Enemy of the State

The highly anticipated movie, Snowden, has released a new trailer. The film is about former member of the CIA and NSA contract worker, Edward Snowden, and is set to be released this September.

Snowden, who became in international criminal in 2013 when he leaked classified government documents, has incited an important public debate about the balance between liberty and security. The leak has been a PR disaster for the US government, who’s surveillance community has been exposed for its massive overreach.

The U.S. Department of Justice has charged Snowden with two counts of violating the Espionage Act of 1917, and has been actively trying to extradite Snowden, who quickly fled the country and applied for refuge in 21 countries. Snowden was eventually granted asylum in Russia, which is set to expire on August 1, 2017.

War on Paper Money

Back in 1933, Roosevelt implemented Executive Order 6102 “forbidding the Hoarding of gold, coin, gold bullion, and gold certificates within the continental United States.” Now in 2016, they’re coming for your cash.

Earlier this year, Argentina issued a plan to print bills of larger denominations in order to compensate for the loss in value of the peso caused by inflation, while at Harvard, scholars made the case to ban the $100 bill.

The European Central Bank recently announced they have put a plan in motion to phase out the 500 euro note. Like many other counties, the U.S. is experiencing the ramifications of a debased currency; What $20 could purchase in 1913 would cost nearly $500 today.

While I am no proponent of the fractional reserve system and its esteemed printing press, I am however, an advocate of the minting of higher denominations of the Federal reserve notes. This would help compensate for inflation, and give individuals the ability to retain the holding capacity for paper currency.

Due to the effects of inflation, it would make sense for the Treasury to once again print bills in denominations of $500 and $1,000. Legally, the Treasury is required under ‘Section 16 of the Federal Reserve Act,’ to print bills in denominations of up to $10,000:

“In order to furnish suitable notes for circulation as Federal reserve notes, the Secretary of the Treasury shall cause plates and dies to be engraved…and shall have printed therefrom and numbered such quantities of such notes of the denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500, $1,000 $5,000, $10,000 as may be required to supply the Federal reserve banks.”

However since 1945, the Treasury has not printed notes of more than $100. By only circulating small denominations of notes and expanding reporting requirements on cash, the banking cartel has cornered more purchases into operating through computer transactions. 

The war on cash is being waged by the banking cartel, which is made up of governments, central banks, and the “too big to fail.” The cartel’s conflict with paper currency is a systematic effort to make it neither convenient nor legal to use cash, in order to transition society into a cashless economy, which can be easily monitored and manipulated through an electronic transaction format.

Cash allows transactions to occur without banks charging additional fees. Without cash, the 43 million individuals without bank accounts will be exiled from the marketplace, and depositors will lose the ability to withdraw their money.

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The State of the Economy

In the increasingly polarized debate about the state of the economy, mainstream economists continue to claim that the economy is sound, while shunning all skepticism.

In the April 14 issue of Time, financial commentator and historian James Grant wrote the cover story entitled “The United States of Insolvency” where he demonstrated his skepticism of the claim that the economy is sound, and professed his ideas about how to “Make America solvent again.”

James Grant is the editor of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, as well as a respected historian and economist. He has recently received additional notoriety in the popular move adaptation of the book The Big Short, where he is credited with being one of the original whistleblowers of the housing crisis.

Grant pointed out on the Time cover that each American would have to pay $42,998.12 to rid the U.S. of its current debt. But this assertion have been criticized by Slate, who has described the cover story as “every bad conservative argument about the national debt wrapped into one.”

In the article, Grant explains how sound money originally “coincided with balanced budgets,” and the steps by which the government has escaped from responsibility of paying its debt.

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Nero versus Shapiro

Conservative journalist Milo Yiannopoulos and former co-worker Ben Shapiro have been sparring on the national stage for months. Yiannopoulos, a homosexual college dropout and darling of the alt-right has warred with Shapiro, a Jewish conservative and graduate of Harvard Law School, who’s attitude is summed up by his popular phrase:

The two seldom discuss economics, but rather choose to focus on social issues, where both Shapiro and Yiannopoulos have gained popularity by stirring up controversy on college campuses. Shapiro was protested at Cal State, which provoked a national tour, while Yiannopoulos decided to troll the LGBT community by calling his speaking series “The Dangerous Faggot Tour.”

Yiannopoulos believes that his movement is “happening on campuses because finally the Left has pushed it too far.” To the point where “people have realized their nice ordinary lives are being threatened by crazy politics with no basis in facts.” Yiannopoulos depicted his ‘cultural libertarianism’ as a reaction to the ‘cultural Marxism’ now prevalent in all aspects of life.

Yiannopouos explained that progressives don’t like him because of his ability to “beat liberals in arguments, unlike the last 30 years of conservatism.” He went on to say, “they don’t like me because they can’t write me off as a bigot, as a homophobe, as a misogynist, as a racist because I’m a sassy, gay Brit,” which has disarmed the cultural Marxists of their usually tactics.

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Panama Bernie

News of the ‘Panama Papers’ will continue to grow as journalists continue to uncover more evidence of corruption within the leaked files from the Panama City based law firm, Mossack Fonseca & Co.

Putin has rejected “any element of corruption,” but the broader point has been made by Daniel Henninger, who explained why Bernie Sanders’ false belief in a benevolent government is what causes corruption in the first place.

Said Henninger:

“One way or another, most people living in the countries run on the Obama-Sanders-Clinton model eventually go searching for their own private Panama. When private capital is under public assault, it will hide. From the wealthiest to the poorest, it creates a world of chiselers, not productive citizens.”

Source: Panama Bernie – WSJ

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…

 

It seems the feds have a short memory of the past, as Obama urges banks to make risky loans.

I can already guess how this one is going to end…

Skeptics say effort could open the door to the risky lending that caused the housing crash in the first place.

Source: Obama administration pushes banks to make home loans to people with weaker credit – The Washington Post

Legend, Merle Haggard

Dies on his birthday, at age 79.

“A 20-year-old married father, he was arrested for breaking into a cafe (drunk, he thought the booming business was closed) and spent nearly three years in San Quentin. He was paroled in 1960. In 1972, then–California governor Ronald Reagan expunged Haggard’s criminal record, granting him a full pardon.”

Source: Merle Haggard Biography | Rolling Stone

Jose Wejebe

Jose Wejebe was born in Havan Cuba in 1958 during Castro’s communist revolution. Jose’s father was imprisoned for speaking out against the Castro regime, and after losing everything to the Cuban government, the Wejebe family was able to make it to America.

At a young age Wejebe became obsessed with exploring under the sea. He got a job at an aquarium, and learned how to fly fish, and started guiding by age 18.

Wejebe worked for decades as a guide, predominantly in Southern Florida, eventually landing his own TV show, The Spanish Fly.

Jose was charitable, working with Make a Wish Foundation, Big Brothers and Big Sister, Cystic Fibrosis, and Hooked on a Cure.

I was lucky to meet Jose at a fishing expo during high school. He was just as I had perceived him on TV, obsessed with fishing, and loved learning from others who are too.

On April 6, 2012, 3 hours after catching this tarpon, Wejebe was killed flying his single engine plane. There is now a charity set up in his name, the Jose Wejebe Memorial Foundation.

He was the greatest steward the sport of fishing has ever seen.

Roger Stone Calls for ‘Days of Rage’

Roger Stone has publicly called for “days of rage” in order to “stop the steal” of Trump’s nomination. Looks like the Cleveland Convention is going to ruffle a few feathers.

Roger Stone explained:

It’s vitally important that the grassroots of this country show their outrage at the idea that the vote of the people, the votes of Republican voters and those brave Democrats and Independents who crossed over to vote in the Republican primary are being disallowed. The party bosses, the king makers, most of whom are lobbyists, as you know — that’s the second hat they all wear — are determined to steal this nomination from the people and from Donald Trump.

Source: Roger Stone Calls for ‘Days of Rage’ with ‘Stop The Steal’ Convention Effort – Breitbart

Mexico tortures migrants – and citizens – in effort to slow Central American surge

A growing number of indigenous Mexicans are being detained by agents looking for Central American migrants, amid a crackdown driven partly by aid from US

Source: Mexico tortures migrants – and citizens – in effort to slow Central American surge | World news | The Guardian