Posted originally on Dec 9, 2023 By Martin Armstrong
The golden rule of government is that whenever something new emerges – regulate it even when you do not understand what you are doing. While the details are not yet set, the EU wants to be the first to regular AI. This new legislation requires foundation models such as ChatGPT and general-purpose AI systems (GPAI) to comply with transparency obligations before they are put on the market. These include drawing up technical documentation, complying with EU copyright law, and disseminating detailed summaries about the content used for training.
The real problem is what is AI? I can right a rpogram that will talk, mimic a human, list all the known diseases in a database, then you answer some questions and it will say you have this or that. That is not AI. That is just a look-up program. How do we even define AI? I fear that they will simply take a look-up program and attribute that to AI. The regulation will become such a nightmare that you cannot participate in such a marketplace.
The EU legislation stands a high probability of killing AI development in Europe and, in fact, closing off its citizens from even using AI. The classic example is how England lost the Industrial Revolution and effectively outlawed automobiles, so the Industrial Revolution shifted to America. That one decision led to England’s subservient status in America.
The English politicians were bribed by the horse & buggy industry to pass the Locomotive Act (1865), which required self-propelled vehicles (automobiles) on public roads to be preceded by a man on foot waving a red flag and blowing a horn. The legislation succeeded in shifting the Industrial Revolution to Germany and America. The status quo bribed the politicians fighting against this wave of Creative Destruction. The English Parliament finally removed the need for the red flag in 1878 and abolished the law entirely in 1896.
The Hedge Fund Industry was created by overregulation. In 1985, I warned Congress that unless they merged the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, they would force serious fund management offshore, which became the hedge fund industry. They would not merge the two agencies, so managing funds for an American became impossible. I was offered to manage $60 billion domestically and declined. Why? Because by law, the maximum I could hedge if I thought the stock market would decline was 17% using futures. If I used more than the equivalent of 17%, I would not be an equity fund regulated by the SEC but a futures fund under the CFTC. If you obey the laws of one, you go to jail under the other. Hence, you had to go offshore. For an American to invest in a hedge fund offshore, they must create a corporation outside the USA and that invests – not an American citizen. Then the IRS snoops around.
Domestically, there are countless funds that are all specialized. It became your burden to understand if you should be in bonds, stocks, real estate, or commodities. Each fund will naturally tell you they are the best. As a hedge fund manager, clients came to me, and I made that decision, which I could not do in a domestic fund because of all the regulations.
With some of the suggestions already being mentioned in the EU, the drastic overregulation will more likely than not mean AI can never be developed in Europe, and we may be looking at the same outcome as England’s Red Flag legislation of 1865.
In the US, the Constitution forbid Ex Post Facto Laws. They cannot put Socrates out of business by suddenly writing laws today that apply retroactively. While we have been working on this project to allow clients to interact with Socrates asking it questions and even minitoring your portfolio, that may become impossible in Europe.
The Global Market Watch was actually created for one of the top banks in the world. They wanted something that at a glance they could just look down and see what was highlighted instead of reading a 1,000 written reports daily.
The major question, will Europe kill its own future once again?
Posted Originally on the CTH Dec 8, 2023 By Martin Armstrong
The Republicans have blocked funding for Ukraine, demanding restraints on the unrelenting onslaught of illegal aliens. Chuck Schumer has put out the propaganda that will risk everything the world has worked for since World War II. The Democrats are on board with the Neocons. The only way they can continue this insane agenda as we watch the world rising up and turning against the left in Argentina, Brazil, and Germany as the Greens collapse to 7% approval ratings, even in Alberta, Canada, invoking the Sovereignty Act against Trudeau, they know their days are numbered. Trump is 47 points ahead of all Republicans, and if the election were today without illegal aliens voting, he would wipe the floor clean in Washington.
That said, the Democrats are desperate. Schummer astonishingly lied to the world, which promotes World War III, claiming that the Republicans daring to block funding for Ukraine and Israel means we are just a step away from letting Vladimir Putin “walk right through Ukraine and right through Europe.” Not only is Russia not interested in invading Europe. Communism fell, and they REFUSE to acknowledge that fact. The people overthrew Communism and have no intention of going back. They demonize Putin as propaganda for their agenda, as they have done to Trump, Saddam Hussein, Muammar al-Gaddafi, and Bashar al-Assad. That’s a psychological tactic to get people to hate their opponents.
What Schummer is really saying is the Democrats are desperate for votes. In other words, under no condition will the Democrats close the border. They intend to grant these people citizenship by executive order so they can win in 2024.
“Republicans just blocked a very much needed proposal to send funding for Ukraine, funding for Israel, humanitarian aid for innocent civilians in Gaza, and funding for the Indo-Pacific,” Schumer said.“If there is a word for what we most need now, it is to be serious.”
They know the tide is turning. Their policies have reduced the living standards for everyone and increased crime. Just wait until we have terrorist attacks next year, thanks to the open borders. The 49-51 vote reflected this disconcerting trend within Congress that has become a source of distress for the Neocons and their puppets – the Democrats. When Russia first invaded Ukraine in February 2022, aiding Kyiv was a bipartisan project. In May of that year, a $40bn Ukraine aid package sailed through the House with a vote of 368-57 and the Senate with a vote of 86 -11.
Many ask me if I will attend the New York Annual Coin Show. The answer is NO WAY! The days of New York City are over. Wall Street is quietly moving to Miami. They tax everything, reform nothing, and the city is in its final stages of decline and fall, following the same path as the collapse of Rome, the city itself. They are swapping economic-producing people they overtax for the unskilled people who have flooded in for free food.
They will now impose a Congestion Tax using the excuse of cleaner air when they are just broke. What’s next? Taxing you for breathing out CO2 to prevent climate change? New York City just voted to slash funding for sanitation. So we get cleaner air and dirty streets? New York City is now a breeding ground overrun with rats, historically the source of plagues. The police budget is declining by $5.6 billion as well at a time when crime is through the roof and the city’s infrastructure is crumbling as busloads of illegals arrive daily. Sorry, last year, two coin dealers were robbed. If you buy anything there, you pay sales tax if you leave with it, so this is taxation without representation.
I prefer to stay clear of NYC. When Sshummer, Hochul, and AOC represent it, it is like a foreign country. Marxism has consumed politics in New York, and the people, with their politicians, refuse to open their eyes to see the decline and fall unfolding. NYC’s days are numbered. Just like Rome, when they opened the border during the reign of Valens, it took at best 6 years for the city to collapse. Representatives throughout the Thirteen Colonies met in New York City in 1765 to organize resistance to Crown policies. That was 258 years ago, and 3 x 8.6 = 25.8. NYC is doomed. The charges against Trump can be brought against any company in New York, whoever borrowed. They can now claim you overvalued your collateral to get the loan as if the Bank does not have its own appraisers. The hatred for Trump by Democrats in NYC reminds me of Herbert Hoover’s apology in his memoirs. They are desperate for money. They will take what they do to Trump and apply it to other companies for the big bucks. If you have property in NYC – it’s time to sell. You are better off just renting if you cannot leave.
Posted originally on Dec 8, 2023 By Martin Armstrong
The Senate has prevented the US government from sending billions to aid foreign wars in a 49-51 vote. Republicans demanded that protections for the US border be implemented in the latest $111 billion spending package. The nation is spending billions on the illegals entering the country and those requesting a secure border are asking for a fraction of what the Biden Administration sent to Ukraine alone. Biden is now threatening to send American troops to Ukraine if he cannot send a blank check.
Biden continued with the claim that Putin wants to build the Russian empire and will not stop at Ukraine. “We’ll have something that we don’t seek and that we don’t have today: American troops fighting Russian troops,” Biden declared. Now some say Biden was merely stating that America would be forced to act if Russia attacked a NATO nation. The truth of the matter is that Biden is threatening to kill American men and women if he does not secure funding. National Security spokesperson John Kirby reiterated Biden’s threats. “America will not only spend money, but also shed its own blood,” he claimed. “If you think the cost of supporting Ukraine is high now just imagine how much higher it’s going to be not just in National Treasure but inAmerican bloodif he [Putin] starts going after one of our NATO allies… we [will] take our Article 5 commitments very seriously,” said Kirby.
Senator Bernie Sanders actually sided with the GOP over this issue as he did not want to send Israel “no-strings-attached money.” Sanders believes Netanyahu is a far-right extremist but does not believe the war can simply end. Rather, he does not believe America should focus on funding foreign wars at this time. “The problem with saying it is, it is not going to happen, because in Hamas, you have a corrupt terrorist organization that has stated before the attack on October 7, and after the attack on October 7, that their goal is to destroy Israel and engage in perpetual warfare,” Sanders continued. “To simply say ‘cease-fire,’ in my view, would be to provide false hope to anybody. I don’t know how you have a cease-fire with a group who says we don’t want a cease-fire.”
As for the Biden Administration, the situation at the US-Mexico border has never been worse. Americans want American taxes to go toward securing our own border and we deserve to have representation.
Posted originally on the CTH on December 7, 2023 | Sundance
Inside the construct of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Congress has agreed to extend the current FISA-702 authorization through April 19. 2024. Why April 19th? I believe, based on DOJ/FBI history, there is a very nefarious intent. I’ll explain.
First the report of the FISA-702 extension.
WASHINGTON – Congress is preparing to extend its deadline for untangling a complicated fight over warrantless government surveillance – which will mean yet another headache for House GOP leaders.
Top lawmakers are attaching a short-term extension of the government wiretapping power known as Section 702 to a sweeping defense policy bill, according to seven aides and lawmakers familiar with the text of the bill.
The extension would give Congress until April 19 to figure out how to reauthorize Section 702, named for its specific section of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The provision is meant to target foreigners abroad but has long stoked controversy for its ability to sweep in Americans.
Whether to attach a surveillance powers extension was one of the final sticking points on the defense bill, whose text is now finalized and expected to be released later Wednesday. Both the House and Senate still need to pass the defense bill, and there is bipartisan backlash already brewing over the decision to attach a surveillance extension.
Conservatives privately urged Speaker Mike Johnson to separate the two issues. His decision not to do so promises to complicate a final vote on the defense bill, a typically must-pass proposal that could come to the House floor as soon as next week. (read more)
FISA-702 surveillance was the legal mechanism by which the 2016 campaign of Donald Trump was placed under surveillance. The primary target of the FISA warrant was Carter Page; however, everyone within two contact points (2 hops) of Carter Page was also under full Title-1 surveillance. Essentially, the entire campaign and later administration of President Donald Trump fell under full electronic and physical surveillance.
Phone calls, text messages, emails and all electronic communication was intercepted by the DOJ. Robert Mueller extended the surveillance with a June 29, 2017, renewal. The FISA-702 authorities served as the legal mechanism that permitted the DOJ/FBI to intercept all communication and monitor everything from every position inside the administration of President Trump.
The 702 authorities were weaponized as warrantless searches by the DOJ against their political enemies. The FISA Court has published several years’ worth of reports showing how the “incidental collection” was not incidentally used. The abuses of the system have only grown every year since the DOJ National Security Division first started using them as a weaponized process to conduct warrantless surveillance on Americans.
Six years after this issue first surfaced, Office of Inspector General Michael Horowitz testified, April 27, 2023, that more than 3.4 million search queries into the NSA database took place between Dec. 1st, 2020 and Nov. 30th, 2021, by government officials and/or contractors working on behalf of the federal government. These search queries were based on authorizations related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Approximately 30% of those 3.4 million search queries were outside the rules and regulations that govern warrantless searches – what the politically correct government calls “non-compliant searches.” That means during the year 2021, more than 1 million searches of private documents and communication of Americans were illegal and outside the rules.
Additionally, IG Horowitz admitted that somewhere north of 10,000 federal employees have access to conduct these searches of the NSA database; a database which contains the electronic data of every single American, including emails, text messages, social media posts, instant messages, direct messages, phone calls, geolocation identifiers, purchases by electronic funds, banking records and any keystroke any American person puts into any electronic device for any reason.
If we were in a functioning system of government, everything would have been stopped, and no other conversation would take place that was not about this issue. This was the total and complete surveillance state being talked about as if Congress was discussing what’s for dinner.
If the FISA-702 authorities are extended, this surveillance is what has been authorized to continue through April 19, 2024. House Judiciary Ranking Member, Democrat Jerry Nadler, organized the date for extension.
I believe we have struck the right balance here and perhaps the only balance that can pass the House at this time,” Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) said about the bill.
Why April 2024?
Quite simply, and brutally honestly if we apply prior precedent to the extension timing, what you realize is the primary election of 2024 takes place between January and April of 2024. If things go as predicted by most, Donald Trump will have likely secured enough delegates for the nomination by the end of April. The extension will give the surveillance apparatus the ability to conduct searches of information throughout this period.
On/around April 19, 2024, the GOP nominee will likely have locked down the nomination. The nominee is likely to be Donald Trump.
Beyond the extension motive, the previous counterintelligence investigation by the FBI never stopped. Crossfire Hurricane evolved into the Mueller special counsel investigation. The same investigative units from the FBI then transferred into the Jack Smith special counsel. There is no reason to believe a counterintelligence investigation does not underpin the legal authorities by which the current DOJ is keeping candidate Donald Trump under surveillance today.
Using the wording within the criminal indictment, the DOJ-NSD could -likely is- considering Donald Trump a national security threat. All indications from the Jack Smith prosecution point in this direction. There is no countervailing data that would suggest the DOJ is not considering Donald Trump a national security threat. As a result, it is very likely candidate Trump is once again under a FISA authorized Title-1 surveillance warrant….. and everyone within two hops of him would be under the same.
On/around April 19, 2024, if Trump is the presumptive GOP nominee, the FISA court might look at any renewal authorities differently. It’s one thing to have American citizen Donald Trump under title-1 surveillance, it is another thing entirely to have the opposing candidate to the current administration under legally authorized surveillance by the DOJ-NSD.
The end date of April 19, 2024, would align with a need to have more than reasonable suspicion to retain the surveillance. At least, that’s the way the FISC would likely look at it.
If Occam’s razor is applied to the current datapoints, the most likely scenario for the DOJ-NSD, FBI and Jack Smith special counsel investigative units, is that Donald Trump is currently under FISC authorized title-1 surveillance.
Retaining the 702 status quo through April allows the surveillance to fall upon anyone in his campaign orbit.
The DOJ’s position in 2024 would then simply be a repeat of the DOJ’s position in 2016.
Someone might want to talk to Donald Trump about this.
Posted originally on the CTH on December 3, 2023 | Sundance
This is kind of awesome in a pathetic and funny way. Worse still, every time I write about him you guys make me hungry for donuts. However, that said, and because laughing is a key ingredient to living our best life, if you can get past the Laura Ingraham lip treatment aspect, Chris Christie sounds desperate.
Appearing on Face the Nation, a newly lip enhanced Christie swears he still has a chance. WATCH:
Look, let’s be honest. If the gastric band didn’t work, there’s only so much Sununu and the cosmetics can do. The demons inside are beginning to manifest.
[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: We go now to the former Governor of New Jersey and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie, good to have you back on the program. We know, sir, the RNC is supposed to announce tomorrow who will be on that December 6 debate stage. Has the RNC told you you’ve qualified to be there and if you haven’t, will you drop out?
2024 GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE CHRIS CHRISTIE: I don’t think they’ve told anybody yet who all of us are going to be on the stage, but I’m confident, Margaret, that I will be there and that we have all the qualifications necessary to get there.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Because, you told CNN over Thanksgiving, you will stay in the race through the Convention, which would put you into the summer months. Does the field need to consolidate to beat Donald Trump, which you say is one of your prime motivations in running.
CHRISTIE: Look, this field has already consolidated more than any non-incumbent field in this century Margaret. Back this time, eight years ago, we had 13 candidates still in the race. At this time back, you know, in 2011, we had eight candidates in the race. At this time back in 2007, we had nine candidates in the race and so this field is consolidated significantly, and I suspect it will consolidate more after folks vote in Iowa and New Hampshire.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But, isn’t it a little bit different that you have the 45th President of the United states running, a known entity who has this automatic platform. It’s just a different model. It’s a different case.
CHRISTIE: Yeah, the other thing that makes it different, Margaret, is he’s got 91 counts of indictment against him. The day before Super Tuesday, he’s going to start a criminal trial, where his former chief of staff and one of the founders of the Freedom Caucus is going to testify that he committed crimes on his watch and was directed to commit crimes by Donald Trump. There’s a lot of things different about this and that’s why anybody tried to predict this is just shooting in the dark.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But why don’t- why hasn’t that turned off the GOP electorate? When you look at CBS polling, and others, he is leading, as you know. And then I mean, you’ve made clear when some of the other competitors are using really harsh rhetoric that you think that should disqualify them. Why hasn’t that extreme rhetoric turned the GOP off of these other candidates either?
CHRIS CHRISTIE: Well, look, I- first off, I don’t think you know exactly what’s going to happen at all until people vote. Look, if we listen to all the polling, Margaret, Hillary Clinton would be in her second term. So I don’t believe that polling is nearly as reliable as it used to be and I don’t believe that people tell the truth to pollsters. And so at the end of the day, everybody who’s trying to make these decisions now is just wrong. Let’s remember something, in this- in the Republican primary in ’07, do you know who was winning at this time in ’07? Mitt Romney. You know who was winning at this time in ’11? Newt Gingrich. And winning this time and ’15 was Ben Carson. I don’t remember any of those presidencies, Margaret. So you know, my view, we can’t worry about that kind of stuff. What we need to worry about is the direction this country is going in, and most people don’t agree with it. And if you don’t agree with the direction of the country, why would you vote for either Trump or Biden, who have put us in this direction?
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, I have a lot more to talk to you about including on the issues and the things that we know from our own polling voters want to hear from candidates like you. So I’m going to ask you to stick with us because I do have to take a commercial break and we’ll have more questions on the other side of it.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face The Nation. We have more now from former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, candidate for the Republican nomination. Sir, I want to pick up where we left off. You know, we hear from political pundits all the time, oh, Americans just don’t care about national security when it comes to how they vote, but you are the only candidate who has gone to both Israel and Ukraine during this campaign, at least only one still standing. Why was it important for you to go?
CHRISTIE: So, I think if you want to be President of the United States, you have to see these things for yourself. You can’t count on reports from pundits or the press, or from other folks in public life. You’ve got to see it for yourself and I will tell you, when I went to Israel, Margaret, just a couple of weeks ago, the inhumanity I saw that Hamas rained upon the Jewish people in Israel, I went into one home of a 24-year-old couple recently married, both were murdered in their small three-room home. And there were 140 bullet holes in the walls to kill two people, Margaret, it’s not just the inhumanity that Hamas executes, it’s the joy they take in that inhumanity. And that’s why Israel has to do what they need to do to eliminate that military threat. And I think I would not have completely understood it, and couldn’t be an effective president if I didn’t see it for myself.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We’ll see if some of the other candidates go, one of the things that I also want to pick up on that we see voters responding to thus far is abortion. You know, it’s been a galvanizing issue in favor of Democrats. We’ve seen that a few times now. Are you concerned that in a head-to-head that that will help to buoy the President himself as he runs for reelection? And how does a Republican candidate like yourself, take the issue to the national stage when the message for decades has been it’s a state issue?
CHRISTIE: Look, Margaret, I’ve been consistent on this. I believe the conservative smart approach is to let the states make these decisions and that’s what I think they should do. And that’s why I said, I wouldn’t sign a six-week national abortion ban as Governor DeSantis and now just recently in Iowa, Governor Haley has said she would sign a six week ban. I don’t think you can say one thing in one place and something else in another, you need to be consistent. For 50 years, Republicans have argued that the Supreme Court took this decision away from the people. I think this belongs in the hands of the people of each individual state, we see a great democratic, small d, event going on right now across the country, in places like Michigan and Kansas, in Ohio, where people are voting, but let’s let the American people vote in their individual states, and decide what they want this policy to be.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So better for the party not to have a national policy, essentially, is what you’re saying.
CHRISTIE: I believe that’s- I believe that’s true. I believe that’s what the Constitution guides us to do. And that’s where we should stay and that’s where I’ve been. And I’m concerned, quite frankly, Margaret, that, you know, candidates in this race have been all over the block on this. And it’s not right, people deserve to have a straight answer from you and that’s my straight answer.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So, also, giving a fairly straight assessment is Liz Cheney, the former Congresswoman who just did an interview with my colleague, John Dickerson, and told him, ‘the United States is sleepwalking into a dictatorship.’ Bob Kagan, writer in the New York- in the Washington Post had an op ed saying, ‘after Super Tuesday in March, Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee and what happens there will be a swift and dramatic shift in the political power dynamic in his favor,’ saying all Republican critics, perhaps even yourself will fall silent out of self preservation. Is that how you see your party behaving after March?
CHRISTIE: Look, I can’t speak for everyone in my party, I can only speak for myself, Margaret. And anybody who knows me knows I will not be silent. I haven’t been silent since the day I got into this race. And in fact, unlike others, you know, Nikki Haley says he was the right president for the right time and that for some reason, you know, drama and chaos seem to follow him. The reason is that he acts like someone who doesn’t care about our democracy acts like someone who wants to be a dictator. He acts like someone who doesn’t care for the Constitution. In fact, he’s even said himself he’d be willing to suspend the Constitution if an election wasn’t going in his direction. Margaret, I was the only one on that stage going back to August, when I- when we were asked would you support someone who, you know, was convicted of a felony for President of the United States? Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, they all raised their hands. I did not and I think I’ve made it very very clear how I feel about this and if folks want to return to some decency and civility why would you ever vote for Donald Trump.
MARGARET BRENNAN: All right, Chris Christie, we’ll watch. Thanks for your time, we’ll be right back.
Posted originally on the CTH on December 3, 2023 | Sundance
The Iowa caucuses are January 15, 2024, and represent the first opportunity for the GOP nomination contest to highlight candidate support.
Initially, I was going to wait to post this information later, mid-December. However, based on conversation earlier today, and my pledge to be publicly consistent and transparent, here’s an advance review of my expectations.
(#1) The full-throated DOJ, Jack Smith, Georgia and New York legal cases will likely trigger, like scud missiles in a blitz attack against Donald Trump, around 10 days prior to the Iowa caucuses. I’m not sure what the granular details of the Lawfare assault will look like; however, the timing will certainly be in/around these dates. The deepest part of the DC system that is in full alignment against Trump will be looking at this time frame as the first opportunity to hit Trump hard. The main battery comes after the 2024 RNC convention (Wisconsin, thanks Ronna).
(#2) Simultaneous to this, keep in mind the Sea Island group have spent hundreds of millions on an organizational process for Ron DeSantis, that is now contingent upon an Iowa victory. Just like the timing of the Mar-a-Lago raid, there will likely be some background coordination between the administrative state in DC and the organizational assemblies of DeSantis and Nikki Haley. Again, this is the first opportunity for the ‘stop Trump’ apparatus to create an inflection point. If President Trump crushes the Iowa caucuses, he will destroy the GOPe narrative.
(#3) This also creates the context timeline for us to consider an urgency by the deepest part of the DC control apparatus to influence public opinion. As a result, and given the recent remarks by platform operator Elon Musk, we may also see something happening with Twitter that blocks the ability of the assembled masses to communicate about whatever happens in #1. To a significant extent, MAGA has assembled discussion into a large Twitter stadium per se’. If the people controlling U.S. political outcomes want to hit hard, they will need a significant and timed disruption in the system of public communication. Scattering that stadium would be very effective.
The DHS artificial intelligence (AI) rollout into the ¹overall communication system, specifically social media, can also be considered as part of a disruption effort to influence the 2024 election. The national security labeling, definitions that establish censorship, removal and content control, will almost certainly flow through the pre-existing Public-Private partnerships. I would not be surprised to see the timing of that launch, in a full scale, somewhat in this same calendar period.
We all know the 2024 election is for all the marbles, so we just await the predictable incoming fire.
Smart wolverines will have preestablished iron dome defenses at the ready.
¹[GO DEEP] DHS’ AI task force is coordinating with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on how the department can partner with critical infrastructure organizations “on safeguarding their uses of AI and strengthening their cybersecurity practices writ large to defend against evolving threats.”
Posted originally on the CTH on December 3, 2023 | Sundance
In the state of Maine, the deadline for candidates for president to turn in a sufficient number of signatures to be on the March 5, 2024 Primary Election ballot was 5 p.m. on Friday. The candidates needed 2,000 valid voter signatures to appear on the ballot. According to the Secretary of State, candidate Chris Christie did not make the cut.
Dec. 2 (UPI) — Former New Jersey governor and Republican presidential hopeful Chris Christie will not be on the Maine primary election ballot after failing to obtain the required number of in-state petition signatures.
In order to be on the ballot for Maine’s March 5, 2024, primary election, candidates must have 2,000 in-state signatures, but state officials said Saturday he didn’t make the cut.
“The deadline for candidates for president to turn in a sufficient number of signatures to be on the March 5, 2024, primary election ballot was 5 p.m. today,” Maine’s Secretary of State said in a press release.
Christie only received 844 signatures, Maine Director of Elections Heidi Peckham told CBS News. (link)
Posted originally on the CTH on December 1, 2023 | Sundance
At dinner last night, I was questioned about Twitter and the recent remarks of Elon Musk. My opinion is somewhat out of variance with the mainstream considerations.
I believe the demise of Twitter was essentially determined long ago. Musk stepped into a scenario that was tenuous at best, and the government control of the platform was always the fulcrum issue. Musk’s prior intent with the platform may be up for debate; however, against his recent remarks, I would argue Musk is presenting the potential collapse of the platform as a martyr scenario.
Musk said recently the platform may collapse without advertisers, but he will not acquiesce to corporate blackmail. Sounds great, but keep in mind that Musk has known about the fulfillment of the DOJ search warrant for user data since January of this year; we only recently discovered it. Put that background reality into the overlay of your opinion, given the year of comments about users shared by Musk, and the known lack of platform privacy.
Musk knew as an outcome of the platform fulfillment of the court order, the release of all user metadata who supported, followed, liked, or shared the tweets of Donald Trump, that the government created the “his kind” list earlier this year. Yet, he never discussed the issue of compromised privacy throughout his commentary; he did exactly the opposite while assuring people the platform would protect users. [Ex. How did the encrypted DM promise work out?]
Now Musk positions himself as the martyr, the victim of leftist targeting…. and his hired CEO Linda Yaccarino is doing the same thing [SEE HERE]. What better way to guide the platform into a controlled collapse than to be a martyred hero as the Twitter platform potentially disappears. Just think about it.
Simultaneously, all prior DOJ/FBI/IC datamining and intelligence gathering operations against conservative or liberty-minded Americans becomes legal when contrast against the fulfilled subpoena. That’s the same DOJ/FBI/IC motive behind the Carter Page FISA application. All prior surveillance legalized ex-post-facto, history rhymes.
VIA CBS – Walmart said Friday that it is scaling back its advertising on X, the social media company formerly known as Twitter, because “we’ve found some other platforms better for reaching our customers.”
Walmart’s decision has been in the works for a while, according to a person familiar with the move. Yet it comes as X faces an advertiser exodus following billionaire owner Elon Musk’s support for an antisemitic post on the platform.
The retailer spends about $2.7 billion on advertising each year, according to MarketingDive. In an email to CBS MoneyWatch, X’s head of operations, Joe Benarroch, said Walmart still has a large presence on X. He added that the company stopped advertising on X in October, “so this is not a recent pausing.”
“Walmart has a wonderful community of more than a million people on X, and with a half a billion people on X, every year the platform experiences 15 billion impressions about the holidays alone with more than 50% of X users doing most or all of their shopping online,” Benarroch said.
Musk struck a defiant pose earlier this week at the New York Times’ Dealbook Summit, where he cursed out advertisers that had distanced themselves from X, telling them to “go f— yourself.” He also complained that companies are trying to “blackmail me with advertising” by cutting off their spending with the platform, and cautioned that the loss of big advertisers could “kill” X. (read more)
Twitter has $12.5 billion in debt from the initial investor purchase of the platform. The debt service costs around $1 billion per year ($100 million/mo). There was never a viable path to profitability and/or platform solvency; the operating costs when combined with the debt service are just too high.
Now, think carefully…. In late September, Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino made a bold statement. Yaccarino stated that from her review of the current status, Twitter would start to turn a profit in the first quarter of 2024 {link}. However, with $100 million per month in debt service alone, this statement seemed too far of a stretch. At pre-Musk levels of revenue, maybe; but that $1.5 billion debt service is a heavy nut to carry.
Timing – Remember, in early October the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gave special regulatory approval to Bill Ackman’s firm, Pershing Square (hedge fund), for a new investment vessel called SPARC, whose purpose is to invest in private companies in order to take them public. As noted by CNBC, “In a SPARC, investors will know what company the financing vehicle would be used to merge with before they have to pledge their investments.” The financial mechanism avoids some of the issues with typical IPOs.
•It was October 2023, inflection time. •Yaccarino says a strategy is underway for profitability in Q1 2024. •Ackman gets SPARC approval. If you ask me what was going on, I’d say they were positioning a mechanism to get the debt removed and the investors repaid – sell the debt via Ackman.
Once the new advertising boycott began, the Ackman story disappeared completely. The debt holders are naked with a platform that is worth less than the original investment.
Was this just naive stupid thinking? Was the current scenario the result of failed foresight…. or, was this a guided and controlled outcome? If you ask me, I’d say the latter.
Who wins? The surveillance state…
….while everyone proclaims Elon Musk a hero for trying.
Posted originally on the CTH on December 1, 2023 | Sundance
Apparently 105 Republican members of Congress have decided that “due process” is no longer needed for anyone who stands accused. Regardless of how you feel about New York Representative George Santos, the expulsion from Congress, without any judicial or court hearing, is a remarkable development.
The final vote was 311 for, with 114 against expulsion. Reps. Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.) and Al Green (D-Texas) voted “present,” and Reps. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) and Nikema Williams (D-Ga.) voted against the measure.
Santos becomes the first Republican ever expelled from Congress and only the sixth member in history to suffer such a fate.
A special election will be held in New York CD-03 to replace him. The Republican House majority now sinks to four seats if all members are present.
Democrats rally around their accused with political ferocity. However, the jellyfish Republicans can never elevate to see the bigger picture. The big winner in this outcome are House Democrats who can now strategically use the small majority to defeat Republican legislation.
WASHINGTON DC – Top GOP lawmakers have a new problem on their hands: Rank and file Republicans frustrated with their leaders’ late-game opposition to expelling George Santos.
The New York Republican’s intra-party critics finally succeeded Friday in their push to expel their indicted colleague. They prevailed despite the opposition of all four top House Republican leaders, who lined up in the 24 hours before his ejection to say they would support keeping Santos in office.
Republican leaders also didn’t whip votes against Santos, arguing that his expulsion was a vote of conscience. In the end, their members split almost evenly — 105 voted to bounce him and 112 voted not to. But some who voted to expel took issue with their leaders’ decision to come out as opponents of expulsion at the last minute, warning that it risked looking like an attempt to tip the scales for Santos.
Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) said he was “very disappointed” with how GOP leaders handled the vote.
“Too many people, including leadership, were using excuses that simply cannot be successfully argued with everyday Americans,” Womack said in an interview. “Had leadership had its way, we would have reset the bar on standards of conduct at a level that we would live to regret.”
Womack, a respected senior appropriator, added that “I am thankful that there were enough thoughtful members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, that recognize that there was only one course of action here.” (read more)
The Republican wing of the Uniparty are experts at losing while proclaiming they held on to their principles.
Santos deserved due process. However, if you look at the litany of Republicans who voted against him, you will discover the same aligned names were with the Nancy Pelosi impeachment effort against Donald Trump.
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