Early Friday, several websites owned and operated by the US government were defaced as part of latest protest against online censorship. Anonymous, the elusive hacktivist group known for masterminding similar assaults, is taking credit.
At least half a dozen federal websites belonging to the United States government were disrupted in the latest Anonymous-led assault this week. The US Federal Trade Commission was the primary target of the infiltration, and along with it Anonymous managed to take down the sites for National Consumer Protection Week as well as the Consumer Protection Agency, the Federal Trade Commission and others.
Foreclosure abuse rampant across U.S., experts say
Across the country from California, Jeff Thingpen, register of deeds in Guildford County, North Carolina, examined 6,100 mortgage documents last year, from loan notes to foreclosure paperwork. Of those documents, created between January 2008 and December 2010, 4,500 showed signature irregularities, a telltale sign of the illegal practice of "robosigning" documents.
British government's support of Bahrain regime - Comment
George: We learned that even as the weapons are being used to murder democracy protesters in Bahrain the British government is giving permission to British arms companies to sell weapons.
The German President Has Resigned After A Huge Corruption Scandal
German President and key Merkel-ally Christian Wulff has resigned today after prosecutors sought to strip him of his immunity over a dodgy loans case, the BBC reports.
The situation came to a head last year when German newspaper Bild reported that Wulf lied to a regional parliament in 2010 when he said he had no business ties to an entrepreneur, Egon Geerkens, with whom he had spent his 2009 Christmas vacation.
In fact, the paper reported that Wulf had received a 500,000 euro ($648,800) loan from the businessman's wife previously at a rate below the usual bank rate.
Publically, Wulff claimed that the loan was a personal loan, but behind the scenes he had threatened the editor of Bild, Kai Diekmann, saying that there would be "war" if the article was published. Bild published details of these threats, leading to numerous calls for Wulff to resign.
The CADTM downgrades its IMF rating and places this institution on very negative outlook.
Press release:
The Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt (CADTM) has decided to downgrade the IMF’s rating due to this institution’s heavy share of responsibility for the deterioration of people’s living standards in countries subjected to austerity policies it has openly imposed or dictated from behind the scenes. The resulting high levels of unemployment, aggravation of the crisis and theincrease in public debt of the States following its counter productive and unjust recommendations justify downgrading the IMF’s rating from NNN to NO-
with a further very negative outlook.
with a further very negative outlook.
The IMF was very active in the Global South since the 1980’s and into the 2000s, imposing structural adjustment plans in favour of creditors: drastic reductions in social spending, massive privatisations, deregulation of the economies and the local markets favouring multinationalsrather than local producers. The recipe has been unsavoury.
Totally de-legitimised by the social failures of its poisonous remedies, the IMF found itselfbordering on bankruptcy during 2007 - 2008 as most of its principal debtors made advance repayments to free themselves from the IMF’s burdensome supervision.
The Hegelian Dialectic: Infowars
DHS boss Janet Napolitano's admission that there is no threat to America from Iranian and Hezbollah terrorists. Despite her statements before the House Homeland Security Committee, the establishment media continues to report the non-existent threat and scare the ill-informed. Source
David Morgan Chats With "Trading Talk"
Liquidity for Everything but Mainstreet and More - Ellis Martin Report with Jim Sinclair
The Gold Guru, Jim Sinclair hints at Greece leaving the Eurodollar community and alleviating some of the emotional and fiscal pain hypothetically. How does the strength of the Euro really affect the US dollar and gold? Where do gold stocks fit in this picture? The value of value buying of stocks as compared to value shopping for real estate. The continuing saga of the International Swaps and Derivatives Assocation and a non-declared bank default. (The Ellis Martin Report breaks this story first and it still has legs.) China's contribution and welcoming into the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to ease the EuroCrisis.and Quantitative Easing or stimulus money landing in the banks and not on mainstreet, barely holding things together. Listen and then listen again. Source
The Farce-Hole Gets Deeper: Obama's "Robo-Settlement For Votes" Cost To Taxpayers: $40 Billion
Submitted by Tyler Durden: Plunging deeper into the farce-hole, the FT reports tonight that Obama's foreclosure settlement with the banks over their improper seizure of tax-paying US citizens' homes will in fact be subsidized by those very same US taxpayers. It is a hidden clause (that has not been made public yet) that allows the banks to count future loan modifications under the $30bn (taxpayer funded) HAMP initiative towards their $35bn agreement to restructure obligations under the new settlement. As the FT goes on to note, BofA will be able to use future mods made under HAMP towards the $7.6bn in borrower assistance it is committed to provide - which means, in a (as TARP inspector general Neil Barofsky describes) 'scandalous' turn of events the bank will receive payments for averting a borrower default and be reimbursed by the taxpayer for the principal write-down. We have much stronger words for how we are feeling about this but Barofsky sums it up calmly "It turns the notion that this is about justice and accountability on its head". Are the Big Five banks truly beyond the law?Tasers have killed at least 500 Americans
The Taser, the non-lethal law enforcement weapon that is meant to incapacitate criminals without causing great harm, has killed at least 500 people last decade. The real number of casualties might be even higher.
Anonymous Takes Down Greek Police and Government Web Sites as Athens Erupts
Just a week after the Web site of the Greek Ministry of Justice was defaced by Anonymous in a protest against the signing of the controversial ACTA treaty by the Greek government, the online activist group has reportedly taken down a number of government-run Web sites in response to the people-powered uprising in Athens.
Taken down: Major TV channel, the Greek Prime Minister, the National Police, the Ministry of Finance, the Greek Parliament and the Minister of finance Evangelos Venizelos (personal site).
The Greek parliament has finally approved an enormously unpopular bill on Monday to secure a second EU/IMF bailout and avoid national bankruptcy, despite buildings being set ablaze in central Athens against it.
No more IMF! Stop the intervention in Greek sovereignty. If you don't give Democracy a chance,
You should Expect Us!
You should Expect Us!
Could Moody's and the Greek CDS time-bomb take down the "Goodfellas of Wall Street?"
The rating agency moody's has warned it is considering downgrading the investment banking world's biggest players -- this includes Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley...the list goes on and on.
BEHIND THE GREEN MASK: U.N. Agenda 21 with Rosa Koire
Activist, speaker and blogger Rosa Koire about the United Nations' Agenda 21. Koire is a forensic real estate appraiser specializing in eminent domain valuation. She is the co-founder of the Santa Rosa Neighborhood Coalition, Democrats Against UN Agenda 21, and the Post Sustainability Institute. She is the author of Behind the Green Mask: U.N. Agenda 21.
Parts 2, 3, 4>>
Parts 2, 3, 4>>
Gold Demand Hits New Records as Europeans Stockpile
Demand for gold hit an all-time high in 2011 as European, Indian and Chinese demand soared.
In Europe, Germany and Switzerland were the main drivers of the growth as the euro zone debt crisis escalated and investors looked for safe havens, according to the World Gold Council’s annual report. While the jewelry market was resilient, the gold investment market grew more, with a 5 percent increase in annual demand.
In Europe, Germany and Switzerland were the main drivers of the growth as the euro zone debt crisis escalated and investors looked for safe havens, according to the World Gold Council’s annual report. While the jewelry market was resilient, the gold investment market grew more, with a 5 percent increase in annual demand.
Total demand around the world rose to 4,067 metric tons, worth around $206 billion—the first time annual demand for gold has risen above $200 billion.
Gold [XAU= 1727.39 
-1.01 (-0.06%) 
] hit a record price of $1,895 per ounce in September last year as fears about contagion in the euro zone spread.
-1.01 (-0.06%) ] hit a record price of $1,895 per ounce in September last year as fears about contagion in the euro zone spread.
India is still the country where most gold is sold, despite the recent weakness of the rupee, with around 500 metric tons of gold jewelry sold in 2012, and total demand of 933 metric tons.
There was a hefty increase in Chinese demand, which led the WGC to predict that China would be the biggest buyer of gold in the world next year.