Exclusive:
High-Level NSA Whistleblower Says Blackmail Is a Huge – Unreported – Part of
Mass Surveillance - (www.zerohedge.com) Today, the NSA tracks people’s porn-viewing habits in order to discredit activists. The NSA alsogathers and keeps nude and suggestive photos of people in order to blackmail them. The Associated
Press notes: The stockpiling of sexually explicit images of
ordinary people had uncomfortable echoes of George Orwell’s “Nineteen
Eighty-Four,” where the authorities — operating under the aegis of “Big
Brother” — fit homes with cameras to monitor the intimate details of people’s
home lives. *** The collection of nude photographs also raise questions about potential
for blackmail. America’s National Security Agency has already acknowledged
that half a dozen analysts have been caught trawling databases for
inappropriate material on partners or love interests. Other leaked documents
have revealed how U.S. and British intelligence discussed leaking
embarrassing material online to blacken the reputations of their targets.
FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds alleged
under oath that a
recently-serving Democratic Congresswoman was secretly videotaped – for
blackmail purposes – during a lesbian affair. (Other Congress members
have been blackmailed as well.) Edmonds tells Washington's Blog that judges who are
too "squeaky clean" are often not approved for nomination ... while
ones with skeletons in their closets are. And she says that high-level FBI
managers have publicly confirmed this blackmail process.
Atlantic
City's Credit Rating Cut 2 Steps to Junk by Moody's – (www.bloomberg.com) Atlantic
City, New Jersey, the gambling hub that’s been pummeled by
regional competition in the U.S. Northeast, had its credit
rating cut
two levels to speculative grade by Moody’s Investors Service. The reduction to
Ba1 from Baa2 on the city’s $245 million of general-obligation debt reflects a
weakened tax base resulting from anticipated casino closings, the New
York-based ratings company said today in a statement. The outlook remains
negative. “The downgrade to Ba1 reflects the city’s significantly weakened tax
base, revenue-raising ability and broader economic outlook,” analysts Vito Galluccio
and Julie Beglin said in the statement. “These result from ongoing casino
revenue declines, expected near-term casino closures, and the impact of sizable
casino tax appeals, all of which has stemmed from increased competition from
casinos in neighboring states.” Atlantic City lost its regional monopoly as
states including Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Yorklegalized casinos or expanded betting to
increase tax revenue.
Casino revenue in the city has dropped for seven straight years, falling to
$2.86 billion last year from a high of $5.07 billion in 2006, according to
Bloomberg Industries.
Mars,
maker of M&M's, to raise chocolate prices 7 percent - (www.reuters.com) Mars
Chocolate North America, the maker of M&M's and Snickers, said on Wednesday
that it will raise its prices by an average of 7 percent "to offset rising
costs," its first increase in three years. The price hike by Mars, which
did not provide an effective date, follows Hershey Co, the No. 1 candy maker in
the United States, which on July 15 raised its chocolate prices about 8 percent
due to soaring commodity costs.
"In the three years since our last price increase, in March 2011, we have
invested significantly in the category and have experienced a dramatic increase
in our costs of doing business," a spokesperson said in an email to
Reuters.
The
"Gates" Are Closing: SEC Passes Money Market Reform - (www.zerohedge.com) It was nearly five years ago when Zero Hedge
first wrote: "This Is The Government: Your Legal Right To Redeem Your Money
Market Account Has Been Denied"
in which we predicted as part of the ongoing herding of investors away from
every other asset class and into stocks, regulation will be
implemented to enforce that "money market fund managers will have the
option to 'suspend redemptions to allow for the orderly liquidation of fund
assets" or in other words implement redemption "gates." The
logic: spook participants in the $2.6 trillion money market industry with the prospect
of being gated (i.e., having no access to ones funds) and force them to
reallocate funds elsewhere. Moments ago the gates arrived, when following a
close 3-2 vote (with republican commissioner Piwowar and democrat Stein
dissenting), the SEC adopted new rules designed to curb the risk of investor
runs on money market funds, capping the end of a years-long heated debate
between regulators and the industry dating to the financial crisis according to
Reuters.
FEC
chairman warns book publishers at risk of regulation at heated meeting - (www.foxnews.com) The
Republican chairman of the Federal Election Commission warned Wednesday that
his agency colleagues could try to regulate book publishers, during a heated
session over a forthcoming book by GOP Rep. Paul Ryan. During the meeting,
the FEC declined to definitively spare book publishers from the reach of
campaign finance rules. This triggered a clash between Republican and
Democratic members, with Chairman Lee Goodman warning that the deadlock could
represent a "chill" for constitutional free-press rights. "That
is a shame. ... We have wounded the free-press clause of the First
Amendment," Goodman told FoxNews.com after the tense meeting. Goodman
previously has warned that the commission wants to start regulating
media.
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