Archive - Jul 2013 - Story

While it has become difficult to distinguish fact from fiction from mere propaganda when it comes to events in Syria, the general plot line is a simple one: "X/Y has chemical weapons so the ["free and democratic world"|Russia] has the moral authority to provide military assistance to Y/X." Recently, it was the "free and democratic world" that decided that the general public has forgotten the epic Iraq WMD disinformation campaign, and ploughed into a decision to arm the Syrian rebels who are really nothing more than Qatar-funded mercenaries led by Al Qaeda, as it was finally ascertained that it was the Assad regime that had used chemical weapons. Well, the "free and democratic world" may have some serious explaining to do if the latest news out of Syria is confirmed, namely that the the Syrian army has discovered rebels' storehouse in the Damascus area, where toxic chemical substances, including chlorine, have been produced and kept, State TV reported.

Oops.

Despite the worst fears of many that this morning America might wake up to a redux of a flaming Compton and Watts, so far there have been no widespread riots or looting, even if vandalism has broken out sporadically among the countrywide angry protests.

Edward Snowden may be America's persona most non grata in the entire world, but he has an insurance policy against "accidents": a treasure trove of supposedly damaging secrets about the US that will hit the public domain if something were to happen to the 30 year old whistleblower. A trove is so damaging that according to Glenn Greenwald, Snowden "poses more of a threat to the U.S. than anyone in the country’s history." Well, maybe a threat to the "government" which now only represents the interests of various corporations and Wall Street, but certainly not to what the US was supposed to be before it was hijacked by special interests, lobbies and the creature from Jekyll Island.

Have you ever seen a disaster movie that is so bad that it is actually good? Unfortunately, we are witnessing something just as ridiculous in the real world right now.  In the United States, the mainstream media is breathlessly proclaiming that the U.S. economy is in great shape because job growth is "accelerating" (even though we actually lost 240,000 full-time jobs last month) and because the U.S. stock market set new all-time highs this week.  The mainstream media seems to be absolutely oblivious to all of the financial storm clouds that are gathering on the horizon.  The conditions for a "perfect storm" are rapidly developing, and by the time this is all over we may be wishing that flying sharks were all that we had to deal with.

Presented with no comment...

"This nigger wants to fight me!" the belligerent man yelled, cops said....  Reddish knocked him out with a blow to the face.

With the situation in Egypt continuing to border on sheer chaos, many wonder what approach the US will take, so far having demonstrated its inability to decide how to swallow the humiliation of having a US-backed regime get swept away in a military coup while it continues supporting the country with both money and weapons. But while the State Department dithers, its head busy boating somewhere off the coast of Massachussetts, the US military is not wasting much time, and appears to be amassing a naval presence just off the coast of Egypt. No need to worry, though: Egypt's Ahram reports that "the US Embassy in Egypt denied Saturday that US naval vessels near Egypt's shores are sent in preparation for military action. A top Marine Corps general said Thursday that two US marine vessels approached Egypt's Red Sea shore, raising concerns in the Egyptian media about an imminent military move." "We deny false claims in the Egyptian press that US naval ships are in the vicinity of the Arabian Peninsula and the Suez Canal to militarily invade Egypt," read a statement issued on the US embassy's website.

The global fallout from the Snowden affair continues to reverberate following the latest news that four Latin American countries - Brazil, Argentina, Urugay and Venezuela - announced on Friday they would recall their ambassadors from the countries that blocked their airspace to Bolivia's Evo Morales following false rumors he was carrying Snowden, forcing an emergency landing in Austria. The four countries said this incident violated international law. As a result of Obama's "neo-colonial" practices in Europe, as Uruguay's foreign minister Luis Almagro denounces Europe's servile compliance with pax AmericaNSA, the Mercosur ambassadors in Spain, France, Italy and Portugal will be pulled back for consultations.

To our users who used Skype for cybersex with loved ones: thank you. You have spiced up otherwise boring workdays for many NSA analysts.

— Skype Global PR (@SkypeGlobalPR) July 12, 2013

In the aftermath of the latest humiliation for Boeing, which after getting Dreamliner clearance by absolutely every "authority" imaginable, from the NTSB to the FAA to CNBC's Phil LeBeau, that it was absolutely safe to fry, pardon, fly, just had a major meltdown, oops there we go again, on live TV in Heathrow airport, one wonders - what happens when the regulators rush to give the all clear once more, only for yet another Dreamliner to mysteriously burst in flames several months hence? Alas that would mean that the very same regulators that lifted the fry, pardon, fly ban on the plane will have to impose it all over again, thus disgracing their pre-clearance methods (likely accelerated courtesy of an occasional envelope full of cash under the door somewhere in the decision chain) even more. And how long until the damage to the brand is so great that Boeing will have no choice but to replace every 8 in its 787 nomenclature with a 9, thus pulling the brilliant GMAC->Ally Bank conversion. All these are questions that Boeing, the FAA and the NTSB will have to answer very soon, and for the benefit of BA shareholders, with a favorable resolution. Then again, in the matter of recalls, be it of cars or airplanes, the math is well-known. In the meantime, here is the latest.

The aging 'me' generation is still putting itself first...

Presented with little comment aside to hope that it is clear just what this 'recovery' is all about...

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said this week that inflation in the United States needs to be higher. It almost seems as if Bernanke is trying to purposely hurt the middle class. But what Bernanke will never admit is that the official inflation rate is a total sham.  The way that inflation is calculated has changed more than 20 times since 1978, and each time it has been changed the goal has been to make it appear to be lower than it actually is. If the rate of inflation was still calculated the way that it was back in 1980, it would be about 8 percent right now and everyone would be screaming about the fact that inflation is way too high...