Intro to the first video: “1st episode of a six-part series revealing behind-the-scenes information you’ve never heard before. Peek into the inner workings and conflicts in the Silk Road story and meet the people involved. It’s an eye-opener! Narrated by Adrian Bisson.’
Blog
The Dirty Espionage Business
N.Y. Times: U.S. Sanctions Turn Iran’s Oil Industry Into Spy vs Spy.
Most Americans have a Hollywood version of the espionage business. A high-tech game of cyber-espionage and secret well-planned operations but in reality it is an age old game using alcohol, sex, money and shady people. Same as it ever was.
Whoever is doing the spying, there is little doubt that cloak-and-dagger tactics have buffeted the shrinking Iranian oil trade. Traders say they have been offered all kinds of enticements in exchange for information.
Cop Shoots Unarmed 12-Year-Old in his Bed – Covers His Badge and BodyCam
As Amir started screaming, Crystal Worship asked officers in the next room if they were “shooting” the children, the lawsuit says. Officers allegedly refused to tell her what happened and “lied to her and told her they shot someone walking past outside.”
There is no “War on Cops,” it’s their war on the citizenry.
Another victim of the “War on Drugs”
Cop Kills Man
Iraqi National Who’d Lived Whole Life in US Dies Shortly After Being Deported to Iraq
CNN: An Iraqi national who had lived in the US since he was an infant died shortly after being deported to Iraq as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
Jimmy Aldaoud, 41, died from complications of diabetes, his attorney Edward Bajoka told CNN. Aldaoud, who had a long criminal record, was deported in early June to Iraq, where he had no family or contacts and did not speak the language. His body was found Tuesday at an apartment he shared with another Iraqi American deportee.
“He was not able to get insulin in Iraq. That was essentially the cause of his death,” Bajoka said. “This death was completely preventable. It did not have to happen. The death has been devastating to Jimmy’s family and to the community.”
Cop Nation
The government plan to turn us all into snitches.
Whistleblowers help government collect billions in unpaid taxes
WASHINGTON — Whistleblowers who helped the federal government collect $1.4 billion in unpaid taxes last year reaped a record $312 million in reward money thanks to a new law meant encourage tipsters to step forward. And the payouts could go even higher in the years ahead.
For the first time ever, whistleblowers have been granted legal protection against retaliation under a new law that went into effect in July. And the IRS is now required to notify them about the status of their claims no later than 60 days after a status change or upon written request.
The new rules are just the latest in a series of laws meant to encourage whistleblowers to step forward. The record payout, for instance, occurred after the government in 2018 made the formula for determining rewards more generous if the IRS recouped back taxes from delinquent individuals or companies.
The State of the American Debt Slaves, Q2 2019
Wolf Richter at Wolf Street.
Consumer credit – auto loans, student loans, and revolving credit such as credit card balances and personal loans, but not housing-related debt such as mortgages and HELOCs – grew 5.4%, or by $208 billion, in the second quarter compared to a year ago, to a new record of $4.06 trillion.
The student loan ponzi scheme.
But that surge in student loan balances is not because there are more students enrolled. On the contrary: According to the latest data available from the National Center for Education Statistics, enrollment fell by 7% between 2010 and 2017, from 18.1 million students to 16.8 million students.
So who got this $1.6 trillion that students now owe and that the taxpayer guarantees? Students are just the conduit for this money. Who ends up with it? Universities; Apple and other companies, such as textbook publishers, that focus on selling their goods and services to students; other participants in the economy such as grocery stores and concert venues; and importantly, investors in a booming asset class called “student housing.” They are the recipients of these taxpayer guaranteed funds. And every dime of this debt contributes to the economy as measured by GDP – on the time-honored principle of Apocalypse not now.
This is also how the Military Industrial Complex operates. Tax dollars are funneled to other countries via aid then the money is used by that country to purchase military hardware. This also adds to GDP.
Venezuelan Sanctions are a Bad Idea
The Trump administration recently enacted sanctions against Venezuela, citing human rights abuses among its justifications. But if violations of human rights are a legitimate concern for the administration, then pursuing economic sanctions is bad policy.
Research shows that such sanctions not only fail to achieve their stated goals seventy to eighty percent of the time, but also result in greater poverty and widespread malnutrition and starvation.
If preserving and improving the lives of the oppressed is an outcome for which we’re shooting, well, this ain’t it, chief. Instead, we should start developing solid trade relationships with Venezuela. After all, aside from enriching both countries, more economic interaction leads to fewer wars.
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