News & Commentary
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Super-powerful Rail Gun in Development for U.S. Navy Warships
By Brock Vergakis
A super-powerful gun that shoots rounds more than 160 kilometres away — at several times the speed of sound — is being developed for Navy warships.
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Subscriber Question Regarding Home Refinancing Option
Hi Catherine
I’m a home owner in California. My wife and I are trying to refinance our house. Since the housing market has collapse right after we have purchased our home, the value has gone down…
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Seattle to Create Nation’s First Public Food Forest
In the heart of Seattle, a public park is planned like no other: an urban food forest that is free for the plucking!
By Michael Ricciardi
Due to its mild temperatures and routinely wet climate, Seat…
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Windows on The iPad, and Speedy
[CAF Note: Your data is in the clouds. NO PRIVACY! Good luck with this…]
By David Pogue
You’re probably paying something like $60 a month for high-speed Internet. I’m paying $5 a month, and …
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Why Doctors Die Differently
By Ken Murray
Years ago, Charlie, a highly respected orthopedist and a mentor of mine, found a lump in his stomach. It was diagnosed as pancreatic cancer by one of the best surgeons in the country,…
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Wyoming House Advances Doomsday Bill
By Jeremy Pelzer
Cheyenne — State representatives on Friday advanced legislation to launch a study into what Wyoming should do in the event of a complete economic or political collapse in the Uni…
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The ECB Has Opened Pandora’s Box
By Tyler Durden
“…they [ECB] can exempt themselves from a “collective action clause” then they can exempt themselves from any clause, in any sovereign indenture, for any European country. The fact …
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Software Startups Reaped Lions Share of Venture Capital Investment in Fourth Quarter
By Peter Delevett
Maybe they should start calling it Software Valley.
Venture capitalists, who provide much of the funding that keeps startups growing, poured twice as much money into software comp… -
Hidden “Agent Orange” Chemical They Want to Sneak into Your Food
By Dr. Mercola
Agent Orange, produced by both Monsanto and Dow Chemicals, was used to defoliate jungles during the Vietnam War.
During that time, millions of gallons of the toxic chemical mixture we…
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Evidence of Market Manipulation in The Financial Crisis
* The Solari Gold Star signifies a “must read” article.
“When 100 million shares are borrowed on a single day and then returned on a single day, the evidence that this is a concerted action is hard…
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Harvard Creates Mass Produced Robotic Insects
By Staff Writers
A new technique inspired by elegant pop-up books and origami will soon allow clones of robotic insects to be mass-produced by the sheet. Devised by engineers at Harvard, the ingeni…
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Girl Severely Injured at NY Private School
By Jenny Anderson
More than three months after a 14-year-old girl was kicked in the head and severely injured by fellow students at the Brearley School’s Halloween event, the school has concluded…
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Global Clearinghouse Ready to Shut Out Iranian Banks
Image Credit: Bloomberg
Move would sever regime’s financial lifeline
By Gulf News
Brussels: A financial clearinghouse used by virtually every country and major corporation in the world agreed on F…
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Test Tube Hamburgers to be Served This Year
Photo: PA
The world’s first test tube hamburger will be served up this October after scientists perfected the art of growing beef in the lab.
By Nick Collins
By generating strips of meat from stem…
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Italian Police Seize $6 trillion of “Fake” U.S. T-bonds
That always could be a pretty good way of liquidating the national debt — repudiate the bonds as forgeries.
– Chris Powell
Potenza, Italy — Italian police said toay they had seized about $6 trilli… -
FHA Pronounces Budget Problems Gone, Thanks to Foreclosure Fraud Settlement
By: David Dayen
The Administration’s FY 2013 budget predicts a large shortfall for the Federal Housing Administration, which has predictably suffered during the housing crisis. But the FHA’s Acti…
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Hacking Star Fleet Command Records
From Wikipedia
Gary McKinnon (born 10 February 1966) is a Scottish systems administrator and hacker who has been accused of what one U.S. prosecutor claims is the “biggest military computer hack …
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CME Said to Bid for London Metal Exchange as NYSE Explores Possible Offer
By Matthew Leising and Agnieszka Troszkiewicz
CME Group Inc. (CME) has made a bid for the London Metal Exchange as the world’s largest metals futures market plans a meeting next week to consider …
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Is Agriculture Sucking Fresh Water Dry?
By Sid Perkins
The average American uses enough water each year to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool, and global agriculture consumes a whopping 92% of all fresh water used annually. Those are th…
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Trustee’s Summary of What Happened at MF Global
News Release
February 8, 2012STATUS UPDATE FROM THE OFFICE OF JAMES W. GIDDENS, TRUSTEE FOR THE LIQUIDATION OF MF GLOBAL INC., CONCERNING THE TRUSTEE’S INVESTIGATION
HIGHLIGHTS
Trustee’s summary…
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National Settlement Executive Summary
My comments on settlement summary
Carolyn A. Betts
Click to read notes
Related reading:
Settlement Executive Summary (PDF)
atg.wa.govNational Mortgage Settlement: Bank Forecloses Even As Carri…
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‘Cash Mobs’: Flash Mobs go to Bat for Small Local Businesses
By msnbc.com staff and NBC News
Emery’s 5 & 10 is believed to be oldest family-owned five-and-dime store in the U.S. But the store is struggling, the victim — like its neighboring businesses — of…
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You are American, I am Iranian…
Related reading:
Marjane Satrapi
WikipediaMarjane Satrapi – Books
The GuardianBook LIst
Random HouseYou may post questions or comments for Catherine at the bottom of this blog post (click…
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Government Benefits Map
The share of Americans’ income that comes from government benefit programs, like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, more than doubled over the last four decades, rising from 8 percent in 1969 t…
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Willie Nelson and 300,000 Other Activists Sue Monsanto
Singer, songwriter and American poet Willie Nelson.
By Jane Ayers, Nation of Change
Little did Willie Nelson know when he recorded “Crazy” years ago just how crazy it would become for our cherished …
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Greece Won’t See a Cent of the Great Bail-out
Here was the real face of the Greek people: workers and students, …
By Andrew Lilico
Over the weekend, the Greek parliament voted to accept Europe’s latest demands for spending cuts and tax rise…
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The Hit Worked! US Financials Gain Market Share
By Robert Friedman, William Ahearn
With assistance from Elena Logutenkova in Zurich.The biggest U.S. banks captured the highest share of global trading revenue in at least two years as their count…
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More Doctors ‘Fire’ Vaccine Refusers
Dr. Allan LaReau in Michigan stops treating families who refuse to vaccinate their children. ‘You feel badly about losing a nice family,’ he says.
By Shirley S. Wang
Pediatricians fed up with parent…
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You Do Not Know Them
By LJ Goes
I just put my son Noah to bed. His brother and sister went into his room and showered him with kisses. Then I tucked him in. It went like this.
Me: Good Night Buddy, I love you.
Noah…
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Seen Driving Into Palm Springs This Weekend
[click on the image for a larger version]
You may post questions or comments for Catherine at the bottom of this blog post (click on blog post title above, this will take you to the page to view…
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Start-Ups Look for a Shortcut From Farm to Table
By Jessica E. Vascellaro
Silicon Valley start-ups are trying to re-create the milkman.
A host of new tech companies are creating ways to buy food directly from local food producers, cutting out gr…
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The “Hit” Campaign on the US Constitution Continues
By Noah Feldman
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter had a close shave with public embarrassment recently — which might seem impossible for a man who has been dead for almost 33 years.
H…
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Obama Uses Budget to Set Election-Year Priorities
By Jackie Calmes
Washington — President Obama’s final budget request of his term amounts to his agenda for a desired second term, with tax increases on the affluent and cuts in spending, especi…
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Feds Shut Down Amish Farm for Selling Fresh Milk
By Stephen Dinan
“I can’t believe in 2012 the federal government is raiding Amish farmers at gunpoint all over a basic human right to eat natural food,” said one, who asked not to be named but who …
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Missing Settlement Document Raises Doubts on $25B Deal
By Jeff Horwitz and Kate Davidson
More than a day after the announcement of a mammoth national mortgage servicing settlement, the actual terms of the deal still aren’t public. The website created f…
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US Bases Surrounding Iran
[click on the image for a larger version]
Each star is a US base…
Continue reading the article . . .
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Whitney Houston: 1963-2012
The Daily News looks back at her remarkable life and career. Here, she performs at Madison Square Garden on September 1987.
Related reading:
Whitney Houston
WikipediaWhitney Houston – I Will Alw…
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Greek Police Union Wants to Arrest EU/IMF Officials
By Reuters
Greece’s largest police union has threatened to issue arrest warrants for officials from the country’s European Union and International Monetary Fund lenders for demanding deeply unpopul…
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Why Is Gasoline Consumption Tanking?
By Charles Hugh Smith
Gasoline deliveries reflect recession and growth. The recent drop in retail gasoline deliveries is signalling a sharp contraction ahead.
Mish recently posted some intriguing ch…
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Final National Bank Foreclosure Fraud Settlement
By Carolyn A. Betts, Esq.
Who Is Participating
By now you have heard that the attorneys general of all US states, save Oklahoma, have entered into a national federal/state settlement with the follo…
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Critics Slam SSL Authority for Minting Certificate for Impersonating Sites
A subordinate certifcate issued by Trustwave was used to monitor people accessing SSL-protected services on a customer’s internal network
By Dan GoodinThe so-called subordinate root certificate all…
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President Obama Banks at JP Morgan Chase Private Banking
Barack Obama (D-Ill)
Net Worth: From $2,802,012 to $11,830,000
Assets: 8 totaling $2,802,012 to $11,830,000
Income: 5 totaling $358,334Personal finance profiles of …
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Looks Like Romney Banks at Bank of America
Personal finance profiles of recent years view here.
Bank of America page 71
Willard M. Romney – 2011 Tax Return
Related reading:
Wall Street Investing in Romney
The Washington Post (20 July 11… -
Madigan, Federal Government & State Attorneys General Secure $25 Billion Settlement With Nation’s Five Largest Banks
Washington — Attorney General Lisa Madigan today joined with her counterparts in other states and the federal government to announce a $25 billion settlement with the nation’s five largest bank …
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City Of Berkeley Plans To Pull $300M Out Of Wells Fargo
By Beth Buczynski
In what may be the most damaging blow to Big Banks since the overwhelming success of Bank Transfer Day in late 2011, the City of Berkeley recently announced its intention to withd…
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Treasury Backs Annuities in Retirement Plans
By Mary Beth Franklin
American retirement security now ranks as a top concern of the White House, right up there with unemployment and the federal budget deficit. In a joint announcement Thursday, …
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The Insiders Are Selling Heavily
By Mark Hulbert
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (MarketWatch) — Corporate insiders are now selling their companies’ stock at a rate not seen since late last July.
That’s a scary parallel indeed, since that …
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U.S. Sets Money-Market Plan
YouTube
The SEC aims to stabilize the $2.7 trillion money-market fund industry, but critics say rules would cut returns, Andrew Ackerman reports on Markets Hub.
By Andrew Ackerman and Kirsten Grin…
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Woman’s Jaw Reproduced by 3D Printer
(Credit: LayerWise)
The transplant demonstrates that precision 3D printing can be effective for both bones and organ implants.
By Martin Lamonica
An elderly woman has received a replacement titani…
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The Baltic Dry Index
[click on the image for a larger version]
By Bloomberg
Continue reading the article . . .
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‘We the People’ Loses Appeal With People Around the World
By Adam Liptak
Washington — The Constitution has seen better days.
Sure, it is the nation’s founding document and sacred text. And it is the oldest written national constitution still in force…
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Facebook Is Using You
By Lori Andrews
Last week, Facebook filed documents with the government that will allow it to sell shares of stock to the public. It is estimated to be worth at least $75 billion. But unlike other …
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A Place For Conversation
By Diane Lorence
The following photographs are of our home in the mountains of northern California. The house was designed by my husband, Michael Anthony Lorence, who is a private confidant to peop…
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The Numbers Are In: Find Out Just How Many Americans Have Ditched Their Banks
By Mandi Woodruff
Finally, we’ve got some cold, hard stats on how badly banks are hurting from November’s Bank Transfer Day movement.
A new report by Javelin Strategy & Research estimates a st…
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U.S. Indicts Wegelin Bank
View Indictment
By Lynnley Browning
The United States indicted Wegelin, the oldest Swiss private bank, on charges that it enabled wealthy Americans to evade taxes on at least $1.2 billion hidden in …
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Panetta Believes Israel May Strike Iran This Spring
By The Telegraph
United States Defense Secretary Leon Panetta believes there is a growing possibility Israel will attack Iran as early as April to stop Tehran from building a nuclear bomb, accordin…
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Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act Threatens Activism
(photo: Advocacy for Animals – Britannica)
By Will Potter, Jurist
A recent undercover investigation into one of the nation’s largest egg producers, Sparboe Farms, documented hens mangled in cage wi…
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A Culture of $20 Scams
By Catherine Austin Fitts
At Solari, we watch our vendor and financial accounts like a hawk. We find it is the only way to stop a contagion of mistakes, frauds and scams that just keep growing throug…
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Facebook Set to File For $5 Billion IPO
The “lead left” bank leads the IPO underwriting process — its name in the upper-left-hand corner of the actual prospectus — and typically receives higher fees than the other banks in the syn…
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Obama Approval Above 50% in 10 States and D.C. in 2011
By Jeffrey M. Jones
In 10 states plus the District of Columbia, a majority of residents approved of the job Barack Obama was doing as president last year, according to aggregated data from 2011. His …
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$10 billion Deutsche Boerse, NYSE Merger Blocked
By Yahoo Finance
The European Union on Wednesday blocked the Deutsche Boerse’s planned merger with NYSE Euronext, a $10 billion deal that would have created the world’s largest financial exchange ope…
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CBO Report – OMG!
By Bruce Krasting
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is out with its annual report. It’s a blockbuster. This 165 page monster is filled with dozens of charts, graphs and detailed projections…
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Loans to Chilean Entrepreneurs
Having received another repayment, I just made my next loan at Kiva.org to a group of entrepreneurs in Padre de las Casas a community in southern Chile.
In this Group: Cristina, Sandra…
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Catherine in the Rogue Valley
Photo by M. Baraka
Catherine will report on her events in Oregon on this week’s Solari Report.
Related reaing:
Catherine Austin Fitts In Your Neighborhood
(28 Jan 12)Solari Report Blog Commentar…
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The Coming Tech-led Boom
Three breakthroughs are poised to transform this century as much as telephony and electricity did the last.
By Mark P. Mills and Julio M. Ottino
In January 1912, the United States emerged from a t…
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Wegelin Clients Pulled $4 bln, Prompting Sale-paper
By Reuters
Clients pulled some 4 bln Sfr of wealth in short time
Ex-UBS CEO Gruebel: More US attacks on Swiss banks likely
Gruebel: Solution to US tax row will likely … -
Audit: U.S. Defense Department Can’t Account for Billions for Iraq
By CNN’s Josh Levs
The U.S. Defense Department cannot account for about $2 billion it was given to cover Iraq-related expenses and is not providing Iraq with a complete list of U.S.-funded reconstru…
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Money From MF Global Feared Gone
By Scott Patterson and Aaron Lucchetti
Nearly three months after MF Global Holdings Ltd. collapsed, officials hunting for an estimated $1.2 billion in missing customer money increasingly believe th…
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This Is Europe’s Scariest Chart
Youth Unemployment Across Europe %
[click on the image for a larger version]
Continue reading the article . . .
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Core Economic Growth Slowed Sharply In Q4
By Joe Weisenthal
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Continue reading the article . . .
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Greek Researchers Show Crucial Regions of the Brain Related to Learning, Memory, Alzheimer’s Impacted by Whole Body EMF Exposure in Animals
By Emily
A Greek scientific study led by Adamantia Fragopoulou and Lukas Margaritis has demonstrated important protein changes in the brain of animals following whole body exposure to RF electromag…
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Planning For Failure – Strategies to Protect Yourself in 2012
Strategic initiatives to protect yourself from security breaches
By Rick Holland
Last week I did a webcast, Planning for Failure, which makes the assumption that if you haven’t been breached, it i…
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The Summers Memo
By Ryan Lizza – The New Yorker 23 Jan 12
In a piece this week on Barack Obama’s shift from idealism to pragmatism, I describe an important fifty-seven-page document from Lawrence Summers to Preside…
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Fed Expects to Keep Interest Rates Near Zero
By Don Lee
The Federal Reserve announces a subdued outlook for growth in the U.S. economy, as well as its intention to keep short-term interest rates near zero through late 2014.
The Federal Reser…
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Bernanke Makes Case for More Bond Buying
Photographer: Zhang Yan/Xinhua/eyevine/Redux
By Caroline Salas Gage and Craig Torres
Ben S. Bernanke laid the groundwork for a third round of large-scale asset purchases should unemployment remain h…
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All The World’s Gold
[click on the image to view article]
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Davos Elites to Seek Reforms of ‘Outdated’ Capitalism
Economic and political elites meeting this week at the Swiss resort of Davos will be asked to urgently find ways to reform a capitalist system that has been described as “outdated and crumbling.”
“…
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All the Money on the Planet vs. MegaUpload
By Simon Black
With over 150 million registered users, the file sharing site MegaUpload.com is one of the most popular on the Internet. At least, it was.
[click on the image for a larger version]
…
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Intelligence Support to Military Operations
By Secrecy News
From the Federation of Scientists Project on Government SecrecyThe Joint Chiefs of Staff have produced updated doctrine on intelligence support to military operations. The new do…
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The Caging of America
Six million people are under correctional supervision in the U.S.—more than were in Stalin’s gulags. Photograph by Steve Liss.
By Adam Gopnik
A prison is a trap for catching time. Good reportin…
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Mystery Fish
Illustrations by Tom Garrett
Source: December 2011 Consumer Reports Magazine.
Americans spent $80.2 billion on seafood last year, $5 billion more than in 2009, but they aren’t always buying what th…
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Obama to Use Pension Funds of Ordinary Americans to Pay for Bank Mortgage “Settlement”
By Yves Smith
Obama’s latest housing market chicanery should come as no surprise. As we discuss below, he will use the State of the Union address to announce a mortgage “settlement” by Federa…
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Good Times in Montana
By Catherine Austin Fitts
I’ve had a wonderful time in Montana.
The Solari team got lots accomplished. We’ve enjoyed some beautiful snow storms, so the snowboarders and skiers are happy! Best of…
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Gold-market Rigging Has Many Whistleblowers; They’re Just Always Ignored
By: Chris Powell, Secretary/Treasurer, GATA
Remarks by Chris Powell
Secretary/Treasurer, Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.
Vancouver Resource Investment Conference
Vancouver Convention Center W… -
Scientists Reconstruct Brains’ Visions Into Digital Video In Historic Experiment
By Jesus Diaz
UC Berkeley scientists have developed a system to capture visual activity in human brains and reconstruct it as digital video clips.
Continue reading the article . . .
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Entrepreneur Catherine Austin Fitts on Understanding Global Finance
[arve url=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/tUVfA2JOjKc” frameborder=”0″ width=”325″ height=”242″>
YouTube
(21 Jan 12) -
First Kenguru Electric Vehicle Rolls Off the Line in Pflugerville
The Kenguru electric vehicle designed to be driven in a wheelchair
The first Kenguru—the small, yellow electric vehicle designed to be driven in a wheelchair—was unveiled Thursday in Pflugerville…
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Megaupload Attempting to Get Back Online
Left to right: Bram Van der Kolk, Mathias Ortmann, Fin Batato and Kim Dotcom in court today.
By Kirsty Johnston
Website Megaupload.com, which was shut down by authorities over allegations that it …
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Response to Catherine’s Letter RE PIPA
Dear Ms. Fitts,
Thank you for taking the time to contact my office regarding S.968, the ‘Preventing Real Online Threats to Economics Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011,’ or PRO…
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Big Media Strikes Back: SOPA and PIPA
YouTube
(18 Jan 12) -
GM Becomes World’s Top Selling Automaker in 2011
[click on the image for a larger version]
Source: Reuters
General Motors Co reclaimed its title as the world’s top selling automaker for the first time since 2007, after sales of more than 9 millio…
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Democratic Allies Battle For New Ohio House Seat
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, and U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Cleveland
By Bill Rice
Rep. Dennis Kucinich is most in his element when he’s fighting against social injustice.
Wherever he sees a…
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SOPA Getting a Face-Lift: How Evil Will It Be?
By David Kravets
The House version of the Stop Online Piracy Act, the proposed anti-piracy legislation that drew a planned and widespread internet revolt Wednesday, is likely to undergo a radical ov…
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Tell Congress To Undo The NDAA, Ban Indefinite Military Detention Of Americans
President Obama just signed the National Defense Authorization Act into law despite startling provisions that will allow the military to indefinitely detain American citizens. It’s a travesty, def…
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Former Wall Street Investment Banker to Visit Valley
Catherine Austin Fitts will speak during several stops.
Source: Mail Tribune
Project Rogue Valley will host financial expert Catherine Austin Fitts Jan. 26 and 27. Fitts, a former senior partner a…
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Report on Sheriff Mack – PayPal Froze Funds
Note from Catherine: We have been informed that Paypal has frozen Sheriff Richard Mack’s accounts. We are asking for prayers for all concerned. Here is the report:
PayPal froze funds ($40,000+) don…
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US Pressured Spain to Implement Online Piracy Law, Leaked Files Shows
US ambassador Alan Solomont wrote: ‘[Spain] has unfortunately failed to finish the job for political reasons, to the detriment of the reputation and economy of Spain’ Photograph: Juan Medina/Reuters
…
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Supporting The Blackout
By Catherine Austin Fitts
As you can see from the posters at the top of our blog, we are supporting the blackout promoted by Wikipedia against SOPA and PIPA.
I have contacted Senator Bob Corker an…
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Wikipedia to Join Wednesday’s SOPA/PIPA Blackout
Photo by Kirsty Wigglesworth – WPA Pool/Getty Images
Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, announced on Twitter Monday that the popular site would go dark in protest of SOPA and PIPA, two controversial …
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The Very Real Danger of Genetically Modified Foods
New research shows that when we eat we’re consuming more than just vitamins and protein. Our bodies are absorbing information, or microRNA.
By Ari LeVaux
Update 1/12: Thanks to science and biology…