NSA protest Utah

Bluffdale • "Only a handful of Utahns showed up to protest government snooping into telephone calls and emails, but they probably had the biggest, most relevant backdrop among those who came out in different parts of the country. The five Utahns who showed up for the local version of protests did so on the side of the highway next to the concrete buildings that make up the huge new data center operated by the National Security Agency in Bluffdale."

SYRIA:Behind the Scenes: Top Level Gulf Officials in Syria Soon?

Gulf rapproachment with Syria a possibility

"Highly trusted sources have revealed that some gulf countries are on the course of gradual rapprochement with Syrian official authorities after reaching a conclusion that all their past policies were mistaken. Some sources said they would not be surprised to see top level Gulf officials in Damascus soon."

Total US Debt Soars Over $17 Trillion

[Zerohedge.com]

"Two days ago, when we described the immediate next steps now that the House had passed the latest debt target ceiling extension, we explained what would happen immediately after as follows: "next up, as the emergency Treasury measures are netted out against the new debt limit, it means that once the new Daily Treasury Statement hits, the total US Federal debt will be just at, or over $17 trillion. Rejoice." Moments ago the first post-reopening DTS just hit, and it turns out our estimate was low. Because as of yesterday, the official US debt is now 17,075,590,107,963.57 an increase of $327 billion "overnight.""

"Treasury's name for this is "extraordinary measures." The common man's name for it is theft."

"Treasury stole $328 billion from May through October, most of it from Federal worker retirement accounts (TSP holdings) and Social Security/Medicare transfers that should have happened to "make good" while the US stood at the debt ceiling."

EBT benefit food stamps down

Electronic Benefit Transaction (EBT) problems

Shoppers report on ebt system

"Distressed shoppers began calling and emailing the KTLA 5 newsroom Saturday morning to report the Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) system wasn’t working.

"A Food 4 Less store in Hollywood confirmed that the EBT system went down at about 7 a.m. "

Iowa DHS: Contingency plan available during EBT outage

"The Iowa Department of Human Services has its contingency plan in place and is working with its vendor to repair an issue with electronic access to food assistance benefits. "

Virginia EBT System Down State-wide

"The manager of a grocery store chain in Mississippi, Mike Ford, who saw our report online, called ABC 13 to tell us his store's EBT machines are down as well. Ford says the EBT machines are operated by a company called ACS, who's website is also down, ABC 13 confirms."

I went to www.ebt.acs-inc.com (the EBT contractor), but my Chrome browser says the site is not available.

Baltimore mayor responds to EBT card issues

"BALTIMORE - People in Baltimore and across the country have been experiencing issues with purchasing food using their EBT cards on Saturday. "

Texas

" LoneStar cards have been being declined left and right at East Texas grocery stores. According to NBC NEWS, Texas is not the only state having this problem. More than 600,000 Oklahoma residents have been declined while using their means of food stamps."