Infinite Unknown

- Dolce And Gabbana Sentenced To 20 Months In Jail For Hundreds Of Millions In Tax Evasion (ZeroHedge, June 19, 2013):

The latest casualty of Europe’s berserk pursuit of tax evaders everywhere: not some Russian oligarch with a $1 billion Cypriot bank account but famous Italian designers, Dolce and Gabbana. WSJ reports that a Milan court has convicted the designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana of tax evasion. The pair were found guilty Wednesday of failing to declare €1 billion ($1.3 billion) in income tax to authorities. The court sentenced them both to one year and eight months in jail. Prosecutors argued that the pair had evaded taxes on income of €416 million each and €200 million through a Luxembourg-based company. The statute of limitations ran out on a charge of misrepresenting income. The designers have denied the charges.

Continue reading »

Tags: Domenico Dolce, Italy, Law, Stefano Gabbana, Taxes, Taxpayers

- 3 NSA veterans speak out on whistle-blower: We told you so (USA Today, June 16, 2013)

Tags: 1984, Barack Obama, Big Brother, Dictatorship, Edward Snowden, Fascism, George Orwell, Global News, Government, J. Kirk Wiebe, New World Order, NSA, Obama administration, Politics, Society, Stasi, Surveillance, Thomas Drake, U.S., William Binney

From the article:

“Then again, at least the Brazilians are protesting for change: in the US, one only has to consider the epic indignation that the recent NSA spying scandal has unleashed and the mass throngs of people demanding a return of their constitutional rights. Oh wait…”

- Brazilian Protests Succeed In Reversing Bus, Subway Fare Hike (ZeroHedge, June 19, 2013):

The Brazilian protests, which swept through the country with the raging bear market (and the pulled mega-IPO) over the past week, and which had the goal of reducing a recent bus-fare increase among other assorted protest goals, appear to have succeeded. At least when it comes to the fare increase. As for the other protester demands, listed below, it may take a little longer.

AP reports:

Brazilian leaders in Sao Paulo say they are reversing a 10-cent hike in bus and subway fares that has sparked widespread protests across the nation.

Continue reading »

Tags: Activism, Brazil, Global News, Government, Politics, Protesters, Society

Taxpayers money at work:

- IRS Agents Are Training With AR-15 ‘Assault Weapons’

- IRS Buying Tiny Surveillance Equipment Hidden In Plants, Coffee Trays, Clock Radios

- The IRS Claims It Can’t Find its Own Receipts (CNN Video)

- This Is What The IRS Spends Your Money On

- Top IRS Officials, Whose Agency Was Under Investigation For Targeting Conservative Groups, Visited The Obama White House More Than 100 Times In 2 Years

- AND NOW: Top IRS Official To Plead Fifth Amendment Protections After Targeting Constitutional Groups That Taught The Bill Of Rights

- White House Explains: Obama Didn’t Know What He Knew When Everyone Else Knew What He Should Have Known

- IRS Demanded Facebook Posts, Book Titles, Names Of Donors During Politically-Motivated Targeting Of Non-Profits

- White House Senior Adviser: IRS Not ‘Actual Real Scandal’

- What Did Obama Know About The IRS (And When)?

- Auditing The IRS: ‘Is There Any Limit To The Scope Where You Folks Can Go?’

- Eric Holder Just ‘Doesn’t Know’ … Video Of The Day!

- IRS Conservative Witchhunt Started In 2011 With High-Level Officials Involved

- Brilliant And Hilarious: Jon Stewart’s Commentary On The IRS Scandal (Video)

- The Senior IRS Official Briefing The Press Just Said: ‘I’m Not Good At Math’

- IRS: We Do Not Need Warrants To Read People’s Emails

- IRS seizes medical records of 60 million Americans – preview of what’s to come with Obamacare (Natural News, June 17, 2013):

The government has its hands all over everyone’s most private places these days. From touching people at the airport, to intercepting emails and phone calls, to swabbing the DNA right out of people’s mouths without a warrant: It’s all becoming a numbing sensation.

IRS seizes 60 million medical records in California

It comes as no surprise that the IRS is now stealing people’s sensitive medical records. That’s the case in California. A reported 60 million medical records have been seized by 15 IRS agents. The House Energy and Commerce Committee is now investigating a lawsuit initiated by a California health care provider that purports that the IRS stole “intimate and private information of more than 10,000,000 Americans including the names and health records of prominent celebrities, sports personalities, and CEOs, ultimately affecting roughly one out of every twenty-five adult American citizens.”

These power grabbers didn’t fool around. They went for the entire company’s IT system, telling the IT personnel “to transfer several servers of the medical records and patient records to the IRS for search and seizure, otherwise they would ‘rip’ the servers out of the building entirely.”

Continue reading »

Tags: Barack Obama, California, Government, IRS, Obama administration, Politics, U.S.

- 200,000 Take To Brazil’s Streets In Largest Protest In Two Decades (ZeroHedge, June 18, 2013):

It started off a simple protest in Sao Paulo as a demonstration by students against an increase in bus fares from R$3 to R$3.20, and then quickly morphed into general demonstration of discontent with the nation’s political classes on both sides of the spectrum involving over 200,000 across the country, with those marching on Monday holding placards decrying everything from the enormous sums spent on the World Cup to the treatment by police of protesters last week. It got to the point where protesters invaded and occupied, peacefully, the roof of the national Congress complex in Brasilia. Then things turned less peaceful when a breakaway group from the main rally in Rio de Janeiro attacked the state legislative assembly building and attempted to set it on fire.

From Reuters:

As many as 200,000 demonstrators marched through the streets of Brazil’s biggest cities on Monday in a swelling wave of protest tapping into widespread anger at poor public services, police violence and government corruption.

The marches, organized mostly through snowballing social media campaigns, blocked streets and halted traffic in more than a half-dozen cities, including Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Brasilia, where demonstrators climbed onto the roof of Brazil’s Congress building and then stormed it.

Monday’s demonstrations were the latest in a flurry of protests in the past two weeks that have added to growing unease over Brazil’s sluggish economy, high inflation and a spurt in violent crime.

Continue reading »

Tags: Activism, Brazil, Environment, Global News, Government, Politics, Protesters, South America

-  The Cyprus Bail-In Blows Up: President Urges Complete Bailout Overhaul (Full Letter) (ZeroHedge, June 18, 2013):

Cyprus’ President Nicos Anastasiades has realized (as we warned), too late it seems for the thousands of domestic and foreign depositors who were sacrificed at the alter of monetary union, that the TROIKA’s terms are “too onerous.” Anastasiades has asked EU lenders to unwind the complex restructuring and partial merger of its two largest banks leaving EU officials “puzzled”, according to a letter the FT has uncovered, as “essentially, he is asking for a complete reversal of the program.” The EU officials claim that the failure to prepare for the bailout’s impact was partially the fault of Mr Anastasiades’ government, which voted down a first agreed rescue before succumbing to a similar deal nine days later.

The FT goes on to note that although the letter does not request it explicitly, Mr Anastasiades is in effect asking for further eurozone loans on top of the existing EUR10bn sovereign bailout – something specifically ruled out by a German-led group of countries at the time. The return of beggars-can-be-choosers we presume – or just token gestures to recover some populist support as the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

As we noted here (and on the chart below), it seemed pretty obvious where this was going to end – obvious that is to everyone except Europe’s victory-claiming politicians.

It seems the ongoing flood of capital (despite controls) and collapse of the economy that we discussed here is occurring at ever increasing pace – and demanding even more gold be sucked out of their vaults…

“Unless Cyprus implements some controls that truly work, at this pace its entire banking system will be completely deposit-free in under one year. And it will need to sell much more than all its gold to continue keeping the Troika happy and in compliance with all the future (because there will be many more) bailouts.”

Continue reading »

Tags: Bailout, Banking, Collapse, Cyprus, Economy, EU, Europe, Global News, Government, Nicos Anastasiades, Politics, Society

- For First Time Majority Finds President Untrustworthy: Obama Approval Plunges Among Young Americans (ZeroHedge, June 17, 2013):

Whatever the deteriorating economy could not achieve (courtesy of Ben Bernanke’s relentless bubble blowing and pumping of the S&P 500-driven “wealth effect” distraction) for the past four years, one NSA whistleblower succeeded in a few short days, when earlier today, CNN – hardly a media known for its criticism of the administration – released a new poll according to which not only did Obama’s approval rating drop by 8% in the past month, “one of the sharpest, fastest plunges in his presidency” to 45% from 53% (the first time the majority had a negative opinion of the president), not only did the majority find Obama to not be honest and trustworthy for the first time ever in his presidency, but Obama’s support with one of his core constituencies – young Americans under 30 – imploded, plunging by 17 points. CNN adds: “That’s particularly discouraging heading into 2014 because Democrats have felt they have a lock on the youth vote after the 2012 elections. “The drop in Obama’s support is fueled by a dramatic 17-point decline over the past month among people under 30, who, along with black Americans, had been the most loyal part of the Obama coalition,” CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said.” Continue reading »

Tags: Barack Obama, Global News, Government, Obama administration, Politics, Society, U.S.

ZeroHedge’s Tyler Durden comments on this …

- GCHQ Intercepted Foreign Politicians’ Communications At G20 Summits (Guardian, June 17, 2013)

… article.

- NSA, UK Spied On Politicians, Intercepted Emails, Eavesdropped On Russian President’s Phone Calls (ZeroHedge, June 17, 2013):

The espionage scandal that keeps on giving has released its latest installment, once more courtesy of the Guardian, which on the eve of tomorrow’s starting G-8 meeting reveals that foreign politicians and officials who took part in two G-20 summit meetings in London in 2009 had their computers monitored, their phone calls intercepted, and fake internet cafes were set up on the instructions of the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the sister organization to the US NSA.Naturally, it wasn’t just the GCHQ – according to the Guardian, during the 2009 G-20 meeting there was an NSA attempt to eavesdrop on then-Russian leader, Dmitry Medvedev, as his phone calls passed through satellite links to Moscow.

And while broad espionage allegations can be deflected by pretending by the rhetoric-endowed and teleprompter-aided that only terrorist threats were targeted, it will be very difficult to explain why the national information super spooks used every trick of the trade to spy on the so-called leaders of the developed world.

The disclosure raises new questions about the boundaries of surveillance by GCHQ and its American sister organisation, the National Security Agency, whose access to phone records and internet data has been defended as necessary in the fight against terrorism and serious crime. The G20 spying appears to have been organised for the more mundane purpose of securing an advantage in meetings. Named targets include long-standing allies such as South Africa and Turkey.

Continue reading »

Tags: 1984, Barack Obama, Big Brother, Dictatorship, Edward Snowden, G20, GCHQ, George Orwell, Global News, Government, NSA, Obama administration, Politics, Stasi, Surveillance, U.K., U.S.

From the article:

“If creditors reject the plan, Detroit could be forced into what would be by far the largest-ever municipal bankruptcy in US history.

Orr said there is a “50:50” chance the city will be forced into bankruptcy and that decision would likely happen in the next 30 days.

…

Detroit has also experienced a 26 percent decline in population since 2000, …”

- Detroit rock bottom: City announces $2.5bn debt default (RT, June 15, 2013):

Detroit said it will stop making payment on $2.5 billion of the city’s massive $18.5 billion debt and has asked creditors to accept 10 cents in the dollar of what the city owes them in a bid to avoid the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in US history.

Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr said the city would stop making payments on its unsecured debt in a bid to “conserve cash” for vital services like police and firefighters. He further said pension benefits both present and future along with healthcare would face cuts, while control over the city’s water and sewage would be turned over to an independent body.

Continue reading »

Tags: Bonds, Collapse, Debt, Detroit, Global News, Government, Politics, U.S.

- China’s Great Uprooting: Moving 250 Million Into Cities (New York Times, June 15, 2013):

BEIJING — China is pushing ahead with a sweeping plan to move 250 million rural residents into newly constructed towns and cities over the next dozen years — a transformative event that could set off a new wave of growth or saddle the country with problems for generations to come.The government, often by fiat, is replacing small rural homes with high-rises, paving over vast swaths of farmland and drastically altering the lives of rural dwellers. So large is the scale that the number of brand-new Chinese city dwellers will approach the total urban population of the United States — in a country already bursting with megacities.

This will decisively change the character of China, where the Communist Party insisted for decades that most peasants, even those working in cities, remain tied to their tiny plots of land to ensure political and economic stability. Now, the party has shifted priorities, mainly to find a new source of growth for a slowing economy that depends increasingly on a consuming class of city dwellers.

The shift is occurring so quickly, and the potential costs are so high, that some fear rural China is once again the site of radical social engineering. Over the past decades, the Communist Party has flip-flopped on peasants’ rights to use land: giving small plots to farm during 1950s land reform, collectivizing a few years later, restoring rights at the start of the reform era and now trying to obliterate small landholders.

Continue reading »

Tags: China, Collapse, Economy, Global News, Government, Politics, Social Engineering, Society