Sunday Talks, California Democrat Rep Ro Khanna Discusses Twitter-Govt Censorship, Future Hearings and TikTok


Posted originally on the CTH on December 11, 2022 | Sundance 

When various doctors and professionals in the healthcare industry were kicked off Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and social media platforms for holding a contrary view of the COVID-19 mitigation efforts, their voices found a way to alternate platforms including TikTok.  At the heart of the government argument about TikTock as a national security threat, you will find this dynamic.

The claims of data insecurity as a reason for government action against TikTok is a false justification.  The reason the U.S. govt is defining TikTok as a national security threat is not because a Chinese firm controls it, the threat is because the U.S. government does not control it.  Thus, DHS involvement in Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google, Apple, Microsoft and more takes on a more accurate perspective.  TikTok is not under DHS control, therefore TikTok’s ability to transmit information without DHS filter controls is a threat.

Bread and circuses.  In this interview with California Congressman Ro Khanna, Maria Bartiromo notes he was one of the only Democrats in congress who wrote a warning to Twitter about the censorship issue.  However, even then, a key sentence in the letter from Khanna to Yoel Roth is ignored.  He’s no hero. WATCH:

The DHS Portal – […] discussions have ranged from the scale and scope of government intervention in online discourse to the mechanics of streamlining takedown requests for false or intentionally misleading information.

Platforms have got to get comfortable with gov’tIt’s really interesting how hesitant they remain,” Microsoft executive Matt Masterson, a former DHS official, texted Jen Easterly, a DHS director, in February. (link)

It’s not just the First amendment being compromised by this collaboration, it’s also the Fourth Amendment against unwarranted searches of private papers (communication).

Merkel Admits Minsk Agreement was to Trick Russia


Armstrong Economics Blog/Russia Re-Posted Dec 9, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Merkel has basically said that the Minsk Agreement was to buy time for Ukraine to build up its army and never was there any intention of allowing the Russians in the Donbas to vote on their own future. Merkel admitted that they negotiated in bad faith with Putin simply to allow Ukraine time to fortify itself thereby buying time to build its army. She also said that at the time, NATO was weak and could not provide support to Kyiv to the extent they do currently. The Minsk agreements were signed to pretend to resolve the Donbas conflict.

Angela Merkel_ _Die Zeit

The region was never Ukrainian territory. It was occupied by Russians for centuries. The people there had a right to their own lives. The Ukrainians demanded they no longer speak Russian and they sought to deny them even their own region and they were to report to Kyiv – not Moscow. This was like Mexico reclaiming Texas and demanding English was to be outlawed and only Spanish was to be spoken and all religions were to be outlawed except allegiance to Rome.

Furthermore, two heads of state of Russia came from this region Ukraine claims is now theirs and not Russia’s. Does that mean that  Kruschev who rebuilt Kiev after World War II and Brezhnev who was born there in the Donbas, were really Ukrainian?

In truth, during the final signing of the agreement in Minsk, Belarus, the Ukrainian authorities had promised to commit to reforming their Constitution granting autonomy to Lugansk and Donetsk, allowing them to hold local elections in both regions to establish their own independent nations. Yet the Western press calls the Russian action an invasion of their territory when they have refused to honor their word. Make no mistake about it, the Ukrainians would create genocide and slaughter every last Ukrainian Russian as they immediately did in Odesa.

Merkel has been frank and one must question WHY would Putin ever agree to any agreement with Ukraine when they NEVER comply with what they agree to. It is now abundantly clear that the Minsk agreements were NEVER intended to be carried out by the current Kyiv government. They were simply used to buy time to build up their forces for war against Russia.

While Merkel told Die Zeit that there should now be a negotiated settlement, the West has support effectively genocide and refuses to acknowledge anything with regard to the Ukrainian Nazis who they have supported and protected against any prosecution that they carried out against the  German Nazis for their war crimes.

Ukraine is at least the most corrupt country in Europe is not the entire world. Even the IMF refused to provide money last year because of the unbelievable corruption. Hunter Biden was put on a board to gain influence with Biden. I refused to deal with them because of unimaginable corruption. You do not count your fingers after shaking hands with the Ukrainian government, you check to see if you still even have an arm.

Western Media refuses to tell the truth and is pushing us into World War III by championing Ukraine withoiut ever looking closely at the facts.

A First Amendment Issue Beyond Belief


Armstrong Economics Blog/Rule of Law Re-Posted Dec 8, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

You have to understand that we actually have ZERO rights. The Constitution is NEGATIVE meaning it is actually a restraint upon the GOVERNMENT rather than a positive list of rights that we have. That is how the media and social media have been violating the principles of free speech we thought we had. That is why any private platform can do whatever it wants because we have no actual right to freedom of speech – only that the government SHALL NOT restrict our speech.

This introduced what I believe will be an explosive issue in 2023. Already the Emails between an employee at the United States (US) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Twitter have revealed that at least one CDC staff member and the US Census Bureau had access to Twitter’s dedicated “Partner Support Portal” which allows approved government partners to flag content to Twitter for censorship. New Zealand has already admitted to having access to Twitter in the same manner to censor speech.

This is a MONUMENTAL event for linking the government to the backdoor of Twitter means that the government has violated the First Amendment right to Free Speech and that then becomes actionable. It will not be long before we see class-action lawsuits and this is not excusable under Sovereign Immunity for this is DELIBERATE. The emails that have been released by the nonprofit organization America First Legal show that Twitter was enrolling a CDC employee into this portal through their personal account in May 2021 (pages 182-194).

Then we have the Missouri v. Biden case which has the potential to become perhaps the most important civil liberties case of 2023 and may rise to that of decades. The case was brought by Missouri and Louisiana, along with other individual plaintiffs and it asks the court to bar the government from colluding with social media companies to limit free speech. Now even Jen Psaki will be deposed.

We are on the verge of cracking open the entire corruption of government insofar as their deliberate acts to skirt the First Amendment by pretending that it is the private sector that is engaging in the Cancel Culture – not at the direction of the government. There is enough ammunition here to possibly blow a hole in this entire Cancel Culture. The problem will be getting the press to report the truth when they are the very people who have conspired with the government to circumvent the First Amendment.

We may be looking at the very beginning of the collapse in confidence long-term, which is what 2032 is all about.

Yellen Direct IRS to Audit Everyone for $600 Transactions Anyway


Armstrong Economics Blog/The Hunt for Taxes Re-Posted Dec 8, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

I really do have to wonder if my dog is smarter than most Americans who seem to have just lost their minds. My dog makes connections, anticipates what I will do, and studies my habits to predict and respond. I never knew a dog was really smart. She has learned numerous words and I have had to even spell certain words for she will respond if she hears the word. Dogs are indeed far more intelligent than I ever expected. Various studies show a dog is typically as intelligent as a two-year-old human. I can point in the sky at an airplane and she looks up. Not even a chimpanzee does that, or apparently most Americans. If you point to evidence they will not look.

The majority of Americans just listen to the propaganda, never questions anything, and assume the government is always telling them the truth because they care. Janet Yellen tried to get Congress to pass a formal act that banks and everyone had to report on Americans for every $600 transaction. Congress refused and her story was they were after the evil super-rich. The problem, the rich really are not selling stuff on eBay, using cash apps for side deals. That is the realm of the young and lower income.

So after the Biden Administration lost that battle, they simply told the IRS to do it on their own. Any transaction online over $600 is not subject to audit and you will find out the real reason they hired 87,000 armed IRS agents. You certainly do not need 87,000 IRS Agents to hunt down the 735 billionaires in the United States. They outright lie to your face, and many cheer.

People will NEVER wake up it seems. I have known politicians who actually believe that EVERYTHING belongs to the state, they decide on how much you are allowed to keep. They must have sipped history class for virtually EVERY Revolution in history was inspired by taxes. Even the famous line from Shakespeare “the first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers” actually refers to the king’s prosecutors for private people had not right to a lawyer. It was all about a revolution and the “lawyers” were confiscating people’s houses for their inability to pay taxes.

The American Revolution was also sparked by taxation. Remember the French Revolution and the slogan they attributed to the King’s wife – let them eat cake was also all about taxes and oppression

Elon and Jack Talk Shop – Musk Says “Data May Have Been Deleted”


Posted originally on CTH on December 7, 2022 | Sundance 

Jack, who never had control, says just release everything without filter.

Elon says stuff might have been hidden from you too, and some stuff deleted:

(Source)

Knowing the background of Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop

Obvious question… Hey fellas, who was doing the hiding and deleting?

Elon Musk Fires Twitter General Counsel James Baker for Manipulating and Filtering Twitter File Release – “His explanation was unconvincing”


Posted originally on the CTH on December 6, 2022 | Sundance

Yesterday, we speculated publicly the first set of “Twitter Files” released was heavily pre-filtered by internal stakeholders connected to DHS who hold a vested interest in controlling any evidence of Twitter’s former political activity.

Knowing there are multiple executives remaining within the company who previously aligned with the intents of government, specifically DHS officials, to control the platform, the prediction was not a stretch. Indeed, it just made common sense.

Former FBI Chief Legal Counsel James Baker, a man of notoriously corrupt disposition, was one of those former government officials who started working for Twitter as general counsel.  James Baker (pictured below left) working as a government mechanism for filtration of damaging information was not a leap. Again, just common sense.

Today, as an outcome of internal discoveries that indeed Jim Baker did prefilter internal documents in order to mitigate sunlight and exposure [outline here], Twitter CEO Elon Musk fired legal counsel James Baker.

Mr Musk said through his Twitter account, “In light of concerns about Baker’s possible role in suppression of information important to the public dialogue, he was exited from Twitter today.”  Mr. Musk followed up a question about James Baker being asked to explain himself by saying, “His explanation was …unconvincing.”

Matt Taibbi provides the context:

Taibbi – On Friday, the first installment of the Twitter files was published here. We expected to publish more over the weekend. Many wondered why there was a delay.

We can now tell you part of the reason why. On Tuesday, Twitter Deputy General Counsel (and former FBI General Counsel) Jim Baker was fired. Among the reasons? Vetting the first batch of “Twitter Files” – without knowledge of new management.

The process for producing the “Twitter Files” involved delivery to two journalists (Bari Weiss and me) via a lawyer close to new management. However, after the initial batch, things became complicated.

Over the weekend, while we both dealt with obstacles to new searches, it was @Bari Weiss who discovered that the person in charge of releasing the files was someone named Jim. When she called to ask “Jim’s” last name, the answer came back: “Jim Baker.”

“My jaw hit the floor,” says Weiss.

The first batch of files both reporters received was marked, “Spectra Baker Emails.”

Baker is a controversial figure. He has been something of a Zelig of FBI controversies dating back to 2016, from the Steele Dossier to the Alfa-Server mess. He resigned in 2018 after an investigation into leaks to the press.

The news that Baker was reviewing the “Twitter files” surprised everyone involved, to say the least. New Twitter chief Elon Musk acted quickly to “exit” Baker Tuesday. (LINK)

Big Picture:  The Twitter Files are a threat vector to a bigger story [GO DEEP].  The DHS, DOJ, FBI and ODNI U.S. government elements who operated with control over the social media platform did so as an outcome of the larger surveillance state [GO DEEP].  That surveillance state was deployed against Donald Trump in 2016 and everything as an outcome of that failed effort, and the ongoing coverup effort, is what surrounds the current DOJ effort to attack and remove the threat Donald Trump represents.

$80 Trillion Derivatives Market


Armstrong Economics Blog/Banking Crisis Re-Posted Dec 6, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) has warned in its latest quarterly report that there is $80 trillion dollar in off-balance sheet dollar debt in the form of FX swaps. This has involved pension funds and other ‘non-bank’ financial firms.

What they do not explain is that each “debt” has a counterparty that has an “asset” and in theory, that works out to net zero. But there is counter-party risk that is not discussed. This doesn’t address the liquidity issue either. Still, it is not entirely a black hole as they seem to lead some to proclaim. What is also left unexplained or addressed is the question of if they are netting across all transactions. Many of the players in this market have offsetting positions. It is one thing to scream OMG the size of the stock market is too big, and another to yell fire in a crowded theater.

This $80 trill is effectively the derivatives market. It is what it is. Marking everything to market all the time isn’t a great answer either for there can be imbalances for a day or two in the middle of chaos. What is clear is that the BIS is raising concerns, in which it also said this year’s market upheaval took place without any major issues.

On the other hand, the BIS has been pushing central banks to raise rates to fight inflation which will only accelerate the crisis since it is shortage based. This is no different from the ’70s when there was an external price shock from OPEC,. Raising interest rates did nothing to prevent inflation, instead, it resulted in a strong dollar, the collapse of the pound to $1.03 in 1985, and the US national debt more than doubled on interest expenditures.

Nonetheless, the BIS has been quieter on the inflation front this time around. Just maybe, they are starting to realize that the old theories no longer work. The September UK government bond market turmoil was created by raising interest rates and the losses on holding long-term debt in the face of rising interest rates have been just the tip of the iceberg.

The FX swap markets have become huge. Our clients are well into the trillions these days whereas twenty years ago we had less than 5 clients at the $1 trillion threshold.

Nonetheless, the complexity of the cross-positions is the real risk. One side can blow out because of the chaos these braindead politicians are creating with this war against Russia.

Scientist at Wuhan Said COVID was Manmade


Armstrong Economics Blog/Disease Re-Posted Dec 6, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

A scientist, Andrew Huff, who had actually worked at the research Wuhan Institute of Virology lab in, China has claimed that COVID was a man-made virus that leaked from the facility. He blamed authorities for the “biggest US intelligence failure since 9/11.” While interesting, 9/11 was not an intelligence failure. They allowed it to happen.

The same may be true with COVID.