Month: December 2012

US To Officially Go Over The Fiscal Cliff

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– US To Officially Go Over The Fiscal Cliff (ZeroHedge, Dec 31, 2012):

As we forecast back in November, it is now official that the House will not vote on any deal out of the Senate, assuming there is one which there won’t be of course, later today, which means America will officially slide off the Fiscal Cliff. And now cue everyone being very hopeful and optimistic a deal will get done momentarily, if not sooner, in 2013. Of course, we all know just how far optimism takes America’s dysfunctional Congress. The biggest irony in all of this is that the only winners today were the much hated “1%”-ers, whose taxes may or may not go up, who just got to book major year end profits on this last minute ramp. The remainder of America’s population can quietly look forward to 2013 with “hope” and “optimism” that in 2013 Congress will finally stop being dysfunctional. Good luck. Oh, and before we forget, America just breached its debt ceiling: now the pillaging of various government retirement funds begins.

Finally, since the US is now officially over the cliff, does this mean that Ben Bernanke can finally get to work? Recall his words:

“if the economy actually went off the fiscal cliff, our assessment, the CBO’s assessment, outside forecasters, all think that that would have very significant adverse effects on the economy and on the unemployment rate. And so, on the margin, we would try to do what we could. We would perhaps increase a bit.”

Is it time to increase QE just “a bit” then?

Ron Paul’s New Year’s Message To Congress: Follow The Constitution In 2013 – ‘End Unconstitutional Wars’ – ‘Stop Trying To Legislate Your Ideas Of Fairness’ – ‘Protect Property Rights’ – ‘Protect The Individual’

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– Ron Paul’s New Year’s Message to Congress: Follow the Constitution (Ron Paul , Dec 30, 2012):


YouTube Added: 30.12.2012

by Ron Paul

As I prepare to retire from Congress I’d like to suggest a few New Year’s resolutions for my colleagues to consider. For the sake of liberty, peace and prosperity I certainly hope more members of Congress consider the strict libertarian-constitutional approach to government in 2013.

In just a few days, Congress will solemnly swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. They should read Article 1 Section 8 and the Bill of Rights before taking such a serious oath. Most legislation violates key provisions of the Constitution in very basic ways, and if members can’t bring themselves to say “no” in the face of pressure from the special interests, they have broken trust with their constituents and violated their oath. Congress does not exist to serve the special interests. It exists to protect the rule of law.

I also urge my colleagues to end unconstitutional wars overseas. Stop the drone strikes. Stop the covert activities and the meddling in the internal affairs of other nations. Strive to observe good faith and justice towards all nations, as George Washington admonished. We are only making more enemies, wasting lives and bankrupting ourselves with the neoconservative interventionist mindset that endorses preemptive war that now dominates both parties.

All foreign aid should end, which is blatantly unconstitutional. While it may be a relatively small part of our federal budget, for many countries it is a large part of theirs and it creates perverse incentives for both our friends and enemies. There is no way members of Congress can know or understand the political, economic, legal and social realities in the many nations to which they send taxpayers’ dollars.

Congress needs to stop accumulating more debt. U.S. debt monetized by the Federal Reserve is the true threat to our national security. Revisiting the parameters of Article 1 Section 8 would be a good start.

Congress should resolve to respect personal liberty and free markets. Learn more about the free market and how it regulates commerce and produces greater prosperity ever than any legislation or regulation.

Understand that economic freedom is freedom. Resolve not to get in the way of voluntary contracts between consenting adults. Stop bailing out failed yet politically connected companies and industries. Stop forcing people to engage in commerce when they don’t want to, and stop prohibiting them from buying and selling when they want to. Stop trying to legislate your ideas of fairness. Protect property rights. Protect the individual. That is enough.

There are many more resolutions I would like to see my colleagues in Congress adopt, but respect for the Constitution and the oath of office should be at the core of every single member’s of Congress due in 2013.

$1 Trillion Obamacare Tax Hike Hitting On Jan. 1, 2013

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– $1 Trillion Obamacare Tax Hike Hitting on Jan. 1 (Americans For Tax Reform , Dec 28, 2012):

??On January 1, regardless of the outcome of fiscal cliff negotiations, Americans will be hit with a $1 trillion Obamacare tax hike.

Obamacare contains twenty new or higher taxes. Five of the taxes hit for the first time on January 1.  In total, Americans face a net $1 trillion tax hike for the years 2013-2022, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The five major Obamacare taxes taking effect on January 1 are as follows:

Read more$1 Trillion Obamacare Tax Hike Hitting On Jan. 1, 2013

Pravda: Americans Never Give Up Your Guns!

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– Americans never give up your guns (Pravda, Dec 28, 2012):

These days, there are few few things to admire about the socialist, bankrupt and culturally degenerating USA, but at least so far, one thing remains: the right to bare arms and use deadly force to defend one’s self and possessions.

This will probably come as a total shock to most of my Western readers, but at one point, Russia was one of the most heavily armed societies on earth. This was, of course, when we were free under the Tsar. Weapons, from swords and spears to pistols, rifles and shotguns were everywhere, common items. People carried them concealed, they carried them holstered. Fighting knives were a prominent part of many traditional attires and those little tubes criss crossing on the costumes of Cossacks and various Caucasian peoples? Well those are bullet holders for rifles.

Various armies, such as the Poles, during the ????? (Times of Troubles), or Napoleon, or the Germans even as the Tsarist state collapsed under the weight of WW1 and Wall Street monies, found that holding Russian lands was much much harder than taking them and taking was no easy walk in the park but a blood bath all its own. In holding, one faced an extremely well armed and aggressive population Hell bent on exterminating or driving out the aggressor.

This well armed population was what allowed the various White factions to rise up, no matter how disorganized politically and militarily they were in 1918 and wage a savage civil war against the Reds. It should be noted that many of these armies were armed peasants, villagers, farmers and merchants, protecting their own. If it had not been for Washington’s clandestine support of and for the Reds, history would have gone quite differently.

Read morePravda: Americans Never Give Up Your Guns!

Happy New Year Middle Class: The Fiscal Cliff Is Going To Rip You To Shreds

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– Happy New Year Middle Class: The Fiscal Cliff Is Going To Rip You To Shreds (Economic Collapse, Dec 30, 2012):

The middle class has quite a gift welcoming them as the calendar flips over to 2013.  Their payroll taxes are going to go up, their income taxes are going to go up, and approximately 28 million households are going to be hit with a huge, unexpected AMT tax bill on their 2012 earnings.  So happy New Year middle class!  You are about to be ripped to shreds.  In addition to the tax increases that I just mentioned, approximately two million unemployed Americans will instantly lose their extended unemployment benefits when 2013 begins, and new Obamacare tax hikes which will cost American taxpayers about a trillion dollars over the next decade will start to go into effect.  If Congress is not able to come to some sort of a deal, all middle class families in America will be sending thousands more dollars to Uncle Sam next year than they were previously.  And considering the fact that the middle class is already steadily shrinking and that the U.S. economy is already in an advanced state of decline, that is not good news.  You would think that both major political parties would want to do something to keep the middle class from being hit with this kind of tax sledgehammer.  Unfortunately, at this point it appears that our “leaders” in Washington D.C. are incapable of getting anything done.  So get ready for much smaller paychecks and much larger tax bills.  What is coming is not going to be pleasant.

So what happened?

Read moreHappy New Year Middle Class: The Fiscal Cliff Is Going To Rip You To Shreds

France Seeks Other Ways To Impose Top Income-Tax Rate Of 75%

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Before:

– French Constitutional Court Strikes Down 75% Millionaire Tax, Finds It ‘Unfair’

So Obelix will not return:

– Depardieu ‘Shrugged’ – Open Letter To French PM Jean-Marc Ayrault (From Gerard Depardieu)

– Gerard Depardieu Is Latest Refugee From French Millionaire Tax, Escapes To Belgium

– France Seeks New Path to High Tax (Wall Street Journal, Dec 31, 2012):

PARIS—The government of Socialist President François Hollande on Sunday said it would consider other ways of imposing a top income-tax rate of 75% on high-wealth individuals after the country’s top constitutional authority scrapped the plan.

The Constitutional Council’s decision is a political blow to Mr. Hollande, who had vowed to shift to the rich the burden of efforts to improve the country’s finances.

Read moreFrance Seeks Other Ways To Impose Top Income-Tax Rate Of 75%

Unthinkable Cuts Almost A Reality: Pentagon Plans To Notify 800,000 Employees That They Could Be Forced To Take Several Weeks Of Unpaid Leave In 2013

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– Unthinkable Cuts Almost a Reality (Wall Street Journal, Dec 31, 2012):

Mandatory federal spending cuts designed to be prohibitively drastic will become a reality on Wednesday if negotiators remain unable to reach an agreement to avert the reductions.

The cuts would hit a broad array of departments and programs, from the military’s purchase of mine-resistant vehicles to government food inspections. They would slash funding for Secret Service details and cut rental housing subsidies in rural areas.

Illustrating the gravity of the cuts, the Pentagon plans to notify 800,000 civilian employees that they could be forced to take several weeks of unpaid leave in 2013 if a deal isn’t struck, and other agencies are likely to follow suit.

Read moreUnthinkable Cuts Almost A Reality: Pentagon Plans To Notify 800,000 Employees That They Could Be Forced To Take Several Weeks Of Unpaid Leave In 2013

Pentagon To ‘Temporarily’ Fire 800,000 Employees If No Cliff Deal; Chaos To Ensue

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– Pentagon To “Temporarily” Fire 800,000 If No Cliff Deal; Chaos To Ensue (ZeroHedge, Dec 31, 2012):

Just in case the stakes in the final episode of the 2012 season of the “Fiscal Cliff” soap opera, and a 30 second advertising block was not selling for a record amount, here comes the Pentagon with a warning that it may fire almost 1 million civillians their services will be required but unpaid if there is no Cliff deal. From the WSJ: “Mandatory federal spending cuts designed to be prohibitively drastic will become a reality on Wednesday if negotiators remain unable to reach an agreement to avert the reductions. Illustrating the gravity of the cuts, the Pentagon plans to notify 800,000 civilian employees that they could be forced to take several weeks of unpaid leave in 2013 if a deal isn’t struck, and other agencies are likely to follow suit. The cuts, which members of both parties have referred to as a “meat ax,” are the product of a hastily designed 2011 law that required $110 billion in annual spending reductions over nine years to reduce the deficit. Their severity, representing close to 10% of annually appropriated spending, was intended to force Democrats and Republicans to come together on a broader package of deficit-reduction measures, which would replace the cuts. That effort failed, raising the prospect of the cuts’ taking place.”

It gets worse now that it turns out absolutely nobody is prepared for precisely the contingency America is now facing:

Complicating matters, the White House hasn’t informed federal agencies or contractors of precisely how the cuts might be administered, leading to confusion about the potential impact. Several federal agencies referred questions about the cuts to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget. OMB didn’t respond to questions.

Read morePentagon To ‘Temporarily’ Fire 800,000 Employees If No Cliff Deal; Chaos To Ensue

TEPCO Requests 3.2 Trillion Yen For Fukushima Compensation

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– Tepco requested additional financial support of 697 billion yen for the Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund (Fukushima Diary, Dec 27, 2012):

Tepco has estimated the total nuclear damage compensation to be 2.5 trillion yen and has been requesting the financial support from the Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund based on the revised Special Business Plan approved on May 9, 2012.

However, after deciding the compensation standard of lands or houses, adding real estate and postponing the compensation term for spontaneous evacuees and harmful rumor of agricultural products, the estimated compensation amount increased to be 3.2 trillion yen.

On 12/27/2012, Tepco requested the Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund for 697 billion yen of the additional financial support.

Read moreTEPCO Requests 3.2 Trillion Yen For Fukushima Compensation

Payback Time: Florida Homeowners Foreclosing On Banks

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– Payback time: Florida homeowners foreclosing on banks (CNNMoney, Dec 26, 2012):

NEW YORK – Since the housing bubble burst in Florida five years ago, more than 400,000 borrowers have had their homes foreclosed on by their lenders. But for some, it’s payback time.

Hundreds of homeowners and condo associations are foreclosing on banks that have failed to pay dues and other expenses on the properties they’ve repossessed.

When banks foreclose on a home they become responsible for paying fees to the homeowners association — both any unpaid fees going back as far as 12 months and all expenses going forward.

In many cases, however, banks are failing to pay, leaving these associations short on cash, according to Miami-based attorney Ben Solomon.

But now, homeowners groups are putting liens on the properties until banks pay up and foreclosing on them if they don’t.

So far, Solomon’s firm has filed more than 1,100 liens against banks on behalf of homeowners and has pursued 131 foreclosures. In more than 90% of the cases, he said, the banks settle by paying the bills.

Read morePayback Time: Florida Homeowners Foreclosing On Banks

China Turning ISPs Into Internet Police

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– China is turning its ISPs into internet police (Extreme Tech, Dec 28, 2012):

China has long been a home to internet censorship, but it has been relatively lax until recently. Internet users have been able to easily and cheaply thwart the restrictions for years, but a number of concerning events show a trend toward more substantial censorship in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Scary new legislation that was recently approved will effectively turn China’s ISPs into the internet police. Now, ISPs will be forced to delete content deemed illegal and file a report with the government.

Read moreChina Turning ISPs Into Internet Police

Bolivia Nationalises Electricity Companies Owned By Spanish Utility Iberdrola

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– Bolivia nationalises Iberdrola electricity companies (Reuters, Dec 29, 2012):

Bolivia nationalised two electricity distribution companies owned by Spanish utility Iberdrola on Saturday, the latest move by leftist President Evo Morales to assert control over the country’s resources.

Iberdrola will be compensated according to a valuation to be drawn up by an independent arbiter, Morales said, adding that the measure was aimed at enhancing rural energy services.

“We considered this measure necessary to ensure equitable energy tariffs … and to see to it that the quality of electricity service is uniform in rural as well as urban areas,” Morales said.

President Morales has nationalised oil, telecommunications, mining and electrical generation companies.

Read moreBolivia Nationalises Electricity Companies Owned By Spanish Utility Iberdrola

The US ‘Fiscal Cliff’ – One Small Part Of A Huge Debt Crisis

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FYI.

From the article:

“The US annual budget deficit has almost tripled under Obama, from $450bn in 2008 to $1,200bn this year.”

“America’s national debt is now around $16,000bn, two-thirds higher than when Obama was first elected. In 2008, US government debt was 70pc of GDP. Now it is 102pc.”

“Debt growth at that pace simply cannot go on.”

…

“If fiscal and monetary stimulus worked, Japan wouldn’t have spent the past 20 years in and out of recession and now be shouldering a debt to GDP ratio of 250pc.”

“If printing money worked, Zimbabwe would be in the G7.”

– The US ‘cliff’ – one small part of a huge debt crisis (Telegraph, Dec 29, 2012):

So here we are, at the turn of the year, with the global economy tottering on the edge of America’s fiscal cliff.

What’s kept springing to my mind over the holiday season is the final scene of The Italian Job – the iconic 1969 original, not the tacky 2003 remake.

“Hang on a minute, lads,” says heistmaster-in-chief, Charlie Croker, as he and his merry band of crooks balance precariously in a bus on the edge of an Alpine cliff. “I’ve got a great idea.”

The Italian Job’s cliff-hanger finale is all make-believe. A brilliant film ends, we marvel at Michael Caine’s acting genius, the credits roll and then we get up and make some tea.

Real-world predicaments aren’t so easy.

Read moreThe US ‘Fiscal Cliff’ – One Small Part Of A Huge Debt Crisis

China To Be Surrounded By US Stealth Jets By 2017

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From the article:

Writing for Wired’s Danger Room, Axe says, “When the deployments are complete in 2017, Air Force F-22s and B-2s and Marine Corps F-35s could all be within striking range of America’s biggest economic rival at the same time.”

– China to be surrounded by US stealth jets by 2017 (RT, Dec 27, 2012):

The United States’ presence in the Asia-Pacific is about to be much more impressive: by 2017, the US is expected to have all but surrounded China, its number one economic rival, with fleets of the most advanced stealth warplanes in the world.

According to recent reports from some of the Pentagon’s top-brass, Uncle Sam will be essentially surrounding the United States’ top competitor in only five years’ time. By 2017, the Air Force’s F-22s and B-2s, as well as a fleet of the Marine Corps’ F-35, will all be deployed east.

News of the long-term plan stems from a report by Wired’s David Axe this week, who notes that several recent interviews with Defense Department officials suggest that the Obama administration’s “strategic pivot” plan in Asia announced earlier this year hasn’t been ignored just yet.

In June, the Pentagon revealed plans to restructure the US military so that 60 percent of its warships would be in the Asia-Pacific by 2020. At the time, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the decision was not meant to intimidate China, but was rather a common sense response to make sure America’s resources were divvied out where they might be most needed.

“Some view the increased emphasis by the United States on Asia-Pacific as a challenge to China, I reject that view entirely,” Panetta said this summer.

Read moreChina To Be Surrounded By US Stealth Jets By 2017

US Female Troops: Almost 50% Sexually Harassed & Almost 25% Sexually Assaulted In Combat Zones

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– Almost a quarter of female troops become victims of sex assaults in combat zones (RT, Dec 28, 2012):

Almost half of all US women deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan say they were sexually harassed, while nearly one-quarter claim they were sexually assaulted. The findings shed light on the additional stress military women face when they work abroad.

Research by the Department of Veterans Affairs shows that sexual misconduct is a much greater problem than previously believed, since the Pentagon asserts that few reports were filed alleging sexual assault.

Read moreUS Female Troops: Almost 50% Sexually Harassed & Almost 25% Sexually Assaulted In Combat Zones

US Deploying Troops To 35 African Countries

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– US deploying troops to 35 African countries (RT, Dec 25, 2012):

The United States Army will be deploying troops to nearly three-dozen African nations in the coming year.

Soldiers based out of Fort Riley, Kansas’ 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division will begin training in March 2013 in order to prepare for a project that will send troops to as many as 35 African nations, the Associated Press reports.

Citing a growing threat from extremist groups, including those with ties to al-Qaeda, the Department of Defense is hoping to install American soldiers overseas in order to prepare local troops there for any future crises as tensions escalate.

Read moreUS Deploying Troops To 35 African Countries

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: Agenda Prevails Over Truth (More Sandy Hook School Shooting Inconsistencies)

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See also:

– Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: ‘You Can’t Have A Police State And An Armed Population’ – ‘So There’s No Doubt They’re Going To Take The Guns Away’ (RT Video)

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during President Reagan’s first term. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal. He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University.

paul-craig-roberts
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts

– Agenda Prevails Over Truth (Paul Craig Roberts, Dec 28, 2012):

In the Western world truth no longer has any meaning. In its place stands agenda.

Agenda is all important, because it is the way Washington achieves hegemony over the world and the American people. 9/11 was the “new Pearl Harbor” that the neoconservatives declared to be necessary for their planned wars against Muslim countries. For the neoconservatives to go forward with their agenda, it was necessary for Americans to be connected to the agenda.

President George W. Bush’s first Treasury Secretary, Paul O’Neil, said that prior to 9/11 the first cabinet meeting was about the need to invade Iraq.

9/11 was initially blamed on Afghanistan, and the blame was later shifted to Iraq. Washington’s mobilization against Afghanistan was in place prior to 9/11. The George W. Bush regime’s invasion of Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom) occurred on October 7, 2001, less than a month after 9/11. Every military person knows that it is not possible to have mobilization for invading a country half way around the world ready in three weeks.

The Orwellian “PATRIOT Act” is another example of planning prior to the event. This vast police state measure could not possibly have been written in the short time between 9/11 and its introduction in Congress. The bill was already written, sitting on the shelf waiting its opportunity. Why? Who wrote it? Why has there been no media investigation of the advanced preparation of this police state legislation?

Read moreDr. Paul Craig Roberts: Agenda Prevails Over Truth (More Sandy Hook School Shooting Inconsistencies)

Los Angeles Residents Exchange Guns For Groceries (Video)

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– Video:  Los Angeles offers groceries in exchange for guns (BBC News, Dec 27, 2012)

– LA residents swap guns for groceries (ABC News,/AFP, Dec 27, 2012):

The mayor of Los Angeles has backed US president Barack Obama’s call for a ban on assault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa brought forward the date of a gun buyback event following the December 14 shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, that left 26 people dead.

The Boxing Day buyback saw 1,016 weapons, including 41 rifles, handed over.

Gun owners could take their arms to one of two locations in return for a $100 grocery store gift card for handguns, rifles and shotguns, or a $200 card for automatic weapons.

Read moreLos Angeles Residents Exchange Guns For Groceries (Video)

VeteransToday’s Gordon Duff: ‘Unimaginable Number Of Veterans Homeless’ (Video)

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Don’t miss:

– America’s 75 Economic Numbers From 2012 That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe

– ‘Unimaginable number of veterans homeless’ (PressTV, Dec 30, 2012):

American military veterans who have returned from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are homeless in “almost unimaginable numbers,” says Gordon Duff, senior editor at Veterans Today.

American veterans are returning to the United States “where our economy is in total shambles, where we have massive unemployment in the non-veteran work force,” he in a phone interview on Saturday.

“Despite our lowered unemployment figures, a large percentage of those are people that are no longer even bothering to look for work because there is no work in the U.S.,” he added.

Read moreVeteransToday’s Gordon Duff: ‘Unimaginable Number Of Veterans Homeless’ (Video)

Large Shipments Of Gold Leaving Afghanistan

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– An Afghan Mystery: Why Are Large Shipments of Gold Leaving the Country? (New York Times, Dec 15, 2012):

KABUL, Afghanistan — Packed into hand luggage and tucked into jacket pockets, roughly hewed bars of gold are being flown out of Kabul with increasing regularity, confounding Afghan and American officials who fear money launderers have found a new way to spirit funds from the country.

Read moreLarge Shipments Of Gold Leaving Afghanistan

Snowstorm Leaves Fifteen Dead In The US

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– Snowstorm leaves fifteen dead in the US (RT, Dec 27, 2012):

Fifteen people have died in the powerful winter storm that triggered tornadoes in the American South and is now burying the Northeast in snow. With hundreds of flight delays, post-Christmas air travelers still remain stuck at US airports.

Since Tuesday, 15 have died in weather-related incidents across the US, including a 1-year-old and a 2-year-old who were killed in a car accident. While many of the victims lost their lives during traffic accidents caused by the rough weather, others were crushed to death by falling trees.

Read moreSnowstorm Leaves Fifteen Dead In The US