YOUR 100% CRIMINAL GOV’T: Just Before Passing Surveillance Expansion, Lawmakers Partied With Pro-CISA Lobbyists

 by Lee Fang, The Intercept:
The night before Congress passed the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, a broad expansion of surveillance power in America, legislators attended a party with the chief lobbyists for the bill.
Last Thursday, Sens. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., Cory Gardner, R-Colo., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., along with a number of other lawmakers, went to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’sfamously lavish Christmas party.
The next morning, on December 18, the senators voted to pass the omnibus spending bill that included a version of CISA that guts privacy protections and creates new channels for both government agencies and private businesses to share information with the National Security Agency and law enforcement.
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58 Facts About The U.S. Economy From 2015 That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe

by Michael Snyder, The Economic Collapse Blog:

The world didn’t completely fall apart in 2015, but it is undeniable that an immense amount of damage was done to the U.S. economy.  This year the middle class continued to deteriorate, more Americans than ever found themselves living in poverty, and the debt bubble that we are living in expanded to absolutely ridiculous proportions.  Toward the end of the year, a new global financial crisis erupted, and it threatens to completely spiral out of control as we enter 2016.  Over the past six months, I have been repeatedly stressing to my readers that so many of the exact same patterns that immediately preceded the financial crisis of 2008 are happening once again, and trillions of dollars of stock market wealth has already been wiped out globally.  Some of the largest economies on the entire planet such as Brazil and Canada have already plunged into deep recessions, and just about every leading indicator that you can think of is screaming that the U.S. is heading into one.  So don’t be fooled by all the happy talk coming from Barack Obama and the mainstream media.  When you look at the cold, hard numbers, they tell a completely different story.  The following are 58 facts about the U.S. economy from 2015 that are almost too crazy to believe…
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"America's Equity Markets Are Broken" Yale CIO Admits "Rigged Markets" Hurt Individuals

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/25/2015 - 13:00 America's equity markets are broken. Individuals and institutions make transactions in rigged markets favoring short-term players. The root cause of the problem is that stocks trade on numerous venues, including 11 traditional exchanges and dozens of so-called dark pools that allow buyers and sellers to work out of the public eye. This market fragmentation allows high-frequency traders and exchanges to profit at the expense of long-term investors. Mr. Lewis was right.

The Crash Scenario for 2016 Begins to Unfold

by Jeff Nielson, Bullion Bulls:
The Federal Reserve has launched its first torpedo at the U.S. economy, as the One Bank prepares for its bubble-bursting orgy in 2016, and all of the financial raping-and-pillaging which will come with it.
Buffett Sits on $50 Billion Cash-Hoard, Waiting for Bubbles to Pop [August 2014]
The Next Crash in 2016 [November 2014]
Fed Rate-Hike To Trigger ‘Next Crash’ In 2016? [May 2015]
The Fed Rate-Hike: the Torpedo is Launched [December 2015]
…and now we begin to see some firm DETAILS materialize, via the portions of the Script which are being telegraphed to us today, via the mainstream propaganda machine.
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What If Jesus Had Been Born 2,000 Years Later In The American Police State?

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/25/2015 - 21:15 "The Roman Empire, a police state in its own right, had ordered that a census be conducted. Joseph and his pregnant wife Mary traveled to the little town of Bethlehem so that they could be counted. There being no room for the couple at any of the inns, they stayed in a stable, where Mary gave birth to a baby boy. That boy, Jesus, would grow up to undermine the political and religious establishment of his day and was eventually crucified as a warning to others not to challenge the powers-that-be." But what if Jesus, the revered preacher, teacher, radical and prophet, had been born 2,000 years later? How would Jesus’ life have been different had he be born and raised in the American police state?

Pennsylvania, Illinois Usher In The New Year With Record Budget Impasses

"The longer you wait to try to catch up on funding, the worse the situation gets."

The Christmas Spirit Of Staring Into Screens Together

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/25/2015 - 20:01 “It’s just great to get home for a while and spend some quality time not speaking a single word to my relatives, whether that’s by sipping hot cocoa with my sister while we both check our emails, or by gathering the whole clan for a nice holiday meal where everyone is fixedly looking down at the text messages on their phones—’tis the season, you know?”

Read The Letter That Turned Folk Icon Pete Seeger Into An FBI Target

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/25/2015 - 19:45 At 23-years old, Pete Seeger was an Army Private anxiously awaiting the opportunity to be deployed to fight fascism in the midst of World War II, when he became outraged by injustice in his own backyard. As such, he wrote the following letter to the California chapter of the American Legion. For this thoughtful expression of his First Amendment rights, Pete Seeger ended up on an FBI watch-list; a place he would remain for the next thirty years. Following a Freedom of Information Act request, we now have access to his shocking 1,800 page file...

The Number Of Young Adults Living With Their Parents Has Never Been Higher (But It Could Be Worse)

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/25/2015 - 19:13 Three years after 2012, Goldman has finally admitted that all the talk about a major exodus of your Americans from parental houses and into the harsh crony capitalist world, was nothing but hot air. As the chart below shows, the share of 18-34-year-olds living with their parents has never been higher.

These Are The Top 20 Companies By Market Cap Over The Past Decade

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/25/2015 - 18:45

Islam & The West - "Moving Towards A Head-On Collision"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/25/2015 - 18:15 "...the march towards secularism and freedom is not inevitable. In fact, it’s problematic because we have a situation where every year the West becomes more secular, open, tolerant and liberal while many parts of the Muslim world are going the other way. So it would seem that we might be moving towards a head-on collision of some sort... In most Muslim countries the majority of people are tolerant. They want to live in a more inclusive society and have a more liberal religious doctrine. The problem is that Islam seems to have been hijacked by a vocal minority of people who are prepared to use violence to advance their very intolerant and conservative version of Islam."

Wall Street's Most Prominent Former Permabull Is Most Worried About Just One Number

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/25/2015 - 17:28 In the world of fiction, the most famous threshold may be that of 88 miles per hour. In the non-fictional world of economics and finance, however, an even more important threshold is that of 5% unemployment. At that moment everything changes. Wall Street's most prominent former converted permabull, Jim Paulsen, explains.

France Changes Constitution To Protect "Emergency" Police Powers From Court Challenges

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/25/2015 - 16:43 Europe's Patriot Act has finally taken shape: according to a proposed amendment, the French state-of-emergency police powers, such as to conduct warrantless searches and order house arrests, will be unconditionally shieleded from court challenges.

Pets Suck But Jewelry Rocks - The Best & Worst Gifts (And Gift-Givers) Of Christmas

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/25/2015 - 16:00 "Anyone who has studied microeconomics knows... that an income transfer, as opposed to a gift in-kind, gets you to a higher level of utility," but as WSJ reports, putting theory under the tree is another matter. After years of studying the economics of gift-giving, economists have found that some gifts are valued more highly than others, and that some gift-givers seem to be better than others...

Russia Kills Top Rebel Leader Zahran Alloush In Airstrike Near Damascus

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/25/2015 - 15:15 In a major blow for one of Syria's most powerful opposition forces, a Russian airstrike has killed Jaysh al Islam chief Zahran Alloush and several of his deputies.

Rand Paul's Festivus Airing Of Grievances Against Government Waste

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/25/2015 - 14:30 U.S. Senator Rand Paul today released a special ‘Festivus: Airing of Grievances for 2015’ edition of ‘The Waste Report,’ - an ongoing project cataloguing egregious examples of waste within the U.S. government.

Chinese State Firms' Debt Hits New All Time High, As Profits Tumble

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/25/2015 - 13:43 As SOE profits continue to deteriorate at the expense of maximizing jobs and employment (recall the biggest threat facing China is a working class insurrection, or simply said, "lower and middle-class revolution") debt at these same SOEs just hit a new record high: according to the same FinMin numbers, total SOE debt rose by CNY393 billion to CNY78.3 trillion, or over $12 trillion - well above 100% of total Chinese GDP.

Ho Ho Hobama

Happy Holidays...

Oil Bankruptcies Hit Highest Level Since Crisis And There's "More To Come", Fed Warns

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/25/2015 - 11:30 "Oil and gas sector bankruptcies have reached quarterly levels last seen in the Great Recession. At least nine U.S. oil and gas companies, accounting for more than $2 billion in debt, have filed for bankruptcy so far in the fourth quarter."

'Dear Santa' - An Activist Hedge Fund Manager Addresses St. Nick's "One Long Party"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/25/2015 - 10:48 Dear Santa Claus, I am an activist investor in your company who has been infuriated for many years by your wilfully eccentric approach to capital allocation, pricing, brand strategy and supply chain management. Life at St Nicholas is one long party. Free food for your elves, who receive generous compensation to make bespoke, non-standardised products. Presents offered to anyone who writes you a begging letter and has been “good” according to some vague metric. Jingle bells, rides in one-horse open sleighs, eggnog cocktails: Oh, what fun you have with my money.

"Unstoppable" California Gas Leak Now Being Called Worst Catastrophe Since BP Spill

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/25/2015 - 10:12 Since initially reporting on California's Alison Canyon gas leak, more details have emerged on the scale (and potential for no solution) of the problem... "the enormity of the Aliso Canyon gas leak cannot be overstated. Gas is escaping through a ruptured pipe more than 8,000 feet underground, and it shows no signs of stopping." Methane - a greenhouse gas 72 times more impactful in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide - has been leaking with force equivalent “to a volcanic eruption” for about two months now.

The Backslash Kit: Anti-Surveillance Gadgets For Protesters

by Joshua Kopstein, Occupy:
When riot police descended on protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, last year sporting assault rifles and armored vehicles, the images sparked an awareness of the military technologies and tactics authorities have adopted over the past decade. Many of these tools have quietly become regular components of day-to-day policing. And just as with social networks and cell phone cameras during the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street, they’ve dramatically – and often invisibly – altered the dynamics of contemporary protest.
Examples are everywhere, from the controversial Long-Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) sound weapons used to disperse crowds to secretive mass surveillance devices, commonly known as stingrays originally developed for the U.S. Navy, which police use to track cell phones, often without a warrant. Earlier this year, police in India began equipping aerial drones with pepper spray cannons to use on crowds of protesters. In August, North Dakota became the first U.S. state to allow the same; a new law drafted by a drone lobbyist permits North Dakota cops to arm drones with pepper spray, tasers, and other “less-than-lethal” weapons.
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Trump 42%, Paul trailing at 31% in new 1000 person independent poll

by Shepard Ambellas, Intellihub:
A new independent poll taken by Intellihub over an eight-day span by 1072 people, between the dates of Dec. 17 and Dec. 24, shows 2016 GOP Presidential Candidate Donald Trump polling at a robust 42% over both the entire Republican and Democratic field with Rand Paul trailing in second at 31%.
Shockingly the purported Democratic Party front-runner Hillary Clinton is only polling at 2% in the real world, falling 7% short of Sanders who’s running at a shocking 10 percent.
Bush, Fiorina, O’Malley, Christie, Walker, Kasich, Huckabee, Santorm, Ghrham and Chafee all have a skinny ZERO.
Read More @ Intellihub.com

Video: Russian Warplanes Hit One Thousand Terrorist Targets in Syria, Massive ISIS Ground Offensive against SAA Forces

by South Front, via Global Research:
Over the past six days, Russian warplanes have conducted 302 sorties and hit 1,093 terrorist targets in the provinces of Idlib, Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor, Hama and Homs. Russian Su-34 bombers destroyed a large terrorist training camp in the Syrian province of Idlib hosting fighters from Turkey and CIS states. Also, Russian warplanes have destroyed two oil storage facilities, three oil-extraction plants along with dozens of fuel pumps in the Deir ez-Zor province.
Moreover, six off-road vehicles equipped with heavy machine guns and three militants’ trucks were destroyed in the Homs province. And an Ahrar ash-Sham militant group’s command post was destroyed in the Aleppo province.
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The Republican Base Turns On Their Latest TRAITOR: Conservatives Think Paul Ryan Stabbed Them In The Back, LOOK How They’re Repaying Him

from Western Journalism:

While the latest Republican debates were going on last Thursday, Paul Ryan and fellow congressmen were busy passing a 1.1 trillion dollar spending bill. Ultimately, the Obama administration and his fellow Democrats got everything they wanted from the bill while Republican gains were minimal. For example, Republican conservatives hoped hoped the Republican majority in the House and Senate would be leveraged to defund Planned Parenthood and put a halt on Obama’s Syrian refugee resettlement plan.
With the passing of the Omnibus bill and it being signed into law, Paul Ryan and the Republicans who supported him, are accused of selling out the American conservative base of constituents that they were sent to Washington to serve.
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