Category U. S. Fourth Branch of government DHS ODNI DOJ FBI

Dec 14 2022

They Lie Just About Everything


Armstrong Economics Blog/Corruption Re-Posted Dec 14, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Gary Gensler, the Chairman of the SEC and, of course, a former Goldman Sachs executive, has been exposed to keeping two separate calendars of meetings. This may sound shocking, but it is pretty standard in our nation’s capital. Remember Hillary also used a private server. A Freedom of Information Act request will typically seek the calendar of meetings and address documents in the official capacity of their target. So if they keep a side venture personally, they get to hide that from 99.9% of FOIA requests.

Gensler learned these tricks since he was an Obama administration official, but also was Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign CFO. And let’s not forget he was an FTX associate. Then again, the head of the CFTC had nothing but praise for FTX removing all middlemen and effectively all regulatory supervisory in the process. Yes, you read correctly. CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam said at the Financial Markets Quality Conference at Georgetown University.

“This is a unique intersection of the crypto space and traditional finance.” “I think this is potentially – and I emphasize the ‘potential’ – another phase in the evolution of market structure, innovation and disruption.”

The world seems shocked that Gensler essentially had two calendars where he hid meetings with George Soros, Hillary Clinton, and Nancy Pelosi. The private calendar revealed these discrepancies when it was obtained by the energy watchdog group Energy Policy Advocates after filing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the SEC. The destruction of evidence by the CFTC and SEC is not a rare event. In my case, I had the standard phone recording in the financial industry and the tapes I had given for safekeeping to two law firms. They were enough to put all the top bankers in prison in a real land of law. I supposed there were looking for them to protect the bankers. There were tapes inviting me to join market manipulations. They went after my lawyers and threatened them with contempt imprisonment if they did not turn over the tapes. The one NY firm, Tenzer Greenblatt, perhaps informed the government they were holding tapes for me.

I stood up and objected to the turnover of the tapes for they had nothing to do with my case. When I told Alan Cohen that the bank stole the money, he simply said he believed the bank. NOT one mainstream press bothered to ask how could $1 billion vanish from a bank and they had no idea where the money was. It is impossible. There would have to have been a wire, a check, or some evidence of a withdraw. Not one journalist asked that simple question. In the end, when I asked for copies, suddenly the SEC claimed they were all destroyed in the World Trade Center and the bankers were protected, the receiver Alan Cohen miraculously became a board member of Goldman Sachs, and the court then allowed him to remain as the receiver running my company from the boardroom of Goldman Sachs.

Why anyone thinks that any agency in Washington actually cares about what is right or wrong is seriously out of their mind. Once government grabs power, it becomes absolute. We are merely the grains of dirt beneath their feet. The banks have blown up the economy numerous times. They will pay $100 million fine to the SEC, which is really just their piece of the action. Nobody ever goes to prison. They bailed out AIG, and the insurance company, but let Lehman Brothers collapse. Why? AIG would have taken down Goldman Sachs. Lehman was a competitor of Goldman. The entire system is so corrupt and the press will never report the truth. They might lose advertising revenue from the big banks in NYC.Audio Player

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When I got out, I found one copy of a tape I had stashed in my mother’s basement. They withheld this from the courts and the press because it showed it was the bankers moving money around which I came to believe was actually money laundering. The Forensic Accountant never saw so many errors. Bad trades were stuffed into my account and then removed. If the money did not go back to the same place, they were using my accounts to launder money as was suggested to me they had been doing in Madoff’s accounts for the Russian mafia and their own nefarious attempt to take over Russia itself.  And now they want us to die on the battlefield all for their lies about just about everything.

Dec 14 2022

The Central Bank Dilemma


Armstrong Economics Blog/Interest Rates Re-Posted Dec 14, 2022 by Martin Armstrongpread the love

The Central Bank Dilemma has become a major crisis in and of itself. I have been warning these past years that the ONLY tool a central bank has is manipulating the interest rates. Quantitative Easing was primarily to influence long-term rates indirectly since the Fed can only set short-term rates. During the past nine months, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has raised interest rates at the fastest pace of any Federal Reserve chair since the 1980s. While some complain that this has triggered a stock market rout, and caused the housing market to come to a standstill, others argue that he has increased the fears of an imminent recession.

That was the domestic part. The Fed’s raising of interest rates has impacted the emerging markets including contributing to the chaos in the financial markets in China since many banks and provinces borrowed in dollars to save interest rates – or so they thought. It has forced the European Central Bank to raise interest rates and the net result was to unleash a crisis in long-term debt where life companies and pension funds cannot continue to buy the long-term with rates rising and bonds declining the day after you just bought a traunch.

Janet Yellen, who wants to hunt down everyone who sold a used bike on eBay for $600, understands the crisis we have erupting in debt because of rising interest rates and investors are afraid of the long end. Her proposal to buy in the long-term and swap it for the short-term recognizes the fact that we have a major debt crisis unfolding and she has come up with another scheme to keep kicking the can down the road.

Consequently, with inflation hitting 40-year highs, the warning signs are there that the central banks cannot do anything to address the economic crisis. Hence, initially, Fed officials were unanimous that rates needed to rise aggressively. Now, however, there are cracks in that view. These cracks will become fissures over how this type of inflation is NOT speculative but shortages set in motion by COVID and then accelerated by this drive for war with Russia and the insane sanctions they imposed on even private citizens.

While some expect inflation to cool steadily next year and want to stop raising rates soon, the problem is that inflation driven by shortages will not subside with a reduction in demand. Even real estate replacement costs have risen despite the fact that the market has started to pause. The cost to build a home in many areas is already higher than existing homes, which tends to create a floor before prices. Others worry inflation won’t ease enough next year in the face of a war that is escalating, and they defer to the old standard of raising interest rates to temper inflation.

That leaves Chairman Powell struggling in the eternal seas of politics lost in the middle as the arguments get louder on both sides. Powell will be challenged trying to chart a course through war, stagflations, and complete fiscal mismanagement by our politicians. The next stage of interest-rate policy presents very difficult questions concerning how high to raise rates from here, and how long to hold them at that level in this Pyhric War against Inflation.

Dec 14 2022

Real Estate


Armstrong Economics Blog/Real Estate Re-Posted Dec 13, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: Mr. Armstrong, I just want to congratulate you on creating Socrates. I am a real estate aficionado and Socrates has beaten the Case-Shiller Index which peaked in June of 2022 and even the Redfin Index which peaked in May 2022. Socrates peaked at a high in December 2021 ahead of everyone. Your model has shown a 34% drop into October where everyone is saying a 20% drop by the end of next year is likely. I just wanted to write because you and Socrates have beaten everyone in the real estate forecasting business and you do not even make that a big deal. Socrates is amazing.

I just wanted to share that because you do not even bother pounding your chest about real estate.

Thank you so much

LR

REPLY: Socrates is forecasting so many aspects of the world economy I do not have the time to pound my chest and if I did, I would probably end up in the hospital for it gets so many things right. It covers a fair sampling of real estate around the world and I do know we have many major real estate companies tuning in. Thank you for your comment. I have not had the time to look at either of those two indices as of yet.

Dec 14 2022

The Deep Thoughts of Kamala Harris Stun Audience into Silence During U.S-Africa Summit


Posted originally on the CTH on December 13, 2022 | Sundance

The profound thoughts of great consequence can only flow from the consequential minds of the most profound.

Once again Kamala Harris delivers an oration that leaves the audience speechless in conclusion. “The ability To See What Can Be, Unburdened By What Has Been” 40 seconds, WATCH:

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Dec 14 2022

Incoming Republican House Foreign Affairs Chairman Calls Tucker Carlson an ‘Agent of Russia’ Based on DC Intel Briefing


Posted originally on the CTH on December 13, 2022 | Sundance

Tucker Carlson and Tulsi Gabbard had an interesting discussion on her podcast today [LINK] which included Carlson retelling the story of the NSA conducting surveillance on him during a prior attempt to gain an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

After recounting the NSA story, Tucker then went on to outline a conversation with representative Mike McCaul after the Texas republican and incoming Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee described Carlson as an agent of Russia.  When Carlson got into an argument with McCaul over the accusation, McCaul went on to tell Carlson his intelligence community briefers were the ones who provided the information.

Overall, if you have an understanding of our prior CTH outline of The Fourth Branch of Government, this interview fits into that aspect perfectly.  Additionally, expand your perspective as you listen to Carlson outline the details; remind yourself of the stakes within the domestic surveillance network from their perspective; then overlay the current headlines surrounding Twitter.  Tucker Carlson is coming darn close to the center of the target.  WATCH (prompted to 40:05):

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The U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) has a vested interest in keeping the public unaware of the details behind the U.S. surveillance state.  All of the institutions that were created after 9/11/01, specifically including the Dept of Homeland Security, the DOJ National Security Division and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), would go to extreme lengths -under the auspices of national security- to maintain the framework of the surveillance state they represent.

Penetrating this matrix is almost impossible as you are seeing from the Executive Branch (DOJ) and Judicial Branch (federal courts), as the institutions have an umbrella of protection by shouting for a ‘national security’ shield.   There are trillions at stake, and the system of utilizing social media to conduct internal domestic surveillance is part of the process.

Barack Obama specifically enveloped the social media sphere by recruiting Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Google, Microsoft and Apple into the DHS system.  Essentially what formed as an outcome of the mutually beneficial agreements was a Big Tech oligarchy (a monopoly of sorts).   The construct was intentional, because within an oligarchical system no rogue oligarch will be permitted to put the group at risk.

Knowing the same DHS systems are all operating within Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Google, Microsoft, Apple etc., you can see how a risk vector is presented to the group if any individual partner were to go rogue.   This reality forms the baseline to understand that Elon Musk would never be permitted to put the larger DHS surveillance system agreement at risk.

No matter how much people might advocate for Elon Musk’s purity of motive, the one motive that does not exist is the motive to expose the government link to the all-inclusive DHS/FBI surveillance state using social media platforms.  The peer group, essentially fellow tech oligarchs, and the U.S. government would simply not allow it.

This reality is why there is a disconnect between what has been released in the Twitter Files and the absence of evidence/information specific to the DHS/FBI portal.  The government side of the network will always be protected under the guise of ‘national security.’  Elon Musk, who is not directly in control of the data being released to show bias within the platform, is never going to be permitted to show how the DHS/FBI surveillance operation is conducted.  It’s just not going to happen.

The Twitter Files represent a gateway of discovery into how government assisted creating “Oligarchical Systems.” Surveillance systems delivering mutual benefits called public-private partnerships were formed.  Readers here are months ahead of where the arc of this story is destined.  However, oligarchical beneficiaries will always defend the system against rogue oligarchs who become a threat.  There will never be an end that includes the national security state being exposed.

Surveillance of domestic communication, to include surveillance of all social media platforms, is now the primary mission of DHS.  The information is gathered by social media, funneled by direct portals into the DHS network then distributed to DOJ-NSD and FBI officials as well as the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

This communication surveillance & information control network is the primary mission of DHS.  They are not going to let Elon Musk put that at risk.  That is why the focus of any Twitter File release can only be Twitter internally.  Musk is not in control of these decisions.  The DHS national security apparatus is in control.

The four pillars of the Fourth Branch of Government are: DHS, ODNI, DOJ-NSD and the revised/political FBI.  All four pillars were created as an outcome of the Patriot Act. These institutions – as specifically named – represent the domestic surveillance state.  The subsidiary institutions like TSA etc, exist under their authority.

There is no oversight or counterbalance to this created system.  The Fourth Branch exists using the shield of “national intelligence” to hide their activity.   Domestic surveillance is done by the intelligence apparatus under one big connected system, operated by the ODNI and DHS.

Put simply, DHS stakeholders, to include the DOJ, FBI and Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), are mitigating any consequential public exposure of their domestic surveillance activity by controlling and feeding Mr. Musk selected information about their prior Twitter operations.

If TikTok is a national security threat, then TikTok is to Beijing as Twitter is to Washington DC.

The larger objective of U.S. involvement in social media has always been monitoring and surveillance of the public conversation, and then ultimately controlling and influencing public opinion.

Everything we are watching unfold is a DHS controlled, and FBI mitigated, release of information.

Dec 14 2022

Glenn Greenwald Interviews Matt Taibbi on Twitter File Release


Posted originally on the CTH on December 13, 2022 | Sundance

Arguably, Glenn Greenwald has been the most critical voice about the rise of the U.S. surveillance state and generational shift of the U.S. intelligence apparatus to conduct domestic surveillance on American citizens.  There’s a reason Greenwald lives in Brazil where no extradition treaties with the U.S. government exist.

Curiously, when it came time to release information about DHS connections to Twitter, Glenn Greenwald was not considered as an acceptable outlet for the information.  Instead, Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss were selected by Elon Musk to represent his sunlight and transparency interests.  However, in this brief video Greenwald gets to interview Taibbi about his findings. {Direct Rumble Link}

Interested viewers will note Taibbi’s #1 takeaway from his review of the Twitter Files data is that evidence of the DHS connection to Twitter exists.  Taibbi speaks of the “instructions” coming into Twitter from U.S. government officials.  Yet, curiously missing from the documented evidence provided by Taibbi was anything showing a paper trail of this instruction pathway he is describing.  WATCH:

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Greenwald is smart, strategically smart; Greenwald also knows why he was not selected to review the files.  Glenn artfully guides Taibbi to discuss elements of the story that perhaps Taibbi himself doesn’t recognize are being shaped for his reporting.   Note: “we don’t know how the ‘ask’ works yet.”

Full Video Below (segment begins at 33:00-minute mark)