PemexIB Times – by Meagan Clark

Mexico’s recent oil reform will open up the energy industry from a 75-year-old state monopoly to a stream of private companies, and with them, it’s expected, organized crime.

Mexico’s vast shale-based reserves are some of the world’s largest, according to a recent assessment by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. But the shale is also located in precisely the northeastern regions most heavily influenced by the Zetas organized crime group. The Zetas and rivals like the Gulf Cartel have profited from reselling stolen oil and illegal mining operations for years, pocketing about $1.13 billion from the trade in 2012 and the first nine months of 2013, according to a November report by Pemex director Emilio Lozoya. And more than half of the money came in during the last nine months, indicating gangs’ oil profits are rising.   Continue reading “Organized Crime To Profit From Mexican Oil Reform: US Department Of Energy”

ABC News – by DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press

President Barack Obama will offer millions of dollars in federal aid for drought-stricken California during a visit with farmers and ranchers Friday and outline plans to seek $1 billion from Congress to help communities manage the effects of climate change.

California is in the midst of its worst drought in more than 100 years. Obama arrived Friday afternoon in Fresno, where he’ll meet with area farmers and announce more than $160 million in federal financial aid, including $100 million in the farm bill he signed into law last week for programs that cover the loss of livestock.   Continue reading “Obama Turns Attention to California Drought”

The wreckage of a train derailment is seen in the snow near Vandergrift, Pennsylvania February 13, 2014. REUTERS/Jason CohnReuters – by ROBERT GIBBONS AND ELIZABETH DILTS

A 120-car Norfolk Southern Corp train carrying heavy Canadian crude oil derailed and spilled in western Pennsylvania on Thursday, adding to a string of recent accidents that have prompted calls for stronger safety standards.

There were no reports of injury or fire after 21 tank cars came off the track and crashed into a nearby industrial building at a bend by the Kiskiminetas River in the town of Vandergrift.   Continue reading “Train carrying Canadian oil derails, leaks in Pennsylvania”

The 300 acre 'town' includes a five story embassy, a bank, a school, an underground subway and train stationThe Telegraph – by Lucy Kinder

The US army has built a fake city designed to be used during combat training exercises.

The 300 acre ‘town’ includes a five story embassy, a bank, a school, an underground subway and train station, a mosque, a football stadium, and a helicopter landing zone.

Located in Virginia, the realistic subway station comes complete with subway carriages and the train station has real train carriages.   Continue reading “US army builds fake city to shoot at during training”

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson delivers a speech in Washington February 7, 2014. REUTERS/Gary CameronThe Daily Caller – by Caroline May

The Department of Homeland Security plans to purchase 75.1 million rounds of ammunition at a cost of $22.7 million this year, according to a newly released report from the Government Accountability Office.

GAO reports that DHS has over 70,000 firearm-carrying personnel and that the ammo purchases go largely to firearm training and qualification requirements.   Continue reading “DHS to purchase 75.1 million rounds of ammunition this year”

Tenth Amendment Center

The movement to thwart NSA spying at the state level continues to grow, with Iowa becoming the 15th state to consider legislation denying support to the spy agency.

On Wednesday, Iowa state Senator Jake Chapman introduced the Fourth Amendment Protection Act. If SF2172  becomes law, the state, it agencies or political subdivisions will not “provide material support for participation with or assistance to, in any form, any federal agency which claims the power, or which purports due to any federal law, regulation, or order, to authorize the collection of electronic data or metadata of any person pursuant to any action not based on a warrant that particularly describes the person, place or thing to be searched or seized.”   Continue reading “Fifteen and Counting: Iowa to consider legislation against NSA spying”

ZeroHedge – by Tyler Durden

At first we thought Reuters had been punk’d in its article titled “EU executive sees personal savings used to plug long-term financing gap” which disclosed the latest leaked proposal by the European Commission, but after several hours without a retraction, we realized that the story is sadly true. Sadly, because everything that we warned about in “There May Be Only Painful Ways Out Of The Crisis” back in September of 2011, and everything that the depositors and citizens of Cyprus had to live through, seems on the verge of going continental. In a nutshell, and in Reuters’ own words, “the savings of the European Union’s 500 million citizens could be used to fund long-term investments to boost the economy and help plug the gap left by banks since the financial crisis, an EU document says.” What is left unsaid is that the “usage” will be on a purely involuntary basis, at the discretion of the “union”, and can thus best be described as confiscation.   Continue reading “Europe Considers Wholesale Savings Confiscation, Enforced Redistribution”

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

Ordinarily we would ignore the news of another banker’s death – after all these sad events happen all the time – if it wasn’t for several contextual aspects of this most recent passage. First, the death in question, as reported by the Stamford Daily Voice is that of Ryan Henry Crane, a Harvard graduate, who is survived by his wife, son and parents at the very young age of 37. Second, Ryan Henry Crane was formerly employed by JPMorgan – a bank which was featured prominently in the news as recently as two weeks ago when another of its London-based employees committed suicide by jumping from the top floor of its Canary Wharf building. Third: Crane was an Executive Director in JPM’s Global Program Trading desk, founded in 1999 by an ex-DE Shaw‘er, a function of the firm which is instrumental to preserving JPM’s impeccable and (so far in 2013) flawless trading record of zero trading losses.   Continue reading “Another JPMorgan Banker Dies, 37 Year Old Executive Director Of Program Trading”

By John McNamer

    Why has it ever even bothered me that many thousands of people have been kidnapped and illegally rendered to CIA dark sites to be sometimes tortured to death or held for many years without any legitimate legal process?

   That the use of “intelligence” information obtained from torture, well known to be mostly unreliable and useless, is now the norm for the supposedly civilized western nations of the world?   Continue reading “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Torture, plus the illegal invasions, the summary executions, and the surveillance state”

De Blasio pushes ID cards for illegal immigrants in speechNew York Post – by Yoav Gonen and Beth DeFalco

Following through on a campaign pledge, Mayor de Blasio said Monday that he’ll push to create municipal ID cards so illegal immigrants don’t have to “live their lives in the shadows.”

While the cards would be available to all New Yorkers, they would be aimed at undocumented immigrants who don’t have access to bank accounts, library cards and even memberships at Costco because they can’t produce official photo ID.   Continue reading “De Blasio pushes ID cards for illegal immigrants in speech”

Washington Post – by Paul Kane, Robert Costa and Ed O’Keefe

The House approved a year-long suspension of the nation’s debt limit Tuesday in a vote that left Republicans once again ceding control to Democrats after a collapse in support for an earlier proposal advanced by Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio).

In a narrow vote, 221 to 201, just 28 Republicans joined nearly all Democrats to approve a “clean” extension of the government’s borrowing authority — one without strings attached — sending the measure to the Senate for a final vote, probably this week.   Continue reading “House passes ‘clean’ debt-ceiling bill, ending two-week showdown”

SANYO DIGITAL CAMERAPhantom Report

Source: Jewish Journal

The LAPD-Israel bond was in large part fused by former LAPD Chief William Bratton, who made official trips to Israel to learn about the country’s advanced counter-terrorism tactics during his chiefdom from 2002 to 2009. At a town hall meeting in Los Angeles near the end of his term, Bratton said of Israeli intelligence experts: “They are our allies. They are some of the best at what they do in the world, and that close relationship has been one of growing strength and importance.”   Continue reading “LAPD scopes out Israeli drones, ‘big data’ solutions”

Washington’s Blog

Can American States Rein In An Out-Of-Control Federal Spy Agency?

The American people aren’t falling for NSA’s propaganda. They want the rogue agency reined in.

But Obama refuses to rein in the NSA, Dianne Feinstein says that Congress “doesn’t have the votes” to do anything about mass surveillance, and at least some judges are supporting the NSA’s spying (and it’s not clear what the Supreme Court will do).   Continue reading “11 States Fight Back Against NSA Spying”

Part of Ga. under state of emergency for stormYahoo News – by KATE BRUMBACK and CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY

ATLANTA (AP) — With memories of gridlock on icy Atlanta highways still fresh, Georgia officials got a second chance Monday to prove the state could prepare for winter weather. The governor declared a state of emergency hours ahead of the storm, something he didn’t do two weeks ago.   Continue reading “Part of Georgia under state of emergency for storm”

My Fox Houston – by Randy Wallace

HOUSTON (FOX 26) -“Dad and Mom is the world to them when they see dad they’re like where’s mom when they see me they’re like where is dad,” said Shmarian Jackson said.

Jackson can’t help but tear up when she thinks about the last 8 months without her three little girls living at home.   Continue reading “Couple say CPS told them to get divorce if they want kids back”

algeriaplanecrash.jpgFox News

An Algerian military transport slammed into a mountain Tuesday in the country’s rugged eastern region. A civil defense official said 102 people on board were killed but one managed to survive.

The U.S.-built C-130 Hercules transport crashed about noon near the town of Ain Kercha, 30 miles southeast of Constantine, the main city in eastern Algeria.   Continue reading “1 survivor, 102 dead in Algeria plane crash, official says”