Death squad leader ‘was top CIA agent’
THE LATE President Milosevic's secret police chief and organiser of Serb death squads during the genocidal ethnic cleansing of disintegrating Yugoslavia was the United States' top CIA agent in Belgrade, according to the independent Belgrade Radio B92.
Why the End of America is Closer than You Think
By Mike Adams
I recently moved to Ecuador. Not for a vacation. Not for a month or two. I moved to Ecuador for good, as a permanent resident. Upon hearing my plans for living in South America, many people who knew me in the States asked things like, "Well what about the stability of Ecuador as a nation?" To which I would respond, "Oh, you mean the stability of banks that don't make loans and don't invest in derivatives? You mean the stability of a nation where the population still has the courage to march in the streets and throw corrupt officials out of its capitol?"
A Bear Market Is Where Angels Fear To Tread
By Bob Chapman
There are red herrings galore. They are the Illuminists' favorite fish. We never have to worry about the red herring becoming an endangered species because their are enough of them inhabiting the New York, NY and Washington, D.C. areas to repopulate the oceans should that become necessary.
"This is witch huntery!"
Congressman Sherman joins CNBC hosts Mark Haines and Erin Burnett and discusses his legislation which would prevent million-dollar-a-month salaries for executives of financial institutions bailed-out with taxpayer dollars (TARP funds)
Geithner Aides Worked With AIG for Months on Bonuses
Since the fall, senior aides to Timothy Geithner have closely dealt with American International Group Inc. on compensation issues including bonuses, both from his time as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and as Treasury secretary.
Psychological Operations (PSYOPS) against Venezuela
By Eva Golinger
A secret document of the US Army National Ground Intelligence Center, recently declassified in part, through the application of the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), confirms that the Pentagon's most powerful team for psychological operations is employing its forces against Venezuela.
Final curtain for Vegas showgirls
For almost half a century, they've been doing the cancan, but now, as a local comedy headliner might quip, they can't. The high-kicking dancers of Les Folies Bergere in Las Vegas, who turned the showgirl into a quintessential symbol of Sin City, are the latest cultural institution to fall victim to the economic slump.
Venezuela's Chavez calls Obama 'ignorant'
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday called President Barack Obama "ignorant," saying he has a lot to learn about Latin America.
Singapore may take six years to recover
Singapore's recession-hit economy may take up to six years to recover in a worse-case scenario, influential founding father Lee Kuan Yew said.
AIG bonus payments $218 million
Documents turned over to the Connecticut attorney general show that American International Group Inc paid out over $218 million in bonuses, more than the previously disclosed $165 million, published reports said on Saturday.
Study Backs Bosnian Serb’s Claim of Immunity
Every time Radovan Karadzic, the onetime Bosnian Serb leader, appears in court on war crimes charges, he has hammered on one recurring claim: a senior American official pledged that he would never be standing there.
The virtues of public anger and the need for more
By Glenn Greenwald
This anti-anger consensus among our political elites is exactly wrong. The public rage we're finally seeing is long, long overdue, and appears to be the only force with both the ability and will to impose meaningful checks on continued kleptocratic pillaging and deep-seated corruption in virtually every branch of our establishment institutions. The worst possible thing that could happen now is for this collective rage to subside and for the public to return to its long-standing state of blissful ignorance over what the establishment is actually doing.
City Pays Settlement in 1995 Police Shooting Case
Fourteen years after two young robbery suspects were slain in a barrage of 28 police bullets as they lay on the floor of a Bronx apartment, New York City agreed on Friday to pay the victims’ families $1.15 million to settle a $20 million lawsuit that accused two detectives of inexplicable, execution-style killings.
Dodd Blames Obama Administration for Bonus Amendment
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said the Obama administration asked him to insert a provision in last month’s $787 billion economic- stimulus legislation that had the effect of authorizing American International Group Inc.’s bonuses.
Tangled Up In Blue
On December 10, 2008, Joshua Tree-based News Director Gary Daigneault of radio station KCDZ received a faxed press release from the California Highway Patrol (CHP) that announced an upcoming DUI checkpoint. But this was not like any other press release Daigneault had ever read.
It stated that the Morongo Basin office of the CHP, the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department and the United States Marine Corps (USMC) planned to conduct a “joint sobriety/license checkpoint on Friday Dec. 12, somewhere in the unincorporated/incorporated area of San Bernardino County.”
Obama secretly ends program that let pilots carry guns
After the September 11 attacks, commercial airline pilots were allowed to carry guns if they completed a federal-safety program. No longer would unarmed pilots be defenseless as remorseless hijackers seized control of aircraft and rammed them into buildings.
Debt Slavery Plan Foresees Big Subsidies for Investors
The Treasury Department is expected to unveil early next week its long-delayed plan to buy as much as $1 trillion in troubled mortgages and related assets from financial institutions, according to people close to the talks.
Obama Backs Geithner Despite Vast Criticisms
Embattled Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner's job is safe and the subject of resignation has not come up in his conversations with President Obama despite calls from some in Congress for Geithner to step down, the president said in an interview to be broadcast tonight on CBS's "60 Minutes."
In American crisis, anger and guns
By Bernd Debusmann
In November, an analysis published by the U.S. Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute listed “unforeseen economic collapse” as one of the possible causes of future “widespread civil violence.”
More police in US using gunfire detection system
East Palo Alto is the first US city completely wired with ShotSpotter, a system of strategically placed acoustic sensors linked to a computer designed to help police locate gunfire in high-crime areas, but the technology is spreading.
Washington Mutual sues FDIC for over $13 billion
Washington Mutual Inc, the failed U.S. savings and loan, has sued the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp for well over $13 billion in connection with the loss of its banking operations, which was acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co.
FBI planting spies in U.S. mosques, Muslim groups say
Ten U.S. Muslim organizations threatened this week to cease working with the FBI, citing "McCarthy-era tactics" by the agency, including efforts to covertly infiltrate California mosques.
Thousands march against mafia in Naples
Thousands of people, including the acclaimed author of mafia expose "Gomorrah," marched in southern Italy's Naples Saturday against decades of mafia violence that has killed some 900 people.
Man's contribution to climate change is negligible in geologic time
Most geologists, including those in the energy business, take a REALLY long view of the earth's history including global warming and cooling cycles. Within the framework of geologic time, i.e. the earth's history, man is a very late entry and relatively small contributor to climate changes.
Ex-cops apologize for deadly drug raid ahead of sentencing
A former police officer tearfully apologized Monday for his role in an elderly Atlanta woman's shooting death during a botched drug raid, and another told a judge he prays daily for the victim.
Follow the Bailout Cash
There was plenty of outrage on Capitol Hill last week over the executive bonuses paid out by AIG after getting federal bailout money. But another money trail could make voters just as angry: the campaign dollars to members of Congress from banks and firms that have received billions via the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Britain trains civilian anti-terror force
Britain has launched a clandestine alliance that recruits citizens and trains them to act as undercover agents against terror suspects.
Protests in Washington, Calif. call for war's end
Before war protesters ended their demonstration Saturday afternoon, several placed cardboard coffins in front of the offices of northern Virginia defense contractors such as KBR Inc. and Lockheed Martin Corp. as riot police
stood by.
ANALYSIS - Analysts see need for U.S. talks with Taliban
If the United States is to succeed in Afghanistan, it is going to have to engage in dialogue with Taliban-led insurgents, according to many analysts with close knowledge of the region.
100 years of a spy-empire
When Sir Winston Churchill resigned from the office of the Prime Minister of Great Britain, in 1955, he was quoted as saying “I will not preside over the dismembering” of what was previously The British Empire. But as the Empire shrank quickly to the size of the United Kingdom, the “Spy-Empire” of MI5 and Mi6, founded in 1909, never receded but expanded world-wide and turned high-tech.
Pakistan’s Top Judge Back at Work After Protests
Pakistan's top judge resumed his post at the Supreme Court on Sunday following two years of political turmoil over his ouster in the al-Qaida-threatened, U.S.-allied country.
London braces for mass G20 protests
Office workers face chaos next week with swaths of London in security lockdown for the G20 summit and warnings that bankers will be targeted in a series of protests aimed at causing maximum disruption.
Mexico relationship hits some bumps
The trade dispute got tetchy last week when Mexico raised tariffs on scores of U.S. imports -- retaliation for Washington's decision to stop funding a program that allowed some Mexican trucks on U.S. highways under a free-trade agreement.
The justices' review of the slashing documentary financed by longtime critics of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton could bring more than just a thumbs up or thumbs down. It may settle the question of whether the government can regulate a politically charged film as a campaign ad.
Legislation would set aside 2 million acres in nine states
The Senate on Thursday passed a long-delayed bill to set aside more than 2 million acres in nine states as protected wilderness, from a California mountain range to more than 1,000 miles of rivers.
Fed Planning 15-Fold Increase In US Monetary Base
The fed is planning moves that would more than double its balance-sheet assets by September to $4.5 trillion from $1.9 trillion. Whether expressing approval or concern over the fed’s intentions, most commentators fail to understand the real magnitude of the projected expansion of the US monetary base because they don’t take into account the amount of dollars circulating abroad.
Official: AIG bonus estimates grow $53 million
The attorney general of Connecticut said Saturday that he is asking American International Group Inc. why documents appear to show the company paid $53 million more in bonuses to its financial products division than previously reported.
Obama budget deficit could hit 1.845 trillion dollars
The US budget deficit could hit 1.845 trillion dollars this year under the budget proposed by President Barack Obama, quadrupling the 2008 record shortfall, a new forecast showed.
Missouri's Comical Yet Deadly Serious Police State
In a slice of 2009's America, Gomer Pyle gone bad could land you marked by the govenrment as a "terrorist" on the no-fly list, on a government watch-list, or even in "indefinite security detention" for flying a flag, supporting a political party, or expressing a point of view on tax policy.
The Mother of All Bells
By Peter Schiff
There is an old adage on Wall Street that no one rings a bell at major market tops or bottoms. That may be true in normal times, but as many have noticed, we are now completely through the looking glass. In this parallel reality, Ben Bernanke has just rung the loudest bell ever heard in the foreign exchange and government debt markets.
Are You a Domestic Terrorist?
What they're afraid of is not the violence. What they're afraid of is so many people are getting so disgusted with a fake two-party system that's really a one-party system, that these people may actually get traction.
Domestic Intelligence System Grows without Controls
Despite the secrecy surrounding domestic intelligence activities, instances have been uncovered where homeland intelligence efforts classified legitimate political activity as "terrorism" and monitored peaceful activists.
Flashback - The FBI Deputizes Business”
“There is evidence that InfraGard may be closer to a corporate Total Information Awareness program (TIPS), turning private-sector corporations some of which may be in a position to observe the activities of millions of individual customers into surrogate eyes and ears for the FBI.”
Flashback - Is the Pentagon spying on Americans?
The Defense Department document is the first inside look at how the U.S. military has stepped up intelligence collection inside this country since 9/11, which now includes the monitoring of peaceful anti-war and counter-military recruitment groups.
The U.K. wants your Twitter chatter under surveillance
Not happy with pushing the EU Data Retention Directive which would make ISPs store communication data for 12 months Vernon Coaker, the U.K. Home Office security minister, now wants all social networking sites and IM messaging service monitored as well. The Interception Monderisation Programme (IMP) is the government proposal for legislation to use mass monitoring of traffic data as an antiterrorism tool.
Galloping Galloway
Well, I guess I don't have to tell you that British Respect Party MP George Galloway has been banned from entering Canada. We are fast becoming a fascist state.
Madoff-Gate now New York State Real Estate-Gate
A reliable source who is close to both the U.S. Court for the Southern District of New York and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York's Organized Crime Unit tells WMR that Ponzi scammer Bernard Madoff, who was remanded to prison last week by U.S. Judge Denny Chin, took a "fall" for some of New York's most powerful and wealthiest politicians who were using Madoff's private investment scheme as a "front" to assist in a major real estate redevelopment plan for New York that stood, and still stand, to make the conspirators super-rich.
Continental Congress 2009
The free People of America must now speak out, reminding those around the world that we are, as they are too, a free people whose Rights are Natural, Unalienable and Individual, endowed as they are by the Creator, and most certainly not dependent upon a grant by any government or the will of any majority.
Obama maneuvers to protect Wall Street bonuses
Following the passage Thursday of a bill by the House of Representatives that would tax some bonuses at a handful of companies that have received government bailout money, the Obama administration is seeking to discourage passage of a similar bill by the Senate, even as Obama feigns indignation over $165 million in bonuses awarded by the bailed-out insurance giant American International Group (AIG).
Robbery Writ Monumental
By David Calderwood
Bernanke’s Fed is colluding with Geitner’s Treasury to monetize massive amounts of government debt, releasing the Head Clown and the clowns in Congress to spend themselves silly because the Fed will simply provide infinite money more directly than ever.
Forget AIG Bonuses--The Next Bailout is Here
By Ruth Conniff
As the Wall Street Journal opinion page points out, "Taxpayers have already put up $173 billion, or more than a thousand times the amount of those bonuses, to fund the government's AIG 'rescue.'"
Obama’s War Policies Worse than Bush’s, Anti-War Activist Says
By Josiah Ryan
President Barack Obama’s war policies in Iraq and Afghanistan are criminal and worse than those of former President Bush, according to Adam Kokesh, who serves on the board of directors of the anti-war group Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW).
Is America Already a Police State?
By Nathan Coe
In the last eight years we have seen a slew of police state legislation, to the point that it has often been hard to keep up. By now, most take the Department of Homeland Security for granted, but the implications of its emergence should not be ignored.
RBS traders hid toxic debt
Traders received multi-million pound bonuses after acquiring more than £30 billion of sub-prime assets during early 2007. Following these purchases the bank “didn’t stand a chance” of surviving unaided, one board director told this newspaper.
Mexican drug wars now worse than Iraq
Mexican drug cartels are now as heavily armed as America’s enemies during the Iraq war and are extending their bloody conflict into the United States, say security experts.
New video of torture exposes Chinese brutality in Tibet
Video footage from Tibet is extremely rare. The film, which shows violent scenes from the March 2008 riots, is the clearest evidence yet that Tibetans were subject to police brutality as China struggled for control in Lhasa.
Leader: No change in hostile US policy
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution says the US has shown no sign of a real change in its hostile attitude toward the Iranian nation.
Facebook Bug Reveals Private Photos, Wall Posts
Earlier this evening we came across a privacy flaw on Facebook that allowed users to gain access to portions of their friends' profiles that they should not have been able to see. We contacted Facebook about the issue over an hour ago (it remains unresolved), and they have asked us to refrain from going into too much detail as to how to reproduce it until it is fixed.
When Things Fall Apart
By Paul Craig Roberts
On March 19 the New York Times reported: “The Fed said it would purchase an additional $750 billion worth of government-guaranteed mortgage-backed securities, on top of the $500 billion that it is currently in the process of buying.
Judge Rules: Not Filing Since 1999 Is No Crime!
After a February 24 trial on a Florida Bar Association complaint alleging that Charles "Chuck" Behm, a Florida attorney, had violated bar rules by committing a criminal act in refusing to file federal income tax returns since 1999, Judge Tyrie W. Boyer, a county judge in Florida's Fourth Judicial Circuit Court in Jacksonville, ruled that Behm had committed no criminal act.
NYC Challenges 9/11 Workplace Injuries
The city has asked a judge to toss out 9/11 claims by 4,600 cops, firefighters, and paramedics, arguing the "uniformed" personnel are not entitled to workplace protection under state labor laws.
The legal maneuver has infuriated Ground Zero responders, who called the city's move "a slap in the face."
$1 trillion deficits seen for next 10 years
President Barack Obama's budget would generate deficits averaging almost $1 trillion a year over the next decade, according to the latest congressional estimates, significantly worse than predicted by the White House just last month.
Credit Unions With $57 Billion in Assets Seized; 3 Banks Fail
Two corporate credit unions, with combined assets of $57 billion, were seized by the National Credit Union Administration yesterday to stabilize a system used by 90 million customers amid a worldwide financial crisis. Three U.S. banks failed, bringing this year’s total to 20.
Renewed strength of euro threatens economy
After a brief respite, the euro is gaining strongly against the currencies of its main trading partners, further threatening the Continent's wilting economy. That is adding to pressure on the European Central Bank to enact radical steps similar to those that are weakening the dollar, the pound and the Swiss franc.
CIA Says It Has 3,000 Documents Related To Destroyed Interrogation Tapes
In connection with an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit seeking information on detainee abuse, the CIA today disclosed that it has a list of roughly 3,000 summaries, transcripts, reconstructions and memoranda relating to 92 interrogation videotapes that were destroyed by the agency. The CIA refused, however, to disclose the list to the public. The agency also refused to publicly disclose a list of witnesses who may have viewed the videotapes or retained custody of the videotapes before their destruction.
White House: Agenda on track despite worsening deficits
President Barack Obama's budget would produce $9.3 trillion in deficits over the next decade, more than four times the deficits of Republican George W. Bush's presidency, congressional auditors said Friday.
Pelosi's Hate Bill Strategy
By Rev. Ted Pike
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently said Democrats will soon formulate a strategy to pass the federal hate crimes bill, HR 256. This comment should deeply concern all freedom-loving Americans.
Peaceful Dissent and Government Witch Hunts
By Anthony Gregory
As most readers of this are probably aware, the Campaign for Liberty has been singled out, along with a few other political groups, in a leaked Missouri state government report, "The Modern Militia Movement." The document tells state officials to be on the lookout for violent extremists while conflating them with pretty much anyone who criticizes the government. Perhaps most troubling, the information apparently comes from the Department of Homeland Security, meaning that similar documents could be circulating in states other than Missouri.
The Big Takeover
The global economic crisis isn't about money - it's about power. How Wall Street insiders are using the bailout to stage a revolution
France officially asks to rejoin NATO command
President Nicolas Sarkozy has submitted a formal request to rejoin the NATO command structure following a 43-year absence, French and NATO officials said Friday.
Obama apologizes for remark
After comparing his bowling to the Special Olympics on "The Tonight Show" Thursday, President Obama called Special Olympics Chairman Tim Shriver to apologize before the program even aired.
US flag-burning marks war anniversary
American flags were set on fire Friday to chants of "no, no for occupation" as followers of an anti-U.S. Shiite cleric marked the sixth anniversary of the Iraq war.
Iran gives cautious welcome to Barack Obama video message
Iran today hailed an unprecedented direct appeal by the US president, Barack Obama, for better relations between the two countries, but urged the US to "realise its previous mistakes" as well as end sanctions and drop its support for Israel.
Obama and Israeli Leader Make Taped Appeals to Iran
The groundbreaking message to Iran that President Obama delivered by videotape on Friday was part of a strategy intended to emphasize a positive message to Iran in the prelude to that nation’s presidential election this summer, according to administration officials and European diplomats.
Israeli soldiers admit to deliberate killing of Gaza civilians
The Israeli army has been forced to open an investigation into the conduct of its troops in Gaza after damning testimony from its own front line soldiers revealed the killing of civilians and rules of engagement so lax that one combatant said that they amounted on occasion to “cold-blooded murder”.
Postal Service to Close Offices, Seek Retirements
The U.S. Postal Service said it will offer early retirement to almost one in four workers, close administrative offices and eliminate more than 3,000 jobs as it grapples with a financial crisis.
