Posted originally on the CTH on January 28, 2025 | Sundance
According to media reports, President Trump has removed the entire leadership structure of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), previously run by Samantha Power.
This is not necessarily a domestic issue. Those who walk the deepest political weeds well understand that USAID is the cover agency for the interventionist efforts of the CIA. USAID is the agency silo that coordinates the meddling in foreign elections, organizes the revolutions and political opposition of those deemed out of alignment with global democratic norms, funds the NGOs who do the ground operations, and generally seeks to replace foreign leaders.
President Trump has just removed the entire leadership structure of the USAID enterprise, approximately 60 government officials. You can bet that nationalist leaders of foreign countries are smiling now while Brussels (EU Commission) is left wondering who will pay for the foot soldiers.
(Via Politico) – […] The order — sent via email to members of the senior executive and senior Foreign Service — was issued close to the end of the business day Monday and was effective immediately, according to two current USAID officials and three former USAID officials told of the communication. It comes as USAID and the State Department have been ordered to impose halts on a vast number of humanitarian and related programs around the world.
The decision appears to affect nearly every career staffer who holds a top leadership role at the agency, at least in Washington — around 60 officials, the current and former officials said.
The cuts have left many offices within the agency entirely devoid of senior non-political leadership. The entire cadre of leaders who run USAID’s bureau for global health, for example, was put on leave, according to two of the officials.
“This is a huge morale hit,” said a former senior Trump administration official who was also told of the move. “This is the leadership of the agency. This is like taking out all the generals. I don’t know what they hope to accomplish by it.” (read more)
Posted originally on the CTH on January 28, 2025 | Sundance
Moments after President Donald Trump posted a snarky tribute to Jim Acosta losing his timeslot at CNN Fake News, Acosta quit the network.
“Wow, really good news! Jim Acosta, one of the worst and most dishonest reporters in journalistic history, a major sleazebag, has been relegated by CNN Fake News to the Midnight hour, “Death Valley,” because of extraordinarily BAD RATINGS (and no talent!). Word is that he wants to QUIT, and that would be even better. Jim is a major loser who will fail no matter where he ends up. Good luck Jim!” ~ President Donald Trump
Posted originally on Jan 21, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
Stéfane Marion, chief economist of the National Bank of Canada, has urged the Canadian government to reconsider their own trade barriers amid criticism of Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated in a 2019 study that Canada’s own restrictions are “regarded as the most comprehensive analysis of internal trade barriers.”Rather than tariffs, Canada’s eagerness to attract foreign investments has proved to be a barrier for domestic corporations.
Canada has trade agreements with over 40 nations as it has sought to attract international capital since 1989 since its first free trade deal with the USA. “[C]ompared to an ambitious and successful international trade strategy, progress in reducing internal trade barriers across Canada has not kept pace,” the IMF noted. The astounding amount of red tape has simply made it more expensive for Canadian companies to conduct business. Some estimates believe non-geographical internal trade barriers in Canada are equivalent to a 21% tariff. On the contrary, those barriers amount to a 3% tariff for the United States.
Marion noted that interprovincial trade relevant to international trade has declined from 50% to 40% in recent decades. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business has long fought for government to stop taxing its own corporations into oblivion. “It’s ridiculous that it’s still easier for Canadian small firms to do business overseas or across the border than within their own country,” said Chorine Pohlmann, CFIB’s executive vice president of advocacy.
Canadians are ready to welcome fresh leadership after Trudeau’s failure. Trump’s proposed 25% tariffs on Canadian goods would be disastrous for both economies. However, the Canadian government has shot itself in the foot with policies aimed at boosting international trade while ignoring domestic objectives. We have seen that happen countless times throughout history when nations are so focused on world trade that they end up dampening their own competitiveness. Canada must consider the steps it can currently take to boost business domestically without punishing companies from operating within Canada.
Posted originally on Jan 21, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
PayPal has finally admitted that it DEBANKED people because of their views on COVID-19. Let me state clearly: PayPal did that to us, and I had to get lawyers involved to even get our money back. They claim to have these policies, and my real question has been who is directing these policies, and are they taking money for them? We no longer take PayPal, for they will debunk you for political reasons.
PayPal debanked Molly Kingsley, the founder of the parent campaign group UsForThem, that her account had been terminated in September 2022 owing to “the nature of its activities.” Now, PayPal has admitted that her account was frozen for the first time due to “content published by UsForThem relating to mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations andschool closures”.
The firm said that since UsForThem received donations via PayPal, this contravened its “acceptable use” policy.
When I do interviews, I cannot even use the word “vaccine,” or the post is removed, especially from YouTube. There should be an investigation to see if there is a coordinated effort by someone directing this censorship, for it only profited companies like Pfizer. Where I would at least take a flu shot, I would no longer take any vaccine, for they are all now being crafted with MRNA. Pfizer should be criminally investigated.
Posted originally on Jan 20, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
COMMENT: Mr. Armstrong, I was searching about civil unrest and found that FEMA did a report and cities your models. They even said:
ANSWER: Sources are saying that the Democrats, who had planned for a huge protest rally tomorrow, are disappointed again. The crowd is tiny. Our model on political civil unrest, which began with the Kent State Massacre of 1970 against Vietnam, peaked in 2017 with the violent protests in Washington, DC, with Trump’s inauguration. The good news is that the model bottomed in 2021, and here in 2026, it is the first wave up in the next iteration. So, it should be less in intensity, and that is what appears to be unfolding.
It seems that the Democrats and their propaganda over abortion and misrepresenting the entire issue has led many to be myopic and totally disconnected from the issues. The Democrats are still fighting internally and simply refuse to admit that they went way too far, embracing this like transgender, which represents such a tiny fragment of the population, turn women’s sports on its head while claiming to support women with abortion.
Let’s see. The double standard in DC and the Deep State imprisoning little old ladies for even walking in the capital building on January 6th and not imprisoning violate protestors at Trump’s last inauguration demonstrates the corruption in DC. The hopes of a significant violent protest to force Trump to call out the National Guard so they can label him a dictator is fading into the wind. The Democrats just oppose whatever the opposition proposes, regardless of whether it is right or wrong. This is the collapse of politics.
Posted originally on Jan 20, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
COMMENT: I had assumed you were just a Trump supporter. It has been emphasized that I was wrong and that you are in the middle of forecasting the events economically. I was told you recently said that Trump could go down as Herbert Hoover and that he cannot prevent the recession from occurring. Would you please elaborate on this and why you are in the middle to begin with. That is rare these days.
Thank you for your time.
Doug
ANSWER: The computer forecasts all of these elections worldwide, and it has never been wrong because it is not partisan; it just follows the economics. Plain and simple. Any unbiased analysis will always show that if you turn the economy down, the people will vote them out of power regardless of the party. It has always been as they say, it’s the economy stupid.
I am anti-Marxist. I went behind the Berlin Wall before it fell, and I was called in by China during the 1997 Asian Currency Crisis. So, what I have seen has shaped my personal beliefs. Like weather, too much heat or too much cold and you will die. The same is true in economics. Go into hyperinflation and you get Germany turning to Hitler, or deflation you get the Great That is why I am in the middle of the road, I suppose. I see government as always the problem, for they presume they can manipulate We the People always to retain power. They are dead wrong.
Now, as for Trump becoming Herbert Hoover II, I am by no means a Democrat and at times, I am barely a Republican. We are heading into a recession that will turn into a Depression for some countries because we have a Sovereign Debt Crisis that will not remain silent for long. Trump and his people have grabbed the scepter, and they become mesmerized by the power and think they, too, can dictate the economy. Sorry, there is something we call the business cycle, which is global. The first recognized global contagion was the Panic of 1857. We cannot ignore the economic conditions externally. Trump wants these tariffs to end the trade deficits. That is old-school thinking, and it will fail. Raising tariffs will cause deeper recessions outside the USA and that means the US exports will decline. As that declines, it will create a global economic contagion and that will come back to engulf the US economy.
I can preach until I am blue in the face. They will NEVER listen to me BECAUSE they are all caught up in their own power. It is like a guy has a gun, and he says your money or your life. Are you going to lecture him that guns are illegal without a permit? Good luck on that one.
With all due respect for Trump, this is just the wrong time with the bad ideas because the crisis is beyond just the United States. Unless you understand the world economy as a whole, this will not end well. Trump will hit the ground running and may score some success into 2026. Thereafter, things will get serious. Yes, the political system and the rule of law is complete garbage. This will help post-2032 with the reform and creation of a better political-economic system.
This is how the business cycle will unfold. It really does not matter who is president. The global economy will turn down. Kamala and the Democrats would have been a total disaster and we would be in World War III very fast. The Democrats said they were defending democracy against Trump. They were actually stating their own agenda.
Biden was a placeholder – nothing more. He was not the president making the decisions – that was, I believe, the Neocons led by Antony Blinken no different that Dick Cheney was really president under Bush Jr. The Neocons have usurped American foreign policy and did everything to push us into World War III. This was a coup against the American people that the press would NEVER cover, no less investigate. Biden was in a role for which he was unfit because he could be controlled by the Neocons. They picked him, which is why you had Republicans for Kamala to keep that power play. The Democrats replace Biden with Kamala who would be another placeholder who never one a single delegate in the previous presidential primary. She lost every battleground state. All the time, the Democrats pushed Biden off the ticket and made her the nominee without giving voters the slightest say, yet had the audacity to claim this election was about Democracy.
The Democrats would lie to your face that Biden was OK. Had the shoe been on the other foot, the Republicans would have done the same. Rule #1 in politics is NEVER admit a mistake. I have dealt with more governments than probably any analyst or all of them combined. I have seen inside the belly of the beast, and I cannot mindlessly be in either party. It will always come down to the realization at the end of the day that it will be government vs. people, and history will attest to that statement. If a commentator only supports one party, you are listening to a fool.
Posted originally on the CTH on January 18, 2025 | Sundance
Following a well-documented act of journalistic manipulation by CBS where they edited an interview with Kamala Harris to fabricate her response to a question, President Trump sued CBS for $10 billion alleging ‘election interference and demonstrable bias.’
The editorial manipulation by CBS is not debatable, even Trump critics stood jaw-agape at how stunningly obvious the fabrication within the broadcast 60-minutes interview was. CBS didn’t even attempt to defend itself on the matter. {Background Link}
CBS parent company Paramount Global is currently in an acquisition/merger effort with Skydance Media. The FCC is currently reviewing the possibility of the deal. Here’s where it gets interesting.
Skydance Media is run by David Ellison, the son of billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. Larry Ellison is the background money behind Twitter, behind Elon Musk and deeply enmeshed with the Tech Bros motives and intents for gains in the new administration. Larry Ellison has a good relationship with Trump supporting his election.
According to the Wall Street Journal, CBS/Paramount are now considering a lawsuit settlement with Donald Trump that would support a more friendly relationship for their merger interests with David Ellison and Skydance Media. It’s a billionaire “big club” analytical decision.
(Via WSJ) – […] It’s become clear to executives at both companies that Trump’s dissatisfaction with CBS News will make the [FCC] review tougher than they anticipated, and that they’ll likely need to offer concessions to win approval, people familiar with the situation said.
Incoming Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr gave Paramount executives a warning to that effect at a reception late last year following the taping of the Kennedy Center honors in Washington, according to people familiar with the exchange, and he has echoed the message in public remarks.
The FCC has the authority over the transaction because it would involve the transfer of broadcast-TV licenses held by local CBS-owned stations.
Trump’s lawsuit against CBS, which seeks $10 billion in damages, alleges that the network committed election interference by editing portions of an interview with Harris, favoring her campaign for president. Trump claimed CBS aired one version of the interview on “60 Minutes” and another version on its show “Face the Nation,” each containing different answers about Israel. CBS has said it aired a more succinct version of Harris’s interview on “60 Minutes.”
[…] Paramount and Skydance executives have considered a number of possible changes the company could make to shore up CBS News editorial operations while reassuring Trump’s camp, including adding new processes around programming and possibly releasing the transcript of its “60 Minutes” interview with Harris, according to the people familiar with the situation. (read more)
The FCC is investigating CBS for blatant manipulation of news. [SEE COMPLAINT HERE] CBS really has no defense.
Posted originally on the CTH on January 17, 2025 | Sundance
UPDATE: After jury agreed punitive damages were warranted, Zachary Young’s forensic economist, Robert W. Johnson, took the stand to assess CNN’s revenue to determine potential punitive damages and CNN’s ability to pay. Young estimated CNN makes $5 million per day. A 30-day award would be $150 million. Quickly CNN agreed to settle the punitive damage award for an undisclosed amount. The punitive award is secret.
CNN was sued for defamation by plaintiff Navy veteran Zachary Young. Mr. Young sued CNN for defamation after the cable network ran a hit piece against him and his company accusing Young of running a “black-market” rescue operation in the wake of the failed Afghanistan withdrawal. The hit piece ran on Jake Tapper and Jim Acosta’s segments on CNN.
The lawsuit progressed in the trial with the jury ultimately being handed the case for compensatory and punitive damages. Punitive damages were judged as warranted in the case because during the discovery phase of the trial Mr. Young’s lawyers were able to gain emails and internal correspondence within CNN showing intentional malice and willful intent to target and lie about Zachary Young.
Today the jury returned a verdict against CNN, awarding Mr. Young $5,000,000.00 in compensatory damages for his lost reputation, lost security clearance and complete loss of his business and income. The punitive damage award could be substantially higher and is yet determined.
FLORIDA – A Florida jury found that CNN liable of defaming Navy veteran Zachary Young on Friday and awarded him a total of $5 million in addition to finding that punitive damages were warranted against the network.
In his lawsuit against the cable news network, Young sought damages over a November 2021 report in which CNN chief national security correspondent Alex Marquardt claimed that bad actors were reportedly running a black market and charging exorbitant fees to Afghans attempting to flee their country after the Taliban retook control of it earlier that year.
Segments about Marquardt’s report ran on both Jake Tapper and Jim Acosta’s shows. Young’s name and face featured in both segments; he was the only individual identified by Marquardt.
Young’s legal team has submitted that CNN published “lies” about his business extracting people from Afghanistan and cited internal communications — which revealed that employees had doubts about the integrity of Marquardt’s story, as well as that Marquardt had called Young a “mf*****” whom he hoped to “nail” and agreed with a producer that the veteran had a “punchable face” — as evidence that the aim of of the story was to “hurt” him. (read more)
This trial outcome comes on the heels of ABC News agreeing to settle a defamation case against President Donald Trump for $15,000,000 which will be paid to his presidential library.
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