Oops: Rick Perry Virtually Ends His Own Presidential Campaign With Major Debate Gaffe

Source: Zero Hedge

1 minute 40 seconds into this clip is where Rick Perry’s presidential chances flash crash. Literally. As the attached InTrade chart shows, the Perry presidential contract imploded from a prevailing level of about 9 by 60% to 3 in the span of milliseconds, and has since dead cat bounced to about a 50% decline.

Who would have thought that the vacuum tubes have now taken over presidential odds as well?

As for Perry’s presidential chances, this being America, where the population gets precisely the president it deserves, we would not be at all surprised if this epic moment of self-humiliation did not just cement Perry’s election chances. In other news, ISDA has just declared all CDS written on Perry to be untriggered as his political suicide was completely voluntary.

And the actual Flash Crash. Source: Intrade

Who Is Alex Jones? Coast to Coast Interview

Source: Infowars

The American Surveillance State Puts Orwell to Shame

Source: End The Lie
Madison Ruppert

Recently I published a relatively long article entitled, The invisible surveillance state: DHS and the end of America as we know it, which breaks down the invisible prison-like system that is the United States has become and how the Department of Homeland Security is diverting public funds into programs that would make Orwell’s Big Brother look like a joke.

Some of this information is nothing short of unbelievable. It seems so ludicrous that it is easily dismissed as conspiracy theory or paranoia. Unfortunately, everything I detailed is heavily documented to the point that it is simply irrefutable.

I really wish the high-tech American police state was just a conspiracy theory, but it is not and we are doing ourselves, and our nation, a disservice by pretending otherwise.

Furthermore, we would be making a grave mistake to not take this behemoth system seriously and to confront the egregious breaches of privacy that it creates.

This is not something we can wish away with logic like, “Well, as long as I’m not doing anything wrong, why should I care?”

Nor is it something that we can reconcile with logic like, “Well, as long as it is stopping the terrorists and keeping us safe, why should I care?”

These systems rob you of your right to privacy regardless of your criminal status and in doing so essentially criminalize the act of being in America.

Just by being an American citizen nowadays you are subject to constant surveillance, indefinite detainment without charges via the PATRIOT Act and all that would come along with being a full-fledged criminal. Only, here you don’t have to do anything wrong.

"America Better Damn WAKE UP!" Jesse Ventura On His Lawsuit Against The TSA Being Thrown Out

Source: MoxNews.com

US Drones Killing Children in Pakistan: One Reporter's Story

Source: AlterNet 
Pratap Chatterjee

The death of Tariq Aziz and his 12-year-old cousin Waheed Khan brought the total number of children killed in drone strikes to 175. 

A week ago I joined a group of elders and dozens of other young men who had travelled from Waziristan, in northern Pakistan, to Islamabad to discuss the impact of US drone strikes in their communities.

Among the group was Tariq Aziz, a quiet 16-year-old, who had come after he received a phone call from a lawyer in Islamabad offering him an opportunity to learn basic photography to help document these strikes.

 

We met for a grand dinner in the conference hall of a luxury hotel. And the next day we all met again at an official meeting – a ‘Waziristan Grand Jirga’. I filmed Tariq Aziz as he walked in with his friends. Each of them pressed their right palms on the chest of each of the elders who lined up to meet them.

Tariq was proud to be part of this meeting. About 18 months earlier, in April 2010, his cousin Aswar Ullah was killed by a missile fired from a drone as he rode a motorcycle near Norak.

Tariq, like all of us, listened intently to the speakers, who included the politician and former cricketer Imran Khan.

What none of us could have imagined was that 72 hours later, this football-loving teenager would himself be killed by a CIA drone, along with his 12-year-old cousin Waheed Khan.

Sovereign Debt is Everybody’s Problem

Source: USAWatchdog
Greg Hunter

The most pressing problem on the planet right now is the European sovereign debt crisis.  It is a gigantic highly leveraged mess caused by greedy reckless bankers.  It was nurtured with the help of regulators who turned a blind eye and allowed the problem to mushroom into an uncontrollable financial cancer.  The European Union is struggling to come up with a plan or bailout fund big enough to truly end the crisis, but there is none in sight.  Every time there is a plan, it is shot down or falls apart.  There was talk of Germany backing the EU bailout fund with its gold reserves, but that was rejected by the Germans.  (Germany is the world’s number two holder of gold with 3,412 tonnes.)  Can you blame them?  It is ironic this so-called bailout fund is looking for tangible backing and that world leaders would turn to the yellow metal.  Didn’t they all have a pact to sell gold not so many years back?  This tells me any country with toxic sovereign debt that wants a bailout better be considering putting up its gold reserves.

The first troubled country that comes to mind is Italy.  It has the fourth largest gold reserve in the world with 2,451 tonnes.  Spain is in just as much debt and trouble as Italy, but only has 281 tonnes of gold.  It ranks around 17th on the list.  These two countries have ten times the sour debt of Greece.  I predict Germany will not be the last country to be asked to put up its gold.  I suspect there is not a country on earth that will elect to give up control of its yellow reserves.  What else is there?  I don’t think Italy would put up the island of Sicily for collateral, no more than the U.S. would post the Hawaiian Islands as security for a loan.

They call this a sovereign debt crisis, but it is the banks that are really at the heart of the problem.  This leaves the EU with very limited options.  They can allow the banks holding this sovereign debt to default, or print money to bail them out.  Laws have been passed in Europe that allow the banks to count toxic sovereign debt as an asset.  It is a novel idea–overwhelming debt that doesn’t have a prayer of being fully repaid counted as a store of value.  (Oh wait, what was I thinking, this is the same thing the American government allows U.S. banks to do!)  That means you can also say the sovereign debt crisis is bank solvency crisis.  If you mark all sour debt for what banks can get for it today, many European financial institutions would be insolvent.  End of story.

U.S. Military Adds Armed Robotic Helicopters to Fleet

Source: AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US military plans to add a new lethal drone to its fleet -- a robotic helicopter for the US Navy equipped with laser-guided rockets, defense giant Northrop Grumman said Wednesday.

The armed Fire Scouts will mark a new era in naval warfare, offering an alternative to pilots flying attack helicopters or fighter jets off ships and reflecting a broader shift to robotic technology across the US military over the past several years.

Pepe Escobar: Iran Would Be an Excellent New Field for Predatory Capitalism

Source: RT
Pepe Escobar

The International Atomic Energy Agency, a UN watchdog, released a report claiming Iran conducted computer modeling that would only be relevant to nuclear weapons. The allegations for many are just another pretext for going to war with Iran. Are the Western powers planning an attack on Iran? Pepe Escobar, correspondent for Asia Times, gives his take on the situation.

Paving The Way For A North American Union

Source: Press For Truth.ca
Dan Dicks

The agenda for a North American Union is underway and a new security perimeter deal will blur the lines at the border and further erode the sovereignty of Canadians and Americans. On November 13th Stephen Harper, Barack Obama and Felipe Calderon will meet for the North American Leaders Summit to discuss their plans for the NAU. 

Meanwhile CETA the Canadian-European Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement presents itself as a major step towards a New World Order and the centralization of power.
Get “United We Fall” on DVD– an expose of the North American Union agenda.

Threat to China: Will Corporatists in U.S. Goverment Move Forward to Assist Big Oil in Vietnam Discovery

Source: Activist Post

Brandon Turbeville

It is now almost universally accepted among the general population and political commentators as a foregone conclusion that the United States and China will eventually face off in direct conflict at some point in the future. The decline of the American Empire and the simultaneous rise of the Chinese Empire will no doubt cause the two imperialist nations to butt heads eventually, most likely resulting in currency wars, diplomatic disputes, proxy military battles and, ultimately, direct military confrontation.

The massive amount of U.S. Treasury bills held by China, as well that of other Western countries, is becoming an increasingly unstable situation economically the world over. Indeed, China has expressed antipathy toward being considered the worthless currency recycling bin, and is a powder keg that is almost ready to blow. Especially as holding on to Western currency becomes less and less advantageous for Chinese economic policy. When the powder keg does blow, Western currency  - American currency in particular – will be smashed to pieces.

Not only that, but with the acceleration of foreign policy disagreements between the U.S. and China also on the rise, specifically but not limited to areas like Tibet, Taiwan, Libya, Africa (as a whole), North Korea, and Iran, the likelihood of direct military conflict looms even heavier as time progresses and as each empire marches forward in imposing their wills on masses of people who merely wish to be left alone to control their own destiny.

However, yet another issue has arisen that will only serve to heighten the tension between the United States and China. Interestingly enough, as has so often been the case in recent years, the United States will find itself tangled in another affair centered around oil and initiated at the behest of the large multinational oil companies. 

America’s New Role as the Dark Force

Source: Boiling Frogs Post

Elizabeth Gould & Paul Fitzgerald

As the U.S. becomes more and more the kind of country it has traditionally opposed, the answer to where we are headed may lie more in the arcane traditions of a dim past than in a bright future.

"‘We’re the dark matter. We’re the force that orders the universe but can’t be seen,’ a strapping Navy SEAL, speaking on condition of anonymity, said in describing his unit."

 

If anyone (correctly) thought that the war on terror and Washington’s response to it had taken on a fantastical otherworldly quality, this recent quote on the front page of the Washington Post seemed to confirm it.

Following 9/11, the elected government of the United States of America delivered the country to a whole department (of Homeland Security) dedicated to expanding the government’s fear of darkness into everybody’s life (remember the 2003 duct tape and plastic sheeting craze?) Now we also have a top secret military operation known as the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) that thinks it is the dark.

Begun as a modest hostage rescue team, JSOC has morphed into a veritable heart of darkness, with the power to murder at will and with immunity from American legal jurisdiction (which apparently still maintains that such assassinations are illegal). 

Even within the military, JSOC operates as a “Stovepipe,” operation, meaning that it operates completely in the black, reports to no one and continues to employ rogue ex-CIA professionals such as indicted Iran Contra operative Dewey Clarridge.  The Navy Seal Team that took out Osama bin Laden operated under JSOC. Retired military personnel refer to JSOC as “Murder, Incorporated” and the “most dangerous people on the face of the earth.”   

 

But if JSOC’s reputation for secrecy, vengeance and death from above can’t be explained from within the context of traditional U.S. military operations or U.S. law, then what set of rules is it operating from? Or is it simply that the traditions of rationalism and law that most Americans took for granted about the United States are subject to deeper, religious, or perhaps even mystical rules, whose anachronistic logic has found a renewed acceptance in an irrational world of  personal, private and holy war?

Farrakhan Blasts Media & Reporters During Radio Interview Commercial!

Source: The Daily Bell


Minister Louis Farrakhan was interviewed on Chicago radio station WVON 1690. During a break, he let his real feelings show. Highlights ...

• "[The people] don't know ... the media's bought and paid for."

• "This is a hell of a betrayal of the American people when you will not tell them the truth because you're afraid that if you tell the truth your bosses will take your job from you. That's a hell of a thing. You don't have a democracy when you don't have a free press."

• "You're all slaves and you love it so you deserve what you get, the erosion of your democracy. You'll soon be the laughingstock of the world. It's a damn shame."

• "I'm glad. Hell, I'm not hiding nothing. You need somebody to tell the truth. You need somebody that's not afraid to die for the truth that you could be made free – because you're not free and you don't really know what it means to be a free white person, a free black person, a free Mexican, a free Arab."

US to Use S. Korean Base to Project Power Against China?

Source: Global Research.ca
Matthew Hoey

This handout picture released by the Republic of Korea (ROK) Navy shows ROKS DDH-981 Choi Young, a Chungmugong Yi Sun-shin class South Korean destroyer, firing during a joint military exercise between US and South Korean navies in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) on July 27, 2010 (AFP Photo / Roknavy)

Residents on the South Korean Island of Jeju are continuing to resist the siting of a huge naval base there. Critics fear it will be used not as a shield against North Korea, but as a base for the US to target rising world power, China.

On Tuesday, four activists protesting against the base in Jeju’s Gangjeong village were arrested.

Matthew Hoey, an international co-ordinator of the Campaign to Save Jeju Island, told RT that the activists were peacefully protesting outside a hotel where the 10th Annual South Korea-UN Disarmament Conference, known as the Jeju process, was taking place. His friends were among those arrested.

Iran Threatens to Retaliate If Attacked

Source: Arutz Sheva

Gavriel Queenann 

Iran has threatened to start a 'street war' in Tel Aviv - and in the US and Europe - should its nuclear program be attacked.

"Israel is not big enough to launch a military strike on Iran, but if it takes such a foolish decision, the Iranian military will fight with the Zionist soldiers in Tel Aviv streets... and will force them out of the Palestinian soil," Seyed Hossein Naqavi said.

Naqavi also warned, should Tehran's nuclear program be attacked, the battlefield won't be in Iran, but "the entirety of Europe and the US."

"Iranian forces will fight with the enemies with maximum might and power all throughout the European and US soil, if Iran comes under attack," he reiterated.

Naqavi also responded to reports Britain might strike Iran's nuclear sites, saying "a look at the history reveals that the British regime has been using threat, intimidation, terror and colonialism all throughout the last 500 years."

"Now a country with such a long record of crimes and colonialist actions should know very well that the Islamic Republic enjoys a high military capability today," he added.

Naqavi's remarks have become a part of Tehran's mantra of threatening counter-strikes as international criticism of its nuclear aspirations continues to mount.

Der Spiegel: 'Consensus Is Growing' for ECB and IMF Takeover of Euro-Crisis

French Finance Minister Christine Lugarde, IMF

Source: The Daily Bell

Run For Your Lives' ... Euro Zone Considers Solution of Last Resort: The ink on the most recent European Union summit agreement was hardly dry before it became clear that it was insufficient. With investors now increasingly wary of Italy, the consensus is growing that the European Central Bank – and the IMF – will have to play an even greater role. But will it be enough? – Der Spiegel Online

 

Dominant Social Theme: We didn't want it. We didn't mean to suggest it. We don't think it's a good idea. But it looks like the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund will simply have to take a bigger role in solving this terrible crisis.

Free-Market Analysis: It is all too predictable. We've been writing for months on the possibility that the entire EU crisis is a kind of contrived one and this article post at Der Spiegel Online does nothing to discourage this supposition.

It's likely nothing more than a power elite dominant social theme, that the Euro-crisis is a deadly one and that the EU simply cannot figure out what to do. The meme is simple: Financial leaders with power and common sense must come to the rescue.

Isn't it obvious who the heroes are going to be? Why, the central bankers, of course! These good, gray men with careful phraseology and elliptical sentiments are the hope of mankind. When politicians dither and markets act irrationally these mavens of monetary price-fixing will get the job done.

A central banker is looking to lead the Greek unity government – which is unified with the efficiency of a shotgun marriage – and now Der Spiegel, Germany's leading elite mouthpiece, informs us that consensus is "growing" to have the IMF and ECB "play a greater role." What a coincidence.

An Iraq-WMD Replay on Iran?

Source: Global Research.ca
Robert Parry
 

The U.S. press corps and “independent” American weapons experts got almost everything wrong about Iraq’s purported WMD before the U.S. invasion in 2003. Now, much the same cast is returning to interpret dubious intelligence about Iran’s nuclear program, reports Robert Parry.

The American public is about to be inundated with another flood of “expert analysis” about a dangerous Middle Eastern country presumably hiding a secret nuclear weapons program that may require a military strike, although this time it is Iran, not Iraq.

In the near future, you will be seeing more satellite photos of non-descript buildings that experts will say are housing elements of a nuclear bomb factory. There will be more diagrams of supposed nuclear devices. Some of the same talking heads will reappear to interpret this new “evidence.”

You might even recognize some of those familiar faces from the more innocent days of 2002-2003 when they explained, with unnerving confidence, how Iraq’s Saddam Hussein surely had chemical and biological weapons and likely a nuclear weapons program, too.

For instance, back then, former United Nations weapons inspector David Albright was all over the news channels, reinforcing the alarmist claims about Iraq’s WMD that were coming from President George W. Bush and his neocon-dominated administration.

Today, Albright’s Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) is issuing a flurry of alarmist reports about Iran’s nuclear bomb progress, often accompanied by the same kind of satellite photos and diagrams that helped persuade many Americans that Iraq must possess unconventional weapons that turned out to be fictitious.

Ventura: Media Lied Over Citizenship Controversy

Source: Prison Planet
Paul Joseph Watson

Former Governor chastises establishment press over indictment of his patriotism.

Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura today slammed the media for lying in their suggestion that his effort to seek Mexican citizenship meant he was giving up his U.S. citizenship, calling the smear an attempt to portray him as unpatriotic.

Ventura set the record straight during an appearance on the Alex Jones Show, saying he had been misquoted on “wanting to give up my U.S. citizenship, I never once stated that,” adding that he was merely seeking dual citizenship because he and his wife lived half the year in Mexico anyway.

In the aftermath of his press conference on Friday, some reports announced that Ventura was “abandoning his citizenship” and running away to Mexico in response to a judge tossing out his case against TSA groping in airports.

“I love my country, not my government,” Ventura remarked in response to reports that had characterized him as unpatriotic.

“I never said that I’m giving up my U.S. citizenship, that’s a lie….they don’t even focus on what the case is about,” said Ventura, criticizing the media for focusing on provocative statements rather than why Ventura was denied a trial.

Drums of War: Is Iran Next?

Source: GRTV

Government and media are experts at manipulating popular opinion, using subversive but often open techniques to deliver their message to the public and further advance their own agendas.

"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind.

And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry.

Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so.

How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar."

The drums are beating again for Iran. Who do you trust?

Berlusconi To Resign After Parlimentary Setback

Source: Reuters

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Tuesday he would resign after suffering a humiliating setback in parliament that showed a party revolt had stripped him of a majority.

Berlusconi confirmed a statement from President Giorgio Napolitano that he would step down as soon as parliament passed urgent budget reforms demanded by European leaders after Italy was sucked into epicenter of the euro zone debt crisis.

The votes in both houses of parliament are likely this month and they would spell the end of a 17-year dominance of Italy by the flamboyant billionaire media magnate.

His failure to implement reforms fueled a party revolt and Berlusconi told his own Canale 5 television station that the only option was an early election. However, this could prolong the uncertainty that has sapped market confidence.

 

Israel Could Be Forced To Go It Alone On Iran Attack

Source: Infowars
Paul Joseph Watson

Developments over the last 24 hours suggest that Israel could be forced to go it alone in launching a military assault on Iran’s nuclear facilities, with the United States and NATO backing away from becoming involved in a conflict that would spark economic and geopolitical turmoil.

During a private conversation with Barack Obama at last week’s G20 meeting, French President Nicolas Sarkozy was overhead by journalists to say, “I cannot bear Netanyahu, he’s a liar.” Obama responded by remarking, “You’re fed up with him, but I have to deal with him every day!”

The comments were caught after a microphone was accidentally left on following the conclusion of the conference.

“A Reuters reporter was among the journalists present and can confirm the veracity of the comments, which were relayed by a French internet outlet on Tuesday,” reports Haaretz.

The exchange highlights a deepening gulf between western powers and Israel over plans to attack Iran, with French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe making it clear today that France does not support a military campaign.

“If the IAEA report, due out this week, indicates Iran is building atomic weapons capabilities, then France would firmly back further UN sanctions, he said, but would do all it can to stop military action,” reports the Jerusalem Post.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration has reportedly backed away from plans to impose new economic sanctions on Iran, fearing, “Severe penalties against Iran’s central bank and its fuel exports would exacerbate the turmoil on international financial markets,” reports DebkaFile.

With Russia and China also expressing their opposition to an attack, it seems likelier that Israel will exploit a contrived pretext to prove that Iran represents an imminent threat to its security, an event that will carry far more shock value than the text of an IAEA report.

Should Israel wish to stage a Gulf of Tonkin-style provocation, it will call on Mossad agents to pose as terrorists and carry out attacks that will be blamed on Iran, similar to how Palestinian militants were offered cash and weapons by Israel to pose as an Al-Qaeda cell and carry out bombings in 2002.

Even if Israel is forced to launch an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities without the support of the United States and other NATO powers, don’t expect them to not get involved at some point.

The inevitable reprisal attacks that Iran will launch through its proxies like Hezbollah will be seized upon by the establishment media (‘how dare they defend themselves’) and cited as a pretext for US involvement to ‘maintain security in the region’ – and America will find itself embroiled in yet another conflict.

Why a Dollar & Euro Collapse Is Guaranteed

Source: StormCloudsGathering


Watch The Money Masters for a better understand of how this fraudulent, debt based system was forced onto the people and how it has managed to continue for so long unchecked.

Adam Kokesh: Super Class Elite to "Fade Away" in Time

Source: Infowars
Adam Kokesh
 
Alex talks with Activist and Journalist Adam Kokesh about the feds and their attack on the right of people to produce and consume raw milk. Adam also talks about his mixed feelings toward what really happened on 9/11.

CIA Increases Drone Killings of Pakistanis Who “Might be Militants”

Source: AllGov
Noel Brinkerhoff

To the chagrin of American diplomats and military commanders, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has expanded its targeting criteria for drone attacks in Pakistan to include anyone who might be associated with al-Qaeda or other terrorist organizations.

 

In effect, the CIA has authorized the killing of foreign nationals whose identities aren’t known and who are only suspected of terrorist associations. Attacks against such groups of people are referred to as “signature” strikes by the CIA, as opposed to “personality” strikes which target known suspects. The vast majority of CIA drone attacks are of the “signature” variety. They were first used during the administration of President George W. Bush, but they have been enthusiastically pursued by Barack Obama’s CIA.

 

The change in policy has raised the question, according to Spencer Ackerman at Wired’s Danger Room, of “whether it’s acceptable for the CIA to kill someone without truly knowing if he’s the bombsmith or the laundry guy.”

 

Officials in the Departments of Defense and State are not happy with the CIA’s expanded targeting of Pakistanis. Diplomats worry that the broader rationale for increased aerial assaults will foment even more anti-American sentiments in Pakistan, while military planners fear a backlash that will lead to the U.S. losing key supply routes into Afghanistan.

US Prepares to Censor Internet Access While Urging Internet Freedom for the Rest of the World!

Source: Boiling Frogs Post
Linda Lewis

At the London Conference on Cyberspace, November 1-2, Vice President Joe Biden urged other nations to protect internet freedom of expression.

“Biden did not name countries he felt were offenders. But he criticized the efforts of some nations pursuing an “international legal instrument that would lead to exclusive government control over Internet resources, institutions and content and national barriers on the free flow of information online.” (PCWorld)

Meanwhile, back in the US, Congress was preparing to pass a law granting extraordinary powers to censor the internet. The proposed law, described as “the Great Firewall of America,” has the support of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who also favors Internet freedom for other countries. If the US government still had any credibility on this issue after banning access to websites posting leaked cables, the latest hypocrisy should have killed it.

Last week, Representatives Lamar Smith (R-TX), John Conyers (D-MI), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Howard Berman (D-CA) introduced a House bill called the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). A Senate version, called the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), had been introduced last May by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and Charles Grassley (R-IA). The bills propose to let the federal government block public access to websites accused of violating intellectual property rights. They would also require Internet access providers, search engines and payment providers to deny services to websites upon request from rights holders.

A devil in the lack of details
The bills have been criticized for their vague language and lack of due process, making them ripe for abuses.

Corporate Media Stumped on How to Cover Occupy Movement

Source: WhoWhatWhy.com
Russ Baker

Conventional journalism is increasingly irrelevant in a time of crisis. We find abundant proof in a recent column from the New York Times’ so-called “Public Editor,” who is supposed to somehow magically represent the public interest and rarefied ethical values to the rest of the paper.

In this column, he says the media is having difficulty figuring out how to cover Occupy Wall Street and its offshoots.

What are the themes? How should The New York Times cover this movement that resembles no other in memory?

Certainly, media organizations are intrinsically better able to cover snapshot moments like official actions and pronouncements than movements or complex and subtly if rapidly evolving situations—like climate change, or Occupy.

In any case, for answers, the Public Editor turns to colleagues outside The Times, and solicits their wisdom:

Stephen Buckley, dean of faculty, The Poynter Institute; former managing editor, St. Petersburg Times

To my mind, the compelling question driving the Occupy Wall Street story is: How come these people are so angry? And maybe more compellingly: Why did it take them so long to get angry? (We’ve been feeling the effects of a recession for more than four years….)

[Snip]

First of all, “we” (being Mr. Buckley) presumably are not feeling the effects of the recession in quite the same way as those who lost their homes and jobs. Second of all, this is not a protest over the recession. It is the result of a few brave souls who finally had had enough of a lousy system and took to the streets, inspiring others to (gradually) follow.

Here’s another deep thinker:

10 Reasons America Will Be Judged as the Most Brutal Empire in History

Source: Activist Post

Good and evil doesn't have a grey zone.  Killing and stealing is bad.  Violence is never "good" or necessary unless it is used to defend against killers and thieves. Indeed, that is the morality behind the "just war" principle as defined by international laws and treaties.

Yet, this simple concept of right and wrong gets muddled by differing ideas about religion, patriotism, economics and many other divisions.  The "just war" rule has crumbled under the ambitions of empires throughout history.  The American-led Anglo Saxon empire is no different.

This empire has been brutally conquering and colonizing territory since the fall of Rome.  However, it has only gained an American face in the last century.  The United States quickly emerged as the world's "superpower" primarily through its economic might.  For some time, many believed the U.S. to be a shining example of economic freedom for other nations to emulate.  Indeed, America was eager to promote "economic freedom" globally to open new markets for U.S.-based corporations.

Attack on Iran: Hitlerian Act of Aggression

Source: Land Destoryer Report
Tony Cartalucci

As the rhetoric for war with Iran begins to mount, first with the staged DEA-Saudi bomb plot, and now with an upcoming IAEA report supposedly "exposing" Iran's nuclear arms ambitions, it is important to re-read through the signed confessions by the corporate-fascist interests behind this drive for war where it is admitted that:

1. Iran poses no threat to US national security - even if they acquired nuclear arms- rather Iran threatens US interests throughout the Middle East, half-way across the planet.
2. Iran desperately wants to avoid armed conflict with both Israel and the West and would use nuclear weapons merely as a defensive deterrence.
3. The US and Israel are actively looking to provoke Iran into war with a combination of covert support for destabilization within Iran, supporting listed terrorist organizations, and limited unilateral military first strikes to provoke an Iranian response needed to justify a wider military confrontation.

All of this is shockingly spelled out in extreme detail within the pages of the corporate-financier funded Brooking Institution report, "Which Path to Perisa?" It is essential that every American, European, and Israeli read just how malicious, callus and eager the globalist elite are to trigger a catastrophic war with the Islamic Republic for the sole purpose of protecting Wall Street and London's hegemony throughout the Middle East.

 "Which Path To Persia"? Brookings Institution 2009.pdf

Below are links to efforts to cover in detail the key aspects of this increasing war mongering, the key players behind it, including the corporations funding this agenda, as well as irrefutable evidence that illustrates these designs, laid out in 2009 have already begun to unfold.

1. Brookings' "Which Path to Persia?": The war has already begun, total war is a possibility.

2. Which Path to Persia?: Redux Syria, Libya, and beyond, Globalists prepare for second phase.

3. US Policy Toward Iran One-Way Ticket to War Policy Wonk Plays Dumb Over Role in Iranian Escalation.

4. Corporate-Fascists Clamor for Iran War Unelected corporate-funded policy makers constitute the greatest threat to US national security.

5. Iran Links US-funded Terrorists to Saudi-DEA Bomb Plot Baseless US accusations countered with more likely Iranian allegations.

6. Withdrawal of US Troops From Iraq Highly Suspect Think-tank designs for Iran leave only Israeli attack & coaxed provocation for total war on table.

Upon reading this information, one will realize with horror how patiently persistent the corporate-financier interests on Wall Street and London have pursued this campaign towards war with Iran, and how absolutely deceitful they are willing to be in order to keep it moving forward. It is absolutely imperative that people understand not only just how contrived the threat of Iran is, but that those peddling the lies of such a threat have, behind closed doors, admitted as much.

Image: Just some of the corporate-sponsors behind the unelected, warmongering "think-tank" Brookings Institution which produced the treasonous "Which Path to Persia?" report.

....

Please also take particular note of the corporations funding this act of Hitlerian aggression against a nation of 70 million at the potential loss of tens of thousands of American and Israeli (and other proxy soldiers') lives, not to mention the incalculable cost of the war to an already crippled American tax payer. Also note that these same corporations will not be losing their sons and daughters nor a single penny in the war effort, in fact, many of them stand to gain untold of fortunes and power - the very reason they are pursuing such a course of action.

Now would be a good time to contact your representatives, boycott the above mentioned corporations, and begin undermining a system that is parasitically bleeding this planet to death both financially and literally in pursuit of global corporate-fascist hegemony. And remember, it will not end in Iran, the attack and destruction of Iranian sovereignty is just the beginning.

Russia Issues Stark Warning Against Attack on Iran

Source: BBC

Military action against Iran would be a "very serious mistake fraught with unpredictable consequences", Russia's foreign minister has warned.

Sergei Lavrov said diplomacy, not missile strikes, was the only way to solve the Iranian nuclear problem.

His comments come after Israeli President Shimon Peres said an attack on Iran was becoming more likely. The UN's atomic watchdog is expected to say this week that Iran is secretly developing a nuclear arms capability.

Diplomats say the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report, due for release on Tuesday or Wednesday, will produce compelling evidence that Iran will find hard to dispute.

Iran has always insisted that its nuclear program is exclusively to generate power for civilian purposes.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has said the alleged evidence is a fabrication and part of a multi-pronged US smear campaign against his country.

Syrian Government Decries America’s ‘Blatant Interference’ in Uprising

Source: The Intel Hub
By Madison Ruppert – Editor of End the Lie

I have reported on Western involvement in the Syrian “revolution” (just like Libya) for many months now and it is far from a “conspiracy theory” to say that the West is heavily involved in the opposition at this point.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has not shied away from pointing this out, either. In fact, he opted to call the Western meddling in Syria a “conspiracy” earlier this year.

The evidence is quite clear, especially given the heavy-handed anti-Assad position held by the American Ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford.

Ford has met with opposition figures, a fact that clearly upset the Syrian people and led to an unsuccessful attempt to assault the compound in which he was meeting.

Ford’s quite naked interference in Syrian domestic politics is just one of the more blatant aspects of covert U.S. intervention in Syria and likely led to the decision to pull him out of the nation.

Denial, Delusion and MSM Disinformation

Source: USAWatchdog
Greg Hunter

What is going on in the world today is both frightening and historic.  It is frightening because the amount of debt accumulated is orders of magnitude more than ever before.  It is historic because the way this finally shakes out will be considered a major turning point in modern history.  I see this, but most people in the world are either in denial, delusional or just a victim of disinformation by the mainstream media (MSM).  If you read this site often, you know I heavily source what I write about.   I do this because I want people to have solid information and analysis.  For example, just last week, a Morgan Stanley analyst named Joachim Fels sent a research note out to clients that talked about the EU sovereign debt crisis.  Here is part of what Mr. Fels said, “This past week, by raising the possibility that a country might (be forced to) leave the euro, core European governments may have set in motion a sequence of events which could potentially lead to runs on sovereigns and banks in peripheral countries that make everything we have seen so far in this crisis look benign.”  (Click here to read the entire story from Zerohedge.com.)   

This Morgan Stanley analyst is talking about bank runs and is painting a calamitous picture of the EU sovereign debt problem.   I believe that most people haven’t a clue about what is going on and how their lives are going to change for the worse.  If they do, then they just refuse to believe that the government will let anything bad happen.  I got a comment from a reader by the name “In4mayshun” on a post I wrote last week titled “Two Financial Nukes Explode.”  It was about MF Global and Greece.  Both situations are far from over and sorted out.  The comment is below: 

Greek Prime Minister Forced Out in Euro Crisis Deal

Source: Global Research.ca
Patrick Martin

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou agreed to resign Sunday and be replaced by a coalition government of national unity that will have a mandate from the bankers and European heads of state to impose even more drastic austerity measures on the working people of Greece.

Papandreou held what a spokesman said was his last cabinet meeting as leader of the social democratic PASOK party before entering a protracted meeting with President Karolos Papoulias and Antonis Samaras, leader of the opposition right-wing New Democracy party.

The talks faced a double deadline Monday—the opening of the financial markets in Europe, hit by huge sell-offs last week over the Greek crisis, and a meeting of European Union finance ministers in Brussels. The Greek delegate to that meeting, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, was expected to confirm the formation of a new government committed to carrying out the terms of the EU agreement reached October 26 on a restructuring of Greece’s debt.

Press reports from Athens indicated that beyond the ouster of Papandreou, demanded by Samaras as the price of his party’s support, there was no agreement on the composition of the new government or who would lead it. Talks will continue Monday, again chaired by the elderly Papoulias.

Attacking Iran Could Lead to World War

Source: RT
Adrian Salbuchi 

Tensions are once again mounting against Iran ahead of a crucial report by the UN nuclear watchdog, IAEA, due next week. Meanwhile, Israel has tested a new ballistic missile.

­Some reports go even further and suggest the idea of a military strike on the Islamic Republic is being pushed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And British media say that with Iran remaining resilient against international sanctions, the attack could come as soon as next November. Various media cite the UK Ministry of Defense and Whitehall as their sources.

Vicious Triangle Forming Agaist Iran

Source: PressTV
Dr. Ismail Salami

In recent days, there has been a vociferous interest in Israel, the US and the UK in fanning the flames of Iranophobia in what observers see as a political red herring to engage in a catastrophic war in the Middle East.

The trio, which constitute a vicious triangle in their roguishly Iranophobic endeavors, have manifestly held secret meetings among the top security officials and formed a united front against Iran.

A recent report by The Guardian has revealed that British Chief of Defense Staff Gen. David Richards visited Tel Aviv secretly during the week, held a number of meetings with top Israeli military and intelligence officials and reassured them of Britain's unwavering support in case of an attack on Iran's nuclear sites. Further to that, the British officials revealed that the US government was mulling accelerating plans for targeted attacks on the country's nuclear sites and that Britain was prepared to be part of the plan for a possible attack.

Interestingly enough, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak arrived in London on Wednesday to hold talks with his British counterpart, with Iran of course to top the agenda. The importance of these meetings is that Britain's senior military official had not visited Israel for a decade. So, the recent meetings indicate the cementing security and military ties between the two countries.

Only recently, a senior US military official addressing a forum in Washington said that Iran had become the biggest threat to the United States. “The biggest threat to the United States and to our interests and to our friends … has come into focus and it's Iran.”

The People Finally Realized that We are Serfs in a Feudalistic System

Source: Information Clearing House
John Perkins

“A man in debt is so far a slave.”  - Ralph Waldo Emerson -

 
My job as an economic hit man during the 1970s was to enslave nations that had resources our corporations coveted by burdening them with debts they could never repay. We then demanded that they sell those resources cheap, without social or environmental regulations, to our corporations.

It was an incredibly successful strategy. In essence it created the world’s first truly global empire and the first one that was not built primarily through military occupations. It also transformed geo-politics. The power of elected officials was usurped by those who sit at the top of the multinational corporations (the ‘corporatocracy’).

This success led to the realization that similar strategies could be applied in the United States in order to emasculate a population that was exerting its democratic rights in ways that threatened the corporatocracy – forcing an end to the highly profitable Vietnam War, demanding racial and gender equality, increasing social security, Medicare, education, and other services.

Iceland's Debt and the People's Revolt - Michael Hudson on GRTV

Source: Corbett Report and Global Research.ca

Iceland was one of the hardest hit nations in the immediate aftermath of the September 2008 economic meltdown. Asked by their own government to pay Britain and Holland for bailing out their Icesave-exposed banks, the people overwhelmingly said “no.” Do the actions of the Icelandic people present an example for the rest of the world as we see the global economy teetering on the edge of collapse? Find out on this week’s GRTV Feature Interview with Michael Hudson.

5.6 Magnitude Quake Rocks Oklahoma On Day of Quakes - Nov 6

Source: YouTube

U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Jill McCarthy said there were two tremors Saturday — a 4.7 magnitude about 2 a.m. and a 5.6 magnitude shortly before 11 p.m., and a series of aftershocks in between.

The magnitude 5.6 earthquake in Oklahoma on Saturday night felt was as far as Wisconsin, U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Jill McCarthy said.

“We have had eight recorded earthquakes (in Oklahoma) in the past 24 hours or so,” she said.

US Sources: Israel Ministers Who Opposed Iran Strike Are Now For It

Source: DEBKA file

American sources told Fox television early Sunday, Nov. 6 that all the senior Israeli ministers who were formerly against attacking Iran's nuclear sites are now for it, having been updated on Iran's clandestine progress toward building a nuclear weapon. This information is due to be borne out when the IAEA publishes its next Iran report Tuesday, Nov. 8. The ministers are said to have changed their minds in the belief that the next round of sanctions will not be tough enough and point to the precedent of Israel's 1981 attack on Iraq's nuclear reactor which was never rebuilt.

According to Debkafile's Washington sources, the Obama administration attributes the change of heart by those ministers to a conviction that Iran already has a nuclear weapon.

And so after ten days after feverish, unattributed Israeli news reporting on an imminent attack, the administration has drawn certain lines: Israel should go forward with its plans to strike Iran, while Washington will stress "diplomatic strategy."

U.S. Military Official: We Are Concerned Israel Will Not Warn Us Before Iran Attack

Source: HAARETZ.com

Senior U.S. military official tells CNN U.S. 'increasingly vigilant' over military developments in Iran and Israel, says 'absolutely' concerned Israel may attack Iran nuclear facilities.

U.S. officials are concerned that Israel will not warn them before taking military action against Iran's nuclear facilities, a senior U.S. military official said Friday. 

The official, who asked to remain anonymous, told the CNN network that although in the past, U.S. officials thought they would receive warning from Israel if it did take military action against Iran, "now that doesn't seem so ironclad." 

The U.S. is "absolutley" concerned that Israel is preparing an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, and this concern is increasing, CNN reported the official as saying.