Category America’s government is conducting psychological warfare against domestic citizens

Dec 18 2023

Where to Hide – & What to Consider


Posted originally on Dec 17, 2023 By Martin Armstrong 

2032 Question

QUESTION: Dear Martin and the team.
Perhaps the chances are very low that this would somehow reach Martin. However, I would like to try to use “the power of the internet.” I have to try, so at least I am not blaming myself. I would like to ask a question and if somehow, possibly get the answer and Martin’s thoughts. (btw I bought your books, but sadly I can’t come to those conferences as they are quite far away, not to mention visas…!)

I am originally from Russia but came to the UK 9 years ago. I never thought that we would go threw such insanity during my life. My parents who passed in the 90s (the time when SU collapsed) believe that there is nothing scarier than this. Yet, based on their description, it looks like the 90s is coming worldwide, which scares me to the bones. I just can’t recognize the UK and the rest of the western countries anymore. After COVID (and also Brexit) everything twisted upside down. Cost of living, quality of life, education level, total surveillance, CBDC, digital ID and other things seem to be coming all worldwide.

Even in Russia, this ESG agenda (Sberbank was working with WEF on their cyberattack convention in 2019 for Christ’s sake!), social credit score, CBDC progressing! They are all in cahoots together… Many people don’t see a danger of those elements, and when you even try to explain the danger of those things, all what they call you are just another conspiracy theorist….
I understand that the storm is coming and most likely we will all come out as different people in 2032. I really hope that your prognosis is correct and there is a light in the end of the tunnel which brings at least some hope that we will not be stuck in this doom loop.

I am right now stuck in a dilemma which doesn’t give me peace, so I would like to try to use such an opportunity and ask questions about how Martin thinks:

1) The worst fear for me right now is being stuck in the UK. If we all go into such shit period, I would prefer to be in my home country (Russia). However, I have been in the UK for almost 10 years and was thinking about applying for a passport in 2025. After that, I was considering leaving the country for good. Question comes : is it worth it? If this all goes so downhill. How much time do I have till the storm comes, and will I not be able to leave? Is it really worth it? I can, of course, return home, but all those years which I have been in the UK will be basically worthless… Moreover, the passport opportunity could help me… one day…. This cross-road doesn’t give me peace of mind.

2) In your prognosis of the safest places you mostly consider the USA. What places in the UK are safest? Is Edinburgh safe? I can see that England is in full turmoil. All those green zealots and green zones which would destroy the economy… Not to mention those cameras today have been deployed everywhere.

3) Don’t you think that this world power grab will be worldwide? We can see that they all argue with each other, yet when it comes to COP-28 or WEF events, they all sit together… I can see the same things happening in Russia. The main bank, Sberbank, even has a director of ESG, plus they are pushing for CBDC and Machine-learning integration in the transactions… Madness.
I still believe that I have a higher chance of surviving in Russia. I have parents who have their own garden…. And overall, it is easier to survive mentally when your parents are nearby…
I greatly appreciate that you try to predict and guide us towards those insane times. If somehow this message arrives, could you please share your thoughts?
Kind regards
Max

Question Answers

ANSWER: This turmoil that we are heading into is global. There really will be no country that will not be affected in some way. The US Congress just passed legislation anticipating a Trump victory that is intended to PREVENT any president from withdrawing from NATO unilaterally as Trump had vowed. The politicians throughout the West are pushing us into World War III, and there is nothing we can do to stop this insanity.

Merkel_Minsk_Buy_Time_to Prepare for wart
Zelensky_Pursue_Nuclear_Weapons_2 23 22

The West is the aggressor. While they claim Putin’s invasion was unprovoked and this is about freedom and democracy, that is just nonsense.  The Minsk Agreement was to allow the Donbas to have a free election. Merkel and the West lied to allow Ukraine to build an army to fight Russia which has been the plan all along. Zelensky, the puppet selling out his own country, stood up and said that Ukraine would rearm itself with nuclear weapons. So, in addition to tearing up the Minsk Agreement, Zelensky also tore up the Budapest Memorandum where Ukraine had more nuclear weapons than China. It was a major world nuclear power – the third-largest nuclear power in the world.

Zelensky Did not warn people Washington Post 8 19 22

The Budapest Memorandum was where Ukraine made the decision to completely denuclearize in exchange, the U.S., the U.K., and Russia guaranteed Ukraine’s security in that 1994 agreement. Therefore, when Zelensky stood up and declared Ukraine would re-arm with nukes and was no longer going to be neutral, Putin had no choice but to come to the aid of the Donbas the next day. Zelensky never told his people and he said to the Washington Post that had he told the people Russia would invade, he would have lost $7 billion.

Hillary is saying that they are using Ukraine as cannon fodder and the plan is to weaken Russia to overthrow their government if you just listen. Afghanistan is the “model” to keep throwing Ukrainians into the war, and maybe the West will win. These people love to play God with nations, and people’s lives, on both sides. NEVER have I ever heard Hillary or any Neocon even once express remorse for the dead soldiers or their families where children grow up without a parent.

These Neocons are just hateful people, and they have seized power in Washington to wage war. They hate all Russians and Chinese because they used to be communists and they cannot let that go. They still have to defeat them no matter what.

Hillary is a Neocon who was behind the entire move to overthrow the governments of the Middle East – Iraq, Syria, and Libya. The Benghazi attack on the US embassy was because it was being used to funnel arms into Syria and Libya to create civil wars just as they have done in Ukraine.

Brainwashed

Far too many politicians have been brainwashed by the Neocons. They think Putin is the enemy and may think they are supporting national security, but they too are just stupid pawns. Nobody in Washington is even interested in peace. Most are not competent to even comprehend that the West needs war so desperately as the excuse to justify CBDCs, capital controls, martial law, and the sovereign debt default that wipes out pensions so they also need to reduce the population to reduce their unfunded liabilities.

World Question 1
Leave the World Behind

So where to hide? There will be safe places within many countries, even the UK, but they will be away from major cities. That is where the risk will lie. That was sort of the theme of the movie, strangely partly funded by Obama, Leave the World Behind, but that was really about taking down communications, including satellites. I found it curious that Obama would be behind such a film. This will certainly be one impact of war, which is why I am against digital currency, for you will be unable to buy anything. In the film, the only way a guy could buy medicine was with cash.

What you must understand is that all the old wounds will resurface. You even have Biden’s education official claiming that democracy, fatphobia, is based on white supremacy. At the same time, Obama’s new film is against white people. Look around the world. Whatever old dispute there was is resurfacing. Ukrainians hate Russian-speaking Ukrainians. The same is now unfolding in Estonia. All of this bullshit about “equality” is a smokescreen. The old hatreds are all surfacing and these will be part of the process of tearing about civilization as we head into 2032. So in your case, it may just be safer in Russia, for in World War II, they locked up Japanese who were born in the United States simply because of their race and ethnic origin. Be very careful about where you move to. Remember the Boxer Rebellion in China, where it was get all foreigners?

Georgia 1778 Tory Confiscation Note

By the time we get to 2032, that will be the light at the end of the tunnel. The shit-storm, as they say, will begin primarily after 2024. The US election will further divide the USA, for NEITHER side will accept the result. The USA will eventually break apart into three primary regions: the South & midwest Bible Belt will join together against the Northeast, and the Pacific States will be their own la-la-land. You will most likely be safer with the region that best matches your political philosophy. Even during the American Revolution, they were confiscating assets of people who supported the king politically. There is NEVER any rule of law during the war – NEVER forget that. You have no rights it will always be the will of those in power.

I would get the passport as a hedge, but you may be safer in Russia than in the US or Europe. You certainly want to stay away from any major city no matter what country you are in. That is where the civil unrest will flare up the most. Keep in mind, cities like NYC, will be out of food in 7 days when there are no trucks to bring it into town.

Dec 15 2023

Big Picture Debrief – We Are in an Abusive Relationship, Accepting Isolation


Posted originally on the CTH on December 14, 2023 | Sundance 

I initially considered a password protect post for this, but the issue is important enough that messaging a larger audience carries a greater value.

Someone noted yesterday that after my research trip my tone changed. Perhaps becoming a little more deliberate, perhaps becoming a little more stern. It is an accurate sense, and there is a very good reason for this. I will explain.

I have noted several times in the past few years that the nature of our relationship with government seems to have shifted. Specifically, We The People now appear to be in an abusive relationship with government. In all abusive relationships there is a common set of behaviors; the DC control system is following a familiar pattern. My recent research trips helped me to understand exactly how severe and deep this shift has become.

Certain abusers distort reality in the mind of their victims through gaslighting. Essentially manipulative and strategic lying, to make the abused think something, perhaps even their reality, is completely different. Our government institutions and those who control the information flow into media have been doing exactly that. The examples are numerous, but the deliberateness began to take a severe tone with the COVID-19 fiats.

In my opinion, it was our willingness to buy into the false frameworks surrounding the COVID-19 hysteria, that really opened the eyes of possibility in the mind of powerful people within our government. We accepted too much; we allowed too much; we willingly accepted an almost totalitarian state in response.

The rules themselves were ridiculous.

The mask nonsense, the social distancing, business closures, lockdowns, “essential vs nonessential jobs”, roped off products in certain areas of stores as if the virus couldn’t travel or the types of purchases determined risk; people were arrested on paddleboards in the ocean by themselves, closed parks outside and the police watching; standing in a restaurant was dangerous, but sitting at a table was not; etc. etc.

All of it was madness, yet we complied.

It was almost like a test, to see how much the control of information could influence behavior – and bad actors within our government were paying attention to how easy it was to manipulate action, diminish liberty and control the behavior of free people.

Granted, in other countries it was worse; yet still, in the USA where our DNA is forged in the fire of being suspicious of government, three-quarters of the population took an untested experimental, gene modifying “vaccine.” In hindsight, it is stunning to consider.

Fast forward to my recent research trip(s).  What I discovered outside the USA, is that we are being lied to.

The Russian sanctions are not sanctioning Russia or impeding their economic growth – not even close. Instead, the sanctions have built walls around the USA financial system, not to keep Russians out – but to keep Americans locked in. I have given details about this previously, and I will not repeat here.

Then, if you take the expanding surveillance state and the expansion of DHS authority under the guise of “national security,” adding in the extreme control system now in place through the public-private partnership with social media, you really begin to see the architecture of a massive information control system. Making the reality all the bleaker, no voice in Washington DC is genuinely pushing back and publicly calling out the surveillance state.

Our elected representatives are not representing our interests; instead, they are codependent enablers, willfully blind to the overall system of expanded government control. The abuser is stronger, the victim is weaker (less free), and every element is now in place to block the victim, us, from realizing the scale of their abuse.

Making the issue more alarming, is the seemingly unstoppable censorship and control enterprise that is blocking people from networking, communicating and sharing their current status. This was the primary reason I began the protected “Slowly at First” (SAF) discussion threads. So people could just talk about the reality in their region, and we could all compare notes.

Something very dark is assembling deep inside our nation, and yet we are seemingly distracted from noticing it. The reality of motive behind the U.S. sanctions against Russia, as identified by my fact-finding mission that was not easy to accomplish, really made me reconsider the nature of the control around us.

What I realize now, is that agencies within our federal government are building a matrix of walls to lock us into a severely controlled system.  We are being isolated and we do not see it.

We can debate (and I have) while hiding behind the benefits of “tactical civics” all day long. But what we are really debating and accepting is the size of our cell or cell block.  Yes, locally you can and should fight for liberty – locally.  However, do not blind yourself to the reality of the outcome; in essence, we are creating 15-minute cities.  Is that really freedom?

Within the federal system under construct, information is being controlled. The online systems of sharing contrary information are being changed, modified and ultimately blocked. Our expenditures and costs of living are being used as weapons for control via monetary policy. Our systems of independent ownership and self-determination are being dismantled. Our ability to engage in commerce is being increasingly subject to approvals.  Some of those approvals are self-generated. Our finance system is being changed to a more controlling central bank, and perhaps a digital currency.

We The People are being isolated, just like a victim of toxic abuse would be isolated. There are walls and barriers being built all around us, even around our nation, and if the government were to take full control over digital communication and internet services (the path we are on), it’s unlikely we would even know the scale of our captivity.

So yeah, my tone is changing.

After my visit to Eastern Europe and the currently forbidden region, both of them, I now see the limits on freedom that exist here at home. Each of the datapoints, each of the stories, articles, research reviews and detailed documented instances of bad behavior from our federal government now takes on a different context.

As I detailed every moment and filled our research library with citation after citation over the past dozen years, I knew the trajectory was bad. I knew it was really bad – really bad. Yet, I had no idea how severe and bad the abuse had become until I stood in the forbidden world and realized everything I was told about it, was a lie.

Remember, I wasn’t there at the invitation of anyone. I wasn’t there with a handler, minder or escort. No one from the forbidden world even knew I was there. I was there as a free and independent person, a sovereign citizen who hacked his way through the jungle with a rusty machete to get there.

When I left the forbidden world, came back through eastern Europe through Istanbul and ultimately back into the west, I spent hours in careful contemplation trying to reconcile the motive for the false information and yet simultaneously put a mental scale together to evaluate the scope of the U.S. propaganda effort.

The only thing that makes any of it make sense, is to accept the datapoints that clearly show the walls being built around us – to isolate us.

I never really understood how people could accept the formation of communism around them.

Now I do.

I see it happening, and that is making me very angry.

I have also spent hours on my knees, deliberately asking our loving God – the one source of purest truth – to guide and help me.

I am shouting now.  We must stop being codependent enablers to our own isolation.

Dec 14 2023

Controlled Information Beta Test Underway?


Posted originally on the CTH on December 13, 2023 | Sundance

Someone asked: …”[Alex] Jones’ theory of the “massive cyber-attack” that requires a lockdown of the internet, followed by a limited access/controlled access internet where only approved (“safe”) sites can be accessed is both alarmingly believable and difficult to prepare for. It also nearly perfectly mirrors the COVD playbook in a virtual way – virtual lock downs, virtual “approved activities/sites”, controlled information and total censorship.” (link)

My requested response… Where the heck do you think Jones’ came up with that theory?  Go back to AUGUST 2023, it’s so transparently predictable I even created a drop-down category “Internet” for the citations and articles about it.  Jones is describing what I called, “The shadow banning of the internet“.

I believe the Beta Test was today:

The process isn’t complicated if you have followed the development of the government systems.  DHS is not going to shut down the North American Internet, just change the pathways using their public-private partnerships with social media and Big Tech.  Justification big picture: national security.  Details of control found in the motives of creating labels like, disinformation, malinformation, or misinformation.

[September 2023] – You might ask – why is the Dept of Homeland Security (DHS) in the business of conducting widescale surveillance, monitoring and tracking of American citizens?

Unfortunately, if you are asking that question, then you likely don’t know the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution were usurped by the 2001 Patriot Act.

George W Bush and Dick Cheney created the domestic surveillance system under the auspices of DHS and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.  Barack Obama and Joe Biden then took that DHS surveillance system and modified the dials (Justice Dept., FBI) so the surveillance only applied to their ideological enemies.

If you have followed my outlines on this issue [Category Here], you will note exactly where this development falls on the continuum.   The 2024 election is right around the corner. Previously, I stated the artificial intelligence (AI) component to the internet surveillance system was going to launch toward the end of this year.  Well, DHS has just announced exactly that [SEE HERE].

I find it very interesting the DHS memo was issued on August 8th, but only published for the general public September 15th. July and August were when I first identified AI spider crawls were already underway.  Pay very, very close attention to the two underlined words in the following paragraph:

[SOURCE pdf, Page 3]

Take out the word “improper” and the admission is, DHS uses AI to profile, target and discriminate.  In the second sentence, DHS currently participates in systemic, indiscriminate and/or large-scale monitoring, surveillance, or tracking of individuals.  The only thing those sentences in the paragraph say, is that DHS will not allow AI to create improper outcomes within a system they outline that already exists.

Stop and reread that last sentence as much as needed.  Inasmuch as this DHS guidance is telling us the rules for Homeland Security (DHS) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) as they use AI, they are also outlining what current processes of surveillance would be enhanced by it.

DHS’ AI task force is coordinating with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on how the department can partner with critical infrastructure organizations “on safeguarding their uses of AI and strengthening their cybersecurity practices writ large to defend against evolving threats.”

What are those critical infrastructure organizations?  They include voting systems.  Who or what are those evolving threats?  You!

Federal News Network – […] The report also recommends DHS encourage pursing off-the-shelf commercial solutions instead of “building everything in-house.”

Mayorkas emphasized the need for DHS to adopt AI quickly, regardless of whether it’s commercially acquired or internally developed technology.

“We have got to change the procurement capabilities of a government agency to actually move quickly and nimbly, so that when we’re dealing in a very dynamic environment, we can actually move with dynamism,” Mayorkas said. “I’m not suggesting moving to a sole source model, but we just have to be quick.”

He also stressed the need for DHS to prioritize where it will use AI, rather than attempting to adopt it across every mission and use case. The report points to combatting both fentanyl and human trafficking as use cases that could be “accelerated and championed” across DHS. But it also suggests DHS “integrate AI/ML into as many areas of the DHS mission as possible.”

“We’re going to need to prioritize what aspect of our mission should we really double down on to harness AI because I worry about diluting our focus too much,” Mayorkas said. “And I really do want to demonstrate, as quickly as is responsible, how this could really be a game changer for us in advancing our mission . . . we have to pick our spots here, in my view, somewhat surgically.” (more)

Notice the emphasis on speed.  Get this AI system launched into DHS surveillance, tracking and monitoring systems as quickly as possible.

Now do you see my point about how radical and fast everything is going to change?  It’s the 2024 election targeting.

Remember, the Dept of Defense (DoD) will now conduct online monitoring operations, using enhanced AI to protect the U.S. internet from “disinformation” under the auspices of national security. {link}

I share this information with you so that you understand what is being constructed and what is about to be deployed on a large-scale throughout the U.S. internet operating system.  The U.S. internet will be different.  The social media restrictions became more prevalent and noticeable in the past several years; now it is time for DHS to expand that process and begin directing traffic.

When I wrote about Jack’s Magic Coffee shop, people initially thought I was crazy – but the guys inside the coffee shop didn’t.  Eventually DHS control over Twitter was revealed in the Twitter Files.  The same background is true here.  The entire American online apparatus is going to change, quite soon.

I’m alone out here, but I’m not wrong.

More will follow comrade dissidents….

.

RESOURCES:

Using AI for Content Moderation

Facebook / META / Tech joining with DHS

Zoom will allow Content Scraping by AI 

AI going into The Cloud

U.S. Govt Going into The Cloud With AI

Pentagon activates 175 Million IP’s **ahem**

Big Names to Attend Political AI Forum

DoD to use AI to monitor U.S. Internet for Disinformation

DHS Announces Guidelines for Using AI to monitor Americans.

DHS Announces “Expert Group”

Government demands Twitter metadata

Dec 12 2023

Eric Holder Outlines the Best DOJ Targeting Process He Knows – The Exact Process He and Obama Used


Posted originally on the CTH on December 11, 2023 | Sundance 

In this short clip {direct Rumble link here} former AG Eric Holder is asked about the potential for a President (Trump) to target his political opposition using the DOJ.

Not coincidentally, nor ironically, Holder goes on to outline the exact process that Joe Biden is using to target Donald Trump.  Which is the exact same process Barack Obama used through Eric Holder to target his political opposition in the aftermath of the 2010 shellacking.  First the video, then the reminder.  Eric Holder knows a great deal about how this process works, because he did exactly what he is outlining.  WATCH:

What too few people remember is that back in 2011, in the aftermath of the November 2010 shellacking of the Democrats by activist Tea Party groups around the country, AG Holder asked the Treasury Department to participate in a “special research project.”

The IRS was asked for the Schedule-B’s of groups who were registered as “patriot” groups (Tea Party Patriots) and other names associated with the political uprising against Barack Obama and the takeover of federal healthcare, ie Obamacare.   The Cincinnati field office of the IRS then sent the DOJ a batch of CD-ROM’s containing the names of the individual donors listed on the IRS 501-c (3)(4) forms.  That list was then compiled and used by the federal government to target the donors and supporters.

A Cincinnati IRS office worker blew the whistle.

An investigation was launched by congress.

IRS head Lois Lerner then pleaded the 5th amendment, and later the IRS/DOJ settled a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of the targets.

During the investigation, former Obama Chief of Staff Jack Lew was moved into position as Treasury Secretary, with the priority to cover-up and hide the DOJ initiating request.

Specifically, because the Tea Party groups were primary targeting the Republican members of the UniParty, the DOJ effort to destroy the participants was fully supported in 2012, 2013, 2014, by Republican leadership as well as complicit Democrats.  This was the most transparent UniParty cover-up operation through that date.  Only later exceeded by their unity in common cause against the Donald Trump presidency.

The Obama/Holder group learned a lesson in 2012 when the IRS whistleblower came forward.  The use of the IRS was dropped, and instead the administration switched to using the NSA database for their targeting data.  Federal officers, FBI offices and contractors working on behalf of the government, then began exploiting the NSA database for information on opposition to the Obama administration.

Approximately 80% of all NSA database searches were non-compliant.

Meanwhile, back in the DOJ National Security Division (DOJ-NSD), the Holder operation continued with the use of weaponized FISA-702 exploits as surveillance and FARA violations as the process tool.   The DOJ-NSD was created by Eric Holder and refused any DOJ inspector oversight until 2017 under the Trump administration.  The process of having no oversight made it easier for the targeting operations to continue.

This is the truth of the thing, and CTH covered it in detail as it was happening.

President Obama and AG Eric Holder did exactly what Mr. Holder is now outlining in that CNN interview.   Essentially, Holder is saying the quiet part out loud, while recognizing that too few people will ever understand that he is guilty of the exact process he is explaining.

FUBAR

Dec 11 2023

American Wealth Declined in Q3


Posted originally on Dec 11, 2023 By Martin Armstrong 

Debt Burden

According to a recent Federal Reserve report, US household wealth experienced a significant decline in the third quarter, largely attributed to deep stock losses. The central bank’s report revealed that household net worth fell by approximately $1.3 trillion, or 0.9%, from July to September, amounting to $151 trillion. The decline was primarily driven by a $1.7 trillion drop in the value of equity holdings.

This comes after a volatile year for the stock market, with all three major indexes experiencing a significant downturn in mid-2023. While the market has since recovered, the report also indicated a continued rise in household debt, which increased at a 2.5% annual rate in the third quarter. The decline in household wealth has raised concerns about its potential impact on consumer spending, borrowing, and investing, as well as its implications for the broader economy.

American Dream

Americans living off credit began pulling from their 401K accounts early during Q3. Hardship withdrawals rose 13% in the beginning of June after already being 27% higher than January. Hardship withdrawals allow employees to pull money out of their 401K for an “immediate and heavy financial need.” No one would recommend doing this unless the situation was dire as individuals must show evidence that the money will be used for a major hardship in order to avoid the 10% early withdrawal fee imposed for those under 59.5.

The year 2023 marked the first time personal credit debt surpassed $1 trillion. Credit card interest rates average 24.56%, according to LendingTree. Credit cards aside, American households are carrying $17.29 trillion in various forms of debt, with the average household hosting $103,358 in debt that continues to compound.

Dec 10 2023

The Modified FISA-702 Reauthorization Bill (HR 6611) Has Passed the House – The Changes Have Expanded Federal Surveillance of Americans


Posted originally on the CTH December 9, 2023 | Sundance

House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) Chairman Mike Turner is celebrating the passage of HR 6611, the 2023 FISA reauthorization bill.

Chairman Turner would have granted a clean FISA renewal, he’s that kind of Republican; however, several Republicans demanded changes to the FISA-702 authorities that capture the data of American citizens without a warrant.  Thus, the HPSCI modified the authorities within HR 6611, but they made it worse.

(Via CDT) – Tucked away near the end of the bill the House Intelligence Committee reported on December 7 (H.R. 6611, the “HPSCI bill”) is a provision that would dramatically expand surveillance under the controversial Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA 702”), which sunsets on December 31 unless reauthorized. Section 504 of the bill, innocuously captioned “Definition of Electronic Communications Service Provider,” would expand the types of entities that can be compelled to disclose internet communications whether in storage or in transit.

FISA 702 permits the U.S. government to compel communication service providers to disclose for foreign intelligence purposes the communications of persons reasonably believed to be non-U.S. persons abroad. No warrant is required; a belief that the communications relate to U.S. foreign affairs or national security is sufficient.  Under current FISA 702, only entities that provide communication services like email, calls, and text messaging can be compelled to disclose these communications. 

As FISA Court amicus and longtime practitioner Marc Zwilligener and his colleague Steve Lane have already noted, the HPSCI bill would upend the current system, enabling the government to compel anyone with mere access to the equipment on which such communications are stored or transmitted to disclose those communications.  That could include personnel at coffee shops that offer WiFi to their customers, a town library that offers public computer internet services, hotels, shared workspaces, landlords and even AirBNB hosts that offer WiFi to the people who stay there, cloud storage services that host but do not access data, and large data centers that rent out computer server space to their clients.

The provision is intended to reverse a rare decision of the FISA Court of Review (FISCR), which had rejected the government’s claim that a service that a company provided fit within the scope of Section 702. In its effort to override the FISCR ruling, the HPSCI bill has opened Pandora’s Box.  

Because FISA 702 does not merely give the government power to compel production of communications but rather to require that businesses “provide the Government with all information, facilities, or assistance necessary to accomplish the acquisition,” [emphasis supplied] the government could use this new section to compel changes to the infrastructure and operations of some of the business entities listed above. For example, a provider of computer co-location services whose business model is to rent out and to service space on which its clients place their computer servers could be compelled to engineer its service to facilitate such access. In addition, because the HPSCI bill’s expansion is designed to pull in entities that do not currently even have access to communications, the extent of this forced restructure could be severe.

Such a shift not only affects American businesses, it is also likely to spur on overcollection and improperly sweep in Americans’ communications. The expansion would likely facilitate compelled  “Upstream” collection from these entities, a technique in which the government demands access to the entire stream of communications data, rather than obtaining only the communications to and from surveillance targets. It may be difficult for businesses that have access to equipment on which communications are stored and transmitted, but have never had to access the communications themselves, to ensure that only the data of Section 702 targets is turned over to the government.

Instead, they may be compelled to turn over entire communication streams or permit the copying and dragnet scanning of all the data on a server they host. Upstream collection performed by sophisticated giant telcos who operate the Internet backbone already has a fraught history of overcollection, including sweeping in wholly domestic communications (such as through multi communication transaction and “Abouts” collection). Forcing businesses that do not by practice even access communications to comply with FISA 702 orders—including Upstream orders—is reckless, and very likely to cause domestic communications to be improperly collected. (read more)

Here’s the core problem.  The DATA COLLECTION is not going away, meaning the wholesale gathering of the metadata on all electronic communication is the baseline.  As long as that baseline exists, the debate is about how the metadata can be accessed and what queries into that data can take place without a search warrant.

If FISA-702 was completely removed, the executive branch (DOJ-NSD) would be on the honor system, which essentially- they are now.

As long as the capability to retrieve and store the data exists, it will be exploited.   The data collection horse left the barn long ago.  That reality only leaves the ability to limit access as a solution to the abuses and warrantless surveillance.

Having looked extensively at this issue for years, and accepting the data collection is never going to be stopped, the only pathway to try and ensure rules and regulations are compliant with the 4th amendment, would be an oversight panel from the legislative branch put inside the process.

The only time the legislative branch has any power in the FISA process, is when they reauthorize its use.  Only at these specific moments is the legislative branch currently involved.  At all other times, it is the executive branch (DOJ, DOJ-NSD and FBI) involved, along with the FISA Court which represents the judicial branch.   The absence of the legislative branch in the process could be considered the oversight problem.

FISA, as it applies to American citizens caught up in the “incidental collection,” is clearly weaponized.  The underlying database, the storage system for all data, is the other problem.  As long as thousands of people in the executive branch have access to search this database, that access will be abused.

[CTH] – Office of Inspector General Michael Horowitz testified, April 27, 2023, that more than 3.4 million search queries into the NSA database took place between Dec. 1st, 2020 and Nov. 30th, 2021, by government officials and/or contractors working on behalf of the federal government. These search queries were based on authorizations related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Approximately 30% of those 3.4 million search queries were outside the rules and regulations that govern warrantless searches – what the politically correct government calls “non-compliant searches.”  That means during the year 2021, more than 1 million searches of private documents and communication of Americans were illegal and outside the rules.

Additionally, IG Horowitz admitted that somewhere north of 10,000 federal employees have access to conduct these searches of the NSA database; a database which contains the electronic data of every single American, including emails, text messages, social media posts, instant messages, direct messages, phone calls, geolocation identifiers, purchases by electronic funds, banking records and any keystroke any American person puts into any electronic device for any reason. (more)

In my opinion, instead of trying to put the FISA genie back into the bottle, Congress needs to work on the accountability piece.  The punishment for abusing the database needs to be defined – perhaps 5 years imprisonment for each search violation.

The only thing I can think of that will improve the “702” issue, is a legislatively created oversight panel forced within the process (that puts the legislative branch inside the DOJ/FISC relationship) that has full access to see and monitor everything that is being done by the DOJ/FBI.

I don’t know if that would work, but it’s better than what they are doing now.

The Committee on Rules will meet on Monday, December 11, 2023 at 4:00 PM ET in H-313, The Capitol on the following measures:

H.R. 357 – Ensuring Accountability in Agency Rulemaking Act
H.R. 1147 – Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2023
H.R. 6570 – Protect Liberty and End Warrantless Surveillance Act
H.R. 6611 – FISA Reform and Reauthorization Act of 2023  (link)

The current FISA-702 authority will likely be extended to April 19th.

Hopefully the Senate will block the modified House bill, HR 6611, which expands the current authority.

FUBAR

Dec 7 2023

Biden Threatens Direct U.S. Troop Fights Against Russia if Congress Doesn’t Fund Ukraine


Posted originally on the CTH on December 6, 2023 | Sundance 

Earlier today Joe Biden threatened U.S. troop engagement with Russian troops if congress doesn’t provide further funding for Ukraine.  As the premise is pushed, a failure to fund the Ukraine war means Russia will move beyond Ukraine into a NATO country.  The premise is nonsense. WATCH:

White House – […] “Congress needs to pass supplemental funding for Ukraine before they break for the holiday recess.  It’s as simple as that. 

Frankly, I think it’s stunning that we’ve gotten to this point in the first place.  While Congress — the Republicans in Congress is — are willing to give Putin the greatest gift he could hope for and abandon our global leadership not just to Ukraine, but beyond that.   

[…] “I just did a meeting with the G7, which was one of the issues we discussed — all of the European leaders.  We are prepared to stay with us — stay with Ukraine, and our European friends are as well. 

Who in the United States are prepared to walk away from that?  I tell you, I’m not prepared to walk away, and I don’t think the American people are either.

If Putin takes Ukraine, he won’t stop there.  It’s important to see the long run here.  He’s going to keep going.  He’s made that pretty clear.

If Putin attacks a NATO Ally — if he keeps going and then he attacks a NATO Ally — well, we’ve committed as a NATO member that we’d defend every inch of NATO territory.  Then we’ll have something that we don’t seek and that we don’t have today: American troops fighting Russian troops — American troops fighting Russian troops if he moves into other parts of NATO. 

Make no mistake: Today’s vote is going to be long remembered.  And history is going to judge harshly those who turn their back on freedom’s cause.  

We can’t let Putin win.  I’ll say it again: We can’t let Putin win.  It’s in our overwhelming national interest and international interest of all our friends.

Any disruption in our ability to supply Ukraine clearly strengthens Putin’s position.  We’ve run out of money to be able to do that, in terms of authorization.

Extreme Republicans are playing chicken with our national security, holding Ukraine’s funding hostage to their extreme partisan border policies.” (link)

Dec 5 2023

A Walk into the Matrix


The focus on Russia being the aggressor does not make sense when history and facts are looked at.  The following analysis cuts through the propaganda and gets to the core of the thing.

Let me start by saying everything we have read about the Western sanctions against Russia is false.  What sanctions might exist do not have any impact, and Eastern Europe has no intention to anger Putin.  When Brussels threatens to kick Hungary out of the EU/NATO, I can almost hear Viktor Orban saying, “Don’t threaten me with a good time.”  Hungary doesn’t even use or rely on the €uro for domestic financial transactions; they still retain their own national currency, the Hungarian forint or HUF.

First things first with the Western financial sanctions- specifically the SWIFT exchange.  It is true you cannot use VISA, Mastercard or any mainstream Western financial tools to conduct business in Russia; however, the number of workarounds for this issue are numerous.  One of those tools is the use of a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin; and within that reality, you find something very ominous about the USA motive.

Crypto users are likely familiar with stories like Binance and the US regulatory control therein.  Factually, outside the USA Binance is being used to purchase and trade crypto without issue, but inside the USA it is regulated.  That brings me to the MEXC crypto exchange, a Mexican version, again available globally but not allowed in the USA.  The same applies to Metamask, used all over Europe but not permitted in the USA.  Start to ask yourself, why all these crypto exchanges are available to the rest of the world but not the USA, and you start to suspect the Russian sanctions, just like the Patriot Act, are something else entirely.

Then there’s app wallets.  You might be familiar with Apple Pay as a process to handle transactions from your iPhone.  Apple Pay is linked to your bank account.  Well, the “wallet feature” exists on other apps also, like Telegram; however, you can find the wallet feature, but if you try to use it from a USA cell phone… “This feature is not allowed in your region.”  Why are digital wallets available for the rest of the world but blocked by the U.S. government?

This brings me to several crypto conversations in the EU at various cafes with people who have a deep understanding.  The commonly accepted bottom line, the Western sanctions, organized by the Biden administration and US Treasury, were not intended to put financial walls around Russia; they were designed to put control walls around the USA.  Russia was the useful justification.

Here’s how it really looks from the outside looking at the USA.  The same way the Patriot Act was not designed to stop terrorism but rather to create a domestic surveillance system. So too were the “Russian Sanctions” not designed to sanction Russia, but rather to create the financial control system that will lead to a USA digital currency.

Now, does the exploding debt and seeming govt ambivalence take on a new perspective?  It should, because that unspoken motive explains everything.  This is not accidental folks.

Again, the western sanctions against Russia are not having an impact against Russia; they are having a quiet impact in the USA that no one is permitted to talk about.

♦LOGISTICS – Despite popular opinion to the contrary, it is entirely possible to travel all over Europe without being tracked.  If you pick an entry point into the EU (Schengen Area), once inside, you can travel without any national checkpoints or passport checks.  It is also entirely possible to fly all over the EU without ever giving a passport number when you book the flight.  The trick is to know which airline.  You are a name on a passenger manifest, nothing more.

Bottom line, travel around the EU is less controlled, tracked and monitored, than travel inside the USA.  Yes, let me emphasize; freedom of travel is greater in the EU than it is in the USA.  This was completely unexpected.

♦GROUND REPORT – You might ask how I know the Russian sanctions are ineffective – here’s an example.  After doing advanced research, I went to three separate banks as a random and innocuous customer.  I put my reason in the kiosk at each bank, got my ticket number and sat down to listen to the conversations. When my ticket number came up on the digital board, I just ignored it and sat for hours listening to conversations.  No one ever noticed or questioned me – not once.

At every one of the banks, the majority of the customers, at the “new account” desk, were foreign nationals asking about setting up business accounts to trade with Russia. In every bank the conversations were friendly and helpful, with the bank staff telling the customers exactly how to set up their account to accomplish the transactions.  No one was saying no; instead they were explaining how to do it in very helpful detail.

Within Russia, there are now 3rd party brokers with international accounts, an entirely new industry, which creates a layer of transactional capability for the outside company to sell goods into Russia.  A Samsung TV travels from South Korea to the destination in the RU with the financial transaction between manufacturer and retailer now passing through the new ‘broker’ intermediary. Essentially, that process is what was happening in the banks for small to medium sized companies.

♦ Back to the crypto and digital wallet angle.  In addition to financial/transactional brokers for durable goods into Russia, there is now an entire industry of selling telephone id’s with EU phone numbers to process the transactions that are blocked by the USA sanction regime.

Meaning, a person could buy a phone and register a phone number from within the EU, and then go back to the USA and access all the blocked/restricted financial processes [Binance (non-US), Metamask, MexC, Telegram digital wallet etc].  This would permit them to do untracked financial transactions into and out of Russia from the USA without the USG knowing about them (sanction workaround).

[DISCLAIMER: in the interest of my own legal risk, I did not do this; I’m just explaining.]

I am not smarter than the U.S. intelligence community, so what does this mean?

This means the U.S. government knows exactly why the Russian economy is thriving, the Ruble is stronger against the dollar, and there is nothing -not one thing- visible or different on the ground in Russia that an ordinary Russian citizen would notice.  In fact, the Russian economy is doing fine, better than before the Ukraine conflict initiated, albeit with new financial industries created by the sanctions.

If the US government knows this, then why the sanctions?

Asked and answered.  The Western sanctions created a financial wall around the USA, not to keep Russia out, but to keep us in.  The Western sanction regime, the financial mechanisms they created and authorized, creates the control gate that leads to a U.S. digital currency.

In essence, the Ukraine war response justified a system that creates a digital dollar.

I will have more revelations, but for now just think about this aspect.

Dec 4 2023

40 Day Countdown


Posted originally on the CTH on December 3, 2023 | Sundance

The Iowa caucuses are January 15, 2024, and represent the first opportunity for the GOP nomination contest to highlight candidate support.

Initially, I was going to wait to post this information later, mid-December.  However, based on conversation earlier today, and my pledge to be publicly consistent and transparent, here’s an advance review of my expectations.

(#1) The full-throated DOJ, Jack Smith, Georgia and New York legal cases will likely trigger, like scud missiles in a blitz attack against Donald Trump, around 10 days prior to the Iowa caucuses.  I’m not sure what the granular details of the Lawfare assault will look like; however, the timing will certainly be in/around these dates.  The deepest part of the DC system that is in full alignment against Trump will be looking at this time frame as the first opportunity to hit Trump hard.  The main battery comes after the 2024 RNC convention (Wisconsin, thanks Ronna).

(#2) Simultaneous to this, keep in mind the Sea Island group have spent hundreds of millions on an organizational process for Ron DeSantis, that is now contingent upon an Iowa victory.  Just like the timing of the Mar-a-Lago raid, there will likely be some background coordination between the administrative state in DC and the organizational assemblies of DeSantis and Nikki Haley. Again, this is the first opportunity for the ‘stop Trump’ apparatus to create an inflection point.  If President Trump crushes the Iowa caucuses, he will destroy the GOPe narrative.

(#3) This also creates the context timeline for us to consider an urgency by the deepest part of the DC control apparatus to influence public opinion.  As a result, and given the recent remarks by platform operator Elon Musk, we may also see something happening with Twitter that blocks the ability of the assembled masses to communicate about whatever happens in #1.  To a significant extent, MAGA has assembled discussion into a large Twitter stadium per se’.  If the people controlling U.S. political outcomes want to hit hard, they will need a significant and timed disruption in the system of public communication.  Scattering that stadium would be very effective.

The DHS artificial intelligence (AI) rollout into the ¹overall communication system, specifically social media, can also be considered as part of a disruption effort to influence the 2024 election.  The national security labeling, definitions that establish censorship, removal and content control, will almost certainly flow through the pre-existing Public-Private partnerships.  I would not be surprised to see the timing of that launch, in a full scale, somewhat in this same calendar period.

We all know the 2024 election is for all the marbles, so we just await the predictable incoming fire.

Smart wolverines will have preestablished iron dome defenses at the ready.

¹[GO DEEP] DHS’ AI task force is coordinating with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on how the department can partner with critical infrastructure organizations “on safeguarding their uses of AI and strengthening their cybersecurity practices writ large to defend against evolving threats.”

RESOURCES:

Using AI for Content Moderation

Facebook / META / Tech joining with DHS

Zoom will allow Content Scraping by AI 

AI going into The Cloud

U.S. Govt Going into The Cloud With AI

Pentagon activates 175 Million IP’s

Big Names to Attend Political AI Forum

DoD to use AI to monitor U.S. Internet for Disinformation

DHS Announces Guidelines for Using AI to monitor Americans.

DHS Announces “Expert Group”

Dec 1 2023

President Trump Widens GOP Primary Lead to 68% – No Other Republican in Double Digits – DeSantis 9%, Haley 7%


Posted originally on the CTH on November 30, 2023 | Sundance 

In the latest GOP primary national polling data [Messenger Data Here] President Donald Trump has widened his lead over the GOP field to 68%.  Ron DeSantis has 9%, Nikki Haley has 7% and Vivek Ramaswamy 4%.

[Source]

Additionally, President Trump holds a sizable lead over Joe Biden.

Former President Donald Trump continues to lead President Joe Biden in the latest Messenger/Harris poll conducted by HarrisX.

The poll, conducted online November 22-28 among 4,003 registered voters, found Trump led Biden, 46%-42%. Thirteen percent were undecided. The margin of error was plus or minus 1.6 percentage points.

[…] In a four-way race with independent candidates Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Cornel West on the ballot, Trump earned 41%, Biden 33%, Kennedy 13%, and West 2%.

[…] In the national Republican primary, Trump extended his dominant lead over his primary rivals. Trump led the field with 68% support, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 9% and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley at 7% Venture capitalist Vivek Ramaswamy was at 4%. All other candidates were at 1% or less. (read more)