America

The Director of national intelligence, James Clapper, recently revealed that US intelligence agencies are using various “smart home” devices in order to spy on citizens. The ever growing list of smart devices such as thermostats, cameras, and other appliances that are connected to the internet, provide authorities with the ability to spy on its citizens…..and that includes refrigerators Kristan T. Harris from The Rundown Live reports: New refrigerators that connect to the internet are now entering homes with cameras installed in them that can be used to surveil you.

Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,

The class war is already underway, and the petit bourgeois media is clueless.

The typical bourgeois mainstream media pundit is confused and alarmed by Donald Trump's ascendancy. The typical pundit is a member of the petit bourgeois who has zero contact with the working class in America, other than saying "hello" to his/her auto mechanic, hair salon employee, etc.

Submitted by David Stockman via Contra Corner blog,

As the returns came in from South Carolina Saturday night, showing Donald Trump winning a decisive victory, a note of nervous desperation crept into the commentary.

Political analysts pointed out repeatedly that if all of the votes for Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Jeb Bush and Ben Carson were added up, they far exceeded the Trump vote.

Why this sudden interest in arithmetic?

Back on January 14, we noted that JPMorgan did something they haven’t done in 22 quarters: the bank increased its loan loss provisions.

The "reserve build of ~$100mm [is] driven by $60mm in Oil & Gas and $26mm in Metals & Mining within the commercial banking group,” the bank said.