Home · News · News Feb 2016
Monday February 29, 2016
News Articles

Scarborough: Trump KKK Talk 'Disqualifying'
thehill.com | author | 02/29/16

Joe Scarborough said on Monday that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's refusal on Sunday to condemn former Grand Wizard David Duke and the KKK are "disqualifying."

"That's disqualifying right there," he said on MSNBC after showing a clip of Trump refusing to disavow David Duke and the KKK.

"It's breathtaking. That is disqualifying right there, to say you don't know about the Ku Klux Klan, you don't know about David Duke."

"And the most stunning thing...this isn't buying him a single vote. Is he really so stupid that he thinks Southerners aren't offended by the Ku Klux Klan and David Duke," he asked.

"Is he really so ignorant of Southern voters that he thinks this is the way to their heart?"

Trump on Sunday morning refused to condemn the racism of David Duke and the KKK during an interview on CNN. He said he needed more information about the groups in question before he would condemn them.
Read more

The GOP Is On The Verge Of A Meltdown": Senior Republicans Threaten To Vote For Hillary
ZeroHedge | author | 02/29/16

With Donald Trump set for a yuuge victory in tomorrow's Super Tuesday slugfest - oddsmakers see 80% chance of Trump being the nominee - tensions are mounting dramatically within the Republican establishment. As The FT reports, many mainstream Republicans believe Mr Trump would struggle to beat Hillary Clinton and are urgently rallying around their man Rubio with some senior Republicans saying privately that they might consider voting for Mrs Clinton if Mr Trump were to end up as their party nominee as one conservative commentator exclaimed "we are on the verge of a real meltdown in the Republican party." ... Read more

*Journeyman Pictures
I have always liked Journeyman's collection of videos, because of their quality and the topics they expose. In the past they have been unavailable to me to publish. Now they seem to be available and I hope to use them to help support important topics. The wars/issues in the Middle East are very complex and each of us should try to get as much information as we can and from as many different perspectives as we can!
Journeyman Pictures | Inside The Heart Of The IS Caliphate (11/30/15) [13:32]
Journeyman Pictures | Why Are Kurds Joining Up With ISIS? (10/12/15) [35:56]
Journeyman Pictures | Inside Yemen's Secret Sectarian Power Struggle (2014?) [45:12]
Journeyman Pictures | Why Yemen Won't Ban Child Marriage and Rape () [14:41]
Aljazeera
*Aljazeera | Inside Story - Will elections change the course of Iranian politics? (02/27/16) [24:30]
*Aljazeera | Inside Story - Can Greece cope with the refugee crisis? (02/29/16) [24:34]
The Economy
Banking in American (2013) [1:40]

"The Liquidity Just Dries Up In A Stressed Market" - How HFT Killed FX Trading
ZeroHedge | author | 02/29/16

Collin Crownover, head of currency management at State Street Global Advisors Inc., which oversees about $2.4 trillion, who during a panel presentation said that "we are concerned. During volatile periods, market participants are backing away until conditions settle down, making it harder to complete large orders.""A lot of the electronification of the market, which by and large is a good thing, has led to kill switches on a lot of that algorithmic-provided liquidity," Crownover said. "The liquidity just dries up in a stressed market." ... Read more

"We Are In A Recession": Dallas Fed Respondents Admit The U.S. Economy Is In Freefall
ZeroHedge | author | 02/29/16

For those interested in hearing some horror stories from ground zero of America's recession, look no further than Texas, where the best recap of sentiment on the ground comes straight from the Dallas Fed respondents, who have not been this depressed since the Global Financial Crisis. "We are in a recession. Oil prices are a symptom, not the cause." ... Read more

More News

  1. Shares fall on G20 disappointment, Fed hike worries (Reuters)
  2. China cuts reserve requirement ratio for fifth time since Feb. 2015 (Reuters)
  3. China Stocks Tumble Toward 15-Month Low as Stimulus Bets Unwind (BBG)
  4. S&P 500 Futures Signal 2nd Day of Stock Losses; Valeant Slides (BBG)
  5. Valeant fundamental risks are too severe to suggest the stock is poised for a lasting rebound (WSJ)
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Monday, February 29 [10:38]
DN | Michigan's Water Wars: Nestlé Pumps Millions of Gallons for Free While Flint Pays (02/26/16) [16:33]
John Oliver
*HBO John Oliver | Donald Trump (02/28/16) [21:53]
HBO John Oliver | Whitewashing (02/23/16) [4:36]
*DR | Analysis Of The South Carolina Democratic primary (02/29/16) [1hr]
Hillary Clinton won her first resounding victory of the 2016 campaign on Saturday. She defeated Senator Bernie Sanders in the South Carolina primary, with 73.5 percent of the vote. She drew overwhelming support from African-American voters. Guest host Susan Page talks with NPR's Ron Elving about what the results could mean as we head into the Super Tuesday primaries.
*DR | The Latest On The Iranian Elections (02/29/16) [1hr]
Early election results in Iran indicate major support for reformists and supporters of President Rouhani. The elections are seen as a potential turning point for Iran. It's the first national election since the nuclear agreement was signed and sanctions were lifted. Guest host Susan Page talks with a panel of guests about what the results mean for President Rouhani's reforms and selection of the Supreme Leader.
*TRNN | Prominent Wall Street Whistleblowers Announce New Initiative (02/28/16) [13:29], Part 2 [17:28], Part 3 [12:24], Part 4 [28:08]
*TYT | Which Candidate Will Stop The Next Wall Street Crash? (02/27/16) [5:46]
TYT | What Will Happen On Super Tuesday, Democratic Primary Election Predictions (02/27/16) [4:35]
TYT | Who Will Win The Republican Primary Election? (02/27/16) [5:13]
TYT | Republican Establishment Still Thinks It Can Control Trump (02/28/16) [5:41]
RT | Keiser Report: Democracy suicide (E881) (02/27/16) [25:34]
In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss democracies committing suicide (as John Adams had warned) and the ominous "BoJo Hair Formation" taking place in sterling as the pound plunges on Mayor of London Boris Johnson announcing his support for the Leave campaign in the EU referendum. In the second half, Max interviews alternative media star Alex Jones about his first-of-its-kind interview with Republican frontrunner Donald Trump and what role the mainstream media has played in Trump's rise by refusing to cover certain stories important to Americans outside the Beltway.
RT | CrossTalk: Bullhorn Patrol (02/29/16) [24:14]
Thom Hartmann - www.thomhartmann.com/
NPR (National Public Radio) - www.npr.org/
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - pbs.org/
MSNBC - Maddow/Hayes - www.msnbc.com/

02.29.2016. 12:52

Friday February 26, 2016
News Articles
Some of Todays Headlines
8 Months LATER: TRUMP GETS JUMPED ... Rubio, Cruz Throw Kitchen Sink At Trump... OR: 'Trump Won Hands Down'... Rivals Too Late?... Donald Angry: Rubio 'A Choke Artist,' Cruz 'A Liar'... Trump: I Can't Release My Taxes Because I'm In Major IRS Audit... Romney Keeps Hitting... 'Trump Is The GOP's Frankenstein Monster. Now He's Strong Enough To Destroy The Party'... Highlights...
*CNN Republican Presidential Debate (02/25/16) [1:23:41]
Note: I use a lot of YouTube videos for my News Page, most are clean of advertisements. This one has a lot of squares/buttons to jump to other videos. Please ignore them an don't click on them.
*TYT | CNN / Telemundo Republican Debate: The Young Turks Summary (02/25/16) [7:54]
TYT | CNN / Telemundo Republican Debate: The Biggest Winner Was... (02/25/16) [4:38]
TYT | CNN / Telemundo Republican Debate: The Biggest Loser Was... (02/25/16) [3:34]
Google Funneled $12 Billion Through Holland To Bermuda to Avoid Taxes
New York Daily News Front Page
HP | Dominique Mosbergen | 02/26/16

"Former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke told [his] radio audience Thursday to vote for and volunteer for fellow hatemonger Donald Trump, adding they'll meet people on campaign with 'same kind of mindset,'" the front page reads. ... Read more

Hum.... The Daily News is owned by Mortimer Zuckerman, he's one of the Wall Street billionaires that Trump refused to be funded by.

TV Pundits Praise Hillary Clinton On Air, Fail to Disclose Financial Ties to Her Campaign
theintercept.com | Lee Fang | 02/25/16

Tune into television coverage of the presidential campaign and undoubtedly you will hear from various pundits described as "former campaign strategists" and "political contributors" explaining the latest developments of the race. But in many cases, these pundits -- though introduced as neutral experts on campaigns or party politics -- in fact have financial ties to the candidates they praise on the air. ... Read more
*DN | Lee Fang: TV Pundits Praise Hillary Clinton On Air, Fail to Disclose Financial Ties to Her Campaign (02/26/16) [3:43]

VIX Capitulation?
ZeroHedge | author | 02/26/16

VIX mini 'flash-crashed' this morning to test its 200-day-moving-average to the lowest level since Dec 31st 2015. For now, it appears to have marked a low... VIX slammed... Read more

"We Are Heading Into Anarchy": Official Says EU Will "Completely Break Down In 10 Days"
ZeroHedge | author | 02/26/16

Don't look now, but Europe's migration commissioner has just slapped an expiration data on the EU: it's 10 days from now. If no concrete progress is made by the time EU officials convene a summit with Turkey early next month, Brussels says "the whole system will completely break down." ... Read more

More News
  1. Fight night: Rubio, Cruz gang up on Trump in debate ploy (Reuters)
  2. Laid Bare in Shanghai: G-20 Tensions Over How to Spur Growth (BBG)
  3. China Flags Scope for Policy Stimulus, Tweaks Monetary Stance (BBG)
  4. Global Stocks Rise With Commodities as China Sees Room to Ease (BBG)
  5. Greece seeks to stem migrant flow as thousands trapped by border limits (Reuters)
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, February 26 [9:23]
*TRNN | Political activist Dr. Ron Daniels argues: Who is the Better Candidate for Black Voters? (02/26/16) [6:37]
TRNN | James S. Henry analyzes: Argentina's Presidential Giveaway to Vulture Funds (02/26/16) [11:51]
TRNN | New Law Would Track International Movement to Boycott Israel (02/26/16) [6:37]
TYT | CNN / Why The Discrepancies In National Democratic Polls? (02/25/16) [3:55]
*DR | Friday News -- Domestic (02/26/16) [1hr]
Establishment Republicans grapple with how to stop Donald Trump. A political battle over the Supreme Court vacancy escalates. And the Senate reaches a bipartisan funding deal on the Flint water crisis. A panel of journalists joins guest host Susan Page for analysis of the week's top national news stories.
*DR | Friday News -- International (02/26/16) [1hr]
World leaders work to negotiate a temporary ceasefire in Syria. Iranian authorities arrest a U.S. citizen whose son is imprisoned in Tehran. And E.U. ministers meet again on the migrant crisis. A panel of journalists joins guest host Susan Page for analysis of the week's top international news stories.
RT | 'Cheaper to import': UK to cut 90% of North Sea oil industry investment in 2016 (02/25/16) [2:00]
RT | Keiser Report: Extinction Is Rule, Survival Is Exception (E880) (02/25/16) [25:45]
RoF | Trump Monster Stronger and More Frightening Than Ever (02/25/16) [2:51]
Thom Hartmann - www.thomhartmann.com/
Aljazeera
*Aljazeera | Inside Story - Who benefits from the growth in the arms trade? (02/25/16) [24:44]
Aljazeera | The Stream - Oil wars (02/24/16) [24:57]
NPR (National Public Radio) - www.npr.org/
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - pbs.org/
MSNBC - Maddow/Hayes - www.msnbc.com/

02.26.2016. 11:34

Thursday February 25, 2016
News Articles

China Stocks Plummet Over 6 Percent To Worst Loss In A Month
Reuters & HP | author | 02/25/16

Traders and analysts cited a confluence of reasons for the slide, including profit-taking, fears of tighter liquidity and worries about the cooling economy.

The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen fell 6.1 percent, to 2,918.75 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 6.4 percent to 2,741.25. ... Read more

*The God's Eye View by Barry Eisler

Knowledge is power...and they know everything.

NSA director Theodore Anders has a simple goal: collect every phone call, email, and keystroke tapped on the Internet. He knows unlimited surveillance is the only way to keep America safe.

Evelyn Gallagher doesn't care much about any of that. She just wants to keep her head down and manage the NSA's camera network and facial recognition program so she can afford private school for her deaf son, Dash.

But when Evelyn discovers the existence of an NSA program code-named God's Eye, and connects it with the mysterious deaths of a string of journalists and whistle-blowers, her doubts put her and Dash in the crosshairs of a pair of government assassins: Delgado, a sadistic bomb maker and hacker; and Manus, a damaged giant of a man who until now has cared for nothing beyond protecting the director.

Within an elaborate game of political blackmail, terrorist provocations, and White House scheming, a global war is being fought--a war between those desperate to keep the state's darkest secrets and those intent on revealing them. A war that Evelyn will need all her espionage training and savvy to survive. A war in which the director has the ultimate informational advantage: The God's Eye View
Donald Trump succeeds by exposing class divides? (02/22/16) [1:07:57]

Citi: "We Have A Problem"
ZeroHedge | author | 02/25/16

In his latest must read presentation, Citigroup's Matt King continues to expose and mock the increasing helplessness and cluelessness of central bankers, something this website has done since 2009 knowing full well how it all ends ...

... Overnight, he put it all together in a simple and elegant way that only Matt King can do in a presentation titled ominously "Don't look down: You might find too many negatives." ... Interesting Read Read more

In Biggest Victory For Saudi Arabia, North Dakota's Largest Oil Producer Suspends All Fracking
ZeroHedge | author | 02/25/16

Yesterday, during his speech at CERAWeek in Houston, Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi made it explicitly clear that Saudi Arabia would not cut production, instead saying that it is high-cost producers that would need to either "lower costs, borrow cash or liquidate" adding that there is "no need for cuts as marginal barrel will get out of the market." He was right.

Today his wish is slowly coming true after news that North Dakota's largest producer, Whiting Petroleum, would suspend all fracking, and that Continental Resources has effectively done the same after reporting that it no longer has any fracking crews working in the Bakken shale. ... Read more

When Currency Pegs Break, Global Dominoes Fall
ZeroHedge | author | 02/25/16

When a currency peg breaks, it unleashes shock waves of uncertainty and repricing that hit the global financial system like a tsunami. The U.S. dollar has risen by more than 35% against other major trading currencies since mid-2014 ... Read more
Click picture to zoom in

Gordon Long discuss this and other critically important aspects of currency pegs in THE U.S. DOLLAR. (02/21/16) [28:36]
US$ and the GLOBAL "PEG PAIN TRADE"
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Thursday, February 25 [7:33]
*DN | Michigan's Water Wars: Nestlé Pumps Millions of Gallons for Free While Flint Pays for Poisoned Water (02/17/16) [16:32]
*DN | Winning His Race: Is Trump the Poster Child for the Rise of U.S. Hate Groups? (02/25/16) [14:41]
*DN | 'The God's Eye View' by Barry Eisler: Former CIA Agent Says Edward Snowden Revelations Emboldened Apple to Push Back Against FBI (02/25/16) [12:46]
DN | Exclusive: U.S. Journalist Detained Covering Bahrain Protests Gives 1st Interview Since Release (02/25/16) [7:19]
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert | It's Time To Grow Up & Settle Down With Marco Rubio (02/25/16) [5:06]
TYT | Bernie Sanders Keeps Rising In National Polls (02/24/16) [4:47]
TYT | Hot Mic Catches Morning Joe Groveling To Trump (02/24/16) [11:40]
TYT | Trump Supporters Seen Wearing KKK Robes (02/24/16) [7:14]
RT | Kerry: Libya may become 'failed state' if conflict continues (02/25/16) [3:00]
Thom Hartmann - www.thomhartmann.com/
*ThomHartmann | Is This Election All About WallStreet? (02/25/16) [11:02]
*ThomHartmann | Michael Mann: "What happens in the arctic doesn't stay in the arctic" Watch out.... (02/25/16) [12:42]
*DR | What An Eight Member Supreme Court Could Mean For Key Cases Still To Be Decided This Year (02/25/16) [1hr]
NPR (National Public Radio) - www.npr.org/
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - pbs.org/
MSNBC - Maddow/Hayes - www.msnbc.com/

02.25.2016. 10:56

Wednesday February 24, 2016
News Articles
CNN South Carolina Democratic Presidential Town Hall (full) ( 02/2316) [1:59:00]
TYT | CNN Democratic Town Hall: The Young Turks Summary (02/23/16) [6:28]
TYT | CNN Democratic Town Hall: The Biggest Winner Was... (02/23/16) [4:28]
TYT | CNN Democratic Town Hall: The Biggest Loser Was... (02/23/16) [7:43]
Some of Todays Headlines
THE DONALD TRUMPS ... Three Of A Kind... FLASHBACK DECEMBER: 'Nevada Is Rubio's Firewall'... Poll Workers In Trump Gear... Not Enough Ballots... 'Is This The Line For Cirque de Soleil Or Trump?'... Sheldon Adelson Votes As Reporters Sneak A Peak... Rubio And Cruz Fight For 2nd... Kasich: 'I Don't Know If My Purpose Is To Be President'...
Click picture to zoom in

Nevada's GOP Caucus Appears To Be Completely FUBAR
HP | Igor Bobic | 02/23/16

The situation resembles what top political analysts would deem a "crap storm."

Once doors opened to Republican voters at caucus sites across Nevada Tuesday evening, it wasn't long before reports of chaos amid high turnout began trickling in. GOP officials had some concerns in the days leading up to the caucuses about whether Nevada was sufficiently prepared for the big event. The state doesn't have a lot of experience running caucuses, since it only began administering the system in 2008. Nevada also had problems tallying votes during the GOP's 2012 caucus -- in that instance, it took three days to determine the final results. ... Read more

Ted Cruz Ad Really Didn't Help Him Against Trump
Ted Cruz TV Ad: Nevada Land (current) [0:30]
The Texas senator now pins his hopes on his home state, whose voters will head to the polls on Super Tuesday. He will have to win big and pick up the state's 155 delegates if he wants to change the dynamics of a race that continues to favor Trump.

Brazil Cut To Junk By All Three Ratings Agencies After Moody's Joins The Fray
ZeroHedge | author | 02/24/16

Back in December we warned that Brazil faced a "disastrous downgrade debacle" that would eventually see the beleaguered South American nation cut to junk by all three major ratings agencies. Moments ago, that prediction was borne out. ... Read more

*The Evil Empire Has The World In An Economic "Death Grip"
ZeroHedge | author | 02/23/16

In my archives there is a column or two that introduces the reader to John Perkins' important book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (EHM).

An EHM is an operative who sells the leadership of a developing country on an economic plan or massive development project. The Hit Man convinces a country's government that borrowing large sums of money from US financial institutions in order to finance the project will raise the country's living standards. The borrower is assured that the project will increase Gross Domestic Product and tax revenues and that these increases will allow the loan to be repaid (Yea, Right) ... Read more


The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins

Shocking Bestseller: The original version of this astonishing tell-all book spent 73 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, has sold more than 1.25 million copies, and has been translated into 32 languages.

New Revelations: Featuring 15 explosive new chapters, this expanded edition of Perkins's classic bestseller brings the story of economic hit men (EHMs) up to date and, chillingly, home to the US. Over 40 percent of the book is new, including chapters identifying today's EHMs and a detailed chronology extensively documenting EHM activity since the first edition was published in 2004.

Former economic hit man John Perkins shares new details about the ways he and others cheated countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. Then he reveals how the deadly EHM cancer he helped create has spread far more widely and deeply than ever in the US and everywhere else--to become the dominant system of business, government, and society today. Finally, he gives an insider view of what we each can do to change it.

Economic hit men are the shock troops of what Perkins calls the corporatocracy, a vast network of corporations, banks, colluding governments, and the rich and powerful people tied to them. If the EHMs can't maintain the corrupt status quo through nonviolent coercion, the jackal assassins swoop in. The heart of this book is a completely new section, over 100 pages long, that exposes the fact that all the EHM and jackal tools -- false economics, false promises, threats, bribes, extortion, debt, deception, coups, assassinations, unbridled military power -- are used around the world today exponentially more than during the era Perkins exposed over a decade ago.

The material in this new section ranges from the Seychelles, Honduras, Ecuador, and Libya to Turkey, Western Europe, Vietnam, China, and, in perhaps the most unexpected and sinister development, the United States, where the new EHMs -- bankers, lobbyists, corporate executives, and others -- "con governments and the public into submitting to policies that make the rich richer and the poor poorer."

But as dark as the story gets, this reformed EHM also provides hope. Perkins offers a detailed list of specific actions each of us can take to transform what he calls a failing Death Economy into a Life Economy that provides sustainable abundance for all.
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Wednesday, February 24 [12:42]
*DR | How the Presidential Nominating System Works and the Delegate Math for This Year's Candidates (02/24/16) [1hr]
U.S. presidential candidates are nominated based on a complex system of primaries, caucuses and delegates. How the presidential nominating system works and the delegate math for this year's candidates.
TRNN | Scientist Arjen Y. Hoekstra says: Four Billion People Experience Water Scarcity (02/24/16) [8:38]
A half a billion people around the world experience severe freshwater scarcity all year round, while 4 billion people on the planet currently experience freshwater scarcity at least one month of the year, says a new study.
TYT | Here's How Many People Police Killed In 2015 (older) [6:01]
TYT | Here's How Many People Police Killed In 2015 (older) [6:01]
RT | 'Partition of Syria is leap into unknown, could lead to further instability' - British MP (02/24/16) [8:49]
*RT | CrossTalk: Truce in Syria? (02/24/16) [24:08]
Thom Hartmann - www.thomhartmann.com/
*ThomHartmann | The Death Knell For Establishment Politics (02/24/16) [5:34]
On the one hand - Hillary's sounding more and more like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren every day. On the other hand - the Republicans are all starting to sound like Trump. And it's all a sign that Americans are sick and tired of the political establishment.
Aljazeera
Aljazeera | Inside Story - Will a ceasefire in Syria hold? (02/24/16) [24:55]
John Perkins - Economic Hitman
*Confessions of an Economic Hitman (2004) [53:35]
*The Secret History of the American Empire (2007) [28:02]
*John Perkins: Corporatocracy () [1:08:39]
pdf-iconConfession Economic Hitman (check out this crude copy of his book, but then please buy the book).
The Age Of Authoritarianism: Government Of The Politicians, By The Military, For The Corporations
"The real division is not between conservatives and revolutionaries but between authoritarians and libertarians."
NPR (National Public Radio) - www.npr.org/
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - pbs.org/
MSNBC - Maddow/Hayes - www.msnbc.com/

02.24.2016. 10:50

Tuesday February 23, 2016
News Articles

The GOP Has a Mad Max Problem
MotherJones | David Corn | 02/23/16

Pundits, political operatives, and other observers (perhaps including your aunt) have droned on about which GOP candidate inhabits which lane. There's been talk of a tea party lane, an Establishment lane, a social conservative lane, a populist lane, and so on. Now that the first three contests of the season have occurred, it's becoming clear that there are, at most, three lanes, and, in what might be bad news for Republicans, those lanes might not merge anytime soon. In fact, there may be concrete barriers between each of them, and that increases the odds of a big, chaotic crash at the point where these lanes must converge. ... Read more

Hillary Clinton Is Backed By Major Republican Donors
ZeroHedge | author | 02/23/16

Hillary Clinton is a good investment for a billionaire - even for the 70% of them who are Republicans. And, based on those 2015 donation-figures, it seems that they would prefer a President Hillary Clinton, over a President Donald Trump. In such an instance, Hillary Clinton would probably draw a larger campaign-chest (especially considering super-pacs) than any candidate for any political office in U.S. (or global) history. Hillary Clinton would almost certainly be the most-heavily-marketed political product in history, if she becomes nominated and ends up running against Trump. ... Read more

Standard Chartered Posts Horrendous Results As Impairments Soar 87%
ZeroHedge | author | 02/23/16

EM-focused Standard Chartered posted its first annual net loss in more than 25 years on Tuesday as impairments and NPLs skyrocketed in the face of a worsening outlook for the emerging world. Although the bank's top brass tried to strike an upbeat tone in the report, no one is particularly optimistic about the future. ... Read more, or Read more in Wikipedia

As The Bush Dynasty Ends, This Is What Jeb Spent $130 Million On
ZeroHedge | author | 02/23/16
Read more

Study Reveals Stunning Acceleration of Sea Level Rise
climatecentral.org | John Upton | 02/22/16

The oceans have heaved up and down as world temperatures have waxed and waned, but as new research tracking the past 2,800 years shows, never during that time did the seas rise as sharply or as suddenly as has been the case during the last century. The new study, the culmination of a decade of work by three teams of farflung scientists, has charted what they called an "acceleration" in sea level rise that's triggering and worsening flooding in coastlines around the world. ... Read more
Click picture to zoom in

Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Tuesday, February 23 [9:11]
*DR | Apple And The San Bernardino Shooter's iPhone: The Escalating Fight Over Privacy And Security (02/23/16) [1hr]
Apple says unlocking the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone would set a dangerous precedent. The FBI says new encryption technologies harm efforts to solve crimes. A look at the escalating fight over privacy and national security.
*DR | Matt Gallagher: "Youngblood" (02/23/16) [1hr]
A new novel by a former U.S. Army captain known for his candid blogging during the Iraq War. It's a story about a young American soldier drawn deep into the lives of local Iraqis as he investigates allegations of murdered civilians.
*TRNN | Col. Wilkerson: All War Games Between China and US Lead to Nuclear Attacks (02/22/16) [8:48]
TRNN | Patrick Cockburn: Will the "Terrorists" Adhere to the Russia-US Brokered Truce in Syria? (02/22/16) [9:53]
TYT | Jeb Bush Suspends Presidential Campaign (02/22/16) [11:57]
RT | Ceasefire Agreement: Syrian proposal to begin at midnight on Feb. 27th (02/22/16) [10:18]
RoF | South Carolina Officially Sides With Racism and Ignorance (02/22/16) [5:46]
Thom Hartmann - www.thomhartmann.com/
*ThomHartmann | Discussion: Is this a Single Issue Election (02/23/16) [12:33]
ThomHartmann | Hey - It's Not 'Free Stuff' Corporate Media! (02/23/16) [12:23]
Aljazeera
Aljazeera | UpFront - How religious are so-called 'Islamic terrorists'? (02/20/16) [2:45]
*Aljazeera | UpFront - Noam Chomsky on the war against ISIL, Part 1 (01/23/16) [25:12]
*Aljazeera | UpFront - Noam Chomsky on Clinton vs Sanders, Part 2 (02/20/16) [9:29]
NPR (National Public Radio) - www.npr.org/
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - pbs.org/
MSNBC - Maddow/Hayes - www.msnbc.com/

02.23.2016. 11:55

Monday February 22, 2016
News Articles
Great Headlines
NOW IT'S NATIONWIDE ... 16 States In Next 2 Weeks... 27 Within A Month... GOP Establishment, Romney Rally Around Rubio... Republicans Scramble As Trump Surges... The End Of Party Moderates: Radicals Take Over... The Troops Are Marching With Trump... Trump Goes Birther On RUBIO?... Rubio Super PAC Compares Him To Harry Potter... Jeb Voters Probably Won't Go To Marco En Masse... Rubio Nearly Pulls Even With Trump In Betting Markets...
Click picture to zoom in
TYT | Hillary Clinton Wins The Nevada Democratic Caucus (02/20/16) [4:48]
TYT | Donald Trump WINS The South Carolina Republican Primary (02/20/16) [4:57]

The scariest thing about Trump's primary dominance: The GOP still doesn't understand the monster it created
Salon |Heather Digby Parton | 02/22/16

The big showdown in South Carolina is over and it came down pretty much as everyone expected. Donald Trump came in first with 32.5 percent, Rubio and Cruz nearly tied for second with Rubio ever so lightly edging Cruz with 22.5 percent to Cruz's 22.3. The bottom three, Bush, Kasich and Carson all landed with 7-ish points each. The big news was that Jeb Bush dropped out of the race within minutes of the results being called.

So, what does this all mean? Well, nothing new really. Trump declared victory with an odd admission of what really turns him on about running for president, when he said, "It's tough, it's nasty, it's mean, it's vicious.... it's beautiful. When you win, it's beautiful.” He is very, very good at being mean, nasty and vicious. Nobody can say that isn't working for him. ... Read more

Were We Lied Into War?
ZeroHedge | author | 02/22/16

Donald Trump threw down the gauntlet at the last GOP presidential debate with his declaration that the Bush administration lied us into war, and the reverberations are still roiling the political waters on both the right and the left. If his candidacy does nothing else, it will have performed a great service to the nation by re-litigating this vitally important issue and drawing attention to the outrageous lack of accountability by the elites who cheered as we turned the Middle East into a cauldron of death and destruction. Trump has ripped the bandage off the gaping and still suppurating wound of that ill-begotten war, and the howls of rage and pain are being heard on both sides of the political spectrum. ... Read more

These Are The Victims Of The Kalamazoo Shooting
HP | Lydia O'Connor | 02/21/16

Kalamazoo Public Safety and Michigan State Police have confirmed the identities of the six people killed in an hourslong shooting rampage Saturday night in southwest Michigan.

The victims include four women killed in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel restaurant and a man and his teenage son, who were killed at a Seelye Automotive Kia dealership. Two other victims, including a 14-year-old girl, were also injured and remain in critical condition. ... Read more

A Panicked China Orders Media To Stick To "Positive Reporting" Or Risk "The Stability Of The Country"
ZeroHedge | author | 02/22/16

If China's recent record surge in loan creation, and its revision of a key PBOC capital outflow "data" wasn't sufficient proof that the world's second largest economy is on the verge of panic, then the explicit propaganda directive issued to the the local press by China's president Xi Jinping late on Friday should certainly seal it.

As SCMP reports, according to a commentary published by a leading mouthpiece online "having public opinions that are different from the official ones will shake the foundation of the rule of the Communist party and the country." ... Read more

Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, February 19 [8:16]
Democracy Now! DemocracyNow Turns 20: A Freewheeling Look Back at Two Decades of Independent, Unembedded News [48:33]
John Oliver
*HBO JohnOliver | Abortion is theoretically legal, but some states make it practically inaccessible. (02/21/16) [16:00]
*HBO JohnOliver | Every American deserves an equal vote. But in some states, access to voting is becoming less and less equal. (02/14/16) [14:08]
*DR | Analysis of the South Carolina Republican Primary and the Nevada Democratic Caucuses (02/22/16) [1hr]
Republican primary voters go to the polls in South Carolina while Democrats vote in the Nevada caucuses. Analysis of the results and what they mean for the presidential candidates heading into Super Tuesday.
TRNN | Subprime Mortgage Whistleblowers Warn Bigger Crash on Its Way (02/21/16) [20:59]
TRNN | Ralph Nader: Scalia, Hillary, and the Upholding of Corporate Supremacy (02/22/16) [17:18]
TRNN | Sanders Loses Nevada In Close Election (02/20/16) [4:12]
TYT | Democratic Town Halls vs Republican Town Halls (02/19/16) [17:42]
RT | Keiser Report: War on Cash (E878) (02/20/16) [25:48]
RT | CrossTalk: Is Turkey turning itself into a global pariah? (02/22/16) [24:46]
*RoF | It's Official, The Government Only Works For The Wealthy (02/22/16) [12:23]
Thom Hartmann - www.thomhartmann.com/
*ThomHartmann | Bernie is a Democratic Socialist & Trump is a Nationalist Socialist (02/22/16) [11:25]
NPR (National Public Radio) - www.npr.org/
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - pbs.org/
MSNBC - Maddow/Hayes - www.msnbc.com/

02.22.2016. 12:23

Friday February 19, 2016
News Articles
*MSNBC Democratic town hall Las Vegas, Nevada Bernie Sanders (02/18/16) [55:52] (Video was removed, searching for another good video)
TYT | MSNBC Nevada Democratic Town Hall: The Young Turks Summary (02/18/16) [9:11]
TYT | MSNBC Nevada Democratic Town Hall: Biggest Winner / Biggest Loser (02/18/16) [8:39]
TYT | MSNBC Nevada Democratic Town Hall: The Worst Line Was... (02/18/16) [16:59]
TYT | MSNBC Donald Trump Town Hall, South Carolina (02/17/16) [12:54]

JPMorgan Head Quant Explains Why Most Hedge Funds Have Been Slammed In 2016
ZeroHedge | author | 02/19/16

As we showed one week ago, it has been a deplorable year not only for the broader market, but for some of the marquee "hedge" fund names, who once again have shown they "hedge" only in name. We followed up with a report on the world's largest hedge fund, Bridgewater, whose Pure Alpha strategy we further showed has gotten slammed in the first two weeks of February, losing a whopping 10% in half a month.

Why the hedge fund rout? JPM's head quant, Marko Kolanovic, who recently called the violent rotation out of momentum stocks just before it hit several weeks ago, and the bursting of the second tech bubble, is here to explain. ... Read more
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At Least Republicans Will Be Consistent If They Block Obama's Supreme Court Pick
HP | Jennifer Bendery | 02/18/16

They're preventing Obama's other judicial nominees from getting confirmed. Why stop there?

Republicans have vowed to spend the next year preventing President Barack Obama from filling a Supreme Court vacancy. They've gotten plenty of practice already.

More than 30 judicial nominees are currently waiting for the Senate to confirm them to federal court seats. Some have been gathering dust for over a year, like Waverly Crenshaw, a Tennessee district court nominee who was nominated on Feb. 4, 2015. He would fill a court seat that's been empty for 441 days. Susan Baxter, a Pennsylvania district court nominee, would fill a seat that's been empty for 913 days, or about two and a half years. ... Read more

When Cash Is Outlawed... Only Outlaws Will Have Cash
ZeroHedge | author | 02/19/16

Harvard economist Larry Summers is a reliable source of claptrap. And a frequent spokesman for the Deep State.

To bring new readers up to speed, voters don't get a say in who runs the country. Instead, a "shadow government" of elites, cronies, lobbyists, bureaucrats, politicians, and zombies -- aka the Deep State -- is permanently in power.

The Deep State wants you to use money it can easily control, tax, and confiscate. And paper currency is getting in its way.

France has already banned residents from making cash transactions of €1,000 ($1,114) or more. Norway and Sweden's biggest banks urge the outright abolition of cash. And there are plans at the highest levels of government in Israel, India, and China to remove cash from circulation. ... Read more

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*DR | Friday News - Domestic (02/19/16) [1hr]
Note: Show starts at 11:46 on the Progressbar.
Apple fights a court order to unlock the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters. President Obama and Republicans battle over the Supreme Court vacancy. And presidential hopefuls woo voters in South Carolina and Nevada. A panel of journalists joins guest host Cecilia Kang for analysis of the week's top national news stories.
*DR | Friday News - International (02/19/16) [1hr]
The Obama administration rebukes China over suspected missiles deployed in the South China Sea. Humanitarian aid convoys head for besieged areas of Syria. And in Mexico Pope Francis calls attention to the world's migrant crises. A panel of journalists joins guest host Cecilia Kang for analysis of the week's top international news stories.
*TRNN | Activist David Bacon says: Pope vs. Trump (02/18/16) [9:29]
TRNN | Ralph Nader: A Cover for Corporatism in Scalia's "Originalism" (02/18/16) [15:52]
*TRNN | Paul Heideman says: Sanders' Campaign Could Split The Democratic Party. (02/18/16) [12:15]
TYT | Ted Cruz's Badly Photoshopped Dirty Trick (02/18/16) [8:06]
TYT | Apple Says iPhone "Backdoor" Risks All User's Security (02/18/16) [5:37]
RT | Keiser Report: Ugly-to-the-Bone Economy (E877) (02/18/16) [25:45]
In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert ask what Dorothy Parker would say about the ugly-to-the-bone economy. They look at the 'ugly three' - debt too high, productivity too low, and policy room for maneuver too limited - and the 'not good' industrial numbers in Europe. In the second half, Max continues his interview with Mitch Feierstein of PlanetPonzi.com about the attempt to taper a ponzi, Hillary Clinton's Lloyd Blankfein connection, and the latest on the race to be the next president of the United States.
RoF | Donald Trump Is Great At Manipulating Voters (02/19/16) [10:43]
Thom Hartmann - www.thomhartmann.com/
ThomHartmann | Caught on Film - The Cost Of Free Trade (02/19/16) [6:05]
*ThomHartmann | Apple vs the FBI - Who Wins? (02/19/16) [9:53]
NPR (National Public Radio) - www.npr.org/
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - pbs.org/
MSNBC - Maddow/Hayes - www.msnbc.com/

02.19.2016. 12:15

Thursday February 18, 2016
News Articles
TYT | CNN GOP Presidential Town Hall (full) (02/17/16) [2:19:14]
*TYT | CNN GOP Presidential Town Hall: The Young Turks Summary (02/17/16) [16:14]
TYT | CNN GOP Presidential Town Hall: The Biggest Winner Was... (02/17/16) [2:32]
TYT | CNN GOP Presidential Town Hall: The Biggest Fail Was... (02/17/16) [3:01]

Influential Economist Thomas Piketty Endorses Sanders
HP | Shane Ferro | 02/16/16

In his latest weekly column, Piketty wrote that the Vermont senator's campaign represents a turning point in the country. "[W]e are witnessing the end of the politico-ideological cycle opened by the victory of Ronald Reagan at the 1980 elections," he wrote in a piece that appeared in French in Le Monde earlier this week and in English in the Guardian on Tuesday.

The French rockstar economist is the author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century, which showed that global income inequality has gotten much, much worse in the 36 years since Ronald Reagan was first elected. Piketty's life's work is about showing how low tax rates on the rich, particularly in the United States, exacerbate inequality for those of us below the top 1 percent, or even 0.1 percent, of earners. ... Read more
Go to the Guardian to read Piketty's entire op-ed.

Bank of America CEO Now Making Millions Of Dollars More For No Reason
HP | Ben Walsh | 02/17/16

Last year was not a big year for raises in America. Collectively, Americans ended the year seeing their compensation rise just 2 percent.

But bank executives are different from you and me. Case in point: Bank of America chairman and CEO Brian Moynihan. On Friday in filing, the bank said it handed Moynihan a 23 percent raise, bringing his 2015 pay to $16 million at a time when antipathy to Wall Street has become a central theme of the U.S. presidential election . ... Read more

Jeb! Is! In! Trouble!
HP | Eliot Nelson | 02/17/16

... For all of his years in Texas and Florida, he hasn't quite shed the stiff, boarding school nature of his Connecticut forebears. Watching him chat up voters is a bit like watching a father quiz his 6-year-old son about his newest video game: avuncular, a bit ill at ease and completely out of his element. Hey, what's that there? Murder Cyclone 6? That's neat. Oh? You are working extra hours to cover your monumental student loan debt? How about that!

Jeb really is George H. W.'s son, the George H. W. Bush who always felt a little stiff and awkward around "real people," who never shed his affinity for prep school attire, who vomited on Japan's prime minister. In that context, Jeb starts to make more sense and his Northeastern boarding school whiteness really shines through. It helps explain the Jeb who can't seem to find his footing in a Republican party that has changed so drastically since his father's day, ... Read more

"Worst Since Lehman"
ZeroHedge | author | 02/18/16

If "everything's fixed," then why is the number of distressed debt issuers still the highest "since Lehman." And the answer is not ...
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More News
  1. Oil extends rally towards $35 after Iran welcomes output freeze (Reuters)
  2. Overproduction Swamps Smaller Chinese Cities, Revealing Depth of Crisis (WSJ)
  3. House Flipping Is Making a Comeback in Las Vegas BBG)
  4. Trump leads Republican field nationally by more than 20 points (Reuters)
  5. Turkey blames Kurdish militants for Ankara bomb, vows response in Syria and Iraq (Reuters)
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Thursday, February 18 [12:05]
*DR | Millennials: What Will Get Them To The Polls And What They Want From The Next President (02/18/16) [1hr]
Millennials in the 2016 race will make up the same percentage of the voting population as Baby Boomers. This makes them a crucial demographic for Republican and Democratic candidates. What will get them to the polls and what do they want from the next president?
TRNN | Robert Pollin details the tax on Wall Street: The Real Effects of a Transaction Tax (02/18/16) [11:28]
*TRNN | Vijay Prashad and Paul Jay discuss: Carnage in Syria a Product of US Empowerment of Saudi Arabia (02/18/16) [18:05]
TYT | Donald Trump's Vice President? (02/17/16) [11:32]
RT | CrossTalk: Turkey's Gamble (02/17/16) [24:34]
We are experiencing an extraordinarily dangerous moment in history. The possible illegal ground invasion of Syria by Turkey and Saudi Arabia could ignite a conflict engulfing the great powers that would be difficult to control. Can Washington manage its erratic anti-Assad coalition?
RT | 'Whoops': Iraq admits it 'lost' radioactive material, now feared in ISIS hands (02/17/16) [2:05]
Thom Hartmann - www.thomhartmann.com/
*ThomHartmann | The Decline of Manufacturing & the Rise of Big Banks (02/18/16) [5:12]
ThomHartmann | Insecticide & Zika Virus... Is There a Link? (02/18/16) [6:44]
Aljazeera
Aljazeera | After the Arab Spring (02/17/16) [47:30]
NPR (National Public Radio) - www.npr.org/
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - pbs.org/
MSNBC - Maddow/Hayes - www.msnbc.com/

02.18.2016. 11:52

Wednesday February 17, 2016
News Articles

"Ultimate Banking" Monopoly Edition Goes Completely Cashless
ZeroHedge | author | 02/17/16

The war on cash has been in the works for a very, very long time, but the propaganda campaign to convince an always gullible public to accept the scheme seems to have been hatched in earnest late last spring. For example, here are a few excerpts from the post, Martin Armstrong Reports on a Secret Meeting in London to Ban Cash: ... Read more

*Columbine Shooter's Mother: I Carry Him 'Everywhere I Go, Always'
NPR | FreshAir | 02/16/16

On April 20, 1999, when Sue Klebold heard about a shooting incident at Columbine High School, her thoughts immediately turned to her 17-year-old son, Dylan, who was a senior there.

"In the very beginning, I didn't know what to think," Sue tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "I was aware that there was a shooting incident occurring at the school. I didn't know if Dylan was in danger, if someone was trying to shoot him, if he was doing something."

Gradually the truth emerged: Dylan and his friend, 18-year-old Eric Harris, had gone on a shooting rampage at the school, murdering 13 people and injuring 24 others before killing themselves. ... Read more

NPR FreshAir | Columbine Shooter's Mother: I Carry Him 'Everywhere I Go, Always' (02/16/16) [43:48]
or
NPR FreshAir | Columbine Shooter's Mother: I Carry Him 'Everywhere I Go, Always' (02/16/16) [43:48]

Some of the Commenters:

  1. Mike Smith - I have always been interested in what Ms. Klebold has to say. She is in one of the most unique places that one can be -- a mother who lost her son, and the mother of a mass-murderer. As I listen to her story, I am struck by the fact that she is honestly trying to deal with the destruction wrought by her son's actions, while also trying to understand and explain his mental illness. If there is anything that can be taken away from this story it is this: we do a terrible job of recognizing and dealing with mental illness, and that extends to mental illness that our own children might be suffering with. I hope that Sue Klebold can help all of us do better in our understanding of depression and other mental and emotional issues.
  2. Dave Dewarks - I think we're confusing evil with mental illness.
  3. Avatar - And while we do, let us keep the guns away from the hands of mentally ill.
A Mother's Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy by Sue Klebold

On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold walked into Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Over the course of minutes, they would kill twelve students and a teacher and wound twenty-four others before taking their own lives.

For the last sixteen years, Sue Klebold, Dylan's mother, has lived with the indescribable grief and shame of that day. How could her child, the promising young man she had loved and raised, be responsible for such horror? And how, as his mother, had she not known something was wrong? Were there subtle signs she had missed? What, if anything, could she have done differently?

These are questions that Klebold has grappled with every day since the Columbine tragedy. In A Mother's Reckoning, she chronicles with unflinching honesty her journey as a mother trying to come to terms with the incomprehensible. In the hope that the insights and understanding she has gained may help other families recognize when a child is in distress, she tells her story in full, drawing upon her personal journals, the videos and writings that Dylan left behind, and on countless interviews with mental health experts.

Filled with hard-won wisdom and compassion, A Mother's Reckoning is a powerful and haunting book that sheds light on one of the most pressing issues of our time. And with fresh wounds from the recent Newtown and Charleston shootings, never has the need for understanding been more urgent.

Industrial Production Post Third Consecutive Annual Decline: 90% Chance Of Recession
ZeroHedge | author | 02/17/16

In 17 of the 19 times in the last 100 years that Industrial Production has contracted for 3 consecutive months, the US economy has entered recession. Today 0.7% drop YoY is the 3rd month of declines. ... Read more

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Aljazeera News
Aljazeera | Inside Story - How has ICRC's role changed over the years? (02/16/16) [25:00]
Providing aid to people in warzones has always been challenging. Humanitarian groups must deal with sometimes belligerent governments and now increasingly non-state actors.

But in doing so, are these organisations losing their legitimacy?

One such institution is the International Committee of the Red Cross. On Tuesday it delivered emergency supplies to people in a district of the Syrian city of Homs.

But it's been accused of being less willing to operate directly in conflicts such as Syria and Yemen, instead delegating to local organisations.

Founded in 1863 in Switzerland, the aim of the International Committee of the Red Cross has been to protect and help victims of war and violence. But is it still up to that task?
*Aljazeera | UpFront - Noam Chomsky on the war against ISIL (01/23/16) [25:12]


Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Wednesday, February 17 [5:24]
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert | Donald Calling (02/17/16) [6:00]
TRNN | Colonel Larry Wilkerson explains: China Considers Putting Nukes Under Military Control (02/17/16) [7:42]
TRNN | Vijay Prashad and Paul Jay discuss: Saudi Plans for Syria Ground Invasion: Bluff or a Disaster in the Making? (02/17/16) [14:00]
*TYT | Rush Limbaugh Is Really Confused By Donald Trump (02/16/16) [5:05]
TYT | Why Trump Is DOMINATING (02/16/16) [8:08]
TYT | Hillary Clinton: Bribes Don't Work On Me (02/16/16) [7:55]
TYT | He's Back! George Campaigns For Jeb (02/16/16) [3:54]
TYT | Trump Continues To Call Out Bush For 9/11 (02/16/16) [7:10]
RT | UK to ban Israeli West Bank goods boycotts (02/16/16) [4:00]
RoF | Ring of Fire (E244) - Fight, Elizabeth! Fight! (02/16/16) [29:00]
Thom Hartmann - www.thomhartmann.com/
*ThomHartmann | Socialism Is As American As Apple Pie (02/16/16) [4:42]
Thom Hartmann | Watch Workers Told Their Jobs Are Moving to Mexico (02/16/16) [12:26]
*DR | Beyond Flint: The Safety Of America’s Tap Water (02/17/16) [1hr]
NPR (National Public Radio) - www.npr.org/
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - pbs.org/
MSNBC - Maddow/Hayes - www.msnbc.com/

02.17.2016. 10:52

Tuesday February 16, 2016
News Articles

Sheldon Adelson Bets It All
MotherJones | Matt Isaacs | 02/15/16

... Adelson has used his fortune to reshape right-wing politics in both America and Israel, establishing himself as a GOP kingmaker in the post-Citizens United era. In December, he backed a secretive $140 million purchase of the Review-Journal, putting Nevada's largest paper in the hands of its richest resident and a fixture of its biggest industry, and increasing his influence on Nevada's early presidential caucuses. ...

... During the last presidential election, Adelson spent nearly $100 million directly (and reportedly another $50 million in undisclosed dark money) trying to thwart Barack Obama's reelection. That included $20 million that he and his wife spent backing Newt Gingrich's primary run and, after Gingrich dropped out of the race, another $30 million on a super-PAC supporting Mitt Romney. He gave another $23 million to American Crossroads, the super-PAC once led by Karl Rove. His dark- money contributions reportedly buoyed conservative organizations such as the Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity. Read more

Afghan civilian casualties in 2015 hit record high -- UN report
And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East by Richard Engel

Based on two decades of reporting, NBC's chief foreign correspondent's riveting story of the Middle East revolutions, the Arab Spring, war, and terrorism seen up-close -- sometimes dangerously so.

When he was just twenty-three, a recent graduate of Stanford University, Richard Engel set off to Cairo with $2,000 and dreams of being a reporter. Shortly thereafter he was working freelance for Arab news sources and got a call that a busload of Italian tourists were massacred at a Cairo museum. This is his first view of the carnage these years would pile on. Over two decades Engel has been under fire, blown out of hotel beds, taken hostage. He has watched Mubarak and Morsi in Egypt arrested and condemned, reported from Jerusalem, been through the Lebanese war, covered the whole shooting match in Iraq, interviewed Libyan rebels who toppled Gaddafi, reported from Syria as Al-Qaeda stepped in, was kidnapped in the Syrian crosscurrents of fighting. He goes into Afghanistan with the Taliban and to Iraq with ISIS. In the page-turning And Then All Hell Broke Loose, he shares his adventure tale.

Engel takes chances, though not reckless ones, keeps a level head and a sense of humor, as well as a grasp of history in the making. Reporting as NBC's Chief-Foreign Correspondent, he reveals his unparalleled access to the major figures, the gritty soldiers, and the helpless victims in the Middle East during this watershed time. We can experience the unforgettable suffering and despair of the local populations. Engel's vivid description is intimate and personal. Importantly, it is a succinct and authoritative account of the ever-changing currents in that dangerous land.

Fed's Kashkari Says "We Won't See Next Crisis Coming", Compares Banks To Risky Nuclear Reactors
ZeroHedge | author | 02/16/16

Coming as a replacement to perhaps the biggest dove in Fed history, few were expecting former Goldman and Pimco staffer Neel Kashkari to be as vocally outspoken on a topic that is so near and dear to regulators everywhere: their own cluelessness, and more importantly, the topic of "too big to fail" banks, which according to the Fed are a pillar of stability in an unstable world, and which according to Kashkari are anything but.

It is doubly surprising because it was none other than Kashkari himself who served as one of the key architects of the bank bailout plan in the aftermath of the financial crisis. ...

Here are some of the key highlights from his speech:

  1. "We won't see the next crisis coming, and it won't look like what we might be expecting."
  2. "Failures of large financial institutions pose massively asymmetric risks to society that policymakers must consider."
  3. "A very crude analogy is that of a nuclear reactor. The cost to society of letting a reactor melt down is astronomical. Given that cost, governments will do whatever they can to stabilize the reactor before they lose control."
Read more

'Unfixed' Deutsche Bank Stock Slumps For 2nd Day
ZeroHedge | author | 02/16/16

no, Deutsche Bank (and its $64 trilion derivatives book) is not "fixed" - far from it... Read more
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Larry Summers Launches The War On Paper Money: "It's Time To Kill The $100 Bill"
ZeroHedge | author | 02/16/16

Not even 24 hours later, and another Harvard "scholar" and Fed chairman wannabe, Larry Summers, has just released an oped in the left-leaning Amazon Washington Post, titled "It's time to kill the $100 bill" in which he makes it clear that the pursuit of paper money is only just starting. Not surprisingly, just like in Europe, the argument is that killing the Benjamins would somehow eradicate crime, saying that "a moratorium on printing new high denomination notes would make the world a better place."

Yes, for central bankers, as all this modest proposal will do is make it that much easier to unleash NIRP, because recall that of the $1.4 trillion in total U.S. currency in circulation, $1.1 trillion is in the form of $100 bills. Eliminate those, and suddenly there is nowhere to hide from those trillions in negative interest rate "yielding" bank deposits. ... Read more
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Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Tuesday, February 16 [8:07]
*DR | Richard Engel: "And Then All Hell Broke Loose" (02/16/16) [1hr]
*TRNN | Larry Wilkerson examines: The Roots of Scalia's Originalism (02/15/16) [7:59]
*TRNN | Attorney Kamau Franklin Discusses: The Supreme Court and the Non-Violent Settling of Elite Disputes (02/15/16) [10:02]
TRNN | Chris Hedges and Green Party candidate Jill Stein diagnose the problems plaguing US politics, highlighting the dysfunction of a two-party system dominated by corporate interests. (02/15/16) [26:52]
TYT | Republicans BOO Facts During The Latest Debate (02/15/16) [10:57]
TYT | Monsanto To Blame? Zika Virus Conspiracy Theory Explained (02/15/16) [6:03]
RT | Russia, Saudi Arabia agree to freeze oil production (02/16/16) [8:36]
*RT | Keiser Report: Unintended Consequences of Economics Goals (E876) (02/16/16) [25:45]
In this episode of the Keiser Report Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss unintended geo-economic and financial consequences of trying to treat economics and politics as a science. They note the capital flight from Italy and Spain; and the growth of deposits in Russia due to sanctions. They also look at the lawsuit by American victims of Mexican drug cartels against HSBC, who they allege directly committed an act of terrorism. In the second half Max interviews Mitch Feierstein of PlanetPonzi.com about the Fed's attempt to taper a ponzi, the market chaos it has caused and the negative rates trying to stop the debt deflation.
Aljazeera
Aljazeera | The Stream - The Bernie Sanders phenomenon (02/15/16) [31:57]
Aljazeera | Counting the Cost - US 2016: How much does the economy matter? (02/16/16) [26:00]
Thom Hartmann - www.thomhartmann.com/
ThomHartmann | Bernie's Gonna Win Nevada AND South Carolina! (full) (02/15/16) [57:13]
NPR (National Public Radio) - www.npr.org/
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - pbs.org/
MSNBC - Maddow/Hayes - www.msnbc.com/

02.16.2016. 11:32

Monday February 15, 2016
News Articles
Todays Headlines
SENATE SET ON OBSTRUCTION... Roadblock Ahead: GOP Vows No Vote On Scalia Replacement Under Obama... Even Vulnerable Republicans Vow To Block... OBAMA GEARS UP: Nominee Coming... Battle Lines Drawn... A Political Battle Unlike Any The U.S. Has Seen In Decades... 'Profound Test Of The U.S. Political System'... Could Be Biggest Court Shakeup In 25 Years... White House Calculus: Which Nominee Imposes Greatest Costs On Intransigent Senators?... FLASHBACK: McConnell Voted To Confirm A Justice In Reagan's Final Year... Obama Has 340 Days Left!... Who He Might Nominate... SCOTUS, Ruth Bader Ginsburg Remember Scalia... Cause Of Death Undetermined... Ranch Owner Recalls Finding Body...
*FULL CBS GOP Debate, 9th Republican Presidential Debate in South Carolina (02/13/16) [1:12:03]
TYT | CBS Republican Debate: The Young Turks Summary (02/14/16) [7:02]
TYT | CBS Republican Debate: The Biggest Winner ... (02/14/16) [9:11]
TYT | CBS Republican Debate: The Biggest Loser Was... (02/14/16) [4:13]

Bernie Sanders Is The Next President Of The United States (Of The Week)
HP | Lauren Weber | 02/14/16

we've been surveying the race for the last 57 weeks (yes, you've had to deal with us for that long), and we've finally done it: We're ranking Bernie Sanders the leader of the pack. Took us long enough, right?

When we started on this adventure at the beginning of 2015, we spitballed an absurdly comprehensive list of all the possible candidates we might encounter along the way (Note Lauren's horrific handwriting). Visitors to the HuffPost DC Bureau have studied the chart intently for clues to a secret agenda: in truth, we were clueless, and remain so. ... Read more

Global Stocks Soar On Stimulus Hopes After Miserable Chinese, Japanese Data; Short Squeeze
ZeroHedge | author | 02/15/16

"The Chinese market didn't react as bad as we feared and with the weak export data there is some big hope that he central banks will react quite fast," John Plassard, senior equity-sales trader at Mirabaud Securities LLP in Geneva, told Bloomberg. "It's a mix of hope of intervention from the Asian central bank, short squeeze and also a relief in some energy and banking sectors, the most shorted sectors." And there are your catalysts for today's surge: hope of more central bank intervention and a global short squeeze. ... Read more

How The Clintons Enabled The 2008 Economic Crisis And Financial Coup d'Etat
ZeroHedge | author | 02/15/16

"The crash has laid bare many unpleasant truths about the United States. One of the most alarming, says a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, is that the finance industry has effectively captured our government--a state of affairs that more typically describes emerging markets, and is at the center of many emerging-market crises.

If the IMF's staff could speak freely about the U.S., it would tell us what it tells all countries in this situation: recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform. And if we are to prevent a true depression, we're running out of time." - Simon Johnson, The Quiet Coup

As economist Simon Johnson put it so aptly, there was a 'financial coup d'etat' in the States. It was the result of a longer term and well-funded effort as documented by PBS Frontline and others. Read more

Foreign Policy Association | The Rise of ISIS () [26:47]


Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Monday, February 15 [8:06]
*DR | The Life And Legacy Of Justice Scalia -- And The Future Makeup Of The Supreme Court (02/15/16) [1hr]
The late Justice Antonin Scalia was the leading conservative voice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Scalia's life and legacy, and the battle ahead over the makeup of the nation's highest court.
*DR | Henry Petroski: "The Road Taken" (02/15/16) [1hr]
America's transportation infrastructure is crumbling. One engineer and historian says the economic health of our country is in grave danger unless we take action. The history and future of our roads and bridges.
*TRNN | Democratic Debate: Sanders Attacks Clinton-Kissinger Vision for Perpetual War (02/14/16) [15:50]
*TRNN | Phyllis Bennis says: Latest Agreement in Syria Could Lead to Further Escalation (02/14/16) [9:26]
TRNN | Scalia: Hero of the Far-Right Dead at 79 (02/13/16) [5:56]
TYT | Why Clinton Vs Trump Is A Nightmare Scenario (02/14/16) [5:47]
RT | Bail-ins more dangerous than ISIS (E875) (02/14/16) [25:45]
??RT | CrossTalk: Bullhorns gotta bullhorn (02/15/16) [24:33]
RoF | Scumbag Shkreli Has Made Pharma Greed A Campaign Issue (02/12/16) [4:39]
Thom Hartmann - www.thomhartmann.com/
ThomHartmann | Bernie Slams Hillary's Relationship with Henry Kissinger (full) (02/12/16) [57:15]
NPR (National Public Radio) - www.npr.org/
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - pbs.org/
MSNBC - Maddow/Hayes - www.msnbc.com/

02.15.2016. 11:36

Friday February 12, 2016
News Articles
PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate
*PBS | PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate (02/12/16) [1:50:40]
*TYT | PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate: The Young Turks Summary (02/11/16) [7:11]
TYT | Who Won The PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate? (02/11/16) [9:42]
TYT | PBS NewsHour Democratic Debate: The Biggest Controversy Was... (02/11/16) [8:44]

*Europe's Most Distressing Chart: For Banks 2016 Is Already Worse Than 2008
ZeroHedge | author | 02/12/16

... But did you know that for most European banks, 2016 is shaping up far worse than the dreaded 2008? As the following chart from Reuters shows, the year-to-date stock price performance for most European banks is on pace to far surpass - to the downside - the dreadful for the global financial system 2008.

As Reuters puts its it, "Euro zone banks have seen their shares plummet by nearly 30 percent and yields on their bonds surge since the start of the year, as investors worried about thinning profits and uncomfortably high levels of bad loans in some countries." ... Read more
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This Is The NIRP "Doom Loop" That Threatens To Wipeout Banks And The Global Economy
ZeroHedge | author | 02/12/16

It went something like this: over indebted sovereigns depended on domestic banks to buy their debt, but when yields on that debt spiked, the banks took a hit, inhibiting their ability to fund the sovereign, whose yields would then rise some more, further curtailing banks' ability to help out, and so on and so forth.

Well don't look now, but central bankers' headlong plunge into NIRP-dom has created another "doom loop" whereby negative rates weaken banks whose profits are already crimped by the new regulatory regime, sharply lower revenue from trading, and billions in fines. Weak banks then pull back on lending, thus weakening the economy further and compelling policy makers to take rates even lower in a self-perpetuating death spiral. Meanwhile, bank stocks plunge raising questions about the entire sector's viability and that, in turn, raises the specter of yet another financial market meltdown. ... Read more
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More News
  1. Yellen's dilemma: A downturn with no easy response (Reuters)
  2. Clinton, Sanders clash over Obama as they vie for minority votes (Reuters)
  3. Risk Grows of Markets Sparking Recession (WSJ)
  4. Global Stock Rout Eases Amid Oil Advance as German Bonds Decline (BBG)
  5. U.S. Benchmark Yield Will Be at Record Low in March at This Rate (BBG)
  6. Oil Prices Rally on Hopes of Production Cuts (WSJ)
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, February 12 [11:21]
*DR | Friday News -- Domestic (02/12/16) [1hr]
The Republican presidential field narrows after a dramatic New Hampshire primary. The Department of Justice sues Ferguson, Missouri after the city amends a police reform deal. And the Supreme Court puts President Obama's climate regulations on hold. A panel of journalists joins Diane for analysis of the week's top national news stories.
*DR | Friday News -- International (02/12/16) [1hr]
The U.S. warns that Russian airstrikes in Syria are harming peace talks. NATO sends warships to the Aegean Sea to deter migrant smuggling. And in a rebuke to North Korea, Seoul closes a shared industrial complex. A panel of journalists joins Diane for analysis of the week's top international news stories.
TRNN | Chris Hedges debate: Can Change Come From Within the Democratic Party? (02/11/16) [13:41]
Interesting debate between Jay and Chris Hedges
RT | CrossTalk: on Syria, Assad Will Win (02/12/16) [23:46]
RT | Keiser Report: Conditions for Anger (E874) (02/11/16) [25:45]
Creating buffer zone? Turkey sets up refugee camps inside Syria (02/12/16) [3:36]
RoF | Elizabeth Warren: Justice System Rigged In Favor Of The Wealthy (02/11/16) [4:39]
RoF | Big Pharma Vultures Plan To Rig 2016 Election (02/11/16) [4:42]
Thom Hartmann - www.thomhartmann.com/
*ThomHartmann | Are We Safe from Wall Street Scams? (full) (02/11/16) [57:26]
Note: In the First 12 Minutes - Thom talks with America's Lawyer, Mike Papantonio, about Wall Street scandals and the SEC after ABC has come out with a new mini-series about scam artist, Bernie Madoff.
Aljazeera
Aljazeera | Inside Story - How can we stop the spread of superbugs? (02/11/16) [24:40]
NPR (National Public Radio) - www.npr.org/
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - pbs.org/
MSNBC - Maddow/Hayes - www.msnbc.com/

02.12.2016. 10:20

Thursday February 11, 2016
News Articles
Todays Headlines
FEARS GROW: GOP SPLIT CONVENTION... Nightmare For GOP: Nobody Cracks 40%... Window For Any Republican To Clinch Nomination Before Convention Is 'Rapidly Closing'... Armageddon For GOP Establishment... Delegate Tracker... Next Up: Nasty South Carolina... MARCOBOT Hits Control-Alt-Delete... Cruz: It's Down To Me And Trump... Bush Bounce? Donors Celebrate... Milbank: Jeb 'Looks Alive'... Trump Retweets White Nationalist Account...

"It's A Weird Suicide Mission That Will Have A Very Dark End"
ZeroHedge | author | 02/11/16

Earlier today we reported that Saudi Arabia has made a “final” decision to invade Syria.

Of course they won’t use the term “invade.” They’ll say the same thing the US says, which is that they need to send in a limited number of ground troops to help fight ISIS.

The timing of the announcement quite clearly suggests that the Saudis are going to try and shore up the rebels who are facing imminent defeat at Aleppo where Hezbollah, backed by Russian airstrikes, is about to overrun the opposition. ... Read more

Online Public Schools Are a Disaster, Admits Billionaire, Charter School-Promoter Walton Family Foundation
AlterNet | Steven Rosenfeld | 02/11/16

For the second time in three months, the Walton Family Foundation -- which has spent more than $1 billion to create a quarter of the nation's 6,700 public charter schools -- has announced that all online public school instruction, via cyber charter schools, is a colossal disaster for most K-12 students.

"If virtual charters were grouped together and ranked as a single school district, it would be the ninth largest in the country and among the worst performing," co-wrote Walton's Marc Sternberg and Marc Holley, respectively the foundation's director of educational giving and its evaluation unit director, in a recent Education Week commentary. "Online education must be reimagined. Ignoring the problem -- or worse, replicating failures -- serves nobody." ... Read more

The Art Of The Deal
Donald Trump's The Art Of The Deal: The Movie (trailer) (02/10/16) [1:09]
Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie (full) [50:03]

European Sovereign Risk Soars As Systemic Fears Mount
ZeroHedge | author | 02/11/16

"Whatever it takes" is not enough, it would appear as the fragility and interconnectedness forced upon the European banking/sovereign finance ponzi has rapidly come home to roost for Draghi and his followers. Peripheral bond risk has flipped from "hold your nose" buys to panic sells with Portugal risk exploding 200bps in the last week. As the European banking system's credit risk rises 2012-crisis-like, it seems belief in a bigger bazooka is fading fast.

It's not just Deutsche Bank... Read more

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Deutsche Bank Is Back: 5 Year Sub CDS Soar To Record High
ZeroHedge | author | 02/11/16

"Worse than Lehman" is how one European bond market trader described the carnage this week as the brief respite that ECB monetization and debt-buyback rumors provided yesterday have morphed into utter destruction this morning. European (and US) banks are a sea of contagious red with Deutsche Bank the tip of the collapse spear. Credit risk on Deutsche has exploded this morning with Sub CDS trading up 85bps to a record high 540bps... eerily reminiscent of the pre-Lehman bankruptcy week in 2008. ... Read more

Markets Around The World Are Crashing
ZeroHedge | author | 02/11/16
Read more

There's A Lesson In Spain's Surreal, Unfinished Cities (PICTURES)
HP | Kate Abbey-Lambertz | 02/11/16

In a memorable scene in "The Big Short," the Oscar-nominated 2015 movie about the financial crisis, a real estate agent shows the main characters around a desolate Florida subdivision. She insists that the market is just in a lull as they drive past rows and rows of vacant homes.

But it wasn't just a lull. It was the housing bubble bursting, and that emptiness was replicated in communities around the world as people lost their homes and developers' projects went bust. One of the worst cases was in Spain, where there were more than 3 million unoccupied homes in 2014. ... Read more

More News
  1. Gold Roars to One-Year High as Turmoil Drives Safe Haven Demand (BBG)
  2. Banking Stocks Pummeled in Europe (WSJ)
  3. Dollar, stocks plunge sparks scramble for safety (Reuters)
  4. Nymex Crude Slips Below $27 a Barrel (WSJ)
  5. No Respite for S&P 500 as U.S. Stock Futures Join Global Selloff (BBG)
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Thursday, February 11 [11:02]
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
CorbettReport | Bernie Sanders Explains Why He's Different From Trump (02/11/16) [7:01]
*DR | The Latest on the Military, Political and Humanitarian Crises in Syria (02/11/16) [1hr]
Russia continues airstrikes in Syria. Secretary Kerry meets with world leaders in an attempt to resolve the country's five-year civil war. A panel joins Diane to discuss the latest on the military, political and humanitarian crises facing Syria.
TRNN | Robert Pollin Discusses: SCOTUS Blocks Obama Clean Power Plan, Hinders Future of Environmental Legislation (02/11/16) [5:00]
TRNN | Sanders Campaign Inspiring Movement Beyond the Election (02/10/16) [24:35]
TYT | Super Delegates Give Clinton Tie, Despite CRUSHING Sanders Win In NH Primary (02/10/16) [15:02]
TYT | Superdelegates Explained (02/10/16) [8:44]
American politics is understandably confusing. One weird facet is the difference between delegates and super delegates. John Iadarola, host of ThinkTank, explains the difference as he delivers his Final Judgment on delegates vs superdelegates.
TYT | Carly Fiorina Drops Out Of 2016 Republican Presidential Race (02/10/16) [6:01]
TYT | Rupert Murdoch Calls Chris Christie A "Suicide Bomber" (02/10/16) [6:14]
RoF | Ring of Fire (E242) - The Undying Koch Problem (full) (02/10/16) [29:00]
Thom Hartmann - www.thomhartmann.com/
ThomHartmann | Bernie & Trump Agree On Trade Issues (02/11/16) [4:32]
ThomHartmann | Economist Explains Why a Bernie Economy Would Soar (02/11/16) [10:19]
NPR (National Public Radio) - www.npr.org/
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - pbs.org/
MSNBC - Maddow/Hayes - www.msnbc.com/

02.11.2016. 12:43

Wednesday February 10, 2016
News Articles
Some of Today's Headlines
A TALE OF TWO PARTIES, Civility, Empathy, Compassionate Conservatism vs. Racist, Sexist, Xenophobic Demagoguery ...

New Hampshire Primaries
Click picture to zoom in

Read more

A Democratic Socialist Just Won The New Hampshire Primary
HP | Samantha Lachman | 02/09/16

New Hampshire’s Democratic primary voters confirmed Tuesday that they do, in fact, want a self-described democratic socialist as their party’s presidential nominee.

Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont, had consistently led former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in polls of the Granite State since last fall, with margins that frequently surpassed 20 percent. On Tuesday, he defeated Clinton handily. ... Read more

*TYT | Who's The Biggest Winner Of The New Hampshire Primary Election? (02/09/16) [8:18]
TYT | Donald Trump Wins New Hampshire Republican Primary Election (02/09/16) [5:45]
*TYT | Bernie Sanders Wins New Hampshire Democratic Primary Election (02/09/16) [12:08]

Two-thirds of New Hampshire Republican primary voters want to ban Muslims
Salon | author | date

At this stage in the race, everything gets filtered first through the “horse race” lens, and so the immediate take on this is clearly that this is good for Donald Trump, the only candidate who has seriously backed the idea that this country should ban Muslims from entering our country.

But the real story here is the real damage that has been done by a Republican primary where the candidates constantly compete over who is most certain that ISIS is hiding in their bushes. Even those Republican candidates who have pushed back against Trump’s proposed travel ban for Muslims have nonetheless pushed the idea that Muslims are inherently untrustworthy people that should be handled very carefully, as if they are beehives instead of people.

"Together, we have sent the message that will echo from Wall Street to Washington, from Maine to California," Sanders said at his victory party in Concord, New Hampshire. "And that is that the government of our great country belongs to all of the people, and not just a handful of wealthy campaign contributors and their super PACs." ... Read more

John Mack: Don't Worry About Deutsche Bank, It Will Be Bailed Out By The Government
ZeroHedge | author | 02/10/16

It was illuminating, if not surprising, that during an interview with Bloomberg TV discussing the future of Deutsche Bank, John Mack said that "there’s no question in my mind, it is absolutely good for every penny." In other words, "Deutsche Bank is fine." Why is he so confident? According to Mack, "this idea that I heard yesterday, the possibility of not making their interest payments, it’s just absurd. The government will not let that happen." ... Read more

USDJPY Plunges To 113 Handle - Gives Up QQE2 Gains
ZeroHedge | author | 02/10/16

Central Banks are losing control everywhere... Read more

"It's Worse Than 2008": CEO Of World's Largest Shipping Company Delivers Dire Assessment Of Global Economy
ZeroHedge | author | 02/10/16

“It is worse than in 2008. The oil price is as low as its lowest point in 2008-09 and has stayed there for a long time and doesn’t look like going up soon. Freight rates are lower. The external conditions are much worse but we are better prepared.” ... Read more

The Fed's Zombie Economy: ROI Crashes 80% In 40 Years
ZeroHedge | author | 02/10/16

In the new bizarro world where you pay banks for the privilege of giving them your money, one has to wonder what will be the next thing to break the zero bound. When one of the largest corporations in America has over $100 billion in revenue but can't even make $1 billion in profits, it's easy to imagine a few possibilities.

American corporations have been playing a musical chairs game where the loser gets taken out back and shot. During the last 40 years, the life expectancy of firms in the Fortune 500 has declined from 75 years to less than 15 years. In what Forbes called "the most important business study ever," Deloitte released The Shift Index, which compiles the ROI of 20,000 US firms from 1965-2009. The chart shows an 80% collapse in the average ROI of American businesses. ... Read more

If Chesapeake Does Not Go Bankrupt In Just Over One Month, This Could Be The Trade Of The Year
ZeroHedge | author | 02/10/16

Yes, Chesapeake will default, but the question is when. For those who think the company will somehow survive for a more than a month without filing Chapter 11 or arranging some prepackaged bankruptcy, and actually repays the $500 million issue, this could be the trade that makes someone's full year. ... Read more

BP's Stunning Warning: "Every Oil Storage Tank Will Be Full In A Few Months"
ZeroHedge | author | 02/10/16

"We are very bearish for the first half of the year. In the second half, every tank and swimming pool in the world is going to fill." ... Read more



Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Wednesday, February 10 [12:09]
*DR | Analysis Of The New Hampshire Primary (02/10/16) [1hr]
TRNN | Coverage of New Hampshire primary: Hector Salamanca Arroyo (02/10/16) [15:41]
TRNN | Economists, Dr. Graham Gudgin and Jo Michell, Discusses: The Wilting UK Economy (02/09/16) [17:02]
TYT | Our Next Vice President? (02/09/16) [4:48]
TYT | The MOST Important Moment Of The New Hampshire Primary Election (02/09/16) [8:13]
TYT | New Hampshire Primary Election: The Biggest Fail Was... (02/09/16) [4:35]
*RT | Race to Washington: Trump & Sanders win first primary vote in US presidential race... but what about the Superdelegates?? (02/10/16) [7:45]
A "superdelegate" is a delegate to the Democratic National Convention or Republican National Convention that is seated automatically, based on their status as current (Republican and Democratic) or former (Democratic only) party leader or elected official. Other superdelegates are chosen during the primary season. All the superdelegates are free to support any candidate for the nomination. This contrasts with convention delegates that are selected based on the party primaries and caucuses in each U.S. state, in which voters choose among candidates for the party's presidential nomination.
List of Democratic Party superdelegates, 2016 (Wikipedia)
*RT | CrossTalk: Rumors of War (02/10/16) [24:23]
Wars and rumors of wars: The Pentagon has requested an unprecedented budget. What threatens the United States and its allies the most? Is Russia one of those threats, or is it more failed military interventions?
*RoF | Report: TPP Would Ravage The U.S. Economy (02/10/16) [1:51]
Thom Hartmann - www.thomhartmann.com/
*ThomHartmann | Ben & Jerry Are "Feeling the Bern" (02/09/16) [8:04]
Aljazeera | Inside Story
*Inside Story - Will Syria's war be won or lost in Aleppo? (02/09/16) [25:25]
*Inside Story - Is the European project collapsing? (02/07/16) [25:14]
NPR (National Public Radio) - www.npr.org/
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - pbs.org/
MSNBC - Maddow/Hayes - www.msnbc.com/

02.10.2016. 12:14

Tuesday February 09, 2016
News Articles

Nikkei Posts Biggest Drop In 3 Years As Global Growth Fears Hit Banks
Reuters & HP | author | 02/09/16

Banks took the brunt of the sell-off in Japan while a stronger yen dragged down stocks across the board.

Japan's Nikkei share average posted its biggest daily drop in nearly three years on Tuesday, with banks taking the brunt of the sell-off, while a stronger yen dragged down stocks across the board. The Nikkei ended 5.4 percent lower at 16,085.44 points, its lowest closing level since Jan. 21 and its heftiest percentage drop since mid-2013.

European banks led a global sell-off in financial stocks overnight as signs of stress in the sector mounted, triggering sharp selling in the beaten-down Japanese banking sector. ... Read more

The Idea That Hillary Clinton Took $200k+ Per Speech From Banks and Corporations Is Obscene
Or
Are Our Politicians Being Bought (On Both Sides)
AlterNet | Les Leopold | 02/08/16

The typical American has to work five years to earn that much.

Anderson Cooper: "But did you have to be paid $675,000 [for three speeches to Goldman Sachs]?"

Hillary Clinton: "Well, I don't know. That's what they offered."

Hillary is misleading us at best by saying that her $225,000-per-speech fee, paid three times by Goldman Sachs, was "what they offered." It was not what they offered, it was what Team Hillary demanded.

A review of her 2014 tax return, posted on her website, shows that $225,000 per speech was her minimum fee.

She received $225,000 for 34 of the 41 speeches listed on her tax return. Of the remaining seven speeches, two were for 250,000 and the others for $265,000, $275,000, $285,000, $305,000 and $400,000. In total she received $9,680,000 for these speaking engagements in 2013. Read more

Rubio Allies Say He Panics During Moments Of Crisis
Stephen Colbert | Watch Colbert Roasts Rubiobot Debate Flop & Ben Carson's Debate Entrance (02/08/16) [4:44]

Deutsche Bank Stock Crashes To Record Low
ZeroHedge | author | 02/09/16

Moments ago, in response to DB's open querry on Twitter whether the Dax is "overreacting", we highlighted DB's soaring CDS and asked if perhaps the market was not underreacting. Minutes later the market opined, by sending DB stock to new all time lows. ... Read more

Deutsche Bank Selling Resumes After CEO Assures Employees Bank Is "Absolutely Rock Solid"
ZeroHedge | author | 02/09/16

Yesterday's desperate scramble by Deutsche Bank to comfort markets about its liquidity position worked, for about three hours. And then, the bank which really should just keep its mouth shut, did the opposite and reminded an already panicked market just how "serious" things are, in the parlance of Jean-Claude Junkcer, when in an internal memo, the CEO assured his workers that:

DEUTSCHE BANK CEO: CAP STRENGTH, RISK POSITIONS 'ROCK SOLID'

That was the good news. The bad news:

DEUTSCHE BANK TO INFORM STAFF IN COMING WEEKS ABOUT COST CUTS
Read more

World Equity Market "Wealth" Crashes $6 Trillion Below 2007 Highs
ZeroHedge | author | 02/09/16

Global equity market investors have lost a stunning $16.5 trillion of their newfound CB-fueled "wealth" in the last six months. This has erased half of the gains from the 2011 lows (but of course leaves all the debt created still in place). However, what is perhaps more troubling given the unprecedented money-printing since the last crisis peak, is that global equity market "wealth" is now down 10% from its November 2007 prior highs.

Trillions of money printed and debt created and equity "wealth" is now down $6 trillion from the 2007 highs... Read more
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More News
  1. Investors dump stocks (Reuters)
  2. Global Bond Rally Near `Panic' Level With Japan Yield Below Zero (BBG)
  3. Global Growth Fears Hit Bank Stocks (WSJ)
  4. GOP Race for Second in New Hampshire Intensifies (WSJ)
  5. N.H. Primary: Where Each 2016 Candidate Needs to Place to Build Momentum (WSJ)
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Tuesday, February 09 [6:51]
CorbettReport | Bill O'Reilly Explains Why Trump & Sanders Are The Same, Part 1 (02/09/16) [6:55], Part 2 [4:17]
*DR | Improving Doctor-Patient Communication In A Digital World (02/09/16) [1hr]
Poor communication between doctors and patients is widely seen as a problem in American healthcare. Now more and more healthcare providers are giving patients new ways of accessing doctors to ask questions or express concerns. In the age of email, texting, video chatting and social media, a look at the promise and limitations of digital communication to improve patient experiences and outcomes.
*TRNN | Bill Black review: Hollywood Glorifies Bankers, Ignores Unsung Whistleblowers, Part 1 (02/08/16) [9:42], Part 2 [9:49]
*Bill Black explains: Did Financial Giant Goldman Sachs Just Admit the System is Rigged? (05/06/16) [11:11]
*TYT | Marco Rubio Robot Defends Malfunctioning On Campaign Trail (02/08/16) [8:09]
TYT | Jeb Bush Responds To Trump's Patronizing Debate Attacks (02/08/16) [5:08]
*RT | Keiser Report: Efficacy of Capitalism (E873) (02/09/16) [25:31]
In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss the efficacy of capitalism as profits remain high and with no competition on the horizon to put a dent in those high profit margins. They discuss hedge funds and bankers unhappy with the "new Spain" where justice is imposed and also at the "folly for the ages" as a major energy company liquidates itself through financialization gone wrong. In the second half, they look at the peer-to-peer lending Ponzi schemes imploding in China.
RoF | GOP Candidates Want To Protect Billionaires From "Class Warfare" (02/08/16) [2:09]
Thom Hartmann - www.thomhartmann.com/
ThomHartmann | Dr Michael Greger/How Not to Die, Part 1 (02/08/16) [12:46], Part 2 [12:31]
NPR (National Public Radio) - www.npr.org/
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - pbs.org/
MSNBC - Maddow/Hayes - www.msnbc.com/

02.09.2016. 12:13

Monday February 08, 2016
News Articles
ABC News Republican Presidential Debate - New Hampshire Feb. 6, 2016 [1:36:17]
*TYT | ABC News Republican Presidential Debate: The Young Turks Summary (02/06/16) [3:13]
TYT | ABC News Republican Presidential Debate: The Biggest Winner (02/06/16) [3:51]
TYT | ABC News Republican Presidential Debate: The Biggest Loser (02/06/16) [5:16]
New Hampshire polls

Marco Rubio's Struggle To Be More Than A Talking Point Machine
HP | Matt Fuller | 02/07/16

With a solid debate performance over the weekend and a strong showing in New Hampshire Tuesday, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio had a chance to put the rest of the GOP establishment on borrowed time. Instead, there is a real danger for Rubio that a Granite State stumble could turn into a national fall.

He could still relegate the other mainstream Republicans to the fringe with a decisive victory here in the first-in-the-nation primary Tuesday. But following his third place performance in Iowa, Rubio faces a dangerous electoral concoction: a combination of high expectations and the possibility that another establishment candidate, such as Ohio Gov. John Kasich, could beat him. ... Read more

These Are The Banks The Market Is Most Concerned About
ZeroHedge | author | 02/05/16

While there are numerous financial institutions in the world that are full of hidden NPLs and over-leveraged, trading at extreme levels of risk, the FSA's "Too-Interconnected-To-Fail" list of systemically critical banks is where global investors' attention is really focused.

BMO Capital Markets breaks down the world's most systemically critical financial institutions using their own "special sauce" of CDS levels, CDS term structure, equity price, liquidity, and spread trends.

Frankly, as we explained previously, these are the "Musketeer" banks - one for all and all for one as any system failure in Deutsche, Credit Suisse, or Bank of China will leak immeasurably and contagiously around the world via the interconnectedness of the collateral chains used to fund these behemoths. Read more
Click picture to zoom in

Back in April 2013, we showed for the first time something few were aware of, namely that "At $72.8 Trillion, The Bank With The Biggest Derivative Exposure In The World" was not JPMorgan as some had expected, but Germany's banking behemoth, Deutsche bank. ... Click picture to zoom in

European Bank Bloodbath Crashes Bond, Stock Markets
ZeroHedge | author | 02/08/16

... As Deutsche Bank itself warned, any more easing by The ECB or BOJ will only hurt banks (and certainly Deutsche). In other words, they are all officially trapped now. Read more

Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Monday, February 08 [11:02]
TRNN | Norman Solomon Discusses: Corporate Media Endorses Clinton to Defend Their Own Interests (02/07/16) [8:41]
TRNN | TRNN speaks to New Hampshire voters two days before the first primary of 2016 (02/07/16) [8:30]
TRNN | A Hidden War - The Empire's Border Part 2 (02/07/16) [24:55] *TYT | Wall Street Bankster On Bernie Sanders (02/07/16) [9:27]
TYT | Jimmy Carter On President Donald Trump (02/07/16) [4:03]
TYT | Jeb Bush's Latest Campaign Ad Starring A VERY Special Guest (02/07/16) [5:22]
RT | CrossTalk: Bullhorns Spin The Spin (02/08/16) [24:24]
RT | Keiser Report: 'Lunatics' vs 'Mass Murderers' in US Pres Elex (E872) (02/06/16) [25:45]
In the second half, Max continues his interview with Brenda Kelly, head analyst at London Capital Group, about oil prices, negative interest rates and the tapped out consumer unable to take advantage of either. They also discuss currency wars.
RoF | Bernie's Progressive Momentum Is What Movements Are Made Of (02/07/16) [13:04]
Thom Hartmann - www.thomhartmann.com/
*ThomHartmann | Bernie Erases Hillary's National Lead (full) (02/05/16) [57:20]
Aljazeera
Aljazeera | Is America at war with Islam? (02/07/16) [42:54]
NPR (National Public Radio) - www.npr.org/
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - pbs.org/
MSNBC - Maddow/Hayes - www.msnbc.com/
Kelly Nykes, Co-Director, Requiem for the American Dream (2015) [10:45]
99% v 1%: the data behind the Occupy movement (2011) [5:41]
The Real Reason Oil Is So Cheap And How Rockefeller and Rothschild Are Involved (01/21/16) [9:39]

02.08.2016. 10:52

Friday February 05, 2016
News Articles
MSNBC | Democratic Debate
FULL MSNBC Democratic Debate: Hillary Clinton VS Bernie Sanders - New Hampshire Feb. 4, 2016 (02/05/16) [2:03:12]
TYT | MSNBC | Democratic Debate: The Young Turks Summary (02/04/16) [9:18]
TYT | MSNBC | Democratic Debate: The Biggest Winner Was... (02/04/16) [7:56]

Historic Meeting Of Christian Leaders Aims To Heal 1,000-Year-Old Rift
Reuters & HP | Philip Pullella | 02/05/16

Pope Francis To Hold Historic Meeting In Cuba With Russian Orthodox Church Leader

Pope Francis and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church will meet in Cuba next week in what could be a historic step towards healing the 1,000-year-old rift between the Western and Eastern branches of Christianity. The Vatican and the Moscow Patriarchate announced on Friday that Francis will stop in Cuba on Feb. 12 his way to Mexico to hold talks with Patriarch Kirill, the first in history between a Roman Catholic pope and a Russian Orthodox patriarch. ... Read more

Oh, By the Way
Sakurajima volcano erupts 50km from nuclear plant in Japan (02/05/16) [1:18]
TPP deal sparks protests, central Auckland shutdown in New Zealand (02/05/16) [4:20]

Islamophobia is real. And it's not going anywhere.
HP | Christopher Mathias | 02/05/16

After last year's terror attacks in Paris and mass shooting in San Bernardino, California -- and amidst a surge in anti-Muslim rhetoric from U.S. politicians -- reports about Muslims in America facing violence, harassment, intimidation and bigotry have become omnipresent. Many Muslims say Islamophobia is worse now than it's ever been -- even worse than it was after 9/11.

A comprehensive list of discriminatory acts against American Muslims might be impossible, but The Huffington Post will document this deplorable wave of hate for all of 2016 using news reports and firsthand accounts.The breadth and severity of Islamophobia in America can no longer go unnoticed. Enough is enough. ... Read more

70% Of Jobs Added In January Were Minimum Wage Waiters And Retail Workers

When Private Credit Stops Expanding...
ZeroHedge | author | 02/05/16

Once private credit rolls over in China and the U.S., the global recession will start its rapid slide down the Seneca Cliff.

Few question the importance of private credit in the global economy. When households and businesses are borrowing to expand production and buy homes, vehicles, etc., the economy expands smartly.

When private credit shrinks--that is, as businesses and households stop borrowing more and start paying down existing debt--the result is at best stagnation and at worst recession or depression. Read more

Click picture to zoom in

Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, February 05 [10:21]
*DR | Friday News -- Domestic (02/05/16) [1hr]
Note: starts at 5m30s on the Progressbar
As the New Hampshire primary looms, Republicans brawl over tactics used in the Iowa caucuses. The F.B.I. joins the Flint drinking water investigation. And President Obama calls for religious tolerance at his first mosque visit. A panel of journalists joins Diane for analysis of the week's top national news stories.
*DR | Friday News -- International (02/05/16) [1hr]
The U.N. suspends Syrian peace talks until late this month. The U.S. plans to quadruple military spending in Europe as a signal to Russia. And American officials express concern about ISIS in Libya. A panel of journalists joins guest host Tom Gjelten for analysis of the week's top international news stories.
TRNN | Media critic Jeff Cohen says: Is Clinton "A Progressive Who Gets Stuff Done"? (02/04/16) [12:06]
TRNN | Stephen Zunes Discusses: Did Hillary Lie About Her Iraq War Vote? (02/04/16) [13:28]
TRNN | Can a socialist choose Hillary over Bernie? Playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner discusses Socialism, Zionism, Hollywood, and the 2016 elections. (02/04/16) [29:05]
RT | Keiser Report: Stupid people & stupid policies (E871) (02/04/16) [25:45]
In this episode of the Keiser Report back in London, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert get the popcorn and the potato chips out to discuss the symbolism of negative interest rates, yield curves and intraday oil price swings. In the second half, Max interviews Brenda Kelly, head analyst at London Capital Group, about negative interest rates, US durable goods orders and fraud booms.
RoF | Lunatic Bachmann Says Obama Is About To Reveal Himself As Anti-Christ (02/04/16) [2:54]
Thom Hartmann - www.thomhartmann.com/
ThomHartmann | What Today's TPP Signing Means (02/05/16) [9:49]
ThomHartmann | You Say You Want A (Political) Revolution (full) (02/05/16) [57:19]
Click picture to zoom in

NPR (National Public Radio) - www.npr.org/
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - pbs.org/
MSNBC - Maddow/Hayes - www.msnbc.com/

02.05.2016. 11:50

Thursday February 04, 2016
News Articles
Feb 3 CNN Democratic Presidential Town Hall
CNN Democratic Presidential Town Hall: Bernie Sanders (full) (02/03/16) [33:25]
CNN Democratic Presidential Town Hall: Hillary Clinton (full) (02/03/16) [35:13]
TYT | CNN Democratic Presidential Town Hall: The Young Turks Summary (02/03/16) [9:18]
TYT | CNN Democratic Presidential Town Hall: Biggest Winner (02/03/16) [5:02]
TYT | CNN Democratic Presidential Town Hall: Money In Politics (02/03/16) [9:44]

S&P Downgrades Glencore To Lowest Investment Grade Rating
ZeroHedge | author | 02/04/16

Overnight, one of the two rating agencies, Standard and Poors, came one step closer to that fateful moment of junking Glencore when it downgraded Glencore, however it decided to throw the company one last lifeline by keeping it at the very lowest investment grade rating, and instead of cutting it from BBB to single B or CCC where its CDS and bond yield implies the company should be trading, it kept it a BBB-. ... Read more

Stephen Colbert | Hungry For Power Games: Iowa Cornucopia Bloodbath (02/03/16) [7:30]
'Jesus' Reads Quotes From Republican Candidates (02/02/16) [1:32]
Interest in New Noam Chomsky Documentary Has Grown So Large That Even the NY Times Ran a Review -- and Praised It!
AlterNet | Alexandra Rosenmann | 02/04/16

Noam Chomsky - 'Requiem For The American Dream' (trailer) (new) [2:20]

The Atlantic Ocean Is Acidifying at a Rapid Rate
takepart.com | Emily J. Gertz | 02/03/16

The paper, published Saturday in the journal Global Biogeochemical Cycles, "shows the large impact all of us are having on the environment," Ryan Woosley of the University of Miami said in a statement. "Our use of fossil fuels isn't only causing the climate to change but also affects the oceans by decreasing the pH."

The burning of oil, coal, and natural gas for energy and the destruction of forests are the leading causes of the carbon dioxide emissions driving climate change. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen from 355 parts per million in 1989 to just over 400 ppm in 2015.

Decreasing pH in seawater can harm the ability of shelled organisms, from microscopic coccolithophores to the oysters and clams that show up on our dinner plates, to build and maintain their bony exteriors. ... Read more

Is The Fed "Seriously Considering" Negative Interest Rates?
ZeroHedge | author | 02/04/16

The Fed may "seriously consider" negative rates after moving rates back to zero, reintroducing forward guidance and making "stronger pleas" to Congress for fiscal policy action as there are complications for money markets, according to BofAML strategist Mark Cabana. ... Read more

Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Thursday, February 04 [7:18]
*TRNN | Bill Black & Mike Konczal Talk About: Sanders vs. Clinton on Wall St. Reform (02/04/16) [19:12]
TYT | Drone Footage Shows Devastation Of Syrian City (02/03/16) [1:44]
*TYT | Poll: Most Americans Want Redistribution Of Wealth (02/03/16) [11:01]
Thom Hartmann - www.thomhartmann.com/
*DR | Update On The Zika Virus (02/04/16) [1hr]
Florida declares a health emergency in counties with the Zika virus; a case is sexually-transmitted in Texas. We get an update on the spread and risks of the Zika virus.
NPR (National Public Radio) - www.npr.org/
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - pbs.org/
MSNBC - Maddow/Hayes - www.msnbc.com/
SGT | This Is It! (01/17/16) [27:48]
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02.04.2016. 12:44

Wednesday February 03, 2016
News Articles

*What Donald Rumsfeld Knew We Didn't Know About Iraq
Politico | John Walcott | 01/24/16

On September 9, 2002, as the George W. Bush administration was launching its campaign to invade Iraq, a classified report landed on the desk of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It came from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and it carried an ominous note. "Please take a look at this material as to what we don't know about WMD," Rumsfeld wrote to Air Force General Richard Myers. "It is big."

The report was an inventory of what U.S. intelligence knew -- or more importantly didn't know -- about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Its assessment was blunt: "We've struggled to estimate the unknowns. ... We range from 0% to about 75% knowledge on various aspects of their program." ... Read more
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Note - That was then, this is now:
Then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, whose military assistant was on the short list of people copied on the JCS report, is one of Jeb Bush's foreign policy experts. Other supporters of the war, though they do not appear to have been aware of the JCS report, are involved in the various advisory roles in the 2016 campaign. John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is advising Ted Cruz; and Elliott Abrams and William Kristol are supporting Marco Rubio, whom Reuters reported is also briefed regularly by former Cheney adviser Eric Edelman.
Stephan Colbert | Everyone Was A Winner In Iowa, Except The Losers (02/02/16) [8:28]

Trump Documentary Exposes Scandalous Truth Behind Billionaire's Real Estate Empire
AlterNet | WhoWhatWhy.Org | 02/01/16

Donald Trump's entire career has been about creating and projecting an image that suits his needs. That has never been truer than during his current presidential bid. But what lies behind the image? Is Trump the genius and unremitting success he would have us believe? Is he the master of knowing how to pull all things off, how to win big while intimidating the bad guys and be loved by everyone else? Watch the movie and find out. ... Read more
WhoWhatWhy.Org | Suppressed Trump Video - Trump: What's the Deal? (2015) [1:22:05]

Here's Aaron Swartz, 19, Describing How Noam Chomsky Blew His Mind
AlterNet | Aaron Swartz | 01/25/16

The following is an excerpt from the new book The Boy Who Could Change The World by Aaron Swartz (The New Press, 2016): In his too-short life, Aaron Swartz reshaped the Internet, questioned our assumptions about intellectual property, and touched all of us in ways that we may not even realize. His tragic suicide in 2013 at the age of twenty-six after being aggressively prosecuted for copyright infringement shocked the nation and the world.

Two years ago this summer I read a book that changed the entire way I see the world. I had been researching various topics -- law, politics, the media -- and become more and more convinced that something was seriously wrong. Politicians, I was shocked to discover, weren't actually doing what the people wanted. And the media, my research found, didn't really care much about that, preferring to focus on such things as posters and polls.

As I thought about this more, its implications struck me as larger and larger. But I still had no bigger picture to fit them in. The media was simply doing a bad job, leading people to be confused. We just had to pressure them to do better and democracy would be restored.

Then, one night, I watched the film Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (I think it had come up in my Netflix queue). First off, it's simply an amazingly good film. I've watched it several times now and each time I'm utterly entranced. It's undoubtedly the best documentary I've seen, weaving together all sorts of clever tricks to enlighten and entertain.... Read more

Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Wednesday, February 03 [9:12]
*DR | Environmental Outlook: The Growth Of Large-Scale Indoor Urban Farming (02/03/16) [1hr]
From Newark to Tokyo, large-scale indoor farms are being built in and around cities worldwide. Proponents argue they provide fresher crops to local consumers, while cutting transportation costs, carbon emissions and water use. But skeptics say they are not cost effective and consume too much energy. The pros and cons of indoor urban agriculture.
*TRNN | Steve LeVine says: Speculators Misunderstood the Oil Wars and Market Meltdown (02/03/16) [11:09]
TRNN | Terry O'Neil debates Elaine Zuckerman on: Sanders and Clinton Tie in Iowa - What does it Mean for Women? (02/03/16) [27:43]
*TYT | The LMDs (Lies of Mass Destruction) That Took Us To War Revealed (02/02/16) [11:32]
A report has just been released that shows how much the Bush administration lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Cenk Uygur delivers his Final Judgment on LMD (Lies of Mass Destruction).
TYT | Iowa Caucus, Republican Bashing (02/02/16) [42:01]
*RT | CrossTalk: Syrian Quagmire (02/03/16) [24:06]
RoF | Former Sec. Of Defense Robert Gates Says A Trump Win Would Be A Threat to National Security. (02/02/16) [2:02]
Thom Hartmann - www.thomhartmann.com/
*ThomHartmann | Richard Wolff - Socialism For Dummies (02/02/16) [7:24]
*ThomHartmann | Why Americans Are Turning Their Backs On Corporate Media… (02/03/16) [4:51]
NPR (National Public Radio) - www.npr.org/
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - pbs.org/
MSNBC - Maddow/Hayes - www.msnbc.com/
MSNBC | Rachel Maddow discusses Sarah Palin's Trump endorsement and Palin (older, 01/20/16) [16:15]
RawStory | Sarah Palin: God is giving Bristol '3rd, 4th and 5th chances' not to get pregnant (2015) [5:51]

02.03.2016. 12:29

Tuesday February 02, 2016
News Articles
Headlines for Today
TRUMP BUYS THE FARM ... DRAMA: BERNIE HILLARY DEAD HEAT ... RUBIO NEARLY PASSES TRUMP! ... IOWANS CHOOSE CRUZ... Donald Goes Down... 'Just Another Loser'... 'The Emperor Has No Clothes'... 2016's First Loser... Trouble Ahead?... THE FIELD THINS: Carson Heads Home... O'Malley Out... Huck Too... PHOTOS... HIGHLIGHTS...

Clinton Appears To Narrowly Beat Sanders In Iowa
HP | Samantha Lachman | 02/02/16

Hillary Clinton appeared to narrowly overtake Democratic rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in Iowa, with all but one precinct reporting results by early Tuesday morning.

According to the Iowa Democratic Party (IDP), the former secretary of state received 699.57 state delegate equivalents, while Sanders was awarded 695.49. Results from Des Moines, the remaining precinct, were still trickling in on Tuesday, but it's not worth enough votes for Sanders to move to first place. There is no mechanism for a recount. Still, the outcome was so close that IDP Chair Andy McGuire called the results a "virtual tie." ... Read more
Click picture to zoom in

TRNN | Bernie Sanders Post Iowa Speech (02/02/16) [16:36]
TRNN | Hillary Clinton Post Iowa Speech (02/02/16) [6:27]
TRNN | Ted Cruz Post Iowa Speech (02/02/16) [32:26]
TRNN | Donald Trump Post Iowa Speech (02/02/16) [3:19]

Make No Mistake: Clinton and Cruz Are Goldman Sachs' Candidates
HP | Travis Irvine | 02/01/16

As bizarre as the 2016 campaign has been so far, there's one thing different from past elections that Americans should agree is a good thing: if a candidate is associated too closely with Wall Street, they look bad. This has been a growing trend over the last few elections -- Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was chastised in 2008 for owning multiple homes and former governor Mitt Romney was deemed "unrelatable" in 2012 for being a multi-millionaire. But now we have a go-to name that symbolizes voters' distrust of Wall Street and the filthy rich: Goldman Sachs. Yes, while the race tightens between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on the left and businessman Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on the right, Clinton and Cruz have both been criticized for their ties to Goldman. This is because the hardships endured by the middle class during the first sixteen years of the 21st century have rightfully made them Wall Street leery. It's an idea that's time has come -- because of Goldman Sachs' documented involvement with the 2008 financial crisis and multiple crises before it, they are at the forefront of this animosity and their involvement with the political process is finally being scrutinized. ... Read more

Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Thursday, February 02 [13:09]
*DR | Analysis Of The Iowa Caucus Results (02/02/16) [1hr]
*TYT | The Biggest Winner And Biggest Loser Of The 2016 Democratic Iowa Caucus (02/02/16) [8:21]
TYT | The Biggest Winner And Biggest Loser Of The 2016 Republican Iowa Caucus (02/02/16) [9:09]
*TYT |Elizabeth Warren's Secret Endorsement of Bernie Sanders (02/01/16) [4:18]
TYT | CNN Tries To Convince Susan Sarandon To Change Her Vote (02/01/16) [9:41]
TYT | Who Is Really "The Establishment" (02/01/16) [6:28]
RofF | Generational War: Baby Boomers Underestimate The Passion Of Young Voters (01/31/16) [4:05]
Thom Hartmann - www.thomhartmann.com/
ThomHartmann | How the Koch Brothers Radicalized the Right (full) (01/27/16) [57:14]
ThomHartmann | Why Ted Cruz Is Unfit to Be President (02/02/16) [7:28]
NPR (National Public Radio) - www.npr.org/
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - pbs.org/
MSNBC - Maddow/Hayes - www.msnbc.com/
Other Videos and Documentaries I Ran Across

02.02.2016. 10:31

Monday February 01, 2016
News Articles

Tonight: Kickoff
HP | Howard Fineman | 02/01/16

... Perhaps 300,000 Iowans will gather in school gyms, libraries and other public places on Monday night at 7 p.m. Central Time to kick off the 2016 presidential campaign by voting in front of each other (Republicans by using a ballot box in the room; Democrats by gathering in groups).

What matters is not the final delegate count -- which will take many months of maneuvering to determine -- but the raw popular vote winners as announced Monday night on TV and online. ... Read more

Three Financial Crimes that Show How the DOJ "Went Easy" on Wall Street
RealNews | Jessica Desvarieux | 01/31/16

Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren has just released a report slamming federal regulators and the Department of Justice. It's titled Rigged Justice 2016: How Weak Enforcement Lets Corporate Offenders Off Easy. The title says it all. Senator Warren goes after how the government fails to adequately punish corporations when they break the law. She says, quote, when government regulators and prosecutors fail to pursue big corporations or their executives who violate the law, corporate criminals have free rein to operate outside the law.

One of the top cases that is brought up in this report is the Standard & Poor settlement back in 2015, where the ratings agency agreed to pay about $1.4 billion in a civil settlement to the DOJ, 19 states, and DC. Just give our viewers a refresher. Why did S&P have to pay that fine, and why does Senator Warren argue that the fine does not go far enough? ... Read more

*Rigged Justice: 2016 by Senator Elizabeth Warren

Laws are effective only to the extent they are enforced. A law on the books has little impact if prosecution is highly unlikely.

This country devotes substantial resources to the prosecution of crimes such as murder, assault, kidnapping, burglary and theft, both in an effort to deter future criminal activity and to provide victims with some degree of justice.

When government regulators and prosecutors fail to pursue big corporations or their executives who violate the law, or when the government lets them off with a slap on the wrist, corporate criminals have free rein to operate outside the law. They can game the system, cheat families, rip off taxpayers, and even take actions that result in the death of innocent victims -- all with no serious consequences. ...
Read more

Bloomberg | Davos 2016 - Where Is the Chinese Economy Heading? (01/21/16) [1:11:16]

Democracy of the Billionaires
AlterNet & Tom Dispatch | Nomi Prins | 01/31/16

Democracy of the Billionaires, The Most Expensive Election Ever Is A Billionaire's Playground (Except for Bernie Sanders) by Nomi Prins

Speaking of the need for citizen participation in our national politics in his final State of the Union address, President Obama said, "Our brand of democracy is hard." A more accurate characterization might have been: "Our brand of democracy is cold hard cash." ... Read more

Paul Craig Roberts: The West Is Being Reduced To Looting Itself
ZeroHedge | author | 02/01/16

I, Michael Hudson, John Perkins, and a few others have reported the multi-pronged looting of peoples by Western economic institutions, principally the big New York Banks with the aid of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Third World countries were and are looted by being inticed into development plans for electrification or some such purpose. The gullible and trusting governments are told that they can make their countries rich by taking out foreign loans to implement a Western-presented development plan, with the result being sufficient tax revenues from economic development to service the foreign loan.

Seldom, if ever, does this happen. What happens is that the plan results in the country becoming indebted to the limit and beyond of its foreign currency earnings. When the country is unable to service the development loan, the creditors send the IMF to tell the indebted government that the IMF will protect the government's credit rating by lending it the money to pay its bank creditors. However, the conditions are that the government take necessary austerity measures so that the government can repay the IMF. These measures are to curtail public services and the government sector, reduce public pensions, and sell national resources to foreigners. The money saved by reduced social benefits and raised by selling off the country's assets to foreigners serves to repay the IMF. ... Read more

Thom Hartmann - www.thomhartmann.com/
NPR (National Public Radio) - www.npr.org/
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - pbs.org/
MSNBC - Maddow/Hayes - www.msnbc.com/
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Monday, February 01 [12:09]
*DR | Shortages Of Children's Cancer Drugs And How To Allocate Them (02/01/16) [1hr]
*TRNN | Ellen Brown breaks down Senator Warren's report: Three Financial Crimes that Show How the DOJ "Went Easy" on Wall Street (02/01/16) [10:48]
TRNN | Paul Jay talks to a group of Bernie Sanders supporters: The Movement Goes Beyond the Man, Say Sanders Supporters (02/01/16) [40:12]
*TRNN | Along the southern border of the United States is a graveyard, where hundreds upon hundreds of human remains are waiting to be found in the sand. They are teenagers, mothers and spouses walking the only path available to them - away from poverty and violence: towards their families, the only place safer and easier to eat. (02/01/16) [24:37]
*TYT | PHONY Christian Ted Cruz Doesn't Follow Important Biblical Rule (01/31/16) [6:28]
RT | Keiser Report: Tumbling, Fumbling Ruble (special Moscow series) (E869) (01/30/16) [25:42]
In the second half, Max interviews Vladimir Rojanovsky, head of research at OK Broker Investment Company, about the ruble's tumble and what that means for the Russian economy going forward.
RT | Secular State? Spread of Islam puts tough question of what is main UK religion (01/31/16) [3:20]
RT | 'West can't live without enemies': Swedish general warns of 'upcoming war' (01/29/16) [5:44]
AlJazeera
AlJazeera | UpFront - Hans Blix on the threat of nuclear war (01/29/16) [25:02]
AlJazeera | Geneva Peace Talks: What stands between Syria and peace? (01/31/16) [34:17]
Other Videos and Documentaries I Ran Across
Note: I don't endorse any of the videos in this section.
As I construct My News Pages I constantly run across a lot of NEW videos, and since I find YouTube frustrating trying to re-find videos, I save the links in this section so I can find them again.

02.01.2016. 12:06



Special Interest Important stuff
GOOD Shorts Videos

Note: To view a video, click on code at left of the title

I'm still working on this

GOOD Short Videos
Newer Documentaries You Might Not Have Seen

Note: To view a video, click on code at left of the title

I'm still working on this

Newer Documentaries
Documentaries You've Never Seen

Note: To view a video, click on code at left of the title
Documentaries (small | pop-up)
Documentaries (big | full screen)
Good YouTube Documentaries

Note: To view a video, click on its name/title
Great YouTube Docs. (small | pop-up)
Good YouTube Docs. (big | full screen)

Lindsey Graham Mashups
Lindsey Graham

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said the quiet part aloud on why he’s still so close to former President Donald Trump: because we can use him for our goals. "President Trump has gotten people who wouldn't give me or Romney or anybody else the time of day. They believe he is on their side," the senator told the America First Agenda Summit crowd on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

Or click here for a tablet or a small screen device
Environment & Climate Change
Environment

The term "climate change" is often used to refer specifically to anthropogenic climate change (also known as global warming). Anthropogenic climate change is caused by human activity, as opposed to changes in climate that may have resulted as part of Earth's natural processes.

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AI - Artificial Intelligence | Machine Learning | Deep Learning
AI - Artificial Intelligence

AIArtificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence demonstrated by machines, as opposed to the natural intelligence displayed by animals including humans. AI research has been defined as the field of study of intelligent agents, which refers to any system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of achieving its goals.

The term "artificial intelligence" had previously been used to describe machines that mimic and display "human" cognitive skills that are associated with the human mind, such as "learning" and "problem-solving". This definition has since been rejected by major AI researchers who now describe AI in terms of rationality and acting rationally, which does not limit how intelligence can be articulated.
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Quantum mechanics | AI - Artificial Intelligence
Quantum mechanics

Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles.  It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, quantum field theory, quantum technology, and quantum information science.
Classical physics, the collection of theories that existed before the advent of quantum mechanics, describes many aspects of nature at an ordinary (macroscopic) scale, but is not sufficient for describing them at small (atomic and subatomic) scales. Most theories in classical physics can be derived from quantum mechanics as an approximation valid at large (macroscopic) scale.
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Economy, Wall Street and Banksters

Wall Street and Banksters

Wall Street is an eight-block-long street running roughly northwest to southeast from Broadway to South Street, at the East River, in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, the American financial services industry (even if financial firms are not physically located there), or New York-based financial interests.

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Intelligence Agencies/Deep State?

Intelligence Agencies/Deep State?

An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, and foreign policy objectives. Means of information gathering are both overt and covert and may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis,.

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Daniel Ellsberg | Pentagon Papers
Daniel Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg and Paul Jay explore Ellsberg's latest book, The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. In the introduction to the book, Ellsberg writes: "No policies in human history have more deserved to be recognized as immoral or insane. The story of how this calamitous predicament came about and how and why it has persisted over a half a century is a chronicle of human madness".

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Nukes
Nukes

Nuclear weapons have come a long way and come in all types of different sizes. Some are relatively small while others are enormous, so big they boggle the mind at what they can be capable of, i.e. the Soviet 'Tsar Bomba' is/was 3,000 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb.

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Rana Foroohar and Fall of American Business
Rana Foroohar

Ms. Foroohar says financialization delivers stagnant wages, inequality and economic crisis; the Financial Times columnist and author of "Makers and Takers" says the financial sector represents only 7 percent of the U.S. economy, but takes around 25 percent of all corporate profit while creating only 4 percent of all jobs.

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The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone & Petere Kuznick

The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone & Petere Kuznick | 2014 | 10 Episodes

Oliver Stone and American University historian Peter J. Kuznick began working on the project in 2008. Stone, Kuznick and British screenwriter Matt Graham cowrote the script. It covers "the reasons behind the Cold War with the Soviet Union, U.S. President Harry Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, and changes in America's global role since the fall of Communism." Stone is the director and narrator of all ten episodes.

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Kuznick Interviews

Kuznick Interviews

Historian Peter Kuznick says Eisenhower called for decreased militarization, then Dulles reversed the policy; the Soviets tried to end the cold war after the death of Stalin; crazy schemes involving nuclear weapons and the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba put the world of the eve of destruction - with host Paul Jay

The Untold History of the United States by Kuznick, Peter.mobi | Book | 6.99 MB

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China Valley of Tunnels

China Valley of Tunnels

A report written by a Georgetown University team led by Phillip Karber conducted a three-year study to map out China’s complex tunnel system, which stretches 5,000 km (3,000 miles). The report determined that the stated Chinese nuclear arsenal is understated and as many as 3,000 nuclear warheads may be stored in the underground tunnel network.

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911
911

On September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists attacked the Unites States. They hijacked four airplanes in mid-flight. The terrorists flew two of the planes into two skyscrapers at the World Trade Center in New York City. The impact caused the buildings to catch fire and collapse. Another plane destroyed part of the Pentagon (the U.S. military headquarters) in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Officials believe that the terrorists on that plane intended to destroy either the White House or the U.S. Capitol. Passengers on the plane fought the terrorists and prevented them from reaching their goal. In all, nearly 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks.

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The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War

Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's ten-part, 18-hour documentary series, THE VIETNAM WAR, tells the epic story of one of the most consequential, divisive, and controversial events in American history as it has never before been told on film. Visceral and immersive, the series explores the human dimensions of the war through revelatory testimony of nearly 80 witnesses from all sides--Americans who fought in the war and others who opposed it, as well as combatants and civilians from North and South Vietnam. Ten years in the making, the series includes rarely seen and digitally re-mastered archival footage from sources around the globe, photographs taken by some of the most celebrated photojournalists of the 20th Century, historic television broadcasts, evocative home movies, and secret audio recordings from inside the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations.

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Trump's Mashups
Trump's Mashups

Donald Trump talks a lot, but what is he actually saying? VICE News' "Trump Talk" mashup series tries to answer that. And, we're happy to say, it was just nominated for two Webby Awards. Now you can watch all the nominated videos.

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Trump's Sexcapades
Trump's Sexcapades.

Jessica Leeds (1980s)
Kristin Anderson (1990s)
E. Jean Carroll (1995 or 1996)
Lisa Boyne (1996)
Cathy Heller (1997)
Temple Taggart McDowell (1997)
Karena Virginia (1998)
Mindy McGillivray (2003)
Jennifer Murphy (2005)
Rachel Crooks (2005)
Natasha Stoynoff (2005)
Juliet Huddy (2005 or 2006)
Jessica Drake (2006)
Ninni Laaksonen (2006)
Cassandra Searles (2013)
Allegations of pageant dressing room visits(1997)
Mariah Billado,
Victoria Hughes,
and three other Miss Teen USA contestants
Bridget Sullivan (2000)
Tasha Dixon (2001)
Unnamed contestants (2001)
Samantha Holvey (2006)

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Trump's Speeches | Rallys |Interviews
Trump's Speeches | Rallys

Donald Trump talks a lot, but what is he actually saying? Watch Trump at some of his rallys and see what you think.

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Donation


I am one of those "once" middle class, over 60, over educated, under-employed, semi retired, soon to be poor workers, that everyone is talking about. 
But I have a modest standard of living so I plan to give all extra donation, beyond my immediate needs, to several of my favorite charities.

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