FBI

• Confusion as Ukraine and Russia announce progress towards peace (Reuters)... but not for stock buying algos, they know everything
• Obama Expresses Skepticism About Possible Ukraine Cease-Fire (WSJ)
• Fighters Unwind in Russia Where Beer Doesn’t Spell Death (BBG)
• Despite dangers, U.S. journalist Sotloff was determined to record Arab Spring's human toll (Reuters)
• New Beheading Video Spurs Calls for Global Response (BBG)
• Christie’s Spending on Outside Lawyers Passes $50 Million (BBG)
• IEX to Apply for Exchange Status (WSJ)
• UK says not ruling out airstrikes against Islamic State, says hostage video genuine (Reuters)

"We the undersigned are longtime veterans of U.S. intelligence. We take the unusual step of writing this open letter to you to ensure that you have an opportunity to be briefed on our views prior to the NATO summit on September 4-5. You need to know, for example, that accusations of a major Russian "invasion" of Ukraine appear not to be supported by reliable intelligence. Rather, the "intelligence" seems to be of the same dubious, politically "fixed" kind used 12 years ago to "justify" the U.S.-led attack on Iraq. We saw no credible evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq then; we see no credible evidence of a Russian invasion now. Twelve years ago, former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, mindful of the flimsiness of the evidence on Iraqi WMD, refused to join in the attack on Iraq. In our view, you should be appropriately suspicions of charges made by the US State Department and NATO officials alleging a Russian invasion of Ukraine."

Bonus: Top NSA Whistleblower: We Need a New 9/11 Investigation Into the Destruction of the World Trade Center

This is why centralized power is so dangerous. It doesn’t matter whether the power is political or corporate, overly centralized power in all forms must be resisted whenever it appears. The worst of all worlds is when centralized political and corporate power unite in an unholy alliance, which is what has happened to America in recent decades. When this occurs, the combined forces of oligarchy simply begin to rapaciously feast on the citizenry with zero accountability. This is a fair description of the United States in 2014... The primary problem with centralized power is that sociopaths (for obvious reasons) gravitate toward, and greatly covet, positions of power.

• Clearly it's time to bomb Assad (on Qatar instructions): Islamic State executes dozens of Syrian army soldiers (Reuters)
• Ukraine Declares Russian Invasion as Sanctions Threat Raised (BBG)
• Ukraine Reports Russian Invasion on a New Front (NYT)
• German Unemployment Rises as Risks to Economy Build (BBG)
• Ebola spreads to Nigeria oil hub Port Harcourt (BBC)
• FBI Probes Possible Hacking Incident at J.P. Morgan (WSJ)
• FBI, Secret Service investigate reports of cyber attacks on U.S. banks (Reuters)
• If you like your Venezuela, you can stay in Venezuela: Airlines Abandon Fliers Amid Currency Dispute (WSJ)
• Boomer Wealth Dented by Mortgages Poses U.S. Risk (BBG)
• People Aren't Buying Guns (BusinessWeek)

The National Security Agency is secretly providing data to nearly two dozen U.S. government agencies with a “Google-like” search engine built to share more than 850 billion records about phone calls, emails, cellphone locations, and internet chats, according to classified documents obtained by The Intercept.

The Islamic State in Syria (ISIS) is being touted as the newest “threat” to the American homeland. We are told by everyone from the President on down that if we don’t attack them – i.e. go back into Iraq (and even venture into Syria) to root them out – they’ll soon show up on American shores. ISIS didn’t blast Sykes-Picot to pieces: we did, and now we must live with the consequences. Nemesis has taken her pound of flesh. The best course now is to learn the lesson every child has to absorb before he can attain adulthood in more than merely a physical sense: actions have consequences. Applied to the Middle East, this lesson can only have one meaning: stay out and keep out.

And Should We Just Kill Them All - as an American News Commentator Suggests - and Let God Sort 'Em Out?

But Congress Members Who Approve Militarization of U.S. Police Receive 73% More Money from Defense Industry (Bonus: Does THIS Explain the “Snipers” Shadowing the Occupy Protests?)

"At a time when so much may seem uncertain, the people of Ferguson can have confidence that the Justice Department intends to learn - in a fair and thorough manner - exactly what happened... In order to begin the healing process, however, we must first see an end to the acts of violence in the streets of Ferguson."

The Missouri Governor Jay Nixon gave "no heads up" to the White House before deploying The National Guard and has now made another abrupt decision as The National Guard closes in on Ferguson:

*NIXON'S CALL TO HALT CURFEW TONIGHT MADE IN E-MAILED STATEMENT

We presume when there are military tanks rolling through the streets of a town, there is no need for the actual implementation of a curfew... This once again rubs the administration's nose in it as AG Holder's comments from last week hang in the air: "get those damned tanks out of there."

While ISIS has issued direct threats against the US in the past week now that the US is officially droning and "humanitarianly advising" it (after having armed it for the past year), until now it was largely broad, diffuse statements. That changed in the last few hours when ABC reported a photo has emerged via Twitter which shows a hand holding up an image of a flag for ISIS, displayed on a smartphone, on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House fence, an area which is frequented by thousands of tourists every day. The photo was tweeted from an apparently pro-ISIS Twitter handle @sunna_rev on Aug. 9.

Ferguson, Missouri:   What’s Really Going On ... And How Did We Get Here?

At least 70 SWAT moving civilians along: "this is not open for discussion", "your rights to assemble are not being denied", 2 reporters arrested for "not packing bags fast enough"

Police are firing rubber bullets and tear gas - "This is no longer a peaceful assembly. Go home or be subject to arrest," says the loudspeaker.

Protesters exclaimed, "we have a right to assemble, a right to freedom," said Paul Muhammad. "But here we are facing what looks like a military imposing martial law. It is not acceptable." Interestingly, President Obama's official response "urging reflection" has been rejected as insultingly inadequate by many African American residents of Ferguson.

Now that everyone is finally focusing on the strategy of bloating any available company with massive leverage in order to use the proceeds to either buyback stock or engage in "synergy-creating" M&A (leading to countless pink slips), which is affectionately known as "activism", here is Bill Ackman's latest, Q2, letter with his take on this topic of how massive leverage which is great for shareholders now, but a disaster waiting to happen for employees and bondholders in the future as soon as rates rise, is the greatest thing since sliced bread.