Independent News and Politics

A few months ago, a resident near Kansas City complained that a SWAT team had taken a bunch of cash and property that wasn’t in any way related to the investigation. Of course, the SWAT team seems to have pocketed the cash because they denied ever having seen it. Then again, maybe the resident was just looking for a quick buck…

Either way, it was enough for internal affairs to call up the FBI to set up an investigation – and nail the KC SWAT team in a staged sting.

From the reports coming out, this is a pretty well documented case of police abusing their authority – something that happens way too often without any kind of proof or consequences for the officers involved. Hopefully, this time, some actual criminal charges will remind these folks that the law applies equally to everyone in this country.

The new health care reform bill achieves much of its savings by passing off unfunded mandates to the states – and those state budgets aren’t exactly in a position to absorb large new spending plans.

Meanwhile, some employers are weighing the cost of fines against the cost of rapidly rising insurance premiums, and starting to wonder if it might just be much cheaper to drop employee coverage outright. At most, they’d be required to pay a fine equal to 8% of the worker’s wages – medical costs are closer to 18% of GDP and that means a worker’s insurance costs are likely to be more like 20-25% of their salary since their children and spouses are also covered.

In response, there is a growing movement for legal relief in the federal courts.  Currently, 20 states have signed on to the suit seeking to prevent the healthcare legislation from moving forward.

Complaints about the health reform package will take on many forms:  from questions about the legal role of the federal government and their constitutional legitimacy, to concerns that small businesses and independent contractors will be left out in the cold (once again.)

By now, you’ve probably heard that the SEC has filed official charges of fraud against Goldman Sachs, but the little detail that might have escaped scrutiny is that the original SEC complaint is being followed up with a virtual flood of investigations, lawsuits, and even some criminal charges.

Not only are regulators across Europe looking for ways to get back at Goldman for its role in selling off toxic mortgages as AAA bonds (of course, the ratings agencies had to play along as well) because the German, French, and British banks that took the hit are now scrambling for enough funds to stay solvent in the face of debt crises in Spain, Greece, and Portugal.

Of course, mortgages aren’t the only part of the market that were manipulated in order to exaggerate sharp rises and falls in value – it has long been suspected that JP Morgan, Goldman, et al have been engaged in the aggressive ‘market-making’ speculation that has brought commodities, and especially precious metals, on a roller coaster over the last few years.  If this report is true, someone at the DoJ is getting ready to go after JPM for fraud in the silver markets.  When and if that happens, expect some immediate price instability – and possibly even investigations into the physical gold that is supposedly backing up all of the paper certificates sold in the last decade.

Keep an eye out for new lawsuits and complaints going public over the next few weeks.  Its going to be an interesting time…

Word is leaking out that the military assassination of U.S. citizens could be an official policy of the Pentagon in its never-ending “War on Terror.”

This grisly turn of events was first authorized by former president Bush, but there is no evidence that Obama has taken a contrary stance or moved to change the army’s stance.

Of course war is hell, but American citizens usually believe that they’re protected by trial, or Congressional debate, or at least a chance to write a letter to their editor protesting their innocence.

No, in the New World Order, American citizens may be designated as due for execution without any due process or chance for appeal.  The executioner will not show up with a legal summons, but with a bullet or a bomb.