Category Samantha Power A Clear and Present Danger

Mar 27 2023

Sunday Talks – Mark Warner, Senate Intelligence Committee Very Upset U.S Govt Cannot Control TikTok Content


Posted originally on the CTH on March 26, 2023 | Sundance

Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) Chairman Mark Warner is very concerned about the U.S. government inability to control, restrict and censor the information within the TikTok social media platform.

As outlined in this Face the Nation interview with Margaret Brennan, Chairman Warner states it is very alarming that China may permit content that is against the interests of the U.S. government to control it.  Additionally, by law, the Chinese platform “has to be willing to turn over data to the Communist Party“.

Now, if you find yourself thinking, how is this different from U.S. laws that force Twitter, Facebook, Apple or Google to turn over user data to the DOJ/FBI, well, you are probably too smart for this regime narrative and should officially consider yourself a dissident American intellectual. Just sayin’.

The bottom line is very simple when you look at TikTok from the position of the U.S. surveillance state.  The Dept of Homeland Security can only monitor TikTok content, they cannot do anything to modify, remove, censor or control the content, as a result TikTok exists as an existential threat.  WATCH:

[Transcript] –  MARGARET BRENNAN: We go now to Senator Mark Warner, the Democratic Chairman of the Intelligence Committee. He joins us from King George Virginia. Good morning to you, Senator.

SEN. MARK WARNER: Good morning Margaret.

MARGARET BRENNAN: It was a pretty intense five hours of questioning of Tiktok CEO this past week. Your bipartisan bill has White House support, and it would deal with Tiktok by giving the Commerce Department power to review and potentially ban technology flagged by US intelligence as a credible threat. Will it pass in a divided Congress?

SEN. WARNER: Well, Margaret, will – we’re now up to 22 Senators. 11 Democrats. 11 Republicans. We’ve had strong interest from the House. I think they wanted to get through their hearing. And clearly  while I appreciated Mr. Chew’s testimony, he just couldn’t answer the basic question. At the end of the day, Tiktok is owned by a Chinese company Bytedance. And by Chinese law, that company has to be willing to turn over data to the Communist Party. Or one of my bigger fears, we got 150 million Americans on Tiktok average of about 90 minutes a day, and how that channel could be used for propaganda purposes –

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.

SEN. WARNER: -or disinformation, advocated by the Communist Party.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But has the White House made clear to you that they want this bill to pass and do intend to ban it? Or is a forced sale more likely?

SEN. WARNER: Well, I think the White House is very in favor of this bill. And clearly this is not just a phenomenon in America. We’ve seen Canada act. We’ve seen the UK act. Matter of fact, the Dutch said, if you’re a media person, please get off TikTok, the Chinese are spying on you. India’s already banned the bill- banned it outright. We give the Secretary of Commerce the tools to ban, to force a sale, other tools. And end of the day, one of the things that may lead to a ban is the Chinese Communist Party has said they felt like the algorithm, the source code that resides in Beijing, is so important that they’d rather see a ban than give that source code up to be placed in a third country, which again, I think speaks volumes about the potential threat that this application poses.

MARGARET BRENNAN

Well, the Commerce Secretary though recently said that the politician in her thinks a ban will mean losing every voter under 35. Forever. And if you look at use of Tiktok I mean, just last week, President Biden showed up and celebrity videos on Tiktok from the White House. Plenty of lawmakers, including your Democratic colleagues, Senator Cory Booker use it. A number of House progressives use it, given how important this platform is to Democrats, can you actually get TikTok taken care of before 2024 when you might need it for political outreach?

SEN. WARNER: Margaret, I think there’s a lot of creative activity that goes on on Tiktok, but I absolutely believe that the market- if TikTok goes away, the market will provide another platform and at the end of the day, that could be an American company. It could be a Brazilian company, it could be an Indian company. All those companies–

(CROSSTALK)

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right, but the Commerce Secretary is saying there’s a political cost if it goes away–

SEN. WARNER: –operate within a set of rules that–

MARGARET BRENNAN: and that’s what she fears.

SEN. WARNER: I think –

MARGARET BRENNAN: And you’re empowering her.

SEN. WARNER: Listen, I have met- I have met with Gina Raimondo on this issue. I think she will make very clear that she believes TikTok is a threat as well. And listen, if at the end of the day, you could end up with a forced sale. And that forced sale also makes sure that the core algorithm, the source code resides someplace different than China, that could be a outcome that would be successful as well. At the end of the day, you cannot have American data collected. Nor can you have the ability for the Communist Party to use TikTok as a propaganda tool.

MARGARET BRENNAN

60% of the company is owned by other investors, including US firms. So is this a policy that you really need to address with Americans to stop them from investing in companies like this?

SEN. WARNER: Well, that’s one of the reasons why I think our approach – the RESTRICT Act says – rather than dealing with Tiktok in a one off fashion, or a few years back, it was Huawei, the Chinese telecom provider or years earlier, the Russian software company Kaspersky. We need to have a set of tools, rules-based so they can stand up in court, Tiktok would still did get his day in court, even under our law that says, if there’s a foreign technology from a place like China and Russia, and it poses a national security threat, and one of the things we also require is that the intelligence community has to declassify as much of this information as possible. So it’s not simply like, hey, trust the government, we got to make the case. And I do think at the end of the day, if it ends up with a ban, there will be other platforms for the literally millions of influencers and folks who like this kind of video platform, they’ll still be able to get it.

MARGARET BRENNAN

Very quickly. They’re a number of Republican lawmakers who plan to meet with Taiwan’s president when she is here on US soil. Are any Democrats, will you?

SEN. WARNER

You know, I I’m not sure when the president of Taiwan is coming to the United States –

(CROSSTALK)

MARGARET BRENNAN: -they announced March 30 and again in April.

SEN. WARNER: Okay, I’m not sure. Well, if there- if there’s an invitation made to me and other Democrats, listen, I would like to have that meeting as well. I think protecting and ensuring the security of Taiwan is in America’s national interest.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you, since you sit on the Senate Banking Committee about this rolling turmoil that we are in. You are one of 16 Democrats who voted in 2018 to change those Dodd Frank banking regulations regarding the mid-size banks, which obviously has been scrutinized, because that size bank is where we have seen recent issues. I know you’ve defended the vote in recent days. Do you think there needs to be more regulation of mid-size banks, now?

SEN. WARNER: Well, Margaret, Tuesday, we’re going to start getting the facts at the Senate Banking Committee. And if it ends up that a stress test that would have been applied to these mid-size banks would have spotted this, of course, I’d add additional regulation. I think, though, what it appears to me is two things happened. One, basic banking regulation. If this has been only a $5 billion bank, not a $200 billion bank, should have spotted the fact that this management, and the regulators missed basic banking 101, the interest rate mismatch. And two: one of the things that I think we also have to look at is this was the first time we’ve had an internet-based run. There was literally $42 billion taken out of this bank in six hours. That’s the equivalent of 25 cents on the dollar. And I’d like to know why some of the venture capitalists spurred this run in the first place.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Interesting topic. I want to ask you, though, as well, about your relationship with SVB bank, and political donations. USA Today had a great big list of all of the entities SVB’s political action committee or CEO had donated to. It’s the DNC. It’s President Biden’s 2020 campaign. Senator Schumer says he’s going to give back the money he received or donate it. Representatives Maxine Waters, Ro Khanna have returned the donations. You received $21,600 from their political action committee, nearly six grand from its CEO. Do you feel any pressure to give those funds away? Is there a point to it?

SEN. WARNER: Well, first of all, Margaret, campaign contributions have never affected my policy choices. They never have, and they never will. We’re going to hear the facts on Tuesday. And if there’s malfeasance at the bank, of course, I’m gonna give the money back.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay. Senator, before I let you go, I want to just follow up on what you shared with us when we spoke back in January, when you were very frustrated that the administration wasn’t sharing more information about the classified materials improperly held by the current president when he was out of office and the former president. You’ve been briefed. Any more clarity on this? Any further information?

SEN. WARNER: We need more information about these documents. And more importantly, we need to make sure that what the intel community has done to mitigate the harm. And we’re still in conversations with the Justice Department, the administration’s position does not- does not pass the smell test. We’ve got a job not to go into the legal ramifications, but to make sure that the intelligence community has done what’s right. And we’ve got some additional tools, we can restrict some of the spending. We’re in active conversations with the Justice Department. But we’ve got to get those documents

MARGARET BRENNAN: Specific to what just happened this week in Syria, with the Iranian-aligned groups attack on U.S. presence there. Are you satisfied with the amount of information that’s being shared? What is going on? And should there be a more robust response from the Biden administration to stop these kind of attacks?

SEN. WARNER: Well, we’ve got a few thousand troops there in Syria and Iraq. I’ve been briefed by the intel community. Protecting, frankly, the Kurds who are finishing wiping out the remnants of the ISIS forces, and, frankly, helping guard some of the ISIS prisoners. It has been a dangerous area, but I think the administration’s response has been appropriate. So far.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Some of your Republican colleagues have publicly complained, though, that the attack that was fatal Thursday morning wasn’t briefed to Congress until Thursday night. Does that concern you? I mean, Iran was a key topic being discussed on the Senate floor that day.

SEN. WARNER: We have no illusions about the malicious nature of the Iranian regime, and how they help these groups in Syria, Iraq, and frankly, across the whole region. But in this case I do think the administration briefed us in an appropriate way. And I think the response to the missile fire, or the drone attack from one of these Iranian-sponsored groups. That’s a dangerous part of the world. But our troops are doing something that’s terribly important in terms of making sure that we eliminate the final vestiges of ISIS.

MARGARET BRENNAN: All right, Senator Warner, thank you for your time today. Face the Nation will be back in a minute. Stay with us. [Transcript End]

Senator Warner is correct, an example is World War Reddit (Ukraine).  Creating the background narrative for World War Reddit is more complicated if TikTok users are showcasing the theatrics of it….

Po

Mar 27 2023

Hungary Not Sure if it Wants to Support Finland and Sweden Joining NATO While U.S. State Dept Tries to Overthrow Hungarian Government


Posted originally on the CTH on March 26, 2023 | Sundance

One of many things to like about Hungary is their brutal honesty when it comes to the United States meddling in their domestic affairs. {Background}

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó gave an interview recently where he said it is more challenging to support the NATO objective, when the United States is so committed to overthrowing the Hungarian government. He has a good point.

(Via Associated Press) – The West’s steady criticism of Hungary on democratic and cultural issues makes the small European country’s right-wing government reluctant to offer support on practical matters, specifically NATO’s buildup against Russia, Hungary’s foreign minister said.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó also said Friday that his country has not voted on whether to allow Finland and Sweden to join NATO because Hungarian lawmakers are sick of those countries’ critiques of Hungarian domestic affairs.

Lawmakers from the governing party plan to vote Monday in favor of the Finnish request but “serious concerns were raised” about Finland and Sweden in recent months “mostly because of the very disrespectful behavior of the political elites of both countries towards Hungary,” Szijjártó said.

“You know, when Finnish and Swedish politicians question the democratic nature of our political system, that’s really unacceptable,” he said.

The timing of a vote on Sweden is harder to predict, Szijjártó said.

The EU, which includes 21 NATO countries, has frozen billions in funds to Budapest and accused populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban of cracking down on media freedom and LGBTQ rights. Orban’s administration has also been accused of tolerating an entrenched culture of corruption and co-opting state institutions to serve the governing Fidesz party. (read more)

Hungary has been in the crosshairs of the Biden/Obama administration ever since Prime Minister Viktor Orban refused to align with the WEF Western Democracies in their quest for regime change in Russia.  As the NATO led western alliance assembled to use Ukraine as a proxy war against Russia, Hungarian Prime Minister Orban would not join.

In early April 2022, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was overwhelmingly reelected {LINK}, despite the massive efforts against him by the European Union, western and euro-centric multinational globalists.   As a result of the victory, Brussels was furious at the Hungarian people.  Associated Press – […] “Orban — a fierce critic of immigration, LGBTQ rights and “EU bureaucrats” — has garnered the admiration of right-wing nationalists across Europe and North America.” (link)

Within the statements reported from his 2022 victory speech, Prime Minister Orban warned citizens of the NATO and western allied countries about the manipulation of Ukraine and how he views the Zelenskyy regime:  […] “while speaking to supporters on Sunday, Orban singled out Zelenskyy as part of the “overwhelming force” that he said his party had struggled against in the election — “the left at home, the international left, the Brussels bureaucrats, the Soros empire with all its money, the international mainstream media, and in the end, even the Ukrainian president.” (link)

This put Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the crosshairs of the western alliance, specifically the EU and U.S. bureaucrats who use their power, position and intelligence apparatus to manipulate foreign nations.  A year later and now we see USAID Administrator Samantha Power in Hungary openly discussing her seeding of the NGO’s and political activist systems in order to generate yet another color revolution. {Direct Rumble Link} – WATCH:

Samantha Power, the wife of Cass Sunstein, is well known as the Obama/Biden administration’s advance operative who uses her position in U.S. government to influence activism in targeted nations. Hungary is now a target.

Mar 26 2023

Has the US Gone to DEFCON 3?


Armstrong Economics Blog/War Re-Posted Mar 26, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

NATO has effectively declared war on Russia hiding behind Ukrainian surrogates. Ukraine launched new versions of their marine drones in an attempt to sink the Russian Fleet base in Sevastopol. They were blown up just before hitting Russian ships as the Russians managed to intercept them. The Russians know that these attacks are carried out under NATO directives. Meanwhile, NATO has sent 300,000 troops to the border in Poland with Russia. They are strategically placed and could launch an invasion of Russia, which has been the plan all along. In Asia, the US routinely invades China’s claimed territory in the South China Sea simply claiming the US does not recognize China’s territorial border.

The US Administration has launched its early warning nuclear missile detection vessels from Pearl Harbor. The Neocons have been pushing for war very hard and the launching of these ships indicates that we are heading into a major nuclear crisis which may be up there with the 1962 Cubas Missle Crisis which by next year will be 2x Pi – 62 years ago. These Neocons have no interest in the nation, or the people, only their dream of destroying Russia and China and forcing Regime Change. They have pushed for endless wars and have NEVER won a single one so far. Their track record is horrible. But they have seized full control of the Biden White House.

Blinken has come out and said that Putin should be arrested and handed over to the ICC which has surrendered to his fellow Neocons. He knows that would provide World War III. This is their agenda. I have warned that the game of borrowing year after year with no intention of ever paying off the debt has come to an end. There is no outcome other than the default. They need war to cover up decades of fiscal mismanagement and they will get it.

Blinken has most likely taken the United States to a DEFCON 3 situation. US Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, a former adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, openly admitted before the Senate Armed Services Committee that Ukraine must win. This obviously is to use the Ukrainian people to accomplish this Neocon goal without US casualties as they have done in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, just to mention a few. He testified stating:

“The reasons for this American interest are many. This war threatens the American-led
international order that our fathers and grandfathers painfully won in the Second World War, and
in the Cold War that followed. Our prosperity right here at home depends directly upon the
maintenance and perpetuation of that order, with America in a leading role. We cannot be secure
in that position while Russia pursues a war of aggression that overturns the global order,
destabilizes commodities markets, and renders food-supply chains unstable. The fact that Russia
does so as a strategic ally and partner of America’s number-one rival and threat, the People’s
Republic of China, only accentuates the danger. Make no mistake: weakness against Russian
aggression is weakness against the Communist-Chinese threat. We know from history that the
dictatorial powers watch and learn, to discover just how far they can get: and we know that
Russian victory in Ukraine today almost certainly means war for Taiwan tomorrow.”

The problem is that the US has back-tracked on the one-China policy under Biden and that is what has suddenly put Taiwan in danger. But to think if Putin wins then China will take Taiwan is nonsense. China has been slapped in the face and it will take Taiwan regardless of what transpires in Ukraine. If anything, it would make more sense to wait for NATO to engage Russia and then move against Taiwan.

It is very clear that the Neocons have taken the US military most likely to DEFCON 3, which is generally seen as a standby level of alert, and it is the highest level of alert during peacetime.

Mar 26 2023

Dick Morris, The Machinery of the Deep Administrative State is Trying to Bait Trump and the MAGA Movement into an Angered Reaction


Posted originally on the CTH on March 25, 2023 | Sundance

Dick Morris is a man who knows the machinery of the leftist state.  As a life-long democrat operative, control agent and emissary of the Clinton machine, he is fully aware of the scheming and conniving ways of the Alinsky tribe.

Morris accurately encapsulates the leftist motive in their targeting of President Trump {Direct Rumble Link}.  The accusations, charges, indictments and full-throated targeted efforts are intended to create a weaponized self-fulfilling prophecy.  The abusers shout incessantly and condescendingly at the target, trying to provoke a reaction so that as soon as the angered response is delivered, they can say “see, we told you how violent and threatening you are“…  WATCH:

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Mar 26 2023

Liz Harrington – As The Awakening Continues, MAGA Continues to Grow


Posted originally on the CTH on March 25, 2023 | Sundance

President Trump Chief Spokesperson Liz Harrington appears on the Steve Bannon War Room to discuss the status of the America First movement. {Direct Rumble Link}

As Harrington accurately notes, the people who build stuff, create stuff, innovate and bring physical stuff into reality, these are the people within the MAGA movement.  The esoteric pontificating thinkers, the politicians, those only contribute opinion to the system of creation, are not connected to MAGA or worthy of consideration.  WATCH:

Liz Harrington: The corrupt elites are selling us out and destroying us in the process.

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Bannon also gave a big picture overview below.

Bam 

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Mar 26 2023

Crowd Erupts in Cheers When Matt Gaetz Tells Ron DeSantis to Endorse President Trump 2024


Posted originally on the CTH on March 25, 2023 | Sundance 

This was a good moment during the pre-Trump rally in Waco, Texas.   Florida Houe Republican Matt Gaetz tells the audience that without President Trump, both Ron DeSantis and Ted Cruz could have lost their elections.

MAGA showed up to support DeSantis and Cruz in 2018, as inspired by President Trump.  Now is the time for Ted Cruz and Ron DeSantis to stand with the people who supported them to victory.  The crowd erupts in support.  WATCH:

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Josh Youngbluth continues created awesome digital artwork on his Twitter Account – SEE HERE

Mar 24 2023

CNN is Dying – Thank God!


Armstrong Economics Blog/Press Re-Posted Mar 24, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: Marty, You have a bigger readership than CNN. They dropped to 80,000 primetime. I think you are well beyond 600,000 these days. Maybe put in an offer to buy CNN for $1.49 and hire all new staff and Socrates should get his own show.

WL

REPLY: That is just amazing. I think the price is too high. It should be negative. You fire all the leftist pretend journalists and they will be in court the next day. So there would be a huge amount of liquidation costs. They would have to pay me to take over CNN and even then I think the lights should just be turned out and start fresh with something new. This is just another example of WOKENESS and how it is destroying everything it touches. Quantification, competence, and experience are no longer required for jobs in any company that is WOKE. They are all at the end of the day destined for bankruptcy. In the media, the truth has been sacrificed for fake news to manipulate people’s opinions and steer the country to its doom.

In Germany, being pro-COVID and pro-war, the press is being viewed as part of the whole agenda against the people. There are people now attacking the journalists for hiding the deaths from the vaccines. Many see the press as just evil. Some are still caught up in the vaccines and refuse to admit that there are even side effects. They have lost all sense of honor and independence. It is no longer bout truth, it is just pushing an agenda.

The German mainstream media will also cheer on sending German boys to their death in Ukraine all because that is their directive. They seem to care nothing for society whatsoever and cannot see past the end of their nose. I do not understand how they can look at themselves in the mirror every morning.

If you have any children, tell them to stay away from joining any mainstream media. It will ruin their lives forever for when the dust settles, the people will remember who they were that sent the world to its destruction.

Mar 24 2023

Medvedev warns The ICC Has Instigated an Act of Arbitrary War


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption Re-Posted Mar 24, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has warned the West and rightly so that the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant against his successor, Vladimir Putin, will have dire consequences for international law. But it would also justify immediate World War III. The ICC has been usurped by the Neocons and has lost all its integrity and authority whatsoever.

The Neocons who have seized control of USW Foreign policy are the aggressors and unless we overthrow them, we are headed into a dark period. They have divided the world economy and the loyalty of nations. Just as many who were in league with ancient Athens turned against them for their arrogance, history is repeating. Their usurpation of the ICC crossed the Rubicon.

Medvedev made it clear that the change in International law and the institutions themselves, such as the ICC, that were once to govern the world have been corrupted just like everything else the Neocons get their hands on. The No. 1 goal of Russia and China now in the context of this new divided world order is to reestablish international law.

Medvedev explained this on his Telegram platform.

“They decided to try the president (…) of a nuclear power, which is not a member state of the ICC
for the same reasons as the USA and other countries, … “There is a definitive breakdown of the international law system.”

As I have explained, the rule of the ICC is that they have no jurisdiction over nonmembers, and that includes Russia, China, and the USA. Even the former prosecutor at Nuremberg has come out in protest against the ICC. The Neocons have usurped the ICC and it is now just a corrupt court no longer worthy of any respect.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/793785656?h=08ef0d3c53&dnt=1&app_id=122963