9 Ways That The World Has Gotten Even Crazier In May

article from: theeconomiccollapseblog.com

In case you haven't noticed, the world has gotten even crazier in May. Just when you think that things can't get any more bizarre, events go to a whole new level. Sadly, millions of Americans seem almost completely oblivious to all of the world-altering things that are going on all around us. I recently got back from doing a bit of traveling, and the reality is that most people out there are so busy living their lives and trying to survive from month to month that they don't really have much time to pay attention to what is going on in the world around them. They are too busy working their tails off to make a living, they are too busy stocking up on groceries and foreign-made goods at the big box retail stores and they are too busy cheering for Scotty on American Idol. Unfortunately, what little information about the rest of the world that most Americans actually take in comes from the mainstream media. Most of the time the mainstream media is very adept at lulling the American people to sleep, but things are starting to get so crazy out there that a growing minority of Americans are starting to sit up and take notice.


When I was away on vacation I kept a bit of an eye on the news, but I had no idea just how crazy things were getting until I returned home. These days more seems to happen in a single week than used to happen in an entire month. The globe has become an incredibly unstable place, and you never know what is going to happen next.

The following are 9 ways that the world has gotten even crazier in May....

#1 What in the world is going on with the weather?  All of a sudden "unprecedented tornadoes" are popping up almost every day now.  Did you see what happened in Joplin, Missouri the other day?  There are very few things that will put sheer terror into you like an F5 tornado will.  If you doubt that, just check out this video.

The National Weather Service says that the Joplin tornado was the 8th worst tornado to ever hit the United States.  At least 122 people were killed and at least 750 people were injured.

Sadly, the Joplin tornado is part of a larger trend.  Many are already calling this a "100 year" tornado season.  It seems like a major tornado outbreak somewhere in the U.S. is a nightly occurence now.  For example, just tonight a huge tornado near Oklahoma City killed a couple of people.

In April, there were approximately 600 tornadoes across the country.  That is the most tornadoes that have ever been recorded in a single month inside the United States.  Usually, we only have about 1,200 tornadoes for the entire year.

There is nothing "normal" about these tornado outbreaks.  Something really weird is happening.
In addition, we have just experienced the worst Mississippi River flood ever.  That flood is also being called something that only happens "once in a hundred years".

Why are such horrible natural disasters striking the United States right now?

Can anyone explain why this is happening?

#2 The globe continues to inch ever closer to World War III.  Just consider a few of the headlines we have seen just this week....

*NATO Warplanes in New Bombing Campaign on Tripoli
*Obama's hidden war: US intensifies drone attacks in Pakistan
*US, Pakistan Near Open War; Chinese Ultimatum Warns Washington Against Attack
*Netanyahu's defiance on deal is 'declaration of war'

Sadly, it appears that the appetite for war is growing.  Many had hoped that Barack Obama would be a peacemaker, but that definitely is not the case.

The United States has been at war for so long that the American people have learned to accept it as a normal part of life.  As long as it is something that happens "over there", most Americans don't really seem too concerned about it.

But in the end, what is unfolding in the Middle East will have dramatic consequences for the United States.  Unfortunately, most Americans have become so "dumbed down" that they simply do not understand what is happening.

#3 The news from Japan just continues to get worse and worse.  Now TEPCO is finally admitting that there were at least partial meltdowns at three of the reactors at Fukushima.  Why we are only finding this out now is anyone's guess.

It has been more than 2 months since the tsunami and officials in Japan still do not have Fukushima under control.  Every single day the complex continues to release massive amounts of radioactive material into the environment and the effects of this disaster will be felt for decades to come.

#4 When all of the crazy new security measures went into airports, we were all assured that scanners and "enhanced pat-downs" would never show up in subway stations, bus stations, sporting events and public schools.

Well, sadly the ridiculous security measures that have been implemented at our airports are spreading.  In fact, if you can believe it, a "certified TSA official" was brought in to oversee student searches at the Santa Fe High School prom last weekend.

When TSA officials start showing up at high school proms that should be a major red flag for all of us.  America is becoming a much different place than it used to be.

Do you enjoy living in a prison grid where we are all being constantly watched, tracked and searched?  If not, you better say something now before it is too late.

#5 The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld an order from a three-judge panel in California that mandates the release of approximately 40,000 inmates from California prisons.

Yes, the prisons are so overcrowded that up to 54 prisoners are using a single toilet, but you can't just release thousands upon thousands of criminals on to the streets of California and expect that there will not be major problems.

California Governor Jerry Brown is proposing a "realignment plan" which would shift tens of thousands of prisoners to county jails, but the California legislature so far has not authorized the hundreds of millions of dollars that it is going to take to implement the plan.

Hopefully something can be done, because releasing more than one out of every four California inmates back on to the streets sure does seem like a bad idea to me.

#6 It is looking more likely than ever that the U.S. debt ceiling may not be raised and that we could actually see the U.S. government default on some debt.  The Democrats and the Republicans are fighting like cats and dogs again and there is such a deadlock right now that this could actually happen.

U.S. Representative Barney Frank certainly does not sound optimistic....

"It may be that we’re going to have to see some failure to raise the debt limit and some temporary hiatus in our ability to pay our bills (for lawmakers to act)."

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is using language that is even more apocalyptic.  Dimon says that a U.S. debt default would "dwarf Lehman Brothers" and that in the event of a default things will take place "that are not going to be pretty".

#7 The U.S. real estate crash continues to get even worse. This week it was announced that U.S. commercial real estate is now down 47 percent from 2007 and has now reached a post-crash low. The following is how an article by Bloomberg described the latest data....

U.S. commercial property prices fell to a post-recession low in March as sales of financially distressed assets weighed on the market, according to Moody’s Investors Service.
The Moody’s/REAL Commercial Property Price Index dropped 4.2 percent from February and is now 47 percent below the peak of October 2007, Moody’s said in a statement today.

But it is not just commercial real estate that is a giant mess.  New home sales also continue to struggle mightily.

In April, the number of new homes sold in the United States tied the lowest level ever recorded for that month.

These latest statistics just underscore the reality that the U.S. housing crash if very far from over.  As I have written about previously, the real estate crisis is absolutely crippling the economy and instead of signs of hope arising, things seem to be getting even worse.  For example, during the first quarter of 2011, home values declined at the fastest rate since late 2008.

So when in the world are things going to finally start turning around?

#8 Most Americans don't realize it, but Europe is closer to a financial meltdown than it ever has been before. Greece is either going to get another bailout or it is going to default.  If you do not understand the kind of chaos this would set off on world financial markets, just read this editorial.

The Greek debt crisis continues to get worse.  At this point, the yield on 10-year Greek bonds has now reached an astounding 16.76%.

But it is not just Greece that is in trouble.  All over Europe there are nations that are on the verge of financial collapse.  In Spain, nearly half of those between the ages of 18 and 25 are unemployed and the economic protests there have reached a frightening level.

Everyone hoped that a bailout or two would be enough to make the European debt crisis go away.  It has now become obvious that is not going to happen.

A financial meltdown in Europe is happening.  The only question is how it is going to play out.
#9 Over the past couple weeks, one of the most talked about people in the world has been Harold Camping.  I have avoided writing about him because there are at least a billion issues that are more important than what Harold Camping is saying.

But this is what the mainstream media loves to do.  They love to find a Christian with a crackpot theory and splash him all over the front page.

Camping has a very limited following and the vast majority of Christians think he is totally and completely wrong.

However, the mainstream media loves to talk about people like Camping because it is a tremendous opportunity for them to mock Christians and Christianity.

Look, anyone that put any stock in any of Camping's predictions is seriously deceived.  In case you didn't know, Camping predicted the date of the rapture before.  On September 6th, 1994, hundreds of Camping's followers gathered at an auditorium in Alameda, California waiting for the rapture.

So now Camping has been wrong two times.

Now Camping is saying that Judgment Day is going to be on October 21st and he says that he has figured out why he was wrong about May 21st.

If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you.

If you are a Christian, then you know that there are dozens of prophecies that still need to be fulfilled before "the end of the world".  What Camping is proposing is literally impossible according to the Bible.

Of course the mainstream media knows this, but they have no problem turning Camping into a household name while ignoring the thousands upon thousands of Christians around the world that are doing really great things.

But this is the crazy world we live in.  We are all talking about Harold Camping because the big media companies decided that was the way it was going to be.

It is time that all of us wake up and start thinking for ourselves.

Our world is becoming crazier by the minute and the mainstream media is certainly not helping things.  In times like these, it is going to be absolutely vital for all of us to engage our critical thinking skills and to not just blindly accept anything that someone else is trying to tell us.

TSA Lies About U.S. Constitution

By Jim Kouri

 

The TSA responded to a Texas bill interposing on behalf of its citizens to protect them from overreaching airport screening searches by fabricating a constitutional principle, according to conservatives and security analysts.

The Texas House of Representatives unanimously passed HB1937 138-0 on Friday evening. Introduced in March by Rep. David Simpson (R-Longwood), the legislation would make it a state offense for any public servant to touch a person’s private areas, or touch them in a way a reasonable person would consider offensive, as a condition of travel or entering a public building.


“Groping innocent citizens does little to enhance security, but it does much to reduce our freedom and dignity,” Simpson said. “Freedom brings people together. This is not about Republicans or Democrats, but about the dignity of every man, women, boy or girl, and their freedom to travel without being treated as a criminal suspect.”

The legislation now moves on to the Texas Senate where Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston) will sponsor the bill.

The TSA responded in a statement on its blog, insisting it has the right to perform Fourth Amendment violating searches based on the supremacy clause in the Constitution.
“What’s our take on the Texas House of Representatives voting to ban the current TSA pat-down? Well, the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article. VI. Clause 2) prevents states from regulating the federal government.”

But Tenth Amendment Center executive director Michael Boldin called the TSA statement an intentional deception.

“The problem here? The statement is false. TSA ignorance is unlikely, so I’ll call a spade a spade. They’re lying,” he said. “Notice there’s not one single word in the actual text that says anything about states regulating the federal government, as the TSA claims. They’re just making things up as they go,” Bolden said.

In fact, the supremacy clause reads:

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States shall be the supreme Law of the Land.

“Do federal laws passed and enforced in accordance with the powers granted in the Constitution supersede state laws? Absolutely. But to make that point and then insist that the federal government can enforce any old law it sees fit in any way it wants to, even laws that violate the Bill of Rights – that’s patently ridiculous,” TAC communications director Mike Maharrey said.

“By definition, an unconstitutional act is illegal. How can anybody assert an illegal act is superior to a valid state law?” he asked rhetorically.

Simpson said the legislation was not meant to pick a fight with the federal government, but simply intended to stop the TSA from bullying Texas citizens. Legislators carefully crafted the language of the bill, and Simpson said he does not think it contravenes any federal legislation, pointing out that the Supreme Court ruled the Fourth Amendment a minimum standard, allowing states to further protect their citizens under the Tenth Amendment.

“They can talk about the supremacy clause all they want, but even bureaucrats are subject to the U.S. Constitution, the Fourth Amendment, and state laws prohibiting sexual assault, harassment etcetera. We cannot stand by and allow anyone to disregard our constitutional rights and violate our citizens,” Simpson said.

Get Ready: The Last Pleasant Way To Travel Is About To Be Hell

by: Robert W. Johnson

 

Following last weeks seizure of al Qaeda documents from Osama Bin laden's compound, there has been a flood of intelligence prompting U.S. attention.


Among the released data, the most compelling so far, has been the planned rail attack on the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

While not confirmed, and still lacking an official location or time, U.S. officials have treated the potential attack with enough seriousness to have increased rail security, and brought the possible attack to the country's attention.

In a report by Reuters on the official U.S. response:

Since the raid, the Department of Homeland Security has taken a number of steps in reviewing measures at all potential terrorist targets, including transportation systems across the country. It added more officers at airports and at the borders.

Senator Charles Schumer has taken this one step further, and on Sunday suggested there should be a "do not ride" list list for rail travel to match the "do not fly" list for airlines. This, despite the fact that the attacks outlined by Bin Laden's papers indicate an attack on the rails themselves, not on-board the train.

      According to ABC News:

"The targeting of the railroad infrastructure itself is a much smarter move on the part of the terrorists, because you get more bang for the buck," said Kevin Lynch, a retired freight rail police chief who consults on railroad police practices.

       Despite these warnings, reports from The New York Post have surfaced this morning pointing
       to two startling rail security breaches on NY transit lines over the weekend.

The first incident, Sunday, near the World Trade Center, 20-year-old Reymundo Rodriguez entered a train tunnel and walked it through to New Jersey. Spotted by a Port Authority contractor as he exited, he told police he left a bomb in the tunnel.

The tunnel was shut down while a Joint Terrorism Task Force and dogs searched for the device, which was never found. Rodriguez was charged with trespassing, evaluated at a hospital and let go.

The second involved four "urban explorers" reportedly entering an under construction subway tunnel.
Carrying roman candles and cameras, the four twenty-somethings said they planned to take pictures by the fireworks in the Second Ave. subway tunnel.

The four were also charged with trespassing after Harlem resident Jerry Jackson called police and told them he had seen the four entering the subway around 112th Street.


http://www.businessinsider.com/don-not-ride-list-2011-5#ixzz1M00FLGDe

The TSA Altar Of Safety

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Step forth America and lay down your firstborn upon the altar of safety!

Please leave your Constitutional Rights at the security checkpoint and follow the yellow line.

Please do not attempt to question anyone who bears the mark of the TSA, for they are here to help you.

Do not attempt to resist the TSA as this is a clear sign of terrorism.



If You Are Against Raising The Debt Ceiling You Are Part Of Al-Qaeda?

Are you against raising the debt ceiling?  If so, according to former Bush Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill you are actually part of al-Qaeda.  Yes, seriously.  During an interview on Bloomberg TV the other day, O'Neill actually made the following statement:

"The people who are threatening not to pass the debt ceiling are our version of al-Qaeda terrorists. Really. They're really putting our whole society at risk by threatening to round up 50 percent of the members of the Congress, who are looney, who would put our credit at risk." 

For a high ranking Bush administration official to equate Tea Party activists with al-Qaeda is extremely frightening.  Just remember what the Bush administration did to anyone supposedly associated with al-Qaeda.  They shipped them off to Guantanamo Bay and waterboarded them into oblivion.  It also shows how out of touch the Bush administration really was with the conservative base of the Republican Party.  The Bush administration ran up record setting deficit after record setting deficit and now any conservatives that dare to want some assurances that we are actually going to do something about our rampant debt problem are labeled as "al-Qaeda terrorists".  Of course the Obama administration is essentially doing the exact same thing.  The current Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, has been running around frothing at the mouth and declaring that we are going to experience financial armageddon if the debt ceiling is not raised.  This whole episode is yet another example that shows what a fraud the false left/right political paradigm in this country really is.

The debt ceiling is one of the only points of leverage that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has available.  If the Republicans want to make a stand on the national debt, they need to do it somewhere.  John Boehner already caved badly when it came to the 2011 budget.  The Republicans are running out of opportunities to make a statement before the 2012 election.

Not that Boehner and the rest of the "establishment Republicans" are much interested in seriously cutting the budget.  If they were, they would have done it during the Bush years.

But there are millions of Americans (and a few members of Congress) associated with the Tea Party movement that are deeply troubled by our soaring budget deficits and that desperately want something done before it is too late.

If the U.S. government keeps running up debt like it is right now, it is going to completely destroy our economy.  America has a debt problem unlike anything ever seen in the history of the world.  If left unchecked, it is going to destroy the economic future of our children and our grandchildren.

Something needs to be done.

Yes, if the debt ceiling is not raised, the financial world will throw a fit.  There may even be a bit of a panic.  But you can't really blame those associated with the Tea Party for wanting some assurances about getting the debt under control before agreeing to raise the debt ceiling yet again.

Our national debt is a horrific national crisis.  It threatens to destroy everything that our forefathers built.
But members of the political establishment such as former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill don't have much patience for those that want to question the status quo.

Look, when any member of the Bush administration uses the words "al-Qaeda" in relation to a group of people you need to pay careful attention.

Do you remember how the Bush administration treated anyone that was accused of being part of al-Qaeda?  The following are some of the kinder things that they would do to them according to official U.S. government memos....

*Forced nudity
*"Walling", which is slamming a prisoner into a wall
*"Cramped confinement" which means "placement of the individual in a confined space"
*Stinging insects placed inside "a confinement box"
*Waterboarding - one of the memos actually admits that "the use of waterboarding constitutes a threat of imminent death"
*Sleep deprivation for several days
*Sleep deprivation while wearing a diaper
*The use of "stress positions" to cause "muscle fatigue"
*"Dietary manipulation"
*Facial and abdominal slapping

There are a lot worse things that they would do to "members of al-Qaeda" but they cannot be printed in this space.

So when Paul O'Neill says that you are part of al-Qaeda, let's just say that he does not plan to invite you out for a Sunday picnic.

This is yet another example of how dirty politics in America is becoming.  Liberals hate conservatives and conservatives hate liberals.  They both hate libertarians and libertarians hate them.  America is a deeply, deeply divided nation and hatred and bitterness are growing at a staggering pace.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government is absolutely drowning in debt and the plans put forward by both the Democrats and the Republicans are total jokes.  Nobody seems to have any idea how to get out of this mess.

We have accumulated the largest mountain of debt in the history of the world and we expect our children and our grandchildren to pay it off.

What we have done to future generations is absolutely inexcusable.

In a previous article on U.S. government finances, I detailed some absolutely horrifying statistics about U.S. government debt....

#1 If you divide the national debt up equally among all U.S. households, each one owes a staggering $125,475.18.

#2 The federal government has borrowed 29,660 more dollars per household since Barack Obama signed the economic stimulus law two years ago.

#3 During Barack Obama's first two years in office, the U.S. government added more to the U.S. national debt than the first 100 U.S. Congresses combined.

#4 In the new budget that the Obama administration has proposed, the U.S. government would spend 3.7 trillion dollars in 2012 and by 2021 the U.S. government would be spending a whopping 5.6 trillion dollars per year.

#5 The U.S. government currently has to borrow approximately 41 cents of every single dollar that it spends.

#6 The total compensation that the federal government workforce earned last year came to a grand total of approximately 447 billion dollars.

#7 The U.S. national debt is currently rising by well over 4 billion dollars every single day.

#8 The U.S. government is borrowing over 2 million more dollars every single minute.

#9 The U.S. national debt is over 14 times larger than it was just 30 years ago.

#10 Unfunded liabilities for entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare are estimated to be well over $100 trillion, and nobody in the U.S. government seems to have any idea how we are actually even going to come close to meeting all of those obligations.

#11 If you were alive when Christ was born and you spent one million dollars every single day since that point, you still would not have spent one trillion dollars by now.  But this year alone the U.S. government is going to go about 1.6 trillion dollars more into debt.

#12 If the federal government began right at this moment to repay the U.S. national debt at a rate of one dollar per second, it would take over 440,000 years to pay off the national debt.

You would think that our politicians would be working night and day to solve this problem.

But instead, anyone that is actually serious enough to want to pause before raising the debt ceiling again is called an "al-Qaeda terrorist".

Even if you are against the Tea Party and in favor of raising the debt ceiling immediately, you should still be extremely concerned when a former high ranking member of the government equates a group of Americans with "al-Qaeda" just because of their political beliefs.

Our country is being transformed. Liberty and freedom are dying. Today, when Americans are concerned about the national debt they are called "terrorists", but when our women and our children are sexually molested at "security checkpoints" it is called "patriotic".

Just check out what happened to a former Miss America as she went through "airport security" recently. 

This video is incredibly upsetting....

Read this article and more at: endoftheamericandream.com