Free Republic

Her daughter, Karen, has scooped up nearly $650,000 in payments from Mama Waters’ slate mailer operation for her federal campaign committee since 2006, the Washington Free Beacon reported this week. And Mama Waters owes her well-heeled daughter an additional $108,000. Waters also mau-maued the House Veterans Committee into hiring two black staffers. And she walked away with a slap on the wrist from the toothless House Ethics Committee in 2012 after being charged with multiple ethics violations related to her meddling in minority-owned OneUnited Bank. Reminder for all the new fangirls and fanboys suffering from Maxi-mnesia: Her husband, Sidney, was...

North Korea is so isolated that rather than bring the Internet to its hackers, it brings them to it—in a swank hotel in China. The luxury hotel that has been called a command post for North Korean hackers would make for a unique holiday getaway and give you lots to talk about back home. “Surprisingly Great Hotel - Clean, Tasteful.... and North Korean!” says a trip advisor review for the Chilbosan Hotel in Shenyang, China. For just $53, you get “a deluxe twin room,” including a North Korean breakfast considerably more substantial than those enjoyed by the vast majority of...

A huge range of security exploits, said to be worth over $2m if sold on the black market, have been leaked online.The tools are said to have been created by the US National Security Agency (NSA), and accompanying documents appear to indicate a possible breach of the Swift global banking system.Such a hack could have enabled the US to covertly monitor financial transactions, researchers said.The files were released by Shadow Brokers, a hacking group that has previously leaked malware.If genuine, it represents perhaps the most significant exposure of NSA files since the Edward Snowden leaks in 2013.On Twitter, Mr Snowden...

U.S. security and law-enforcement officials say they have fresh evidence of recent efforts by Iran to evade sanctions and acquire metals from China used in high-tech weaponry, including long-range nuclear missiles. Iran's efforts are detailed in a series of recent emails and letters between Iranian companies and foreign suppliers seen by The Wall Street Journal. Business records show one Iranian company, ABAN Commercial & Industrial Ltd., has contracted through an intermediary for more than 30,000 kilograms (about 66,000 pounds) of tungsten copper -- which can be used in missile guidance systems -- from Advanced Technology & Materials Co. Ltd. of...

France's Marine Le Pen is the biggest risk to European stability, Credit Suisse said in a guide launched on Thursday to help investors navigate the upcoming "defining" months facing the continent. Analyzing possible outcomes in the Dutch, French and German elections as well as Britain's triggering of Article 50 to kick-start Brexit and Greece's debt negotiations, Credit Suisse strategists offered three scenarios for Europe's immediate future.     Scenario one, billed as "positive" by Switzerland's number two bank, sees pro-European, centrist candidates winning in France and Germany when the key continental powers vote in April and September, respectively.    ...

World leaders and economists are pushing harder than ever toward a cashless society. With anti-cash measures already being tested in Europe and the Third World, itÂ’s only a matter of time until the global elite push for the same in the U.S. Will globalistsÂ’ dream of a cashless society soon become reality? Plotting in Switzerland Last month, members of the World Economic Forum, more commonly known as the Davos Elite, met for their annual gathering in Switzerland, and the pursuit of a global cashless society was a major topic on their agenda. Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, a key member...

This year’s U.S. election completely shocked the world. It seemed clear that Hillary Clinton was backed by the big banks and other elite groups to run the American empire, and Wikileaks further helped to illustrate how corporate and financial interests control the presidency. This is exactly why Trump’s election came as such a surprise, and why mainstream media continues to demonize him. Of course, his many and obvious flaws make it easy for them to do so, but in an age where mainstream media completely controls the thoughts and perceptions of the masses, it is important to remember that...

A historic partnership has been born between OneUnited Bank, the largest Black owned bank in the country, and #BlackLivesMatter to organize the $1.2 trillion in spending power of Black America and launch the “Amir” card during Black History Month. Both OneUnited Bank and #BlackLivesMatter are strong advocates for the empowerment of Black people, and have taken special care to communicate this focus through their messaging and their work. #BlackLivesMatter was sparked by the acquittal of the killer of 17 year-old Trayvon Martin and founded in 2013 as a rallying cry to decree that while every human life matters, it is...

NEW YORK (AP) — Nordstrom says it will stop selling Ivanka Trump clothing and accessories, creating some questions about the future of the brand elsewhere.That innocuous headline caught my eye Friday, because it confirmed the arrival of what FOX Business Network and SRN financial commentator Lou Dobbs brilliantly calls “Corporate Bullying.” Naturally, Seattle-based Nordstrom stores won’t cop to knuckling-under to threats of “boycotts” by ad hoc online terrorists like the group #Grab Your Wallet. When I contacted Nordstrom headquarters to get the straight-skinny on why Ivanka Trump’s product line is really being dropped. I received the following homogenized, weasel-worded response...

Norwegian bank Storebrand is offering new ‘halal loans’ based on Islamic principles. The bank recently created a website promoting ‘ethical loans’ for home financing without interest. The bank writes that it is testing the idea of interest-free loans in part to appeal to Muslim home buyers who may not want to accept a traditional loan because of their faith. Islam prohibits charging interest or fees on financial loans. “We wanted to find out if there could be another way to enter a housing market with rising prices. The product could appeal to young people, new graduates or people who can...

Big banks shouldn't act like hedge funds by making dangerous bets that can ruin the economy. That's the principle behind the Volcker Rule, a controversial part of the post-crisis Wall Street reform. The rule prohibits banks like Goldman Sachs or JPMorgan from making risky wagers with their own money and bans them owning big stakes in hedge funds or private-equity firms. The banks hate it. Wall Street has bitterly complained about the Volcker Rule for years... ...named after legendary Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, who came up with the idea and fought hard to include it in Dodd-Frank. But recently,...

The Ukrainian government announced on Sunday that it will nationalize PrivatBank, the country's biggest lender, in one of the biggest shake-ups of the banking system since the country plunged into political and economic turmoil two years ago. In a statement late on Sunday, the government made no mention of the size of the potential burden to the state budget, but said it would ensure a stable transition and the smooth functioning of the bank. The Finance Ministry will take over PrivatBank, which is part-owned by one of Ukraine's richest men, the powerful oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky. Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk said...

Regulations: Donald Trump will have a busy first day if he plans to undo much of the damage inflicted on the economy by President Obama. Nevertheless, here's one more item to add to his list: Overturn $1.7 billion in Dodd-Frank rules. The Dodd-Frank financial "reform," passed by Democrats and signed into law by President Obama in 2010, is arguably the most misguided and economically harmful piece of legislation ever imposed on the country (the second, arguably, is ObamaCare). As we've noted in this space before, one of the main reasons the economy has been stuck in neutral for the past...

The tiny Pacific island of Nauru has spent weeks completely cut off from the outside world after its telecommunications network collapsed. Its isolation is so complete that no one is even sure who the country's president is any more. Nauru, an isolated speck in the southwest Pacific with a population of 12,000, is in a "critical situation", according to the last message received by the outside world. That came via an address given three weeks ago by the man last believed to be running the country, President Bernard Dowiyogo, details of which were given on Friday by Radio Australia....

Amid scenes of panic across India, following PM Modi's shock decision to withdraw high-value bills in the middle of the sowing and wedding season, Reuters reports the move, aimed at cracking down on the shadow economy, has brought India's cash economy to a virtual standstill. With over 90% of all transactions done in cash, money flows in and out of the black-and-white system... until now, as Devangshu Datta exclaims, "The system works because everybody believes that those pieces of paper will be accepted by everybody else... This move has shaken that trust." Farmers have been left stranded as traders have...

"He finally broke and he walked them through what he had done. "They totted up his losses and by Sunday night they worked out that the losses were about £1.2 billion. The bank's bosses decided it had to cancel the bets immediately when the markets opened on Monday. "They started unwinding them on Monday morning - but because the market was failing the £1.2 billion loss became a £3.7 billion loss." Some senior City figures said the "positions" were so huge that dumping them on one day could have been enough to trigger Monday's stock market meltdown, the worst since...

The soon-to-be White House chief strategist laid out a global vision in a rare 2014 talk, one where he said racism in the far right gets “washed out” and called Vladimir Putin a kleptocrat. BuzzFeed News publishes the complete transcript for the first time.

The British spy whose body was found padlocked inside a bag in his flat had illegally hacked into secret data on former U.S. president Bill Clinton, it has been revealed. Gareth Williams, 31, was discovered in a holdall in the bath at his London home five years ago this month, but the mystery surrounding his death has never been solved. Today, it has been revealed the spy had dug out a guest list for an event Clinton was due to attend as a favour for a friend. The hack breached Mr Williams' security clearance and this sparked anger among MI6...

Snips from excerpt only website: His body was found in an extra-large North Face bag, a type which is favoured by explorers because of its 140 litres of storage capacity, durable material, double stitching, twin haul handles and locking zips.  Erotic asphyxiation is defined as the intentional restriction of oxygen to the brain for sexual arousal. There were also rumours that Mr Williams was the victim of a professional ‘hit’. Other theories included the suggestion that he had been murdered by Russian agents.  Tests on his body were ordered to establish whether he was poisoned, as happened when Polonium 210...

Sources have told this newspaper that Britain's intelligence services – MI6, MI5 and GCHQ – are liaising closely to establish whether Gareth Williams was targeted by a foreign power. The 31-year-old was seconded from GCHQ to work on top-secret systems to defend British banks and transport infrastructure from cyber attack and to eavesdrop on terrorist communications.