16
POPSConfessions of an Economic Hit Man Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign "aid" organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet's natural resources. Their tools included fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization.
12
POPSClassic Extortion "According to Fox News judicial analyst and New Jersey Superior Court Judge Andrew P. Napolitano, banks with no financial problems were forced to sell stock to the government or face the threat of costly and harassing public audits. This happened to banks that had "no bad debt, no credit default swaps, no liquidity problems, and no subprime loans" and didn't want or need any government funds.Judge Napolitano called the government actions what they are: "classic extortion."
9
POPSWe need parasite repellent Jarod Diamond, in his study of failed societies, found that many collapsed because a few enriched themselves at the expense of the society as a whole, gobbling up vital resources until the whole system failed
7
POPSJudgment Day While Mr. Letterman's consensual sexual relationships may not fit the moral values of the monogamous society we live in, extortion is a crime. The more interesting question to me is why he felt he had to make a public admission to private matters.
7
POPSUS Army School of Torture & Murder on Trail Feb 12 2008. Lizarbe, one of the few survivors of the massacre, testified Monday before U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan saying she watched soldiers under their command rape and torture women and children. Another plaintiff, Baldeón, also gave an emotional testimony about the Accomarca massacre; she was 12 years old at the time. The plaintiffs each testified that they survived by hiding from the soldiers. Despite Lizarbe's own escape, her mother, four brothers and a sister were killed . Soldiers also murdered Baldeón's mother and brother. The plaintiffs testified about life after such a devastating loss and their on-going struggle to heal.
6
POPSHistory of How the Bushes Brought Bedlam to Iraq, permanently?!
That despite the strong warnings of his own Cabinet against such reckless policies, and a 1989 report by the CIA that Iraq had greatly accelerated its nuclear program, and was now the world's largest maker of chemical weapons. Bush also used the global criminal network of the Bank of Credit and BCCI to secretly funnel cash and weaponry to Saddam – then intervened to quash federal investigations of the scam. What was BCCI? Only "one of the largest criminal enterprises in history," according to the Senate. What did BCCI do? "It engaged in pandemic bribery of officials in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas," says journalist Christopher Bryon, who first exposed the operation. "It laundered money on a global scale, intimidated witnesses and law officers, engaged in extortion and blackmail. It supplied the financing for illegal arms trafficking and global terrorism. It financed and facilitated income tax evasion, smuggling and prostitution." An early version of the Bush Regim
6
POPSAmerica the Lawless
That is what Obama wants to reverse. He is replacing the rule of law with the rule of men. This is a system that divides men into politically favored groups-the ones who are considered worthy of "empathy"-and politically unfavored groups, who can expect their rights to be trampled and ignored. All of this is being done in the name of helping out the "little guy"-but its real purpose is to make the little guy into the helpless pawn of government. It is a network of controls designed to prevent the little guy from rising and making a success of himself-and instead make him go hat in hand to a government official for every important need of his life, from buying a house to sending his kids to college, and pleading for "empathy." In practice, of course, this means a state ruled by anarchic populism and a petty corruption in which government favors are doled out according to one's political connections. If you want to see an example, look to life under socialist demagogues like Venezu
5
POPSThe New Soft Underbelly Of Europe if Iran is able to continue a very transparent nuclear policy to its logical conclusion. Looking at Germany, then, Iran sees a country with nothing to counter the pressure of merely an implied nuclear threat. Jihadists see the linchpin of Europe, easy of access and inadvertently hospitable to operations, that will hardly punish those who fall into its hands, and that can neither accomplish on its own a flexible expeditionary response against a hostile base or sponsor, nor reply in kind to a nuclear strike. Thus the German government should be especially nervous about cargos trucked overland from the east. For its own protection, and thus that of Europe, Germany could more closely integrate and where appropriate reintegrate itself into the expeditionary and nuclear retaliatory structures of the U.S., Britain, and France, without moving nuclear weapons forward to German soil; embrace limited missile defense against potentially nuclear-armed Iranian IRBMs
5
POPSWhat is a gang? I read this yesterday and I could see a lot of truth in it. Think Becker's labelling theory for a start. :)
5
POPSLife In Prison For Judge Accused Of Spanking and Sexual Abuse Of Inmates?
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a leading civil rights group, has defended Thomas and claims race is behind his prosecution. Thomas and his attorney blame the charges on politicians who don't like him. ‘There is no doubt that people assisted these inmates in telling these lies on me,’ Thomas said in April. In an echo of sex allegations made against black Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, Thomas's lawyer called the indictment ‘a high-tech lynching’. ‘They don't like uppity black folks, and that's what they consider Herman,’ Clark added. Chief Assistant District Attorney Nicki Patterson said authorities began looking at Thomas after he changed a jail sentence in 2006 for his cousin, former Mobile County school commissioner David Thomas, even though the case was being handled by another judge. Other cases that Thomas had taken over from other judges without their approval soon surfaced , she said.
5
POPSWall Street Fat Cats Aren't at Fault This Time That’s because Raines was transforming Fannie Mae from a boring but stable financial institution dedicated to making homes more affordable into a risky venture that abused its special status as a “Government Sponsored Enterprise” (GSE) for Raines’ personal profit. Fannie bought the bad loans and bundled them together with good ones. Wall Street was glad to buy up these mortgage securities because Fannie Mae was deemed a government-insured behemoth “too big to fail.” And others followed Fannie’s lead.
4
POPSDear Ali Khameini, Here's How To Get Nukes by Claudia Rosett Who are we? Our team includes experts skilled in leveraging the biggest bang for the buck in one of the world's few remaining bull markets: Nuclear proliferation. For years, we have been pooling our knowledge and talents to serve a sophisticated and select clientele (including each other). What's the secret of our success? It all begins with the basic confidence that if you really want to get the bomb, no one is going to have the nerve to stop you (except maybe the Israelis, but we're working on that). Sure, those democratic states will talk, and bargain, and hog air time on Al-Arabiya. But in this global game of chicken, if we put the pedal to the metal, they'll flinch. Worried about U.N. sanctions? Fuggedaboutit. We have compiled a full set of sanctions-busting best practices, field-tested by Saddam Hussein under Oil-for-Food and Kim Jong Il during the Six-Party Talks, with input from the Somali pirates and the offshore-banking division of the Myanmar junta;
4
POPSJudge Herman Thomas Indicted on Inmate Sex Charges, Lawyer Pulls Race Card "This is racism at its very finest." Let me get this straight. The former judge has been accused of some serious charges and the best his attorney could do was get in the mud and scream racism? The Alabama State Bar said its disciplinary commission suspended Thomas' law license Monday. One of the inmates, according to the newspaper, went before Thomas on multiple occasions and faced several felony charges. He was sent to prison for a short time, but Thomas ordered him released early, according to the Press-Register. He was sentenced in federal court and later released and has since been accused of murder and attempted murder. During Thomas' judgeship, he had a storage room furnished like an office near his eighth-floor chamber at Mobile's Government Plaza, the Press-Register said.
4
POPSJust Call Him the Green Pitchfork Czar by Andy McCarthy (I'd wager, the very top) overrode any objections. The issue here isn't process. It's that Obama picked Van Jones because Obama adheres to Jones's Alinskyite views and tactics, and is entirely comfortable with what most of the public would see as the horrifying specter of Jones managing how billions of public dollars are spent. Mr. Jones’s involvement in the 1990s with a group called Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement prompted recent accusations by conservative critics that he associated with Communists. The group, according to a post-mortem written by some of its founders, was an anti-capitalist, antiwar organization committed to achieving “solidarity among all oppressed peoples” with “direct militant action.” Hold on there. Direct-action? The use of intimidation and extortion tactics, including law-breaking, to achieve political results? Where have we heard that before?
4
POPSGuess what is Italy's biggest business? "Every day a huge mass of money goes out of the pockets of Italian shopkeepers and entrepreneurs and into those of the mafias, something like 250 million euros a day, 10 million an hour and 160,000 a minute," said Confesercenti.
4
POPSUS corporations accused of hiring death squads in Colombia Via Max Sawicky Fruit giant Chiquita agreed in March to pay $25 million to settle with the U.S. Department of Justice after acknowledging that its Colombian subsidiary, Banadex, secretly funneled $1.7 million to the death squads operating in zones where it had banana plantations. In 2001, a Banadex ship was used to unload 3,000 rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition for the paramilitaries. At the time, the paramilitaries were consolidating control of the Uraba banana region through massacres and assassinations. Chiquita later sold Banadex but still buys Colombian bananas. Cincinnati-based Chiquita says it was a victim of paramilitary extortion. In a statement it said its payments to the militias "were always motivated by our good faith concern for the safety of our employees."
4
POPS 'Open Letter To Obama' From Former VP @Proctor & Gamble You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core.. You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming others. You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail. You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the 'blame America' crowd and deliver this message abroad. You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector. You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one. You scare me because you prefer 'windmills' to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves. You scare me because you have begun to use 'extortion' tactics against certain banks and corporations. more at link
3
POPSWhat's it Worth? Are we to say this is the cost of freedom? Really? There is a great documentary called Iraq for sale, in it we hear one of our troops tell us kbr gets $99 for a sack of laundry! Come on people, let's get real, ask for our money back! This is extortion at the American taxpayers' expense!
Most Pops
see Most Pops
2
Clips
Latest Pops
Latest Comments
Tags
Print
Save
Turn on live update