Puppet MastersS


Red Flag

Doomsday investors betting on market crash

Maureen Farrell
CNN
Fri, 24 May 2013 17:13 UTC
Image
Stocks have had a stellar year so far. In fact, the rally has gotten so heated that some investors are making bets on a big crash.

Universa Investments, which spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year buying crash protection, has attracted a record amount of money into its fund this quarter.

"People are starting to recognize that these market moves are unnatural and distorted," said Universa president and chief investment officer Mark Spitznagel, who declined to say how much is spent on crash protection, citing SEC rules.

Universa's view that a crash is coming is not widely held, making crash protection cheap, he said. Universa buys this protection in the form of options that generate huge returns when the stock market falls by more than 20%. Universa's adviser, economist and former derivative trader Nassim Taleb calls it 'black swan' hedging.

That's apropos considering Taleb coined the phrase 'black swan,' described as an unforeseen event that has an extreme impact, such as the 2008 financial crisis or Japan's 2011 nuclear disaster.

Spitznagel says he's pretty confident that the market will crash, or fall by more than 20%, in the next six months -- a year max.

Comment: Two 'great economic crises' ago, in the 17th century, speculators were strung up alongside the bankers...

Read More...
Stock Up

World stock markets to grind higher

Alanna Petroff
CNN
Mon, 27 May 2013 17:09 UTC
Image
Major European indexes, including London's FTSE 100, have made significant gains over the past few months but have not pushed nearly as high as Japan's Nikkei or U.S. benchmarks.
World stock markets look set to bump around awhile after last week's plunge in Japan before resuming a rally fueled by cheap central bank cash.

Investors had a rude awakening last Thursday as the Nikkei index plunged by over 7% in its worst day for two years, leaving some wondering whether the surge in global equities was now over after such a significant pullback.

"This is a classic holiday market reversal," said Neil Shah, a director at London's Edison Investment.

When investors and traders return to their desks after the long weekend in the U.S. and the U.K., stocks would continue moving higher, he said.

Japan, where the benchmark Nikkei index has rallied by more than 70% in less than 12 months, could see a more substantial correction before turning higher again.

"I expect another 5% to 10% downside before another march upwards," said Nick Beecroft, senior market analyst at Saxo Capital Markets.

The Nikkei fell again on Monday, dropping 3% as a firmer yen weighed on the shares of exporters. But other Asian markets gained ground, as did major indexes in Europe.

Central banks, including the Bank of Japan, have been a big driver of the bull market in stocks. With inflation under control and no sign of an acceleration in global growth, there's little chance they'll start turning off the easy money tap any time soon.
Read More...
Vader

IRS role in Obamacare

Jeanne Sahadi
CNN
Tue, 28 May 2013 17:00 UTC
Image
In the wake of the Tea Party targeting scandal, Republicans say the IRS should hit the brakes on implementing Obamacare provisions. But the IRS has a central role in making sure the new law works.
The IRS has a big target on its back these days. Its leaders have been pummeled on Capitol Hill over inappropriate targeting of Tea Party groups applying for tax-exempt status.

And some Republicans say they want the IRS to stop issuing and enforcing rules related to Obamacare at least until a federal investigation of the case is over.

Republicans have tried repeatedly to repeal the Affordable Care Act. And it's unclear whether the IRS scandal will let them slow-walk the law's implementation.

Regardless, the push adds to the pressure the IRS is under to help ensure that the law's implementation will not be a "train wreck," as some have contended it could be.

This much is known for sure: The IRS is charged with playing a key role in implementing health reform.
Read More...
Bad Guys

African Union accuses ICC of 'hunting' Africans


BBC
Tue, 28 May 2013 16:56 UTC
Image
© AFP PhotoKenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta won elections in March
The African Union (AU) has accused the International Criminal Court (ICC) of "hunting" Africans because of their race.

It was opposed to the ICC trying Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta on charges of crimes against humanity, said Ethiopia's Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.

The AU would raise its concerns with the UN, he added.

Mr Kenyatta, who was elected in March, is due to be tried in July.

He denies the charges, which arise from accusations that he fuelled violence after disputed elections in 2007.
Read More...
Chess

Saudi king appoints his son national guard minister


Associated Press
Mon, 27 May 2013 16:48 UTC
Mitab
© Unknown
Saudi Arabia's king has converted the national guard command into the National Guard Ministry and appointed his son Mitab, the commander of the guard, as National Guard Minister.

The national guard serves as an elite force to protect the regime.

A royal decree issued Monday gave no reasons for the move. It was not clear what changes this would make on the ground.
Read More...
Propaganda

U.S. civil liberties going backwards: Obama's using 1917 Espionage Act to go after reporters

Michael Barone
National Review
Mon, 27 May 2013 16:31 UTC
President Woodrow Wilson
© UnknownPresident Woodrow Wilson
The president uses the overly broad and little-used WWI-era law to go after reporters.

There is one problem with the entirely justified if self-interested media squawking about the Justice Department's snooping into the phone records of multiple Associated Press reporters and Fox News's James Rosen.

The problem is that what the AP reporters and Rosen did arguably violates the letter of the law.

The search warrant in the Rosen case cites Section 793(d) of Title 18 of the U.S. Code. Section 793(d) says that a person lawfully in possession of information that the government has classified as secret who turns it over to someone not lawfully entitled to posses it has committed a crime. That might cover Rosen's source.

Section 793(g) is a conspiracy count that says that anyone who conspires to help the source do that has committed the same crime. That would be the reporter.

It sounds as though this law criminalizes a lot of journalism. You might wonder how such a law ever got passed and why, for the last 90 years, it has very seldom produced prosecutions and investigations of journalists.
Read More...
Sherlock

The Sharyl Attkisson approach to journalism

Dylan Byers
Politico
Fri, 24 May 2013 16:13 UTC
Attkisson
© CBS PhotoProducers at CBS News once nicknamed Attkisson 'Pit Bull.'
Sharyl Attkisson has problems.

The Obama administration won't answer the CBS News correspondent's questions because her investigations - into Benghazi, Fast and Furious, Solyndra - often reflect negatively on it. Some colleagues at CBS News, where she has worked for two decades and earned multiple Emmy awards, dismiss her work because they perceive a political agenda. And now, she says, someone may have hacked into her computers.

Attkisson's one piece of solace may come from finally gaining some like-minded colleagues in the media. For years, Attkisson has been one of the few mainstream reporters pursuing critical stories about the Obama administration. Today, as "scandal season" takes hold in Washington, she has seen her longstanding skepticism of the White House and the Justice Department become the conventional attitude among a formerly deferential Beltway press corps.
Read More...
Sheriff

Woolwich murder: Theresa May vows to get tough on extremist websites

Patrick Wintour
Guardian
Sun, 26 May 2013 13:28 UTC
Image
© AFP/Getty ImagesThe family of Drummer Lee Rigby on Sunday visited the site of his murder in Woolwich.
Home secretary outlines measures to prevent radicalisation of British Muslims, including pre-emptive censorship of jihadist sites

A dramatic battery of measures to prevent radicalisation of British Muslims was outlined on Sunday by the home secretary, Theresa May, including tougher pre-emptive censorship of internet sites, a lower threshold for banning extremist groups and renewed pressure on universities and mosques to reject so-called hate preachers.

May also signalled that she was prepared to do battle with Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, over his veto of the communications data bill.

After four days in which ministers have been praised in some quarters for avoiding a kneejerk response to the killing of soldier Lee Rigby outside his Woolwich barracks in south London, Whitehall swung into action. It has promised a new taskforce, chaired by the prime minister, and a root and branch review of Prevent, the government strategy to combat radicalisation.

M15 will also deliver a preliminary report to the intelligence and security committee on how it failed to realise that Michael Adebolajo, one of the Woolwich suspects, represented a serious threat to national security, even though the services had been tracking him for years and at one point sought to recruit him.
Read More...
Magnify

French ponder similarities between London, Paris attacks on soldiers

Kim Willsher
LA Times
Sun, 26 May 2013 13:24 UTC
Image
© Francois Guillot / AFP / Getty Images / May 25, 2013Police investigators and forensic experts work at the site where a man armed with a knife or box cutter attacked a French soldier patrolling a subway station on Saturday, stabbing him in the neck
French anti-terrorist investigators are hunting for a man who stabbed a soldier in the throat at a busy Paris shopping and transport center.

Detectives are also examining whether there is a link between the attack and the killing of a British soldier who was hacked to death in London on Wednesday.

The 23-year-old French soldier, Pfc. Cedric Cordier, was patrolling the busy underground corridors beneath the La Defense arch in the French capital's business district with two other soldiers when an attacker approached him from behind shortly before 6 p.m. on Saturday, authorities said. They said Cordier was stabbed in the neck with a knife or cutter that narrowly missed his carotid artery.

The soldier, a member of the Gap 4th Rifle Regiment, was taken to a hospital, where doctors said his life was not in danger. The attacker, who fled into a nearby shopping center, was described as of North African appearance and around 30 years old. He was still being sought on Sunday.

The area where the attack occurred adjoins the busy La Defense train station, and is monitored by video cameras run by the city transport network. Investigators are now going through footage from the cameras.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who visited Cordier in the hospital a few hours after Saturday's attack, said it was clear the victim was targeted because he was a soldier. Le Drian and Interior Minister Manuel Valls issued a joint statement condemning what they described as a "cowardly attack" on the soldier.

Comment: While you are all pondering the blatant efforts by French and British 'intelligence' agencies to manipulate you, ponder this:

Police state now! Monitoring Internet chatter the 'vital frontline in war against popular protest movements'

and this:

Anglo-French arms industry forces EU to lift official embargo on sending Weapons of Mass Destruction to Al Qaeda in Syria

Read More...
V

'March Against Monsanto' protests attract millions worldwide

Arturo Garcia
Raw Story
Sat, 25 May 2013 13:12 UTC
Image
© RT
Protesters in more than 50 countries mobilized on Saturday for a series of demonstrations against agricultural business titan Monsanto, far surpassing the organizer's expectations, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

"If I had gotten 3,000 people to join me, I would have considered that a success," activist Tami Canal told the newspaper. Instead, she said the "March Against Monsanto," which originated as a call to action via Facebook on Feb. 28, drew about two million people to demonstrations in 436 cities in 52 countries.

"It was empowering and inspiring to see so many people, from different walks of life, put aside their differences and come together today," Canal said to the Sun-Times. "We will continue until Monsanto complies with consumer demand. They are poisoning our children, poisoning our planet. If we don't act, who's going to?"

Besides protesting the company's practice of making genetically-modifying seeds, protesters vowed to make their voices heard against the U.S. Senate after it rejected an amendment introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that would have allowed states to require labels on foods made with modified ingredients.
Read More...