Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

On January 16, 2013, the Bundesbank – one of the biggest gold holder in the world, with 3,378 tonnes – shocked the world: out of the blue, the German central bank announced that by December 31, 2020, it intends to store half of Germany’s gold reserves in its own vaults in Frankfurt, up from only 31% at the time. The plan would mean repatriating a total of 674 tonnes of gold, 300 from the New York Fed’s gold vault, and another 374 from the Bank of France. The transfer, the Bundesbank explained, was meant to “build trust and confidence domestically, and the ability to exchange gold for foreign currencies at gold trading centers abroad within a short space of time.”   Continue reading “German Central Bank Completes Repatriation Of $28 Billion In Gold Three Years Ahead Of Schedule”

Join in on the conversation. Call (641) 715-3610 then enter 220029#, press *6 to mute and unmute.

You can listen on our player.

To listen on a smart phone, just click this link: http://listen.spacial.com/api/listen/?sid=9826&method=sc It will ask if you want to download or execute. Click “Execute”. Then on the next screen, Complete action using, click “Google Play Music”.

Get together in our chat room: The Pub.

Archive: ITTBF 8-23-17

The Nation – by Jesse A Myerson

Let’s get rid of private housing.

Plenty of time and effort have lately gone into analyzing a host of related crises—homelessness, unaffordable urban real estate, devastating gentrification, and a housing bubble whose burst landed us in the Great Recession. But the explanations tend to be incomplete, the attributions shortsighted, and the policies rearguard. For every liberal who insists that deregulating zoning laws will curb skyrocketing urban housing prices, there’s a conservative who blames the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act for the housing bubble, and none of them is anywhere near the mark.   Continue reading “How to Get Rid of Your Landlord and Socialize American Housing, in 3 Easy Steps”

Fox 10 News

PHOENIX (KSAZ) – Phoenix police officials say officers deployed pepper spray and pepper balls to a crowd outside the Phoenix Convention Center, following President Donald Trump’s rally.

Phoenix police say some people in the crowd began throwing rocks, bottles, and other projectiles at police officers and someone in the crowd dispersed tear gas in the area.  Continue reading “POST-RALLY CHAOS: 4 arrested as protests outside Trump rally turn violent”

Fox 10 News

PHOENIX (KSAZ) – Fox News is reporting that President Donald Trump will not pardon Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.   Continue reading “No pardon for Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, but Trump appears to hint at future pardon”

Salon – by Jesse Myerson

As the commentary around the recent deaths of Nelson Mandela, Amiri Baraka and Pete Seeger made abundantly clear, most of what Americans think they know about capitalism and communism is arrant nonsense. This is not surprising, given our country’s history of Red Scares designed to impress that anti-capitalism is tantamount to treason. In 2014, though, we are too far removed from the Cold War-era threat of thermonuclear annihilation to continue without taking stock of the hype we’ve been made, despite Harry Allen’s famous injunction, to believe. So, here are seven bogus claims people make about communism and capitalism.   Continue reading “Why you’re wrong about communism: 7 huge misconceptions about it (and capitalism)”

CBS News

According to medical records reviewed exclusively by CBS News, a U.S. doctor who evaluated American and Canadian diplomats working in Havana diagnosed them with conditions as serious as mild traumatic brain injury, and with likely damage to the central nervous system.

The diplomats complained about symptoms ranging from hearing loss and nausea to headaches and balance disorders after the State Department said “incidents” began affecting them beginning in late 2016. A source familiar with these incidents says officials are investigating whether the diplomats were targets of a type of sonic attack directed at their homes, which were provided by the Cuban government. The source says reports of more attacks affecting U.S. embassy workers on the island continue.   Continue reading “Some U.S. diplomats in Cuba diagnosed with serious health conditions, medical records show”

Join in on the conversation. Call (641) 715-3610 then enter 220029#, press *6 to mute and unmute.

You can listen on our player.

To listen on a smart phone, just click this link: http://listen.spacial.com/api/listen/?sid=9826&method=sc It will ask if you want to download or execute. Click “Execute”. Then on the next screen, Complete action using, click “Google Play Music”.

Get together in our chat room: The Pub.

Archive: TWFTT 8-23-17

Fox News

The remnants of former Tropical Storm Harvey have reformed in the southern Gulf of Mexico, prompting the National Hurricane Center to issue hurricane, tropical storm and storm-surge watches Wednesday for parts of the Texas coast.

In its 11 a.m. ET advisory, the weather service said Harvey is located off Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, 535 miles south-southwest of Port O’Connor, Texas with maximum sustained winds near 35 mph, and was moving northwest near 9 mph.   Continue reading “Hurricane, storm surge watches issued for Texas after Harvey regenerates into tropical depression”

Bangor Daily News – by Alex Horton, Washington Post

At $700 million, Wednesday night’s Powerball prize is the second-largest lottery jackpot in its history, and the math is working out in favor of lotto commissions.

Two years ago, your chances of becoming an instant millionaire were 1 in roughly 175 million. Now, the odds are 1 in roughly 292 million.

Tweaks to the game in October 2015 increased the number of total balls, from 59 to 69, from which players need to pick five. It may seem like a modest change, but the odds of winning the jackpot shot up astronomically.   Continue reading “How Powerball manipulated the odds to make another massive jackpot”