Governor Ron DeSantis Endorses Senate Candidate Joe O’Dea, Who Vows to Campaign Against Donald Trump


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on October 24, 2022 | Sundance

A week ago, Colorado senate republican candidate Joe O’Dea said on CNN, “I don’t think Donald Trump should run again.” He quickly added, ” I’m going to actively campaign against Donald Trump and make sure that we have got four or five really great Republicans right now; Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and Tim Scott.”

President Trump blasted O’Dea the following day {link}.

Today, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis picked Joe O’Dea as his only 2022 endorsed senate candidate {link}, recording a robocall for O’Dea that says, “Hello this is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. America needs strong leadership and desperately. That’s why I’m endorsing Joe O’Dea for U.S. Senate. Colorado, please vote for Joe O’Dea.”

Keep in mind, Ron DeSantis is a governor who campaigns on his success as a governor and has been rallying exclusively for governor candidates.  However, despite not endorsing the republican candidate in the Colorado state race (Heidi Ganahl), Governor DeSantis went out of his way to support the only explicitly anti-Trump Senate candidate in 2022, Joe O’Dea.

When Paul Ryan endorsed Ron DeSantis, you could argue that DeSantis never asked for it.  When Jeb Bush endorsed DeSantis, again you could argue that DeSantis never asked for it. However, the transparency of DeSantis endorsing O’Dea who has stated his intent to actively campaign against any MAGA candidate… well, you can’t say that had nothing to do with DeSantis.

Face it.

This is what is clear.

The DeSantis 2024 organizers are a mixture of allied republican establishment figures, corporate party donors and former Ted Cruz base supporters (Never Trumpers) who have united in common cause to stop the MAGA working-class coalition from taking full control of the republican party.  An endorsement for DeSantis from Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger is increasingly likely as soon as the midterm election is over.

Ron DeSantis is increasingly being exposed by his own actions/inactions and the actions of others.

Let us not pretend any longer.

Source }

I could smell the establishment GOP in the Florida winds over the spring and summer.  When DeSantis went into the bunker on the day of the FBI Mar-a-Lago raid, remained silent for 5 days, and then exited bunker with a new establishment brand image crew and communications team, it was obvious what just happened.

We accept things as they are, not as we would wish them to be.  94% funded by Wall Street hedge fund managers, billionaires and multinational corporations,… to the tune of over $200,000,000….. with a national campaign launch, book launch and national television advertising strategy….  It became brutally obvious.

Ron DeSantis in 2024 is Jeb Bush + Ted Cruz in 2016.

  • Five Days in Bunker following Mar-a-Lago Raid 8/9/22
  • No expressed support for Donald Trump following Mar-a-Lago raid 8/9/22.
  • New brand image consulting team 8/14/22
  • New communications team 8/14/22
  • National advertising campaign
  • 94% billionaire and corporate funding
  • Raised $200+ million for state governor race?
  • Cancels Lee Zeldin fundraiser after meeting with New York real estate donor who supports Hochul
  • Endorsed by Club For Growth (C4G)
  • Voted to support TPP trade agreement and Obama Fast Track trade authorization
  • Supports all Ukraine funding and U.S. government spending in Ukraine
  • Endorsed Florida Red Flag Laws, most firearm confiscation of any state
  • Silent over the 100 Florida citizen J6 detainees (largest number in nation)
  • Asked legislature to criminalize boycotts of Israeli companies, including pharmaceutical companies
  • No support for E-verify system or employment law against illegal alien hires
  • Endorsed by Paul Ryan
  • Endorsed by Jeb Bush

Sooner or later people have to admit the obvious.

Ron DeSantis is a generally good governor, but he is being dishonest in his national intents.

NBC Pushes Midterm Media Poll


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on October 23, 2022 | Sundance

NBC’s Mark Murray {Eyeroll} produces a midterm media poll {DATA HERE} to frame the 2022 election and claim a tight race for both Democrats and Republicans.  Despite collapsing economic numbers, widespread inflation and disapproval on every category, NBC finds the #1 issue for all voters is “The Threat to Democracy.”

NBC’s Chuck Todd gives the spin on the outcome:

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71% of the country say we are on the wrong track (20% approve).

57% of the country disapproves of the job Biden is doing with the economy (38% approve).

50% of the country says things will get worse (20% think will improve)….

…. But it’s a close election?…

…. And the #1 concern is “the threat to democracy?

It’s all propaganda.

Sunday Talks, Kari Lake Describes the Ongoing and Escalating Arizona Border Crisis, 227,547 Illegal Aliens in September Alone


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on October 23, 2022 | Sundance 

Appearing with Maria Bartiromo on Sunday Morning Futures {Direct Rumble Link Here), Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake describes the specific interests to Arizona ahead of the November election.

Mrs. Lake describes the ongoing and escalating border crisis driven by Joe Biden’s open border policies, including expanded drug running, human smuggling and escalating crime, evil outcomes of unlawful immigration.  WATCH:

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Captured illegal border crossers, illegal aliens, were 227,547 in September 2022 at the U.S. border with Mexico. That’s the third-highest month of Joe Biden’s presidency and was up 11.5% from 204,087 in August, and 18.5% higher than the 192,001 in September 2021.

In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2.38 million illegal aliens were encountered, up 37% from 1.73 million the year before.  The 2022 annual total surpassed 2 million for the first time in August and is more than twice the highest-level during Donald Trump’s presidency in 2019.

CONTEXT – Keep in mind when 60,000 illegal aliens crossed in 2014, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson declared a state of emergency and asked congress for $4 billion in emergency funding.  In September 2022 alone, 227,547 illegal aliens crossed.

Nearly 78,000 migrants from Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua were stopped in September, compared to about 58,000 from Mexico and three countries of northern Central America that have historically accounted for most of the flow.

Lee Smith Nails a Key Point, The Fourth Branch of Government and Media Operate Together


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on October 23, 2022 | Sundance |

Lee Smith makes an important point in this brief podcast excerpt. {Direct Rumble Link Here}  We have outlined his point on these pages for several years.

Essentially, the point Lee Smith drives home is how the U.S. Corporate Media, and the Big Tech monopolies, are the front force of the new national security and intelligence state.  It is a relationship that extends far beyond the customary leanings of media, and now covers a full synergistic relationship.  WATCH:

“We’re all familiar with the fact that the press has historically leaned to the left. That’s not what we’re looking at now. We’re looking at something very, very different. We’re looking at the press as being a part of the intelligence community. They are the ones who is putting these operations out there.”

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The New York Times and Politico are the public relations firms for Main Justice, the DOJ and FBI.  The Washington Post handles the needs of the Intelligence Community (IC) and the Central Intelligence Agency.  Meanwhile CNN is managed by the needs of the U.S. State Dept.   These direct relationships have been discussed here for several years.

Joe Biden Struggles with 2024 Question During Live Broadcast


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on October 21, 2022 | Sundance

I’m not sure what’s more remarkable; the transparency of Joe Biden’s cognitive decline, or MSNBC broadcasting it.  Then again, this was live at around 5:30pm ET, so there wasn’t an opportunity to edit out the disturbing part.  Sundowning?

During a live MSNBC interview broadcast today, Joe Biden was asked about his decision to run for reelection in 2024.  When a short follow-up question is asked, things got weird and uncomfortable.  WATCH:

BIDEN: “It’s my intention to run again.”

MSNBC: “Dr. Biden is for it?”

BIDEN: crickets

MSNBC: (Uncomfortable) “Mr. President?”

BIDEN: (Confused) “Dr. Biden thinks that uh, my wife thinks that uh, that I uh, that, that we’re, that we’re doing something very important.”

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Twitter Stuff, Reports of Anticipated Turnover of Employees, Combined with Reports of Treasury Dept Considering CFIUS Review


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on October 21, 2022 | Sundance 

Whenever we begin to evaluate how the U.S. government may respond to Elon Musk buying out Twitter and changing the dynamic behind Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop, it is always worth remembering a key point.  Elon Musk is not in an adversarial relationship with the U.S. government.  Indeed, almost every Musk venture is tied into the matrix of multiple government institutions.

That said, only Elon Musk knows the full intent of his objective to utilize Twitter and his larger aspirations to open information systems to all people (Iran example).

Having listened to a lot of Musk’s explanations for his endeavors, I’ve yet to nail down how his statements mesh with the public-private partnership that forms the baseline of revenue for his various engagements.

The Washington Post is reporting that Musk may RIF (reduction in force) to 75% of Twitter employees.  “Elon Musk told prospective investors in his deal to buy the company that he planned to get rid of nearly 75 percent of Twitter’s 7,500 workers, whittling the company down to a skeleton staff of just over 2,000.” {link}

(WaPo) […] On Thursday evening, Twitter’s top lawyer Sean Edgett sent out a note to all employees saying the company did not have any confirmation from Musk about his plans. Twitter’s own, smaller-scale “cost savings discussions” were put on hold once the merger agreement was signed, Edgett said, according to an email viewed by The Post.

In internal Slack groups, Twitter employees reacted to the news with anger and resignation, supporting each other and making jokes about the turmoil of the past few months, according to people familiar with the conversations.

Twitter and Musk are expected to close the purchase by Oct. 28. Planning for the closing is moving forward in apparent good faith after months of legal battles, say people familiar with the negotiations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. If the deal closes, Musk would immediately become Twitter’s new owner. (read more)

Meanwhile Bloomberg was reporting yesterday the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS), a Treasury Dept agency, was considering a national security review of the purchase due to foreign nationals investing and participating in the funding mechanisms for the buyout.  However, Bloomberg updated that angle today noting any CFIUS review would be unlikely:

(Bloomberg) Alarm over Elon Musk’s recent Russia-friendly tweets is driving Biden administration officials to explore using a secretive review panel to assess the national-security risks of his business interests.

Yet experts say that deploying the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US to investigate Musk’s dealings — including his pending $44 billion purchase of Twitter — is unlikely to work and would face legal challenges. 

There may be an argument for some sort of CFIUS review, but it’s thin, according to Emily Kilcrease, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. The panel would only get involved if foreign investors were taking a controlling stake in the new company, she said, something Musk doesn’t appear ready to allow.

CFIUS has the right to look at foreign investors, not Musk, Kilcrease said. “So if there’s concerns around Musk, CFIUS is a really messy, imperfect tool to try to deal with that — and I suspect would be subject to legal challenge,” she said. (read more)

Two things about Twitter and the U.S. government are true, and that makes predicting where this ends up quite challenging to game out.

♦First, the U.S. intelligence apparatus is actively involved in the background operations of Twitter.  The extent of the IC involvement may be debatable, but the IC being involved in Twitter is fundamentally true.

♦Second, if the U.S. government wanted to stop Elon Musk from purchasing Twitter, they could – very easily.  As noted, Musks network of business operations is heavily dependent on a partnership with the U.S. government (SpaceX, Starlink, Tesla, etc.)  The State Dept, Pentagon, NASA, FAA, and various intelligence agencies are all parts of a deep network of relationships with Musk’s organizations.

The fact that the U.S. government does not intervene in any Musk effort, including Twitter, is not evidence of Musk being outside the system.  Factually, it would be challenging to find another company with tentacles as wide, far reaching and connected to the U.S. government.

Musk is purchasing Twitter because the U.S. government wants to allow Musk to purchase Twitter.  Musk may be ‘dirty dancing‘ with the government while trying to retain the patina of an outsider, but the network of his company attachments to the U.S. government run counter to that outlook.

Again, I don’t know what Musk’s intent is, and hopefully the Twitter outcome is something much more open and transparent than currently exists.  However, that said, we should not assign too much weight to any media outline of the dynamic until we have actual reference points to any possible change.

Iranian Drones


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted Oct 21, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

The western alliance is not the only one providing military training. Iran has sent military members to Crimea to train Russian troops. Specifically, they are training them to use Iranian drones. There were reports of Russian troops visiting Iran in August to learn how to operate unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Since then, there have been numerous reports of UAVs failing, but the successfully deployed UAVs are capable of causing serious damage.

Shaheds, also known as kamikaze or suicide drones, explode on impact and are capable of also carrying missiles. This drone is less expensive to develop, but it can travel up to 1,000 miles and leave a range of destruction in its path. Mohajer-6 UAVs can be used for spying purposes and can, of course, also hold a missile. Ukraine claims that they have shot down at least 200 drones and have the capability to jam radars.

Both Russia and Iran have denied trading weapons, but what do they have to lose now that all the cards are on the table? Russia has violated the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 by transferring arms from Iran. The West has already sanctioned Russia in every way possible. Numerous nations are placing sanctions on Iran now, but again, they are not too concerned. Tehran and Moscow, two nuclear powers, are strengthening their relationship and seem prepared to face any Western consequences while resuming trade.

CDC Votes Unanimously to Include Experimental COVID-19 Vaccine in Their Recommended Pediatric Immunization Schedule


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on October 20, 2022 | Sundance 

Unbelievable and infuriating at the same time.  The CDC voted unanimously today (15-0) to include the emergency use authorized mRNA vaccine as part of the childhood immunization schedule, effectively forcing most school aged children to undergo a COVID shot as part of the state requirement to attend school.

(Via Politico) The CDC’s independent vaccine advisers voted 15-0 Thursday to add most Covid-19 vaccines offered in the U.S. to the childhood, adolescent and adult immunization schedules.

The immunization schedules, which are updated every fall before going into effect the following year, consolidate all of the CDC’s vaccine recommendations in one document for states that use them as guidance for school entry requirements and busy physicians. The additions formalize recommendations the CDC has already made on Covid vaccination in individuals ages 6 months and older for shots that the FDA has approved or has authorized for emergency use.

Covid vaccines’ inclusion on the schedules don’t constitute mandates, particularly for schoolchildren, which are the purview of states, localities or jurisdictions, depending on local laws. Still, the committee’s vote sparked controversy and debate on social media about what the additions mean for vaccine requirements after Fox News’ Tucker Carlson asserted Tuesday that the CDC would trigger mandates for students.

“This doesn’t represent new recommendations. This represents sort of a summary of existing recommendations,” said advisory panel member Matthew Daley, a senior investigator at the Institute for Health Research at Kaiser Permanente Colorado. “But I will acknowledge … there is symbolism in adding Covid-19 to the childhood immunization schedule, and that symbolism is that we view this as routine and that we view this as Covid is here to stay.”

The FDA has approved two messenger-RNA vaccines targeting Covid: The Pfizer-BioNTech primary series vaccine for people 12 and older and the Moderna primary series for adults 18 and older. They’re each authorized for emergency use for children as young as 6 months, and all booster doses — including new formulations designed to target the original coronavirus strain and two Omicron subvariants — are authorized for emergency use. (read more)

Another Appeals Court Finds Progressive Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Unconstitutional


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on October 20, 2022 | Sundance

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CPFB) was originally created by congress (Elizabeth Warren lead) as a quasi-constitutional watchdog agency to reach into the banking and financial system, under the guise of oversight, and extract money by fining entities for CFPB defined regulatory and/or compliance violations.

Essentially, the CFPB is a congressionally authorized far-left extortion scheme in the banking sector.  The CFPB levies fines; the fines generate income; however, unlike traditional fines that go to the U.S. treasury, the CFBP fines are then redistributed to left-wing organizations to help fund their political activism.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was the brainchild of Senator Elizabeth Warren as an outcome of the Dodd-Frank legislation. Within the CFPB Warren tried to set up the head of the agency, the Director, in a manner that that he/she would operate without oversight. Unfortunately, her dictatorial-fiat-design collapsed when challenged in court.  Backstory #1 – Backstory #2

Previously, a federal court found the CFPB Director position held too much power and deemed it unconstitutional. The court decision noted that giving the President power to fire the Director would fix the constitutional problem.  However, a second set of legal challenges targeted the core of the CFPB scheme, the financing.

WASHINGTON DC – An appeals court on Wednesday ruled that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s funding mechanism is unconstitutional, in a victory for lenders that have targeted the agency’s structure in a years-long bid to tamp down regulation.

A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the design of the CFPB violated the Constitution because it receives funding through the Federal Reserve, rather than appropriations legislation passed by Congress. Democrats established the structure when they created the CFPB in the 2010 Dodd-Frank law as a way to shield the bureau from political pressures that could impact its oversight of the finance industry.

The judges also vacated a 2017 small-dollar lending rule targeted by the payday lending advocates who brought the case — the Community Financial Services Association of America and the Consumer Service Alliance of Texas.

“Congress’s decision to abdicate its appropriations power under the Constitution, i.e., to cede its power of the purse to the Bureau, violates the Constitution’s structural separation of powers,” the judges wrote.

The appeals court ruling marked the latest victory for the finance industry, which has fought for years in Congress and the courts to blunt the CFPB’s reach and limit its ability to police financial services. Republican lawmakers have also worked for years to stifle the CFPB and revamp its structure, arguing the agency lacks accountability.

“Even among self-funded agencies, the Bureau is unique,” Judge Cory Wilson wrote Wednesday. “The Bureau’s perpetual self-directed, double-insulated funding structure goes a significant step further than that enjoyed by the other agencies on offer.”

The CFPB Wednesday declined to say whether it would appeal the decision to the full 5th Circuit. CFPB spokesperson Sam Gilford said “there is nothing novel or unusual about Congress’s decision to fund the CFPB outside of annual spending bills.” (read more)

Here’s where we remind everyone of the importance of regular budget appropriations. There hasn’t been a standard federal budgetary spending process in place since 2008. Every budget since Obama’s first term has been a series of continuous resolutions, omnibus spending bills and appropriations without regular order.

This has not been an accidental outcome.