JoeBamanomics, New Home Sales ‘Unexpectedly’ Drop in April, March Results Revised Sharply Lower


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 25, 2021 | Sundance | 153 Comments

As we have watched the economic conditions for Main Street businesses and blue-collar workers continue to worsen, the horizon grows ever more dark.  Last month when we reviewed the inflation data we noted as follows:

“The rapid increases in the price of food and gasoline are hitting the middle-class hard. This will have a downstream effect on more luxury items and durable goods. Spend more on food/gas and you might not be able to purchase that new table you wanted. Durable good inventories increase and layoffs in those sectors begin.

It will be very interesting to watch how the housing market responds over the next few months. If the trendline continues we should see a considerable softening in home sales, again depending on region, as the inflation hits the working class” (link)

Today we get the first set of housing data to accompany the inflation forecast: “New home sales dropped 5.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 863,000 units last month, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday. March’s sales pace was revised lower to 917,000 units from the previously reported 1.021 million units. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast new home sales, which account for a small share of U.S. home sales, at a rate of 970,000 units in April.”

[…] “The median new house price soared 20.1% from a year earlier to $372,400 in April. Sales were concentrated in the $200,000-$399,000 price range. Sales below the $200,000 price bracket, the sought-after segment of the market, accounted for a mere 2% of transactions last month.” (link)

Some of the drop is likely attributable to low inventory in hot markets like Florida. However, that said, inflation, high unemployment and lower wage rates are hampering the ability of blue collar workers to afford entry level homes (as noted above).  Financial security is now a concern as real wages continue to drop and inflation bites hard into working class incomes.

Kevin McCarthy Jumps Shark, Condemns Comments by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 25, 2021 | Sundance | 390 Comments

I have bitten my tongue on this weasel, preferring to give him time and space to show a personal shift and change in value for leadership.  However, I have no more tongue to bite.  The comments by Kevin McCarthy condemning Marjorie Taylor Greene are obtuse in the extreme.

MTG was making a point about COVID vaccinations creating two classes of people, vaxxed -vs- non vaxxed.  She compared the current pressure by government to the pre-Nazi era where German Jews were made out to be second class citizens.  It was, perhaps, a poor metaphor; however, it was not any form of an attack against Jewish people or any comparison to the Holocaust.

That said,the media wanted to turn this into an attack against Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene because they hate her….  and so they twist her words… And just like the typical GOPe quislings that have come before him, House Leader Kevin McCarthy shows up just in time to throw fuel on their false narrative:

Kevin McCarthy – “Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling. The Holocaust is the greatest atrocity committed in history. The fact that this needs to be stated today is deeply troubling.

“At a time when the Jewish people face increased violence and threats, anti-Semitism is on the rise in the Democrat Party and is completely ignored by Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  “Americans must stand together to defeat anti-Semitism and any attempt to diminish the history of the Holocaust.  “Let me be clear: the House Republican Conference condemns this language.” (link)

McCarthy has got to go.

Gates – Gore – Epstein


Armstrong Economics Blog/Conspiracy Re-Posted May 25, 2021 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Can you verify your sources on Gates and Epstein’s meeting with the head of the Nobel Prize? I have never heard anything about Al Gore acting improperly. Are there sources on that as well?

GH

ANSWER: I think the problem is that the American press protects the democrats and has been protecting Bill Gates until the divorce. That story was broken some time ago in Norway. It is just like the story of the US interfering in the 2000 Russian election and the $7 billion money laundering that tied back to IMF funds. That was a big story in Russia but got no air time in the United States. As far as the Lily-white image of Al Gore, again, the mainstream press has tended to ignore that one as well because it is an inconvenient truth for the savior of the planet. There have been numerous allegations against Gore besides meeting with Epstein.

Virginia Roberts Giuffre, pictured here with Prince Andrew, also said as part of her sworn testimony, that she met former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore. She also said that Epstein once held a dinner for Clinton on his island, Little St. James, off the coast of St. Thomas. With respect to Trump, she said in a 2016 deposition that she met Trump through her own father, who worked as a maintenance man at Trump’s Palm Beach home, Mar-a-Lago, and that to her knowledge, Trump never had any intimate contact with “us” — referring to a group of girls Epstein kept at his beck and call for sex.

Gates began hanging out with Epstein in 2011. Epstein got an extremely rare 2007 non-prosecution agreement. Prosecutors do not drop charges for no reason. Alexander Acosta, who became the U.S. Labor Secretary under Trump, was the U.S. Attorney for South Florida who cut that deal with Epstein. The Epstein issue came up when Acosta was appointed to the cabinet by President Donald Trump. It was then written:

He’d cut the non-prosecution deal with one of Epstein’s attorneys because he had “been told” to back off, that Epstein was above his pay grade. “I was told Epstein ‘belonged to intelligence’ and to leave it alone,” he told his interviewers in the Trump transition, who evidently thought that was a sufficient answer and went ahead and hired Acosta. (The Labor Department had no comment when asked about this.)

It was long assumed that Robert Maxwell, Epstein’s girlfriend’s father, was also alleged to have been connected to Israeli intelligence. Yet, Robert Maxwell was also the model for a James Bond villain. In Epstein’s little black book was also Edmond Safra of Republic National Bank who took the $1 billion from me. He was partners in Hermitage Capital Management with Bill Browder who claims to be Putin’s number one enemy, which if true, he would have been gone long ago.

I believe Epstein was probably at the same IMF dinner Edmond invited me for there were hundreds of people there and virtually every political leader or bureaucrat you ever heard of. I was talking that night with Paul Volcker.

How Epstein was connected to intelligence is hard to say. All the elements were present. He had a luxurious lifestyle and endless free time. I was taken for one of those walks in the park across from the Court House in Foley Square, NYC. I was told that with all my connections, everything could go away if I agreed to work for them undercover. My lawyer Richard Altman warned me they would do that and he recommended I decline. He said I would be like a dog on a leash the rest of my life. I declined. If I took such a deal, then I too would have been given a non-prosecution agreement. That is also how the world works behind the facade. So was Epstein already an “asset” in 2007, or is that the deal he took and assumed he was sanctioned by the government? Hard to say. Gates had no problem dealing with him in 2011.

Gates’ reputation is now imploding. This is a good thing for it plays into our model warning that these people will fail

Russia TV on Gates


Armstrong Economics Blog/Conspiracy Re-Posted May 24, 2021 by Martin Armstrong

I just did a TV show in Russia where the topic was Bill Gates. They wanted to interview me because I have explained about Epstein and this was not about simply young girls that at 16 would have been legal in Britain. Indeed, in Europe the vast majority of countries set their legal ages for consent in the range of 14 to 16; only three countries set the age above 16 – Cyprus (17), Ireland (17), and Turkey (18). This raises serious questions. If Epstein was really just into girls between 14 and 18, then why not do that in Europe? The only reason to engage in such a practice here in the USA must be for other reasons when you are inviting the elites of the elites of the world. Gates’s wife began looking at the divorce when Gates got involved with Epstein.

I do not believe Melinda was upset just because the girls were young. I seriously doubt most could tell the difference between a 16 and 18-year-old. Virginia Roberts Giuffre, pictured with Prince Andrew, was alleging Epstein recruited and groomed her as a 16-year-old in Florida. If this was done in Europe, it would have been perfectly legal. So why do this in the USA? To me, it was all about blackmail and having control over politically powerful people.

Melinda Gates met with divorce lawyers in 2019 saying that their marriage was “irretrievably broken.” It was October 2019, when the relationship between Mr. Gates and Mr. Epstein became public.  It was at this time when Melinda hired divorce lawyers, setting in motion a process that culminated recently with the announcement that their marriage was ending. Was it that Bill Gates was just interested in young girls? The more likely scenario was Gates was more interested in using Epstein to further his agenda using blackmail, intimidation, and even had Epstein set up a meeting with the head of the Nobel Prize for it has been alleged that it was Epstein who got Al Gore his prize.

I find it interesting how the concern about Gates has grown globally. To ask me to appear on national TV in Russia over Gates which I believe will air tomorrow says a lot.

Windham, New Hampshire, Auditor Says 60% Error Rate “Way Higher Than We Expected” – President Trump Reacts


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 24, 2021 | Sundance | 130 Comments

Background – The people on the ground in Windham, New Hampshire, are doing an excellent job holding the election officials and auditors accountable to the people during this forensic ballot audit. The audit started because the tabulating machines (Dominion hardware and software) did not accurately count the votes from the physical ballots.

During the first small audit (recount) it was discovered that Republican votes were undercounted and Democrat candidates were overcounted. This anomaly was discovered during a hand recount of the ballots as compared to the electronic tabulation results.

After the first set of electronic tabulation results were discovered to be inaccurate the state authorized a full forensic audit. The full audit is ongoing; yesterday it was reported the second hand recount matched the first, which means the machine tabulation of those ballots was wrong.

The auditors wondered if folded ballots generated the problem. The test of folded -vs- unfolded ballots (counted by same machine) showed a high number of errors.  The rate of error was a whopping 60%.  That could mean the tabulation machines across all of New Hampshire may have this problem.

Washington Examiner – As many as 60% of ballots with machine-made or handmade folds were improperly counted by the town’s four scanning machines, Harri Hursti, one of three auditors selected for the process, told the New Hampshire Union Leader on Monday.  “The error rate was way higher than we expected,” Hursti said.

[…] if someone voted for all four Republican candidates and the ballot happened to have its fold line going through St. Laurent’s target, then that might be interpreted by the machines as an overvote, which would then subtract votes from each of those four Republican candidates,” said Philip Stark, another member of the three-person audit team, according to a WMUR 9 report last week. “Conversely, if there were not four votes already in that contest by the voter, a fold line through that target could have caused the machine to interpret it as a vote for St. Laurent.” (read more)

President Trump has responded:

New Hampshire’s Election Audit has revealed that large-scale voting machines appear to count NON-EXISTING VOTES. State and local communities are seeking confirmation. It’s probably true, but we’ll soon know. Why aren’t Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republicans doing anything about what went on in the 2020 Election? How can the Democrats be allowed to get away with this? It will go down as the Crime of the Century! Other States like Arizona, Georgia (where a Judge just granted a motion to unseal and inspect ballots from the 2020 Election), Michigan, Pennsylvania, and more to follow. (LINK)

Facebook Whistleblower Leaks Details of Users Being Ranked and Suppressed Based on “Vaccine Hesitancy” Algorithm


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 24, 2021 | Sundance | 139 Comments

Project Veritas has revealed some explosive information provided by two Facebook whistleblowers.   According to documents and testimony by the insiders, Facebook initiated a program to control the speech of users who were expressing “vaccine hesitancy”, or concerns about the COVID vaccine.  Anyone who was concerned about the vaccine was given a “vaccine hesitancy ” score.  Unbeknownst to the user, that score was then used to ban, remove or shadow-ban the content.

In essence any speech, sharing of information or comment discussion that is not in alignment with the pro-vaccine narrative is considered adverse to the interests of the Facebook platform.  Those users are then targeted to suppress their voice.

(Project Veritas) – […] The company has set up a tier system to rank comments on various scales, based on how much the statement questions or cautions against the Covid-19 vaccination.

Tier 2, for instance, represents “Indirect Discouragement” of getting vaccinated and according to PV’s sources, user comments such as these would be heavily “suppressed.”

It doesn’t matter if the comments are true, factual or represent reality. The comment is demoted, buried and hidden from view of the public if it clashes with this system.

“It doesn’t match the narrative,” one insider explained. “The narrative being, get the vaccine, the vaccine is good for you. Everyone should get it. And if you don’t, you will be singled out,”

One of the insiders, a Data Center Technician, leaked multiple internal documents detailing an algorithm test being run on 1.5 percent of Facebook and Instagram’s nearly 3.8 billion users worldwide.

The goal? To, “drastically reduce user exposure to vaccine hesitancy (VH) in comments.”

“They’re trying to control this content before it even makes it onto your page before you even see it,” one insider said. (read more)

Mumbles Prepares FEMA for Hurricane Season – May God Have Mercy On Us


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 24, 2021 | Sundance | 205 Comments

The mumbling White House occupant visited FEMA headquarters to review preparations for this year’s upcoming Hurricane season.

Lord, hear our prayers….

Bottom-line folks, with the mass exodus of competence in logistics, supply chain organization and priority relief delivery experts, in favor of politically correct non-gender specific diversity operatives, don’t look for any help from the Feds.

“Chin up, in the event of an emergency…. WE GOT THIS“!

Maricopa County Forensic Auditor Notes Media and County Officials Intentionally Misleading Public About Deleted Vote Result Databases


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 24, 2021 | Sundance | 269 Comments

The media and Maricopa County officials have been claiming that voter result databases were not deleted; and they reference the ability of the auditors to recover the deleted information as proof the voter data was never deleted.  However, according to technical forensic expert Ben Cotton, the ‘D’ drive of the EMS Primary Server was in fact deleted.  It was only because of his extensive experience in the data forensics field that he was able to recover the deleted files; which is exactly what he said at the Arizona State Senate hearing on May 19th.

QUESTION – ““Did you determine that the D drive was deleted?”

BEN COTTON –  “I did. We follow a very strict forensics acquisition process in which we don’t turn on a system if its delivered powered off. We remove the hard drives and perform forensics imaging with write locks on to prevent any changes to those hard drives. We produce a bit for bit forensics copy of that drive. In the case of the EMS servers, there were 6 drives. 2 drives were for the operating system and they were (unintelligible) configuration. So if something was changed on the operating system drive that would automatically be reflected on both drives.”

The other four drives were data drives and they were in a RAID configuration known as 1 plus zero. So you have a volume that is mirrored but also data redundancy and striped across both drives. If I don’t turn on a system I don’t have access to the RAID parameters and the county did not provide those to us. so I had to do a discovery process to determine what that RAID configuration was. Part of that process is a scan across those drives to detect partitions of data and to also detect a master file table which is a record of all of the directories of the files that are contained in that partition, and a pointer to where that data resides on the hard drive. In the course of performing that discovery I found that an MFT that clearly indicated that the data base directory was deleted from that server. All of this may be moot because subsequently I have been able to recover all the deleted files and I have access to that data.”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Signs Big Tech Accountability Bill, Permitting FL Residents to Sue Big Tech for Deplatforming, Targeting or Censorship


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 24, 2021 | Sundance | 164 Comments

The legislature of Florida and Governor Ron DeSantis waste no time in confronting the fast pace of leftist ideology with legislative and executive order moves to protect citizens within the Sunshine state.  The speed of their united effort is actually quite remarkable.  Today Governor Ron DeSantis signed SB 7072, a Florida law permitting citizens to sue Big Tech for deplatforming, targeting or censorship.

Under SB 7072:

  • All Floridians treated unfairly by Big Tech platforms will have the right to sue companies that violate this law — and win monetary damages. This reform safeguards the rights of every Floridian by requiring social media companies to be transparent about their content moderation practices and give users proper notice of changes to those policies, which prevents Big Tech bureaucrats from “moving the goalposts” to silence viewpoints they don’t like.
  • The Attorney General of Florida can bring action against technology companies that violate this law, under Florida’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act. If social media platforms are found to have violated antitrust law, they will be restricted from contracting with any public entity. That “antitrust violator” blacklist imposes real consequences for Big Tech oligopolies’ bottom line.
  • Big Tech is prohibited from de-platforming Floridian political candidates. The Florida Election Commission will impose fines of $250,000 per day on any social media company that de-platforms any candidate for statewide office, and $25,000 per day for de-platforming candidates for non-statewide offices. Any Floridian can block any candidate they don’t want to hear from, and that is a right that belongs to each citizen — it’s not for Big Tech companies to decide.  (read full text here)

“This session, we took action to ensure that ‘We the People’ — real Floridians across the Sunshine State — are guaranteed protection against the Silicon Valley elites,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “Many in our state have experienced censorship and other tyrannical behavior firsthand in Cuba and Venezuela. If Big Tech censors enforce rules inconsistently, to discriminate in favor of the dominant Silicon Valley ideology, they will now be held accountable.” (LINK)

It’s Not Hypocrisy, The COVID Narrative is a Lie – Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer Provides Another Example


Posted originally on the conservative tree house May 24, 2021 | Sundance | 456 Comments

Everything about the COVID mitigation narrative is based on control and manipulation.  The COVID “narrative” is a fraud, a systemic and purposeful fraud, perpetrated by a group of manipulative political interest groups who needed a vector to exploit the American social fabric…. to trigger specific “fundamental change” that could benefit their longer term political interests.

MICHIGAN – Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer apologized Sunday after apparently violating state-mandated social distancing guidelines at an East Lansing bar and grill.

It was the latest pandemic-related misstep for the Democratic governor, who waited weeks to disclose partial details of a private jet trip she took to visit her father in Florida after two of her top aides headed south as coronavirus cases surged in Michigan and residents were cautioned against traveling south for spring break.

[Whitmer responded] “Yesterday, I went with friends to a local restaurant. As more people arrived, the tables were pushed together. Because we were all vaccinated, we didn´t stop to think about it. In retrospect, I should have thought about it. I am human. I made a mistake, and I apologize.” (read more)

Because the COVID narrative is built upon a foundation of fraud, those who have pushed the usefulness of it are often caught in hypocritical behaviors. Some have said “they don’t believe their own message”; however, that is only partially true.  It’s not that they don’t believe the control message, it’s more along the lines of knowing the message is a lie; as a result they do not follow the rules they demand of others.

All of the conflicts within the COVID storyline reconcile when you accept the overall COVID threat is based on fraud.  The disparity of outcome amid open states -vs- lockdown states reconciles when you accept the larger COVID narrative is false.  The officials violating their own rules and guidelines reconciles when you accept they know the baseline is a lie.

It really is that simple, and yet a large portion of the larger American electorate are seemingly refusing to accept that a lie of this scale and magnitude could be carried out with such unified control in the deliberateness of the messaging.  [Insert metaphor of the Emperor’s new clothes] Or perhaps the refusal to admit seeing the lie is because accepting such a reality is very destabilizing to the psyche of the person having to make such an admission.

Regardless of the reasoning, and regardless of how many people accept the truth, the COVID narrative is a total fraud and that falsehood is becoming more evident by the day.  Yes, that means all levels of the mitigation, including the vaccine push, are based on fraud and manipulated science by larger political interests.

In the final analysis one has to wonder if they can pull this off, what else is possible?

That is an alarming question to ponder.