Underground stories 04-10-14

SOMETHING HUGE JUST HAPPENED AND THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA IS IGNORING IT

You may be aware of Mark Levin's book "The Liberty Amendments" released last year which called for a "Convention of the States". Article 5 of the Constitution gives the several states the ability to convene a convention in which the Constitution may be amended, changed, or even scrapped.

Last week Michigan's legislature voted and passed a resolution calling for a Constitutional Convention. They are the 34th state to do so, and this should trigger the Convention of the States. Pretty major, yet the MSM is ignoring it.

From TRN News:

The most important political development in 200 years was triggered last week, when the state legislature of Michigan became the 34 th state to demand a "Constitutional Convention" in the United States. Under Article 5 of the US Constitution, if 2/3rds of the states call for such a convention, (meaning 34 states) it MUST take place. During such a convention, the ENTIRE Constitution can be changed; nothing is off-limits. This would even allow the States to dismantle the federal government without its consent, and repudiate the debt which that government has incurred! When it voted for the convention last week, Michigan became the 34 th state, thus meeting the requirement.

A goal has been reached behind what would be an unprecedented effort to amend the U.S. Constitution, through a little-known provision that gives states rather than Congress the power to initiate changes. This is the most significant political development in the entire world in the last 200 years.

Prediction: Barack Obama may not finish his second term as president

I believe this is a very real possiblity that President Barack Obama will not finish his second term as president. This is not a conspiracy but a very simple explanation of what could possibly be happen, if what seems to be true, is in fact true, about this president. While CNN might spend as long delving into different theories about this, if the prediciton comes true, as they have about Flight 370 and its disppearance, the explanation for this is really simple.
We have a very narcissistic, manipulating, controlling manchild president that Pastor James David Manning, on his radio program The Manning Report, called a cocaine smoking, homosexual, pathological liar, and a “mack daddy.” The allegations are abound, that the president is very likely to still be abusing cocaine or perhaps crack cocaine while in the White House. While I have no evidence of this, I do believe it is very possible and probably true.

Report by Same Publication that Broke John Edwards Story: "Michelle Walks Out As Obama Divorce Battle Explodes!"

IN a major behind-the-scenes blowout, President BARACK OBAMA and first lady MICHELLE waged their worst White House fight ever over her lavish vacation trip to China!

Sources tell The ENQUIRER that Obama exploded when Michelle refused to cancel her pricey getaway - even after White House advisers warned him that the first couple's six-year string of extravagant vacations had already drained the U.S. Treasury of a whopping $150 million in taxpayers' money.

Instead of postponing her trip, a furious Michelle - still seething over the embarrassing "selfie" Barack recently snapped with a leggy blonde head of state - announced that she was taking her mother along for company.

She further declared that she didn't want reporters covering her activities overseas.

"This was a blowout of epic proportions - probably the nastiest White House fight they've ever had," a Washington, D.C., insider told The ENQUIRER.

"They were both screaming at one another.

"The president was infuriated when advisers told him that they'd added up the costs of all their 'vacations' and China was putting them over the $150 million mark.

"But he's defenseless to stop Michelle because their marriage has collapsed. She's doing what she wants - and that's seeing the world on the American taxpayers' dime."

The embattled commander in chief flat-out begged his wife of 21 years to postpone the trip, according to a family insider.

"But she refused," said the source.

"Then, when Barack asked why she had to take her mother along, Michelle ripped into him. She screamed that he was 'lucky' that she hadn't left him after that embarrassing 'selfie,' and then she stormed off."

Michelle arrived in Beijing with her mother, Marian Robinson, and the Obamas' daughters, 15-year-old Malia and Sasha, 12, on March 20 for a planned seven-day, three-city trip.

They checked into the lavish presidential suite at the Beijing Westin hotel, costing a whopping $8,350 per night. The 3,400-square-foot suite included 24-hour butler service and a steam room.

One published report quoted hotel employees grumbling about Michelle's mom "barking at the staff " and added that the first lady's party was "inconveniencing pretty much everyone."

And it quickly became clear that Michelle had apparently won the battle to avoid media scrutiny.

While she was scheduled to deliver a speech to students at Peking University, "The Weekly Standard" reported that "she won't be accompanied by the press" because "she does not plan to give interviews."

BREAKING: Emails Show Lois Lerner Fed True the Vote Tax Information to Democrat Elijah Cummings

New IRS emails released by the House Oversight Committee show staff working for Democratic Ranking Member Elijah Cummings communicated with the IRS multiple times between 2012 and 2013 about voter fraud prevention group True the Vote. True the Vote was targeted by the IRS after applying for tax exempt status more than two years ago. Further, information shows the IRS and Cummings' staff asked for nearly identical information from True the Vote President Catherine Engelbrecht about her organization, indicating coordination and improper sharing of confidential taxpayer information.
Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell Issa, along with five Subcommittee Chairmen are demanding Cummings provide an explanation for the staff inquiries to the IRS about True the Vote and for his denial that his staff ever contacted the IRS about the group.
“Although you have previously denied that your staff made inquiries to the IRS about conservative organization True the Vote that may have led to additional agency scrutiny, communication records between your staff and IRS officials – which you did not disclose to Majority Members or staff – indicates otherwise,” the letter to Cummings states. “As the Committee is scheduled to consider a resolution holding Ms. Lerner, a participant in responding to your communications that you failed to disclose, in contempt of Congress, you have an obligation to fully explain your staff’s undisclosed contacts with the IRS.”
The first contact between the IRS and Cummings' staffers about True the Vote happened in August 2012. In January 2013, staff asked for more information from the IRS about the group. Former head of tax exempt groups at the IRS Lois Lerner went out of her way to try and get information to Cummings' office.The information Cummings received was not shared with Majority Members on the Committee. 

Operation American Spring delivering docs calling for impeachment, resignations

Starting Tuesday morning, members of both houses of Congress began receiving copies of documents demanding the resignations of six top government officials for violating their oath of office from members of Operation American Spring, the group said in a press release emailed to Examiner.com Wednesday.
The documents also include articles of impeachment against President Obama for what the group calls high crimes against the state.
"This bold move is only the second time in our nation’s rich history such a demand has been made to relieve our
oppressed and abused people from an egalitarian, corrupt, and unresponsive regime," the group said.
The group also said Americans have only two options: Either "surrender to totalitarian rule by Marxist ideologues, or enforce our American ideals and principles."
Operation American Spring said that it envisions 10 to 20 million Americans committed to reforming the government, and, according to a group spokesperson, may meet or exceed that goal.
OAS says it is modeled after the Arab Spring that saw regime change in Egypt, along with other successful, popular, and massive demonstrations against oppressive bureaucracies.
"And in the face of those who claim that even if those numbers are achieved, there is no way our corrupt leadership will comply with the People’s demands—one only has to witness the Arab and Ukrainian movements—where they turned out their corrupt and incompetent usurpers without the benefit of Constitutional validation," OAS added.
The goal, according to retired Col Harry Riley, is the removal of President Obama, Vice President Biden, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio and California Democrat Nancy Pelosi, the House Minority Leader.
Col. Riley said the protest -- set to begin on May 16 -- operates under six main assumptions:
READ MORE HERE

The Plot to Take Away Our Electoral College

George Soros, Andrew Cuomo, the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, the Sierra Club, the NAACP, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, and major liberal big-city newspapers across the country support replacing our Electoral College system with what they call a National Popular Vote Compact.
“Let’s do away with the Electoral College and have our presidential elections determined by a straight popular vote of the people. What could be more democratic?”

It all sounds so right – if you say it fast enough. After all, there were four times in American history when a presidential candidate won the popular vote but lost the election – and how can that be fair?
All right, let’s look at history – and then let’s think this through. And let’s keep in mind that, no matter how well crafted, and no matter how well intentioned, no system works in a vacuum of morality.
Back in the 1824 presidential election, there were four candidates for president. Andrew Jackson received more votes than the other three candidates and more Electoral College votes, but none of the four candidates won more than 50 percent of the Electoral College.

READ MORE....

Eastern Ukraine erupts. Should we be surprised?

This week's outpouring of pro-Russian sentiment in eastern Ukraine was long in the making, despite the apparent calm there after Crimea's annexation

For many, the sudden seizure of buildings in Donetsk was as unexpected as the arrival of masked, armed soldiers in Crimea six weeks ago.

In eastern Ukraine, as in Crimea, a majority of the population is ethnically Russian. In many regions, such as Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Dnipropetrovsk, loyalties to Russia also run strong, and distrust of the new government in Kiev runs deep. And as in Crimea, many ethnic Russians voice fears – exaggerated or not – of discrimination at the hands of Ukrainian nationalists who helped topple the previous government. 
However, until this weekend, eastern Ukraine had appeared calm. Nobody had attempted a coup or uprising; no paramilitary soldiers patrolled the streets. 
But while Sunday's separatist upheaval may have appeared spontaneous, its underlying forces had been building for some time. And tacit encouragement from Moscow, if not outright manipulation, helped to bring Donetsk and other cities to the boil.

RECOMMENDED: How much do you know about Ukraine? Take our quiz!

Until this weekend, eastern Ukraine’s outward calm concealed growing polarization. Long before Sunday’s separatist demonstrations, local activists of the movement known as EuroMaidan, or Maidan for short, say they have been feeling intensifying hostility from pro-Russian neighbors. 
EuroMaidan supporters who own businesses in Donetsk say that they have faced increased bureaucratic hassles in recent weeks, including fire code inspections, tax audits, and other administrative pressures. Many have started to carry guns in their cars; others are switching apartments for sleep on a regular basis. Activists are afraid to meet in person and instead hold online voice discussions using virtual private networks to try to evade Russian surveillance.
“Only idiots aren’t afraid these days,” says one activist who asked not to be named, fearing Russian security agents.

Putin Turns Up Economic Heat Ahead Of Ukraine Talks

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin turned up the heat on Ukraine on Wednesday by threatening to demand advance payment for gas supplies, a move designed to exert economic pressure as Ukraine confronts possible bankruptcy, a mutiny by pro-Russian separatists in the east and a Russian military buildup across the border.
NATO's top commander in Europe warned that the alliance could respond to the Russian military threat against Ukraine by deploying U.S. troops to Eastern Europe, but Putin's latest tactics suggest he may be aiming to secure Russia's clout with its neighbor without invading.
Speaking at a Cabinet session, the Russian leader voiced hope that diplomatic efforts to ease the Ukrainian crisis would yield "positive results," an apparent reference to talks set for next week that will bring together the U.S., the European Union, Russia and Ukraine for the first time.
Russia wants the talks to focus on a roadmap for Ukraine that would include constitutional reforms to turn it into a federation and guarantee its neutral status. Those demands reflect the Kremlin's hope of retaining influence over its neighbor and ensuring it does not join NATO. Ukraine has responded by saying it will not be dictated by Russia.
Taking a tough stance ahead of the negotiations set for next week, Putin instructed the government to be prepared to charge Ukraine in advance for gas supplies — a step that would inflict more pain on a nation already teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. He said the change needed to be taken if "additional consultations" with the European Union fail to yield results.
Russia has already eliminated a gas discount it had given Ukraine, arguing that it was tied to a lease for Russia's Black Sea Fleet base in Crimea, a Ukrainian region that Russia annexed last month. And Ukraine has promised the International Monetary Fund that it will cut energy subsidies to residents in exchange for a bailout loan of up to $14 billion. That means gas prices were set to rise 50 percent on May 1, even before the latest salvo from Putin.
The Kremlin pressure comes as pro-Russia protesters have continued to occupy government buildings in eastern Ukraine.

Hello Fracking, Goodbye Saudis

Joergen Oerstroem Moeller, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore
This article first appeared in YaleGlobal.
SINGAPORE -- Shale oil and gas has been labeled a game changer. Statistics would suggest that, yes, the new technologies and discoveries associated with hydraulic fracking change the energy picture and economic outlook, in particular for the United States, but less so than predictions would have it a year or two go.
The greater impact won't be on the U.S. economy, but rather U.S.-Saudi relations and stability for the Middle East. President Barack Obama met King Abdullah March 28, and both leaders recognize that the geopolitical ground shaped by their common interest in stable oil prices has shifted, creating a new imbalance that could spill over into Mideast security policy.
Estimates for the impact on U.S. economic growth vary from 0.2 percentage points per year to a marginal hike of the growth rate. Petrochemical exports have risen threefold from 2006 to 2012, but account for not more than 1.2 percent of U.S. gross domestic product.
The trade balance has improved by a modest 0.1 to 0.2 percentage per year, yet still is in deficit to the tune of around 3.5 percent of GDP. The expectations were and still are that shale oil and gas would help bring manufacturing back to the U.S. - re-manufacturing. The figures do not bear such hopes out though. From 2007 to 2009 more than 2 million manufacturing jobs were lost; 600,000 have returned.
Most analyses set the profitability of the technology to extract shale oil and gas at an oil price of U.S. $60 to 80 per barrel. That should put future extraction on the safe side, but so far low hanging fruits have been plucked, postponing the prospect of higher costs. Hydraulic fracking is exempt, totally or partly, from major federal environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act.
These exemptions are not likely to vanish overnight, but environmental concerns are lurking in the background; any alterations will inevitably result in higher costs.
Since the Shah of Iran's fall in 1979, the world of oil has been governed by a tacit American-Saudi Arabian understanding that keeps a firm grip on Middle East politics. There have been ups and downs, but the partners have never questioned the understanding -- until now.
READ FULL STORY HERE

Bomb explodes outside Bank of Greece offices in central Athens

A bomb exploded outside a Bank of Greece building in central Athens before dawn Thursday, causing some damage but no injuries.
The blast came hours before Greece was to return to the international bond markets for the first time in four years, and a day before German Chancellor Angela Merkel was to visit Athens.
The explosion was heard throughout the area, a largely commercial zone which is one of the Greek capital’s most central, a few blocks away from the Greek parliament. It was preceded by two anonymous calls to a news website and a newspaper warning that a bomb had been planted in a car outside the central bank building.
As dawn broke, television footage showed the charred remnants of a car in the middle of the street, with only two wheels still recognizable. Debris was strewn around. Forensic experts in white coveralls began combing through the blast site and inspecting the wreckage.
Police cordoned off all roads leading to the area. Gaggles of office workers unable to access their offices gathered in nearby cafes.
A police officer at the scene, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the bank building and surrounding buildings had suffered some damage — mainly broken windows.
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Army goes to war with National Guard, seizes all Apache attack helicopters

 The National Guard is following a direct order — but it’s not happy with it. All of the Guard’s AH-64 Apache helicopters are scheduled to go to the active Army, and there’s nothing its top brass can do about it.

“None of us like what we’re having to do,” National Guard Chief Gen. Frank Grass told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, the military website Defense One reported. “My big concern right now is figuring out how I’m going to move, and how many states I’m going to have an impact on, and what’s the cost of facilities and to retrain pilots. I’ve got to tackle that because the decision’s been made.”
Air Force Maj. Shannon Thomas, a spokeswoman for the Guard, reiterated the general’s position, the Army Times reported.
“These are very difficult decisions and there will be more difficult ones yet to come,” she said. “His focus now is to determine the impacts and how best to implement the decision.”

Israel launches Ofek 10 radar-based spy satellite 

The Defense Ministry and Israeli Aircraft Industries launched a spy satellite into orbit from Palmahim Air Base on Wednesday night.
The satellite, called Ofek 10, uses radar systems for observation.
It was carried into space by a Shavit (“Comet”) launch vehicle.
It soon entered orbit, and is scheduled to undergo a series of checks to ensure that key functions are working correctly.
The SAR (Synthetic aperture radar) satellite has advanced day and night photography capabilities, and will work in all weather conditions, the Defense Ministry said.
The launch was jointly carried out by IAI and the Defense Ministry’s Space Administration, which is a part of the Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure.
Israel maintains an extensive spy satellite program, which has seen the Defense Ministry invest hundreds of millions of shekels a year in space development and the satellite industry.
Defense officials said the program significantly upgrades the nation’s strategic capabilities, and strengthens the hi-tech sector. The first Israeli military satellite, Ofek 1, went into space in 1988.
Israel is one of 12 countries able to produce and launch its own satellites.

Iran’s Navy: Asian Ambitions?

Iran has a significant history of long-distance seafaring in pursuit of trade with Asia. The presence, to this day, of wealthy and influential families of Iranian descent in some Asian countries, notably India and Thailand, is lingering evidence of early Iranian maritime ambitions in the region.
Tehran’s recent foreign policy has been aimed mainly at countering the isolation brought about through international sanctions, by prioritizing official contacts with a relatively small number of friendly nations, and demonstrating that Iran retains credible international reach. The Iranian leadership is, therefore, keen to demonstrate its country’s continuing blue water capability. Over the past seven years, Iran’s offshore naval force, the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (IRIN), has undertaken about 30 increasingly ambitious overseas deployments.
IRIN’s focus is firmly on offshore waters, as coastal operations are the responsibility of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN), which has a large inventory of fast attack craft armed with torpedoes and missiles.
For many years Tehran’s leaders favored the IRGCN, and IRIN was something of a poor cousin. Now, though, a change of policy has allowed the IRIN star to rise in the Iranian political firmament, with increased funding enabling the service’s capabilities to grow significantly in recent years.
Older, Western-built frigates, corvettes and fast attack craft have been upgraded, as have IRIN’s Russian-made Kilo diesel-electric submarines. In addition, a program of indigenous construction of both surface and sub-surface warships is underway.
Under this program, a Moudge-class frigate, Jamaran, was completed in 2010. Armed with both air defense and anti-shipping cruise missiles, this warship is very active in both Iranian and more distant waters. At least two more vessels in this class, which is an Iranian upgrade of IRIN’s aging, British-built Vosper frigates, are being built, as are a number of small and midsize submarines.
IRIN ships are increasingly well armed, with many now fitted with reverse-engineered, indigenous developments of 1970s and 1980s vintage Chinese and Western weapon systems. International naval technology advances at a rapid clip, and Iranian warships are therefore very likely to be technically inferior to the latest U.S. and European front-line warships, and would probably not survive long in any conflict with such vessels. Still, IRIN is a very strong force in a regional context. Not only is its order of battle larger than those of its neighbors, unlike adjacent naval forces it also puts in a lot of time at sea, and regularly ventures into distant waters
Particularly important IRIN assets are its three large, armed, helicopter-capable fleet replenishment vessels. These are the force multipliers that enable the service’s overseas deployments.
Since 2008, IRIN task groups have been deploying on training, defense diplomacy and anti-piracy missions in Middle Eastern waters, and in the lawless seaways off Somalia. Senior U.S. Navy officers have commented favorably on the professional and courteous manner in which the service conducts its operations.
Now Tehran has extended its naval horizons, with a new emphasis on Asian waters.
The perception, widespread in the West, of a world united in its efforts to thwart Iranian nuclear ambitions is not wholly accurate. Certainly, in pragmatic Asia, there has been little evidence of unbridled enthusiasm for the application of sanctions against Iran.
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