Author: Admin

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Huffington Post – by Marcy Gordon

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three big Wall Street banks that have owned commodities such as aluminum exposed themselves to risk and in some cases manipulated prices in a way that raised costs for consumers, a Senate investigation has found.

The heavy involvement of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley in the business of storing and moving commodities like oil, aluminum, uranium and copper also gives them unfair trading advantages in financial markets, according to a report issued Wednesday by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.   Continue reading “Wall Street Banks Manipulated Commodity Prices At Consumers’ Expense, Senate Report Finds”

Sent to us by a reader who said: Do they really think we are that stupid?

Android Central – by Chuong H Nguyen

The U.S. government is fighting back against new encryption technologies on smartphones made by Apple and those using Google’s latest version of Android. With a strongly worded argument, an official at the U.S. Department of Justice plainly stated that without access to a suspect’s phone, a child could die in cases such as kidnapping.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the tech giants and the DOJ are at a standoff on smartphone encryption:   Continue reading “Smartphone encryption could lead to death of a child, government claims”

CNBC – by John Harwood

President Barack Obama plans to announce an executive order in Las Vegas on Friday to address immigration reform, CNBC has confirmed.

Another source familiar with the situation told CNBC that Obama could yet give a broader outline on an immigration order on Thursday and add detail on Friday.   Continue reading “Obama to announce immigration order in Las Vegas on Friday”

Press TV

Israeli forces with armored vehicles attacked Palestinian cities of Ramallah, al-Bireh and Wadi al-Joz in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, leading to rising tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.   Continue reading “Israel attacks Palestinian cities following synagogue assault”

RT

The US Senate failed to fast-track the Keystone XL pipeline project, falling one vote short of breaking a filibuster against the bill, which would have allowed the transport of crude oil from Canada’s tar sands to the Gulf of Mexico.

The bill failed despite garnering 59 “Yes” votes to 41 “No” votes. All Republican senators voted “Yes,” and they were joined by 14 Democrats. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), who co-sponsored the bill, needed one more vote to pass it but could not persuade another Democrat to go along.   Continue reading “Keystone XL pipeline bill fails to pass US Senate by 1 vote”

USA Today – by Susan Page

WASHINGTON — President Obama’s plan to sign an executive order on immigration, expected as early as this week, will meet more resistance than support, a new USA TODAY Poll finds. Close to half of those surveyed, 46%, say he should wait for the new Republican-controlled Congress to act, and another one in 10 are unconvinced either way.

Just 42% of Americans say he should take action now, findings that reflect a familiar partisan divide between Democrats and Republicans. The president is considering an order that would prevent as many as 5 million people from being deported.   Continue reading “Poll: Resistance to Obama order on immigration”

They are starting to eat their own.

ABC News – by Jim Litke, AP

Federal drug enforcement agents showed up unannounced Sunday to check at least three visiting NFL teams’ medical staffs as part of an investigation into former players’ claims that teams mishandled prescription drugs.

There were no arrests, Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Rusty Payne said Sunday. The San Francisco 49ers’ staff was checked at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, after they played the New York Giants. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ staff was checked at Baltimore-Washington International airport after playing the Redskins. The Seattle Seahawks, who played at Kansas City, confirmed via the team’s Twitter account that they were spot-checked as well.   Continue reading “DEA Agents Raid NFL Medical Staffs After Games”

Wall Street Journal – by William Mauldin

The Obama administration will fall well short of its goal of doubling exports in five years. But it is hoping to secure a longer-run victory on the trade front with sweeping new agreements in the next two years.

A weak global economy deserves some of the blame for the failure to double exports in the five years through 2014, a target first outlined in President Barack Obama’s 2010 State of the Union address. Concerns about global growth also could determine whether the U.S. and its trading partners step up to strike deals, or step back in the face of domestic political concerns and worries about jobs in sensitive industries.   Continue reading “Obama Looks to Jump-Start Export Push”

USA 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”

 

Sent to us by Dave C. Johnson of Daily False Flag.

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”

Reuters – 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”