"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, because it is the merger of state and corporate power."
Benito Mussolini
It would be fortunate for the western world, particularly the United States, if it were "merely" becoming a neo-fascist dictatorship. But since all life forces evolve, particularly those that are evil, the west is actually experiencing something far more pernicious: namely, a banksterist dictatorship, which is en route to something even worse.
In Banksterism, the full arsenal of the state is deployed to preserve and protect one thing above all else: the power, wealth, influence and profits of banksters. It is only the crumbs left over after the banksters have gorged themselves at the moneytrough that are cast upon the dirt for everyone else to scavenge and peck upon. The problem is that history, and particularly recent history shows that banksters can never get enough. They are addicted to lucre, as if it were heroin. So in a banksteristdictatorship, capital is systematically plundered from the overall economy, causing it to weaken, and then die. This is when the covert totalitarianism of banksterismyields to overt, full-blown, state-sponsored military totalitarianism, better known as the Police State. The road to tyranny is paved with banksterism.
"There is not a crime, there is not a dodge, there is not a trick, there is not a swindle, there is not a vice, that does not live by secrecy." -- Joseph Pulitzer
I think that gold is caught in a range trade since its big run up to a record high.
The range is roughly between 1550/1570 and 1800.
I do not think the government is funding this directly, but indirectly the funds are coming from the Fed and its cronies, and well as de facto policy endorsement from the government, so that the regulatory bodies turn a blind eye to the massive shorting at opportune times.
Gold sinks below $1,600 amid 'death cross' talk Prices fall more after Comex close as Fed to consider QE change
By Myra P. Saefong and Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures tumbled on Wednesday, pressured by strength in the dollar and news that the Federal Reserve will review its quantitative-easing program in March.
Talk of a so-called "death cross" in gold prices also spooked investors.
After trading on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange ended, minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's January meeting showed that officials will consider major changes to the central bank's quantitative-easing program at the next meeting in March. Gold futures subsequently extended their decline in electronic trading.
The Curious Case of Falling Gold and Silver Prices
by Monetary Metals - ZeroHedge.com
A curious thing happened last week. The prices of both monetary metals have been falling for a week and a half through February 15. No, that's not the curious part. There is no law of nature that says the prices have to go up, but if they go down it must be artificial somehow. The curious thing is that the price fell while open interest in futures rose, which is not typical of how the market has actually been behaving in recent years.
Now let's look at the data.
When It Comes to Gold, Stick to the Facts
By Frank Holmes - DailyReckoning.com
Gold dipped below $1,600 last week, falling to a six-month low, much to the chagrin of gold investors. I find the timing of the correction peculiar, given the G20 Finance Ministers Meeting taking place this weekend. There's been a growing debate over Japan's move to devalue its currency to stimulate growth, with reaction from the G-7 leaders stating that "domestic economic policies must not be used to target currencies," reports Reuters.
While the G-7 tried to legitimize the currency debasement with this statement, in reality, investors seem to be able to see through to the real motivations.
Currency Wars - Race to the Bottom
By James Hall - Activist Post
The alarmist media always seeks to sell papers or broadcast ratings built on the unswerving fear that following the financial meltdown the banking establishment profits from the debt liquidation panic. The lack of stability in fiscal confidence certainly abounds, but the schemes to paper over the mountain of liability obligations, develop at even a more rapid pace.
The implied result of a real currency war is that nations are acting or defending their own national interests. The truth is that fiat currencies, designed to depreciate, benefits the moneychangers as the loss of purchasing power penalizes taxpayers and consumers.The financial press spins the "so called" harmonious unity of the industrial nations, in a lame attempt to ease concerns that the money markets can be trusted. An example is the G20 summit to focus on 'currency war' threat to economy.
The Currency Wars Will Have Consequences
by Paulo Santos - SeekingAlpha.com
Right now, Japan's currency debasement is being taken in stride. Sure, the Nikkei has been posting a nice performance as the Japanese yen (FXY) does its best impression of the Titanic after years of gains (see chart below), but investors outside Japan don't seem to care much about this.
And it's not just Japan. The United Kingdom has been on the debasement train as well, as indeed the U.S. has done the same through the Fed's endless QE (quantitative easing). At this point, however, the market has decided that the Japanese yen and British pound (FXB) are more vulnerable to these types of moves.
20 Signs That The U.S. Economy
Is Heading For Big Trouble In The Months Ahead
By Michael Snyder - TheEconomiccollapseBlog.com
Is the U.S. economy about to experience a major downturn? Unfortunately, there are a whole bunch of signs that economic activity in the United States is really slowing down right now. Freight volumes and freight expenditures are way down, consumer confidence has declined sharply, major retail chains all over America are closing hundreds of stores, and the "sequester" threatens to give the American people their first significant opportunity to experience what "austerity" tastes like. Gas prices are going up rapidly, corporate insiders are dumping massive amounts of stock and there are high profile corporate bankruptcies in the news almost every single day now. In many ways, what we are going through right now feels very similar to 2008 before the crash happened. Back then the warning signs of economic trouble were very obvious, but our politicians and the mainstream media insisted that everything was just fine, and the stock market was very much detached from reality. When the stock market did finally catch up with reality, it happened very, very rapidly. Sadly, most people do not appear to have learned any lessons from the crisis of 2008. Americans continue to rack upstaggering amounts of debt, and Wall Street is more reckless than ever. As a society, we seem to have concluded that 2008 was just a temporary malfunction rather than an indication that our entire system was fundamentally flawed. In the end, we will pay a great price for our overconfidence and our recklessness.
How the Fed just tightened monetary policy
By James Pethokoukis - AEI-Ideas.org
As the US economy deteriorated back in 2008, hawkish statements from FOMC members "effectively tightened monetary policy … by pushing up the expected path of the federal funds rate," explains Richmond Fed economist Robert Hetzel in The Great Recession: Market Failure or Policy Failure. In May 2008, federal funds futures had been predicting the rate to remain at 2% through November. By mid-June, that forecast had risen to 2.5%.
The same type of thing may have just happened with the release of the minutes from the Fed's January policy meeting. As Reuters explains, "A number of Federal Reserve officials think the central bank may have to slow or stop buying bonds before seeing the pickup in hiring the bold program is designed to deliver."
Federal Reserve grappling with when
to end stimulus program
By Peter Schroeder - TheHill.com
New minutes from the Federal Reserve show central bank officials grappling with exactly when and how the Fed should exit from its massive stimulus efforts.
The minutes detailing talks of the Fed's meeting at the end of January show officials trying to decide whether to continue monthly bond purchases of $85 billion, and with what exactly the Fed should be doing to support a steady but slow economic recovery.
Federal Reserve rift emerges
as officials voice concern over Bernanke stimulus Markets fall after minutes from last Fed meeting reveal growing dissent over massive $85bn-a-month bond-buying plan
By Dominic Rushe - Guardian.co.uk
A split is emerging in the Federal Reserve as officials worry that chairman Ben Bernanke's $85bn-a-month efforts to bring down unemployment may backfire.
According to the minutes of the last Fed meeting, released on Wednesday, a number of senior officials were concerned about the risks involved in the Fed's massive bond-buying programme, and warned that the initiative might be hard to stop in the future.
Fed may need to halt QE3 before jobs market heals: minutes
By Alister Bull and Pedro da Costa
WASHINGTON | Wed Feb 20, 2013 4:55pm EST
(Reuters) - A number of Federal Reserve officials think the central bank may have to slow or stop buying bonds before seeing the pickup in hiring the bold program is designed to deliver, according to minutes of the central bank's January policy meeting.
The Fed last month opted to keep buying bonds at an $85 billion monthly pace until it saw a substantial improvement in the labor market outlook, but the minutes released on Wednesday showed clear anxiety over the potential risks of that strategy.
Why the biggest US banks
are even bigger and riskier than you think
By James Pethokoukis - AEI-Ideas.org
Just how big are the biggest US banks, and how safe are they? When trying to figure all that out, it makes a big difference if you are analyzing them according to US accounting standards or international ones. The latter makes lenders account for a greater portion of risky derivatives on their balance sheets.
Take JPMorgan, for instance. Under US accounting rules, the bank is just the fourth largest in the world with total assets of $2.3 trillion and capital equal to roughly 7% of total assets. But under international rules, where lots of off-balance sheets assets like derivatives are accounted for,according to Bloomberg, JPMorgan would be the largest in the world with assets of $4.5 trillion and capital equal to less than 4% of assets. The higher that capital ratios are, the less likely banks are to face liquidity and solvency problems.
Watch Out, Berlusconi Could Crash Market
By Matthew Lynn, MarketWatch.com
LONDON (MarketWatch) — What is the one thing the market hates most? A depression? Sure, that is always bad. A rise in interest rates? That surely unsettles investors A wobble in the banking system? That usually sends people scuttling for the exits.
But the one thing that makes the markets most nervous of all is uncertainty and a complete absence of information. Unfortunately, that is what the euro zone is about to get.
The Big, New Deficit Plan Exaggerates the Deficit Problem New Simpson-Bowles Plan Overstates the Deficit Problem The country's annual deficit is shrinking for now, but that hasn't stopped the two most prominent deficit hawks from waging an ongoing campaign for the elusive grand bargain.
By Nancy Cook - National Journal
Deficit hawks Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles just don't quit.
The duo unveiled the latest iteration of their deficit-reduction plan on Tuesday, which calls for $2.4 trillion in cuts over 10 years — yet another chapter in their ongoing debt campaign that has not gained much political traction since 2010.
At first, Simpson and Bowles' newest proposal comes across as innovative: they learned from the past, rejiggered their suggestions, and rolled out a new framework during a quiet week when Congress was out-of-town. The new framework acknowledges the elusiveness of the big budget deal and instead lays out incremental spending cuts and tax increases that could occur over the next few years and into 2018. "Just the idea of a 'grand bargain' is at best on life support," said Erskine Bowles, the former chief-of-staff under President Bill Clinton, at a breakfast sponsored by Politico.
This New Law Will Ensure You Pay More
For Online Purchases…
By Simon Black, Sovereign Man blog - ZeroHedge.com
In another brilliant move aimed at destroying the few table scraps of economic freedom which remain in the Land of the Free, a bipartisan group of esteemed lawmakers in the United States Congress has introduced the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013.
Remember the golden rule of legislation: the more noble the name of the law sounds, the more disastrous its results. This one is no exception.
Generally speaking in the United States, retailers must collect state and local sales tax at the point of sale. When you walk into a Main Street shop in Anytown, California, you'll pay the sticker price PLUS hefty city and state sales taxes that can easily be 10% or more.
Is beef in danger of becoming a 'luxury' item?
By Brett Wessler, Staff Writer - CattleNetwork.com
The cattle industry knew shrinking herd sizes and steady demand for beef would raise prices, but as the trend continues, some in the industry are worried.
Economists are wondering if beef prices will rise to the point that consumers will see it as a luxury good and choose alternatives such as chicken, pork and fish.
USA Today reports beef prices have increased by an average of a dollar per pound since 2007 and are expected to increase by up to an additional 10 percent before this summer.
States, cities finding ways
to tax businesses outside their borders Taxed by states where they aren't located, businesses are fighting back in the courts and in Congress
BY PHILLIP SWARTS - WashingtonGuardian.com
While American companies expect to pay taxes to Uncle Sam and the states where they operate, they weren't exactly ready to face levies from states where they aren't physically located.
But thinning budgets and a weak economy have prompted about 30 states and many more local communities to begin imposing "cross-border" taxes and fees designed to raise revenues from firms that don't locate or regularly operate in their jurisdictions.
Pentagon informs Congress of plans
to furlough 800K civilians
By Jeremy Herb - TheHill.com
The Pentagon notified Congress on Wednesday it will be furloughing its civilian workforce of 800,000 employees if sequestration goes into effect March 1.
Defense officials have warned lawmakers that sequestration will devastate the military and lead to a hollow force, but the civilian furloughs will be one of the first major impacts felt by the across-the-board cuts.
US Defense Budget Cuts Could 'Hollow' Military: Pentagon
WASHINGTON, February 20 (By Carl Schreck for RIA Novosti) –
The US military is bracing for a looming wave of across-the-board budget cuts known as the "sequestration" that Pentagon officials say would dangerously erode the United States' defenses.
"Sequestration will put us on a path toward a hollow force and inflict serious damage on our national security," outgoing US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta wrote in a letter informing Congress on Wednesday that the Pentagon will place its civilian workforce on administrative leave if the budget cuts are not averted.
3D-printed gun site DEFCAD is now attracting
3K visitors an hour, 2500 downloads since launch
By VentureBeat.com - WashingtonPost.com
DEFCAD is a 3D printed gun website born by fire and bathed in controversy. But that's not preventing it from growing.
Since launching in December, the site has become home to nearly ninety components, including bullet casings, pistol suppressors, and even grenade models.
Ground Zero for Gun Control Pressured by Obama, Biden & Co.,
Colorado Democrats prepare to set a liberal example.
By ROSS KAMINSKY - Spectator.org
Colorado, the site of the Columbine and Aurora mass shootings, is now ground zero in the national debate over "gun control." Last Friday, the State House of Representatives — controlled by Democrats after yet another dismal election showing by the GOP here — passed four bills restricting gun rights. They will soon go to the State Senate, where passage is likely given the Democrat majority in that chamber, and then on to Governor John "Really, I'm a Moderate" Hickenlooper (above), who has already said he will sign at least three of them.
Colorado Democrats have avoided the "assault weapon" debate and are focusing on ways more likely to fool average citizens into feeling good about "doing something." Unfortunately, what they are doing will harm both liberty and safety for most Coloradoans.
Global Elitism: The Character Traits Of Truly Evil People
By Brandon Smith - Alt-Market.com
The first dangerous mistake the average person makes is the assumption that "evil" is a kind of subjective or "gray" concept. We would love to believe that all destructive and malicious behavior is merely a product of bad environment, bad upbringing, or mental psychosis. Deviance in the name of misguided "profit" or "status" is often more acceptable to the public; as long as there is a reason we can easily understand and grasp. What frightens the average American today is not the abhorrent action of criminality; rather, it is criminality without easily definable reason. What frightens the common citizen is the possibility that some people hurt others not because mommy and daddy "mistreated" them, or because they have a psychological deficiency that clouds their judgment, but because they fully and consciously ENJOY doing what they do. Our society is desperate to make excuses for the monsters of our era, perhaps because we would rather not entertain the possibility that there is a dark side to humanity as a whole, that if left unchecked, could take control in a deliberate and calculated way.
He's baaack… Romney to Speak at CPAC
By Robert Costa - NationalReview.com
Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will appear at the Conservative Political Action Conference next month, according to two sources familiar with the event's itinerary. Romney's speech, which will be delivered at the Gaylord National hotel in Prince George's County, Md., marks the former Massachusetts governor's return to the political scene.
After he lost the presidential election, Romney decamped to his beachfront home in La Jolla, Calif. But friends say he has become somewhat restless, and he's eager to contribute to the national debate. Sources say he'll likely focus on economic and fiscal issues, and that his message will be optimistic.
Liberal Fascism in America
by NORMAN POLLACK - CounterPunch.org
Is liberal fascism a misnomer? Perhaps Sinclair Lewis's antecedent question is more basic, Can it happen here?
Fascism comes in several varieties without losing its distinctive structural-ideological-political features, all of which point to an hierarchical societal framework characterized by extremes of wealth and power, a system of government authority, its opaqueness shielding it from accountability in both domestic and foreign policy, and, because of its secrecy, able to hide its disconnection from the public interest, as for example a dereliction of responsibility to the working class in terms of job creation, the preservation of the social safety net, and adequate funding for public education, and meanwhile, able as well to hide itsconnection, rather, to ruling groups and upper social strata through beneficial economic and fiscal policies, subsidies, the wider geopolitical strategies for wealth accumulation in international affairs, and the protective cover of military strength and involvement to preserve order and a martial spirit at home and trade and investment opportunities abroad—ensuring the resultant generation of wealth will not be channeled inward to democratize the social order.
Total Destruction of the U.S.:
An Interview with Larry Grathwohl
By Daren Jonescu - AmericanThinker.com
If your church's new pastor had a long and well-known history of atheism, contradicting church doctrine, or fire-bombing churches, would you trust him to serve the church community in good faith, and to do everything in his power to uphold the church's principles and practices? More to the point, would you continue to attend that church, and to take your children there?
POLITICO'S KOCH BROTHERS OBSESSION MARCHES ON
by JOHN NOLTE - Breitbart.com
Politico's Ken Vogel is obsessed with what private citizens do with their own money, especially those private citizens who don't do what Politico tells them to do -- support Obama. You would think that a "real" reporter would be more interested in, say, who's behind thehundreds of millions in undisclosed dollars received by a sitting president of the United States. But no, that's not a story this former Soros employee finds a priority. Instead, we get another2100 word, top 'o the page, Politico yawner about the dreaded Koch brothers.
Just imagine if, instead of obsessing over what private citizens do with their own money, Politico and Vogel were to pour the same energies and talents into, I don't know, Libya? But if it's money-in-politics that gets you turned on, how about government waste?
Koch World reboots
By KENNETH P. VOGEL | Politico.com
The Koch brothers' political network spent hundreds of millions to win the White House and the Senate — and came up empty. So they did what any smart business executives would do: ordered up an audit.
But they're not waiting for the final report for heads to roll.
Americans for Prosperity, the Kochs' main political outlet, parted ways with its chief operating officer, most of its 100-plus employee field staff and several fundraisers. Generation Opportunity, a Koch-backed youth mobilization effort, recently replaced its president.
Axiom 4 - A Blueprint To Restore The Articles of Confederation
By Ron Holland - TheDailyBell.com
The restoration of America's first and legitimate government will not be a quick or easy task but it is necessary if we are to survive as a free people and nation. While the US should, of course, retain both the Constitution and Bill of Rights, we must return to a decentralized confederation structure of government like Switzerland or Canada and add in the right of Swiss style referendums so citizens can terminate or initiate legislation when Congress fails to follow the will of the people.
While there have been many thoughtful and needed proposals about how we need to end the Fed, return to a gold backed currency, require term limits, repeal the 16th and 17th amendments to the Constitution, require a declaration of war for military action or a balanced budget and other changes, none of these will restore limited government or our republic. I agree with these ideals and many more but all will be ineffective if we retain the federal government structure in place now.
Does America Need a King? Without the rule of law, all that is left is rule of the dictators.
By Robert Morley - TheTrumpet.com
When a person takes the office of the presidency, does that endow him with special God-like abilities that help him distinguish between good and evil, or right from wrong? Do presidents automatically become infallible upon taking the oath of office?
Obviously not.
Then why is the Department of Justice (DOJ) trying to give the current president autocratic, kingly powers—powers that require divine, God-given wisdom to execute in a righteous and just manner?
Ron Paul's new 'manifesto'
By KATIE GLUECK | Politico.com
Former presidential candidate Ron Paul, a longtime foe of the Federal Reserve and champion of a smaller foreign policy footprint, is turning to education in a new book slated for release this fall.
In "New School Manifesto," scheduled for a Sept. 17 release from Grand Central Publishing, the former GOP congressman from Texas will promote home schooling and "free market principles applied to education," according to an official book description.
The 2012 NDAA - The Most Dangerous Law Since the Civil War
The PANDA (People Against the NDAA Mission Statement:
Our Mission is to nonviolently nullify, strike down, repeal, stop, void and fight the indefinite detention provisions, Sections 1021 and 1022, of the National Defense Authorization Act for the Fiscal Year of 2012, to fight for American civil liberties, to combat laws restricting liberty in the interest of National Security, to support current government officials that are doing so and to engage a younger generation in the politics of the United States so this cannot happen again.
Detroit emergency manager needed
but not bankruptcy: Michigan Treasurer
By Steve Neavling, and Karen Pierog
(Reuters) - Michigan Treasurer Andy Dillon said on Tuesday that he does not anticipate a municipalbankruptcy filing for Detroit, despite its financial emergency.
"I do think we can navigate around this (a bankruptcy filing)," said Dillon.
Speaking at a news conference to announce the findings of a Detroit review team report, Dillon said the team believes the city needs an emergency financial manager to spearhead necessary reforms. He added that it will be up to Republican Governor Rick Snyder to decide if a manager is right for Detroit.
AAA reports largest increase in gasoline prices in three years
By Ben Geman - TheHill.com
The 44-cent jump in gasoline prices over the past four weeks was the largest in well over three years, according to AAA.
"The 44-cent month-over-month increase is the most dramatic since June 2009. The largest increase on record was August 5-September 4, 2005 when prices jumped 75 cents largely because of Hurricane Katrina," the travelers' services group said in its weekly price analysis.
Health insurance rate-setting map
would raise costs, official says California's insurance commissioner says splitting the state into six zones would drive up premiums as much as 23% next year. He's pushing an 18-region plan.
By Chad Terhune, Los Angeles Times
A proposal to split California into six zones for setting health insurance rates would drive premiums up as much as 23% for some policyholders next year as part of the federal healthcare overhaul, the state insurance commissioner is warning.
These rating boundaries for the individual insurance market are among several items that state lawmakers are debating during a healthcare special session in Sacramento aimed at implementing the federal Affordable Care Act. In January, most Americans will be required to have health coverage or pay a penalty.
Affordable Care Act
clears another hurdle toward implementation
By Sarah Kliff - WashingtonPost.com
President Obama's Affordable Care Act cleared another hurdle toward implementation Wednesday when one of its fiercest opponents, Florida Gov. Rick Scott, embraced a key pillar of the law by voicing support for its critical Medicaid expansion component.
Scott joins six other Republican governors who have recently come to back a provision meant to extend coverage to 17 million Americans nationwide.
WITH ELECTION OVER,
OBAMA ANNOUNCES MEDICARE CUTS TO FUND OBAMACARE
by DR. SUSAN BERRY - Breitbart.com
During the 2012 election campaign, Democrats denied that ObamaCare made $716 billion in cuts to Medicare in order to provide funding toward $1.9 trillion in new entitlement spending over the next ten years.
In an announcement on Friday, however, the Obama administration revealed that it would be significantly reducing funding for Medicare, a move that one health insurance analyst said "would turn almost every plan in the industry unprofitable."
Will health reform make your insurance cheaper? Some older workers could see their premiums drop.
By Elizabeth O'Brien - MarketWatch.com
There's little doubt that, come next January, the Affordable Care Act will make it easier for many baby boomers to find individual health insurance coverage. Those with low or moderate incomes will also find comparable coverage cheaper than what they pay today, thanks to government subsidies. But a big question remains: what will individual policies—and their premiums—look like for higher-paid professionals and others whose incomes exceed the subsidy threshold? Will they be more or less affordable than today's policies?
The answer is of particular interest to the self-employed and those considering early retirement—in other words, those without employer-provided group insurance, who are under 65 and thus not yet eligible for Medicare. In most states today, older people are routinely denied individual coverage, or charged a lot for mediocre policies, due to their pre-existing conditions. It's not uncommon for self-employed people in their late 50s to pay $7,000 a year or more—in some cases, much more—for health insurance.
Conservative Think Tanks on Health Care
By John C. Goodman - PatriotPost.us
Why have the Republicans been unable to propose an alternative to ObamaCare? Anyone can criticize. Where is the Republican alternative?
Okay, I'll grant some exceptions. Newt Gingrich had a comprehensive health plan in last year's Republican primary. It was my plan. Four years ago John McCain had a comprehensive health reform. That was also basically my plan. Mitt Romney oversaw health reform in Massachusetts. That was a Heritage Foundation plan.
Yet none of these ideas has garnered the support of the Republican rank and file. Why not?
Boeing 787 Dreamliner's failed battery
was wired incorrectly, Japan says After transport ministry report, Boeing waits for American NTSB to finish investigation into second fire before it can fly again
By Dominic Rushe in New York and agencies - Guardian.co.uk
The lithium-ion battery in an All Nippon Airways Boeing 787 Dreamliner was improperly wired, Japan's transport ministry said Wednesday.
The news was a welcome development for Boeing which was forced to ground its Dreamliner fleet last month after two incidents involving the controversial batteries.
FCC votes to ease Wi-Fi congestion
By Brendan Sasso - TheHill.com
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted unanimously on Wednesday to move forward with a plan to set aside additional frequencies for Wi-Fi devices.
The commission said the proposal would increase the capacity of Wi-Fi networks and would help to relieve congestion on hotspots at hotels, airports and other crowded areas.
"Today, the FCC takes a big step to ease congestion on traditional Wi-Fi networks, which will mean faster speeds and fewer headaches for U.S. consumers," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said.
It's Not Just You: Chinese Hackers
Are Terrible at Making Passwords, Too
By Brian Fung - National Journal.com
When The New York Times and other news outlets reported being the victimsof a massive, years-long cyberattack, it set off a rash of concerns about online security and personal Internet hygiene, reinforcing plenty of old, enduring lessons: Choose strong passwords; don't click on links from strangers (or strange links from people you know); consider using different usernames for different online services.
Many Americans still don't follow these security suggestions that can help protect them from online snooping and identity theft. But, evidently, neither do some Chinese hackers. In a bit of poetic justice, the identities of two of The Times' hackers have become public, all because they got sloppy.
Your body is the next frontier in online security As hackers develop more sophisticated ways to bypass character-based password systems, some tech companies are turning to biometrics.
By: Amanda Kwan - TorontoStar
The future of online security may be found inside our own bodies.
As hackers develop more sophisticated ways to bypass character-based password systems, some tech companies are turning to biometrics — the use of biological traits to identify a person — as a possible solution.
"Everyone is putting so much data online. And if you get hit because either your email account or Facebook is compromised, it really affects you," says Karl Martin, the president and CEO of Bionym, a Toronto-based startup that created a biometric technology based on a person's heartbeat.
Researchers debate wisdom of brain-mapping initiative A proposed federal effort to map the human brain has drawn both applause and dismay over its ambitious scope and potential costs.
By Dan Vergano, USA TODAY
Is a federal brain-mapping project just pie in the sky?
The White House will soon unveil a major initiative that would map human brain cell activity. The effort, led by the National Institutes of Health, could be on the scale of the war on cancer in the 1970s or the Human Genome Project of the '90s, which mapped the human genetic blueprint.
Chinese cyberspies have hacked
most Washington institutions, experts say
By Craig Timberg and Ellen Nakashima - WashingtonPost.com
Start asking security experts which powerful Washington institutions have been penetrated by Chinese cyberspies, and this is the usual answer: almost all of them.
The list of those hacked in recent years includes law firms, think tanks, news organizations, human rights groups, contractors, congressional offices, embassies and federal agencies.
Rogers on Chinese Hackers:
'I Can't Tell You How Serious This Problem Is'
BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff
Rep. Mike Rogers (R., Mich.) said the U.S. government needed to take aggressive steps to address reports of a secret Chinese military unit committing cyber attacks against American companies.
The report by the security firm Mandiant stated the Communist Party of China is tasking the Chinese People's Liberation Army to commit "systematic cyber espionage and data theft against organizations around the world."
Rogers, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, called it a threat to the next generation of U.S. prosperity Wednesday on "Andrea Mitchell Reports."
U.S. Ready To "Strike Back" Against China Cyberattacks
LOLITA C. BALDOR, AP - - WashingtonGuardian.com
As public evidence mounts that the Chinese military is responsible for stealing massive amounts of U.S. government data and corporate trade secrets, the Obama administration is eyeing fines and other trade actions it may take against Beijing or any other country guilty of cyberespionage.
According to officials familiar with the plans, the White House will lay out a new report Wednesday that suggests initial, more-aggressive steps the U.S. would take in response to what top authorities say has been an unrelenting campaign of cyberstealing linked to the Chinese government. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the threatened action.
EU Court to Decide if Hyperlinking is Copyright Infringement
By J.P. Hicks - Activist Post
In what seems like an absurd court case, the European Union Court of Justice is trying to decide if hyperlinking is copyright infringement. As crazy it may be, the outcome of this case could have wide implications for the Internet.
For those who think there's no way that the EU court could possibly rule that linking is copyright infringement, I'll remind you of when the Department of Homeland Security seized several websites in 2011 for merely linking to copyright-infringing websites. TheDHS claimed that the sites linking in to pirate websites was also a form of "direct criminal copyright infringement"
Homeland funds new technology
to track mobile devices, verify location history Homeland Security funds Alabama researcher to develop technology to verify the location history of Americans through their tablets, cell phones and other mobile devices
BY JOHN SOLOMON - WashingtonGuardian.com
The Homeland Security Department has awarded a University of Alabama-Birmingham researcher $583,000 to develop a system for that could be used to track people through their cell phones and mobile devices.
With little fanfare, the university announced the grant to Professor Raghib Hasan from Homeland's Science and Technology Directorate earlier this month, saying the money will be used to build a "system for verifying the location history and chorological track of cell phones and smart phones, tablets, and other mobile devices."
Congress to adopt anti-drone legislation?
While surveillance drones multiply in the skies , a Republican congressman from Texas - Ted Poe - is addressing the privacy concerns that come with them. He introduced the "Preserving American Privacy Act" which clarifies how government entities can use drones. RT's Liz Wahl looks into some of the rules.
To Drone, or Not to Drone?
By Joel Bowman - DailyReckoning.com
Decent folk don't need Dick Cheney to describe something as "a good policy" to know it's probably a bad idea. But just in case they missed the point the first time around, the former VP was on television last week to hammer it home for them.
In an interview with CBS This Morning, Cheney brushed aside calls for "checks and balances" against the Obama administration's controversial drone program.
"I think it's a good program," Cheney told the host. "I don't disagree with the basic policy that the Obama administration has pursued in that regard."
Insect Drone Swarms to be "Hidden in Plain Sight"
By Nicholas West - Activist Post
As drone expert, P.W. Singer said, "At this point, it doesn't really matter if you are against the technology, because it's coming." According to Singer, "The miniaturization of drones is where it really gets interesting. You can use these things anywhere, put them anyplace, and the target will never even know they're being watched."
This is the promise made to be fulfilled in the Air Force video below. Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs), combined with the ability to harvest energy, will enable insect-sized drone swarms to be dropped from military aircraft to stay aloft for a prolonged amount of time, offering a host of functions,including assassination.
War Evolves With Drones, Some Tiny as Bugs
By ELISABETH BUMILLER and THOM SHANKER - NYTimes.com
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio — Two miles from the cow pasture where the Wright Brothers learned to fly the first airplanes, military researchers are at work on another revolution in the air: shrinking unmanned drones, the kind that fire missiles into Pakistan and spy on insurgents in Afghanistan, to the size of insects and birds.
The base's indoor flight lab is called the "microaviary," and for good reason. The drones in development here are designed to replicate the flight mechanics of moths, hawks and other inhabitants of the natural world. "We're looking at how you hide in plain sight," said Greg Parker, an aerospace engineer, as he held up a prototype of a mechanical hawk that in the future might carry out espionage or kill.
Drone Danger: Making War Too Easy
By Ivan Eland - ConsortiumNews.com
Although so far, President Barack Obama seems to have less warlike inclinations than George W. Bush (perhaps damning by faint praise) — getting out of Iraq, finally scheduling to mostly pull out of Afghanistan, and going against all national security advisers by refusing to lethally arm Syrian rebels — in one area he seems more bellicose. That area is war from the air.
Obama's Democratic predecessor, Bill Clinton, learned from his own fiasco in Somalia in 1993, when U.S. Rangers were killed, to avoid interventions on the ground by instead prosecuting air campaigns (against Bosnia, Kosovo, and Saddam's Iraq). Similarly, Obama has learned from George W. Bush's quagmire in Iraq and Bush's and his tar pit in Afghanistan to avoid ground pounding in favor of strikes from the air. And air campaigns are usually cheaper in blood and treasure than slogs on the ground.
Daniel Suarez's book,Kill Decision
The shocking techno-thriller that cements Daniel Suarez's status as the heir to Michael Crichton and Tom Clancy—a terrifying, breathtaking, and all-too-plausible vision of the world's near future. Unmanned weaponized drones already exist—they're widely used by America in our war efforts in the Middle East. In Kill Decision, bestselling author Daniel Suarez takes that fact and the real science behind it one step further, with frightening results.
Anonymous 2013 Martial Law is certain.
Emotional disclaimer. Military men and women who will not follow unconstitutional orders must not take offense to this video. Far worse is being done and said by politicians. Lines are being drawn
Darpa Wants to Help You Survive a Nuclear Disaster
BY SPENCER ACKERMAN - Wired.com
If you're near a nuclear disaster — either a detonated bomb or a malfunctioning reactor — you are probably going to die, and die unpleasantly. Unless the Pentagon's mad scientists have anything to say about it.
Darpa doesn't have a program in place for creating, say, a super-therapy or spray-on tan that stops nuclear radiation. But 2011′s Fukushima Daiichi reactor catastrophe in Japan got the blue-sky researchers thinking.
Pope may change conclave rules before leaving: Vatican
VATICAN CITY | Wed Feb 20, 2013 9:22am EST
(Reuters) - Pope Benedict may change Church rules governing the conclave where cardinals from around the world will meet next month to secretly elect his successor, the Vatican said on Wednesday.
Benedict was studying the possibility of making changes to two laws established by his predecessor Pope John Paul before he abdicates on February 28, a spokesman said.
The changes may affect the timing of the start of the conclave.
Cardinal Dolan For Pope?
There's Suddenly A Very Real Buzz About Him In Italy Head Of N.Y. Archdiocese,
Boston Cardinal Considered Serious Contenders
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Does New York's Cardinal Timothy Dolan have a serious chance at becoming pope? He usually makes a joke when asked, but a leading Italian newspaper is taking Dolan's papal prospects seriously.
On Wednesday, the cardinal spoke about his trip to Rome for the historic resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, CBS 2's Tony Aiello reported.
He sported a hard hat for a ribbon cutting at a Carmelite Sisters nursing home on Staten Island, but could Cardinal Dolan soon don the white "zucchetto" worn by the pope?
Papal vote takes a Chinese hue
By Francesco Sisci - ATimes.com
BEIJING - The conclave that opens in a few days for the Catholic Church to chose a new pope is a historic occasion for China and Asia. This time among the candidates in position for the papacy is a Filipino of Chinese origin, Luis Antonio Tagle, Cardinal of Manila.
Vatican experts say that his inclusion is intended to make the Church look truly universal, with a gesture toward Asia, where Catholics are a small minority. Similarly, after the death of Pope John Paul II, the Indian Cardinal Ivan Dias was included among the eligible candidates for the papacy. In both cases, it was a minimum gesture required, yet it showed a growing trend in the Holy See.
Obama 'Wartime Commander-in-Chief'
By Albert Maslar - PatriotPost.us
President Obama defined himself as a "Wartime Commander-In-Chief." Pray tell, is the US at war as there are no congressional formal declarations of war on record? So is the US fighting war illegally? And if so, what are the remedies including impeachment? And does the oversight go deeper than the Presidency?
Further examination into the subject reveals that continuing US involvement in foreign and Middle East wars in particular, guarantee the wars to be as inevitable as they are unending. President Dwight Eisenhower (Ike) warned against the dangers of the "Military Industrial Complex" that is up in arms (pun intended) over cuts in military expenditures mandated by sequestration.
Graham Asks Hagel If He Said
Israel Risks Becoming Apartheid State Letter to Hagel: 'Have you said anything similar? Does this contemporaneous email reflect your views?'
BY: Alana Goodman - FreeBeacon.com
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) sent a letter to secretary of defense nominee Chuck Hagel Wednesday asking whether he made disparaging comments about Israel during a speech at Rutgers law school on April 9, 2010.
The Washington Free Beacon on Tuesday reported on a contemporaneous account of the 2010 speech written by former Rutgers law student Kenneth Wagner, who attended the event.
Despite Controversy, Hagel's Archives Sealed Shut Only Chuck Hagel can grant access.
BY DANIEL HALPER - WeeklyStandard.com
Omaha, Nebraska
The largest known Chuck Hagel archive is located here, at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. But good luck accessing it: Despite intense national focus on the defense secretary nominee's record, this reporter was shunned from taking a look inside the trove of Hagel's videos, audio recordings, documents, pictures, and artifacts.
James T. Shaw, director of collections and the government documents librarian here, insists Tuesday morning he is not "stonewalling" efforts to gain access to Hagel's record. Preventing immediate access, he says, is imperative for the academic integrity of the institution. A trained archivist has not yet organized the entire record, Shaw explains.
Hagel: Let's Not Go to the Videotape
BY MICHAEL WARREN - WeeklyStandard.com
Last week, Alana Goodman of the Washington Free Beacon discovered a contemporaneous account of a 2007 speech Chuck Hagel gave at Rutgers University. The account, from Hagel supporter George Ajjan, was posted on Ajjan's website the day after the speech. During the Q&A segment of his appearance, Hagel argued the U.S. State Department had become an adjunct of the Israeli government.
After the Free Beacon's report, Republican senators Lindsey Graham and Kelly Ayotte wrote a letter to Hagel asking if Ajjan's account of the speech was true. Hagel responded that he did not "recall" making the statements Ajjan said he made and that he "disavows" them.
NY DAILY NEWS HACK POSITS HE'S SOURCE
OF 'FRIENDS OF HAMAS,' LIES BY OMISSION
by BEN SHAPIRO - Breitbart.com
Dan Friedman of the New York Daily News wrote a piece today suggesting that he was the inadvertent source of Breitbart News' story on "Friends of Hamas" in early February. There's only one problem. That's false, and Friedman knew it was false when he printed the story. Welcome to the Obama media, where protecting Chuck Hagel and attacking any media who question Hagel is par for the course.
On February 7, 2013, Breitbart News reported:
Senate sources told Breitbart News exclusively that they have been informed that one of the reasons that President Barack Obama's nominee for Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, has not turned over requested documents on his sources of foreign funding is that one of the names listed is a group purportedly called "Friends of Hamas."
Nigeria busts terror cell plotting attacks
against Israelis [and US targets] Security forces arrest three members of an Iranian-linked terror cell allegedly planning to launch attack against Israeli, US citizens, Army Radio reported; Nigeria searching for fourth suspect.
By JPOST.COM STAFF
Nigerian security forces on Wednesday evening arrested three people belonging to an Iranian-linked terror cell that was reportedly planning to launch an attack against Israeli and American targets, Army Radio reported.
Russia Invites G20 Leaders to St. Petersburg Summit
NOVO-OGARYOVO, February 20 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday issued an official invitation to the G20 heads of state and government to participate in the St. Petersburg Summit, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.
The G20 Leaders' Summit is due to take place in the fall.
Invitations have also been issued to the so-called outreach countries: Spain, Ethiopia, Senegal, Kazakhstan, Brunei-Darussalam and Singapore, as well as the UN, the World Bank, the IMF, the OEC, the WTO and the ILO.
Russian warships head to Syria in show of power
By Sergei Loiko - LATimes.com
February 19, 2013, 9:46 a.m.
MOSCOW -- Russian warships are returning to the waters near Syria in a new demonstration of the Kremlin's interest in the outcome of the crisis there.
The Russian Defense Ministry told the RIA-Novosti news agency on Tuesday that four large landing vessels were on their way to the Mediterranean near Syria, three weeks after the Russian navy conducted its biggest maneuvers in the region since the breakup of the Soviet Union.
Assad's troops retreat from Golan,
leaving Islamist rebels to confront Israel
DEBKAfile
President Bashar Assad has evacuated most of the troops of his 5th Army Division from their permanent bases on the Golan opposite Israeli forces and transferred the unit along with its artillery to Damascus,DEBKAfile's military sources report.
The Syrian ruler's step had three purposes:
1. To reinforce his Damascus defenses;
2. To carve out a buffer zone along the Israeli border and leave it under rebel control.
3. To provide the jihadists fighting in rebel ranks with access to the Israeli border fence. Senior officers in the IDF's northern command believe it is just a matter of time before these al Qaeda-associated fighters hurl themselves at the border fence to break through, or target Israeli military targets from across the Syrian border.
Israel's Alaska, the Golan, stays calm amid the gathering storm Residents of the Heights see the bloody transformation across the border in Syria, but believe they — and the army — can cope with 'whatever the future throws at us'
By MITCH GINSBURG - TimesOfIsrael.com
A shallow sea of green wheat rustled in the wind. Up ahead, to the north, the white ridge of Mount Hermon presided over the central Golan Heights, lending the sloped and canyon-cut prairie a foreign benevolence. And to the east, David Khallas' knee-high saplings, some 2,000 young citrus trees, stood in orderly rows – indifferent to the nearby menace of Syria and the security fence being built some 10 yards from the grove.
Why Is Obama to Receive a Presidential Medal? A reason for him to travel to Israel next month.
By AARON GOLDSTEIN - Spectator.org
One of the most distinguishing features of President Obama's foreign policy has been its visceral hostility towards the State of Israel.
Let's review.
The Obama Administration has excluded Israel from counter-terrorism meetings despite its expertise in counter-terrorism measures to assuage the Arab and Muslim world.
In another move to assuage the Arab and Muslim world, the Obama Administration refuses to identify Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Obama has personally called for Israel to give up land to the Palestinians based on its pre-1967 borders.
Radar incident belies China-Japan progress
By Andrew Chubb - ATimes.com
On February 5, Japanese Defense Minister Onodera Itsunori told the world that a Chinese Navy frigate had pointed "something like fire-control radar" at a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) destroyer some 100-150 kilometers north of the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands on January 30. He said the same may have happened to a MSDF helicopter on January 19, though this remained unverified.
This marked the first direct involvement of People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy ships in the ongoing confrontations around the islands since Japan's government purchased three of them from a private Japanese owner on September 10 last year.
Iran installs uranium enrichment accelerators
AP - TimesOfIsrael.com
Diplomats say Tehran upgrading fissile material production, nearing ability to outfit nuclear warhead
VIENNA (AP) — In a disheartening signal to world powers at upcoming Iran talks, Tehran has started installing high-tech machines at its main uranium enrichment site that are capable of accelerating production of reactor fuel and — with further upgrading — the core of nuclear warheads, diplomats said Wednesday.
Iran already announced last week that it had begun mounting the new enriching centrifuges, but one diplomat said at the time that the announcement was premature with only a "small number" on site and not yet installed.
Kerry: US, allies working to prevent nuclear Iran In his first official speech since taking office, US secretary of state defends foreign spending, says 'foreign assistance is not charity, it's an investment in a strong America and a free world'
By Yitzhak Benhorin - YNetNews.com
WASHINGTON – "In today's global world, there is no longer anything foreign about foreign policy," US Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday, in his first official speech since taking office.
"How we conduct our foreign policy matters more than ever before to our everyday lives," Kerry said, speaking at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
Spy agencies scrounge for details on North Korean nuclear test
By Mark Hosenball and Jack Kim
WASHINGTON/SEOUL | Wed Feb 20, 2013 5:44pm EST
(Reuters) - U.S. and allied spy agencies have found no traces of telltale nuclear-related particles from North Korea's February 12 nuclear bomb test, leaving unresolved basic questions about the device's design, according to officials in the United States, Europe and South Korea.
This lack of scientific evidence suggests that key questions may remain unanswered about the type of fissile material used in the test, which was detected by seismic sensors. It also leaves unaddressed questions about how far the North has advanced in its bomb design.
North Korean propaganda video shows Obama in flames State media also report scientists behind nuclear test
will be rewarded with trip to capital
Agence France-Presse in Seoul
North Korea has released a new propaganda video showing US soldiers and President Barack Obama burning in the flames of a nuclear blast.
The footage was uploaded on YouTube on Monday, two weeks after a separate video that showed New York city in flames after an apparent missile attack.
North Korea's nuclear test
gives Beijing a reason to confront Kim Trefor Moss says North Korea's third nuclear test will have done the world a favour if it finally convinces China to lead, rather than block, efforts to nullify the serious security threat
By Trefor Moss - SCMP.com
Stop whatever you were doing! Kim Jong-un, the Supreme Leader of North Korea, demands your attention. He just set off a nuclear bomb in order to get it. It would be easy to dismiss Kim as Asia's resident megalomaniac - to mock him as a totalitarian goofball who doesn't deserve to be taken seriously. He certainly doesn't look intimidating, chubby and callow as he is, seemingly more into mushrooms than mushroom clouds. But that would be a mistake: Kim might just be the most dangerous man in Asia.
