Puppet MastersS


Dollars

Federal revenue to set record in 2013

Matt Cover
cnsnews.com
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 14:57 UTC
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© AP
Federal revenue will return to its pre-recession levels in 2013, according to projections from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), setting a record for the most money the government has ever taken in.

In its latest Budget and Economic Update, the CBO forecasts that federal revenue will top $2.7 trillion in 2013, slightly higher than the $2.6 trillion the government collected in 2007, when the last recession officially began.

Government revenues had fallen by nearly $500 billion during the recession to $2.1 trillion in 2009, contributing to the $1.5 trillion deficit that year. However, federal revenues have been recovering since the recession ended in June 2009, and the CBO now projects that they will slightly eclipse their pre-recession peak.

In fact, the $2.7 trillion in revenue will be the most money the federal government has collected in history.
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Dollar Gold

U.S. ends 2012 with 103.8% debt to GDP

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:52 UTC
Previously, when calculating debt/GDP metrics for the US, we naturally assumed some GDP growth in Q4. Following today's GDP data we now know what Q4 GDP is. We also know that, at least on a preliminary basis, it posted a decline on an annualized basis. This means that we now have an official print for US Debt/GDP as of December 31, 2012. The numerator, or debt: $16.432 trillion, or the debt ceiling, which as we know was breached on the same day, and which has yet to be formally raised. The denominator, or GDP: $15.829 trillion. This means that the formal debt/GDP is now 103.8% and growing fast.

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USA

Supreme Court justices question relevance of Voting Rights Act

Erin O'Roak
The Seattle Times
Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:45 UTC
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© CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGESResidents from Alabama stand outside the U.S. Supreme Court, waiting for a chance to hear arguments regarding a legal challenge to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, Feb. 27, 2013 in Washington, D.C.
Scalia perpetuates his own entitlement

Justice Antonin Scalia recently sparked national debate when the Supreme Court reviewed a case challenging the 1965 Voting Rights Act ["Justices voice skepticism of voting-rights law," page one, Feb. 28]. He warned about the "phenomenon that is called perpetuation of racial entitlement."

Does he, like other Americans, think that the election of the first African-American president means the end of racial divides?
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Eye 1

Obama promised to close Guantánamo - instead, he's made it worse

Murtaza Hussain
Guardian
Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:37 UTC
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© John Moore/Getty ImagesThe majority of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay are currently on hunger strike to protest the prison conditions and the legal limbo of their position.
Facing deteriorating conditions and the hopelessness of their legal abyss, detainees are starving themselves in protest

In his letters, Guantánamo Bay prisoner Shaker Aamer appeals in desperation to his captors and the outside world:
"Please ... torture me in the old way. Here they destroy people mentally and physically without leaving marks."
The 44-year-old British resident and father of four has spent over 11 years incarcerated at Guantánamo despite being cleared for release as early as 2007. To this day never charged with a crime, Aamer is just one of hundreds of detainees who remain imprisoned in Guantánamo. Despite running on an explicit campaign promise to shut down the island prison which has become a symbol of the abuses of the "war on terror", President Obama has continued to preside over its operation.

And by recent accounts, under his tenure, the conditions for prisoners there - from both a physical and legal standpoint - have become markedly worse.
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Heart - Black

Department of Justice says White House can use 'lethal force' on American citizens on U.S. soil


RT
Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:20 UTC
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© Reuters / U.S. Navy / Erik Hildebrandt / Northrop Grumman / Handout
The US government has the right to use military force on American citizens, even at home - but only in "extraordinary circumstances," the attorney general has stated in a letter to Senator Rand Paul.

Paul had threatened to filibuster the nomination of John Brennan, US President Barack Obama's pick for CIA director, "until [Obama] answers the question of whether or not the President can kill American citizens through the drone strike program on US soil."

Brennan was confirmed by the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, March 5, the same day Attorney General Eric Holder sent Paul the letter. Brennan now faces overall Senate approval.

The CIA boss nominee told Paul Tuesday that "the agency I have been nominated to lead does not conduct lethal operations inside the United States - nor does it have any authority to do so," advising the senator that the Justice Department would better suited to answer his inquiry regarding whether American citizens could be assassinated on home soil.
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USA

Personal emails might fall under government inspection


RT
Tue, 05 Mar 2013 13:11 UTC
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© Reuters / Regis Duvignau
Private emails and other personal correspondence could be collected and scoured by government officials if changes being considered to the recent White House cybersecurity executive order are honored.

Under the cybersecurity directive signed last month by US President Barack Obama, "commercial information technology products or consumer information technology services" such as Gmail and Facebook aren't lumped in with the so-called "critical infrastructure" entities that are asked to share information with the federal government. Now some telecommunication companies disagree with that part of the order and say the White House should revamp the language so that these exemptions aren't exploited by hackers.

Calls for changes in the president's draft come after a wave of reported cybercrimes have targeted all aspects of the Web, from social media sites to government property. Twitter.com was recently the victim of a massive security breach, and a highly-touted report released by Northern Virginia security firm Mandiant last month claimed that Chinese hackers have infiltrated a number of Defense Department computers. Even though commercial websites aren't included in the executive order's provision, some say they should.

"If e-mail went away this afternoon, we would all come to a stop," Marcus Sachs, vice president of national security policy at Verizon Communications Inc., tells Bloomberg News. "Hell yeah, e-mail is critical."
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Eye 2

U.N. rips Israeli military for 'institutionalized' mistreatment of Palestinian children


Raw Story
Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:57 UTC
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© AFP Photo
The ill-treatment of Palestinian minors held within the Israeli military detention system is "widespread, systematic and institutionalised," a report Wednesday by the UN children's fund found.

UNICEF in the 22-page report that examined the Israeli military court system for holding Palestinian children found evidence of practices it said were "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment."

"Ill-treatment of Palestinian children in the Israeli military detention system appears to be widespread, systematic and institutionalised," it concluded, outlining 38 recommendations to improve the protection of children in custody.

Over the past decade, Israeli forces have arrested, interrogated and prosecuted around 7,000 Palestinian children aged between between 12 and 17, most of them boys, the report said, noting the rate was equivalent to "an average of two children each day."

"In no other country are children systematically tried by juvenile military courts that, by definition, fall short of providing the necessary guarantees to ensure respect for their rights," it said.
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Bad Guys

South Korea vows to retaliate if provoked by North Korea


Raw Story
Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:06 UTC
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© AFP Photo
South Korea warned Wednesday that it would retaliate against any provocation from North Korea, a day after the North threatened to tear up the armistice that ended the Korean War in 1953.

"If North Korea carries out provocations that threaten the lives and safety of South Koreans, our military will carry out strong and resolute retaliations," Army General Kim Yong-Hyun told reporters.

Kim's briefing followed North Korea's announcement on Tuesday that it would "completely declare invalid" the armistice agreement in response to moves to toughen UN sanctions on North Korea after its recent nuclear test.

The announcement, attributed to the spokesman of the North Korean army's supreme command, also threatened an undefined "strike of justice" against a target of the North's choosing.
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Star of David

Using secret travel ban, Israel prepares to deport activist Adam Shapiro preventing him from being at the birth of his first child

Allison Deger
Mondoweiss
Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:39 UTC
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© IMEU/FacebookHuwaida Arraf and Adam Shapiro
Israel's deportation policy entered a new phase on Monday when Huwaida Arraf and Adam Shapiro, co-founders of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), arrived at Ben Gurion airport and discovered an entry ban on Shapiro, despite inquires made in advance by a lawyer for the couple. Arraf and Shapiro, now expecting their first child, are perhaps the most recognizable pair in the Palestine solidarity movement, and architects for building an international activist presence on the ground since the beginning of the second Intifada.

At the airport on Monday afternoon Israeli authorities informed Shapiro that in 2009, unknown to him, the Israeli Ministry of Interior issued a 10-year entry ban for him. Initially the border police "weren't making much sense," Arraf told Mondoweiss, but then Shapiro was taken to jail where he remained for two days until he and Arraf were briefly reunited at a court hearing Tuesday.

After Shapiro's Monday arrest, Arraf sent a letter to friends and supporters on her husband's arrest:
Adam and I are expecting our first child, a boy in about 5 weeks. As joyful as this blessing is, we've had / we have to make some difficult decisions (besides what to name our son that is!) I am an Israeli citizen (in addition to a US citizen). This fact has made it possible for me to continue accessing my homeland all these years in spite of some attempts by Israel to kick me out. Israel did however deport Adam in 2002 because of our human rights work and banned him from re-entering the country (including the occupied Palestinian territory) since, which is why we've had to spend so much of our married life apart. In order for us to ensure that in the future, if Israel remains the racist, apartheid state that it is, it won't deny our son the right to visit his homeland and all his family in Palestine, we've had to think about getting Israeli citizenship for our son. However, because I'm Palestinian, and not a Jewish citizen of Israel, our child will not have the automatic right to visit the country or to claim citizenship. The only way for me to pass down my citizenship to our son is to have him in Israel.
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Star of David

Why is the U.S. spending hundreds of millions on these secret Israeli bunkers?

Robert Johnson
Business Insider
Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:32 UTC
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Last year it was announced the U.S. was looking to build a secret underground complex in Israel. On February 13 a contract was awarded to Conti Corp Federal Services in Edison, NJ to complete the project. Their bid of almost $63 million came in well below the possible $100 million set aside for the project. Conti's bid went toward building five underground levels and six above ground buildings that they have 900 days from February 13 to complete.

The U.S. government then issued another request for proposal December 28 to construct Site 81 Phase II. Also in Israel, also partially underground, this project calls for up to $100,000,000 to refinish six underground facilities and some currently occupied surface buildings. Walter Pincus from the Washington Post fleshed out the original Proposal construction project, called Site 911 in November.

That nearly $63 million project awarded to Conti can be built only by workers from specific countries with proper security clearances. When complete the well-guarded compound will have five levels buried underground and six additional outbuildings on the above grounds, within the perimeter. At about 127,000 square feet, the first three floors will house classrooms, an auditorium, and a laboratory - all wedged behind shock resistant doors - with radiation protection and massive security.
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