Monthly Archives: July 2017

Jul 13 2017

Attorney General Jeff Sessions Announces “Largest Take Down of Healthcare Fraud in U.S. History”…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on July 13, 2017 by

Earlier today U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a national health care fraud takedown resulting in charges against over 412 individuals responsible for $1.3 Billion in fraud losses:

(United States Attorney General) Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tom Price, M.D., announced today the largest ever health care fraud enforcement action by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, involving 412 charged defendants across 41 federal districts, including 115 doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals, for their alleged participation in health care fraud schemes involving approximately $1.3 billion in false billings. Of those charged, over 120 defendants, including doctors, were charged for their roles in prescribing and distributing opioids and other dangerous narcotics.

Thirty state Medicaid Fraud Control Units also participated in today’s arrests. In addition, HHS has initiated suspension actions against 295 providers, including doctors, nurses and pharmacists.

Attorney General Sessions and Secretary Price were joined in the announcement by Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting Director Andrew McCabe of the FBI, Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Inspector General Daniel Levinson of the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG), Chief Don Fort of IRS Criminal Investigation, Administrator Seema Verma of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and Deputy Director Kelly P. Mayo of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS).

Today’s enforcement actions were led and coordinated by the Criminal Division, Fraud Section’s Health Care Fraud Unit in conjunction with its Medicare Fraud Strike Force (MFSF) partners, a partnership between the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney’s Offices, the FBI and HHS-OIG. In addition, the operation includes the participation of the DEA, DCIS, and State Medicaid Fraud Control Units.

The charges announced today aggressively target schemes billing Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE (a health insurance program for members and veterans of the armed forces and their families) for medically unnecessary prescription drugs and compounded medications that often were never even purchased and/or distributed to beneficiaries.

The charges also involve individuals contributing to the opioid epidemic, with a particular focus on medical professionals involved in the unlawful distribution of opioids and other prescription narcotics, a particular focus for the Department. According to the CDC, approximately 91 Americans die every day of an opioid related overdose. (read more)

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Jul 13 2017

Media Continues Ignoring President Trump’s Economic Council Preparations…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on July 12, 2017 by

White House Press Briefing – “We’ve received several inquiries on what the President — on his agenda for the past couple of days, so I’d like to read some of that out before I take your questions.”

“He’s had multiple meetings with key economic advisors, particularly on issues of trade, such as Ambassador Lighthizer, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Ross, NEC Director Gary Cohn, and Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, Peter Navarro.”

The only question is the timing. Now or after NAFTA?  It is better to have NAFTA finished prior to the confrontation? …if so, considering DPRK aspect, what is the better strategy in the space between now and the final conflict?

Remember, this battle is two decades past due and waged on behalf of the forgotten men and women of the middle-class. The purchased legislative body within Washington DC will attack our economic efforts with an intensity never before seen in this century or any century.  There are trillions of dollars at stake; this is the epic battle for middle America.

The administrative state will work earnestly to destroy these efforts on behalf of our enemy.  Along with Wall Street, every multinational corporation and multinational banking institution will be against us.

Nuance and subtlety is everything in China. Culturally harsh tones are seen as a sign of weakness and considered intensely impolite in public displays between officials; especially within approved and released statements by officials representing the government.

Historic Chinese cultural policy, the totalitarian control over expressed political sentiment and diplomacy through silence, is evident in the strategic use of the space between carefully chosen words, not just the words themselves.

China has no cultural or political space between peace and war; they are a historic nation based on two points of polarity. They see peace and war as coexisting with each other. China accepts and believes opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another. Flowing between these polar states is a natural dynamic to be used -with serious contemplation- in advancing objectives as needed.

Peace or war. Win or lose. Yin and Yang. Culturally there is no middle position in dealings with China; they are not constitutionally capable of understanding or valuing the western philosophy of mutual benefit where concession of terms gains a larger outcome. If it does not benefit China, it is not done. The outlook is simply, a polarity of peace or war. In politics or economics the same perspective is true. It is a zero-sum outlook.

Therefore, when you see China publicly use strong language – it indicates a level of internal disposition beyond the defined western angst. Big Panda becomes Red Dragon; there is no mid-status or evolutionary phase. Every American associated with investment, economics and China would be well advised to put their business affairs in order accordingly.

REUTERS […] Asked about calls from the United States, Japan and others for China to put more pressure on North Korea, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said it was not China ratcheting up tension and the key to a resolution did not lie with Beijing.

“Recently, certain people, talking about the Korean peninsula nuclear issue, have been exaggerating and giving prominence to the so-called ‘China responsibility theory.’

“I think this either shows lack of a full, correct knowledge of the issue, or there are ulterior motives for it, trying to shift responsibility.” “China has been making unremitting efforts and has played a constructive role, but all parties have to meet each other half way, Geng said.”

“Asking others to do work, but doing nothing themselves is not OK.” “Being stabbed in the back is really not OK.”

Geng told a daily news briefing, without naming any parties. (more)

Prepare your affairs accordingly. President Trump will not back down from his position; the U.S. holds all of the leverage and the issue must be addressed. The President and his team are entirely prepared for this. We are going to economic war with China!

The Olive branch and arrows denote the power of peace and war. The symbol in any figure’s right hand has more significance than one in its left hand. Also important is the direction faced by the symbols central figure. The emphasis on the eagles stare signifies the preferred disposition. An eagle holding an arrow also symbolizes the war for freedom, and its use is commonly referred to the liberation fight of righteous people from abusive influence. The eagle on the original seal created for the Office of the President showed the gaze upon the arrows.

The Eagle and the Arrow – An Aesop’s Fable

An Eagle was soaring through the air. Suddenly it heard the whizz of an Arrow, and felt the dart pierce its breast. Slowly it fluttered down to earth. Its lifeblood pouring out. Looking at the Arrow with which it had been shot, the Eagle realized that the deadly shaft had been feathered with one of its own plumes.

Moral: We often give our enemies the means for our own destruction.

Jul 13 2017

Illinois Should Just Be Dissolved as the Solution


Armstrong Economics Blog/Sovereign Debt Crisis

Re-Posted Jul 13, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

John Kass of the Chicago Tribune has come out with a blunt article, yet it is the only possible solution since the government is effectively just bankrupt with no hope of recovery. He writes:

“Illinois is like Venezuela now, a fiscally broken state that has lost its will to live, although for the moment, we still have enough toilet paper.

But before we run out of the essentials, let’s finally admit that after decade upon decade of taxing and spending and borrowing, Illinois has finally run out of other people’s money.”

To comprehend what is happening, all we need do is understand that socialism has really been about government helping themselves to other people’s money for their personal benefit. Their constitution set that government pensions come before everything else. How is that helping the poor to paying their debts? The greed of the employees of Illinois has pushed the State to beyond the point of no return. The constitution can only be amended to deny future employees pension. It cannot be altered to deal with the quarter-trillion owed to state employee pension funds. There really is no way out and it because questionable if Illinois can even simply go bankrupt when it is constitutionally owed. So Kass’ solution may sound insane, but it is probably the only way to deal with the crisis – tear-up the state as a state and dissolve it entirely. Krass wrote:

Dissolve Illinois. Decommission the state, tear up the charter, whatever the legal mumbo-jumbo, just end the whole dang thing.

We just disappear. With no pain. That’s right. You heard me.

The best thing to do is to break Illinois into pieces right now. Just wipe us off the map. Cut us out of America’s heartland and let neighboring states carve us up and take the best chunks for themselves.

The group that will scream the loudest is the state’s political class, who did this to us, and the big bond creditors, who are whispering talk of bankruptcy and asset forfeiture to save their own skins.

This is the reality we face going forward. I have stressed get out of all government debt in the state and local level and buy NO MORE!!!!! The party is over!

Jul 13 2017

Germany Begins to Censor the Internet


Armstrong Economics Blog/Germany

Posted Jul 13, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

Merkel’s attempt to silence any internet site that disagrees with her government seems to be the resurrection of the idea of East Germany where she grew up. Freedom of speech was outlawed. When I went behind the Berlin Wall, people would speak freely only when nobody else was close enough to listen. Today they have listening devices that can be pointed at you for 100 yards away. Trying to visit certain sites in Germany you will see this pop-up warning from the government. This is very disturbing and inconsistent as it seems to be a very desperate measure by a government that welcomed refugees.

Signs of this is what unfortunately we are facing. As government mismanagement comes to a boil, they become increasingly desperate to retain power. This is yet another sign of the times that what we are facing is the collapse of government. If everything was fine, they would not care what you have to say. The mere fact that we are looking at this crisis in government is why we suddenly see outright censorship now appearing on the internet.

Jul 13 2017

City of Seattle Runs Out of Things to Tax – Now Wants to Impose Income Tax


Armstrong Economics Blog/The Hunt for Taxes

Re-Posted Jul 13, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

The Seattle City Council has run out of things to tax so they have unanimously voted to impose an income tax upon the “rich”, and of course we all know that will eventually move to include everyone. The city claims it will raise $140 million and it will cost $10-13 million to set up, and you can bet that does not include pensions for the new employees. The slogan is “Time for the rich to pay their fair share.” Of course, what is fair? If someone does not use any public services, then paying incomes tax is still fair? Americans have to pay income taxes if they live overseas and use nothing. Fairness is never judges upon what someone uses from the government, but when other people want to rob those who have more then it is suddenly fair. To a homeless person, someone earning just $25,000 a year is rich. It is always relative.

Jul 12 2017

Sketchy and Triggered – Ralph Peters Calls Tucker Carlson a Hitler-apologist


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on July 11, 2017 by

Ralph ‘sticky lips‘ Peters is a dangerous person. His previous behavior and advocacy showcases his ideology as one which espouses American intervention and elevation of the war machine at any cost.

His history of advocacy for illegal weapons distribution to any foreign entity, regardless of their eventual and predictable disposition to the United States, is littered with outcomes supported by John McCain and Lindsey Graham.

Peters constantly pushes the memes of war, any war. He previously asserted that President Trump should appoint Lindsey Graham to be the Director of National Intelligence after General Mike Flynn was fired.

A few months ago Ralph Peters claimed Fox Business host Lou Dobbs was a Russian operative working on behalf of Vladimir Putin. His unstable mind previously caused him to be suspended from Fox News for using vulgarities to describe President Obama.

Ralph Peters is a seriously unstable and dangerous war-mongering person; and nothing triggers that mindset like a threat of demilitarization. Cue the audio visual demonstration.

CAIRO/BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Reuters on Tuesday that it had “confirmed information” that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed.

[…] The Pentagon said it had no information to corroborate the reports. Kurdish and Iraqi officials also had no immediate confirmation.

Baghdadi’s death has been announced many times before, but the Observatory has a record of credible reporting on the Syrian conflict. Islamic State-affiliated websites and social media feeds have so far said nothing.  (read more)

Jul 12 2017

China & The Rule of Law


Armstrong Economics Blog/China

Re-Posted Jul 12, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; I read your analysis of Country Risk. It was truly fascinating. You are correct. We do not consider investing in Syria or Iran no less North Korea because they are not safe places to do business. That is clearly the first decision which shuts down any further consideration.

So I must ask. What is your next advice to China? And will you be coming to Shanghai for a conference anytime soon?

Thank you

ANSWER: My advice to China is now to formalizing the Rule of Law, establish courts with true independent judges nominated only by the private sector, and their terms should be a maximum of 2 years and out – barred from ever holding any government job again. I am aware that Federal judges from New York went to China to explain how to establish the court system modeled on the USA. Do NOT listen to such advice. American judges cannot be trusted.

Absolutely no legal right should be subject to the oscillating wishes of a judge. Sir William Blacksone wrote in 1776: “That the king can do no wrong is a necessary and fundamental principle of the English constitution.” That is fundamentally at odds with what he also wrote: “It is better that ten guilty escape than one innocent suffer.”

We must be mindful that perhaps the most honest ruler to have have held power with respect to the Rule of Law was Julian II (360-363AD) known as the Apostate, because he rejected Christianity after he family, related to Constantine I the Great, were murder the night he died by his son to prevent any rival to the throne. When Julian II came to power, he was the most brilliant ruler ever. In the criminal trial of Numerius, governor of Gallia Narbonensis, who was accused of embezzlement, Numerius had successfully defended himself against the prosecutor Delphidius. The prosecutor did not like to lose and said anyone could be found guilty if they only denied the charges. Julian’s response, quoted in Book XVIII of Ammianus’s History, “Can anyone be proved innocent, if it be enough to have accused him?”

Julian said that not even the emperor was above the law. This should be fundamental to the Survivability of any society. We must understand that those in the judiciary call themselves “honorable” without ever having to demonstrate that they possess such as distinction.  For I think prosecutors and judges, act in their own little bubbles to the detriment of society, yet give very great pleasure to themselves in wielding power and always being correct.

Established the best UNBIASED Rule of Law and capital will pour into China fleeing the corruption of the West.

Jul 12 2017

There is Now Enough Evidence to Indict Comey or Snowden Should be Pardoned


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption

Re-Posted Jul 12, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

Comey is as guilty as Hillary for treating government work product including top secret information as personal. Comey, just like Hillary, claimed the memos were all “personal” that he made talking to Trump because he did not trust him (contrary to his trust for Clintons). There is no such “personal” qualification and he leaked those memos to the New York Times which he admitted openly in Congress. But those memos contained classified information and that was a CRIME for him to leak them no less pretend their were he “personal” property. Every FBI agents signed a confidentiality agreement as do traders working for a bank. The agreement signed by Comey states plainly: “all information acquired by me in connection with my official duties with the FBI and all official material to which I have access remain the property of the United States of America.” This means (1) he stole government documents obstructing any investigation of him, and (2) he then leaked classified information to the New York Times. Let6’s see; they say Snowden should be indicted for the same thing. Curious!

This is why Comey never recorded Hillary’s “interview” before the FBI to ensure she could never be charged as Martha Stuart was for “lying to the FBI” in such an interview and sent to prison. Comey wrote private memos when talking to Trump, but not Hillary, and then leaked classified information to the New York Times releasing his memos. Legally, he should be prosecuted as they prosecuted Lewis “Scooter” Libby who was Dick Cheney’s chief of staff for leaking information.

In United States v. Libby, he was put on trial for interfering with special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s criminal investigation of the Plame affair by lying in an interview with the FBI when he was indicted by a federal grand jury on five felony counts of making false statements to federal investigators, something Comey protected Hillary from by not recording the “interview” which is standard operational procedure. Libby served as Assistant to the President under George W. Bush and Chief of Staff to Dick Cheney from 2001 to 2005. Bush denied giving him even a pardon.

Then Comey granted immunity to Hillary Clinton lawyer Cheryl Mills to protect her against prosecution. In fact, Comey strikingly gave wholesale immunity deals to virtually every person who had intimate knowledge of Hillary Clinton’s illegal private server and emails. This protected Hillary for nobody would testify against her under threat of imprisonment. Comey abused his discretion and made sure that Hillary could not be prosecuted.

There is now more than enough information to hand to a Grand Jury for Comey to be indicted. And he should be indicted to colluding with Hillary not to record her “interview” and then giving immunity to everyone around her. If Congress FAILS to prosecute Comey, then Trump should pardon Snowden!!!!!!!! What happened to “Equal Protection of Law” and where is “justice for all” we indoctrinate children to pledge in school?

Jul 12 2017

The Destruction of Hamburg is Massive


Armstrong Economics Blog/Civil Unrest

Re-Posted Jul 12, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

The destruction of Hamburg has been massive. There is much going on behind the scenes politically with the focus now on intensely monitoring and censorship to be imposed. The degree of violence many view as unprecedented since the raid on Jewish businesses during the Nazi era. Inquiries are now looking into the organizers behind the scenes and where this originated from.

If funding came from any group inspired to create political unrest, we will see some head perhaps roll, but if that head is Soros, it will be swept under the rug with a bunch of money. Someone had to pay for the banners “G20 Welcome to Hell” which clearly illustrates this was premeditated and not spontaneous.

Jul 11 2017

Curiosor and Curiosor – Natalia Veselnitskaya Pictured With Obama Officals in DC on June 14th, 2016…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on July 11, 2017 by

This is oddly interesting.

( h/t GWP ) At the heart of the current media Russian narrative du jour is a story about Donald Trump Jr. meeting with a Russian attorney named Natalia Veselnitskaya.  That meeting took place on June 9th 2016 in Trump Tower.

Now it is discovered via video and images, that only 5 days later, June 14th 2016, Ms. Veselnitskava was a guest of former Obama administration Russian Ambassador Michael McFaul in Washington DC for a House of Representatives hearing on U.S. Policy Toward Putin’s Russia.  [Video HERE – and Video HERE]

Ms. Natalia Veselnikskaya is pictured seated in the front row directly behind former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Mr. Michael McFaul at the House Foreign Affairs Committee. This is June 14th, five days after the reported meeting with Donald Trump Jr.

It should be noted that Ambassador McFaul was very publicly discussing the ‘Muh Russia’ conspiracy narrative in the media and appeared on numerous NBC and MSNBC broadcasts during the 2016 campaign, and immediately after the election.

It should also be noted that Ms. Natalia Veselnitskaya was initially denied an entry visa into the United States in 2016 and appealed her situation to the U.S. District Court of New York.  She was granted a parole letter allowing her to enter the United States on behalf of a client.

Here’s her filing to the U.S. District Court in New York.

https://www.scribd.com/embeds/353338031/content?start_page=1&view_mode=&access_key=key-gq91C3OkNEkpl7iqQiBp

.

It’s enough to make you wonder what exactly is the nature of the relationship between Natalia Veselnitskaya and President Obama’s appointees such that they would be visibly working together on a few days after her reported meeting with Donald Trump Jr. in Trump Tower….

Curiosor and Curiosor…