ABC News

Use It or Lose It Time for the Constitution and Bill of Rights ...

We’d like to say that the following is unbelievable, but it’s not.  Unfortunately, it is all too believable.

Read 'Em and Weep

Why There Is So Much Pro-War Reporting

Forget Boston, 9/11 and Oklahoma City … Is False Flag Terror Even a REAL Historical Concept?

No, We Shouldn't Kill Everyone from a Particular Religion

• The Man Who Killed Osama bin Laden... Is Screwed (Esquire)
• G7 fires currency warning shot, Japan sanguine (Reuters)
• North Korea Confirms It Conducted 3rd Nuclear Test (NYT)
• Italian Police Arrest Finmeccanica CEO (WSJ)
• Legacy, political calendar frame Obama's State of the Union address (Reuters)
• China joins U.S., Japan, EU in condemning North Korea nuclear test (Reuters)
• Wall Street Fading as Emerging-Market Banks Gain Share (BBG)
• Berlin Conference 2.0: Drugmakers eye Africa's middle classes as next growth market (Reuters)
• Barclays to Cut 3,700 Jobs After Full-Year Loss (BBG)
• US Treasury comment triggers fall in yen (FT)
• ECB Ready to Offset Banks’ Accelerated LTRO Payback (BBG)
• Fed's Yellen Supports Stimulus to Spur Jobs (WSJ)
• Libor Scrutiny Turns to Middlemen (WSJ)
• Samsung Girds for Life After Apple in Disruption Devotion (BBG)

Governments Move to Destroy Online Anonymity ... Google Helps

Thanks, Bernanke and Holder!

From 11-inch subways to under-quality coffee and from watered-down beer and fake beef, food fraud is on the rise. So what is food fraud anyway?  Well, it’s sort of what you would expect.  It’s when companies label food one way, but the truth turns out to be completely different.  I have been predicting an escalation in this trend for years, since it was obvious that as inflation led to increases in food prices, companies would resort to this type of behavior to keep margins inflated. So in their latest study, the non-profit food fraud detectives at the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) show us the extent of this extremely dangerous trend.

The 'deal' is done and even the evening news seems somewhat perplexed by the market's excited reaction to three-quarters of the nation paying more taxes. Perhaps, as ABC News highlights below, it is the 'pork' that stuffed the bill... "The mix of tax perks covering the next year, with budget implications for the next two years, includes everything from incentives for employers to hire veterans to incentives for employers to invest in mine safety. But it also includes these:"

In a world in which the Fiscal Cliff, including headlines, rumors, leaks, and mere whispers thereof, is the main show, all other data points are at best supporting data actors. There was a lot of support overnight - for the futures, which once again closed the prior session at the lows - with a battery of PMIs released, starting with the December HSBC China Flash PMI which printed at a excel picture perfect 50.9 vs an expectation 50.8 and above 50 for the second straight month, which sent the Shanghai Composite up 4.32%, and wiped out the bitter aftertaste from the Japan December large manufacturer Tankan index which tumbled to -12 on expectation of a -10 print, confirming the Japanese recession is deteriorating at the worst possible time. Then after China, Markit released a bevy of European PMI data which came in mixed: Services PMI rose from 46.7 to 47.8 in December, beating expectations of a 47.0 print, while the Manufacturing PMI rose modestly from 46.2 to 46.3, missing expectations of a 46.6 result. The biggest wildcard once again was Germany, where the Service PMI, like in the US, posted a sizable rise, posting above 50 for the first time in months, or at 52.1 on expectations of 50.0, and up from 49.7 last, although more disturbing was the ongoing collapse in German manufacturing which dipped from 46.8 to 46.3, on expectations of a rise to 47.2. French manufacturing data did not help posting a tiny rise from 44.5 to 44.6, missing expectations of a 45.0 print. Economic data was further confounded when Spain released its quarterly home price update, which dipped 3.8%, accelerated last quarter's -3.3% drop, and sliding by a massive -15.2% in Q3, faster than the -14.4% drop in Q2, and confirming Spanish housing has a long way to go before it is fixed.

With REO-to-Rent now yesterday's trade, the Baltic Dry Index stumbling along near its lows (along with a glut of containers), and a 'recovery' in US housing, what better than to leverage all of these themes; to wit, as ABC News reports, the first U.S. multi-family condo built of used shipping containers is slated to break ground in Detroit early next year. So forget Trailer Parks, now the increasingly mothballed ports of America will be wonderful waterfront property courtesy of your very own (slightly used) cargo container. One proponent of this 'cargotecture' warns that although containers can be bought for as little as $2,500, they should not be thought of as a low-cost housing solution. Tempted? We are sure; below are several current developments.

It’s really hard to ignore what’s happening today; the election phenomenon is global. The entire world seems fixated on this belief that it actually matters who becomes the President of the United States anymore... or that one of these two guys is going to ‘fix’ things. Fact is, it doesn’t matter. Not one bit. And we’ll show you why mathematically... This is not a political problem, it’s a mathematical one. Facts are facts, no matter how uncomfortable they may be. Today’s election is merely a choice of who is going to captain the sinking Titanic.

As the first exit polls start trickling in, readers can keep track of the live action with the following handy maps, selected from various websites. As a reminder, exit polls are about as predictable as any other polling 'data point' based on +/-4% error margin sampling, which in turn is virtually every data point used to feed Garbage In, Garbage Out "predictors", "simulators" and other "black boxes" which forecast the future with triple digit "accuracy." Simply said, in an election in which the margin of difference in the key electoral states (not to mention the popular vote) is far narrower than the error rate, take everything you have heard about the final outcome and burn it, or sell it and buy several Stat 101 credits at the local community college.