Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics
Re-Posted Apr 10, 2019 by Martin Armstrong
We should not expect Trump to get any of his agenda items through Congress. Trump’s promises to replace the Affordable Care Act, invest in infrastructure, and cut middle class taxes have been essentially shelved. The Democrats refuse to cooperate on anything in hopes of using that against him in 2020. What this really means illustrates my concerns. Government has simply ceased to exist and all we have is a couple deadlocked in a bitter divorce.
This reminds me of the best scene on this subject from “When Harry met Sally” and how bitter a divorce can be. This is what politics has degenerated to and it is in line with our computer’s forecasts that this is the end-game for Western civilization. There is just no going back. Government is now a battle to see which side can destroy civilization first. Websters’ defines civilization as “refinement of thought, manners, or taste,” none of which we can see in Washington anymore.
The entire purpose of civilization is everyone coming together because the sum is greater than the individuals. Today, we have reverted back to the individuals and there is no longer any cohesive sum that is greater. We have devolved backwards and it will take the crash and burn of government before we can rise from the political ashes with hope of a new government structure that once again respects the liberty of the individual.
While the Democrats have officially killed the Trump agenda, what they fail to understand is that this is also the destruction of their agenda as well. There will no longer be a government of ALL the people, it is now a government of us v them. That is how civilization dies. It defeats the entire purpose of forming societies. Politics has become a confrontation to impose tyranny upon your opponent. The very core of socialism is to deny individual freedom. The state comes first – the individual second. Everything the American Revolution stood for is now completely overturned.
Interview with Lara Logan (April 07 2019)
BREAKING: Court Filing Reveals Numerous Comey Memos Including Investigative Meetings, Sources, Methods and Contacts…
April 9, 2019
A late day submission to DC Circuit Court in a FOIA case previously discussed, reveals the content of Mueller’s probe & use of multiple, previously unknown, James Comey memos. Additionally, within the filing we discover how Comey documented multiple events, meetings and information surrounding the FBI investigation of Donald Trump.
The documents surface as part of the FOIA case [Backstory Here] where DC Court Judge James E. Boasberg -an Obama appointee and also a FISA judge- asked the FBI to file an opinion about the release of Comey memos to the public. There are two issues: (1) can the memos be released? and (2) can prior sealed FBI filings, arguing to keep the memos hidden, be released?
In a very revealing filing last night (full pdf below) the lead FBI investigator for the Mueller special counsel, David W. Archey, informs the court that with the ending of the special counsel some of the memo material can be released, such as their existence; however, Archey also states much of the memo content and sealed background material from the FBI must continue to remain sealed and redacted.
The FBI will file a further declaration on or before April 15, 2019, to explain why the remaining redactions to the Third Archey Declaration continue to be necessary. (page 2)
Within the filing we discover the lead FBI agent was David W. Archey (background here). Archey was selected by Robert Mueller when the special counsel took over the counterintelligence investigation from Special Agent Peter Strzok. According to ABC: “Agent David Archey is described by colleagues as a utility man of sorts within the FBI”. However, until now his exact role was not known.
Following the conclusion of the Mueller probe, David Archey was moved. Effective March 8, 2019, Archey became head of the Richmond, VA, FBI field office. (link) Due to the corrupt nature of the special counsel, this is somewhat concerning. I digress…
The first three pages of the filing consist of David Archey explaining to the court that some of the material can be released, but other material must be withheld. He then goes on to reference two prior sealed attachments outlined as “Exhibit A” and “Exhibit B”.
“Exhibit A” is a filing from the FBI on January 31st, 2018, essentially supporting an earlier “in camera ex parte declaration” requesting continuance of a prior court order to keep the background material sealed from public view. In essence, the FBI didn’t want the public to know what was/is contained within the Comey memos (including the scale thereof).
“Exhibit B” is where the action is.
This is the original declaration outlining to the court on October 13th, 2017, why the Comey memos must be sealed. It is inside this exhibit where we discover there are many more memos than previously understood, and the content of those memos is far more exhaustive because James Comey documented the FBI investigation.
In essence Comey created these memos to cover his ass. (pg 13):
FBI Agent Archey then goes on to explain what is inside the memos: It is in this section where we discover that Comey made notes of his meetings and conversations with investigators.
Along with writing notes of the meetings and conversations, apparently Comey also made notes of the sources and methods associated with the investigation. Why would Comey generate classified information in these notes (sources and methods) unless he was just covering his ass because he knew the investigation itself was a risk…
The content of the memos seems rather exhaustive; it appears Comey is keeping a diary for use in the event this operation went sideways. (page #14, exhibit B)
All of those investigative elements would likely be contained in official FBI files and notes by the investigative agents. There is no need for a contemporaneous personal account of meeting content unless Comey was constructing memos for his own protection. These memos appear to be motivated by the same mindset that caused Susan Rice to generate her email to self on inauguration day.
In the next section FBI Agent David Archey explains the scale of the memos. There are obviously far more than previously discussed or disclosed publicly. Additionally, look carefully at the way the second part is worded.
Archey is saying Comey’s written recollections should be withheld because it might affect the testimony of people familiar with the “memorialized conversations”. (page #15, Exhibit B)
This is an October 2017 filing, Comey was fired May 9th. FBI Agent Archey is outlining Trump as the target who might adjust his testimony. Again, more evidence of the special counsel focus being motivated by the obstruction case they were hoping to build. [Reminder, Comey was still FBI director at the time these memos were written]
The next section gets to the heart of why the FBI wants to keep the Comey memos hidden and not released.
In this section Archey outlines how FBI Director James Comey wrote down who the sources were; what code-names were assigned; how those confidential sources engaged with FISA coverage initiated by the FBI; what foreign governments were assisting with their effort; and what the plans were for the investigation.
Again, why memorialize all of this classified information unless the memos were intended as CYA protection for himself?
There’s also really good news in here. Think about it. Now we know the entire anti-Trump operation is memorialized in writing. There is documentary evidence of the entire operation within these memos. We did not know that before this moment.
Therefore, it looks like President Trump can add the Comey Memos to the pre-existing declassification list. At any time, President Trump now has a set of documents he knows to exist that his office can ask to be released. The investigation is over.
If the FBI was running an honest and genuine investigation; what do they have to fear from the release of the Comey Memos now that the investigation is over.
Here’s the full filing:
Devin Nunes Announces Lawsuit Against McClatchy News Group…
April 9, 2019
Ranking member of the HPSCI Devin Nunes appears on Fox News to announce a $150 million lawsuit against the McClatchy News Group for their part in a conspiracy to derail and manipulate the Clinton and Russia probes. –Details Here–
“The attacks on Nunes were pre-planned, calculated, orchestrated and undertaken by multiple individuals acting in concert, over a continuous period of time throughout 2018. The full scope of the conspiracy, including the names of all participants and the level of involvement of any agents or instrumentalities of foreign governments, is unknown at this time and will be the subject of discovery in this action.” (more)
It’s always important to remember when Nunes was Chairman of the HPSCI he successfully won a lawsuit against Fusion-GPS to gain access to their bank records.
There’s a distinct possibility Devin Nunes knows which reporters and media outlets were paid by Fusion (via Glenn Simpson) for their collaborative efforts. Was McClatchy paid by Fusion-GPS for participation in an organized smear effort? Stay tuned…
Number Thirteen – Eric Swalwell’s Gun Control Coalition Enters Presidential Race…
April 8, 2019
Adam Schiff’s little toady Eric Swalwell has entered the 2020 presidential race; and therein the Club moves to activate the Second Amendment removal coalition represented by the Parkland Shooting narrative builders.
38-year-old Congressman Swalwell is one of the most slimy creatures in a swamp of bile dependent on slimy creature comfort.
(Via NYT) […] he has said the top focus of his campaign would be something else: gun control. His first major event as a candidate will be a town hall on Tuesday near Parkland, Fla., which he planned with Cameron Kasky, one of the Parkland students who organized the March for Our Lives.
“I’ve talked to kids who sit in their classroom afraid that they’ll be the next victim of gun violence,” he told Mr. Colbert on Monday. “And they see Washington doing nothing about it after the moments of silence, and they see lawmakers who love their guns more than they love our kids.” (read more)
Swalwell is not a viable candidate. Again, winning by one vote, or ten million votes in New York, Illinois or his home state of California doesn’t help win the electoral college. Schiff’s little toady is an issue candidate. The Club’s agenda/benefit is from the data within the network of Cameron Kasky, Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg et al.
Overall the “Parkland Activist Crew” has around 2 million followers within their social media reach. Blind sheeple, ripe for harvesting. Believe me, The Club is predictable…. just watch them.
That said, we are still not seeing the launch of the ‘chosen one‘, the intended party donor candidate; however, we have now entered the timeline most favorable for launch, April to May/June/July 2019.
The DNC is predictable; it’s a club. Inside the club the board members are debating viability within a select team of unannounced potential candidates. It appeared like Joe Biden held the most board member votes; however he’s having ‘creepy Joe’ trouble.
There is likely an elevated internal debate now. Again, planning and strategy is one of the key elements of the Democrat party. It might seem weird at first, but the DNC club is not chaotic; and, from my perspective, that is their weakness. It makes them predictable.
The chosen-one would generally come into play immediately after the democrats have set down a larger trumpeted baseline. The chosen-one roll out would be designed to flow from the club’s baseline narrative. The Democrats rarely, if ever, go off script….
Knowing it’s likely the ♦UniParty DNC is following a similar ♦UniParty RNC strategy, we can start to put the personal characteristics and political traits together and contrast them against 2016. Here’s the way it looks so far:
- Senator Ted Cruz was to 2016…. as Senator Elizabeth Warren is to 2020
- ♦Governor Jeb Bush was to 2016 as….
- Senator Marco Rubio was to 2016… as Senator Bernie Sanders is to 2020
- Governor John Kasich was to 2016… as
- Senator Lindsey Graham was to 2016 as… Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is to 2020
- Governor Mike Huckabee was to 2016… as Senator Corey Booker is to 2020
- Senator Rand Paul was to 2016…. as Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard is to 2020
- Dr. Ben Carson was to 2016… as Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke is to 2020
- Governor Chris Christie was to 2016 as… Governor J. Hickenlooper is to 2020
- Governor Scott Walker was to 2016 as… Governor Jay Inslee is to 2020
- Senator Rick Santorum was to 2016…. as Senator Sherrod Brown is to 2020
- Governor George Pataki was to 2016 as…. Eric Swalwell is to 2020
- Governor Rick Perry was to 2016…. as Senator Kamala Harris is to 2020
- Governor Bobby Jindal was to 2016…. as Julian Castro is to 2020
- Carly Fiorina was to 2016 as…. Senator Amy Klobuchar is to 2020
- Governor Jim Gilmore was to 2016 as… Rep. Tim Ryan is to 2020
Reminder, despite their current stumbling with their executive suite efforts, anyone who is announcing their presidential bid ahead of Speaker Pelosi and the DNC delivering the election narrative (impeachment or similar) is not part of the DNC plan.
Pelosi and Club leadership will not easily give up on an impeachment plan that took months of effort. They will work to modify it, shift angles of attack, adjust to Barr and yet still hope to retain the goal for as long as possible. They don’t give up on these schemes easily….. As we saw admitted this past weekend from Jerry Nadler, they are modifying their plans as each roadblock presents.
The “Chosen One” will likely surface during the April/May to June/July period when the legislative ‘impeachment‘ crew, the DNC crew and the media crew have been able to align the scheme for maximum political benefit.
We will most likely be able to identify the “Chosen One” by: (#1) the Pelosi narrative (when cemented) and everyone falls in line; and (#2) the “roll out” that accompanies the announcement. [ex. remember the Greek columns, trumpets, pomp, etc.?]
Once we get a few more names (approx. 16), and we discover the ‘Chosen Candidate’, we can start to have fun with the celebrity squares graphics and the top 16 contenders.
Creepy Smallville Actress Allison Mack Pleads Guilty to Being Sex Slave Mistress in NXIVM Case…
April 8, 2019
Creepy is too soft a description for the behaviors Ms. Allison Mack attested to in court today. According to her guilty plea Ms. Mack plead to a racketeering conspiracy and direct racketeering. However, her action within the ‘racketeering conspiracy‘ is far worse than the disingenuous legal terminology.
Ms. Mack recruited people into a sex cult, then helped organize blackmail material that forced her recruits to engage in sex cult behavior with Keith Raniere which included the branding of victims as sex slaves. Everything about this is cult activity is deviant in the most extreme.
Ridiculous apologetic phrases like: “I now realize I was wrong“, sound absurd when contrast with this sick and demented behavior.
As if there was ever a possibility at the beginning of an evil collaboration to NOT REALIZE blackmail, sex trafficking, occult branding and forced manipulation of people was wrong. Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot… this type of sociopathic disconnect is really alarming.
NEW YORK – A teary Allison Mack pleaded guilty to two federal counts Monday in the NXIVM sex-cult case.
“I have come to the conclusion that I must take full responsibility for my conduct and that’s why I am pleading guilty today,” said a choked up Mack, who admitted to one count of racketeering conspiracy and one count of racketeering.
Mack attended court in dark relaxed-fit pants and a creamy mock-neck sweater. She kept her hair in a bun and sported leopard sneakers, as she had at her last court proceeding.
At the beginning of her allocution, Mack explained in part what drew her to NXIVM. Many of the members were “wonderful people and some of whom, I now realize, were not.”
“I joined NXIVM … to find purpose,” she said of the group, which was headed by co-defendant Keith Raniere. “I truly believed I found a group of individuals who believed as I did.”
“I believed Keith Raniere’s intentions were to help people,” she said. “I was wrong.”
Prosecutors allege that NXIVM, an Albany-area organization that offered costly self-help classes, contained a secretive sect called DOS that “operated with levels of women ‘slaves’ headed by ‘masters.” (read more)
This stuff is evil. Almost beyond comprehension.
America’s Public Schools are a National Disgrace Teachers Unions & Democrats Being the Main Culprit
“AOC” Dancing Socialism into the Hearts and Minds of Young People Everywhere
The Predicate: “Russia Interfered in the 2016 Election”?…
April 7, 2019
Every narrative needs a foundation; every investigation, false or genuine, needs a predicate upon which to launch. Remove the predicate and everything is exposed.
The predicate is the reason why so much effort was put forth by the conspiring Obama administration; and corrupt intelligence officials; and all political operatives; and the entirety of the mainstream media; to drumbeat that “Russia attempted to interfere in the 2016 election.”
Without that predicate forming the motive for all subsequent action, the house-of-cards collapses; everything is exposed.
There is no amount of hindsight manipulation that can cover for a fraudulent basis of origination. This is one of the reasons why voices like Diana West are so important. Question the underlying assumption and the entire dynamic changes.
By now the intellectually honest reviewers of information all accept there was no effort from the Trump campaign to collude or conspire with ‘Russians’. That narrative was always false; even Robert Mueller’s team of lawyers and FBI investigators have conceded their inability to substantiate those Trump-Russia assertions. There never was any ‘there’there. All effort was instead trying to set up the obstruction case.
But further back in the narrative construct, those Trump-Russia assertions are predicated on there actually being some grand conspiratorial attempt by Russia to interfere in the 2016 election. Without a factual basis for that claim, none of the CIA, FBI and DOJ-NSD operations hold any validity.
CTH has often stated one of the key ‘tells’ surrounding Rod Rosenstein was his willingness to go forth with grand public proclamations of Russian indictments. However, despite the very thin evidence behind the boisterous and promoted indictment claims, there’s no actual substance to show any interference campaign of any scale that matches the scale of the DOJ’s public protestations. The reason for the disparity between claims and scale, is the absence of any substantive evidence.
And there’s the “tell”.
In for a penny, in for a pound. Rosenstein had no choice than to go along with Mueller’s team and their thin evidentiary proclamations behind the Russian indictments. Without those Russian indictments, the background predicate is exposed…. and, as a direct consequence, all of the intelligence operations that are predicated on the ‘Russia Interference‘ premise begin to be exposed.
Without the Russian Interference predicate, why was the CIA running early 2016 operations against the Trump campaign? Without the Russian Interference predicate why was the July 31st, Crossfire Hurricane operation even begun? Etcetera… Etcetera… Etcetera…. All of it.
There’s where we find the need for the big lie.
Whenever there’s a need for a big cover-up, there’s always a need for a big lie.
The Russians HAD TO have made efforts to interfere in the election, or else the factual basis for the surveillance operation against candidate Donald Trump is naked to the world.
That’s why so much energy was exhausted framing the predicate.
“Seventeen intelligence agencies”….. The December 29th Joint Analysis Report…. The expulsion of the Russian diplomats which was an outcropping of the JAR…. The rushed January Intelligence Community Assessment… Shoving microphones in everyone’s faces and demanding they answer if they believed Russia interfered… All of it, and I do mean every bit of it, is predicated on an absolute need to establish that Russia Attempted to Interfere.
The “Russian Malicious Cyber Activity – Joint Analysis Report” (full pdf below) is pure nonsense. It outlines nothing more than vague and disingenuous typical hacking activity that is no more substantive than any other hacking report on any other foreign actor.
This might as well be a report blaming Nigerian fraud phone solicitors for targeting U.S. phone numbers. DUH! Just because your grandma didn’t actually win that Nigerian national lottery doesn’t mean the Nigerian Mafioso are targeting your employer to hold you accountable for her portion of the bill.
This FBI report is, well, quite simply, pure horse-pucky.
However, what the report does well is using ridiculous technical terminology to describe innocuous common activity. Example: “ATPT29” is Olaf, the round faced chubby guy probably working from his kitchen table; and “ATPT28” is his unemployed socially isolated buddy living in Mom’s basement down the street. This entire FBI report is nothing more than a generalized, albeit techno-worded, explanation for how Nigerians, Indians, or in this case Russians, attempt to gain your email passwords etc., nothing more.
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As time went on, and as the Clinton-Steele dossier was revealed, the 17 agency Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) grew even weaker. In late October 2017 former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper admitted the Clinton-Steele dossier was part of the ICA. Eventually, our research indicated the dossier and the intelligence report were likely the underlying evidence behind the FISA Title-1 application for surveillance on Carter Page and by extension the Trump campaign.
Later we discovered our independent suspicions appeared to be exactly what House Intelligence Committee Devin Nunes was also investigating.
(Via New York Post) […] After learning Obama Justice and FBI officials relied heavily on unsubstantiated rumors in the dossier to wiretap a Trump adviser during the election, congressional leaders now suspect the dossier also informed Obama intelligence officials who compiled the ICA.
The report was released Jan. 6, 2017 — the same day intelligence officials attached a written summary of the dossier to a highly classified Russia briefing they gave Obama about the dossier, and the day after Obama held a secret White House meeting to discuss the dossier with his national-security adviser and FBI director.
Staff investigators for GOP Rep. Devin Nunes’ intelligence committee, for one, are now going over “every word” of the ICA — including classified footnotes — to see if any of the analysis was pre-cooked based on the dossier.
[…] The Defense Intelligence Agency, Homeland Security, State Department’s intelligence bureau and other agencies with relevant expertise on Russia were excluded, in violation of normal rules for drafting such assessments. And in another departure from custom, the report is missing any dissenting views or an annex with evaluations of the conclusions from outside reviewers.
US intel veterans suspect the administration “manipulated” the process to reach a “predetermined political conclusion” in order to delegitimize Trump. (read more)
Take the ‘Russia Attempted to Interfere’ predicate away and what becomes visible behind the lifting-fog is an extensive multi-agency operation, encompassing multiple intelligence institutions and all three branches of government, to conduct political operations under the guise of counterintelligence. Yes, that’s what was factually taking place.
The Russian Interference narrative is the larger cover story.
It’s time to stop accepting it.
♦ Prove the July 31st, 2016, Crossfire Hurricane operation originated from fraud by exposing the CIA operation that created the originating “Electronic Communication” memo. Declassify that two-page “EC” document that Brennan gave to Comey.
♦ Reveal the November 2015 through April 2016 FISA-702 search query abuse by declassifying the April 2017 court opinion written by FISC Presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer. Show the FBI contractors behind the 85% fraudulent search queries. [Crowdstrike? Fusion-GPS? Nellie Ohr?]
♦ Subpoena former DOJ-NSD (National Security Division) head John Carlin, or haul him in front of a grand jury, and get his testimony about why he hid the abuse from the FISA court in October 2016; why the DOJ-NSD rushed the Carter Page application to beat NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers to the FISA court; and why Carlin quit immediately thereafter. Squeeze this bastard’s nuts in the proverbial legal vise.
♦ Prove the Carter Page FISA application (October 2016) was fraudulent and based on deceptions to the FISA Court. Declassify the entire document, and release the transcripts of those who signed the application(s); and/or depose those who have not yet testified.
♦ Release all of the Lisa Page and Peter Strzok text messages without redactions. Let sunlight pour in on the actual conversation(s) that were taking place when Crossfire Hurricane (July ’16) and the FISA Application (Oct ’16) were taking place.
♦ Release all of Bruce Ohr 302’s, FBI notes from interviews and debriefing sessions, and other relevant documents associated with the interviews of Bruce Ohr and his internal communications. Including exculpatory evidence that Bruce Ohr may have shared with FBI Agent Joseph Pientka. [And get a deposition from this Pientka fella]
Diana West Discusses The Red Thread – Why Did The Administrative State Target Donald Trump?…
April 7, 2019
Diana West discusses her new book “The Red Thread” with Stefan Molyneux in a recent interview. Mrs West asks why the conspiracy against President Trump took place; and she is one of the few people openly challenging the false narrative about Russia intefering in the 2016 election. This is a great interview to watch:
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“There was nothing normal about the 2016 presidential election, not when senior U.S. officials were turning the surveillance powers of the federal government — designed to stop terrorist attacks — against the Republican presidential team. These were the ruthless tactics of a Soviet-style police state, not a democratic republic.”
“The Red Thread asks the simple question: Why? What is it that motivated these anti-Trump conspirators from inside and around the Obama administration and Clinton networks to depart so drastically from “politics as usual” to participate in a seditious effort to overturn an election?”










