Yes, …
“It’s a diffferent country, …”
A much different country!
YouTube
June 18, 2013 CNN
Month: June 2013
76% Of Americans Are Living Paycheck-To-Paycheck (CNNMoney)
– 76% of Americans Are Living Paycheck-to-Paycheck (CNNMoney, June 24, 2013):
Roughly three-quarters of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck, with little to no emergency savings, according to a survey released by Bankrate.com Monday.
Fewer than one in four Americans have enough money in their savings account to cover at least six months of expenses, enough to help cushion the blow of a job loss, medical emergency or some other unexpected event, according to the survey of 1,000 adults. Meanwhile, 50% of those surveyed have less than a three-month cushion and 27% had no savings at all.
Read more76% Of Americans Are Living Paycheck-To-Paycheck (CNNMoney)
China’s Official Xinhua News Agency: “The United States Has Turned Out To Be The Biggest Villain In Our Age”
Snowden exposed the U.S. government illegally and unconstitutionally spying on its citizens, …
… gets charged for spying.
Now that makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?
FYI.
– China’s Xinhua news agency condemns US ‘cyber-attacks’ (BBC News, June 23, 2013):
China’s official Xinhua news agency has condemned the US over continuing revelations about Washington’s surveillance activities by intelligence fugitive Edward Snowden.
In a commentary, it said the US had turned out to be the “biggest villain in our age”.
Xinhua says the latest allegations in the South China Morning Post, along with previous disclosures, are “clearly troubling signs”.
“They demonstrate that the United States, which has long been trying to play innocent as a victim of cyber-attacks, has turned out to be the biggest villain in our age,” says Xinhua.
“It owes too an explanation to China and other countries it has allegedly spied on. It has to share with the world the range, extent and intent of its clandestine hacking programs.”
Xinhua says the Snowden developments provide support for China’s position on cybersecurity.
“Both the United States and China, together with many other countries, are victims of hacking. For the uncharted waters of the Internet age, these countries should sit down and talk through their suspicions,” says Xinhua.
“With good intentions, they can even work for the establishment of certain rules that help define and regulate Internet activities and mechanisms that can work out their differences when frictions do arise.”
– China slams US as world’s biggest villain for cyber espionage (PressTV, June 23, 2013):
China’s official news agency has slammed the United States as the world’s “biggest villain” following new revelations about Washington’s cyber espionage against Chinese companies and institutions.
“These, along with previous allegations, are clearly troubling signs. They demonstrate that the United States, which has long been trying to play innocent as a victim of cyber attacks, has turned out to be the biggest villain in our age,” said a commentary published in the Xinhua news agency on Sunday.
Irish Independent Secret Recordings: Anglo-Irish Bank Picked Bailout Number ‘Out Of My Arse’ To Force Shared Taxpayer Sacrifice
– Anglo-Irish Picked Bailout Number “Out Of My Arse” To Force Shared Taxpayer Sacrifice (ZeroHedge, June 24, 2013):
The Irish people, who sacrificed their sovereignty and billions of Euros, are waking this morning to a stunning revelation that the bailout to save Anglo-Irish was engineered by the Bank’s leadership to game as much money as possible from the central bank. The Irish Independent has secret recordings from the period in 2008 – below – that show senior management luring the State into giving it billions as they admit the EUR 7 billion number was “picked out of my arse.”
The bottom-line is that the bank knew they were in trouble and so decided to game the Central Bank and their regulators knowing that once the State began the flow of money, it would be unable to stop: “If they (Central Bank) saw the enormity of it up front, they might decide they have a choice. You know what I mean? They might say the cost to the taxpayer is too high . . . if it doesn’t look too big at the outset… if it looks big, big enough to be important, but not too big that it kind of spoils everything, then, then I think you have a chance. So I think it can creep up… [once] they have skin in the game.” Will there be an Irish Spring as the conspiracy theory of the banking bailout now become conspiracy fact?
Taped telephone recordings (from the bank’s own systems) from inside doomed Anglo Irish Bank reveal for the first time how the bank’s top executives lied to the Government about the true extent of losses at the institution.
…
Anglo itself was within days of complete meltdown – and in the years ahead would eat up €30bn of taxpayer money. Mr Bowe speaks about how the State had been asked for €7bn to bail out Anglo – but Anglo’s negotiators knew all along this was not enough to save the bank.
…
The plan was that once the State began the flow of money, it would be unable to stop.
Mr Bowe is asked by Mr Fitzgerald how they had come up with the figure of €7bn. He laughs as he is taped saying: “Just, as Drummer (then-CEO David Drumm) would say, ‘picked it out of my arse’.”
The BIS Chart That Abe And Kuroda Would Rather You Didn’t See
– The BIS Chart That Abe And Kuroda Would Rather You Didn’t See (ZeroHedge, June 24, 2013):
Earlier we noted the rather peculiarly truthful (lack of optimistically-biased bullshit) annual report from the BIS as reading ZeroHedge-sermon-like. There is a smorgasbord of data, charts, and quotes strewn throughout the 204-page melodrama but one caught our eye. Reflecting on the fact that governments in several major economies currently benefit from historically low funding costs, and yet at the same time, rising debt levels have increased their exposure to higher interest rates, the BIS projects the dismal reality that any rise in interest rates without an equal increase in the output growth rate will further undermine fiscal sustainability.Although predicting when and how a correction in long-term rates will unfold is difficult, it is possible to examine the potential impact on the sustainability of public finances and how any normalization of rates (or Abe’s success in creating 2% ‘inflation’ in Japan) leads the nation’s debt-ratio to explode (to over 600% debt-to-GDP).
What is more concerning is that even with no negative impact from demographics (age-related adjustments) and even assuming a central bank that can keep interest rates at their ultra-low levels for another 30 years, Japan’s debt-to-GDP ratio will reach almost 400% (that’s a best case scenario!!)
Unsurprisingly, the higher the interest rate, the faster debt will increase; and while the BIS and the central planners of the world clearly ‘believe’ they can manipulate JGB yields should this happen, we suspect there is a (non-specific R&R vs Krugman based) limit that once crossed creates the qualitative perception shift that Kyle Bass has so unequivocally explained is coming.
Read moreThe BIS Chart That Abe And Kuroda Would Rather You Didn’t See
China Crashing: Shanghai Composite Tumbles Most Since 2009
– China Crashing: Shanghai Composite Tumbles Most Since 2009 (ZeroHedge, June 24, 2013)
Bank Of China Declares Moratorium On Transfers, Online Banking; Counters Inoperable
– Bank Of China Declares Moratorium On Transfers, Online Banking; Counters Inoperable (ZeroHedge, June 24, 2013):
From Caijing, google translated. We hope the gist of the narrative in Mandarin is far less scary, because if the translation is even remotely accurate, then all hell may be about to break loose in China.
Bank of China, Bank of suspension of transfers morning counters were unable to apply for online banking
Update: Customer service said, now silver futures transfer service has been fully suspended, online banking, the counter can not be handled, and now has the background system response, recovery time is not yet known
Following the ICBC, the Bank of China also go awry again. This morning, the Bank of China Bank moratorium on transfers, online banking, counters are inoperable.
10:00 many, many people began to receive messages sent to the Bank of China, “the end result of the Bank of China Bank failures, bank customers can not carry on through the Bank transfers, please Bank online banking, bank counter or use of other bank transfer system, Bank system will be restored promptly notify you.” large number of transfer business banking needs of the people turned to online banking, counter, but according to the instructions of the public still found text messages can not handle.
Reporters call the BOC, customer service said, now silver has been fully suspended phase transfer services, online banking, the counter can not be handled, and now has the background system response, recovery time is not yet known.
Read moreBank Of China Declares Moratorium On Transfers, Online Banking; Counters Inoperable
Silvio Berlusconi Convicted In ‘Sex-With-Minor’ Case; Sentenced To 7 Years In Jail
– Berlusconi Convicted In ‘Sex-With-Minor’ Case; Sentenced To 7 Years In Jail (ZeroHedge, June 24, 2013):
While appeals will be quick to come, the ‘Ruby’ trial has resulted in former PM Silvio Berlusconi being convicted in the ‘sex-with-minor’ case:
- *MILAN COURT RULES ON BERLUSCONI’S SEX-WITH-MINOR TRIAL
- *ITALY’S BERLUSCONI CONVICTED IN RUBY TRIAL
- *BERLUSCONI CONVICTED ON ABUSE OF POWER IN MILAN TRIAL
- *BERLUSCONI SENTENCED TO 7 YRS IN JAIL
- *BERLUSCONI BARRED FROM PUBLIC OFFICE FOREVER: MILAN COURT
- *ITALY’S BERLUSCONI CAN APPEAL CONVICTION
With the central bank backstop seemingly being removed, the impact on Italian politics is unclear (aside from increased uncertainty as his own party may splinter its support for the colaition) but for now his empire – MediaSet is halted down 5.2%…
Moody’s Retaliates At Hong Kong For Snowden Insubordination
– Moody’s Retaliates At Hong Kong For Snowden Insubordination (ZeroHedge, June 24, 2013):
Uncle Warren appears unhappy with the humiliating can of whoop-ass Hong Kong unleashed on his favorite crony banana republic. So he has retaliated in the only way he knows: Moody’s.
- HONG KONG BANKING SYSTEM OUTLOOK REVISED TO NEGATIVE BY MOODY’S
- MOODY’S CITES CONCERNS ON PERSISTENT NEG REAL INTEREST RATES
- MOODY’S CITES POTENTIAL HK ‘PROPERTY BUBBLES’ – this one is really good.
But the best reason is:
- MOODY’S CITES HK BANKS’ GROWING EXPOSURES TO MAINLAND CHINA
Yup. Moody’s just figured out Hong Kong has exposure to… China. Of course, Hong Kong’s downgrade of US foreign policy to laughably pathetic, outlook hilarious on Sunday, was a complete coincidence.
Edward Snowden Will Not Be Safe In Ecuador
And there is certainly no safe place left on this planet.
– Ed Snowden beware: U.S. State Dept. has confirmed history of running covert abductions of Americans in Ecuador (Natural News, June 24, 2013):
As reported by the Associated Press, Edward Snowden managed to evade U.S. authorities and fly to Ecuador where he is apparently being granted political asylum.
As AP reports:
The former National Security Agency contractor and CIA technician fled Hong Kong and arrived at the Moscow airport, where he planned to spend the night before boarding an Aeroflot flight to Cuba. Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said his government received an asylum request from Snowden, and the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said it would help him.
What AP doesn’t know — and neither do most Americans — is that the U.S. government has a well-established track record of running covert kidnapping and abduction operations in Ecuador to capture anyone they want.
And the reason I know this is because I am the journalist who used to live in Ecuador and who broke the bombshell story of herbalist Greg Caton being kidnapped by U.S. authorities in Ecuador in 2009. He was then stuffed onto a U.S.-bound jet at the airport in Guayaquil and flown to Miami. That full story is published here on Natural News:
www.naturalnews.com/027750_Greg_Caton_FDA.html
U.S. State Dept. runs abduction operation in Ecuador
What’s fascinating is that at the time, in 2009, nobody believed this story was true. But today, in light of all the revelations that have surfaced about illegal, covert, rogue government groups doing whatever they want, this story on the abduction and kidnapping of a U.S. citizen living in Ecuador sounds astonishingly feasible. In fact, it is true.
As I wrote in 2009, the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations (OCI) managed to twist the arm of the State Department to have Greg Caton — an herbalist — added to Interpol’s “red list.” This list is normally reserved for extreme war criminals and international murderers, but because Greg Caton was selling anti-cancer salves made with Amazon rainforest herbs that really do eliminate many types of topical cancers, the U.S. government designated him as an enemy of the state (to protect the lucrative cancer industry, obviously).
Keep in mind that Greg Caton’s activities were not illegal in Ecuador. The U.S. government, however, wanted to destroy this man’s business and cut off the supply of anti-cancer salves to U.S. customers. So they dispatched a covert team of government operatives to Ecuador who proceeded to bribe all the right people to have Caton arrested at gunpoint as he was driving down his own driveway.
Neurocysticercosis: Pork Tapeworm Larvae Eating Up The Human Brain (Video)
Don’t miss:
– Alzheimer’s Disease: Deadly Infectious Cause Known And Hidden – Prions:
The primary transmission of prion diseases is ingestion of prions from the Central Nervous System (Brain, Eyes, Spine and Spinal Fluid) of animals. These unwanted ‘left overs’ were used in animal ‘feed’ for ‘protein’ and ‘mystery meats’ (hotdogs, etc) as ‘filler’. These resilient, nearly indestructible by nature, or cooking, individual factories of plague were spread throughout the populations (animal and human) and around the planet awaiting their ‘activation’ by hydration.
– Pork Tapeworms in the Brain (Feb 25, 2012):
A pair of new studies underscore the U.S. public health threat of neurocysticercosis—quite literally having pork tapeworm larvae curled up inside one’s brain—now the most common cause of adult-onset epilepsy in the world. The first study, The Impact of Neurocysticercosis in California, concluded that “Neurocysticercosis causes appreciable disease and exacts a considerable economic burden in California,” with estimated annual hospital charges exceeding $17 million. The second study, published two weeks ago, is the first to follow the cognitive function and quality of life of those living with these brain parasites.
As you’ll see in today’s NutritionFacts.org video pick below, even after one’s brain is infested with pork tapeworms, some people can go for years before the headaches and seizures start as the larvae begin to multiply. What the second study suggests, though, is that long before the more obvious symptoms present, those who are infected may suffer from mental, social, and cognitive dysfunction. (See video above).
The follow-up video, Avoiding Epilepsy Through Diet, details diagnosis and treatment and reports on a synagogue survey. If pork tapeworms can get inside the brains of orthodox Jews in Brooklyn, then I guess no one’s immune! Turns out it’s not only what we eat that may put us at risk, but also the diets of those who handle our food.
In health,
Michael Greger, M.D.
More:
Read moreNeurocysticercosis: Pork Tapeworm Larvae Eating Up The Human Brain (Video)
MERS-CoV Update
– Deadly sars-like virus ‘had origins in UAE’ (The National, June 23, 2013):
Of the 64 laboratory-confirmed cases reported so far, more than half have died.
– New Mers-Coronavirus continues to smoulder BBC News, June 23, 2013)
– 8 MERS PCR Confirmations In Asymptomatic HCWs & Children (Recombinomics, June 23, 2013)
– MERS PCR Confirmed In Asymptomatic HCWs In Taif KSA (Recombinomics, June 22, 2013)
– New death in Saudi Arabia from SARS-like coronavirus MERS (Reuters, June 22, 2013)
– MERS-CoV Hospital Outbreak Causes Significant Morbidity (Medscape, June 21, 2013)
– Person-to-Person Transmission of Lethal SARS-Like Virus Identified (MPR/HealthDay News, June 20, 2013):
Person-to-person transmission of the novel Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has been described in a cluster of health care-associated infections in Saudi Arabia, according to research published online June 19 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
– MERS-CoV Easily Spreads In Hospitals (Medical News Today, June 20, 2013):
A team of experts who traveled to Saudi Arabia have reported that the new Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is easily transmitted in healthcare settings, posing a serious public health threat.
The researchers from Johns Hopkins University studied how the virus spread in four different Saudi hospitals. They published their findings in The New England Journal of Medicine.
MERS-CoV is much deadlier than the coronavirus responsible for the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003, the authors wrote. MERS-CoV has killed 38 people worldwide so far, according to WHO (World Health Organization). Thirty-two of those deaths occurred in Saudi Arabia. According to the researchers, MERS-CoV kills 60% of the people it infects.
The virus is capable of person-to-person transmission and circulate in healthcare settings with “considerable morbidity.”
Russia To Give S-400 Anti-Aircraft Missiles, The World’s Most Advanced Air Defense System & The TOC-1, The Most Developed Artillery Weapon Of Its Kind To Syria?
And if so, which I highly doubt, then Russia would also have to make absolutely sure that these advanced technologies will never fall into the ‘wrong hands’.
Related info:
– Ultimate Defense: Russian S-400 Undergoes Firing Exercise (VIDEO)
The S-400 Triumf (SA-21 Growler) is designed to intercept and effectively engage airborne targets, including stealth aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, at ranges of up to 3,500 kilometers (2,200 miles) and speeds of up to 4.8 kilometers (3 miles) per second.
– Russia:”Syria Will Be Armed With Weapons That Have Never Been Seen Before In the Middle East” (SHFT Plan, June 22, 2013):
Last week, Noble Peace Prize winner President Barrack Obama advised that his administration would be arming the Free Syrian Army with weapons to resist the armies of Syria’s President Bashar Assad. Furthermore, they would look to implement a Libya-style no-fly zone over the country, which like Libya, would likely involve widespread carpet bombing of suspected military strongholds and control centers.
With boots on the ground around Syria’s borders, the United States is without a doubt preparing for widespread engagement across the region yet again, with the aim of the new U.S. supplied weapons being more killing and destruction in a civil war that has left tens of thousands dead in the last year.
It is the assumption of the Obama administration that these weapons will tip the scales of power in favor of the rebels, many of whom have been identified as members of America’s arch enemy, Al Queda.
But Russia’s KGB-hardened President Vladimir Putin has other ideas.
This week, according to a British intelligence report, Putin reportedly passed on a diplomatic communique to the United States and France using British Prime Minister David Cameron as the intermediary.
India: Flash Floods And Landslides Kill At Least 1,000 People As Thousands More Await Rescue
Soldiers tried to repair a footbridge over the Alaknanda River in mountainous Uttarakhand State during resue work on Saturday.
– Flood Toll Reaches 1,000 in India as Thousands More Await Rescue (New York Times, June 22, 2013):
NEW DELHI — Flash floods and landslides in northern India have killed at least 1,000 people in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand in the past week, an official said Saturday, and with thousands missing or stranded the toll was expected to rise.The official, Vijay Bahuguna, the chief minister of Uttarakhand, confirmed the latest toll in a meeting with reporters. Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde told the Indian news media on Saturday that 40,000 people were still stranded, and he described the floods as a “national crisis.”
Most of the stranded were people on a pilgrimage known as Char Dham Yatra, which takes Hindus to four of the holiest shrines in Uttarakhand between May and November.
Hanford Nuclear Waste: Worst Tank May Be Leaking Into Soil
– Worst Hanford tank may be leaking into soil (Krem, June 21, 2013):
The first ever double-shell tank to have leaked at Hanford may be in far worse condition than anyone imagined. Hanford workers conducting routine maintenance on the tank Thursday were shocked to find readings of radioactivity from material outside the tank. Until now leaked nuclear sludge had only been detected in what’s known as the tank’s annulus – the hollow safety space between the tank’s two walls.
The tank, known as AY-102, has been at the center of a KING 5 investigation for months. The underground carbon steel vessel holds 865,000 gallons of the most chemically contaminated, thermally hot, corrosive and radioactive material at the site.
Read moreHanford Nuclear Waste: Worst Tank May Be Leaking Into Soil
The Bank Of International Settlements Warns The Monetary Kool-Aid Party Is Over
– The Bank Of International Settlements Warns The Monetary Kool-Aid Party Is Over (ZeroHedge, June 23, 2013):
When a month ago the Central Banks’ Central Bank, aka the Bank of International Settlements (or BIS) in Basel where the MIT central-planning braintrust meets every few months to decide the fate of the world, warned that the Fed-induced collateral shortage is distorting the markets, few paid attention. That the implication behind said warning was that QE can not continue at the current pace, was just as lost. A few short weeks later following the biggest plunge in markets since 2011 in the aftermath of Bernanke’s taper tantrum, some are finally willing to listen.However, they will certainly not like what the BIS just released as a follow up, both in the form of the BIS’ 83rd Annual Report, and the speech by Jaime Caruana to commemorate said annual meeting. For the simple reason that it reads like a Zero Hedge sermon, which says, almost verbatim, that the days of kicking the can via flawed monetary policy are now over, and that the time for central banks to head for the exit has finally come.
The BIS message, as summarized by the FT, is that “central banks must head for the exit and stop trying to spur a global economic recovery… cheap and plentiful central bank money had merely bought time, warning that more bond buying would retard the global economy’s return to health by delaying adjustments to governments’ and households’ balance sheets.”
Read moreThe Bank Of International Settlements Warns The Monetary Kool-Aid Party Is Over
Controlling The Implosion Of The Biggest Bond Bubble In History
– Controlling The Implosion Of The Biggest Bond Bubble In History (Testosterone Pit, June 22, 2013):
In theory, the Fed could continue to print money and buy Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities, or even pure junk, at the current rate of $85 billion a month until the bitter end. But the bitter end would be unpleasant even for those that the Fed represents – and now they’re speaking up publicly.
“Savers have paid a huge price in this recovery,” was how Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf phrased it on Thursday – a sudden flash of empathy, after nearly five years of Fed policies that pushed interest rates on savings accounts and CDs below inflation, a form of soft confiscation, of which he and his TBTF bank were prime beneficiaries. That interest rates were rising based on Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s insinuation of a taper was “a good thing,” he told CNBC. “We need to get back to normal.”
A week earlier, it was Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein: “Eventually interest rates have to normalize,” he said. “It’s not normal to have 2% rates.”
They weren’t worried about savers – to heck with them. They weren’t worried about inflation either. They were worried about the system, their system. It might break down if the bond bubble were allowed to continue inflating only to implode suddenly in an out-of-control manner. It would threaten their empires. That would be the bitter end.
Read moreControlling The Implosion Of The Biggest Bond Bubble In History
Facebook Says Technical Flaw Exposed 6 Million Users
– Facebook Says Technical Flaw Exposed 6 Million Users (New York Times, June 21, 2013):
SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook has inadvertently exposed six million users’ phone numbers and e-mail addresses to unauthorized viewers over the last year, the company said late Friday.
Facebook blamed the data leaks, which began in 2012, on a technical flaw in its huge archive of contact information collected from its 1.1 billion users worldwide. As a result of the problem, Facebook users who downloaded contact data for their list of friends obtained additional information that they were not supposed to have.
Read moreFacebook Says Technical Flaw Exposed 6 Million Users
Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño Aroca Tweets: “The Government Of Ecuador Has Received An Asylum Request From Edward J. #Snowden”
The Government of Ecuador has received an asylum request from Edward J. #Snowden
— Ricardo Patiño Aroca (@RicardoPatinoEC) June 23, 2013
Edward Snowden Flees Hong Kong, Arrives In Moscow – WikiLeaks: Snowden Going To Ecuador To Seek Asylum
He obviously doesn’t want to end up like Bradley Manning.
Update: NSA Leaker Seeks Asylum in Ecuador (ABC News, June 23, 2013):
Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who faces espionage charges for disclosing secret U.S. government anti-terrorism programs, has requested asylum in Ecuador, according to the country’s foreign minister.
“The Government of Ecuador has received an asylum request from Edward J. #Snowden,” Ecuadoran Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño Aroca tweeted today hours after a plane believed to be carrying Snowden landed in Moscow from Hong Kong, where Snowden had been hiding. ??
– WikiLeaks: Snowden going to Ecuador to seek asylum (The Seattle Times, June 23, 2013):
MOSCOW — Anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks says a former National Security Agency contractor wanted by the United States for revealing highly classified surveillance programs is going to Ecuador to seek asylum. The group said in a statement Sunday that Edward Snowden is “bound for the Republic of Ecuador via a safe route for the purposes of asylum, and is being escorted by diplomats and legal advisors from WikiLeaks.”
– Snowden on the run, seeks asylum in Ecuador (CNN, June 23, 2013)
– Edward Snowden, NSA leaker, reportedly lands in Moscow (Washington Post, June 23, 2013)
– Ecuador Says NSA Leaker Has Asked For Asylum (NPR, June 23, 2013)
– Snowden examined by Ecuadorian embassy doctor at Moscow airport upon arrival – RT source (RT, June 23, 2013):
The plane carrying whistleblower Edward Snowden has landed at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport. The former CIA contractor, who left Hong Kong in a bid to elude US extradition on espionage charges, is on his way to a ‘third country’ via Russia.
…
RT’s source reported a doctor from the Ecuadorian embassy in Moscow has examined Snowden on his arrival.
…
Earlier on Sunday, a spokesperson from the Hong Kong government confirmed that Edward Snowden had “legally and voluntarily” left the country.
“Mr. Edward Snowden left Hong Kong today (June 23) on his own accord for a third country through a lawful and normal channel,” said the Hong Kong government in a press release. The statement also said the documents for Snowden’s extradition submitted by Washington “did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law.”
“As the HKSAR Government has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for a provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr. Snowden from leaving Hong Kong.”
…
WikiLeaks legal aidWhistleblowing organization WikiLeaks has rallied behind Snowden and said they are assisting him in his bid for political asylum in a “democratic country.” The group announced on Twitter that they helped obtain “travel documents” and ensured his safe exit from Hong Kong. Diplomats and legal advisors from WikiLeaks legal team were also accompanying the NSA leaker on his flight to Moscow, WikiLeaks said in a statement.
– Snowden exit: Hong Kong revels in its rule of law (AFP, June 23, 2013)
– UPDATE 1-US lawmakers slam Russia for abetting Snowden flight (Reuters, June 23, 2013):
HONG KONG — Hong Kong has risked the threat of US reprisals in allowing Edward Snowden to leave. But its government insists that the rule of law took primacy for a territory that jealously guards its separateness from mainland China.
Study Links Over 7,000 Cancer Deaths To Cell Phone Tower Radiation Exposures
– New study links over 7,000 cancer deaths to cell phone tower radiation exposures (Natural News, June 22, 2013):
Could exposure to radiation from cell phone towers really responsible for over 7,000 cancer deaths? According to research findings from Brazil, the facts speak for themselves. The study established a direct link between cancer deaths in Belo Horizonte, Brazil’s third largest city, with the cell phone network.
What does this direct link stem from?
Over 80 percent of those who succumbed to certain types of cancer resided approximately a third of a mile away from one of the hundreds of cell phone antennae that populate the city.
These cancers, primarily found in the prostate, breasts, lungs, kidneys, liver, are the ones associated with exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs).
This is a real concern for cell phone users and even non- cell phone users. Those who shun mobile phone technology still suffer the consequences of cell phone tower radiation.
Read moreStudy Links Over 7,000 Cancer Deaths To Cell Phone Tower Radiation Exposures
President Barack Obama’s Unprecedented Initiative, Known As … The Insider Threat Program
‘Truth is treason in the empire of lies’
‘Let the revolution begin!’
– Ron Paul
– Obama’s crackdown views leaks as aiding enemies of U.S. (McClatchy, June 20, 2013):
WASHINGTON — Even before a former U.S. intelligence contractor exposed the secret collection of Americans’ phone records, the Obama administration was pressing a government-wide crackdown on security threats that requires federal employees to keep closer tabs on their co-workers and exhorts managers to punish those who fail to report their suspicions.
President Barack Obama’s unprecedented initiative, known as the Insider Threat Program, is sweeping in its reach. It has received scant public attention even though it extends beyond the U.S. national security bureaucracies to most federal departments and agencies nationwide, including the Peace Corps, the Social Security Administration and the Education and Agriculture departments. It emphasizes leaks of classified material, but catchall definitions of “insider threat” give agencies latitude to pursue and penalize a range of other conduct.
Government documents reviewed by McClatchy illustrate how some agencies are using that latitude to pursue unauthorized disclosures of any information, not just classified material. They also show how millions of federal employees and contractors must watch for “high-risk persons or behaviors” among co-workers and could face penalties, including criminal charges, for failing to report them. Leaks to the media are equated with espionage.
“Hammer this fact home . . . leaking is tantamount to aiding the enemies of the United States,” says a June 1, 2012, Defense Department strategy for the program that was obtained by McClatchy.
Read morePresident Barack Obama’s Unprecedented Initiative, Known As … The Insider Threat Program
Meet The Man In Charge Of America’s Secret Cyber Army (In Which ‘Bonesaw’ Makes A Mockery Of PRISM)
– Meet The Man In Charge Of America’s Secret Cyber Army (In Which “Bonesaw” Makes A Mockery Of PRISM)
With his revelations exposing the extent of potential, and actual, pervasive NSA surveillance over the American population, Edward Snowden has done a great service for the public by finally forcing it to answer the question: is having Big Brother peek at every private communication and electronic information, a fair exchange for the alleged benefit of the state’s security. Alas, without further action form a population that appears largely numb and apathetic to disclosures that until recently would have sparked mass protests and toppled presidents, the best we can hope for within a political regime that has hijacked the democratic process, is some intense introspection as to what the concept of “America” truly means.
However, and more importantly, what Snowden’s revelations have confirmed, is that behind the scenes, America is now actively engaged in a new kind of war: an unprecedented cyber war, where collecting, deciphering, intercepting, and abusing information is the only thing that matters and leads to unprecedented power, and where enemies both foreign and domestic may be targeted without due process based on a lowly analyst’s “whim.”
It has also put spotlight on the man, who until recently deep in the shadows, has been responsible for building America’s secret, absolutely massive cyber army, and which according to a just released Wired profile is “capable of launching devastating cyberattacks. Now it’s ready to unleash hell.”
Meet General Keith Alexander, “a man few even in Washington would likely recognize”, which is troubling because Alexander is now quite possibly the most powerful person in the world, that nobody talks about. Which is just the way he likes it.