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Feb 13 2018

Senator Chuck Grassley Questions Susan Rice About ‘Unusual’ Documentary Letter to Herself…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on February 12, 2018 by

Earlier today Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley sent a letter to President Obama’s former National Security Adviser, Susan Rice, about a curious email she sent to herself documenting a White House conversation between President Obama and former FBI head James Comey (pdf below).

On the day of the inauguration, January 20th, 2017; at the very last minutes of the outgoing administration; Mrs. Rice documented a conversation which took place on January 5th, 2017 between President Obama, Asst. AG Sally Yates and FBI Director James Comey.  Vice-President Joe Biden and Susan Rice were in attendance.

On its face the Rice note would appear to be a CYA memo documenting a conversation in the larger effort of the White House in case the DOJ/FBI were discovered to be conspiring to create a series of false accusations, the “insurance policy” per se’, against the incoming president.  Rice appears to be leaving a document trail in the event she needed to extricate herself from risks associated with the intention of the ‘small group’.

The substance of the meeting surrounded the “Clinton-Steele Dossier”, and how the DOJ and FBI officials were pursuing the use therein.  The date of the meeting, January 5th, 2017,was amid a series of leaks from inside the FBI and DOJ toward allied media who were working diligently to frame a narrative of Russian collusion.

The meeting date described, January 5th, 2017, was immediately prior to FBI Director James Comey informing President-elect Trump of the dossier content.  That Comey/Trump meeting was quickly leaked to the media; and is noted in footnote #1 of the Grassley inquiry directing attention to a CNN report (Evan Perez, Jim Sciutto, and Jake Tapper).   We previously drew attention to the sketchy nature of the CNN reporting at the time – SEE HERE: “Anatomy of a Political Smear”:

CTH January 10th, 2017 – […] The framework for the latest narrative begins with a CNN report, constructed by a familiar set of characters (Jake Tapper, Jim Sciutto, Evan Perez and Carl Bernstein), all referencing a vague and intensely obtuse claim about Russians attempting to gain some form of opposition research leverage against President-elect Trump.

To establish the construct of their political narrative they must first set the cornerstone. The cornerstone must appear reasonable and prudent.  The cornerstone establishes their ‘high horse’ credibility position.

The team attempts to do this by presenting notification of a two page addendum to the DNI report on Russian interference with the 2016 election.  The CNN crew claim the addendum discusses Russians attempting to find opposition research on Trump.

The existence of this addendum comes from the ever predictable “unnamed official intelligence sources” etc.  Sound familiar?  It should.

The reported claim as outlined by Jack Tapper and crew, within the addendum, stems from a political opposition research file commissioned by Team Hillary Clinton and Team Never Trump in the run up to the election and reportedly executed by a British former intelligence agent.

CNN pushes the story today of the Russian black mail angle – SEE HERE – about the FBI/DNI summarizing the addendum from a 35 page oppo-research report which came as an outcome of this Clinton/NeverTrump commissioned investigation.

However, even CNN admits everything within the memo discussion is innuendo, allegations and unsubstantiated political rumor, ie. bullshit.

[…] One reason the nation’s intelligence chiefs took the extraordinary step of including the synopsis in the briefing documents was to make the President-elect aware that such allegations involving him are circulating among intelligence agencies, senior members of Congress and other government officials in Washington, multiple sources tell CNN.

[…] Some of the memos were circulating as far back as last summer. […] The two-page summary was written without the detailed specifics and information about sources and methods included in the memos by the former British intelligence official. (read more)

The entire construct is ridiculous, and these bizzarro memo claims are complete nonsense. It can be fully anticipated the 2 page addendum describing the ridiculous allegations, was largely saying they were nonsense.   Especially considering the details within the “memos” are wrong about the geography and locales they describe in Russia.

However, with the cornerstone firmly in place, thanks to CNN, it’s off to the political races.

Democrat Senators fully anticipating and given advanced notice of the play, introduce the ‘Russian Blackmail Memo Narrative’ at Senator Jeff Sessions confirmation hearing via Senator Al Franken.

The Daily Beast gleefully pushes the story. And the concerted effort of CNN and congress finally allows Buzzfeed to publish the memo’s they previously didn’t publish out of embarrassment for the ridiculous and absurd claims within them:

(Via Buzzfeed) […] The dossier, which is a collection of memos written over a period of months, includes specific, unverified, and potentially unverifiable allegations of contact between Trump aides and Russian operatives, and graphic claims of sexual acts documented by the Russians.

CNN reported Tuesday that a two-page synopsis of the report was given to President Barack Obama and Trump. (link)

See what they did there?  “Media reports on media reports” again.  All timed to coincide with the beginning of President Donald Trump’s cabinet confirmations.

See how that works?

Oh, and what happened to the 20 female “October Surprise” assault accusers?  Yeah, vanished right after their usefulness was gone.   We can expect the same disappearing outcome with this ridiculous CNN story line as soon as it holds no more value in diminishing the incoming White House.   Playbook returns to shelf.

It’s just how they roll.  (more)

Here’s the Chuck Grassley letter to Susan Rice requesting information and asking questions about why she felt it necessary to document the January 5th meeting:

https://www.scribd.com/embeds/371382226/content?start_page=1&view_mode=&access_key=key-dcpKxSN2czCVkp7ls6gJ

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Senator Grassley is not asking questions he doesn’t already know the answers to.

Grassley and Nunes are now beginning to draw the upper part of the administration into the matrices of the conspiracy.  Secretary of State John Kerry; CIA Director John Brennan; ODNI James Clapper; Attorney General Loretta Lynch; AAG Sally Yates; DAAG John P Carlin (DOJ-NSD), DAAG Mary McCord (DOJ-NSD); Asst. FBI Director Andrew McCabe and FBI Director James Comey are inherently wound-up in the larger plan.

Chairman Grassley is simply expanding the net.

All narrative collapses eventually lead to President Obama’s involvement.

Not everyone in/around the top of the DOJ and upper-level FBI was comfortable with the dynamic.  There are white hats amid the tiers.  NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers and a tenuously placed FBI Counterintelligence Head Bill Priestap are evidence therein.

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Feb 8 2018

Worst Drought in Capetown in 112 Years – Part of the Cycle


Armstrong Economics Blog/Climate

Re-Posted Feb 8, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Marty,

Any thoughts/comments regarding the impending water shortage in Capetown? As a person who has much historical knowledge, are you aware of a major city such as Capetown ever running out of water? Or is this truly a historical first?

Love your blog as it covers so much information and isn’t just corporate financial data like so many others.

Your loyal reader from

Alan.

ANSWER: South Africa will score this season the worse drought since 1904 right on schedule on the 112-year cycle (1/2 224). We must respect that the climate is changing back to a dry cold period and this has impacted South Africa. This is also part of the cycle we see with rising food prices into 2024. Just as we have seen the coldest periods in the USA back to 1899, we are witnessing the worst drought in Capetown also back to the same general period.

Feb 7 2018

BUSTED: Proof DOJ Didn’t Care About Bruce Ohr Meeting Chris Steele Until IG Horowitz Found Out…


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

Proving, once again, this is a well thought-out strategy, Chuck Grassley’s newest partly declassified version of the Graham-Grassley memo highlights the DOJ didn’t care about Bruce Ohr meeting with Christopher Steele until Inspector General Michael Horowitz found out.

Page #5 of the Grassley Memo (pg. 7 pdf), highlights the FBI interviewed DOJ Deputy Attorney Bruce Ohr on November 22nd, and December 12th, 2016 [FD-302 Interview Notes], yet didn’t take any action about their discoveries until Inspector General Michael Horowitz found out and revealed the interviews on December 7th, 2017.

(pdf link)

The FD-302 (FBI) interviews were conducted with Bruce Ohr on November 22nd and December 12th, 2016. As footnoted above.  However, it wasn’t until Horowitz revealed the information within those interviews (December 7th, 2017) that any action was taken?

Therein the ideology and political motive of the DOJ “small group” gets sunlight:

DECEMBER 7th, 2017 – […] Initially senior department officials could not provide the reason for Ohr’s demotion, but Fox News has learned that evidence collected by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), chaired by Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., indicates that Ohr met during the 2016 campaign with Christopher Steele, the former British spy who authored the “dossier.”

Later, a Justice Department official told Fox News: “It is unusual for anyone to wear two hats as he has done recently. This person is going to go back to a single focus—director of our organized crime and drug enforcement unit. As you know, combating transnational criminal organizations and drug trafficking is a top priority for the attorney general.”

Additionally, House investigators have determined that Ohr met shortly after the election with Glenn Simpson, the founder of Fusion GPS – the opposition research firm that hired Steele to compile the dossier with funds supplied by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. By that point, according to published reports, the dossier had been in the hands of the FBI, which exists under the aegis of DOJ, for some five months, and the surveillance on Carter Page, an adviser to the Trump campaign, had started more than two months prior. (read more)

The Devin Nunes HPSCI memo revealed that Fusion-GPS employee Nellie Ohr, was funneling Clinton Opposition research to her husband Bruce Ohr for use by the DOJ in assembling the ‘Clinton-Steele dossier’; as justification to acquire a FISA “Title 1” surveillance warrant; for retroactive surveillance authority against Carter Page and the Trump Campaign.

(HPSCI Memo Link pdf)

Obviously the ‘small group’ within the DOJ and FBI didn’t have any issue with the activity of Bruce and Nellie Ohr during 2016 until IG Horowitz found out and exposed it in 2017.

After a few feeble attempts at brush back pitches… with the release of the lesser redacted memo, Senator Chuck Grassley took a 3-1 pitch and rocked a solid double off the wall, putting him on Second Base and Devin Nunes confidently standing on Third.

With no-one out, and first base open, the Democrats are stressed.

Adam Schiff calls for a pitching change as House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte steps up to the plate.

However, they can’t pitch around Goodlatte because clean-up hitter Horowitz is on deck. Schiff needs to bring the infield in close and hope for a double-play.  They’re down to their last pitcher and he doesn’t look good.

More sweating.

https://www.scribd.com/embeds/370918981/content?start_page=1&view_mode=&access_key=key-4FYurQaOGkqAtR5CXj4u

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Feb 6 2018

Devin Nunes Participates in World Championship Interruption Session…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on February 5, 2018 by

Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes appears on Fox News for an professional interruption session with Sean Hannity.   Chairman Nunes was able to slip in a few points between Hannity shuffling his papers to tell the audience how much his sources know about the papers he is shuffling, and how those sources outline Chairman Nunes memo content.

After Hannity was able to locate his place amid his papers, he tells his audience what his sources said about Chairman Nunes memo, he then asked Nunes to confirm his sources were correct. Seemingly oblivious to the fact when he actually has Nunes in front of him he can ask direct questions, and not have to list what his sources say, and then frame questions about sources making claims of what Nunes said in his memo.  Very weird interview technique.  WATCH:

Feb 6 2018

Carter Page Interview With Laura Ingraham…


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

The primary target of the DOJ FISA “Title I” surveillance warrant, Carter Page, appears on Fox News with Laura Ingraham for an exclusive interview discussing Mr. Page’s history and contact with the Trump campaign. There are two interview segments.

Video #1:

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Video #2 below:

♦Around 01:50 of segment #2 Carter Page says he emailed FBI Director James Comey on Sept. 25th, 2016 offering his help on any questions the FBI might have; and noted prior work with people within the FBI and the intelligence community.  This is approximately a month before the October 21st, 2016, FISA “Title 1” application against him.

♦Around 03:05 Mr. Page mentions the prior DOJ case he was involved in, against Evgeny Buryakov, described by the DOJ as an FBI Under-Cover Employee (UCE-1), in this interview Carter Page describes himself as a “witness“.

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Feb 4 2018

Collapse of the Rule of Law


Armstrong Economics Blog/Rule of Law

Re-Posted Feb 4, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong, I read all the words after the film. I found it interesting that the filmmaker went to the government and asked them to explain their position and nobody would appear. Instead, they just threatened NetFlix and everyone else to ban the film in the United States. It was on TV here in Canada. This really exposes how corrupt the entire system really is and the press just goes along with this corruption. Do you think this will change anytime soon?

ANSWER: The corruption is starting to surface. There is a mysterious memorandum that Trump wants to release which demonstrates the corruption in the FBI, which infects the courts and the Department of Justice. The decision to release it lies with the Congress – not Trump. Naturally, the Democrats are against it because it demonstrates the conspiracy between the FBI and the Democrats. 

This secret memorandum deals with investigations of the FBI in the Russia affair. Specifically, it will go to the surveillance of Carter Page, a former campaign adviser to Donald Trump. The source used to engage in surveillance of the Trump campaign was the dossier which was funded by Hillary Clinton and the Democrats and has been discredited on many levels. The FISA court which approved the FBI surveillance was never told that the dossier had been funded by the Democrats. This is what is classified as FRAUD UPON THE COURT.

“Fraud upon the court” has been defined by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals as any “attempts to, defile the court itself, or is a fraud perpetrated by officers of the court so that the judicial machinery can not perform in the usual manner its impartial task of adjudging cases.” Kenner v. C.I.R., 387 F.3d 689 (1968); 7 Moore’s Federal Practice, 2d ed., p. 512, ś 60.23. The 7th Circuit went even further stating that “a decision produced by fraud upon the court is not in essence a decision at all, and never becomes final.”

“Fraud on the court is one of the most serious violations that can occur in a court of law. If fraud on the court occurs, the effect is that the entire case is voided or cancelled. Any ruling or judgment that the court has issued will be void. The case will usually need to be retried with different court officials, often in an entirely different venue.

For the official who acted in fraud upon the court, they may very well be required to step down from their position and may even be subjected to criminal consequences like a fine or a jail sentence. It could also result in other serious consequences, such as an attorney being disbarred, or a judge being removed from service.

If a court official is found to be biased or prejudiced even before fraud occurs, they are required to excuse themselves from the case, and a different official must be appointed. In some jurisidictions, a trial tainted by fraud on the court will be vacated or set aside for a certain time period (such as two years), to be “reopened” at a later date. “

see: Source

Therefore, anyone who tries to hide the memo is cons[iring with the FBI and that is actually a crime. We are witnessing the complete meltdown of the rule of law.

Feb 2 2018

January MAGAnomics – Main Street Kicks Wall Street in the Teeth: Jobs Grow 200K, Wages Grow 3%…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on February 2, 2018 by

With the new year comes more Main Street winning; and the distinction between Wall Street’s economy and Main Street’s economy becomes stunningly clear.

The January jobs report showed a gain of 200,000 U.S. jobs, and more importantly, a 2.9% year-over-year growth in wages.  –SOURCE–  [Biggest wage rate jump since the phoney trillion stimulus-funded growth mid-2009.] We continue to remind of our two-year prediction that stunning wage growth will evidence in Q2 of 2018 (April-July)… today’s report is only the preview of that wage growth cycle.

Construction reported by the biggest gain by sector with 36,000. Bars and restaurants added 31,000 and health care was up 21,000. Manufacturing also showed a gain of 15,000 and durable goods-related industries added 18,000.

“Perhaps the biggest positive surprise on hiring is the continued surge for the goods-producing sector with manufacturing and construction leading the way,” said Mark Hamrick, Bankrate.com’s senior economic analyst. (link)

The Main Street economic engine is fundamentally detached from the drivers of the Wall Street economic engine (monetary policy).   While the paper wizards are getting kicked in the teeth, interest rate increases will not diminish Main Street gains because wage increases will remain ahead of price inflation.  Interest rate increases will, however, impact Wall Street because interest rates are monetary policy, and a great deal of Wall Street is based on speculation within the paper (false) economy.

Can you see now why we have been saying for two years MAGAnomics will draw out the new dimension in modern economics?  There is a distance between Main Street’s economic engine and Wall Street’s economic engine.  MAGAnomics operates in the space between them.

The stock market retracts today against fears of rising interest rates.  Many on Wall Street have not recognized that monetary policy will not influence Main Street growth until interest rates, and/or inflation, surpasses the rate of wage growth.   The parity within that dynamic is still about a year-and-a-half away.

If you pay attention the economic engine disconnect is visible.  Note the market schizophrenia as Gold didn’t climb while stocks/bonds dropped.

February 2018 wage growth will exceed January (driven in part by new tax rates); March will exceed February; April will exceed March…. and so on, and so on, (remember these are year-over-year comparatives).  This is the EXACT reversal of prior economic policies from several administrations that were killing Main Street.

At the very heart of America-First, MAGAnomics focuses on U.S. jobs and U.S. companies.  Investment growth drives labor demand; labor demand drives wage rates; wage rate growth increases consumer demand for goods and services; that demand drives investment; more investment is expansion of production capacity – ie. need more labor.

There will be natural price inflation to come as an outcome of Main Street’s economy expanding. However, two factors:  #1) inflation will creep slow, there’s a natural lag and built in downward price pressure within the gap of unfilled production capacity;  #2) Most importantly growth in wages will exceed the inflation rate -for approximately two years- thereby making increases in product costs irrelevant to consumer demands.

Inside this mix, off-shore manufacturers will continue trying to get their products into the hands of Americans who have more disposable income.  That unique aspect will continue to keep prices down during the phase of shifts from import manufacturing to domestic manufacturing.  Unfortunately, imports might keep GDP growth rates down – but the underlying economy will be expanding as domestic production begins to replace imports.

Ongoing financial results will be solid for companies doing business in the U.S., and actual profit results will gain market weight over speculation.   The Titans are rising.

Economic nationalism is winning…. globalism is losing…. multinationals are shrieking… paper weasels are crying…. Middle Class American workers are CHEERING!

Jan 24 2018

Adam Schiff and Dianne Feinstein Demand Twitter Investigate #ReleaseTheMemo…


Re-Posted from The Conservative Tree House on January 23, 2018 by

The desperation of democrats has crossed into ludicrous world.  Rep. Adam Schiff and Senator Dianne Feinstein have written a letter to Facebook and Twitter demanding an immediate investigation into the strong support of the #ReleaseTheMemo campaign.

If you thought CNN was absurd last year when they spent eight months investigating the 2016 election results and determined a conspiracy behind the mobile ap ‘Pokemon-Go’ was a factor in causing Hillary Clinton to lose, well, Shiff-for-brains and DiFi apparently have one-upped that conspiracy.

(Source)

 

Nice to know this is the type of insufferable stupidity Democrats in congress are focused on. Apparently, Mr. Shiff and Mrs. Feinstein cannot fathom an engaged American electorate that would be seeking transparency in government; therefore the scale of the social-media support must mean, Russians !

Echo-chambered moonbat logic thy name is…

Keep in mind these Democrats are the ranking members of the House Intelligence Committee (Schiff), and Senate Judiciary Committee (Feinstein).  Think about that.

Unfortunately for those who cling to left-wing conspiracy theories, according to early analysis from Twitter it turns out normal people just want to know what their government is doing.  The campaign is exclusive to America and U.S. accounts:

(Via Daily Beast) […] a knowledgeable source says that Twitter’s internal analysis has thus far found that authentic American accounts, and not Russian imposters or automated bots, are driving #ReleaseTheMemo. There are no preliminary indications that the Twitter activity either driving the hashtag or engaging with it is either predominantly Russian.

In short, according to this source, who would not speak to The Daily Beast for attribution, the retweets are coming from inside the country.  (read more)

 

Here’s the full letter:

Russians, gottabe !!

 

Jan 15 2018

How Will Interest Rates Double in Europe from Here


Armstrong Economics Blog/Bonds

Re-Posted Jan 15, 2018 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Marty

 Thanks for all your guidance and help in navigating these markets. You mention rates are going up soon in Europe but how can the ECB achieve this when they are still implementing QE. I work in the European HY market and the technicals are horrible as so much money is flooding in chasing yield driving up leverage and deteriorating lending conditions. If rates do go up soon can we expect a spectacular unwinding of the HY bond market that has ground so tight due to CSPP?

Thanks so much, keep up the amazing work.

NS

ANSWER: Central banks can only control short-term rates for brief periods of time. They cannot control the long-end. The problem the ECB has is by backing off of QE, it will require private buyers to replace them, which will not happen at negative to low rates. The interest rates will be set by the private sector – not the ECB. The QE program has degenerated from an economic stimulus to simply life-support for member states. The “stimulus” never made it past the governments and we have nearly 10 years of QE that has just failed completely. Once the government have to turn back to private buyers, that is when you will see rates rise sharply to try to sell new debt.

Dec 17 2017

Taxing the Per Mile you Drive – Hunt for Taxes


Armstrong Economics Blog/The Hunt for Taxes

Re-Posted Dec 17, 2017 by Martin Armstrong

There are a number of states now looking into imposing a tax on every mile you drive your car. The leader of the pack has been the West Coast.  I previously reported that California wanted to tax space shots per mile they flew into the sky. Then California wants to tax taxi drivers per mile they drive.  Oregon was looking into taxing per mile you drive. Illinois was looking at taxing motorists 1.5 cents per mile they drive.

Well, California is losing money as oil prices are down and people are shifting to electric cars more so there than perhaps anywhere else in the country. So what is the solution to needing more money? Of course, you guessed it, California now says what the heck, let’s just tax everybody per mile they drive and that will make up for the loss at the gas pump.