The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. – Benjamin Franklin
Prepare for collapse.
– High Frequency Trading: Why Now And What Happens Next (ZeroHedge, March 31, 2014):
For all the talk about how High Frequency Trading has rigged markets, most seem to be ignoring the two most obvious questions: why now and what happens next?
Read moreHigh Frequency Trading: Why Now And What Happens Next
“Camel Contemplating Needle” by John Baldessari on display at the HALL Wines winery in Napa Valley, Calif. An identical sculpture is planned for the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan.
– Exclusive: U.S. Taxpayers To Spend $400,000 For A Camel Sculpture In Pakistan (BuzzFeed, March 31, 2014):
A camel staring at the eye of a needle would decorate a new American embassy — in a country where the average income yearly is $1,250.
– Capital Controls and 200% Price Hikes in Ukraine – And Ukraine Is In Better Shape Than The US! (Activist Post, March 31, 2014):
In a TV address to a torn nation, Ukraine’s PM Yatsenyuk first implied heating prices would rise incrementally, and then later confirmed a plan to increase prices 100% in the next two years (and nearly 200% by 2017) as the cost of imported Russian gas is expected to rise to $500 from the current $84.
Not only did the Ukrainians have the hard rug of the consequences of statism pulled out from underneath them, but the move was followed with tougher capital controls, which restricted cash purchases to $1,300 per person per day after the Central Bank said “amid a tense situation in money markets” it is now broke. (We covered a reported shipment of gold out of Ukraine a couple of weeks ago)
– Flight 370 reality check: A Boeing 777 doesn’t disappear unless governments want it to disappear (Natural News, March 30, 2014):
As the conventional news coverage of Flight 370 becomes increasingly delusional and detached from reality, for the sake of all those families and loved ones still suffering I thought it important to publish a reality check that can help bring the discussion back to some common sense.
Let’s cover five indisputable facts about governments, radar and aircraft:
– Check out these 8 new ‘record highs’. #6 is a real shocker. (Sovereign Man, March 31, 2014):
There’s nothing like a nice cup of reality first thing on Monday morning.
If you’ve been a reader for any length of time, you know one of the things I periodically do is scan headlines for phrases like “record high” or “all time high”.
The results can often given an interesting big picture perspective of what’s happening in the world.
– The IPCC’s Latest Report Deliberately Excludes And Misrepresents Important Climate Science (Forbes, March 31, 2014):
This week, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is releasing its latest report, the “Working Group II Contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report.” Like its past reports, this one predicts apocalyptic consequences if mankind fails to give the UN the power to tax and regulate fossil fuels and subsidize and mandate the use of alternative fuels. But happily, an international group of scientists I have been privileged to work with has conducted an independent review of IPCC’s past and new reports, along with the climate science they deliberately exclude or misrepresent.
See also:
– Britons Rate Russia More Favorably Than European Union, Israel
Nigel Farage: ‘As an operator, but not as a human being, I would say Putin. The way he played the whole Syria thing – brilliant.’
– Nigel Farage: I admire Vladimir Putin (Guardian, March 31, 2014):
Ukip leader praises Russian president’s handling of Syria crisis, but describes Germany’s chancellor as ‘incredibly cold’
Nigel Farage has named Vladimir Putin as the world leader he most admires, praising the Russian president’s handling of the crisis in Syria.
But the Ukip leader had less kind words for Angela Merkel, describing the German chancellor as “incredibly cold”.
He also said he saw little to choose between the leaders of Britain’s three major parties, telling GQ magazine he does not give a damn whether David Cameron or Ed Miliband wins next year’s general election.
– More than 40% of Italians want to quit euro (The Local, March 31, 2014):
As Europeans prepare to go to the polls in the EU elections in May, the study, conducted by Ixè institute for the Italian broadcaster Rai3, found that 43 percent of Italians would like to return to the Italian lira, the news agency Ansa reported.
The survey, which polled 1,000 people, found that the majority of those in favour (70 percent) were voters of Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement and 56 percent supported Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia.
Meanwhile, just 28 percent of voters of the centre-left Democratic Party wanted out of the euro.
– UN adopts Pakistan resolution against drone strikes, discards US objection (Pakistan Today, March 29, 2014):
The United Nations late Friday adopted a resolution, jointly presented by Pakistan, Yemen and Switzerland, against drone strikes, a private news channel reported on Saturday.
Six countries including United States, France and Britain voted against the resolution, but they fell short in majority to get it disposed off.
According to sources, the UN called on all states to ensure that the use of armed drones complies with international law, backing a proposal from Pakistan seen as taking aim at the United States.
Read moreUN Adopts Pakistan Resolution Against Drone Strikes, Discards US Objection
– Politicians ‘wasted €2m’ on fine wine and caviar (The Local, March 31, 2014):
Sixty-four politicians from the regional council of Lombardy, one of Italy’s wealthiest regions, have been accused of squandering almost €2.14 million worth of public funds on everything from premium wine and caviar to jars of Nutella and placing bets.
In the latest expenses scandal to hit Italian politics, prosecutors in Milan discovered that between 2008 and 2011, the politicians, mainly from Silvio Berlusconi’s former party, the People of Freedom (Pdl), claimed reimbursements worth 70 percent of their wining and dining costs.
The expenses included eating out in the priciest restaurants, hosting banquets for hundreds of people and quaffing wine worth €1,094 a bottle.
Read moreItaly: Politicians ‘Wasted €2 MILLION’ On Fine Wine And Caviar
– Japan Gives Residents All Clear To Return To Fukushima Disaster “Hot Zone” (Zerohedge, March 31, 2014):
As we reported last night, Japan’s economy may once again be relapsing into a slowing phase, perversely well in advance of the dreaded sales-tax hike which many expect will catalyze Japan’s collapse into another recession as happened the last time Japan had a tax hike, but that doesn’t mean its population should be prevented from enjoying the heavily energized local atmosphere buzzing with the hope and promise of imminent paper-based “wealth effects” for those long the daily penNikkeistock rollercoaster…. and just as buzzing with copious gamma rays of course. Which is why for the first time in over three years, since Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster, residents of a small district 20 km from the wrecked plant are about to be allowed to return home. Because if the honest Japanese government says it is safe, then so it must be.
But how is this possible?
Just recall, as we reported in December citing SCMP, that the incidence of Thyroid cancers had surged among Fukushima youths. It took the government a few days of contemplation before spinning this deplorable revelation as one which blamed not the coverup surrounding the Fukushima fallout, but – get this – the fact that children were getting sick because they were not going out enough!
Mindboggling as it may be, this is precisely the kind of ridiculous propaganda one would expect from a flailing authoritarian regime, with a crashing economy, and a demographic collapse with no credible options left except to goose the manipulated market higher… The kind of propaganda that is now being used to give the “all clear” to move back to Fukushima!
Read moreJapan Gives Residents All Clear To Return To Fukushima Disaster ‘Hot Zone’
H/t reader squodgy:
“Personally I think more waste gas comes from the people who are supposed to protect us and give a service we pay for.
However, this link may be of interest as the dots do seem to join up.
Whoever JS is (and it is a discussion point), he does have a canny knack of finding a chink.”
– UPDATED MARCH 28 – PHOTOS OF DAM DRAINAGE AS IT HAPPENED – THE END of the California orange (Jim Stone):
The following photos are absolute proof they drained the dams on purpose, causing severe flooding and NEVER gave california growers a SINGLE DROP for the sole purpose of killing all the orange orchards, grape vineyards and almond groves. It is important to note that with any war effort waged by the usurpers of a conquored government, that fake documentation will be produced by the government to support the lie. That is when you have to use photos to prove that the documents, which show a drought and reduced out flows, are fake.
HERE IS THE PROOF. 2011 was called a drought year that was so bad they could not give the farmers any water (heads up, this is good).
But how can that be true when the Sacramento river looked like THIS:
…
H/t reader M.G.:
“The Stock Market is Rigged in favor of High Frequency trades” says an article on Reuters. No kidding.
The article says better than half of all transactions are now HFT…..actually, it is 85%. I call it skim and sell.
– U.S. stock markets are rigged, says author Michael Lewis (Reuters, March 31, 2014)
– “The Market Is Rigged” – Michael Lewis Explains How HFTs “Screw” Investors Every Day (ZeroHedge, March 31, 2014):
It was almost excatly five years ago to the day, on April 10, 2009, that Zero Hedge – widely mocked at the time by “experts” – began its crusade against HFT and the perils of algorithmic trading (which of course were validated a year later with the Flash Crash). In the interim period we wrote hundreds if not thousands of articles discussing and explaining the pernicious, parasitic and destabilizing role HFT plays in modern market topology, and how with every passing day, markets are becoming increasingly more brittle, illiquid and, in one word, broken. Or, as Michael Lewis put it most succinctly, “rigged.” With Lewis’ appearance last night on 60 Minutes to promote his book Flash Boys, and to finally expose the HFT scourge for all to see, we consider our crusade against HFT finished. At this point it is up to the general population to decide if this season’s participants on Dancing with the Stars or the fate of Honet Boo Boo is more important than having fair and unrigged markets (obviously, we know the answer).
For those who missed it, here is the full video again.
And broken down by segment: in the clip below, Lewis explains how an extra millisecond allows high-frequency traders to exploit computerized trading in the U.S. stock market. By “beating” investors to exchanges, Lewis argues that high-frequency traders can buy stocks and quickly sell them back at higher prices.
Read more‘The Market Is Rigged’ – Michael Lewis Explains How HFTs ‘Screw’ Investors Every Day
Ritalin is a mind-altering drug and it destroys the brain.
“Ritalin uncouples the frontal lobe from the rest of the brain.”
(Quote from a lecture given by a German Prof. of Neuroscience)
Related info:
– Study: ADHD Drugs Proven Absolutely Useless for Children (Natural News)
– Children taking ADHD medication may be at risk of sudden cardiac death (New York Daily News)
– Ritalin and other ADHD drugs lead to sudden death in children (Examiner)
– The Secret History Of Big Pharma’s Role In Creating And Marketing Heroin, LSD, Meth, Ecstasy, Speed And Ritalin (Natural News)
– Children’s hyperactivity ‘is not a real disease’, says US expert (Guardian, March 30, 2014):
Neuroscientist says children are being ‘labelled’ as having ADHD when there could be other reasons for their disorder
One of the world’s leading neuroscientists, whose work has been acknowledged by work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, has suggested that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is not “a real disease”.
On the eve of a visit to Britain to meet Duncan Smith and the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, Dr Bruce D Perry told the Observer that the label of ADHD outlined a broad set of symptoms. “It is best thought of as a description. If you look at how you end up with that label, it is remarkable because any one of us at any given time would fit at least a couple of those criteria,” he said.
Prescriptions for methylphenidate drugs, such as Ritalin, which are used to treat children diagnosed as suffering from ADHD, have soared by 56% in the UK, from 420,000 in 2007 to 657,000 in 2012. Such “psychostimulants” are thought to stimulate a part of the brain that changes mental and behavioural reactions.
Read moreLeading Neuroscientist: Children’s Hyperactivity ‘Is Not A Real Disease’
– Far-Right Gains In French Election As Hollande’s Socialists Admit “Unquestionably A Defeat” (ZeroHedge, March 30, 2014):
A week after initial votes showed the far-right anti-Euro National Front party gaining ground in French municipal elections, it appears the ongoing disappointment in the ruling Socialists is increasing (amid record joblessness).
- *FAR RIGHT MAKES FURTHER GAINS IN FRENCH MUNI ELECTIONS
- *MOSCOVICI SAYS TODAY’S ELECTIONS ‘UNQUESTIONABLY A DEFEAT’
- *MOSCOVICI SAYS IT’S ‘DIFFICULT TO REFORM FRANCE’
These are the first nationwide elections in France since Hollande took office and point to rather concerning lack of support for his party and his policies (and the core of the EU); but a record high 38.5% of votes abstained suggesting major apathy as the country’s north-south divide grows.
Read moreFar-Right Gains In French Election As Hollande’s Socialists Admit “Unquestionably A Defeat”
Flashback:
.- Insider Exposed NEW WORLD ORDER Plans In 1969 (MP3 & Transcipt)
– 2014: A Brave New Dystopian “1984” World (ZeroHedge, March 30, 2014):
While many have pointed out that the Middle-East/Far-East are drifting to a more “Orwellian” world and the West is a more “Huxleyan” environ, the merger of the two dystopias is seemingly growing each day. As The Guardian previously noted, Huxley’s dystopia is a totalitarian society, ruled by a supposedly benevolent dictatorship whose subjects have been programmed to enjoy their subjugation through conditioning and the use of a narcotic drug – the rulers of Brave New World have solved the problem of making people love their servitude. On the Orwellian front, we are doing rather well – as the revelations of Edward Snowden have recently underlined. We have constructed an architecture of state surveillance that would make Orwell gasp.
The most striking parallel of course is that both men foresaw the future as totalitarian rather than democratic and free.
Both Big Brother’s world and the Brave New World are ruled by authoritarian elites of a basically socialist/communist nature, whose only real purpose is the maintenance of their own power and privileges.
We discussed this a year ago but it seems an opportune time – with the world’s brainwashing and control accelerating – to revisit the two
Decades ago they saw it all coming…
As The Guardian so appropriately summed up,
– German Executives Denounce EU/US Leaders Over Russia Confrontation (ZeroHedge, March 30, 2014):
With at least 300,000 German jobs dependent on business relations with Russia, it is hardly surprising that, as Reuters reports, several top German executives have criticized the strategy of the U.S. and Europe in dealing with Russia fearing the consequences for their businesses. On the heels of Siemens CEO’s comments (as we noted here) that “you don’t want to sanction anyone you depend on,” a number of other senior German executives have commented that that great change could be achieved if the West cooperated with Russia rather than being confrontational. Deutsche Post’s Appel summed it up, “Since we don’t have major sources of raw materials in Europe, we will always be dependent on others… and it seems questionable to me whether dependence on the Middle East or Venezuela would be better than that on Russia.”
Russia is Germany’s 11th biggest commercial partner, with trade reaching 76.5 billion euros ($105 billion) last year, according to the trade association Ost Ausschuss.
Read moreGerman Executives Denounce EU/US Leaders Over Russia Confrontation
– China Confiscates Billions In “Ugliest Corruption Scandal” In History (ZeroHedge, March 30, 2014):
With Chinese authorities increasingly looking like they are sticking to their reform promises, fighting moral hazard and allowing defaults to occur (in a completely ‘contained’ way, of course); the continued crackdown on graft and government corruption has hit a new high (or low). As Reuters reports, Chinese authorities have seized assets worth at least 90 billion yuan ($14.5 billion) from family members and associates of retired domestic security tsar Zhou Yongkang, who is at the center of China’s biggest corruption scandal in more than six decades. 71-year-old Zhou has been under house arrest since first being investigated late last year but the size and scale of the corruption is unprecedented including 300 apartments, 60 vehicles, bonds, stocks, and gold – “it’s the ugliest in the history of the New China.”
More than 300 of Zhou’s relatives, political allies, proteges and staff have also been taken into custody or questioned in the past four months, the sources, who have been briefed on the investigation, told Reuters.
Read moreChina Confiscates Billions In ‘Ugliest Corruption Scandal’ In History
– Urgent Public Communique and Update from The International Common Law Court of Justice — Trial of Pope Francis, the Jesuits and the Anglicans to commence April 7 (ICCS, March 29, 2014):
Urgent Public Communique and Update from The International Common Law Court of Justice
Issued under the auspices of The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State (ITCCS)
Saturday, March 29, 2014 , 8 am GMT
Enclosed:
1. The Trial of Pope Francis, the Jesuits and the Anglicans to commence April 7 with Opening Presentation by the Prosecutor’s Office – The Court establishes tighter security after a Vatican-sponsored “black ops” disruption team is dispatched to Brussels.
2. A Public Information Agency is established to publicly disclose the Prosecutor’s evidence during the trial – The first report of the Agency follows.
3. Children’s remains and records ordered destroyed by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, acting for Queen Elizabeth – Mass graves of trafficked children are identified in Canada, Holland and the United States, and are linked to the Ninth Circle sacrificial cult.
The Secretariat of the Court has today released the following public statement:
– The secret history of Big Pharma’s role in creating and marketing heroin, LSD, meth, Ecstasy and speed (Natural News, April 3, 2007):
Most consumers think that street drugs are in an entirely different class than prescription drugs, and they believe that pharmaceutical companies would never manufacture or sell street drugs. But guess what? As you’ll read here, drug companies actually invented many of the street drugs now considered to be the most devastating, including heroin and meth (“ice”).
Here are seven facts you probably never knew about the connection between street drugs and pharmaceutical companies:
Aspartame is lethal stuff:
– Exposing The Devastating Health Effects Of Highly Toxic Aspartame
– Diet drinks linked with heart disease, death (NBC News, March 29, 2014):
Women who drink the most diet sodas may also be more likely to develop heart disease and even to die, according to a new study published Saturday.
Researchers found women who drank two or more diet drinks a day were 30 percent more likely to have a heart attack or other cardiovascular “event,” and 50 percent more likely to die, than women who rarely touch such drinks.
The findings, being presented at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology, don’t suggest that the drinks themselves are killers. But women who toss back too many diet sodas may be trying to make up for unhealthy habits, experts say.
“Our study suggests an association between higher diet drink consumption and mortality,” said Dr. Ankur Vyas, a cardiovascular disease expert at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinic, who led the study.
“It’s not an extreme risk,” he added.
Read moreDiet Drinks Linked With Heart Disease, Death (NBC News)
– White House looks to regulate cow flatulence as part of climate agenda (The Daily Caller, March 28, 2014):
As part of its plan to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, the Obama administration is targeting the dairy industry to reduce methane emissions in their operations.
This comes despite falling methane emission levels across the economy since 1990.
The White House has proposed cutting methane emissions from the dairy industry by 25 percent by 2020. Although U.S. agriculture only accounts for about 9 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, it makes up a sizeable portion of methane emissions — which is a very potent greenhouse gas.
Some of these methane emissions come from cow flatulence, exhaling and belching — other livestock animals release methane as well.Read moreWhite House Looks To Regulate Cow Flatulence As Part Of Climate Agenda
– Durham police uncover paedophile ring with more than 500 potential victims (Guardian, March 28, 2014):
Police investigating sexual abuse at a Durham detention centre say they believe they have uncovered an organised paedophile ring operating in the 1970s and 80s with more than 500 potential victims.
The head of a 70-strong major inquiry into historical abuse at the Medomsley detention centre, near Consett, told the Guardian the inquiry was triggered by mounting evidence about isolated individuals. However, they were now investigating a complex paedophile ring, with many more victims than previously thought.
D Supt Paul Goundry, senior investigating officer, said: “We always knew this would be a major inquiry but the scale of it, and the sheer number of victims who have come forward, has been a shock.”
Read moreUK: Durham Police Uncover Paedophile Ring With More Than 500 Potential Victims
– WELLS FARGO BANS AMERICAN FLAGS INSIDE THEIR BRANCHES (Political Ears, March 28, 2014):
…
A Wells Fargo spokesman says they received multiple complaints from people in other states about U.S. flags on display in their banks so they have ordered flags removed at all branches across America.…