Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Friday, 8 April 2016

The European Union Times


Posted: 08 Apr 2016 08:02 AM PDT


Former President Bill Clinton lashed out at Black Lives Matter protesters Thursday during a speech at his wife’s campaign rally in Philadelphia.
After the protesters began chanting and raising signs, one of which read “CLINTON Crime Bill Destroyed Our Communities,” the former commander in chief fired back in defense of his 1994 crime law.
“I don’t know how you would characterize the gang leaders who got 13-year-old kids hopped on crack and sent them out on the street to murder other African-American children,” he said.
Clinton also appeared to back his wife’s controversial 1994 comments in which she characterized young gang members as “super predators” who needed to “be brought to heel.”
“Maybe you thought they were good citizens. She didn’t.”
Hillary Clinton similarly faced protest over the comment last February when she was confronted by a Black Lives Matter demonstrator during a private event.
“We want you to apologize for mass incarceration. I am not a ‘super-predator,’ Hillary Clinton. Will you apologize to black people for mass incarceration?” the protester, Ashley Williams, said.
In 2015 Bill Clinton said he regretted signing the legislation, known as the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, due to its effect on the black community.

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Posted: 08 Apr 2016 04:20 AM PDT

Romania has arrested two employees of an Israeli intelligence company on charges of spying on and trying to intimidate the country’s chief anti-corruption prosecutor, officials say.
“An investigation has been launched and two people have been arrested,” Mihaela Porime, a spokeswoman for the anti-crime and terrorist prosecutors’ office, said on Wednesday, adding that the suspects work for the Israeli private intelligence agency, Black Cube.
The firm reportedly has several former operatives of Israel’s Mossad spy agency on its payroll.
The pair were identified as Belgian David Geclowitz and Israeli-born Ron Weiner, who holds a French passport.
They are suspected of hacking the emails of people close to Laura Codruta Kovesi, the chief prosecutor of Romania’s National Anti-corruption Directorate (DNA), and of threatening and harassing her family members.
The arrest warrant said the two had in March set up a “criminal group … aimed at sullying Kovesi’s image.”
According to Romanian judicial sources, the two are believed to have been employed by a client being investigated by the DNA.
Meanwhile, Kovesi confirmed that the detentions were “linked to a failed intimidation bid.”
Kovesi, who was appointed last month for a second term as Romania’s chief anti-corruption prosecutor, is known for her tough approach to high-level graft.
Her agency prosecuted some 1,250 cases only in 2015, with targets including a former premier and five ex-ministers.
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Posted: 08 Apr 2016 03:28 AM PDT
‘The View’ host Joy Behar gave Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton a hug and then asked her about Donald Trump’s rise in the political ranks.
When it comes to the feud between Republican frontrunner Donald Trump and Fox News Channel host Megyn Kelly, Hillary Clinton declared herself today to be on team Megyn Kelly.
During an appearance on ‘The View,’ Clinton ticked off a number of people who have been personally victimized by The Donald from Mexican immigrants, to John McCain – ‘who’s a friend of mine,’ Clinton said – to ‘so many women.’
‘The way he treated Megyn Kelly, who is a superb journalist. Right?’ scoffed the former secretary of state.
‘I just don’t understand what he thinks is the role of somebody who is running for president,’ Clinton added.
While voters are heading to the polls in Wisconsin today, Clinton – who’s likely to lose the state by several points according to the most recent set of polls – hightailed it home to New York, which holds its primary April 19.
There she sat down with the women of ‘The View,’ for a long segment that, at the top, focused on what might happen if Trump were elected president.
‘Well, let’s make sure that doesn’t happen, No. 1,’ Clinton replied with host Joy Behar asked a theoretical question about women’s rights under a Trump Administration.
Clinton reminded Behar and the other women of the views that Trump had started his insult tour on day No. 1.
‘He started on his very first day saying all Mexican immigrants are rapists and criminals, right? And then he moved on to attack people with disabilities. He attacked John McCain,’ she ticked off.
‘And said he wasn’t really a war hero,’ Clinton added. ‘He was a POW for years and he was so brave.’
She then reminded the women of Trump’s plan to ban Muslims from entering the country, suggesting he went after American Muslims as well.
‘So it’s not only women and we who should be concerned, it’s everybody because of the way that he conducts himself,’ Clinton said.
Behar asked how The Donald could have so many ‘fans,’ to which Clinton touted her own numbers.
‘Well, he does have a lot of people who are voting in the Republican primary, but to put it in a broader perspective, I have more votes than he does.’
‘I have a million more votes,’ Clinton said.
Clinton does have about a million more votes than Trump, according to the Green Papers, but she’s competed against two candidates tops – Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who dropped out the night of the Iowa Caucuses.
Trump’s competitors were in the double-digits in the early contests, which helps explain his raw vote deficit, while many more Republicans were attracted to the GOP polls.
‘I don’t think the vast majority of Americans, let’s hope, want to reward that kind of behavior and that sort of really hateful rhetoric,’ Clinton again said of Trump.
Bottom line? If Hillary likes Megyn Kelly so much and she thinks she’s superb, then you can imagine how bad Megyn Kelly really is, IF you are a conservative Republican of course.
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Posted: 08 Apr 2016 02:10 AM PDT

German authorities ordered the police in Cologne to cover up sex crimes that took place during the city’s New Year’ Eve celebrations, German newspaper Express.de reported.
The government of North Rhine-Westphalia put pressure on police in Cologne to cover up reports of sexual assaults, including rape, which happened on New Year’s Eve, Express.de reported on Wednesday.
According to confidential police messages and emails obtained by the newspaper, authorities in Cologne sent a message to the State Ministry of the Interior in Dusseldorf at 1:21 pm on New Year’s Day, about a “Major Event.”
“The content is highly explosive – because even then it was clear that the event was the kind of mass crime committed by large groups that had not happened before in this scale in Germany, or in Europe,” Express.de wrote.
“Rape, sexual assault, theft and robberies have been committed by large groups of foreigners,” the authorities in Cologne informed the interior ministry.
“Up to now we know of 11 attacks, mainly on young women, committed by groups of 40 to 50 people during New Year’s Eve celebrations at the city’s train station square,” the message continued, Express.de reported.
“The women were surrounded by the groups, groped through their clothing, were robbed and had jewelry stolen,” and the police said they knew of one incident of rape.
“The groups of perpetrators were consistently described by their victims as North Africans aged 17-28. Investigations are continuing. There are expected to be further reports during the course of the day.”
The report is “incredible,” Express.de wrote, and even more incredible was the response from the State Office for Central Police Services (LZPD) in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), part of the state’s interior ministry.
The LZPD made a telephone call to the police to request, “At the wish of the Ministry,” that the message be “canceled,” or the term “rape” erased.
Express.de reported that confidential police memos make reference to the phone call, including correspondence between deputy police chief Heidemarie Wiehler and the state director for criminal policing Dieter Schurmann.
On Wednesday a spokesman for NRW Interior Minister Ralf Jager denied that the ministry had ordered the message to be deleted, and claimed instead that the subject of the phone call had been the “coordination” of operations between the Cologne police and the state police authority.
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Posted: 08 Apr 2016 01:05 AM PDT


In recent weeks, two independent journalists traveled undercover to document their experience in the socialist “paradise” of Caracas, the murder capitol of the world, and lived to share an incredible video showing the ultimate conclusion of a state run economy.
Venezuela is in the midst of a complete economic collapse, with all the typical symptoms, including hyperinflation, government price controls, rampant criminal activity and worst of all, a murder problem. Luckily, Luke Rudkowski of WeAreChange, and Jeff Berwick, The Dollar Vigilante, were willing to risk their own well being to lift the veil of socialism and expose the fraud for what is it.
Berwick explains in the video below how they landed at the airport just hours after someone was killed in the terminal where they would later convert a small amount of foreign currency for a back pack full of hyper inflated Bolívar, enough to buy dinner. The Bolivar has experienced a massive devaluation in the last few years which appears to only be accelerating.
“This is a true country in collapse,” Berwick explains. This is hyperinflation and socialism reaching it’s ultimate end”
The Venezuelan government has mandated that all businesses display gun free, smoke free and “racist free” signage as a backwards attempt to curb the gun violence problem that has erupted in the country. But, it should come as no surprise that criminals thrive when their victims are powerless to defend themselves.
The video goes on to show an abandoned sky scraper known as El Torre de David, which has earned the nickname, “World’s Tallest Slum.” The 45-story building in the center of Caracas is home to an estimated 750 squatters and criminals alike. You may remember this building being depicted in the TV series Homeland.
When governments devalue their currencies, prices naturally rise in order to provide an equal exchange between labor and currency, which is known as inflation. When governments print money at a rate that is unsustainable, prices will inevitably rise at a faster rate.
One restaurant resorted to taping an updated price list on their menus every week in order to keep up with rapidly rising prices to avoid having to print all new menus. Obviously rising prices are never popular with governments and they often blame businesses for being greedy at the expense of the poor. Predictably, the Venezuelan government has implemented an array of price controls on different consumer products to somehow protect their citizens from their own self inflicted inflation problem. When in reality, they are simply making certain products unprofitable to produce. When products are not profitable to produce, businesses stop making them, leading to the next predictable outcome of a manipulated market, shortages.
One of the most widely reported shortages is toilette paper. Fusion reports that shortages of essential hygiene products has led the hotel industry into a state of desperation.
Venezuela’s product shortages have become so severe that some hotels in that country are asking guests to bring their own toilet paper and soap, a local tourism industry spokesman said on Wednesday.
In Merida, a state in western Venezuelan that’s known for its stunning mountain landscapes, small hotels are struggling to stock their rooms with basic supplies, especially as the busy Semana Santa or Holy Week holiday gets underway.
“It’s an extreme situation,” says Xinia Camacho, owner of a 20-room boutique hotel in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada national park. “For over a year we haven’t had toilet paper, soap, any kind of milk, coffee or sugar. So we have to tell our guests to come prepared.”
One of the most telling themes of the video is fear. The Venezuelan people are living in fear of criminals and government officials and it’s likely hard to tell the two gangs apart. Businesses are becoming more of an extension of the state, having to display entire cork boards of licenses and permission slips just to trade goods or services. The streets are a ghost town when the sun sets in fear of being kidnapped, robbed, or killed. No one is friendly, everyone is a potential threat to ones survival. The hunger games have come to Venezuela in the form of socialism.
Throughout history, hyperinflation usually sparks a movement towards a financial safe haven. People seek durable goods, hard assets, or alternative currencies in hopes they can preserve their labor. Traditionally gold and silver have filled that role as a hedge against inflation, but its often hard to cross borders with metal. But thanks to Bitcoin, large or small sums of money can be transferred anywhere in the world via any internet enabled device without government involvement or fear of inflation.
It comes as no surprise that the Venezuelan government has been releasing a steady stream of anti-Bitcoin propaganda in hopes the people won’t lose all faith in the state based currency. The state operated Venezuelan TV released an article claiming that Bitcoin should not be used since it is “being promoted” by criminals and terrorists as if criminals don’t use government currency to finance their operations. The article even blames the popularity of Bitcoin as having a role in the economic collapse…
For Venezuelans it is no secret the damage it has caused to the economy the boost and promotion through pages as Dollar Today has been given an illegal and criminal exchange rate system has caused great harm to the national economy, caused induced inflation levels, which do not correspond to the normal parameters of economic development.
It was recently reported that many people have begun using the BitCoin, as an alternative to evade policies on foreign exchange is driving the Bolivarian Government to ensure proper development of the economy.
They also claim that Bitcoin is not backed by anything and is only used to pay “illegal transactions.” While true, Bitcoin is not backed by anything, it is a precious commodity, similar to precious metals. But Bitcoin doesn’t have a monopoly on criminal activity. Many criminals still deal in government cash. Regardless, Bitcoin is mined into existence just like any other precious metal, except it’s virtual and can be transferred to anyone, anywhere at anytime, at extremely low costs. High profile companies like Overstock.com even accept bitcoin as a payment method and last time I checked, they only sell legal products. Ironically, the Bolivar and every other fiat currency around the globe is backed by the institution of government, which is nothing more than a Ponzi Scheme kept alive by the threat of violence.
With an incredible amount of evidence at our fingertips, it’s sad to see a “democratic socialist” have such popularity in the United States. This socialist phenomenon is so easy to refute, yet people believe only what they want to hear. But for those who bother to lift the veil of socialism they will ultimately find a horrific, disastrous society where individuals risk their lives to escape it. It’s safe to say that Venezuela is feeling the Bern.
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Posted by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi at 18:31