Puppet MastersS


Dollar Gold

Trump's new orders target Obama financial regulations


RT
Fri, 03 Feb 2017 18:22 UTC
Trump thumbup
© CNN.com
President Donald Trump signed two presidential memoranda aimed at scaling back or repealing finance regulations put in place by the Obama administration - the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, and the 2017 fiduciary rule that has not yet gone into effect.

Trump has instructed the Treasury department to consult with federal regulatory agencies and the Financial Stability Oversight Council, and report back to the White House on potential changes that could be made to Dodd-Frank, a landmark legislation enacted by the Obama administration in 2010.

"The first thing that we are going to attack is regulation, over-regulation. It's not just in the financial markets, it's in all markets," Gary Cohn, director of the White House National Economic Council and former CEO of Goldman Sachs, told Fox Business. "So today you're going to start seeing the beginning of some of our executive actions to roll back regulation in the financial services market."

Dodd-Frank "is not doing what it set out to do," White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters on Friday. Dodd-Frank created instruments to prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis, including strict new capital standards on banks and derivatives trading. While only Congress can repeal the law, the executive branch can block many of its aspects by choosing not to enforce them.

The second memorandum instructs the Department of Labor to delay the implementation of the "fiduciary rule," set to come into effect in April. The regulation would have redefined any financial professionals making a recommendation or solicitation - such as brokers or insurance agents - as fiduciaries, with the obligation to put clients' interests above their own and fully disclose all fees and commissions. The White House described the rule as "a solution in search of a problem" and said that Obama's Labor Department exceeded its authority with this regulation.

Comment: Re-evaluating Dodd-Frank would do all of humanity a favor!

Read More...
Eye 1

President Trump versus Google and the Shadow Government

Phil Butler
New Eastern Outlook
Wed, 01 Feb 2017 00:00 UTC
Trump mad
© twitter
Google, the mega-tech giant that did everything possible to see Hillary Clinton in the White House may be "over" soon. Per news from Bloomberg, President Donald Trump's executive order on limiting immigration from some countries has decimated the world's biggest name in search. Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai has raised his hands in despair.

When are Google, Facebook, Microsoft and the cabal of ultra-liberal money machines going to give the rest of us a break? This is what I have to say about Pichai's grandstanding on Mr. Trump's decree to temporarily stop people from seven Muslim nations from entering the US for 90 days. Now Google expects the world at large to believe it runs off the brain power of rocket scientists from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and Libya? While the US president takes the wise road toward vetting who comes and goes from Muslim nations, Sundar Pichai makes use of owned mainstream media to register still more protests. Yes, the new socialists in America are led by the likes of top Googlers and Bill Gates wannabes, we all know this. But this is thick indeed.

Once again a mysterious insider who refused to be named leaked "facts" Google employees affected by the Homeland Security moves of Friday. Already Google and the others have their legal eagles all over the situation. Bloomberg also reported on Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg voicing his "concern" over Mr. Trump's moves, and Microsoft Corp. made a securities filing on cautioning investors that immigration restrictions "may inhibit our ability to adequately staff our research and development efforts." The message is clear as always, the liberal technocrats intend leveraging the investor set against Trump and any move at nationalism.

But here's what I have to say...

Comment: Amen!

Read More...
Tornado2

Okinawa's governor lashes out at US bases during Washington visit


RT
Fri, 03 Feb 2017 18:07 UTC
Governor Takeshi Onaga
© Stripes Okinawa - Stars and Stripes
The governor of Okinawa has used a trip to Washington to reiterate his opposition to the heavy presence of US military bases on the island, urging all Japanese citizens to rethink security arrangements between Tokyo and Washington.

Outspoken Governor Takeshi Onaga arrived in the US earlier this week, holding [held] a press conference to convey his discontent with the high number of US military bases in Okinawa, which hosts 74 percent of Japan's total US military presence.

"I think all Japanese citizens should think about the Japan-US security arrangements. US military bases occupy 6 percent of the whole of Japan and 70 percent of those US military bases are in places where the population density is about the same as Tokyo. I don't like it anymore..." he said in response to a question from RT's Gayane Chichakyan at a press conference.

Onaga and citizens of Okinawa have long protested the heavy presence of US military bases and troops on the island, with mass demonstrations drawing thousands last year. Of particular concern is the planned relocation of the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Station from Ginowan to the less-populated area of Henoko, in Nago. Onaga is against the relocation, stating it would destroy the environment of the bay surrounding the new site.


Comment: The people of Okinawa have doggedly protested the US military occupying their land for decades to no avail. Even with the proposed tighter Pentagon budget, there is no guarantee the Trump presidency will make this change.

Read More...
Attention

The war against ordinary Americans

Paul Craig Roberts
Institute for Political Economy
Wed, 01 Feb 2017 15:22 UTC
Politico news photo
The Saker is a level-headed person. I take it seriously when he spells out the threat to Trump's presidency presented by the paradoxical alliance of the ruling oligarchs with what purports to be the "liberal/progressive/left." It is amazing that the "liberal/progressive/left" are aligned with war and not with peace and are aligned with the OnePercent against the working class, whom they despise as "Trump deplorables."

The Saker believes that Trump is under serious threat of being overthrown and that he must strike first or go down.

Comment: More on Soros:

Read More...
Attention

Trump's China stance: Calculated blustering or dangerous stupidity?

Conn Hallinan
Information Clearing House
Wed, 01 Feb 2017 15:26 UTC
Trump china china
In his Jan. 13 testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson made an extraordinary comment concerning China's activities in the South China Sea. The U.S., he said, must "send a clear signal that, first, the island-building stops," adding that Beijing's "access to those islands is not going to be allowed."

President Trump's Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, repeated the threat on Jan. 24.

Sometimes it is hard to sift the real from the magical in the Trump administration, and bombast appears to be the default strategy of the day. But people should be clear about what would happen if the U.S. actually tries to blockade China from supplying its forces constructing airfields and radar facilities on the Spratly and Paracel islands.

It would be an act of war.
Read More...
Star of David

Israeli Company that created Gazan open-air prison wants to build Trump's Mexico wall

Jonathan Ferziger
Bloomberg
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 15:13 UTC
mexico wall
© David Maung/Bloomberg
People stand next to a section of the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Tijuana, Mexico.
Company to show border system at Washington conference

An Israeli security company is making a push in Washington this week to help build Donald Trump's Mexican border wall following the U.S. president's praise of Israel's success in boosting security by fencing off its frontiers.

Shares of Yehud, Israel-based Magal Security Systems Ltd. jumped 5.6 percent on Jan. 27, the day after Trump told Fox News a security barrier could almost completely stop border breaches. The company's shares have risen nearly 50 percent since Trump's election.

Executives from Magal's U.S.-based Senstar unit will show off its FiberPatrol product at a Jan. 31 conference on border security. Officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other agencies will talk to the gathering of defense contractors in Alexandria, Virginia, according to Magal Chief Executive Officer Saar Koursh. The system, which embeds fiber-optic sensors in long stretches of fences and walls, is already used for perimeter security at airports and seaports around the world, he said.
Read More...
Jet2

Lockheed-Martin credits Trump negotiations for lower F-35 price tag


RT
Sat, 04 Feb 2017 15:10 UTC
f35 fighters
© Lockheed Martin / ReutersThree F-35 Joint Strike Fighters
Ninety new F-35 fighter jets will be delivered to the US government and its allies at a saving of $728 million. While the price drop may not have been entirely unexpected, manufacturer Lockheed Martin attributed it to President Donald Trump personally.

The final figures for the 10th Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP-10) contract, released by the Pentagon on Friday, show a price tag of around $8.2 billion for the 90 aircraft - with 35 planes going to various US allies and 55 entering service in the US Air Force, Navy and the Marines.

"President Trump's personal involvement in the F-35 program accelerated the negotiations and sharpened our focus on driving down the price. The agreement was reached in a matter of weeks and represents significant savings over previous contracts," Lockheed Martin said in a statement.

Comment: The 'military-industrial complex' for a long time has primarily existed to rinse the American taxpayer through ridiculous prices on equipment, used for pointless wars. This is at least looks like a sign that Trump is planning to run the country and military more like an effective business.

Read More...
Laptop

Norwegian defense & security officials fall victim to phishing email scam and blame "Russian hackers"


RT
Sat, 04 Feb 2017 14:31 UTC
internet hacker
© www.globallookpress.com
Government officials in Norway have been breached by a phishing attack which authorities promptly pinned on 'Russian hackers,' claiming the hack was allegedly traced back to the same culprits that compromised the DNC servers in the US last year.

Nine personal civil-servant email accounts have been compromised, the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) announced, just days after the agency coincidentally identified possible Russian spying as the greatest potential threat to the country.

The Labor Party and "a handful of other Norwegian targets" were subjected to email attacks that allegedly took place last autumn, the Dagbladet reported. The defense and foreign ministries as well as security service staff were among those targeted, the BBC reports citing local media.

"The attacks had a signature that indicates those behind the hacking can be identified as APT29," PST spokesman Martin Berntsen told the Associated Press. "They can be traced back to Russia," he stated without elaborating further, while conceding that no classified information has been compromised.

CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity company hired by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to investigate the June 2016 data breach, was first to accuse APT29 - which they named "Cozy Bear" and "Fancy Bear" - of being Russian government entities. However, CrowdStrike has never offered any proof for this assertion.

Spear phishing - the forging of trusted communication to access private data - isn't a Russian know-how but a popular and quite unsophisticated fraud technique that is widely used around the world to hijack electronic accounts.
Read More...
Newspaper

BuzzFeed faces new lawsuit over unverified dossier of claims against Trump

Tristan Lejuene
The Hill
Sat, 04 Feb 2017 07:29 UTC
Donald Trump
© Getty Images
BuzzFeed faces a new lawsuit over its publication of an unverified dossier of claims against President Trump and others, McClatchy reported Friday evening.

McClatchy says XBT Holdings, a tech firm with Russian ties named in the document, is suing BuzzFeed, editor in chief Ben Smith and former British spy Christopher Steele over the January 10 publication of what the suit calls "libelous, unverified and untrue allegations."

The dossier, which includes uncorroborated allegations about Trump, claims the Cyprus-based XBT, which is owned by Russian tech magnate Aleksej Gubarev, "had been using botnets and porn traffic to transmit viruses, plant bugs, steal data and conduct 'altering operations' against the Democratic Party leadership" in 2016.

The dossier grabbed international headlines after intelligence officials presented it to Trump and then-President Obama. The U.S. intelligence community says Russia sought to interfere in last year's election with the intention of electing Trump, and the document — which BuzzFeed published while other news organizations demurred — was presented as evidence that Moscow also sought to compromise Trump himself.
Read More...
Yoda

Nigel Farage schools European Parliament and British media on Trump's immigration policy


Sott.net
Sat, 04 Feb 2017 13:49 UTC
British MEP and UKIP leader Nigel Farage explains the facts of Trump's new US immigration policy in a heated debate during a special session at the European Parliament on February 1st:

Read More...