The Logic of the US Imperial Security State
‘What to think of a policy that bombs countries and leaves them to their fate? Most observers of US foreign policy since 2001 regard this policy as a failure. They look upon the ruins of […]
Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott and the Islamic State: The Case for Removing the ‘Fantasist-in-Chief’
‘Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is full of predictable surprises. Stomping and punching his way into the history books, his government finds itself teetering before the electoral precipice. As it should. His domestic policy lies […]
Anti-Aging, Anti-Oxidant Powerhouse
If you’ve been wondering what all that coffee is doing to you, cheer up. A recent review of data completed at Gill Heart Institute in Kentucky focused on the cardiovascular, genetic, antioxidant and caffeine effects of coffee and found that drinking the brew reduces the risk of mortality right across the board. They also documented that coffee: Reduces risk of stroke Does not increase risk of coronary heart disease Does not increase risk of congestive heart failure and may be preventative Does not increase risk of sudden cardiac death Decreases risk of type 2 diabetes Does not increase risk of … Continue reading →
I Love Robots
Not too long ago, Robert Wenzel shared this fascinating video of a robot dog created by Boston Dynamics (which is owned by Google): Personally, I love this kind of stuff. Anytime we’re able to increase our productivity and efficiency as humans, I get excited. There is one big (and very violent) elephant in the room though….The Empire. Unfortunately, the following chart shows who the biggest buyers of robots are (at the moment): That’s right, “defense” applications is first by a huge margin. Unless you’re an innocent little toddler, you know that “defense” really means “offense.” This concerns me for two … Continue reading →
The 1% Hate the Gold Standard
By now everybody knows that the primary consequence, one which we originally predicted back in 2009 – and many have since agreed – was completely intended, of the past 6 years of unprecedented monetary policy has been to push wealth inequality to record levels, not just in the US but across the world. What may not be so clear is precisely when this period of unprecedented wealth disparity started. The answer, as the following handy chart from NPR shows, is that long before QE, the wealth gap for the 1% really started in the early 1980s, courtesy of none other … Continue reading →
The Great SIM Heist
AMERICAN AND BRITISH spies hacked into the internal computer network of the largest manufacturer of SIM cards in the world, stealing encryption keys used to protect the privacy of cellphone communications across the globe, according to top-secret documents provided to The Intercept by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden. The hack was perpetrated by a joint unit consisting of operatives from the NSA and its British counterpart Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ. The breach, detailed in a secret 2010 GCHQ document, gave the surveillance agencies the potential to secretly monitor a large portion of the world’s cellular communications, including both voice … Continue reading →
Thinking About Burying Your Guns?
From full-on, doomsday preppers to simple gun-owners who fear impending gun control (read, confiscation) by the U.S. government, Guns.com has seen quite a spike recently in inquiries on how to stash a few firearms underground. So, what should one consider before building a “hillbilly cache”? Shhhh… We’re hiding something A few years back, a shooter friend of mine from Canada told me about the fear he and his father felt towards Canadian gun control legislation. In the course of our conversation, he admitted that his dad had buried a bunch of guns “out by the family well”. I was glad he told … Continue reading →
50 Shades of Greece
When it comes to the ongoing Greek question, I see a lot of people eagerly jump to conclusions, after the ‘debt deal’, that I don’t think are justified; certainly not yet. The overall conviction in the press seems to be that Syriza has given in on just about all fronts, and Germany and Dijsselbloem are the big winners. But since that may well be the exact position Syriza wants ‘the other side’ to be in, where they think they have prevailed, one will have to try and think a few steps ahead before judging the situation. There’s far more grey … Continue reading →
Welcome to the War
Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War, by Paul Fussell What was it about the war that moved the troops to constant verbal subversion and contempt? It was not just the danger and fear, the boredom and uncertainty and loneliness and deprivation. It was rather the conviction that optimistic publicity and euphemism had rendered their experience so falsely that it would never be readily communicable. Those in the war – and most specifically, the small minority on the front line – knew the sanitized version that was portrayed for those at the home front; further, they knew that … Continue reading →
Total Command and Control
Editor’s Note: San Francisco is taking a page out of New York’s Vision Zero playbook by considering dropping the speed limit in the city to 20 mph. The measure, proposed by San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar, would be one of a number of command-and-control policies ostensibly designed to reduce the city’s pedestrian and bicycle fatalities to zero by 2024.The misguided Vision Zero movement originated in Sweden and moved to New York with the election of Mayor de Blasio. For more on Vision Zero, check out this e-newsletter. NMA E-Newsletter #262: Vision Zero Equals Zero Vision Former New York City Mayor … Continue reading →
Don’t Remind Gerald Celente
Submitted by Erico Matias Tavares of Sinclair & Co. A Close Encounter With Jon Corzine We got caught in the MF Global debacle as a client of their UK subsidiary. Little did we know at the time that our view of the financial markets would change forever – as a result of faulty regulations and, above all, faulty bosses. * * * MF Global Goes Bust Jon Corzine had an illustrious career in investment banking, rising to the very top of Goldman Sachs, until he got pushed out in 1999. He subsequently decided to try his luck in politics, and … Continue reading →
The Murder of Michael Hastings
Those still wondering what really happened in gonzo journalist Michael Hastings’ fiery demise likely sat up straight during 60 Minutes’ recent piece on how hackers can hijack the controls of a car. After Hastings died in a bizarre one-car crash along a straight Los Angeles street, former counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke noted the accident was “consistent with a car cyber attack” and that it was easy to hack cars. It seems he was right, as 60 Minutes demonstrated in a chilling fashion. In the segment, a nervous Lesley Stahl smashed into safety cones on a driving course after two men using a … Continue reading →
Warfare State
The U.S. Has Only Been At Peace For 21 Years Total Since Its Birth In 2011, Danios wrote: Below, I have reproduced a year-by-year timeline of America’s wars, which reveals something quite interesting: since the United States was founded in 1776, she has been at war during 214 out of her 235 calendar years of existence. In other words, there were only 21 calendar years in which the U.S. did not wage any wars. To put this in perspective: * Pick any year since 1776 and there is about a 91% chance that America was involved in some war during that calendar year. … Continue reading →
Dynamic Death Duo
Why is Victoria Nuland reliably confrontational and antagonistic toward Russia? Why does she push power, force, and military might to the forefront in Ukraine? Why does she risk war with Russia? Why does she even care about Russia’s relations with Ukraine enough to inject the U.S. government into their affairs and conflicts? Her philosophy is the same as her husband’s, Robert Kagan. One article calls them “THE ULTIMATE AMERICAN POWER COUPLE“. It says “Victoria Nuland and Robert Kagan fell in love ‘talking about democracy and the role of America in the world’ on one of their first dates. It’s a … Continue reading →
The ‘Too Big To Fail’ Have Stopped Being Banks. They have become Huge Criminal Enterprises Involved in Market Manipulation
‘Bloomberg reported last month: “Banks don’t have a need for deposits, and the demand for loans by households and firms is weak,” Niels Storm Stenbaek, chief economist at the Danish Bankers Association, said in a […]