Author Archives: James Hall

From OSS to CIA ongoing clash with military intelligence

For all those supporters of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s war, many admire the exploits of the OSS in Europe. While historians for the allied legions adopt the account that circumstances dictated the creation and use of the British, Special Operations Executive, which Churchill proclaimed, to ‘set Europe aflame’; the precedent left a heritage of intervention that few ever warned about the nature of counter-offensive missions. Gathering intelligence on adversaries is valid and even necessary to defend your country. However, to establish contingents of lethal assassins is a fundamental departure from intelligence procurement. During World War II the American version of clandestine operations put into motion a competing and dangerous rival to the traditional role of military intelligence. Continue reading

The meaning of 9/11 fifteen years after

What kind of an American are you? Will you mourn the dead or will you celebrate the government as protector of national security? For thoughtful and historically balanced realists the correct reaction is that the last remnants of the Republic collapsed with the twin towers and burned with the response from the Pentagon fire. Most docile and obedient subjects of the despotic regime that has morphed into outright tyranny still believe the official report from The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, provides the definitive details on the 9/11 investigation. Continue reading

Media moguls cash in on another election

No matter what you think about political campaigns, most would certainly agree that they are very expensive. The networks and cable broadcasters have reaped huge profits from the carnival cycle of campaigning entertainment. Civility is simply not good for business. Enlightened discourse is boring and the high moral plane is only good for losers. Much like watching the carnage from a war zone or street riots in the hood, the TV cameras focus on the most controversial confrontations and ignore calls of cooperation. Politics is just too good of a blood sport to allow a modifying influence to temper down the mudslinging. Continue reading

U.S. banks ready for negative interest rates?

The test run proved that negative interest rates can push savers into minus territory. Public outrage, while registered is not heard by the central bankers. The reasoning that commercial banks will start making loans because of the cost of sitting on deposits is pure fantasy thinking. Continue reading

Fox News ratings based upon newspeak

Political conservatives with a high degree of business savvy are able to see through the facade which Fox News has become. The recent orchestration of the Republican presidential debate was a huge ratings success hitting a record 24 million viewers. The early debate gained 6.1 million eyeballs. The contrast between the two venues could not be greater. The high level of discourse among the seven second tier candidates far surpassed the P.T. Barnum spectacular, which was scripted as an episode of desperately seeking jumbo. The GOP establishment elephant was center stage, but the RINO’s suffer from myopia as they disrespect grassroots conservatives. Continue reading

The ‘Love It or Leave It’ jingo is back

A half century ago the infamous and timeworn trope coming from the supporters of the Vietnam War was all over the airwaves. “Love It or Leave It” was the standard retort from the gung-ho believers to the anti-war activists, who filled the streets with civil disobedience. An entire era of youth came under suspicion from fathers of that “Greatest Generation” for questioning the purpose and wisdom of American leaders and the military policy that drafted dissenting objectors into coercive service. Continue reading

An empire of drones and robots

Is there any doubt that America’s foreign policy, based upon maintaining a global empire, actually makes us less safe? The misgiving is that such intercession has any actual benefits to the citizens of the country. What once was a respected leadership role of non-interventionism in international affairs, has become a dominating imperium for worldwide control and subjugation. Exporting the “land of the free” is a myth, especially when domestic freedom is a dying memory. Internationalists tell us that military and surveillance drone technology promises enhanced security, with little concern for collateral damage or loss of innocent life. However, the facts do not bear out such claims. Continue reading

When net neutrality becomes programmed censorship

The worst fears of all free speech proponents are upon us. The Verizon suit against the Federal Communications Commission, appellate decision sets the stage for a Supreme Court review. The Wall Street Journal portrays the ruling in financial terms: “A federal court has tossed out the FCC’s “open Internet” rules, and now Internet service providers are free to charge companies like Google and Netflix higher fees to deliver content faster.” Continue reading

When savings interest rates go negative

What is more frightening than the loss of your money? Since most people have, some meager amount held in some form of a financial institution, the prospect of the banksters’ cabal placing a charge against your account for the mere privilege of maintaining a deposit, is horrible. The Business Insider warns, In The Future, You May Have To Pay The Bank To Hold Your Money, and raises a very dreadful prospect. Continue reading

Bilderberg authoritarianism destroys humanity

Knowing the accuracy of historical reality is difficult, but accepting the truth in that chronicle is almost impossible for most people to accept. This reluctance to deal with the stark and calculated obliteration of societal freedom is the ultimate curse of the human condition. The denial of the authoritarian plan by elites like the Bilderberg cabal is the equivalent of Satan’s greatest lie, convincing us he does not exist. Well, the days of casting the smear of conspiracy over any reporting on the secret and hidden conclave of global manipulators, is officially over. Continue reading

Internet and sales’ taxes dialectic

Before you panic that your online purchases will be tagged with the added cost of state sales tax, rely on the complexity of reporting sales to all the jurisdictions as your prime safeguard from forking over a percentage on every purchase. The Senate bill, Summary: S.336 provides a succinct description of the requirements. For a comprehensive resource on all you want to know about Marketplace Fairness Act Information, check out the details. House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte in the article, Online sales tax bill may be dead on arrival in House, identifies concern that the practical difficulties remain with implementation. “I do not believe legislation like the Marketplace Equity Act is sufficiently simplified yet. While it attempts to make tax collection simpler, it still has a long way to go.” Continue reading

From Vietnam defiance to Boston surrender

Historically, what separated American society from most other countries was a healthy distrust of government and a tradition of civil liberties. The Bill of Rights is a unique safeguard embodied within the constitutional structure of a road map for governmental restraint. One of the most important restrictions placed upon the police powers of the central government is exemplified in Posse Comitias. The militarization of domestic law enforcement is fundamentally in conflict with individual rights and natural law. Continue reading

Private prisons and the enslavement society

What more time-honored practice in the long history of state sponsored servitude than the institutionalization of prisoners? Incarceration for offenses against government laws is a cornerstone for power and survivability of any regime. Prisons may have been hellholes over the centuries, but seldom has the internment of convicted lawbreakers been a growth industry for private profit. It almost makes one wonder exactly who are the crooks. While most hard-pressed citizens want a safe and secure society, few ever give even a passing thought to the insatiable corporatist criminalization of the criminal justice system. Just how many Americans agree with the proposition, if you did the crime, you need to serve the time? Continue reading

Low interest rates impoverish savers

Even the most ardent optimist has to confront the consequences of low interest rates. The macro analysis of ivory tower academics seldom reflects the struggle of ordinary consumers or retirees. One such pinhead is Ben Bernanke. Continue reading

The MF Global Magical Mystery Tour

It is impossible to make up a fantasy tale that rivals the manifestations of the outlandish MF Global scandal. The evaporation of customer’s monies into an intentional off shore stash is tragic enough, but the indignity of allowing “no consequences” for a horrific crime against all investors is inexcusable. Continue reading

The political significance of Gore Vidal

The Gore Vidal legacy encompasses his numerous novels, literary writings, plays and essays. Few 20th century authors can match the volume of his compositions and consistency in the quality of his thoughts. If one can ignore his anti-religious beliefs and get past his complex sexuality, one can justly focus on the significance within his political viewpoints. Not since Oscar Wilde, has there been a man of letter with comparable wit and ridicule, that capsulated the age of his lifetime. Based upon a keen command of history and a flare for original insights, Vidal was the master political polemicist. Continue reading

The record of Olympic economics

As the world economy plunges and the financial markets debate the future of EU, the London Olympics provide a pretext to take a holiday and party all night. The latest example of excess and self-absorbed haughtiness, promotes an agenda of internationalism. The spirit of the games is less about sportsmanship than promotion of indoctrination. The cost to produce such an extravaganza approaches sums that necessitate a bailout from the IMF. The article, Winner’s curse? The economics of hosting the Olympic Games, illustrates a disturbing cost for hosting the Games. Continue reading

Bank for International Settlements on big banks

The shadow-banking component that adds to the risk of non-regulatory oversight just deepens the mystery behind the most powerful banking institution that runs roughshod over global finance. In order to gain an insight into the complexity of deception, examine the function of the BIS. The granddaddy of all central banks, the Bank for International Settlement, latest BIS Annual Report 2011/2012, foretells future financial consolidation. Continue reading