Saturday, December 7, 2019

Fmr Israeli Intel Official Claims Epstein, Maxwell Worked for Israel, Used Pedophilia to Blackmail Politicians



(MPN) — Since the apparent death by suicide of Jeffrey Epstein in a Manhattan prison, much has come to light about his depraved activities and methods used to sexually abuse underage girls and entrap the rich and powerful for the purposes of blackmail.

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Birth-control pills may be shrinking a vital brain region in women



(STUDY FINDS) -- CHICAGO — It’s estimated that nearly six million women used a form of oral contraception between 2015-2017 in the United States. But there may be bad news for birth control users.

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"Floodgates Are Open" - German Banks Start Charging Retail Savers



It has been over 7 years since the European Central Bank's key deposit facility rate was positive, and just a few weeks ago it was lowered to a record low of -50bps. And during that time, European bank stocks have suffered greatly...

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Friday, December 6, 2019

Shots Fired: Some Thoughts on Guns and Gun Control

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In 1961, when I was a 10-year-old living in Boonville, North Carolina, a town of 600 people, firearms were commonplace. Some of the townspeople hunted with rifles and shotguns, others kept handguns in their homes. High school kids drove to school with guns in their cars.

 

That same year, there was one school shooting in the United States. In that incident, the result of a personal altercation, one person was wounded, and a girl died after being struck by a stray bullet.

           

In 2018, there were 24 school shootings, and 35 people died.

             

In 1961, the homicide rate from firearms was 4.8 per 100,000 people in the United States.

 

In 2018, the homicide rate from firearms was 3.14 per 100,000 people.

 

So we have a lower rate of homicide by firearms and a far higher number of school shootings.

 

What gives?

 

Before suggesting one possible answer to that question, let me offer a brief personal history of my association with firearms.

 

As kids, my friends and I loved playing cowboys or war. We were always running around shooting the bad guys with toy guns, or throwing dirt clods and sticks at one another in war games.

 

When I turned ten, my parents gave me a Daisy BB gun. I loved that gun, and used it to plink away at bottles in my yard or at targets in the woods. As a teenager, I fired both my father’s .22 rifle and the shotgun my parents gave me one Christmas. At the United States Military Academy, I fired an M-14, qualifying as Expert, an M-16, a .45 caliber pistol, an M-60 machine gun, a mortar, and one round each of an M-79 grenade launcher, a tank, artillery, and a LAW. I was also taught how to kill with a bayonet, and given a brief lesson in plastic explosives.

 

Over the last 40 years, I have gone target shooting 15 or 20 times.

 

In Waynesville, North Carolina, where I lived for 22 years, I could hear locals firing away at turkey shoots or hunting off in the country. Here in Front Royal, Virginia, which I currently call home, I hear shots fired nearly every weekend in my suburban neighborhood, and put it down to neighbors taking target practice. I pay it absolutely no attention. It’s background noise, no more noted than birdcalls or the wind in the trees.

 

So now a question: With my lifelong exposure to firearms and to violent entertainment – heck, I was watching The Lone Ranger as a toddler, and have since viewed hundreds and hundreds of hours of television shows and movies featuring mayhem and guns – why do I never dream of killing or wounding another human being? Why would I never consider racing downstairs into the basement, breaking out my firearms, and blasting away at someone I disagree with or even some innocent on the street outside my house?

 

Because I am sane. Because my mind is intact.

 

The minds of those who shoot up schools, who gun down shoppers at WalMart, or who live in a state of daily rage, are not intact. To blow away other human beings for no reason other than anger or frustration, or even, like a terrorist, to make a political statement, is insanity. People who shoot down strangers are nut-jobs, certified or uncertified.

 

Yet some blame the guns. They place the blame not on the shooters, but on the firearms they use. They think if they could just take away guns, we might become a peaceful society.

 

Here in Virginia, the recent election turned our state solidly blue, and the 2020 legislature will be going after guns. State Senator Richard Saslaw’s SB16 would ban all semi-automatic assault rifles and all sorts of firearm parts. The bill does not grandfather in current owners of such firearms and would thus make thousands of citizens instant criminals.

 

So let’s look at some more facts and statistics Saslaw ignores:

 

In 2018, handguns, not rifles or “assault weapons,” were by far the weapons of choice for murder.

 

Since 1990, violent crime in the United States has dropped by nearly 50 percent.

 

Investor’s Business Daily reports that the Center for Disease Control estimates guns are used defensively between 500,000 and 3 million times annually. In the same article, an independent researcher and criminologist estimates Americans use guns for defensive purposes 1.2 million times a year.

           

Those who favor more gun control are either ignorant of such statistics or choose to disregard them. They also either ignore or misinterpret the unspoken reason the Second Amendment is in place. “The right to keep and bear arms” is essentially a check by force on the government. In Hong Kong, Chinese Communist Party officials recently reported that protestors were making Molotov cocktails, slingshots, and catapults to resist Communist oppression. All well and good if you’re fighting the Battle of Agincourt 700 years ago, but of little use against pistols, rifles, machine guns, and tanks.

 

So how can we who support the Second Amendment fight against these intrusions by government? How can Virginians and others living in states resistant to guns push back?

 

Contact your local officials. Show up before them in person. Organize public protests. Make your voices heard!

 

--

 

[Image Credit: Pixabay]



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The Panopticon Expands

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Guest Post by Eric Peters

Precedent always becomes practice.

Having established as legitimate the use of cameras to robotically ticket people for “speeding” and “running” red lights – timed to go red quickly, so as to ensnare as many drivers as possible – it was only a matter of time before the principle was extrapolated – now to include automatically ticketing people for using their cell phones while driving.

But it’s more than just cameras now – and it will be more than just cell phone use that’s targeted for confiscation (of your money, that is).

Because why shouldn’t it be?

If it is okay to steal people’s money (which is what we’re talking about here, shorn of the euphemistic language about “fines”) for those things, why not this thing?

Why not  anything the government and its corporate “partners” who profit from it decide is ungood?

Buckle-up laws, for instance? How about breaking traction?

In Australia – the same place that is the first place to use the AI cameras to “catch” cell phone “violators” – who will be mulcted to the tune of $344-$457 for not harming anyone – performing a burnout is already a major bust that can result in confiscation (and forfeiture) of the offender’s vehicle.

But an armed government worker had to witness  the burnout.

The cameras witness everything – everywhere.

All the time.

A network is being erected that will make it impossible to “get away” with ignoring any edict issued by the control freaks and busybodies who lord it over us. Pre-Panopticon, the myriad tyrannical laws on the books had the upside of being to a great extent ignorable.

Armed government workers can’t be everywhere.

Cameras can. They already are.

Have a look around – and up – the next time you’re out driving around. In most parts of the  country these Creepy Cams are perched on top of every traffic signal arm, or curbside.

Armed government worker’s vehicles are being equipped with mobile cameras, also tied into the panopticon. There is talk – and more than just talk – of replacing parking meters in cities with “smart” meters with cameras in them – also tied into the same panopticon.

Soon, wherever you drive – and park – you will be seen. Anything – everything – that is not in ordnung will be noticed. Not by a human. But by an artificial intelligence overlord that – to quote an eerily predictive line from the original Terminator movie, way back in 1984  – cannot be reasoned with or bargained with . . .

Literally.

Another precedent that was allowed to pass into practice with the adoption of camera enforcement was the vitiation of the government’s obligation to establish guilt before fleecing. This was accomplished by shifting traffic offenses from court-adjudicated to civil administrative actions, where it became (and remains) the obligation of the presumed guilty to – somehow – reverse the camera’s verdict.

The rules of court procedure – of due process – do not apply. The presumed guilty verdict is subject to reversal not by evidence or its lack but rather according to the whim of whomever – or whatever – the government-corporate nexus gives  . . . administrative power to.

You can sometimes send in an “explanation” – and whatever else you like – but it’s perfunctory, like the practice in Elizabethan times of permitting the condemned to say a few words before the executioner lopped off his head. The head-lopping was never in doubt.

Today, if the government wants your money, they’ll take your money (to borrow a turn of phrase from another eerily prescient movie).

There is one upside to all of this, though.

When it becomes impossible to leave your driveway (and maybe not even that) without being observed – and mulcted – people might begin to object. Try to imagine what it would be like if you had to obey every speed limit – to the letter – else payin’ paper. Full stop – and wait a three second count – at every stop sign. Never dare a right-on-red, an HOV “violation” or an unbuckled ride.

No “aggressive” acceleration, either.

Your papers – all of them – always in ordnung.

That’s what’s coming. Unless we decide to reject the principle – and establish a new precedent. There’s still time.

The clock, however, is ticking – and midnight approaches.



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Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Debt Bubble to End All Bubbles – Michael Snyder

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By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com  Journalist and book author Michael Snyder says corporate debt is at record highs standing at $10 trillion. Snyder points out debt is setting records in every aspect of the economy and contends, “If you include all other forms of corporate debt not listed on the stock exchanges, that brings the total […]

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Fraud in Higher Education

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Guest Post by Walter E. Williams

Fraud in Higher Education

This year’s education scandal saw parents shelling out megabucks to gain college admittance for their children. Federal prosecutors have charged more than 50 people with participating in a scheme to get their children into colleges by cheating on entrance exams or bribing athletic coaches. They paid William Singer, a college-prep professional, more than $25 million to bribe coaches and university administrators and to change test scores on college admittance exams such as the SAT and ACT. As disgusting as this grossly dishonest behavior is, it is only the tiny tip of fraud in higher education.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2016, only 37% of white high school graduates tested as college-ready, but colleges admitted 70% of them. Roughly 17% of black high school graduates tested as college-ready, but colleges admitted 58% of them. A 2018 Hechinger Report found, “More than four in 10 college students end up in developmental math and English classes at an annual cost of approximately $7 billion, and many of them have a worse chance of eventually graduating than if they went straight into college-level classes.”

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, “when considering all first-time undergraduates, studies have found anywhere from 28 percent to 40 percent of students enroll in at least one remedial course. When looking at only community college students, several studies have found remediation rates surpassing 50 percent.” Only 25% of students who took the ACT in 2012 met the test’s readiness benchmarks in all four subjects (English, reading, math and science).

It’s clear that high schools confer diplomas that attest that a student can read, write and do math at a 12th-grade level when, in fact, most cannot. That means most high school diplomas represent fraudulent documents. But when high school graduates enter college, what happens? To get a hint, we can turn to an article by Craig E. Klafter, “Good Grieve! America’s Grade Inflation Culture,” published in the Fall 2019 edition of Academic Questions. In 1940, only 15% of all grades awarded were A’s. By 2018, the average grade point average at some of the nation’s leading colleges was A-minus. For example, look at the average GPA at Brown University (3.75), Stanford (3.68), Harvard College (3.63), Yale University (3.63), Columbia University (3.6), and the University of California, Berkeley (3.59).

The falling standards witnessed at our primary and secondary levels are becoming increasingly the case at tertiary levels. “Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses” is a study conducted by Professors Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa. They found that 45% of 2,300 students at 24 colleges showed no significant improvement in “critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing by the end of their sophomore years.”

An article in News Forum for Lawyers titled “Study Finds College Students Remarkably Incompetent” cites a study done by the American Institutes for Research that revealed that over 75% of two-year college students and 50% of four-year college students were incapable of completing everyday tasks. About 20% of four-year college students demonstrated only basic mathematical ability, while a steeper 30% of two-year college students could not progress past elementary arithmetic. NBC News reported that Fortune 500 companies spend about $3 billion annually to train employees in “basic English.”

Here is a list of some other actual college courses that have been taught at U.S. colleges in recent years: “What If Harry Potter Is Real?” “Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame,” “Philosophy and Star Trek,” “Learning from YouTube,” “How To Watch Television,” and “Oh, Look, a Chicken!” The questions that immediately come to mind are these: What kind of professor would teach such courses, and what kind of student would spend his time taking such courses? Most importantly, what kind of college president and board of trustees would permit classes in such nonsense?

The fact that unscrupulous parents paid millions for special favors from college administrators to enroll their children pales in comparison to the poor educational outcomes, not to mention the gross indoctrination of young people by leftist professors.



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How Dumb Have We Become? Chinese Students Are 4 Grade Levels Ahead Of U.S. Students In Math

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How in the world is America supposed to remain “the greatest country on Earth” when other nations are absolutely running circles around us when it comes to education? As you will see below, one survey found that 15-year-old students in China are almost four full grade levels ahead of 15-year-old students in the United States […]

The post How Dumb Have We Become? Chinese Students Are 4 Grade Levels Ahead Of U.S. Students In Math appeared first on The Most Important News.



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Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Krieger: "This Entire Century Has Been An Unmitigated March In The Direction Of Stupidity"



Since a few things became clear to me last year, I’ve consistently forecasted a significant worsening in U.S.-China relations and remained adamant that all the happy talk of trade deals and breakthroughs is just a lot of hot air.

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Sunday, December 1, 2019

India In "Very Deep Crisis," Witnessing "Death Of Demand," Warns Former Indian FM

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India In "Very Deep Crisis," Witnessing "Death Of Demand," Warns Former Indian FM

Former Indian Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha said India's economy is in a "very deep crisis," witnessing "death of demand," and the government is "befooling people" with its economic distortions of how growth is around the corner, reported India Today

"No matter what the powers that be say, the fact is that we are in a very deep crisis," warned Sinha. 

India's GDP has been rapidly slowing since peaking in 2016. Official data shows Q3 growth slumped to 4.5%, the lowest since 1Q13. 

Sinha was speaking to an audience at the Times Litfest 2019 conference, located at Habitat World Center in Delhi, India, on Sunday. 

#Yashwant Sinha #TimesLitFestDelhi2019 pic.twitter.com/aKJjPPH1Mc

— Dr. Gaurav Sood, PhD (@imgauravsood) December 1, 2019

He warned that President Narendra Modi's government is attempting to deceive everyone about how growth is coming in the next quarter or the quarter after but cautioned there's only a crisis ahead. 

"They (the government) are trying to fool the people by saying the next quarter will be better...This type of crisis takes a long time like three to four or even five years (to subside). It cannot be resolved at the drop of a hat or by wielding a magic stick," he said.

He said the economy is experiencing what is called the "death of demand," and the epicenter of it is the agriculture and rural sector.

"There is no demand in the economy, and that is the starting point of the crisis. They (government of the day) are least bothered about what is happening to our farmers, people living in rural areas, now that is where the death of demand started. The demand first dried up in agriculture and rural sector, then it dried up in the informal or unorganized sector, and ultimately it traveled to the corporate sector," he said.

Sinha said he's been warning the government of the crisis that is coming down the pipe. 

"In fact, this was something I had done after already warning them (people in the government) personally through letters, personal meetings... it is only when the party's doors were closed on me that I had to start speaking publicly," he added.

Though there's no recession in India at the moment, the warning signs are showing up. Private consumption has plunged, both public and private investments have fallen, exports have dropped in the past quarter, the economy has been decelerating for several years, and there's zero evidence that the economy has bottomed out. 

Tyler Durden Sun, 12/01/2019 - 20:00

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