By Madison Ruppert: The highly secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
negotiations are coming under increased fire from both government
officials like Senator Ron Wyden and civil society organizations like
the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
More information on the somewhat mysterious TPP negotiations emerged recently in a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report published by the Federation of American Scientists which can be read here.
In a recent blog post,
Sandra Fulton of the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office went as far
as to call the TPP the “biggest threat to free speech and intellectual
property that you’ve never heard of,” which is likely not all that much
of an exaggeration.
Others have characterized the TPP as “SOPA on steroids,” referring to the Stop Online Piracy Act which was abandoned thanks to a great deal of public activism. However, it became quite clear that SOPA would not be the end of these efforts.
As the EFF points out in a blog post,
the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is going
above and beyond in the TPP negotiations by not just pushing for the
proposed changes to intellectual property law but the USTR is also
making a concerted effort to avoid any and all Congressional oversight.
According to the EFF, “the USTR has recently rebuffed a request from the staff director on the Senate Finance Committee’s International Trade Subcommittee to review documents pertaining to the negotiations.”
Submitted by Tyler Durden: It
took the ECB a year of endless behind the scenes Machiavellian scheming
to restart the SMP program (which was conceived by Jean-Claude Trichet
in May 2010, concurrent with the first Greek bailout). The markets
soared with euphoria that this time will be different, and that the
program which is a masterclass in central planning paradox, as it is
"unlimited" yet "sterilized", while based on "conditions" none of which
have been disclosed, and will somehow be pari passu for new
bond purchases while it retains seniority for previous purchases of
Greek and other PIGS bonds, will work - it won't, and the third time
will not be the charm as we showed before. Yet it has been just 48 hours since the "bailout" announcement and already Europe is being Europe: namely, it turns out that nobody wants the bailout.
On one hand there's Germany for obvious reasons - not only are they
footing the cost, but it is for them that the threat of an inflationary
spike as a result of "unlimited" bond buys is most acute. But on the
other, just as we predicted all along, are Spain and France, the biggest
beneficiaries of the bailout, and whose bonds soared on expectations the ECB may buy them, who overnight have had a change of heart and say they never actually needed
the bailout. Why? Because its politicians have suddenly had a change of
heart and realize they will be sacked the second they hand over
sovereignty over to the Troika or whatever supernational entity is in
charge of the country following the submission of the bailout request.
More importantly, and as explained before, as long as the yield on the bonds of insolvent European countries is sub 8%, not one country will
demand a bailout. And as long as these countries reap the benefits of
cheap rates, the policies of pseudo austerity will continue (as a
reminder, nobody in Europe has actually implemented austerity), where
nothing changes, where budget deficits continue to pile on, where
sovereign debt continues to soar, where politicians continue making the
same flawed policy choices, and where the European slow-motion
trainwreck continues, only with a brief delay in the final inevitable
outcome.
By now everyone knows about the ECB party that sent US stocks to 4 year highs. Now comes the aftermath.
What readers of this site – and other thinkers who are drawn in by the recent Slog Hunt-Groucho four-poster
– will I hope take away to ponder is the fear that this process of
promoting Jeremy Hunt may be more than simply ironic and high-risk. I
would invite every reader to wonder whether the sick ambitions of
megamoney are engaged in a survival plan on several levels, and that Our
Jezzer is some form of front-man (conscious or otherwise) for this
systemic heist.
I’m not talking coordinated mad neocon James Bondesque cat-stroker
conspiracy theory, because on the whole I think most of that stuff is
risible paranoia aimed at the gullible. More accurately, what I suspect
we are watching is a part free-for-all, part copycat and part
megalomania dash to be in position and controlling the important levers
when the sh*t finally hits the fan.
I think there may be a book in this, but a book this time based on
hard evidence, behavioural clues, policy analysis, and a carefully
assembled psychography of the people involved in this anarchic trend. I
repeat: it is not a plot. But it is a reality.
That reality gets harder and harder to deny on so many levels. These include:
Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss uncertain futures for banks in Italy and business purgatory for citizens unable to retire in America. They discuss Monte dei Paschi Bank in Italy which survived the Borgias and the pestilence only to crumble when faced with the fraud and low interest rate world engineered by Alan Greenspan. In the second half of the show, Max Keiser talks to Bill Still about his latest film - Jekyll Island. Source
Famous US alternative rock band R.E.M. has denounced Fox News for
unauthorized use of their song, “Losing My Religion”, during its
coverage of Democratic National Convention, adding it has no respect for
Fox’s “puff adder” reporting.
The band, which broke up last September following over three decades
on stage, released a statement on its website slamming the news network.
“R.E.M.
today, through its music publisher, Warner-Tamerlane Music, demanded
that Fox News cease and desist from continuing its unlicensed and
unauthorized use of the song.”
"We have little or no respect for their puff adder brand of reportage. Our music does not belong there," said band’s frontman Michael Stipe.
The
conservative news network apparently used R.E.M.’s hit “Losing My
Religion” in order to indirectly comment on what the Republicans see as
the Democrats lack of faith.
This is not the first such incident
during the 2012 election campaign connected with the Republicans. Last
month another US alternative rock band, Silversun Pickups, demanded that
Mitt Romney’s campaign stop using their song “Panic Switch”, during
their events.
"We don't like people going behind our backs, using our music without asking, and we don't like the Romney campaign," frontman Brian Aubert wrote. "We're nice, approachable people. We won't bite. Unless you're Mitt Romney!" Source
Remember 'Quality of foreign news reports on FOX NEWS'?
A senior Iranian
commander says Syria will become the ultimate scene of the failure of
the Western-sponsored terrorism and extremism against the Muslim world.
“Syria will ultimately be the scene of the all-out defeat and
scandal of the US and the West in [their] pursuit of the scenario of
forging terrorist and deviant sects and organizing the anti-government
groups and international mercenaries in an attempt to infiltrate into
the Muslim world and create a safe haven for the Zionist regime
(Israel),” said Chairman of Iran's Armed Forces Chiefs of Staff Major
General Hassan Firouzabadi.
The creation of sects in the Muslim world and al-Qaeda’s extremism
are a plot hatched by the CIA, the Mossad and the MI6 against Islam, the
Iranian commander added.
He argued that the new forms of terrorist operations staged by
al-Qaeda and other extremist groups against the Syrian government and
nation are parts of a long-time scheme by the global hegemonic and
colonialist powers against the Muslim world.
The global community must know that al-Qaeda, and the
other extremist sects have nothing to do with Shias and Sunnis and the
product of the terrorist system of the hegemonic regimes will soon
entangle the European and US society,” Firouzabadi pointed out.
Trade with Dave: I missed this CNBC interview on Monday with Ned Naylor-Leland on what
appears to be a U.K. version of CNBC. There are a couple of things that
are notable to take away from the interview. First of all Ned seems to
be putting forth the idea that gold and silver are fungible while pork
bellies are not. Mortimer may disagree with Ned and claim that gold
and frozen orange juice futures are as equally fungible as client
#9′s Amex via Square in consideration for an evening with My Fair Lady Jamie
Lee Curtis is for pork bellies during a NIRP-inspired backwardation of
cash on Christmas Eve when you’re the last one standing at the Comex and
still haven’t bought your G. I. Joe with the Kung Fu Grip while Ralphie
is waiting at home with his Red Rider pointed at you proclaiming In God
We Trust but everyone else pays cash.
What is this debate about? It’s about who brings stability to the
marketplace (the right to bear B B guns or the right to be bearish on a
TBTF banker’s bonus). This the same debate that is found in the
Woodward paper offered up at the Fed yet shred by Dave and essentially
the same debate that we have been engaged in for weeks now in the
Fekete-Mises smackdown courtesy of Jaitly-Keiser-Woods. Think of it
this way when you consider Naylor-Leland’s argument. Does sleeping at
night on a piece of plywood provide more stability than sleeping on a
Sleep Number Mattress? That’s essentially what he is saying in regard
to his comments about an underlying “bullion basis” supporting the
market. If the kids jumping on your bed on Christmas morning is in need
of a solution, then Ned would be correct and an underlayment of plywood
market discipline in the absence of government interventionary mattress
pads is the order of the day.
Alex talks with political activist and former presidential candidate
Lyndon LaRouche about what america and the rest of the world will look
like with a 2nd term under president obama. Source
By Madison Ruppert: In
what just might be one of the strangest recent news stories, Israeli
news outlets are reporting that the New York Police Department (NYPD) is
opening a branch in Kfar Saba, a city in the Sharon region of the
Central District of Israel.
Yes, the NYPD, the same department which recently shot nine innocent bystanders in the course of taking out one murderer, employs officers who have detained people for dancing, has thrown an officer in a psychiatric ward for reporting widespread corruption, and even conducted completely illegal spying operations far outside their jurisdiction. The NYPD has also been busted for their widespread illegal surveillance of Muslims, labeling people who film police “professional agitators” and even for falsely inflating their counterterrorism record.
The above are just a few examples among countless others showing the NYPD to be a corrupt, deplorable entity which apparently has no problem with going far beyond the legal limits.
Now the NYPD has made all their past activities look almost
reasonable by actually opening up a branch in Israel supposedly in order
to strengthen the NYPD’s ties with the Israeli security forces
according to the Ma’ariv newspaper (non-translated version here) in Israel.
The Times of Israel reports, “the prestigious police force
was looking to cooperate on a daily basis with the Israel Police, one of
the main police forces worldwide with which NYPD has strong ties.”
By Brent Daggett: While attempting to survive in the duopoly of the traditional left-right paradigm is no simple feat, third parties are equally struggling with ballot access in order to become viable candidates in the eyes of the electorate.
In this election cycle the aforementioned problem continues,
especially for former Governor Gary Johnson of New Mexico who is now the
libertarian candidate for president.
On August 24, Republican Party operatives Cynthia Rees and Kelly
Mills filed a challenge with Secretary of State John Husted’s office in
order to restrict Johnson from being on the Ohio ballot for allegedly
violating the state’s sore loser law.
According to paragraph three Section 3513.04 of the Ohio Revised Code:
“No person who seeks party nomination for an office or
position at a primary election by declaration of candidacy or by
declaration of intent to be a write-in candidate and no person who is a first choice
for president of candidates seeking election as delegates and
alternates to the national conventions of the different major political
parties who are chosen by direct vote of the electors as provided in
this chapter shall be permitted to become a candidate by nominating
petition or by declaration of intent to be a write-in candidate at the
following general election for any office other than the office of
member of the state board of education, office of member of a city, local, or exempted village board of education, office of member of a governing board of an educational service center, or office of township trustee.”
In layman’s terms, the law essential means that a candidate who lost a
partisan primary cannot run with another party or as an independent in
the general election.
However, this did not apply to Johnson since he was on the ballot
through the state libertarian party and never filed to run with another
party.
Rees and Mills withdrew their challenge after a quick response by
legal experts
The jobs report released today reiterates a grim situation for millions
of unemployed Americans. The jobs number was below expectations again:
the economy added 96,000 jobs while analysts expected 130,000. The
unemployment rate fell from 8.3% to 8.1%, however this drop is most
likely due to a fall in the labor force participation rate. Meanwhile
stock markets appear more than eager to grasp the hand of dovish central
banks. Stocks rallied after the ECB announced its unlimited bond buying
program yesterday. We talk about it.
Thousands of Yemenis
have once again taken to the streets to protest against foreign
interference in the country’s internal affairs,
Press TV reports.
In massive demonstrations held after Friday prayers in the capital
Sana’a, the northern city of Sa’ada, and the western city of Dhamar,
protesters chanted slogans against the United States and Saudi Arabia.
The demonstrators also called for the prosecution of the remnants of
former dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh’s regime and condemned Washington’s
drone attacks in southern Yemen.
The US military has also used assassination drones in Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, and Iraq.
Washington claims that the drones target terrorists in the operations, but civilians have often been killed in the strikes.
By Madison Ruppert: The highly secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
negotiations are coming under increased fire from both government
officials like Senator Ron Wyden and civil society organizations like
the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
