Category The Red Pill or the Blue Pill

Jan 23 2023

Sunday Talks, HPSCI Chair Mike Turner Discusses Latest in Biden Classified Document Issue


Posted originally on the CTH on January 22, 2023 | Sundance 

The likely Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), Mike Turner (R-OH), appears on CBS Face the Nation with DC stenographer for the regime, Margaret Brennan.

You know the left wing of the DC political operation is riddled with angst, when Margaret Brennan goes tilt, stomps her heels and throws the proverbial coffee pot across the table.  The only thing missing was Margaret pounding the table and yelling ‘curse you villain.‘  The unbiased pretenses are chucked right out the window here.  The interview is a little funny.  WATCH: 

[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: We go now to Ohio Congressman Mike Turner, he is expected to head up the House Intelligence Committee. Good morning to you.

REP. MIKE TURNER: Good morning Margaret, thank you for having me.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So we have this development in regard to the further materials that were found at President Biden’s Delaware home. What is your reaction? And what does it signify to you that no one realized that this classified material was missing, some of it dating back to his Senate years?

REP. TURNER: This is really incredible. And as you know, congratulations to you, we would not know anything about this if it hadn’t been that CBS had broken this story. The White House nor the Department of Justice had shared any of the information with the public. And this really is one matter, we wouldn’t have this issue if it hadn’t been for Biden’s Attorney General did- making the decision to raid former President Trump’s house looking for- for classified documents that were being held there. What’s amazing about all this is it takes us to the question of why were these documents here? Well, now that we learned that some of these go back to his Senate time, you know, clearly he’s- he’s become a serial classified document hoarder. Why did he have these? Who did he show them to? I mean, the only reason you can think of as to why anyone would take classified documents out of a classified space at home is to- is to show them to somebody. Who did he show them to? This is going to be crucial, I think, to the special counsel’s investigation, is why did the president have these documents? Who did he show them to him? And is it connected to the Biden family businesses?

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, you know, the differences of course, too. I want to talk about the Biden situation. But just to clarify, when you reference President Trump, there were 300 classified documents, there was a warrant, there was refusal to comply in terms of handing things over and the White House and the president’s lawyer are pointing out that in the case of Biden, he granted permission, and this was consensual for the DOJ to come in and search. Does the fact that the Justice Department conducted the search signify anything more to you and do you have any insight into the sensitivity of the documents?

REP. TURNER: Sure, absolutely. I think this looks more like a cover up than an investigation.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you have any facts to back up your- your allegations that he was hoarding things in terms of intention to take classified material versus it’s been characterized that it was somehow accidental? Do you have any insight into what these materials were?

REP. TURNER: Well, they didn’t fly to his home without him. They went on a train with him from the- his Senate offices and then in boxes that he was in charge of. The chain of custody here is going to be important, because we know that these were in Joe Biden’s hands and Joe Biden’s control, then ended up behind his Corvette in his garage and in his office, that he did not control and also throughout his house, so the special counsel is gonna have to deal with the issue of what was the chain of custody? Who had these? Why did he take them to begin with? When did he get them? When was he handed these documents? And what did he do with them? And this is a real critical question to all this, why did he have these documents to begin with? And that is why the special counsel’s work is going to be really important, because I can think of no reason why the president should have taken home, as a senator or as vice president, any classified documents that clearly have no protection. They’re available and open to anybody.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You have also before this development asked for a briefing from the Director of National Intelligence. You set a deadline of Thursday, do you have any further reason to believe they will meet that deadline, that you will get any insight into these materials?

REP. TURNER: Well we’ll have to see, but what’s critical here–

MARGARET BRENNAN: They haven’t responded?

REP. TURNER: –And this is very important, this is what’s very important to all of this, Margaret, and that is the FBI and the national archivists were working completely independent of the intelligence community, or the Department of Defense. They claim this was all an issue of national security, but they did not speak to anyone who’s involved in national security.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So no response yet from the intelligence community?

REP. TURNER: I have not received a response, no.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay. I also want to ask you what leadership looks like with Republicans in charge. You are also on House Oversight.

REP. TURNER: Right.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Of the 26 Republican members on the committee, 19 of them denied the results of the 2020 election. Your colleagues now include Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, Lauren Boebert, Scott Perry. They all played critical roles in – in the former president’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results. Do you have any concerns about working with these lawmakers? I mean, you’re very much a centrist.

REP. TURNER: Well, you know, even on the Democrat side, there’s been a number of people who objected to President Bush’s reelection and voted against certifying his election.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I am asking about you, your party, and your colleagues.

(CROSSTALK)

REP. TURNER: There’s a long history of both sides, having raised issues, including, you recall, the- Al Gore taking President Bush’s election all the way to the Supreme Court.

(CROSSTALK)

MARGARET BRENNAN: You are not an election denier by CBS standards just to be clear.

REP. TURNER: I am not, and I work with both sides of the aisle, and there are election deniers on both sides of the aisle.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You are comfortable with all those individuals I just rattled off and the fact that the majority of the Republicans on this committee denied the election results. Is that what you are saying?

REP TURNER: What I’m comfortable with is -the electorate are very smart. And these people have been sent to Congress to represent their districts and to be part of the congressional debate-

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

REP TURNER: -to lead us to what’s going to be bipartisan, bicameral resolutions. We have a split government right now, Republicans control the House, the Senate is controlled by the Democrats, you have a Democrat president. We’re going to have a lot of debate and discussions. And I think this is going to be a very fruitful period for- for Congress and for our country, because it’s going to have to be bipartisan, bicameral, and I believe that the president in opening negotiations with Republicans is beginning to start that process.

MARGARET BRENNAN: What is actually possible in this bipartisan, bicameral situation? What can you actually get legislation through on?

(CROSSTALK)

REP. TURNER: Depending on what the pending- what the president’s willing to do, I think it’s unlimited. Right? We have really tough issues right now. We have out of control inflation. We have an open border and record people crossing our border.

MARGARET BRENNAN: What about gun control?

REP. TURNER: We have -we have the issue of Russia, and certainly in Ukraine, and certainly China, I think we’re going to have a number of issues that we’re going to have to deal with.

MARGARET BRENNAN: All right, Congressman Turner, we have to leave it there today.

REP. TURNER: Thank you, Margaret.

[End Transcript]

Jan 21 2023

MUST READ – President Trump Warns Congress Not to Touch Social Security and Medicare, For a Good Reason, He’s The One Who Can Fix Them


Posted originally on the CTH on January 21, 2023 | Sundance 

President Trump transmitted a message to congress, warning them not to cut Social Security and Medicare {Direct Rumble Link}.  Many politicians and pundits will look at Trump’s position from the perspective of it being a good position to campaign on for older voters, but that’s not the core of his reasoning.

In 2016 CTH was the first place to evaluate the totality of President Trump’s economic policies; specifically, as those policies related to the entitlement programs around Social Security and Medicare.  We outlined how the approach Trump was putting forth and the way he was approaching the issue.   In the years that followed, he was right.  He was creating a U.S. economy that could sustain all of the elements the traditional political class were calling “unsustainable.”

Before getting to the details, here’s his video message and policy as delivered yesterday. WATCH:

Trump: We must protect Medicare and Social Security

Fortunately, we do not have to guess if President Trump is correct. We have his actual economic policy results to look at and see how the expansion of the economy was creating the type of growth that would sustain Social Security and Medicare.  This was/is MAGAnomics at work.

♦ On Social Security – Unlike many other 2016 Republican candidates, Donald Trump did NOT call for rapid or wholesale changes to the current Social Security program; and there’s a very good reason why he was the only candidate who did not propose wholesale changes.

With the single caveat of “high income retirees” (over $250k annually), which previously Trump said he was open to negotiating on, President Trump does not consider these programs as “entitlements”. The American people pay into them, and the federal government has an obligation to fulfill the promises made upon collection.

To fully understand how Donald Trump views the solvency of Social Security, you must again understand his economic model and how it outlines growth.

The issue with Social Security, as viewed by Trump, is more of an issue with receipts and expenditures. If the aggregate U.S. economy is growing by a factor larger than the distribution needed to fulfill its entitlement obligations, then no wholesale change on expenditure is needed. The focus needs to be on continued and successful economic growth.

What you will find in all of Donald Trump’s positions, is a paradigm shift he necessarily understood must take place in order to accomplish the long-term goals for the U.S. citizen as it relates to “entitlements” or “structural benefits”.

All other candidates and politicians begin their policy proposals with a fundamentally divergent perception of the U.S. economy.

The customary political economy theory, carried by most politicians, positions them with an outlook of the U.S. economy based on “services”; a service-based economic model.

While this economic path has been created by decades old U.S. policy and is ultimately the only historical economic path now taught in school, President Trump initiated his economy policy with the intention to change the dynamic entirely, and that’s exactly what he did.

Because so many shifts -policy nudges- have taken place in the past several decades, few academics and even fewer MSM observers, were able to understand how to get off this path and chart a better course.

Donald Trump proposed less dependence on foreign companies for cheap goods, (the cornerstone of a service economy) and a return to a more balanced U.S. larger economic model where the manufacturing and production base can be re-established and competitive based on American entrepreneurship and innovation.  This is the essence of MAGAnomics.

The key words in the prior statement are “dependence” and “balanced”. When a nation has an industrial manufacturing balance within the GDP there is far less dependence on the economic activity in global markets. In essence the U.S. can sustain itself, absorb global economic fluctuations and expand itself or contract itself depending on the free market.

When there is no balance, there is no longer a free market. The free market is sacrificed in favor of dependency, whether it’s foreign oil or foreign manufacturing, the dependency outcome is essentially the same. Without balance there is an inherent loss of economic independence, and a consequential increase in economic risk.

No other economy in the world innovates like the U.S.A. President Donald Trump saw/sees this as a key advantage across all industry – including manufacturing and technology.

The benefit of cheap overseas labor, which is considered a global market disadvantage for the U.S., is offset by utilizing innovation and energy independence.  This was the core of the economic program that created so much immediate GDP growth in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

2017: […]  “This policy will be successful in moving the U.S. economy away from low-growth secular stagnation towards significantly more buoyant performance. We would not be taken by surprise by a doubling of the growth rate of real GDP in the U.S. over the next two years, nor by a further significant move up of equity valuations and a material further appreciation of the dollar.”  ~  David Folkerts-Landau, Chief Economist, Deutsche Bank

The third highest variable cost of goods beyond raw materials first, labor second, is energy. If the U.S. energy sector was unleashed -and fully developed- the manufacturing price of any given product would allow for global trade competition even with higher U.S. wage prices.  This is why President Trump traveled to Saudi Arabia as his first foreign trip, followed closely by a trip to Asia.  He was putting the basics of his U.S. economic policy into place.

Additionally, the U.S. has a key strategic advantage with raw manufacturing materials such as: iron ore, coal, steel, precious metals and vast mineral assets which are needed in most new modern era manufacturing. President Trump proposed we stopped selling these valuable national assets to countries we compete against – they belong to the American people; they should be used for the benefit of American citizens. Period.  This was the central point of the Steel and Aluminum tariffs.

EXAMPLE: Prior to President Trump, China was buying and recycling our heavy (steel) and light (aluminum) metal products (for pennies on the original manufacturing dollar) and then using those metals to reproduce manufactured goods for sale back to the U.S.

As President, Donald Trump stopped that practice immediately, triggering a policy expectation that we do the manufacturing ourselves with the utilization of our own resources.  Then he leveraged any sales of these raw materials in our international trade agreements.

When you combine FULL resource development (in a modern era) with the removal of over-burdensome regulatory and compliance systems, necessarily filled with enormous bureaucratic costs, Donald Trump began lowering the cost of production and the U.S. became globally competitive. In essence, Trump changed the economic paradigm, and we no longer were a dependent nation relying on a service driven economic model.

The cornerstone to the success of this economic turnaround was the keen capability of the U.S. worker to innovate on their own platforms. Americans, more than any country in the world, just know how to get things accomplished. Independence and self-sufficiency are part of the DNA of the larger American workforce.

In addition, as we saw in 2018 and 2019, an unquantifiable benefit came from investment, where the smart money play -to get increased return on investment- became putting capital INTO the U.S. economy, instead of purchasing foreign stocks.

With all of the above opportunities in mind, this is how President Trump put us on a pathway to rebuilding our national infrastructure.

The demand for labor increased, and as a consequence so too did the U.S. wage rate which was stagnant (or non-existent) for the past three decades.

As the wage rate increased, and as the economy expanded, the governmental dependency model was reshaped and simultaneously receipts to the U.S. treasury improved.

More money into the U.S Treasury and less dependence on welfare/social service programs have a combined exponential impact. You gain a dollar and have no need to spend a dollar – the saved sum is doubled. That was how the SSI and safety net programs were positioned under President Trump.  Again, this is MAGAnomics.

When you elevate your America First economic thinking you begin to see that all of the “entitlements” or expenditures become more affordable with an economy that is fully functional.

As the GDP of the U.S. expands, so does our ability to meet the growing need of the retiring U.S. worker. We stop thinking about how to best divide a limited economic pie and begin thinking about how many more economic pies we can create.  Simply put, we begin to….

…. Make America Great Again!

trump west virginia

We know it works, because we have the results to cite.

It was the Fourth Quarter of 2019…..

Right before the pandemic would hit a few months later…. Despite two years of doomsayer predictions from Wall Street’s professional punditry, all of them saying Trump’s 2017 steel and aluminum tariffs on China, Canada and the EU would create massive inflation, it just wasn’t happening!

Overall year-over-year inflation was hovering around 1.7 percent [Table-A BLS]; yup, that was our inflation rate.  The rate in the latter half of 2019 was firmed up with less month-over-month fluctuation, and the rate basically remained consistent.   [See Below]  The U.S. economy was on a smooth glide path, strong, stable and Main Street was growing with MAGAnomics at work.

A couple of important points.  First, unleashing the energy sector to drive down overall costs to consumers and industry outputs was a key part of President Trump’s America-First MAGAnomic initiative.  Lower energy prices help the worker economy, middle class and average American more than any other sector.

Which brings us to the second important point.  Notice how food prices had very low year-over-year inflation, 0.5 percent.  That is a combination of two key issues: low energy costs, and the fracturing of Big Ag hold on the farm production and the export dynamic:

(BLS) […] The index for food at home declined for the third month in a row, falling 0.2 percent. The index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs decreased 0.7 percent in August as the index for eggs fell 2.6 percent. The index for fruits and vegetables, which rose in July, fell 0.5 percent in August; the index for fresh fruits declined 1.4 percent, but the index for fresh vegetables rose 0.4 percent. The index for cereals and bakery products fell 0.3 percent in August after rising 0.3 percent in July. (link)

For the previous twenty years food prices had been increasingly controlled by Big Ag, and not by normal supply and demand.   The commodity market became a ‘controlled market’. U.S. food outputs (farm production) was controlled and exported to keep the U.S. consumer paying optimal prices.

President Trump’s trade reset was disrupting this process.  As farm products were less exported the cost of the food in our supermarket became reconnected to a ‘more normal’ supply and demand cycle.  Food prices dropped and our pantry costs were lowered.

The Commerce Dept. then announced that retail sales climbed by 0.4 percent in August 2019, twice as high as the 0.2 percent analysts had predicted. The result highlighted retail sales strength of more than 4 percent year-over-year.   These excellent results came on the heels of blowout data in July, when households boosted purchases of cars and clothing.

The better-than-expected number stemmed largely from a 1.8 percent jump in spending vehicles. Online sales, meanwhile, also continued to climb, rising 1.6 percent. That’s similar to July 2019, when Amazon held its two-day, blowout Prime Day sale. (link)

Despite the efforts to remove and impeach President Trump, it did not look like middle-class America was overly concerned about the noise coming from the pundits.   Likely that’s because blue-collar wages were higher, Main Street inflation was lower, and overall consumer confidence was strong.  Yes, MAGAnomics was working.

Additionally, remember all those MSM hours and newspaper column inches where the professional financial pundits were claiming Trump’s tariffs were going to cause massive increases in prices of consumer goods?

Well, exactly the opposite happened [BLS report] Import prices were continuing to drop:

[Table 1 – BLS report link]

This was a really interesting dynamic that no-one in the professional punditry would dare explain.

Donald Trump’s tariffs were targeted to specific sectors of imported products.  [Steel, Aluminum, and a host of smaller sectors etc.]  However, when the EU and China respond by devaluing their currency, that approach hit all products imported, not just the tariff goods.

Because the EU and China were driving up the value of the dollar, everything we were importing became cheaper.   Not just imports from Europe and China, but actually imports from everywhere.   All imports were entering the U.S. at substantially lower prices.

This meant when we imported products, we were also importing deflation.

This price result is exactly the opposite of what the economic experts and Wall Street pundits predicted back in 2017 and 2018 when they were pushing the rapid price increase narrative.

Because all the export dependent economies were reacting with such urgency to retain their access to the U.S. market, aggregate import prices were actually lower than they were when the Trump tariffs began:

[…]  Prices for imports from China edged down 0.1 percent in August following decreases of 0.2 percent in both July and June. Import prices from China have not advanced on a monthly basis since ticking up 0.1 percent in May 2018. The price index for imports from China fell 1.6 percent for the year ended in August.

[…]  Import prices from the European Union fell 0.2 percent in August and 0.3 percent over the past 12 months.

[Page #4 – BLS Report, pdf] – BLS press release.

So yes, we know President Trump can save Social Security and Medicare by expanding the economy with his America First economic policy.  We do not need to guess if it is possible or listen to pundits theorize about his approach being some random ‘catch phrase’ disconnected from reality.  Yes folks, we have the receipts.

This was MAGAnomics at work, and this is entirely what created the middle-class MAGA coalition.  No other Republican candidate has this economic policy in their outlook because all other candidates are purchased by the Wall Street multinationals.

America First MAGAnomics is unique to President Trump because he is the only one independent enough to implement them.

That’s just the reality of the situation.

MAGA for life.

Authors note as said in 2016: “If I absolutely did not believe this economic model was doable, I would never expand the concept and place advocacy upon it. I am an absolute believer that we can, as a nation, reignite a solid manufacturing base and generate an expanding middle class.”  Yes, I bet on Trump, and he was right.    

Jan 20 2023

PUTIN LIBERATES Bakhmut STRONGHOLD (Kleshcheevka)


What is going on in the Ukraine?

Jan 20 2023

Will Zelensky Resign?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Ukraine Re-Posted Jan 20, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

This is a very disturbing undercurrent in Ukraine. Many are starting to question Zelensky on many levels and his comments at Davos that he even questioned if Putin was still alive has many wondering if his act has not gone just too far. He paints this image that if just Putin was killed somehow there would be peace. That is absurd. Even the former Russian President and Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev has constantly raised the issue of nuclear war and recently hinted that Moscow might resort to nuclear strikes should it fail to win its war with Ukraine by conventional means. Zelensky told the Italian Parliament that Russians were torturing children with no proof and that vanished the next day.

Zelensky seems to make up things all the time and is constantly trying to engulf everyone in World War III from begging NATO to invade Russia to NATO should launch an immediate nuclear attack to destroy Russia. There is a rising group within Ukraine that sees what is taking place and that the West is perfectly happy to watch Ukraine take the vanguard position against Russia and its culture and people to die for land that was never occupied by Ukrainians since Ukraine was never a country before the USSR breakup.

Most disturbing is that Zelensky hid his Jewish origin for Jews and Russians were hated by the Neonazis. Here is a video of him on stage making a joke about targeting Jews and Russians. This is a video of how Zelensky was before he became President. He married a Christian girl and his children were baptized, Christians. He suddenly became a Jew when soliciting money from Israel. Listen to his jokes. It is funny to rob the property of both Russians and Jews.

The systemic ethnic hatred in Ukraine will prevent any peace with Russia. They live for the day of total annihilation of every Russian in Ukraine and in Russia. Ukraine is notorious for its ethnic cleansing which is why they joined the German Nazis. They have been against anyone other than pure-blood Ukrainian living in Ukraine.

There is a quiet political crisis brewing in Ukraine, and recently Zelensky’s close advisor, Aleksey Arestovych resigned. There are those who are trying to mount an impeach meant effort and Zelenskuy for his lies and corruption. There is rising discontent that people are dying for no legitimate reason when the Donbas has historically been Russian and even if Putin withdrew, they would still be waging war against the Russians that live there until they are all annihilated. The slogan I was told in 2014 was that Crimea will be Ukrainian or Crimea will be depopulated. That was their battle cry at the start of the civil war instigated by the US-installed unelected government in 2014.

Some believe that the United States is not just sacrificing Ukrainians for its proxy war against Russia, but that it is sacrificing Europe as well. There are many in Europe starting to realize that NATO is pushing for direct conflict with Russia using Ukraine as the expendable vanguard to weaken Russia. NATO will then invade conventionally and destroy Russia once and for all.

Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the EU, made an emotional plea to EU leaders that they should give Kyiv any weapon that can be used there. There is no European consensus for many are starting to see that they are expected to sacrifice their own economies all to conquer Russia.

Indeed, nobody seems to be considering what would happen if Russia lost. The country has nuclear weapons all around and Russia would quickly divide into states and we would then have numerous nuclear power states in the middle of absolute chaos. As always, nobody seems to think beyond the immediate step. They took out Sadam Husain and opened the door to religious terrorism.

Meanwhile, Washington has refused any peace negotiations and instructed Zelensky to fight until the last Ukrainian falls. I reported months before that inside info from Ukrainian sources was telling me that over 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers were dead. I got hate emails saying that was fake news. It was classified info Zelensky was hiding from his own people.

Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the EU, had released a video and then edited it deleting that very information at the request of Zelensky that 100,000 Ukrainians have already died on the battlefield. All this is to hide the fact that Ukraine has been losing the war contrary to Zelensky’s propaganda.

The Ukrainian economy has fallen off a cliff. People have lost everything all for land that was never occupied by Ukrainians. The EU has transferred 3 billion euros for
budgetary needs, which only pays for government salaries for a brief period. Much of Ukraine’s energy system has been destroyed. There is rising discontent that this war offers nothing for the future of Ukraine and has destroyed the future and savings of the people with no possible economic gain for the next decade.

Zelensky’s personal career is coming to an end. He will eventually be whisked away by the Americans and allowed to live on the beach in the Caribbean.

As for Ukraine itself, we are approaching a very critical turning point on April 6th, 2023. It is entirely possible that Zelensky might flee if the discontent gets the foothold it is seeking for an impeachment. There is rising discontent that Zelensky has betrayed Ukraine and some are hinting that perhaps it is payback for the Neonazi’s persecution of the Jews and how he married a Christian and baptized his children, all to blend in to hide his Jewish heritage.

Jan 20 2023

Kissinger Sells Out on Ukraine?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Geopolitical Re-Posted Jan 20, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Martin, what do you have to say about Kissinger now?
I am sure many want to know.

AP

ANSWER: Well I had hoped that Henry could have made it to the WEC this year. I think it would have been a very interesting discussion between the two of us. I am well aware of Henry’s background even with Schwab. He delivered a speech at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, and he flipped in his position saying: “Before this war, I was opposed to membership of Ukraine in NATO because I feared that it would start exactly the process that we have seen now. The idea of a neutral Ukraine under these conditions is no longer meaningful.”

I have long admired Kissinger’s geopolitical analysis. He was instrumental in moving Richard Nixon to open with China which was really a policy to divide and separate Russia from China. While he said that dialogue must be kept open between Russia and other countries even as the war rages on in Ukraine, for if you do not talk, there cannot be any possible resolution.

I fully disagree with Kissinger saying that Ukraine should recapture territory that has been annexed by Russia while simultaneously holding negotiations to end the war. Some of Ukraine’s neighbors really support Russia and would not be so upset if Ukraine was completely destroyed for many view that as karma for their alliance with Nazi Germany. The Western press does not wish to report on how in that region, Ukraine is not trusted nor respected. Some have even expressed the view that Kyiv should be nuked for that is the only way to restore world peace – exterminate the Nazis and their ethnic cleansing once and for all.

While Kissinger said that a diplomatic process could help Russia “re-evaluate its historic position, which was an amalgam of an attraction to the culture of Europe and a fear of domination by Europe.” He did not elaborate on that “fear of domination by Europe” statement, but the fact is that Russia has NEVER sought to invade Europe, but Europe has tried to conquer Russia many times with the two most prominent being Napoleon and Hitler. After the statements that the whole Minsk Agreement was just to fool Putin to buy time for this latest attempt to conquer Russia with NATO planning for the long-haul to invade Moscow after Ukraine is finished depleting Russia’s conventional ability to defend itself.

Kissinger also made the statement that “[e]ach side needs to consider for itself how the threat to human survival of the destructiveness of weapons, coupled with making them almost conscious in their application, can be dealt with.” This is a proxy war and Zelensky has no respect for his own people. This is all about a land grab and the Donbas has been historically occupied by Russians as has Crimea. Simply because Khruschev drew the border for Ukraine purely for administrative purposes does not suddenly give Ukraine the right to claim those regions when Ukraine was NEVER a country before the USSR.

Kissinger had advocated for a ceasefire that would see Ukraine accept some of the annexed territories as Russian land for those people are Russian and they should not be compelled to surrender their language and their religion. I cannot explain Henry’s flipping this position for it seems to be only one of two possible explanations (1) old age being 99, or (2) he was told to support Ukraine for this is the objective to destroy Russia by the deep state. The same deep state that took down JFK, Nixon, and Trump for all being anti-war.

I support the people in the Donbas against the tyranny of Zelensky and Kyiv for I have not flipped my position which is consistent worldwide for all people. In 2014, I advocated splitting Ukraine according to the ethnic language of the people. Governments have no absolute right to power. Kissinger has forgotten his history. Any government exists only with the support and consent of the people. Zelensky ran and won promising peace and the end of corruption. He has done neither.

Our computer pinpointed Ukraine would be the place where World War III would begin. On December 3rd, 2013 we published: Ukraine Maybe The Most Important Country To Watch! Our computer is unbiased and it looks at the geopolitical consequences of war and where they begin and end.

As Thomas Paine (1737-1809) explained, government becomes drunk with power and presumes that they are the sovereign when that power resides only with the people. The U.S. Supreme Court stated in LEGAL TENDER CASES, 110 U.S. 421 (1884) (also referred to as Julliard v Greenman),

“There is no such thing as a power of inherent sovereignty in the government of the United States. It is a government of delegated powers, supreme within its prescribed sphere, but powerless outside of it. In this country, sovereignty resides in the people, and congress can exercise no power which they have not, by their constitution, entrusted to it; all else is withheld.”

The Supreme Court held that the Constitution is the Supreme Law of the land and binds every forum whether it derives its authority from a state or from the United States Cook v Moffat, 46 US 295 (1847). “It may be regarded as settled that the Constitution of the United States is the only source of power authorizing action by any branch of the Federal government.” Dorr v US, 195 US 138, 140 (1904).

This is why I do not support Zelensky or his ruthless proxy war with Russia on behalf of the USA and NATO. The fake Minsk Agreement confirmed that from day one, the West has been planning to wage war with Russia – the third wave to conquer and destroy Russia directed by the Deep State. They are using the Ukrainian people as cannon fodder and could care less how many die to achieve their end goal – the total destruction of Russia.

What is also MISUNDERSTOOD is Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence which expressed the same idea as Thomas Paine. By stating that “all men are created equal” had nothing to do with slavery as some tried to re-interpret. He stated that these are “unalienable rights” that are NOT granted by any government. Governments are created to secure those rights, not to suppress them as so many have done and Zelensky is doing right now to the people of the Donbas which the Minsk Agreement was to be their Declaration of Independence that the west has bluntly pissed all over it. When a government becomes destructive to those rights, as the West and Zelensky have done, then “it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it” in the words of Jefferson.

I am sorry, up to now I have always respected you, Henry. I would not have invited you to our WEC had you flipped your position perhaps you were not sick and were told by the deep state not to attend our WEC. There is no purpose to NATO other than to confront Russia. Let’s get that straight. NATO is no different than ancient Athens demanding tribute from everyone to protect them against another invasion by the Persians which also never came. Russia under Khrushchev was very different. It was pushing Marxism and believed that communists would rule the world. Yeltsin choose Putin because he was NOT a Communist, nor was he an oligarch. Those days are long gone and the Russian people themselves would not support a return to communism. They are free to even go to church and pursue a career they decide on rather than the state.

The West has refused to accept Russia as a member of the world economy. It has been the West that has tried to keep the cold war going. NATO, of course, refused to ever accept Russia was no longer communist and kept the paranoia going that they wanted to conquer and dominate Europe which was a goal that died with communism. Neither Russia nor China wants to occupy the United States or Europe. The days of empire-building also died long ago.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has no incentive to believe anything coming from Ukraine, NATO, or the United States after what they saw with the deliberate fake Minsk Agreement to only buy time for war. The Donbas should be allowed to vote and let that vote be monitored. They are Russians ethnically and they have an inherent unalienable human right to establish their own government, to worship their own religion freely, and to speak their own language. Zelensky is a fake actor playing a role dictated by NATO and the USA. He is putting his own people on the geopolitical altar for sacrifice to seize a region that has always been Russian denying them any Democracy option when he claims he is defending Democracy. When the last Ukrainian standing falls, Zelensky will be given a free ride to the Bahamas to live the rest of his life on a warm tropical beach with the billions he has stolen.

No government has a right to Deny Any Region to Separate

That Applies in the United States for our day will also come

Sorry Henry – You Lost My Respect I hope it was Old Age

Jan 19 2023

Twitter Downsizing Data Center in Atlanta GA (Near GA Tech), and Shutting Down Data Center in Sacramento


Posted originally on the CTH on January 18, 2023 | Sundance

Curious news about Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop, aka ‘The Twitter’, surfaces as the social media company announces that to save money, they will shut down the Sacramento data center and substantially downsize the Atlanta data center.

Oddly enough, the Atlanta data center is in the same regional complex as Georgia Tech University, which is the same university under U.S. government contract (think Rodney Joffe and the Trump-Russia Alfa Bank hoax) for cybersecurity research efforts.

[NOTE: Shortly after Twitter expanded its data center in Atlanta, on Nov 29, 2016, Georgia Tech received a $17.3 million contract from the U.S. Dept of Defense for “cybersecurity” research.  Three days later, Georgia Tech announced new collaboration with China’s Tianjin U, which hosts the APT hacker groups and is a partner of China Telecom and Huawei. Funny that, and you already know my suspicions, so I digress.]

(Data Center Dynamics) – Twitter is shutting down its data center in Sacramento, and will downsize its facility in Atlanta, Platformer’s Zoë Schiffer reports. The decision was previously rumored in November.

The company operates three main facilities in the US, with its remaining site in Portland, Oregon, expected to take the increased load. It is not clear if Twitter has done an analysis of the migration and whether the remaining servers can handle the load – when the Sacramento data center collapsed in September it caused a system outage. The move is expected to happen as soon as early January.

Twitter also has cloud contracts with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud, but new owner Elon Musk is believed to be trying to renegotiate the contracts and cut expenses.

At the same time, he said that he plans to release new services that will require more storage and compute, including long-form high resolution video.

Former Twitter employee Sasha Solomon, who was fired after tweeting “sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” about Musk’s acquisition, responded to the data center closure report with: “Omfg like good luck when a failover needs to happen. So excited to see what 1-ish data center can do with all of Twitter’s traffic.” (read more)

This downsizing and reorganization of the background data-processing is happening at the same time the Daily Mail is discussing the financial viability of Twitter [SEE HERE].

Now, I don’t want to go down that rabbit hole again, but if Elon Musk was notified the US Govt was no longer going to subsidize the extreme data processing costs (coffee making), due to a lessening of the ‘national security partnership‘ per se’, then wouldn’t it make sense to start shutting down and downsizing costly data centers.

Just sayin’.

#Jack’sMagicCoffeeShop

Jan 19 2023

Tremor in Dark Force – While Davos Ongoing, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Announces She’s Quitting – Before Getting Crushed in Election


Posted originally on the CTH on January 18, 2023 | Sundance 

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacina Ardern was only exceeded in the leftist hierarchy by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel.   Ardern is to the Australian continent what Barack Obama was to North America and Angela Merkel was to Europe.  Stunningly, Jacinda Ardern has announced she will not seek reelection and is resigning from her position.  Ironically on the timing, her political career was an outcome of Davos recruitment.

Ardern’s extreme COVID-19 dictates and fiats to include isolation, quarantine camps, severe regimented social lockdowns, forced and mandatory vaccinations and subsequent passports etc, made her the visible face of government COVID-19 extremes.  Keeping with her apt description as a smiley-faced fascist, she did not care about the backlash from her totalitarian dictates and fiats.  The government owned the media, and the concerns of Kiwi’s about the government extremes were dispatched without regard.

Struggling to come to grips with the looming defeat she would likely face; an emotional Jacinda Ardern made her resignation announcement to the media.  She exits on February 7th. WATCH:

(Via Daily Mail) – Jacinda Ardern has choked back tears as she announced her resignation as New Zealand Prime Minister in an emotional press conference.

Her resignation comes into effect on Sunday if the Labour Party can elect her replacement, or on February 7 if the process was drawn out. ‘I am human. Politicians are human. We give all we can for as long as we can – and then it’s time. And for me, it’s time,’ she said. ‘I know what this job takes. And I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice.’

Ms Ardern resigns at just 42 after becoming leader just over five years ago on October 26, 2017, and was New Zealand’s youngest-ever PM.

She insisted her party trailing in the polls the the rival National Party ahead of the upcoming election had nothing to do with her decision to step down.

‘I am not leaving because I believe we can’t win the election but because I believe we can and will,’ she said.

‘But we need a fresh set of shoulders for the challenges of both this year and the next three.’

During her resignation speech, Ms Ardern announced the next New Zealand election would be held on October 14.

The resigning PM was asked if she would take up a role with the UN after leaving office and didn’t give a straight answer.

Instead, she insisted she had ‘no plans’ other than relaxing with her baby Neve and marrying her fiancé Clark Gayford after their wedding was called off due to Covid restrictions.

‘I am looking forward to spending time with my family once again… so to Neve, mumma is looking forward to being there when you start school this year, and to Clarke, let’s finally get married,’ she said. (more)

Jan 19 2023

December Retail Sales Drop -1.1%, November Sales Data Revised Lower to -1.0%


Posted originally on the CTH on January 18, 2023 | Sundance 

There is something predictable about Main Street economics, eventually what you see around you overwhelms the great pretending.  CTH has been outlining the state of the consumer economy in great detail for quite a while, and though it is difficult to note when the outcomes will surface, eventually they do surface. [Reminder Here]

CONTEXT. CTH outlined the moment when the purchasing power of the U.S. middle class actually began contracting.  It was March and April of 2021 when that Rubicon was crossed.  We saw it in the second and third quarter data from 2021, but few were willing to admit.

What changed in those two months back in ’21 was a dramatic drop in the “unit sales” of stuff within the consumer economy.  The drop in unit sales was hidden because it happened simultaneously with the first wave of massive spike in prices.  Prices rose so fast the sales data was giving an artificial impression of sales growth, but in the background the actual unit sales dropped.   Those analysts correcting and adjusting historic data to ‘inflation adjusted terms’ are now noticing.

Additionally, and not coincidentally – because the metrics are connected, you will note this line from the Wall Street Journal review of the producer price index. “The producer-price index, which generally reflects supply conditions in the economy, rose 6.2% in December from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Wednesday, the slowest annual pace since March 2021.”  In essence, the current rate of wholesale price increase on materials is now returning to the rate of price increase that happened in the period when prices spiked.  Again, this is predictable.

Inflation is the measure of the ‘rate’ of price increase over time.  March and April of 2021 were the beginning of the first inflationary spike.

Driven almost entirely by the supply side shock from Biden energy policy, in the subsequent 20 months the rate of price increase skyrocketed, peaked August 2022, and now the rate of increase starts returning.  This does not mean price declines; this means the rate of growth in the price increase is lessening.

This is a cyclical outcome.

After 20 months of dropping unit sales, a result of massive price increases; and as the rate of inflation now starts to moderate created by the cyclical nature of it; what we now see is the inability of the price increases to continue hiding the drop in unit sales.   [Background pdf Data] Total retail sales data is now exposed and that’s why we will see this increasing story about negative sales data as the inflation cycle plateaus.

(Via Wall Street Journal) – Retail spending fell in December at the sharpest pace of 2022, marking a dismal end to the holiday shopping season as rising interest rates, still-high inflation and concerns about a slowing economy pinched American consumers.

Purchases at stores, restaurants and online, declined a seasonally adjusted 1.1% in December from the prior month, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Sales were also revised lower in November and have fallen three of the past four months.

The decline in retail spending late last year adds to signs that the U.S. economy is slowing. Hiring and wage growth eased in December, U.S. commerce with the rest of the world declined significantly in November, and existing-home sales have fallen for 10 straight months. The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that industrial production slumped in December, led by weakness in the manufacturing industry.

S&P Global downgraded its estimate for fourth-quarter economic growth by a half percentage point to a 2.3% annual rate after Wednesday’s data releases. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal this month expect higher interest rates to tip the U.S. economy into a recession in the coming year.

“The lag impact of elevated inflation weighs heavily on U.S. households, it’s very clear that the median American consumer is still reeling from the loss of wages in inflation-adjusted terms,” said Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM US LLP. “We’re moving towards what I would expect to be a mild recession in 2023,” he added. (read more)

When the Baghdad Bob economic pretenders say, “mild recession,” anticipate something more akin to a mild nuclear meltdown, something with breadlines and soup kitchens.

Now, you must keep in mind that almost every financial media outlet used the same Retail Federation talking point about anticipating an 8% increase in holiday sales last year.  [Reminder] Apparently, collective pretenses must be maintained.  Meanwhile, news crews and camera crews were having a desperate time finding any holiday shopping to use as background footage for the claims that sales were strong.  Here we are in January and the pretending has hit reality.

Negative retail sales in November and December when prices are roughly +10% over the prior year, means the unit sales collapse was far more dramatic…. Far more.

Trying to survive policy driven price increases in housing costs, energy costs, electricity costs, home heating, food and fuel costs has forced consumers to reevaluate purchasing decisions.  Consumer demand for non-essential items has collapsed, and Americans are dig deep into their savings just to sustain unavoidable expenses.  Eventually, pretending this is not happening is going to run into the wall of reality.

On one hand the leaders of large multinationals must pretend everything is splendid; after all, the only acceptable position they can articulate is to support interest rates being raised because demand is just too darned high….  pretending.  But on the other hand – those same suppliers and multinationals are furiously trying to calculate how to avoid being stuck with billions worth of unsold inventory and idle industrial equipment.

Jan 19 2023

Steven Crowder Goes to the Mattresses Against Big Con


Posted originally on the CTH on January 18, 2023 | Sundance 

Steven Crowder is a smart and witty voice, generally a happy warrior who has been in the battle against the cultural and political progressive movement for over a decade.  He’s been in the fight for quite a while and deserves a great deal of praise for bringing a generation of younger people into the fold.  I respect his long-established time in the trenches of the cultural war, and we are helping him deliver his message.

Crowder’s audience, the “Mug Club”, is likely a mix of Gen-Z and Gen-X rebels throwing sand into the machinery. He does a great job producing content that deconstructs the insanity of the political left in a way that works and expands his audience.  Crowder has almost 6 million YouTube subscribers and while I don’t follow him closely, the message he delivered yesterday is very pertinent.

The problem he outlines is an inside baseball dynamic taking place in the background of the conservative media.  It essentially boils down to a financial issue CTH raised a long time ago when the first signals of this troubling trend started.  Most of the “well known” conservative media outlets have been purchased and co-opted by a financial system that ultimately controls their content.  If you have the time, WATCH:

.

What Crowder is discussing is the reason why Michelle Malkin dropped out of the fight.  The “BigCon” Crowder notes is essentially like the Fox News of alternative media. They offer incentives to monetize the content provider (broadcaster, website, pod caster etc.) then lock the content providers into extremely controlling contracts that control the outcomes.

Ultimately, what the audience ends up seeing is an approved finished product that is acceptable to BigCon and Big Tech.  In essence they are in bed together to stop bold and alternative conversation and filtrate the message to shades of soft pastels.

Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA (TPUSA), Posobiec, Tim Poole, Conservative Review, CRTV (Glenn Beck, Blaze), Mark Levin, Dave Rubin, Salem Media [Townhall, Hot Air, Twitchy, Red State, PJ Media], The Daily Wire with Ben Shapiro, Candace Owens, the list of names and outlets who participate in this overall system is very long.   Upstream you will find the same financial underwriters, and all of them have a commonality.

Crowder is at an inflection point and obviously he is unwilling to capitulate to the guiding hands in control that no one is allowed to discuss.

Good for him.  I hope he can leverage his influence to break the control mechanism, give startups an alternative, and continue the rebellion.

Jan 18 2023

Manipulated Economic News on Inflation – Prepare for Bad Corporate Earnings Reports as a Result of Poor Holiday Sales


Posted originally on the CTH on January 17, 2023 | sundance 

There has always been a general shaping and interpretation surrounding economic news, specifically as it relates to the impact of pricing on consumers and corporations. However, against the backdrop of supply side inflation, the financial gaslighting from the Wall Street Journal stands out at the top.

Without pretending, and looking directly at the Main Street reality, CTH has outlined inflation as a matter of monetary and energy policy.  From that standpoint the timing and scale of price increases (inflation measured over time) was predictable.  Our current status is an inflationary plateau, where prices remain high but stabilize for likely two quarters.

What the Wall Street Journal outlines as a “shopper rebellion against high prices” is complete hogwash.  Notice in the construct of the narrative, the demand side (consumers) is identified as the cause of diminished revenue & profits for corporations.  They continue pretending that inflation was not driven by energy costs.

(WSJ) – […] Many companies raised their prices substantially last year to offset higher fuel costs and higher prices for ingredients, parts and labor. As fuel prices have dropped and pandemic supply-chain snarls have eased, some of those costs have come down.

That is a good sign for the economy. It suggests that some inflation in the past year resulted from extreme supply-demand imbalances brought on by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine and which are now fading.

Notice the transparent lack of mentioning ‘energy policy’ as the inflation driver.

[…] The study, by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, found that higher markups—the gap between what a firm charges and what it costs to produce an item—were a major driver of inflation in 2021.

They concluded that companies in some cases were raising prices in 2021 in anticipation of future cost pressures, rather than because of market power or outsize demand. Andrew Glover, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City who was involved in the study, doesn’t expect prices to fall this year, he said, but he anticipates that the pace of increase will continue to slow.

Inflation is the rate of increase over time. We have experienced two years of massive price increases. Yes, the rate of those increases will moderate, this is the plateau, but the price will never drop. The current prices are a direct result of fixed energy policy.

[…] Unit sales of food and beverages fell 3% last year, but on a dollar basis they rose 10%. That showed consumers were willing to pay higher prices for groceries but bought fewer items.

[…] “People need to eat,” said Krishnakumar Davey, a president at IRI. Shoppers are nonetheless buying less when possible and, in many cases, buying less expensive versions of necessities such as toilet paper and laundry detergent.  (read more)

Meanwhile the Fed is worried that wages will be forced to increase.  Here is the real worry for the Wall Street Journal, “If consumers believe high prices will persist, they could seek bigger raises, and businesses, seeing higher labor costs, could continue raising prices.”  Yes, workers, forward inflation is your fault.

Government policy drives up prices, but workers needing wage increases to pay for those higher prices… well, that is not acceptable to the government, comrade proles.