Big Brother in Action: EU Wants Power to Sack Journalists; Prime Minister Rajoy Threatens Newspapers Following Corruption Articles

By Mike “Mish” Shedlock 

“Big Brother” in Action

In case you have not already realized it, 1984 has come and gone politically. All that remains is how fast we march down the path of “thought suppression”. Here are a couple of articles that will make my point.

The Telegraph reports EU wants power to sack journalists:

A European Union report has urged tight press regulation and demanded that Brussels officials are given control of national [...]

French and British in Mali to seize their gold. Mali is the 3rd largest producer of gold in Africa.

“Some of Mali’s prominent natural resources include gold, being the third largest producer of gold in the African continent.” – Souce: Wikipedia

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mali

Labor Minister Says France Is “Totally Bankrupt” !!

Things in France must not be very serious, because the French labor minister accidentally let the truth come out a little earlier today. As the Telegraph reports, France’s labour minister sent the country into a state of shock on Monday after he described the nation [...]

Everyone Is Bullish? Uh-Oh, SELL!

Josh Brown Explains The Huge Mistake That A Bunch Of Investors Are Going To Make Right Now

There is no doubt that in the past few weeks (arguably just the past week) there’s been a real breaking of the bearish spirit.

 

Bullishness is hitting all-time highs, and even some of the folks who were very skeptical about the economy, are turning positive.

Meanwhile, the S&P just broke 1500. As Josh Brown at The Reformed Broker notes, the [...]

British Economy Is WORSE than During the Great Depression

by George Washington

 

Leading British newspaper the Telegraph reports today:

Ministers today admitted Britain is facing “very, very grave difficulties” after figures showed the economy did not grow at all in 2012.

***

Economists from the Royal Bank of Scotland said the last four years have produced the worst economic performance in a non post-war period since records started being collected in the 1830s.

***

“It’s the worst economic performance since at least 1830, outside of post-war demobilisations,” he told The Daily [...]

Why Americans should be very concerned about the latest news on Syria

From Azizonomics:

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

That’s what I’d say to the Western governments currently planning an invasion of Syria under the pretense that Bashar al-Assad is readying the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Civil War.

The Telegraph reports:

NBC News quoted an unnamed U.S. official as saying there was evidence that the bombs, loaded with the chemical weapon, could be dropped on the [...]

Scientists: Mice Can ‘Sing’ In Tune With One Another

NEW ORLEANS (CBS Houston) – Scientists at Tulane University recently discovered that mice can match the pitch of their voices to blend with one another.

The findings came as something of a surprise to researchers, since mice were thought to be incapable of being able to change the pitch of their voices, The Telegraph reports.

“We are claiming that mice have limited versions of the brain and behavior traits for vocal learning that are [...]

Researchers Developing ‘Stay-Sober’ Pill To Block Effects Of Alcohol

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (CBS Connecticut) – An experimental drug could stop people from getting drunk off alcohol and thus helping heavy drinkers wean off alcohol.

Yale University researchers are hypothesizing that the drug iomazenil, when taken before drinking, can weaken some of the effects of alcohol on the brain. According to a recent pilot study conducted by the researchers, the effects of alcohol on those people who took iomazenil caused people to [...]

WATCH: This Is The North Korean Theme Park Kim Jong Un Called ‘Pathetic’

Kim Jong Un recently took a trip to a North Korean theme park, Mangyongdae Funfair, The Telegraph reports, and in comments broadcast on state television, the young ruler offered an unusually damning opinion on the park.

“Pathetic” he said as he noticed a damaged path near a Viking-themed ride. He also pointed out peeling paint and faults with a rollercoaster.

“I had no idea the park could be so pitiful,” Kim reportedly said.

Apparently [...]

Troika Finds Greece Already Likely To Miss Bailout Budget Targets

by ZH

The money for Greece has not yet been wired, and already a deeper dive into the previously released Troika report shows  what is glaringly obvious to anyone who follows the actual collapse of the Greek economy: that the country is already on course to miss its budget targets for the immediate future (for insane EU assumptions on what the Greek economy should look like through the lens of a Eurocrat, see our chart of [...]

For The First Time In 50 Years, Finland Has A Right Wing President

by Adam Taylor

Sauli Niinisto, leader of the National Coalition Party and a former finance minister, has taken the Finnish President spot with 63 percent of the vote, the Telegraph reports.

He will be the first leader from Finland’s right wing since 1956, and the first from outside of the centre-left Social Democrats for 30 years.

He trounced his main rival, Pekka Haavisto of the Green Party, who had only 37% of the vote.

While the [...]

Sources said the EFSF had spent more than € 100m buying up its own bonds to help it achieve its funding target after the banks leading the deal were only able to find about €2.7bn of outside demand for the debt.

European Ponzi Goes Full Retard As EFSF Found To Monetize… Itself

We have long mocked and ridiculed the Fed for being the ultimate ponzi instrument: after all, why worry, when your central bank will buy up almost three trillion in US paper in about 2 years (a very comforting fact for US politicians who never have to fear that those trillions in new porkbills, pardon fiscal stimulus programs, may end up [...]

Germany “Raises” €55.5 Billion, or 1% Of Its Debt/GDP Ratio, Thanks To Derivative “Accounting Error”

by ZH

As usual, the most surreal news of the day, perhaps week, is saved for Friday night, when we learn that Germany has magically raised over a quarter of its total EFSF obligation of €211 billion by way of what is essentially magic. The Telegraph reports that “Germany is €55bn richer than it previously thought because of an accounting error at state-owned bank Hypo Real Estate Holding. The mistake at [...]

Italy On The Ropes Again After Secret Berlusconi Promise To Step Down In Exchange For Compromise Achieves Nothing

by ZH

Over the past few days, Italy has promptly re-emerged as a main cog in the illusion that Europe is a well-greased machine (yes, we know, funny) after it became clear that the country continues to refuse to implement any actual austerity measures following the requirement to do just that months ago when it got access to the ECB’s sterlizied bond monetization scheme. In fact it got so bad that yesterday [...]

“It was grim. The worst mood I have ever seen, a complete mess,” said one eurozone finance minister

by ZH

The release of the Troika report (stating the what-we-all-know that is much larger haircuts will be needed for any type of debt sustainability) seemed to bring events this weekend in Europe to an early halt, according to SudDeutsche. As the sheer mathematical certainty of the event horizon that is Europe these days is slammed at light speed into the foreheads of the European cognoscenti, we finally see some actual frustration, [...]

As the Telegraph reports, “In a move described as the “last stand for Greek banks”, the embattled country’s central bank activated Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) for the first time on Wednesday night.”

by ZH

Such efficiency out of the Greeks for once- not a single Persian was harmed, or even needed, in this 21st century version of Thermopylae: the Greeks did it all on their own.

More: “Although it was done discreetly, news that Athens had opened the fund filtered out and was one of the factors that rattled markets across Europe. At one [...]