Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
The Coming Crackdown On Free Speech
By Tyler Durden
Submitted by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,
It’s amazing what can happen in a week.
Before this publication went on hiatus last week, one of the last letters I wrote to you in 2016 was about the National Defense Authorization Act and its treasure trove of freedom-killing provisions.
Section 1287, for example, creates a new agency called the “Global Engagement Center”, aka Ministry of Truth.
It has one purpose: to combat fake news.
The Global Engagement Center will fund and train journalists around the world to push a never-ending flow of US propaganda and cripple any independent outlet that doesn’t conform to the official government narrative.
Sadly, this is not unusual.
Each year, Congress creates a new National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which is essentially the military budget for the following year.
But without fail, each year’s NDAA is crammed full of horrific provisions which either waste taxpayer funds on corrupt pet projects, or destroy Americans’ civil liberties.
You may remember the 2012 NDAA, for example, which President Obama signed into law on New Years Eve 2011.
That year’s NDAA contained a section authorizing the military detention of US citizens on US soil.
Now we’re getting the Ministry of Truth.
President Obama signed this year’s NDAA into law on Christmas Day, which means that the Global Engagement Center will be live and operational within six months.
Four days later on December 29th, he issued an executive order intended to punish the Russian government for manipulating the US election.
The order contains some incredibly vague language targeting anyone engaged in “cyber-related activities” that are “reasonably likely” to pose some threat, including “activities to undermine democratic processes or institutions”.
The order also threatens anyone who provides “goods or services” to those engaged in the aforementioned cyber-related activities.
Anyone deemed by the US government to fit those incredibly broad definitions can have their assets frozen instantly.
Now, the spirit of the order is to go after all the Russians and Chinese they think are complicit in hacking the US government and US corporations.
(Mr. Obama also expelled a multitude of Russian diplomats that the FBI suspects of being spies, raising the question of why these people were in the US to begin with.)
Yet such broad and vague language can easily be applied to ensnare just about anyone they want.
If you just happen to have sold a used mobile phone over Craigslist to someone who ends up being a hacker, you can be targeted under this order.
Same with anyone who uses the Internet (engages in “cyber-related activities”) to express strong anti-government opinions (“undermine democratic . . . institutions”).
Now, clearly that’s not the intention with this order.
But when enough time passes, rules and regulations have a strong tendency to be used in ways that dramatically diverge from their original intent.
Case in point: the US government has wrongfully seized billions of dollars worth of cash and property over the years through what’s known as Civil Asset Forfeiture.
Civil Asset Forfeiture is essentially a form of theft.
But it’s perfectly legal for local, state, and federal police agencies to steal from you because of technicalities that …read more
Source: The Coming Crackdown On Free Speech
Chinese Cruise Ship With 2,000 Passengers Stuck At Sea For Two Days Due To Smog
By Tyler Durden
Beijing’s pollution problem is getting worse by the day.
On Wednesday, the Chinese capital issued its highest “red fog alert” for only the second day in history, keeping highways closed in and around the city which is already under a smog alert after weeks of choking winter pollution. China’s weather bureau warned of visibility of less than 50 meters in some areas, leading many airports to cancel flights.
The heavily polluted Hebei province, which surrounds most of Beijing, said on Tuesday it had ordered all polluting firms in Tangshan, China’s biggest steel-producing city to the east of Beijing, to shut down which likely means that China is in for a substantial “manufacturing” shock in the coming months.
Hebei, which was home to seven of China’s 10 smoggiest cities in 2015, will build the world’s biggest dust prevention barrier, stretching nearly two miles, at the major coal port of Qinhuangdao in a bid to cut pollution, state media said on Wednesday.
For now, however, China is very much defenseless against the toxic byproduct of its rapid industrialization, which also happens to be a major factor permitting the Chinese economy to grow at the goalseeked 6-7% level or somewhere thereabouts. Unfortunately for Beijing, it’s a choice of either stable manufacturing growth or clean air: the two are mutually exclusive.
And nowhere was that more visible today, so to speak, than near the port of Tianjin, where according to the Beijing Evening News, a large cruise ship with more than 2,000 people on board was stuck at sea for two days because it was unable to dock in the heavy smog that has enveloped much of northern China. The vessel finally returned to the Port of Tianjin on Monday afternoon after drifting for two days at sea. The thick air pollution had earlier made it impossible to safely berth the vessel, according to the article
A passenger was quoted as saying that the ship was scheduled to return on New Year’s Eve after traveling to South Korea and Japan. But she was told by the crew that the ship could not dock as visibility was severely compromised by the smog. She said the passengers had been unsure how long they would be stuck at sea but were grateful there was plenty of entertainment on board to kill time.
“Unlike passengers who are stuck at some public facilities like an airport, we got to use the pool and the gym to keep ourselves busy,” she said.
As Reuters adds, poor visibility prompted three major northern ports to suspend the loading of ships on Tuesday, maritime safety agencies said.
Unless Beijing’s leadership is willing to take draconian measures to curb smog production, which inevitably means an economic slowdown, expect scenes such as the ones shown below to continue.
It’s started snowing in Beijing. What do you call smoggy snow? Smow? Snog? pic.twitter.com/BKWGYufidu
— Chris Buckley ??? (@ChuBailiang) January 5, 2017
Beijing out my window – the air has taste and texture today. pic.twitter.com/QoZWH20f4E
— Chris …read more
Source: Chinese Cruise Ship With 2,000 Passengers Stuck At Sea For Two Days Due To Smog
100% Pure Garcinia Cambogia Extract – Appetite Suppressant – Carb Blocker Capsules – 2100 MG – 90 Caps
Looking for something special ? Find The Lowest Price HERE
Washington Post Is Richly Rewarded For False News About Russia Threat While Public Is Deceived
By Tyler Durden
Authored by Glenn Greenwald, originally posted at The Intercept,
In the past six weeks, the Washington Post published two blockbuster stories about the Russian threat that went viral: one on how Russia is behind a massive explosion of “fake news,” the other on how it invaded the U.S. electric grid. Both articles were fundamentally false. Each now bears a humiliating editor’s note grudgingly acknowledging that the core claims of the story were fiction: The first note was posted a full two weeks later to the top of the original article; the other was buried the following day at the bottom.
The second story on the electric grid turned out to be far worse than I realized when I wrote about it on Saturday, when it became clear that there was no “penetration of the U.S. electricity grid” as the Post had claimed. In addition to the editor’s note, the Russia-hacked-our-electric-grid story now has a full-scale retraction in the form of a separate article admitting that “the incident is not linked to any Russian government effort to target or hack the utility” and there may not even have been malware at all on this laptop.
But while these debacles are embarrassing for the paper, they are also richly rewarding. That’s because journalists — including those at the Post — aggressively hype and promote the original, sensationalistic false stories, ensuring that they go viral, generating massive traffic for the Post (the paper’s executive editor, Marty Baron, recently boasted about how profitable the paper has become).
After spreading the falsehoods far and wide, raising fear levels and manipulating U.S. political discourse in the process (both Russia stories were widely hyped on cable news), journalists who spread the false claims subsequently note the retraction or corrections only in the most muted way possible, and often not at all. As a result, only a tiny fraction of people who were exposed to the original false story end up learning of the retractions.
Baron himself, editorial leader of the Post, is a perfect case study in this irresponsible tactic. It was Baron who went to Twitter on the evening of November 24 to announce the Post’s exposé of the enormous reach of Russia’s fake news operation, based on what he heralded as the findings of “independent researchers.” Baron’s tweet went all over the place; to date, it has been re-tweeted more than 3,000 times, including by many journalists with their own large followings:
Russian propaganda effort helped spread fake news during election, say independent researchers https://t.co/3ETVXWw16Q
— Marty Baron (@PostBaron) November 25, 2016
But after that story faced a barrage of intense criticism — from Adrian Chen in the New Yorker (“propaganda about Russia propaganda”), Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone (“shameful, disgusting”), my own article, and many others — including legal threats from the sites smeared as Russian propaganda outlets by the Post’s “independent researchers” — the Post finally added its lengthy editor’s note distancing itself …read more
Source: Washington Post Is Richly Rewarded For False News About Russia Threat While Public Is Deceived
You’ll soon be able to start a Ford via Amazon Echo
Some Ford owners will no longer need a key to unlock and start their car, with help from Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa. …read more
Source: You’ll soon be able to start a Ford via Amazon Echo
Second Video Emerges Of Same Chicago Teens Torturing Another Trump Supporter
By ZeroPointNow
As reported earlier on this site, four Chicago teens are in custody after a they live streamed what appears to be the kidnapping, beating, and mutilation of a white Trump supporter (scroll down for footage). In the profanity-laced video, the victim is seen bound and gagged in a corner while the thugs alternate between striking the man, cutting him, and threatening his life with anti-white / anti-Trump hate speech. This is apparently the second time these assailants have done this to a Trump supporter, as further investigation has uncovered a second prior video of a similar attack.
“F*ck Donald Trump, F*ck white people”
“There’s gonna be a murder. Pop pop pop”
“We gonna put this bitch in the trunk, put a brick on the gas, like aaaaaaaaah”
“Pistol whip his ass, fool“
Currently in custody:
The woman who recorded the attack showed no remorse in the video’s comments section (which has been deleted):
More Facebook reactions:
And the full 28 minute disturbing video of the incident (NSFW):
The victim is currently being treated for his injuries at a local hospital.
Meanwhile, an earlier look through the suspect’s Facebook feed led to another video of the same assailants abusing another Trump supporter in a similar attack. During the attack, the victim is made to kiss the floor and say “F*ck Donald Trump” at knifepoint.
As a wise man named Chuck once said
“This can’t be real. Nobody is that stupid.”
Content originally generated at iBankCoin.com
Source: Second Video Emerges Of Same Chicago Teens Torturing Another Trump Supporter
Bitcoin Explodes Higher As Chinese Money Market Liquidity Collapses
By Tyler Durden
As one veteran trader noted “something is very broken.” After a massive short-squeeze stronger in offshore yuan during the day session, overnight yuan deposit rates have exploded 31.5 percentage points higher to 45% – just shy of the record highs – as China's liquidity crisis is front-and-center. At the same time, coincidence or not, Bitcoin has gone vertical, smashing through previous record highs.
The People's Bank of China injected CNY10 billion via seven-day reverse repos and skipped 14-day reverse repos at its open-market operations Thursday, according to traders.
- The moves resulted in a net drain of CNY140 billion for the day.
- The central bank has removed CNY435 billion in liquidity at OMMOs so far this week.
Utter desperation for liquidity has prompted deposit rates to explode…
And perhaps whatever liquidity there is left is being placed elsewhere…
Smashing higher in the last few hours…
For now the short squeeze efforts of the PBOC are not extending the move in CNH.
Source: Bitcoin Explodes Higher As Chinese Money Market Liquidity Collapses
Doug Kass Explains Why He Is Aggressively Buying Gold
By Tyler Durden
Submitted by Doug Kass via Seabreeze Partners,
The broad consensus is to own stocks and to sell gold.
But, as I have discussed since 2003 in my annual Surprise Lists, the broad consensus of investors is often wrong. Indeed, it is often the case that the very coalescing of popular opinion behind an investment tends to eliminate its profit potential.
As Howard Marks writes:
“First-level thinking is simplistic and superficial, and just about everyone can do it (a bad sign for anything involving an attempt at superiority). All the first-level thinker needs is an opinion about the future, as in: 'The outlook for the company is favorable, meaning the stock will go up.'
Second-level thinking is deep, complex and convoluted. The second-level thinker takes many things into account:
- What is the range of likely future outcomes?
- Which outcome do I think will occur?
- What's the probability I'm right?
- What does the consensus think?
- How does my expectation differ from the consensus?
- How does the current price for the asset comport with the consensus view of the future and with mine?
- Is the consensus psychology that's incorporated in the price too bullish or bearish?
- What will happen to the asset's price if the consensus turns out to be right, and what if I'm right?”
While the animal spirits may have taken over the equity markets and have ignored the gold market, we should recall that there is a reason why Keynes called them animal and not human spirits. That's because animals are a lot dumber than humans!
As excited as investors are about stocks, they are now uninterested in gold.
I remain a minority and outside of consensus regarding gold. However, given the developing and concerning conditions — and lack of credible policy responses — that I now see falling into place, the uncertainty premium should be rising and gold may be a beneficiary this year.
What is most surprising to me is that the price of gold has not responded to these uncertainties, providing a potentially favorable upside/downside ratio for the yellow metal.
I wanted to start today's opening missive with the way in which I concluded my 15 Surprises for 2017 — the major theme being that “Donald Trump will make volatility and uncertainty great again.”
I especially would pay attention to the three questions at the end of my column as they relate to the prospects for a higher gold price. Answer them yourself — I have my own responses — and act accordingly:
Post-Mortem
Kew-Forest School in Queens (Where's Donald “The Dude” Trump?)
Some final words.
My outlook for 2017 is more gloomy than in years.
To me, the biggest surprises are (1) the abundance of complacent sheep that populate our financial markets today, (2) the rapidity in which the bloom comes off the Trump flower next year, and (3) that the market actually may do what is unexpected in 2017.
The Republican Party becomes divided and Trump's policy support loosens. Even the newly elected president's “A Team of Rivals” cabinet with vastly different philosophies and backgrounds becomes …read more
Source: Doug Kass Explains Why He Is Aggressively Buying Gold
100% Pure Garcinia Cambogia Extract – Appetite Suppressant – Carb Blocker Capsules – 2100 MG – 90 Caps
Looking for something special ? Find The Lowest Price HERE
This "Rogue" Oil & Gas Nation Just Set A Slew Of Output Records
By Tyler Durden
Submitted by Dave Forest via OilPrice.com,
With 2016 now closed out, we’re getting the first looks at year-end data. And numbers from one nation in the energy space have been particularly eye-catching this week.
Russia.
Over the last 15 years, Russia vaulted upwards in oil and gas production — challenging for the world’s top producer of crude. A fact that’s especially critical given this big producer is a “rogue” nation that lies outside the purview of OPEC.
And 2016 was another big year for Russian oil output. With stats showing the country’s production rose again this past year — to an average 10.96 million barrels per day, up from 10.72 million barrels per day in 2015.
That came on the back of strong national production in December, where Russian producers pumped 11.21 million barrels per day — marking the highest output level in nearly 30 years.
That’s a very important data point for energy markets, showing that Russian supply is continuing to surge even as other big producers like Saudi Arabia are seeking production cuts.
And it isn’t just oil where Russia is having a major impact on global markets. Recent stats show the nation also had a banner year for natural gas output.
Russian natgas giant Gazprom said this past week that it increased 2016 production levels to 419 billion cubic meters, or 14.8 trillion cubic feet. A mark that exceeded Gazprom’s own forecasts for the year by 2.7 percent.
That rising production translated into higher exports, with Gazprom shipping 179 billion cubic meters to Europe during 2016 — marking a record yearly total.
It’s not just pipeline gas that’s surging either. Russia’s burgeoning LNG exports also saw a 1.1 percent rise during 2016, to 14.69 billion cubic meters, according to government reports this week.
In fact, Russian LNG has been picking up speed even in the past few weeks, with December exports up 10.8 percent, to a total 1.47 billion cubic meters.
That puts Russia’s LNG shipments on pace for a 20 percent rise this coming year.
Watch for more numbers on supply growth from this critical energy nation — and resulting effects on pricing in both oil and natural gas markets.
Source: This "Rogue" Oil & Gas Nation Just Set A Slew Of Output Records
Welcome to Esh Carmel Blog.
Need A Job ?
Job Hunting ?
Need Help ?
CLICK HERE :
Job Hunters : How to Stand Out from the Crowd and Tap Into the Hidden Job Market
-
PLEASE NOTE: As with any precautionary warning, ALWAYS consult with your physician before taking any action in regards to your health.
This site does not provide medical or any other health care or fitness advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The site and its services are for informational purposes only and are not a substitute for professional medical or health advice, examination, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health professional before starting any new treatment, making any changes to existing treatment, or altering in any way your current exercise or diet regimen. Do not delay seeking or disregard medical advice based on information on this site While we try to keep the information as accurate as possible, we disclaim any implied warranty or representation about its accuracy or completeness. The reader assumes full responsibility for using the information on this site. This site is neither responsible nor liable for any claim, loss or damage resulting from the use of information on this site. This site is intended for use by adults only. Minors should use this site only with the involvement of a parent or guardian.
How to Get a Great Job in 90 Days or Less
