LOA-Today

Freedom News Hour - 05/22/14

Co-hosts Walt Thiessen and Bill Westmiller  deplore the passage of the  so-called "USA Freedom Act", originally intended to  restrain NSA surveillance,  but modified at the last minute to EXPAND NSA  power.  The leadership of the House of Representatives basically caved in  to every  NSA-Justice Department demand for provisions that actually extend the   Fourth-Amendment violations of the government's Surveillance State.  Bill  itemizes some of the changes that extend NSA power and authority over  otherwise  "private" communications of Americans. Walt hopes that the  gimmicks inserted  into the law will be overturned by the Supreme Court.  China and Russia  have agreed to a multi-billion-dollar deal that will  reduce U.S. control of  international oil, gas, and power, by eliminating the  U.S. dollar as the  standard for trading. Walt notes the potential effects on  energy inflation for  American consumers.  New Housing starts are still lower than they were  after World War II,  primarily because of the "bubble" created by legislation and  the "Quantitative  Easing" of the Federal banking system. Walt reviews the  effects of  expanding fiat currency as the primary cause for inflation in all  consumer prices.

Freedom News Hour - 05/15/14

Walt Thiessen and Bill Westmiller thrash through their own views on government spending, private  surveillance, and new  forms of education.  Minor government spending cuts, called "sequestration" resulted in the loss of ONE government job. The co-hosts discuss the ways that bureaucracies deal with fixed spending levels and public  demands for transparency and  reform.  A new administration report on "big  data" didn't have any news, but Thiessen and Westmiller tackle the distinctions  between public (NSA) monitoring  and private commercial monitoring, with a few tips on how to reduce your  exposure to commercial pop-ups, ads, and other  impediments to getting web content.  Walt noted that the Common Core push has resulted in a lot of criticism  and educational alternatives being made  available to parents and students  outside the normal government schooling  bureaucracy. He describes a private school system he's working on and Bill  chimed n with a few examples of free  internet educational services that are becoming very popular. The co-hosts agree on radical changes that will make real  education possible for students in the future. 

Freedom News Hour - 05/08/14

Walt Thiessen offers a personal commentary on his discussion of ObamaCare with a contributor to Nolan Chart, while Bill Westmiller reviews some of the recent healthcare developments that aren't making the headlines.   The Affordable Care Act isn't matching Obama's promise of an average $2,500 reduction in health insurance premiums, but the co-hosts find a host of other problems still over the horizon. Meanwhile, RomneyCare couldn't adapt to the new federal rules, so their insurance exchange crashed and won't be resuscitated for another year.   An anti-libertarian rant from arch-conservative Rick Santorum probably won't affect Rand Paul's growing support for the GOP nomination. Santorum remains in the single digits of public polling.   China and Russia have decided to work together to eliminate the "petro dollar" monopoly on fuel exchanges. The hosts speculate about the effect on FED inflation and the U.S. economy.

Freedom News Hour - 05/01/14

Walt Thiessen and Bill Westmiller take on the week's headlines, including marijuana legalization, racial bias, hate crimes, and the U.S. economy.

 

Retired US Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens thinks marijuana should be legalized, but the sitting justices declined a suit against FDA enforcement of federal drug laws in Colorado and Oregon.

 

Donald Sterling, Cliven Bundy, and Secretary of State John Kerry are topics for bias and racial insults. The co-hosts discuss the legitimacy of hate crimes generally.

 

China is heading for Number One economy in the world, while U.S. housing continues to slump.

Freedom News Hour - 04/24/14

Walt Thiessen and Bill Westmiller get into a spitting match over net neutrality, the hazards of computer bugs, and the motives of Supreme Court justices.

 

The Clive Bundy standoff in Nevada gets some scrutiny ("Mr. President: Waco II"), along with the USSC case on racial preferences. The co-hosts quibble over the details of Net Neutrality Rules proposed by the FCC.

 

NSA and CIA spying is still in the news, with evidence that housewives using Google do 30% better than the CIA when it comes to intelligence forecasts. Nothing new from Snowden, but his media handler, Glenn Greenwald, musters up the courage to actually visit New York City to receive his journalism award. A new FBI program to store millions of facial profiles from private and public cameras is a new, growing form of surveillance.

Freedom News Hour - 04/17/14

After the tax filing deadline (April 15th), Walt Thiessen and Bill Westmiller review news on tax policy, discuss legal challenges to non-profit rules, and new taxes built into ObamaCare.

 

Regulatory policy and procedures get some intense scrutiny, with a new record high of bureaucratic rules being issued in 2013. Bill and Walt discuss the fact that most laws (rules) are issued by bureaucrats, who have been delegated vague responsibilities by Congress, resulting in 79 thousand pages of new regulations (laws) each year.

 

White House talking points on the Affordable Care Act get scrutiny from the co-hosts, who review some of the provisions and likely consequences of the program. Bill dives into the numbers to explain why medical insurance rates will take a big hike in August, even though the government will be saving money by cutting reimbursements to physicians and hospitals.

Freedom News Hour - 04/10/14

Walt Thiessen and Bill Westmiller discuss early election  surveys, 
government audits reporting billions of "lost" dollars, how  corporations evade 
taxes by strictly following the law, and NSA  incompetence.

The hosts review new surveys indicating that 70% of voters  believe most 
politicians can be bought, using their power to benefit friends and  hurt 
enemies. Looking ahead to the 2016 Presidential race, its a contest between  
Hillary and Rand Paul. Bill suggests they simply cancel the primaries and start 
campaigning now.

Banks don't have enough money in their vaults to cover  their loan risks, 
so they'll have to find $68 billion to avoid being "to big to  fail." The FED 
is Yellen at them. Congress is worried about corporations who  have figured 
out how to legally avoid $2.1 trillion in taxes: they just leave  their 
profits overseas. 

NSA spying has transformed into active  propaganda on social networks, 
particularly in foreign countries. Hundreds of  Homeland Security staff spend 
their time on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube,  spreading false stories and 
deception. Just in case they're still reading  emails, former President Jimmy 
Carter has decided not to use email to talk with  foreign leaders: he writes 
letters and mails them.  

Freedom News Hour - 04/03/14

Walt Thiessen and Bill Westmiller discuss the "rigged" stock market of Flash Trading, the Ryan budget, pending NSA proposals and new revelations on surveillance and torture.

 

The hosts consider the impact and propriety of Flash Trading - computerized millisecond transactions - in the stock market. The continuing hazard of speculative 10-year federal "budgets" that have no meaning after an election.

 

Several different proposals for reform of the NSA domestic spying programs are reviewed, with little optimism about whether the surveillance will ever been constrained by the requirements of the Fourth Amendment. The Intelligence Budget and revelations about the hypocritical "cyberwarfare" against China are contrasted with the total ineffectiveness of the government's attempts to enhance "national security".

Freedom News Hour - ObamaCare - 03/27/14

Walt Thiessen and Bill Westmiller discuss ObamaCare changes, lawsuits and revisions, as well as new currency and monetary developments.

 

After testifying that March 31st was an absolute deadline for buying medical insurance on exchanges, the HHS announced a six-week "special" extension for those who check a website box, claiming they had problems enrolling.
The administration probably won't meet its reduced subscription goals for ACA coverage, but it isn't releasing critical data regarding who has actually paid premiums, nor how many of the formerly 30-million uninsured are now insured. The co-hosts discuss all the conflicting numbers on the ACA website and polls showing that most of the uninsured don't even know that they are required to buy policies or enroll in MedicAid coverage. A Supreme Court hearing on religious exemptions from ObamaCare requirements was also discussed.

 

The IRS has made a ruling on the novel computer BitCoin currency, deciding that it isn't a currency at all, but rather "property", equivalent to buying a commodity, which requires users of BitCoin to report profits or losses on every transaction. This conflicts with prior demands from another agency that required BitCoin sellers to register as "currency exchange businesses".
China is going to implement personal bankruptcy laws to recover their losses on loans that went to "ghost cities" and failed businesses. The action follows the loss of several billion yuan on a solar manufacturing company.
There are new proposals to "reform" Fannie and Freddie mortgage institutions, while the Federal Housing Agency imposed new fines on banks that issued risky housing loans to comply with federal regulations. The host discuss the role of the FEDeral Reserve System in bailing out the two quasi-government agencies by printing new money.

Freedom News Hour - 03/20/14

Co-hosts Walt Thiessen and Bill Westmiller discuss ObamaCare revisions, challenges to NSA surveillance, and monetary developments.

 

Four out of 19 cancer hospitals will not be covered by ObamaCare plans and some cancer drugs will cost patients up to $2,000 more every month. The Massachusetts Health Exchange, which served as a template for Obamacare, is still down and won't be active for another six months. Meanwhile, unions are still trying to get an exemption for their lavish health plans, distinct from individual or employer programs.

 

Senator Rand Paul got standing ovations from a Berkeley audience, demanding a new committee to curb NSA abuses and "watch the watchers". New Snowden documents reveal another NSA program: "MYSTIC" scoops up all phone communications in selected foreign countries, keeping them for up to thirty days. British ministers confess that the Snowden revelations have  "dwarfed" the meagre reports they had been receiving from GCHQ. The U.S. House is on the verge of introducing legislation to ban NSA bulk data collection.

 

New FED Chair Janet Yellen says "no more thresholds" to indicate when national banks will start increasing interest rates. They'll look at all their numbers and do whatever they please. A half-dozen foreign countries are conducting a "fire-sale" of the U.S. Treasuries, either because of concern about arbitrary U.S. sanctions or the fading confidence in the Dollar as a standard reserve. Russia, in particular, is responding to U.S. sanctions against their Crimean "acquisition", which affect several prominent Russian politicians and corporations.