Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

Room for Improvement
MotherJones | Scott Carrier | March/April 2015

Clean up cities. Give the homeless a place to live. And save money too? The shocking simple, surprisingly cost-effective solution that won over a bunch of conservatives in Utah.

IT'S EARLY DECEMBER, 10:30 in the morning, and Rene Zepeda is driving a Volunteers of America minivan around Salt Lake City, looking for reclusive homeless people, those camping out next to the railroad tracks or down by the river or up in the foothills. The winter has been unseasonably warm so far--it's 60 degrees today--but the cold weather is coming and the van is stacked with sleeping bags, warm coats, thermal underwear, socks, boots, hats, hand warmers, protein bars, nutrition drinks, canned goods. By the end of the day, Rene says, it will all be gone.

These supplies make life a little easier for people who live outside, but Rene's main goal is to develop a relationship of trust with them, and act as a bridge to get them off the street. "I want to get them into homes," Rene says. "I tell them, 'I'm working for you. I want to get you out of the homeless situation.'"

And he does. He and all the other people who work with the homeless here have perhaps the best track record in the country. In the past nine years, Utah has decreased the number of homeless by 72 percent--largely by finding and building apartments where they can live, permanently, with no strings attached. It's a program, or more accurately a philosophy, called Housing First. ... Read more
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Climate Oscillations and the Global Warming Faux Pause
HP | Michael E. Mann | 02/26/15

No, climate change is not experiencing a hiatus. No, there is not currently a "pause" in global warming. Despite widespread such claims in contrarian circles, human-caused warming of the globe proceeds unabated. Indeed, as reported here at The Huffington Post just last month, the most recent year (2014) was likely the warmest year on record.

It is true that Earth's surface warmed a bit less than models predicted it to over the past decade-and-a-half or so. This doesn't mean that the models are flawed. Instead, it points to a discrepancy that likely arose from a combination of three main factors (see the discussion my piece last year in Scientific American). ... Read more
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Here Is What Americans Spent Their "Gas Savings" On
ZeroHedge | author | 02/27/15

Today, following the first revision of consumer spending, we learn that in the fourth quarter Americans spent even more on healthcare, pushing the total up by $1 billion more, to a whopping $21.4 Bn, or 18% of all spending on goods and services in Q4.

In any event, the math is clear - the next time anyone asks you what Americans spent their so-called "gas savings" on in Q4, and why retail sales in the end of 2014 (and the start of 2015) were so weak, show them this chart. ... Read more
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Who's Behind the Secretive Group Bashing Elizabeth Warren's Favorite Agency?
MotherJones | Patrick Caldwell | 02/26/15

Based off its name alone, the US Consumer Coalition--which bills itself as a "grassroots organization" that exists to "build bridges, ensure public awareness and mobilize the powerful voices of consumers and business owners to protect our freedom of choice"--sounds like the sort of outfit you'd expect to find sticking up for the little guy.

Yet last month, Brian Wise, one of the group's founders, penned an op-ed in the Hill attacking the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the consumer protection agency that came into existence in 2011 thanks to Elizabeth Warren. The CFPB crafts financial rules to protect ordinary consumers--making mortgage applications simple, preventing banks from hiding fees and charges, and cracking down on payday lenders.

... But the US Consumer Coalition--which other consumer groups told me they had never heard of--is run and staffed entirely by a Virginia public relations firm stuffed with ex-GOP operatives. In fact, Wise tells Mother Jones a group of donors--he won't say who--came to him last year and "hired" his firm, Wise Public Affairs, to set up the Consumer Coalition, which shares staff with his firm. ... Read more

Most Republicans Don't Think Obama Loves America
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Despite Record Stocks & Surging Wage Inflation, Consumer Comfort Plunges Most In 10 Months
ZeroHedge | author | 02/26/15

What do people have to be 'uncomfortable' about?!! Stock markets around the world are at record highs... real wages just jumped by the most MoM since 2008... So why oh why did Bloomberg's Consumer Comfort Index plunge to its lowest of the year, falling by the most since May 2014? Perhaps, just perhaps, the market is a red herring... distracting the plebeians from the reality of the economy? ... Read more
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Capital Goods Shipments Tumble, 6th Miss In A Row
ZeroHedge | author | 02/26/15

Despite proclamations that "the shadow of crisis has passed," November durable goods orders were weak, December durable goods orders were weaker, and while January's noisy headline Durable Goods Orders beat expectations (+2.8% vs +1.6% exp), ex-Transportation it missed (printing +0.3% vs +0.5% exp.). A quick glance at YoY core capex and it is clear that the crisis has anything but passed. Capital Goods shipments fell a greater than expected 0.3% (against expectations of a 0.2% rise) for the sixth miss in a row and 3rd drop in the last 4 months. ... Read more
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Colossal Black Hole Is 12 Billion Times As Massive As The Sun, And It Has Astronomers Baffled
HP |Macrina Cooper-White | 02/26/15

A black hole 12 billion times as massive as the sun has been found in a glowing quasar that existed when the universe was just a fraction of its current age, scientists said on Wednesday. ... Read more

How Banks Help the Super-Rich Hide Over $20 Trillion in Offshore Accounts
AlterNet | Sharmini Peries | 02/23/15

TRNN | How Banks Help the Super-Rich Hide Over $20 Trillion in Offshore Accounts (02/23/15) [14:18]

Ukraine Enters Hyperinflation: Currency Trading Halted, "Soon We Will Walk Around With Suitcases For Cash"
ZeroHedge | author | 02/25/15

The Ukraine central bank tried to call a halt on Wednesday by banning banks from buying foreign currency on behalf of their clients for the rest of this week. Although banks could still trade with each other, by mid-morning there were no registered trades at any rate, leaving the currency in limbo. A construction worker exchanging dollars at a kiosk in a grocery shop in return for a bag filled with thousands of hryvnia, laughed and told shoppers: "Soon we will have to walk around with suitcases for cash, like in the 1990s." ... Read more

How Far Is It From Kiev To Athens?
ZeroHedge | author | 02/25/15

We don't get it, and we definitely don't get why nobody is asking any questions. The IMF and EU make a lot of noise -- through the Eurogroup -- about all the conditions Greece has to address to get even a mild extension of support, while the same IMF and EU keep on handing out cash to Ukraine without as much as a whisper -- at least publicly... Read more

Susan Rice: Netanyahu Visit 'Destructive' To U.S.-Israel Relationship
HP | Paige Lavender | 02/25/15

Susan Rice, President Barack Obama's national security adviser, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned speech in front of a joint session of Congress will be "destructive" to U.S.-Israel relations.

"What has happened over the last several weeks, by virtue of the invitation that was issued by the Speaker [John Boehner] and the acceptance of it by Prime Minister Netanyahu two weeks in advance of his election, is that on both sides, there has now been injected a degree of partisanship, which is not only unfortunate, I think it's destructive of the fabric of the relationship," Rice told PBS' Charlie Rose. ... Read more

A Court Put a 9-Year-Old in Shackles for Stealing Chewing Gum -- an Outrage That Happens Every Single Day
MotherJones | Bryan Schatz | 02/24/15

The nine-year-old stole a 14-stick pack of Trident "Layers" chewing gum, Orchard Peach and Ripe Mango flavor, worth $1.48. He'd lingered by the beverage isle of the Super 1 Foods in Post Falls, Idaho, for a while before bailing out the front door. The theft led to a missed court appearance, which led to an arrest and a night spent in a juvenile jail. The next day, the third-grader appeared in court, chained and shackled.

At least 100,000 children are shackled in the US every year, according to estimates by David Shapiro, a campaign manager at the Campaign Against Indiscriminate Juvenile Shackling. (Formal data on numbers of shackled kids does not exist.) As juvenile justice practices have grown more punitive over the past several decades, shackling has become far more common. Read more

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Nothing False About Temperature Data
factcheck.org | author | 02/12/15

Rep. Gary Palmer falsely claimed on a radio show that temperature data used to measure global climate change have been "falsified" and manipulated.

Palmer, a Republican from Alabama, cited the so-called Climategate episode of five years ago, in which emails written by climate scientists purportedly showed evidence of data manipulation, and a more recent accusation of climate scientists tampering with data from temperature monitoring stations. The Climategate scandal has been subject to several separate investigations, all of which exonerated all scientists involved from any wrongdoing, and the latest data manipulation charges are a mischaracterization of standard and well-validated methods for adjusting temperature records to eliminate factors that could produce inaccurate readings. ... Read more

Days Before DHS Funding Runs Out, The Post-Shutdown Debate Is Heating Up
HP | Elise Foley | 02/23/15

TSA agents would remain in airports, patrol agents would still be manning the border and Coast Guard officers would continue monitoring the waters if the Department of Homeland Security were to shut down. But out of the public eye, there would be major problems, DHS officials warned Monday, as the Feb. 27 deadline to fund the department creeps closer.

"A shutdown of DHS would have serious consequences and amount to a serious disruption in our ability to protect the homeland," Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said at a press conference at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services headquarters. ... Read more

Fed's Yellen describes transition to 'meeting by meeting' debate on rate hike
Reuters | Howard Schneider | 02/24/15

The Federal Reserve is preparing to consider interest rate hikes "on a meeting by meeting basis," Fed Chair Janet Yellen told a congressional committee on Tuesday in a subtle change of emphasis in how the Fed has been speaking about its plans for the first interest rate increase since 2006.

In prepared remarks to the Senate Banking Committee Yellen described how the Fed's rate-setting policy committee will likely proceed in coming months - an effort to increase the Fed's flexibility and mute any potential market reaction as the central bank approaches its "liftoff" date. ... Read more

Fed Warns Equity Valuations "Appear Stretched", P/E Ratios Are "Somewhat Elevated"
ZeroHEdge | author |02/24/15

Confirming last year's warning, The Fed's Monetary Policy Report has sent a broad message to the markets in what may be Yellen's Irrational Exuberance 2.0 moment: "Overall equity valuations by some conventional measures are somewhat higher than their historical average levels, and valuation metrics in some sectors continue to appear stretched relative to historical norms... price-to-earnings and price-to-sales ratios are somewhat elevated, suggesting some valuation pressures... with heightened leverage that is close to levels preceding the financial crisis." ... Read more

Is Citi The Next AIG?
ZeroHedge | author | older

JPMorgan is no longer America's undisputed derivatives king. Well, it still is at the HoldCo level, where it is number one in terms of notional derivatives with $65.5 trillion, but when one steps a level lower, namely the FDIC-insured commercial bank (the National Association or N.A.) level, something quite disturbing emerges. ... Read more
Is Citi The Next AIG?

Huge New Holes In Siberia Have Scientists Calling For Urgent Investigation Of The Mysterious Craters
HP | Macrina Cooper-White | 02/23/15

Scientists were baffled last July when they discovered three giant holes in the ground in the Yamal Peninsula in northern Siberia. Now, with the help of satellite imagery, researchers have located four additional craters--and they believe there may be dozens more in the region.

... Researchers ventured deep inside one of the holes last November, collecting data in an effort to learn why the holes formed. The leading theory is that the holes were created by gas explosions triggered by underground heat or by rising air temperatures associated with climate change, the Siberian Times reported last December. ... Read more

Dow, S&P 500 Hit Record Highs After Greece Debt Deal
Reuters & HP | author | 02/20/15

Biggest Winners and Losers of the Oil Price Crash
Blooberg | Isaac Arnsdorf | 02/20/15

A Close Encounter With Jon Corzine (& MF Global)
ZeroHedge | author | 02/21/15

MF Global Goes Bust
Jon Corzine had an illustrious career in investment banking, rising to the very top of Goldman Sachs, until he got pushed out in 1999. He subsequently decided to try his luck in politics, and was eventually elected as a Senator from New Jersey in 2001, then Governor in 2006.

After losing to Chris Christie in 2010, Corzine was promptly hired as the CEO of MF Global. He was back in the game of finance - and with something to prove. While the majority of voters in New Jersey breathed a sigh of relief, the clients of MF Global could not imagine the disaster that would unfold.

And it did not take long. Corzine's idea was to turn an annuity-like brokerage business into a high flying investment bank (complete, it seems, with its own proprietary trading desk). When the firm's US$7 billion highly leveraged bet on risky Eurozone bonds turned sour in 2011, MF Global eventually ran out of funds to meet margin calls. What followed was the US$40 billion bankruptcy of a firm that traced its roots all the way back to the 18th century Britain -- after just a year and a half under Corzine's leadership. ... Read more

This Is The Biggest Problem Facing The World Today: 9 Countries Have Debt-To-GDP Over 300%
ZeroHedge | author | 02/13/15

If anyone has stopped to ask just why global central banks are in such a rush to create inflation (but only controlled inflation, not runaway hyperinflation... of course when they fail with the "controlled" part the money paradrop is only a matter of time) over the past 5 years, and have printed over $12 trillion in credit-money since Lehman, the bulk of which has ended up in the stock market, and which for the first time ever are about to monetize all global sovereign debt issuance in 2015, the answer is simple, and can be seen on the chart below.

It also shows the biggest problem facing the world today, namely that at least 9 countries have debt/GDP above 300%, and that a whopping 39% countries have debt-to-GDP of over 100%! ... Read more
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Winter Keeping Its Icy Grip Around The Eastern U.S.
AP & HP | author | 02/20/15

The newest band of Arctic air could plunge parts of the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic into deep freezes that haven't been felt since the mid-1990s, according to the National Weather Service.

The cold snap followed snow and ice storms earlier in the week. The low temperatures caused much freezing and refreezing of snow, ice and roads. Weather forecasters warn that more sleet and freezing rain will be possible in the coming days. Read more
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Winds in the North American region

The Great SIM Heist
The//Intercept | Jeremy Scahill | 02/19/15

AMERICAN AND BRITISH spies hacked into the internal computer network of the largest manufacturer of SIM cards in the world, stealing encryption keys used to protect the privacy of cellphone communications across the globe, according to top-secret documents provided to The Intercept by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The hack was perpetrated by a joint unit consisting of operatives from the NSA and its British counterpart Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ. The breach, detailed in a secret 2010 GCHQ document, gave the surveillance agencies the potential to secretly monitor a large portion of the world's cellular communications, including both voice and data. ... Read more

PHOTOS | "Children Do Not Migrate -- They Flee": Striking Photos From Poverty-Ravaged Guatemala
MotherJones | Katie Orlinsky | 02/18/15

In October 2013, I traveled to Guatemala's western highlands to report on the surge of children migrating from Central America to the United States. The largely indigenous region was more or less unchanged from when I'd lived in a village near the Guatemala-Mexico border in 2006, or when I'd returned to do graduate work there in 2009: It was poor, susceptible to natural disasters, and full of families with relatives living in the United States.

Photographer Katie Orlinsky visited many of the same places that I did, and her evocative work from Guatemala City and Quetzaltenango, the unofficial capital of the highlands, illuminates the poverty that continues to push children and families north. Recent data suggests that while far fewer Hondurans and Salvadorans have been arriving at the US border, the number of Guatemalans has dipped only slightly. As one Guatemalan migrant shelter official told Orlinsky, "Children do not migrate -- they flee." ... Read more

Spot The "Unequivocally Good" Odd One Out
ZeroHedge | author | 02/20/15

This won't end well... Or is it exactly what The Fed wanted - a collapse in the nation's biggest hiring sector that 'enables' more money printing? Read more
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Criminalization of Poverty Run Amok: 500 Anti-Homeless Laws in One State Alone
AlterNet | Alyssa Figueroa | 02/18/15

Today, society's target is homeless people. Beginning in the 1980s when the federal government slashed the affordable housing budget, cities have enacted thousands of laws to criminalize basic human needs such as resting, sleeping, standing, and sitting, as well as acts like panhandling and food sharing.

That's why the Western Regional Advocacy Project, a network of homeless advocacy groups on the West Coast, is pushing to pass the Right to Rest Act in Oregon, Colorado and California this year. The act, the first of its kind, would protect all residents' right to rest, allowing people to occupy and use public spaces without fear of discrimination. The legislation was written based off interviews with more than 1,400 homeless people. It would also serve as a model legislation that could be enacted in every state across the nation. ... Read more

Tropical Cyclone Marcia: Storm due to hit Queensland, Australia as category five system
abc.net.au | author | 02/19/15

It is due to hit between St Lawrence and Gladstone. So far residents in St Lawrence, Clairview, Ogmore and Marlborough have been asked to evacuate.

Police Constable Matt McKinnon said it was in the best interest of locals who had homes built before 1984 to go to shelters. "The pre-1984 homes are not structurally sound to take that amount of wind gusts," he said. A very destructive central core of the cyclone could generate gusts up to 295 kilometres an hour, the Bureau of Meteorology warned. ... Read more

The California Drought, Who Gets The Water and Who's Hung Out To Dry?
earthjustice.org/ | author | current

The historic drought has dredged up old feuds over who can lay claim to water in a thirsty state. As the powerful lobby for the agricultural industry -- which currently consumes 80% of California's water supply -- cries for more water to be pumped to their farms in the arid regions of the Central Valley, just who would be left high and dry? ... Read more
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Casino Billionaire Sheldon Adelson Is Shocked -- Shocked! -- by Online Gambling
magazine | Sam Brodey | 02/19/15

Casino magnate and conservative megadonor Sheldon Adelson has been on a full-scale crusade against internet gambling. An advocacy group he launched and helps to bankroll is currently at the vanguard of a lobbying effort to pass a federal ban on online wagering. The billionaire, who says he'll spend "whatever it takes" to support the ban, claims he opposes internet gambling on "moral" grounds, because it preys on the most vulnerable members of society. What he doesn't say is that for years his company, Las Vegas Sands Corp., tested the waters on getting into this business for itself. ... Read more

Greece To Run Out Of Cash In Under One Week
ZeroHedge | author | 02/18/15

"February 24 is expected to be the first crucial day for state finances, as projections of cash flows see state coffers starting to run dry on that date. The state of cash reserves -- not robust before -- has deteriorated further in recent days due to a shortfall in revenues, as a 1-billion-euro hole in January revenues is putting the execution of the state budget in jeopardy and hampering the management of cash reserves. Given these figures, the Finance Ministry estimates that cash reserves will run out next Tuesday. ... Read more

Track The Massive Congestion At The Port Of Long Beach In Real Time
ZeroHedge | author | 02/18/15

Things on the West Coast Ports are going from bad to worse (for those who missed it read "Catastrophic Shutdown Of America's Supply Chain" Begins: Stunning Photos Of West Coast Port Congestion), and with no resolution in sight, it is now beginning to cripple the US economy. Here is a brief summary, courtesy of the WSJ, of how the near-strike is already impacting various businesses across the US: ... Read more
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The port congestion as it gets progressively worse

Swiss prosecutor raids HSBC office, opens criminal inquiry
Reuters | Marina Depetris | 02/18/15

Geneva's public prosecutor searched HSBC's (HSBA.L) lakeside Swiss office on Wednesday after opening a criminal inquiry into allegations of aggravated money laundering, the second probe to hit the bank this week.

Europe's largest lender is in regulators' sights after details about how its Swiss private bank allegedly helped wealthy clients dodge taxes were leaked to the media and published last week. ... Read more

The flowing waters of Niagara Falls turn to ice as the temperature drops
Reuters | author | 02/18/15

[SLIDESHOW] A partially frozen American Falls in sub-freezing temperatures is seen in Niagara Falls, Ontario February 17, 2015. Temperature dropped to 6 degrees Fahrenheit. ... Read more

Bank Hackers Steal Millions via Malware
NYTimes | David Sanger | 02/14/15

In a report to be published on Monday, and provided in advance to The New York Times, Kaspersky Lab says that the scope of this attack on more than 100 banks and other financial institutions in 30 nations could make it one of the largest bank thefts ever -- and one conducted without the usual signs of robbery.

The bank's internal computers, used by employees who process daily transfers and conduct bookkeeping, had been penetrated by malware that allowed cybercriminals to record their every move. The malicious software lurked for months, sending back video feeds and images that told a criminal group -- including Russians, Chinese and Europeans -- how the bank conducted its daily routines, according to the investigators. ... Read more

NSA Has Ability To Hide Spying Software Deep Within Hard Drives: Cyber Researchers
Reuters & HP | Joseph Menn | 02/16/15

The U.S. National Security Agency has figured out how to hide spying software deep within hard drives made by Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba and other top manufacturers, giving the agency the means to eavesdrop on the majority of the world's computers, according to cyber researchers and former operatives. That long-sought and closely guarded ability was part of a cluster of spying programs discovered by Kaspersky Lab, the Moscow-based security software maker

Kaspersky said it found personal computers in 30 countries infected with one or more of the spying programs, with the most infections seen in Iran, followed by Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Mali, Syria, Yemen and Algeria. The targets included government and military institutions, telecommunication companies, banks, energy companies, nuclear researchers, media, and Islamic activists, Kaspersky said. ... Read more

Fear Inc. 2.0
www.americanprogress.org | author | date

At its core, the United States is a nation built on a few fundamental values. The values of freedom of religion and basic civil liberties are enshrined in the Bill of Rights and have been upheld time and time again by the U.S. Congress and courts. A basic respect for the rights of minority groups throughout the country -- whether these minorities are ethnic, religious, political, geographic, or social -- are inherent in the founding principles of the United States. ... Read more

IslamophobiaNetwork.com website

Jon Stewart | Brian Williams filed during the Iraq War changes significantly over time, the media is quick to scrutinize the longtime news anchor's credibility. (02/09/15) [7:49]

Jon Stewart | "Believer" author David Axelrod discusses President Obama's accomplishments and explains why issues like climate change are worth tackling. (02/10/15) [7:49]

Biting Cold Air Follows Latest New England Blizzard
AP & HP | Alanna Durkin | 02/16/15

Frigid cold nipped at New England after the region's fourth winter storm in a month blew through, piling another foot of snow on top of 6-foot-high mounds in Boston, and forecasters said another winter blast might hit midweek.

A bone-chilling blast of cold blew into New England as the last snowflakes fell Sunday. "The big story is subzero air temperatures with wind chills as low as 20 to 40 below zero," Matthew Belk of the National Weather Service said, adding that exposed skin could start to develop frostbite in "a matter of minutes." ... Read more

Daring Hackers Make Off With $1 Billion From Global Banks
Bloomberg | author | 02/16/15

A gang of sophisticated hackers are said to have stolen a billion dollars from global banks in the last two years. Bloomberg's Stephen Engle reports on "First Up." ... Read more

The Missing Pages of the 9/11 Report
DailyBeast | Eleanor Clift | 01/12/15

A story that might otherwise have slipped away in a morass of conspiracy theories gained new life Wednesday when former Sen. Bob Graham headlined a press conference on Capitol Hill to press for the release of 28 pages redacted from a Senate report on the 9/11 attacks. And according to Graham, the lead author of the report, the pages "point a very strong finger at Saudi Arabia as the principal financier" of the 9/11 hijackers. ...

... The relatively few who have read the pages come away with varying levels of shock and surprise. Lynch said he was so blown away that the information was being kept from the public that he told the two room monitors he would be filing legislation. ... Read more
FoxNews | The Missing 28 Pages of the 911 Report (02/09/15) [2:39]

The Twenty-Eight Pages
NewYorker | Lawrence Wright | older, 09/09/14

On the bottom floor of the United States Capitol's new underground visitors' center, there is a secure room where the House Intelligence Committee maintains highly classified files. One of those files is titled "Finding, Discussion and Narrative Regarding Certain Sensitive National Security Matters." It is twenty-eight pages long. In 2002, the Administration of George W. Bush excised those pages from the report of the Joint Congressional Inquiry into the 9/11 attacks. President Bush said then that publication of that section of the report would damage American intelligence operations, revealing "sources and methods that would make it harder for us to win the war on terror."

"There's nothing in it about national security," Walter Jones, a Republican congressman from North Carolina who has read the missing pages, contends. "It's about the Bush Administration and its relationship with the Saudis." Stephen Lynch, a Massachusetts Democrat, told me that the document is "stunning in its clarity," and that it offers direct evidence of complicity on the part of certain Saudi individuals and entities in Al Qaeda's attack on America. "Those twenty-eight pages tell a story that has been completely removed from the 9/11 Report," Lynch maintains. Another congressman who has read the document said that the evidence of Saudi government support for the 9/11 hijacking is "very disturbing," and that "the real question is whether it was sanctioned at the royal-family level or beneath that, and whether these leads were followed through." Now, in a rare example of bipartisanship, Jones and Lynch have co-sponsored a resolution requesting that the Obama Administration declassify the pages. ... Read more

Islamic State: 'US failure to look into Saudi role in 9/11 has helped Isis'
independent.co.uk | Pathrick Cockburn | older, 09/14/14

Senator Graham, who chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that successive administrations in Washington had turned a blind eye to Saudi support for Sunni extremists. He added: "I believe that the failure to shine a full light on Saudi actions and particularly its involvement in 9/11 has contributed to the Saudi ability to continue to engage in actions that are damaging to the US -- and in particular their support for Isis."

... Senator Graham is not allowed to reveal what is in the chapter that was redacted, but other sources say that they are about connections between Saudi government officials and the 9/11 attacks. Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan, in their book The Eleventh Day: The Full Story of 9/11, quote a senior American official, who saw the 28 pages before they were excised, apparently on the initiative of President Bush, as saying: "If the 28 pages were to be made public, I have no question that the entire relationship with Saudi Arabia would change overnight." ... Read more

Fox host: 'We had to give up our freedom' during snow storm because climate change is a hoax
Raw Story | David Edwards | 02/11/15

The hosts of the Fox News program Outnumbered on Wednesday slammed the White House for saying that climate change affects more Americans than terrorism. Because according to one host, faulty "science" about a recent snow storm made Americans "give up our freedom."

... So on Tuesday, ABC News White House correspondent Jonathan Karl leveraged the recent tragic death of ISIS hostage Kayla Mueller to suggest that the president thought climate change was a bigger threat than terrorism. ... Read more

Republican 'Alternative' to Obamacare Really No Alternative at All
BillMoyers | Wendell Potter | 02/12/15

Gone would be the part of Obamacare that Americans tell pollsters they don't like: the requirement that they enroll in some kind of health plan or pay a penalty that grows more severe every year. In addition, the GOP would get rid of the provision mandating that employers with more than 50 workers offer subsidized coverage.

But the GOP would also eliminate the existing parts of the law protecting us from insurance company practices that used to keep millions of us in the ranks of the uninsured and underinsured -- and just an illness or accident away from financial ruin. ... Read more

Love in the Time of PTSD: Mac McClelland's Irritable Heart
MotherJones | Ian Gordon | 02/13/15

As Mother Jones' copy editor, I used to read the long, narrative features written by our former human rights reporter, Mac McClelland, many times over before they appeared in the magazine. They often wore me out, grammatically and emotionally, in the way that only intense work on difficult subjects can.

In her second book, Irritable Hearts: A PTSD Love Story (out February 24), McClelland returns to terrain she has covered before to great acclaim and great criticism: herself--specifically, her battle with PTSD following a reporting trip to post-earthquake Haiti in 2010. She unsparingly recounts her struggles to cope with the lingering effects of trauma: nightmares, sobbing fits, alcoholism. McClelland weaves these details into the telling of her own unexpected love story, the charming and jagged particulars of which left me, by the book's end, expectedly exhausted.

I recently spoke by phone with McClelland about how our knowledge of post-traumatic stress is evolving, what shocked her most about dealing with trauma, and how to define a badass: ... Read more

UMich Consumer Confidence Tumbles, Biggest Miss On Record
ZeroHedge | author | 02/13/15

After six month so soaring confidence, UMich consumer confidence tumbled from 11 year highs by the most since October 2013 in January (despite the low gas price stimulus), printing at 93.6, missing expectations of 98.1 by the most on record. It appears survey-based 'hope' is catching down to hard-date-based reality of spending habits as the sheer idiocy of the low-gas-price meme is destroyed once again. The drop was led by a plunge in Current Conditions from 109.3 to 103.1 and towards teh future, fewer now expect higher incomes and those who have favorable business expectations plunged from 70 to 58 with a surge in people expecting "bad times" over the next 12 months. ... Read more
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Leaders At Ukraine Peace Talks Reach Deal For Cease-Fire, Putin Says
AP & HP | Yuras Karmanau | 02/12/15

Guns will fall silent, heavy weapons will pull back from the front, and Ukraine will trade a broad autonomy for the east to get back control of its Russian border by the end of this year under a peace deal hammered out Thursday in all-night negotiations between Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany.

-- But --
... The deal, however, requires the Ukrainian parliament to give wide powers to the eastern regions as a condition for restoring Ukraine's full control over its border with Russia -- a provision certain to trigger heated political debate in Kiev. ... Read more

It's hard to avoid the feeling that the world is over-supplied...
magazine | author | date

One of these things is a non-financialized index of real transaction costs in the real world... and the other is an index of assets that are heavily financialized. It appears the artificially-inflated financialized 'boom' has busted...
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Robert Reich: "The Worst Trade Deal You've Never Heard Of"
BillMoyers | author | 02/09/15

As you probably have noticed, we've been trying to blow away some of the fog of mystery surrounding the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), that big trade agreement the United States is negotiating with Australia, Canada, Japan and eight other countries in the Pacific region. Secret, behind-closed-door meetings and the "fast track" up or down vote that the president wants from Congress are no way to treat the American public; the deal could have an enormous impact on all of us. ... Read more
Robert Reich: "The Worst Trade Deal You've Never Heard Of"(02/09/15) [2:26]

Researchers offer new insights into predicting future droughts in California
NOAA | author | 12/08/14

According to a new NOAA-sponsored study, natural oceanic and atmospheric patterns are the primary drivers behind California's ongoing drought. A high pressure ridge off the West Coast (typical of historic droughts) prevailed for three winters, blocking important wet season storms, with ocean surface temperature patterns making such a ridge much more likely. Typically, the winter season in California provides the state with a majority of its annual snow and rainfall that replenish water supplies for communities and ecosystems.

... This report builds on earlier studies, published in September in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, which found no conclusive evidence linking human-caused climate change and the California drought. The current study notes that the atmospheric ridge over the North Pacific, which has resulted in decreased rain and snowfall since 2011, is almost opposite to what models project to result from human-induced climate change. ... Read more
Causes and Predictability of the 2011-14 California Drought (.pdf) (article)

Dalai Lama - The Art of Happiness (audiobook) (01/08/15) [1:07:58]

Scientists Are Pretty Terrified About These Last-Minute Fixes to Global Warming
MotherJones | Tim McDonnell | 02/10/15

You might have heard of "geoengineering." It's the highly controversial theory that humans could slow, stop, or even reverse global warming by "hacking" the planet with epic technological feats that would alter the chemical composition of the atmosphere.

The idea has been around for a few decades, but there have been only a few actual experiments with it, most recently in 2012 when a rogue American millionaire dumped 220,000 pounds of iron sulphate into the Pacific Ocean. His goal was to create a massive, carbon-sucking plankton bloom. The effort succeeded, but was condemned by many scientists, the Canadian government, and the United Nations for violating international laws and for forging ahead with little regard for potential ecological fallout.

There are two basic categories of geoengineering, each with its own unique obstacles. The first involves pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and burying it underground, effectively reversing the man-made greenhouse gas pollution that causes global warming. (The plankton incident fits this category; the idea was that the plankton bloom would consume a bunch of CO2 and then take it to the ocean depths when the plankton died.) The second kind involves "seeding" the atmosphere with particles that would increase its reflectivity--what climate scientists call "albedo"--and send more sunlight back into space. ... ... Read more
Geoengineering And The Collapse Of Earth 2014 (02/05/14) [1:17:19]
Geoengineering Watch.org website

Obama Sends Congress Draft War Authorization
HP | Jennifer Bendery | 02/11/15

President Barack Obama on Wednesday formally asked Congress for new war authority to fight Islamic State militants.

Obama's request came in the form of a new Authorization for the Use of Military Force. It's a retroactive request: Congress is receiving the document six months after the U.S. began bombing the Islamic State group, also called ISIS. The president has said he believes he already has the authority to go after the group -- citing a sweeping 2001 AUMF as his legal grounds to act unilaterally -- but welcomes congressional signoff. Some lawmakers don't think he currently has the authority ... Read more

New England To See More Snow Storms
AP & HP | Mark Preatt | 02/11/15

As New Englanders dug out from 2 more feet of snow Tuesday, there appeared to be no relief in sight. Meteorologists predict more snow is on the way Thursday and perhaps this weekend in the snow-choked region.

... After a brief respite Wednesday, forecasters say much of New England is on track to get more snow Thursday and into the Friday morning commute, with 3 inches expected in Boston and 6 or more south of the city. A much larger storm could dump appreciably higher amounts Sunday into Monday, but meteorologists said it was still too early to say how much. ... Read more

The Euro's Exponential Decay
ZeroHedge | author | 02/11/15

I don't know about you, but I'm having a ball reading up on the preparations for the Wednesday/Thursday talks between Greece and .. well, everybody else. German FinMin Schäuble proudly declares that it's do what I tell you or you're finished, Greek FinMin Varoufakis says prepare for a clash. Greek advisors Lazard say a $100 billion debt reduction sounds reasonable, and some anonymous EU official says Lazard are incompetent and counterproductive (not smart, that).

Now what do they really think?
There's nothing good left from the initial idea that gave birth to the EU. It's devolved into something utterly ugly, in which fat Germans driving their Mercs and Beamers down the autobahn can yell at their car stereos that those lazy Greeks must pay their due - which stems from Merkel et al. bailing out Deutsche Bank's insanely outsized derivatives portfolios. The whole thing is so morally bankrupt, it's really insane that we're still trying to have a serious discussion about it. The whole thing, the entire global banking system, is as morally bankrupt as it is financially. So far, all the EU has (anyone notice how silent the IMF has been?) is hubris, bluster and chest-thumping. They play politicians, but Syriza plays real life. ... Read more

David Axelrod Describes The No Good, Very Bad Minefield Of Obama's Early Presidency
HP | Sam Stein | 02/10/15

Barack Obama, transitioning from presidential campaign to the White House in the fall of 2008, was confronted with what could be described as a steaming pile of bad economic news. The stock market was collapsing, credit markets were frozen and hundreds of thousands of jobs were being lost every month. "Well," the soon-to-be president told his incoming economic advisers. "It's too late to ask for a recount." ...

...Those first months of the Obama presidency are recounted in behind-the-scenes detail in Axelrod's new book, Believer: My Forty Years in Politics, which goes on sale Tuesday. The 509-page account of Axelrod's career in news and politics also illuminates the frustrations, nuances and annoyances that presidents and members of their staffs face in office. ...

... Obama's first problem upon winning the election, as Axelrod recounts, was putting together a staff. Whether out of false modesty, stubbornness or an aversion to a terribly stressful job, many of Obama's cabinet picks initially turned him down. ... Read more

A New Generation of Data Requires Next-Generation "Computer" Systems
WiredMagazine | Ross Mauri | older, 01/14/15

... There is no question that demand for centralized data processing is going through the stratosphere. We're at the early stages of what analyst firm IDC calls the third platform, and what Gartner Group calls the "nexus of forces" sweeping the industry. The so-called first platform was the mainframe era, running from the 1960s to 1980s. The second began with the personal computer and ran through the Internet era, until the rise of the smart phone around 2007. The third platform is evolving in response to the unprecedented demands created by the combination of mobility, social media, cloud computing, and data from sources that never before generated data, like Fitbits or sensors in cars or coffee machines. ...

... The third platform requirements are driving more of life and business online, spiking up electronic events and information. Cyber Monday mobile traffic accounted for 41.2 percent of all online traffic, up 30.1 percent over 2013, according to the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark. A new report from Juniper Research finds that mobile phone and tablet users will make 195 billion mobile commerce transactions annually by 2019, up from 72 billion this year, or about 197 million transactions per day. ... Read more

The Massive Work That Goes Into Remodeling an Old Aircraft Carrier
WiredMagazine | Katherine Kornei | 02/03/15

Aircraft carriers are complicated. They're floating cities and mobile airbases, housing thousands of sailors and airmen, tens of aircraft, multiple nuclear reactors, and their own hospitals, barbershops, chapels, and zip codes. Carriers support defense and humanitarian efforts worldwide and can travel upwards of 100,000 nautical miles each year. Each United States aircraft carrier -- there are 10 in active service -- is designed to last 50 years. But the only way they get there is with a massive remodeling effort conducted once in the middle of its lifespan to update its technology and infrastructure.

Because "remodeling" is a term more often applied to home kitchens and bathrooms, the multi-year, multi-billion dollar process of modernizing the ship and readying it for at least two more decades of service is called Refueling Complex Overhaul (RCOH). ... Read more

Bin Laden Already Dead
FoxNews | author | older, 12/26/01

Usama bin Laden has died a peaceful death due to an untreated lung complication, the Pakistan Observer reported, citing a Taliban leader who allegedly attended the funeral of the Al Qaeda leader.

Bin Laden, according to the source, was suffering from a serious lung complication and succumbed to the disease in mid-December, in the vicinity of the Tora Bora mountains. The source claimed that bin Laden was laid to rest honorably in his last abode and his grave was made as per his Wahabi belief. About 30 close associates of bin Laden in Al Qaeda, including his most trusted and personal bodyguards, his family members and some "Taliban friends," attended the funeral rites. A volley of bullets was also fired to pay final tribute to the "great leader." ... Read more

The United States' Enormous Trade Deficits Are Widening. Why Aren't We Fixing Our Failed Policies?
BillMoyers | Dave Johnson | 02/07/15

... The US has run massive trade deficits for decades since the Wall Street-driven "free trade" ideology came to dominate. "Free trade" de-industrialization has cost our country millions of jobs, tens of thousands of factories and entire industries. It has pushed down wages and greatly increased inequality. Now the Obama administration is doubling down, pushing a vast "NAFTA-style" trade agreement and asking Congress to pass a rigged "fast track" process to pre-approve it.

For December, the US Census Bureau reported Thursday that the December trade deficit jumped $6.8 billion (17.1 percent) to $46.6 billion, the largest since November 2012 and the biggest percentage increase since July 2009. Exports fell $1.5 billion to $194.9 billion (with a chunk of our exports being oil and gas and other raw materials, not manufactured, finished goods). Imports rose $5.3 billion to $241.4 billion.

For all of 2014, the trade deficit increased $28.7 billion (6 percent) to $505 billion. There was a $6.5 billion (2.9 percent) increase in the services trade surplus and a $35.2 billion (5.0 percent) increase in the goods trade deficit. Note that exports increased, but imports increased more. Exports were $2,345.4 billion, up $65.2 billion or 2.9 percent. Imports were $2,850.5 billion, up $93.9 billion or 3.4 percent. ... Read more

The Shame of US Journalism Is the Destruction of Iraq, Not Fake Helicopter Stories
CommonDreams | Christian Christensen | 02/05/15

The news that NBC's Brian Williams was not, in fact, on a helicopter in 2003 that came under fire from an Iraqi Rocket-Propelled Grenade (RPG) should come as a surprise to noone. Williams had repeated the lie on several occasions over the course of a decade until a veteran, who was on the actual helicopter that was attacked, had enough of Williams' war porn and called the TV host out on Facebook. In a quite pathetic effort to cover his tracks, the anchor--who makes in excess of $10 million per year-- claimed that his fairy tale was, in fact, "a bungled attempt by me to thank one special veteran and by extension our brave military men and women" who had served in Iraq. Twelve years, it seems, is enough time for Williams to confuse being on a helicopter that came under fire from an RPG with being on a helicopter that did not.

Given that Brian Williams works for NBC, his participation in the construction of a piece of fiction during the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq is apt. US network news, together with outlets such as CNN, aggressively cheer-led an invasion predicated on a massive falsehood: the Iraqi possession of WMD. What is jarring, however, is the fact that Williams' sad attempt to inject himself into the fabric of the violence is getting more ink and airplay than the non-existence of WMD did back in the early-to-mid 2000s: a lie that provided the justification for a military action that has taken the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians. .... Read more

For The First Time Ever, Central Banks Will Monetize More Than 100% Of Global Sovereign Debt
ZeroHedge | author | 02/09/15

For the first time ever, "developed" central banks are now monetizing more than 100% of global sovereign debt issuance! ... Read more
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Yes, ISIS Burned a Man Alive: White Americans Did the Same Thing to Thousands of Black People
AlterNet | Chauncey DeVega | 02/05/15

ISIS burned Muadh al Kasasbeh, a captured Jordian fighter pilot, to death. They doused him with an accelerant. His captors set him on fire. Muadh al Kasasbeh desperately tried to put out the flames. ISIS recorded Muadh al Kasasbeh's immolation, produced a video designed to intimidate their enemies, and then circulated it online. ...

... For almost a century, the United States practiced a unique cultural ritual that was as least as gruesome as the "medieval" punishments meted out by ISIS against its foes. What is now known as "spectacular lynching" involved the ceremonial torture, murder--and burning alive--of black Americans by whites. Like ISIS's use of digital media to circulate images of the torturous death of Muadh al Kasasbeh by fire, the spectacular lynchings of the black body were shared via postcards and other media. ... Read more

Welcome to SubTropolis: The Massive Business Complex Buried Under Kansas City
Bloomberg | author | 02/04/15

More than 1,000 people spend their workdays in SubTropolis, an industrial park housed in an excavated mine the size of 140 football fields

About 10 percent of Kansas City's commercial real estate is underground, says Ora Reynolds, president of SubTropolis landlord Hunt Midwest. Landlords have made a cottage industry out of underground industrial space, thanks to rock formations near the Missouri River that allow trucks to drive into the old mines instead of tenants needing to use elevators to get things in and out.

The underground industrial park known as SubTroplis opened for business in 1964 in an excavated mine below Kansas City, Mo., attracting tenants with the lure of lower energy costs and cheap rents. The walls, carved out of 270-million-year-old limestone deposits, help keep humidity low and temperatures at a constant 68 degrees, eliminating the need for air conditioning or heating. Tenants have reported saving as much as 70 percent on their energy bills, says Ora Reynolds, president of SubTropolis landlord Hunt Midwest. Rents run about $2.25 per square foot, about half the going rate on the surface. "It's also a question of sustainability," says Joe Paris, vice president at Paris Brothers, a specialty foods packager that employs about 200 workers underground. In addition to Paris Brothers, 51 tenants have rented nearly 6 million square feet of space. Others include LightEdge Solutions, a cloud computing company that uses the mild climate to help cool servers, and an underground archive that contains the original film reels to Gone with the Wind and Wizard of Oz. ... Read more

Here's The Biggest Problem With Obama's New Trade Push TPP
HP | Zach Carter | 02/05/15

In trying to win support for a controversial new trade pact in Asia, President Barack Obama has been offering one major reason why the deal is so important: to curb the economic power of China. "As we speak, China wants to write the rules for the world's fastest-growing region," Obama said during his State of the Union address last month. "That would put our workers and our businesses at a disadvantage. Why would we let that happen? We should write those rules. We should level the playing field."

All But Two TV News Shows Are Ignoring Historic Trade Negotiations
BillMoyers | Brian Powell | 02/05/15

TPP a Top Priority for Obama, Business Groups, and GOP Leadership

The Trade Agreement you have never heard about. ... Read more
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RadioShack files for bankruptcy; Sprint to take over some stores
Reuters | Nick Brown | 02/05/15

Electronics retailer RadioShack Corp (RSHC.PK) filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection on Thursday and said it had a deal in place to sell as many as 2,400 stores to an affiliate of hedge fund Standard General, its lender and largest shareholder. Wireless company Sprint Corp (S.N) would operate as many as 1,750 of those stores under an agreement with Standard General, Sprint said separately. ... Read more

Stocks, Bond Yields, & The Dollar Surge On "Good News Is Good News" Jobs Report
ZeroHedge | author | 02/06/15

It would appear "good news is good news" this morning as better-than-expected payrolls data (but the unemployment rate rose so they'll need to spin that) has sent stocks higher, bond yields higher-er, and the US Dollar higher-est. PMs are weaker, crude is sideways. EURUSD is back under 1.14 as the week's volatility continues. ... Read more

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: I would overturn supreme court's Citizens United ruling
TheGuardian | Amanda Holpuch | 02/04/15

If Ruth Bader Ginsburg could overturn any of the decisions made by America's highest court in the past 10 years, it would be the sweeping 2010 decision that expanded corporate personhood.

While answering questions at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, the supreme court justice said that if she had to pick one case to undo, it would be the Citizens United decision. "I think our system is being polluted by money," Ginsburg said. ... Read more

Difference Between US Manufacturing Workers And Waiters Drops To A Record Low
ZeroHedge | author | 02/06/15

While one of the much trumpeted highlights of today's jobs report was the 0.5% jump in average hourly earnings, the reality as even Goldman's Jan Hatzius is quick to note, is that on an annual basis, wage growth is still stuck near the lowest levels recorded since the Great Financial Crisis. ... Read more
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The Kissinger primary
Politico | Michael Crowley | 02/04/15

GOP hopefuls still line up to kiss the ring of the 91-year-old statesman.

You're a Republican thinking of running for president. It's a dangerous world, and your foreign policy credentials are a little thin. Time to see Henry Kissinger. Scott Walker did it. So did Marco Rubio and Chris Christie. Rick Perry paid a visit in September -- he even tweeted a photo to prove it.

At 91 years old, the former secretary of state, national security adviser and intellectual-cum-celebrity has come to occupy a unique place in the foreign policy firmament. Though some historians blame him for countless deaths in places like Vietnam, Cambodia and Bangladesh, Kissinger is more revered than ever in Washington. He has become a Yoda-like figure, bestowing credibility and a statesman's aura to politicians of both parties, including ones who may not actually share his worldview. ... Read more

Pre-9/11 Ties Haunt Saudis as New Accusations Surface
NYTimes | Ben Hubbard | 02/04/15

During the 1980s and '90s, the historic alliance between the wealthy monarchy of Saudi Arabia and the country's powerful clerics emerged as the major financier of international jihad, channeling tens of millions of dollars to Muslim fighters in Afghanistan, Bosnia and elsewhere. Among the project's major patrons was Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, who last month became Saudi Arabia's king.

Some of those fighters later formed Al Qaeda, which declared war on the United States and later mounted major attacks inside Saudi Arabia as well. In the past decade, according to officials of both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, the Saudi government has become a valuable partner against terrorism, battling Al Qaeda at home and last year joining the American-led coalition against the extremists of the Islamic State. ... Read more

Paul Ryan's First Tax Legislation Adds Nearly $100 Billion To Deficit
HP| Michael McAuliff | 02/04/15

Ryan, a deficit hawk during his time as the chairman of the Budget Committee for the previous six years, made his fame proposing budgets that aimed to dramatically cut domestic spending and balance the budget within a decade.

But in his first legislative act as head of the committee that will be central to expected tax reform efforts over the next two years, Ryan pushed through a package of seven tax cut bills that would add $93.5 billion to the deficit in the next decade. The largest, a measure that lets small business write off expenses more quickly, would add $77 billion to the deficit. ... Read more

Global Trade Deal Is a 'Corporate Coup d'Etat'
AlterNet | Jim Hightower | 02/04/15

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would allow an unprecedented level of global corporate rule over Americans.

This can't be, you say? But it is. Unbeknownst to most Americans, when the U.S. joined the World Trade Organization in 1999, we surrendered a big chunk of our sovereignty to this corporate court.

... Here's what's happening: (1) American consumers have a basic right to know where their meat comes from, but (2) that right has been pitted against American corn flakes and ketchup in a "trade war" that (3) is being forced upon us by a handful of corporations that produce, slaughter, butcher and package meat outside of our country but (4) are allowed under trade agreements to challenge a U.S. law that had been duly enacted for the people inside our country, so (5) America was sued in an obscure, autocratic, private organization created by and for corporate interests and headquartered in Switzerland. Then (6) that corporate "court" did indeed rule that the "profit right" of foreign meat packers is superior to our people's basic right of self-determination. ... Read more

Another Conspiracy Theory Becomes Fact: The Entire Oil Collapse Is All About Crushing Russian Control Over Syria
ZeroHedge | author | 02/04/15

While the markets are still debating whether the price of oil is more impacted by the excess pumping of crude here, or the lack of demand there, or if it is all just a mechanical squeeze by momentum-chasing HFT algos who also know to buy in the milliseconds before 2:30pm, we bring readers' attention back to what several months ago was debunked as a deep conspiracy theory.

Back then we wrote about a certain visit by John Kerry to Saudi Arabia, on September 11 of all days, to negotiate a secret deal with the now late King Abdullah so as to get a "green light" in order "to launch its airstrikes against ISIS, or rather, parts of Iraq and Syria. And, not surprising, it is once again Assad whose fate was the bargaining chip to get the Saudis on the US' side, because in order to launch the incursion into Syrian sovereign territory, it "took months of behind-the-scenes work by the U.S. and Arab leaders, who agreed on the need to cooperate against Islamic State, but not how or when. The process gave the Saudis leverage to extract a fresh U.S. commitment to beef up training for rebels fighting Mr. Assad, whose demise the Saudis still see as a top priority." ... Read more

9/11 Conspirator Moussaoui Says Saudi Royals Backed al Qaeda
Reuters | Nate Raymond | 02/04/15

A former al Qaeda operative imprisoned for life for his role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has told lawyers for victims of the attacks that members of the Saudi royal family supported the Islamic militant group.

Zacarias Moussaoui made the statements in testimony filed in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday by lawyers for attack victims who accuse Saudi Arabia in a suit of providing material support to al Qaeda. ... Read more

Oil companies in drought-ravaged California have, for years, pumped wastewater from their operations into aquifers that had been clean enough for people to drink.
SFGate.com | David Baker | 02/01/15

Oil companies in drought-ravaged California have, for years, pumped wastewater from their operations into aquifers that had been clean enough for people to drink. They did it with explicit permission from state regulators, who were supposed to protect the increasingly strained groundwater supplies from contamination." ... Read more

PBS | Jobs, land languish in California drought in race for water (12/12/14) [9:13]

Democrats might skip Benjamin Netanyahu speech
Politico | Edward-Isaac Dovere | 02/03/15

Vice President Joe Biden won't commit to attending Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to a joint meeting of Congress next month. He's not the only one. Dozens of House Democrats are privately threatening to skip the March 3 address, according to lawmakers and aides, in what's become the lowest point of a relationship between the Israeli prime minister and President Barack Obama that's never been good. ... Read more

Chris Christie Shows Fondness for Luxury Benefits When Others Pay the Bill
NYTimes | Kate Zernike | 02/02/15

In 2012, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and his family enjoyed traveling in a luxurious private jet furnished by Sheldon Adelson, who was opposing on-line gambling legislation that was before the governor at the time, and partied with Bono during a lavish, long weekend in Jordan. They stayed in hotel rooms that cost $30,000. Jordan's King Abdullah picked up the tab. These are just a couple of examples from a NYT report by Kate Zernike and Michael Barbaro, who write that these weren't "the first or last time that Mr. Christie's desire for celebrity access and expensive trips has raised eyebrows." ... Read more

Staples Buys Office Depot For $6 Billion
AP & HP | author | 02/04/15

The rapidly changing tools of the work place and the way we shop has led to another major consolidation in the retail office supply business as Staples announced the $6 billion acquisition of rival Office Depot. The cash-and-stock deal deal comes a little more than a year after Office Depot combined with OfficeMax, with too many stores fighting for too few sales. ... Read more

Group Think Is Putting the US on the Precipice of Dangerous Conflict with Russia
AlterNet | Robert Parry / Consortium News | 02/02/15

If you wonder how the lethal "group think" on Iraq took shape in 2002, you might want to study what's happening today with Ukraine. A misguided consensus has grabbed hold of Official Washington and has pulled in everyone who "matters" and tossed out almost anyone who disagrees.

Part of the problem, in both cases, has been that neocon propagandists understand that in the modern American media the personal is the political, that is, you don't deal with the larger context of a dispute, you make it about some easily demonized figure. So, instead of understanding the complexities of Iraq, you focus on the unsavory Saddam Hussein. ...

... So, American skeptics were silenced and the U.S. government got to do what it wanted without serious debate. In Iraq, for instance, the American people would have benefited from a thorough airing of the complexities of Iraqi society -- such as the sectarian divide between Sunni and Shiite -- and the potential risks of invading under the dubious rationale of WMD ... Read more

The Golden Age Of Black Ops: US Special Forces Have Already Deployed To 105 Nations This Year
ZeroHedge | author | 02/03/15

During the fiscal year that ended on September 30, 2014, U.S. Special Operations forces (SOF) deployed to 133 countries - roughly 70% of the nations on the planet - according to Lieutenant Colonel Robert Bockholt, a public affairs officer with U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM). And this year could be a record-breaker, just 66 days into fiscal 2015 - America's most elite troops had already set foot in 105 nations, approximately 80% of 2014's total. Despite its massive scale and scope, this secret global war across much of the planet is unknown to most Americans..."We want to be everywhere," said Votel at Geolnt. ...

... As a result of McRaven's push to create "a Global SOF network of like-minded interagency allies and partners," Special Operations liaison officers, or SOLOs, are now embedded in 14 key U.S. embassies to assist in advising the special forces of various allied nations. Already operating in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, El Salvador, France, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Poland, Peru, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, the SOLO program is poised,according to Votel, to expand to 40 countries by 2019. The command, and especially JSOC, has also forged close ties with the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the National Security Agency, among others. ... Read more

Are Elites Finally Paying Attention to How Bad Inequality Is?
AlterNet.org | Robert Kuttner / The American Prospect | 01/30/15

Inequality has at last arrived as the issue that mainstream politicians can't ignore. You see it in Obama's better-late-than-never embrace of "middle-class economics" as the signature theme in his State of the Union address; and in a surprisingly leftish report of a commission co-chaired by former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. ... Read more
Report of the Commission on Inclusive Prosperity (pdf)
Center for American Progress website

America Quietly Robs Its Elderly
RollingStones | Matt Taibbi | 01/29/14

That's the scene where Leo's whacked-out boss talks about the three keys to success on Wall Street: jerking off, cocaine and "revolutions," i.e. keeping the client on the investment Ferris wheel indefinitely, while you burn him for fees. On and on it goes, the park is open, 24/7, 365 days a year... "He thinks he's getting rich, which he is, on paper," McConaughy says. "But you and I are making cold hard cash -- on commission, motherfucker!"

... A graphic demonstration of that scene, and the financial-services industry ethos it describes, just hit the news in the form of a wild new report on the wide-scale scamming of ordinary investors. The "Ferris wheel" of conflicted payments, unnecessary fees and other shady practices apparently beats retirees for up to $17 billion a year, according to an internal White House memorandum. ... Read more
Wolf of Wall St: | Coked-out Wild Man broker Matthew McConaughey plying DiCaprio w/ advice [4:58]

Ukraine rebel leader Zakharchenko 'wants 100,000 men'
BBC News | author | 02/02/15

Pro-Russian separatist leader Alexander Zakharchenko says rebels aim to boost their forces to 100,000, as fighting with Ukraine's military intensifies.

Meanwhile: Michael Gordon and Eric Schmitt report for the NYT that senior officials in the Obama administration are leaning toward sending arms to bolster Ukrainian government forces. ... Read more
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Intelligence Test
NYtimes | James Bamford | older, 08/20/2006

The 9/11 Commission, chaired by Thomas H. Kean and Lee H. Hamilton. Now Kean, a former governor of New Jersey, and Hamilton, a former congressman from Indiana, have written "Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission."

The C.I.A.'s unit set up to find him, code-named "Alec Station," was recently, and quietly, disbanded after 10 years of failure. Alec Station chief Michael Scheuer warned that American foreign policy in the region was playing directly into his hands. "It validated so much of what he has said and told Muslims: that the Americans want Arab oil; that the Americans will destroy any Muslim regime that appears to be powerful; the Americans will destroy any country that appears to be a threat to the Israelis; and they're willing to invade any Muslim country if it suits their interests." ...

... In public, George W. Bush was a president deeply concerned about getting to the bottom of the most deadly attack on American soil in the country's history. But in private, he ordered his lawyer to throw up every roadblock possible. In shirtsleeves behind the coffee table of his second-floor West Wing office, Gonzales spoke to the members of the commission as if they were bringing an insurance claim. "He never referred to the president by name or title," Kean and Hamilton report, "but rather always said 'client' -- 'Let me take this back to my client,' or 'I've got to protect my client.'" ... Read more

Behind Every Rock, a Bush
WashingtonPost | author | older, 01/11/09

The Bush Dynasty, the Powerful Forces That Put It in the White House, and What Their Influence Means for America

Halfway through the concluding chapter of Family of Secrets, Russ Baker mentions, not entirely modestly, that when a colleague heard some of the things he would be disclosing in his almost 600-page book about the Bush family and its connections to John F. Kennedy's assassination, Watergate and many other pivotal events, the colleague "suggested, only half in jest, that the book be called 'Everything You Thought You Knew Is Wrong.' " ... Read more
RT | Family of secrets revealed Little known facts about the Bush dynasty (11/06/14) [9:12]

The Worst Trade Deal You've Never Heard Of
HP | Robert Reich | 01/31/15

The Trans-Pacific Partnership, now headed to Congress, is a product of big corporations and Wall Street, seeking to circumvent regulations protecting workers, consumers, and the environment. Watch this video, and say "no" to fast-tracking this bad deal for the vast majority of Americans. ... Read more

TPP: The Worst Trade Deal You've Never Heard Of (current) [2:26]

Managing a Nightmare: How the CIA Watched Over the Destruction of Gary Webb
The Intercept | Ryan Devereaux | 09/25/14

Eighteen years after it was published, "Dark Alliance," the San Jose Mercury News's bombshell investigation into links between the cocaine trade, Nicaragua's Contra rebels, and African American neighborhoods in California, remains one of the most explosive and controversial exposés in American journalism. ... Read more