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Take 2

September jobs: Numbers bubblevision won't mention

David Stockman
Contra Corner
Fri, 03 Oct 2014 17:16 UTC
Image
© Getty Images
The September establishment survey showed a 248k job gain, but that was the seasonally maladjusted, preliminarily guesstimated version which will be revised in October and November, and then re-benchmarked several more times in the coming years. So let's take a pass on the enthusiasm with respect to this fleeting monthly delta and consider a couple of trend points evident in this morning's release - data points which aren't going to get revised away and which actually provide some fundamental insight about the actual "employment situation" and the true condition of the US economy.

My favorite number is right at the top of the BLS table and it's 155.9 million. That is the civilian labor force number for September and it compares to 154.9 million reported for October 2008 way back when the financial crisis was just erupting. The reason that rather tepid gain of 1 million labor force participants over the course of six years is important is that during the same period the working age civilian population (over 16 years) rose from 234.6 million to 248.4 million - or by 14 million in round terms.

That's right, the labor force grew by only 7% of the gain in adult population. That explains, of course, why the labor force participation rate of 66.0% back at the time of the crisis has plunged to a 36-year low of 62.7% in September. Or to put it another way, the employment-to-population ratio of 59.0% last month compared to just under 62% six years ago and 64.2% in the year 2000.

Comment: The jobs report number is one of the various ways the powers-that-be hide the actual reality of the economic situation.

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Vader

Unexploded mines left by Kiev army plague eastern Ukrainians


RT
Sat, 04 Oct 2014 17:58 UTC
Image
© Screenshot from RT video
A large scale mine sweeping operation in underway in south-eastern Ukraine as numerous unexploded shells and missiles remain in the area after months of deadly conflict.

Despite the ceasefire between the government troops and the self-defense forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk Republics, locals remain in constant danger from unexploded devices, which they call "the army's gifts."


Comment: Unfortunately, there have been continuing clashes despite the ceasefire agreement:
Post-ceasefire violence at Donetsk airport kills 15 in east Ukraine


A combat engineer named Aleksandr has shown RT's Maria Finoshina dozens of unexploded shells, which he defused during the last three weeks in just one district of Donetsk.

"There was a case when we cleared an apartment and the shell went through two walls, but didn't explode," he said. "There was another time when we cleared a little girl's room. She was living in there with an unexploded device."
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Bullseye

Another warning to the puppet: Fake congressman sneaks backstage at Obama speaking engagement


RT
Sat, 04 Oct 2014 05:07 UTC
obama black caucus dinner
© Reuters / Jonathan Ernst
US President Barack Obama speaks at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation dinner
In what is just the latest example of a Secret Service "situation normal, all f**ked up" presidential security breach, a man pretending to be a congressman snuck into a secure backstage area at an event where President Barack Obama was speaking.

On Saturday, just days before the head of the US Secret Service resigned over a series of scandals, the impostor gained access to the backstage area where several members of Congress were gathered. The incident occurred during or just after Obama gave a speech at a Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) event at the District of Columbia's convention center on Saturday, Bloomberg reported.

The CBC members were preparing to take pictures with the president, an official told the news organization. The unidentified man told agents he was Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-NJ). A member of the White House staff realized the impostor wasn't Payne, and a second staffer asked him to leave, which he did without incident. He was not detained, the official noted.

Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary said the agency did its job, as everyone who attended the dinner at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center was screened.

"This guy went through security, fully screened," he told Bloomberg.

Comment: Secret service incompetence or a message from the Secret Team that he may not be following their agenda?

Puppet beware? Armed contractor with violent criminal record shared lift with Obama

Texas man who made his way into the White House with knife is Iraq veteran

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Quenelle

CDC's useful idiot says that banning flights from Ebola-stricken countries will cause more Americans to get Ebola

Melissa Melton
The Daily Sheeple
Fri, 03 Oct 2014 17:41 UTC
Someone please PLEASE explain to me how this makes sense at all. Please.

Now, CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden, the guy who couldn't even go two minutes without contradicting himself on CNN about how Ebola is transmitted, is now saying that if we restrict air flights from the Ebola-stricken African nations, it will "backfire" and cause Americans to somehow be exposed to the disease more here.

Wha...? Am I missing something here?

Here's the clip via Politico:

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Propaganda

Spinning in the (mass) grave: Western media dig dirt to cover Kiev's atrocities

Finian Cunningham
Strategic Culture Foundation
Sat, 04 Oct 2014 14:04 UTC
mass grave
© REUTERS/ Marko Djurica
OSCE observers at a mass burial site in the village of Nizhnaya Krynka.
The Western media went into supercilious mode this week over evidence of atrocities and mass graves in eastern Ukraine committed by the Kiev regime.

Rather than dealing with disturbing facts that point to the Western-backed regime's culpability in war crimes, Western media tried instead to divert the focus by claiming that «pro-Kremlin» Russian news outlets were guilty of crude propaganda.

Britain's Daily Telegraph - a repository for Western intelligence - claimed that Russia was «distorting facts» over the discovery last week of mass graves near Donetsk city...

The Telegraph headline ran: «Facts distorted as Moscow claims hundreds of bodies discovered in Ukrainian 'mass graves'».

Notice the way that the headline uses quote marks for the words 'mass graves'. That stylistic device is aimed at casting doubt on the fact of at least three mass graves having been actually found near the village of Nzynhnia Krynka, 35 kilometres northeast of Donetsk.

The Telegraph article carries the subheading: «Pro-Kremlin media misrepresent activist while Russian-backed rebels contradict the claim and say only nine bodies found».

Comment: We couldn't agree more. While the Telegraph and other propaganda mouthpieces gleefully pounce on Lavrov for mistaking 400 dead civilians murdered by Kiev's forces for 400 dead civilians murdered by Kiev's forces and found buried in mass graves, it doesn't change the fact every civilian tortured and murdered by Kiev (and you can bet it's more than 400!) is a war crime.

The following video contains footage of Einars Graudins speaking to interviewers at the scene of the one of the mass graves:



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Arrow Down

Georgia retiree raided after growing suspicious okra plants


Police State USA
Fri, 03 Oct 2014 04:48 UTC
D. Perry
© WSBTV
Dwane Perry
Cartersville - A retired man was awoken to his property being invaded by a swarm of police officers - accompanied by drug-sniffing dogs and a police helicopter - interested in the plants in his garden.

The early-morning raid occurred on October 1st, 2014, at the home of Dwane Perry. The first thing he remembers hearing was the whirring of the copter blades and strange men banging on his door.

"I was scared actually, at first, because I didn't know what was happening," said Mr. Perry to WSB-TV.

Agents from the Governor's Task Force for drug suppression had apparently been trolling the skies over the area and observed plants on his property that they deemed suspicious. Based on that intel, a team of Broward County deputies trespassed on Mr. Perry's land to harass and potentially arrest the retiree because of the contents of his garden.

After confronting Mr. Perry, deputies sheepishly realized that the tree-growing plant was actually okra - not cannabis. It has five leaves instead of seven, and produces a vegetable that is popular in southern cooking.

"Here I am, at home and retired and, you know, I do the right thing," Mr. Perry explained. "Then they come to my house strapped with weapons for no reason. It ain't right."
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Attention

Dallas Ebola patient contacts now up to 80; parents pull children from schools

Bill Hanna
Star Telegram
Thu, 02 Oct 2014 14:29 UTC
Dallas police
© Paul Moseley
Dallas police stand outside L.L. Hotchkiss Elementary School in Dallas on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2014. The school is attended by children who came in contact with a man from Liberia who is hospitalized in Dallas with Ebola.

The number of possible contacts with the Ebola patient in Dallas has risen to 80, said Zachary Thompson, Dallas County Health and Human Services director Thursday.

He also said a control order has been issued to the family of Thomas Eric Duncan, the man identified by The Associated Press as the victim of the often-fatal virus. Thompson said that means the family members are confined to their apartment and the front and back areas, such as the patio.

Original story

Parents rushed to get their children from school Wednesday after learning that five students may have had contact with the Ebola patient in a Dallas hospital, as Gov. Rick Perry and other leaders reassured the public that there is no cause for alarm.

The patient, identified by The Associated Press as Thomas Eric Duncan of Liberia, arrived in the U.S. on Sept. 20 to visit family. Dallas County Health and Human Services Director Zachary Thompson said county officials suspect that 12 to 18 people may have had contact with Duncan.
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Crusader

Pope Francis: 'I believe in guardian angels...and everyone should listen to their advice'

Lizzie Dearden
The Independent, UK
Fri, 03 Oct 2014 23:49 UTC
Pope Francis
© The Independent, UK
The Pope told Catholics that pride stops them recognising their companions.
Pope Francis has said he believes in angels, telling Catholics around the world to reaffirm their belief in holy guardians.

Speaking to followers at the Vatican on Wednesday, the pontiff said every person has a guardian angel advising them in life.

Stressing they were not imaginary, he said it was only pride stopping people hearing their voices.

"Do not rebel: follow his advice," the Pope said according to the Catholic News Agency.

"No one walks alone and none of us can think that he is alone."

Pope Francis made the comments on the Feast of Holy Guardian Angels, observed by Catholics around the world on 2 October.

He claimed that no person can rightly give moral advice to themselves and should instead rely on direction from angels.
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Quenelle - Golden

Putin wildly popular in China, with approval rating jumping 30% since standing up to US/EU

Jeremy Page
Wall Street Journal
Fri, 03 Oct 2014 23:13 UTC
Image
© Jeremy Page/The Wall Street Journal
Books about Vladimir Putin far outsell those on other foreign leaders, according to the staff at Beijing's Wangfujing bookstore.
Like Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin Is Seen as a Strong Leader Who Isn't Afraid to Confront the West

In the recommended-reading section of Beijing's Wangfujing bookstore, staff members have no doubt which foreign leader customers are most interested in: President Vladimir Putin, or "Putin the Great" as some Chinese call him.

Books on Mr. Putin have been flying off shelves since the crisis in Ukraine began, far outselling those on other world leaders, sales staff say. One book, "Putin Biography: He is Born for Russia," made the list of top 10 nonfiction best sellers at the Beijing News newspaper in September.

China's fascination with Mr. Putin is more than literary, marking a shift in the post-Cold War order and in Chinese politics. After decades of mutual suspicion - and one short border conflict - Beijing and Moscow are drawing closer as they simultaneously challenge the U.S.-led security architecture that has prevailed since the Soviet collapse, diplomats and analysts say.

The former rivals for leadership of the Communist world also increasingly share a brand of anti-Western nationalism that could color President Xi Jinping's view of the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Beijing accuses Western governments of stirring unrest there, much as Mr. Putin blamed the West for the pro-democracy protests in Kiev that began late last year.


Comment: Indeed, it looks as though Jinping is right to suspect the West of stirring unrest in Hong Kong:
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Sheriff

Man killed in no-knock raid by SWAT forces after police receive tip from burglary suspect

Travis Gettys
Raw Story
Fri, 03 Oct 2014 22:52 UTC
Image
© Shutterstock
When Teresa Hooks looked outside the craft room window of her Georgia home one night last week, she saw hooded figures wearing camouflage standing outside.

The East Dublin woman woke up her husband, David Hooks, who grabbed his shotgun, believing burglars who had recently targeted the couple had come back again, reported WMAZ-TV.

The sheriff's deputies burst through the back door about 11 p.m. on Sept. 24 and, seeing David Hooks holding the weapon, fired 16 shots - killing the 59-year-old grandfather.

Authorities said Hooks met deputies at the door and pointed his weapon aggressively at officers as they announced themselves.

But Teresa Hooks said the officers did not knock and never identified themselves as law enforcement, and her attorney said David Hooks was killed behind a wall in the home - not at the door.

Deputies were executing a search warrant as part of a drug investigation based on a tip from one of the burglars accused of stealing a vehicle from Hooks.

The night before the raid, the search warrant stated, Rodney Garrett told investigators he stole a plastic bag from a pickup parked outside the Hooks home, believing it contained cash.


Comment: Why would he believe a plastic bag contained cash? And why did he wait so long to check what was in the bag? These are the questions law enforcement should have been asking their "tipster". The first thing investigators should do when receiving a tip is investigate the tipster. That appears to be lost on Georgia police in their zeal to raid a home and kill whoever shows up with a weapon to rightfully protect themselves in their home.


He also stole firearms and a set of digital scales, investigators said.
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