NBC

• PBOC Says China Shouldn’t Be ’Blindly Optimistic’ on Inflation (BBG)
• Foreigners Buying Half of London New Homes Prop Up Building (BBG) - first they come for the foreign deposits, then for the real assets...
• Investors Rediscovering Margin Debt (WSJ) - well, yes: it is at record highs
• China issues new rules targeting wealth management fund pools (RTRS)
• Navy $37 Billion Ships Seen Unsuitable Have 2-Year Window (BBG)
• New York may have to drop claims against BofA over Merrill (RTRS)
• FBI Rejects Boston Police Stance in Spat Over Terror Data (BBG)
• In eastern Syria oil smugglers benefit from chaos (RTRS)

Citizens in Syria's capital woke up early on Sunday to a series of powerful explosions shaking the outskirts of Damascus, sending massive fireballs into the night sky. Preliminary reports that this was an Israeli attack were subsequently confirmed by NBC citing a senior US official who said Israeli jets had bombed a military research center near of Damascus. This would be the second Israeli attack on Syrian territory in the past week, following US media reports that Israel targeted a weapons shipment to the militant group Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon overnight Thursday to Friday, although the Jewish state has refused to confirm or deny the bombing. As RT further reports, during the attack, one Israeli jet was reportedly shot down by Syria's Air Force, according to Hezbollah's Manar TV channel, citing security sources in Damascus. This has yet to be confirmed through official channels although if accurate one expects Syrian media to promptly confirm with video evidence.

Washington Post and Fox News Find that – Even Right After the Boston Terror Attacks – Americans Are More Leery of Government  Tyranny than Terrorists

The amateur detective sleuths on 4Chan, Reddit and other social sites were so eager to demonstrate their investigative prowess in the information vacuum days following the Boston Bombing, they managed to identify virtually everyone who appeared even slightly tanned and/or had a backpack as a potential suspect. Sadly, the game, as well-meaning as it may have been, just turned lethal for one of the people who were falsely identified, as NBC just confirmed that Sunil Tripathi, 22, a former student at Brown University has been found dead in the Providence River.

While precious little space has been dedicated in the US media to what remains an uncontained epidemic of the H7N9 bird flu in China, cases continue to spread even as the number of deaths mount, taking at least 22 reported lives at last check. Things just got from bad to worse, as the bird flu is now following in the footsteps of the 2003 SARS breakout, with the first reported case outside of China hitting newswires overnight.

Suspect in custody. Officers sweeping the area. Stand by for further info.

— Boston Police Dept. (@Boston_Police) April 20, 2013

First we got headlines coming out, from CNN and WCVB TV in Boston, that a suspect is now in custody:

• Law enforcement official: Boston Marathon bomb suspect in custody, expected in federal court.
• Janet Wu reports it is a man who was arrested.
• The officials says the suspect is to be taken into custody by federal marshals and taken to a courthouse. 
• There is no immediate word on where the arrest was made.   
• Suspects at Federal Court are brought into an entrance away from public view.
• Jack Harper says the security at the Federal Courthouse is almost unprecedented.
• A source tells Newscenter5's WuWCVB that one male suspect delivered both bombs.

Then this became a media pissing match with both NBC and Reuters denying reports from CNN, AP and WCVB (on the ground), that no arrest has been made.  And now CNN is denying its original report that a suspect has been arrested. At least no report yet of the Boston Federal Court being under 9 feet of water.   Finally, here comes the FBI: NO ARRESTS MADE IN BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING CASE, FBI SAYS

While depositors in Europe are having their money confiscated outright by their less than friendly governments and despotic, tyrannical politicians who will do everything in the name of "equality, fraternity and of course liberty" or, said otherwise, preserving their careers and the status quo while throwing their taxpayers and voters into the firepit of Keynesian and monetarist idiocy, in the US a different form of capital control may be taking shape. NBC reports from Rhode Island, where a local restaurant chain is now demanding that any clients paying with $100 bills also provide their name, phone number, and drivers' license. By doing this - supposedly in the name of avoiding counterfeiting but don't you dare mention fake bill spotting markets or UV light - it eliminates the only upside that paper money had over electronic transactions: anonymity. How soon before all other retailers and vendors decide that it is a good idea to demand their clients' personal info, for the sake of avoiding counterfeiting of course, first in all $100 bill transactions, then $50, then $20, and so on?

The 9/11 Commission Report Has Crumbled Like a Ponzi Scheme  ...

The same warnings flashed in 2008... and they're flashing again now.

• More black smoke over Vatican: No decision on pope in second day (NBC)
• PBOC Chief Says China Should Be on ‘High Alert’ on Inflation (BBG) - just as predicted last fall
• California Seizes Guns as Owners Lose Right to Keep Arms (BBG)
• U.S. Tax Cheats Picked Off After Adviser Mails It In (BBG)
• In 2012, Samsung spent $401 million advertising its phones in the U.S. to Apple's $333 million (WSJ)
• Coca-Cola probed over mapping in China (FT) - accused of ‘illegally collecting classified information’
• Italy's Bond Sale Meets Tepid Demand (WSJ)
• U.S. Steps Up Alarm Over Cyberattacks (WSJ)
• Mugabe takes on Zimbabwe's Generation X (Reuters)
• Mars Rover Finds Conditions Once May Have Supported Life (BBG)
• Oil demand hit by China refinery outages (FT)
• Big Sugar Is Set for a Sweet Bailout (WSJ) DOA to buy 400,000 tons of sugar to stave off a wave of defaults by sugar processors
• Spectre of stagflation haunts UK (FT)
• As Republicans seek identity, conclave highlights divisions (Reuters)

Remember when greed-stricken Capitalist eBay'ers bid a single-Twinkie up to $8000.00? It appears our rather prescient note that they may regret not comprehending the US bankruptcy process was spot on as NBC News reports that the new owners of the Hostess Brand "look forward to having America's favorite snacks back on the shelf by this summer." The buying group, led by private equity shop Apollo Global, got news of their $410 million winning bid late last night. We suspect the re-establishment of these brands on store-shelves may cut the price a little from $8000 (or perhaps the all-knowing 'market' price signals that demand is there at that price?) - the question is - does eBay have a CFTC-equivalent that the winning Twinkie bidder can cry fat-finger to? Meanwhile, we wonder how long will it be before CNBC gets a visit from the friendly local bakers' union once again?

The Dow is at a record high and so are corporate profits - so why does it feel like most of the country is deeply suffering right now?  Real household income is the lowest that it has been in a decade, poverty is absolutely soaring, 47 million Americans are on food stamps and the middle class is being systematically destroyed.  How can big corporations be doing so well while most American families are having such a hard time?  Isn't their wealth supposed to "trickle down" to the rest of us?  Unfortunately, that is not how the real world works. But now we have replaced capitalism with something that we like to call "corporatism".  In many ways, it shares a lot of characteristics with communism, and that is why nations such as communist China have embraced it so readily. Today, most big corporations are trying to minimize the number of "expensive" American workers on their payrolls as much as they can. Right now, the system is designed to continually funnel more money and more power to the very top of the pyramid.  The global elite are becoming more dominant with each passing day. The idea of a very tiny elite completely dominating all the rest of us goes against everything that America is supposed to stand for.  In the end, it will result in absolute tyranny if it is not stopped.

In response to Rand Paul's letter asking whether "the President has the power to authorize lethal force, such as a drone strike, against a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil, and without trial," we now have an answer. Attorney General Holder responds, in a word "Yes." Of course, it is caveated with 'extraordinary circumstances' and 'necessity' but as Mike Krieger so subtly summarizes: "the military can assassinate U.S. citizens on U.S. soil." As NBC reports, the letter from Holder surfaced just as the Senate Intelligence Committee was voting 12-3 to approve White House counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan to be CIA director. The vote came after the White House agreed to share additional classified memos on targeted drone strikes against U.S. citizens overseas. As Rand Paul commented, "this is more than frightening... it is an affront to the Constitutional due process rights of all Americans."

Bernanke: "None of the things you said are accurate"

Corker: "Oh yes they are"