Poland Signs 20 Year Deal to Purchase U.S. Liquefied Natural Gas….


Economic security is national security… In July 2017 President Trump traveled to Polandto attend the Three Seas Initiative Summit, a gathering of countries bordering the Adriatic, Baltic and Black Sea (Poland, Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia).

The primary purpose of the visit was to discuss security initiatives including how to diminish Russian influence through a cooperative agreement over energy.  President Trump took the SME’s, and delivered a speech in Warsaw, Poland:

[…] “President Duda and I have just come from an incredibly successful meeting with the leaders participating in the Three Seas Initiative. To the citizens of this great region, America is eager to expand our partnership with you. We welcome stronger ties of trade and commerce as you grow your economies. And we are committed to securing your access to alternate sources of energy, so Poland and its neighbors are never again held hostage to a single supplier of energy.”

Well, today a massive multi-billion energy contract for the United States sale and Poland purchase of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) was announced.  While financial terms were not disclosed, the agreement is for the sale and purchase of approximately 2.7 billion cubic meters per year (after regasification) – enough natural gas to meet about 15 percent of Poland’s daily needs.  The contract is for 20 years of purchases.

SAN DIEGODec. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Port Arthur LNG, LLC, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), and the Polish Oil & Gas Company (PGNiG) today announced they have entered into a definitive 20-year sale-and-purchase agreement for liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Port Arthur LNG liquefaction-export facility under development in Jefferson County, Texas.

Today’s announcement is an important milestone as Sempra Energy pursues its long-term goal of exporting 45 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of North American LNG.

“This agreement marks an important step toward Poland’s energy independence and security,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry. “As demonstrated with the launch of the Strategic Dialogue on Energy in Poland last month, the Trump Administration remains committed to increasing energy diversity, advancing energy security, strengthening national security, and creating a future of prosperity and opportunity in Poland and throughout the region.”

“This agreement with PGNiG represents an important expansion of our portfolio of contracts for LNG exports and major step forward in the development of our Port Arthur LNG project,” said Jeffrey W. Martin, chairman and CEO of Sempra Energy.  “Last month, we began the commissioning phase of our Cameron LNG liquefaction-export facility in Louisiana. This agreement, along with the great progress on Cameron LNG, continue to validate our growth strategy as we advance our vision to become North America’s premier energy infrastructure company.”  (read more)

When I read this announcement, the first picture that came to my mind was a meme CTH shared well over a year ago while watching Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in the audience at Trump’s Warsaw speech:

CTH has now achieved master level meme prediction skillz.

Rick Perry

@SecretaryPerry

This @ENERGY-led agreement marks an important step toward Poland’s energy independence and security. @POTUS remains committed to increasing energy diversity, strengthening national security, and creating a future of prosperity and opportunity in Poland. https://www.sempra.com/newsroom/press-releases/sempra-energy-subsidiary-and-polish-oil-gas-co-sign-definitive-agreement 

Sempra Energy Subsidiary And Polish Oil & Gas Co. Sign Definitive Agreement To Export U.S. LNG To…

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Port Arthur LNG, LLC, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), and the Polish Oil & Gas Company (PGNiG) today announced they have entered into a definitive…

sempra.com

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Robert Palladino

@StateDeputySPOX

In , Deputy Secretary Sullivan reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to the @NATO Alliance, commended Poland’s commitment to spend 2.5% of GDP on defense by 2030 and celebrated the centennial of Poland’s reclaimed independence. https://go.usa.gov/xExAM 

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Conspicuous Timing – President Trump Punches Back at Senate Decepticons, Announces Withdrawal From Syria…


The White House says U.S. has started returning troops home from Syria as it transitions to next phase of campaign.  Additionally, all U.S. State Department personnel are being evacuated from Syria within 24 hours (link).

White House – “Five years ago, ISIS was a very powerful and dangerous force in the Middle East, and now the United States has defeated the territorial caliphate. These victories over ISIS in Syria do not signal the end of the Global Coalition or its campaign. We have started returning United States troops home as we transition to the next phase of this campaign. The United States and our allies stand ready to re-engage at all levels to defend American interests whenever necessary, and we will continue to work together to deny radical Islamist terrorists territory, funding, support, and any means of infiltrating our borders.”  (Link)

The UniParty Decepticons will not be pleased…


As expected the UniParty legislature in Washington DC; bought and paid for by lobbyists with specific intention to oppose President Trump; have constructed a short-term funding mechanism that kicks-the-can to February 2019.

Mitch McConnell announced on the Senate floor the stopgap funding mechanism, for departments and agencies not already funded for fiscal year 2019, would run through Feb. 8th, 2019.  The Big Club lobbyists control the UniParty.  President Trump pushes back by announcing a U.S. military withdrawal from Syria…

(Via Roll Call) […] “Later this morning I’ll introduce a continuing resolution that will ensure continuous funding for the federal government,” McConnell said. “Even if the face of a great need to secure the border and following good-faith efforts by the president’s team, our Democratic colleagues rejected an extremely reasonable offer yesterday.”

“It would have cleared the remaining appropriations bills which have received bipartisan support in committee and provided an additional $1 billion to tackle a variety of urgent border security priorities,” the majority leader added.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York said that while it was not ideal, the short-term bill would be acceptable.

“I’m glad the leader thinks the government should not shut down over the president’s demand for a wall. And Democrats will support this CR,” Schumer said after McConnell announced the plan.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California said House Democrats would go along with it, as well. (more)

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President Trump is Not The Issue – It’s Those Who Oppose Him…


Much misplaced anger is visible.  President Trump wants the southern border wall; he is being opposed by every interest who doesn’t want it.  The people in DC who are opposed to border security, are the people who write the laws.  I’m not talking about congress; I’m talking about the real people who actually write the laws, the lobbyists.

Right now Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are writing a short-term continuing resolution to fund government and avoid a shutdown.

They know President Trump is quite comfy with a shutdown.

Why would republican Mitch McConnell take such an action that puts the republican President in a position of opposition and compromise?

Because he wants to, that’s why.

President Trump said he wouldn’t sign another CR that didn’t fund the border wall.  Right now Mitch and Chuck are writing a CR that doesn’t fully fund the border wall.  Why would Mitch McConnell do that? Because he want’s to that’s why.  UniParty !

Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi and Paul Ryan are working to put a take it or leave it bill in front of the President and force him to accept it.  Republicans currently control the House and Senate.  Why would McConnell and Ryan put President Trump into that position?  Because they want to, that’s why.

That’s who you should be mad at, not President Trump.

You see, it’s not President Trump who is the issue here; it’s the people who oppose him.  Anger toward President Trump is misplaced; but directing all fire against their enemy is what these Machiavellian sorts are professionals at doing.  That’s exactly what this plan is designed to do.  This is politics.

Who opposes Trump?  The people who write the laws.  Mitch, Paul, Nancy and Chuck are the professional political team who do the bidding of the lobbyists and special interests.  It’s a big club, and we, along with President Trump, ain’t in it.  Getting you mad at President Trump is in the DC interests.  The UniParty knows how to play you.

President Trump represents a second party in Washington DC.  The people who write the laws (lobbyists), and the people who sell the laws (politicians), cannot allow that.  They need to get back to UniParty political business.  They need to get rid of Trump.

Think about it as you direct your fire.

Your enemy is not President Trump.

Carry on….

Simultaneously President Trump is deconstructing decades of economic manipulation and control over our lives by multinational banks and multinational corporations (same lobbyists).   There are trillions at stake. That is an even bigger and more consequential fight. –SEE HERE

In essence Wall Street (multinationals and DC) is fighting Main Street (Trump).  This is a battle of extreme consequence:

Full Spectrum: “The Main Street-Wall Street demarcation has been fortuitously blurred, all to Wall Street’s benefit. Recall the mass migration over the last few decades from defined pension plans to self-directed IRAs and 401ks. This was Wall Street impregnating Main Street with Wall Street’s sweatless ethics. Main Street is very much ‘in the market’. Trumponomics desperately needs a tutorial to the American people explaining the rockiness of the transition and all that’s at stake.”…

Go Deep

The Federal Reserve will make an interest rate hike decision today.

President Trump’s MAGAnomic trade and foreign policy agenda is jaw-dropping in scale, scope and consequence

Reuters had an article last week  highlighting inflationary data as released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) [DATA HERE]. The overall summary is the Consumer Price Index is stable or flat reflecting low inflation on all measured goods; however, that’s not the part that bears emphasis.   Instead I would direct attention to this:

The Fed’s preferred inflation measure, the core PCE price index excluding food and energy, increased 1.8 percent year-on-year in October, the smallest gain since February, after rising 1.9 percent the prior month. It hit the U.S. central bank’s 2 percent target in March for the first time since April 2012.

At the heart of the controlled monetary system; at the epicenter of the multinational global control mechanisms; inside the offices of the global economic elites; there is a system of financial manipulation with tentacles that reach into your pocket.  This system seems hard to understand, but it is critical to do so… so we need to try and understand it.

Background: If you go back to when CTH first began discussing Trump’s MAGAnomic outlook and actual plans for policy, you might remember our discussion about the New Dimension inside our American economy [SEE HERE].  Specifically, one of the key indicators in the disconnect of Main Street and Wall Street is “inflation“.

Inflation has been used by the Federal Reserve as the primary trigger for their monetary control policy; but it is important to understand this is by specific design.

If  “monetary policy“, specifically interest rates, are primarily driven by inflationary measures; and if global financial elites need to use U.S. monetary policy to finance their endeavors (they do); then those same officials need to control what goes into the measures for inflation. This is a critical aspect to economic control.

Wall Street, writ large, supports corporate global expansion without appropriate regard to the downstream consequences to U.S. workers and Americans.   Low interest rates are a critical component of global financial expansion undertaken by these massive multinational corporations.  In essence, globalists need cheap money to spend on creating controlled markets for cheap durable goods.

Higher interest rates means savers benefit and borrowers do not.  Low interest rates means borrowers benefit and savers do not.  This is a simple truism.  However, there’s another dynamic.

Higher interest rates means less capacity for multinational corporations to utilize cheap money to expand their global enterprises.  Low interest rates means more easily attainable money; and that finances larger corporate expansion.

Wall Street thrives on low interest rates.  The global economic system, which included the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, is a benefactor of Wall Street.  As a consequence, the global economic system is also dependent on low interest rates.

Remember, there had to be a point where the influence of Wall Street exceeded the influence of Main Street.   The U.S. federal reserve could not justify lower interest rates (punishing savers) if inflation and U.S. economic growth was stable.  If price inflation is low, the Fed could not justify raising interest rates.   So the measures of inflation were adjusted to remove the highly consumable sector (food, fuel, energy).

As an intended consequence food, fuel and energy prices could skyrocket and the inflation index would *appear* artificially low because those sectors were no longer part of the equation.  This false inflation index permits low interest rates that benefit Wall Street.

With the lower interest rates (Wall Street supported), the multinationals could then begin the process of using cheap-to-borrow money, investing overseas in the process of cheap durable goods.  This became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Outsourcing American jobs meant cheaper goods; those cheaper durable goods were quantified in the feds measure of inflation; the prices of those goods were deflationary (getting cheaper); the U.S. economy was shrinking but the justification for lower interest rates (cheap money that benefited the global expansion) remained.

Conversely those same Wall Street multinationals expanded their control market influence into highly consumable goods (U.S. food) and began merging.   No longer only influenced by domestic supply and demand, the prices of U.S. food, along with fuel and energy, skyrocketed…. but remember, the fed no longer used those prices in their monetary policy decision-making.

This was how the system was rigged.

Inside this rigged system we all lived through the results: U.S. workers were being screwed; manufacturing of durable goods was shipped off-shore; jobs were lost; wages were held down by low job growth; and to make matters worse – the prices for food, fuel, and energy were skyrocketing.

The U.S. middle class was essentially squeezed by the cheap money policy that was benefiting the multinationals.   Can you see what was happening?  This was all by design.  It wasn’t necessarily purposefully intended to hurt you, me, us, per se; we are the proles.  The goal was to gain money and power… we, you, me, us, were just collateral damage.

Now, here comes Trump.

Trump walks in with a plan to reverse that process through MAGAnomic policy.  Wall Street is no longer driving the political policy of the President; Main Street is.

But here’s where the rigged system is stealthy and sneaky.

After a year of Trump putting pressure on the multinational control mechanisms through U.S. regulatory, economic and trade policy, ie. his leverage; the prices for highly consumable goods begins falling.  Domestic supply and demand becomes a bigger influence; food, fuel and energy prices start slowly dropping; but remember, those sectors are not being quantified for inflation measures as used by the Fed via monetary policy.  This is by design.

Conversely, and absolutely intentionally, there is slight upward price pressure on durable goods because Trump is confronting the controlled global system of  cheap-good manufacturing.

As we navigate in the space between a de-emphasized Wall Street economy and a re-emphasized -and more balanced- Main Street economy, the prices on durable manufactured goods will slowly begin to rise; and over-time the domestic production of those goods will return as the total cost of production (including shipping costs) are re-estimated and equalized.

The sneaky Fed, those financial agents who set up the rigged system, are no longer measuring the prices of stuff going down; they are only measuring the prices of the stuff that will naturally go up.  Durable goods prices rise, the fed quantifies increased inflation, and the Fed raises interest rates – this can stall domestic growth.

The rigging is designed that way.

This is what’s happening now.

Now you might say that Wall Street doesn’t like that…. and in part you are correct… check the markets… however, there’s a bigger aspect that Wall Street dislikes more… the elimination of their rigged global system is a bigger threat.  So in the long-term Wall Street is betting against the U.S. Main Street economy in an effort to go back to their preferred multinational system. [ie. cheap money, cheap goods, U.S. service-driven economy]

The system is currently rigged with a favorable lean toward the multinationals.

This is structurally Wall Street -vs- Main Street and President Trump constantly telling the Fed to stop messing with the economy.  MAGAnomics is the reestablishment of an economic system that naturally balances itself over time; it does not need intervention.

The Hedge-fund market, the investment market, is losing ground because it is not based on actual performance. The multinational corps are being broken up by new trade agreements that allow local industry to compete on its own.

Under the Trump economy an apple grower in Washington state can sell his apples to the highest bidder. Under the multinational system he is required to sell to a single buyer who sets the price for his apples in each market.

The Multinationals control whole industries globally. His apples may sell for $1 in the US market and only $.10 in an African market. The farmer is getting $.05 for his apples because he has no other market to sell to. He is obligated to sell to the single buyer because there is no other market open to him.

The multinationals have a vertical monopoly on apples from the grower to the broker to the wholesaler to the retailer. They have been working on the final step, the consumer. Under cover of law the multinationals control legislation in each country that determines what the consumer can buy.  ~Louis Foxwell

This ‘controlled market’ is what President Trump is deconstructing.

 

U.S. Pledges $10.6 Billion For Central America and Southern Mexico…


There are many voices very angered by an announcement that the U.S. State Department is providing $10.6 billion to Mexico and Central America while congress fights over $5 billion in funding for a Southern Border Wall. CTH is not one of those voices.

First, the article (emphasis mine):

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The United States pledged $5.8 billion in aid and investment Tuesday for strengthening government and economic development in Central America, and another $4.8 billion in development aid for southern Mexico.

The U.S aid aims to promote better security conditions and job opportunities as part of a regional plan to allow Central Americans and Mexicans to remain in their countries and not have to emigrate.

The plan was announced in a joint U.S.-Mexican statement released by the State Department and read aloud by Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard in the Mexican capital.  “In sum I think this is good news, very good news for Mexico,” Ebrard said.

Newly inaugurated President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador waxed poetic about the plan to provide jobs so people won’t have to emigrate.

“I have a dream that I want to see become a reality … that nobody will want to go work in the United States anymore,” Lopez Obrador said at a morning news conference before the announcement.

The combination of public and private investment for the stay-at-home effort doesn’t require congressional approval, unlike Trump’s signature project to stem illegal immigration — a border wall. (read more)

What I see here is President Trump deploying a root-cause workaround for the current border argument, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo carrying it out.

I strongly suspect there was an agreement of this sort long before the USMCA was finalized and made public.  As part of an agreement with President Lopez-Obrador, [insert Jared Kushner here] these funds will be used to secure Mexico’s border effectively cutting-off the Central American migration flow before it can reach the Southern U.S.

This approach is entirely in line with nationalist AMLO’s objectives for a larger and more stable economy within Mexico specifically by partnering with nationalist U.S. President Trump toward that common goal [See USMCA details].

If Trump can’t get congress to agree to defend the U.S. border, he can damn sure leverage and entice Lopez-Obrador to do it a few miles south.  This approach is POTUS Trump working on optimal solutions while encountering domestic political roadblocks.  This is exactly what President Trump does…. find solutions.

President Trump can sit around righteously fighting with the swamp over the security issues (historic political approach); or he can fight the swamp while simultaneously deploying a solution that mitigates the issue at its root cause (thinking outside the box).

What would a businessman president do?

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Judge Sullivan Revokes Flynn Passport, Imposes Travel Restrictions Within 50 Miles of DC…


Ever heard the term: “physician heal thyself“?  Judge Sullivan revokes Michael Flynn’s passport and imposes travel restrictions with major financial ramifications.

(Source Link)

At first blush this would appear to be a judge with a vendetta against Michael Flynn.  However, CTH would disagree.  As Robert Barnes stated earlier: “How does a judge try to torpedo a plea deal and get a defendant to withdraw their plea? They threaten to use the charges they avoided within the plea deal as the basis for their sentence.

Sullivan deploys a strategy we know as “extreme compliance“.  In essence delivering ramifications toward the judicial status quo in order to change the status quo.

Arizona Governor Ducey Appoints Martha McSally to Fill Senate Term…


Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announced Tuesday he will appoint GOP Rep. Martha McSally to the Senate to fill the seat of the late Sen. John McCain.

“All her life, Martha has put service first — leading in the toughest of fights and at the toughest of times. She served 26 years in the military; deployed six times to the Middle East and Afghanistan; was the first woman to fly in combat and command a fighter squadron in combat; and she’s represented Southern Arizona in Congress for the past four years. With her experience and long record of service, Martha is uniquely qualified to step up and fight for Arizona’s interests in the U.S. Senate. I thank her for taking on this significant responsibility and look forward to working with her and Senator-Elect Sinema to get positive things done.” ~ Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey

Intermission: First Lady Melania Trump Visits Military Bases and USS George H.W. Bush….


We interrupt your regularly scheduled political anxiety with a brief intermission…

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Thank you.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled state of angst.

More Pictures Here

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ps. don’t forget to enjoy life.

BREAKING: Transcript of James Comey Testimony to Joint House Committee Round #2 – (Full transcript pdf)…


Former FBI Director James Comey appeared December 17th, 2018, for a second round of questions by a joint House committee oversight probe into the DOJ and FBI conduct during the 2016 presidential election and incoming Trump administration.

The Joint House Committee just released the transcript (full pdf below):

https://www.scribd.com/embeds/395972408/content?start_page=1&view_mode=&access_key=key-VowRINMl7U6kF9efRfAx

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This was just released.  Analysis to follow.

Sarah Sanders White House Press Briefing – December 18th…


White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivers the White House press briefing for December 18th, 2018:

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