Summarizing The Known Rigged Markets

Summarizing The Known Rigged Markets (ZeroHedge, June 12, 2013):

Following last night’s revelation that FX trading is the latest addition to the “rigged” column, here is a summary of the known market manipulation scandals (because it can be problematic keeping track of all by now):

  • Libor – interest rates (link)
  • ISDAfix – swaps (link)
  • Platts – oil prices (link)
  • WM/Reuters – FX (link)
  • High-Frequency Trading – equities (link)

We also know that the Fed and world central banks are engaged in a full blown (and unprecedented) Treasury curve modeling exercise courtesy of both ZIRP (short-end) and QE (long-end), and that courtesy of some $12 trillion in extra liquidity in the past 5 years, stocks are at an artificial “weath effect” sugar high.

Read moreSummarizing The Known Rigged Markets

Europe’s € 500 BILLION Quasi-Quantitative Easing

Europe’s EUR500 Billion Quasi-Quantitative Easing (ZeroHedge, June 12, 2013):

Submitted by Mark J. Grant, author of Out of the Box, Five Eurozone countries now have loans for half a trillion Euros.

These members of the Euro currency union are receiving loans from the one of two bailout funds which are financed by the other 12 Eurozone members. On top of that are the emergency loans from the International Monetary fund (IMF) and bilateral loans from the solvent countries to the bankrupt nations.

Read moreEurope’s € 500 BILLION Quasi-Quantitative Easing

Ex-NSA Whistleblower Thomas Drake’s Advice To Edward Snowden: ‘Always Check Your Six’

“My life was essentially destroyed”
– Thomas Drake

Ex-NSA Leaker’s Advice To Snowden: “Always Check Your Six” (ZeroHedge, June 12, 2013):

“Be lawyered up to the max… find a place where it’s going to be that much more difficult for the US to make arrangements for his return… and and always check your six,” is the warning (advice) that Thomas Drake offers Edward Snowden, adding that, “it’s now validation of this vast, now systemic, industrial-scale leviathan surveillance system.”

As Reuters reports, Drake is one of the few people who understands from personal experience what the NSA Whistleblower is going through – the 56-year-old was prosecuted under the Espionage Act in 2010 for allegedly revealing classified information about the agency’s sweeping warrantless wire-tapping program. The government later dropped all but a misdemeanor charge.

“Always make sure you know what’s behind you,” he adds, “when you offer up information about the dark side of the surveillance state they don’t take too kindly to it.” Drake, whose life was “essentially destroyed,” is now a technical expert at an Apple store, but he still believes what he did was worth it, having no doubts: “Is freedom worth it? Is liberty worth it? Is not living in a surveillance society worth it? You’ve got to stand up and defend the rights and the freedoms that prevent that from actually happening.”

Via Reuters,

Thomas Drake is one of the few people who understands from personal experience what the future may hold for Edward Snowden, the 29-year-old former NSA contractor who exposed the U.S. government’s top secret phone and Internet surveillance programs.

His advice for Snowden: “Be lawyered up to the max and find a place where it’s going to be that much more difficult for the United States to make arrangements for his return,” Drake said. “And always check six, as we said when I used to be a flyer in the Air Force. Always make sure you know what’s behind you.”

Drake, a 56-year-old former intelligence official at the National Security Agency, was prosecuted under the Espionage Act in 2010 for allegedly revealing classified information about the agency’s sweeping warrantless wire-tapping program. The government later dropped all but a misdemeanor charge.

Read moreEx-NSA Whistleblower Thomas Drake’s Advice To Edward Snowden: ‘Always Check Your Six’

Crisis And Chaos Return To Greece Following National TV Shutdown

Related info:

IMF Says Another Greek Bailout Necessary

Greece: Total Collapse In Pics – GDP Plunges To Year 2000 Levels – That Things Are Hopeless And Getting Worse Is An Understatement – Another Bailout Imminent

Greece: Prostitution Soars By 150% – Prostitutes Lower Their Price As Low As 5 EUROS – Youth Unempoyment Hits 75% In Some Areas


Crisis And Chaos Return To Greece Following National TV Shutdown (ZeroHedge, June 12, 2013):

A week ago we joked that Greece was rapidly sliding into the “fourth world” (and had the photos to prove it). Well, today Equity Index provider MSCI took our joke and made it into something way too serious when overnight it made Greece the first developed nation ever to be downgraded into “emerging market” status. Not quite fourth world, but that too will come. However, what’s worse for Greece is that as we reported yesterday, the majority of Greeks have no way of learning about this following the governmental “temporary” shutdown of its one national TV prodier, ERT. Kathimerini followed up with news that ERT would be renamed to NERIT, the New Hellenic Radio Internet and Television – a state company owned by the public sector and regulated by the state, and relaunched by the end of August, however what matters to the public is that the vast majority of employees would likely be let go permanently.

However, the biggest news out of Greece is that the events in the 24 hours have pushed the depressed country right back into crisis mode, with political bickering front and center (the opposition leader called the uncoordinated move “a coup” even as coalition partners blasted the broadcaster shutdown while Europe washed it hands), while the economic contraction is set to accelerate once more following what is certain to be another escalation in daily protests and riots. And who can blame them – with that last civilizational “premium” – free TV for all – gone, what else is there to do?

From Reuters:

Greece’s fragile government faced an internal revolt and fierce public protest on Wednesday over the sudden closure of state broadcaster ERT, hours after the humiliation of seeing its bourse downgraded to emerging market status. The twin setbacks, coupled with the derailing of a troubled privatization program, blew a hole in rising investor confidence that had prompted Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to declare the risk of a “Grexit” from the euro was dead and a “Greekovery” was under way.

Read moreCrisis And Chaos Return To Greece Following National TV Shutdown

Germany Most-Spied-On EU Country By US

Germany most-spied-on EU country by US – leaked NSA report (RT, June 11, 2013):

Germany appears to be the most snooped on EU country by the US, a map of secret surveillance activities by the National Security Agency (NSA) shows. EU officials are to question their US counterparts on data snooping in Europe.

The color-coded map of secret surveillance activities by the NSA ranks countries according to how much surveillance they are currently undergoing – green for the least and red for the most watched.

While all EU member states boast variant shades of green, Germany stands out, color-coded orange.

Read moreGermany Most-Spied-On EU Country By US

Ron Paul Warns Of Electronic Surveillance Back In …1984 (Video)

Video of the Day: Ron Paul Warns of Electronic Surveillance back in…1984 (Liberty Blitzkrieg, June 10, 2013):

There are three words that come to mind when I think of Ron Paul; principles, credibility and consistency.  Not only is the video below great because we get to see Dr. Paul speak on the Congressional floor thirty years younger, but also because he was adamantly criticizing civil liberties threats in the context of a Republican President, Ronald Reagan.  He warned us about what the NSA and other intelligence agencies are currently doing well before the internet became widespread.  The man is a statesman of the highest order. Definitely take the time to watch this short video.


YouTube Added: 19.02.2011

9/6/1984, C-SPAN

Government Spying on Americans … And Then Giving Info To Giant Corporations

Government Spying on Americans … and then Giving Info to Giant Corporations (Washington’s Blog, June 11, 2013):

Big Banks and Other Corporate Bigwigs Benefit from Illegal Spying

You’ve heard that the government spies on all Americans.

But you might not know that the government shares some of that information with big corporations.

Read moreGovernment Spying on Americans … And Then Giving Info To Giant Corporations

Main Core (The Last Roundup): A List Of Millions Of Americans That Will Be Subject To Detention During Martial Law

See also this article from May, 2008: The Last Roundup: MAIN CORE


Main Core: A List Of Millions Of Americans That Will Be Subject To Detention During Martial Law (The American Dream, June 10, 2013):

Are you on the list?  Are you one of the millions of Americans that have been designated a threat to national security by the U.S. government?  Will you be subject to detention when martial law is imposed during a major national emergency?  As you will see below, there is actually a list that contains the names of at least 8 million Americans known as Main Core that the U.S. intelligence community has been compiling since the 1980s.  A recent article on Washington’s Blog quoted a couple of old magazine articles that mentioned this program, and I was intrigued because I didn’t know what it was.  So I decided to look into Main Core, and what I found out was absolutely stunning – especially in light of what Edward Snowden has just revealed to the world.  It turns out that the U.S. government is not just gathering information on all of us.  The truth is that the U.S. government has used this information to create a list of threats to national security that the government would potentially watch, question or even detain during a national crisis.  If you have ever been publicly critical of the government, there is a very good chance that you are on that list.

The following is how Wikipedia describes Main Core…

Read moreMain Core (The Last Roundup): A List Of Millions Of Americans That Will Be Subject To Detention During Martial Law

Is THIS The REAL Reason For The Government Spying On Americans?

Is This the REAL Reason for the Government Spying On Americans? (Washington’s Blog, June 10, 2013):

Are Emergency Plans Meant Only for Nuclear War the Real Justification for Spying?

To understand the scope and extent of government spying on all Americans – and the reasons for such spying – you have to understand what has happened to our Constitutional form of government since 9/11.

State of Emergency

Read moreIs THIS The REAL Reason For The Government Spying On Americans?

JPMorgan Vault Gold Drops By 28.4% Overnight, Slides To Fresh Record Low As Withdrawals Accelerate

From the article:

“At this pace, the world’s biggest gold vault located below 1 CMP, and just next to the Fed’s own gold vault, will be empty in about 1.5-2 months.”

Got PHYSICAL gold?


JPM Vault Gold Drops By 28.4% Overnight, Slides To Fresh Record Low As Withdrawals Accelerate (ZeroHedge, June 11, 2013):

With a massive 6,208 (or 80% of the total in the entire Comex system) Customer Delivery issues outstanding against JPM so far in June alone, many have been wondering – how and when will the firm reconcile what is seemingly more demand for JPM vaulted gold than the firm has in its possession?

While we still don’t have the answer, what we do know is that as of an hour ago when the Comex released its daily vault depository statistics, JPM has said goodbye to another 28.4% of all of its vaulted gold – the largest one day withdrawal since April 25, the result of the departure of 61.5% of its Eligible gold, as hundreds of thousands of registered ounces in the bast few weeks have seen warrant detachment.

Read moreJPMorgan Vault Gold Drops By 28.4% Overnight, Slides To Fresh Record Low As Withdrawals Accelerate

U.S. State Department Memo Reveals Cover-Ups, Halted Investigations

State Department memo reveals possible cover-ups, halted investigations (CBS News, june 10, 2013):

CBS News has uncovered documents that show the State Department may have covered up allegations of illegal and inappropriate behavior within their ranks.

The Diplomatic Security Service, or the DSS, is the State Department’s security force, charged with protecting the secretary of state and U.S. ambassadors overseas and with investigating any cases of misconduct on the part of the 70,000 State Department employees worldwide.

CBS News’ John Miller reports that according to an internal State Department Inspector General’s memo, several recent investigations were influenced, manipulated, or simply called off. The memo obtained by CBS News cited eight specific examples. Among them: allegations that a State Department security official in Beirut “engaged in sexual assaults” on foreign nationals hired as embassy guards and the charge and that members of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s security detail “engaged prostitutes while on official trips in foreign countries” — a problem the report says was “endemic.”

The memo also reveals details about an “underground drug ring” was operating near the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and supplied State Department security contractors with drugs.

Read moreU.S. State Department Memo Reveals Cover-Ups, Halted Investigations

ACLU Sues Obama Over Constitutionality Of NSA Surveillance … Supreme Court Standoff Next?

See also:

Ron Paul Blasts Presstitute Piers Morgan & NSA ‘PRISM’ Defenders: ‘What Should The Penalty Be For People Who Destroy The Constitution?’ – ‘You’re Justifying Dictatorship!’ (Video)


Supreme Court Standoff Next? ACLU Sues Obama Over Constitutionality Of NSA Surveillance (ZeroHedge, June 11, 2013):

If the constitutional scholar was hoping he would quietly avoid a major showdown over the constitutionality of the biggest spying scandal since Nixon (whether legal or not remains to be determined) and which would likely have led to an early POTUS retirement if current president was republican, the ACLU just slammed the door shut on the possibility. Moments ago, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration over its “dragnet” collection of logs of domestic phone calls, contending that the once-secret program is illegal and asking a judge to both stop it and order the records purged. And, as the NYT reports, “the lawsuit, filed in New York, could set up an eventual Supreme Court test.” Only once that happens it will be too bad that InTrade is no longer available, to take the other side of a trade that believes the SCOTUS will for once do the right thing and preserve the constitution when everyone knows the decision to formally enact a Big Brother state will pass along political party lines and America will officially become the country that for 5 decades, at least superficially, it was waging “cold war” against.

From NYT:

The program began as part of the Bush administration’s post-9/11 programs of surveillance without warrants, and, it is now known, it has continued since 2006 with the blessing of a national security court, which has ruled in still-secret legal opinions that such bulk surveillance was authorized by a section of the Patriot Act that allows the F.B.I. to obtain “business records” if they are relevant to a counterterrorism investigation.

Read moreACLU Sues Obama Over Constitutionality Of NSA Surveillance … Supreme Court Standoff Next?

Sandinistas Vs. Monsanto

Sandinistas vs. Monsanto (Veterans Today, June 10, 2013):

It is better to see something one time than to hear it one hundred times.
Japanese proverb

Miraflores Cooperative, Nicaragua – August 3, 1986

We arrive in the box of a dump truck to a lush, fertile area near the Honduran border. We are guests in the Sandino section of this potato cooperative, which was decimated by a contra attack on May 20th. The CIA-backed terrorists came in the night- burning homes, cutting babies from pregnant women, castrating and skinning men alive. They tacked the head of a respected village leader to a post at the cooperative entrance and blew up a warehouse full of seed potatoes which had just been harvested.

Their main objective, under orders from Washington, is to undermine the economic base of the cooperative system and to terrorize residents into giving up this communal way of life. The Sandinista revolution for the Nicaraguan poor is based on expropriated Somoza family land. The Somozas had owned 60% of the country’s land before being overthrown in 1979. The seed potatoes stored in the warehouse were intended to supply every cooperative in Nicaragua. Millions of cordobas- profits from the seed potato crop- were to be distributed the very next day to members. Instead, no one received a centavo, whole families were butchered and their village, fields and school were destroyed.

Unhindered, campesinos dressed in military fatigues continue to vigilantly work the land today. Others tend livestock- though much of the cattle herd has also been killed- or dig trenches around the coop’s perimeter to defend against the inevitable next attack. I eagerly join the trench brigade. I am here with a group called Witness for Peace, which opposes Reagan Administration support for the contras and sends several delegations a year to monitor the atrocities of these “freedom fighters”.

After a long day’s work, coop members show their appreciation by butchering one of their two remaining cows in our honor. After dinner a mother tells me how the contras had gone around killing wounded civilians by cutting them up into little pieces. Another man tells me that the leader of the contra raid was a tall white-skinned man with blond hair who he is sure was North American. Teenage girls are busy teaching older folks to read. Teenage boys are shining their AK-47 assault rifles.

Read moreSandinistas Vs. Monsanto

Germany Demands Obama Explain ‘American-Style Stasi Methods’

 

Source: STaSi USA… by William Banzai

Germany Demands Obama Explain “American-Style Stasi Methods” (ZeroHedge, June 11, 2013):

When even Zee Germans are staring open-mouthed at what they call “American-style Stasi methods” you know things have got a little out of hand. As Reuters reports, German outrage over a U.S. Internet spying program has broken out ahead of a visit by Barack Obama, with ministers demanding the president provide a full explanation when he lands in Berlin next week and one official likening the tactics to those of the East German Stasi. “The more a society monitors, controls and observes its citizens, the less free it is,” Merkel’s Justice Minister exclaimed, adding, “the suspicion of excessive surveillance of communication is so alarming that it cannot be ignored.” While Obama has defended it as a “modest encroachment” on privacy and reassured Americans that no one is listening to their phone calls, the Germans reflect “I thought this era had ended when the DDR fell.” Via Reuters,

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman has said she will raise the issue with Obama in talks next Wednesday, potentially casting a cloud over a visit that was designed to celebrate U.S.-German ties on the 50th anniversary John F. Kennedy’s famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech.

Government surveillance is an extremely sensitive topic in Germany, where memories of the dreaded Stasi secret police and its extensive network of informants are still fresh in the minds of many citizens.

Read moreGermany Demands Obama Explain ‘American-Style Stasi Methods’

PRISM Whistleblower Edward Snowden: Russia Offers To Consider Asylum Request

Vladimir Putin’s spokesman says any appeal for asylum from whistleblower who fled US will be looked at ‘according to facts’


Edward Snowden, who has said he might seek asylum in a country with ‘shared values’, such as Iceland. Photograph: The Guardian/AFP/Getty Images

Edward Snowden: Russia offers to consider asylum request (Guardian, June 11, 2013):

Russia has offered to consider an asylum request from the US whistleblower Edward Snowden, in the Kremlin’s latest move to woo critics of the west.

Snowden fled the United States before leaking the details of a top-secret US surveillance programme to the Guardian this month. He is currently believed to be in Hong Kong, but has reportedly changed hotels to keep his location secret.

Fearing US retaliation, Snowden said at the weekend that “my predisposition is to seek asylum in a country with shared values“, citing Iceland as an example. He defended his decision to flee to Hong Kong by citing its relative freedom compared with mainland China.

Read morePRISM Whistleblower Edward Snowden: Russia Offers To Consider Asylum Request

Ron Paul Blasts Presstitute Piers Morgan & NSA ‘PRISM’ Defenders: ‘What Should The Penalty Be For People Who Destroy The Constitution?’ – ‘You’re Justifying Dictatorship!’ (Video)

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



YouTube

Description:

(June 10, 2013) – Former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul appeared on CNN tonight to tell Piers Morgan why he objects to the NSA surveillance program.

Morgan directly asked Paul if he would have actually ended surveillance programs if he were president.

Paul said he would still want intelligence gathering, but it would be done in a more transparent way, maintaining that the current surveillance program are unquestionably unconstitutional.

He directly told NSA defenders that they are simply “justifying dictatorship.”

Paul dismissed the use of a FISA court as a significant enough of a check on the executive branch. He said this program is undeniably “destroying the Constitution,”, and posed a question to anyone who defends the widespread surveillance.

Ron Paul:

So my question should be, to all of you who defend this nonsense is, what should the penalty be for the people who destroy the constitution. They’re always worrying about how they’re going to destroy the American citizens who tell the truth to let us know what’s going on. We ask the question, what is the penalty for the people who deliberately destroy the constitution and rationalize and say, ‘we have to do it for security.’

Well, you know what Franklin said about that, you end up losing your security and you lose your freedoms too. So I think we’ve embarked on a very, very dangerous course. The American people are with us on this, it’s totally out of control, and I would say if you’re confused about what we should do, just read the constitution. What’s wrong with that? If you don’t like it, get people to repeal it and change the constitution, but not just to deny it.

We go to war without a declaration. We totally ignore the constitution. That is what our problem is today — we have no rule of law, and people say, ‘well, just let secret Courts do this,; and the governments to know everything, and the American people have no privacy. I mean you’re — that reflects intimidation, people are insecure, and think that we’ll need more authoritarianism. You’re justifying dictatorship, is what you’re doing.

Breaking News: DHS Insider: It’s About To Get Very Ugly

From the article:

“We know all this already,” I stated. He looked at me, giving me a look like I’ve never seen, and actually pushed his finger into my chest. “You don’t know jack,” he said, “this is bigger than you can imagine, bigger than anyone can imagine. This administration is collecting names of sources, whistle blowers and their families, names of media sources and everybody they talk to and have talked to, and they already have a huge list. If you’re not working for MSNBC or CNN, you’re probably on that list. If you are a website owner with a brisk readership and a conservative bent, you’re on that list. It’s a political dissident list, not an enemy threat list,” he stated.


“Based on what I’ve seen, most of which I should not have seen, the DHS is co-ordinating efforts with other federal agencies to begin to threaten American citizens with incarceration for non-compliance. You know the old talk of color coded lists? Well, this is what they will be using. People exposing the truth about Benghazi, killing the U.S. Dollar, even those questioning Obama’s legal status and eligibility to be President are the current targets. And they’ve had five long years to get to this point. The ugly truth is that these policies and practices did not start under Obama, but long before. This is about the killing of our Constitutional Republic. The murder of our country and the stripping of our rights. While many have been preoccupied with one issue, few have seen the bigger issue. This is the ‘end game,’ for all the marbles,” he stated.


DHS insider: It’s about to get Very Ugly (Veterans Today, Jim Fetzer & Canada Free Press, Douglas Hagmann, June 10, 2013):

Everyone needs to reflect on the United States having become obsessed with national security, even to the extent of gutting our Bill of Rights and turning the country into a “surveillance society”. It is long past time that serious consideration be given to dismantling DHS and returning the organization of our government to its far saner past.”
– Jim Fetzer

[Editor’s note: While I would like to believe that Douglas Hagmann is exaggerating, all the evidence is against it. From my point of view, it is astounding that the major media has said nary a peep about the report of the subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Intelligence, which was released on 3 October 2012. After a review of 680 “fusion center” reports from 2009-2010, they found NO INDICATIONS OF ANY DOMESTIC TERRORIST THREAT, as I have reported here at Veterans Today. NONE! ZILCH! NADA! NOT ONE!

That none of the major networks–ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, or MSNBC–has said a word about this tells me that the government’s control of the media is complete and comprehensive and that these seemingly interminable attacks at Sandy Hook, Boston and now Santa Monica are intended to create the FALSE IMPRESSION that we have a serious problem with domestic terrorism. Well, we do have a serious problem, but it lies in another direction, as Douglas Hagmann explains.]

DHS insider: It’s about to get VERY UGLY! (Canada Free Press, June 10, 2013):

by Douglas Hagmann

7 June 2013: Something quite unexpected happened just hours ago, in the dark of night, during a two-day layover in Washington, DC. My son and I are scheduled to take part in a seminar outside of Raleigh, North Carolina this weekend, so we combined our travels to include a side-trip to DC for a business meeting we had previously arranged. It was during this layover that something seemingly ripped from the pages of a spy novel took place.

While I was in the middle of a perfectly good and well needed sleep in the very early hours of this morning, I received a message. I cannot disclose how I received this message, at least not now. The discerning reader will understand why, which, by the way, would make a very interesting story alone. The message was extremely clear and precise. I was to meet my high level DHS insider at a very specific location in Washington, DC at a time when most “normal” people, except third-shift workers are still asleep. And, I was to come alone and make certain that I was not being followed, and I was to leave any cell phone or electronic device behind.

Read moreBreaking News: DHS Insider: It’s About To Get Very Ugly

The Essence of DNA Identity

The Essence of DNA Identity (Veterans Today, June 10, 2013):

Do you intrinsically possess individual privacy rights, based upon natural law authority, or are your civil liberties arbitrarily defined by the current whims of government?

How you answer, this question speaks loudly about your understanding of the nature of your very being. Those who deem that natural law is a myth or a superstition are poised for voluntary surrender of their vital identity. The cataloging of individual essence is aberrant.

Your deoxyribonucleic acid is the core element of personal uniqueness and human dignity. If your DNA is subject to government collection and storage, the right of personal privacy is destroyed.

Read moreThe Essence of DNA Identity