Just how deep does the rabbit hole go?
Posts tagged Corruption
CBS News: U.S. State Department Cover-Ups Range From Prostitution Charges To Drug Rings
01 week ago
Source: http://libertycalling.net
Posted by Judy Morris
CBS News: U.S. State Department Cover-Ups Range From Prostitution Charges To Drug Rings
WASHINGTON (CBS DC) – Uncovered documents show the U.S. State Department may have covered up allegations of illegal behavior ranging from sexual assaults to an underground drug ring.
CBS News reports that is has unearthed documents from the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), an internal watchdog agency, that implicate the State Department in a series of misconducts worldwide.
The memo, reported by CBS News’ John Miller, cited eight specific examples, including allegations that a State Department security official in Beirut “engaged in sexual assaults” with foreign nationals hired as embassy guards and the charge and that members of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s security detail “engaged prostitutes while on official trips in foreign countries” — a problem the report says was “endemic.”
Former State Department internal investigator Aurelia Fedenisn told CBS News, “We also uncovered several allegations of criminal wrongdoing in cases, some of which never became cases.”
Often times, other DSS agents were simply told to back off of investigations of high-ranking State Department members. Fedenisn told CBS that “hostile intelligence services” allow criminal behavior to continue.
In one such cover-up, investigators were told to stop probing the case of a U.S. ambassador who was suspected of patronizing prostitutes in a public park. The memo states that the ambassador was permitted to return to his post despite having, “routinely ditched…his protective security detail” in order to “solicit sexual favors from prostitutes.”
Read the rest at CBS, here.
History… Interview with G. Edward Griffin “The Individual vs. The Collective”
01 week ago
History… Interview with G. Edward Griffin “The Individual vs. The Collective”
Posted by TragedyandHopeMag
Published on May 31, 2013
Tonight, on History… So it Doesn’t Repeat: We feature an Interview with an extraordinary filmmaker and author, whose best-known for his book on the American Monetary system, which ranks in the top 50 non-fiction books on Amazon. G. Edward Griffin will share his wisdom, and summarize his experience, from more than 40 years of research, focusing on the struggle of the Individual vs. the Collective. We’ll discover how to identify Tyranny, and how to enact individual Liberty. Mr, Griffin’s websites: http://www.RealityZone.com and http://www.FreedomForceInternational.org
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For more enlightening videos featuring G. Edward Griffin start your search in the ChrisInMaryville Video Library to learn more.
World Bank Insider Blows Whistle on Corruption, Federal Reserve
02 weeks ago
Source: http://www.spreadlibertynews.com
By Alex Newman
A former insider at the World Bank, ex-Senior Counsel Karen Hudes, says the global financial system is dominated by a small group of corrupt, power-hungry figures centered around the privately owned U.S. Federal Reserve. The network has seized control of the media to cover up its crimes, too, she explained. In an interview withThe New American, Hudes said that when she tried to blow the whistle on multiple problems at the World Bank, she was fired for her efforts. Now, along with a network of fellow whistleblowers, Hudes is determined to expose and end the corruption. And she is confident of success.
Citing an explosive 2011 Swiss study published in the PLOS ONE journal on the “network of global corporate control,” Hudes pointed out that a small group of entities — mostly financial institutions and especially central banks — exert a massive amount of influence over the international economy from behind the scenes. “What is really going on is that the world’s resources are being dominated by this group,” she explained, adding that the “corrupt power grabbers” have managed to dominate the media as well. “They’re being allowed to do it.”
According to the peer-reviewed paper, which presented the first global investigation of ownership architecture in the international economy, transnational corporations form a “giant bow-tie structure.” A large portion of control, meanwhile, “flows to a small tightly-knit core of financial institutions.” The researchers described the core as an “economic ‘super-entity’” that raises important issues for policymakers and researchers. Of course, the implications are enormous for citizens as well.
Hudes, an attorney who spent some two decades working in the World Bank’s legal department, has observed the machinations of the network up close. “I realized we were now dealing with something known as state capture, which is where the institutions of government are co-opted by the group that’s corrupt,” she told The New American in a phone interview. “The pillars of the U.S. government — some of them — are dysfunctional because of state capture; this is a big story, this is a big cover up.”
At the heart of the network, Hudes said, are 147 financial institutions and central banks — especially the Federal Reserve, which was created by Congress but is owned by essentially a cartel of private banks. “This is a story about how the international financial system was secretly gamed, mostly by central banks — they’re the ones we are talking about,” she explained. “The central bankers have been gaming the system. I would say that this is a power grab.”
The Fed in particular is at the very center of the network and the coverup, Hudes continued, citing a policy and oversight body that includes top government and Fed officials. Central bankers have also been manipulating gold prices, she added, echoing widespread concerns that The New American has documented extensively. Indeed, even the inaccurate World Bank financial statements that Hudes has been trying to expose are linked to the U.S. central bank, she said.
“The group that we’re talking about from the Zurich study — that’s the Federal Reserve; it has some other pieces to it, but that’s the Federal Reserve,” Hudes explained. “So the Federal Reserve secretly dominated the world economy using secret, interlocking corporate directorates, and terrorizing anybody who managed to figure out that they were having any kind of role, and putting people in very important positions so that they could get a free pass.”
The shadowy but immensely powerful Bank for International Settlements serves as “the club of these private central bankers,” Hudes continued. “Now, are people going to want interest on their country’s debts to continue to be paid to that group when they find out the secret tricks that that group has been doing? Don’t forget how they’ve enriched themselves extraordinarily and how they’ve taken taxpayer money for the bailout.”
As far as intervening in the gold price, Hudes said it was an effort by the powerful network and its central banks to “hold onto its paper currency” — a suspicion shared by many analysts and even senior government officials. The World Bank whistleblower also said that contrary to official claims, she did not believe there was any gold being held in Fort Knox. Even congressmen and foreign governments have tried to find out if the precious metals were still there, but they met with little success. Hudes, however, believes the scam will eventually come undone.
“This is like crooks trying to figure out where they can go hide. It’s a mafia,” she said. “These culprits that have grabbed all this economic power have succeeded in infiltrating both sides of the issue, so you will find people who are supposedly trying to fight corruption who are just there to spread disinformation and as a placeholder to trip up anybody who manages to get their act together.… Those thugs think that if they can keep the world ignorant, they can bleed it longer.”
Of course, the major corruption at the highest levels of government and business is not a new phenomenon. Georgetown University historian and Professor Carroll Quigley, who served as President Bill Clinton’s mentor, for example, wrote about the scheme in his 1966 book Tragedy And Hope: A History Of The World In Our Time. The heavyweight academic, who was allowed to review documents belonging to the top echelons of the global establishment, even explained how the corrupt system would work — remarkably similar to what Hudes describes.
“The powers of financial capitalism had a far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole,” wrote Prof. Quigley, who agreed with the goals but not the secrecy. “This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences. The apex of the system was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world’s central banks which were themselves private corporations.”
But it is not going to happen, Hudes said — at least not if she has something do to with it. While the media are dominated by the “power grabber” network, Hudes has been working with foreign governments, reporters, U.S. officials, state governments, and a broad coalition of fellow whistleblowers to blow the entire scam wide open. There has been quite a bit of interest, too, particularly among foreign governments and state officials in the United States.
Citing the wisdom of America’s Founding Fathers in creating a federal system of government with multiple layers of checks and balances, Hudes said she was confident that the network would eventually be exposed and subjected to the rule of law, stopping the secret corruption. If and when that happens — even if it may be disorderly — Hudes says precious metals will once again play a role in imposing discipline on the monetary system. The rule of law would also be restored, she said, and the public will demand a proper press to stay informed.
“We’re going to have a cleaned-up financial system, that’s where it is going, but in the meantime, people who didn’t know how the system was gamed are going to find out,” she said. “We’re going to have a different kind of international financial system…. It’ll be a new kind of world where people know what’s going on — no more backroom deals; that’s not going to keep happening. We’re going to have a different kind of media if people don’t want to be dominated and controlled, which I don’t think they do.”
While Hudes sounded upbeat, she recognizes that the world is facing serious danger right now — there are even plans in place to impose martial law in the United States, she said. The next steps will be critical for humanity. As such, Hudes argues, it is crucial that the people of the world find out about the lawlessness, corruption, and thievery that are going on at the highest levels — and put a stop to it once and for all. The consequences of inaction would be disastrous.
Image Reference
John Shinkle/POLITICO
Seeds Of Death – Full Movie
03 weeks ago
Seeds Of Death – Full Movie
Screen capture: Seeds Of Death
Posted by Gary Null
In preparation of the global March Against Monsanto, you are invited to watch our award-winning documentary Seeds of Death free.
http://www.march-against-monsanto.com/
The leaders of Big Agriculture–Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta–are determined that world’s populations remain ignorant about the serious health and environmental risks of genetically modified crops and industrial agriculture. Deep layers of deception and corruption underlie both the science favoring GMOs and the corporations and governments supporting them.
This award-winning documentary, Seeds of Death, exposes the lies about GMOs and pulls back the curtains to witness our planet’s future if Big Agriculture’s new green revolution becomes our dominant food supply.
A Question and Answer fact sheet deconstructing Monsanto’s GM claims and Big Agriculture’s propaganda to accompany the film is available online:
http://prn.fm/2013/05/24/gary-null-an…
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Related posts:
“ Doomsday Seed Vault ” in the Arctic
China Destroys 3 US Shipments of GM Corn
US tax dollars promote GM crops overseas
GMOs hiding in almost all food in this country, what are you doing about it?
GMOs: The Walking Dead of the Food Industry
GMOs: Not Even in Moderation
New GMO animation film launched by Infomatic Films and Natural News – must see!
Fact-checking about GMO foods
Scientist: Top Selling Weed Killer – Monsanto’s Roundup – Linked to Infertility
The Battle for Control Over Our Plates
50 Countries Label Genetically Engineered Foods – When Will Americans have the Right to Know and Choose?
Monsanto Launches Damage Control Over GMO/Cancer Study
Ron Paul: Fix IRS by shutting it ‘once and for all’
0Source: http://libertycalling.net
By Judy Morris
Rep. Ron Paul of Texas called the recent IRS fiasco troubling — but writes that the only way Congress can protect the freedoms of Americans from a long pattern of suspected IRS abuse is to “shutter the doors” of the agency “once and for all.”
The longtime GOP congressman writes that IRS agents in the 1930s were essentially “hit squads” against opponents of the New Deal, and that allegations of IRS abuse spanned the administrations of Presidents Kennedy, Nixon, Clinton and George W. Bush.
“The bipartisan tradition of using the IRS as a tool to harass political opponents suggests that the problem is deeper than just a few ‘rogue’ IRS agents — or even corruption within one, two, three or many administrations,” Dr. Paul writes in his weekly column, “Texas Straight Talk. “Instead, the problem [lies] in the extraordinary power the tax system grants the IRS.”
The libertarian and tea party hero goes on to argue that the power of the IRS can only be countered with a complete overhaul to the country’s tax system.
The Biggest, Most Corrupt Bank Scheme That’s Not Being Stopped
01 month ago
Posted by TheYoungTurks
“Conspiracy theorists of the world, believers in the hidden hands of the Rothschilds and the Masons and the Illuminati, we skeptics owe you an apology. You were right. The players may be a little different, but your basic premise is correct: The world is a rigged game. We found this out in recent months, when a series of related corruption stories spilled out of the financial sector, suggesting the world’s largest banks may be fixing the prices of, well, just about everything.”*
The Libor bank scandal has nothing on the newest interest rate swap manipulation scheme where bankers are going completely unchecked. This is a $379 trillion market– why are bankers allowed to manipulate it without restraint? Cenk Uygur breaks it down.
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Yes, a major bank scheme, yes, the game is rigged, and this bank scheme is only one of many.
China passes rules tightening internet controls
05 months ago
Source: http://www.cbc.ca
The Associated Press Posted: Dec 28, 2012 11:19 AM ET Last Updated: Dec 28, 2012 11:13 AM ET
Communist government says regulations will protect web surfers’ personal information
China is increasing tight controls on internet use and electronic publishing after online reports about official abuses. (Alexander F. Yuan/Associated Press)
China’s government tightened controls on internet users today by enacting rules requiring them to register their names, a move made after online postings about graft and abuses rattled the ruling party.
The country’s rubber-stamp legislature approved the internet measures at a closing meeting of a five-day session in Beijing.
Real-name registration will curtail the web’s status as a freewheeling forum to complain, often anonymously, about corruption and official abuses.
The government says the latest regulation is aimed at protecting web surfers’ personal information and cracking down on abuses such as junk email.
The measure will “ensure internet information security, safeguard the lawful rights and interests of citizens, legal entities or other organizations and safeguard national security and social public interests,” the official Xinhua News Agency cited the regulation as stating.
The measure would require network service providers to ask users to provide their real names and other identifying information to allow users to post information publicly or when signing agreements for access to the Internet, fixed telephone lines or mobile phones, Xinhua said.
Beijing promotes internet use for business and education, but bans material deemed subversive or obscene and blocks access to many websites.
Newspaper says online rumours harm public
The main ruling party newspaper, People’s Daily, has called in recent weeks for tighter internet controls, saying rumours spread online have harmed the public. In one case, it said stories about a chemical plant explosion resulted in the deaths of four people in a car accident as they fled the area.
Clashes erupt in Argentina over verdict in sex slave trial
16 months ago
Source: http://rt.com
Protesters have clashed with police in Buenos Aires after the acquittal of 13 people in a high-profile sex-slavery case that sparked public outrage across the country.
Demonstrators took to the streets in the capital and in at least seven provinces, including Tucuman, where the court announced the acquittal. In Buenos Aires, the protesters stormed the Tucuman provincial government’s tourism promotion office, smashing windows and throwing rocks at police, demanding the resignation of the judges who delivered the verdict.
RT’s Spanish channel’s cameraman Maximiliano Lopez Santos was injured in the head by riot police, while filming the demonstration in the Argentine capital.
RT’s Spanish channel’s cameraman Maximiliano Lopez Santos injured by police while filming the Wednesday demonstration in Buenos Aires
The suspects in the case were accused of kidnapping a young woman, Maria de los Angeles “Marita” Veron, and forcing her into prostitution. They were exposed largely as a result of her mother’s decade-long quest to find the missing daughter.
Susana Trimarco’s efforts helped to uncover an underworld of organized crime figures who operate brothels with protection from authorities across the country. But unfortunately the quest has not yet resulted in the discovery of her daughter.
The verdict has been slammed by the public as a major setback for Argentinean justice and efforts to fight sex trafficking.
Security Minister Nilda Garre described the verdict as “a tremendous slap in the face for the prospect of justice.”
“It’s not only a reversal for this particular case of the kidnapping and disappearance of Marita Veron, that made society feel deeply the drama of this kind of 21st century slavery, covered up for decades by the customs of a network of machista culture,” she said.
The high-profile case also attracted attention of the Argentine President Cristina Fernandez who personally called Trimarco to express her surprise and outrage with the verdict.
“I thought I would find her destroyed, but I found her more together than ever, more committed to keep fighting,” Fernandez said. “I told her, `Susana you can always count on me,’ and she told me `President, don’t worry, I’m going to keep fighting.”
The president hinted that judicial corruption could be involved in the case, stressing that there is a need to reform how judges are picked and allowed to remain in their jobs. Meanwhile her political rivals called this campaign an attack on judicial independence.
Demonstrators vandalize the Casa de Tucuman and clash with riot police in Buenos Aires, on December 12, 2012 during a protest against the sentemce that allowed the release of 13 indicted in cases of forced disappearance of women, prostitution and involvement in the case of Marta Veron, disappeared in the province of Tucuman ten years ago (AFP Photo / Alejandro Pagni)
(AFP Photo / Alejandro Pagni)
(AFP Photo / Alejandro Pagni)
(AFP Photo / Alejandro Pagni)
Congressman Ron Paul’s Farewell Speech to Congress (Video & Transcript)
07 months ago
A true statesman and humanitarian, Dr. Ron Paul, simply states the road we are on verses the road we should be on, explaining both consequences and rewards. I feel no individual in office can fill his mighty shoes, but that is not necessary, as the time is now to advance the cause of Freedom and Personal Liberty and the person to carry that cause is you and I, as individuals uniting to create a critical mass, so often mentioned by Bob Schultz and others. The revolution is now in our hands and we each will decide how best to promote the battle for Liberty!
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Video Location: http://rtr.org/vid/5446/congressman-ron-paul-s-farewell-speech-to-congress
Transcript Location: http://www.campaignforliberty.org/national-blog/transcript-of-farewell-address/
Much thanks to Gary Franchi and Matthew Hawes!
Congressman Paul’s final speech on the House floor before leaving Congress
Below is the transcript of Ron Paul’s farewell address to Congress:
Farewell to Congress
This may well be the last time I speak on the House Floor. At the end of the year I’ll leave Congress after 23 years in office over a 36 year period. My goals in 1976 were the same as they are today: promote peace and prosperity by a strict adherence to the principles of individual liberty.
It was my opinion, that the course the U.S. embarked on in the latter part of the 20th Century would bring us a major financial crisis and engulf us in a foreign policy that would overextend us and undermine our national security.
To achieve the goals I sought, government would have had to shrink in size and scope, reduce spending, change the monetary system, and reject the unsustainable costs of policing the world and expanding the American Empire.
The problems seemed to be overwhelming and impossible to solve, yet from my view point, just following the constraints placed on the federal government by the Constitution would have been a good place to start.
How Much Did I Accomplish?
In many ways, according to conventional wisdom, my off-and-on career in Congress, from 1976 to 2012, accomplished very little. No named legislation, no named federal buildings or highways—thank goodness. In spite of my efforts, the government has grown exponentially, taxes remain excessive, and the prolific increase of incomprehensible regulations continues. Wars are constant and pursued without Congressional declaration, deficits rise to the sky, poverty is rampant and dependency on the federal government is now worse than any time in our history.
All this with minimal concerns for the deficits and unfunded liabilities that common sense tells us cannot go on much longer. A grand, but never mentioned, bipartisan agreement allows for the well-kept secret that keeps the spending going. One side doesn’t give up one penny on military spending, the other side doesn’t give up one penny on welfare spending, while both sides support the bailouts and subsidies for the banking and corporate elite. And the spending continues as the economy weakens and the downward spiral continues. As the government continues fiddling around, our liberties and our wealth burn in the flames of a foreign policy that makes us less safe.
The major stumbling block to real change in Washington is the total resistance to admitting that the country is broke. This has made compromising, just to agree to increase spending, inevitable since neither side has any intention of cutting spending.
The country and the Congress will remain divisive since there’s no “loot left to divvy up.”
Without this recognition the spenders in Washington will continue the march toward a fiscal cliff much bigger than the one anticipated this coming January.
I have thought a lot about why those of us who believe in liberty, as a solution, have done so poorly in convincing others of its benefits. If liberty is what we claim it is- the principle that protects all personal, social and economic decisions necessary for maximum prosperity and the best chance for peace- it should be an easy sell. Yet, history has shown that the masses have been quite receptive to the promises of authoritarians which are rarely if ever fulfilled.
President Obama Has Turned Journalists into Criminals
18 months ago
Source: http://amberlyonlive.com
By Amber Lyon
Will tonight’s presidential debate moderator have the balls to address this crucial issue?
If by “change” President Obama meant criminalizing journalism in the United States, then he’s succeeded.
Why should you care? The investigative journalism that Obama has silenced could have exposed more corruption in the U.S. government, military, banking industry; corruption that has caused anguish to numerous Americans. The reports that will never be heard, read, or seen on TV may have led to positive change.
The Obama administration is suffocating investigative journalism at an alarming rate through the abuse of the Espionage Act of 1917, an act more prone to be used to protect government secrecy than national security. Before Obama, the act had been used only three times total since 1917. The current administration has used it six times to go after whistleblowers and the journalists who protect and reveal their information.
President Obama was bold enough to use the Espionage Act to subpoena New York Times journalist James Risen in an attempt to force him to ‘give up’ information on a CIA whistleblower. Risen accused the administration of trying to silence journalists and refused to acquiesce stating,
“Can you have a democracy without aggressive investigative journalism? I don’t believe you can, and that’s why I’m fighting.”
Risen predicted Obama’s attack against him would have an unprecedented chilling effect on mainstream investigative journalism in the US. He was right.
This is a work in progess, a self learning tool and fun little project. Please excuse the slow development as it seems the needed proper time is always lacking. It is my hope that the combination of content and links to other sources of information in this simple blog may help awaken a few of the sleeping masses and encourage and inspire others to initiate their own research, ultimately for each person to be a light to help awaken others. Opinions expressed belong to me, myself and I. Also, a big thank you to all that take the time to visit, it is appreciated :)
