Monthly Archives: April 2018

Apr 8 2018

HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes Discusses Political Weaponization of FBI/DOJ Intelligence…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on April 8, 2018 by

Very interesting interview with House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes earlier today.  Chairman Nunes discusses his current objective to gain the two-page “electronic communication” document that initiated the FBI and DOJ-NSD investigation into the campaign of presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Chairman Nunes is focusing more intensely on the use of FBI/DOJ counterintelligence operations a weaponized agencies against political opponents. As a result of that focus the origination documents gain increased importance along with the FISA Title-1 application used to conduct exhaustive surveillance on U.S. person Carter Page.

Another very interesting dynamic occurs toward the latter half of the interview where Chairman Nunes brings up the international allies, and specifically describes the origination of “The Alliance of the Orb“, against the backdrop of weaponized intel.

Every time the conversation expands to the political weaponization of domestic intelligence agencies (DOJ National Security Division and FBI) I cannot help but think back to an October 2016 presidential campaign speech by Donald Trump.  With hindsight, it would appear candidate Trump knew the apparatus of the FBI was weaponized against his election bid.

Read it, and see for yourself:

[…] For those who control the levers of power in Washington, and for the global special interests they partner with, our campaign represents an existential threat.

[…] This is not simply another 4-year election. This is a crossroads in the history of our civilization that will determine whether or not We The People reclaim control over our government.

The political establishment that is trying everything to stop us, is the same group responsible for our disastrous trade deals, massive illegal immigration, and economic and foreign policies that have bled this country dry. The political establishment has brought about the destruction of our factories and our jobs, as they flee to Mexico, China and other countries throughout the world. Our just-announced jobs numbers are anemic, and our gross domestic product, or GDP, is barely above one percent. Workers in the United States, were making less than they were almost 20 years ago – and yet they are working harder.

It’s a global power structure that is responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth, and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large corporations and political entities.

[…] This is a struggle for the survival of our nation. This election will determine whether we are a free nation, or whether we have only the illusion of Democracy but are in fact controlled by a small handful of global special interests rigging the system.

This is not just conspiracy but reality, and you and I know it.

[…]  They control the Department of Justice, and they even clandestinely meet with the Attorney General of the United States – in the back of her airplane, while on the runway – for 39 minutes – to most likely discuss her reappointment in a Clinton Administration just prior to the Attorney General making a decision over whether or not to prosecute Hillary Clinton.

Likewise, they have corrupted the Director of the FBI to the point at which stories are already saying the great men and women who work for the FBI are embarrassed and ashamed to what he’s done to one of our great institutions. Hillary Clinton is guilty of all of the things that Director Comey stated at his press conference and Congressional hearings, and far more – and yet he let her off the hook, while others lives are being destroyed for far less.

This is a conspiracy against you, the American people. (link)

 

Knowing what we know now, those words from October 13th, 2016, rally in West Palm Beach Florida hold a different resonance today, no?

Imagine you are a candidate for the office of the presidency and you realize your political campaign is a very real existential threat to the system. As you begin to accept this reality you have to think entirely different now.

These people are political enemies.

As troubling as it is to accept, you have to face the reality of a weaponized intelligence community aligned against you; and a professional political class who will deny it exists.

The system, including the media, are now in synergy to eliminate the threat you represent.

(Hmmmmm…)

Apr 8 2018

Sunday Talks: Gordon Chang Discusses China Trade Confrontation…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on April 8, 2018 by

Gordon Chang discusses the ongoing trade initiatives by President Trump to reset the trade imbalance with China.  The dynamic of confronting a bilateral trade relationship with a government controlled economic state (China) is the dynamic behind the discussion.

Mr. Chang does a good job of outlining the ‘big picture’ issue from the perspective of the Trump administration trade policy toward China.

Apr 8 2018

Sunday Talks: NEC Chairman Larry Kudlow -vs- Chris Wallace


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on April 8, 2018 by

National Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow appears on Fox News for an interview with Chris Wallace discussing Trump administration trade positions.  Kudlow and Wallace were previously on the same team, and held the same positions, perspectives and outlooks.

In the face of four decades of results which cannot be refuted, Chairman Kudlow is modifying his position to align with President Trump and Main Street.  At the same time Kudlow is trying to convince Wall Street and GOPe Wallace-types to follow his lead.

.

[*side note* notice how no-one ever mentions MfN status?]

In some ways POTUS Trump’s selection of Kudlow is an interesting test to see if the functionally obsolescent Wall Street-minded economists have the capacity to retool decades of flawed thinking.

Apr 8 2018

Central Banks are not All the Same


Armstrong Economics Blog/Central Banks

Re-Posted Apr 8, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Hi Marty,

I am curious if you have a take on the BOJ. They own almost all of the JJB market and have stated explicitly they will buy it all. Now they own 77% of the Japanese ETF market.

Is it folly to suggest that the US gov’t or FED is not doing the exact thing?

Case in point, I know no one in managed money that is stupid. So, this morning why were stocks panic bid in the face of horrid payrolls and an all out bloodbath with China, especially considering that valuations are extreme. That was not delta hedging.

Have equity markets become weaponized for economic policy?

ANSWER: The Fed is nothing like the Bank of Japan (BoJ) or even the ECB. In the case of Japan, their debt has always been primarily held domestically. You could not issue even a private note in Japanese yen without prior approval of the Ministry of Finance. Japan has maintained a controlled economy. The ECB has followed that direction. It is illegal to short Eurozone bonds. In both cases, they believe if they control the financial markets they can prevent a crash and this support the political agenda.

The Fed is NOT reinvesting its bond purchases. When they mature, the balance sheet will be reduced. Always people bash the Fed and attribute what the BoJ and ECB do assuming the same will take place at the Fed. This is just not true.

We just obtained the lowest quarterly closing on German bonds since the major high of June 2016.

Apr 8 2018

Understanding the Markets


Armstrong Economics Blog/Dow Jones

Re-Posted Apr 8, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; On your January 29 blog, you wrote “In the US Share Market, this is now a turning point we have reached. I have warned for months that exceeding the November high would lead to a January high. Now, the failure of February to make new highs warns of a March low. The support for a correction now lies at the 25637 level on a weekly closing basis (this is not a reversal). We will elaborate today on the Private Blog.” You warned that March could produce a high and keep the cycle inversion process in play. That proved correct since the Nasdaq made new highs and the Dow a reaction high. So that led to the drop into the first week of April. For the actual buy and sell signals, we should only do so on reversals and turning points. The January high you did with the turning point I assume and then the reversals kicked in. The buying opportunity I also assume we must wait for the turning point as was the case for the high. Correct?

PF

ANSWER: Correct. I have made it perfectly clear that NORMALLY one turning point is followed by the OPPOSITE event on the next. So a January high would traditionally produce a March low. However, I pointed out that we have been in a Cycle Inversion. September 2017, November 2017, and January 2018 followed by March 2018 were all the monthly sequential turning points. Normally, each would produce the opposite. That was not the case and each produced a high. This is the Cycle Inversion and it is also warning that we are still consolidating. March produced a high in the Nasdaq and only a reaction high in the Dow. This further warned that there was a shift from an international focus to domestic (Dow v Nasdaq). March also produced only a reactionary high the week of 03/12.

Far too many people expect a guru and want to act based solely upon a comment. Buy this or sell that and that person should always be correct. That is the dream of a fool for nobody can do that. They will ALWAYS quickly lose their money and then blame their pretend guru. That is a sure-fire way to go broke and if they are trying to trade short-term on such comments, they must be insane.

I have stated at the outset of this year that 2018 was a Panic Cycle. That means you test both directions! I further warned that we would see consolidation dominate the first part of 2018 so there was no reason to rush back in until we reach (1) turning point and (2) reversals. The closing of the first quarter was neutral in many markets once again showing that we are still in this consolidation mode. Buy or sell signals are on REVERSALS – never comments.

If you are trying to be a short-term trader and you think that will lower your risk, you are dead wrong. The best performance is to go with the trend and act ONLY on Weekly to Monthly signals – not commentary. January was a critical turning point. All our models were converging at that time so it was ripe for the correction which is why I stated that and was already getting criticism by January 31st, 2018.

The high was Friday January 26th. Every model we had was starting to scream DOWN! The Cycle Inversion was confirmed on the first day of December. I warned if we exceeded the November high, we would rally into January. The high came exactly 43 days (8.6 /2) from the breakout. That frequency does work in the share market except at extreme turning points. That lined up perfectly. The oscillators, always a lagging indicator, turned down on the 30th. Our Skew Model bottomed one day from the high on the 29th. Our Energy model peaked on the day, The subsequent sharp rally into March confirmed this was a reaction high.

Here is the Array on the Dow. There were three weeks targeted 02/12, 02/26, and 03/12 followed by 04/02. The week of 02/12 was a Directional Change and that sent the market back up leaving the February low intact. The next target was 02/26 which produced the reaction high in the Dow. The next target 03/12 produced the high in the Nasdaq.  Then the next target 04/02 produced the retest of the Feb low. Once again, we can see how the markets were interacting and producing the shift from international to domestic.

Clearly, commentary is just an attempt to expalin what is unfolding. It is NEVER for trading purposes. We trade based upon the Reversals and Toming exclusively.

Apr 7 2018

Interesting Tweets From President Trump Draw Attention To Chairman Goodlatte, House Judiciary Committee and FISA Investigation…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on April 7, 2018 by

A few hours ago President Trump tweeted a curiously specific pair of tweets targeting the FBI, DOJ and FISA investigations as it relates to the House Judiciary Committee and Chairman Bob Goodlatte.  Something’s up:

Against the backdrop of the DOJ notifying the House Intelligence and House Senate committees last night of their ability to review the DOJ/FBI submission of the FISA Court application used to target U.S. person Carter Page, the specificity of POTUS Trump’s direction is curious.

As we previously discussed the DOJ allowing expanded congressional oversight over the FISA application, against the backdrop of a previously announced IG review of this specific FISA application, would indicate Inspector General Michael Horowitz and Federal Prosecutor John Huber signed-off on, or perhaps directed, last night’s approval.

There are several angles that loom as possibilities, including the beginning of a process to make this specific FISA application declassified and available to the general public.  There’s also the outstanding issue, a very serious issue, of the application currently in the FISA court being different from the FBI/DOJ version shared with congress (Nunes memo).  That unresolved issue is ongoing, and specifically involves Chairman Goodlatte.

Additionally, accepting the OIG report is almost certainly the most complex undertaking of IG Horowitz career; and the multitude of possible angles within each part of the investigative inquiry are so consequential; there’s an increased likelihood the report is coming out in stages.

Just the sheer process of an ordinarily complex OIG report with the inherent fact-audit, draft-report review, fact-check, and preliminary draft vetting of all references is exhaustive in itself.

Now imagine overlaying that process atop the tentacles behind millions of pages of gathered evidence on multiple investigative issues surrounding the FBI/DOJ conduct: •Clinton email, manipulated investigations with predetermined outcomes; •unlawful and coordinated media leaks; •false testimony to FBI, congress and under oath to IG; •manipulated FBI 302 reports; •issues with Andrew McCabe etc.. and then if that’s not complex enough to report about…. you overlay the •issues with the FISA court; •false presentations; •source material (Steele Dossier); and well, you get the picture…. This is massive and ¹complex.

[…¹and that still leaves the unmasking and state dept issues for a special prosecutor]

In my opinion, part of the reason why FBI Director Christopher Wray doubled the size of the staff assigned to the congressional fulfillment is specifically because there’s a phase in the OIG process where initial statements of fact go through an exhaustive OIG draft vetting process within the targeted agency.  The “source vetting” or “referencer” phase is part of the target response -and internal review audit- prior to the final draft and ultimately publication.

I don’t think all 54 of those FBI staff Director Wray assigned to this task are simply vetting for declassification needs.  Think about it, and contrast against the formal process. More likely a significant number of these staff are vetting the underlying evidence that’s noted in Horowitz’s draft notification document.  Remember, many of these elements are also potentially criminal actions individually; and quite likely, in the aggregate, also the broad outlines of a criminal conspiracy amid all of the participants.

You can call it a soft-coup, or you can call it politicization of the DOJ and FBI, but the end result is the same – the intentional effort to manipulate, influence, and ultimately subvert an election for the presidency of the United States.

So with all of that in mind, for Inspector General Horowitz and Prosecutor Huber to be signing-off on releasing the Carter Page FISA application; there has to be something more there.  Something in addition to the end-stages of an IG report that is almost guaranteed to come in chapters or stages.

This is where I would draw your attention to EW “Bill” Priestap.  The head of Counterintelligence Division of the FBI who was present for the entire time, and is still in place today.

It would be intellectually dishonest in the extreme not to accept that any investigative approach taken by Michael Horowitz and John Huber, that is in any way related to the DOJ-NSD and FBI intelligence apparatus – including specifically the FISA court, has not been directed as an outcome of extensive interviews with the head of the FBI counterintelligence agency.

Horowitz and Huber ain’t fishing in uncharted waters.  They have a subject matter expert guiding them to the exact epicenter location of the fish.

So yeah, this looks very curiously specific:

 

Apr 7 2018

President Trump Tweets Strong Support for EPA Head Scott Pruitt: “Scott is doing a great job!”…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on April 7, 2018 by

Making left-wing ‘splodey heads one tweet at a time:

(Tweet Link)

Apr 7 2018

Intellectual Froglegs – Liberal Farm


Joe Dan Gorman presents the latest anti-derp headline news:

 

Apr 7 2018

NAFTA Watch – No “Agreement on Major Issues” After Three Days of Discussion Between Principals…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on April 7, 2018 by

After three days of discussions between U.S Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo they were not able to develop any consensus on the major issues within the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA.

The likely outcome of the upcoming Mexican national election on July 1st brought the principals together for non-scheduled talks, as U.S. President Trump instructed Ambassador Lighthizer to explore whether the three nations could find common ground on the ‘big picture’ issues behind the largest schism.  The auto sector and rules of origin is the epicenter of the biggest difference between the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

The U.S. auto-sector NAFTA position is that North American content of vehicles made in NAFTA countries be increased to 85 percent from 62.5 percent.  The Canadian and Mexican position is for lower North American content.

Canada is not arguing for higher Canadian content.  Mexico is not arguing for higher Mexican content… Instead both Canada and Mexico are arguing for higher imported content (China and Asia).  Honestly, I cannot fathom why more people don’t see the inherent ridiculousness of NAFTA against the reality of Canada and Mexico arguing for more Chinese imports.

The reason Can/Mex are arguing for more imported material content is because both of their trade economies exploit the NAFTA loophole that allows European and Asian parts to be shipped into Can/Mex, assembled, and shipped into the U.S. market without duty.

It’s bizarre; yet this is the reality.

NAFTA is so completely flawed, it is against Canada and Mexico’s financial interest for them to agree to a North American trade agreement that is structured around North American trade.

When you ask a pro-NAFTA advocate why Canada and Mexico are arguing for less Canadian and Mexican manufacturing in their NAFTA position the advocate cannot answer with any intelligence…. because their pro-NAFTA entire premise is ridiculous, and based on structural falsehoods.  Very frustrating.

Depending on which ideological broadcast or print media you review, there is a massive disconnect in their projected framework of optimism that a deal can be reached. Canadian media are desperate to find hope that any deal can be reached. Mexican media is ambivalent; and U.S. media is mostly driven by the position of multinational corporations who demand the exploitative nature of NAFTA be retained.

My gut, and the ongoing deep reviews of nuance therein, still lean heavily toward the inability of any deal to be possible because the underlying dynamic is so structurally flawed. It is against U.S. interests to stay in NAFTA. It is against Mexico and Canada’s interests to exit NAFTA. There is a massive amount of media manipulation between those polar opposite positions.

.

Princess Rainbow Sparkles continues selling the Canadian position based on ‘feelings’ and ’emotion’…

.

Apr 7 2018

Muenster, Germany: Man Drives Van into Crowd At Popular Tourist Restaurant – Three Killed, German Officials Deny Terrorism…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on April 7, 2018 by

An unknown man drove a van into a group of people sitting outside a popular restaurant in the old city center of Muenster in western Germany on Saturday, killing at least two of them before shooting himself dead.

According to the AP: “A leading German newspaper is reporting that authorities believe there is no terrorist motive behind the deadly van crash in Muenster and the driver is believed to be a middle-aged German man who had psychological issues.”

Via Reuters – […] The vehicle ploughed into people sitting at tables outside the Grosser Kiepenkerl restaurant, which is popular with tourists.

“At 15:27 (1327 GMT), a vehicle drove into the outside area of the restaurant … three people were killed, 20 injured, and six of those seriously injured,” a police spokesman said, adding: “The perpetrator killed himself in the vehicle.”

It was not immediately clear whether the perpetrator was among the three killed, or whether his death took the number of dead to four. A police spokeswoman said separately that there were at least three people dead.  (read more)