Category Recession / Depression

Aug 31 2022

DOJ Files Response to Trump Motion for Special Master Review, Supported by Lawfare Crew Filing Amicus Brief to Bolster DOJ Position


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 31, 2022 | Sundance

The DOJ has filed a response to the motion by President Trump for the court to appoint a special master to review the seized material from the DOJ/FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago. [Court pdf Here] Additionally, the outside government Lawfare group has filed an amicus brief supporting the DOJ-NSD position [Amici court pdf Here]

Essentially the position of the DOJ boils down to… They have already reviewed the material. Yes, there was attorney-client privilege material seized; but they swear the internal team segregated the legally confidential material and the DOJ investigators & prosecutors didn’t see it – double pinkie swear, yer honor.

Additionally, in a nice lawfare maneuver, the DOJ claims President Trump never formally evoked ‘executive privilege‘ on any material at Mar-a-Lago; therefore, despite his position as a former President, he was/is legally considered an ordinary citizen for the purpose of raiding his home to seize material the government considers vital to national security.

To compliment the created DOJ narrative for media consumption; and to assist the media effort for direct distribution of the DOJ position; Main Justice released a picture as an example of the documents seized.  The DOJ literally staged and created this photo for media to use, then released it in the court filing. Slick lawfare:

The cover sheets are essentially non sequitur as they do not necessarily describe or affirm the nature of the documented material underneath. “HCS-P/SI/TK” looks all officially looming; however, it doesn’t necessarily mean any of the information is classified as HCS (HUMINT Control System, or human intelligence), SI (special intelligence), or TK (talent keyhole), or SCI (Sensitive Compartmented Information), aka the silos.

One word or paragraph could be considered ‘special intelligence’. Example “FISA” or “FISC”. You might remember our prior discussions that every document that contains the designation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, FISA or FISC, literally those words or abbreviations, is considered classified special intelligence.

Example (as above): Someone might write “the Carter Page FISA application” on a government document. That document is now considered ‘special intelligence‘. That’s how each silo inside the agencies of government keep a cloud over information.

It was not that long ago when the classification rules stated you could not ever publicly use the words “FISA Court,” without running afoul of the rules governing classified special intelligence.  Yes, that’s correct, until about three years ago it was a violation of law to even discuss what took place in the FISA court process.

As a result, take the cover letter designations with a grain of salt.  The covers are essentially useless for the purpose of understanding what material might be underneath. However, for the purpose of creating an optic, which helps drive a narrative, the oh-so super special cover values are priceless.

Moving beyond the filings, the DOJ narrative engineering is particularly noteworthy. By framing the material seized in such a manner as most people will never understand what the designations mean, Main Justice lays the foundation for the media to obfuscate, portray and define the potential of the evidence.

This is lawfare narrative engineering at its best. It is also very easy to see what comes next because this is a rodeo very familiar to those who watched the media push the DOJ and FBI manufactured stories around the Trump-Russia and Trump/Russia-obstruction cases before.

Just like the examples from 2016 (FBI leaks), 2017 (FBI/DOJ leaks), 2018 (Weissmann/Mueller leaks) and throughout the impeachment constructs (Nadler/Schiff committee leaks), this coordinated Main Justice effort is all done via public consumption of misleading articles produced by allied media working to promote the political interests of the DOJ.

As a result, screaming headlines of “Trump Held National Security Documents“,… and “Intelligence Community now Conducting Risk Assessments“…. and “ODNI Now Launching an Investigation of Classified Documents Found in Mar-a-Lago“…. etc are sure to follow.

Today the focus of media will be pushing the “Top Secret Classified Documents Detailed in DOJ Filing” aspect, hence the photograph becomes a key part of the narrative engineering value. However, within a few media cycles, the narrative will switch to The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Avril Haines, briefing congress on the documents.

DNI Avril Haines will be the next phase, triggered to assist the emphasis of Main Justice and Lawfare.  All of this is coordinated and planned in advance. None of the timing or sequencing is accidental. The best reference was the prior deployment of the same process throughout 2018 (DOJ Weissmann/Mueller) leading up to the midterm election.

Last point. As to the actual nature of the material in the photograph staged by the DOJ for media use, many of the documents you see in the picture are transcripts from the 2018 House Intelligence Committee (HPSCI) investigation and witness testimony. Again, the cover sheets are a moot point. You might remember Representative Doug Collins releasing the witness transcripts (Bruce Ohr, etc) to the public.

Even though those House Intel and House Judiciary transcripts were released to the public, the cover sheets designate how the agencies view the testimony therein. Something can be a public record and still labeled “special intelligence,” that’s just the nature of this ridiculous classification system – or what I call the silo value.

It is likely that Mary McCord is working closely with Norm Eisen (red tie), and perhaps even Barry Berk (blue tie) on these collective efforts.  It’s just how they roll.

Aug 31 2022

Angry Joe Biden Pledges to Ban Assault Weapons During Midterm Election Speech in Pennsylvania


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 30, 2022 | Sundance 

Delivering remarks today in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, at a political midterm rally oddly missing the Democrat candidate for the Pennsylvania senate seat, Joe Biden proclaimed his intention to ban “assault weapons.” {Direct Rumble Link}

“I’m determined to ban assault weapons in this country,” the angry and unstable installed occupant in the White House decried. WATCH:

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Aug 31 2022

The Energy Economy


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 30, 2022 | Sundance

Let’s say you are an average household with an income around $100,000/yr who has an increase in electricity rates from $300 to $500 due to Joe Biden’s new national energy policy known as the Green New Deal.  That’s $200 more per month for this initial economic/energy “transition” moment.

That extra $200/month equates to $2,400 per year.

That $2,400 per year is static economic activity.  Meaning nothing additional was created, and nothing additional was generated.  The captured $2,400 is simply an increase in the price of a preexisting expense.

Take that expense and expand it to your community of 100 friends and family households.  The $2,400 now becomes $240,000 in cost that doesn’t generate anything.  $240,000 is removed from the community economy.  $240,000 is no longer available for purchasing other goods or services within this community of 100 households.

The economic purchasing power of the 100-household community is reduced by $240,000 per year.

Take that expense and expand it to your county of 10,000 households.  Now you are reducing the county economic activity by $24 million.  In this county of 10,000 households, $24 million in economic transactions have been wiped out.  Meals at restaurants, purchases of goods and services, or any other spending of the $24 million within the county of 10,000 households (approximately 25,000 residents) has been lost.

Now expand that expense to a larger county, quantified as a mid-size county, of 50,000 households.  The mid-sized county has lost $120 million in household economic activity, simply to sustain the status quo on electricity rates.  Nothing extra has been generated. $120 million is lost.  The activity within the county of 50,000 households shrinks by $120 million.

Expand that expense to a large county of 100,000 households, and the lost economic activity is $240 million.

Expand that expense to a small state of 1 million households (2.5 million residents), and the lost economic activity is $2.4 billion.

Expand that expense to a state with 5 million households (approximately 12 million residents) and the economic cost is $12 billion in lost economic activity unrelated to the expense of maintaining the status-quo on electricity use.   This state loses $12 billion in purchases of goods and services, just to retain current energy use.

These examples only touch on household expenses.  The community, county and state business expenses for offices, supermarkets, stores, etc. are in addition to the households quoted.

Meanwhile the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the community, county and state, remains static because the GDP is calculated on the total value of goods and services generated in dollar terms.  The appearance of a static GDP is artificial.  In real Main Street terms, $12 billion in economic activity is lost, but the price or increased value of electricity hides the drop created by the absence of goods and services purchased.

Fewer goods and services are purchased and consumed.  However, statistically the inflated price of electricity gives the illusion of a status quo economy.

Now expand that perspective to a national level and you can see our current economic condition.

Aug 30 2022

Does the US Want War with China?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted Aug 30, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

China does not want a war with the US. The US, however, is continually provoking China by using Taiwan as its scapegoat. The US Navy announced that two warships will be traveling through the Taiwan Strait. The reasoning? The military aims to demonstrate freedom of movement through international waters. In other words, they deliberately want to anger China.

Nancy Pelosi began the subtle attack on China when she visited Taiwan and disregarded warnings from every intelligence agency. China repeatedly warned America not to interfere in its One China policy. Yet, Pelosi said she wants Taiwan to liberate Taiwan.

“We take this trip at a time when the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy,” Pelosi said. “We cannot stand by as the CCP proceeds to threaten Taiwan — and democracy itself,” Pelosi said in a statement. “Our congressional delegation’s visit should be seen as an unequivocal statement that America stands with Taiwan, our democratic partner, as it defends itself and its freedom.”

China flexed its military power as soon as Pelosi left by performing almost a mock invasion through the skies and sea. As of this week, Taiwan reported 23 Chinese aircrafts and eight ships around Taiwan. Russia was provoked by NATO and backed into a corner before invading Ukraine. Beijing is increasingly feeling the pressure as the US is not actively abiding by its One China policy. Between the current recession, proxy war in Ukraine, and surmounting debt, the US is simply stretched too thin to enter a war with China.

Our models warn that geopolitical tensions will rise going into 2023. China is selling off US debt, which is another sign of coming geopolitical problems.

Aug 30 2022

California Begs Residents Not to Move to Texas


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted Aug 30, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

California’s failed policies have led residents to flock to states like Florida, Arizona, and Texas. Now, California is begging them to stay by using disturbing rhetoric. Billboards are appearing across Los Angeles and San Francisco warning against moving to Texas. The reason? The horrific Uvalde School massacre that occurred at Robb Elementary in May.

“The Texas miracle died in Uvalde,” the billboards states. It is in bad taste to use a school shooting to promote an agenda. The gunman was apprehended by a Texas resident with a gun. The police failed those children. None of this has anything to do with California’s policies; crime is not as prominent in Texas.

Between 2020 and 2021, over 25,000 fled California to Texas, according to the US Census data. Overall, over 360,000 people left California in 2021. Most cite that California has become completely unaffordable, with the median home price at about $797,470. Companies have fled California since the beginning of the pandemic to tax-friendly states. They lost huge job creators and revenue makers such as Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, SpaceX, and Tesla, to name a few. Another less discussed reason is the intense woke rhetoric spewed by Newsom and others. Theft has basically become legal. Despite the beautiful scenery and weather, people simply do not want to live in the Golden State for a plethora of reasons.

Aug 30 2022

DeSantis Pulls Out of Lee Zeldin Fundraiser After Meeting with Billionaire Donor Who Just Gave More Than $400,000 to Kathy Hochul


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 30, 2022 | Sundance 

On Sunday evening the New York Post reported, “An unforeseen tragedy forced Governor DeSantis to reschedule his trip to New York,” Zeldin spokeswoman Katie Vincentz said, declining to elaborate. “While we’re rescheduling with Governor DeSantis for a later date, tonight’s fundraiser will proceed and is expected to raise almost a million dollars.” (link)

Monday afternoon the New York Post identified the “unforeseen tragedy“:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis backed out of a fundraiser for New York gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin to attend a Monday memorial service for a member of his security detail who died in the line of duty, sources told The Post.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement Special Agent Jose Perez was responding to a call in an unmarked cruiser on Aug. 2 when he was struck by Javier Sandoval, 35, in Miami.  Perez was rushed to the hospital with serious injuries and died on Aug. 20. […] While unable to attend the evening event, DeSantis was in Deal, New Jersey, earlier in the day at the home of Jay Cayre, head of Midtown Equities, sources told The Post. (link)

Despite Officer Perez passing away eight days earlier, apparently, Governor DeSantis was unaware of the Monday funeral plans when he flew the governor’s jet to New Jersey to meet with billionaire real estate mogul Joseph ‘Jay’ Cayre on Sunday, forcing him to cancel the Zeldin fundraiser a few hours later in New York, or so the story is told.

However, the background looks really bad.  Billionaire Joseph Cayre of Midtown Equities just gave New York Governor Kathy Hochul “more than” $400,000 for her campaign against Lee Zeldin, right before DeSantis showed up. [LINK]

[Source Link]

Ron DeSantis flies to New Jersey/ New York on Sunday, meets with billionaire developer Joseph Cyre, who just donated $400k+ to Democrat candidate Kathy Hochul. Immediately following the meeting, DeSantis cancels the fundraiser with Hochul’s opponent, Republican Lee Zeldin, and returns to Florida.   Apply Occam’s Razor here.

The funeral was announced the 26th [CITATION].  Governor DeSantis knew the date/time for the funeral (29th) before he got on the plane (28th).

[Source Link]

So, what changed?  Horrible unforeseen circumstances, or a request from a Big Club donor?   The timing and circumstances look terrible.

The team behind DeSantis has promised to reschedule with Zeldin.

Also, in positive Florida news:

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced a leading investment in clean energy for Florida today with a $68 million award for 227 electric transit buses, and an unknown secondary distribution from the Dept of Environmental Protection for 218 electric school buses.  [Details Here]

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Today, Governor Ron DeSantis celebrated another step in the state’s efforts to modernize public transit and reduce air pollutants caused by diesel emissions. Through the Volkswagen settlement, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is awarding more than $68 million that will secure 227 electric transit buses in 13 counties statewide that will replace existing diesel transit buses in Alachua, Broward, Duval, Escambia, Hillsborough, Leon, Marion, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Orange, Palm Beach, Pasco, and Pinellas counties.

“This funding will help lower emissions while also bringing our transit bus fleets to more modern standards,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “This is a win-win for air quality and advancing the state’s efforts to bolster growing electric vehicle usage.”

In addition to today’s announced electric transit bus grant awards, DEP has also awarded grants to seven school districts to purchase a total of 218 electric school buses in Broward, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Orange, Palm Beach, Pinellas, and Sarasota counties. Introducing electric buses is an important and effective way to reduce harmful emissions, especially in highly populated areas where mobile sources are the largest sources of air pollution. As more and more electric vehicles are deployed, emissions of air pollutants will be reduced, which will continue to improve Florida’s air quality. (read more)

Aug 30 2022

Tucker Carlson Highlights the False Premise of the Demand Inflation Argument as Energy Becomes Scarce and Economic Collapse Looms


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 29, 2022 | Sundance 

During his opening monologue tonight, Tucker Carlson becomes the first mainstream pundit to point out the lies in the central bank argument.

The federal reserve and EU central banks claim they are raising interest rates to stop inflation by slowing demand.  A demand side approach.  However, it isn’t demand driving inflation; it’s the cost of energy driving inflation. That’s a supply side issue.

The central banks cannot admit what they are doing, or people would catch on.  They are intentionally reducing economic activity in order to support having scarce energy production. WATCH:

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Aug 30 2022

Analysts Begin Quantifying “Some Pain for Americans” as Monetary Policy is Positioned to Support Green New Deal Energy Transition


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 29, 2022 | Sundance

The financial pundits are slowly starting to drop the pretending and discuss the bigger economic picture. However, as they tread very carefully, they are being very cautious about admitting too much.

A Reuters discussion of the comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, starts to dip the media toe in the painful pool; yet they will not admit the Biden energy program is the source of the inflation Powell is targeting with his policy moves to shrink energy demand. Thus, the pretending continues.

If you take the written words and extract the parseltongue, you can see a more fulsome picture of what is being outlined.

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo., Aug 29 (Reuters) – The message from the world’s top finance chiefs is loud and clear: rampant inflation is here to stay and taming it will take an extraordinary effort, most likely a recession with job losses and shockwaves through emerging markets.

That price is still worth paying, however. Central banks spent decades building their credibility on inflation fighting skills and losing this battle could shake the foundations of modern monetary policy.

In other words, the U.S. economy is based on core U.S. energy systems and moving that construct to alternative energy, windmills, electric vehicles and solar panels; along with getting Americans to accept a lowered standard of living; is an “extraordinary effort.”

Yes, they are ‘all-in’ and if they lose “this battle,” the core foundations of modern monetary policy will “shake” along with the economic collapse that follows. The economic energy “transition” is the Biden policy, the federal reserve is trying to support that policy by lowering economic demand.

Yes, they also now admit that people will lose their jobs, their livelihoods and the foundation of their economic stability in the process.

[…] “Regaining and preserving trust requires us to bring inflation back to target quickly,” European Central Bank board member Isabel Schnabel said. “The longer inflation stays high, the greater the risk that the public will lose confidence in our determination and ability to preserve purchasing power.”

Banks should also keep going even if growth suffers and people start to lose their jobs. “Even if we enter a recession, we have basically little choice but to continue our policy path,” Schnabel said. “If there were a deanchoring of inflation expectations, the effect on the economy would be even worse.”

[Energy inflation, the root of all supply side inflation] “is near double-digit territory in many of the world’s biggest economies, a level not seen in close to a half century.”

[…] Deglobalisation, the realignment of alliances due to Russia’s war, demographic changes and more expensive production in emerging markets could all make supply constraints more permanent. (read more)

Yes, the “realignment global of alliances,” as an outcome of the western world policy to fracture global markets based on energy use.  Notice they are now starting to admit what we have discussed here for over a year?

“The global economy seems to be on the cusp of a historic change as many of the aggregate supply tailwinds that have kept a lid on inflation look set to turn into headwinds,” Agustín Carstens, the head of the Bank of International Settlements, said.

“If so, the recent pickup in inflationary pressures may prove to be more persistent,” said Carstens, who heads a group often called the central bank of the world’s central banks.

All this points to rapid interest rates hikes, led by the Fed with the ECB now trying to catch up, and elevated rates for years to come. (read more)

Indeed, we are only now on the front side “cusp” of the transition which will force the continued lowering of economic activity within the aligned nations for more than a generation or two.   All economic activity, essentially all human activity, will have to be stalled and reduced until the levels of sustainable energy production can catch up to the levels of energy needed for the now smaller economy.

With current estimations of 50+ years before sustainable energy can generate 25 to 50 percent of the need, this is going to take a long time, and the bankers & financial control agents are going to have to simultaneously make the economies of the allied nations much smaller.

The planned energy oven is small, the size of the economic pizza must be shrunk in order to fit within it.

My last and important point is this…. The multinational corporations, banks and global finance folks, do not enter into these situations without a carefully planned way to retain their own wealth.  The job of a “hedge fund manager” is described in the title, to find a “hedge” against risk to continue increasing wealth.

The billionaire elites that have assembled their wealth on the old economic system will not trust anything to chance as this global cleaving of the world economy takes place. Being reactionary is not how they operate.  These groups pre-stage their wealth and assets outside the zone of collateral damage. They are proactive, not reactive to these global financial events.

With the foundation of the western economic system now being changed, look carefully at the political landscape to see what Wall Street risk mitigation maneuvers are taking place. My very strong hunch on this wealth preservation facet leads me back to domestic politics, and suddenly things make sense. I’m not wrong. I am open to being wrong, but I’m not wrong.

Aug 29 2022

A New Transmission of Intellectual Froglegs Breaks Through


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 28, 2022 | Sundance 

Comrades, the dissident messenger known as Joe Dan Gorman has surfaced again, just long enough to transmit another Tokyo Rose’ broadcast in a coded frequency only receivable by patriots with a funny bone.  This natural coded messaging ensures communists and leftists are incapable of receiving it.

The August edition comes from deep in the underground bunker of the Rebel Alliance.  Pull out those super-secret decoder rings, and enjoy the transmission before the deep state satellite interception trucks show up on your driveway…

[ Direct Rumble Link Here ] – [Website Here]

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Comrade rebels, do not forget to eat this broadcast after sharing.

Aug 29 2022

Sunday Talks, Roy Blunt Does the Deep State Two-Step


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 28, 2022 | Sundance

“It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institution and merely lukewarm defenders in those who gain by the new ones.” ~ Niccolò Machiavelli

ABC’s Director of narrative engineering, George Stephanopoulos, interviews Senator Roy Blunt (U-Mo) to illicit his rebuke of President Trump having custody of evidence showing how the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. government conspired to him from impacting their corrupt DC interests.

Senator Blunt dutifully played the role of ‘lukewarm defender,’ aka controlled opposition.  WATCH: