Month: September 2013

Anti-Euro Party in Germany Makes Significant Headway into Parliamentary Elections

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I haven’t been paying all that much attention to Germany as of late considering the incredible amount of scandals that have been emanating from the Obama administration, in addition to its ridiculous and dangerous attempts to catalyze World War III. However, with parliamentary elections set for September 22, it appears there are some interesting things afoot.

In case you haven’t heard of it, a new party was formed in Germany on February 6, 2013. The party is known as the AfD, or the “Alternative for Germany.” It is strongly anti-Euro and has gained surprising strength in the polls despite its very brief history.

On a related note, reading this article made me think of a comment made by Angela Merkel the other day when she said:

This is my approach and you can say that I’m doing all these things because I’m really a European at heart.

I found this odd, because while I do not live on the continent, I have spent some time there and in all my travels I never once met a European. I’m wondering, does this species actually exist outside of the catering halls of Brussels? Where do they live?

Now for more on the Afd from Business Week:

German parliamentary elections are coming up on Sept. 22, and Chancellor Angela Merkel has a problem on her hands. A euro-skeptical political party known as AfD is rising in the polls and could deny her Christian Democratic Union and its coalition partners the majority they need to continue governing.

AfD, or Alternative for Germany, currently holds no seats in the Bundestag, and until recently it barely registered in public-opinion polls. But a survey released on Sept. 4 by the Forsa polling group showed it with 4 per cent support—just shy of the 5 per cent needed to win Bundestag representation. Peter Matuschek, Forsa’s chief political analyst, says the poll may have underestimated the party’s strength. Many supporters, he told Spiegel, “are too embarrassed to admit that they are planning to vote for the AfD,” which wants Greece, Spain, and other crisis-hit countries to leave the euro zone, and possibly break up the existing monetary union itself.

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NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg Spends $350,000 in a Failed Attempt to Sway Colorado Politics

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Most of my readers have probably already heard of the story below, but the reason I have chosen to highlight it today is because it represents something far more significant than simply the ouster of two local politicians. It is actually a manifestation of a much larger and more significant trend in these United States. A potent and far reaching political awakening that is sweeping the nation.

In the past, many people would simply shrug their shoulders in response to the insanity of legislators both at the local and national level. Not anymore. Enough people have finally received the much needed “kick in the butt” to get motivated and we are starting to see changes. Not only did some Colorado activists recall two politicians that voted against gun rights, but much more importantly, the American people as a whole just prevented (for now) a war in Syria by making their collective voices heard in mass and by pressuring their representatives. The sleeping giant is awake and politicians had better take notice.

The action in Colorado is particularly pleasing to me considering it is my adopted home state, as well as the fact that control freak, nanny state NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg spent $350,000 of his own money in a failed effort to prop up the recalled politicians. Going forward, nothing would please me more than if Bloomie wastes his entire fortune in failed attempts to ban large sodas, guns, salt and e-cigarrettes. Of course, he will never see, let alone criticize, all of the crimes committed by crony finance pals. From the New York Times:

COLORADO SPRINGS — Two Colorado Democrats who provided crucial support for a package of state gun laws were voted out of office on Tuesday in special elections seen as a test of whether swing-state voters would accept gun restrictions after mass shootings at a Colorado movie theater and a Connecticut elementary school.

The vote, which came five months after the United States Senate defeated several gun restrictions, handed another loss to gun-control supporters and gave moderate lawmakers across the country a warning about the political risks of voting for tougher gun laws.

Although the election was confined to two small districts in Southern Colorado and does not repeal Colorado’s gun laws or change partisan control of the General Assembly, both sides spent heavily and campaigned fiercely, fighting to prevail in what analysts called a proxy battle between gun-control advocates and the National Rifle Association.

For advocates on both sides, the stakes in Tuesday’s elections were far bigger than the fates of two state politicians. As money and national attention poured into Colorado, a state of hunters that has been stained by two mass shootings, the races became a symbol of the nation’s bitter fight over gun control, with one side bolstered by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York and the other by the National Rifle Association.

While both sides campaigned vigorously, knocking on doors, holding rallies and driving voters to the polls, gun-control advocates far outspent their opponents. A range of philanthropists, liberal political groups, unions and activists raised a total of $3 million to defend Mr. Morse and Ms. Giron. Mr. Bloomberg personally gave $350,000.

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Rethinking 9/11: Building 7 Was the First Known Instance of a Tall Building Collapse from Fires

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I’ve said for many years that I have no idea what actually happened on 9/11, but I am highly confident the government’s official story is complete and total bullshit. A third building fell on that fateful day, WTC7. No planes hit the building and yet it came down at free fall speed. Even the government … Read more

How I Remember September 11, 2001

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I remember 9/11 like it was yesterday. I was one year into my Wall Street career. I got up that morning just like every other morning and headed toward Union Square station to get on the subway down to 3 World Financial Center, the headquarters of Lehman Brothers. I had just purchased breakfast in the … Read more

So Who Really Pays Television Pundits?

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It is the job of the Fourth Estate to act as a check and a restraint on the others, to illumine the dark corners of Ministries, to debunk the bureaucrat, to throw often unwelcome light on the measures and motives of our rulers. ‘News’, as Hearst once remarked, ‘is something which somebody wants suppressed: all the rest is advertising’. That job is an essential one and it is bound to be unpopular; indeed, in a democracy, it may be argued that the more unpopular the newspapers are with the politicians the better they are performing their most vital task.

– Brian R. Roberts from a October 29, 1955 article in the London periodical “Time & Tide”

I’ve used the above quote before, and it is one that many others have paraphrased in various ways over the past century. The key point is that news is supposed to be delivered by people who do not have direct financial conflicts of interests that will cause their news or opinions to be biased based on receiving a fat paycheck from an outside entity. If such conflicts exist, they should at the very least be disclosed. It’s hilarious that so many pundits call Glenn Greenwald an “activist” and not a “journalist,” when it is clear he is delivering information based on a genuine passion for civil liberties. Many of these same people that accuse Glenn of “activism” are paid shills for public relations (PR) firms that represent large corporate clients and special interests. Even worse, it is almost never admitted on air. I’d much rather a person report the news biased with a genuine passion for a cause than based on a bias that revolves around his or her bank account size.

I’ve been waiting for someone to put together a more comprehensive article on this topic, because while many people recognize that television news is nothing more than tabloid garbage or statist/corporate propaganda, most people don’t understand the inner workings of it all. One of the primary reasons television news is so bad is because the so-called “experts” or pundits are actually quite often highly paid spokespeople for special interests, something which is disgracefully almost never disclosed by the anchors.

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Censored in the USA: John Hopkins Cryptography Professor Told to Take Down Blog Post

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There’s nothing like waking up to the smell of censorship in the morning…and that’s exactly what happened to John Hopkins cryptography professor Matthew Green on September 9th. I’ve seen Matthew’s tweets come across my stream from time to time so I knew that he was highly regarded. ArsTechnica reports that: Matthew Green is a well-known cryptography professor, … Read more

Video of the Day: Help Obama Kickstart World War III

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This is a really funny, short video making fun of that segment of the population referred to as Obamabots, the seemingly lobotomized drones who support everything Obama does simply because, well he’s Obama. In it, the actors plead with you to help raise funds for World War III and one of them passionately states: There … Read more

JP Morgan Targets Twitter Activist and Subsequently Takes His Handle

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In one of the more bizarre stories I have seen in a while, Dallas-based graphic designer Chase Giunta was forced to give up a Twitter handle he had been using for years after JP Morgan complained. He had been using the handle to retweet criticisms of the TBTF bank, and after he refused to sell the … Read more

Introducing a Brilliant Parody Website of the NSA

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This parody site of the NSA came across my Twitter feed today and I was very impressed with what I saw. At first, I expected it to just present me with a ton of laughs like a mainstream media article or The Onion might, but I quickly realized that much of the information on this … Read more

Meet Valerie Caproni: Civil Rights Violating FBI Lawyer to be Promoted to Federal Judge

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The situation below describes something that goes way beyond the usual revolving door that now represents the core characteristic of the crony capitalist, ponzi U.S. economy. No, the likely appointment of Valerie Caproni as a federal judge in one of the most important districts in America represents an even more sinister trend, a trend that is a core characteristic of all totalitarian regimes that have ever existed. What I am referring to is the fact that all deeply corrupt regimes with tyrannical tendencies will promote and embed the  nastiest, most flawed characters possible into positions of power because they will do the dirty deeds most normal, decent people would never consider. Basically, you decide to promote those who have the most destructive track records possible to serve as your praetorian guard. It was this signal that demonstrated to me that Obama was a total fraud very early in his Presidency. It was clear the moment he promoted two of the most destructive human beings in the nation to powerful financial and economic positions, Tim Geithner and Larry Summers. Well now we can add a new one to the list: Valerie Caproni.

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Valerie has an unblemished track record of surveillance abuse appeasement that would make almost any civil liberties tyrant’s mouth water. She was the FBI’s top lawyer from 2003-2011, during which time she objected to the few objections that the secret FISA court offered. Moreover, she seemed to relish in the fact that the government can do whatever it wants in secret. Oh and did I mention she’s an executive a Northrop Grumman? Good times.

She’s scheduled for a vote on her judgeship today, and I have no doubt she will receive the position. Just as I assume Larry Summers will be appointed head of the Federal Reserve. These days, the very worst in America always rise to the top. More from the Guardian:

A former senior FBI official implicated in surveillance abuses is poised to become a federal judge in one of the US’s most important courts for terrorism cases.

Valerie Caproni, the FBI’s top lawyer from 2003 to 2011, is scheduled to receive a vote on Monday in the Senate for a seat on the southern district court of New York.

Caproni has come under bipartisan criticism over the years for enabling widespread surveillance later found to be inappropriate or illegal. During her tenure as the FBI’s general counsel, she clashed with Congress and even the Fisa surveillance court over the proper scope of the FBI’s surveillance powers.

“It is a shame that the White House has chosen to nominate former FBI general counsel Valerie Caproni to a lifelong position as a federal judge given her narrow views of Americans’ privacy rights as demonstrated by her actions in the George W Bush administration,” said Lisa Graves, a Justice Department official in the Clinton and early Bush administrations.

A representative of the defense company Northrop Grumman, where Caproni currently serves as an executive, said Caproni was not available for interviews.

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