15FEB14 ECSUM

Posted on February 15, 2014 by DRenegade

See additional comments on Tea Party Nation

chart debt ceiling increases

Congress votes to suspend the debt ceiling.

Today marks the close of the first week that Janet Yellen has been in charge of the Federal Reserve Bank. The stock market rose 2.28%, the price of gold rose 4.1% and the price of silver rose 7.45%. The market rise was mainly due to the continuation of the Fed’s stimulus even with tapering. Yellen’s comments below concerning unemployment were taken to mean that the printing presses will continue at breakneck speed.

The Russian Ruble has plunged to a record low and China has announced another shadow bank default. The European Union is considering the confiscation of the savings of the European Union’s 500 million citizens to fund long-term investments to boost the economy and help plug the gap left by banks since the financial crisis. The foreclosure rate on mortgages jumped 57% in California and 8% in the rest of the country.

Michael Snyder has outlined 20 signs that the global economy is about to catch fire (highly recommended reading). And I saved the best for last.  Congress did not vote to raise the debt ceiling, they voted to suspend it completely until after the 2014 elections. As I continue to state, why does anyone believe that the political elites who have raped our country and Constitution will provide any solutions to return our fiscal stability?

David DeGerolamo

 1. Yellen: ‘Too many Americans remain unemployed’

The Fed will continue reducing its stimulus as the economy gradually improves, Janet Yellen told the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday.

Yellen, who was sworn in as Federal Reserve chair last week, stressed that she expects “a great deal of continuity” in Fed policy, following in the footsteps of previous Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Tapering will continue: The Fed has been concerned about lingering long-term unemployment, and is still trying to aid the economy by buying billions in bonds each month. That policy is meant to lower long-term interest rates, which stimulates more borrowing and spending.

More…

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‘Trigger-happy’ cop kills disabled man’s service dog

Posted on February 15, 2014 by DRenegade

When Officer Tarek Hassani responded to a call of dogs running wildly through a Filer, Idaho, neighborhood on Feb. 8, a pair of Labradors – one yellow, one brown – barked and bounded around him like agitated guard dogs.

The video camera on Hassani’s squad car reveals the stunning events that happened next.

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While I do not agree with the officer’s shooting of the dog, the explanation for why a service dog was outside unattended does not make sense. Especially since the officer was called to the area to investigate dogs running loose. Filer, Idaho has no animal control officer.

David DeGerolamo

Related Article:

Support Grows for Filer Police Officer Who Shot Dog

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Loss at Volkswagen plant upends union’s plan for U.S. South

Posted on February 15, 2014 by DRenegade

In a stinging defeat that could accelerate the decades-long decline of the United Auto Workers, Volkswagen AG workers voted against union representation at a Chattanooga, Tennessee plant, which had been seen as organized labor’s best chance to expand in the U.S. South.

The loss, 712 to 626, capped a sprint finish to a long race and was particularly surprising for UAW supporters, because Volkswagen had allowed the union access to the factory and officially stayed neutral on the vote, while other manufacturers have been hostile to organized labor.

UAW spent more than two years organizing and then called a snap election in an agreement with VW. German union IG Metall worked with the UAW to pressure VW to open its doors to organizers, but anti-union forces dropped a bombshell after the first of three days of voting.

Republican U.S. Senator Bob Corker, the former mayor of Chattanooga who helped win the VW plant, said on Wednesday after the first day of voting that VW would expand the factory if the union was rejected.

…

The UAW said it would “evaluate” the conduct in the vote, where 89 percent of eligible workers cast ballots.

“We are outraged at the outside interference in this election. It’s never happened in this country before that a U.S. senator, a governor, a leader of the house, a leader of the legislature here threatened the company with those incentives, threatened workers with the loss of product,” Bob King, the UAW president who has staked his legacy on expanding into the south, said.

UAW membership has plummeted 75 percent since 1979 and now stands at just under 400,000.

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‘Knock That White Boy Out’: Arrests Made After Mob Of Teens Attack Disabled Vet

Posted on February 14, 2014 by DRenegade

File photo of a man in handcuffs (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)Cleveland authorities have made several arrests following the mob beating of a disabled Army veteran by a group of teenagers.

Last Friday, the victim, Matthew Robinson, was surrounded by between six and eight teenagers while riding the RTA Healthline. Robinson told WOIO that he was attacked by the teens, then robbed of his possessions.

During the attack, the teens made several derogatory remarks about Robinson.

“What they were saying was, ‘Knock that boy out!’ ‘White boy.’ ‘Cracker,’” he was quoted as saying about the incident. “They were saying, ‘Knock that white boy out.’”

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Officials discover mass grave in Bangui, Central African Republic

Posted on February 14, 2014 by DRenegade

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oleS4Kp0B64#t=1s

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The FCC Plan To Police The Newsrooms

Posted on February 14, 2014 by DRenegade

First Amendment: The FCC has cooked up a plan to place “researchers” in U.S. newsrooms, supposedly to learn all about how editorial decisions are made. Any questions as to why the U.S. is falling in the free press rankings?

As if illegal seizures of Associated Press phone records and the shadowy tailing of the mother of a Fox News reporter weren’t menacing enough, the Obama administration is going out of its way to institute a new intrusive surveillance of the press, as if the press wasn’t supine enough.

Ajit Pai, a commissioner with the Federal Communications Commission, warned this week in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that a plan to dispatch researchers into radio, television and even newspaper newsrooms called the “Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs” is still going forward, despite the grave danger it presented to the First Amendment.

More…

h/t Roger K

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cc

Posted on February 14, 2014 by Hans

Hey Phil –

WTF would you believe I want to pay State teachers more to indoctrinate Common Core upon our children ?

Stop this nonsense … this is RINO behavior.

Work to privatize education and let the free market determine proper salaries.

Hans Mentha

“[Our situation] illustrates the American idea that governments rest on the consent of the governed, and that it is the right of the people to alter or abolish them whenever they become destructive of the ends for which they were established.”
~ Jefferson Davis

From: Sen. Phil Berger [mailto:Phil.Berger@ncleg.net]
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 2:13 PM
To:
Subject: Senate Update – February 14, 2014

Phil Berger

SENATE UPDATE – February 14, 2014

Raising Starting and Early Career Teacher Pay

This week Gov. McCrory, Lt. Gov. Forest, House Speaker Tillis, and I announced our plan to make North Carolina’s starting teacher salaries among the highest in the Southeast.

The new plan will increase starting and early career teacher pay by $2,200 this year and by an additional $2,000 the following year. This is the first step toward improving teacher and state employee salaries – and we intend to announce pay increases for more teachers and state employees as the revenue outlook becomes clear­er and available.

The other state leaders and I agree, there’s no greater investment we can make than in preparing our kids for the future, and there’s no question that high-quality teachers lead to better student achievement. That’s why we are committed to boosting starting and early career teacher pay to $35,000 over the next two years.

Making North Carolina a regional leader and nationally competitive will help us attract the very best talent to our schools and brand our state as a teaching destina­tion, not a layover.

And because of feedback from educators, we are extending supplemental pay for teachers with Master’s degrees to anyone who has completed a course in a graduate program as of July 1, 2013. It is important to maintain supplemental pay for those who are currently pursuing their Master’s degrees, and this cor­rects a poor decision we made last year.

Thank you to all the teachers in the state of North Carolina. The work you do to educate our children is invaluable. And as stated earlier, this is only the first step in process of increasing pay for more teachers and state employees.

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Who Needs Weight Watchers When We Cannot Afford to Buy Food?

Posted on February 14, 2014 by DRenegade

Weight Watchers (WTW) sank 21 percent to $24.20. Fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share was 58 cents, missing the 61 cents estimated by analysts. Full-year earnings will be between $1.30 and $1.60 per share, the weight-control program provider said.

Source

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Gold Extends Rally Above $1,300 as Investors Boost Metal Holding

Posted on February 14, 2014 by DRenegade

Gold headed for the biggest weekly advance since August as U.S. economic data that trailed estimates increased haven demand, with holdings in the biggest exchange-traded product expanding to an almost two-month high. Silver was set for the longest rally since March 2008.

While the prospect of a reduction in asset purchases by the Federal Reserve helped spur a 28 percent slump in gold in 2013, the cuts to stimulus that began in January hurt emerging-market stocks and currencies and increased gold’s appeal as a haven. Bullion advanced 9.5 percent this year on concern that U.S. growth may be stalling and as the MSCI All-Country World Index of equities retreated 1.3 percent.

“Gold got seriously hammered last year, and with the stock markets not performing as well as expected, some investors are reconsidering their allocation to gold,” Wallace Ng, a Shanghai-based trader at Gemsha Metals Co., said in an interview. “Physical demand this week has been good.”

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Santelli Slams The “Self-Sustaining Recovery” Myth

Posted on February 13, 2014 by DRenegade

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‘I Cannot Bow Down to Islam’

Posted on February 13, 2014 by DRenegade

During the Marion County School Board’s regular meeting in Florida this week, the vice chair of the board shocked parents and colleagues when she went on a bizarre rant about cracking a “code” related to 9/11 and sending it to former President George W. Bush.

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New GOP Entry to the US Senate …

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Hans

 

File:Traitors Gate, London.jpg

Excerpt from story on TheBlaze:

So GOP leaders struggled to find the five GOP votes needed to help the Democrats overcome Cruz’ filibuster.

Reporters crowding the chamber took to Twitter to describe the action, but the Senate was officially silent.

The decisive moment came when top Republicans Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and John Cornyn of Texas, both up for re-election this year, stepped to the well of the Senate and voted “aye.”

That appeared to put the tally at the required 60, but no one could be positive.

Had a Democrat skipped the vote to get out of town ahead of a looming snowstorm? Did the press gallery staff members who unofficially record each tally as a service to the media miss a crucial hand gesture in the initial flurry of votes?

A few minutes later, photocopies of the official tally arrived in the press gallery, showing that six Republicans had switched their votes in solidarity with McConnell, who faces a tea party challenge in a May primary.

The final vote – 67-31 – was posted on the Senate’s web site. But information on who switched votes isn’t available there.

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SUM, ERGO COGITO … (1)

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Hans

Reposted from Western Rifle Shooters Association:

JohnLocke
“Any single man must judge for himself whether circumstances warrant obedience or resistance to the commands of the civil magistrate; we are all qualified, entitled, and morally obliged to evaluate the conduct of our rulers. This political judgment, moreover, is not simply or primarily a right, but like self-preservation, a duty to God. As such it is a judgment that men cannot part with according to the God of Nature. It is the first and foremost of our inalienable rights without which we can preserve no other.”

– John Locke (1632-1704)

English philosopher and political theorist. Considered the ideological progenitor of the American Revolution and who, by far, was the most often non-biblical writer quoted by the Founding Fathers of the USA.

(1) An unusual Source, but worthy of your attention

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DIY Portable Laser Tripwire!

Posted on February 13, 2014 by DRenegade

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ej2YgmP2ig#t=1s

Posted in Editorial, Safety and Preparedness | 1 Comment

20 Signs That The Global Economic Crisis Is Starting To Catch Fire

Posted on February 13, 2014 by DRenegade

Lighting A Match - Photo by Sebastian Ritter

by Michael Snyder

If you have been waiting for the “global economic crisis” to begin, just open up your eyes and look around.  I know that most Americans tend to ignore what happens in the rest of the world because they consider it to be “irrelevant” to their daily lives, but the truth is that the massive economic problems that are currently sweeping across Europe, Asia and South America are going to be affecting all of us here in the U.S. very soon.  Sadly, most of the big news organizations in this country seem to be more concerned aboutthe fate of Justin Bieber’s wax statue in Times Square than about the horrible financial nightmare that is gripping emerging markets all over the planet.  After a brief period of relative calm, we are beginning to see signs of global financial instability that are unlike anything that we have witnessed since the financial crisis of 2008.  As you will see below, the problems are not just isolated to a few countries.  This is truly a global phenomenon.

Over the past few years, the Federal Reserve and other global central banks have inflated an unprecedented financial bubble with their reckless money printing.  Much of this “hot money” poured into emerging markets all over the world.  But now that the Federal Reserve has begun “tapering” quantitative easing, investors are taking this as a sign that the party is ending.  Money is being pulled out of emerging markets all over the globe at a staggering pace and this is creating a tremendous amount of financial instability.  In addition, the economic problems that have been steadily growing over the past few years in established economies throughout Europe and Asia just continue to escalate.  The following are 20 signs that the global economic crisis is starting to catch fire…

#1 The unemployment rate in Greece has hit a brand new record high of 28 percent.

#2 The youth unemployment rate in Greece has hit a brand new record high of 64.1 percent.

#3 The percentage of bad loans in Italy is at an all-time record high.

#4 Italian industrial output declined again in December, and the Italian government is on the verge of collapse.

#5 The number of jobseekers in France has risen for 30 of the last 32 months, and at this point it has climbed to a new all-time record high.

More…

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