wound in the back of JFK’s head was an exit wound
the eyewitnesses who saw Oswald in the second floor lunchroom when Dallas police rushed in the building
the two previous attempts to assassinate JFK in November 1963
how Lee Harvey Oswald had extensive ties to the CIA and the KGB, and about his sordid relationship with his murderer, Jack Ruby
how JFK was aware specific plans were being made to assassinate him
how JFK double-crossed Richard Nixon and the CIA to win the election of 1960
the tape-recorded confessions Mafia godfathers made detailing their involvement in financing and planning the JFK assassination
how JFK lost control of the CIA when he decided to pull the US military out of Vietnam, where top CIA operatives were engaged in drug trafficking.
how JFK and Life magazine threatened to derail LBJ’s political career
The Kennedy assassination has rightly been called the greatest “who-done-it?” of the 20th century. Jerome Corsi sets a new standard for JFK assassination research, demanding that future researchers understand the deep, and unfortunately sinister, political forces that led up to an unthinkable event that marked a profound change in America, and the world.

Currently serving as senior staff reporter for online news giant WND, Corsi holds a Ph.D. from Harvard in political science and has authored numerous bestsellers, including No. 1 New York Times bestsellers “Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality” and (with co-author John E. O’Neill) “Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry.”

Sabrina

17th September 2013, 09:28

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-24103344

16 Sept Ireland

Thirty arrests made in child sex abuse investigation

More than 30 people have been arrested as part of a major investigation into the sexual exploitation of children and young people in Northern Ireland.

A number have already appeared in court charged with sexual exploitation and other offences.

The police have identified a group of 22 young people - aged between 13 and 18 - that may have been abused.

The investigation follows a review of cases of young people missing from the care system over the past 18 months.

A team of 15 detectives and social workers is working on the investigation.

The issue is to be discussed at Stormont on Monday during a joint meeting of the assembly's health and justice committees.

full story at link

Sabrina

18th September 2013, 08:12

http://theneedleblog.wordpress.com/2013/09/17/an-open-letter-to-david-cameron-2/

17 Sept UK on abuse investigations

An Open Letter To David Cameron
I just wanted to clarify that this letter has been written by Tom Watson’s original source for his PMQ question.

He is described in the video below by Tom Watson as “A very n0ble retired child protection officer.” His open letter to the Prime Minister is below the video.

FNKSYCLaqTM

Dear Mr. Cameron,

On the very day, 24th October 2012, that Tom Watson asked you a PMQ re. the possibility of a link between a very large and highly organised paedophile ring and No 10, you made a number of quotes to the mainstream media.

You were in fact referring to the Savile/BBC/NHS scandal.

I made a note of some of those quotes :-

”The Government will do all it can do, other institutions must do what they can do, to make sure that we learn the lesson of this and it can NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN”

“Collusion should NEVER happen again ”

”The measure of how our society is, is how we treat its most vulnerable members”

There are no more vulnerable members of our society than children who have been taken in to care and then re-abused by the very people charged with the responsibility of caring for them and protecting them,and even worse then passing them on to be further abused by the very people who make the laws in this country and are expected to lead the way on the moral compass of that society.

I have no doubt that you have watched or been made aware of Channel 4′s Dispatches on 12th September
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/videos/all/the-paedophile-mp-how-cyril-smith-got-away-with-it
and the allegations that arose from it regarding the role of senior politicians, the security services and the Crown Prosecution Service in covering up the horrendous abuse carried out by Cyril Smith over 5 decades. The overlap with Savile in terms of who knew about this abuse was laid bare.

I also have no doubt that you are aware that your colleagues in your party, Edwina Currie, Gyles Brandreth and Rod Richards have made very damning statements of how well known in Westminster circles it was that Peter Morrison was a dangerous paedophile, and yet his career was unaffected as he rose to be Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party, Mrs. Thatcher’s PPS in 1990 and her campaign manager that same year despite this knowledge having been around for many years.

I also have no doubt that you are aware of the statement of Tim Fortescue, Edward Heath’s Chief Whip from 1970-73, made public on Michael Cockerell’s BBC Documentary in 1995 called “Westminster’s Secret Service”.
Talking about the role of the chief whip, Fortescue said “For anyone with any sense who was in trouble would come to the whips and tell them the truth ………….. it might be erm erm a scandal involving small boys ……….. we would do everything we can because we would store up brownie points ……. and if I mean, that sounds a pretty,pretty nasty reason, but it’s one of the reasons because if we could get a chap out of trouble then, he will do as we ask forever more.”

I don’t need to tell you of the revulsion I feel towards our political masters having worked with sexually abused children for over 30 years when I heard of how the Whips ran the Dirt Book system.

Your colleague, John Whittingdale, in his role as Chair of the Culture Committee,put himself forward as the moral voice of Parliament in the days following the exposure of Savile on national TV.
He lost no opportunity to appear on every news channel for many days to demand in effect the head of the Director General of the BBC.To date I have not heard you or Mr. Whittingdale demand such investigations in to your own institution despite the mountain of concern a small proportion of which I have referred to above.

Just on Savile alone without looking any further why was there no investigation along the lines of the many BBC inquiries in to why a British Prime Minister was so close to Savile that he allegedly attended 13 consecutive New Year’s Eve parties at Chequers and why the same Prime Minister allegedly persevered for many years in insisting that such an evil man long identified as having a deviant sexual history should get a knighthood,ignoring the advice of her closest advisers. Why was the same man so welcome in Prince Charles’s properties despite the security services and similar vetting institutions having enough opportunity to tap in to the ” gossip” about Savile that was around for decades?

I would dearly like to go in to more detail but until the Metropolitan Police’s Operations Fernbridge and Fairbank are completed then for obvious reasons I cannot.

In the aftermath of the Lord McAlpine affair, I was extremely disappointed by the confusion you attempted to create by making accusations of gay witch-hunts. There is no connection whatsoever between being gay and being a paedophile.
This is about and only about people who abuse young children regardless of whether the abuser is heterosexual or gay.
There is no witch-hunt against gay people and it was most irresponsible for a Prime Minister to make such a statement when the abuse of our most vulnerable was the issue.

Now is the time for you to show the genuine commitment expected of a Prime Minister and do what you preached in those statements last October especially “COLLUSION SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN ” and the demand that ALL institutions look inwards and examine their role in past collusion/cover up.

A starting point, and to give Parliament and Government any credibility in this heinous historical scandal, is for you to put all party political considerations aside and arrange an urgent meeting with Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband to draw up a blueprint as to how your own institution will be investigated along the lines of the way you and colleagues demanded that people be brought to account in the BBC or NHS for their failure to blow the whistle on Savile.

It would be better if you led such an exercise before it is forced upon you by public demand.
The latter will happen in time.

A starting point would be an immediate statement that there will be urgent cross-party talks to set up an independent body to examine who ordered these cover ups of people like Smith and Morrison, after ordering an immediate Police investigation by the National Crime Agency and ensuring that the latter body has sufficient resources to go wherever the evidence takes them and however long it takes. This must include the investigation of living politicians, police officers, civil servants, security services personnel etc.

Yours sincerely,
The source of Tom Watson’s PMQ

Sabrina

18th September 2013, 08:24

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/sep/17/liberian-presidents-son-resigns-from-oil-company/

17 Sept

Liberian president's son resigns from oil company

MONROVIA, Liberia — The son of Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has resigned from his position as head of the state oil company, an appointment that had prompted allegations of nepotism from the president's critics.

Sirleaf accepted the resignation of her son, Robert Sirleaf, from his positions as chair of the National Oil Company of Liberia and as senior presidential adviser, according to a statement from the Executive Mansion Tuesday.

"With your departure, this government will lose one of its most valuable assets," the president wrote in a letter to her son that was included in the statement.

The resignation comes just days after Liberia's lawmakers suspended debate on new oil laws until after they return from break in January. Liberian non-governmental organizations had urged lawmakers not to pass the laws, complaining of the lack of public consultation.

The oil company has refused to make copies of the draft laws public. One law governs the oil company itself while the other governs production and exploration. The Senate passed the laws on Sept. 10, but the House of Representatives on Friday voted to suspend debate.

The attempt to rush the laws through the legislature was unacceptable, said Chloe Fussell, a campaigner at the environmental watchdog Global Witness.

"These bills are supposed to be open for public debate - for months, the drafters have been promising us consultation - and at the very least, the legislature should have more than a day or two to read them," she said.

The government appeared eager to pass the laws so that it could auction off new offshore blocks, Fussell said.

"But passing these laws without anyone seeing them could have resulted in an oil sector that is badly regulated," she added. "In a country marred by corruption, that would be a recipe for disaster - just look at Angola and Nigeria."

Critics of the president welcomed her son's resignation, saying his removal from the government posts was overdue.

"There is a need to critically examine what he's done," said Jefferson Koijee, youth wing leader for the opposition Congress for Democratic Change. He added that Robert Sirleaf's holding of two portfolios was "causing some embarrassment" for the government.

President Sirleaf has two other sons in top government positions. Fumba Sirleaf is director of the National Security Agency, and Charles Sirleaf is deputy governor of the Central Bank, though he was temporarily suspended last year for failing to declare his assets.

Sirleaf has repeatedly defended her sons' appointments, saying they are qualified public servants.

She appeared to address the criticism obliquely in her letter to her son Robert published Tuesday.

"Perhaps it will be many years before Liberians realize the scale of the profound debt our country owes to you, but I am certain that day will come," she said. "Today, the President and the Nation thank you for your patriotic service, and wish you well."

---

Corey-Boulet reported from Dakar, Senegal.

The Associated Press

Sabrina

19th September 2013, 14:11

http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?63522-Neil-Keenan-update-Financial-doomsday-weapons-revealed

Neil Keenan video here via Kimberley.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/10320564/JP-Morgan-fined-920m-over-London-Whale-scandal.html

19 Sept

JP Morgan fined $920m over 'London Whale' scandal

JP Morgan has been fined $920m (£577m) by British and US regulators over the “London Whale” trades that lost the bank more than $6bn.

The US bank was hit with a £138m fine by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for what regulators said were “serious failings” in its Chief Investment Office that led to the unit losing $6.2bn as a series of high risk trades went wrong last year.

In addition to the UK fine, the US Federal Reserve, Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency imposed further penalties of $200m, $200m and $300m respectively, taking the total fine to $920m.

The fines follow an international investigation into CIO team that has already seen two former JP Morgan executives indicted by US prosecutors.

Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout have been accused of inflating the value of trading positions to hide the scale of the unit’s losses.

Bruno Iksil, who executed the trades and has been dubbed the “London Whale” because of the enormous positions he took, has been granted immunity from prosecution by authorities in return for his co-operation.

JP Morgan’s fine is the second largest ever imposed on a bank by British regulators, eclipsed only by the £160m paid out by UBS in December for its role in Libor-rigging.

Tracey McDermott, director of enforcement and financial crime, at the FCA said the penalty reflected the “extremely serious” failings uncovered at the bank.

“There were basic failings in the operation of fundamental controls over a high risk part of the business. Senior management failed to respond properly to warning signals that there were problems in the CIO,” said Ms McDermott.

The damning findings have already led JP Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon to unveil a root and branch overhaul of the bank’s operations.

In a memo to staff this week, Mr Dimon said he would be “simplifying” the business to prevent a recurrence of the scandal.
When the trading scandal first broke, Mr Dimon described it as a "tempest in a teacup".

The FCA said the the bank agreed to settle at an early stage of its investigation and as a result qualified for a 30pc discount. Without the discount the fine would have been £197m.

and via Zero Hedge

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-19/fraud-fortress-jpm-settles-london-whale-admits-violating-securities-laws

Fraud Fortress: JPM Settles London Whale, Admits To Violating Securities Laws

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/19/2013 - 09:16

"By late April 2012, JPMorgan senior management knew that the firm's Investment Banking unit used far more conservative prices when valuing the same kind of derivatives held in the CIO portfolio, and that applying the Investment Bank valuations would have led to approximately $750 million in additional losses for the CIO in the first quarter of 2012." Translated: Jamie Dimon lied to Congress.

full story at link

Sabrina

19th September 2013, 14:18

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101045968

No taper brings back talk of currency war

The Federal Reserve's shocking decision not to taper, despite broad expectations for a $10-20 billion reduction of its monthly asset purchases, has reignited talk of a global currency war.

Risk-on currencies like the Australian dollar, the euro and the British pound soared in response, while the greenback dropped across the board. Now some analysts say the Fed's decision could prompt other central banks to devalue their currencies in an attempt to retain a competitive edge.

"We are on the verge [of a currency war]... especially if the Fed does not taper in October or December..." said Boris Schlossberg, MD of BK Asset Management.

(Read more: Where has the talk of currency wars gone?)
The other G10 countries will have to react and the only thing they can do is provide "even more accommodative policies in order to try and equalize all these currency differentials," he added.

more at link

and

http://www.infowars.com/marc-faber-warns-the-endgame-is-a-total-collapse-but-from-a-higher-diving-board-now/

Marc Faber: Fed’s Money Printing About Protecting the Elite

Zero Hedge

September 19, 2013

With rumors this evening of the White House calling around for support for Yellen, Marc Faber’s comments today during a Bloomberg TV interview are even more prescient. Fearing that Janet Yellen “would make Bernanke look like a hawk,” Faber explains that he is not entirely surprised by today’s no-taper news since he believes we are now in QE-unlimited and the people at the Fed “never worked a single-day in the business of ordinary people,” adding that “they don’t understand that if you print money, it benefits basically a handful of people.” Following today’s action, Faber is waiting to seeing if there is any follow-through but notes that “Feds have already lost control of the bond market. The question is when will it lose control of the stock market.” The Fed, he warns, has boxed themselves in and “the endgame is a total collapse, but from a higher diving board.”

more at link

Sabrina

19th September 2013, 14:24

CBS NEWS | Sep 19, 2013 | 2:54 US

LaPierre resignation

Louis LaPierre resigned from a federal environmental panel Wednesday, citing health reasons.

(must be all those chemtrails he's inhaled...:) .... the environment is obviously bad for your health...

Sabrina

19th September 2013, 20:58

http://www.thrivemovement.com/good-news-tuesday-episode-5.blog

18 Sept

Good news from the Thrive Movement

GOOD NEWS TUESDAY — EPISODE 5: COURAGEOUS CITIZENS STAND UP FOR JUSTICE

Hungary Kills the Rothschild Banks: Ordered to Vacate Country — Political Vel Craft
Netherlands Close Eight Prisons Due to Lack of Criminals — Huffington Post
In Victory for Activists, Entergy to Close Vermont Yankee Nuclear Plant — Democracy Now!
Cost of Renewable Energy Has Fallen 50% Since 2008 — OilPrice.com
Larry Summers Withdraws from Fed Consideration — USA Today
Larry Summers and the Secret End-Game Memo — Greg Palast, VICE
Second-Largest Dutch City Bans Monsanto’s Roundup Herbicide — Natural Society
Frackers Sued for Causing Earthquakes — AlterNet
PepsiCo’s Naked Juices to Drop ‘All Natural’ Label After $9 Million Class Action Lawsuit — Natural Society
Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors Drill Into Fracking — Santa Cruz Sentinel

audio here
http://www.thrivemovement.com/audio/20130917-FG-Good-News-Episode-5.mp3

transcript here
http://www.thrivemovement.com/good-news-tuesday-episode-5.blog#transcript

Sabrina

20th September 2013, 05:41

More on the JP Morgan fines.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324807704579084912809151456.html

19 Sept US

J.P. Morgan Faces a Hard-Line SEC
Despite Agreeing to 'London Whale' Fines, Agency Probes Bank Employees Over Possible Negligence

James Dimon is known for his hardball approach to business. Now, the Securities and Exchange Commission is playing hardball with J.P. Morgan Chase.

J.P. Morgan agreed to pay more than $920 million to settle with the SEC, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve and the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority over a trading blunder that cost the bank more than $6 billion.

Yet the SEC is continuing a civil investigation of individual employees of J.P. Morgan who are connected to the matter, according to people familiar with the probes. Also, the agency refused to negotiate the amount of the fine, according to people familiar with the proceeding. That represents an unusually tough stance by the SEC, regulatory experts said.

It wasn't clear who the continuing SEC civil probe is focused on, but Mr. Dimon, the bank's chairman and chief executive, isn't expected to be a target of the scrutiny, the bank said.

"Our counsel has had discussions with the SEC staff and the staff has informed us that, based on the evidence now known to them, they do not anticipate recommending any actions against our CEO," a J.P. Morgan spokesman said.

The settlements came as J.P. Morgan separately agreed to pay $80 million to regulators to settle allegations of deceptive marketing practices related to identity-theft protection and other services sold to credit-card customers. That fine brought J.P. Morgan's regulatory tab for Thursday to $1 billion.

The SEC's consent order in the "London whale" matter contained uncommonly strong language, the regulatory experts said. It made more than 100 references to "senior management" and didn't name Mr. Dimon specifically but described senior management as "individuals who held the listed positions as of May 10, 2012: the JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer, the JPMorgan Chief Financial Officer, the JPMorgan Chief Risk Officer, the JPMorgan Controller, and the JPMorgan General Auditor."

"This settlement has an awful lot of language that we've not seen in an SEC settlement in decades," said James Cox, a law professor at Duke University in Durham, N.C. He said it represented a

In a rare move in such settlements, J.P. Morgan admitted to wrongdoing as part of its agreement with regulators. "We have accepted responsibility and acknowledged our mistakes from the start, and we have learned from them and worked to fix them," Mr. Dimon said in a statement.

Other agencies continue probes of the matter. A U.S. grand jury on Monday indicted two former traders in connection with the trades. Both men have denied wrongdoing. Bruno Iksil, dubbed the London whale after faulty trades prompted the losses in 2012, signed a non-prosecution agreement in June. Mr. Iksil's lawyer couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is still investigating whether J.P. Morgan manipulated markets through its heavy trading in derivatives last year. J.P. Morgan disclosed in a securities filing on Thursday that it has received a "Wells notice" from the CFTC, indicating an enforcement action is possible.

The whale settlements come more than a year after the New York bank first acknowledged that a massive trading bet in London on credit derivatives had gone wrong. The losses, which ballooned to more than $6 billion from J.P. Morgan's initial estimate of $2 billion, stemmed from bad bets in its Chief Investment Office, which manages risk for the bank.

The SEC is looking at individuals who might have been responsible for the alleged failures in internal controls and corporate governance at the center of the agency's settlement with the firm, according to a person familiar with the probe. The continuing investigation is looking at whether J.P. Morgan officials were negligent in not fulfilling their duties, which is a less serious potential charge than intentional fraud, according to the person close to the probe.

A bipartisan group of Senate lawmakers urged regulators to bring additional charges against J.P. Morgan, saying the firm has yet to be held fully accountable for misstatements by senior executives about the trading fiasco. Sens. Carl Levin (D., Mich.), Jeff Merkley (D., Ore.) and Charles Grassley (R., Iowa) said the settlement doesn't go far enough even though it involved substantial penalties.

Mr. Levin, who chairs the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which conducted a nine-month investigation of the London trades, said that while the size of the settlement "is testimony to the great damage risky derivatives bets can do," the issue of "misinforming investors and the public is conspicuously absent from the SEC findings and settlement."

The trading fiasco resulted in a hit to J.P. Morgan's reputation as a stellar risk manager, and gave a black eye to Mr. Dimon, who has been known for close attention to details of the bank's operation. It also triggered the departures of top executives.

The announcement of the civil settlement, which had been expected, marks one of the largest fines a bank has had to pay over a single trading strategy. The regulators charged the company with poor controls surrounding the London whale trades.

"While grappling with how to fix its internal-control breakdowns, J.P. Morgan's senior management broke a cardinal rule of corporate governance and deprived its board of critical information it needed to fully assess the company's problems and determine whether accurate and reliable information was being disclosed to investors and regulators," said George S. Canellos, co-director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement.

The OCC, J.P. Morgan's primary regulator, is receiving the biggest slice of the settlement, at $300 million. The SEC and the Fed are each getting $200 million, with the FCA getting £137.6 million ($222 million).

Among the lapses J.P. Morgan admitted to as part of its settlement with the SEC was keeping its board, particularly its independent audit committee, in the dark about the status of the trades even as losses mounted, a violation of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley law.

Another "woefully deficient" lapse J.P. Morgan acknowledged was having one person in charge of checking the books on the London whale trades.

Jason Hughes, who wasn't identified by name in the settlement, was the bank's only employee tasked with keeping some of the most powerful traders in the firm honest about how profitable their trades were, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Hughes was responsible for checking the values traders assigned to 132 trading positions, many of which were complex, hard-to-value derivatives contracts in order to make sure the banks books and company filings were accurate, according to the bank's settlement agreement with the SEC.

A lawyer for Mr. Hughes didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. J.P. Morgan declined to comment on the accounting matter.

The SEC approved the settlement by a two-to-one vote, according to people close to the agency. Typically, the full five-member commission would have voted on the settlement. But in the case of J.P. Morgan, two voting members of the SEC recused themselves because of previous ties to the giant New York bank.

Sabrina

20th September 2013, 05:46

https://medium.com/the-physics-arxiv-blog/5e1dd9d1642

in The Physics arXiv Blog5 min read

The True Size of the Shadow Banking System Revealed (Spoiler: Humongous)

The shadow banking system is vastly bigger than regulators had thought, say econophysicists who have developed a powerful new way to measure its hidden impact

In most parts of the world, the banking system is closely regulated and monitored by central banks and other government agencies. That’s just as it should be, you might think.

But banks have a way round this kind of regulation. For the last decade or so, it has become common practice for banks to do business in ways that don’t show up on conventional balance sheets. Before the 2008 financial crisis, for example, many investment banks financed mortgages in this way. To all intents and purposes, these transactions are invisible to regulators.

This so-called shadow banking system is huge and important. Indeed, many economists blame activities that took place in the shadow banking system for the 2008 crash.

But the size of the system is hard to measure because of its hidden and impenetrable nature. But today, Davide Fiaschi , an economist at the University of Pisa in Italy, and a couple of pals reveal a powerful and simple way of determining the size of the shadow banking system.

see graph at link...

Sabrina

20th September 2013, 06:00

http://goldenageofgaia.com/the-global-currency-reset/dave-schmidt-so-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire/

One view on it all... personally am getting to the point of not wanting any money system... Sab.

Dave Schmidt: So … Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

So … Who Wants to be a Millionaire? With the Coming Global Currency Reset, Just About Anyone Can…..If They Want to!!! Here’s Some Practical Thoughts and Advice!

Steve Beckow has encouraged folks to purchase Vietnamese dong for the coming Currency Exchange (C/E). I hope I can add some information to help those who are not sure about getting involved or have some questions.

But first a little background on me. Many of you may remember me as the initial Director of The Hope Chest and the co-host on the “Let’s Talk 2012 and Beyond” radio program, and just last week I started a new radio program on Wednesday nights called “The Sedona Connection.”
(www.thesedonaconnection.com.)

But, I also have a background in banking and finance, was a former State Senator and have been a market trader for over 17 years. I now live in Sedona, AZ and I’m helping a group of about 50 of us that have purchased dinar and dong……we’re all about to become overnight millionaires and we are taking the prudent steps of being responsible with our new gift of wealth.

I’ve been writing, giving help, direction and practical application to the group now for about 5 months, so here’s extending it to a larger group with some practical Q&A. Many of you have friends or family you’d like to have participate in this C/E but they are not about to believe in a channeled message from an angel or a simple statement from Steve. They want some proof or practical reasoning about what is about to happen. This Q&A should help.
What is the Global Currency Reset or Revaluation?

While the Iraqi dinar has had most of the attention, there’s actually a complete global currency reset about to happen. About 198 currencies in the world are being reset backed by assets and commodities such as gold, silver, oil, wheat, rice, etc. Various economists and experts have said we must do this or the whole global financial system will collapse.

What is the Basis of This Currency Reset?
A few weeks back there was a You Tube video posted on the Golden Age of Gaia by Bix Weir mentioning the elimination of worldwide debt. The real basis of the interview was the coming currency collapse. All of the G8 countries (U.S, Canada, France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Russia, and Japan) have fiat currencies, meaning there is nothing backing them up but the good faith of the government. We know how good that has been; most of them are bankrupt.
The Federal Reserve in the U.S. can print money at will and put it into circulation at any time. They’ve been doing this by the trillions for the last few years, it’s obvious they think money can grow on trees as they can just print up whatever they want whenever they want. This normally causes a huge cycle of inflation, devaluing of currencies, and leads to a collapse.

Every fiat currency in the history of the modern world has eventually collapsed and all of the G8 countries are currently in debt beyond their ability to recover. They are all theoretically bankrupt beyond their ability to pay back their debt, meaning it’s only a matter of time before their currencies collapse. This printing of trillions is just kicking the can of collapse down the road.

Bix stated we are on track for this collapse in the next 2 to 4 months. The collapsing currency also eliminates all debt as money has become worthless. He stated we are on a path of two choices, currency collapse or a global currency reset backed by commodity assets. One is inevitable (the collapse) if we do not do the other (the reset).

Who’s Behind this Currency Reset?
The shadow governments controlled by the cabal/illuminati have manipulated the global finances of the modern world for a couple of centuries. They currently manipulate and control the stock market, price of gold and price of oil. They have deliberately kept about 60% of the world’s population living on less than $2 per day and the rest of the developed world in some form of economic slavery. The ultra-wealthy 1% has controlled the rest of the world’s population through the power of controlling the world’s money supply.

Their lust for power and control is about to all fall apart. A coalition of about 160 countries led by the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) have formed a united front on the G8 and called their bluff of corruption and greed.

The G8 so weakened the world economy that it gave way for the 160-nation coalition to step up and call “check” in the world financial chess match. It’s game over; the coalition is demanding a return to asset-backed currencies to stabilize the world economy. The IMF (International Monetary Fund), World Bank and BIS (Bank of International Settlements) have quietly been working on this reset for 5 to 10 years.

Why are the Iraqi Dinar and Vietnamese Dong so Important?
There are three currencies that are way out of balance with the rest of the world; the Indonesian Rupiah is the third. While I’m not familiar with Vietnam’s full story, Iraq’s has been more center stage. Both of their currencies were devastated from their wars with the U.S. as their currencies can be purchased for 1/10th of pennies on the dollar. In 1990 when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, the country was placed on economic sanctions by the U.N. They could not trade their goods on the open international market and their currency was taken off the foreign exchange. This is what is meant by U.N. Chapter 7 seven status.

On June 27th, the U.N. Security Council voted 15-0 to remove Iraq from chapter 7 and return them to chapter 6 status. They once again became a member of the international trading alliance, but to do so they must bring their currency back onto the foreign exchange market, meaning it must be revalued.
Today 1162 dinar will trade for $1 U.S. In 1990 before the sanctions .29 dinar would trade for $1. To reverse the trade value, in 1990, 1 dinar would trade for $3.47. Today approximately 21,100 Vietnamese dong will trade for $1 U.S. So you can see the huge imbalance. When the currency reset is backed by commodity assets those values will skyrocket and come back into balance with the rest of the world.

So Why Are the Dinar and Dong Going to be So Valuable?
Each country’s currency value will be based on the country’s tradable commodity assets. Not only does Iraq have the 2nd largest oil reserves in the world, but they have huge gold mines. Many are speculating that Iraq’s dinar could become the strongest currency in the world.
Their Prime Minister was recently quoted as saying, “We have billions and billions barrels of oil to trade, but we do not even have running water.” Their country has been devastated by war and they want to rebuild. They are hungry and anxious for this reset to happen and are willing to pay handsomely for it.

For Vietnam, it’s rice, the world’s largest food commodity. Vietnam is the 2nd largest rice producer in the world and they have offshore oil rigs. They have been selling their rice and oil to China who has kept their currency in suppression since the war. Based on an open and free market the value of their rice and oil will explode to be on par with the rest of the world.

So, What are the Exchange Rates of the Dinar and Dong going to be?
That’s the trillion dollar question!!! Some individuals have been working on this C/E for close to 10 years. For most of that time speculation had the dinar returning to its 1990 value of $3.47 and the dong around $.47. Based on talking with scores of people involved and reading the blog sites every day, I believe these are the minimum rates.

But, in the last month so much has changed. The key was the U.N. vote on June 27th to bring Iraq back into the global open market, when that happened everything changed. Since then the blog sites have been saying the reval could happen any day now. But, things do seem to change every week, let alone almost every day.

What most people don’t know is the U.S. government has trillions of dinars to exchange. They want the value to be high so they can pay off the U.S. debt and they have been negotiating behind the scenes to get the rate as high as possible.

Many insiders who have contacts in the IMF, U.S. Treasury, the Central Bank of Iraq, and some of the larger banks in the U.S. have been reporting the rates are already appearing on the back screens of the bank officers’ computers. This has been going on for over a month and the rates are reported to be very very high. While this is all speculation at this time, the intel appears to be reliable. Some feel those rates are just test rates and will not be accurate, while others are reporting those are the C/E rates for the private groups (I’ll explain that later.)

OK, OK…. So what are the Exchange Rates?
Speculation has the minimum rates of the dinar at $3.47 and the dong at $.47. The upper rates… I hope you’re sitting down … The dinar is at $23.50 and the dong at $3.60. Do the math; you’ll see why we can get excited!!!

100,000 dinar minimally will become $347,000 and 100,000 dong will become $47,000. At the high end 100,000 dinar will trade for $2,350,000 and 100,000 dong will become $360,000.

So……What are the Costs?
There are different options for purchasing the currencies. Because the dong is currently tradeable it can be purchased at a local bank. But, don’t expect to walk in and get the currency the same day. Most of the banks have to order it from larger HQ’s and it will take about 3 days before you will have it in hand.
As Steve mentioned, you can also go to a foreign exchange at a local airport. But, I wouldn’t count on that either. For security reasons they don’t keep large quantities on hand. The larger quantities you would likely have to get through a bank or through the online certified dealers.

You can purchase 100,000 dong for about $12-$14 at a bank. You can get the same for about $18-20 online. Dinar or dong can be purchased by certified online dealers. You can google them, but make sure they are certified and guarantee shipment. You can acquire 100,000 dinar for about $30-$40 online. Those are total costs which include the currency, the transaction fee, shipping and handling and a small profit for the dealer/broker. Most of the online dealers require a money wire and extra for Fed Ex shipping.

There’s one myself and our group of about 40 in Sedona have been using. We pay a few extra dollars per transaction, but we have all been very pleased with the level of service. One flat fee covers everything and we have the currency in hand in about three days from the time of order. They are also one of the very few who allow you to use a debit or credit card and they also have a 7 day guaranteed return policy, no questions asked.

Do the Math!!!
Here’s the bottom line, using the higher costs, $20 can buy you 100,000 dong that minimally turns into $47,000. $120 can buy you 100,000 dinar that minimally turns into $347,000. Rates vary based on volume purchased, but you get the idea!

So……What’s the Real Bottom Line, in Other Words, What About Taxes?
That’s another million dollar question. Tax implication is something we cannot overlook.

There are all kinds of speculation and rumors floating around on the blog sites regarding taxes. I’ve done my homework, but there is more to the story.
Before taxes, the dong is a better return on the dollar if the rates are higher across the board. But, reliable intel information is saying there may be a huge tax advantage in purchasing the dinar.

What is the Current Law Regarding Taxes? (that's from American point of view - Sab...)
I can only speak to U.S. law and do not have the time to do the hours of research for other countries. Rumors, rumors and more rumors are floating around about what the President or others are going to do about the taxes for the C/E.

My advice from someone who was a lawmaker (Senator) for 12 years; stick with the current law until you have solid proof otherwise. The U.S. Constitution is clear, only Congress can impose a tax. The law does not allow a tax to be implied retroactively, so the current law applies until something else is passed through Congress.

The current law considers an increase of value in a currency an investment and is taxed as a capital gain. Period!!!
IRS Publication 525, page 30, “Taxable and Non Taxable Income, any increase over $200 is considered a capital gain. Here’s the link to the publication to read it yourself: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p525.pdf#page30.

So, What is the Capital Gains Tax Rate in the U.S.?
There are two rates for capital gains, short term and long term. Long term is having the asset in possession for more than one year. If you purchased your dinar or dong more than one year before you exchange it, it will be long term. Make sure to keep your receipts for your date of purchase. If you can’t prove your date of purchase it could be very very costly.

Anything less than one year is short term. But here’s the key, they date is not based on when the Reval takes place, but the day you exchange it. The capital gain is not considered a tax until it is realized, or turned in.

So What’s the Rates?
Short term is taxed as normal income. Those rates vary based on the amount of your taxable income. The top U.S. rate for 2013 is making over $450,000, most of us will qualify for those rates.
Short term top rate: 39.6%
Long term rate: 20.0%

Here’s the scoop, most U.S. citizens should plan on paying 40% to 45% of their reval earnings in taxes. Don’t forget your state taxes, those vary from state to state and are different based on capital gains state laws.

Why Could the Dinar be a Far Better Value After Taxes?
That’s another million dollar question, but first, the rest of the story. When I was first approached about purchasing dinar, I asked …….who’s going to pay the trillions of dollars for the increase in value of the RV. Answer…..China……how…..oil credits.

Iraq has billions of barrels of oil, China has billions of people and China has trillions of U.S. dollars from the decades of purchasing U.S. bonds. It cost Iraq $2 to produce a barrel of oil, while the current market is about $104 per barrel. Iraq wants to have as many of the dinar, now in our possession, in their country quickly. Here’s what’s supposed to be coming down, but remember it is all speculation until proven otherwise.

China is willing to pay the higher rate for the dinar from us, paid for by their trillions of U.S. bonds. They purchase the dinar in a private exchange and then use those dinars to purchase oil from Iraq at $30 per barrel vs. the open market of $104.

This produces a win-win-win scenario. We win by the higher dinar exchange rate, China wins by receiving billions of barrels of oil at a discounted rate and Iraq wins by quickly receiving their dinar back so they can rebuild their country.

Here’s the other tax implication, creating a great savings for us. This exchange could be considered a commodity exchange, not a capital gain and it could be considered tax free. Yes, that means we may be able to receive the full exchange value with no tax implications. The jury is still out on that decision as it is one of those gray areas in current tax law.

In that situation the President has leeway to decide how it can apply and has supposedly brokered a deal with China. As of now, the speculated deal has China paying an 11% tax on the dinar/oil exchange and we will pay nothing. He also was the one who supposedly was able to get the dinar rate up to around $23. The President wants the higher rate so the government’s dinar can be used to pay off the U.S. debt. Also, U.S. is China’s largest export partner. When millions of U.S. citizens have millions of new dollars to spend, China benefits from our purchasing their goods. It’s another win-win-win proposal.

Because this tax deal applies to the oil credits, it appears to only apply to the dinar and not the dong. While some are saying the tax free exchange may apply to the dong, there is very little intel backing that up.

Based on the inside intel, if this happens the dinar is by far a better return after taxes.

As a straight up purchase, and applying the 39.6% tax rate, and using the minimum exchange rates, the dong is a better value on the dollar spent.
But, the intel for the dinar is far more positive and the potential for exchanging them tax free gives them a better odds. The dinar can revalue without a global currency exchange while the dong is dependent upon it taking place. There is far more reliable intel on the dinar than the dong.

So, what should we do?
I can’t give you a direct answer, there is so much speculation on both sides and so many variables that we cannot accurately verify. But, here’s what I did. I made a number of purchases over a few months. Each time I would go into meditation and inquire from my higher self. I felt it was prudent to have dinar and dong, but leaned to the dong side. It depends on how much money you want to spend, what you can afford and what type of guidance you receive from within yourself.

How should I tell this to my friends?
There are two ways to look at this, the esoteric/metaphysical side with info from channeled angelic sources and the practical 3d world perspective.
I’ve tried to give you the more practical info so you can share this with friends and family who will not listen to a channeled angel source of info. In other words you can share this info with others without them thinking you’re crazy.

There I so much more info available on the esoteric side that gets me so excited about the higher rate, but, space is limited for now.
What do we do When It’s Time to Cash In?

There are reported to be three different exchange rates. 1. The street rate, what you get if you go to the bank teller window as an individual. 2. The ability to negotiate your own rate with a bank of your choice. 3. The private group rate.
What is the Private Group Rate Exchange?

It is reported the private group rate is going to be the best. In fact many are implying the street rate could be the lower $3.47 while the private rate may be as high as $23.50. But, this is still all speculation. Why? The China oil credit issue. The currency you exchange at a bank will go directly to Iraq and not to China. The private group exchange goes directly to China and they use it to purchase the discounted oil.

Can I be a Part of the Private Group Exchange? Yes!!!
All you have to do is sign up on the www.dinarrecaps.com blog site email list. This group now has over 130,000 people and it is the volume of the group that will get the higher private rate.

How Will I be Notified of the Group Exchange?
Wells Fargo bank is working as the independent broker for the group. You must be on the email list. When the RV happens they will send out an email to the list giving an #800. You will call that number, they will verify your email, you will give them your zip code and they will direct you to the closest private exchange center via you location. This will be a private exchange with Wells Fargo employees and will not be at a local bank branch for security reasons.

Do I have to Accept or Use Wells Fargo for this Exchange?

Nope, it’s totally your choice based on the three options listed above. But, if you get my drift, you would be crazy to not consider it and at least check it out. Why? You can take your dinar into a bank, receive the lower $3.47 and have to pay about 40% in taxes. Or you can take your dinar to the private exchange, receive upwards to $23 and potentially pay no taxes…..DUHHHHH…..NO BRAINER……unless you like paying high taxes, throwing your money away and making the bankers get richer. How? Those bankers who give you $3.47 are going to take that dinar and exchange it for the higher $23. They’re not stupid; they’re in the business of making money for their bank and bonuses for themselves!!!

When is this RV Going to Happen?
Any Day……Seriously…..it could be tomorrow! All the reports say it should have happened two to four weeks ago.
I have chosen to not give you any specific currency broker, etc. as I want to respect others choices. But, as stated all of us in our group of about 40 in Sedona have been very happy and comfortable with who we are using. We’ve been having meetings in a private home to support each other, learn from each other, and give info to each other.

We’re researching local CPA’s, tax attorneys and financial planners to use after we receive our money.

One night I gave a presentation to a group of about 15 people in my home. We talked taxes and other ways to be prudent with our new wealth. We’ve formed a foundation as a 501(C)3 non-profit that we are going to use for funding community projects.

I have all this in three short You Tube videos about 15-17 minutes each along with a power point presentation explaining the details. If you’d like to view these send me an email to daveschmidt@msn.com and I’ll send you the links.

So, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
You’re being given a once in a millennium opportunity to become an overnight millionaire!!!

What’s the risk? $20-$40…..shoot, I waste that much on a bad bottle of wine or a poor choice of an evening dinner at a restaurant!
So get with it!!!
Blessings!!!
Dave Schmidt

Sabrina

20th September 2013, 06:18

More shifts in power...

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-brics-independent-internet-in-defiance-of-the-us-centric-internet/5350272

The President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff announces publicly the creation of a world internet system INDEPENDENT from US and Britain ( the “US-centric internet”).

Not many understand that, while the immediate trigger for the decision (coupled with the cancellation of a summit with the US president) was the revelations on NSA spying, the reason why Rousseff can take such a historic step is that the alternative infrastructure: The BRICS cable from Vladivostock, Russia to Shantou, China to Chennai, India to Cape Town, South Africa to Fortaleza, Brazil, is being built and it’s, actually, in its final phase of implementation.

No amount of provocation and attempted “Springs” destabilizations and Color Revolution in the Middle East, Russia or Brazil can stop this process. The huge submerged part of the BRICS plan is not yet known by the broader public.

Nonetheless it is very real and extremely effective. So real that international investors are now jumping with both feet on this unprecedented real economy opportunity. The change… has already happened.

Brazil plans to divorce itself from the U.S.-centric Internet over Washington’s widespread online spying, a move that many experts fear will be a potentially dangerous first step toward politically fracturing a global network built with minimal interference by governments.

President Dilma Rousseff has ordered a series of measures aimed at greater Brazilian online independence and security following revelations that the U.S. National Security Agency intercepted her communications, hacked into the state-owned Petrobras oil company’s network and spied on Brazilians who entrusted their personal data to U.S. tech companies such as Facebook and Google.

..

BRICS Cable! (diagram at link)

http://www.bricscable.com/(see video)

BRICS Cable… a 34 000 km, 2 fibre pair, 12.8 Tbit/s capacity, fibre optic cable system

For any global investor, there is no crisis – there is plenty of growth. It’s just not in the old world

BRICS is ~45% of the world’s population and ~25% of the world’s GDP

BRICS together create an economy the size of Italy every year… that’s the 8th largest economy in the world

The BRICS presents profound opportunities in global geopolitics and commerce

Links Russia, China, India, South Africa, Brazil – the BRICS economies – and the United States.

Interconnect with regional and other continental cable systems in Asia, Africa and South America for improved global coverage

Immediate access to 21 African countries and give those African countries access to the BRICS economies.

Projected ready for service date is mid to second half of 2015.

See also

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/world/brazil-plans-to-go-offline-from-uscentric-internet/article5137689.ece
Brazil plans to go offline from US-centric internet
http://www.excitingrio.com/brazil-looks-break-us-centric-internet/
Brazil Looks To Break From US-centric Internet

17 Sept

giovonni

20th September 2013, 06:26

Sabrina

20th September 2013, 06:26

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/19459-larry-summers-goldman-sacked

Larry Summers: Goldman Sacked

By Greg Palast, Reader Supported News
18 September 13

joseph Stiglitz couldn't believe his ears. Here they were in the White House, with President Bill Clinton asking the chiefs of the US Treasury for guidance on the life and death of America's economy, when the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers turns to his boss, Secretary Robert Rubin, and says, "What would Goldman think of that?"

Huh?

Then, at another meeting, Summers said it again: What would Goldman think?

A shocked Stiglitz, then Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisors, told me he'd turned to Summers, and asked if Summers thought it appropriate to decide US economic policy based on "what Goldman thought." As opposed to say, the facts, or say, the needs of the American public, you know, all that stuff that we heard in Cabinet meetings on The West Wing.

Summers looked at Stiglitz like Stiglitz was some kind of naive fool who'd read too many civics books.

R.I.P. Larry Summers

On Sunday afternoon, facing a revolt by his own party's senators, Obama dumped Larry as likely replacement for Ben Bernanke as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.

Until news came that Summers' torch had been snuffed, I was going to write another column about Larry, the Typhoid Mary of Economics. (My first, in The Guardian, 15 years ago, warned that "Summers is, in fact, a colony of aliens sent to Earth to turn humans into a cheap source of protein.")

But the fact that Obama even tried to shove Summers down the planet's throat tells us more about Obama than Summers-and whom Obama works for. Hint: You aren't one of them.

All these Cabinet discussions back in the 1990s requiring the blessing of Goldman Sachs revolved around the Rubin-Summers idea of ending regulation of the US banking system. To free the US economy, Summers argued, all you'd have to do is allow commercial banks to bet government-guaranteed savings on new "derivatives products," let banks sell high-risk sub-prime mortgage securities and cut their reserves against losses.

What could possibly go wrong?

Stiglitz, who would go on to win the Nobel Prize in Economics, tried to tell them exactly what would go wrong. But when he tried, he was replaced and exiled.

Summers did more than ask Rubin to channel the spirit of Goldman: Summers secretly called and met with Goldman's new CEO at the time, Jon Corzine, to plan out the planet's financial deregulation. I'm not guessing: I have the confidential memo to Summers reminding him to call Corzine.

[For the complete story of that memo and a copy of it, read "The Confidential Memo at the Heart of the Global Financial Crisis".]
http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/larry-summers-and-the-secret-end-game-memo

Summers, as Treasury official, can call any banker he damn well pleases. But not secretly. And absolutely not to scheme over details of policies that could make a bank billions. And Goldman did make billions on those plans.

Example: Goldman and clients pocketed $4 billion on the collapse of "synthetic collateralized debt obligations"-flim-flam feathers sold to suckers and dimwits i.e. the bankers at RBS.

Goldman also cashed in big on the implosion of Greece's debt via secret derivatives trades permitted by Summers' decriminalization of such cross-border financial gaming.

The collapse of the euro-zone and the US mortgage market caused by Bankers Gone Wild was made possible only by Treasury Secretary Summers lobbying for the Commodities Futures Modernization Act which banned regulators from controlling the 100,000% increase in derivatives assets, especially super-risky "naked" credit-default swaps.

The CMFA was the financial equivalent of a fire department banning smoke alarms.

Summers took over the Treasury's reins from Rubin who'd left to become director of a strange new financial behemoth: The combine of Citibank with and an investment bank, Travelers. The new bank beast went bankrupt and required $50 billion in bail-out funds. (Goldman did not require any bail-out funds–but took $10 billion anyway.)

Other banks-turned-casinos followed Citi into insolvency. Most got bail-outs ... and got Larry Summers–or, at least, Larry's lips for "consulting" or for gold-plated speaking gigs.

Derivatives trader D.E. Shaw paid Summers $5 million for a couple of years of "part-time" work. This added to payments from Citigroup, Goldman and other finance houses, raising the net worth of this once penurious professor to more than $31 million.

Foreclosure fills the Golden Sacks

When Summers left Treasury in 2000, The New York Times reports that a grateful Rubin got Summers the post of President of Harvard University-from which Summers was fired. He gambled away over half a billion dollars of the university's endowment on those crazy derivatives he'd legalized. (Given Summers' almost pathological inability to understand finance, it was most odd that, while President of the university, he suggested that humans with vaginas aren't very good with numbers.)

In 2009, Summers, Daddy of the Deregulation Disaster, returned to the Cabinet in triumph. Barack Obama crowned him "Economics Tsar," allowing Summers to run the Treasury without having to be questioned by Congress in a formal confirmation hearing.

As Economics Tsar in Obama's first term, did Summers redeem himself?

Not a chance.

In 2008, both Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain called for using the $300 billion remaining in the "bail-out' fund for a foreclosure-blocking program identical to the one Franklin Roosevelt had used to pull the US out of the Great Depression. But Tsar Larry would have none of it, although banks had been given $400 billion from the same fund.

Indeed, on the advice of Summers and his wee assistant, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Obama spent only $7 billon of the $300 billion available to save US homeowners.

What would Goldman think?

As noted, Goldman and clients pocketed billions as a result of Obama's abandonment of 3.9 million families whose homes were repossessed during his first term. While American homeowners were drowning, Tsar Summers torpedoed their lifeboat: a plan to prevent foreclosures by forcing banks to write-off the overcharges in predatory sub-prime mortgages. Notably, Summers' action (and Obama's inaction) saved Citibank billions.

Loan Shark Larry

The deregulation disaster machinery is not done with mangling Americans. While not-for-profit credit unions, lenders of last resort for working people and the poor in the US, have been under legal and political attack, a new kind of banking operation has bubbled out of the minds of the grifters looking for a way to make loan-sharking legit.

One new outfit, for example, called "Lending Club," has figured out a way to collect fees for arranging loans charging as much as 29%. Lending Club claims it cannot and should not be regulated by the Federal Reserve or other banking police. The recent addition to its Board of Directors: Larry Summers.

If you want to know why Obama would choose such a grifter and gamer to head the Fed, you have to ask, Who picked Obama? Ten years ago, Barry Obama was a nothing, a State Senator from the South Side of Chicago.

But then, he got lucky. A local bank, Superior, was shut down by regulators for mortgage shenanigans ripping off Black folk. The bank's Chairwoman, Penny Pritzker was so angry at regulators, she decided to eliminate them: and that required a new President.

The billionaires connected Obama to Jamie Dimon of J.P. Morgan, but most importantly to Robert Rubin, former Treasury Secretary, but most important, former CEO of Goldman Sachs and mentor of Larry Summers. Without Rubin's blessing and overwhelming fundraising power, Obama would still be arguing over zoning on Halsted Street.

Rubin picked Obama and Obama picks whom Rubin picks for him.

Because, in the end, Obama knows he must choose a Fed chief based on the answer to one question: What would Goldman think?

ThePythonicCow

23rd September 2013, 07:07

https://medium.com/the-physics-arxiv-blog/5e1dd9d1642

in The Physics arXiv Blog5 min read

The True Size of the Shadow Banking System Revealed (Spoiler: Humongous)

The shadow banking system is vastly bigger than regulator ...
This paper has garned further fame (but, sorry, not fortune) in this post and those it references: Lindsey Williams - Elite Emergency Data - Discussion Thread -- Post #52 (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?63068-Lindsey-Williams-Elite-Emergency-Data-Discussion-Thread.&p=733947&viewfull=1#post733947).

Sabrina

23rd September 2013, 21:23

http://news.yahoo.com/boston-police-chief-davis-expected-announce-resignation-monday-024344266.html

No doubt he has some very interesting thoughts on the bombings...

23 sept US

Boston police commissioner says he is resigning as mayor exits

BOSTON (Reuters) - Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis, who was thrust into the national spotlight after the Boston Marathon bombings in April, said on Monday he will resign his post but remain in Boston, perhaps to pursue a fellowship at Harvard University.

Davis, 57, said he was stepping down voluntarily after seven years in the position, nearly twice as long as the average urban U.S. police chief, to make way for a new city administration scheduled to take office in 2014.

"When the mayor leaves, you have to reassess," he told reporters at Boston Police headquarters. "I feel very positive about leaving at this time, on my timeline, knowing that I will be leaving the department having done my very best and achieved much success for the BPD."

Davis said he had not yet decided what he would do next, but that he was considering several offers, including a fellowship at Harvard, which would start in January.

"I have always wanted to have a connection with Harvard University, and I'm very proud to say that I've been offered a fellowship at Harvard," he said. "I have not accepted that, this is not a done deal, but I am leaning heavily in that direction."

He said his resignation would take effect in 30 to 60 days, depending on the city's needs. He did not name an interim successor, but said he would work with Mayor Thomas Menino to ensure a smooth transition.

Davis was appointed in 2006 by Menino, the city's longest-serving mayor, who will leave office at the end of the year. In a statement on Monday, Menino said Davis had served the people of Boston "with integrity, a steady hand, and compassion."

Menino said serious and violent crime had decreased substantially under the outgoing police commissioner, whose focus on community policing empowered residents and boosted trust in police.

Voters in Boston will go to polls on Tuesday in a preliminary mayoral election, which will winnow down the current field of 12 contenders to two candidates who will face off in the November general election.

Sabrina

23rd September 2013, 21:49

http://rt.com/news/morales-obama-humanity-crimes-109/

Bolivian President to sue US government for crimes against humanity

‘Bolivian President Evo Morales will file a lawsuit against the US government for crimes against humanity. He has decried the US for its intimidation tactics and fear-mongering after the Venezuelan presidential jet was blocked from entering US airspace.

“I would like to announce that we are preparing a lawsuit against Barack Obama to condemn him for crimes against humanity,” said President Morales at a press conference in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz. He branded the US president as a “criminal” who violates international law.

In solidarity with Venezuela, Bolivia will begin preparing a lawsuit against the US head of state to be taken to the international court. Furthermore, Morales has called an emergency meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) to discuss what has been condemned by Venezuela as “an act of intimidation by North American imperialism.”’

21 Sept

Sabrina

23rd September 2013, 22:28

Lois Lerner, IRS official at heart of tea party scandal, retires

By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times

The Internal Revenue Service said Monday that Lois G. Lerner, the woman at the center of the tea party targeting scandal, has retired from the agency — though because of privacy rules it could say nothing more.

23 Sept US

Sabrina

24th September 2013, 12:09

http://www.naturalnews.com/042174_Wells_Fargo_forgery_bank_managers.html

US

Shock: Wells Fargo bank managers forge their customers' signatures to commit fraud, contends lawsuit

Sunday, September 22, 2013 by: J. D. Heyes

(NaturalNews) A Wells Fargo Bank depositor has charged in a lawsuit that the institution forces its branch managers to meet quotas for new accounts and that they do so by forging customers' signatures on applications.

According to Courthouse News Service, the depositor, David E. Douglas, has filed suit against the bank and three managers and assistant managers in the Los Angeles Superior Court. Named in the suit were Michelle Romanoff, assistant manager of the bank's branch at La Cienega and Wilshire; Arthur Davis, branch manager at Century City; and Alex M. Fuentes, branch manager and assistant vice president of the Wilshire-Crescent branch.

In the suit, Douglas described himself as a "long-time valued customer" of the bank. He also said he recently learned that Wells Fargo "has had and continues to have a policy of requiring its employees and branch managers to meet a quota of opening new accounts monthly in order to achieve sales goals and in order to maintain their employment at Wells Fargo."

Signing up customers without their knowledge or consent

Given that corporate requirement, the bank "should have known that its employees and bank managers routinely use the account information, date of birth, and Social Security and taxpayer identification numbers of defendant Wells Fargo's existing bank customers to use the existing bank customers' money to open additional accounts in the existing customers' names without their knowledge or consent and by forging the signature of their existing customers without their knowledge or consent to open said additional accounts, including purported business accounts for businesses that do not exist," Douglas says in his suit.

The plaintiff also claims that the individual defendants opened at least eight accounts under his name, forging his signature each time on the applications, and all without his knowledge. In addition, the defendants made up businesses using his name, "including 'David E. Douglas Painting and Design' and 'David Douglas Landscaping,' when plaintiff had no such businesses and was not engaged in those types of businesses at all."

Douglas also claims that Fuentes transferred or tried to transfer money from his account to the account of Fuentes' mother - again, without his consent.

More from Courthouse News Service:

Douglas says that when [he] found out about the unauthorized accounts and money transfers, he contacted a fraud investigator at the bank's Beverly Hills branch. She assured him that Wells Fargo would "conduct a thorough investigation and make him whole," but he never heard back from her or anyone else at the bank, so he was forced to sue, Douglas says in the complaint.

No quotas here - nothing to see

The news site reported that lawyers for Wells Fargo have yet to see the lawsuit, according to spokesman Gary Kishner.

"As for our banking stores, I can tell you that our team members strive to provide customers with products and services that will help the customer succeed financially," he said in an email.

But of course, if Wells Fargo really does have a quota system, you wouldn't expect a spokesman to reveal that, would you?

In his suit, Douglas is seeking at least $25,000 in special, exemplary and punitive damages for unlawful business practices, fraud, negligence and negligent hiring practices.

Sources:

http://www.courthousenews.com

http://www.consumeraffairs.com

http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/042174_Wells_Fargo_forgery_bank_managers.html#ixzz2foMjfZJq

skuzzy

25th September 2013, 16:30

Sabrina

26th September 2013, 07:10

This may well have been posted but I just cant read the last 120 so pages to see or not. Having just recently listened to Mr.Fulford's interview again, I saw this thread and thought to myself, is this what he has been working towards? Are these banksters and what not "letting go of the controls and going back to their mansions and palaces?"

It would be a much needed example of POSITIVE news if that is the case. We seem to be managing to avoid some terrible prophesies given in the past, but there are still more to overcome. I still feel "Planet X" (being the easiest way to describe it" will still be an issue, this ongoing middle east protests/unrest/killings are becoming a big issue especially Syria, the economy is still garbage with no real solution in sight.

*EDIT*

I spend a LOT of forum time answering questions and trying to be as helpful as I can. If the questions are good ones, and the discussion is valuable, this is a genuine pleasure. I'm an educator to my core, and there's nothing I can do about it. :)

Thank you many times over Bill, reading this made me redirect the latter of this post.

Skuzzy - in some small way this thread aims to show the amount of corruption that is being uncovered, and the cases coming to trial. You'd have to go thru' the thread to see this! It shows the scrutiny being put on the financial/political/pharma/Monsanto type worlds etc. over the last few years, the terrible abuse claims being heard at last - people and now even the main stream media highlighting the sham of it all. I believe there is a shift going on. Many things just are not continuing in the same old hidden way, altho' the dark/light battle is of course still raging. The perpetual attempts to start a war through Syria are being thwarted. The false flags are being seen nearly immediately. The days of thinking politicians or bankers (or the medical/educational world) are authority figures to be revered are long gone. There's a lot of reasons for optimism based on the info. here. It feels we are a bit like figures in 'The Truman Show' slowly opening the door to jump through! :)...

¤=[Post Update]=¤

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-24237463

26 Sept China

China court jails general's son Li Tianyi for rape

A court in China has convicted the son of a high-profile army general and sentenced him to 10 years in jail for rape, state media say.

The court said Li Tianyi, 17, and four others raped the woman at a Beijing hotel in February after having drinks.

He had denied any sexual relations with the woman, whom he alleged was working as a prostitute, previous reports say.

Li Tianyi is the son of army Gen Li Shuangjiang, known for his renditions of patriotic songs on television.

Li Tianyi's mother Meng Ge is also a well-known singer in China's People's Liberation Army.

The case was heard at the Haidian Court in north-west Beijing. The other defendants also received jail terms ranging from three to 12 years.

This was not the first time that Li Tianyi, also known as Li Guanfeng, was involved in an incident that sparked public outcry. In 2011, he was sentenced to detention for a year over a road rage incident.

He was behind the wheel of a BMW car with no licence plates in Beijing when he confronted a middle-aged couple in another vehicle blocking his way.

He assaulted the couple and shouted at shocked bystanders, telling them not to "dare to call the police".

His father apologised to the couple over the incident.

The case of Li Tianyi inflamed public anger at the children of the political elite, who are often seen as spoilt and above the law, correspondents say.

Sabrina

26th September 2013, 07:15

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/libor-scandal/10333655/ICAP-fined-55m-over-Libor-rigging-scandal.html

25 Sept UK

ICAP fined £55m over Libor rigging scandal

ICAP has been fined £55m by US and British regulators after admitting its role in the Libor-rigging scandal that has already seen three major banks pay more than £1bn in financial penalties.

Staff at the London-listed broker set up by the former Conservative Party treasurer Michael Spencer were found to have provided false and misleading information as part of an attempt to manipulate borrowing rates.

[B]In internal communications, employees described Libor-submitters at some banks as “sheep” and took bribes, including champagne, dinners and even talk of Ferraris, from friendly traders to help them rig yen-denominated rates.

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) fined ICAP $65m (£41m), while Britain's Financial Conduct Authority imposed a £14m penalty. In the broker will pay fines totalling £55m.

According to regulators, one ICAP employee was called “Lord LIBOR” and “Mr. LIBOR” due to his ability to help traders manipulate Japanese rates.

The CFTC said that a senior UBS Yen trader, called on ICAP’s brokers more than 400 times for help in fixing rates.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) confirmed it had charged three former ICAP brokers as part of a criminal investigation into Libor-rigging.

Darrell Read, Daniel Wilkinson and Colin Goodman have been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two counts of wire fraud.

Mr Read, who is a New Zealand resident, and Mr Wilkinson and Mr Goodman are alleged to have been at the centre of the scheme to rig Yen Libor.

"In exchange for bigger bonus checks, the three defendants undermined financial markets around the world by compromising the integrity of globally used interest rate benchmarks," said Scott Hammond at the DoJ.

In return for their help, “kickbacks” were allegedly provided to the ICAP brokers ranging from dinners and champagne to fixed fees to keep those involved on side.

One derivatives broker even offered to told another broker in a text message that a trader would buy him “a Ferrari next yr” if he increased the three-month yen Libor rate.

Regulators said ICAP had become involved in the manipulation in October 2006 and found evidence of the wrongdoing going on until as late as January 2011.

In a statement, Mr Spencer said the rigging was “inexcusable” and that the company had cooperated with the authorities throughout their investigations.

He said: “We deeply regret and strongly condemn the inexcusable actions of the brokers who sought to assist certain bank traders in their efforts to manipulate Yen Libor. Their conduct contravenes all that ICAP stands for."

Mr Spencer said none of the three brokers involved in rigging remained at the firm and that other staff implicated in the scandal had either been dismissed or were being disciplined.

“There were no findings that any senior management were involved in this matter nor that the firm engaged in deliberate misconduct,” added Mr Spencer.

Tracey McDermott, director of enforcement and financial crime at the FCA, said the investigation into ICAP had uncovered “significant failings” in the firm’s culture and controls.

“The findings we publish today illustrate, once again, individuals within the industry acting with a cavalier disregard both for regulatory obligations and the interests of the markets,” said Ms McDermott.

David Meister, director of enforcement at the CFTC, said brokers such as ICAP were expected to be “honest middlemen”.
“Here, certain ICAP brokers were anything but honest. They repeatedly abused their trusted role when the infected the financial markets with false information to aid their top client’s manipulation of Libor,” said Mr Meister.

Sabrina

26th September 2013, 07:20

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local-news/legal-threat-those-who-stood-6086821

25 Sept UK (on deceased UK MP and abuser)

Legal threat to those who ‘stood by’ as Cyril Smith abused his victims

Legal firm Pannone has been contacted by seven alleged victims of the politician and are now investigating how and why the abuse was allowed to take place.

Those who stood by while Cyril Smith MP carried out years of physical and sexual abuse face legal action, solicitors have confirmed.

Legal firm Pannone has been contacted by seven alleged victims of the politician and are now investigating how and why the abuse was allowed to take place.

The civil case is being run separately from an ongoing police investigation into allegations of abuse.

Alan Collins, one of the country's best known solicitors in the field of child abuse law, who also acted in the Jimmy Savile case, said: “We are acting on behalf of the Cyril Smith victims and we are now looking at those who might be responsible for knowing what Cyril Smith was up to and those who would have allowed him to have abused these children.

“It is a civil case brought on behalf of the victims and is still at quite an early stage.”

Earlier this month, a report was released revealing details from the original police file, which raised concerns that senior figures within the establishment leaned on prosecutors to ensure Smith was not brought to justice.

In 1970, police compiled an 80-page dossier in which Smith was accused of molesting eight boys, but the case was rejected by the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, which claimed the allegations were 'completely without corroboration'.

Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has also called for the allegations to be fully investigated.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police stressed that the police investigation is independent to that of the law firm and said that complainants may not have contacted them if they wish to pursue civil complaints only.

He added: “Greater Manchester Police's public protection division is continuing to investigate historic reports of physical and sexual abuse which occurred at Knowl View from the 1970s onwards.”

Smith became MP for Rochdale in 1972 and was knighted in 1988, dying in 2010.

He is alleged to have abused children at Cambridge House, a hostel for deprived boys, in the 1960s and at Knowl View, a council-run school for vulnerable children, from the 1970s onwards.

Sabrina

26th September 2013, 13:34

Victory: Senate to Kill Monsanto Protection Act Amid Outrage

US

by Anthony Gucciardi

September 25th, 2013

In a major victory brought upon by serious activism and public outrage, new legislation changes will shut down the Monsanto Protection Act rider that granted Monsanto protection from legal action and was set to renew on September 30th.

monsanto protection act stopped 263x164 Victory: Senate to Kill Monsanto Protection Act Amid OutrageThis unprecedented move shows the true power of the anti-GMO, anti-Monsanto movement, and how elected officials are now being forced to side with the concerned population over the money-spewing Monsanto. After all, it was Monsanto who purchased its way into the initial Senate spending bill legislation via a rider dubbed the ‘Monsanto Protection Act’ through Senator Roy Blunt.

Officially labeled the Farmer Assurance Provision under Sec. 735 of the Senate Continuing Resolution spending bill, Senator Blunt was conveniently given over $64,000 by Monsanto before he handed the biotech corporation the ability to write its own legislation for the Monsanto Protection Act. And as I told you back in March here on the frontlines of anti-GMO activism, the financial payload dished out by Monsanto was enough to secure a major victory for corporations over both the public and even the federal government.

It was last March that Obama signed the initial Senate spending bill into law, subsequently bringing the Monsanto Protection Act rider into legal validity as well. But the rider only extended until September 30th of this year, and it was up to Monsanto to pull another slippery legislative trick out of their sleeves in order to pass a Monsanto Protection Act 2.0 renewal. Once again, however, Monsanto executives underestimated the power of the alternative news community and the intelligence of those who do not want to eat contaminated food.

And as a result, Senators are being forced to respond in a big way. As one Senator put it:

“That provision will be gone,” said Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) told Politico.

There is even discussion of how the Monsanto Protection Act came to exist in the first place, and more importantly how we can hold the politicians responsible.

“Short-term appropriations bills are not an excuse for Congress to grandfather in bad policy,” said Colin O’Neil, director of government affairs for the Center for Food Safety.

Once again, we have achieved a major victory in the fight against Monsanto and GMOs at large. As information on the subject continues to spread like intellectual wildfire, Monsanto’s days as a food supply hog consistently dwindle.

Read more: http://naturalsociety.com/victory-senate-to-kill-monsanto-protection-act-amid-outrage/#ixzz2fvsDIoso

KiwiElf

27th September 2013, 05:09

Google Is Being Sued For Reading Email To Target Ads
Business Insider - By Julie Bort

http://nz.finance.yahoo.com/news/google-being-sued-reading-email-223700858.html

A U.S. judge has agreed to allow a class action lawsuit against Google to proceed.

In the suit, nine plaintiffs say that Google violated several laws, such as federal anti-wiretapping laws, by reading email messages in order to target ads, reports Reuters' Dan Levine.

Google asked the judge to dismiss the suit, arguing that users consented to this when they agreed to Google's terms of service. But the U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, Calif., didn't see it that way.

"Nothing in the policies suggests that Google intercepts email communication in transit between users, and in fact, the policies obscure Google's intent to engage in such interceptions," Koh wrote.

Obviously, just because a trial may take place doesn't mean Google won't settle out-of-court or, if it fights, win.

A Google spokesperson told us: "We're disappointed in this decision and are considering our options. Automated scanning lets us provide Gmail users with security and spam protection, as well as great features like Priority Inbox."

Even so, Microsoft has got to be doing the happy dance.

It's been engaged in a sometimes witty, sometimes vicious, marketing campaign called "Don't Get Scroogled," which blasts Google for scanning emails and tries to convince people to switch to Outlook.com instead.

Corncrake

27th September 2013, 13:00

Karen Hudes posted this and it feels right to put it here:

Global Economic Crash has become Unavoidable

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), describes the current situation at the world´s financial markets as worse than before the crash of Lehmann Brothers. In its quarterly report, the BIS described the situation as critical and directly mentioned the possible end of the deluge of paper money. Experts imply the risk of a sudden, overnight financial crash in 2014 – 2015.

Christof Lehmann (nsnbc) ,- The realisticly pessimistic BIS report could be one of the motivating factors behind the decision of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank to continue its unlimited flood of new banknotes as if there was no tomorrow.

Experts warn, that precisely that is likely to be the case. No tomorrow. The central banks are about to throw the towel into the ring. Experts agree, that the Federal Reserve and European Central Banks have lost control over the deluge of money and debt.

Christof Lehmann (nsnbc) ,- The realisticly pessimistic BIS report could be one of the motivating factors behind the decision of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank to continue its unlimited flood of new banknotes as if there was no tomorrow.

Experts warn, that precisely that is likely to be the case. No tomorrow. The central banks are about to throw the towel into the ring. Experts agree, that the Federal Reserve and European Central Banks have lost control over the deluge of money and debt.

More here:

http://nsnbc.me/2013/09/25/global-economic-crash-become-unavoidable/

Sabrina

27th September 2013, 20:21

http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1380224271.php

Banking Holiday in Panama Announced!

Posted Thursday, 26 September 2013
By Randy Hilarski

This morning the National Bank of Panama announced that it was suspending all services until Tuesday the 1st of October. The National Bank of Panama says that the reason is to upgrade systems. The Banking Holiday in Panama was announced this am.

This system wide shutdown has country wide implications. The National Bank of Panama did not warn the people before making the announcement and shutting down the banks. The people do not have access to ATM’s either. We received word of this from family members first. This weekend is payday for people across Panama.

I am active among the Gold and Silver investing community. We have been discussing at great length about the possibility of bank holidays in countries on the Dollar standard. Could Panama just be the first domino to fall in the banking system? Could this be more than just a system upgrade? Why not tell the people ahead of time to prepare for the closure of the banking system?

What are some reasons for a bank holiday? The National Bank of Panama says it is a system upgrade, I don’t believe it is that simple. Maybe a Dollar revaluation could be coming soon. Maybe it is something more serious like a banking crisis like we had in Indonesia back in 1997 or more recently in Cyprus. I am hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.

What are some things you can do to protect yourself if Panama is just the first signal of a pending banking crisis? First and foremost make sure to have some cash. Second buy the essentials for your family. Be frugal until the storm passes. I know this sounds simplistic, but those who are prepared will be fine.

I feel for the Panama families who live paycheck to paycheck. They were expecting to be paid tomorrow. This is the time that they go grocery shopping, put gas in their cars and pay the bills. This delay will have wide ranging affects on the people of Panama.

Do not be unprepared, you have it within your power to be ready for such a situation!

Latest update. 6pm CST

The Clave (Debit Card) system has been taken offline. No wire transfers between banks and internationally until the 1st of October. Panamanians will be required to go to their local bank branch to take out cash.

http://www.randyhilarski.com/

Sabrina

27th September 2013, 20:29

More of the hidden facts seeping out...

http://goldenageofgaia.com/2013/09/link-between-kenyan-shopping-centre-massacre-and-911-tower-leasees-surfaces/#more-195292

Link Between Kenyan Shopping Centre Massacre and 9/11 Tower Leaseholders Surfaces

Posted by Stephen Cook on September 27, 2013

Posted by Maxillio ,The Kaperville Daily News – September 24, 2013
http://tinyurl.com/mx5xpdn

Westgate Shopping Mall in Kenya was Built by the Same People Associated with the World Trade Center!

I am going to make this as simple and to the point as possible.

1. The Westgate Shopping Mall was built by Westfield Australia.
I found that out by doing a lot of digging. I had to go back years to find this information, because the Westgate Shopping Mall web site has been taken down. Hmmmm.

I found this in a forum from 2011:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1438261
Westgate mall was built by The Westfield group in 2007:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Shopping_malls_established_in_2007

Are we supposed to believe that this little girl is standing calmly next to a dead body and the camera man doesn’t try to MOVE HER? Instead, he snaps a picture? Come on!

2. The Westfield Group is owned by a man named Frank Lowy.

The same Frank Lowy, who along with Larry Silverstien, made a fortune in the 9-11 “attacks”
Fifty days before 9/11, Larry Silverstein’s Silverstein Properties and Frank Lowy’s Westfield America secured a 99-year lease on World Trade Center Buildings One, Two, Four and Five. Silverstein already owned Building Seven, aka the Salomon building. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey handed over control of the World Trade Center to Silverstein and Lowy on July 24, 2001.

3. Property owned by the Westfield group has a history of being “attacked”.
Is all this a coincidence. Maybe, but I don’t think so.

This is a list of all West field properties associated with attacks of terror on your brain since 9-11.
September 21, 2005: Westfield Mall in Perth, Australia, bomb threat.

May 17, 2006: Westfield Woden, Australia, bomb threat.

July 21, 2007: Westfield Centre Derby, England, bomb threat that caused the evacuation of Westfield buildings.

March 1, 2008: Westfield Old Orchard Mall, Skokie, Illinois, bomb threat.

April 20, 2009: Westfield Annapolis Hotel, bomb threat.

September 20, 2008: Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, bombing.

July 17, 2008: Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia, bombing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westfield_Group

4. The Kenyan government and China have been doing a lot of business lately. 5 billion dollars in business.

The Kenyan President and the Chinese President shaking hands in Beijing on 19 August 2013 on a 5 billion dollar Transportation deal.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-23768488

Now, all of a sudden, a mall, owned by the same damn people who owned the World Trade Center, gets attacked….a week after Russia and China block the US from bombing Syria?

They even hired a professional cameraman to take some stunning pictures of the event.

These people spare no expense when it comes to effing your mind!

Wake up. Don’t believe me. Don’t believe anyone. Research and form your own conclusions. Too many coincidences is usually not a coincidence.

You may also wish to read this article:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/westfield-back-at-911-site-in-new-york/story-fn6bn4mv-1226104625132

Sabrina

27th September 2013, 20:38

Things seem to be getting more bizarre - but in a good way!

The Detroit Free Press – (September 19, 20130

http://tinyurl.com/kvosvg2

Mysterious ‘Objector’ Insists to Judge ‘There Isn’t a Bankruptcy’ in Detroit Because all Global Debts Have Been Erased

There was a mixture of retirees, Detroit residents and community activists objecting to the city’s bankruptcy filing Thursday.

Then there was Robert Marques.

In the most unusual argument presented during the U.S. Bankruptcy Court hearing, Marques testified that he was there as a representative of “the Chair of St. Peter” — as in, the Vatican. Marques, of Ohio, said all of Detroit’s debts were wiped out on June 30 as part of “global debt forgiveness.”

He acknowledged that his legal arguments are unique, but insisted that they are based in fact. He also warned that anyone who doesn’t follow the orders from the Chair of St. Peter could be held accountable for war crimes.

“The City of Detroit, which is a legal fiction, is basically saying there is a bankruptcy,” Marques said shortly after he testified during the bankruptcy hearing. “The problem that most Americans don’t realize is there isn’t a bankruptcy. For one reason: All the world came out of global debt on July 1, 2013, when Iraq sanctions were lifted.”

Marques, dressed in a dark suit and a white tie, was among about 50 people who spoke during the hearing because they filed objections to Detroit’s bankruptcy by Aug. 19. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes held the hearing to give retirees and concerned residents a chance to speak.

The Chair of St. Peter is an actual chair that is housed at the Vatican in Rome and is believed to be a chair that was actually used by Peter, a disciple of Christ.

Marques said, “The Chairman of St. Peter is the Chairman of the Global Estate Trust. He is the Chairman over the Vatican.”

Marques, or his organization, filed a 21-page document with U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Aug. 19 and mailed the same document to a number of local Catholic parishes.

The document arrived in a large envelope with a picture of the city skyline emblazoned on it, said Ned McGrath, director of communications for the Archdiocese of Detroit.

McGrath sent out an advisory to all of the Detroit parishes to alert them to the document.

“To overstate the obvious, I would not encourage any contact with this individual and/or his website,” McGrath said in his advisory to the Catholic parishes.

Marques said he came to Detroit to inform the judge and Detroit residents that the city should not be in bankruptcy.
“We are not here to argue these points. We are here to state them in fact,” Marques said.

In court, Rhodes nearly had Marques removed for reading directly from the document he had filed and for going over the three-minute time limit.

Afterword, flanked by about a dozen followers, Marques declined to say where he lives or how many people belong to his organization.

He also repeated his warning that if the orders of the Chair of St. Peter are ignored, there could be consequences.
“If they do not respect that decision they will not fall under the authority of Roman Curia as public officials as will be held for war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Marques said.

Sabrina

27th September 2013, 20:50

JP Morgan in Talks to Settle US Charges for $11bn

By Katherine Rushton, US Business Editor, The Telegraph, UK - September 26, 2013

http://tinyurl.com/l56qjjo

JP Morgan’s chief executive Jamie Dimon was locked in talks with US Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday, to hammer out a settlement for criminal and civil charges that could cost the bank as much as $11bn.

Earlier this week, JP Morgan offered the Department of Justice $3bn to settle multiple charges, but Mr Holder rejected the offer.

The potential price tag has since ballooned, as negotiations have widened to encompass at least seven different legal disputes with different regulators.

Mr Dimon and Mr Holder are now discussing the prospect of an $11bn settlement, which would rank as the biggest financial penalty ever handed out to a bank but would draw a line under many of the legal battles that have been hanging over JP Morgan for years.

Mr Dimon and Mr Holder are discussing how much each charge should push up the cost of JP Morgan’s total fine, and whether the bank should be allowed a discount for paying them all in one go.

“It’s about how much and what’s included,” said a source close to the situation.

The pay-off is expected to cover a number of DoJ investigations into JP Morgan’s handling of mortgage-backed securities, as well as a case brought by Eric Scheiderman relating to the way Bear Stearns packaged and sold mortgage-backed securities before JP Morgan bought the company.

It is also likely to include charges America’s mortgage regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, brought against JP Morgan and a number of other major banks for misrepresenting the quality of loans underlying billions of dollars in residential mortgage-backed securities sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

JP Morgan is keen to reach a deal so that it can end a period of uncertainty that has unnerved investors. Shares in the bank were fluctuating a fraction either side of their opening price of $51.93 in lunchtime trading in New York, as investors weighed the spiralling cost of the settlement against the benefit of clarity.

Sources close to the talks said they expected an announcement on Monday but that the situation is in flux and that a deal could be reached earlier, or founder altogether. The US government is unlikely to make an announcement on Friday because it will want maximum publicity for the fine, so that it can demonstrate to the American public that it has teeth.
The crunch meeting with Mr Holder comes less than a week after JP Morgan was fined $920m by British and US regulators over the “London Whale” trades.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority levied a £138m fine, for “serious failings” that lost the bank $6.2bn last year, as a series of high-risk trades went wrong. The US bank was also fined $200m, $200m and $300m respectively by the US Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Mr Dimon said at the time that the bank had “accepted responsibility and acknowledged [its] mistakes”, and taken steps to fix them. “Since these losses occurred, we have made numerous changes that have made us a stronger, smarter, better company,” he said.

Sabrina

28th September 2013, 21:40

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24319274

28 Sept Italy

Berlusconi ministerial resignations spark Italy crisis

The party of Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says all five of its ministers are resigning from the shaky coalition government.

The development follows weeks of worsening relations between his party and Prime Minister Enrico Letta's centre-left grouping.

Mr Berlusconi had already threatened to withdraw his ministers if he is expelled from the Senate for tax fraud.

The crisis could lead to fresh elections amid economic problems.

Mr Letta flew back from New York on Friday in an attempt to prevent the government from collapsing.

The prime minister said late on Friday that he would quit unless his government won a confidence vote due next week in parliament.

The Italian prime minister accused Mr Berlusconi of telling a "huge lie"
In a statement, Mr Berlusconi described that ultimatum as "unacceptable".

Mr Berlusconi's centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) party objects to a planned increase in sales tax, which is part of wider government policy to plug Italy's large debts.

"I have invited the People of Freedom delegation in the government to assess whether it is opportune for them to hand in their resignations," Mr Berlusconi said.

'Grave violation'
Interior Minister and PDL Secretary Angelino Alfano accused Mr Letta of "a grave violation of the pacts that this government is founded on".

But the prime minister responded angrily to the resignations, accusing the PDL leader of telling Italians a "huge lie" in using the sales tax as an alibi for his own personal issues.

"In parliament, everyone will have to assume responsibility for their actions before the nation."

Mr Berlusconi's legal problems are seen as a cause of much of the tension inside the coalition.

A committee of the Senate decides next week if he should be expelled after the Supreme Court recently upheld his conviction for tax fraud.

It was his first conviction to be confirmed on appeal in two decades of fighting legal cases.

Mr Berlusconi was sentenced to a year in jail, but is expected to serve house arrest or community service because of his age.

The BBC's correspondent in Rome, Alan Johnston, says the government is being pulled apart as Mr Berlusconi fights the moves to expel him from the Senate.

Fresh elections are a real possibility, our correspondent says, but there may also be an attempt to stitch together a new governing coalition drawn from factions in the current parliament.

Before news of the resignations broke, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano called for continuity.

"We need a parliament that discusses and works, not that breaks up every now and then," he said.

The coalition government was put together after inconclusive elections in February.

It is feared that the crisis could hamper efforts to enact badly needed reforms to tackle Italy's economic problems, including the debt, recession and high youth unemployment.

The International Monetary Fund has warned that coalition tensions represent a risk to the Italian economy.

Sabrina

29th September 2013, 02:18

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24314111

UK 28 Sept

Tory vice-chairman Alan Lewis arrested over historical rape allegation

A Conservative vice-chairman has been arrested on suspicion of rape, relating to an alleged offence more than 40 years ago.

Alan Lewis, 75, was arrested by Greater Manchester Police after a woman claimed she was attacked in the late 1960s.

Mr Lewis was appointed vice-chairman for business relations by David Cameron in 2010. He has been released on bail.

A party spokesman said: "This is an ongoing police matter so we are not able to make any comments."

Mr Lewis is a successful entrepreneur who owns the Crombie clothing chain, and is one of nine Conservative Party vice-chairmen.

In 1990, he was made a CBE for his services as chairman of the Confederation of British Industry's initiative to prepare British businesses to the single market.

A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said: "A 75-year-old man was arrested following a complaint received earlier this year of an historic rape that occurred in the Manchester area in the late 60s.

"The man was later bailed pending further inquiries."

Sabrina

29th September 2013, 02:25

http://beforeitsnews.com/military/2013/09/2-us-nuke-commander-suspended-2455688.html

28 Sept US

#2 US Nuke Commander Suspended

The #2 Military Commander for the United States Navy was suspended three weeks ago, a suspension we are just learning about. Adm. Tim Giardina was #2 in charge of the United States nuclear weapons. The suspension suspiciously fell upon the 3rd of September, the same day that South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham warned of a possible nuclear strike in a South Carolina city or other city across America. Navy Vice Adm. Tim Giardina was relieved from his duties on Sept. 3, according to the command’s top spokeswoman, Navy Capt. Pamela Kunze. With warnings from a John Moore insider of a false flag nuclear strike in America and FEMA Region 3 preparing for disaster, what does the suspension of Vice Admiral Giardina on the same day as Lindsey Graham’s warning say to us?

rV6zkmxZKkk

and

http://jhaines6.wordpress.com/2013/09/28/breaking-presstv-no-2-us-nuclear-commander-suspended-amid-probe/

Sat Sep 28, 2013 6:26PM GMT

The Naval Criminal Investigation Command has suspended the No. 2 officer at the US at the US military command in charge of all nuclear war-fighting forces, officials said Saturday.

Air Force Gen. Robert Kehler, who heads US Strategic Command, suspended the deputy commander, Navy Vice Adm. Tim Giardina, from his duties more than three weeks ago but it was not publicly announced, according to the Associated Press.

The suspension of a high-ranking officer at US Strategic Command is highly unusual, AP said.

Giardina is still assigned to the command but is prohibited from performing duties related to nuclear weapons and other work requiring a security clearance, according to the command’s top spokeswoman, Navy Capt. Pamela Kunze.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, two senior US officials familiar with the investigation said it is related to gambling issues.

According to studies by the Department of Defense, between 5 percent and 9 percent of US military personnel have experienced a gambling-related problem in their lifetime, and about 2 percent fit the classification for pathological gambling problems.

That is higher than the national average of just under 1 percent, according to John Kindt, a University of Illinois business professor who has studied gambling in the military.

Referee

29th September 2013, 03:12

Strange story here..........

LNEPBUNvttE

ThePythonicCow

29th September 2013, 03:51

For those who prefer to read their news, from US nuclear commander suspended over gambling, officials say (The Guardian) (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/28/us-nuclear-commander-suspended-gambling):

US nuclear commander suspended over gambling, officials say

Highly unusual action against Tim Giardina was made more than three weeks ago in Omaha but not publicly announced

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/audio/video/2013/9/28/1380387687810/Tim-Giardina-suspended-010.jpg
The No 2 officer at the military command in charge of all US nuclear war-fighting forces has been suspended and is under investigation by the naval criminal investigation command for issues related to gambling, officials said on Saturday.

The highly unusual action against a high-ranking officer at US strategic command was made more than three weeks ago but not publicly announced.

Air force general Robert Kehler, who heads Strategic Command, suspended the deputy commander, navy vice admiral Tim Giardina, from his duties on September 3, according to the command's top spokeswoman, navy captain Pamela Kunze. Giardina is still assigned to the command but is prohibited from performing duties related to nuclear weapons and other issues requiring a security clearance, she said.

Kehler has recommended to defense secretary Chuck Hagel that Giardina be reassigned, Kunze said. Giardina has been the deputy commander of strategic command since December 2011. He is a career submarine officer and prior to starting his assignment there was the deputy commander and chief of staff at US pacific fleet.

Two senior US officials familiar with the investigation said it was related to gambling issues. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is incomplete.

More at the above link.

gripreaper

29th September 2013, 04:35

Mysterious ‘Objector’ Insists to Judge ‘There Isn’t a Bankruptcy’ in Detroit Because all Global Debts Have Been Erased
In the most unusual argument presented during the U.S. Bankruptcy Court hearing, Marques testified that he was there as a representative of “the Chair of St. Peter” — as in, the Vatican. Marques, of Ohio, said all of Detroit’s debts were wiped out on June 30 as part of “global debt forgiveness.”

He acknowledged that his legal arguments are unique, but insisted that they are based in fact. He also warned that anyone who doesn’t follow the orders from the Chair of St. Peter could be held accountable for war crimes.
“The problem that most Americans don’t realize is there isn’t a bankruptcy. For one reason: All the world came out of global debt on July 1, 2013, when Iraq sanctions were lifted.”

The Chair of St. Peter is an actual chair that is housed at the Vatican in Rome and is believed to be a chair that was actually used by Peter, a disciple of Christ.
Marques said, “The Chairman of St. Peter is the Chairman of the Global Estate Trust. He is the Chairman over the Vatican.”

James McBride of Divine Province makes the same claim.

http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?61581-Divine-Province-Request-for-information

Interesting...

Sabrina

30th September 2013, 20:58

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/prosecutor-resigns-after-describing-13-year-old-2324573

30 Sept UK

Prosecutor resigns after describing paedophile victim, 13, as 'predatory' in court

ROBERT Colover admitted his comments during the sentencing of paedophile Neil Wilson were inappropriate and he has now agreed to stand down from the CPS Rape Panel of advocates.

A CPS prosecutor who described the 13-year-old victim of a paedophile "predatory" in court will no longer undertake prosecutions involving serious sexual offences or child sexual abuse.

Robert Colover has agreed to resign from the CPS Rape Panel of advocates, admitting his description of the girl as "predatory" and "sexually experienced" was inappropriate, the Crown Prosecution Service said today.

Mr Colover's comments during the sentencing of paedophile Neil Wilson, who was handed a suspended sentence, sparked outrage and today the CPS said that after a review of the case, director of public prosecutions Keir Starmer QC had found the language used to describe the teenager was "grossly inappropriate".

A spokesman said: "Counsel in the case agreed that he should not have used the expression that he did and deeply regretted his choice of words.

"It was agreed that he would resign from the CPS Rape Panel of advocates and will no longer undertake prosecutions involving serious sexual offences or child sexual abuse."

Wilson, 41, was handed a 12-month jail sentence suspended for two years after he admitted engaging in sexual activity with the child, as well as offences of making indecent images of a child and offences of possession of an extreme pornographic image.

The sentence has been referred by Attorney General Dominic Grieve QC to the Court of Appeal, where three judges will decide whether or not it is unduly lenient and whether they should increase it.

A CPS spokesman today said Mr Starmer had carried out a review into the case to address the comments made at Snaresbrook Crown Court by Mr Colover on August 5.

He said: "The DPP found there was nothing in the instructions given to counsel, including information from the police, the prosecution papers or the pre-sentence report, that could have expressly or implicitly supported describing the victim's behaviour in such terms.

"Indeed, the facts of the case made clear that the adult defendant invited the victim to his home, where the offence took place.

"Following the review, the DPP was clear that he found the language used to describe the 13-year-old victim grossly inappropriate.

"Counsel in the case agreed that he should not have used the expression that he did and deeply regretted his choice of words.

"It was agreed that he would resign from the CPS Rape Panel of advocates and will no longer undertake prosecutions involving serious sexual offences or child sexual abuse.

"He will remain on our general advocate panel and will still be instructed in other criminal cases. The DPP is satisfied that no further action needs be taken in relation to this case."

In addition to Mr Colover's comments, complaints about Judge Nigel Peters QC's sentencing, during which he remarked that he was taking into account how the girl looked and behaved, are being "considered" by the Office for Judicial Complaints.

At the time, a number of complaints were received by both the CPS and the Office for Judicial Complaints, and Prime Minister David Cameron said the CPS was "absolutely right" to label Mr Colover's comments "inappropriate".

A petition set up on website change.org in the wake of the case also attracted more than 50,000 supporters.

A sexual abuse survivor, known only as Jo, who set up the case, said: "It's good news that Colover won't be asked to undertake these kinds of prosecutions any longer.

"It sends a clear message that these kind of comments are completely inappropriate. The CPS must implement mandatory specialist training in all sexual offences cases to ensure a culture shift in the legal profession; this will ensure that it protects vulnerable witnesses."

¤=[Post Update]=¤

NSA’s ‘US Assassination Program’ About to be Unmasked

Russia Today – September 29, 2013

http://tinyurl.com/lrxu83v

American investigative journalists Jeremy Scahill and Glenn Greenwald say they have teamed up to prepare a report on the National Security Agency’s role in what one of them described as the “US assassination program.”

“The connections between war and surveillance are clear. I don’t want to give too much away but Glenn and I are working on a project right now that has at its center how the National Security Agency plays a significant, central role in the US assassination program,” Scahill said in Rio de Janeiro, as cited by Associated Press.

Speaking to moviegoers at the Rio Film Festival, where an award-winning documentary based on his book was shown, Scahill said he will be working on the project with another journalist – Glenn Greenwald, who broke the story on the NSA leaker Edward Snowden in June.

The journalists – who were both present at the festival’s Q&A panel – were short on details for their new project and gave no evidence of the alleged US program.

“There are so many stories that are yet to be published that we hope will produce ‘actionable intelligence,’ or information that ordinary citizens across the world can use to try to fight for change, to try to confront those in power,” said Scahill, a contributor to The Nation magazine and the author of the bestseller ‘Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield’.

Speaking in Rio, both journalists welcomed Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff scolding speech at the United Nations General Assembly, where she slammed the US surveillance program, calling it a “breach of international law.” Earlier in September, she postponed a state visit to Washington in response to the US spying on her communications with top aides. Her decision followed a TV report to which Greenwald had contributed.

The journalists noted that American spying could be replaced by espionage by another government if care isn’t taken.
“The really important thing to realize is the desire for surveillance is not a uniquely American attribute,” said Greenwald. “America has just devoted way more money and way more resources than anyone else to spying on the world.”

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Pope Francis to ‘Rip Up And Rewrite’ Vatican Constitution

By Tom Kington, The Telegraph – September 29, 2013

http://tinyurl.com/krjfr48

As a group of eight Catholic cardinals handpicked by the Pope to shake up the Vatican’s murky and autocratic bureaucracy prepares to meet, the group’s leader has said they plan to rip up and rewrite the apostolic constitution which apportions power at the Holy See.

The cardinals, who were appointed in April by Pope Francis and will confer with him for the first time at the Vatican on Oct. 1-3, were briefed to revise the constitution, known as Pastor Bonus, drawn up in 1988 by Pope John Paul, in a bid to give a great voice to bishops around the world.

But Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, the group’s leader, said as the meeting loomed they were planning to go much further that just changing “this and that.”

“No, that constitution is over,” he said in a TV interview. “Now it is something different. We need to write something different,” he added.

“In the past the Vatican has just revised existing rules so this is a rupture after a century of increasing centralisation,” said Gerard O’Connell, a Vatican analyst at the Vatican Insider.

“Cardinal Maradiaga is hinting that the Pope is asking the fundamental question: What can be decided in Rome and what at local level? How can the Roman Curia serve bishops instead of being an office of censure and control?”

O’Connell cited Japanese bishops as victims of the Vatican’s centralisation.
“They must ask advice from Rome on the correct Japanese to use in their liturgies, yet you would think they would be the best judge.”

On Saturday, Francis gave another clear indication that he sees the Vatican as a hotbed of intrigue and power struggles when he instructed Vatican policemen on Saturday to crack down on gossip within the Vatican’s walls as well as looking out for intruders.

Defining gossip as the devil’s work, “a forbidden language” and “a war waged with the tongue”, he told gendarmes gathered for mass to tell gossipers they caught in the act, “Here there can be none of that: walk out of St. Anne’s Gate. Go outside and talk there! Here you cannot!”

Cardinals gathering in Rome before Francis was elected in March complained Vatican officials had become a self serving elite indifferent to the needs of dioceses around the world.

Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga said his group had received suggestions on Vatican reform from around the world, including 80 pages of suggestions from Latin America. The convergence on a few main themes suggested God’s will was at work, he said.

“You cannot have millions of Catholics in the world suggesting the same unless the Holy Spirit is inspiring.”

Francis is also set to relax the control the Vatican exerts over the Italian conference of bishops, Italian media reported on Sunday. Unlike in other countries, the head of the Italian conference is not elected by bishops but picked by the pope, a system Francis is reportedly planning to scrap.

“The head of the conference wields political influence in Italy, so this move by the pope means the Vatican’s power over Italian politics will decline,” said Maria Antonietta Calabro, a Vatican expert at Italian daily Corriere della Sera. “The Pope has already told Italian bishops he wants them to deal with Italian politics, not the Vatican,” she added.

Francis last month said he would replace the Vatican’s long time secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone – who reportedly had frequent contact with Italian politicians – with Archbishop Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s nuncio in Venezuela.

Sabrina

30th September 2013, 21:01

Stephen: This story, which is just breaking here, has already been described as the exposure of “the worst corruption scandal in Australian history”. (via goldenageofgaia website - on Australia)

Corruption Scandal Revealed: Australia’s Reserve Bank had Secret Currency Deals With Iraq’s Saddam Hussein

By Nick McKenzie and Richard Baker, SMH.com – September 30, 2013

http://tinyurl.com/n7c8e2m

The Reserve Bank used a frontman to secretly liaise with Saddam Hussein’s brother-in-law and bodyguard in an illegal effort to sell plastic banknotes to the dictator at the height of United Nations sanctions, according to confidential RBA files.
The revelation comes as two RBA whistleblowers-turned-star police witnesses in the Reserve banknote bribery scandal break their silence about the failure of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, to investigate the ”untouchable” directors of two allegedly corrupt RBA companies.

Sabrina

1st October 2013, 07:57

This has got a thread of it's own on Avalon, but am including it here in the tally of resignations, retirements and even a few arrests... it's going to be an eventful month..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24343059

1 Oct US

US generals forced to retire over Taliban attack

The head of the US Marine Corps has ordered two generals to retire because they failed to defend Camp Bastion in Afghanistan from a Taliban attack.

Gen James Amos said Maj Gen Charles Gurganus and Maj Gen Gregg A Sturdevant "did not take adequate force protection measures" to stop the 2012 assault.

Two Marines died and eight other personnel were wounded.

The Taliban also destroyed six Marine Harrier fighter jets and badly damaged several others.

Fourteen of the 15 attackers were killed and one was captured. US Marines and UK Royal Air Force gunners were involved in the counter-attack.

In June, Gen Amos asked US Central Command to carry out an investigation and said he decided to take action against the two generals after reviewing the results of that inquiry.

Endorsing the inquiry's findings, Gen Amos wrote: "While I am mindful of the degree of difficulty the Marines in Afghanistan faced in accomplishing a demanding combat mission with a rapidly declining force, my duty requires me to remain true to the timeless axioms relating to command responsibility and accountability."

He added that Gen Gurganus bore "final accountability" for the lives and equipment under his command, and had made "an error in judgment" in underestimating the risk posed by the Taliban in the Bastion area of Helmand province.

Gen Amos said that Gen Sturdevant - who was in charge of Marine aviation in the region - "did not adequately assess the force protection situation".

Gen Amos asked both men to retire on Monday, speaking personally to Gen Gurganus at the Pentagon and by video conference to Gen Sturdevant, a Marine Corps official told Reuters news agency.

Both men agreed to the request, the official added.

Gen Amos also recommended to the Navy secretary that Gen Gurganus' nomination for promotion to the rank of Lieutenant General be rescinded and that Gen Sturdevant receive a letter of censure.

Correspondents say it is a rare public reprimand of senior US military officers.

Following the announcement, Gen Gurganus issued a brief statement saying he felt privileged to have served in the Marine Corps for 37 years.

"I will treasure that forever. I have complete trust and confidence in the leadership of our Corps and fully respect the decision of our commandant," he said.

Bastion is one of the biggest camps in Afghanistan with a perimeter of 37km (22 miles).

Sabrina

1st October 2013, 08:02

Thanks to Skuzzy for link to this. Scott Mowry's done a good job of detailing all the groundbreaking news coming out. See the link for videos and more links.

http://www.miraclesandinspiration.com/news_the-end-of-economic-slavery-has-arrived.html

• Global Debt Discharged as of July 1, 2013

• Jaemes McBride of DivineProvince announces human race has been released from bankruptcy

• Pope releases game-changing Apostolic Letter

• Numerous resignations forthcoming including Fed Chairman Bernanke, Homeland Security Chief Napolitano and much more

News | August 31, 2013 | UPDATED: September 1, 2013 (see videos below)

Reported by Scott Mowry | www.miraclesandinspiration.com/news_the-end-of-economic-slavery-has-arrived.html

Our world continues its inexorable march towards total and complete freedom.

Freedom like the butterfly

As we had anticipated, humanity is throwing off the chains of slavery and finding itself being liberated at a truly astonishing rate. A miraculous process continues to unfold where we are seeing very tangible results coming forward into the public consciousness, despite a massive mainstream news media blackout.

Almost every other day some new, amazing development emerges to positively confirm major and dramatic changes are upon us as never before. The momentum of these successive events is building to such a fever pitch, the end result will be a great shift of the paradigm which we call our reality. This shift is absolutely inevitable now.

What we now see developing in our world is the return of personal power within each and every one of us. This power comes from the understanding and recognition we are completely sovereign beings with God-given, unalienable rights which no man, government nor corporation can put asunder. Those unalienable rights include "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" as laid down by our Founding Fathers in the great document known as the Declaration of Independence.

Regrettably, those God-given rights have been under attack ever since the Founding Fathers established our great nation. Through a slow and methodical campaign by the Crown of England (the City of London), the international banking cartel and the Vatican, we have witnessed the tables turned to a point where America has become a virtual police state and our rights have been ground into the dirt.

Although many assume the United States of America is a "free" country, the actions of our government, the political elite, the wealthy aristocracy and the multi-national corporations over the last 140 years belies the ideals of freedom as envisioned at the birth our nation. The words of German politician and writer, Johan Wolfgang von Goethe have never rang more true: "none are more hopelessly enslaved than those who believe they are free."

The United States and the entire world remain controlled by one very key tool of enslavement –– the availability of money. And nearly all the money in the world today has been reduced to mere worthless paper, or fraudulent numbers upon a bank's computer screen.

To that end, the world economy and its many currencies have been systematically hijacked and are now solely based upon the foundation of debt. In fact, debt is the engine which drives our global economic system and without the debt/credit relationship, the world economy as it is currently constituted, would cease to function.

Thus we have reached a most critical point in the modern world history where a debt-based economy and its related fiat currencies simply must go. Neither can sustain themselves any longer nor do they adequately serve the needs of a rapidly evolving human race. In their place must come a wholly new system based upon lasting value, sustainability and fairness for all.

And that is precisely what is happening at this very moment.

A very determined effort from a contingent of brave, noble people and alliances is working feverishly behind the scenes to transform our world economy for the better. And now, we are seeing the results coming out into the open in a series of historic steps which are unfolding. Ultimately there will be an unveiling of many landmark initiatives such as the Global Currency Reset, the World Global Settlements, the Global Collateral Accounts and the Restoration of the Republic, among many others.

It is truly remarkable to behold all of which is occurring in our world.

THE FALL OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE
The year 2013 has already been one of the most historic and revealing years in the history of mankind. And we still have a whole quarter left to go. The amount of revelations which have come from heretofore secret societies and clandestine institutions has been nothing short of staggering.

As we dive further down the proverbial rabbit hole to uncover an understanding much more closely resembling a truth, we find the same story repeating itself again and again. That story is –– all roads lead to Rome. The Roman empire of Constantine, Cesar, etc. never really went away. It just moved into the Vatican and has remained there ever since to rule over the entire world in secret, hidden to nearly everyone on the planet.

Nonetheless, the Holy Roman Empire finally began the process of seriously unraveling on the date of February 11, 2013 when Pope Benedict XVI announced he would be stepping down as of February 28th due to health concerns. This marked the first time in 700 years a sitting Pope voluntarily chose to leave office rather than being forced out.

Who says lightning doesn't strike twice? Two lightning bolts strike the Vatican on February 11, 2013.

Later, during the very same day at 6 PM local Vatican City time, lightning struck the very symbol of Vatican control, St. Peter's Basilica, not once but twice. As it turns out, these lightning bolts were very foreboding signs of even more amazing developments yet to come out of the Roman empire.

Within days of the Pope Benedict's announcement, it was revealed an arrest warrant had been issued against him for crimes against humanity. On February 15, the Vatican revealed Pope Benedict would lead a quite life in retirement residing in a convent within the walls of Vatican City. In essence, the Vatican proclaimed it will protect him from any or all prosecution regarding the ongoing pedophilia and sexual abuse allegations against numerous priests and other members within the Catholic church umbrella.

On March 13, 2013, the famous white smoke arose from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel to signify a brand new Pope had been chosen, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a Jesuit Archbishop no less, from Argentina, who decided upon the name of Pope Francis.

Almost immediately, the new Pope seemed intent on displaying a much different public profile than his predecessors when he returned back to pay his hotel bill, chose not reside in the lavish Papal apartment and to take the bus rather than luxurious limousines. Then, on Easter Sunday, March 29, 2013, in an surprising break from tradition, Pope Francis went to a youth prison to wash the feet of Muslims and atheists in an emulation of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples.

On June 3, 2013, yet another surprising resignation rocked the Catholic Church when the second most powerful man in the Vatican hierarchy, Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, walked away from his post, as well. Once again rumors persisted an eventual arrest warrant was awaiting Cardinal Bertone too.

THE ABOLITION OF WORLD-WIDE DEBT
News emanating from the Vatican then took yet another noteworthy turn on July 25, 2013. Jaemes McBride of DivineProvince.org, the de jure Postmaster General of North America, held a special free live webinar. He proceeded to make a number of amazing announcements regarding the world economic condition and the Vatican, which has thus far gone unrecognized by the mainstream media. (See video archive below.)

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Shift Happens! ~ July 25, 2013

"We're seeing that there is this shift that is happening. We made it, that we won. We've been fighting for years to discharge the debt. And we did that," he stated on the live webinar. "As of July 1, 2013, we do have global debt forgiveness. All the accounts and claims have been settled," he added.

For years, Mr. McBride and others have been negotiating with Vatican and the Crown of England to release the burden of world-wide debt from the people of th world. He claims he was able to accomplish this feat by obtaining the coveted Seal of St. Peter from the Vatican which gives him authority to effect changes to the laws.

Divine Province has also gained control of the Global Estate Trust, "previously held by the Vatican and the Crown by default, having successfully assumed control and claim of the commission and powers of the Apostle Peter without challenge for centuries".

The Divine Province: Birthing New Earth book

Mr. McBride also revealed he was given confirmation of the discharge of the debt by the Chinese elders who have been an integral part of the Global Currency Reset about to be implemented.

According to Mr. McBride, although the global debt discharge became official on July 1st, the world rulers requested a three year period until the old system is completely fazed out.

"There is a transitional window. The powers that be and the banks and everything have a window to make this transition so as not to excite chaos," he explained. "They have a three year window that they plan to exploit."

However, Mr. McBride was adamant this three year window was simply an arbitrary number which can be severely reduced by the awakening of the people of the Earth to the truth through a process of education and awareness.

Here is further information about Divine Province and Jaemes McBride from one of their sister websites, www.divineprovinceminnesota.org:

"Divine Province and Jaemes McBride, along with the labors of all who are committed and passionate for freedom and Natural Law, have broken the spell and power of the Vatican and Crown (City of London), and its presumptuous claim on the land and assets of the world as being under their sole and ultimate control, being managed by its structured hierarchy (which extends down to governors, cities, and towns worldwide).

The Vatican and Crown established the thoroughly incorporated, international commercial system throughout the world that has severely debilitated justice, governments, and the People’s wealth, power, and standing; by holding and controlling their divine estates in bankruptcy/dishonor, covertly treating them as lifeless subjects under commerce and numerous debilitating presumptions and adhesion contracts, and exploiting them and their souls as chattel for trade and profit." (Also see Jaemes McBride's & Ed Rychkun's book "The Divine Province: Birthing New Earth" for much more detailed information. Also linked here.)

A Rare 20/20 Interview with James McBride

POPE ISSUES HISTORIC APOSTOLIC LETTER
Within a short period of time of the global debt discharge, even more dramatic world events began to unfold in rapid succession.

On July 11, 2013 a new Apostolic Letter was issued by Pope Francis. Effectively, this letter states all immunity for anyone under the auspices of the Roman Curia including not only priests and bishops but world leaders, political figures, government officials, judges, lawyers, etc., officially ends on the date of September 1, 2013.

In essence, this letter states any or all of these parties can be held accountable and sued for war crimes or crimes against humanity. Although, given their long history of malfeasance, it would be unwise to assume the Pope and the Vatican will be politely stepping aside as their numerous crimes are revealed to the world's people.

Nevertheless, beginning on September 1, 2013, we may begin to see a degree of profound changes unfold in both the US and throughout the world. It is no coincidence that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has announced his resignation effective on that particular date. As has Federal Reserve Board Governor, Elizabeth A. Duke and Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, both of whom be resigning on September 1st.

In addition, numerous other resignations of priests, bishops and clergymen have also been quietly announced for September 1st. We can expect to see more resignations forthcoming from many other public officials in the very near future.

Jaemes McBride of Divine Province on As You Wish Radio August 10th, 2013

A BRIEF HISTORY LESSON ON MONEY
"The truth shall set you free, but first it may piss you off," it has been said. Frankly, the truth is hard to come by.

Admittedly, there is no real accurate historical account of how the world found itself in such a desperate state of enslavement to the Vatican, as it has been so well concealed. It is safe to say it has been accomplished by a very meticulous, elaborate and devious plan in order to bring the entire world under the Vatican's collective thumb. Therefore, to tell the story it is necessary to piece together a wide variety of information from a number of sources. And these sources don't always agree.

With an economic system based upon debt and a worthless fiat currency, where does the value of the US dollar come from? Many will be shocked to learn the truth behind how our financial system has been set up and has operated since the official implementation of the privately owned Federal Reserve in 1933.

The short answer is the value for our money is obtained directly from you and all Americans who have been born in the US since the 1930's. The value is drawn from our life force, our good will as consumers, spenders, wage earners and taxpayers. Thus, we can see where a term such as "human resource" figures into the equation.

Our life force is represented by one very important document which is then used as an instrument of value to back up the worth of the US dollar and to act as collateral against the fraudulent, illusionary US debt. That instrument of value is the birth certificate.

Naturally, this system has been instituted very slowly over many years in a strictly covert fashion. It has relied upon the ignorance and low level of consciousness by the people in order for it to take root. And it begins at the moment of birth and entangles us until our last breath upon this Earthly plane.

When parents sign off on a birth certificate for their new born child, they are authorizing him or her to be entered into the system as a bona fide debt slave. At the same time, each of us is issued a line of credit sanctioned by the world-wide economic system and ultimately controlled by the Vatican.

That credit amounts to anywhere from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars within the confines of the system and only accessible via a financial institution, insurance agent, public utility, medical care provider, etc.

Your birth certificate, in turn, is tied to your social security number and becomes the method by which the banks draw upon to establish a line of credit when you come of age to open a bank account, a credit card, apply for a home loan, car loan and/or educational loan, etc. In fact, nearly every business relationship you enter into with a corporation, whether it is a cell phone contract, cable TV, telephone, electrical power, water service, insurance, health care, loan, traffic ticket, lawsuit –– you name it –– all tap into the same credit system.

In effect, these banking institutions are lending you your own credit and then charging you an exorbitant amount of interest for the use of it. If you default on a loan, the banks or the corporations then have the legal right to confiscate your home, property, car, etc. or take you to court for payment.

All of this is accomplished because the Vatican believes it has been bestowed the Divine right through the Papal bull to have dominion over all land, property, valuables and even your own body and your children through their possession of the birth certificates. In their eyes, the people of the Earth are merely debt slaves or paupers, and thus, must not become a burden to the Church. And as such, slaves have no rights, have no say in the matter and by law, cannot own anything. In other words, slaves are property and not human beings. (See video below for more Vatican secrets from Jordan Maxwell.)
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Vatican Secrets EXPOSED! Jordan Maxwell | in5d.com

Yet here we stand, in the year 2013 and we are witnessing the disintegration of this entire corrupt and insane system. And we are now actually getting to see how its demise is being accomplished.

Granted, most people of the world will be shocked to the core to learn the true and absolute powers which lie within Vatican City, the Holy See and the Pope. The Holy Roman Empire has been the most powerful force on the planet for over 2,700 years. The Vatican has wielded indisputable temporal power over world affairs for centuries, including over the US as it sits at the very top of the pyramid when it come to the pecking order of planetary rulers.

Therefore, the very fact they have now authorized the discharge global debt is one of the greatest milestones in the history of the world.

THE BANKRUPTCY OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER
Ironically, as the world's people are released from all debt obligations, the USA, Inc. shadow government, also known as Washington, DC will not be afforded the same privileges. The USA, Inc. has been over laid on top the original Republic envisioned by the Founding Fathers by an act of Congress known as the Organic Act of 1871, which established the Washington, DC/District of Columbia corporation.

Despite the illegal formation of this corporation, the Republic of the united States for America, as it was originally intended to be still very much exists. The USA, Inc., the entity responsible for the national deficit, is now bankrupt and we are now witnessing its free fall.

–– As if to further confirm the discharge of the debt and the bankruptcy of the USA corporation, a series of strange events began to unfold over the weekend of August 3rd and 4th.

The US government announced as many as sixteen embassies in the Middle East would be closing for a period of several days. Within hours of that report on CNN, the US State Department declared the embassies instead will be closed for as long as a week, with a further number of African embassies added to the total of nineteen.

–– Then, on Monday, August 5th, the Daily Mail reported HSBC Bank had informed the many foreign embassies and consulates located in England who are account holders, they will need to find another institution to do their business. As the foreign embassies, including even the Vatican, scrambled for an alternative, they found no other banks in England were willing to take on their banking needs either.

Very likely the numerous embassy closings by the US State Department and the refusal of HSBC Bank to retain other foreign embassies as customers are intricately related to the ongoing bankruptcy of the world corporate governments.

–– On August 12, 2013, Attorney General Eric Holder announced he would recommend the states begin to release prisoners in victimless crimes such as drug offenses, tax evasion, etc. It should be noted nearly one quarter of all prisoners world-wide are found in US jails. And yet we are told again and again, by our history books and our media we are a free nation.

Make no mistake about it, the penal system is part of the international slave trade where prisoner bonds are bought and sold like livestock on an underground market. The very fact the US Attorney General would make such a pronouncement is clearly directly tied to the discharge of the global debt.

–– In still another astonishing development, on Thursday, August 22, the NASDAQ stock exchange went dark for a full three full hours during daytime trading. In the aftermath, many Wall Street media pundits and insiders were scratching their heads in an effort to figure out what really happened. They were unable to come up with any definitive answers.

–– On August 23rd a report emerged insisting the down time was due to an attempt to link the NASDAQ exchange with the Global Currency Reset which ultimately crashed the entire system as many as six times. The NASDAQ collapse caused numerous other stock entities to briefly go off line, as well, including: the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE); the Toronto Exchange (TSX); the Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX); among several others.

Although most sources attributed the outage to some kind of major technical glitch, it is important to note a malfunction of this magnitude had never occurred in the entire 42-year history of NASDAQ, easily the most technologically advanced exchange in the world.

–– Four days after the NASDAQ outage, on August 26th, the Eurex (also known as the Deutsche Boerse or the Frankfurt Stock Exchange) went down for over an hour.

–– Ironically, tech titans Google and Amazon, as well as, media conglomerate, the New York Times, all had similar outages during the month of August. It is highly likely these other technical failures are not merely coincidental but perhaps part of a series of warning shots to the global elite. It should be noted, the heads of Google, Amazon & the New York Times all have been active members of the Bilderberg group.

–– The very same day as the NASDAQ outage, August 22nd, the annual Federal Reserve meeting was convened in Jackson Hole, Wyoming without Ben Bernanke in attendance but with IMF Managing Director, Christine Lagarde. Ms. Lagarde was interviewed during the conference and proclaimed: "The banking system needs to be unclogged, and liquidity as well as instruments need to move fluidly throughout the system, which has not been the case."

–– On August 23rd, David Wilcock reported in his latest post the US military is now working with the hacker group Anonymous in a united effort to take down the Federal Reserve banking cartel. He also stated the majority of the military is in support of the take-down of the Federal Reserve cartel. If accurate, this report would mark a crucial development ensuring the proper security will be in a place for any type of scenario to institute the Global Currency Reset and the Restoration of the Republic.

–– Meanwhile, the international cabal in an act of total desperation continues to try to ferment World War III in Syria in order to stave off their own bankruptcy and the implementation of the Global Currency Reset. Having already miserably failed to do the same in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Egypt, Syria remains one of the few remaining Middle East countries vulnerable for manipulation through a false flag attack.

Yet, even with a threat of world war, we are seeing more and more of the globe uniting to stand directly opposed an international cabal whose support may have now dwindled down to a mere eight member countries including: the US; Canada; France; England; Israel; Turkey; Saudi Arabia; and Qatar. Another clear sign the game has dramatically shifted. We have come to the point where nearly the whole of the planet has mandated we must begin the move towards a world of peace.

CONCLUSION: THE FINAL PIECES FALLING INTO PLACE
Clearly we are seeing the collapse of an old paradigm no longer sustainable within our rapidly evolving reality. From this point on, we can expect big and spectacular changes to become the norm.

Unfortunately, it appears as if the sheer scope and scale of the Global Currency Reset and all its many components was a far grander and more complex undertaking than any had anticipated. The numerous technical issues which have cropped up recently with NASDAQ, Eurex and the co-ordination with other financial systems such as Forex as well as the newly created International Currency Exchange (ICX) have proven it to be so.

Many, many reports have suggested numerous attempts of the GCR have been done without success thus far. We must now conclude there may still be several important pieces to this puzzle which must align themselves for the Reset to be finally launched. Yet we must appreciate the many steps which have already been accomplished and thus we can confidently determine we are very, very close to completion.

With all of this extraordinary amount of activity, it should be abundantly clear by now we are dealing with a much, much bigger undertaking than revaluing one or two currencies. We are deep within the process of a total global phenomenon unprecedented in human history. As we sit now, humanity is at a critical stage of evolution. We have reached the point of no return.

Besides the upcoming date of September 1st, other significant dates to look towards include September 30th which is the end of the Fed fiscal year and October 8th when the new symbolic $100 bills will be released, ideally by the newly revitalized US Treasury, and not the Federal Reserve.

It is interesting to note the numerology for the date of August 31, 2013, the ending date before a new paradigm kicks in on September 1st –– 8 + 3 + 1 + 2 + 0 + 1 + 3 = 18. Then if broken down to single integer – 1 + 8 = 9. Nine is the symbolic number for completion.

If you have been following this story for some time, you have also likely noticed a great deal of conflicting and confusing information has peaked to an all time high. Understandably, you may have reached a point where you are ready to throw your hands in the air in a state of exasperation.

As events accelerate towards a crescendo, we may well be in the midst of what scientists have often referred to as the Chaos Theory. In this instance, reality begins to accelerate into an increasing state of chaos. Eventually, it reaches what appears to be an out-of-control stage. At this point, a dramatic shift occurs taking reality to a much higher level, or a more evolved state of being.

Do not be surprised if the world appears to get even stranger as we venture from an old paradigm into a new. From an old, outdated way of being to an entirely, expanded new one.

One of the greatest detriments to change is fear. As we have discussed in many previous news articles, fear can be a extremely debilitating condition which robs us of our innate power. We must resist the temptation to fall into a state of fear as we come to this critical stage in the future of the Earthly experience, despite the threats which seem to emerge from everywhere.

Ultimately, realize these are tests for us to overcome and all are merely an illusion. They are not real. In the process of overcoming our fears, we will accelerate our evolution that much more quickly.

We have outlined a great deal of very profound changes coming into our reality at this present time. These changes are directly the result of an awakening of consciousness within the human experience.

We must understand, all changes start from within. The world is not happening to us, we are directly affecting the experience we are having by our own thoughts and beliefs. All the conditions on the Earth, whether negative or positive, are the makings of the human mind.

Realize how magnificent a time we are living in as we are now witnessing the world transforming right before us. A long, sordid chapter of slavery, subjugation, fraud and fear is thankfully coming to a close. Directly in front of us lies a much more spectacular and enhanced human experience. And it is here now for the taking.

This time period which was long ago prophesied has been referred to in many different ways such as the great shift of consciousness, Heaven on Earth, or the Golden Age. Whatever label it goes by is of least importance, rather it is the feeling it engenders within which makes all the difference.

For sure, many, many challenges lie ahead us. Yet, ten times as many blessings will become accessible to you and your family like never before as we move forward.

Indeed, the time has come to begin to reap the harvest. And what a bountiful one it will be.

oJybfADko_g

Karen Hudes (World Bank): "IRS collects your taxes and gives it to the Vatican"

© 2013 MR Productions, LLC | All rights reserved

For more news stories see our News Archives

Editors note: Recently, several of our previous news articles have gone to the "viral" stage, having been posted far and wide on message boards, forums, blogs, websites, etc.

As these articles have reached more and more people, they have provoked quite a reaction. Some have reacted with a great deal of fear, trepidation and misunderstanding, particularly regarding the topics of NESARA , the Restoration of the Republic and the concept of oneness. Some have even called for my arrest for dare mentioning these kinds of possible scenarios, despite the fact many have been floating out in cyberspace for nearly ten years!

It is quite clear, this kind of fear-based thinking is a prime example of how programmed the US population has become. Unfortunately, many are simply ignorant of the true history of our nation and blindly believe in the propaganda spewed forth by the compromised mainstream media.

The fact of the matter is our government was overthrown well over 140 years ago when the corporation known as the District of Columbia was created by the Organic Act of 1871 at the behest of the international bankers.

The Restoration of the Republic is about returning to a constitutional form of government first envisioned by our brilliant Founding Fathers where the people of the US can be truly free. An overthrow of our government is NOT a part of this plan. Let me repeat –– it is NOT a part of the plan.

Admittedly, NESARA is a highly controversial and highly charged topic. Much has been said and written about it to the point where many have understandably become rather confused as to what it is all about. I have only briefly mentioned it in a few recent articles, yet it provoked quite a firestorm of debate on one particular forum.

Still others have taken the spirit of our news articles out of context in order to convince the reader their information is more accurate.

We are fully aware and understand everyone is entitled to their own opinion and their own beliefs. And in turn, everyone is entitled to experience a reality of their own making –– be it positive or negative, uplifting or terrifying, love or fear. The choice is ultimately yours.

We are also keenly aware there is a process underway to free the world and the methods by which it may happen might all depend on who you talk to or believe in. And we also realize, all may not proceed smoothly, and in fact, it might be a bit of a bumpy ride as major events start to unfold.

Our mission is to present the most uplifting and inspirational angle on world events as possible. We intentionally look for information and confirmation of only the most optimistic outlook in order to create the most positive experience for everyone.

While some place the utmost importance upon the facts from "qualified sources," our writings are primarily meant to generate an overall feeling of enthusiasm and excitement.

At the same time, we have stressed the profound influence of quantum physics which has proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt, our reality is created solely by our thoughts, feelings, attitudes and beliefs. We are not independent of the world but rather are the creators of it! In other words it really all depends on what you truly believe.

This realization is perhaps most important of all in understanding who and what we really are within the context of this 3-D Earthly experience we find ourselves in. When we truly comprehend this concept, we can then begin our evolution to a higher dimensional experience –– namely, the Golden Age.

In closing, I would also be remiss if I did not acknowledge all of the wonderful support which has poured in with the expanded readership of our articles. I would like to extend a personal thank you to all those who have written to me, who have supported me on the forums and who have signed up as new subscribers. Thank you one and all.

Best wishes and peace to all,

–– Scott Mowry

Sabrina

2nd October 2013, 11:57

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/10348411/Regulators-to-have-power-to-eject-bank-bosses-under-stress-test-plans.html

1 Oct UK

Regulators to have power to eject bank bosses under stress test plans

Bank bosses could be ejected by regulators if they fail to bullet-proof their companies against economic shocks.

The new powers form part of the Bank of England’s ground-breaking plans to stress test Britain’s financial services industry every year. In a discussion paper ahead of the new regime’s launch in January, the Bank revealed it would consider “changing banks’ management” if capital planning or governance fell short of required standards.

The announcement came as it emerged that senior bankers face up to seven years in jail if their mismanagement of the business led to its collapse, under a new “reckless misconduct” offence. The draft law was one of a series of amendments to the Banking Reform Bill that is expected to receive Royal Assent early next year.

The Treasury said: “Senior managers could be liable if they take a decision which leads to the failure of the bank, or fail to take steps available to them to prevent such a decision being taken.

“The offence will only apply to behaviour which falls far below the standard that could reasonably be expected of a person in that position – this is similar to the test for corporate manslaughter.”

The Chancellor pledged to introduce criminal penalties for reckless bankers in July in response to a landmark report by the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards. But the scale of the jail term was only disclosed yesterday.
It was one of 86 amendments to the Banking Reform Bill, which a Treasury spokesman described as “the biggest ever overhaul of the UK banking system”.

The amendments included the establishment of a more stringent approval regime for bankers, stronger regulatory powers to boost competition in the industry, and new laws to “bail in” bank creditors in the event of a lenders’ collapse to spare taxpayers the cost of another bail-out.

The Bank’s plans for an official stress-testing regime would be a watershed moment for the UK after years of informal tests since the crash of 2008. It would also draw Britain into line with the US, Sweden, Japan and Hong Kong.

However, the discussion paper suggested that UK banks would be expected to gold-plate their balance sheets compared with international peers.

“In practice, the level of capital that banks would need to maintain in order to survive in a stress scenario could be set above strict regulatory minima,” the Bank said. “Requiring banks to remain above internationally agreed minima may be insufficient to mitigate risks to financial stability.”

Under the proposals, the results of the tests would be announced on a bank-by-bank basis alongside lenders’ own plans to make good any shortfalls.

If extra capital was needed, banks could be forced to cancel dividends, cut bonuses, sell businesses or issue shares. Regulators could be more lenient on lenders that were able to fail without financial contagion, the Bank signalled.

“Individual banks’ idiosyncracies, such as their resolvability, suggest that required post-stress capital ratios are likely to vary across banks,” the paper said.

Banking sources were sanguine about the prospect of tougher capital requirements than overseas rivals, saying that they had come to expect such demands from the central bank. They also welcomed the transparency and clarity the formal tests would bring to what they claimed had been at times a “disorderly” unofficial process.

The British Bankers’ Association said: “Individual banks already use stress tests as part of their capital planning, and it is important for the Bank of England and regulators to test the system as a whole.

“These new proposals should reinforce confidence in the financial system by letting regulators make judgements that balance systemic stability with the need to support growth.”

The Bank plans to launch the stress tests for the UK’s biggest eight banks next year and gradually move to system where it tests all but the smallest lenders, including the UK subsidiaries of overseas banks and eventually central counterparties.
The Bank said it planned to disclose the scenarios being tested and the outcomes, but is seeking feedback from the industry before confirming the framework. Stress scenarios could include a housing market crash, a recession, a spike in unemployment, or external shocks such as from the eurozone crisis.

It said the annual tests would help strengthen supervision of the banks, make it easier for Parliament to hold the regulator accountable, enhance confidence in the banking system and improve behaviour and risk management within the banks.
Banks have until January 10 to respond to the discussion paper.

Separately, the Bank of England revealed plans to conduct a “deep analysis” of the threats to the economy posed by a potential housing bubble and review “the range of tools” it has to correct an overheating market.

The pledges were made two weeks ago amid mounting concerns that the Government’s Help-to-Buy subsidised mortgage scheme could stoke a housing bubble.

The FPC said “it would need to be vigilant to potential emerging vulnerabilities in the financial system”. It added that it was “important that the Committee should develop a deep analysis of the ways in which housing developments might affect financial stability”.

Sabrina

2nd October 2013, 12:03

http://kahudes.net

Website for bank whistleblower Karen Hudes, who tells it as it is and has the heavy weight credentials to make the press listen... lots of respect for her bravery.

Sabrina

2nd October 2013, 12:14

2 Oct Northern Ireland

Brother of Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams found guilty of raping and sexually abusing his own daughter over six years from the age of four

Former IRA commander Liam Adams found guilty of abusing his child Aine

Carried out rape and sexual assaults when she was aged between 4 and 9

Aine had waived her right to anonymity to pursue case against father

'I can now begin my life at 40 and lay to rest the memory of the five-year-old girl who was abused,' she said

story at link

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2441298/Liam-Adams-brother-Sinn-Fein-president-Gerry-Adams-guilty-raping-daughter.html#ixzz2gZ9poHDR

Sabrina

3rd October 2013, 11:43

Believe some of the abuse investigations in children's homes since the 1960/70's are in the Richmond vicinity near Kingston in outer London. Sab.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-24355263

1 Oct UK

Former Kingston council leader admits child porn offences

The former leader of Kingston Borough Council has admitted possessing about 5,000 images of child abuse.

Derek Osbourne, of New Malden, pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court to 17 charges of possessing and distributing the images.

Osbourne had been the Lib Dem leader of Kingston Council for a decade when he was arrested in June. He then resigned.

The 59-year-old was told by the judge that it was a "virtual certainty" he would go to prison.

The court heard some of the children in the material were three years old and were subjected to rape and other sexual violence.

'Extreme pornography'
Of the images, 868 were at level four, and 50 were at level five - the most serious category.

In all, he admitted seven charges of making indecent images and videos of children, two charges of possessing them and six of distributing.

His secret life was very different than the public image he portrayed”

Keith Braithwaite
Met Police

He also admitted two charges of having other images of "extreme pornography".

Speaking after the court hearing, council leader Liz Green said: "Colleagues and acquaintances have expressed shock and sadness to me about Derek who was held in high esteem by many of us across the political divide.

"The news of his arrest for serious sex charges back in June came as a bolt out of the blue to all of us."

She said the police told her that the offences did not relate to his role at the council and he did not have a council computer.

Acting Det Ch Insp Keith Braithwaite said "Derek Osbourne made and distributed indecent images of children. His secret life was very different than the public image he portrayed.

"His conviction should act as a reminder that we will pursue anyone who makes, distributes or possesses indecent images of children.

"His actions have inevitably contributed to the destruction of many victims' childhoods."

Judge Alastair McCreath , Recorder of Westminster, was told Osbourne was undergoing psychological therapy, and is to begin specialist treatment with a child protection charity.

He will now be put on the sex offenders' register and will be sentenced in on 29 October.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24355202

1 Oct UK

Dave Lee Travis charged with two further indecent assault counts

Former BBC Radio 1 DJ Dave Lee Travis has been charged with two counts of indecent assault in addition to 12 charges he already faces.

The 68-year-old is accused of assaulting a woman aged over 16 between 1 January 1992 and 31 December 1993.

Mr Travis, of Mentmore, Bucks - whose real name is David Patrick Griffin - will appear on bail at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 3 October.

He already faces 11 indecent assault charges and one of sexual assault.

He has indicated he will plead not guilty to the first 12 charges. He appeared in court at the Old Bailey on 6 September in relation to these counts.

Mr Travis, a Radio 1 presenter between 1968 and 1993, was first charged on 15 August as part of Operation Yewtree, an investigation into historical claims of sexual offences linked to the entertainment industry.

Nine female complainants
At his last court appearance, he was released on bail on condition that he lives at his home and does not contact the alleged victims.

The existing allegations date from 1977 to 2007 and relate to nine female complainants aged between 15 and 29 at the time.

A trial date for these charges has been set for 4 March 2014. The trial is expected to last four to five weeks.

Mr Travis was charged with the latest two counts of indecent assault when he attended a police station by appointment, Scotland Yard confirmed.

Operation Yewtree was launched in the wake of sexual offence allegations against ex-TV presenter and Radio 1 DJ Jimmy Savile.

The operation has three strands. One is looking specifically at the actions of Savile and the second strand concerns allegations of sexual offences against "Savile and others".

Mr Travis's arrest falls within a third strand, relating to allegations against other people unconnected to the Savile investigation.

Sabrina

3rd October 2013, 11:55

There's more and more people being held accountable at the moment - good news..

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/prosecutor-resigns-after-describing-13-year-old-2324573

By Dailyrecord.co.uk

Prosecutor resigns after describing paedophile victim, 13, as 'predatory' in court

30 Sep 2013 16:56

ROBERT Colover admitted his comments during the sentencing of paedophile Neil Wilson were inappropriate and he has now agreed to stand down from the CPS Rape Panel of advocates.

A CPS prosecutor who described the 13-year-old victim of a paedophile "predatory" in court will no longer undertake prosecutions involving serious sexual offences or child sexual abuse.

Robert Colover has agreed to resign from the CPS Rape Panel of advocates, admitting his description of the girl as "predatory" and "sexually experienced" was inappropriate, the Crown Prosecution Service said today.

Mr Colover's comments during the sentencing of paedophile Neil Wilson, who was handed a suspended sentence, sparked outrage and today the CPS said that after a review of the case, director of public prosecutions Keir Starmer QC had found the language used to describe the teenager was "grossly inappropriate".

A spokesman said: "Counsel in the case agreed that he should not have used the expression that he did and deeply regretted his choice of words.

"It was agreed that he would resign from the CPS Rape Panel of advocates and will no longer undertake prosecutions involving serious sexual offences or child sexual abuse."

Wilson, 41, was handed a 12-month jail sentence suspended for two years after he admitted engaging in sexual activity with the child, as well as offences of making indecent images of a child and offences of possession of an extreme pornographic image.

The sentence has been referred by Attorney General Dominic Grieve QC to the Court of Appeal, where three judges will decide whether or not it is unduly lenient and whether they should increase it.

A CPS spokesman today said Mr Starmer had carried out a review into the case to address the comments made at Snaresbrook Crown Court by Mr Colover on August 5.

He said: "The DPP found there was nothing in the instructions given to counsel, including information from the police, the prosecution papers or the pre-sentence report, that could have expressly or implicitly supported describing the victim's behaviour in such terms.

"Indeed, the facts of the case made clear that the adult defendant invited the victim to his home, where the offence took place.

"Following the review, the DPP was clear that he found the language used to describe the 13-year-old victim grossly inappropriate.

"Counsel in the case agreed that he should not have used the expression that he did and deeply regretted his choice of words.

"It was agreed that he would resign from the CPS Rape Panel of advocates and will no longer undertake prosecutions involving serious sexual offences or child sexual abuse.

"He will remain on our general advocate panel and will still be instructed in other criminal cases. The DPP is satisfied that no further action needs be taken in relation to this case."

In addition to Mr Colover's comments, complaints about Judge Nigel Peters QC's sentencing, during which he remarked that he was taking into account how the girl looked and behaved, are being "considered" by the Office for Judicial Complaints.

At the time, a number of complaints were received by both the CPS and the Office for Judicial Complaints, and Prime Minister David Cameron said the CPS was "absolutely right" to label Mr Colover's comments "inappropriate".

A petition set up on website change.org in the wake of the case also attracted more than 50,000 supporters.

A sexual abuse survivor, known only as Jo, who set up the case, said: "It's good news that Colover won't be asked to undertake these kinds of prosecutions any longer.

"It sends a clear message that these kind of comments are completely inappropriate. The CPS must implement mandatory specialist training in all sexual offences cases to ensure a culture shift in the legal profession; this will ensure that it protects vulnerable witnesses."

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in stark contrast to Washington at the moment:

From BRICSPost – October 2, 2013

http://tinyurl.com/pbkda36

In a further boost to efforts of closing the economic divide between its rich and poor, Brazil has lifted 3.5 million people out of poverty and more than a million out of extreme poverty in 2012.

The data was made available by a new report released Tuesday by Brazil’s Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA). The report says the number of poor living on $1 or $2 per day, decreased from 19.1 million to 15.7 million, while the number of Brazilians living in extreme poverty went down from 7.6 million to 6.5 million.

The report also shows income gap narrowed in 2012, and the per capita income for households in the poorest 10 per cent of the population increased by 14 per cent.

IPEA President Marcelo Neri attributed the poverty reduction to accelerated income growth among people at the base of the social pyramid.

The piece of “the pie [graph showing income distribution] increased with greater energy for the poorest,” said Neri.
President Dilma Rousseff had in February this year raised the monthly stipend of 2.5 million people living below the poverty line.
“We are turning the page on our long history of social exclusion that had perverse roots in slavery,” President Rousseff had said after signing the decree.

The main indicator of income growth is access to durable goods like televisions, refrigerators, and washing machines as well as essential public services such as electricity, garbage collection and running water.

The report notes that the improvement in quality of life among the poor is a direct result of wage increases and social programs.
About 54.9 per cent of inequality reduction from 2002 to 2012 was due to increased wages, while 12.2 per cent was due to government benefits, according to IPEA.

Brazilian flagship social welfare programs like Brasil Sem Miséria and Bolsa Família, have brought millions out of poverty.
A recent economic slowdown has dogged the Rousseff administration, who reacted to some of the more strident criticism including a scathing report by the London publication The Economist earlier last week.

“We are the third fastest growing economy of the world in the second quarter. Who bets against Brazil, always loses,” Rousseff tweeted recently.

The Economist report about a ‘failed economy’, claimed “the markets do not trust Ms Rousseff” referring to the Brazilian president as too “interfering”.

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2 Oct Canada

http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Canada/NL/ID/2409890775/

Kennedy resigns

Finance Minister Jerome Kennedy announces his resignation. He returns to his law practice Nov. 1.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxembourgian_general_election,_2013

Luxembourg

Early general elections will be held in Luxembourg on 20 October 2013.[1] Incumbent Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who is the longest serving head of government in the European Union, has announced his resignation over a spy scandal involving the Service de Renseignement de l'Etat (SREL).[2] [3] The review found Juncker deficient in his control over the service,[3]

Sabrina

3rd October 2013, 11:58

9O-VSvb4enc

Published on Oct 2, 2013

Washington's struggle to govern itself has already cost the American economy hundreds of millions of dollars on the first day of the government shutdown. And things are likely to get even more expensive, with neither Republican nor Democrat lawmakers willing to back down from their stance on Barack Obama's signature health care bill.

Max Keiser gives his comment on the government shutdown.

RT LIVE http://rt.com/on-air

and

and Zero Hedge via Tyer Durden

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-10-03/frontrunning-october-3

articles at link

Mounting Wall Street fears of US default (FT)

This is what the US government does when it is "shut down" - CIA ramping up covert training program for moderate Syrian rebels (WaPo)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/cia-ramping-up-covert-training-program-for-moderate-syrian-rebels/2013/10/02/a0bba084-2af6-11e3-8ade-a1f23cda135e_story.html

SEC Weighs Overhaul of Exchanges’ Self-Regulatory System (WSJ) - just let Goldman and JPM do all the policing; not like anyone cares anymore
Reid Sets Tone for Democrats in Shutdown Fight (WSJ)

No Movement in Shutdown Standoff (WSJ)

Shutdown will not slow Fed nomination, says Obama (FT)

Syrian Regime Chokes Off Food to Town That Was Gassed (WSJ)

Tesla Says Car Fire Began in Battery (AP)

China Services Index Increases in Sign of Sustained Rebound (BBG) or sustained data manipulation
Australia New Vehicle Sales Dip in Sept (Reuters)

Draghi Said to Ask ECB Panel to Weigh Liquidity Options (BBG)

ECB says ready to use any option to temper market rates (Reuters)

U.S.-Japan Set Road Map for Next 20 Years Amid Asian Threats (BBG)

KiwiElf

4th October 2013, 04:00

Citigroup fined $30 million after analyst sent report to SAC, others
ReutersReuters – 10 hours ago
By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

http://nz.finance.yahoo.com/news/citigroup-fined-30-million-analyst-135437034.html

BOSTON (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc will pay a $30 million fine after one of its analysts improperly sent confidential research on an Apple supplier to big clients including Steven A. Cohen's hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors, a securities regulator said on Thursday.

Citigroup analyst Kevin Chang emailed unpublished research about Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, a major supplier of Apple Inc iPhones, to SAC, T. Rowe Price, Citadel and GLG Partners, according to William Galvin, Massachusetts' Secretary of the Commonwealth.

Chang's research included lower order forecasts for Apple's iPhones in the first quarter of 2013, which would have had a detrimental effect on Apple, the regulator said.

SAC, hedge fund Citadel and mutual fund firm T. Rowe Price all sold Apple stock after receiving the information from Chang, a complaint filed by Galvin's office alleges.

At $30 million, the Massachusetts fine is both one of the biggest state securities regulators have ever collected and 15 times the $2 million they fined Citi for improperly disclosing research on Facebook's initial public offering only a year ago.

Galvin said the fine is so high because the case came less than one year after the Facebook case and illustrates that aspects of Citi's supervisory culture failed.

"The Citi analyst should not have been that accessible to the clients, he should have been better protected by the compliance team," Galvin added.

Galvin's office had filed civil charges against Citi for "failing to supervise", and the $30 million fine is the result of a settlement, he said. No criminal charges were filed.

A spokeswoman for Citi said the bank takes "regulatory compliance requirements very seriously and train(s) all of our employees about these obligations." She declined to give further details about the case.

Chang, who worked for Citi in Taiwan, was terminated last month, the complaint said.

The Massachusetts settlement also offers new details about how SAC employees worked at a time the $14 billion hedge fund has come under increased scrutiny about its trading practices. The U.S. government filed criminal insider trading charges against SAC in July. The hedge fund said it has done nothing wrong and pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Galvin said he would be happy to cooperate with federal or other state authorities probing SAC.

"The emails between Kevin Chang and the hedge funds reveal this cozy culture which illustrates again that there are two types of customers; big ones and retail customers who often dont' receive this information," Galvin said in a telephone interview.

The complaint cites an email from an unidentified SAC employee who asked a contact at Citi "can u send me everything u have on the entire iphone 4/4s/5 supply chain?.

Citi employees responded immediately by asking their colleagues "can you please send directly to (employee for SAC Capital) ... He needs it asap - works directly for (SAC Capital).'

Chang was also contacted directly by a SAC employee. "Hey Kevin, Are you picking up any order cuts to iPhone?" the email said.

Kevin Chang sent his unpublished research which included the Hon Hai numbers and unpublished research for Apple iPhone order forecasts to the SAC employee on December 13, 2012. Chang's research was published on December 14.

A SAC spokesman said he has no comment on the matter.

Chang also received emails from Citi colleagues saying that other big clients, including Citadel, wanted his views on Apple. A Citadel employee emailed Chang on December 13 saying "Can we do a quick call tonight?"

In the securities industry, Galvin, who has been in the job for 18 years, has a reputation as an aggressive regulator happy to take on Wall Street banks in order to protect small, private investors. In 2011, Goldman Sachs agreed to pay a $10 million fine and stop giving clients trading ideas developed at internal gatherings known as "trading huddles."

(Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Andrew Hay)

Sabrina

5th October 2013, 16:28

iqKkERp-ias

Published on Oct 4, 2013

Swiss citizens are demanding a crucial change in the constitution, pushing for the introduction of a guaranteed income for everyone. RT teamed up with RUPTLY video to follow the story.RT's Peter Oliver is in Bern where supporters of the basic income idea have gathered for a rally.

RT.com

Sabrina

6th October 2013, 00:13

http://www.activistpost.com/2013/09/10-signs-global-elite-are-losing-control.html?m=1

6 Oct

10 Signs The Global Elite Are Losing Control

Eric Blair

Karma is coming for the elite in a big way. As the Powers That Be head toward a devastating defeat in their war plans for Syria, signs are emerging that their rule over humanity is rapidly diminishing.

Over the last decade the global elite have been on a mad dash to consolidate power over the world. It's always been their plan like some evil villain in a comic book, but after 9/11 the plan went into overdrive and then turbo charged during the financial crisis of 2008.

Yet it's doomed to fail because humans are meant to be guided by their own free will, not controlled like livestock. The more the elite try to control humanity, the more entropy occurs. Entropy, for those who don't know, is the lack of order or predictability; a gradual decline into disorder.

Although the elite still enjoy a huge wealth advantage over the masses, they are now resigned to behaving like tyrants to maintain control. This, in turn, exposes their dark side which has been cleverly concealed for ages. Not anymore.

People are waking up in droves, at least as fast as the elite can build their full-spectrum prison matrix. Let them try. To paraphrase Victor Hugo, "No army can stop an idea whose time has come."

Here are ten signs that the elite are losing control over the people:

1. Official lies no longer effective: The lies they tell simply don't work anymore. There was a time when official lies, especially about war and peace, were believed. Because, after all, how evil would it be to lie about such things? Generally people want to believe they are being told the truth when life and death is at stake. The boy who cried wolf has cried one too many times. Even if they told the truth at this point, very few would believe them.

2. No confidence in politics: US politicians have a paltry approval rating. The trust in government is at all-time lows here and around the world. Mainstream polls show only 10% of the public has confidence in Congress. In other words, 90% don't believe in them to be competent to govern.

Watch this Town Hall exchange below where a man threatens US Senator John McCain with arrest for treason to his face. This would have never happened just a year or two ago:

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3. No confidence in media: The most recent polls show that 77% of the population no longer trusts corporate TV news. Is it any wonder why the establishment media failed to sell the lies about the alleged Syria chemical event? With all their monopoly might over the airwaves, they can no longer claim that black is white simply because officialdom says so.

4. Bankers rejected: Hungary recently became the first country to follow Iceland's lead by shedding international bankers (IMF) and is considering pursuing prosecution of past prime ministers who enslaved the people with debt.

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Look for this trend to continue even if nations decide to default to break free.

5. Vatican abruptly cleaning up its act: Under the previous Pope, Pope Benedict, scandals erupted from the Vatican ranging from covering up pedophile priests to money laundering and fraud. Benedict, in an unprecedented move, abruptly retired to make way for a seemingly much more likable Pope Francis. Pope Francis by all measures is working furiously to reclaim the church's peaceful and humble reputation. Whether this is genuine or a PR move, it's telling that the church was forced into such a drastic turnaround to save itself from losing all credibility.

6. Mutiny among soldiers: Finally. Soldiers, who are outlawed from making political statements, are steadily speaking out against US military adventurism. As Einstein famously said "The pioneers of a warless world are the young men (and women) who refuse military service."

7. Militarized police state: One of the darkest signs that the elite are losing their grip on power is the construction of the militarized police state specifically trained to combat domestic civil unrest. Local cops with tanks and other combat gear are working with Feds at Fusion centers, active Army units are on American soil for the first time in history, the NSA spy grid is being used by the IRS and DEA, and the elimination of due process for Americans under the NDAA are just some of the tyrannical moves made to secure the elite criminals from public backlash. They're clearly scared, and they should be given what they've done to the American people and the Constitution.

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8. Serious secession movements everywhere: A state seceding from a larger political entity used to be an ultra-fringe concept, until now. In America, secession movements are winning over the public in parts of Colorado and California. In Europe, serious secession movements are happening in Spain and Scotland, as well as several EU nations flirting with the idea of dropping out of the euro. Decentralization = Entropy!

9. GMO food being rejected everywhere: Control the food and you control the people. True in theory, but much more difficult in practice. GMO leaders like Monsanto are being exposed. All of their economic and political strength cannot defeat the spread of knowledge about the dangers of pesticide-soaked Frankenfoods. GMO fields are being burned in protest in America and around the world, informed nations continue to reject their products, and labeling laws are gaining traction.

10. Cannabis liberation: Many reading this will think marijuana legalization is a superficial development. However, it is a major signpost that the elite's grip is fading. Enormous resources have been spent to keep cannabis illegal. Cannabis has been a powerful medicine for physical, mental, and spiritual health throughout the ages. This single plant represents a huge threat to the power structures and their industries, hence its seemingly senseless illegality. The approaching global reversal of the tyrannical policy of prohibition is the first of many concessions to come.

all further links at the link

Sabrina

6th October 2013, 00:38

http://politicalblindspot.com/big-island-of-hawaii-bans-gmos/

BREAKING NEWS: Big Island of Hawaii Moves to Ban GMOs!

The Big Island of Hawaii County Council Committee passed a GMO prohibition Bill by a vote of 6-2. The Bill 113 passed out of committee and is progressing to the full Council, set for October 16th.

The Bill is relevant to the island of Hawaii, known as “The Big Island.” The two “no” votes were Greggor Ilagan and Chair J Yoshimoto. Dennis “Fresh” Onishi was absent.

The Bill 113 will ban all open air cultivation of GMOs, with the exception of papaya which already has genetically modified forms being grown on the island. Other than this, the Hawaii island is the final to not yet have GMO crops in the state of Hawaii.

Watch the voting on Bill 113 below:

fassR3ldhvs

Sabrina

6th October 2013, 00:52

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-francis-not-so-much-a-reformer-as-a-revolutionary-8845052.html

6 Oct Vatican

Pope Francis: Not so much a reformer as a revolutionary

The Vatican has been turned upside down, but can he ensure that his radical changes to the Church will last?

Radical change has become the new norm in Rome under the first six months of the pontificate of Pope Francis. The first Pope from the Americas has brought with him – “from the ends of the earth”, as he put it – a fundamentally new perspective. Now conservatives in the Vatican are braced for what could be, next week, a bigger change than anything so far.

A new council of eight cardinal advisers – mavericks to a man – will meet for the first time on Tuesday to offer guidance from outside the dysfunctional and self-serving Vatican bureaucracy known as the Roman Curia. The new Pope from Argentina has tasked them with the massive job of reforming the Curia. The new body has been described by the leading ecclesiastical historian Professor Alberto Melloni, of the University of Modena, as the “most important step in the history of the church for the past 10 centuries”. Even allowing for a little Italian exaggeration, this is clearly a big deal.

Pope Francis caused a stir from the outset by eschewing the monarchical trappings of the papacy and presenting himself as an icon of assertive humility. But there has been much more to him than a Pope who rejects the papal palace, eats at the refectory table in his hostel, carries his own bags and makes impromptu calls on his mobile to a variety of ordinary people in response to letters whose envelopes were address only to “Pope Francis, The Vatican, Rome”.

He has also been radical in his pronouncements on Church teaching. On the plane back to Rome from World Youth Day in Brazil – where his final Mass had attracted three million worshippers – Francis spoke freely in answer to reporters’ questions on a wide range of topics. His softening of Rome’s attitudes to gay people – “Who am I to judge?” – grabbed the headlines. But in 80 minutes of Q&As the new Pope signalled change in many areas.

That was a message reinforced this month when he gave a 12,000-word interview to a Jesuit publication. It sent shock waves through the Catholic Church.

He criticised it for putting dogma before love, and doctrine before serving the poor. It had grown “obsessed” with abortion, gay marriage and contraception and become a church of “small-minded rules”. Where his predecessor, Benedict XVI, wanted a smaller, purer church, Francis wanted an inclusive one which was a “home for all”.

“We have to find a new balance,” Pope Francis concluded, “otherwise even the moral edifice of the Church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel.”

Conservative Catholics have struggled with all this, stuttering that the new Pope was changing no doctrine but merely offering a different style. Many of his comments could have been made by Pope Benedict, they said – it was only Francis’s tone that was different.

Liberal Catholics, by contrast, who had felt out in the cold during the 35 years during which John Paul II and Benedict XVI occupied the papacy, were optimistic that there would be substance to match the style.

But it is now becoming clear that the new Pope is bent on real change. To some extent, style and substance have been interwoven. When Francis visited the southern Italian island of Lampedusa in July – to show solidarity with the African refugees whose flimsy boats find it the easiest part of Europe for them to reach – he ruffled feathers in the Vatican. First, he did not consult the Vatican equivalent of the prime minister’s office, the Secretariat of State. And he tried to book his own flight on Alitalia, until the airline’s people rumbled him.

Symbol and substance have gone hand in hand elsewhere. At the scandal-hit Vatican Bank he first told all the cardinals on its supervisory board that they must forgo their €25,000 annual stipend. But then he set up a five-person commission of outsiders, including a Harvard law professor, to investigate the bank which has been accused of money laundering. In a handwritten document he gave them powers to summon any documents and data they deemed necessary and told them to report directly to him.

He has made moves to rehabilitate liberation theology – the Latin American movement which said the Church should work for the political and economic, as well as the spiritual, liberation of the poor. The theology was condemned as Marxist by the Vatican under previous popes, and its advocates were silenced. But Pope Francis last month met the father of liberation theology, Gustavo Gutierrez, in Rome. He has asked one of the previously silenced theologians, Leonardo Boff, to send him his writings. And he has removed the block on the canonisation of Archbishop Oscar Romero, the champion of the poor in El Salvador who was martyred under a right-wing military government.

Most recently, he has upset traditionalists in Rome by announcing that he will stop granting elite priests the honorary title of “monsignor” with its anachronistic aristocratic resonance – it means “my lord”.

The big question is: will the new Pope be able to institutionalise that and the rest of his raft of changes so that they cannot be reversed by a conservative successor? There are two keys to that: the appointments he makes and the mechanisms he must establish to lock in reform.

The trend in his appointments has been steadily away from the conservatism of the previous three decades. He has replaced Benedict XVI’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, whose chief qualification for the job appeared to be that he was a friend and theological soulmate of the previous Pope. Bertone departed with bitterness, lashing out against the “crows and vipers” who had undermined him.

In his stead Francis has placed Archbishop Pietro Parolin, a talented and respected Vatican diplomat, who will rebuild the Holy See’s international credibility and be a key player in Curia reform. In the previous era he fell foul of Bertone and was shunted off to be Papal Nuncio in Venezuela to get him out of the way.

His return was just the start of what looks to be a big round of far-reaching changes. The old guard, who were reconfirmed in their previous jobs only “provisionally” when Francis took over, are being steadily removed. New men are in place in the key Vatican departments.

The extent of the change they are expected to usher in was evident from Francis’s big interview this month. Asked allusive religious questions the Pope plunged in with direct answers. Quizzed about “Ignatian spirituality”, Francis responded with comments on reform. “Many think that changes can take place in a short time,” he said, warning that it would take time to “lay the foundations for real, effective change.”

He spoke openly about his failings as a younger man when – confirming for the first time the revelations made in my book Pope Francis – Untying the Knots – that as leader of Argentina’s Jesuits, aged just 36, his “authoritarian and quick manner of making decisions led me to have serious problems”. He brought up the thorny issue of infallibility and insisted it applied to judgements arrived at by the whole church, including the ordinary people, not just the Pope.

Asked whether the Church should drop its rule that divorced and remarried people should not take communion, he said that pastoral care came before dogma, and brought up homosexuality in the same context. Not all the dogmatic and moral teachings of the Church were equivalent, he declared.

God is to be encountered in the world of today, he said. The Christian who “wants everything clear and safe… will find nothing”. Tradition and memory of the past must help us to have the courage to open up new areas to God. The church was wrong in the past in accepting slavery and the death penalty. “Ecclesiastical rules and precepts that were once effective… have now lost value or meaning.” The church must “grow in its understanding” and “mature in its judgement”.

For a Pope this is explosive stuff. The task facing him now is to translate that vision into practice. That is the business that will begin on Tuesday at his first meeting with his Group of Eight cardinal advisors.

They will arrive in Rome well prepared. The eight men come from every continent and corner of the Church. All have been noted critics of the Vatican in the past. In their home provinces they have been consulting local bishops and lay experts about the priorities for reform. They have been in email and telephone discussions with one another. Each has been assembling ideas of his own on how to make Rome more accountable to local churches, so that the Curia is their servant and not their master.

The challenge for Pope Francis next week will be to begin the task of synthesising and coordinating the approaches of his new advisers. He has said he wants to proceed carefully, and with the collegial consensus of his brother bishops. But, at the age of 76, he knows he does not have that long.

On Friday he will celebrate the feast of St Francis of Assisi – whose name this first Jesuit Pope took. In his mind will echo the words that his namesake reputedly heard issuing from a crucifix in the 12th century: “Francis, repair my Church for it is in ruins.”. The new Pope knows he is charged with no less a task.

‘Pope Francis – Untying the Knots’ by Paul Vallely was published last month by Bloomsbury

Sabrina

6th October 2013, 01:01

http://rt.com/news/gchq-surveillance-eu-court-743/

Privacy advocates vs. GCHQ: Groups launch EU court case against spy agency

Three leading civil rights groups have filed a case against the UK spy agency, GCHQ, at the European Court of Human Rights over its surveillance methods, after being denied the chance to challenge its practices in an open court in Britain.

UK’s Big Brother Watch, English PEN and Open Rights Group has joined forces with well-known German legal activist Constanze Kurz, accusing the Government Communications Headquarters of violating the European Convention of Human Rights. Article 8 of the Convention guarantees European citizens the right to a private family life.

“The laws governing how internet data is accessed were written when barely anyone had broadband access and were intended to cover old fashioned copper telephone lines,” said a statement from Big Brother Watch.

“Parliament did not envisage or intend those laws to permit scooping up details of every communication we send, including content, so it’s absolutely right that GCHQ is held accountable in the courts for its actions.”

In line with the data revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden earlier this year, the group, which has united under the umbrella name Privacy not Prism, says that the UK government has the capacity to collect “more than 21 petabytes of data a day – equivalent to sending all the information in all the books in the British Library 192 times every 24 hours.”

The information is collected by hacking into the undersea cables that connect Britain and the United States under a program called Tempora, and is freely shared with intelligence agencies in Washington (PRISM is the US counterpart of the program). The data includes all private communication conducted through the internet.

GCHQ insists that all of its activities are legal under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa), which was passed back in 2000, and has been cleared by the UK’s Intelligence and Security Committee.

The group had originally planned to challenge the legislation in the UK courts, but was told by the government in July that its only domestic option was a complaint filed with the Investigator Powers Tribunal. The tribunal hears sensitive cases in secret before coming to its decision, and does not have to provide a legal justification for its rulings. If a judgment of the tribunal is rejected, there is no recourse to appeal in a civil court.

One non-profit, Privacy International, has gone down that route, while Privacy not Prism hope to achieve a change to UK law through the highest court available to it. The plaintiffs hope that the case will result in “new laws that require surveillance to be proportionate; to be overseen by judicial authorities acting in public; that permit notification of persons affected by surveillance (even if after the fact); that are overseen by adequately resourced and empowered regulators.”

The European Court of Human Rights receives over 50,000 complaints annually, and it’s customary for cases to take a year to be heard, and a ruling returned.

4 Oct

Sabrina

6th October 2013, 23:34

Well sometime mid-November for this, and US FEMA drill on grid failure 13 Nov - oh what games they play :)... Tins of baked beans and pinot grigio in the garage? Gold under the bed? Or just trusting that the higher us will just pull through it all...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/10359520/Banks-put-to-the-test-over-cyber-security.html

6 Oct UK

Banks put to the test over cyber security

Simulated online attack will test UK’s banking, payments and markets systems

Banks will next month launch the most extensive cyber threat exercise in two years as the authorities test the preparedness of the financial system to survive a sustained online attack.

Operation Waking Shark 2 has been scheduled for mid-November with every high street bank expected to take part in a one-day “war game” simulating the impact of a major cyber attack on the payments and markets systems on which the UK’s financial system depends.
An outside consultant has designed and will lead the test – monitored by the Bank of England, Treasury and Financial Conduct Authority – to assess the ability of Britain’s core financial services providers to withstand attacks by cyber criminals as well as state-sponsored terrorist attacks on the UK.

The exercise comes two years after the now defunct Financial Services Authority launched the Original Operation Waking Shark to test the strength of the online defences.

One source with knowledge of the latest test, said it would simulate a “very severe” attack on British banks, the stock market and payment providers. Several thousand people across the financial services industry and at the regulators will take part in the exercise. “This is absolutely vital work and will enable us to see how are defences work in the event of a real attack and what areas need to be improved,” said the source.

The results of Operation Waking Shark 2 will be used to benchmark banks and other major financial institutions cyber security with those found to have weaker defences expected to face demands to invest more in online controls. Cyber security is emerging as one of the main threats to the banking system and regulators now take the ability of a lender to withstand a serious online attack almost as seriously as measures of strength such as capital levels and short-term liquidity buffers.

The Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC) has repeatedly warned about the need to monitor banks’ online defences, as well as those of other key financial services providers.

The FPC has ordered regulators to come up with “action plans” in the event of cyber attack by the first quarter of 2014 and to issue it with an update on the work before the end of the year. As well as checking the industry’s defences, the FPC has also said the Bank of England itself must ensure it is able to operate if its own systems are attacked.

Andrew Haldane, executive director at the Bank of England with responsibility for financial stability and a member of the FPC, has been one of the main proponents of the need to improve cyber defences.

The Bank of England declined to comment for this article.

The cyber stress test comes amid increased concerns at the potential vulnerability of key parts of the financial system to attacks ranging from lone “hacktivists” right up to coordinated assaults financed by hostile countries.

Last month, a group of men were arrested after a suspected attempt to plant a remote device in a branch of Santander UK that it is alleged could have allowed criminals to steal money from customer accounts.

Banks have also faced so-called denial of service attacks that have caused their systems to fail.

Sabrina

6th October 2013, 23:48

Interesting arrests here..

http://rt.com/news/iran-arrested-nuclear-sabotage-800/

6 Oct Iran

Iran arrests 4 men in 'nuclear facilities sabotage' plot

The Iranian authorities have arrested four men for planning to sabotage nuclear sites, reports state news. The announcement comes as Iran’s newly-appointed president takes steps to allay fears over its supposed nuclear weapons program.

The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, announced on Sunday that a "number of saboteurs" had been caught “red-handed” before they could carry out their plan.

"Four of these individuals were caught red-handed and their interrogations are ongoing," he said, according to the Mehr news agency on Sunday. Salehi did not elaborate on any of the details of the alleged plot to sabotage Iranian nuclear facilities and did not specify the nuclear sites that were targeted.

He added that the suspects were now being interrogated by Iranian authorities.

Iran has accused the West on a number of occasions of sabotaging its nuclear program. In the past Tehran has slammed the US and Israel for orchestrating the Stuxnet cyberattack on nuclear facility systems in 2010. Iran has also claimed the West is behind the assassination of its nuclear scientists.

The arrest of the suspected saboteurs comes as the Iranian government takes steps to dispel western fears over its nuclear program. The West believes that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, something that the country’s leadership has consistently denied, maintaining its nuclear program is for civilian purposes.

New to office, President Hassan Rouhani has reached out to Washington in a move to restart negotiations over Iran’s supposed nuclear weapons program.

Rouhani spoke to President Barack Obama last week in a telephone call, which marked the first talks between US and Iranian leaders in over three decades.

As it stands President Rouhani is set to meet with leaders from the UK, Germany, France, Russia and China in Geneva in mid-October in landmark negotiations. Iran’s new moderate leadership wants to lift the crippling economic sanctions implemented against Tehran by Washington with a view to curtailing the Iranian nuclear program.

Tehran has said that the international community must come up with new conditions before the negotiations in Geneva. Currently, Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - plus Germany demand that Iran cease enrichment of uranium to 20 per cent. In addition, they have asked Tehran to ship out some uranium stockpiles.

Iran’s new stance on the nuclear issue has been hailed by world leaders as a step in the right direction and a possible end to the diplomatic stalemate.

‘Iran is one year away from nuclear armament’
However, Washington has voiced skepticism over Tehran’s motives. On Friday Obama told press that while Rouhani was saying “all the right things,” it remains to be seen whether or not he will follow through with his pledges. In addition, Obama stated that Iran is one year away from developing a nuclear weapon, citing US intelligence sources.

Israel, on the other hand, claims that Tehran’s wish to negotiate is merely a ruse and Iran is months away from developing its nuclear capabilities. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that Israel will move to strike Iranian nuclear facilities if Tehran does not cease its alleged nuclear weapons ambitions.

On Tuesday Netanyahu urged the UN General Assembly not to be fooled by Iran, stressing that Israeli was ready to “stand alone” against the country it has branded an enemy of the state.

“Rouhani is a wolf in sheep’s clothing – a wolf who thinks he can pull the wool over the eyes of the international community,” said Netanyahu. He appealed to the international community to keep the financial penalties against Tehran in place.

Sabrina

9th October 2013, 23:20

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/oct/09/obama-janet-yellen-us-federal-reserve

9 Oct US

Janet Yellen nominated by Obama to be head of US Federal Reserve

President will nominate Yellen as head of US central bank on Wednesday, ending long debate over successor to Ben Bernanke

The White House is to name Janet Yellen as the first woman to head the US Federal Reserve, arguably the most important job in world finance, the Obama administration has confirmed.

Barack Obama is to make the announcement at 3pm ET on Wednesday, the White House said. Yellen and the current Fed chair, Ben Bernanke, are expected to attend.

The nomination ends a long – and often bitter – public debate about Obama's choice for Fed chairman. Yellen has long been seen as the frontrunner to succeed Bernanke, who is set to step down early next year. But she faced stiff opposition from former Treasury secretary Larry Summers, who had strong support within the administration. If approved by the Senate, Yellen would be the first woman to head the central bank in its 100-year history.

Yellen's appointment comes at a crucial moment for the Fed, which is currently pumping $85bn (£52bn) a month into the US economy through an economic stimulus programme known as quantitative easing. Yellen has been seen as one of Bernanke’s key allies in the stimulus package, which has split the Fed board, as other members have been increasingly concerned about the impact of the massive bond-buying programme.

Yellen’s appointment also comes as Congress argues over raising the US debt ceiling. Bernanke has consistently warned that failure to raise the US borrowing limit would have a severely negative impact on the country’s still-fragile economic recovery.

The 67-year-old economist and Brooklyn native was appointed vice-chair of the Fed in October 2010. Previously she was president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and also served as chair of the Council of Economic Advisors from 1997 to 1999.

An expert on the job markets, Yellen has been a staunch ally of Bernanke as he has tried to use low interest rates and QE to reanimate the US’s still-lackluster job market.

Summers had been seen as the Obama administration’s favoured candidate. But his candidacy ran into opposition from Democrats unhappy with Summers's history as a champion of financial deregulation before the financial crisis, and was forced to withdraw his candidacy for the position.

Senator Tim Johnson, a Democrat who heads the Senate banking committee, which must approve Yellen's nomination, said he would work with the panel's members to advance her confirmation quickly. "She has a depth of experience that is second to none, and I have no doubt she will be an excellent Federal Reserve chairman," Johnson said in a statement.

Senator Chuck Schumer, a Democratic committee member, called her "an excellent choice" and predicted she would be confirmed by a wide margin.

Yellen had long been considered a logical candidate for the chairmanship, in part because of her expertise as an economist, her years as a top bank regulator and her experience in helping manage the Fed's polices. Her understanding of the financial system is widely respected: before the crisis struck, she was among a minority of top economists who had warned correctly that sub-prime mortgages posed a severe threat.

On the Fed, Yellen has built a reputation as a "dove" — someone who is typically more concerned about keeping interest rates low to reduce unemployment than about raising them to avert high inflation. Her nomination could face resistance from congressional critics who argue that the Fed's low-rate policies have raised the risk of high inflation and might be encouraging dangerous bubbles in assets like stocks or real estate.

Republican senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, member of the Senate banking committee, said he voted against her for vice chair in 2010 because of her dovish policies. "I am not aware of anything that demonstrates her views have changed," he said.

Still, Yellen has said that when the economy finally begins growing faster and rates will need to be raised to prevent high inflation, she will move in that direction.

Yellen drew outspoken support from Senate Democrats, a third of whom signed a letter this summer urging Obama to choose her. Last month, more than 350 economists signed a letter to Obama urging him to nominate Yellen.

Charles Geisst, a finance professor at Manhattan College and the author of Wall Street: A History, said Bernanke’s successor would have some tough comparisons to live up to. The current Fed chairman has served since 2006 and was appointed by Obama’s predecessor George W Bush. He has been Fed chairman during some of the most turbulent economic periods in US history. “Bernanke will probably go down in history as the man who saved the world’s financial system,” said Geisst.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Sabrina

9th October 2013, 23:24

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/oct/09/city-regulator-fca-investigates-rbs-alleged-currency-manipulation

9 Oct

RBS releases documents over alleged currency manipulation

FCA scrutinising allegations of large banks' abuse of currency benchmark potentially involving a former RBS trader

Royal Bank of Scotland has handed the City regulator messages sent by one of its former traders in the latest twist in an investigation into potential manipulation of currency rates.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) began an investigation into the £3tn-a-day foreign exchange market in June following allegations that traders at major banks had found ways to manipulate a closely followed currency benchmark.

Swiss regulators have also begun to scrutinise the foreign exchange markets, regarded as among the most liquid in the world, sparking speculation that a number of major banks are facing questions about the way they traded leading currencies.

"It's a fact that foreign exchange manipulation was committed," Swiss finance minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said.

The investigations are the latest attempts to clamp down on potential abuses of financial benchmarks, first highlighted by the Libor rigging scandal in June 2012 when Barclays was fined £290m for manipulating the key interest rate. RBS has also been fined for Libor rigging, as has Swiss bank UBS and more recently the broking firm Icap run by former Conservative party treasurer Michael Spencer.

The potential involvement of a former RBS trader in currency manipulation was reported by the Bloomberg news agency, which had first reported the potential for abuse of a currency benchmark operated by WM/Reuters and used by fund managers to value their investments. Traders at major banks were said to be putting in client orders ahead of a 60-second window when the rate is set by the benchmark. The benchmark rates are published hourly for 160 currencies and half-hourly for the 21 biggest currencies, including sterling, which are set by calculating the median price of trades taking place during the 60 seconds.

RBS would not comment on the Bloomberg report that it had handed the regulator instant messages sent to and from a currency trader who no longer works for the bank. The trader had left before any questions were raised about potential manipulation of benchmarks.

The FCA, which also would not comment, is said to be asking for information from Deutsche Bank, Citigroup and other banks in relation to the currency markets. The regulator is gathering information but has not begun a formal investigation; it is not yet clear if any firms are under any investigation that could lead to fines or other sanctions.

As well as interest rates and currencies, energy markets are also being investigated. The FCA began to look at gas prices after the Guardian reported that the £300bn wholesale gas price was potentially being manipulated while the European commission has also raided the offices of major energy companies amid allegations that oil prices were rigged for a decade.

Sabrina

10th October 2013, 11:24

Brilliant interview with ex World Bank whistleblower Karen Hudes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4hgA9j-4dB0#t=782

[Published on Oct 8, 2013

The US government shutdown - a temporary ailment or a symptom of a grave disease? Are the Republicans right in their move to block Obamacare spending? Who gains from the shutdown turmoil? Do the politicians care about their citizens? Our guest comes from the very heart of the banking system: Karen Hudes was World Bank lawyer when she blew the whistle on major corruption cases in the system and was fired as a result.

For FULL TRANSCRIPT of the interview click here: http://on.rt.com/ue0xat
/youtube]

Sabrina

10th October 2013, 11:48

via American Kabuki

LOL!!! We know why! Its the change in energies! - Bill

The NSA's Huge New Data Center Keeps Having Meltdowns And No One Knows Why

MICHAEL KELLEY OCT. 8, 2013,

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-nsas-data-center-keeps-melting-down-2013-10

The National Security Agency's new $2 billion Utah data center keeps suffering from costly meltdowns and government officials are not sure of the cause, Siobhan Gorman of The Wall Street Journal reports.

Since August 2012, there have been 10 electrical surges that have prevented the NSA from using computers. One official described them as "a flash of lightning inside a 2-foot box."

Each meltdown caused as much as $100,000 in damage. The center requires about 65 megawatts of electricity to run, at a cost of more than $1 million a month, and the surges are probably connected to the electrical system's inability to simultaneously run computers and keep them cool.

The Army Corps of Engineers (ACE), which is overseeing the data center's construction, disagrees with contractors on a number of issues, noting that the causes of the meltdowns "are not yet sufficiently understood" despite contractors' assertions the "root cause" had been uncovered.

In a report, an ACE team notes that the government has incomplete information about the design of the electrical system. It also found that regular quality controls in design and construction were bypassed in an effort to "fast track" the Utah project.

The million square-foot data mining complex is meant to serve as "the NSA cloud," James Bamford, author of the book "The Shadow Factory: The NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America," wrote in Wired last year. "The center will be fed data from the agency's eavesdropping satellites, overseas listening posts, and secret monitoring rooms in telecom facilities throughout the U.S."

NSA
Cryptome

One Fox News report said that the center has the potential to store as much as 5 zettabytes (1 zettabyte = 1 billion terabytes = 1 trillion gigabytes). With just 1 zettabyte (1024 exabytes) of space, the NSA can store a year's worth of the global Internet traffic (which is estimated reached 966 exabytes per year in 2015).

Gorman notes that the agency currently "collects the phone records of nearly all Americans and has built a system with telecommunications companies that provides coverage of roughly 75% of Internet communications in the U.S."

and

The Phone Company that Said No to NSA

US West CEO Released from Prisonhttp://www.veteranstoday.com/2013/10/07/the-phone-company-that-said-no-to-nsa/

By Dr Stuart Jeanne Bramhall

Former US West CEO Joseph Nacchio was released from prison last week after completing a four year insider trading sentence. He still claims the NSA framed him on the insider trading charges – after he refused to participate in their illegal phone surveillance program in 2001. US West was the only major telecommunication program that refused to spy on its customers. According to the Wall Street Journal, Nacchio feels vindicated by Edward Snowden’s recent revelations about NSA spying on Americans’ phone and email communications.

Nacchio was convicted of selling US West stock based on inside information about the company’s deteriorating financial health. He denies this, claiming he believed US West’s lucrative contracts with the federal government would continue. Instead his refusal to cooperate with the NSA resulted in the wholesale cancellation of government contracts.

Nacchio had evidence supporting this claim. However the judge ruled it was classified and prevented his defense team from presenting it. The redacted NSA files were only made public after the former CEO was convicted and sentenced. However Harper’s and others have always supported Macchio’s contention that he was prosecuted in retaliation for saying “no” to the NSA.

Whether or not Nacchio is guilty of insider trading (all the legal arguments are summarized at Race to the Bottom), the most illuminating information in the redacted files is that the NSA was pressuring US West to spy on customers in February 2001. This was a good seven months before the 9-11 attacks, the supposed justification for curtailing Americans’ civil liberties.

LATE ADDITION:

NSA Director Alexander Admits He Lied about Phone Surveillance Stopping 54 Terror Plots
http://www.cryptogon.com/?p=37287

October 8th, 2013
Via: AllGov:

The head of the National Security Agency (NSA) admitted before a congressional committee this week that he lied back in June when he claimed the agency’s phone surveillance program had thwarted 54 terrorist “plots or events.”

NSA Director Keith Alexander gave out the erroneous number while the Obama administration was defending its domestic spying operations exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden. He said surveillance data collected that led to 53 of those 54 plots had provided the initial tips to “unravel the threat stream.”

But Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on Wednesday during a hearing on the continued oversight of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that the administration was pushing incomplete or inaccurate statements about the bulk collection of phone records from communications providers.

“For example, we’ve heard over and over again that 54 terrorist plots have been thwarted by the use of (this program),” Leahy said. “That’s plainly wrong,” adding: “These weren’t all plots and they weren’t all thwarted.”

Alexander admitted that only 13 of the 54 cases were connected to the United States. He also told the committee that only one or two suspected plots were identified as a result of bulk phone record collection.

Sabrina

11th October 2013, 06:43

http://rt.com/op-edge/snowden-russia-whistleblowers-courage-003/

11 Oct

‘Courage is contagious’: Whistleblowing Fantastic Four talk ‘Snowden effect’ on RT

A group of US whistleblowers and activists have met in Moscow to present NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden with the Sam Adams Award for ‘Integrity in Intelligence’. They came to RT’s studio to share their thoughts on global surveillance.

After a secret meeting with Snowden, the four whistleblowers – former NSA executive Thomas Andrews Drake, former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, former FBI agent Coleen Rowley and Jesselyn Radack of Government Accountability Project – all met in RT’s studio to discuss the perils of doing what right and why Snowden should be lauded as a hero for sending shock waves around the world.

RT: First of all, you saw Edward Snowden last night. How is he holding up?

Thomas Andrews Drake: I think he’s doing remarkably well under the circumstances in which he came here.

RT: We covered his story extensively on this channel, so we are, obviously, keen to find out personally how is he. What does he look like these days?

Jesselyn Radack: I thought he looked great. He seemed very centered and brilliant, smart, funny, very engaged. I though he looked very well.

RT: Considering the amount of pressure he’s under, do you think that’s taking any psychological toll?

Ray McGovern: I think it would in ordinary circumstances, but this is an extraordinary person. He’s made his peace with what he did. He’s convinced that what he did was right. He has no regrets. And he’s willing to face whatever the future holds for him.

RT: Do you agree with that? Is that what you saw in front of you, Coleen?

Coleen Rowley: Yes. Actually, we discussed this integrity and intelligence issue quite extensively. And we talked about prior examples of great people in history that had themselves been under this type of pressure. And he [Snowden] is remarkably centered.

RT: Jesselyn, you yourself were a whistleblower. Have you ever had regrets about what you did?

Jesselyn Radack: No, never. Never. And I, in fact, decided to dedicate my career at the Government Accountability Project to representing whistleblowers and helping whistleblowers. I never thought they would end up being criminally prosecuted, much less for espionage. But I believe in what I did. I would do it over again and that was actually the exact answer that Edward gave us yesterday.

RT: Is that the same for the rest of the three of you? Did you ever have second thoughts? Can you, please, remind us of what you story was, Thomas?

Thomas Andrews Drake: Well, I disclosed high crimes and misdemeanors by the US government while at the National Security Agency (NSA). That involved both secret surveillance and massive fraud, waste and abuse. And no regrets at all in blowing the whistle, recognizing that I paid a very high price. Fortunately, I’m free.

RT: It was not only yourself, but your family and friends, who were under pressure, isn’t it?

Thomas Andrews Drake: Yes. And that’s part of the price that you pay. It’s part of the sacrifice.

RT: And what sort of pressure was that?

Thomas Andrews Drake: It was extraordinary pressure in terms of, you know, anybody that you’ve ever been associated with – your friends, your colleagues. They’re separated. They raise questions about your integrity. They raise questions about who you are as a person… And you become very public as well.

RT: Jesselyn, your story – it was about revealing FBI questioning of a suspect without a lawyer. Can you tell a bit about what you exposed?

Jesselyn Radack: Well, John Walker Lindh – the “American Taliban” – was the first “terrorist” captured after 9/11 and there was national hysteria around his case. Ironically, he was deemed a traitor and treasonous, even though now we’re, apparently, on somewhat better footing with the Taliban today. And we had been on great footing with them till 18 month prior. Basically, the justice department was willing to cut corners to prosecute people. And then I found that continuing pattern – the more secret the US became and the more we grew into a surveillance state, the more people, who were willing to just do their job and tell the truth and obey ethics rules, were getting in trouble.

So, while I suffered, I was under criminal investigation and put on the no-fly list. Things like that, I thought were very draconian. I could never ever had imagined in a million years that president Obama would begin prosecuting people like Thomas [Andrews] Drake, and Edward Snowden, and Bradley Manning, and John Kiriakou and a number of other people under the Espionage Act, which is the most serious charge you can level against an American.

RT: Coleen, you’re an ex-FBI agent yourself, turned whistleblower. Can you, please, tell us about your story? How you were treated?

Coleen Rowley: Well, I was also a legal councilor, who told Constitutional Law to FBI agents and police for 13 years. And so, when you saw this 180-degree switch to the war paradigm and the use of intelligence rather than judicial process, due process, you know, the law of interrogation – I had to speak out and explain the failures of 9/11 and etc. I was still employed in the FBI and I didn’t get fired. I have to say that regrets that I’m aware of usually stand from the fact that people didn’t speak out. The Sam Adams’s story itself is one of somebody, who went through Vietnam and didn’t go public with these concerns. So, it’s quite the opposite that the regret comes from not being able to get this important information about illegal acts, risks to public safety, fraud, waste and abuse.

RT: Ray, out of the people here, you’re the only one, who hasn’t received the Sam Adam Award yet. I’m sure you should receive it though. Can you tell us more about this prize?

Ray McGovern: I haven’t received it because I don’t deserve it. We talked about regrets yesterday evening. Sarah Harrison, who for WikiLeaks has played a key role in rescuing Ed Snowden, she was asked if she had any regrets. She sacrificed a whole lot, OK? And she said: “No!” Now, me – I have regrets. And Sam Adams had regrets. Sam Adams was an intelligence analyst, who entered the CIA under John Kennedy at the same time I did. Sam was given the account to count up how many communists were under arms in South Vietnam. He found that there were 500,000 to 600,000. He went to Saigon, the general said: “No, there can’t be more than 299,000.” That specific figure gives you some problem? It’s sort of like 1,429 people gassed in Syria. So, Sam came back and fought a good fight. The only problem was that he fought it within channels. He went to the inspector general, to the Pentagon and to the CIA and they put him off. So, had he spoken out at that time, he lived with regret that he could’ve saved about a half of the US soldiers, who were killed – maybe 25,000 – and perhaps a million Vietnamese. I mean 3 million Vietnamese [died during the American war]. I knew what Sam was going through because he shared that with me. I knew there was a cable from the command in Saigon that said: “We can’t go at the correct figures because we have been projecting an image of success in this war. And there’s no way we could prevent the press from drawing erroneous and gloomy conclusions.” What I regret is that I didn’t ask Sam Adams for a copy of that cable and took myself down to the New York Times. You have to realize, the New York Times was an independent newspaper at that time. They would, actually, print that kind of thing without checking with the government. If I had gone down there and given that cable there’s a chance… I don’t know how much of a chance… but there’s a chance that the war could’ve shortened by years. I didn’t do that. I do have regrets. I’m the only one here, who isn’t a whistleblower and I regret it still.

RT: What was the reaction from Snowden last night when you told him that he’s won the Sam Adams Award?

Ray McGovern: Well, he already knew because we awarded it two months ago. The problem was getting it to him. And it’s our tradition, starting with Coleen [Rowley], that we physically present this… it’s sort of like an Emmy or an Oscar. What it is – is a candlestick holder for someone, who has shone bright light into dark corners. He didn’t know about the candlestick holder. He knew that he had achieved the award and he knew that we were coming. And the reception we’ve got was just so heart-warming. It was a person, who now realizes that he has very senior people – some of them ostracized… but very senior people, who speak for a lot of people still within those organizations that admire greatly what Edward Snowden has done and, hopefully, will summon the courage to follow his example.

RT: Thomas, I know we can’t disclose where Snowden is. He’s still kept under high security here in Russia. But what are his thought about the future?

Thomas Andrews Drake: I think it’s most what he’s done starting the conversation, the discussion not just in the US, but around the world in terms of the direct threat to the sovereignty of individual citizens.

Jesselyn Radack: I think his primary concern is about reform, not about his future – what’s going to happen to him, but more about having the reform that’s beginning, that has begun in the US and more importantly – or just as importantly – around the world. Because it really is a global issue to the extent that the NSA is spying on everybody – friend or foe. And that that conversation needs to continue. And also people need to realize that there’s a greater issue of human rights that’s been brought up by asylum and the fact that a number of people involved in his case, like Sarah Harrison, Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras , people are having trouble even moving around and getting where they’re going. I can speak personally and say, we weren’t worried about coming into your country [Russia] – we are worried about getting back into our own country [the US]. And that shouldn’t be the case.

Thomas Andrews Drake: The irony is that the US has abandoned the rule of law. It’s unchained itself from its very own constitution – the mechanism by which we govern ourselves. So when you ban the real law and use a secret law and secret interpretations of law, we’re in a whole new ball game. It’s a Pandora’s Box.

RT: We've had the new MI5 chief, Andrew Parker, saying that the constant leaks in the British press are undermining the agency's national security efforts because they put terrorists at an advantage. Is that a legitimate security concern?

Coleen Rowley: It’s ironic because I’ve read the statement from the British solicitor back, I think, in 1774, who accused Benjamin Franklin of that very same thing, of being a vile traitor. Benjamin Franklin leaked some truth about the fact the British were violating the colonists’ rights. If you can believe this parallel, it’s just incredible. Obviously, these things… people use this loyalty. Obviously, we’re for integrity. Integrity must trump this kind of blind loyalty.

Jesselyn Radack: And there’s been no evidence… We hear this in every single whistleblower case that there’s going to be blood on people’s hands and it has damaged security. There’s no demonstrable evidence other than an $8,000 payment to Somalia. Right?

Coleen Rowley: It’s exactly the opposite. There’s quite a lot of evidence building now that violations of the law hurt security. And lack of sharing of information… That’s actually the lesson of 9/11. It was a lack of sharing of information not only between agencies, but with the public, that enabled the 9/11 attacks. Everyone has forgotten that.

Ray McGovern: I just wanted to make a point about the head of MI5 [statement]. We have a tradition where Richard Dearlove, who was MI6, talked about shaping the intelligence to fit the policy before Iraq. So, I’d say take with a grain of salt a political statement that exaggerates dangers for political purposes.

RT: Returning to Edward Snowden, his father is going to see him later on today. Did he know that his closest family member was coming or not?

Thomas Andrews Drake: We understand that he was aware that he had family that was planning on coming to see him at some point.

Jesselyn Radack: And it was in the press. I mean it was in the Moscow Times and it was on the internet this morning. There were pictures. I mean I’m pretty sure he was aware of that. I think it’s something that he welcomes and I hope they have a lovely reunion. That’s certainly a privilege for us to be able to meet and interact with him and I think he enjoyed that too. Hopefully, there’ll be more of that in the future and people will be freer to associate, travel and do the things that normally are constitutionally protected in the US and are internationally protected through various declarations of human rights, for example.

Thomas Andrews Drake: The irony is that he had to escape the US to ensure any chance of freedom. And it wasn’t his plan to end up here. It was the US, who made him stateless by revoking his passport. And Russia – to its credit – actually, recognized the international law and granted him political asylum.

RT: Given everything that’s happened over the years with Julian Assange and now Snowden and etc., has the world become an easier place to be a whistle blower?

Coleen Rowley: I don’t know if it’s become easier. I think that there are countries that you can still go to and speak out freely. I think in the US – and we all have our fingers crossed – there’ll be some reforms. Because without integrity, I mean, it’s the beginning of the end. You really have to have freedom of press, freedom of association. So, we all have cautious optimism that we can actually have reform right now.

Thomas Andrews Drake: Look, I faced 35 years in prison. I was charged on the same Espionage Act that Edward Snowden is charged with. Fortunately, I was able to hold off the government and remain free. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here speaking with you. It’s a very dangerous period in history when those, who would dare speak truth of power, end up being prosecuted and persecuted.

Jesselyn Radack: I agree. It’s a dangerous time for whistleblowers in the US, but the effect… the ‘Snowden effect’ has been the opposite. We have more and more whistleblowers coming to the Government Accountability Project than we have had before. So, I think, that the US is trying to clamp down and send a message by making an example.

Courage is contagious. And I really think he has had a wonderful effect for the US and the world.

pix at the link

Sabrina

11th October 2013, 06:50

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/11/imf-diary-idUSL1N0I00RI20131011

Good to be a fly on the wall at this charade along with the NSA mosquitos :)... they should invite Karen Hudes along...

10 Oct

IMF, World Bank 2013 annual meetings in Washington

Oct 10 (Reuters) - Finance ministers and central bankers from around the globe are gathering in Washington for meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Officials from Group of 20 nations will meet on the sidelines.

Following is a schedule of top events. All times listed are in EDT/GMT.

Friday, 11 October, 2013 0730/1130 - Austria's central bank governor and ECB Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny gives a news briefing on the sidelines of the IMF meetings. 0745/1145 - German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and ECB Governing Council member Jens Weidmann hold news briefing. 0815/1215 - IMF European Department Press Conference.

0830/1230 - French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici speaks at the Council of Foreign Relations. 0900/1300 - IMF/World Bank plenary session.

0915/1315 - IMF press briefing on Asia and the Pacific Economic Outlook.

1000/1400 - Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi speaks on banking reform and development in Nigeria. 1200/1600 - Gene Sperling, director of the White House National Economic Council, speaks to the Institute of International Finance.

1215/1615 - IMF holds news conference on western hemisphere outlook. 1330/1730 - G20 press briefing 1345/1745 - IIf breakout session on Europe with Benoit Coeure, Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank; Jeroen Dijsselbloem, President of the Eurogroup and Minister of Finance, Netherlands; Jacob A. Frenkel, Chairman, JP Morgan Chase International; and Reza Moghadam, Director, European Department, International Monetary Fund.

1545/2045 - India Finance Minister P. Chidambaram speaks on the Indian Growth story to lure investment to India before the IDFC U.S. Investor Conference in Washington.

1600/2000 - Bank of Canada Deputy Governor John Murray participates in a panel discussion at the IMF.

Saturday, Oct. 12

Time unkown - Development Committee meets. 1000/1400 - IIF recovery and resolution discussion. Participants include Paul Tucker, Deputy Governor, Bank of England

1100/1500 - African Finance Ministers hold press briefing.

1300/1700 - IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and Singapore Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, chair of the IMF's steering committee, hold news conference at conclusion of committee meeting.

1315/1715 - IIF luncheon with Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan.

1430/1830 - IIF discussion on the G20 and the future global economic governance with Maria Luís Albuquerque, Minister of State and Finance, Portugal; Joerg Asmussen, Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank; Martin Parkinson, Secretary to the Treasury, Australia.

1445/1845 French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici and Bank of France Governor Christian Noyer hold news briefing. 1600/2000 - Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda speaks before IIF conference.

1830/2230 - Press briefing with Swiss Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf and Swiss National Bank Chairman Thomas Jordan at the IMF meetings.

Sunday, Oct. 13

Time Unknown - Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and India Finance Minister P. Chidambaram participate in 2103 U.S.-India Economic and Financial Partnership event in Washington.

and

Paul Hellyer - ex Candian Defence Minister's view on the advent of the financial woes...

wEOU0Kc3T1Q

Sabrina

11th October 2013, 07:03

http://www.victoryfortheworld.net/uk_action.html

VICTORY FOR THE WORLD website

ENLIST

IN THE WAR AGAINST
THE BANKS AND FOR
THE FREEDOM OF THE
WORLD

WORLD ACTION PLAN

Write to the political leaders of your country and demand that they join a worldwide movement to curb the virtually unlimited power of the banking cartel, adopt a tight timetable for converting the oil economy to clean energy and adopt measures for a more just and prosperous world as a condition of any current or possible future political support.

1. If you have a publicly-owned central bank, as in Canada, demand that it work for the people rather than in the interests of the privately-owned banks. If you have a privately-owned system, as in the U.S., nationalize it and make it work in the interests of all the people.

2. Require the central bank to print (create) sufficient debt-free money to balance the federal budget, provide relief to states, if any, and stimulate the economy to the point that it is operating at optimal capacity again. This will require an amendment to the treaty of Lisbon.

3. In the case of the European Union the central bank will have to estimate the requirements of the union as a whole and then distribute the debt-free euros on a per capita basis to all the member states

4. Reduce the leverage of the privately-owned banks steadily from their current larcenous rates until they can be capped at 2 to 1. Enact strict new regulations as to the purposes for which banks may or may not extend loans.

5. Accept the fact that global warming is at a critical stage and set a ten-year time target to change from a fossil fuel economy to a clean energy economy.

6. Demand that the U.S. disclose the progress it has made in back-engineering alien technology in the last 60 years since the crash of their vehicles at Roswell, New Mexico, and specifically their advances in the development of exotic energy sources essential to the rapid changeover from fossil fuels to clean energy.

8. Accede to the Outer Space Security and Development Treaty. www.peaceinspace.com

(also suggested plans for America and Canada on the site)

Sabrina

11th October 2013, 21:27

http://www.exaronews.com/articles/5101/police-pursue-new-leads-in-paedophile-case-against-ex-minister

11 Oct UK

Police pursue new leads in paedophile case against ex-Minister

see story at link as can't copy - says police are determined not to have this case shut down.

Sabrina

13th October 2013, 09:18

Are those dominoes falling at last? Trust Karen Hudes and the white hats are in the background somewhere... no fear as Dutchsinse says :)...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24511283

13 Oct

US borrowing crisis 'days away from danger', says World Bank head

The president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, has warned that the United States is just "days away from a very dangerous moment" because of the government's borrowing crisis.

He urged US policymakers to reach a deal to raise the government's debt ceiling before Thursday's deadline.

The US Treasury will start to run short of funds if no agreement is reached for it to borrow on financial markets.

Mr Kim warned this could be a "disastrous event" for the world.

"The closer we get to the deadline the greater the impact will be for the developing world.

"Inaction could result in interest rates rising, confidence falling and growth slowing," said Mr Kim, speaking at the World Bank's annual meeting in Washington.

"If this comes to pass it could be a disastrous event for the developing world and that will in turn greatly hurt the developed economies as well," he added.

'Uneasy'
If the US does run short of cash, this could cause it to default on its debts, a development which would be likely to have a severe effect on financial markets around the world.

The BBC's Andrew Walker said that finance ministers from other countries think the US probably won't default, but they are uneasy and want the crisis resolved very soon.

Republicans and Democrats failed to come to an agreement on Saturday, but Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat, said the aim was to reach a deal on extending the debt limit before markets reopen on Monday.

The White House rejected a deal for a short-term increase to the borrowing limit.

"It wouldn't be wise, as some suggest, to just kick the debt ceiling can down the road for a couple of months, and flirt with a first-ever intentional default right in the middle of the holiday shopping season," said President Barack Obama.

Shutdown
The US government has been in partial shutdown since Congress missed a 1 October deadline to pass a budget.

This has resulted in hundreds of thousands of federal employees being sent home and government offices closing.

Republicans refused to approve the new budget unless President Obama agreed to delay or eliminate the funding of the healthcare reform law of 2010.

KiwiElf

13th October 2013, 12:05

World top bankers warn of dire consequences if U.S. defaults
WASHINGTON | Sat Oct 12, 2013 1:56pm EDT

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/12/us-usa-fiscal-banks-idUSBRE99B09F20131012

By Emily Stephenson

(Reuters) - Three of the world's most powerful bankers warned of terrible consequences if the United States defaults on its debt, with Deutsche Bank chief executive Anshu Jain claiming default would be "utterly catastrophic."

"This would be a very rapidly spreading, fatal disease," Jain said on Saturday at a conference hosted by the Institute of International Finance in Washington.

"I have no recommendations for this audience...about putting band aids on a gaping wound," he said.

Jain, JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon and Baudouin Prot, chairman of BNP Paribas, said a default would have dramatic consequences on the value of U.S. debt and the dollar, and likely would plunge the world into another recession.

The U.S. Treasury Department has said it expects to max out its borrowing authority next week and won't be able to prioritize payments on U.S. debt over obligations like Social Security.

Lawmakers have seemed at an impasse over raising the debt limit. Democrats want to re-open federal agencies, which have been partially closed since funding ran out on October 1, and Republicans insist any debt ceiling deal includes plans to cut government spending.

Dimon and other top executives from major U.S. financial firms met with President Barack Obama and with lawmakers last week to urge them to deal with both issues.

On Saturday, Dimon said banks are already spending "huge amounts" of money preparing for the possibility of a default, which he said would threaten the global recovery after the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

"We need global growth," he said. "We are on the verge of getting it. Please let's not shoot ourselves in the foot."

Dimon also defended JPMorgan against critics who say the bank has become too big to manage. It has come under scrutiny from numerous regulators and on Friday reported its first quarterly loss since Dimon took over, due to more than $7 billion in legal expenses.

(Reporting by Emily Stephenson and Douwe Miedema; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

U.S. just days away from 'very dangerous moment': World Bank
WASHINGTON | Sat Oct 12, 2013 6:27pm EDT

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/12/us-imf-fiscal-idUSBRE99B0BX20131012

(Reuters) - The president of the World Bank on Saturday warned the United States was just "days away" from causing a global economic disaster unless politicians come up with a plan to raise the nation's debt limit and avoid default.

"We're now five days away from a very dangerous moment. I urge U.S. policymakers to quickly come to a resolution before they reach the debt ceiling deadline...Inaction could result in interest rates rising, confidence falling and growth slowing," World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in a briefing following a meeting of the bank's Development Committee.

"If this comes to pass, it could be a disastrous event for the developing world, and that will in turn greatly hurt developed economies as well," he said.

(Reporting by Anna Yukhananov and Lidia Kelly; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

childs hood end

13th October 2013, 14:50

just herd Taoiseach Enda Kenny say on the radio news that the country was now on course to "retrieve our economic sovereignty and independence".

Ireland will leave the international bailout programme run by Europe and the IMF on 15 December, the republic's prime minister has promised.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the country was now on course to "retrieve our economic sovereignty and independence".

The exit from the IMF/EU bailout will fulfill one of the key goals of the Fine Gael-Labour coalition since it came to power. The last Fianna Fáil-led government had to go cap in hand to the IMF and the EU back in November 2010 to seek a multibillion euro rescue package and save the country from national bankruptcy.

read more...
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/13/enda-kenny-ireland-bailout-exit-date
:cool:

Sabrina

13th October 2013, 19:26

http://2012thebigpicture.wordpress.com/category/whats-happening-in-society/

3 day protest in Washington DC by truckers against the Federal Government (they say it's time for the people to rise up and tame the beast that's the Federal Government... enough tyranny, taxation, big government... )

OCTOBER 12, 2013 US

Mainstream Coverage of the Million Truckers March on DC [videos]

NEWSFLASH! The Awakening is in progress. Rise up, people. Rise up.

Believe it… or not… Lamestream actually reporting on an anti-government event. Go figure.

Here’s ABC’s segment.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid180211731001?bckey=AQ~~%2CAAAAGuN0bcE~%2CrS1wzGXkRNnKZBuQ4FRjFM7e28yVdmek&bctid=2737384807001

Here’s Fox.

Truckers Ride For The Constitution - Day 1

OWdaRB2U8o8

Sabrina

13th October 2013, 20:07

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/george-osborne-cops-raid-home-2366160#ixzz2hZqGLQOr

By James Saville

George Osborne: Cops raid home of ex-vice madam about to tell all on wild parties involving top Tories

13 Oct 2013 UK

Natalie Rowe was warned not to "open a can of worms" before publishing new claims about her relationship with the Chancellor

Ex-vice madam Natalie Rowe has had her home raided by police days before she will make new claims about her relationship with Chancellor George Osborne, the Sunday People reports.

Up to 12 Drugs Squad officers armed with a battering ram burst into her London flat in a dawn swoop claiming they were acting on a tip-off from a member of the public.

But no drugs were found in the two-hour search during which Miss Rowe claims she was threatened with being handcuffed – and had questions asked about her forthcoming autobiography.

The book is expected to make embarrassing new claims about Mr Osborne, who was allegedly a regular guest at wild parties the dominatrix threw at her flat in the early 1990s.

Miss Rowe was raided just 48 hours after a national paper reported that her memoirs are due out later this month.

She has made an official complaint to police fearing she was targeted in a bid to smear her before the book hits the shelves.

She told the Sunday People: “I don’t do drugs, I don’t deal drugs, so why was the Drug Squad storming through my home like I was running a cartel?

“I’m not into conspiracy theories. I’d like to think the fact I’ve been unfairly targeted by the police has nothing to do with the fact my book is about to be published, which happens to be very embarrassing for the Chancellor.

"But it’s certainly made me wonder.

“There are serious questions I want answers to – WHY did one officer involved in the raid ask me whether I was about to publish my memoirs and WHY did a police inspector tell me I’d be opening a ‘whole can of worms’ if I complained?

"It beggars belief.”

more at the link

Sabrina

13th October 2013, 20:15

NBC/Wall Sreet Journal Poll: 60 percent Say Fire Every Member of Congress

US

By Domenico Montanaro, Deputy Political Editor, NBC News

http://tinyurl.com/ml9vd4k

Throw the bums out.

That’s the message 60 percent of Americans are sending to Washington in a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, saying if they had the chance to vote to defeat and replace every single member of Congress, including their own representative, they would. Just 35 percent say they would not.

According to the latest NBC/WSJ poll, the shutdown has been a political disaster. One in three say the shutdown has directly impacted their lives, and 65 percent say the shutdown is doing quite a bit of harm to the economy. NBC’s Chuck Todd reports.
The 60 percent figure is the highest-ever in that question recorded in the poll, registered in the wake of the government shutdown and threat of the U.S. defaulting on its debt for the first time in history. If the nation’s debt limit is not increased one week from now, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew warns that the entire global economy could be in peril.

“We continue to use this number as a way to sort of understand how much revulsion there is,” said Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted the poll with Republican Bill McInturff. “We now have a new high-water mark.”

Read the full poll here (.pdf)
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Sections/A_Politics/_Today_Stories_Teases/Oct_poll.pdf

The numbers reflect a broader trend over the last few years. Americans have traditionally said that while they might not like Congress, they usually like their own representatives. But that sentiment appears to have shifted.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid speaks in the White House driveway following a meeting Thursday with President Barack Obama.

The throw-them-all-out attitude has slowly taken hold over the last three years, coinciding with two things – the rise of the Tea Party caucus in the House and the debt ceiling fight of 2011.

In October 2010, a majority of Americans – 50 percent to 47 percent – said they would not fire all congressional members. But by August 2011, 54 percent said they would toss every lawmaker from office; in January 2012, 56 percent said that; and just three months ago, in July, it was 57 percent.

Frustration was evident among poll respondents across the ideological spectrum.

“You look at 800,000 people being out of work merely because Congress can’t come to an agreement to do their job, which we sent them there to do,” said a respondent from Mississippi, a strong Democrat. “I am prayerful for a revolution.”

The sentiment isn’t limited to Democrats. One Ohio woman, who considers herself a strong Republican, said her husband is a federal worker and they are worried about paying the bills.

“We will not get a paycheck,” she said. “It is federal pay and mortgage is due. Who is going to pay that — Obama or Congress who is still getting paid?”

Hart points out that the seeds are there to give rise to independent or third-party candidates.

According to Hart, “Somewhere, someone’s going to pick up and run with the ‘throw them all out’” banner.

The number of Americans who say they want to fire everyone is fairly consistent among most groups – at around 60 percent – but it spikes among rural voters (70 percent), white independents (70 percent) and those in Republican-held congressional districts (67 percent). Just 52 percent of respondents in Democratic-held districts would vote to fire every lawmaker on Capitol Hill.

In another sign of dissatisfaction with the state of politics, 47 percent of Americans said they do not strongly identify with either party.

The numbers in this poll also reflect a broader anger and pessimism among Americans, especially when it comes to the economy.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., sat down with Tina Brown at The Daily Beat Annual Hero Summit to talk debt ceiling, shut down, and what’s going on in Washington D.C.

A record-low 14 percent think the country is headed in the right direction, down from 30 percent last month. That’s the biggest single-month drop in the poll since the shutdown of 1990. And a whopping 78 percent think the country is on the wrong track. Just 17 percent think the economy will improve in the next year, while 42 percent think it will worsen.

Americans’ confidence in the economy has nose-dived, they say, because of President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans’ negotiations – or lack thereof – on the budget. Almost two in three – 63 percent – say it makes them less confident that the economy will get better.

“What these numbers tell us is that the already-shaken public – this kicked the stool out from under them,” Bill McInturff said. “We’re seeing numbers that are associated with historic lows in public confidence.”

Almost two-thirds – 65 percent – also say the government shutdown is having quite a bit or a great deal of harm on the U.S. economy.

“That linkage between these actions in Washington and economic confidence and what that means for trying to stabilize our economy, I think at a big-picture level [shows] how destabilizing” the standoff has been for the economy.

Democratic pollster Fred Yang, who helped conduct the poll with Hart, added that Americans are paying attention to this fight and want it resolved before the debt ceiling deadline of Oct. 17.

“This isn’t the calm before the storm,” Yang said. “This is the storm before the storm.”

¤=[Post Update]=¤

The FX is In

From The Economist – October 12,2013

http://tinyurl.com/ln84wvy

It has been a dreadful couple of years for financial benchmarks. Banks turn out to have rigged LIBOR, an interest rate used to peg contracts worth trillions.

Its equivalent in the world of derivatives, ISDAfix, has also come under question. Commodities prices from crude oil to platinum have been the subject of allegations and inquiries.

Now prices in global currency markets, where turnover is $5 trillion a day, are being scrutinised by authorities, who suspect bankers have tampered with those too.

Switzerland’s financial watchdog announced on October 4th that it was investigating a slew of banks it thinks have manipulated currencies. Britain and the European Union also have probes under way. None has detailed its suspicions, but concerns reportedly centre around abnormal movements ahead of a widely-used daily snapshot of exchange rates, known as the 4pm “London fix”.

It represents the average of prices agreed during 60 seconds’ trading, and is used as a reference rate to execute a much larger set of currency deals. Bankers, who are big participants in the market, have huge incentives to nudge the price of a given currency pairing ahead of the fix. With billions of dollars changing hands, a difference of a fraction of a cent can add a tidy sum to the bonus pool.

If proven, the charge would amount to banks fleecing their clients. Banks know the big trades they are about to execute on others’ behalf, and are often themselves the counterparty. By moving the markets ahead of the fix, they could alter the rate to their profit and their clients’ loss. One suspected method is “banging the close”: submitting a quick succession of orders just as the benchmark is set, to distort its value.

Though indicators based on real trades are meant to be harder to game than those using hypothetical figures (such as LIBOR, a daily poll of banks’ estimated borrowing rates into which respondents fed duff data), they are clearly not incorruptible.

The 4pm fix is used to calculate the value of all sorts of assets, such as the foreign holdings of mutual funds. Fiddling the rates could thus have an impact far beyond the banks and their clients.

Worse, if the bankers talked to each other ahead of their trades, as regulators think they may have, collusion will be added to the charge sheet. Investigations into other fiddled benchmarks have unearthed reams of messages between traders blithely discussing their swindles.

The risk of manipulation could be vastly diminished by using a benchmark that relies on more than just 60 seconds of trading, points out Mark Taylor, dean of Warwick Business School and a former currency-fund manager.

The damage to implicated banks’ reputations will be harder to fix

Sabrina

13th October 2013, 20:19

http://goldenageofgaia.com/2013/10/positive-military-in-action-us-fires-nuclear-arms-chief-for-misbehaviour/

‘Positive Military’ in Action?: US Fires Nuclear Arms Chief for Misbehaviour

Posted by Stephen Cook on October 12, 2013 / (comments from goldenageofgaia website)

Stephen: Although this ‘misbehaviour apparently is not linked to the 450 long-range missiles, I would suggest this major disciplinary action – and that taken just days ago involving the second-in-command at Strategic Command within the US Navy – is tangible evidence of the ‘positive military’ in action. Could these men have been about to abuse their military power for the wrong reasons – and now they’ve been stopped? Update: Reader Henry suggests another possible scenario: “Exactly the opposite my friend. These guys leaked the info and got punished for it”.

From Al-Jazeera – October 12, 2013

The US Air Force has announced the dismissal of the general in charge of the country’s long-range nuclear missiles for poor behaviour.

Major-General Michael Carey was removed from his command of the 20th Air Force due to a loss of trust and confidence due to “behaviour during a temporary duty assignment”, the air force said.

The 20th Air Force is responsible for 450 intercontinental ballistic missiles, many of which have multiple warheads.
Brigadier Les Kodlick, US Air Force spokesman, said: “The allegations are not related to operational readiness nor do they involve sexual misconduct.”

Two unnamed officials indicated to the AP news agency that it was linked to alcohol use.

Carey’s removal comes days after the US Navy announced that Admiral Timothy Giardina had been demoted from second-in-command at Strategic Command, which has control over the US nuclear arsenal, for allegedly using counterfeit casino chips.
The 20th Air Force’s management of its missiles has come under intense scrutiny in recent months.

A total of 19 missile crew members at a base in North Dakota were decertified after a “poor showing” in a March inspection.
In August, the 341st Missile wing, based in Montana, was issued a failure grade during an inspection, which cited “tactical-level errors” during one of several exercises.

Cary, a two-star general, has served in the US military for 35 years and was in charge of almost 10,000 people at three military bases.

and more here (via Sorcha Faal - disinfo as the mantra goes - but ??)

http://www.eutimes.net/2013/10/obama-ousts-top-officers-after-nuke-explodes-in-ocean-instead-of-charleston/

12 Oct

A shocking new Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) report circulating in the Kremlin today states that President Barack Obama, while in a rage, ousted four of the United States top ranking military officers after they refused to detonate a nuclear device “in/near” Charleston, South Carolina this past week and, instead, exploded it off the Atlantic Coast.

According to this report, Strategic Missile Forces Command (SMF) notified both President Putin and the General Staff this past Tuesday (8 October) that at 01:58:11 GMT/UTC an atomic device was exploded in the seabed off the US Atlantic Ocean, barely 1,000 km (620 miles) from Charleston, causing a 4.5 magnitude earthquake measurement that SMF experts equate to being a 1-kiloton yield, which is equal to the power of 1,000 tons of TNT.

This report notes that SMF experts are able in differentiate an earthquake from an atomic blast in that in the former the ground starts shaking slowly as plates slide against each other, and then the seismic activity slow picks up as the ground really starts to move. In an atomic explosion scenario, however, the initial blast is extremely powerful, and the subsequent shaking of the ground grows progressively less severe as was the case with the 8 October blast.

The particular atomic device used, this report continues, was a B61-11 Nuclear Bomb Low-Yield Earth-Penetrating Nuclear Weapon, otherwise known as a “mini nuke” which was deployed by the Clinton administration in the post-Cold-War era, but had been rejected for deployment by Presidents Carter, Reagan, and Bush.

The B61-11 can penetrate and detonate below the earth’s surface, creating a massive shock wave capable of destroying underground targets. In tests the bomb penetrates only 20 feet into dry earth, even when dropped from altitudes above 40,000 feet. But even this shallow penetration before detonation allows a much higher proportion of the explosion to transfer into ground shock relative to a surface burst.

Critical to note, this report says, are that many warnings to this atomic blast were given prior it 8 October, including to the highly influential Infowars.com website who on 3 September reported:

“A high level source inside the military has now confirmed to us that Dyess Air Force base is actively moving nuclear warheads to the East Coast of the United States in a secret transfer that has no paper trail.

According to the high level military source, who has a strong record of continually being proven correct in deep military activity, the Dyess Air Force Commander authorized unknown parties to transfer the nuclear warheads to an unknown location that has been reported to be South Carolina, where the warheads will then be picked up and potentially utilized.”

Many other reports of an impending “event” engineered by the Obama regime to cause chaos in the United States we had, likewise, reported on in our reports Pentagon Warns To Expect “Radical” Change In US Government Soon and Obama Retreats To Secret Bunker As “Big Event” Draws Near.

In the aftermath of the Obama regimes failed false flag nuclear attack on Charleston, GRU analysts in this report say, was the Presidents unprecedented ousting of Americans top two military nuclear commanders, US Navy Vice Admiral Tim Giardina and US Air Force Major General Michael Carey, and two of the US Marines top officers, Major General Charles M. Gurganus and Major General Gregg A. Sturdevant.

Admiral Giardina and General Carey, this report says, were ousted by Obama due to their being the officers responsible for leaking the information about this impending nuclear attack on Charleston to Generals Gurganus and Sturdevant, who in turn began leaking this information to various global intelligence sources, including Infowars.com and France’s highly respected dedefensa.org.

While Admiral Giardina and General Carey were the first to note Obama’s transferring of nuclear weapons to Charleston outside of the normal chain of command, GRU experts say in this report, Generals Gurganus and Sturdevant were tasked with leading US Marine troops from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina to begin the implementation of martial law after this false flag attack had taken place.
Equally important to note, this report continues, is that a further warning of this Obama regime false flag attack on Charleston was given this past August by South Dakota Senator Sheldon R. Songstad who warned of the unprecedented actions being taken in FEMA Region III (which includes Washington D.C.) in preparation for it, and included:

“Nine-week training course for UN Peacekeepers in CONUS to learn Urban Warfare, English, and US weapons systems beginning 4th week of July for 386,000 troops to be completed by October 1st;
$11 million in antibiotics to be delivered to FEMA region III by October 1st ordered by CDC;
FEMA purchase orders for over $14.2 million for MREs and heater meals to be delivered to Region III by October 1st;
FEMA purchase orders for 22 million pouches of emergency water to be delivered to region III by October 1st;
FEMA purchase orders for $13.6 million for MREs and heater meals to be delivered to Austin by October 1st;
2800 MRAPs must be delivered to DHS by October 1st”

US Senator Lindsay Graham further warned South Carolinians about the threat of a “terrorist nuclear attack” on the same day that Infowars.com warned that high level military intel revealed to them that nuclear warheads were being shipped to South Carolina from a major Texas air force base under an “off the record” black ops transfer.

While the predictable US propaganda media organs loyal to Obama have reported that these military officers firings were due to incompetence, gambling issues, and (maybe) alcoholism, this GRU report notes that these “pathetic excuses” are to beyond belief to give credence to as these four distinguished officers were “beyond reproach” and held the highest security clearances anyone could hold in the United States.

Even though this report doesn’t speculate on what Obama’s next move will be after his failure to nuke Charleston, it does grimly note that the former Presidential candidate and US Congressman Ron Paul has added his voice this week to those warning the American people of an impending state of martial law and economic collapse being engineered around them.

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and

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Sabrina

13th October 2013, 20:25

http://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/436169/Diana-Time-for-police-to-make-arrests-and-seize-documents-says-lawyer

12 Oct UK

Diana: Time for police to make arrests and seize documents, says lawyer

SCOTLAND Yard was under increasing pressure last night to launch a full-scale inquiry into sensational allegations that the SAS assassinated Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed.

The lawyer acting for Dodi’s father Mohamed Al Fayed urged detectives to finally get to the truth and use their powers to “seize documents and make arrests”.

Simon McKay was speaking after it emerged a third witness has corroborated claims from a former SAS sniper who apparently boasted how the elite regiment was involved in the deaths of the couple in a Paris underpass.

A small team of Yard detectives has been assessing the allegations as part of a “scoping exercise” since the claims were made public in August.

The SAS man’s ex-wife, her mother and stepfather have all given detailed statements to police supporting assassination claims attributed to the sniper known as Soldier N.

But police chiefs have so far refused to launch a proper murder investigation amid fears that the claims will be “swept under the carpet”.

A full-scale inquiry would allow the Yard to go to SAS headquarters in Hereford and discover who was serving at the time of the car crash which claimed the lives of Diana, 36, Dodi, 42, and their 41-year-old chauffeur Henri Paul in August 1997.

Mr McKay said yesterday: “There can be no serious question that the statement attributed to Soldier N was, in fact, made and therefore the necessary legal threshold crossed for a proper investigation to now be launched as opposed to the present ‘scoping exercise’ which is a somewhat ambiguous term for the current action being taken by the Metropolitan Police Service.

“A proper investigation will allow the police to use their statutory powers to seize documents and records and make arrests, if appropriate.”

The Yard’s reluctance to put inquiries on a formal footing has dismayed many legal observers.

One said last night: “If this was a banker suspected of insider dealing, police would just go in and grab the records. There would be none of this tip-toeing around.”

Dodi’s family has also questioned the decision to appoint Detective Chief Inspector Philip Easton as head of the “scoping exercise” as he was part of Scotland Yard’s Operation Paget inquiry – which concluded the deaths were a tragic accident. They have urged Yard chiefs to replace him with another detective in the interests of “transparency and fairness”.

Earlier this week, Soldier N’s stepfather-in-law was interviewed by two officers, including Mr Easton. It is understood he gave a compelling statement which confirmed the account by the ex-wife of Soldier N of how he bragged that SAS soldiers caused the crash.

The claims were originally contained in letters sent to the commanding officer of the SAS and Dyfed-Powys Police in September 2011.

They only emerged after this summer’s court martial of SAS sniper Sgt Danny Nightingale where Solder N was a witness. It is understood Soldier N has since denied making the claims.

Sabrina

13th October 2013, 20:53

http://rt.com/usa/veterans-storm-memorial-washington-152/

13 oct US

Veterans storm WW II DC memorial amid govt shutdown

Thousands of protesters pushed through barriers to make their way to the World War II Memorial closed under government shutdown in Washington DC. Local police donned riot gear as they tried to control the protesting veterans.

The crowd chanted “Tear down these walls” and sang patriotic songs in protest to the closing of monument during the government crisis, according to local news coverage.

About fifteen tractor trailer trucks from the Ride for the Constitution protest, which took place two days ago, joined the rally by a group called the Million Vet March to show their support.

According to a statement on the group’s website, they feel military personnel and veterans are “being used a political pawns in the ongoing government shutdown and budget crisis.” Organizers called the shutting down of memorials “a despicable act of cowardice.”

more at link and pix

Sabrina

13th October 2013, 21:00

http://rt.com/news/monsanto-march-berlin-protest-115/

'No Monsanto!': World marches against GMO food

Thousands took to streets across the world’s cities on Saturday to protest the use of GMO products, with Giant Monsanto being the main target. Over 50 countries have been taking part in the march for world food day, and across 47 different US states.

Berlin, Strasbourg, Chicago, London, Sydney and Mumbai are just a few of the 500 cities worldwide involved in the rallies, with each one drawing hundreds.

The demonstrators have been calling for the permanent boycott of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and “other harmful agro-chemicals,” according to March Against Monsanto’s official webpage. Protesters wielded large banners denouncing GMO products, and donned fancy dress: In Washington DC a group dressed as bees to highlight the impact of insecticides on bee populations.

Protesters in Washington told RT’s Anissa Naouai that Monsanto lobbyists were hard at work even though the government was shut down. March organizers also said that Saturday’s event was just the beginning, and that the momentum for the protests would build.

The rallies come four days ahead of World Food Day on Oct. 16 and are a direct attack on what the organizers term Monsanto’s “predatory business,” genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and other harmful pesticides, which threaten “health, fertility and longevity.”

In Berlin, people expressed displeasure at the food giant for a number of reasons, ranging from long-term health concerns to the chemicals used in Monsanto products.

“There a Smartstax corn that Monsanto has made…it is a corn that resists six different types of herbicide, so you can spray it with six different chemicals and it won’t die,” Heidi Ostermannm, a nutritionist participating in the Berlin march told RT.

“It also produces two insecticides in its own kernels and you can’t wash it off – I don’t even know if technically that’s food. In my mind as a nutritionist, that’s no longer food,” she said.

Dietrich Wittel, vice president of the True Food Foundation cited experiments conducted on rats, bringing a large poster with him showing the tumors suffered by the animals subject to being fed Monsanto corn.

“There are subtle signs of organ damage even in 90 days. But in two years, the lifetime of a rat is shortened – they have massive organ damage, massive breast tumors in the female rats, and that is really, really frightening,” he said, going on to discuss the effects on larger animals.

“Recently, a study from Australia has shown that pigs that are fed these corn products get massive stomach ulcers…. we have a much longer lifespan that a rat. If we are waiting for cancer to show as a result of GMOs, we’ve got to wait,” he said.

October is a particularly significant month for US protesters, as Agent Orange Awareness Month is being promoted by the Children of Vietnam Veterans Health Alliance (COVVHA).

“Monsanto was one of the seven chemical companies who manufactured Agent Orange which was laced with one of the most deadly chemicals known to man, dioxin. Monsanto, the other six companies, and the U.S. government, are responsible for the slow burn genocide of Vietnam Veterans, their children and grandchildren,” March Against Monsanto alleged.

A previous anti-Monsanto protest was held in May. It started as a small event, but turned into a global campaign with over 2 million people in 436 cities, across 52 countries, joining the rallies.

Sabrina

13th October 2013, 21:14

Unprecedented amount of activity at the moment surely? People standing up for their rights, public contempt for many of tptb, whistleblowers very active, more and more investigations and arrests (including high profile names), old cases being re-examined, abuse cover-ups falling apart, unexplained top brass US military dismissals, financial world still under scrutiny, while the sticky tape holding the whole money sham together beginning to strain at the edges...

We are living in interesting times to make an understatement :)...

Sabrina

13th October 2013, 21:26

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-10-13/chinas-official-press-agency-calls-new-reserve-currency

13 Oct

(there's a dedicated thread on this on Avalon, but for the record, more certainties are less certain...)

China's Official Press Agency Calls For New Reserve Currency, And New World Order

We assume it is a coincidence that on the day in which we demonstrate China's relentless appetite for gold, driven by what we and many others believe is the country's desire to have a call option on a gold-backed reserve currency when the time comes, just posted in China's official press agency, Xinhua, is an op-ed by writer Liu Chang in which he decries the "US fiscal failure which warrants a de-Americanized world" and flatly states that the world should consider a new reserve currency "that is to be created to replace the dominant U.S. dollar, so that the international community could permanently stay away from the spillover of the intensifying domestic political turmoil in the United States."

Of course, if China were serious, and if the world were to voluntarily engage in such a (r)evolutionary reserve currency transition, then all Magic Money Tree theories that the only thing better than near infinite debt is beyond infinite debt, would promptly be relegated to the historic dust heap of idiotic theories where they belong.

Some of China's (which as a reminder is the single largest offshore holder of US Treasury paper, and the second largest of all only second naturally to the Federal Reserve whose $85 billion in monthly monetizing "flow" is what is keeping rates from exploding higher) thoughts as captured in the Xinhua Op-ed:

Reform of the world’s financial system should include the introduction of a new internatonal reserve currency to replace the U.S. dollar

The international community could thus permanently stay away from the spillover of intensifying domestic political turmoil in the U.S.

Fiscal impasse in the U.S. is a good time for “befuddled world” to start considering building a “de-Americanized world”
Impasse has left many nations’ dollar assets in jeopardy and the international community agonized

Other cornerstones should be laid to underpin a de-Americanized world, including respect for sovereignty, recognizing authority of UN in handling global hotspot issues and giving developing and emerging market economies more say in major international financial institutions

Purpose of such changes is not to “completely toss the United States aside,” rather to encourage Washington to play a much more constructive role in addressing global affairs

Of course, if and when the day comes that the USD is no longer the reserve currency, kiss America's superpower, or any power, status, which is now based purely on the USD's reserve currency status, and the ability to fund half the US budget deficit with debt promptly monetized by the Fed, goodbye.

Finally, as a reminder...

From Xinhua:

U.S. fiscal failure warrants a de-Americanized world

As U.S. politicians of both political parties are still shuffling back and forth between the White House and the Capitol Hill without striking a viable deal to bring normality to the body politic they brag about, it is perhaps a good time for the befuddled world to start considering building a de-Americanized world.

Emerging from the bloodshed of the Second World War as the world's most powerful nation, the United States has since then been trying to build a global empire by imposing a postwar world order, fueling recovery in Europe, and encouraging regime-change in nations that it deems hardly Washington-friendly.

With its seemingly unrivaled economic and military might, the United States has declared that it has vital national interests to protect in nearly every corner of the globe, and been habituated to meddling in the business of other countries and regions far away from its shores.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government has gone to all lengths to appear before the world as the one that claims the moral high ground, yet covertly doing things that are as audacious as torturing prisoners of war, slaying civilians in drone attacks, and spying on world leaders.

Under what is known as the Pax-Americana, we fail to see a world where the United States is helping to defuse violence and conflicts, reduce poor and displaced population, and bring about real, lasting peace.

Moreover, instead of honoring its duties as a responsible leading power, a self-serving Washington has abused its superpower status and introduced even more chaos into the world by shifting financial risks overseas, instigating regional tensions amid territorial disputes, and fighting unwarranted wars under the cover of outright lies.

As a result, the world is still crawling its way out of an economic disaster thanks to the voracious Wall Street elites, while bombings and killings have become virtually daily routines in Iraq years after Washington claimed it has liberated its people from tyrannical rule.

Most recently, the cyclical stagnation in Washington for a viable bipartisan solution over a federal budget and an approval for raising debt ceiling has again left many nations' tremendous dollar assets in jeopardy and the international community highly agonized.

Such alarming days when the destinies of others are in the hands of a hypocritical nation have to be terminated, and a new world order should be put in place, according to which all nations, big or small, poor or rich, can have their key interests respected and protected on an equal footing.

To that end, several corner stones should be laid to underpin a de-Americanized world.

For starters, all nations need to hew to the basic principles of the international law, including respect for sovereignty, and keeping hands off domestic affairs of others.

Furthermore, the authority of the United Nations in handling global hotspot issues has to be recognized. That means no one has the right to wage any form of military action against others without a UN mandate.

Apart from that, the world's financial system also has to embrace some substantial reforms.

The developing and emerging market economies need to have more say in major international financial institutions including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, so that they could better reflect the transformations of the global economic and political landscape.

What may also be included as a key part of an effective reform is the introduction of a new international reserve currency that is to be created to replace the dominant U.S. dollar, so that the international community could permanently stay away from the spillover of the intensifying domestic political turmoil in the United States.

Of course, the purpose of promoting these changes is not to completely toss the United States aside, which is also impossible. Rather, it is to encourage Washington to play a much more constructive role in addressing global affairs.

And among all options, it is suggested that the beltway politicians first begin with ending the pernicious impasse.

KiwiElf

14th October 2013, 00:06

Key debt limit dates as deadline nears
AAPAAP – 2 hours 36 minutes ago

http://nz.finance.yahoo.com/news/key-debt-limit-dates-deadline-211204790.html

Here are key dates to watch as Congress negotiates over raising the U.S. government's debt limit:

- THURSDAY, Oct 17:

This is when US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew says the government would no longer be able to borrow. As a result, it would have to spend only from its cash on hand and tax revenue. Lew estimates that the Treasury would have about $US30 billion in cash.

- OCT 22:

Sometime between this date and Oct 31, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the government would run out of cash. It would have to slash spending 32 per cent over the next month, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. Treasury would probably make its top priority the payment of interest and principal on its debt to avoid a default. Either way, some programs wouldn't be funded, possibly including Social Security, veterans' benefits and Medicare.

- OCT 23:

A $12 billion Social Security payment is due. Without an increase in the debt limit, Treasury would have to wait two days to accumulate enough cash to make that payment, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. Missing the payment would likely intensify fears that the government will soon default.

- OCT 24:

The government must redeem $US93 billion in short-term debt. It typically sells new debt to pay old debt. Nervous investors would likely demand higher rates, thereby raising the government's borrowing costs. And if too few investors want to buy the new debt, the government wouldn't have enough cash to pay off its maturing debt. A default would result.

- OCT 31:

The Treasury Department must pay $US6 billion in interest on the debt. If it doesn't have enough cash, it would default. If the debt limit hasn't been raised by this point, much higher rates and far less government spending would likely nudge the economy toward recession.

- NOV 1:

The government faces a stack of bills: $US25 billion in Social Security benefits, $US18 billion in Medicare reimbursements, $US12 billion in military pay and veterans' benefits and $US3 billion for other benefit programs. With no increase in the debt limit, these payments would likely be delayed at least two weeks, the Bipartisan Policy Center estimates, to give the government time to build up cash.

- NOV 15:

The Treasury must make an additional $US29 billion in interest payments. If the economy has slowed and tax payments fall short of expectations, the government might not have enough cash and would have to default.

Sabrina

14th October 2013, 12:07

JY-7Sz058P4

Lawsuit: New York Fed examiner fired for Goldman Sachs findings

Via Arrest the Bankers Facebook

A former senior examiner at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York filed a wrongful-termination lawsuit against the bank. Carmen Segarra, a lawyer who spent seven months examining the Legal and Compliance Division of Goldman Sachs, found that the Wall Street bank did not have policies in place to prevent conflicts of interest as required by government regulations. When Segarra brought this information to light, she says she was pressured by New York Fed officials who oversee the Fed's relationship with Goldman Sachs to change her findings, and, when she refused, she says she was fired. RT's Ameera David has more details on Segarra's lawsuit.

Sabrina

15th October 2013, 13:34

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/oct/15/royal-bank-scotland-trader-currency

15 Oct UK

Former Royal Bank of Scotland trader linked to currency market fixing

Financial Conduct Authority reportedly looking at instant messages sent by Richard Usher, now at JP Morgan

Electronic messages that Royal Bank of Scotland handed to the City regulator in connection with potential manipulation of the £3tn-a day currency market are reported to have been sent by the bailed-out bank's former trader Richard Usher.

The messages are said to be among those handed to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) by the bank, which is 81% owned by the taxpayer.

Usher, who could not be reached for comment, is now the head of spot trading at JP Morgan in London. He has been listed as a member of a Bank of England committee that polices a voluntary code of group practice for the markets.

The regulatory review by the FCA, which has not yet escalated its inquiries into a formal investigation, implies no wrongdoing by Usher, according to the Bloomberg news agency, which revealed his identity.

The analysis of the electronic messages is the latest move by regulators to test the integrity of benchmarks used to price financial products in the light of the Libor-rigging scandal as well as manipulation of gas prices. The investigation was triggered by reports in the Guardian last year.

The FCA said in June it was looking at foreign exchange markets after Bloomberg reported that traders at some banks were sharing information about their positions through instant messages. These were said to be a way to manipulate an index compiled by WM/Reuters and based on prices of currencies for a 60-second period.

The Swiss regulator has since begun an investigation, and US authorities are said be looking at the situation.

Last week RBS refused to comment on a report that it had handed the FCA instant messages sent to and from a currency trader who no longer works for the bank and who left before any questions were asked. JP Morgan, RBS and the FCA declined to comment on the latest reports.

The FCA register says Usher has worked at JP Morgan since 2010 but it does not show any history of him working at RBS, where he most probably did not hold a role that required him to be on the register.

The Wall Street Journal said the instant messages were allegedly sent to a group of traders known as the bandits' club or the cartel.

Sabrina

15th October 2013, 13:44

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/jeremy-warner/10378666/The-sun-is-setting-on-dollar-supremacy-and-with-it-American-power.html

The sun is setting on dollar supremacy, and with it, American power

A serious alternative to the dollar is still a long way off, but the latest shenanigans on Capitol Hill have given the search for them renewed momentum

By Jeremy Warner, Assistant Editor

All great empires – from the Greek, to the Roman, the Spanish and the British - have at their heart a dominant means of exchange which is very much part of their political and social hegemony. Once upon a time, it was Roman coinage which was the world's pre-eminent currency. In more recent times it was the British pound. Today, it's the US dollar to which international investors flock as a safe haven for their money. Highly liquid and apparently reliable – until recently at least – nothing else comes even remotely close to the greenback's dominant position in the international monetary system.

That this position – what Giscard d'Estaing referred to as America's "exorbitant privilege" – could so casually be put at risk by politicians on Capitol Hill is an extraordinary spectacle that may be indicative of a great power already seriously on the wane.
With the pound, the fall from grace was swift. Britain emerged from the devastation of the First World War an irreparably damaged economic and military power, with crushing debts and a deeply impaired manufacturing sector.

The dollar was able quickly to usurp the pound's position. Final defeat for sterling came with Britain's decision to leave the gold standard in 1931 – an economically sensible decision but a psychological turning point for sterling from which it never recovered.
Lack of any credible alternative means it won't happen so quickly with the dollar. For all the progress of the last 30 years, China for now remains a much smaller economy than the US and in any case is nowhere near ready financially to assume such a role. As for the euro, the dollar needn't trouble itself much about this one-time pretender to the throne.

Yet rarely before has international dissatisfaction with the dollar's role as reserve currency to the world been as great as it is now. The most visible anger comes from China, with more than $3 trillion of dollar foreign exchange reserves, $1.3 trillion of them held in US Treasuries. For ordinary Chinese, it has come as a revelation to discover they own so much American debt. That they own it in a country which because of political brinkmanship may actually default has provoked understandable fury.

"It is perhaps a good time for the befuddled world to start considering building a de-Americanised world", China's official government news agency has said.

A steady erosion of trust which began with the financial crisis five years ago has reached apparent breaking point with the pantomime antics on Capitol Hill. The search for long-term alternatives to the dollar is on as never before. Regrettably, there aren't any, or not for the time being in any case. Everyone can only look on in horror as the US commits apparent economic suicide.

Such is the dollar's dominance that, to begin with at least, investors might simply have to take default on the chin. More than 60pc of global foreign exchange reserves are held in US dollars, which also account for more than 80 per cent of global foreign exchange trading.

So important is dollar liquidity in global trade that if, for instance, you wanted to sell Singapore dollars and buy South African rand, your forex dealer would first typically buy US dollars with your Singapore dollars and then use them to buy the South African rand. The dollar is the middle currency in the vast bulk of international transactions.

By the same token, US Treasuries are the very backbone of the global financial system. They are the supposed "risk-free asset" against which everything else is benchmarked, and as such are the collateral of choice in a huge array of financial market transactions. The dollar is also the currency used to price most commodities, from oil to gold.

The dollar's hegemony is all pervasive. This has given the greenback a degree of leverage unmatched by any other reserve currency in history. If China starts to sell dollar assets, it will only weaken the dollar, undermining Chinese exports and reducing the value of its remaining portfolio of dollar assets.

I'd been part of the received wisdom that any act of US default would set off a devastating chain reaction of bankruptcies that would provoke a second global financial crisis. But David Bloom, chief currency strategist at HSBC, has convinced me that dollar hegemony might perversely act in the opposite way, at least initially.

Unlike a generalised credit event, where all instruments default at the same time, the US would initially engage in a series of little, self contained defaults, or "selective defaults", whose individual impact would probably not be that great.

Each bond has a life and coupon of its own. The missed coupon payment might therefore be regarded as not so bad – especially as this is a case of "won't pay", rather than "can't pay".

Markets see such defaults differently, with missed payments expected to be made up eventually once a political resolution is found. It's also very likely that the Federal Reserve would attempt to counter the damage in financial markets with more QE, buying up the Treasuries that investors dumped.

Furthermore, the financial uncertainty created by default would likely drive investors towards past safe havens of choice – in particular, US dollar assets. Alternative safe havens, such as Japan and Switzerland, have been rendered defunct by central bank money printing. Ironically, emerging markets are likely be more damaged by default than the US itself, with further capital flight.
Such is the degree of "exorbitant privilege" enjoyed by the dollar that it might therefore be the first currency in history to see an asset price rally on the back of a default. However, if there were repeated selective defaults, a second, less benign phase would eventually set in. Spooked markets would begin to sell off the dollar.

The consequent stronger euro and pound would have powerfully deflationary consequences for Europe. Internal demand in the US would also collapse as a result of the wrenching fiscal squeeze that would result from federal government attempts to match expenditures with tax revenues.

Dollar hegemony has long been a destabilising force at the centre of the international monetary system; it's a major part of the sharp build-up in global current account imbalances and cross border capital flows that have been at the heart of so many of the problems in the world economy. The unprecedented accumulation of dollar foreign exchange reserves has in turn caused new challenges for the US, making it more difficult to maintain fiscal and financial stability within its own borders.

Policies that may or may not be good for the US are in all probability bad for everyone else. Loose monetary policy in the US since the crisis began has induced unwanted demand and asset bubbles elsewhere in the world.

Serious alternatives to the dollar, such as a global reserve currency, are still a long way off, but the latest shenanigans on Capitol Hill have given the search for them renewed and added momentum. The US is wrecklessly throwing away its future.

14 Oct

Sabrina

16th October 2013, 08:46

http://kauilapele.wordpress.com/2013/10/15/even-more-evidence-of-the-cabal-takedown-10-15-13-from-rt-vt/

Via Kauilapele

[Even more] Evidence of “the Cabal” Takedown???… 10-15-13 [from RT & VT]

Posted on 2013/10/15

Veterans storm WW II DC memorial amid govt shutdown

http://rt.com/usa/veterans-storm-memorial-washington-152/

Is there enough medical evidence to prove Monsanto unsafe?

http://rt.com/op-edge/monsanto-march-guest-interview-097/

US Losing the World’s Respect Due to its Hypocrisy in the Middle East

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2013/10/15/us-losing-the-worlds-respect-due-to-its-hypocrisy-in-the-middle-east/

VT Exclusive Busts BioWar Lab… US Lab in Georgia at Center of Storm Over Biological Warfare Claims

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2013/10/15/vt-exclusive-busts-biowar-lab/

John Kerry: “Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire”… “Predicated” fall of Assad on hold now US “false flag” gas attack exposed

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2013/10/15/john-kerry-liar-liar-pants-on-fire/

and

http://kauilapele.wordpress.com/2013/10/15/even-more-evidence-of-the-cabal-takedown-10-15-13-from-presstv/

Fitch puts US on credit downgrade watch

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/10/15/329601/fitch-puts-us-on-credit-downgrade-watch/

‘Hypocrisy tarnishing US reputation’

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/10/14/329400/hypocrisy-tarnishing-us-reputation/

US credit security facing collapse (by Jack Lindblad, Green Party… interesting video)

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/10/15/329600/us-credit-security-facing-collapse/

US presses Syria group to join Geneva 2 conference

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/10/16/329612/us-asks-syria-group-to-join-geneva-talks/

Iran, six powers wrap up 2nd round of Geneva N-talks

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/10/15/329577/2nd-round-of-ntalks-ends-in-geneva/

US senators propose suspension of Iran sanctions

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/10/15/329597/us-senators-offer-lifting-iran-sanctions/

and

Brazil to build its own email system to avoid NSA spying

YGC4-Cxs_k8

Sabrina

16th October 2013, 08:49

Freedom of the Press Foundation Takes Over Aaron Swartz’s Whistleblower Project, Now SecureDrop

From RT.com - October 15, 2013

http://tinyurl.com/l4poz35

Whistleblowers, rejoice! The Freedom of the Press Foundation is taking the helm of a secure document-submission service co-created by late computer prodigy Aaron Swartz, and wants to make it more accessible than ever.

The foundation — launched less than a year ago “to crowd-source funding for cutting-edge, independent journalism and publishing outlets” lacking mainstream support — announced early Tuesday that it has taken charge of the DeadDrop project, an endeavor announced earlier this year after the death of Swartz, a transparency advocate who co-created the system with Wired journalist Kevin Poulsen.

DeadDrop was unveiled this past May and touted at the time as being a secure-way of submitting sensitive documents to a single publication: The New Yorker. But only five months after its debut, the Freedom of the Press Foundation said it has now inherited the project from Poulsen and will try to bring it to more media outlets needed to communicate securely with sources.
In a blog post authored by the foundation’s Trevor Timm and Rainey Reitman on Tuesday, they wrote that the project has been re-named SecureDrop, and within a matter of weeks it will be available to a number of journalistic outlets who’ve already expressed interest in getting involved.

The foundation has published the open-source instructions for SecureDrop on its website and claims “Any organization can install SecureDrop for free and can make modifications” now—not just the New Yorker.

When operating accordingly, the SecureDrop system works when an anonymous source accesses a website anonymously and provides documents to the news outlet that are encrypted and only available to select employees. Journalists and sources communicate using code words, and documents are deciphered using an air-gap computer that is never connected to the Internet.

That isn’t to say it’s easy to someone without a deep computer and security knowledge to get the system and up and running, however, and that’s what the foundation is offering to find help for organizations who want to use SecureDrop but might need assistance.

“Freedom of the Press Foundation will also help organizations install SecureDrop and train its journalists insecurity best practices to ensure the best protection for sources,” the group announced on their website.

A group of independent experts, including Jacob Appelbaum of the Tor Project and security guru Bruce Schneier, audited SecureDrop in August and have since released their findings. Their initial report revealed a number of flaws that caused concern, though, and the foundation has reportedly since begun correcting those errors.

Even before revamping the system to fix those issues, though, the the security experts said the system was still “technically decent” for allowing anonymous communication between sources and journalists. Since then, the foundation says it “has made a number of updates to SecureDrop based on these findings and will be making a significant investment in continually improving the system.”

“We’ve reached a time in America when the only way the press can assure the anonymity and safety of their sources is not to know who they are,” foundation co-founder John Perry Barlow said in a statement released this week. “SecureDrop is where real news can be slipped quietly under the door.”

Timm, the group’s executive director, added in a statement that “A truly free press hinges on the ability of investigative journalists to build trust with their sources.”

When the foundation was unveiled last year, it initially began processing donations and contributions to whistleblower-related groups including WikiLeaks and the Center for Public Inquiry. When the military court-martial of WikiLeaks source Chelsea Manning was conducted in de-facto secrecy, the foundation raised over $100,000 to hire stenographers so that the press could have transcriptions of proceedings that otherwise would not necessarily be made public.

Aaron Swartz Takes His Own Life: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/tormented-genius-internet-guru-26-takes-his-own-life-20130113-2cno2.html

Sabrina

16th October 2013, 08:59

http://www.aangirfan.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/the-mccanns-versus-worlds-biggest-mafia.html

There's renewed publicity in the UK about the hunt for the little girl Madeleine McCann reportedly kidnapped in Portugal some years ago. Here's one view on it all. So much is still going on behind the scenes about pedophile ring investigations across the world (with high profile names), with attempts to shut these all down. Let's see where this one leads.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2013

THE McCANNS VERSUS THE WORLD'S BIGGEST MAFIA

Kate and Gerry McCann are up against the world's most powerful child abuse mafia.

They appear to know this.

Various top people have been attracted to the Algarve - European royal families, Cliff Richard, Tony Blair, David Cameron, the Beckhams, Jose manuel Barroso, Ronaldo, José Mourinho, Hugh Grant, Colin Montgomery, John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg...

Before the Madeleine McCann story broke, the McCanns were not important people.

If there had been no involvement by any high powered pedophile ring, then the Madeleine story would have had had little impact.

But, MI5 and a whole host of other agencies were observed taking an interest in the case.

full story at link

Sabrina

17th October 2013, 07:35

Perhaps she'd had enough of what she's really seen....

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/house-stenographer-unleashes-bizarre-outburst-congress-voted-bill-reopen-government-article-1.1488063

16 Oct US

Politics (pix and videos at link)

House stenographer unleashes bizarre outburst as Congress voted on bill to reopen government, settle debt limit
Reporters on hand for Wednesday night’s vote captured a ranting woman — said to be House stenographer Diane Reidy — yelling on the House floor about Freemasons and God.

In this image from House Television, with partial voting totals on the screen, a woman, at the rostrum just below the House presiding officer, seen between the "yea" and "nay" in a white shirt, is removed from the chamber after she began shouting.
The shutdown of the government shutdown sent one woman into meltdown mode.

The ranting woman, reportedly a House stenographer, unleashed a bizarre tirade Wednesday night — just as the chamber hurriedly voted to pass a bill to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling.

Security officers quickly escorted her out of the House chamber following the outburst — which invoked God and the Freemasons.

“He will not be mocked! He will not be mocked!” the woman raved as she stepped onto the dais and took over the microphone on the House floor.

“Don’t touch me!” she cried as the officers started to pull her away by the arms.

“This is not one nation under God. It never was,” she said. “Had it been ... the Constitution would not have been written by Freemasons, they go against God.

“You cannot serve two masters!” she finished, leaving members and staffers stunned.

RELATED: NOTE TO POLITICIANS: BE MORE LIKE WILL SWENSON

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) said the stenographer is a familiar and liked figure in the House, The Washington Post reported.

The bizarre speech came as Congress passed an eleventh-hour deal to avert a disastrous default by the U.S. government on its debts.

and more here at CNN

http://americankabuki.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/house-stenographer-delivers-impromptu.html

Stenographer snaps, rants on House floor
Posted by
CNN's Political Unit
Updated: 12:28 a.m. ET, 10/17/2013

Washington (CNN) – Amid all the chaos of the last-minute deal in Washington, there was an unusual moment on the House floor moments after the bill passed.

A House stenographer and well-known employee calmly took to a microphone and began screaming.

"Do not be deceived. God shall not be mocked. A House divided cannot stand," she said, according to a House GOP aide. After a few seconds, she was escorted out by the Sergeant-at-Arms, but an audio recording by Todd Zwillich of Public Radio International captured the rest of her rant.

"He will not be mocked, He will not be mocked, (don't touch me) He will not be mocked. The greatest deception here, is that this is not one nation under God. It never was. Had it been... it would not have been... No. it would not have been... the Constitution would not have been written by Free Masons... and go against God. You cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve two masters. Praise be to God, Lord Jesus Christ."

House members and aides were surprised and unsettled by the scene.

"I don't know, she just snapped," said a GOP aide.

CNN's Dana Bash spoke with several staffers who knew the woman well.

"She’s a well-known person, she’s a perfectly nice person, a good colleague, somebody who’s respectable and dependable, and this is very surprising to everybody who works with her," Bash reported on air.

"The Sergeant in Arms didn’t try to stop her because she works there and that’s where she’s situated," Rep. Peter King, R-New York, told Jake Tapper. "And she actually went up behind the podium where the president speaks from. They thought she was going to hand something to the speaker, and then they realized."

Officer Shennell S. Antrobus of Capitol Police told CNN that officers have interviewed the woman and that she was transported to a local hospital for evaluation. Many officers knew her personally as well, a source said.

–CNN’s Deirdre Walsh, Steve Brusk, and Conor Finnegan contributed to this report.

Sabrina

17th October 2013, 08:52

Bankers are feeling the heat... .

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/10/15/uk-barclays-sants-idUKBRE99E0IU20131015

LONDON | Tue Oct 15,

(Reuters) - The head of compliance at Barclays Plc (BARC.L) has become the latest senior banker to take time off for stress as the fallout from the financial crisis takes its toll on employees' health.

Hector Sants was suffering from exhaustion and stress following five years at the helm of Britain's top financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority, and a busy start to his role at Barclays this year, the bank said on Tuesday.

His diagnosis has parallels to that of Lloyds (LLOY.L) Chief Executive Antonio Horta-Osorio who took two months off at the end of 2011 on doctors' orders after suffering sleep deprivation and exhaustion while trying to turn the bank around.

Sants' illness fuelled calls for banks to find better ways to handle the physical and mental health of staff, many of whom were vilified as the villains of the financial crisis due to a culture of excess in many of the world's top banks.

Michael Sinclair, consultant psychologist and clinical director of the City Psychology Group in London, said both senior and junior bankers were under greater pressure due to job cuts, tough sales targets and increased regulatory scrutiny.

"It is still very much a threatening environment ... we are seeing more people coming in, year on year," said Sinclair. About 90 percent of his clients come from the financial services sector.

"What we are seeing is people working longer and harder even though they are unwell, even though they are stressed, to try and ensure they are not next to be marched out of the office."

LONG-HOURS CULTURE

Hundreds of thousands of financial services jobs have been cut in the past five years, exacerbating a long-hours culture in the highly competitive but potentially lucrative sector.

That culture hit the headlines this summer when Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAC.N) intern Moritz Erhardt was found dead in his London lodgings after working through the night several days running.

In Switzerland, Zurich Insurance (ZURN.VX) is investigating whether the suicide of Chief Financial Officer Pierre Wauthier in August was due to undue strain at work and is looking into the company's wider corporate culture and behaviour.

A Barclays spokesman said Sants, who is head of compliance, government affairs and regulatory relations for the bank, will take a leave of absence until the end of the year following medical advice. He is expected to return to work in 2014.

Lloyd's Horta-Osorio returned to work in early 2012 after his leave and has since been praised for leading a recovery at Lloyds and held up as an example to combat the stigma of mental illness in the fast-paced world of banking.

Last week the Bank of England took the unusual step of joining a public campaign on mental health, urging its staff to seek help from managers or an in-house counsellor if needed, and setting an example for other banks.

"In London particularly there is a sense of shame and embarrassment in saying it is hard to cope and that is part of the culture that banks need to find ways to change," London-based executive coach and therapist Karin Peeters told Reuters.

(Additional reporting by Steve Slater and Carmel Crimmins,; Editing by Erica Billingham)

Sabrina

18th October 2013, 08:17

18 Oct

Barclays Executives Knew of Libor Lowballing, Guardian Claims

Current and former executives at Barclays Plc (BARC) knew that the bank submitted lower-than-accurate Libor rates as early as 2007, according to transcripts of conversations between executives cited in a U.K. court case.

Mark Dearlove, head of Barclays’s money-market desk, told another executive, Jonathan Stone, he’d received complaints about the bank’s submissions from an employee of JPMorgan Chase & Co., according to a transcript dated December 2007 and handed down in court. The document is being used as evidence in a lawsuit in London against Barclays over an interest-rate swap.

I don’t know what you guys are playing at,” Dearlove said. “We know you’re paying 540m, why are you setting Libor rates at 530?”

Companies in the Guardian Care Homes group are suing Barclays to cancel an interest-rate swap deal linked to the London interbank offered rate, saying they wouldn’t have agreed if they knew the benchmark was being rigged. An appeal by Barclays against the Libor claims is being heard alongside a similar swap case against Deutsche Bank AG brought by Indian property developer Unitech Ltd. (UT)

While Barclays hasn’t objected to the material being produced, “the bank does not consider any of the new evidence to be relevant to the issues in front of the Court of Appeal,” Jon Laycock, a spokesman for the lender, said in an e-mail.
Regulatory investigations in the U.S., U.K. and Asia found evidence traders and brokers tried to influence Libor for profit, leading to fines and settlements totaling about $2.6 billion for Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, UBS AG (UBSN) and ICAP Plc. (IAP)

‘All Wrong’
Robert Diamond, who resigned as chief executive officer of Barclays in the wake of the scandal, told U.K. lawmakers in July 2012 testimony that all the panel banks lowered their submissions. He denied knowing anything about it until a week before the regulators published their findings that month.

Dearlove told Stone the bank’s submissions were “all wrong” and wanted to escalate the complaint. “I guess the quesions[sic] is, is everybody else, what’s happening with everybody else?” Stone replied, according to the transcript.

In other evidence from the Guardian documents, a Barclays employee in Singapore asked its Libor submitters to enter lower rates in order to earn profit for an investment fund run by the bank.

Quan Hui Lee e-mailed colleagues in London instructing them to “go get Libor down” and go “LOWER! Go for 3 percent,” according to e-mail evidence. The e-mails come from a letter written by Barclays’ lawyers, Clifford Chance LLP, that was sent to Singapore regulators in May 2013 detailing an internal investigation.

New Material
Ian Pike, a Barclays employee in London who submitted rates, wrote back to Lee saying: “I’ll do my best boss!” according to the letter. The purpose of the changes was to make a profit or avoid losses at the fund, according to Guardian.
Evidence provided in the case shows Barclays’ “misconduct goes further and wider than the regulatory findings,” Guardian’s lawyers said in the documents. They said they couldn’t yet provide the court with all the new material.

“My swaps have cost me 12 million pounds ($19 million), so the suggestion that these allegations are irrelevant are fanciful,” Gary Hartland, Guardian Care Homes CEO, said in an e-mailed statement.

Open Doors
The Court of Appeal will rule on whether Unitech and Guardian can seek to tear up the swap deals, or whether they must prove a loss and seek damages.

Its decision may “open the doors for many more such claims,” said Stewart Burrows, a lawyer not involved in the hearing.
Barclays has argued Guardian owes 70 million pounds and said the Libor claims have no merit. Guardian had advisers and enough experience and understanding to exercise its own judgment about the suitability of the swap, Laycock said.

The appeal “isn’t concerned with the extent to which Barclays manipulated Libor or with the regulators’ reports,” the bank’s lawyer, Robin Dicker, told the court this morning. It is to decide whether Guardian “can rely on such content to avoid or reduce its obligations.”

Unitech presented e-mail evidence that Deutsche Bank employees had discussed clients being “screwed” in swap deals. Both cases started out as mis-selling claims and later sought to add Libor accusations.

The cases are: Graiseley Properties Ltd & Ors. v. Barclays Bank Plc, case no. 12-1259, High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division; and Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) & Ors v. Unitech Global Limited & Anr, case no. 11-1199, High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division.

Sabrina

18th October 2013, 08:22

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/18/us/jeh-c-johnson-will-be-nominated-as-homeland-security-chief.html?_r=0&hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1382084339-o9TH1izjfz2pk33OOw7PJg

17 Oct US

Former Pentagon Official to Be Chosen as Homeland Security Chief

President Obama plans to nominate Jeh C. Johnson, who framed many of the administration’s national security policies as the Defense Department’s general counsel during Mr. Obama’s first term, to become the next secretary of the Homeland Security Department, according to administration officials.

If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Johnson, 56, will fill the vacancy left by Janet Napolitano, who resigned in July to lead the University of California system.

Mr. Johnson — whose first name is pronounced “Jay” — has little experience with some of the issues that Ms. Napolitano faced, like border security and immigration. But he was a legal adviser to Mr. Obama during his first presidential campaign and has similar views to the president’s about the future of the United States’ counterterrorism operations. He was at the center of Mr. Obama’s first-term efforts to re-evaluate the counterterrorism policies of President George W. Bush.

During his tenure at the Defense Department, Mr. Johnson shaped the Obama administration’s policies on the detention of terrorism suspects and on targeted drone strikes in Yemen and Somalia. He also helped lead the drive to end the “don’t ask, don’t tell” law that had barred gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military.

In an address at the National Defense University in May, Mr. Obama echoed Mr. Johnson in warning about the need to fight terrorism without being on a “perpetual wartime footing.”

“Our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue,” the president said. “But this war, like all wars, must end. That’s what history advises. That’s what our democracy demands.”

Mr. Johnson had said close to the same thing shortly before leaving his Pentagon job in December 2012. In a speech at Oxford, he looked ahead to a day when Al Qaeda was so diminished that the United States could relax its posture and end the military’s legal authority to kill and detain terrorism suspects.

“I do believe that on the present course, there will come a tipping point — a tipping point at which so many of the leaders and operatives of Al Qaeda and its affiliates have been killed or captured and the group is no longer able to attempt or launch a strategic attack against the United States,” Mr. Johnson said at the time.

But he emphasized that he was not declaring the struggle to be over, stressing the danger of Qaeda affiliates in Yemen and in North and West Africa. He also suggested that even after the armed struggle ended, there could be a need to hold some detainees legally without trial for a period of time, as happened after World War II.

Earlier in 2012, Mr. Johnson delivered a speech at Yale Law School defending the proposition that American citizens who join Al Qaeda may be lawfully targeted for killing under certain circumstances.

But he has also criticized the Obama administration for being too secretive about matters like targeted killings using drone strikes.

“The problem is that the American public is suspicious of executive power shrouded in secrecy,” Mr. Johnson said in a speech at Fordham University this year. “In the absence of an official picture of what our government is doing, and by what authority, many in the public fill the void by imagining the worst.”

Members of Congress praised Mr. Johnson on Thursday, but they also raised concerns that so many positions remained unfilled at the Homeland Security Department.

“Even with this prospective nominee, over 40 percent of senior leadership positions at D.H.S. are either vacant or have an ‘acting’ placeholder,” said Representative Michael McCaul, Republican of Texas and the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. “The lack of leadership at the White House is reflected in the holes in leadership at the department, and these important positions must be filled in order to fill the holes in our homeland security.”

The president will announce the nomination at 2 p.m. on Friday, according to an administration official. News of the nomination was first reported by The Daily Beast.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: October 17, 2013

Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Jeh C. Johnson would be nominated on Tuesday. The nomination is expected on Friday.

Sabrina

21st October 2013, 21:03

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-21/goldman-sachs-vice-chairman-to-leave-firm-at-end-of-year.html

21 Oct

Goldman Sachs Vice Chairman to Step Down at End of Year

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) said J. Michael Evans, a vice chairman who ran emerging markets and was seen as a potential successor to Chief Executive Officer Lloyd C. Blankfein, is retiring after more than 20 years at the bank.

Evans, 56, will step down at the end of the year and become a senior director, the New York-based company said today in a statement.

Evans ran businesses including the securities division, equity trading and equity-capital markets in a career that featured positions in New York, London and Hong Kong. In 2011, he was named to lead the emerging-markets units as part of Blankfein’s push to be “Goldman Sachs in more places.”

“Michael’s deep commitment to the firm, his unrelenting focus on our clients and his broad global market knowledge have left an extraordinary mark at Goldman Sachs,” Blankfein, 59, said in the statement.

Evans, one of four vice chairmen among the bank’s executive officers, led with E. Gerald Corrigan the business-standards committee, a group set up in 2010 to review policies and practices after Goldman Sachs was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission for misleading investors on a 2007 sale of a mortgage-linked investment.

After that appointment, Evans was seen as a potential successor to Blankfein along with President Gary Cohn, the Financial Times wrote in 2010. Goldman Sachs paid Cohn 12 percent more than Evans’s $17 million for 2012, the first time since the financial crisis that Blankfein’s deputies were given differing compensation.

Blankfein’s Plan
Blankfein told Bloomberg Television earlier this year that he had no plans to leave after seven years in the top job.
“The combination of this being who I am and what I do and having absolutely no other interests makes me think this is what I’ll be doing for a while,” Blankfein said in February.

Evans graduated from Princeton University in 1981. He won an Olympic gold medal in rowing in 1984, the same year he earned a master’s degree from Oxford University. Evans was named a partner in 1994, a year after he joined Goldman Sachs from Salomon Brothers.

Evans owns about $230 million of Goldman Sachs stock, according to an April filing, which counts vested options, stock awards and family trusts.

In 2001, he became co-head of the equities business and rose to co-head of the firm’s securities division, which includes all trading. Evans was named chairman of Goldman Sachs Asia Pacific in 2004, moving to Hong Kong, and was named a vice chairman in 2008.

Conflicts, Transparency
The business-standards committee produced a report in January 2011 that laid out 39 recommendations to improve practices in areas such as conflicts of interest and transparency. In May of this year, the firm released a report about the actions it took in implementing the recommendations and the impact they had.

“We spent more than 100,000 hours training our people not only on the things that had changed, but teaching them how these changes were going to be implemented and driven down through the organization,” Evans said in an interview in May. The efforts were aimed at “making sure they stick and that they’re embraced by the totality of our population.”

¤=[Post Update]=¤

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24599345

JP Morgan 'may pay record $13bn fine'

US banking giant JP Morgan is set for a record $13bn (£8bn) fine to settle investigations into its mortgage-backed securities, US media reports have said.

A tentative deal is believed to have been reached in talks with senior US Justice Department officials.

The fine relates to the sale of securities based on home loans, which led to the near-collapse of the banking system in 2007.

If confirmed, it would be the biggest settlement ever paid by an US company.

Last month, JP Morgan was fined almost $1bn in the "London Whale" scandal, which arose from huge disastrous bets on the financial markets placed by former bank employee Bruno Iksil.

Risky assets
The tentative deal to pay the $13bn fine to the Justice Department was reached during the talks on Friday, between JP Morgan lawyers with US Attorney General Eric Holder and his deputy Tony West, the Wall Street Journal said, citing officials familiar with the decision.

The New York Times also reported that the investment bank was nearing the agreement. Neither the Justice Department nor the bank was available for comment.

But the reports said that while the fine would settle all civil claims, the US bank would still face possible federal criminal charges being pursued in California or individual criminal claims.

The $13bn sum is said to include $9bn in fines and a further $4bn in relief for struggling homeowners.

The crash
In the run-up to the financial crisis, sophisticated financial products known as mortgage-backed securities were created by many investment banks.

These special bonds contained a mix of investments but at their heart were supposed to be risk-free home loans, the BBC's business correspondent Joe Lynam reports.

When the housing bubble burst, the value of these assets fell sharply and the credit markets seized up. The balance sheets of many US and European banks, including those in the UK, became toxic and they had to be bailed out by their governments.

What JP Morgan is alleged to have done was sell the mortgage-backed assets knowing full well that many of the home loans were in fact very risky.

Some of the problems relate to mortgage bank Washington Mutual and investment bank Bear Stearns, two failing firms that JPMorgan took over in 2008.

The mortgage-backed assets played a central role in the near collapse of the banking system when banks realised in 2007 that many of their assets were worth a fraction of their official book value.

JP Morgan had initially aimed to persuade Justice Department officials to drop the criminal investigation but the attorney general ruled that out, reports said.

The bank is not alone in facing inquiries into past practice. In August, US government officials filed two lawsuits against Bank of America relating to mortgage-backed securities. Bank of America denied civil fraud in failing to disclose risks and misleading investors.

Legal woes
JP Morgan has found itself overwhelmed by mounting legal troubles lately.

Once the darling of Washington and Wall Street, it reported a rare quarterly earnings loss last week, mostly due to legal costs totalling $9.2bn.

The bank lost $380m during the quarter, compared with a profit of $5.7bn in the same period last year.

JP Morgan says it has set aside a fund of $23bn to deal with mounting legal costs.

20 Oct

Sabrina

21st October 2013, 21:07

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b5ae82ae-3a73-11e3-b234-00144feab7de.html#axzz2iOMT9gAb

21 Oct

Alleged co-conspirators’ names pulled from Libor indictment

Former employees of ICAP, Rabobank, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Deutsche Bank and UBS were among 22 names that the UK Serious Fraud Office included as alleged co-conspirators on a draft indictment against Tom Hayes, a former star trader at both UBS and Citigroup who is facing criminal charges stemming from a probe into alleged Libor manipulation.

Daniel Wilkinson, a former broker at ICAP; Brent Davies, who was both at ICAP and RBS; Paul Robson, a former trader at Rabobank; Guillaume Adolph, formerly at Deutsche; and Mirhat Alykulov, who was Mr Hayes’s assistant at UBS, were among the names to be included on an indictment against Mr Hayes, which has since been withdrawn.

None have been formally accused of wrongdoing by the fraud agency but may face investigation, according to a copy of an SFO letter read out by Mr Justice Cooke during a hearing at London’s Southwark Crown Court on Monday.
The letter, sent at the end of September, informed individuals that while some had not yet been interviewed, they would be named in criminal proceedings as Mr Hayes’ alleged co-conspirators. As such they were invited to apply for anonymity, as first reported by the Financial Times.

While none of Mr Hayes’ alleged co-conspirators were named in court, people familiar with the letter confirmed some of the recipients’ identities.

A new indictment against Mr Hayes and two brokers at RP Martin, Terry Farr and James Gilmour, will be prepared after an extraordinary four days that has underscored the difference in how different legal systems balance freedom of expression with the proper administration of justice.

The SFO won a temporary injunction on Thursday against the Wall Street Journal, which published eight of the names reportedly included on the draft indictment, including Mr Robson and Mr Alykulov, ahead of the hearing. Mr Justice Cooke declined to renew that injunction on Monday.

Mr Hayes was expected to enter pleas on Monday to eight criminal counts of conspiracy to defraud. He has postponed entering those pleas in light of the indictment’s redrafting, as have Mr Farr and Mr Gilmour.

The SFO plans for Mr Hayes to stand trial separately from Mr Farr and Mr Gilmour, and not before January 2015, the court heard.
Not only will the new indictment omit reference to Mr Hayes’ alleged co-conspirators, but will also narrow the charges brought by the SFO. Until Monday, the agency was seeking to charge Mr Hayes with the manipulation of yen Libor and “other interbank offered rates”. Those last four words will now be removed from the indictment.

Legal experts saw this as important because it could increase Mr Hayes’ vulnerability to being extradited to the US, where he also faces charges stemming from the Department of Justice’s own criminal investigation. He has not had an opportunity to respond to the US charges.

The SFO charged Mr Hayes in its separate probe in June, which had effectively neutralised any US claim for extradition. He has co-operated and given extensive interviews, the court heard.

Mr Wilkinson has also been charged by DoJ and faces possible extradition unless the SFO arrests him.

“I find it hard to reconcile – and it is unique in my experience,” said Matthew Frankland, Mr Wilkinson’s solicitor, in respect of his client not being interviewed by the SFO and not being a defendant, yet having been included on the SFO’s original draft indictment.

Solicitors for Mr Alykulov and for Mr Adolph declined to comment. Lawyers for Mr Davies and Mr Robson did not return calls seeking comment.

Sabrina

21st October 2013, 21:12

http://rt.com/news/monsanto-argentina-health-problems-484/

21 Oct

Monsanto’s pesticides poisoning Argentina – report

Pesticides sold by Monsanto are behind health problems ranging from birth defects to elevated rates of cancer in Argentina, a report has revealed. A lack of regulations has led to widespread misuse of Monsanto’s products in the Latin American nation.

The Associated Press carried out a report that found a clear link between the use of pesticides sold by Monsanto and growing health problems in Argentina. Absence of regulations and their enforcement has led to widespread misuse of Monsanto’s chemicals across the country. In turn, this has caused multiple health problems in the rural population.

AP documented a number of occasions when toxic pesticides were used close to populated areas and consequently contaminated the water supply and caused health problems.

Santa Fe Province, which is Argentina’s number one producer of cereals, forbids the use of pesticides less than 500 meters from populated areas. However, AF uncovered evidence that toxic chemicals were used as little as 30 meters from people’s homes.

Schoolteacher Andrea Druetta who lives in Santa Fe told AP that her children had been covered in pesticides recently while swimming in the garden pool.

In addition, studies show that cancer rates in the province are two to four times higher than the rest of the country, while in the neighboring province of Chaco birth defects have quadrupled since the introduction of biotechnology in the agricultural industry around a decade ago.

Researchers also found high rates of thyroid disorders and chronic respiratory illness in Santa Fe.

Deadly cocktails
Monsanto’s chemical pesticide, Roundup, contains a substance called glyphosate. While the substance has been deemed harmless, AP found that it is being used in a number of ways in Argentina that are “unanticipated by regulatory science or specifically banned by existing law.”

Doctor Damian Vernassi from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Rosario told RT’s Spanish channel, Actualidad RT, that these chemical mixes could be responsible for the drastic increase in health problems.

“It could be linked to pesticides,” he said. “There has been analysis of the primary ingredient, but we have never investigated the interactions between the different chemicals that are being mixed.”

AP interviewed Argentine farmhand, Fabian Tomassi, who worked preparing a cocktail of chemicals to spray crops for three years. He now suffers from the debilitating neurological disorder, polyneuropathy, and is near death.

“I prepared millions of liters of poison without any kind of protection, no gloves, masks or special clothing," he said. "I didn't know anything. I only learned later what it did to me, after contacting scientists.”

In response to the study, Monsanto issued a statement saying that it “does not condone the misuse of pesticides or the violation of any pesticide law, regulation, or court ruling."

"Monsanto takes the stewardship of products seriously and we communicate regularly with our customers regarding proper use of our products," said spokesperson Thomas Helscher in a written statement.

Argentina was one of the first countries to adopt Monsanto’s biotechnology to increase its agricultural output. The multinational’s products transformed Argentina into the world’s third largest producer of soy.

At present Argentina’s entire soy crop is genetically modified, as is most of its corn and cotton. In addition, AP found that Argentine farmers use about 4.5 pounds of pesticide concentrate per acre, which is over double the amount used in the US.

Sabrina

21st October 2013, 21:15

http://rt.com/news/france-nsa-shocking-spying-478/

21 Oct

‘Unacceptable and shocking’: France demands explanation for NSA spying

France has called for an explanation for the “unacceptable” and “shocking” reports of NSA spying on French citizens. Leaked documents revealed the spy agency records millions of phone calls and monitors politicians and high-profile business people.

The US Ambassador to France Charles Rivkin was summoned by the French Foreign Ministry to account for the espionage allegations on Monday morning.

"I have immediately summoned the US ambassador and he will be received this morning at the Quai d'Orsay [the French Foreign Ministry]," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told press. He added that “we must quickly assure that these practices aren't repeated.”

In addition, citing the report on French publication Le Monde, Interior Minister Manuel Valls spoke out on national television against US spy practices.

“The revelations on Le Monde are shocking and demand adequate explanations from the American authorities in the coming hours,” said Valls on television channel Europe 1.

He went on to say that it is totally unacceptable for an allied country to spy on France.

Ambassador Rivkin refrained from commenting on the spy allegations on Monday morning and told Reuters that French-US ties are the “best they have been for a generation.”

Le Monde revealed in a report based on the security leaks of former CIA worker Edward Snowden that the NSA recorded 70.3 million phone calls between December 10, 2012, and January 8, 2013.

The NSA reportedly carries out its espionage in France using a program called ‘US-985D’ which is able to listen in on specific telephone calls and pick up on text messages according to key words used.

Moreover, Le Monde also wrote that it had reason to believe that the spying was not just limited to citizens suspected of being involved in terrorism. According to the data released by Snowden the NSA also eavesdropped on politicians and prominent business figures.

The newspaper did not give any indications as to the identity of the high-profile people.

France is not the only EU nation to be targeted by NSA surveillance. Germany took issue with the US government after it was revealed the NSA was tapping phone lines and recording electronic data in the country.

The EU will take steps to curtail US data mining on Monday in a vote to change data protection rules. The European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties is expected to decide on the issue that would authorize fines for violation of EU data protection.

The US maintains that its spying activities are in the interests of national security and protect against terrorism. However, Snowden leaks released by Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald showed the NSA had monitored Brazilian state-owned oil giant Petrobras and infiltrated the electronic communications of the Brazilian and Mexican presidents.

‘Investment benefits’
Mexico has also demanded an explanation for reports released by Der Spiegel on extensive spying on Mexican top officials and politicians.

Der Spiegal revealed that former President Felipe Calderon had also been a target for NSA espionage. Citing a classified internal report, it said the US monitors "diplomatic, economic and leadership communications which continue to provide insight into Mexico's political system and internal stability."

Sabrina

22nd October 2013, 05:42

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24618701

22 Oct

US drone strike killings in Pakistan and Yemen 'unlawful'

CIA drone attacks in Pakistan are responsible for unlawful killings, some of which could amount to war crimes, Amnesty International says.

Amnesty said it reviewed nine recent drone strikes in North Waziristan and found a number of victims were unarmed.

In a separate report looking at six US attacks in Yemen, Human Rights Watch says two of them killed civilians at random, violating international law.

Drone warfare has become common in the US pursuit of al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

Few details are known about the covert US drone operation.

Senior al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders have been killed in drone strikes in Pakistan, but civilians have also died.

These attacks cause outrage in Pakistan, where many assert that the strikes cause indiscriminate deaths and injuries.

Last week, a UN investigation found that US drone strikes had killed at least 400 civilians in Pakistan, far more than the US has ever acknowledged.

UN special rapporteur Ben Emmerson accused the US of challenging international legal norms by advocating the use of lethal force outside war zones.

Establishing precise casualty figures and identifying the dead in such attacks is virtually impossible as independent media are barred from tribal areas near the Afghan border.

Very Tight Leash

Amnesty said it had investigated nine of 45 recently reported attacks by US drones, unmanned aircraft whose operations are controlled remotely by operators in control rooms, often on other continents.

The group called on the US to disclose information and the legal basis for strikes carried out in Pakistan.

In the report, Will I Be Next? US Drone Strikes in Pakistan, the rights group named several victims who, it says, had been unarmed and "posed no threat to life".

In October 2012, 68-year-old grandmother Mamana Bibi was killed in a double strike as she picked vegetables in the family's fields while surrounded by her grandchildren, said the report.

It said US President Barack Obama's pledge earlier this year to increase transparency around drone strikes had not been fulfilled.

"This secrecy has enabled the USA to act with impunity and block victims from receiving justice or compensation. As far as Amnesty is aware, no US official has ever been held to account for unlawful killings by drones in Pakistan," the report said.

It called on the governments of Pakistan, Australia, Germany and the UK to investigate drone strikes or other abuses that may constitute human rights violations.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch said in its report that six US drone attacks in Yemen killed 82 people, including at least 57 civilians.

It added that two of the strikes killed innocent people indiscriminately.

A controversial aspect of the US policy is that drone attacks are carried out not by the military but by the Central Intelligence Agency.

US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has argued in favour of the policy, saying that the US will continue to defend itself.

President Obama has insisted the strategy was "kept on a very tight leash" and that without the drones, the US would have had to resort to "more intrusive military action".

Sabrina

22nd October 2013, 06:01

http://kauilapele.wordpress.com/2013/10/21/even-more-evidence-of-the-cabal-takedown-10-21-13-from-rt-vor-vt/

via Kauilapele

[Even more] Evidence of “the Cabal” Takedown???… 10-21-13 [from RT, VoR, & VT]

Posted on 2013/10/21

A few items for your consideration that struck my “Inner Eye”.

NSA leaks: Years of spying on Mexico govt gave US investment benefits
http://rt.com/news/nsa-leaks-mexico-government-458/

Mexican FM condemns alleged US spying over country’s officials, France frustrated over spying on French citizens
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_10_21/Mexican-FM-condemns-alleged-US-spying-over-country-s-officials-France-frustrated-over-spying-on-French-citizens-7188/

Gaddafi’s widow demands thorough investigation of his murder
http://voiceofrussia.com/2013_10_21/Gaddafis-widow-demands-thorough-investigation-of-his-murder-1729/

Anonymous is engaged in battle for truth over evil
http://voiceofrussia.com/2013_10_20/Anonymous-is-engaged-in-a-battle-for-truth-over-evil-Christine-Ann-Sands-0846/

Putin, Singh give high marks to Russian-Indian trade-economic relations
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_10_21/Putin-Singh-give-high-marks-to-Russian-Indian-trade-economic-relations-8470/

Suppressing and Manipulating 9/11 Truth using the internet
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2013/10/20/suppressing-and-manipulating-911-truth-using-the-internet/

New NSA Revelations
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2013/10/20/new-nsa-revelations/

Geneva conference appears to stop Israel’s war campaign against Iran
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2013/10/18/geneva-conference-appears-to-stop-israels-war-campaign-against-iran/

‘Unacceptable and shocking’: France demands explanation for NSA spying
http://rt.com/news/france-nsa-shocking-spying-478/

Sabrina

22nd October 2013, 06:12

another take on the US generals losing their jobs:

http://jhaines6.wordpress.com/2013/10/21/neil-keenan-update-thank-you-pentagon-for-coming-to-our-aid-four-top-generals-with-the-highest-clearance-in-the-united-states-stood-up-for-us-and-lost-their-jobs-and-support-for-their-family-octo/

Neil Keenan Update – THANK YOU PENTAGON FOR COMING TO OUR AID – FOUR TOP GENERALS WITH THE HIGHEST CLEARANCE IN THE UNITED STATES STOOD UP FOR US AND LOST THEIR JOBS AND SUPPORT FOR THEIR FAMILY, October 21, 2013

Posted on October 21, 2013 by Jean

At this point in time, what can anyone say, because this video says it all. Neil had this information long before anyone else, he checked it out with his sources in the Pentagon and with the GRU, and everything came back confirmed that Obama was behind this. Neil waited for Peter to come back with confirmation on the seismic activity and corroborated with him. He then decided to go public with what he knows.

In our private conversations, Neil has made it very clear to me that if we really want to get to the truth, we need to quickly get to the four Generals and question them in regards to what really happened — before the cabal gets to them!

Please understand that Neil has not been playing dead because he’s been ‘sick’. He’s been working behind the scenes for all of us to move things forward. In this important video report, Neil covers the ‘nuke’ story and takes care of some other important business.

Let me remind you here, as well, that the scientific data has been presented by Peter Eyre here.
http://jhaines6.wordpress.com/2013/10/21/what-did-obama-the-new-world-order-have-in-mind-for-the-united-states-part-2-the-evidence-by-peter-eyre/

Neil references not only the Pentagon, but the GRU in this video. Here is the Wikipedia link for the GRU. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glavnoye_Razvedyvatel'noye_Upravleniye

On the other hand, Peter Eyre references Germany’s seismic data as proof, as well.

URNCi6ozkIc

d11FjX14JOY

Sabrina

23rd October 2013, 06:01

http://tucsoncitizen.com/usa-today-news/2013/10/22/white-house-official-fired-for-insulting-tweets/

White House official fired for insulting tweets

by Melanie Eversley on Oct. 22, 2013, under News

Source: USA TODAY

Tweeting caught up with a White House national security official found to have been posting insults and secret information about the Obama administration and other political figures for more than two years, according to published reports.

Jofi Joseph, 40, has been tweeting under the handle @natsecwonk since February 2011 until last week, when the handle was shut down after a search by White House and State Department officials for months. The former member of the National Security Council non-proliferation team was fired a week ago after insulting everyone via Twitter from White House advisors to political figures, according to the Daily Beast and Politico.

The search intensified after @NatSecWonk repeatedly expressed doubts about administration accounts concerning a Sept. 11, 2012, attack in Benghazi, Libya.

Joseph emailed Politico.”It has been a privilege to serve in this administration and I deeply regret violating the trust and confidence placed in me,” Jofi said in the email. “What started out as an intended parody account of DC culture developed over time into a series of inappropriate and mean-spirited comments. I bear complete responsibility for this affair and I sincerely apologize to everyone I insulted.”

Joseph also has worked at the State Department and for Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., and then-Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del. He was part of the White House team working on negotiations with Iran, the Daily Beast reports.

Eric Schultz, an Obama spokesman, confirmed Joseph was gone from the White House and no longer had top security clearances, Politico reported.

While tweeting as @natsecwonk, Joseph criticized White House policy as well as the intellect and appearance of his bosses. He even insulted officials by name, including Secretary of State John Kerry and former National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, The Daily Beast reports.

“I’m a fan of Obama, but his continuing reliance and dependence upon a vacuous cipher like (White House senior advisor) Valerie Jarrett concerns me,” he tweeted.

His insults crossed all party lines too, according to the news organization.

“So when will someone do us the favor of getting rid of (Republican and former vice presidential contender) Sarah Palin and the rest of her white trash family? What utter useless garbage?” he tweeted last year.

Many in the foreign policy community expressed shock Tuesday night after learning Joseph was @natsecwonk., the Daily Beast reports.

Sabrina

23rd October 2013, 06:08

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/10397900/Co-op-Group-chairman-becomes-latest-victim-of-crisis-at-mutuals-banking-arm.html

22 Oct UK

Co-op Group chairman becomes latest victim of crisis at mutual's banking arm

Len Wardle to stand down as ex-group chief executive Peter Marks says he was only partly to blame for bank's woes.

The chairman of the Co-operative Group has become the latest victim of the fall-out at the stricken mutual.
Len Wardle, the former university lecturer who has chaired the £13.5bn turnover conglomerate for the past six years, will stand down next May.

Mr Wardle announced his departure just a day after it emerged the mutual will lose control of its banking arm as the result of a £1.5bn recapitalisation agreement with a number of hedge fund bondholders.

The news came just hours after former group chief executive Peter Marks blamed regulators for shifting the goalposts on capital as the key reason behind the bank’s £1.5bn shortfall, and as new data showed its supermarket business is losing market share.

Mr Wardle has called for the mutual to appoint an independent chairman for the first time in its 172-year history in an attempt to begin to rebuild the group following a damaging six month period.

The chairman’s job has historically gone to one of the 20 members of its group board, all elected from regional boards.
Mr Marks, meanwhile, used a much-awaited appearance before the Treasury Select Committee to attempt to defend his role in the current crisis, claiming that he was only “partly responsible” for the bank’s current problems.

“My official role at the bank was that of non executive director” Mr Marks told the committee, denying suggestions he had acted as a shadow executive director and claiming he was responsible for all of the group’s nine businesses bar the bank.
However, facing intense questioning during which he was branded as 'out of his depth,’ 'gung-ho,’ and suffering from 'selective amnesia,’ Mr Marks did admit that he had been the “driving forrce” behind the attempt to buy 631 branches from Lloyds.

But Mr Marks, who retired in May, said the Lloyds deal, which collapsed a month earlier in April, would only have strengthened the group.

He insisted that the Co-op was not “Peter Marks PLC” and that all decisions relating to the bank were taken unanimously by the group board and the separate bank board.

“This is not a dictatorship,” he said.

Instead he laid the blame for the bank’s current capital predicaments on its 2009 merger with Britannia Building Society - impairments on commercial loans from which have triggered the shortfall - and regulators shifting the goal posts on capital requirements.

Over and over, Mr Marks branded the bank’s problems a “tragedy” and claimed “the bank is a victim of the financial crisis.”
The former chief executive, who joined the Co-op movement as a 17-year-old shelf stacker in 1967, also blamed the archaic governance structure of the Co-op Group, and claimed the member-elected board is incapable of making a strategtic decision.
Asked by committee chairman Andrew Tyrie if he was describing a “severe structural failure at the heart of the Co-operative,” Mr Marks replied: “You could interpet it that way.”

He also admitted that he dismissed concerns raised by former bank chief executive Neville Richardson that the bank was becoming over-streched in terms of projects, and said he didn’t think of informing regulators that that disagreement was the primary reason behind Mr Richardson’s resignation in the summer of 2011.

Mr Marks added that the bank’s problems could be good for the other group businesses, as it would mean management and capital would be less stretched.

However fresh data from Kantar Worldpanel showed that the Co-op’s retail business is suffering.

In the 12 weeks to October 14, Co-op sales fell by 1.2pc, by far the worst performance among Britain’s major grocery retailers, with its market share down to 6.4pc from 6.7pc a year ago.

Sabrina

23rd October 2013, 07:30

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2013/10/21/mainstream-journalists-expose-911-hoax/

They're starting to speak out about main stream media untruths:

Mainstream Journalists Expose 9/11 Hoax

by Kevin Barrett

Several leading American mainstream journalists say that the US government is lying about 9/11 and the so-called war on terror. Unfortunately, media owners and editors won’t let them report their findings.

Recently, Seymour Hersh, America’s top mainstream investigative reporter, broke the news that the US government’s claim to have killed Osama Bin Laden on May 2nd, 2011 is “a big lie. There is not one word of truth in it.”

Hersh went on to harshly criticize his long-time employer, the New York Times, and other big media outlets: “We lie about everything, lying has become the staple.” He said all big US media outlets should be shut down for lying to the American people.

Other mainstream journalists agree that the US government’s story of Osama Bin Laden and 9/11 is a big lie. Sherwood Ross, an award-winning journalist who has worked for the City News Bureau of Chicago, the Chicago Daily News, and for Reuters and other wire services, told me in a recent radio interview:

“It’s very doubtful that Muslims were behind 9/11. Think about this for one minute: That President Bush’s family had done business with the family of the man who allegedly made the terrorist attack, Osama Bin Laden. The Bin Laden family was actually on the board of Bush’s oil company. How is it possible that of all the billions of families in the world, the one family that makes the attack on America has done business with the President of America. That sounds more like a favor than anything else. I don’t think 9/11 was an Arab conspiracy or a Muslim conspiracy. I think it’s an American conspiracy to overthrow the government of the United States and install what is becoming a police state, and also to advance the imperial ambitions of the United States, to swindle the Middle East out of their energy resources.”

Ross explained that American journalists are no longer free to expose even the most outrageous official falsehoods and fabrications:

“You don’t see any serious questioning by the mainstream media. I thought one of the tip-offs that it was a put-up job was when a cameraman from a little weekly in Pennsylvania went to the site where this airliner had supposedly crashed (on 9/11). And he said, ‘I didn’t see any airliner. I saw a hole in the ground. I didn’t see any bodies. I didn’t see any luggage.’ All right, maybe that guy just made this up. But I don’t think so. I think he was just doing his job. And then at the Pentagon, you had the claim that airliner hit it. But again, there was no wreckage. Reporters who worked in the Press Room at the Pentagon went out there on the lawn, and they couldn’t see any airliner. So, over and over again, you have manufactured lies that the press largely is not reporting.”

I asked Ross whether he is allowed to express such views in his articles for the Miami Herald, the Chicago Daily News, or the wire services. He answered:

“Absolutely not. When I used to write for Reuters, covering workplace issues, for ten years, my columns were picked up from the New York Times to the L.A. Times. But if you write about ‘why did 7 World Trade Center collapse when it wasn’t hit by an airplane,’ nobody will pick it up. So, now my columns are used on the Internet by bloggers, and they’re used by Middle East wire services. I get phone calls from Press TV, and you can read my interviews there. But you won’t see me quoted by the Associated Press.”

Another leading American journalist, Paul Craig Roberts, has also been banned from US mainstream media for telling the truth about 9/11. Dr. Roberts served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, won the French Legion of Honor and other awards for his contributions to economics, and has been a regular columnist for the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and other mainstream publications. But since he spoke out about the controlled demolitions of the three World Trade Center skyscrapers on 9/11, Paul Craig Roberts has been put on the mainstream media’s no-publish list.

In a recent interview on my radio show, Dr. Roberts explained why the US mainstream media, as Seymour Hersh said, lies about everything:

“One of the worst things that ever happened (to America) was when President Clinton allowed five companies to concentrate the American media. That destroyed its independence. And ever since Clinton permitted that, which was totally against all American tradition, and totally against the antitrust law … but in the United States, as we’ve seen, law doesn’t mean anything anymore. The minute these five conglomerates concentrated the media, the independence of the media disappeared. It’s no longer run by journalists, it’s run by corporate advertising executives. The value of these media conglomerates resides in their federal broadcast licenses. And so they can’t dare offend the government. Their licenses may not get renewed, and the entire multi-billion-dollar value of the companies would disappear. So, the so-called mainstream media is no longer the media. It doesn’t tell you anything. It’s a propaganda ministry – the Ministry of Propaganda. Gerald Celente calls them ‘presstitutes.’”
Rather than writing for the mainstream media, Paul Craig Roberts is now exposing the fake killing of Osama Bin Laden and deconstructing the 9/11 false-flag operation for an independent outlet called the Institute for Political Economy. In a recent article published on the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Dr. Roberts wrote:

“The neoconservatives who advocate America’s hegemony over the world called for ‘a new Pearl Harbor’ that would allow them to launch wars of conquest … No evidence exists that supports the government’s 9/11 story … On this 12th anniversary of a false-flag event, it is unnecessary for me to report the voluminous evidence that conclusively proves that the official story is a lie. You can read it for yourself. It is available online. You can read what the architects and engineers (for 9/11 truth) have to say. You can read the scientists’ reports. You can hear from the first responders who were in the WTC towers. You can read the pilots who say that the maneuvers associated with the airliner that allegedly hit the Pentagon are beyond their skills and most certainly were not performed by inexperienced pilots. You can read David Griffin’s many books. You can watch the film produced by Richard Gage and Architects & Engineers for 9/11 truth. You can read the 9/11 Toronto Report, International Hearings on 9/11.”

But don’t bother reading the mainstream media. As Seymour Hersh, Sherwood Ross, Paul Craig Roberts, and a rapidly growing number of ordinary Americans realize, the mainstream media’s motto is now: “We lie about everything. Lying has become the staple.”

The government’s not demanding an investigation into an event that is the greatest embarrassment to a “superpower” in world history is a complete give-away that 9/11 was a false-flag event.

Sabrina

25th October 2013, 18:19

http://www.exaronews.com/articles/5118/transcript-tom-mockridge-recorded-at-meeting-with-sun-staff#.Umpj3ELbrMk.facebook

25 Oct UK

Full transcript of meeting between Rupert Murdoch´s UK chief and staff from the Sun (not able to copy) over the hacking scandal. Private estimate is that it could cost Rupe 1 billion pounds in damages.

He doesn´t seem to wield the same influence any more...

Sabrina

26th October 2013, 18:49

http://rt.com/news/fukushima-workers-violations-yakuza-730/

More inconvenient truths..

Fukushima whistleblower exposes yakuza connections, exploitation of cleanup workers

Published time: October 25, 2013

Revelations from a Fukushima cleanup worker-turned-whistleblower have exposed the plant’s chaotic system of subcontractors, their alleged mafia connections and the super-exploitation of indigent workers doing this dangerous work.

The allegations, contained in an investigative report by Reuters, have also exposed deeply-rooted problems within Japan’s nuclear industry as a whole. In the report, detailing the everyday realities of workers at the stricken facility, Reuters interviewed an estimated 80 casual workers and managers. The most common complaint voiced was the cleanup effort’s utter dependence on subcontractors – which it is alleged endangered not just workers’ rights, but also their lives.

Tetsuya Hayashi, a 41-tyear-old construction worker by trade, applied for a job at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, after he suspected that the plant was in deeper trouble than it was willing to admit. The $150 billion cleanup effort, which is expected to last several decades into the future, has already required up to 50,000, mostly casual workers.

However, Hayashi only lasted two weeks on the job, as it became apparent that the vast network of subcontractors involved in the cleanup efforts could not care less for his rights (or his health), while Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), the plant’s operator, was doing little except giving subcontractors a slap on the wrist.

Hired to monitor the exposure to radiation of plant workers leaving the job during the summer of 2012, Hayashi was assigned to the most bio-hazardous sector and given a protective anti-radiation suit. However, even with the suit on, we exceeded his safe annual radiation quota in less than an hour.

The subcontractor who hired Hayashi was not following nuclear safety rules, according to exposure guidelines by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Reuters reported.

Furthermore, after Hayashi’s first two-week period of employment, he suspected that his passbook, a document showing the extent of a worker’s exposure to radiation, had been falsified by his employer, RH Kogyo, to reflect that he had been hired by a company higher up on the contractor food chain. The passbook shows that Suzushi Kogyo employed him from May to June 2012, while another firm, Take One, employed him for a brief 10 days in June. The truth was that RH Kogyo had given him a one-year contract.

"My suspicion is that they falsified the records to hide the fact that they had outsourced my employment," Reuters reported Hayashi as saying.

The above was the start of his troubles.

"I felt cheated and entrapped…I had not agreed to any of this," Hayashi told the news agency.
After complaining to a higher-level contractor, Hayashi was fired. When he complained to labor regulators, his plea went unanswered for a year. He landed another job at the plant, building a concrete foundation for the cooling tanks used to hold nuclear fuel rods.

The job was meant to pay $1,500 a month, but a third of his earnings were skimmed off by the subcontractor, Reuters cited him as saying. The problem is common to many of the thousands of cleanup workers, with little hope of TEPCO restoring any justice, according to the report. This is because Asia’s largest power utility is only the tip of an iceberg of firms, which has been the main complaint from workers associated with the cleanup. While TEPCO is in charge of the cleanup as a whole, it also comprises four giant Japanese corporations, otherwise known as the ‘Big Four’: Kajima, Obayashi, Shimizu Corp and Taisei Corp. These in turn provide hundreds of companies with funds and projects around the Fukushima prefecture, which end up receiving little to no supervision.

Critics of the plant’s cleanup say that this unregulated hiring of workers through subcontractors opens them to the risk of rights violations, extortion and blackmail from organized crime syndicates. But the lawyers of workers from around the Fukushima prefecture say that even that is a good deal compared to being unemployed.

While neither the eight main subcontractors nor the plant’s operator could be reached for comment on Hayashi’s case, TEPCO’s general manager for nuclear power, Masayuki Ono, told Reuters that the company “[signs] contracts with companies based on the cost needed to carry out a task… the companies then hire their own employees taking into account our contract. It’s very difficult for us to go in and check their contracts.”

After being advised by a journalist, Hayashi claims to have kept copies of his work records, including pictures and videos to back up his story.

A worker shortage crisis continues to deepen at the same time – both inside the plant throughout the surrounding Fukushima prefecture. Government data suggests that the number of job openings exceeds the number of applicants by 25 percent.

But despite research suggesting that raising the wages could bolster employment, TEPCO remains under pressure from the government to boost profits by March 2014. In response, the power utility has cutting workers’ wages at the plant by 20 percent.

In this race to the bottom over workers’ rights and pay, many subcontractors with allegedly questionable connections gained control of the impoverished Fukushima prefecture’s market for cleanup jobs. It is those companies that have taken advantage of the staggering shortage of cleanup workers and allowed companies associated with the plant with alleged ties with Japan’s organized crime syndicates, the yakuza, to flourish. And there are close to 50 gangs affiliated with three major syndicates in the prefecture alone – a fact that had an effect on the local labor market long before the tragedy of March 2011.
more at link

Sabrina

26th October 2013, 19:22

http://lucas2012infos.wordpress.com/2013/10/25/wakingtimes-anthony-gucciardi-los-angeles-set-to-be-largest-gmo-free-zone-in-usa-25-october-2013/

25 Oct US

WakingTimes – Anthony Gucciardi – Los Angeles Set To Be Largest GMO-Free Zone In USA – 25 October 2013

International outrage against Monsanto and GMOs by activists and concerned citizens at large is paying off once again. Just days after Mexico announced a complete ban on the growth of GMO corn, Los Angeles lawmakers have now gone on record in setting up Los Angeles to be the largest GMO-free region in the United States.

Specifically, L.A. politicians are responding to the call for a ban on the cultivation, sale, and even distribution of GMOs at large. In other words, an entirely ‘GMO-free’ zone. This would be one of the most powerful pieces of legislation to pass in the fight against Monsanto that has ever been seen — especially in the Monsanto-owned United States, where even the USDA has given Monsanto’s genetically modified creations special ‘speedy approval’ access to their regulation techniques.

Politicians Forced to Act

But even despite Monsanto’s tentacles being locked deep inside the political system, we are now seeing politicians who are forced into taking action by their supporters. This appears to be the case with Los Angeles City Councilmen Paul Koretz and Mitch O’Farrell, who are responsible for introducing the motion and subsequently addressing the demands of the population. And thanks to activism and the high-powered spread of information on the subject of Monsanto and GMOs, we are seeing this kind of action on a much more frequent basis.

In fact, the number of politicians now driven to fight against Monsanto in order to retain support is climbing to the point where my prediction of Monsanto’s economic downfall within the next few years may indeed become a reality thanks to enraged voters. Just look at how much information is being launched into the mainstream even in major media reports on the Los Angeles initiative, with City Councilman Kortez stating:

“A growing number of problems are being traced to GMOs,.. the evolution of ‘superbug’ insects which are growing immune to the pesticides engineered within GMO crops” and ”‘seed drift’ (for example the recent finding of GMO-pollinated wheat growing in an Oregon farmer’s field).”

These are the facts we have been telling you for years, and it is a major victory to see them now reaching millions more around the globe. If Los Angeles is able to push through the GMO ban into city wide regulation, it would be a direct blow to the beast that is Monsanto and the biotech industry at large.

About the Author

Anthony is the Editor of NaturalSociety, producer, consultant, and seeker of truth. Anthony’s work has been read by millions worldwide and is routinely featured on major alternative and mainstream news website alike, like the powerful Drudge Report, NaturalNews, Infowars, and many others. Anthony has appeared, oftentimes routinely, on programs like Russia Today (RT), The Alex Jones Show, Coast to Coast AM, and others. Anthony is also a founding member of Natural Attitude and the creator of the independent political website Storyleak

Sabrina

26th October 2013, 19:28

And a different sort of politics:

http://americankabuki.blogspot.it/2013/10/spiritual-author-marianne-williamson.html#more

Spiritual author Marianne Williamson,
running for Rep. Henry Waxman’s Congressional seat,
to appear in Redondo Beach

Spiritual author Marianne Williamson, running for Rep. Henry Waxman’s Congressional seat, to appear in Redondo Beach

Noted spiritual author Marianne Williamson is running for the 33rd Congressional District seat held by Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman.

By City News Service
POSTED: 10/24/13, 9:41 AM PDT |
REDONDO BEACH — Spiritual author and lecturer Marianne Williamson will discuss her campaign for the 33rd Congressional District seat held by Rep. Henry Waxman during an appearance tonight at the Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore in Redondo Beach.

Williamson is scheduled to be at the bookstore at 2810 Artesia Blvd. from 7:30-8:30 p.m.

Williamson declared her candidacy Sunday, telling supporters at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, “it’s time for a politics of conscience, a new chapter in our history in which love is not minimized, the voices of women and children are not marginalized and the future of the United States is not bartered for a pot of unrighteous gold.”

Williamson said her main issue is the undue influence of moneyed interests on the political system.

“We have developed over the last few decades a system of legalized corruption in the United States in which those with money are accorded much more political influence than those who are without,” Williamson said. “And that is not democracy.”

Williamson said she also plans to discuss gerrymandering, the economy, climate change and sustainable energy, child poverty and higher education in her campaign in the district that stretches along the coast from Malibu to Rancho Palos Verdes and also includes Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Beverly Hills and other portions of the Westside.

Williamson described herself as a lifelong Democrat, but said she will appear on the June primary ballot without a party designation because of her belief that both parties are too beholden to corporate interests.

“I’m not just concerned by where the parties are different,” Williamson said. “I’m even more concerned by where they are too much the same.”

There was no immediate response from Waxman, D-Beverly Hills, to Williamson’s candidacy.

Williamson is the author of 10 books, six of which have appeared on The New York Times best-sellers list. She founded Project Angel Food in 1990, which provides food to homebound people with AIDS in the Los Angeles area.

Williamson is also the founder of the The Peace Alliance, which supports creation of a United States Department of Peace.

Williamson said she does not think of Waxman, who has been in the House since 1975, as her opponent.

“We’re simply candidates for the same position,” Williamson said.

“Mr. Waxman has been a good congressman for 38 years and I believe he deserves appreciation and respect. But a new conversation is required now and the political status quo — even the best of it — cannot provide that.

“Waxman knows many things because he’s been in Congress for 38 years, but I know many things because I have not been. Institutional memory is important in any organization, but so are fresh ideas.”

Sabrina

28th October 2013, 05:19

Further reasons to be cheerful part something or other, via Kauilapele. Am away from PC due to emergency, so you´ll have to go to his link for links.

http://kauilapele.wordpress.com/2013/10/26/even-more-evidence-of-the-cabal-takedown-10-26-13-spying-anyone-from-rt/

Even more] Evidence of “the Cabal” Takedown???… 10-26-13… “Spying, Anyone???” (from RT)

Spying, Anyone??? But I love the last one. The “Deputy Ministry of Supreme Social Happiness” is a New Paradigm in “governmental programs”. Similar, perhaps, to Dennis Kucinich’ idea of a “Department of Peace” (or was that Dr. Benjamin Rush in 1793?). (I sense that Hugo Chavez, who set aside funds “to develop “supreme happiness” programs”, was one of those “hidden Light Workers”).

#StopWatchingUs rally against mass surveillance: Live Updates

German Chancellor Merkel on NSA spy list since 2002 – reports

Germany, Brazil enlist 19 more countries for anti-NSA UN resolution

Europe views NSA scandal as ‘middle-schoolers run amok without supervision’

US against new sanctions as Iran prepares to protect ‘inalienable’ nuclear right at P5+1 talks

Battle of the bulge: US food corporations fueling obesity epidemic with addictive ingredients

Forget Python’s ‘Silly Walks’ – Venezuela has a Happiness Ministry

and can´t resist .. Sab.

CIMNXogXnvE

Sabrina

28th October 2013, 20:29

http://blogdogcicle.blogspot.it/2013/10/benjamin-fulford-october-28-2013-this.html

An interesting one from Benjy Fulford

Monday, October 28, 2013
Benjamin Fulford - October 28, 2013: This Halloween will haunt the cabalists for a long time

There have been many big moves made against the cabal in the past week and more coming this week, according to multiple sources. In Japan, there have been a series of late night battles that have left a group of North Korean gangsters taking orders from Japan Mossad Chief Michael Green, and rogue CIA run by Kenneth Curtis, on the Run. As a result, Green and Curtis are in a state of deep fear, according to Japanese right wingers who claim to have been involved in the struggle. Ongoing lawsuits against the recent rigged elections in Japan are also keeping them awake at night.

In a related development, mass murderer Benjamin Netanyahu announced to the Israeli press last week that he was going to visit the Pope but the Pope refused to meet him, resulting in a major loss of face. Bush Jr. and Tony Blair both visited the previous pope Maledict to ask for protection from war crimes tribunals after leaving office. They were given that protection in exchange for converting to Catholicism. It seems the new Vatican regime is no longer in the business of sheltering war criminals from justice. That means Netanyahu does not have protection from the P2 brass and is thus probably doomed.

As this newsletter was going to press a P2 Freemason source called to say that P2 honcho Marco di Mauro had just been arrested and that a hunt was on for his associates.

There were many other developments as well. Rockefeller pet dinosaur Henry Kissinger went to Russia on a begging mission but was refused a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Pentagon sources.

This attempted meeting came just as multiple signs showed the Rockefeller petro-dollar system was collapsing. The announcement by the government of Saudi Arabia that it was going to re-evaluate its relations with the United States and refuse a seat on the Security Council of the Rockefeller controlled UN means the House of Saud may stop putting its petro-dollars in cabal controlled banks in the US.

That is because the Saudi regime is in no position to defend itself militarily and, since the pentagon refuses to fight any more wars for the Al Qaeda financiers, the regime will have to bow to Putin if it is to survive. Even then it is doubtful that criminal regime is going to be around much longer.

There are also clear indications that the nation of Turkey too is waking up to the new geopolitical realities. They have been negotiating a customs union with Russia, according to Russian news agencies.

They have also announced they are going to buy a missile defense system from China even though they are a NATO country.

Something big also seems to be happening in Iran, according to news reports. Long term Iranian top power broker Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who usually has a very public and visible schedule, has not been seen for three weeks, according to Mossad linked website Debka.

http://www.debka.com/article/23393/Mystery-of-missing-ayatollah-Ali-Khamenei%E2%80%99s-three-week-seclusion-for-work-on-nuclear-deal-with-US

This could be a sign that the Iranian Sabbatean mafia agents who were trying to provoke World War 3 in tandem with their Israeli Nazi allies are being purged. Certainly the public negotiations to end the stand-off with the West over Iranian nuclear power development are a sign something has changed under new President Hassan Rouhani.

It is clear from all this that something very fundamental has changed in the power structure of the Middle East and it is proving fatal for the old generation robber barons like David Rockefeller and George Bush. Speaking of George Bush, Bush Sr. contacted with White Dragon Society via the P2 lodge to say he and his family had nothing to do with the Obama regime and that Obama was a rogue force acting on his own.

Obama himself is just a spokesperson for what has been the rogue force for a very long time, the Federal Reserve Board and its Washington D.C. subsidiary. This gang of criminals is under attack from all over the world and there are many signs it really is going to be game over for them this time.

Perhaps the clearest indication of this has been the unprecedented split with Europe. The European corporate news outlets are full of stories about European leader’s anger over the fact the NSA has been spying on them. The espionage was mainly about stealing corporate secrets and had little if anything to do with “fighting terror” since the terror all originates with the US cabal regime and its allies anyway.

The most shocking revelation last week, reported by Reuters and Russian news outlets but buried by many corporate news agencies, was the vote by the European Union Parliament last week to suspend the US from the SWIFT international financial data base. This is the sort of action taken in the past against nations like North Korea and Myanmar.

We have also been unable to confirm what has happened to the US Congress. They were all flown to Florida last Thursday by the US military for what was supposed to be a day trip but have not returned to Washington as of Monday. It is too early to tell but maybe, if we are lucky, it will turn out the bribed gaggle of whores has been put in a lock up where they belong.

Speaking about whores, the Japanese puppet regime of actors pretending to be politicians while working

full story at link on subscription

Sabrina

28th October 2013, 20:42

http://hipknowsys.blogspot.it/2013/10/david-wilcock-update-via-benjamin.html?spref=fb

David Wilcock on it all..

Monday, October 28, 2013

David Wilcock Update Via Benjamin Fulford Blog - October 28, 2013

Source: ascensionwithearth.com

I have been able to independently confirm, from insiders, what Ben said last week about JP Morgan having been sold to the Chinese. Very significant events are going on right now, and it does seem that we are finally approaching the moment we’ve all been waiting for. The handwriting is on the wall.

The Cabal are planning on creating a mega-event of some sort within the month of November, earlier rather than later. They expect that “83 percent of Americans will be affected” by this, dramatically, and that wherever you are when it happens, that’s where you will continue to be — for a long time to come.

I take all of these warnings with a heaping tablespoon of salt, but then again, I have been hearing the same thing from three different independent sources now. My insider said it may be an announcement that the US is completely bankrupt. The Cabal is hoping it can incite a “race war” where blacks turn on hispanics and wipe them out, and then the blacks go after the whites, which allows the controlled military to step in and take out the blacks.

This thinking flies completely in the face of reason and common sense. I would have never come up with something like this on my own — it is only what I heard. To me, it shows that these plans are heavily divorced from reality. The main point is that we are reaching some kind of finality. There is a “last, desperate stand” going on.

Ben also didn’t say that Fukushima’s recent 7.3 did not seem to be a random quake, but was probably triggered again by the Cabal in the hopes of making the damage much worse. Thankfully that did not succeed. I do not believe their other plans will succeed either.

I have had a great deal of obstructions in my schedule to work through, but plan on writing all of this up — and more — on my website this week. Russell Brand’s recent speech is also quite noteworthy. He is the first celebrity to fully verbalize what is going on in such clear, concise terms.

I am really enjoying this and will be paying very close attention in the next week and a half to what happens. Again, though I heard these rumors from three different sources, I do not think we are about to see a major collapse of society and I encourage you not to panic, but to have faith in the goodness of humanity and the positive changes this will bring about.

The Cabal does not know how this series of events they are hoping to generate will turn out for them. They are apparently taking a big gamble by trying to do this, whatever it is. Declaring bankruptcy could be one thing. If they try to do a nuclear attack, it will fail, since ET humans are very real and have been blocking every major war effort they have tried to start on any large level. It is amazing that they still think they can pull off any type of large-scale operation at this point, but hope springs eternal.

Be well — and look for a post sometime this week. I am happy to be back in the ring!

- David

Comment by dwilcock on October 29, 2013 @ 12:35 am
***************************************************************

Oh… I should also say that while I was in Boulder, filming six new episodes of my TV show Wisdom Teachings, (wisdomteachings.com), a man came up to me in a health food store. He had heard me mention the Drudge Report. He independently told me that on the very next day, “Congress was all going down to Florida to attend the funeral of some guy who is really inconsequential, and isn’t it interesting that they’ve got a disaster drill scheduled for that same time in the DC area.”
I was surprised to see Ben mention this as well. With a little digging it should be easy to uncover more about this story.

- David

Comment by dwilcock on October 29, 2013 @ 12:37 am
***************************************************************

One area in which there is a sharp divergence between what I heard and what the Bush crew told Ben is that apparently Obama is working with Putin — not the Cabal. He is very much caught in the middle of a disastrous situation. I would say that if the Bushes tell Ben one thing, the opposite is almost certainly true — and in this case I had independent confirmation that Obama has started working with Putin to defeat the Cabal. This is just a rumor and I hope we see results.

- David
***************************************************************

The classic Cabal game is to create elections that put in people they can blame for what they are doing. Bush was a notable exception to the rule, due to how powerful he was.

Nonetheless, the game always has been that they put people in office who are heavily constrained by bribery, blackmail, threats, murders, extortion and the like. In order to get a good election performance out of Obama, so he would really believe in what he was doing and have a chance of winning, they never told him what he was getting himself into. That didn’t happen until the meeting he had with all the former presidents.

Go back in the archives and look for that meeting. You will see that Bush Sr. sat down with Obama for 25 minutes, one on one, in a private room. This was where, apparently, Bush started screaming at him, called him the N word repeatedly, and said, “LOOK, YOU F-N N–ER, YOU WORK FOR US AND YOU WILL DO WHATEVER THE F- WE SAY! IF YOU EVER EVEN THINK YOU CAN TRY TO BE A F-ING HERO, WE WILL RAPE AND MURDER YOUR N-ER DAUGHTERS WHILE YOU GET TO WATCH!”

Obama staggered out of the room at the end, collapsed into tears and said, “My god, they made the n-er into a scapegoat.” We have two different insiders who reported on having witnessed this event.
This is very disturbing stuff, and I’m sorry to have to say it, but the game, again, is to blame everything on someone who they trick into thinking he will be doing a great service, only to find out that he is being used as a scapegoat.

If you go back to the news footage from the day they were set to have that meeting, a woman asks Bush Sr. how he was feeling. He seems very nervous, says “Okay” in a way reminiscent of someone with extreme anxiety, and when he reaches out to shake her hand, he had a handkerchief in his palm. This was to reduce the sweat. Even someone at his level had great nervousness about the “op” he was about to perform, because there was a possibility that Obama could have gone crazy, jumped over the table, started choking him and possibly damaged him — such as gouging out an eye — or even killed him. That obviously did not happen.

I am always very suspect of any news source that tries to say Obama is in on it and one of the “Good Old Boys” in light of this and other pieces of data I have obtained from very secure, high-level insider sources.

- David

Comment by dwilcock on October 29, 2013 @ 1:09 am
***************************************************************

This is not fun stuff to look at, when we get into the negative aspects, but overall we are going through a vast, planetary healing process, and things will get much better.

Everyone thinks these things will be gradual until Major Events take place. It does seem we are now on the verge of not one, but a series of Major Events.

I look forward to it.

- David

Sabrina

30th October 2013, 18:03

'We're Really Screwed Now': NSA's Best Friend Just Shivved The Spies

Posted By Shane Harris, John Hudson Monday, October 28, 2013 - 7:21 PM US

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/10/28/were_really_screwed_now_nsas_best_friend_just_shivved_the_spies

One of the National Security Agency's biggest defenders in Congress is suddenly at odds with the agency and calling for a top-to-bottom review of U.S. spy programs. And her long-time friends and allies are completely mystified by the switch.

"We're really screwed now," one NSA official told The Cable. "You know things are bad when the few friends you've got disappear without a trace in the dead of night and leave no forwarding address."

In a pointed statement issued today, Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Dianne Feinstein said she was "totally opposed" to gathering intelligence on foreign leaders and said it was "a big problem" if President Obama didn't know the NSA was monitoring the phone calls of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She said the United States should only be spying on foreign leaders with hostile countries, or in an emergency, and even then the president should personally approve the surveillance.

It was not clear what precipitated Feinstein's condemnation of the NSA. It marks a significant reversal for a lawmaker who not only defended agency surveillance programs -- but is about to introduce a bill expected to protect some of its most controversial activities.

Perhaps most significant is her announcement that the intelligence committee "will initiate a review into all intelligence collection programs." Feinstein did not say the review would be limited only to the NSA. If the review also touched on other intelligence agencies under the committee's jurisdiction, it could be one of the most far-reaching reviews in recent memory, encompassing secret programs of the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, agencies that run imagery and spy satellites, as well as components of the FBI.

A former intelligence agency liaison to Congress said Feinstein's sudden outrage over spying on foreign leaders raised questions about how well informed she was about NSA programs and whether she'd been fully briefed by her staff. "The first question I'd ask is, what have you been doing for oversight? Second, if you've been reviewing this all along what has changed your mind?"

The former official said the intelligence committees receive lengthy and detailed descriptions every year about all NSA programs, including surveillance. "They're not small books. They're about the size of those old family photo albums that were several inches thick. They're hundreds of pages long."

A senior congressional aide said, "It's an absolute joke to think she hasn't been reading the signals intelligence intercepts as Chairman of Senate Intelligence for years."

The former official added that the "bottom line question is where was the Senate Intelligence Committee when it came to their oversight of these programs? And what were they being told by the NSA, because if they didn't know about this surveillance, that would imply they were being lied to."

A spokesperson for Feinstein did not respond to a request for more details in time for publication. And a spokesperson for Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the intelligence committee's vice chairman, said the senator had no comment at this time.

In a tacit acknowledgement of how supportive Feinstein has been of the administration's surveillance practices, the White House issued a lengthy statement about her Monday remarks.

"We consult regularly with Chairman Feinstein as a part of our ongoing engagement with the Congress on national security matters," said National Security Council spokesperson Caitlin Hayden. "We appreciate her continued leadership on these issues as Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. I'm not going to go into the details of those private discussions, nor am I going to comment on assertions made in the Senator's statement today about U.S. foreign intelligence activities." The statement went on to note the administration's current review of surveillance practices worldwide.

The surprise change of tone comes during a crucial week on Capitol Hill as lawmakers on opposing sides of the surveillance debate look to introduce rival bills related to the NSA.

Striking first blood, opponents of expansive NSA surveillance are expected to introduce the "USA Freedom Act" on Tuesday, which would limit the bulk data collection of records under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, install an "office of the special advocate" to appeal FISA court decisions, and give subpoena powers on privacy matters to the Privacy and Civil LIberties Oversight Board. Sponsored by Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and John Conyers (D-MI), the bill is backed by a strong bipartisan bench of some 60 lawmakers, including Reps. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Mike Quigley (D-IL), and Justin Amash (R-MI) and Sheila Jackson (D-TX).

A draft of the bill was provided to The Cable by a congressional aide and can be viewed in full here.

Unlike many House bills, Freedom Act has some bipartisan support in the Senate in the form of Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, who will be introducing a similar bill at the same time.

On the opposing side is Feinstein, who is looking to codify the NSA's controversial phone records program in her bill set for markup this week. According to published reports, the bill would give the agency the authority to vacuum metadata of all U.S. phone calls but not their content, meaning duration, numbers, and time of phone calls are fair game. A spokesperson for Feinstein said that the senator plans to move forward with the bill even in light of today's rhetorical about-face.

While the Feinstein bill could gain support in the Senate, a Congressional aide familiar with the politics in the House say it's likely dead on arrival in the lower chamber. If it went down, however, pro-surveillance lawmakers would still likely put up a fight.

"The fact is, the NSA has done more to save German lives than the German army since World War II," Rep. Peter King (R-NY) said on CNN.

Still, others often in favor of government surveillance have carved out surprising positions. Republican hawk John McCain, for instance, is now calling for a special select committee to investigate U.S. spying. "We have always eavesdropped on people around the world. But the advance of technology has given us enormous capabilities, and I think you might make an argument that some of this capability has been very offensive both to us and to our allies," McCain said.

Over at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel Monday refused to comment on the NSA's surveillance of world leaders, dismissing questions about what he may or may not have known about intelligence collection. "We have great respect for our partners, our allies, who cooperate with us and we cooperate with them to try to keep the world safe," said Hagel, standing beside New Zealand Minister of Defense Jonathan Coleman during a Pentagon press briefing. "Intelligence is a key part of that. And I think this issue will continue to be explored, as -- as it is now, but that's all I have to say."

Coleman responded to the same question: "New Zealand's not worried at all about this," he said. "We don't believe it would be occurring, and look, quite frankly there'd be nothing that anyone could hear in our private conversations that we wouldn't be prep[ared to share publicly." Coleman then cited a political cartoon in a newspaper in Wellington. It showed an analyst listening to the communiques from New Zealand with a big stream of "ZZZs" next to it. "I don't think New Zealand's got anything to worry about, and we have high trust in our relationships with the U.S."

With additional reporting by Matthew Aid and Gordon Lubold

Sabrina

30th October 2013, 18:14

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/10413788/Barclays-faces-investigation-into-currency-trading-manipulation.html

30 Oct UK

Barclays faces investigation into currency trading manipulation

Barclays adds name to widening currency trading probe, which could become a scandal on a par with Libor manipulation, as it posts rise in profits

Barclays has become the latest bank to admit it is facing an investigation into whether its staff were involved in attempts to manipulate global foreign exchange markets.

The bank confirmed it was reviewing trading activity by its employees for several years, up to as recently as this August, as part of an international inquiry into alleged rigging of currency markets.

Antony Jenkins, chief executive of Barclays, declined to comment further on the probe and said he could not discuss "any ongoing discussions with the regulator".

The Financial Conduct Authority, the UK's market regulator, is currently one of several organisations currently in the early stages of an investigation into the potential rigging. Royal Bank of Scotland has said it is cooperating with the inquiry.
Barclays' admission came as the bank reported its third-quarter results, which showed its statutory pre-tax profits for the last three months had increased by nearly £700m quarter-on-quarter to £351m.

Profits for the first nine months of the year trebled year-on-year to £2.85bn, largely as a result in the reduction of an accounting charge on the value of the bank's own debt.

However, Barclays said its investment banking division had suffered a fall in profits on the back of declining revenues from its core fixed income, currencies and commodities business.

Like its Wall Street rivals, Barclays said revenues in its trading business had fallen compared to 2012, with income from its fixed income, currencies and commodities division dropping by 22pc to £4.5bn. Investment banking profits for the first nine months were down 12pc year-on-year at £2.85bn.

Mr Jenkins said the results demonstrated the "underlying strength" of the bank's business and that the bank was on "the right course". He said: "It is not an easy course, but it is the right one."

He added: "While the resilience of our performance is welcome, I am not complacent, and my executive team know we must push harder in the final quarter and into 2014."

The results are the first since Barclays completed a £5.8bn rights issue that will help the bank meet a new leverage ratio requirement imposed by the Prudential Regulation Authority.

Mr Jenkins said that on top of the capital raising, which will also include Barclays selling £2bn of bonds convertible into its own shares, he had asked the bank's new finance director, former JP Morgan banker Tushar Morzaria, to undertake a review of the structure of the lender's balance sheet.

Barclays also signalled the likelihood of further job cuts as Mr Jenkins pointed to the potential to shrink the bank's workforce through the use of new technology. "Huge swathes of activity can be automated," said Mr Jenkins.
Mr Jenkins gave a cautious welcome to the Government's flagship Help to Buy scheme that will see the state provide mortgage guarantees to home buyers, saying he was "supportive" of the programme. However, he added that, "we want to be careful in the UK about creating some sort of house bubble".

Sabrina

30th October 2013, 18:26

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/oct/30/phone-hacking-trial-news-of-world-staff

On the Murdoch newspaper hacking story, now coming to trial.

30 Oct UK

Phone-hacking trial: three ex-News of the World staff plead guilty

Prosecution reveals news editors admitted charges as it outlines case against Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson and others

Three former News of the World employees have pleaded guilty to phone hacking charges, an Old Bailey jury was told this afternoon, as part of the opening of the trial of Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson, Brooks's husband and four other former employees of the now closed Sunday newspaper.

The crown prosecutor revealed that the individuals had already pleaded guilty at an earlier stage in proceedings, as he outlined to the court that News of the World was at the centre of three criminal conspiracies dating back to the year 2000, involving the two former editors.

Andrew Edis QC said that those pleading guilty were former News of the World news editors Neville Thurlbeck, Greg Miskiw and James Weatherup. The court also heard that the private investigator contracted by the newspaper to undertake the alleged hacking, Glenn Mulcaire, had pleaded guilty.

But the prosecuting counsel told the jury that journalism was not on trial. "There is no justification of any kind for journalists for getting involved in phone hacking. That is an intrusion into people's privacy which is against the law," Edis said. "The prosecution says that journalists are no more entitled to break the law than anyone else," he added.

Edis told the court that the criminal activity was discovered as a result of a police investigation into the paper in 2011 following the revelation that the telephone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler "had been hacked by somebody acting on behalf of the News of the World".

The prosecuting counsel told the jury that "the events were very big at the time" but that they must put what they remember about them "out of their mind" and try the case on the evidence that they heard.

Edis also told them they did not have to remember everything they heard during his opening. "This is not a memory test, it's a long trial," he said referring to the estimated five to six months allotted for the case. "There are three types of criminal behaviour alleged here," Edis told the jury.

The jury heard that the first centred on alleged phone hacking conducted by a private investigator hired by the paper, Glenn Mulcaire, "who was very good finding out personal codes" which were used to access other people's voicemails remotely.

"Mr Mulcaire was very good indeed at getting the codes for people's phones and therefore able to get into other people's messages. It was very useful," Edis said.

He added that Mulcaire's activities helped the tabloid prove the truth of news under investigation such as affairs of people they were interesting in writing about.

The second conspiracy centred on paying "public officials, civil servants, police officers, soldiers" for confidential information, Edis said.

The third type of criminal behaviour related to an alleged conspiracy to pervert the course of justice when the investigation into the paper was ongoing in July 2011. Some of the people on trial, Edis said, were "secretly trying to prevent information coming to the attention of the police".

The crown opened its case to the jury of nine women and three men by identifying the location of the eight defendants in the dock at the back of court 12 starting with Ian Edmondson, the former head of news at the Sunday newspaper, who sat closest to the door.

Next to him was Brooks, the former chief executive of News International and a former editor of the News of the World and the Sun who is facing five charges spanning a decade linked to all three conspiracies – the conspiracy to intercept mobile telephone voice messages, a conspiracy to corrupt public officials by paying them for information and a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. On her left sat Coulson, another former News of the World editor, who took on the job after Brooks.

Next to him was a seat for a fourth defendant Stuart Kuttner, the paper's former managing editor. Both Coulson and Kuttner are facing charges linked to a phone-hacking conspiracy.

The Sunday paper's former royal editor, Clive Goodman, was next in the row of eight, and faces a charge of conspiring to cause misconduct in public office by offering money to public officials for information.

Next to him in the dock was Rebekah Brooks's former personal assistant Cheryl Carter and her husband Charlie Brooks, who are facing charges linked to perverting the course of justice.

The final defendant is the then News International head of security, Mark Hanna, who also faces charges linked to perverting the course of justice.

Notebooks belonging to Rebekah Brooks, and computers and other material which could have been relevant to the phone hacking inquiry were hidden from police investigating it, the jury was told.

Material was removed from Brooks's London and Gloucestershire homes immediately before the News of the World was shut down in 2011 in the wake of allegations that Dowler's phone had been hacked, Edis said.

"It wasn't a secret that there was an investigation going on and by July of 2011 when the Milly Dowler allegation was being made, there was a great storm of publicity," Edis added.

The prosecution said there was "quite a complicated little operation" to hide material from the police who were investigating.

Edis said it was also alleged that Brooks asked Carter to remove her "journalistic notebooks" from the News International archive, where they were being stored.

"They were got out of the archive on the Friday before the last edition of the News of the World was published," he said, adding that the notebooks had "disappeared ... The police would have wanted to know what was in those notebooks."

Edis added that Brooks, her husband Charlie, and security official Hanna had "ensured that material the police would have wanted – computers, documents, things like that – were carried out of the Brooks's country home in Gloucestershire and taken to News International offices in Wapping".

"On their way or as part of the same operation, material was collected from their London flat and taken to the same place."

He said one might imagine that material would be "directly relevant to the police inquiry".

"Quite a complicated operation was set up to prevent that happening, which was discovered as a result of an accident which was rather bad luck for those conspirators involved." Edis said he would give more details later, but said that the circumstances were "quite memorable".

Earlier Edis said the prosecution case was that "people in charge of the purse strings" at the News of the World knew about phone hacking. "We say we will be able to show that there was phone hacking at the News of the World. That Glenn Mulcaire did it. That Clive Goodman did it, and that Ian Edmondson did it."

The case continues.

and

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/phone-hacking/10413148/Phone-Hacking-Trial-Police-accused-of-trying-to-stop-Private-Eye-sales.html

30 Oct

Phone Hacking Trial: Police accused of trying to stop Private Eye sales

Index on Censorship says it is 'worrying' that officers allegedly suggested a news vendor in Farringdon should remove copies of the satirical magazine from display and warned it could be in contempt of court over Rebekah Brooks' Old Bailey trial

Police were accused of displaying a “worrying” blasé attitude towards the freedom of the press after officers warned a newsagent about the potential implications of selling Private Eye on the grounds that a joke could prejudice Rebekah Brooks’ phone hacking trial.

A news vendor said a policeman asked him to “consider” taking down issues of the satirical magazine he had on display at his kiosk near the Old Bailey, where Mrs Brooks is standing trial alongside fellow former News of the World editor Andy Coulson.

The officer allegedly said the latest edition of Private Eye could be in contempt of court over its Halloween-themed cover, which features a picture of Mrs Brooks above the caption, “Horror witch costume withdrawn from shops”.

The vendor refused to stop selling the magazine without seeing a court order demanding its removal, and the Attorney General, Dominic Grieve, later ruled that there was no need to launch contempt proceedings.

Mr Justice Saunders, the judge in the phone hacking case, on Tuesday showed the jury the issue of Private Eye and told them to ignore the cover, which he said was “a joke in especially bad taste”.

more at link

Sabrina

30th October 2013, 18:32

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/29/us-nasdaq-options-idUSBRE99S0Z420131029

NASDAQ says options trading in major indexes resumes after halt

Tue Oct 29, 2013 1:39pm EDT

(Reuters) - Nasdaq OMX (NDAQ.O) said on Tuesday that options trading had resumed in a number of widely followed indexes after a halt where the exchange failed to disseminate value for the Nasdaq 100 .NDX.

The exchange also said its Global Index Data Service had "experienced a brief disruption of service" with no impact to equity exchange operations, and that it was investigating the issue.

Earlier, Nasdaq said its PHLX and Nasdaq Options Market exchanges had halted options trading in the Nasdaq 100, as well as the PHLX Semiconductor .SOX, PHLX Oil Service .OSX and PHLX Housing .HGX sectors because it was not disseminating values for the indexes.

The news was the latest technical issue to befall the exchange, which has struggled to repair its reputation following some high-profile problems, most notably the botched initial public offering of Facebook Inc (FB.O).

"I don't know what it is, but it appears they have an unusual proportion of technical problems there," said Stephen Massocca, managing director at Wedbush Equity Management LLC in San Francisco. "You would think they would be on their tippy-toes making sure everything was absolutely correct over there ... at this point, it's more than just luck."

The exchange also said it is not generating values for the Nasdaq 100 index, the benchmark of the PowerShares QQQ Trust exchange-traded fund (QQQ.O), one of the most traded ETFs.

Sabrina

31st October 2013, 11:20

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The Ben Still Report

Published on Oct 25, 2013

This week, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told a cheering crowd of hundreds of thousands that his nation "decided we are not going to live anymore as prisoners of the international financial funds...." Go Hungary!

Sabrina

6th November 2013, 20:02

http://rt.com/news/million-mask-march-anonymous-311/

6 Oct

‘The Corrupt Fear Us!' Massive Anonymous 'Million Mask March' as it happened (PHOTOS)

Thousands of people worldwide joined Million Mask March rallies organized by the amorphous Anonymous movement. Rallies, both peaceful and confrontational, protested austerity, surveillance, corporate greed and corrupt governments.

In a mass demonstration of people power, crowds of people in 450 cities around the world filled the streets wearing Guy Fawkes masks and carrying placards with the motto of the Anonymous hacktivist group: “The corrupt fear us. The honest support us. The heroic join us.”

In London and Washington protesters clashed with police, with activists marching on Buckingham Palace in the UK capital, while in the US a few burned American flags - previously a common scene only in the Mideast. Meanwhile, in other cities, the protest had more of a carnival air, with whole families parading the streets with their kids, wearing the white-faced masks. What united the global protests was a general anti-capitalist and anti-NSA surveillance mood.

RT’s Sara Firth, reporting from the march in central London, outside the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth's official residence, found herself in the thick of it - squeezed in between more than 1,000 protesters and large cordons of police. Pushed and jostled by police and masked demonstrators, she described the scene as “certainly not the peaceful movement that protesters said that it would be.”

Protesters chanted, "Here we come, Tory scum!" and smashed police barriers along their way from Parliament Square to Buckingham Palace, where some of the masked protesters even climbed on top of the palace's gates and one threw a firework at the palace itself.

Among the crowds was comedian Russell Brand, a noted supporter of Anonymous and the Occupy movement, who was wearing an Anonymous mask on top of his head. Brand, who recently called for a "socialist, egalitarian" revolution in an interview with the BBC and called for people not to vote for any of the current mainstream UK political parties, was mobbed by enthusiastic supporters outside the Houses of Parliament. Some commentators have even suggested that Brand could lead the Anonymous group - a controversial concept, as the movement has prided itself on being leaderless and spontaneously organized from below.

n an article Brand wrote for The Guardian hours before taking part in Tuesday's demonstration, he insisted that he was not looking to lead a movement, but simply to participate. "Luckily with organisations like them, Occupy, Anonymous and The People's Assembly I don't need to come with ideas, we can all participate," Brand wrote. "I'm happy to be a part of the conversation, if more young people are talking about fracking instead of twerking we're heading in the right direction."

But Brand, a controversial figure whose rugged good looks and flowing Christ-like mane have led to some likening him to a kind of comedy Messiah, was strongly attacked in much of the UK media for his intervention in the radical protest. Journalist Hugo Rifkind tweeted about Brand: “He went to an anonymous protest BUT TOOK OFF HIS MASK SO THAT PEOPLE WOULD KNOW WHO HE WAS.”

The Independent reported another Twitter user as saying: “’Russell Brand becomes face of Anonymous protest’: YOU’RE DOING IT RONG [sic].”

Separate UK protests coincided with the Million Mask March in London, with demonstrators rallying against growing austerity measures in the country. Britain’s Green Party called on anyone who is opposed to the “heartless” cuts instituted by Prime Minister David Cameron’s government to join in a rally on Westminster Bridge. Green Party spokesman Romayne Phoenix echoed many of the same complaints lobbed by Million Mask Marchers.

“This heartless government’s austerity measures have hurt the poor thirteen times harder than the rich,” he said. “They’re slashed funding for vital public services, cut away the social safety net of benefits and seem determined to hammer the final nails in the coffin of the National Health service, an institution this country is proud of. At the same time they’ve let the banks ratchet up huge profits, allowed train operators to continue to rip-off customers and defended the energy companies whose soaring prices are forcing many people to choose between food and heating.”

As the evening wore on in London, protesters lit up the sky with fireworks - a traditional Guy Fawkes Day celebration - across the street from the Houses of Parliament, while some danced and at least one person held a banner in praise of RT host Max Keiser, who presents his cult, anti-bankster program from the city.

While the London event was mostly about protesting government austerity measures, the Washington one had NSA’s invasive surveillance methods near the top of the agenda.

“Five years after the financial crisis and banks being bailed out, we're still suffering. People are drowning in debt. We live in a country that is fundamentally unfair, we no longer have the rule of law,” a participant smartly dressed in an Anonymous mask, plus a suit and tie, told RT correspondent Gayane Chichakyan in front of the White House.

“From the NSA, to Edward Snowden, to Chelsea Manning, all over the world, people are speaking out, whistleblowers are speaking out, regular people are speaking out and saying enough is enough. We want justice and we want it now.”

In front of the White House, protesters also burned the American flag - a sight more usually associated with countries such as Iran or Pakistan - while outside the Federal Reserve, protesters shouted, "End the Fed" - a slogan borrowed from the Occupy movement.

On the West Coast, crowds marched through downtown Los Angeles to show their solidarity with the movement. Many of them have links with the Occupy Wall Street movement, born two years ago.

South America also joined in the global protests. Several hundred protesters blocked off roads in Brazil’s central Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo, marching against government corruption.

"We want to change this corrupt system," Eron Morales de Melo, a veteran protester dressed as Batman told AFP. "We are paying high taxes and this doesn't get invested in education. We don't have good healthcare, public security is precarious, as is public transport."

Hundreds protested in Australia’s Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. One of the Australian rally participants told ABC News that the non-centralized nature of Anonymous made it difficult to pinpoint an exact message behind the global rally.

"There’s so much that goes on in our world, and with Anonymous, because there’s so many of us, it’s really hard to have an orderly or structured discussion, rally or march on one point. So it’s probably best that we just incorporate all of them.”

Australia itself has been targeted by Anonymous recently over reported spying on Indonesians. Hackers calling themselves Anonymous Indonesia defaced some 200 websites with the .au domain in a gesture of protest.

Indonesia, meanwhile, also had a masked protest on Guy Fawkes Day. Anonymous Philippines marched to Batasang Pambansa complex Tuesday noon to protest rampant corruption in the country. Police officers briefly blocked the march after it gathered along Quezon City Circle, but later allowed them to proceed to the vicinity of the House of Representatives.

Several dozen demonstrators rallied at the Nelson Mandela Square, a popular shopping center in Johannesburg, South Africa, as part of the Million Mask March. According to the 2012 Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, South Africa ranked 69th out of 176 countries. Organizers of the rally put corruption and tax fraud on top of their agenda.

In Japan, the Guy Fawkes-themed action had an environmental twist, as masked activists conscientiously made their contribution to cleaning the streets by picking up litter.

The global action on November 5 is Anonymous’ annual celebration of Guy Fawkes Day, a British holiday commemorating the most prominent member of the failed Gunpowder Plot, a 1605 attempt to assassinate King James I of England by blowing up the Houses of Parliament. The plotter and his facial likeness in particular have come to symbolize the fight against tyranny for the Anonymous hacking collective.

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pix at link

¤=[Post Update]=¤

and

http://rt.com/usa/fox-news-website-anonymous-316/

6 Oct US

WEEEEEEE?! FOX news website features weird headlines, 'tech error' blamed :)

A supposed technical glitch that replaced the usual content of the Fox News website with nonsense headlines and outdated articles, gave rise to a host of conspiracy theories, and suspicions of a break-in by ‘hacktivists’ Anonymous.

On the afternoon of November 5th – Guy Fawkes Day, and the date of annual worldwide demonstrations by Anonymous supporters – the usual front page of the ‘Fair and Balanced’ website was suddenly changed to one with a headline that just read "Weeeeeeeeeeee".

Underneath the header, was a standfirst that proclaimed “STUFF YO”. Above it was an item that read “Programming Alert: World Zombie Day to Bring out the Living Dead.’

It also included some news articles, mostly from earlier this year. The dateline next to the Fox logo read May 16, 2013.

Sabrina

6th November 2013, 20:09

via 38 degrees campaigning group in the UK 6 Oct

Here's a newspaper headline, in today's Independent, which every 38 Degrees member can feel proud of: "Tories put Lobbying Bill on hold over fears of embarrassing defeat in House of Lords". [1]

It looks like the campaign against the gagging law is starting to work!

In the face of an ever-growing campaign, the government was forced to concede a six-week delay for more consideration. They had to promise further "consultation".

This is nowhere near the end. It remains to be seen if the six week delay will mean real changes. But I still think it's big news, for two reasons:

1. It proves the campaigning is starting to work and the government is starting to get worried.

Yesterday the 38 Degrees petition calling on the government to "fix or scrap" the gagging law passed 100,000 signatures in just a few hours. Meanwhile over 50 different charities and voluntary groups wrote to almost every single Lord, expressing concerns about this big threat to democracy.

Behind the scenes, there are growing signs that many government Lords – Lib Dems in particular – are starting to realise that the gagging law would be terrible for their reputations as well as for democracy.

By working together we have forced the government to start backing down. If we keep building the pressure, we've got every chance of getting them to back down fully.

2. It gives us more time to grow the campaign against the gagging law

The government may be hoping for a breather. But 38 Degrees members – along with all the other groups campaigning against this law – have momentum on our side. We can use this six week pause to get organised and step up the campaign.

So, this seems like a good time to say THANK YOU AND WELL DONE! I thought I would also share some thoughts on our strategy. As with the last time I sent one of these update emails, feel free to send me your thoughts by hitting reply to this email.

My sense is that we need to do two big things to stop the gagging law going through:
1. push for real changes to be made in the Lords
2. raise the political pressure on the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives

Here's some more detail:

1. Push for real changes to be made in the Lords

Getting the delay is progress, but a threat to democracy is still a threat to democracy in six weeks time!

We will need to convince enough Liberal Democrat and Conservative Lords to join forces with independent ("crossbench") and Labour Lords. We need them to promise they'll vote to make sure the gagging law is either fixed or scrapped when it comes back in six weeks.

This means:
- proving to members of the House of Lords that the public is against the gagging law. Building a really big petition will help – if you haven't already signed, you can do so here:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/scrap-the-gagging-law

- Personal lobbying of Lords – if you happen to know a member of the House of Lords, please use your personal contacts to persuade them to vote the right way. For advice on doing this, please let the office team know you can help by clicking here:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/call-a-lord

- Working with other groups who are also going to be hit by the gagging law. If you are involved with another campaign or charity, please get in touch with them and ask them to do all they can. If they haven't already got involved in the campaign, ask them to read the report by the Commission on Civil Society and Democratic Engagement:
http://civilsocietycommission.info/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/civil-society-commission-report-WEB.pdf

2. Raise the pressure on Liberal Democrat and Conservative MPs

The Liberal Democrats and Conservatives are behind the gagging law. All the other parties in Parliament have come out against it. That means pressure on Liberal Democrat and Conservative MPs, particularly those in marginal constituencies, is crucial.

We need to convince enough Lib Dem and Conservative MPs that pushing the gagging law through is unpopular and risks losing them votes at the next election.

You can help by:
- emailing your MP, phoning your MP, visiting your MP, and asking your neighbours to do the same – particularly if your MP is Liberal Democrat or Conservative

- Donating to help fund local campaigning efforts focused on Lib Dem and Conservative MPs with slim majorities. Cash pays for posters, leaflets and adverts in local papers highlighting the threat to democracy. 38 Degrees members have donated over £120,000 to this local campaigning so far - you can chip in here:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/fight-gagging-law-donate

What do you think of these plans? What else could we be doing? Just hit reply to this email to share your thoughts.

It's been amazing for me to see all the campaigning on the gagging law. I've been lucky enough to get to meet lots of you at public meetings over the past few weeks. If you haven't made it to one yet, this video from Norwich a couple of weeks ago gives a flavour of what's been happening:

<img data-cke-saved-src="https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/page/-/images/gagging-norwich-icon.jpg" src="https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/page/-/images/gagging-norwich-icon.jpg" alt="image" of="" public="" meeting="" video"="" style="max-width:434px;">

Sabrina

6th November 2013, 20:13

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/11/06/uk-eu-libor-idUKBRE9A50P920131106

6 Oct

Exclusive - EU to fine banks billions of euros over rate rigging

(Reuters) - A number of finance firms, including Royal Bank of Scotland and Rabobank face billions of euros in fines next month from European Union regulators for colluding on global benchmark interest rates, reinforcing Brussels' hard line on the sector after the financial crisis.

EU antitrust chief Joaquin Almunia is set to unveil a record fine of at least 1.5 billion euros ($2.03 billion) on six banks, including Barclays and RBS, for rigging the yen Libor interest rate benchmark, a banking source said on Wednesday.

In addition to the yen Libor fines, likely to be the biggest so far from Brussels, Almunia will also penalise another group of banks for operating as a cartel in a separate case involving the rigging of the Euribor benchmark interest rate, reported by Reuters on Tuesday.

Fines in the two cases could run to billions of euros.

The fines will add to the spiralling cost to banks for cleaning up past misdeeds. Globally this is expected to reach about $125 billion if JP Morgan agrees a $13 billion deal with the U.S. authorities over mortgages.

This earnings season, banks set aside more money for the rising cost of fines, lawsuits and compensation.

Authorities in the United States, Britain and elsewhere have so far fined UBS, RBS, Barclays, Rabobank and ICAP $3.7 billion for manipulating rates. Seven individuals face criminal charges.

The London inter-bank offered rate (Libor) and its European cousin (Euribor) are used to price hundreds of trillions of dollars in assets, from Spanish mortgages to derivatives.

A settlement with the EU over cartel allegations would require the banks to admit liability, potentially paving the way for lawsuits from investors and others who believe they have lost money because of the rates manipulation.

Under the Libor settlement, the world's top interdealer broker, ICAP, and Dutch cooperative bank Rabobank are among those that will be fined, the person said. The names of the other two financial institutions were not immediately clear.

Switzerland's UBS will not be fined because it was the first member of the group to come clean during the European Commission's investigation into wrongdoing, two sources familiar with the case confirmed to Reuters.

European lawmakers have responded to public anger over the cost of bank bailouts with tough measures that include the first bonus cap in the world for bankers.

Almunia wants to hand out the fines by the end of the year, reinforcing his reputation for cracking down hard on banks' wrongdoings since the financial crisis struck five years ago.

"The total fine could be at least 1.5 billion euros ($2.02 billion)," the financial industry source told Reuters of the Libor settlement. That would beat the current record of 1.47 billion euro fine for a cartel involved with cathode-ray tubes.

The financial source said the group of banks had admitted to wrongdoing in yen Libor, the rate associated with the Japanese currency, in exchange for a 10 percent cut in the fine.

The fines, which can reach up to 10 percent of a company's global turnover, are nonetheless set to be significant.

RBS had a turnover of 25 billion pounds last year, while Barclays was 29 billion pounds and Rabobank 13.5 billion euros. ICAP's turnover was 1.47 billion pounds. RBS, Barclays, Rabobank, ICAP and UBS declined to comment.

The European Commission spokesman for competition policy, Antoine Colombani, declined to comment.

For its Euribor settlement, Brussels is also set to fine six global banks, including Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, HSBC, RBS, Credit Agricole and Societe Generale, a source has told Reuters.

Barclays, which alerted the European Commission to the suspected wrongdoing in relation to Euribor, will not be fined.

All of the banks named in relation to either settlement declined to comment.

Almunia's investigators say interest rate derivatives' traders colluded to rig the Libor and Euribor benchmarks, using advanced knowledge of the cost of borrowing to bolster their profits. Such cartels are illegal.

Libor is based on a survey of what banks would charge each other for loans. Other regulators have already found that traders colluded on answers that could nudge the reported rates by amounts that were tiny but translated into big profits.

In the Libor settlement, all the banks have admitted to wrongdoing to reduce the size of their fine, but in the Euribor settlement several of the banks are contesting the size of the proposed penalties.

HSBC, Europe's largest bank, is one of those, two sources said. In these cases, the banks are likely to face formal charges next month, followed by fines next year, one of the people said. ($1 = 0.7392 euros)

Sabrina

7th November 2013, 09:00

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/10431615/Three-spy-chiefs-to-be-grilled-by-MPs.html

7 oct UK

Three spy chiefs to be grilled by MPs

The heads of Britain’s three intelligence agencies will give evidence in public for the first time on Thursday.

In a landmark hearing, the heads of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ will appear before MPs in an open session to be questioned on their activities.

The session follows the granting of wider powers to the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee to hold the agencies to account.

The group of MPs and peers can demand sensitive material be handed over and investigate any operation they wish.
Committee officials will also be able to go to the agencies to review and retrieve documents rather than relying on them to decide what evidence is relevant to any inquiry.

Sir Malcolm Rifkind, chairman of the committee, said: “The perfectly legitimate arguments that were made in the past about intelligence oversight have now been dealt with. Intelligence oversight now has all the powers required and this public hearing will be the first of many.”

Appearing before MPs will be Andrew Parker, the director general of MI5, Sir John Sawers, the chief of MI6, and Sir Iain Lobban, the GCHQ director.

They are expected to launch a fresh attack on the Guardian newspaper and the GCHQ leaks it published from files stolen by Edward Snowden, the former CIA contractor.

They will warn that the revelations have damaged defences against terrorists.

Last month, Mr Parker said in his first public speech since taking over at MI5 that the leaks “gifted” terrorists the ability to attack “at will”.

The increasing danger posed by jihadists flocking to Syria to fight with extremists is also expected to be raised.

However, the three spy leaders will not discuss any sensitive material, techniques or operations in public.
Scrutiny of those concerns will continue, as is current practice, in closed hearings.

Sabrina

7th November 2013, 09:05

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/06/tim-berners-lee-encryption-spy-agencies

7 Oct

Tim Berners-Lee condemns spy agencies as heads face MPs

Inventor of world wide web condemns 'dysfunctional and unaccountable' oversight as intelligence chiefs
face MPs

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the computer scientist who created the world wide web, has called for a "full and frank public debate" over internet surveillance by the National Security Agency and its British counterpart, GCHQ, warning that the system of checks and balances to oversee the agencies has failed.

The damning assessment was given as the heads of GCHQ, MI5 and MI6 prepared to face questioning by MPs in the Commons on Thursday. In an unprecedented hearing in Westminster, questions over the conduct of Britain's spy agencies will be raised when the heads of the three secret services – MI5, MI6 and GCHQ – go before parliament's intelligence and security committee.

The 90-minute session will give the nine-strong committee, led by Sir Malcolm Rifkind, a chance to question the agencies about the reach of the mass surveillance programmes that have provoked a global debate about privacy in the internet age. While critics have often despaired of the ISC's lack of clout, Rifkind has promised to use new powers to provide robust scrutiny of the agencies and restore public confidence in what they have been doing.

As the inventor of the global system of inter-connectivity known as the web, with its now ubiquitous www and http, Berners-Lee is uniquely qualified to comment on the internet spying revealed by the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

In an interview with the Guardian, he expressed particular outrage that GCHQ and the NSA had weakened online security by cracking much of the online encryption on which hundreds of millions of users rely to guard data privacy.

He said the agencies' decision to break the encryption software was appalling and foolish, as it directly contradicted efforts of the US and UK governments to fight cybercrime and cyberwarfare, which they have identified as a national security priority. Berners-Lee also said it was a betrayal of the technology industry.

In contrast to several senior British politicians – including the prime minister, David Cameron – who have called for the Guardian to be investigated over reporting of the Snowden leaks, Berners-Lee sees the news organisation and Snowden as having acted in the public interest.

"Whistleblowers, and responsible media outlets that work with them, play an important role in society. We need powerful agencies to combat criminal activity online – but any powerful agency needs checks and balances and, based on recent revelations, it seems the current system of checks and balances has failed," he said.

As the director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that seeks to forward global standards for the web, Berners-Lee is a leading authority on the power and the vulnerabilities of the internet.

He said the Guardian's coverage of the Snowden leaks had to be seen within the context of the failure of oversight of GCHQ's and the NSA's surveillance activities. "Here is where whistleblowing and responsible reporting can step in to protect society's interests.

"It seems clear that the Guardian's reporting around the scale and scope of state surveillance has been in the public interest and has uncovered many important issues which now need a full and frank public debate."

Talking in his office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Berners-Lee said that though he had anticipated many of the surveillance activities exposed by Snowden, including taps on the internet through the Prism program, he had not been prepared for the scale of the NSA/GCHQ operations. "I didn't realise it would be so big," he said.

At worst, such spying could damage the public's confidence in the intimate privacy of the internet as a free and safe place to interact. "When you take away the safe space, you take away a lot of the power of human problem solving," he warned.

Berners-Lee will mark the 25th anniversary of his invention of the web next year by campaigning for greater public awareness of threats to the internet and by pushing for a charter that would codify the rights of all its users. As head of the World Wide Web Foundation, on 22 November he will release the 2013 Web Index, which measures the web's growth, utility and impact across about 80 countries – including indicators on censorship and surveillance.

The scientist, who was honoured in the opening ceremony of the London Olympics, reserved his harshest words for GCHQ and the NSA's undermining of the protection afforded by encryption, which he said would benefit organised criminal hacker gangs and hostile states.

"In a totalitarian state where it reckoned it was the only strong state in the world, I can imagine that being a reasonable plan. But in this situation, internet security is hard. It's naïve to imagine that if you introduce a weakness into a system you will be the only one to use it."

He also criticised the cracking of encryption on ethical grounds: "Any democratic country has to take the high road; it has to live by its principles. I'm very sympathetic to attempts to increase security against organised crime, but you have to distinguish yourself from the criminal."

Berners-Lee said that the series of Snowden disclosures revealed a failure at the heart of oversight in both the US and UK governments, which he called "dysfunctional and unaccountable". The leaked documents raised the question: who guards the guards themselves?

In practice, he said, the only practical answer to that question was the whistleblowers. He called for the introduction of an international system of protection for whistleblowers such as Snowden, who has taken a year's temporary refuge in Russia.

The Obama administration has pursued official leakers heavily, launching eight prosecutions under the 1917 Espionage Act including that of Snowden himself – more than twice the total number under all previous presidents.

"Civilisation has to a certain extent depended on whistleblowers, and therefore you have to protect them," Berners-Lee said.

Sabrina

7th November 2013, 09:11

http://www.aljazeera.com/investigations/killing-arafat/swiss-forensic-report-arafat-death-201311671255163780.html

6 Oct

KILLING ARAFAT

Swiss forensic report on Arafat's death

The 108-page report by Swiss scientists who say their data supports the theory that Arafat was poisoned with polonium.

see report at link and

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/06/us-palestinians-arafat-idUSBRE9A50S520131106

6 Oct

Palestinian leader Arafat was murdered with polonium: widow

(Reuters) - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was poisoned to death in 2004 with radioactive polonium, his widow Suha said on Wednesday after receiving the results of Swiss forensic tests on her husband's corpse.

"We are revealing a real crime, a political assassination," she told Reuters in Paris.

A team of experts, including from Lausanne University Hospital's Institute of Radiation Physics, opened Arafat's grave in the West Bank city of Ramallah last November, and took samples from his body to seek evidence of alleged poisoning.

"This has confirmed all our doubts," said Suha Arafat after the Swiss forensic team handed over its report to her lawyers and Palestinian officials in Geneva on Tuesday. "It is scientifically proved that he didn't die a natural death and we have scientific proof that this man was killed."

She did not accuse any country or person, and acknowledged that the historic leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization had many enemies, although she noted that Israel had branded him an obstacle to peace.

She told Reuters the polonium must have been administered by someone "in his close circle" because experts had told her the poison would have been put in his coffee, tea or water.

"I'm so angry at what happened and I feel that I'm mourning him all over again. This was an act by cowards."

Arafat signed the 1993 Oslo interim peace accords with Israel and led a subsequent uprising after the failure of talks in 2000 on a comprehensive agreement.

Allegations of foul play surfaced immediately. Arafat had foes among his own people, but many Palestinians pointed the finger at Israel, which had besieged him in his Ramallah headquarters for the final two and a half years of his life.

"President Arafat passed away as a victim of an organized terrorist assassination perpetrated by a state, that is Israel, which was looking to get rid of him," Wasel Abu Yousef, member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The publishing of the results by the Swiss institute confirms his poisoning by polonium and this means that Israel carried it out."

The Israeli government has denied any role in his death, noting that he was 75 years old and had an unhealthy lifestyle.

"This is more soap opera than science, it is the latest episode in the soap in which Suha opposes Arafat's successors," Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said.

Investigations into his demise amounted to "a highly superficial attempt to determine a cause of death."

An investigation by the Qatar-based Al Jazeera television news channel first reported last year that traces of polonium-210 were found on personal effects of Arafat given to his widow by the French military hospital where he died.

That led French prosecutors to open an investigation for suspected murder in August 2012 at the request of Suha Arafat. Forensic experts from Switzerland, Russia and France all took samples from his corpse for testing after the Palestinian Authority agreed to open his mausoleum.

"SMOKING GUN"

The head of the Russian forensics institute, Vladimir Uiba, was quoted by the Interfax news agency last month as saying no trace of polonium had been found on the body specimens examined in Moscow, but his Federal Medico-Biological Agency later denied he had made any official comment on its findings.

The French pathologists have not reported their conclusions publicly or shared any findings with Suha Arafat's legal team. A spokeswoman for the French prosecutor's office said the investigating magistrates had received no expert reports so far.

One of her lawyers said the Swiss institute's report would be translated from English into French and handed over to the three magistrates who are investigating the case.

Professor David Barclay, a British forensic scientist retained by Al Jazeera to interpret the results of the Swiss tests, said the findings from Arafat's body confirmed last year's results from traces of bodily fluids on his underwear, toothbrush and clothing.

"In my opinion, it is absolutely certain that the cause of his illness was polonium poisoning," Barclay told Reuters. "The levels present in him are sufficient to have caused death.

"What we have got is the smoking gun - the thing that caused his illness and was given to him with malice."

The Swiss scientists' report, posted in full on Al Jazeera's website, was more cautious. It concluded: "Taking into account the analytical limitations aforementioned, mostly time lapse since death and the nature and quality of the specimens, the results moderately support the proposition that the death was the consequence of poisoning with polonium-210."

Al Jazeera said the levels of polonium found in Arafat's ribs, pelvis and in soil that absorbed his remains were at least 18 times higher than normal.

The same radioactive substance was slipped into a cup of tea in a London hotel to kill defecting Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in 2006. From his deathbed, Litvinenko accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering his murder.

Barclay said the type of polonium discovered in Arafat's body must have been manufactured in a nuclear reactor.

While many countries could have been the source, someone in Arafat's immediate entourage must have slipped a miniscule dose of the deadly isotope probably as a powder into his drink, food, eye drops or toothpaste, he said.

BRIEF RECOVERY

Arafat fell ill in October 2004, displaying symptoms of acute gastroenteritis with diarrhea and vomiting. At first Palestinian officials said he was suffering from influenza.

He was flown to Paris in a French government plane but fell into a coma shortly after his arrival at the Percy military hospital in the suburb of Clamart, where he died on November 11.

The official cause of death was a massive stroke but French doctors said at the time they were unable to determine the origin of his illness. No autopsy was carried out.

Barclay said no one would have thought to look for polonium as a possible poison until the Litvinenko case, which occurred two years after Arafat's death.

Some experts have questioned whether Arafat could have died of polonium poisoning, pointing to a brief recovery during his illness that they said was not consistent with radioactive exposure. They also noted he did not lose all his hair. But Barclay said neither fact was inconsistent with the findings.

Since polonium loses 50 percent of its radioactivity every four months, the traces in Arafat's corpse would have faded so far as to have become untraceable if the tests had been conducted a couple of years later, the scientist said.

"A tiny amount of polonium the size of a flake of dandruff would be enough to kill 50 people if it was dissolved in water and they drank it," he added.

The Al Jazeera investigation was spearheaded by investigative journalist Clayton Swisher, a former U.S. State Department Diplomatic Protection agent who became friendly with Arafat and was suspicious of the manner of his death.

Suha Arafat called for an investigation inside the Muqata Palestinian government headquarters and said she and her daughter, Zahwa, would pursue the case through the courts in France and elsewhere until the perpetrators were brought to justice.

(Additional reporting by Gerard Bon in Paris and Crispian Balmer and Ori Lewis in Jerusalem; Writing by Paul Taylor; Editing by Crispian Balmer, Ralph Boulton and Giles Elgood)

(This story was refiled to correct U.S. Secret Service to State Department Diplomatic Protection in the penultimate para)

WORLD

Sabrina

8th November 2013, 19:30

http://www.aangirfan.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/spies-protecting-robber-barons-and.html

8 Nov UK

SPIES PROTECTING THE ROBBER BARONS AND THEIR MAFIAS?

US and UK spy chiefs would deny that they run al Qaeda and carry out acts of false flag terrorism.

They would deny that they have links to Mafia operations involved in selling nuclear technology and heroin.

Terrorism finance expert Loretta Napoleoni estimates the total value of the trade in narcotics, weapons and people to be about $1.5 trillion annually, the bulk of which "flows into Western economies, where it gets recycled in the U.S. and in Europe" as a "vital element of the cash flow of these economies."

Ayman al-Zawahiri is the boss of al Qaeda.

Between 1997 and 2001, Zawahiri had regular meetings at the U.S. embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan, with U.S. military and intelligence officials.

Zawahiri is part of the CIA operation known as ‘Gladio B’.

Zawahiri and his 'terrorists' were transported on NATO planes to various places in Central Asia and the Balkans to take part in the Pentagon's destabilisation operations.

Two Sunday Times journalists have said that all this was confirmed by top Pentagon and MI6 officials.

The Sunday Times story was dropped under pressure.

In her book Classified Woman, Sibel Edmonds, a former translator for the FBI, describes how the Pentagon, CIA and State Department worked closely with al-Qaeda.

Classified Woman: The Sibel Edmonds Story

Five years ago, Edmonds revealed to the Sunday Times that a top U.S. State Department official was on the payroll of Turkish agents in Washington, who were selling nuclear and military secrets.

"He was aiding foreign operatives against U.S. interests by passing them highly classified information, not only from the State Department but also from the Pentagon, in exchange for money, position and political objectives".

n the Sunday Times, Edmonds described a parallel organisation in Israel cooperating with the Turks on selling weapons and technology.

Israel and Turkey operated front companies, incorporated in the USA, with active "moles in sensitive military and nuclear institutions", supported by U.S. officials, in order to sell secrets to the highest bidder.

One of the buyers was Pakistan's spy service, ISI.

see full story at link

risveglio

8th November 2013, 21:52

arrest that shouldn't happen of a founder of 'The Lawful Bank': UK

http://www.thebcgroup.org.uk/blog/roger-hayes-arrested-tried-secret-court-imprisoned

Roger Hayes Arrested, Tried In Secret Court, Imprisoned

BLOG | JULY 2, 2012 - 9:38PM
At 0930 this morning, in scenes reminiscent of Stasi East Germany, 2 police cars and 4 policemen from Merseyside Police arrested British Constitution Group Chairman Roger Hayes at his Wirral home and drove away.

The first his family heard of him was at 18:30 this evening via a telephone call from a Warder in Liverpool prison, to say that Roger had been tried and sentenced to prison.

At no time were the family or any other members of the public informed of his arrest, and it is understood that he was tried in a secret court without a Jury.

Denied the right to argue his case, denied the right to a Jury, denied the right for the public to see justice being done, Roger was imprisoned in the secretive gulag system that Britain has become in 2012.

Roger's "crime" is that he has been refusing to pay his Council tax, because along with other state taxes, a proportion of the tax revenue gathered is being sent to the European Union, used to fund unlawful wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria, and promote terrorism right around the world. To pay tax under these circumstances is, at the very least, unlawful under Section 15(3) of the Terrorism Act 2000.

As such the present government of UK in Westminster is complicit to terrorist action and war crimes and therefore the payment of taxes to an unlawful, criminal regime is itself a criminal act - one in which Roger refused to participate.

The state has never forgiven him for the arrest of Judge Peake at Birkenhead court as part of this campaign.

In addition to his stance on taxes for unlawful purposes, Roger has also been campaigning for the Lawful Bank - a monetary initiative in which money can be issued to the public as credit, rather than as crippling debt under the existing corrupt and fraudulent International Monetary System.

As Chairman of the British Constitution Group, Roger Hayes has been an outspoken public speaker warning the British public that their rights and freedoms under Common Law and the Constitution are being stripped away and replaced by a dictatorship of secret courts operating under Administrative and Statute Law.

There is no doubt that his success in alerting ever more people to the dangers of the British / EU dictatorship being built by a criminal element now masquerading as British politicians, has caused the state to imprison Roger. His challenge to the fraudulent banking system, as evidenced by the criminal acts of Barclays bank and todays resignation by arch Bilderberger and BBC advisor Marcus Agius, will also have made Roger enemies within Britain's wide criminal banking cabal.

Roger's family is shocked both at his arrest, and at the realisation that Britain is now sliding into a police state, where husbands, fathers and other good people can be lifted off the streets and imprisoned. There is now no doubt that Britain is further under the control of domestic terrorists in Westminster.

We ask that all those who value their freedoms and liberty call Meryside Police for further information and an explanation of their actions, and also call Liverpool prison to establish Roger's physical safety and well-being.

Merseyside Police Tel: 101 local or +44 (0)151 709 6010 in UK.

Liverpool Prison Tel: +44 (0)151 530 4000

Crimestoppers (UK only) Tel: 0800 555 111

Roger Hayes' site here - he's being staging talks across the UK recently.

http://lawfulbank.com/

more here:

http://americankabuki.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/uk-lawful-bank-founder-roger-hayes.html

YTVK3byiJcA

I just got an email from the lawful bank and was trying to see if there was any information about them here. I am interested but very hesitant. I guess Roger either got out or served his time.

WE HAVE Neil Warren WHO HAS MADE HIMSELF KNOWN ON THE LU POSTCODE PAGE - Neil IS A SITE ADMINSTRATOR, Roger Hayes WHO YOU ALL KNOW AND WHO IS ALSO AN ADMINISTRATOR.
THEN THERE IS Paul Rogers AS PER THE ERED GROUP

Sabrina

10th November 2013, 23:21

More US top military dismissals..

US Suspends Two Admirals Over Major Bribery Scandal

10 Nov

http://tinyurl.com/kbpk5sn

Two of America’s top Navy intelligence admirals have been placed on leave in a major escalation of a federal bribery probe in which officers are accused of selling military secrets in exchange for cash, prostitutes and Lady Gaga concert tickets.

Vice Admiral Ted Branch and Rear Admiral Bruce Loveless have also been stripped of access to classified information pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations of improper business relations with Leonard Francis, chief executive of the Singapore-based maritime contracting firm Glenn Defence Marine.

“The suspension was deemed prudent given the sensitive nature of their current duties and to protect and support the integrity of the investigative process,” read a US Navy statement.

“The allegations against Admirals Branch and Loveless involve inappropriate conduct prior to their current assignments and flag office rank. There is no indication, nor do the allegations suggest, that in either case there was any breach of classified information.”

Mr Francis, a flamboyant businessman known as “Fat Leonard”, is alleged to have bribed Navy officials to hand over confidential shipping information and divert warships to ports whose lax management allowed him to overcharge the military by at least $10 million for services such as tug boats, fuel, sewage removal, security and docking fees.

He was arrested in September and charged with bribery. He has pleaded not guilty. The Navy has terminated contracts worth $200 million with his firm, which for 25 years had serviced and supplied the Pacific fleet.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) began its investigation into corruption and bribery at the Navy’s outpost in Singapore in 2010. Vice Adm Branch, the director of naval intelligence, and Rear Adm Loveless, director of intelligence operations, are the highest-ranking staff to have been implicated in the scandal.

Three lower-ranking officers have been charged with accepting bribes such as prostitution services, luxury travel, and tickets to see the Lion King musical in Japan and Lady Gaga in Thailand. They have denied the charges. Prosecutors in the case

“According to the allegations in this case, a number of officials were willing to sacrifice their integrity and millions of taxpayer dollars for personal gratification,” said US attorney Laura Duffy, a prosecutor on the case.

Both admirals served in the Pacific region prior to their current Pentagon roles.

sheme

10th November 2013, 23:58

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-05/kimberly-mounts-rising-star-hedge-fund-adviser-dies-at-48.html

Sounds like a really nice person with a decent work ethic unexpected death.

Sabrina

11th November 2013, 19:11

Perhaps very apt for 11.11 :)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/10441960/Pope-Francis-corrupt-should-be-tied-to-a-rock-and-thrown-into-the-sea.html

11 Oct Vatican

Pope Francis: corrupt should be tied to a rock and thrown into the sea

Pope Francis gives fire-and-brimstone sermon, saying the corrupt should be tied to a rock and thrown into the sea

Pope Francis has delivered a fiery sermon against corruption, quoting a passage from the Bible in which Jesus said some sinners deserve to be tied to a rock and thrown into the sea.

In one of his strongest-worded homilies since he was elected in March, the Argentinean pontiff said Christians who lead “a double life” by giving money to the Church while stealing from the state are sinners who deserve to be punished.

Quoting from the Gospel of St Luke in the New Testament, he said “Jesus says: It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea.”

While he did not allude directly to corruption within the Catholic Church, his remarks come just days after a scandal erupted inside an ancient religious order linked to the Vatican, and as he forges ahead with a determined effort to root out cronyism within the Holy See and financial irregularities in the scandal-tainted Vatican bank.

The Pope described people engaged in corruption as “whitewashed tombs”, explaining that “they appear beautiful from the outside, but inside they are full of dead bones and putrefaction.” A life based on corruption is “varnished putrefaction”, the Pope said.

The Jesuit Pope may have been hailed for adopting a softer, more inclusive stance on sensitive subjects such as homosexuality and divorce since his election in March, but his sermons and homilies often include stern, fire-and-brimstone language and references to the Devil.

Pope Francis made the remarks during his daily morning Mass inside Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican guesthouse which he has chosen to live in after spurning the much grander apostolic apartments on the other side of St Peter’s Basilica.

It was the second time in just a few days that he had targeted the evils of corruption.

On Friday he had strong words for Catholics who grow wealthy from graft and use tainted money to shower their children with gifts and send them to expensive schools.

“Those who take kickbacks have lost their dignity and give their children dirty bread”, he said.

Corruption was as much of an addiction as taking drugs — “We might start with a small bribe, but it’s like a drug,” he said.
He prayed “that the Lord may change the hearts of those who worship the kickback god”.

The most recent scandal to hit the Catholic Church was exposed last week, when the head of a 440-year-old religious order was arrested on suspicion of bringing trumped-up charges against rivals in a bid to be re-elected.

Renato Salvatore, 58, was allegedly so desperate to be re-elected Superior General of the Camillians, also known as the Order of Ministers to the Sick, that he invented false charges against two rival priests who were opposed to his nomination.

The unfounded charges resulted in the two priests, Rosario Messina and Antonio Puca, being hauled off to a police station in Rome, with the result that they were unable to cast their votes against Father Salvatore at a general assembly of the order, which was founded in 1582 and recognised by Pope Sixtus V in 1586.

Members of the order wear black cassocks emblazoned with red Crusader-style crosses — the origins of the Red Cross symbol.
Father Salvatore was chosen by Pope Benedict XVI to participate in a general synod of bishops in October last year, five months before the German pontiff decided to resign from the papacy.

Sabrina

11th November 2013, 19:22

Must be the time for speaking out...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/10439303/Truly-shocking-that-the-private-school-educated-and-affluent-middle-class-still-run-Britain-says-Sir-John-Major.html

11 Nov UK

'Truly shocking' that the private-school educated and affluent middle class still run Britain, says Sir John Major

Former Prime Minister criticises the dominance of private-school educated elite in “upper echelons” of British public life

The dominance of a private-school educated elite and well-heeled middle class in the “upper echelons” of public life in Britain is “truly shocking”, Sir John Major has said.

The former Conservative Prime Minister said he was appalled that “every single sphere of British influence” in society is dominated by men and women who went to private school or who are from the “affluent middle class”

More than half of the Cabinet, including David Cameron, the Prime Minister, George Osborne, the Chancellor, and Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, are thought to have gone to private school and are independently very wealthy.

In the speech to Tory party grassroots activists on Friday evening, Sir John - who went to a grammar school in south London and left with three O-Levels - said: “In every single sphere of British influence, the upper echelons of power in 2013 are held overwhelmingly by the privately educated or the affluent middle class. To me from my background, I find that truly shocking.”

Sir John blamed this “collapse in social mobility” on Labour, which despite Ed Miliband’s “absurd mantra to be the one-nation party they left a Victorian divide between stagnation and aspiration”.

But the comments will be seen as a challenge to the Eton-educated Mr Cameron who has faced repeated criticism for surrounding himself with advisers and ministers from a similar background and failing

In the speech to South Norfolk Conservative Association’s annual dinner on Friday evening, Sir John also said:
- the Government should help pensioners who have saved carefully for their retirement and are being punished by “cripplingly unfair” low interest rates

- the Bank of England ought to return interest rates to “normal levels, say three to five per cent”, so that society treats “the saver as fairly as it treats the debtor”.

- Tory party members were right to feel “unsettled” by the Coalition’s decision to legalise same sex marriage, but activists have to move with the times.

- the Conservative leadership should to pull their punches on the United Kingdom Independence Party, pointing out that “many of the Ukip supporters are patriotic Britons who fear their country is changing” and will come back to the Tory party.

more at link

Sabrina

11th November 2013, 20:00

http://rt.com/business/bank-america-mortgage-fraud-500/

11 Nov US

Bank of America hit with $864mn penalty over mortgage fraud

The US government wants Bank of America Corp to fork over $863.6 million in damages after a federal jury found it guilty of selling subprime mortgages, the defective securities largely responsible for triggering the Great Recession in 2008.

The US Justice Department argued that Countrywide, which was bought by Bank of America in 2008, committed fraud by selling shoddy home loans over a two-year period to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) designed to enhance the flow of credit to targeted sectors of the economy.

The government also demanded penalties against Rebecca Mairone, a former executive at Countrywide unit who was cited in the lawsuit as having repeatedly ignored warnings about the "Hustle," otherwise known as the "High Speed Swim Lane."

In an effort to squeeze as much business as possible from a steadily eroding housing market, Countrywide extended loans to low-income families with little hope of meeting the demand of a fluctuating monthly payment. As a result, Countrywide was cited for placing too much emphasis on the sheer volume of loans, not the quality.

“Countrywide eliminated every significant checkpoint of loan quality and compensated its employees solely based on the volume of loans originated, leading to rampant instances of fraud and other serious loan defects, all while Countrywide was informing the GSEs that it had tightened its underwriting guidelines,” the Justice Department complaint against Bank of America stated.

The amount of the penalty is based on gross losses Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac incurred on the Countrywide mortgages, the government said.

Mairone, who worked at Countrywide and Bank of America from 2006 until 2012, is now employed with JPMorgan Chase & Co. She has denied any wrongdoing.

No criminal charges have been filed against Mairone or any other individual in connection with the alleged misconduct.

Bank of America is scheduled to respond to the government's penalty request by November 20.

Although critics are already deriding the fine as a mere “drop in the bucket” compared to the damage wrought to the economy as a result of the faulty mortgage scheme, the Justice Department said the penalties would “send a clear and unambiguous message that mortgage fraud for profit will not be tolerated."

The US government introduced two stimulus packages totaling nearly $1 trillion during 2008 and 2009, while the Federal Reserve has attempted to pump up the global economy by printing upwards of $600 billion while keeping interest rates at record lows.

Bank of America, meanwhile, contends that the penalty is excessive since it only acquired Countrywide in 2008, the same year that the US housing bubble burst with global repercussions.

"We believe the filing overstates the volume of loans and the appropriate measure of damages arising from one narrow Countrywide program that lasted several months and ended before Bank of America acquired the company," Lawrence Grayson, a spokesman for the bank, said Saturday.

Bank of America paid $2.5 billion for Countrywide, but analysts have said that purchase has since cost the bank tens of billions of dollars in litigation costs.

In its filing, the Justice Department refrained from suggesting an amount to fine Mairone until after it examined a financial disclosure form she provided Friday. Her lawyers, meanwhile, have pledged to argue against any penalties.

"We intend, in our filing, to argue against the imposition of any penalty," Marc Mukasey, Mairone's lawyer, said in an email Saturday, Reuters reported.

Penalties will be assessed by US District Judge Jed Rakoff, who presided over the four-week trial in Manhattan.

Sabrina

12th November 2013, 09:18

http://www.miraclesandinspiration.com/news_the-realization-of-the-impossible-dream.html

The Realization of the Impossible Dream

• 7,000 Years of Slavery On the Verge of Collapse

• Numerous signs pointing to November 2013 as potential start of major events

• Variety of possible dramatic scenarios about to unfold?

News | November 10, 2013

Reported by Scott Mowry

Have you ever wondered what freedom feels like? Not this phony, canned kind of freedom we have been sold in the so-called “free world” but real, true, honest-to-goodness freedom? Unlimited, boundless and without restraints. Without restrictions. Without any limitations whatsoever.

What is it like to be truly free?

Free to do and be anything you wish so long as you cause no harm to another.

Can you even imagine what it would be like to experience freedom on that level?

Chances are we have no clue what real freedom is. We do not possess the consciousness necessary to understand what it feels like to be truly free.

Yet here we stand, in the year 2013 and the very pure ideal of freedom is actually within our grasp as never before. I mean really a great possibility has arrived.

With each and every passing day, the people of the world grow ever more resolute to taste the fruits of true and real freedom.

Freedom from worry, stress and anxiety. Freedom from suffering, pain and doubt. Freedom from debt and obligation to an insatiable bureaucratic monster which knows no limits.

Freedom from slavery and servitude to a long, corrupted economic system based upon fraud, avarice and greed. Freedom from the restrictions of poverty, lack and hardship.

These freedoms are now coming more and more sharply into focus. Many are so close now we can taste them. We can smell them in the air. We can feel them deep within our bones. Have you been feeling them ever close now?

These freedoms will be as sweet and sublime as one can possibly envision. They will be beyond the wildest dreams we could ever conjure up within our minds. Even beyond the limits of our imagination.

And yes indeed, the sleeping giant has awoken.

ALWAYS DARKEST BEFORE THE DAWN
Yet as we inch ever close to our liberation, many so overcome with fear, paranoia and disillusionment cannot even envision the freedoms we speak of. They have far too much invested in their pain, their suffering and their victim-hood to see beyond the fog.

Granted, when we look around at the world we can see an enormous amount of negativity, corruption and outright crises. We are inundated with these conditions on daily basis. And quite frankly, many have grown completely weary and exhausted from the current state humanity finds itself in.

Yet, as the saying goes –– it is always darkest before the dawn.

Despite the apparent dire situation the world appears to be wallowing in, we have arrived at a point in our collective evolution where grand, sweeping changes of the most miraculous nature are about to be instituted the likes of which have never, ever been seen before.

We must realize, although admittedly, negativity and chaos can be quite disheartening on one level, on another they can be very motivational and illuminating. A negative situation more often than not gets people off their couches, to rise up and to take to the streets.

And that is precisely what we have seen happen since the turn of the millennium and continuing to increase each and every year. All of these responses by the people are having a very positive cumulative effect which has not gone unnoticed. And everywhere on every corner, in every town and city, people are standing up and saying –– enough is enough!

The 9/11 tragedy was easily the most horrific event in the history of the US since the Civil War. It has ushered in a far more draconian, fascist style of government which has touched every aspect of our lives –– from economics, to politics, to security, to travel, to media, to health care, to corporate greed, and on and on and on.

Blatant, almost willful corruption has followed in both government and corporations including multi-national bank bailouts; the Libor scandal; mortgage fraud and foreclosures; the IRS scandal; NSA spying; Fast & Furious gun running; illegal wars –– both attempted and with a few successfully launched –– throughout the Middle East.

Meanwhile, our so-called Federal government continues to enact some of the most bizarre legislation imaginable all clearly designed to rob of us of more and more of our innate, inalienable rights.

Yet beyond all of this criminality and wrongdoing has arisen an enormous amount of forthright initiatives as a direct response to the looming agenda of the New World Order. These initiatives have included various 9/11 truth groups; the Occupy Wall Street movement; WikiLeaks; Anonymous; the Arab Spring; Truckers for the Constitution; Oath Keepers; the BRICS Alliance; the World Global Settlements; the Global Collateral Accounts; various prosperity programs; the Global Currency Reset; the Restoration of the Republic; among many, many others.

In the end, despite all the negativity, despite all the corruption there is a brilliant light emerging on the horizon and it is growing every more bright by the day. And in its wake, a day of great reckoning is nearly upon us.

DATES OF SIGNIFICANCE FAST APPROACHING
There are numerous reports from a wide variety of sources indicating the United States may be in store for some kind of major event to unfold as soon as this month, November 2013. Precisely the nature of this event (or events) remains a great mystery at this time.

However, some have speculated we may see anything from an announcement the US government has gone bankrupt; a take-down of the nation’s power grid; an implementation of a new financial system; the revaluation of many world currencies; mass arrests of the global elite by the US Military; a declaration of Martial Law; or any number of other striking measures.

Regardless, there seems to be an unprecedented amount of expectation something very significant is in the offing possibly before the Thanksgiving holidays, though as usual, it is an ever-fluid situation.

There exists a variety of circumstantial evidence which may offer some validity to back up at least some these claims. Speculation began back on August 16th when the New York Times published an expose of a possible disaster scenario entitled, “As Worries Over the Power Grid Rise, a Drill Will Simulate a Knockout Blow”. The article began with the doom-ridden words: “The electric grid, as government and private experts describe it, is the glass jaw of American industry.”

On August 27th, just days before her resignation on September 1st, outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned of a coming “cyber event” which could potentially cripple the economy causing turmoil for nearly all Americans.

Then, on October 27th, the National Geographic Channel broadcast a show entitled, “American Blackout” which depicted a scenario where the entire power grid of the US went down all at once. At the conclusion of the program, it was none other than the United Nations portrayed as the hero of the story. Was this show a telegraph for events to come?

Further speculation are now centering upon the dates of November 13 & 14, 2013, when an agency called NERC (the North American Electric Reliability Corporation) along with other public and private entities will be conducting a drill they are calling GridEx II in as many as eight states, in addition to the countries of Mexico and Canada. Other sources are indicating the power grid could be shut down as early as November 11th by the CIA.

Of course, government and/or military drills have often proved to be a harbinger of far more horrific events to come as has been the case with the Oklahoma City bombing, the 9/11 tragedy, the 7/7/05 London bus bombings, and many other staged terror episodes.

Needless to say, within the last two years alone there have been a number of highly bizarre incidents which have reached the nation's consciousness, notably Sandy Hook, the Boston Marathon bombings, the DC Naval Yard incident, and most recently, the LAX shootings –– each and every one of a highly suspicious nature.

Benjamin Fulford, for one, reported on November 6th the White Hats within the US agencies could use a power grid interruption to co-ordinate a massive takeover of the banks and Wall Street in order to usher in a new financial system altogether.

Incidentally, November 11th (11.11.13) is also being cited as a significant date in Chinese numerology charts. In fact, some are wondering if the Asian Dragon families, who are rumored to be funding the Global Currency Reset, might be finally ready to flip the switch on a new financial system.

On another note, the Obama administration appears to be coming under ever-increasing criticism by the mainstream press for its handling of the NSA spying scandal, the Benghazi escapade and the roll-out of the Obamacare website, along with many other highly divisive issues. CNN, for one, has been openly questioning President Obama's leadership skills to be able to solve the many problems, as well as, his fundamental faith in the government.

Finally, David Wilcock also recently chimed in on the November timeline of events by commenting on a blog post: “To clarify, a ‘surprise’ is going to happen. We will not expect it. They are saying it will permanently change everyone’s lives in the Western world. Putin and the alliance is on the ascent. This is big, big, big stuff. The new economic system has already been worked out and there will be an across-the-board currency re-valuation. Even though the dollar will be worth less once this happens, the overall effect will be positive.”

Essentially, what seems likely is November 2013 will offer one of the greatest opportunities for a real paradigm shift the result of which will catapult humanity exponentially forward in evolution.

GLOBAL CURRENCY RESET STILL SET FOR IMPLEMENTATION
The Global Currency Reset we have often referenced during the year of 2013 is a direct response to the rampant criminality within the financial systems of the world. And for those who remain skeptical, you can be assured, the Global Currency Reset is still very much a real objective.

In the immortal words of Max Keiser of Russia Today from October 19, 2013 (Episode #512), “time to reset this sucker, the global financial system is kaputski! Time to rebuild something better, something less corrupt. In fact, this re-architecting of the global financial system is happening right now, as I speak these words. It doesn’t matter if you like it or not, it is happening!” (See video below.)

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Kaputski to global financial system - time to reset!

Yet here we sit, in the final two months of the year with nothing real tangible to show for all the anticipation of a reboot of the world’s currencies. Many weeks lingering into months have come and gone along with many hopes and desires fading away. Not to mention many bold predictions and prognostications.

We can attribute the delays to an all-too familiar culprit –– the international bankers and an insane New World Order cabal hellbent on derailing any positive movement forward for humanity.

Former World Bank attorney, Karen Hudes, one of the most outspoken whistleblowers of late, has rightly fingered the Jesuits and the Vatican as the head of the snake. As we have emphasized on many occasions, no matter what rabbit hole you venture down, all roads lead to Rome.

World Bank Whistleblower makes Startling Confession - Karen Hudes #N3

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Ms. Hudes has publicly stated in a number of recent interviews the Jesuits and the Vatican sit at the very top of the food chain for the control of the world's money supply. In fact, she has pointed out the Vatican Bank is the recipient of 60% of all US tax dollars collected by the IRS after initially being funneled through the Bank of England, which takes a 40% cut off the top. In addition, she outlined how the Vatican use the birth certificate to create bonds on nearly everyone born in the US to back up the value of the dollar. (See more Karen Hudes interviews below.)

The IRS and birth certificate ponzi schemes are just one of many, many criminal enterprises about to be permanently cut off. This is precisely why the revaluation of currencies will begin the process of wiping away global debt, thereby making it possible to install a new stable, fair global economic system. Thus, the world will be pulled back from a planned economic disaster as envisioned by the Vatican, the international banksters and the global elite.

Indeed, the long anticipated Global Currency Reset has been brought to the point of implementation on a number of occasions throughout the later half of the year and the reverberations were felt throughout the system, particularly as it attempted to link with world-wide stock exchanges. In fact, not only did the NASDAQ Exchange go down several times on August 22nd, it crashed yet again on October 29th, and on November 1st.

Recently, it was learned as many as seven Wells Fargo bankers attempted to steal as much as $300 trillion earmarked for the GCR, then to leverage that sum on the trading platforms. These rogue bankers were caught and arrested but their crimes caused weeks of delay although all is back on track.

Other monkey wrenches have been thrown into the works by nefarious interests, nonetheless, there is a very determined effort to break the stranglehold of the international banksters through a number of economic initiatives currently in motion behind the scenes.

Make no mistake about it, the Global Currency Reset is a dagger right in the heart of the New World Order agenda for the total enslavement of the human race. Despite the fact the GCR has yet to take hold, there still appears a very concerted effort to kick start it into action.

This effort was highlighted by IMF and World Bank held their annual meetings in Washington, DC on the week of October 11- 13. Reportedly in attendance were nearly all the heads of central banks from around the world together to formalize a supreme effort to get the GCR finalized.

Perhaps initially, there may have been a consideration to limit the number of currencies to be revalued from the supposed number of 198, yet it appears the Iraqi Dinar is slated to be flying out of the starting gate at any time now. On October 29th, Iraq Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki paid a visit to Washington, DC on a begging mission for more military aid and US support to remain in office for a third term.

Apparently, Maliki left empty-handed yet may have been given firm marching orders to make an official announcement of his revalued currency, post haste. Consequently, many are poised on high alert throughout the rest of the month for the revaluation of the Iraqi dinar, although as usual, a specific date and rate remain unknown.

NEW $100 BILL PART DEUX
In other significant economic developments, October 8, 2013 marked the release of the glorious, new gold embossed $100 bill to the general public. Although much delayed, these bills were initially printed back in 2009 and thus feature former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s signature, rather than current Treasury Secretary Jack Lew's.

And unfortunately, the new $100 bill still contains the words “Federal Reserve Note” strategically placed on the upper left hand corner from the blue center divider bar. As we outlined in a previous news article, the left hand side of the $100 bill displays a plain, ordinary color scheme we have grown accustomed to thus representative of an old system. While the right hand side of the bill contains all the beautiful gold symbolism which may be a signal the US Treasury is about ready to make a major transition to an entirely new economic system.

Rumors persist yet another new redesigned $100 bill may be released in the near term which will be truly backed by gold and/or other precious metals when the US officially makes a triumphant return to the gold standard.

An official announcement of the gold standard could come at any time now. It is expected this new $100 bill will finally dispense with the Federal Reserve altogether and will instead read, “US Treasury Bill” or “Note,” very prominently.

Meanwhile, as time as whiled away, more and more people have awakened to the stark realization of the scope of the fraud within the world’s banking, legal, governmental and political systems. And to say the least the amount of fraud is nothing less than shocking!

Consequently, the recent government shutdown which began at the end of the fiscal year on September 30th, dragged on for nearly three weeks while Republicans and Democrats staged their usual dog and pony show as a distraction. The shutdown was blamed on the ongoing debate over Obamacare yet was more accurately about the impending bankruptcy of the fictional USA, Inc. shadow government, installed over our original Republic since at least the 1870’s.

Before the ink was even dry on the paperwork allowing the USA, Inc. to reopen for business, mainstream news reports were already openly suggesting there may be yet another government shutdown looming as early as January 2014.

Let’s be clear, the US people are not responsible for any debt whatsoever. It is the corporation, the USA, Inc., which is the responsible party for the so-called national debt, solely created by the international banking cartel who have hijacked the country.

And it is the USA corporation and the Federal Reserve which have become reviled the world over for standing in the way of the GCR and other measures. The world is ready for peace, prosperity and progress and the USA, Inc. must stand down now or risk being bowled over.

Apparently, many of these economic programs such as the GCR, the World Global Settlements, the Global Collateral Accounts, the CMKX settlements, various prosperity programs, etc. have been lumped together in one collective effort to wipe the slate clean. The objective will be to instill a knock-out punch the New World Order cabal will be unable to counter.

We await with baited breath.

REMEMBER, REMEMBER, THE 5TH OF NOVEMBER
On November 5, 2013, the hackativist group, Anonymous, who are believed to embody a collection of computer hackers, cyber geeks, civil resisters, sympathetic military members and NCO's, organized a global day of civil disobedience spanning at more than 450 locations around the world into 140 countries. By all accounts, the world-wide protest was a smashing success, despite the fact it was virtually ignored by the mainstream press. Russia Today, however, kept a running tally of events throughout the day.

We are Anonymous, not Guy Fawkes!

November 5th, of course, is a very important day of remembrance in England for the foiled attempt to blow up the British Parliament building in the year 1605 which would have decapitated the entire English monarchy, government and church in one fell swoop. Thus, it is has become infamously known as the Gunpowder Plot, or the equivalent of a 17th century-style 9/11.

The main target of the Gunpowder Plot was the relatively newly crowned King James I, who according to the history books was scorned by English Roman Catholics for failing to adequately honor their religious demands. Yet that is merely half the story.

The Jesuits and the Vatican desperately wanted to seize back control of England having lost it 100 years earlier when King Henry VIII severed ties with the Church of England from the Vatican in 1534 for having been excommunicated by Pope Clement VII on July 11, 1533.

Seventy years later, in far more turbulent times with the impending death of the virgin Queen Elizabeth I in 1603 and with no direct heirs in line, England was potentially weak and ripe for the taking by the Jesuits. Before her passing, Queen Elizabeth I wisely chose her cousin, the young King James VI of Scotland, to succeed her on the throne of England.

Nearly as soon as he became King James I of England, he immediately set upon uniting the diverse religions of the country by commissioning a re-translation of the Bible into what would become the King James version, eventually released in 1611. This act alone was likely most responsible for drawing the ire of the Vatican, thus undermining Rome's authority in all matters dealing with the Christian religion.

The masterminds of the assassination plot of King James I were a Jesuit Priest named Henry Garnet, along with a group of loyal Catholic henchmen led by Robert Catesby. The hired gun, and thus patsy of the plot, was an English soldier named Guido "Guy" Fawkes, who was a veteran of the Eighty Years' War on the side of Catholic Spain.

Ultimately, Fawkes became the poor sod caught on a ground floor room guarding thirty-six barrels (or approximately one ton) of gunpowder, enough to not only have killed everyone at the opening of Parliament, but would have caused catastrophic damage throughout the city of London. Therefore, the fateful day of November 5, 1605 is celebrated annually in England as Guy Fawkes Day (or Night), much like our July 4th, complete with fireworks, bonfires and celebrations.

November 5th is also a major part of the central story-line which runs through the film, "V for Vendetta" conceived and written by the Wachowski brothers, the same team which brought us "The Matrix" trilogy and "Cloud Atlas".

The mythical character of "V for Vendetta," simply known as "V", wears a Guy Fawkes-style mask, which has been adopted as a symbol by both Anonymous and the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Although the film is quite captivating, it should be noted the life and deeds of Guy Fawkes were not heroic by any stretch. Fawkes was nothing more than a hired terrorist by the Jesuits to kill a noble King and to rip apart the country of England. Therefore, perhaps rather we should be mindful the masks worn by Anonymous and Occupy Wall Street as representative of the "V" character from the film and not the notorious Guy Fawkes.

THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM IS ALIVE & WELL
The primary reason freedom is now a possibility for humanity is because a number of people –– perhaps even yourself –– have dared to dream of it. We have dared to dream the impossible dream.

To Dream the Impossible Dream |
Image courtesy of www.21st-century-christianity.com/

The impossible dream is that the human race will live and prosper into a time long ago prophesied as the coming Golden Age. Or Heaven on Earth.

Thus, we can say in all certainty, the impossible dream is very much alive and well. In fact, it is about to explode into our reality like a thunderclap on a hot, summer day.

We are witnessing and participating in is the total collapse of 7,000 years (or perhaps even longer) of human slavery which has its origins all the way back to ancient Egypt. That is how far back the bloodlines of the controlling families who have held the human race in bondage reach.

The will of so many great souls is about to take root and blossom into a great and mighty tree. And the saga of a long, sad tale of human history is about to be transformed in the most profound fashion ever imaginable.

The collective will of those who burn with an intense desire for freedom will result in a spectacular, life-altering shift which will dramatically push the human experience into a higher state of being. A higher dimension, if you will.

This process well underway is an unstoppable force. It is an inevitability. It is a foregone conclusion.

Ultimately, we must realize we are freeing ourselves from the clutches of the human mind. Riddled with fears, phobias and misconceptions of the journey of the self, our ultimate challenge is to overcome the limitations of our conscious minds where we have created a world steeped in fear, lack and suffering.

This realization is the key to life. Our beliefs are what define us. Our thoughts are what determine our condition in life. The more unlimited we see ourself, the more of an unlimited life we can experience.

The bottom line is you are so much more powerful and so much more amazing than you have ever dared believe. As the Bible so eloquently states, “the Kingdom of Heaven lies within.” Thus, all the answers you seek are already within you.

The 3-D experience of life on planet Earth within the year 2013 is merely an illusion of an existence which is far grander and far greater. This greater and grander experience is now materializing before us at this very moment in history.

To this point, we have lived our lives within the confines of a prison. It is a prison with no bars, no door and no guards. Yet we have been completely enslaved by a total lack of awareness and understanding of more true perspective of the nature of our reality.

This prison exists as mental construct. It is enforced by a belief system which says we are limited, victims and powerless to a world we think is completely real.

The belief and unwavering faith in the ideals of our personal freedom unlocks the prison doors. Meditation, prayer and positive thinking will keep them wide open, permanently.

Have faith, stay strong and stay positive. And let go, and let God.

To dream ... the impossible dream ...
To fight ... the unbeatable foe ...
To bear ... with unbearable sorrow ...
To run ... where the brave dare not go ...
To right ... the unrightable wrong ...
To love ... pure and chaste from afar ...
To try ... when your arms are too weary ...
To reach ... the unreachable star ...

This is my quest, to follow that star ...
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far ...
To fight for the right, without question or pause ...
To be willing to march into Hell, for a Heavenly cause ...

("The Impossible Dream (The Quest)" –– Composed by Mitch Leigh, Lyrics by Joe Darion.)

Sabrina

12th November 2013, 09:55

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/11/12/uk-banks-wargame-idUKBRE9AB00120131112?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FUKDomesticNews+%28News+%2F+UK+%2F+Domestic+News%29

hmmm hope the white hats are tripping up the black hats in this charade... :)

12 Nov UK

Cyber attack 'war game' to test London banks

(Reuters) - Thousands of staff across dozens of London's financial firms will be put through a "war game" scenario on Tuesday to test how well they can handle a major cyber attack.

In one of the largest exercises of its kind in the world, the test dubbed "Waking Shark II" will bombard firms with a series of announcements and scenarios, such as a major attack on computer systems hitting stock exchanges and unfolding on social media.

It will be co-ordinated from a single room housing regulators, government officials and staff from banks and other financial firms, people familiar with the matter said.

Hundreds more people are expected to be involved from their own offices as the exercise plays out, they said.

Simulations are likely to include how banks ensure the availability of cash from ATM machines or deal with a liquidity squeeze in the wholesale market and how well firms communicate and coordinate with authorities and each other.

There will be a particular focus on investment banking operations, one of the sources said.

Regulators and companies are growing increasingly concerned about the threat of cyber crime to the banking system, including the impact of coordinated online assaults or hacking attacks on specific banks. The Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee has already told banks to strengthen their defences.

The London event will be co-ordinated by the Bank of England, the Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority and follows a similar exercise two years ago.

London is not alone in testing its preparation. New York staged "Quantum Dawn 2" a few months ago to simulate how firms would cope with a cyber attack in markets.

Sabrina

12th November 2013, 09:58

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/11/12/uk-britain-financial-regulators-exclusiv-idUKBRE9AB05V20131112?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FUKDomesticNews+%28News+%2F+UK+%2F+Domestic+News%29

Imagine there's a certain amount of intimidation behind the scenes here...

12 Nov

Exclusive - New UK financial regulators face surge in staff turnover

(Reuters) - Staff have been quitting Britain's financial watchdogs at nearly twice the rate since they were split into two bodies this year, data seen by Reuters shows, at a time when experts warn of a regulatory brain drain in Europe's biggest financial hub.

Britain broke its financial regulator up into two separate agencies in April to ensure stricter scrutiny of banks and markets in the wake of the 2007-09 financial crisis and a series of costly scandals involving bankers' misdeeds.

But the rate of resignations has nearly doubled at both the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), the two bodies that replaced the Financial Services Authority on April 1.

That raises concerns about the new bodies' ability to retain staff capable of carrying out tougher, more interventionist regulation.

"It's a concern for regulators and they will continue to see a tremendous amount of pressure on keeping their employees," said Etay Katz, regulatory partner at law firm Allen & Overy.

According to data provided by the two bodies under Freedom of Information Act requests by Reuters, staff have been leaving the FCA since its formation at an annualised rate of 12 percent and the PRA at a rate of 11 percent.

The FCA provided data covering its first six months through the end of September and the PRA provided data for its first five months through the end of August.

By contrast, staff turnover in the final year of the now-defunct FSA was 6.9 percent. It averaged 7.8 percent turnover per year for the past five years.

Since the split, the new FCA is now tasked with cracking down on wrongdoing by financial firms, while the PRA took on responsibility for making sure banks and insurers have adequate capital to cover their potential losses.

Some 162 out of about 2,575 staff left the FCA during its first six months of operation, and 50 out of about 1,080, including 11 temporary workers, left the PRA during its first five months, the data showed.

Most of the departing staff at the FCA were replaced - net staffing was down by just 22 people at the end of September - while most of those who left the PRA were not - overall headcount at the smaller body was down by 37.

The exodus goes right to the top. In its final year, the FSA lost its boss Hector Sants and head of enforcement Margaret Cole. Since splitting, the PRA has lost deputy chief Paul Sharma and a senior supervisor, Jean Moorhouse, and the FCA has lost its acting director of retail, Christina Sinclair.

All left to enter private practice.

VICIOUS CIRCLE

The last three years have seen banks and consultancies in London - which have cut back drastically in other areas - add thousands of junior staff in compliance, risk and legal functions to deal with a flood of new rules.

Staff typically earn far more in the private sector than at the regulators, and experience at a regulator can improve long-term career prospects, recruitment sources said.

"The more the regulatory pressure increases, so does the risk of the FCA and PRA losing staff. It really can become a vicious circle," Allen & Overy's Katz said.

"My concern is more on the FCA side. How are they going to attract the calibre of people when banks are paying two or three times as much?"

Regulators have said they need to improve efforts to hire and retain staff, including a need to pay competitively. A think tank of former central bankers, the Group of Thirty, chaired by former European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, said recently that supervisors should be paid more.

The FSA paid its staff an average of 75,000 pounds in the year to March. That was up 24 percent from five years earlier and compares well to other jobs in the public sector, but is just a fraction of the average pay of about 190,000 pounds including pension and benefits at Barclays' investment bank, for example.

A compliance officer at a London investment bank can expect a salary of between 80,000 and 130,000 pounds and a junior compliance officer gets 50,000-70,000 pounds, according to a 2012 survey by recruitment firm Alexander Lloyd. Those salaries can be significantly topped up with bonuses.

Other regulators, including the European Central Bank, are also adding staff, and headhunters said there is a limited pool of top staff with regulation experience.

Peter Hahn, a former banker now a member of the finance faculty at London's Cass Business School, said an increase in turnover was welcome as staff at banks and regulators need experience of both as regulation becomes more complex. But he said the movement needs to be in both directions.

"At some point there has to be more of a flow of key people between regulators and banks. It's important it starts to be accepted that it goes both ways over time," Hahn said. "At the moment, it's a one way road."

Despite the increase in departures, an FCA spokesman said staff turnover was broadly in line with historical rates at the FSA and low given the huge changes of the last year. The body continued to attract new staff from other regulators, he said.

The PRA also said it continued to attracted talented people.

Since the annualised data do not cover a full year, the turnover trends could be affected by seasonal factors. But industry sources said a bigger factor was likely to have been the impact from creating the new organisations.

Of the 39 permanent staff to leave the PRA, 13 said they left due to prospects, 12 said they resigned for personal reasons and 10 cited a career change. At least nine joined banks and six went into insurance, according to the data.

Sabrina

12th November 2013, 10:15

http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?65247-Karen-Hudes-interview-with-Kimberley----Solution-suggestions-from-World-Bank-Whistleblower&p=756580#post756580

Remember to take a look at Kimberley's interview with Karen Hudes here - and it would be good it you shared it on other social media sites amongst all the fluffy kittens etc....

Frederick Jackson

13th November 2013, 03:54

Fox News does not need bogus reporting donated to it. It is mostly bogus to start with.

Sabrina

13th November 2013, 09:52

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/13/detroit-bankruptcy-pay-pensions-banks

13 Nov US

Detroit's decision to fend off bankruptcy: pay pensions or banks?
Fears grow that fight to stave off city bankruptcy may hit the poorest hardest

This is David Allen's second visit to Engine 40's fire station on Detroit's west side since February 2012 when a wall collapsed on him during a fire leaving him unable to walk without an aide. Last time he was here to clean out his locker. This time, as Detroit careens towards bankruptcy, he is back to talk with colleagues about their prospects.

Detroit's firefighters are used to danger and loss. The crew laugh and rib each other and Allen as they get ready to eat. But this time they are facing something other than fire. Beneath the camaraderie there is anger and fear.

Allen and his colleagues are among 30,000 Detroit city workers, past and present, who are about to learn what will happen to their pensions and healthcare if the city is allowed to file for a historic bankruptcy – the largest of its kind in history.

A decision could come as early as this week and will be logged by other struggling US municipalities. It is likely to have a profound effect on workers across the entire country.

Detroit has always been ahead of the curve. The birthplace of the automotive industry, Detroit revolutionised travel and created a middle-class army of skilled workers. Now it is forging ahead again, this time into darker territory. What happens to a city that promised its residents so much and now can not, or will not, deliver?

Allen, 50, has seen his wages slashed since his accident. He has got a pension of $3,000 (£1887) a month, for now, down from the base pay of $4,700, before overtime that could have added thousands more. He is unsure how much more cash will go if the bankruptcy goes through.

One proposal gives the city's 21,000 retirees 16 cents for every dollar. That would leave Allen with $480 a month.

Next year he faces a new dilemma. The city is offering him $200 a month to find his own health insurance. He has physical therapy three times a week for injuries that have left him with seven fused vertebrae.

"I don't even dare look online to see what it would cost. Someone told me it would [cost] thousands. Plus, I have two kids. One of them broke his finger last week playing basketball. A little accident like that could ruin everything," he says. "I knew this was a dangerous job when I took it. They told me it would take 10 years off my life. If I had to do the same thing again, I would. But the city promised me something. They promised me a pension and healthcare. I put my life on the line, then they changed the rules."

The fire station crew are worried and looking for answers.

"This has to be illegal," says Verdine Day, a firefighter who is running for president of the local union. "There's a federal disability act. Can the city just ride over that? At some point we have to stand up and fight."

Sometime after Wednesday, the federal bankruptcy judge Steven Rhodes will decide whether Kevyn Orr, the city's state-appointed financial controller, can declare Detroit officially bust. Rhodes has been listening to the two sides battle it out for weeks but has given few clues about which way he is leaning.

If Orr is blocked, Detroit faces a flood of litigation from vendors and contractors and yet more acrimonious negotiations between the city, state and unions as they try to tackle the city's debts of $18bn-$20bn. A win for Orr would allow him to rewrite pension and healthcare contracts constituting the largest part of what the city owes.

The affected workers are owed about $3.5bn, in total, in pension payments, and another $6bn in healthcare benefits. The average Detroit pensioner gets $19,000 a year; a deal that gave 16 cents to the dollar would cut the benefit to $3,040.

"There is no morality to what they are doing," says Steve Kreisberg, national director of collective bargaining for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the city's largest union. "We are deserting our core values. People paid into these schemes. The city is proposing to pay back $300m to the banks. We should be looking at that before we start looking at retirees, widows and children. Everyone knows the city needs to do something and sacrifices have to be made."

Orr's supporters talked about everyone, the bankers and city workers, getting "haircuts". Kreisberg says: "To me that's disgusting. Seems like the haircuts UBS etc are taking don't compare to shaving some widow's head."

There is no doubting the scale of the financial problems in Detroit. Once a city of 2 million people and the envy of the industrial world, it is literally the crumbling edifice of its former self. The population has dropped from 2 million in 1950 to 700,000; close to half the street lights don't work. And the murder rate is at a 40-year high.

But for Detroit's city workers the idea that cutting their benefits is somehow the solution to this problem is anathema. "When Orr was appointed I knew this was going to be bankruptcy and we were going to get it," says Allen. "He said he was looking at the options, but come on – you look for a divorce lawyer when you want a divorce, so why do you look for a bankruptcy lawyer?"

For Donald Smith something more sinister is afoot.The 68-year-old retiree spent his life working for the city – at a hospital, guarding pictures at the Detroit Institute of Art, and later as a detention officer. Now, after bills and medication costs for a variety of illnesses, he is left with $300 a month spending money. He lives on hot dogs and tilapia when it's on sale. A corned beef sandwich is a treat, a car is out of the question.

"All those years they were taking money out of my wages. I was never rich but I never thought it would come to this," he says. "There are times when I have to decide whether I am going to eat or get my medicine. This was supposed to be the American dream? It's a nightmare. I love America but we are being persecuted by our own elected officials."

He blames the Republican governor, Rick Snyder, for this state of affairs. Snyder, whose campaign slogan is One Tough Nerd, has pushed for Michigan to develop more hi-tech jobs and offered billions in subsidies to businesses that move to the state; at the same time he has backed Orr on pensions and benefits cuts. "The message you are sending to the American people is that we are nogood. Well, I believe I am some good," he says.

He adds: "The bottom line is it's all about money. Stock markets are at record highs and we're getting poorer and poorer. You can't tell me there's nothing in that."

If the trends continue and the bankruptcy goes through, life for those on the lower economic rungs in Detroit will only worsen, he predicts. And after that, for other Americans in his position too.

"It used to be a race thing in this city. This is not a race thing, it's about class. There isn't going to be a middle-class in this country any more. If you haven't got the money to be in the country club, you are out in the cold. They say the banks are too big to fail but that's not true of the people – in fact they are going to help you fail."

PathWalker

13th November 2013, 11:56

Federal Reserve Whistleblower Tells America The REAL Reason For Quantitative Easing
http://www.prisonplanet.com/federal-reserve-whistleblower-tells-america-the-real-reason-for-quantitative-easing.html

Michael Snyder
Economic Collapse
November 13, 2013

A banker named Andrew Huszar that helped manage the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing program during 2009 and 2010 is publicly apologizing for what he has done. He says that quantitative easing has accomplished next to nothing for the average person on the street. Instead, he says that it has been “the greatest backdoor Wall Street bailout of all time.” And of course the cold, hard economic numbers support what Huszar is saying. The percentage of working age Americans with a job has not improved at all during the quantitative easing era, and median household income has actually steadily declined during that time frame. Meanwhile, U.S. stock prices have doubled overall, and the stock prices of the big Wall Street banks have tripled. So who benefits from quantitative easing? It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out, and now Andrew Huszar is blowing the whistle on the whole thing.

From 2009 to 2010, Huszar was responsible for managing the Fed’s purchase of approximately $1.25 trillion worth of mortgage-backed securities. At the time, he thought that it was a dream job, but now he is apologizing to the rest of the country for what happened…

I can only say: I’m sorry, America. As a former Federal Reserve official, I was responsible for executing the centerpiece program of the Fed’s first plunge into the bond-buying experiment known as quantitative easing. The central bank continues to spin QE as a tool for helping Main Street. But I’ve come to recognize the program for what it really is: the greatest backdoor Wall Street bailout of all time.

When the first round of quantitative easing ended, Huszar says that it was incredibly obvious that QE had done very little to benefit average Americans but that it had been “an absolute coup for Wall Street”…

Trading for the first round of QE ended on March 31, 2010. The final results confirmed that, while there had been only trivial relief for Main Street, the U.S. central bank’s bond purchases had been an absolute coup for Wall Street. The banks hadn’t just benefited from the lower cost of making loans. They’d also enjoyed huge capital gains on the rising values of their securities holdings and fat commissions from brokering most of the Fed’s QE transactions. Wall Street had experienced its most profitable year ever in 2009, and 2010 was starting off in much the same way.

You’d think the Fed would have finally stopped to question the wisdom of QE. Think again. Only a few months later—after a 14% drop in the U.S. stock market and renewed weakening in the banking sector—the Fed announced a new round of bond buying: QE2. Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, immediately called the decision “clueless.”

That was when I realized the Fed had lost any remaining ability to think independently from Wall Street.

Of course the fact that the Fed cannot think independently from Wall Street should not be a surprise to any of my regular readers. As I have written about repeatedly, the Federal Reserve was created by the Wall Street bankers for the benefit of the Wall Street bankers. When the Federal Reserve serves the interests of Wall Street, it is simply doing what it was designed to do. And according to Huszar, quantitative easing has been one giant “subsidy” for Wall Street banks…

Having racked up hundreds of billions of dollars in opaque Fed subsidies, U.S. banks have seen their collective stock price triple since March 2009. The biggest ones have only become more of a cartel: 0.2% of them now control more than 70% of the U.S. bank assets.

But Huszar is certainly not the only one on Wall Street that acknowledges these things. For example, just check out what billionaire hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller told CNBC about quantitative easing…

“This is fantastic for every rich person,” he said Thursday, a day after the Fed’s stunning decision to delay tightening its monetary policy. “This is the biggest redistribution of wealth from the middle class and the poor to the rich ever.”

“Who owns assets—the rich, the billionaires. You think Warren Buffett hates this stuff? You think I hate this stuff? I had a very good day yesterday.”

Druckenmiller, whose net worth is estimated at more than $2 billion, said that the implication of the Fed’s policy is that the rich will spend their wealth and create jobs—essentially betting on “trickle-down economics.”

“I mean, maybe this trickle-down monetary policy that gives money to billionaires and hopefully we go spend it is going to work,” he said. “But it hasn’t worked for five years.”

And Donald Trump said essentially the same thing when he made the following statement on CNBC about quantitative easing…

“People like me will benefit from this.”

The American people are still being told that quantitative easing is “economic stimulus” which will make the lives of average Americans better.

That is a flat out lie and the folks over at the Federal Reserve know this.

In fact, a very interesting study conducted for the Bank of England shows that quantitative easing actually increases the gap between the wealthy and the poor…

It said that the Bank of England’s policies of quantitative easing – similar to the Fed’s – had benefited mainly the wealthy.

Specifically, it said that its QE program had boosted the value of stocks and bonds by 26 percent, or about $970 billion. It said that about 40 percent of those gains went to the richest 5 percent of British households.

Many said the BOE’s easing added to social anger and unrest. Dhaval Joshi, of BCA Research wrote that “QE cash ends up overwhelmingly in profits, thereby exacerbating already extreme income inequality and the consequent social tensions that arise from it.”

And this is exactly what has happened in the United States as well.

U.S. stocks have risen 108% while Barack Obama has been in the White House.

And who owns stocks?

The wealthy do. In fact, 82 percent of all individually held stocks are owned by the wealthiest 5 percent of all Americans.

Meanwhile, things have continued to get even tougher for ordinary Americans.

While Obama has been in the White House, the percentage of working age Americans with a job has declined from 60.6% to 58.3%, median household income has declined for five years in a row, and poverty has been absolutely exploding.

But the fact that it has been very good for Wall Street while doing essentially nothing for ordinary Americans is not the biggest problem with quantitative easing.

The biggest problem with quantitative easing is that it is destroying worldwide faith in the U.S. dollar and in the U.S. financial system.

In recent years, the Federal Reserve has started to behave like the Weimar Republic. Just check out the chart below…

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/M1-Money-Supply-2013-425x255.png

Federal Reserve Whistleblower Tells America The REAL Reason For Quantitative Easing M1 Money Supply 2013 425x255

The rest of the world is watching the Fed go crazy, and they are beginning to openly wonder why they should continue to use the U.S. dollar as the de facto reserve currency of the planet.

Right now, most global trade involves the use of U.S. dollars. In fact, far more U.S. dollars are actually used outside of the United States than are used inside the country. This creates a tremendous demand for U.S. dollars around the planet, and it keeps the value of the U.S. dollar at a level that is far higher than it otherwise would be.

If the rest of the world decides to start moving away from the U.S. dollar (and this is already starting to happen), then the demand for the U.S. dollar will fall and we will not be able to import oil from the Middle East and cheap plastic trinkets from China so inexpensively anymore.

In addition, major exporting nations such as China and Saudi Arabia end up with giant piles of U.S. dollars due to their trading activities. Instead of just sitting on all of that cash, they tend to reinvest much of it back into U.S. Treasury securities. This increases demand for U.S. debt and drives down interest rates.

If the Federal Reserve continues to wildly create money out of thin air with no end in sight, the rest of the world may decide to stop lending us trillions of dollars at ultra-low interest rates.

When we get to that point, it is going to be absolutely disastrous for the U.S. economy and the U.S. financial system. If you doubt this, just read this article.

The only way that the game can continue is for the rest of the world to continue to be irrational and to continue to ignore the reckless behavior of the Federal Reserve.

We desperately need the rest of the planet “to ignore the man behind the curtain”. We desperately need them to keep using our dollars that are rapidly being devalued and to keep loaning us money at rates that are far below the real rate of inflation.

If the rest of the globe starts behaving rationally at some point, and they eventually will, then the game will be over.

Let us hope and pray that we still have a bit more time until that happens.

Sabrina

14th November 2013, 09:22

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/two-secret-service-supervisors-cut-from-obamas-detail-after-alleged-misconduct/2013/11/13/c736638c-48a8-11e3-a196-3544a03c2351_story.html

13 Nov US

Two Secret Service agents cut from Obama’s detail after alleged misconduct

A call from the Hay-Adams hotel this past spring reporting that a Secret Service agent was trying to force his way into a woman’s room set in motion an internal investigation that has sent tremors through an agency still trying to restore its elite reputation.

The incident came a year after the agency was roiled by a prostitution scandal in Cartagena, Colombia, prompting vows from senior officials to curb a male-dominated culture of hard partying and other excesses.

The service named its first female director, Julia Pierson, seven months ago, and an extensive inspector general report on the agency’s culture launched in the wake of the Cartagena scandal is expected to be released in coming weeks.

The disruption at the Hay-
Adams in May involved Ignacio Zamora Jr., a senior supervisor who oversaw about two dozen agents in the Secret Service’s most elite assignment — the president’s security detail. Zamora was allegedly discovered attempting to reenter a woman’s room after accidentally leaving behind a bullet from his service weapon. The incident has not been previously reported.

In a follow-up investigation, agency officials also found that Zamora and another supervisor, Timothy Barraclough, had sent sexually suggestive e-mails to a female subordinate, according to those with knowledge of the case. Officials have removed Zamora from his position and moved Barraclough off the detail to a separate part of the division, people familiar with the case said.

Details about the Hay-Adams episode and related findings were provided by four people who have been briefed on the case, including two who have viewed summaries of the internal Secret Service review.

Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan declined to comment on the internal review of the Hay-
Adams incident or the supervisors’ alleged behavior. He said that no employees — including Zamora and Barraclough — wished to comment.

An attorney for Zamora and Barraclough also declined to comment on the allegations or the Secret Service’s internal inquiry. Messages left for Zamora on his home phone were not returned; efforts to reach Barraclough through home and fax numbers were unsuccessful. An attorney for the female agent in the protective division declined to comment.

“We have always maintained that the Secret Service has a professional and dedicated workforce,” Donovan said in a statement, referring to the Hay-Adams incident. “Periodically we have isolated incidents of misconduct, just like every organization does.”

Donovan added that “we work diligently with our Office of Professional Responsibility and Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General” to resolve such cases “appropriately and quickly.”

But the inspector general’s office was unaware of the hotel incident or the related findings until The Washington Post began making inquiries about the case last month, according to people briefed on the matter.

The Secret Service did not refer the case to the inspector general until the week of Oct. 28. In a preliminary look, the office concluded that the Secret Service had handled the case administratively and that the alleged misconduct did not require independent review, according to a person familiar with the referral.

Sabrina

14th November 2013, 09:26

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-13/kevin-rudd-to-retire-from-politics/5090108

Australia

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd quits federal politics with emotional speech to Parliament

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd announced his retirement from politics in an emotional speech to Parliament on Wednesday night, adding "it really is time for me to zip".

Mr Rudd, who has served as the Member for Griffith since 1998, says he will leave Parliament at the end of this week.

"This has been the product of much soul-searching for us as a family over the last few months," he said, fighting back tears.

"But for me, my family is everything, always has been, always will be, which is why I will not be continuing as a member of this Parliament beyond this week."

Mr Rudd, who served in the top job between 2007 and 2010, and then again this year, went on to wish Tony Abbott luck, saying the office of Prime Minister was the "hardest job in the land".

"I wish Tony, his wife Margie and their family all the best for the rigours of high office that inevitably lie ahead," he said.

On his side of politics he singled out Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, as well as key supporters Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen.

Analysis: Labor, Liberal, friend or foe, Kevin Rudd had an almost unique ability to polarise opinions
"Having served as Leader of the Opposition myself, this is never a position for the faint-hearted. There are always long dark nights of the soul but believe it or not, morning does come, often sooner than you think," he said.

"Bill brings great strength to the position. I have every confidence he will lead Labor's return to the Treasury benches.

"I wish to thank Albo as his extraordinary service as deputy prime minister and leader of the house. Albo is the most formidable parliamentarian in this place, as is recognised on both sides of the chamber."

When speaking of his future Mr Rudd said he was planning to establish a "national apology foundation", highlighting his apology to Indigenous Australians, which he said was a signature achievement of his time as prime minister.

He also spoke of his desire to remain active in the international community.

My family is everything, always has been, always will be, which is why I will not be continuing as a member of this Parliament beyond this week.

Kevin Rudd
"I am passionately Australian and passionately a citizen of the world. I intend to be active in the international community in areas where I can make a genuine contribution to peace and stability, global economic governance and sustainable development, including climate change," he said.

And despite the emotion of the situation, Mr Rudd ended the speech with his signature sign-off.

"On this final occasion in the Parliament, and as is now officially recorded in the classics for occasions such as this, it really is time for me to zip," he said.

more at link

Sabrina

14th November 2013, 09:30

Ah the irony of it with exhaustion through trying to get the bank to comply....:)

http://www.thelawyer.com/in-house/barclays-compliance-chief-quits-following-period-out-due-to-exhaustion/3012505.article

13 Nov UK

Barclays compliance chief quits following period out due to exhaustion !!!

Barclays’ head of compliance and regulatory relations Hector Sants, who last month took a temporary leave of absence due to stress and exhaustion, has resigned from the post.

Sants, who headed the FSA during the financial crisis, took up the newly-created role in January this year as Barclays looked to overhaul ties with regulators.

The bank’s head of compliance in corporate and investment banking, Allen Meyer, will fill the role on an interim basis while Barclays runs an “internal and external search” for a replacement.

Sants was initially due back in January after the bank announced in October that he was taking time off (16 October 2013).

The position of of compliance and regulatory relations head put him in overall charge of the company’s global compliance activities soon after Barclays was fined £290m for rigging the London interbank offered rate (Libor) last summer.

The bank’s in-house legal team also underwent a minor restructuring following his appointment (12 December 2012). The hire meant that a small number of Barclays employees who previously reported to group general counsel Mark Harding, who has since been replaced by former PNC Financial Services general counsel Bob Hoyt (30 August 2013), instead reported to Sants.

Group chief executive Anthony Jenkins said of Sants’ exit: ”Although only with us for 10 months, he has made significant progress towards creating a world class compliance function at Barclays and in improving our relationships with regulators and governments.”

The move comes amid another senior management change at the bank, with chief operations and technology officer Shaygan Kheradpir leaving to become CEO of an unknown US company. A replacement has not yet been named.

Sabrina

14th November 2013, 09:50

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/nov/13/bill-would-outlaw-us-dollar-russia/

13 Nov Russia

MOSCOW — Predicting the imminent collapse of the U.S. dollar, a Russian lawmaker submitted a bill to his country’s parliament Wednesday that would ban the use or possession of the American currency.

Mikhail Degtyarev, the lawmaker who proposed the bill, compared the dollar to a Ponzi scheme. He warned that the government would have to bail out Russians holding the U.S. currency if it collapses.

“If the U.S. national debt continues to grow, the collapse of the dollar system will take place in 2017,” said Mr. Degtyarev, a member of the nationalist Liberal Democrat Party who lost in Moscow’s recent mayoral election.

“The countries that will suffer the most will be those that have failed to wean themselves off their dependence on the dollar in time. In light of this, the fact that confidence in the dollar is growing among Russian citizens is extremely dangerous.”

The bill would partially revive a Soviet-era ban on the dollar. It would prohibit Russians from holding dollars in the country’s banks, and banks would be unable to carry out transactions in the dollar.

However, Russians still would be able to buy or sell dollars while abroad and hold dollar accounts in foreign banks.

Russia’s Central Bank and the government would be exempt from the law.

Russian financial analysts were largely critical of the bill, which they suggested was more about making political capital on the back of rising anti-U.S. sentiment in Russia than protecting the country’s economy.

“The American financial system, despite all its existing problems, remains the most stable and low-risk in the world,” said financial analyst Andrei Shenk.

He also warned that the bill would harm Russia’s investment climate.

Another analyst warned that the bill would strip Russians of the ability to flee the country to seek greater political and social freedoms.

“The right to the free exchange of currencies is a fundamental element of capitalism,” said Moscow-based economics analyst Igor Suzdaltsev. “It allows citizens to leave the country when a dictatorship is imposed by selling their property and exchanging their assets for the necessary currency.”

and

And note PathWalker's post (via prisonplanet) above with quote from Fed whistleblower:

The rest of the world is watching the Fed go crazy, and they are beginning to openly wonder why they should continue to use the U.S. dollar as the de facto reserve currency of the planet.

Sabrina

15th November 2013, 22:20

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/hundreds-arrested-as-canadian-police-smash-global-paedophile-ring-8940562.html

Very good news on one level, and an illustration that suppression is starting to fall apart.... Sab.

14 Nov

Hundreds arrested as Canadian police smash worldwide paedophile ring

A giant paedophile ring with a worldwide reach was broken apart during a three-year inquiry which led to the arrests of hundreds of individuals, including clergymen and teachers, and the rescue of nearly 400 children who were at risk, Canadian police have revealed.

In one of the biggest such operations ever seen, investigators uncovered an octopus-like child-porn network centred on a now-shuttered sex-film business in Toronto. Its tentacles extended across Canada, where 108 people have been taken into custody, and to six continents. In the US, 76 people were arrested while others have been rounded up in several European countries.

While the investigation, Project Spade, was led by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), it was pursued with the collaboration of the US Postal Inspection Service and law enforcement agencies in Sweden, Spain, Mexico, Australia, South Africa and Hong Kong, officials said.

While it is not the first such ring to be uncovered, it is the identities of some of those accused of consuming and helping to create the material that will attract attention.

“The arrests included 40 schoolteachers, nine doctors and nurses, 32 people who volunteered with children, six law-enforcement personnel, nine pastors or priests and three foster parents,” said inspector Joanna Beavan-Desjardins.

Accused of being at the ring’s hub is a Toronto resident identified as Brian Way, 42. Police alleged that Mr Way, as the owner of Azov Films, solicited and distributed on a global basis vast volumes of videos featuring underage and usually naked boys, as well as criminal sex acts.

Investigators who raided Azov Films in 2011 found hundreds of thousand of the images featuring “horrific acts of sexual abuse – some of the worst they have seen”, added Ms Beavan-Desjardins, who heads the Toronto police sex crimes unit.

As it unfolded, the investigation triggered 341 arrests around the world and the taking into care of 386 children. Some of those arrested have already pleaded guilty and are behind bars, while others are still before the courts. Mr Way is charged with 24 offences including making, possessing, distributing, exporting and selling the explicit images of boys, said to range in age from toddlers to teenagers.

The Toronto Star newspaper, which said it had been granted exclusive background access to Project Spade, reported that clients of Mr Way in Canada alone included an Ontario ice-hockey coach, a Toronto teacher, a priest, a Scout leader in Quebec and a retired high?school headmaster in Nova Scotia. Mr Way himself is in custody and faces a first preliminary court hearing in December.

The sweep of arrests worldwide began after investigators viewed more than 100 of Azov’s films and cross-referenced online purchases of those titles with people on a customer list found at Mr Way’s premises. His business is alleged to have made $4m in revenues. Customers could visit the home page of a website with a top 10 of the most popular movies and purchase them as if it were Amazon.

The films were made with video clips allegedly sent to Mr Way by collaborators around the world. Films viewed by police included sequences of naked boys shot in Romania, Ukraine and Germany.

“This is a crime which is hidden, and which without this kind of operation we can put to the light,” Spain’s chief inspector Luis Garcia told the Toronto Star. “We can find hands-on abuse, and we could never have known about this in any other way.”

Forty-two people have been investigated in Spain and 19 children rescued.

Sabrina

15th November 2013, 22:32

http://www.americanbanker.com/people/jpmorgans-askjpm-twitter-experiment-goes-horribly-awry-1063655-1.html

13 Nov

JPMorgan's #AskJPM Twitter Experiment Goes Horribly Awry

What were they thinking?

That was the first of many, many questions left hanging Wednesday afternoon, after the beleaguered JPMorgan Chase (JPM) shot itself in the foot with its own Twitter hashtag. The bank's efforts to use social media quickly and publicly imploded, demonstrating the many potential pitfalls for banks and other big corporations that try to harness Twitter for their own purposes.

JPMorgan's public relations team had apparently intended to drum up audience participation, and business-minded questions, for a planned Thursday online discussion with vice chairman Jimmy Lee. So on Wednesday, the J.P. Morgan Twitter account invited the world to weigh in — by suggesting that everyone using the social media network submit questions for Lee's "Twitter takeover," and mark their suggestions with the hashtag "#AskJPM."

The results were swift and merciless. JPMorgan, instead of taking over Twitter, was overtaken by sharp and snarky questions from critics, angry customers, and bored journalists.

"What's your favorite type of whale? #AskJPM," said The Atlantic's Matt O'Brien.

"Is your "Chief Compliance Officer" alive? Has anyone checked to see if he's in his office? #AskJPM," said Salon's David Dayen.

"Does Jamie Dimon pet a small cat and laugh ominously while he's ruining poor people's lives? #AskJPM," said blogger Tim Donovan.

The responses ranged from the joking to the angry. One Tweeter asked the country's biggest bank to take the Sex and the City personality test: "Are you a Samantha, Carrie, Miranda or Charlotte? I tend to think you're a Samantha. Do you agree? #AskJPM," said Ian Whitney.

On the more serious side, the Twitter account for Occupy Wall Street Twitter advertised the bank's quickly derailed experiment in social media, telling its followers, "Ever wish you could give JP Morgan/Chase a piece of your mind? Check out the hashtag #AskJPM right now."

One person named Adam Coleman asked the bank, "Can I have my house back? #AskJPM."

By Wednesday evening, JPMorgan had hundreds of questions, but few answers. The Twitter account that invited the deluge of responses canceled the Q&A session with Lee, while bank spokesman Joseph Evangelisti kept a sense of humor — and Twitter etiquette — about the kerfuffle. Asked for a comment, he responded via email: "#Bad idea! Back to the drawing board."

Sabrina

16th November 2013, 08:18

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/nov/16/jp-morgan-settles-with-claimants

16 Nov

JP Morgan to pay £2.8bn to settle claims by investors

The bank has reached agreement with 21 institutional investors in 330 residential mortgage-backed securities trusts

JP Morgan said on Friday it has agreed to pay $4.5bn (£2.8bn) to settle claims by investors who lost money on mortgage-backed securities before the collapse of the US housing market.

The bank reached the agreement with 21 institutional investors in 330 residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) trusts issued by JP Morgan and Bear Stearns, which it took over during the financial crisis, according to the bank and lawyers for the investors.

The deal still has to be accepted by seven trustees overseeing the securities holdings, the parties said.

The settlement does not include trusts issued by Washington Mutual, which JP Morgan also acquired.

The deal is separate from the preliminary $13bn settlement JP Morgan has reached with the US government that would resolve a raft of actions over mortgage-backed securities.

"This settlement is another important step in JP Morgan's efforts to resolve legacy related RMBS matters," the bank said in a statement.

The bank said it believes reserves it has built will cover the expense of "this and any remaining" mortgage securities litigation.

The 21 investors include BlackRock, Metlife, Allianz SE's Pacific investment management company , the TCW Group and Bayerische Landesbank.

Under the agreement, trustees have until 15 January to accept the offer, which may be extended for another 60 days, according to JP Morgan and Gibbs & Bruns, the Houston law firm that represented the institutional investors.

Kathy Patrick of Gibbs & Bruns called the deal "an important milestone" in a three-year effort by the group of 21 bondholders.

The seven trustees over the bonds include Bank of New York Mellon. Kevin Heine, a spokesman for the Bank of New York Mellon, said the bank would "evaluate the proposed settlement along with the other trustees".

If accepted, the deal would resolve claims that JP Morgan and Bear Stearns misrepresented the mortgages underlying the securities, JP Morgan said.

The settlement also would resolve servicing claims on all trusts issued by the bank and Bear Stearns between 2005 and 2008.

JP Morgan is the third bank to strike a deal with investors over shoddy mortgage-backed securities issued in the runup to the financial crisis.

Bank of America struck an $8.5bn settlement in June 2011 with 22 institutional investors. That deal is still awaiting court approval.

In 2012, bondholders in trusts issued by Ally Financial's bankrupt former mortgage lending arm, Residential Capital, won an agreement to bring an $8.7bn claim, although that was later reduced to $7.3bn.

Sabrina

16th November 2013, 08:24

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/11/14/uk-britain-hacking-editors-idUKBRE9AD0SV20131114?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FUKDomesticNews+%28News+%2F+UK+%2F+Domestic+News%29

UK

Love, money and power in Britain's phone hacking drama

(Reuters) - In a reversal of fortune fit for one of their own front pages, two British former tabloid editors have witnessed the dissection of their private and professional lives in the full glare of the media at a trial in London's most famous criminal court.

Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, once Rupert Murdoch's most influential British newspaper chiefs, deny conspiracy to hack the telephone messages of princes, politicians and the public in a highly competitive quest for exclusive stories.

Prosecutor Andrew Edis has argued the two editors conspired in the phone hacking that ultimately forced Murdoch to close England's best-selling newspaper, prompted the state to impose media regulation, and exposed the cosy ties between the press and Britain's ruling elite.

Revealing that Brooks and Coulson, both 45, had a secret six-year affair, Edis said their intimacy, position and control of the purse strings meant they knew phones were being hacked, including that of a missing schoolgirl later found murdered,

"What Mr Coulson knew, Mrs Brooks knew too. What Mrs Brooks knew, Mr Coulson knew too," Edis, in wig, white collar, and black gown, told court Number 12 of the Old Bailey.

"It isn't simply that there was an affair, it isn't to do with whether they have sexual relations with one another, (it is to do with) how close were they ... and they were very close."

Sitting side-by-side behind glass in the dock, Brooks, a friend of Prime Minister David Cameron, and Coulson, who later worked for Cameron as his chief spokesman, remained stony faced in the hushed court when Edis revealed their liaison.

Newspapers splashed the affair across their front pages, stoking interest in a trial that is enthralling Britain.

"The affair they didn't expose," The Independent said on its front page, while Murdoch's The Times went with "Editors and lovers - couple at heart of hacking trial."

The affair began in 1998 and continued for at least six years, during which time Brooks - whose maiden name was Wade - married her first husband, TV soap actor Ross Kemp, in 2002. After divorcing Kemp in 2009, she married her current husband, Charlie Brooks, later that year. Coulson married in 2000.

Photographers greet the editors who once directed Britain's most aggressive tabloid journalists a blizzard of flashbulbs on arrival at court.

The Old Bailey has set up an overflow room for reporters who cannot fit inside the court. The trial could last six months due to the complexity of the case.

No matter what the verdict, the trial mirrors the fall from grace of the British tabloids. Editors who once struck fear into the hearts of prime ministers are now struggling against regulation they say threatens three centuries of press freedom.

Such is the media frenzy that judge John Saunders told the jury that they must ignore the publicity. "Not only are the defendants on trial but British justice is on trial," he said at the opening of proceedings on October 29.

PUBLIC OUTCRY

Public outcry at revelations that the News of the World had hacked the phone of missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler, who was 13, forced Murdoch to close the paper in July 2011.

When called before British MPs that month, Murdoch said he was humbled by the scandal and had been betrayed by people he had trusted at the paper. He said he had not been aware of the extent of hacking at the paper. He later told a media inquiry in 2012 it was a serious blot on his reputation.

Former News of the World chief correspondent Neville Thurlbeck, former assistant news editor James Weatherup, and former news editor Greg Miskiw pleaded guilty to conspiracy to intercept communications before the case came to trial, the court heard.

Setting out the prosecution case, Edis said a private detective working for the News of the World, Glenn Mulcaire, had also earlier pleaded guilty to charges of hacking phones including that of Milly Dowler. Brooks was News of the World editor at the time of Dowler's disappearance in 2002.

The prosecutor argued that Brooks and Coulson, who was her deputy editor at the time, must have known about the hacking since Brooks set up the investigations unit with Mulcaire as a member of the team. He was given a formal retainer by the paper on September 1, 2001 worth 92,000 pounds ($148,000) a year, later increased by Coulson to over 100,000 pounds a year.

"If these people were doing their jobs properly, we say they must have known where these stories came from," Edis said.

The court heard how Brooks sought to reassure Coulson about his apparent lack of contact with Murdoch, and of her deep affection for her fellow journalist.

"You are my very best friend. I tell you everything, I confide in you, I seek your advice, I love you, care about you, worry about you," she wrote to Coulson. "We laugh and cry together."

The affair began in 1998 and appeared to be ending in 2004, the court heard. Coulson went to work as Cameron's spokesman in 2007, following him into Downing Street in 2010 before resigning a year later as the phone hacking scandal escalated.

Cameron's spokesman declined to comment.

"NOT GUILTY"

In English criminal courts, the prosecution makes its case before the defence. Lawyers for Brooks have not yet done so though Coulson's lawyer took the unusual step of making a statement to the jury before the prosecution evidence.

Coulson said things went wrong under his editorship but he did not commit any crimes and cannot be expected to know about every story in the paper, defence lawyer Timothy Langdale said.

"He wished he had made some different decisions and although he might wish he had made some different decisions he did not commit these offences," Langdale told the jury, adding that Coulson had also had his phone hacked by Mulcaire.

Brooks and Coulson are charged with conspiracy to intercept communications illegally. Both also face two separate counts of conspiracy relating to payments to public officials. Brooks faces two counts of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by hampering the police inquiry.

It was not immediately clear what other evidence the jury may hear or which witnesses may be called as the trial continues. Lawyers for Brooks and Coulson have yet to set out their full defence case.

If found guilty of all the charges, they could both face life imprisonment though such severe sentences are extremely rare; jail sentences of several years are more common.

Others in the dock are Stuart Kuttner, the long-time former managing editor of the News of the World; Ian Edmondson, the tabloid's former news editor; Clive Goodman, the paper's former royal editor Cheryl Carter, Brooks's personal assistant; Brooks's racehorse trainer husband, Charlie; and Mark Hanna, News International's head of security.

They all deny similar charges to those against Brooks and Coulson. The bill for trial lawyers alone could exceed 4.4 million pounds, according to local media.

At a service in honour of the media at St Bride's Church - the journalists' church just off the traditional centre of British newspaper publishing on Fleet Street - a prayer was said on Tuesday for those in the media facing difficulty including legal proceedings, such as Brooks and Coulson.

"CHICKEN IS IN THE POT"

Prosecutor Edis said that in the wake of what he termed a media fire-storm over the hacking of Dowler's phone, Brooks was involved in an elaborate but botched plan with her husband, Charlie, to hide computers and documents from police.

On July 17, the day Rebekah Brooks was first arrested but before police could begin searches, Edis said Brooks's husband had been recorded on closed circuit TV hiding a bag and a laptop in the car park of their London flat.

These materials were taken away by the then head of security at News International, Mark Hanna, Edis said. But after some discussion they were returned in a black bag by one of Hanna's team.

But according to the prosecution, the alleged plan went awry the following morning when the black bag was found by a cleaner, who gave it to his manager. The manager called the police.

The prosecution said Brooks and Coulson conspired to hack phone messages of celebrities ranging from Queen Elizabeth's grandson Prince Harry to Hollywood actor Jude Law and Beatle Paul McCartney. The prosecution played a recording in which Coulson confronted a cabinet minister, David Blunkett, saying he had information about a clandestine love affair the politician was conducting.

Payments were authorised by Brooks for a picture of Prince William, second in line to the throne, in a bikini and even details of soldiers killed in Afghanistan, the prosecution said.

During one email exchange over an exclusive story about the private life of Calum Best, the son of former Manchester United football star George Best, the court heard that Coulson wrote to a colleague:

"Do his phone."

14 Nov

Sabrina

17th November 2013, 06:43

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/chases-twitter-gambit-devolves-into-all-time-pr-fiasco-20131115

More on the JP Morgan Twitter PR fiasco via Matt T. at Rolling Stone. Gotta love this one. :)

15 Nov

Chase's Twitter Gambit Devolves into All-Time PR Fiasco

By MATT TAIBBI

I almost couldn't believe it when I heard that JP Morgan Chase was going to do a live Twitter Q&A with the public – you know, all those people around the world they've been bending over and robbing for, oh, the last decade or so. On the all-time list of public relations screw-ups, it's hard to say where this decision by America's most hated commercial bank (with apologies to Bank of America, which probably finishes a 49ers-like very close second this year) to engage the enraged public on Twitter ranks. For sure, anyway, it's right up there with Abercrombie and Fitch's rollout of thong underwear for 10 year-olds and the $440,000 afterparty AIG executives threw for themselves at the St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, California after securing a federal bailout.

Chase execs probably thought they were going to be inundated with questions, like, "What steps can I take to try to become as totally awesome as all of you?" This one can infer from the self-satisfied language of their announcing Tweet, which read:

What career advice would you ask a leading exec at a global firm? Tweet a Q using #AskJPM. On 11/14 a $JPM leader takes over @JPMorgan

Only on Wall Street would a bank that's about to pay out the biggest settlement in the history of settlements unironically engage the public, expecting ordinary people to sincerely ask one of their top-decision makers for career advice. The notion that this was their idea of reaching out to the public in a moment of public relations crisis – we'll take questions now on how you can become just as successful as us! – was doomed to be hilarious, and it turned out to be that and more.

Chase trotted out Vice Chairman Jimmy Lee to be pushed into the social media buzz-saw. Lee was an excellent choice for this role. As one of the world's leading Leveraged Buyout (LBO) pioneers, Lee is a human bridge symbolically connecting two different and equally loathsome eras in Wall Street iniquity – the Gordon Gekko/LBO Eighties and Nineties, and the price-rigging, bubble-making, steal-everything-not-nailed-down era covering the Wall Street of today. From the public's perspective, Lee basically represents the banker who foreclosed on your house and the guy who liquidated your factory in a deal financed by junk bonds, all in one.

Unsurprisingly, the public barraged him with abusive Tweets, and the bank ultimately had to cancel the Q&A.

What's so hilarious about some of the anger-Tweets Chase received is that the authors didn't even have to be gratuitous, or stretch the truth, in order to find a sore spot. I like this one by "Downtown Josh Brown" at @ReformedBroker:

I have Mortgage Fraud, Market Manipulation, Credit Card Abuse, Libor Rigging and Predatory Lending AM I DIVERSIFIED? #AskJPM

Adam Coleman @AdamColeman had a more blunt question:

Can I have my house back?

But my favorite of all came from Kevin Roose @kevinroose:

Would you rather negotiate with 1 horse-sized Eric Holder, or 100 duck-sized Eric Holders? #AskJPM

(Incidentally, I'd go with 1 horse-sized Eric Holder – even in horse size, he'd go down like that stallion Alex Karras's Mongo punched out in Blazing Saddles.)

Anyway, this whole thing spun so totally out of control that there's already a YouTube sensation video of Stacey Keach reading the tweets with perfect Inside the Actors' Studio gravitas. And it's much, much funnier than it would have been even if William Shatner had done it. Check it out:

i5lMJkw8Bv8

They pulled this disastrous stunt at a strange time. Chase is now facing serious troubles even apart from the upcoming, yet-to-be-concluded $13-billion settlement. The bank not long ago disclosed that it was under investigation in the ballooning probe into manipulation in the Foreign Exchange markets, a probe that will almost certainly swallow up many of the world's biggest banks before it's done.

The Forex mess is on par with the Libor disaster, and just like the Libor case, we will eventually be treated to a remarkable education into exactly how fragile the price-setting process for just about everything in the world is.

In Libor, we learned that some of the world's largest banks had been serially monkeying with world interest rates for years, dating back perhaps as far as 1991. In this case, the allegations are a bit more complicated, but center around a similar phenomenon – benchmark rates that are set based upon information easily manipulated by the very companies that stand to benefit most from it. In this case, there are five banks that collectively make up about 47 percent of the trading in the $5 trillion-a-day Forex market, and executives from those five banks were dumb enough to leave written records of what appear to be attempts to manipulate benchmark rates in an Instant Message group these idiots actually nicknamed "The Cartel."

Chase's chief dealer in London, Richard Usher, went on leave a few weeks ago, reportedly in connection with this mess. Expect the bank to end up eating yet another a massive plate of media unpleasantness once all of this Forex stuff comes out – and remember, this would be on top of that $13 billion settlement Chase reportedly is negotiating to cover a series of misdeeds from the 2000s.

The weird PR gambit mirrors the even weirder tone-deafness that may be holding up the settlement deal. The bank's seemingly crazy insistence upon trying to get the FDIC to pay for the potential liability of its acquistion, Washington Mutual, is one of those things that nobody who actually thought about how the public might respond to such a move would ever think to do. Chase has an opportunity to crawl out from under a giant pile of liabilities just by writing a check, and instead they're haggling, trying to get the public to pick up a big part of the bill. It's nuts, just like handing out career advice on Twitter in the middle of a Union-Carbide-scale PR disaster is nuts.

P.S. As noted on Twitter, I'm offering a Jamie Dimon t-shirt to the author of the best "J.P. Morgan Chase Q&A Fiasco" haiku. I'll announce the winner Monday, and please, if you win, don't forget to send me a mailing address. It took weeks to send out my Tom Friedman hand grenades last time.

Sabrina

17th November 2013, 07:02

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/17/co-op-bank-former-chairman-cash-drugs

17 Nov UK

Co-operative Bank's former chairman shown handing over cash for drugs

Methodist minister Paul Flowers seen in video counting out money to buy substances, while texts discuss drug taking

The Co-operative Bank's former chairman Paul Flowers bought illegal drugs including cocaine, crystal meth and ketamine, according to a newspaper investigation based on video footage showing the clergyman handing over money for the purchase of illicit substances.

Flowers, a Methodist minister, is shown sitting in a car counting out £300 in cash. The Mail on Sunday said an acquaintance handed over the footage, said to have been taken days after Flowers gave testimony to the Treasury select committee over the bank's £700m in losses and its abandoned bid to buy branches of the bailed-out Lloyds Bank.

The paper said friend Stuart Davies handed over the video and a series of incriminating text messages after becoming "disgusted by the hypocrisy" of a man who had chaired the anti-drugs charity Lifeline and written columns about the evils of drug use.

One of the texts said: "I was 'grilled' by the Treasury select committee yesterday and afterwards came to Manchester to get wasted with friends."

After being confronted with the material Flowers issued a statement: "This year has been incredibly difficult, with a death in the family and the pressures of my role with the Co-operative Bank. At the lowest point in this terrible period I did things that were stupid and wrong. I am sorry for this and I am seeking professional help and apologise to all I have hurt or failed by my actions."

The Co-operative Bank said it had no comment, while the Methodist church said a "thorough investigation" would take place under its "procedures for when ministers fail to meet standards".

Flowers on 7 November tried to spread the blame for the bank's woes, telling the select committee that politicians had actively encouraged the Co-op Bank's expansion spree involving an ill-fated attempt to buy 631 branches from the Lloyds Banking Group.

The bank also disastrously took over the Britannia building society, a deal that brought with it a raft of bad loans.

Flowers said he had resigned as chairman in June 2013 to take responsibility for a £1.5bn capital shortfall that left the Co-op group having to demutualise the 100-year-old bank and hand a 70% share in the British institution to a group of bondholders involving US hedge funds.

Sabrina

17th November 2013, 07:17

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24944358

Hundreds held over Canada child porn

Police in Canada say 348 people have been arrested and nearly 400 children rescued during a three-year investigation into child pornography.

At the centre of the inquiry was a Toronto-based firm that allegedly sold DVDs and streamed videos of naked children.

Azov Films marketed the footage as "naturist" and claimed it was legal in Canada and the US.

The films were distributed in 94 countries, police said.

In Canada 108 arrests were made, with another 76 in the US and 164 in other countries during the investigation codenamed Project Spade.

Inspector Joanna Beavan-Desjardins, from Toronto police, said the number of suspects who had close contact with children was of particular concern to investigators.

Doctors, school teachers, foster carers and priests were among those detained, she said.

The head of Azov Films, identified as Canadian Brian Way, 42, has been in custody since his arrest in May 2011, following an undercover operation.

He is accused of paying people to film the children and has been charged with 11 offences.

The company has been shut down.

Identities
The Toronto Police Service (TPS) Child Exploitation Section was able to determine the identities of customers using Azov Films' databases.

US investigators then joined the inquiry because many of the films were being exported to addresses in America. Seven months later, a series of raids took place across Toronto, including at a site owned by Azov Films and Brian Way, police said.

Among the other countries involved in the investigation were Australia, Spain, Mexico, South Africa, Norway, Greece and the Republic of Ireland.

"It is alleged that officers located hundreds of thousands of images and videos detailing horrific sexual acts against very young children - some of the worst they have ever viewed," police told reporters.

Ms Beavan-Desjardins said that Canadian officers, executing a search warrant at the home of a retired school teacher, found over 350,000 images and 9,000 videos depicting child abuse, with some of the victims known to the man.

He was also charged with sexually abusing a young child relative, she said.

Toronto police say over 50 countries were involved in the inquiry
Gerald O'Farrell, Acting Deputy Chief Inspector of the US Postal Inspection Service, said all the victims identified were pre-pubescent, with some as young as five years old.

Mr O'Farrell detailed the cases of several US residents investigated as part of Project Spade, who have already pleaded guilty to crimes.

A school employee from Georgia, who had admitted receiving child pornography, had placed a hidden video camera in the toilets used by school students, the inspector said.

A pre-school teacher had pleaded guilty to producing child pornography while teaching in Japan, he said.

Mr O'Farrell said US postal inspectors had identified and rescued 330 child victims as part of the investigation.

Toronto police acknowledged the assistance of a website, cybertip.ca, which allows for the online reporting of the sexual exploitation of children.

The website had received many complaints about Azov Films which became the basis for the investigation, TPS said.‪
14 Nov

and

http://theneedleblog.wordpress.com/2013/11/12/cambodian-police-break-up-major-child-abuse-ring-after-an-itv-investigation/

Cambodian police break up major child abuse ring after an ITV investigation

Cambodian police have broken up an international child abuse ring that trafficked youngsters to British paedophiles following an ITV Exposure investigation.

Former police detective Mark Williams Thomas went undercover in Cambodia, a country struggling with its reputation as a haven for child sex offenders.

As a result of the programme, police from the country’s anti-trafficking department carried out an operation and rescued two young girls.

The two young girls aged 12 and 14, are now in care after police arrested an alleged trafficker who reportedly planned on selling them for sex to an undercover officer.

Williams Thomas posed as a British sex tourist to highlight how UK sex offenders were travelling abroad to Cambodia to abuse children.

He said that after handing in a phone used to communicate with the reported traffickers to Cambodian police, they were able to arrest an individual, who is now facing trial.

ITV 10/11/13

Sabrina

17th November 2013, 07:25

You don't see this on the news :)...

vygXAXDr1Ao

published on Nov 15, 2013

People around the world will protest the mainstream media on Saturday, as they participate in the "March Against the Mainstream Media." Thousands of people are expected to take to the streets and march to the studios of the various mainstream news networks. The protests will be an "attack against the credibility of the mainstream media in an attempt to steer its viewers away from its lies and towards alternative media sources," the organizers said. RT's Ameera David speaks with one of those organizers, Jet Barnett, about what he expects the rally will achieve.

Find RT America in your area: http://rt.com/where-to-watch/
Or watch us online: http://rt.com/on-air/rt-america-air/

and

http://www.activistpost.com/2013/11/today-thousands-march-against.html

Today Thousands March Against Mainstream Media

Thousands set to March on the studio locations of Mainstream Media outlets.

Andrew V Pontbriand

Activist Post

The mainstream media becomes more and more unpopular by the day, and in a recent Gallup Poll, you can see that it's been a long time since the American people thought the Mainstream Media reported fairly, or honestly.

Today, thousands of people will March Against the Mainstream Media.

In what started as a national march, quickly organized into and event reaching as far as Australia, Canada, and the UK. Here is an excerpt from the official Page:

MARCH AGAINST MAINSTREAM MEDIA is more than just a protest. It is an attack against the credibility of the mainstream media in an attempt to steer its viewers away from its lies and towards alternative media sources. There are too many important things happening today that go ignored or spun by the MSM and unnoticed by the mass public. On November 16th, organized protest in the United States will be brought to the doorstep of all large mainstream media studio headquarters including: ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and FOX News. With enough support from truthseekers out at their local MSM studio locations on November 16, we will force the hand of those media outlets and they will be pushed to make a decision.
The marches will start at varying times which differ in the more than 70+ organized locations, with smaller turnouts in more than 200 total locations. Look for protesters to show up at a Major Media outlet near you, and support them as they seek to expose the fraud, lies, mis/disinformation, and cover-ups the media engages in to uphold the status quo.

LTsOGC9LOk8

Sabrina

17th November 2013, 07:42

Ex-JPMorgan ‘London Whale’ Trader Refuses Extradition from Spain

By AFP- November 16, 2013

http://tinyurl.com/lhk9ule

An Ex-JPMORGAN bank trader arrested in Spain has refused to be extradited to the US where he faces criminal charges in the “London Whale” scandal.

Spanish national Javier Martin-Artajo told Spain’s National Court that he did not consent to be extradicted voluntarity to face charges because the crimes he is accused of took place in Britain not in the United States and because he has roots in Spain, a court source said.

“He also asked the judge to request more information about the case from the United States,” the source added.

If the judge requests more information, the United States has 30 days to reply, the source said.

Mr Martin-Artajo is accused of being the senior figure in the 2012 trading scandal involving $US6.2 billion ($6.6 billion) in trading losses at the US banking giant.

US federal prosecutors in August filed criminal charges against Mr Martin-Artajo and another former JPMorgan employee, Frenchman Julien Grout, alleging they kept false records on trades, committed wire fraud and submitted false US securities filings when they worked for the bank in London.

A third ex-JPMorgan banker, French national Bruno Iksil – originally identified as the “London Whale” responsible for the trades – was cleared of criminal responsibility after cooperating with prosecutors.

Spanish police arrested Mr Martin-Artajo Rueda on August 27 on an international warrant and released him on condition that he check in with the National Court every two weeks and remained in Spain pending a ruling on extradition.

The US complaint documents how the London team allegedly falsified financial records after Mr Martin-Artajo was pressured from higher-ups about losses in early 2012.

Mr Martin-Artajo directed underlings to calculate trades and price assets in such a way as to discount the losses, according to the complaint, which cites phone calls and emails.

As a result of the false records, JPMorgan in July 2012 understated losses from its corporate private equity division, which included the London trading operation, by $US459 million.

The defendants each face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison and a fine of at least $US5 million.

The debacle led to senior bank resignations, slashed pay for JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon and sparked various government probes.

The case is one of several regulatory headaches still facing JPMorgan. The bank also faces probes on its sale of mortgage-backed securities, among other issues.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Wish a few other top figures across the globe would follow their example.... let's wait for the tipping point..

Brazil: Top Figures Found Guilty in Big Corruption Scandal Turn Themselves in to Police

FOX News – November 15, 2013

http://tinyurl.com/ojhx6hh

Top figures found guilty in Brazil’s biggest corruption scandal have handed themselves over to police.

Jose Genoino, the former leader of Brazil’s ruling Workers Party, turned himself in Friday after the Supreme Court ruled this week that most of the 25 found guilty last year must start serving time.

Jose Dirceu, the former chief of staff for ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said he’d turn himself in within hours.

Genoino was sentenced to nearly seven years for conspiracy and bribery. Dirceu got nearly 12 years for the same crimes.

The scandal came to light in 2005. It involved Silva’s aides paying legislators to support Workers Party initiatives in Congress.
The guilty verdicts were seen as a blow to impunity in Brazil, where powerful figures often elude punishment for crimes.

Taurean

19th November 2013, 05:58

MF Global ordered to pay $1.2bn in restitution

US futures firm MF Global Holding has been ordered to pay $1.2bn (£740m) in restitution to its customers over its collapse.

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) obtained the order from a federal court, as well as an additional $100m in civil penalties.

About $1.6bn of client money went missing before the firm filed for bankruptcy protection in October 2011.

The CFTC is also still suing the former head of the firm, Jon Corzine.

Mr Corzine, a Wall Street legend at Goldman Sachs and former New Jersey governor, was charged by the CFTC with failing to properly manage the company in June, with the regulator saying at the time that he "did not act in good faith" and did not diligently supervise the collapsed broker.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24991051

So along with all the big hits JP Morgan, et al have taken just lately, where will that $100 million end up trickling down to ?

( am I just getting a tiny bit cynical in my old age )

or is all this for Public consumption anyway, I mean it's a failed company, where's the money going to come from ?

Sabrina

19th November 2013, 07:52

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24990650

19 Nov Canada

Toronto mayor Rob Ford loses more powers

The Toronto city council has voted to strip Mayor Rob Ford of most of his authority, as the embattled city leader resists growing pressure to step down.

On Monday, the council transferred most of Mr Ford's budget and many of his powers to the deputy mayor.

Mr Ford, 44, who has promised to fight the council's decisions, criticised the vote as a "coup d'etat".

The mayor of Canada's largest city has faced intense pressure to resign after admitting to smoking crack cocaine

In recent weeks he has also acknowledged buying illegal drugs while serving as mayor.

Mr Ford abstained from Monday's vote, but promised "outright war" in the next election against the councillors who opposed him.

"What's happening here today is not a democratic process, this is a dictatorship," he told the city councillors.

"You are absolutely telling everybody that voted in the last municipal election that their vote does not count."

And Mr Ford refused to apologise, saying he had done enough apologising already.

"I've admitted my mistakes," he said. "I'm not going to sit here and go on and on and on."

Earlier in the heated council meeting, Mr Ford ran through the gallery, accidentally knocking over city councillor Pam McConnell before catching her.

Ms McConnell was later seen holding ice to her lip.

'The worst spokesman'
Monday's motion reduces Mr Ford's office budget by 60%, and allows mayoral staff to join deputy mayor Norm Kelly, largely making Mr Ford mayor in name only.

The council does not have the power to remove Mr Ford from office unless he has a criminal conviction.

Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, once a Ford ally but now one of his most outspoken critics, said the mayor's conduct was embarrassing the city.

"He's the worst spokesman for the city of Toronto right now," he said.

The Toronto council began stripping away his powers on Friday, voting 39 to 3 to prevent him from being able to dismiss the deputy mayor and taking away his emergency powers.

Despite the scandal, Mr Ford does not seem inclined to shun the spotlight.

He gave interviews to US media organisations at the weekend and appeared at a Toronto Argonauts game, despite the Canadian Football League commissioner suggesting he not.

Mr Ford and his brother Doug Ford, a city councillor, launched their own current events television programme on Monday evening.

The show, Ford Nation, is named after the bloc of conservative, suburban voters who put Mr Ford in office in 2010.

On Sunday, Mr Ford told US broadcaster Fox News he had "admitted to drinking too much", but said he was dealing with it, including going to the gym two hours every day.

"I'm seeking professional help, I'm not an alcoholic, I'm not a drug addict," he said. "Have I had my outbursts in the past? Absolutely.

"But you know what, I'm only human. I've made mistakes. I've apologised."

He added: "Yes, one day I do want to run for prime minister."

The Toronto mayor apologised again on Thursday for making an obscene outburst on live television while denying he had offered oral sex to a female staff member.

He had been responding to allegations in court papers that he had also driven drunk, used racially abusive language, threatened staff and consorted with an alleged prostitute.

BBC videos at the link with lots of firm denials at the beginning, and the opposite at the end - seen that one before...

Sabrina

19th November 2013, 08:02

What's taken them so long...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24980765

Google and Microsoft agree steps to block abuse images

18 Nov

Leading search engine companies Google and Microsoft have agreed measures to make it harder to find child abuse images online.

As many as 100,000 search terms will now return no results that find illegal material, and will trigger warnings that child abuse imagery is illegal.

PM David Cameron has welcomed the move but said it must be delivered or he would bring forward new legislation.

Child protection experts have warned most images are on hidden networks.

In July, Mr Cameron called on Google and Microsoft's Bing - which together account for 95% of search traffic - to do more to prevent people getting access to illegal images.

He said they needed to ensure that searches which were unambiguously aimed at finding illegal images should return no results.

The issue of online images showing the sexual abuse of children has made headlines in recent months after the convictions of Stuart Hazell and Mark Bridger for the murders of Tia Sharp and April Jones.

Both Hazell and Bridger were known to have sought out and viewed child abuse images online.

On Monday, Downing Street said the government would be checking to see that internet companies acted "urgently" .

Google and Microsoft joined other internet firms, the National Crime Agency (NCA) and charities at Downing Street for an internet safety summit earlier.

At the meeting, the NCA's director general said initial tests showed that changes introduced by the search engines were working.

The prime minister told the meeting the UK would hold an international summit on the issue next year, with a "specific focus on protecting the victims of online child abuse".

What difference have today's measures by Google and Microsoft made?

Typing "child pornography" in to Google's search engine now brings up a set of search results that include warnings that child abuse imagery is illegal.

The first three links are all related to reporting disturbing images or seeking help if you think you or someone you know has a problem with child abuse images.

The first link is an advert that links to a Google statement about protecting children from sexual abuse. The next link directs you to the Internet Watch Foundation, where you can report criminal online content, and a link to Stop it Now advises users how they can get help and advice.

The remaining search results are mainly news stories from around the world reporting on child abuse images.

full story at the link

and good for Tom Watson, unsurprisingly the subject of some political smears recently...

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tom-watson-britain-needs-fbi-style-2800168

Britain needs FBI-style elite crime squad to tackle child abuse intelligence failures

17 Nov 2013 00:00

Tom Watson MP says it was ‘completely unacceptable’ that the National Crime Agency failed to make any arrests of suspected British paedophiles

Britain needs an FBI-style elite crime squad to combat child abuse after intelligence services failed to act on the latest paedophile scandal, says a campaigning MP.

Hundreds of alleged paedophiles have been arrested by international cops investigating a widespread network of abuse.

But despite a list of names being passed to British authorities not a single arrest has been made in the UK.

Tom Watson MP says it was ‘completely unacceptable’ that the National Crime Agency had failed to make any arrests of suspected British paedophiles.

And he is now calling for a national task force to be set up.

Mr Watson told the Sunday People: “We’ve got an international policing operation that has netted hundreds of alleged paedophiles and the UK has failed to act on intelligence.

“This is completely unacceptable. It shows why we need a dedicated national team whose sole aim is to investigate allegations of child abuse.

“I think we need a proper team of officers who have investigative capabilities as well as powers of arrest.

“There are police officers who have been calling for it for years.”

Mr Watson’s call comes after the shocking news that ‘Project Spade’ had arrested hundreds of paedophiles -100 in Canada, 76 in the US and 164 in other countries

Almost 400 child sex slaves were freed and 341 alleged paedophiles arrested as part of the swoop.

And a list of alleged British paedophiles - said to include foster carers, priests and teachers - was handed to British cops by a Canadian detective.

Toronto detective Paul Krawczyk said his team passed “hundreds of names” to CEOP - the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre - 18 months ago.

World swoop: Police held 341 in Project Spade - but none in the UK
It features the names, addresses, and credit card details of a host of UK suspects.

A spokesman for the National Crime Agency - of which CEOP is a part - said: “In 2012 CEOP received information from the Toronto Police.

“It receives around 19,000 such referrals every year. The NCA is using the information for intelligence purposes and continues to develop it. There have been no arrests to date.”

But Mr Watson believes a properly set up national agency would have been able to act much quicker.

He added: ““This has been talked about for years.

“At the moment we have CEOP but they don’t go out and do policing. It’s a different thing.”

The Sunday People has been working alongside Mr Watson since he first raised the question of a high-profile VIP paedophile network operating in the UK.

Since Mr Watson asked his question in the House of Commons last October, the Sunday People has campaigned to bring child abusers to justice.

The Sunday People has helped investigate a guesthouse in Barnes, south-west London , that was at the centre of an alleged VIP paedophile ring in the 1970s and 1980s.

And we have passed details of several key witnesses to police, leading to several arrests under Operation Fairbanks and Fernbridge.

Operation Fairbank is the name of the original ‘scoping’ investigation tjat was launched into Mr Watson’s allegations.

It has led to the Met Police criminal investigations, Fernbridge and Cayacos, which have seen several arrests made in connection with historical child abuse.

The Prime Minister has called the main search engines, internet service providers, the National Crime Agency and NSPCC to a summit in Downing Street where he will ask them to set out what they have done to better protect children from harmful material online and block child abuse and other illegal content.

A Downing Street source said: “The Prime Minister was clear in July that he wanted to see more done to tackle the proliferation of child abuse images online and that remains very much the case.

“We are now seeing government, police and industry working much more closely to bring down and block the material, whether it’s where it is hosted, transmitted, viewed or downloaded.

"But there is more to do and that is what tomorrow’s summit will be about.

“People should be in no doubt that there is no such thing as a safe place on the internet to access child abuse material and will target those who think otherwise.”

Sabrina

19th November 2013, 18:44

http://www.theverge.com/2013/11/18/5117816/pentagon-guilty-of-billion-dollar-accounting-fraud-reveals-reuters

18 Nov

Pentagon guilty of billion-dollar accounting fraud, reveals Reuters investigation

A new report from Reuters has discovered widespread accounting fraud at the Pentagon, describing a budget of more than $8 trillion disappearing into a mess of corrupted data, erroneous reports, and unauditable ledgers. Sources from the Department of Finance and Accounting describe the arduous process of squaring the Navy's books with the US Treasury outlays, dealing with obviously inaccurate numbers or entries that were simply left blank. The data usually arrives just two days before deadline, and supervisors direct the office to enter false numbers — known as "plugs" — to square the accounts and conceal the agencies' patchy bookkeeping. The result is fraudulent figures that can reach as high as a trillion dollars in a single year, simply to make the Pentagon books match the Treasury's budget.

THE ARMY LOST TRACK OF $5.8 BILLION IN SUPPLIES BETWEEN 2003 AND 2011

The report doesn't allege any specific instances of fraud, but rather a widespread failure of accounting processes that have allowed for a staggering quantity of waste and misallocation of resources. "I don't think they're lying and cheating and stealing necessarily, but it's not the right thing to do," Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale told Reuters.

In one example, the Army lost track of roughly $5.8 billion worth of supplies between 2003 and 2011. That figure is troubling partially because of the possibility for profiteering, but more so because of the equipment shortages reported by soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan during those years. Those shortages were made significantly worse by what Reuters describes as "the Pentagon's chronic failure to keep track of its money."

The result has drawn widespread criticism from Congress and Pentagon leaders alike, but it's unclear how close the agency is to solving the problem. In 1996, the Clinton administration mandated yearly audits on all federal agencies, but while every other agency has complied with the order, the Pentagon has yet to undergo a single audit, presumably because of the fraudulent figures that would be unearthed. It's particularly ironic because, in the private sector, this kind of intentionally misleading book-keeping is a criminal offense. In 2011, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that Pentagon ledgers would be audit-ready in 2014, a full 18 years after federal law first required annual audits for all government departments. As a result of the report, Reuters concludes the Pentagon probably won't meet the deadline, suggesting this waste may continue for years to come.

Sabrina

19th November 2013, 19:52

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/17/chilcot-inquiry-tony-blair-bush

17 Nov

No more evasion and prevarication – Britain's elite must be held to account

The blocking of the Chilcot report underlines how the powerful shield their activities from the public

In The Gatekeepers, the documentary made about Israel's internal intelligence, Shin Bet, one of the most striking interviews with six former leaders of the agency is with the charismatic Ami Ayalon, who later became a Labor member of the Knesset. Ayalon confessed that when he was small boy he thought of the state of Israel being guided by a kindly old man who lived in a room at the end of a corridor, dispensing wisdom and guidance to the country's leaders.

When he grew up, he knew, of course, there was no such person, but as he rose to the top of the Israeli navy and later Shin Bet, he realised that there was no fount of wisdom or decency to be found at the top of the Israeli state either: just politicians and officials making questionable decisions on the hoof.

In Britain, you might say that at the end of the corridor we do have a little old lady, who has seen a thing or two in her 61-year reign and has much wisdom to offer prime ministers and senior politicians. Although her impact on policy and the standards of government is minuscule, she represents something or other that appears to be reassuring.

But what you realise when you approach Ayalon's age and you have watched British politics for a long time is that life is mostly shoddy and discreditable at the top and that that characteristic is becoming more pronounced. There are decent people doing their level best, but there are also bad ones who erode the integrity and trust necessary for a democracy to work properly. One of those is Tony Blair, who took Britain to war on a lie and who is now believed by most to have misled parliament in order to help an American president who was bent on avenging 9/11 by invading the wrong country.

It is the greatest scandal of British public life in a generation, yet Blair and his allies, such as Jack Straw and Alastair Campbell, have never been properly held to account. More than a decade after we went to war, Sir John Chilcot's report is stalled because Sir Jeremy Heywood, the current cabinet secretary, who was at Blair's side as principle private secretary during the run-up to the invasion, is blocking crucial evidence to the inquiry.

It is an unbelievable state of affairs. As the former foreign secretary Lord Owen pointed out last week, you couldn't have a more dubious arrangement. A man who was integral to the government that took us to war is now sitting on evidence of 200 relevant cabinet level discussions, 25 notes written by Blair to George Bush and records of 130 phone conversations between Blair, Bush and Gordon Brown. Heywood claims that he's bound by the decision taken by his predecessor, Lord O'Donnell, to protect the confidentiality of Blair and Bush's discussions. In effect, Heywood is claiming that he has no discretion and therefore his past as senior official in Blair's Number 10 at the time has no relevance.

What is so dismal about this situation, quite apart from the naked self-interest that it represents, is that it underlines that while the British public is expected to put up with ever-increasing levels of intrusion by surveillance, in the name of transparency and security, those in power create for themselves an impregnable bunker where honour, accountability and public opinion count for nothing. They conceal their actions and shield themselves from entirely legitimate requests from an inquiry set up by the prime minister himself.

One wonders whether Chilcot was perhaps the ultimately cynical act? Could it be that Blair and the civil servants who oversaw the preparations for war always knew that the excuse of preserving the confidentiality of the prime minister's conversations with Bush would stop Sir John's committee getting at the truth of how we were taken to war on a handful of lies? Maybe they just hope to outlast Chilcot, prevaricating until the committee drop dead and everyone has forgotten the war.

Not only should Heywood be removed from anything to do with the decision of what Chilcot is allowed to see, but, as Lord Owen suggested on Newsnight, the conventions surrounding a prime minister's dealings with a US president no longer apply: this is about the possibility that Tony Blair knowingly deceived parliament and dissembled to the nation in order to do George Bush's bidding and preserve the special relationship. Allegations don't come more serious than that. We should know what he said to Bush.

After Heywood's behaviour in the Plebgate case, when he failed to investigate inconsistencies in the evidence that would have exonerated the former chief whip Andrew Mitchell, people could be forgiven for wondering about Number 10's respect for the truth and simply what is right. Mitchell was very hard done by and Heywood was the man who could have prevented much of the shame that he endured. Maybe there are questions to be asked about the values of the cabinet secretary himself.

But in all this, there is a much bigger theme, which is seen in another sputtering inquiry into the behaviour of Blair-era politicians and officials – the Gibson inquiry into allegations that British intelligence agencies were complicit in the torture of terror suspects after 9/11 and that officials in the then foreign secretary Jack Straw's office were aware. The inquiry's investigations ended nearly two years ago and the report has been sat on by Number 10 for the past 14 months. After the NGOs and torture victims boycotted Sir Peter Gibson's inquiry, because it lacked credibility, it probably won't have the damning impact it should have when it is finally published this week.

As a result, Number 10 may get away without following up with examination of cases such as those of Abdel Hakim Belhaj, who was rendered with his wife for torture to Gaddafi's Libya in an operation involving Sir Mark Allen of MI6 during Jack Straw's time at the Foreign Office.

Scrape away at the interlocking scandals of the war on terror and the war in Iraq and you find a rot that has taken hold at the top of British state.

Whether the scandal is about the path to war, the torture of terror suspects or the exponential increase in surveillance, the common denominators are consistently the reverence for the special relationship and related issues about the powers and conduct of our intelligence services. These two have distorted the standards of public life for far too long. It is imperative that Sir John Chilcot is no longer obstructed and we get his full account of Blair's war as soon as humanly possible.

Sabrina

21st November 2013, 12:23

http://2012thebigpicture.wordpress.com/2013/11/17/evergreen-air-shuts-down-suddenly-cia-chemtrail-contractor-goes-under/

Evergreen Air Shuts Down Suddenly: CIA Chemtrail Contractor Goes Under

US

Thank you to ThePeople’sVoice FB:

This to me is very significant. Evergreen Air is the CIA company that has been laying chemtrails all over the Valley of the Sun here in Arizona, and no doubt other places, as well.

For an airline to shut down so suddenly—less than a month’s notice, effective Nov. 29th—is unheard of, isn’t it? And they won’t return calls from the press?

A comment following the original article:

“Do not feel saddened for the business, unless it is for the employees. The business has been mismanaged for at least a decade. As to the abruptness of the closing. The company has been bleeding and playing a shell game for some time.Over the last year employees have been payed up to two weeks late, every paycheck. The local media, newspapers and radio, have not been reporting as they should have.”

Was their insolvency because the cabal is broke and couldn’t pay Evergreen employees—because they went bust at the casino?

They’ve put their own spin on it, of course, but I think it’s joyous news. This, in conjunction with the Silver Legion Commander’s high spirits after the reptilian capture this week gives me really good vibes. Sounds like the cabal is folding, to me! I shall be watching our skies. ~ BP

Breaking news: Evergreen International Airlines reported to be ceasing operations

November 8, 2013

According to a report from a news service in Evergreen International Airlines’ home state of Oregon, the all-cargo carrier has told employees it will end operations within three weeks. The report, in the Yamhill News Register, starts as follows:

“Evergreen International Airlines — key remaining component of Evergreen International Aviation, following the selloff of its helicopter division — has announced to employees by voicemail that it will be closing its doors effective Friday, Nov. 29, according to current and former employees. Calls seeking confirmation from the company were not returned.”

You can read the entire story on the News Register website, at http://newsregister.com/blog?articleTitle=evergreen-to-close-main-air-cargo-arm–1383874950–10208–open-source-blog

Evergreen currently has three 747-400 freighters (one BCF, two BDSFs) but in the past has operated a much larger fleet. Much of its flying was charter service in support of the US military, and as has been widely reported, there has been a sharp drop in demand as the US winds down its military activities.

Taurean

24th November 2013, 23:46

Sabrina

25th November 2013, 08:54

http://www.classwarfareexists.com/catholic-officials-bishop-of-bling-to-see-his-40-million-mansion-turned-into-a-soup-kitchen1/

CATHOLIC OFFICIALS: “BISHOP OF BLING” TO SEE HIS $40 MILLION MANSION TURNED INTO A SOUP KITCHEN

When Jesus spoke out against greed, German Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst must not have thought he was referring to him. It was recently uncovered that the Bishop living in the diocese of Limburg, home to about 650,000 Catholics in Germany, had been doing some eyebrow raising renovations to his quarters. The Catholic church discovered after some investigation that it was footing the bill for such lavish additions to the place as a $20,000 bathtub, built-in closets costing nearly $500,000, a $35,000 conference table, $1.1 million in landscaped gardens, a massive fitness room, and a personal chapel. All of it totaling an astonishing $40 million.

When it came to light just how much the Bishop had been spending, he earned the moniker “Bishop of Bling,” and the less lighthearted distinction of “Suspended until further notice.”

With the Bishop gone, the question then turned to what to do with the massive estate. An idea by some Catholic officials is both brilliant and fitting: They want to turn it into a refugee center or soup kitchen.

Yesterday, church officials in Limburg said they were taking their own steps to admonish him.

“The residence is like an inherited sin which the bishop has left in his wake,” said a spokesman for the Caritas organisation for the homeless. “People who seek sanctuary with us could be given food in the residence,” he added.[source]

Putting what once was a shameful display of decadence to good use, to serve people and do good works would certainly be in line with the Pope Francis’ call to return the Church to a humbler, more compassionate force in the world. Pope Francis has also made an effort to cut down on Papal luxuries, as well. He resides in a smaller apartment than previous popes, and instead of expensive Mercedes or BMWs, Francis prefers the dependable Ford Focus for getting around.

It will probably be painful for the Bishop to watch as his beautifully decorated house is turned into a beacon of hope for the needy, but it’s a pretty great start towards righting this wrong. It also aligns nicely with the Pope’s recent suggestion that old vacant church buildings be given over to charities so that they could be used to help people – after all, with the Bishop being booted out, the building is technically vacant.

Nothing is set in stone yet, and the plan is in its preliminary stages but hopefully soon Germany’s neediest citizens will be able to personally testify that revenge is truly best served cold – and in a mansion with a $20,000 bathtub.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

¤=[Post Update]=¤

http://divinecosmos.com/start-here/davids-blog/1153-darkest-hour

Here's the new blog from David Wilcock:

24 Nov

The Darkest Hour is Before the Dawn

Media control, widespread apathy and brainwashing is no longer enough to prevent a mass public awakening.

We are now seeing the ultimate example of a vast empire in decline. Its death rattles are becoming increasingly obvious to an emboldened, awake and aware mass public.

The world is "hitting bottom", much like the process of how a drug addict realizes he needs to let go of the addiction in order to live a better life -- or any life at all.

The phrase "the darkest hour is before the dawn" may sound like a cliche', but it perfectly illustrates how the healing process actually works.

full story at link

Sabrina

25th November 2013, 09:32

http://divinecosmos.com/start-here/davids-blog/1153-darkest-hour

As above, just one piece from David Wilcock's latest blog reminding us of the actual major events which have been happening to shake the old world.... all covered in this thread over time... Very well worth reading the whole thing to cheer you up this Monday :)

24 Nov

The Darkest Hour is Before the Dawn by David Wilcock

THE ALLIANCE STRIKES BACK

Major developments have occurred since this comprehensive plan to defeat the Cabal was first leaked in 2011. Many more surprises are still to come.

Alliance-led events apparently included the following public developments -- which will likely be seen as far more significant in the fullness of time:

The LIBOR scandal,
the Pope's resignation,
the Fox phone hacking scandal,
the BBC pedophilia scandal,
multiple Justice Department lawsuits against top banks, and
the NSA surveillance disclosures.

As all of this has happened, the pace of chaotic and upsetting global events has dramatically increased -- particularly since the NSA disclosures began.

These include the Boston Bombing, multiple mass shootings, Fukushima toxicity, the Syria conflict, the government shutdown and major earth changes, including the massive Philippines typhoon.

These do appear to be contrived attempts to steer the narrative back into fear -- and away from the truth of what we are now seeing.

The technology to manipulate severe weather does seem to exist -- and is being used more often than we think.

In time, much of the confusion and mystery of the events now unfolding will have cleared up -- and we will have a remarkable new view of life on earth.

read whole blog at the link

Sabrina

26th November 2013, 10:27

http://goldenageofgaia.com/2013/11/walk-out-on-walmart-kicks-off-as-ceo-steps-down/#more-201366

“Walk Out on Walmart” Kicks Off as CEO Steps Down

RINF Alternative News – November 25, 2013

http://tinyurl.com/llslqzd

Ahead of what is being called the largest day of action yet against Walmart on the upcoming Black Friday shopping extravaganza, a wave of strikes against the retail giant have already begun.

Workers in Miami, Florida and Brooklyn Center, Minnesota walked off the job Monday following actions in Tampa on Saturday and strikes in Sacramento, Dallas, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles and cities in Ohio earlier this month.

“We’re at an exciting moment, the movement of low-wage workers has taken off in 2013,” Dan Schadelman, campaign director for Making a Change at Walmart, said of the Black Friday protests.

Brooklyn Center employees Andrea Williams, April Williams and Lillian Griffin said they decided to take a stand after earlier attempts to organize in favor of better wages, benefits and “a voice on the job” drew retaliation from store managers.

“If you try to speak out to management [...] they cut your hours,” Andrea Williams told St. Paul’s Union Advocate. Like Walmart workers across the country, the women—who make $8.40 and $9.50 an hour and are thus reliant on public assistance programs to support their families—are calling on the billion dollar chain to pay them a living wage, offer full-time hours and benefits, and put an end to the rampant acts of retaliation.

Protest organizers estimate that employees will boycott over 1,500 locations on Friday, disrupting what many call the ‘largest shopping day of the year’ to bring awareness to the company’s culture of low pay and intimidation.

Amid the growing unrest, Walmart CEO Mike Duke announced his retirement Monday. According to reports, he is going to be replaced by veteran Walmart employee and CEO of Walmart International Doug McMillon.

As Fortune magazine notes, among the myriad complications the incoming executive will face, the “most public and populist” is the chain’s “contentious relationship” with its hourly workers.

“Walmart has been heading in the wrong direction, and it’s a testament to the pressure the company is feeling that they’re changing leadership at this moment,” said Tiffany Beroid, OUR Walmart member and Laurel, Maryland Walmart employee.
“Mr McMillon has an opportunity to be a leader in moving Walmart in the right direction, not just in offering more empty promises,” she continued.

“We sincerely hope that Mr. McMillon will answer the country’s calls for Walmart to publicly commit to paying $25,000 a year, providing full-time work and ending its illegal retaliation against its own employees.”

“As the largest private employer in the United States and the world, Walmart is setting the standard for jobs,” writes Making Change for Walmart, a coalition of groups aimed at reforming the retail giant.

They continue:
That standard is so low that hundreds of thousands of its employees are living in poverty—even many that work full time.
The average full time Walmart “associate” makes about $15,500 a year. And worse, Walmart is pushing more and more workers toward a permanent part-time status.

Across the country, workers and communities are coming together as one to say enough is enough.

Labor group OUR Walmart, which has been instrumental in organizing the Black Friday protests, has put together a live feed covering Friday’s actions.

Sabrina

26th November 2013, 10:30

Pope Frances Meets Russia’s President Putin for First Time

From News.va – The Official Vatican Network – November 25, 2013

http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-meets-russian-president-putin

Pope Francis had a private meeting in the Vatican on Monday afternoon with the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. It’s the fourth time the Russian leader has been here to the Vatican – he met twice with Pope John Paul II in 2000 and 2003 and had an audience with Pope Benedict in 2007.

In September this year, Pope Francis also wrote directly to President Putin, as the city of St Petersburg prepared to host the G20 summit of world economic leaders.

In that letter, the Pope spoke of the need for a more just global financial framework, stressing that “the world economy will only develop if it allows a dignified way of life for all human beings, from the eldest to the unborn child, not just for citizens of the G20 member states but for every inhabitant of the earth, even those in extreme social situations or in the remotest places…”

Pope Francis also focused in that letter on the need for an urgent solution to the Syrian conflict, saying: “It is regrettable that, from the very beginning of the conflict in Syria, one-sided interests have prevailed and in fact hindered the search for a solution that would have avoided the senseless massacre now unfolding..”

Statement of the Holy See Press Office:
In the afternoon of Monday 25 November 2013, the President of the Russian Federation, His Excellency Mr. Vladimir Putin, was received in audience by the Holy Father Francis. Mr. Putin subsequently went on to meet with the Secretary of State, Archbishop Pietro Parolin, who was accompanied by the Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti.

During the cordial discussions, satisfaction was expressed for the good existing bilateral relations, and the Parties focused on various questions of common interest, especially in relation to the life of the Catholic community in Russia, revealing the fundamental contribution of Christianity in society. In this context, mention was made of the critical situation faced by Christians in some regions of the world, as well as the defence of and promotion of values regarding the dignity of the person, and the protection of human life and the family.

Furthermore, special attention was paid to the pursuit of peace in the Middle East and the grave situation in Syria, with reference to which President Putin expressed thanks for the letter addressed to him by the Holy Father on the occasion of the G20 meeting in St. Petersburg. Emphasis was placed on the urgency of the need to bring an end to the violence and to ensure necessary humanitarian assistence for the population, as well as to promote concrete initiatives for a peaceful solution to the conflict, favouring negotiation and involving the various ethnic and religious groups, recognising their essential role in society.

Sabrina

26th November 2013, 11:01

http://rt.com/news/iran-historic-nuclear-deal-201/

The beginnings of some good news as the tides shift..

P5+1 and Iran agree landmark nuclear deal at Geneva talks

The P5+1 world powers and Iran have struck a historic deal on Tehran’s nuclear program at talks in Geneva on Sunday. Ministers overcame the last remaining hurdles to reach agreement, despite strong pressure from Israel and lobby groups.

Under the interim agreement, Tehran will be allowed access to $4.2 billion in funds frozen as part of the financial sanctions imposed on Iran over suspicions that its nuclear program is aimed at producing an atomic bomb.

While Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced that the deal reached in Geneva shows that world powers have recognized Tehran's “nuclear rights.”

“Constructive engagement [and] tireless efforts by negotiating teams are to open new horizons,” Rouhani said on Twitter shortly after the announcement.

In turn, the IAEA said it is ready to check that Iran keeps its commitments under the deal.

"With the agreement of the IAEA's Board of Governors, the Agency will be ready to fulfill its role in verifying the implementation of nuclear related measures," said Director General Yukiya Amano as cited by Reuters.

Foreign ministers from the US, Russia, UK, France, China, Germany and the EU hailed the deal as a step toward a “comprehensive solution” to the nuclear standoff between Tehran and the West. The interim deal was reached early Sunday morning in Geneva after some 18 hours of negotiation.

“While today's announcement is just a first step, it achieves a great deal,” US President Barack Obama said in a statement at the White House. “For the first time in nearly a decade, we have halted the progress of the Iranian nuclear program, and key parts of the program will be rolled back.”

However, Obama said that if Iran fails to keep to its commitments over the next six months, the US will “ratchet up” sanctions. US Secretary of State John Kerry, a key participant in the Geneva talks, said that Iran still had to prove it is not seeking to develop atomic weapons
24 Nov

more at link

and Cobra's take on it: (feel free to resonate with it or not, as with everything on Avalon :).....)....

http://kauilapele.wordpress.com/2013/11/25/cobra-update-11-25-13-opening-of-the-aion-portal-report/

Opening of the Aion Portal Report

We have opened the Aion portal! We have reached the critical mass! The videos alone had more than 200,000 views and countless thousands of people were activating the portal worldwide.

It is not a coincidence that historic Iran nuclear agreement was reached within hours after opening of the Aion portal:

http://rt.com/news/iran-historic-nuclear-deal-201/

This demonstrates the power of our unified consciousness, which does have the potential of influencing the geopolitical situation. As we have been able to help preventing military invasion in Syria after the activation of the Peace portal on August 25th, now we have basically eliminated the possibility of any future war with Iran.

As a result of increased awareness, more and more people with money and influence are becoming aware that war does NOT bring profit, only misery. This realization will bring peace to this planet more quickly than all peace negotiations and talks in the past:

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/09/attacking-syria-or-iran-would-destroy-the-american-economy.html

The energies of Aion and Iona are energies of eternal peace and global peace will soon become the geopolitical reality on this planet as a result of our unified decision.

more at the link....

(he's talking about 23 Nov and this was also the heliocentric Uranus/Pluto Square - once in a lifetime event I've read! Sab.)

Sabrina

26th November 2013, 11:13

This has got to be it, - the final OUTRAGE !

Beware, this must be the " Night of the Long Knives "

Business secretary acts as Royal Bank of Scotland faces series of accusations over alleged mistreatment of small businesses

The business secretary, Vince Cable, has passed evidence of Royal Bank of Scotland's treatment of small businesses to City watchdogs amid allegations that the bank seized assets from firms to benefit its own property empire.

The taxpayer-backed lender is facing a series of accusations over its handling of small businesses in a report due to be published on Monday by businessman Lawrence Tomlinson, who acts as entrepreneur in residence at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/nov/24/vince-cable-rbs-city-watchdogs

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25077124

I agree Taurean. I listened to an interview on BBC news with some of the small businesses owners who had been told to repay their loans overnight, for no good reason. One of the bankers told one of them, it was because the bank just could do that. Others were threatened with RBS lawyers when they spoke out. Ruined businesses for no good reason. Sinister, dysfunctional and very nasty - an everyday story of some banking folk... Vince Cable has said he'll meet the business owners interviewed... let's see if he'll put on a white hat or not.

and

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25085382

(would that be the same lawyers who allegedly threatened the small business owners?....)

25 Nov

RBS asks Clifford Chance to probe small firm allegations

RBS has asked law firm Clifford Chance to investigate claims it forced firms to close so it could make a profit.

Two reports published on Monday criticised the bank for its treatment of small firms, claims which Chancellor George Osborne described as "shocking".

Clifford Chance will look into the allegations contained in reports by Sir Andrew Large and Lawrence Tomlinson.

RBS said in a letter to Sir Andrew that the bank had in many areas fallen short in its treatment of customers.

Andrew Tyrie MP, chairman of the Treasury Committee, said: "The reports published today make clear that there is a fundamental cultural problem with RBS's lending to and treatment of SMEs [small and medium enterprises].

"This is unwelcome but not wholly surprising. It confirms what my parliamentary colleagues and I have been hearing for a number of years and which was, at various times, vigorously rebutted by RBS."

'A tough read'
Sir Andrew Large's report, commissioned by RBS, looked into the bank's lending to small businesses. It said that the bank must tackle some "serious allegations" by a small number of firms.

The Tomlinson report, set up by Business Secretary Vince Cable, said there was evidence that the bank deliberately put some "good and viable" businesses into default so it could make more profit.

Mr Cable has passed the Tomlinson report to City regulators, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.

Ross McEwan, RBS chief executive, said in his letter to Sir Andrew that the report by the former Bank of England deputy governor had "been a tough read".

He said that RBS had already put in place new procedures to improve lending to small firms and halt "the reckless lending practices that broke this bank five years ago".

It is not altogether surprising, given the scale of the mess, if RBS succeeded in doing over and doing in some business that did not deserve it”

Although Mr McEwan did not refer directly to the Tomlinson report, the company added later that the allegations were not "something that Clifford Chance would ignore".

Mr Cable told the BBC that the evidence compiled by Mr Tomlinson looked "solid". In a television interview with ITV, Mr Osborne said the allegations were "shocking" and would not be "brushed under the carpet".

The Tomlinson allegations centre on the bank's Global Restructuring Group (GRG) lending division, which specialises in handling loans seen as being more risky.

The Tomlinson report says that putting a business into the GRG generated revenue for the bank through fees, increased profit margins and the purchase of devalued assets by their property division, West Register.

The practice of removing a bad debt from a bank's books is not an unreasonable one, particularly as major lenders have been trying to move away from riskier assets.

Business Secretary Vince Cable says he is "appalled" by the report into RBS
But Mr Tomlinson told the BBC that there was a perception among small businesses that they were being "purposefully distressed" in order to get them into the GRG, which, even if wrong, should be addressed by RBS.

'Really disturbing'
Mr Cable said his department would not take the report at "face value", but added: "We are pretty confident that the evidence is solid."

But he added: "I am, however, confident that the new management of RBS is aware of this history and is determined to turn RBS into a bank that will support the growth of small and medium-sized businesses."

Mr Tomlinson, an entrepreneur, acted independently of government in producing the report, and did not set out to look solely at RBS.

He also said conversations with affected businesses had made a big impact on him.

"I feel really sick sometimes. It is really disturbing," he said.

"It is ruining people's businesses for sure, and in some cases having a huge impact on their personal lives too, even leading to family breakdown."

He told the BBC later that he had uncovered some "horrific stories" suggesting that the conduct at RBS was "systematic and institutional".

The report found:

"Many examples" of property revaluations without site visits, and mistakes in documentation
Property taken over by RBS subsequently sold for a price higher than the bank's own valuation
In one "very clear example" the reasons a business was put into GRG "changes throughout the conversation"
One business submitted evidence that in fees alone, their time in GRG had cost them £256,000
'Distress'

The bank said in a statement: "In the boom years leading up to the financial crisis, the overheated property development market became a major threat to the UK economy.

Lawrence Tomlinson: "The treatment that some of these companies have had is horrendous"
"RBS did more than its fair share to fuel this and commercial property lending was one of the key drivers of our near collapse as valuations rapidly plummeted.

"Facing up to these mistakes has been a difficult, but essential part of making RBS a safe and strong bank once again."

The shadow business secretary, Chuka Umunna, said: "The claims made by Lawrence Tomlinson against RBS' Global Restructuring Group are extremely serious indeed."

Sir Andrew Large's report said there had been confusion over RBS's lending objectives and strategy.

The bank must "ensure clear and simple lines of responsibility, and reduce organisational fragmentation," the report said. Currently, lending is split across several divisions.

RBS, 81%-owned by the government, is the UK's biggest lender to small firms. Mr McEwan pledged in his letter that RBS would write to thousands more businesses setting out how much more the bank was willing to lend them.

It had already offered £4bn in this way, and this would go up to £10bn, he said.

Sabrina

27th November 2013, 08:49

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/11/27/uk-britain-bankingreform-idUKBRE9AQ01H20131127?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FUKDomesticNews+%28News+%2F+UK+%2F+Domestic+News%29

27 Nov UK

Britain's bankers to face annual checks under draft laws

(Reuters) - Britain's senior bankers will face an annual competency check under new laws being drawn up in parliament to reform the British banking sector and protect it against future crises.

A proposal for a new licensing regime, put forward by the opposition Labour party, unexpectedly won the support of peers in the upper house of British parliament by a narrow margin of five votes on Tuesday. The government voted against the proposal.

As a result, laws to toughen up professional standards in banking could now include an annual assessment of an individual against "minimum thresholds of competence" and a recognised code of conduct.

The government said the change would not noticeably improve standards and would add to banks' regulatory burden. Chancellor George Osborne could yet try to overturn the proposal before it becomes law.

The defeat for the government comes after it conceded ground on another contentious part of the new banking laws earlier in the day by asking the Bank of England to decide whether it needs more powers to control bank risk-taking.

Sabrina

27th November 2013, 08:52

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25115727

27 Nov Italy

Italy Senate votes on expelling Berlusconi from parliament

The Italian Senate will vote later on whether to expel former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from parliament over his conviction for tax fraud.

Analysts say a large majority of senators is expected to back his expulsion.

The former PM has called for supporters to protest in Rome against what he says is a political vendetta.

The vote comes a day after Berlusconi withdrew his Forza Italia party from the coalition government.

Biased
The ex-premier, who has dominated politics for nearly two decades in Italy, had asked senators to delay the vote on his expulsion because he claims to have new evidence proving he did not commit tax fraud.

However, the vote is expected to go ahead on Wednesday evening.

He threatened to topple the coalition government over the issue earlier this year but backed down during a confidence vote.

The 77-year old has dismissed the Senate, which is dominated by his political opponents, as biased against him.

Berlusconi was convicted of tax fraud in October 2012 over deals his firm Mediaset made to purchase TV rights to US films. The verdict was upheld in August.

Expulsion from parliament may lead to Berlusconi's arrest over other criminal cases, as he would lose his immunity from prosecution.

He will have to serve a one-year sentence for his tax conviction, probably under house arrest or by doing community service because of his age.

He has also been convicted of paying for sex with an underage prostitute and of a breach of confidentiality over a police wiretap. He is appealing against both convictions.

Both Prime Minister Enrico Letta's centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and former comedian Beppe Grillo's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement have said they will vote against Berlusconi.

Mr Letta's government survived a confidence vote on the 2014 budget on Tuesday with the help of a group of dissidents who broke away from Berlusconi's party earlier this month.

Berlusconi had said earlier that his party would vote against the budget, and the Forza Italia leader in the lower house soon declared that the party was moving into opposition.

The latest developments cast a further shadow over Italy's struggling economy, the eurozone's third-largest.

It is feared the political tensions could further hamper efforts to bring in badly-needed reforms to tackle Italy's economic problems, including debt, recession and high youth unemployment.

His trials:
Convicted of paying for sex with an underage prostitute and of abuse of power for asking police to release her when she was arrested for theft; under appeal
Convicted of tax fraud in case focusing on the purchase of the TV rights to US films by his company, Mediaset
Acquitted in several other cases; also convicted in several, only to be cleared on appeal; others expired under statute of limitations

Sabrina

27th November 2013, 09:51

US, UK Officials Concerned Snowden Still has ‘Doomsday’ Collection of Classified Material

From RT.com – November 26, 2013

http://tinyurl.com/mlnm82z

US and British intelligence officials say they are concerned about a “doomsday” collection of highly classified, heavily encrypted materials they believe former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden may have stored away.

The cache supposedly contains documents with names of US and allied intelligence personnel, seven current and former US officials and other sources told Reuters.

The collection is shielded by elaborate encryption that requires multiple passwords to open, said two of the sources, who all spoke to Reuters anonymously. At least three people – unknown to the sources – possess the passwords, which are only valid for a short period each day, they said.

Officials believe the cache would likely be stored and encrypted apart from the rest of the material Snowden gave to news outlets.

The NSA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment on the collection.
One source saw the cache of documents as an “insurance policy” for Snowden should he feel threatened by arrest or other harm.
US officials and other sources say only a small portion of classified material they believe Snowden accessed as a contract systems administrator for the NSA has been published since the first documents were reported by the Guardian and The Washington Post in early June.

NSA chief Keith Alexander said this month it is believed Snowden downloaded between 50,000 and 200,000 classified documents from the NSA and GCHQ – the NSA’s British counterpart. At times, Snowden used unwitting employees’ passwords and access keys to reach documents and information he did not have permission to see.

Cryptome, a website that published leaked secret documents years before Wikileaks or Snowden arrived on the scene, estimates that about 500 documents from Snowden have been made public.

“The worst is yet to come,” one former US official familiar with the investigation said.

Snowden is living in Russia under temporary asylum. He fled there from Hong Kong shortly after the first stories from his leaks appeared. He has been charged in the United States under the Espionage Act.

He has claimed neither Chinese nor Russian authorities have had any chance to see any of the documents he downloaded since he didn’t bring any materials with him. Though it is unknown whether either country, in addition to the US and Britain, have any idea where the sensitive cache is stored and, if so, whether they have tried to unlock it.

Glenn Greenwald, one of the reporters Snowden gave NSA classified documents to, said Snowden had “taken extreme precautions to make sure many different people around the world have these archives to insure the stories will inevitably be published.”

Adding merit to the suspicion that the well-secured cache may be an insurance policy of sorts, Greenwald said in June that “if anything happens at all to Edward Snowden, he has arranged for them to get access to the full archives.”

He added: “I don’t know for sure whether he has more documents than the ones he has given me… I believe he does.”

Greenwald, who has since left the Guardian for a yet-unnamed news site financed by Silicon Valley billionaire Pierre Omidyar, told Reuters he had nothing new to add to those statements, but reaffirmed the “precautions” Snowden took before leaving for Hong Kong.

Among the classified documents Snowden accessed, but not yet published, were lists of names and resumes of NSA and GCHQ employees, sources said.

Sources believe Snowden began downloading some of the material from a classified GCHQ website, GC-Wiki, when he was employed by Dell and assigned to the NSA in 2012. He moved to another contractor, Booz Allen Hamilton, because he would have more access to NSA data there, a source said.

No names of British intelligence officials have been published. Once UK authorities told the Guardian it could face legal action, the newspaper destroyed computers containing Snowden-provided documents on GCHQ, though it did give copies of the material to the New York Times and ProPublica.

Sources say the material Snowden took includes information, possibly personnel names, on the CIA and other US intelligence arms, such as the National Reconnaissance Center and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

Snowden’s revelations of vast domestic and international surveillance and data collection by the US have made steady news since June. In addition to many storylines emanating from the leaks, the NSA’s alleged spying on emails and tapping of phones of world leaders has provoked scandals between the US and a number of countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia.

Sabrina

28th November 2013, 13:53

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/11/26/pope-calls-for-big-changes-in-the-church/

A shift at the Vatican?

Pope Francis: No more business as usual

(CNN) - Pope Francis on Tuesday called for big changes in the Roman Catholic Church – including at the very top – saying the church needs to rethink rules and customs that are no longer widely understood or effective for evangelizing.

"I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security," the Pope said in a major new statement.

"I do not want a Church concerned with being at the center and then ends by being caught up in a web of obsessions and procedures," Francis added.

The Pope's address, called an "apostolic exhortation," is part mission statement, part pep talk for the world's 1.5 billion Catholics. Francis' bold language and sweeping call for change are likely to surprise even those who've grown accustomed to his unconventional papacy.

"Not everyone will like this document," said the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author in New York. "For it poses a fierce challenge to the status quo."

And it's not just a verbal challenge, the Pope said on Tuesday.

"I want to emphasize that what I am trying to express here has a programmatic significance and important consequences."

Since his election in March, Pope Francis, the first pontiff to hail from Latin America, has made headlines by decrying the iniquities of modern capitalism, embracing the poor and people with disabilities and reaching out to gays and lesbians.

At the same time, the 77-year-old pontiff has sought to to awaken a spirit of joy and compassion in the church, scolding Catholic "sourpusses" who hunt down rule-breakers and calling out a "tomb psychology" that "slowly transforms Christians into mummies in a museum."

"An evangelizer must never look like someone who has just come back from a funeral!" the Pope said.

Officially known in Latin as "Evangelii Gaudium" (The Joy of the Gospel), the 85-page statement released on Tuesday is the first official document written entirely by Pope Francis. (An earlier document was co-written by Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.)

Although Francis sprinkles the statement with citations of previous popes and Catholic luminaries like St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine, the new pontiff makes a bold call for the church to rethink even long-held traditions.

"In her ongoing discernment, the Church can also come to see that certain customs not directly connected to the heart of the Gospel, even some which have deep historical roots, are no longer properly understood and appreciated," the Pope said.

"Some of these customs may be beautiful, but they no longer serve as means of communicating the Gospel. We should not be afraid to re-examine them. At the same time, the Church has rules or precepts which may have been quite effective in their time, but no longer have the same usefulness for directing and shaping people’s lives."

Such statements mark a sharp break from Benedict XVI, a more tradition-bound pope who focused on cleaning up cobwebs of unorthodoxy in the church.

By contrast, in "Evangelii" Francis repeats his calls for Catholics to stop "obsessing" about culture war issues and to focus more on spreading the Gospel, especially to the poor and marginalized.

READ MORE: The Pope’s bold new vision

The outside world, particularly its economic inequalities, didn't escape Francis' notice either.

In a section of "Evangelii" entitled "some challenges to today's world," he sharply criticized what he called an "idolatry of money" and "the inequality that spawns violence."

The Pope also blasted "trickle-down economics," saying the theory "expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power."

“Meanwhile,” Francis said, “the excluded are still waiting.”

But the bulk of Francis' statement addresses the church, which, he said, should not be afraid to "get its shoes soiled by the mud of the street."

The Pope also hinted that he wants to see an end to the so-called "wafer wars," in which Catholic politicians who support abortion rights are denied Holy Communion. His comments could also be taken as another sign that he plans to reform church rules that prevent divorced Catholics from receiving the Eucharist.

"Everyone can share in some way in the life of the Church; everyone can be part of the community, nor should the doors of the sacraments be closed for simply any reason," Francis said.

"The Eucharist, although it is the fullness of sacramental life, is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak."

Even so, Francis reiterated the church's stand against abortion, defending it against critics who call such arguments "ideological, obscurantist and conservative."

"Precisely because this involves the internal consistency of our message about the value of the human person, the Church cannot be expected to change her position on this question," Francis said.

The Pope also reiterated previous rejections on ordaining women, saying the topic is "not open for discussion."

But that doesn't mean the church values men more than women, he said.

"We need to create still broader opportunities for a more incisive female presence in the Church," the Pope said.

Francis also said he expects other parts of the church to change, and called on Catholics to be unafraid of trying new things.

"More than by fear of going astray, my hope is that we will be moved by the fear of remaining shut up within structures which give us a false sense of security, within rules which make us harsh judges, within habits which make us feel safe, while at our door people are starving."

Francis didn't mention specific reforms, but he suggested that it could include changes at the very top of the church.

"Since I am called to put into practice what I ask of others, I too must think about a conversion of the papacy," he said.

READ MORE: Pope Francis: Church can't 'interfere' with gays

The church's centralization, where all roads lead to Rome, and the "we've always done it this way" type of thinking have hindered Catholics' ability to minister to local people in far-flung places, Francis suggested.

"I invite everyone to be bold and creative in this task of rethinking the goals, structures, style and methods of evangelization in their respective communities," the Pope said.

Martin, the Jesuit priest and author, said he could not recall ever "reading a papal document that was so thought-provoking, surprising and invigorating."

"The document’s main message is that Catholics should be unafraid of new ways of proclaiming the Gospel and new ways of thinking about the church."

26 Nov

and

http://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/rubriche/english/2013/11/28/Francis-names-secretary-delegate-Vatican-Bank-commission_9694643.html

Francis names secretary delegate to Vatican Bank commission
Xuereb to report to pope on IOR activities

28 November, 12:57

ANSA) - Vatican City, November 28 - Pope Francis on Thursday named his private secretary Alfred Xuereb as the delegate to oversee the special investigative pontifical commission to study reform at the Vatican Bank. Established in June, the five-member commission includes two cardinals as well as Harvard law professor Mary Ann Glendon, a former United States Ambassador to the Holy See.

The panel was set up with the aim of briefing the pontiff on the bank's activities and making sure it operated in harmony with the "Church's mission".

The Vatican Bank, officially known as the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), has come under scrutiny for alleged money laundering and is now working with the Council of Europe's Moneyval anti-money-laundering agency in a bid to make it into the international 'white list' of banking.

The Italian press has increasingly speculated on the fate of the scandal-plagued bank, wondering whether the pontiff might reorganize or shut down IOR.

Xuereb will also act as delegate to the pontifical commission for reference on the study and guidance of the organisation of the economic-administrative structure of the Holy See, established in July.

Sabrina

28th November 2013, 13:57

http://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/rubriche/english/2013/11/27/Berlusconi-expelled-Senate-landmark-vote_9692427.html

27 Nov Italy

Berlusconi expelled from Senate in landmark vote

'Italy should be ashamed of itself' says daughter Marina

By Christopher Livesay) (ANSA) - Rome, November 27 - The Italian Senate on Wednesday voted to eject ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi after the supreme court upheld a tax-fraud conviction against him in August, making it definitive. "This is a bitter day of mourning for democracy," the 77-year-old media magnate told supporters assembled before his Rome residence as his ouster looked inevitable shortly before the vote. Premier Enrico Letta's centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) were the main backers of his ejection and formed a majority. The three-time premier says the tax-fraud sentence, his first-ever binding conviction in two decades of legal battles, is part of a campaign of persecution by left-wing elements in the judiciary who allegedly want to sweep him from the country's political arena. He also argues that the 2012 anti-corruption law enacted in the vote is being applied retroactively in his case, which is against the Italian Constitution. The anti-corruption law was adopted before the supreme court upheld the tax-fraud conviction, although the original sentence predates it. The three-time premier has said his ejection would be a "coup" and is furious that the PD backed the bid, accusing the party of "political homicide".

PD chief Guglielmo Epifani said expelling Berlusconi was the right thing to do. "The Senate did its duty and applied the law. Anything else would have been the law of the jungle," the party secretary said. "Those who cry coup and threaten disaster are choosing the road of adventure". Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia party pulled its support from Letta's left-right coalition government and joined the opposition on Tuesday. Letta's government has managed to stay afloat with the support of Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Angelino Alfano's New Centre Right (NCD) party, which is made up of moderates who this month split from Berlusconi's loyalists. "Justice reform must not be omitted from the government's agenda," said Alfano shortly Berlusconi's ouster passed the Senate vote. "It's an ugly day for parliament in Italy". The NCD was against Berlusconi being ejected but its members rebelled against the ex-premier's stance on withdrawing backing from the government over the issue, saying Italy cannot afford more political instability as it seeks to emerge from its longest recession in over 20 years. The billionaire spoke at a rally outside his Rome home just as Senate voting began. Organizers said 20,000 supporters turned out, waving signs that read "I love Silvio, I love freedom" and "You don't question Silvio, you love him," among others.

Many supporters even donned black armbands. "Death is not ruled out for traitors," read one of the banners aimed against Alfano and the NCD.

"The (supreme court) ruling against me cries out for vengeance before God and men," Berlusconi told the crowd from a podium minutes before the outcome of the vote was official. "The judiciary wants to rule in favor of socialism and against capitalism". Senate Speaker Pietro Grasso dismissed several objections from centre-right lawmakers that Wednesday's vote should be secret. The Senate panel that recommended Berlusconi's ejection said the vote should be open, not secret as is traditional in such cases, amid speculation that some PD and M5S members, along with enough centrists, would take advantage of the secrecy of the ballot to save Berlusconi from expulsion. Berlusconi vowed not to "retire to a monastery" following the vote, adding he will continue to lead his party even if he is no longer an MP in the same way that comedian-turned-politician Beppe Grillo does from outside parliament with the M5S. But the ex-premier has said he fears being at the mercy of Italian prosecutors if he loses his parliamentary immunity from being arrested and wiretapped.

He is appealing a seven-year sentence for sex with an underage prostitute and abuse of power to cover it up and a one-year sentence for involvement in the publication of an illegally obtained wiretap.

Berlusconi has been indicted on charges of bribing a Senator to switch sides too.

The 77-year-old was sentenced to four years in jail for the tax-fraud sentence, commuted to a year because of an amnesty. He has requested to serve the year by doing community service rather than under house arrest. The media magnate is too old to actually go to jail under Italian law.

Meanwhile his daughter Marina, long touted as his political heir, was among the most vocal to come to his defence. "My father has been expelled from the Senate, but today's vote does nothing to his leadership and his duty. This country and this democracy should be ashamed of themselves for what he is going through," said Marina, head of the family holding company Fininvest. "Italian politics should beg forgiveness for once again giving in to a judiciary bent on destroying whoever tries to check its excessive power".

Sabrina

28th November 2013, 14:05

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25106394

Another scam in plain sight - selling off the Royal Mail too cheaply and some banker cats getting fatter along the way... hope there is a real investigation into this...

27 Nov UK

Royal Mail reports jump in profits

Pre-tax profits were £233m for the six months to 29 September, up from £94m a year earlier, excluding special items.

But Royal Mail said a one-off windfall resulting from a pension reform boosted overall pre-tax profits to £1.58bn.

On Wednesday, Business Secretary Vince Cable, appearing before MPs, denied that shares had been sold too cheaply.

After the 60% Royal Mail stake was sold on the London Stock Exchange, the shares soared from their initial 330p value, leading to accusations the company had been underpriced.

But at the hearing with the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, Mr Cable said there were very high risks attached to changing the valuation at the last minute.

"We did go, in the final analysis, to the top end of the range, but if we'd sought to re-open that whole issue, there would have been very considerable risks and a very large downside," he told the panel.

Royal Mail shares closed up 6% on the day at 565p, as investors welcomed its latest set of results.
more at link

Sabrina

29th November 2013, 05:09

http://2012portal.blogspot.hu/2013/11/the-jesuit-agenda.html

via Cobra (use your own discernment as with everything..)

Thursday, November 28, 2013

The Jesuit Agenda

The Jesuit agenda is to infiltrate the Eastern Alliance with its agents and hijack the process of creating the new financial system. Needless to say, top people within the Eastern Alliance are aware of this and will not let it happen. Also, top members of the White Dragon Society have learned their lesson after their predecessors were fooled decades ago when they surrendered much of their gold to Jesuit agents for worthless pieces of paper (US government bonds). The White Dragons are much more careful now, especially as the Jesuits are trying to infiltrate them through Te-Wu, the Chinese secret intelligence agency.

The Jesuit plan is to let the Light forces purge the Illuminazi faction (Rockefeller, Bush, Kissinger, Cheney & Co.) and then secretly team up with the Rothschilds to take over the process of creating the new financial system. Their agents are present on endless negotiations for the surrender of the Cabal and they are trying to steer the agreements closer to the Jesuit agenda. This is the source of proposals to make the Pope the new M1 (monetary controller). This is the reason why the new Jesuit Pope is promoting the idea of a central world bank. They are also seriously considering the idea of allowing a worldwide debt jubilee so that they would be portrayed as saviors of humanity under the wings of »benevolent« Catholic church. They would then promote the Catholic cult in a renewed, more publicly appealing way, and gradually absorb other religions into it (starting with Buddhism) until they would reach their goal of a global religious mind programming cult, at the same time keeping all past atrocities of the Catholic church under the carpet.

Through special compartmentialized CIA programs they have infiltrated the truther movement to the point that about 70% of intel in alternative media is disinfo coming directly or indirectly from Jesuit sources. I have a list of people and groups inside the truther / liberation movement that are either under direct Jesuit control or are manipulated by the Jesuits and it may or may not be released in the near future.

The Jesuits are working under the command of the Archons to maintain the quarantine status of planet Earth. It is good to know that the Jesuit organization is a 16th century creation of the Farnese family, which is one of the most powerful papal Black Nobility families in Italy.

One of the reasons the Jesuits have created WW2 was to orchestrate a wordlwide gold grab to finance their black budget programs to maintain the quarantine status of our planet (secret space program, deep underground military bases). Operation Golden Lily was a Jesuit operation and general Yama****a was a puppet in the hands of the Jesuits:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/khudes/A-100-030-Q-001%3DHISTORY+REVISITED+%281%29.pdf

It is good now to mention the role of the Positive Templars in the Jesuit downfall. Through a strategically brilliant move they temporarily sided with their arch-enemies Rothschilds and together they triggered the March revolution in 1848 and 1849 through Memphis-Misraim Egyptian freemasonry groups in Italy, France and Hungary. These were the only main freemasonry groups that were not infiltrated by Jesuits by then.

The March revolution in Europe has significantly lessened the power of the Jesuits as it decreased the influence of the Black Nobility, removed feudalism and accelerated the slavery abolition process worldwide. The living conditions for many humans started to improve. Also, the focus of humanity started to shift from emotionally based Jesuit religious control into the mind, which was further promoted with advance of science and universal education.

Needles to say, the temporary alliance between the Positive Templars and the Rothschilds was over as soon as the March revolution has ended.

It is interesting to note that the March revolution was financed with gold bullion which would now be worth only about $10 million. Organizing a drastic world change does not need to be very expensive.

Now the Positive Templars are creating a much more powerful alliance with another, much more positive group and together they will eradicate the Jesuit power from the surface of this planet forever.

Currently the Jesuits are the main operational task force for the Archons to maintain the quarantine status for planet Earth.

Their previous superior general Hans Peter Kolvenbach is instrumental in keeping the fear vibration among humanity on the surface of this planet. He is the mastermind behind the 911 (Twin Towers) and 311 (Fukushima) false flag attacks and the main engineering force behind the Syria conflict. He is conveniently living in Lebanon, very close to Syrian border.

Papal adviser Heinz (Henry) Kissinger created PI-40, a clandestine group which is now the main Jesuit-controlled force for preventing positive ET contact:

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/exopolitica/esp_exopolitics_F_2.htm#the_prominence

The real reason why the Jesuits created CIA, NSA, NRO and NGA was to monitor and evaluate the threat that positive ET races pose to the their empire.

Main purpose of CIA is to install Jesuit-friendly political regimes throughout the planet and especially to dictate their policy regarding positive ETs. The main programming center of the Jesuits is Georgetown university in Washington:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_University

It might be interesting to note that many CIA directors went through Jesuit programming there. George Tenet, who was a CIA director at the time of the 911 false flag, was a Georgetown university graduate. David Petraues, who was a CIA director a few years ago, completed a military fellowship at Georgetown university. Previous CIA director Michael Morell is a Georgetown post-graduate. Current CIA director John O. Brennan received a B.A. from Fordham university, another major Jesuit programming center.

Also secretaries of defense like to visit Georgetown a lot. Donald Rumsfeld, who was a secretary of defense during the 911 false flag, attended Georgetown (he was not good at school though). Robert Gates, who was a secretary of defense between 2006 and 2011, achieved his Ph. D. at Georgetown. Chuck Hagel, the current secretary of defense, was a professor at Georgetown. The role of secretaries of defense is to strengthen the negative military under Jesuit control. Until 2004 their role was also to oversee the process of creation of deep underground military bases. After 2004, all those bases were cleared by the Resistance.

The main purpose of NSA is to monitor ALL electronic communications on the planet without exceptions and intercept, analyze and evaluate all messages that would indicate a contact with benevolent ET intelligence or with the Resistance as any trace of that contact would pose a perceived threat to the Jesuit empire.

The main purpose of NRO is to constantly monitor the surface of our planet and its vicinity for any trace of positive ET contact. If any such contact occurs, the NRO then notifies the negative military which then removes that positive ET contact one way or another as it perceives it as threat to the Jesuit empire.

The main purpose of NGA is to map the surface of the planet in detail as to control it completely.

The power structure of the Jesuits in the USA looks like this:

http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message1800251/pg1

Apart from people mentioned above I would like to mention Leon Panetta, who was both a secretary of defense and CIA director and was programmed at the Santa Clara Jesuit university.

Janet Napolitano, who was a head of DHS until recently, graduated from the same Jesuit university.

You might also want to look at the map of 10 FEMA regions within the United States:

And compare it to the map of 10 Jesuit provinces within the US:

To clarify, I did not reveal the Jesuit agenda to install fear, but to inform and bring awareness to the situation. There are Light forces at work and they will NOT allow the Jesuit agenda to be successful.

Victory of the Light is near!

see maps at link

Daozen

29th November 2013, 09:13

Sabrina

1st December 2013, 07:58

They’ve put their own spin on it, of course, but I think it’s joyous news. This, in conjunction with the Silver Legion Commander’s high spirits after the reptilian capture this week gives me really good vibes. Sounds like the cabal is folding, to me! I shall be watching our skies. ~ BP

Hi, does anyone have a link on this?

Who is BP?

¤=[Post Update]=¤

http://rt.com/news/iceland-debt-relief-measure-535/

Iceland thumbs nose at international opposition to advance $1.2 billion debt relief plan

Published time: December 01, 2013 03:14

Iceland’s government has announced that it will be writing off up to 24,000 euros ($32,600) of every household’s mortgage, fulfilling its election promise, despite overwhelming criticism from international financial institutions.

The measure was introduced by the country’s prime minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, the leader of the Progressive Party which won the late-April elections on a promise of household debt relief.

According to the government’s website the household debt will be reduced by 13 percent on average.

Citizens of Iceland have been suffering from debt since the 2008 financial crisis, which led to high borrowing costs after the collapse of the krona against other currencies.

“Currently, household debt is equivalent to 108 percent of GDP, which is high by international comparison,” highlighted a government statement, according to AFP. "The action will boost household disposable income and encourage savings.”

The government said that the debt relief will begin by mid-2014 and according to estimates the measure is set to cost $1.2 billion in total. It will be spread out over four years.

The financing plan for the program has not yet been laid out. However, Gunnlaugsson has promised that public finances will not be put at risk. It was initially proposed that the foreign creditors of Icelandic banks would pay for the measure.

International organizations have confronted the idea with criticism. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have advised against it, citing economic concerns. :)

Iceland has “little fiscal space for additional household debt relief” according to the IMF, while the OECD stated that Iceland should limit its mortgage relief to low-income households.

In the meantime, ratings service, Standard & Poor's, cut back on its outlook for Iceland's long-term credit rating to negative from stable, stating that the economic measure could affect the confidence of foreign investors if it ends up being paid for by the existing creditors of Icelandic banks. :) again .. how predictable...

Daozen

1st December 2013, 16:20

BP?

No idea, I guess the post refers to an unknown recent interview by Tanaath.

Sabrina

3rd December 2013, 17:23

http://lucas2012infos.wordpress.com/2013/12/01/carl-boudreau-the-astrology-of-december-2013-a-threshold-written-version-1-december-2013/

Might be an interesting December in the financial and political worlds based on this December astrology report from Carl Boudreau…

Sabrina

3rd December 2013, 17:31

http://news.sky.com/story/1176992/kim-jong-uns-uncle-disappears-after-sacking

3 Dec N. Korea

Kim Jong-Un's Uncle 'Disappears After Sacking'

Jang Song Thaek loses his official posts in the regime and his key aides are executed, according to South Korea's spy agency.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un's uncle - one of the country's most powerful men - has been ousted, according to South Korea's spy agency.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) said it believed Jang Song Thaek has been removed as vice chairman of the North Korean National Defence Commission (NDC).

If true, the move would mark the most significant purge at the top of the North Korean leadership since Kim Jong-Un succeeded his late father Kim Jong-Il in December 2011.

According to the NIS, General Jang was "recently ousted from his position and two of his close confidantes - Ri Yong Ha and Jang Soo Kil - were publicly executed in mid November".

North Korean military personnel were notified of the executions, South Korean politician Jung Cheong Rae said, adding that Gen Jang, 67, had since "disappeared".

The husband of Kim Jong-Il's powerful sister, Kim Kyong Hui, Gen Jang was seen as instrumental in cementing his nephew's hold on power after his father's death.

He has been a frequent companion of Kim Jong-Un on his tours around the country, as he was for Kim Jong-Il.

Gen Jang was often referred to as the unofficial number two in the hierarchy.

Kim Yong Hyun, a professor at Seoul's Dongguk University, said: "I can only guess that the roles played by Jang have caused some tension in the process of consolidating Kim Jong-Un's power.

"Jang once visited South Korea and witnessed many aspects of capitalist society, including the changes that have been happening in China.

"So he was the figure who was most likely to aggressively push for some reforms and opening of the North's system."

Analysts suggested Gen Jang may have lost out in a power struggle with Choe Ryong Hae, a close confidante of the North Korean leader who is director of the Korean People's Army's General Political Department.

In May, Mr Kim sent Choe as his personal envoy to Beijing to hand deliver a letter to China's new president, Xi Jinping.

Jang Song Thaek has fallen out of favour before.

In 2004 he was understood to have undergone "re-education" as a steel mill labourer because of suspected corruption, but he made a comeback the following year.

Sabrina

3rd December 2013, 17:35

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/12/03/uk-rbs-technology-idUKBRE9B10YB20131203?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FUKDomesticNews+%28News+%2F+UK+%2F+Domestic+News%29

More banking glitches - and questionable explanation… noticed Barclays online erratic today…banking energetically falling apart at the seams.. :)

3 Dec UK

RBS admits decades of IT neglect after systems crash

(Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland has neglected its technology for decades, the state-backed bank's boss admitted on Tuesday after a system crash left more than 1 million customers unable to withdraw cash or pay for goods.

The problem for three hours on Monday, one of the busiest online shopping days of the year, raised questions about the resilience of RBS's technology, which analysts and banking industry sources regard as outdated and made up of a complex patchwork of systems after dozens of acquisitions.

"For decades, RBS failed to invest properly in its systems," Ross McEwan, who became chief executive in October, said.

"Last night's systems failure was unacceptable ... I'm sorry for the inconvenience we caused our customers," he said, adding he would outline plans in the New Year to improve the bank and increase investment.

The latest crash could cost RBS millions of pounds in compensation and follows a more serious crash in its payments system last year that Britain's regulator is still investigating.

The regulator has been scrutinising the resilience of all banks' technology to address concerns that outdated systems and a lack of investment could cause more crashes.

The technology glitch is another setback for the bank's efforts to recover from the financial crisis when it had to be rescued in a taxpayer-funded bailout. The government still owns 82 percent of RBS.

RBS's cash machines did not work from 1830-2130 GMT on Monday and customers trying to pay for goods with debit cards at supermarkets and petrol stations, buy goods online or use online or mobile banking were also unable to complete transactions.

The bank said the problem had been fixed and it would compensate anyone who had been left out of pocket as a result.

About 250,000 people an hour would typically use RBS's cash machines on a Monday night, and tens of thousands more customers would have used the other affected parts at its RBS, NatWest and Ulster operations. RBS has 24 million customers in the UK.

Twitter lit up with customer complaints.

"RBS a joke of a bank. Card declined last night and almost 1,000 pounds vanished from balance this morning! What is going on?" tweeted David MacLeod from Edinburgh, echoing widely-felt frustration with the bank.

Some people tweeted on Tuesday they were still experiencing problems and accounts were showing incorrect balances.

RUN OF PROBLEMS

Millions of RBS customers were affected in June 2012 by problems with online banking and payments after a software upgrade went wrong.

That cost the bank 175 million pounds ($286 million) in compensation for customers and extra payments to staff after the bank opened branches for longer in response. Stephen Hester, chief executive at the time, waived his 2012 bonus following the problem. Britain's financial watchdog is still investigating and could fine the bank.

The latest crash occurred on so-called Cyber Monday, one of the busiest days for online shopping before Christmas.

RBS said the problem was not related to volume, but gave no details on what had caused the system crash.

McEwan has vowed to improve customer service and has said technology in British banking lags behind Australia, where he previously worked. He has pledged to spend 700 million pounds in the next three years on UK branches, with much of that earmarked for improving systems.

RBS's former CEO Fred Goodwin has been blamed for under-investing in technology and for not building robust enough systems following its takeover of NatWest in 2000.

Andy Haldane, director for financial stability at the Bank of England, told lawmakers last year banks needed to transform their IT because they had not invested enough during the boom years. Haldane said 70-80 percent of big banks' IT spending was on maintaining legacy systems rather than investing in improvements.

"It appears to be another example of the lack of sufficient investment in technology by a bank that is still hurting. They are trying to do it on a shoestring, because they don't have any extra money," said Ralph Silva at research firm SRN.

"They need to do more, they need to allocate a greater portion of their spend to IT."

Sabrina

3rd December 2013, 17:39

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25203691

3 Dec US

Detroit judge rules bankruptcy process can proceed

A federal judge has ruled Detroit should be granted protection from its creditors, marking the largest public bankruptcy in US history.

US bankruptcy judge Steven Rhodes said payments to retired staff, which make up half of the city's liabilities, could be "impaired" as a result.

Detroit is now expected to submit a plan to rid its balance sheet of $18bn (£11bn) of liabilities.

The city filed for bankruptcy protection more than four months ago.

A coalition including retired city employees, police and fire-fighter unions, and others sued in July to block the filing.

However, Mr Rhodes said Detroit's bankruptcy was a "foregone conclusion", adding the city should have probably filed years ago.

Now, the city's emergency manager, Kevyn Orr, is expected to present a plan by the end of this year for how the city will deal with its more than 100,000 creditors.

City officials say they hope Detroit can emerge from bankruptcy by the end of 2014.

'Good faith'
Mr Rhodes was charged with deciding whether Detroit had met the conditions that made it eligible for bankruptcy.

As well as proof of insolvency, Detroit had to provide evidence that it tried to negotiate in "good faith'" with creditors, or that such talks were simply impossible because of the number of parties and other factors.

Unions and pensioners' groups had argued that they were not given an opportunity to find another solution to a bankruptcy filing.

They had also argued that the Michigan state constitution explicitly protects pension benefits from being cut.

However, Mr Rhodes ruled that it has long been understood that when a bankruptcy proceeding has begun, contracts are generally broken to creditors.

Since pension benefits are essentially contracts, that means they are not entitled to any special protection.

This sets up a contentious clash that could see severe cuts to the once-sacred pension benefits to Detroit's retired fire-fighters and police officers.

Mr Rhodes tried to reassure those worried about potentially life-altering cuts by saying the court would not "lightly or casually" make changes to existing pensions before exhausting other options.

Dramatic decline
City managers have said that bankruptcy is the only way to manage Detroit's debts and liabilities, and Mr Rhodes supported that conclusion.

The judge cited testimony from the city's police chief James Craig detailing the "deplorable" conditions inside the precinct.

During his testimony, Mr Craig said that when he came to lead Detroit's force from Cincinnati, Ohio, he was forced to bring his own bullet-proof vest, because there were not enough to go around in the department.

In May, Mr Orr presented a report on Detroit's financial situation.

It said Detroit's expenditures had exceeded revenues by an average of $100m each year from 2008 to 2012.

An estimated 40% of the city's streetlights do not work, while there are almost 150,000 vacant and abandoned plots in the city, according to the Detroit Future City report.

Detroit has seen a dramatic decline in economic activity and population, as the big carmakers - once the city's main source of employment - shifted production to cheaper locations in the US and overseas.

The city is now home to about 700,000 residents, down from the peak of 1.8 million in 1950.

Sabrina

5th December 2013, 15:32

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/banks-fined-record-14bn-over-rate-rigging-scandal-8982494.html

4.12.13

Banks fined record £1.4bn over rate rigging scandal

The European Commission has fined five international banks, including Royal Bank of Scotland, and a broker a record 1.7 billion euros (£1.4 billion) for rigging crucial interest rate benchmarks.

Competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia said: “What is shocking about the Libor and Euribor scandals is not only the manipulation of the benchmarks, which is being tackled by financial regulators worldwide, but also the collusion between the banks which are supposed to be competing with each other.”

Almunia, pictured, added: “If you take the opportunity to see the conversation between these cartel traders you will be appalled.”

RBS, the taxpayer-controlled bank, has been fined 391 million euros. That is on top of the £390 million it paid to UK and US regulators earlier this year.

Barclays, which was fined £290 million last year and saw the resignations of its chief executive Bob Diamond and chairman Marcus Agius over the Libor-rigging scandal, escaped a European fine because, along with UBS, it acted as a whistleblower to the commission.

If it had not done so it would have been fined 690 million euros and UBS 2.5 billion euros. The Swiss bank has already paid the equivalent of $1.5 billion (£915 million) in fines of rate rigging.

Deutsche Bank landed the largest EC fine of 725 million euros. France’s Société Générale was fined 446 million euros. JPMorgan has to pay 80 million euros, Citigroup 70 million euros and London broker RP Martin 247,000 euros. Today’s fines take the total imposed by UK, US and European regulators to $6 billion.

Almunia said: “Today’s decision sends a clear message that the commission is determined to fight and sanction these cartels in the financial sector. Healthy competition and transparency are crucial for financial markets to work properly, at the service of the real economy rather than the interests of a few.”

The benchmarks involved were the Yen London interbank rate and Euribor. These rates are used to price assets running into hundreds of trillions of dollars ranging from derivatives to mortgages.

Three banks — HSBC, Credit Agricole and JPMorgan — rejected the commission’s offer to settle early on the Euribor case and London broker ICAP on the Yen case. All face formal antitrust charges which could lead to larger fines.

GreenGuy

5th December 2013, 19:04

It is possible that a few of these people are ashamed of their associates, and have decided they do not wish to belong to the Parasite Class.

Sabrina

7th December 2013, 07:09

http://livefreelivenatural.com/brzezinski-admits-worldwide-resistance-derailing-new-world-order/?fb_action_ids=10152441191984129&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%7B%2210152441191984129%22%3A255673117916006%7D&action_type_map=%7B%2210152441191984129%22%3A%22og.likes%22%7D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D#

Brzezinski admits: “Worldwide Resistance” is Derailing the New World Order

Nov

During a recent speech in Poland, former US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski warned fellow elitists that a worldwide “resistance” movement to “external control” driven by “populist activism” is threatening to derail the move towards a new world order.

Calling the notion that the 21st century is the American century a “shared delusion,” Brzezinski stated that American domination was no longer possible because of an accelerating social change driven by “instant mass communications such as radio, television and the Internet,” which have been cumulatively stimulating “a universal awakening of mass political consciousness.”

The former US National Security Advisor added that this “rise in worldwide populist activism is proving inimical to external domination of the kind that prevailed in the age of colonialism and imperialism.”
Brzezinski concluded that “persistent and highly motivated populist resistance of politically awakened and historically resentful peoples to external control has proven to be increasingly difficult to suppress.”

Although Brzezinski delivered his comments in a neutral tone, the context of the environment in which he said them allied to his previous statements would indicate that this is not a celebration of “populist resistance” but a lament at the impact it is having on the kind of “external control” Brzezinski has repeatedly advocated.

The remarks were made at an event for the European Forum For New Ideas (EFNI), an organization that advocates the transformation of the European Union into an anti-democratic federal superstate, the very type of bureaucratic “external control” Brzezinski stressed was in jeopardy in his lecture.

In this context, it must be understood that Brzezinski’s point about “populist resistance” being a major hindrance to the imposition of a new world order is more of a warning than an acclamation.

Also consider what Brzezinski wrote in his book Between Two Ages: America’s Role in the Technotronic Era, in which he advocated the control of populations by an elite political class via technotronic manipulation.

“The technotronic era involves the gradual appearance of a more controlled society. Such a society would be dominated by an elite, unrestrained by traditional values. Soon it will be possible to assert almost continuous surveillance over every citizen and maintain up-to-date complete files containing even the most personal information about the citizen. These files will be subject to instantaneous retrieval by the authorities,” wrote Brzezinski.

“In the technotronic society the trend would seem to be towards the aggregation of the individual support of millions of uncoordinated citizens, easily within the reach of magnetic and attractive personalities exploiting the latest communications techniques to manipulate emotions and control reason,” he wrote in the same book.

Brzezinski’s sudden concern about the impact of a politically awakened global population isn’t born out of any notion that he identifies with their cause. Brzezinski is the ultimate elitist insider, the founder of the powerful Trilateral Commission, a Council on Foreign Relations luminary and a regular Bilderberg attendee. He was once described by President Barack Obama as “one of our most outstanding thinkers”.

Originally Posted On: http://www.hangthebankers.com/brzezinski-admits-worldwide-resistance-is-derailing-the-new-world-order/

Published on Oct 8, 2012
Here is Zbigniew Brzezinski once again admitting that the globalists are in fear of the global awakening that is currently happening across the world. People are waking up to the fact that the governments are all power hungry and corrupt and are not there to serve the interests of the people, but that of the global elite and the multi-billion dollar corporations. This lecture was given about a week ago in his home country of Poland.

bHknL5z8f6k

Sabrina

8th December 2013, 08:03

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/07/la-sues-bank-of-america_n_4402658.html

6 Dec US

LA Sues Bank Of America Over Wave Of Foreclosures

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles city attorney is suing Bank of America for mortgage discrimination it claims led to a wave of foreclosures that cost the city a fortune in extra expenses and lost taxes.

The suit, filed Friday in federal court, claims B of A redlined minority neighborhoods for years, then turned around and gave blacks and Hispanics predatory home loans that they couldn't afford. The suit claims those borrowers were forced into foreclosure when the housing bubble burst and they were denied refinancing.

A message seeking comment was left for representatives of Bank of America Corp. Friday evening.

The city attorney filed similar lawsuits on Thursday against Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc. They deny the allegations and say they're committed to fair lending.

Sabrina

8th December 2013, 09:17

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ex-tory-cabinet-minister-caught-2903907#.UqO2PLYJPoA.twitter

7 Dec UK

By Justin Penrose, Mark Conrad
Ex Tory Cabinet minister 'caught on camera at child sex party'
7 Dec 2013 22:30

By Justin Penrose, Mark Conrad
Ex Tory Cabinet minister 'caught on camera at child sex party

The video, along with several photographs, allegedly places the ex-MP, a household name, at a depraved orgy organised by a paedophile

A former Tory cabinet minister is to be questioned by detectives after a video filmed at an underage sex party was seized by police.

The video, along with a number of photographs, allegedly places the ex-MP, a household name, at a depraved orgy organised by a paedophile.

The photographs were seized from a known child sex offender earlier this year and the video is believed to have come from another source.

The veteran Tory, who we cannot name for legal reasons, is understood to deny any wrongdoing. But an alleged victim, who claims to have been at the event three decades ago, has come forward.

Detectives used pictures of the alleged victim when he was a boy to cross reference with those of him at the party.

Sources close to the investigation have made known the shocking new revelations to the Sunday Mirror and investigative news website Exaro.

We previously revealed that the former minister was being investigated by detectives over allegations of child abuse.

The key witness said: “The police tell me that they have photographic evidence that I went to these parties. They have a photograph of me as a child, and it matched some other photographs that they have of me. They have a bit of film as well.”

Officers are due to begin a separate operation in the New Year into the sex party allegations as a spin-off from Operation Fairbank, which last year looked into allegations of abuse by politicians at the Elm Guest House in south west London.

While the video and photographs allegedly place the ex-minister and the victim at a party where boys were supplied to men, they do not prove that the former politician carried out any abuse.

But one source, a specialist in child protection, said: “This is potentially bombshell stuff. I have long been aware of the fact that these parties took place in London. This could be very significant.”

Detectives believe that some of the sex parties – some of which are believed to have been attended by paedophiles Jimmy Savile and MP Cyril Smith – were organised by Britain’s most notorious child abuser, Sidney Cooke, as we revealed in February.

Cooke led the ring of four jailed for killing Jason Swift in Hackney, East London, after gang-raping him in 1984.

The alleged victim claims he was trafficked, along with other children, to Holland by Cooke’s gang.

Scotland Yard’s paedophile unit has been working with Dutch police, and an officer from Amsterdam attended an interview by Met detectives with the key witness.

The Sunday Mirror told in February how the minister had been photographed by police in 1986 entering a property where one of the sex parties was being held, but no arrests were made.

Cooke, now 86, would pick up the unsuspecting teenage boys from streets around Kings Cross. He would drive them to places across North London where paedophiles lay in wait to rape them repeatedly.

A former officer, who worked on Operation Orchid which convicted Cooke and his gang, claimed they had taken pictures of the minister and that 16 members of an alleged VIP paedophile ring were due to be arrested.

But the day before the arrests were to be carried out, detectives were told the operation had been disbanded.

Scotland Yard said they would not comment on an on-going investigation.

and
good article here by David Icke

http://www.davidicke.com/headlines/75544-paedophile-rings-and-10-downing-street/

PAEDOPHILE RINGS …AND IN DOWNING ST

Hello all …

Even those readers from around the world may have noticed that Britain has been rocked by the paedophile revelations regarding Jimmy Savile, the former disc jockey and procurer of children for the rich and famous – and what has followed in relation to Lord McAlpine, the former treasurer of the Conservative or ‘Tory’ Party at the time of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

There is information coming from all directions and it can be very confusing for those who have not followed this unfolding story stage by stage. I have been on this case since the 1990s and I’ll put the pieces together to make sense of it.

This is not just a story about Britain, either, because the same networks of paedophilia and Satanism covertly manipulate the political system all over the world and most certainly in places like North America. The Bush family are up to their necks in it.

What even many more open-minded people can’t grasp is the almost unimaginable scale of child abuse, murder and human sacrifice worldwide and how it is the very cement that holds the global Establishment together, locally, nationally and internationally.

FUll article at link.....

Sabrina

8th December 2013, 21:56

CBVFpYN0iNo

“It won’t be long before the people storm this chamber and hang you . . . and they’ll be right!

Godfrey Bloom is an Englishman and Member of the European Parliament (MEP). Here’s brief video of Mr. Bloom addressing the European Parliament and speaking truth to power.

Published on Nov 21, 2013
• European Parliament, Brussels, 21 November 2013

• Speaker: Godfrey Bloom MEP, Ind. (Yorkshire & Lincolnshire), Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) group - http://www.godfreybloommep.co.uk

• Debate: Action programme for taxation in the European Union for the period 2014-2020

PathWalker

10th December 2013, 13:34

http://www.haaretz.com/business/.premium-1.562638

Israel loosens conglomerates' iron grip on the economy

Consumer prices should start falling, two years after social protests shook the land, as Knesset approves landmark bill

The Knesset passed a landmark law on Monday aimed at minimizing the extent to which the economy is controlled by a few giant corporations.

“Today, we radically changed the economy’s future structure and adapted it to the public’s true needs and interests,” Finance Committee chairman Nissan Slomiansky (Habayit Hayehudi) said Monday. “If until now, the general public’s money was exploited by a small number of tycoons solely to increase their own profits, from now on, this money, and the profits derived from it, will be returned to the public. Savings, and especially pension funds, will be better protected than in the past.”

The law won sweeping bipartisan support, passing by a vote of 73-0, with one abstention (MK Mohammed Barakeh of Hadash). MKs hope it will be published in the government gazette before December 15, when a court is due to discuss a creditor’s arrangement for the IDB conglomerate, since then it would also apply to that case. Laws take effect only after being published in the gazette.

Notably absent from the vote to reduce economic concentration was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Economy Minister Naftali Bennett was also absent, but he is currently in Australia.

The law requires holding groups structured as pyramids to be reduced to three tiers of companies within four years and two tiers within six years. It also outlaws the formation of new pyramids with more than two tiers, starting immediately – the relevant provision for the IDB arrangement, which would effectively create a new pyramid.

“From now on, pyramids will be seen only in Egypt,” said Slomiansky.

In addition, the law forbids cross-ownership of both a major financial entity and a major nonfinancial entity. The former is defined as an entity with assets of at least 40 billion shekels ($11.4 billion) and the latter as one with an annual turnover or outstanding loans of at least 6 billion shekels. A person or corporation that currently owns both will have to sell one or the other within four years.

Major financial entities won’t be allowed to own more than 10 percent of a major nonfinancial entity, while someone who owns more than 5 percent of a major nonfinancial entity won’t be able to control a major financial entity.

When government assets are privatized, regulators will henceforth have to consider whether to let major corporations bid.

The law also creates a special committee charged with reducing economic concentration. It will be headed by the antitrust commissioner, and will also include a senior Finance Ministry representative and the chairman or deputy chairman of the National Economic Council.

Most board members of public companies will have to be independent, unless special permission is obtained from the justice minister and the Knesset Finance Committee. At least 50 percent of a public company’s board will usually have to consist of external directors, and external directors will never constitute less than a third of the board.

Among the many corporations likely to be affected by the law, which also includes various other provisions, are the Paz oil company, Bezeq, Israel Chemicals, the Hot cable company, the Yes satellite television company, the Mekorot Water Company and Channel 2 television franchisees Reshet and Keshet.

Efforts to craft the law began three years ago, when the government established a “concentration committee,” headed by the then-directors general of the Finance Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office, to explore ways of reducing economic concentration. Six months ago, the Knesset Finance Committee began discussing the bill, and despite the efforts of an army of lobbyists, it significantly toughened several provisions. For instance, the government-sponsored bill would have let existing pyramids retain three tiers, but the committee decided that all pyramids would have to be cut to two tiers within six years.

MKs subsequently proposed 52 amendments to the version of the bill forwarded by the committee, but all were rejected in Monday’s vote.

This is a positive sign, for the public awakening.
I am not optimistic about the law implementation. Since the law enforcement in Israel is very selective and political.

PathWalker

10th December 2013, 14:03

Vatican Bank Scandal — JP Morgan, HSBC Cease Doing Business with Vatican
http://www.blacklistednews.com/Vatican_Bank_Scandal_%E2%80%94_JP_Morgan%2C_HSBC_Cease_Doing_Business_with_Vatican/30992/0/38/38/Y/M.html

Source: Sonya Sandage

An 11-month Financial Times investigation reveals mismanagement at Vatican Bank

Many do not realize that the Vatican manages a banking empire with approximately $7 Billion in assets.

On June 28th, a Vatican cleric, along with a former Secret Service agent, and a financial broker were all arrested by Italian police and charged with fraud and corruption. The three were suspected of smuggling $24 Million by private plane across the border from Switzerland.

Prosecutors allege that the the Vatican cleric who is a former banker, was using the Institute of Religious Works (The formal name for the Vatican Bank) to transport money for Naples businessmen. In Italy, Naples is considered the base for organized crime. The arrested Vatican cleric was also the head of accounting at the Treasury of the Vatican (Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See.)

This is another shock to Italy following upheaval of Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation in February, the first time in 700 years a pope has resigned. The scandal gave the Bank of Italy under Mario Draghi as well as BIS in Brussels the impetus it needed to start investigations and potential regulatory changes at the Vatican Bank.

DAMAGE CONTROL

In July, Peter Sutherland, a non-executive chair at Goldman Sachs International, and the former Attorney General of Ireland, flew to the Vatican. He is a practicing Catholic and unpaid consultant to the Vatican’s Treasury, and was invited by reformers inside the Church to speak to the Council of Cardinals, the most senior advisors to the Pope. He did not give a public statement, but two who were aware of the closed door proceedings indicate he advised the Council, “Transparency is necessary.”

Regulators have already been eager to get into the Vatican before the arrests. “We cannot have any more scandal. It is so shameful,” a senior member of the Vatican’s financial administration said.

Financial Times interviewed two dozen bankers, lawyers, regulators, and Vatican insiders over 11 months to understand how the Vatican Bank has unnerved bankers, regulators, and governments across Europe and the U.S. The reforms inside Vatican Bank now underway are due to pressure from banks like Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, HSBC, and UniCredit, all who have found themselves as targets of regulators due to their business relationship with the Holy See.

REGULATORY NIGHTMARE, BANKING STANDARDS NOT MET

About 32 of the world’s largest financial institutions were “correspondent” banks for the Vatican. They moved about $3 Billion per year from the Vatican Bank to other banks around the globe, allowing the Church to conduct international business. The banks became so fearful of being tarnished by the Vatican that some have even closed down their accounts for the Embassies of the Vatican. HSBC did cease doing business with the Embassy of the Vatican, and other large banks are considering the same. Regulations and oversight around diplomatic bank accounts and PEP’s (politically exposed persons) has become crushing to the banks, and they no longer seek out these customers. Banks have tremendous surveillance around account owned by those who work high up in any government, especially embassy accounts. It is a large cost and risk to the banks, and they loathe doing business with these customers.

In March 2012, JP Morgan closed the bank accounts it held for the Vatican because the documentation provided was not thorough. Vatican was asking JPM to move money all around the world for it via wire transfers but the basic Know Your Customer data could not be obtained. When JPM would say, “we need to answer to the regulators on these wire transactions” the Vatican Bank would push back and say, “We answer to God,” according to a bank manager at a large European bank.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23565506

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/03/19/uk-vatican-bank-idUKBRE82I0P820120319

MONEY FUNNELED TO EFFECT POLITICAL CHANGES, EVADE TAXES

Many bankers, lawyers, and those in business with the Vatican Bank would not speak on record but they did say the Vatican Bank operates unlike any other bank they’ve dealt with. The staff of only 12 were not versed in Due Diligence or KYC (Know Your Customer) standards. There was very little documentation on their cash flows and balances of approximately 19,000 clients. There are 33,000 accounts held
at the Vatican Bank. 50% of clients come from religious orders, 15% are from Holy See institutions, 13% are Cardinals, Bishops, and clergy, 9% are from dioceses around the world. The rest have some affiliation with the Catholic Church. The Vatican Bank doesn’t have many loans, the books contain mostly deposits, wire transfers, and investments.

Many of the deposits are donations and cash tithe. 25% of the bank’s business is done in cash. Laura Pedio, a Milan ani-Mafia prosecutor who specializes in white collar crime, was willing to speak on the record to Financial Times. In her previous cases she found a complex system of proxies, with transaction authorization given to the third parties on behalf of unidentified account holders. The proxy holders had no details
recorded at the bank. Some of the proxies could only be verbally recognized by a few people at the Vatican Bank. She said there was no way to get answers on who these people were, or who was the final beneficiary of the account.

One advisor to the Vatican says the new clampdown by regulators has caused the correspondent banks to toss aside the Vatican and stop doing business with them. “There is a no nonsense approach from the correspondent banks,” the advisor said in an interview. “We are not here to cover the ass of the Vatican.”

The most infamous story so far around the Vatican Bank was their relationship withe a large Italian bank that collapsed. The Vatican Bank was the single largest shareholder in Banco Ambrosiano. After that bank collapsed, it’s chairman was found hanged under London’s Blackfriar’s Bridge. Prosecutors in Rome conclude the bank chairman was killed by the Sicilian Mafia but no charges were brought up against an individual. There have been rumors that the Vatican is a large shareholder of Bank of America but this has not been substantiated.

Mafia victim & bank chairman: Roberto Calvi

Another question is how the Vatican may funnel money into political actions. Pope John Paul II is said to have used the Vatican Bank to channel money to Poland’s Solidarity Movement. Questions arise as to is and how the Vatican may be swaying elections or effecting political change worldwide. Regulators have been cracking down on tax cheats in offshore havens like Switzerland.

FIRST POPE IN 700 YEARS RESIGNED IN FEBRUARY, NEW POPE WITH MAMMOTH PROBLEMS TO FIX

As of March 2013 their new Pope, who is a Jesuit evoking poverty and humility, set a new tone on financial correctness. The new Pope spoke out against the idolatry of money, “all-compassing corruption,” and “Tax evasion that had reached global dimensions.” The new Pope moved his personal residence away from the Apostolic Palace and the Vatican Bank.

The new Pope has issued papal decrees to help speed inspections and make changes to produce real reform in the legal and institutional framework of their banking system.

I have my reservations about this. Yet these are positive news about the existence of the world wide financial war.

Sabrina

11th December 2013, 22:41

http://www.exaronews.com/articles/5152/met-s-paedophile-unit-seizes-video-of-ex-minister-at-sex-party

7 Dec UK

ExaroNews on Facebook

Did you read it? Over the weekend, Exaro reported on a big development for Met’s paedophile unit: Video places former Conservative cabinet minister at one of several parties where boys were sexually abused by men, but he denies abuse.

Met’s paedophile unit seizes video of ex-minister at ‘sex party’ | ExaroNews

exaronews.com

Detectives have seized video that places a former Conservative cabinet minister at one of several parties where boys were sexually abused by men.

Full story at link as can't copy. N.b. the article says a source in child protection says this is potentially bombshell stuff… this is potentially very significant..

Sabrina

17th December 2013, 17:07

China: Corruption Inquiry to Probe Zhou Yongkang, Ex-Security Head, Risking Elite’s Unity

By Jonathan Ansfield and Chris Buckley, from SMH.com – December 16, 2013
http://tinyurl.com/mgzsywv

Sending tremors across China’s political landscape, President Xi Jinping and other party leaders have authorised a corruption inquiry against the powerful former head of the domestic security apparatus, Zhou Yongkang, according to five sources with elite political ties.

It is the first time since the founding of the People’s Republic of China that such a high-level official has been the focus of a formal corruption investigation, and in pressing his anti-graft crusade to new levels, Mr Xi has broken a longstanding taboo. Mr Zhou was once a member of the Communist Party’s top rung of power, the Politburo Standing Committee, and even retired members of that body have always been spared such scrutiny.

The principle allegations against Mr Zhou emerged from investigations over the past year into accusations of abuse of power and corruption by officials and oil company executives associated with him. Those inquiries have already encircled his son, Zhou Bin, and other family members, the sources said.

Mr Xi and other leaders agreed by early December to put the elder Mr Zhou directly under formal investigation by the party’s commission for rooting out corruption and abuses of power, the sources said. They said a senior official went to Mr Zhou’s home in central Beijing to inform him about the inquiry, and Mr Zhou and his wife, Jia Xiaoye, have since been held under constant guard.

The people who gave the account were an official with a state broadcaster, a former province-level party corruption investigator, a lawyer with family connections to the party elite, a businesswoman with similar ties and a businesswoman who is the granddaughter of a late leader. They all spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the risks of recrimination for discussing sensitive politics.

“It’s not like in the past few months, when he was being secretly investigated and more softly restricted,” the lawyer said. “Now it’s official.”

Mr Xi has amassed imposing power since taking leadership of the party in November.

But even in retirement, Mr Zhou is a potentially potent adversary.

He occupied an extraordinary nexus of state-blessed money and power, even by the standards of Chinese politics. Educated in oilfield exploration, he spent much of his career in the state oil industry and wielded considerable influence over the sector, which expanded rapidly at home and abroad as demand for energy surged with China’s booming economy.

Later, while a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, he oversaw the party’s sprawling security apparatus, with control over police, prosecutors, courts and the main intelligence service. During his watch, the party leadership stressed “stability maintenance” as vital to its survival, and the domestic security budget expanded to overshadow even the military’s. Mr Zhou’s grim, rough-hewed features added to his public image as a politician not to be trifled with.

In taking on Mr Zhou, Mr Xi may risk elite unity if the case falters or ignites dissension among party officials and elders, including the retired president, Jiang Zemin, under whose tenure Mr Zhou became a minister for land and then a province party secretary.

“On the one hand, this would be such a dramatic change from previous practice, and risks generating pushback,” said Christopher K. Johnson, an expert on Chinese politics at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “On the other hand, this is a guy who likes to send messages and who has been consistently defying longstanding regime rules of physics now for some time.”

Until now, the highest-ranking politicians subjected to corruption inquiries were serving members of the Politburo, a rung lower than the Standing Committee in the party hierarchy. They included Bo Xilai, an ally of Mr Zhou’s who was sentenced to life in prison in September for taking bribes, for embezzlement and for abuse of power.

It is not yet clear whether Mr Zhou will be prosecuted and punished; internal party inquiries do not necessarily end in criminal charges, even when culpability is found. The government has not made any public announcement about the case, nor has Mr Zhou, who like other senior Chinese politicians is inaccessible to reporters. The decision to investigate Mr Zhou was first reported by overseas Chinese Web news sites, including Mingjing and Boxun, and later by Reuters.

After Mr Xi took leadership of the Communist Party, he vowed to take on corruption both low and high in party ranks – both “flies and tigers.”

Mr Zhou, who turns 71 this month, is undoubtedly a tiger. But his power and reputation for high-handed ruthlessness also brought critics, and he appeared diminished after Mr Bo was detained last year.

After Mr Zhou retired in November 2012, his successor in charge of domestic security was not given a place on the Standing Committee, a move that party insiders said reflected disquiet in the elite over the influence that the position had accumulated under Mr Zhou.

Soon afterward, party anticorruption officials also began removing and investigating a succession of officials and company executives who had career links with Mr Zhou. The first senior official to fall in these investigations was Li Chuncheng, a deputy party chief of Sichuan province, where he had risen through the ranks while Mr Zhou was party secretary from 1999 to 2002.

In the following months, investigators from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the party agency responsible for investigating major corruption cases, detained other officials and businessmen from Sichuan. They also opened an investigation into current and former executives of the China National Petroleum Corporation, where Mr Zhou had risen up the party hierarchy. In some cases, they had ties to Mr Zhou’s son, Zhou Bin, who has been questioned in the past months and was detained in recent weeks, according to the sources close to leaders.

The older Mr Zhou’s “real problem is the corruption claims involving his wife and son,” said the former corruption investigator. “Zhou could also be held responsible, even if he didn’t directly participate.”

The Zhou family’s sway within the oil sector could potentially offer many potential sources of illicit wealth, including acquiring rights to operate fields, service contracts, equipment sales and distribution of oil, the former corruption investigator said.

Other critics, including human rights advocates, have said that Mr Zhou’s influence over courts and law-and-order issues was also ripe for abuse. But any inquiry there could be politically volatile, and there has been no string of telltale detentions and investigations in that area that would point to Mr Zhou’s being targeted there.

So far, no formal criminal charges have been announced against any key figures in the allegations. Party discipline investigations can be more wide-ranging than police investigations, and the results need not be made public.

The sources said Mr Zhou was under investigation by a special unit of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Senior police officers were also helping, they said. Usually in China, criminal charges against senior officials are considered only after a party inquiry has recommended legal action.

“They’ve handpicked a number of officials in Beijing to take charge of the case, in order to keep firm control over it,” said the businesswoman who is the granddaughter of a late party leader.

Sabrina

19th December 2013, 07:44

http://jhaines6.wordpress.com/2013/12/18/nobel-peace-prize-nominee-rev-kevin-annett-and-the-itccs-begin-new-campaign-to-disestablish-secular-power-of-the-vatican-annett-will-commence-global-speaking-tour-on-the-american-east-coast/

Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Rev. Kevin Annett and the ITCCS begin new campaign to disestablish secular power of the Vatican – Annett will commence global speaking tour on the American east coast on January 15, 2014

Posted on December 17, 2013

SOURCE: ITCCS.ORG

Media Advisory – December 17, 2013

Kevin-Annett

New York City:

The man who helped not only to indict Canada and its churches for genocide but depose former Pope Benedict will commence a global speaking tour in New York City on January 15, 2014.

Kevin Annett is an internationally acclaimed whistle blower and Nobel Prize nominee who helped establish the twenty one nation International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State (ITCCS) in 2010, whose evidence and court actions helped to depose one Pope and is now threatening a second one. And in the new year, Annett’s network is ratcheting up its campaign to permanently disestablish the Vatican as “a convicted transnational criminal body that openly traffics children and protects child rapists”.

Kevin Annett will be meeting with groups all over America during January and February to assist them in their efforts to bring known child raping catholic priests to trial in local common law courts, and to pressure the government and the United Nations to revoke the diplomatic status and immunity of the Roman Catholic church.

The first leg of his U.S. speaking tour will include talks in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Nashville, St. Louis, Chicago and Florida. Annett will tour the western states and the west coast later this spring. In February, he will travel to Europe to speak and organize in nine different countries, and to meet with politicians, the media and abuse survivors, including in Rome.

A biography and relevant links to Kevin Annett and the ITCCS follow.

For information and details on his specific venues, contact Rev. Annett athiddenfromhistory1@gmail.com, or ph: 386-323-5774 in the USA.

The ITCCS website is www.itccs.org.

1. Biography of Rev. Kevin Annett with youtube interview:
http://itccs.org/2013/01/01/biography-rev-kevin-daniel-annett-m-a-m-div/

2. Sample of evidence of Genocide in Canada, documented by Kevin Annett for 2013 court case:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBUd3UXt6fI

3. Kevin Annett’s book Hidden No Longer (2010) and award winning documentary film Unrepentant (2007):
www.hiddennolonger.com

Sabrina

19th December 2013, 07:50

Posted on December 17, 2013
by WashingtonsBlog

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/12/programs-never-terrorism-theyre-economic-spying-social-control-diplomatic-manipulation-theyre-power.html

Snowden Gives the Big Picture

Edward Snowden wrote yesterday about mass surveillance by the NSA:

These programs were never about terrorism: they’re about economic spying, social control, and diplomatic manipulation. They’re about power.

He’s right.

These Programs Were Never About Terrorism

The NSA started mass spying on Americans before 9/11 … and various excuses have been used over the years.

The NSA was already spying on American Senators and prominent Americans who spoke out against the Vietnam War more than 40 years ago.

The NSA has also been conducting industrial espionage for many decades.

There is no evidence that mass surveillance has prevented a single terrorist attack. And see thisconfirming opinion by a federal judge. On the contrary, top counter-terror experts say that mass spyingactually hurts U.S. counter-terror efforts (more here and here).

If NSA spying were really focused on terrorism, our allies and companies wouldn’t be fighting back so hard against it.

Economic Spying

The NSA conducts widespread industrial espionage on our allies, such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, United Nations, the Vatican and the Pope, France, the leaders of Germany, Brazil andMexico, the European Union, the European Parliament, the G20 summit, and at least 35 world leaders.

That has nothing to do with terrorism. Indeed, a confidential government memo admits that the spying didn’t help prevent terrorism:

The memo acknowledges that eavesdropping on the numbers had produced “little reportable intelligence”.

The NSA is also spying on the biggest financial payments systems such as VISA and Swift.

In a slide leaked by Edward Snowden, “economic” was one of the main justifications for spying.

The top U.S. spy’s justification for such financial spying is:

“We collect this information for many important reasons: for one, it could provide the United States and our allies early warning of international financial crises which could negatively impact the global economy. It also could provide insight into other countries’ economic policy or behavior which could affect global markets.”

(Top financial experts say that the NSA and other intelligence agencies are also using the information to profit from this inside information. And the NSA wants to ramp up its spying on Wall Street … to “protect” it.)

Diplomatic Manipulation

Spying on allies such as the United Nations, European Union, the European Parliament, the G20 summit, the Vatican and the Pope, and at least 35 world leaders is obviously at least partially aimed at gaining advantage in diplomatic negotiations.

Indeed, the United States Trade Representative is one of the “customers” of NSA data.

Social Control

History shows that mass spying is always focused on crushing dissent… not on keeping us safe.

High-level American government officials have warned for 40 years that mass surveillance would lead to tyranny. They’ve warned that the government is using information gained through mass surveillance in order to go after anyone they take a dislike to.

A lieutenant colonel for the Stasi East German’s – based upon his experience – agrees. And German Chancellor Angela Merkel – who grew up in Stasi Germany – says the NSA is exactly the same. Indeed, top American constitutional experts say that the Obama and Bush administration are not only worse than Nixon … but worse than the Stasi East Germans. They also say that NSA spying is exactly the type of oppression that the Founding Fathers launched the Revolutionary War to stop. And see this.

The NSA tracks users’ porn … to discredit them … just like J. Edgar Hoover did in the bad old days of the FBI. The NSA shares this information with a host of other agencies, such as the Departments of Justice and Commerce and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

(Indeed – as previously reported – all of the information gained by the NSA through spying is shared with federal, state and local agencies, and they are using that information to prosecute petty crimes such as drugs and taxes. The agencies are instructed to intentionally “launder” the information gained through spying, i.e. to pretend that they got the information in a more legitimate way … and to hide that from defense attorneys and judges.)

TechDirt points out:

It’s important to note here that the “targets” in this case are not US persons, and they all do appear to dislike the US, and some appear to have advocated for jihad against the US. However, as the report notes, most of them are not terrorists or even connected to any terrorist organization. They’re just activists and advocates who have spoken out criticizing the US. In one case, a guy was targeted for claiming that “the U.S. brought the 9/11 attacks upon itself” — an argument that plenty of respectable people have made.The lack of any terrorist connection is actually, stunningly, used againstthese individuals, as one NSA document notes that since they don’t communicate with terrorists it’s worse because it suggests “that the target audience includes individuals who do not yet hold extremist views but who are susceptible to the extremist message.”

A high-level NSA whistleblower says that the NSA is spying on – and blackmailing – top government officials and military officers, including Supreme Court Justices, high-ranked generals, Colin Powell and other State Department personnel, and many other top officials. And see this:

He says the NSA started spying on President Obama when he was a candidate for Senate:

Another very high-level NSA whistleblower – the head of the NSA’s global intelligence gathering operation – says that the NSA targeted CIA chief Petraeus.

And the main whistleblower on the NSA’s spying 40 years ago thinks that the NSA may be blackmailing its overseers in D.C.

And see this.

The proof is in the pudding: 2 former presidents, a vice president and a judge all warn that NSA spying is tyrannical.

Sabrina

19th December 2013, 07:59

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/dec/19/hmrc-lost-nerve-tax-avoiders-mps

The spotlight now on another little game to protect the big guys...

19 Dec UK

HMRC 'lost nerve' over big tax avoiders, say MPs
Report highlights how Treasury is owed £35bn in missing tax payments and says HMRC pursued small firms, not global giants

British officials have "lost their nerve" in tackling tax avoidance by global corporations and have presided over a £35bn tax gap as they pursue easy prey such as small businesses and individuals, a committee of MPs says.

In a report that highlighted how the Treasury is owed missing tax payments of £35bn, the public accounts committee added that HM Revenue and Customs has left the state with another multibillion pound shortfall by failing to gather £2.6bn of an expected windfall from Swiss banks.

The findings follow a series of damning reports into HMRC by the committee which have addressed its failings over taking on tax-avoiding corporations such as Google, Starbucks, Vodafone and Amazon.

On Wednesday Vodafone, one of Britain's leading multinationals, made a rare gesture of tax transparency by breaking down its payments on a country-by-country basis.

The company revealed that it paid "little or no corporation tax" in the UK but its direct tax payments – including business rates and national insurance – had dropped by nearly 20% to £275m last year.

Last year HMRC, led by chief executive Lin Homer, promised to launch an unprecedented campaign to increase tax collection, particularly from large corporations.

But in a report released on Thursday the planned income from the Swiss accounts were written into Chancellor George Osborne's budget estimates in last year's autumn statement and said it was "astonished" at HMRC's failure to account for the shortfall.

HMRC brought in £475.6bn in revenue for the government in 2012-13, an increase of £1.4bn over the previous year.

But in real terms, after inflation was taken into account, tax income fell last year, compared to 2011-12, while the "tax gap" – between the amount owed to the Exchequer and the amount collected – grew by £1bn to £35bn in 2011/12.

The shortfall was widely seen as an embarrassment for the coalition at a time when it wanted to be seen as clamping down on wealthy firms and individuals.

Margaret Hodge, the chair of the committee, said that HMRC had not clearly demonstrated it was on the side of the majority of taxpayers and had failed in its ambition to crack down on tax avoidance.

"The tax gap as defined by HMRC did not shrink, but in 2011/12 grew to £35bn. Yet that measure does not capture all the tax government should be collecting. For instance, this figure does not include all the tax revenue lost to aggressive tax avoidance schemes.

"HMRC holds back from using the full range of sanctions at its disposal. It pursues tax owed by the smaller businesses but seems to lose its nerve when it comes to mounting prosecutions against multinational corporations.

"It predicted that it would collect £3.12bn unpaid tax from UK holders of Swiss bank accounts and this figure was built into budget estimates, but in 2013-14 it has so far secured just £440m. We were astonished that HMRC could not give any reasons for such a shortfall."

The report said HMRC needed to show that it was dealing "robustly" with individuals and companies who deliberately mislead it. It noted that just one individual out of 16 identified targets on the so-called Lagarde list of Swiss account holders with potential UK tax liabilities had been successfully prosecuted.

The lack of prosecutions against multinational corporations seemed at odds with HMRC's stance on pursuing tax debt from small- and medium-sized businesses in the UK, the committee noted.

In a reference to widespread criticism of tax arrangements at Amazon and Google, the committee pointed out that tax officials have yet to test how existing tax law impacts on global internet-based companies.

The findings were rejected by HMRC, which accused the committee of "selective and misleading use of figures", particularly when calcuating the tax gap. A spokesman said MPs had highlighted the increase in money which had not been collected instead of calculating a percentage of uncollected tax, which has actually gone down.

"HMRC seeks to collect the tax that is due from all taxpayers, so that everyone pays their fair share in accordance with the tax laws passed by parliament.

"We have secured more than £50bn of additional tax from our compliance work since 2010, including £23bn from large businesses," he said.

Meanwhile, Vodafone revealed that its direct contribution to the UK from taxation dropped 18.6% to £275m in the year 2012-2013 from £338m a year before. The figure includes corporation tax as well as business rates, employers' national insurance and many other items.

Vodafone said it paid "little or no corporation tax" in Britain because its profits in the UK were relatively small at less than £300m and were dwarfed by capital spending of more than £1bn on its UK network and interest costs in excess of £600m paid to British banks.

The company set out the tax it paid in 27 countries compared with a year earlier in unusual detail for a British company. Its biggest direct tax bill was in Turkey, where it paid £454m. Vodafone said it wanted to be open about the tax it paid after it was attacked over its contribution in the UK.

The company said: "As the UK government wants more investment in UK infrastructure and jobs, it allows all businesses to claim relief for the cost of assets used in the business against their profits when determining their corporation tax bills.

"The government also provides relief to all businesses for the cost of interest on their debts to UK banks and financial institutions. Vodafone is no different to any other UK business."

Sabrina

20th December 2013, 14:38

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10529864/Lord-Greville-Janners-home-searched-as-part-of-child-sex-investigations-say-police.html

20 Dec UK

Lord Greville Janner's home searched as part of child sex investigations, say police

Officers from Leicestershire Police spent two days searching Lord Greville Janner's £600,000 apartment in North London

Police have searched the London home of Labour Lord Greville Janner as part of an investigation into historic child sex allegations, it was revealed.

Officers from Leicestershire Police spent two days searching his £600,000 apartment in North London, on Monday and Tuesday.

The 85-year-old former barrister was named Baron Janner of Braunstone, Leicester, in 1997.

The force refused to give details of whether anything was seized but confirmed it was part of an ongoing probe.

A police spokesman said: "Leicestershire Police can confirm its officers executed a search warrant of a property in Barnet, London as part of an ongoing criminal inquiry.

"No arrests have been made at this stage."

It is understood police attended the flat as part of a historic child sex investigation dating back many years.

Builders working on a renovation next door to the Janner's home saw a number of police cars and officers at the address on Monday and Tuesday.

One said: "There were loads of police cars here on Monday and Tuesday. They were coming and going all day.

"I don't know what happened, but they've been back quite often ever since.They were here on Tuesday and came back on Wednesday."

The huge white-fronted property in West Hampstead contains six luxury flats. Janner was at home on Thursday afternoon but refused to come to the door.

A young man, who identified himself as 'Jameson', claimed he was the peer's personal spiritual healer. He said: "The Lord won't come to the door.

"He is exhausted with all the stress of dealing with the police. He's old and needs his rest. I don't want to say any more."

It is not the first time Janner - a life peer in the House of Lords - has sparked controversy.

In 2006 Lord Janner was struck by fellow Lord Bramall, a former head of the Armed Forces, during a furious row over the Lebanon conflict.

Janner, a prominent speaker on Jewish rights who was President of the Board of British Jews, has been hailed for his efforts to see Holocaust victims receive compensation.

In 1955, he married Myra Sheink, born and bred in Australia, who passed away in 1996. He has three children and many grandchildren.

On his official website, Janner says his hobbies include "autograph collections, glass and other antiquities, swimming, speaking his nine languages and his family."

It also says he is a member of the Magic Circle and the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

and

http://www.aangirfan.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/greville-janner.html

Lord Greville Janner has been a friend of Michael Jackson and of Yuri Geller.

On 20 December 2013, we learn that Lord Greville Janner's home has been searched by the UK police as part of child sex investigations.

Officers from Leicestershire Police spent two days searching Lord Greville Janner's apartment in London

Lord Greville Janner's home searched as part of child sex investigations, say police

Janner has been in trouble before.

Janner was at home on 19 December 2013 but refused to come to the door.

A young man, called 'Jameson', claimed he was the peer's personal spiritual healer. He said: "The Lord won't come to the door."

Janner is a member of the Magic Circle and the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

Janner is linked to the late Frank Beck who served 5 life sentences for child abuse.

Frank Beck was implicated in the abuse of boys in Leicestershire care homes.

Frank Beck claims he was imprisoned because he had exposed alleged abuse by a certain high-profile politician.

Frank Beck died in mysterious circumstances.

Reportedly, at his trial, Beck stated that: "One child has been buggered and abused for two solid years by Greville Janner".

Shortly afterwards, the notorious Director of Public Prosecutions, Alan Green, said that "for lack of evidence" Janner would not be prosecuted.

Janner was alleged to have been acquainted with a young boy called Paul Winston.

Paul Winston, who was thirteen when he and Janner first met, was able to describe Janner's home, the hotel rooms they had shared, and Janner's habits and person in detail.

Soon after the non-prosecutuion of Janner, The Director of Public Prosecutions, Alan Green, was arrested for 'kerb-crawling' in Kings Cross.

In court, Paul Winston, who was an adult at the time of Frank Beck’s trial, stood up for Frank Beck.

Several other witnesses also supported Beck and confirmed his anti-Janner testimony.

Paul Winston said that Beck had counselled him over his relationship with Janner, and had brought the affair to an end.

Paul Winston gave evidence that he had been invited to Janner’s home and had slept with Janner.

Paul Winston testified that, over the next two years, he was regularly sodomised by Janner.

Frank Beck discovered what had been going on after Winston was put into his care.

Beck 'immediately informed his bosses at Leicester Social Services'.

Janner was never brought to court, nor called upon to testify.

Frank Beck died suddenly of a 'heart attack', just before his appeal was due to begin.

Beck had two main solicitors.

One was killed in a road accident, and the other 'has been subjected to police harassment'.

Frank Beck was a resident of Braunstone in Leicester.

When Janner became a Lord in 1997, he took the title, Lord Janner of Braunstone.

The man responsible for ennobling Greville Janner was Tony Blair.

More here: Case of Lord Greville Janner - theawarenesscenter.blogspot.com

Sabrina

20th December 2013, 14:43

World Bank President Calls Corruption ‘Public Enemy No. 1

By Anna Yukhananov, Reuters – December 19, 2013

http://tinyurl.com/n3bq5uz

The World Bank took a bold stance on fighting corruption on Thursday, with President Jim Yong Kim saying that corruption at both the public and private level is the scourge of the developing world.

The development institution, which long shied away from tackling corruption because it wanted to steer clear of politics, on Thursday said it plans to hire more experts in the rule of law and other governance issues.

Kim said corruption must be at the center of the development lender’s work.

“Every dollar that a corrupt official or a corrupt business person puts in their pocket is a dollar stolen from a pregnant woman who needs health care,” Kim said during a panel. “In the developing world, corruption is public enemy No. 1.”

The announcement shows just how much the bank has changed since the 1990s, when corruption was a taboo subject in an institution that has 188 member countries and shuns picking sides.

Former World Bank President Jim Wolfensohn brought the issue to the fore in a 1996 speech, calling corruption a “cancer” that countries must confront — despite warnings to avoid the subject.

“I said, ‘Why can’t I use the c-word?’” Wolfensohn recalled at a panel on Thursday. “And (an adviser) said, Well, half your directors represent corrupt countries.”

Philippines Finance Minister Cesar Purisima said countries need better ways of tracking the movement of funds in order to combat corruption. He suggested a “passport,” or some kind of convention to tag capital flows in order to ensure money goes where it is supposed to.

“Corruption is a very popular slogan,” he said during the panel. “The problem is in the execution.”

The World Bank’s new governance department is one of the 14 “global practices,” or technical areas, that Kim formulated in October to enable the bank to provide better technical advice to countries. Other areas include agriculture, water, trade and education.

Carmody

21st December 2013, 05:58

And the main whistleblower on the NSA’s spying 40 years ago thinks that the NSA may be blackmailing its overseers in D.C.This is exactly how J. Edgar hoover did it.

If we look who's got their fingers deep into the NSA, we find those who work hardest to control the reins of power. We find the hidden hand.

Sabrina

22nd December 2013, 21:24

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/former-childrens-homes-boss-accused-2949788

21 Dec UK

Former children's homes boss accused of 49 sex offences after 14 new allegations

John Allen has been charged with 14 new allegations in North Wales including rape, indecent assault and a serious sexual offence

The former boss of children’s homes has been accused of a string of new sex abuse allegations.

John Allen has been charged with 14 new allegations including rape, indecent assault and a serious sexual offence.

A court was told that another eight alleged victims had come forward, bring the total to 23.

Allen, 72, was remanded on conditional bail after the hearing Caernarfon Crown Court on Friday and his defence barrister indicated he would deny the offences which now total 49.

The charges span from 1968 to 1991 and involve both men and women.

Allen, of Ipswich, was the head and founder of the Bryn Alyn Community which at one time ran a number of children’s homes in North Wales.

The original charges involved 15 complainants aged between seven and 15 at the time.

He was arrested by officers from Operation Pallial, probing allegations of historical child abuse in North Wales.

The National Crime Agency said: ”These additional offences allegedly took place against seven boys and one girl, aged between 12 and 15 years old, and are believed to have taken place between 1972 and 1991.”

and

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/children-at-risk-abuse-social-2950837

21 Dec UK

Children 'at risk of abuse' as social services routinely refuse to co-operate with the police

New figures show that two-thirds of council-run children's service departments have refused to share information about potential abuse with police or prosecutors

Children are at risk of abuse because councils refuse to co-operate with police and prosecutors, Labour has claimed.

The findings come in the wake of a report that disclosed the shocking failure of the authorities in Rochdale to protect vulnerable young girls from being groomed and raped by a gang of older men.

New figures released today show two-thirds of council-run children’s service departments have refused to share information about potential child abuse with police or prosecutors.

Some departments blocked pleas from the police and Crown Prosecution Service to help with criminal inquiries on a regular basis, according to the figures obtained under freedom of information rules.

A total of 33 out of 51 councils who responded said they had rejected requests from the police or prosectors to disclose documents that could have helped with criminal inquiries.

Labour urged David Cameron to “get a grip” of the problem, highlighted by the appalling accounts of sexual abuse of young girls in Rochdale after the victims were let down by social services and other agencies.

Nine men from Rochdale and Oldham were jailed for up to 19 years in May 2012 after being convicted of offences including rape.

But there are now fears that children in other areas could become victims of a “postcode lottery” with some councils cooperating with police and other authorities refusing to help.

Labour’s law chief accused PM David Cameron of failing to help police tackle child abuse by making sure they had crucial information.

Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry said: “For all David Cameron’s frequent pledges about cracking down on child abuse, his Government has done nothing to resolve what prosecutors have told me is the biggest problem they face in bringing child abuse prosecutions: the difficulty of accessing potential evidence held by local authorities.

“When you have two sides - prosecutors and councils - who intractably disagree on something as important as this, it is for ministers to step in and show some leadership.

“Their failure to do so is quite extraordinary given that one of the major lessons of the child-grooming scandals in Rotherham and elsewhere is that information-sharing between agencies is essential and must urgently improve.

“As things stand, the extent to which a child is protected by the criminal law depends on their postcode.”

According to figures obtained by Labour, bosses at Cheshire East borough council turned down 19 out of 44 requests from police between 2010 and 2013 for information about children.

Kirklees borough council in West Yorkshire said it had rejected 12 out of 27 requests - almost half of those made by prosecutors and police.

And, Bristol City Council turned down 69 of the 102 requests it received between July 2011 and March 2013.

and

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2527283/Cover-let-head-Nick-Cleggs-prep-school-away-abusing-boys-decades.html

Cover-up that let the head of Nick Clegg's prep school get away with abusing boys for decades

Peter Wright molested children at Caldicott Prep School in 1950s and 60s

Convicted at Amersham Crown Court of a string of historic sex offences

Three former teachers previously convicted of child sex offences at school

Former England cricket captain Andrew Strauss was a pupil at school

see story at link

Sabrina

22nd December 2013, 22:07

http://www.aangirfan.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/battle-to-cover-up-child-abuse-and.html

22 Dec UK

BATTLE TO COVER-UP CHILD ABUSE AND MURDER

On 22 December 2013, we read, yet again, that a top UK Conservative Party politician, a former Thatcher Cabinet minister, is facing arrest in connection with child abuse.

Police investigate former Thatcher Cabinet minister over child sex abuse -Herald Scotland

The politician is being investigated by detectives leading Operation Fernbridge, which is investigating claims that politicians and others sexually abused boys at various places in the UK.

The police say that the charges relate to seven victims aged between nine and 15, with the alleged offences taking place in the 1970s and 1980s.

Janner (left) and fellow top Jewish leaders. (pix at link)

The opposition LABOUR party would benefit if the CONSERVATIVE party politician is arrested.

The CONSERVATIVE party, however, could threaten to have information about Labour party politicians investigated.

So, during late December 2013, the mainstream media have reported on:

1. The LABOUR Party's Lord Greville JANNER who has had his house searched in connection with a major child abuse investigation.

GREVILLE JANNER

2. The LIBERAL DEMOCRAT leader Nick CLEGG who is a former pupil at the Caldicott school run by Peter Wright.

On 17 December 2013, Wright was convicted of multiple sex offences against pupils between 1959 and 1970.

Nick Clegg formerly worked for Leon BRITTAN, a former Thatcher Cabinet Minister.

SCHOOL SEX; CALDICOTT SCHOOL; HORACE MANN SCHOOL

3. A former CONSERVATIVE party Thatcher Cabinet Minister who is facing arrest.

Nick Clegg

Now, is it likely that there will be arrests and convictions of top people who are:

(1) Highly influential Jews

And

(2) Friends of the security service MI5, which has been accused of running child brothels?

We would expect there to be a cover-up.

Otherwise MI5 and MI6 would be exposed and discredited for ever.

What links Edward Snowdon, Julian Assange and the former head of Britain's spy service MI5?

Jonathan Evans, the former boss of MI5, was a pupil at the expensive Sevenoaks School in the UK.

Sarah Harrison, who led Edward Snowden to Moscow, was a pupil at Sevenoaks School.

Sarah Harrison, of the spooky Wikileaks, is said to be a former lover Julian Assange.

Sarah Harrison is currently living in spooky Berlin.

Assange and Harrison

The late Gerd Sommerhoff, who sexually abused boys, was a teacher at Sevenoaks school.

Sommerhoff worked at the spooky BBC and in spooky Cambridge, and, like Jimmy Savile, was given a knighthood.

Gerd Sommerhoff

Some of the above people may secretly be assets of Mossad, the CIA and MI5/MI6.

Sir John Sawers

Sir John Sawers, the current boss of MI6, is a former parent at Sevenoaks.

Sir John Sawers, MI6 boss, is a former parent at Sevenoaks.

The UK's security services are reported to have run child brothels as a way of entertaining and blackmailing top people from cabinet ministers to foreign diplomats.

CHILD BROTHEL

A former top UK cabinet minister was photographed attending a child sex abuse orgy, according to the Sunday Mirror and investigative news website Exaro.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ex-tory-cabinet-minister-caught-2903907#ixzz2msygfHzp

This was one of a series of orgies organised by Sidney Cooke, who murdered a young boy called Jason Swift in 1984.

Jason Swift, one of many children believed to have been taken from government children's homes to sex abuse parties.

Some of the orgies are believed to have been attended by Sir Jimmy Savile and by Sir Cyril Smith.

Some of the children involved are believed to have been trafficked to Holland by Cooke’s gang.

The former cabinet minister had been photographed by police in 1986 entering a property where one of the sex parties was being held.

Sidney Cooke, whose pedophile ring has been linked to up to 20 child murders. In 1998, Cooke was let out of prison eight years early.

A former police officer, who worked on Operation Orchid which convicted Cooke and his gang, claimed they had taken pictures of the minister, and, that 16 members of an alleged VIP paedophile ring were due to be arrested.

But the day before the arrests were to be carried out, detectives were told the operation had been disbanded.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ex-tory-cabinet-minister-caught-2903907#ixzz2msy4QhYY

Peter Power, who was also 'involved in' the London Bombings of 7/7

In 1987 a fire hit King's Cross underground station in London.

Allegedly, certain juvenile members of a pedophile ring were in a cafe, underground, when the fire broke out.

"Just two months before the King’s Cross Fire, pop duo, The Pet Shop Boys released their second record entitled Actually.

"The final track on the album is a melancholy song entitled, King’s Cross which, in a rather bizarre coincidence, appears to foresee a disaster at the station with the lyric:

"'Only last night I found myself lost, by the station called King’s Cross… dead and wounded on either side, you know it’s only a matter of time…'"

Tales From the Terminals: King’s Cross (Part 1, History & Film)

Allegedly, certain juvenile members of a pedophile ring were in a cafe, underground, when the fire broke out.

Allegedly, the fire was started deliberately.

King's Cross.

1987: Disaster underground: the Kings Cross Fire

"Inspector Peter Power was sent to the scene of the King's Cross fire to co-ordinate the efforts of the emergency services.

"He ran the Metropolitan Police's forward command post for much of the evening and most of the night on 18 November 1987."

ON THIS DAY | 18 | 1987: Disaster underground / WagNews: The Pied Piper of the London Bombing

Hayman (linked to MI6). CHILD ABUSERS; SPIES; JOURNALISTS; CABINET

Reportedly, the UK government gave money to the UK's Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE).

PIE was set up in the early 1970s.

Retired diplomat, Sir Peter Hayman was a supporter of PIE.

Police discovered his collection of obscene diaries but decided not to prosecute him.

"TOP TORY TO BE ARRESTED FOR CHILD ABUSE"

Member of Parliament Geoffrey Dickens gave the authorities three dossiers on PIE and alleged child abusers but these dossiers were ignored.

Probe into claims government 'gave money to child sex ring in 70s'

There are child abusers in many government institutions.

Sabrina

22nd December 2013, 22:18

NSA Declassfies Bush Era Documents – ‘”Bush Authorised Spying”

Posted by Stephen Cook on December 22, 2013 /

http://goldenageofgaia.com/2013/12/nsa-declassfies-bush-era-documents-bush-authorised-spying/#more-203890

By Associated Press in Washington – December 21, 2013

http://tinyurl.com/lxufd23

• James Clapper documents relate to bulk collection origins
• Disclosure comes in response to federal court order
• Obama concedes NSA bulk collection may be unnecessary

The director of national intelligence on Saturday declassified more documents that outline how the National Security Agency was first authorised to start collecting bulk phone and internet records in the hunt for al-Qaida terrorists and how a court eventually gained oversight of the program, after the justice department complied with a federal court order to release its previous legal arguments for keeping the programs secret.

James Clapper explained in a statement on Saturday that President George W Bush first authorised the spying in October 2001, as part of the Terrorist Surveillance Program, just after the 9/11 attacks. Bush disclosed the program in 2005.

The Terrorist Surveillance Program, which had to be extended every 30-60 days by presidential order, was eventually replaced by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a law that requires a secret court to authorise the bulk collection.

The US president, Barack Obama, hinted on Friday that he would consider some changes to the NSA’s bulk collection of Americans’ phone records to address the public’s concerns about privacy. His comments came in a week in which a federal judge declared the NSA’s collection program “unconstitutional,” and a presidential advisory panel suggested 46 changes to NSA operations. Those recommendations included forcing the NSA to go to the court for every search of the phone records database and keeping that database in the hands of a third party, not the government.

The judge said there was little evidence any terror plot had been thwarted by the program, known as Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act.

The panel recommended continuing the program but seeking a court order for each NSA records search. Obama said he would announce his decisions in January.

“There has never been a comprehensive government release … that wove the whole story together: the timeline of authorizing the programs and the gradual transition to (court) oversight,” said Mark Rumold, staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group suing the NSA to reveal more about the bulk records programs. “Everybody knew that happened, but this is the first time I’ve seen the government confirm those twin aspects.”

That unexpected windfall of disclosures early on Saturday came with the release of documents outlining why issuing the information would damage national security. The US district court in the northern district of California in the fall had ordered the Obama administration to make public the documents, known as state secrets declarations.

The justice department issued the declarations late on Friday in two ongoing class action cases: Shubert v Bush, now known as Shubert v Obama, on behalf of Verizon customers; and Jewel v NSA, on behalf of AT&T customers.

Calls to the justice department and the director of national intelligence’s office were not answered.

“In September, the federal court in the northern district of California … ordered the government to go back through all the secret ex parte declarations and declassify and release as much as they could, in light of the Snowden revelations and government confirmations,” Rumold said. “So what was released late last night was in response to that court order.”

In one such legal argument, former national intelligence director Dennis Blair told the court in 2009 that revealing information – including how information was collected, whether specific individuals were being spied upon and what the programs had revealed about al-Qaida – could damage the hunt for terrorists.

“To do so would obviously disclose to our adversaries that we know of their plans and how we may be obtaining information,” Blair said. Much of his 27-page response is redacted.

National intelligence chief declassifies Bush-era documents on NSA programs
• James Clapper documents relate to bulk collection origins
• Disclosure comes in response to federal court order
• Obama concedes NSA bulk collection may be unnecessary

Clapper explained in a statement that Bush first authorised the spying just after 9/11. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP
The director of national intelligence on Saturday declassified more documents that outline how the National Security Agency was first authorised to start collecting bulk phone and internet records in the hunt for al-Qaida terrorists and how a court eventually gained oversight of the program, after the justice department complied with a federal court order to release its previous legal arguments for keeping the programs secret.

James Clapper explained in a statement on Saturday that President George W Bush first authorised the spying in October 2001, as part of the Terrorist Surveillance Program, just after the 9/11 attacks. Bush disclosed the program in 2005.
The Terrorist Surveillance Program, which had to be extended every 30-60 days by presidential order, was eventually replaced by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a law that requires a secret court to authorise the bulk collection.
The US president, Barack Obama, hinted on Friday that he would consider some changes to the NSA’s bulk collection of Americans’ phone records to address the public’s concerns about privacy. His comments came in a week in which a federal judge declared the NSA’s collection program “unconstitutional,” and a presidential advisory panel suggested 46 changes to NSA operations. Those recommendations included forcing the NSA to go to the court for every search of the phone records database and keeping that database in the hands of a third party, not the government.

The judge said there was little evidence any terror plot had been thwarted by the program, known as Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act.

The panel recommended continuing the program but seeking a court order for each NSA records search. Obama said he would announce his decisions in January.

“There has never been a comprehensive government release … that wove the whole story together: the timeline of authorizing the programs and the gradual transition to (court) oversight,” said Mark Rumold, staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group suing the NSA to reveal more about the bulk records programs. “Everybody knew that happened, but this is the first time I’ve seen the government confirm those twin aspects.”

That unexpected windfall of disclosures early on Saturday came with the release of documents outlining why issuing the information would damage national security. The US district court in the northern district of California in the fall had ordered the Obama administration to make public the documents, known as state secrets declarations.

The justice department issued the declarations late on Friday in two ongoing class action cases: Shubert v Bush, now known as Shubert v Obama, on behalf of Verizon customers; and Jewel v NSA, on behalf of AT&T customers.

Calls to the justice department and the director of national intelligence’s office were not answered.\

“In September, the federal court in the northern district of California … ordered the government to go back through all the secret ex parte declarations and declassify and release as much as they could, in light of the Snowden revelations and government confirmations,” Rumold said. “So what was released late last night was in response to that court order.”

In one such legal argument, former national intelligence director Dennis Blair told the court in 2009 that revealing information – including how information was collected, whether specific individuals were being spied upon and what the programs had revealed about al-Qaida – could damage the hunt for terrorists.

“To do so would obviously disclose to our adversaries that we know of their plans and how we may be obtaining information,” Blair said. Much of his 27-page response is redacted.