DC Report – Team Mitch McConnell Worried DeSantis Might Be Taking Too Long to Enter 2024 Race – FL Legislature Needs to Change Election Laws Quickly


Posted originally on the CTH on February 20, 2023 | Sundance

At this point it’s a little humorous to read the DC inside Republican narrative as they produce their DeSantis messaging.  The Hill has an article {SEE HERE} titled “GOP Impatience Grows for DeSantis to Make Move on Trump.”

However, political followers will notice the tell behind the story in the first few sentences:

(WASHINGTON DC) – Senate Republicans nervous about former President Trump’s lead in presidential primary polls are impatiently awaiting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to jump into the race.  

GOP lawmakers don’t expect DeSantis to make his move until after the Florida legislative session ends in early May, but the waiting game is playing on nerves, with some thinking DeSantis has lost political momentum since his big reelection win in November. (link)

Setting aside the reality that Ron DeSantis cannot run for office without first legally abdicating his role as governor, as required by Florida law, the “Senate Republicans” are “nervous.”  Gee, I wonder who those Senate Republicans might be.

Later in the DC script as written, “I suspect he is going to run. I’ve been told that he’s very focused right now — the Florida legislature is in session — he’s very focused on Florida issues,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said of DeSantis, whom she called “the leader of the Republican Party” after he won an impressive reelection victory in November.”

Ah yes, so very focused on “Florida issues” that Governor Ron DeSantis is in New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois on his not-campaigning, campaigning tour.

The DC stenographers really need to work a little harder to cover the narrative.  Just saying.

Kevin McCarthy Gives Access to Over 41,000 Hours of J6 Capitol Hill CCTV Video to Tucker Carlson Team


Posted originally on the Conservative tree house on February 20, 2023 | Sundance 

According to Axios, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has given Fox News (Paul Ryan) and Tucker Carlson access to the 41,000 hours of CCTV footage.

Presumably Speaker McCarthy figures this approach will support his previous promise to release and “make public” the full unedited House footage.  I’m not sure I would qualify this as fulfilling the pledge.  Why is an intermediary needed?  Why not just release the footage and let people review it raw and unfiltered?

Via Axios – House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has given Fox News’ Tucker Carlson exclusive access to 41,000 hours of Capitol surveillance footage from the Jan. 6 riot, McCarthy sources tell me.

  • Carlson TV producers were on Capitol Hill last week to begin digging through the trove, which includes multiple camera angles from all over Capitol grounds. Excerpts will begin airing in the coming weeks.

Why it matters: Carlson has repeatedly questioned official accounts of 1/6, downplaying the insurrection as “vandalism.”

  • Now his shows — “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Fox News, and “Tucker Carlson Today” and “Tucker Carlson Originals” on the streaming service Fox Nation — have a massive trove of raw material.

Carlson told me: “[T]here was never any legitimate reason for this footage to remain secret.”

  • “If there was ever a question that’s in the public’s interest to know, it’s what actually happened on January 6. By definition, this video will reveal it. It’s impossible for me to understand why any honest person would be bothered by that.” (link)

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There could be an entirely appropriate reason for doing it this way, but that has not yet been explained.

Annnnd, ACTION! – Traveling by Train Joe Biden Makes Surprise Visit to Kyiv, Ukraine


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on February 20, 2023 | Sundance

The theatre and pantomime of Ukraine, as orchestrated by the White House & State Dept. and summed up in the phrase “World War Reddit,” continues.  I will admit, the air raid sirens were a nice touch.

Joe Biden made a surprise trip into Kyiv, where the word “surprise” is intended to fall upon the eyes and ears of the American public, not the Ukrainian government or the Russians who were given advanced notice that Joe Biden was traveling to Kyiv to meet with President Zelenskyy.

The White House admits in their on-the-record briefing {Read Here} that Russia was informed of the trip prior to Biden’s departure from Washington DC. So, the New York Times framing of the transportation aspect, “after a trans-Atlantic flight to Poland, Mr. Biden crossed the border by train, traveling for nearly 10 hours to Kyiv, as other American officials have in recent months,” was clearly done as part of the theatre around the visit.

Additionally, as every media article about the visit includes (for additional “color” of the performance) air raid sirens were sounded as Joe Biden and President Zelenskyy stepped out into the streets.  From the screenplay as written. I suggest reading in your best Richard Attenborough dramatic voice:

Mr. Biden arrived early Monday morning to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the two stepped out into the streets of Kyiv even as an air-raid siren sounded, a dramatic moment that underscored the investment the United States has made in Ukraine’s independence.

[…] “Mr. Biden joined Mr. Zelensky for a visit to St. Michael’s monastery in downtown Kyiv, where the sun glittered off the golden domes as the air-raid alarm wailed. Trailing two soldiers bearing a wreath, the two leaders walked along the Wall of Remembrance, with portraits of more than 4,500 soldiers who have died since Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014 and first fomented a rebellion in eastern Ukraine.

The air-raid alarm had stopped by the time Mr. Biden got back into his motorcade and departed the monastery. The alarms sound almost daily in Kyiv, but the blare of the siren added to the bristling tension of the moment. (read more)

Everything, and I do mean e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g, about the Russia-Ukraine war narrative, via western media, is a scripted performance using the best deployed messaging and narrative engineering systems as created by Hollywood and corp media.  No western nation can generate propaganda as well as the United States.

White House Deputy National Security Advisor and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, Daleep Singh, told everyone in February 2022 what the strategic policy of the Biden administration was toward Russia in the aftermath of the Ukraine conflict beginning.  Few were paying attention:

…”Ultimately, the goal of our sanctions is to make this a strategic failure for Russia; and let’s define a little bit of what that means. Strategic success in the 21st century is not about a physical land grab of territory; that’s what Putin has done.  In this century, strategic power is increasingly measured and exercised by economic strength, by technological sophistication and your story – who you are, what your values are; can you attract ideas and talent and goodwill? And on each of those measures, this will be a failure for Russia.” (LINK)

Deputy National Security Advisor Daleep Singh boiled down geopolitical power to a cultural issue of social likeability.  Everything that has followed that February 24, 2022, announcement has been a strategic construct for public consumption.  This is why I called the conflict “World War Reddit.”  As a result, one year later we see the theatrics of the conflict story once again being performed by the White House.

Very few people will recognize this.  Fewer still even paid attention to the statements that preceded the theatrics.

World War Reddit continues….

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Did Caesar Really Say – Et Tu Brute!


Armstrong Economics Blog/Ancient History Re-Posted Feb 20, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

“Et tu, Brute? — Then fall, Caesar.”

These famous lines from William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, describing Caesar’s death, are how most of us believe it to have happened. Yet, these words may not necessarily have been the last ones said by the dying Roman general. We actually do not know Caesar’s last words. That may have been true, but there is no written account that preserved that scene largely because the assassins surrounded him.

We know that Caesar was killed on March 15th, 44 BC because Brutus even bragged on his coinage that he killed him on “EID MAR” – the Ides of March.

Gaius Cassius Longinus was the brother-in-law of Brutus. He was a Roman senator and general best known as a leading instigator of the plot to assassinate Julius Caesar. He commanded troops with Brutus during the Battle of Philippi against the forces of Mark Antony and Octavian avenging the assassination of Caesar. When he lost the battle, he committed suicide. None of his coins bragged about killing Caesar.

The Bitcoin Delusion


Armstrong Economics Blog/Cryptocurrency Re-Posted Feb 20, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

COMMENT: Mr. Armstrong, Now with Switzerland outlawing a cashless society, I understand your point that cryptocurrency is really a dead end. Without power, it cannot exist and as you said in times of war, you take down the power grid and they can do that with an EPM pulse. These Bitcoin zealots are clueless about history and humanity. It’s just another way to separate a fool from his money.

Thank you for the education

BH

REPLY: The whole blockchain was the perfect creation of a totalitarian state. They can trace everything. How would you bribe politicians? It would all have to revert to barter. Do this and I will give you that – off the grid. This is why people are still buying real estate, precious metals, ancient coins, art, collectibles, and various things that are tangible and are thus off the grid.

Having funds in any cryptocurrency is still on the grid. When I was one of the three top market-makers in gold back in the ’70s, the IRS walked in and said they declared me to be a bank. Thus, I was supposed to report every transaction of $10,000 or more. They acknowledged I did not realize I was a bank, so they waived the fines. They seized all my records and went off to audit over 3,000 clients. They claimed that gold was not DEMONETIZED as money, just suspended for a while. I retired because I was supposed to report customers but not everyone else in the field. My lawyers said I could fight it. It would take years. My model warned that gold would decline for 19 years anyway so I choose to retire. The clients still wanted the research and thus Princeton Economics was spun off separately.

They can declare every person running an exchange in crypto is now a bank and must report every transaction. They can be put them out of business in the blink of an eye. These people have no idea who they are messing with. You will not win. All this is because of their twisted view of fiat money. They no more understand money and assets any more than Karl Marx.

During inflation, assets rise in value, and money declines. That took place during the 19th century when a gold coin was money. MONEY has NEVER been of a constant value – NEVER! These people yelling fiat simply do not comprehend that for thousands of years, there has always been a business cycle and that means money rises and calls in purchasing power REGARDLESS of whatever it has been. The fiscal irresponsibility of governments is well documented throughout history long before paper money.

Even under a gold standard, there were periods of inflation and deflation. Read the history of the California Gold Rush. During the 1849 Gold Rush in California, the journalist for the New York Tribune, Bayard Taylor (1825-1878), arrived in San Francisco by ship during the summer of 1849. He was shocked at what he encountered and did not think that anyone would even believe what he was going to write. His dispatches about the gold rush economy in California stunned many and helped to create the 1849 Gold Rush.

The average wage for a laborer in New York was about one or two dollars a day. In California, individual hotel rooms were rented to professional gamblers for upwards of $10,000 a month, which is the equivalent of about $300,000 today. The degree of inflation in terms of gold was astounding and lacks comparison in modern times. There was so much gold, that the value of goods rose even though they did not in New York. The inflation phenomenon was local.

Gold became so common; they were even striking $50 gold coins in California when $20 was the highest denomination elsewhere and $1-dollar coins down to 25 cents all in gold. Eventually, there were $1 gold coins minted in the United States for general circulation throughout the USA. Indeed, Taylor wrote:

“[One] citizen of San Francisco died insolvent to the amount of forty-one thousand dollars the previous autumn. His administrators were delayed in settling his affairs and his real estate advanced so rapidly in value meantime that after his debts were paid, his heirs had a yearly income of $40,000 [$1.2 million today].

“These facts were indubitably attested; everyone believed them, yet hearing them talked of daily, as matters of course, one at first could not help feeling as if he had been eating ‘of the insane root.’”

It does NOT matter what is money. It will always rise and fall as measured against tangible assets as it has done since Babylonian times. In fact, the very first attempt to control inflation, as the central banks are doing right now, were the wage and price controls put in place by the legal codes of the Assyrians and Babylonians.

So – stop the BS. Understand that there are times when CASH will be king regardless of what money is at that moment in time, and then it will fall in value when everyone wants tangible assets. There is a business cycle – learn to live with it and we will be better off. The hard-nosed cryptocurrency zealots will never admit they are wrong. They are like politicians and will cling to their theories no matter what evidence you show them.

I asked one once, to name a single period in history where money was constant and never declined in value. He could not!

Bitcoin is an instrument for trading. This very chart CONFIRMS it is by no means a store of wealth. It rises and falls like ant commodity of stock. It is still influenced as part of the business cycle. Sorry – there is NOTHING that is a perfect store of wealth. Everything fluctuates. Trade Bitcoin, that is fine. But do not make a religion out of it for you will lose not just your shirt, but your pants as well.

War & Justice Preview


Armstrong Economics Blog/Rule of Law Re-Posted Feb 19, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

The ICC can ONLY prosecute member states. The United States refused to join the ICC so no American can ever be tried for a war crime. The same applies to Russia, yet the ICC is trying to politically indict Putin to create World War III

Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari Admits Goal is to Shrink Economy to Meet Decreased Energy Supplies


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on February 19, 2023 | Sundance

This video interview segment was sent to me today along with a “wow, you were right” message.  Apparently, the interview took place a few weeks ago (it’s new to me), but the admissions within it are quite remarkable.

The CNBC discussion surrounds inflation and the federal reserve raising interest rates. Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari is talking about the jobs report, inflation and the intention of the federal reserve to continue raising interest rates until they achieve 2% inflation, regardless of consequence.  Kashkari doesn’t hedge on the latter issue of consequence; he affirms with absolute guarantee the fed will keep raising rates until the economy shrinks enough such that 2% inflation is achieved.  However, watch what happens when Joe Kernan takes that outlook and overlays “supply side” energy policy.  WATCH (10:22 prompted):

The issue is quite simple, really.  When additional oil, coal and natural gas development is blocked as an outcome of policy, energy prices jump massively.  We are seeing 2022/2023 price increases in electricity, home heating, fuel, gasoline, natural gas and other total energy price outcomes in the 60%+ range.

As a direct outcome of energy policy, all of the downstream products and services have massive upward supply side price pressure.  When the input prices are driving upward of 60%, the downstream prices increase accordingly.  Farming costs, fertilizer, feeding, transportation costs, food at retail and wholesale, and just about every petroleum-based product, which is almost everything, increases in price accordingly.

If supply side energy price increases are pushing +60%, and the Fed will only accept a 2% inflation output result, the only method of achieving the desired result is to shrink energy demand.  This is the goal of the current Fed monetary policy.  In this interview Kashkari admits the dynamic for the first time in public.

Prior to this interview, the Fed was being too-cute-by-half as they talked about targeting the ‘demand side’ through increased rates.  The demand they were targeting is the energy demand, but people (mostly in the financial and business world) were not willing to accept that Federal Reserve monetary policy would intentionally try to shrink the economy.

When overall energy price increases are driving upward of 60%, it is going to take a major amount of economic contraction to drop energy demand to meet the diminished energy supply.  CTH has been warning about this ultimate objective for over two years.  It’s a simple economic situation.

+60% price on the supply side, with a goal of +2% on the downstream demand side, equals a major amount of activity needing to be removed. Essentially energy use needs to drop by half.

You can put everyone in an electric car and still not even come close to dropping energy demand 50%.  You cannot “energy efficient” your way to a 50% drop in demand; there just isn’t enough waste in the system, especially when people are already paying close attention to energy use because it costs so much.

This “transition to the new green economy” is a whole of society shift.

This “transition to the new green economy”, is a multi-generational shift.

The transition includes putting people in smaller houses, stopping their travel, stopping their purchasing of new goods, taking down entire industries and limiting human activity on a massive scale.

Something akin to the COVID-19 lockdown period would be needed, only this level of diminished economic activity would be permanent.

It makes you wonder if the COVID-19 lockdown was the test to see how much energy use would drop if everyone was stopped in place.  And yes, during the COVID lockdowns, human activity did stop, economic activity did stop, and energy use did drop by the nearly amount we are talking about.

When you accept what Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari is openly admitting in that interview segment, particularly as he is asked about the massive supply side costs and how that overlays, then you realize how prescient the image is below.

This image is the exact future you see flowing from the “radical transformation,” or what is also called “managing the transition“…

At the end of the transition, you have two social societies.   One social system is a massive assembly of human activity all in close proximity. The alternative social system consists of those who do not wish to be jammed into Build Back Better cities yet forced to sustain themselves because the energy production and delivery resources in the larger geography have been stopped.

Now you know why I asked the question, “where would you live” over a decade ago.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Takes His “Not Campaigning, Campaigning Tour” to New York, Illinois and Beyond to Promote Law Enforcement


Posted originally on the CTH on February 19, 2023 | Sundance

Keeping up the coy and deliberately managed strategy of not running for 2024 while running for 2024, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will embark on a multi-state promotional effort to showcase his pro law enforcement outlook.

DeSantis starts Monday in Staten Island, New York, and the managers are counting on being able to do the ’24 run for office without angering the base Republican voters who see duplicity and deception in the construct.

As George Soros said of DeSantis personality, he’s “shrewd, ruthless, and ambitious,” the perfect blend of characteristics to operate as a pliable vessel operating on behalf of his Machiavellian management team.

NEW YORK – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will visit New York City Monday for a pro-law enforcement rally at a catering hall in Staten Island – a holiday incursion into one of former President Trump’s most loyal strongholds.

The 7:30 a.m. President’s Day speech at Privé will be the governor’s first stop on a multi-city tour to showcase his pro-cop bona fides as he gears up for an expected 2024 White House campaign, insiders said.

 “On Staten Island, we are proud to support our law enforcement,” said Assemblyman Mike Tannousis, the Staten Island GOP chairman. “I’m happy that our law enforcement community will get some recognition and support.”

The city’s reddest borough is packed with Trump backers, who gave him 57% of the island’s vote in 2020 – making Monday’s foray a crucial test of DeSantis’s chances among the former president’s remaining devotees. (read more)

Sunday Talks, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Moraweicki Discusses State of NATO With Ukraine and Upcoming Biden Visit


Posted originally on the CTH on February 19, 2023 | Sundance 

With a visit by Joe Biden coming up next week, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki discusses the status of the ongoing Ukraine conflict with Russia and the expectation of this being a long NATO supported fight.

Poland is in a weird place with their internal politics.  Domestically, their population is not in alignment with the leftist, globalist approach.  However, for the past two years -especially since the Russia/Ukraine conflict began – they appear to be walking a tightrope with U.S. policy, leaning favorably to the Biden administration.

It appears Poland is like many EU countries in the leadership disconnect from the mindset of the underlying population that grants them power, with NATO representing the corrupting influence in the disconnect.  Then again, the same could be said for almost the entire western system of government, including the United States.   Interesting dynamic to watch: 

(Transcript) – MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face The Nation. President Biden heads to Poland this week, his second visit since Russia began its war in Ukraine. For more we go now to Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Good morning to you.

POLISH PRIME MINISTER MATEUSZ MORAWIECKI: Good morning madam.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So President Biden will be visiting Warsaw, we know you’ve said President Zelenskyy will also be in Poland. What do you expect from these visits?

PRIME MINISTER MORAWIECKI: Well, I expect that there will be very strong confirmation of our resilience and our joint efforts to defeat Russia in Ukraine, because instead of saying, some Western European politicians say that Russia cannot be- cannot win this war and Ukraine cannot be defeated. We have to change that paradigm and we have to say, Ukraine must win and Russia must be defeated. And I believe that the words of President Biden will reassure all Europe, that the United States is with us in this fight for freedom and peace.

MARGARET BRENNAN: It sounds like you’re referring to the French president’s recent comments. Does NATO actually want Ukraine to win this war and regain its lost territory?

PRIME MINISTER MORAWIECKI: I believe so. I’m absolutely sure that this is the only way how we can restore peace and stability. I cannot imagine that Putin and the Kremlin winning this war, and then peace and stability is around us because the nature, the very nature of Russia is to conquer other countries. Russia has actually somewhat the worst of the 20th century, colonialism, imperialism, nationalism, and this is- this is the nature of “Russkiy mir” as they call, and this is why it’s such a critical moment in our history.

MARGARET BRENNAN: President Biden said he believes the war has to end in a negotiated settlement that’s favorable to Ukraine. You said last year, Poland doesn’t negotiate with criminals- criminals, “nobody negotiated with Hitler, would you negotiate with Hitler? With Stalin? With Pol Pot?” Are you saying peace is not possible if Putin stays in power?

PRIME MINISTER MORAWIECKI: I just came to here- to this interview from Munich Conference. Munich Security Conference, very important platform to exchange opinions today, but in 1938, there was another Munich Conference, where all the leaders of the Western world succumbed to Hitler, and they believed they- they are they are bringing peace to their countries. And one year later, the Second World War broke out. We can, of course, negotiate, but it has to be under conditions and under the definition presented by Ukrainians themselves. It’s up to them to define what- what terms and conditions can be acceptable to negotiate with- with the Kremlin.

MARGARET BRENNAN: One of Ukraine’s neighbors, Moldova, has warned that there was a plot to overthrow their government and open a new front in the war. An ally of Putin recently said that Russia should ‘denazify and demilitarize Poland next.’ Do you see evidence that Russia is going to try to move into other countries including yours?

PRIME MINISTER MORAWIECKI: Well, first of all, I can see more and more provocations around us. One of the missiles of Ukrainian defense system fell on Polish territory, killing people. And this was a direct consequence of a rocket- a rockets and missiles attack from Russia on Ukraine. A couple of weeks, a couple of days ago, another missile rocket went over the territory of Romania. It was sent over the territory of Romania and yes, I do see lots of fingerprints of Russian forces, Russian services in Moldova. This is a very weak, very weak country and we all need to help them. Poland is delivering some financial support for Moldova to survive this very- those very difficult times.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But in terms of Poland, you are in NATO, so the United States would have to come to your defense if you went to NATO and asked for it. There are 11,000 U.S. service members on rotation in Poland currently, I know your government’s asking for more. Do you have any indications from the Biden administration that they will send more troops or make them permanent on your soil?

PRIME MINISTER MORAWIECKI: We are in the process of discussion with President Biden’s administration about making their presence more permanent and increasing them. But- but I’m very grateful also for sending new Patriot systems and other very modern weapons and munitions. Because this is also, to some extent, a proxy for- a proxy for- for presence of soldiers, but of course, the two go in tandem. I also recall the words of President Biden from last fall, from his last visit in Poland, when he said that every inch or square inch of NATO’s country’s territory, is- will be defended, and Russia is not going to put any inroads into- into those countries. And I do believe that NATO countries, we are all very much secure. But it’s not only about us. It’s also about creating stability around us,, in our direct neighborhood. And if we fall to integrate Ukraine in NATO and European Union, Ukraine will always be a zone- a buffer zone, which is- which is not right.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You’ve offered fighter jets to Ukraine, Soviet-era MiG jets, the U.S. has rejected that offer in the past. Any indication they’ll change their position now?

PRIME MINISTER MORAWIECKI: Well, like as you probably recall, Madame, there were many things beyond our imagination at the beginning of the war, and then unimaginable became realizable. And so was with tanks, so was with the Patriot anti-aircraft, anti-missile- anti-rocket system. And I believe that also with fighter jets, eventually, there will be fighter jets from the West, delivered to Ukraine. Poland’s position is we can do this, but only in combination with other NATO allies, and in particular, under the leadership of the United States.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I have to let you go, but I want to quickly ask you, does the U.S. continue to raise concern to you about your own government’s crackdown on gay rights, curbing of the judicial system, and press freedom? Or have they moved those issues to the side because of the war?

PRIME MINISTER MORAWIECKI: We have no provenance of those issues whatsoever, madam. This is not the issue of war, which  actually put those questions aside. We- we’re introducing reforms to reform post-communist judiciary system, but this has nothing to do with war and other issues. We are in very frequent contact with President Biden administration. And by the way, we struck a deal. We made a compromise with Brussels, in the counter- in the format of new legislation, and I believe that those issues will- will be so on completely resolved.

MARGARET BRENNAN: All right, Mr. Prime Minister, we’ll be watching that visit. Thank you for your time.

PRIME MINISTER MORAWIECKI: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

[Transcript link]

Gate’s Plan to End World Hunger


Armstrong Economics Blog/Humor Re-Posted Feb 19, 2023 by Martin Armstrong