Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

DEA Special Operations Division Covers Up Surveillance Used To Investigate Americans
Reuters | John Shiffman | 08/05/13

A secretive U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration unit is funneling information from intelligence intercepts, wiretaps, informants and a massive database of telephone records to authorities across the nation to help them launch criminal investigations of Americans.

Although these cases rarely involve national security issues, documents reviewed by Reuters show that law enforcement agents have been directed to conceal how such investigations truly begin - not only from defense lawyers but also sometimes from prosecutors and judges. ... Read more

FBI Fesses Up: We've Used Domestic Drones 10 Times
Slate | Ryan Gallagher | 07/26/13

Last month, the FBI admitted it had used surveillance drones in domestic airspace but refused to disclose specific details. Now, after pressure from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., the bureau has been forced to come clean.

In a recent letter to Paul, published on the senator's website Thursday, the FBI acknowledges that it has used drones domestically in 10 cases in response to a "specific, operational need." The bureau says that, since late 2006, it has used unmanned planes for surveillance to support missions related to kidnappings, search and rescue operations, drug interdictions, and fugitive investigations. On eight occasions the drones were used as part of criminal cases, and two in national security-related operations. ... Read more

An Unknown Diner Will Taste The World's First Lab-Grown Burger
Yahoo | Sam Ro | 07/30/13

The world's first test-tube hamburger, made from lab-grown meat, will be served in London next Monday, August 5.

The 5-ounce burger, created by Mark Post from Maastrict University in the Netherlands, will be fed to an unknown diner whose reaction will be seen in front an invitation-only crowd.

The Process Starts With Stem Cells. 1) First, muscle stem cells are harvested from the cow through a biopsy. 2) From there, it's raised like any other living creature. Scientists feed it a steady diet of sugars, fats, amino acids, and minerals. 3) The one-inch strand of muscle is also exercised. According to the scientist, the muscle is stretched between two anchor points. "Its innate tendency to contract causes it to put on bulk, growing into small chunks of meat," they write. 4) "Three thousand of these small chunks of meat are then fused together to create one normal-sized hamburger. ... Read more

Bureau Investigation Finds Fresh Evidence of CIA Drone Strikes on Rescuers
Common Dreams | Chris Woods | 08/01/13

A field investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism in Pakistan's tribal areas appears to confirm that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) last year briefly revived the controversial tactic of deliberately targeting rescuers at the scene of a previous drone strike. The tactic has previously been labelled a possible war crime by two UN investigators.

FED: "We Own A Significant Slice Of Critical Markets. This Is Something Of A Gordian Knot"
ZeroHedge | author | 08/05/13

... Quantitative easing, or QE, by the public and as large-scale asset purchases, or LSAPs, internally at the Fed. As a result of LSAPs conducted over three stages of QE, the Fed’s System Open Market Account now holds $2 trillion of Treasury securities and $1.3 trillion of agency and mortgage-backed securities (MBS). Since last fall, when we initiated the third stage of QE, we have regularly been purchasing $45 billion a month of Treasuries and $40 billion a month in MBS, meanwhile reinvesting the proceeds from the paydowns of our mortgage-based investments. The result is that our balance sheet has ballooned to more than $3.5 trillion. That’s $3.5 trillion, or $11,300 for every man, woman and child residing in the United States. ... Read more
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