New York Times

Because when the rape and pillaging of the US middle-class begins at the very top, it won't end until the sharp metal objects finally start falling.

The average person assumes the powers-that-be actually know what they are doing and would never lead us into disaster, but quoting my breakfast companion, that would be a very poor assumption. Simply, while mass war on the level of the wholesale slaughter commonplace in the last century is unimaginable to most in the modern context, it is never more than the equivalent of a faulty alarm system away from occurring. Those history buffs among you will confirm that up until about a week before World War I began, virtually no one in the public, the press, the political class, or even the military had any idea the shooting was about to start. And 99.9% of the people then living had no idea the war was about to begin until after the first shot was fired.

“There is a danger to democracy,” a Supreme Court spokesman said, “in having police infiltrate protests when there isn’t a reasonable basis to suspect criminality.” "It is impossible to tell how effective the government’s operations are or evaluate whether the benefits outweigh the costs, since little information about them is publicly disclosed." Just another day in the American oligarchy.

Endless War Is the Agenda

Naturally, a man that uttered such powerful words and who also has a considerable following would not appeal to the thug in charge of the FBI at the time, J. Edgar Hoover. So what did Mr. Hoover do? He sent a letter to Dr. King, pretending to be a black person and implied that he should kill himself. None of this is news, but until the New York Times released it yesterday, copies of this letter had always been partly redacted. We now have the uncensored version. Now ask yourself a question. Is the FBI any more ethical today than it was back then?

Throughout history, in most cases of economic collapse the societies in question believed they were financially invincible just before their disastrous fall. Rarely does anyone see the edge of the cliff or even the bottom of the abyss before it has swallowed a nation whole. This lack of foresight, however, is not entirely the fault of the public. It is, rather, a consequence caused by the manipulation of the fundamental information available to the public by governments and social gatekeepers.

With Boehner and McConnell already out blasting Obama's headline-grabbing emissions-deal with China...

*OBAMA INTENDS TO 'DOUBLE DOWN' ON JOB-CRUSHING POLICIES; 'CRUSADE' AGAINST AFFORDABLE ENERGY: BOEHNER
*MCCONNELL SAYS OBAMA EMISSIONS TARGET 'UNREALISTIC'

We thought a look at the 'faux reality' of the agreement would help clarify the farce: In the "historic" U.S.-China climate agreement this week, Beijing simply reiterated previously announced targets.

As expected, the stench in market rigging, be it Libor, FX, gold or anything else, goes to the very top...

while almost all oligarchs are extremely wealthy (or have access to extreme wealth), not all people with extreme wealth are oligarchs. The term oligarch is reserved for those with extreme wealth who also want to control the political process, policy levers and most other aspects of the lives of the citizenry in a top-down tyrannical and undemocratic manner. They think they know best about pretty much everything, and believe unelected technocrats who share their worldview should be empowered so that they can unilaterally make all of society’s important decisions. The unwashed masses (plebs) in their minds are unnecessary distractions who must to be told what to do. Useless eaters who need to be brainwashed into worshipping the oligarch mindset, or turned into apathetic automatons incapable or unwilling to engage in critical thought. Either outcome is equally acceptable and equally encouraged. These oligarchs and the centralized institutions they control pose the greatest threat to humanity at this time.

Saudi Arabia’s move to cut the cost of its oil to US customers has injected fear into the oil markets, bringing the price of OPEC crude below $80 and suggesting to some observers that the cartel is preparing for a global price war.

Governments Have Suppressed the Dangers of Epidemics Before, Only Making Things Worse

"Reporters on the ground aren’t necessarily ideological, Attkisson says, but the major network news decisions get made by a handful of New York execs who read the same papers and think the same thoughts. Often they dream up stories beforehand and turn the reporters into 'casting agents,' told 'we need to find someone who will say...' that a given policy is good or bad. “We’re asked to create a reality that fits their New York image of what they believe,"

"They laud and promote the myth of American democracy - even as we are stripped of civil liberties and money replaces the vote. They pay deference to the leaders on Wall Street and in Washington, no matter how perfidious their crimes. They slavishly venerate the military and law enforcement in the name of patriotism. They select the specialists and experts, almost always drawn from the centers of power, to interpret reality and explain policy. They usually rely on press releases, written by corporations, for their news. And they fill most of their news holes with celebrity gossip, lifestyle stories, sports and trivia." The role of the mass media is to entertain or to parrot official propaganda to the masses.

“How can this happen?” Ms. Hinders said in a recent interview. “Who takes your money before they prove that you’ve done anything wrong with it?”

The federal government does.

*PATIENT IN NYC TESTS POSITIVE FOR EBOLA, NEW YORK TIMES SAYS, EBOLA PATIENT GIRLFRIEND QUARANTINED: CNN
*TREASURIES ADVANCE, S&P 500, NASDAQ 100 FUTURES EXTEND DECLINES ON EBOLA REPORT

Cuomo: "There is no reason for New Yorkers to be alarmed..." *HAVE IDENTIFIED 4 PEOPLE IN CONTACT WITH EBOLA PATIENT, PATIENT WENT ON 3-MILE JOG, BOWLING, SUBWAY

Dr Craig Spencer, 33, who returned to the U.S. ten days ago from Guinea, was admitted to Bellevue Hospital in midtown Manhattan on Thursday and is being cared for in isolation. The doctor flew to Africa on September 18 to treat patients in Guinea with non-profit organization, Medecins San Frontieres (MSF).  On October 16, he checked in at a hotel in Brussels, Belgium, presumably on his return journey from Guinea to the U.S.