November 1st, 2013
The Recording Industry Association of America is wildly out of touch with its own consumer base. Recent advances in digital technology have benefited the music industry, as 2012 saw the sector reporting its first increase in sales since 1999. Rather than embracing new technology and looking for new ways to increase revenues, the RIAA has focused its efforts on hamstringing technological innovation, whether through its support of unpopular internet-ruining bills like SOPA or its opposition to all peer-to-peer software.
Now, Russia Today is reporting that the RIAA has issued a warning against Bitcoin and Litecoin, alleging that the digital currencies somehow contribute to copyright violations. With music industry revenues on the rise as technology now allows artists to promote themselves to fans more efficiently online, shouldn’t it be recommending instead that its artists and labels begin accepting Bitcoin in exchange for digital downloads, concert tickets, and merchandise? The RIAA continues to focus its energy on undoing useful innovations, rather than capitalizing on them.
Posted by: 
Barry Donegan
Tags: Bitcoin, cispa, Feature, Peer-to-peer, Recording Industry Association of America, RIAA, SOPA, The Pirate Bay
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October 31st, 2013
Later this week former Vice President Dick Cheney is planning on visiting the 2013 Toronto Global Forum in Canada, but he’s not getting a hero’s welcome. Lawyers Against the War (LAW), an international volunteer organization, urged Canadian authorities to arrest him for war crimes, specifically for “authorizing, counseling, aiding, abetting and failing to prevent torture.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by: 
Davi Barker
Tags: Canada, Crimes Against Humanity, Dick Cheney, Lawrence Wilkerson, politics, Torture, War Crimes, Waterboarding
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October 31st, 2013
Each Thursday, we point out one of the many Easter eggs that have been hidden throughout Silver Circle for observant fans to find. Be sure to keep an eye out for them as you are watching the movie online or --> -->on DVD --> -->. Since today is Halloween, let’s take a closer look at the creepy statue that you might have noticed lurking outside of the headquarters of the Department of Housing Stability.
In the movie, the Department of Housing Stability (HOUSTAB) is a bureaucracy within the Federal Reserve System which is charged with “stabilizing” the prices of homes. However, its mandate is pursued with an ends-justify-the-means approach that often involves forcing homeowners off of their own property. In the same way that the program, which seemed well-intentioned initially, has corroded into something more sinister, the statue out in front of the building, which was commissioned by HOUSTAB officials in an effort to comfort the public, has become a terrifying symbol of the tyrannical nature of the program.
Posted by: Barry Donegan
Tags: 3D Animation, Department of Housing Stability, Dystopian Film, Easter Egg, Easter Eggs, Feature, silver circle
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October 31st, 2013
We just returned from an awesome conference in Spokane, WA that revolves all around the world of silver. We find some of the best support, voices, and education there. (that’s why we fit right in 
).
Many of our followers and fans have come to us from the precious metals community, however many have come from the comic/pop culture world and the political world. The latter two will appreciate just what it means to invest and believe in the intrinsic value of silver…The Visual Capitalist took the daunting task of laying it all out through the fun and easy to read style of info-graphics.
Most people talk about precious metal investments as if it is some archaic way of preserving wealth. Well…it is; it’s been used since 542BC and maybe before! However it is a resilient metal, not just literally, it has stood the test of time as being the preferred metal used for currency. Here are a few reasons why: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by: 
megan
Tags: precious metal, Silver, silver summit, visual capitalist
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October 30th, 2013
For the uninitiated, jury nullification is a de facto right of jurors under common law, since citizens serving on a jury can vote based on their conscience and can’t have their vote challenged on the basis of their rationale. Throughout history, juries have acquitted defendants who were factually guilty of the crime in question, under the rationale that a particular law or application thereof is unjust. Recently, New Hampshire passed a law allowing defense attorneys to inform jurors of their right to overturn bad laws by refusing to convict, which has been used to attain acquittals for defendants accused of victimless crimes.
However, in most states, judges will instruct jurors to vote only on the facts of the case and not the righteousness of the law itself. As a result, most jurors do not realize that they have the ability to overturn convictions for victimless crimes, even when the defendant is guilty. In an effort to solve this problem, the Fully Informed Jury Association recently placed a billboard, which informs the public about jury nullification, in the Judiciary Square Metro station in Washington DC. Local prosecutors and statists are up in arms about the ad, implying scurrilously that it is an attempt to tamper with juries, particularly in the upcoming trial of freedom activist Adam Kokesh.
Posted by: Barry Donegan
Tags: Feature, Fully Informed Jury Association, Jury Nullification, Rebel of the Week, ROTW
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October 29th, 2013
With no disrespect intended to the legitimate skeptics out there who challenge the government’s official story on one issue or another, today’s Tin Foil Tuesday feature takes a tongue-in-cheek closer look at tin foil hats themselves. An icon associated with paranoia, the tin foil hat is believed to protect the wearer from invasive radio waves by creating a Faraday cage around the skull, preventing aliens, reptilians, the Anunnaki, and others from reading the user’s thoughts.
However, The Atlantic noted the existence of a 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology study on the effectiveness of tin foil hats as a Faraday cage. As a matter of fact, aluminum helmets actually amplify radio waves in the frequency range currently used by the government, cell phone companies, and satellites. The study concluded, albeit facetiously, that the FCC and the government must have propagated the myth of the tin foil hat’s effectiveness in order to make it easier to read the thought patterns of those who wear them. Could tin foil hats themselves be a part of a grand conspiracy?
Posted by: Barry Donegan
Tags: FCC, Feature, Government Conspiracy, MIT Study, Radio Waves, Tin Foil Hats, Tin Foil Tuesday, Tinfoil Tuesday
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October 28th, 2013
In the final years of former Congressman Ron Paul’s congressional career, he introduced a bill to audit the secretive and nefarious Federal Reserve, which passed the House of Representatives. However, Senator Harry Reid, along with his Fed-connected allies in the Senate, shut down Paul’s effort before it could reach the President’s desk. Meanwhile, Janet Yellen has been nominated by President Obama to take over Ben Bernanke’s position as Federal Reserve chairman, probably at the beginning of 2014.
Senator Rand Paul appears to have finally found a way to force the Senate to take on his father’s Audit the Fed bill, referred to formally as the Federal Reserve Transparency Act. Since Janet Yellen’s appointment must go through the Senate, Senator Paul is threatening to put her nomination on hold, requiring 60 votes to overturn, until legislators vote on auditing the Federal Reserve. If enough senators stand with Rand on this issue, the American people may soon get the chance to challenge the Fed’s domination of the US economy in an epic political fight. Check out the video below, provided by Campaign for Liberty, that details this forthcoming showdown.
Posted by: Barry Donegan
Tags: Audit the Fed, Feature, Federal Reserve Chair, Filibuster, Janet Yellen, Money Monday, rand paul, Ron Paul
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October 25th, 2013
Last night, John Stossel dedicated an episode of his show on Fox Business to exposing the flaws of the Federal Reserve System. Just a few years ago, virtually no news programs would have aired content critical of the Fed. In fact, it was once a subject that few cared about at all, given the fact that it is mired in heavy jargon and confusing to the average non-economist.
Naturally, Stossel had libertarian icon and monetary policy expert Ron Paul on the program to discuss his view that the Federal Reserve should be phased out via competition in currency. Though Dr. Paul once expressed skepticism about bitcoin, he seems to be warming up to it as an alternative to the Fed, considering his statements on the show, “Hayek had suggested that maybe the best transition would be just to legalize [currency] competition… maybe bitcoin offers competition.” Check out a video clip of Ron Paul’s appearance on Stossel below and let’s discuss the details after the jump.
Posted by: Barry Donegan
Tags: Audit the Fed, Bitcoin, Competition in Currency, End the Fed, Feature, Federal Reserve, john stossel, Ron Paul
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October 25th, 2013
Celebrities are not hired for being deep thinkers. They are hired for accurately portraying emotions they aren’t actually feeling. So the phenomenon of celebrities using their fame for political advocacy has always struck me as a little weird. I guess they don’t expect their fans to be deep thinkers either. But from time to time a political issue is such a no brainer even Hollywood gets it right.
The Stop Watching Us video features director Oliver Stone, actor John Cusack, actress Maggie Gyllenhall, and legend Wil Wheaton speaking out against mass suspicionless surveillance the American people in collaboration with a variety of NSA whistleblowers and their allies.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by: Davi Barker
Tags: Dennis Kucinich, Gary Johnson, John Cusack, Justin Amash, Maggie Gyllenhall, Million Man Market, Naomi Wolf, NSA, Oliver Stone, Stop Watching Us, Thomas Drake, Wil Wheaton
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October 24th, 2013
Each Thursday on the Silver Circle blog, we point out some of the hidden allusions and references, called Easter eggs, that have been placed throughout the film for observant viewers to notice while watching the movie --> -->on DVD --> --> or online. Keep an eye out for them during repeat viewings. Many of them are especially interesting to fans of comics and animation or members of the growing liberty movement.
Today’s egg concerns Fogle, one of the Federal Reserve’s enforcers, who works underneath Quill, the personal henchman to wicked Fed Chairman Victor Brandt. As it turns out, Quill’s background as an assassin and fixer didn’t equip him with the necessary moral fiber to be an effective manager of employees. During the movie, you may notice Fogle reading a self-help book entitled Dealing with a Difficult Boss.
Posted by: Barry Donegan
Tags: Assassin, Easter Egg, Easter Eggs, Feature, Federal Reserve Chairman, Fogle, Worst Boss
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