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Jason
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History of World War II: America Was Providing Military Aid to the USSR, While Also Supporting Nazi Germany
http://www.globalresearch.ca/history-of ... ny/5449378" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii — The Navy is proceeding with its plan to increase the number of women in the service to 25 percent with a similar goal of attaining that ratio in each ship and squadron, the vice chief of naval operations said Thursday.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015 ... squad.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...brass trying to destroy the US military...

The latest whistleblower is David Steele, a 20-year Marine Corps intelligence officer, and the second-highest-ranking civilian in the U.S. Marine Corps Intelligence. He is a former CIA clandestine services case officer, and this is what he had to say: “Most terrorists are false flag terrorists, or are created by our own security services. In the United States, every single terrorist incident we have had has been a false flag, or has been an informant pushed on by the FBI. In fact, we now have citizens taking out restraining orders against FBI informants that are trying to incite terrorism. We’ve become a lunatic asylum.”
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ac7_1431761932" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The FBI did belatedly acknowledge, in a statement to the Post, that it was involved, but denied that anything improper was going on.“The aircraft were specifically used to assist in providing high-altitude observation of potential criminal activity to enable rapid response by police officers on the ground,” the statement said. “The FBI aircraft were not there to monitor lawfully protected first amendment activity, and any FBI aviation support to a local law enforcement agency must receive high level approvals.”
http://whowhatwhy.org/2015/05/09/fbi-sp ... baltimore/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group has taken over the main government compound in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, and edged closer to what would be their biggest victory in Iraq this year, officials have said.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/05/i ... 55079.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

To underline the U.S. commitment, Weidley said the U.S. and its coalition partners had conducted a total of about 550 airstrikes in and around Ramadi and Baiji since the bombing campaign began last Aug. 8. In the last month alone, the Baiji area had been targeted by airstrikes 176 times and Ramadi 165 times, Weidley said.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015 ... -isis.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

US-Saudi Blockade: Iran’s Yemen-Bound Aid Ship Enters Gulf of Aden
http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-saudi-b ... en/5450061" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
UNITED NATIONS (IPS)—When the United States sells billions of dollars in sophisticated arms to Arab nations, they are conditioned on two key factors: no weapons with a qualitative military edge over Israel will ever be sold to the Arabs, nor will they receive any weapons that are not an integral part of the U.S. arsenal. But against the backdrop of a White House summit meeting of Arab leaders at Camp David this week, the administration of President Barack Obama confessed it has dispensed with rule number two.

According to Colin Kahl, national security advisor to Vice-President Joe Biden, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) flies the most advanced U.S.-made F-16 fighter planes in the world.

“They’re more advanced than the ones our Air Force flies,” he told reporters at a U.S. State Department briefing early this week, without going into specifics.

The six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia – which participated in the summit were, not surprisingly, promised more weapons, increased military training and a pledge to defend them against missile strikes, maritime threats and cyberattacks from Iran.
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/0 ... rab-summit" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

During a decade of war, the Pentagon gave more than $2 billion to commanders to spend as they wished on a broadly defined grab bag of “urgent humanitarian” needs. The goal was to gain support from the locals for both the U.S. military and the nascent Afghan government. It was, the military said: “money as a weapons system.”
https://projects.propublica.org/cerp/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on May 17 that 123 soldiers and loyalist militiamen died in the battle, as well as 115 IS fighters and 57 civilians.
http://www.rferl.org/content/palmyra-is ... 21464.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
US policy think-tank Brookings Institution confirms that contrary to propaganda, US-Saudi “moderates” and Turkey-Qatar “Islamists” have been coordinating all along.

The war in Syria continues to drag on, with a recent and renewed vigor demonstrated behind an opposition long portrayed as fractured and reflecting a myriad of competing foreign interests. Chief among these competing interests, the public has been told, were the US and Saudis on one side, backing so-called “moderate rebels,” and Turkey and Qatar on the other openly backing Al Qaeda and its various franchises including the Islamic State (ISIS).

However, for those following the conflict closely, it was clear from the beginning and by the West’s own admissions that success hinged on covertly providing arms, cash, equipment, and both political and military support to Al Qaeda and other sectarian extremists, not opposed by Saudi Arabia, but rather by using Saudi Arabia as the primary medium through which Western material support could be laundered.

And this fact is now confirmed in a recent article published on the Brookings Institution’s website titled, “Why Assad is losing.”
http://journal-neo.org/2015/05/11/confi ... -in-syria/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Middle East updates / Turkey says shot down Syrian helicopter, while Syrian TV says it was drone. Turkish Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz said Turkish jets on Saturday shot down a Syrian helicopter that had violated its airspace.

The United States and its allies conducted six air strikes in Syria and 15 in Iraq since early on Friday targeting Islamic State militants, the Combined Joint Task Force carrying out the operations said on Saturday.

In Syria, air strikes using bomber and fighter aircraft hit near Al Hasakah, the task force said in a statement. In Iraq, air strikes using attack, fighter aircraft and drones hit near Al Hawijah, Bayji, Mosul, Ramadi, Sinjar and Tal Afar, it said.

The statement said the air strikes took place between 8 a.m. local time on Friday and 8 a.m. on Saturday.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east ... s/1.656702" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Over five thousand people gathered Saturday morning in central Kiev to protest out-of-control utilities prices
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150516/1022218894.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ukraine economy shrinks 17.6 percent in Q1 as government struggles to cope with conflict
http://www.usnews.com/news/business/art ... takes-toll" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

KIEV, May 15 (Reuters) - Foreign creditors must agree to the "legitimate" deal offered by Ukraine in talks on restructuring some $23 billion worth of its debt, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Friday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/ ... YY20150515" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Two Typhoon fighter jets have been launched from RAF Lossiemouth to intercept Russian bombers heading towards the UK
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home ... 1431618824" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

VILNIUS, Lithuania — The three Baltic countries are asking NATO to permanently deploy an army brigade to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as a deterrent against an increasingly assertive Russia.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/world/ ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The United States authorized providing Ukraine defensive lethal aid and training that the country needs to protect its sovereignty, US Senate Armed Forces Committee Chairman John McCain said in a press conference.
http://sputniknews.com/politics/2015051 ... 57700.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In an interview with FRANCE 24 on Wednesday, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk discussed granting more autonomy to east Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fight "against the Western world” and said that Ukraine is "already at war".
http://www.france24.com/en/20150514-alr ... -france-24" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
There are seven so far, about 2,000 acres in all, whipped up out of thin air – or rather, whipped up out of sand dredged from the sea floor and built up on top of coral atolls.

China’s artificial islands are its way of aggressively, but quietly, staking its claim to the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.

Calling the Spratlys “Islands” though, is kindof a stretch. There are hundreds of them, but most are coral reefs or atolls, only breaking the surface at low tide.

And yet, they represent “ the world’s most complicated territorial dispute,” says Professor Taylor Fravel, associate professor of political science at MIT and an expert in China’s territorial disputes.

Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan, the Philippines, and China all have overlapping claims.
http://www.marketplace.org/topics/world/china-sea" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

B-1 bombers coming to Australia to deter Beijing's South China Sea ambitions: US
http://www.smh.com.au/world/b1-bombers- ... 515-gh23zl" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BEIJING — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in China to press Beijing to halt increasingly assertive actions it is taking in the South China Sea that have alarmed the United States and China's smaller neighbors.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7656 ... a-Sea.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

China and the U.S. did not budge Saturday over Beijing’s assertive development in the disputed territories of the South China Sea, with Foreign Minister Wang Ji politely but pointedly dismissing Washington’s push for a diplomatic solution to ease the tensions.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/05 ... -activity/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In what could ring alarm bells for the Indian security establishment, a report of the United States Department of Defence (DoD), has warned about China “destructive” space programme of stalling or destroying satellites of other countries and how its nuclear-powered submarines now make forays into the Indian Ocean. Released on May 8, the DoD’s annual report to the US Congress on ‘Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2015’ talks about a mystery ‘object’ that Beijing had launched in space on a ballistic trajectory with a peak altitude above 30,000 km.
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation ... 78986.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The people of Poland are expressing outrage on Friday as news spread that their own government is on the verge of paying more than $250,000 to victims of CIA torture which took place at an agency black site in the country even as the U.S. government refuses to acknowledge the crime or take responsibility for the grave human rights abuses that took place under the Bush administration.
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/0 ... orture-cia" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Marking the third straight day of demonstrations, tens of thousands protested in Okinawa, Japan on Sunday against the presence and expansion of U.S. military bases on the island.
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/0 ... t-us-bases" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...witnessed one of those in person nearly 2 decades ago...

Russia and China has kicked off the active phase of their naval drill in the Mediterranean Sea. “Russian and Chinese warships have arrived in the sea area allocated for the “Naval Cooperation 2015” military drills,” Deputy Commander in Chief of the Russian Navy Vice Admiral Alexandr Fedotenkov said on Sunday.
http://sputniknews.com/world/20150517/1022238881.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

North Korea boasts of firing ballistic missile from submarine
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/ ... 2V20150509" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nebraska declares state of emergency in bird flu outbreak
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/ ... 9S20150514" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Despite biosecurity measures, bird flu affects South Dakota farm with 1.3M egg-laying chickens
http://www.startribune.com/bird-flu-fou ... 303767451/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fujian H5N2 Clade 2.3.4.4 In North America
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mi ... NlIM&hl=en" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fujian H5N2 Minnesota Spread - Lincoln County
http://www.recombinomics.com/News/05061 ... ln_MN.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The state Senate on Thursday passed a controversial bill that would require many more California children to be vaccinated. The measure, which must still go through the Assembly, would eliminate parents’ ability to opt out of state immunization requirements on the basis of their personal beliefs.
http://www.latimes.com/local/political/ ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(NaturalNews) The Golden State just inched one step closer towards full medical tyranny after the State Senate, heavily influenced by Merck prostitute Senator Richard Pan, overwhelmingly voted in favor of passing Senate Bill 277 to eliminate personal belief exemptions for vaccines.
http://www.naturalnews.com/049728_manda ... enate.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Michigan Baby Dies, Pathologists Confirm Vaccines Responsible
http://vactruth.com/2015/05/14/baby-die ... -vaccines/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Six Month-Old Baby Dies Just Five Days After Receiving 13 Vaccines
http://vactruth.com/2015/04/23/baby-die ... -vaccines/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Jodie’s Story: A Little Girl Lost After Illegally Given an Untested 8-in-1 Vaccine
http://vactruth.com/2015/03/14/illegall ... 1-vaccine/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In a database study of nearly 26,000 beneficiaries of Tricare, the military health system, those taking statin drugs to control their cholesterol were 87 percent more likely to develop diabetes.

The study, reported online April 28, 2015, in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, confirms past findings on the link between the widely prescribed drugs and diabetes risk. But it is among the first to show the connection in a relatively healthy group of people. The study included only people who at baseline were free of heart disease, diabetes, and other severe chronic disease.
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-05-s ... icare.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Three Foods From Ancient Times With Miraculous Benefits
http://vigilantcitizen.com/vigilantrepo ... -benefits/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
WACO: (May 17, 2015) Rival motorcycle gangs turned a local restaurant into a shooting gallery Sunday afternoon and when the gunfire was over, nine people were dead and 18 were injured..

Waco police Sunday afternoon, assisted by Department of Public Safety troopers, police officers from several cities and deputies from the McLennan County Sheriff's Office were surrounding the Twin Peaks Restaurant, in the Central Texas Market Place after several people were reported shot during a rival motorcycle gang fight, Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said.

Police initially said three gangs were involved, but later said factions from at least five gangs took part in the melee.
http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/Waco ... 43711.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

KWTX reported eight people were killed at the restaurant and one other person died at a hospital, according Swanton.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/waco-police ... -shootout/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Swanton said at least five rival gangs gathered at Twin Peaks for a meeting that he said focused on turf and recruitment, two areas where the groups have often clashed. Preliminary findings indicate a dispute broke out in a bathroom and then spilled into the restaurant where it escalated to include knives and firearms, he said. There were 150 to 200 gang members inside the restaurant at the time.

Police were aware of the meeting in advance, and at least 12 Waco officers in addition to state troopers were outside the restaurant, part of a national chain that features scantily clad waitresses, when the fight began.

"We've been made aware in the past few months of rival biker gangs ... being here and causing issues," Swanton said.

Officers shot armed bikers, Swanton said, adding that the actions of law enforcement prevented further deaths. It was not known if any of the nine dead were killed by police officers.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/ ... 7-17-16-49" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A G1 (minor) geomagnetic storm Watch has been issued for 17 May, due to the anticipated arrival of a CME associated with a filament eruption observed leaving the Sun on 13 May.
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/g1-minor- ... 7-may-2015" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

NOAA forecasters estimate a 45% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on May 17th when a CME is expected to deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field. The CME was hurled in our direction by a magnetic filament, which erupted away from the sun on May 13th
http://www.spaceweather.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Good morning. Solar activity during the past 24 hours was at very low levels. Region 2339 is now turning onto the west limb and will soon be out of direct Earth view. All other visible regions are non threatening at this time. A northern hemisphere filament eruption on Saturday flung a coronal mass ejection (CME) into space and was directed well north of the Sun-Earth line.

A minor geomagnetic storm watch remains in effect. A faint, slow moving CME observed last Wednesday may deliver a glancing blow to our geomagnetic field. I do not personally expect much to come from this event. Hopefully I am proven wrong. Sky watchers should remain alert nonetheless
http://www.solarham.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

At least 19 tornadoes touched down from Texas to Minnesota as part of large band of severe weather moving across the Plains states Saturday night. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102685405" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Federal Government has confirmed the death of 28 children following a fresh outbreak of lead poisoning in Niger state. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the latest incident had brought the number of deaths from lead poisoning in the country to 191, including 139 children. Briefing newsmen on the latest development in Abuja, the Minister of State for Health, Mr Fidelis Nwankwo, said that 68 fresh cases of the lead poisoning were recorded in Kawo and Magiro villages of Rafi local government area of the state. "Sixty eight cases have been recorded as at May 12, 2015, and 28 deaths had occurred giving the case of fertility rate of 43 per cent,'' said Nwankwo. According to him, all the deceased were children below the age of five and comprised 17 females and 11 males. He said the affected children were found to have a high serum lead level between 17 and 22 times higher than the acceptable limits established by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The minister, however, said that the federal government adopted an eight-point strategy to tackle the situation upon receipt of the report from the Niger Government.
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index ... -48222-NGA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A new eruption, so far small, began this Sunday at 13:45 from a fissure vent at the the southeast slopes of the Dolomieux crater inside the Enclos next to the Chateau Fort cone. An intense seismic crisis with 5-7 earthquakes per minutes started 55 minutes before the onset of the eruption, as magma pushed its way to the surface. A few minutes after the beginning of the quakes, significant deformation of the Dolomieu crater rim could be measured as well. The prefecture of La Reunion triggered alert phase 2 and closed access to the Enclos. The new eruption seems to be similar in its (small) size and vent location as the last one that occurred between 4-16 February this year. Both probably originate from a same shallow magma reservoir that by early 2015 had grown enough to produce eruptions at the surface. Frequent (several per year), but generally small eruptions have been a typical feature of Piton de la Fournaise during much of the volcano's recent past decades.
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index ... -48251-REU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Five more aftershocks hit Nepal as toll in fresh quake tops 100
http://articles.economictimes.indiatime ... tude-quake" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nepal Suffers Another Earthquake On Saturday, Four Days After A Major Aftershock From Quake That Killed Thousands
http://www.ibtimes.com/nepal-suffers-an ... ke-1925640" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;{%22feed%22%3A%221day_m25%22%2C%22search%22%3Anull%2C%22listFormat%22%3A%22default%22%2C%22sort%22%3A%22newest%22%2C%22basemap%22%3A%22grayscale%22%2C%22autoUpdate%22%3Atrue%2C%22restrictListToMap%22%3Atrue%2C%22timeZone%22%3A%22utc%22%2C%22mapposition%22%3A[[-66.65297740055278%2C-297.421875]%2C[72.71190310803662%2C70.3125]]%2C%22overlays%22%3A{%22plates%22%3Atrue}%2C%22viewModes%22%3A{%22list%22%3Atrue%2C%22map%22%3Atrue%2C%22settings%22%3Afalse%2C%22help%22%3Afalse}}

What's erupting? List & map of currently active volcanoes
http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/erupting_volcanoes.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Super Typhoon Dolphin intensified into a Category 5 storm with 160 mph winds and a central pressure of 925 mb at 2 pm EDT Saturday May 16, becoming Earth's fifth Category 5 storm of the year. Dolphin hung on to Category 5 strength for twelve hours before increasing wind shear helped knock the storm down to a Category 4 storm with 150 mph winds by Sunday morning. The eye of Dolphin passed through the channel between the islands of Guam and Rota Friday morning when the storm was at Category 2 strength with sustained winds of 110 mph. May 16 is exceptionally early to be getting our third Category 5 storm of the year in the Northwest Pacific. The global record for Category 5 storms is held by the El Niño year of 1997, which had twelve Category 5 storms--ten of them in the Northwest Pacific. The third Cat 5 of 1997 in the Northwest Pacific occurred on July 22, so we are more than two months ahead of that year's record pace.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... rynum=2992" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

At least nine people have been injured and dozens of homes damaged in a hailstorm in southern Germany
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32736480" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Volcano Watch: Restless activity beneath Mauna Loa continues
http://www.hawaii247.com/2015/05/14/vol ... continues/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Guatemala's Fuego volcano becoming more active: officials
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/guatemalas-fu ... ml#MaoNrOg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

MADRID (AP) — Sunny Spain and Portugal are seeing record high temperatures for May, hitting levels normally only reached in mid-summer. Up to 20 Spanish cities have been hit by scorching temperatures and several regional governments are worried about the effects the heat wave could have on crops, Spain's meteorological agency said Friday.
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/world/art ... 265462.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A MASSIVE forest fire in a mountain valley above the Costa Blanca has left an entire village covered in ash and residents being given oxygen masks. The blaze broke out in the Vall d'Ebo, in the far north of the province of Alicante, early yesterday afternoon (Thursday) in the Solana de Garrofar area close to the neighbouring valley, the Vall d'Alcalà.
http://www.thinkspain.com/news-spain/25 ... for-breath" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

JOHANNESBURG - Southern Africa faces possible food shortages over the next few months due to a severe drought in the 'maize belt' of South Africa, where a lack of rain had caused crop failure rates of over 50 percent, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Monday.
http://ewn.co.za/2015/05/12/Drought-hit ... d-shortage" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

SÃO PAULO (O Globo) – The main reservoirs of São Paulo, Rio and Belo Horizonte have reached the end of the summer with at least 40% less water than they had at the beginning of April 2014. Although consumption of the population has fallen, experts assess that the water crisis that began last year may worsen throughout the dry season, which should finish in October. Sanitation companies of these cities say they are investing to increase the supply of water.
http://oglobo.globo.com/brasil/inicio-d ... e-15810864" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Instead of rain, São Paulo has cracked earth and chaos as a devastating drought is making enemies out of neighbors in Brazil’s largest city, the site of a historic water shortage the likes of which hasn’t been seen in decades. Many residents have gone to drastic measures to hoard the precious commodity in the face of tougher water use restrictions, pinched faucets and declining reservoirs. Local authorities fearing anarchy in the city of 11 million are considering bringing in the military to control what’s quickly spiraling into a war over resources.

São Paulo’s water crisis that began last year is the region’s worst drought in more than 80 years. Brazil is home to roughly 12 percent of the world’s fresh water, yet millions of residents in the country’s most populated metropolis have gone days on end without running water, according to the Guardian. The drought is the result of three consecutive years of record low rainfall, which the city relies on to replenish its depleted reservoirs.

Today, the city’s reservoirs are at just 27 percent capacity, down from 40 percent in May 2014. Other reservoirs that aren’t at dangerously low levels are too polluted for human use.
http://www.ibtimes.com/sao-paulo-drough ... se-1912767" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Polluted waters could force Rio de Janeiro to move 2016 Olympic races
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
SEATTLE — Gov. Jay Inslee declared a statewide drought emergency for Washington on Friday, with mountain snowpack at 16 percent of average and water levels in rivers and streams drying to a trickle not seen since the 1950s. He said that residents should also be prepared for an early and active fire season that could reach higher elevations in the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges, where many spots are already completely clear of snow.

“We’re seeing things happen at this time of year we just have never seen before,” Mr. Inslee said in a news conference.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/16/us/wa ... .html?_r=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Supercells may again roam the southern and central Great Plains on Friday and Saturday, as they did last weekend. The trigger comes from a strong, cold upper-level low that’s delivering an unseasonably late dose of rain to parts of drought-plagued southern California. Major League Baseball was halted on Thursday night by the first rain delays in four years at San Diego and the first in 11 years in Los Angeles. Following 0.55” of rain for the month up through Wednesday, San Diego’s Lindbergh Field scored 1.51” in less than two hours on Thursday evening. The calendar-day total of 1.63” was a record for any day in May, and as of 10:00 am PDT Friday, Lindbergh Field has received 2.25” for the month thus far, with rain continuing. In records going back to 1850, the wettest May in San Diego was 2.54” in 1921.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... rynum=2991" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Storms that drenched Southern California this month missed most of Northern California, where about a third of the water used in San Diego County comes from.

For example: No rain has fallen this month at Oroville Reservoir, the largest water-storage facility in the state system that links with San Diego. Oroville is at 56 percent of average for the date. That’s not at historical low levels, but it could be headed there. The reservoir’s water level is dropping at a time of year when it should be rising.

It’s because the state’s snowpack, which normally would be melting and feeding reservoirs in May, was at 3 percent of normal — yes, 3 percent — at the start of the month. That’s the lowest level for the date since measurements began in 1950.

The snowpack in the Colorado River Basin, which supplies about half the water used in San Diego County, is not as bleak. It’s slightly smaller than usual.

But long-term drought and a growing population in the region that draws from Lake Mead has made that body of water drop to 38 percent full, its lowest point since the lake was filled in the 1930s.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/may ... eservoirs/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
As water-starved Californians pump more from wells, groundwater levels decrease. Preliminary data from this spring show that over the course of the last year, the levels of more than 40% of the approximately 4,500 measured wells have declined more than 2 feet — not unusual for the fourth year of a drought, water officials said.

More concerning, the data show decreases of more than 10 feet in more than 15% of measured wells and some severe decreases of more than 25 feet in some central California wells. And state officials say several groundwater basins in the Central Coast and Southern California also show "significant to severe" levels of decline.

Groundwater provides close to 40% of the state's water supply in an average year, and as much as 60% of supply in some regions during drought years, according to a 2014 state report. As the groundwater table drops ever lower, wells can become prohibitively expensive to drill.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
And for decades, the massive concrete structure has channeled water to cities and farms while generating up to 710 megawatts of hydropower, enough to provide electricity for more than 532,000 homes.

But amid four years of drought, the reservoir is drained to 50% of capacity, cutting the dam's power production by about a third, according to federal reclamation officials.

The story is the same at many dams across California, where electricity production at some is expected to be less than 20% of normal because of low water levels.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california ... tml#page=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"Basically, we will not be exporting any water from the Eastern Sierra runoff to Los Angeles this year until November, and when we do it will be only 15% of what Los Angeles would typically receive during an average year," Parsons said. Usually, the aqueduct supplies Los Angeles with a third of its water.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-m ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Lines in the Sky
https://youtu.be/qMGEn4jdPVU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Forbidden Data - Wyoming just criminalized citizen science
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_an ... g_the.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Even though the United States has certainly seen its share of destructive storms over the past nine years, we haven't gotten slammed by a category three or higher hurricane in nine years -- the longest stretch in which we've been free from such monster storms since 1850. Our last major hurricane -- defined as a major storm with winds in excess of 111 miles per hour -- was Hurricane Wilma, which hit on October 16, 2005.
http://www.cnet.com/news/nasa-study-say ... CAD590a51e" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As expected, Greece was able to make the 750M EUR payment to the International Monetary Fund last Tuesday but in order to get its hands on the cash, the country had to force all of its public service departments to fork over the remaining cash they had left.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-1 ... cy-meeting" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It is hard to avoid the feeling that our current economic problems are more than just a cyclical downturn. We know that the economy has gone through some bad times. But what exactly are we experiencing? One relatively optimistic view is that observed deficiencies — like slow growth in real wages and the overall economy, persistently low interest rates and low levels of labor participation — are merely temporary. In this view, these problems will dwindle after manageable problems like high levels of public or household debt have been reduced.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/upsho ... ormal.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Central bank liquidity lines like those the Fed used to bailout the world seven years ago have become a fixture of the post crisis financial system and as you can see from the following maps, their growth since 2007 has been remarkable. Perhaps the most striking thing about the following graphics is the extent to which China has (literally) covered the world in renminbi swap lines. Essentially, China has used bilateral swap agreements to help embed the yuan in international trade in the the post-crisis era. As you'll see below, counterparty countries have also tapped their yuan liquidity lines when they're cut off from dollar funding, making China a critical lifeline for bolstering FX reserves and helping to alleviate shortages of imported goods.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-1 ... swap-lines" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ukraine and China ink $2.4 bn currency swap
http://rt.com/business/258941-china-ukr ... cies-swap/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
WASHINGTON — A first-of-its-kind provision that prevents welfare recipients in Kansas from withdrawing more than $25 a day from an ATM might violate federal law, and could jeopardize the state’s federal funding if not amended.

The Social Security Act requires states to ensure that recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, “have adequate access to their cash assistance” and can withdraw money “with minimal fees or charges.”

At stake is about $102 million in TANF block grant funds that Kansas receives every year from the federal government.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/05/17/2 ... s-for.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Low wage jobs now make up 25 percent of all employment in the United States
http://www.mybudget360.com/low-wage-tsu ... my-income/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Over $1.2 trillion in student loans are now outstanding in the US and this debt class has the highest delinquency rate of all debt classes.
http://www.mybudget360.com/student-debt ... auto-debt/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The number of Americans not in the labor force has hit another new record. The latest figures show that 93,194,000 Americans are not in the labor force. How big is this figure? How about the populations of our three most populated states in California, Texas, and Florida combined and you would still need to find millions more. To be exact, add all three up and you would still need another 8 million people to add up to this figure. This is about a third of the entire United States that is not in the labor force, and this is excluding the 69 million that can’t work (i.e., mostly children).
http://www.mybudget360.com/not-in-labor ... nancially/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Banking assets equaling the U.S. GDP, scary thought. According to Bloomberg, 50% of these assets are off balance-sheet and are compromised of derivatives (bets) and other risky loans. With banking officials not being accountable to the same laws as the U.S. citizenry and this amount of ownership in Dollar assets, will not end well.
http://www.bankreorealestate.com/opinio ... n-gdp.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The home ownership rate now stands at the lowest level in 25 years, and it continues to drop each quarter it is measured. Next week the National Association of Realtors will report April sales of existing homes. The headline numbers will likely be better than they were a year ago and as compared to the previous month; one number, however, does not tell the whole housing story.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102682571" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
RT - China has passed the US as the world’s biggest trading nation as measured by the sum of exports and imports in 2012. It’s a position the US has held for over six decades.

­US exports and imports of goods last year amounted to $3.82 trillion, the US Commerce Department said last week. China’s trade in goods was $3.87 trillion, according to the country’s customs administration report in January.

While the US recorded a surplus in services of $195.3 billion last year and a goods deficit of more than $700 billion, according to Bureau Economic Analysis, China’s 2012 trade surplus, measured in goods, totalled $231.1 billion.

“The main reason for this growth is the Chinese government policy directed at stimulating domestic demand, which improves imports to growth,” Andrey Shenk, an economic expert at Investcafe, told RT. He said China increased its import volumes 5 fold in the last five years, and that allowed it become the biggest trading nation.
http://www.bankreorealestate.com/econom ... untry.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Seven years after the bursting of a global credit bubble resulted in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, debt continues to grow. In fact, rather than reducing indebtedness, or deleveraging, all major economies today have higher levels of borrowing relative to GDP than they did in 2007. Global debt in these years has grown by $57 trillion, raising the ratio of debt to GDP by 17 percentage points (Exhibit 1). That poses new risks to financial stability and may undermine global economic growth.

Did you know that there is more than $28,000 of debt for every man, woman and child on the entire planet? And since close to 3 billion of those people survive on less than 2 dollars a day, your share of that debt is going to be much larger than that. If we took everything that the global economy produced this year and everything that the global economy produced next year and used it to pay all of this debt, it still would not be enough.

China’s debt has quadrupled since 2007. Fueled by real estate and shadow banking, China’s total debt has nearly quadrupled, rising to $28 trillion by mid-2014, from $7 trillion in 2007. At 282 percent of GDP, China’s debt as a share of GDP, while manageable, is larger than that of the United States or Germany. Three developments are potentially worrisome: half of all loans are linked, directly or indirectly, to China’s overheated real-estate market; unregulated shadow banking accounts for nearly half of new lending; and the debt of many local governments is probably unsustainable. However, MGI calculates that China’s government has the capacity to bail out the financial sector should a property-related debt crisis develop. The challenge will be to contain future debt increases and reduce the risks of such a crisis, without putting the brakes on economic growth.

Government debt is unsustainably high in some countries. Since 2007, government debt has grown by $25 trillion. It will continue to rise in many countries, given current economic fundamentals. Some of this debt, incurred with the encouragement of world leaders to finance bailouts and stimulus programs, stems from the crisis. Debt also rose as a result of the recession and the weak recovery. For six of the most highly indebted countries, starting the process of deleveraging would require implausibly large increases in real-GDP growth or extremely deep fiscal adjustments. To reduce government debt, countries may need to consider new approaches, such as more extensive asset sales, one-time taxes on wealth, and more efficient debt-restructuring
http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/econom ... leveraging" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
There has been no long-term recovery. This current mild recovery in the USA has been shallow at best and as the rest of the world declines still from the 2007.15 high with a target low in 2020, the Federal Reserve has been unable to raise interest rates sufficiently to demonstrate any recovery for the spreads at the banks between bid and ask for money is also at historical highs. Banks will give secured car loans at around 4% while their cost of funds is really 0%. This is the widest spread between bid and ask since the Panic of 1899.

We face a frightening collapse in the VELOCITY of money and all this talk of eliminating cash is in part due to the rising hoarding of cash by households both in the USA and Europe.

This is a major problem for the central banks have also lost control of the ability to stimulate anything.The loss of traditional stimulus ability by the central banks is now threatening the nationalization of banks be it directly, or indirectly.

We face a cliff that government refuses to acknowledge and their solution will be to grab more power – never reform.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-1 ... ll-crashes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Having survived a verbal assault by local citizens and the satirical swift swords of cable TV comics, the Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack (BEARCAT) vehicle that protects, among other things, the city's annual Pumpkin Festival, will remain in Keene, New Hampshire.

"It appears the city council of Keene wants to continue to be the laughingstock of the world," declared the libertarian blog, FREE KEENE, after the council voted, 11-3, against a proposal by Councilman Terry Clark to return the military vehicle the city obtained through a $285,933 grant from the Department of Homeland Security in 2012. The federal agency, created by Congress after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, has been making surplus military hardware available to communities all over America. The program has received national attention in recent weeks after police in Ferguson, Missouri, a city like Keene with a population of 23,000, turned out in riot gear with assault rifles and armored vehicles in response to the protests and riots that followed the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager during an altercation between the teenager and a Ferguson policeman. The issue of local police armed with Pentagon weaponry has been the subject of both serious and humorous commentary ever since.
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/cr ... d-vehicles" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A massive U.S. military drill dubbed “Jade Helm 15” lists Texas, Utah, and part of California as “hostile” or “insurgent pocket” territory. The unclassified information about this drill is causing widespread alarm nationwide, with more than a few analysts suggesting it may be some sort of exercise practicing to impose martial law on Americans fed up with an out-of-control federal government. During the exercises, which will take place over the summer, Special Forces from various branches of the military will work with local law-enforcement in scenarios that, to critics at least, sound suspiciously like they are aimed at subduing rebellious American civilians and states amid a civil war or large-scale unrest. The federal government issued a response dismissing the concerns and saying that the training is to help U.S. forces prepare for overseas missions, but not everyone is convinced.
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/co ... arks-alarm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
A right-wing militia inspired by the Tea Party movement has taken over the city of Darlington, South Carolina, arrested the local government, and declared that the federal government should be overthrown. As the militia establishes checkpoints across I-95, other extremist groups across the nation rush to declare their support. South Carolina’s governor – a Tea Party supporter – declines to send in law enforcement to quash the militia, but quietly asks for federal intervention. The President invokes the Insurrection Act to authorize the use of federal troops, as the Pentagon prepares for war at home….

This is a drill, repeat, this is a drill. Actually, it’s a thought exercise by two authors exploring just how the U.S. military would respond to domestic insurrection. It sounds almost paranoid, except that nine days after Obama’s reelection, petitions for secession have sprouted in all 50 states, gun sales have soared for fear of what a second term means for gun owners, and white nationalist groups are elated over Obama’s victory. Add in a stagnant economy, a polarized electorate, and perhaps some disgruntled Afghanistan and Iraq veterans, and domestic strife seems improbable but not impossible.

The scenario appeared last July – before Obama’s reelection – in the respected Small Wars Journal. The article, titled “Full Spectrum Operations in the Homeland: A ‘Vision’ of the Future”, was written by Kevin Benson, a retired Army colonel who teaches at University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and Jennifer Weber, a history professor at University of Kansas and a Civil War historian.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelpeck ... rebellion/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Known Unknowns: Unconventional "Strategic Shocks" in Defense Strategy Development
http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.ar ... ?pubID=890" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

KNOWN UNKNOWNS: UNCONVENTIONAL “STRATEGIC SHOCKS” IN DEFENSE STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT - "Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security"
http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.ar ... PUB890.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Bert B. Tussing, director of homeland defense and security issues at the U.S. Army War College's Center for Strategic Leadership, said the new Pentagon approach "breaks the mold" by assigning an active-duty combat brigade to the Northern Command for the first time. Until now, the military required the command to rely on troops requested from other sources.

"This is a genuine recognition that this [job] isn't something that you want to have a pickup team responsible for," said Tussing, who has assessed the military's homeland security strategies.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the libertarian Cato Institute are troubled by what they consider an expansion of executive authority.

Domestic emergency deployment may be "just the first example of a series of expansions in presidential and military authority," or even an increase in domestic surveillance, said Anna Christensen of the ACLU's National Security Project. And Cato Vice President Gene Healy warned of "a creeping militarization" of homeland security.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... id=topnews" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I can see clearly that the coming decade will be a vital period of transition for the U.S. Army. The service will have to adjust to three major changes: declining budgets, due to the country's worsened fiscal situation; a shift in emphasis to the Asia-Pacific region; and a broadening of focus from counterinsurgency, counterterrorism, and training of partners to shaping the strategic environment, preventing the outbreak of dangerous regional conflicts, and improving the army's readiness to respond in force to a range of complex contingencies worldwide. Our reserve component soldiers remain the bedrock of the army's domestic response capability, but where appropriate we will also dedicate active-duty forces, especially those with niche skills and equipment, to provide civilian officials with a robust set of reliable and rapid response options.
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles ... transition" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
When permitted under emergency authority in accordance with Reference (c), Federal military commanders have the authority, in extraordinary emergency circumstances where prior authorization by the President is impossible and duly constituted local authorities are unable to control the situation, to engage temporarily in activities that are necessary to quell large-scale, unexpected civil disturbances because:

(a) Such activities are necessary to prevent significant loss of life or wanton destruction of property and are necessary to restore governmental function and public order; or,

(b) When duly constituted Federal, State, or local authorities are unable or decline to provide adequate protection for Federal property or Federal governmental functions. Federal action, including the use of Federal military forces, is authorized when necessary to protect Federal property or functions.
https://info.publicintelligence.net/DoD ... cement.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In essence, this policy change seeks to supersede Posse Comitatus, the 1878 law which forbids the military from being involved in domestic law enforcement “except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress.”

Under the Insurrection Act of 1807, the President may deploy armed forces domestically under extreme circumstances but Congress has to review the action every 14 days.

Under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, the President cannot commit troops to an armed conflict for a period longer than 60 days without an authorization from Congress of the use of military force or a declaration of war.

Under no circumstances in current US law is it legal for the military to deploy itself domestically without authorization from either the President, Congress or both.

In claiming this power, the Pentagon is effectively opening the door to a potential future military coup.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/military-sa ... ances.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Rex 84: FEMA’s Blueprint for Martial Law in America
http://www.globalresearch.ca/rex-84-fem ... erica/3010" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Martial Law Exposed - Oliver North grilled by Congress about Rex 84
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbFHuGlZsVU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The upcoming “JADE HELM 15 – Master the Human Domain” ‘domestic’ military drill has created a storm of controversy all over the internet, and for good reason. There are LOTS of questions surrounding the motives and details of the exercise which is doing more than just raising a few eyebrows.

Operation JADE HELM 15 will commence July-15 (until September-15) in the American southwest (as in, all of it) (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah and Colorado) and is a ‘domestic’ military training exercise which some say may violate the Posse Comitatus Act (while others say it technically does not).

The ‘drill’ apparently has the military working in acceptance of, or some cooperation with, state-county-local domestic law enforcement agencies and will include Special Operations Command, the special forces of the military services, the 82nd Airborne, elements of Marine Expeditionary Unit(s), and interagency partners, which refers to other departments and agencies of the federal government, including – reportedly – the FBI and DEA.

Never before has such a drill of this apparent scope and magnitude occurred on US soil, and while military training exercises happen all the time, and while many or most of them are unknown to the public, this drill has a purpose – Training has purpose. The only reason you would train on this scale and in this place, is to evaluate your operational abilities in an English speaking, Western environment…
http://modernsurvivalblog.com/governmen ... ary-drill/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
With preparations being made for the massive Jade Helm 15 military training across the American Southwest — exercises that imagine conservative Texas and Utah as “hostile” and more liberal states as “permissive” — the increasingly discredited establishment media has dishonestly seized on a handful of theories and comments to attack everyone expressing concerns about the drills. It is true that some unproven and in some cases wild claims have been made by a handful of individuals online, such as the notion that closed Walmart stores are involved in a nefarious plot with authorities to detain dissidents. However, in its deceitful efforts to demonize Americans who are suspicious of the Obama administration and the unprecedented Jade Helm 15 program, the mischaracterized “mainstream” press has seized on those claims as if they represented the primary or even only concerns being expressed. In the process, it exposed itself as a propaganda machine.

It is hardly a surprise that many Americans have expressed concerns about Jade Helm 15. Polls show more than two thirds of Americans believe the federal government is “out of control” and a threat to liberty. The other third must not be paying attention.
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/po ... elm-deceit" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As an aside, I really dig the logo which depicts crossed arrows and dagger (synonymous with Special Forces) set behind a French wooden shoe called a sabot. That wooden clog is where the term “sabotage” comes from. During the French revolution, workers were said to throw these shoes into the works of looms in order to break them. Unconventional Warfare and sabotage go together like peas and carrots.
http://soldiersystems.net/2015/03/30/dr ... -exercise/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Jade Helm - Incarceration Concentration Camp FEMA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfHGwPHg818" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

NRA: The Untold Story of Gun Confiscation After Katrina
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-taU9d26wT4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Pentagon Prep For Breakdown Of Society Seen Across Country
http://allnewspipeline.com/Pentagon_Pre ... ywhere.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Heads Up! More UN Military Police Equipment Seen Going Through Huntsville, Alabama
http://thedailycoin.org/?p=29702#sthash ... uxYXM.dpbs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Jade Helm Personnel Are Terrorizing Small Texas Communities
http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/2015/ ... mmunities/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

With the full acclimatization of the American people underway across the nation, accustomizing Americans to the sight of the US military on the streets, even the Pentagon has now admitted that it is preparing for mass civil unrest and we can slowly see the ‘Gray State’ materializing before our eyes. How long will it be until everything changes, overnight? While millions of Americans are oblivious to the military exercises taking place across the nation, the warnings of preparation for economic collapse and America one day being turned into a 3rd world nation have been going out for a very long time… we have all been warned.
http://www.pakalertpress.com/jade-helm- ... overnight/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Retired Army Special Forces Master Sgt. Jeff Hinton was looking for 100 current or retired Green Berets to sign a petition defending Second Amendment rights. What he received was 1,100 special forces operators, all of whom are against bans on the kind of military-style rifles targeted in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December.

Military.com reports that Master Sgt. Hinton’s 2,900-word letter has been distributed to media outlets and posted on Professionalsoldiers.com.

In addition to rejecting bans on guns for cosmetic reasons, the Green Berets also take issue with any bans on high capacity magazines, noting that it only takes seconds to reload.

The group’s petition concludes: “We believe that it is time that we take personal responsibility for our choices and actions rather than abdicate that responsibility to someone else under the illusion that we have done something that will make us all safer. … We have a responsibility to stand by our principles and act in accordance with them. Our children are watching and they will follow the example we set.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201 ... n-control/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Restricted U.S. Army Special Operations Forces Manual
https://info.publicintelligence.net/USArmy-SF-Ops.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

US Optics Academy Long Range Precision I: Two-Day Precision Rifle/Long Range Interdiction (Sniping) Course with US Marine Corps Sniper/Instructor Tyler Hughes in the Southern California Mountains
http://www.defensereview.com/us-optics- ... mountains/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The latest episode in the Clinton money saga is different than the others because it involves the clear, direct personal enrichment of Hillary Clinton, presidential candidate, by people who have a lot of money at stake in the outcome of government decisions. Her federally required financial disclosure was released to media late Friday, a time government officials and political candidates have long reserved for dumping news they hope will have a short shelf life.
http://www.vox.com/2015/5/16/8614881/Hi ... took-money" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In August 2014, The Natural Society featured an article written by Christina Sarich about the 16 years of Monsanto’s lawsuits against farmers. The disturbing part of this history was that the track record Monsanto holds for never losing a single case they brought against farmers.
http://www.topsecretwriters.com/2015/05 ... n-america/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Monsanto and the State of Oregon’s Brian Clem are attempting to circumvent the Jackson and Josephine County GMO bans, and make it next to impossible for any county in the state to enact such a ban. In other words, what “you the people” want doesn’t mean a hill of beans compared to what the people who pay us want.
http://farmwars.info/?p=14011" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Tokyo Electric Power Co. should consider discharging water contaminated by the Fukushima Daiichi reactor meltdowns into the Pacific Ocean, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... ea-un-says" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

BAGHDAD — Islamic State militants have seized another town in Iraq's western Anbar province less than a week after capturing the provincial capital, a tribal leader said Friday, while in neighboring Syria the group's fighters killed dozens of pro-government forces in the ancient town of Palmyra.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015 ... nents.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

WASHINGTON – Iran has entered the fight to retake a major Iraqi oil refinery from Islamic State militants, contributing small numbers of troops, including some operating artillery and other heavy weapons in support of advancing Iraqi ground forces, U.S. defense officials said Friday.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/05/22 ... cials-say/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Secret Pentagon Report Reveals US "Created" ISIS As A "Tool" To Overthrow Syria's President Assad
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-2 ... dent-assad" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Emails reportedly show confidant told Clinton Benghazi attack planned by fighters tied to Al Qaeda
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/05 ... ned-by-aq/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Original Chechnya Bombers - The CIA, The Saudis And Bin Laden
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-2 ... -bin-laden" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Finland tells 900,000 reservists their roles 'in the event of war'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... f-war.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sweden is doing its best to send Moscow a "security political signal." The country's armed forces are getting set to take part in two NATO military exercises next week, including an exercise featuring two American B-52 strategic bombers flying from the US to simulate the dropping of naval mines on the Swedish coast, Radio Sweden reports.
http://sputniknews.com/military/2015052 ... 67151.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Iran: If Israel attacks, Hezbollah will ‘destroy Tel Aviv’
http://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-if-is ... -tel-aviv/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

KABUL, Afghanistan ‑ As Afghan forces try to fend off attacks by resurgent militants, the top coalition commander has been meeting with NATO leaders to hammer out details of a plan that could keep thousands of international advisers in the country for years to come.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015 ... istan.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The United States vowed on Thursday to keep up air and sea patrols in international waters after the Chinese navy repeatedly warned a U.S. surveillance plane to leave the airspace over artificial islands China is creating in the disputed South China Sea.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/ ... me=topNews" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

US Pressing Israel to Lose Its Nukes
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/ ... V6KoGRViko" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

AUSTRALIA is reportedly in talks with the US over hosting B-1 bombers in the Northern Territory
http://www.news.com.au/national/breakin ... public_rss" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As lawmakers and security agencies braced for a potential loss of the heart of the Patriot Act, a long-delayed Justice Department report showed that the FBI uses the surveillance authorities it provides for “large collections” of Americans’ internet records. Section 215 of the Patriot Act permits the FBI to collect business records, such as medical, educational and tax information or other “tangible things” relevant to an ongoing counter–terrorism or espionage investigation. Since 2006, the NSA had also secretly used it to collect US phone data in bulk.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015 ... doj-report" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A Justice Department inspector general’s report shows that for seven years the Federal Bureau of Investigation violated statutory law designed to restrict the agency’s surveillance power. During this period, the agency sought individuals’ records under the business records provision of the PATRIOT Act without adopting proper “minimization procedures” to protect privacy of US persons.
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/0 ... atriot-act" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Canada and its spying partners exploited weaknesses in one of the world's most popular mobile browsers and planned to hack into smartphones via links to Google and Samsung app stores, a top secret document obtained by CBC News shows.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/spy-agenc ... 46?cmp=rss" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The NSA, assisted by spy agencies of the Five Eyes alliance, comprising Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the United States, sought to implant spyware on smartphones, distribute misinformation and gather user data as part of the project dubbed IRRITANT HORN, a new secret document revealed.
http://sputniknews.com/science/20150521/1022423388.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

FBI admits no major cases cracked with Patriot Act snooping powers
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201 ... dnt-crack/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

At an 18th-century mansion in England’s countryside last week, current and former spy chiefs from seven countries faced off with representatives from tech giants Apple and Google to discuss government surveillance in the aftermath of Edward Snowden’s leaks.
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015 ... veillance/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The war on drugs could get a boost with a new method that analyzes sewage to track levels of illicit drug use in local communities in real time. The new study, a first-of-its-kind in the U.S., was published in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology and could help law enforcement identify new drug hot spots and monitor whether anti-drug measures are working.
http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/press ... abuse.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is framing the challenges of climate change as a matter of national security that threatens to aggravate poverty and political instability around the globe and jeopardize the readiness of U.S. forces.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/2015052 ... 94290.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The police agency announced Friday that the Federal Aviation Administration has authorized what it calls its Unmanned Aircraft System program. The announcement says the program 'is not being implemented for surveillance purposes.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... dents.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Special Ops Armed with Rapid DNA Scanners: “Get Ready for Advanced Biometric Warfare”
http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/s ... e_05232015" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Gigantic war games, along with a massive military convoy, are commencing in Colorado, prior to the start of the supposed start of Jade Helm 15 exercises in July which has now been officially moved up to June 15th. This ancillary Jade Helm drill is called “Raider Focus” and it is turning Southern Colorado and the Independent Media on its ear.
http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/2015/ ... -citizens/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Secret Bank of England taskforce investigates financial fallout of Brexit
http://www.theguardian.com/business/201 ... are_btn_tw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The legislation that Mr. Paul hopes to delay, the U.S.A. Freedom Act, would actually overhaul the Patriot Act — curtailing the government’s bulk collection of phone records, for example. But Mr. Paul has cast himself as the lone Republican presidential candidate who would safeguard civil liberties, and he knows that a filibuster is an effective way to spotlight the issue.
http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-d ... ilibuster/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

UPDTE, 11:58 PM: “I want to thank the Senate staff; I want to thank the American people for considering the arguments,” Paul said as he relinquished the floor after conducting an 11-hour filibuster.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government ... triot-act/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Jim Sumpter - In reality, it's a "...playing with the clock and calendar" ploy that isn't the way to get rid of the Patriot Act and Mr. Paul knows it. If Mr. Paul was serious instead of just seeking extended periods of attention and exposure, he'd be part of seeing to it that the Patriot Act is legislated out of existence.

A Democratic congressman who still owes millions of dollars in legal bills racked up while fighting corruption allegations said on Monday that members of Congress need a raise in order to cope with the District of Columbia’s rising cost of living.
http://freebeacon.com/politics/dem-cong ... pay-raise/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

NEW YORK — The national president of the Boy Scouts, Robert Gates, says the organization’s longstanding ban on participation by openly gay adults is no longer sustainable and is urging change in order to avert potentially destructive legal battles.
http://nypost.com/2015/05/21/boy-scouts ... stainable/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Heslam: Incoming BU prof set up sex profile for rival
http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinio ... _for_rival" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Protests Erupt in Cleveland Over Not Guilty Verdict for Police Officer
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/0 ... ce-officer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Officials are reporting that a ruptured pipeline leaked an estimated 21,000 gallons of oil into the ocean off of Santa Barbara County. Emergency crews responded to the leak just off Refugio State Beach in Goleta that left a four-mile-long oil sheen. According to the LA Times, the damaged pipeline is owned by Plains All America Pipeline. It runs along the coast close to the 101 Highway. Crews were able to stop the leak within three hours of it being reported. While the Coast Guard estimated that around 21,000 gallons escaped, State officials declined to comment, saying it could take several days to figure out exactly how much oil leaked. Although a leak of any size is a bad thing, as spills go this wasn't a huge one, due to the quick response of emergency crews. For perspective, the Deepwater Horizon disaster spilled 210 million gallons in one of the most catastrophic oil disasters in history.
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index ... -48287-USA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thousands of people fled villages and towns along a mountain river in in northwest Nepal on Sunday after it was blocked by a landslide that could burst and cause flash floods, officials said. The landslide created a dam and a lake 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) long on the Kaligandaki River, said government administrator Yam Bahadur Chokhal. Residents living on the banks of the river were moved to higher grounds for fear the river could burst and send flash floods through the area north of Beni Bazaar, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) northwest of the capital, Kathmandu. Soldiers and police officers were sent to monitor the river and help and warn the villagers. Two powerful earthquakes devastated Nepal on April 25 and May 12, killing nearly 8,700 people and injuring 16,800 others. The quakes and aftershocks also triggered many landslides in the Himalayan nation. In 2002, dozens of people were killed when an avalanche held back the nearby Seti River, which then burst through the snow blockage and sent water gushing through villages along its banks.
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index ... -48359-NPL" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Multiple crews are working throughout region, Austin Energy spokesperson Robert Cullick said, and full restoration will likely be a lengthy process. Austin Energy said it is responding to 133 trouble calls affecting more than 19,600 customers. Flooded crossings have hindered restoration efforts, the PEC said, particularly in Blanco where there are about 800 members without power. Crews north and south of that area have been unable to reach a number of outages because of high water, the utility said.
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index ... -48358-USA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Flooding Could Last for Weeks as More Heavy Rain Targets Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas Through Memorial Day Weekend
http://www.weather.com/forecast/regiona ... ay-ranking" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Xinhua reported Saturday that the downpour had broken a 40-year record, with the country’s National Meteorological Center recording average rainfall of 199.9 millimeters — 74 percent above the normal figure.
http://news.videonews.us/bus-crash-chin ... 18698.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sensors at the Fukushima nuclear plant have detected a fresh leak of highly radioactive water into the sea. Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said the sensors, which were rigged to a gutter that pours rain and ground water at the Fukushima Daiichi plant to a nearby bay, detected contamination levels up to 70 times greater than the already-high radioactive status seen at the plant campus. TEPCO said its emergency inspections of tanks storing nuclear waste water did not find any additional abnormalities, but the firm said it shut the gutter to prevent radioactive water from going into the Pacific Ocean. The higher-than-normal levels of contamination were detected on Sunday, with sensors showing radiation levels 50 to 70 times greater than usual. Though contamination levels fell steadily throughout the day, the same sensors were still showing contamination levels about 10 to 20 times more than usual, a company spokesman said. It was not immediately clear what caused the original spike of the contamination and its gradual fall, he said. "With emergency surveys of the plant and monitoring of other sensors, we have no reason to believe tanks storing radioactive waste water have leaked," he said. "We have shut the gutter [from pouring water to the bay]. We are currently monitoring the sensors at the gutter and seeing the trend." The latest incident, one of several that have plagued the plant in recent months, reflects the difficulty in controlling and decommissioning the plant, which went through meltdowns and explosions after being battered by a giant tsunami in March 2011, sparking the world's worst nuclear disaster in a generation. TEPCO has not been able to effectively deal with an increasing amount of contaminated water, used to cool the crippled reactors and molten fuels inside them and kept in large storage tanks on the plant's vast campus. Adding to TEPCO's headaches has been the persistent flow of groundwater from nearby mountains travelling under the contaminated plant before washing into the Pacific Ocean. The International Atomic Energy Agency recently said TEPCO has made "significant progress" in cleaning up the plant, but suggested that Japan should consider ways to discharge treated waste water into the sea as a relatively safer way to deal with the radioactive water crisis.
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index ... -47090-JPN" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Mud Lake Complex is comprised of several fires caused by lightning strikes on Big Cypress National Preserve both north and south of Interstate 75 (Alligator Alley). The first fire, the Ellison Fire, began on May 8 near the Mud Lake Trail. On May 10, the Mist, Ellipse, Square, and Circle fires were discovered. The Dot 1 fire was detected on May 12, Dot 2 fire on May 13, and Pekel fire on May 17, 2015. Gusty winds and dry conditions have contributed to fire growth. Due to the remote location of the fires, access for ground crews is difficult and firefighters have been primarily fighting the fires by dropping water on them from aircraft.
http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4260/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Lokon volcano (North-Sulawesi, Indonesia): new eruption on 20 May
http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/lokon/n ... 0-May.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chaitén volcano (Chile): alert level raised, seismic unrest
http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/chaiten/news.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What's erupting? List & map of currently active volcanoes
http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/erupting_volcanoes.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Earthquake Hits Nevada Magnitude 5.4 -- Close to Las Vegas: USGS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylcxIKGel44" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

SYDNEY, Australia (UPDATED) – Two strong 6.8-magnitude earthquakes struck off the Solomon Islands early Saturday, May 23 US geologists said, but there were no initial reports of damage and no tsunami warnings were issued. (UPDATED) It is the third day in a row that the Solomons have been rocked by a quake of 6.0-magnitude or higher
http://www.rappler.com/world/regions/as ... on-islands" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Landscapes are parched from most of California up to the interior of Alaska, as well as adjacent northwest Canada. A major high-latitude heat wave sent temperatures on Thursday in Barrow, AK, up to 47°F, the warmest ever observed so early in the season and only the second time that temperature has been reached before June (more here from the Weather Channel’s Jon Erdman). The warm temperatures have triggered unprecedented flooding that’s closed more than 50 miles of the Dalton Highway, a key route through northern Alaska. It may be a particular rough season for wildfires across those higher-elevation forests where snow was extremely scant this past winter, from the Sierras north through the Cascades and into British Columbia.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... rynum=2996" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

SACRAMENTO >> California farmers who hold rights to water that date back as far as the Gold Rush are bracing for their first state-ordered conservation in decades, as a record drought prompts some of the deepest cuts yet in the country’s most productive agricultural state. After telling cities and towns to slash water use by 25 percent and cutting deliveries to some farmers and others, state officials said Wednesday that they would start mandatory cuts this week to the state’s oldest rights holders, who are historically spared from water restrictions. Regulators said the first orders Friday will affect those holding century-old water rights in the watershed of the San Joaquin River, which runs from the Sierra Nevada mountains to San Francisco Bay and is one of the main water sources for farms and communities.
http://www.dailynews.com/environment-an ... est-rights" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The financial toll of the worst U.S. bird-flu outbreak in history is soaring, forcing some poultry companies to suspend operations and boosting prices for eggs and turkeys as supplies tighten. Avian influenza has resulted in the deaths or extermination of at least 38.9 million birds, more than double the previous major U.S. outbreak in the 1980s. Of that total, more than 32 million are egg-laying hens, accounting for about 10% of the U.S. egg-laying flock.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/egg-pr ... 2015-05-22" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

With avian flu devastating a significant portion of the nation’s egg-laying hens, major food companies and restaurant chains are bracing for shortages and scouting the country to find alternative supply sources. Roughly 87 percent of the birds stricken with the disease are laying hens, according to the Department of Agriculture, and many of the eggs they lay are turned into ingredients used by food businesses in things like scrambled egg patties and baked goods.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/busin ... .html?_r=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Measures to control the worst bird flu outbreak in U.S. history are not being enforced at several farms at its epicenter in northwestern Iowa, potentially increasing the risks that the disease could spread further, spot checks by Reuters show.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/ ... IM20150521" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Metro Park East Landfill east of the Des Moines metro is the largest landfill in the state. Between 120 and 240 tons of carcasses are expected to be dumped there. To put that in perspective, Metro Waste Authority takes in 240 tons of waste in an average hour.
http://www.kcci.com/news/millions-of-bi ... s/33148068" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

600,000 Americans each consume more than $50,000 worth of pharmaceuticals annually, shocking analysis finds
http://www.naturalnews.com/049821_pharm ... icans.html#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

World Health Organization has estimated that approximately 14 million new cancer cases are diagnosed around the world every year; the number of new cases is expected to balloon by nearly 70 percent over the next 20 years
http://www.naturalnews.com/049816_Big_P ... ofits.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Under Shadow of Trade Deal, US Pesticide Lobby Pressured EU to Dump Toxic Pesticide Rules
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/0 ... cide-rules" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Editor In Chief Of World’s Best Known Medical Journal: Half Of All The Literature Is False
http://www.globalresearch.ca/editor-in- ... se/5451305" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

At approximately 22:00 UTC Thursday evening (May 21), a large eruption originating from behind the northeast limb was responsible for a bright, fast moving coronal mass ejection (CME). Attached video below courtesy of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) using the 304 angstroms channel, along with coronagraph imagery courtesy of LASCO C2 and C3, captures the noteworthy solar event. Because this was a non Earth facing eruption, there should be little to no impact on our planet. Meanwhile, on the Earth facing side of the sun, solar activity remains stuck at very low to low levels
http://www.solarham.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

Eurozone leaders will hold an emergency summit on Monday to try to avert a Greek default after no deal emerged from a meeting Thursday of the 19 eurozone finance ministers. Cash withdrawals from Greece have accelerated and government revenue is scarce 12 days before Greece must make a crucial debt repayment to the International Monetary Fund.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/eurozon ... 98?cmp=rss" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The head of the International Monetary Fund said Greece cannot delay paying its debt after a crucial meeting of eurozone finance ministers ended without a rescue deal being struck.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/econ ... ay-up.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Greece is dangling the prospect of an Athens-Moscow alliance in an audacious attempt to pressure its eurozone creditors into watering down austerity demands as the country teeters on the edge of default and bankruptcy. The Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, will hold talks with the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, 12 days before Greece must either pay $1.6bn (£1bn) to the International Monetary Fund or become the first eurozone state effectively to go bust.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 30269.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

LUXEMBOURG — The European Central Bank told a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Thursday that it was not sure if Greek banks, which have been suffering large daily deposit outflows, would be able to open on Monday, officials with knowledge of the talks said. Greek savers have withdrawn about 2 billion euros from banks over the past three days, with outflows accelerating rapidly since talks between the government and its creditors collapsed at the weekend, banking sources told Reuters. The 2 billion euros taken out between Monday and Wednesday represent about 1.5 percent of total household and corporate deposits of 133.6 billion euros held by Greek banks as of end-April. Prior to this week, withdrawals had been running at 200-300 million euros a day.
http://business.financialpost.com/news/ ... three-days" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?

What is perhaps more shocking is that anyone still had money in Greek banks at all...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-1 ... thens-atms" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

French authorities have seized dozens of bank accounts and several buildings owned by the Kremlin, shareholders of now-defunct oil giant Yukos have said. The Belgian government is said to have taken similar steps.
http://www.dw.de/france-freezes-russian ... p-1022-rdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's a mystery that's thrown Europe's poorest nation into deep crisis - $1bn has vanished from three of Moldova's leading banks, much of it passing through UK companies. A confidential report has blamed 28-year-old businessman, Ilan Shor, but in an exclusive BBC interview he proclaims his innocence.
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33166383" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Late last week, the Republican governor signed a bill establishing the first state-run gold depository in the nation. The Texas Gold Depository will position itself as an alternative to the U.S. government's Fort Knox and the vault beneath the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik ... tml#page=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nationwide, state governments owe $1.1 trillion in debt, or $3,597 per person. In 2013, federal government debt stood at $37,860 per person. That’s more than 10 times higher than state government debts nationwide, and 3.3 times higher than Massachusetts.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/how-m ... le/2560310" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The CBO created two avenues for politicians concerned about the matter to pursue: one, to keep the deficits from going any higher, and the other to bring them back down to historic levels. For the first, taxes would have to increase by $1,450 per person per year, starting immediately, or Social Security benefits would have to be cut by $2,400 per person per year, starting immediately. The second scenario is even worse.
http://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/e ... amatically" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

WEST HARTFORD, Conn.--Colt Defense LLC (“Colt” and the “Company”) announced today in voluntary Chapter 11 materials filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (the “Bankruptcy Court”) a process that will allow for an accelerated sale of Colt’s business operations in the US and Canada.
http://www.colt.com/ColtintheMedia/Pres ... uring.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Tuesday announced in London that the Bank of China has been approved by the ICE benchmark administration to participate in the gold auction which is used to determine the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) gold price, a benchmark physical gold price in the world. On the same day, the bank stated it was the first Chinese and Asian bank to directly participate at the gold price auction.
http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subc ... ainCatID=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

China’s housing market is roaring back to life in the biggest cities while local governments are issuing bonds at a blistering pace, the latest signs that the world’s second largest economy is finally pulling out of a deep downturn. Output is picking up on almost every front as the effects of credit easing begin to feed through, with the ‘expectations’ component of consumer confidence soaring to the highest level since the glory days of 2007.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/econ ... again.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chinese buyers have surpassed Canadian snowbirds as the dominant foreign buyers of homes in the U.S., according to the National Association of Realtors. Purchasers from China made up 16% of international buyers who bought primarily single-family homes and condominiums in the 12-month period that ended in March, according to the survey by the National Association of Realtors.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chines ... =rss&rss=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Shanghai-Rotterdam sub-index plunged 14.4% last week to an all-time low of $243 per twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU). Rates began to collapse in February.
http://www.blacklistednews.com/Shanghai ... 8/Y/M.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

China has approved new rules to ensure that the country can mobilise civilian ships built at domestic yards at times of military need.
http://www.maritimeupdates.com/index.ph ... &Itemid=69" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Dozens of Nato landing craft churned through the Baltic’s grey waters. Further out at sea, huge warships – the US’s San Antonio, Britain’s Ocean and Poland’s Lublin – filled the horizon. On the beach, DVs – short for distinguished visitors – including the UK defence secretary, Michael Fallon, were watching. The landing craft, especially the mega hovercraft of the Americans, were monstrous, on a scale that would have awed D-day veterans. Eurofighter Typhoons flew overhead. Marines raced out to disappear into the woods. A reminder that even the most carefully planned operations can go wrong came when a Polish transport vessel sank, ignominiously, about 100ft from shore. The mock landing at Ustka, Poland, on Wednesday was the climax of a two-week Nato exercise called Baltops. Forty-nine naval vessels from 17 countries and 5,900 personnel were involved in this major show of strength.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/j ... ous-signal" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Pentagon is quietly working to set up an elaborate network of defenses to protect American cities from a barrage of Russian cruise missiles.
http://www.defenseone.com/threats/2015/ ... ia/115723/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But the program meant to fix the mess, called the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS), instead became a massive 15-year software and hardware development mess of its own, involving five sub-programs and multiple multi-billion dollar contracts. It has been a financial disaster for the DOD. Billions were thrown away on technology that will never see the light of day, despite multiple heroic efforts to pull the project back from the brink of disaster.
http://arstechnica.com/information-tech ... h-project/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

DHS Privacy and Civil Liberties Assessment Report on Executive Order 13636
https://publicintelligence.net/dhs-exec ... der-13636/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The UN Is Planning to Migrate Americans From California, Followed by the Entire Southwest
http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/2015/ ... southwest/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Jade Helm 15 is a military exercise slated to occur from July 15, 2015 until September 15, 2015. It was initially scheduled for 7 states (California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Texas), but now includes 3 more states (Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida). For the first time ever, it will feature American soldiers actively practicing on American soil and American streets – especially on streets, since this operation focuses on urban warfare. These won’t be just any old American soldiers, but the cream of the crop, composed of Green Beret, Navy Seal and other elite forces. According to the US Military, their mission will be to operate undetected amongst the American civilian population, wearing civilian clothes and driving civilian vehicles, and practice UW (Unconventional Warfare) techniques in terrain resembling the Middle East so as to better fight enemies over there. At least, that is the cover story. Here is a list of 10 deeper implications and causes for concern with Operation Jade Helm 15:
http://freedom-articles.toolsforfreedom ... lications/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Update: Military Movements on the Northern Border: Small Groups of Foreign Military Units Sighted
http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/u ... d_06192015" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sex Abuse by UN “Peace” Troops Becoming Global Scandal
http://www.thenewamerican.com/world-new ... al-scandal" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The fighters say they were paid by the Iranian government to fight for Syria's President, Bashar al-Assad, and promised passports and jobs if they survive. The videos cannot be verified by the BBC but there is evidence that young, jobless Afghans, mostly from the minority Hazara community, are fleeing the country for a better life and ending up as pawns in Syria's bloody civil war.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33187850" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Honduran soldiers are taking over public hospitals and medicine storage warehouses to guarantee the supply of drugs to patients after a recent fraud and graft scandal rocked the Social Security Institute. President Juan Orlando Hernandez says the army will perform an inventory to determine whether there are shortages that must be addressed. It will then identify private providers capable of guaranteeing price, quality and distribution.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/6c24d62a ... l-security" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Every state in the US fails to comply with international standards on the lethal use of force by law enforcement officers, according to a report by Amnesty International USA, which also says 13 US states fall beneath even lower legal standards enshrined in US constitutional law and that nine states currently have no laws at all to deal with the issue.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015 ... ds-amnesty" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The House on Thursday took the first step toward resuscitating the White House’s trade agenda by passing legislation granting President Obama fast-track authority. The bill now goes to the Senate, where the White House and GOP leaders are seeking to strike a deal with pro-trade Democrats.
http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/ ... -to-senate" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

OTTAWA -- It's the biggest free trade deal Canadians never heard of. A new poll suggests three in four Canadians have no idea that Canada is one of 12 countries immersed in negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The poll was conducted by Environics Research Group for Trade Justice Network, an umbrella group dedicated to challenging the secretive process by which international trade deals are generally negotiated.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/75-per-c ... -1.2426264" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It’s being called “unprecedented” and “grisly” by National Geographic. Massive waves of dead seabirds are littering the coastline of the Western US and British Columbia (BC). In January 2015, National Geographic reported that thousands of blue-footed diving seabirds (Cassin’s auklets) were washing up on the beaches from San Francisco, Washington State and all the way to central BC (1). Many of the dead birds are juveniles and are described as being “scraggly”. The die-off is said to be the largest ever recorded. So what is happening to these birds?
http://www.topsecretwriters.com/2015/06 ... asualties/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Japan expects to start the retrieval of fuel debris from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2021, the executive director of the Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation (NDF) said yesterday.
http://fukushimaupdate.com/fukushima-fu ... t-in-2021/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. are planning to push back the start of removing spent fuel at the wrecked Fukushima No. 1 nuclear complex by two to three years from the current schedule, according to government sources.
http://fukushimaupdate.com/reactor-fuel ... o-3-years/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It could be one to two years before the US egg industry is firing on all cylinders again following the latest avian flu outbreak, says United Egg Producers, a co-op which owns 95% of the nation’s egg-laying hens.
http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Market ... s-says-UEP" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Pork sold by several leading British supermarkets has been found to be contaminated with a strain of the superbug MRSA that is linked to the overuse of powerful antibiotics on factory farms, a Guardian investigation has revealed.
Livestock-associated MRSA CC398, which originates in animals, has been found in pork products sold in Sainsbury’s, Asda, the Co-operative and Tesco. Of the 100 packets of pork chops, bacon and gammon tested by the Guardian, nine – eight Danish and one Irish – were found to have been infected with CC398.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015 ... ming-risks" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(CNN)Thailand has confirmed its first case of MERS, representing a further spread of the deadly respiratory disease from the Middle East to eastern Asia, Thai Public Health Minister Rajata Rajatanavin said Thursday.
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/18/healt ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thailand today announced its first MERS-CoV case, involving a 75-year-old man who arrived from Oman to receive medical care for a heart condition, making the country the 17th outside of the Arabian Peninsula to detect the virus in a traveler.
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspect ... rea-adds-3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A high-level government research laboratory for the study of deadly animal diseases that is housed on a remote island to lessen the chance of spreading disease is being moved. In contrast to the old site, the new facility is vulnerable to tornado damage and makes it likely that diseases will be released into the environment. The $1.25 billion National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) will be operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on the campus of Kansas State University in Manhattan. It’s replacing a facility located on Plum Island, off New York’s Long Island. Laura Kahn at the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists wrote “it is absolutely mind-boggling that Homeland Security has decided to move the lab … smack in the middle of cattle country and Tornado Alley.” Kahn says the facility will “include a biosafety level 4 lab, meaning one designed to handle deadly and exotic pathogens for which no vaccines or treatments exist. Not surprisingly, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the lab’s move to Kansas. Ranchers and farmers in the area are understandably worried, while local officials are eager for the jobs and investments the lab will bring.”
http://www.allgov.com/news/us-and-the-w ... ews=856759" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Seventh graders in New York State would be required to be vaccinated for meningitis, a deadly disease spread by saliva droplets, and could be excluded from school if they were not, under a bill passed this week by the State Legislature. Beginning in September 2016, the bill would require students entering seventh grade to have received the meningitis vaccine, with a booster shot to be given in the 12th grade.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/19/nyreg ... c=rss&_r=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In their most recent article, "11 essential facts about guns and mass shootings in the United States," they claim that in the past 30+ years, 574 people have been killed in mass shootings. While in their article they attempt to make this number sound enormous, to put it into perspective, the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that in the year 2013 alone, 10,076 were killed by drunk drivers. That is about 20 times more people killed in a single year due to drunk driving than in the past 30 years due to mass shootings (mass shootings being defined as 3 people or more killed in a single spree).
http://www.activistpost.com/2015/06/mas ... -mass.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

VATICAN CITY - In a sweeping environmental manifesto aimed at spurring concrete action, Pope Francis called Thursday for a bold cultural revolution to correct what he described as a "structurally perverse" economic system where the rich exploit the poor, turning Earth into an "immense pile of filth."
http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/pope-urges- ... -1.2428253" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

10,000-acre wildfire burning near Big Bear in the San Bernardino National Forest is now the largest blaze on California forestland this year, fire officials said Thursday.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-m ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The strange phenomenon in Borneo led to sweeping speculation on social media over what the unusual blue rays were. Some suggested it was a sign from the gods who locals believed caused the deadly quake after being angered by the 10 western backpackers who stripped off on top of the sacred peak.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/585 ... t-Kinabalu" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Region 2371, with a Beta-Gamma-Delta (BGD) magnetic structure, continues to move into a more geoeffective Earth facing position and will remain a threat for moderate to strong solar flares.
http://www.solarham.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sunspot AR2371 has an unstable 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field that harbors energy for strong explosions. NOAA forecasters estimate a 70% chance of M-class solar flares and a 15% chance of X-flares on June 19th. Any such explosions will probably be geoeffective as the sunspot is turning to face Earth. Yesterday, June 18th, sunspot AR2371 unleashed the strongest solar flare in nearly 2 months. The M3-class explosion caused a brief shortwave radio blackout over North America, and it hurled a CME into space.
http://www.spaceweather.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Current Sunspot Cycle 24 Activity and Space Weather
http://prop.hfradio.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQUFRrlqJLk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Deadliest weather disaster of May 2015: India's brutal heat wave
The deadliest weather-related disaster of May 2015 was an intense heat wave in India that killed approximately 2,500 people. According to statistics from EM-DAT, the International Disaster Database, the 2015 heat wave in India was their second deadliest heat wave and Earth's fifth deadliest heat wave ever recorded; the heat wave was also the planet's 11th deadliest weather-related disaster since 2000. Note that heat waves and droughts hold three of the top five spots on the list of deadliest disasters since 2000, suggesting that society is not prepared for the increase in the intensity of heat waves and droughts that is already occurring due to a warming climate:

Death Tolls From Earth's Deadliest Weather-Related Disasters Since 2000
1) Cyclone Nargis, Mayanmar, 2008: 138,366
2) Heat wave, Europe, 2003: 71,310
3) Heat wave, Russia, 2010: 55,736
4) Drought, Somalia, 2010 - 2011: 20,000
5) Typhoon Haiyan, Philippines, 2013: 7,354
6) Flood, India, 2013: 6,054
7) Cyclone Sidr, Bangladesh, 2007: 4,234
8) Heat wave, Europe, 2006: 3,418
9) Hurricane Jeanne, Haiti, 2004: 2,754
10) Flood, Haiti, 2004: 2,665
11) Heat wave, India, 2015: 2,500
12) Flood, Pakistan, 2010: 1,985
13) Typhoon Bopha, Philippines, 2012: 1,901
14) Hurricane Katrina, U.S., 2005: 1,833
15) Landslide, China, 2010: 1,765
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... rynum=3023" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

Japan asks China to ease food import restrictions introduced after Fukushima nuclear disaster - China banned imports of food produced in 10 prefectures in Japan including Miyagi, Nagano and Fukushima following the crisis
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomac ... strictions" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Bomb Attack In China's Xinjiang, Police Response Kill 18
http://www.rferl.org/content/china-uygh ... 91113.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

US, China Deploy Cold War Code In Maritime Standoff As Pentagon Warns Of Chinese Air Threat
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-2 ... air-threat" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – China is mounting a serious effort to challenge U.S. military superiority in air and space, forcing the Pentagon to seek new technologies and systems to stay ahead of its rapidly developing rival, Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said on Monday. The Pentagon’s chief operating officer, speaking to a group of military and civilian aerospace experts, said China was “quickly closing the technological gaps,” developing radar-evading aircraft, advanced reconnaissance planes, sophisticated missiles and top-notch electronic warfare equipment.
http://freebeacon.com/national-security ... dominance/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Confusion Reigns At PBoC As Multi-Trillion Yuan Bailout Threatens To Undermine Rate Cuts
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-2 ... -rate-cuts" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

China treasury bond auction failure raises concerns on debt plan
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/00129228-1a3c ... 1f996.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
SHANGHAI—China is bailing out the nation’s heavily indebted local governments, relying on trusted methods to keep its financial system stable despite promises to allow market forces to play a greater role.

Beijing is permitting provinces to issue at least 2.6 trillion yuan ($419 billion) in bonds in 2015, the first local-government issuances in more than 20 years, to stave off a debt crunch. Local administrations have accumulated some 18 trillion yuan in bank loans and bonds to fund risky land and property deals—equivalent to a third of China’s economy. As the real-estate market slows, state-owned banks that did much of the lending are on the hook.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-plan ... 1434998702" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Container Shipping Rates from China to US, Europe Collapse
http://wolfstreet.com/2015/06/22/contai ... ccfi-scfi/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

China is primed for collapse
http://notquant.com/chinas-stocks-get-o ... attention/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The World's Exposure To China In 6 Easy Charts
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-2 ... asy-charts" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Commodity, reprocessing and developed country exporters should brace for the impact of weakening China demand this year
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... hina-chill" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Russia Fed Up With US "Lecturing" As Pentagon Deploys 250 Tanks To Eastern Europe
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-2 ... ern-europe" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This year, as corporate executives and Russian leaders arrive Thursday in President Vladimir Putin's hometown for the economic forum's opening day, there's a different elephant in the room: Russia's struggling economy, which has fallen into recession amid low oil prices, expensive credit and Western sanctions. Since last year's event, the ruble has lost 37% of its value against the dollar. "Despite claims that [the economy] has finally bottomed out, economic contraction keeps going and does not seem to be slowing down," said Yevgeny Nadorshin, chief economist at PF Capital, a Moscow-based consulting firm. "The country may now face prolonged recession or stagnation."
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/russias-s ... 0617-01066" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

LUXEMBOURG—European Union foreign ministers extended broad economic sanctions on Russia until the end of January 2016, a move designed to give the bloc time to gauge if the Kremlin will fully implement its side of February’s Minsk cease-fire and peace plan by year-end. The EU decision came without a debate among ministers, underlining that despite months of public questioning of sanctions by the likes of Greece and Hungary, the bloc remained united in opposing Russian pressure on Ukraine.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/eu-extends- ... 1434960823" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Putin Strikes Back: Cuts Ukraine Gas Discount
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-2 ... s-discount" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Russian news agencies quoted President Vladimir Putin as saying on June 24, "We are extending our retaliatory measures by one year beginning from today." The ban prohibits most food imports from the United States, European Union, Australia, Canada, and Norway.
http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-ext ... 91270.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BRUSSELS—NATO defense ministers will gather Wednesday facing a challenge they have not confronted since the end of the Cold War: vocal nuclear threats from an assertive Kremlin.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/nato-to-wei ... 1435067677" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The sparse expanses above Alaska are a little more crowded this month as nearly 200 military aircraft are taking part in an annual training exercise. Nearly 6,000 military members from all four branches of the military are taking part in Northern Edge 2015, which includes naval exercises in the Gulf of Alaska and some operations involving ground troops. The U.S. Pacific Command exercise, coordinated by command leaders in Alaska, tests the readiness of the nation's troops and isn't in response to any increased tensions with any other nation, said Lt. Col. Tim Bobinsky, who is helping lead the exercise.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/mili ... a-31981331" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

US Navy Picks First Female Enlisted Sailors to Serve Aboard Submarines
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015 ... board.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...that will be a disaster!!!

The U.S. federal probe that ended last month with guilty pleas and $6 billion in fines from global banks began with an open secret -- that currency traders there could talk to each other to coordinate trades. Now, the Justice Department unit behind those prosecutions is turning its sights on the $12.7 trillion U.S. Treasury market, a world with some of its own open secrets.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... treasuries" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

President Barack Obama said Wednesday that the U.S. government had let down the families of Americans held hostage by terrorists, and he outlined new policies that could make it easier for those families to pay ransom to help free their loved ones.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStor ... m-31986404" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The U.S. military and Iranian-backed Shiite militias are getting closer and closer in Iraq, even sharing a base, while Iran uses those militias to expand its influence in Iraq and fight alongside the Bashar al-Assad regime in neighboring Syria.
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2 ... se-in-iraq" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Bombshell report: U.S. fighting for Iranian militia in Iraq
http://www.wnd.com/2015/06/bombshell-re ... a-in-iraq/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

By and large, there seems to be renewed concerns about liquidity, economy or both. It is universal and has even crept back into overall issuance (investment grade, by contrast, continues to be unperturbed). The usual extended commentary from this point is really unnecessary, given the repeated context, so here are the charts:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-2 ... bt-markets" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Any other week this would have been a perfectly normal event but according to Bank of America last week, this was not any other week. In fact, according to BofA's Jill Hall, "BofAML clients were big net sellers of US stocks in the amount of $4.1bn, following four weeks of net buying. Net sales were the largest since January 2008 and led by institutional clients—after three weeks of net buying, institutional clients’ net sales last week were the largest in our data history."
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-2 ... -us-stocks" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Silver spot - bouncing in the $15-16 range
http://www.kitco.com/charts/livesilver.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

15 minutes after GDP data was released - showing Q1 was indeed as weak as expected and inventories suggesting Q2 will be just as weak - someone decided it was an appropriate time to dump over half a billion dollars of notional gold on the futures market...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-2 ... lash-crash" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Copper & Crude Clubbed
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-2 ... de-clubbed" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There are three things that matter in the bond market these days: liquidity, liquidity and liquidity.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... -liquidity" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Others are simply moving to cash. TCW for instance, is now “the most defensive [it’s] been since pre-crisis,” while Ian Spreadbury, who manages around $5 billion over several Fidelity bond funds, did the unthinkable (for a mainstream fund manager) last week when he recommended investors use the nuclear option and hold physical cash under the mattress.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-2 ... -door-tiny" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

According to a survey of 1,000 adults released by Bankrate.com on Tuesday, nearly one in three (29%) American adults (that’s roughly 70 million) have no emergency savings at all — the highest percentage since Bankrate began doing this survey five years ago. What’s more, only 22% of Americans have at least six months of emergency savings (that’s what advisers recommend) — the lowest level since Bankrate began doing the survey.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/70-mil ... 2015-06-23" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Collapse, Part 2: The Nine Dynamics of Decay
http://www.oftwominds.com/blogjune15/co ... e6-15.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

How Obama’s ‘Trade’ Deals Are Designed to End Democracy
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/06/ ... cracy.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Jade Helm rundown and analysis
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=38148&start=60#p619146" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

New Pentagon manual declares journalists can be enemy combatants
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201 ... z3dtmjpUP7" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Facebook Develops Biometric System for Obscured Faces
http://mobileidworld.com/facebook-devel ... aces-6232/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Facebook's stock rose 3% Tuesday and hit at an all-time high. And the company is now worth more than Walmart.
http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/23/investi ... ket-value/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

....not bad for CIA funded start-up....

Google eavesdropping tool installed on computers without permission
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2 ... permission" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...speaking of CIA funded start-ups...

Japan has developed a new smartphone with iris recognition, and a Clarkson University professor says she expects the technology to be available in the United States in the near future.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 161350.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?

Last week, US government agency talks that were intended to create a code of conduct for the technology fell apart. Privacy campaigners walked out of the discussions, claiming that companies and government agencies were unwilling to accept that they must always seek permission before using facial recognition technology to identify someone. Alvaro Bedoya, from Georgetwon University Law Centre in Washington DC, told New Scientist that “not a single company would support [the principle].”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/1 ... ality.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

After Falls Church, Va.-based USIS suffered the intrusion, the Office of Personnel Management and the Department of Homeland Security issued stop-work orders to the company. And eventually OPM, which conducts background checks for the overwhelming majority of the federal government, canceled USIS’s contracts, effectively putting the company out of business. But now USIS has told Congress in a letter obtained by The Washington Post that the breach may have been even more damaging: OPM, two DHS agencies — Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement — the U.S. Capitol Police and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency were all hit.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fed ... s_national" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Today, 23 June 2015, WikiLeaks began publishing "Espionnage Élysée", a collection of TOP SECRET intelligence reports and technical documents from the US National Security Agency (NSA) concerning targeting and signals intelligence intercepts of the communications of high-level officials from successive French governments over the last ten years.
https://wikileaks.org/nsa-france/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

PARIS (AP) — Embarrassed by leaked conversations of three successive French presidents and angered by new evidence of uninhibited American spying, France demanded answers Wednesday from the Obama administration and called for an intelligence "code of conduct" between allies.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/7b487071 ... acceptable" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

French Unemployment Hits Record High: 80th Consecutive Month Of Rising Joblessness
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-2 ... oblessness" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The geomagnetic storm that began on 22 June has reached G4 (Severe) levels once again as of 0513 UTC (0113 EDT) on 23 June.
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/geomagnet ... ere-levels" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The ACE spacecraft detected a solar wind increase to above 700 km/s just before 13:00 UTC this morning. This appears to be an expected CME arriving earlier than predicted. A sudden geomagnetic impulse was detected by magnetometers at approximately 13:30 UTC Wednesday morning, marking the shock passage past Earth. Although this impact initially appears to be weaker than the major event from Monday evening, geomagnetic storming will still be possible in the hours ahead depending on the characteristics of the solar wind. Stay tuned.
http://www.solarham.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

NOAA forecasters estimate a 80% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on June 24th when another CME is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. The intensity of the storm is hard to predict. It could range from mild to severe. Stay tuned for updates--
http://www.spaceweather.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Solar activity has been low, only minor C-class flaring from NOAA AR 2371 (C1.1 with peak at 01:14 UT the largest). This AR has potential for M-class flares. Proton fluxes are now below the 10 pfu threshold. Geomagnetic conditions are at unsettled to active levels as the effects of the CME from June 21 are vanishing. Levels may rise when the CME from June 22 arrives to the Earth (expected today).
http://prop.hfradio.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

UK weather: Britain facing 'mini Ice Age' as Tropical Storm Bill threatens heavy downpours
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/uk ... ni-5933890" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nearly 400K lose power as strong storms in eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey down trees, wires
http://www.startribune.com/nearly-400k- ... 309502131/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Delaware County Hit Hard By Storm Damage
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2015/0 ... rm-damage/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Latest on Weather: 2nd Death Reported in Oklahoma Floods
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/late ... t-31849574" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Bill's remnants flood Oklahoma along path to US midsection
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/texas/ ... 334360.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wednesday, June 24, 2015, 11:46 - After a brief reprieve Tuesday, severe weather is set to make a return to parts of the Midwest on Wednesday.
http://www.theweathernetwork.com/us/new ... rms/53180/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Drought emergency declared in 20th Oregon county
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/t ... /29190247/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Washington state lawmakers have until next week to pin down a budget. If they don’t, parts of state government will shut down. In the midst of a drought, that could have ramifications for farmers and for fish.
http://kuow.org/post/drought-wash-could ... t-shutdown" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

MOUNTAIN HOUSE (CBS13) — The community of Mountain House is days away from having no water at all after the state cut off its only water source.
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/06/ ... -of-water/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Bay Area residents consider California’s historic drought so dire that a majority say they would be willing to drink purified toilet water.
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/genera ... ilet-water" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Parched Caribbean faces worsening drought that has hit agriculture, tourism sectors
http://www.startribune.com/parched-cari ... 309543451/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Brazil, already hit by the severe drought last year, accounted for 17 percent of EDP's core earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA). Mexia said much would depend on whether Brazil decided on water rationing or not, and that the company was taking measures to limit the impact. "The next three months will be crucial. We are taking measures to compensate for the drought," he said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/ ... 9H20150602" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

North Korea is experiencing severe power outages as a crippling drought has led to increased failures by its hydroelectric-fueled power grid. The Hermit Kingdom admitted last Tuesday, through its state-run news agency KCNA, that it was suffering through “the worst drought in 100 years,” the effects of which have caused “great damage” to its agriculture as well as its already-beleaguered people.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... upply.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Photos Of North Korea's Historic Drought Show The Country's Cracked And Drying Earth
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/2 ... 46318.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

American Medical Association Supports the Elimination of Parents’ Right to Make Vaccine Choices, and California Takes Another Step Toward Medical Tyranny
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/artic ... olicy.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Adverse Events After Routine Immunization of Extremely Low-Birth-Weight Infants
http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article ... id=2300376" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

New Ebola cases frustrate hopes of defeating the virus in Sierra Leone
http://www.latimes.com/world/africa/la- ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Trickle of new cases lifts South Korea MERS total to 172
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspect ... -total-172" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(NaturalNews) It's a prolific disease that's ravaging some areas of Africa and causing permanent health damage among residents. No, we're not talking about malaria or AIDS -- fluorosis, a health condition triggered by exposure to fluoride, is damaging people's teeth and skeletal structures throughout Ethiopia, so much so that health authorities there are working feverishly to get it out of the water supplies to protect public health. Unlike in the U.S., where dentists, industry lobbyists and corrupt government workers still erroneously insist that fluoride is a "nutrient" that prevents cavities, Ethiopia has a much different view of the chemical. Naturally occurring fluoride, it turns out, has been seeping into water supplies, causing an epidemic of oral and skeletal health problems.
http://www.naturalnews.com/050183_fluor ... iopia.html#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Town that Monsanto Poisoned
http://www.topsecretwriters.com/2015/06 ... -poisoned/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Accelerated modern human–induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction
http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/5/e1400253" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/erupting_volcanoes.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

China Crash Accelerates, Drags Composite Under 4000; US Futures Flat Ahead Of Nonfarm Payrolls
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-0 ... onfarm-pay" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

China stocks fell sharply again on Thursday, fighting off fresh moves by regulators to restore confidence and raising questions about how much more firepower Beijing can bring to bear before a full-scale panic sets in.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/ ... 6S20150702" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

‘Massive China reclamation in full swing’
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2015/ ... full-swing" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Images Show Chinese Airstrip on Man-Made Spratly Island Nearly Finished
http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/images-s ... ?site=full" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

PUERTO PRINCESA, Philippines — China is pressing ahead with the construction of artificial islands on at least two reefs that are also claimed by the Philippines in an increasingly tense territorial dispute, Filipino officials said, despite Beijing's pronouncement that some work would end soon.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/06 ... .html?_r=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

US 'Troubled' by China Plans to Keep Building on Islands
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015 ... lands.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

MANILA, Philippines - China should not be angered by the Philippines's ongoing naval drills with Japan and the United States (US), Malacañang said Wednesday.
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2015/ ... imed-china" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(CNN)"This is the Chinese navy. This is the Chinese navy. Please go away quickly." This was the scene that CNN captured last month when a U.S. Navy P-8 surveillance plane was angrily ordered away from a base that China was building in disputed waters in the South China Sea. The scary thing for us is that it is also the opening scene of our new book, "Ghost Fleet," which explores the risks of what might happen if the great powers of the 21st century ever went to war. The probability of "interstate war" is low right now, but growing, according to a Pentagon report released Wednesday.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/01/opinions/ ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A Japanese surveillance plane and about 20 troops conducted the first of two days of joint training with the Philippine navy on Tuesday off the coast of Palawan, a strategically important island not far from contested islands claimed by several countries including China and the Philippines. While the P-3C plane was being used for maritime search-and-rescue drills and disaster relief drills, the aircraft is also a mainstay of Japan’s anti-submarine and other aerial surveillance efforts. In theory, it could help the U.S. keep an eye on the Chinese navy in the South China Sea. Some experts think that’s a possibility in coming years.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asi ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

MOSCOW, July 2 (UPI) -- Russia criticized a newly-published U.S. military strategy, referring to it as confrontational and lacking objectivity toward Russia. The 24-page 2015 National Military Strategy of the United States (NMS), prepared by the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the Secretary of Defense to outline the armed services' military objectives, was released earlier this week. It notes Russia "had repeatedly demonstrated that it does not respect the sovereignty of its neighbors and it is willing to use force to achieve its goals," adding that "Russia's military actions are undermining regional security directly and thorough proxy forces." - "The probability of U.S. involvement in interstate war with a major power is assessed to be low but growing."
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/ ... 435849928/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Russian bomber flights buzzing U.S. airspace doubled last year
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201 ... /?page=all" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Two Russian nuclear-capable bombers intruded into the U.S. air defense zone near Alaska last week in the latest saber rattling by Moscow, defense officials said.
http://freebeacon.com/national-security ... ar-alaska/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

WASHINGTON – America’s new military strategy singles out states like China and Russia as aggressive and threatening to U.S. security interests, while warning of growing technological challenges and worsening global stability. A somber report released Wednesday by Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warns of a “low but growing” probability of the United States fighting a war with a major power, with “immense” consequences. Russia has “repeatedly demonstrated that it does not respect the sovereignty of its neighbors and it is willing to use force to achieve its goals,” the 2015 National Military Strategy says. “Russia’s military actions are undermining regional security directly and through proxy forces.”
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/0 ... ZUkZO1Vikr" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A Marine Corps unit equipped with tanks, light armoured vehicles and artillery will be sent to Bulgaria in September as part of US efforts to reassure Nato allies worried by Russia’s involvement in Ukraine.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015 ... ato-allies" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday the alliance sees no "immediate threats" even as the alliance builds up its defenses to reassure members which are close to Russia. "This small headquarters is part of a big plan," he said after planting a fir tree which he said symbolized the alliance's roots in Romania. "It is the biggest reinforcement of NATO's collective defense since the end of the Cold War."
http://news.yahoo.com/nato-chief-inspec ... 26648.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BRUSSELS — Moving nearly a brigade’s worth of U.S. tanks and other armored vehicles to locations across eastern Europe by next summer is more than a symbolic gesture of reassurance, the Army’s top commander in Europe said Wednesday. “We’ve got tanks, Bradleys and howitzers already in the flow,” U.S. Army Europe’s Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges said in a telephone interview. “By the end of this year, I think we will be at 95 to 98 percent complete.” All equipment will be in place in eastern Europe by June 2016, he said.
http://www.stripes.com/news/europe/usar ... t-1.354365" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...LOL...yeah like that "advertised" date is worth a plugged nickel. Probably means we are in the 3-6 month range....

SWEDEN’S top military commander says Russian fighter pilots are behaving in an increasingly aggressive manner in northern Europe, flying dangerously close to Swedish air force jets and in some cases even releasing flares at them.
http://www.news.com.au/world/europe/wha ... 7424640782" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The US-Russia Economic War Heats Up. Coordinated with Pentagon-NATO Deployments
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-us-rus ... ts/5459943" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Arctic ambitions: Will US let Russia control shipping in the Far North?
http://www.adn.com/article/20150628/arc ... -far-north" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

War with Isis: US on high alert as it investigates hundreds of links to terror group across 50 states
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 59183.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The U.S. has reportedly blocked any attempts by Middle East allies to fly weapons to the Kurds fighting the Islamic State in Iraq. The Telegraph reports that U.S. allies say President Obama and other Western leaders, including Britain’s David Cameron, aren’t showing leadership over the escalating ISIS crisis in Iraq, Syria and throughout the Middle East. These allies are now willing to “go it alone” in giving heavy weaponry to the Kurds, even if it means defying Iraq and the U.S. who want all weapons to be funneled through Baghdad, according to the newspaper.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/07 ... -fighting/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ANKARA, Turkey -- As Kurdish rebels in northern Syria rack up wins against the Islamic State group, Turkish media is abuzz with talk of a long-debated military intervention to push the Islamic militants back from the Turkish border -- a move that will also outflank any Kurdish attempts to create a state along Turkey's southern frontier. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan began chairing a National Security Council meeting Monday, only days after he vowed to prevent the Kurds from establishing a state in Syria. Pro-government newspapers are rife with purported proposals, ranging from loosening the rules of engagement to give Turkish troops a freer hand to fire into Syria, to a tanks-and-troops invasion aimed at occupying a 110-kilometer (70-mile) long, 33-kilometer (20-mile) wide buffer zone.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015 ... ction.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Defense Secretary Michael Fallon told the House of Commons on Thursday that there was a case for taking action in Syria, but the government would "not bring a motion to this House on which there is not some consensus." Fallon said on Wednesday "there is an illogicality" about not being able to strike IS positions in Syria, because the militants "don't differentiate between Syria and Iraq." But Crispin Blunt, chairman of parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, said British strikes in Syria would make "no practical difference" to the U.S.-led military campaign and would lead Britain into a legal gray area.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wire ... d&ir=world" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The U.S. military will send its first class of trained Syrian fighters back into Syria in the next several weeks, in what promises to be a key test for the Obama administration’s effort to stand up an effective local force to combat the Islamic State, Pentagon officials said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/na ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military's program to train and equip thousands of moderate Syrian rebels is faltering, with fewer than 100 volunteers, raising questions about whether the effort can produce enough capable fighters quickly enough to make a difference in the war against the Islamic State. The stated U.S. goal is to train and equip 5,400 rebels per year, and military officials said last week that they still hope for 3,000 by year's end. Privately, they acknowledge the trend is moving in the wrong direction.
http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/art ... ing-ground" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cost Of "War" With ISIS Hits $9.2 Million Per Day
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-0 ... illion-day" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A call to 911 of possible shots fired at the Washington Navy Yard early Thursday triggered a massive Navy security and law enforcement hunt for an "active shooter" that was later called off after the report proved to be unfounded. Metropolitan Washington , D.C., Police Chief Kathy Lanier said the 7:29 a.m. call to 911 was traced to a female Navy civilian worker at the Navy Yard who thought she head the sounds of gunfire in Building 197, scene of a shooting rampage in 2013 in which 12 people were killed and three wounded.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015 ... -navy.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Barack Obama says that we shouldn’t be alarmed by what is happening over in Greece. On Tuesday, he told reporters that this “is an issue primarily of concern to Europe” and that “I think the markets have properly factored in the risks involved“. And apparently Obama is not too concerned about the debt crisis in Puerto Rico either. In fact, the Obama administration has already completely ruled out any sort of federal bailout for the island. Barack Obama is assuring us that everything is going to be just fine and that we are not headed for another global financial crisis. So is he correct?
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archiv ... ial-crisis" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Image

The debt crisis in Puerto Rico could potentially cost financial institutions in the United States tens of billions of dollars in losses. This week, Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla publicly announced that Puerto Rico’s 73 billion dollar debt is “not payable,” and a special adviser that was recently appointed to help straighten out the island’s finances said that it is “insolvent” and will totally run out of cash very shortly. At this point, Puerto Rico’s debt is approximately 15 times larger than the per capita median debt of the 50 U.S. states. Yes, the Greek debt crisis is larger, as Greece currently owes about $350 billion to the rest of the planet. But only about $14 billion of that total is owed to U.S. financial institutions. But with Puerto Rico, things are very different. Just about the entire 73 billion dollar debt is owed to U.S. financial institutions, and this could potentially cause massive problems for some extremely leveraged Wall Street firms.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/arch ... ial-system" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The $100 billion BRICS Contingency Fund, that leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa had approved last year to combat currency crises, will be operational in 30 days, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
http://thebricspost.com/100bn-brics-mon ... ZUkK-1Vikp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

VIENNA—Iranian officials said Monday that the Islamic Republic’s Central Bank has successfully repatriated 13 tons of gold as part of a package of sanctions relief provided to Iran by U.S. and Western powers.
http://freebeacon.com/national-security ... ns-relief/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Some risk-taking by banks has been reined in since the 2008 financial crisis. The global rise of shadow banking has not. The FSB said the sector grew to $75 trillion in 2013, an increase of $5 trillion from the previous year. The board earlier found increases in almost three-quarters of the economies it surveyed. The situation is most pressing in Argentina, where the FSB reported a 50 percent increase in 2013, and in China, with a 30 percent increase. In China, wealth-management products, which offer high short-term interest rates and are not guaranteed, surged 24 percent to 12.7 trillion yuan (about $2 trillion) in the first half of 2014 — to about the size of the Russian economy. Their growth had caused the man who is now China’s top securities regulator to label the off-balance-sheet products a “Ponzi scheme,” because banks have to sell more each month to pay off those that are maturing. Another threat is China’s loosely regulated $2 trillion trust industry, made up of 68 companies that sell risky high-yield investments to wealthy customers. About $853 billion worth of trust products matured in 2014, 50 percent more than the year before. In the U.S., Federal Reserve officials are talking about taking action to limit borrowing used for financial investments by brokerages, money-market funds and hedge funds, which increase risks in the financial system. One measure being considered is stricter margin requirements for broker-dealers.
http://www.bloombergview.com/quicktake/shadow-banking" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This report presents the results of the fourth annual monitoring exercise using end-2013 data, following the approach set out in the FSB report to the G20 in October 2011. The report includes data from 25 jurisdictions and the euro area as a whole, bringing the coverage of the monitoring exercise to about 80% of global GDP and 90% of global financial system assets. According to the MUNFI estimate, based on assets of Other Financial Intermediaries (OFIs), non-bank financial intermediation grew by $5 trillion in 2013 to reach $75 trillion. This provides a conservative proxy of the global shadow banking system, which can be further narrowed down.
http://www.financialstabilityboard.org/ ... 141030.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This has never happened outside of recession... Year-over-year, factory orders dropped 6.3% (adjusted) but 8% non-adjusted, the most since the financial crisis. Against expectations of a 0.5% drop MoM, manufacturers saw new orders tumble 1.0% and previous months were revised dramatically lower. Factory orders has now missed 10 of the last 11 months. Factory Orders have fallen for 9 of the last 10 months...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-0 ... ggest-2008" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Americans Not In The Labor Force Soar By 640,000 To Record 93.6 Million; Participation Rate Drops To 1977 Levels
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-0 ... e-drops-19" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Since 2007 The US Has Lost 1.4 Million Manufacturers, Gained 1.4 Million Waiters And Bartenders
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-0 ... bartenders" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

High yield debt downgrades are the highest since Lehman and the upgrade/downgrade ratio has tumbled to its lowest since the crisis...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-0 ... eashed-qe3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Plunge In Export Prices Is Now Worse Than The Great Financial Crisis
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-0 ... ial-crisis" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Crude Slides After US Oil Rig Count Rises For First Time Since December
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-0 ... e-december" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Silver spot - cruising along below $16
http://www.kitco.com/charts/livesilver.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This fall, MasterCard will start experimenting with a new program: approving online purchases with a facial scan
http://money.cnn.com/2015/07/01/technol ... cial-scan/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

FBI investigating 11 attacks on San Francisco-area Internet lines
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015 ... /29521335/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Snowden's revelations have led to snowballing accusations that the National Security Agency is accessing and reading communications from world leaders. Wednesday's revelations come on the heels of revelations that the NSA spied on French political leaders, and countries that have been caught up in the agency's snooping on dignitaries include Mexico, Germany and Colombia.
http://www.cnet.com/news/nsas-spying-on ... CAD590a51e" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

On Monday, the FISC ruled that the NSA had legal authority to resume bulk collection of all US citizens’ phone records for the next five months, local media reported.
http://sputniknews.com/analysis/2015070 ... 97340.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Dempsey warns of perpetual war; Green Berets will shift from Afghanistan to Africa; LG Neller may be next USMC Commandant; F-35 under the microscope; And a bit more.
http://www.defenseone.com/news/2015/07/ ... -2/116824/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Will America Invade Texas? Jade Helm Exercises A Front To Enforce Gay Marriage
http://www.inquisitr.com/2218664/will-a ... -marriage/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What does a False Flag look like? Generally speaking, it is the deployment of a drill (in this case Jade Helm 15) prior to or during an actual attack. In many cases, the drill will involve the actual sequence of events that takes place during the ‘real-life attack’. In the past,there is evidence that military drills have been present on large-scale false flags such as 9/11 , Sandy Hook, Katrina Hurricane as well as smaller scale attacks. In the case of Jade Helm, the military announced back in March 2015 that members of U.S. Army Special Operations Command would be training with other U.S Armed Forces units July 15 through Sept. 15-2015 in a multi-state exercise called Jade Helm 15. Army Special Operations Forces (ARSOF) will only train in five states: Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado. “While multi-state training exercises such as these are not unique to the military, the size and scope of Jade Helm sets this one apart.” –USASOC
http://www.thetruthdenied.com/news/2015 ... tion-2015/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

All those tales withstanding, no one knows exactly what will happen when Jade Helm kicks off across more than 12 Texas counties and seven Southwestern states on July 15. Besides asserting that the massive exercise poses no threat to the sovereignty of Texas, the U.S. Army Special Operations Command has offered few details on what Jade Helm will actually entail. There will be about 1,200 troops drilling across a wide swath of the country. There will be Navy SEALS, Green Berets, and Army airborne divisions. There will be helicopters. There will be blank ammunition. In March, Victoria County Sheriff's Office chief deputy Roy Boyd told the Chronicle that in briefings with county leaders, Army officials said troops would be moving undercover through civilian populations, and had asked local communities to report suspicious activities as a test to the soldiers' clandestine capabilities. However the Army since denied troops would be concealing their identities to the public, and canceled Jade Helm in Victoria County.
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas ... 362719.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
One has to be on guard when the mainstream media portrays everyone with an alternative view on just about anything as a “conspiracy theorist,” derisively of course.

Take JADE HELM 15 (JH15), a two-month United States military training exercise taking place in multiple states from July 15 through September 15, 2015, involving all four branches, but under the command of U.S. Army Special Operations Command, which claimed “’the size and scope of Jade Helm sets this one apart’ from previous training exercises.”

Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Mississippi, Florida and Louisiana will be swarming with our nation’s most lethal killers, but the mainstream media, including Internet websites, have come to the quick conclusion, without much research, that anyone who believes this is anything but legitimate military training is a nut. Colorado was on the list, but dropped out of the exercise “because the unit that was designated to participate won’t be available.”

JADE HELM 15 stands for “Joint Assistant for Deployment and Execution,” “Homeland Eradication of Local Militants,” “2015.” JADE “is actually a software program that was initiated by the Pentagon for the rapid distribution of logistic support.”
http://americanfreepress.net/?p=24873" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

DURHAM, N.C. -- U.S. law enforcement agencies rank the threat of violence from anti-government extremists higher than the threat from radicalized Muslims, according to a report released Thursday by the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security (TCTHS).
http://sanford.duke.edu/articles/law-en ... ist-threat" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Episcopalian church votes to approve same-sex marriage
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/episcopalia ... -marriage/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Proposal to temporarily sterilise all NZ teenage females should raise serious red flags
http://theleadingedgeblog.com/sterilisation/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Deal Reached to Commercialize Microchip Drug-Delivery Implant

Invented by Microchips Biotech co-founders Michael Cima, the David H. Koch Professor of Engineering, and Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor, the microchips consist of hundreds of pinhead-sized reservoirs, each capped with a metal membrane, that store tiny doses of therapeutics or chemicals. An electric current delivered by the device removes the membrane, releasing a single dose. The device can be programmed wirelessly to release individual doses for up to 16 years to treat, for example, diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis, and osteoporosis.

Now Microchips Biotech will begin co-developing microchips with Teva Pharmaceutical, the world’s largest producer of generic drugs, to treat specific diseases, with licensing potential for other products. Teva paid $35 million up front, with additional milestone payments as the device goes through clinical trials before it hits the shelves.

While its first partnership is for treating chronic diseases, Microchips Biotech will continue work on its flagship product, a birth-control microchip, backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, that releases contraceptives and can be turned on and off wirelessly.
http://www.techswarm.com/2015/06/deal-r ... ochip.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Bill Gates and Melinda Foundation is working on a birth control chip that can be remote controlled. The birth control chip can be implanted into people’s body – in hip, inside arms or even beneath the back – and can be used for 16 years. The research on birth control chip was kept a secret until now, before the spokesperson for Bill Gates and Melinda Foundation confirmed that the beta testing for the birth control chip would be starting towards the end of this year and that they need volunteers to assist in real life testing of the chip.

At the core of the Bill Gates and Melinda Foundation’s birth control pill is the huge reservoir that can hold almost two decades worth of hormones. A quantity of 30 micrograms of the stored hormones will be released daily into the body so that the ladies are safe and do not get pregnant. The release of hormones will be done by melting a part of solid hormonal stock using a small electric shock which won’t be noticed by humans.

The safety tests would begin by the end of year 2015 and Robert Langer is confident that the chips will hit market sometime in 2018. The main target of these chips are women in third world who are often subject to pain and risks of death during early pregnancies. This chip will also help couples plan a better parenting pattern as chances of things going wrong would be much less than any other contraceptives available in the market as of now.
http://news.thewindowsclub.com/bill-gat ... hip-78981/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Bill Gates interview: I have no use for money. This is God’s work

Gates does not usually speak in religious terms, and has traditionally danced around the issue of God. His wife, a Roman Catholic, is less defensive on that topic but ploughs her own furrow, encouraging contraception when necessary, in contradiction to teaching from Rome.

For Gates, though, polio is a totem. The abolition of the disease will be a headline-grabber, spurring countries on to greater efforts. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will spend $1.8 billion in the next six years to accomplish that goal, almost a third of the global effort.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/b ... -work.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The world today has 6.8 billion people... that's headed up to about 9 billion. Now if we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services, we could lower that by perhaps 10 or 15 percent.
- Bill Gates 2010 TED Presentation
http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=A155D ... 536575C723" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Experts call WHO & Bill Gates Foundation's role in India's polio eradication campaign unethical
http://pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails.aspx?aid=68352&sid=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

California Governor Jerry Brown signed a mandatory school vaccination bill into law Tuesday, abolishing the “personal belief” exemption that many parents use as a loophole to avoid vaccinating their children.
http://time.com/3941832/jerry-brown-signs-vaccine-law/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(NaturalNews) California just went from being one of the freest states in the nation to one of the most oppressive, at least from the perspective of medical freedom. Following its rapid passage through the state legislature, Senate Bill 277 to eliminate personal vaccine exemptions has officially been signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown, a move that's prompted many parents to begin looking for refuge in nearby states where vaccination exemptions are still legally recognized.
http://www.naturalnews.com/050271_SB_27 ... utism.html#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

COMEDIAN Jim Carrey is not laughing. The Dumb and Dumber star has gone on a Twitter tirade against California Governor Jerry Brown after the Democrat signed into law one of America’s strictest immunisation laws. Under the bill, all school-age children to be vaccinated by kindergarten and then again by seventh grade. There are some exemptions, for example if children have a medical exemption or if they are home schooled.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/lifestyle/p ... 7424483483" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Back in 2009, the global H1N1 (swine flu) outbreak was the cause of a lot of concern. But while many public health officials were focused on the flu itself, a team of neuroscientists led by researchers at Stanford University noticed something strange: That year saw a huge uptick in the number of people diagnosed with narcolepsy, a sleep disorder famous for causing its sufferers to be rendered unconscious for several minutes during unpredictable “sleep attacks.” They suspected that the flu vaccines, which were being deployed in high numbers worldwide, might have had something to do with it. People vaccinated with one in particular, called Pandemrix, showed particularly high levels, and the researchers sought to figure out why. Their study, published today in Science Translational Medicine, could shed new light on what causes narcolepsy, which is still poorly understood.

Pandemrix and a similar vaccine, Focetria, were formulated from two different strains of the swine flu virus. The virus contains a protein that has a similar structure to a receptor for hypocretin, a hormone that regulates sleep and wakefulness. (Narcolepsy destroys the cells that make this hormone.) And while both Pandemrix and Focetria contained the protein, Focetria had about 75 percent less of the protein. This led the researchers to hypothesize that the antibodies that the body was producing to fight the flu could also be combatting the hypocretin receptor and causing narcolepsy. The researchers confirmed this idea by testing 20 people who had received the Pandemrix vaccine—17 of them had elevated levels of antibodies targeting the hypocretin receptor. None of the six people tested who received Focetria had the same antibodies.
http://www.popsci.com/swine-flu-vaccine ... epsy-cases" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services secretly paid out over a billion dollars in improper hospital claims earlier last month, despite auditors labeling them unnecessary previously. The payments, which were quietly announced on June 1 by CMS, totaled $1.3 billion and involved 1,900 hospitals and 300,000 claims that had been already denied by CMS auditors on two different levels as medically unnecessary.
http://freebeacon.com/issues/cms-secretive-settlement/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

MERS Outbreak Update: 183 Infected, 32 Dead In South Korea From Deadly Middle East Respiratory Virus
http://www.ibtimes.com/mers-outbreak-up ... ry-1993217" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sysco is scrapping its proposed $3.5 billion buyout of US Foods after a Federal Trade Commission legal victory that temporarily blocked the deal to combine the two food-service companies. The FTC opposed the deal, saying it would reduce competition by putting 75 percent of the national market for suppliers to restaurants and other food-service operations under the control of one company. The U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., granted the halt on Tuesday.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStor ... e-32098110" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

An Australian engineer has developed a bricklaying robot that can lay 1,000 bricks an hour, work 24/7, and complete the shell of a brick home in just two days.
http://www.digitaltrends.com/home/bricklaying-robot/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The 2015 fire season got off to an unusually early start in Canada when blazes broke out in the Northwest Territories, British Columbia, and Alberta in late May. As the season has progressed, the air in western Canada—as well as large swaths of the United States—grew gray and hazy with smoke.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Natura ... &src=nhrss" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
We've already seen two of the planet's top ten deadliest heat waves in history over the past two months; the Pakistani government announced on Wednesday that the death toll from the brutal June heat wave in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, had hit 1,250. According to statistics from EM-DAT, the International Disaster Database, this makes the 2015 heat wave in Pakistan the 8th deadliest in world history. The heat wave that hit India in May, claiming approximately 2,500 lives, ranks as the 5th deadliest:

Extreme June heat hits four continents
Portions of four continents--Asia, Europe, North America, and South America--broke all-time June heat records during the past week, with some locations surpassing their all-time heat records for any date:
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... rynum=3031" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
European heat wave continues
Brutally hot conditions continued over Europe on Thursday, with the hottest temperatures shifted eastwards over Eastern France, the Netherlands, and Western Germany. The temperature in Maastrict, the Netherlands, hit 100.8°F (38.2°C), just missing the Netherlands' all-time hottest temperature record of 101.5°F (38.6°C), set on August 23, 1944 at Warnsveld.

According to Meteo France, on Wednesday, the high temperature at the official Montsouris station in Paris, France hit 103.5°F (39.7°C), the second warmest temperature ever measured there, and not far from Paris' all-time record of 104.7°F (40.4°C) set in July 1947. At least three stations in France set all-time heat records on Wednesday:

Boulogne-sur-Mer (station opened in 1947): 35.4°C (Previous record 34.8°C on 08/11/2003)
Dieppe (station opened in 1949): 38.3°C (Previous record 37°C on 07/09/2006)
Melun (station opened in 1947): 39.4°C (Previous record 38.9°C on 08/12/2003)

Three tropical cyclones in the Pacific
A Typhoon Watch is up for Guam for Typhoon Chan-hom, which is expected to pass very close to the island late morning U.S. EDT time on Saturday as an intensifying Category 2 storm. The NWS in Guam is putting out special advisories and local statements on the typhoon.

Chan-hom will be the second typhoon to affect the island this year; in May, the eye of Category 2 Typhoon Dolphin passed through the channel between the islands of Guam and Rota, bringing sustained winds of 84 mph, gusting to 106 mph, to Andersen Air Force Base on Guam. Dolphin knocked out power and damaged some homes, but the islands escaped serious destruction.

The Philippines are watching Tropical Depression Ten, which is expected to skirt the northern island of Luzon over the weekend as a Category 1 typhoon. In the South Pacific, a rare winter tropical cyclone, Raquel, is drenching the Solomon Islands.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... rynum=3032" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good morning. Here is an updated look at the visible disk on Friday. Solar activity during the past 24 hours reached moderate levels. Region 2378, now turning into view off the southeast limb, produced a number of minor C-Flares, along with an impulsive M1.5 solar flare at 12:51 UTC. Additional minor C-Flares were also detected around regions 2373 and 2376. The threat for another isolated M-Flare will remain in place, with regions 2376 and 2378 being the most likely source. As I first reported on Thursday afternoon, a large prominence eruption off the northeast limb flung a bright coronal mass ejection (CME) into space and away from our planet. An impact to our geomagnetic field is unlikely. A minor (G1) geomagnetic storm watch is in effect beginning on July 5th due to negative polarity coronal hole stream expected to become geoeffective. Sky watchers at high latitudes should be alert for visual aurora later this weekend.
http://www.solarham.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What's erupting? List & map of currently active volcanoes
http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/erupting_volcanoes.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

On Tuesday, Haruo Hayashizaki, a 71-year-old retiree, poured a flammable liquid over himself and lit it while riding a bullet train heading to Osaka from Tokyo. He died on the spot, and smoke filled the coach, choking a female passenger to death. It was the first fire in the train's 50-year history. Experts say it was a wake-up call to something more disastrous, potentially a terrorist attack, and it's time to step up risk management ahead of the G-7 summit in Japan next year and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wir ... s-32218699" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Isis Expansion Along U.S. Borders
http://www.siouxlandnews.com/story/2941 ... us-borders" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-California, said the nation faces "the highest threat level we have ever faced in this country" due to the flow of foreign fighters to and from Iraq and Syria and the radicalization of young people on the Internet.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rep-devin-n ... evel-ever/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

‘This is a time of important vigilance’: FBI agent discusses terror threats this holiday weekend
http://fox59.com/2015/06/30/increased-t ... y-weekend/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BREAKING: NYPD Officers to Wear ‘Radiation Detection Monitors’ on 4th of July – Fears of DIRTY BOMB ATTACK!
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2015/07 ... mb-attack/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Man inspired by U.S. same-sex marriage ruling now challenging court to allow him to marry second wife
http://www.vancouversun.com/life/inspir ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Opinion: 4th of July fireworks: World War III with China dead ahead
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/4th-of ... atest_news" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chinese Government "Losing Control": Stocks Are Collapsing, Hitting New Bear Market Lows
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-0 ... arket-lows" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...war does have a way of solidifying control and refocusing folks...

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Four years after the triumphant announcement of Osama Bin Laden’s death by the US government, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence recently released a list of books allegedly found in his compound. This list of English-language books can almost be dubbe ‘conspiracy for beginners’ with titles such as Fritz Springmeier’s “Bloodlines of the Illuminati”, John Coleman’s “The Committee of 300″, the 1977 MKULTRA hearings and Manly P. Hall’s “Secret Teachings of All Ages”. Bin Laden apparently also enjoyed reading about US Foreign policy and 9/11 conspiracy theories. Here’s the full list of of books as reported by BBC.
http://vigilantcitizen.com/latestnews/u ... d-mkultra/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The 2015 Bilderberg Conference will reunite, once again, representatives of the international elite to discuss world issues in total secrecy. Here’s the full list of attendees and the official agenda of the conference. The 2015 Bilderberg Conference [took] place from June 11-14 in Telfs-Buchen, Austria at the luxury InterAlpen Hotel.
http://vigilantcitizen.com/latestnews/b ... onference/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Egypt Is On The Edge Of Full Blown Civil War
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-0 ... -civil-war" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Egypt is introducing sweeping new anti-terrorism laws following unprecedented attacks in its lawless Sinai region and growing opposition to a government crackdown on dissent.
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/ins ... 10424.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

10 Wars to Watch in 2015: 1. Syria, Iraq, and the Islamic State, 2. Ukraine, 3. South Sudan, 4. Nigeria, 5. Somalia, 6. Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), 7. Afghanistan, 8. Yemen, 9. Libya and the Sahel, 10. Venezuela
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/01/02/10- ... h-in-2015/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...I would add the drug war in Mexico and the drug/gang/biker war in US...just to name a coupe others closer to home...

Greek banks prepare plan to raid deposits to avert collapse
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9963b74c-219c ... z3erKfhfoV" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In A World Of Artificial Liquidity – Cash Is King
http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/9337 ... -cash-king" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The labor force participation rate hit a 38 year low of 62.6%. Jimmy Carter was President. Do you remember how good those times were? Well the BLS, MSM and Wall Street think today’s jobs data is wonderful. It is as clear as a bright sunny day that this economy went into the dumper the second QE3 ended in October 2014. Since October, 1.4 million Americans got jobs, while 1.2 million left the workforce. The number of working age Americans went up by 2.0 million over this same time frame, but the government and their MSM mouthpieces of propaganda want you to believe the unemployment rate fell from 5.8% to 5.3%. It’s laughable, but it’s not a joke. The depth of their deception knows no bounds. The worse things get, the more they will lie and attempt to obscure the truth.
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2015/ ... -disaster/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Top sheriff: America now ruled by 'oligarchy'. The way Sheriff David Clarke sees it, the wild horse has broken loose and is halfway out of the barn, threatening to trample the crops.
http://www.wnd.com/2015/07/top-sheriff- ... oligarchy/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In Puerto Rico, 1.5 million people have been affected, and water running into reservoirs is at a historic low, according to the U.S. National Drought Center. As a result, restrictions on water have been put into place. Thousands of people are only allowed to receive water every three days. The National Guard has also been deployed to help distribute water and control tempers. In Cuba, drought has killed cattle and ruined crops including plantains, citrus, rice and beans. All 200 reservoirs on the island nation are below capacity.
http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/2947 ... nd-nations" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico has extended austere water rationing measures to new cities as a prolonged drought intensifies in the U.S. territory. The island's water and sewer company said Thursday that nearly 350,000 people now face restrictions. Some receive water every third day and others every second day.
http://news.yahoo.com/drought-intensifi ... 53375.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

São Paulo, Brazil, is in the grips of the city's worst drought in the last half-century. The city's main water supply—called the Cantareira system—is running on emergency reserves. Normally this time of year, the city's main supply would hold more than 155 billion gallons of water. But that water is all gone, and the government has been forced to tap into emergency reserves. "São Paulo's current drought emergency is both unprecedented and unpredicted," said Juliana Garrido, senior water and sanitation specialist for the World Bank. Before the 2014 drought, the system was supplying about 8,700 gallons of water a second, according to the World Bank. Today, it's operating at 3,563 gallons per second, according to data from Brazil's National Water Agency.
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/environm ... ty-n385136" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Drought, government push Nevada ranchers to drastic action
http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/Dr ... 365536.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Vancouver Island fishing banned as drought hits Level 4
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... -1.3137599" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Oregon drought: As snowpack disappears, experts predict another low-snow winter
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/i ... k_dis.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Heatwave pushes Western MT into "severe" drought conditions
http://www.kxlf.com/story/29469064/heat ... conditions" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Montana drought conditions go from bad to severe in a week
http://www.kbzk.com/story/29465752/mont ... -in-a-week" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In California’s drought, canal now flowing backward
http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/califo ... 21103.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Dried Up California Lake Shuts as Summer Kicks In
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/califo ... ks-n386031" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The mayor of Poway, a city in San Diego County, defended the decision to dump 550,000 gallons of drinking water into a nearby canyon, according to ABC affiliate KGTV. In an ironic twist, the reason so much water was lost was because of conservation efforts. The water sat in the Blue Crystal Reservoir for too long, according to KGTV. Heat created a chemical imbalance of chloramine, a combination of chlorine and ammonia used to disinfect drinking water, making the water, according to state regulations, unsafe to drink.
http://news.yahoo.com/city-drought-stri ... ories.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Modesto water bottled, sold out of state during drought
http://www.kcra.com/news/modesto-water- ... t/33988922" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

North Korean farmers face dry fields amid drought
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/07/03 ... d-drought/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

Family members of Osama Bin Laden were killed in a private jet crash in Hampshire on Friday, the Saudi Arabian embassy in the UK has said. It came down near Blackbushe Airport, close to the Surrey border, killing the pilot and all three passengers.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-33745057" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Almost a year after the United States began its multi-billion-dollar military campaign to defeat Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the jihadist group shows no signs of weakening, according to U.S. intelligence agencies.Its hold on social media and flow of oil revenue means it can draw on a steady stream of recruits and has held almost all its territory, despite losing 10,000 fighters. It has managed to expand into new theatres in Libya, Egypt’s Sinai peninsula and Afghanistan.
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world ... a-year-ago" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?

In her analysis, Zimmerman identified the geographical locations of the groups said to be within the Al Qaeda network. These locations outline an area encompassing parts of Northern Africa and all of the Middle East. This region, in which the entire Al Qaeda network is based, represents about 15% of the total land on planet earth.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/understand ... es/5466350" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Turkey sends in jets as Syria’s agony spills over every border
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/j ... are_btn_tw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Allen West: Navy to prosecute Chattanooga hero
http://www.wnd.com/2015/08/allen-west-n ... ooga-hero/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Attention will be focused on Greece's embattled banks on Monday when the Athens stock exchange reopens after an absence of nearly a month because of the country's debt crisis. The banks are in a vulnerable position owing to outflows of billions of euros (dollars) from deposits over the past six months. Some €40bn (£28bn) has been withdrawn from Greek banks since December according to the bank association.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/econ ... evels.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Athens Stock Exchange has fallen by 22.87% on Monday as trading resumed after a five-week closure.
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-33754005" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A group of hedge funds holding a large proportion of Puerto Rico’s debt have demanded that its government fires teachers, collects more taxes and reforms labor laws, as the US territory contemplates default. This is the battle between bond holders and the people that is not going to end nicely.
http://www.armstrongeconomics.com/archives/35568" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ending the cycle of gang violence in El Salvador
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-33750162" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Dramatic Footage: How Venezuelans Get Milk Powder
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-08-0 ... ilk-powder" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

China's Manufacturing PMI final print for July collapsed to 47.8 - its lowest since July 2013
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-08-0 ... -2015-lows" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As China Admits It Lied About Its Local Debt Levels, Local Billionaires Are Quietly Liquidating Their Assets
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-08-0 ... ietly-liqu" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

China's 1929 Moment
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-08-0 ... 929-moment" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Three Chinese Coast Guard vessels entered the Japanese waters near disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea
http://sputniknews.com/asia/20150802/1025323271.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Even as the Communist Chinese dictatorship ruthlessly oppresses the people of China while stepping up its aggressive rhetoric, espionage, and military activities aimed beyond its borders, the Obama administration has been training Beijing’s troops in U.S. military tactics, techniques, and procedures. Critics have long opposed the high-level “mil-mil cooperation” between the U.S. Armed Forces and one of the most brutal autocracies on the planet. At least one U.S. lawmaker has been expressing concerns. But the Obama administration, which boasts of its actions and has called for even deeper military ties with Beijing, shows no signs of backing down from the highly controversial and potentially dangerous programs.
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/fo ... e-military" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Have you noticed that there is a tremendous amount of Internet buzz about the month of September 2015? Never before have I seen so much speculation about what would happen in one particular month. Some people believe that we will see an economic collapse next month, others believe that there will be some sort of historic natural disaster, and others are convinced that the judgment of God is coming. So right now, large numbers of Americans are stocking up on emergency food and supplies like crazy. Personally, I have never been more concerned about any period of time as I am about the last six months of 2015.
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archiv ... d-supplies" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(NaturalNews) A recent investigation by an alternative news website turned up a shocking truth: Due to huge demand, a growing number of storable food companies are experiencing dramatic shortages of virtually all goods, meaning that, should a regional or national emergency strike, millions of Americans will be left with nothing to eat and completely dependent on an understaffed, underfunded government.
http://www.naturalnews.com/050631_food_ ... _Helm.html#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

New York’s Division of Homeland Security is posting signs on businesses to encourage people to snitch on fellow citizens who buy such things as MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat), ammunition, flash lights, match containers, gas masks and other items deemed to be ‘prepper’ in nature.
http://washingtonweeklynews.com/doomsda ... -and-ammo/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Executive Order -- National Defense Resources Preparedness
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-of ... eparedness" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

NAVAL SPECIAL WARFARE NWP 3-05
https://info.publicintelligence.net/USN ... arfare.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Which of the 11 American nations do you live in?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/gov ... u-live-in/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

MOSCOW, November 24 (RIA Novosti) - A leading Russian political analyst has said the economic turmoil in the United States has confirmed his long-held view that the country is heading for collapse, and will divide into separate parts.
http://sputniknews.com/world/20081124/118512713.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Known Unknowns: Unconventional "Strategic Shocks" in Defense Strategy Development
http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.ar ... ?pubID=890" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If every state of the USA declared war against each other, which would win?
http://www.quora.com/If-every-state-of- ... -would-win" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Russian Military Helicopter Crashes During Air Show Celebrating Airborne Forces Day, One Pilot Dead
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-08-0 ... orces-day-" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

More than 14 million devices are already running Microsoft’s Windows 10 after its global launch on Wednesday, but it’s unclear how many of their users read the company’s Privacy Policy and Service Agreement before downloading. Tucked away in the 45 pages’ worth of terms and conditions (effective August 1) is a substantial power grab: The company is collecting data on much of what you do while using its new software. From the moment an account is created, Microsoft begins watching. The company saves customers’ basic information—name, contact details, passwords, demographic data and credit card specifics —but it also digs a bit deeper.
http://www.newsweek.com/windows-10-reco ... ove-358952" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

one privacy expert exclaimed, "there is no world in which 45 pages of policy documents and opt-out settings split across 13 different Settings screens and an external website constitutes 'real transparency'."
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-08-0 ... everything" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Once again, Microsoft screwed the world with its Windows 10 feature called Wi-Fi Sense. This nasty feature has serious legal implications for it will automatically connect your personal Wi-Fi network to anyone in your e-mail list using HotMail, Skype, or Outlook, and even Facebook, making those friends questionable. If any such person comes within range of your home Wi-Fi, they could secretly access your system from hundreds of yards away. The real problem with this is rather sinister. The government would no longer need a search warrant for your surrendered privacy; good luck finding a judge who will uphold the rights that exist only in your imagination.
http://www.armstrongeconomics.com/archives/35542" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

CISA: The Dirty Deal Between Google and the NSA That No One Is Talking About
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/evan-gree ... 83722.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Up-armored Humvee, marked “Security Forces”, spotted on Montana highway: JADE HELM 15
https://www.intellihub.com/up-armored-h ... e-helm-15/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

House of Representatives Passes Bill in 15 Minutes to Revoke Americans’ Passports without Due Process
http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2015/07/31 ... e-process/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Something Just Snapped: Container Freight Rates From Asia To Europe Crash 23% In One Week
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-08-0 ... 3-one-week" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Credit card debt surges in top 25 US metro areas according to Equifax data
http://www.mybudget360.com/credit-card- ... us-cities/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

WASHINGTON — U.S. home rental prices climbed much faster than incomes in June. But there are signs of slowing momentum around major job hubs such as New York, Los Angeles and Washington. Real estate data firm Zillow said last week that U.S. rental prices rose a seasonally adjusted 4.3 percent in June from a year ago. Rental prices have been increasing at double the pace of wage growth, causing renters to allot more of their income to housing and limiting their ability to save to buy a home.
http://www.dallasnews.com/business/pers ... -wages.ece" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

College Textbook Prices Have Risen 1,041 Percent Since 1977
http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/freshman ... 78-n399926" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Washington’s gasoline tax goes up 7 cents Saturday but your price at the pump won’t automatically jump by that amount at 12:01 a.m.
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2015/j ... o-predict/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Silver spot
http://www.kitco.com/charts/livesilver.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The prospect of oil prices falling below $40 receded earlier this year amid a crude rally, but with futures sliding again, investors shouldn't rule out a three-handle, Again Capital founding partner John Kilduff said Thursday.
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/30/oil-to-h ... lduff.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
David Daleiden of the Center for Medical Progress, who led the undercover investigation on Planned Parenthood, said the group made a shocking admission caught on video when its members met with the "top leadership" at StemExpress, a biotechnology firm that supposedly takes part in the harvesting of foetal tissue.

"In a meeting with their top leadership, they admitted that they sometimes get fully intact foetuses shipped to their laboratory from the abortion clinics they work with, and that could be prima facie evidence of born alive infants," Daleiden said.

"That's why they're trying to suppress that videotape and they're very scared of it," he added.

Earlier this week, a court in California issued a temporary restraining order preventing the Center for Medical Progress from releasing a video with StemExpress top executives.

The lead investigator added that eight to 10 more videos will be released to fully expose Planned Parenthood's alleged involvement in the sale of body parts of aborted babies.

"When people are using illegal abortion procedures, that's something that most people find barbaric and that's something that most people don't want funded by their taxpayer dollars," Daleiden said.

"We've got anywhere from eight to 10 more videos—the exact number could vary, but I predict a dozen, give or take, when everything is said and done," he added.

Daleiden's group has so far released four videos showing Planned Parenthood officials negotiating on the price of aborted baby parts, with one even demanding a luxury car for the deal.
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/v ... /60789.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

“Just as gene drives can make mosquitoes unfit for hosting and spreading the malaria parasite, they could conceivably be designed with gene drives carrying cargo for delivering lethal bacterial toxins to humans,” said David Gurwitz, a geneticist at Tel Aviv University in Israel.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/scien ... 34010.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

New York City is in the midst of a deadly outbreak of a type of severe pneumonia known as Legionnaires’ Disease. Bronx residents have become anxious, as four people have succumbed to the illness and 65 others have been infected in the area since July 10.
http://www.rt.com/usa/311365-legionnair ... -outbreak/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(NaturalNews) We're right smack-dab in the middle of the federal government's "Decade of Vaccines" (2010-2020), and things couldn't be moving any faster in the direction of total medical tyranny. California Governor Jerry Brown just signed into law SB 277 to force vaccines on nearly all school-age children; some members of Congress are now pushing for a national mandatory vaccination plan; and corporations and health groups all across the country are increasingly ostracizing employees and other individuals who refuse the jab. So why all this sudden hysteria over vaccines? It's all part of the Healthy People agenda first hatched by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) back in the late 1970s, which paved the way for what we're seeing today with the mad rush to make sure everyone's vaccinated. Part of the plan is to corral the masses into accepting all government-approved vaccines as safe and effective medicine through manipulation and even force, which is quickly coming to pass.
http://www.naturalnews.com/050636_vacci ... cines.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Rhode Island mandates HPV vaccine for seventh-graders
http://www.turnto10.com/story/29664097/ ... th-graders" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

South Africa is currently experiencing the worst drought it has had in two decades. According to meteorologists The El Niño, which began in March, could be the worst since 1998.
http://www.thesouthafrican.com/south-af ... sis-level/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Freakishly hot, dry weather in the Pacific Northwest is killing millions of fish in the overheated waters of the region's rivers and streams. "We've lost about 1.5 million juvenile fish this year due to drought conditions at our hatcheries," Ron Warren of Washington State's Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a statement. "This is unlike anything we've seen for some time."
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/heat-d ... ar-BBlhM6s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A deepening drought in the Pacific Northwest is forcing some cities, farms and state agencies to cut back on water use
http://www.kval.com/news/local/In-droug ... 43302.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Oregon's drought, well underway and growing more dire by the day, has begun to hit municipal water supplies. The scarcity is forcing cities to crack down on residents' water use with tactics that range from creative to compulsory.
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/i ... ies_t.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

California's historic drought appears to be matched by severe dry spells on three other continents. Brazil, North Korea and South Africa are bearing the brunt of much lower-than-average precipitation, wreaking havoc on millions of peoples' lives and livelihoods.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/worl ... /30513289/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

U.S. Drought Monitor
http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A wildfire burned at least 200 acres in the Los Padres National Forest and forced evacuations just north of Ojai Sunday night, according to the Ventura County Fire Department
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local ... 33712.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Some 6,000 homes were evacuated as 21 large fires burned in the bone-dry western US state, which is in the throes of a historic drought. A total of 121,000 acres (49,000 hectares of land have burned so far, according to figures provided by the state. Governor Jerry Brown’s office said that some 9,600 people were battling the fires early Sunday.
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/08/wildfir ... w+Story%29" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

San Diego and 14 other counties in California were declared disaster areas Friday by Gov. Jerry Brown because of a series of wildfires that have burned thousands of acres. The declaration will help mobilize additional firefighting and disaster response resources. "California's severe drought and extreme weather have turned much of the state into a tinderbox," said Brown. "Our courageous firefighters are on the front lines and we'll do everything we can to help them." His order calls for the National Guard to help with disaster response and relief efforts. Over the past month and a half, fires in the region have charred around 170 acres near the Barona Casino, 25 acres near Lake Henshaw, 30 acres around Lake Morena County Park, and 170 acres close to the Palomar Observatory. Much larger and more destructive blazes have burned in Northern California. Other counties named in the declaration were Butte, El Dorado, Humboldt, Lake, Madera, Napa, Nevada, Sacramento, San Bernardino, Shasta, Solano, Tulare, Tuolumne and Yolo.
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index ... -49446-USA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nearly 21 wildfires — ranging in size but widely spread — have destroyed 40 residences since Saturday and continue to post a threat to 6,000 buildings, said local officials. A temperature change left high hopes for a slowdown in the spread of the big Rocky Fire, however authorities said firemen will need more than a drop in the heat to put out the fire on the severely dry Californian land.
http://sputniknews.com/us/20150803/1025332592.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A massive wildfire west of Sacramento, California, spanned 54,000 acres Sunday, up from 27,000 acres the previous evening.
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/wester ... ht-n402561" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Rocky Fire was only 5% contained Sunday and was feeding on the state's drought to grow actively, said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/02/us/california-wildfires/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Firefighters battling 21 wildfires across drought-stricken California
http://abc7.com/news/firefighters-battl ... ia/899174/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

More than 20 people have died and others are missing after weeks of unrelenting rain caused flash flooding in Myanmar.
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index ... -49432-MMR" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

SOUTH LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A spike in gang violence in South Los Angeles could be spread by social media and has resulted in increased police patrols in the area. Five people were shot within a matter of hours in three separate incidents Saturday night, which resulted in the Los Angeles Police Department issuing a tactical alert.
http://abc7.com/news/gang-violence-spik ... la/892053/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

July was the deadliest month of 2015 so far for killings by police after registering 118 fatalities, according to the Guardian’s ongoing investigation The Counted, which now projects that US law enforcement is on course to kill more than 1,150 people this year.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015 ... CMP=twt_tc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A Mexican photojournalist has been found dead along with four other people in a flat in Mexico City.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-33753065" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...more Denver airport weirdness...

I AM THE FUTURE: Erick Meyenberg
http://biennialoftheamericas.org/event/ ... 015-07-16/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

CMMG Announces New Mutant Models, The Mutant SBR, Mutant California Compliant Version And The Pistol TFB Just Reviewed
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2015 ... -reviewed/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As many as 12,000 customers were without power well into the night Sunday and electric lines and trees were down across the peninsula, after severe thunderstorms rumbled across Door County earlier in the day. Around mid-afternoon a cold front swept across Northeastern Wisconsin, where hot and humid air had temperatures in the 80s. The resulting collision brought winds up to 60 mph, heavy rain and large hail. Police, fire, utility and highway crews were deployed across Northern Door as uprooted trees blocked roads and highways.
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index ... -49477-USA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Power is out to more than 27,000 people across West Michigan after high wind gusts and severe storms moved through the area Sunday evening. Across all portions of northern and western Michigan, more than 90,000 are without power. In Kent County, roughly 16,426 customers are without power as of 10:15 p.m., according to the Consumers Energy outage map. A majority of the outages are centered near the Sparta and Rockford areas. Wind gusts between 40-60 mph were reported in the area Sunday afternoon and evening.
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index ... -49476-USA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Manam volcano (Papua New Guinea): large explosive eruption, ash to 36,000 ft
http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/manam/news.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Piton de la Fournaise volcano (La Réunion): third eruption in 2015
http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/piton_f ... -2015.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Extreme weather patterns and strong winds whipped the Jordanian desert sands across the country, causing near blackout conditions in the nation's capital.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340 ... 26,00.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Heavy monsoon rains in India have killed more than 100 people in the past week and forced tens of thousands of people to take shelter in relief camps, India's home ministry has said. A cyclone struck the state of West Bengal, killing 48 people in flood-related incidents. More than 200,000 people have moved to relief camps.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-33754952" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For the 4th day in a row, a stream of high-speed solar wind is blowing around Earth. The stream's steady pressure, however, is doing little to upset the stability of our planet's magnetic field. NOAA forecasters estimate a modest 25% chance of geomagnetic storms on August 3rd. Solar activity has been very low for more than two weeks. A change could be in the offing. During the early hours of August 3rd, a new active region on the farside of the sun announced itself with a bright CME. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) recorded the eruption:
http://www.spaceweather.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Hurricane Guillermo is stepping up its game in the Northeast Pacific, as it moves along a steady west-northwest course that could bring it near the Hawaiian Islands next week. Guillermo was upgraded to hurricane status by the National Hurricane Center at 5:00 am EDT Friday, and in the NHC’s 11:00 am EDT advisory, Guillermo was located at 12.4°N, 132.7°W, with top sustained winds at 90 mph. Visible and infrared satellite imagery shows a healthy tropical cyclone, with extensive upper-level outflow, a distinct convective core, and a small eye beginning to take shape. Guillermo is successfully fending off an expanse of dry air to its north and maintaining an envelope of rich moisture.

Soudelor a potential threat to Japan next week
Tropical Storm Soudelor should begin flexing its muscle over the next couple of days in the Northwest Pacific. Hindered over the last day by a tropical upper tropospheric trough (TUTT) to its north, Soudelor will soon escape the TUTT’s influence and likely launch into several days of significant strengthening. Soudelor’s peak winds were about 40 mph at 8:00 am EDT Friday, but the outlook issued by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center brings Soudelor’s winds to typhoon strength by Saturday and Category 4 strength (140 mph) by Monday. Track and intensity forecasts are increasingly uncertain beyond that point, as wind shear will be on the increase and water temperatures along Soudelor’s path will be cooler. It appears there is a good chance Soudelor will move far enough west to pose a potential threat to Japan later in the week.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... rynum=3059" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



The Coke Infographic That Should Stop You From Ever Drinking Coca-Cola Again
http://disinfo.com/2015/08/the-coke-inf ... ola-again/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


The Greatest Blunder In Commercial Firearms History
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2015 ... s-history/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...ya a Mormon firearms inventor...

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

A few of my sources...

A few fires burning
http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Volcanoes are erupting
http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/erupting_volcanoes.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Earthquakes a shaking
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Few other hazards - storms, explosions, etc
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Military going to hell in a hand basket (and the government of course)
http://feeds.feedburner.com/military/headlines" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.cryptogon.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://fas.org/blogs/secrecy/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.blacklistednews.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://publicintelligence.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://sitrep.globalsecurity.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://defensetech.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/feedburner/defenseupdate" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.defensereview.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.blackfive.net/main/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://kitup.military.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.gunnuts.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://gunslingersjournal.blogspot.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://doubletapper.blogspot.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Weather
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... rynum=3080" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.desdemonadespair.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The sun is pretty tame and a little bit of space news
http://prop.hfradio.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.spaceweather.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.solarham.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.space.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Electrical Universe kicking along
https://www.thunderbolts.info/wp/2015/0 ... al-comets/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Lots of stuff cooking around the globe
http://www.trunews.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://revolutionradio.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://fukushimaupdate.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.dailyjobcuts.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.wnd.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.topsecretwriters.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.thenewamerican.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.drudgereport.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://beforeitsnews.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.rferl.org/archive/Rundown/la ... /2696.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.thepreparednesspodcast.com/p ... t-20-2015/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.commondreams.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://newsbusters.org/feed/all" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.themedialine.org/category/news/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/08/links-82015.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.zerohedge.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://wallstreetexaminer.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://occupycorporatism.com/category/breaking-news/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.propublica.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.globalresearch.ca/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.bbc.com/news" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.nytimes.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.thestar.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation- ... ink=subnav" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.rt.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.csmonitor.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.westernjournalism.com/category/news/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.infowars.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.intellihub.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.veteranstoday.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.dailycensored.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://canadafreepress.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.theblaze.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.rawstory.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.infiniteunknown.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://themostimportantnews.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://axisoflogic.com/Frontpage.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.informationliberation.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://pjmedia.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://cafehayek.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.democracynow.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.floppingaces.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.madcowprod.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.narconews.com/en.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://vigilantcitizen.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.knowthelies.com/blog" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://spitfirelist.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://911blogger.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://vactruth.com/news/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.recombinomics.com/whats_new.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.biopoliticaltimes.org/rssfeed.php?feed=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Other informational links
http://modernsurvivalonline.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.mybudget360.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://seekingalpha.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://prorevnews.blogspot.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?blog=Market-Ticker" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.theautomaticearth.com/the-automatic-earth/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

nothing big and week old news...but just another historical blipit
KOTZEBUE, Alaska (AP) - President Barack Obama crossed the Arctic Circle on Wednesday in a first by a sitting U.S. president, telling residents in a far-flung Alaska village that their plight should be the world's wake-up call on global warming.

Obama came to Alaska with no grand policy pronouncements or promises of massive federal aid. Instead, he sought to use the changes to Alaska's breathtaking landscape to put pressure on leaders in the U.S. and abroad to cut greenhouse gas emissions, as he works to secure a global climate treaty that he hopes will form a cornerstone of his environmental legacy.

Temperatures in the Arctic are rising twice as fast as anywhere else on earth, Obama said. Permafrost, the layer of frozen ice under the surface, is thawing and causing homes, pipes and roads to sink as the soil quickly erodes. Some 100,000 Alaskans live in areas vulnerable to melting permafrost, government estimates show.

As he flew to Kotzebue from the fishing village of Dillingham, Obama directed Air Force One to descend so he could get a closer look at the 400-person village of Kivalina, where residents have voted to relocate the entire village as it sinks into the water.

"Think about it," Obama said. "If another country threatened to wipe out an American town, we'd do everything in our power to protect it."
http://www.ktul.com/story/29939057/in-a ... the-arctic" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
China has dispatched its navy to patrol the coast of Alaska and unveiled a new “carrier-killing” ballistic missile in a stark display of how its massively increased defense spending is tilting the balance of power in the Pacific.

At the same time, however, President Xi Jinping announced in a speech that he aims to cut the People’s Liberation Army’s troop numbers by 300,000, although he didn’t give a timeframe or any details on where the troops would be reduced.

The naval exercise, which saw five warships patrol the Bering Sea just as President Barack Obama became the first sitting president to visit Alaska, is a pointed demonstration of China’s steady rise to Great Power status as it expands its capacities to project power beyond its borders. It comes three months after the U.S. angered China by sending surveillance flights over dispute islands in the South China Sea where China is building industrial and defense facilities.
http://fortune.com/2015/09/03/china-par ... es-alaska/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Five Chinese warships entered U.S. territorial waters off the coast of Alaska earlier this week, according to a report Friday in the Wall Street Journal.

Pentagon officials reportedly told the paper that Chinese vessels came within 12 miles of the U.S. coastline, official entering area considered by international conventions to be U.S. territory.

According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 12 miles off the coast of a given country is recognized as a formal extension of sovereign territory. According to the Wall Street Journal report, Pentagon officials confirmed that the vessels from the People's Liberation Army Navy, or PLAN, entered within the 12 mile limit and into U.S. territorial waters off the Alaskan coast.

Pentagon officials told Scout Warrior that Chinese ships were traveling through the Aluetian Island chain in the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska but did not formally confirm that Chinese warships entered within 12-miles of the Alaskan coastline.

"The five PLAN ships transited expeditiously and continuously through the Aleutian Island chain in a manner consistent with international law. This was a legal transit of U.S. territorial seas conducted in accordance with the Law of the Sea Convention," Cmdr. Bill Urban, Pentagon spokesman, told Scout Warrior in a written statement.

"After transiting the Aleutian Island chain, the PLAN ships continued out of the area, and into the Pacific Ocean. We will have no further updates on their position," he added.

This marks the first time Chinese warships were sighted in waters between Russia and Alaska, reports indicated.

http://www.scout.com/military/warrior/s ... u-s-waters" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
TOKYO -- While much of the world was focusing on Beijing's World War II victory celebrations earlier this month, five Chinese navy ships were gliding into U.S. territorial waters off Alaska. Though China was within its rights under international law, it was nevertheless a daring move, coming just as U.S. President Barack Obama was wrapping up a visit to the northernmost state. Security experts are now mulling who ordered the maneuver -- and what message they wanted to send.
Chinese naval vessels visited San Diego last year, but that was at the invitation of the U.S. military. The Alaska incident was the first time any Chinese battleship had entered American waters without prior discussions, according to U.S. government sources.
http://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy ... wanderlust" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The official said the flotilla, which included three surface combatant ships, one amphibious ship and a supply ship, now appeared to be heading back to China. “By all accounts and by all indications, they’re going home,” he said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/na ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
However, it was Vladimir Putin of Russia who was treated as the chief guest of honor at the Chinese celebrations. Throughout the commemoration proceedings Putin was to the right side of Chinese President Xi Jinping. This exactly mirrored the May 9 parade in Moscow marking the defeat of Nazi Germany a few months earlier. At that event, no Western leader showed up and Xi Jinping was the most prominent and honored guest.

While displays of marching troops and rolling armor have been held regularly on Moscow's Red Square, for China it is quite a rare occasion. Before, lavish parades on Tiananmen Square only took place once every 10 years to mark anniversaries of the founding of the People's Republic of China. The recent parade was the first ever to glorify China's victory in World War II, or "the Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and World Anti-Fascist War" as it is officially called in China. It was not lost on the observers that the festivities in Beijing strikingly resembled the Victory Day commemorations in Moscow. Chinese officials acknowledged that they drew upon Russia's experience in "mobilizing patriotic sentiments."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/artyom-lu ... 05578.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Beijing is scoping out opportunities in the Arctic in the wake of tensions between the United States and Russia over the increase of Russian military aid to Syria, says Duowei News, a US-based Chinese political news outlet.

Five Chinese military vessels sailed through international waters near Alaska in the Bering Sea on Sept. 3, which coincided with US president Barack Obama's three-day visit to the US state. China's ships sailed after Russia filed an application to the United Nations to claim a 1.2 million-square-kilometer underwater region which Moscow considers to be part of its continental margins, reports RT, a Washington DC-based media outlet. The subsequent appearance of Chinese vessels suggests that Beijing is attempting to establish a route in the Arctic, exhibiting its ambitions in the area to the US and Russia, according to the report.

Beijing also intends to use the infrastructure investment in exchange for a route in the Arctic Ocean, said the outlet. Chinese vice premier Wang Yang proposed a medium to long-term financing program to Russia for the Amur Bridge Project during his visit to Russia for the Eastern Economic Forum, which was held in Vladivostok from Sept. 3-5 to promote economic development in Eastern Russia and the Asia Pacific Region. The project will connect China's Heilongjiang province and Russia's Jewish Autonomous Oblast.
http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subc ... inCatID=11" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://timesofoman.com/article/67314/Op ... -US-shores" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Republic of China (Taiwan) intelligence says China is constructing two 60,000-tonne aircraft carriers, one each as Dalian and Shanghai. China's first carrier Liaoning (L16) underwent a seven-year rebuild at Dalian before its 2012 commissioning, so choosing that shipyard is logical. Shanghai is a surprise and suggests China intends to build these capital warships in pairs. An operational date of 2020 is suggested for both. It is possible the next pair will appear in 2025.

India, having commissioned INS Vikrant (R11) five decades before the Chinese carrier, now will be eclipsed in five years. Currently we have INS Vikramaditya (R33), a 45,000-tonner that like China's Liaoning came from the former Soviet Union, and accepted into service in 2014. INS Virat (R22) will be decommissioned next year to be replaced on 2018 by the second Vikrant(presumably R44), which displaces 40,000-tons. INS Vishaal, 65,000-tons, is planned to commission in 2023. Since, however, it is still in planning, assuming it is rapidly put under construction, 2025 is a more likely in-service date.Right there is a problem. India proposes three carriers, one each for the eastern and western fleets, with one in maintenance/overhaul reserve. But long before we have our three, China will have three medium-sized carriers, and five when we have three. The fourth and fifth carriers may well be super-sized and nuclear-powered, in which they will likely appear later than 2025. Given the secrecy surrounding Chinese military programs, much of this is speculation. It is possibly the two carriers under construction will be larger and nuclear-power, but this is guesswork on the part of Chinese blogs.
http://www.dailyo.in/politics/china-mil ... /6118.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Taiwan has essentially become indefensible, even for a future president whose foreign policy is not best summed up by the word “feckless.” Absent a major change in Beijing’s governance or policy aims, we can expect Taiwan to eventually fall under mainland dominion, probably in much the same manner as Hong Kong. The ship has sailed, quite literally.
http://www.palisadeshudson.com/2015/09/ ... ia-alaska/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
As China and Russia boost their military presence in the resource-rich far north, U.S. intelligence agencies are scrambling to study potential threats in the Arctic for the first time since the Cold War, a sign of the region's growing strategic importance.

Over the last 14 months, most of the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies have assigned analysts to work full time on the Arctic. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence recently convened a "strategy board" to bring the analysts together to share their findings.

In addition to relying on U.S. spy satellites orbiting overhead and Navy sensors deep in the frigid waters, the analysts process raw intelligence from a recently overhauled Canadian listening post near the North Pole and a Norwegian surveillance ship called the Marjata, which is now being upgraded at a U.S. Navy shipyard in southern Virginia.
http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la- ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/09/08 ... ia-Arctic-" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Department of the Army officials are in Alaska this week talking to people about the looming force cuts — mandated under the Budget Control Act of 2011, commonly known as sequestration. The act required that the Army reduce its troop strength from a high of 570,000 in 2010 to 450,000 by the end of fiscal year 2017. If sequestration-level funding continues in fiscal year 2016, the Army will have to reduce its active duty force to 420,000.

U.S. Army Alaska spokesman Lt. Col. Alan Brown said two Alaskan Army posts - Fort Wainwright and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson - are among 30 installations being considered for force reductions.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015 ... s-say.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Jan. 1, 2016 deadline to open all combat positions to women—from basic infantry battalions to elite special operations units such as U.S. Navy SEALs. While branches like the Air Force and Navy have relatively small communities where women are currently barred from serving—namely special operations detachments—the U.S. Army and Marine Corps have a host of units and jobs closed to woman. These jobs, known as combat arms, include infantry, artillery and armored divisions
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/che ... d-results/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
U.S. Army forces in Europe are preparing for a major journey from Germany to Hungary as part of a training exercise and effort to show solidarity and strengthen a U.S.-Hungarian alliance, service officials said.

The exercise will begin with a 700 kilometer Stryker unit convoy from Germany across the Danube River into Hungary - designed to demonstrate the mobility of Army forces.The convoy will begin in mid- September and extend through mid October of this year, Army spokesman Troy Rolan said.

"This will demonstrate our operational mobiity and freedom of manuever to enable the NATO alliance," he added.

This new Army convoy comes on the heels a massive 1,800 kilometer Army convoy through six countries from Estonia to Germany earlier this year -- called the Dragoon Ride. During Dragoon Ride, soldiers with the Army's 2nd Cavalry Regiment traveled from the Baltic States through Poland the Czech Republic into Germany, greeting allies along the way.

The new convoy operation, called Brave Warrior, will end with two months of training with the Hungarian military.While not explicitly designed to signal messages to the Russians in light of ongoing tensions over violence in Ukraine, the journey and the training are intended to demonstrate U.S. mobility and resolve with its allies, Army officials said.
http://www.scout.com/military/warrior/s ... oss-europe" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...not too far back on 4th of July...
(CNN)Two Russian bombers intercepted by U.S. fighter jets off the California coast on July Fourth could be seen as having raised a metaphorical middle finger to the United States.

"Good morning, American pilots. We are here to greet you on your Fourth of July Independence Day," they said, according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

July Fourth message not the first from Russian bombers

U.S. fighters also intercepted two other Russian Tu-95 bombers the same day off the southern coast of Alaska. In both instances, American fighter jets flew up to intercept the Russian bombers, and the aircraft turned away.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/27/world/us- ... ntentions/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Washington (CNN)The same day that Russian President Vladimir Putin sent congratulations to the White House to mark July 4, the U.S. military was tracking Russian bombers off the coast of Alaska and California.

The U.S. military performed two intercepts of Russians aircraft, though they never entered U.S. airspace, according to a U.S. military official.

The official told CNN that while the U.S. intercepts were routine from a military point of view, the Pentagon views it as Putin "sending a message" to the U.S. on Independence Day, especially because of the congratulatory message to President Barack Obama.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/09/politics/ ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security," Gen. Joseph Dunford told the Senate Armed Services committee during his confirmation hearing to be the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/09/politics/ ... st-threat/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Putin’s Russia is, if nothing else, ambitious.

At a recent meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the head of Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin, put forth a bold plan for a massive trans-Siberian highway.

This superhighway project, called the Trans-Eurasian Belt Development, includes a major roadway to be built alongside the existing Trans-Siberian Railway. And alongside that, the plans include expansive energy infrastructure involving another railway, oil and gas pipelines, as well as electricity and water supply facilities.

If this project actually comes to fruition, it would be the largest infrastructure project ever undertaken.
http://www.wallstreetdaily.com/2015/04/ ... erhighway/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

A little catch up on the arctic developments...
As America celebrated Independence Day, two long-range Russian Bear-H bombers delivered a Fourth of July greeting just outside of U.S. airspace within 63 miles of the coast of Alaska. Air Force F-22 fighter jets scrambled to intercept the Russian planes. On the same day the bombers probed America’s West Coast, Putin called Obama to wish him a happy Independence Day.

NATO fighter jets have stepped up exercises near the Russian border, and scrambled more than 250 times throughout Europe to intercept Russian aircraft, generally in international airspace. Some 120 encounters over the Baltic nations have occurred so far this year. This number is expected to surpass those of the past two years, although far fewer than during the Cold War. Russia’s muscle flexing, close over-flights, mock bombing missions, reconnaissance and air exercises, appears to be largely focused on NATO nations, or allies, which have conducted their own military exercises and overflights near the Russian border. The increased activity is causing unease amongst citizens and governments alike.

The aerial ballet of dueling military exercises has led alarmed policymakers to call this military jousting, “dangerous brinksmanship.” NATO and Russian fighter jets “shadow” each other’s reconnaissance flights and observe live fire exercises, with both parties engaging in episodic buzzing in and out of international airspace.

Russia’s creation of a Joint Strategic Command, based in its Northern Fleet, is identified by some as evidence of the Kremlin’s questionable military intentions. At the same time, the U.S. Navy strategic objectives for the Arctic, as expressed in the U.S. Navy Arctic Roadmap 2014-2030, calls for both backup for the Coast Guard, and identifies as priorities the maintenance of open seas, which includes through transit of coastal shipping routes in Russian and Canadian Arctic seas.

The security environment in the Arctic is more constabulary than military. The U.S. maritime and infrastructure capabilities there are thin. Retired Adm. Robert J. Papp, the U.S. Special Representative to the Arctic, who has traveled to Russia on several occasions to meet with his counterparts, said he is “envious of Russia’s infrastructure plans” along the NSR. The plans include dual-use installations necessary for search and rescue, spill response and icebreaker capabilities. But, Papp noted of any larger military considerations, “we’re keeping our eye out.”

Two overlapping yet conflicting visions appear to define the Arctic narrative. One maintains that the Arctic is a zone of cooperation, evidenced primarily by the intergovernmental Arctic Council, where all eight Arctic nations cooperate primarily on environmental and scientific challenges.

The other vision, often found in media accounts, sees the Arctic as a setting for state-based, militarized, competition for vast offshore oil and gas reserves with parallel claims to the Outer Continental Shelf, beyond the 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone. Such accounts often identify opposing claims, governance regarding shipping routes, or exploration for oil and gas reserves, most of which are within existing sovereign zones, as preludes to military conflict, despite evidence to the contrary.
http://www.adn.com/article/20150925/us- ... g-arctic-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
ANCHORAGE — An Air Force exercise usually conducted in the fall near Alaska as a cooperative effort between the United States, Canada and Russia is not taking place this year because of tension related to Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine.

That’s according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, comprised of U.S. and Canadian forces and tasked with detecting and responding to airborne threats to both countries.

Since 2007, NORAD and the Russian Federation Air Force had cooperated on the Vigilant Eagle exercise, which, in recent versions, saw fighter jets intercept a mock hijacked passenger airliner passing from Russia’s airspace to Alaska’s, or vice versa.

The exercise took place in August or September and sometimes coincided with the anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
http://www.newsminer.com/news/alaska_ne ... b2370.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...no word on 2015 exercises as well...
While Russia is building air bases and search-and-rescue facilities in the Arctic and Chinese ships entered U.S. waters off the coast of Alaska, the U.S. lags at least 10 years behind where it needs to be in the Arctic, said Adm. Paul Zukunft, commandant of the Coast Guard.

"Russia is building up capability that may be intended to deny U.S. access into that domain and to extend their base of operations as an offensive force targeting the U.S. using the Arctic as a base to carry out those operations," Zukunft told the Washington Examiner. "I am concerned, just because of the complete lack of transparency."

One key to operating effectively in the Arctic is icebreakers, ships that clear the way for others in ice-covered waters. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, likened them to basic infrastructure on land, calling them the "highways of the Arctic."

Russia has 20 to 30 ships with ice breaking capability.

China will have at least six icebreakers and India is building its own ship, said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.

Analysts widely agree that the U.S. needs at least six icebreakers to be able adequately to carry out its Arctic missions to protect America's economic interests, conduct life-saving missions as traffic in the region increases and respond to any potential national security threats.

But right now, the icebreaker fleet stands at two: the Healy, a medium icebreaker primarily used for research that cannot punch through the thickest ice, and the Polar Star, a heavy icebreaker commissioned in 1976 that recently was refurbished but has only six to eight years of service left.

"Russia has been less than transparent in terms of what their intent is in the Arctic, but they're building installations under the auspices of search and rescue also with a military footprint there as well," he said.

Russia plans to have 14 operational air fields in the Arctic by the end of 2015, finishing construction on 10 this year in addition to the four already in use, state news agency Sputnik News reported this year. The government is also investing about $123 million to update an old military base in northern Russia, including building new living quarters and infrastructure. It also hosts search-and-rescue facilities there.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/freez ... le/2572852" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Russia will hold one of its largest ever military drills in the Arctic later this year while the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and some of its Arctic allies will continue to make secret preparations for a future conflict in the region. Even China, which is determined to project its military footprint across the globe, has strategic plans to exploit a region that holds a third of the world’s energy resources and could provide new shipping routes to transport Chinese goods more quickly to Europe.

The militarization of the Arctic and surrounding countries has been ongoing for a decade with Russia re-fitting over 50 abandoned bases and placing large numbers of special forces close to the Arctic Ocean. At the same time, NATO has been working secretly with Canada, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland and Denmark to boost security close to their Arctic Ocean boundaries.

Only four nations—Russia, Norway, Denmark and Canada—have actually presented claims to the United Nations (UN) to specify how far the continental shelf of each nation reaches into the Arctic Ocean. Russia was the first to do it over a decade ago in accordance with UN Law of the Sea protocols, which the U.S. has not recognized. Russia is awaiting confirmation of its claim, which would give it a massive slice of the Arctic Ocean.

The U.S. meanwhile has also contested Moscow’s claim to the Northern Sea Route (NSR), which runs through the ocean, along the Russian coast. As ice melts, Russia’s more than 40 icebreakers will soon make the route more navigable, allowing Moscow to charge ships using it. Washington, in contrast, regards NSR as a free passage, a position Russia is prepared to challenge, with force if necessary.

The U.S. is in possession of only one ice breaker with President Barack Hussein Obama promising another one “soon.”

Recent interest in the region was kicked off by Russia in 2007, when two submarine-type devices descended to the Arctic seabed to place a Russian flag there, a first ever event. The Russians announced plans last year to reopen 10 “Soviet-era military bases along the Arctic seaboard, including 14 airfields, that were closed after the end of the Cold War,” which has some U.S. officials on edge.

Alaska’s governor has recently complained about the U.S. military drawdown.

“It’s the biggest buildup of the Russian military since the Cold War,” Governor Bill Walker told reporters while President Barack Hussein Obama paid a three-day visit to his state, becoming “the first U.S. president to visit a community above the Arctic Circle,” another sign of the region’s growing strategic importance.

The U.S. war machine has been hard at work in the Arctic as well, where “most of the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies have assigned analysts to work full time on the Arctic,” and spy ships are being overhauled to deal with the new threat to U.S. hegemony.

“The Marjata, an advanced spy ship specifically built to collect electronic intelligence, has been getting new equipment and systems since April at U.S. Naval Weapons Station Yorktown in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia,” reports the Los Angeles Times. Adjacent to the facility, Camp Peary, the Central Intelligence Agency’s training base for “clandestine operatives.”
http://americanfreepress.net/melting-ic ... he-arctic/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The Russian armed forces are to receive the latest version of the Ratnik ("Warrior") outfits by the end of the year.

The combat gear, designated "soldier of the future," protects soldiers from explosions and shrapnel, and features firearms, sighting and protection systems as well as communications, navigation and target designation systems – a total of 50 elements.

The Ratnik outfit has been supplied to troops as standard issue since May 2015. It is primarily designed for snipers, riflemen, drivers of armored vehicles and gunners of airborne combat vehicles.

Work is continuing on the third-generation Russian military gear, which, according to the developers, will feature an exoskeleton. The mass of the third-generation Ratnik will be reduced by a quarter, with the outfit weighing just 28 kilograms.
http://rbth.com/defence/2015/09/16/russ ... 49289.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The Rapid Reaction Technology Office in the Office of the Secretary of Defense has issued a Request for Information under its Thunderstorm Spiral 16-2 for technologies to take part in the planned Multi-Service Demonstration for Arctic Challenges project. The office’s Thunderstorm Technology Demonstration is an interagency effort to provide realistic environments for demonstrating new technologies, with Spiral 16-2 specifically focused on the Artic.
https://defensesystems.com/articles/201 ... ology.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Submerged beneath sea ice and the frigid Arctic waters, the geological peculiarity sits just a few hundred miles from the North Pole, and according to the U.S. Geological Survey the Lomonosov Ridge and areas surrounding it could hold a quarter of the world's remaining fossil fuel reserves—90 billion barrels of oil and more than 1.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas worth an estimated $17.2 trillion.

And as tensions between Russia and the West approach Cold War intensity, a massive military buildup along Russia's Arctic coastline underscores the geostrategic value of a region that's become a 21st-century hotbed of high-tech espionage and military competition.
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/24/a-meltin ... n-ice.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Royal Dutch Shell PLC said that it did not find sufficient quantities of oil and gas during drilling off the shore of Alaska, and will stop further oil and gas exploration. The company drilled in 150 feet of water about 80 miles off the northwest coast of Alaska, the first exploratory well in the Chukchi Sea basin in 24 years.

http://theweek.com/5things/579851/shell ... a-drilling" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...is it really about oil or is there a bigger story here???
Naval collaboration between Russia and China is not new news; the two countries have been conducting joint maritime exercises since 2011. However, in the recent international political climate, the two states have come under close scrutiny for a variety of reasons ranging from China’s island building in the South China Sea to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. As such, the naval military partnership between the two states has taken on new dimensions of late. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s presence at the recent military parade in Beijing earlier this month has been understood by the global community as a sign of deepening ties between China and Russia.

Russia and China’s military partnership isn’t a recent development, in fact, it dates back to December 1992 when the two countries entered into a formal agreement to cooperate on military technology issues. The bulk of China’s military equipment has been purchased from the Russian Federation, including missiles, destroyers, submarines and an aircraft. As of 2006, China has sought to advance its domestic military technology capacity and has decreased its defense dependence on Russia, but the two countries continue to enjoy robust military ties.
http://www.valuewalk.com/2015/09/russia-china-navy/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
WASHINGTON (CNN) - The U.S. intelligence community now thinks Russia may have embarked on its military buildup in Syria because Moscow believes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may not be able to hang onto power and it wants to position itself to back a proxy if the regime were to collapse. It is a view shared by the Pentagon, Defense officials told CNN.

This is one theory, but there is not a firm conclusion within the Obama administration about why Russian President Vladimir Putin is sending aircraft, tanks and missiles into the wartorn country, several senior U.S. officials told CNN.
http://www.ktuu.com/news/politics/us-ru ... a/35499762" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Russia has started to fly unmanned aircraft over Syria in what appears to be surveillance operations over the country, two U.S. officials told CNN.

To date, Russia has over 25 fighter and attack aircraft, 15 helicopters, nine tanks, three surface-to-air missile systems and at least 500 personnel on the ground in Syria, a U.S. official told CNN.
http://www.ktuu.com/news/politics/russi ... a/35398024" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The Syrian ambassador in Moscow said on Wednesday Damascus would welcome the deployment of a Russian military base in the city of Latakia (Lattakia) if Moscow decides to build one there, Interfax news agency reported.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/mi ... -one-.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
BERLIN — Scrambling to address a growing Syrian refugee crisis, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced Sunday that the United States would significantly increase the number of worldwide migrants it takes in over the next two years, though not by nearly the amount many activists and former officials have urged.

The U.S. will accept 85,000 refugees from around the world next year, up from 70,000, and that total would rise to 100,000 in 2017, Kerry said at news conference with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier after they discussed the mass migration of Syrians fleeing their civil war.

Many, though not all, of the additional refugees would be Syrian, American officials have said. Others would come from strife-torn areas of Africa. The White House had previously announced it intended to take in 10,000 additional Syrian refugees over the next year.
http://juneauempire.com/nation-and-worl ... ugees-2016" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
MINSK, Belarus (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday signaled his intention to establish a Russian military air base in neighboring Belarus - a move sure to unnerve Poland and the Baltic nations.

Belarus has made clear it would not welcome a Russian base, but the former Soviet republic remains dependent on Moscow for credit and energy.
http://www.12newsnow.com/story/30069168 ... in-belarus" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
France says it has launched its first air strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria, on targets it identified after two weeks of surveillance flights.

French President Francois Hollande told reporters at the United Nations that six jet fighters hit an Islamic State training camp near the eastern Syrian city of Deir Ezzor.
http://alaska-native-news.com/france-la ... yria-19312" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In August 2014, answering a written query in the Lower House, new defence minister Arun Jaitley said that over the past three years, the US had overtaken Russia as the largest supplier of weapon systems to India.

Almost 40 per cent (Rs 32,615 crore) of Rs 83,458 crore spent on defence imports during this period had gone to American companies. Big ticket items included six C130J Super Hercules aircraft, Harpoon anti-submarine missiles and the C-17 Heavylift transport. Russia clocked second at 30 per cent, or Rs 25,363.96 crore, followed by France at Rs 12,046 crore or 14 per cent.

Israel, which once held second place after the Russians in terms of military sales to India, had a meagre 4 per cent share at Rs 3,389 crore, mostly due to the blacklisting of several large firms like the Israel Military Industries (IMI) on suspicions of corruption.

Last week, September 22, days before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second official visit to the US, New Delhi approved plans to buy 37 military helicopters from Boeing Co. These include 15 CH-47F Chinook heavy-lift helicopters and 22 AH-64E Apache multi-role combat helicopters, and options to buy an additional 7 Chinook and 11 Apache helicopters. An Indian official said the deal could be worth $ 3 billion.
http://swarajyamag.com/politics/how-ame ... -supplier/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
PARIS (AP) - Egypt has agreed to buy two assault ships from France, the French government said Wednesday, dramatically increasing its capabilities on- and off-shore as the country tries to assume a more prominent role against Islamic State militants.

The assault ships, which can each carry 16 helicopter gunships, 700 troops and up to 50 armored vehicles, were originally intended for Russia. France continued building to Russia's specifications - including stenciling Cyrillic writing throughout the vessels - until the deal finally fell apart because of the Ukraine crisis. It was originally supposed to be the biggest arms sale ever by a NATO country to Russia.

France agreed to refund 950 million euros ($1 billion) already paid by Russia. France didn't say how much Egypt has agreed to pay, but denied losing money. A military official who was not authorized to speak publicly about the deal said Egypt would pay 950 million euros ($1 billion) for both ships, which will be delivered next March.

Russia had traditionally supplied Egypt's military, but the country has turned more recently toward Western arms purchases, with France taking a leading role. Egypt bought 24 advanced fighter jets from France earlier this year for nearly $6 billion, as it sought international help to bomb IS targets.
http://www.newswest9.com/story/30096066 ... y-purchase" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The Vietnam People’s Navy on Thursday conducted a flag-raising ceremony for the third and fourth fast-attack missile ships of Molniya class, which have been built locally with Russian technology.

The ceremony to debut the new vessels, coded HQ379 and HQ380, was held at the military port of Naval Zone 2 in the southern province of Dong Nai.

The ships, built by the Ba Son Shipbuilding Corporation under the Vietnamese Ministry of Defense’s, were earlier handed over by the ministry to Brigade 167 of Naval Zone 2.

The two ships successfully passed a run test conducted by the Vietnam People’s Navy and the ministry in April this year.

The warships are the third and fourth of the six Molniya-class missile warship vessels designed on the basis of a Russian version under a technology transfer agreement signed by Vietnam and Russia in 2009.
http://tuoitrenews.vn/society/30621/vie ... technology" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
WASHINGTON (AP) - Gen. Martin Dempsey stepped down as the military's top officer Friday, after four tumultuous years of war, budget cuts and the strains of combat on a battle-worn force.

He turned over his responsibilities to Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, who is taking over at a crucial point, as tensions surge with Russia, U.S. troops wage war against militants in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, and the effort to train and equip Syrian rebels struggles to find a footing.
http://www.12newsnow.com/story/30119036 ... challenges" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
FAIRBANKS — Instead of falling to the dozer blade, the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program has new life.

In mid-August, U.S. Air Force General Tom Masiello shook hands with UAF’s Brian Rogers and Bob McCoy, transferring the powerful upper- atmosphere research facility from the military to the university.

You may have heard of HAARP.

“Even though it’s esoteric and hard to understand, it’s the best,” said Bob McCoy, head of UAF’s Geophysical Institute, which now has the keys to the complex, located off mile 11.3 of Tok Cutoff Road.

The facility is the best tool to study a region above Earth we know little about, McCoy said. Of three such ionospheric heaters in the world — in Norway, Russia and soon-to-be in Puerto Rico — HAARP is the “most powerful and agile of the three,” according to Craig Heinselman, director of the facility in Norway.



“(With HAARP), it is now possible to conduct controlled experiments, versus simply watching and waiting for the sun to perturb space and attempting to learn from studying its response,” Herbert Carlson of Utah State University said at the workshop.

What’s to be gained from perturbing space? The ionosphere carries satellite and radio signals that are disturbed during solar storms.

“With heat, we can create a disturbance and watch how quickly it dissipates,” said Bill Bristow, a space physicist and the Geophysical Institute’s point man on HAARP. “We can generate irregularities to test the effects on satellite to ground radio systems. We don’t have to wait for Mother Nature to generate conditions.”

Since it opened in 2003 with funding the late U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens helped secure, HAARP hosted many scientists doing applied research for the military. One such study was using the antenna array to heat a part of the ionosphere that in turn acted as a low frequency antenna that could send an ocean-penetrating signal to a submarine. That ping could tell a submarine captain to surface in order to receive conventional radio communications.

“The military had specific objectives, now we can do more basic science,” Bristow said. “It will help us with general ionospheric/thermospheric modeling, like how do ions and neutrons couple in the upper atmosphere?”

HAARP is now open, but the transmitters have been cool since spring of 2014. With the transfer from the military to the university, Bristow and McCoy are now looking for customers — scientists funded to travel to central Alaska on two-week campaigns in which they fire the transmitters for 10 hours each day.

There are no customers yet. But McCoy and Bristow are confident they will be able to pay back a $2 million loan from the University of Alaska statewide office. That money is now keeping the lights on at HAARP and funding other costs of operation.

The clock is ticking to repay the loan, said McCoy.

“I’ve got three years to find customers,” he said. “We’re sticking our necks out here, but it is the best in the world and somebody spent $300 million to build it.”
http://www.newsminer.com/features/sunda ... 34838.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...old technology....like all old technology...not worth what ya paid for it...

Nothing new here though....

This 1948 U.S. News article details plans for countering an expected Russian attack.
http://www.usnews.com/news/special-repo ... -a-preview" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...wars and rumors of wars...

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

In order to save a few thousand words....some images

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http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of ... tic-2015-8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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MAJOR ICEBREAKERS OF THE WORLD
http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/cg552/docs/2 ... 0Chart.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Modernization: Background and Issues for Congress
https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/RL34391.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Russia Fortifying Bases Arctic Region
http://static2.businessinsider.com/imag ... -bases.png" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Operations in the North
https://tonyseed.files.wordpress.com/20 ... forces.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Northern Fleet Details
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Fleet" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Alaskan Command (ALCOM) Details
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaskan_Command" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska., told military leaders at a recent Senate Armed Services Committee Navy budget hearing - “The Russians are looking at adding four new combat brigades in the Arctic as our U.S. Army is thinking at pulling them out of there,” he said. “I think that would give Vladimir Putin a lot of joy. They are building 13 new airfields and conducting long-range air patrols off the coast of Alaska.”

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, expressed concern that the U.S. only operates a handful of ice breaker ships compared to Russia’s large fleet of ice breakers. “We have one heavy-duty and one medium-duty Coast Guard ice breakers,” he said. “The Russians have 17 ice breakers in the Arctic. If we are talking about innocent passage and trade, ice breakers are the highway builders and that is an example of how we are really not adequately developing our strategic interests in that region.”
http://defensetech.org/2015/03/12/russi ... akers-say/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Washington does not think that Russia is militarizing the Arctic, US Special Representative for the Arctic Admiral Robert J. Papp, Jr. told TASS in an exclusive interview on Wednesday.

"I don't have enough detail on everything that's being done by Canada, by Russia [in the Arctic]," he said. "Russia is doing reasonable things because of the increase of the maritime traffic that's going through the North Sea Route," Papp added.

"If the Northwest Passage opened up and we had an increase of traffic, the United States would probably want to build a Coast Guard air station or a base or something like that," he said. "One person might look at that and say you are militarizing the Arctic, another person might say you are doing reasonable things to make sure you have safety and security," Papp stressed.
http://in.rbth.com/news/2015/03/11/us_d ... ativ_41921" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Anton Lavrov, an analyst at the Moscow-based Center for the Analysis of Strategies and Technologies wrote in Moscow Defense Brief, the center's monthly publication. "Russia is not facing any direct military threats from the north. Its military buildup in the Arctic pursues long-term goals rather than any immediate objectives," he added.
http://www.defensenews.com/story/defens ... /24335619/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Russian General Staff chief Valery Gerasimov said Tuesday - “In 2015, the Defense Ministry’s main efforts will focus on an increase of combat capabilities of the armed forces and increasing the military staff in accordance with military construction plans. Much attention will be given to the groupings in Crimea, Kaliningrad, and the Arctic.”
http://sputniknews.com/military/2015011 ... 34735.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Russia’s Arctic Military Build-Up is Real, and You Can See It From Space
http://cryopolitics.com/2015/01/22/russ ... rom-space/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Since the planting of a Russian flag on the North Pole seabed in 2007, there has been a build-up of personnel and military infrastructure across the Arctic Circle. In late 2014, Russia conducted wide-ranging military operations in the Arctic. More recently, snap Russian drills in March of this year involved over 45,000 personnel, with a total of 4000 exercises planned for 2015. Russia’s rivals have also engaged in a troubling spate of military activity, including Canada’s annual Operation Nanook drills. Norway’s annual Joint Viking maneuvers, which took place in March 2015, were the largest in its history.

The sheer ambition of Russia’s military objectives in the Arctic are further demonstrated by its plans to create the Arctic Strategic Command in Severomorsk, establish a specialized brigade in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, situated in the northern Ural Mountains, and rebuild military airfields in the Sakha Republic and the port town of Anadyr in the far east. These military plans cover a vast distance stretching from the European Baltic to the Bering Sea bordering Alaska, a distance of over 3500 miles.
http://muftah.org/russia-north-pole-int ... on-arctic/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The Northern Fleet represents two-thirds of the entire Russian Navy, which is the only navy in the world to operate nuclear-powered icebreaker ships. In addition, Moscow announced the formation of a new 6,000-soldier military group in the far north consisting of two motorized infantry brigades located in the Murmansk area and the Yamal-Nenets autonomous region. Radar and ground guidance systems are also planned for Franz Josef Land, Wrangel Island and Cape Schmidt. The Federal Security Service plans to increase the number of border guards on Russia's northern perimeter as well.

The recent Vostok 2014 full-scale military exercise — the biggest since the collapse of the Soviet Union — was a revealing indication of Russia's intentions in the Arctic. Russian troops, sailors and airmen carried out combat training missions in the region, prominently deploying Pantsir-S (air defense) and Iskander-M (theater ballistic missile) weapon systems, among others. Such activities inevitably evoke the atmosphere of the Cold War, when the region was the focus of U.S. and NATO attention. Furthermore, Russia's Northern Fleet announced that its Independent Marine Infantry Brigade will undergo intensive training in the Arctic region throughout 2015.

Going into 2015, it is estimated that the Russian armed forces have around 56 military aircraft and 122 helicopters in the Arctic region. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu stated that 14 military airfields on Russia's Arctic seaboard would be operational by the end of the year. The Ministry of Defense also said some of the 50 modernized MiG-31BM Foxhound interceptors expected by 2019 will be charged with defense duties over the Arctic. Despite the economic problems plaguing Russia, the Ministry of Defense managed to escape the significant budget cuts levied against most other ministries. In fact, the Kremlin has increased defense spending by 20 percent, a clear indication of Russia's priorities for 2015 and a likely indication that Moscow intends to meet its military commitments.
https://www.stratfor.com/analysis/russi ... -supremacy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Soviet military presence in the Arctic has long been governed by the one factor – nuclear weapons. The Northern Fleet ensured that operations of nuclear submarines playing hide and seek under the ice vying for an opportunity to launch ballistic missiles at any time took place whereas strategic bombers were flying over the North Pole to the shores of the USA. A network of military facilities including the nuclear testing base on the Novaya Zemlya in situ until now was created with all this in mind.

It is noteworthy that today’s Russian political leadership is seriously considering the possibility of a nuclear war. Huge lobbying potential appears for generals accordingly. And even though the number of troops deployed in the Arctic is relatively insignificant, disproportionately high expenditures on them will become a mainstay in the budget; the nuclear deterrence obliges. At the same time, the effectiveness of such a deterrent simply cannot be verified. It means that even new Russian authorities will find it extremely difficult to alter this logic whereas, with such an approach, the military in the tundra and the Arctic seas can expect an expeditious career, public recognition as heroes and minimal real responsibility for many years to come.

And it is not a caricature dictator or general who decides to wage war against the entire world from the Arctic Ocean that is the main risk here in the least, but technical failure: aircraft, ships and submarines suffer distress sometimes. Thus, the militarization of the Arctic does pose a threat to Russian tax-payers, soldiers and officers.
http://intersectionproject.eu/article/s ... -realistic" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Russia has experienced two major setbacks in its vision for “conquering” the High North.

The first setback came from the seriously reduced value of the natural resources that are presumed to be hidden in the depths of the Arctic shelf. Putin’s lieutenants—including Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Security Council of Russia—loved to engage in speculations about the fierce competition for access to the rich oil and gas fields that were certain to be discovered there. The problem is not only that the U.S. and EU sanctions have made it impossible for the state-owned oil giant Rosneft to continue the exploration of Arctic seas. (Sanctions prevent the import of technology and know-how, and U.S. companies—such as Exxon Mobil—who had worked in partnership with Rosneft have left.) The real problem is that estimated production costs and low oil prices add huge liabilities to any off-shore project.

The second disappointment has to do with international maritime transit along the Northern Sea Route (called Sevmorput in Russian). Many politicians in Moscow expected that climate change would shrink the Arctic ice, increase the commercial viability of a shorter connection between China and Europe, and provide useful employment for Russian icebreakers. The problem is that the old Soviet infrastructure along the Sevmorput is so rotten that navigation in the difficult northern waters remains too risky. Egypt, in the meantime, has swiftly constructed the New Suez Canal, which offers a far more reliable route for tanker and container traffic.

As the economic rationale for high political attention to the Arctic disappears, Moscow focuses on the game it knows best: military power plays. As the crowd of environmentalists and climate-concerned politicians prepare to gather in Anchorage, a Russian navy squadron executed a large series of exercises along the Sevmorput. Although the ships are 30-plus years old and their hulls have no ice protection, Russia is determined to show readiness to deploy the newly-created Arctic brigade to any desolate shore in the northern seas. This follows the revised Maritime Doctrine that Putin approved a month ago, which places a heavy emphasis on protecting Russia’s interests in the Arctic.

It takes a lot of strategic imagination to construct threats to these interests. Aleksandr Bortnikov, the director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), has argued that there is an urgent need to upgrade defenses against terrorist attacks. In fact, the only challenge Russia has encountered in the area was the Greenpeace protest against Gazprom’s drilling platform in the Pechora Sea in September 2013. The FSB launched a swift operation to arrest the eco-activists and their ship Arctic Sunrise on the charge of piracy. The permanent court of arbitration in The Hague then ordered Russia to pay damages for that harsh arrest, much to the consternation of Russian authorities.

What Moscow really worries about is the examination of its claim for expanding the continental shelf under its control all the way to the North Pole (a claim currently sitting with the U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, or CLCS). After many years of preparation, this revised claim was finally submitted on August 3, and the success is a matter of high political prestige. But it is very doubtful that demonstrations of military might would help that process. Further complicating matters is that Denmark has submitted an overlapping claim and Canada is finalizing its own—and the CLCS cannot make a recommendation on competing claims unless parties agree on a compromise.

Russia appears firmly set on its course of militarization of the Arctic. In a region where economic activities are mostly declining and where environmental challenges are on the rise, Russia appears to be engaged in a one-sided arms race. It is glaringly obvious to observers outside the Kremlin that Russia’s severe economic recession makes this course unsustainable. Russia may aspire to Arctic greatness, but there is little there to achieve and Russia is unlikely to be able to achieve it.
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/order-fr ... itics-baev" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Although plausible, there is much more to Putin's moves than meets the eye. The oil price rout has rocked the financial foundations of Russia's state apparatus. Moscow's traditional earning model, built on extensive oil and gas revenues, has come under severe stress as a result.

This situation is amplified by the financial and sectoral sanctions imposed by the West.

Major oil and gas companies, such as Rosneft and Gazprom, are deprived of invaluable technology to explore Arctic and unconventional oil and gas resources; something Russia will desperately rely on in the long term if it wishes to stay a leading oil and gas exporter.

Some commentators openly wonder whether the recession in Russia will result in social upheaval.

The pressure is certainly increasing, and recent reshuffles in the elite around Putin, such as the stepping down of Vladimir Yakunin, the powerful head of Russia's state railways and long-time Putin confidant, may indeed suggest that changes are afoot.

Rosneft recently saw four out of five of its requests for funding from Russia's sovereign wealth fund denied. Gazprom, Russia's national gas behemoth, is hardly in a more enviable position.

China gas deal

Putin heralded the May 2014 gas deal with China as the pact of the century. However, given that the contract provides no protection against low oil prices, the project is already on the edge of loss-making.

With a second pipeline to China postponed, the Middle Kingdom's economic downturn effectively hammered the final nail into the coffin of Putin's much-coveted Asia Pivot.

The problem is that if Russia wishes to continue to be a leading oil and gas producer in the future, it must explore new oil and gas finds.

Russia's traditional Siberian fields are aging and its liquefied natural gas plans are taking a hit, with more and more supplies appearing from competitors. And now that China's energy appetite has stalled, the prospects of the oil price picking up soon are negligible.

If it is to survive, Russia needs other resources. These are found in the Arctic. For example, in September 2014, Exxon Mobil and Rosneft announced a major oil find in the Kara Sea, but cooperation had to be suspended due to the souring political climate.

In other words, Putin's sabre-rattling over the Arctic is not just about diverting attention away from a troubled economy at home; it is equally about securing the country's - and the government's – long-term future.

Why the West should be worried

On 31 August, Obama embarked on a three-day tour of the Arctic, during which he addressed the Conference on Global Leadership in the Arctic.

"Glacier", as the conference is known, is a policy event that brings together Foreign Ministers of Arctic nations and key non-Arctic states, as well as scientists and policy-makers to discuss climate change in the region.

Western nations tend to view the Arctic as part of the Global Commons. Given the high stakes described above, it is not clear whether Russia thinks the same. There are ample reasons as to why the West ought to be profoundly concerned about this. Moscow appears to be determined to militarise the region; something Western nations, at least for now, appear unwilling to rival.

Also, should a kind of "arms race for the North" take off, there is a genuine risk that these kinds of demonstrations of might are misinterpreted and could trigger an actual conflict.

More acutely perhaps, a Russia that is cash-strapped may ultimately decide to engage in Arctic oil and gas exploration "on the cheap" with all the associated risk for the safety of this pristine environment.
http://www.atlantic-community.org/-/wes ... the-arctic" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
St. Petersburg's Admiralty Shipyards has begun work on the first Russian military icebreaker in decades, to be equipped with a special propulsion system that allows it to move both forward and backward, the shipyard said Thursday.

The icebreaker, to be called "Ilya Muromets" after the knight errant of Russian lore, will be part of the Russian Navy's Northern Fleet and will deploy troops and escort transport convoys to supply bases and airports within the Arctic region, the shipyard said in an online press release.

The vessel will be Russia's first new military icebreaker in over 40 years, according to news agency RIA Novosti.

Work on the ship is beginning as Russia ramps up its military presence in the Arctic amid a drive to industrialize the resource-rich region despite the protests of environmental activists, who say the fragile ecosystem could be irreparably damaged.

The ship, whose hull displaces 6,000 tons of water, will also be able to nimbly move around ice-flows thank to its diesel-electric "Azipod" rudder system. The Azipod propeller, which is mounted on a steerable pod that can be rotated 360 degrees, allows ships to move in any direction — backward, forward or sideways.

Admiralty Shipyards said it aimed to finish construction of the boat by the end of 2017.

Russia has a number of other icebreakers powered by atomic reactors, but these are not operated by the military.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/ ... 19673.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Admiral Vladimir Korolev,the Commander of the Navy, had informed that the tree Borei-class submarines (Yuri Dolgoruky, Aleksandr Nevsky, and Vladimir Monomakh) would go this year into the Arctic for combat training. It is unclear, whether this means that the plan for transfer of Aleksandr Nevsky to the Pacific Fleet in September this year is cancelled.

Setting new ambitious maritime goals may sound very grand and make international headlines, but in fact, the Russian Navy is not in a very good shape – and is set to be a big loser in the unavoidable deep cuts in the 2020 Armament program. Rogozin was forced to admit earlier this month that shipbuilding was severely affected by the interruption of cooperative ties and had failed to proceed with import substitution. The cancellation of the major deal with France on the delivery of two Mistral-class amphibious assault ships for the Russian navy was a big blow to the plans for expanding naval power projection capabilities. Symbolically, at the naval parade in Baltiisk which Putin attended, a missile failed to launch from a ship, and at the Black Sea Fleet parade in Sevastopol, a missile broke down immediately after launch.

These embarrassing technical failures remind that the Bulava missile for the Borei-class submarines is now mass-produced without completing the whole program of tests, and the track record of these tests is far from stellar. The risks involved in demonstrating Russia’s naval might may be acceptable by Russian standards – but they are seriously worrisome for the European states who happen to be its neighbors.
http://blogs.prio.org/ArcticPolitics/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Train route from East to West through Europe for troop transportation if needed...
http://static2.businessinsider.com/imag ... ap_3x4.png" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

User avatar
mes5464
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 29570
Location: Seneca, South Carolina

Re: Blipits

Post by mes5464 »

Thanks for this update Jason. This news really points to the fulfillment of very specific prophecies. Particularly the last link about the longest railways in the world.

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

Incredibly strong Hurricane Patricia is barreling ashore on the Southwest coast of Mexico near La Manzanilla as a Category 5 storm. At 5 pm EDT Friday, NHC put Patricia's intensity at 190 mph winds. Early on Friday morning, Patricia reached a remarkable intensity of 200 mph sustained winds, which the storm maintained for 12 hours. These are the highest reliably-measured surface winds on record for a tropical cyclone, anywhere on the Earth.

At 2:30 pm Friday afternoon, October 23, 2015, a NOAA hurricane hunter aircraft measured a central pressure of 879 mb--the lowest pressure ever measured in a hurricane in the Western Hemisphere. The previous strongest Eastern Pacific hurricane was Hurricane Linda of 1997, with a pressure of 902 mb (estimated from satellite imagery), and the strongest Atlantic hurricane on record was Hurricane Wilma of 2005, with 882 mb. Patricia does not beat the record-lowest pressure in the Western Pacific, though, which is held by Super Typhoon Tip of 1979: 870 mb.

Patricia the fastest-intensifying Western Hemisphere hurricane on record
Patricia's central pressure dropped an astonishing 100 mb in 24 hours, making it the fastest-intensifying hurricane ever observed in the Western Hemisphere. Patricia's pressure at 5 am EDT Thursday, October 22, 2015 was 980 mb, and was 880 mb at 5 am EDT Friday. The previous record was a drop of 97 mb in 24 hours for Hurricane Wilma of 2005 (between 1200 UTC 18 October - 1200 UTC 19 October), according to the official NHC report for the storm. Patricia's intensification rate was very close to the WMO-recognized world record for fasting-intensifying tropical cyclone: 100 millibars in just under 24 hours by Super Typhoon Forrest in the Northwest Pacific in 1983.

Patricia is estimated to have intensified 85 knots (100 mph) in 24 hours, from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane. In the Eastern Pacific, Hurricane Linda of 1997 is the only storm on record to have intensified at this rate. The Atlantic's record holder for largest wind increase in 24 hours is held by Hurricane Wilma of 2005, which intensified from a 60-knot tropical storm to a 150-knot Category 5 hurricane--an increase of 90 knots (105 mph). Air Force reconnaissance observations indicated that the eye of Wilma contracted to a diameter of 2 n mi during this time; this is the smallest eye known to National Hurricane Center (NHC) staff. Patricia's eye diameter was 8 miles at it's peak strength.

Patricia the third strongest tropical cyclone in history (by wind)
Patricia's 200 mph sustained winds make it the 3rd strongest tropical cyclone in world history (by 1-minute averaged wind speed.) Officially, here are the strongest tropical cyclones in world history, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center and the National Hurricane Center (using 1-minute averaged sustained winds):

Super Typhoon Nancy (1961), 215 mph winds, 882 mb. Made landfall as a Cat 2 in Japan, killing 191 people.
Super Typhoon Violet (1961), 205 mph winds, 886 mb pressure. Made landfall in Japan as a tropical storm, killing 2 people.
Super Typhoon Ida (1958), 200 mph winds, 877 mb pressure. Made landfall as a Cat 1 in Japan, killing 1269 people.
Super Typhoon Haiyan (2013), 195 mph winds, 895 mb pressure. Made landfall in the Philippines at peak strength.
Super Typhoon Kit (1966), 195 mph winds, 880 mb. Did not make landfall.
Super Typhoon Sally (1964), 195 mph winds, 895 mb. Made landfall as a Cat 4 in the Philippines.

However, it is now recognized (Black 1992) that the maximum sustained winds estimated for typhoons during the 1940s to 1960s were too strong. The strongest reliably measured tropical cyclones were both 10 mph weaker than Patricia, with 190 mph winds—the Western Pacific's Super Typhoon Tip of 1979, and the Atlantic's Hurricane Allen of 1980. Both storms had a hurricane hunter aircraft inside of them to measure their top winds. Haiyan's winds were estimated using only satellite images, making its intensity estimate of lower confidence.

Dr. Hugh Willoughby, former head of NOAA's Hurricane Research Division, had this to say about the winds measured in Super Typhoon Nancy and the other high-end typhoons from this list from the 1960s:

"I would not take the winds seriously because reconnaissance meteorologists estimated them visually. A decade later when I flew with the VW-1 hurricane hunters, we had the same Doppler system used to measure the winds of Typhoon Nancy. It tracked the aircraft motion relative to the (possibly moving) sea surface. It couldn't get a coherent signal in high winds because the beam reflected from both the actual surface (whatever that is) and blowing spray. Visual estimates are dubious because the surface (under the eyewall!) is hard to see unless you are flying below cloud base (200-300 m) and also because appreciably above 115 mph, it's completely white with blowing spray. We used to think that we could estimate stronger winds from the decreasing coverage of slightly greenish patches where the spray was thinner. I now think that we were kidding ourselves. In those days the distinctions among wind gust, sustained one-minute winds, etc., were less well defined than they are now. So we may never know the 1960s reconnaissance data really means!"

Forecast for Patricia: Mexico at dire risk
The coast of Southwest Mexico is at risk of tremendous damage from wind, storm surge, and flooding rains. The right front quadrant of the storm, near the town of La Manzanilla, can expect gigantic waves atop a devastating storm surge. In a Friday afternoon blog post, storm surge expect Dr. Hal Needham says he expects a storm surge of 16.5 ft (5 m), which will be accompanied by large, destructive waves. This would be the largest storm surge in the modern history of Western Mexico. Fortunately, hurricane-force winds are likely to miss the resort town of Puerto Vallarta, which lies on the weaker left side of the hurricane. In their 5 pm EDT Friday WInd Probability Forecast, NHC gave Puerto Vallarta a 19% chance of seeing hurricane-force winds of 74+ mph. However, the town of Manzanillo (population 100,000), on the right-front quadrant of Patricia, had a 49% chance of hurricane-force winds.

After landfall, Patricia will slam into very rugged terrain, triggering torrential rains with the risk of severe flooding and mudslides. The mountainous trek will shred Patricia’s low-level circulation quickly, but the hurricane’s upper-level circulation will proceed quickly northeastward, arriving near South Texas by Sunday. Models suggest that a nontropical or hybrid low-pressure center may develop near the upper-level center at that point. Patricia’s presence will exacerbate a multi-day rain/flood episode already under way across Texas, with widespread 4” - 8” rainfall amounts across the eastern half of the state expected between now and Monday. Localized totals well over a foot are quite possible.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... rynum=3166" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...not the kind of records one wants to see....
Mexico hunkers down for Patricia, 'the most dangerous storm in history'

(CNN)Hurricane Patricia -- the strongest hurricane ever recorded -- weakened slightly as it barreled closer to Mexico's Pacific coast, with sustained winds decreasing to 190 mph and gusts to 235 mph on Friday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/23/americas/ ... -patricia/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The government of Mexico declared a state of emergency in dozens of municipalities in the states of Colima, Nayarit and Jalisco. Residents stacked sandbags in front of properties and rushed to grocery stores to stock up on supplies.

“We are going to go through difficult moments in the face of a phenomenon that we have never seen before,” said President Enrique Peña Nieto in a radio interview. “Right now the most urgent important thing is that people are aware and look for a safe place.”

Patricia was expected to make landfall by early evening, according to Mexico’s national weather service, with the eye passing along the small beach towns of Playa Perula and Playa Chamela, both in the state of Jalisco.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/24/world ... .html?_r=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
About 15,000 foreign and domestic tourists were moved to shelters in Jalisco state ahead of the powerful hurricane's landfall, expected on Friday evening, said Jose Maria Tapia, director general of the National Disaster Prevention Center.

All flights to and from Puerto Vallarta's airport were suspended ahead of the storm, Federal Police tweeted.

Some visitors were lucky enough to get on the last flights out.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/23/travel/pu ... icia-feat/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Hurricane Patricia is packing sustained winds of about 200 mph, a Category 5 storm. To get a sense of Patricia’s power, consider the destructive winds of a tornado.

According to the Enhanced Fujita scale, the current standard for measuring tornadoes, winds less than 200 mph are considered an extreme danger, capable of leveling houses to rubble.

Patricia’s winds are technically as strong as an EF4 tornado.

Gusts of greater than 200 mph have also been measured in the hurricane, which would be the equivalent of the most powerful EF5 tornado.

That force is strong enough to wreck strong framed, well built houses, according to the National Weather Service. That would sweep away foundations, critically damage tall buildings or even collapse them.

Some cars, trucks and train cars can be picked up like toys and tossed up to a mile away.
http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-ame ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Patricia is forecast to remain a Category 5 hurricane at landfall, making it capable of causing catastrophic wind damage.

The good news is that Category 5 winds are occurring over a very small area near the center, about 15 miles across. Otherwise, hurricane force winds extend outward up to 30 miles from the center and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 175 miles.

Only one Category 5 hurricane has ever been known to make landfall on Mexico's Pacific coast. That hurricane followed a path similar to that of Hurricane Patricia and struck near Puerto Vallarta in late October 1959, causing some 1,800 deaths.
http://www.weather.com/storms/hurricane ... xico-coast" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Image

Image

...grocery stores are empty...

Map of Hurricane Patricia
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015 ... ricia.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Live Webcam link (if you can get in...update looks like webcam is down)
http://myearthcam.com/lamanzanilla" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hurricane Patricia Landfall 200+ mph winds LIVE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um3l6AMYOls" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Patricia streams gathered
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXgbXaf ... e=youtu.be" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The National Hurricane Center says the eye of Hurricane Patricia has made landfall near Cuixmala on Mexico's southwestern Pacific coast. Its winds were measured at 165 mph, somewhat weakened but still a Category 5 storm capable of catastrophic damage.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/ ... e-patricia" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...CATEGORY 5 HURRICANE PATRICIA MAKES LANDFALL ALONG THE COAST
OF MEXICO WITH 165-MPH WINDS...

Satellite images indicate that the center of the eye of Patricia made landfall at approximately 615 PM CDT...2315 UTC...along the coast of southwestern Mexico near Cuixmala. This position is also about 55 miles...85 km...west-northwest of Manzanillo, Mexico. The maximum winds were estimated to be 165 mph...270 km/h.
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MI ... 2328.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The southern coast of Mexico has already seen swells generated by Patricia that will spread northwestward during the next day or so, according to an advisory from the National Hurricane Center. These swells are likely to create surf and rip current conditions that could be life-threatening.

Prior to Patricia's arrival, Mexican authorities declared a state of emergency and warned residents to prepare. The state of emergency was issued for 56 municipalities who are projected to face Patricia's wrath, the Associated Press reported. The municipalities are located in Colima, Nayarit and Jalisco states.

"We need people to understand the magnitude of the hurricane, it is a devastating hurricane, the biggest one ever registered," Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio told Mexico’s Radio Formula Friday morning, via the AP.
http://www.weather.com/news/weather/new ... st-impacts" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
As the outer wall of the hurricane swept over the coast at 6:15 p.m., the authorities reported trees being knocked down and landslides taking place along the road between the city of Colima and the port city of Manzanillo. Light poles were quickly toppled and roofs torn off.

Less than an hour later, the National Hurricane Center said the hurricane was barreling inland over southwestern Mexico with maximum sustained wind speeds of 160 m.p.h. and remained “extremely dangerous.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/24/world ... .html?_r=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
MIAMI, FL --
Hurricane Patricia roared onshore in southwestern Mexico on Friday evening, bringing lashing rains, surging seas and cyclonic winds with what forecasters called a potential to cause "catastrophic" damage.

The storm's center made landfall near Cuixmala, about 55 miles (85 kilometers) west-northwest of the port city of Manzanillo. Record wind speeds measured earlier in the day had fallen off somewhat to 165 mph (270 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said, but Patricia was still an extremely dangerous Category 5 storm.
http://abc13.com/1046931/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

....a couple video streams at the link above...

Hurricane Patricia’s Path
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/o ... orm-surges" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Live Video Streams Show Hurricane Patricia Making Landfall
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/liv ... 0a3894a052" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Images from the landfall of Hurricane Patricia
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/image ... ia-2015-10" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

University of Utah MesoWest - Weather Conditions for CCXJ1 - currently recording wind speed of 162 mph
http://mesowest.utah.edu/cgi-bin/droman ... type=LOCAL" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Storm Forecast: The eye of the storm has made landfall in the state of Jalisco Mexico at 4:15pm PDT, about 50 miles WNW of Manzanillo. The storm is now on a weakening trend, due to the interaction with land, and should weaken at a fairly quick rate due to the higher terrain in the region. Patricia is forecast to track NE'ward across central Mexico, likely to be a tropical storm by Saturday afternoon, if not sooner.
http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/major ... ia_132795/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Coastal Watches/Warnings and 5-Day Forecast Cone for Storm Center
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_ep5.sh ... l#contents" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Hurricane Patricia hit Mexico’s west coast in an area between commercial centers and rapidly broke down into a tropical depression, sparing Latin America’s second-biggest economy from a feared catastrophe.

Mexico has suffered “no major incidents” from the storm, Communications and Transportation Minister Gerardo Ruiz Esparza told reporters in Guadalajara, Jalisco, the state most affected. Evacuations and security measures put in place ahead of the hurricane helped spare lives and infrastructure, he said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... ical-storm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
GUADALAJARA, Mexico — Hurricane Patricia — one of the strongest storms ever to make landfall — was downgraded to a tropical depression Saturday as it moved inland, leaving behind less major damage than feared. No deaths were initially reported as emergency crews made their way into the hardest-hit areas.

This capital of the state of Jalisco — ground zero for Hurricane Patricia's arrival on shore late Friday — was wet with some storm debris Saturday morning but mostly unscathed from the storm's wrath.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center downgraded Patricia to a tropical depression at 11 a.m. ET, a stunning transformation from the Category 5 hurricane that roared toward Mexico's Pacific coast packing sustained winds of 200 mph for much of Friday.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2 ... /74517864/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
After growing extraordinarily quickly to Category 5 strength, and striking the Mexican coast less than a day later, Tropical Depression Patricia is rapidly dissipating--leading to one of the most abbreviated life cycles on record for any Category 5 tropical cyclone. At 11 am EDT Wednesday, Patricia was a minimal tropical storm, with 40 mph winds. A mere 36 hours later, Patricia packed winds of 160 mph, eventually reaching 200 mph--the highest reliably measured surface winds in any tropical cyclone on Earth. After 36 more hours (at 11 am EDT Saturday) Patricia’s sustained winds were back down to 35 mph. As with all tropical cyclones, Patricia’s landfall was its downfall: the hurricane slammed into rugged coastal terrain while accelerating northeastward, which quickly shredded its low-level circulation. At 11 am EDT Saturday, Patricia’s low-level center was located in central Mexico, about 100 miles northeast of Zacatecas. Unimpeded by the mountainous terrain, Patricia’s upper-level circulation is racing more quickly to the northeast, on its way to help generate a large area of torrential rain tonight across southern Texas.

The storm hit a relatively sparsely populated area, missing the cities of Puerto Vallarta (population 380,000) to its left and Manzanillo (population 100,000) to its right. The region of coast most affected by the storm surge did not have a large area of shallow water offshore conducive for piling up a huge storm surge. Patricia's Category 5 winds were confined to a relatively narrow swath about fifteen miles in diameter, and this swath missed major cities. While Patricia did dump torrential rains along its path, the storm was moving fast enough at landfall--about 20 mph--that these heavy rains did not stay in place long enough to generate the kinds of devastating floods we've seen in the past from Mexican hurricanes.

Life-threatening floods possible through Sunday in central Texas
While not as dramatic as an approaching Category 5 hurricane, a mammoth heavy-rain episode this weekend in Texas has real potential for harm and damage. The locations at greater risk include from the Hill Country west of Austin and San Antonio, extending through these major metro areas to the Houston area. Rainfall amounts in some areas have already exceeded the top amounts produced by Hurricane Patricia’s landfall in Mexico, and more is on the way.

Several ingredients are converging across the heart of Texas to produce an event that will be unusually intense and prolonged even for this flood-familiar region. Heavy rains have been lumbering across the northwestern two-thirds of the state since Thursday, the result of a large upper-level trough over the Rockies coupled with strong, moist southerly flow. Showers and thunderstorms intensified across central TX on Friday night along an east-west surface boundary just south of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. From Thursday morning through noon CDT Saturday, a total of 19.07” of rain fell at Corsicana, where Interstate 45 was closed in both directions at midday Saturday.

Coastal low could produce noteworthy flooding on Texas coast
With the main upper trough lifting out, a stronger cold front will plow southeast tonight, colliding with the upper-level remnants of Patricia over central and southeast Texas. A low-level jet will likely develop, importing even more moisture into the area. The upper-level energy from Patricia will help focus a new surface low near the middle Texas coast tonight that will translate slowly northeast near Houston on Sunday and into Louisiana on Monday. Models suggest that winds along the Texas coast could approach tropical storm strength near this surface low, and it may exhibit some subtropical characteristics, but the low will be driven mainly by nontropical processes and it is unlikely to be classified or named by the National Hurricane Center. The prolonged, strengthening southeast flow ahead of the low will lead to some coastal and tidal flooding, especially in the Houston-Galveston area.

Record atmospheric moisture at hand
Atmospheric moisture is already at record levels for late October across far south Texas (see Figure 7), and rainfall rates as high as 4.5”/hour have already observed. With the factors above converging after dark on Saturday, extremely intense rains can be expected over a large part of southern Texas from Saturday night into Sunday. People in flood-prone areas such as the Hill Country will need to be especially vigilant. Urban flooding is a particular concern tonight in Austin and San Antonio and on Sunday in Houston, where it could be compounded by the surge issues mentioned above. Isolated tornadoes are also possible on Saturday afternoon and evening, especially near the Texas coast, as highlighted by the Storm Prediction Center in its latest convective outlook.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... rynum=3167" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...what a blessing...ironically Texas will likely take the brunt of the storm...
DALLAS – Emergency management officials in Texas contending with multiple storm systems are preparing for heavy rains to continue through the weekend and widespread flooding that may follow. Rain fell steadily Friday through much of the state and is forecast to continue through at least Saturday as a storm system slowly moves eastward. Many parts of Texas, including the metro regions of Austin, Dallas and Houston, could see upward of 12 inches of rain by Saturday.
http://www.foxnews.com/weather/2015/10/ ... -flooding/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A Union Pacific train with dozens of cars carrying cement derailed in Corsicana, one of Navarro County's hardest-hit communities, though not before two workers on it managed to stop it, climb out, then swim to high ground, company spokesman Jeff DeGraff told CNN.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/24/us/texas- ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

Baltic Dry is really dry...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-1 ... tory-china" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...goes along with US dollar denominated debt in China and currency pegging/devaluation games...

Wars and rumors of wars...
http://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/fr ... 47347.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...I anticipate this will continue to accelerate...mostly due to economic conditions which continue to decline...good distraction and coercion tool...
By the time of next week’s meeting the federal funds rate will have been pinned at about 10 bps, or effectively zero, for 84 straight months.

Yet during that same period, the consumer price level has risen by 1.75% per year. And that’s if you give credit to all of the BLS gimmicks, such as hedonic adjustments for quality change, homeowners “imputed” rents and product basket substitution, which cause inflation to be systematically understated.

On a basis that is close enough for government work, therefore, the real money market interest rate has been negative 2% for seven years. But that’s so crazy, unjustified, and unprecedented that even the Keynesian money printers who run the Fed have run out of excuses.

Presumably, Yellen and her posse know that we did not have seven years running of negative real money market rates even during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-1 ... iot-casino" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ISIS...
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/08/polit ... pons-u-s-/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Amnesty International's 44-page report, released late Monday, found that much of ISIS' equipment and munitions comes from stockpiles captured from the U.S.-allied Iraqi military and Syrian rebels.
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/08/polit ... pons-u-s-/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Inside the $2 billion ISIS war machine
http://money.cnn.com/2015/12/06/news/isis-funding/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...perhaps a brief stray into some history on ISIS with a focus on the new ISIS commander in Libya...
Any serious investigation of Benghazi would have to look closely at the role of Abdel Hakim Belhadj, the founder of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and, after the overthrow of Ghaddafi, the commander of the Tripoli Military Council. As the founder of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, he is the superior of Bin Qumu, head of Ansar al-Sharia, and Wisam bin Hamid, head of Libya Shield, both of whom clearly participated in the attack.

Belhadj had fought with Osama bin Laden from 1988 to 1992 in Afghanistan. He then moved to Sudan with Osama bin Laden. The LIFG was founded in the early 1990s with the intention of overthrowing Ghaddafi. MI6 approached the LIFG in 1995 to carry out a coup against Ghaddafi. After the coup and four assassination attempts against Ghaddafi failed, Balhajd again left Libya. In 2004, he was captured in Asia by the CIA and the British and rendered to Libya, where he was jailed in the Abu Salim prison in Tripoli.

Soon after entering Tripoli, Belhadj was named the commander of the Tripoli Military Council, in charge of, among other things, providing security for all of the foreign embassies, including that of the U.S.

According to documents obtained and released by former Muslim Brotherhood member Walid Shoebat, as reported by WND.com, an array of records provided to Libyan expatriates from sources inside the Libyan government establish that al-Qaeda operatives in Libya are facilitating the passage of jihadists through Libya to Syria.

Furthermore, Shoebat reports that Abdel Hakim Belhadj is the al-Qaeda operative that the Libyan expatriates claim was the principal organizer who directed the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in Benghazi.

Belhadj broke his silence on Radio Darnah on the Samir Shalwi program, one day after Stevens was killed, proclaiming:

"I am indeed a member of the fighting in Jemmah Islamiyah; I'm proud of it; I will not deny that. For this, I have spent the best years of my life in the prisons, under torture, and I'm still a member of this group
. I will not give up on its edicts. Everyone must know this in the West, before the East. I've committed Jihad operations in all parts of the globe from Morrocco to Yemen to Somalia to Algeria, even to Afghanistan and Pakistan. I give great respect to Sheik Ayman al-Zawahri and to the first teacher, Abu Musaab al-Zarkawi. I was saddened when Hassan al-Qaidi in Pakistan was martyred.

"Me and my brothers Sheik Khalid al-Sharif, Sheik Al-Mahdi, Al-Haradi, Sheik Hassem, Baher, Abdul Rauf, Karah have formed a committee in Tripoli and we will not allow any foreigner, no matter who he is, to dictate what we do.

"We give thanks to the Mujahed, Sheik Ismail al-Salabi, for his daring proclamation to the Darnah television station, and we tell him that we are with you in every word you spoke, that there is no place for America, Great Britain and all the West in Libya. Libya is a nation of Islam and Jihad.

"The light of Islam will shine forth from it despite the noses of everyone. The weapons are here and the Mujahideen from every corner of the earth are here with us and we have all the weaponry that was prohibited before with us now. We will not hesitate to use it against anyone who touches the land of Libya and that is the end of this discussion."
http://archive.larouchepac.com/node/24806" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Without political asylum in the UK, Tunisian leader Rachid Ghadnouchi could have been buried alive in prison. The same goes for Kamal Helbawy, current leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo; or even worst, the Libyan rebel military commander, Abdul Hakim Belhad, a well-known jihadist who was one of the suspects involved in the Madrid train bombing of March 2004.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/45600052" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Mr Belhadj - known in the jihadi world as Abu Abdullah al-Sadiq - commanded the now defunct Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG).

The group was formed in 1990 by Islamist Libyans who had fought in Afghanistan against Soviet forces in the 1980s.


The LIFG waged a three-year low-level insurgency mainly based in eastern Libya, and staged three attempts to assassinate Col Gaddafi in 1995 and 1996, according to Middle East analyst Omar Ashour of Exeter University.

By 1998, the group was crushed. Most of its leaders fled to Afghanistan and joined forces with the Taliban. There, Mr Belhadj is alleged to have developed "close relationships" with al-Qaeda leaders and Taliban chief Mullah Omar, according to an arrest warrant issued by the Libyan government in 2002.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-14786753" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Belhaj is a founding member and former leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), which is listed by both the U.S. State Department and the British Home Office as an international terrorist organization. Several past or present LIFG members have held prominent positions in al Qaeda, including operations chief Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, who was recently killed in a CIA drone attack. The LIFG is hardly Libya’s only militant Islamist force, but it’s easily the biggest and very possibly the most dangerous.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... eader.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Image
Major news out of Libya as Abdelhakim Belhadj, the former head of the al Qaeda-linked Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, and a major player in the U.S.-backed overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi, has reportedly joined the Islamic State and is leading its forces there. This according to The Blaze National Security journalist Sara Carter on Twitter, and Fox News’ Catherine Herridge in a Fox News report.

Belhadj’s ties to al Qaeda were controversial during the run up to U.S. airstrikes in support of the Libyan rebels, but this did not prevent him from maintaining a high profile at the time, including being made head of the Tripoli Military Council, a position he held until resigning to run for office in May 2012. Belhadj has a reputation for involvement in the international jihad has well, playing a role in the 2004 Madrid training bombings, and accused by investigators of being involved in the murder of two Tunisian politicians at behest of the Muslim Brotherhood.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201 ... ly-leads-/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Abdelhakim Belhadj’s links to key neocons (as the tweet above reveals) and Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi’s connection to the CIA-run and Saudi financed war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan provides further evidence al-Qaeda and its spawn, the Islamic State, formerly ISIS, are intelligence fabrications designed to perpetuate the war on terror and further the geostrategic agenda of the global elite. Belhadj’s CIA rendition (with the help of British intelligence) and al-Hasidi’s capture by the U.S. reveal both to be intelligence assets. The presence of the Islamic State in Iraq, Syria and now Libya is a key element in the next phase in the war on terror. In late February the Islamic State released a video calling for jihadists from Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Egypt to immigrate to Libya. Mohammed al-Dairi, the Libyan foreign minister, is calling for direct military intervention against the Islamic State. “I ask world powers to stand by Libya and launch military strikes against these groups,” he said in February. “This threat will move to European countries, especially Italy.”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/cia-asset- ... 80/5434923" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The revelations that US ally Abdelhakim Belhadj is now leading ISIS in Libya should come as no surprise to those who have followed US policy in that country, and throughout the region. It illustrates for the umpteenth time that Washington has provided aid and comfort to precisely those forces it claims to be fighting around the world.

According to recent reports, Abdelhakim Belhadj has now firmly ensconced himself as the organizational commander of the ISIS presence inside Libya. The information comes from an unnamed US intelligence official who has confirmed that Belhadj is supporting and coordinating the efforts of the ISIS training centers in eastern Libya around the city of Derna, an area long known as a hotbed of jihadi militancy.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/washington ... ya/5435574" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

they say a picture is worth a thousand words...

Image
...here the new "organizational" commander of ISIS is getting an award from Senator John McCain....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx6s4jO9xNY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Congressman Michael McCaul has produced classified documents allegedly from the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) during a public speech at the National Defense University that claims Islamic extremists have considered using the Syrian refugee program to enter America.
https://occupycorporatism.com/13350-2/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...gun shootings are increasing in frequency...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwTYja7GXcY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
According to Riverside Police Chief Sergio Diaz “3 suspects wearing ski masks and armed with hammers entered the Ben Bridge Jeweler store” at the Gallery at Tyler.
https://occupycorporatism.com/who-is-he ... americans/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...doesn't quite agree with the "official" narrative...but do any of the details anymore?
EXCLUSIVE - A $28,500 deposit was made to Syed Farook’s bank account from WebBank.com on or about Nov.18, some two weeks before he and his wife Tashfeen Malik carried out the San Bernardino massacre, a source close to the investigation told Fox News Monday.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/12 ... -says.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...crazy world...just getting crazier...other than that...SOS...different day

User avatar
Original_Intent
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 13008

Re: Blipits

Post by Original_Intent »

Excellent update Glen!

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

Thanks Kevin!

Out of some curiosity I did a little research dive this evening on Social Security on another thread that figured I'd duplicate here to be of benefit perhaps to more viewers...
The so-called “trustees” of the Social Security Administration published their annual report last week and the stenographers of the financial press dutifully reported that the day of reckoning when the trust funds run dry has been put off another year: until 2034.

So, take a deep breath and kick the can. That’s five presidential elections away!

Except that isn’t what the report really says.

On a cash basis, the Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance funds spent $859 billion in 2014 but took in only $786 billion in taxes, generating $73 billion in red ink.

By the trustees’ own reckoning, the OASDI funds will spew a cumulative cash deficit of $1.6 trillion from 2015 to 2026. Measured by the only thing that matters — hard cash income and outgo — the social security system has already gone bust.

Even with the White House’s rosy budget forecasts, general fund outlays will exceed general revenues ex-payroll taxes by $8 trillion over the next 12 years.

This means there will be no general fund surplus to pay the OASDI shortfall. Uncle Sam will finance the entire $1.6 trillion cash deficit by adding to the public debt.
http://www.newsmax.com/Finance/DavidSto ... id/664828/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The 2015 OASDI Trustees Report
https://ssa.gov/oact/TR/2015/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...the important one liner buried in the report...
Last year, the Trustees projected that the infinite horizon unfunded obligation was $24.9 trillion in present value. If the assumptions, methods, and starting values had not changed, moving the valuation date forward by 1 year would have increased the unfunded obligation by about $0.9 trillion, to $25.8 trillion.
https://www.ssa.gov/oact/tr/2015/VI_F_i ... ml#1000194" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...$25.8 trillion in the red...
This accounting demonstrates that some generations are scheduled to receive benefits with a present value exceeding the present value of their dedicated tax income, while other generations are scheduled to receive benefits with a present value less than the present value of their dedicated tax income, whether past general fund reimbursements are included or not. Making Social Security solvent over the infinite horizon requires some combination of increased revenue or reduced benefits for current and future participants amounting to $25.8 trillion in present value, 3.9 percent of future taxable payroll, or 1.3 percent of future GDP.
https://www.ssa.gov/oact/tr/2015/VI_F_i ... ml#1000194" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...to put that in perspective....
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the United States was worth [17.419 trillion - adjusted to trillion - Jason] US dollars in 2014.
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/gdp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...the SS deficit is almost a year and a half of U.S. GDP or roughly 1/3 of the world GDP for 2014.

If you use Detroit (which went bankrupt partly due to unfunded pensions) as an example -
Detroit currently owes $3.5 billion on its pension funds and writes checks to about 21,000 retired city employees and their widows, most of whom get around $1,600 per month.

As you can see from the chart above, pensions are far from the only problem with Detroit's finances. That $3.5 billion amounts to about one-sixth of Detroit's total debts, and the city's pensioners have argued that they shouldn't have to bear the brunt of the pain from restructuring.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/won ... one-chart/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The actuaries hired by the city's emergency manager say that the pensions are underfunded by 40 percent to 50 percent.
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2 ... ion-plans-" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

....the US isn't that far off if not in the exact same boat (albeit far greater borrowing power)...

Social Security is 32 percent underfunded. As stated in the report above...we either need to raise taxes or lower benefits. The longer we wait the worse the adjustment will be. Like Dumb and Dumber....too many IOUs in the kitty due to borrowing from the fund over the past several decades.
The former U.S. comptroller general says the real U.S. debt is closer to about $65 trillion than the oft-cited figure of $18 trillion.

Dave Walker, who headed the Government Accountability Office (GAO) under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, said when you add up all of the nation’s unfunded liabilities, the national debt is more than three times the number generally advertised.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing- ... -you-think" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Janney Montgomery Scott has said growing retirement costs are “the largest cloud overhanging” the $3.6 trillion municipal-bond market, where investors are demanding higher yields from borrowers under the greatest strain.

That was on display this week for Chicago, whose credit rating was cut to junk by Moody’s in May because of a $20 billion pension shortfall. The city was forced to pay yields of almost 8 percent on taxable bonds maturing in 2042, about twice what some homeowners can get on a 30-year mortgage.

Moody’s, which in 2013 began using a lower rate than governments do to calculate future liabilities, has estimated that the 25 largest U.S. public pensions alone have $2 trillion less than they need. Cincinnati and Minneapolis are among cities Moody’s has since downgraded.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... et-to-grow" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
CBO tells us that the national debt was a little less than $13 trillion in 2014. But the fiscal gap in that year as calculated by Kotlikoff was $210 trillion, more than 16 times larger than the debt estimated by CBO and already judged, by CBO and many others, to be unsustainable. If a $13 billion gap is unsustainable, what term should we apply to a $210 trillion gap? Kotlikoff also calculates that the fiscal gap is equal to about 58 percent of the combined value of all future revenue. Thus, we would need to reduce spending or increase taxes by enough to fill that 58 percent gap if we wanted to put the federal budget on a path to solvency that balances the interests of those now receiving benefits and those who hope to receive benefits in the future.

Kotlikoff goes on to illustrate that the fiscal gap is increasing at an alarming rate and that delay makes our problem much worse. In 2003, just a little more than a decade ago, the fiscal gap was $60 trillion. But by last year it had catapulted to $210 trillion. The fiscal gap may not continue increasing as rapidly as it has over the past decade, but with each passing year - as Congress and the President do their best to avoid action - our hole grows deeper by substantial amounts.

Under the CBO estimates used by Congress, we have a huge debt hole. Under the more comprehensive fiscal gap measurement, we have a chasm. But little if any Congressional action is planned to deal with the notorious level of debt. We're headed toward a fiscal black hole.
http://www.brookings.edu/research/opini ... nk-haskins" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Think of it this way: a pension plan is a system or program whereby promises are made to beneficiaries based upon contributions made to the plan by those beneficiaries and by the plan sponsor, either a local or state government or a private entity, company, or corporation. The assumptions are that the monies will be invested carefully, prudently, and wisely until they are needed. For those services the plan sponsors take a fee.

A welfare state is a series of promises made by politicians in an attempt to buy votes, paid for by present and future beneficiaries, but with little or no concern over whether the monies will be there in sufficient quantities to meet those promises. By that time the politicians will have long since left the scene, leaving others to clean up the mess.

Boston University Professor Laurence Kotlikoff has figured out the scam: Don’t tell all the truth about just how much is owed. In recent testimony before a Senate committee Kotlikoff was blunt:

Almost all the liabilities of the government are being kept off the books by bogus accounting….

The government is 58 percent underfinanced … Social Security is 33 percent underfinanced … so the entire government enterprise is in worse fiscal shape than Social Security is, but they are both in terrible shape.

Just how terrible? Explained Kotlikoff:

If you take all the expenditures that the government is expected to make, as projected by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), all the spending on defense, repairing the roads, paying for the Supreme Court Justices’ salaries, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, welfare, everything, and take all those expenditures into the future ... and compare that to all the taxes that are projected to come in, and the difference is $210 trillion. That’s the fiscal gap. That’s our true debt.

Now that the truth has been told it’s clear that there’s no way those promises will, or can be, kept. It’s like a family with credit card debt of, say, $30,000. It’s possible for the family to make monthly payments, adding a little extra every month to pay down the principal. Every credit card statement comes with the pay-off calculation: the more above the minimum is paid, the sooner it’s paid off.

But if the balance is, say, $300,000, there’s no way.

The US economy generates about $18 trillion in goods and services, and the government at all levels skims off an estimated 40 percent: in round numbers, about $7 trillion. If the $210 trillion that Kotlikoff says is owed is correct, even if interest on that debt is just 2 percent (it’s more than that, of course: 30-year government bonds pay more than 3 percent), that’s $4 trillion. That leaves just $3 trillion left to pay for everything else.

It’s called mathematical suicide.

https://mcalvanyintelligenceadvisor.com ... nsion-plan" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I am honored to discuss with you our country’s fiscal condition. Let me get right to the point. Our country is broke. It’s not broke in 75 years or 50 years or 25 years or 10 years. It’s broke today. Indeed, it may well be in worse fiscal shape than any developed country, including Greece.

This declaration of national insolvency will, no doubt, shock those of you who use the officially reported federal debt as the measuring stick for what our country owes. After all, federal debt in the hands of the public is only 74 percent of the GDP. Yes, this is double the debt-to-GDP ratio recorded a decade ago. But it’s still a far cry from Italy’s 135 debt-to-GDP ratio or Greece’s 175 percent ratio.

To see this point, consider the almost $750 billion the government is collecting this year from workers under the heading Social Security payroll taxes and the future Social Security transfer payments these FICA contributions secure. The $750 billion could just as well be called government borrowing and the future transfer payments could just as well be called principal plus interest on this borrowing plus a future tax (positive or negative) if the future payments don’t correspond precisely to principal plus interest. This simple change in language would more than double this year’s reported federal deficit. Indeed, were we to go back in time and re-label all past Social Security taxes as borrowing, official federal debt held by the public would not be $13 trillion, but $38 trillion, which is 211 percent of U.S. GDP.

Fiscal labeling conventions are simply a choice of language. And federal debt is a word game, not a well-defined measure of fiscal policy. Its use in understanding fiscal sustainability and generational policy is no different from driving in Los Angeles with a map of New York.

http://www.cnsnews.com/sites/default/fi ... ------.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
***Pretty good reading as Kotlikoff puts it pretty straight with some good analogies for better understanding if you have some time to read the report noted above...I'd like to have added more but time consuming to reformat the cut n paste from the pdf.

The hard truth is our country is bankrupt.

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

38 erupting volcanoes
http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/erupting_volcanoes.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Under Barack Obama, the U.S. national debt has risen from $10,626,877,048,913.08 on January 20th, 2009 to $18,795,033,928,275.59 on December 21st, 2015. That means that the debt that we are passing on to future generations has increased by 8.16 trillion dollars since Barack Obama was inaugurated. There is still a little more than a year to go in Obama’s presidency, and it is already guaranteed that Obama will add more than a trillion dollars a year to the national debt during his presidency. In fact, when you do the math, we are stealing more than 100 million dollars from future generations of Americans every single hour of every single day.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/arch ... presidency" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...of course if we didn't have that increase in government borrowing we'd already be partway down the deflationary spiral....of course that hasn't been prevented and the longer the prevention goes...the more drastic the spiral will be (unless debt forgiveness or free money)....

Image

Image

Image

Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-114 ... 029enr.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The 10.5% crash in existing home sales is the worst November drop ever. Against expectations of a mere 0.2% drop, this is the largest miss in history asnd tumbles SAAR sales to the weakest since March 2014. The collapse in sales was across all regions, and ironically was accompanied by a rise in median home prices across all regions.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-2 ... er-history" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Dow Transportation Index is down almost 19% year-to-date. As Jim Bianco details, 2015 is set to be the worst non-recession year for these economically-sensitive stocks since 1917...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-2 ... -year-1917" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
There are plenty of skeletons in the closet for Christmas:

The commodities market has already crashed, and from all appearances it will go down further, as economic conditions are worsening in China.
The impact of the commodities crash has already started a junk-bond bloodbath, which has already leaked over into investment-grade funds, which saw record outflows last week.
More hedge funds have already failed in 2015 than in any year since the 2008 financial crisis.
Now that bad news is only bad news, stocks have finally begun to slide, including the high-tech stocks that were helping support the market when other stocks were falling. Now, every sector of the stock market is falling.
Banks are heavily involved in the failure of junk bonds and in the decline of their own stocks. As sub-prime housing loans, subprime auto loans, student loans fail, banks will experience more downward pressure. So, banks will fail; but this time banks will follow the cascade of events, rather than lead it.

Look at those events and ask yourself, “Aren’t those the conditions under which central banks normally begin stimulus, not bring it to a close?
http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1450715475.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ron Paul Warns of Dollar Collapse 100% In 19 Feb 2016
....what a joke! Actually its the opposite...rising demand for dollars (debt load) and rising cost for dollars (interest rates)...
Against the backdrop of the ongoing debt crisis in Europe, the difficulties faced by European banks in borrowing U.S. dollars have attracted increased attention. The inability to borrow dollars has been partially responsible for European banks’ decisions to sell dollar-denominated assets and reduce their lending activity in the United States, to the possible detriment of U.S. companies and global financial markets.

Euro-area banks have accumulated sizable holdings of U.S. dollar assets in the past decade, amounting to $3.2 trillion at the end of fourth-quarter 2010, according to ECB estimates.
http://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfe ... g-gap.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Cash is on track this year to outperform both stocks and bonds, something that hasn’t happened since 1990, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch. And it might all be down to the notion that central bank-fueled liquidity has peaked.

Year-to-date annualized returns are negative 6% for global stocks and negative 2.9% for global government bonds, according to analysts led by Michael Hartnett in a Friday note. The dollar is up 6% and commodities are down 17%, while cash is flat.

Here’s what this has to do with the liquidity story:
[Quantitative easing] & zero rates reflated financial assets significantly. The only assets that QE did not reflate were cash, volatility, the US dollar and banks. Cash, volatility, the US dollar are all outperforming big-time in 2015, which tells you markets have been forced to discount peak of global liquidity/higher Fed funds. Frequent flash [crashes] (oil, UST, CHF, bunds, SPX) tell the same story. Peak in liquidity = peak of excess returns = trough in volatility.
The note speaks to what has become a very important theme for investors. While the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank continue to provide quantitative easing, the Fed has stopped its asset purchases and is moving toward lifting rates from near zero, as is the Bank of England. The notion that liquidity has peaked and that financial markets must now adjust to that new dynamic.

Indeed, billionaire hedge-fund investor David Tepper earlier this month argued that as China and other emerging-market central banks shed foreign reserves, liquidity is no longer flowing one direction, making for more volatile conditions.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/in-a-q ... 2015-09-25" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In addition, the Fed lowered its outlook for inflation for 2016, which some economists saw as a sign that its forecasted path of rate hikes might not quite come to pass.

the Fed lowered its expectations for 2017 and 2018.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, was up 0.16 percent at 98.373. The euro lost 0.19 percent at $1.0906.

The Fed also surprised investors by saying it will use all of its Treasury assets - more than $2 trillion - for its the so-called reverse repo facility, one of the two primary tools the Fed is going to use to siphon cash from the financial system. That was greater than anticipated and signals the Fed's determination to boost short-term rates.
http://www.reuters.com/article/global-m ... 1320151216" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...siphon cash from the financial system when everyone is buried in debt???

Velocity of M2 Money Stock
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/M2V" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Japan is now hooked on low interest rates, a mere rise of one percentage point would consume all revenues. Is that supposed to inspire confidence?
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot. ... since.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The 'death cross' of these two energy market indicators is all one needs to know about the oil market...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-2 ... il-markets" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Dec 15 Tankers laden with diesel heading from the U.S. Gulf Coast to Europe are turning around in mid-ocean as European storage is nearly filled to the brim.

At least 250,000 tonnes of diesel are currently anchored off Europe and the Mediterranean seeking a discharge port, according to traders.

"The idea is to keep tankers on the water as long as you can and try to find a stronger market," a trader said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/europe-d ... F420151215" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Citigroup Inc plans to cut at least 2,000 jobs starting next month as the lender restructures its businesses, Bloomberg reported.
http://fortune.com/2015/12/18/citi-layoffs/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Toshiba Corp is looking to cut up to 7,000 jobs, as it looks to streamline operations in the wake of an accounting scandal, the Nikkei business daily reported.
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-toshib ... ei-2015-12" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it would cut about 2,800 jobs to meet a pledge of reducing operating costs by $3.5 billion following its takeover of BG Group Plc.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... s-to-slide" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Gulfstream is set to lay off 1,100 workers across all its domestic locations.
http://www.blufftontoday.com/bluffton-n ... -employees" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wilmington-based DuPont Co. is cutting about 10 percent of its workforce worldwide as it prepares for its merger with Dow Chemical Co.
http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia ... -cuts.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Rabobank Group will eliminate 9,000 more jobs over the next three years, the Dutch lender said as it announced a strategic overhaul that includes a revamp of its century-old cooperative structure.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... hree-years" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Global mining giant Anglo American is getting ready to shed about 85,000 jobs as it sells off 60% of its assets over the next few years.
http://www.wyff4.com/money/anglo-americ ... s/36852626" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Countries with high debt loads are vulnerable to an adverse feedback loop in which doubts by lenders lead to higher sovereign interest rates which in turn make the debt problems more severe. We analyze the recent experience of advanced economies using both econometric methods and case studies and conclude that countries with debt above 80% of GDP and persistent current-account deficits are vulnerable to a rapid fiscal deterioration as a result of these tipping-point dynamics
http://research.chicagobooth.edu/igm/us ... load2.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
IN THE world of economics, one policymaker towers above all others. The head of America’s central bank, Janet Yellen, presides over a $17 trillion economy. The empire of her nearest competitor, Mario Draghi, amounts to a relatively puny $10 trillion. On top of this, the dollar’s global role means Ms Yellen has a huge impact abroad, influencing more than $9 trillion in borrowing in dollars by non-financial companies outside America—more than enough to buy all the firms listed on the stock exchanges of Shanghai and Tokyo (see chart 1). As the dollar strengthens both in response to healthier growth in America and in the expectation that the Federal Reserve is getting ready to raise rates, this burden is becoming harder to bear.

With interest rates on American assets so meagre—a five-year Treasury bond pays just 1.5%—those with dollars to invest have sought out more rewarding opportunities. Firms based in emerging markets seemed to fit the bill. Some are big names: state-owned energy giants like Russia’s Gazprom and Brazil’s Petrobras have been issuing dollar bonds via subsidiaries based in Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands. Others are smaller. Recent months have seen Lodha group, an Indian property developer, Eskom, a South African power generator, and Yasar, a Turkish firm that makes TV dinners, sell dollar-denominated bonds. By borrowing dollars at several percentage points below the prevailing interest rate in their domestic currency, CEOs have pepped up profits in the short term.

But finance rarely offers a free lunch.

Yet there are still two reasons to worry.

First, the outlook for China is a puzzle. The country holds $1.2 trillion in Treasury bills, many of which are sitting in its sovereign-wealth fund. When the dollar rises, the fund gets richer. But even in a dollar-rich country, there can be pockets of pain. China’s firms have built up a nasty currency mismatch. Almost 25% of corporate debt is dollar-denominated, but only 8.5% of corporate earnings are. Worse, this debt is concentrated, according to Morgan Stanley, with 5% of firms holding 50% of it.

The second problem is that whole economies, rather than just the corporate sector, look short of dollars. In Brazil and Russia, for instance, bail-outs of firms lacking greenbacks are blurring the lines between the state, banks and big companies. The general scramble for dollars has contributed to the plunge of the real and the rouble. Others could follow this path. Turkey’s dollar borrowing has grown rapidly since 2009: in addition to the debts Turkish firms have taken on, the state’s external debt has grown to almost 50% of GDP, far above the average for middle-income countries (23%). South Africa looks worrying too: its current-account deficit is the widest of any big emerging market, and the government’s external debt is 40% of GDP.
http://www.economist.com/news/finance-a ... ling-green" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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This is a very simple chart. It takes the change in GDP and divides it by the change in Debt. What it shows is how much productivity is gained by infusing $1 of debt into our debt backed money system.

Back in the early 1960s a dollar of new debt added almost a dollar to the nation’s output of goods and services. As more debt enters the system the productivity gained by new debt diminishes. This produced a path that was following a diminishing line targeting ZERO in the year 2015. This meant that we could expect that each new dollar of debt added in the year 2015 would add NOTHING to our productivity.

Then a funny thing happened along the way. Macroeconomic DEBT SATURATION occurred causing a phase transition with our debt relationship. This is because total income can no longer support total debt. In the third quarter of 2009 each dollar of debt added produced NEGATIVE 15 cents of productivity, and at the end of 2009, each dollar of new debt now SUBTRACTS 45 cents from GDP!

This is mathematical PROOF that debt saturation has occurred. Continuing to add debt into a saturated system, where all money is debt, leads only to future defaults and to higher unemployment.

This is the dilemma created by our top down debt backed money structure. Because all money is backed by a liability, and carries interest, it guarantees mathematically that there will be losers and that the system will eventually reach the natural limits, the ability of incomes to service debt.
http://economicedge.blogspot.com/2010/0 ... ntury.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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...see my post on unfunded social security and pensions if you want an even darker look...
The national debt officially stands at about $18.3 trillion, yet this ignores many unfunded liabilities, and critics such as Boston University economist Laurence Kotlikoff contend that a full accounting of the nation’s liabilities and expected tax and other receipts reveal a gap of more than $200 trillion.
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=9376&start=1140#p669756" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws.
—Mayer Amschel Rothschild
The Independent reports that rogue Wikipedia editors have been tricking people into paying hundreds of dollars for edits and page submissions, only to take the money and run. Business owners, stunt doubles and even a former contestant on the hit show Britain's Got Talent have all been victims of the scam, most of the reports of which come from the UK.
http://www.naturalnews.com/052396_Wikip ... Wales.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...reason for the end of the year fundraising spree on Wiki?
The deliberations of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were held in strict secrecy. Consequently, anxious citizens gathered outside Independence Hall when the proceedings ended in order to learn what had been produced behind closed doors. The answer was provided immediately. A Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”

With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

I actually can’t believe I’m writing this, but the following speech from freshman U.S. Senator Ben Sasse (R, Neb) is so thoughtful and inspiring, it should be required viewing for all American citizens.
http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2015/12/21 ... ive-power/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
There was fierce fighting in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province with reports that Taliban fighters were on the verge of capturing the strategic city of Sangin. Afghan troops also fired on Taliban positions near the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah as Helmand's governor warned the situation risked slipping out of control. He said Taliban fighters had surrounded Sangin's police compound and had taken control of most government buildings. Britain rushed a small team of military advisers to Helmand after ending combat operations in the province last year. The fighting comes a day after a Taliban suicide bomber killed six U.S. troops on December 21 near a military base in Kabul.
http://www.rferl.org/media/video/afghan ... 43141.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

British Troops Deploy to Afghan Province amid Taliban Battle after a Taliban suicide bomber killed six U.S. troops near a Kabul base -- the deadliest attack on Americans in the country since August
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015 ... attle.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Several explosions rocked the center of Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul on Monday, local media reported.
http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20151 ... kabul.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

“If Helmand falls it will be a huge blow to us all, to all the men and women that fought there and to the friends and family of those who died,” former Royal Marine Ben Wright told RT
https://www.rt.com/uk/326690-helmand-ta ... -soldiers/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...welcome to Vietnam II....

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Taliban gunmen have overrun a strategic district in the southern province of Helmand, delivering a serious blow to government forces, Afghan officials said on Monday.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015 ... lmand.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BAGHDAD -- An Iraqi government spokesman says Iraqi forces are making progress in the military operation to retake the western city of Ramadi from the Islamic State group
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015 ... amadi.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. military said it is investigating an American airstrike that may have inadvertently killed Iraqi soldiers near the city of Fallujah.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015 ... diers.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has condemned a suspected Russian military attack on the Syrian city of Idlib, adding Syrian territory will not be part of “Russian imperialist goals.”
http://www.rferl.org/content/turkey-con ... 42829.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ABOARD THE CHARLES DE GAULLE (AP) -- US Defense Secretary Ash Carter met Saturday with naval commanders on US and French warships in the Persian Gulf, saying that there will be more to come in the battle against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015 ... -gulf.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

TOKYO -- Japan said it spotted for the first time Tuesday an armed Chinese coast guard ship near islands at the center of a long-running territorial dispute between the two Asian giants.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015 ... lands.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Japan is fortifying its island chain in the East China Sea under a strategy intended to keep China's navy from dominating the Western Pacific Ocean, Japanese military and government sources said.
http://sputniknews.com/asia/20151221/10 ... a-sea.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Senior Iranian nuclear official says Russia will begin construction on two new nuclear reactors in Iran next week.
http://www.rferl.org/content/iran-says- ... 42859.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

China this month tested a new rail-car-mounted long-range missile capable of hitting targets in the United States, according to American intelligence agencies monitoring the test.
http://sputniknews.com/asia/20151222/10 ... ssile.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Philippines has become the latest ISIS target for expansion after the jihadi group released its first propaganda video of a terror training camp in the Filipino jungle.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -camp.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...boy that ISIS sure is moving fast & global for being a bunch of guerillas facing off with the industrialized world....sarcasm off...see post above on ISIS...
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=9376&start=1140#p669687" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The number of migrants and refugees crossing into Europe by land and sea this year illegally has passed one million, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) says.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35158769" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

SAN JOSE, California -- Security researcher Brian Wallace was on the trail of hackers who had snatched a California university's housing files when he stumbled into a larger nightmare: Cyberattackers had opened a pathway into the networks running the United States' power grid. Digital clues pointed to Iranian hackers. And Wallace found that they had already taken passwords, as well as engineering drawings of dozens of power plants, at least one with the title "Mission Critical." The drawings were so detailed that experts say skilled attackers could have used them, along with other tools and malicious code, to knock out electricity flowing to millions of homes.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015 ... hacks.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon is considering increasing the pace and scope of cyberattacks against Islamic State, arguing that more aggressive efforts to disable the extremist group's computers, servers and cellphones could help curtail its appeal and disrupt potential terrorist attacks. Military hackers and coders at Cyber Command, based at Fort Meade, Md., have developed an array of malware that could be used to sabotage the militants' propaganda and recruitment capabilities, said U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about internal discussions.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015 ... state.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

DURHAM, N.C. — The country's largest electricity company is on alert for cyberattacks that aim to hamper the critical flow of power and is listening to U.S. intelligence agencies about potential threats, the Duke Energy Corp. executive heading electronic protection efforts said.
http://www.wral.com/biggest-us-electric ... /15190026/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
On January 24, 2013, the Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff announced the rescission of the 1994 Direct Ground Combat Definition and Assignment Rule (DGCDAR). The 1994 DGCDAR restricted assignments of women to occupational specialties or positions in or collocated with direct ground combat units below the brigade level, in long-range reconnaissance and special operations forces, and in positions involving physically demanding tasks. The effect of this rescission will be to open previously closed occupations—including the United States Marine Corps (USMC) infantry—to women who can meet occupation-specific, gender-neutral standards of performance. This decision to rescind the DGCDAR could open more than 230,000 positions in the U.S. armed forces to women. The services were required to report their implementation plans to the Department of Defense (DoD) by May 2013, and they have until January 2016 to seek exemptions if they want any positions to remain closed to women.

http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pu ... RR1103.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Opening infantry jobs to female Marines could cost the Marine Corps nearly $2 million per year in additional recruiting and retention expenditures, according to a new study published by the Rand Corp. The study, commissioned by Marine Corps Combat Development Command, examines all the implications of opening all-male Marine combat jobs to women. Like the other services, the Corps is now preparing to do just that in accordance with a mandate from Defense Secretary Ashton Carter that takes effect at the start of next year.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015 ... -rand.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
WASHINGTON -- The men in the U.S. military's most dangerous jobs care little about political correctness or gender equality. And they have a message for their political leadership. When they are fighting in the shadows or bleeding on the battlefield, women have no place on their teams. In blunt and, at times, profanity-laced answers to a voluntary survey conducted by the Rand Corp., more than 7,600 of America's special operations forces spoke with nearly one voice. Allowing women to serve in Navy SEAL, Army Delta or other commando units could hurt their effectiveness and lower the standards, and it may drive men away from the dangerous posts. An overwhelming majority of those who agreed to respond to the RAND survey said they believe women don't have the physical strength or mental toughness to do the grueling jobs.

"I could list hundreds of reasons why women cannot do the job that a Green Beret is required to do, but as I only have 1,000 characters, I will choose the one that I think is the most important," said one respondent. "I weigh 225 pounds, and 280 pounds in full kit, as did most of the members of my ODA (a 12-man Army Green Beret unit). I expect every person on my team to be able to drag any member of my team out of a firefight. A 130 pound female could not do it, I don't care how much time she spends in the gym. Do we expect wounded men to bleed out because a female soldier could not drag him to cover?"

Another said politicians don't win the covert wars.

"Gender equality is not an option when the bullets are flying," he said. "Most males in the area of the world I work in would rather back hand a female than listen to her speak. There is a reason we send men to do these jobs."
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015 ... -jobs.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Some of the Navy's first female submariners were secretly videotaped while undressing and showering on board the USS Wyoming, a ballistic missile submarine, service officials confirmed Wednesday.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2014 ... rines.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The U.S. Air Force plans to triple maternity leave for female airmen, the service's top civilian has announced. The change would expand the leave from six weeks to 18 weeks and was inspired by a similar move by the Navy, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said on Tuesday during a video town hall filmed at Fort Meade, Maryland.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015 ... -says.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday that five more people became sick after eating at two more Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants, dealing a further blow to the price of the company’s shares. The C.D.C. said that five people who had eaten in two Chipotle restaurants in Kansas and Oklahoma grew ill after eating something contaminated with E. coli STEC O26. The agency has not yet determined which food is responsible for the outbreak.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/22/busin ... .html?_r=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Food and Drug Administration has lifted its lifetime ban on accepting blood donations from men who have had sex with men. "The FDA is changing its recommendation that men who have sex with men (MSM) be indefinitely deferred . . . to 12 months since the last sexual contact with another man," the administration announced Monday.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/21/health/fd ... n-changes/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Dr Brown, director at Antibiotic Research UK, whose discoveries helped make more than £20billion in pharmaceutical sales, said efforts to find new antibiotics are "totally failing", despite significant investment and research. It comes after a gene was discovered which worryingly makes infectious bacteria resistant to the last line of antibiotic defence, colistin (polymyxins).
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/628834 ... -late-stop" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's controversial anti-terrorism law could be passed as soon as the end of this month, state news agency Xinhua said on Monday, legislation that has drawn concern in Western capitals for its cyber provisions.
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-contro ... th-2015-12" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The owners of China’s largest social networks have partnered with the government to create something akin to the U.S. credit score — but, instead of measuring how regularly you pay your bills, it measures how obediently you follow the party line.
http://www.activistpost.com/2015/12/chi ... atory.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The release of a secret U.S. government catalog of cell phone surveillance devices has revealed the names and abilities of dozens of surveillance tools previously unknown to the public. The catalog shines a light on well-known devices like the Stingray and DRT box, as well as new names like Cellbrite, Yellowstone, Blackfin, Maximus, Stargrazer, and Cyberhawk.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-2 ... cell-phone" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Communities in Cumbria have been flooded again - some for the third time in less than a month - following torrential rain and high winds. The Environment Agency has issued 23 flood warnings across England and Wales and 14 in the north west, urging people to take immediate action.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cumbria-35159816" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The year 2015 is is just days away from nabbing the top spot as the world’s warmest in more than a century of recordkeeping. As if to emphasize the point, the year is wrapping up with a blaze of December heat records around the globe. Some of the most exceptional numbers are being tallied over eastern North America, Europe, and Australia, which all ran quite warm in November as well. To be sure, some individual days have been standouts--and there are more of those to come--but the truly striking aspect of this month’s heat is its tenaciousness. We remain in the firm grip of a strong El Niño, as well a strongly positive North Atlantic Oscillation that’s keeping Arctic air on a tight leash at high latitudes.

For millions of people across the southern and eastern U.S., Christmas Eve and/or Christmas Day will be the warmest in living memory, and in some cases the warmest in more than a century of recordkeeping (see this weather.com roundup for more details).

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... eastern-us" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

US 'spied on Binyamin Netanyahu during Iran nuclear deal talks'
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/d ... -obama-nsa" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Senior U.S. military commanders on Wednesday accused Iran's military of "highly provocative" actions in firing unguided rockets 1,500 yards from ships including an American aircraft carrier. The USS Harry S. Truman was crossing international waters in the Strait of Hormuz when Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRCGN) conducted a live-fire exercise right nearby, according to a statement.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/u-s-c ... an-n487536" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Several Revolutionary Guard vessels fired the rockets “in close proximity” of the warships and nearby merchant traffic “after providing only 23 minutes of advance notification,” said Navy Cmdr. Kyle Raines, spokesman for the U.S. Central Command.
http://bangordailynews.com/2015/12/30/n ... -warships/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

US Accuses Iran of Conducting Rocket Test Near Warships
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015 ... ships.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Iran Defies Obama, Orders Expansion Of Missile Program
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-3 ... le-program" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

USS Truman begins airstrikes against Islamic State
http://www.dailypress.com/news/military ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

China Builds Second Aircraft Carrier As Xi Flexes Maritime Muscle
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-3 ... ime-muscle" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Russian military intends to expand deployment of its most sophisticated non-nuclear cruise missiles for attacks at land and sea under a sweeping naval modernization, according to an analysis by the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... avy-reboot" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

China's military consulted widely on its sweeping reform program, with President Xi Jinping closely involved by speaking with soldiers on the frontlines and hand-writing suggestions, the army's newspaper said on Thursday. Xi unveiled a broad-brush outline of the reforms last month, seeking further streamlining of the command structure of the world's largest armed forces, including job losses, to better enable it to win a modern war. He is determined to modernize at the same time as China becomes more assertive in territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas. China's navy is investing in submarines and aircraft carriers and the air force is developing stealth fighters.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china ... 7520151231" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BEIRUT - The assassination of a top Syrian rebel commander who led one of the most powerful groups battling President Bashar Assad's forces has dealt a significant setback to the opposition that could reshuffle the lineup of key players on the ground ahead of the planned peace talks in Geneva next month.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/assassinati ... n-the-air/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Zahran Alloush, the commander of Jaish al-Islam, (Army of Islam,) one of the most powerful Syrian rebel groups, was killed in a Russian Christmas Day strike in a suburb of Damascus, both pro-government and opposition media reported. His death, alongside five other fighters, will pose a significant challenge to the armed opposition to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad as a rare diplomatic initiative seems to be gaining steam.
http://www.themedialine.org/news/jaish- ... an-strike/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Syrian troops backed by heavy aerial bombardment pushed toward a strategic town in the southern province of Deraa on Tuesday after capturing a nearby military base, the army said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-midea ... ZL20151229" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Russian air strikes had destroyed 556 militant targets in 164 combat sorties conducted since December 25. Successfully hit targets were located in Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia, Hama, Homs, Damascus, Deir ez-Zor, and Raqqa provinces. The Russian air support helped the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) to stage offensives to the north and east of Latakia Province. Three significant plateaus towards Kabbani and Sirmaniyah fell into the army control.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/russian-ai ... di/5498456" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BERLIN - German officials say NATO plans to deploy AWACS surveillance planes to Turkey as part of a package of reassurance measures recently agreed by the alliance
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation- ... 50115.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Baghdad • Iraq on Wednesday reiterated its demand that Turkish troops withdraw from a northern camp where they are training anti-Islamic State fighters, warning that it will consider military action if the soldiers remain. The dispute flared up in early December after Turkey deployed reinforcements to a camp in northern Iraq's Bashiqa region where Ankara is helping to train Sunni and Kurdish fighters to battle IS.
http://www.sltrib.com/home/3361776-155/ ... o-pull-out" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Baghdad Demands Turkey Withdraw Troops From Northern Iraq
http://www.rferl.org/content/iraq-deman ... 58337.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ISTANBUL — A major Turkish military operation to eradicate Kurdish militants in Turkey’s restive southeast has turned dozens of urban districts into bloody battlefields, displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians and shattering hopes of reviving peace as an old war reaches its deadliest level in two decades.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/31/world ... s-pkk.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Hours before he arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Syria’s president of “mercilessly” killing hundreds of thousands of people and criticized Russia for backing him.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/mi ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The United States has called on Turkey to pull "unauthorized" troops from Iraq, aiming to defuse a dispute that has rankled relations between two countries central to the fight against the radical terrorist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
http://www.todayszaman.com/diplomacy_us ... 07209.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Russian intelligence officers say they have spotted approximately 12,000 tanker trucks carrying oil parked at the Turkish-Iraqi border. Russian intelligence identified the oil route during reconnaissance missions, and Russia says the vehicles' final destination was Turkey. It is widely believed that most ISIS oil goes to Turkey and is sold at low prices there.
http://oilpro.com/post/21123/russian-sp ... urkey-iraq" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Recruiting Mercenaries for Middle East Fuels Rancor in Colombia
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... n-colombia" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The US is hostile towards Islam and tries to create divisions between Muslims, said Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, also accusing Washington of conceiving the Islamic State terrorist group.

“One of the main tools used by the enemies to prevent the birth of modern Islamic civilization is through creating divisions among Muslims,” Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday, as cited by Fars news agency.

Khamenei believes that the US is against the principles of Islam and promoting terror groups such as Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).
https://www.rt.com/news/327488-iran-aya ... i-address/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
David Shayler, 49, has released a video on YouTube claiming there is "much evidence" that jihadis were not behind the atrocities which left 130 people dead in the French capital.

The former MI5 officer instead claimed "dark forces" linked to western intelligence services were behind the attacks on November 13.

Several years before Edward Snowden left the US National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013 and leaked confidential details of its spying techniques to the press in, Mr Shayler resigned from MI5 after five years working there in 1996.

He then leaked a series of details about MI5 operations, including claims MI6 was involved in a February 1996 failed assassination of former Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/630 ... ISIS-Daesh" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Israeli Commandos Rescue Wounded (ISIS) Terrorists in Syria
http://deadlinelive.info/2015/12/13/isr ... -in-syria/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A heroin surge is shocking and awing Americans, 165,000 of who will be killed the next ten years. How does 415,000 kilograms (913,000 pounds) of heroin from US-occupied Afghanistan get to US each year?
http://www.pravdareport.com/society/sto ... -heroin-0/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Earlier this week, Saudi Arabia released budget numbers which showed that the kingdom ran a deficit in 2015 that amounted to some 15% of GDP.

To be sure, that was far better than feared, but it’s still a disaster and reflects just how much damage Riyadh’s two wars are inflicting on the monarchy’s finances.

When we say “two” wars, we’re of course talking about the figurative “war” on US shale production and the literal war against the Iran-backed Houthis in neighboring Yemen. The following graphic from Deutsche Bank should give you an idea of just how much Riyadh spends on the military:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-3 ... lant-yemen" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Last year, the United States led the world in arms sales, tallying up $36.2 billion in worldwide arms transfer agreements. Russia took second place with $10.2 billion in arms transfer agreements, out of a global total of $71.8 billion in 2014.
http://fas.org/blogs/secrecy/2015/12/crs-arms-sales/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(NaturalNews) A shocking 7 out of 10 potential Army Reserve candidates are unfit to serve their country due to obesity, prescription drug addictions and other reasons. As reported in The Washington Times, "According to Army Recruiting Command statistics compiled last year, 71 percent of young people wanting to join the military would fail to pass service tests because of their physical, moral or cognitive shortcomings.
http://www.naturalnews.com/052466_milit ... demic.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
A U.S. Army internal health review found the majority of soldiers were injured at least once a year and that nearly 80,000 were so overweight that they were classified as clinically obese.

The report (pdf) by the Army surgeon general’s office said 55% of soldiers were diagnosed with an injury in 2014. It also reported that 180,000 active-duty soldiers had at least one musculoskeletal injury per year, resulting in more than 10 million limited-duty days, according to Army Times. These types of injuries account for 76% of the Army’s medically non-deployable population. About 102,500 soldiers, including active duty, National Guard and Army Reserve, are currently non-deployable, representing 10% of the total Army.
http://www.allgov.com/news/top-stories/ ... ews=858064" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

RALEIGH, N.C. -- An Afghan trucking company owner has been charged with giving soldiers bundles of $100 bills to obtain U.S. supply contracts as part of a multimillion-dollar corruption case, according to court documents.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015 ... racts.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Puerto Rico will default on about $37 million in bond payments due Jan. 1 and divert revenue to make others, escalating a conflict with investors as Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla seeks to restructure a $70 billion debt burden.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... -due-jan-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Puerto Rico is just days away from the biggest municipal bond default in U.S. history, and Congress is doing nothing to stop it. The U.S. territory faces a January 1 deadline to pay bondholders around $1 billion, a fraction of the $72 billion it owes overall. Puerto Rico has warned it will be unable to make at least some of its upcoming payment, and what it can pay could be drawn from funds it doesn’t actually have
http://www.democracynow.org/2015/12/30/ ... rd_default" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Brazilian Real Crashes Most In 4 Years As Hope Fades
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-3 ... hope-fades" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Venezuela is going broke. At this point, only oil can save her.

The government needs a fast rebound in oil prices to make the payment on its 2016 foreign bond maturing in February. If that doesn’t happen, it could use its reserves to pay bond holders, or sell some of its gold, likely at a loss seeing how gold prices have declined as well. The February payment is at risk of default.

To manage 2016 cash flows, Barclays Capital estimates that Venezuela needs an oil price of at least $50 per barrel. Brent crude prices for February are $36.11. Currently, the futures market for Brent do not have oil hitting $50 at any point in 2016.

Nearly half of Venezuela’s foreign debt is owed by its oil firms PDVSA and Citgo. The country will owe about $3 billion in interest alone in the first quarter of next year, which is nearly half of what it is expected to bring in from oil receipts, according to the Central Bank of Venezuela and PDVSA.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2 ... ming-soon/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Ukraine has imposed a moratorium on the repayment of a $3 billion Eurobond held entirely by Russia, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Friday, after Moscow refused to accept the terms of a restructuring of the debt.

The Eurobond matures on Dec. 20, but Ukraine has a 10-day grace period before it will be considered to be in default.
http://fortune.com/2015/12/18/ukraine-d ... sian-debt/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Ukraine and Russia appear all but certain to take their dispute over a $3 billion Eurobond to court after Ukraine said it would not repay the bond when it matures next week, prompting Russia to cry default and say a legal battle was now on the cards.

Ukraine has included the two-year bond which matures on Dec. 20 in external commercial debt it is restructuring to shore up its war-torn economy.

But Russia, whose political relations with Ukraine are at rock bottom, has refused to accept these terms, insisting the bond is an official country-to-country loan, not commercial debt.

Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Friday that Ukraine would not repay the Eurobond when it matures and that Kiev was geared to fight the issue in court.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-ukrain ... A820151218" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The Eurobonds were drafted under English Law, so any claim must be submitted to a court in London. The prospectus also allows parties to use the London Court of International Arbitration, a tribunal favored by former Soviet nations. Russia has said it will sue Ukraine for the $3 billion, plus an outstanding $75 million interest payment and all other interest that accumulates between now and a court verdict.

Russia may opt for the latter as arbitration is faster and more discrete. The country “probably has at least a reasonably strong case” of securing a ruling in its favor, according to Michael Waibel, a professor of international law at the University of Cambridge.

Getting its money back may prove challenging even if arbitrators order Ukraine to pay compensation, however. Russia may try to seize Ukrainian state assets abroad through legal processes in the countries where they’re located, Waibel said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... a-bond-row" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund has changed its rules and continues to provide assistance to Kyiv despite its default on a payment to Russia; the rule now is that if a state fails to make a payment towards private investors, rather than states, then the IMF cannot lend its support.

On Monday, the EU finally renewed its sanctions against Russia and Ukraine joined in. In retaliation, Moscow announced it would extend a food embargo on Ukraine; this is in addition to the suspension of the free trade zone between the two countries that will be terminated beginning January 1st.

http://neurope.eu/article/following-ukr ... itigation/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Inflation will hit 44pc in Ukraine this year, as the embattled economy has seen prices soar amid economic collapse. Consumer prices have hit eye-watering levels in 2015, according to the country's central bank governor. Inflation averaged 24.9pc in 2014.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/econ ... lapse.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Russian ruble hit its lowest level in a year against the U.S. currency on December 30, falling to 73.2 rubles per dollar. The ruble lost 40 percent of its value last year and is now 20 percent down compared to a year ago as the country's economy suffers from the effects of Western economic sanctions and plunging oil prices
http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-rub ... 58186.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...desperate times and likely desperate measures will be taken...

The likelihood of a Dec. 30 default by Mexico's largest infrastructure and construction company, Empresas ICA (ICA), means that several of Mexico's top banks could take significant, but manageable, provisions on their loans to ICA in the first two quarters of 2016, says Fitch Ratings. Six of Mexico's seven largest banks have a total of about MXP12.3 billion (USD726 million) of exposure to ICA, including direct loans and indirect exposures. Some of these loans may cross-default when ICA formally enters an interest payment default, which the company has confirmed will occur at the end of a 30-day grace period next week.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSFit94511520151223" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Empresas ICA SAB will skip a debt payment due by the end of the month as Mexico’s biggest construction company heads for the nation’s biggest default in at least two decades. Stocks and bonds declined.

The builder won’t pay $31 million in interest on its $700 million in bonds maturing in 2024, the company said Friday in a statement. ICA was using a 30-day grace period that ends Dec. 29. The company will be forced to halt payments on all of its $1.35 billion in overseas notes, eclipsing glassmaker Vitro SAB as the biggest corporate bond defaulter in Mexico since Moody’s Investors Service began tracking the data in 1995, according to the rating company.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... cture-debt" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Default looms for 300m yuan bond issued by Sichuan Shengda Group
http://www.scmp.com/business/global-eco ... ngda-group" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

More firms in China are struggling to repay debt amid the worst economic slowdown in a quarter century. Earlier this month, pig iron producer Sichuan Shengda Group Ltd. became at least the seventh Chinese firm to renege on local debt obligations this year. In addition to Kaisa, two Chinese coal firms also reneged on their offshore obligations. Winsway Enterprises Holdings Ltd., the Chinese coking-coal importer, missed interest payment for the second time in October on a debenture due 2016. Hidili Industry International Development Ltd. didn’t repay dollar bonds due Nov. 4.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... er-default" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...USA slows down....China slows down...

China’s Unprecedented Real Estate Bubble Is a Ticking Time Bomb
http://economyandmarkets.com/markets/ho ... time-bomb/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The most important China chart of 2015
http://uk.businessinsider.com/charlene- ... ?r=US&IR=T" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
There’s no need to panic, according to the yuan’s top forecaster, even as the currency posted the biggest annual loss in more than two decades and a majority of economists predicted a further depreciation in 2016. The currency tumbled 4.5 percent in 2015 to close at 6.4936 a dollar in Shanghai on Dec. 31, according to China Foreign Exchange Trade System prices. That’s the biggest decline in data going back to 1994.

The August devaluation spurred capital outflows and drained $213 billion from the nation’s currency reserves as policy makers looked to control the yuan’s decline. Financial institutions including the central bank sold 221 billion yuan ($34 billion) of foreign exchange in November. A total of $508 billion of capital left China in the August-November period, according to a Bloomberg estimate that takes into account funds held in dollars by exporters and direct investment recipients. Exports declined for a fifth straight month.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... aches-calm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

China suspends forex business for some foreign banks: sources
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china ... 8D20151230" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

China Fires a Warning Shot at Yuan Speculators With Bank Bans
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... -bank-bans" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

More U.S. companies have defaulted on their debt this year than issuers from any other country or region, S&P analysts led by Diane Vazza wrote in a Dec. 24 report. As of last week, 111 companies worldwide had defaulted on their obligations, the highest tally since 2009 when the the figure hit 242 for the same period. About 60 percent of this year’s global defaults have come from U.S. borrowers, Vazza wrote, up from 55 percent a year ago, when 33 of 60 defaulters were American.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... 5-s-p-says" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

America has never - ever - avoided a recession when Chicago's Business Barometer has collapsed to these levels. At 42.9, missing the expectations of 50.0 by the most ever, down from 48.7 in November, the final US economic data point of the year sums up perfectly what a disaster Yellen has hiked rates into.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-3 ... pmi-report" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Year-over-year, initial jobless claims are unchanged as the week-ending with Christmas Day saw a Scorrge-like 20,000 surge in initial claims. This is the largest weekly rise since February with 2015 ending with the highest initial claims print in 5 months.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-3 ... stmas-week" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Announced cuts in the fourth quarter total at least 47,000, following 52,000 lost jobs in the first nine months of 2015. That would bring the aggregate figure since 2008 to about 600,000. UniCredit SpA says it will eliminate about 18,200 positions. Citigroup Inc., which has reduced its workforce by more than a third, plans to eliminate at least 2,000 more jobs next year.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... isis-chart" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"November was the second consecutive month when default rates rose across all types of consumer credit," says David M. Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. "While two months isn't long enough to establish a turning point or a new trend, the consumers' financial condition should be watched going forward.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases ... 93050.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A recent analysis found that half of US households 55 and older have no money stashed away for retirement.
http://www.mybudget360.com/retirement-s ... o-savings/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

U.S. mortgage rates rose, with the 30-year average topping 4 percent for the first time in five months, after the Federal Reserve’s decision to increase its benchmark lending rate
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... since-july" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...cost of financing goes up....price of the house comes down...

Greece has the unenviable distinction of having the second to worst performing residential property market in the world this year, according to data up to the end of September.
http://www.ekathimerini.com/204713/arti ... -the-world" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The government’s proposal to Greece’s creditors for reform of the country’s ailing pension system is likely to foresee 50 percent of the savings coming from increases to social security contributions and the other half from cuts to pensions, chiefly though supplementary pensions, Kathimerini understands.
http://www.ekathimerini.com/204678/arti ... -the-table" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Financial writer Bill Holter says all the talk of the so-called “recovery” and reaching “escape velocity is imminent” have been total lies. Holter explains, “We have heard the word ‘recovery’ for seven years . . . we’ve never gotten to the expansion phase. They keep talking about ‘escape velocity,’ and we have never gotten there in seven years. Now, the Fed has raised interest rates just before Christmas. This is the first time ever the Fed has raised rates right before Christmas, and they raised rates into a weak economy where credit is already tight. The only time they have done that is 1937, and we know how that worked out.”
http://usawatchdog.com/2016-prediction- ... ll-holter/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I and a few other experts like David Stockman have continued to argue that this re-bound since 2009 has been all smoke and mirrors – artificial stimulus that has only created greater bubbles in financial assets like stocks, and financial engineering to create rising corporate profits. None of it goes toward real expansion for future jobs, productivity and growth… things like new office space and industrial capacity.

This is the hard truth that no one is looking at: businesses are merely re-employing their past capacity, and not creating new plants and offices for future employment. All the 200,000-plus jobs numbers per month, if they are even fully real, are just catching up with the past. And we shouldn’t be investing in such new work space as we already have all we need for decades ahead.

This is the reality of demographics that clueless economists just don’t get.

Money velocity continues to drop without lending and productive investment to expand it…

Businesses are struggling with stagnant earnings because we already hit the peak of debt capacity and demographic spending growth in the great boom that finally peaked in late 2007, as I forecast two decades before.

Debt was running at 2.54 times GDP for 26 years. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist or nuclear physicist to tell you that pretty much guarantees a massive period of deleveraging and depression – not continued expansion.

So since growth is all but impossible, corporations have resorted to financial engineering to keep the wagon rolling – all courtesy of the Fed, with near-zero short- and long-term interest rates.

They’ve had two options: either increase stock buybacks to leverage their stagnant earnings with rising earnings-per-share on fewer shares, or increase dividends to compete with lower and lower yielding bonds (also courtesy of the Fed). And they’ve been milking both options for all they’re worth!

But financial engineering does not result in real growth.

And speculation does not expand the money supply.

It is only a sign of decreasing money velocity, and a bubble that will only burst – like in 1929, 2000, and now again!

It’s a mirage.

It isn’t real.

And it isn’t sustainable.
http://economyandmarkets.com/economy/bu ... -recovery/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Deposit Insurance Fund balance was 70.1 billion dollars on September 30, 2.5 billion dollars higher than the balance at June 30. Estimated insured deposits rose to 6.421 trillion dollars at the end of September, an increase of 1.1 percent over the quarter.
https://www.fdic.gov/news/news/speeches/spnov2415.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...$70 billion insuring $6.4 trillion....or just a hair over 1%...

Global OTC derivatives market
http://www.bis.org/statistics/d5_1.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Credit exposure from derivatives increased in the fourth quarter. Net current credit exposure (NCCE) increased $46.5 billion quarter-over-quarter, or 11.7%, to $445 billion. Four large commercial banks represent 92.3% of the total banking industry notional amounts and 84.6% of industry NCCE
http://www.occ.gov/topics/capital-marke ... /dq414.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The trailing 12 month (TTM) U.S. institutional leveraged loan default rate is forecast to rise to 2.5% in 2016, according to Fitch Ratings. This rate would result from the $24 billion in defaults -- nearly a 50% increase in volume from the current TTM, and more than the defaulted volumes tallied in 2011-2013 combined.
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/2 ... fault-Rate" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In a report published Wednesday, Moody’s predicts a speculative-grade issuer default rate of 3.4% by October 2016, with commodity sectors making a disproportionate contribution to the increase. The trailing 12-month credit default rate was 2.7% in October.
http://ww2.cfo.com/credit/2015/12/moody ... ising-3-4/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Noble Group Ltd. has lost almost two-thirds of its value, with its stock trading near the lowest since 2008, after a year of attacks on its finances by critics including the anonymous Iceberg Research and short-seller Muddy Waters LLC. The latest blow, amid a rout in raw materials, was the cut in its credit rating to junk by Moody’s Investors Service on concerns over its liquidity.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... om-moody-s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Dollar Buying Frenzy As Europe Closes
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-3 ... ope-closes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

....isn't that how 2008 crisis' got started???
But the economy is having serious difficulty fending off deflation.

When your ENTIRE banking system is leveraged by 26 to 1, as is Europe’s, even a 4% drop in asset values renders the system insolvent. Without significant inflation, the EU’s banking system is toast.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-3 ... risis-pt-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
it appears European stocks were not the "no brainer" investment everyone promised them to be after all. December's 5% plunge was the worst for this time of year since 2002 (2nd worst on record)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-3 ... ember-2002" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Canadian stocks headed for the worst annual loss in four years mired in a three-day losing streak, as the resource-rich nation’s benchmark equity index sank amid a global retreat in commodities from crude to gold.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... -lead-rout" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
A Norwegian friend of mine, working in the local financial sector, told me that a 1% key-rate hike would make 14% of households insolvent.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-3 ... going-2016" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Fed Just Gave The Treasury A Record $19 Billion Holiday Bonus
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-3 ... iday-bonus" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Parliament and Council Presidency negotiators reached a political agreement Wednesday on the draft bank recovery and resolution directive, the first step towards setting up an EU system to deal with struggling banks. This directive will introduce the “bail-in” principle by January 2016, thereby ensuring that taxpayers will not be first in line to pay for bank failures.
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/n ... e%E2%80%9D" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A Crisis Worse than ISIS? Bail-Ins Begin
http://ellenbrown.com/2015/12/29/a-cris ... ins-begin/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...Silver chugging along under $14...and gold just over a grand...
http://www.kitco.com/charts/livesilver.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.kitco.com/charts/livegold.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's federal states are planning to spend around 17 billion euros ($18.7 billion) on dealing with the refugee crisis in 2016, the newspaper Die Welt said on Tuesday, citing a survey it conducted among their finance ministries.
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-german ... lt-2015-12" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

New Year fireworks and festivities have been cancelled in the Belgian capital, Brussels, because of a terror alert
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35201552" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

November 2015 Paris Terror Attack Fireguard
https://publicintelligence.net/fdny-par ... r-attacks/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
A new California law scheduled to take effect Friday will allow the police to seize private, legally-owned weapons for up to three weeks without charges or allowing the citizen to contest the seizure.

AB1014 was passed last year in the wake of 2014’s Isla Vista shooting, where teenager Elliot Rodger went on a rampage near the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara, killing six people along with himself.
http://www.bizpacreview.com/2015/12/30/ ... ons-289536" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
California is set to become the first state in the nation to let police seize legally-owned guns without notice.

The law, which is scheduled to take effect on Friday, will enable family members to ask a judge to remove firearms from a relative who appears to pose a threat.

The bill authorizes a court to issue “a temporary emergency gun violence restraining order” if an officer and a judge finds “there is reasonable cause to believe that the subject of the petition poses an immediate and present danger of causing personal injury to himself, herself, or another by having in his or her custody or control, owning, purchasing, possessing, or receiving a firearm and that the order is necessary to prevent personal injury to himself, herself, or another,” reads part of the bill.
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/1929745 ... ut-notice/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, facing calls for his resignation after a series of fatal police shootings, announced major changes on Wednesday in how city police respond to crises situations.
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/12/chicago ... w+Story%29" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Welcome to Cyber Storm III - This is the third time that the Department of Homeland Security, in conjunction with other federal agencies, is holding this global cybersecurity exercise. Previous Cyber Storm exercises were conducted in 2006, and again in 2008. For the first time, DHS will manage its response to Cyber Storm III from its new National Cybersecurity and Communications and Integration Center.
http://federalnewsradio.com/technology/ ... ck-itself/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Scientist Injected Himself With 3.5 Million Yr Old Bacteria for Immortality
http://www.topsecretwriters.com/2015/12 ... mortality/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Why Engineers Can’t Stop Los Angeles' Enormous Methane Leak
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/why-we ... looding-la" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

After several months without seeing much earthquake activity, a noteworthy M4.9 (M4.8 revised) earthquake has struck between Seattle, and Vancouver BC in Washington State.
http://dutchsinse.com/12302015-washingt ... ious/#8230" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

LOS ANGELES -- An earthquake of 4.4 magnitude struck about 4 miles from San Bernardino, Calif., on Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported, jangling nerves but not resulting in any reports of damage.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nati ... /78048552/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Paris (AFP) - Deadly extreme weather on at least five continents is driven in large part by a record-breaking El Nino, but climate change is a likely booster too, experts said Monday.

The 2015-16 El Nino, they added, is the strongest ever measured.

"It is probably the most powerful in the last 100 years," said Jerome Lecou, a climate expert at the French weather service Meteo France, noting that accurate measurements have only existed since the mid-20th century.

Flooding and mudslides unleashed by torrential rains have killed at least 10 people and driven more than 150,000 from their homes in Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay in recent days.
http://news.yahoo.com/record-el-nino-cl ... 09695.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Up to 17 million people and hundreds of homes in Illinois and Missouri are under threat from a rare winter flood that has forced widespread evacuations, left 19 levees on the rising Mississippi River vulnerable and led to the partial closure of interstate highways. As the swollen rivers and streams pushed to virtually unheard-of heights Tuesday, inmates were transferred out of an Illinois state prison threatened by flooding and Missouri's governor activated the National Guard to help divert traffic from submerged roads.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... oding.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
At least 20 deaths over several days in Missouri and Illinois were blamed on flooding, mostly involving vehicles that drove onto swamped roadways. At least two people remain missing.

Missouri is under a state of emergency. Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner issued a disaster declaration for seven Illinois counties on Tuesday.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon activated the Missouri National Guard Tuesday afternoon.

The Mississippi River is the highest since the Great Flood of 2011.
http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/3083 ... c-flooding" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Missouri's governor warned Tuesday of flooding and swollen river levels that could exceed levels seen in a devastating flood in 1993, and he pleaded with drivers to stay off inundated roadways. Thirteen people in Missouri have died in floods caused by severe storms over the weekend, and although the rain has moved on, swollen rivers are still rising and won't crest for days, Gov. Jay Nixon said.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mis ... ds-n487541" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...spent couple months myself sandbagging along the Sewer of Despair (Des Peres river) in 1993...

Latest flood news: I-44 is closed, water is rising
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metr ... cbf20.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — Fort Leonard Wood has identified five international soldiers who drowned when their car was swept away by floodwaters.
http://www.stripes.com/news/us/5-soldie ... d-1.386469" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The worst flooding across the U.S. Midwest in four years is disrupting everything from oil to agriculture, forcing pipelines, terminals and grain elevators to close and killing off thousands of pigs.

Fifty miles (80 kilometers) of the Illinois River have been closed, according to the U.S. Coast Guard, as well as 81 miles of the Mississippi River in two segments.

The flooding is the worst since May 2011, when rising water on the Mississippi and its tributaries deluged cities, slowed barge traffic and threatened refinery and chemical operations. The current situation increases stockpiles of crude oil and may extend this year’s price slide.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... ecord-glut" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
A historic and unseasonable flood has begun on the Mississippi River and its tributaries, thanks to heavy rains that fell from Oklahoma to the Ohio Valley during Christmas week. Never before has water this high been observed in winter along the levee system of the river. The Father of Waters began over-topping its levees just north of West Alton, Missouri (population 500) on Tuesday, forcing evacuations. West Alton lies at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, about 7 miles upriver from St. Louis. The river is still rising at West Alton, and is expected to crest on Thursday morning at the second highest level ever recorded, about 5' below the disastrous flood of 1993. On Friday, the massive Mississippi River flood crest will reach St. Louis, bringing the second highest waters levels ever recorded there (flood records extend way back to 1785 in St. Louis.) The three river gauges downstream from St. Louis--at Chester, Cape Girardeau, and Thebes--are expected to see their highest water highest levels ever recorded on Friday and Saturday. The latest flood forecasts for the Mississippi River issued Tuesday evening by NWS River Forecast Center predicted that Thebes would be the last location to see an all-time record crest in this flood; below Thebes, flood crests between the 2nd and 4th highest on record are expected along most of the Mississippi and the lower portions of two main tributaries, the Ohio and Arkansas Rivers. As with weather forecasts, the margin of uncertainty in river-crest predictions increases over longer time periods. According to a Wednesday morning summary by TWC's Jon Erdman, the following flooding and flood impacts can be expected farther down river:

• Memphis: Crest late next week higher than 1997 and 1973 floods, but well below 2011 and 1937 floods.
• Vicksburg, Mississippi: Crest in mid-January expected to exceed 1973 flood, but well below 2011 and 1927 floods. Some flooding of city streets and businesses possible.
• Natchez, Mississippi: Crest around MLK holiday may top 1937 flood, but should remain below 2011 record flood. Flooding of Ft. Adams likely.
• Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Crest during MLK week comparable or just below May 2011 flood possible. Areas outside of levee protection may flood. Shipping and industrial activities may be significantly impacted.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... -mb-low-hi" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...middle of winter...not so nice...I preferred sandbagging in shorts and a t-shirt...

A 24-mile stretch of Interstate 44 was closed southwest of St. Louis on Wednesday, and the Missouri Department of Transportation was forced to close a 3-mile stretch of Interstate 55 in both directions on early Thursday due to flooding.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/offi ... e-36024640" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The U.S. Geological Survey says field crews have recorded 18 preliminary record flood measurements along the river, which originates near Salem in south-central Missouri and empties into the Mississippi River near St. Louis about 220 miles later.
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2015/12/31/ ... terstates/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Massive flooding in the St. Louis area has caused another wastewater treatment plant to shut down.

The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District says the sewage treatment plant in Valley Park closed Thursday after water from the Meramec River flowed over a wall of sandbags built around the plant.

It wasn't immediately clear if the shutdown was causing raw sewage to flow directly into the Meramec
http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/L ... 729462.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The flooding in Missouri is causing raw sewage to flow into a second location on the Meramec River. Spokesman Sean Hadley says sewage normally treated at the plant is going into the Meramec. Residents are urged to stay away from the water.

On Monday, floodwaters caused a power outage that shut down the wastewater treatment plant in Fenton, another St. Louis-area town, diverting raw sewage into the Meramec.

And a sewage treatment plant in the southwest Missouri town of Springfield also closed earlier this week, allowing raw sewage to escape.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/late ... n-36024538" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...sewer des Meramec.....

Nearly a dozen other levees considered at risk for "possible significant distress," were holding as of Wednesday evening, but people were moving out just in case. Michael Pennise, mayor of the St. Louis suburb of Valley Park, ordered mandatory evacuations for 350 to 400 homes and dozens of businesses in the section of town near the fast-rising Meramec River.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/12/30/of ... loods.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Massive 928 mb storm pummels Iceland and the UK
A massive North Atlantic low pressure system dubbed "Frank" bombed to a central pressure of 928 mb on Wednesday morning and moved over Iceland, bringing heavy rains to Iceland and the UK and hurricane-force winds to the ocean waters between. According to Weather Underground's weather historian Christopher C. Burt's 2011 post, World and U.S. Lowest Barometric Pressure Records, the storm missed setting a lowest pressure for Iceland; the lowest pressure measured on the island is probably the 923.6 mb reading on December 2, 1929. Chris also notes that there are two storms in the North Atlantic that likely had a minimum pressure below 920 mb:

1) Storm of January 10, 1993 deepened to a central pressure of 912-915 mb (26.93”-27.02”) between Iceland and Scotland near 62°N, 15°W

2) Storm of December 15-16, 1986 deepened to at least 916 mb southeast of Greenland near 62°N, 32°W. A ship in the vicinity actually made a measurement of 920.2 mb on December 15th while still some distance from the center of the storm. The British Meteorological Office assessed the central pressure of the storm at this time as being 916 mb (27.05”), but the West German meteorological service proposed a pressure possibly as low as 912-913 mb (see Stephen Burt article in Weather magazine Vol. 42 pp. 53-56, February 1987).

Some links to more info on Frank, courtesy of wunderground member barbamz:

Extreme Weather Causes Damage in East Fjords Iceland Review, By Vala Hafstad Nature & Travel about 2 hours ago
The severe weather in the East Fjords is among the worst residents have ever experienced, RUV reports. The situation is the worst in Eskifjordur, where a high sea level land hurricane-force winds have threatened the marina. Part of the dock came loose, but rescue workers managed to fasten it. The surf has inundated all docks and the whole harbor area. Roof sheets have blown off several houses. There was high tide at 5:30 am, but since then, water levels have subsided somewhat. Boats that came loose in the marina were successfully tied down. Basements have flooded and tidal waves have reached cabins, never before affected by sea water. Some homes are without power...
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... -mb-low-hi" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Homes evacuated and power cuts as Storm Frank hits UK
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35196493" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Torrential downpours and gale-force winds have battered a great swathe of the UK, forcing people out of their homes and cutting off power supplies. Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England have borne the brunt, with some towns facing the second floods in a week.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35200697" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Homes evacuated and power cuts as Storm Frank hits UK
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35196493" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hundreds of homes have been evacuated and more than 100 flood warnings are in place after Storm Frank brought a fresh onslaught of heavy rain and high winds to parts of the UK.
http://news.sky.com/story/1614066/homes ... esh-deluge" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The man in charge of Britain’s flood defences is reported to be sunning himself in Barbados. As northern families braced themselves for another storm , flood defence chief Sir Philip Dilley - who is chief executive of the Environmental Agency - was believed to be 4000 miles away in the Caribbean.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/en ... es-7085612" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Judicial Watch: Secret Service Expenses for Obama’s 2013 Hawaii Christmas Vacation Cost Taxpayers $316,698.03, Taxpayers Paid Over $8 Million for 17-Day Vacation
http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room ... -vacation/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
North Texas cleans up from Saturday’s deadly tornadoes
Ahead of a strong cold front in west Texas, supercell thunderstorms that ripped across the sprawling eastern part of the Dallas area spawned several tornadoes that killed at least 11 people. One violent tornado that killed eight people in Garland was rated EF4, while “at least EF3” damage was found in Rowlett, just east of Garland, due to the same tornado or one that closely followed. Two people died in Copeland, about 15 miles to the northeast, where EF2 damage was documented. Several other weaker tornadoes struck North Texas. According to the Dallas Morning News, as many as 1000 structures were damaged across north Texas, many of them severely. The storms were fed by a very strong upper-level jet as well as unusually high instability for December (around 3000 joules per kilogram, which would be concerning in springtime, much less wintertime). Temperatures reached 80°F in Dallas just hours before the tornadic supercell arrived, with a summerlike dew point of 67°F.

The widespread persistence of warm, humid conditions over the last few days has led to an unusual U.S. stretch of severe weather for December, including tornadoes from Mississippi to Michigan on Wednesday. The EF1 tornado that touched down in Canton, Michigan on December 23 was Michigan's first December tornado on record. If tornadoes are confirmed on Monday, it will be the sixth calendar day in a row with at least one U.S. tornado reported, tying a monthly record set on December 22-27, 1982, during the “super El Niño” of 1982-83. (The streak would be even longer if we counted early-morning tornadoes on December 23 as part of the December 22 “tornado day”, per NOAA recordkeeping.) Another tragic milestone: 2015 is the first year in records going back to 1875 that has seen more confirmed tornado-related deaths in December than in the rest of the year combined. The only other year with December having more deaths than any other single month was 1931, according to statistics analyzed by Harold Brooks (NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory).
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... weather-an" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?

The G3 (Strong) geomagnetic storming watch has been extended into 31 December as the anticipated CME has yet to arrive. However, all indications are that the CME from 28 December is in transit and is expected to arrive anytime in the next several hours.
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/g3-strong ... 1-december" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A CME hurled toward Earth on Dec. 28th by an explosion in the magnetic canopy of sunspot AR2473 is still en route. Forecasters expect the storm cloud to arrive during the late hours of Dec. 30th. According to NOAA, there is a 90% chance of geomagnetic activity in the wake of the CME's impact. New Year's Eve auroras are in the offing.
http://www.spaceweather.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
NOAA upgraded their geomagnetic storm watch to include the possibility of Strong (G3) conditions at higher latitudes. This will go into effect on Wednesday (Dec 30) when a coronal mass ejection (CME) observed on Monday is expected to sweep past our planet. Perhaps some beautiful aurora to close out 2015 is in the works.

UPDATE: Energetic particle levels as measured by the Electron, Proton, and Alpha Monitor (EPAM) instrument on board the ACE spacecraft continues to gradually climb higher. This indicates that a coronal mass ejection (CME) is still in an approach phase and an impact to our geomagnetic field will be possible sometime during the next 24 hours. A geomagnetic storm watch remains in effect.

So far the impact appears to be weaker than predicted with the solar wind currently below 500 km/s. The Bz component of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is pointing north, a condition that is known to suppress geomagnetic activity. It is still very early however and solar wind conditions could change. I will provide further updates whenever necessary.

UPDATE @ 13:55 UTC (Dec 31): The Bz component of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) has been pointing sharply south for an extended period and this helped push the Kp index to moderate (G2) storm levels. This is taking place in the wake of an initially weaker than predicted CME impact. Sky watchers at very high latitudes should be alert for visual aurora if it is still dark outside.
http://www.solarham.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What's erupting?
http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/erupting_volcanoes.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Disaster authorities in Vanuatu are closely monitoring unprecedented simultaneous increases in activity at three of the country's volcanoes.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/ ... -volcanoes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Spectacular Videos of Mexican Colima Volcano Erupting Again
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/S ... -0015.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Columns of ash and smoke spewed more than 6,500 feet (2,000 metres) into the sky as Mexico's Colima or 'Fire' volcano erupted twice in one day
http://www.itv.com/news/2015-12-29/ring ... n-one-day/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Never seen a blue fire? A volcano in East Java will surprise you
http://news.asiaone.com/news/travel/nev ... rprise-you" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Tokyo Electric Power Co. has unexpectedly been forced to deal with an increasingly large amount radioactive water accumulating at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant after seaside walls to block the flow of groundwater were constructed in October.

TEPCO completed the walls on Oct. 26 to block contaminated groundwater from flowing into sea. The utility began pumping up groundwater from five wells dug between the walls and the plant's reactor buildings. The plan called for releasing the less contaminated water into the sea after a purification process, but TEPCO discovered that the water had larger amounts of radiation than it had expected.

TEPCO officials said the situation has left the utility with no option but to transfer 200 to 300 tons of groundwater each day into highly contaminated reactor buildings since November, a move that could further contaminate the water.

Comprised of numerous cylindrical steel pipes measuring 30 meters tall, the seaside walls were installed on the coastal side of the No. 1 to No. 4 reactor buildings to block contaminated groundwater flowing out of the highly contaminated buildings from reaching the ocean.

To control groundwater levels, TEPCO planned to release the less contaminated groundwater from the five wells into sea after a purification process.

However, the water from four of the wells was discovered to have high levels of tritium--a radioactive substance that is hard to remove--at levels higher than 1,500 becquerels per liter, which means the water cannot be released into sea.

To compound the problem, the seaside walls have also significantly raised groundwater levels, forcing the utility to pump a lot more groundwater than it originally planned.

TEPCO has been forced to temporarily transfer large amounts of the groundwater into highly contaminated reactor buildings, where it could become contaminated to an even further degree by being exposed to melted nuclear fuel.
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disast ... 1512260045" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

Bit'o saber rattling in the Middle East (nothing new but hey ya never know when the spark from the saber will touch off the powder keg)
Iranian protesters ransacked and set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran on Saturday after Saudi Arabia executed an outspoken Shiite cleric who had criticized the kingdom’s treatment of its Shiite minority.

The cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, was among 47 men executed in Saudi Arabia on terrorism-related charges, drawing condemnation from Iran and its allies in the region, and sparking fears that sectarian tensions could rise across the Middle East.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/03/world ... .html?_r=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/sa ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The most surprising result of the execution was that it shattered the red lines that had governed Saudi management of Shiite dissent for decades. As Toby Matthiesen has described in depth, Shiite activists such as Nimr would routinely be harassed, imprisoned and subjected to legal and extra-legal pressures but eventually released when politics dictated outreach and reconciliation. No Shiite cleric of comparable stature has been executed in many years.

Why escalate now, then?

At least three major reasons have led Saudi Arabia to escalate the sectarian regional cold war now:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/mon ... -conflict/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran fundamentally boil down to two things – the battle to be the dominant nation in the Middle East and the fact the countries represent the regional strongholds of two rival branches of Islam.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is ruled by a Sunni monarchy known as the House of Saud, with 90 per cent of the population adherents of their leaders’ faith. The Islamic Republic of Iran, meanwhile, is overwhelmingly Shia, with up to 95 per cent of nationals belonging to the denomination.

Both countries are major oil producers but while Saudi covers a significantly larger land mass, Iran’s population is more than twice the size.

It is the theological divide that really drives the wedge between the two countries, however, with each unable to accept the legitimacy of the other nation’s dominant faith.

The Sunni-Shia conflict is 1,400 years in the making, dating back to the years immediately after the Prophet Mohammed’s death in 632.

The Prophet died without having appointed a successor leading to a massive split over the future of the rapidly growing religion – chiefly whether the religion’s next leader should be chosen by a kind of democratic consensus, or whether only Mohammed’s blood relations should reign.

The arguments are complicated but essentially boil down to the fact that Sunni’s believe the Prophets’ trusted friend and advisor Abu Bakr was the first rightful leader of Muslims or “caliph”, while Shias believe that Mohammed’s cousin and son-in-law Ali was chosen by Allah to hold the title.

Both men did eventually hold the title – Abu Bakr first until his death, and Ali fourth after two previous caliphs were assassinated – but the schism really hit over who should come next.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 96131.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Religious map for some perspective...
Image

The red ink has forced the Saudis to tap the SAMA reserve war chest as well the debt market. In a testament to how dire the situation has become, Riyadh also moved to cut subsidies on everything from fuel to electricity to water in order to buy some budget breathing room. The welfare state overhaul was necessary because the Saudis aren’t keen on i) dropping the riyal peg, or ii) rolling back the defense spending.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-0 ... eens-chaos" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Saudi Arabia Bans Flights, Travel To Iran
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-0 ... ravel-iran" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Bahrain and Sudan cut all ties with Iran, following Riyadh's example the previous day. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters Riyadh would also halt air traffic and commercial relations between the rival powers.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi ... HZ20160104" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35222365" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Saudi government and staunch ally Bahrain severed diplomatic ties, giving Iranian ambassadors 48 hours to leave after protesters set the Saudi embassy in Tehran on fire over the weekend following the execution of Saudi cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a critic of the kingdom’s treatment of its Shiite minority. The United Arab Emirates reduced its representation to the level of charge d’affaires.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... s-iiyzvsw5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Mid-East Melee: Sectarian Showdown Looms As Bahrain Cuts Ties With Iran, UAE Recalls Ambassador
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-0 ... -ambassado" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Tension In The Middle East? No Matter: Oil And Stocks Sink Together
http://blogs.barrons.com/focusonfunds/2 ... -together/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

IDF fires artillery for fourth successive day amid concerns terror group will take advantage of poor weather to ‘avenge’ death of Samir Kuntar
http://www.timesofisrael.com/anticipati ... on-border/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese militant group Hezbollah struck an Israeli armored patrol with a roadside bomb at the border on Monday and Israel responded by shelling the area, with no immediate word on casualties.
http://news.yahoo.com/lebanons-hezbolla ... 56037.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Confl ... rms-439330" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For the last month, Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire across the Israeli-Lebanese border since the assassination of senior Hezbollah leader Samir Kuntar in an Israeli airstrike on a Damascus suburb on Dec. 19, 2015. Monday marked the fifth consecutive day that Israel shelled the Lebanese border. The increased attacks come at a time when Hezbollah’s fighting forces are entrenched in Syria’s conflict, fighting alongside President Bashar Assad’s regime. Despite the personnel losses the Shiite militants have faced, Hussein maintains that fighting on two fronts has not weakened Hezbollah.
http://www.ibtimes.com/hezbollah-faces- ... at-2247314" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Brazil's Economic Decline In One "Straight-Line" Chart
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-0 ... line-chart" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Angola’s currency fell the most since September 2001 after the central bank allowed it to devalue as the drop in oil prices cut the main source of government revenue and export earnings. The kwanza slid as much as 17 percent to an all-time low of 158.7380 against the dollar and was at 154.2659 as of 5:42 p.m. in the capital, Luanda. The drop followed a 24 percent retreat in 2015, its eighth year of declines and the most since 2003, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... evaluation" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...they aren't alone against the US dollar...
China's major stock exchanges tanked on the first trading day of the year, triggering a "circuit-breaker" that suspended equities trade nationwide for the first time and putting at risk months of regulatory work to restore market stability.

The selloff saw the CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen lose 7.0 percent before trading was suspended, its worst single-day performance since late August 2015, the depth of a summer stock market rout.

And more weakness may be in the cards on Tuesday if the behavior of a U.S. exchange traded fund tracking mainland China shares is a guide. The Deutsche X-trackers Harvest CSI 300 China A-Shares ETF slumped nearly 9 percent in midday U.S. trading, hitting its lowest since October 2014.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china ... CU20160104" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

China halted stock, futures and options trading after a 7 percent slump in the CSI 300 Index caused the nation’s new circuit breakers to kick in. Equities in South Korea, India and South Africa slid at least 2.1 percent, while Saudi Arabian shares dropped 2.4 percent. Brazil’s stock benchmark fell for a fourth day. The offshore yuan weakened the most in five months. A gauge of 20 developing-nation exchange rates fell to a record low against the dollar.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... yuan-sinks" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

European markets slumped to close sharply lower Monday following a sell-off in Chinese stocks and heightened geopolitical tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Germany's DAX tumbled 4.3 percent, with London's FTSE and France's CAC also ending sharply lower, down 2.4 and 2.5 percent respectively.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/04/european ... ution.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Executive Board of the Riksbank has today at an extraordinary monetary policy meeting taken the decision required to be able to instantly intervene on the foreign exchange market if necessary, as a complementary monetary policy measure, to safeguard the rise in inflation.
http://www.riksbank.se/en/Press-and-pub ... rventions/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Global Stocks Sink on China, U.S. Growth Concerns
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... ignal-drop" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Gun Sales Soar After Obama Calls for New Restrictions

More guns were sold in December than almost any other month in nearly two decades, continuing a pattern of spikes in sales after terrorist attacks and calls for stricter gun-buying laws, according to federal data released on Monday.

The heaviest sales last month, driven primarily by handgun sales, followed a call from President Obama to make it harder to buy assault weapons after the terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif.

Fear of gun-buying restrictions has been the main driver of spikes in gun sales, far surpassing the effects of mass shootings and terrorist attacks alone, according to an analysis of federal background check data by The New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015 ... .html?_r=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
...nice graphic at the link....
Despite a massive plunge in stock markets across the globe, shares of gun companies shot sky-high Monday, as investors presumed firearm sales would rocket ahead of President Obama's expected executive actions on gun control.

Shares of Smith & Wesson Holding Corp., which makes an array of pistols and revolvers, rose nearly 6% Monday, closing at $23.38.

Shares of Sturm, Ruger & Co., which makes several models of semi-automatic and single-shot rifles and shotguns, rose 2.7% to close at $61.39.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.2484547" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


U.S. Troops Suspected Of Sexually Assaulting Military Dependents: Report
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mil ... 58f65c0dcd" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
(CNN)Saturday night, armed men broke into the desolate headquarters of a federally owned wildlife refuge in Oregon and said they weren't going to leave until the government stops its "tyranny."

It just got weirder from there.

The group's spokesman is Ammon Bundy, the son of anti-government Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy. The father made national news when he led a huge standoff against the feds in 2014 in which he and his brother participated. The standoff took on racist shades when the elder Bundy wondered aloud to a New York Times reporter whether black people would be better off enslaved.

That is the backdrop against which a very complicated, confusing and tense situation continues Monday with Ammon Bundy and dozens of supporters who have answered his call on social media to join him at the remote outpost about 30 miles from Burn, Oregon.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/04/us/oregon ... ndy-wants/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A Mormon and a father of 14, Cliven Bundy galloped to national fame two years ago when he — with the help of several dozen armed supporters — chased off some federal rangers. The rangers had been acting on a court order when they tried to confiscate 500 of Bundy's cattle for illegally grazing his herd on public land since 1993.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mee ... ff-n489766" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
“I’m Captain Moroni, from Utah.”

That’s how one militiaman at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge responded to OPB’s Amanda Peacher when she asked for his name.

That name is not a silly response to deflect responsibility: In many ways, it encapsulates a deeply intertwined anti-federal sentiment mixed with Mormon symbolism. Captain Moroni is a crucial figure in the Church of Latter-day Saints. He’s also a heroic figure for anti-federalist extremists.

In the modern day west, Captain Moroni has become one of several powerful symbols for the Bundy militia’s anti-governmental extremism.
Who Is Captain Moroni?

According to LDS scripture, Captain Moroni took command of the Nephites when he turned 25. Moroni innovated weaponry, strategy and tactics to help secure the safety of the Nephites, and allow them to worship and govern as they saw fit.

In LDS texts, Moroni prepares to confront a corrupt king by tearing off part of his coat and turning it into a flag, hoisting it as a “title of liberty.” This simple call to arms inspired a great patriotism in the Nephites, helping to raise a formidable army. Vastly outnumbered, the corrupt king fled. According to the Book of Mormon, Captain Moroni continued to push for liberty among his people.

“And it came to pass that Moroni was angry with the government, because of their indifference concerning the freedom of their country.”

During an April 2014 standoff with federal officials, supporters and members of the Bundy militia cited Book of Mormon passages centering on Captain Moroni. There were also several flags quoting Captain Moroni’s own writing on his “title of liberty.” Often next to American flags, these banners read “In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children.”

The man identifying as Captain Moroni said he was inspired by the call, and that the inspiration was validated by God in the form of a flock of geese he saw flying.

“I just knew it was the right thing [to come to Oregon],” Captain Moroni said. “I’m willing to die here.”
http://www.opb.org/news/article/explain ... mormonism/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
But that doesn’t mean every crazy thing Bundy supposedly said or did actually happened — such as, say, suing President Obama in 2014 for allegedly threatening Donald Trump. BuzzFeed reported Monday morning that Bundy filed a “bizarre, hand-written lawsuit” against the president. The suit alleged that Obama “covertly threatened Donald Trump with building code violations, property tax fraud, illegally operating offshore tax havens for betting with federal indictments unless he shuts up and stops the Birther movement.”

That would, indeed, be bizarre — so bizarre, in fact, that it probably should have been treated with juuust a bit more skepticism. The lawsuit does exist, but the person listed as Bundy’s co-plaintiff is a guy named David Rothrock, a convicted rapist who is in prison in Pennsylvania.

Rothrock has a history of filing wacked-out legal actions and affixing the names of famous people to them. In 2014, he put Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater’s name on a motion seeking an injunction that would have prevented Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles from playing. Rothrock claimed to be a performance-enhancing drug dealer who supplied Bortles with steroids and human growth hormone. He accused Bortles of threatening to frame him for rape and said the former University of Central Florida standout is HIV-positive.

Also in 2014, Rothrock filed a motion seeking a restraining order against mobsters John Gotti Jr. and Joseph Ligambi. His “partner” in that case was “Skinny” Joey Merlino, another mob boss.

The Bundy, Bridgewater and Merlino actions were all filed from prison within a few days of each other. A side-by-side comparison of the Bundy and Bridgewater documents, which are readily available online, shows similar handwriting and — rather suspiciously — the same mailing address for both the rancher and the football star: P.O. Box 1488. The P.O. box number appears to be a reference to white supremacist symbols.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the ... e-lawsuit/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The founder of the Oath Keepers, a loosely organized anti-government militia group, criticized Ammon Bundy for protesting the arson convictions of a pair of Oregon ranchers shortly before Bundy led the takeover of an empty national wildlife refuge on Saturday.

Stewart Rhodes, president and founder of the Oath Keepers, posted a video statement on the ranchers' situation in which he criticized the son of infamous Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy for taking up the cause of Dwight and Stewart Hammond. Rhodes branded those involved with Ammon Bundy's protest as “potheads.”

“The Oath Keepers will not be involved in an armed stand off that’s being manufactured by potheads who want a fight because this is going to be a bad fight, not a righteous moral high ground fight,” Rhodes said in the video, which was posted Thursday.

A spokesman for the Oath Keepers, Jason Van Tatenhove, said in an email that the video the organization posted online had been edited and that Stewart could be heard saying “hot head” in the original version.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/stewa ... ndy-oregon" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I regret having to even make this statement, but I have no choice, since Ammon Bundy has not made it sufficiently clear to the patriot community that the Hammond family has declined physical armed help, and by all indications does NOT want any kind of armed stand off with the Federal government, and they do NOT want anyone to attempt to protect Dwight and Steven Hammond from being taken into Federal custody on Monday, January 4, 2016 when they are scheduled to turn themselves in to serve additional time for their felony convictions (which came after a jury found them guilty). They intend to voluntarily turn themselves in and serve out the remainder of their sentence, under federal minimum sentencing statutes, after losing in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on that issue. In fact, they have made it very clear, through a public statement by their lawyer, in a letter to the Sheriff dated December 11, 2015, that:
Neither Ammon Bundy nor anyone in his group/organization speaks for the Hammond Family, Dwight Hammond or Steven Hammond. In addition, I wish to report to you that, as recently ordered by the District Court, District of Oregon, Dwight Hammond and Steven Hammond intend to voluntarily report to the designated federal facility on January 4, 2016, as required.
https://www.oathkeepers.org/the-hammond-family-does/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
SALT LAKE CITY —

In response to news media inquiries, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued the following statement Monday, January 4 (for more context on this issue, see this story from the Washington Post):

While the disagreement occurring in Oregon about the use of federal lands is not a Church matter, Church leaders strongly condemn the armed seizure of the facility and are deeply troubled by the reports that those who have seized the facility suggest that they are doing so based on scriptural principles. This armed occupation can in no way be justified on a scriptural basis. We are privileged to live in a nation where conflicts with government or private groups can — and should — be settled using peaceful means, according to the laws of the land.
http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/c ... occupation" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
So let’s say an armed gang like the Crips or or Hell’s Angels took over a federal building in a town near you. Let’s also say said gang declared they weren’t leaving. And then its gang spokesman said this to Natalie Morales of NBC’s Today Show this morning:

“The only violence that, if it comes our way, will be because government is wanting their building back. We’re putting nobody in harm’s way. We are not threatening anybody.”

In other words, our armed militia means no harm unless the law does its job and takes the building it, you know, owns back. Pretty ominous stuff. And methinks the leader of the Crips or Hell’s Angels wouldn’t be afforded the same courtesy regarding media coverage if it took over a federal building. Yet here we are on the first busy day of the new year with wall-to-wall coverage of the standoff around a federal building in the Malheur Wildlife Refuge — a remote facility in the Oregon high desert … all as Ammon Bundy, gang spokesman, is granted more interviews on virtually every national television network and therefore a platform to share what his perspective to millions.

And we’re not just talking NBC, but ABC, CBS, CNN, the Associated Press, local media … you name it. Ammon Bundy — the son of the infamous Cliven Bundy who dominated the news cycle for weeks in April and May of 2014 during a standoff then — has now taken the Donald Trump mantle of media domination and will likely continue to until this standoff is over. Note: Bundy has declared the group “will stay for years” if it has to, meaning this could unfortunately end under not-so-peaceful terms. It also means the story will have legs — particularly in the cable news world — which was practically invented for this kind of scenario.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/facepalm ... -platform/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The FBI has made its first move to intervene in the activities of a group of ranchers who tried to overturn local government and take over federal land, and has said it is aiming for a peaceful resolution.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 96476.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Hammond Ranch Affair Will Become Waco II
http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/2016/ ... e-waco-ii/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

CHANCE OF STORMS, DELAYED: NOAA forecasters estimate a 40% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on Jan. 4th in response to the impact of a late-arriving CME. The storm cloud was originally expected to reach Earth on Jan. 3rd, but it is approaching us more slowly than previously thought. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras after nightfall on Monday.
http://www.spaceweather.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ST. LOUIS — The worst of the dangerous, deadly winter flood is over in the St. Louis area, leaving residents of several waterlogged communities to spend the first day of 2016 assessing damage, cleaning up and figuring out how to bounce back — or in some cases, where to live.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/na ... 12201.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
A historic and unseasonable flood has brought the highest flood levels ever recorded to the Mississippi River south of St. Louis, thanks to more than 10 inches of rain that fell over a three-day period that began Christmas Day. At least 25 deaths in Illinois and Missouri are being blamed on the flooding. The Mississippi River crested at its third highest water level on record in St.Louis on January 1. On January 2, the southward-propagating crest brought the second highest flood on record to Chester and the highest flood on record to Cape Girardeau and Thebes. On Monday, January 4, the crest is expected to be about 200 miles south of St. Louis at Caruthersville, Missouri, bringing the third highest flood ever observed there. The latest flood forecasts for the Mississippi River issued Sunday evening by NWS River Forecast Center predicted no other locations would see an all-time record crest, with crests between the 2nd and 10th highest on record expected along most of the Lower Mississippi and the lower portions of two main tributaries, the Ohio and Arkansas Rivers.

The big big issue for the next couple of days is levee performance, as flood levels exceed 1993 in some locations. The current forecasts call for large levee systems like Grand Tower and Degognia and others…to be at overtopping levels. Most of the Middle Mississippi River levees are currently rated Unacceptable (like 44.5% of rated levee miles nationwide); plus there are major geotechnical issue documented by our research--subsidence and compaction and un-permitted levee modifications using road gravel that is unsuited to flood control. There is room for optimism--this flood wave is very sharp and will be days long…rather than weeks. My personal fear is that many of these levees are degraded in ways that may rear up suddenly as near-record flood levels roll through. I am very apprehensive for neighbors and colleagues and friends on the bottoms."

Army Corps may be forced to open two flood structures
On January 12, the flood crest is expected to arrive in New Orleans, bringing the Mississippi River to its 17-foot flood stage in the city--just 3 feet below the tops of the levees. In past years, though, when the river has been forecast to rise to 17 feet in the city, the Army Corps of Engineers has opened up the Bonnet Carré Spillway in St. Charles Parish, which diverts water into Lake Pontchartrain and keeps the river from reaching flood stage in New Orleans. According to a December 30 news story in The Advocate, the Army Corps will make a decision by January 9 on whether or not to open the Bonnet Carré Spillway. The last time the spillway was opened in January was back in 1937, its first year of operation. There is a lower chance that the Corps will be forced to open the Morganza Floodway in Pointe Coupee Parish between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, which would divert water down the Atchafalaya River. Opening this spillway has a considerably higher cost than opening the Bonnet Carre Spillway, due to the large amount of agricultural lands that would be flooded below the Morganza Floodway. The Corps also has the option of increasing the flow of Mississippi River water into the Atchafalaya at the Old River Control Structure in Concordia Parish. Operating the Old River Control Structure in this way, though, puts stress on the structure, as I explained in my 2011 blog post, America's Achilles' heel: the Mississippi River's Old River Control Structure. The Sunday evening forecast from the NWS River Forecast Center predicted that the Mississippi River would crest at Red River Landing, where the Old River Control Structure is located, on January 18. The predicted crest of 62.5' is just 0.9' below the all-time record crest of 63.39' set on May 18, 2011, when the Corps was forced to open the Morganza Floodway in order to relieve pressure on the Old River Control Structure.

Another huge concern is what shape the levees will be in after this record January flood subsides. After the great 2011 flood, about a billion dollars was required to bring the levee system back to the state it was in before is was damaged by the flood. The Army Corps will not have much time to do repairs before the annual spring flood arrives in May on the Mississippi, so the levee system will be much more vulnerable than usual to major flooding. So far, though, the odds of major spring flooding along the Mississippi appear to be below average. The winter snow pack in the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin is much below average, thanks to a warm December. The water content of the snow pack on January 3, 2016 was about 20% of what was present on January 3, 2011, in advance of the great 2011 spring flood. In addition, we may be helped out by the fact that El Niño tends to cause lower-than-average precipitation over the key Mississippi drainage area of the Midwest.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... ord-below-" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Record high temperatures will plunge in the East and the West will see unprecedented rainfall as El Nino continues to cause bizarre weather across the US. After one of the warmest Decembers on record, the East Coast is expecting its first cold snap, with temperatures expected to be 5-20 degrees colder than average this January. On the West Coast, up to six inches of rain are expected to hit California this week as storms batter the state, and could even bring up to two feet of rain to higher ground tomorrow.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -rain.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

Oil pares losses after dive toward 12-year low seen too far, too fast
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-globa ... 2520160107" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
(REUTERS) – The deputy head of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) told Saudi Arabia on Thursday it would “collapse” in coming years if it kept pursuing what he called its sectarian policies in the region.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Sudan and Djibouti broke off ties with Iran this week, the United Arab Emirates downgraded its relations and Kuwait and Qatar recalled their ambassadors after the Saudi embassy in Tehran was stormed by protesters.

Tensions between Shi’ite Muslim power Iran and the conservative Sunni kingdom have spiralled since Saudi Arabia on Saturday executed cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, an opponent of the ruling dynasty who demanded greater rights for Saudi Arabia’s marginalized Shi’ite minority.
http://news.yahoo.com/saudi-collapse-ke ... 50458.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
DUBAI: Iran and Saudi Arabia took further steps to sever commercial ties yesterday, intensifying a feud between the regional rivals, as Tehran announced a ban on imports from Saudi Arabia and Saudi groups called for boycotts of Iranian products.

Iran’s government said it had forbidden imports from Saudi Arabia after a cabinet meeting chaired by President Hassan Rouhani yesterday morning, according to state news agency IRNA.
http://news.kuwaittimes.net/website/ira ... -boycotts/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Saudi jets have 'deliberately' bombed the Iranian embassy in Yemen in an air raid that wounded staff, Tehran has claimed today.

Warplanes struck the building as they pounded Yemen's capital Sanaa on Wednesday night, Iran claimed, as tensions with Saudi Arabia continued to mount.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman described the strike as a 'deliberate action' and a 'violation of all international conventions that protect diplomatic missions'.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... Yemen.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Iran yesterday accused Saudi warplanes of deliberately bombing its embassy in Yemen, in a new escalation of diplomatic tensions that have reverberated across the Middle East.

Shia-dominated Iran also announced a ban on imports of all products from its Sunni-ruled rival, following a dramatic chill in relations that has triggered international alarm.
http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/s ... men-198751" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35251917" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Saudi Foreign Minister Visits Pakistan Amid Iran Tensions
http://www.rferl.org/content/saudi-fore ... 74327.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia executed Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr on Saturday. Hours later, Iranian protestors set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran. On Sunday, the Saudi government, which considers itself the guardian of Sunni Islam, cut diplomatic ties with Iran, which is a Shiite Muslim theocracy.

To explain what’s going on, the New York Times provided a primer on the difference between Sunni and Shiite Islam, informing us that “a schism emerged after the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632” — i.e., 1,383 years ago.

But to the degree that the current crisis has anything to do with religion, it’s much less about whether Abu Bakr or Ali was Muhammad’s rightful successor and much more about who’s going to control something more concrete right now: oil.

In fact, much of the conflict can be explained by a fascinating map created by M.R. Izady, a cartographer and adjunct master professor at the U.S. Air Force Special Operations School/Joint Special Operations University in Florida.

https://prod01-cdn07.cdn.firstlook.org/ ... Oil-lg.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What the map shows is that, due to a peculiar correlation of religious history and anaerobic decomposition of plankton, almost all the Persian Gulf’s fossil fuels are located underneath Shiites. This is true even in Sunni Saudi Arabia, where the major oil fields are in the Eastern Province, which has a majority Shiite population.

As a result, one of the Saudi royal family’s deepest fears is that one day Saudi Shiites will secede, with their oil, and ally with Shiite Iran.

As Izady’s map so strikingly demonstrates, essentially all of the Saudi oil wealth is located in a small sliver of its territory whose occupants are predominantly Shiite. (Nimr, for instance, lived in Awamiyya, in the heart of the Saudi oil region just northwest of Bahrain.) If this section of eastern Saudi Arabia were to break away, the Saudi royals would just be some broke 80-year-olds with nothing left but a lot of beard dye and Viagra prescriptions.
https://theintercept.com/2016/01/06/one ... -conflict/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

SAUDI ARABIA is thinking about listing shares in Saudi Aramco, the state-owned company that is the world’s biggest oil producer and almost certainly the world’s most valuable company. Muhammad bin Salman, the kingdom’s deputy crown prince and power behind the throne of his father, King Salman, has told The Economist that a decision will be taken in the next few months. “Personally I’m enthusiastic about this step,” he said. “I believe it is in the interest of the Saudi market, and it is in the interest of Aramco.”
http://www.economist.com/news/middle-ea ... le_company" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
BEIJING: China has sent an envoy to Saudi Arabia and Iran amid an escalating feud, the foreign ministry said on Thursday, calling on all sides to exercise restraint.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Ming was currently in Saudi Arabia and would travel on to Iran, ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing.
http://thecairopost.youm7.com/news/1869 ... -amid-feud" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
A Shanghai fund dumped all its holdings as Chinese shares tumbled and triggered a circuit-breaker that halted trading in the world’s second-biggest stock market.

“This is insane,” Chen Gang, chief investment officer at Shanghai Heqi Tongyi Asset Management Co., said in an interview on Thursday. “We were forced to liquidate all our holdings this morning,” said Chen, whose firm manages about 300 million yuan ($45.5 million).

China’s CSI 300 Index plunged 7.2 percent before trading was halted by automatic circuit-breakers for the second time this week, after a weaker-than-estimated yuan fixing fueled concern that slowing economic growth is prompting authorities to guide the currency lower. Many private funds and hedge funds in China have agreements with investors spelling out mandatory liquidation levels if their holdings drop below a certain value.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... --ij3q4f91" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

From China’s weakening currency to the rout in oil to the withdrawal of Federal Reserve stimulus and gains in the cost of financing business, things that keep investors up at night are climbing out from under the bed again in 2016.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... ed-economy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Global markets were in tumult on Thursday after attempts by Chinese authorities to support share prices and the currency raised fresh questions about their ability to manage a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy. The Shanghai stock market was paralysed for the second time in four days by measures designed to prevent panic selling, after the onshore renminbi fell to the lowest level against the dollar since it was established in 2010.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/f248931e ... f6b2f.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
On April 21st, People’s Daily, the newspaper that the Chinese Communist Party calls its “throat and tongue,” published an online commentary exhorting the masses to place their trust, and savings, in the stock market. Even though share prices had soared by more than eighty per cent in less than four months, this was “merely the start of a bull market,” since blue-chip stocks remained “undervalued,” the author, Wang Ruoyu, explained. Like a CNBC stock picker, Wang mocked fears of a bubble—“What’s a bubble? Tulips and Bitcoins are bubbles”—and assured readers that continued gains would enjoy the full “support from China’s grand development strategy and economic reforms.” The commentary was quickly shared across the Web, accompanied, in some cases, by a cartoon of a bull ramming a giant arrow toward the sky.

The public had reason to believe. Official and quasi-official Chinese pronouncements carry the ring of prophesy. In the heyday of socialism, the Party forecasted the size of the following year’s harvests and the quantity of steel production, and the final numbers were rarely permitted to deviate much from the predictions. More recently, the Party has offered annual targets for economic growth that almost always bear out, no matter what sort of creative policy, or accounting, steps are required. For months, President Xi Jinping and his generation of leaders had been vowing to give the market (instead of the government) a more “decisive” role in China’s economic growth, and investors did not miss the signal conveyed by the People’s Daily commentary. “It gives psychological support to the market,” Wu Kan, the head of equities trading at Shanshan Finance, an investment firm in Shanghai, told Reuters. “Obviously, regulators hope to see a steady and healthy bull market.”

The next day, share prices surged to their highest point in seven years. Over the next two and a half months, investors opened thirty-eight million new stock accounts, more than quadruple the number of accounts opened in all of 2014. In some cases, individuals or institutions held multiple accounts, so it was not quite the stampede of mom-and-pop investors that figures might suggest; nevertheless, it was, for many, a new era of risk and reward.

On June 13th, stocks began to fall. After nearly two weeks, trillions in paper wealth had been erased, and, in its first effort to arrest the slide, China’s central bank made a surprise interest-rate cut. Days later, regulators stopped new offerings of stock. Still, the fall continued, and the measures grew more desperate: regulators halted trading on thousands of stocks, banned major shareholders from selling for six months, and threatened to arrest the “shorts”—speculators who bet that the market will fall. (Shorting itself is legal in China, but authorities were worried about improper manipulation.) After a month, anxiety about the collapse of “A-shares,” the main market available to Chinese investors, had taken hold, and, in an old-fashioned moment, graduates of élite Tsinghua University were led in a chant at their commencement ceremony: “Revive the A-shares, benefit the people!”

It was the strongest dose of market manipulation since the Chinese stock exchanges opened a quarter century ago, and, unsurprisingly, it worked, after a fashion. Investors returned and prices recovered somewhat (though many suspect that the market remains overvalued, and, once stocks are allowed to trade freely again, another drop is in order). Meanwhile, prices are heaving in one direction or another, erasing the combined value of France and Spain’s stock exchanges—and then lurching back, to add the equivalent of Russia’s in a single day.
http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-com ... rket-drama" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...nearly 6 months later...how's that looking???
You can only defy financial gravity for so long. At some point, what went up for no reason must come down for a very good one, no matter what the government does to try to keep it aloft.

Which is to say that it was another disastrous day for Chinese stocks. On the plus side, though, it was a short one. Indeed, China's market was only open for 14 minutes on Thursday before it fell the maximum 7 percent it's allowed to in a single session. It's the second time that's happened this week, enough to erase almost all its gains since the summer.

Now, on the one hand, it's kind of silly to ask why China's stock market bubble is bursting. That's what a bubble, which is by definition unsustainable, does. They stop.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/won ... whats-not/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
China's market regulators say they are suspending a mechanism that automatically halts trading when stocks fall sharply.

The mechanism, which was implemented at the beginning of the year, has been triggered twice this week. On Thursday trading was stopped after just 30 minutes.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission announced the decision.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/01 ... arket.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...we'll shortly see how well that goes for them...

"Nowhere To Hide" As Baltic 'Fried' Index Careens To Fresh Record Low
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-0 ... record-low" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Bankrate commissioned Princeton Survey Research Associates International to conduct its Money Pulse survey on budgeting and unexpected expenses. It interviewed 1,000 people December 17-20, 2015, with results having a sampling error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

"The survey shows that a very significant minority of American households apparently don't have the resources to pay for an unexpected expense of around $1,000," says Stephen Brobeck, executive director of the Consumer Federation of America.

Unexpected expenses occur with such frequency that they should be accounted for by budgeting to save money for emergencies. In Bankrate's survey, 4 of 10 respondents or their immediate family ran into a major unexpected expense last year. Just 57% made it out of 2015 financially unscathed.

Nearly 4 in 10 respondents, 37%, say they would pay for an unexpected expense with savings, Bankrate's survey found. That's about the same as December 2014, when 38% of people answered the same way.

Nearly a quarter of people, 23%, reported they would pay for an emergency by reducing spending on other things.

"Let's give everyone credit for that. 60% are taking grown-up responsibility for the expense," says Robert Fragasso, chairman and CEO at Fragasso Financial Advisors in Pittsburgh.

Credit cards would be an option for 15% of respondents. The same number said they would borrow from family or friends.
http://www.bankrate.com/finance/consume ... ter_link_3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In Britain we’ve already experimented with a system in which one group of people receive a guaranteed income with no obligation to work for it. But what if this was extended beyond the royal family? Imagine now if everyone in the UK started out with a guaranteed minimal amount of money each week. All other benefits would be done away with, along with the stigma and entrapment that came with the old system of welfare (and the expense of policing and administering it).
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... ge-economy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Financial Repression Authority sees the massive government tax grab already quietly underway accelerating in 2016 in most of the developed economies. This ‘grab’ will be a desperate political act driven by underfunded, and in a significant number of cases, unfunded public pension which will unfold at all three levels of government, Federal, State and City /Local government. It will be disguised by different focal emphasis and appear to evolve in an uncoordinated manner – but it will occur!
http://financialrepressionauthority.com ... overnment/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Joe correctly notes that “the world faces a deficiency of aggregate demand”, and attributes this to both “growing inequality and a mindless wave of fiscal austerity”, neither of which I dispute. But then he adds that part of the problem is that “our banks … are not fit to fulfill their purpose” because “they have failed in their essential function of intermediation”:

Between long-term savers (for example, sovereign wealth funds and those saving for retirement) and long-term investment in infrastructure stands our short-sighted and dysfunctional financial sector…

Former US Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke once said that the world is suffering from a “savings glut.” That might have been the case had the best use of the world’s savings been investing in shoddy homes in the Nevada desert. But in the real world, there is a shortage of funds; even projects with high social returns often can’t get financing.

I’m the last one to defend banks, but here Joe is quite wrong: the banks have very good reasons not to “fulfil their purpose” today, because that purpose is not what Joe thinks it is. Banks don’t “intermediate loans”, they “originate loans”, and they have every reason not to originate right now.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevekeen/2 ... s-stuffed/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
the BIS is clearly right that zero rates and QE set off a tidal wave of stimulus through Asia, Latin America and emerging markets from 2009 onwards. It overwhelmed financial defences, pushed offshore dollar debt to $9.8 trillion, and drew the world's last holdouts into the Ponzi scheme. Only Cuba and North Korea seemed to escape the curse.

Radical stimulus may have worked for the US and the UK in one sense, but it was a "Pareto suboptimal" for the world as a whole.

The result is before our eyes. Total debt has risen to an all-time high of 265pc of GDP in the OECD club and 185pc in emerging markets, 35 percentage points higher than it was at the top of the last credit cycle eight years ago.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/econ ... -hoax.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
If there’s one thing to take away from this year’s developments in markets and economies so far, it’s that they are all linked, they’re all part of the same thing. If you can’t see that, you’re not going to understand what’s happening.

Looking at falling oil prices as a separate thread is not much use, and neither is doing the same with Chinese stocks, or the yuan, or the millions of Americans who are one paycheck away from poverty, for that matter. It’s all one story.


It’s tempting to see this as a China problem, but first of all there is no China problem that will not of necessity also gravely affect the west , and second of all when you read, just to name an example, that America’s new jobs pay 23% less than the jobs they replaced, it’s just plain silly to believe that the economy is doing well, let alone recovering.

Which is why a majority of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, and don’t have enough savings even for a $500 car repair bill. All Ponzi’s burst, they can’t be tapered, and this one we have now is going down in epic fashion because there are no major economies left that are not overburdened by debt.

Oil -both Brent and WTI- have breached the $32 handle, and are very openly flirting with the $20s. China’s stock market trading was halted for a second time this year, just 14 minutes after the opening. This came about after the PBoC announced another ‘official’ devaluation of the yuan by 0.5% (stealth devaluation has been a daily occurrence for a while).

$2.5 trillion was lost in global equities in three days this year even before the Thursday China trading stop and ongoing oil price decline. Must be easily over $3 trillion by now. And counting: European markets look awful, and so do futures.

For the first time in years, markets begin to seem to reflect actual economic activity. That is to say, industrial production, factory orders, exports, imports and services sectors are falling both in China and the US. Many of these have been falling for a prolonged period of time.

In fact, Reuters quotes a Sydney trader as saying: The Chinese economy actually contracted in December. Given what I’ve written in the past year and change about China, that can hardly be a surprise anymore.

What we are looking at is debt deflation, in which virtual ‘wealth’ is being wiped out at a fast pace, and it’s taken some real wealth with it for good measure. It’s not going to be one straight line down, for instance because there are a lot of parties out there who need to cover bets they carry from last year, but it’s getting very hard to see what can stop the plunge this time. Volatility will be a popular term again.

Ultimately, if China is a Ponzi (and $25 trillion in credit spent on overcapacity strongly suggests so), then the entire world economy is one. I would very much argue so, and have for years. And we all know what inevitably happens with Ponzi’s.

Economists like to think in cycles, in which things will simply bounce back at some point, but a lot of this stuff will not come back, not for a very long time. I’ve said it before: Kondratieff is also a cycle.
http://www.theautomaticearth.com/2016/0 ... one-story/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Seven years after the bursting of a global credit bubble resulted in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, debt continues to grow. In fact, rather than reducing indebtedness, or deleveraging, all major economies today have higher levels of borrowing relative to GDP than they did in 2007. Global debt in these years has grown by $57 trillion, raising the ratio of debt to GDP by 17 percentage points (Exhibit 1). This is not
as much as the 23-point increase in the seven years before the crisis
, but it is enough to raise fresh concerns. Governments in advanced economies have borrowed heavily to fund bailouts in the crisis and offset falling demand in the recession, while corporate and household debt in a range of countries continues to grow rapidly.

Debt will remain an essential tool for the global economy, funding needed investments in infrastructure, business expansion, and urbanization. But high debt levels, whether in the public or private sector, have historically placed a drag on growth and raised the risk of financial crises that spark deep economic recessions.1
http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/econom ... leveraging" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Five Central American countries and Mexico inked an agreement last week that will help thousands of stranded Cuban immigrants make their way to the United States.

The group of Cubans, about 8,000 at the latest estimate, had been stuck in Costa Rica for weeks after Nicaragua closed its borders to them.

Now a group of Central American countries say the Cubans will be flown to El Salvador, then transported on buses to Mexico. Then they'll have a chance to cross into the United States.
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/05/us/cuban-immigrants/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Pentagon is beginning “site assessments” at bases as far north as North Dakota and Massachusetts. “The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) at HHS is expanding its capacity to provide shelter for the current influx of unaccompanied children at the U.S. Southern Border. This temporary increased shelter capacity is a prudent step needed to ensure ORR meets its statutory responsibility to provide shelter for the unaccompanied children referred to its care and to assist CBP in ensuring that the US Border Patrol continues its vital national security mission to prevent illegal migration and trafficking, and to protect the borders of the United States,” said a Pentagon memo to Rep. Martha Roby, Alabama Republican.
http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/obama-ey ... -overflow/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

NORTH Korean nuclear warheads could strike targets on European and American soil after the pariah state successfully tested a hydrogen bomb today.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/632 ... ar-warhead" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The United States called on China on Thursday to end "business as usual" with its ally North Korea after Pyongyang defied world powers by announcing it had tested a hydrogen bomb. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he made clear in a phone call with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that China's approach to North Korea had failed.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-north ... DE20160107" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
WASHINGTON – While North Korea on Wednesday was hyperbolically bragging about having exploded a test hydrogen bomb, some nuclear weapons experts were downplaying the event because of its low-kiloton yield and relatively small seismic wave.

In fact, the White House said the results from various monitors simply weren’t consistent with a hydrogen bomb, which can be far more powerful than an atomic bomb.

But one top specialist says the monitor results and North Korea’s claims align fully with the scenario of a device designed for a low yield, yet emitting an enhanced amount of gamma rays.

Peter Pry, an expert on electromagnetic pulse weapons, told WND the explosion indeed was such a device.
http://www.wnd.com/2016/01/expert-north ... mp-weapon/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

South Korea seeks U.S. strategic weapons after North's nuclear test
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-north ... G420160107" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Planned April discussions over the deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-ballistic missile system on the Korean Peninsula have strained the U.S.-South Korea defense relationship. The Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense missile system, known as THAAD, is a mobile and air-transportable anti-missile platform and a key component of U.S. layered air defense. The United States argues this layered system is necessary to protect South Korea as well as U.S. forces deployed there.

In recent weeks, however, China has voiced strong opposition to any THAAD deployment in South Korea. Russia and North Korea have followed suit. Beijing has not so subtly reminded Seoul that China, not the United States, is South Korea's major trading partner and that any deployment could have significant political and economic costs. In reply, Seoul has said that it will make a decision on THAAD based on its own national interests. Beijing's public commentary, however, is making it likely that Seoul will decide to accept the deployment, rather than continue with its policy of strategic ambiguity. Regardless, South Korea's public hesitation in accepting the THAAD systems highlights the country's subtle desire for greater independence in its defense, challenges to the U.S. regional strategy, and China's rising concern.

THAAD deployment — as seen vividly in Beijing's public objections — carries immediate political risks for South Korea. The question is whether the benefits of deployment outweigh those risks. Authorizing the deployment of THAAD would increase the robustness of South Korea's layered missile defense system. THAAD would protect against tactical and theater ballistic missiles, at ranges up to 200 kilometers (125 miles) and altitudes up to 150 kilometers (93 miles). A THAAD battery, typically composed of nine transporter or launcher vehicles with eight missiles each, two mobile tactical operations centers and a ground-based X-band radar, also uses a "kinetic kill" system. The system does not employ explosive warheads and can intercept hostile ballistic missiles inside or outside the earth's atmosphere.
- Stratfor

Attack on police training center in Libya’s Zliten kills 65: hospital source
http://thecairopost.youm7.com/news/1869 ... tal-source" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

At least 47 people were killed on Thursday when Libya's worst bomb attack since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi hit a police training center as hundreds of recruits gathered for a morning meeting.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-libya ... XE20160107" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Evidence of a “jihadi technical college” in Syria has shocked security experts with the complexity of training its recruits are receiving. Some of the skills ISIS terrorists in Raqqa are learning include building remote-control vehicles and producing homemade thermal batteries for surface-to-air missiles. Sunni radicals also have the ability to engineer self-regulating thermostats that produce human-like heat signatures.
http://www.wnd.com/2016/01/jihadi-techn ... y-experts/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Six Laws of Survival
http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/t ... o_01072016" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The local sheriff policing the occupation of a wildlife refuge in Oregon said he has received numerous death threats since armed militia took over the remote government outpost over the weekend.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016 ... -up-and-go" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

On January 6, 2016, Islamic State militias in Libya were reported to be shelling oil production facilities near Sidra, on the coast between Sirte and Benghazi. The attacks set fire to several oil tanks and pipelines, spreading a pall of black smoke across the nation’s Mediterranean coast.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Natura ... &src=nhrss" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A STATE of emergency has been declared in Los Angeles after hundreds of residents became sick due to an underground methane leak that has been occurring for more than two months.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/632 ... NDREDS-ill" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
LOS ANGELES — Natural gas has been spewing into the air in the Porter Ranch neighborhood here since late October, sickening residents, prompting thousands to evacuate their homes and pouring greenhouse gas into the atmosphere.

Gov. Jerry Brown, faced with mounting public anger and no end in sight to the leak, declared a state of emergency on Wednesday for the neighborhood of about 30,000 at the edge of the San Fernando Valley. And residents — who have been demanding to know why the Southern California Gas Company cannot fix the leak to its natural gas storage well, and whether the company will compensate them for their lost property values and health problems — want to know why it has taken so long.

“This is the equivalent of the BP oil spill, except it’s on land, in a populated community,” said Mitchell Englander, the Los Angeles city councilman who represents Porter Ranch. “This is one of the most disruptive, catastrophic environmental events that I’ve seen. It’s a truly chaotic crisis.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/07/us/ca ... .html?_r=2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Sempra’s Southern California Gas Co. is drilling a relief well that it expects will stop the gas from escaping from the well located in the Aliso Canyon storage facility, the fourth-largest underground field in the U.S. The utility has said capping the well could take two months.

Through Dec. 31, Sempra has spent about $50 million on addressing the leak and environmental and community impacts, including the temporary relocation of residents, according to a regulatory filing Thursday. Sempra also said it has made seven unsuccessful attempts to plug the leak by pumping fluids down the well shaft and that it may face fines and penalties as a result of the incident.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-0 ... -territory" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The US Geological Survey reported three earthquakes striking Northwest Oklahoma overnight. Fracking is blamed for the ever more common series of temblors in the state, which has already experienced 27 tremors in 2016.

A magnitude-4.7 quake hit an area 20 miles northwest of Fairview, Oklahoma around 10:27 p.m. About thirty seconds later, a magnitude-4.8 earthquake struck half a mile away. A magnitude-4.0 earthquake hit the area around 2:30 a.m. Thursday morning.
https://www.rt.com/usa/328187-northwest ... e-cluster/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
After a record-smashing hurricane season in 2015, the Central Pacific is off to a record-early start with Tropical Depression One-C, which formed on Thursday morning in the waters about 1,500 miles southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii. According to NHC hurricane specialist Eric Blake, TD 1-C's genesis date of January 7 breaks by six days the record for earliest formation of a tropical cyclone in the Central Pacific set by Tropical Storm Winona on January 13, 1989. TD 1-C was able to form because of an unusual wind pattern near the equator associated with El Niño--a burst of westerly winds near the equator, when combined with a more typical east-to-west flow of trade winds farther to the north helped create an area of counter-clockwise spin. A sprawling region of showers and thunderstorms associated with TD 1-C at roughly 4°N and 171°W is located squarely atop some of the warmest waters associated with the powerful El Niño event now under way--29.5°C (85°F). Weak steering currents make it difficult to judge TD-1C's future path, although a slow motion northwestwards appears likely over the next couple of days.

Elsewhere in the tropics (January edition)
Unusual activity has been percolating in the Atlantic as well. On Tuesday, Brazil’s Navy Hydrographic Center identified a subtropical depression east of Rio de Janeiro. It was briefly classified as a tropical depression on Wednesday, although both designations had been removed in the center's 12Z analysis on Thursday morning. It was once thought that tropical cyclones never formed in the South Atlantic, but Category 1 Hurricane Catarina shocked Brazil--and the world of tropical meteorology--when it crashed into the coast of Brazil’s Santa Catarina province on March 27, 2004, causing more than $300 million in damage. Forecasters are now tracking down subtropical systems in the South Atlantic about once per year, on average, though tropical storms (those with fairly symmetric warm cores) are much less common. Jon Erdman and Chris Dolce have more background on this South Atlantic event in a Wednesday article at weather.com.

There is also potential for a large and powerful January cyclone to evolve over the North Atlantic subtropics between Bermuda and the Azores Islands early next week, as consistently predicted by the GFS and ECMWF models. This cyclone is now several hundred miles northeast of the Bahamas, strengthening as an non-tropical system ahead of a subtropical jet stream typical of El Niño winters. A strong upper-level ridge will develop to the north of the cyclone as it races east and then southeast. Phase-space diagrams from Florida State University show this system taking on subtropical characteristics (asymmetric warm core) this weekend and early next week. Upper-level winds will remain strong in the vicinity of this system, and ocean temperatures will be a marginal 24-25°C (75-77°F), suggesting that any potential development would be subtropical rather than tropical. If this storm were to get a name, it would be "Alex." The Atlantic’s most recent tropical cyclone during January was Tropical Storm Zeta, which served as the closing act of the blockbuster 2005 hurricane season. Zeta formed on December 30 and survived until January 7, 2006, west of the Cape Verde Islands.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... ical-storm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The official total number of fires and acres burned in 2015 was released by the National Interagency Coordination Center on January 4, 2016. The 2015 fire season set a new record for the number of acres burned in the United States, totaling 10,125,149 acres. The previous record was set in 2006 at 9,873,745 acres.
http://www.nifc.gov/fireInfo/nfn.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

silver bouncing along under $14 again...
http://www.kitco.com/charts/livesilver.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Crude-oil prices plunged more than 5% on Monday to trade near $30 a barrel, making the specter of bankruptcy ever more likely for a significant chunk of the U.S. oil industry. Three major investment banks – Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup – now expect the price of oil to crash through the $30 threshold and into $20 territory in short order as a result of China’s slowdown, the U.S. dollar’s appreciation and the fact that drillers from Houston to Riyadh won’t quit pumping despite the oil glut. As many as a third of American oil-and-gas producers could tip toward bankruptcy and restructuring by mid-2017, according to Wolfe Research.

Survival, for some, would be possible if oil rebounded to at least $50, according to analysts. More than 30 small companies that collectively owe in excess of $13 billion have already filed for bankruptcy protection so far during this downturn, according to law firm Haynes & Boone. Morgan Stanley issued a report this week describing an environment “worse than 1986” for energy prices and producers, referring to the last big oil bust that lasted for years. The current downturn is now deeper and longer than each of the five oil price crashes since 1970, said Martijn Rats, an analyst at the bank. Together, North American oil-and-gas producers are losing nearly $2 billion every week at current prices, according to a forthcoming report from AlixPartners, a consulting firm. “Many are going to have huge problems,” said Kim Brady at consultancy Solic Capital.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/oil-plunge- ... 1452560335" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Crude oil prices continued a relentless dive early on Tuesday, falling almost 20% since the beginning of the year as analysts scrambled to cut their 2016 oil price forecasts and traders bet on further price falls. U.S. crude West Texas Intermediate was trading at $30.66 per barrel at 0531 GMT on Tuesday, down 75 cents from the last settlement and about 20% lower than at the beginning of the year. Earlier it traded at $30.60, the lowest since December 2003. Brent crude futures fell 83 cents to $30.72 a barrel. Earlier they declined to $30.66, their lowest since April 2004. Brent has fallen nearly 20% in January and, like WTI, has declined on every day of trading so far this year.

But it was Standard Chartered that took the most bearish view, stating that prices could drop as low as $10 a barrel. “Given that no fundamental relationship is currently driving the oil market toward any equilibrium, prices are being moved almost entirely by financial flows caused by fluctuations in other asset prices, including the USD and equity markets,” the bank said. “We think prices could fall as low as $10/bbl before most of the money managers in the market conceded that matters had gone too far,” it added.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-globa ... 2220160112" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
On Tuesday, Nigeria's oil minister said a "couple" of OPEC member countries had requested such a meeting, after oil prices sank to a near-12-year low close to $30 a barrel.

"There won't be any meeting," said one of the delegates from an African OPEC member country.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/opec-no-p ... 38493.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"We're in a predatory pricing environment. That's what's happened. The Saudis turned 1.8 million barrels on, and basically their intent was to drown us. But they've not got that done. It's been a monumental mistake for them, I might add, a trillion- dollar mistake," the founder and chief of Oklahoma-based Continental Resources [Harold Hamm]

"They're having to sell part of their business to keep doing what they are doing," he said, referring to the refusal by the Saudis to cut production. "They're having to sustain a country. We're sustaining companies here. We cut capex and quit spending money. And ride it out."

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/saudis-fa ... 29492.html#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Saudi Arabia sought to cool talk about the future of its currency peg, saying movements in the forward market were the result of market “misperception” about the state of the kingdom’s economy. Oil price declines and rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran have pushed up the cost of riyal-dollar forward prices and questioned the validity of the 30-year-old peg. Sama still has $627bn in foreign reserves, down 14% on last November, as the kingdom burns through its savings to fund the deficit and an expensive war in Yemen.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/b3da2f10-b ... false.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BP Fires 4,000 As Oil Slump Deepens
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-1 ... mp-deepens" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Oil has been dragged lower by a glut, China's weakening economy and stock market turmoil, as well as the strong dollar, which makes it more expensive for those using other currencies to buy oil.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-globa ... 2K20160112" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The Shanghai stock market is undersized and isolated. Its market capitalization is less than one-quarter the size of New York’s. Just 37% of its shares are available to trade, and foreigners own only a tiny fraction. Yet the tide of selling by Chinese investors last week—along with an unexpectedly sharp move to weaken the yuan—rolled through stocks, commodities and currencies across the globe. The chain reaction heralds a new era for China, whose financial-market muscle has long been underdeveloped compared with its economic heft.

Oil fell to a new 12-year low in the U.S., and currencies in countries like South Africa and Russia fell sharply. Until last year, few in global markets took their cue from Shanghai, which has a history of roller-coaster trading. In the summer of 2015, a sharp plunge in the Shanghai Composite, after a 60% rise earlier in the year, combined with a surprise yuan devaluation to trigger a global selloff. Attention soon faded, and Shanghai’s market ended the year up 9.4%. But last week’s meltdown again showed China’s market influence. And to many, it suggested an even more ominous possibility: that Beijing may be fumbling its management of China’s economy. That could have disastrous consequences for the prices of goods and commodities, and thus markets, around the world.

Today, China accounts for about 11% of world gross domestic product, 12% of the globe’s oil consumption and about half the demand for steel. It is the No. 1 trading partner for countries from South Korea and Australia to Brazil and soaks up exports worth more than 10% of GDP from Singapore and Taiwan. Despite tight controls over the currency and the banking system that wall off China from much of the global financial system, China’s huge presence in global trade means the country is more tightly tied to the rest of the world than ever. Its roaring growth has been a boon to Western stock markets like Germany’s, whose exchange is filled with manufacturers that sell machines and factory equipment there.

Now, China ties may be a liability. In Europe, whose companies get 10% of their revenue from the Asia-Pacific region, the pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 is down 7% in 2016 through Monday, and Germany’s DAX is down 8.5%. Europe is especially vulnerable to a China slowdown: Its own economic growth has been weak for years, and the Continent has been counting on exports to plug the gap. Nearly 10% of the exports from the 28-member EU go to China. The story isn’t the same everywhere, though. U.S. companies get only 5% of their revenue from Asia-Pacific.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-chinas- ... 1452540479" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

PBOC "Stamps Out" Short Yuan Speculators With "Murderous" Liquidity Squeeze
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-1 ... ulous-humo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
China's SAFE (State administration of foreign exchange) has asked banks to limit yuan outflows.

Asked to better manage net yuan outflows in their capital accounts in the near term.
Banks also requested to properly manage cross-border into bank yuan borrowing and corporate offshore yuan lending.
http://news.forexlive.com/!/chinas-fore ... s-20160112" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The Chinese authorities have resorted to “nuclear strength” weapons to deter an attack on the yuan by short sellers and convince sceptical investors that they are in control of the country’s spluttering financial system. China’s central bank fixed the currency firmer again on Tuesday but traders were not persuaded and the currency slipped in early trade despite what dealers called aggressive intervention to support the currency. The gap between the mainland yuan and its offshore counterpart had grown in recent days but suspected intervention by China’s state-owned banks brought them almost into line on Tuesday. The action sent the rate at which banks charge each other to borrow yuan in Hong Kong to a record high of 67% on Tuesday.

“The market suspects that the People’s Bank of China is possibly using major state banks to directly drain yuan liquidity in offshore markets,” said a dealer at an European bank in Shanghai. The dealer described the strength of the central bank’s actions as being of “nuclear-weapon” level strength. “Its actions are comparable to steps taken by other central banks when they previously fought against international speculators, such as George Soros,” he said. [..] Perceived mis-steps by China’s authorities have stoked concerns in global markets that Beijing might be losing its grip on economic policy, just as the country looks set to post its slowest growth in 25 years. Amid suspicions by some in the market that China wants the yuan to devalue in order to boost its ailing exporters, sources suggested there were moves afoot for China’s cabinet to take a bigger role in overseeing financial markets.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/201 ... ock-prices" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wagers that the yuan will slump 10% or more against the dollar are “ridiculous and impossible,” a senior Chinese economic official said Monday, warning that China had a sufficient tool kit to defeat attacks on its currency. “Attempts to sell short the renminbi will not succeed,” said Han Jun, deputy director of the office of the Central Leading Group on Financial and Economic Affairs, at a briefing at the Chinese Consulate in New York. “The expectations of markets can be changed.” The comments are the latest demonstration of Chinese officials’ determination to defeat those betting that yuan declines will intensify. They echo comments such as ECB President Mario Draghi’s 2012 “whatever it takes” speech, made when European government bonds issued by weaker countries were under attack.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/chinese-off ... 1452552306" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
China’s banks are pretty troubled. Like banks in the west before the financial crisis, China’s lenders — with government encouragement — have inflated a vast credit bubble, funding the country’s ambitious companies and fast-expanding property market. Chinese banking assets now amount to more than $30tn. Over the past decade, credit growth has consistently topped 10% a year. (It peaked at close to 35% in 2009.) Even this year, it is expected to be double the 6-7% forecast rate of GDP growth.

Last August, JPMorgan estimated China’s non-financial industry private sector debt at 147%, half as much again as in 2007. The downturn in China’s fortunes — particularly across its heartland heavy industry — is already hitting the banks. Annual non-performing loan rates have been doubling annually since 2012. China Merchants Bank, China Everbright and ICBC are seen as among the most troubled.

China bulls point to the still low level of NPLs — barely 1% at the big lenders, and 1.8% at mid-tier banks this year, according to analyst forecasts. As a gauge, NPLs in Greece have risen to between 30 and 40% amid that country’s crisis. But China experts at independent research house Autonomous suggest investors are underestimating a spiralling problem. Across the board, loan losses will rise by $845bn this year, Autonomous predicts. That, they think, will be enough to shrink profits by 6% at big banks.

Investors in China’s banks may well recognise that the lenders cannot be compared with institutions that operate along western lines and will expect hazier disclosures and readier state interference. They are also likely to think that China will not allow its banks to fail. But if analysts, like those at Autonomous are to be believed, China’s banks could require up to $7.7tn of new capital and funding over the next three years.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/6d9aa6ce-b ... false.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The unwinding of China’s foreign exchange reserves could soon extend beyond U.S. Treasuries, with U.S. corporate and euro zone sovereign bonds among the assets most vulnerable to selling from Beijing, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said on Monday. China sold a record $510 billion of FX reserves last year to counter the damaging impact on an already decelerating economy from the surge of capital fleeing the country. The lion’s share of that came from $292 billion sales of U.S. Treasury debt, followed by $92 billion sales of U.S. stocks, $3 billion of U.S. agency bonds and $170 billion of non-U.S. assets, according to BAML estimates. China increased its U.S. corporate bond investments by $44 billion last year to $415 billion, BAML strategists estimated, adding that it won’t be long before investors turn their attention to other assets Beijing could potentially sell.

“In the next two months I would still say Treasuries. But if the pressure continues beyond that, it’s non-U.S. assets, and in the U.S. space it’s definitely corporates and agencies,” said Shyam Rajan, rates strategist at BAML in New York. Rajan and his colleagues estimate that China’s $3.33 trillion FX reserves comprise $1.15 trillion non-U.S. assets (mostly short-dated euro-denominated bonds), $415 billion U.S. corporate bonds, $212 billion in agencies, $266 billion stocks and $1.29 trillion of Treasuries.

Last year’s record unwind brought China’s total FX reserves to a three-year low of $3.33 trillion. Most analysts expect that to be depleted further this year. JP Morgan estimates that capital flight from China since the second quarter of 2014 has totaled $930 billion, while credit ratings agency Fitch on Monday put the figure at over $1 trillion.
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0UP1VI20160111" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

European Union policy makers are poised to kick off deliberations to determine whether EU industries ranging from steel to solar can keep relying on import tariffs to fend off aggressive Chinese competitors, the opening salvo in a political and economic battle due to last all year. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, will hold an initial debate Jan. 13 about whether the bloc should recognize China as a market economy starting in December. Such a step would make it more difficult for European manufacturers such as ArcelorMittal and Solarworld AG to win sufficiently high EU duties meant to counter alleged below-cost – or “dumped” – imports from China.
http://www.ekathimerini.com/204937/arti ... rt-tariffs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
A deepening slowdown in China threatens to derail India’s economic growth, triggering financial market upheaval and a falling currency, Vishal Kampani, the nation’s top investment banker, said. “If China keeps getting hit like this, the yuan has to devalue, and we will see another crisis in India,” Kampani at JM Financial, the South Asian country’s top M&A adviser last year, said in a Jan. 8 interview. “I refuse to believe that India will stand out and will look very different.” Indian stocks and the rupee fell Monday, tracking declines in other emerging markets as volatility in China sapped risk appetite globally.

A devaluation of the yuan could weaken the rupee, creating “huge problems” for Indian companies that have to pay back dollar loans, Kampani said. China is India’s largest trade partner and third-largest export market, so a slowdown there could prolong a record slump in the South Asian nation’s overseas shipments, which declined 12 straight months through November. A China-led rout in Indian markets also risks damping private investment, already hurt by credit lines choked by bad debt and a legislative gridlock that’s blocked economic bills. That would boost pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sustain public spending even at the risk of worsening Asia’s widest budget deficit.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... anker-says" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
it appears the massive shortage of dollars that we warned about in December has washed tsunami-like ashore in oil-producing Nigeria. Following the Central bank's decision this week to halt dollar sales to non-bank FX market operators, black market exchange rates spiked to 282/USD (vs 199 official) and CDS spiked to record highs implying drastic devaluations loom.

As Reuters reports, Nigeria's central bank is halting dollar sales to non-bank foreign exchange operators and letting commercial banks accept dollar deposits with immediate effect, its governor said on Monday, in an effort to shore up dwindling foreign reserves.

For now Africa has avoided the "hyperinflation monster", the result of an all too predictable scarcity of dollars, however the countdown is on and with every passing day that oil prices do not rebound, the inevitability of a full-on continental currency collapse, with hyperinflation and social unrest to follow, becomes increasingly more likely.

Worse, Africa is just the start: while the manifestations will differ, the mechanics of the dollar shortage, which we recently quantified in the trillions of dollars, are universal, and should the Fed's rate divergence path with the rest of the world continue pushing the USD ever higher, soon this USD-shortage will escape the confines of the world's poorest continent and make landfall somewhere where it will be far more difficult to ignore the adverse consequences of the global commodity collapse and the Fed's monetary policy.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-1 ... perinflati" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That Savage Deleveraging: Global Debt 2000-2015
http://trueeconomics.blogspot.com/2016/ ... lobal.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Energy’s drag on Canadian stocks showed no signs of abating as the nation’s benchmark equity gauge slumped a ninth straight day, the longest losing streak since 2002. Canadian equities have lost 7.4% during this period with the Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index failing to post a positive trading day in 2016. Crude futures in New York tumbled to a 12-year low.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... oil-slides" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Business sentiment has deteriorated over the past quarter and the effects of low commodities prices have spread across many sectors beyond resources, according to the Bank of Canada’s Business Outlook Survey released January 11. Canadian business owners report their lowest investment and hiring intentions since 2009, with the Prairie provinces reporting the biggest decline in business sentiment overall, but a weakened outlook was found in other regions as well, the central bank said.
https://www.biv.com/article/2016/1/oil- ... k-beyond-/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

He also reiterated last week how the Bank of Canada has several unconventional tools it can use to limit any significant threats to the financial system. Among them is the bank's ability to lower the key rate into negative territory, if necessary. On Monday, the Bank of Canada also released the results of its latest senior loan officer survey, which focuses on business-lending practices over the final three months of last year. It found that overall lending conditions had become more difficult for firms during the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, overall demand for credit was roughly unchanged.
http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/businesses- ... -1.2732237" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Distressed property debt sales in Europe will probably fall this year from a record 85.9 billion euros ($93.5 billion) in 2015 as the mountain of bad loans built up during the financial crisis starts to erode. Italy will lead the way.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... reach-peak" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Chile is the highest-rated sovereign borrower in Latin America. Its dollar bonds returned 1.6 percent in the last 12 months, the most among investment-grade countries in the region, even as the price of copper, its biggest export, plunged to its lowest level since 2009. Copper and mining taxes account for about 8 percent of Chile’s government revenue.

Poland issued 1 billion euros of 10-year bonds at 1.542 percent, compared with 1.592 percent it paid in October for notes with the same maturity. It also sold 750 million euros of 20-year bonds at 2.471 percent on Monday.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... ond-market" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The outlook for corporate borrowers worldwide is the worst since the global financial crisis, according to Standard & Poor’s.

Potential downgrades at the ratings company exceed possible upgrades by the most since 2009, in percentage terms, according to a Jan. 11 report. The difference widened the most since the financial crisis in the past six months, S&P said.

The corporate-debt outlook has darkened, particularly in Latin America, because of slower growth in China and a commodity rout that’s cut prices to the lowest since at least 1991. Company defaults have already risen to the highest since 2009 and investors are demanding the biggest yield in four years to hold junk bonds.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... s-s-p-says" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

An ‘extremely normal and realistic’ 26% drop on the S&P 500 is taking shape
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/an-ext ... 2016-01-11" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...I don't know that I would call a 26% drop normal...
It took just 15 minutes on Monday morning for South Africa’s rand to plummet 9% in what traders said may be a prelude of the new normal in the global $5.3 trillion-a-day currency market. Such flash crashes will probably become more common in foreign-exchange trading as liquidity shrinks amid tighter regulation and reduced demand for emerging-market assets, according to Insight Investment and Citigroup.

The rand is another reflection of the change in the liquidity environment in which we’re all operating. We’re learning that unless there are clients on the other side, banks are very unwilling to take risk onto their books.” Volatility in the rand versus the dollar surged toward the highest level in four years, while a measure of global currency price swings climbed to the most since October.

A reduction in liquidity has contributed to similar price swings in fixed-income securities, including the $13 trillion U.S. government bond market. Bursts of volatility in currency markets and diminishing liquidity are another affliction for emerging economies such as South Africa, which seek to secure overseas investments amid slowing growth, a rout in commodities and domestic political challenges. Boosting international trade and capital inflows is made harder by currency turmoil as investors and banks become less willing to take on additional risk.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/b3da2f10-b ... false.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
RBS has advised clients to brace for a “cataclysmic year” and a global deflationary crisis, warning that major stock markets could fall by a fifth and oil may plummet to $16 a barrel.

Andrew Roberts, the bank’s research chief for European economics and rates, said that global trade and loans are contracting, a nasty cocktail for corporate balance sheets and equity earnings. This is particularly ominous given that global debt ratios have reached record highs.

“China has set off a major correction and it is going to snowball. Equities and credit have become very dangerous, and we have hardly even begun to retrace the 'Goldlocks love-in' of the last two years,” he said.

RBS said the epicentre of global stress is China, where debt-driven expansion has reached saturation. The country now faces a surge in capital flight and needs a “dramatically lower” currency. In their view, this next leg of the rolling global drama is likely to play out fast and furiously.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/econ ... nears.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Global banking regulators pledged to refrain from further tightening capital requirements with new rules to be finalized in 2016, dispelling industry fears that triggered intense lobbying efforts over the past year. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision doesn’t plan to raise capital requirements across the board in the remaining projects of its post-crisis bank rule overhaul, it said Jan. 11 after a meeting of its oversight body, chaired by ECB President Mario Draghi. The group, which includes the Bank of England and U.S. Federal Reserve, said it will assess the potential costs of any additional action.

Basel’s slate of rules for this year, including a review of trading risks that the committee endorsed on Jan. 10, have faced heavy criticism from bankers, who say onerous new capital charges would crimp their ability to lend.

The committee also sounded a soft note on another lingering worry of bankers, the unweighted leverage ratio. It will keep the minimum amount of capital per total assets unchanged at 3%, when it becomes a binding requirement in 2018, it said. For the world’s biggest banks, there may be an add-on, it said, without elaborating.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... basel-says" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It looks like 2016 will be the year that humanfolk learn that the stuff they value was not worth as much as they thought it was. It will be a harrowing process because a great many humans are abandoning ownership of things that are rapidly losing value — e.g. stocks on the Shanghai exchange — and stuffing whatever “money” they can recover into the US dollar, the assets and usufructs of which are also going through a very painful reality value adjustment. Of course this calls into question foremost exactly what money is, and the answer is: basically a narrative construct. In other words, a story explaining why we behave the way we do around certain things. Some parts of the story have a closer relationship with reality than other parts. The part about the US dollar has a rather weak connection.
http://kunstler.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The migration of Africans, Arabs and Asians to Europe represents the reversal of a historic trend. In the colonial era Europe practised a sort of demographic imperialism, with white Europeans emigrating to the four corners of the world. In North America and Australasia, indigenous populations were subdued and often killed — and whole continents were turned into offshoots of Europe. European countries also established colonies all over the world and settled them with immigrants, while at the same time several millions were forcibly migrated from Africa to the New World as slaves. When Europeans were populating the world, they often did so through “chain migration”.

A family member would settle in a new country like Argentina or the US; news and money would be sent home and, before long, others would follow. Now the chains go in the other direction: from Syria to Germany, from Morocco to the Netherlands, from Pakistan to Britain. But these days it is not a question of a letter home followed by a long sea voyage. In the era of Facebook and the smartphone, Europe feels close even if you are in Karachi or Lagos. Countries such as Britain, France and the Netherlands have become much more multiracial in the past 40 years. Governments that promise to restrict immigration, such as the current British administration, have found it very hard to deliver on their promises.

The EU position is that, while refugees can apply for asylum in Europe, illegal “economic migrants” must return home. But this policy is unlikely to stem the population flows for several reasons. First, the number of countries that are afflicted by war or state failure may actually increase; worries about the stability of Algeria are rising, for example. Second, most of those who are deemed “economic migrants” never actually leave Europe. In Germany only about 30% of rejected asylum seekers leave the country voluntarily or are deported. Third, once large immigrant populations are established, the right of “family reunion” will ensure a continued flow. So Europe is likely to remain an attractive and attainable destination for poor and ambitious people all over the world.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/64d058c4-b ... false.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The number of migrants crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece is “still way too high”, a top EU official said Monday, a month and a half after a deal aimed to limit the flow. EU vice president Frans Timmermans said Turkey and Brussels had to speed work up on implementing the action plan, while Ankara reaffirmed it was looking at a measure to tempt more Syrians to stay in Turkey by granting them work permits. “The numbers are still way too high in Greece, between 2,000-3,000 people (arriving) every day. We cannot be satisfied at this stage,” Timmermans told reporters after talks with Turkey’s EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir in Ankara. “The goal of this (action plan) is to stem the flow. 2,000-3.000 (arrivals) a day is not stemming the flow. But we are in this together and we will work on that,” he added.

Under the November 29 deal, EU leaders pledged €3 billion in aid for the more than 2.2 million Syrian refugees sheltering in Turkey, in exchange for Ankara acting to reduce the flow. Under pressure from voters at home, EU leaders want to reduce the numbers coming to the European Union after over one million migrants reached Europe in 2015. Yet there has so far been no sign of a significant reduction in the numbers of migrants from Syria, Afghanistan and other troubled states undertaking the perilous crossing in rubber boats from Turkey’s western coast to EU-member Greece. Turkish authorities on a single day last week found the bodies of at least 36 migrants, including several children, washed up on beaches and floating off its western coast after their boats sank.
http://www.ekathimerini.com/204956/arti ... lls-turkey" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


What began as a series of reports from women in Cologne who said they were sexually assaulted by men of “Arab and North African origin” on New Year’s Eve has mushroomed into a full blown crisis that threatens to further undermine support for Angela Merkel’s open-door refugee policy on the way to fomenting social upheaval in Germany.

Anger over the attacks combined with allegations that police mishandled the situation led to a series of protests last week culminating in a 1,700-strong PEGIDA rally in Cologne that ultimately devolved into violent clashes between riot police and furious right-wing demonstrators.

Then, on Sunday, gangs of “bikers, hooligans, and bouncers” attacked a group of Pakistanis in Cologne’s city center after organizing what some are calling “migrant manhunts” on Facebook. The victims of the attacks were hospitalized.

As it turns out, the Cologne attacks were not an isolated incident. Once the story started making international headlines, reports began to trickle in from Austria, Finland, and Switzerland where women reported similar attacks perpetrated by apparent refugees.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-1 ... ex-attacks" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ISTANBUL—An Islamic State suicide bomber struck the heart of Istanbul’s tourist district on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and injuring 15, most of them visitors from Germany, in the extremist group’s first major attack on Turkey’s vital tourism industry, officials said.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/istanbuls-s ... 1452589837" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In one year, the new king of Saudi Arabia, Salman, 25th son of the founder of the dynasty, has managed to consolidate his personal authority to the detriment of other branches of his family, including the clan of Prince Bandar ben Sultan and that of the old King Abdallah. However, we don’t know what Washington has promised the losers in order to dissuade them from making attempts to regain their lost power. In any case, certain anonymous letters published in the British Press lead us to believe that they have not abandoned their ambitions.

Forced by his brothers to nominate Prince Mohamad ben Nayef as heir, King Salman quickly isolated him and restricted his powers to the advantage of his own son, Prince Mohammed ben Salman, whose reckless and brutal nature is not restrained by the family Council, which no longer meets. De facto, he and his father govern alone, as autocrats with no counter-power, in a country which has never elected a Parliament, and where political parties are forbidden.

So we have seen Prince Mohammed ben Salman take over presidency of the Council for Economic Affairs and Development, force a new direction on the Ben Laden Group, and seize control of Aramco. Each time, the goal is to distance his cousins from power and place liegemen at the head of the kingdom’s major companies.

Prince Mohammed ben Salman advised his father to have Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr decapitated because he had dared to defy him. In other words, the state condemned to death and executed the leader of the opposition, whose only crime was to have formulated and repeated the slogan - « Despotism is illegitimate ». The fact that this leader was a Sheikh of the Shia movement only reinforces the feeling of apartheid against non-Sunnis, who are forbidden a religious education, and also forbidden to enter into public service. As for non-Muslims, about a third of the population, they are not allowed to practise their religion and can not hope to receive Saudi nationality.

Incidentally, we should note that the execution of Sheikh al-Nimr follows the creation of a vast anti-terrorist Coalition of 34 states led by Riyadh. Since we know that the victim, who always stood against the use of violence, was convicted for acts of « terrorisme » (sic), we may conclude that this Coalition is in fact a Sunni alliance against all other religions.

Prince Mohammed took it upon himself to launch the war against Yemen on the pretext of helping President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who had been overthrown by an alliance between the al-Houthi movement and the army of ex-President Ali Abdallah Saleh. In reality, the war was waged in order to seize the oil fields and exploit them with Israël. Predictably, the war went wrong, and the insurgents launched incursions inside Saudi Arabia, where the army fled, abandoning its equipment.

Saudi Arabia is therefore the only state in the world which is the property of a single man, governed by this autocrat and his son, who refuse any form of ideological debate, who will not tolerate any form of opposition, and who accept only tribal serfdom. What has for many years been considered a residue of the past called to adapt to the modern world has thus progressively congealed until it has become the very definition of an anachronistic kingdom.
http://www.voltairenet.org/article189846.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...its going to be one hell of a rebound in oil if the middle east explodes into a full on religious war between the Sunni's and Shiites....pardon the french

Masked men threw firebombs at an intelligence service compound in the city of Qatif in eastern Saudi Arabia, activists said on Monday, in an apparent reprisal for the execution of a prominent Shi'ite Muslim cleric earlier this month.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi ... 9R20160111" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sanctions impact on Russia to be longer term, U.S. says
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukrai ... ML20160112" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

North Korea faked sub-launched missile test footage: analysis
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-north ... CC20160112" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Obama Pentagon announced Monday that Guantánamo detainee Muhammad Abd Al Rahman Awn Al-Shamrani, 40, will be transferred back to his home country of Saudi Arabia. With the Monday announcement, Al-Shamrani became the fourth Guantánamo detainee released in 2016
http://www.breitbart.com/national-secur ... -released/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

White House renews pledge to close Gitmo
http://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk ... lose-gitmo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The curious tale of five missing publishers in Hong Kong
https://www.hongkongfp.com/2016/01/08/t ... hong-kong/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Vladimir Putin interview - if you like Russian propaganda...
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/51154" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/51155" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hezbollah commanders say Russia directly arming them with long-range missiles
http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Hezbol ... les-441124" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ISIS claims responsibility for Baghdad mall siege that left 18 dead
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/01/11 ... s-say.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Navy strike group commander fired for viewing porn at work
http://www.navytimes.com/story/military ... /78512588/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
10 days into new year, more than 100 people shot in Chicago

As of Monday morning, at least 19 people have been killed in gun violence in Chicago this year and at least 101 more have been wounded, according to data compiled by the Tribune. This time last year, nine people had been killed and another 31 wounded, according to statistics kept by the Chicago Tribune.

Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi released a statement blaming most of the violence on "chronic gang conflicts."

"Every year Chicago Police recover more illegal guns than officers in any other city, and as more and more illegal guns continue to find their way into our neighborhoods it is clear we need stronger state and federal gun laws," Guglielmi said in the statement.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...he won't win that battle...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declared Florida's death penalty law unconstitutional because it requires the trial judge and not the jury to make the critical findings necessary to impose capital punishment.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/sup ... aw-n494691" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As the U.S. engages in a national debate over the militarization of the police, federal data shows that government agencies charged with largely administrative roles are spending tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to purchase SWAT and military-style equipment. Since FY 2006, 44 traditionally administrative agencies have spent over $71 million on items like body armor, riot helmets and shields, cannon launchers and police firearms and ammunition, according to federal spending data from watchdog group OpenTheBooks.com.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201 ... qus_thread" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

NASA Forms A Planetary Defense Department To Blast Away Threats From Outer Space
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/12379 ... -space.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Navy Uses US Citizens as Pawns in Domestic War Games
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/3436 ... -war-games" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Current status of the Al-Qaida List concerning Libya [pg.24]
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2015/image ... a-.eng.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

US Marine shows how to survive in an urban environment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48ROfan8tdU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

On January 6, 2016, the predictions became reality when lightning triggered a fire in Lane Poole Reserve. The blaze spread rapidly, moving southwest until it overran Yarloop, a small town about 120 kilometers south of Perth. In the process, the fire destroyed 128 homes and 41 other structures, including bridges and community buildings, according to the Department of Fire and Emergency Services. Two Yarloop residents were killed and four firefighters were injured. As of January 11, 2016, the fire had charred 71,410 hectares (276 square miles).
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Natura ... &src=nhrss" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Despite the influx of new visible sunspots, solar activity remains at very low levels. All of the numbered regions today are currently stable. There will remain a chance for minor C-Flares and a lower chance for an isolated M-Flare. No Earth directed coronal mass ejections were observed during the past 24 hours.
http://www.solarham.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
At 10 am CST January 10, 2016, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened the gates on the Bonnet Carré Spillway in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana to allow flood waters from the swollen Mississippi River to flow into Lake Pontchartrain. This is the earliest that the Corps has been forced to open the spillway, and just the 11th time since it became operational in 1931 that it has been used. The only other time the spillway has been opened in January was back in 1937. All of the other openings have come in spring or early summer. Opening of the spillway is expected to keep the Mississippi River below its 17-foot flood stage in New Orleans--just 3 feet below the tops of the levees. The river is expected to crest in New Orleans on Tuesday, January 12. There is also chance that the Corps will be forced to open the Morganza Floodway in Pointe Coupee Parish northwest of Baton Rouge, which would divert water from the Mississippi River down the Atchafalaya River. This floodway has been opened only twice--in 1973 and 2011--and has a considerably higher cost of being opened than opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway, due to the large amount of agricultural lands that would be flooded below the Morganza Floodway. The Sunday morning forecast from the NWS River Forecast Center predicted that the Mississippi River would crest at Red River Landing, just above the Morganza Floodway, on January 18. The predicted crest of 61.0' is just 2.4' below the all-time record crest of 63.39' set on May 18, 2011, when the Corps was forced to open the Morganza Floodway in order to relieve pressure on the Old River Control Structure. The earliest the Corps would open the Morganza Floodway would be Wednesday, January 13.

Ula becomes Earth's first Category 4 storm of 2016
Tropical Cyclone Ula became Earth first Category 4 storm of 2016 on Sunday, hitting sustained wind of 130 mph in the South Pacific waters about 300 miles east-northeast of New Caledonia. Ula is headed poleward on a track which should miss any populated islands, fortunately. Ula passed near Vanuatu's southern islands after hitting Fiji and Tonga last week. Ula was at Category 2 strength when it hit Tonga, causing widespread damage, with roofs ripped from homes and utility lines downed by strong winds. No deaths or injuries have been reported from the storm, though.

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... al-storm-i" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Late Monday night, Hurricane Pali became the earliest hurricane on record for both the Central and Northeast Pacific (the region between the International Date Line and the Americas), beating 1992’s Ekeka, which became a hurricane on January 30. Still packing winds of 85 mph early Tuesday morning, Pali was located unusually close to the equator--at 7.5°N, 171.6°W, or about 1300 miles southwest of Honolulu--and was moving south-southeast at about 7 mph. Pali should continue drifting equatorward over the next several days, gradually bending toward the west and potentially back toward the west-northwest if it hangs on. Sea-surface temperatures are more than warm enough to support Pali along its projected track, at 28-29°C (82-84°F). However, moderate wind shear (10 - 20 knots) could keep Pali from strengthening, and there are few historical precedents for tropical cyclones at such low latitudes.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... pins-south" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

2EstablishZion
captain of 100
Posts: 337

Re: Blipits

Post by 2EstablishZion »

Thank you sir - always glad to see a Blipits update...

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

2EstablishZion wrote:Thank you sir - always glad to see a Blipits update...
Thank you!

Some late breaking news...
UPDATED: Iran Seizes Two U.S. Navy Riverine Patrol Boats, Tehran Pledges to Release Crews...The two riverine boats had experienced mechanical problems and had drifted into Iranian territorial waters when crews were taken into custody by Iranian forces on Tuesday.

Search and rescue teams from the Harry S. Truman Strike group were scrambled to aid the crew but stopped short after the crew was taken by the Iranians.

The Iranians are prepared to release the ten sailors after Secretary of State John Kerry communicated directly with Tehran, the official said. According to the official, Iran had no intention of holding the sailors for an extended period of time and expressed a desire to quickly return them to U.S. custody.
http://news.usni.org/2016/01/12/breakin ... ease-crews" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
U.S. officials said that the incident happened near Farsi Island, situated in the Persian Gulf. They said that some type of mechanical trouble with one of the boats caused them to run aground and they were picked up by Iran. The sailors were in Iranian custody on Farsi Island at least for some time, but it’s not certain where they are now.

The semi-official Iranian news agency, FARS, said the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s navy has detained 10 foreign forces, believed to be Americans, and said the sailors were trespassing in Iranian waters.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-seize ... avy-boats/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Iran-US Navy Dispute Live Updates: Iranian Military Holds 10 American Sailors On Iran’s Farsi Island
http://www.ibtimes.com/iran-us-navy-dis ... ns-2262162" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Pentagon: 2 U.S. Navy Boats With 10 American Sailors Held by Iran Military
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/penta ... ry-n495031" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... -Gulf.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

THE Pentagon has tonight confirmed Iran has captured two of their vessels after they strayed into Iranian territorial waters.
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest- ... ed-by-Iran" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


...and some irony...
ISIS cash goes up in smoke as US targets terror group’s finances

The U.S. military’s push to cut off the cash flow to Islamic extremists has taken an explosive turn. On Monday, defense officials told CNN that the U.S. dropped a pair of 2,000-pound bombs on a building in Mosul, Iraq, that contained potentially millions in currency belonging to ISIS.

New figures released by the Pentagon on Monday show that as of Dec. 15 the U.S. had spent $5.53 billion on the anti-ISIS effort, which started on Aug. 8, 2014. The average daily cost comes to $11 million over 495 days of operations.

As expected, the Air Force picked up most of the tab, with $3.8 billion, or 69 percent of the overall cost, spent on operations, including $2.8 billion on daily airstrikes inside Iraq and Syria. The Army comes in a distant second, spending $725 million on the effort, about 13 percent of the total.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/isis-cash ... 00936.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

silver bouncing along at $14 or under
http://www.kitco.com/charts/livesilver.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

gold just over a $1000
http://www.kitco.com/charts/livegold.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Dow futures briefly fell 400 points and the 10-year Treasury yield (U.S.:US10Y) dipped below 2 percent after retail sales declined 0.1 percent in December. Ex-autos, retail sales also fell 0.1 percent. The January Empire manufacturing was minus 19.4. The Producer Price Index fell 0.2 percent in December after rising 0.3 percent in November. Industrial production for December fell 0.4 percent. Capacity utilization was 76.5 percent. The Shanghai composite fell about 3.5 percent. European stocks were down more than 2.5 percent in morning trade ET. The U.S. dollar index was down more than half a percent. The euro was at 1.09 and the yen at at 116.8 yen against the greenback.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/stocks-fa ... 35878.html#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Industrial Production plunged 1.8% year-over-year - the fastest pace of collapse since May 2008 and a level that has never not produced a recession. MoM IP dropped 0.4% (double the 0.2% drop expected) as Capacity Utilization plunged to 76.5% (the lowest sicne July 2013) as Manufacturing hovers at its weakest growth YoY since Feb 2014.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-1 ... st-8-years" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Almost $3.2 trillion has been wiped off the value of stocks around the world since the start of 2016, according to calculations by a top market analyst. In a research note on Wednesday, Albert Edwards, global macro strategist at Societe Generale, said the S&P 500 index was susceptible to a 75 percent plunge from current levels.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/dol ... ar-BBoaMcR" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Friday that it was pulling the plug on its smallest store format, Walmart Express, and closing 269 locations globally, including 154 in the United States, in a restructuring that will affect 16,000 workers.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/wal-mart- ... 30737.html#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...notice they don't directly say 16,000 workers are going to be without jobs soon...

Here are stores the company is closing:
http://www.businessinsider.com/list-of- ... ing-2016-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The sun and the wind continue to defy gravity. Renewables just finished another record-breaking year, with more money invested ($329 billion) and more capacity added (121 gigawatts) than ever before, according to new data released Thursday by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... nthinkable" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...government subsidies certainly help...

U.S. crude futures were down more than 4 percent at $29.90 per barrel at 1445 GMT, after posting their first significant gains for 2016 in the previous session. Earlier they hit $29.28, the lowest since November 2003. On Friday, the average price for a basket of OPEC crudes fell to $25 per barrel, even before unrestrained Iranian exports hit the market. Even before sanctions are lifted, Iran's oil exports were on target to hit a nine-month high in January, with 1.10 million barrels a day of crude, excluding condensate, to load. Tehran is expected to target India and its old partners in Europe with increased exports once sanctions are lifted.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-crude-f ... 36646.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Slowing investment and construction in China, the world’s biggest energy user, is “sending an enormous deflationary impetus through to the world, and that is a significant part of what’s happening in this oil-price collapse,” Turner, former chairman of the U.K. Financial Services Authority, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... na-fizzles" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Think oil in the $20s is bad? In Canada they’d be happy to sell it for $10. Canadian oil sands producers are feeling pain as bitumen -- the thick, sticky substance at the center of the heated debate over TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL pipeline -- hit a low of $8.35 on Tuesday, down from as much as $80 less than two years ago.

Bitumen is another victim of a global glut of petroleum, which has sunk U.S. benchmark prices into the $20s from more than $100 only 18 months ago. It’s cheaper than most other types of crude, because it has to be diluted with more-expensive lighter petroleum, and then transported thousands of miles from Alberta to refineries in the U.S.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... nds-miners" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

China imported a record amount of crude last year as oil’s lowest annual average price in more than a decade spurred stockpiling and boosted demand from independent refiners. China's crude imports last month was equivalent to 7.85 million barrels a day, 6 percent higher than the previous record of 7.4 million in April, Bloomberg calculations show. China has exploited a plunge in crude prices by easing rules to allow private refiners, known as teapots, to import crude and by boosting shipments to fill emergency stockpiles. The nation’s overseas purchases may rise to 370 million metric tons this year, surpassing estimated U.S. imports of about 363 million tons, according to Li Li, a research director with ICIS China, an industry researcher. But given the crash in tanker rates - and implicitly demand - that "boom" appears to be over.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-1 ... et-crashes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The Shanghai Composite Index sank 3.5 percent to 2,900.97, falling 21 percent from its December high and sinking below its closing low during a $5 trillion rout in August. Friday’s decline was attributed to persistent investor concerns over volatility in the yuan and a report that some banks in Shanghai have halted accepting shares of smaller listed companies as collateral for loans. As policy makers in Beijing fight to prevent a vicious cycle of capital outflows and a weakening currency, the resulting financial-market volatility has heightened concern that the deepest economic slowdown since 1990 will worsen. Shares “entered a disaster mode at the start of the year and it’s still in that pattern now,” said Wu Kan, a fund manager at JK Life Insurance Co. in Shanghai. “The market has no confidence.”

Even after this year’s rout, the median Chinese company on mainland exchanges is valued at 55 times reported earnings, the highest level among the world’s largest markets. The Shanghai Composite, which has its biggest weightings in low-priced banks and commodity companies, trades at a multiple of 15.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... nomic-data" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In the latest Chinese domestic financing report released by the PBOC last night, there were two divergent themes: on one hand bank loans grew far less than the expected 700Bn yuan, and at 598Bn this was the second lowest monthly increase in the past year, only higher than October's 514bn; on the other hand total social financing soared to 1.82 trillion yuan, smashing forecasts of a 1.15 trillion increase, and the highest since June. As noted last night, this may have been the catalyst that spooked the markets, because as Bloomberg confirms, "the data shows companies are turning to alternative sources for credit given banks’ reluctance to lend."

"For the whole year of 2015, the biggest increment in aggregate financing came from the corporate financing via bond and stock markets," said Zhou Hao, an economist at Commerzbank AG in Singapore. "It appears to us commercial banks have few incentives to provide loans directly to corporates, especially due to credit concerns over SMEs, but turn to capital markets to finance the corporate indirectly. This hints an ongoing structural change in China’s financing system."

In summary, what is taking place in China is that banks are aggressively pushing off new credit creation from their books and giving it to the broader market to "risk" its balance sheet. Of course, whil clearly bearish as banks know the financial environment best, this was clearly spun as bullish "The rising bond issuance is due to lower barriers for companies to enter the market and falling interest rates, Wang Tao, chief China economist at UBS Group AG in Hong Kong said. "This helps cut the financing costs for companies," Wang said.

Judging by the market's reaction, which pulled the Composite below 3,000 and into a second bear market overnight, the spin did not work.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-1 ... -bad-loans" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
You don’t need to be a finance expert to know that something’s wrong when an interest rate reaches almost 70 percent. With China’s growth outlook darkening and capital flowing out of the country, speculators have been betting heavily against the yuan. The People’s Bank of China effectively declared war on them in early January, directing state banks to buy large sums of the currency in Hong Kong to support its value and burn the short sellers. With the yuan suddenly scarce in Hong Kong, the annualized cost of borrowing it overnight there hit 66.82 percent on Jan. 12—more than 10 times the usual interest rate. (It receded to 8 percent the next day.) Michael Every, head of financial markets research at Rabobank Group, called the rate spike “murderous” and predicted that things wouldn’t end well for Chinese authorities. Central banks “usually win a round like this, but lose in the end,” he told Bloomberg.

The problem now is that more money wants to get out of the country than wants to get in. Here’s the math: Last year, the IIF estimates, China had a little more than $250 billion coming in from the surplus on its current account, the broadest measure of trade. It got an additional $70 billion or so in net capital from nonresidents, including Chinese companies’ overseas affiliates. But those inflows were swamped by a record $550 billion in net outflows by individuals and companies inside China.

The IIF projected in October that the government would need to sell off more than $220 billion of its reserves last year to meet the demand for foreign currency. The actual number was probably closer to half a trillion. The nation’s stockpile of foreign exchange reserves has dwindled to about $3.3 trillion. The cushion is shrinking. “Considering China’s foreign debt, trade, and exchange rate management, it needs around $3 trillion in foreign exchange reserves to be comfortable,” says Hao Hong, chief China strategist at Bocom International Holdings.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... tal-flight" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The yuan has fallen 5.7 percent in Shanghai since the devaluation, even as the central bank burned through $321 billion of its foreign-exchange reserves supporting the currency over the last five months. The stockpile was $3.33 trillion at the end of December. Yuan positions at China’s central bank slumped by 708.2 billion yuan to 24.9 trillion yuan ($3.8 trillion) last month, suggesting increased intervention to support the yuan as well as rising capital outflows.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... -have-both" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Lost in all the Chinese stock and currency market gyrations, policy missteps and mixed data is this economic reality: The government is constrained by a credit bubble that has ballooned to $28 trillion in an economy growing at its slowest pace in 25 years.

Against that backdrop, Chinese officialdom faces the high-wire act of trying to keep the economy growing rapidly enough to repay past obligations, without resorting to a fresh pick-up in debt to fund more stimulus. It was China’s reliance on credit-fueled growth in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis that resulted in one of the biggest debt expansions in recent history, and today’s hangover.


Meantime, the central bank has been spending hundreds of billions to offset massive capital outflows and support the yuan. Its stockpile of foreign exchange reserves plunged by $513 billion in 2015 to $3.33 trillion.

There’s also been no real progress in chipping away at the debt burden, supercharged by spending on infrastructure and housing, that delivered average economic growth of 10 percent over the past 30 years. Government, corporate, and household borrowing totaled $28 trillion as of mid-2014, or about 282 percent of the country’s GDP at the time, according to McKinsey & Co.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... -gyrations" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The state-controlled investment funds that the government directed to buy shares last summer—nicknamed the National Team—probably spent more than $200 billion on equities in three months, according to analysts at Goldman Sachs. Officials even bought stocks to project stability in the days before a planned 12,000-soldier parade in September to commemorate Japan’s World War II surrender, according to people familiar with the matter.

Market interventions resumed in January, with buying focused on shares in companies with large weightings in benchmark indexes, the people say. Regulators also extended restrictions, which were just about to expire, on share sales by major stockholders. Even so, on Jan. 11, with the circuit breakers removed, stocks plunged an additional 5 percent. “They’re trying to prop the market up above sustainable valuations. That’s the fundamental problem,” says Patrick Chovanec, New York-based chief strategist for Silvercrest Asset Management Group.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... a-s-market" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
China’s broadest measure of new credit surged the most since June as companies increase borrowing on the corporate bond market, underscoring a shift away from reliance on state-backed banks for funding. Aggregate financing rose to 1.82 trillion yuan ($276 billion) in December, according to a report from the People’s Bank of China on Friday, compared with the median forecast of 1.15 trillion yuan in a Bloomberg survey.

New yuan loans slowed to 597.8 billion yuan in December, trailing the 700 billion yuan median forecast. M2 money supply growth was 13.3 percent from a year earlier, compared to the median estimate for 13.6 percent.

"The lower-than-expected new loans suggest that credit demand remained weak, and commercial banks were still reluctant to lend due to rising credit risks," economists at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. led by Liu Li-Gang, head of greater China economics, wrote in a note.

Going by the official numbers, which are widely regarded as understated, bad loans rose to a seven-year high of 1.2 trillion yuan as of the end of September. In a sign of write-offs to come, policy makers are aiming for a clean-up of “zombie companies” that rely on government subsidies and bank loans to keep operating.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... h-stimulus" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Layoffs Loom in China as Growth Slows
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... owth-slows" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Russia signalled a sharp fall in exports this year, a move that may offset the long-feared surge of supply from Iran.

The oil-pipeline monopoly Transneft said Russian companies are likely to cut crude shipments by 6.4pc over the course of 2016, based on applications submitted so far by Lukoil, Rosneft, Gazprom and other producers.

This amounts to a drop of 460,000 barrels a day (b/d), enough to eliminate a third of the excess supply flooding the world and potentially mark the bottom of the market. Russia is the world’s biggest producer of oil, and has been exporting 7.3m b/d over recent months.

What is unclear is whether the production cuts are purely driven by markets or whether it is in part a political move to pave the way for a deal with Saudi Arabia. Opec stated in December that it is too small to act alone and will not cut production unless non-Opec states join the effort to stabilize the market, a plea clearly directed at Russia.

Russia has a strong incentive to strike a deal. Anton Siluanov, the finance minister, said the Kremlin is drawing up drastic plans to slash spending by 10pc, warning that the country’s reserve fund may run dry by the end of the year. “We have decided not to touch defence spending for now,” he said.

The budget deficit is running near 5pc of GDP at current oil prices, yet the country lacks an internal bond market and cannot borrow abroad.

Oil demand rose 1.7m b/d last year – the second highest pace in a decade - and is still rising more briskly than widely supposed. Chi Zhang from Barclays said China’s imports of crude surged to a record 7.8m b/d in December as the country continued to fill its strategic reserve.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/econ ... utput.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Refineries are stocking gasoline at the fastest pace on record as weak U.S. demand reduces their profit margins. Inventories of the fuel rose by 19 million barrels in the two weeks ended Jan. 8, the Energy Information Administration reported, the biggest increase for any two weeks since data started in 1990.

Demand for the fuel averaged 8.81 million barrels a day in the four weeks ended Jan. 8, the lowest level since March, according to the EIA. Meanwhile, refineries used 16.5 million barrels of crude and other liquids to produce fuels, the highest level for this time of the year in EIA data begun in 1989.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... mand-falls" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The results are in: Australian households have more debt compared to the size of the country’s economy than any other in the world.
The latest job figures are promising – but can they last amid the economic gloom?

Research by the Federal Reserve has shown the consolidated household debt to GDP ratio increased the most for Australia between 1960 and 2010 out of a select group of OECD nations. Australia’s household sector has accumulated massive unconsolidated debt compared with other countries. As of the third quarter of 2015, it now has the world’s most indebted household sector relative to GDP, according to LF Economics’ analysis of national statistics.

Denmark long held this unholy accomplishment, but has been slowly deleveraging over the last several years as its housing bubble peaked and burst during the GFC. The latest debt-financed boom in Sydney and Melbourne has resulted in Australia now overtaking Denmark, a comparison of official figures from Australia and Denmark has shown.

Australia has around $2 trillion in unconsolidated household debt relative to $1.6 trillion in GDP. Australia’s ratio is 123.08%, while Denmark’s fell slightly to 122.99% in the third quarter of 2015, a marginal difference of 9 basis points. Although Denmark holds the record in terms of peak debt of 140.14% in the last quarter of 2009, as Australia continues to leverage and Denmark deleverages the current gap between the two will widen. Apart from Switzerland (which alongside Denmark has a negative interest rate), no other country is close in terms of having such extreme household sector debts. The UK ratio is 85.9% while in the US it is 79.1%.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/201 ... -the-world" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sales at U.S. retailers declined in December to wrap the weakest year since 2009, raising concern about the momentum in consumer spending heading into 2016. The slowdown, including electronics stores, clothing merchants and grocers, indicates Americans probably preferred to sock away the savings from cheaper fuel instead of splurging during the holiday season. While hiring has been robust in recent months, faster wage gains remain elusive, one reason household spending may have a tougher time accelerating as the new year gets under way.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... since-2009" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...welcome to deflation - i.e. falling demand as the money dries up....
If as a producer you’re really squeezed by your overproduction and your credit lines and your overflowing storage, you’ll have to settle for less. And you will. Which is going to put downward pressure on oil prices for a while to come. Inventories are more than full all over the world. With oil that was largely purchased, somewhat ironically, because prices were perceived as being low.

Interestingly, people are finally waking up to the reality that this is a development that first started with falling demand. China. Told ya. And only afterwards did it turn into a supply issue as well, when every producer began pumping for their lives because demand was shrinking.

All the talk about Saudi Arabia’s ‘tactics’ being aimed at strangling US frackers never sounded very bright. By November 2014, the notorious OPEC meeting, the Saudi’s, well before most others including ‘analysts’, knew to what extent demand was plunging. They had first-hand knowledge. And they had ideas, too, about where that could lead prices. Alarm bells in the desert.

There are alarm bells ringing in many capitals, there’s not a single oil producer sitting comfy right now. And that’s why ‘official’ prices need to be taken with a bag of salt. Bloomberg puts the real price today at $26.

The consequences of all this will be felt all over the world, and for a long time to come. All of our economic systems run on oil, so many jobs are related to it, so many ‘fields’ in the economy, and no, things won’t get easier when oil is at $20 or $10, it’ll be a disaster of biblical proportions, like a swarm of locusts that leaves precious little behind. Squeeze oil and you squeeze the entire economic system. That’s what all the ‘low oil prices are great for the economy’ analysts missed (many still do).

Entire nations will undergo drastic changes in leadership and prosperity. Norway, Canada, North Dakota, Russia. But more than that, Middle East nations that rely entirely on oil, a dependency that won’t allow for many of their rulers to remain in office. Same goes for all OPEC nations, and many non-OPEC producers.

We can argue that a war of some kind or another can be the black swan that sets prices ‘straight’, but black swans are supposed to be the things you can’t see coming, and Middle East warfare for obvious reasons doesn’t even qualify for that definition.

The world is full of nations and rulers that are fighting for bare survival. And things like that don’t play out on a short term basis. For that reason alone, though there are many others as well, oil prices will remain under pressure for now.

Even a war will be hard put to turn that trend around at this point. Unless production facilities are destroyed on a large scale, war may just lead to even more production as demand keeps falling. The fact that Iran is preparing to ‘come back online’, promising an even steeper glut in world markets, is putting the Saudi’s on edge. Rumors of Libya wanting to return for a piece of the pie won’t exactly soothe emotions either.

And when, in a few years’ time, all the production cuts due to shut wells become our new reality, and eventually they must, then no, there will still not be an oil shortage. Because the economy will be doing so much worse by then that demand will have fallen more than supply.

Barring large scale warfare in the Middle East there is nothing that can solve the low oil price conundrum. But think about it, which Gulf nation can even afford such warfare in present times? For that matter, which nation in the world can?

The US may try and ignite a proxy war with Russia, but that would lead to an(other) endless and unwinnable war theater. Which would carry the threat of dragging in China as well. The US and its -soon even officially- shrinking economy can’t afford that. Which of course by no means guarantees it won’t try.
http://www.theautomaticearth.com/2016/0 ... l-and-war/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...certainly stockpiled for a world war (on all sides)...

Two Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV dealerships have filed a civil racketeering suit against the automaker, alleging the company offered dealers money to report unsold vehicles as sold. The suit accuses the company of paying tens of thousands of dollars to dealers to report false sales at the end of the month. The timing, according to the suit, allowed the sales to be reported for that particular month, only then to be “backed-out” on the first of the following month before the factory warranty on the vehicles could be processed and start to run. FCA US has recorded 69-consecutive months of year-over-year sales gains — the current longest running streak in the industry. The sales streak has been touted as recently as this week at the 2016 North American International Auto Show as a resounding achievement of the company’s plans.
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/busine ... /78792242/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Best Buy Co. suffered its worst stock decline in a year after reporting weak holiday sales, hurt by sluggish demand for mobile phones and broader slump in the electronics industry. Same-store sales fell 1.2 percent in November and December, the Richfield, Minnesota-based company said in a statement Thursday. That compares with a 2.5 percent gain in the year-earlier period and marks the company’s third decline in four years.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... es-decline" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
It was just two weeks ago when we highlighted a Morgan Stanley note which showed that US trucking has not been this bad since 2009. That revelation came on the heels of an abysmal November for Class 8 sales. Trucking, apparently, is just another casualty of slumping trade, falling commodity prices, and mediocre, double-adjusted economic “growth.” On Friday we get the latest sign that trade is grinding to a halt.

"Freight volumes in the United States have fallen year on year for the first time since 2012 and before that the recession of 2009," Reuters reports, citing the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. "The total volume of freight moved by road, rail, pipeline, inland waterways and air cargo in November 2015 was 1.1 percent lower than in the corresponding month a year earlier."
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-1 ... -under-400" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

America's three biggest banks -- JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC) and Wells Fargo (WFC) -- earned more than $6 billion just from ATM and overdraft fees last year, according to an analysis by SNL Financial and CNNMoney. That equates to $25 for every adult in the United States. America's big three banks made over $5.1 billion last year from overdraft fees alone.
http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/14/investi ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...lion's share (5.1 out of 6 billion) from overdraft fees...which means financial management isn't going so hot for great number of Americans...

An index of the U.S. currency against 10 of its peers rose for a third week, the longest stretch since July, amid demand for haven assets as oil dropped below $30 for the first time in more than a decade and Chinese stocks led a global rout. Futures show 26 percent odds the Fed will tighten policy by its March meeting, down from 41 percent as of the end of last week.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... -odds-fall" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The December futures contract on the federal funds rate surged to its highest since October, implying the Federal Reserve will raise rates only one more time this year. The Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars all sank against the U.S. dollar on the back of another slide in Chinese stock markets and the slide in oil. But the dollar fell against both the euro and yen.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-globa ... SKCN0UT02I" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Citigroup Says Iron Ore Risks Tumbling Into $20s on Demand
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... s-possible" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Well, as so often happens, whenever there is a political spat in Europe, the rating agencies are quickly involved (thing S&P and Moody's downgrades and upgrades of Greece depending on how well the vassal nation is "behaving"), and moments ago S&P downgraded Poland from A- to BBB+ outlook negative, precisely due to Poland's new media law which has been the topic of so much consternation over the past week. In other words, S&P is now nothing more than a lackey for Brussels, threatening to send Polish yields higher if Poland does not fall in line.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-1 ... poland-bbb" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...power of the bankers...

Poland wants domestic banks to pass on negative interest rates in Switzerland to borrowers to ease the impact of the surging Swiss franc on $35 billion of mortgages denominated in the currency.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... an-holders" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Croatia’s parliament passed legislation allowing Swiss-franc loans to be converted into euros, ignoring threats from foreign banks that they would challenge the plan in international court and central bank warnings that the move may weaken the kuna.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... s-cry-foul" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
On November 16, leaders of the G20 Group of Nations – the 20 largest economies – made an important decision. The world’s megabanks now have official permission to pledge depositor accounts as collateral to make leveraged derivative bets. And if they lose a bet, the counterparty to the contract has first dibs on your money.

The governments of these 20 countries are now supposed to put these arrangements into law. Most, including the US, have already done so.

You could be forgiven for not paying much attention to the G20 meeting, because it was mostly “more of the same” – the latest plan to have central banks inject trillions more dollars into the global economy.

But the G20 also endorsed a proposal with a mind-numbingly tedious title: Adequacy of Loss-Absorbing Capacity of Global Systemically Important Banks in Resolution. Not exactly a page-turner. Your average American is more likely to watch Chicago Fire than to delve into the minutiae of the global financial system.

But this proposal profoundly changes the rules for banking globally, and not in a good way. Deposits in banks that are “too big to fail” will be “promptly recapitalized” with their “unsecured debt.” This avoids those nasty taxpayer-funded bailouts that proved so politically unpopular during the 2008-2009 financial crisis.

And the largest chunk of unsecured debt is your bank deposits. Insolvent banks will recapitalize themselves by converting your deposits – checking accounts, but also money market accounts and CDs – into stock.

Thus, when you deposit money in a bank, you’re taking the same risk as someone buying a stock. Or, for that matter, betting on a horse named “Falling Star” at the local racetrack. Because, in effect, that’s what banks are doing with your money.

The G20 has also officially declared that derivatives – the toxic contracts Warren Buffett calls “financial weapons of mass destruction” – are secured debts. Since your bank deposits are now only unsecured debt that the bank has pledged to a secured creditor, guess who gets your money if the bet goes the wrong way for the bank? Answer: It’s not you.

Heads, the bank wins. Tails, you lose.
http://www.nestmann.com/its-official-th ... .VJmn1__AA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...I'm not sure on the accuracy of this...anyone with greater insight?

Document here -
http://www.fsb.org/wp-content/uploads/T ... -FINAL.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...doesn't appear to be locked in yet...never mind see this doc -
http://www.fsb.org/wp-content/uploads/2 ... elease.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...although looks like actual implementation is down the road...and still not quite sure how much of the above is reality and how much is fear mongering...

TLAC will be formally implemented in 2019. Once established, non-compliance could impede a bank’s ability to make discretionary distributions such as dividend payments or additional tier-1 coupons, as TLAC is part of the Pillar 1 Basel requirements.
http://www.euromoney.com/Article/340858 ... -know.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The wording of the legislation differs slightly in each country, but the objective is the same. Essentially, what it means is that the banks are pre-authorised by their respective governments to confiscate the savings of depositors, should they (the banks) decide that an “emergency” exists.

I think it’s safe to say, that, even if an emergency does not exist, one can be trumped up. The temptation to legally steal trillions of dollars from depositors will prove too great.

Now, there are some caveats here. In some jurisdictions, the banks must give something back, such as shares in the bank (which may or may not have a saleable value). In addition, whilst the individual bank can take as much as it wants, it is “encouraged” to place a floor on the confiscation, for example, in Europe, €100,000. And this would be “hoped” to be a “one-time-only” confiscation. However, in each country, should the banks later decide that the first confiscation was insufficient, they could make as many further confiscations as they see fit and could lower the floor each time.

If your account is “insured” by your government, it would be well to bear in mind that confiscation is not the same as a bank crash. In confiscation, you have not technically “lost” your deposit; the bank has traded it for a piece of paper that says you now own something other than your money—shares in the bank (which, again, may or may not be saleable).
http://www.internationalman.com/article ... tant-banks" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...another claim along those lines...world council of credit union response -
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... 0Y_svwZy_w" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Interview 986 – Ellen Brown Explains the New G20 Bank Bail-in Rules
https://www.corbettreport.com/interview ... -in-rules/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...personally I moved away from the major banks about 6 years ago into credit unions...and have never regretted the move...although not sure they are immune from it all...

Norway Declares Crisis in Oil Industry as Devaluation Continues - It’s also stepping up its reliance on its $805 billion wealth fund -- the world’s biggest -- to deal with budget holes. Norway depends on oil and gas for about one-fifth of its economic output and nationwide, the petroleum industry has cut almost 30,000 jobs.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... t-persists" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
This is Saudi Arabia in 2016. It may be a familiar story to austerity-hit Europeans and Americans, but in a nation synonymous with conspicuous consumption, the belt-tightening has been unsettling. Unprecedented cuts to fuel and energy subsidies are forcing the kind of rigor never seen during the era of petrodollar-fueled wealth that quadrupled per-capita income since the late 1980s.

Those aged 15 to 34, who make up more than 40 percent of the 21 million Saudis, are at the forefront of the upheaval. No longer can they take for granted free health care, gasoline at 20 cents a liter and routine pay increases.

Gross domestic product per capita soared to $52,000 by 2014 from about $12,000 at the time of the first Gulf War in 1990. Even during the troughs of the 1980s and late 1990s, wealth burgeoned more quickly because of the relatively lower cost of pumping oil and a smaller population.

Politically, the kingdom remains in crackdown mode. Prominent human rights activist Samar Badawi was briefly detained in Jeddah this week for questioning. Her brother, Raif Badawi, is currently serving a 10-year sentence for insulting Islam. Hundreds of writers around the world held readings of Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayadh, sentenced to death after being accused of apostacy.

Saudi Arabia also carried out its largest mass execution since 1980, putting 47 men to death on Jan. 2, including Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr. His execution led to the kingdom cutting off ties with rival Iran after protesters attacked its embassy in Tehran.

Saudi authorities, themselves a driver of the price collapse as the world’s biggest exporter, announced increases to the cost of fuel, electricity and water last month.

The government intends to cut spending this year and gradually privatize some state-owned entities in the biggest shake-up of economic policy in recent history. It comes almost a year after King Salman named his increasingly powerful son, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to head the economic council.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... ven-smiles" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is suffering from periodic blackouts and inability to speak, a new report says.

The health of the 80-year-old monarch is increasingly deteriorating and he is under regular medical care, the Palestinian Manar online newspaper cited an Arab official as saying on Wednesday.

The unnamed source further said that King Salman has lost awareness of his surroundings, prompting physicians to advise his sons to restrict their father’s public appearances in a bid not to disclose the worsening conditions. The king is said to have been confined in one of the rooms of his palace.

A separate report in early October also said that the king was thought to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, and the royal government was practically administered by his Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef.

The failing health of the Saudi monarch has also led to an intense game of throne among the royal family.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/01/13 ... emen-Mina/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

....not sure how accurate that is...but plenty of politics within the family...

Saudi Arabia: Why succession could become a princely tussle - King Salman (79) suffers health problems - something strongly denied by the Saudi authorities.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29792691" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sudairi Seven
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudairi_Seven" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Saudi Arabia plans to create a new sovereign fund to manage part of its oil wealth and diversify its investments, and has asked investment banks and consultancies to submit proposals for the project, according to people familiar with the matter.

Plunging oil prices have strained Saudi Arabia's finances. The kingdom's state budget deficit is at a record high and net foreign assets dived more than $100 billion in 15 months.

The new fund could change the way tens of billions of dollars are invested and affect some of the world's leading asset managers, particularly in the United States, where the bulk of Saudi Arabia's foreign assets are managed.

SAMA's net foreign assets totaled $628 billion in November, down from a record high of $737 billion in August 2014, when the government started drawing down assets to pay its bills as falling oil prices saddled it with a huge budget deficit.

The assets, some of which are handled by global fund firms, are mainly securities such as U.S. Treasury bonds and deposits with banks abroad. Equities are believed to account for only a small fraction of securities holdings, perhaps 20 percent. The bulk of assets are believed to be denominated in U.S. dollars.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi ... UE20160114" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254, which calls for a cease-fire and a transitional government in Syria, was passed after serious efforts and consultations on behalf of the United States and its European partners to accommodate Saudi Arabia and Iran enough to sit at the negotiating table. Yet, with the recent negative developments regarding relations between Tehran and Riyadh, it’s unclear how the two countries will pursue negotiations within the framework of the ISSG.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/origina ... talks.html#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The U.S. Navy is spending millions of dollars to repair new high-speed transport ships built by Austal Ltd. because their weak bows can’t stand buffeting from high seas, according to the Pentagon’s chief weapons tester. “The entire ship class requires reinforcing structure” to bridge the twin hulls of the all-aluminum catamarans because of a design change that the Navy adopted at Austal’s recommendation for the $2.1 billion fleet of Expeditionary Fast Transports, Michael Gilmore, the Defense Department’s director of operational test and evaluation, said in a report to Congress.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... -high-seas" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Philippines has asked the United States to hold joint naval patrols, a defense ministry spokesman said on Thursday, amid a territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea.
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-philip ... ina-2016-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The Philippines will offer the US military use of eight bases, a military spokesman said Wednesday after the country's Supreme Court supported a security agreement with Washington; the deal was implemented following the onset of rising tensions with China.

The facilities include the former US Clark airbase and air and naval facilities on the southwestern island of Palawan, which faces the South China Sea. Military spokesman Colonel Restituto Padilla said the facilities would be used to store equipment and supplies.

The decision permits the full implementation of the Enhanced Defense Co-operation Agreement (EDCA), signed in 2014 but not applied due to legal challenges from groups opposed to US military involvement in the Philippines, a US colony from 1898 to 1946, according to Defense News.
http://sputniknews.com/military/2016011 ... -base.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Southern California Gas Co.'s effort to plug its leaking natural gas well involves higher stakes than simply stopping the fumes that have sickened many residents of Porter Ranch.

The company also is trying to avoid a blowout, which state regulators said is now a significant concern after a seventh attempt to plug the well created more precarious conditions at the site.

If a blowout occurs, highly flammable gas would vent directly up through the well, known as SS25, rather than dissipating as it does now via the subsurface leak and underground channels.

State officials said a blowout would increase the amount of leaked gas, causing greater environmental damage. That natural gas also creates the risk of a massive fire if ignited by a spark. The risk of fire already is so high that cellphones and watches are banned from the site
http://www.latimes.com/local/california ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Tests suggest mercury in air at some dental clinics
http://www.kansascity.com/latest-news/a ... 22320.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ed Schultz joins RT America's primetime news
FOR THE PAST four years, Russia has been building its global media and public relations presence. In 2005, the government established Russia Today, a worldwide news channel that broadcasts in English, Arabic, and Spanish. With its often virulent anti-Americanism, worshipful portrayal of Russian leaders, and comical production values, the station, which has over 90 million viewers, can be relied upon to repeat Kremlin talking points.

Fifty years ago, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev banged his shoe at the United Nations and told the United States, “We will bury you.” Today, Putin likens U.S. policy to the Third Reich and manipulates Europe’s gas supply. On September 12—during Valdai—state television aired an Italian-produced documentary alleging that the United States government was complicit in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. “All these things, they create an unfavorable impression in the West,” says Oleg Kalugin, a former KGB general and propagandist. “And this is what the Russian current propaganda machine wants to rectify ... to show Russia as solid, reliable, part of the Western world and interested in integration in the western world.”
https://newrepublic.com/article/62569/p ... he-potomac" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Wilders, 52, whose party leads opinion polls with calls to close Dutch borders to refugees, pledged to immediately pull the Netherlands out of the 28-nation EU should he become prime minister in elections due in March next year. The EU is unraveling and that’s to be encouraged, he said, urging the U.K. to quit the bloc in its forthcoming referendum.

“We are not sovereign any more; we are not even allowed to form our own immigration policy or even close our borders and I would do that,” Wilders said Thursday in an interview in the Dutch parliament building in The Hague. “I would wish the Dutch to be more like Switzerland. In the heart of Europe, but not in the European Union.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... must-leave" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Refugees arriving in Switzerland have to turn over to the state any assets worth more than 1,000 Swiss francs (£690) to help pay for their upkeep, the broadcaster SRF has reported.

SRF’s 10 vor 10 news programme showed a receipt a Syrian refugee said he received from authorities when he had to turn over more than half the cash his family had left after paying traffickers to help them get to the neutral Alpine country.

Swiss authorities rejected criticism of the practice, saying it was based on a decades-old law and only applied in a fraction of cases. Authorities also noted that the law called for asylum seekers and refugees to contribute where possible to the cost of processing their applications and providing social assistance.

According to the Swiss state secretariat for migration (SEM), the rule affected just 112 out of 45,000 refugees last year. An SEM spokeswoman told SRF: “If someone leaves voluntarily within seven months this person can get the money back and take it with them. Otherwise the money covers costs they generate.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/j ... over-costs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wearing black jackets adorned with a symbol of a Viking, Finnish white supremacists the 'Soldiers of Odin' have surfaced as self-proclaimed patriots patrolling the streets for immigrants. Marching with banners and masks, and claiming to be protecting native Finns from immigrants, fears are now growing about their expanding presence and motivations. On the northern fringes of Europe, Finland has little history of welcoming large numbers of refugees, unlike neighbouring Sweden.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... nland.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cracks in Europe's union appeared as opinions and policies towards the refugee crisis among EU member states widened. Many countries decided to shut their borders — turning their back on both the asylum seekers — and the founding policies of the EU. Chancellor Merkel on the other hand, agreed to open Germany's borders to a limitless number of Syrian refugees.
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160114/ ... mands.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Migrants committed 186,235 crimes in the period from January to November 2015, 70,000 more compared to the previous year. The figures come from a report by the Federal Criminal Police Office and were released by the German newspaper Bild.
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160114/ ... rimes.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Security Message for U.S. Citizens - Defer Travel to Bethlehem and surrounding communities
http://jerusalem.usconsulate.gov/sm_011216.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Two US Marine helicopters have collided near the Hawaiian island of Oahu, each with six people on board.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35326299" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The US Coast Guard is carrying out a search and rescue operation after two Marine Corps transport helicopters collided in mid-air and crashed in the waters north of the island of Oahu.
https://www.rt.com/usa/329057-hawaii-mi ... nes-crash/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The US Army has awarded 17 companies, including major corporations, $900 million in contracts for logistics and service support for biological and chemical war projects, the Department of Defense announced.
http://sputniknews.com/us/20160113/1033 ... l?AID=7236" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

One person is brain dead and five others are seriously ill after taking part in a drug trial for Portuguese pharmaceutical firm Bial at a clinic in north-west France.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/j ... ically-ill" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

French President Francois Hollande announced Thursday the mobilization of 40,000 reservists, up from 28,000, to boost the country's security.
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160114/ ... urity.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The UN has warned that “a complete breakdown of law and order is just around the corner” in Burundi as it examines allegations of gang-rapes, enforced disappearances and the digging of mass graves during the eruption of violence that left dozens of people dead last month.
http://www.theguardian.com/global-devel ... ties-mount" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

...size limit...so 2 posts...
Have you heard of House Resolution 14? It is a bill that urges the president to declassify the 28-page finding on foreign government involvement in supporting the 9/11 hijackers.

Support for the bill has surged with seven more House members adding their names to the resolution just last week.

That support sits on top of the fifteen members who have joined since December 9, bringing the total members on board to 35.

The 28 pages are an entire section within the official report of the Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001. The pages have reportedly linked Saudi officials to two of the Saudi hijackers.
http://www.activistpost.com/2016/01/sup ... n-911.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
INCONTROVERTIBLE is the first and only feature length documentary we have which portrays the frank and candid views of Police Officers, Firefighters and Soldiers as they express their grave concerns about the official explanation for the events of 9/11. The film is intended to act as a practical aid in combating the mainstream media's propaganda and outright lies concerning the attacks on September 11th 2001.

This film is intended to be viewed by Police Officers, Firefighters and all those serving in the Armed Forces as they are the among the best placed members of our society to have the ability to change things for the better. If you have friends or family who are serving then please pass this film onto them.

http://www.incontrovertible911evidence.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

On Monday the Supreme Court declined to hear a petition from the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) that sought to force the Department of Homeland Security to release details of a secret “killswitch” protocol to shut down cellphone and internet service during emergencies. EPIC has been fighting since 2011 to release the details of the program, which is known as Standard Operating Procedure 303.
http://www.mintpressnews.com/the-us-gov ... ss/212749/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Researchers Martin Gilens along with Benjamin I. Page concluded that over the past few decades in particular, the U.S. political system has gradually changed in a way that has warped the Democratic Republic into a nearly pure oligarchy, where the elite 1% rule with almost total influence and control over the government and even police state apparatus. The researchers drew data from over 1,800 different policy initiatives dating from 1981 to 2002. They concluded that wealthy, well-connected families are the ones who steer the direction of nearly everything politically in the United States.
http://countercurrentnews.com/2016/01/p ... democracy/#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Pope Francis, who more than a billion Catholics believe is God’s representative on Earth, will meet with powerful Silicon Valley Google executive and philanthropist Eric Schmidt for 15 minutes at the Vatican in Rome.
http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/why-is-p ... e-vatican/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Since 2009 Philadelphia has seen a 43 percent increase in drug-related overdose deaths, helping to make Pennsylvania the nation’s leading state for drug overdose death among young men. Over the same period, the city has seen a 45 percent increase in overdose deaths where heroin was present in the individual’s system. While heroin is still the primary source of drug overdose deaths, the city is also seeing a significant increase in deaths related to prescription drug abuse, particularly opioids.

The report which, was obtained by Public Intelligence, showed a 33 percent increase in drug-related overdose deaths in the city between 2013 and 2014. Nearly two-thirds of those that died were male and the average age was 42 years old. The largest number of deaths occurred in the 46-60 age group. The deaths are also highest among whites, which accounted for approximately 60 percent of overall deaths in 2013 and 2014.

The increasing abuse of prescription painkillers has led to a significant increase in heroin-related deaths.
https://publicintelligence.net/philadel ... overdoses/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Analyst: Here Comes the Biggest Stock Market Crash in a Generation

In a research note published Wednesday, Edwards argued that ever since the last financial crisis, the global economy has been dependent on the Federal Reserve’s massive bond buying program to prop up equity prices and stimulate growth in emerging markets. “A commodity bubble and the resultant U.S. shale investment boom were all consequences of the Fed’s QE,” Edwards writes, referring to the U.S. central bank’s efforts to lower long-term interest rates. Now that the Fed has stopped buying bonds and has actually moved to raise rates, the artificial growth in asset prices that we’ve seen since the last financial crisis will come undone, according to Edwards. “The illusion of of prosperity is shattered as boom now turns to bust,” he writes.

Like other analysts who are increasingly bearish, Edwards marshals the recent events in China as evidence that something is seriously wrong. He argues that Chinese policy makers are in an impossible bind. Their currency is actually overvalued, he argues. Nonetheless, too bold an attempt to devalue the yuan would lead wealthy Chinese to remove even more of their money from the economy, destabilizing the situation further.

What’s more, the Chinese manufacturing sector, which has been over-investing in additional production for years now, has but one option: slash prices as it fights over a shrinking pie of global trade. And that’s going to lead to deflation. “The western manufacturing sector will choke under this imported deflationary tourniquet,” says Edwards. And even though manufacturing makes up just a fraction of the United States economy, the struggles of the manufacturing sector will eventually infect the services industries as well.

The end result of all of this will be another recession, followed by aggressive central bank action to fight falling equity prices and negative growth, according to this analysis. But with interest rates already so low and the Fed’s balance sheet already inflated from all the bonds it bought during its last stimulus efforts, there is little the central bank can do to stop what Edwards calls a secular bear market. The result, according to Edwards, will be a horrific drop that will leave the S&P 500 down 75%, to 550, from its most recent peak, hit last summer, of just over 2,100.

It should be pointed out that Edwards has been making similar calls for years.

That said, even more bullish analysts like Carl Weinberg of High Frequency Economics are sounding rattled by the events taking place of late in China. In a note to clients yesterday, he referred to the recent decline in oil prices of nearly 40% from a year ago as “the unthinkable,” and reminded readers that global recessions are typically triggered when an economy builds up excess capacity that must be unwound.
http://fortune.com/2016/01/13/analyst-h ... oo_fortune" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The following are 11 predictions of economic disaster in 2016 from top experts all over the globe
http://www.prepperfortress.com/economic ... opulation/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For the first time ever, the Baltic Dry Index has fallen under 400. As I write this article, it is sitting at 394. To be honest, I never even imagined that it could go this low. Back in early August, the Baltic Dry Index was sitting at 1,222, and since then it has been on a steady decline. Of course the Baltic Dry Index crashed hard just before the great stock market crash of 2008 too, but at this point it is already lower than it was during that entire crisis. This is just more evidence that global trade is grinding to a halt and that 2016 is going to be a “cataclysmic year” for the global economy.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/arch ... standstill" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

....eventually they'll be right....lots of fear mongering though...justified or not...(men's hearts will fail them)...

70 Tips That Will Help You Survive What Is About To Happen To America
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archiv ... to-america" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

DHS Militia Extremist Movement Reference Guide
https://info.publicintelligence.net/DHS ... emists.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

U.S. Army Intelligence Support to Urban Operations
https://info.publicintelligence.net/USA ... upport.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Beware: IRS Now Has Six Years To Audit Your Taxes, Up From Three

The three years is doubled to six if you omitted more than 25% of your income. For years, there was a debate over what it means to omit income from your return. Taxpayers and some courts said “omit” means leave off, as in don’t report. But the IRS said it was much broader.

Example: You sell a piece of property for $3M, claiming that your basis (what you invested in the property) was $1.5M. In fact, your basis was only $500,000. The effect of your basis overstatement was that you paid tax on $1.5M of gain, when you should have paid tax on $2.5M.

In U.S. v. Home Concrete & Supply, LLC, the Supreme Court slapped down the IRS, holding that overstating your basis is not the same as omitting income. The Court said 3 years was plenty for the IRS to audit. But Congress recently overruled the Supreme Court and gave the IRS six years in such a case.
https://taxes.yahoo.com/post/1373522251 ... your-taxes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Kansas Governor Cuts Off Planned Parenthood Funding
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kan ... eb759d370d" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"No Más Bebés," a new documentary about Los Angeles County General Hospital's sterilization abuse against Latinas, is set to premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival this month. The film tells the story of Madrigal v. Quilligan, a historic lawsuit filed by10 Mexican-American women who had been sterilized in the early '70s after having emergency Cesarean sections.
http://www.colorlines.com/articles/no-m ... latinas-la" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.nomasbebesmovie.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hurricanes have arrived early this year in the northern hemisphere. Just days after hurricane Pali became the earliest Central Pacific hurricane on record, the Atlantic basin spun up its own unusual storm. On January 14, 2016, a tropical depression in the eastern Atlantic evolved into hurricane Alex; it became the earliest hurricane in the basin since 1938 and just the fourth January hurricane in 150 years of records.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Natura ... &src=nhrss" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
History spun up over the far reaches of the Northeast Atlantic on Thursday, as Subtropical Storm Alex carved out a distinct eye within a core of intense thunderstorms, making it Hurricane Alex. The 10 am EST advisory from the National Hurricane Center put Alex’s sustained winds at 85 mph. Alex was located about 500 miles south of Faial Island in the Azores, moving north-northeast at 20 mph. A hurricane warning is in effect for the islands of Faial, Pico, Sao Jorge, Graciosa, and Terceira in the central Azores. Given the strong steering currents driving Alex, there is high confidence that at least some of the central Azores will experience tropical storm or hurricane-force wind, heavy rain, and high surf. To get a hurricane making landfall in the Azores any time of year is quite unusual (about once per 10-20 years); to get a landfall in January would be truly remarkable.

In records going back to 1851, only two hurricanes are known to have prowled the Atlantic during the month of January: an unnamed tropical storm
that became Hurricane One on January 4, 1938, and Hurricane Alice, which maintained hurricane strength from December 31, 1954, to January 4, 1955. Alice topped out at 90 mph, so Alex is officially the second strongest January hurricane on record in the Atlantic. {Note: I've corrected the strength of Alice in line with its upgrade from 70 knots to 80 knots in the recently-released 1951-1955 best-track update to NOAA's HURDAT2 database. Thanks to WU contributor @philklotzbach for this catch.] Much like Alice, another tropical cyclone--Tropical Storm Zeta of 2005/06--formed in December and extended into January, and a tropical storm was recorded in early January 1951. There was also a subtropical storm in January 1978.

Hurricane Pali weakens to a tropical depression near equator
Late Wednesday was the first time in the modern era of tropical cyclone observing and prediction that we had simultaneous named systems in January in the Atlantic (Alex) and Central Pacific (Pali)--or, for that matter, anywhere in the Pacific. Pali is the earliest named storm and earliest hurricane on record between the International Date Line and the Americas. It reached Category 2 strength (85 knots or 100 mph) on Tuesday. While Alex was strengthening into a hurricane on Wednesday night, Pali was falling apart. By Thursday morning, Pali had decayed into Tropical Depression Pali, located at 173.0°W and just 2.5°N. Now experiencing moderate to strong wind shear, Pali should be history within the next few hours.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... since-1955" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

User avatar
Jason
Master of Puppets
Posts: 18296

Re: Blipits

Post by Jason »

The Alienork Way – Understanding The Danger Of Islam
https://westernrifleshooters.wordpress. ... /#comments" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

“Look how many countries in Africa, for example, depend on the income from oil exports,” Schwab said in an interview ahead of the WEF’s 46th annual meeting, in the Swiss resort of Davos. “Now imagine 1 billion inhabitants, imagine they all move north.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... -migration" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

‘We Will Breed Children’: Muslim Preacher Says Arab Migrants Will Conquer Europe Through Higher Birthrate
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/09 ... birthrate/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

U.S. top court to decide major case on Obama immigration plan
http://www.reuters.com/article/usa-cour ... SL2N153146" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Senate to consider stricter screening for Syrian refugees
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/p ... 51325.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Facebook Inc (FB.O) began a Europe-wide campaign on Monday to thwart extremist posts on social media, after German politicians in particular raised concerns about a rise in xenophobic comments linked to an influx of refugees.

The U.S.-based group launched its "Initiative for Civil Courage Online" in Berlin, pledging over 1 million euros ($1.09 million) to support non-governmental organizations in their efforts to counter racist and xenophobic posts.

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said hate speech "has no place in our society", including in the Internet.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europ ... SKCN0UW25C" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Can Iran Change?
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/19/opini ... hange.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...is Saudi Arabia any different? Where were most of the 9/11 terrorists from???

Saudis not ruling out nuclear option if Iran gets bomb
http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Saudis ... omb-442087" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

U.S. Sources: Americans In Iraq Kidnapped By Iran-Backed Militia
http://www.rferl.org/content/iraq-abduc ... 97529.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

White House: Missing Former FBI Agent Levinson No Longer In Iran
http://www.rferl.org/content/iran-missi ... 97439.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Islamic State fighters seize control of eastern city of Deir Ezzor and kill 18
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... Ezzor.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The Kurdish government may be in some serious financial trouble due to low oil prices, but the region is also home to companies that can take oil out of the ground for as low as $1 a barrel.

“The lowest cost of production within the European E&P universe I look at is in onshore Kurdistan,” James Hosie, an analyst at Barclays, told Bloomberg. “It’s conventional wells, onshore. Those wells produce at very high rates.”
http://dailycaller.com/2016/01/19/the-k ... arrel-oil/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The finance minister said Russia had been relying on the country’s Reserve Fund, one of its sources of sovereign wealth, to make up some of the budget shortfall. But last month that fund lost 16 percent of its value, and he said it may run out of money altogether by the end of 2016 if the government doesn’t move to shore it up.
http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/ ... -Edge.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Traders had some hope that they could take at least a brief nap ahead of the China open before all risk hell broke loose in the latest evening session, however either some liquidating algo or the Iranian oil trading desk had different plans, and moments ago WTI dipped below $28 per barrel, sliding as low as $27.92, doing so only for the first time since 2003, a new 12 year low.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-1 ... ures-lower" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

China Wades Into Mid-East Melodrama As Xi Makes First Presidential Trip To Saudi Arabia, Iran
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-1 ... rabia-iran" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Adding insult to injury for Canadians is the plunging loonie. Because the country imports most of its fresh fruits and vegetables, the weak currency has triggered a sharp increase in the price of many items in the grocery aisle as documented in a hilarious series of tweets by incredulous Canadian shoppers.

The question for the Bank of Canada is this: is the risk of an even weaker loonie worth taking if a rate cut has the potential to head off the myriad risks facing the economy?

We’ll find out what the BOC thinks tomorrow, but in the meantime, analysts have weighed in. JP Morgan’s Daniel Hui says CAD needs to fall further lest producers should simply close up shop. "[W]ith West Canada Select (WCS) now sitting just a dollar above the average per-barrel operational cost of $20 (Canadian), the risk is that any further decline will cause a whole new host of spillovers including potential shutdown and retrenchment of energy extraction and exports (with its attendant growth and balance of payment effects) or the potential of highly leveraged companies running operational losses, and the more contagious financial impact that might have in Canada, with broader spillovers."

None of those outcomes are particularly palatable. If the loonie continues to plunge however, it would act as a kind of shock absorber (producers’ costs are predominantly in CAD terms whereas the crude they sell is obviously denominated in USD), keeping CAD-denominated prices above the marginal cost of production.

But this is a Catch-22. The BOC can cut and drive the loonie even lower thus allowing zombie producers to keep pumping and thus prevent still more oil patch job losses, but a falling CAD may have undesirable knock-on effects, like reduced consumer spending, for instance. Additionally, if uneconomic producers keep drilling and pumping, they’re just digging their own grave by contributing to an already oversupplied global market.

In short: there’s no “right” answer. “Economists are united in one view, that new plunges in oil prices, in the Canadian dollar, and weaker global financial conditions, make the Bank of Canada's policy interest rate decision Wednesday a very close call,” MNI writes.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-1 ... on-deepens" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Last Wednesday, US multinational General Electric (GE) announced plans to cut 6,500 jobs in Europe over the next two years, including 1,700 jobs in Germany, 570 in the UK, 765 in France and 1,300 in Switzerland. According to comments from the head of GE’s power division last September, this is part of a plan to squeeze out $3 billion in cost savings over five years.

After reaching an agreement with the trade unions, French nuclear group Areva announced plans for 6,000 job cuts worldwide, including in Germany, the United States and 2,700 in France. The “competitiveness plan” deal would net Areva €1 billion in savings by 2017.

British Airways is eliminating 5,800 jobs under a plan to cut its debts, on top of 7,600 job cuts already announced earlier. These will largely hit major British airports, including 6,600 jobs cut at Heathrow airport and 3,000 at Gatwick.

France’s largely state-owned electricity firm EDF is cutting 4,000 jobs, or 6 percent of its workforce, through attrition over the next three years―twice the number announced previously. On a €72.8 billion turnover in 2014, EDF amassed a €3.7 net profit. This comes after last month’s announcement of more job cuts in the French state sector, with French state-owned rail operator SNCF announcement of 1,400 job cuts in France as part of a plan to shed 10,000 jobs by 2020.

Tata Steel will cut 1,050 jobs in Britain, hitting plants in Port Talbot, Llanwern, Trostre, Hartlepool and Corby, after announcing hundreds of job cuts last year as steel prices plunged. Ceramics group Royal Doulton will cut up to 1,000 jobs, mostly in Britain, amid the closure of its Baddeley Green factory.

While amassing huge profits from speculation and European Union (EU) bailouts, European banks have announced over 30,000 job cuts for 2016, after Europe’s top 30 banks shed over 80,000 jobs from 2008 to 2014. According to the Financial Times, two of Europe’s biggest banks, Barclays and BNP Paribas, plan to unveil job cuts to slash 10 to 20 percent of their investment banking costs.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/global-eco ... pe/5502383" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Did you know that the top 1% has more wealth than the rest of the planet combined? And just 62 ultra-wealthy members of the elite have as much money as the poorest 3.5 billion people on the entire planet.
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archiv ... ire-planet" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...think they'll fight to keep it from the hoards???

Once called “the murder capital of the world,” Mexico’s Ciudad Juárez is only 300 feet from El Paso, “America’s safest city.” In 2012, Ciudad Juárez had 58 homicides per 100,000 people, while El Paso experienced fewer than one (0.6)
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-1 ... has-failed" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...difference is gun control they state...and I have no argument...
The problem with being too busy to read is that you learn by experience (or by your men’s experience), i.e. the hard way. By reading, you learn through others’ experiences, generally a better way to do business, especially in our line of work where the consequences of incompetence are so final for young men.

Thanks to my reading, I have never been caught flat-footed by any situation, never at a loss for how any problem has been addressed (successfully or unsuccessfully) before. It doesn’t give me all the answers, but it lights what is often a dark path ahead.

Semper Fi, Mattis
http://www.businessinsider.com/viral-ja ... nes-2013-5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Oregon militia leader claims his four foster sons have been taken away from him due to his involvement in the standoff
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ndoff.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Vandals blamed for disrupting Plantation Bay water service - 20 open spigots waste 400,000 gallons of drinking water
http://www.news-journalonline.com/artic ... /160119543" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder plans to give a State of the State address Tuesday night, following remarks he made a day earlier on how he's made mistakes in handling the Flint, Mich., water crisis.

Snyder said he's lost the public's trust and "that's hard, that's awful." The state downplayed and largely ignored the immediate complaints about the smell, color and taste of the water in 2014.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nati ... /78996052/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The National Guard sent 70 more troops to deal with a contaminated water situation in Flint, Michigan, that has led angry crowds to assemble in front of Gov. Rick Snyder’s apartment in downtown Ann Arbor and demand his resignation and arrest.
http://www.wnd.com/2016/01/u-s-troops-h ... ests-wage/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. Epidemics of acute respiratory infections and flu is spreading across Russia, with the bulk of cases being caused by A(H1N1) strain, popularly known as swine flu and fraught with serious complications, the chief of Russian consumer rights watchdog said on Tuesday.
http://tass.ru/en/society/850555" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

High-path H7N8 outbreak reported at Indiana turkey farm
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspect ... urkey-farm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Forecasts converging on severe, potentially historic Friday-Saturday snowstorm
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/cap ... snowstorm/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Major snowstorm may threaten DC to NYC, Boston Friday into Saturday
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-n ... y/54870622" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Computer models are gradually converging on what could be a historic snowstorm for the mid-Atlantic region, including Washington, D.C., at the end of this week. We’ll have a full report on this potential major threat later in the week, but in the meantime, let us reflect on the various forms of havoc that last year brought. Earth had a tough year for billion-dollar weather-related natural disasters in 2015, with 29--the fourth most since accurate accounting began in 1990, said insurance broker Aon Benfield in their Annual Global Climate and Catastrophe Report issued last Wednesday. The average from 2000 - 2014 was 24 billion-dollar weather disasters; the highest number since 1990 was 41, in 2013. The combined economic losses from all 300 weather and earthquake disasters in 2015 with damages of at least $50 million was $123 billion, which is 30% below the 15-year average of $175 billion. The lack of landfalling U.S. hurricanes contributed to the relatively low damage total. Natural disasters (including earthquakes) killed approximately 19,500 people in 2015, which was 75% below the 2000 - 2014 average of 79,000 fatalities. The deadliest weather disaster of 2015 was the May heat wave in India that killed an estimated 2,500 people; the costliest weather-related disaster was the $16.1 billion fires/drought in Indonesia. The U.S. had the most billion-dollar weather disasters of any country, with eleven; China came in second, with six.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMa ... t-on-recor" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
MONSTER ERUPTIONS: Panic as two volcanoes EXPLODE simultaneously causing mass evacuation - MAJOR evacuations have been sparked by the SIMULTANEOUS eruption of two volcanoes - including one of the world's most feared - spewing toxic gas and ash clouds for miles.

The two volcanoes are thousands of miles apart but are on the edge of the same tectonic plate – the Phillippine Plate – sparking fears of a major seismic shift, more volcanic activity and even earthquakes and tsunamis.

More than 1,200 people have been evacuated from within a 1.9-mile containment zone around Mount Egon in Kupang, eastern Indonesia - one of the most volcanic parts of the globe.

It was followed moments later by the eruption of Zhupanovsky on Russia's eastern coast which spewed lava FIVE MILES into the air.

The latter explosion is likely to affect air traffic in Russia, but the huge ash cloud is also drifting east over the Pacific Ocean so the impact on flights could be much worse
http://www.express.co.uk/news/science/6 ... ed-to-flee" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

More than 1,200 flee as Indonesia volcano spews ash, gas
http://news.yahoo.com/more-1-200-flee-i ... 25322.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Kamchatka volcano spews ash to height of 8 km - Zhupanovsky is one of the least studied volcanoes in the region despite its proximity to a large city. It is a complex volcano composed of four overlapping cones aligned on a roughly east-west oriented axis, with the highest cone reaching 2,958 meters high, and the lowest one being 2,505 meters high.
http://tass.ru/en/science/850501" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Superstation95.com reported a reading from an ocean data buoy showed the water level fell sharply, "signalling a land sink - the type of event often followed by a severe earthquake."
http://www.express.co.uk/news/science/6 ... Washington" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BREAKING NEWS: US West Coast Earthquake Warning as Cascadia Subduction Zone Surges
http://www.newsprepper.com/5014-2/#.Vp5tGfkrI-c" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What appears to be a weak shock passage was detected by the ACE spacecraft just before 21:00 UTC (Jan 18). Although a noteworthy impact to our geomagnetic field is not currently in the forecast, I will provide updates should anything of interest take place.
http://www.solarham.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A slow-moving CME hit Earth's magnetic field on Jan. 18th at ~2100 UT. The gentle impact did not cause a full-fledged geomagnetic storm, but the aurora borealis appeared anyway. NOAA forecasters estimate a 45% chance of geomagnetic storms on Jan. 19th as Earth passes through the wake of the CME.
http://www.spaceweather.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What are the Best Survival Flashlights?
http://modernsurvivalonline.com/what-ar ... ashlights/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Ultimate Bug Out Vehicle Gear List
http://modernsurvivalonline.com/the-ult ... gear-list/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Interagency OPSEC Support Staff (IOSS) Terrorism Threat Handbook 2004
https://info.publicintelligence.net/IOS ... ndbook.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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