Tucker Carlson Interviews Ron DeSantis After the Florida Governor Suspends Activist Prosecutor


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 4, 2022 | Sundance

August 4, 2022 | Sundance | 112 Comments

Tucker Carlson used his opening monologue tonight to discuss George Soros and the efforts of the Soros foundation to fund activist state prosecutors who will not enforce laws. The Soros agenda is an end-run around the U.S. constitution that empowers We The People to enact laws and rules of society through legislative representation.

By selecting prosecutors who will not enforce laws against criminal behavior, the Soros initiative subverts the voice of the people.  Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is the first governor to use his state constitutional authority to remove an activist prosecutor.  Tucker Carlson interviewed him immediately after the monologue. {Direct Rumble LinkWATCH:

The monologue that preceded the interview is below.

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AP Calls Arizona Governor Republican Primary for Kari Lake


Post originally on the conservative tree house on August 4, 2022 | Sundance

With ballots continuing to be counted in various counties around Arizona, specifically including the corrupt county of Maricopa, Republican candidate Kari Lake has extended her lead beyond the ability of Arizona election officials to remove it.  The Associated Press calls the race for Kari Lake.

PHOENIX (AP) — Kari Lake, a former news anchor who walked away from her journalism career and was embraced by Donald Trump and his staunch supporters, won the Republican primary for Arizona governor on Thursday.

Lake’s victory was a blow to the GOP establishment that lined up behind lawyer and businesswoman Karrin Taylor Robson in an attempt to push their party past the chaotic Trump era. Lake said she would not have certified President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory and put false claims of election fraud at the center of her campaign.

“The MAGA movement rose up like their lives depended on it,” Lake said as she declared victory prematurely on Wednesday afternoon, a day before the race was called, using an acronym for Trump’s Make America Great Again movement. “And it proved that you can’t buy an election, at least not in Arizona. We the people rose up and spoke.”

Robson, who is married to one of Arizona’s richest men, largely self-funded her campaign. She called the 2020 election “unfair” but stopped short of calling it fraudulent and pushed for the GOP to look toward the future.

[…] Former Vice President Mike Pence, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie all campaigned for Robson in the days before the election. (read more)

Coordination Between J6 Committee and Politically Motivated DOJ is Intended to Break Attorney-Client Firewalls in Trump Targeting Effort


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 4, 2022 | Sundance 

The long-term motives and plans of the J6 committee and their coordination with the DOJ are starting to come into increased clarity as the mid-term elections draw near.

A key indicator of the strategy from within the J6/DOJ effort surfaced when the quasi-constitutional “committee” sent a subpoena to former President Trump legal counsel Pat Cipollone, then leaked the subpoena, then leaked the testimony, then shaped, edited and broadcast the testimony during their prime-time broadcast.   After the J6 broadcast, attorney Cipollene was then subpoenaed by the DOJ and recent reports indicate he is being called to testify before a grand jury.

The legal strategy, hereafter called by what it is, a Lawfare strategy, is now clear.

The legislative branch, specifically the J6 committee, is attempting to use their self-created legislative legal authorities, to fracture long established attorney-client privileges, and then send the results to the DOJ for use against the client of the attorney.  This explains the importance of former White House attorney Lisa Monaco taking up her position as Deputy Asst Attorney General.

The DOJ would be shut down by any ordinary court of jurisdiction, even in the heavily political Washington DC system, if they attempted to get a lawyer to give testimony about his legal advice to a client.  It is one of the most basic tenets and legal privileges in our system.

Attorneys cannot be compelled to give testimony against their clients, it is a standard long accepted in our legal system.  Any attorney who would break the confidence of the attorney-client privilege would lose their license.

Additionally, as the president, other privileges exist for President Trump, specifically the executive privilege to receive counsel or advice -from any person- on any issue that would pertain toward the administration of the executive office.  The president needs to be able to receive information in confidence, and the people giving advice and counsel need to be able to speak freely without fear the content of the conversation would later be used by another entity not involved in the issue at hand.

By compelling testimony to a non-court of manufactured quasi-legal jurisdiction, such as the J6 committee demanding testimony from Cipollone, it now appears the resulting information is being transferred to the DOJ for use against Cipollone’s client, President Trump.

This is an example of lawfare at its worst.

The J6 committee demands testimony and asserts the testimony must be offered without conflict because the J6 committee itself has no criminal authority.

As the issue is argued, the witness cannot be criminally charged by the committee, therefore no criminal liabilities exist for the witness, therefore the testimony can be compelled by the committee (the legislative branch).  However, what we are seeing is the committee being used as a legal shield and enforcement tool by/for the DOJ who could never -on their own- force the same testimony.

The result is President Trump legal counsel Pat Cipollone being compelled to testify before a criminal grand jury, and within that questioning he will be asked about about his prior testimony before the J6 committee.  Essentially, this is one big Lawfare workaround; and likely a legal and constitutional issue that will end up at an appellate court level or higher.

Political elements within the legislative branch (J6) are colluding with political elements within the executive branch (DOJ), to fracture the constitutional protections that exist not only for presidents’ (exec privilege), but also for all Americans (attorney/client privilege).

In ordinary times, this approach would be a jaw-dropping controversy that would come under rebuke from everyone involved in the media and justice system.

What is being described, well, actually what is happening, is what happens in third-world banana republics when presidents of various political regimes take office and then target their opposition using the state police or military.  What is being done under the auspices of the J6 committee and DOJ is an identical scenario using a longer approach that works around the foundation of the U.S. political and legal system.

More alarmingly, there is no one doing anything or saying anything to stop this process.  The republican politicians in Washington DC are as willfully blind to the unconstitutional lawfare scheme as they are to the victims of the J6 FBI and DOJ targeting operation who are languishing in DC prisons.

No doubt former President Obama and his crew are laughing as they watch this play out, while the media cheer.  After all, these are all former Obama officials who are carrying out the targeting operation. [ SEE WHY HERE ]  The Republicans and Democrats created the Fourth Branch of Government as a political targeting mechanism.  Both parties are now protecting themselves from discovery of its intent.

Support CTH Here ~

DC Dick Begs Wyoming Voters to Support DC Liz


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 4, 2022 | Sundance

Despite the overwhelming support of mainstream corporate media, Wyoming DeceptiCon Liz Cheney is likely to be crushed in the republican primary race on August 16.

In addition to voting to impeach President Trump and being removed from her congressional leadership position, DC Liz was one of only two republican votes to support the formation of the J6 Committee (the other was Adam Kinzinger).  DC Liz has been begging Wyoming Democrats to vote for her in the republican primary contest so she can save her seat.

In an embarrassing and genuinely pathetic last-ditch effort, her father, DC Dick, recorded a campaign commercial begging the people in Wyoming to support his daughter.

Another Former Governor of Puerto Rico, Wanda Vázquez, Indicted for Bribery, Corruption and Wire Fraud


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 4, 2022 | Sundance 

Keeping with historic trends in Puerto Rico, another corrupt governor has been arrested and indicted on corruption, bribery and fraud charges.  Wanda Vazquez Garced replaced Ricardo Rosselló after he was accused of racism and having a homophobic cabinet.

During her term in office, millions of dollars’ worth of Hurricane Maria aid was discovered being stored and sold on the black market from various warehouses. [Go Deep]

The hurricane supplies provided by U.S. taxpayers were never given to citizens and were instead being used by government officials and sold to retailers. The Housing Secretary (Fernando Gil), the Department of Family Secretary (Glorimar Andújar) and the director of Puerto Rico’s emergency management agency were all fired as part of the scandal.

Governor Wanda Vazquez lost her primary reelection bid in August 2020, and today was indicted for corruption, bribery and wire fraud.

(Via DOJ) -A former governor of Puerto Rico was arrested today on bribery charges related to the financing of her 2020 campaign.

Relatedly, a political consultant for the former governor and the president of the international bank have also pleaded guilty to participating in the bribery scheme.

“The alleged bribery scheme rose to the highest levels of the Puerto Rican government, threatening public trust in our electoral processes and institutions of governance,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.  “The Department of Justice is committed to holding accountable those who wrongly believe there is one rule of law for the powerful and another for the powerless.  No one is above the rule of law.”

According to the indictment, from December 2019 through June 2020, then-Governor of Puerto Rico Wanda Vazquez Garced, 62, of San Juan, allegedly engaged in a bribery scheme with various individuals, including Julio Martin Herrera Velutini, Frances Diaz, Mark Rossini, and John Blakeman to finance Vazquez Garced’s 2020 gubernatorial election campaign. (read more)

Puerto Rico has a long history of public corruption and abuse of federal funds.  Back in 2015 ten government officials in Puerto Rico were arrested for corruption, bribery, honest services wire fraud, extortion and various schemes related to giving payments to friends and family via federal contracts. [LINK]  This is the typical corruption PR is known for.

In June 2019, the FBI, Public Corruption Unit, posted a notification of an ongoing corruption probe and provided a tip-line for leads related to bribery and/or corruption of public officials. [LINK] This probe is connected to the billions of dollars U.S. taxpayers have provided to Puerto Rico for recovery after hurricane Maria (2017).

So much money was poured into the island after hurricane Maria that hundreds of local and regional officials seized the opportunity to indulge their friends and family with funds from recovery accounts.  This is the widespread corruption President Trump previously drew attention to.

This open corruption was also why Nancy Pelosi took the entire Democrat caucus to Puerto Rico in January 2019 for a vacation with her favorite lobbyists.  Everyone in/around PR knows this level of corruption is the norm, not the exception.

Later that same year, six more officials were indicted under new federal charges, including two government officials: Julia Keleher, who served as Puerto Rico’s education secretary until April; and Ángela Ávila-Marrero, who was the executive director of the Puerto Rico Health Insurance Administration. They were all variously charged with wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy, according to the 32-count indictment.

President Trump was exactly right when he both informed and warned voters of what would happen with money dumped into Puerto Rico.

The Inequality of the World Economy


Armstrong Economics Blog/Economics Re-Posted Aug 4, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong; I have followed your comments on the future of inflation for the last five years at least since a friend attended your conference. I must say you have alone singlehandedly defeated every economic theory I have studied.

Since the start of this pandemic in 2020, most prominent neoliberal economic voices warned of the danger that the spending would create inflation. The U.S. spent more as a share of GDP than any major economy on this planet. There was a mix of direct payments to citizens, forgivable loans to small businesses, and then new pandemic-related federal spending. Yet the data showed inflation in the United Kingdom has hit nearly 10% and European inflation rates were higher. Every G7 nation had higher rates of inflation than the United States. This called into question that there was a possible disconnect between the rationale behind tightening U.S. monetary policy and the actual causes of ongoing inflation rises.

Your favorite economist, Larry Summers, from nearly the beginning of that fiscal response, warned this would trigger inflation. At first, he seemed correct. However, by the start of 2022, U.S. inflation did outpace the average for OECD nations. Yet here in 2022, inflation externally to the U.S. is now surpassing all U.S. levels, and the forecasts of the neoliberal economic thought are in open to doubt as to their outcome.

Your argument against the Quantity Theory of Money appears to be vindicated. Since the U.S. had printed much more money than other economies, then how was it possible that the U.S. would have the lowest inflation rates? The discussion in some circles has tried to explain that at first, the U.S. stimulus remained has been overshadowed by non-monetary factors such as shortages. That has been your expectation years in advance.

Now even wages have risen dramatically ever since the end of unemployment benefits to adjust for the rise in inflation. Yet employment has still not recovered for prime-age workers compared to 2019 levels.

I understand you are not interested in teaching at a university. Perhaps it is time for you to write a textbook to provide a better view of the complexity of the world economy. We are obviously in new territory.

Would you care to explain how inflation is significantly higher outside the United States despite the fact that the U.S. expanded its money supply greater than any other nation?

SK

ANSWER: I know this is a very complex question that most people, no fewer politicians, want to think about. Aside from COVID and the supply chain, Biden & the Green’s attack to end fossil fuels is just totally insane. The US was self-sufficient under Trump. Biden has done everything to undermine that and they have no idea what they are doing. They are making the US economy vulnerable. However, outside the USA, nations are NOT self-sufficient, and the further you move down the rank, the greater it is that their population is living hand to mouth.

Europe has no energy. This push by the Greens in Germany and Austria is just completely insane. Remove Putin in Russia, and you will get a hardline replacement who will see that this is the moment to take Europe, and Europe tried to invade Russia twice before. Cutting off the energy and the Greens have made Europe vulnerable, which the Neocons and NATO salivate over finally getting to use their toys.

Gasoline in Europe sells by the litre. One gallon = 3.7 liters. Since gasoline in Europe is about €2.07 Euros, now €7.82, which is now about $8.21 up to $10 a gallon compared to the US national average of $4.642.

The dramatically higher cost of energy in Europe is driving inflation substantially higher in Europe because it also filters over into the cost of transporting everything, right down to food. The inherent problem we always have is that we tend to judge everyone else by ourselves. The world is really different outside the United States. In Japan, the price of gasoline per gallon works out to ¥646.548. Japan, instead of taxing gasoline, the government subsidizes it by about ¥100 per gallon. Thus, the consumer pays about the same as an American.

The higher the fuel cost, the higher the inflation, at least until the Greens force everyone to ride bicycles, stop heating their homes in winter, and truckers revert back to horse and wagons.

While we have Klaus Schwab claiming inequality is a huge problem, and we need to return to his world of equality, he obviously never considered anyone outside of his own circle. The world is vast. Perhaps we should take all his wealth so he can be equal in wealth to a goat herder in Africa. I’m sure that would solve all the problems of the entire world.

When Will the Baby Formula Shortage End?


Armstrong Economics Blog/Gov’t Incompetence Re-Posted Aug 4, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

It has been about a month since Abbott Laboratories reopened its formula plant in Michigan, but the US is still in desperate need of baby formula. The plant ceased operations in February after certain formulas were recalled for containing bacteria after infants became sick. Abbott had a huge 40% stake in the formula market within the US. The production plant was supposed to resume operations in June but this was pushed back a month due to flooding in the area. Certain states saw out-of-stock rates near 60% in July, but the national average currently sits at 30%.

The White House secured 17 Operation Fly Formula missions and imported enough powder to make 61 million bottles. The Defense Production Act was revoked to remove some tariffs, but this was a temporary fix. US consumers need enough formula for 65 million bottles per week. Experts now believe that the shortage will last into the fall months.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) failed to act in a prompt manner. Some of the red tape and regulations are to blame. FDA Commissioner Robert Califf testified in July, displacing blame from the FDA, and saying that they simply did not know. “No law requires manufacturers of these products to notify FDA when they become aware of a circumstance that could lead to a shortage of these products. Without this information, the Agency may have little or no insight as to when a major shortage may occur, preventing us from taking potential mitigation efforts until a crisis becomes apparent,” Califf said. He believed that formula availability to normalize in up to eight weeks.

An investigation shows that the FDA was first notified of formula contamination in December 2021. In fact, 128 complaints were filed between December 2021 and March 2022. The FDA certainly was aware of the contamination before they took action. The White House also took too long to respond as Biden did not invoke the Defense Production Act until May 2022, when 40% of formula was unavailable. This issue should have been solved months ago but persists due to government incompetence.

Arizona Enters Day Three Still Counting Ballots


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 4, 2022 | sundance 

According to election officials in Maricopa County, Arizona, they will provide further updates on their ballot counting efforts on Thursday after 7pm.  The election was Tuesday.   Apparently, in Arizona it takes several days to count election ballots or something, and we are not supposed to think this is odd. [LINK]

As of the latest update from Arizona in the Republican primary for Governor: Kari Lake has 303,860 votes (46.25%), and Karrin Taylor-Robson has 291,843 votes (44.42%).

[LINK] Kari Lake is leading by 12,017 votes.

[Source Link]

According to Maricopa County election officials they have counted 715,941 ballots

According to the Arizona Secretary of State office, they are reporting 698,981 votes for governor were cast in Maricopa County [402,023(R), 296,958(D)]

There are 16,968 more ballots reported from Maricopa County than votes cast for governor as reported by the Secretary of State.

Did 16,968 voters in Maricopa County cast ballots without voting for governor?

It all seems odd.

[Data Source]

402,023(R) + 296,958(D) = Total: 698,981 votes

Three days, or more, to count ballots.

Suspicous Cat remains, well, you know….

Western Nation Economic Recession, Maersk Shipping Group Forecasts Weak Shipping Demand as Warehouses Fill with Unsold Durable Goods


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 3, 2022 | sundance 

A few months ago, amid all of the headline warnings about inflation and prices of essential products, CTH noted that if we were to continue waiting about six months, we would see a massive backlog of unsold goods and as a consequence the prices of non-essential durable goods would begin a rapid decline.  That exact scenario is about to unfold.

Keep in mind, this is not necessarily a collapse of total global economic activity; what we are seeing is a collapse of western nation economic activity that is impacting the rest of the world.  A great economic fracturing is taking place as the western nations intentionally shrink their economy.  The supplier nations are feeling the consequences.

Maersk is the international shipping company that delivers millions of containers of goods all around the world, mostly by ship.  They are warning that warehouses are full of previously delivered goods, unsold consumer durable goods, as retail sales have come to a standstill.

The amount of inventory in warehousing is so extreme, major wholesale and retail groups have run out of storage space (link).

COPENHAGEN, Aug 3 (Reuters) – Shipping group Maersk (MAERSKb.CO) expects global container demand to fall this year as sales of durable goods come to a “standstill”, leaving flat-screen TVs and furniture piling up in warehouses, the company said on Wednesday.

A surge in consumer demand and pandemic-related logjams holding up containers in key ports had boosted freight rates and profits in the shipping industry in recent quarters, yet the cost-of-living crisis has reversed that trend.

[…] “Sales of durable consumer goods have come to a standstill,” Chief Executive Soren Skou told journalists at the company’s headquarter in Copenhagen. “Consumers have bought what they need for now of new sofas, kitchens, flat screens and garden furniture.”

In the United States, the country’s largest warehouse market is already full as major U.S. retailers warn of slowing sales of the clothing, electronics, furniture and other goods.

Mearsk said the number of containers it had loaded on to ships fell by 7.4% in the second quarter compared with a year earlier. (read more)

Keep in mind, South Korean factory output is now negative (electronics etc). European factory output is now negative (industrial equipment).  Japanese factory output has dropped dramatically, and U.S. factory output has stalled.   All of these issues overlay the statements by Maersk that shipping is not needed.

The western economies are contracting in response to the collective energy policies of the Build Back Better climate change agenda, and the high cost of energy that comes from stopping energy production.

Energy production in western nations has been slowed or stopped (Build Back Better).  Western nation inflation is being driven by higher energy costs as a result of less energy products being produced, oil, coal, gas.  Western banking groups have raised interest rates to slow down the economic engines to meet the drop in energy production.

All of this is being done with intent, purpose and control.  This is a managed decline.

Kari Lake Pulls Ahead in Arizona, Trump-endorsed Candidates Run the Board


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 3, 2022 | sundance 

The Trump-endorsed candidates in Arizona are running the board; however, the corrupt, conniving and scheming UniParty constructs that have thoroughly infected the state election process still remain.

As it currently standsTrump-endorsed Blake Masters appears to have easily won the GOP primary in the Senate race and will now face Mark Kelly.  The comprehensively corrupt Rusty Bowers, the Arizona state House speaker who was insistent upon retaining corruption as a political business model – and a favorite of the J6 committee in DC, has thankfully lost his bid for a state senate seat to Trump-endorsed David Farnsworth.

Additionally, Trump-endorsed Kari Lake (pictured above last night) has taken a sizable lead in Governor’s primary race over decepticon Mike Pence-endorsed Karrin Taylor Robson.

Meanwhile, Arizona voters have overwhelmingly selected Trump-endorsed Mark Finchem as their candidate for the secretary of state’s office.  Perhaps Finchem, if he succeeds in the general election, can finally fix the insufferable mess of Arizona elections.

Kari Lake’s victory, if certified, is a profound set-back for the two UniParty wings of the political club.

No doubt RNC Club Chairwoman Heavy McD (Ronna McDaniel) ate a few extra slices of red velvet cake for breakfast before throwing the coffee pot at the trembling concierge hiding behind the spa door.  For the Arizona contest, Ms Kari Lake raised about $3.8 million in mostly small dollar donations, while Ms. Taylor Robson -a billionaire club member- raised more than $18 million. The one thing Arizona voters and Heavy D would agree upon, is that Arizona rebels are revolting.

In the State of Florida, it was always Broward County that led to more than twenty years of constant eyerolls whenever an election cycle came around.  The issues with Broward County voting in the sunshine state were well documented, transparently corrupt and brutally obvious for decades.

Then newly elected Governor Ron DeSantis finally intervened, appointed state oversight, removed the corrupt Brenda Snipes (with her entire staff) as supervisor of elections, and ‘presto’ – just like that all of the Broward County issues mysteriously resolved.  In 2020 the full state reported election results by 10pm on election night.  Funny that.

The state of Arizona, specifically Maricopa and Pima counties, who seem to need days -if not weeks- to tally their votes, perhaps needing the assistance of DNC trained carrier pigeons handled by GOPe caretakers, has become the new Broward County.

Despite the intransigence of the GOP club, the insurgent MAGA victories continue….

VICTORIES INCLUDE:

John James (MI-10)

Tudor Dixon (MI Gov)

John Gibbs (MI-3 defeated impeachment R)

Blake Masters (AZ Senate)

Kari Lake (AZ-Gov)

Mark Finchem (AZ Sec State)

David Farnsworth (AZ- State Sen beats J6 Rusty Bowyers)

Eric Schmitt (MO Sen)