Puppet MastersS


Heart - Black

Harold Ford, Jr.: Portrait of a sleazy corporatist sociopath

Salon
Glenn Greenwald
Mon, 09 Jul 2012 16:41 UTC
Harold Ford Jr.
© Reuters/Jessica RinaldiHarold Ford Jr.

Harold Ford Jr., sleazy corporatist and nepotist, offers up a particularly grotesque defense of U.S. aggression.

Harold Ford, Jr. is the walking, breathing embodiment of virtually everything rotted and corrupt about the American political class. He entered Congress at the age of 26 only by virtue of nepotistic benefits: while in law school, he ran for the seat long held by his father of the same name (he then promptly failed the test for admission to the Tennessee bar). In Congress, he voted for de-regulation of Wall Street (which helped precipitate the 2008 financial crisis); to authorize the Iraq War (and then harshly criticized Democrats who opposed it and refused to admit its error even as late as 2007); in favor of a Constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages (The Advocate branded him "anti-gay"); and was one of the few Democrats to support the credit-card-industry-demanded bankruptcy "reform" bill that made it harder for impoverished consumers to discharge consumer debt.
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Star of David

Ehud Olmert found guilty in corruption case


Hurriyet Daily News
Wed, 11 Jul 2012 16:28 UTC
Ehud Olmert
© AFP photoFormer Israeli PM Ehud Olmert speaks to the press at the District Court in Jerusalem. He was found guilty of a corruption charge in the first criminal trial.
Ehud Olmert was found guilty yesterday of a corruption charge in the first criminal trial of a former Israeli prime minister, but acquitted on two other counts in what was widely seen as a significant victory for him.

Although Olmert was convicted of fraud and breach of trust, he was found not guilty on more serious charges that included allegations he received cash bribes from a U.S. businessman and double-billed Israeli charities for overseas fund-raising trips. It was not immediately clear when Olmert, 66, would be sentenced. If that crime, breach of trust, does carry a prison term, he would become the first Israeli prime minister to serve time. He could face up to five years in jail.
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Chess

Russia 'sending flotilla of warships' to Syrian port of Tartus


Hurriyet Daily News
Tue, 10 Jul 2012 16:18 UTC
Admiral Chabanenko
© AFP photoA December 19, 2008, file photo of the Russian Admiral Chabanenko destroyer arrives at Havana's harbor.
Russia has sent a naval flotilla of six warships led by an anti-submarine destroyer to its naval base at the Syrian port of Tartus, the Interfax news agency reported today.

The Admiral Chabanenko and three landing craft have left their home port of Severomorsk in the Arctic Circle on their way to the Mediterranean where they will be joined by the Russian patrol ship Yaroslav Mudry as well as an assistance vessel, a military source told the agency.
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Attention

14 Incredibly Creepy Surveillance Technologies That Big Brother Will Be Using To Spy On You


The American Dream
Mon, 09 Jul 2012 15:06 UTC
Big Brother Surveillance
© The American Dream
Most of us don't think much about it, but the truth is that people are being watched, tracked and monitored more today than at any other time in human history. The explosive growth of technology in recent years has given governments, spy agencies and big corporations monitoring tools that the despots and dictators of the past could only dream of.

Previous generations never had to deal with "pre-crime" surveillance cameras that use body language to spot criminals or unmanned drones watching them from far above.

Previous generations would have never even dreamed that street lights and refrigerators might be spying on them. Many of the incredibly creepy surveillance technologies that you are about to read about are likely to absolutely astound you. We are rapidly heading toward a world where there will be no such thing as privacy anymore.

Big Brother is becoming all-pervasive, and thousands of new technologies are currently being developed that will make it even easier to spy on you. The world is changing at a breathtaking pace, and a lot of the changes are definitely not for the better.

The following are 14 incredibly creepy surveillance technologies that Big Brother will be using to watch you....
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Dollar

Many on Wall Street think cheating breeds success

Allison Linn
MSNBC
Tue, 10 Jul 2012 11:15 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Nearly one-fourth of financial services professionals feel it's at least sometimes necessary to do illegal or unethical things to be successful, and many are motivated to do so by fat bonuses and other compensation.

That's according to a new survey of 500 U.S. and British fund managers, bankers, asset managers and other financial services professionals. It was conducted in June on behalf of the law firm Labaton Sucharow, which specializes in whistleblower cases.

Twenty-four percent of respondents said if you work in financial services you must at times engage in unethical or illegal activity to be successful.

On the bright side, 76 percent said you never need to break the law or experience a lapse in ethics in order to get ahead.

The motivation to cheat: For many, it's the money.

The survey found that 30 percent of those in financial services feel pressure to do things that are unethical or illegal because of their compensation or bonus plans.

On Wall Street and Fleet Street, base salaries are often generous, but the real wealth can often come from massive, performance-based bonuses.

The survey comes as Barclays Bank is embroiled in a scandal amid charges that the company manipulated short-term interest rates that affect a host of debt, including mortgages and student loans.

It also comes just months after a Goldman Sachs employee named Greg Smith announced his departure from the firm via a New York Times op-ed in which he derided the company as toxic and destructive, motivated by profit over the client's best wishes.
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Satellite

Fascist Regime Prepares Disaster Communication Infrastructure with New Executive Order

Barack Obama
The White House
Fri, 06 Jul 2012 10:24 UTC
EXECUTIVE ORDER

- - - - - - -

ASSIGNMENT OF NATIONAL SECURITY AND
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS COMMUNICATIONS FUNCTIONS

Image
© Unknown
Section 1. Policy. The Federal Government must have the ability to communicate at all times and under all circumstances to carry out its most critical and time sensitive missions. Survivable, resilient, enduring, and effective communications, both domestic and international, are essential to enable the executive branch to communicate within itself and with: the legislative and judicial branches; State, local, territorial, and tribal governments; private sector entities; and the public, allies, and other nations. Such communications must be possible under all circumstances to ensure national security, effectively manage emergencies, and improve national resilience. The views of all levels of government, the private and nonprofit sectors, and the public must inform the development of national security and emergency preparedness (NS/EP) communications policies, programs, and capabilities.
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Star of David

Hezbollah arrests three people suspected of running a spy network for Israel and the United States


United Press International
Tue, 10 Jul 2012 10:39 UTC
Beirut, Lebanon -- Hezbollah arrested three people suspected of running a spy network for Israel and the United States, a source told al-Arabiya.

The three, identified as Mohammed al-Husseini, Jihad Jaloul and Mohammed al-Sabaa, were arrested in a southern Beirut suburb. The three were active in Hezbollah and are suspected of supplying information to the CIA and Israel's Mossad, al-Arabiya said Tuesday.

The Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese daily an-Nahar, which broke the story Monday denied the three worked for Hezbollah but said they were on good terms with Hezbollah members, al-Arabiya said.

In June 2011, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said two spies working for the CIA had infiltrated the ranks of the party and described the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon as a "den of spies," the Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star said.
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Pistol

Militarist Procedures for Civil Unrest Details Use of Deadly Force Against US Citizens

Madison Ruppert
End the Lie
Fri, 06 Jul 2012 09:09 UTC
In a damning new 115 page self-learning course from the U.S. Army Military Police School at Fort McClellan originally issued in April 2006, we learn that the military has a detailed and brutal plan in store in times of mass civil unrest in the United States.

This likely comes as no surprise to readers of End the Lie who are familiar with my work on the military's Internment/Resettlement Operations manual (video is also embedded below), my coverage of the designation of civilian internee in military literature, my coverage of KBR's so-called "National Quick Response Teams," and the FEMA "National Responder Support Camps."

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Footprints

US Cell Phone Companies See Surveillance Requests Soar

Jason Ditz
Anti War
Sun, 08 Jul 2012 07:13 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Ubiquitous in the modern world, the cell phone is a very personal item and, perhaps predictably, at has become one of the favorite targets for US law enforcement fishing expeditions, according to new data released by cell phone companies.

The data, a response to a Congressional inquiry into cell phone surveillance, shows requests from federal state and local governments have soared over the past few years, with the companies fielding 1.3 million demands for private subscriber information in 2011 alone.

Government surveillance into cell phone use is a long-standing issue for privacy advocates, but even Congressmen are expressing shock at exactly how many such requests the companies are receiving.

At present there are very few legal restrictions on what the government can seek, with many agencies shifting away from wiretaps to more vague requests for data to avoid seeking a warrant. Many of the companies are keeping a team of lawyers on-hand to screen such requests, rejecting those they are worried might cause trouble for them later.
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Pistol

U.N. Agreement Should Have All Gun Owners Up In Arms

Larry Bell
Forbes
Mon, 09 Jul 2012 22:15 UTC
gun
© Getty Images via @daylife
It may not come as surprising news to many of you that the United Nations doesn't approve of our Second Amendment. Not one bit. And they very much hope to do something about it with help from some powerful American friends. Under the guise of a proposed global "Small Arms Treaty" premised to fight "terrorism", "insurgency" and "international crime syndicates" you can be quite certain that an even more insidious threat is being targeted - our Constitutional right for law-abiding citizens to own and bear arms.

What, exactly, does the intended agreement entail?
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