Sunday, June 1, 2014

2014 Bilderberg Meeting Participant List

May 31, 2014

Paranoia: Bilderberg Security Blocks Out Hotel Windows, Erects Police State Apparatus

The following press release and participants list was obtained from the official website of Bilderberg Meetings. Participant lists from nearly every Bilderberg Meeting since 1954 are also available as well as tax returns for the non-profit U.S.-based corporation American Friends of Bilderberg from 2007 – 2009, 2010,2011.

BILDERBERG MEETINGS
Copenhagen, Denmark
29 May – 1 June 2014
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

FRA	Castries, Henri de	Chairman and CEO, AXA Group
DEU	Achleitner, Paul M.	Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Deutsche Bank AG
DEU	Ackermann, Josef	Former CEO, Deutsche Bank AG
GBR	Agius, Marcus	Non-Executive Chairman, PA Consulting Group
FIN	Alahuhta, Matti	Member of the Board, KONE; Chairman, Aalto University Foundation
GBR	Alexander, Helen	Chairman, UBM plc
USA	Alexander, Keith B.	Former Commander, U.S. Cyber Command; Former Director, National Security Agency
USA	Altman, Roger C.	Executive Chairman, Evercore
FIN	Apunen, Matti	Director, Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA
DEU	Asmussen, Jörg	State Secretary of Labour and Social Affairs
HUN	Bajnai, Gordon	Former Prime Minister; Party Leader, Together 2014
GBR	Balls, Edward M.	Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
PRT	Balsemão, Francisco Pinto	Chairman, Impresa SGPS
FRA	Baroin, François	Member of Parliament (UMP); Mayor of Troyes
FRA	Baverez, Nicolas	Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
USA	Berggruen, Nicolas	Chairman, Berggruen Institute on Governance
ITA	Bernabè, Franco	Chairman, FB Group SRL
DNK	Besenbacher, Flemming	Chairman, The Carlsberg Group
NLD	Beurden, Ben van	CEO, Royal Dutch Shell plc
SWE	Bildt, Carl	Minister for Foreign Affairs
NOR	Brandtzæg, Svein Richard	President and CEO, Norsk Hydro ASA
INT	Breedlove, Philip M.	Supreme Allied Commander Europe
AUT	Bronner, Oscar	Publisher, Der STANDARD Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.H.
SWE	Buskhe, Håkan	President and CEO, Saab AB
TUR	Çandar, Cengiz	Senior Columnist, Al Monitor and Radikal
ESP	Cebrián, Juan Luis	Executive Chairman, Grupo PRISA
FRA	Chalendar, Pierre-André de	Chairman and CEO, Saint-Gobain
CAN	Clark, W. Edmund	Group President and CEO, TD Bank Group
INT	Coeuré, Benoît	Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank
IRL	Coveney, Simon	Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine
GBR	Cowper-Coles, Sherard	Senior Adviser to the Group Chairman and Group CEO, HSBC Holdings plc
BEL	Davignon, Etienne	Minister of State
USA	Donilon, Thomas E.	Senior Partner, O'Melveny and Myers; Former U.S. National Security Advisor
DEU	Döpfner, Mathias	CEO, Axel Springer SE
GBR	Dudley, Robert	Group Chief Executive, BP plc
FIN	Ehrnrooth, Henrik	Chairman, Caverion Corporation, Otava and Pöyry PLC
ITA	Elkann, John	Chairman, Fiat S.p.A.
DEU	Enders, Thomas	CEO, Airbus Group
DNK	Federspiel, Ulrik	Executive Vice President, Haldor Topsøe A/S
USA	Feldstein, Martin S.	Professor of Economics, Harvard University; President Emeritus, NBER
CAN	Ferguson, Brian	President and CEO, Cenovus Energy Inc.
GBR	Flint, Douglas J.	Group Chairman, HSBC Holdings plc
ESP	García-Margallo, José Manuel	Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation
USA	Gfoeller, Michael	Independent Consultant
TUR	Göle, Nilüfer	Professor of Sociology, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
USA	Greenberg, Evan G.	Chairman and CEO, ACE Group
GBR	Greening, Justine	Secretary of State for International Development
NLD	Halberstadt, Victor	Professor of Economics, Leiden University
USA	Hockfield, Susan	President Emerita, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
NOR	Høegh, Leif O.	Chairman, Höegh Autoliners AS
NOR	Høegh, Westye	Senior Advisor, Höegh Autoliners AS
USA	Hoffman, Reid	Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, LinkedIn
CHN	Huang, Yiping	Professor of Economics, National School of Development, Peking University
USA	Jackson, Shirley Ann	President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
USA	Jacobs, Kenneth M.	Chairman and CEO, Lazard
USA	Johnson, James A.	Chairman, Johnson Capital Partners
USA	Karp, Alex	CEO, Palantir Technologies
USA	Katz, Bruce J.	Vice President and Co-Director, Metropolitan Policy Program, The Brookings Institution
CAN	Kenney, Jason T.	Minister of Employment and Social Development
GBR	Kerr, John	Deputy Chairman, Scottish Power
USA	Kissinger, Henry A.	Chairman, Kissinger Associates, Inc.
USA	Kleinfeld, Klaus	Chairman and CEO, Alcoa
TUR	Koç, Mustafa	Chairman, Koç Holding A.S.
DNK	Kragh, Steffen	President and CEO, Egmont
USA	Kravis, Henry R.	Co-Chairman and Co-CEO, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
USA	Kravis, Marie-Josée	Senior Fellow and Vice Chair, Hudson Institute
CHE	Kudelski, André	Chairman and CEO, Kudelski Group
INT	Lagarde, Christine	Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
BEL	Leysen, Thomas	Chairman of the Board of Directors, KBC Group
USA	Li, Cheng	Director, John L.Thornton China Center,The Brookings Institution
SWE	Lifvendahl, Tove	Political Editor in Chief, Svenska Dagbladet
CHN	Liu, He	Minister, Office of the Central Leading Group on Financial and Economic Affairs
PRT	Macedo, Paulo	Minister of Health
FRA	Macron, Emmanuel	Deputy Secretary General of the Presidency
ITA	Maggioni, Monica	Editor-in-Chief, Rainews24, RAI TV
GBR	Mandelson, Peter	Chairman, Global Counsel LLP
USA	McAfee, Andrew	Principal Research Scientist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
PRT	Medeiros, Inês de	Member of Parliament, Socialist Party
GBR	Micklethwait, John	Editor-in-Chief, The Economist
GRC	Mitsotaki, Alexandra	Chair, ActionAid Hellas
ITA	Monti, Mario	Senator-for-life; President, Bocconi University
USA	Mundie, Craig J.	Senior Advisor to the CEO, Microsoft Corporation
CAN	Munroe-Blum, Heather	Professor of Medicine and Principal (President) Emerita, McGill University
USA	Murray, Charles A.	W.H. Brady Scholar, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
NLD	Netherlands, H.R.H. Princess Beatrix of the
ESP	Nin Génova, Juan María	Deputy Chairman and CEO, CaixaBank
FRA	Nougayrède, Natalie	Former Director and Executive Editor, Le Monde
DNK	Olesen, Søren-Peter	Professor; Member of the Board of Directors, The Carlsberg Foundation
FIN	Ollila, Jorma	Chairman, Royal Dutch Shell, plc; Chairman, Outokumpu Plc
TUR	Oran, Umut	Deputy Chairman, Republican People’s Party (CHP)
GBR	Osborne, George	Chancellor of the Exchequer
FRA	Pellerin, Fleur	State Secretary for Foreign Trade
USA	Perle, Richard N.	Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
USA	Petraeus, David H.	Chairman, KKR Global Institute
CAN	Poloz, Stephen S.	Governor, Bank of Canada
INT	Rasmussen, Anders Fogh	Secretary General, NATO
DNK	Rasmussen, Jørgen Huno	Chairman of the Board of Trustees, The Lundbeck Foundation
INT	Reding, Viviane	Vice President and Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, European Commission
USA	Reed, Kasim	Mayor of Atlanta
CAN	Reisman, Heather M.	Chair and CEO, Indigo Books & Music Inc.
NOR	Reiten, Eivind	Chairman, Klaveness Marine Holding AS
DEU	Röttgen, Norbert	Chairman, Foreign Affairs Committee, German Bundestag
USA	Rubin, Robert E.	Co-Chair, Council on Foreign Relations; Former Secretary of the Treasury
USA	Rumer, Eugene	Senior Associate and Director, Russia and Eurasia Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
NOR	Rynning-Tønnesen, Christian	President and CEO, Statkraft AS
NLD	Samsom, Diederik M.	Parliamentary Leader PvdA (Labour Party)
GBR	Sawers, John	Chief, Secret Intelligence Service
NLD	Scheffer, Paul J.	Author; Professor of European Studies, Tilburg University
NLD	Schippers, Edith	Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport
USA	Schmidt, Eric E.	Executive Chairman, Google Inc.
AUT	Scholten, Rudolf	CEO, Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG
USA	Shih, Clara	CEO and Founder, Hearsay Social
FIN	Siilasmaa, Risto K.	Chairman of the Board of Directors and Interim CEO, Nokia Corporation
ESP	Spain, H.M. the Queen of
USA	Spence, A. Michael	Professor of Economics, New York University
FIN	Stadigh, Kari	President and CEO, Sampo plc
USA	Summers, Lawrence H.	Charles W. Eliot University Professor, Harvard University
IRL	Sutherland, Peter D.	Chairman, Goldman Sachs International; UN Special Representative for Migration
SWE	Svanberg, Carl-Henric	Chairman, Volvo AB and BP plc
TUR	Taftalı, A. Ümit	Member of the Board, Suna and Inan Kiraç Foundation
USA	Thiel, Peter A.	President, Thiel Capital
DNK	Topsøe, Henrik	Chairman, Haldor Topsøe A/S
GRC	Tsoukalis, Loukas	President, Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy
NOR	Ulltveit-Moe, Jens	Founder and CEO, Umoe AS
INT	Üzümcü, Ahmet	Director-General, Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
CHE	Vasella, Daniel L.	Honorary Chairman, Novartis International
DNK	Vestager, Margrethe	Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Economic Affairs and the Interior
FIN	Wahlroos, Björn	Chairman, Sampo plc
SWE	Wallenberg, Jacob	Chairman, Investor AB
SWE	Wallenberg, Marcus	Chairman of the Board of Directors, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB
USA	Warsh, Kevin M.	Distinguished Visiting Fellow and Lecturer, Stanford University
GBR	Wolf, Martin H.	Chief Economics Commentator, The Financial Times
USA	Wolfensohn, James D.	Chairman and CEO, Wolfensohn and Company
NLD	Zalm, Gerrit	Chairman of the Managing Board, ABN-AMRO Bank N.V.
GRC	Zanias, George	Chairman of the Board, National Bank of Greece
USA	Zoellick, Robert B.	Chairman, Board of International Advisors, The Goldman Sachs Group

Press Release

The 62nd Bilderberg meeting is set to take place from 29 May until 1 June 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark. A total of around 140 participants from 22 countries have confirmed their attendance. As ever, a diverse group of political leaders and experts from industry, finance, academia and the media have been invited. The list of participants is available on www.bilderbergmeetings.org

The key topics for discussion this year include:

Is the economic recovery sustainable?
Who will pay for the demographics?
Does privacy exist?
How special is the relationship in intelligence sharing?
Big shifts in technology and jobs
The future of democracy and the middle class trap
China’s political and economic outlook
The new architecture of the Middle East
Ukraine
What next for Europe?
Current events

Founded in 1954, Bilderberg is an annual conference designed to foster dialogue between Europe and North America. Every year, between 120-150 political leaders and experts from industry, finance, academia and the media are invited to take part in the conference. About two thirds of the participants come from Europe and the rest from North America; approximately one third from politics and government and the rest from other fields.

The conference is a forum for informal discussions about major issues facing the world. The meetings are held under the Chatham House Rule, which states that participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s) nor of any other participant may be revealed.

Thanks to the private nature of the conference, the participants are not bound by the conventions of their office or by pre-agreed positions. As such, they can take time to listen, reflect and gather insights.

There is no desired outcome, no resolutions are proposed, no votes are taken, and no policy statements are issued.

Related Material From the Archive:

REPORT: Half of State Obamacare Exchanges Are Collapsing

Obama gets nullified

Obamacare is looking more and more like the utter failure that it is all the time.

People have discovered, contrary to the repeated promises of President Obama, that they can’t necessarily keep their preferred doctor or hospital. Many people are also at risk of losing their employer-sponsored health coverage later this year, and will be scrambling to find an adequate plan with participating doctors and hospitals.

A big part of the problem with Obamacare is the insurance exchanges, which offer limited choices, were hastily constructed, and are full of glitches, leaving taxpayers on the hook for the wasted money while people searching for health coverage are unable to find it.

Follow Conservative Tribune

A report out of Illinois by a nonpartisan, free market based policy think tank, took a look at how the state-run exchanges were doing since the roll-out of Obamacare. It doesn’t look good for the states that choose to run their own exchanges instead of using the federal Healthcare.gov site.

Fourteen states plus the District of Columbia opted to establish a state-funded health insurance exchange. Of those 15 ObamaCare exchanges, eight are either being scrapped or are on the verge of collapse, with some states reverting back to the federal ObamaCare portal.
But the most interesting story is found in Rhode Island, which isn’t facing an inoperable website or insurmountable glitches. Rhode Island is now considering defaulting to the federal exchange on the basis of the administrative costs required to maintaining its exchange.
At an estimated cost of $23 million per year in administrative costs required to operate their site, some lawmakers in the state are finding that this may be too-large a burden – especially since using the federal portal, healthcare.gov imposes no additional costs on the state.

It should be noted that any money a state spends on running their exchange doesn’t go to actually helping anybody get coverage or care, but merely towards the administrative costs of running the exchange. When compared with the federal exchange that states can use for free, it becomes obvious that any money states spend on their exchange is money that could have been spent elsewhere.

In Illinois, previous estimates show that the state could spend over $100 million to operate its own site. The state is already facing a series of budgetary unknowns concerning implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
There is no upside for the state in adopting a state-funded ObamaCare exchange. Any supposed control or flexibility in operating its own exchange is lost through the numerous and onerous federal requirements. The downsides, as evidenced from experiences across the country, are clear.

All states should opt-out of the exchange system and let the federal government handle it, although that does create a problem of dumping even more people on an already broken and strained federal system. But, it is their creation and they should have to deal with it, problems and all.

States need to also opt-out of the other aspects of Obamacare, like Medicaid expansion. Sure, the feds will pay for the extra costs, at first, but in a few years those added expenses will be reverted back to the states, and state budgets likely won’t be able to handle the additional costs, especially when Medicaid already makes up a quarter of a state’s budget, on average.

We need a full repeal of Obamacare, and have it replaced by free market oriented, patient-centered reforms, with things like Health Savings accounts, portability of coverage from job to job, and the ability to shop for coverage across state lines, among other things.

Please share this on Facebook and Twitter if you aren’t surprised that state-run Obamacare exchanges are collapsing, just like the rest of the law.

Read This Next:

http://www.capitalisminstitute.org/obamacare-exchanges-collapsing/

Conspiracy Code: The Witch Hunt Against Alternative Outlets

By James F. Tracy
A new crusade appears to be underway to target independent research and analysis available via alternative news media. This March saw the release of “cognitive infiltration” advocate Cass Sunstein’s new book, Conspiracy Theories and Other Dangerous Ideas. In April, the confirmed federal intelligence-gathering arm, Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), released a new report, “Agenda 21: The UN, Sustainability, and Right Wing Conspiracy Theory.” Most recently, Newsweek magazine carried a cover story, titled, “The Plots to Destroy America: Conspiracy Theories Are a Clear and Present Danger.”
As its discourse suggests, this propaganda campaign is using the now familiar “conspiracy theory” label, as outlined in Central Intelligence Agency Document 1035-960, the 1967 memo laying out a strategy for CIA “media assets” to counter criticism of the Warren Commission and attack independent investigators of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. At that time the targets included attorney Mark Lane and New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison, who were routinely defamed and lampooned in major US news outlets.
Declassified government documents have proven Lane and Garrison’s allegations of CIA-involvement in the assassination largely accurate. Nevertheless, the prospect of being subject to the conspiracy theorist smear remains a potent weapon for intimidating authors, journalists, andscholars from interrogating complex events, policies, and other potentially controversial subject matter.
As the title of Newsweek’s feature story indicates, a primary element of contemporary propaganda campaigns using the conspiracy theory/ist label is to suggest that citizens’ distrust of government imperatives and activities tends toward violent action. The “conspiracy theorist” term is intentionally conflated with “conspiracist,” thus linking the two in the mass mind. Images of Lee Harvey Oswald, Timothy McVeigh, and Osama bin Laden are subtly invoked when the magic terms are referenced. In reality, it is typically Western governments using their police or military who prove the foremost purveyors of violence and the threat of violence—both domestically and abroad.
In his Newsweek article, author and journalist Kurt Eichenwald selectively employs the assertions of the SPLC, Sunstein, and a handful of social scientists to postulate in Orwellian fashion that independent research and analysis of the United Nations’ Agenda 21, the anti-educational thrust of “Common Core,” the dangers of vaccine injury and water fluoridation, and September 11—all important policies and issues worthy of serious study and concern—are a “contagion” to the body politic.
In a functioning public, honest academics and journalists would uninhibitedly delve into these and similar problems–GMOs, state-sponsored terrorism, the dangers of non-ionizing radiation– particularly since such phenomena pose grave threats to both popular sovereignty and self determination. Such intellectuals would then provide important findings to foster vigorous public debate.
Absent this, segments of the populace still capable of critical thought are inclined to access and probe information that leads them to question bureaucratic edicts and, in some cases, suggest a potentially broader political agenda. In today’s world, however, such research projects carried out by the hoi polloi that are expressly reserved for government or foundation-funded technocrats “’distort the debate that is crucial to democracy,’” says Dartmouth political scientist Brendan Nyhan.
With the above in mind, a simple yet instructive exercise in illustrating the psycholinguistic feature of the conspiracy theory propaganda technique is to replace “conspiracy theories/ists” with the phrase, “independent research and analysis,” or “independent researchers.” Let us apply this to some passages from Eichenwald’s recent Newsweek piece.
For example, “Psychological research has shown that the only trait that consistently indicates the probability someone will believe in conspiracy theories independent research and analysis is if that person believes in other conspiracy theories independent research and analysis,” Eichenwald sagely concludes.
“One of the most common ways of introducing conspiracy theories independent research and analysis is to ‘just ask questions’ about an official account,’’’ says Karen Douglas, co-editor of the British Journal of Social Psychology and a senior academic … at Britain’s University of Kent.”
In fact, substituting the phrases accordingly throughout the article significantly neutralizes its overall propagandistic effect.
Researchers agree; independent research and analysis are espoused by people at every level of society seeking ways of calming the chaos of life, sometimes by simply reinforcing convictions.
While the growth in the number of news outlets has helped spread independent research and analysis, it doesn’t compare to the impact of social media and the Internet, experts say.
9/11 conspiracy theorists independent researchers protest outside the World Trade Center in 2011 [Photo caption]
“If you have social networks of people who are talking with one another, you can have independent research and analysis spread in a hurry,’’ says Cass Sunstein, a professor at Harvard Law School … “It literally is as if it was contagious.”
While some may dismiss independent researchers as ignorant or unstable, research has shown that to be false. “The idea that only dumb people believe this stuff is wrong,’’ says Dartmouth’s Nyhan.
People who more strongly believed in independent research and analysis were significantly less likely to use sunscreen or have an annual medical checkup.
According to a just-released report from the Southern Poverty Law Center, the independent research and analysis flowed in April at a hearing before Alabama’s Senate Education Committee about legislation to allow school districts to reject Common Core.
It’s true. Since September 11, 2001 the internet has increasingly allowed for everyday people to retrieve, study, and share information on important events and phenomena as never before. And as a recent study published in the prominent journal Frontiers of Psychology suggests, tendering “alternative conspiracy theories” to the government-endorsed explanations of September 11, 2001 is a sign of “individuation,” or psychological well being and contentment.
Such a condition is a clear danger to those who wish to wield uncontested political authority. Indeed, the capacity to freely disseminate and discuss knowledge of government malfeasance is the foremost counterbalance to tyranny. Since this ability cannot be readily confiscated or suppressed, it must be ridiculed, marginalized, even diagnosed as a psychiatric condition.
The recent abandonment of network neutrality may eventually further subdue the nuisance of independent research, thought, and analysis. Until then, the corporate media’s attempts to bamboozle and terrify the American public with the well-worn conspiracy theory meme will be a prevalent feature of what passes for news and commentary today.
While some may dismiss independent researchers as ignorant or unstable, research has shown that to be false. “The idea that only dumb people believe this stuff is wrong,’’ says Dartmouth’s Nyhan.
People who more strongly believed in independent research and analysis were significantly less likely to use sunscreen or have an annual medical checkup.
According to a just-released report from the Southern Poverty Law Center, the independent research and analysis flowed in April at a hearing before Alabama’s Senate Education Committee about legislation to allow school districts to reject Common Core.
It’s true. Since September 11, 2001 the internet has increasingly allowed for everyday people to retrieve, study, and share information on important events and phenomena as never before. And as a recent study published in the prominent journal Frontiers of Psychology suggests, tendering “alternative conspiracy theories” to the government-endorsed explanations of September 11, 2001 is a sign of “individuation,” or psychological well being and contentment.
Such a condition is a clear danger to those who wish to wield uncontested political authority. Indeed, the capacity to freely disseminate and discuss knowledge of government malfeasance is the foremost counterbalance to tyranny. Since this ability cannot be readily confiscated or suppressed, it must be ridiculed, marginalized, even diagnosed as a psychiatric condition.
The recent abandonment of network neutrality may eventually further subdue the nuisance of independent research, thought, and analysis. Until then, the corporate media’s attempts to bamboozle and terrify the American public with the well-worn conspiracy theory meme will be a prevalent feature of what passes for news and commentary today.
+++
http://www.globalresearch.ca/cracking-conspiracy-theorys-psycholinguistic-code-the-witch-hunt-against-independent-research-and-analysis/5383108
ZenGardner.com
The post Conspiracy Code: The Witch Hunt Against Alternative Outlets appeared first on Zen Gardner.

Conspiracy Code: The Witch Hunt Against Alternative Outlets
Zen Gardner
Sat, 31 May 2014 19:10:47 GMT

Bizarre Homo-Erotic Photo Shoot Caught on Camera at Bilderberg Hotel

BIZARRE HOMO-EROTIC PHOTO SHOOT CAUGHT ON CAMERA AT BILDERBERG HOTEL

Strange hotel room video shows group of men posing in bath robes

by PAUL JOSEPH WATSON | MAY 30, 2014

Infowars has obtained startling footage which shows individuals inside the Marriott Hotel, site of Bilderberg 2014, engaged in a bizarre homo-erotic hotel room photo shoot which was captured on camera.

The video was shot by an independent journalist from the protest area opposite the Marriott earlier this evening.

The clip shows four unidentified individuals, possibly Bilderberg security, dressed in bath robes huddling with their backs to the hotel bedroom window posing for a photograph.

A flash then goes off in the background before the group of men turn around to face the window and realize they are being recorded. The older men then disappear from the window looking sheepish as a younger man approaches the window before becoming excited and displaying a camp gesture.

The video is strange because the Bilderberg Group itself is famously publicity shy and secrecy obsessed. The idea of anyone inside the security-obsessed location posing seductively in bath robes is odd to say the least.

Although the notion of displays of homo-eroticism may seem unbelievable on the surface given Bilderberg’s serious nature, Bohemian Grove, another secretive event at which many of the same individuals are present, is renowned for similar displays of homosexual frivolity.

In 2004, leaked audiotape emerged of former U.S. President Richard Nixon discussing what took place at the Bohemian Grove retreat, an annual summer camp in California attended by global power brokers.

“The Bohemian Grove, which I attend from time to time . . . It is the most faggy goddamned thing you could ever imagine with that San Francisco crowd. I can’t shake hands with anybody from San Francisco,” said Nixon.

Infowars reporters are on the ground in Copenhagen all week covering Bilderberg 2014. Keep up to date with the latest at http://infowars.com/b/

Saturday, May 31, 2014

House votes to defund DOJ program that snagged legitimate gun dealers, businesses

http://www.blacklistednews.com/House_votes_to_defund_DOJ_program_that_snagged_legitimate_gun_dealers%2C_businesses/35610/0/38/38/Y/M.html

The Washington Times

The House of Representatives passed an amendment Thursday to stop all federal funding to be used for the Department of Justice's Operation Choke Point, an anti-fraud operation that was found to be cutting off legitimate businesses from their banking lines.

"This is a major victory for consumers, law-abiding businesses, and anyone who believes in due process and restraint of government encroachment," said the Community Financial Services Association of America, a trade group opposed to the operation, in a statement Friday. "Additionally, our banking system benefits as it will not be put in the position to police customers or make judgments about the political popularity of businesses and industries."

The amendment was brought to the floor by Rep. Blane Luetkemeyer, a Republican from Missouri, who is a member of the House Financial Services Committee and is vice chairman of the House Small Business Committee. The amendment was sponsored by three democrats and two more republicans.

The voice vote came as part of the debate on the annual spending bill for the Justice Department and needs Senate approval to become law.

A House panel Thursday said the Obama Administration has been using Operation Choke Point to target and "choke out" businesses it finds objectionable, from gun dealers and payday lenders to drug paraphernalia sellers and porn merchants.

Government Engaging In Pre-Crime Monitoring And Analysis

Snowden: “We Have a System of Pervasive, Pre-Criminal Surveillance Where the Government Wants To Watch What You’re Doing Just to See What You’re Up To, To See What You’re Thinking, Even Behind Closed Doors”

Posted on May 30, 2014 by WashingtonsBlog

Government Engaging In Pre-Crime Monitoring And Analysis

When NBC’s Brian Williams interviewed Ed Snowden in Moscow last week, one of Snowden’s most interesting statements was left on the cutting room floor.

Specifically, the following statement was cut from NBC’s broadcast Wednesday night:

Now, we have a system of pervasive, pre-criminal surveillance where the government wants to watch what you’re doing just to see what you’re up to, to see what you’re thinking, even behind closed doors.

Indeed, a government expert told the Washington Post that the government “quite literally can watch your ideas form as you type.” (And see this.) And British and U.S. intelligence agencies have been recording millions of webcam videos … many of them nude videos from inside people’s homes. Indeed, the government is spying on virtually everything we do.

Moreover, the NSA is working on building a “pre-crime” computer system that uses artificial intelligence and massive amounts of data to try to predict how every thinks and what everyone is likely to do.

As we reported last year:

The government is currently testing systems for use in public spaces which can screen for “pre-crime”. As Nature reports:

Like a lie detector, FAST measures a variety of physiological indicators, ranging from heart rate to the steadiness of a person’s gaze, to judge a subject’s state of mind. But there are major differences from the polygraph. FAST relies on non-contact sensors, so it can measure indicators as someone walks through a corridor at an airport, and it does not depend on active questioning of the subject.

CBS News points out:

FAST is designed to track and monitor, among other inputs, body movements, voice pitch changes, prosody changes (alterations in the rhythm and intonation of speech), eye movements, body heat changes, and breathing patterns. Occupation and age are also considered. A government source told CNET that blink rate and pupil variation are measured too.
A field test of FAST has been conducted in at least one undisclosed location in the northeast. “It is not an airport, but it is a large venue that is a suitable substitute for an operational setting,” DHS spokesman John Verrico toldNature.com in May.
Although DHS has publicly suggested that FAST could be used at airport checkpoints–the Transportation Security Administration is part of the department, after all–the government appears to have grander ambitions. One internal DHS document (PDF) also obtained by EPIC through the Freedom of Information Act says a mobile version of FAST “could be used at security checkpoints such as border crossings or at large public eventssuch as sporting events or conventions.”

The risk of false positives is very real. As Computer World notes:

Tom Ormerod, a psychologist in the Investigative Expertise Unit atLancaster University, UK, told Nature, “Even having an iris scan or fingerprint read at immigration is enough to raise the heart rate of most legitimate travelers.” Other critics have been concerned about “false positives.” For example, some travelers might have some of the physical responses that are supposedly signs of mal-intent if they were about to be groped by TSA agents in airport security.

Various “pre-crime” sensing devices have already been deployed in public spaces in the U.S.
The government has also worked on artificial intelligence for “pre-crime” detection on the Web. And given that programs which can figure out your emotions are being developed using your webcam, every change in facial expression could be tracked.

While the government pretends that such pre-crime monitoring is meant to prevent terrorism, the fact is that it is instead being used to crush dissent.

Insider Trading Bombshell: FBI/SEC Investigating Carl Icahn & Phil Mickelson

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/30/2014 20:22 -0400

Did you hear the one about the Vegas gambler, the Pro golfer, and the Wall Street insider? Straight off the pages of some Hollywood script, the Wall Street Journal reports that Federal investigators are pursuing a major insider-trading probe involving finance, gambling and sports, examining the trading of investor Carl Icahn, golfer Phil Mickelson and Las Vegas bettor William "Billy" Walters. All three men have denied any investigations or "no comment"-ed about "well timed" stock trades in Clorox in 2011 - around the time Icahn made a $10.2bn bid for the company. Mr. Walters and Mr. Mickelson, 43, play golf together; and rather comedically, Mr. Icahn said he didn't know who Mr. Mickelson was...?

Via The Wall Street Journal,

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Securities and Exchange Commission are examining whether Mr. Mickelson and Mr. Walters traded illicitly on nonpublic information from Mr. Icahn about his investments in public companies, people briefed on the probe said.
Investigators are examining whether over the past three years Mr. Icahn tipped Mr. Walters—famous in Las Vegas for his sports-betting acumen—about potentially market-moving investments by Mr. Icahn's company.
The FBI and SEC are examining whether Mr. Walters on at least one occasion passed a tip on to Mr. Mickelson, these people said, and are studying the two men's trading patterns.

The denials were quick to come...

"We do not know of any investigation," Mr. Icahn said on Friday. "We are always very careful to observe all legal requirements in all of our activities." The suggestion that he was involved in improper trading, he said, was "inflammatory and speculative."
...
"Phil is not the target of any investigation. Period," said a lawyer for Mr. Mickelson,
...
When asked to comment about the investigation, Mr. Walters, reached by phone on Friday, said, "I don't have any comment about anything," and then hung up.

They kinda sorta know each other... kinda...

Mr. Icahn met Mr. Walters, 67, through a mutual acquaintance when Mr. Icahn's company owned the Stratosphere Hotel in Las Vegas. Mr. Icahn bought the Stratosphere in 1998 and sold it along with several other properties for $1.2 billion in 2008.
The two struck up a friendship. Mr. Icahn was once an avid poker player and enjoys betting on football games. The two have spoken about stocks.
Mr. Walters and Mr. Mickelson, 43, play golf together, said people familiar with their relationship. Sometimes Mr. Walters has suggested stocks for Mr. Mickelson to consider buying, one of the people said.
Mr. Mickelson, who has one of the most loyal followings of top professional golfers, has won the prestigious Masters three times.
Mr. Icahn said he didn't know who Mr. Mickelson was.

It seems the trades in question are focused on Clorox in 2011... (and also Dean Foods)

The government investigation began three years ago after Mr. Icahn accumulated a 9.1% stake in Clorox in February 2011, said the people briefed on the probe. On July 15, 2011, he made a $10.2 billion offer for Clorox that caused the stock to jump.
Well-timed trading around the time of his bid caught the attention of investigators, who began digging into the suspicious trading in Clorox stock, the people familiar with the probe said.

...
The investigators expanded their probe to look at trading patterns by Mr. Walters and Mr. Mickelson relating to Dean Foods Co. , said the people briefed on the probe. The FBI, following its approach to Mr. Mickelson on Thursday, expressed an interest in his trading in Dean Foods, a person familiar with the situation said.

We are sure somewhere Bill Ackman is laughing his ass off...

Cue CNBC defense... and Icahn's twitter feed seems awkwardly quiet on the matter

Federal judge dismisses trial, contends ATF “created fictitious crime”

5/30/14 | by Chris Eger

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U.S. District Court Judge Manuel Real dismissed the ATF’s case against three men whom he contends were enticed to commit a fictitious crime by the agency. (Photo credit: CSPAN)

A federal judge in California dismissed a case resulting from a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ investigation this month stating that the government “created the fictitious crime from whole cloth.”

U.S. District Court Judge Manuel Real heard the case involving Randy Garmon, Arturo Cortez, and Rene Flores, which included an alleged plot to rob a drug supplier’s ‘stash house,’ as USA Todayreported.

However, the house in question was the site of an ATF sting and the alleged robbers’ contact and getaway car liaison was an undercover ATF agent.

All three plead guilty after their arrest in September and were awaiting sentencing from Real, who instead, dismissed the case.

According to court transcripts, the three defendants had been recruited by confidential informants, who were given $8,600 to “convince citizens to join the government’s scheme,” in Judge Reals’ words.

He further pointed out that none of the three men had a history of being involved in matters concerning guns, tax violations, or liquor that would have brought them under the ATF’s scrutiny. This was described by the federal judge in court as,” trolling poor neighborhoods to ensure and ensnare its poor citizens.”

Judge Real dismissed the U.S Attorney’s case against the three men, “for the government’s outrageous conduct,” and ordered their release in the May 12 hearing. He found that, in his opinion, there had been no crime to charge them with in the first place.

“The government created the fictitious crime from whole cloth,” said Real.

“The government provided the location to the plan of the fictitious crime where undercover ATF Agent Carr insisted on running through a script to ensure a conspiracy had been hatched and that Carr also provided the getaway car with the fictitious conspiracy,” he explained.

The U.S. Attorney’s office filed an emergency protective notice of appeal with the U.S. Ninth Circuit of Appeals in the case, stating that the three individuals were flight risks. The 9th Circuit approved that notice and all three remain in custody while the appeal is considered and is expected this fall.

This case is the latest example in a growing list of embarrassing investigations by the agency that seem to defy common sense and endanger public safety.

In January the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the House Judiciary Committee announced that they planned to look into ATF storefront sting operations in Milwaukee and in other places around the country (Portland, Oregon; Wichita, Kansas; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Atlanta, Georgia; and Pensacola, Florida) that employed questionable practices.

This scrutiny was compounded in March when California Rep. Darrell Issa slammed the ATF’s outright refusal to cooperate with the investigation, similar to the agency’s response to the Congressional probe into Operation Fast and Furious.

That fatally-flawed gunrunning program is blamed for sending upwards of 2,000 firearms south of the border, many of which landed in the hands of known cartel operatives. At least one of those firearms linked to Fast and Furious was found at the murder scene of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

Meanwhile, Judge Real, nominated to his court in 1966 by President Lyndon B. Johnson, has promised to “write an opinion having to deal with all the factors which were used by the government to convince these defendants to participate in a false stash house robbery.”

And when he does, Guns.com will bring it to you.

Categories: Gun Laws, Politics & 2nd Amendment

House Votes to Stop Medical Marijuana Raids

Jacob Sullum|May. 30, 2014 7:54 am

http://reason.com/blog/2014/05/30/house-approves-amendment-to-stop-medical

WikipediaEarly this morning, by a vote of 219 to 189, the House of Representatives approved an amendment aimed at stopping federal interference with state laws that "authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana." Theamendment, which would have to pass muster in the Senate to take effect, prohibits the Justice Department, which includes the Drug Enforcement Administration, from spending taxpayers' money on dispensary raids or other attempts to stop medical use of marijuana in the 22 states that allow it.

Similar meaures have failed in the House six times since 2003. This year the amendment attracted record support from Republicans, 49 of whom voted yes, compared to 28 last time around. "This measure passed because it received more support from Republicans than ever before," says Dan Riffle of the Marijuana Policy Project. "It is refreshing to see conservatives in Congress sticking to their conservative principles when it comes to marijuana policy. Republicans increasingly recognize that marijuana prohibition is a failed Big Government program that infringes on states' rights." Before the vote, Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, and Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, argued in Politico that it "ought to be an easy 'yes' vote for members of the 10th Amendment Task Force on Capitol Hill and other believers in limited government and federalism."

The 10th Amendment Task Force, founded in 2010, is a project of the Republican Study Committee (RSC), where conservative legislators are supposed to develop policies consistent with their principles. How many founding members of the RSC task force devoted to the 10th Amendment voted for federalism this morning? Four out of nine, which is one more than last time. Rep. Ron Bishop (R-Utah), founder and chairman of the task force, voted no in 2012 but changed his mind this year, joining Reps. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), Cynthis Lummis (R-Wyo.), and Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) in the yes column. Reps. John Culberson (R-Texas), Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas), Mike Conaway (R-Texas), and Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) voted no. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who voted no in 2012, did not vote this time.

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Sunday, June 1, 2014