Infinite

Turkish Student Sentenced To Prison For … Retweeting Satirical Article

by

Related info:

– Turkey Devolves Into A Full Police State: Law Grants Unlimited Powers To Weaponized Police Force

– Turkey Central Bank Head Faces 2 Years In Jail For NOT Lowering Interest Rates

erdogan

– Turkish Student Sentenced To Prison For Retweeting Satirical Article (ZeroHedge, April 22, 2015):

Over the past year, Turkey has quietly become the poster child of what happens when a formerly reputable “developed world” nation devolves into Banana Republic status slowly at first, and then very fast.

The most recent update out of the country that president Tayyip Erdogan has gradually converted into his own fiefdom was its conversion into a full blown police state: recall a month ago we reported that the parliament passed security laws “that allow police to conduct searches and arrests without immediate court orders and use firearms against militants. The law separately empowered government-appointed governors to order police or paramilitary forces to conduct searches and detain suspects for up to 48 hours without immediate court orders, state-run Anadolu Agency said.” Or for comic book buffs, a state in which Judge Dredds run rampant.

And with Turkish enforcement now granted a green light to detain anyone, for any reason, the next inevitable crackdown was only a matter of time – that on free speech.

Read moreTurkish Student Sentenced To Prison For … Retweeting Satirical Article

First Photograph Emerges Of The ‘Criminal Trading Mastermind’ Reponsible For The Flash Crash

by

– First Photograph Emerges Of The “Criminal Trading Mastermind” Reponsible For The Flash Crash (ZeroHedge, April 22, 2015):

Wall Street has found a new, unwitting source of humor: the CFTC.

The reason, of course, is that according to the “regulator” the gullible investing public is expected to believe that one single person, operating out of a non-collocated, latency fortress in Hounslow…

The sun sets on the address where Nav Sarao Futures Limited is registered, in Hounslow

… is responsible for the May 2010 flash crash.

The implication being that the perpetrator has been caught and now confidence in broken markets can be restored, however what the CFTC has in effect done is further undermine faith in a market, which apparently is so defenseless it has absolutely no countermeasures to the simplest of predatory trading strategies, namely spoofing: spoofing which takes place millions of times every single day across all global markets (as we showed back in 2013 in Watch The Banned HFT Spoofing Algo In Action).

The CFTC’s inadvertent humor, however, is no laughing matter to the person implicated in the latest despeate attempt to scapegoat a non-US institution for the flash crash (just ahead of the statue of limitations running out no less): not only is Navinder Singh Sarao, a British national, facing decades in prison in the worst case as reported earlier, but moments ago he had to pay a massive 5 million pound bail to stay out of jail for the duration of his case: an amount that is usually reserved for Class A felons, those who have caused grievous bodily injury and suffering, or worse, instead of merely a BTFD opportunity.

Read moreFirst Photograph Emerges Of The ‘Criminal Trading Mastermind’ Reponsible For The Flash Crash

EU charges Gazprom with ‘abusing’ market position in Central & Eastern Europe

by

gazprom

– EU charges Gazprom with ‘abusing’ market position in Central & Eastern Europe (RT, April 22, 2015):

Russia’s biggest gas utility, Gazprom, was hit with an antitrust case by European Union regulators for “abusing” its dominant position and overcharging customers for gas supplies. The investigation against the Gazprom has been ongoing for 2 years.

“We find that it (Gazprom) may have built artificial barriers preventing gas from flowing from certain Central Eastern European countries to others, hindering cross-border competition,” European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement. Vestager said there is no political element to the case.

Read moreEU charges Gazprom with ‘abusing’ market position in Central & Eastern Europe

TV: Nuclear waste spilling into Pacific Ocean after power outage hits Fukushima plant — Radiation Expert: Site is so radioactive and unstable “it may never be contained”

by

– TV: Nuclear waste spilling into Pacific Ocean after power outage hits Fukushima plant — Radiation Expert: Site is so radioactive and unstable “it may never be contained” (ENENews, April 21, 2015):

Kyodo News, Apr 21, 2015: Outage hits pumps at Fukushima plant; toxic water leaks into ocean – [Tepco] on Tuesday reported that a power outage has shut down all eight water transfer pumps… and that radioactive water is again leaking into the Pacific Ocean… The beleaguered utility said it was checking into what happened and how much water had leaked. The pumping had begun last Friday, in response to a finding in late February that highly radioactive water in the channel was reaching the ocean.

NHK, Apr 21, 2015: Radioactive water leaking into sea — [TEPCO] says radioactively contaminated rainwater is spilling outside the facility’s port after pumps to prevent leakage stopped working… The firm started operating the pumps last Friday. But on Tuesday, a worker found that they had stopped and the water was going into the sea. TEPCO officials say they don’t know the amount or radioactive level of the water.

Read moreTV: Nuclear waste spilling into Pacific Ocean after power outage hits Fukushima plant — Radiation Expert: Site is so radioactive and unstable “it may never be contained”

CNN: “Strange green glow” seen inside Fukushima reactor — “Yellow, blue-green and other colors could be seen” — Radiation dose hits record high near 50 sieverts per hour — 15 seconds of video removed just before levels spiked 1,000% (VIDEO)

by

– CNN: “Strange green glow” seen inside Fukushima reactor — “Yellow, blue-green and other colors could be seen” — Radiation dose hits record high near 50 sieverts per hour — 15 seconds of video removed just before levels spiked 1,000% (VIDEO) (ENENews, April 20, 2015):

Wall St Journal, Apr 20, 2015 (emphasis added):  Tepco to Abandon Second Robot Inside Fukushima Reactor… it has decided not to try to retrieve a second robot… citing radiation damage… [It] has now joined a previous robot which the utility also decided to leave there earlier this month… Tepco said one of the cameras used to monitor the second robot was damaged by the radiation. They decided to leave it inside to avoid the risk of it becoming stuck in a passageway…

NHK, Apr 20, 2015: The [first] robot was sent inside the vessel on April 10th but stopped working after advancing just 10 meters… TEPCO sent a second robot to retrieve the first robot. But the probe’s camera malfunctioned due to radiation exposure. The utility decided to abandon both robot probes.

Read moreCNN: “Strange green glow” seen inside Fukushima reactor — “Yellow, blue-green and other colors could be seen” — Radiation dose hits record high near 50 sieverts per hour — 15 seconds of video removed just before levels spiked 1,000% (VIDEO)

‘Stop Taking Water From Drought Stricken California’ (Petition)

by

FYI.

Drought-California-Folsom-Lake

– Petition: Stop taking water from drought stricken California:

California will run out of water very soon.

According to NASA’s new report, California only has enough water to get it through the next year. People are under strict water-saving measures; farmers are struggling to keep their crops alive.

Yet, Nestlé is bottling water from at least ten natural springs throughout California, including from some of the most drought-stricken areas of the state, and selling it for profit. In places like Sacramento, it’s paying less than $0.14 per gallon. This is bananas.

Read more‘Stop Taking Water From Drought Stricken California’ (Petition)

ECB Prepares To Sacrifice Greek Banks With 50% Collateral Haircut

by

– Mario Draghi (Wikipedia):

“Draghi was then vice chairman and managing director of Goldman Sachs International and a member of the firm-wide management committee (2002–2005). A controversy existed on his duties while employed at Goldman Sachs. Pascal Canfin (MEP) asserted Draghi was involved in swaps for European governments, namely Greece, trying to disguise their countries’ economic status.”

From the article:

“The bottom line – it’s over! Absent Russian ‘loans’ or Chinese infrastructure deals, the “Cyprus”-ing will begin shortly which perhaps Greek depositors will front-run better than the Cypriots.”

Draghi Satan

– ECB Prepares To Sacrifice Greek Banks With 50% Collateral Haircut (ZeroHedge, April 21, 2015):

In what seems like a coincidental retaliation for Greece’s pivot to Russia (and following Greece’s initiation of capital controls), the supposedly independent European Central Bank has decided suddenly that – after dishing out €74 billion of emergency liquidity to the Greek National Bank to fund its banks – as The NY Times reports,the value of the collateral that Greek banks post at their own central bank to secure these loans be reduced by as much as 50%, and the haircut scould increase if negotiations with Europe remain at an impasse. As we detailed earlier, this is about as worst-case-scenario for Greece as is ‘diplomatically’ possible currently, and highlights an increasingly hard line by The ECB toward The Greeks as the move will leave banks hard-pressed to survive.

As we laid out earlier, according to Bloomberg, the ECB staff proposal lays out three options to reduce central-bank risk: “the scenarios envisage returning haircuts to the level before late last year, when the ECB eased its collateral requirements for Greece; to set them at 75 percent; or to set them at 90 percent. The latter two options could be applied if Greece is in an “orderly default” under a formal ECB program or a “disorderly default,” CNBC said, without further elaborating on those terms.“

Read moreECB Prepares To Sacrifice Greek Banks With 50% Collateral Haircut

Battlefield America: The War On The American People

by

Thomas-Jefferson-Liberty

– Battlefield America: The War On The American People (The Rutherford Institute, April 20, 2015):

“A government which will turn its tanks upon its people, for any reason, is a government with a taste of blood and a thirst for power and must either be smartly rebuked, or blindly obeyed in deadly fear.”—John Salter

We have entered into a particularly dismal chapter in the American narrative, one that shifts us from a swashbuckling tale of adventure into a bone-chilling horror story.

As I document in my new book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, “we the people” have now come full circle, from being held captive by the British police state to being held captive by the American police state. In between, we have charted a course from revolutionaries fighting for our independence and a free people establishing a new nation to pioneers and explorers, braving the wilderness and expanding into new territories.

Where we went wrong, however, was in allowing ourselves to become enthralled with and then held hostage by a military empire in bondage to a corporate state (the very definition of fascism). No longer would America hold the moral high ground as a champion of freedom and human rights. Instead, in the pursuit of profit, our overlords succumbed to greed, took pleasure in inflicting pain, exported torture, and imported the machinery of war, transforming the American landscape into a battlefield, complete with military personnel, tactics and weaponry.

Read moreBattlefield America: The War On The American People

Veterans Today: Anti-Semitism? Oh Dear!

by

From the article:

“Yet, as we have pointed out in a previous article, Jewish Neocon Victoria Nuland made a pack with neo-Nazis in Ukraine where Kunis was born! Will Kunis chastise her? Will she tell her to stop destabilizing the situation in Russia? You see, Kunis is not making any sense whatsoever.”

– Anti-Semitism? Oh Dear! (Veterans Today, April 22, 2015):

Mila Kunis should read what Zionist puppet Winston Churchil said about the Dreadful Few: “They have been partly responsible for the antagonism from which they suffer.”

hey-rabbi-antisemitic-cartoon

…by Jonas E. Alexis

Whenever the Dreadful Few and their controlled media start talking about anti-Semitism,[1] you can be sure that you are in for a wild trip. You might as well grab your munchies, seat down for a while, and listen a little bit because you are going to have some fun. But always keep your thinking cap on.

Why?

Read moreVeterans Today: Anti-Semitism? Oh Dear!

Why Are Oil & Gas Workers Mysteriously Dying Across America?

by

– Why Are Oil & Gas Workers Mysteriously Dying Across America? (ZeroHedge, April 22, 2015):

Over the past several years, oil & gas workers in North Dakota, Colorado, Texas, Montana, and Oklahoma have mysteriously died while conducting routine checks of oil levels at tank batteries. In many cases, the fatalities were ruled to have been the result of natural causes. Now, it appears the real culprit has been found. The question is: how much did the industry know and why was the problem not addressed?

…

The Mystery Of China’s Gold Holdings Is Coming To An End

by

gold_bar2

– The Mystery Of China’s Gold Holdings Is Coming To An End (ZeroHedge, April 21, 2015):

Back in 2011, Zero Hedge first asked the key question that matters to the gold market: what are China’s true holdings of physical gold.

As is well known, the last time China did provide an update of its official gold inventory was in early 2009 when it disclosed to the IMF some 1,054.1 tons of gold held at the PBOC headquarters (or elsewhere).  The problem is that this number is now very outdated, and substantially undercuts China’s true gold holdings.

Read moreThe Mystery Of China’s Gold Holdings Is Coming To An End

Oil Tumbles After Saudis Declare End To Yemen Aerial Bombing Campaign

by

– Oil Tumbles After Saudis Declare End To Yemen Aerial Bombing Campaign (ZeroHedge, April 21, 2015):

Saudi Arabia said its campaign of airstrikes in Yemen have succeeded in removing threats to the kingdom and other regional countries, bringing to an end Operation “Decisive Storm.” As Bloomberg reports, the Saudi Defense Ministry said a coalition of mostly Sunni Muslim nations has “successfully eliminated the threat to the security of Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries,” by destroying the heavy weaponry and ballistic missiles held by the Shiite Houthi rebels. This comes one day after Gulf envoys told The United Nations that Yemen strikes won’t end soon. Saudi Arabia hopes to restart a Yemeni political process and will begin “Operation New Hope,” which appears to mean Saudi National Guard ground troops.

…

Sabre-Rattling Soars: Poland Buys US Patriot Air Defense System, Gold Pops

by

Surely Polish taxpayers will be happy to pay $9 billion for a missile defense system.

20150421_patrioty_0

– Sabre-Rattling Soars: Poland Buys US Patriot Air Defense System, Gold Pops (ZeroHedge, April 21, 2015)

Just days after Russia lifts sanctions on Iran and prepares to send its S-300 missile defense system, it appears Washington has retaliated. As TASS reports, Poland – on Russia’s doorstep – has decided to buy the US Patriot air-defense system (made by Raytheon) for a total cost of around $9bn: “The US proposal has been found to be more profitable from the viewpoint of Poland’s security and implementation of commitments within NATO framework.” Washington, keen to ensure Warsaw signed up with Raytheon, has decided to loan Poland a battery of Patriots until the deal is signed.

…

Greece May Sign Russia Gas Deal As Soon As Today

by

Russian President Putin and Greek Prime Minister Tsipras attend a signing ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow

– Greece May Sign Russia Gas Deal As Soon As Today (ZeroHedge, April 21, 2015):

It appears that Herr Schaeuble will be left in the cold disappointed as following comments from the Greek energy minister that a deal is coming “soon,”  it is being reported that:

*RUSSIA MAY SIGN GAS LINK ACCORD W/ GREECE TODAY: ROSSIYA 24
*GREECE MAY GET LOANS USING RUSSIA GAS TRANSIT GUARANTEE: MILLER

According to Gazprom’s CEO comments on Greek TV, following his meeting with Greek PM Tsipras, Russia will guarantee 47BCM/YR of gas via Greece with the link to be built by a Russian-European group at a cost of around €2 billion.

…

Saudi Arabia Orders Its National Guard To Enter Yemen War

by

–  Saudi Arabia Orders Its National Guard To Enter Yemen War (ZeroHedge, April 21, 2015):

Over the better part of the past month, the only entities actively involved in the proxy war in Yemen against the local Houthi rebel force have been air force units, mostly under Saudi command as part of Operation “Decisive Storm.” Which probably explains why there has been little if any progress to note in pushing back said rebellion which, armed heavily thanks to the US government, has successfully managed to push the current president into an indefinite exile. That changed hours ago, when Saudi Arabia’s King Salman ordered the Saudi Arabian National Guard, widely regarded as the kingdom’s best equipped military ground force, to take part in Riyadh’s campaign against Iran-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen.

…

1st mass-produced floating nuclear plant to power Russian Arctic in 2016

by

H/t reader M.G.:

“RT promoting this as progress………pity Russia cannot learn from the mistakes of the rest of the world….”

And what could possibly go wrong?

Flashback:

– Russia Dumped Radioactive Waste And Nuclear Reactors In Arctic Seas

Russian floating nuclear powerplant

–  1st mass-produced floating nuclear plant to power Russian Arctic in 2016 (RT, April 21, 2015):

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin says the first floating nuclear power plant built for use in the Arctic will be ready by October 2016.

“In fact, it’s a nuclear reactor that can be connected to any onshore infrastructure, so that it powers any Arctic city via cable,”Rogozin said, speaking to the participants of a planned youth Arctic expedition.

The floating reactors will be used to power port cities, industrial infrastructure, and oil and gas drilling rigs and refineries, which, according to Rogozin, will prove a great asset in Arctic exploration. Russian atomic agency Rosatom says 15 countries, including China, Algeria, Indonesia, Malaysia and Argentina, have shown interest in hiring such power plants for their own projects.

Read more1st mass-produced floating nuclear plant to power Russian Arctic in 2016

European Banks Are PAID TO BORROW For First Time Ever As Euribor Goes Negative

by

This is of course perfectly normal and nothing to worry about.

matrix-system-failure

Prepare for collapse.

– European Banks Are Paid To Borrow For First Time Ever As Euribor Goes Negative (ZeroHedge, April 21, 2015):

Mario Draghi said this week that the transmission channels for European Q€ were opening up and crowed how well his cunning plan was working (by well we assume he means stocks are up). Today we get the ultimate test of that ‘transmission’ as 3-Month EURIBOR fell below 0.00% for the first time ever (likely wreaking havoc on European derivative pricing models). In English that means banks are being paid to borrow from one another in the interbank money-markets (which sounds a lot like a ‘glut’ of excess cash) seemingly confirming ICMA’s de Vidts fears: “We are scared about the [repo] market freezing,” as the ECB is “driving without headlights in the dark.”Of course this is yet another disturbing distortion on the heels of homeowners being paid to take out mortgages…

Banks now paid to borrow from one another…

20150419_euribor

As fears of the repo market in Europe freezing appear to be confirmed… (via Reuters),

The European Central Bank (ECB) risks secured-lending or repo markets grinding to a halt unless it works more closely with national central banks (NCBs) to improve liquidity, a senior trade association official told Reuters.

Read moreEuropean Banks Are PAID TO BORROW For First Time Ever As Euribor Goes Negative

Animal Farm And The Archonic Abuse Paradigm

by

FYI: Amazing videos (sadly only in German) on how to treat dogs are down below.

Rhodesian Ridgeback, Portrait

Dogs live in the NOW, unlike humans, who often tend to constantly blame their past and everybody else for bloody everything.

Dogs just want to live and even the worst dog can be turned around with some help and start a new wonderful life, like this puppy.

animal farm

– Animal Farm and the Archonic Abuse Paradigm (Zen Gardner, April 17, 2015):

This has been bothering me for some time. We have neighbors who treat their dogs horribly. They don’t beat them, but their indifference and neglect is heartrending. It’s not the norm in this country, as most dogs are free to roam most of the time and cared for in loving homes. Neglected animals are often adopted and lost pets are usually taken to the local vet who knows just about every animal and their owner in the area. Very kind and caring.

I know this for a fact as I found a lost pup and took it to her and she looked at it, recognized the markings on its tail, and excitedly said “I know where this dog lives!” She got on her phone and called them and they came and got their pup, just like that.

Read moreAnimal Farm And The Archonic Abuse Paradigm

‘Hillary 2016!!!’ – Recalling The Clinton Body Count

by

killer-clintons

– Hillary 2016? Recalling the Clinton Body Count (Zen Gardner, April15, 2015):

If you or anyone you know is thinking about doing such a thing, you may want to read a little further and learn some more about the Clintons. The Hillary Clinton 2016 campaign is now official, so America will be faced with the horrendous prospect next year of having to choose between continuing a Clinton Dynasty or a Bush Dynasty. If indeed Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush become the presidential candidates for their respective parties, and get elected for 2 terms, do you realize what that would mean? In that scenario, we would have had a Clinton or Bush in the White House from 1980 to 2024! That would be 44 straight years of a Clinton or Bush (remembering that George Bush Sr. was VP under Reagan and that Hillary worked, and still works, under Obama)! Could it be any more obvious that the US is not a Republic or democracy but rather an oligarchy of the rich and powerful? A bloodline aristocracy may be a better term, since all of the 44 US Presidents have been part of European royal bloodlines, despite having different last names.

Read more‘Hillary 2016!!!’ – Recalling The Clinton Body Count

First Chinese State-Owned Firm Defaults On Its Bonds

by

In what may be a harbinger of things to come and in a sign that Beijing will allow the market to play a greater role in determining companies’ financial future, a subsidiary of China South Industries Group has missed a coupon payment, marking the first default by a Chinese state-owned firm.

BTTeaser

– First Chinese State-Owned Firm Defaults On Its Bonds (ZeroHedge, April 21, 2015):

Just hours after Chinese property developer Kaisa defaulted on two dollar-denominated 2018 notes (the 30-day grace period on some $52 million in interest due March 18 expired), we learn that a third publicly-listed Chinese firm will now miss a coupon payment proving yet again that “you never know where the skeletons in the closet are or what company will be next.”

This time it’s Baoding Tianwei Group Co.. which, as Bloomberg reports, has been struggling for quite some time:

Read moreFirst Chinese State-Owned Firm Defaults On Its Bonds

Ten Wonderful Things I’m Grateful For (Irony Alert)

by

irony-alert-ironic

– Ten Wonderful Things I’m Grateful For (Irony Alert) (Of Two Minds, April 20, 2015):

Being grateful boosts your happiness. Ten wonderful things I’m grateful for.

Since every volume on the nearly endless shelf of pop psychology self-help books recommends working up some gratitude as the key to happiness, I’ve conjured up a list of what I’m grateful for. (Please turn your irony setting on.)

Read moreTen Wonderful Things I’m Grateful For (Irony Alert)

Stunned Greeks React To Initial Capital Controls And The ‘Decree To Confiscate Reserves’, And They Are Not Happy

by

Greece Financial Crisis Riots
Riots in 2011

… to be repeated in 2015 (?)

Related info:

– After Pillaging Pensions, Greece Raids Utilities To Repay Troika; Bonds Plunge As Bank Run Accelerates

– Stunned Greeks React To Initial Capital Controls And The “Decree To Confiscate Reserves”, And They Are Not Happy (ZeroHedge, April 20, 2015):

Earlier today, following weeks of speculation, Greece finally launched the first shot across the bow of capital controls, when it decreed that due to an “extremely urgent and unforeseen need” (ironically the need was quite foreseen since about 2010, but that is a different story), it would be “obliged” to transfer – as in confiscate – “idle cash reserves” located across the country’s local governments (i.e., various cities and municipalities) to the Greek central bank.

Several hours later the decree which was posted in the government gazette has finally percolated among the population, and the response to what even ordinary Greeks realize is now the endgame, is less than exuberant.

Read moreStunned Greeks React To Initial Capital Controls And The ‘Decree To Confiscate Reserves’, And They Are Not Happy