Category Destruction of Western Civilization

Apr 13 2022

Inflation Rate Jumps to 8.5 Percent as Energy, Food and Gasoline Prices Skyrocket


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on April 12, 2022 | Sundance 

This is not going to be news to CTH readers and intellectually honest analysts.  The Bureau of Labor and Statistics has released the March consumer pricing data [DATA HERE] showing the recent surge in energy, gasoline and food costs that we have all felt.

The monthly increase of 1.3% brings the annual rate of inflation to 8.5 percent year-over-year.  However, the details tell the exact story we have been outlining for well over six months.   This is the second wave of inflation being recorded.  Grocery store prices (food at home), energy prices, and gasoline prices are all driving the inflation rate. [BLS Table 1]

Again, I modified Table-1 to take out the noise.  The data shows what we have felt for the past two months.  Working class families are feeling the pinch as their wages cannot keep pace with the increase in prices on products that are a priority.  Food, housing, gasoline, energy.

If we were using the old CPI method for analysis, current inflation would be well above 20%.

That said, there are issues also inherent and visible in the data for the non-food and energy segments, what I would call the durable goods side.  First, we are seeing the beginning of the durable good contraction getting quantified as we have previously discussed.   The prices for used vehicles, electronics, appliances and other non-critical durable goods are now flatlining, or even dropping in price.

Every indication within the economy indicates this is being caused by a demand contraction.  People are not purchasing durable goods because their disposable income is gone.  This lack of demand also shows up in wage rate suppression.  Despite high employment, wages are not rising – in part because there is excess productivity in the durable good economy.

You will note from Table-2 [available here] that food away from home, restaurant food, is not climbing as high as food at the grocery store (0.3% -vs- 1.5%).   Restaurants are trying to keep prices down and their profit margins are being eroded.  They are in a tough place, because if restaurants raise prices, they may lose customers who are already feeling pain in their checkbooks.  However, they cannot hold out much longer before raising prices, because the price increases are permanent.

The good news is the March data appears to quantify the apex of the second wave rate of inflation.  The rate of increase in food, fuel and energy will now start to moderate and slow down.  The prices may, likely will, keep going up, but they will go up less dramatically than they have in the past six months.  This price plateau will hopefully remain in place until late summer, that’s when the next harvest food costs will hit in Wave-3.

On the durable goods, what we will see now is a typical demand side issue.  Price increases for durable goods will quickly, if they are not already, be less connected to material costs and more connected to demand.   Obviously, the cost to manufacture, create, produce, transport and deliver durable goods is still experiencing upward pressure due to raw materials.  However, the demand variable will now enter more dominantly.

With wage growth meek and prices still rising on essentials like food, housing, energy and gasoline, demand for non-essential durable goods will drop. The demand decline should naturally put downward price pressure on appliances, electronics, used vehicles, etc.  Unfortunately, this also contracts the overall economy, creates unemployment, and indicates “stagflation.”

(MSM) – […] The consumer price index leaped 8.5% annually, the fastest pace since December 1981, the Labor Department said on Tuesday, likely cementing Federal Reserve plans for an unusually large half-point interest rate hike early next month. That increase is up from 7.9% in February and inflation now has notched new 40-year highs for five straight months. (more)

We will need to watch the service side closely now to see if consumers start to lessen travel, entertainment, and other service side expenses.

Protect your family.  Be frugal, wise and smart with expenses.  However, do not trouble yourself with dark imaginings.

If you are like most here, you have prepared yourself with commonsense actions and you are a doer who fixes problems, not a naysayer who sits around mulling over them.  Your family, kids and/or grandkids as well as your community can benefit from wise, albeit sometimes stern, counsel.  Stand strong, stand firm and stand resolute.

All of these challenges are simply that, challenges.  Work any problem as it arises, including for the kids.  And also remember, God is in charge, not you. So, listen to his instructions.  Listen to that instinct he buried within you.  Draw upon the strength that a loving God constantly provides.

Be a vessel for those who need hope.  Be a guiding light for those who feel distressed. Be cheerfully strong among everyone around you, and thankful for all the kindness you experience.  If you get stuck, start giving….

Ultimately, everything is a choice.  So, be the lighthouse, not the rocks.

P

Apr 12 2022

Danish Study Suggests mRNA-based Vaccines Associated with Greater Overall Mortality


Posted originally on TrialSite News by Staff on April 11, 2022

Recently scientists from Denmark led an important study suggesting that mRNA-based vaccines such as the ones made by Pfizer or Moderna may not be as safe as adenovirus-based vaccines such as Johnson and Johnson, AstraZeneca/Oxford or the one produced by China’s CanSino Biologics. Led by Peter Aaby, a trained physician and anthropologist that runs a health and demographic surveillance system site in West Africa as part of the Bandim Health Project and Dr. Mihai Netea a well-known award winning Romanian/Dutch scientists and Danish colleagues from Odense Patient Data Explorative Network (OPEN) at University of Southern Denmark, the group scrutinized possible “non-specific effects” (NSEs) of the COVID-19 vaccines probing into overall mortality such as not only COVID-19 deaths but also accidental deaths, cardiovascular deaths and other non-COVID-19 deaths. The team discovered that out of 74,193 participants in mRNA clinical trials and 61 deaths, that based on relative risk there was no real difference between the vaccine and placebo group. While in the adenovirus-based studies with 122,164 participants and 46 deaths the vaccine had nearly half the level of deaths as compared to the controls group.

The study team decided to take a step back and look at the COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial data from a different point of view. They did this because “there is now ample evidence that vaccines can have broad heterologous effects on the immune system.” Such effects can either A) greater protection or B) increased susceptibility to unrelated infections or even other non-infectious autoimmune diseases. The authors report that emerging study data reveals that “vaccines may have completely unexpected effects on overall mortality, different from what could be anticipated based on the protection against the vaccine-targeted disease.”

The study results await peer review thus the data shouldn’t be considered evidence. But the novel approach and consequent findings represent an important potential contribution to our scientific knowledge of the COVID-19 vaccines.

Overall Mortality wasn’t Studied

Taking a different perspective, Dr. Aaby and team share that the current batch of COVID-19 vaccines were not tested to evaluate their effects on overall mortality. That would have been difficult given the short follow-up in the studies as subjects participating in the control groups received the vaccine after 3-6 months based on the emergency use authorization situation.

Surprisingly, although all would assume that the COVID-19 vaccines would reduce overall mortality in the pandemic this assumption hasn’t been formally vetted in studies. 

The authors utilized the final study reports available from the COVID-19 vaccine trials investigating the impact of mRNA and adenovirus-vector COVID-19 vaccines on overall mortality, including the previously mentioned other categories such as cardiovascular-related deaths.

The Findings

The table below highlights these study findings:

 ParticipantsDeathsRelative Risk
mRNA74,19361 (mRNA 31; placebo; 30)1.03 (95% CI=0.63-1.71)
Adenovirus122,16446 (vaccine: 16; controls:30)0.37 (0.19-0.70)

Aaby and team report that the adenovirus-vector vaccines were associated with protection against COVID-19 deaths (RR=0.11 (0.02-0.87)) and non-accident, non-COVID-19 deaths (RR=0.38 (0.17-0.88)).

Of note, mRNA-based vaccines differ markedly from adenovirus vaccines regarding impact on overall mortality (p=0.030) as well as non-accident, non-COVID-19 deaths (p=0.046). The placebo-controlled RCTs of COVID-19 vaccines were halted rapidly due to clear effects on COVID-19 infections. Importantly the data derived from this study suggest an important need for randomized controlled trials of mRNA and adeno-vectored vaccines head-to-head comparing long-term effects on overall mortality.

Brief Discussion

Of course, many experts may summarily dismiss such findings as not relevant. After all the COVID-19 studies were designed to determine if the vaccines were effective in protecting against death from SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID-19. Yet the authors point out that “non-specific effects, and their immunological basis, have been established for several other vaccines.”  For example, the authors point to randomized controlled trials showing that BCG vaccine against tuberculosis (TB) lessens neonatal mortality, yet this was because the vaccine protects against deaths from sepsis and respiratory infections.

They point out that “immunological studies have shown that such effects are indeed biologically plausible; BCG positively affects the innate immune system leading to enhanced resistance towards a broad range of pathogens. Furthermore, the BCG vaccine has been associated with decreased systemic inflammation.”

Conclusion

The authors conclude that if their findings are in fact validated by randomized controlled studies then the adenovirus-based vaccines may prove beneficial to their “protective heterologous effects…on non-COVID-19 mortality” as well as their effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 infection.  Could these vaccines represent an advantage in vulnerable populations susceptible to cardiovascular mortality.  Key is a better understanding of the heterologous effects between the different vaccine types.

Study Funding

Dr. Allen Schapira funded the work on non-specific effects of vaccines while some of the previous work was funded by the Danish Council for Development Research, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark; Novo Nordisk Foundation and European Union.   

Lead Research/Investigator

Peter Aaby, DMSc, Bandim Health Project, INDEPTH Network; Bandim Health Institute – OPEN, Institute of Clinical Research

Christine Stabell Benn, University of Southern Denmark – Odense Patient Data Explorative Network (OPEN); Bandim Health Project, INDEPTH Network

Frederik Schaltz-Buchholzer, Statens Serums Institut – Bandim Health Project

Sebastian Nielsen, University of Southern Denmark – Odense Patient Data Explorative Network (OPEN)

Mihai G. Netea, Radboud University Nijmegen – Radboud Center for Infectious Diseases (RCI); Radboud University Nijmegen – Department of Internal Medicine

Related

Dutch Case Report—Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine Reactivates Hepatitis C Leading to Death of 82-Year-Old Woman

Dutch Case Report—Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine Reactivates Hepatitis C Leading to Death of 82-Year-Old Woman

Moderna Shares TeenCOVE study Results: Initial Data Reveals mRNA-based Vaccine Safe & Effective for Adolescents 12 yrs. & Up

Moderna Shares TeenCOVE study Results: Initial Data Reveals mRNA-based Vaccine Safe & Effective for Adolescents 12 yrs. & Up

Study: mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines Pose ‘Rare but Serious’ Threat

Study: mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines Pose ‘Rare but Serious’ Threat

UK Health Security Agency Reports Mixed Vaccine Effectiveness Stats—Troubling Signals

Explore Further

First Look at Newly Released Pfizer Docs, Part 2: The ‘not necessary’ safety studies

Write for us – we are expanding our list of external authors

Australia Planning to Vaccinate Children Newborn to Age 4 While Heavily Vaxxed Population Faces Largest COVID-19 Case, Death, & Hospitalization Surges

Large Israeli Study Demonstrates Failing Durability of BNT162b2 Yet More Marketability at Least in the Short Run

Apr 12 2022

Are Democrats Going to Dump Biden?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted Apr 12, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: Marty, I remember that your computer was projecting that the president in this term would not finish. You said that you did not see Trump finishing a second term and I think you said you did not think Trump would win. Tucker is clearly talking now that the Democrats are looking to dump Biden even perhaps for the mid-terms. Since you warned that if Trump had been elected, he would not finish, my question is does this still apply to Biden? Do you have any updates on this political uncertainty?

Thanks so much for Socrates. It’s the only way to cut through all this opinion.

HK

Video Player

00:00

02:53

ANSWER: Back in October 2020, the Democrats were introducing a Constitutional Amendment to create a body that will recommend the removal of a president because of his inability to fulfill the office. Nancy Pelosi clearly stated that this has nothing to do with President Trump. Indeed, an Amendment to the Constitution requires state ratification. There is no way this could be passed in such a short order to have impacted Trump. But the fix for the election was already set in motion. Even the CIA asked Trump for a postponement to release the Kennedy documents until AFTER the election because they knew he would not be allowed to win.

The legislation was regarding the MENTAL CAPACITY of a president which would obviously impact the next president, who they expected to be Biden. This is a further sign that they did in fact know there was a problem with Biden that they feared might get far worse. But the leader among the Democrats was clearly Bernie Sanders, and the big money behind the Democrats said no way. Where none of the Democrats wanted Biden to satisfy their money doners and the belief that they could control the White House, they turned around and said to Biden – “Tag, you’re it!” They needed Biden to stop Bernie and to appease Soros and Schwab.

As it stands now, under the 25th Amendment, a president can be removed from office if a majority of Cabinet members and the vice president consider him unable to carry out his duties. Section Four of the 25th Amendment also says that if a majority of a body established by law, along with the vice president, declares in writing that if the president is disabled and unable to do his job, the vice president immediately becomes the acting president.

I do not believe that they would do such a thing, for then VP Harris is President and NOBODY likes her at all. They would have to put in a strong VP who could do the job of the president but keep Soros and Schwab happy. Soros is behind funding the Democrats to push this $3.5 trillion spending program as well as groups to oppose the Secretary of the Treasury objecting to this agenda. As a trader, he knows full well that this will undermine the US dollar and the US economy. This seems to be the objective here to undermine the United States so it can be surrendered to Soros’ Open Society headed by the United Nations. Soros is against Democracy, for we are too stupid to know what is best. He holds his sideshows also at Davos and perhaps hands out party favors or door prices rather than bribes.

While many pray for Soros to die, unfortunately, he has been training his son Alexander Soros to shake all the political hands behind the curtain. George Soros set up his son with his own philanthropy and Alex is now a major donor to the Democrats, which gives him access and influence. Alexander Soros is the deputy chair of the Open Society Foundations. He sits on the boards of Bard College, Bend the Arc Jewish Action, and Central European University. While George Soros does not come to appear with Democrats, he sends his son. Alexander met the VP pick, Harris, because he was there in the vetting process and his father was informed and approved.

Make no mistake about it; if Alexander Soros is on the phone, they will pick it up. He is believed to be as far left as his father. He was born in 1985, yet has his own foundation with his dad’s money. So anyone who wants to know why the Democrats have moved far left, just look to Soros, who wants to end the United States to hand all power to the United Nations in an Open Society. That is why the Democrats are allowing at least 400,000 people to flood into the country to vote Democrat. The rumor is before the 2022 election, Biden will sign an executive order granting all illegals citizenship so they can vote.

The Democrats are bought and paid for, and it has been alleged they get secret benefits from the Quantum Fund et.al.

Section  4

Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

Apr 12 2022

The No Patient Left Alone Act


Armstrong Economics Blog/Tyranny Re-Posted Apr 12, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has proven time and time again that he is a man of the people. DeSantis signed SB 988, the No Patient Left Alone Act, which guarantees that no one in the state of Florida will be left to die alone in hospitals, hospices, and long-term care facilities. Under the tyrannical COVID laws, countless people were unable to see their loved ones during their final days. This is a malicious and deliberate attempt to force the population to cave to Big Pharma as the medical community can no longer deny that the vaccination does not prevent transmission.

Numerous states still require proof of vaccination or a PCR test to enter medical facilities. A friend of mine recently lost her grandfather, and her 90-year-old grandmother was prohibited from entering the New York-based facility as she was not vaccinated. The PCR results take time to process and are only valid for a few days. There were no final words or hugs goodbye. These laws have deeply punished everyone in our society.

DeSantis is finally putting an end to this unfounded oppression. “Throughout the pandemic, the federal government has waived protections for families to visit their loved ones in hospitals and long-term care facilities. That is unacceptable,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “Here in Florida, we recognize that family and human connection is one of the most important aspects of physical, mental, and emotional well-being and we are ensuring Floridians are never again denied the right to see their relatives and friends while in hospitals or nursing homes.”

The new law will protect families and loved ones facing the most painful of circumstances:

  • End-of-life situations.
  • A resident, client, or patient who was living with family before being admitted to the provider’s care is struggling with the change in environment and lack of in-person family support.
  • A resident, client, or patient is making one or more major medical decisions.
  • A resident, client, or patient is experiencing emotional distress or grieving the loss of a friend or family member who recently died.
  • A resident, client, or patient needs cueing or encouragement to eat or drink which was previously provided by a family member or caregiver.
  • A resident, client, or patient who used to talk and interact with others is seldom speaking.
  • For hospitals, childbirth, including labor and delivery.
  • Pediatric patients.

Indeed, the system has also deserted “pediatric patients” due to these unfathomable restrictions. “The No Patient Left Alone Act is about protecting human dignity and compassion,” said Senator Ileana Garcia. This should be protected as a fundamental human right. I do not see this becoming a Federal-level ruling as the Biden Administration wants dissenters to suffer.

Apr 12 2022

Philadelphia Returns to Mandatory Indoor Mask Mandate Starting April 18


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on April 11, 2022 | Sundance

Anthony Fauci gave a warning yesterday that this was going to be the future for all of the United States.

Just in time for the Pennsylvania primary election (May 17th), Philadelphia returns to a mandatory mask mandate.  According to Philadelphia officials, effective April 18th masks “will be required in all indoor public spaces, including schools and childcare settings, businesses, restaurants, and government buildings.”

(ABC Philadelphia) – Philadelphia has become the first major U.S. city to reinstate its indoor mask mandate, following an increase in COVID-19 infections, in recent weeks.

Beginning April 18, masks will be required in all indoor public spaces, including schools, child care settings, businesses, restaurants and government buildings.

“I sincerely wish we didn’t have to do this again. I wish this pandemic was over just as much as any of you, but I am very worried about our vulnerable neighbors and loved ones. My hope that our actions today will slow the spread of COVID and help us avoid seeing our ERs, once again, gets so crowded, that people can’t get timely care when they need it,” Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole said during a press conference on Monday. (read more)

Many people have noted a set of common characteristics behind most mask wearers.  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, represents a high density concentration of those characteristics.

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Apr 12 2022

Reports of Finland and Sweden Likely to Join NATO Highlight Global Financial Cleaving Underway


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on April 11, 2022 | Sundance

The Financial Times is reporting {link here, paywall} that Finland and Sweden are likely to join the NATO alliance.  According to the reporting {also in Reuters} the application from Finland is expected in June and Sweden shortly thereafter.

Adding Sweden and Finland would be a major escalation in both the western conflict and provocations against Russia, obviously, justified by western leaders as a consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  However, in the big analysis, the global financial system appears to be the larger issue.

From the outset of the Russian military operation into Ukraine, it was obvious the western alliance was intent on an almost ‘all or nothing‘ confrontation with Russia. The only limits to what the alliance was willing to do was trigger a nuclear showdown through direct military action against Russia to protect the non-NATO country of Ukraine.

The NATO and western government response was a fast system of financial sanctions intended to cripple the Russian economy.  However, Russia responded to those actions with countermoves on the trade front, beginning to establish the first ever non-Euro and non-dollar-based trade system.  In essence, a financial trading system created by the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

Therefore, if we think about the current status of geopolitics and international finance, the NATO response now involves a priority of controlling and protecting the previously established financial structures of global trade.  A NATO effort to avoid the cleaving is now underway as an outcome of the sanctions against Russia.

As one person put it, “This is a fight for the dollar as reserve currency. Imagine trying to maintain our debt when nobody wants treasury notes. If BRICS succeed, US collapses as an economic power. On the other hand, if we win, Klaus Schwab’s nutty world wins.”  I tend to agree with this outlook because it parallels something we see domestically in the U.S.

In the United States, the people behind Biden and the extreme leftists are rapidly advancing their ideological quest toward the “Green New Deal.”

Coal, oil, and gas exploration/development have been slowed, stymied and halted as the administration chases clean renewable energy goals.

However, the current problem is there’s no intermediate system of energy production to support their push.  This is driving energy costs through the roof, and that problem is magnifying inflation created by prior spending.

During their collective pandemic response, western governments all followed the blueprint laid out by the World Economic Forum (WEF), which was, in essence, to shut down human activities, lock down economies and then spend massively to fill the void.  Almost all western leaders followed this exact advice and spent tens-of-trillions in direct subsidies to people and businesses during their lockdowns and COVID mitigation efforts.

At the end of this interventionist rainbow, the collective was instructed to “build back better,” where the economies they destroyed would be rebuilt through the priority prism of ‘climate change.’  However, just like the absence of any U.S. energy transition, the WEF program also did not have a mechanism to bridge the change from ‘dirty’ to ‘clean’ energy.

All of the western government spending during their COVID plan has created two big issues (crisis):

♦ First, massive inflation in every nation who followed the government spending approach. Not coincidentally, the national rate of inflation in every nation directly correlates to the scale of their spending in relationship to their GDP.   Global inflation is raging amid the nations that locked down and then subsidized the missing economic activity with government spending.

♦ The second crisis is simple.  All of that unsustainable spending has created massive government debt, that has to be paid back.  The debt level within the western nations has skyrocketed.

However, if you take the outlook that WEF instructions were based on forethought this inflation and debt was going to be a natural consequence, a crisis created by following the plan, then it’s also likely the way out of the debt was going to be a global digital currency.  How else could the World Economic Forum members possibly expect to pay for their: (a) current spend level, and (b) grand “build back better” agenda?

That global banking system and multinational financial outlook puts a very important context to how the west would look at the BRICS financial trade mechanisms as a threat.

Additionally, if this financial and banking issue is the true motive of western government, then suddenly a lot of our internal conservative political pro-Ukraine anti-Putin commentary starts to make sense.

People have wondered why folks like Mark Levin, Ben Shapiro and other conservative voices have been pounding the table demanding U.S. military involvement and more punitive actions against Vladimir Putin.  In the U.S., people have wondered why suddenly a major section of the Republican establishment have aligned with the position of the WEF, UN, NATO, World Bank, George Soros, Hillary Clinton, etc.

If you accept the global banking system and international financial system is at risk, due to the strategies of Russia to avoid the sanctions, then suddenly the severe position of those voices makes sense.  Follow the money.

Arguably, this global economic problem (debt and inflation) was directly caused by the collective western government response to COVID.  However, now there’s another aspect that makes the debt and inflation seem small by comparison.  If there was an alternative to currencies deliberately devalued by the collective western approach to government spending, wouldn’t you want to own that?

If the financial systems, central banks, and global financial mechanisms are fractured by an entirely new system to pay for trade, i.e. the BRICS approach, we end up with two distinctly different currencies (still undetermined) to pay for trade.

This outlook puts Sweden and Finland essentially in a position of choosing banking sides.  NATO supporting the maintenance of Euros and Dollars, and the BRICS group, representing almost two thirds of the world population, fighting to go in another direction.

That is the bigger conflict.

WEF -vs- BRICS over trade currency….

…. is also NATO -vs- Russia

…. is also Climate Change -vs- Oil use.

…. is also Globalism -vs- Nationalism

…. is also Feudalism -vs- Freedom

Apr 12 2022

Here We Go, White House Warns of Extraordinarily Elevated Inflation Data to Be Released Tomorrow


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on April 11, 2022 | Sundance

She did it again. Just like in February, when Psaki (seemingly out of the blue) gave a weird proactive statement about bad economic data that was going to be released the following day {LINK}. Earlier this afternoon White House spokesperson Jen Psaki gives another proactive justification for even worse inflation data that is about to be released from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics tomorrow.

In this brief soundbite, Psaki says the March inflation data that is going to be released tomorrow is going to show “Putin’s price hikes” on U.S. consumers.  However, even within the framework of her false justification, she attempts to blame Putin for gas price increases in January, when the Russian military operations did not start until February 24th.  The inflation news is going to be really bad tomorrow. How bad?  WATCH:

None of this will come as a surprise to CTH readers.  We noted in the February inflation data (released in March), that things were going to be much worse in the April release.  The reason was simple, the massive gas price increases were not yet matriculated in the February data, and the massive food inflation was not yet captured by the USDA component. All of that preceded Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  None of it has anything to do with Vladimir Putin.

The inflation data that will be released tomorrow is the first visible data assembly of the second inflation wave now upon us.  Remember, inflation data lags behind the reality of the price increases. What the BLS will show tomorrow is the price results from the last half of Feb through the half of the month of March.  It will likely show the largest single month inflation increase in modern history.

How bad is the data going to be?

FLASHBACK TO February:  “In my estimation, the massive price increases the bureau quantified through January were the end of the first wave of massive inflation that CTH warned about last October.

“Do what you can do now to start preparing your weekly budget in ways you may not have thought about before.   Shop sales, use coupons, look for discounts and products that can be reformulated into multiple meals or multiple uses.   Shelf-stable food products that can be muti-purposed with proteins is a good start. Consider purchasing the raw materials for cleaning products and reformulate them yourself to avoid these massive increases in petroleum costs.” [October Warning]

The recent announcement of price increases we have discussed, from food producers specifically (Kraft-Heinz, Proctor and Gamble, etc.), in combination with massive fertilizer and farming costs for future yield, is the second wave that has yet to be fully quantified.  The second wave of retail inflation, only just beginning to arrive now in the February results, will extend throughout the spring.

Next month, March data reported in April, the second wave of inflation data should carry the first big jumps in gas and diesel prices.  For ordinary people, this next round of food inflation will be focused predominantly in the ‘Fresh Foods‘ categories.  Fresh produce, vegetables and fruits have short life cycles, and rapid increases in transportation costs hit that segment fast and hard.

On the positive side, our victory gardens are going up in value, very quickly.   A few backyard growing boxes can generate an easy $200 to $500/month in fresh produce as the price of ordinary row crops at the store starts to double and triple.  Mature citrus trees are worth their weight in gold right now.

The BLS data was collected at about the time of the red arrow in this graphic below (Feb 10 to 15).  You can see where the gas price goes from the point at which the inflation data was collected.  That 30% spike is what will roll-up into next month’s inflation data. (Written from the March data)

Apr 12 2022

Prime Minister Who Banned Political Protest and Arrests Opposition, Decries the Recent Rise in Authoritarianism


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on April 11, 2022 | Sundance 

April 11, 2022 | Sundance | 256 Comments

When voices ask why it is important to keep reminding people of the events over the past two years surrounding COVID-19 and the western government response, the short answer is ‘THIS IS WHY’…. {Direct Rumble Link Here}

Watch as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decries the “recent rise in authoritarianism” and then denounces the subsequent “populism” that surfaces as an exact consequence of the government going too far.  Trudeau stands there explaining why it is necessary to support Ukraine, having exited his echo-chamber, and pretends there is no comparison between western government authoritarianism and that of Vladimir Putin who he decries. WATCH: 

It really is critical for this moment of profound inflection in our history, to look at these statements and remember what they have done.

Those words from Justin Trudeau are from the same prime minister who locked down his citizens, forbid travel, mandated forced medical procedures, refused to allow transit without government approved certificates of vaccine compliance, arrested the non-compliant, and instituted unilateral rules and regulations without citizen feedback or support. Then he banned political protest against his mandates, invoked emergency war powers to target his own citizens, arrested protest groups and then confiscated the bank accounts of his political opposition.

CTH will never let this go.  CTH will never forget.  CTH will never stop reminding of the well documented actions by national, regional and local officials, including the neighborhood cops.  We will never forget.  There needs to be a reckoning.

The professional political leftists are starting to rebrand themselves as having fallen victim to the “bureaucracy of COVID”, and according to those high-minded people who think very highly of themselves, we are supposed to embrace this new enlightenment from the same people who were demanding our acquiescence to their dictates.

It’s not just Trudeau, almost all western government leaders are now trying to pretend they did not grab unilateral and autocratic powers against their own citizens.  They are pointing toward the splinter in the eye of Russian President Putin, while thinking, believing, we do not see the plank in the eye of the western rulers.  Quite remarkable.

We are expected to appreciate the same people who demanded our acquiescence to every policy that was created by their ridiculous fear, simply because they now admit ‘oops, my bad‘?  Sorry, not happening.

For two years they shoved their intolerant fingers in our faces, destroyed lives and livelihoods, made ridiculous demands in order to sustain their own fear, threatened our children, destroyed the economy, used COVID as an excuse to destroy families and steal an election, attempted to force us to kneel at the altar of their mask wearing and never-ending vaccine crap… and we’re just supposed to what, forgive them?

Fat chance.

We do not stand alone.  That sound you heard was millions of our brothers and sisters locking the door, turning around to face them, and now the reckoning is about to begin.

We need to see these people destroyed.

The vulgar lies and verbal filth have been extreme for two years as these ideological parasites utilized their power, microphones and stenographers typeset in a brutal attempt to tear down our nation.   We have all been witness.

Anyone trying to convince us this assembly of our union is not tenuous might want to revisit their proximity to reason, because they’re not just out of the city – they’re also out of the same state the ballpark is located in.

David Mamet had a famous saying, I repeat it often because it helps people break the cycle of abuse.   Essentially: …‘In order for democrats, liberals, progressives et al to continue their illogical belief systems, they have to pretend not to know a lot of things’…

By pretending ‘not to know’, the professional left carries no guilt, no actual connection to conscience.  Denial of truth allows easier trespass, and that is exactly what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is attempting in that soundbite.

This hate-filled leftist ideology relies on our willingness to reconcile their presentations and grant benefit within their seeds of doubt.

It is time for ‘cold anger‘ to turn hot.

Sorry, forgiveness is for the next generation…. 

We need to destroy those who carried out this abuse.

Our parents were forced to die alone in isolation while we were forbidden from holding their hand or being with them.  Thousands never had the opportunity to say goodbye.

We know exactly what the covenant of marriage is all about, and it has nothing to do with being forced to stand outside hospitals, screaming in unbearable choking anguish, while our wives and husbands took their last breaths…. ALONE!

You want forgiveness for that?

I do not even remotely possess that capacity.  I seek vengeance.

I refuse to give any “coming to the right side” credit to the vile, intolerant, hate-filled and insane leftists who demanded all the totalitarian bulls**t they now pretend was not futile nonsense.  Trudeau, Macron, Ardern, Morrison and yes, Biden et al, should be shunned, mocked and cast into the pit of irrelevance.

The high-minded, reach-across-the-aisle Republican crew can continue bleating philosophically about how we must grow our ranks by accepting the newly found recalcitrance of those who have carried out this nonsense.  However, this constant granting of benefit to those who abuse us is the epitome of battered conservative syndrome.

Professional apologists for the right wing of the UniParty can keep trying to make the vulture a better sandwich in the hopes that eventually it will stop abusing us.  Meanwhile, prudent people, those slow to anger but resolute upon arrival, accept the leftists and Democrats for who they are, toxic abusers intent on destroying the liberty and freedom the aisle-reachers claim to cherish.

The professional political left would like nothing more than their victims to be comfortable forgiving them for their openly hostile attacks. Within that dynamic, the abuser is free to repeat the cycle, and make no mistake – they will repeat the cycle, eventually.

Actions have consequences.  We are not fast to the sentiment of hate; we know the damage that sensibility can create within oneself.  However, eventually, reluctantly, decisions are reached.

Those who perpetrated these two years of hell need to be held to account, and unfortunately, this type of accountability is so severe in consequence there can be no quarter provided or terms which might provide even the most remote possibility of a reoccurrence.

It is uncomfortable to accept that our response needs to be of such severity that our children will be witness to a visible anger they did not know their parents were capable of.  But witness they must if we are to ensure these vile and intolerant leftist creatures are destroyed forever.

I would rather provide the opportunity for my children to forgive me, than to see them forever living in a hopeless land of totalitarianism where freedom and liberty have been dispatched from their lives.  At least in the former their choice is possible.

The professional political left must be destroyed with extreme prejudice.

Americans are still tolerant and patient people, the most compassionate and generous people in the history of all mankind, but we are also very purposeful.  They could have stopped with us, but they did not.  Instead, they came for our children.

When pushed far enough, hard decisions are reached…

And they have pushed us much further than simply ‘far enough‘.

Apr 11 2022

Why Zelensky is a Neo-Nazi & a Jewish FRAUD


Armstrong Economics Blog/Ukraine Re-Posted Apr 11, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

There have been some people who assumed that Zelensky is Jewish and therefore he cannot possibly be a Neo-Nazi. Many in Israel are deeply disturbed by his claims to be Jewish when he married a non-Jew and his children are baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church he wants now banned. Zelensky before the war would not comment about being Jewish for he was certainly not a practicing Jew. He would not comment on being a Jew before his election.

Many are comparing Zelensky to George Soros who is also a non-practicing Jew who even helped the Nazis seize Jews, send them to the death camps, and confiscated their property. He also admitted he did not believe in God. Soros has been behind funding Zelensky who played a TV role of a comedian becoming president and they put money behind him to turn that role into reality. Those who think Zelensky cannot possibly be a Neo-Nazi fail to look at the facts and assume the Nazis were only exterminating Jews.

Since the war, Zelensky has been playing the Jewish card to get money from Israel and to try to pretend he is not a Neo-Nazi which means a “new” version of Nazism that believes still in ethnic cleansing, but their targets are Russians, not Jews. When it comes to the total number of deaths one person is responsible for, Hitler actually comes third after Stalin and Mao, but if we include revolutions, then Karl Marx is responsible for over 200 million. This seems to be the goal of the World Economic Forum to rise to the top of the list to also reduce the population so Bill Gates can sleep at night.

The Jewish community of Mariupol in Ukraine dates to the mid-19th century. The roughly 10,000 Jews were living in the city in 1941 and were nearly exterminated by the Ukrainian Nazis. Many of the Ukrainian Jews who did not move to Israel, moved to the Donbas where Russians were never part of the Holocaust. Zelensky’s civil war against the Donbas has led to at least 1.4 million Donbas residents being displaced, and at least 75,000 fled to Russia (2019-05-UNHCR-UKRAINE-Operational-Update-FINAL). Zelensky will say anything for money. He addressed the Israeli government and pretended that Ukraine is fighting for its life comparing it to the Holocaust. Many have found this to be a real disgrace.

First of all, making such a statement that Zelensky cannot be a Neo-Nazi demonstrates that they really have listened only to the propaganda about Hitler and the Jews. Hitler was engaged in eugenics and that was NOT confined to the Jews. While the overwhelming account of the Nazis was their extermination of the Jews, they were not the only people targeted. The German Nazis also engaged in the genocide of European Roma (Gypsies). He also dragged invalid World War I soldiers from their beds and exterminated them for they were a burden on the state to support.

The Ukrainian Nazis were on board with the German Nazis and were also engaged in this ethnic cleansing but they targeted Jews, Polish, and Russians. I strongly urge you to watch Oliver Stone’s documentary Ukraine on Fire which covers the Ukrainian Nazi movement. The US never prosecuted the Ukrainian Nazis for the slaughter of countless Jews, Polish, and Russians because they were also killing Russians. Hence, in the old story, their enemy is my friend. Only the Germans were prosecuted for their acts against the Jews at Nuremberg – no Ukrainians.

The Bottomline is that I believe Zelensky is a FRAUD and rejected being a Jew but uses that for-profit now. Zelensky is playing the Jewish card for the money and to pretend he is somehow not a Neo-Nazi yet today the Ukrainian Neo-Nazis are not about killing Jews – only Russians and if they happen to be Jewish that is no exception.  In 1959 Ukraine had 840,000 Jews, a decrease of almost 70% from 1941 totals (within Ukraine’s current borders). Post-1991 and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the majority of the Jews who remained in Ukraine in 1989 left the country migrating to Israel but Zelensky abandoned Judaism and remained. Antisemitic graffiti and violence against Jews had remained a problem in Ukraine. It is no wonder why he abandoned being a Jew, married a non-Jew, and baptized his children. Now he is a Jew to the pretend he is not a Neo-Nazi out to hate Russians?

Jesse Edberg in an article titled ‘Zelensky is Not a Jewish Hero’ in the Times of Israel wrote:

It seems like Jewish organizations cannot bend over backward fast enough to praise Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who happens to be Jewish, as the Jewish hero of our time. While there is surely something admirable in leading a country through a staling invasion by an economic third-world country, I don’t see Zelenskyy as this generation’s Jewish hero, or any Jewish hero at all.

I don’t see the Jewish heroism in serving a foreign power and foreign interests. I don’t see the Jewish heroism in intermarrying. I don’t see the Jewish heroism in Baptizing one’s children. I don’t see the Jewish heroism in consistently voting against Israel in openly antisemitic, targeted UN resolutions. I don’t see the Jewish heroism in allyship with neo-Nazis. I don’t see the Jewish heroism in Holocaust trivialization, distortion, and denial.

Yes, Volodymyr Zelenskyy does not behave in the way one would expect a Jewish hero to behave. He married a non-Jewish woman named Olena in 2003 and Baptized their children in a Russian Orthodox Church. He openly celebrates such holidays as “the Day of Christianization of Kievan Rus-Ukraine,” a holiday marking the establishment of Christianity as the official region of Kievan Rus in 987, and, by all accounts, religiously identifies as a Christian, not a Jew.

Since taking office in 2019, Zelenskyy has maintained a firm anti-Israel stance, specifically on the UN floor. In 2020 alone, Ukraine voted for several UNRWA-affirming UN resolutions, voted in favor of condemning Israeli “occupation” of Judea and Samaria, Israeli “occupation” of Jerusalem, and Israeli “occupation” of “the occupied Syrian Golan.” For the resolution to launch a formal UN investigation into suggested Israeli “human rights abuses,” suggesting Israel as an apartheid, perhaps even a genocidal power, Zelenskyy’s Ukraine was kind enough to abstain.

The way Zelenskyy entered the office is equally disqualifying towards his proposed status as a Jewish hero. In Ukraine, a country rife with antisemitism historically and today, Zelenskyy needed all the help he could get to get elected. He got this help largely from Ukrainian neo-Nazis and their allies, like political kingmaker Arsten Avakov, willing to compromise to present a united front against Russia. Even today, Zelenskyy continues to pay homage to his coalition, donning the Nazi Iron Cross in interviews and speeches and praise of Ukrainian Nazi and Holocaust collaborator Stepan Bandera.

Categories: Ukraine

Apr 11 2022

California Republicans Aim to Make Theft Illegal


Armstrong Economics Blog/Crime Re-Posted Apr 11, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

In 2014, California basically decriminalized theft by permitting shoplifters to take what they please, as long as it was under $950. Prop 47, the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, emboldened criminals to do as they please with no repercussions as they cannot be prosecuted for a felony charge. California does not aggregate robberies, so a criminal could target a store multiple times per week with limited repercussions as long as each robbery yielded under $950.

Republican lawmakers have introduced AB 1599 which would repeal most of Prop 47 and “make crime illegal again.” Republican Assembly member Kevin Kiley, an author of AB 1599, said, “[Prop 47] has essentially legalized theft and open drug use in California, culminating in these unbelievable smash-and-grab robberies.”

Smash and grab robberies have become an organized crime by low-level criminals. “You have people that will go into department stores and they’ll actually have a calculator on them,” Kiley said. “They’ll add up the value of what they’re stealing because they know as long as it’s under $950, they might as well wave at the security camera on the way out. They know there’s going to be no consequence for that.”

Rachel Michelin, president and CEO of California Retailers Association (CRA), noted that San Francisco and Oakland alone have lost $3.6 billion annually to organized retail crime. The National Retail Federation places estimates losses from organized crime at around 0.07% of total sales and believes the CRA is overestimating. Regardless, this is a preventable loss. Governor Gavin Newsom would need to approve of the measure, but has been consistent on his light on crime stance. Newsom has ignored pleas to crackdown on shoplifting, and simply told struggling store owners to use other existing laws to prosecute thieves. Independent store owners would be wise to leave California as the laws in place only protect criminals who have abused Prop 47.

https://rumble.com/embed/vnp63v/?pub=4#?secret=sLQCOyYCnh