Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Horowitz Freedom Center Targets BDS Supporters with Campus Poster Campaign


Posters allege BDS activists have “allied themselves with Palestinian terrorists” and “perpetrate... Jew hatred on this campus.”

Visit Stop the Jew Hatred on Campus.

The David Horowitz Freedom Center claimed credit today for posters that appeared on the campus of UC-Santa Barbara attacking the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel as a “Hamas-inspired genocidal campaign to destroy the world’s only Jewish state” and naming individual students and faculty members who promote BDS on the Santa Barbara campus.  David Horowitz, President of the Freedom Center, commented, “We’ve decided to get up close and personal with merchants of Jew hatred on our campuses.”

Several versions of the posters were hung on campus late last night in a guerilla campaign to draw attention to the problem of Jew hatred at UCSB. In addition to defining the BDS movement as a genocidal campaign to wipe out Israel, one poster names a number of prominent campus BDS activists and states, “The following students and faculty at UC Santa Barbara have allied themselves with Palestinian terrorists to perpetrate BDS and Jew Hatred on this campus.” [more...]

Monday, April 11, 2016

The Last Goodnight By Pulitzer Prize Nominated Author


A World War II Story of Espionage, Adventure, and Betrayal
 
By Howard Blum
New York Times Bestselling author of Dark Invasion

Film rights already optioned by Columbia Pictures, The Last Goodnight: A World War II Story of Espionage, Adventure, and Betrayal is Vanity Fair contributing editor and New York Times bestselling author Howard Blum's latest work - an international political WWII biography. Already a political and social science bestseller, The Last Goodnight is the story of international spy, Betty Pack who paved the way for women who now have an increasing role in the CIA.

Betty Pack was an American debutante who parlayed her charm, intelligence, and sexual largesse into an impressive career as a spy. In The Last Goodnight, Blum tells the all-but-forgotten story of this "Mata Hari from Minnesota" (Time), whose bravery, sense of adventure-and often fluid morality-knew few bounds. Drawing on a trove of previously untapped papers-including Betty's own dictated testimony-Blum gives us a riveting account of the double life and clandestine work of a woman who OSS chief general "Wild Bill" Donovan called "the greatest unsung heroine" of WWII.

Blum shapes the narrative around Betty's last hurrah-her 1963 reconnection with a wartime colleague Harford Montgomery Hyde, who would become her biographer and, inevitably, her lover. Betty knew she was dying, but yearned to escape the boredom of a second marriage lived out in near isolation in the Pyrenees. Working with Hyde allowed her to recall her glory days, which play out beyond the imaginings of even the finest espionage thriller writer.
 
Using the code name "Cynthia," Betty would become a major intelligence asset. She thought nothing of seducing men of influence and power to gain access to codes, ciphers, and secrets. She obtained Polish notebooks that proved key to Alan Turing's success deciphering the "unbreakable" messages sent by Germany's Enigma machines, secured Italian naval ciphers (by seducing an Italian Naval attache) that helped the Royal Navy triumph over Mussolini's forces at sea, and snuck into the French Embassy in Washington to break into a safe and photograph Vichy naval codes.

In an interview Howard Blum can discuss:
  • * Betty Pack's many contributions, most notably how she was directly responsible for obtaining the Polish notebooks that were key to Alan Turing's success in  deciphering the "unbreakable" messages sent by Germany's Enigma machines.
  • * How Betty Pack was a pioneer. Today, Forty percent of CIA operatives are women, including the Deputy Director and other top officials. The former head of MI-6 is a woman. Betty Pack came before all of them.
  • * The importance of human intelligence - field operatives - in this era of primarily electronic intelligence. It was spies like Betty Pack who demonstrated the value of a liberated agent, and now the agencies are finally getting around to recruiting a new generation of operatives who are not reluctant to express their own concepts of personal freedom.
In the wake of the Brussels and other recent terror attacks, our government is realizing the need for the nation to rely once again on individual secret agents (human intelligence) rather than electronic means to get intelligence even in this modern age of terror. We need, the CIA is now saying, to be able to do what we did in the past - to infiltrate covert operators into the enemy camp, and Betty Pack is a prime (and extraordinary) example of how successful a single operative can be.
"A dazzling masterwork of narrative nonfiction. Howard Blum has vividly captured the extraordinary life of a passionate, complicated, thoroughly modern woman who did nothing less than help win World War II."                   
--Mitchell Zuckoff, New York Times bestselling author


About the Author: Howard Blum is the author of New York Times bestsellers including Dark Invasion, the Edgar Award - winner American Lightning, as well as Wanted!, The Gold Exodus, Gangland, and The Floor of Heaven. Blum is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. While at the New York Times, he was twice nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting.



 
 


 

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

The 30-Minute Millionaire

The 30-Minute Millionaire
The Smart Way to Achieving Financial Freedom

By Peter J. Tanous and Jeff Cox

With jobs and the economy weighing heavily on the minds of Americans as we all listen to the presidential candidates offering supposed solutions, investing experts and best-selling authors Peter J. Tanous and Jeff Cox present their new book, The 30-Minute Millionaire - a guide to smart investing based on many years of experience - a step-by-step guide to achieving financial success.

Whether you're new to investing or already preparing for retirement, the authors provide practical advice with specific examples, giving you the tools and knowledge you need on your path to becoming financially secure. In this book, you'll learn how to:
  • * Build a well-balanced, risk-mitigated portfolio;
  • * Achieve consistent returns over the long run through a passive approach;
  • * Follow contemporary asset allocation rules and objectives;
  • * Maintain discipline and patience in the face of difficult markets;
  • * Avoid common, and not-so-common, investing pitfalls;
  • * Invest in ETFs, commodities, gold, and other assets;
  • * Ignore time-consuming market reports; and
  • * Understand the Fed's role in the economy and financial markets.

The authors also give detailed instructions on exactly how much cash you'll need to start (less than you think!) and the best advice from financial gurus on your journey ahead. Stop trying to actively pick stocks, trade in and out of positions, analyze the data only the wonks understand, or time the markets.  Get on a simple, true path to financial freedom today with The 30-Minute Millionaire.

"Who better than two keen observers of markets to guide us to successful wealth accumulation in a world flooded with information containing lots of signals and noise. By showing investors how to be a lot smarter about their time allocation, including what to look for and why, this book provides you with important and durable tips and insights."
--Mohamed A. El-Erian, Chief Economic Adviser at Allianz

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Peter Tanous - President of Lynx Investment Advisory. Over his forty-year career as a finance professional, he has held executive positions at Smith Barney, Bank Audi (U.S.) and served as chairman of Petra Capital Corporation, an international investment bank that he co-founded. Tanous is the author of several critically acclaimed books including Investment Gurus, Wealth Equation, and Debt, Deficits, and the Demise of the American Economy.
Jeff Cox has worked as a journalist since 1987 and is a staff writer with CNBC.com where he covers all markets and frequently appears on CNBC TV. In addition, he provides market commentary for radio stations across the country and his articles often run on TheStreet.com, Yahoo!, and AOL Money. Cox has also worked at CNN Money and as a senior editor for two Pennsylvania newspapers. Author of Debt, Deficits, and the Demise of the American Economy.