Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

October 30, 2015 By Fausta

Puerto Rico: Humanitarian crisis?

As we know, Puerto Rico’s disastrous overspending has put default in the horizon, and more debt as bond yields rise.

Pres. Obama has come up for a default plan because,

The situation in Puerto Rico “risks turning into a humanitarian crisis as early as this winter,” one senior administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly.

Relief for the yet-to-happen so-called “humanitarian crisis” of course involves more government handouts for a place where over 25% of the workforce works for the government – with no calls for reducing the bureaucracy.

Steven Malanga asks, A “Humanitarian Crisis” or Just Bad Government? President Obama wants to rescue Puerto Rico; Republicans should call his bluff and demand some real reforms

In the past, Republicans in Washington took a dim view of granting bankruptcy for Puerto Rico. But the GOP may be ignoring an opportunity that the Puerto Rico crisis presents for dealing with a problem closer to home: the state and local pension crisis. With his proposal, President Obama was careful to wall off the municipal bankruptcy code from larger changes. He and his political allies, especially public-sector unions, fear that helping Puerto Rico might make it easier for municipalities or other entities within states—including deeply indebted pension systems—to file for bankruptcy protections. In places like Illinois, New Jersey, and California, where taxpayers’ efforts to reform public-sector debt run into one stumbling block after another, bankruptcy might be the only way of clearing away these steep fiscal obligations. The GOP should use Obama’s Puerto Rico gambit, clearly a political ploy, to start a discussion on municipal debt that the administration and its allies would rather not have.

No matter how you put it, it’s all about the spending.

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Filed Under: Barack Obama, economics, Fausta's blog, government, Puerto Rico

June 19, 2015 By Fausta

The government wants to protect you from ham

The government wants to protect you from ham, and not just from any old ham, but from the gold standard of celestial hammy exquisiteness.

Read my article here.

While Customs and Immigration protect us from ham, here are a few Drudge headlines,


BORDER BATTLE:
Obama Admin gives tips to illegals on getting work permits...
ICE Director says no one fired for releasing 65,000 criminal aliens onto streets...
5,000 freed in Arizona...
280 arrested in Midwest for robbery, burglary, battery, hit and run...
Caught, released, caught and released again...
Zuckerberg's cynical ploy for cheap foreign labor...
Mexico Now Deporting More Than USA...
'Dramatic shift'...

Technical 'glitch' cripples US visa system...
Robots to replace border police in France...
Greek island swamped by refugee flood; No relief in sight...
Haitians booted from Dominican Republic uncertain of future...
'The Dead Are Coming': Berlin activists bury drowned refugees...
Central European states against migrant quotas...
Record gains for anti-immigrant party in Danish vote...



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Filed Under: food, government, idiocy, Spain Tagged With: Da Tech Guy Blog, Fausta's blog

June 14, 2014 By Fausta

Immigration: And I still ask, who’s organizing this?

Headlines at Drudge,

Border Agents: We’re Letting In Gang Members…

Obama Admin Forbids Lawmakers From Taking Photos Of Illegal Immigrant Facility…

Border Patrol Threatened With Criminal Charges for Speaking to Reporters…

Agents changing diapers, heating baby formula for surge of children…

OBAMA: ‘Our Future Rests’ on DREAMers…

Honduran President: ‘Misinformation’…

More than 35,000 illegals entering TX each month…

PAPER: Orchestrated campaign to create chaos…
Embassies still not warning against sending children…

So no wonder the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers, after 50,000 apprehensions of border crossers in south Texas, declared this week that “certainly we are not gullible enough to believe that thousands of unaccompanied minor Central American children came to America without the encouragement, aid and assistance of the United States government.”

Are we supposed to believe that tens of thousands of Central America’s indigents suddenly could come up with the money to pay the coyotes? Or that the coyotes are not getting paid?

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Filed Under: government, illegal immigration, immigration, Venezuela Tagged With: Fausta's blog

February 11, 2014 By Fausta

Puerto Rico: Growth yes, more taxes no

Says Monica Showalter of IBD, and I wholeheartedly agree:
To Avoid Becoming The Next Detroit, Puerto Rico Needs Growth, Not Taxes

Too much bureaucracy, much of it for welfare, and too much rewarding failure over success drive up costs and drive out the productive. Puerto Rico’s most talented citizens are voting with their feet. The island loses about 1% of its population a year, a deadly loss compounded over the years for any economy.
To bring these people back, the governor has to fight to cut taxes and really go after the country’s entrenched special interests with a baseball bat.

The 39% corporate tax has to go.

He [governor Alejandro García Padilla] also must fight in the U.S. Congress to reinstate Puerto Rico’s special tax break that ended in 2006 so that investment will once again return.

Finally, he must also take on Big Labor’s favorite, the Jones Act, which artificially drives up shipping costs, putting local manufacturers at a disadvantage, demanding Congress at least give Puerto Rico an exception.

Read the whole thing.


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Filed Under: business, economics, economy, government, Puerto Rico Tagged With: Alejandro García Padilla, Fausta's blog

June 10, 2013 By Fausta

Snowden is in Hong Kong?

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden headed to Hong Kong after releasing a series of sensitive documents to the Washington Post.

Hong Kong is part of China, a country that has blocked access to my blog at times. Not the most transparent place for internet communications.

Now he’s seeking asylum in Iceland, which means he’s hoping that

  • the Chinese won’t deport him to the USA
  • Iceland will grant him asylum

    Kristín Árnadóttir, Icelandic ambassador to Beijing, told the South China Morning Post that Snowden needs to be in Iceland in order to apply for asylum.

  • the Chinese will grant him safe passage to Iceland.

So far, he’s checked out of his hotel.

Memeorandum is abuzz,

 Barton Gellman / Washington Post:

Code name ‘Verax’: Snowden, in exchanges with Post reporter, made clear he knew risks  —  He called me BRASSBANNER, a code name in the double-barreled style of the National Security Agency, where he worked in the signals intelligence directorate.  —  Verax was the name he chose for himself, “truth teller” in Latin.
Discussion: Firedoglake, FishbowlDC, The Fix, The Daily Caller, Daily Mail, The Heritage Foundation, Wired, Althouse, Little Green Footballs and The Huffington Post,more at Mediagazer »
RELATED:

 Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:

Greenwald Says ‘There’s A Lot More Coming,’ Argues NSA Revelations Don’t Harm Security  —  The Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald on Monday defended the 29-year-old who served as the source of one of the biggest intelligence leaks in history, arguing that the revelations of the National Security …
Discussion: Hot Air, Guardian and The Daily Banter

 The Atlantic Online:

Edward Snowden in Hong Kong  —  I’m glad we have this information; I am sorry we are getting it from Hong Kong.  —  Three points:  —  1) I believe what I wrote two days ago: that the United States and the world have gained much more, in democratic accountability, than they have lost …
Discussion: Talking Points Memo, News Desk,CANNONFIRE, The Dish, Pressing Issues and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

 New York Times:

Booz Allen Grew Rich on Government Contracts  —  WASHINGTON — Edward J. Snowden’s employer, Booz Allen Hamilton, has become one of the largest and most profitable corporations in the United States almost exclusively by serving a single client: the government of the United States.
Discussion: ThinkProgress, Politico, The Fix, First Read, Booman Tribune, The Caucus, Business Insider and Telegraph

 Daniel Ellsberg / Guardian:

Edward Snowden: saving us from the United Stasi of America  —  Snowden’s whistleblowing gives us a chance to roll back what is tantamount to an ‘executive coup’ against the US constitution  —  In my estimation, there has not been in American history a more important leak than Edward Snowden’s release …
Discussion: Yahoo! News, The Daily Beast, Taylor Marsh, The Verge, U.S. News, Pressing Issues, Althouse and News Desk, more at Mediagazer »

 Jia Lynn Yang / Washington Post:
Hong Kong hotel says Edward Snowden was there, but checked out Monday10 minutes ago

Discussion: Slashdot, The Gateway Pundit, CNN,Business Insider, Outside the Beltway and China Real Time Report

 Hadas Gold / Politico:
Donald Trump: Edward Snowden ‘a bad guy’

Discussion: msnbc.com and The Hill

 Guardian:
Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations

Discussion: The Raw Story, New York Times, Washington Monthly, Firedoglake,ThinkProgress, USA Today, Washington Post, The Atlantic Online, China Real Time Report, immi.is, Power Line, Politico, Wonkblog, BBC, msnbc.com, Daily Mail, News Desk, Activist Post, Capital New York, Daily Kos, Yahoo! News, The BRAD BLOG, The Week, Business Insider, Infowars, Alan Colmes’ Liberaland,Hot Air, New Republic, Mediaite, kottke.org, Wall Street Journal, Reuters,ViralRead, The Sun, TechCrunch, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The PJ Tatler, Doug Ross, The Agonist, Good Gear Guide, The Daily Caller, Althouse, The Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, Secrecy News, RT, Informed Comment, Telegraph,Towleroad News #gay, Prairie Weather, FP Passport, KALW, The Gateway Pundit, AMERICAblog, Gawker, americanthinker.com, Boing Boing, AMERICAN DIGEST, The Hill, Balloon Juice, First Read, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Impolitic, PoliticusUSA, UrbanGrounds, Post Politics, Forbes, NO QUARTER USA NET, The Dish, The BLT, Little Green Footballs, Washington Examiner, Fox News Insider, The Moderate Voice, Taylor Marsh, Outside the Beltway, Lawfare,Hit & Run, The Hinterland Gazette, Runnin’ Scared, Instapundit, Vox Popoli,Wired, American Power, CANNONFIRE, Whiskey Fire, The Verge, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Scared Monkeys, U.S. News, Washington Free Beacon,Liberal Values, AllThingsD, GigaOM, LewRockwell.com Blog, emptywheel,Engadget and Mashable, more at Mediagazer »

 Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Greenwald: NSA leak doesn’t jeopardize national security

Discussion: Prairie Weather

 Julian Borger / Guardian:
Edward Snowden’s choice of Hong Kong as haven is a high-stakes gamble

Discussion: U.S. News, Politico, Daily Mail, Hot Air, Reuters, BuzzFeed,American Power, Business Insider, The Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit andTelegraph

 Booz Allen Hamilton:
Booz Allen Statement on Reports of Leaked Information

Discussion: Business Insider, Guardian, U.S. News, The Week, msnbc.com, The Hinterland Gazette, Daily Kos, New York Times, Forbes, Yahoo! News, USA Today, Firedoglake, Alan Colmes’ Liberaland, Engadget, Gawker and Hit & Run,more at Mediagazer »

 Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:
DOJ launches criminal probe of NSA leaker

Discussion: Politico
 Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
What’s the Deal with Hong Kong?

Discussion: Guardian and Business Insider
 Brian Knowlton / The Caucus:
Feinstein ‘Open’ to Hearings on Surveillance Programs

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Alan Colmes’ Liberaland and Lawyers, Guns & Money
 Guardian:
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: ‘I don’t want to live in a society that does these sort of things’ – video

Discussion: CBS News, The Huffington Post, Democracy in America, The Hill,Hullabaloo, emptywheel and Washington Free Beacon
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Filed Under: government, internet Tagged With: Edward Snowden, Fausta's blog, National Security Agency, NSA

June 7, 2013 By Fausta

Person(s) of Interest

No, not them,

Us,

NSA, FBI secretly mining data from Internet firms...
'THEY QUITE LITERALLY CAN WATCH YOUR IDEAS AS YOU TYPE'...

MICROSOFTYAHOOGOOGLEYOUTUBEFACEBOOKSKYPEAPPLE...
Top-secret PRISM program... 
Vast Data Trove...
Billions of Phone Calls...

THE INTERNET FROM HELL
 

 

US intelligence chief denounces info ‘leak’…

NYT: Obama has lost all credibility…

Paper ‘quietly changes published editorial to make less damning’…

 Washington Post:

U.S. intelligence mining data from nine U.S. Internet companies in broad secret program  —  The National Security Agency and the FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents and connection logs …
+

Discussion: Firedoglake, Politico, Wake up America, Business Insider, The Plum Line,The Next Web, AEIdeas, ThinkProgress, Wired, Shakesville, The Week,americanthinker.com, The Hill, Wall Street Journal, The Fix, Yahoo! News, GigaOM, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway, AMERICAblog, CANNONFIRE,Daily Mail, WJLA-TV, Gawker, The Volokh Conspiracy, The PJ Tatler, CBS Denver,ABCNEWS, Right Wing News, Weasel Zippers, CBS News, The Verge, Booman Tribune, The Huffington Post, TechCrunch, ABCNEWS, The Gateway Pundit,Mashable, msnbc.com, TalkLeft, San Francisco Bay Guardian, The Spectacle Blog,Power Line, Daily Kos, Hit & Run, Balloon Juice and ProPublica, more at Mediagazer »

RELATED:

 New York Times:

President Obama’s Dragnet  —  Within hours of the disclosure that the federal authorities routinely collect data on phone calls Americans make, regardless of whether they have any bearing on a counterterrorism investigation, the Obama administration issued the same platitude it has offered every …
Discussion: American Prospect, Yahoo! News, Crooks and Liars, Bloomberg,Colorlines, Weasel Zippers, DownWithTyranny!, Guardian, Slate, Washington Post, National Review, CBS News, Conservative Intelligence …, Via Meadia,CBS Boston, Israel Matzav, Ed Driscoll, Right Turn, Los Angeles Times, Pressing Issues, ParaPundit, Politico, Outside the Beltway, Lawfare, Mediaite, The Next Web, Wired, The Hugh Hewitt Show, Pundit & Pundette, Firedoglake, Business Insider, The PJ Tatler, Hot Air, Hit & Run, The Daily Caller and Law Blog, more atMediagazer »

 Guardian:

NSA taps into internet giants’ systems to mine user data, secret files reveal  —  • Top secret PRISM program claims direct access to servers of firms including Google, Facebook and Apple  —  • Companies deny any knowledge of program in operation since 2007
Discussion: Washington Monthly, BuzzFeed, The Huffington Post, Business Insider, Daniel W. Drezner, New York Times, TechCrunch, The Volokh Conspiracy, The Gateway Pundit, Daily Kos, BuzzFeed, GigaOM, AllThingsD,Balloon Juice, Informed Comment, TIME, msnbc.com, BBC, Boing Boing, The Hill, The Moderate Voice, The Next Web, Taylor Marsh, The Hinterland Gazette,Pressing Issues, Washington Post, The Agonist, Associated Press, The Raw Story, The Atlantic Online, The Week, The Verge, Alan Colmes’ Liberaland,Yahoo! News, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Samizdata, VodkaPundit, Hit & Run,Mashable and Politico


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Filed Under: Barack Obama, Fausta's blog, government, news Tagged With: Fausta's blog, National Security Agency, NSA

June 6, 2013 By Fausta

FYI,

in case you missed it,

NSA is collecting the phone records of MILLIONS of Verizon customers daily under top secret order issued in April and it lasts into July

  • A copy of a secret order shows that the National Security Agency ordered Verizon to hand over millions of phone records with no specific explanation
  • Order extends from April 25 until July 19
  • Comes just after news of the Department of Justice spying on journalists

Because of the lack of distinction, it means that the phone records are not just being collected for suspected terrorists, but the company’s entire consumer base.

Meanwhile, Obama and Google swap staff


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Filed Under: Barack Obama, government Tagged With: Fausta's blog, National Security Agency, NSA

May 15, 2013 By Fausta

The IRS: soon in charge of enforcing Obamacare

Ponder that disquieting thought while you read Drudge’s roundup: The governmental agency that did this will have full access to all your medical records, in addition to your financial records.

CLAIM: OBAMA CAMPAIGN CO-CHAIR ATTACKED ROMNEY WITH LEAKED DOCS…

IRS ASKED FOR FACEBOOK POSTS, READING LISTS, PRIVATE THOUGHTS


W.H. Blames Treasury Dept for IRS Scandal…

CARNEY: Just because IRS apologized doesn’t mean it did anything wrong…

POLL: Most Want IRS Officials Fired or Jailed… Developing…

REPORT: Agency demanded list of students trained by conservative group…

FRANKLIN GRAHAM: WE WERE TARGETED…

Rev. Billy Graham Endorsed Romney…

‘Special unit’ went after pro-Israel Jewish groups…

Official speedily approved exemption for Obama’s brother’s ‘charity’…

Agency won’t say if it will comply with congressional demand…

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Filed Under: Barack Obama, government, health care, healthcare, income taxes Tagged With: Fausta's blog, IRS

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