Year: 2019

Wolf Street – by Wolf Richter

The US Gross National Debt has jumped by $1.28 trillion as of today, compared to 12 months ago, to $23.04 trillion. And these are the good times. The economy is rocking and rolling, we’re told. How will this debt balloon during the next economic downturn? Yes, that was a rhetorical question. It’s better to not even think about it. And no one is thinking about it:  Continue reading “US National Debt Spiked by $1.3 Trillion in 12 Months, to $23 Tn. But Who Bought This Pile of Treasury Securities?”

RT

House Democrats have slipped an unqualified renewal of the draconian PATRIOT Act into an emergency funding bill – voting near-unanimously for sweeping surveillance carte blanche that was the basis for the notorious NSA program.

A three-month reauthorization of the notorious PATRIOT Act was shoehorned into a last-minute continuing resolution (CR) funding the US government, bundling measures needed to avert yet another government shutdown with a continuation of the wildly-intrusive surveillance powers passed after the 9/11 terror attacks. Democrats voted almost unanimously for it, granting the far-reaching surveillance capabilities to the very same president they’re trying to impeach.  Continue reading “So much for the #Resistance! While all eyes were on impeachment hearing, House re-authorized PATRIOT Act”

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

Ongoing trade conflicts have forced China to increase financial decoupling between the US. China wants to decrease its US exposure and diversify its reserves away from dollars, according to economists at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ).

“The ongoing trade war and geopolitical issues have increased the risk of a financial decoupling between China and the US,” Raymond Yeung, Greater China chief economist, wrote in a recent note.

Continue reading “China “Discreetly” De-Dollarizing Amid Ongoing Trade Tensions”

Smith On Stocks

You Really Don’t Own the Shares that Appear in Your Brokerage Account; They Belong to Cede

Most investors when they buy a publicly traded stock believe that they own a part of some company. They think that somewhere there is a stock certificate or some indication of ownership that has their name on it, but this is not the case. When you buy a “stock” you are actually purchasing a security that affords certain entitlement rights related to registered stock which actual owners hold. Continue reading “Illegal Naked Shorting Series: Who or What is Cede and What Role Does Cede Play in the Trading of Stocks?”

The Guardian – by Michael Sainato

It’s been over a dozen years since Susanne LeClair of West Palm Beach, Florida was first diagnosed with cancer and she’s been fighting ever since. Now she, like many other Americans facing life-threatening illness, is bankrupt despite having health insurance.

Before her first cancer-related surgery, LeClair was told by the hospital they accepted her employer-based health insurance.  Continue reading “‘I live on the street now’: how Americans fall into medical bankruptcy”

Free Thought Project – by Matt Agorist

Bristow, OK — Imagine for a moment that you are a parent of a 9-year-old girl. You daughter tells you she is going to the bathroom but then doesn’t come back for a while. When you go to check on her, you find a grown man with his hand in your daughter’s pants, molesting her. This is exactly what a mother in Oklahoma says happened to her daughter and, according to the mom, when she caught the child predator in the bathroom, things got even scarier — because the predator is a cop.  Continue reading “Mom Catches Cop Molesting Her Daughter in Bathroom, Cop Threatens Mom if She Tells”

Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Two jail officers falsified records to cover up their failure to check in on financier Jeffrey Epstein in the hours before he killed himself, U.S. prosecutors said on Tuesday.

According to an indictment, Tova Noel and Michael Thomas fell asleep and surfed the Internet instead of monitoring Epstein, who was found unresponsive on Aug. 10 in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Manhattan. An autopsy concluded that Epstein hanged himself.  Continue reading “Two jail guards for Jeffrey Epstein charged with coverup in his suicide”

RT

The US decision to recognize Israeli settlements in the West Bank as legal will aggravate the situation in the region, Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

“We consider Washington’s decision as another step aimed at scrapping the international legal base of the Middle East settlement,” Moscow stated, adding the US move will only further undermine the “already tense situation in Palestinian-Israeli relations.”   Continue reading “Moscow slams US decision to ‘legalize’ Israeli settlements in West Bank, says it puts spanner in the works for peace process”

Jus’ found out on an alternative site that today is International Men’s Day. Never knew such a day existed. I guess CNN and its partners in crime don’t want us to know. Jus’ more of their anti-men b.s.

Anyhow, to all the good men who get up everyday and do what they can, you are appreciated and respected, and in many instances, LOVED!! May you keep-on-keepin’-on and be cared for as you go.

🙂

Epoch Times – by Mark Tapscott

China has paid more than 7,000 U.S. scientists and other experts over the past decade through its Thousand Talents Plan (TTP) to hand over their research, according to a Senate subcommittee report made public on Nov. 18.

The TTP is only one of about 200 such Chinese “talent recruitment” programs. While being paid by China, these scientists have also received U.S. government funding. U.S. taxpayers have thus spent hundreds of billions to fund research and development that has ended up in China, according to the report.  Continue reading “Thousands of US-Based Scientists Sell Research to China, Report Says”

Miami New Times – by Jerry Iannelli

For years, Bruce M. Bagley has taught in the University of Miami’s International Studies program. He’s one of the nation’s foremost experts on money laundering in Latin America.

That might be because, at least according to the FBI, he’s been helping to launder money out of Latin America. Today federal prosecutors in Manhattan charged Bagley with laundering nearly $3 million in dirty money out of Venezuela between November 2017 and October 2018. Bloomberg first reported on the charges this afternoon. Continue reading “University of Miami Money-Laundering Expert Charged With Money Laundering”