President Trump Shares Article About a Trump v DeSantis Matchup


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on September 17, 2022 | Sundance

The ‘cut to the chase‘ aspect of whether Ron DeSantis is planning to run for the GOP nomination in 2024 is made clear when you realize just how much money the Florida governor has amassed.  A standing total exceeding $200 million.

That $200 million is not only a staggering amount far beyond the need for his virtually certain governor’s victory, but also the largest amount of campaign money ever assembled by a governor in the history of politics {citation}. Meg Whitman, California ($176 million), and Jay Pritzker, Illinois ($176 million), were both multi-millionaires and funded the majority of their war chest.  Almost all (96%) of DeSantis’ money is coming from multinational corporations, hedge funds, Wall Street firms and billionaires {citation}.

For those who are unfamiliar with the strategies of political funding, there is a timing that also highlights the intent.  A conspicuously aligned timing that coincides with the Trump raid on Mar-a-Lago.  Campaign finance reports are required and filled out quarterly.  DeSantis had a massive war chest assembled through August 5th.

That finance revelation was immediately before the August 8th raid, before the week in the bunker, and before DeSantis reemerged August 14th with a new national branding team and communication change.

DeSantis took in even more billionaire donor checks with the national kick-off.

Everybody familiar with politics knows what that level of preparation and strategy means.  DeSantis wasn’t amassing money of that scale, and simultaneously launching a new national branding campaign, for a state reelection bid.  He was/is preparing for a 2024 presidential run.  The only question was whether DeSantis had direct knowledge of the August 8th raid on Trump in advance, or whether he was just told not to ask questions and follow the advice of his new GOPe team.  The latter is more likely.

That said, the best laid plans of mice and men were disrupted by the MAGA response to the Trump raid.  As noted in the article shared by President Trump today, the professional republican donor class had -not accidentally- done a great job using their piranhas to nibble away at Trump’s support prior to the August 8th raid.  However, the raid rallied the base of MAGA back to defend Donald Trump.

By the time DeSantis came out of his pre-planned bunker phase (Aug 8th through Aug 14th) the support for Donald Trump had surged again.  The professionally republican handlers launched the national DeSantis campaign into indefatigable pro-Trump headwinds.  DeSantis Inc stuck to the plan, but the benefit they anticipated was not there.

Unfortunately for DeSantis there’s no good way to retreat from the 2024 strategy his handlers and donors have mapped out.  They have pushed him ‘all-in.’ I don’t think it’s possible for DeSantis Inc to back-down after accepting all that GOPe money, unless there is a way for them to return or redirect it.

The article President Trump shared today is a good contextual article describing the accuracy of the Trump -v- DeSantis landscape as it existed on August 29th, the date it was written.

One of the citations in the article points to John Thomas who was prepared with a pro-DeSantis PAC if the republican plan against Trump had succeeded.

As noted, the plan didn’t succeed, and with the outcome of the fulcrum event, the Mar-a-Lago raid, not having the desired effect, Thomas has now abandoned the idea of using the PAC to advance DeSantis.

(Business Insider) – […] But at least one GOP operative — John Thomas, founder and president of the political advertising and strategy group Thomas Partners Strategies — thinks it’s better for DeSantis to wait than to try to challenge Trump in 2024. 

“I wouldn’t advise him to go head to head with Trump,” Thomas told Insider. “It’s not gonna go well for DeSantis.” 

Until recently, Thomas was independently readying a political action committee to support DeSantis running for president.

But now he predicts DeSantis would be unsuccessful if he tried to challenge Trump. If DeSantis were to run, he said, he wouldn’t have to just compete with Trump’s name recognition and donor network. DeSantis would also risk seeing what would happen if Trump’s followers suddenly viewed him as anti-Trump.

Right now, DeSantis is seen as not just pro-Trump but as being Trump 2.0, Thomas said. To run against Trump, he said, DeSantis would have to convince Trump’s core electorate to break away from him.

“Right now he can have his cake and eat it too,” he said. “He can be Trumpy and supportive. But he would have to argue that he’s better, or Trump is bad. And that is a fault line that is probably a bridge too far for the Republican electorate in 2024.” (read more)

Inflation Debate


Armstrong Economics Blog/Inflation Re-Posted Sep 17, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

DOJ Files Appellate Court Motion for Partial Stay Against Judge Cannon Ruling, DOJ Does Not Want Classified Documents Reviewed


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on September 17, 2022 | Sundance 

As the DOJ-NSD originally threatened, they have filed an appeal of the ruling by Judge Cannon in the Trump Mar-a-Lago document case. [Pdf Here]

The DOJ is requesting the 11th Circuit Court to intervene and “stay” or block a part of the ruling surrounding letting the Special Master, Judge Raymond J Dearie, review the “classified documents” and make an independent determination as to the validity of the DOJ-NSD claims.

Having read all the motions in the case, you can get a sense of the authorship from the motion.  From my perspective this effort appears to have been written by the Lawfare group and filed by their allies in Main Justice at the DOJ National Security Division (DOJ-NSD).  The bottom line is they really don’t want any outside party making a determination as to the status of the 100 “classified documents,” and/or consider if President Trump had previously declassified them.

The crux of their position is outlined in this part of the motion, which appears to hold a logical fallacy [pdf link Here]:

The framework of the appeal appears to be built on a false premise.  The DOJ argument is contingent upon the government not having the original documents, and the claim is made *AS IF* there is only one copy.  Even if this appeal is within the framework of a valid issue for an appellate court review (not a guarantee), when you apply commonsense the motion fails on its face.

The original documents are always retained by the originating agency.  No one, not even the President, sees original intelligence documents from within any agency creating the product.  Everything, including what President Trump would have seen while in office, and including any “read and return” version of the intelligence product, is a copy that stems from the originals.  As a result, the executive branch (DOJ) has access to the originals regardless of what copies they may have retrieved from Mar-a-Lago.

Once again, the DOJ -together with the internal intelligence agency, likely the ODNI- is claiming to be the arbiter of the “classification” status of the documents at issue.  If President Trump declassified those documents before leaving office (he did), the “classification” status, another underlying premise, is automatically moot.  This reality is the central flaw in the DOJ case and appears to form the basis for Main Justice to be so adamant against anyone else reviewing the documents.

So, there are two structural flaws: (1) There is more than one copy of the documents being argued, and the DOJ has access to the originals; and (2) the classified status of those documents is unknown (hence a special master), and if they were declassified the DOJ-NSD contention around them is automatically moot.

The Special Master appointed by judge Cannon is a former FISA Judge FISA judge.  Judge Raymond J Dearie likely has seen thousands of classified documents over the years, he is not a national security risk by reviewing another set of defined classified documents.  Additionally, the documents have been in Mar-a-Lago for almost two years, the urgency claims by Main Justice look silly.

The DOJ-NSD looks desperate and nonsensical in this filing because the arguments being made by the DOJ-NSD are desperate and nonsensical.

The currently presented legal conflict is essentially over a judicial ruling that -if implemented- resolves the legal conflict.  Therefore, there is no guarantee the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals will even take the DOJ motion under review.  The legal conflict seemingly resolves if the existing judicial ruling is applied.

We keep watching….

(New York Times) – WASHINGTON — The Justice Department asked an appeals court on Friday to let the F.B.I. regain access to about 100 sensitive documents taken from former President Donald J. Trump’s residence in Florida but did not try to block the appointment of an outside arbiter to review other materials.

In a 29-page filing, the department asked the appeals court not to submit the roughly 100 files marked as classified through the vetting process of the arbiter, known as a special master — acquiescing to the review for 11,000 other documents seized from Mr. Trump’s home and resort, Mar-a-Lago. The review has frozen the government’s access to the material as it investigates Mr. Trump’s handling of the documents.

“Although the government believes the district court fundamentally erred in appointing a special master and granting injunctive relief, the government seeks to stay only the portions of the order causing the most serious and immediate harm to the government and the public,” wrote lawyers with the department’s national security division.

[…] The Justice Department initially asked Judge Cannon to stay the portion of her order that blocked it from full investigative use of the 100 or so files with classification markings, but on Thursday she refused to do so. That prompted law enforcement officials to ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, to issue a stay instead. (read more)

Kari Lake Holds a Press Conference About Need to Restaff and Support Police, Then Confronts Hostile Media


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on September 16, 2022 | sundance

Arizona Governor candidate Kari Lake and candidate for State AG Abe Hamadeh held a press conference earlier today to outline Lake’s policy proposal to restaff police units and support law enforcement in the state.  {Direct Rumble Link}

The somewhat combative press Q&A begins at 12:30 of the video.  WATCH:

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On The Radar, Wave 3 of Food Price Inflation Soon to Arrive


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on September 16, 2022 | sundance

You know that moment just before the tsunami hits, when the water is pulled out to sea?  Yeah, that.

Media are starting to realize what a destabilizing force ‘food insecurity’ can become as the pre-existing high prices are about to go even higher.

(WASHINGTON, Via The Hill) – […] the five items that have seen the largest year-over-year price increase based on the latest report from the Labor Department, and how much the price has changed: Eggs 39.8%, Margarine: 38.3%, Butter: 24.6%, Flour/prepared flour mixes: 23.3%, Olives, pickles, relish: 19.4%

Many of the items listed in the Consumer Price Index have seen prices rise by more than 15% compared to August 2021. That includes chicken (16.6%), soups (18.5%), cereals (17.4%), and milk (17%).

[…] Worsening food inflation is a particular strain on lower-income families, more of whom have had to turn to food banks and other aid as inflation has worsened. Mary Jane Crouch, executive director of America’s Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia, which works with a network of food banks, told the Associated Press 38% more food was distributed in August compared with July.

Sales at grocery stores rose 0.5% in August, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Overall spending has slowed and shifted increasingly toward necessities like food, while spending on electronics, furniture, new clothes and other non-necessities has faded. (read more)

The energy driven inflation in seed, fertilizer, diesel fuel, solvents and industrial surfactants is about to travel from the field into the food supply chain with the fall harvest commencing.  Wave 3 food price increases are likely to be higher than the prior two waves combined.

Overlay that pricing issue with global shortages and what do you get?….

Fortunately, I am optimistic that most readers here are well prepared.

The Cost of Illegal Immigration


Armstrong Economics Blog/Immigration Re-Posted Sep 16, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Former President Trump requested $15 billion to build a wall between the US and Mexico. Everyone called him a crazy racist and dismissed his pleas. The truth of the matter is that the wall would have paid for itself in a year. American taxpayers have been paying around $20 billion annually since Biden took office to support the massive influx of illegal immigrants.

The study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) conducted an analysis and found that each illegal immigrant costs taxpayers $9,232 per year to support. The actual number of people crossing the border is unknown, and the 1.3 to 2 million estimated illegal immigrants this fiscal year alone is understated.

FAIR noted that money spent annually to support illegal aliens would amount to providing every homeless veteran with $50,000 a year, for a decade. The funds could be used to hire an additional 330,000 teachers across the nation to help the shortage. These taxpayer funds should be invested in America.

Useless Vice President Kamala Harris insists the border is “secure,” despite tons of counties declaring an invasion and begging Washington for help. “The border is secure, but we also have a broken immigration system, in particular, over the last four years before we came in, and it needs to be fixed,” Harris said. This is truly laughable as one of Trump’s main qualms was securing the border.

Southern states have begun to send immigrants to “shelter cities” where they claim they will open their arms and wallets to all illegals. They have been terribly equipped to handle the massive influx of buses arriving in their cities, and the Democrats are crying that the Republicans are playing a dirty game. The truth of the matter is that these politicians do not see the true impact of the border crisis. Until buses of undocumented people arrive at their doorstep and they have to figure out how to help them, they are ignorant to the issue. Even Harris failed to visit the border after first being appointed as the border czar. The truth of the matter is that the Biden Administration has zero plans to fix the invasion crisis because they are hoping those who make it over will vote blue to stay in the US.

Zelensky to head US Defense Industry Conference


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption Re-Posted Sep 16, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

The military-industrial complex continues to grow with the proxy war. The annual Future Force Capabilities Conference and Exhibition hosted by the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) will feature none other than Zelensky as their keynote speaker, as well as his minister of defense, Oleksii Reznikov. Everyone in attendance is directly profiting off of the war. The IRS deems the NDIA to be a nonprofit organization when in fact, it is blatantly lobbying.

Defense contractors need war, as do corrupt government officials who prosper off of pain. America has already provided Ukraine with over $15 billion since February, yet Zelensky is poised to request more funding and weapons at this meeting.

Boeing Defense, Space & Security; L3Harris Technologies; Raytheon Technologies; BAE Systems; Lockheed Martin Corporation; Huntington Ingalls Industries; General Dynamics; and Northrop Grumman all met in April to discuss how they could profit off of the war. The Pentagon recently announced (see video above) that they want to set up “the backbone of a Ukraine force…for years to come.” Meanwhile, the US military is suggesting that its own soldiers, 24% of whom are food insecure, begin applying for food stamps.

The Biden Administration seems to have unlimited funds for Ukraine. This event will show all the “innovative” ways that the US can pay to kill Russian soldiers on behalf of Ukraine “for years to come.”

Migrant Buses Arrive Outside Kamala Harris’ Home


Armstrong Economics Blog/Immigration Re-Posted Sep 16, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Since Kamala Harris is smugly confident that the border is “secure,” Texas sent her a gift. Two buses filled with 100 migrants from Texas arrived outside Harris’ home in Washington, DC. This is a tiny fraction of the number of people who cross the border into the US every day. At the beginning of the Biden Administration, Harris opened her arms to all migrants before telling them to turn around and go home. Even the president of Mexico criticized Harris and Biden for creating a disaster at the border, with people traveling to Mexico from throughout South America to reach the United States.

“We have a secure border in that that is a priority for any nation, including ours and our administration. But there are still a lot of problems that we are trying to fix given the deterioration that happened over the last four years,” Harris said to “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd . The number of migrants entering has AT LEAST doubled since Biden took office and appointed Harris as his border czar.

Harris opened the doors to her large residence and offered the migrants food, drink, and shelter. Just kidding! She panicked and sent them packing immediately and had them rerouted to a local church charity. It would be more cost effective to build a wall and secure the border. The Biden Administration has deliberately allowed migrants to enter the United States, posing a risk to national security and the economy at large.

Tucker Carlson Notices the Missing Jubilation in Martha’s Vineyard as Dozens of Illegal Aliens Arrive


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on September 15, 2022 | Sundance 

A strange thing happened.  After lecturing the nation on the virtues of mass migration, the white liberal democrats on Martha’s Vineyard did not celebrate the arrival of the non-white immigrants they have been demanding for years.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson noted in his monologue that Martha’s Vineyard famous nimby residents, including former President Barack Obama, did not welcome the people of color as one would expect.  Instead of celebrating the new diversity, oddly the residents quickly moved to find alternate off island locations to accept the arriving immigrants. WATCH:

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Legislation Within the Biden Green New Deal, Inflation Reduction Act, Has Created a Domestic Carbon Trading Platform


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on September 15, 2022 | Sundance

Deep inside the legislative language of the falsely titled “inflation reduction act”, aka The Green New Deal legislative vehicle constructed by lobbyists and passed by congress, people are now starting to realize a carbon-trading system was created.

Ultimately, a carbon trading system has always been the holy grail of the people who run the western financial system and want to create mechanisms to control wealth by using the ‘climate change’ agenda.

A carbon trading system is a very lucrative financial transfer mechanism with a potential scale to dwarf the derivative, Wall Street betting, market.  Secondarily, such a market would cement the climate change energy policy making it very difficult to reverse.  The new creation as explained by the Wall Street Journal, holds similarities to the EPA ethanol program.

BACKGROUND – The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is a government mandate, passed in 2005 and expanded in 2007, that requires growing volumes of biofuels to be blended into U.S. transportation fuels like gasoline and diesel every year.  Approximately 40 percent of corn grown in the U.S. is used for ethanol.  Raising the amount of ethanol required in gasoline will result in the need for more biofuel (corn).

The EPA enforces the biofuel standard by requiring refineries to submit purchase credits (known as Renewable Identification Numbers, or RINs) to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proving the purchases.  This enforcement requirement sets up a system where the RIN credits are bought and sold by small refineries who do not have the infrastructure to do the blending process.  They purchase second-hand RIN credits from parties that blended or imported biofuels directly. This sets up a secondary income stream, a trading market for the larger oil companies, refineries and importers.

Understanding how that system operates, back in June I said, ‘the RIN credit trading platform is similar to what we might expect to see if the ‘Carbon Trading’ scheme was ever put into place’.  Well, based on the legislation within the Green New Deal/Inflation Reduction Act, that’s exactly what is happening.

(Via Wall Street Journal) – WASHINGTON—A brand-new market for green tax credits is taking shape as bankers and advisers figure out how to funnel tax breaks from energy companies that generate them to profitable corporations eager for smaller tax bills.

The market is forming because Congress last month expanded renewable-energy tax credits and made them transferable in the law known as the Inflation Reduction Act.

[…] The tax-credit sales mark a shift in the U.S. strategy for attracting public and private capital to renewable-energy projects, and they will happen alongside existing climate-finance markets such as carbon offset purchases. The deals won’t start in earnest until 2023, but lawyers and financiers are already structuring transactions. They are discussing arrangements in which credits would be sold at discounts from face value, and they are determining how to cushion tax-credit buyers against potential risks.

“The conversations are happening. The market making is happening right now,” said Nicholas Knapp, senior managing director at CohnReznick Capital in New York.

Within a year or two, it could be easy for a corporation with no direct renewable-energy investment — a profitable retailer, pharmaceutical maker or high-tech company — to purchase tax credits. Because of the expected discounts, companies could earn an instant profit, paying $90 or $95 for a $100 coupon off their income-tax liability.

These transferable credits, however, expose a potential dilemma for Democrats. The party aimed to raise corporate tax bills and prevent large, profitable companies from paying too little. But the tax-credit transfers open a new avenue for many of those same companies to pay less.

“They can basically purchase the tax credits, advance their ESG goals and get certain economics from the credits without taking any construction or operational risk of the project,” said Hagai Zaifman, a partner at Sidley Austin LLP in New York who helps structure renewable-energy deals. (read more)

We know exactly who we have to thank for this, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin.

Now watch what Senator Joe Manchin’s family starts doing.