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CNN financial advice: "Don't panic... America's economy is still in good shape"

Mac Slavo
SHTFplan
Sat, 16 Jan 2016 00:00 UTC
Drunk Obama
Forget for a moment that U.S. stock markets have seen their worst start to a new year since the Great Depression or that some $2.5 trillion in wealth has been evaporated in less than two weeks.

CNN says it's hardly the time to panic:

Time to panic? Hardly.
There are plenty of reasons to relax, especially if you are a U.S investor. Here are the top two:

1. America's economy is still in good shape.

2. Staying in stocks pays off. Since World War II, investors who remained in stocks for at least 15 years made money

...

Right now, the U.S. economy is growing. It's not rock star growth, but 2% to 2.5% a year is good, and the Fed is being very cautious.

More importantly, businesses are still hiring. Over 2.3 million jobs were added last year (the latest data on hiring comes out Friday and it's widely expected to show more jobs added).

Comment: One might imagine one of these CNN analysts during an earthquake: "Yeah, sure I see that gaping hole in the ground that swallowed up the building, and yeah I feel that shaking on the ground beneath me, and yes there are some people being swallowed up by the gaping cracks in the road - but that doesn't mean we're experiencing an earthquake. Just keep calm. Earthquakes just don't happen here".

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Clipboard

70 tips that will help you through what is about to happen to America

Michael Snyder
End of The American Dream
Wed, 13 Jan 2016 00:00 UTC
the wave
You may have noticed that things are starting to get crazy. Financial markets are imploding, violent crime rates are soaring in our major cities, and we have witnessed a truly unusual series of natural disasters in recent months. War in the Middle East continues to rage out of control, and Islamic terror continues to spread all over the globe. And many believe that 2016 is going to be a year of political shaking, civil unrest, governmental crackdowns and great economic chaos in the United States. All it is going to take to plunge our society into full-blown panic mode is a major "trigger event" of some sort. Another 9/11, a new "Lehman Brothers" moment, a massive EMP burst from the sun or a historic seismic event are all examples of what this "trigger event" could look like.


Comment: Though much of the information presented here is useful, it's too bad that Snyder is still maintaining that 'Islamic terror' is a threat in such a seemingly superficial and misinformed way.


So are you ready for what is about to happen to America? In previous articles, I have urged my readers to focus on the five basics - food, water, shelter, energy and self-defense. If you focus on those five things, you will probably be in pretty good shape during any major disaster or emergency.

In this article, I want to dig a little deeper and give people some more specific tips regarding what they can do to prepare for the times that we are now entering. The following are 70 tips that will help you survive what is going to happen to America...

Comment: 71. Knowledge. This basic list is very good - as far as it goes. But a deeper understanding of the larger processes at work, the pathological underpinnings of our world, and what we may actually strive to aim for (aside from just surviving), would seem to be one of the most important things to consider. Why tread water when you can Ride the Wave?

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Heart - Black

Cop pepper sprays high school students who protest his violent treatment of an 8th grader

Andrew Emett
The Free Thought Project
Sat, 16 Jan 2016 20:46 UTC
cop pepper spraying students
© Facebook
Video posted to Facebook on Jan. 15, 2016 shows a Clark County School District police officer release pepper spray during an attempted arrest on the Eldorado High School campus.
In a blatant abuse of authority, a Las Vegas cop was recently caught on cell phone video pepper-spraying a group of high school students. Instead of committing a crime or threatening the officer's safety, the teens were simply asking why he was physically assaulting an 8th grader when he suddenly fired pepper spray into their eyes.

On Friday, a student recorded a cell phone video of a Las Vegas police officer slamming an eighth-grade student's head against the hood of his patrol car while pulling the kid's hair. The 8th grader had been taken into custody after he allegedly trespassed onto the campus of Eldorado High School and refused to leave. According to police, a crowd of students gathered around the officer when the boy's sister asked the aggressive cop to leave her brother alone.

"What the f**k are you doing to him?" a girl asks the cop a moment before he shoots her and nearly half the students in their faces with pepper spray.
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Stock Down

Layoffs loom in China as economic growth slows

Dexter Roberts
Bloomberg Businessweek
Sat, 16 Jan 2016 20:30 UTC
China employees
© Qilai Shen/BloombergQilai Shen/Bloomberg
Employees rest during a break at a manufacturing facility in Dongguan, China, on Dec. 17, 2015.
While most of the world has fixated on the plunging Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges and Beijing's missteps managing the currency, China's labor market has become increasingly fragile. As wage arrears and layoffs grow, unrest in factories and on construction sites is spreading.

Worker protests and demonstrations doubled last year, to 2,774, with December's total of more than 400 such incidents, setting a monthly record. The protests come as China's slower growth crimps profits and concerns about poor policymaking sap investor confidence. "The increase in strikes and protests began last August around the time of the yuan devaluation and subsequent stock market crash and continued to build during the final quarter of the year, as the economy has showed little sign of improvement," says Geoffrey Crothall, communications director at the Hong Kong-based workers' advocacy organization China Labour Bulletin.

Comment: The slowdown in the global economies will also affect China as there are fewer buyers for their products.

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Fire

Huge blast rocks Chinese city after gas tank truck explodes igniting two factory buildings

Chloe Lyme
Daily Mail (UK)
Fri, 15 Jan 2016 17:10 UTC
Hangzhou City gas truck explosion
© ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images
Explosion: Blast in Hangzhou City was said to be caused by a truck which carried gas bottles and exploded
A large vehicle carrying gas tanks caught fire and exploded near two factories in Yuhang District, Hangzhou city, east China, setting them both on fire.

The blast occurred around 7.05pm local time (11.05am GMT) on January 14, and firefighters were immediately dispatched to the scene, reports the People's Daily Online.

So far one person has been reported to have died in the incident. The huge explosion which engulfed an area of 21,500 square feet was captured on camera by nearby villagers.

The lorry was at the Junction of Liangzhu Street and Tongyun Road, when it caught fire, causing the gas tanks to explode.

According to the Hangzhou fire department, the vehicle set fire to two nearby factories, causing more explosions.

Chinese media reports that 29 fire engines were deployed to the blast site to fight the blaze.

According to the report, witnesses in the area described a 'car bomb' igniting a factory called 'Winfoong Machinery,' but this is yet to be confirmed.

Many people said they heard the sound of the explosion and felt the vibrations from inside their homes, miles from the blast site.

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Hourglass

Imminent threat! Efforts to plug Porter Ranch-area gas leak worsened blowout risk, regulators say

Paige St. John
Los Angeles Times
Sat, 16 Jan 2016 20:12 UTC
porter ranch
© Unknown
A view last month of Southern California Gas' leaking well near Porter Ranch, including the exposed wellhead

Southern California Gas Co.'s effort to plug its leaking natural gas well involves higher stakes than simply stopping the fumes that have sickened many residents of Porter Ranch.

The company also is trying to avoid a blowout, which state regulators said is now a significant concern after a seventh attempt to plug the well created more precarious conditions at the site.

If a blowout occurs, highly flammable gas would vent directly up through the well, known as SS25, rather than dissipating as it does now via the subsurface leak and underground channels.

State officials said a blowout would increase the amount of leaked gas, causing greater environmental damage. That natural gas also creates the risk of a massive fire if ignited by a spark. The risk of fire already is so high that cellphones and watches are banned from the site

California Department of Conservation spokesman Don Drysdale called the possibility of fire "a concern" even without a blowout. The department is the umbrella agency that oversees the oil and gas regulators responsible for well safety.
If the wellhead fails, the thing is just going to be full blast.- Gene Nelson, physical sciences professor, Cuesta College.
The chief deputy director of the department, Jason Marshall, and a senior oil and gas field regulator assigned to daily watch at Aliso Canyon, Scott McGurk, told The Times the site and wellhead were made more unstable by the gas company's attempts to stop the leak by pumping a slurry directly into the well.

The last of those efforts, which stretched over several days beginning Dec. 22, expanded a crater around the wellhead, state and gas company officials said.

The crater is now 25 feet deep, 80 feet long and 30 feet wide, those officials said. The wellhead sits exposed within the cavernous space, held in place with cables attached after it wobbled during the plugging attempt, Marshall and McGurk said. The well pipe and its control valves are exposed and unsupported within that hole, atop a deep field of pressurized gas.

Comment: Erin Brockovich seeks justice for the victims of the Porter Ranch gas leak

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Monkey Wrench

German farmers have lost over one billion euros, demand end to Russian sanctions


Russia Insider
Sat, 16 Jan 2016 00:00 UTC
German Farmers Union Joachim Rukwied

President of the German Farmers Union Joachim Rukwied
Background information from the translator: the German Farmers Association - DBV / Deutscher Bauernverband - is Germany's major representative for farmers, their families, and rural areas of the country. With its long tradition, the Farmers Association today represents more than 90% of a total of 300,000 farms in Germany.

The Association is quite influential in German politics and plays a role in the general political discussions. The Farmers Association has two offices and representations in Berlin and Brussels which work as central points of contact between political parties, associations and public organizations. The Germany Famers Association is a member of the European Farmers Association (COPA) and is also a member in the World Farmers Association (WFO).

The German Farmers Association is complaining about billion-dollar losses due to EU sanctions against Russia. But Federal Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt characterizes the sanctions as merely "annoying" - and expects 2016 to be a poor year.

Considering the poor economic situation of many farmers, the German Farmers Associations (DBV) is demanding an end to the Russian sanctions on products from the EU. "Efforts to overcome the current embargo have to be intensified!" stated DBV president Joachim Rukwied in an interview with the newspaper Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung. Many German farmers find themselves in dire straits because of Russia's boycott on products from Europe.

Comment:

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Handcuffs

Former U.S. attorneys predict criminal charges in Hillary email investigation

Alana Goodman
The Washington Free Beacon
Fri, 15 Jan 2016 08:59 UTC
hillary
Two former U.S. attorneys said the FBI will likely reach a determination in the next few months in its investigation of Hillary Clinton's private email server, and based on publicly available evidence said the bureau could have a strong criminal case.

"I expect the FBI to conclude the investigation within 60 to 90 days and make a recommendation to the Justice Department, and I believe they will recommend a series of charges involving the classified information," said Joseph DiGenova, who was U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia during the Reagan administration.

The FBI has been investigating whether classified information was mishandled over Clinton's private email server since at least August. The probe reportedly has expanded to include contracts awarded by the State Department in relation to Clinton Foundation donors.

"These classified information cases are relatively simple cases to get into, and the FBI knows that what the Clinton people did with regard to her server was a clear violation of federal criminal law," DiGenova added. "It is the negligent handling of classified information, which is prohibited by statute, and this is a gross example of it, and it dwarfs the information in the [David] Petraeus case."

Comment: Hillary Clinton has been singularly successful at emerging unscathed from her numerous scandals. Perhaps her good fortune is finally running short, or it could be that the amount of time and resources devoted to this investigation is mere theater and that when she is once more let off the hook, through whatever means the judiciary seems fitting, the path will be cleared for her 'election'.

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Ambulance

Congressional cafeteria workers hospitalized after possible exposure to lead paint dust


RT
Sat, 16 Jan 2016 01:45 UTC
capitol building, US congress
© James Lawler Duggan / Reuters
Capitol Police and Washington, DC fire officials are investigating a suspicious substance found in the basement of Longworth House Office Building after 10 cafeteria workers there suddenly became sick.

Construction has been underway at the facility, which is one of three used by the House of Representatives.

The 10 people reported feeling ill in the cafeteria area of Longworth House Office Building on Friday morning and were escorted from the building. At least two were carried out on stretchers, according to Roll Call.
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No Entry

Wounded and abandoned Brit Army interpreter seeks UK asylum

David Williams, Larisa Brown
Daily Mail
Fri, 15 Jan 2016 21:23 UTC
Dijilane
© Bradley Page
Fazel Dijilane, interpreter for 3rd battalion Yorkshire Regiment and the Royal Marines
An interpreter injured by a bomb while working for the UK Army in Afghanistan is now sleeping rough in the Calais Jungle. Fazel Dijilane, 23, spent eight months translating for soldiers on patrol, risking his life every day. But he says he was 'abandoned' when our troops pulled out and was forced to flee after the Taliban accused him of being a spy.

He spent more than two years travelling across Europe to try to reach the UK, where he hoped to claim asylum. But instead he is now destitute, living in a tent in Calais alongside hundreds of other migrants. His injuries mean he is in constant pain, which is worsened by cold weather.

Mr Dijilane said: 'I am at the front door of the UK now. But it seems they don't care about the interpreters.' He said he wanted to help British troops because they had 'left everything to fight for peace for us'. But his cousin, a member of the Taliban, was killed and his family suspected Mr Dijilane of informing because of his work.

He said he was waiting for the UK Government's Labour Support Unit (LSU) in Afghanistan to consider his application to be relocated to the UK when he was threatened by the Taliban and had to flee. He said: 'I lost everything: my mother, my sisters, my health, my country. I know many interpreters the Taliban have already killed. So I had to leave. Now, I am just asking for help.'

Comment: Those who give uncompromising service to others often find the return balance negligent and unfulfilled. This is an all too often circumstance of beneficence being used and then left by the wayside. Mr. Dijilane made a self-sacrificing contribution while risking his life and that is something honorable in itself. In a nice world, it would be acknowledged and reciprocated. We do not live in a particularly nice world.

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