Today’s Items:

First…
U.S. Banks Not Safe
https://www.sovereignman.com

Financial regulators, including the Fed and FDIC, have issued a condemnation of the U.S. banking system, according to the annually published report. The report identified a huge jump in risky loans due to overexposure to weakening oil and gas industries that is in excess of $3.9 trillion. In other words, does your bank have a positive net worth?

Next…
Venezuela Default?
http://www.zerohedge.com

In order for the government of Venezuela to keep themselves afloat, they had to fund $3.5 billion in bonds by selling 19% of its gold holdings. Needless to say, it is far wiser to use up all paper “assets” to repay “paper” liabilities, before resorting to hart money.

Next…
Escorting ISIS
http://www.washingtonsblog.com

In a video, a convoy of the familiar ISIS Toyota pick-ups, courtesy of the U.S., was apparently escorted by a U.S. Apache attack helicopter from Iraq into…