Who was the Richest Man in Ancient History


QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; You are a history buff. Who was the richest person in ancient times? Has there ever been a trillionaire?

PD

ANSWER: The Roman Emperor August. He is believed to have been worth in current dollar terms nearly $5 trillion. The only other person to have reached the trillion dollars net worth status was King Solomon of Judaea. After Octavian/Augustus defeated Marc Antony and Cleopatra, he then possessed the entire wealth of Egypt. In this respect, the wealth really did belong to him. Some have attributed the entire wealth of nations conquered and argued that Genghis Khan was worth probably 100 trillion dollars. However, the Roman system was rather different. Even taxation for a governor of a province would be owed by the governor to the state so whatever he would collect fell to him personally.

Marcus Licinius Crassus was perhaps one of the richest private men in Roman history. He amassed an enormous fortune through real estate speculation buying confiscated property seized by Marius from the supporters of Sulla. Crassus’s wealth is estimated by Pliny at approximately 200 million sestertii. Plutarch says the wealth of Crassus increased from less than 300 talents at first to 7,100 talents. An Attic (Greek, Athens) talent was the equivalent of 60 minae or 6,000 drachmae. A silver Drachm was generally 15mm in diameter with a weight of 4.20 grams. In Roman terms, this was about 26 kilograms (57 lb). If we take Plutarch’s measurement of wealth, that would be 42.6 million denarii.

A Roman soldier earned 225 denarii a year. Today, the average soldier in the US army earns $48,538 per year. That would approximately be $9.189 billion. If we take Jeff Bezos who is reported to be worth $164 billion based upon his stock in Amazon, that works out to the annual salary of 3.4 million soldiers compared to Crassus’ worth being 189,333 soldiers. However, the real difference is that Crassus’ wealth is cash whereas Bezos’ wealth is the current value of a stock. If he tried to sell it for cash, the value would be significantly less.

Crassus’ son, Publius Licinius Crassus (c 86BC – 53 BC), served under Julius Caesar. He did issue coins during the Republic as a “moneyer” who was a person authorized to issue the coins during the Roman Republic. The Senate actually controlled the quantity of money to be produced. There would be a “State of the Union” type of address to the Senate where they would be given the account of money on hand and what they expected the annual expenses would be. The Senate would then authorize the number of coins to be issued that fiscal year. The Quaestors handed the raw bullion and they would turn that over to the official who was the “moneyer” for that year. The moneyers would decide on the design to be issued which often celebrated his ancestors. The coinage would be struck and then handed back to the Quaestors for the expenditure of the government. The office of a moneyer continued into the Imperial period.

Barack Obama is BACK and still Wrong about Everything!


He’s back and conservatives should be delighted. Barack Obama is stumping for the Democrats and his arrogance and condescension are on full display. Obama’s recent speech provides evidence that he still lives in a vacuum of ignorance that requires that he claim that all Republicans are racist, they hate women and the roaring Trump economy is thanks to him. This is the same guy that doubled our national debt, whose policies did great damage to America’s middle class and he assured us that a 2% growth in our GDP was the new normal. President Trump erased this myth early in his presidency.

Let’s not forget the catastrophic effect Obama had on the Democratic Party during his failed presidency. Thanks to Obama and his leftist policies the Democrats suffered huge loses during the 2010 and 2014 mid-term elections. During his reign of incompetence the Democratic Party lost over 1,000 local and statewide seats. Although he won two elections Barack Obama was toxic to his party. Like all narcissists his winning was always more important than anything else.

So the patriots of this country pray to God that Mr. Obama stays on the stump through the mid-term elections. In fact, lets pray that Barack stays on the campaign trail right through the 2020 presidential election. Then we can say that even Barack Obama helped “Make America Great Again.”

Jeff Longo
North Royalton, Ohio

Deep State Using Discredit Strategy to Drive Trump from Office to What End?


QUESTION: With Bob Woodward joining the plot to overthrow Trump, do you think he can survive?

KA

ANSWER: No. Woodward says he recorded all his interviews. I do not see him as just making this up with a personal opinion. That does not say what he has been told is true. It is unlikely that what Woodward was told the truth or that this is not somehow connected to other efforts and is wholly independent. Woodward may be a pawn in a larger game here to overthrow Trump. As said before, the prevailing view behind the curtain was that Kennedy was assassinated by the CIA because he would not authorize a Vietnam War. When the Soviet Union fell, files became available. A memo from December 1st, 1966 reported that they believed there was a plot to assassinate Kennedy from within the U.S. government. Many people saw the Warren Report as a cover-up. To remove Trump, I seriously doubt they would take that approach. That means the only way to remove Trump is to discredit him to such an extent that they can somehow justify invoking the 25th Amendment for they might not be able to even prove a case in a public trial in the Senate for impeachment given that Trump would probably press all the way.

If we assume what Woodward was told was exaggeration or lies to turn him into an unwitting pawn in this chess game, then with the New York Times publishing the anonymous Op_Ed (Extremely unusual), seems to be connecting the dots that there is really a very serious coup to overthrow Trump taking place behind the curtain. Perhaps they will try to put together a case that he should just resign or be replaced under the 25th Amendment since there is no proof of a conspiracy with Putin.

The Kennedy assassination cleared the way for the Vietnam War. Is the Deep State trying so hard to remove Trump to launch a war with Russia? That is appearing more and more the drive behind this strange internal coup against Trump. You have to also understand that Trump is an outsider, but the people who took positions in the White House were career bureaucrats. I even knew some who went for interviews for key roles so I am not making speculation or an opinion. I even spoke to people who were interviewed to work in the White House.

We have not seen such political intrigue since the Civil War. Ironically, despite calling Trump a racist, the only President who inspired such violence and hatred on the same level as Trump was Abraham Lincoln who was not merely an outsider, but he was someone intent on changing the economic structure of government. Lincoln also faced a deep swamp of political intrigue and corruption and plots to assassinate him.

The issues between Trump and Lincoln are not the same on the surface. Of there will immediate be people that get angry at that statement and say Lincon was the emancipator. For the slogans. You need to pick up the rug and look closer. Did the South just want to oppress blacks or was there money at stake? What is the same between Trump and Lincoln is that both wanted to change the system for different reasons.

There is nothing that Trump has done that would threaten national security. This plot against Trump in part is about keeping the trade agreements in place for you will find too many hidden links to people who like things as they are. There are American manufacturers who do not want to bring jobs back because of pensions and healthcare benefits are far too disruptive and costly. This contributes to the trend for replacing pension hungry union workers with robots.

In the case of Lincoln, there were so many death threats against him they stopped counting. Ending slavery would ALSO drive the cost of labor higher in the South. The security concerns with Lincoln led to the hiring of a detective who could pose as a Southerner to infiltrate the conspiracy that was developing to kill Lincoln before he was sworn in on his way to Washington. That man was Allan Pinkerton who wrote that “opposition to Mr. Loncoln’s inauguration was most violent and bitter.” The South looked at ending slavery from an economic perspective not so different than companies who do not want to bring overseas jobs back to America for similar reasons today.

In Brazil, the man leading the Pools they call the Trump of Brazil. They just attempted an assassination to stop him from changing the system. Jair Bolsonaro will survive, but he was the leading candidate in Brazil’s presidential elections. He was stabbed during a campaign rally last week. There are many people who are beginning to emerge around the world who have been inspired by Trump to upset the establisment. Taking down Trump may also have an important message to others who think they can change the system.

I do not know how, but it seems I strangely end up knowing so many people in all the key places. Trump would not agree to such a move to wage war on Russia. The meeting of Trump Jr with the Russians at Trump Tower was a rouse promising dirt on Hillary. The main purpose was to inform Trump that there were Americans who interfered in the Russian 2000 elections and tried to blackmail Yeltsin after convincing him to steal money from the IMF loans.

The New York Times reported: “Prosecutors with the United States attorneys’ offices in Manhattan and Brooklyn noted that the money laundering scheme at the Bank of New York involved unlicensed transmissions of about $7 billion that originated in Russia, passed through American accounts, and then moved into other accounts worldwide.” They further reported that the money was the result of “possible corruption among Russia’s business elite and officials of the Kremlin.” (NY Times, 

Now, to further all of these coincidences, one of the lawyers involved in the Trump Tower meeting was Scott Balber, who also worked on my case.  Who was the US Attorney on my case? James Comey. Now to really make it interesting, during April 2000 there was a Reverse Proffer session between me and the prosecutor Richard Owens. Owens had the audacity to say we know you didn’t steal any money but we won’t drop the charges. We will release you if you just plead to a conspiracy with Edmond Safra. Since the only way to get $1 billion out of a bank is to write a check or wire the money out, I said no shit!. I then said there was no way I would agree to say I was in league with a conspiracy with Safra and the New York bankers. I laid the whole thing out about the attempt to blackmail Yeltsin and why they could not get past the Miniter of Interior of Russia to trace the money. I said absolutely no way I would put my family at risk saying I had anything to do with Safra.  They would not go to trial fearing what I knew and they would not drop the charges and admit they made a mistake. So until I got into the Supreme Court, it became just a Mexican standoff.

CNN had even confirmed that the money was stolen from the IMF and later that was completely dropped and they pretended the money was a ransom for a Russian businessman.

CNN Russian money laundering probe widens – Aug. 26, 1999

CNN Theft of IMF Money – Sep. 1, 1999

CNN BNY dismisses second exec in fraud case – Sep. 2, 1999

Everyone is supposed to be entitled to a FAIR and PUBLIC Trial. Judge Lawrence McKenna was doing his best to protect me. The government went to the Chief Judge and had him order to take my case away from Judge McKenna and handed it to Judge John F. Keenan. I am supposed to have the right to object which I was denied. Then the government sealed my docket sheet so neither I nor the public will ever know what they said even as late as 2013. I can only suspect that they pulled the National Security card out because they could never allow me to get on the stand and reveal the entire Russian connection. What is on this blog is not the mainstream press. When it makes the nightly news, then you have the Senate investigations.

Now if you really think everything is a coincidence, I do not know what to say. Trump clearly knew what took place in 2000 because he was briefed. This is why the Deep State is so desperate to drive him from office. Trump stood there and knew what Putin wanted. There was no surprise. Look at Trump’s face when Putin asks to interrogate Americans. Then the Senate strangely passes a unanimous (98-0) resolution that Putin cannot interrogate any American. CNN spins this as Trump supports Putin. So is the glass half full or half empty? Why can Mueller demand to question Russians but somehow Russians are so dishonest they cannot question Americans? What are they hiding? Very Strange.

The resolution was brought by three Democratic Senators: Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, New Jersey’s Bob Menendez, and Hawaii’s Brian Schatz. Who was President in 2000 when this manipulation into the Russian elections was staged? Bill Clinton. Putin also named besides Bill Browder, Ambassador Michael Anthony McFaul to Russia who served as the United States Ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014 during the Obama Administration. Very curious that Chuck Schumer would rally to protect anything from the Democrats. If the Democrats were hacked by the Russians, there are no allegations that the Russians altered any email or manufactured any of the information that came out. Did Chuck Schumer organize this resolution to prevent any evidence that Democratic Administrations attempted to interfere in Russian elections? If there is nothing to hide, then let Putin question and return Mueller gets to question Russians. Why the smoke-screen?

Now watch Browder the night before the Putin meeting. Why did Fox even ask him to be on to comment about a President meeting with Putin? Why is Browder trying to keep the negative image of Russia? He knew what Putin would ask for to interrogate him? There have been those who alleged that it was Browder who had Magnitsky killed in a Russian prison because he would give Putin the evidence of who was behind the plot to blackmail Yeltsin. Some have alleged that Browder agreed to work with the CIA to avoid tax charges. Nobody seems to know the truth behind that curtain. Why would Browder go on TV as a “FORMER” American who resigned his American Citizenship to avoid taxes appear to speak out against a US president meeting with Putin when he is no longer an American, to begin with?

Trump is being driven from office because he is an outsider, but he seems to stand in the way of a higher agenda as did Kennedy and Vietnam. Between the New York Times OP_ED and Woodward’s book, it seems that the bureaucrats are out to drive Trump from office using the discredited strategy rather than a fake assassination that nobody really believes. Interesting food for thought. I suppose we will see if they remove Trump and we suddenly go to war. Yes, they are working night and day to drive Trump from office. This is why I am deeply concerned about what comes AFTER Trump. There are way too many people working together from every possible angle to remove him from office. They get the fools to cheer but they may be crying later. There is an agenda here that is not exposed and the press will never protect the people or the nation

Pattern Repeats – Political Imprisonment followed by Leadership


I really do not think people realize that they are just extras in a political film which is an endless struggle for freedom. There is a book written by Oriana Fallaci which began as an interview of Allesandro Panagoulis. Oriana was a journalist who was interviewing fourteen contemporary political leaders, which included Henry Kissinger, Meir, Arafat, Indira Gandhi, and the Shah of Iran. She sought to understand their personal attitudes and propensities that brought them to such status. She called this an Interview with History.

In the course of her investigations, she wrote A Man about Allesandro Panagoulis who stood up against the dictatorship and oppression of the Greek people. He was imprisoned and tortured for years. Most were stunned that he even survived this treatment. Like Nelson Mandella, the same pattern of imprisonment was followed by the fall of the government and a rebirth back to democracy. Panagoulis took an active role in the fight against the Regime of the Colonels (1967–1974) in Greece. He became famous for his attempt to assassinate dictator Georgios Papadopoulos on August 13th, 1968, and the subsequent endless torture. However, following the collapse of the dictatorship government, democracy was reborn. This is when Panagoulis was elected to the Greek parliament as a member of the Center Union.

Panagoulis discovered that the very people who had tortured him were then pretending to be democrats. Allesandro systematically began to investigate the corruption in the police and the political government. Just two days before all the files of the junta’s military police (the “E.A.T.-E.S.A. file”) he announced would be released, he was assassinated.  One of the methods to assassinate a leader so he is not made into a hero is to create what appears to always be an accident. On the 1st of May 1976, a car accident was staged on Vouliagmenis Avenue in Athens. A car drove extremely fast and directed its path to impact Panagoulis. Without a choice and counting on a human reflex, Panagoulis’ car and forced to divert and crash in which he was said to have been killed almost instantaneously. The files never materialized to support the collaboration of corruption of the police in league with Greek officers who worked with Nazi Germany in World War II. These men who killed Greeks served in the Security Battalions who fought for the Germans in 1943-1944. These very people were those who were the leaders of the Colonels’ Regime of 1967-1974 and were torturing Panagoulis. There are no such coincidences in these types of affairs.

Hailstone not Snow


The report of a reader saying it snowed in Rome was an incorrect translation. It was HailstonesThe same thing took place in Calgary. Although strange, they are not unknown even in summer. Hailstones are large, layered ice particles, often spherical in shape. They are produced by thunderstorms having strong, tilted updrafts. Hailstorms form within an unusually unstable air mass. In the case of Calgary, it could have been set off by the wildfires combining with Volcanic particle

CBS CEO Les Moonves Will Step Down Following New Sexual Harassment Allegations and Lawsuit Settlement…


Three hours after Ronan Farrow in The New Yorker outlined another six women coming forward with harassment claims against the embattled chief executive of CBS, bringing the total number of accusers to twelve, CBS unofficially reports a deal reached with CEO Leslie Moonves and his exit from the media company.  An official announcement is expected on Monday.

The CBS Corporation was already in litigation over control of the organization with the controlling shareholder Shari Redstone.  The new allegations of sexual misconduct presented today by the New Yorker appear to have spurred a settlement of the already existing lawsuit.  The terms of the settlement are reported to be announced on Monday.

Reuters ReportNew Yorker ReportFox News Report.

 

Reuters Top News

@Reuters

CBS CEO Moonves accused of sexual misconduct by more women in New Yorker story https://reut.rs/2MWMdvz 

CBS CEO Moonves accused of sexual misconduct by more women in New…

Six additional women have raised assault and harassment claims against CBS Corp Chief Executive Leslie Moonves in a media report published Sunday.

reuters.com

Reuters Top News

@Reuters

CBS settles lawsuit over company control; Moonves to resign: sources https://reut.rs/2QhVRGX

CBS settles lawsuit over company control; Moonves to resign: sources

CBS Corp has reached a deal to settle litigation over the control of the company with its controlling shareholder Shari Redstone and National Amusements Inc in a deal expected to be announced as…

reuters.co

 

Sunday Talks: Maria Bartiromo Interviews Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte…


Bob Goodlatte is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee; and also the lead chairman (w/ Gowdy) of the joint House Oversight and Judiciary Committee that is conducting the interviews of witnesses for the investigation into corruption by the FBI and DOJ.   The joint committee has interviewed: Bill Priestap, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page and Bruce Ohr; no transcripts released (likely to avoid coordinated testimony).

In this morning’s interview with Maria Bartiromo Chairman Goodlatte discusses the need to interview Nellie Ohr and Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson voluntarily or by subpoena.  Again, note the oft-repeated “sources and methods” declassification issue.

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Think about it.  What were the sources/methods for the Steele Dossier?  What were the sources/methods for the FISA application?  It’s the sources and methods that were/are corrupt. Declassification is futile without un-redacting the sources and methods.

Sunday Talks: Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy Discusses 2018 Mid-Terms…


House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy appears with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the federal budget legislation, wall funding and the 2018 Mid Term elections.  The 2018 fiscal year ends September 30th, President Trump is pressuring lawmakers to pass fiscal year 2019 spending bills prior to the October 1st deadline.

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Segment #2 below

 

Sunday Talks: Senator Lindsey Graham Interviewed by Maria Bartiromo…


Senator Lindsey Graham appears on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo to discuss all things swampy.  Thankfully Mrs. Bartiromo calls out President Obama for the gobsmacking projection within in his accusation that President Trump is politicizing the Department of Justice.

Additionally, Senator Graham renews his request for a special counsel to investigate the FBI and DOJ conduct during the prior administration; along with support for the declassification of documents. [The Declassification Conundrum]

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The declassification issue is easy to see: the “sources and methods” are corrupt.  The sources are “journalists and unlawful FBI/NSA database searches”, and the methods are “government leaks to media and the dossier author, Chris Steele”.

AG Jeff Sessions, DAG Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray are protecting the “sources and methods” because they do not want the American people to see how easy it is for the DOJ and FBI to fabricate and actually manufacture evidence.  Collectively they are trying to protect their beloved and corrupt institutions from exposure.  It all goes back to the FISA exploitation and database abuse.  =>THIS<= is what must be kept secret.

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