A New Beginning Without Washington’s Sanctimonious Mask
Paul Craig Roberts
It is hard to understand the fuss that Washington and its media
whores are making over Edward Snowden. We have known for a long time
that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been spying for years
without warrants on the communications of Americans and people
throughout the world. Photographs of the massive NSA building in Utah
built for the purpose of storing the intercepted communications of the
world have been published many times.
It is not clear to an ordinary person what Snowden has revealed that
William Binney and other whistleblowers have not already revealed.
Perhaps the difference is that Snowden has provided documents that prove
it, thereby negating Washington’s ability to deny the facts with its
usual lies.
Whatever the reason for Washington’s blather, it certainly is not
doing the US government any good. Far more interesting than Snowden’s
revelations is the decision by governments of other countries to protect
a truth-teller from the Stasi in Washington.
Hong Kong kept Snowden’s whereabouts secret so that an amerikan
black-op strike or a drone could not be sent to murder him. Hong Kong
told Washington that its extradition papers for Snowden were not in
order and permitted Snowden to leave for Moscow.
The Chinese government did not interfere with Snowden’s departure.
The Russian government says it has no objection to Snowden having a connecting flight in Moscow.
Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino responded to Washington’s
threats with a statement that the Ecuadorian government puts human
rights above Washington’s interests. Foreign Minister Patino said that
Snowden served humanity by revealing that the Washington Stasi was
violating the rights of “every citizen in the world.” Snowden merely
betrayed “some elites that are in power in a certain country,” whereas
Washington betrayed the entire world.
With Hong Kong, China, Russia, Ecuador, and Cuba refusing to obey the
Stasi’s orders, Washington is flailing around making a total fool of
itself and its media prostitutes.
Secretary of State John Kerry has been issuing warnings hand over
fist. He has threatened Russia, China, Ecuador, and every country that
aids and abets Snowden’s escape from the Washington Stasi. Those who
don’t do Washington’s bidding, Kerry declared, will suffer adverse
impacts on their relationship with the US.
What a stupid thing for Kerry to say. Here is a guy who once was for
peace but who has been turned by NSA spying on his personal affairs into
an asset for the NSA. Try to realize the extraordinary arrogance and
hubris in Kerry’s threat that China, Russia, and other countries will
suffer bad relations with the US. Kerry is saying that amerika doesn’t
have to care whether “the indispensable people” have bad relations with
other countries, but those countries have to be concerned if they have
bad relations with the “indispensable country.” What an arrogant
posture for the US government to present to the world.
Here we have a US Secretary of State lost in delusion along with the
rest of Washington. A country that is bankrupt, a country that has
allowed its corporations to destroy its economy by moving the best jobs
offshore, a country whose future is in the hands of the printing press, a
country that after eleven years of combat has been unable to defeat a
few thousand lightly armed Taliban is now threatening Russia and China.
God save us from the utter fools who comprise our government.
more @ http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2013/06/25/a-new-beginning-without-washingtons-sanctimonious-mask-paul-craig-roberts/
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Available Gold Supply Disappearing As Gold Price Plunges
27 June 2013, by Eric King (King World News)
http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2013/6/27_Available_Gold_Supply_Disappearing_As_Gold_Price_Plunges.html
Excerpt:
Barron: ETFs continue to be stripped of gold and the bullion banks continue selling the gold overseas when they can arbitrage the price.
So investors just need to sit tight and ride this out because available physical supplies of gold are dwindling rapidly….
We are at or very near the bottom because gold has now tumbled below the cash cost of production for the mining industry.
So almost nobody is making money mining gold at these prices.
As gold falls below the average “cash cost” it begins to get very dire and we start to see mines close.
I have just seen two operations close without any notice in the last couple of days.
If U.S. Mass Media Were State-Controlled, Would They Look Any Different?
Snowden Coverage
The Edward Snowden leaks have revealed a U.S. corporate media
system at war with independent journalism. Many of the same outlets –
especially TV news – that missed the Wall Street meltdown and cheer-led
the Iraq invasion have come to resemble state-controlled media outlets
in their near-total identification with the government as it pursues the
now 30-year-old whistleblower.
While an independent journalism system would be dissecting the impacts of NSA surveillance on privacy rights, and separating fact from fiction, U.S. news networks have obsessed on questions like: How much damage has Snowden caused? How can he be brought to justice?
Unfazed by polls showing that half of the American rabble — I mean, public – believe Snowden did a good thing by leaking documentation of NSA spying, TV news panels have usually excluded anyone who speaks for these millions of Americans. Although TV hosts and most panelists are not government officials, some have a penchant for speaking of the government with the pronoun “We.”
After Snowden made it out of Hong Kong to Russia, New York Times journalist and CNBC talking head Andrew Ross Sorkin expressed his frustration: “We’ve screwed this up, to even let him get to Russia.” By “we,” he meant the U.S. government.
Last time I checked, Sorkin was working for the Times and CNBC, not the CIA or FBI.
When a huge swath of the country is on the side of the guy-on-the-run and not the government, it’s much easier to see that there’s nothing “objective” or “neutral” about journalists who so closely identify with the spy agencies or Justice Department or White House.
The standard exclusion of dissenting views – panels often span from hawk (“he’s a traitor who needs to be jailed”) to dove (“he may have been well-intentioned but he needs to be jailed”) – offers yet another reason why young people, more libertarian in their views, have turned away from these outlets. Virtually no one speaks for them. While a TIME poll found 53 percent of respondents saying Snowden did “a good thing,” that was the sentiment of 70 percent of those age 18 to 34.
I teach college journalism classes about independent media. New developments like WikiLeaks and independent bloggers like Glenn Greenwald may scare the wits out of establishment media, but they sure don’t scare young people or journalism students.
As media employees at elite outlets have grown cozier with their government and corporate sources (Sorkin is famously close with Wall Street CEOs), they exhibit an almost instinctual antipathy toward those adversarial journalists who challenge powerful elites day after day.
Look at the reactions of some top mainstream journalists to Greenwald, who built up a big readership as a solo blogger before moving his blog to Salon and then the Guardian, where he broke the Snowden/NSA stories. I know several journalism professors who view Greenwald as one of the world’s best journalists. He’s known as accurate, thorough, well-documented and ethical.
more @ http://www.counterpunch.org
While an independent journalism system would be dissecting the impacts of NSA surveillance on privacy rights, and separating fact from fiction, U.S. news networks have obsessed on questions like: How much damage has Snowden caused? How can he be brought to justice?
Unfazed by polls showing that half of the American rabble — I mean, public – believe Snowden did a good thing by leaking documentation of NSA spying, TV news panels have usually excluded anyone who speaks for these millions of Americans. Although TV hosts and most panelists are not government officials, some have a penchant for speaking of the government with the pronoun “We.”
After Snowden made it out of Hong Kong to Russia, New York Times journalist and CNBC talking head Andrew Ross Sorkin expressed his frustration: “We’ve screwed this up, to even let him get to Russia.” By “we,” he meant the U.S. government.
Last time I checked, Sorkin was working for the Times and CNBC, not the CIA or FBI.
When a huge swath of the country is on the side of the guy-on-the-run and not the government, it’s much easier to see that there’s nothing “objective” or “neutral” about journalists who so closely identify with the spy agencies or Justice Department or White House.
The standard exclusion of dissenting views – panels often span from hawk (“he’s a traitor who needs to be jailed”) to dove (“he may have been well-intentioned but he needs to be jailed”) – offers yet another reason why young people, more libertarian in their views, have turned away from these outlets. Virtually no one speaks for them. While a TIME poll found 53 percent of respondents saying Snowden did “a good thing,” that was the sentiment of 70 percent of those age 18 to 34.
I teach college journalism classes about independent media. New developments like WikiLeaks and independent bloggers like Glenn Greenwald may scare the wits out of establishment media, but they sure don’t scare young people or journalism students.
As media employees at elite outlets have grown cozier with their government and corporate sources (Sorkin is famously close with Wall Street CEOs), they exhibit an almost instinctual antipathy toward those adversarial journalists who challenge powerful elites day after day.
Look at the reactions of some top mainstream journalists to Greenwald, who built up a big readership as a solo blogger before moving his blog to Salon and then the Guardian, where he broke the Snowden/NSA stories. I know several journalism professors who view Greenwald as one of the world’s best journalists. He’s known as accurate, thorough, well-documented and ethical.
more @ http://www.counterpunch.org
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Twitter must disclose authors of anti-Semitic tweets, French appeals court rules
Twitter must disclose authors of anti-Semitic tweets, French appeals court rules
Government says adhering to French law is "not optional" for social media site
A French court this week ordered Twitter to disclose the names of users accused of posting racist and anti-Semitic tweets, rejecting an appeal that the company filed in March. In a decision handed down Wednesday, a Paris appeals court confirmed that Twitter must provide its user data to France's Union of Jewish Students (UEJF) and four other human rights organizations that filed a complaint against the company in November 2012.
The UEJF took action against Twitter last year after the hashtags #unbonjuif ("a good Jew") and #unjuifmort ("a dead Jew") began surfacing on the social media site. Twitter deleted some of the controversial tweets in response, but appealed a lower court order to disclose the identities of the users who wrote them.
On Wednesday, the appeals court determined that Twitter had not provided convincing justification for witholding the names, and ordered the company to comply with the lower court's ruling.
more @ http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/13/4425796/twitter-must-disclose-names-of-anti-semitic-racist-authors-french-appeal
A French court this week ordered Twitter to disclose the names of users accused of posting racist and anti-Semitic tweets, rejecting an appeal that the company filed in March. In a decision handed down Wednesday, a Paris appeals court confirmed that Twitter must provide its user data to France's Union of Jewish Students (UEJF) and four other human rights organizations that filed a complaint against the company in November 2012.
The UEJF took action against Twitter last year after the hashtags #unbonjuif ("a good Jew") and #unjuifmort ("a dead Jew") began surfacing on the social media site. Twitter deleted some of the controversial tweets in response, but appealed a lower court order to disclose the identities of the users who wrote them.
On Wednesday, the appeals court determined that Twitter had not provided convincing justification for witholding the names, and ordered the company to comply with the lower court's ruling.
more @ http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/13/4425796/twitter-must-disclose-names-of-anti-semitic-racist-authors-french-appeal
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Alabama Police Set Up Roadblocks Asking for Blood, DNA Samples
William Thornton
AL.com
June 11, 2013
St. Clair and Bibb county authorities are confirming there were roadblocks at several locations in their counties Friday and Saturday asking for blood and DNA samples. However, the samples were voluntary and motorists were paid for them as part of a study, they said.
According to Lt. Freddie Turrentine of the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department, it isn’t the first time such roadblocks have occurred in the area.
“They were here in 2007,” said Turrentine, the supervisor in charge of the roadblocks, which took place in several locations in St. Clair County Friday night, early Saturday morning and Saturday night and early Sunday morning. “It’s just with social media and Facebook now, word of it has just exploded.”
Turrentine said the roadblocks were part of a study conducted by the
Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, working with the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration. St. Clair County was asked to
participate by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs
because it had worked with the group six years ago.
Sheriff Keith Hannah in Bibb County said they too had previously participated in the study.
Here’s how the road blocks worked, Turrentine said:
Off-duty St. Clair County deputies stopped cars at random at road block areas. The road blocks were marked with signs stating it was a paid survey. Cars stopped were asked for voluntary cooperation. Drivers were offered $10 for a mouth swab, and $50 for a blood test. If they refused, they were free to drive away. An official with the NHTSA said later that DNA was not collected as part of the survey, but only saliva and breath samples.
Road blocks took place Friday at the New London Fire Department, Alabama 34 in Pell City near the old Dan’s Car Wash, U.S. 231 at Alabama 144, at White’s Chapel Parkway and Moody Crossroads in Moody. In Bibb County, the road blocks took place in five areas in the county on Friday night through early Sunday morning.
If drivers participated, they were directed to an area where someone from the group carrying out the study took the samples, he said.
“It was completely voluntary,” Turrentine said, saying reports that people were detained if they did not cooperate were untrue. “If they didn’t want to take part, they could drive off.”
The samples were anonymous, he said.
Read full article
AL.com
June 11, 2013
St. Clair and Bibb county authorities are confirming there were roadblocks at several locations in their counties Friday and Saturday asking for blood and DNA samples. However, the samples were voluntary and motorists were paid for them as part of a study, they said.
According to Lt. Freddie Turrentine of the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department, it isn’t the first time such roadblocks have occurred in the area.
“They were here in 2007,” said Turrentine, the supervisor in charge of the roadblocks, which took place in several locations in St. Clair County Friday night, early Saturday morning and Saturday night and early Sunday morning. “It’s just with social media and Facebook now, word of it has just exploded.”
Sheriff Keith Hannah in Bibb County said they too had previously participated in the study.
Here’s how the road blocks worked, Turrentine said:
Off-duty St. Clair County deputies stopped cars at random at road block areas. The road blocks were marked with signs stating it was a paid survey. Cars stopped were asked for voluntary cooperation. Drivers were offered $10 for a mouth swab, and $50 for a blood test. If they refused, they were free to drive away. An official with the NHTSA said later that DNA was not collected as part of the survey, but only saliva and breath samples.
Road blocks took place Friday at the New London Fire Department, Alabama 34 in Pell City near the old Dan’s Car Wash, U.S. 231 at Alabama 144, at White’s Chapel Parkway and Moody Crossroads in Moody. In Bibb County, the road blocks took place in five areas in the county on Friday night through early Sunday morning.
If drivers participated, they were directed to an area where someone from the group carrying out the study took the samples, he said.
“It was completely voluntary,” Turrentine said, saying reports that people were detained if they did not cooperate were untrue. “If they didn’t want to take part, they could drive off.”
The samples were anonymous, he said.
Read full article
ACLU asks spy court to release secret rulings in response to leaks
A
woman talks on the phone in front of the U.S. Courthouse in Washington,
Thursday, June 6, 2013, where the secret Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court resides. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Lawyers for the ACLU and a media program at Yale Law School filed a motion Monday asking the FISA court to release its rulings on an expansive portion of the Patriot Act, Section 215, which is the basis for the NSA’s review of millions of Verizon phone lines, first reported by The Guardian last week.
Lawyers for the ACLU say the motion is a key tactic to compel the government to explain the legal authority for its surveillance authority, rather than operating under “secret law.”
more @
.msnbc
BREAKING! Princeton University Evacuated Due to Bomb Threat
Princeton University Evacuated Due to Bomb Threat
“There has been a bomb threat to multiple unspecified campus buildings.
Princeton University evacuates after bomb threat
USA TODAY - 22 minutes ago
Princeton University has ordered the campus to be evacuated due to a bomb threat to 'multiple unspecified campus buildings.'
Monday, June 10, 2013
DHS computer project called FAST wants to read your mind.
DHS employees have already served as test subjects in FAST trial runs in
which sensors collected “video images, audio recordings and
psychophysiological measurements,” among other unidentified evaluations,
in order to get into the minds of potential terrorists.
To CNET, DHS Deputy Press Secretary Peter Boogaard says FAST is designed to track and monitor body movements, voice pitch changes, fluctuations in rhythm and intonation, eye movement, body heat changes and breathing patterns in order to gather research that could help pin-point the inner workings of wrong-doers. Boogard says that preliminary research has already been conducted and that the DHS has used technological sensors and observational techniques to signal out signs of stress “associated with intent to do harm.”
The DHS says that they do not intend on deploying FAST program on the public anytime soon, but should they chose to, that means that your every move — inside and out — could be recorded to keep America safe . . . one blink at a time. http://rt.com/
To CNET, DHS Deputy Press Secretary Peter Boogaard says FAST is designed to track and monitor body movements, voice pitch changes, fluctuations in rhythm and intonation, eye movement, body heat changes and breathing patterns in order to gather research that could help pin-point the inner workings of wrong-doers. Boogard says that preliminary research has already been conducted and that the DHS has used technological sensors and observational techniques to signal out signs of stress “associated with intent to do harm.”
The DHS says that they do not intend on deploying FAST program on the public anytime soon, but should they chose to, that means that your every move — inside and out — could be recorded to keep America safe . . . one blink at a time. http://rt.com/
China Approves Gold-Backed ETPs as Domestic Buyers Chase Bullion
10 June 2013, (bloomberg)
China approved two domestic exchange-traded products backed by gold as global holdings of the precious metal in ETPs dropped to a two-year low.
Huaan Asset Management Co. and Guotai Asset Management Co. received the China Securities Regulatory Commission’s permission to start the funds, which will be denominated in yuan, said Liu Jianqiang and Li Yebin, spokesmen for Huaan and Guotai.
They will be traded like stocks on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SHCOMP), tracking movements of spot gold on the Shanghai Gold Exchange, Liu and Li said separately by telephone from Shanghai.
Gold slid into a bear market in April amid concern the U.S. Federal Reserve may rein in stimulus that helped bullion cap a 12-year bull run in 2012 and as investors reduced holdings in exchange-traded products backed by the metal.
Buyers in mainland China viewed the rout as buying opportunity and rushed to purchase jewelry, bars and coins in late April and early May.
“Gold ETFs should help boost gold demand as they will make Chinese investments in the bullion much easier,” Zhang Bingnan, secretary-general of the China Gold Association, said by phone from Beijing today.
“The dumping recently of holdings in gold exchange-traded products by overseas investors may not prove to be a wise move.”
Huaan and Guotai haven’t started raising money for the funds yet and didn’t give an indication of their potential size, according to the spokesman.
Two calls to the China Securities Regulatory Commission went answered today, which is a holiday in China.
Gold futures are traded on Shanghai Futures Exchange and spot and deferred delivery contracts traded on the Shanghai Gold Exchange.
Custodian Banks
China Construction Bank Corp. (939) will be the custodian bank for the Huaan gold ETF, Liu said. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (601398) will play the same role for the Guotai, according to Li.
Holdings in gold-backed exchange-traded products shrank 19 percent this year as investors cut 496 tons of the metal, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“We think the timing is pretty good after the recent decline because gold prices have got close to the cost of production, limiting downside risks,” Liu at Huaan said.
Gold slid as much as 31 percent from a record in September 2011 through April 16, when it slumped to $1,321.95 an ounce.
Bullion traded at $1,385.99 at 12:30 p.m. in Shanghai. Gold of 99.99 percent purity on the Shanghai Gold Exchange traded at 281.05 yuan a gram ($1,425 an ounce) on June 7.
The premium gold buyers in China pay to take immediate delivery of bullion jumped four-fold as physical demand surged.
In the 12 months through April 12, before the rout, spot gold in China traded at an average premium of $7.22 an ounce to the global price, according to the Shanghai Gold Exchange.
The premium averaged $33 an ounce from mid-April through May.
While:
Cucchiaro Sees `Heightened Risk’ for Gold Selloff http://www.bloomberg.com/video/cucchiaro-sees-heightened-risk-for-gold-selloff-Zte9f0xURh2HCI2iH7XG6g.html
Gold Bull Bets Reach Seven-Week High Before Retreat http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-09/gold-bull-bets-reach-seven-week-high-before-retreat-commodities.html
Ghana Deports 39 Chinese After Swoop on Illegal Gold Mining http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-10/ghana-deports-39-chinese-after-swoop-on-illegal-gold-mining.html
Gold Rebounds From Worst Slump Since May on Chinese Factory Data http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-10/gold-rebounds-from-worst-slump-since-may-on-chinese-factory-data.html
Sunday, June 9, 2013
It's a 1 Percent world after all......Theme Parks add V.I.P.’s Only Entrance
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. — Theme parks have traditionally been the ultimate melting pots. Tourists, retirees, hormonal teenagers, families and fathers who would rather be golfing are all thrown together in an egalitarian experience in which the line for one is the line for all, and cotton candy is the food of the masses.
Not anymore.
As stratification becomes more pronounced in all corners of America, from air travel to Broadway shows to health care, theme parks in recent years have been adopting a similarly tiered model, with special access and perks for those willing to pay.
Now Universal Studios Hollywood has pushed the practice to a new level. It has introduced a $299 V.I.P. ticket, just in time for the summer high season, that comes with valet parking, breakfast in a luxury lounge, special access to Universal’s back lot, unlimited line skipping and a gourmet lunch. V.I.P. visitors also receive “amenity kits,” which include mints, a poncho to wear on the “Jurassic Park” water ride and bottles of hand sanitizer.
Disney still serves up its roller coasters the old-fashioned way — one rank for everyone, white collar next to blue — but Universal says it had seen rising demand for special access and price distinctions.
“Consumers want what they want,” said Xiomara Wiley, senior vice president for marketing and sales at Universal Studios Hollywood, which charges $80 for a no-frills ticket and $149 for one that allows for limited line-skipping.
But others see it differently. While there is no “Occupy Universal” movement blossoming, some customers contend that the park has created a conspicuous class system that threatens to overshadow the fun.
@nytimes.com/
McCain: Boston Bombings Proved Rand Paul was wrong
John McCain: Rand Paul Already Proved Wrong On Terrorism By Boston Bombings
WASHINGTON -- Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Sunday suggested that Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has lost his credibility in fighting global terrorism.
McCain argued on CNN's "State of the Union" that the government's vast surveillance program is not "necessarily wrong" because it operates under court oversight. Paul, who appeared on "Fox News Sunday," has taken the opposite position, calling the government's phone records monitoring program an "extraordinary invasion of privacy."
Asked to square the two positions by CNN host Candy Crowley, McCain said that Paul was wrong about the terrorism threat in the days before the Boston Marathon bombings. "Just prior to the Boston bombing, he said the battlefield was no longer in America," McCain told Crowley.
Rest of article and video...
Bilderberg 2013 - American Free Press | America's Last Real Newspaper
AFP PODCAST: Jim Traficant ‘Unravels’ Bilderberg
AFP PODCAST Former 17-year United States Congressman from Ohio James A. “Jim” Traficant, Jr. talks about his strategy for exposing the Bilderberg group. Jim was driving to Washington, D.C. to fly out More »
AFP PODCAST: Traficant, Papaherakles at Bilderberg
AFP PODCAST AMERICAN FREE PRESS reporter Pete Papherakles and former 17-year United States Congressman from Ohio James A. “Jim” Traficant, Jr. provide an update on the secretive gathering of the Bilderberg group More »AFP PODCAST: Anderson at Bilderberg
AFP PODCAST AMERICAN FREE PRESS Roving Editor Mark Anderson provides an update on the secretive gathering of the Bilderberg group on Day 2, less than a mile from the Grove Hotel, the More»
AFP PODCAST: Mark Anderson’s Bilderberg Update from London
AFP PODCAST AMERICAN FREE PRESS Roving Editor Mark Anderson provides an update on the secretive gathering of the Bilderberg group on his first day outside of London, England, in this interview (15:29). More »
AFP HONORS JIM TUCKER, BILDERBERG HOUND, DEAD AT 78
IN HONOR OF JIM TUCKER, THE MAN WHO BEAT BILDERBERG WE ARE OFFERING THIS LIMITED-TIME SPECIAL*: Get a one-year subscription to AMERICAN FREE PRESS print newspaper–52 issues, reg.$59; PLUS get a FREE More »
AFP PODCAST & ARTICLE: Jim Tucker’s Last interview*
AFP PODCAST James P. Tucker, Jr., famed Bilderberg Hound, zeroes in on the international financiers and politicians, who have selected the locale Tucker predicted last week for their annual secret meeting. Jim More »Friday, June 7, 2013
Nicaragua gives Chinese firm contract to build alternative to Panama Canal Project will reinforce China's growing influen
Nicaragua gives Chinese firm contract to build alternative to Panama Canal
Project will reinforce China's growing influence on global trade and weaken US dominance over a key shipping route
Jonathan Watts and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 6 June 2013 12.41 EDT
Nicaragua has awarded a Chinese company a 100-year concession to build an alternative to the Panama Canal, in a step that looks set to have profound geopolitical ramifications.
The president of the country's national assembly, Rene Nuñez, announced the $40bn (£26bn) project, which will reinforce Beijing's growing influence on global trade and weaken US dominance over the key shipping route between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
The name of the company and other details have yet to be released, but the opposition congressman Luis Callejas said the government planned to grant a 100-year lease to the Chinese operator.
The national assembly will debate two bills on the project, including an outline for an environmental impact assessment, on Friday.
...
The new route will be a higher-capacity alternative to the 99-year-old Panama Canal, which is currently being widened at the cost of $5.2bn.
Last year, the Nicaraguan government noted that the new canal should be able to allow passage for mega-container ships with a dead weight of up to 250,000 tonnes. This is more than double the size of the vessels that will be able to pass through the Panama Canal after its expansion, it said.
According to a bill submitted to congress last year, Nicaragua's canal will be 22 metres deep and 286 km (178 miles) long - bigger than Panama and Suez in all dimensions
Under the initial plans for the project, the government was expected to be the majority shareholder, with construction taking 10 years and the first ship passing through the canal within six years. It is unclear if this is still the case.
guardian.co.uk/
Cops Use YOUR Children As Props For "School Shooter Drills" (PAID FOR BY HOMELAND SECURITY) http://ning.it/15Ttv92
Latest #Bilderberg Videos http://bilderberg-2013-live-streams-
Road blocks, police helicopters, blacked-out windows: What do they do at #Bilderberg ?: http://ning.it/18bOxEa
Turkey - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised - THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED. No mainstream media outlet i... http://ow.ly/2xqSgC
Israel one of world’s most unpopular countries and it’s getting worse: BBC survey http://ow.ly
/2xqMup
Anon Online Bilderberg live stream: http://ning.it/186JZyP
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Eric Holder perjured himself in lie about AP - DOJ intimidation scheme
May 30, 2013 by: J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) It is said that when you lie often, sooner or later you will be caught in your own web of deceit. That may have just happened with Attorney General Eric Holder.
Last week Holder appeared before the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee to provide testimony regarding the Justice Department's potentially improper confiscation of the phone records of 20 Associated Press reporters and editors.
Holder, in response to questioning by Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., said of his involvement with prosecuting the press that he had no involvement.
However, on May 23 NBC News, in a breaking story, reported that Holder personally signed off on the secret monitoring of Fox News Reporter James Rosen., who has been charged by the Justice Department as a "co-conspirator" in an espionage case in which he was attempting to obtain information from a source.
Holder, during testimony, said:
First of all you've got a long way to go to try to prosecute the press for publication of material. This has not fared well in American history... In regard to potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material. This is not something I've ever been involved in, heard of, or would think would be wise policy.
Really?
continues:
http://www.naturalnews.com/040554_Eric_Holder_perjury_Obama_Administration.html#ixzz2VRwRjGNw
Obama administration defends Verizon phone record collection
(Reuters) - The Obama administration on Thursday acknowledged that it is collecting a massive amount of telephone records from at least one carrier, reopening the debate over privacy even as it defended the practice as necessary to protect Americans against attack.
The admission comes after the Guardian newspaper published a secret court order related to the records of millions of Verizon Communications customers on its website on Wednesday.
A senior administration official said the court order pertains only to data such as a telephone number or the length of a call, and not the subscribers' identities or the content of the telephone calls.
Such information is "a critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats to the United States," the official said, speaking on the condition of not being named.
"It allows counter terrorism personnel to discover whether known or suspected terrorists have been in contact with other persons who may be engaged in terrorist activities, particularly people located inside the United States," the official added.
The revelation raises fresh concerns about President Barack Obama's handling of privacy and free speech issues. His administration is already under fire for searching Associated Press journalists' calling records and the emails of a Fox television reporter as part of its inquiries into leaked government information.
It was not immediately clear whether the practice extends to other carriers.
The order released on Wednesday is from the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and directs Verizon's Business Network Services Inc and Verizon Business Services units to hand over daily electronic data until July 19. The order can be seen at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2013/jun/06/verizon-telephone-data-court-order
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
A $5.3 million dollar man cave built by the EPA hidden away in a warehouse. Maybe worst of all, why does the EPA need a box of passports?
A $5.3 million dollar man cave built by the EPA hidden away in a warehouse. Maybe worst of all, why does the EPA need a box of passports?
B Calkins/Shutterstock.com
A warehouse maintained by contractors for the Environmental Protection
Agency contained secret rooms full of exercise equipment, televisions
and couches, according to an internal audit.
EPA’s inspector general found contractors used partitions, screens and piled up boxes to hide the rooms from security cameras in the 70,000 square-foot building located in Landover, Md. The warehouse -- used for inventory storage -- is owned by the General Services Administration and leased to the EPA for about $750,000 per year.
The EPA has issued a stop work order to Apex Logistics LLC, the responsible contractor, ensuring the company’s workers no longer have access to the site -- EPA security officials escorted contractor personnel off the premises on May 17 -- and ending all payments on the contract.
Since awarding the contract in May 2007, EPA has paid Apex Logistics about $5.3 million, most of which went to labor costs. Conditions at the facility “raise questions about time charges made by warehouse employees under the contract,” the report said.
“The warehouse contained multiple unauthorized and hidden personal spaces created by and for the workers that included televisions, refrigerators, radios, microwaves, chairs and couches,” the IG report said. “These spaces contained personal items, including photos, pin ups, calendars, clothing, books, magazines and videos.”
more @ govexec
EPA’s inspector general found contractors used partitions, screens and piled up boxes to hide the rooms from security cameras in the 70,000 square-foot building located in Landover, Md. The warehouse -- used for inventory storage -- is owned by the General Services Administration and leased to the EPA for about $750,000 per year.
The EPA has issued a stop work order to Apex Logistics LLC, the responsible contractor, ensuring the company’s workers no longer have access to the site -- EPA security officials escorted contractor personnel off the premises on May 17 -- and ending all payments on the contract.
Since awarding the contract in May 2007, EPA has paid Apex Logistics about $5.3 million, most of which went to labor costs. Conditions at the facility “raise questions about time charges made by warehouse employees under the contract,” the report said.
“The warehouse contained multiple unauthorized and hidden personal spaces created by and for the workers that included televisions, refrigerators, radios, microwaves, chairs and couches,” the IG report said. “These spaces contained personal items, including photos, pin ups, calendars, clothing, books, magazines and videos.”
more @ govexec
Colorado Senate President John Morse turned in Monday more than twice the number of signatures
The organizers of an effort to recall Colorado Senate President John
Morse turned in Monday more than twice the number of signatures required
to force a special election, possibly setting the stage for an
expensive, national battle over gun control.
If the signatures are determined to be valid and survive a court challenge, it’s likely voters in Morse’s Senate district will decide at a special election in September whether to oust the Colorado Springs Democrat.
Morse’s support of gun-control legislation in the 2013 session as well as his leadership style sparked the recall effort.
Read more
If the signatures are determined to be valid and survive a court challenge, it’s likely voters in Morse’s Senate district will decide at a special election in September whether to oust the Colorado Springs Democrat.
Morse’s support of gun-control legislation in the 2013 session as well as his leadership style sparked the recall effort.
Read more
Ousted D.C. director claims he was told not to hire whites, conservatives
The former head of a labor dispute board who resigned last month after admitting that he lived outside the District, in violation of D.C. law, claims that he was forced out for ignoring instructions not to hire white or conservative employees.
Ondray Harris, a former deputy chief in the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, wrote in his March 24 letter that two members of the Public Employee Relations Board opposed his decision to hire a qualified white, politically conservative attorney.
Harris, who is black, writes in the letter that Don Wasserman, who is white, "demanded" that he "refrain from hiring white men."
In an interview with The Washington Examiner on Monday night, Harris said, "When I first came on to the agency there was no diversity in the agency."
Harris said he was initially reluctant to go public with his complaint.
"I'm interested in politics. This is not necessarily something I wanted to make public," he said. But, he added, "I couldn't sit idly by and let this happen."
Harris wrote that another white board member, Ann Hoffman, criticized Harris' decision to hire the conservative attorney because she had work experience, "which they perceived as being conservative or politically right-of-center."
In response to the Nov. 8 confidential executive session meeting, which the other two board members also attended, Harris wrote several months later that he approached the board's counsel, Keturah Harley, requesting legal advice.
"t is intrinsically illegal for the Board to consider hiring or not hiring a potential employee because of their race," Harley wrote in a response to Harris obtained by The Washington Examiner. "Hence, [Harris] must ignore the suggestions by Board Members Wasserman and Hoffman in this regard."
In an interview Monday, Harley, who is now serving as the board's acting director in the place of Harris, said Harris resigned after questions were raised about his D.C. residency.
Pressed with questions about the memo, Harley said, "As general counsel, it's my job to provide advice on all issues that are brought to me."
In his letter of resignation, Harris writes that board members had known for more than a year before he resigned that he lived in Virginia, and that he was actually forced out in "retaliation for my refusal to act contrary to law and for my attempt to protect the constitutional and statutory rights of my employees."
Harley said the board was investigating the accusations internally.
Mayor Vincent Gray's spokesman wrote in an email: "We have urged the Chair to review the allegations, and if found credible, they should be forwarded to the Board of Ethics and Government Accountability and the Office of Humans Rights."
Kris Baumann, head of D.C.'s Fraternal Order of Police, which works closely with the board, said, "If [the allegations are] true, this is the type of behavior that undermines confidence in institutions."
READ MORE: http://washingtonexaminer.com/
Trade Wars: The Chinese Empire Strikes Back
5 June 2013, by Tyler Durden (.zerohedge)
Excerpt:
We reported yesterday that Europe, in a surprising escalation of global trade wars, announced it would impose solar-panel duties against China in one week, with the terms rapidly deteriorating over the next three months.
It took China less than one day to retaliate. What's worse the retaliation is aimed at Europe's already weakest - the PIIGS - by targeting not hard German machinery exports but something far more prosaic: French, Spanish and Italian wine.
Reuters reports that "in a step targeting southern European states such as France and Italy that back the duties but largely sparing north European opponents such as Germany, Beijing said it launched an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probe into sales of European wine.
The Chinese ministry said the government had begun the probe into EU wines at the request of Chinese wine makers.
Obama to appoint Rice national security adviser
President Obama will appoint United Nations ambassador Susan Rice as
his new national security adviser, replacing Tom Donilon, officials said
Wednesday.Obama also plans to nominate former National Security Council aide Samantha Power to replace Rice as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Obama had considered Rice for Secretary of State late last year, but appointed John Kerry instead in part because of controversy surrounding the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans
more @ usatoday
Susan Rice's Benghazi sacrifice pushes Obama confidante to greater heights
Senators Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee Rightly Vote Against GMO Law
Senators Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Mike Lee
voted against Senate Amendment 954, the GMO Label Law amendment to the
2013 Farm Bill, which will likely be voted on in the Senate on June 4.
Quoting from the text of the GMO Law amendment,
“To permit States to require that any food, beverage, or other edible product offered for sale have a label on indicating that the food, beverage, or other edible product contains a genetically engineered ingredient.”
The amendment to the 2013 farm bill failed 71-27, with pro civil liberties Senators Paul, Cruz, and Lee voting nay. Despite calls for apology from the Senators and massive protest against genetically modified foods, the 3 Senators known for their support of Liberty have not wavered in their stance on GMO Laws.
And rightly so.
For pro health freedom Senators, it would be a surrender on principle and regressive to deliver more power to the government in efforts to get certain foods labeled or increase health awareness. It is that same government that uses that power to spend billions of American’s dollars to bailout, subsidize, and monopolize the agriculture industry at the sacrifice of smaller businesses, farms, and customers.
CONTINUED...
LINK: http://livingnotsurviving.com/2013/05/28/senators-rand-paul-...
Quoting from the text of the GMO Law amendment,
“To permit States to require that any food, beverage, or other edible product offered for sale have a label on indicating that the food, beverage, or other edible product contains a genetically engineered ingredient.”
The amendment to the 2013 farm bill failed 71-27, with pro civil liberties Senators Paul, Cruz, and Lee voting nay. Despite calls for apology from the Senators and massive protest against genetically modified foods, the 3 Senators known for their support of Liberty have not wavered in their stance on GMO Laws.
And rightly so.
For pro health freedom Senators, it would be a surrender on principle and regressive to deliver more power to the government in efforts to get certain foods labeled or increase health awareness. It is that same government that uses that power to spend billions of American’s dollars to bailout, subsidize, and monopolize the agriculture industry at the sacrifice of smaller businesses, farms, and customers.
CONTINUED...
LINK: http://livingnotsurviving.com/2013/05/28/senators-rand-paul-...
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Man Ordered to Decrypt Laptop -- Or Go to Jail
Deadline Looms for Suspect to Decrypt Laptop, or Go Directly to Jail
That’s the provocative question being raised as a Wisconsin man faces a deadline today either to give up his encryption keys or risk indefinite imprisonment without a trial. The defendant’s attorney, Robin Shellow of Milwaukee, said it’s “one of the most important constitutional issues of the wired era.”
Shellow is making a novel argument that the federal magistrate’s decryption order is akin to forcing her client to build a case for the government. That’s because encryption basically transforms files into unreadable text, which is then rebuilt when the proper password is entered, she said.
“Some encryption effects erasure of the encrypted data (so it ceases to exist), in which case decryption constitutes re-creation of the data, rather than simply unlocking still-existing data,” Shellow wrote in a court filing. (.pdf)
In a telephone interview Monday, she said “this area is a new way of thinking about encryption.”
Though rare, decryption orders are likely to become more common more @ wired
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