HSBC Narco-Bank: Too big to fail, too big to go to jail

Daniel Hopsicker reports for Mad Cow Morning News:

The big news in the US Senate’s Permanent Sub-Committee on Investigation’s 340-page report released last week on drug money-laundering by London’s HSBC Bank, the world’s 4th largest, is the answer to the question:

Is there a bigger Drug Lord in the world than Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel Honcho Shorty (El Chapo) Guzman?

Perhaps surprisingly, the answer is yes. His job's as important at Shorty Guzman's, even if he doesn't get the same kind of press. But first, a quick peek at how and why the Senate Report made one thing— as Richard Nixon used to say—perfectly clear:

Crime pays. At least if you’re a banker.

[ ... ]

"'Low-risk' means don't worry about the goddam drug money, got it?"

HSBC's chief executive in Mexico, Luis Pena, echoed what bank officials told Senator Levin’s Senate Committee last week. He said the bank recognized its mistakes and that the issue was now settled after the fine, the biggest-ever handed out to a bank in Mexico. "The case is concluded," Pena told Mexican reporters. "As I say, this was about serious administrative faults."

No it wasn’t. It’s about a criminal enterprise acting around the globe with impunity.

During the middle of the most conspicuous drug war in world history in Mexico, HSBC Bank labeled the bank’s transaction in that bedeviled country “low-risk,” meaning there was very little chance the enormous sums the bank was forwarding from Mexico to the US—as much as $9 billion in just a few years—were drug money.

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World’s first ‘smart city’ to be completed by 2015: ‘Songdo’ the Orwellian control grid

From Grant J. Kidney — The world’s first ‘smart city’ is being built in Asia- and it promises to serve as an experiment for the high-tech tyranny that is surely to come about as a response to the collapse of this present era of human industrial civilization.

Dubbed ‘Songdo’, the city will rest upon a wholly man made island in the Yellow sea and will incorporate just about every aspect of an Orwellian ‘super state’ imaginable.

Millions of wireless sensors and microchips will be embedded throughout the sprawling city-scape. ‘Smart appliances’ such as refrigerators that let you know when you’re running low on certain foods and bathroom mirrors that inform you of your physical health will be evident in every home.

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‘The mob learned from Wall Street’: Eliot Spitzer on the ‘cartel-style corruption’ behind Libor scam

"Viewpoint" host Eliot Spitzer, Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone contributing editor, and Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of Better Markets, analyze the Libor interest rate--rigging scandal engulfing the banking industry.

Barclays CEO Bob Diamond recently resigned after the bank was fined $453 million for its part in the scandal, which involved manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor), a key global benchmark for interest rates, by essentially "faking their credit scores," according to Taibbi. And as Taibbi explains, Barclays couldn't have acted alone.

"It can't just be Barclays and the Royal Bank of Scotland. In fact, it can't even be four banks or even five banks," he says. "Really, in the end it's probably going to come out that it's going to be all of them ... involved in this. And that's what's critical for people to understand: that this is a cartel-style corruption."

Kelleher argues that the Libor scandal is proof that the financial industry "is corrupt and rotten to its core." "The same executives [using] the same business model that crashed the entire financial system in '08 are still running these banks," he says.

'The mob learned from Wall Street': Eliot Spitzer on the 'cartel-style corruption' behind Libor scam
July 3, 2012

Banksters Declare U.S. & Europe Conquered

From The Antislave:

From treating the issue as a “conspiracy theory” for decades, the establishment is now tearing away the veil in an effort to force Americans to blithely accept what has been planned all along.

A global government is now being forcefully pushed as the “solution” to all manner of problems, but specifically in relation to financial crises. We are being brainwashed to accept the premise that centralized power in the hands of a tiny elite is the only recourse, and that a one world currency is inevitable.

At the height of the last economic crisis, Bilderberg member and Financial Times columnist Gideon Rachman argued that “everything is in place” for a dictatorial world government to be imposed by a technocratic elite.

Rachman’s 2008 call for authoritarian technocrats to be put in charge of the global economy in preparation for the official birth of global government is now well on its way to completion, with the economies of France, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Greece, along with the IMF and the European Central Bank, all under Goldman Sachs banker occupation.

These technocrats have not been bashful in openly announcing what they are doing.

Upon his selection to become EU President in 2009, Herman Van Rompuy announced that the financial crisis and efforts to combat global warming were designed to precede “the global management of our planet.” He also declared 2009 to be “the first year of global governance.”

In the same year, Van Rompuy was joined by the Pope who also called for a “world political authority” to manage the global economy.

World Bank President and Bilderberg elitist Robert Zoellick also openly admitted the plan to eliminate national sovereignty and impose a global government during a speech on the eve of the G20 summit.

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Propaganda (2012)

Interesting North Korean analysis of Western propaganda and advertising.

Open Letter from Chomsky, Shiva, Pilger, Santos, and 40 more...

An Open Message to All Who Seek A New and Better World

We are members of what is called the the Interim Consultative Committee of the International Organization for a Participatory Society - or IOPS for short.

IOPS is actually an interim entity, pending a future founding convention. IOPS was convened just a few months ago and already has over 2,100 members from 85 countries and a ten language site, despite that it is barely known publicly. IOPS is currently building local chapters, which will unite to form national branches that in turn will compose an international organization.

We send this open letter to invite you to please visit the IOPS Site to examine its initial features - including especially and most importantly its Mission and Visionary and Programmatic Commitments.

The IOPS commitments emerged from a long process of discussion and debate. We believe they correspond closely to the most prevalent, advanced, and widely accessible political beliefs on which to build an organization for winning a better world.

We also hope and even believe that if you read and consider the IOPS commitments, you will likely find that they are congenial to your interests and desires and that they provide reason for great hope that IOPS can become a very important organization in the coming years.

If we had to summarize the IOPS commitments, we would note that they emphasize:

• that IOPS focuses on cultural, kinship, political, economic, international, and ecological aims without a priori prioritizing any of these over the rest;
• that IOPS advocates and elaborates key aspects of vision for a sustainable and peaceful world without sexism, heterosexism, racism, classism, and authoritarianism and with equity, justice, solidarity, diversity, and, in particular, self-management for all people
• and that IOPS structurally and programmatically emphasizes planting the seeds of the future in the present, winning immediate gains on behalf of suffering constituencies in ways contributing to winning its long term aims as well, developing a caring and nurturing organization and movement, and welcoming and even fostering constructive dissent and diversity within that organization and movement and based on its commitments.

We think hundreds of thousands of people, in fact, millions of people, will, on reading the commitments, overwhelmingly agree with them. We hope that if you look at the commitments and feel that way, you will join and advocate that others join as well. If you instead have problems with the IOPS commitments, we hope you will make your concerns known so a productive discussion can ensue.

On the other hand, we also understand that agreeing with the IOPS commitments will not alone cause those same hundreds of thousands and even millions of people to join IOPS. There are numerous reasons why a person might support the IOPS commitments and even hope that IOPS grows and becomes strong and effective at the grassroots, in every neighborhood, workplace, and social movement, and yet, at the moment, not join. Our best effort to summarize obstacles people may feel to joining even while they like the IOPS commitments, and to address those obstacles also appears on the IOPS site, in a Why Join IOPS Question and Answer format. Essentially we argue: If not now, when? If not us, who?

Asked to provide a succinct summary paragraph for the IOPS site about his involvement, Noam Chomsky wrote: "Hardly a day goes by when we do not hear appeals – often laments – from people deeply concerned about the travails of human existence and the fate of the world, desperately eager to do something about what they rightly perceive to be intolerable and ominous, feeling helpless because each individual effort, however dedicated, seems to merely chip away at a mountain, placing band-aids on a cancer, never reaching to the sources of needless suffering and the threats of much worse. It’s an understandable reaction that all too often leads to despair and resignation. We all know the only answer, driven home by experience and history, and by simple reflection on the realities of the world: join together to construct and clarify long-term visions and goals, along with direct engagement and activism shaped by these guidelines and contributing to a deepening of our understanding of what we hope to achieve… IOPS strikes the right chords, and if the opportunities it opens are pursued with sufficient energy and participation, diligence, modesty, and desire, it could carry us a long way towards unifying the many initiatives here and around the world and combining them into a powerful and effective force."

And as Cynthia Peters wrote: "You hear it all the time. There is always another urgent crisis. They don't just come in a steady stream, they seem to multiply geometrically. More draconian policies with life-threatening consequences, more corporate control, more prisons, more bombs, more funerals. With so many immediate fires to put out in our day-to-day organizing work, how can we make time to attend to larger issues, such as long-term strategy, vision, and movement building? IOPS creates the space for us to do the essential work of movement building and envisioning and then seeking a better world. Without these elements, we'll continue to work in isolation. By enlivening and enriching IOPS with your presence, you will both give solidarity to and receive solidarity from so many others -- across the world -- in the same situation -- up to their necks in the daily fight, and at the same time turning their creativity and energy towards revolutionary social change. That is not just good company. It's the solid beginnings of another world being possible."

We hope you will join us as we try to make it so.

Signed,

Ezequiel Adamovsky - Argentina
M Adams - U.S.
Michael Albert - U.S.
Jessica Azulay - U.S.
Elaine Bernard - U.S.
Patrick Bond - South Africa
Noam Chomsky - U.S.
Jason Chrysostomou - UK
John Cronan - U.S.
Ben Dangl - U.S.
Denitsa Dimitrova - UK/Bulgaria
Mark Evans - UK
Ann Ferguson - U.S.
Eva Golinger - Venezuela
Andrej Grubacic - Balkans/U.S.
Pervez Hoodbhoy - Pakistan
Antti Jauhiainen - Finland
Ria Julien - U.S./Trinidad
Dimitris Konstanstinou - Greece
Pat Korte - U.S.
Yohan Le Guin - Wales
Mandisi Majavu - South Africa
Yotam Marom - U.S.
David Marty - Spain
Preeti Paul - UK/India
Cynthia Peters - U.S.
John Pilger - UK/Aus
Justin Podur - Canada
Nikos Raptis - Greece
Paulo Rodriguez - Belgium
Charlotte Sáenz - Mexico/U.S.
Anders Sandstrom - Sweden
Boaventura de sousa Santos - Portugal
Lydia Sargent - U.S.
Stephen Shalom - U.S.
Vandana Shiva - India
Chris Spannos - U.S.
Verena Stresing - France/Germany
Elliot Tarver - U.S.
Fernando Ramn Vegas Torrealba - Venezuela
Taylon Tosun - Turkey
Marie Trigona - U.S.
Greg Wilpert - Germany/Venezuela/U.S.
Florian Zollman - Germany

Wealth doesn't trickle down – it just floods offshore, new research reveals

Heather Stewart reports for The Guardian:

The world's super-rich have taken advantage of lax tax rules to siphon off at least $21 trillion, and possibly as much as $32tn, from their home countries and hide it abroad – a sum larger than the entire American economy.

James Henry, a former chief economist at consultancy McKinsey and an expert on tax havens, has conducted groundbreaking new research for the Tax Justice Network campaign group – sifting through data from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and private sector analysts to construct an alarming picture that shows capital flooding out of countries across the world and disappearing into the cracks in the financial system.

Comedian Jimmy Carr became the public face of tax-dodging in the UK earlier this year when it emerged that he had made use of a Cayman Islands-based trust to slash his income tax bill.

But the kind of scheme Carr took part in is the tip of the iceberg, according to Henry's report, entitled The Price of Offshore Revisited. Despite the professed determination of the G20 group of leading economies to tackle tax secrecy, investors in scores of countries – including the US and the UK – are still able to hide some or all of their assets from the taxman.

"This offshore economy is large enough to have a major impact on estimates of inequality of wealth and income; on estimates of national income and debt ratios; and – most importantly – to have very significant negative impacts on the domestic tax bases of 'source' countries," Henry says.

Using the BIS's measure of "offshore deposits" – cash held outside the depositor's home country – and scaling it up according to the proportion of their portfolio large investors usually hold in cash, he estimates that between $21tn (£13tn) and $32tn (£20tn) in financial assets has been hidden from the world's tax authorities.

"These estimates reveal a staggering failure," says John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network. "Inequality is much, much worse than official statistics show, but politicians are still relying on trickle-down to transfer wealth to poorer people.

"This new data shows the exact opposite has happened: for three decades extraordinary wealth has been cascading into the offshore accounts of a tiny number of super-rich."

In total, 10 million individuals around the world hold assets offshore, according to Henry's analysis; but almost half of the minimum estimate of $21tn – $9.8tn – is owned by just 92,000 people. And that does not include the non-financial assets – art, yachts, mansions in Kensington – that many of the world's movers and shakers like to use as homes for their immense riches.

More...

View the full graphic: where and what are tax havens? Graphic: Giulio Frigieri for the Observer

See also:

£13tn hoard hidden from taxman by global elite

Serj Tankian - Harakiri

www.serjtankian.com
www.facebook.com/serjtankian
www.twitter.com/serjtankian

'Greece the Cradle of Another World', by Raoul Vaneigem and Yannis Youlountas

“The same people who are murdered slowly in the mechanized slaughterhouses of work are also arguing, singing, drinking, dancing, making love, holding the streets, picking up weapons and inventing a new poetry.” ~ Raoul Vaneigem



From Hans Ulrich Obrist's In Conversation with Raoul Vaneigem

Raoul Vaneigem: I refuse to cultivate any relationship whatsoever with people of power. I agree with the Zapatistas from Chiapas who want nothing to do with either the state or its masters, the multinational mafias. I call for civil disobedience so that local communities can form, coordinate, and begin self-producing natural power, a more natural form of farming, and public services that are finally liberated from the scams of government by the Left or the Right. On the other hand, I welcome the appeal by Chamoiseau, Glissant, and their friends for the creation of an existence in which the poetry of a life rediscovered will put an end to the deadly stranglehold of the commodity.

Berlin Owes Mittenwalde, Small German Town, Trillions On 450-Year-Old Loan

The sleepy hamlet of Mittenwalde in eastern Germany could become one of the richest towns in the world if Berlin were to repay it an outstanding debt that dates back to 1562.

A certificate of debt, found in a regional archive, attests that Mittenwalde lent Berlin 400 guilders on May 28 1562, to be repaid with six percent interest per year.

According to Radio Berlin Brandenburg (RBB), the debt would amount to 11,200 guilders today, which is roughly equivalent to 112 million euros ($136.79 million).

Adjusting for compound interest and inflation, the total debt now lies in the trillions, by RBB's estimates.

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'Corrupt Tour' Shows Tourists Prague's Dark Underbelly

The Corrupt Tour Travel Agency, which opened in February, offers a different look at the Czech capital: locals and tourists can visit the main sites of the country's biggest corruption scandals. The company's founder, theater director Petr Šourek, hopes to offer not just an entertaining tour, but also new insight into the widespread problem of corruption. Video by Lukáš Ballý and Bela Mamayeva, RFE/RL's Russian Service


You’ve heard of health and sex tourism before, but what about corruption tourism? A Czech company is offering tours around Prague, showing overpriced infrastructure projects and ostentatious homes of the city's rich.



From: CorruptArt in Prague: Occupy The Parliament and the Villas!

...The CorruptTour.com project, with its motto "Enjoy the Best of the Worst", uses a legitimate model of a tourist agency business that offers unique insight into the "nesting" sites of Czech cronies described as predatory birds, whose “social” skills they are asked to observe. This political fable and satire spawned from a business plan that aimed to merge corruption and tourism. The “Occupy Villas tourists” are creating a significant nervousness in the local political scene, partly because they are not typical activists but rather curious citizens, going on tours to have fun and satisfy their curiosity.

The unique connection between politics and theatre performance in the Czech Republic has a long history that starts with the country’s rather strange national anthem, which evolved from the question - "Where is my home?" - appropriated from a 19th Century musical comedy. It continued with Vaclav Havel's famous and subversive plays in the 20th Century and has found its most recent manifestation in these bus and parliament performances.

While the CorruptTour allows us to experience the ugly side of the "business as usual" of corruption and nepotism (with its attendant networks, lack of taste, and blunt arrogance) in the tourist mecca of Prague, revealing a parallel universe that people are unaware of, the Ztohoven Parliament puppet show explored the notion of alternative futures being influenced by some unknown moral force.

Both of these cases, however, reveal a new form of activist and "revolutionary" art, which is subversively opportunistic rather than openly confrontational. It uses business plans and extreme moral and religious discourse rather than critique, reflection or visions. It "reforms" reality by generating unexpected events that are closer to quantum physics and chaos theory experiments with butterfly wings than just simple provocations. The impressive effects of such actions can be partly attributed to the fact that they often leave a lot of room for individual interpretation and turn passive citizens into active actors by just physically witnessing and visiting certain sites...


CorruptTour.com offers more than tours:

A Deck of Prague-Chicago Corruption Cards

Not only are Prague and Chicago sister cities since 1990, they are also twinned in the culture of corruption. The Chicago Political Machine built by Anton Cermak in the early 20th century has continued to work quite smoothly. Well-oiled the Machine has never failed to produce case after case of venality equally as rampant as Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich who attempted to sell the appointment to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the resignation of now President Barack Obama.

For the last 20 years Prague officials have worked tirelessly to catch up with its American sister, culminating in Pavel Bem, under whose mayorship City Hall devised a number of pay-to-play schemes. And the scandal surrounding Opencard kickback would surely make sister Chicago proud.

Bearer shares

Off-shore offer in the very heart of Europe!

This financial instrument one can procure only in three countries in the world: on the tiny island of Nauru, in Marshall Islands and in the Czech Republic. The Czech government has been reluctant to ban this non-transparent security and the bearer shares are permitted under Czech law. Holders of materialized bearer shares may not only be unknown to the company but also be unidentifiable for state authorities. Ownership of materialized bearer shares is currently transferred with possession, in the same way as handing over a banknote.

CorruptTour is offering the most beautiful bearer shares in the world for 199 CZK/ 8 EUR/ 10 USD.

How Bailouts and Austerity Enable Europe's Haves to Have More

The ESM Treaty is a treaty of debt!
In fact it is a treaty against the interests of Εuropean nations as a whole!
It is about an organization above any authority and accountable to no one!

"Did The Lord Say To Be A Greedy A$$hole?" - MOC #155

Are being rich and Christian mutually exclusive? I did the research so you wouldn't have to. I'm not usually in to Bible quotes, but you have to hear these! [More at LeeCamp.net]

Adnan Oktar's live conversation with Masonic Grand Masters from various countries of the world

Mr. Adnan Oktar's live conversation with Masonic Grand Masters from various countries of the world (A9 TV, July 13th, 2012)

China's inner network of 'princelings' runs kleptocratic oligarchy

From the Vancouver Sun:

As China's Communist Party approaches its 18th Congress later this year, the outgoing and incoming leaders are well aware that they have an increasingly critical problem of political legitimacy.

But their problem is that they are the problem.

More precisely, what was once a government motivated by ideals of social justice - albeit often brutally perverted in their implementation - has tumbled into becoming a kleptocratic oligarchy by which China is ruled by a few score deeply corrupt and vastly wealthy families.

From this inner network of so-called "princelings," the children and close relatives of senior party officials and those with royal bloodlines to the founding fathers of the 1949 Communist revolution, corruption has spread throughout Chinese society.

It is the bane of the daily lives of China's 1.3 billion people who must bribe officials for every public service from school places for their children to acquiring a driving licence or a hospital bed for a sick relative.

World Bank estimates of the cost of corruption put it at about three per cent of gross domestic product each year, or $200-billion in China's $7-trillion economy.

It is highly unlikely that an aristocracy whose wealth and very survival depend on holding on to power is capable of reforming itself.

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The Selling of American Democracy: The Perfect Storm

From Robert Reich:

Who’s buying our democracy? Wall Street financiers, the Koch brothers, and casino magnates Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn.

And they’re doing much of it in secret.

It’s a perfect storm:

The greatest concentration of wealth in more than a century — courtesy “trickle-down” economics, Reagan and Bush tax cuts, and the demise of organized labor.

Combined with…

Unlimited political contributions — courtesy of Republican-appointed Justices Roberts, Scalia, Alito, Thomas, and Kennedy, in one of the dumbest decisions in Supreme Court history, “Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission,” along with lower-court rulings that have expanded it.

Combined with…

Complete secrecy about who’s contributing how much to whom — courtesy of a loophole in the tax laws that allows so-called non-profit “social welfare” organizations to accept the unlimited contributions for hard-hitting political ads.

Put them all together and our democracy is being sold down the drain.

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Financial Executives Confess: Sure, We Lie and Cheat

Frederick E. Allen posted for Forbes:

You might not expect executives of top financial businesses to admit outright that they’re crooks, but that’s pretty much what they did in responding to a new survey released today by the whistleblower law firm Labaton Sucharow. The firm did online interviews with 500 “senior individuals within the financial sector,” including fund managers, bankers, and asset managers, half of them in the U.S. and half in the U.K. No fewer than 24% of them admitted that they “believed that the rules may have to be broken in order to be successful,” that is, that they “have to engage in unethical or illegal activity.” Only 41% “reported that staff within their own organization had ‘definitely not’ engaged in unethical or illegal conduct.” Some 39% found it likely that their competitors had engaged in illegal or unethical activity.

Another eye-opening finding:

16% of total respondents were at least fairly likely to engage in insider trading if they could get away with it. Perhaps more troubling, only 55% of all respondents could say definitively that they would not engage in insider trading if they could make $10 million with no risk of getting arrested.

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How Banksters Screw The Average Guy

"Finra -- the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Wall Street's self-regulatory organization -- did to three arbitrators who, in May 2011, had the temerity to find in favor of a customer in a securities arbitration against Merrill Lynch, the nation's largest brokerage and a unit of Bank of America Corp. After awarding the estate of the customer more than $520,000 -- a large amount by arbitration standards --Finra heard from unhappy Merrill executives and fired the arbitrators, two of whom had many years of experience."

Cenk Uygur discusses a case that perfectly describes how the average guy gets screwed by the banksters on Wall Street.

Iceland Has Hired An Ex-Cop To Hunt Down The Bankers That Wrecked Its Economy

If you were involved in Icelandic high finance in the runup to the recession, you might want to start watching your back.

That's because the government has appointed a white collar crime bounty hunter who wants to haul your behind in (alive, to be sure).

LeMonde reporter Charlotte Chabas has a profile of Ólafur Þór Hauksson, a former local police lieutenant whom the Iceland government appointed to track down individuals likely to have helped sink the country's banking sector during the credit crunch.

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Meet the Family

Big Bank Theory was launched on Friday the 13th, 2012 as the offshoot of Circle of 13.

The First Global Revolution: A Report by the Council of The Club of Rome

From: The Global Conspiracy

“The common enemy of humanity is man. In searching for a New Enemy to unite us, we Came Up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill.All these dangers are caused by human intervention, and it is only through changed attitudes and behavior that they can be overcome.The real Enemy then, is Humanity itself.”

Page 75 of The First Global Revolution: A Report by the Council of The Club of Rome

Portuguese police in austerity protest

'The Last War Crime' Debuts at Cannes - but Censored in US

Jeanine Molloff writes in Nation of Change:

During this summer of Occupy and subsequent police brutality, the subject of torture is hotly denounced by protesters and conveniently ignored by candidates. Like that ostrich diving head first into the sand of political expediency–Americans want to focus on the alleged debt crisis or gay marriage–anything that absolves us from the messy subject of tortures committed in our names by the Bush/Cheney administration and which continue under Obama to the present day. The entire Bradley Manning debacle speaks volumes to this accusation.

In spite of strong evidence identifying Dick Cheney as the mastermind behind this torture regime–the subject remains taboo, both in the ‘news’ business and in Hollywood–that is until Hollywood executives watched trailers for the anti-war documentary–The Last War Crime.

Written, produced and directed by a new talent known only as ‘The Pen,’ this film documents the torture protocol ordained by the Bush-Cheney administration. Since it first circulated a trailer on the web; it has been heavily censored and cyber attacked. You Tube has removed it at intermittent intervals and MTV (which is owned by Viacom) has refused to sell air time for a commercial.

Apparently, there are some things that Viacom won’t accept money for—namely any film or story which exposes the regular torture ordered by Vice-President Cheney.

More...

German Customers Shop Nude for Free Groceries

From: Delish

It turns out people will do almost anything for free food. Shoppers in Germany let it all hang loose — literally — for some gratis groceries.

According to ABC News, more than 200 shoppers showed up to the grand opening of a supermarket in Süderlügum, Germany, where the storeowner had offered a rather strange promotion to attract new customers. The store had advertised that the first 100 customers would get up to 220 euro or $276 worth of free food. The catch? Everyone had to show up au naturel. ...

Bankers and the neuroscience of greed

Ian Robertson reports for The Guardian:

On 11 August 2011, Bob Diamond, chief executive of Barclays, delivered the BBC Today Programme business lecture. In it he declared that "culture" was the critical element in responsible banking, and the best test of it is "how people behave while no one is watching." We now know that banking failed the test and so must ask why, in Sir Mervyn King's words, "excessive compensation", "shoddy treatment of customers", "mis-selling" and "the deceitful manipulation of a key interest rate", flourished in the banking sector. Cognitive neuroscience can point to some answers.

Senior bankers hold enormous power, greater than that of many elected national leaders. Largely unaccountable except to occasional shareholders meetings and often quiescent boards, their power is much less constrained than that of democratically elected leaders. And given that power is one of the most potent brain-changing drugs known to humankind, unconstrained power has enormously distorting effects on behaviour, emotions and thinking.

Holding power changes brains by boosting testosterone, which in turn increases the chemical messenger dopamine in the brain's reward systems. Extraordinary power causes extraordinary brain changes, which in their extreme form manifest themselves in personality distortions, such as those seen in dictators like Muammar Gaddafi.

More...

Europe's New Fuhrer - by Harry Beckhough WW II Codebreaker

The latest from Mr Beckhough who was one of the original Bletchley Park Codebreakers in England during World War II. He Has some startling revelations about Germanys rise in power and past role in the forming of the European Union.

See also:

Part 1/2 Adam Curry's monologue on the Rise of the Fourth Reich

Part 2/2 Adam Curry's monologue on the Rise of the Fourth Reich

World In Action: Nazi War criminal Dr. Josef Mengele's secret life in South America

Pruning the Judicial Branch: State Laws Target ‘Activist Judges’

On the TV show Face the Nation in December, host Bob Schieffer asked Newt Gingrich how he would resolve his beef with so-called activist judges, including one in Texas who blocked prayer at a public school.

The former House speaker responded that he would instruct U.S. marshals to arrest judges who make controversial rulings and bring them before Congress to explain their decisions. “You’re raising the core question,” Gingrich said: “Are judges above the rest of the Constitution or are judges one of the three co-equal branches?”

More...

Noam Chomsky 'The Occupy movement just lit a spark

The scholar speaks on the movement which inspired the world against the one percent, this movement helped to dispel the Horatio Alger Myth and made people realize that the rags to riches propaganda in the US was always a farce.

Lucky Victor

Detective Victor Rodriguez stumbles upon a murder in progress and comes face to face with the Godmouth.

This is the prologue to the story GODMOUTH by Mallon Khan; a supernatural murder-mystery set in NYC during the 2008 financial crisis. Featuring hi-tech pedophile vigilantes, transcendental meditation in float tanks, satanic bankers on ecstasy and lots of gore!

WWW.GODMOUTH.COM
WWW.MALLONKHAN.COM

Case Study: Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army

“The clowns are organizing. They are organizing. Over and out.”

~ Overheard on UK police radio during action by Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army, July 2004



Key Principle at work

Use absurdity to undermine the aura of authority

Ridicule and absurdity are powerful tools against authority. To be effective, authority has to be perceived as such, otherwise people would never obey its commands. On the other hand, who ever takes a clown seriously? Rebel clowning used this slippery dichotomy to great effect, turning the tables on authority in the street by posing in mock-serious fashion next to lines of cops, as well as at the highest levels of power, by pointing out the clownish behavior of George W. Bush and other authority figures.

Get arrested in an intelligent way

Watching police handcuff and bundle clowns into police vans is always entertaining for passersby, begging the question: What did the clowns do wrong? What is this all about? An arrested clown also makes for very mediagenic images. By staying in character during the whole process of an arrest, including giving their clown army names (e.g., Private Joke) and addressees (e.g., the big top in the sky) as their real identity, rebel clowns caused much mirth and havoc in the police stations.

Reframe

Rebel clowning helped reframe the media images of protests during the big summit mobilizations of the mid 1990s. A colorful band of disobedient clowns could easily capture the limelight and shift the narrative away from “violent clashes” and smashed windows.

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I, pet goat II

I, pet goat II from Heliofant on Vimeo.

A story about the fire at the heart of suffering.
Bringing together dancers, musicians, visual artists and 3d animators, the film takes a critical look at the events of the past decade that have shaped our world.
Main softwares used: Maya, Vray, FumeFX, RealFlow
Our site:
www.heliofant.com

Original soundtrack "the Stream", written and performed by Tanuki Project.
www.thetanukiproject.com

Some of the stellar artists that worked on the short: strob.net, huguescoupal.com, sebastienlarroude.com, arnaudbrisebois.carbonmade.com, daverand.com beatstreetclassic.com

Animation is about half keyframe animation and half motion capture.
Motion capture recording by Lartech.

Russia Sends 11 Warships To Syria With Marines!

Vladimir Putin Sends 11 warships to Syria Coast while Israel sends 5 warships to the area, and NATO also sends warships.

See also:

Two more US carriers, dozens of mini-subs rushed to Hormuz

NATO, Russian naval-air buildup in E. Mediterranean, French units to Gulf

War in August? US sends fourth aircraft carrier and dozens of underwater drones towards Iran

Iran should prepare for war and for “the End of Times”

Rap News 14: Higgs Boson (with Prof. Scott Ridley)

Juice Rap News: Episode 14 - "The Waiting for Godot Particle". This civilisation's Promethean quest for ultimate meaning has taken a giant leap towards its epic conclusion. In the latest prequel to humanity's journey to inner-space, scientists at the CERN laboratory announce that they have unlocked one of the key strands in the origin of Life, The Universe and Everything: 42 years on from its coining, the Higgs Boson particle has possibly been detected at the Large Hadron Collider. What does it all mean? How does it feel to meet our Masster? What is our destiny? Could this be the font of all wisdom? Does it anti-matter that Scientists make use of 'ComicSans' - the font of all evil? Is anyone conCERNed about the MASS amount of Higgslarious Pun-upmanship Colliding in the twittersphere? Join Robert Foster as he takes a journalistic journey into this particular world, and manages to corner a colourful character, CERN Professor Scott Ridley, who is several bottles into getting his Bos-on at the massive "Hadron Collider Higgs Boson PARTYcle" celebration.

http://www.thejuicemedia.com

The Fight of the Century

Richard Heinberg writes for the Energy Bulletin:

For the sake of any national policy maker who may be reading this essay, here are a few take-home bullet points that summarize most of the advice that can be gleaned from our scenario exercise:

• Guarantee the basics of existence to the general public for as long as possible.
• At the same time, promote local production of essential goods, strengthen local social interconnectivity, and shore up local economies.
• Promote environmental protection and resource conservation, reducing reliance of fossil fuels in every way possible.
• Stabilize population levels.
• Foster sound governance (especially in terms of participation and transparency).
• Provide universal education in practical skills (gardening, cooking, bicycle repair, sewing, etc.) as well as in basic academic subjects (reading, math, science, critical thinking, and history). And finally,
• Don’t be evil—that is, don’t succumb to the temptation to deploy military tactics against your own people as you feel your grip on power slipping; the process of decentralization is inexorable, so plan to facilitate it.

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A message to the awakened ones...

Golden Dawn Expect Us (New Message by Anonymous Greece)

A-bomb doctor warns of further Fukushima woes

It remains unknown if the health problems are linked to the release of massive amounts of radioactive materials from Tepco's damaged plant. But Hida is concerned.

"I am worried because I received such calls much earlier than I expected," he says.

The amount of research into and public knowledge about internal exposure to radiation is still limited because the United States "concealed" information about the problem for a long time after it dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, Hida says.

A native of Hiroshima, he was serving as an army doctor there when he was exposed to radiation from the atomic bomb. He has since treated more than 6,000 survivors and worked as a director of the counseling center at the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations.

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Facebook Monitors Your Chats for Criminal Activity

Facebook and other social platforms are watching users’ chats for criminal activity and notifying police if any suspicious behavior is detected, according to a report.

10 Ways to Stop Being a Slave and Bring Down the Pyramids of Control

1. Media and Intelligence - Information is knowledge and knowledge is power — this is where it all starts. Turn off the TV, stop passively receiving information that turns you into an idiot at the teat of the “idiot box.” Get creative: start a blog, a neighborhood newsletter, radio show, public access TV or YouTube channel, write encouraging letters to companies you appreciate and nasty ones to those you boycott; DO something; anything to increase awareness. Homeschooling is another great way to help short circuit the negative influences of systematic programming. Even if you don’t agree with homeschooling, or are not able, there are concepts that you can help introduce into your public school to enhance education. Intelligence – there aretechnologies to thwart constant surveillance, as well as low-tech solutions to high-tech tyranny. The Internet is being used to surveil the public, but it also provides an opportunity for the public to surveil and report the real criminals. Use the system against itself.

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Hobson-Jobson: The words English owes to India

Mukti Jain Campion reports for the BBC:

Another author who has drawn inspiration from the dictionary is Tom Stoppard. In his play Indian Ink, two characters compete to use as many Hobson-Jobson words as possible:

Flora: "While having tiffin on the veranda of my bungalow I spilled kedgeree on my dungarees and had to go to the gymkhana in my pyjamas looking like a coolie."

Nirad: "I was buying chutney in the bazaar when a thug who had escaped from the chokey ran amok and killed a box-wallah for his loot, creating a hullabaloo and landing himself in the mulligatawny."

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International activists to sue Israel

Ramallah: International activists in Palestine will seek to sue Israel in international courts, arguing that the Israeli military is increasingly targeting them at the peaceful demonstrations organized throughout the West Bank to object to the Israeli segregation barrier and the spreading colonies.

“Such an action should have taken place a long time ago as international protestors who have been identified are badly humiliated, beaten, detained and interrogated, and are also now being deported from the Palestinian Territories,” said Jamal Juma’a, who heads the Palestinian Public Anti Wall and Anti Colonies Campaign in the Palestinian Territories.

“The supporters will lodge personal complaints and international human rights organisations will be pressured to play a more active role by supporting them legally.”

Juma’a said that the other side of the international supporters’ campaign will target the countries they come from to encourage them to provide activists with better protection and support.

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SWAT Raid on Organizers of Occupy Seattle

Early morning, July 10, SWAT police forced their way into the Seattle apartment of organizers from the Occupy movement. The sleeping residents scrambled to put on clothes as they were confronted with automatic weapons.

Here Are The 16 Banks Under Investigation Over The Libor Scandal

More than a dozen banks are under investigation by authorities in Europe, Japan and the United States over the suspected rigging of the London interbank offered rate, a key interest rate used in contracts worth trillions of dollars globally.

Nathan King - Electric Funeral

Here Are The 16 Banks Under Investigation Over The Libor Scandal

More than a dozen banks are under investigation by authorities in Europe, Japan and the United States over the suspected rigging of the London interbank offered rate, a key interest rate used in contracts worth trillions of dollars globally.

Fierce clashes in Madrid: Spanish police fire rubber bullets at miners protest

Riot police fired rubber bullets Wednesday at Spanish coal miners protesting in the streets of Madrid over subsidy cuts they fear will jeopardize their meager livelihood. READ MORE http://on.rt.com/3u9zgj

Occupy movement is welcome at Germany's Documenta art show

The Occupy movement has targeted a number of art institutions around the world through its "Occupy museums" spinoff. Although some institutions have regarded the movement as an unwanted presence, the prominent German festival Documenta has laid out a virtual welcome mat for protesters.

See also:

Anonymous’ Favorite Artist, David Lloyd, Occupies Comic-Con

Ex-Varyag returning from its 8th sea trial

China's first aircraft carrier, the refurbished and modernized Ex-Varyag, returns from its 8th sea-trial in the Bohai Gulf on 21st June 2012 that lasted 14 days.

Commulatively, the Ex-Varyag now has had 76 days of sea-trials in total.

This Is What Democracy Looks Like