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Submitted by Mike Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,

Yesterday afternoon, I happened to read a seemingly innocuous enough article in Time by Justin Lynch titled: Bloggers, Surveillance and Obama’s Orwellian State. The article covered the usual bases. Such as the fact the Obama Administration is the least transparent ever, how it has attacked whistleblowers and journalists more than all other Presidents combined, and how citizen journalists pose a threat to the corrupt and dying status quo. All things that we already know.

One of the people quoted in the article is Pentagon correspondent for the New York Times, Thom Shanker, who proudly noted “his employer has implemented rigorous standards to balance the security risks of reporting classified information with the public’s right to know.”

While this guy’s assumption that bureaucrats and media personalities posses this divine right to decide what the public “has a right to know,” is extremely disturbing in its own right, what it really masks is a deep seated opinion of his own superiority compared to the unwashed masses. This seems to really come out in the extraordinarily disturbing final paragraph of the article:

The government really needs to get its message out to the American people, and it knows that the best way to do that is by using the American news media, said Shanker. The relationship between the government and the media is like a marriage; it is a dysfunctional marriage to be sure, but we stay together for the kids.

That right there is why this country is in such deep shit. We have mediocre, control-freak bureaucrats in the mainstream media and government who see themselves as our parents. That we are little children who need to be told what to do. Sure, he may try to spin this as if he was talking about their respective employees, but we all know that’s not true. These people must be peacefully removed from all positions of power as soon as possible.

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1oTZvUr Tyler Durden

This morning, following the previously reported ground incursion by Israeli special forces in northern Gaza, the Israel military was kind enough to advice locals in Gaza to evacuate ahead of a major shelling round. What follows is the full text of a leaflet dropped by the Israeli military in the town of Beit Lahiya, near the border with Israel.

Translated:

“To the residents of Beit Lahiya,

 

The IDF intends to attack terrorists and terror infrastructures in the area east of Al-Atatra and Al-Salatin St., and in the area west and north of Ma’bscar Jabalyia. Israel is currently attacking, and will continue to attack, every area from which rockets are being launched at its territory.

 

The civilians are requested to evacuate their residences immediately and move by 12:00 PM today, south of Jabalyia Al-Badr via Shar’a Al-Faluja.

 

The IDF’s campaign is to be short and temporary. Those who fail to comply with the instructions will endanger their lives and the lives of their families.

 

Beware.”

As a result, it is not surprising that after the leaflet paradrop, thousands promptly evacuated their homes ahead of the threatened attacks in a what is now a six day mini war which according to Palestine has killed at least 160 people, and where some 70% of the casualties are civilians including 27 children as of the most recent count.

More from Reuters:

At least 4,000 people fled Beit Lahiya and crowded into eight U.N.-run schools in Gaza City on Sunday, a spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency said.

 

Some arrived on donkey carts filled with children, luggage and mattresses, while others came by car or taxi. One man, still in his pajamas, said some residents had received phone calls warning them to clear out.

 

“What could we do? We had to run in order to save the lives of our children,” said Salem Abu Halima, 25, a father of two.

In the meantime, Hamas – obviously – has continued its own shelling of Israel. As Reuters reports, a long-range salvo on Sunday morning triggered air raid sirens at Tel
Aviv’s Ben-Gurion international airport, which has not been hit in the
hostilities and where flights have been operating normally, and some
city suburbs.

On Saturday night, Hamas – the Islamist movement that rules Gaza – made good on a threat to send rockets streaking toward Tel Aviv at 9 p.m. (2.00 p.m. EDT) and other areas in heavily populated central Israel.

 

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis sought shelter as Palestinians in the streets of Gaza City cheered the launchings, the biggest strike yet on the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.

 

Those rockets and the ones unleashed on Sunday were intercepted by the Israeli-built, and partly U.S.-funded, Iron Dome missile defense system that has proved effective against Hamas’s most powerful weaponry.

And yet, just to once again put the death toll in perspective, once again:

• Palestinian killed as of yesterday (per UN): 126, as of today (per Palestinian officials): 160
• Israel (so far): 0

In short: the bombing will continue until somehow the US manages to broker another ceasefire (not very likely), or will escalate, especially if Israel once again manages to drag Iran into the conflict…

• ISRAEL’S NETANYAHU SAYS IRAN FINANCING, ARMING HAMAS
• IRAN MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO GET FISSIONABLE MATERIAL: NETANYAHU

… as now appears to be the desired Israeli strategy.

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1owup26 Tyler Durden

Submitted by Erico Tavares Of Sinclair & Co.

We track US power consumption on a weekly basis as reported by Barron’s, as we believe this information provides insightful – albeit sometimes “noisy” and seasonally unadjusted – clues about the performance of the economy over time.

The expectation is that a more robust economic environment requires more power, although factors like colder winters and warmer summers relative to the norm can greatly skew the analysis. With that in mind, let’s have a look at the weekly historical performance of this indicator going back to 1995 (in MM kWhs):

Many peaks and bottoms can be observed as power demand changes seasonally over the year. We have used polynomial smoothing to extract a trend line (in black).

Some quick observations:

• US power consumption peaked in 2006 (red line), approximately in line with the peak in the US housing market, and the trend line has flatlined since.
• By definition a peak in consumption means that any new capacity additions, for instance to accommodate incremental renewable energy production, will need to be made at the expense of existing production capacity, which in turn will affect plant efficiencies and so forth. That being said, there is a considerable amount of coal-fired capacity, possibly even nuclear, that will be coming off-line in the coming years mainly due to environmental regulations, so it will be interesting to see how all of this will play out in the US power markets.
• The last intra-cycle power consumption peak was recorded in 2011, broadly in line with the recent global peak in commodity prices. While most commodity price analysis commentary focuses on China as the “marginal” buyer, it seems the US still plays an important role not only as a supplier but also as a consumer.

Consumption peaks normally come in late July/early August, so it is still a bit early to gauge how 2014 is shaping up. However, in the grand scheme of things and despite the limitations of this indicator, historical kilowatt consumption suggests that the US economy at best continues to muddle along, despite an unprecedented amount of policy stimulus – some of which may even be curtailed before the end of the year.

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1wi1dA1 Tyler Durden

A first class, all expenses paid weekend trip to Vienna with full diplomatic and press cover, to explain to Germany why every day a new CIA spy is uncovered, and to again reach no resolution on Iran’s nuclear program: millions of dollars.

Relaxing at the end of the day for a job well done with a cold Kaiser beer: priceless.

Some things money can’t buy. For everything else there’s TaxpayerCard.

Good end to long days. http://ift.tt/1jnG4UC

— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) July 13, 2014

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1jECBkN Tyler Durden

After conducting countless sorties and bombing raids aimed at Hamas operatives in Gaza during the fifth day of Operation Protective Edge, but resulting in well over a hundred innocent civilian deaths in the past week, Israel, realizing it is not generating any brownie points with the international “humanitarian” media, finally did what it had threatened to do over the last few days – launch a ground assault.

Moments ago, the Israel military reported that Israeli ground troops had entered northern Gaza to take out a number of missile launch sites.

1/2 BREAKING: IDF forces raided a site used to fire long-range rockets at Israel. The mission was accomplished

— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) July 13, 2014

2/2 During the mission, there was an exchange of fire. 4 soldiers were lightly injured & all returned home safely

— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) July 13, 2014

According to ABC, the move comes after weeks of growing tensions and nearly a week of escalating missile strikes from both sides.

 

The mission was launched early Sunday local time comes after the UN Security Council urged the two sides to reach a cease fire, and the Israeli government said it hit northern Gaza “with great force” to prevent more Hamas rocket attacks.

 

During the incursion there was an exchange of fire with militants that left four Israeli soldiers lightly wounded, according to the IDF.

 

The IDF troops returned to Israel after the mission, and no soldiers were left in Gaza, the Israeli military said.

Of course, this is merely the first incursion into Gaza with many more to follow, in what appears is catalyst to escalate the conflict further, with the only question being just how will either side – as demanded by the UN – de-escalate, and more importantly, if the US will finally step in or whether it will continue to demonstrate the kind of peculiar aloofness that has allowed everyone from China to Russia to France and now, to Germany, to indicate that the former hegemon is increasingly living in a multipolar world, in which the US is taken far less seriously. If and when said attitude results in an adverse dollar impact, that will be the time for the residents at the Marriner Eccles building to quietly depart the US for non-extradition countries.

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1zxq8E0 Tyler Durden