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Wednesday June 19, 2013 07:15 AM CST FAQ This site is supported by subscriptions: For additional content, please subscribe to Peoplenomics. Peoplenomics Master Index of our Latest Subscriber Reports
Now, About That Recovery Time once again to get really grounded in our view of the U.S. economy using the most non-partisan economic report I can think of: A check of actual port traffic coming in from Asia via the US west coast. I won’t spoil the surprise by telling you what to expect, we’ll just roll with data, as always. Meantime, we also have a dandy ChartPack update which features a sizeable bounce that we anticipated in last week’s report. But first, deck the halls with boughs of coffee…time to welcome this morning’s second cup of Mrs. Olson’s half-caf and get on to our First Things topic…
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On other topics, Clif has a new ALTA report, but only as an .MP3 (damn!) and Gaye has an article about her LifeStram adventure in Alaska a couple of weeks back over at BackDoorSurvival.
More from me tomorrow morning... Oh! And the Peoplenomics.com site public area has now been rolled over into phone freindly responsive code. I should get the UrbanSurvival site rolled over today (that's the blog version).
Market dart landed on down 50 for the day, so we shall see...
Tuesday June 18, 2013 Deflation Stalks Economy Not that this will come as any real surprise to you, since, as we have been reporting all along, deflation comes when money created is not making it back into circulation in anything other than financial markets and a few financial abstractions. But, just so as to put it out in public here comes this morning's consumer price report hot off the server at the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
"The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.1 percent in May on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 1.4 percent before seasonal adjustment.
The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.2 percent in May. Besides the shelter increase, advances in the indexes for airline fares, recreation, and apparel also contributed to the rise. In contrast, the indexes for medical care and used cars and trucks declined in May.
The all items index increased 1.4 percent over the last 12 months, an increase from last month's 1.1 percent figure. The 12-month change in the index for all items less food and energy remained at 1.7 percent. The food index has risen modestly over the last 12 months, advancing 1.4 percent, while the index for energy has declined, falling 1.0 percent. "
So where would we toss the incipient deflation dart this morning?
Last week's H.6 money stocks report suggests that the M2 paper printing rate has been running about 6.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis. Which means what? Well, take that 6.9% gain and back out the actual good prices (1.4%) and that6 should give us an idea. So what's that? 5.5% deflation?
Yikes. So, like it (or don't) the Fed really is doing the right thing in here trying to print up lots of money, but it's not getting into the economy (except in car sales, which really may not be such good deals if a second leg down happens).
Frankly, I think Bernanke has been doing a really good job at the Fed (he doesn't have much choice) although I disagree on whether letting bad companies fail would have been as catastrophic as Wall Streeters claimed. I mean look how sequestration has turned up goose eggs in national change, so far, anyway.
So whether Bernanke is really tired or whether Obama is just gently doing press releases as hints is anyone's guess.
Changing out Bernanke (which would be a bad thing, as I see it, because he deeply understands Depression dynamics) would not solve the real problems of the economy. Which are?
That's the long and short of it: Bernanke is holding a steady hand, prices are stable, any more dough and it would be inflation (which the Washington rocketry team doesn't understand will collapse bonds) and having no patience, Obama may be trying to show Ben the door. Ben may have answers, but Washington has lobbies and so it goes...
Another day in the country formerly known as the Home of the Brave, Land of the Free. No quite.
Silently Standing Shunning arrives all over the news this morning. It's the new way of protesting government policies in Turkey and it's the kind of peaceful shunning by the people that can make governments nervous.
A critical question to be asked is this: If people can interact via the Internet on a sufficient number of levels, do humans really need "government" anymore?
Eye to Eye with Russia New Cold War over Syria The West, namely the G-8 less Russia, is putting Vladimir Putin on ice, giving him the "shunning" over Russia's defense of Syria.
That makes a fairly reassuring headline, giving the appearance that the Boyz in the G-8 club will come through this with a solution and life will go on, doing whatever passes for normal these days.
But don't bet on it. The Russians are masterful chess players and what the West doesn't seem to fully appreciate is that Russia says, by way of Sergei Lavrov, foreign minister, that any attempt by the West to impose a no-fly zone over Syria would be a violation of international law, and thus would not be observed by Russia.
Oh, and Lavrov also stated the obvious elsewhere: Tossing in more Western arms is not going to deescalate the situation. Seems he's got that one right.
Opting Out of the EU? Good analysis piece in the Daily Bell about how Iceland has frozen its application to become members of the EU. Can't say I blame 'em, since the EU is essentially trying to snooker more countries into becoming co-signers on their government-without-recourse Ponzi scheme. Given how the banksters have treated Iceland, can't say as I blame them.
We failed to note in yesterday's column that Monday was National Day (sort of like our Fourth) and politicians were giving fine speeches. Frankly, I dozed off about two paragraphs into prime minster Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson’s speech marking the occasion.
I' ve printed off all 2,731 words of it and have placed it on my nightstand. Next time I can't get to sleep, I'll see if I can make it further.
More after this...
Departments & Entities
Digging for Jimmy The last time I did any serious thinking about Jimmy Hoffa's disappearance was back in the summer or 1975 which I was news director of (then) KOL up in Seattle. We had a kind of informal radio network back then which operated between the rock & roll giants of the era...and I'd spent lots of time on the phone with the news department of CKLW in Windsor (Detroit) trying to piece together ideas and learning about the "topology" of the mob which had seemed at the time closely-linked to the disappearance of Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa.
Hoffa, you may remember, was last seen in the parking lot of the Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Township which was (back then) an upscale 'burb of Detroit and the rumors at the time had it that Hoffa had gone there to meet with two Tonys: Tony Giacalone (pronounced Jack-a-loney, alias Tony Jack, a local capo) and Tony Provenzano (Tony Pro, another Genevese crime family capo).
However, neither of them was at the restaurant that day, and both denied any knowledge of what Hoffa would be doing there. It seemed Hoffa was, though, since his car was found at the restaurant but there was no sign of struggle.
More recent thinking on this has gone to the idea that Hoffa's disappearance, which came after this pardon by "Slippery Dick" Nixon on jury tampering and fraud charges, was triggered by Hoffa's plans to make a grand re-entry into organized labor in Detroit. Obviously, this wouldn't set well with the newly elevated, non-Genovese family up-and-comers who were beginning to enjoy the spoils which they'd wrought from the power vacuum created when Hoffa was sent to prison.
There's a third Tony in all this: Tony Zirilli a reputed/alleged boss of the Detroit Outfit better known to mafiologists as The Detroit Partnership formerly run by Joe Z (Joe Zirilli who died of natural causes in 1977).
Now getting up there in years, Tony Z told the NBC 4 New York iTeam that Hoffa was buried alive in that field up in Michigan where the FBI is now digging for Jimmy.
Immigration Poll The CNN poll out which shows a wide generational divide between old folks and young folks on immigration reform is, to my way of thinking, something else:
I think it shows that if you promote a liberal agenda long enough, and wait 20-years, you'll see a liberal political bias as those so taught hit voting age. It's really Hearts & Minds, the slow-motion edition.
IRS Poll
Now, though, it's looking like IRS may have simply been trying to do its job, since the definitions of some of the regulations they are trying to enforce are, themselves, slippery at best.
Public Counter-terrorism? RICO Suits Of all places to find such info: The Canada Free Press which has a dandy article on "How to hold Washington accountable using the Racketeer Influence & Corrupt Organizations Act" - RICO statutes - as a basis.
All of which sounds absurd, but becomes less son when you read about how a 14-year old is facing a year in jail in Logan County, West Virginia for refusing to remove a Second Amendment T-shirt.
The shirt, worn to school, was an NRA T with "protect your right" and a picture of a hunting rifle on it. The school says the shirt disrupted the education process, as I imagine it could: Maybe they don't teach Second Amendment, anymore?
Biden Our Time on Gun Laws Vice president Biden is due out with a progress report on gun legislation later today so this morning they'll claim a narrow victory with a new package of executive actions which include writing emergency management plans for schools and churches.
Benghazi Isn't Over U.S. General Carter Ham is schedule to testify behind closed doors before the House Armed Services Subcommittee on the 26th. This are Ham reportedly wanted to go in and rescue the four Americans being killed in Benghazi, but he was put on a short leash, say reports, and was told to stand down. Ham has denied that, but who knows what will come out of the House hearings?
FrankenRice Bet you didn't know that some of the rice being grown in this country includes human genetic material, did you?
Real Progress on EMP Protection! From our resident war-gamer:
"George, The U.S. House is actually considering a useful and meaningful piece of legislation - the “Secure High-voltage Infrastructure for Electricity from Lethal Damage Act.” Never mind this should have been passed 11 or even 22 years ago.
Salient quote from the Examiner article: "Contemporary U.S. society is not structured, nor does it have the means, to provide for the needs of nearly 300 million Americans without electricity.''
Which means protection for 300 large grid connection transformers nationally, but the problem goes much deeper, so we will wait to see what else is covered. Still, damn good start and just 22-years late....or 51 years late if we count from the first public EMP damage in Honolulu from Starfish Prime.
Better late than never, but better never late, huh?
More after this....
Coping: With Religions Making War Speaking of our resident war-gamer, which we were a moment ago on the EMP matter, he also offered some thoughts further to our Monday discussion of the competitive marketing of Islam:
"Regarding the “Iran vs Saudi Arabia” rivalry, their disagreements extend well beyond their respective Shi’ite and Sunni religious differences, which admittedly play a key root cause in their conflict.
First and foremost, Riyadh is a staunch regional ally of the United States. Tehran is an avowed enemy of America and its ‘Satanic’ influences.
The Saudi regime is an absolute Islamic monarchy, the Iranians a theocratic-led Islamic Republic whose elections and laws must be 100% compatible with Islam. Iran overthrew the Shah’s monarchy during the great rebellion.
Since the fall of the Shah and the ascendency of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979-80, Iran’s national policy is to regularly instigate and back Islamic revolution throughout the Persian Gulf area and Middle East while pressuring states to limit or halt their relationships with the Israel and American led West.
Iran is not Arabic in race but Iranid (formerly called ‘Persians’ and are of the ‘Aryan’ race from which the word Iran is derived). Their only major Arab ally in the region is Syria, which they are not willing to sit by and watch fall into the opposition’s hands.
Saudi Arabia is pretty much a Middle East ‘status quo’ regime, happy with stability despite varying degrees of democracy, theocracy and monarchy existing in the region.
The two nations are in constant political and sometimes proxy-armed conflict over power and influence within and around the Persian Gulf (e.g. Bahrain, Yemen, Kuwait, Iraq and of course Syria). Also, the Iranian regime is decidedly ‘book ended’ by an American allies in Afghanistan, Iraq and Turkey. The Saudi’s enjoy relative geo-political security.
The animosity between these two regimes runs deep. As such, the two nations serve as the perfect proxies for globally dominant superpowers. "
Good background to keep in mind while developments simmer. Give the new Iranian president another week, or so, to adjust and then we should see things taking off again.
Much of what happens next in the region depends on whether the West is stupid enough to ramp up a no-fly zone over a country of little strategic resource value, although that could be endlessly debated.
What will drive events? Economics, as always, but as usual, not always apparent to the public.
Having done a Wave 1 down, global markets have taken a nice bounce right at the support line predicted last week for Peoplenomics readers [SUBSCRIBE].
What we're in right now is a short-term bounce, more'n likely. The "danger zone" policy-wise comes once we claw back to the underside of our 17-week moving average trend line of our Global Index. There, the odds increase that about the first week of July, or so, with markets in a precarious position, that the US government will play for a distraction to refocus attention off market conditions, in which case money drives the distraction need, and here comes a no-fly zone.
If you want some real "high theater"? Picture president Obama declaring the No-Fly Zone over Syria on the Fourth of July. That would let this "wag the dog" deal get wrapped up in a flag so that all Americans would be obligated to salute (albeit, in their sleep).
Reader Gathering? June 25th - Hartford (MAYBE!) One of our East Coasties sent this:
"George, What is happening with the Subscribers Cocktail Party you are throwing in Connecticut? I hope your Scandinavian frugal gene has taken a time out and you splurge for some Budweiser, or in my case a nice XO cognac. Enquiring minds want to know. "
Oh...well, not throwing since that would cast me as Daddy Warbucks, which I'm not. But I have been thinking about a reader gathering at the hotel on the afternoon/evening of the 25th.
Gives me a great idea, too: Maybe I could talk the Legendary Howard into doing a PowerPoint on Mortgage Crisis 501: What Comes Next?
I assume you're aware that lenders are still going after former homeowners even years after foreclosure trying to get blood from the turnips.
To be sure, the www.columnists.com convention is our main reading for going to Hartford, but time with Howard (and others) is definitely worth the trip in itself. --- Columbus Ohio: June 24 possibility: Depending on how he feels about it, my consigliere will be asked if he wants to do a short PowerPoint on major economic cycles, since he's been a student of long wave and other cycles in a most serious way since 1975, or so. IF, that is, there's any interest, otherwise we'll use a cocktail napkin for those discussions...
We shall see...more Thursday...and by then we should have more info on weather and such...since we're flying this VFR in the old Beechcrate, even though it has moving map WAAS GPS...
Missing WuJo: Update You'll remember a while back we had a discussion about the drop in WuJo reports - which is to say that people aren't reporting as many "Twilight Zone-like" events of late.
This morning, we've got three theories of why this might be. Let's start with this email:
"Hello again :-) I write to say that, yes, maybe the wujo are cyclical, a bit lke baby booms - here we got one around 2004-2006, now there's another one starting since last year.
On the wujo matter, maybe it's more like an 'intensity wave' going around on the surface of the ocean of humanity.
This wave brings an heightening of awareness and synchronicity, and then like in the ocean - or one of these wave pools in parks - it passes and people go a bit more down, until the next wave.
Eventually I believe that the energy & information manifesting itself in this pulsating wave, it changes form and evolves in a kind of spiral of evolution, so that instead of merely going up and down we go round and round, yes, but also higher and higher - a kind of 90' shift of perception and evolution. And I believe that we can learn to stay at the center of that energy - information, pulsation - wave, spiral of evolution :-)
I never wrote about wujos because personally I'm through the other side of surprise toward it :-) My main spiritual traditions are Tibetan Buddhism and the native ways, so they contain a wide understanding of shamanism and relationships with different entities.
Through the years I've "gotten in a relationship" with the 'Elves' I call them, for lack of a better term.
There is this feeling, when I'm looking for something - a kind of playfulness. Often they would just like me to get up from my ass and look around, and the thingie will appear under me or somewhere entirely.
The act of getting up will manifest the thing.
At other times I need to ask someone to help me, and I've noticed that by them merely thinking about helping me ( and so, by sending towards me this attention, focus and energy) I'll have enough focus and power to manifest my object.. :-) The Force is strong.. :-)
I have a friend that is starting to 'get synchronized', meaning that every time he looks at a clock it's one of these 2h22 or 11h11 moments. It's a start :-)
Personally I live, and so create, a reality where everything, good and bad, happens for a reason and in a wider understanding it all make sense. I live in a entire wujo plane with animist entities and synchronicities, and at the same time I inhabit the same mundane plane as every body else :-) Mmm.. ..
A bit like Carlos Castaneda stuff, nagual and tonal consciousness, both. ok, so don't worry about the wujo :-) The wave might not be fully active in your tribes, but around here it's full-on like many would not believe.
By associating with like-minded people the phenomenon tends to harmonize itself and manifest good synchronicities instead of just chaotic and random pulses of things going on a walkabout.
I feel that overall, on this earth, it keeps getting stronger. The universe is accelerating it's expansion, after all :-) [ And that might be why there is more crazyness at the same time as synchronicity and evolution, as. some people just can't cope with the acceleration of perception ]
Anyway, blessings :-) Sébastien, near Montréal "
Damn good thinking...but there's another idea, too:
"The cell towers have been tweaked. A few micro hertz up or down and reality is changed? Has anyone been confused lately? Chaos anywhere? Lets have a little order here."
And our third possibility that explains the lack of WuJo reports?
"Hello George, Quick note, another reason people may not be reporting the Wujo, is that people have just gotten busier. I know that my wife has had some very strange stuff happen but we simply do not have time to write it down right now. Since spring finally arrived, and then switched into summer a week later here in Minnesnowda (SIC), we just have not had the time to do much other than take care of the necessities, (Garden, Greenhouse, Garage). Well just a thought anyway. Have a good weekend and keep on keeping on. "
So there's our three theories: Cycles, cells, and calendar pressures.
New Group Project!!! Speaking of which, here's a dandy one for you...if you haven't tried it: Lots of people make fun of conspiracy followers, and people who are just trying to work out how all the dots connect in Life, sort of like the all-time largest NY Times Crossword puzzle.
Try actually making and wearing a tinfoil hat for an hour or two. No, don't tell anyone else about it, just send me a note. When you put it on, carefully note any changes in your feelings, emotions, how you think, and so on.... I'd be curious to so a sampling of people's experiences.
So give it a try, send in results and we'll see what the effects are because if I told you mine now, that would give away a dandy discussion. I want more data and you can help.
Dover over your eyebrows, small holes for your eyes, down to cheeks, over your ears, and down to your shirt collar (or lower).
For an even more intense difference, go from rubber-soled shoes to barefoot and standing on actual ground, slightly damp is ideal.
How people behave is clearly an
electrically-influenced outcome as I was rereading Electrodynamic Man
Why the class project? Well, I had an interesting email from a reader which began...
1. You refuse to supply secure email keys. 2. Your reliance on the "HAARP status web site"
These are good points with simple answers:
1. I don't want any more attention from GUS than I already get, thanks. If you wanted to put up a sign that said "Here's a potential threat to GUS, come interview me, look at all my encrypted message traffic!" setting up secure email keys and publishing them would be exactly how to do it.
And old friend in the FBI schooled me years ago in such things. Nothing like just having a cup of coffee someplace...and those places in the next month like likely include Nashville, Columbus, Hartford, Charlottesville, VA, Charleston, SC, and one of the Mississippi casino towns on the way home. (Open to suggestions, BTW).
2. Absent our own network of frequency agile receivers, it's what we've got, but again, suggestions are welcome.
By the way, the HAARP site data which we've been studying for our report on Alfven waves has either been down or I'm blocked from four different IPs, which doesn't seem likely.
Slowest computer repair operation I have ever seen. In the real world, bullshit like multi-day outages don't happen.
More tomorrow for subscribers, more free thinking Thursday. Oh, and no I don't own Alcoa stock!
Write when you break even.
George Ure (george at ure dot net)
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Is Poverty a Choice? Statistics are ugly little buggers. We begin this morning with a scandal story or our own, assess why Japan’s mini-crash this week means something in longwave econ terms, and then we get into the good stuff: As we look at the problem of whether poverty is a “choice” we quickly descend into harsh realities of self-deception. We develop some notes on how humans (like us) can still us shortcuts to get great economic results. What we find, I think is interesting and useful. But not as useful as our “first things” column and a few headlines, along with that first cup of coffee…
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Last week's report is always here. Monday June 17, 2013 Big Deal Number Week The stock futures were up earlier this morning, and after the decline last week, some might see that as a good thing. But don't hold your breath: Markets are often in a "buy the rumor" mood until news hits and then they often times "sell the news."
Were I a better man (with an options addiction) I would play it just about like that since we have a couple of numbers due out today, but the biggie for the week will come with tomorrow's Consumer Price report.
This morning's Empire Manufacturing number (thanks NY Fed) isn't bad for immediacy values, but long-term durational values are down...
"The June 2013 Empire State Manufacturing Survey indicates that conditions for New York manufacturers improved modestly. The general business conditions index—the most comprehensive of the survey's measures—rose nine points to 7.8. Nevertheless, most other indicators in the survey fell. The new orders index slipped six points to -6.7, the shipments index fell twelve points to -11.8, and the unfilled orders index fell eight points to -14.5. The prices paid index held steady at 21.0, while the prices received index rose seven points to 11.3. Labor market conditions worsened, with the index for number of employees dropping to zero and the average workweek index retreating ten points to -11.3. Continuing the trend seen in the past few months, indexes for the six-month outlook declined, suggesting that optimism about future conditions was weakening further. "
So that's why the market will rally at the open but after that, anyone's guess..
But past that, we have CPI tomorrow and Housing numbers to come, so let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.
On Wednesday, we'll do our monthly take on the real economy for Peoplenomics readers [SUBSCRIBE] as we sort out West Coast port data.
Since global interlocking markets are the order of things anymore, China and Japan recovered somewhat from declines and that has touched off a decent gain in Europe this morning, so the Dow closing up 180 isn't out of the realm of possibility, depending on the long term TIC report and other factors while we watch "Buy the Rumor" work itself out....
Obama the Irish Partisan Fearless Leader is in Northern Ireland for the G8 meetings, which come on the heels of the Build-er-burgers, so we assume the globalists have called in their plays....
But this morning we note our president is urging youth to make Northern Ireland peace permanent.
Well, as we used to say, "Hold'er Newt!"
The key difficulty is Article 2 of the present Irish constitution which is where the British (kneeler-dealers) are trying to hang on to the last vestiges of colonialism by promoting this "You're really British, but we'll let you pretend" part:
"the birthright of all the people of Northern Ireland to identify themselves and be accepted as Irish or British, or both, as they may so choose, and accordingly confirm that their right to hold both British and Irish citizenship is accepted by both Governments and would not be affected by any future change in the status of Northern Ireland. "
So the controversy is whether the independent-minded people want to accept that master-owner owner implication although is lacks specific territorial claims. Times have changed, though, such that in this virtualized world, I note that holding ground is not longer as important as "holding paper."
And that's what Obama is doing, claiming we'll "stand with Northern Ireland," essentially: Ya'll go down this road and play nice-like. I can almost see the banker strings.
Keep that chattel on the balance sheet and keep 'em paying. Go search (Irish) "Constitution Halts Sheriff."
Amidst collapsing public approve in America, over spying and scandals, we wonder what the kneelers of The City will provide Obama in kind?
Our Total Support for Obama ...should be obvious. Lest our inconvenient recitation of relevant facts bring us an official visit, like it did for an Obama critic who dares differ with administration policies...
More after this...
Departments & Entities
Another Week, Another Scandal Beside revelations about how the kneelers were spying on other nation's delegations to the G20, as outlined in the latest Snowden revelations...
Add another acronym to the breakfast plate: NUCLEON which, it turns out, is a "spoken words" database which was put together by the NSA.
Key quote from a Washington Post note this weekend:
"Current NSA director Keith B. Alexander and Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. have resolutely refused to offer an estimate of the number of Americans whose calls or e-mails have thus made their way into content databases such as NUCLEON."
Spoken words content is a mighty scary thing - depending, of course, on your level of sophistication.
You see, in the high world of template matching, all you need is a few sentences on each (and every) American phone user to act as a kind of electronic fingerprint. Once these are in hand, all you need is a word or two, tied in to things like psychological predispositions (from Facebook and other social media, for example) and you can pretty well find anyone who MIGHT be connected to a bad 'enemy of America.'
So at it's core, when you begin looking at this as a "thin" distributed architecture, it is fairly graceful, but then again, with unlimited tax dollars why not?
Not that it's a bad approach, either. Except when it comes to failure to disclose the breached "presumption of privacy" and that really is, as I see it, reason to hound the present administration out of office. "Trust us" is (...cough, cough "Bullshit!!" cough, cough...).
Who needs a national ID system when you've got voiceprints and cellphone locators? --- Still acting like 'Mericans are stupid, the WH chief of staff is desperately selling "Obama does not feel Americans' privacy violated" but, since no one has hinted that a national voiceprint system could be cobbled up and tied to your cell phone location....well, let's sit back and see who else can connect dots.
This is why (one you have a voiceprint and number) a think architecture works so well. Mighty graceful and scary, all at the same time.
Especially if you listen to Miss Alabama's take on privacy concerns. We are all so Constitutionally screwed....
Fire Foul Up in Colorado, investigators have been called in to work on the cause of the Black Forest fire near Colorado Springs. Foul play is suspected.
Sunnis Coming Out Word is out this morning that the Saudis have announced efforts to get missiles for their kindred Syrian rebel forces which are trying to overthrown the (Shiite-leaning?) Assad government.
Yep, Saudis are generally Sunni, while Syria is mainly Sunni, too, president Assad has been too warm to the Shiites.
The Shia are about 13% of the population of Syria while the Sunnis number 74%...so clearly the Saudis are placing support behind the largest interest group, which is sure to gain them creds with other Sunnis in the Middle East.
A clip from Wikipedia for perspective:
The historic background of the Sunni–Shia split lies in the schism that occurred when the Islamic prophet Muhammad died in the year 632, leading to a dispute over succession to Muhammad as a caliph of the Islamic community spread across various parts of the world which led to the Battle of Siffin. Today there are differences in religious practice, traditions and customs, often related to jurisprudence. Although all Muslim groups consider the Quran to be divine, Sunni and Shia have different opinions on hadith.
As any student of history knows, religious differentiation is a curious thing when it comes to war and its proxies. But the schism is why Iran (Shia) is not close to Sunni Saudi Arabia and it's in part how the West tries to game the region.
Bigger is Bigger With all the talk about the surveillance state (not to mention the concrete trucks up in Utah building more room for computers) we have to note the Chinese pride in developing their Tianhe-2 which they claim now is the worlds fastest computing system. 33.86 petaflops per second is just ever so slightly faster than our aging i-7 920 cores..
Which means we likely max out somewhere below 7 gigaflops.
So your PC would be about 480 times faster (on a complex problem, not surfing) if it had that kind of horsepower.
but lately, I look at numbers like that while Nostracodeus is off scanning the web for me and I wonder "Gee, wouldn't lambdas on the desktop and processor power to boot mean a lot few brain clicks left for off-tasking?"
Serious questions, these, on a Monday morning...
Sociopath Headcount Might want to read the article "60 Million People in the U.S. Negatively Affected By Someone Else's Pathology (Think Sociopaths and Psychopaths)."
As our favorite headline-hunting critic notes from Ecuador "Just wait until the government money runs out to pay for the folks on anti-psychotic and anti-depressant medications. And a couple million kids dropped off cold from Ritalin."
Ah, but what could possibly go wrong?
Coping: The Case for Directorate 153 Many times I have told you pet idea that there is - somewhere in the Washington DC environs - a pseudo-government entity that models the best future for America, pulls strings to make it happen and survives administrations.
I've hypothesized its existence because only this "hidden variable" concept explains the lack of policy differences between the Bush and Obama administrations.
This became particularly clear this month with the posting on YouTube of then-senator Obama's 2007 speech about "false choices" and how there would be "no illegal wiretapping of Americans."
Right, sure, you betcha.
The existence of a single influencing organization isn't the only possible answer: The TV show Alias included multiple levels of government operations which could exist competitively including one called "the Trust." The "movie is the message" haunts us again.
The actual name of the non-elected government entity isn't so important as we can offer a smorgasbord of reasons for its existence:
All of these concepts - plus a lot more - are floating around on the net; the difficulty being choice of the correct answer since no scores are offered.
Our Directorate 153 is a meta answer. You don't need to insert one of the "known" answers since it may be (and likely is) something else entirely.
But, the pointed resurfacing of the civil rights talker versus the civil rights doer argues convincingly that an off-books entity is framing choices and strategies.
If so, that's a very, very, un-American road to follow. But the trend is clear: the small policy delta/change between Clinton and Bush has narrowed again between Bush and Obama.
Most likely? It is the pinchers movement of the New World Orderists (enveloping horn strategy). Applied slowly, few notice. And thanks to digital hypnosis, even fewer care.
When Barrack Obama and Dick Cheney are both on the same side of a topic, either patriotism makes strange comrades, or the danger of the hidden variable is growing over time.
My Kind of Crop Duster With us taking off on our annual Big Trip in a week (which means an oil change for the plane and such) I couldn't help but click when a reader sent me a link to the new Air Tractor Irregular Warfarea Aircraft.
Air Tractors have a find rep as a crop duster, but like so many American companies, we see the tentacles of the Security State now engulfing another industry...
But, since organic growth *(other than your iPhone being obsoleted every year) is about toast, companies have to do what they have to do.
So while private pilots are being aggressively intimidated (See Flying for "Pilots Have No Rights") aircraft companies are doing what companies do...going where the money is...
Still, 180 knots for 10 hours and almost 2,100 mile range...what a fun two-place this would make, if only we still had the economy and the upper middle class intact.
An Invitation to Turn Pro? No, not as a writers, but as a beer drinker. Got this email just about the time I was sampling a bottle of Black Freighter from Patient Zero's secret stash:
"Dear Madam / Dear Sir, The organization of the 3th edition of the "World Beer Challenge - III International Brewery Awards 2013 to be held in Estoril 26.27.28.29 June, advises that the closing date for registration expires on June 20, this year. Together we refer entry form and fee structure, the regulation can be found on our website: www.worldbeerchallenge.com \ - registration@worldbeerchallenge.com
Gee...would that mean turning pro? Besides, Portugal is too far to go for a beer in this economy...tempting though...
Readers Writes From Seth (he writes, not speaks, which is a Jane Robert's pun, which may be too obscure for this early on Monday...):
"George Check this out , I think this is real , or a really amazing coincidence , but I have yet to be able to find any FRN’s past 2009 Do you know about this , just look in your wallet , this could be something meaningful...
Yes...but don't ask me how. Everything is meaningful...it's just the "How?" that's a bitch to figure. And besides, don't we have work to do, or something?
Chart of the Week! Before
the chart, a little background: Once upon a time,
a long while ago, I observed during my quest for 'truth' in economics, that the
PowersThatBe, the talking heads on the teeve, and the other information sources
that actively engage in the programming of humans not to think, had conveniently
swept several trillions of dollars that disappeared in the Internet Bubble's
bursting (since spring 2000) under the rug. Surely, it wasn't unnoticed by the
thousands of people who called brokers and said "Where is my money?" "Gone, but
hang in there as you're a long term investor!" was about all they heard back. So one of our
charts for Peoplenomics subscribers oughta be widely circulated - it shows that
if you line up the peak of the Dow in January 2000 with the peak in early
September of 1929, we're on a very very close replay track. Much closer than
even the chart shows if you were to back out inflation, and put in the effects
of 1929 deflation, but that'd be real work, and I'm sort of lazy if the truth be
told. No, it's not a
perfect replay of 1929, but history doesn't repeat exactly, it
only rhymes. So think of this as the rhymes and the crimes chart:
"George,
that's only a coincidence!" your monkey-mind will protest. Just so in your
world perhaps, but not in mine.. Why sure it
is...you bet. A 11-year long coincidence...yessir....just a
coincidence, we're like SO sure... (Shhh...don't tell anyone that major
Depressions are two-part coupled affairs like the linkage between 1920-21 and
1929, OK? Damn, dude...don't spoil it for the sheep...) Oh...don't forget
to "Write when you get rich!"
George Ure, The People's Economist Breaking News Bulletins are posted as our work
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by Dr. Leonard J. Ravitz. Something of a rare book, but quite explicit
in how it details electrical influences on the brain.
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