Privacy and security scandals plague Obama administration

President Barack Obama’s approval rating is plummeting in the midst of American dissatisfaction with the recent privacy controversies and other scandals.

The president’s approval rating is 45 percent, marking an 8-point drop in the last month, according to a CNN survey. Weighing down on the Obama administration are the revelations of government domestic spying programs, the Justice Department’s secret pursuit of journalists’ phone records, the Internal Revenue Service’s inappropriate scrutiny of conservative political groups seeking tax-exemption status, as well as the lingering questions over the deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya, last fall.

“The drop in Obama’s support is fueled by a dramatic 17-point decline over the past month among people under 30, who, along with black Americans, had been the most loyal part of the Obama coalition,” says Keating Holland, polling director for CNN. “It is clear that revelations about NSA surveillance programs have damaged Obama’s standing with the public, although older controversies like the IRS matter may have begun to take their toll as well.” [More...]

Michael Snyder
Activist Post

Eventually the money runs out.  Much of America was shocked when the city of Detroit defaulted on a $39.7 million debt payment and announced that it was suspending payments on $2.5 billion of unsecured debt, but those who visit my site on a regular basis were probably not too surprised.  Anyone with half a brain and a calculator could see this coming from a mile away.  But people kept foolishly lending money to the city of Detroit, and now many of them are going to get hit really hard.

Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr has submitted a proposal that would pay unsecured creditors about 10 cents on the dollar.  Similar haircuts would be made to underfunded pension and health benefits for retirees.  Orr is hoping that the creditors and the unions that he will be negotiating with will accept this package, but he concedes that there is still a “50-50 chance” that the city of Detroit will be forced to formally file for bankruptcy.

But what Detroit is facing is not really that unique. [More...]

Anthony Freda Art

Paul Craig Roberts
Activist Post

In the 21st century the two hundred year-old propaganda that the American people control their government has been completely shattered. Both the Bush and Obama regimes have made it unmistakenly clear that the American people don’t even influence, much less control, the government. As far as Washington is concerned, the people are nothing but chaff in the wind.

Polls demonstrate that 65% of the US population opposes US intervention in Syria. Despite this clear indication of the people’s will, the Obama regime is ramping up a propaganda case for more arming of Washington’s mercenaries sent to overthrow the secular Syrian government and for a “no-fly zone” over Syria, which, if Libya is the example, means US or NATO aircraft attacking the Syrian army on the ground, thus serving as the air force of Washington’s imported mercenaries, euphemistically called “the Syrian rebels.” [More...]

Mac Slavo
Activist Post

After the massive crash that rocked global markets in 2008, as Congress, central bankers and major financial institutions met in secret to mitigate the crisis, billionaires like Warren Buffet were buying up shares of some of the hardest hit companies.

At the time, the world was literally on the brink of an unprecedented economic collapse. It was so serious, in fact, that members of Congress were told that should they fail to come to an agreement the fallout would leave the United States in such a state of disarray that martial law would be declared and tanks would be deployed to major American cities. [More...]

Mac Slavo
Activist Post

Though most Americans go through their day thinking everything is now returning to normal, the fact of the matter is the situation is anything but stable.

With crime rates skyrocketing, home prices dropping to under $500 for a house, and the local government out of solutions, the city of Detroit is the latest to join the likes of Stockton, California, having just defaulted on its loans from creditors.

Despite promises to the contrary, it should come as no surprise that the city is unable to meet its obligations. And it won’t be the last. City and state governments all over America are in the same boat. [More...]

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi named a member of an Islamist group remembered for a bloody attack on Western tourists in the ancient city of Luxor over a decade ago as governor of that province on Sunday.

It was one of 17 gubernatorial appointments that put Islamist allies in key positions across the country as Mursi braces for protests on the first anniversary of his inauguration at the end of the month.

Seven of the new governors listed by the state news agency are members of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, which backed Mursi in elections that followed the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in 2011, propelling him to power last year. [More...]

by Stephen Lendman

Greater US intervention in Syria looms. Manufactured threats facilitate doing so. Replacing Assad with puppet leadership is planned. Independent governments aren’t tolerated. More on that below.

Fact: Washington bears full responsibility for Middle East/North Africa/Central Asian wars. Resource control is prioritized. So is imperial dominance to Russian and Chinese borders.

Fact: State terrorism is official US policy. Obama’s waging multiple direct and proxy wars. He’s doing so lawlessly. He’s ravaging humanity in the process.

Washington, its allies, and proxies use chemical and other illegal weapons. Permanent wars reflect longstanding US policy. Americans are deceived and lied to. Truth is verboten.

Unchallenged global dominance is sought. Washington demands total subservience. What we say goes is policy. All independent governments are targeted.

Plans call for installing subservient puppet regimes. Direct intervention in Syria looms. War on Iran is planned. Lebanon is targeted. So are other countries. [More...]

J.P. Hicks
Activist Post

The Associated Press dropped a bombshell report yesterday that claims the NSA’s secret Internet spy program, Prism, is just a small part of a much more “expansive and intrusive” digital spying effort.

According to the AP, the NSA copies ALL INTERNET traffic in and out of the United States for analysis by “Hoovering” all data that passes through fiber lines.

“Tapping into those cables allows the NSA access to monitor emails, telephone calls, video chats, websites, bank transactions and more. It takes powerful computers to decrypt, store and analyze all this information, but the information is all there, zipping by at the speed of light,” AP reports. [More...]