Month: October 2014

U.S. Government Wants to Charge $1,500 to Take a Photo in Federal Wilderness Areas

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Screen Shot 2014-10-10 at 11.16.44 AMGo ahead and file this in the ever expanding category of: “WTF, how is this possible, America is becoming a crazy banana republic.”

When I first saw this headline, I was certain it had to be misleading. Someone had to be exaggerating in the pursuit of click-bait. Incredibly, it was another case of truth being stranger than fiction, with the article actually far worse than I imagined.

You ready for this? Have a seat, take a deep breath, and brace yourself for unbridled fascism. From OregonLive:

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Video of the Day – NYPD Officer Steals Brooklyn Man’s Money Then Pepper Sprays Him

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Screen Shot 2014-10-09 at 4.49.26 PMEarlier this week, I highlighted the growing practice of police stealing American citizens’ hard earned cash with reckless abandon via the shady practice known as “civil asset forfeiture” in the extremely popular post: “Common People Do Not Carry This Much U.S. Currency…” – This is How Police Justify Stealing American Citizens’ Money.

While that post focused on how cops confiscate cash from motorists on the road, it appears the NYPD prefers to do its work on street corners. Like what happened to Lamard Joye in Coney Island, Brooklyn last month. The New York Daily News reports that:

The Brooklyn district attorney’s office is investigating allegations that an NYPD cop swiped more than $1,000 from a man during a stop-and-frisk, then pepper-sprayed him and his sister when they complained, the Daily News has learned.

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Thoughts from GoldBroker.com – Is This the Calm Before the Storm?

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In case you haven’t noticed, Goldbroker.com has been a Liberty Blitzkrieg partner for several months now. If you care about the precious metals market, then you should know about them. Not only do they deal in the metals, but their site provides some excellent commentary on the market. Such as the latest by Dan Popescu titled, The Calm Before the Storm in the Gold Market.

Here are some excerpts:

Again this week the gold price tested the $1,200 level dropping below it on higher US dollar against most fiat currencies. It is assumed that a stronger US dollar against the euro and other fiat currencies is also negative for the price of gold. However gold is not a hedge against the US dollar but rather against all fiat currencies. Even though gold’s price has been falling, in India and China gold premiums have increased signifying a rising demand. We have also seen a substantial increase in silver and gold coin sales in the US. Actually gold coin sales doubled in September compared to August.

With sentiment at historic low as I explained in my previous article Gold Sentiment, $1,200 and more specifically $1,180 is more a correction within a secular bull market than a pause in a larger bear market. With more and more articles coming out with titles like “Gold Dies”, I am more convinced than ever that we are seeing a major bottom being crated. Eastern central banks are still buying massively and Western central banks are holding on to their stock. This doesn’t look to me as a continuation of a downtrend.

On November 30, Swiss citizens will go to the polls to vote on three areas; whether or not the Swiss National Bank should increase its gold reserves to 20%, that the central bank should stop selling its gold and that all its gold should be held within the country. If by any chance the Swiss people votes in favor I expect major tremors in the gold market. Just the fact that Switzerland will have to buy a large amount of gold to reach the 20% will have a major psychological effect on the gold market not to mention also the snowball effect it will have on other countries. Switzerland is a very small country but with a long history of gold ownership. A vote in favor in the Swiss Gold Initiative referendum would mean that Switzerland would have to buy 1,700 tonnes of gold. This represents 70% of annual world gold production. The Swiss National Bank has 5 years to acquire the 1,700 tons if the initiative passes.

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Consultant the San Francisco Pension Fund Asked Whether it Should invest in Hedge Funds, Runs a Hedge Fund

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Screen Shot 2014-10-09 at 11.40.21 AMMost Liberty Blitzkrieg readers will be familiar with the common fee structure for hedge funds known as “2 and 20.” What this simply refers to is the fact that a manager will take as a fee 2% of the assets under management, as well as 20% of the profits (above a high-water mark). While many people would balk at giving up such a high percent of profits, when the industry first got going several decades ago the managers were so few and the returns so huge, that high net worth individuals were happy to pay up for alpha.

Fast forward several decades, and the hedge fund industry is extremely crowded and competitive. What’s worse, in such a central bank manipulated market, it has become extraordinarily difficult for hedge funds to outperform and generate the desired “alpha.” Nevertheless, people that go into this business generally go into it for one reason. To make a shit-ton of cash.

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Lois Lerner’s Revenge: Anti-Obamacare Filmmaker is Hit with IRS Audit

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Screen Shot 2014-10-08 at 3.49.52 PMThere are many systemic reasons why America continues to circle the toilet bowl toward a full fledged oligarchic Banana Republic. I’ve spent the last couple of years highlighting many of them here on these pages. Nevertheless, all of them pale in comparison with the disappearance of the rule of law. When the rule of law ceases to apply to the rich and powerful, a society ends up suffocating within a culture of theft, an endless stream of cronyism and criminality.

At such a stage, politicians, Wall Street oligarchs, the military-industrial complex, police departments, government agencies, etc, all go hog wild with corruption. The IRS is a perfect example.

With the failure to hold Lois Lerner accountable for anything, the agency is now even more out of control than it was before. Recently, we heard about a plan to tax companies that provide free lunches to employees. Now it appears they are back to targeting people with whom they disagree politically.

The Daily Caller reports that:

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New York Times Admits Wages Haven’t Grown in 15 Years, Worst Since Great Depression

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The following article from the New York Times is actually pretty awful. However, the admission that wages have failed to grow in 15 years is important. Particularly in light of the fact that we are five years into the second so-called “recovery” since the turn of the century. These are recoveries that only Joseph Goebbels could love.

While the wage growth stagnation observation is helpful, what’s so sad about the article is that rather than dive into the underlying systemic issues driving this horrible statistic, the author spends most of the article explaining why we should be optimistic. It’s a nice try, but when systemic issues aren’t being addressed from a systemic standpoint, things don’t just magically get better.

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My First Interaction with Texas Police

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Screen Shot 2014-10-08 at 12.46.10 PMMy children’s first interaction with the police was witnessing two officers get verbally upset at my refusal to provide them with my name while standing on my own property. Overall, it was a tough day for the kids.

The story begins innocuously enough. We rented a bounce house to have some fun, but the winds were too strong that day and the bounce house started floating away until it was ultimately stopped by our fence. When I called to get a refund, the company who rented it to us was not only unwilling to help out, but arrived upset that the bounce house had been ripped on my fence. Wanting to make a record of it, they called the local police.

Upon the arrival of the first county Sheriff, he kindly asked me what had happened. I told him that it blew away and that it was ridiculous that the police would even respond to such a situation. He agreed, but said that the bounce house company was alleging that I ripped it because I couldn’t get a refund. At that point, I told the officer this is a civil matter and I don’t want you or anyone else on my property. The officer complied and then asked for my name, my response was “no thanks.”

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“Non-Official Cover” – Respected German Journalist Blows Whistle on How the CIA Controls the Media

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“I was bribed by billionaires, I was bribed by the Americans to report…not exactly the truth.”

– Udo Ulfkotte, a former editor of one of Germany’s main daily publications, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Some readers will see this and immediately dismiss it as Russian propaganda since the interview appeared on RT. This would be a serious mistake.

Whether you want to admit it or not, CIA control of the media in the U.S. and abroad is not conspiracy theory, it is conspiracy fact.

Carl Bernstein, who is best known for his reporting on Watergate, penned a 25,000 word article in Rolling Stone after spending six months looking at the relationship of the CIA and the press during the Cold War years. Below is an excerpt, but you can read the entire thing here.

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Leon Panetta, Head of Pentagon and C.I.A. Under Obama, Says Brace for 30 Year War with ISIS

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Screen Shot 2014-10-07 at 12.31.19 PM“I vividly recall how, in the wake of Osama bin Laden’s killing, Obama partisans triumphantly declared that this would finally usher in the winding down of the War on Terror. On one superficial level, that view was understandable: it made sense if one assumes that the U.S. has been waging this war for its stated reasons and that it hopes to vanquish The Enemy and end the war.

But that is not, and never was, the purpose of the War on Terror. It was designed from the start to be endless.”

– Glenn Greenwald, in his latest piece for the Intercept

Leon Panetta is pretty much the epitome of a status quo insider. Someone, who due to his influence and mainstream veneer of respectability, is capable of inflicting an almost inconceivable amount of damage to freedom and prosperity in America. In fact, you could say that Mr. Panetta is as responsible as almost anyone else for the banana republic laughing stock that this nation has been transformed into over the past several decades. Why? Because he served in top positions for several of America’s Presidents over that time.

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“Common People Do Not Carry This Much U.S. Currency…” – This is How Police Justify Stealing American Citizens’ Money

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Screen Shot 2014-10-06 at 11.05.00 AMPolice confiscating Americans’ hard earned cash, as well as a wide variety of other valuables, without an arrest or conviction is a disturbing and growing practice throughput these United States. Since cops get to keep the seized funds and use the money on pretty much anything they want, the practice is becoming endemic in certain parts of the nation. The theft is often referred to simply as civil forfeiture, or civil asset forfeiture. Incredibly, under civil forfeiture laws your property is “guilty until you prove it innocent.”

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