If "Europe Is Fine" Why Is Deutsche Bank Deleveraging At The Fastest Pace Since The Crisis of 2011?

Early today, Deutsche Bank disappointed markets when it reported a second quarter Net Income number of €335 million, or half of what the company made in the previous quarter, and less than half of what consensus expected. However, just like in the US, where as we showed previously it was FASB accounting gimmicks that "allowed" Bank of America to convert a loss into a $4 billion profit, so Deutsche Bank'sreal Net Income, aka its Total Comprehensive Loss, number when factoring all the other MTM Income Statement components such as AFS, FX translation and pension adjustments, was lower by €1.1 billion.

But not even that was the real story in DB's numbers. Recall that it was Zero Hedge who in April first brought attention to Deutsche Bank's epic, single biggest on earth, total gross derivative exposure of €55.6 trillion, bigger than that of JP Morgan: disclosure which as we understand caused some consternation among German political circles. This followed our previous disclosure from May 2012 when we first reported that the bank's Core Tier 1 ratio as the worst of any bank in Europe, and thus the world. This was subsequently reinforced by none other than former Kansas Fed president and current FDIC Vice Chairmam, Tom Hoenig, who said that Deutsche Bank is "is horribly undercapitalized... it's ridiculous." Naturally this means that just like every US bank, the real story is not in the income statement but in the balance sheet.

It is here that we find something disturbing, but maybe also positive.

Recall also that when we reported that Deutsche Bank's total notional gross derivative exposure as of December 31, 2012 (alas only updated once per year) was €55.6 trillion, we observed that this number has an accounting net equivalent on the bank's books of two components: a positive market value of €777 billion and a negative market value of €756 billion.

It is when one observes the decline in Deutsche Bank's two net derivative exposures since 2011, one notices something curious: over the past year, the nominal net exposure of the bank's positive and negative derivative market values has collapsed from a combined total of €1.678 trillion to just €1.253 trillion, with consecutive declines over each of the past 4 quarters for a cumulative net deleveraging of €425 billion.

Furthermore, as the chart shows, over the same time period the bank's excess deposits over loans initially rose to a two year high of €204 billion and has since declined to just €166 billion: the lowest in two years.  Finally, looking merely at DB's total assets, these too peaked in June of 2013 at €2.24 trillion and have since declined by €1.91 trillion.

Which begs the question: if Europe is so "fine" and on the verge of a "recovery" as its politicians repeat day after day, why is the biggest bank in Europe, and also the biggest bank in the entire world in terms of gross derivative exposure, deleveraging at the fastest pace since Europe's near-death experience in the summer of 2011?

Finally, and back by popular request, here once again is Deutsche's total derivative nominal gross exposure compared to Germany's GDP.

Catastrophic Economic Outlook

GLobal Economic Crisis

Federal Workers Got $155M in Tax Dollars to Work for Labor Unions

Federal employees were paid more than $155 million of taxpayer dollars in 2011 for spending more than 3.4 million hours of "official time" on labor union activities that fell outside their assigned government duties, according to a survey by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

"Voluntary membership in Federal sector unions results in considerable reliance by unions on the volunteer work of bargaining unit employees, rather than paid union business agents, to represent the union in representational matters such as collective bargaining and grievances," the OPM stated.

But these "volunteers" were doing their union work on government time.
The Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Veterans Affairs “have hundreds of employees on their payroll that do nothing but full-time union work paid for by taxpayer dollars,” declared Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) after introducing The Federal Employee Accountability Act (S.1312) earlier this month to repeal most “official time off,” which Coburn called “a grievous violation of the public’s trust.”

Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) has introduced a companion bill in the House (H.R. 107) that would repeal “official time” provisions except in cases where an agreement is reached for “necessary activities.”

This was “an increase of 9.66 percent compared to FY 2010,” OPM found. Furthermore, “the cost of ‘official time’ hours increased by 11.86 percent” from 2010 to 2011.

Official time is defined as “paid time off from assigned Government duties to represent a union or its bargaining unit employees,” according to the OPM report. Title 5, Section 1731 of the U.S. Code states that “any employee representing an exclusive representative in the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement under this chapter shall be authorized official time for such purposes.”

According to the OPM survey, top “official time” spenders included Veterans Affairs ($42,565,000.79), Treasury ($27,314,928.23), Transportation ($17,712,397.98), and Defense ($13,996,108.85).

But other federal agencies exhibited the highest percentage increase in official time hours used between 2010 and 2011, including the Federal Election Commission (441 percent), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (371 percent) , the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (291 percent), and the National Credit Union Administration (234 percent).

“The Obama administration abruptly stopped disclosing official time usage,” a spokesperson in Coburn’s office told CNSNews.com. “The only way to get the information now is through Freedom of Information Act and congressional requests. Our requests to date have not been answered, and more are forthcoming.”

The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 gives federal employees permission “to facilitate implementation of new workplace initiatives that enhance employees’ ability to effectively serve the public,” “to negotiate contracts and other collective bargaining agreements,” and “to represent employees in grievances and disciplinary actions,” among other things.

“Official time is directly negotiated in CBAs [collective bargaining agreements],” the Coburn aide continued. “If Dr. Coburn’s bill becomes law, future contracts would not be able to include most of the official time agreements.”

Coburn also introduced another bill (S. 1338) that would require OPM to submit an annual report to Congress regarding the use of official time by federal employees.

“Generally, when Congress passes a law, a contractual provision that violates that statute becomes unenforceable, and the executive branch is bound to follow the law. This administration, however, does not always take to court to enforce or defend the law,” Coburn’s aide added, noting that the determination of whether certain activities are legitimate exceptions “would likely fall to federal courts.”- 

See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/federal-workers-got-155m-tax-dollars-work-labor-unions#sthash.bR2xTQOI.dpuf

Russia to Strengthen Airborne Forces With 3 Brigades

MOSCOW, July 31 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian military is to assign an additional three air assault brigades to the Airborne Forces (VDV) in order to boost its rapid reaction capability in future conflicts, VDV commander Col. Gen. Vladimir Shamanov said Wednesday.

“The Airborne Troops will become the core of Russia’s rapid reaction forces, and in order to ensure that…the paratroopers are capable of performing this task, I proposed to the Russian military leadership to reassign three air assault brigades from the Eastern and Southern military districts to the VDV,” Shamanov said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

“My proposal was approved,” he said, adding the brigades could join the Airborne Forces as early as October or November.

The Airborne Forces consist of about 35,000 men deployed in four divisions and a brigade. Despite their elite status, less than 30 percent are currently professionals, though Shamanov said the VDV hopes to have about 80 percent professional soldiers and only 20 percent conscripts in its ranks by 2015.

That ratio is optimal for the creation of a solid basis for mobilization and training purposes, he said, with conscripts having the choice of continuing their service as professional soldiers or officers after a year of mandatory service.

Shamanov also confirmed that the Airborne Forces will soon receive several advanced BMD-4M airborne fighting vehicles and Rakushka armored personnel carriers for testing in field conditions by 2015.

The BMD-4M is the latest modification of an armored combat vehicle that can be para-dropped to provide firepower and support for airborne troops. It features a new chassis, a digital fire control system and high-precision weaponry, including a 100-mm gun.

The 13-ton vehicle has a crew of two and can carry six paratroopers.

The Russian military is expected to acquire at least 1,000 BMD-4Ms under the current rearmament program by 2020, the army says.

RIA Novosti

The New America and Global Tribulation!

The American Left rejoices greatly in its new "lawless revolution"under Barack H. Obama that has finally over thrown our Founding Father's vision of America. Today the Left celebrates the birth of a new nation to replace our old one which was founded on the Laws of Nature and of Natures God. Almighty God and His moral absolutes for this physical world have been finally ousted from our schools, public squares, lives and three branches of government. Godlessness, secularism, technological tyranny, lawlessness, moral relativism and Big Government are now the new gods of America and as we look back at what once was America we now must understand that we are now in a new era, a new realm, a new estate ever evolving into a fascist tyrannical state of despotism and anarchy.

The god of this world and the individuals behind the American Lefts fascism have hid for years behind the smiley face of change, peace, human rights, liberation and social justice all which are the subtle euphemisms of lawlessness.


 

What is mind blowing and quite sobering is that countless Americans (great and small) continually ask themselves how did we get to this place? The god of this world and the individuals behind the American Lefts fascism have hid for yearsbehind the smiley face of change, peace, human rights, liberation and social justice all which are the subtle euphemisms of lawlessness. This smiley face has now revealed its self to all who would see it as the consuming Dragon of old, the god of this fallen world and demonic tyrant of Adam's fallen race (John 8:44, Eph. 6:12, Rev. 12:9).

Make no mistakes my friends more is at work here then the hands of lawless man.

 

Make no mistakes about it my friends... more is at work here in the U. S of A then the subtle out workings of lawless man (2 Cor. 4:3-4, Eph.6:12). The Master politician (aka. Lucifer) has now set the stage for his soon reception and 666 global state (2 Thess. 2:3-12, Rev. 13) in which none shall escape (1 Thess. 5:1-4, Rev. 6-19). America, its founding and its Gospel outreach has been for the last 400 years a dam holding back Satan's lawless global designs. He has been constantly chipping away at our foundations for decades, eroding our Judeo/ Christian founding and dumbing down our inhabitants one generation at a time with his godless thugs... and here we are at the end with HORRIFIC global tribulation at our door (Matt. 24, 2 Thess. 2:3-12, Rev. 6-19).

but honestly dear friends... who will hear Almighty God's saving message! .

 

Our nation's inhabitants ONLY hope in this dire hour is for each American to personally turn toAlmighty God and to His saving grace before the Day of Almighty God's Wrath arrives... but honestly dear friends... who will hear Almighty God's saving message (John 3:16-17, Acts 16:29-31)? For this ETERNAL REALITY is what this little existence here in this fallen world is all about. Almighty God has provided a Savior for time and ETERNITY and may you be sure that you truly know Him (John 3:16-17).

The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!
.

DJP I.F.

The Ignorant Fishermen Blog

Government can grab cell phone location records without warrant, appeals court says

In a major victory for the Justice Department over privacy advocates, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that government agencies can collect records showing the location of an individual's cell phone without obtaining a warrant.

The 2-1 ruling by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans upheld the Justice Department's argument that "historical" records showing the location of cell phones, gleaned from cell site location towers, are not protected by the Fourth Amendment.

A key basis for the ruling: The use of cell phones is "entirely voluntarily" and therefore individuals who use them have forfeited the right to constitutional protection for records showing where they have been used, the court held.

"The Government does not require a member of the public to own or carry a phone," wrote U.S. Judge Edith Brown Clement in an opinion joined by U.S. Judge Dennis Reavley. The opinion continued: "Because a cell phone user makes a choice to get a phone, to select a particular service provider, and to make a call, and because he knows that call conveys cell site information ... he voluntarily conveys his cell site data each time he makes a call."

The issue of cell phone location data has become a major and increasingly contentious battleground in the privacy wars. Privacy advocates argue that the proliferation of cell phone towers in the U.S. – 285,561, according to the latest industry records, more than double the number 10 years ago – and new technologies, such as smartphones, permit law enforcement agents to track highly sensitive information about where individuals have been – their homes or trips to see doctors, friends or lovers – without making a showing to a judge that there is "probable cause" that a person has committed a crime.

NBC

Mexico keeps constant eye on Popocatepetl volcano

MEXICO CITY (AP) — In a clean, hushed room in the south of Mexico City, cameras, computer screens and scrawling needles track the symptoms of a special patient, as they have every second of every day for the past two decades. The monitors indicate that "Don Goyo" is breathing normally, even as he spews hot rock, steam and ash.

That kind of activity isn't unusual for the 15,000-foot (4,500-meter) volcano, Mexico's second-highest, whose formal name is Popocatepetl, or "Smoking Mountain" in the Aztec language Nahuatl. But this volcano, personified first as a warrior in Aztec legend and now as an old man grumbling with discontent, is in the middle of two metro areas, where his every spurt can put 20 million people on edge.

Mexico's National Disaster Prevention Center laboratory keeps a round-the-clock watch on Popocatepetl, with anywhere from six to 15 technicians analyzing data for signs of a full-scale eruption, which they can never fully anticipate.

Though lava or glowing rock would only travel so far, an explosion could be deadly for 11,000 people in three farming villages within 10 miles (16 kilometers) of the base because of landslides and hot gas. A spectacular plume of ash could also wreak havoc on one of the world's largest metro areas, much as it did in 2003, when the sky over Mexico City more than 40 miles (65 kilometers) away nearly went dark in the middle of the afternoon. The neighboring city of Puebla on the other side of the volcano from the capital would also be clouded over.

"The volcano is like a patient, and we observe the different aspects," said the center's technical director Gilberto Castelan. "Here we receive over 60 indicators in real time."

The 20-by-30-foot (6-by-9-meter) laboratory resembles those that once housed old giant supercomputers, everything plain white with a server at one end and screens all around. Five remote-controlled cameras positioned on the side of the mountain emit real-time images, while sensors feed data to the constantly scrolling seismographs as the crew and volcanologists analyze the concentration of gases and changes in the shape of the mountain. The loudest laboratory sound is a regular ping that alerts technicians to every seismic shift, at least a half dozen an hour.

The data helps set the "volcano stoplight," a three-color system in which green means little activity, yellow means warning and red starts the evacuation process — something that has occurred only twice since 1994, when the volcano awoke again after sitting dormant for seven decades.

"It's one of the most advanced laboratories of its kind in the world, and the scientists in charge are using the best methods," said Michael Sheridan, a volcanologist at the University of Buffalo in New York who has studied Popocatepetl. "It is very difficult to predict the behavior of a volcano that has not had an eruption in recent history."

Earlier this month, Popocatepetl released ash that grounded plane flights and dusted cars, but it quieted down enough last week for the warning to drop from yellow-3 to yellow-2. The Mexican government has designated evacuation routes and shelter locations in the case of a bigger explosion.
Yahoo News

U.S. intelligence: Al Qaida plotting attacks on U.S. civilian jetliners

WASHINGTON — Al Qaida’s network in Yemen is planning to conduct bombing attacks on American civilian aircraft.

Ibrahim Hassan Al Asiri. /Saudi Interior Ministry/Landov

Officials said the intelligence community has traced a plot by Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula to blow up a commercial airliner or cargo plane.

They identified the AQAP planner as Ibrahim Hassan Al Asiri, believed to have taken over the Al Qaida network in Saudi Arabia and Yemen in wake of the U.S. assassination of Said Al Shihri, deemed the deputy commander of the insurgency movement.

“There is intelligence that he has unfortunately trained others and there’s a lot of effort to identify those folks,” U.S. Transportation Security Administration head John Pistole said.

World Tribune

'Comet of the Century' already may have fizzled out

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Astronomers slated to meet this week to discuss observing plans for Comet ISON may not have much to talk about. The so-called "Comet of the Century" may already have fizzled out.

"The future of comet ISON does not look bright," astronomer Ignacio Ferrin, with the University of Antioquia in Colombia, said in a statement on Monday.

Ferrin's calculations show the comet, which is currently moving toward the sun at 16 miles per second, has not brightened since mid-January. That may be because the comet is already out of ice particles in its body, which melt as the comet moves closer to the sun, creating a long, bright tail.

Another theory is that the comet is covered in a layer of silicate dust that snuffs out water vapor and other gases that brighten the comet.

"Comet ISON has been on a standstill for more than 132 days ... a rather puzzling feat," Ferrin wrote in a paper submitted to the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and posted online at the archival site arXiv.org.

The comet, named ISON for the International Scientific Optical Network that made its discovery, was found in September 2012 by two amateur Russian astronomers.

It is due to pass about 724,000 miles (1.2 million km) from the sun on November 28. The relatively close pass was expected to create a massive tail that some scientists predict will be visible even in daylight.

If it survives, that is. At that distance, the comet would reach temperatures of about 4,900 degrees Fahrenheit (2,700 degrees Celsius) - hot enough to melt lead. It may also be pulled apart by the sun's gravity.

Scientists believe the comet hails from the Oort Cloud, a cluster of icy rocks that circle the sun about 50,000 times farther away than Earth's orbit. Calculations show Comet ISON is making its first - and possibly last - voyage into the inner solar system.

Yahoo News

China issues heat alert as 'hottest July' hits Shanghai

In Shanghai, at least 10 people have died from heatstroke, as the city experiences its hottest July in 140 years, reports say.

Local journalists have demonstrated the heat by frying meat on the pavement.

The national heat alert covers nine provinces, including Anhui, Jiangsu, Hunan, Hubei, Shanghai and Chongqing.

According to figures from the Shanghai Meteorological bureau, Shanghai has seen 24 days with temperatures at or above 35C in July.

"It should be a new record since Shanghai had its own weather recording," said chief service officer Wu Rui.

"Also, in July of this year Shanghai reached 40.6 degrees Celsius, its highest ever temperature. So the highest temperature in July also broke a record."

 

More than 10 people in Shanghai have died after suffering from heatstroke, state-run news agency Xinhua said, citing health officials.

In a TV report, journalists from Shanghai TV said they successfully fried a pork chop on a marble slab outdoors in just 10 minutes.

The practice appears to have become popular, with photos of slices of bacon and fish being barbecued outdoors by the heat appearing online.'Impossible'
The China Meteorological Administration issued the level two emergency heat alert on Tuesday.

"Anhui, Jiangsu, Hunan, Hubei, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Chongqing and Shanghai meteorological bureaus should enter into emergency response on the basis of actual weather conditions," it said on its website.

It added that weather forecasts suggested that some areas south of the Yangtze river, including Chongqing, could experience temperatures of over 35C until 8 August.

It urged members of the public to avoid outdoor activities and to take protective measures against the heat.
"It's impossible for people to live without an air-conditioner," a resident was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.

"Just going outside in this kind of temperate can roast people."
BBC

The Unseen World - Chuck Missler

RETIRED ARCHBISHOP SAYS HE WOULD RATHER GO TO HELL OVER AN “ANTI-GAY HEAVEN”

Don´t worry you will be in hell!!!!!



DAYS OF LOT: Retired South African archbishop Desmond Tutu has apparently joined the ranks of gay rights supporters in the church. On Friday, he said he would rather go to hell before going to a heaven that “condemned homosexuality as a sin.” “I would not worship a God who is homophobic, and that is how deep I feel about this,” Tutu said at a United Nations’ gay-rights campaign function in Cape Town, South Africa. “I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. No, I would, say sorry, I mean, I would much rather go to the other place.” Tutu likened gay rights to the civil rights battle for blacks and apartheid. “I am as passionate about this campaign as I ever was about apartheid,” Agence France-Presse reported. “For me, it is at the same level.” Pope Francis also said this week that he would not “judge” gay priests that are sexually inactive, if he he happened to learn about their sexual orientation.




Charisma

70 Straight Days: Treasury Says Debt Stuck at Exactly $16,699,396,000,000.00

(CNSNews.com) - According to the Daily Treasury Statement for July 26, which the Treasury released this afternoon, the federal debt has been stuck at exactly $16,699,396,000,000.00 for 70 straight days.

That is approximately $25 million below the legal limit of $16,699,421,095,673.60 that Congress has imposed on the debt.

The portion of the federal debt subject to the legal limit set by Congress first hit $16,699,396,000,000.00 at the close of business on May 17. At the close of every business day since then, it has also been $16,699,396,000,000.00, according to the official accounting published by the Treasury Department.

If the debt had increased by even $30 million at any time during those 70 days, it would have exceeded the statutory limit. But, according to the Treasury, the debt did not do that. Instead, it remained precisely $16,699,396,000,000.00.

Even though the government's official accounting of the debt has not budged for 70 days, the Treasury has continued to sell bills, notes and bonds at a value that exceeds the value of the bills, notes and bonds it was redeeming.

In fact, according to the Daily Treasury Statement for May 17, the Treasury had by then already redeemed approximately $4,776,995,000,000.00 since the beginning of the fiscal year (which started on Oct. 1, 2012). As of that same day, the Treasury had already sold $5,354,508,000.000.00 new bills, notes and bonds during the fiscal year. That represented a net increase in publicly circulating U.S. government debt instruments of $577,513,000,000.00 for the fiscal year.

As of July 26, according to the latest Treasury statement, the Treasury had already redeemed approximately $6,128,368,000,000.00 in bills, notes and bonds during this fiscal year. But, at the same time, according to the statement, the Treasury had sold an additional $6,759,148,000,000.00 bills, note and bonds--for a net increase of $630,780,000,000.00 for the year.

Thus, the value of U.S. Treasury debt instruments circulating in the public has increased $53.267 billion since May 17--even though the Treasury says the debt has remained exactly at $16,699,396,000,000.00 during that time.

How could the value of extant U.S. Treasury securities increase by $53.267 billion during a 70-day period when the federal government’s debt subject to the legal limit has remained constant at $16,699,396,000,000.00—just $25 million below the legal limit?

On May 17, the day the debt began its long stay at $16,699,396,000,000.00, Treasury Secretary Lew sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner. In the letter, Lew said the Treasury would begin implementing what he called “the standard set of extraordinary measures” that allows the Treasury to continue to borrow and spend money even after it has hit the legal debt limit.


See more at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/70-straight-days-treasury-says-debt-stuck-exactly-1669939600000000#sthash.oDjWHJ9W.dpuf

DARPA to Genetically Engineer Humans by Adding a 47th Chromosome

We’re no molecular biologists over here, but have you ever seen the sci-fi flick Gattaca?

In that 1997 film, society is structured around eugenics as people are bioengineered to be ‘perfect specimens’, and one’s entire life and position in the world is based on their genetics. Those conceived naturally without genetic screening are proclaimed “invalid” and only allowed menial jobs, despite the innate talents and skills they may possess. Alternately, the 2011 movie In Time portrays a dystopic future where humans are genetically programmed to stop aging at 25 and could live forever — so long as they earn enough “time credits” to afford to stay alive; the poor perish swiftly under an artificially skyrocketing cost of living that times out their clocks, while the rich who steer the technocracy are gaming the system and living indefinitely.

Such nightmare scenarios place obvious restrictions on the natural right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Back in reality, alarmingly similar ends are being pursued.

DARPA, the Department of Defense’s research arm, has just put out a new solicitation for a project called, “Advanced Tools for Mammalian Genome Engineering” on the government’s Federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) site.

This project isn’t just for engineering any mammal’s genome, however; it’s specifically for the bioengineering of humans.

The proposal explains the project’s details:

The ability to deliver exogenous DNA to mammalian cell lines is a fundamental tool in the development of advanced therapeutics, vaccines, and cellular diagnostics, as well as for basic biological and biomedical research… The successful development of technologies for rapid introduction of large DNA vectors into human cell lines will enable the ability to engineer much more complex functionalities into human cell lines than are currently possible.

The project’s stated objective is to “improve the utility of Human Artificial Chromosomes (HACs).” (Gallows humor jokes about how DARPA wants to literally HAC(k) you can be made at any time.) A Wikipedia entry explains in relatively plain language what a HAC is and what it does:

A human artificial chromosome (HAC) is a microchromosome that can act as a new chromosome in a population of human cells. That is, instead of 46 chromosomes, the cell could have 47 with the 47th being very small, roughly 6-10 megabases in size, and able to carry new genes introduced by human researchers.So DARPA and its team of associated scientists want to introduce an entirely new 47th chromosome into human genetics as a vector platform for inserting bio-alterations and wholesale genetic “improvements” into our DNA.

The agency hopes that development of a new chromosome will allow a solution to the limitations of current “state-of-the-art” gene transfer technologies (including plasmids, adenovirus-, lentivirus-, and retrovirus-vectors, cDNA, and minigene constructs). The proposal explains that existing approaches must be improved due to known drawbacks in the scientists’ failure to control their results, causing a few minor major problems:

These include random DNA insertion into the host genome, variation in stable integration sites between cell lines, variation in the copy number and expression level of DNA that is delivered, limitations on the number and size of DNA constructs that can be delivered, and immunological responses to foreign DNA.Yet these techniques are already in use? How reassuring.

Ever hear the term ‘playing God’? Scientists who work in these fields not only refer to themselves as “genome engineers,” but “biological designers” in their journal articles. This January 2013 piece in the journal Molecular Systems Biology introduces the topic with a chilling description:

The phrase ‘genome-scale engineering’ invokes a future in which organisms are custom designed to serve humanity. Yet humans have sculpted the genomes of domesticated plants and animals for generations. Darwin’s contemporary William Youatt described selective breeding as ‘that which enables the agriculturalist, not only to modify the character of his flock, but to change it altogether. It is the magician’s wand, by means of which he may summon into life whatever form and mold he pleases’ (Youatt, 1837).It’s impossible to even compile an accurate listing of all the potential slippery slopes at play here, yet it is clear that this entails a momentous grasp at controlling life, which not only empowers an already dictatorial technocratic elite, but emboldens a delusional and destructive cadre intent on overwriting the existing species now on Earth.

Watch the 30-second promo video below where an investment firm (with their creepy all seeing eye logo) nonchalantly projects that within 50 years, science will displace natural life by a factor of 50-to-1 with artificial lab-created species – including plants, animals, humans, bacteria and viruses.
Fidelity Investments Forecasts the Creation of 50x More Synthetic Biological Species than Known Natural Species

x
Through DARPA, our government funds a laundry list of projects to gain technocratic control of the future that reads more like a summary of the latest sci-fi horror film plots. Case in point: just today Activist Post reported "Secret DARPA Mind Control Project Revealed: Leaked Document".

When looking at one DARPA project to perfect mind control techniques — or a second DARPA project to study the human hormone oxytocin to ‘improve’ our response to government propaganda — or a third DARPA brain interface project that would literally turn soldiers into cyborgs, it’s creepy enough. However, when looking at all of these projects together as a combined effort … it raises chilling questions as to what kind of dystopic, technocratic future they are forcing us into.

These developments only include a small sampling of what we know is admittedly going on. Who knows what is actually taking place behind the scenes.

Exactly how many far-reaching and potentially disastrous implications of our government literally playing God are there?

Aaron and Melissa created TruthstreamMedia.com, where this article first appeared, as an outlet to examine the news, place it in a broader context, uncover the deceptions, pierce through the fabric of illusions, grasp the underlying factors, know the real enemy, unshackle from the system, and begin to imagine the path towards taking back our lives, one step at a time, so that one day we might truly be free...
From the Activist Post

Christian Man Tortured In Front of Wife

On 21st July 2013, a crippled Christian man, Shafaqat Emmanuel, and his wife, Shagufta Kausar, were arrested in Gojra District for allegedly sending blasphemous text messages to local Muslims. Police registered the FIR 407/13 under sections 295-B and 295-C. Complainants Muhmmad Hussain and Anwar Mansoor Goraya, Tehsil Bar Association president, alleged they received the blasphemous text messages from the number registered on Shagufta Kausar’s name.

The Station House Officer (SHO) of Gojra City Police Station, Mr. Muhammad Nasir, said:

“The police had verified that the SIM used to send the blasphemous text messages was registered in Shagufta’s name whereas her husband admitted to use her phone to send the messages to Hussain”

However, Shagufta told the police that they had lost the cell phone a month earlier. She denied the charges but police started 3rd degree torture on Shafaqat Masih, who is crippled and physically challenged. They tortured him in front of his wife and four children. Police forced him to confess to the charges or implicate others. Otherwise, they would start torturing his wife Shagufta. Then Shafaqat admitted that he had sent the messages, whereas when our lawyers visited Shafaqat Emmanuel, he denied the charges and stated:

“There is no man who can stand to see his wife being tortured by police, so to save my wife, I confessed.”

He further told the our legal team that:

“When we lost the phone and the SIM, I visited the nearby mobile shop many times to block our mobile SIM.”

According to our investigation, police confirmed Shafaqat’s statement with the mobile shop. The shop owner says that he came twice to block his SIM card.

Even after knowing the facts — that the couple had lost their cell phone and SIM card — police still registered an FIR against the crippled man and his uneducated wife.

Shagufta was working in “St. John Cathedral School” as a maid. She was the only working hand in the family, as Shafaqat Emmanuel was in a wheelchair due to a firearm injury that paralyzed his lower body. The couple has four children – Zain (12), Danish (10), Joshua (8), and Sara (6).

Frontpage Mag

The Warning that The Shekinah Glory Beholds- Dr. Owuor

Kerry in secret final-status talks with Netanyahu and Abbas on borders, security, Jerusalem, Jordan Valley

The ceremonial launch of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations early Tuesday, July 30, over the Muslim iftar meal in the State Department Jefferson room, made a photogenic front for the real brass-tacks bargaining on core issues of the long Middle East dispute, which Secretary of State John Kerry has been handling discreetly with the principals, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. This was first revealed exclusively in the lastDEBKA Weekly issue of Friday, July 26.

While the formal US-led talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams were being set up for the benefit of the public in the US, the Arab world, Israel and the Palestinians, Kerry was putting hard questions to the Israeli and Palestinian leaders and pushing for answers on borders, security, the Jordan Rift Valley and Jerusalem. From time to time, he brought Arab leaders into the process, especially from the Persian Gulf.

Abbas made his sudden trip to Cairo Monday, July 27 to demonstrate to the US Secretary and Israeli prime minister that he had his own lines to Arab rulers independent of Kerry’s tactics. In the end, his show fizzled. No important Egyptian leader had time to see him before the formal launch of talks in Washington or clue him in on the Egyptian military’s plans for the Gaza Strip and its Hamas rulers.

The technical aspects and negotiating procedures were left to the official negotiators, Justice Minister Tzipi Llivni and Saeb Erekat, to sort out Tuesday. However,DEBKAfile’s sources in Jerusalem and Washington report exclusively that Kerry had meanwhile challenged Netanyahu on three core issues:

Would he adopt the security arrangements-versus-borders formula conceded by his predecessor Ehud Olmert to President Obama and Abbas in early 2009, in which he offered to cede around 94.6 percent of the West Bank to the Palestinians?

Although the Palestinians never accepted the offer, they are now trying to make it the starting-point of the current round of talks. If Netanyahu rejected this, Kerry asked what alternative he had in mind in terms of territory he is prepared to cede on the West Bank – bearing in mind that Jewish settlements stand on app. 9.8 percent of the West Bank (not counting Jerusalem).
In this way, the US Secretary quietly launched final-status negotiations on future borders

He also asked the Israeli prime minister what he meant in terms of the scope and depth of Israel’s proposed withdrawal when he insisted that Israel must retain a security presence on the Jordan Rift Valley which marks part of Israel’s eastern border. Kerry wanted to know if Jewish communities would be removed and only a military presence left in place.

This question jumped the process fast forward to the interrelations between security measures and the final borders between the Israeli and Palestinian states.

Kerry also wanted to find out how much financial aid Israel was ready to commit for raising the standard of living of West Bank Palestinians.
A question he addressed to both Netanyahu and Abbas related to the deployment of an international force as a buffer between the Palestinians and the Israel Defense Forces.
The prime minister was open to discussing this plan. Abbas gave his answer from Cairo Monday night when he declared that “not a single Israeli must remain in the Palestinian state, whether soldier or civilian.” He indicated that he would not object to an international force on the lines of UNIFIL in Lebanon or the Multinational Force in Sinai,or even NATO units.
He also asked Kerry to put forward ideas on the Jerusalem question and the shape of the Palestinian state’s borders.

Debkafile

Russia Develops Silent Robotic Armored Vehicle

MOSCOW, July 30 (RIA Novosti) - Russia’s Military-Industrial Company has developed and tested a hybrid-powered silent armored personnel carrier (APC) that could eventually be remotely operated, a company spokesman said Tuesday.

The Krymsk APC, based on the BTR-90 Rostok vehicle, has a hybrid engine and can move virtually silently on a battery-driven electric motor when its diesel engine is turned off, Sergei Suvorov said.

At present it can only move silently on electric power over short distances but with new types of battery “that distance can be increased dozens of times,” he said.

The Krymsk is in effect a remotely controlled platform, which could subsequently be developed into a “robotized platform,” Suvorov said.

During a recent test the vehicle showed a maximum speed of 97 kilometers per hour (60 mph), accelerating to 80 kilometers per hour in 33 seconds, Suvorov said.

Krymsk can be equipped with weapon systems “based on new physical principles, for example, laser or electromagnetic weapons,” he said.

RIA Novosti

Are You Smarter Than An 8th Grader From 1912?

Yes. The national intelligence has fallen that far. The morons in West Philly can't spell 'Cat'. At least 75% wouldn’t know the Vice President of the U.S.. More than 50% can't add 5 + 5. And 80% wouldn't know when and why the Civil War was fought.

Zero Hedge

Obama celebrates Ramadan: 'Islam has contributed to the character' of US

Let me think about that......Ohhh yes with a couple a airplanes in New York!!

President Obama late Thursday celebrated Ramadan with a traditional dinner in the State Dining Room, saying that throughout the nation's history, “Islam has contributed to the character of our country.” 

In remarks before the Iftar dinner, eaten by Muslims after sunset to end the day of fasting, Obama quoted from the Koran, according to a White House pool report. "As the Koran teaches, whoever does an atom's weight of good will see its results."

"Muslim-Americans and their good works have helped to build our nation, and we've seen the results," he added.

Obama, who has hosted five Iftar dinners, focused on entrepreneurship during much of his speech.

“Every day, Muslim-Americans are helping to shape the way that we think and the way that we work and the way that we do business," he said. "And that’s the spirit that we celebrate tonight — the dreamers, the creators whose ideas are pioneering new industries, creating new jobs and unleashing new opportunities for all of us.”

Obama recognized three entrepreneurs, including Shazi Visram, the founder and chief executive of Happy Family Organic Superfoods; Aunim Hossain, chief executive of Tista Games; and Iya Khalil, who co-founded GNS Healthcare, a biotech research company.

“So Shazi, Aunim, Iya and so many of you who have traveled here tonight — each of you have traveled your own path, but each of you have also lived out an American story.

“And of course, this isn’t just the American Dream; it’s the aspiration of people around the world. It’s the basic human desire for progress, to find dignity that comes from work, to give our children something better.”

Members of Congress, local elected officials and dozens of ambassadors were on the White House guest list.



Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/313665-obama-celebrates-ramadan-with-white-house-dinner#ixzz2aXGguYjG

Keiser Report: No jail for banksters in real world Monopoly

Prophecies of Jesus Fulfilled Josh McDowell

Nikkei Drops 1000 Points In 3 Days

Something is rotten in the state of Abenomics. The last three days have seen the biggest surge in JPY in over six weeks (now well under 98 and at its strongest again the USD in over a month) and thebiggest drop in the Nikkei 225 in almost two months. 

It seems with Fed Taper talk off the table (in investors' minds), hotter than expected inflation in Japan (what they wanted but brings the 'endgame' closer for expectations of moar QQE), and a miss for retail sales in Japan tonight (no matter what they do, consumption disappoints - unsurprising given the demographic hurdle, even with free money oozing out of every crack) that global investors (who have once again piled lemming-like back into the long-Nikkei-short-JPY trades) have found better places (for now) to put their 'easily-earned' money. Or is thisthe Japanese markets' cry for help ahead of Kuroda's speech this evening?

SWAT teams new face of police agencies

A key distinction between the U.S. and other nations, even relatively free nations, long has been American restrictions on domestic use of the military, for police actions, law enforcement and keeping things under control.

However, when the local police officer or sheriff’s deputy is equipped with night vision goggles, laser-scope rifles, electronic eavesdropping equipment and body armor and comes up a citizen’s driveway in a military-type personnel carrier with shielded windows and oversize wheels, the prohibitions seem to lose some of their teeth.

It’s an issue on which WND has reported for more than a decade, and others now are taking note.

Since 1878, with the passage of the Posse Comitatus Act, it has long been an established legal principle that the federal government is not allowed to use the military to enforce federal or state laws.

In recent years, the law has been modified to allow the president to deploy federal troops to enforce the law. Two of the most notable cases are President Dwight Eisenhower’s decision to send federal troops into Little Rock, Ark., to enforce desegregation and the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

However, while American armed forces may be limited in their ability to enforce the law, the act is essentially being circumvented by militarizing local enforcement, equipping it with some of the same equipment, training and tactics used in war zones.

Radley Balko raised the issue recently a Wall Street Journal article, “Rise of the Warrior Cop.” He says the trend is to erase the line between military and law enforcement.

“Since the 1960s, in response to a range of perceived threats, law-enforcement agencies across the U.S., at every level of government, have been blurring the line between police officer and soldier,” Balko wrote. “Driven by martial rhetoric and the availability of military-style equipment – from bayonets and M-16 rifles to armored personnel carriers – American police forces have often adopted a mindset previously reserved for the battlefield.”

Balko said the “war on drugs and, more recently, post-9/11 antiterrorism efforts have created a new figure on the U.S. scene: the warrior cop – armed to the teeth, ready to deal harshly with targeted wrongdoers, and a growing threat to familiar American liberties.”

The number of local jurisdictions with SWAT teams has increased dramatically in recent years, employed now by the majority of police departments in small and medium-sized cities.

Balko cites surveys by criminologist Peter Kraska of Eastern Kentucky University, who noted that in 1983 just 13 percent of towns between 25,000 and 50,000 people had a SWAT team. However, by 2005 the figure was up to 80 percent.

With the increase in the number of SWAT teams, local police have increasingly used the new technology and training even in cases in which their use is questionable.

The article noted that along with the increase in the number of SWAT teams has come a corresponding increase in raids by the military-style trained officers. In the 1970s there were just a few hundred raids per year, however, in the 1980s the number of raids jumped to 3,000 per year. In 2005, the number is a stratospheric 50,000.

Balko highlighted the case of Matthew Stewart, a U.S. military veteran. Police got a tip he was growing marijuana in his basement. Stewart was awakened when the battering ram knocked down the door and. Thinking he was being attacked by criminals, he picked up a firearm and began shooting before being killed by officers.

After the shooting, police found 16 marijuana plants, and although the plants were illegal, there was no evidence he was selling the drug. Stewart’s father said his son suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and may possibly have used the marijuana to self-medicate.

While many Americans are concerned about the increased firepower possessed by local law enforcement, Balko said the problem is more pervasive than just local police departments, noting that many federal departments now have their own personal SWAT department.

Among the government agencies with their own SWAT teams are the Department of the Interior, NASA and the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Even the Department of Education has its own “special forces” team.

Balko noted the federal department has sent SWAT team members to raid the home of a woman who authorities said was suspected of defrauding the federal student loan program. The raid raised eyebrows because it was it was the first time the public was aware the Education Department possessed such a unit.

Whenever the issue is brought up, officials claim the increased armament and hardware is needed because of threats faced by law enforcement that were not present decades ago. In the 1980s the rationale was the war on drugs, while in recent years it has been preventing domestic terrorist attacks.

However, the data does not back up such claims. The Colorado-based Independence Institute noted in a 1991 study that less than one-eighth of 1 percent of U.S. homicides were committed with military-style weapons. In the years since the 1991 report, additional studies have all reached similar conclusions including one by the Clinton Justice Department in 1995 and the National Institute for Justice in 2004.

While police departments have engaged in military tactics and training for their SWAT teams, they have been frequently limited by law and by finances. However, after the Muslim terrorist attacks on 9/11, the Department of Homeland Security began to offer federal grants to allow local police departments to upgrade their arsenal.

The Center for Investigative Reporting has said that since its inception in 2002, DHS has doled out $35 billion in grants to help militarize police forces with items such as grenade launchers and even armored personnel carriers.

In 1999, WND reported a proposed change in a federal regulation would be going into effect that would allow federal agencies to donate “surplus” firearms to state and local law enforcement entities.

The previous regulation permitted federal agencies to donate or sell trucks, boats, aircraft and even space vehicles to state and local agencies and to individuals. But the federal property management regulations drew a line in the sand when it came to agencies like the Forest Service or FBI transferring actual weapons either by gift or sale.

But under the new regulations, used handguns, rifles, shotguns, individual light automatic weapons up to 50 caliber, and rifle and shoulder-fired grenade launchers up to 75 mm could be transferred to state agencies for donation to state and local public agencies.

In 2011, the Pentagon gave away $500 million in military equipment to help bolster the armories of local law-enforcement.

Earlier this year the American Civil Liberties Union became concerned about the issue, saying in March it was filing a series of open records requests in 25 states and National Guard offices in an attempt to discover the extent to which federal funding have helped local police departments become more militarized.

“Federal funding in the billions of dollars has allowed state and local police departments to gain access to weapons and tactics created for overseas combat theaters – and yet very little is known about exactly how many police departments have military weapons and training, how militarized the police have become, and how extensively federal money is incentivizing this trend,” the ACLU said on its website.

While the issue is now beginning to generate concern over perceived threats to constitutional liberties by the Obama administration in light of the IRS and NSA scandals, WND founder and CEO Joseph Farah began reporting the trend to militarize the police in 1998.

In a column headlined “The cops are out of control,” Farah lamented that while in years past seeing a police officer gave him a sense of security, it was no longer the case because of recent actions by SWAT teams.

“The recent incidents in Oklahoma, where police shot an unarmed mother holding her child in her home, in Virginia, where a SWAT team killed a watchman guarding a dice game at an after-hours club and in California, where a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms raid on a gun shop resulted in the death of the shopkeeper, provide some hard evidence that police in America may be getting out of control,” Farah warned at the time.

He went on to note the danger of police agencies acquiring military gear even back then.

“The biggest danger we face is the federalization and militarization of all law enforcement. Interagency task forces, bringing together local and state police with federal agents are now the rule of the day,” Farah noted. “Federal agencies bribe local cops with funding, equipment and training programs.”

The challenged to the Fourth Amendment generated by the use of SWAT teams and no-knock warrants is likely to continue as a result of a ruling by the Indiana Supreme Court in 2011.

In a 3-2 ruling, the court ruled that there is no right for a private citizen to resist illegal entry by a police officer. The court stated in its ruling “that there is no right to reasonably resist unlawful entry by police officers.”

The case involved Richard Barnes, who faced misdemeanor charges for resisting a police officer who had entered his home without a warrant. According to the ruling, the case began when Barnes got into an argument with his wife, Mary. During the argument Barnes threw a phone against a wall, prompting his wife to call 911. She told the dispatcher that Barnes was throwing things but did not strike her. The call went out as “domestic violence in progress.”

Officer Lenny Reed arrived at the scene and met Richard Barnes outside as he was leaving with luggage. Barnes told the officer he was leaving and raised his voice. Mary Barnes then came out, threw a bag at her husband and told him to get the rest of his stuff.

The couple returned to the apartment and Richard Barnes blocked the officers from entering. Reed attempted to enter the apartment and was thrown against the wall by Barnes. Officers Jason Henry and Reed used a choke hold and Taser to subdue Barnes.

After being found guilty of battery on a police officer, resisting law-enforcement and disorderly conduct, Richard Barnes appealed the ruling. His basis was that the jury had not been given instructions regarding the right of a citizen to reasonably resist entry into his home.

The Indiana Supreme Court, in a stunning conclusion, stated: “This court is faced for the first time with the question of whether Indiana should recognize the common-law right to reasonably resist unlawful entry by police officers.”

“We conclude that public policy disfavors any such right.”
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/07/frightening-new-reason-to-fear-police/#upY6oKMof93ObtY5.99

Spacecraft Sees Giant 'Hole' In the Sun

A space telescope aimed at the sun has spotted a gigantic hole in the solar atmosphere — a dark spot that covers nearly a quarter of our closest star, spewing solar material and gas into space.

The so-called coronal hole over the sun's north pole came into view between July 13 and 18 and was observed by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO. NASA released a video of the sun hole as seen by the SOHO spacecraft, showing the region as a vast dark spot surrounded by solar activity.

Coronal holes are darker, cooler regions of the sun's atmosphere, or corona, containing little solar material. In these gaps, magnetic field lines whip out into the solar wind rather than looping back to the sun's surface. Coronal holes can affect space weather, as they send solar particles streaming off the sun about three times faster than the slower wind unleashed elsewhere from the sun's atmosphere, according to a description from NASA.

"While it’s unclear what causes coronal holes, they correlate to areas on the sun where magnetic fields soar up and away, failing to loop back down to the surface, as they do elsewhere," NASA's Karen Fox at the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., explained in an image description.

These holes are not uncommon, but their frequency changes with the solar activity cycle. The sun is currently reaching its 11-year peak in activity, known as the solar maximum. Around the time of this peak, the sun's poles switch their magnetism. The number of coronal holes typically decreases leading up to the switch.

After the reversal, new coronal holes appear near the poles. Then as the sun approaches the solar minimum again, the holes creep closer to the equator, growing in both size and number, according to NASA.

The $1.27-billion (1 billion euros) SOHO satellite was launched in 1995 and is flying a joint mission between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). It watches solar activity from an orbit about the Lagrange Point 1, a gravitationally stable spot between Earth and the sun that is about 932,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) from our planet.

Yahoo News

Obama Funding Syrian Rebels Beheading Christians, Using Child Soldiers

And virtually no one seems to even be questioning the Obama administration’s support of these chaotic troops who kill innocent citizens using US-funded arms in a bid to throw Syria’s current system into insanity. What’s perhaps even worse is that Obama has been pushing to continue this funding in a battle with reasonable lawmakers in a move that highlights his continued support of Syrian rebels who massacre innocents in public beheading sessions (that are met with applause and cheers).

It’s even hidden in the mainstream news, yet the media pieces on the subject somehow fail to generate any social media sharing or view counts for the most part. Just look at the August 2012 Reuters admission that Obama secretly went ahead and enabled support for Syrian rebels while bypassing any form of checks or balances. Flash forward to June 2013 with the headline ‘Syrians behead Christians for helping military, as CIA ships in arms’ in The Washington Times publication, and we’re still letting this happen.

ARMING THE CARNAGE ON RECORD

From the report in The Washington Times:

“A priest and another Christian were beheaded before a cheering crowd by Syrian insurgents who say they aided and abetted the enemy… The reported beheading of the two Christians comes about the same time America has started sending arms to rebel fighters, the Wall Street Journal revealed this week.”

In other words the supposedly ‘Christian’ (a laughable declaration) Obama not only allows for these rebels to kill all Christians who do not convert and pay excessive taxes to the rebel army, but is the driving force behind it. How truly Christian of him. In fact, let’s look at the options innocent Christians are given by the Syrian rebels who wield CIA-given weaponry as according to the missionaries who have been to the Christian communities in Syria:

1. Renounce their Christian faith and convert immediately to Islam (to potentially have your life spared after swearing to the Syrian rebels and Islam).

2. Pay an extremely heavy tax to the Syrian rebels to potentially save your life and be able to secretly continue being a Christian (unless they decided to behead you anyway).

3. Immediately choose death, likely via beheading in the center of town to scare off your friends and family from challenging the Syrian rebel army.

4. Flee for your life and hope the Syrian rebels don’t find you or kill your family. All of your belongings left behind now belong to the Syrian rebels.

As you can see, these are the truly ’humane’ options supported by the United States government. And they’re getting away with this thanks to the general public having no idea what’s going on. In two months, the funding officially runs out — at least for this fiscal year. Amazingly, however, the House and Senate Intelligence Committees both went ahead and approved the continued support of the Syrian rebels. Just like how our elected officials recently sided with the NSA in continuing the gargantuan funding that fuels the agency.

The media is doing a great job on covering a bogus debate (if they cover the subject at all) over whether or not they need more funding to take down Assad, and once again it’s up to independent news outlets to blast this information out.

If you ever had doubts as to the true nature of the sociopaths inside government and the lengths they will go to secure their agenda, you now have proof.

Infowars