“Financial data can tell a person’s story, including one’s “religion, ideology, opinions, and interests” as well as one’s “political leanings, locations, and more,”’ the report begins. This investigation began after a whistleblower who happens to be a retired FBI agent alerted Congress that the Bank of America (BoA) voluntarily provided the Biden Administration information on customers who used a credit or debit card in Washington, D.C., around the January 6 protests. The new report has revealed that federal agencies have been working “hand-in-glove with financial institutions, obtaining virtually unchecked access to private financial data and testing out new methods and new technology to continue the financial surveillance of American citizens.”
As I’ve said countless times, “money laundering” is ALWAYS the excuse for why the government must track and monitor our financial transactions. The Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) E-Filing System is a system for financial institutions to file reports required by the BSA electronically. By law, the BSA requires businesses to keep records and file reports to help prevent and detect money laundering. This is how the Biden Administration is attempting to disregard privacy and weaponize financial institutions.
US intelligence agencies searched through records for terms like “Trump” and “MAGA” to target Americans who they believed may hold “extremist” views. The agencies searched for Americans who purchased religious texts, such as the Bible, and also labeled them extremists. Anyone expressing disdain for the COVID lockdowns, vaccines, open borders, or the deep state were placed on a watchlist. Again, the BSA was used as a premise to pull transactions placed by the individuals on this list.
As explained by the investigative committee:
“With narrow exception, federal law does not permit law enforcement to inquire into financial institutions’ customer information without some form of legal process.9 The FBI circumvents this process by tipping off financial institutions to “suspicious” individuals and encouraging these institutions to file a SAR—which does not require any legal process—and thereby provide federal law enforcement with access to confidential and highly sensitive information.10 In doing so, the FBI gets around the requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), which, per the Treasury Department, specifies that “it is . . . a bank’s responsibility” to “file a SAR whenever it identifies ‘a suspicious transaction relevant to a possible violation of law or regulation’”11 While at least one financial institution requested legal process from the FBI for information it was seeking,12 all too often the FBI appeared to receive no pushback. In sum, by providing financial institutions with lists of people that it views as generally “suspicious” on the front end, the FBI has turned this framework on its head and contravened the Fourth Amendment’s requirements of particularity and probable cause.”
Under this premise, anyone who held a viewpoint that opposed the Biden Administration was considered a “suspicious” individual who required monitoring. The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network created a database to carefully watch potential dissenters. Over 14,000 government employees accessed the FinCEN database last year and conducted over 3 million searches without a warrant. In fact, over 15% of FBI investigations during 2023 has some link to this database. It is estimated that 4.6 million SARs and 20.8 million Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs) were filed in the last year.
The committee noted that the government is incorporating AI to quickly search the web for “suspicious” Americans:
“As the Committee and Select Subcommittee have discussed in other reports, the growth and expansion of AI present major risks to Americans’ civil liberties.211 For example, the Committee and Select Subcommittee uncovered AI being used to censor “alleged misinformation regarding COVID-19 and the 2020 election . . . .”212 Those concerns are not hypothetical. Some AI systems developed by Big Tech companies have been programmed with biases; for example, Google’s Gemini AI program praised liberal views while refusing to do the same for conservative views, despite claiming to be “objective” and “neutral.” With financial institutions seemingly adopting AI solutions to monitor Americans’ transactions, a similarly biased AI program could result in the systematic flagging or censoring of transactions that the AI is trained to view as “suspicious.”
This is extremely troubling and goes beyond government overreach and violated numerous Constitutional protections. The government effectively transformed banking institutions into spy agencies, and anyone who could potentially hold a view that did not fit the Biden-Harris agenda has been treated as potential terrorist. It is completely insane that someone could be seen as an extremist for purchasing a religious text or purchasing a firearm. This is discriminatory, predatory behavior that puts millions of lives at risk. Think of governments in the past who have rounded up names of dissenters based on religion or ideology. They claim they are merely observing us, but the goal is to silence us.
The committee said their investigation has just begun as they will not allow the government’s abuse of financial data to go unchecked. Furthermore, they are concerned that these warrantless searches can lead to widespread debanking practices where the government can easily block any dissenter from participating in society by crippling them financially. This is yet another reason why governments want to push banks to create CBDC so that they can punish citizens with a simple click of a button.
Posted originally on Dec 13, 2024 by Martin Armstrong
Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume was booed by a crowd of 20,000 employees after stating that the company is not “operating in a fantasy world.” The company already saw 100,000 union members walkout on Monday. “As management we’re not operating in a fantasy world. We are making decisions in a rapidly changing environment,” Blume stated. But the fantasy of climate change is indeed what the company is operating under.
Blume said that Volkswagen must begin to offload vehicles to Chinese consumers. Why would Chinese consumers by a European EV when they can purchase a Chinese model for a fraction of the cost? I recently discussed how even American auto CEOs were praising the technological advances of Chinese EVs. China was once a large market for Germany’s auto exports but that has changed since the government applied countless regulations in the name of climate change.
Then Volkswagen had its emissions scandal where it falsified emissions testing to sell to US consumers. I wrote in 2015: “This event appears to highlight the turning point of 2015.75; in hindsight, we will probably look back at this turning point as the start of a serious economic decline that will strike Europe’s biggest economy. The German car industry is the largest and what is unraveling is a taint upon all German cars, which is unfair. This involved diesel only. Nonetheless, things are never always fair.”
Now the company is looking to cut pay for 120,000 workers. Operating profits have fallen by 11.4% and they simply cannot continue producing these EVs at the same pace they were producing dreaded fuel-powered cars because the demand is not there. The government is actively preventing the auto industry from flourishing. It is a fantasy to believe that the German auto industry can continue adhering to the country’s climate change objectives that believe it can reduce carbon emissions by 65% within the next 5 years.
Yet another reason why the entire European Union is facing a recession. Germany is the bread and butter of the EU – the economic powerhouse. You had 17% of all GDP in Germany derived from the auto industry in 2023, and now the nation’s top auto manufacturer is struggling to make a profit.
China was a key player for Germany. Germany sold 241,000 vehicles to China in 2023, marking a large portion of its market share at a value of €15.1 billion. Auto suppliers were able to sell some €11.2 billion to China last year. Currently, one in five cars on the road in China have been manufactured in Germany. Yet, China’s own auto industry grew 156% over a two-year period from 2021 to 2023 after exporting 4.14 million vehicles last year. China is not adhering to the climate change agenda, and those same regulations derived from fictional data are not strangling China’s energy-dependent sectors.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz called China a “systemic rival,” but he failed to acknowledge the government’s role in stifling the private sector. The German Chamber of Commerce in China conducted a study this past September that revealed half of the 566 surveyed businesses planned to invest more heavily into China. Only 2% said they would be willing to sell off their Chinese operations, and 7% said they were considering a move away from China. Instead of working on open trade, all of the Western nations have deemed China an unfriendly nation to be wary of.
The move to end climate change is fundamentally driving a stake through the very heart of the German economy and therefore the entire EU. The mercantile economic model will continue to collapse under the fantasy world of climate change. While they may not reduce their carbon footprint, the Germany economy is certainly on track to reduce its economic footprint in the years ahead.
Posted originally on Dec 13, 2024 by Martin Armstrong
The United States Treasury Department expedited a $20 billion aid package to Ukraine as part of the 50 billion G7 Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) Loans initiative. The establishment wants to offload these funds as quickly as possible to deter Donald Trump from reversing course and withholding aid. The funds were sent to the questionable World Bank and derived from frozen Russian assets.
Will the funds be used for humanitarian aid? No one knows. Joe Biden would have had to call upon Congress to agree to send military aid, although he initially wanted to split the $20 BILLION down the line and devote half to economic aid and the other half to the military. Since there are absolutely no checks or balances on these funds, his administration simply marked it all as economic aid and wired it to the World Bank.
“These funds – paid for by the windfall proceeds earned from Russia’s own immobilized assets – will provide Ukraine a critical infusion of support as it defends its country against an unprovoked war of aggression,” said Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen, who personally oversaw the transfer. “The $50 billion collectively being provided by the G7 through this initiative will help ensure Ukraine has the resources it needs to sustain emergency services, hospitals, and other foundations of its brave resistance.”
Yellen followed up by stating that Putin is “engaging our coalition in a contest of wills” and hoping the West will retreat on its stance to prolong the war at all costs. She praised the “creative policymaking and the unity of the G7” for prolonging the war that would have ended years ago if not for Western interference. In fact, the war would never have begun if not for Western interference, or dare I say, the deliberate creation of this manufactured war.
Not only does Yellen expect Russia to retreat, but she demands that they pay Ukraine for damages. This could never occur. The premise of aiding Ukraine has created an endless excuse to send funds into the abyss. The World Bank will allegedly place the $20 billion in the Facilitation of Resources to Invest in Strengthening Ukraine Financial Intermediary Fund, yet another overflowing fund intended to save the world from what Yellen called a “belligerent regime.”
I reported how whistleblowers revealed that the World Bank had $41 billion in unaccounted funds initially destined to fight climate change. Now, the World Bank is funneling billions more under the premise of Ukraine – not to mention that the $20 billion was stolen from Russians and created a new form of economic warfare. All of this reeks of corruption.
Posted originally on Dec 13, 2024 by Martin Armstrong
QUESTION: Marty, I cannot thank you enough for your coverage of the Middle East. Nobody provides such valuable forecasts for our entire region as you do. I know you have had friends in the various royal families, and you have been observed meeting with various central banks in the region. You have not been an analyst in theory only. You have been here and walked in our lands. As we say: أحضر الناس جوابا من لم يغضب “The best answer will come from the person who is not angry.” That is you.
My question is: Your Islamic Wave concludes next year, 2025.22, on March 21, and I understand that the ECM is not in Socrates, which calculates cycles independently. Since we see March/April as a critical turning point next year on many arrays, should we be alerted to more chaos in the Middle East during this period?
Thank you so much for your independence. What they did to you proved to everyone you are both honorable and independent. They did the same to Trump, proving he was not one of them and winning.
Their time is coming, جزاء سنمار جزاء مُجيرِ أُمِّ عامِرٍ الجزاء من جنس العمل “You reap what you sow.”
MM
ANSWER: Thank you. Yes, their time is coming. That’s 2032, but it started here in 2024 and will escalate into 2028. I have argued for years against the NEOCONs who judge the Middle East by their own ideas. They fail to comprehend that this is tribal. Everyone in Syria does not share an identity of being Syrian. They see themselves as first being Sunnie, Shite, Druze, Christian, etc, etc. They have sought to remove Saddam, Assad, and Quadafi under the theory that they would install democracy and they would bring peace to the Middle East. They judge the entire region as if this was a thesis for a PhD in school detached from reality. From the very beginning, the Sykes-Picot Agreement sought to carve up the Ottoman Empire and artificially create nation-states that never existed. These theories are so detached from reality that they have plunged the world into constant wars and confrontations.
There is a significant confrontation in the Middle East that appears many have never considered since they have focused on Iran rather than Turkey. While NATO has constantly pushed the propaganda that Putin wanted to retake Europe to reestablish the USSR, right within NATO there has been rising discord against this centralized dictatorial dogma. Turkey has long fostered a hatred of Greece, and this feud extends back to the Turkish conquest of Byzantium/Constantinople in 1453. But it has been the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has fueled his dreams to conquer the Middle East to reestablish the Ottoman Empire that was broken up by the West in 1916 – not Putin.
The Russian people have no desire to return to communism. Once they tasted freedom, nobody in Russia, China, or Eastern Europe wanted to surrender that freedom again. I personally went behind the Berlin Wall to see for myself what it was really like. I was horrified. Our cancel culture today was following the very same path I witnessed there where freedom of speech was dangerous.
I think it is important that we understand that, just as in Christianity, that is only a religion – not an ethnic group. The same is true in Islam. The Turks are not of the same ethnic cloth as those in Arabia in general. According to historians and linguists, the Proto-Turkic language originated in Central-East Asia. The origin has potentially been placed in the Altai-Sayan region, Mongolia, or Tuva. The Proto-Turkic speakers were potentially primarily hunter-gatherers but also included farmers. They would evolve into nomadic pastoralists due to the climate changes.
A 2003 study found that some Xiongnu remains from Mongolia had paternal and maternal genetic lineages that have also been found in people from modern-day Turkey. There is no question that medieval Turkic groups exhibited a wide range of both East Asian and West-Eurasian physical appearances and genetic origins. In Central Asia, the earliest surviving Turkic language texts have been discovered from the 8th century. Although initiated by the Arabs, the conversion of the Turks to Islam was filtered through Persian and Central Asian culture. Under the Umayyads, most Turks were domestic servants, but then, under the Abbasid Caliphate, they were trained as soldiers. That was the downfall of the Abbasid Caliphate, for by the 9th century, Turkish commanders were leading the caliphs’ Turkish troops into battle and rose in stature both militarily and in political power. They began to rise,e establishing provincial dynasties of their own supported by Turkish troops.
Tughril I (1037-1063) was the Turkoman chieftain who founded the Seljuk Empire during the 11th century. They are known as the Seljuk Turks, who were influenced by Persian civilization. Thanks to their military training, they were able to overthrow their masters, taking the eastern province of the Abbasid Empire. By 1055, the Seljuks captured Baghdad and began to make their first incursions into Anatolia, modern-day Turkey. When they won the Battle of Manzikert against the Byzantine Empire in 1071, it opened the doorway to Anatolia and the eventual conquest of Constantinople. They were able to breach the once impenetrable walls with cannons from Asia.
Although ethnically Turkish, the Seljuk Turks appreciated and became carriers of Persian culture rather than Turkish culture; they were not of the same gene pool. Nonetheless, the Turkish language and Islam were introduced and gradually spread over the region. With time, the transition from a predominantly Christian and Greek-speaking Anatolia to a predominantly Muslim and Turkish-speaking one was underway, thanks to the monetary crisis of 1092 and the fiscal mismanagement of the Byzantine Empire. All empires ultimately collapse from their own internal corruption as we witness today in Europe, Canada, and the United States.
In the 7th century, the Byzantines began putting the image of Christ on the coinage rather than the emperor. That forced the Arabs to establish their own currency giving birth to Islamic coinage. Previously, they merely used the Byzantine coinage, which had become the world’s dominant monetary system. We do not see gold coinage struck in Europe after the fall of Rome in 476AD until the 13th century because the gold coinage of Byzantium was the internationally accepted coinage.
Israel did strike hundreds of targets in Syria, about 80% of the military capacity, to eliminate chemical weapons and arms that could then be deployed against Israel; they also sent troops deeper into the country to retake the buffer zone that had been there for 50 years. While many are merely pointing at Israel, the rebel groups that toppled Bashar Al-Assad’s regime were funded by Turkey. Amid all the chaos, one man stands to gain more than anyone else who has become a key powerbroker – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
To complicate matters, we have some Christians and Jews trying to bring about the end times. Over the years, the dominant world powers have fiercely competed over these lands. My father was with General Patton, who began fighting against the German invasion in the Middle East.
The computer has highlighted the shift in trend coming early in 2025. I will do a special report on this crisis in January.
Posted Beware Last 2 Weeks of December – Something is Not Right
Posted Dec 12, 2024 by Martin Armstrong
QUESTION: You said the computer does not support a bullish view of Trump taking office. Do you know why the computer is showing so many indexes are rolling over to the downside?
John
ANSWER: I strongly suggest that this is the time to pay close attention to Socrates, for this clearly shows that something is seriously wrong. This is not confined to the United States alone. So review all the markets that you are interested in. This may be critical. We have a sovereign debt crisis. We added all the spreads between France and other European member states. We have confidence in government starting to decline and instability rising among various governments.
Most indices and markets we look at are starting to roll over, even Bitcoin, which has a target and Directional Change here in December. The global capital markets are not booming with euphoria thanks to the Trump victory. I hope this has nothing to do with the NEOCONs making a third attempt to eliminate their greatest threat to their power.
I am concerned about this usurpation of the state’s military power in Congress’ newly unveiled annual defense bill that could soon be signed into law. The final version of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act is removing the National Guard Air defense to the Federal power. This is over the objections of some 55 state and territorial governors. WHY? This seems to be inspired by the threat of the States being able to resist the Feds. This is not a good sign.
When we look at Russia, we also see December as a turning point and a move into February in the immediate future. The risk remains that NATO is trying desperately to create war with Russia before Trump takes office. My concern here is that they will create a false flag to blame Russia, just as the CIA proposed Project Northwoods to justify invading Cuba. We see a Directional Change for Russia next week.
LAST TWO WEEKS OF DECEMBER
Something is just not right. The capital is pinching up a change in the wind. So, Pay attention to Socrates at this point in time. Dec 12, 2024 by Martin Armstrong
QUESTION: You said the computer does not support a bullish view of Trump taking office. Do you know why the computer is showing so many indexes are rolling over to the downside?
John
ANSWER: I strongly suggest that this is the time to pay close attention to Socrates, for this clearly shows that something is seriously wrong. This is not confined to the United States alone. So review all the markets that you are interested in. This may be critical. We have a sovereign debt crisis. We added all the spreads between France and other European member states. We have confidence in government starting to decline and instability rising among various governments.
Most indices and markets we look at are starting to roll over, even Bitcoin, which has a target and Directional Change here in December. The global capital markets are not booming with euphoria thanks to the Trump victory. I hope this has nothing to do with the NEOCONs making a third attempt to eliminate their greatest threat to their power.
I am concerned about this usurpation of the state’s military power in Congress’ newly unveiled annual defense bill that could soon be signed into law. The final version of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act is removing the National Guard Air defense to the Federal power. This is over the objections of some 55 state and territorial governors. WHY? This seems to be inspired by the threat of the States being able to resist the Feds. This is not a good sign.
When we look at Russia, we also see December as a turning point and a move into February in the immediate future. The risk remains that NATO is trying desperately to create war with Russia before Trump takes office. My concern here is that they will create a false flag to blame Russia, just as the CIA proposed Project Northwoods to justify invading Cuba. We see a Directional Change for Russia next week.
LAST TWO WEEKS OF DECEMBER
Something is just not right. The capital is pinching up a change in the wind. So, Pay attention to Socrates at this point in time.
Posted originally on the CTH on December 12, 2024 | Sundance
President Joe Biden has pardoned approximately 1,500 people today, in what appears to be the first round of mass clemency announcements that will follow over the next month. [White House Announcement Here]
Posted originally on the CTH on December 12, 2024 | Sundance
As New York City continues to devolve into a leftist mess, a result of entrenched ideological control over the functions of government, the police agencies and the court system, Democrat Mayor Eric Adams realizes he’s going to be governing over the ashes unless something changes.
Mayor Adams met with Border Czar Tom Homan today and exits the discussion in full operational support of Homan’s intent, the capture and removal of criminal aliens. During his remarks outlining why he supports the effort, Mayor Adams notes 500,000 children are missing and likely subjected to various levels of alarming exploitation. WATCH:
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