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Passing Regulations Afforded the Color of Law

“The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) acts everyday more like an autocratic government endowed with superpowers beyond anything every imagined by the men who framed our form of government. Consider this disturbing report filed by the Washington Times on August 1 about a DHS raid on a private residence in South Carolina to seize a car that couldn’t pass Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) muster.

Jennifer Brinkley said she saw a line of law enforcement vehicles approaching her home and wondered what was wrong, the local WBTV reported. Homeland Security agents then went to her 1985 Land Rover Defender and lifted the hood.

“They popped up the hood and looked at the Vehicle Identification Number and compared it with a piece of paper and then took the car with them,” she said, WBTV reported.

She told Fox News that she was told the agents seized the vehicle because they thought it violated the Clean Air Act — though at the time, they weren’t completely sure. She also said her vehicle was just one of 40 that feds seized in various locations that same day for the same reason.

Ms. Brinkley told Fox News that she has no idea where the vehicle is now and that feds won’t tell her.

“I’m sad because I owned the car. It’s just an iconic car. I’m in disbelief … and surprised that somebody can come in and take your property,” she told Fox News. “It’s scary, it’s scary when it happens to you.”

What’s even scarier is that it is happening more and more. The EPA, DHS, the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), etc. are all accustomed to unaccountably passing regulations afforded the color of law, enforcing those regulations, adjudicating challenges to those regulations in front of “judges” appointment by the commissioners of those agencies, and imposing burdensome fines on anyone foolish enough to defy these petty tyrants.

Charles Pinto Duclos, a French writer and historian contemporary with the Founders, wrote:

We see on the theater of the world a certain number of scenes which succeed each other in endless repetition: where we see the same faults followed regularly by the same misfortunes, we may reasonably think that if we could have known the first we might have avoided the others. The past should enlighten us on the future: knowledge of history is no more than an anticipated experience.

In the case of these federal agencies terrorizing citizens….”

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European Markets and U.S. Futures Celebrate the Bailout of Portugal’s Largest Bank

“(Reuters) – European stocks rose on Monday and bond yields fell on a banking sector rebound after Portugal prevented the collapse of one of its biggest lenders and shares in the continent’s largest bank jumped in the wake of its latest earnings report.

This dovetailed with easing fears of higher U.S. interest rates following Friday’s U.S. employment report, and eclipsed growing geopolitical concerns over the Middle East and the effect of Western trade sanctions on Russia.

Lisbon on Sunday announced a near 5 billion-euro rescue of the country’s largest listed bank, Banco Espirito Santo, preventing it from collapsing and potentially destabilizing the banking sector regionwide.

“The market’s initial reaction is that it’s pretty reassuring to see Portugal moving quickly to rescue BES. Overall it eases systemic fears that had resurfaced last week,” Saxo Bank sales trader Andrea Tueni said.

On Monday, HSBC reported a larger-than-expected drop in profits, but investors looked instead to the bank’s attractive dividend yield and scooped up the shares, lifting them to a three-month high….”

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Documentary: Earthlings

If you watch this from begining to end you will come to know fully what willful ignorance means.

There will be no mercy from your maker.

Cheers on your weekend!

[youtube://http://www,youtube.com/watch?v=ydgxje2sC9o 450 300]

global.consciousness

 

[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0NentNBRlQ 450 300]

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209k Jobs Added in July, Unemployment Rate Rises to 6.2%

 

WASHINGTON—Hiring by U.S. employers slowed in July but remained robust with broad-based payroll gains, evidence of continued strength in the labor market and the broader economy.

Nonfarm employment rose by a seasonally adjusted 209,000 last month, the Labor Department said Friday.

The unemployment rate, obtained via a separate survey of households, ticked up to a seasonally adjusted 6.2% in July from 6.1% in June. The jobless rate has fallen 1.1 percentage points since July 2013, when it was 7.3%.

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected payrolls to rise by a more robust 230,000 and the jobless rate to remain at 6.1%.

Payrolls rose by 298,000 in June, revised up from an earlier estimate of 288,000, and May’s gain was revised up to 229,000 from an earlier estimate of 224,000. Payroll gains have averaged 245,000 over the past three months, compared with an average of 209,000 in the 12 months ended in June.

July’s gain extended a streak that has seen nonfarm employers add 200,000 or more jobs in six consecutive months for the first time since 1997.

The U.S. economy stumbled in the wintry first quarter as gross domestic product-—the broadest measure of output across the economy—contracted at a 2.1% seasonally adjusted annual rate. But growth rebounded in the second quarter, with GDP growing at a 4% pace as companies continued to hire workers and the jobless rate declined at a rapid pace.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday acknowledged improvement in the labor market. But its policy statement warned that “a range of labor market indicators suggests that there remains significant underutilization of labor resources,” and that “a highly accommodative stance of monetary policy remains appropriate” given the state of the economy.

The Fed has kept short-term interest rates near zero since December 2008 to bolster the U.S. economy through a financial crisis, a deep recession and a lackluster recovery. The central bank now is winding down its bond-buying program and officials expect to begin raising rates sometime next year, though Chairwoman Janet Yellen in mid-July said that rate hikes “likely would occur sooner and be more rapid than currently envisioned” if the labor market “continues to improve more quickly than anticipated.”

In July, hiring was broad-based. Payrolls rose in the professional and business services, manufacturing, retail, construction and public sectors….”

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How Low Do the Markets Go ?

Point wise, today did not feel like a good day.

Volume wise, we seem to have nothing to worry about.

The DOW looks worse than the S&P partly due to the fact we have reached the level where the year began.

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The next key level to watch is 1905ish on the S&P. Below that there is a lot of support at 1850ish S&P.

RSI, MACD, & Williams all indicate we have some more room to fall, but i would be surprised if we fall much further. I would bet on a intra day test of S&P 1905 and then some type of reversal.

If we have a stellar jobs report tomorrow then expect the market to fall a bit as the pundits of spin are creating fear over the fed rasing rates sooner than later due to some inflation and improving labor conditions.

Let’s face it, the employment scenario for many, many, many citizens is still terrible.

Also the smart money knows that off balance sheet losses for the big banks is still a major problem; so ZIRP should be in force and there should be no reason to fret about rates moving higher sooner over later.

A worst case scenario would be to see some heavy volume taking the S&P down to the 1815-1830 level. Chances are we do not see this level as the market has that teflon resilience in play.

To be safe, I’m taking half my money off the table hoping the S&P heads lower to give me a good buying opportunity. Luckily, i’m up around 42% for the year so taking some profits would not be a bad thing. If i do not get the buying opportunity i’m looking for then i get to redeploy funds into more issues creating more risk tolerance in a slightly volatile sketchy market.

May the markets be on your side.

[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzqFmXZ8tOE 450 300]

 

 

 

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House Clears Way for Lawsuit Against Obama

“House Republicans voted to proceed with a lawsuit against President Obama on Wednesday, saying that his executive actions are so extreme that they violate the Constitution.

The nearly party-line vote — all Democrats voted against it, and all but five Republicans voted for it — further agitated an already polarized climate on Capitol Hill as both parties used the pending suit to try to rally support ahead of the November elections.

Halfway across the continent, Obama almost gloated at the prospect of being sued.

“They’re going to sue me for taking executive actions to help people. So they’re mad I’m doing my job,” Obama said in an economics speech in Kansas City, Mo. “And by the way, I’ve told them I’d be happy to do it with you. The only reason I’m doing it on my own is because you’re not doing anything,” he said of Congress.

The clash came a day before Congress is scheduled to begin a 51 / 2-week summer break and as must-pass bills on reshaping veterans’ health care and highway construction appeared headed for passage — while most everything else was not….”

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Should You Really Be Concerned About Derivatives ?

“………SYSTEMIC RISK FROM CONTAGION

Apart from numerous background pressures, the system limps along deeply wounded and probably fatally so. When China wanted to exit the long-term USTreasurys, the USFed accommodated them. They launched Operation Twist without much clear explanation of its provisions. We are always led to trust the magic of their machinations. China actually transferred their long-term bond holdings to short-term holdings, in order to make possible their redemption at maturity, and soon, like before the implosion. The USFed accomplished the task by putting on an enormous swath of cleverly devised Int Rate Swaps, which in effect switched from LT bond to ST bond. There are a great many other types of derivatives, such as exotic swaps, and customized contracts.

The entire Euro Monetary Union has its foundation created upon swapped hidden debt into FOREX currencies, an illicit deed that to this day has not been resolved. The Maastricht Treaty was circumvented by means of heavy swap contracts, shifting debt onto currency obligations in the form of these derivative swaps. Many were the big investment banks eager to assist in the deception and illicit qualification process, and thus earn big fees. The nations of Italy and Spain, for instance, were able to qualify for the European Monetary Union by hiding their debt with the FOREX swaps. Prosecutions are laced all through the Deutsche Bank chambers here and now, the legal wheels of justice grinding slowly. Therefore, the Euro Currency has a phony fraudulent foundation, an illicit basis enabled by derivative abuse. The victim of the ongoing prosecution, if the USGovt chooses to impose yet more heavy fines, could be the German alliance. The Germans are ready to jump ship, away from the sinking USS Dollar.

Perhaps the ugliest derivative story is the IRS Tax secure stream contract very likely used by China as collateral, which is suspected by the Jackass to be the backend deal to secure a Gold Lease from China. It is related to the 1999 Most Favored Nation granted by US to China. The Chinese would receive gigantic direct foreign investment, and thus build an industrial base. The Wall Street criminal bankers would receive a vast hoard of gold bullion, leased from the Chinese Mao Era gold reserves. The Chinese distrusted the US bankers, after many past experiences, which might include several rafts of fake gold bars sent to Hong Kong banks by the Clinton-Rubin Admin. In the outcome, the Wall Street masters reneged on the gold lease, while the USEconomy entered a downward spiral of recession which accelerates downward. The Jackass suspects that the powerful recession made impossible the honoring of the IRS secure stream derivative contract held as collateral, forcing a national default. In the last few months, we see China busy securing US commercial property. The Chinese have taken control of the JPMorgan Chase headquarters in South Manhattan, the famed One Chase Plaza. In it is contained the largest private gold vault facility in the world. It has underground tunnels connected to the US Federal Reserve. Many are the rumors and suspicions that with the end of the Federal Reserve Act operational contract, following 100 years of hidden financial tyranny, that the Chinese might have taken over a strong interest in the Fed, maybe a controlling interest.

GOLD ON WHITE HORSE

The Western financial system is operating on fragile tenterhooks, on shaky pylons, on that same vaporous floating spinning illusory foundation. A few big banks have entered failure, like Banco Espirito Santo in Portugal. When big banks begin to fail, the belief has been, the risk of contagion will be the main focus. Since Lehman, the major Western banks have lashed themselves together for safety and security. They have done so with financial derivatives, the rope to connect them together. Thus no repeat of Lehman failure, a big financial firm failure to put the entire system at risk of breakdown. So the next failures will put the entire system at risk of collapse. This is the oft-described nuclear outcome, which has been brought upon by the overusage of derivatives. Their total in usage is somewhere between $700 trillion and $1.4 quadrillion, depending on the definition and the team doing the calculation. Claims of big reductions in derivative overall usage are a lie, since new derivatives are put on quickly. They offer short-term security but long-term systemic risk. The world faces a guaranteed systemic implosion caused by derivatives. Bank failures and contagion will lead to the widespread connected failures, and lost control by both governments and central banks to manage them. Gold will be the secure port during the stormy outcomes.

The derivative cost will be revealed as obscene, in high multiple $trillion suddenly. The public will ask questions like how we could have permitted the situation to go out of control. To be sure, derivatives assure the equivalent of a financial nuclear explosion. The answer to the question posed is that the Rubin Doctrine has been used after the Rubin thefts of the USGovt gold reserves at Fort Knox. The doctrine dictates the sacrifice of tomorrow for a few more todays. Well, tomorrow has arrived. The return to the Gold Standard is the answer, but the clean-up crews will be busy for a long time. The Gold Price will reach incredibly high levels when the derivative implosion occurs, which should occur when the East introduces a legitimate gold-backed new BRICS currency for trade settlement. The fallout will be tremendous, as the USDollar is rejected on the global stage.

A solution must also come for the ancillary devious devices like secret weapons on weather, virus, espionage, and more. Gold will continue to draw capital away from the dying corrupted sinking system. Then finally the Gold Standard will be installed, but by the Eastern nations. It will be led by Russia, China, and Germany. The United States will be indescribably isolated. The US Fascist leaders have attempted to isolate Iran, but Tehran will be integrated into the Eurasian Trade Zone. The US Fascist leaders have attempted to isolate Russia, but Moscow will be integrated into the Eurasian Trade Zone. The US Fascist leaders have attempted to coerce Europe to join a deadend insane war with an absurd basis, but the core powers of the NATO will move away and be integrated into the Eurasian Trade Zone. The United States is a hair away from losing both Germany and France to the Eastern Alliance. They will embrace gold, and walk away from the USDollar, with a certain absorbed cost. Great changes are coming like a fierce new storm……”

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Argentina Faces Default Again

“Argentina faces default Wednesday for the second time in 13 years if it doesn’t meet a deadline to make payments to a small group of bondholders. WSJ’s Matthew Cowley explains Argentina’s dispute with these creditors and the long-standing battle that stems from the country’s default in 2001. (Photo: Getty Images)

Argentina teetered on the brink of its second default in 13 years after talks with bondholders collapsed late Wednesday.

The setback, after glimmers of hope in recent days that a last-minute agreement could be reached, immediately sent Argentine stocks plunging in after-hours trading.

Still, there remained the possibility that talks could resume and a deal could eventually be reached.

At a news conference after talks with a court-appointed mediator ended Wednesday, Argentine Economy Minister Axel Kicillof, who had led the country’s delegation to New York, said “we won’t sign an agreement that would compromise Argentina’s future.” A spokeswoman later said negotiations would continue, without giving a timetable.

“Default is not a mere ‘technical’ condition, but rather a real and painful event that will hurt real people,” said Daniel Pollack, the mediator, in a statement late Wednesday. He added, “The full consequences of default are not predictable, but they certainly are not positive.”

The development is the latest turn in a yearslong battle between Argentina and a small group of hedge funds that have demanded full payment for bonds the country defaulted on in 2001. Argentina has refused to pay, despite an order by a U.S. District Court judge requiring it to pay the hedge funds. The issue came to a head Wednesday as Argentina missed a deadline to make a payment it owed to other bondholders, because the court order had prevented such a move.

Mr. Pollack, who had been trying to broker a deal between the two sides, said the country would “imminently” be in default. Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services had earlier Wednesday declared Argentina in default on some of its bonds.

 

A default would pressure an economy already mired in recession, potentially leading to higher inflation and a weaker currency. The breakdown of negotiations also complicates President Cristina Kirchner‘s efforts to stabilize the economy ahead of elections next year…..”

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Greenspan: Stocks Will See a Major Correction

“Equity markets will see a decline at some point after rising for the past several years, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said in an interview on Bloomberg TV.

“The stock market has recovered so sharply for so long, you have to assume somewhere along the line we will get a significant correction,” Greenspan said on Wednesday.

Alan Greenspan

Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Alan Greenspan

Greenspan’s comments come amid growing concern that interest rates near record lows are creating asset-price bubbles….”

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Where the World Stands

“Americans – living in a huge country which has never really been invaded, and as the sole superpower – are famous for being out-of-touch with how the rest of the world thinks.

So my fellow Americans will probably be surprised to learn that the U.S. is more or less the only country in the world which has a favorable view of Israel.

Specifically, a 2012 BBC poll found that the U.S. and Nigeria were the only countries of those polled in which the majority of people had favorable views of Israel:

But Nigeria swung negative in the 2013 BBC poll, leaving the U.S. alone of all countries polled:

Indeed, the 2013 poll shows that  Israel is the fourth least popular country in the world, trailing only Iran, Pakistan and North Korea:

Iran is once again the most negatively viewed country, with negative ratings climbing four points to 59%. Most people also give negative ratings to Pakistan (56%, up five points), North Korea (55%, up three points) and Israel (52%, up one point).

Israel Has Violated United Nations Resolutions More than Any Country In the World

Another measure of world opinion on Israel is that the United Nations has condemned Israel’s violence towards its neighbors again and again.

Haaretz noted in 2002:

Israel holds the record for ignoring United Nations Security Council resolutions, according to a study by San Francisco University political science professor Steven Zunes.

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Israel leads the list. Since 1968, Israel has violated 32 resolutions that included condemnation or criticism of the governments’ policies and actions.

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Zunes specifically avoided counting resolutions that are vague or unclear so that governments could claim different interpretations to the meaning of the resolutions. Thus, the famous UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338 are not included in his study. He also did not count resolutions that only included condemnations. Instead, he focused on those that included specific calls for changes in the subject governments’ policies.

The resolutions Israel violated were either about its annexation of East Jerusalem or settlements in the territories. Israel also ignored UN Security Council resolutions that called for Israel to cease using harsh measures against the Palestinian population and to cease expelling Palestinians.

Pulitzer prize winning journalist Chris Hedges points out that Israel has broken nearly a hundred UN Security Council resolutions regarding Gaza alone.

Here is a brief sampling of UN Security Council resolutions against Israel:

Resolution 106: The Palestine Question (March 29, 1955) ‘condemns’ Israel for Gaza raid

Resolution 111: The Palestine Question (January 19, 1956) ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for raid on Syria that killed fifty-six people”

Resolution 127: The Palestine Question (January 22, 1958) ” … ‘recommends’ Israel suspends its ‘no-man’s zone’ in Jerusalem”.

Resolution 162: The Palestine Question (April 11, 1961) ” … ‘urges’ Israel to comply with UN decisions”

Resolution 171: The Palestine Question (April 9, 1962) ” … determines flagrant violations’ by Israel in its attack on Syria”

Resolution 228: The Palestine Question (November 25, 1966) ” … ‘censures’ Israel for its attack onSamu in the West Bank, then under Jordanian control”

Resolution 237: Six Day War (June 14, 1967) ” … ‘urges’ Israel to allow return of new 1967 Palestinian refugees”. and called on Israel to ensure the safety and welfare of inhabitants of areas where fighting had taken place

Resolution 248: (March 24, 1968) ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for its massive attack on Karameh in Jordan”

Resolution 256: (August 16, 1968) ” … ‘condemns’ Israeli raids on Jordan as ‘flagrant violation”

Resolution 258: (September 18, 1968) … expressed ‘concern’ with the welfare of the inhabitants of the Israeli-occupied territories, and requested a special representative to be sent to report on the implementation of Resolution 237, and that Israel cooperate

Resolution 259: (September 27, 1968) ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s refusal to accept UN mission to probe occupation”

Resolution 262: (December 31, 1968) ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for attack on Beirut airport“

Resolution 265: (April 1, 1969) ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for air attacks on Salt“

Resolution 270: (August 26, 1969) ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for air attacks on villages in southern Lebanon”

Resolution 279: (May 12, 1970) “Demands the immediate withdrawal of all Israeli armed forces from Lebanese territory”

Resolution 280: (May 19, 1970) ” … ‘condemns’ Israeli’s attacks against Lebanon”

Resolution 285: (September 5, 1970) ” … ‘demands’ immediate Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon”

Resolution 298: (September 25, 1971) ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s changing of the status of Jerusalem”

Resolution 316: (June 26, 1972) ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for repeated attacks on Lebanon”

Resolution 317: (July 21, 1972) ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s refusal to release Arabs abducted in Lebanon”

Resolution 332: (April 21, 1973) ” … ‘condemns’ Israel’s repeated attacks against Lebanon”

Resolution 337: (August 15, 1973) ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for violating Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and for the forcible diversion and seizure of a Lebanese airliner from Lebanon’s air space”

Resolution 347: (April 24, 1974)” … ‘condemns’ Israeli attacks on Lebanon”

Resolution 444: (January 19, 1979) ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s lack of cooperation with UN peacekeeping forces”

Resolution 446 (March 22, 1979): ‘determines’ that Israeli settlements are a ‘serious obstruction’ to peace and calls on Israel to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention”

Resolution 450: (June 14, 1979) ” … ‘calls’ on Israel to stop attacking Lebanon”.

Resolution 452: (July 20, 1979) … ‘calls’ on Israel to cease building settlements in occupied territories”

Resolution 465: (March 1, 1980) ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s settlements and asks all member states not to assist Israel’s settlements program”

Resolution 467: (April 24, 1980) ” … ‘strongly deplores’ Israel’s military intervention in Lebanon”

Resolution 468: (May 8, 1980) ” … ‘calls’ on Israel to rescind illegal expulsions of two Palestinian mayors and a judge and to facilitate their return”

Resolution 469: (May 20, 1980) ” … ‘strongly deplores’ Israel’s failure to observe the council’s order not to deport Palestinians”

Resolution 471: (June 5, 1980) ” … ‘expresses deep concern’ at Israel’s failure to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention”

Resolution 478 (August 20, 1980): ‘censures (Israel) in the strongest terms’ for its claim to Jerusalemin its ‘Basic Law’

Resolution 487: (June 19, 1981) ” … ‘strongly condemns’ Israel for its attack on Iraq’s nuclear facility”

Resolution 497 (December 17, 1981), decides that Israel’s annexation of Syria’s Golan Heights is ‘null and void’ and demands that Israel rescinds its decision forthwith

Resolution 501: (February 25, 1982) ” … ‘calls’ on Israel to stop attacks against Lebanon and withdraw its troops”.

Resolution 515: (July 29, 1982) ” … ‘demands’ that Israel lift its siege of Beirut and allow food supplies to be brought in”

Resolution 516 (August 1, 1982) demanded an immediate cessation of military activities in Lebanon, noting violations of the cease-fire in Beirut

Resolution 517: (August 4, 1982) ” … ‘censures’ Israel for failing to obey UN resolutions and demands that Israel withdraw its forces from Lebanon”.

Resolution 520: (September 17, 1982) ” … ‘condemns’ Israel’s attack into West Beirut”.

Resolution 573: (October 4, 1985) ” … ‘condemns’ Israel ‘vigorously’ for bombing Tunisia in attack on PLO headquarters

Resolution 592: (December 8, 1986) ” … ‘strongly deplores’ the killing of Palestinian students atBirzeit University by Israeli troops”

Resolution 605: (December 22, 1987) ” … ‘strongly deplores’ Israel’s policies and practices denying the human rights of Palestinians

Resolution 607: (January 5, 1988) ” … ‘calls’ on Israel not to deport Palestinians and strongly requests it to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention

Resolution 608: (January 14, 1988) ” … ‘deeply regrets’ that Israel has defied the United Nations and deported Palestinian civilians”

Resolution 611: (April 25, 1988) “… condemned Israel’s assassination of Khalil al-Wazir as a ‘flagrant violation of the Charter

Resolution 636: (July 16, 989) ” … ‘deeply regrets’ Israeli deportation of Palestinian civilians

Resolution 641 (August 30, 1989): ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s continuing deportation of Palestinians

Resolution 672 (October 12, 1990): ” … ‘condemns’ Israel for “violence against Palestinians” at the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount

Resolution 673 (October 24, 1990): ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s refusal to cooperate with the United Nations

Resolution 681 (December 20, 1990): ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s resumption of the deportation of Palestinians

Resolution 694 (May 24, 1991): ” … ‘deplores’ Israel’s deportation of Palestinians and calls on it to ensure their safe and immediate return

Resolution 726 (January 6. 1992): ” … ‘strongly condemns’ Israel’s deportation of Palestinians

Resolution 799 (December 18 , 1992): “. . . ‘strongly condemns’ Israel’s deportation of 413 Palestinians and calls for their immediate return

Resolution 904 (March 18, 1994): Cave of the Patriarchs massacre

Resolution 1322 (October 7, 2000) deplored Ariel Sharon‘s visit to the Temple Mount and the violence that followed

Resolution 1435 (September 24, 2002) demanded an end to Israeli measures in and aroundRamallah, and an Israeli withdrawal to positions held before September 2000

Resolution 1544 (May 19, 2004) “…‘calls on’ Israel to respect its obligations under international humanitarian law, and insists, in particular, on its obligation not to undertake demolition of homes contrary to that law”

Resolution 1860 (January 8, 2009) “…‘calls for’ an immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza; ‘calls for‘ the unimpeded provision and distribution throughout Gaza of humanitarian assistance, including of food, fuel and medical treatment”

Of course, America is the only country which consistently votes against such  resolutions:

Older, White American Males Are Virtually the Only People In the World Who Unconditionally Support Israel

Even with the United States, there are only certain groups which support Israel.

new poll by Pew this month shows that it is mainly Americans 50 years or older, males, conservatives and evangelicals who support Israel….”

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The Fed Tapers 10B, Rates Remain Unchanged

“The taper continues.

The Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee just announced its latest monetary policy decision, and there were no surprises.

The FOMC said it would take another $10 billion off its monthly asset purchases and keep interest rates between 0%-0.25%.

In its latest statement, the Fed said, “a range of labor market indicators suggests that there remains significant underutilization of labor resources.”

The latest FOMC announcement, which is not accompanied by a press conference from Fed Chair Janet Yellen, also comes on the heels of a better than expected GDP report this morning.

Here’s the full statement from the Fed:

Consistent with its statutory mandate, the Committee seeks to foster maximum employment and price stability. The Committee expects that, with appropriate policy accommodation, economic activity will expand at a moderate pace, with labor market indicators and inflation moving toward levels the Committee judges consistent with its dual mandate. The Committee sees the risks to the outlook for economic activity and the labor market as nearly balanced and judges that the likelihood of inflation running persistently below 2 percent has diminished somewhat.

The Committee currently judges that there is sufficient underlying strength in the broader economy to support ongoing improvement in labor market conditions. In light of the cumulative progress toward maximum employment….”

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Q2 GDP Comes in at a Whopping 4% vs Estimates of 3.2%

“U.S. economic growth accelerated more than expected in the second quarter and the decline in output in the prior period was less steep than previously reported, which could bolster views for a stronger performance in the last six months of the year.

Gross domestic product expanded at a 4.0 percent annual rate as activity picked up broadly after shrinking at a revised 2.1 percent pace in the first quarter, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday.

That pushed GDP above the economy’s potential growth trend, which analysts put somewhere between a 2 percent and 2.5 percent pace. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the economy growing at a 3.0 percent rate in the second quarter after a previously reported 2.9 percent contraction.

The economy grew 0.9 percent in the first half of this year and growth for 2014 as a whole could average above 2 percent. The first quarter contraction, which was mostly weather-related, was the largest in five years.

Employment growth, which has exceeded 200,000 jobs in each of the last five months, and strong readings on the factory and services sectors from the Institute for Supply Management underpin the bullish expectations for the rest of the year.

The government also published revisions to prior GDP data going back to 1999, which showed the economy performing much stronger in the second half of 2013 and for that year as a whole than previously reported….”

Full report

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The IMF Warns of Shocks to Global Growth

“Sharply higher interest rates around the world could combine with weaker growth in emerging markets to slice as much as 2 percentage points off global growth in the next five years, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday.

In a report assessing how individual national policies could interact to undermine the world economy, the IMF also warned the conflict between Russia and Ukraine could reverberate to the rest of the region if sanctions against Russia escalate, hitting natural gas supplies to Europe and weakening European banks.

The resulting impact could prompt further gyrations in financial markets, in contrast to the recent period of market calm, the IMF said in its “spillovers” report.

Editor’s Note: New Warning – Stocks on Verge of Major Collapse

In its worst-case scenario, the IMF said the United States and United Kingdom could tighten monetary policy sooner than expected, leading to higher borrowing costs worldwide, even as key emerging market growth slows a further 0.5 percentage point over the next three years.

The two developments would reinforce each other, prompting slower growth and hurting in particular those emerging markets with large economic imbalances, such as Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Turkey.

As in past reports, the IMF said monetary tightening in rich nations would have limited negative impact on the rest of the world if it was well-communicated and prompted by better growth prospects. The impact could also be muted if higher U.S. and UK rates come as the euro zone and Japan continue monetary easing, though this “asynchronous” tightening could cause more global exchange rate volatility….”

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ADP Misses by a Small Margin, 218k Jobs Created vs Estimates of 230k

“Private businesses created 218,000 jobs in July, a number that while solid and in line with trend fell below expectations, according to ADP.

The number also fell well short of the 281,000 created in June—the initially reported total was not revised—and could cause economists to tinker with their projections for Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report. Consensus has the economy adding 225,000 total for the month.

Employment growth fell across the spectrum, with service industries again leading the way with 202,000 new positions, down from 238,000 in June. Goods-producing businesses rose 16,000, off from 43,000, while construction gained just 12,000, less than half the previous months’ gain.

However, Mark Zandi, the top economist at Moody’s Analytics, which formulates the report along with ADP, said the overall direction of the jobs market is decidedly positive…..”

Full report

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A Preview to the Fed Decision Today

“Here’s what to look for when the Federal Open Market Committee releases its policy statement at 2 p.m. today inWashington. Federal Reserve officials won’t provide new economic projections, and Chair Janet Yellen isn’t scheduled to give a post-meeting press conference.

— Steady tapering: The FOMC will probably trim monthly bond purchases for a sixth straight meeting, to $25 billion, said Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. in New York. That would keep the Fed on pace to announce an end to purchases in October, he said.

— Labor slack: At the same time, the panel will discuss signs of persistent labor-market weakness to maintain its view that interest rates should stay low for a “considerable time” after quantitative easing ends, according to Jonathan Wright, an economics professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

— While the jobless rate is down to 6.1 percent, that’s partly because the proportion of working age people in the labor force is the lowest since 1978. “Unemployment is falling faster than expected, but they can still say that other labor-market indicators are mixed,” said Wright, an economist at the Fed’s division of monetary affairs from 2004 until 2008.

— Lagging wages: The FOMC’s most vocal supporters of continued stimulus will probably also cite weak wages, said Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York.

The FOMC wants “clear evidence of firming wage inflation” before determining that the U.S. is approaching full employment, LaVorgna said in a note to clients. After adjusting for inflation, average hourly earnings last month fell 0.1 percent from a year earlier.

Price Goal…”

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What Right Do Zionist Jews Have To Palestine?

 

What title-deeds do the Jews of today actually have to the land of ‘Israel’? The idea that a people can possess some kind of ethnic ancestral right to a territory supposedly vacated by their forebears some millenia previously, implying a right in perpetuity, can have no legal basis. Or otherwise Americans of European ancestry, to name just one group of people, will have to pack their bags.

 

According to Dr Alfred Lilienthal in his book The Zionist Connection, “The Jewish population of Palestine [what is now Israel and the occupied territories, the West Bank and Gaza] at the time of the Balfour Declaration in 1917 was a mere 7 percent of the 700 000 inhabitants. The rest were Muslim and Christian Arabs·At the time of the (US-dominated UN) partition vote in 1947 there were only 650 000 Jews in Palestine while there were 1,3 million indigenous Palestinian Arabs, either Christian or Muslim. Under the partition plan, 56 % of Palestine was given for a Zionist state to people who constituted 33 % of the population and owned about 6 % [six percent] of the land· These UN figures have never been in dispute·”

 

But there is a further issue, which also (YET AGAIN!) demonstrates the fundamentally questionable foundations of Zionism.

 

Jews are actually not even the modern descendents of the Israel of the Biblical ÎOld Testamentâ:

 

According to both the early-20th-Century popular historian H.G.Wells and the Hungarian-Jewish intellectual and author Arthur Koestler, amongst numerous others, the people known today as Jews are primarily the descendents of a Turkish tribe known as the Khazars. The Khazars have no historical connection to Palestine. They converted to ÎJudaismâ between 620 and 740AD, and have no genetic connection to biblical Israel, and hence to the narratives of the Bible and the ÎHoly Landâ. Koestler actually devoted an entire book called The Thirteenth Tribe (1976) to the fact that the Jews of eastern European origin, who are known as the Ashkenazi Jews and who make up about 95% of the Jewish population of today, are of Khazar origin. In other words – virtually all of the Jews of the modern world have no Hebrew ancestry, and no ancient connection with Palestine.

 

Does it matter? Does world peace matter? Do the human rights of a violently oppressed people matter? Does anything but sport and television sitcoms matter?

 

Arthur Koestler was by no means the first to draw attention to this particular issue. He quotes from twentieth-century works on the subject by, amongst others, Professors A.N.Poliak of Tel Aviv University, D.M.Dunlop of Columbia University in New York, and J.B.Bury of Cambridge University. The courageous Jewish anti-Zionist commentator Dr Alfred Lilienthal raised the issue fifty years ago and has continued to do so for decades. In fact, the famous H.G.Wells in the early 1920âs in his popular Outline of History described the Jews as Îa Turkish peopleâ and stated that Î(to the) Jewish Khazars.. are to be ascribed the great settlements of Jews in Poland and Russiaâ (chapt XXXII:8) and ÎThe main part of Jewry never was in Judea, and never came out of Judeaâ (XXIX:1).

 

Lord Moyne the British secretary of state in Cairo declared on June 9, 1942, in the House of Lords that the Jews were not the descendants of the ancient Hebrews and that they had no “legitimate claim” on the Holy Land. A proponent of curtailing immigration into Palestine, he was accused of being “an implacable enemy of Hebrew independence.”(Isaac Zaar, Rescue and Liberation: America’s Part in the Birth of Israel, New York: Bloch, 1954, p. 115). On November 6, 1944, Lord Moyne was assassinated in Cairo by two members of the Stern Gang led by Yitzak Shamir, latter to become premier of ÎIsraelâ. (This assassination was not unique in the history of Zionism. In September 1948 Count Folke Bernadotte, appointed by the UN as mediator between the Zionist settlers in Palestine and the native Palestinians, was murdered on orders from the same Yitzhak Shamir. Count Bernadotte was the head of the Swedish Red Cross and had risked his life to save thousands of Jews from German concentration camps. This set a precedent and encouragement for the Zionist use of assassination as a convenient political instrument, which the US and European governments have in effect condoned since then.)

 

Much old documentary evidence exists on the subject of the Khazars dating from the ninth and tenth centuries and earlier – from Arab, Byzantine, Hebrew, Russian and other sources. The conversion of the Khazars to Judaism is described in the so-called ‘Khazar Correspondence’ dating from the tenth century between Hasdai Ibn Shaprut, the Jewish chief minister of the Caliph of Cordoba in Spain, and Joseph, the king of the Khazars. In this the king traces the ancestry of his people not to Shem, father of the Semites, but to Japheth, Noah’s third son. The Book of Genesis (10:2,3) itself also describes Ashkenaz as a descendent of Japheth, rather than Shem. In other words, the Jews are not a Semitic people, but their contempt for the Arab world and their bitter and violent war of dispossession against the Palestinian Arabs could be termed Îanti-Semiticâ.

 

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Another read on the topic

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Do You Suffer from Learned Helplessness ?

“Why won’t America stand up for herself? Why is the country, once a country which possessed courage and conviction , now sitting idly while allowing itself to be taken to the slaughter without so much as a whimper?

The answer to the above question lies in the psychological concept known as “Learned Helplessness” as discovered by Martin Seligman.

 

“Learned helplessness” occurs when an animal is repeatedly subjected to an aversive stimulus that it cannot escape. Eventually, the animal will stop trying to avoid the stimulus and behave as if it is utterly helpless to change the situation. Even when opportunities to escape are presented, this learned helplessness will prevent any action

 

Learned Helplessness

 

seligman 2

 

Phase One

In the first phase of the learned helplessness experiment, Seligman placed a dog on an electrical grid, shocked the dog and noted that the dog would demonstrate the ability to escape the aversive stimulus.

Phase Two

In the second phase, the dog was barricaded on the grid and was unable to escape the painful shocks. Eventually the dog laid down and passively accepted the shock.

Phase Three…”

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