FBI

Last week, in a very, very quiet release, the US Federal Court system published its annual Wiretap report to Congress. This is something that is required by law; the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO) must annually report the number of federal and state applications for court orders to “intercept wire, oral, or electronic communications.” The report gives a lot of eye-popping details about these official, court-ordered wiretaps, including:

• Riverside County, California is the most spied-on county in the United States
• The average cost of a wiretap order last year was $50,452
• Only 18.19% of these wiretaps actually led to a conviction

So using the numbers from this report, for every conviction they get from wiretapping, the government wastes $277,361.19 on other wiretaps that produce absolutely nothing (based on their own metrics for success).

And now a few words from Cognitive Dissonance's better half on creating a lifestyle change we can live with.

Independence? Corzine's cooked and so is the Fed.  But why did it take the CFTC two years to hunt down Corzine?

A world that deserves what's coming to it.

• Portuguese bond yields soar amid political turmoil (FT)
• Portugal Resignation Rocks European Markets (WSJ)
• Portugal, Greece risk reawakening euro zone beast (Reuters)
• Egypt’s military chiefs hold crisis meeting as Mursi snubs ultimatum (Al Arabiya)
• Egypt Crisis Deepens as Mursi Refuses to Step Down (BBG)
• Hidden microphone found in London embassy: Ecuador (AFP)
• Health Law Penalties Delayed (WSJ)
• Rise in mortgage rates cut into homebuyer demand last week (Reuters)
• Bolivia angered by search of president's plane, no sign of Snowden (Reuters)
• Olympus ex-chairman gets suspended sentence (FT)

A wicked web of deceit, with just a good measure of theft and forgery thrown in for old time’s sake! Most of the time when we read about history, the biggest this or the fastest that related to the stock exchange it’s (so we are told) so that we don’t make the same mistakes twice and then some bull gets spun about how we need to learn from our mistakes

The Federal Reserve has had $1.2 million swiped from a flight somewhere between Switzerland, the land of secret banking, and New York City. Now, in the ranking of thefts that have taken place in history, this one seems like it is rather untimely! Has anybody seen Ben Bernanke lately?

72% of Likely U.S. Voters Know the NSA Has Monitored the Private Communications of Congress, Military Leaders and Judges

Company founders routinely get shafted by "promoters" and get sold on taking their pride and joy public. Watch out for them!

Unless You Know About This Spying Method, You Might Say Something Which Could Get You In Hot Water

"It is getting to the point where the mark of international distinction and service to humanity is no longer the Nobel Peace Prize, but an espionage indictment from the US Department of Justice." - Julian Assange

Source of 2005 New York Times Spying Expose Says Spy Agency Targeting Highest-Level American Leaders

The Government Actually DID Spy On the Bad Guys Before 9/11

Head of Mainstream News Group: “The Government May Love This [Destruction of the Free Press]. I Suspect That They Do. But Beware The Government That Loves Secrecy Too Much”

News for fringe low brow ZH conspiracy theorists...