Mitch McConnell Constructs Legislative Roadmap for Democrats to Raise Debt Ceiling Unilaterally


December 7, 2021 | Sundance | 213 Comments

There’s a lot of convoluted internal stuff, but essentially Mitch McConnell is going to set up a process for Democrats in the Senate to raise the debt ceiling by themselves.

Mitch will enlist the usual Decepticon suspects to change the senate rules, for one-time only, allowing democrats to raise the debt ceiling without having to enter negotiations and concessions for anything republican lawmakers want (like eliminating the Biden spending bill).

McConnell will need nine more republicans to change the process, but it looks like he’s going to be successful.

This will permit Democrats to raise the debt ceiling by approximately $2 trillion, so they can continue debate on Biden’s Build Back Better bill.   Yeah, Uniparty gonna Uniparty.

WASHINGTON DC – […] The Senate minority leader spent Tuesday selling his members on a convoluted strategy that would require at least 10 Republicans to approve legislation that would later allow Senate Democrats to raise the debt ceiling by a simple majority vote. After a leadership meeting and a Senate GOP lunch, McConnell said he’d done enough work to clinch the deal in a vote expected on Thursday. (read more)

So the Senate DeceptiCons will *claim* to be against the multi-trillion ‘Build Back Better’, fundamental change, spending bill.  Yet they will have facilitated the Democrats not having to negotiate or eliminate anything inside the BBB bill, by removing the leverage of the debt ceiling raise.  Yep, Uniparty gotta Uniparty – all courtesy of the DeceptiCon caucus.  I hate them.

President Donald Trump notes the Mitch McConnell nonsense in a statement:

“I’m watching Republican Senators talk about fighting the horrendous Build Back Better Bill that the Democrats will push forward, made much easier for them by the 19 Republican Senators who voted for the Democrats Unfrastructure Plan, which is only 11% Infrastructure, and also by McConnell incredibly giving the Democrats a two-month extension, which allowed them to get their act together. Now the Republicans start fighting a much harder war, and I told them this would happen. It’s pathetic! Those 19 Republicans, including the Broken Old Crow, should not be forgotten for what they have done and the absolutely horrible ramifications this Bill will have on the future of our Nation. Just like McConnell blew two Senate seats in Georgia, and wouldn’t fight the Rigged Presidential Election, he gave this one away also.” (link)

Keep in mind this is the end of the political career of Mitch McConnell regardless of the 2022 election outcome.  I doubt there’s anything that will shift McConnell’s position, he’s been doing this stuff for years; but only recently did more people wake up to it.

The last federal budget passed under regular order was signed into law in September of 2007 for fiscal year 2008.  Everything after that has been a series of continuing resolutions, omnibus spending, baseline budget expansions and debt ceiling increases.  There has never been a full budget process worked through in the past 14 years.

Martin Armstrong Interview: COVID, Civil War, and Major Capital Shifts (Part 2)


Armstrong Economics Blog/Armstrong in the Media Re-Posted Dec 7, 2021 by Martin Armstrong

Click here to watch part two of the interview with Financial Sense’s most controversial and honest guest, Martin Armstrong.

Washington D.C. on the 1918 Spanish Influenza


Armstrong Economics Blog/Disease Re-Posted Dec 7, 2021 by Martin Armstrong

(Click on image to enlarge)

The document above was issued by Washington D.C. on September 26, 1918, in response to the Spanish flu. This was before the Build Back Better agenda; Big Pharma was not an all-powerful entity capable of buying any politician. The government was not causing hysteria or imposing tyranny to combat a virus, and the advice provided remains solid advice today.

The public document states that the virus circulates every year in the US but is “more contagious during an epidemic, and pneumonia is a more frequent complication.” It explicitly states: “do not get hysterical over the epidemic.” That is the opposite of what they want for the people today. The government in 1918 admitted the virus only lasted a short time outside of the body, and suggested that people avoid those who are sick or having sick persons directly sneeze or cough on them (seems very fair). Wash your hands, stay home if you are sick, sleep and eat well. Fresh air helps. “Fight the disease rationally and do not become unduly alarmed.”

It’s Looking A Lot Like Frozen Winterland


Armstrong Economics Blog/Climate Re-Posted Dec 7, 2021 by Martin Armstrong

The weather is following what our computer has been forecasting using historical data and correlating history to ascertain the cyclical nature of weather. The ice has now grown larger than the global warming crowd has ever predicted. This threatens Europe with a very cold winter that will further endanger food production.

The entire problem with the claimed research into climate change is that they have begun with pre-determined conclusions that the air was free of things such as lead preindustrial revolution, which the ice core samples have proven to be false. What has emerged is that the assumption that preindustrial levels of lead in the air were negligible, safe, or nonexistent is completely false. Next‐generation laser technology in climate science, in combination with detailed historical and archaeological records, has revealed a different history. The lead levels in the air have been elevated for the past 2000 years.

As long as the research begins with a pre-determined conclusion, it will always sift through the data and cherry-pick only that which supports the desired conclusion. During this Little Ice Age, glaciers advanced in mountain valleys and actually destroyed many European settlements. Paintings from the 1600s depict people ice skating on the Thames River in London like this one showing the frozen Thames in a painting by Abraham Hondius from 1677.

A Volcano & the Last Little Ice Age | Armstrong Economics

Even the canals in Amsterdam were frozen. It remained cold for nearly 200 years. There were ice fairs into the late 1600s as shown in this painting from 1683. However, the winters were brutal even into the late 1700s and early 1800s, although gradually warmer from the depths of the 1600 period.

The Post Office even issued commemorative stamps in 1976, noting that winter event. Washington and his troops suffered more in Morristown, N.J., during the Hard Winter of 1779-80. Violent snowstorms had battered the Northeast, and both Boston and New York harbors were completely frozen over. The weather made it impossible to bring supplies to the men, many of whom had no coats or even shoes. They couldn’t even eat for days at a time. The soldiers finally mutinied in early May, though an officer persuaded them to abandon their rebellion. Just as the weather had defeated Napoleon, weather nearly defeated the American Revolution.

I have warned that volcanic activity correlates with the solar minimum, which we have been heading into since 2015. In fact, this has been the sharpest decline in the energy of the sun that we know of. It has been exceptionally declining since 2015, which was the peak of the Economic Confidence Model (ECM). Since the ECM was constructed from economic data, it is interesting how the cyclical nature of the economy aligns with Mother Nature herself.

There have been 215 major volcanic eruptions since 10,900 BC. Two massive eruptions changed the climate – (1) Tambora in 1815 and (2) Samalas in 1257.

In 1257, a catastrophic eruption occurred at the Samalas volcano on the Indonesian island of Lombok, which was a 7, making it one of the largest volcanic eruptions in modern history. It is worth noting that the two largest eruptions in modern history both took place in Indonesia.

Samalas wiped out human habitations, including the city of Pamatan, which was the capital of a kingdom on Lombok. The eruption injected into the atmosphere was massive and it reduced the solar radiation reaching the Earth’s surface, causing a volcanic winter. This led to famines and crop failures in Europe and elsewhere. It is believed that this eruption became the trigger for the subsequent Little Ice Age and a centuries-long cold period during the last thousand years. The first evidence of the eruption was discovered in the ice core samples around 1257, providing strong evidence of a large volcanic eruption impacted the entire world. Finally, in 2013, scientists were able to link the historical records about Mount Samalas to these spikes in the ice cores.

By 1258, Henry III of England became very unpopular as the weather turned cold and people were starving. It was 1257 when Henry issued the first gold coin of England which is extremely rare. Taxation became a hot topic because of his expensive foreign policies and the role of his local officials in collecting taxes and debts. A coalition of his barons seized power in a coup d’état and expelled the Poitevins, the king’s favorites, from England. They instigated political reform of the royal government through a process called the Provisions of Oxford. Henry was forced to sue for peace with France in 1259, and Henry gave up his rights to his other lands in France in return for King Louis IX recognizing him as the rightful ruler of Gascony. The baronial regime collapsed but Henry was unable to reform a stable government and instability across England continued.

But this also slowed the Mogol invasion of Europe. The weather data preserved in tree rings points to a series of warm, dry summers in Europe until 1242 when temperatures dropped and rainfall increased. The local climate shifted to a wetter and colder environment which caused flooding of the formerly dry grasslands and created a marshy terrain. Those conditions would have been less than ideal for the nomadic Mongol cavalry and their encampments. The Mongols were horsemen and this reduced their mobility and pastureland, curtailing their invasion into Europe west of the Hungarian plain.

The worst possible future will be a volcanic winter occurring over the next 13 years.

Mayor Bill de Blasio Issues Private Business Vaccine Mandate


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted Dec 7, 2021 by Martin Armstrong

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has implemented the first statewide vaccine mandate for private employees. Referring to the move as a “pre-emptive strike,” the new mandate will apply to around 184,000 businesses and will take full effect on December 27 and partial effect as soon as December 14 (proof of partial vaccination required). The rule applies to small children as well. Children ages 5 to 11 must receive the vaccine in order to enter dining, fitness, or entertainment establishments.

“A lot of parents want to take their kids out to wonderful things happening in the holiday season. Here’s a reminder, get your child vaccinated. One dose will immediately qualify a child in any of those activities,” de Blasio stated, shaming parents who will be unable to take their children to holiday-related events without the experimental vaccine. “We’ve got to put this covid era behind us. We’ve been living with this for most of two years. We’ve got to put it behind us, and vaccine mandates in my experience are the one thing that really breaks through,” he said. “Vaccines every single time, there is a fear the vaccine won’t have an impact on a new variant. Well, guess what? Every single time the vaccines have worked. That’s a good track record. Let’s lean into it even more,” he lied. There are a plethora of breakthrough cases among the vaccinated. The vaccines do not work as intended. We read the news stories, we speak to our peers; the truth is out, and these politicians are blatantly lying to us in an attempt to grab more power and lobbying money.

Bill de Blasio is certainly doing all he can to destroy a once-great city during his last month of office. His successor, Eric Adams (D), who takes office on January 1, said he is on vacation and too busy to answer questions pertaining to a mandate that will affect millions of lives. Biden attempted to implement a federal mandate, and it is to be seen if the courts will allow it to pass. Hopefully, the courts will prevent this gross misuse of power. Although the media paints vaccine hesitancy as a right-wing issue, the fact of the matter is that people across the political spectrum do not want forced medical mandates. This issue could unite the people — “us v them” is not “the people v the people.”

Impactful Video Showcases Hollywood Vaccine Propaganda as Contrast Against Adverse Vaccine Outcomes


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on December 6, 2021 | Sundance | 178 Comments

Something is not right“… There’s a website tracking professional sports figures worldwide who have died or been seriously injured by the vaccine.  Each instance is cited and recorded and the total number of professional athletes –just this year– who have died or suffered serious vaccine injury is now almost 300 [DATA LINK]

In a similar effort a video has been created to remind everyone how much propaganda effort was put forth as a result of collaboration between the U.S. government and Hollywood [much of this I had never seen]. {Direct Rumble Link Here} The vaccine push is then contrast against the mounting examples of serious injury from the vaccine.  The final video is quite powerful. WATCH:

Devin Nunes Will Depart Congress to Become CEO of Trump Media and Technology Group


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on December 6, 2021 | Sundance | 191 Comments

Interesting developments that add a more fulsome context to the Axios report about alternative Tech platforms earlier in the day.

Several news outlets are now reporting that Congressman Devin Nunes (R-CA) will exit his congressional seat at the end of this month and take a position as CEO of the newly formed Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG).

Many people are wondering why hire a congressman and not a technology expert.  To wit, I would say Trump’s not hiring a congressman.  It looks to me like he’s hiring a professional with specific expertise in the intelligence arena.

If you think about the bigger battleground, a technology CEO with subject matter expertise in the U.S. intelligence system is a skillset to be appreciated.

NY Post – Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), a prominent ally of former President Donald Trump, will leave Congress at the end of this month to head up Trump’s new social media company. 

Trump Media & Technology Group announced the appointment of Nunes as CEO in a Monday evening statement. 

“The time has come to reopen the Internet and allow for the free flow of ideas and expression without censorship,” Nunes was quoted as saying. “The United States of America made the dream of the Internet a reality and it will be an American company that restores the dream. I’m humbled and honored President Trump has asked me to lead the mission and the world class team that will deliver on this promise.”

Trump described Nunes in the statement as “a fighter and a leader” who “will make an excellent CEO of TMTG.”

“Devin understands that we must stop the liberal media and Big Tech from destroying the freedoms that make America great,” the 45th president added. “America is ready for TRUTH Social and the end to censorship and political discrimination.” (read more)

This announcement follows an interesting sequence of events (citation links in the dates):

♦ October 20 – Donald Trump announces the basic outline of Truth Social, an upstart social media system for MAGA supporters.  The financing would come through Digital World Acquisition Group (DWAC).  Shares of DWAC skyrocket after the announcement.

♦ October 24 – CTH receives a tip that Patrick Byrne is investing $1 million in Locals (launched by Dave Rubin Dec 2019)

♦ October 26 – Rumble and Locals announce they are merging into one company. Rumble purchases Locals.

♦ November 02 – Rumble announces they are relocating the company HQ to Florida.

♦ December 01 – Rumble announces an IPO through Cantor Fitzgerald.

♦ December 04 – Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) announce $1+ billion raised in private equity, through Digital World Acquisition Group (DWAC).

♦ December 06 – Axios writes article about rise of “right-wing” social media infrastructure. Focuses on financial aspects.

♦ December 06 – SEC opens an investigation of the equity fundraising through DWAC.  “Trading of Digital World’s shares has driven TMTG’s valuation from $875 million in October to close to $4 billion.”

♦ December 06 – Devin Nunes is announced as CEO of Trump Media & Technology Group.

♦ December 06 – Rumble announces a deal with TMTG through Cantor Fitzgerald.  “Howard Lutnick, the CEO of Rumble’s parent company Cantor Fitzgerald, stated on Monday that they have worked out a distribution deal with Donald Trump’s planned “Truth” social media platform.” … “Truth and the 45th president are going to use Rumble’s infrastructure, their technology, their cloud distribution capability, so they are going to be a service provider, a tech provider to the president’s Truth Social,” Lutnick told interviewer John Bachman on his “John Bachman Now” show.

Great. So in essence, Trump Media will use the tech architecture of Rumble.  There will be a partnership.

That’s the sequence of events as to how these two networks (Rumble & TMTG) came into the position they are now.  Let me say with clarity and emphasis, I want to see these platforms succeed.  I will support, as we do already, each and every platform against the interests of Big Tech, and I will encourage all Treepers to support each platform.  That said, there’s something in this timeline that looks disconcerting to me:

  • Patrick Byrne invests in Locals.
  • Locals merges with Rumble.
  • Rumble goes into an IPO with Cantor Fitzgerald
  • Trump forms TMTG.
  • TMTG Raises funds from private equity ($1 billion+ DWAC)
  • SEC investigates TMTG equity funds from DWAC.
  • TMTG announces Devin Nunes CEO
  • Cantor Fitzgerald announces Rumble will partner with the newly formed TMTG.

This is the sequence of events.

The Axios article and SEC moves on same day point to someone on the inside of the organizational network (TMTG/Rumble) tipping off someone outside.  And the people they are tipping off are not good characters.  This is someone deep enough inside this newly forming media/tech operation to walk media and government insiders through the plans and funding sources, and trigger those simultaneous responses.

If you see that pattern, stay with me.

The next logical question is to ask who and how?

From my perspective, there is one big glowing worm in this new social media operation.

Byrne engages with NRA, NRA comes under federal investigation….

Byrne engages with Donald Trump Jr, DJT Jr. comes under federal investigation…

Byrne engages with Sidney Powell, Powell comes under federal investigation…

Byrne engages with audit groups, audit groups come under federal investigation…

Byrne engages with TMTG, TMTG comes under federal investigation…

Oddly enough, Byrne never comes under federal investigation; only the people he touches….

Patrick Byrne.

Stop me if you see a pattern.

And let’s not forget the Friday night meeting at the White House (Powell, Flynn, Byrne, Cipollone, Meadows, Guiliani) which surfaced in the New York Times via leaks the next morning (Saturday), and then Byrne using Twitter the following day (Sunday) to post pictures of himself at the White House and frame a story of the meeting.

Consider yourself warned.

Eject the Fed.

I’m sure President Trump and Chairman Nunes are well aware of the potential risks. Also, I have zero insider knowledge and only work from what data points are publicly visible, and Byrne as a DC operative is educated conjecture on my part {supported here}.  That said, this wouldn’t be his first rodeo, and sunlight is the best disinfectant.

Wow, Media Openly Advising Public to Use The Safari Rules When Entering Democrat Municipal Regions


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on December 6, 2021 | Sundance | 352 Comments

An inevitable evolution now takes place as rampant crime, violence and anarchy take over the municipal regions controlled by leftists and Democrats.  What is described, in the video excerpt from ABC news in Maryland, is what we have described as the “Safari Rules.”

As stunning as it may seem at first glance, the media are informing the public on how to behave when entering any area were Democrats are in charge of civil society.  It is important not to accept this new normal; instead think about this broadcast in the larger picture of what it represents.  The media no longer question if you will be attacked; the media are now advising us on how to mitigate our pending attack.  The attack itself is a foregone conclusion.

The deeper blue the region, the more dangerous the crime within it.  This is the natural outcome of policy on a local level that allows criminal elements to operate without fear or accountability.   Smash and grab robberies, armed robberies, carjacking, looting and the general breakdown of law and order is well underway in the municipal regions under the control of the Democrat Party apparatus.

These outcomes are the natural cause and effect from leftist policy being carried out.  This is exactly the type of social anarchy that is predictable from a process of demonizing law enforcement, promoting social justice and letting the criminal elements within society take over.

The evolution of the Safari Rules has been ongoing for several years; however, now it appears the point of no return has been crossed.   The situation is no longer reversible because the law enforcement mechanisms have been deconstructed entirely.   Additionally, the application of law and consequence has been withdrawn from the system.

.

People trapped within the blue regions are now directly being told to follow the Safari Rules.

In essence, the underlying elements of the Safari Principle narrative begin with a pretense that victims of the mob, any mob or individual predator, have no one except themselves to blame because they did not follow the rules of the safari.  When in the proximity of any person, event or situation that is engaged in an unlawful act supported by the political left, you are not permitted to exit your vehicle or engage in activity that will lead to your targeting.

If you enter their “space to destroy“, you are to blame for your own outcome.  The safari narrative includes catch phrases like “he/she should not have gotten out of the car,” and “she/he shouldn’t have traveled to (fill_in_blank)”, or “he/she should have known better when…“, etc. 

2015 in Baltimore, Maryland, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake then became a public advocate for the Safari Rules when she proclaimed her decision to let the riots, looting and arson continue, as it was intended specifically to give the mob “space to destroy.”  Despite the dozens of property owners who saw their shops, stores and livelihoods go up in smoke, the rules of the safari took precedent.

Again, in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death in Minnesota, the rules of the safari became evident when looting, arson and riots were defined as “expressions of speech.”  All violence supported by the political left is considered speech, while speech opposed by the left is defined as violence.

Because the visible chaos did not align with the gentle media descriptions of “protests“, the corporate media decision was to modify the language used to describe the arson and riots by using the term “mostly peaceful protests,” that term has stuck within the visible chaos over the past few years in various forms.  Obviously the word “mostly” is a relative term , and that provides the flexibility needed to convince viewers the violence they are witnessing isn’t really the violence they are witnessing.

After years of this type of obfuscation and denial, ordinary life in the deep blue regions has become untenable.  Rampant looting and lawlessness is now the new normal, and don’t look for it to get any better in the near future.

The taller the blue spike, the more likely the violent crime.  All of the urban areas with Democrat policy are the most dangerous in the nation.  The safe places to live are fewer and fewer as the urban regions expand their influence.

Borrowing from Twain, history may not always repeat, but it darn sure rhymes.  These same blue regions like Chicago, New York, Los Angeles were barely livable in the 1970’s, most people have forgotten how bad things were.

What is happening now in these deep blue regions is essentially a circle of cause and effect.

Unfortunately, now those metropolitan areas have expanded into more states and regions from Houston (TX) to Minneapolis (MN) to Atlanta (GA) and even smaller areas like Asheville (NC).  If Democrats are in charge of municipal policy, those areas will experience increases in violent crime and property theft.   Increases in all types of crime are the natural outcome of diminished law enforcement.

The current rise in federalism will likely save the republic; however, those who live in the deep blue regions within blue states are now specifically responsible for following the Safari Rules if they wish to survive.

None of this is accidental, this massive crime wave is an outcome of ideology.  However, and this is the important part to emphasize, unlike previous times when this cycle of violence took place – this time there is no capacity to reverse course.  There are no police or law enforcement left in these regions with the motivation or support to save you.

If you can leave, get out.  If you cannot leave, at least arm yourself while you still can.

White House Tells Media to Lower Expectations on Government Transparency – Jennifer Psaki Refuses to Answer Questions About Hunter Biden and Sketchy Financial Interests


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on December 6, 2021 | Sundance | 114 Comments

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked today about whether the White House would be transparent with the reported divestiture of Hunter Biden and his financial relationships with communist Chinese government officials.  The press secretary refused to answer the question.  WATCH:

The Big Tech Empire Worried About The Rise of the Alternative Media Platforms and The Rebel Alliance


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on December 6, 2021 | Sundance | 209 Comments

There is a tremor in the dark force that encompasses the totality of the Big Tech control platforms.  An interesting article from Axios notes the Tech oligarchs, and multinational corporate behemoths [Google, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram etc] that manipulate and control information, are starting to worry about the new “right-wing” architecture that is creating alternate platforms.

It is important to keep a solid reference point in the front of our mind when we review any details about the information war.  The Fourth Branch of Government has strong dependency on their public-private partnership between Big Tech and govt/intelligence networks.

It is a partnership of mutual benefit.  U.S. government officials use their political power to direct the filtering mechanisms of Big Tech.  In return, the tech empire facilitates the reelection of political officials to support the network.

However, a large and growing band of rebels have been assembling platform architecture outside the controls of Big Tech.  The method of delivering what you are reading right now was created specifically as part of this architecture.   A growing network of dissident people in/around the tech industry continue to build the framework for alternative platforms on the internet, and now Big Tech is starting to realize it is actually possible for ants to eat an elephant.

Notice how the focus of concern from within the Axios article is not about the creation of the alternative platforms per se’; what the Empire is really angered about is that money is available to support the rebel alliance.  “Many of these efforts couldn’t exist without the backing of major corporate figures and billionaires who are eager to push back against things like “censorship” and “cancel culture,” the Empire says; as the officials inside the system gnash their teeth in anger.

That section under “why it matters” tells us the Empire storm troopers, FBI, DOJ and government regulatory agencies, are likely to target the financial mechanisms, people and groups, who help fund the Rebel Alliance.   Watch for it.

The Empire is worried about these cloud-based hosting possibilities and the creation of server banks to support dissident voices.  Everything from video platforms and book publishing companies are being created outside of the control of the Empire.  They are starting to worry how their business models will be affected as their audience shrinks. Thus, the government subsidizing of these Big Tech platforms is likely to become more prevalent in the future.

[Read Axios Article Here]