It can seem like a great perk: Driving your new or new-to-you car home while a dealer works out the financing.

But it can turn out to be a bad idea.

That’s because the terms of the loan deal discussed at the dealership can change to a much higher rate after a buyer takes a car home. Unscrupulous dealers may try to bring buyers back one or more times to sign new, costlier deals — a practice known as “yo-yo financing.”

Prodded by state attorneys general and consumer groups, the Federal Trade Commission is considering whether to propose new regulations to address the practice.

The National Automobile Dealers Association said in a statement that it’s important for regulators to distinguish between “fraudulent yo-yo financing” and what it calls “legitimate conditional sales or spot deliveries.”

NADA calls yo-yo financing “abusive spot deliveries” and says the practice already is illegal in every state because it is deceptive or misleading. In such cases, the dealer acts in “bad faith,” such as knowingly quoting a rate that won’t be approved for that buyer, failing to say the deal being discussed is conditional and refusing to give back the down payment or trade-in if the deal is not approved.

And those are the exception, said NADA: “Tens of millions of conditional deliveries occur nationwide each year without any hint of problems for consumers.”

But Dana Manner, a Miami auto fraud lawyer, says about a third of his practice involves yo-yo financing cases. And Phil Reed, Edmunds.com’s senior consumer advice editor, says the shopping service has gotten a “steady stream” of complaints about it for years from people with “mid-tier” credit.

The Center for Responsible Lending told the FTC in 2011 that 27% of people who contacted one of five groups that handle auto finance problems reported being victims of yo-yo scams. More than half of these 590 people had trouble getting their down payment or trade-in vehicle back, or had the dealer threaten legal action against them if the new car was not returned. Most signed new loan contracts at higher rates.

Dealers urge you to take cars home to keep you from going to a rival and to get you used to driving it, says Reed, who wrote a book in 2003 after working undercover as a car salesman.

Dealers argue that they have no interest, however, in putting people in cars they can’t afford, in part because the value drops precipitously once a car is driven off the lot. They say they do conditional deliveries to accommodate consumer preferences.

Whatever the reason or however often deals change after customers take cars home, it’s clear that dealers aren’t the only ones taking a risk. Your trade-in can be sold, down payments lost and use of the newly purchased car could cost you a lot more than you expected if the bad outcomes other consumers have experienced happen to you.

Which means taking a car home before the deal is done is a bad idea, no matter how much you want to and the dealer encourages you. “Dealers want to get you emotionally invested and financially invested in the car,” Manner says.

Marv Eleazer, finance manager at Langdale Ford in Valdosta, Ga., says there’s responsibility on both sides in what he and NADA say are the rare cases when consumers may be subjected to yo-yo financing.

“During the purchase, customers often get excited with that new-car smell and may not listen or note that the deal isn’t finalized, ” he says. “It’s incumbent upon the dealer to strongly emphasize the car is being delivered subject to final approval with a written notice confirming the terms of the delivery.”

How dealer financing works

After dealers run a credit report on consumers seeking financing, salespeople, finance or other managers often estimate what they can offer a person with that credit rating based on how much they put down, the length of the loan and other factors, Eleazer says. If that initial offer is acceptable to the buyer then the process goes a step further for an actual loan approval. Usually, such deals are approved within 15 minutes, he says.

Buyers with low credit scores, however, often get a preliminary offer for financing that might be contingent upon proof of employment or other documentation, and getting these things may take some time. Then, the dealer will shop the loan to various financing sources to get that deal, and the amount of profit they hope to make on it, he says. In the meantime the consumer can take the car on a conditional basis.

But if the consumer has delinquent credit or other issues with their application, the interest rate may be higher than discussed, and the dealer may need to ask for more money down or take less profit.

In such cases, says NADA’s chief regulatory counsel for financial services Paul Metrey, signing a new deal “with a dealer in the conditional delivery situation … is completely optional. Typically, the customer is approved on the terms submitted.”

Consumer advocates, however, say that buyers often believe they have little choice but to take a dealer’s new, less favorable, offer, especially after they’ve already driven the car and shown it to family and friends.

The FTC won’t comment on its deliberations, but Malini Mithal, assistant director for financial practices, says that because auto purchase and financing is such an “expensive and complicated transaction … protecting consumers in the auto marketplace remains a top priority for the commission.”

How to avoid car financing problems:

1) Know your credit score and what’s on your credit report before applying for financing from a dealer or other lender sources.

2) Join a credit union and see what loan amounts, terms and interest rates you can get from there or from other lenders before you go to a dealer to buy a car.

3) Don’t bring the car home until it’s truly yours — that is, the deal’s sealed.

4) Consider renting if you have to have a car before the deal is final.

5) Check out resources, including the Center for Responsible Lending, the industry-based www.autofinancing101.org and the Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety.

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By Anthony Migchels
Real Currencies
February 18, 2013

Money Power banksters Zhao Xiaochuan and Lagarde preparing World Currency

To many it is unclear whether China is incorporated in the New World Order or a real competitor to Anglo-American Imperialism. 

However, there are a number of clear indicators that leave little doubt that the Money Power has co-opted the leadership of the Land of the Dragon a long time ago.

By Anthony Migchels for Henry Makow, Real Currencies, and translated for Argusoog.

History shows that the Money Power has several tools at its disposal to motivate peoples in the right direction. Their fingerprints are all over China.

The Chinese people obviously are not interested in a ‘New World Order’ or losing sovereignty. China is a world upon itself.

Its immense size, enormous population, ancient culture, so alien to that of the rest of the world, leaves it with more than enough to worry about, without being too interested in the rest of the world.

In fact: in the Age of Discovery, Chinese ships were ahead of the Europeans but they were called back by the Emperor: he simply could not handle a wider span of control. Most great nations are rather self-centered, but none so like China.

On the other hand: with all this comes a sense of uniqueness and entitlement and perhaps they can be cajoled by their ‘rightful’ place at the table?

Here is an excellent analysis of the power brokers in China. It opens with the obvious statement that Marxism is a Money Power operation and that Mao therefore did their bidding.

He was apparently educated at Yale’s department in China. Yale’s Skull and Bones were very active in Asia and Mao was probably a member. Most American diplomats sent to him were so too.

According to the article, the triads, China’s enigmatic maffia style secret societies, were built up by Masons to combat the Qing dynasty that ruled China until the 19th century and among others resisted the Opium the British needed to sell to China because they had nothing else to offer in exchange for its vast riches.

The membership list of the Trilateral Commission, the Rockefeller confab similar to the Atlantic Bilderbergers, is littered with Chinese names.

Another vital issue is China’s money supply: just like everywhere else, money is created by banks. A Yuan is an interest-bearing debt to a bank. China has a Public Banking sector. This in itself is in an interesting fact and should actually give us pause as to the nature of Public Banking and how it could serve the Money Power. The Emperors printed debt-free cash.

The Chinese are moving to back the Yuan by Gold, clearly promoting the Money Power’s nascent Gold Standard. Meanwhile, its Central Bank President, Zhao Xiaochuan, who is a member of the Group of 30, the Rockefeller sponsored group of leading Central Bankers and academics, is calling for World Currency. As we have seen, opposition against the dollar is not the same thing as opposition against the Money Power.

China is a loyal member of all the international governance organizations.

Furthermore, over the last decades the Money Power has migrated a substantial part of its manufacturing base from Europe and particularly the US to China. Can there be any doubt that they would be very, very sure that that crucial strategic asset would be absolutely safe there?

China’s rise and its implications

The build up of China must be seen in the light of the decades old program of the deindustrialization of the West, particularly America. What has been given to China, was taken elsewhere.

Also, this build up is actually a typical M.O.: think of how US technology and money built up the USSR to create a credible ‘threat’ in the Cold War. Saddam Hussein is another example: he was made strong to be taken down later as part of the strategy to conquer the Middle East. Or Iran, which is bolstered by often Western/Israeli technology that is transferred via China.

China’s rise comes with many dangers. Chinese nationalism is primitive and easily inflamed. Beijing is under incredible pressure from many internal dynamics and happily uses external ‘foes’ to export these pressures.

The latest rows with Japan over some trivial islands are a case in point.

Just like the Money Power directed the Orchestra of Europe during the 19th century, it is now directing the Orchestra of a Multi Polar World.

We know how it all ended in Europe: tightly knit alliances facing each other with ever more paranoia, unable to extricate themselves from the trap. One assassination was enough to light the fuse.

The same can be seen today, with NATO facing the Shanghai Cooperation Organization of Russia and China, with Pakistan and Iran as close associates.

Conclusion

China is being built up in a very typical fashion. All the pointers that we have come to recognize are there: usurious control of the money supply, Marxism, Capitalism, ‘secret’ societies, China towing the internationalist line.

The US Empire is not the Money Power and China’s rise and opposition against the US fits in nicely with what we have come to expect from the Money Power’s proxies working towards managed conflict and World Government.

Tags: Submit Your News  Politics  Conspiracy  Spontaneous  Confessions  
Author: Alex
Source: http://theintelhub.com/2013/02/18/is-china-part-of-the-new-world-order/

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WASHINGTON — The Senate moved closer Thursday to passing a bill to tax purchases made over the Internet.

But a final vote was delayed until May after senators return from a weeklong vacation.

STORY: Online sellers may have to collect sales tax

Although opponents hope senators will hear from angry constituents in the next week, they have a steep hill to climb to defeat the bill, dubbed the Marketplace Fairness Act, in the Senate.

The Senate voted 63-30 Thursday to end debate on the bill, setting up a final Senate vote to pass the bill May 6. The final vote will require only a majority to pass the bill, so 14 supporters would have to flip to stop it.

President Barack Obama supports the bill, but it faces an uncertain fate in the House where some Republicans consider it a tax increase.

The bill would empower states to require online retailers to collect state and local sales taxes for purchases made online. The bill would require the sales taxes to be sent to the state where a shopper lives.

States now can require stores to collect sales taxes only if the store has a physical presence in the state, such as a store or warehouse. As a result, many online sales are essentially tax free, giving Internet retailers an advantage over brick-and-mortar stores.

Retailers who have lobbied in favor of the bill celebrated Thursday’s vote.

“The special treatment of big online businesses at the expense of retailers on Main Street will soon be a thing of the past,” said Bill Hughes of the Retail Industry Leaders Association. “The overwhelmingly bipartisan support for leveling the playing field is rare in today’s political environment and paves the way for a level playing field once and for all.”

STORY: Obama backs Internet sales tax bill, White House says

A handful of senators from states without sales taxes opposed the bill, with Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., leading the fight against it. Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon have no sales taxes though the two senators from Delaware support the bill.

“It’s coercive. It requires a number of states to collect the taxes of other states thousands of miles away against their will,” Wyden said in an interview. “It’s discrimination because this forces some people online to carry out responsibilities that brick and mortar retailers do not have to do.”

Wyden said the bill also gives an advantage to foreign retailers. Supporters say the bill treats foreign retailers the same as domestic ones, but opponents question the ability of states to enforce state tax laws on companies based in other countries.

Supporters say the bill is about fairness for local businesses that already collect sales taxes and lost revenue for states.

Opponents say the bill would impose complicated regulations on retailers and doesn’t have enough protections for small businesses. Businesses with less than $ 1 million a year in online sales would be exempt.

Many of the nation’s governors — Republicans and Democrats — have been lobbying the federal government for years for the authority to collect sales taxes from online sales.

The issue is getting bigger for states as more people make purchases online. Last year, Internet sales in the United States totaled $ 226 billion, up nearly 16% from the previous year, according to Commerce Department estimates.

The National Conference of State Legislatures estimates that states lost $ 23 billion last year because they couldn’t collect taxes on out-of-state sales.

The bill pits brick-and-mortar stores like WalMart against online services such as eBay. The National Retail federation supports it. And Amazon.com, which initially fought efforts in some states to make it collect sales taxes, now supports it, too.

The bill also gets support from many Republicans who have pledged not to increase taxes. The bill’s main sponsor is Sen. Mike Enzi, a conservative Republican from Wyoming. He is working closely with Sen. Dick Durbin, a liberal Democrat from Illinois.

Enzi and Durbin say the bill doesn’t raise taxes. Instead, they say it gives states a mechanism to enforce current taxes.

In many states, shoppers are required to pay unpaid sales taxes when they file state tax returns. But governors complain that few people comply.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said he supports the bill in part because tax-free Internet sales are eating into Delaware retailers’ sales.

“In our region, we’ve long benefited from significant commercial sales from residents of Maryland, of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and elsewhere, who come to Delaware to shop because we’re a tax-free state,” Coons said. “Over time, the benefit of that has eroded as folks discovered that they could buy the same things online without paying sales tax from home.”

He noted that the bill would not require anyone from Delaware to pay sales taxes.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Fire Dog Lake:

Screen shot from C-SPAN’s broadcast of AG Holder’s news conference

A symptom of the news that the establishment media organization, the Associated Press, had their phone records targeted by the Justice Department as part of an apparent investigation into a leak has been that reporters have been more aggressive in their questioning of officials at press conferences.

During a news conference Attorney General Eric Holder held at about the same time as White House spokesperson Jay Carney was fielding questions from the press corps, multiple reporters asked him about the seizure of records and whether he understood why this would considered an affront to freedom of the press. Holder coolly and contemptibly maintained there was nothing to be appalled about with this investigation. (To view, go here.)

First, though the Justice Department has chosen not to inform the AP of what story they are investigating, it is believed that they are investigating a May 7, 2012, story on a CIA underwear bomb plot sting operation.

At the news conference, Holder indicated that he had “recused” himself in 2012 “to avoid the matter and to avoid the appearance of a potential conflict of interest and to make sure that the investigation was seen as independent.” The deputy attorney general, Jim Cole, was put in charge of signing off on the decision to seize the AP’s records. Holder effectively came himself plausible deniability and this made it possible for the investigation to as broad as those overseeing it deemed necessary.

He said later he was “one of the people who had knowledge of this matter” and because he has “frequent contact with the media” he chose not to be fully informed or involved. That sounds like he was well aware this would infuriate the press when they found out about the scope of the investigation and he did not want to be seen as someone in control of the investigation.

Multiple times he said he did not know all of the fact, but he was “confident that the people who are involved in the investigation, who I’ve known for a great many years and have worked with for a great many years followed all the appropriate Justice Department regulations and did things according to DoJ rules.” Imagine hearing this from any of the attorney generals who served under President George W. Bush—John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzales or Michael B. Mukasey. It would not have been adequate reassurance then, and it is not adequately reassuring now.

NBC correspondent Michael Isikoff asked if he understood why people in the news business would find this troubling. Holder’s answer was the following:

I don’t know all that went into the formulation of the subpoena. This was a very serious leak, a very, very serious leak. I’ve been a prosecutor since 1976 and I have to say, if this is not the most serious, it is among the top two or three leaks that we have ever seen. It put the American people at risk. And that is not hyperbole. It put the American people at risk and trying to determine who was responsible for that I think required very aggressive action…

This contradicts CIA director John Brennan, who was an Obama administration counterterrorism adviser at the time, and spoke with media on the sting operation. He said during a Senate hearing, “There was never a threat to the American public as we had said so publicly, because we had inside control of the plot, and the device was never a threat to the American public.” So, it does not seem reasonable that a leak about an operation that was fully controlled would warrant the descriptor of one of the most serious leaks he has seen since he began working as a prosecutor nearly four decades ago.

But, let’s presume there was some threat. In the original story published by the AP, it included this paragraph:

…The AP learned about the thwarted plot last week but agreed to White House and CIA requests not to publish it immediately because the sensitive intelligence operation was still under way. Once officials said those concerns were allayed, the AP decided to disclose the plot Monday despite requests from the Obama administration to wait for an official announcement Tuesday…

Cole sent a letter to AP CEO Gary Pruitt today, where he responded to an initial letter sent by AP to the Justice Department. That letter did not inform the AP of what story the Justice Department is investigating, but Pruitt said in a response letter that they have an idea of what is under investigation.

He added, “We held that story until the government assured us that the national security concerns had passed. Indeed, the White House was preparing to publicly announce that the bomb plot had been foiled,” and, “The White House had said there was no credible threat to the American people in May of 2012. The AP story suggested otherwise, and we felt that was important information and the public deserved to know it.”

Pruitt also stated, with regards to the fact that the Justice Department refuses to say what story is under investigation, “They say this secrecy is important for national security. It is always difficult to respond to that, particularly since they still haven’t told us specifically what they are investigating.”

Holder was asked if it was policy for the administration to target the press. His answer was that it was “certainly not the policy of the administration.” He said, “You will remember in 2009, when I was going through my confirmation hearings, I testified in favor of a reporter’s shield law. We actually as an administration took a position in favor of such a law; didn’t get the necessary support on the Hill.” It is something that the administration still thinks would be appropriate.

That is not how MSNBC’s Chuck Todd understands the administration’s record.

Todd: You keep talking about then Sen .Obama supported a certain piece of legislation that, in fact, as president he killed that piece of legislation in October of 2009 — and made it so that the protections he supported, having judicial review … there was an opportunity to have this bill passed…and he said the White House had problems with it and he killed it.

Carney: First of all, you’re talking about separate pieces of legislation and a legislative history that bears a little more looking into. The president’s position on this is what it was as a senator. But the fact is I cannot then appropriately apply his support for that measure…

Todd: If he supported that piece of legislation, we wouldn’t be having this conversation today because he supported a judicial review when it came to protectin some of these sources –

Carney: And what happened to it in 2007?

Todd: I’m asking you what happen in 2009 when he was president of the United States.

Carney: The legislative history is a little bit more complicated here than what you represent…

Todd: But the Democrats were in charge. You had Chuck Schumer. I mean, this is 2009. Who cares what he said in 2007? We know what he said on the campaign trail in 2008 in front of the Associated Press when it came to this issue. He had a chance to support this and make this happen. Why did he change his position?

Carney: The president’s position on this has not changed.

Todd: Yes, it has.

Carney: No, it hasn’t Chuck.

Todd: The administration said essentially he chained his position because of certain things in national security. Can you explain why?

Carney: Broadly speaking, the president does support the ability of journalists in an unfettered way to pursue investigative journalism. He believes that we have to find a balance between that goal…

Carney went on to say the government has to be concerned about leaks of secrets that could damage national security. Todd appropriately responded that a “third party should have to make that decision” and, as a candidate, President Obama supported “the point of the press is sometimes to be the watchdog of the watchdog and the Judiciary Branch is the appropriate place to make that determination.

And then, remarkably, Todd cogently pointed out, “Look, you guys will claim classified—and it’s not just you as an administration—any administration claims everything is somehow a national security leak.” He suggested a third party should decide whether a leak was or is going to endanger lives and asked if the president supported that kind of protection for media. Carney declined to address this question.

The New York Times reported in October 2009, “The Obama administration has told lawmakers that it opposes legislation that could protect reporters from being imprisoned if they refuse to disclose confidential sources who leak material about national security, according to several people involved with the negotiations.”

“The administration this week sent to Congress sweeping revisions to a ‘media shield’ bill that would significantly weaken its protections against forcing reporters to testify,” the Times also reported. So, both Carney and Holder are being disingenuous.

To top it off, a reporter asked him what he thought about the Obama administration’s civil liberties record, whether the administration was disappointed and why more had not been done. Holder shiftily answered, “I’m proud of what we’ve done. He cited “the policies we put in place with regard to the war on terror,” the discontinuation of certain “enhanced interrogation techniques,” and the aggressive enforcement of civil rights laws. And, pressed further, he added, “This administration has put a real value on the rule of law and our values as Americans.”

It is unclear what value the Justice Department is promoting when it engages in a wide fishing expedition for records from twenty different phone lines in AP offices that were used by over 100 journalists working for the AP. It is unclear what value is being upheld when two months of time is targeted and it appears that the Justice Department may not only be able to secretly use the material obtained to investigate the leak on the sting operation but also possibly look into the sources for stories by the AP on the US drone program and investigate those sources.

For previous coverage of this story, such as the nature of the Justice Department’s collection of records and a description of a prior case in 2004 where Washington Post and New York Times reporters were targeted by the FBI, go here. 

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Author: Kevin Gosztola
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/firedoglake/fdl/~3/PGUMH98s68Y/

Category: Politics

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UK News:

13 April 2013 Last updated at 08:00 ET

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The BBC’s Aleem Maqbool says President Mubarak was laughing and waving at supporters in the court

The judge presiding over the retrial of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has withdrawn himself from the case as the trial opened in Cairo.

There were chaotic scenes as the judge said he was referring the trial to another court.

Mr Mubarak was convicted last June of conspiring to kill protesters during the 2011 revolt that ended his rule.

He was sentenced to life but a retrial was ordered in January after he appealed against the sentence.

About 850 people were killed in the 2011 crackdown.

Judge Mustafa Hassan Abdullah announced his decision at the start of the retrial at a police academy on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital.

The judge said he was referring the case to the Cairo appeals court as he felt “unease” in reviewing the case.

That court is then expected to appoint a new panel to hear the retrial.

But there was shouting in the courtroom, with relatives of protesters killed in the 2011 uprising chanting: “The people demand the execution of Mubarak!”

Also, prosecution lawyers complained that the transfer could delay the case for months and make it less likely that the former president would be convicted and sentenced.

“Egypt cannot close the door on the former regime until there is justice for the martyrs of our revolution,” said Mohamed Rashwan, quoted by Reuters news agency.

Stretcher again

Mr Mubarak, 84, is in poor health and currently being held in a military hospital in Cairo.

On Saturday, he was flown by helicopter to the courthouse at a police academy on the outskirts of Cairo.

State TV showed him being wheeled into the building on a stretcher, wearing a white outfit. Wearing dark glasses and with an intravenous cannula on his hand, he later waved to the courtroom from inside a cage.

His first trial, at which he also appeared on a stretcher, lasted 10 months.

Two sons of the former leader, former interior minister Habib al-Adly and six aides will also be re-tried, facing the same charges as before.

Continue reading the main story

Mubarak trial

• Convicted in June 2012 of conspiring in the killing of protesters in 2011 and sentenced to life
• Found not guilty in 2012 of abusing power to amass wealth
• Appeal against his conviction upheld in January 2013

Al-Adly was sentenced to life last year for contributing to the killing of protesters, and for five and 12 years for corruption charges.

Mr Mubarak’s sons, Gamal and Alaa, will be retried on corruption charges for which they were acquitted in June, because of the expiry of a statute of limitations.

The former president was also found not guilty of corruption.

Businessman Hussein Salem, a close associated of Mubarak, is being retried in his absence – he went to Spain after being cleared of fraud in his first trial.

‘No influence’

The 18-day uprising in 2011 ended Mubarak’s 29-year rule of Egypt.

Families of protesters who died in the crackdown were disappointed that the former president was not convicted of ordering the killings.

There was also been anger among some that he has not faced trial for abuses allegedly committed earlier in his rule.

But the BBC’s Alem Maqbool says news of the retrial has been overshadowed by the political instability and insecurity which followed the revolution.

As the retrial was about to begin, one man in Cairo who gave his name as Ahmed said the retrial was no longer the pressing issue for Egypt.

“What we care about now is how to make the country develop better,” he told the Associated Press news agency.

“Mubarak no longer has any influence on our economy. The most important thing we should do now is to help industries recover.”

Another man, Ashraf, told AP that if the trial was being seen as unimportant “it’s because they are now in a very bad situation economically. The most important thing right now for Egyptians is how they can work and live”.

Deaths during the uprising were largely blamed on the police at the time, but last week a report was leaked which implicated the army in serious human rights abuses at the time, including the killing and torture of protesters.

The leaked chapter, reportedly presented to President Mohammed Morsi late last year, contains testimony relating to civilians detained at military checkpoints who were never seen again and reports that the army delivered unidentified bodies to coroners.

Egypt’s Defence Minister Abdel Fatah al-Sissi denied the accusations, calling them a betrayal.

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Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22134461#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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allgov.com
January 4, 2012

Government watchdog groups are concerned that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been loaning out sophisticated, expensive drones to local law enforcement, and in the process turning the military’s hottest new weapon on Americans.

In one of the first known instances of domestic drone use, in 2011 DHS loaned one of its unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to police in North Dakota in order to spy on a farmer, Thomas Brossart, who had refused to give back some cows that had wandered onto his property. The Brossart case was the first known drone-aided arrest.

The Washington Guardian reports that since then, DHS and Customs and Border Protection (CPB) have deployed drones several other times to help local law enforcement and other federal agencies.

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This article was posted: Friday, January 4, 2013 at 1:25 pm

Tags: domestic news, drones, police state, technology

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Source: http://www.infowars.com/homeland-security-quietly-runs-loan-a-drone-program-for-local-law-enforcement/

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President Obama, joined by Michelle Obama, wished Americans a Merry Christmas in his weekly address today, extending seasons greetings to veterans and their families and asking the nation to remember those suffering in the wake of Superstorm Sandy and the massacre in Newtown, Conn.

The president and his family left Washington on Friday to spend Christmas in Hawaii, where he was born and raised. Because the impending “fiscal cliff” remains unresolved, Mr. Obama said on Friday that he would return to Washington after Christmas.

His weekly address, however, was all Christmas, no business.

Mrs. Obama, noting that “more than 90,000 people have come through the White House to see the holiday decorations,” said, “That’s what makes this season so special – getting to spend time with the people we love most.”

Mr. Obama added, “And this year, that’s especially true for some of our military families,” many of whom are reuniting as a decade of war draws to a close.

“So this week let’s give thanks for our veterans and their families. And let’s say a prayer for all our troops – especially those in Afghanistan – who are spending this holiday overseas, risking their lives to defend the freedoms we hold dear,” said the president.

The first lady, referencing one of her signature initiatives, explained, “Our military families sacrifice so much on our behalf, and Barack and I believe that we should serve them as well as they serve this country. That’s why Dr. Jill Biden and I started Joining Forces – an effort to rally all Americans to honor and support our veterans and military families.”

The president invoked his Christian faith to call for unity, saying, “For my family and millions of Americans, it’s a time to celebrate the birth of Christ. To reflect on His life and learn from His example. Every year, we commit to love one another. To give of ourselves. To be our brother’s keeper. To be our sister’s keeper. But those ideas are not just part of our faith. They’re part of all faiths. And they unite us as Americans.”

“That’s part of what makes us such a compassionate nation,” said the president. “And this year, I know many of you are extending that kindness to the families who are still picking up the pieces from Hurricane Sandy and your prayers to the people of Newtown, Connecticut.”

He concluded, “And on behalf of my favorite Americans – Michelle, Malia, Sasha and Bo – Merry Christmas, everybody.”

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Source: http://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/CBSNewsHorserace/~3/59vTuwyey1E/

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Twitter is a wonderful place for one-liners. To be funny on the site, you’ve got to be sharp and practice economy of language. You’ve only got 140 characters to make an impression.

And what better way to wind-down the work day than with a selection of some of the day’s most entertaining tweets.

Enjoy!

“Santa used Apple Maps, I’m sorry baby.” – How a lot of poor kids are going to get consoled this year

There should not be a moment in the next Finding Nemo movie in which the fish stumble across the body of Bin Laden

Washington legalizing gay marriage and pot is like the setup to a madcap romcom starring Nathan Lane and Snoop Dogg.

“YOLO!”–drunk Dalai Lama

The Hobbit, Part 1 covers only the indicia of the book. Publication date, copyright notices, etc. Andy Serkis plays the ISBN number.

Fuck you, holidays that fall on a weekend.

I hope Angus T. Jones has nicer things to say about Celebrity Rehab when he’s on that.

Apple announces plans to begin manufacturing computers in the U.S. Because they are devoted to creating jobs for American kids.

Do you think now that John McAfee has been arrested he’ll have a 21 day free trial?

Is somebody watching the Germans?

let’s have a moment of silence for anyone who will receive a pair of crocs for christmas

Every morning I wake up and check my dreamcatcher and there’s never a breakfast burrito in it so what a ripoff.

Tags: Submit Your News  Politics  Conspiracy  Spontaneous  Confessions  
Author: Josh Wolford
Source: http://www.webpronews.com/breakfast-burritos-apple-maps-and-the-germans-2012-12

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