Jun 7 2018

President Trump and First Lady Melania Attend 2018 FEMA Briefing To Begin Hurricane Season…

Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on June 6, 2018 by sundance

As the hurricane season officially starts, President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump and the majority of the Cabinet attend the critically important 2018 FEMA briefing.

REMARKS BY PRESIDENT TRUMP AT 2018 HURRICANE BRIEFING – FEMA Headquarters, Washington, D.C., 2:06 P.M. EDT [Transcript Link]

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I want to thank you. Great job, Brock. Really fantastic. Thank you very much. And we really appreciate the job you’ve done. It’s been amazing, and you really have kept quite busy, I would say, unfortunately. We had no choice. We were hit hard. But you’ve done a fantastic job. So I want to thank you very much.

ADMINISTRATOR LONG: Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: Secretary Nielsen, Administrator Long, I want to thank you for hosting this incredible group of people. I’d like to sort of maybe say and pay some respects to some of the people here today. I have a list.

Of course, we have to start with our great First Lady, Melania. Thank you, Melania. She’s doing great. (Applause.) She went through a little rough patch, but she’s doing great. And we’re very proud of her. She’s done a fantastic job as First Lady. The people love you. The people of our country love you. So thank you, honey.

And Vice President Pence. Mike. Mike, another great job you are doing. Secretary Michael Pompeo. We’re keeping him very busy. We’re keeping you so busy. You’re going to be flying — a lot of flying in the next couple of weeks. But what a job you’ve done, and we appreciate it. The whole country appreciates it, Mike. Thank you very much.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Thank you, sir.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Steve Mnuchin. Steve, wherever you may be. He’s working hard on those taxes and keeping the taxes down. We passed the greatest tax cut in the history of our country, and lots of other things. And thank you very much. Great.

I think we say that we have had the strongest — this is the strongest, from an economic standpoint, that our country has ever been. We’re doing better in terms of business, in terms of unemployment. We’ve broken the record with so many different groups. African American, the lowest unemployment in history. The Hispanic lowest unemployment in history. Women, lowest unemployment in 21 years. Seven trillion dollars in worth we’ve created since the election. Seven trillion with a “T.” Not with even a “B.” And that’s a number that nobody would have thought was possible. So thank you to everybody. That’s been fantastic.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Thank you, Jeff. Thank you very much. Secretary Ryan Zinke. Keeping very busy. I know that, Ryan. That’s good. That’s good for you. Right? Keeping busy and opening up those lands so people can use them and enjoy them. Largest landlord in the world, Ryan. Nobody knows that. But you’re the largest — by far, the largest landlord. It’s almost half the United States if you think about it. Right? So great job you’re doing. Sonny Perdue. And those farms are doing well, and I did the farmers a big favor last night. Right?

SECRETARY PERDUE: You did. Absolutely.

THE PRESIDENT: I did a big, big favor for the farmers. We love the farmers, and they were happy.

SECRETARY PERDUE: They love you.

THE PRESIDENT: I know that Senator Grassley and Senator Ernst were very happy with what we did. So thank you for your help. I appreciate it.

Wilbur Ross, Secretary. I appreciate it, Wilbur. We’re renegotiating a lot of trade deals, and they’re really fantastic. And it’s going to — we have the worst trade deals ever made. And we’re going to have now fair trade deals. We have made the worst deals ever made. NAFTA is a disaster. World Trade Organization is a disaster. I could go deal after deal, and it’s been very unfair to our country, to our workers, to our companies, and to everybody else involved. And we’re changing them around rapidly. So, Wilbur Ross, thank you very much.

Secretary Alex Azar. Alex, I’m very proud of what you’ve done. And you’re coming up in about another month with healthcare. Maybe even sooner than that. We’re going to have a great healthcare bill planned. And it’s going to be great healthcare for a much smaller price than anybody ever thought possible. And I really appreciate that. And our new project that we’re really working on very hard is reducing the cost of prescription medicine. And that’s going to be something that people will not forget. Some people think that’s almost more important than the healthcare. I’ve had people say, “Which is more important?” They’re both important. But we’re reducing the cost of medicine because of what you’re doing, and we appreciate it.

Secretary Ben Carson, who’s got some things going on at HUD that we’re very excited. We had lunch the other day, and what you’re doing is great, Ben. That’s really inspirational. More than just brick and mortar. It’s really inspirational, Ben. And we appreciate it very much. Thank you very much.

Elaine Chao, Secretary. All you do is produce. You do it in a very quiet way and so effective and so incredible. What a job you’re doing with transportation. It was a great decision. Thank you very much.

Rick Perry. Rick is — I thought you were going to the VA. But we have great people at the VA, so — (laughter) — so now we don’t have to worry about the VA. I think we have great — I always thought Rick — I’d put him right over in the VA, and you would have done great there, too. But you’re doing a fantastic job at Energy. And we’re now the largest in the world in energy, Rick. The largest in the world. And we’re now exporting energy for the first time. Never did it. Now we’re exporting energy. But we have become the largest energy producer in the world. Who would have thought? But we’ve opened it up a little bit, Rick, right? And we’ve let our people go and do their thing. And they’re doing a great job.

Acting Secretary of the VA, Peter O’Rourke. And, Peter, the combination of you and Wilkie, I think that’s going to be an unbeatable combination. So thank you for all your help. I’m hearing only good things.

Secretary Nielsen. I don’t know, what do I say about you? (Laughter.) Huh? You are doing great. And the border is coming along. And the wall is going up. We have $1.6 billion being spent on phase one of the wall and we’ll get additional funding. And every week that goes by, people realize it more and more that we have to have the wall. And we’re doing great in San Diego and different places.

General John Kelly is here someplace. General? Good, General. Great job, John.

Administrator Scott Pruitt. Thank you, Scott, very much. EPA is doing really, really well. And you know, somebody has to say that about you a little bit. You know that, Scott. (Laughter.) But you have done — I tell you, the EPA is doing so well. So many approvals — and disapprovals. If they don’t qualify, they don’t qualify. But we don’t have to wait 15 years to tell somebody they don’t qualify. And people are really impressed with the job that’s being done at the EPA. Thank you very much, Scott.

Mick Mulvaney. He’s got two hats on now, right, Mick? You’ve got two hats, not just one. And you’re doing great at both. But Office of Management and Budget has been good, and our budget this year will be — there will be a lot of cutting, because we want to cut. You know, Mick is really more of a cutter than the other. But we had to get the military through. We got $700 billion approved for military. We needed that.

And in order to get that done, we had to do some things for the Democrats that we would normally not do — because we consider a lot of it waste and a horror show. But in order to get our military and $6 billion for opioid. So we got the — which Melania is so heavily involved in — and we got that taken care of. And very importantly, next year, $716 billion for military. So, Mick, great job. And this time, you can start cutting, okay? Because we have our military taken care of now, so you can start really cutting.

A friend of mine for a long time, Administrator Linda McMahon. And, Linda, I was just being told the other day what you’ve done in small business has been incredible. One of the real stars. And Vince and myself and your family, we’re all proud of you. But what you’ve done is fantastic. So much work. People don’t realize your small business is really — it’s really a very massive business. And you add it all up and those numbers are not small business. They’re bigger than just about any company you can even think of. So congratulations, Linda. Thank you very much.

Governor Rick Scott. We have a lot of people around and watching. You know, we’re on screens all over the country and I think beyond. But we have Governor Rick Scott of Florida is there, and he’s watching and he’s done a fantastic job. He’s now running for the United States Senate. And I won’t get political, but I think you’re going to do very well, okay? That’s not political, is it?

Secretary Patrick Shanahan, Deputy, who is — thanks, Patrick — really doing a job. And you’re bringing in all that money under budget. I know that. You know, you’re going to buy two airplanes instead of one for the same price, right? That’s what we want. He did a fantastic job at the company that he worked for on that. And we appreciate that very much. And it’s so important that when you go out and buy the equipment that we’re talking about buying — you know, hundreds and hundreds of jet fighters and bombers and planes and boats and ships and everything — we got to get the great price. All right? We got to get the great price. And if we can help you, let us know. Because there’s very few things so important.

Administrator Mark Green, U.S. Agency for International Development. And thank you very much, Mark. We appreciate it very much. Thank you.

Assistant Secretary Neil Jacobs and Administrator Brock Long. Vice Chairman Paul Selva. General Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy. And, as you know, Charles Ray. Good old — I knew Ray Charles. I didn’t know Charles Ray, but — (laughter) — now I know Charles Ray. So, you know, that’s pretty good, too. I dont know, maybe Ray Charles is even better, right? I don’t know. But we appreciate the great job you’ve done. Thank you very much.

I want to start just by saying that we’ve had three devastating major hurricanes that hit our country within a month’s time. There’s never been really anything like it. And in the case of Texas, it wouldn’t even go away. It would come in. We thought it was gone. It would go back out. It would reload. And this happened three different times, Brock. That was a record raindrop. That was a record water drop on a state, and it wasnt even close.

And shortly thereafter, we dealt with the threat of another hurricane and then destructive wildfires along the West Coast, in California and other places. America has never experienced so many large-scale disasters in so short a period of time. And we have the most qualified staff between the Secretary and Brock, and all of your people. You’ve been fantastic. And it goes a little bit unrecognized, because all you do is see people fighting and working, and getting the fires out and the water off the land, and all of the things.

But believe me, the country has watched, and they’ve seen an incredible job what you’ve done.

Our entire government leapt into action to coordinate the response, along with the state and local leaders. And we did have a lot of help from some really great governors — Florida, Texas. A lot of great people helped us, and it was great.

Families in Texas and Louisiana, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi — they were all affected. Hard to believe. And on tribal lands, where the hit was catastrophic, and the storms were really historic in their severity.

But in the wake of such tragedy, we also witnessed the resilience of the American people and the professionalism, talent, and devotion of the men and women of FEMA. Good group, right?

ADMINISTRATOR LONG: Great group.

THE PRESIDENT: That’s a great group of people, and throughout our government. Last year, more than 17,000 FEMA and other federal employees, as well as 14,000 personnel from the Department of Defense National Guard, were deployed to support the massive response and recovery efforts left by these storms and these tragedies.

Administrator Long, I want to thank you in particular for the incredible job and the unbelievable teams of men and women that you led to take care of these problems. You have done a job. They’re talking about you all over. Don’t leave us, though, okay? Just relax. (Laughter.)

SECRETARY NIELSEN: Oh, he’s here.

THE PRESIDENT: In fact, we could have put him in a different position. We didn’t want to. We want him right there. It’s not an easy position. But you have really stepped forward, and we appreciate it.

I also want to recognize the Coast Guard, our other military services. I have to tell you, the Coast Guard saved 16,000 people. What do you think of that, Ben? Sixteen-thousand people. (Applause.) And I think — you know, honestly, they don’t get enough credit in many ways.

Mike made the commencement address this year at the Coast Guard Academy. I did it the year before. I don’t think the Coast Guard gets enough credit. And I’ve said it, and I even say it to the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines. I said, I think this year the Coast Guard, maybe in terms of increased branding — the brand of the Coast Guard has been something incredible what’s happened. Saved 16,000 people, many of them in Texas, for whatever reason that is. People went out in their boats to watch the hurricane. That didn’t work out too well. That didn’t work out too well.

So I just want to thank all of the people in the Coast Guard and all of our services for having been incredible. The National Weather Service; the American Red Cross — been amazing;, state and local governments; our brave first responders; law enforcement — always law enforcement; and so many others who came together to save lives, restore hope, and rebuild our communities.

As we enter the hurricane season again — here we go. Right? You’re ready?

ADMINISTRATOR LONG: Yes, sir.

THE PRESIDENT: But we’re entering it. This is it. We are marshaling every available resource to ensure maximum preparation for rapid response. That’s what we had last year. Disaster response and recovery is best achieved when it’s federally supported, state-managed, and locally executed. You agree with that, I think, Brock — right?

ADMINISTRATOR LONG: Yes, sir.

THE PRESIDENT: This is really the great model that we’ve built, and there’s no better model anywhere in the world. And we do help other countries, also, when there’s catastrophic events, like in Mexico and other places. We’re always there. We’re always there for them.

So I look forward to your briefing and I look forward to a very productive discussion. It’s an honor to be with all of the great people that work so hard in the Trump administration.

And, Mike, I’m going to ask you to say a few words. And thank for having done a great job.

END 2:22 P.M. EDT

RECAP – READY FOR ACTION:

Jun 5 2018

The Pension Crisis Will Break Up the EU

Armstrong Economics Blog/European Union

Re-Posted Jun 5, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

The German public broadcast agency ARD is proposing structural changes. Due to the low-interest rates, the ECB has placed the agency in hard times with its pensions. Karola Wille, the director, has called for structural reform to reduce costs. The proposal centers on technological change to increase efficiency in the performance of its mandate. They are also looking at developing cross-media applications to modernize the agency. The ARD is non-profit so the German government has to fund it. As the low-interest rates have undermined pensions throughout Europe, the governments will have to step up and bail them out. This is going to put tremendous pressure on the entire EU budget and austerity policy embedded within the single currency.

We are looking at the same story being painted throughout Europe. The low-interest rate policy for nearly 10 years has not merely destroyed the bond market in Europe, it has undermined the pension system both privately and publicly. Indeed, adding to this crisis is the mandate that all pension funds hold some or the majority of their investments into government debt. The combination of these policies clashes with the ECB and the nightmare on the horizon and why Draghi can’t leave fast enough to avoid personal blame.

This crisis all stems from the structural design of the EU. They tried to be half pregnant with only a single currency and dictatorial control over member state budgets. The refusal to consolidate the debt emphasized the problem of the great disparities in cultures and the prevailing prejudices that exist through Europe between member states as well as within member states such as Bavaria v northern Germany or Spain v Catalonia, Scotland v Britain, Italy v Sicily, etc.. This prevailing prejudice is also why the bail-in policy was adopted. If Italian banks failed, then a centralized source of funds would amount to transfer payments between one member state to another. This was the very reason the EU rejected debt consolidation, to begin with. True, Greece was offered “loans” but its feet were held to the fire to pay it back. That was again rejecting any idea of a single Europe implied by transfer payments v loans.

Furthermore, as this pension crisis matures, we will have the same problem of transfer payments. This is how and why the EU will break apart because there is no actual resolution to consolidate the debts. The talk of Eurobonds is merely a way for the EU to borrow, but it will still not result in debt consolidation. What they are proposing is the same structure as the mortgage-backed CDO crisis of 2007. Bundling member state debt into a single Eurobond but each member still is responsible for its own debt. The structural failure of the EU has been all about how they could have their cake and eat it too. This is also why none of the leaders in Brussels ever stand for election. They are embedded in a deliberate denial of any democratic process.

Jun 4 2018

Catalonia Restores its Own Government

Armstrong Economics Blog/SPAIN

Re-Posted Jun 4, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

With the collapse of the head of Spain, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, and the change in hands of the state to the Socialist Pedro Sanchez, the Nationalists retook control of Catalonia’s regional government on Saturday. A new cabinet was sworn in ending just over seven months of direct rule from Madrid by Rajoy. The cabinet is now led by Quim Torra, who was a close aide to former Catalonia leader Carles Puigdemont, who the Germans arrested on behalf of Rajoy who wanted him imprisoned for life or outright dead on arrival. The new head of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, has stated he wants talks on Catalonia reversing the policies of Rajoy. However, he has stated that he opposes any independence referendum.

May 25 2018

Yes even Sports Comply with Cycles

Armstrong Economics Blog/Understanding Cycles

Re-Posted May 25, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: Mr. Armstrong; I have a friend in the management of the NFL. I sent him your piece on the decline of their industry and how the protests we really turning people off. Well, they have now banned protests during the game. They revised their policy mandating that players and team personnel present on the sideline “shall stand and show respect for the flag and the Anthem.”

Just letting you know.

football

REPLAY: Yes, the viewership for the Superbowl peaked with the Economic Confidence Model in 2015 and then it began a three-year decline so far into 2018 it has reached a new 9-year low. This has been 3 years down since the major peak in 2015. Players have no right to protest when they are being paid for a job. No employee can say I am not coming to work because I want to protest Trump but you still have to pay me anyway. Personal time is personal. When you are on the clock, you are being paid for a specific job. We have simply put everything into the computer. Sports also peak with the economy and before it turns down hard.

Here is the attendance of the New York Yankees from 1913 (not TV viewership). We can see that attendance declined during the Great Depression, bounced after the war, dropped into 1972 following the collapse of Bretton Woods in 1971, and then began a broader rally that lasted 36 years until 2008. Baseball was also a leading indicator for the decline in viewership for the NFL. The decline post-2008 is mirroring the decline in liquidity in markets as well.

May 20 2018

Flashback: DNI James Clapper Saying FBI Never Had Court Ordered Wiretaps on “Candidate Trump or His Campaign”…

Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on May 19, 2018 by sundance

FLASHBACK – The Dateline is March 9th, 2017: The media is interviewing former DNI James Clapper to push-back against President Trump’s recent tweets about his 2016 campaign, and campaign officials, being under surveillance from Obama intelligence officials. Here’s what Clapper said on Meet The Press:

This week The New York Times [Here and Here] and Washington Post [Here] have reluctantly admitted the Obama intelligence apparatus: CIA, DOJ-NSD and FBI were conducting surveillance on the Trump campaign through the use of FISA Warrants, National Security Letters, and “informants” used to target the campaign.

The IC narrative has shifted from denial to justification. President Trump responds:

(Full Memo pdf)

March 2017:

May 2018:

May 19 2018

Senator Mark Warner: DOJ/FBI Must Not Accept Congressional Oversight….

Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on May 18, 2018 by sundance

Hmmmm…. this is interesting. The Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner, is demanding the FBI and DOJ must keep records from congress.

(Source Link)

According to Mark Warner, it would be “irresponsible” and “potentially illegal” for congressional oversight to keep demanding records from the FBI and DOJ about their spying and surveillance activity against the campaign of Donald Trump… wait, what?

Hmm?… Methinks Senator Mark Warner has a conflict here.

You see, when Dianne Feinstein stepped down as Vice-Chair from the Senate Intel Committee after the 2016 election, it was Mark Warner who took her place. This puts Warner on the Gang-of-Eight. Coincidentally, the Gang-of-Eight conduct all oversight over DOJ and FBI covert and counterintelligence operations…. including those covert actions that took place in 2016. But wait, it gets better….

Senator Mark Warner was also the guy caught text messaging with DC Lawyer Adam Waldman in the spring of 2017 (his first assignment). Waldman was the lawyer for the interests of Christopher Steele – the author of the dossier.

While he was working as an intermediary putting Senator Warner and Christopher Steele in contact with each-other. Simultaneously Adam Waldman was also representing the interests of… wait for it,…. Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska.

Derispaska was the Russian person approached by Andrew McCabe and Peter Strzok and asked to assist in creating dirt on the Trump campaign, via Paul Manafort.

You see, Senator Mark Warner has a vested interest in making sure that no-one ever gets to the bottom of the 2016 political weaponization, spying and surveillance operation.

Senator Mark Warner was a participant in the execution of the “insurance policy” trying to remove President Trump via the Russian Collusion narrative.

Senator Feinstein’s 2016 senior staffer (with Gang-of-Eight security clearance) was Dan Jones. It was recently revealed that Dan Jones contracted with Christopher Steele to continue work on the Russia conspiracy narrative after the 2016 election, and raised over $50 million toward the ideological goals of removing President Trump. {See Here}

Staffer Dan Jones surfaces in the text messages from Feinstein’s replacement on the Gang-of-Eight, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman, Mark Warner {See Here}

Senator Warner was texting with Adam Waldman about setting up a meeting with Chris Steele. Waldman is a lobbyist/lawyer with a $40,000 monthly retainer to represent the U.S. interests of Russian billionaire Oleg V. Deripaska.

Senator Mark Warner was trying to set up a covert meeting. In the text messages Adam Waldman is telling Senator Warner that Chris Steele will not meet with him without a written letter (request) from the Senate Intelligence Committee. Senator Warner didn’t want the Republican members to know about the meeting. Chris Steele knew this was a partisan political set-up and was refusing to meet unilaterally with Senator Warner. His lawyer Adam Waldman was playing the go-between:

That “Dan Jones”, mentioned above, talking with Chris Steele and told to go to see Senator Warner, is the former senate staffer Dan Jones, who was previously attached to Dianne Feinstein.

Simultaneously, while working to connect Senator Warner to Christopher Steele, Adam Waldman is representing Oleg Deripaska:

(Source Link)

Oleg Deripaska was a source of intelligence information within the John Brennan intelligence community efforts throughout 2016. This is the same intersection of characters that circle around Stefan Halper.

John Solomon – […] Deripaska also appears to be one of the first Russians the FBI asked for help when it began investigating the now-infamous Fusion GPS “Steele Dossier.” Waldman, his American lawyer until the sanctions hit, gave me a detailed account, some of which U.S. officials confirmseparately.

Two months before Trump was elected president, Deripaska was in New York as part of Russia’s United Nations delegation when three FBI agents awakened him in his home; at least one agent had worked with Deripaska on the aborted effort to rescue Levinson. During an hour-long visit, the agents posited a theory that Trump’s campaign was secretly colluding with Russia to hijack the U.S. election. (more)

Now, for more motive for Senator Warner to keep sunlight from the operation, listen carefully to the opening statement from former CIA Director John Brennan May 23rd, 2017, during his testimony to congress.

Pay very close attention to the segment at 13:35 of this video of Brennan’s testimony:

Brennan: [13:35] “Third, through the so-called Gang-of-Eight process we kept congress apprised of these issues as we identified them.”

“Again, in consultation with the White House, I PERSONALLY briefed the full details of our understanding of Russian attempts to interfere in the election to congressional leadership; specifically: Senators Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, Dianne Feinstein and Richard Burr; and to representatives Paul Ryan, Nancy Pelosi, Devin Nunes and Adam Schiff between 11th August and 6th September [2016], I provided the same briefing to each of the gang of eight members.”

“Given the highly sensitive nature of what was an active counter-intelligence case [that means the FBI], involving an ongoing Russian effort, to interfere in our presidential election, the full details of what we knew at the time were shared only with those members of congress; each of whom was accompanied by one senior staff member.”…

May 14 2018

Huma Abedin Laptop Emails and The Non-Investigated Issues Therein…

The Conservative Tree House

RE-Posted on May 13, 2018 by sundance

The Department of Justice Inspector General will soon release a report on the government’s investigation of Hillary Clinton’s mishandling of classified information. It’s taken a long time; and with good reason. The scale of the misconduct and criminal activity is staggering.

The video below is the final installment of six segments. This report covers the Clinton and Abedin email that were discovered after the investigation was closed in July 2016. {Go Deep} The emails along with the fact that they were on Anthony Weiner’s laptop was kept secret and not investigated for four weeks (Sept 28th, through Oct 27th) by top officials at the FBI. Who stalled the investigation and why? And what was in those emails. That’s the focus of this segment.

When the IG report reviewing how the Clinton email investigation was handled comes out, there will likely be a review of Peter Kadzik, the former Main Justice Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs. In congressional testimony Sept. 12th, 2016, Kadzik told Congress he was in charge of the Clinton e-mail probe for the Justice Department.

Bulletpoint #3

• Allegations that the Department’s Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs improperly disclosed non-public information to the Clinton campaign and/or should have been recused from participating in certain matters.

That is a specific IG reference to Peter Kadzik, and THIS STORY.