Month: January 2015

Oil Price – by Zero Hedge

For the 8th week in a row (something that hasn’t happened since June 2009), US total rig count plunged. This week’s 90 rig drop to 1543 is the largest so far (with oil rigs down 94 to 1223 – lowest since Jan 2013). The total rig count is now down 20% in the last 8 weeks to the lowest since June 2010 as it tracks the 4-month lagged oil price perfectly. This is the 2nd biggest 8-week drop in 22 years. This – rather unsurprisingly – has led Chevron to decide to cut 23% of its Pennsylvania workforce “due to activity levels.” Not ‘unambiguously positive’ as so many in the central planning bureaus would have everyone believe.   Continue reading “Chevron Responds To Eight Week Drop In Rig Count By Slashing Jobs”

SHTF Plan – by Mac Slavo

Russian President Vladimir Putin hasn’t been one to back down in response to sanctions against his country and attacks on his economy. Rather, he has stepped up not only his rhetoric, but his military activities as well.

His latest move is yet another show of force to let the West know Russia is prepared to do whatever is necessary to protect its interests.   Continue reading “Putin Sends Nuclear Bombers Over English Channel: “Transponders Turned Off… Invisible to Air Traffic Control””

Police State USA

The ability to travel in the United States is about to become more restrictive as the TSA announces it will soon be enforcing new identification standards in American airports.

Beginning in 2016, passengers attempting to pass through a federal TSA checkpoint will be subject to the requirements of the REAL ID Act. To that end, the TSA will put higher scrutiny on travelers’ identities, and will only accept a federal passport or a “REAL-ID” card, which is issued by the states to meet federal requirements. Passengers will not be allowed to fly through an American airport without submitting to the advanced federal specifications.   Continue reading “New regs say passengers cannot fly without biometric ID card”

Vern works hard at the Phone Company but spends two nights each week bowling, and plays golf every Saturday.

His wife thinks he’s pushing himself too hard, so for his birthday she takes him to a local strip club.

The doorman at the club greets them and says, “Hey, Vern! How ya doin?”

His wife is puzzled and asks if he’s been to this club before.   Continue reading “Vern’s Funeral”

Washington Examiner – by Brian Hughes

President Obama Thursday touted the looming release of his federal budget, urging Republicans to support a slate of tax increases to pay for his economic blueprint for the middle class.

“We have to choose what we want that future to look like,” Obama said in an op-ed published by the Huffington Post. “Will we accept an economy where only a few of us do spectacularly well? Or will we commit ourselves to an economy that generates rising incomes and rising chances for everyone who makes the effort?”   Continue reading “Obama: My budget is a ‘blueprint for success’”

BBC News

Want to gain entry to your office, get on a bus, or perhaps buy a sandwich? We’re all getting used to swiping a card to do all these things. But at Epicenter, a new hi-tech office block in Sweden, they are trying a different approach – a chip under the skin.

Felicio de Costa, whose company is one of the tenants, arrives at the front door and holds his hand against it to gain entry. Inside he does the same thing to get into the office space he rents, and he can also wave his hand to operate the photocopier.   Continue reading “Sweden: Office puts chips under staff’s skin”

USA Today

The economy grew more slowly than expected in the fourth quarter as government spending fell sharply and business investment pulled back.

Gross domestic product expanded at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 2.6% in the three months ended Dec. 31, slowing sharply from a robust 5% pace in the third quarter, the Commerce Department said Friday. Economists expected 3.1% growth.   Continue reading “Economy grew 2.6% in the fourth quarter”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — After a three-week flirtation with a new campaign for the White House, Mitt Romney announced Friday that he will not seek the presidency in 2016.

“After putting considerable thought into making another run for president, I’ve decided it is best to give other leaders in the party the opportunity to become our next nominee,” Romney told supporters on a conference call.   Continue reading “Former GOP nominee Romney will not run for president in ’16”

Mail.com

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — The FBI on Thursday added a former taxi driver from northern Virginia to its list of most-wanted terrorists, saying he was a recruiter for the al-Shabab terror group in Somalia.

An arrest warrant, originally issued in February, was unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria for Liban Haji Mohamed, 29, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Somalia. He is the older brother of Gulet Mohamed, who for the past four years has been challenging his placement on the government’s no-fly list, the attorney representing the younger Mohamed, Gadeir Abbas, told The Associated Press on Thursday. A hearing on Gulet Mohamed’s case is scheduled in federal court in Alexandria on Friday.   Continue reading “Suspected terrorist brother of no-fly-list man”

Breitbart – by Michelle Moons

Anti-deportation groups organized protests in three California cities Wednesday, demanding that California Attorney General Kamala Harris stop deportations and push the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of California.

Anti-deportation groups including the Immigrant Youth Coalition and the San Diego Dream Team protested at the San Diego, Los Angeles and Oakland offices of the Attorney General, holding signs such as “ICE OUT OF CA” and “NOT 1 MORE DEPORTATION.”   Continue reading “Statewide Anti-Deportation Protests in CA”

Breitbart – by Sylvia Longmire

Mexico’s drug war was completely rocked in February 2014 after news broke of the arrest of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, the notorious long-time head of the Sinaloa cartel and arguably the most wanted man in the Western Hemisphere. But despite the U.S. government’s deep desire to prosecute and incarcerate Guzmán in the United States, Mexico’s attorney general announced the kingpin would not be extradited.

Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam told the Associated Press, “I could accept extradition, but at the time that I choose. ‘El Chapo’ must stay here to complete his sentence, and then I will extradite him.” He continued, “So about 300 or 400 years later…it will be a while.”   Continue reading “Mexico Refuses to Extradite Infamous Drug Lord ‘El Chapo’ to the U.S.”

Breitbart – by Warner Todd Huston

Many have speculated, but now a top federal health official is confirming that the outbreak of measles traced to several Disney theme parks was likely caused by a foreign visitor or an American who had recently returned from a trip outside the country.

For weeks authorities have been tracing cases of measles that have turned up in several western states. The one common factor in most cases was that sufferers attended one of several Disney theme parks in California or were close to someone who did.   Continue reading “Health Official Says Measles Outbreak Came from Overseas”

Opposing Views – by Sean Kelly

President Obama will reportedly request $1 billion from Congress to help Central American countries make reforms necessary to address political, economic and security challenges in the wake of the major increase in Central American children entering the U.S. illegally last summer.

Vice President Joe Biden detailed Obama’s effort in an op-ed for the New York Times, saying that the “security and prosperity of Central America are inextricably linked with our own.”   Continue reading “President Obama To Request $1 Billion In Aid For Central America”

Jon Rappoport

The Sacramento Bee has the story. 1/27/15, “Grit and gratitude join reading, writing and arithmetic on report cards,” by Loretta Kalb:

“Across the state, report cards are undergoing a sea change in how students are measured for academic performance. Where teachers once graded students [only] on traditional math or English skills, they now judge attributes such as grit, gratitude or being sensitive to others…Districts are changing their report cards to reflect the new Common Core State Standards…”   Continue reading “California-school mind control: grades for “Gratitude””