Armstrong Economics Blog/Middle East Re-Posted Dec 8, 2021 by Martin Armstrong

(Afghanistan-related designations are one of the few cases in which President Barack Obama’s administration imposed more economic sanctions (103) than President Donald Trump’s administration (24), which was publicly engaged in peace talks with the Taliban from 2018 to 2020 and issued fewer sanctions. (U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control; Sanctions Explorer))

When the US left Afghanistan at the end of August, they implemented harsher sanctions on the Taliban. Western aid to the nation vanished, and Afghanistan became isolated from the world economy. It was never America’s job to uphold Afghanistan, but the impact of abruptly leaving after two decades of occupation has caused insurmountable trouble to the people our troops fought to protect. Now, over half the country is likely to experience food insecurity and starvation this winter.

Of the 22.8 million Afghans facing food shortages, 8.7 million are expected to face famine. In addition to the Taliban’s utter ignorance on how to run a country, the nation has experienced its worst drought in decades that has killed off livestock and crops. The New York Times reported that Afghanistan’s wheat harvest will be cut by a quarter this year, and many rural farmers have abandoned cultivating their land entirely.

The World Bank recently voted to provide the nation with $280 million in previously frozen donor funds, but this is a small portion of the $1.5 billion in frozen assets. The US entered Afghanistan for 20 years and left without a plan under Biden. Over 7,057 servicemen and women have died in post-9/11 operations, and an additional 30,177 died of suicide. No one wins when it comes to war games

Posted originally on the conservative tree house on December 7, 2021 | Sundance | 119 Comments

The most notorious hate crime hoaxer in the past few years took the witness stand in his own defense to proclaim he didn’t do anything wrong, when he set up his own fake racial attack using two brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo.

The two brothers testified to being paid $3,500 to pull-off the most transparent and goofy hate crime in recent memory. All of the witness statements align with CCTV footage, cell phone records and other evidence that showed the trio even rehearsed the late night fake crime. There is not a shred of evidence that counteracts the entire fiasco as a ridiculous hate crime hoax. Yet for some insufferable reason this case reached a courtroom.

The police knew it was a hoax, yet they spent 1,500 hours investigating it. The two pretend attackers admitted it was a hoax, and gave details of how it was done. The direct and circumstantial evidence all shows it was a hoax. Everything about the entire series of events proves it was a hoax crime, and yet Jussie Smollet claims it was real.

This is silly.

Closing arguments are expected tomorrow, and if the jury needs to debate this one, well, the justice system is a parody of itself.

CHICAGO – A Cook County jury will likely begin deliberating Wednesday in actor Jussie Smollett’s trial on charges he lied to police about being the victim of an alleged racist and homophobic attack nearly three years ago.

The defense rested its case Tuesday afternoon after the actor spent a tense two hours on the stand, at times getting testy under questioning from Special Prosecutor Dan Webb.

Judge James Linn released the jury around noon, telling them they would return Wednesday to hear closing arguments and then to weigh a verdict on the six counts of disorderly conduct the actor faces.

During testimony that spanned two days of trial, Smollett forcefully and repeatedly denied that he was involved in planning an alleged hoax attack in January 2019 on himself with brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo. The pair testified last week that Smollett masterminded the attack as a publicity stunt. (read more)

In my humble opinion, the Smollett hate crime was planned as part of the Kamala Harris presidential candidacy rollout.  Jussie Smollett just did a terrible job at pulling it off and the entire operation went sideways…. All of this nonsense is an outcome of that.

Posted Originally on the conservative tree House on December 7, 2021 | Sundance | 230 Comments

A federal judge in Georgia has blocked the vaccine mandate for federal contractors nationally.  A previous court order from another judge in Kentucky blocked the contractor vaccine mandate in Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee [link].  This latest ruling blocks the contractor mandate nationally [link].

This is the latest defeat for the Biden administration against all three facets of the federal vaccine mandate: (1) Federal Contractors, (2) CMS Healthcare providers, (3) private sector employers with over 100 workers.

All three prongs of the White House federal vaccine mandate are now blocked by federal courts.

(Reuters) – A federal judge in Georgia issued a nationwide injunction that prevents the U.S. government from enforcing a COVID-19 vaccine mandate on federal contractors, temporarily shutting down the last remaining vaccine requirement by the Biden administration.

U.S. District Judge Stan Baker in Savannah, Georgia, said Congress did not clearly authorize the president to use procurement to impose a vaccine requirement on contractors that will have “vast economic and political significance.” (read more)