Spain Gets Downgraded By Fitch to BBB, EFSF Blowout

What's that? Central banking is so advanced and can save everyone -

First it Egan-Jones (of course). Then S&P. Now Fitch (which sees the Spanish bank recap burden between €60 and a massive €100 billion!) joins the downgrade party of rating agencies that have Spain at a sub-A rating. Only Moody's is left. What happens when Moody's also cuts Spain from its current cuspy A3 rating to sub-A?

The Real Effect
I'm growing quite weary of both sides of the conflict pretending like they are the only (cough) adults in the room and if you just joined the Dialectic War against the (Republican/Democrats), you too son, could be an adult. Uh no, you have a blue credit card and the other guy has a red credit card. Note the commonality? Oh, too hard for you to grasp, it's the credit card itself, NOT the color.

We have the same situation over in Europe where all of the supposed sophisticated first-worlders are going belly up one right after the other. Make no mistake, we will get our day in the sun.Why do I say that? Because it's a mathematical certainty. Pssst...It's a real simple concept. Lean in real close so the Master can tell you all his secrets. You ready? Here it is - If you spend more money than you make, you go...

BANKRUPT.

Now, that'll be 300 euros. I'm sure you can find some extra ones somewhere, perhaps in a wheelbarrow?

Indiana Gets It Right

This is too good not to post Denninger in full -

It's about damn time.

Every time police Sergeant Joseph Hubbard stops a speeder or serves a search warrant, he says he worries suspects assume they can open fire -- without breaking the law.
Hubbard, a 17-year veteran of the police department in Jeffersonville, Indiana, says his apprehension stems from a state law approved this year that allows residents to use deadly force in response to the “unlawful intrusion” by a “public servant” to protect themselves and others, or their property.

The solution this is simple: Don't undertake unlawful intrusions.

The issue arises because of a case in Indiana where the State Supreme Court held that you had no right to resist an unlawful entry by the police.

That's patent nonsense.  An unlawful act by the police is exactly the same, in terms of the law, as that of an armed criminal.

Young cited a hypothetical situation of a homeowner returning to see an officer raping his daughter or wife. Under the court’s ruling, the homeowner could not touch the officer and only file a lawsuit later, he said. Young said he devised the idea for the law after the court ruling.
“There are bad legislators,” Young said. “There are bad clergy, bad doctors, bad teachers, and it’s these officers that we’re concerned about that when they act outside their scope and duty that the individual ought to have a right to protect themselves.”

That's exactly correct.

Unfortunately "authority" positions tend to attract sociopaths.  This is a fact; the person who is mentally unstable and seeking to show how "macho" he is will be attracted to a position that gives him a badge, a gun, and the "right" to abuse both.

Adding insult to injury is the fact that in virtually no case are police officers held personally to account for violations of citizen rights.  The usual "recourse" is to sue, but then you're suing yourself if you live in the jurisdiction, as your taxes will pay the judgment!

This is a crock, yet it is rare that the pigs (not police officers) involved in such illegal acts are personally charged and imprisoned for the same offense an ordinary citizen would face if he or she engaged in identical conduct.  This is even true in "relatively mild" cases where disparate treatment is common; there is an officer here in our county who was caught twice operating under the influence.  He was finally arrested after he crashed -- his previous DUI was "overlooked" and in addition he was investigated for aggravated assault with a firearm also involving the use of alcohol off-duty.  

You or I would have been arrested and prosecuted for both of those previous events.  He wasn't.
Never mind that suing is difficult when you're dead, as was discovered in Louisiana after Katrina.
That, incidentally, was one of the rare incidents in which actual criminal sanction was (finally) handed out, with the pigs involved being prosecuted for not only killing an unarmed man but also planting a gun on him in an attempt to justify their act of murder.

Let me be clear: There's a hell of a difference between a pig and a police officer.  A police officer acts within The Constitution and The Law.  He obtains a warrant before he performs a search.  He confines the use of "no-notice, no-knock" warrants to legitimate circumstances where imminent risk of death or serious bodily harm to uninvolved and innocent parties exist, rather than using them as a "show of force."  He takes responsibility for his or her errors, including "accidentally" raiding the wrong house and understands that if he does that he's in the wrong and runs the risk of being shot as he's unlawfully entering private property -- he is in fact an armed felon committing a breaking and entering!  This in turn drives said officer to be damned sure he's raiding the right address and to restrict said "raids" to those circumstances where they are utterly unavoidable -- and that's very, very rare.

I fully support police officers and the rule of law.

I spit on the shoes of pigs and their testosterone-laden Rambo re-enactments along with the "special treatment" that is so-often handed out when they violate the rights of citizens or simply break the law.

I'd love to believe in the rule of law providing sufficient recourse against unlawful acts by the cops but the fact of the matter is that it isn't and never can be, because if you're dead suing is cold comfort for your next-of-kin and the officers involved are almost never held to personal criminal account when they storm the wrong address in search of drugs (for which shutting off the water and power and demanding the occupants come out with their hands up is more than sufficient to prevent destruction of evidence) or otherwise abuse their badge and hardware in their testosterone-loaded fantasy re-enactments of Rambo.

We don't demand that you stand back and then sue if someone breaks into your house and rapes your wife.  You have a well-recognized unalienable right to end that assault via the use of force right there, right now.

The same right exists when the bad actor who is assaulting you illegally is using the emblem and weapons of government as a means of enabling his felonious conduct.

Coincidentally Vox also comments on this -

Hey, the police and their propagandists are always telling us that if you don't do anything wrong, you've got nothing to fear. So deal with that, Mr. Law Enforcement Officer. Because, after all, it's the law!

Of course, let's present the type of officer this law should be used on -

Police in Aurora, Colo., searching for suspected bank robbers stopped every car at an intersection, handcuffed all the adults and searched the cars, one of which they believed was carrying the suspect.

Police said they had received what they called a “reliable” tip that the culprit in an armed robbery at a Wells Fargo bank committed earlier was stopped at the red light.
From there, the police went from car to car, removing the passengers and handcuffing the adults.

“Most of the adults were handcuffed, then were told what was going on and were asked for permission to search the car,” Fania said. “They all granted permission, and once nothing was found in their cars, they were un-handcuffed.”

The search lasted between an hour and a half and two hours, and it wasn’t until the final car was searched that police apprehended the suspect.

“Once officers got to his car, they found evidence that he was who they were looking for,” Fania said. “When they searched the car, they found two loaded firearms.”

The actions of the police have been met with some criticism, but Fania said this was a unique situation that required an unusual response.

“It’s hard to say what normal is in a situation like this when you haven’t dealt with a situation like this,” Fania said. “The result of the whole ordeal is that it paid off. We have arrested and charged a suspect.”

The other people who had been held at the intersection were allowed to leave once the suspect was apprehended.

This is exactly why this sort of thing continues. Police have a person or entity who's rights have been violated, in this case a bank. The police rightly attempt to apprehend the violator of the bank's rights in accordance with their mandate. But in the process of protecting the bank's rights, they often become the vehicle of oppression to the rights of others.

Now, in this particular case I'm sure there's some legal wiggling going on. (Like how many people were stopped because there was a specific tip about them? How many warrants?) I highly doubt all of those individuals 'consented' to being handcuffed in the fashion that the article is attempting to convey here as most people are tricked and bullied into waving their rights.

For the police, they got a suspect  and in the end, that's all they care about. They can crow about 'doing their job' and 'making a high impact on the community'. It doesn't matter if it was the right guy, that's a matter for the courts to make sure the guy the police think did it goes to jail to carry out justice. So the feedback is that they 'did a good job' and then they begin to see the public's rights as an obstacle to performing their duty not the sacred thing that they are entrusted to protect at all costs.

The very fact that the officer stated in the top article is opposed to a law that protects the citizens from unlawful police actions shows you just how far down the Nazi hole we've really come. This is what justice looks like.

Mitch Daniels, VP Pick?

Bilderberg 2012 confirms the following -

According to veteran Bilderberg sleuth Jim Tucker’s source, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels’ presence at the 2012 Bilderberg Group meeting indicates that he is the elite’s choice pick to become Mitt Romney’s running mate.

According to the source, Bilderberg members are eager to dissuade the Romney camp from choosing Kentucky Senator Rand Paul as VP, fearing that Paul’s constitutionalist stance will act to derail the agenda for increased centralization of power into a system of global governance.

Daniels on the other hand is seen as a safe pair of hands, having been elected to his second term of Governor by a record margin of 18 points. Former Senior Vice President of Eli Lilly and Company, Daniels worked on a public relations campaign to downplay the side-effects of Prozac, helping the company’s profits soar during the mid to late 90′s.

The Real Effect

So looky, looky...Constitution ignoring Mitch Daniels goes to the Bilderberg conference and now he's on the short list to be the VP nominee. Who would have thought? Well, it's nice to know that foreign agents are choosing our VP, I mean, what could possibly be wrong with that?

Israel and World War III, Iran Attempt 3

As things burn in Europe, Iran is slowly moving to the front burner, again (Really, give it up already)-

The latest Iranian Assassin Plot originating out of the US Embassy in Azerbaijan (Washington’s new best friend in the region), is an alleged Iranian assassination ring supposedly targeting US Embassy officials in various countries. Giving the US an excuse to lock-down its foreign offices is one thing, but this latest spy-thriller plot also serves another purpose – to mobilize full cooperation from key regional countries (much to the distaste of nearby Russia), and none is more crucial than Azerbaijan – Iran’s neighbor to the north.

Note the centrality of Azerbaijan in the war plans? We first noted this in June of 2010 and followed up in September of 2010 -

If Russia is not on board, the area near Azerbaijan will be critical for the U.S. to control if Russia attempts to resupply Iran in a war. Russia rolled mobile nukes into the theater in response to the Georgia's war with Russia (U.S. Spec Op)/Russian War of 888.

The article continues...

A series of dominos need to fall in order for the green light on Iran to flash freely for Washington, London, and Tel Aviv. The first and most crucial domino is Syria. In the Middle East region, Syria remains as one of the last remaining strong, secular states and maintains solid links not only with Iran, but also Russia. More importantly though, are its links to a highly organized and battle-ready militia and political force – Hezbollah, located in neighboring Lebanon. Once Syria is destabilized and the Assad government is out of the way, Syria can then be further divided into waring factions. When this happens, gone is Hezbollah’s number one supporter in the region.

From the 2012 predictions -

• Syria  - It appears that the road to Iran lies through Syria. The US will try to draw in Hezbollah through "regime change". (Q1)
• Iran - Time will tell on this one. Iran is a tough nut to crack as opinion is running contrary to Western interests here. IF the US gets Syria, Iran is next. There has been a lot of posturing in 2011, but no one has been able to capitalize. Look for the moral justification route being presented via Iranian "guerrilla forces" "destabilizing Syria and attacking US or NATO "peacekeepers".

And back to the assassins -

According to initial reports in the Washington Post, the newly uncovered ‘Iranian Assassin Plot’ consists of multiple high-value US targets overseas:

In November, the tide of daily cable traffic to the U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan brought a chilling message for Ambassador Matthew Bryza, then the top U.S. diplomat to the small Central Asian country. A plot to kill Americans had been uncovered, the message read, and embassy officials were on the target list.
The details, scant at first, became clearer as intelligence agencies from both countries stepped up their probe. The plot had two strands, U.S. officials learned, one involving snipers with silencer-equipped rifles and the other a car bomb, apparently intended to kill embassy employees or members of their families.

Quietly mentioned after all the hype, however, is the admission that this latest Grisham plot could not actually be verified:

“Precisely who ordered the hits, and why, was never conclusively determined…”

The Real Effect
This goes to show just how tenacious these guys are. They think of things not in terms of immediate action and resolution, but in a dialectic way of destabilization over the course of decades to centuries. Today's 'casualty of war' in reality becomes tomorrow's aggrieved party terrorist that must be eliminated. Think of the players as corporations such as Wal-Mart, but imagine instead of going through a customer complaint process, Wal-Mart gets to use drone strikes on their house!!

Look for Syria to continue to be front and center as 'massacres' continue to surface. The issue with this thought process though, is that most of the time it is the western aligned forces doing the killing.

EU Looks to the Future - Real Effect ON TARGET

It appears that our ceti eel investment has paid off in spades, behold the EU appeal to the future!!! -

Herman Van Rompuy

Change is the only way forward. If we want to shape our future we must embrace change. This is true for all European countries #cyprus

The Real Effect
Longtime readers of TRE will remember the following from the 2011 predictions-

But the call out of Belgium isn't about revoking the Euro, rather about the preservation of the European Union and the need to 'pull together'. I would expect that we could begin to see propaganda calling for a United Europe in the face of "x" (economic crisis, terror, war).

And from the 2012 predictions -

The mantra "The future is our hope" begins to become center to the recovery.  What is lost on everyone is that in order for this concept to work, you have to sacrifice now. You can't borrow from tomorrow at an inflated rate (interest) and expect tomorrow to be better when the underlying fundamentals have NOT changed.

Overall, this is a common technique used to demonize those who criticize a given platform. Rather than allow the merits of the idea to sell itself, the adherent makes an emotional plea to 'Think of the ....(Fill in the blank)"

To teachers and many wives, the blank becomes children.
To doctors, it becomes your health.
To theorists, it becomes the future.

This is the desperation tactic of an argument that is failing usually quite miserably and cannot possibly survive the onslaught of an actual discussion of facts. Typically I have found that this is used in response to a 'scarcity' argument. For instance, let's examine a common argument for property tax increases -

Pro - We want to raise property taxes by 30% to fund education. (To an obscene level basically)
Anti - The free market cannot sustain that level of taxation, this will mean less jobs and unemployment. (A static fact)
Pro - Well, our (bogus) numbers indicate that (myopically) we NEED more money.
Anti - It doesn't matter what your numbers say to do, this will destroy wealth and people.
Pro - Well, you just don't care about the children or their future.

Now this is an extremely simplified version of this argument but this is being carried out everywhere as we speak. Republicans ignoring the national debt via wartime spending, Democrats and their pet projects, Keynesian spending, you name it, it ignores the larger issue of real sustainability.

The Enterprise Is Sitting In Bahrain

ZH provides us with the latest carrier map -

There was a time, late in the winter, that not a day passed without some headline announcing Israel's preparedness to attack Iran, culminating with the grotesque - a show on Israel TV detailing the actual invasion plans. All these daily updates did was guarantee one thing - that absolutely no war could possibly break out for two simple reasons:
i) you never declare war when the opponent is expecting you, instead you habituate them to news about imminent invasions which never happens, and,
ii) Brent was over $120, which would guarantee no re-election for Obama as outright war would send the energy complex soaring, gas prices surging, and the world economy, but most importantly the Russell 2000, tumbling.
Over the past 2 months two things have happened: chatter of "imminent" war with Iran has died down to barely a whisper, and WTI is now trading 20% lower than 2012 highs. Which means there is far more capacity for a run higher. So putting all that together, does it mean that the prospect of war with Iran is now gone? Below we present the latest naval update map courtesy of Stratfor, and leave readers to make their own conclusions...

The Real Effect
Iran has fallen off the radar for the last few months mostly because the chatter has died down significantly. If I remember correctly, this is what happened right before the Iraq invasion. A lot of discussion, a lot of posturing some 'attempts' at peace and then suddenly "Shock and Awe". Even considering that, no one knows what's going to happen right up until the president gives the green light.

Now quite a bit of ink has been bandied back and forth about the possibility of Iran targeting the Enterprise in a grand false flag style operation. My assumption has been that if such a thing were to happen that the Enterprise would be fitted with some sort of explosives so as not to leave anything to chance. Given their current proximity to CIA stomping grounds, is it possible that the carrier is now being readied for a grand show?

Only time will tell there.

Romney Swings At Teachers

Showing his populist strategy, flip mittens does what he does best...sucker Republicans -

Mitt Romney said Wednesday he will expand Washington’s voucher program as part of a broad push for more school choice nationwide, setting up a dramatic contrast with President Obama, who has called for the D.C. program to be phased out, and with teachers unions, which have fought against expanded choice.

Mr. Romney announced the push on education in a speech in Washington as he made overtures to Hispanic voters, who regularly tell pollsters that access to education is one of their top concerns — even above immigration — and who generally support vouchers.

“Here we are in the most prosperous nation, but millions of kids are getting a Third World education. And America’s minority children suffer the most,” Mr. Romney said in a speech to the Latino Coalition, a conservative Hispanic organization. “This is the civil rights issue of our era. And it’s the great challenge of our time.”

And he declared war on teachers unions, saying they “are the clearest example of a group that has lost its way.” He said Mr. Obama is too beholden to the unions to be able to reform the school system.

The Real Effect
Oh, someone has been watching the political scene here in Wisconsin and is putting his finger to the wind eh? I am reminded of the great Homer Stokes -

Is you is, or is you ain't, my constituency? 

 But hey, don't take my word for it, let's go to the boss and get his word from the 2008 Goldman Sachs gifts -

Among Federal Candidates, 2008 Cycle

Name Office Total Contributions

Obama, Barack (D-IL) Senate $996,595
Clinton, Hillary (D-NY) Senate $411,150
Romney, Mitt (R) Pres $234,275
McCain, John (R-AZ) Senate $230,095
Himes, Jim (D-CT) House $155,098
Dodd, Chris (D-CT) Senate $112,500
Giuliani, Rudolph W (R) Pres $111,750
Edwards, John (D) Pres $66,450
Specter, Arlen (R-PA) Senate $47,600
Emanuel, Rahm (D-IL) House $37,750

 And who's been "important" since this list came out? Why, virtually all of them of course.

Watch for Romney to continually pander to his base and try to mimic Ron Paul until after the election. Once the election is over, if he wins, watch the president elect perform the usual presidential "moderation" as he shifts into governance mode and like Obama before him, throws out all of his campaign promises. After all, they weren't really necessary in the first place and we just can't "afford them".

Kissinger Admits that IMF Riots are Being Managed

As if there was little doubt -

In a recent statement Henry Kissinger admitted that social upheaval and mass civil unrest are to be used as a means of merging the US into an “international system”.

“The United States has to be part of an international system that we create domestically”, he told The Harvard Crimson in the beginning of this month. When asked what the most important problems are facing American society today, Kissinger answered:

“Internationally, the problem is that there are upheavals going on in every part of the world, but these upheavals don’t follow the same basic causes, and so the United States has to be part of an international system that we create domestically.” 

The Real Effect
In January of 2011 (the start of the 'Arab spring'), I reiterated my May 2010 observation with the following -

There is a fundamental change in the way the middle-class and below of the world view the world. An "enlightenment" if you will. Here is the crux of the problem though. The globalists understood that the sheep would wake up, in fact they anticipated and planned for it by naming it the IMF riot. The relevant question is, who can outflank who here? Will the people get to the globalists before they are able to pull the trigger on the full police state?

On that particular day, I was noting the deliberate and systematic push from those who adhere to a globalistic style ideology to stir up riots around the world to create a vehicle to implement their "Hope and Change" vision. (Note - that line of thinking goes beyond Obama) This deliberate stoking was an anticipated and desired outcome to foment global revolution to install a new world governance and ultimately a heralded Phoenix world leader. I also noted at the time that the revoloution started in spiritual Egypt of all places and spread throughout that hemisphere.

So here we have Henry Kissinger, one of the most informed and connected individuals in US politics stating, out loud, that indeed, they are planning on using all of this to create a New World Order. Do I really need to rest my case?

The Brown Shirts Are Marching

The 'disappearing' starts in earnest -

Police in the Windy City recently underscored the fact that the United States is now a police state little different than the former Soviet Union or East Germany.

In the video here, National Lawyers Guild (NLG) spokesman Kris Hermes says Chicago cops broke down an apartment door and arrested activists without a warrant.

Note: If the above video fails to work, see it here.

Such “preemptive raids” are a “hallmark of National Special Security Events,” said Sarah Gelsomino with the NLG and the People’s Law Office in a press release. “The Chicago police and other law enforcement agencies should be aware that this behavior will not be tolerated and will result in real consequences for the city.”

From the NLG press release:

The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) condemns a preemptive police raid that took place at approximately 11:30pm Wednesday in the Bridgeport neighborhood, and instances of harassment on the street, in which Chicago police are unlawfully detaining, searching, and questioning NATO protesters. The Bridgeport raid was apparently conducted by the Organized Crime Division of the Chicago Police Department and resulted in as many as 8 arrests.
According to witnesses in Bridgeport, police broke down a door to access a 6-unit apartment building near 32nd & Morgan Streets without a search warrant. Police entered an apartment with guns drawn and tackled one of the tenants to the floor in his kitchen. Two tenants were handcuffed for more than 2 hours in their living room while police searched their apartment and a neighboring unit, repeatedly calling one of the tenants a “Commie faggot.” A search warrant produced 4 hours after police broke into the apartment was missing a judge’s signature, according to witnesses. Among items seized by police in the Bridgeport raid were beer-making supplies and at least one cell phone.

The NLG reports police harassment and illegal searches of other anti-NATO activists in Chicago.

“The NLG has received reports that at least 20 people have been arrested so far this week, and two people are still in custody, not including the Bridgeport residents who are still unaccounted for,” the press release states.

In other words, the cops are disappearing enemies of the state the same way Stalin and Hitler did. Camps for political prisoners – a modern version of Stalin’s gulags – stand ready now in America for “re-education” of political heretics.

The Real Effect
Whether you agree or disagree with the raid itself, you cannot agree with the methodology used to carry out the raid. Preemptive raids? Guns drawn? NO WARRANT!?! This LITERALLY means that they had no evidence and are actively persecuting  these individuals. Perhaps we need to review, again -

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

U.S. Constitution - Amendment IV

(If you're a Republican and think that 'your side' upholds the Constitution, click on the following link and read the first comment.) Further, if you believe that this should stand, you literally do not believe in liberty, Constitutionality, America or it's founding, in which case - Why are you here at all?

Obama Born In Kenya

I've got two words for this.

Duh and duh.

But the agent, through I'm sure NO political pressure on behalf of anyone, insists that 'No sir, just because you see smoke, certainly does not mean that there is fire. As a matter of fact, I borrowed Christopher Lloyd's Delorean and traveled back to 1991 to make the same mistake that everyone else is making. lol... What, these concrete shoes? No, I've always worn these.'

In completely unrelated news Congress is borrowing a page from Florida's playbook and issuing its new mathematical standard: 2 + 2 = 5.

Cue the Right Leaning Stormtroopers

...because if we save just one of the poor, poor children...it will have been worth it -

Despite the fact that the TSA attracts more bad publicity than any other federal agency in existence for its routine harassment of the traveling public and its penchant for hiring criminals, Congressman Mike Rogers has called for the TSA to get even “tougher” in the name of preventing the next terrorist attack.

“TSA likes to talk about their successes and I’m proud of their successes — we haven’t had another successful attack in 10 years. The problem is, we have only have to miss one and it’s a disaster,” Rogers (R-Ala.) said on CNN’s “Starting Point.” “We want TSA to become smarter, leaner and tougher.”

 The Real Effect
There is this mistaken notion among most of the populace that techocratic 'experts' are in charge and are successfully managing society on a broad scale.You see, these experts went to the fancy school and all that and are now fit to rule govern you. Never you mind the fact that they are consistently inconsistent and in most situations just flat out wrong again and again, they are working on these problems and you can rest assured that In the Great and Glorious Future you will be reaping the fruits of their selfless dedication.

It is in this repeated confusing spiral of self-aggrandizing spin that we properly view statements such as those quoted above. To most on the self-proclaimed right, the world is a scary place with 'terrists' hiding behind every Bush waiting to pounce and kill busloads of children. They have no proof for this concept, they simply read sensationalistic stories from newspapers declaring the latest foiled CIA sponsored plot and then assume that because they have not joined the fiery martyr brigade in the sky that giving up all of their rights, being molested in an airport and starving on the side of the road was worth giving in to the real terrorists.

Please keep in mind that this is the same type of thinking that plagues liberals in support of public institutions like school.It is a subset of the 'only experts can properly do this' thinking. While I somewhat agree, what both sides religiously fail to grasp is that it is not public experts that should be consulted but private experts to provide the necessary expertise to correct the situation.

Why? You ask. Simple, I say. A public servant has a vested interest in breaking a system. The more dysfunctional, the more hours, people and money is ultimately spent on 'fixing' it. The private servant has a vested interest in making the system more efficient because they get to net the profits. It is in this manner we should view with eyes of wide suspicion any statement made by a public official when they say they need more for this is the wide road they use to garner and consolidate power.

Look for the right to again step into the role of Supreme Protectorate and fall over themselves trying to keep America safe. No right or liberty will be sacred the next time a real terrorist attack happens because they will incorrectly surmise that the liberty itself is the aggressor on their safety.

Greece Detonates - Exclusion From the EU Imminent?

Let the financial war commence in earnest -

Political leaders in Athens were due to discuss an emergency government Wednesday to deal with a possible run on banks as it emerged Greeks withdrew almost $900 million in a single day, fearing their country could crash out of the euro currency by the end of the week.

An interim government would take the country through to new elections on June 17, triggered by the collapse on Tuesday of talks to form a coalition between winners of the inconclusive May 6 election.

Greeks are withdrawing euros from banks, apparently afraid of the prospect of rapid devaluation if the country leaves the European single currency and returns to the drachma.

and more...

Flash off the rumor mill, unconfirmed -- it appears the Greek banks were just cut off by the ECB.
If this is true then this is the latest "Gun up the nose" game by the Germans and ECB, and is almost-certain, in this political climate, to blow up their face (and quite possibly with shooting involved on the part of the Greeks too.)
This instantly hit the Euro and US stock market, which had been having a reasonably decent day.
If true and confirmed then Greece has been effectively orphaned.  This appears to be a facial attempt to stick a tourniquet on Greece's neck, as with elections due next month cutting off Greek banks now will basically guarantee they all detonate.
Expect the incipient bank runs to resume en-masse within hours if not minutes.

 The Real Effect
Of course, the banksters are lying about exactly what's happening.

 A senior executive at a large Greek bank told Reuters: "There is no bank run, no queues or panic. The situation is better than I expected. The amount of deposit withdrawals the president mentioned referred to three days, not one."

I'm not exactly sure what qualifies the term 'bank run' but you're a fool if you think that the Greeks haven't been pulling money out of the banks like crazy. This is simply more 'calming' rhetoric designed to prevent premature detonation by pacifying the muppets.

Once again, all of this is nothing new for readers of the The Real Effect -

Nov. 2011 -

If Greece votes down the bailout, look for all sorts of screaming by the Euro banksters as they are burned alive on the fires they started. Specifically Italy, Portugal and Spain will blow out as the speculators decimate the banks. (As well they should) More importantly, watch the Eurocrats try some end-run around the will of the people. (You see, Democracy only matters when you're voting FOR the Globalist Hydra, not against. In such cases, the will of the people is far too, unenlightened.)

Look for Europe to burn for a while (3-6 mos?) as the US gets a short lived reprieve. Except this time I believe we're going to start to see casualties.

Jan 2011 -

Western Europe contracts massively, putting extraordinary pressure on the Euro. But the call out of Belgium isn't about revoking the Euro, rather about the preservation of the European Union and the need to 'pull together'. I would expect that we could begin to see propaganda calling for a United Europe in the face of "x" (economic crisis, terror, war). Ultimately in the endgame, foreign creditors feel the massive pinch as they try to protect their investments, but the lack of a favorable response by the people will lead to war with the far east, but not yet.

April 2010 - 

Overall, the problem is, the Greeks don't want "help". But bankers don't exactly take no for an answer, especially when they can take control of your country doing it. Think Iceland.

I believe that this is similar to what happened in Jun - Sept of 2008, there will be tons of rumblings, some casualties, but the real plunge will happen later. The elite seem to want to patch things together to hold it up for just a bit longer.

...and more....For the entirety of the Greek saga, go here.

Update: Yeah, no bank runs here....

Greece on Fire: 'Disaster looms, with or without Euro'

Blatant BLACKOUT of Ron Paul on CSPAN

Cop Kicks Pregnant Woman In The Stomach

Suspend for a moment, if you will, your belief on who is right -

The incident occurred when officer Jerad Wheeler was called to the pregnant woman’s home to settle a dispute involving the woman’s brother and his partner.

When her brother began arguing with the officer, nine month pregnant Raven Dozier said that Wheeler pulled out a taser and used it on him. When Miss Dozier started crying and asking the officer why he was resorting to such actions, Wheeler kicked her in the stomach, arrested her and charged her with obstruction of a police officer.

Dozier filed an internal affairs complaint with the Dekalb County Police Department, however, officer Wheeler’s superiors put a lid on the investigation and explicitly approved of his conduct, saying he did not contravene department policy.

The Real Effect
 Got that? No? Let's walk through it....

1. Individual commits action. Is kicked and arrested.
2. Individual files complaint with police department, basically alleging assault.
3. Police department exonerates itself citing its own policy.

Got it now? NO ONE is supposed to be above the law and policy or not who has the authority to hold these individuals accountable?

.......

Now, change the policy from kick to shoot and we can plainly see just how the SS got its start.
(In case you still doubt, here are the snitches.)

A Tale of Two Terrors

Get ur gun ma! Them terrrists done snuck on a plane!

TSA agents at Fort Lauderdale Airport ordered a family to get off a plane they had already boarded, saying that their eighteen-month-old child was on a no fly list as a terror suspect.

The child’s parents said they believe they were flagged up and ordered to leave the JetBlue flight because they and their daughter are of Middle Eastern descent.

The parents, who wish to remain anonymous, are both US citizens, born and raised in New Jersey, which is where they were headed before being ejected.

The family said that after they were “humiliated, embarrassed and picked on” they were marched off the plane, and ordered to stand in the terminal for half an hour by TSA agents.

“We were put on display like a circus act because my wife wears a hijab.” the father said, referring to his wife’s traditional head scarf.

The TSA agents then eventually said that the family could re-board the flight without offering further explanation as to what had occurred. The family declined the offer and left the airport, saying they felt too ashamed to get back on the plane after the incident.

While nothing new, perhaps the fools among us get this now. This is the abject absurdity that this sort of BS nonsense does to your country once you start engaging it. Innocent US citizens flagged, searched, humiliated and detained by the (T)SA brownshirts for simply having their 18 month child's name on a list! God forbid some idiot gets their names and decides to turn their house into a sheet of glass!

Meanwhile the real terrorists continue the war undeterred -

According to my source, there is talk among the highest levels of the uppermost echelon of the Department of Homeland Security, which he describes as effectively under the control of Barack Hussein Obama. During this call, he said that the DHS is actively preparing for massive social unrest inside the United States. He then corrected himself, stating that “a civil war” is the more appropriate term. Certain elements of the government are not only expecting and preparing for it, they are actually facilitating it,” stated my source.

“The DHS takes their marching orders from the Obama administration, from Obama himself, but mostly from his un-appointed czars. And Jarrett, especially Valerie Jarrett. Don’t think for a minute that the administration is doing anything to stabilize events in the U.S. They are revolutionaries, and revolutionaries thrive on chaos,” he added. My source stated that he has not seen things this bad since he began working within DHS. “It’s like they [DHS agency heads] don’t care about what the American people see or feel about what the DHS agencies are doing. They figure that if the average American will put up with being “sexually groped and nuked” just to fly, they’ll accept almost anything. “That’s why their actions are becoming more overt. “It’s in your face and the brass actually chuckle about it” said my source....

The Real Effect
To you fools that think that it's all Obama's work, turn your brain on for a second and recall just who created the Department of Homeland Security. (Hint - It ends with "ush" and begins with "B") For the love of Pete, look around at your country, the brownshirts are marching, the leaders are openly advocating throwing you in camps (And have been for decades) and you want to quibble about just which brownshirt is worse?

FBI framing members of Occupy?

Banksters Committing Crimes? Nooooo...

HSBC gets exposed -

Cruz told WND he recorded meetings he conducted with HSBC management and bank security personnel in which he charges various bank managers were engaging in criminal acts.

“I have hours upon hours of voice recordings, ranging from bank tellers, to business representatives, to managers, to executives,” he said. “The whole system is designed to be a culture of fraud to make it look like it’s a legalized system. But it’s not.”

Cruz explained that even when he let bank managers know he was taping the conversation, the managers were not interested in what he was saying.

“HSBC is a criminal organization,” he stressed. “It is a culture of crime.”

The Real Effect
This is part and parcel about why I rail about most government intervention. Most people believe that government is a group of well meaning individuals that are trying to make sure that things are equitable, just and fair. In reality, most government activities is about wealth redistribution from the haves to the have even mores. In a just government, it is of no consequence or concern to a member of the government if I trade with Bob product A for Product B as long as no one's rights are being infringed.

But in today's reality, we recognize that a act may have some inherit danger associated with it, we outlaw it, then we give "exemptions" to the lobbyists so that Big-Mega Company can continue 'providing jobs'.  This results in a monopolistic environment where only the largest companies can possibly have the resources to 'follow the law'. Everyone else is doomed.

For instance, if Bob chooses to buy a house that is too big for him, generally speaking he defaults on his loan, loses his house, his credit gets trashed and he loses gobs of cash. If Super-Ultra Bank buys too many loans, the institution is deemed 'to big to fail' and is bailed out using Bob's money.

Do we really need to discuss why that's a bad idea?

Housing Crisis - A Look at the Real Effect of Centralized Planning

The farther the planner is from the plan -

The local homebuilding company Todays Homes laid off all of its local employees Friday, leaving the fate of three oversized townhomes the company had pledged to move up in the air, along with dozens of other properties.
Scott Vaughan, who had been the sales manager for Todays Homes, said he didn’t know what would happen to the company’s properties and that it would be up to Todays Homes’ parent company, Unity Builders Group of Calgary, Canada, to work with the city and homeowners on unfinished projects.

The Real Effect

This is a very easy concept to understand overall. Government has allowed 'easy money' to infiltrate the system through artificially low interest rates which inflates and subsequently devalues the money supply via unbacked credit emission. This in turn causes the amount of debt to outsupply the amount of production in the system and cause the collapse of loans. Theft by counterfeit if you will.

The answer to this problem is to allow individuals and companies to default on their debt and suffer the consequences. Yet we continue to have the same insanity propagate itself on a national level.

Please explain how destroying these homes to 'preserve value' adds anything to the system? (A course of action not being discussed in this article but the only trick that central planners seem to know) I'm sure people would love to hear how an act of destruction makes us all more wealthy?

Imagine for a moment that this was the solution at say, Wal-Mart. Rather than get clearance, the items are subsequently rounded up and incinerated by a paid group of central agents.

Scenario A - Clearance

• 10 widgets are ordered
• 5 widgets are sold for $1
• 5 go on clearance and are sold  for $0.5
• Feedback is given to the company, next time the company orders 5 widgets and Bob the overzealous buyer is fired and Joe the conservative buyer is hired.

Total: Company $7.50; Customer - 10 widgets; Bob - Unemployed; Joe - Employed.

Scenario B - Central Planning

• 10 widgets are ordered
• 5 widgets are sold for $1
• Central planning pays Fred $2 (which comes out of the companies profits) to seize and destroy the 5 widgets which 'props up pricing'. No cheap merchandise here folks. Not on Fred's watch!
• No feedback which continues to order 10 widgets from here to eternity to support 'jobs'.  

Total: Company $3 ($5 - Fred's salary); Customer - 5 widgets; Bob - Employed; Joe - Unemployed. Fred - Wreaking havoc.

Yeah....this concept doesn't work. The Soviets proved that decades ago. You'd think we would have learned the same lesson.

Look for continued calls to 'support' things while simultaneously the public continues to get wise to the Broken Window Fallacy economics that are being played out in Washington.

Ron Paul, Winning Delegates and the Election

Could an upset be brewing here? -

In state after state, Ron Paul is gobbling up delegates.  The following are quotes from a recent Huffington Post article about what the Ron Paul campaign has been able to achieve in the past few weeks....
-"Sure enough, Paul has already won 20 out of the 24 delegates allocated in Minnesota, by winning a majority of the congressional district contests."
-"In Louisiana, Paulites "dominated" the congressional district caucuses this past Saturday, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Paul's supporters carried four of the state's congressional districts, and are guaranteed at least 17 of 46 delegates in the Bayou State, with the potential to pick up more at the state convention on June 2."
-"The other state that Benton likely has his eye on is Colorado, where the Denver Post reported in mid-April that Paul supporters and Santorum backers combined forces to win a "stunning upset" at the state convention, guaranteeing that about half of the state's 33 delegates will be for Paul in August."
And look what just happened in Maine according to USA Today....

In votes leading to the close of the two-day Maine convention, Paul supporters were elected to 21 of the 24 delegate spots from Maine to the GOP national convention in Tampa, Fla.

So Ron Paul is definitely accumulating a huge pile of his own delegates, but even many so-called "pledged delegates" for Romney could end up playing a huge role for Ron Paul.

Minnesota

The Real Effect
This is going to be rich. Perhaps some of you remember the 'Electoral College' debate, I forget if it was 200 or 2004, in which the Democrats were screaming about the 'will of the people' being subverted and how the EC was archaic and blah, blah, blah... Well at the time, the GOP was proudly proclaiming the 'rule of Law' (As they rightly should have been) and that the election process could not be changed in the middle of the race. (A concept I fully support.)

Well, well, well...it appears that the GOP is going to have the opportunity to also engage in this type of nonsense. If Romney doesn't secure the necessary delegates to secure the nomination will the Republicans start screaming about the 'will of the people'? My belief is a very firm yes.

They have already proved that they are not above 'losing ballots', changing rules, stealing, and other shenanigans to get what they want. They have been declaring Mitt the nominee since he 'won' Iowa, Rick Santorum 'won' Iowa, Ron Paul actually won Iowa, why would anyone think anything different?

GDP Takes a Big Hit

The false paradigm is slowly stripped away -

Instead of printing at the expected number of +2.5%, the first preliminary GDP data point (two more revisions pending) came out at 2.2%, a big disappointment for a quarter which had a substantial boost from the weather. And while of the 2.2%, Personal Consumption came in strong - as expected, as it was precisely the factor most impacted by pulling in demand forward courtesy of "April in February", 0.59% of the 2.2% was an increase in inventories, something which was not supposed to happen as it means that the quality of the economic growth in Q1 was far worse than expected. Cementing the ugly composition of Q1 GDP was fixed investment which added just a paltry 0.18% - this is the number which is critical for ongoing cashflow generation and unfortunately, the very low print means that growth outlook for Q2 is now even worse than before and we expect economists will promptly trim their already bearish predictions for Q2 GDP. Finally, government "consumption" subtracted just 0.6% from the total number, a decrease from the 0.84% in Q4, which means that once again the government is starting to become less of a detractor to growth - a dagger in the heart to anyone who claims there is "quality" in GDP growth. And the number you have all been waiting for: At March 31, US Debt/GDP was 100.8%.

Denninger is quick to point out -

That's a negative GDP folks when one looks at per-capita and inflation, as opposed to a positive real one last quarter.  This is both bad news and handcuffs The Fed on more QE, as more "easy money" into a negative real GDP print simply makes for a higher number and higher inflation, and thus is self-defeating.

The Real Effect
Contrary to popular opinion and as I am quick to point out, RIGGING THE NUMBERS DOES NOT FIX THE PROBLEM!!! See folks, we are in a 'wealth extraction' cycle here. The banksters (Note - NOT bankers) have

1. Created the problem
2. Understand the problem
3. Want the problem to continue

Now, doesn't common sense tell you that such a paradigm is not only interested in but devoted to extracting wealth out of your hide!?! Let's review such a concept -

More than 1 million Americans who have taken out mortgages in the past two years now owe more on their loans than their homes are worth, and Federal Housing Administration loans that require only a tiny down payment are partly to blame.

That figure, provided to Reuters by tracking firm CoreLogic, represents about one out of 10 home loans made during that period.

It is a sobering indication the U.S. housing market remains deeply troubled, with home values still falling in many parts of the country, and raises the question of whether low-down payment loans backed by the FHA are putting another generation of buyers at risk.

Half the issue here is that these concepts are being viewed improperly. Price is a necessity of trade as it indicates the relative value at which one entity will pay another for something based on circumstances. For instance, what is the relative value of a glass of water? $1.00 at McDonalds? How about in the Saharan desert? For a man that has no water? That is about to die? 

The truth is, the value of that glass of water goes up or down depending on the needed criteria being met. Part of this price discovery mechanism is the price being able to go down! We count on this every day when we buy everything from TV's to cars. We even have whole stores, like Wal-Mart and McDonald's dedicated to finding the lowest price. Yet when it comes to housing, we view sinking prices as being a crisis?

 

Is it any wonder that things are upside down?

Ron Paul Storms Iowa

As I have been saying, this thing is NOT over -

Now three people have won Iowa during this primary season. Last night, Ron Paul’s delegate finagling strategy paid off as he guaranteed himself at least half of the delegates in Iowa and Minnesota.

Remember, back in January, Mitt Romney was declared the winner of the Iowa caucuses by eight votes. This official declaration was made by the state Republican Party chairman, Matt Strawn, despite ongoing discrepancies in the way that county commissioners and the state commissioners were reporting vote totals. Rachel Maddow has some of the footage of the news stations that night re-learning how to cover the complicated Iowa voting system (the video seems to be going viral, btw, as at 9 a.m. the video only had 300+ views, but as of 10 a.m. was pushing 9,000).

The Real Effect
Considering that the Republicans are starting to get behind Marco Rubio, a man that according to the Constitution (You know that thing that Republicans love to wipe their rear-ends with when it comes to curtailing their actions? Patriot Act, wiretapping, etc....) is INELIGIBLE to be vice-president, I fully expect the red criers to suddenly support 'popular election' and not the system that's in place. (Delegates)

The fact of the matter is that just like the Democrats, most Republicans support freedom right up until they disagree with it. Coincidentally, that is not freedom or justice or whatever, but a Constitutional dictatorship.

Egypt Cuts Off Israel

The religious war escalates -

Egyptian energy companies, citing a trade dispute, have terminated a deal to supply Israel with natural gas in a step that may further erode bilateral ties strained by a popular revolt that toppled Egypt's pro-Israeli leader last year.

An Israeli partner in the business made the step public on Sunday but an Egyptian firm said the decision to cancel the deal had been made on Thursday.

Israel, which relies on Egypt for 40 percent of its natural gas supply, worried about facing further energy cuts after a series of sabotage attacks on the pipeline running through the volatile Sinai peninsula contributed to shortages. 

Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz expressed "great concern" about the suspension, saying it had set "a dangerous precedent which casts a shadow on the peace agreements and the peaceful atmosphere between Egypt and Israel".

The Real Effect
I love Israel's response to this situation - 'You won't trade with us, then we will subtly threaten you.' At the very least this is forcing the Israeli government to behave like the thugs that they have become.  But the far more important issue is that of the unintended consequences of CIA intervention.

They Were Wrong Part 2

Continuing in the vein of the earlier post (Part of the critical 2010 prediction series, 2, 3, 4, 5) here at The Real Effect, Zero Hedge brings us the absurdity of today's political theater -

Geithner April 2011:  “Is there a risk that the United States could lose its AAA credit rating? Yes or no?” - Tim Geithner: “No risk of that.”
....
Geithner April 2012:  “If we don't deal with these debt problems we are going to be Greece in two years” - Tim Geithner: “No risk of that.”

The Real Effect
As you should be aware, the U.S. did get a downgrade only a short four months later. (Coincidentally, if you want to even try to argue about whether or not Timmy was aware that a downgrade was coming, you belong in a special place with padded rooms.) Looking at the aforementioned posts that came back at the beginning of the prediction series in 2010, one is to assume that there are only two logical conclusions to the question of just why so many government officials get it wrong:

1. They are grossly incompetent and as such should be removed from office, immediately.
2. They are liars who use their position for political and economic gain.

Now, which do you feel is the more likely answer? (Hint - If you answer 1, not only do you have a notable attention span issue, you also  have a padded room reserved right next to the one mentioned earlier.)

This leaves the only historically verified and logical answer which The Real Effect has been proclaiming since the beginning...

...it's ok...take your time...

...you might want to sit down...

...this is hard stuff...I know....

THEY ARE LYING TO YOU.

...whew. Rough stuff.


While we're at it, why do you think the DHS is buying these?

Maybe to use here?

All Roads Lead to Iran Redux

Back in June, we covered the following -

Because we just can't have enough war -

debkafile's military and intelligence sources report that Monday, June 13, the US deployed the USS Bataan amphibian air carrier strike vessel opposite Syria's Mediterranean coast with 2,000 marines, 6 war planes, 15 attack helicopters, including new V-22 Ospreys, and 27 choppers for landing forces aboard.Also this week, US naval units went operational in the Aegean, Adriatic and Black Seas as part of the joint US-Ukrainian Sea Breeze 2011 exercise.
The USS Monterrey cruiser armed with Aegis surface missile interceptors has additionally been stationed in the Black Sea. Western sources additonally report a build-up of ship-borne anti-missile missile strength in the Mediterranean basin.

This huge concentration of naval missile interceptor units looks like preparations by Washington for the contingency of Iran, Syria and Hizballah letting loose with surface missiles against US and Israeli targets in the event of US military intervention to stop the anti-opposition slaughter underway in Syria.

The Real Effect
Please, please, please think about the rationale being offered here. 'We might invade Syria and the local powers might try and stop us. So we have to deploy enough force to repel them.'

It appears that the absolute whupping the IDF took in Lebanon just a few years ago is not enough to deter them from picking yet another fight.

Almost six years after the Second Lebanon War, special Israeli units are preparing to take part in mass incursions into Lebanon if another round of fighting with Hezbollah breaks out. Just as important, they are being trained to heed the legal implications.

Officers say the Israel Air Force would destroy targets like training bases and rocket-launching pads within a few days, based on the intelligence gathered by the Israel Defense Forces. But this would not be enough, so a ground offensive would be necessary.

"When you stick an [Israeli] flag [on enemy territory], there's no question who won," says a high-ranking officer who requested anonymity. "You need to seize a geographic space. This is the only way the concept of victory can be established." 

The Real Effect
In as much as 'Israel' was a victim during WWII (Note, no such nation existed at the time), much of the immediate area in and around Israel is being victimized by Israel in a trading of roles here. What does not matter is whether an individual's untimely demise comes at the hands of a gun wielded by a thug Nazi or a 2,000 pound smart bomb carried by an IAF F-16, a racist, nationalistic cult that seeks to murder other people via the 'theater of war' are just that, murderers. Just as Israel was created by the British as a Mideast 'aircraft carrier', a facade of 'self-defense' immediately crumbles when it turns out that the other side was created by Israel in the first place!

But that seems to be true no matter what the circumstances precisely because it works so well. 

In reality, this is nothing more then a semi-justifiable (in the biblical sense) case of land grabbing where one nation creates proxy agents to act in a fashion to create reasonable justification for an otherwise completely unjustifiable act.

This is not to say that the Muslims' swords are not also stained with the blood of the innocent, rather that the solution to such a dilemma is not further bloodshed, rather an immediate, enforced end to hostilities and a conveyance of justice.

Pentagon Trained M.E.K. Terrorists

Like I keep saying, this is not as clear cut as some people would like you to believe -

The Pentagon trained members of the dissident Iranian terrorist group M.E.K. in Nevada starting in 2005, after which they returned to Iran and may have engaged in covert activities, investigative reporter Seymour Hersh reports in the April 6th issue of “The New Yorker” magazine. The group receiving the training incredibly had been listed in 1997 as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department, and remains on that list today, Hersh said. Hersh’s article, “Our Men in Iran?” says the training was conducted by the Joint Special Operations Command(JSOC)---a charge JSOC denies. “U.S. Special Operations Forces were neither aware of nor involved in the training of M.E.K. members,” a JSOC spokesperson said.

The Iranian operatives were trained in communications, cryptography, weaponry, and small-unit tactics over a six-month period, a retired four-star general familiar with the details told Hersh. The general said the training was done by JSOC.

The Real Effect
To the critics out there, I'm sure a whole lot of 'retired four-star generals' just make up spurious claims to pass the time in their retirement because they love being sued into oblivion.

This is a tactic that corporations love to engage in. Train an individual, set him loose and then when he is caught later, claim that he acted 'without managerial knowledge or oversight'. Fire the employee, claim that you cannot be held liable for the actions of an individual and poof, get out of jail free card.

To the uninitiated out there, the government routinely trains foreign parties and then uses these 'assets' to carry out various acts against our very own 'disposable' troops. Osama bin Laden was at one point at least a CIA asset going by the name Tim Osman, who was trained by the CIA to fight against the Soviet Union presence in Afghanistan. Of course, no good asset can go to waste so OBL was re purposed for use in the 'War on Terror'.

This is why foreign 'aid' of this variety is such an odious idea. It is commonly used to create the very situation that we have to 'intervene' against at a later date. Perhaps the maker of the Kony 2012 video should look this up?

Judge Napolitano: I Think the President Is Dangerously Close to Totalitarianism

Exactly. The nice thing is that the Judge realizes that this is not a 'democrat only' position. He has been incredibly outspoken and critical of ALL of the past regimes that hold themselves up as the POTUS.

Ron Paul Draws 7,800+ at UCLA Rally! Video of Crowd and Speech

DHS Buying Bullets, Bulletproof Booths - What are they up to?

As if you need a rocket scientist to figure this out -

The Department of Homeland Security recently stoked concern by contracting a company to provide them with 450 million rounds of hollow point bullets. Now the federal agency is also purchasing bullet-proof checkpoint booths that include ‘stop and go’ lights.

A press release from Shelters Direct brags about how they are providing the DHS with bullet resistant guard booths. Images of the booth from the company’s website suggest the guard shacks will be used to control checkpoints.

The Real Effect
Homeland Security is buying tons of bullets and guard shacks that look like this...

Hey, don't we have those already?

 If these aren't for the airports, I wonder what they could be using that for. Papers please? For me?

What would it look like from our perspective?

 Will it look that nice in a few years? Just a few people right?

Why would they do that? I wonder if that's ever happened before...

Funny, Americans like to play games where they shoot Nazis. I wonder if in a few decades the citizens will like to play games where they shoot Americans...

Medical Cuts Start In America

Austerity in medicine begins in earnest -

In a move likely to alter treatment standards in hospitals and doctors’ offices nationwide, a group of nine medical specialty boards plans to recommend on Wednesday that doctors perform 45 common tests and procedures less often, and to urge patients to question these services if they are offered. Eight other specialty boards are preparing to follow suit with additional lists of procedures their members should perform far less often.

The recommendations represent an unusually frank acknowledgment by physicians that many profitable tests and procedures are performed unnecessarily and may harm patients. By some estimates, unnecessary treatment constitutes one-third of medical spending in the United States.

The Real Effect
But...but...but...I thought science only helped people. It is exactly this kind of junk thinking that gives the scientific method a black eye in some individuals minds. Individuals who work with any form of data know exactly what I'm talking about. Garbage in, garbage out.

Believe it or not, there are myriads of issues on display here. Let's look at a few.

1. If you believe a "group of nine medical specialty boards" is not political, you're dense.
2. The scientific method is not synonymous with the scientists practicing it.
1. This bait and switch is often used by dense medical practitioners who couldn't argue their way out of a paper bag.
3. Scientists are not an "authority", they practice a discipline. And are often wrong.
1. Have doubts, review the bold sentence above.
4. The discipline of "science" does not override the capacity for evil by a man.
5. There are whole "profit models" fashioned on man's evil.
1. Still in doubt? Please reread the bold sentence. Again.
6. According to the laws of supply and demand, this change in procedure is necessary to reduce the overall cost of health care.
1. As an aside, how does "mandatory insurance" make this better?
7. I'm certain that this system will be just as idiotic as the system before it. 
1. People tend to think in trends, not specifics. Whereas before the thinking was "better safe then sorry, cost be damned" the new thinking is "Cost is too high! We must cut cost everywhere!"
2. This is one of the predominate reasons why government run anything doesn't work nearly as efficiently as the private sector. There is no possible way to account for and prioritize properly all the necessary decisions to quickly determine the best course of action.
8. This is the start of the big wave of fiscal medical "austerity" which will be used to justify murder later.
9. Just like the scientific frauds before it, (Global cooling, warming, change, HFCS, overpopulation...) this is significantly deeper then they are letting on.

Overall, you have a group of scientists admitting that they order tests that are not only financially unnecessary, but can be detrimental to the health of the patient. (What was that about an oath to a hippo and all that?) Additionally, the only way you hear about this is if they decide you need to hear about it. Tell me again how that's capitalist?

The reality of the situation is that we do not have a capitalist/free market system and haven't for quite some time. The astronomical cost alone should tell you that. (Notice how outside of inflation, the cost of goods generally goes down in time???) If we want a better market, we need to allow these changes to take place but not check our brain at the door.

Video: Houston Cop Goes Nuts – threatening to taser men filming at Wallmart