News Items

Chinese Homebuilders Expand in America as U.S. Auto Loans Hit Record Levels

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Just a little tale from the streets of America
Sparkled promises paved with pathos and hysteria
Trenchant, weary native sons
Step back, step back
And see the damage done
Meander to the horizon 
The streets of America

– Bad Religion, Streets of America

Late last week I published a post titled, Your Wall Street Slumlord Arrives in Europe – Goldman and Other Financial Firms Launch “Buy to Rent” in Spain, in which I highlighted the fact that U.S. financial oligarchs had recently turned their sights toward Spanish real estate after feasting on the American market for several years and driving home prices to unaffordable levels for much of the native population.

Interestingly, today I came across an article in the Wall Street Journal that noted Chinese homebuilders are beginning to make a more aggressive push into the U.S. market. One of the main reasons for this phenomenon appears to be:

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Department of Homeland Security – A 240,000 Person Cancer on the American Soul

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Screen Shot 2014-09-02 at 4.27.17 PMRegular readers will be intimately familiar with my feelings on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Long before it became obvious to millions of people, I wrote about how the DHS was never intended to prevent terrorist attacks, rather it had always been intended to suppress the American citizenry. Over the past decade, it has become a dangerous behemoth of fascism under the guise of the fraudulent “war on terror.”

Going back to 2010, I wrote a piece titled: The Dangers of a Failed Presidency, in which I wrote:

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James Foley Worked Under USAID, a Known U.S. Intelligence Front. Was He More Than Just a Journalist?

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Before I get into the meat of this post, I want to make a few things clear.

First, the brutal beheading of anyone is barbaric, unacceptable and tragic beyond description. Second, this piece is in no way intended to cause any harm or pain to the Foley family. Third, I don’t have any proof that James Foley was involved in covert intelligence work for the U.S. government.

All that being said, I do think it is important people understand he worked under USAID in Iraq only three years before he was abducted in Syria. As such, I believe the question as to whether or not he was more than just a journalist is a reasonable one to ask.

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Your Wall Street Slumlord Arrives in Europe – Goldman and Other Financial Firms Launch “Buy to Rent” in Spain

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Screen Shot 2014-08-29 at 3.15.21 PMLiberty Blitzkrieg was early in reporting on the trend of financial firms entering the U.S. residential real estate market with “all-cash” bids for tens of thousands of homes with the intention of turning former homeowners into permanent sources of rental income. The first of many pieces I published on the topic was in January 2013, titled: America Meet Your New Slumlord: Wall Street.

Now that the financial oligarchs have had their way with the U.S. property market, to the point that average citizens can’t even afford to own a home (Zillow recently showed that 1 in 3 homes are unaffordable), it appears they have turned their sights overseas. What better market for bailed-out bankers to feast on than Spain, with its 50%+ youth unemployment rate and a continued depressed real estate market.

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A “Ring of Steel” – The UK Spends $80 Million on a Massive Fence to Protect Politicians Ahead of NATO Summit

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Screen Shot 2014-08-29 at 12.07.54 PMMost of us woke up this morning to news that the UK had raised its terror threat level from “substantial” to “severe.” Considering the competence and trustworthiness of the nation’s Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, there must be some specific threat they’re concerned about to justify instilling fear in a population of 65 million. Nope.

Although the new threat level rates the risk of an attack on the UK to “highly likely,” Home Secretary Theresa May stated that “there was no evidence to suggest one was imminent.” Well then.

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Poverty Profiteering in 2014 – Introducing Private Probation Companies

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As N.P.R. reported in May, services that “were once free, including those that are constitutionally required,” are now frequently billed to offenders: the cost of a public defender, room and board when jailed, probation and parole supervision, electronic monitoring devices, arrest warrants, drug and alcohol testing, and D.N.A. sampling. This can go to extraordinary lengths: in Washington state, N.P.R. found, offenders even “get charged a fee for a jury trial — with a 12-person jury costing $250, twice the fee for a six-person jury.”

– From Tuesday’s New York Times op-ed, The Expanding World of Poverty Capitalism 

We’ve all heard about the private prison industry by now. An idea so insane and so rampant with perverse incentives that no civilized society would ever allow such a concept to take hold. Yet taken hold it has in the Banana Republic formally known as America.

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“A Man of Many Perversions” – Federal Cybersecurity Head Convicted of Child Porn Charges

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The following story is a warning as to why centralized power is so dangerous. It doesn’t matter whether the power is political or corporate, overly centralized power in all forms must be resisted whenever it appears. The worst of all worlds is when centralized political and corporate power unite in an unholy alliance, which is what has happened to America in recent decades. When this occurs, the combined forces of oligarchy simply begin to rapaciously feast on the citizenry with zero accountability. This is a fair description of the United States in 2014.

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Video of the Day – Chris Hedges on Overthrowing the Corporate Fascist State

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The relationship between those who are constantly watched and tracked, and those who watch and track them, is the relationship between masters and slaves.

– Chris Hedges

Below you will find an extremely powerful and inspiring speech by Chris Hedges. The award winning journalist has been ahead of the curve on many issues of national and global importance, including being one of the earliest critics of the Iraq war. Chris has an unshakable moral compass and a passion to match it. He has been a shining light in a sea of darkness and cowardice when it comes to public figures speaking truth to power, including having led the charge to sue the Obama administration on the right to imprison American citizens without trial.

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Putting Ferguson in Context – New Jersey Man Faced 5 Years in Jail Before Dashcam Video Proved Police Abuse

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*Note: While the following incident happened in 2012, it helps put the recent events in Ferguson in context, particularly for privileged white people who don’t have to deal with police abuse on a daily basis. Marcus Jeter was only cleared in February 2014, once the dashcam video surfaced.

Sarah Wallace: “If this tape hadn’t surfaced?”

Marcus: “I’d be in jail.”

This video was only turned over by Bloomfield police after Jeter’s attorney filed a request for records; at the time prosecutors were insistent that Jeter do prison time.

“The first plea was 5 years,” said Jeter.

Sarah: “Your hands are up.” 

Jeter: “My hands are up.” 

Jeter: “As soon as they opened the door, one officer reached in an punched me in my face.” He adds, “As he’s trying to take off my seatbelt, I’m thinking something is going to go wrong…”

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Letter Reveals Tony Blair Advised Kazakhstan’s President on How to Spin Massacre of Innocent, Unarmed Protesters

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Screen Shot 2014-08-27 at 11.35.49 AMIt doesn’t matter who pays Tony Blair, as long as Tony Blair gets paid. When he’s not busy committing war crimes or advising JP Morgan, the former UK Prime Minister (who has amassed a fortune estimated at over $115 million) can be found doing public relations work for some of the world’s most autocratic rulers, such as Kazakhstan’s Nursultan Nazarbayev.

There’s nothing warm and fuzzy about Kazakhstan. In its latest global corruption index, Transparency International ranked Kazakhstan as one of the most corrupt countries on earth in its latest report, 140 out of 177 to be precise (the higher your rank the more corrupt). The oil and gas rich former Soviet Republic has a horrible record when it comes to human rights, but that doesn’t stop Tony Blair from advising the country’s leadership in exchange for millions of dollars per year.

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