Category Decline and Fall of America

Jun 16 2023

Espionage Act & Abuse of Power


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted Jun 16, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Many people have written in and asked how can Trump be charged under the Espionage Act. There is probably no other Act that has been so abused than this statute. It has been responsible for witch hunts and the deliberate execution of people the prosecutors knew were innocent. This Act has silenced people, been used to imprison people for speaking against the government in times of war, and even imprisoned Japanese for simply being Japanese under nothing more than an executive order Public Proclamation No. 4, 7 Fed.Reg. 2601. And on May 19, 1942, eleven days before the time a Japanese petitioner was charged with unlawfully remaining in the area, Civilian Restrictive Order No. 1, 8 Fed.Reg. 982, provided for the detention of those of Japanese ancestry in assembly or relocation centers. One of the top 5 worst decisions of the Supreme Court declaring Blacks were just property in Dred Scott v. Sandford 60 U.S. 393 (1856), but so was the imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II solely based on their race –  Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944)

Justice Robert H. Jackson (1892–1954) dissented writing “Korematsu … has been convicted of an act not commonly thought a crime. It consists merely of being present in the state whereof he is a citizen, near the place where he was born, and where all his life he has lived.” Jackson argued that the nation’s wartime security concerns did not justify stripping Korematsu and the other internees of their constitutionally protected civil rights.

Nobody would listen to reason. Jackson declared that the exclusion order was “the legalization of racism” that violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. He compared the exclusion order to the “abhorrent and despicable treatment of minority groups by the dictatorial tyrannies which this nation is now pledged to destroy.”  He concluded that the exclusion order violated the Fourteenth Amendment by “fall[ing] into the ugly abyss of racism.”

Welcome to reality. Whenever the self-interest of those in power is in conflict with the rule of law, the rule of law is ALWAYS ignored. They are doing that with Trump right now and all the RINOs cheering and arresting Trump on his birthday show just how evil these people truly are. With every cheer the RINOs make, they prove Mark Twain was always right.

t has always been IMPOSSIBLE to hand ANY power to the government under the pretense that it is necessary for some good. Any regulation carries some penalty for noncompliance. Then this opens the door to abuse as we see with Trump. When Congress passes a law, prosecutors make a career out of twisting the words to fit whatever they can dream up. On top of that Congress always expands its power and never was there any “intent” behind the Espionage Act to be used in this manner against a former president. In its current incarnation, the section Trump is charged with reads:

18 USC #793(e)

(e) Whoever having unauthorized possession of, access to, or control over any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or note relating to the national defense, or information relating to the national defense which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicates, delivers, transmits or causes to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted, or attempts to communicate, deliver, transmit or cause to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted the same to any person not entitled to receive it, or willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it; or

The abuse of this law is mindboggling and the real problem here is that prosecutors have discretion so they can openly deny Equal Protection of the Law for they decide if they want to prosecute Trump but not Biden or Pence or Hillary who did have classified documents on her server and did transmit them. I believe that Jack Smith as the prosecutor has violated not just Trump’s civil rights, but he has violated everyone’s civil rights for his selective prosecution with the intent of preventing Trump from running for president.

The Supreme Court held in Armstrong v US, 517 U.S. 456 (1996) that to show selective prosecution, an individual must show that a prosecutorial policy had both a discriminatory purpose and a discriminatory effect. In other words, they must show that prosecutors did not charge similarly situated people and that can clearly be established with both Biden and Hillary Clinton.

There should be a class action lawsuit brought against Jack Smith and the Attorney General for deliberating targeting Trump to interfere in the 2024 election which violates everyone’s civil rights denying us that the 2024 election will be free and fair. It is an acknowledged violation of our Civil Rights for what the entire world now knows they are doing – interfering in the 2024 election.

Of course, all of these RINOs and disgusting people pretending to care about the country or the rule of law, are out in full force driving their knives and stabbing Trump like corrupt senators did to Julius Caesar 23 times. History will remember their names as it remembered Brutus and Cassius. This will be the day that truly lives in infamy. Mike Pence, who I would not vote for even being a local dog catcher, has joined the choir of attacking Trump to save the SWAMP. John Kelly, Trump’s pretend chief of staff who the Neocons put in place since he was previously in the Marine Corps Liaison Office. Remember all their names and NEVER vote for any of them EVER in the future. When you see them in someone’s cabinet, know that the administration can never be trusted. They are against the people, and the constitution, and only support the corruption that is destroying our nation from the inside out – the SWAMP.

The first Espionage Act was passed with the American Revolution. It was passed July 6, 1798, and this is all omitted from the Federal Criminal Code and Rules which are standard today. If Trump would declare he now identifies as a woman, or a lesbian because he enjoys women, then under the Espionage Act of 1798 he could not be guilty. Congress at the time was engaged in writing laws for the PURPOSE (Intent) of protecting the Government, growing out of serious friction with France. Interestingly, it did NOT apply to women. It only applied specifically to natives, citizens, denizens (an inhabitant of a particular place such as a forest), or subjects of a hostile nation of Government, “being males of the age of 14 years and upwards.”

Curiously, it was World War I before they passed a new Espionage Act in 1917, yet they did not repeal nor amend the 1798 Act. It addressed the loophole with women. It merely supplemented the Espionage Act of 1798 statute providing for punishments concerning a woman stating that she may then be interned or punished for violation of any of the espionage laws. The Espionage Act of 1798 gave the president the executive power to restrict certain areas. It even then allows a woman to be executed if she was caught trying to transmit any information which has for one of its purposes visiting an area that is restricted like taking photos of defense ships etc. By 1917, they figured out that some of the very best spies were actually women. That is when Mata Hari, the dancer, was executed by firing squad in France.

On June 15, 1917, some two months after America’s formal entrance into World War I against Germany, the United States Congress passed the Espionage Act. The Espionage Act essentially made it a crime for any person to convey information intended to interfere with the U.S. armed forces during the war effort or to promote the success of the country’s enemies. Anyone found guilty of such acts would be subject to a fine of $10,000 and a prison sentence of 20 years.

The Espionage Act was reinforced by the Sedition Act of the following year, which imposed similarly harsh penalties on anyone found guilty of making false statements that interfered with the prosecution of the war. That included insulting or abusing the U.S. government, the flag, the Constitution, or the military. Freedom of speech was restrained. It further included protesting and agitating against the production of necessary war materials as well as advocating, teaching, or defending any of these acts.

These acts they insisted were intended to target socialists, pacifists, and other anti-war activists during World War I. They were used with a very punishing effect instantly. This became the great Red Scare with people justifying these laws claiming that communists sought to influence and to infiltrate into American society changing the country from within. This was the first Red Scare with the second unfolding during the 1940s and 1950s, associated largely with Senator Joseph McCarthy (1908–1957) who was just manufacturing evidence against people he disliked.

This is when Alexander Mitchell Palmer (1872–1936), assumed the attorney general’s office during the Red Scare, and his right-hand man, J. Edgar Hoover (1895–1972), liberally employed the Espionage and Sedition Acts to persecute left-wing political figures and anyone he just disliked. It would be Hoover who would spy on members of Congress and strike fear in the hearts of everyone on Capital Hill. He had his secret files on everyone even President Kennedy. Abuse of power always follows a grant of power.

One of the most famous activists arrested during this period, labor leader Eugene V. Debs (1855–1926), was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a speech he made in 1918 in Canton, Ohio, criticizing the Espionage Act. Debs had also tried to run for President as the head of the Socialist Party. Debs appealed the decision, and the case eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court, where the court upheld his conviction. Though Debs’ sentence was commuted in 1921 when the Sedition Act was repealed by Congress, major portions of the Espionage Act remain part of United States law to the present day and are subject to abuse of power as we are witnessing today.

It was April 5th, 1951 when Julius Rosenberg (1918-1953) and his 35-year-old wife Ethel (1915-1953) were sentenced to death using this Espionage Act. Today, everyone concedes that his wife’s crime was simply being married to Julius. The prosecutors charged her thinking it would force him to give up his contacts which he never did most likely because he had none.

A co-defendant of Julius and Ethel  Rosenberg, Morton Sobell (1917-2018), admitted for the first time that he was a Soviet spy on his deathbed at 91 after serving 30 years in prison but also made it clear that Ethel was innocent. Sobell passed military secrets to the Communists in World War II when the nations were still allies, he told the New York Times. Sobell, who served 18 years for espionage, said Julius did pass secrets but Ethel, executed with her husband in 1953, was guilty of nothing more than being Mrs. Rosenberg.

Under our legal system, the Jury can nullify the conviction using common sense based on their own sense of justice. Our corrupt judges will never instruct the jury that they have that power. The JURY can refuse to follow the corrupt law and acquit a defendant even when the evidence presented seems to point to an incontrovertible verdict of guilty. Personally, I think the Jury should be told that they have the power to nullify a conviction as well as to direct charges and reprimand the prosecutor in such a case for his abuse of power.

Just like Ponus Pilate tried washing his hands after sentencing Christ to death, these prosecutors and judges have so much blood on their hands that it takes a really different kind of person to take pleasure in inflicting pain on others. The injustices of so many people who have been executed under our laws only to be found that they were innocent are appalling and disgusting.

Just-us

Only an idiot accepts government allegations as fact in any case. The entire problem stems from ABSOLUTE IMMUNITY! The US government cannot be sued, only the agents of the government and judges have bestowed that immunity simply because the king had that who we revolted against. But the courts granted the very same power to the government that sparked the American Revolution. Consequently, those in the Justice Department are not forthcoming about admitting a mistake. I do not believe that a prosecutor should be able to bring charges. There should be a panel set up where every prosecutor presents his case to them and they are the ones who bring an indictment. That would remove personal self-interests.

Wilson Edwin Paul

Edwin Paul Wilson (1928–2012) was a former CIA and U.S. Naval Intelligence officer who was convicted in 1983 of illegally selling weapons to Libya. When one agency caught him, the CIA denied he worked for them since it was their secret operation. Wilson was tried and convicted. His daughter fought to get documents to prove her father worked for the CIA which they denied. What they did to Wilson should give anyone pause why they would work for the government.

You can tell Wilson was innocent because they kept him in solitary confinement – the ultimate torture. That is where most suicides take place. They did that to prevent him from having free communication outside the prison. It was later proven that the United States Department of Justice and the CIA had covered up evidence in the case. Wilson’s convictions were overturned in 2003 and he was freed the following year. Prosecutors KNEW he was innocent, but prosecuted him anyway.

Wilson filed a civil suit against seven former federal prosecutors, two of whom are now federal judges rewarded for wrongful prosecutions, and a past executive director of the CIA. On March 29th, 2007, U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal dismissed his case on the grounds that all eight had immunity covering their actions – not that they were innocent or his claims were frivolous. They can kill you, rob you, and even rape your family. NO court will ever take your word over a prosecutor. That is why there is no longer any Justice in America. They read it as “JUST US” to always further their own self-interest.

Am On Trial Dersowitz

Harvard law professor, Alan Dershowitz, discusses in “America on Trial” several dozen cases that have indeed shaped the United States, transforming the country and its legal system from the colonial period to the present corrupt system of injustice.

Prosecutors abuse the system to win unjust convictions ALL THE TIME. There is the case of JOSEPH SALVATIwhere the jury awarded $102 million because the prosecutors KNEW they were convicting the wrong person. Anyone working for the government who does this sort of thing should be imprisoned. After all, they violate the civil rights of an individual and remain immune from criminal prosecution.

There is the case of Jack McCullough sentenced to life in prison in 1957 who was finally released in 2016. One Judge, U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May, ruled that the SEC courts established by Roosevelt are unconstitutional. The government just ignored the ruling.

The Supreme Court committed the worst crime against humanity ever recorded demonstrating its bias. They declared that those who are prosecutors or judges have ABSOLUTE immunity from being prosecuted for wrongful prosecution even if they know they are abusing their authority or committing a crime because they might be afraid to prosecute someone if they could be prosecuted in return.

Why Innocent Plead Guilty & Guilty Go Free

The Supreme Court’s most anti-Constitutional decision ever rendered implemented a nationwide policy declaring prosecutors must have absolute immunity for acts committed in their prosecutorial role. This decision has unleashed the most abusive legal system ever on the face of this Earth. The most notorious court in history had been that of Hitler which had a 90% conviction rate. The Supreme Court has stripped every possible human right we have fought for since the dawn of civilization with that decision.

The conviction rate now exceeds 98% in the US federal courts. Lawyers tell you to just plea because you cannot win! Federal Judge Jed Rakof’s review of a book – Why Innocent People Plead Guilty. Judge Rakof wrote in the New York Review of Books, “Over the past few decades, ordinary US citizens have increasingly been denied effective access to their courts.” Nobody pays attention and at least one-third of the people in prison are innocent charged with conspiracy so the government does not have to prove you actually did something, you just intended it somehow. Nobody reforms the judicial system so police just kill people without consequence.

Nobody will hold prosecutors accountable and then most judges are former prosecutors so good luck with pleading your case. There is not a vein of morality in most of these people. Even an honest judge is just overruled by the corrupt courts of appeal. When you stare into the eyes of a prosecutor or most judges, all you see is the coldness of evil stripped of all human emotion. They lose all humanity in order to do the job.

The Supreme Court has unleashed the total destruction of the Constitution upon all of us and there is a growing call to acknowledge and address an epidemic of prosecutorial misconduct in the United States, but nobody will listen. The case was Imbler v. Pachtman and its perverse holding is uncivilized in any democratic state for it is the decision of a totalitarian regime.

Shakespeare’s famous line “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers” referred to the king’s lawyers we call prosecutors today. The question is when will the people stand up and say enough is enough! Thomas Jefferson included in the Declaration of Independence about injustice and how the government protected its agents as they do today: “For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:”

History repeats because those in power will always act in their self-interest. Nothing has ever changed since Thrasymachus warned Socrates who imposed the death penalty and Plota fled Athens saying he would not allow a second crime against Philosophy.

Many people have written in and asked how can Trump be charged under the Espionage Act. There is probably no other Act that has been so abused than this statute. It has been responsible for witch hunts and the deliberate execution of people the prosecutors knew were innocent. This Act has silenced people, been used to imprison people for speaking against the government in times of war, and even imprisoned Japanese for simply being Japanese under nothing more than an executive order Public Proclamation No. 4, 7 Fed.Reg. 2601. And on May 19, 1942, eleven days before the time a Japanese petitioner was charged with unlawfully remaining in the area, Civilian Restrictive Order No. 1, 8 Fed.Reg. 982, provided for the detention of those of Japanese ancestry in assembly or relocation centers. One of the top 5 worst decisions of the Supreme Court declaring Blacks were just property in Dred Scott v. Sandford 60 U.S. 393 (1856), but so was the imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II solely based on their race –  Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944)

Justice Robert H. Jackson (1892–1954) dissented writing “Korematsu … has been convicted of an act not commonly thought a crime. It consists merely of being present in the state whereof he is a citizen, near the place where he was born, and where all his life he has lived.” Jackson argued that the nation’s wartime security concerns did not justify stripping Korematsu and the other internees of their constitutionally protected civil rights.

Nobody would listen to reason. Jackson declared that the exclusion order was “the legalization of racism” that violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. He compared the exclusion order to the “abhorrent and despicable treatment of minority groups by the dictatorial tyrannies which this nation is now pledged to destroy.”  He concluded that the exclusion order violated the Fourteenth Amendment by “fall[ing] into the ugly abyss of racism.”

Welcome to reality. Whenever the self-interest of those in power is in conflict with the rule of law, the rule of law is ALWAYS ignored. They are doing that with Trump right now and all the RINOs cheering and arresting Trump on his birthday show just how evil these people truly are. With every cheer the RINOs make, they prove Mark Twain was always right.

t has always been IMPOSSIBLE to hand ANY power to the government under the pretense that it is necessary for some good. Any regulation carries some penalty for noncompliance. Then this opens the door to abuse as we see with Trump. When Congress passes a law, prosecutors make a career out of twisting the words to fit whatever they can dream up. On top of that Congress always expands its power and never was there any “intent” behind the Espionage Act to be used in this manner against a former president. In its current incarnation, the section Trump is charged with reads:

18 USC #793(e)

(e) Whoever having unauthorized possession of, access to, or control over any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or note relating to the national defense, or information relating to the national defense which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicates, delivers, transmits or causes to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted, or attempts to communicate, deliver, transmit or cause to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted the same to any person not entitled to receive it, or willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it; or

The abuse of this law is mindboggling and the real problem here is that prosecutors have discretion so they can openly deny Equal Protection of the Law for they decide if they want to prosecute Trump but not Biden or Pence or Hillary who did have classified documents on her server and did transmit them. I believe that Jack Smith as the prosecutor has violated not just Trump’s civil rights, but he has violated everyone’s civil rights for his selective prosecution with the intent of preventing Trump from running for president.

The Supreme Court held in Armstrong v US, 517 U.S. 456 (1996) that to show selective prosecution, an individual must show that a prosecutorial policy had both a discriminatory purpose and a discriminatory effect. In other words, they must show that prosecutors did not charge similarly situated people and that can clearly be established with both Biden and Hillary Clinton.

There should be a class action lawsuit brought against Jack Smith and the Attorney General for deliberating targeting Trump to interfere in the 2024 election which violates everyone’s civil rights denying us that the 2024 election will be free and fair. It is an acknowledged violation of our Civil Rights for what the entire world now knows they are doing – interfering in the 2024 election.

Of course, all of these RINOs and disgusting people pretending to care about the country or the rule of law, are out in full force driving their knives and stabbing Trump like corrupt senators did to Julius Caesar 23 times. History will remember their names as it remembered Brutus and Cassius. This will be the day that truly lives in infamy. Mike Pence, who I would not vote for even being a local dog catcher, has joined the choir of attacking Trump to save the SWAMP. John Kelly, Trump’s pretend chief of staff who the Neocons put in place since he was previously in the Marine Corps Liaison Office. Remember all their names and NEVER vote for any of them EVER in the future. When you see them in someone’s cabinet, know that the administration can never be trusted. They are against the people, and the constitution, and only support the corruption that is destroying our nation from the inside out – the SWAMP.

The first Espionage Act was passed with the American Revolution. It was passed July 6, 1798, and this is all omitted from the Federal Criminal Code and Rules which are standard today. If Trump would declare he now identifies as a woman, or a lesbian because he enjoys women, then under the Espionage Act of 1798 he could not be guilty. Congress at the time was engaged in writing laws for the PURPOSE (Intent) of protecting the Government, growing out of serious friction with France. Interestingly, it did NOT apply to women. It only applied specifically to natives, citizens, denizens (an inhabitant of a particular place such as a forest), or subjects of a hostile nation of Government, “being males of the age of 14 years and upwards.”

Curiously, it was World War I before they passed a new Espionage Act in 1917, yet they did not repeal nor amend the 1798 Act. It addressed the loophole with women. It merely supplemented the Espionage Act of 1798 statute providing for punishments concerning a woman stating that she may then be interned or punished for violation of any of the espionage laws. The Espionage Act of 1798 gave the president the executive power to restrict certain areas. It even then allows a woman to be executed if she was caught trying to transmit any information which has for one of its purposes visiting an area that is restricted like taking photos of defense ships etc. By 1917, they figured out that some of the very best spies were actually women. That is when Mata Hari, the dancer, was executed by firing squad in France.

On June 15, 1917, some two months after America’s formal entrance into World War I against Germany, the United States Congress passed the Espionage Act. The Espionage Act essentially made it a crime for any person to convey information intended to interfere with the U.S. armed forces during the war effort or to promote the success of the country’s enemies. Anyone found guilty of such acts would be subject to a fine of $10,000 and a prison sentence of 20 years.

The Espionage Act was reinforced by the Sedition Act of the following year, which imposed similarly harsh penalties on anyone found guilty of making false statements that interfered with the prosecution of the war. That included insulting or abusing the U.S. government, the flag, the Constitution, or the military. Freedom of speech was restrained. It further included protesting and agitating against the production of necessary war materials as well as advocating, teaching, or defending any of these acts.

These acts they insisted were intended to target socialists, pacifists, and other anti-war activists during World War I. They were used with a very punishing effect instantly. This became the great Red Scare with people justifying these laws claiming that communists sought to influence and to infiltrate into American society changing the country from within. This was the first Red Scare with the second unfolding during the 1940s and 1950s, associated largely with Senator Joseph McCarthy (1908–1957) who was just manufacturing evidence against people he disliked.

This is when Alexander Mitchell Palmer (1872–1936), assumed the attorney general’s office during the Red Scare, and his right-hand man, J. Edgar Hoover (1895–1972), liberally employed the Espionage and Sedition Acts to persecute left-wing political figures and anyone he just disliked. It would be Hoover who would spy on members of Congress and strike fear in the hearts of everyone on Capital Hill. He had his secret files on everyone even President Kennedy. Abuse of power always follows a grant of power.

One of the most famous activists arrested during this period, labor leader Eugene V. Debs (1855–1926), was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a speech he made in 1918 in Canton, Ohio, criticizing the Espionage Act. Debs had also tried to run for President as the head of the Socialist Party. Debs appealed the decision, and the case eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court, where the court upheld his conviction. Though Debs’ sentence was commuted in 1921 when the Sedition Act was repealed by Congress, major portions of the Espionage Act remain part of United States law to the present day and are subject to abuse of power as we are witnessing today.

It was April 5th, 1951 when Julius Rosenberg (1918-1953) and his 35-year-old wife Ethel (1915-1953) were sentenced to death using this Espionage Act. Today, everyone concedes that his wife’s crime was simply being married to Julius. The prosecutors charged her thinking it would force him to give up his contacts which he never did most likely because he had none.

A co-defendant of Julius and Ethel  Rosenberg, Morton Sobell (1917-2018), admitted for the first time that he was a Soviet spy on his deathbed at 91 after serving 30 years in prison but also made it clear that Ethel was innocent. Sobell passed military secrets to the Communists in World War II when the nations were still allies, he told the New York Times. Sobell, who served 18 years for espionage, said Julius did pass secrets but Ethel, executed with her husband in 1953, was guilty of nothing more than being Mrs. Rosenberg.

Under our legal system, the Jury can nullify the conviction using common sense based on their own sense of justice. Our corrupt judges will never instruct the jury that they have that power. The JURY can refuse to follow the corrupt law and acquit a defendant even when the evidence presented seems to point to an incontrovertible verdict of guilty. Personally, I think the Jury should be told that they have the power to nullify a conviction as well as to direct charges and reprimand the prosecutor in such a case for his abuse of power.

Just like Ponus Pilate tried washing his hands after sentencing Christ to death, these prosecutors and judges have so much blood on their hands that it takes a really different kind of person to take pleasure in inflicting pain on others. The injustices of so many people who have been executed under our laws only to be found that they were innocent are appalling and disgusting.

Just-us

Only an idiot accepts government allegations as fact in any case. The entire problem stems from ABSOLUTE IMMUNITY! The US government cannot be sued, only the agents of the government and judges have bestowed that immunity simply because the king had that who we revolted against. But the courts granted the very same power to the government that sparked the American Revolution. Consequently, those in the Justice Department are not forthcoming about admitting a mistake. I do not believe that a prosecutor should be able to bring charges. There should be a panel set up where every prosecutor presents his case to them and they are the ones who bring an indictment. That would remove personal self-interests.

Wilson Edwin Paul

Edwin Paul Wilson (1928–2012) was a former CIA and U.S. Naval Intelligence officer who was convicted in 1983 of illegally selling weapons to Libya. When one agency caught him, the CIA denied he worked for them since it was their secret operation. Wilson was tried and convicted. His daughter fought to get documents to prove her father worked for the CIA which they denied. What they did to Wilson should give anyone pause why they would work for the government.

You can tell Wilson was innocent because they kept him in solitary confinement – the ultimate torture. That is where most suicides take place. They did that to prevent him from having free communication outside the prison. It was later proven that the United States Department of Justice and the CIA had covered up evidence in the case. Wilson’s convictions were overturned in 2003 and he was freed the following year. Prosecutors KNEW he was innocent, but prosecuted him anyway.

Wilson filed a civil suit against seven former federal prosecutors, two of whom are now federal judges rewarded for wrongful prosecutions, and a past executive director of the CIA. On March 29th, 2007, U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal dismissed his case on the grounds that all eight had immunity covering their actions – not that they were innocent or his claims were frivolous. They can kill you, rob you, and even rape your family. NO court will ever take your word over a prosecutor. That is why there is no longer any Justice in America. They read it as “JUST US” to always further their own self-interest.

Am On Trial Dersowitz

Harvard law professor, Alan Dershowitz, discusses in “America on Trial” several dozen cases that have indeed shaped the United States, transforming the country and its legal system from the colonial period to the present corrupt system of injustice.

Prosecutors abuse the system to win unjust convictions ALL THE TIME. There is the case of JOSEPH SALVATIwhere the jury awarded $102 million because the prosecutors KNEW they were convicting the wrong person. Anyone working for the government who does this sort of thing should be imprisoned. After all, they violate the civil rights of an individual and remain immune from criminal prosecution.

There is the case of Jack McCullough sentenced to life in prison in 1957 who was finally released in 2016. One Judge, U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May, ruled that the SEC courts established by Roosevelt are unconstitutional. The government just ignored the ruling.

The Supreme Court committed the worst crime against humanity ever recorded demonstrating its bias. They declared that those who are prosecutors or judges have ABSOLUTE immunity from being prosecuted for wrongful prosecution even if they know they are abusing their authority or committing a crime because they might be afraid to prosecute someone if they could be prosecuted in return.

Why Innocent Plead Guilty & Guilty Go Free

The Supreme Court’s most anti-Constitutional decision ever rendered implemented a nationwide policy declaring prosecutors must have absolute immunity for acts committed in their prosecutorial role. This decision has unleashed the most abusive legal system ever on the face of this Earth. The most notorious court in history had been that of Hitler which had a 90% conviction rate. The Supreme Court has stripped every possible human right we have fought for since the dawn of civilization with that decision.

The conviction rate now exceeds 98% in the US federal courts. Lawyers tell you to just plea because you cannot win! Federal Judge Jed Rakof’s review of a book – Why Innocent People Plead Guilty. Judge Rakof wrote in the New York Review of Books, “Over the past few decades, ordinary US citizens have increasingly been denied effective access to their courts.” Nobody pays attention and at least one-third of the people in prison are innocent charged with conspiracy so the government does not have to prove you actually did something, you just intended it somehow. Nobody reforms the judicial system so police just kill people without consequence.

Nobody will hold prosecutors accountable and then most judges are former prosecutors so good luck with pleading your case. There is not a vein of morality in most of these people. Even an honest judge is just overruled by the corrupt courts of appeal. When you stare into the eyes of a prosecutor or most judges, all you see is the coldness of evil stripped of all human emotion. They lose all humanity in order to do the job.

The Supreme Court has unleashed the total destruction of the Constitution upon all of us and there is a growing call to acknowledge and address an epidemic of prosecutorial misconduct in the United States, but nobody will listen. The case was Imbler v. Pachtman and its perverse holding is uncivilized in any democratic state for it is the decision of a totalitarian regime.

Shakespeare’s famous line “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers” referred to the king’s lawyers we call prosecutors today. The question is when will the people stand up and say enough is enough! Thomas Jefferson included in the Declaration of Independence about injustice and how the government protected its agents as they do today: “For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:”

History repeats because those in power will always act in their self-interest. Nothing has ever changed since Thrasymachus warned Socrates who imposed the death penalty and Plota fled Athens saying he would not allow a second crime against Philosophy.

Jun 13 2023

The Rule of Law – Trump is Finished?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Rule of Law Re-Posted Jun 13, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Marty; This seems that the onslaught against Trump is a desperate attempt fearing that he would stop the war and reverse climate change. I have been reading you for years. You have great sources but also a great insight into what is happening in this corrupt world. I used to question your warnings that the United States would end up in a civil war. I’m at the point I cannot see how it is not possible.

Are they really this stupid to go after Trump if he could still become president even if convicted?

FS

ANSWER: This is an absolutely desperate attempt to make sure Trump does not ever get back to the White House. Even if he does, the talk in DC is that they will use this conviction for impeachment. But that would not really pass the test since it would be before taking office unless they stretch it out until January after he is sworn in. Nevertheless, there is far too much on the line for the Neocons. They will assassinate him as a last resort. These people assume the public is stupid and it will all blow over in 30 days anyhow when football season begins. They really do believe like the Romans, give us sports and they can do as they like.

If we look at the indictment, 31 of the 37 counts brought against Trump allege he willfully retained national defense information, which is a violation of the Espionage Act. This is really a stretch for the intent of that act was espionage and nobody is making a case that Trump was handing it to an enemy. Nevertheless, the indictment was extremely dangerous and far more serious than what Nixon faced. They are not playing games.

They are desperately staging this to put him in prison. Still, there is no actual smoking gun as they say. Trump has spoken about the classified documents acknowledging that they were classified. This is a serious risk and only a jury with common sense would find him not guilty. They use conspiracy so they do not have to prove everything beyond a reasonable doubt. It will be a case arguing what they “think” was in his mind at the time. Even this is selective prosecution after Biden had classified documents thrown in his car.

They are already trying to recuse the judge. They want a hanging judge and that is how the government works. When Judge McKenna was protecting me, they made a recusal motion. He denied it. So they went to the Chief Judge and had the case removed and sent to a hanging judge – John F. Kennan – a former prosecutor. Here is my docket sheet. How they remove Judge McKenna was sealed. I was NEVER allowed to see how they did that. This was an outright violation of Due Process of Law. It does not matter. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals refused to ever address anything in my case whatsoever!

I confronted Judge Owen that he was altering the transcripts which is a felony. I forced him to admit it. Under the law, he should have recused himself for now he was a witness in my case. I tried to appeal that and the Second Circuit lost the appeal 3 times and then claimed I was out of time to appeal. On top of that, changing the transcripts is a felony in addition to obstruction of justice which they are charging Trump with. The Second Circuit ignored everything. I wrote to the SEC prosecutor Dorothy Heyl. I said since you people change transcripts, why not just make one up and claim whatever and throw in I killed JFK, and let’s get this over with. She obviously did not reply.

Now you can see what Thomas Jefferson was writing about. There is no rule of law in the United States. If they want you, you have ZERO constitutional or human rights. They even tried to kill me in the same place they killed Jeffrey Epstein. I was in the hospital in a coma but to their dismay, I survived.

Shakespeare’s famous line from Henry VI, “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers” must be put in its proper context. At that point in history, a charged person had NO RIGHT to counsel. The ONLY lawyers were actually the king’s prosecutors. So you can see, even Shakespeare understood how the rule of law is a joke. That is why we have the Sixth Amendment – the right to counsel. In my case, they attacked all the lawyers and removed them. When Richard Altman said he would defend me for free, the government claimed they were investigating him as my co-conspirator to throw him out of court. So much for Constitutional rights – it’s all fake!

Even Charles Dickens has written about how corrupt the legal system had become back in 1853. Dickens wrote in Chapter I, “In Chancery” of his celebrated Bleake House,

“Suffer any wrong that can be done you, rather than come here!”

Indeed, the current state of American federal courts has once again reached the lowest point completing the revolution of the wheel of political fortune. Perhaps this is in line with what we should expect as we move into 2032 where governments around the world will collapse from their own internal corruption. Trump should kiss the wife and kids goodbye, for he has little chance of defeating this corrupt system. As Herbert Hoover wrote:

“Sometimes when a government; is enraged, it burns down the barn to get the rat.”  

This is how the law is just always abused. If a parent is against transgenderism, in California, Newsom wants to charge them with child abuse. That would allow courts to take custody of children awake from the parent under old laws. If a child under 18 cannot have sex consensually, how can then change their sex? Good luck with ANY California judge ruling in your favor. Kiss your children goodbye as well if they are brainwashed into thinking they should change their sex even at age 7 to 12.

A 17-year-old cannot consent to sex, but to vaccinate minors without parental consent was OK because a minor can consent to be vaccinated, but they could not even open a bank account. Epstein was a pedophile with a 17-year-old but a vaccine could have life-threatening consequences and that’s ok for a school to do that claiming even a 7-year-old gave consent? Thomas Jefferson warned that the United States will collapse because of the abuse of the application of the law. He knew history!

The other six counts against Trump claim he caused false statements to be made and conspired to conceal documents from investigators and obstruct justice. This is exactly what the FBI and the DOJ have been doing to protect Hunter Biden and the Big Man.

Our computer has been forecasting that a major Directional Change took place in 2022 and 2023  going all the way into 2026 is basically tearing the very fabric of society apart at the seams. It is not just Trump, it is WOKE. Everywhere you turn, this is the same agenda of the left under Marxism. They MUST destroy the family unit and the children are to look to the state as their real parent and great protector. Communism taught children to report their biological parents if they ever spoke against the state. Hello, California is joining Stalinism.

This is what they are doing right before our eyes. This whole transgender issue is to also reduce the population. Thank you, Bill Gates, Soros, Buffett, and the rest of you. I think the money has gone to your heads and you are all playing God because you, like Soros, perhaps believe God is dead or never existed.

Please Scotty – Beam me the heck out of this world. It has gone completely insane!

Jun 10 2023

A Visual Example of Joe Biden Caught in the Act of a 18 U.S. Code § 793 Violation According to Special Counsel Jack Smith


Posted originally on the CTH on June 9, 2023 | Sundance 

In the Trump indictment the DOJ is not, repeat NOT, arguing a classified documents case.  The entire legal framework is centered around documents they define as vital to the defense security of the United States.  EVERYTHING is predicated on this 18 U.S. Code § 793(e) violation:

18 U.S. Code § 793 (e) Whoever having unauthorized possession of, access to, or control over any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or note relating to the national defense, or information relating to the national defense which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicates, delivers, transmits or causes to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted, or attempts to communicate, deliver, transmit or cause to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted the same to any person not entitled to receive it, or willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it. 

According to the Trump indictment, COUNT #7 – page 29, a document “concerning communication with the leader of a foreign country” is considered a classified document in violation of US Code 793, vital to national defense interests.

Do you want a historic example of this exact U.S. Code § 793 violation taking place?

Whose hands are those? [SOURCE] 

(Sept. 11, 2012)  – ”Denis McDonough, Deputy National Security Advisor, left, updates the President and Vice President on the situation in the Middle East and North Africa. National Security Advisor Tom Donilon and Chief of Staff Jack Lew are at right.” (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) [SOURCE]

In Joe Biden’s hands are the notes of a phone call, taken by then Vice-President Biden, recording the conversation between Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as recorded on September 11, 2012.  [The night of the Benghazi, Libya, attack on the U.S. Consulate]

How is this a violation of 18 U.S. Code § 793 (e)?

You are reading them!

See how that works?

Jun 10 2023

Mark Levin Reacts to Trump Indictment – Frivolous Documents Charges


Posted originally on the CTH on June 9, 2023 | Sundance 

I am deep in the weeds and assembling notes for outlines to be delivered in the next several articles.  However, that said, perhaps the only time Mark Levin’s shouting was tolerable was last night as he responded to the indictment of President Trump.  WATCH:

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NOTE:  Sixty nine documents in a Deep State rabbit hole!  ~Sundance

Jun 8 2023

Major Hotel Chains Shutting San Francisco Locations


Armstrong Economics Blog/USA Current Events Re-Posted Jun 8, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

San Francisco and other blue cities are overrun with crime, permitted by light-on-crime policies. I know numerous people who travel for work, and all they can discuss after visiting cities such as San Francisco and Seattle is the urban encampments and rampant crime that occurs in broad daylight. Companies no longer wish to hold conferences in these dangerous drug-ridden cities, and it is causing hotels to shutter.

The Hilton San Francisco Union Square Hotel, the largest hotel in the city, and Parc 55 Hotel, the fourth largest, are fleeing the city. CEO Thomas J. Baltimore Jr. said that his hotels have lost almost all of their business from conferences and conventions. Park Hotels & Resorts Inc. (NYSE:PK) announced that it has stopped all payments toward its $725 million loan. They want to completely remove these hotels from their portfolio immediately. There is no saving the city at this point, and the smart money is leaving. “Unfortunately, the continued burden on our operating results and balance sheet is too significant to warrant continuing to subsidize and own these assets,” the company politely stated.

Quite a shame as this was once a beautiful city in a prime location. Hotels in San Francisco have to remind guests to park within enclosed, monitored parking garages because theft is so prominent. Some residents would like to turn a blind eye to the growing problem as the homeless population is beginning to outnumber them. The New York Post recently featured an article showing images of the vacant stores throughout the once desirable downtown as retail vacancy rose 6% in Q1 alone. Businesses, such as Whole Foods which was only open for one year, said they were worried about the safety of their employees.

What is the city doing to correct the problem? Nothing. They are downplaying the true crisis and wondering why tourism is nearly non-existent. The $120 million in budget cuts for the police department since 2020 has not helped the situation. Reports state that fewer than 80% of 911 calls are answered in a timely fashion, if at all. This is how cities fall under incompetent leaders who ignore problems in favor of votes.

May 30 2023

The Real Hidden Agenda – It’s Time to take the Red Pill


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted May 30, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: Martin,
I’m gay and I agree with you on this transgender drivel, especially letting male-born athletes compete in women’s sports. It is becoming scary for those of us who are just gay. We are being thrown in the same category as this transgender agenda. I too have been to Thailand. The Ladyboys in Thailand are numerous and are accepted in society. They are smart enough to not make a political issue of it as is taking place here in America.

As for your view of Trump as the only hope to save our politics, I profoundly disagree. I think he is arrogant and ignorant. He doesn’t care if what he says if it is true or not.

CP

REPLY: With respect to Trump, you have to separate the individual from the politics. I understand people hate Trump. The media have spread this BECAUSE he is a threat to the Washington political establishment. Nonetheless, not even Trump can stop the decline and fall of Western Civilization.

People get offended by his crude statements at times. But at least you know what he really thinks. Is it better for a career politician to say everything you want to hear and then look at you as a stupid fool and do the opposite?

I have worked in Washington. There is ABSOLUTELY nobody who is a career politician in either party who will really stand up for the people. They are under pressure all the time to conform to the unelected party bosses.

I have met many heads of state in my 40 years. I have said the truth. Trump was the ONLY such person who ever impressed me as actually being human. His statement that he wanted to bring our boys home from Afghanistan because he was tired of writing letters to their parents to thank them for their son’s sacrifice of dying for his country. He actually said what are we doing there? They are fighting over borders for a 1,000 years. What difference will we make?

No head of state EVER spoke about the people. It was always about their policy. I have come to see that we are just the pawns – expendable pawns at that. There are always more of us to come. They look down upon the people as stupid scum. This whole digital currency thing is to track everything we do.

So you may find Trump’s statement and his arrogance at times as distasteful. We will never find someone perfect. But all of this is irrelevant. For there is NOBODY coming on some white horse to save the day. Trump’s quality was that he was NOT a career politician and what he was doing was for his personal legacy from ending wars to building a wall to protect our borders.

So all I can say is to those who hate Trump so much, you better look closely at the others for they have nothing but contempt for you.


Back in the ’70s, I hired a death mute – Danny. He taught me sign language and we could communicate and laugh together. I had a major surgeon as a client and he said that he probably could restore his hearing. I offered to pay for everything for him and he declined. He was afraid to hear sounds. He grew up that way and was in his late 20s and did not want to change. He taught me that what I thought would be a generous offer was really just me thinking that normal was the ability to hear. We cannot judge others by ourselves.

One of our staff who is black, was rather upset about the whole Black Lives Matter movement. She explained that it was being usurped by non-blacks. There was clearly a strange agenda behind the curtain. Soros and his defund the police agenda was to create civil unrest and cause the country to get prepared for this one-world government.

Ruth Bader Ginsberg was the first woman to make it to the Supreme Court. She was an advocate for women’s rights. But she came out and explained that the entire Abortion Movement was a fraud. They called it women’s rights and have indoctrinated many women who passionately take that position. They have been cleverly manipulated by the Gates crowd and the Rockefeller Foundation for their real goal was to reduce the population. Gate’s father started the whole Planned Parenthood and placed them in minority areas to reduce their population on a racist basis.  Like his father, Gates has targeted Africa to reduce population.

Now, the total number of people who identify as Transgender is 1.6 million out of a population of 331.9 million (2021). That is 0.0048%. Now, how has this become such a major issue? There is absolutely NO WAY this Transgender group had the money or the clout to turn this into such a huge issue. Diving deep behind the curtain and you will find, just like abortion, it is being funded for the purpose of reducing the population – and has NOTHING to do with Pride or gay rights. They are being exploited just as women were told it was their right to have an abortion – kill that baby and save the planet.

This Transgender nonsense is in fact destroying the right of the Gay Community because they are being thrown in with this Transgender nonsense advocating changing children’s sex without parental knowledge all before puberty. Let’s get real here. This agenda is to promote the reduction in the population and has NOTHING to do with the Gay Community or their rights to inclusion and equality.

This is always the same strategy – manipulating society to achieve its undeclared goal be it war, politics, or women/transgender rights. It is like LIFE Insurance which is really DEATH insurance. They sell fire, accident, theft, and hurricane insurance. But they could not sell DEATH insurance so they called it LIFE insurance and people brag how much they have.

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Remember the lockdowns? The whole COVID nonsense was a scam to end commuting and terminate offices bringing in virtual work from home all to reduce gas consumption. That was also a manipulation of society for climate change – not for health. There are people still to this day wearing masks driving alone in a car. They have been mentally damaged by these tactics.

NOTHING is ever what it seems. We are the fools and they are always using sophisticated tactics to manipulate society to achieve objectives that they will never reveal.

It’s just time to take the Red Pill and wake up if you EVER hope to survive as a viable human being or take the Blue Pill and live in your fantasy that government actually cares about you.

May 28 2023

The Thirst For Truth – Big Picture Explanation of What Happened in the Past 15 Years That Flipped the Social, Cultural, Media, Leftist and Govt Relationship


Posted originally on the CTH on May 27, 2023 | Sundance 

Last night I participated in a conversation. This article is written as an outcome of that conversation, as requested by those who participated.

Essentially, the framework of the conversation, as I initially listened, is best described as a series of questions amid a group of smart intellectual types who are very understanding of the nature of our current situation.

In various forms they were asking each other the same question.  What happened in the last several years that caused Democrats, leftists and the traditional political left to switch positions on their advocacy?

Liberalism literally went from railing against Big Govt, to embracing corrupt Big Govt. Why and how did this happen?

In short, it was the same line of questioning I have seen asked by Tucker Carlson, Glenn Greenwald, Tulsi Gabbard and various traditionally liberal people as well as people on the right side of the continuum.

Why and how did traditional liberalism so suddenly flip from being, big picture – ‘anti-government’, to suddenly embracing corrupt government enterprise, and supporting the intelligence apparatus, federal govt (writ large), institutional oppressive law enforcement and FBI etc.?  What happened?

After listening to this conversation quietly, as I am prone to do, my remarks -with citations and examples- silenced the room.

At the conclusion of my remarks, everyone asked me if I had ever written about this, and if not – why not?   I did not have an answer, so consider this a promise fulfilled.  Perhaps you might find value.

In the 50 years that preceded 2008, traditional leftists, media activists, left-wing community organizing agencies, Democrats, liberals, progressives, or whatever label you want to assign, essentially railed against the U.S. government and all that it represented.  However, now, if you were to look at the issues from the 30,000-foot perspective, those same groups currently support the oppressive & weaponized system of government they formerly despised.

In the 50 years that preceded 2008, those same groups had an approach of distrust toward government, and the media apparatus had a very distinct supportive and cynical outlook, favorable to the leftist anti-government perspective.  Now, all of that has reversed – seemingly flipped.

In the 50 years that preceded 2008, media pushed a one-way narrative in defense of those who were “targeted” by the institutions and mechanisms of government.  As the activists railed against the regime, the media framed narratives to excuse the transparently guilty. Now, that entire dynamic has reversed.  Now we see the media pushing a narrative in support of weaponized government targeting, and – here’s the kicker – framing the transparently innocent.

The activists went from accusing government of wrongdoing and defending the transparently guilty – to aligning with government, excusing government wrongdoing, and helping to attack the transparently innocent.

As some continue to say with jaw agape, WTF happened?

The answer “why” is not complicated…. not complicated at all.

In 2008, the ‘activists’ took control of government.

In January of 2009, the leftists, community organizers and activists took control of the systems they had opposed for the preceding 50+ years.

In January of 2009, and inflection point took place; an inflection point that no one realized in forethought, scale or consequence.

Starting in 2009, all of the systems of federal government were now under the control of the people who previously fought against the systems of federal government.  Everything since is an outcome of that inflection point; that’s why everything flipped.

All of it, and I do mean every scintilla of the thing; every single granular detail and example you can put in front of me can be traced back to that moment when the activists were no longer outside government railing against the corrupt system they hated.

Starting in January of 2009, the activists took power over the United States government, and every outside institution, including media, necessarily and ideologically followed that inversion.

Starting in 2009, the systems and institutions of the U.S government now came under the control of the radical activists.

In the eight years that followed, the mission of every institution was changed.  Government was weaponized on behalf of the leftist activists who now took control of it.  Everything thereafter is a consequence of this change.

When I use the word “suddenly”, it is only for understanding the inflections point that came as a consequence.  In actuality, the severity of change inside each institution took place over several years.  That’s why the intensity of the weaponized and corrupt systems became worse over time.

As each institution was infiltrated to become more aligned with the mindset of the activists, the institutions became more radical in their targeting and weaponization.

The activists went from being outside government to being inside government.

Suddenly, the left-wing supportive media changed mission priority from railing against corrupt government, to defending the corrupt weaponization of govt.

Suddenly, the FBI went from targeting domestic threats, to targeting only the domestic threats defined as against the interests of the left-wing activists.

Suddenly, the outside activists went from being defined as social elements creating turmoil, to social elements now being defended and even promoted.

This is why we see outside activist groups like the Dream Defenders, New Black Panthers, Black Lives Matter, Occupy Wall Street and more recently ANTIFA, as protected and supported by the activists inside government now in control of the systems and institutions.

All of the social, cultural and political dynamics that changed traditional “liberalism” are easily understood once you realize and accept that activists took control of the power centers of the U.S. government.

Everything that followed, including our current state of social and political turmoil, is simply a natural conclusion of that fundamental change.

The radical activists are now in control of the institutions of power.  This core shift is what created the dynamic of a very visible two-tiered justice system.  Each institution was weaponized and continues to be weaponized against those who are not aligned with the activist ideology.

The Dept of Justice has been weaponized against people who are not in alignment with the radicals.

The federal police, known as the FBI, have been weaponized against We The People.

The Intelligence Community is now under the control of the radical activists.  The mission priorities change accordingly.

When Tucker Carlson, Glenn Greenwald, Tulsi Gabbard or any other person posits the question about ‘why’ the ideology of the left and media has shifted so suddenly, there is your answer.

It is not a complicated understanding.   Once you accept this fundamental change took place, everything seemingly falls into place….

…. At least that’s what the “ah-ha” audience told me.

May 18 2023

Durham Report Explained – Everything was a Lie


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption Re-Posted May 18, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Special counsel John Durham revealed in his report that all American intelligence agencies knew the Trump-Russian collusion story was a lie. You can read the full 300-page report here. Hillary Clinton needed a way to take the heat off of her email scandal and was the mastermind behind this plot. The CIA and FBI knew without a shadow of a doubt that the Steele Dossier was a lie designed by Clinton to take down Trump. The FBI then leaked deliberate misinformation to the press to condemn Trump on behalf of Hillary and the Democrats.

Christopher Steele was bribed $1 million to write his fictional Steele Dossier. Igor Danchenko was known to be Russian intelligence. Intelligence agencies paid Danchecnko a quarter of a million USD to reveal classified information to back Steele’s claims. He could not provide any evidence since it did not exist, but he was paid anyway. Former intelligence chair Shiff said he saw first-hand evidence of Russian collusion — a complete lie.

Will anyone be held accountable for these extreme crimes? All Americans should be completely outraged that we were lied to by our intelligence agencies and media outlets in an attempt to alter our election. This is a direct attack on our freedom and electoral process. Hillary knows she is above the law and can commit crimes in the open without penalty or even criticism. Obama, Biden, the FBI, the CIA, and numerous politicians knew that everything regarding “Russian collusion” was a complete lie. Trump was correct — this has been one of the biggest witch hunts in American history.

May 11 2023

The Rental Crisis


Armstrong Economics Blog/Real Estate Re-Posted May 11, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

I reported how BlackRock is now the largest landlord in the US. Institutions have purchased hundreds of billions in real estate across the nation and have no plans to sell because rentals are a lucrative venture. Inventory is at a historic low and people simply cannot find a place to live if they need to relocate. Rental price gouging has reached astronomical levels and demand far outweighs supply.

There are eight prospective renters for each available apartment in the US, and the average occupancy rate is 94.2%. Of those occupied leases, 60.7% chose to renew. New housing grew by a measly 0.43% as building costs have increased substantially. The high-density state of New Jersey has become the most competitive real estate market in the US. This is particularly true for the northern part of the state, which is no surprise as the average cost for rent in NYC is $5,186 monthly. That price tag makes places like Los Angeles look cheap, with an average rental price of $2,600. Miami, the new Wall Street of the south, has become the second most competitive market in the US. Apartments in Miami-Dade County last an average of 33 days on the market if a unit even becomes available.

Housing is completely unaffordable and people with good-paying jobs are struggling to find a place to live if they do not already own. Purchasing property was once the smart financial choice, but that is out of reach for the average person. In fact, over three million Americans earning over $150,000 annually still choose to rent as there is simply no alternative at this time.

Rentals across America are almost at total capacity. The typical person locks in a 12-month lease, but the landlord (in most states) can raise the price at the end of that term and there are little protections for residents. In fairness to the landlords, their costs have increased substantially as well in terms of taxes, insurance, and maintenance. The price of a renewal increase is typically lower than what it would cost to relocate, aiding in the decision for the majority to renew their leases.

Where I live, we also face seasonal rental price gauging. Off-season one-bedrooms in the Tampa Bay area are over $2,000 monthly and rising. But once the “snow birds” return during the winter months, prices increase substantially. There is a 13% tax here on short-term rentals as well, but finding a full 12-month lease is increasingly difficult.

Adding to this crisis is the mass influx of migrants as cities across the nation develop ways to house tens of thousands of people at the expense of taxpaying citizens. Landlords typically require renters to earn 3X the monthly rental price as well, forcing many to leave the cities and more desirable areas even if they earn a good living.

Shelter costs are unsustainably high for both buyers and renters. People cannot find a place to live. Those who rent often become stuck in a cycle of renting perpetually, unable to save as all their income goes toward shelter.