AFP 535380927 A FIN USA LAUSA Today – by Adam Shell and Mike Snider

Halliburton (HAL), the second-largest U.S. oil services provider, said Monday it would acquire its smaller rival Baker Hughes (BHI) in a deal valued at $34.6 billion.

The two firms will combine forces in a stock-and-cash deal expected to close in the second half of 2015. The deal values each Baker Hughes share at $78.62.

Pre-market shares in Baker Hughes surged more than 16% to $69.61 on the news and were up 12% to $67.32 after the market opened — still shy of the price Halliburton offered to buy it for. Halliburton’s shares fell 9% to $50.01.   Continue reading “Halliburton to buy Baker Hughes for $35B”

FILE - In this May 1, 2014 file photo, Nathalie Marquez holds a sign modeled after an Oregon drivers license at the Capitol, in Salem, Ore. As...Yahoo News – by JONATHAN J. COOPER and NICHOLAS RICCARDI

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The fate of a little-noticed ballot measure in strongly Democratic Oregon serves as a warning to President Barack Obama and his party about the political perils of immigration policy.

Even as Oregon voters were legalizing recreational marijuana and expanding Democratic majorities in state government, they decided by a margin of 66-34 to cancel a new state law that would have provided driver’s licenses to people who are in the United States illegally.   Continue reading “Oregon immigration vote is a warning for Obama”

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Real Currencies – by Anthony Migchels

(Left/Above: the Trillions that they rake in in Usury every year allow the Bankers to hire endless numbers of fools in pretty suits to explain it’s all for the greater good and they have their media parade these people before an ever more desensitized public. This particular specimen, while trying to sell water meters to the Irish, managed to say on Irish television ‘water does not just fall out of the sky, you know’.)

The Enclosure of the Commons is an ongoing process, in which the peoples of the World are disowned from their natural heritage. Paying for their own land, their own water and soon their own sunlight and air. It’s an integral part of our complete enslavement.   Continue reading “How Usury Encloses The Commons”

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European Americans United – by Rudyard Kipling

It was not part of their blood,
It came to them very late,
With long arrears to make good,
When the Saxon began to hate.

They were not easily moved,
They were icy — willing to wait
Till every count should be proved,
Ere the Saxon began to hate.   Continue reading “The Wrath of the Awakened Saxon”

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) (L), with her husband Verne Martell (C), takes part in a ceremonial re-enactment of her swearing-in by Vice President Joe Biden (R) in the Old Senate Chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, January 5, 2011. REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstReuters – by Timothy Gardner

As incoming head of the Senate Energy Committee, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski will gain more clout in January to reverse the 40-year ban on most U.S. crude oil exports, but she is unlikely to rush into legislative action.

The Republican senator has fought to relax the ban all year by issuing a series of papers detailing how such exports have been allowed in the past, holding a private meeting on the subject with Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, and hinting that 2015 could be the time to introduce ban-ending legislation.   Continue reading “New Senate Energy head will need time to lift U.S. oil export ban”

The final moments before Deputy Tyler Brockman killed Samantha Ramsey while fleeing from a party. (Image: YouTube)Police State USA

HEBRON, KY — Police charged into a darkened field trying to arrest teenagers for consuming alcohol without government permission, and killed a young woman in the process.

The deadly raid occurred in the early morning hours of Saturday, April 26th, 2014. After witnessing “cars full of juveniles” and “hear[ing] loud music and people screaming,” Boone County Sheriff’s Deputy Tyler Brockman radioed for “several patrol cars for assistance, as it seem[ed] like a large party with underage drinking was going on,” according to an official report.   Continue reading “No indictment: Kentucky cops raid teenagers’ field party, kill girl who tried to escape”

US justice officials are scooping up mobile phone data from unwitting Americans as part of a sophisticated airborne surveillance program designed to catch criminals, the Wall Street Journal reportedBusiness Insider

San Francisco – US justice officials are scooping up mobile phone data from unwitting Americans as part of a sophisticated airborne surveillance program designed to catch criminals, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Small aircraft deployed by the US Marshals Service from at least five major airports have been taking to the skies with “dirtbox” equipment designed to mimic signals from cell towers, according to the Journal.   Continue reading “US spies on mobile phones from the sky”

ABC News – by Michelle R. Smith

A graduate student has sued a textile company for refusing to hire her for a two-month internship because she uses medical marijuana to treat frequent and debilitating migraine headaches, a decision her lawyer calls discrimination.

Christine Callaghan, who is studying textiles at the University of Rhode Island, sued Westerly-based Darlington Fabrics Corp. and its parent, the Moore Company, on Wednesday. The Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing Callaghan, said it believes it’s the first lawsuit of its kind in the state.   Continue reading “Marijuana Patient Sues After Firm Won’t Hire Her”

Yahoo News

(Reuters) – Outgoing Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe said on Wednesday that he will pardon his son for a felony drug conviction, local media reported.

Beebe, who is set to leave office in January due to term limits, said he would pardon his son Kyle, now 34, for his 2003 felony conviction of marijuana possession with intent to deliver, local broadcaster KATV said.

“Kids, when they’re young, do stupid stuff. He was no different,” Beebe told KATV in an interview published online. “If they’ve straightened up, to get their life back on track and have a second chance, so this is no different. It’s different because it’s my son.”   Continue reading “Arkansas Governor to pardon son’s drug conviction: report”

Under Texas Bill, Cops To Collect Traffic Fines On the Spot Via Credit or Debit CardInfowars – by Adan Salazar

A house bill recently introduced in the Texas legislature would allow police officers to collect immediate payment from “defendants” for Class C misdemeanor traffic fines “by use of a credit or debit card,” completely circumventing the rule of law and citizens’ due process rights.

H.B. No. 121, introduced on Monday by State Rep. Allen Fletcher, concerns “an alternative means of payment of certain criminal fines and court costs.”   Continue reading “Under Texas Bill, Cops to Collect Traffic Fines on the Spot Via Credit or Debit Card”

Fox News – by Lucas Tomlinson

President Obama is planning to unveil a 10-part plan for overhauling U.S. immigration policy via executive action — including suspending deportations for millions — as early as next Friday, a source close to the White House told Fox News.

The president’s plans were contained in a draft proposal from a U.S. government agency. The source said the plan could be announced as early as Nov. 21, though the date might slip a few days pending final White House approval.    Continue reading “Source: Obama to announce 10-point immigration plan via exec action as early as next week”

CBS News

WASHINGTON — From furniture and food to fine art, members of the Obama administration received thousands of dollars in gifts from foreign leaders, but first lady Michelle Obama appears to have received the most expensive gift last year.

The State Department reported Tuesday that the queen of Brunei gave Mrs. Obama jewelry worth $71,468 in 2013. The flower-shaped white gold earrings, ring and necklace were studded with yellow sapphires and diamonds, according to the department’s annual accounting of gifts published in the Federal Register. That’s almost seven times more valuable than the most expensive gift received by President Barack Obama, a glass amber-colored sculpture of a falcon on a branch worth $10,400 from Qatar’s ambassador to the U.S.   Continue reading “Brunei queen’s jewelry tops Obama family’s diplomatic gifts”

jonathan_gruber_1Pundit Press – by Dan Butcher

The sound bites just keep coming from Obamacare architect and MIT economist Jonathan Gruber, that could help the GOP if they actually take up the fight to do something about the disaster known as Obamacare.

A third video as now surfaced showing Gruber talking about how the “basic exploitation” of the ignorance of American voters contributed to the passage of Obamacare.   Continue reading “It just keeps getting better: Third video surfaces of Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber calling Americans stupid”

FILE - This is a Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014 file photo provided by Britain's Royal Air Force of a Russian military long range bomber aircraft...Yahoo News

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s long-range bombers will conduct regular patrol missions from the Arctic Ocean to the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, the military said Wednesday, a show of muscle reflecting tensions with the West over Ukraine.

A statement from Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu came as NATO’s chief commander accused Moscow of sending new troops and tanks into Ukraine — a claim quickly rejected by Russia.   Continue reading “Russian bomber patrols to reach Gulf of Mexico”

Former New York City police officer Gilberto Valle and his mother, Elizabeth Valle, leave U.S. District Court in lower Manhattan.Wall Street Journal – by Rebecca Davis O’Brien

A former New York Police Department officer whose trial in an alleged kidnapping and cannibalism plot drew an international media frenzy walked free Wednesday after being sentenced on a minor charge.

Gilberto Valle, who was dubbed the “Cannibal Cop” by tabloids, was sentenced to 12 months already served in prison and a year of supervised release for illegally using a police database.   Continue reading “Former Police Officer Accused of Cannibal Plot Goes Free”