The Duopoly Just Put Taxpayers on the Hook for Trillions in Oil Derivatives

bankers-what-now-249By Ellen Brown. The sudden dramatic collapse in the price of oil appears to be an act of geopolitical warfare against Russia. The result could be trillions of dollars in oil derivatives losses; and the FDIC could be liable, following repeal of key portions of the Dodd-Frank Act last weekend. . .

[T]he shocking $50 drop in the price of oil was not due merely to the forces of supply and demand, which are predictable and can be hedged against. According to an article by Larry Elliott in the UK Guardian titled “Stakes Are High as US Plays the Oil Card Against Iran and Russia,” the unanticipated drop was an act of geopolitical warfare administered by the Saudis. . .

If the plan was to break the ruble, it worked. The ruble has dropped by more than 60 percent against the dollar since January. But it came at a cost: not only are U.S. oil producers hurt, but the derivatives banks will get killed if oil prices don’t go back up soon.

At least they would have been killed before the bailout ban was lifted. Now, it seems, that burden could fall on depositors and taxpayers [since the FDIC will now cover derivative losses due to the repeal of parts of Dodd-Frank last weekend]. Did the Obama administration make a deal with the big derivatives banks to save them from Kerry’s clandestine economic warfare at taxpayer expense?

Whatever happened behind closed doors, we the people could again be stuck with the tab. We will continue to be at the mercy of the biggest banks until depository banking is separated from speculative investment banking. Reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act is supported not only by Elizabeth Warren and others on the left but by prominent voices such as David Stockman’s on the right. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Vladimir PutinRussian Economy Shrinking

By Nataliya Vasilyeva. MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian currency extended its losses on Monday after a report showed the economy has started shrinking in annual terms for the first time since 2009 as the country is buffeted by falling oil prices and Western sanctions.

Meanwhile, the government, which has been scrambling to support the ruble and the economy, announced fresh steps to keep the banks afloat.

The ruble has been one of the world’s worst performing currencies this year and was down another 5 percent on Monday, trading at 56 rubles per dollar in early afternoon in Moscow, wiping off some of the gains it made last week.

The fall came as the Economic Development Ministry issued a report showing the economy shrank by 0.5 percent in November compared with a year earlier. The ministry attributed the year-on-year decline in the economy, Russia’s first in five years, to a sharp drop in manufacturing and investment. (Read more from this story HERE)

Since 1991, 75% of Abortion Clinics Have Been Shut Down

Photo Credit: bradbrundage

Photo Credit: bradbrundage

By Cheryl Sullenger. A new survey conducted by Operation Rescue of all abortion facilities in the United States has confirmed that the abortion clinic closure trend continued strongly in 2014. Operation Rescue is the only pro-life organization that maintains a listing of abortion facilities and tracks clinic closures and its extensive research has provided the most accurate accounting of abortion facilities known to exist.

In all, 73 abortion facilities shut down for all or part of the year. The total number of all remaining abortion clinics in the US is currently 739. Surgical abortion facilities account for 551 of that total while the number of medication-only abortion facilities stands at 188.

Out of 60 surgical abortion clinic closures, 47 were permanent. This represents a 23% decline in surgical abortion facilities over the past five years.

Thirteen surgical facilities were allowed to reopen after initially closing, primarily due to court action that enjoined abortion safety laws that had shut down the substandard facilities.

Thirteen facilities that provided only medication abortions account for the remaining closures in 2014. That more than doubles the number of medication abortion facilities that closed in 2013 when six were shuttered. (Read more about how abortion clinics have been shut down HERE)
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Misleading Prenatal Tests Often Result in Abortion

By Cortney O’Brien. Mothers are aborting their babies based on prenatal test results that reveal their children would be born with genetic defects. A new study, however, proves that these results are wrong 50 percent of the time, meaning these mothers are often aborting perfectly healthy babies. The New York Daily News reported on this tragic trend:

The New England Center for Investigative Reporting found that some women are terminating their pregnancies based on a test result for a genetic condition — even though the center’s study shows that the tests can be wrong 50% of the time. Shockingly, the group also found that the rate of false positives increased as the conditions became rarer.

This rate is devastating for women who are relying on these tests to determine whether or not to keep their unborn babies:

A recent study of 356 women by Natera, which makes the Panorama prenatal test, showed that 6.2% terminated their pregnancy based on noninvasive test results alone.

Illumina, which makes the Verifi test, told the Daily News that it “has always emphasized the need for confirmatory testing.” (Read more from this story HERE)

How Can We Lose a Plane? Disbelief as Second Plane Vanishes (+video)

You don’t have to be an expert to ask yourself the question — how in the world, with today’s technology, can a commercial airplane go missing?

. . .Those who get lost driving can use GPS. If you lose your iPhone, there’s an app to track it down. Scientists successfully plotted the course for a spacecraft that landed on a speeding comet.

But something goes wrong aboard a 123-foot, 67-ton passenger jet and rescuers must resort to scouring the ocean?

. . .There are dozens of similar questions on social media. They hint at the same sentiment: in a world where people’s locations are tracked for everything from map apps to what ads appear on a web browser, why does Big Brother’s gaze avoid the skies? (Read more on how you lose a plane HERE)

Mexico Deported More Illegals from S. America than the Entire US did in 2014

Credit - Breitbart

Credit – Breitbart

Mexico Deported More South Americans Than US in 2014

By Ildefonso Ortiz. During the immigration crisis of 2014, Mexico, a country known as an illegal immigration corridor used by human and drug smugglers, increased its deportation efforts and ended up surpassing the number of Central Americans that the United States deported during the year.

From January to December, Mexico deported 107,199 Central Americans immigrants by land, while the U.S. only deported 104,688 illegal immigrants during that time period. Of those deported by land from Mexico, 43,456 are from Honduras, 41,731 are from Guatemala, 20,988 are from El Salvador and 1,024 are from Nicaragua, information released by the Guatemalan Migration Office to Mexican news outlets reveals.

In comparison to 2013, Mexico had only deported a little more than 77,000 showing a sharp increase in immigration enforcement for this year when hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants from Central America swarmed the Texas border.

According to Mexico’s El Universal, U.S. authorities deported less Guatemalans and Hondurans by plane with the number of deportations decreasing from 88,563 in 2013 to 86,196 this year. (Read more about how Mexico deported more illegals from South America than the US HERE)
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Farmers Worry About Having to Raise Pay for Immigrant Labor

By Timothy P. Carney. Farm lobbies like to complain about a “farm-labor shortage.” “Crops are literally going unpicked!” they shout.

Basic economics tells you that if too few people are responding to your bid for something, maybe you need to bid higher. Raising the price you’re willing to pay for something can increase the supply.

That is, farmers are complaining that they can’t get enough labor at the low wages they want to pay. Their calls for more immigrant labor are calls for lower wages in the U.S.

But here’s a wrinkle — it’s not a new idea, but it’s one the farm lobby doesn’t talk about much: Farmers explicitly rely on undocumented immigrant labor, because it is cheaper than labor from immigrants who don’t fear deportation. (Here, Reihan Salam cites an estimate that after becoming documented, workers’ wages in a short period go up 15 percent). That’s the message of this Associated Press article, at least. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Obama on immigration: ‘Nativist trend’ in parts of the Republican Party

By David Sherfinski. President Obama says his recent executive actions granting millions of illegal immigrants temporary amnesty could spur Republicans to work together with Democrats on the issue, but if they solidify what he called a “nativist trend” in parts of the Republican Party, there probably won’t be much progress.

“If your view is that immigrants are either fundamentally bad to the country or that we actually have the option of deporting 11 million immigrants, regardless of the disruptions, regardless of the cost, and that that is who we are as Americans, I reject that,” Mr. Obama told NPR.

On the other hand, he said, there is potential for working together on the issue, though Republicans have vowed to fight his recently-announced executive actions when the new Congress returns next month.

“So, the question then becomes, by me having taken these actions, does that spur those voices in the Republican Party who I think genuinely believe immigration is good for our country? Does it spur them to work once again with Democrats and my administration to get a reasonable piece of legislation done?” he said.

“Or does it simply solidify what I do think is a nativist trend in parts of the Republican party? And if it’s the latter, then probably we’re not going to get much more progress done, and it’ll be a major debate in the next presidential election,” he continued. (Read more from this story HERE)

Confirmed Case of Ebola in Scotland; CDC Now Offers Free Burials

Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

By Reuters. The Scottish government said a confirmed case of Ebola was diagnosed in Glasgow.

The patient was a health care worker was helping combat the disease in west Africa, the government said.

The patient has been isolated and is receiving treatment in the specialist Brownlee Unit for Infectious Diseases on the Gartnavel Hospital campus. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Deaths from Ebola Hit 7,708, CDC Comic Book Has Started to Offer Free Burials

By Paul Bedard. The death toll from the Ebola outbreak has hit 7,708, and the total number of cases charted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has nearly reached 20,000, the federal agency said on Monday

The latest count comes as the CDC continues to warn family and friends of those killed by Ebola in West Africa to stay away from the bodies and call authorities for a free burial.

The warning is in an easy-to-understand comic book titled “Ebola Must Go: Bury All Dead Bodies Safely.” The 10-page book tells family and friends to stay three feet away from the body and let aid workers clean up.

At actual burial, five family members will be allowed to participate. “Five members of the family will be able to attend the burial. They will not travel with the burial team. The family can stand 15 feet away. A religious leader can come. The family can chose a gravestone for the family member,” according to the comic book. (Read more from this story HERE)

Thousands Delayed After Incredible Emergency Landing by Virgin Atlantic 747 (+video)

Photo Credit: Virgin.com

Photo Credit: Virgin.com

At least 10,000 passengers flying to and from Gatwick had their flights cancelled when the airport’s single runway closed following an emergency landing. A Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 returned to the Sussex airport for a “non-standard landing procedure”.

The Jumbo jet, flight number VS43, had taken off at 11.44am for the 5,200-mile flight to Las Vegas, with an estimated 450 passengers on board. The flight crew became aware of a problem with the landing gear soon after take-off. The aircraft flew circuits over southern England while burning fuel to reduce its weight, and made two low-altitude passes over Gatwick for visual inspection of the undercarriage.

The aircraft landed safely shortly before 4pm, with emergency vehicles in attendance. Nick Hughes, a passenger on the aircraft, told BBC Radio 5 Live: “Initially they didn’t reveal everything to the passengers. After we’d circled a few times you got the sense things weren’t quite right. They gave every opportunity for the landing gear to open, but unfortunately it never did.

“The actual landing was one of the softest landings I’d ever had. The crew were exemplary.”

The aircraft remained on the runway for more than three hours after the landing, closing the airport to arrivals and departures. (Read more about the incredible emergency landing HERE)

Six Hackers Identified in Sony Hack, One a Former Employee

hackersNorse, the cybersecurity firm that first identified a potential insider in the massive November hack of Sony Pictures, believes it’s uncovered evidence on six individuals primarily involved in the attack, including one former Sony employee with ”extensive knowledge of the company’s network and operations.”

Senior vice president at Norse Kurt Stammberger told the Security Ledger late Sunday the company has identified six people “with direct involvement in the hack,” two of whom are based in the U.S. along with one in Canada, Singapore and Thailand.

The list also includes a former decade-long Sony veteran who “worked in a technical role” and was laid off in May. Norse previously identified the ex-employee as “Lena,” and said she claimed to have connection to the “Guardians of Peace” hacker group that took credit for the attack against Sony, which has so far resulted in leaked employee information, executives’ emails, unreleased films and the limiting of “The Interview” theatrical release in response to a terrorist threat.

The FBI has attributed all of the above to North Korea due to the film’s plot, which centers around an attempt to assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. (Read more about the hackers identified HERE)

Healthy Quadruplets Born After Life-Saving Prenatal Surgical Operation

mother of quadruplets[Editor’s note: The photo to your left is of the mother, Ashley Gardner, immediately after she found out that she was pregnant with quadruplets. Her husband, Tyson, took the picture]

A Utah couple whose journey through in-vitro fertilization captivated the nation welcomed quadruplets — two sets of identical twins — Sunday.

Ashley and Tyson Gardner said they are “overwhelmed with joy” after the birth of Indie, Esme, Scarlett and Evangeline by Caesarean section at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo. Three of the newborns weighed a little more than 2 pounds at delivery. The fourth weighed slightly less than 2 pounds, according to the hospital.

The Gardners announced the news on the Facebook page where they share news about the pregnancy.

“Mom and babies are doing incredible!!! We are so happy with how everything turned out today! The doctors, nurses, and staff were incredible!! More updates to follow soon!!”

The Pleasant Grove couple conceived two sets of identical twins this summer with the help of in-vitro fertilization. In October, Ashley Gardner had emergency laser surgery in California to save one set suffering from twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, the hospital. (Read more about the life-saving prenatal surgical operation HERE)

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Elijah’s Story: A Life Saved Before Birth

By Josh Siegel. If not for this rare operation, done before Elijah’s birth to stop the tumor from smothering his heart and right lung, Elijah never would have walked the earth.

“He would have died,” says Elijah’s primary surgeon, Dr. Scott Adzick of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “No question. He would have died if the operation were not done before birth.”

But today Elijah lives—cautiously—as if at 2 years old, he already understands the fragility of life.

“He walks through life making sure he is going to be OK,” says April Leffingwell, Elijah’s mother, describing her son — a model of a boy with golden hair, pink cheeks and soft features who keeps strong eye contact with people near him, as if he has a lifetime of experiences and can relate to what they’re saying.

Last week, as part of a series on fetal surgery, The Daily Signal visited the Leffingwells’ apartment in this suburb of Green Bay. (Read more about the life saved before birth HERE)

2014 World Cup Soccer Star Says Faith in Christ is the Key (+video)

Tim HowardAmerican soccer goalie Tim Howard pointed beyond practice and talent to describe his success on the field. The 2014 World Cup star opened up about his faith yesterday on ABC News’ “This Week” to call his “relationship with Jesus Christ” a key to his life. (Read more about the 2014 World Cup soccer star HERE)

NYC Mayor Booed, Called 'Traitor' at NYPD Graduation Ceremony

nypd officersBy Michael Zennie. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio was booed today by the newest members of the New York Police Department as he delivered a speech at the academy graduation ceremony.

Several boos could be heard at Madison Square Garden as de Blasio took the podium in front of 884 newly-minted cops.

At least one cadet could be heard shouting ‘traitor!’ the New York Post reports.

Then, when de Blasio remarked that the new officers would be confronted with problems they didn’t make, someone from the crowd shouted, ‘You created them!’ The heckler was met with applause and cheering. (Read more about the story, “NYC Mayor Booed” HERE)

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NYPD Officers Turning a Blind Eye to Minor Crimes

By Dave Sherfinski. In the wake of the murders of two police officers in New York, some NYPD cops are letting minor crimes slide and a two-car response directive from the police union is hindering response times, according to the New York Post.

An NYPD supervisor told the Post that his policemen are writing almost no summonses and “probably only making arrests when they have to – like when a store catches a shoplifter.”

The Post said the officers were behaving in a “scared” after two of their colleagues were assassinated while sitting in a patrol car two weeks ago.

The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association’s directive for police to respond with at least two patrol cars is also creating a manpower shortage that’s delaying response times to non-emergencies like burglaries or car crashes to as much as four hours, according to the paper. (Read more from this story HERE)