NSA Admits To Warrantless Wiretapping According To House Judiciary Committee Member

NSA Admits To Warrantless Wiretapping According To House Judiciary Committee Member (ZeroHedge, June 16, 2013):

More confusion, or just more lies? You decide.In an exchange first caught by CNET, Rep Gerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, questioned FBI Director Robert Mueller late last week about the NSA surveillance programs.

Nadler asked Mueller if a warrant is needed to listen to the content of a domestic phone call. Mueller said a national security letter is needed to get subscriber info and a FISA warrant is needed to get content. Nadler said he was told the exact opposite.

Read moreNSA Admits To Warrantless Wiretapping According To House Judiciary Committee Member

Iran Sends 4,000 Revolutionary Guards To Aid Syria’s Assad

Flashback:

At the Commonwealth Club of California:

U.S. 4 Star General Wesley Clark, Oct 3, 2007: ‘We’re Gonna Attack And Destroy The Governments In 7 Countries In 5 Years’ … ‘Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan And Iran (Video)

… or here in this interview with Democracy Now:

Interview With US General Wesley Clark (Ret.): US Government Planned To ‘Take Out 7 Countries In 5 Years’: ‘Starting With Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan And Finishing Off Iran (Video)


Iran Sends 4,000 Troops To Aid Syria’s Assad (ZeroHedge, June 16, 2013):

While the world awaits Russia’s formal response to last week’s US escalation in Syria (as Putin demonstratively arrived an hour late for talks on Syria with UK PM David Cameron) another country: Iran – fresh from an election in which moderate candidate Hassan Rohani became the new president – is taking matters into its own hands. The Independent Reports that a military decision has been taken in Iran – even before last week’s presidential election – to send a first contingent of 4,000 Iranian Revolutionary Guards to Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad’s forces against the largely Sunni rebellion that has cost almost 100,000 lives in just over two years. Iran is now fully committed to preserving Assad’s regime, according to pro-Iranian sources which have been deeply involved in the Islamic Republic’s security, even to the extent of proposing to open up a new ‘Syrian’ front on the Golan Heights against Israel.”If it was the west’s desire all along to drag Iran into the Syrian escalation, and thus shoot two birds with one cluster bomb, Iran may have just happily obliged.

So while we now await for Israel in turn to ratchet up the war rhetoric one more time, perhaps while punctuating its sentences with the occasional bomb over Syrian soil, here is the Independent with a comprehensive analysis on how America, courtesy of its now formalized support of the Syrian mercenaries rebels, suddenly finds itself in uncharted territory: “For the first time, all of America’s ‘friends’ in the region are Sunni Muslims and all of its enemies are Shiites. Breaking all President Barack Obama’s rules of disengagement, the US is now fully engaged on the side of armed groups which include the most extreme Sunni Islamist movements in the Middle East.”

More:

In years to come, historians will ask how America – after its defeat in Iraq and its humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan scheduled for  2014 – could have so blithely aligned itself with one side in a titanic Islamic struggle stretching back to the seventh century death of the Prophet Mohamed. The profound effects of this great schism, between Sunnis who believe that the father of Mohamed’s wife was the new caliph of the Muslim world and Shias who regard his son in law Ali as his rightful successor – a seventh century battle swamped in blood around the present-day Iraqi cities of Najaf and Kerbala – continue across the region to this day. A 17th century Archbishop of Canterbury, George Abbott, compared this Muslim conflict to that between “Papists and Protestants”.

Read moreIran Sends 4,000 Revolutionary Guards To Aid Syria’s Assad

Bank Of America Lied To Homeowners And Rewarded Foreclosures

Bank of America Lied to Homeowners and Rewarded Foreclosures, Former Employees Say (ProPublica, June 14, 2013):

Bank of America employees regularly lied to homeowners seeking loan modifications, denied their applications for made-up reasons, and were rewarded for sending homeowners to foreclosure, according to sworn statements by former bank employees.

The employee statements were filed late last week in federal court in Boston as part of a multi-state class action suit brought on behalf of homeowners who sought to avoid foreclosure through the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) but say they had their cases botched by Bank of America.

In a statement, a Bank of America spokesman said that each of the former employees’ statements is “rife with factual inaccuracies” and that the bank will respond more fully in court next month. He said that Bank of America had modified more loans than any other bank and continues to “demonstrate our commitment to assisting customers who are at risk of foreclosure.”

Six of the former employees worked for the bank, while one worked for a contractor. They range from former managers to front-line employees, and all dealt with homeowners seeking to avoid foreclosure through the government’s program.

Read moreBank Of America Lied To Homeowners And Rewarded Foreclosures

222 Years Of Gold, Wars, Inflation, Economies, And U.S. Presidents

222 Years Of Gold, Wars, Inflation, Economies, And Presidents (ZeroHedge, June 15, 2013):

Whether as the basis for the monetary unit of a country, or in its role in comparison to the currency of other assets, the price of gold has long been a subject of great interest to both the scholar and the general public. MeasuringWorth has created a multi-century time series of the barbarous relic’s USD price. From the penny, the crown, the rose ryal, the guinea and the sovereign coin, the question of “what was the price then” is answered combining a number of sources and Visualizing Economics compares the ‘real’ price of gold since 1791 to GDP, wars, US presidents, and inflation…

(click image for larger version)

U.S. Congress At Work: House Votes To Uphold Indefinite Detention Of Americans

Congress at Work: The House Votes to Uphold the Indefinite Detention of Americans (Liberty Blitzkrieg, June 16, 2013):

In case you missed it, last Thursday our illustrious House of Representatives voted on an amendment that would have blocked the possibility for the President to lock up American citizens without a trial.  Unsurprisingly, our so-called “representatives” once again voted against protecting the constitutional rights of the citizenry in the name of the Orwellian, never-ending “war on terror.”  If you need a refresher on the NDAA and the authoritarian power it grants the executive branch, I suggest you read one of my most popular posts ever: NDAA: The Most Important Lawsuit in American History that No One is Talking About.

After the amendment’s failure, its sponsor Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash) correctly called out Republicans for their complete and total hypocrisy when it comes to “big government.”  He stated:

“This is a vote against the United States constitution and it is a vote against due process.  It is mind-boggling and extremely disappointing that the party who claims to fear big government overreach has voted against an amendment to prevent the government from indefinitely detaining individuals detained on U.S. soil –- including U.S. citizens.”

Now from the Huffington Post:

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives voted again Thursday to allow the indefinite military detention of Americans, blocking an amendment that would have barred the possibility.

Supporters of detention argue that the nation needs to be able to arrest and jail suspected terrorists without trial, including Americans on U.S. soil, for as long as there is a war on terror. Their argument won, and the measure was defeated by a vote of 200 to 226.

Read moreU.S. Congress At Work: House Votes To Uphold Indefinite Detention Of Americans

Constitutionally Illiterate Mayor Bloomberg Compares The NYPD To A Paramilitary Force

Constitutionally Illiterate Michael Bloomberg Doesn’t Want the DOJ Monitoring His Stop-and-Frisk “Military” (Reason, June 14, 2013):

In November 2011, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told an audience at MIT, “I don’t listen to Washington very much, which is something they’re not thrilled about.” He didn’t listen because he didn’t have to. “I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh biggest army in the world,” Bloomberg bragged. That boast–crude and alarming as it was–sort of just hung in the air, slowly losing its stench. Yesterday, Bloomberg revived it, this time while announcing that he didn’t want the Justice Department overseeing the NYPD in the event a federal judge deems stop-and-frisk unconstitutional.

WNYC News reports:

The U.S. Department of Justice filed papers Wednesday saying that if a federal judge ruled the NYPD’s practices unconstitutional, then the DOJ would strongly endorse the use of a monitor to oversee changes at the department.

The mayor, however, said that the police department needs a clear line of authority. No military organization or paramilitary runs where you have confusion in the command structure. You just cannot have that. Lives are on the line,” he said in a question-and-answer session with reporters.

Emphasis mine. The NYPD is not a “military organization” or an “army,” much less Bloomberg’s “own army.” Nor is the NYPD a “paramilitary organization”–that would require the department to change its core function to supporting an actual military. The NYPD is a police department. New York, New York is a city, not a sovereign nation. The 14th Amendment says Bloomberg and his police are required to respect the Fourth Amendment. This is basic stuff. You’d think Bloomberg would know it.

Read moreConstitutionally Illiterate Mayor Bloomberg Compares The NYPD To A Paramilitary Force

Assad: Winning Hearts, Minds And Battles in Syria (Veterans Today)

Assad: Winning Hearts, Minds and Battles in Syria (Veterans Today, June 14, 2013):

Most Syrians support Assad. They do so for good reason. Mass crowds turn out in liberated areas. Syria’s military is cheered.

Polls show over two-thirds of Syrians back their government. The longer conflict continues, the greater Assad backing grows.

It’s not surprising. Syrians want no part of living under a Washington-imposed dictatorship. They’re willing to sacrifice, fight and die to prevent it. They’ve come this far and won’t quit.

Obama and imperial allies are worried. John Kerry planned a fifth Middle East visit this week. On Tuesday, he was expected in Israel. He’s not coming. He’ll stay in Washington.

High-level meetings on Syria are ongoing. Assad’s been routing US proxy foot soldiers. Qusair and other impressive victories were won. Syrian forces control most parts of the country.

Read moreAssad: Winning Hearts, Minds And Battles in Syria (Veterans Today)

Your Hidden Censor: What Your Mind Will Not Let You See

Your Hidden Censor: What Your Mind Will Not Let You See (Scientific American, June 11, 2013):

Scientists probe the biases of “unconscious selective attention”

It was a summer evening when Tony Cornell tried to make the residents of Cambridge, England see a ghost. He got dressed up in a sheet and walked through a public park waving his arms about. Meanwhile his assistants observed the bystanders for any hint that they noticed something strange. No, this wasn’t Candid Camera. Cornell was a researcher interested in the paranormal. The idea was first to get people to notice the spectacle, and then see how they understood what their eyes were telling them. Would they see the apparition as a genuine ghost or as something more mundane, like a bloke in a bed sheet?

Read moreYour Hidden Censor: What Your Mind Will Not Let You See

Philadelphia Closes 23 Schools, New $400 Million Prison Being Built

Philadelphia Closes 23 Schools, New $400 Million Prison Being Built (Opposing Views, June 7, 2013):

Philadelphia officials are closing almost two dozen schools and decimating the budgets of the remaining schools under a so-called “doomsday” education plan.

However, amid all these cuts for education, the state of Pennsylvania is building a new $400 million prison for Philadelphia.

Pennsylvania’s School Reform Commission voted on March 7 to close 23 schools, reported the New York Times.

The same commission voted on June 1 to approve a $2.4 billion budget that will radically undercut the schools that stay open.

According to Philly.com, the budget cuts mean that “schools will open in the fall without new books, paper, clubs, counselors, librarians, assistant principals, or secretaries. Athletics, art, and music would be gone. There could be 3,000 layoffs, including some teachers. Class sizes would be larger, and schools would have no aides to help manage them or support staff to monitor lunchrooms and playgrounds.”

Read morePhiladelphia Closes 23 Schools, New $400 Million Prison Being Built

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov: No-Fly Zone In Syria Would Break International Law

… and is an act of war:

Let’s Be Clear: Establishing A ‘No-Fly Zone’ Is An ACT Of War (The Atlantic)


No-Fly Zone in Syria Would Break International Law – Lavrov (RIA Novosti, June 15, 2013):

MOSCOW, June 15 (RIA Novosti) – The creation of a no-fly zone in war-torn Syria would contravene international law, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday, amid media speculation that the US plans to do just that.

“You don’t have to be a great expert to realize that this will be a violation of international law. We hope our American colleagues will direct all their practical activity into implementing a joint US-Russian initiative to convene a conference devoted to improving the situation in Syria,” Lavrov said after meeting with his Italian counterpart.

Media reports on Friday cited unidentified Western diplomats as saying that the US, which said this week that it would provide military support to the Syrian opposition, was considering establishing a no-fly zone in Syria. US fighter jets and anti-aircraft missiles were sent to Syria’s neighbor Jordan earlier this month for military exercises.

Read moreRussian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov: No-Fly Zone In Syria Would Break International Law

Hanford Nuclear Waste: Leak In Massive Double-Shell Tank Growing Significantly

Related info:

Hanford Nuclear Waste Cleanup May Be Too Dangerous, Future Of Storage Plant Uncertain

Suddenly No Solution For 56 Million Gallons Of Highly Radioactive Toxic Waste Leaking Into The Ground

Hanford Nuclear Waste: New Proposed Storage Site Prompts New Criticism

WA: Hanford Nuclear Tank Is Leaking Liquids

Radioactive Waste Is Leaking From Washington’s Hanford Nuclear Reservation


Leak in Hanford double-shell tank getting worse (King5, Jan 13, 2013):

The leak in a massive underground double-shell nuclear waste tank at the Hanford Site has grown significantly since the leak was first announced to the public last fall, according to sources who have seen new inspection video and photographs.

The tank — known as AY-102 — holds 860,000 gallons of radioactive waste generated during decades of plutonium production at the southeastern Washington reservation.

Read moreHanford Nuclear Waste: Leak In Massive Double-Shell Tank Growing Significantly

NSA Whistleblower Thomas Drake: Snowden Saw What I Saw: Surveillance Criminally Subverting The Constitution


Thomas Drake, NSA whistleblower, in a still from the Robert Greenwald documentary War on Whistleblowers. Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Snowden saw what I saw: surveillance criminally subverting the constitution (Guardian, June 12, 2013, by Thomas Drake):

What Edward Snowden has done is an amazingly brave and courageous act of civil disobedience.

Like me, he became discomforted by what he was exposed to and what he saw: the industrial-scale systematic surveillance that is scooping up vast amounts of information not only around the world but in the United States, in direct violation of the fourth amendment of the US constitution.

The NSA programs that Snowden has revealed are nothing new: they date back to the days and weeks after 9/11. I had direct exposure to similar programs, such as Stellar Wind, in 2001. In the first week of October, I had an extraordinary conversation with NSA’s lead attorney. When I pressed hard about the unconstitutionality of Stellar Wind, he said:

“The White House has approved the program; it’s all legal. NSA is the executive agent.”

It was made clear to me that the original intent of government was to gain access to all the information it could without regard for constitutional safeguards. “You don’t understand,” I was told. “We just need the data.”

In the first week of October 2001, President Bush had signed an extraordinary order authorizing blanket dragnet electronic surveillance: Stellar Wind was a highly secret program that, without warrant or any approval from the Fisa court, gave the NSA access to all phone records from the major telephone companies, including US-to-US calls. It correlates precisely with the Verizon order revealed by Snowden; and based on what we know, you have to assume that there are standing orders for the other major telephone companies.

Read moreNSA Whistleblower Thomas Drake: Snowden Saw What I Saw: Surveillance Criminally Subverting The Constitution

And Now Even Al Gore Denounces NSA’s Surveillance Program As ?UNCONSTITUTIONAL

Al Gore denounces NSA’s surveillance program as ?unlawful (PressTV, June 15, 2013):

Former US Vice-President Al Gore has sharply criticized the National Security Agency (NSA)’s secret telephone data collection program, saying it is against the country’s Constitution.

“This in my view violates the Constitution. The fourth amendment and the first amendment – and the fourth amendment language is crystal clear,” he told the British daily The Guardian on Friday.

Gore said the argument that the NSA surveillance had operated within the boundaries of the law has failed to convince him, adding, “It is not acceptable to have a secret interpretation of a law that goes far beyond any reasonable reading of either the law or the Constitution and then classify as top secret what the actual law is.”

Read moreAnd Now Even Al Gore Denounces NSA’s Surveillance Program As ?UNCONSTITUTIONAL

Thousands Of Companies Handing Over Your Personal Data To The NSA

“Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power.”
Benito Mussolini


Thousands Of Companies Have Been Handing Over Your Personal Data To The NSA (Economic Collapse, June 14, 2013):

It isn’t just Internet and phone companies that are giving your personal information to the U.S. government.  According to an astounding report by Bloomberg, “four people familiar with the process” say that “makers of hardware and software, banks, Internet security providers, satellite telecommunications companies” and a whole host of other sources are handing over your personal data to federal agencies.  The truth is that there is so much more to this NSA snooping scandal than the American people know so far.  When U.S. Representative Loretta Sanchez said that what Edward Snowden had revealed was “just the tip of the iceberg“, she wasn’t kidding.  The U.S. government is trying to collect as much information about everyone on the planet as it possibly can.  And this incredibly powerful intelligence machine is not going to go away just because a few activists get upset about it.  The United States government spends more than 80 billion dollars a year on intelligence programs.  Those that have spent their careers constructing this monolithic intelligence apparatus are doing to defend it to the bitter end, as will the corporate partners in the private sector that rake in enormous profits thanks to big fat government contracts.  But if the American people don’t stand up and demand change now, it is going to be a signal to those doing the snooping that they can push the envelope even more because nobody is going to stop them.

So why are thousands of companies handing over your personal data to the NSA?  Well, according to Bloomberg they are getting things in return:

Read moreThousands Of Companies Handing Over Your Personal Data To The NSA

How Life On Earth Could Be And Should Be: Laguna Blanca (Video, German Subtitles)

Doug Tompkins is the Founder of Esprit and The North Face.

He left the business world behind to ‘create’ Laguna Blanca.



YouTube Added: 29.01.2013

Description:

Organic Farming in Entre Ríos Province, Argentina

Douglas Tompkins: ‘There Is No Sustainable Business.’ (New York Times, Feb. 25, 2013):

BARCELONA — Sustainable entrepreneurship — a buzzword in an increasingly eco-conscious business world — is often described as a balance between profit and environmental impact.

It’s a subject that Douglas Tompkins seems to have thought a lot about. He founded Esprit and The North Face, two of America’s most iconic clothing and fashion brands, only to quit the business world to become a staunch conservationalist, environmentalist and critic.

“Remove ‘sustainable’ from your dictionary, there is no sustainable business. Only biological sustainability counts,” he told a room full of business students at the IESE business school Doing Great and Doing Good conference on responsible business. (Disclosure: I moderated a panel at the same conference).

“Economic activity has impact and we are just now doing a better job of measuring what those impacts are,” said Mr. Tompkins in an interview.

A strict conservationalist, he rejects the idea that big business can reform itself and thinks the answer lies outside what he calls the “techno-industrial culture.” He thinks measuring biodiversity is a yardstick for how society is doing.

“Healthy biodiversity is at the base of everything,” he said, with species extinction being the ultimate catastrophe. “We’ll be living on a sand heap with a Norwegian rat and a few cockroaches at the end.”

Despite having co-founded ESPRIT, the multinational clothing giant, and The North Face, the maker of outdoor equipment, in the 1960s and having earned millions of the sale of the former, Mr. Tompkins is critical of business’s paradigms.

“We have an economy that’s based on growth without limits,” he said. “How is that possible?”

“To grow and grow and grow without limits is out of the question,” he said.

Even the companies that he is famous for launching do not escape his disapproval.

“My two companies are two monsters now,” he said.

Read moreHow Life On Earth Could Be And Should Be: Laguna Blanca (Video, German Subtitles)

How Turmeric Reduces Oxidative Stress and Supports Your Brain and Heart

How Turmeric Reduces Oxidative Stress and Supports Your Brain and Heart (Waking Times, June 13, 2013):

Curcumin has increasingly come under the scientific spotlight in recent years, with studies investigating its potential health benefits. It has even been found to outperform pharmaceuticals in preventing disease. Curcumin is a compound found in the spice turmeric which gives it a natural pigment. It has been linked to a range of health benefits, including potential protection against prostate cancer, Alzheimer’s, protection against heart failure, diabetes, and arthritis. Two studies add to that mix with benefits for arterial aging and cognition.

The first of the news studies, published in Experimental Gerontology and performed by scientists from the University of Colorado, found that curcumin was associated with improved vascular health in aging lab mice.

Curcumin is a diferuloylmethane derived from turmeric (popularly called “curry powder”) that has been shown to interfere with multiple cell signaling pathways, including cell cycle, proliferation, survival, invasion, metastasis and inflammation.

Adding curcumin to human cells with the blood cancer multiple myeloma, Dr. Bharat B. Aggarwal of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and his colleagues found, stopped the cells from replicating. And the cells that were left died.

Read moreHow Turmeric Reduces Oxidative Stress and Supports Your Brain and Heart

‘Red Line’ Lies Indicate Full Scale War Coming To Syria

“Red Line” Lies Indicate Full Scale War Coming to Syria (Activist Post, June 13, 2013):

On June 13, 2013 U.S. President Barack Obama announced his plan to authorize weapons shipments directly to al-Qaeda death squads currently operating in Syria.

The Washington Post reports,

U.S. officials said the administration could provide the rebels with a range of weapons, including small arms, ammunition, assault rifles and a variety of anti-tank weaponry such as shoulder-fired remote-propelled grenades and other missiles. However, a final decision on the inventory has not been made, the officials said.

The Washington Post also quotes Ben Rhodes, Obama’s Deputy National Security Advisor, as saying, “This is going to be different in both scope and scale in terms of what we are providing.”

(Ben Rhodes may be familiar to some observers as the brain child behind a “story-telling” PSY-OP against the Assad government early which entailed taking over Syrian television stations and broadcasting demoralizing messages to discourage the Syrian people and encourage desertion among Assad’s ranks.)

Regardless, in addition to weapons shipments, the White House has asked U.S. military planners to present proposals for increasing American involvement inside Syria.

In what appears to be an almost verbatim repeat of the Libyan tragedy, albeit on a slower time scale, one of the proposals being considered consists of creating a “no-fly zone” inside Syria, “stretching up to 25 miles into Syria which would be enforced using aircraft flown from Jordanian bases and flying inside the kingdom, according to U.S. officials.”

Read more‘Red Line’ Lies Indicate Full Scale War Coming To Syria

Former Fed President Thomas Hoenig: Deutsche Bank ‘Is Horribly Undercapitalized … It’s Ridiculous’

And who said, when Bilderberg Josef Ackerman left Deutsche, that things will get very interesting soon enough?

Oh, that was me.


Deutsche Bank “Is Horribly Undercapitalized… It’s Ridiculous” Says Former Fed President Hoenig (ZeroHedge, June 15, 2013):

Back in May 2012, when we were making fun at the latest iteration of the now fatally discredited European stress tests, we took the first of many jabs at the what may currently be the world’s most systematically important, and undercapitalized, bank in the world:

Finally, if anyone is still confused where the pain is headed next, here is a list from Morgan Stanley of all Euro banks with a Core Tier 1 ratio that is so low, that the banks will soon regret not raising more capital in the period of calm that the ECB’s LTRO bought them.

Also, one bank is missing from the list above: Deutsche Bank. CT1/TA: 1.68%. Oops.

That’s right – Deutsche Bank was so bad that it wasn’t even allowed to appear on a screen of Europe’s most undercapitalized banks – and we helpfully pointed out its true capital ratio of just under 2%, and an implied leverage of 60x!

Fast forward 13 months to a Reuters interview with former Kansas City Fed president and FOMC dissenter and sole voice of reason at the Federal Reserve, and current FDIC Vice Chairman Tom Hoenig, who confirmed that once again Zero Hedge was just a year ahead of the curve.

A top U.S. banking regulator called Deutsche Bank’s capital levels “horrible” and said it is the worst on a list of global banks based on one measurement of leverage ratios. “It’s horrible, I mean they’re horribly undercapitalized,” said Federal Deposit Insurance Corp Vice Chairman Thomas Hoenig in an interview. “They have no margin of error.”  Deutsche’s leverage ratio stood at 1.63 percent, according to Hoenig’s numbers, which are based on European IFRS accounting rules as of the end of 2012.

In other words, the slighest systemic shock in Europe and Deustche Bank gets it. And as Deutsche Bank goes, so does Germany, so does Europe, so does the world.

Immediately confirming Hoenig’s (and Zero Hedge’s) observations, was Deutsche’s prompt repeat that “all is well” and that “these numbers” are not like “those numbers.”

“To say that we are undercapitalized is inaccurate because if you look at the Basel framework, we’re now one of the best capitalized banks in the world after our capital raise,” Deutsche Bank’s Chief Financial Officer Stefan Krause told Reuters in an interview, when asked about Hoenig’s comments. “To suggest that leverage puts us in a position to be a risk to the system is incorrect,” Krause said, calling the gauge a “misleading measure” when used on its own.

Of course, DB’s lies are perfectly expected – after all it is a question of fiath. So let’s go back to Hoenig who continues to be one of the few voices of reason among the “very serious people”:

Read moreFormer Fed President Thomas Hoenig: Deutsche Bank ‘Is Horribly Undercapitalized … It’s Ridiculous’

Who Said It: ‘This Administration Acts Like Violating Civil Liberties Is The Way To Enhance Our Security’

Who Said It: “This Administration Acts Like Violating Civil Liberties Is The Way To Enhance Our Security” (ZeroHedge, June 15, 2013):

Who said it?

This Administration also puts forward a false choice between the liberties we cherish and the security we demand. I will provide our intelligence and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to track and take out the terrorists without undermining our Constitution and our freedom.

That means no more illegal wiretapping of American citizens. No more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime. No more tracking citizens who do nothing more than protest a misguided war. No more ignoring the law when it is inconvenient.

Read moreWho Said It: ‘This Administration Acts Like Violating Civil Liberties Is The Way To Enhance Our Security’

FBI Director Robert Mueller: ‘All Necessary Steps’ Being Taken To Find Edward Snowden

“‘Truth is treason in the empire of lies.”
“Let the revolution begin!”
– Ron Paul



YouTube

‘All necessary steps’ being taken to find Snowden, FBI says (The Hill, June 13, 2013):

The FBI is working to track down Edward Snowden for leaking scores of classified documents on U.S. surveillance programs.

FBI Director Robert Mueller on Thursday told members of the House Judiciary Committee that U.S. safety has been jeopardized by the leaks and that “all necessary steps” were being taken to track down Snowden, who is believed to be in Hong Kong.

“As to the individual who has admitted to making these disclosures, he is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation,” Mueller said in his testimony.

“These disclosures have caused significant harm to our nation and to our safety. We are taking all necessary steps to hold the person responsible for these disclosures.”
Mueller declined to provide more details about the FBI’s probe into the leak.

Read moreFBI Director Robert Mueller: ‘All Necessary Steps’ Being Taken To Find Edward Snowden

NSA Spy Scandal Debate: Barack Obama 2013 Vs Joe Biden 2006 (Video)


YouTube Added: 14.06.2013

Description:

Watch then-Senator Joe Biden from 2006 as he directly refutes each point made by his boss, President Obama, about the NSA surveillance program at his news conference last week.

Read more here: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/06…

Russian MP: US Chemical Weapons Report in Syria ‘Fabricated’


US Chemical Weapons Report in Syria ‘Cooked’ – Russian MP

US Chemical Weapons Report in Syria ‘Fabricated’ – Russian MP (RIA Novosti, June 14, 2013):

MOSCOW, June 14 (RIA Novosti) – A US government report concluding Syria has used chemical weapons against rebels, crossing what US President Barack Obama has previously described as a “red line,” is a fabrication, a senior Russian lawmaker said Friday.

“Information about the usage of chemical weapons by [Syrian President Bashar] Assad is fabricated in the same way as the lie about [Saddam] Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction [in Iraq],” Alexei Pushkov, head of the Russian lower house of parliament’s international affairs committee, said on Twitter.

US intelligence reports presented to the UN and the international community prior to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 claimed Saddam Hussein’s regime possessed weapons of mass destruction including nerve agents, ballistic missiles and a nuclear weapons program. The US claimed the threat posed by those weapons justified the invasion of Iraq, but after the country was occupied, the alleged weapons of mass destruction were never found.

President Obama “is going the same way” as former President George W. Bush did then, Pushkov said.

Read moreRussian MP: US Chemical Weapons Report in Syria ‘Fabricated’