Thursday, January 29, 2015

SAR #15029


 
Gambling At Rick's? Various videos have surfaced that show what appear to be US and British Special Forces mercenaries fighting along side Ukrainian neo-Nazi forces. Sources suggest that at least 500 Blackwater-type mercs are so employed.

Decoder Ring: Why does Sarah Palin keep saying all those silly things? Because she is an entertainer, not a politician, and her audience loves her version of slapstick. Go ahead, make fun of her – she's laughing all the way to the bank. As long as she kicks some of her take to the GOP, they're quite happy to play along. It is far from clear that Mike Huckabee and Bobby Jindal are nearly as aware of their function as Sarah is. 
 
Consider This: Verizon is considering allowing its subscribers to opt out of being tagged with its undeletable customer codes that facilitate illegal corporate and NSA snooping. Considering.

Problem Solved: Twenty percent – 16 million – American children now rely on food stamps. The Republicans intend to address these horrendous numbers by cutting $40 billion from the program's budget. Loaves and fishes, maybe.

Snark On/ Israel is demanding that the UN “uphold its commitment to stop war crimes.” /Snark Off

Free Rides: FXCM, the foreign exchange outfit that facilitated immense losses for its customers in the Swiss Franc revaluation and was itself at death's door, has received a last-minute lots-of-strings attached bailout and has told its big-money clients that their losses and debts have been forgiven and forgotten. 
 
Magic Act: Greece's new prime minister announced that privatization would be halted and that the country would not default on its agreements. Note that privatization is part of the bailout agreements and Greece has little if any ability left to pay back the 'loans'. Others suggest that there is a 70% probability that Greece will default on its debts. 
 
Quoted: "Creditors have a moral responsibility to lend wisely. If they fail to do due diligence on their borrowers, they deserve what is going to happen. In the case of Greece, the scale of the external deficits, in particular, were obvious. So, too, was the way the Greek state was run..." Martin Wolf. 
 
Two Thumbs Way Up: Michelle Obama declined to drape a headscarf over her head while her husband was sucking up to the new Saudi king. Good for her.

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