Just how deep does the rabbit hole go?
Posts tagged government
Jon Stewart Totally DESTROYS Obama Administration Over IRS Scandal
0The topics mentioned are serious and signs of our sad state of affairs, with issues such as IRS scandal, Benghazi, Monsanto, Fast & Furious, continued wiretapping, etc., some from the video, some additional, but taking a time out for a touch of what I consider some comic relief.
The More Illegal Immigrants That Go On Food Stamps The More Money JP Morgan Makes
02 weeks ago
Source: http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com
By Michael
Recently uncovered documents prove that the Obama administration has been working with the Mexican government to increase the number of illegal immigrants on food stamps, and when more illegal immigrants go on food stamps JP Morgan makes more money. As you will read about below, JP Morgan has made at least 560 million dollars processing Electronic Benefits Transfer cards. Each month, JP Morgan makes between $.31 and $2.30 for every single person on food stamps (and that does not even include things like ATM fees, etc). So JP Morgan has a vested interest in seeing poverty grow and the number of people on food stamps increase. Meanwhile, the Obama administration has been aggressively seeking to expand participation in the food stamp program. Under Obama, the number of people on food stamps has grown from 32 million to more than 47 million. And even though poverty in America is absolutely exploding, that apparently is not good enough for the Obama administration. It has now come out that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has provided the Mexican government with literature that actively encourages illegal immigrants to enroll in food stamps. One flyer contains the following statement in Spanish: “You need not divulge information regarding your immigration status in seeking this benefit for your children.” The bold and the underlining are in the original document in case you were wondering. Overall, federal spending on food stamps increased from 18 billion dollars in 2000 to 85 billion dollars in 2012, and at this point one out of every five U.S. households in now enrolled in the food stamp program. When people illegally or fraudulently enroll in the food stamp program, it makes it harder for those that desperately need the help to be able to get it.
It is certainly a good thing to help fellow Americans that are suffering. It is a crying shame that more than a million public school students in America are homeless. That should not be happening in the “wealthiest nation on earth”.
But today we have a system that has turned poverty into big business. According to an article posted on Breitbart.com, JP Morgan has made at least 560 million dollars (and probably much more) processing EBT cards…
A new report by the Government Accountability Institute finds that JP Morgan has made at least $560,492,596 since 2004 processing the Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards of 18 of the 24 states it has under contract for the food stamp program.
A Daily Beast article provided some more specifics about the monster profits that JP Morgan is making…
Just how lucrative JP Morgan’s EBT state contracts are is hard to say, because total national data on EBT contracts are not reported. But thanks to a combination of public-records requests and contracts that are available online, here’s what we do know: 18 of the 24 states JP Morgan handles have been contracted to pay the bank up to $560,492,596.02 since 2004. Since 2007, Florida has been contracted to pay JP Morgan $90,351,202.22. Pennsylvania’s seven-year contract totaled $112,541,823.27. New York’s seven-year contract totaled $126,394,917.
These contracts are transactional contracts, meaning they are amendable based on changes in program participation. Each month, the three companies that administer EBT receive a small fee that can range from $.31 to $2.30 (or higher depending upon the number of welfare services on an EBT card and state contractual requirements) for each SNAP recipient.
So the more people that are out of work and that need to turn to the government for food, the bigger profits that JP Morgan makes.
What makes all of this even more insulting is that many of the jobs that JP Morgan could be providing to Americans to help alleviate this poverty are being shipped overseas instead. As I noted in a previous article, many EBT card customer service calls are being routed to call centers in India by JP Morgan.
So why doesn’t anyone do anything about this?
Well, it turns out that JP Morgan has the politicians that oversee the food stamp program in their back pocket. The following is from a recent Money Morning article…
And the bank has taken steps to make sure the SNAP program remains a growing source of revenue. JPMorgan’s political donations to the members of House and Senate agricultural committees, the ones with legislative responsibility for the program, soared from just over $82,000 in 2002 to nearly $333,000 as of 2010.
What a wonderful system we have, eh?
And surely JP Morgan just loves the fact that the Obama administration is actively encouraging illegal immigrants to apply for food stamps.
What you are about to read should absolutely shock you. At a time when the U.S. government is absolutely drowning in debt, the Obama administration is making it abundantly clear to illegal immigrants that their immigration status will not be checked when they apply for food stamps. The following is from a recent Judicial Watch press release…
Judicial Watch today released documents detailing how the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is working with the Mexican government to promote participation by illegal aliens in the U.S. food stamp program.
The promotion of the food stamp program, now known as “SNAP” (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), includes a Spanish-language flyer provided to the Mexican Embassy by the USDA with a statement advising Mexicans in the U.S. that they do not need to declare their immigration status in order to receive financial assistance. Emphasized in bold and underlined, the statement reads, “You need not divulge information regarding your immigration status in seeking this benefit for your children.”
The documents came in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made to USDA on July 20, 2012. The FOIA request sought: “Any and all records of communication relating to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to Mexican Americans, Mexican nationals, and migrant communities, including but not limited to, communications with the Mexican government.”
The documents obtained by Judicial Watch show that USDA officials are working closely with their counterparts at the Mexican Embassy to widely broaden the SNAP program in the Mexican immigrant community, with no effort to restrict aid to, identify, or apprehend illegal immigrants who may be on the food stamp rolls.
You can see a copy of the flyer right here.
So who pays for all of this?
You do of course.
The Obama administration is doing all that it can to promote illegal immigration, and big banks such as JP Morgan just make bigger profits the more illegal immigration that we see, but it is you and I that end up with the bill. This was put beautifully in a recent article by Mike Adams of NaturalNews.com…
Nearly $75 billion of taxpayer money is spent each year on federal food stamps, and it turns out some of that is alarmingly being handed out to illegal immigrants — people who contribute nothing to the federal tax base in America but who seem to be experts on collecting social welfare benefits of all kinds. If you are working for a living, you are buying food for illegals who are being actively recruited by Obama and the democratic party so that they will vote more democrats into office.
When we reward illegal immigration, what happens?
That’s right – we are just going to get even more illegal immigration.
According to WND, we have already started seeing a huge increase in illegal immigrants coming across the border since Congress began debating the amnesty bill…
Illegal border crossings have doubled, and possibly even tripled, since the latest congressional push began toward comprehensive immigration reform.
In reporting first published by Townhall.com’s Katie Pavlich, border patrol agents in the Tucson/Nogales sector claim illegals are coming here in much higher numbers in just the past few months.
“We’ve seen the number of illegal aliens double, maybe even triple since amnesty talk started happening,” an unnamed border agent said to Townhall. The data from Customs and Border Protection cited in the report shows 504 illegals were detected crossing in that sector between Feb. 5 and March 1. Only 189 were caught on camera, and just 174 of the 504 were apprehended. Of those spotted on camera, 32 were carrying huge packs believed to contain drugs and several were heavily armed.
If that bill is passed, it is being projected that it will bring 33 million more people into this country…
The pending Senate immigration bill would bring a minimum of 33 million people into the country during its first decade of operation, according to an analysis by NumbersUSA, a group that wants to slow the current immigration rate.
By 2024, the inflow would include an estimated 9.2 million illegal immigrants, plus 2.5 million illegals who arrived as children — dubbed ‘Dreamers’ — plus roughly 3.4 million company-sponsored employees with university degrees, said the unreleased analysis.
The majority of the inflow, or roughly 17 million people, would consist of family members of illegals, recent immigrants and of company-sponsored workers, according to the NumbersUSA analysis provided to The Daily Caller.
We have made legal immigration a complete and total nightmare while leaving the back door completely wide open at the same time.
We greatly punish those who are trying to do things legally while at the same time we are greatly rewarding those that are cheating the system.
What kind of sense does that make?
Shouldn’t we insist that everyone come in through the front door?
Those that are coming over our borders illegally know what the score is…
Linda Vickers, who owns a ranch in Brooks County, which is Ground Zero for the immigration debate, pins the blame directly on talk of ‘amnesty’ and a ‘path to citizenship’ for people who entered the U.S. illegally.
She recalls one man being arrested on her ranch not long ago.
“The Border Patrol agent was loading one man up, and he told the officer in Spanish, ‘Obama’s gonna let me go’.”
Border Patrol agents report that immigrants are crossing the border, and in some cases surrendering while asking, “Where do I go for my amnesty?”
We are already becoming a poverty-stricken nation. We simply can’t afford to feed millions upon millions of illegal immigrants as well.
As I write this, the U.S. national debt is $16,758,107,082,298.63.
We now have a debt to GDP ratio of about 105 percent.
In the United States today, the amount of money that is deposited in our banks is about 9.3 trillion dollars. If we took every penny of that and used it to pay off the national debt, we would still owe more than 7 trillion dollars.
We are stealing more than 100 million dollars from future generations of Americans every single hour of every single day to pay our bills, and yet everyone seems to think that this is “normal” somehow.
The truth is that what we are doing is absolutely criminal, and we should all be ashamed.
For much more on our exploding national debt, please see the following article: “55 Facts About The Debt And U.S. Government Finances That Every American Voter Should Know“.
In the end, it should be apparent to everyone that our system is failing. Our government is corrupt, our big banks are consumed with greed and most average Americans are so addicted to entertainment that they have absolutely no idea what is going on.
What would those that bled and died for this country think about what we have become today?
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For more articles by Michael please visit http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com
Which companies help protect your data from the government (An important infographic)
03 weeks ago
Source: http://www.againstcronycapitalism.org
The folks at the Electronic Frontier Foundation do such good work. Everyone who cares about freedom in the online world should send them a check (or some bitcoin.)
Click here for the article from Reason.
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See where the companies you use stand regarding your internet freedom.
The Early Stages of ObamaCare
0Source: http://karendecoster.com
Here is a great talk given at The 21 Convention in 2012, by Doug McGuff, MD, a prominent member of the ancestral health (paleo-primal) community: “Fitness, Health, and Liberty.” Doug, an emergency room physician, is well known for his ‘Body By Science‘ program, a high-intensity interval training program.
This is an important presentation because Doug presents the historical picture on how the physician-patient relationship went from a fiduciary relationship between provider and consumer to a 3rd party morass of collectivized medicine that sacrificed individual services to the needs of the masses in general in order to conform to the rules outlined by the medical establishment-insurance industry alliance.
While it is easy to blame the Democrats or blame Obama for the nationalization of medical care, this system began to form many years ago under the auspices of self-serving medical practitioners who built alliances with the government-medical establishment in the pursuit of rent-seeking arrangements. Dr. McGuff notes that doctors, who had short-term gains in mind, ultimately sacrificed their profession to these pursuits and thus “set into motion the long-term unintended consequences that resulted in their ultimate enslavement.”
His discussion of the formation of the “Blues” plans to guarantee payment for services while receiving tax-exempt status in exchange for community ratings is spot on. Community ratings, that did not allow for discrimination based on individual health status, were the beginnings of socialized medicine and thus opened the door to moral hazard and the current system of pre-paid medical care that defies all the principles of personal accountability and the free market.
This presentation is 72 minutes, but it is worth every minute of your time. I work in this industry and can tell you that Dr. McGuff has presented the best short timeline I have seen on the topic of how 3rd-party insurance and government-business alliances came to destroy the U.S. health care system. Dr. McGuff is also a libertarian, as if you can’t tell by the presentation.
Government School’s Communist Thought Indoctrination Process
22 months ago
Trying to make sense of the seemingly insane policies of those government run ( and others) schools and the agenda behind it all.
Source: http://www.lewrockwell.com
By Becky Akers
And She Quotes Isabel Paterson!
Vanessa Richardson tells me she is “a homeschool mom. My son” – and, presumably, her student – “and I made a video in regards to the insane over-reaction of school officials over toy/imaginary guns in schools.” Her video not only exposes the ideology behind Leviathan’s demonizing of self-defense but provides a powerful inducement to teach your children at home – all in only 6 minutes and 22 seconds!
Enjoy.
Administrative Bloat in US Public Schools
02 months ago
Source: http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com
Only to bureaucrats can the idea occur that establishing new offices, promulgating new decrees, and increasing the number of government employees alone can be described as positive and beneficial measures.-Ludwig von Mises
(Chart via Mark Perry)
the Organic Review: Whole Foods Grocery Store Pledges to Label GMOs
0Source: http://spreadlibertynews.com
By Ali Papademetriou
Do you remember last fall when Whole Foods got slandered by the organic, anti-GMO community for willingly selling products containing genetically modified ingredients? Well, it seems as though it’s had a change of heart.
As was reported by the Associated Press, Whole Foods markets has announced that by 2018, all of its North American stores will have products containing GMOs labeled as such. Regardless of Whole Foods being known as a “natural” and organic supermarket, it does indeed sell products that contain genetically modified ingredients, such as soy lecithin and modified cornstarch.
Its disposition to sell such products is what got them in trouble with passionate organic and non-GMO shoppers. Many were discouraged to discover that their trustworthy supermarket had essentially sold its soul to the devil by offering those potentially dangerous products.
A.C. Gallo, president of Whole Foods, mentioned that currently, the Inc. is experiencing an increasing demand for products that are made or grown without genetically engineered organisms. He also noted that products that are labeled as “Non-GMO” yield sale growths from fifteen to thirty percent.
Many shoppers are undoubtedly jovial over Whole Foods’ decision to please the consumer, and label its products containing GMOs. This is an outstanding example of what a free market is all about and why it is unnecessary for the government to intervene when it comes to the food industry.
If shoppers are angered about a company’s products (Whole Foods selling GMOs), then it is up to the shoppers to protest and not help the company thrive. Because Whole Foods shoppers stopped giving their business to their market that had disappointed so many, it realized it needed to turn around if it wanted to continue to pull in successful trades.
Not only is this decision by Whole Foods proving to be a success for organic, anti-GMO consumers, but it’s also a success for free market advocates.
Image Reference
http://knowmybody.com/100-whole-foods-gift-cards-giveaway-february-2012/
Where Have All the Watchdogs Gone?
2On occasion one stumbles across a post that rings true to the thoughts one is currently thinking. This post on godfatherpolitics.com rang true to my thoughts entertained this evening.
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Source: http://godfatherpolitics.com
There was a day, I think back when the dinosaurs were still alive, when journalism schools taught their students about asking hard questions and the importance of being the public’s watchdog against all-too-often-corrupt government.
Woodward and Bernstein were held up as examples, but also people like Edward R. Murrow, Edna Buchanan, Jack Reed and William Marimow, journalists who were smart and tough enough to pin down the politicians and bureaucrats and hammer them until they gave up the information the public needed.
Journalistic role models were typically old guys and gals who had risen through the ranks of crime and government reporters to finally earn that esteemed title of editor, men and women who had devoted their lives to finding the truth, who weren’t afraid to take a phone call from the Secretary of State and demand “what the —- does the president think he’s doing?”
Those journalists, if they ever truly existed as a breed rather than unique individuals, are long gone. What we have now is a cadre of go-along types who mostly regurgitate whatever pablum is doled out by the local government press office.
The old saw about “accuracy, accuracy, accuracy” has been replaced by “lie three times and we’ll say it’s true.”
It’s much easier to just rewrite the press release and file your story. Save the real investigations for the interesting topics, like baby hippo twins born at the zoo.
Case in point, President Obama’s recent million-dollar fantasy golf weekend where he got to play against Tiger Woods. The Washington press corps was incensed at not having access to the president — so much so that they issued a statement of protest saying they would continue to demand “tranparency” from the Administration.
When they finally got a chance to ask the president a question after he’d blown a million taxpayer dollars on yet another vacation, during a time when the government is raising taxes and running huge deficits because it can’t live within a budget, the press members all clamored to know … did the president beat Tiger?
So much for asking tough questions and ensuring transparency. …
Compare the press corps’ outrage over the Tiger blackout to its utter lack of interest in the dearth of information about the September 11 attack in Benghazi, Libya, that left four Americans dead. “Meet the Press” host David Gregory summed up the media’s attitude best: “Cover-up of what?”
“Transparency” on Benghazi doesn’t exist, and the media couldn’t care less so long as they get to cover the president’s round of golf, which mostly entails the press corps hanging around the clubhouse ordering daiquiris on their news outlet’s dime.
The majority of today’s journalists are lazy, sycophantic and dishonest about the job they are doing.
We need to find a real-life Perry White if we’re ever going to hold the government accountable.
Read more and image credit: http://godfatherpolitics.com
FBI launches probe into Anon’s Federal Reserve hack
03 months ago
Source: http://rt.com
US Federal Reserve Building in Washington, DC (AFP Photo / Karen Bleier)
The FBI has launched an investigation into a recent Anonymous hack of a Federal Reserve database in retaliation for the US harassment of Aaron Swartz, who recently committed suicide. The hackers reportedly obtained 4,000 personal records in the attack.
Jo David Cummins, president and CEO of Illinois’ Community First Bank, said the hack of the US Federal Reserve database, which gave hackers access to his personal information and that of 4,000 other people, “hasn’t been much of a hassle,” as quoted by Reuters. “The information that was on the contact system was the same thing that was on my business card, so it wasn’t like it was anything that could do any harm to me or the bank.”
But the FBI and the Fed, which is a common target of criticism from many affiliated with the hacker collective, aren’t so sure. “We are in the process of a comprehensive assessment to determine what information might have been obtained in this incident.We remain confident that this incident did not affect critical operations of the Federal Reserve,” said Fed spokesman Jim Strader.
Anonymous gained access to the Fed’s Emergency Communication System (ECS) in mid-January, circumnavigating password prompts and encryption roadblocks. The Fed had recommended the implementation of a monitoring system to keep tabs on the security of third-party systems, like the ECS, last year.
The attack came as part of Anonymous’ OpLastResort, the collective’s response to the death of Aaron Swartz, who took his own life in January after a long battle with depression. He was preparing to face criminal charges based on a laundry-list of so-called criminal activity the United States government alleged he engaged in. If convicted, Swartz stood to spend 35 years in prison.
Swartz was under investigation for his connection to a dump of data taken from JSTOR, a peer-reviewed article archive. His supporters argue that though much of JSTOR’s content costs money to access, academic research should be free to everyone.
Defense contractor claims he was fired for reporting fraud
0Source: http://rt.com
AFP Photo / Shah Marai
A former manager for one of the biggest US defense contractors says he was removed from his job after accusing his higher-ups of defrauding the government.
Cornelius Hosch, the one-time head of counter-IED intelligence for BAE Systems Information Solutions’ eastern Afghanistan office, sued his former employer in federal court on Tuesday.
Hosch, a US Army veteran with nearly 20 years of experience in the military, says his problems with BAE began after he alerted his supervisor to what he considered fraud in December 2011, just days after he started his employment with the company.
During his tenure with BAE, Hosch says the company overcharged the US government for services they were contracted to do.
“BAE was hiring certain personnel to complete logistical and administrative tasks but BAE was using these personnel to bill the government for more lucrative labor,” he alleges in the complaint, discovered by Courthouse News.
“By falsely and purposefully miscategorizing the work performed, BAE charged the government for more work than was actually performed or which was contractually permitted,” he claims.
After voicing his concerns with his supervisor, Hosch says he was harassed by higher-ups within the company. He claims to have spoken up against in February 2012, and was warned against voicing his concerns again.
“‘You better not talk to me again about labor category fraud and time card fraud because I am using guys at my HQ to do my admin and help Mr. Tutt with ghostwriting of FRAGO’s,” Hosch claims his former supervisor, Dan Weber, told him. Courthouse News suggests that “FRAGO” is shorthand defense-speak for “fragmentary orders.”
“Weber also threatened Hosch by saying that if he ‘kept it up’ then he would ‘end up like Tony,’ an employee whose contract was not extended after the first year because Tony would ‘question things’ that did not ‘look or sound right,’” the complaint continues.
Hosch says he reported Weber’s behavior and the allegations of fraud to his employer’s ethics department, and was removed from his job shortly after. He says BAE retaliated against him in violation of the False Claims Act and is seeking compensatory damages and special damages for mental and emotional distress and harm to his reputation.
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 :)
