Diplomats, business people flood Cuba amid warmer US ties

Diplomats, business people flood Cuba amid warmer US ties (Mail.com, May 10, 2015):

HAVANA (AP) — Tourists in shorts and sandals aren’t the only foreigners flooding Havana these days.

Top diplomats from Japan, the European Union, Italy, the Netherlands and Russia have visited the island in recent months in bids to stake out or maintain ties with an island that suddenly looks like a brighter economic prospect amid warming U.S.-Cuba relations.

Read moreDiplomats, business people flood Cuba amid warmer US ties

Russia, China agree to integrate Eurasian Union, Silk Road, sign deals

“More on the rising east……while the west continues to slide south.”


 russia-china-deals-cooperation

Russia, China agree to integrate Eurasian Union, Silk Road, sign deals (RT, May 8, 2015):

Russia and China have signed a number of energy, trade and finance deals on Friday aimed at strengthening economic ties. The two countries have multiple mutual projects which “achieved a unity of views on a wide range of issues.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have signed a decree on cooperation in tying the development of the Eurasian Economic Union with the “Silk Road” economic project.

Read moreRussia, China agree to integrate Eurasian Union, Silk Road, sign deals

Icepack levels growing rapidly to RECORD levels at the South Pole — North Pole still frozen solid – (May 9, 2015)

H/t reader squodgy:

“It really looks like they’ve achieved their aim of weather control with ten years to spare.
But they seem to be successfully keeping the lid on this……..not unlike Fukushima….”


icepack-levels-may-9-2015

5/09/2015 — Icepack levels growing rapidly to RECORD levels at the South Pole — North Pole still frozen solid (DutchSinse, May 9, 2015):

Last year, in 2014, there were record levels of ice (and record area covered) at the South Pole / Antarctica.

It wasn’t just conjecture, or hearsay, NASA actually confirmed last years levels as being an all time high.

This past summer at the South Pole, not as much melting occurred as we would normally expect to see a large melt-off over the summer month.   The record ice pack from last year did not fully melt, thus it was left to re-freeze this year.

Read moreIcepack levels growing rapidly to RECORD levels at the South Pole — North Pole still frozen solid – (May 9, 2015)

What’s In Store For Gold If Cash Is Outlawed?

gold-confiscation-roosevelt-1933

Russell Napier Explains What’s In Store For Gold If Cash Is Outlawed (ZeroHedge, May 9, 2015):

Why we didn’t have negative nominal yields in the Depression and the end of QE

Oh the time will come up
When the winds will stop
And the breeze will cease to be breathin’,
Like the stillness in the wind
’Fore the hurricane begins —
The hour when the ship comes in.

And the words that are used
For to get the ship confused
Will not be understood as they’re spoken,
For the chains of the sea
Will have busted in the night
And will be buried at the bottom of the ocean.

–  When The Ship Comes In (Bob Dylan 1963)

The Napier Euro High Yield Capital Guarantee Fund (discussed in the November 12th edition of The Solid Ground) is almost ready for launch. It offers a unique combination of attributes to investors. It has significantly better risk/reward characteristics than both deposits and government debt securities. In short, it is a room full of Euro banknotes.

Read moreWhat’s In Store For Gold If Cash Is Outlawed?

A Multinational Trojan Horse: The Trans-Pacific Partnership

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A Multinational Trojan Horse: The Trans-Pacific Partnership (Like The Dew, May 7, 2015):

“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, … may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” – James Madison in The Federalist Papers.

You don’t have to know much about the “trade” deal called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to be more than a little suspicious.

Read moreA Multinational Trojan Horse: The Trans-Pacific Partnership

Police Abduct 10 Children From A Family In Kentucky Because Of Their “Off The Grid” Lifestyle

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– Police Abduct 10 Children From A Family In Kentucky Because Of Their “Off The Grid” Lifestyle (End OF The American Dream, May 8, 2015):

If the government does not like the way that you are raising your kids, they will come in and grab them at any time without giving any warning whatsoever.  Of course this is completely and totally unlawful, but it has been happening all over America.  The most recent example of this that has made national headlines is particularly egregious.  Joe and Nicole Naugler of Breckinridge County, Kentucky just had their 10 children brutally ripped away from them just because the government does not approve of how they are living their lives and how they are educating their young ones.

Let’s be very clear about this – Joe and Nicole had done nothing to violate the law whatsoever.  All of their kids were happy, healthy and very intelligent.  But because the control freaks running things in Kentucky got wind of their “off the grid lifestyle”, they have now had all of their children unlawfully abducted from them.

Read morePolice Abduct 10 Children From A Family In Kentucky Because Of Their “Off The Grid” Lifestyle

Stunned Reporter Grills State Department Why Hillary’s Breaches Won’t Be Investigated (Video)

Caught On Tape: Stunned Reporter Grills State Department Why Hillary’s Breaches Won’t Be Investigated (ZeroHedge, May 9, 2015):

In the past several weeks, not a day has passed without a new scandal surfacing revealing Clinton’s lack of judgment whether it involves her abuse of email protocol, or some previously undisclosed financial relation between either Hillary Clinton or the Clinton foundation and an outside donor. The most egregious revelation took place a few days ago when it emerged that the Democratic presidential candidate had breached her agreement with the White House to name all foundation donors during her tenure as secretary of state.

Specifically, as Reuters reported, Clinton had promised the federal government that the Clinton Foundation and its associated charities would name all donors annually while she was the nation’s top diplomat. “She also promised that the charities would let the State Department’s ethics office review beforehand any proposed new foreign governments donations.”

In March, the charities confirmed to Reuters for the first time that they had not complied with those pledges for most of Clinton’s four years at the State Department.

Read moreStunned Reporter Grills State Department Why Hillary’s Breaches Won’t Be Investigated (Video)

Explaining the Greek Debt Crisis

H/t reader M.G.:

screwed

Explaining the Greek Debt Crisis (The New York Times, April 8, 2015):

Greece, the weak link in the eurozone, is struggling to pay its debt as its people and its creditors grow more restive. The tumult poses a challenge to the euro and the Continent’s goal of economic unity. If Greece goes bankrupt or decides to leave the 19-nation eurozone, the situation could create instability in the region and reverberate around the globe.

What happened in Greece?

Greece became the epicenter of Europe’s debt crisis after Wall Street imploded in 2008. With global financial markets still reeling, Greece announced in October 2009 that it had been understating its deficit figures for years, raising alarms about the soundness of Greek finances.

Read moreExplaining the Greek Debt Crisis

Obama at Nike headquarters: why push TPP trade deal at an outsourcing giant?

Obama at Nike headquarters: why push trade deal at an outsourcing giant? (Guardian, May 8, 2015):

Opponents of Trans-Pacific Partnership baffled over choice of venue as Bernie Sanders condemns company’s ‘legacy of offshoring American jobs’

With the Nike logo in the background on Friday, President Obama sought to drum up support for a controversial trade agreement that is facing mounting opposition from Democrats and US labor unions.

Speaking at a rally at Nike’s headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, the president attempted to address some of the criticisms against the 12-country Trans-Pacific trade deal he is currently trying to push through Congress.

Read moreObama at Nike headquarters: why push TPP trade deal at an outsourcing giant?

U.S. Urges Greece To Reject Russian Energy Project

“From the New York Times, the US is urging Greece to turn away from Russian money…….
Russia wants the use of Greece’s ports……one is the third largest in Europe, and would be a valuable asset to sell Russian goods in Europe, so giving some much needed cash to Greece makes sense. Russia is the one player that can afford to loan Greece money, and they would get it back with the use of their ports……
US cannot afford to loan to anyone, but here they are trying to stop Putin’s inexorable move into the center of the world stage……Good luck is all I can say.”


U.S. Urges Greece to Reject Russian Energy Project (New York Times, May 8, 2015):

ATHENS — The United States, wading into the international efforts to shape Greece’s economic and geopolitical orientation, is pushing the leftist government in Athens to resist Russia’s energy overtures.

A State Department envoy in Athens urged Greece on Friday to embrace a Western-backed project that would link Europe to natural gas supplies in Azerbaijan, rather than agree to a gas pipeline project pushed by Moscow.

Read moreU.S. Urges Greece To Reject Russian Energy Project

What Will You Tell Your Children About Jade Helm When It’s In Their Face?

What Will You Tell Your Children About Jade Helm When It’s In Their Face? (Common Sense, May 9, 2015):

America’s southern border has disintegrated, Russia and NATO are mobilizing in and around Ukraine in what could be the beginning of World War III, our economy is one slight push from free fall, we have foreign troops, who have promised us harm, training on our soil. And we have massive military movements all around our country in support of Jade Helm. Our skies are filled with attack helicopters.  Our train tracks are increasingly carrying military equipment all around the country. We cannot turn on our televisions and be assured that our children will not see reports about Jade Helm because the Mainstream Media is becoming obsessed with the topic. All of these things are on the short list of challenges presented to inhabitants of America by the New World Order and many parents are finding it difficult to shield their children from the truth.  You can always unplug the television and change the subject. However, when the following scenes begin to take place with greater frequency over the next several weeks, what will you tell your children about Jade Helm and the New World Order?

WikiLeaks publishes secret draft chapter of Trans-Pacific Partnership

WikiLeaks publishes secret draft chapter of Trans-Pacific Partnership (Guardian, May 8, 2015):

Treaty negotiated in secret between 12 nations ‘would trample over individual rights and free expression’, says Julian Assange
WikiLeaks has released the draft text of a chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, a multilateral free-trade treaty currently being negotiated in secret by 12 Pacific Rim nations.The full agreement covers a number of areas, but the chapter published by WikiLeaks focuses on intellectual property rights, an area of law which has effects in areas as diverse as pharmaceuticals and civil liberties.

Read moreWikiLeaks publishes secret draft chapter of Trans-Pacific Partnership

Britain: A Functioning Democracy It’s Not

UK-Maggie-Simpson

Britain: A Functioning Democracy It’s Not (ZeroHedge, May 8, 2015):

The system can certainly be given some sort of name, but a functioning democracy it’s not. If anything, a democracy is “A system of government in which power is vested in the people”. Makes us wonder how many clients of the 421 foodbanks and counting have voted Conservative and figured they were proudly doing their democratic duty.

Read moreBritain: A Functioning Democracy It’s Not

Sheldon Adelson faces new scrutiny as documents challenge his testimony

H/t reader M.G.:

“Why is US media mute on this story? This is one that every American….especially Republicans……ought to know about in detail…”


Sheldon Adelson faces new scrutiny as documents challenge his testimony (Guardian, May 8, 2015):

Casino magnate’s trial remarks raised more questions than they answered about Las Vegas Sands’ connection with an alleged organised crime leader in China

Sheldon Adelson, the multibillionaire casino magnate and key Republican party donor, spent four combative days in a Las Vegas court this week defending his gambling empire from accusations of bribery and ties to organised crime.By the time the hearing was over, Adelson had argued with the judge, contradicted the evidence of his own executives and frustrated his lawyers by revealing more information than he was required to in response to simple yes or no questions. But most importantly, far from laying the allegations against his Las Vegas Sands conglomerate to rest, the billionaire’s answers threw up yet more questions which he is likely to have to return to court to answer.

Read moreSheldon Adelson faces new scrutiny as documents challenge his testimony

Vladimir Putin: US trying to create ‘unipolar world’

H/t reader M.G. (commenting on this article ISIS Supporters Claim Attack On Hamas Base In Gaza Strip):

Why isn’t this story given any coverage? When you read it, you will see the world leaders attending are from China, India and other emerging nations……none from the declining west. The sanctions are a joke…..on us.”



Vladimir Putin: US trying to create ‘unipolar world’ (Guardian, May 8, 2015):

Vladimir Putin has used an address commemorating the 70th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany to accuse the US of attempting to dominate the world.Speaking at Moscow’s annual Victory Day parade in Red Square, which this year has been boycotted by western leaders over the continuing crisis in Ukraine, the Russian president berated Washington for “attempts to create a unipolar world”.

Read moreVladimir Putin: US trying to create ‘unipolar world’

Tsipras sees ‘happy ending’ for Greece in crisis talks as €750m repayment nears

H/t reader M.G. (commenting on this article Japan National Debt Rises To ¥1,053,357,200,000,000):

“Thanks to Fukushima, Japan is finished, but nobody dares to say so. They always kept a strong fiscal house……but can no longer do so, and their national debt is growing to unsustainable levels.

The same story with most of the western world……debt, and more debt.

Now, Greece’s situation has moved out of control………nothing can save it, but the debt funded stock markets continue to climb…happy days are here again.

From the Guardian…….”


Tsipras sees ‘happy ending’ for Greece in crisis talks as €750m repayment nears (Guardian, May 8, 2015):

Greece’s embattled prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, has insisted he is confident of a resolution to the country’s debt crisis, as his government struggles to meet a €750m (£545m) repayment to the International Monetary Fund next week and avoid default.

Greece is starved of cash but senior EU officials say there is no prospect of a deal releasing bailout money when the eurozone meets on Monday in Brussels.

Read moreTsipras sees ‘happy ending’ for Greece in crisis talks as €750m repayment nears

The Trans-Pacific Partnership will lead to a global race to the bottom

The Trans-Pacific Partnership will lead to a global race to the bottom (Guardian, May 8, 2015):

At a time when economic inequality around the globe continues to widen, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will only make things worse. Unlike what President Obama claims, the agreement will only encourage a race to the bottom, in which a small percentage of people get ridiculously rich while most workers around the globe stay miserably poor. We can’t let that happen.

Read moreThe Trans-Pacific Partnership will lead to a global race to the bottom

Obama Administration Improperly Denies Student Loan Debt Relief

Obama Administration Improperly Denies Student Loan Debt Relief (Huffington Post, May 8, 2015):

Federal law allows students who were defrauded by their colleges into taking out federal student loans to have their debts forgiven. The Obama administration has said repeatedly it will ensure aggrieved borrowers get this form of relief, a commitment that Education Undersecretary Ted Mitchell reiterated this week following the bankruptcy filing of troubled for-profit school operator Corinthian Colleges Inc.

But that’s not helping Yvette Colon of New York.

Colon, a 53-year-old East Harlem resident, says she is stuck with a worthless credential that’s saddled her with more than $51,000 in federal and private student loans. She attended Sanford-Brown Institute in Manhattan, a for-profit trade school owned by Career Education Corp., from 2006 to 2008, hoping to become a cardiac sonographer.

Read moreObama Administration Improperly Denies Student Loan Debt Relief

California’s ‘Unprecedented’ Drought In Pictures

California’s “Unprecedented” Drought In Pictures (ZeroHedge, May 8, 2015):

California’s drought has reached epic proportions, prompting Governor Jerry Brown and state water regulators to adopt “unprecedented” (and some say draconian) measures to counter what is perhaps the only example of a liquidity crisis more acute than that which investors face in secondary bond markets.

California-Drought_1

Cities will be forced to cut consumption by as much as 36%, a mandate that is expected to cost utilities upwards of $1 billion, lost revenue which, as we noted earlier this week, will promptly be recouped in the form of higher prices for any consumer who isn’t a MotherFracker.

So with the state preparing to crack down on “wasters” in the form of $10,000 fines, and with more than 12 million dead trees greatly increasing the chances that wildfires could spread out of control, we bring you the drought in pictures:

Read moreCalifornia’s ‘Unprecedented’ Drought In Pictures

Americans Not In The Labor Force Rise To Record 93,194,000

Americans Not In The Labor Force Rise To Record 93,194,000 (ZeroHedge, May 8, 2015):

In what was an “unambiguously” unpleasant April jobs payrolls report, with a March revision dragging that month’s job gain to the lowest level since June of 2012, the fact that the number of Americans not in the labor force rose once again, this time to 93,194K from 93,175K, with the result being a participation rate of 69.45 or just above the lowest percentage since 1977, will merely catalyze even more upside to the so called “market” which continues to reflect nothing but central bank liquidity, and thus – the accelerating deterioration of the broader economy.

Not in Labor Force

End result: with the civilian employment to population ratio unchanged from last month at 59.3%, one can easily on the chart below why there will be no broad wage growth any time soon, which will merely allow the Fed to engage in its failed policies for a long, long time.

Read moreAmericans Not In The Labor Force Rise To Record 93,194,000

?ISIS Supporters Claim Attack On Hamas Base In Gaza Strip

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?ISIS supporters claim attack on Hamas base in Gaza Strip (RT, May 8, 2015):

A jihadist group with ties to the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a mortar attack on a Hamas base in the Gaza Strip.

The group, calling itself ‘Supporters of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL),’ said in an online statement that it fired mortar rounds at a base used by the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas’ armed wing) in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, on Friday.

Read more?ISIS Supporters Claim Attack On Hamas Base In Gaza Strip

Pentagon Staff Given “Stern Warning” After Using Government Credit Cards For Hookers & Gambling

Pentagon Employees Caught Using Government Credit Cards on Gambling & Escorts…Staff Given “Stern Warning” (Liberty Blitzkrieg, May 7, 2015):

Last month, we learned that DEA agents were caught attending sex parties with prostitutes paid for by drug cartels. No one was fired. We also learned that the DEA agents who left a California student in a cell without food or water for five days until he was forced to drink his own urine in order to survive, were given a slap on the wrist. Finally, we heard about how TSA screeners in Denver were intentionally manipulating the naked body scanners in order to allow a particular agent to sexually molest male passengers. While the offenders were fired, no criminal charges were filed, and the TSA refuses to release their names. All of this was revealed in the last month alone.

Well, we can now add another to the list. In the latest example of abuse by the unaccountable feds, we learn that Pentagon employees have been caught using their government credit cards on gambling and escorts, amongst other things. Their punishment? A “stern warning.” 

Read morePentagon Staff Given “Stern Warning” After Using Government Credit Cards For Hookers & Gambling

Old Workers Hit New All Time High As All April Jobs Go To The “55 And Older”

Old Workers Hit New All Time High As All April Jobs Go To The “55 And Older” (ZeroHedge, May 8, 2015):

Earlier we reported that all the jobs added in April were part-time, or over 400,000, while full-time jobs decreased by over 200,000 pushing them further under the pre-recession peak. Here is another stunning data point: of the 255K workers added in the household survey when broken down by age group, more than all, or 266K went to workers aged 55 and older also known as the age cohort which is realizing it is never going to retire under the Fed’s centrally-planned regime.

Wholesale Sales YoY Worst Since Lehman As Inventories Grow At Slowest Pace In 2 Years

Wholesale Sales YoY Worst Since Lehman As Inventories Grow At Slowest Pace In 2 Years (ZeroHedge, May 8, 2015):

For the first time since July 2008, Wholesale Sales fell for the 4th month in a row in March (-0.2% vs +0.5% expectation). On a YoY basis, this is the worst sales drop since November 2008. Perhaps even more problematic is the weakness in inventories – which will drag Q1 GDP even lower – as the last time we saw a weaker inventory growth (+0.1% in March) was May 2013. Wholesale Inventories to Sales remain at Lehman (and 2000) highs.