Tag Archives: Hamburg

Aug 26 2020

Belarus & the Covert Civil Unrest


Armstrong Economics Blog/Civil Unrest

Re-Posted Aug 26, 2020 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Dear Mr. Armstrong, I am writing from Lithuania, next to Belarus, which is is undergoing some serious civil unrest. It is anyone’s guess whether the presidential election outcome was faked/real, but the fact is that President Lukashenko is under serious pressure aimed at him being ousted. A question arises if the concerted effort to remove him was precipitated by his skeptical attitude towards all things covid19. I have to admit that I am no big fan of any dictator including Lukashenko, but the timing seems odd, as TPTB cannot care less for human rights abuse- Saudi Arabia is ok to them.

MY QUESTION IS IF BILL GATES IS PULLING THE STRINGS, as Lukashenko made a mockery of the corona affair? There were some obviously staged events in Lithuania to support the uprising in Belarus. And what worries me most, is the fact that participants were joining gloved hands and had masks on, sort of voluntary slaves. Ironically, the Belarus dictator let his people live their normal lives, including football games, when my Lithuania was under lockdown, and my 9 yo daughter has some anxiety issues since. Sort of Stockholm syndrome.

Keep up your great work.

PS

ANSWER: President Lukashenko is often called the accidental last dictator of Europe. There is no question that the Belarusian government has been against the climate change movement. Only in January 2020 did it announce an action plan to phase out polymer packaging. However, Lukashenko also rejected COVID-19 and did not lockdown his economy.

The rumor is that the opposition is being funded by Soros. Lukashenko accused the West of fomenting unrest as he sought to consolidate his grip on power amid widening protests. But it may not be governments, but clandestine activists on a global scale. Lukashenko spoke as the European Union rejected the official results of the vote. The EU naturally expressed its solidarity with protesters. The EU said it’s preparing sanctions against Belarusian officials responsible for the brutal post-election police actions. Lukashenko is also keeping in close contact with Putin in Russia.

Aug 18 2020

$30M Advance to WE Charity Still Outstanding?


WHERE’S THE MONEY?

Ken Grafton image

Re-posted from the Canada Free Press By  —— Bio and Archives—August 17, 2020

We Scandal, Justin Trudeau

For reasons not disclosed, WE Charity received a $30M advance payment from Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) in connection with the contribution agreement to administer the Canada Student Service Grant (CSSG) program.

The government has not confirmed repayment.

Questions regarding the program began almost immediately following the announcement on April 22nd by Prime Minister Trudeau of a $9-billion student aid package, which contained CSSG.

WE received payment(s) from the government amounting to $30M (for yet unspecified purposes)

While the contribution agreement with WE was not approved until June 23rd, WE started work on May 5th. According to testimony from Trudeau Chief of Staff Katie Telford before the Finance Committee, an unnamed official in the PMO spoke with WE on May 5th (in what must have been an interesting call), following approval of WE by the COVID-19 Cabinet Committee (on the basis of a recommendation from Youth Minister Bardish Chagger).

The PM testified however that he didn’t hear about WE in connection with CSSG until May 8th.

Cabinet approval was given on May 22nd, and the public service began negotiating an agreement with WE the following day…eighteen days after WE started work.

It was reported that although the contract was signed on June 23rd, it came into effect on May 5th (before the PM heard about it). If this sounds like complete nonsense, the “backdating” of contracts is generally permissible under Canadian Law…but not however for the purpose of misleading third parties (such as the public) or to circumvent Rules or Legislation (such as the requirement for Cabinet approval).

In the wake of growing controversy regarding conflict of interest and another investigation by Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion, cancellation of the WE agreement was announced on July 3rd.
Public confusion is forgivable here. The timeline is convoluted, but critical.

Somewhere between May 5th and July 3rd – and we can only assume that both the Ethics Committee and the Finance Committee will investigate transaction dates in order to determine whether any payments were made prior to signing the contract on June 3rd – WE received payment(s) from the government amounting to $30M (for yet unspecified purposes).

Where is the money now?

Appearing before the Ethics Committee Aug 11th, Chagger could not say how much of the $30M has been repaid by WE since the contract was finalized; “We can share that … $30 million has been released to the organization through the contribution agreement. I was not aware of how much money has been returned,” As Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Youth, Chagger was responsible for CSSG.

Non-Liberal committee members, and many Canadians, were surprised to learn that Chagger didn’t know how much money had been recouped…and that it wasn’t a higher priority.

Conservative MP Michael Barrett asked, “Why hasn’t the money been returned at this point? That seems odd. It’s been quite some time since the program was cancelled or that WE withdrew…” Chagger responded, “We want to ensure that all processes are being followed. So, I can assure you that the public service is working with the organization to ensure that it is returned.”

According to a Global News article on Aug 11th, WE issued a statement saying that they have repaid $22M of the $30M handed out when the contract was signed, and have been waiting on the government to accept the remaining $8M…whatever that means. A WE spokesperson said, “WE Charity has repeatedly communicated to ESDC the desire to return the remaining funds as soon as the government is able to accept the transfer.” They did not elaborate as to why they hadn’t returned the full amount immediately, or why the government was having difficulty accepting the outstanding balance.

Due diligence has been one of many glaring anomalies with respect to WE-Gate, with questions regarding WE’s financial health.

In testimony before the Finance Committee, Kate Bahen of watchdog Charity Intelligence Canada, outlined how she used easy-to-access financial data to report that WE Charity had financial stress, “At August 2019 year-end, WE Charity had cash and investments (gross funding reserves) of $11.5m compared with $14.0m at year-end August 2018. WE Charity’s bank loans increased to $13.7m in 2019 compared with $11.1m in 2018. This creates a negative funding reserve of $2.2m. For the second year, WE Charity is in breach of its financial covenants on its bank debt. Its bank has waived these conditions for the current period.”

With the $1 trillion debt that the Liberals have incurred, Canada has already emptied the national piggy-bank…and every penny counts

This would be the point where the loans officer at your local bank branch stops returning your calls.

A cursory review of WE’s 2018 Audited Financial Statement should have raised red flags.

Alarmingly, clerk of the Privy Council Ian Shugart admitted that federal officials did not probe WE Charity’s financial situation or governance structure when doing homework on the $912-million deal.

It has also come out that the WE agreement was actually made with the WE Charity Foundation, a private company owned by WE founders Marc and Craig Kielburger, not WE Charity. The foundation has no employees or assets, other than WE Charity. Since the payment was made to what is effectively a holding company, recovery of the funds could prove problematic.

It is incumbent upon the Government to inform Canadians what the status of the $30M is exactly, and when it will be fully repaid. If $22M has indeed been repaid, the government needs to say so, and recover the remainder owed.

With the $1 trillion debt that the Liberals have incurred, Canada has already emptied the national piggy-bank…and every penny counts.

Where’s the money?

Aug 13 2020

A Plea from a Member of the Italian Parliament – International Call to Action


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics

Re-Posted Aug 13, 2020 by Martin Armstrong

International call to action: demand your governments to access the technical-scientific data of Covid-19 emergency!

Italian international call to action demanding transparency and data on Covid-19.

We are appealing to all the associations (and citizens) whose Countries have experienced and are still experiencing restrictive measures like Italy. We need to share with you an unacceptable fact and we want to ask other citizens in the world to take action in order to shed light on the many shadows that envelop the emergency situation we are facing.

We are an Italian association 1 fighting for freedom of choice in the vaccination and therapeutical fields since 1993, but we are here today speaking also to those associations that do not totally agree with our way of thinking and living freedom.

Italian people have gone through the Covid-19 pandemic strictly following the rules imposed. Italian people have complied with the Government’s restrictions and provisions but even so, for months we have been watching tv programs showing drones, helicopters and law enforcement vessels chasing and identifying individual citizens walking deserted streets or empty beaches, 2-3-4-5-6-7 and even law enforcement precluding religious services. Media have been pointing the finger at the runners, ordinary citizens going solo for a run, suddenly becoming terrible plague spreaders and primary cause of infection, according to the mainstream media narrative.

We are silently accepting our Country’s economy to fall apart and we should at least expect that our Government, responsible for the imposed restrictive measures, would clarify and be willing to provide evidence and answers to the people.

Every single choice the Italian Government made to manage the Covid-19 emergency, was and will be based on the opinion of the Technical-Scientific Committee (CTS). A small number of people called the shots of the Government Agenda, from the forms and lasting of Lockdown, to the masks, the social distancing, and any regulatory act always issued “having consulted the CTS”.
Recently, three lawyers, being part of a foundation, decided to file a FOIA (request for access to documents) , specifically requesting to view the minutes of the Scientific Technical Committee of February 18th, March 1st, 7th, 30th and April 9th. The data and opinions expressed and collected in these minutes are basically the reason, the drive, the foundation for the Government to have issued every act relating to the Covid-19 emergency management.

After the request has been rejected at first instance, the lawyers have been forced to apply to a Court. On July 23rd, 2020 the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio (TAR) had ruled in favour of the publication of the documents by August 21st at the latest. 8

And here is the shocking and for us unacceptable fact: the Italian Government, through the State’s attorney, on July 31st opposed 9the Court (TAR) ruling, motivating that the publication would have caused “a real damage to public order and security that exposing the CTS minutes, at this stage of the emergency, would cause for both technical assessments and general guidelines of the technical body”. 10

On August, 5th 2020, we learned from journalistic sources 11 and from the same lawyers who had requested access to the documents, 12 that the Italian government will publish these minutes, but the question remains unchanged:

Why did not it make immediately transparent what really happened in the emergency? If the Italian government acted on expert opinions, why did it oppose the publication of the data? What are the contents of these reports that should cause damage? Why would damage to public order and security even be expected?

In the next days we will inform everyone about the content of these minutes, verifying together with many experts who work alongside us, if the emergency policies have been correctly undertaken, if they were fair or exaggerated or disproportionate, up to at least the end of the State of Emergency, but the fact that the Government has opposed the publication of documents that should be public, worries us greatly. We remind that the news of the declassification of the minutes, if analyzed with intellectual honesty, show that it took place solely for political conflicts with the parliamentary opposition, not for true listening and transparency towards citizenship.

All of you reading us, both ordinary citizens and associations, have at your disposal a tool created for this kind of action, the Freedom of Information Act, 13 that is the law granting freedom of information and public access to data held by national governments!

Anyone, by a legal team but also independently, may submit along the same lines a request for access to the documents aimed at verifying what are the conditions, the minutes, the documents that the various Countries have based on to pass decrees and various acts in the context of the Covid-19 emergency, obviously in relation to those acts that brought a counterpart in economic and limitations of personal freedoms terms. In our opinion, this is necessary, not because of a priori mistrust but because of a proper civic sense and supervisory task, democratically exercised with the tools available which exist precisely for these purposes.

If you believe that there are the conditions to raise legitimate doubts in the management of Covid-19 and if your Government has not made public all the data, opinions and “advice” of the experts dedicated to the Covid-19 emergency that have led to pass laws with inevitable strong impact on citizens’ lives in the short and long term, request in first person to make the original data and reports visionable!

Repropose this action in various Countries increases the possibility of shedding light on the management of this emergency situation linked to Covid-19, where the Italian government has instead vetoed this possibility, at least for now.

We are here to support all interested parties, according to our capabilities we will provide further clarification and our help for better understanding how the request has been put forward and how the Government has decided to reply.

A coordinated action is important and useful above all because it gives a clear sign of the people’s need and will to have answers, and it also increases the chances to obtain data and answers in this regard.

Thanks to everybody,
Corvelva Staff
Document undersigned by:

Sara Cunial, Member of Parliament
Ivan Catalano, President of COSMI, former MP and former Vicepresident of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry “Depleted Uranium”
Davide Barillari, Regional councillor of Lazio and President of the Commission Pluralism of Information
ADER
CliVa Toscana
Colibrì Puglia
Cittadini liberi consapevoli Puglia
CReLDiS
GruppiUniti.it
Genitori del No Obbligo Lombardia
VacciPiano Sicilia
… e molti altri
References
Website for International Call

If Bill Gates Was President

Aug 6 2020

How Many Times? That Is The Question


Finance Committee Hearing or Liberal Campaign Ad?

Ken Grafton image

Re-posted from the Canada Free Press By  —— Bio and Archives—August 4, 2020

How Many Times? That Is The Question

Prime Minister Trudeau testified before the Parliamentary Finance Committee on July 30th in connection with the WE Charity scandal, currently under investigation by Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion.

Canadians can be forgiven for wondering why.

Amping up the Trudeau charm, well lit and smiling directly into a high-resolution camera, coiffed hair blacker than beard; the relaxed PM was clearly focused upon communicating directly with voters, rather than answering questions from committee members.

The Trudeau brand was under attack, and the message for Canadians was that his Liberal government is doing a great job. The narrative ran that they would in fact be doing even more for Canadians, if it weren’t for Conservatives bringing up this nettlesome conflict of interest thing. Sure, he should have recused himself from approving the sole-source WE contract, but that wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for COVID-19…and his long-standing interest in youth-affairs. The Liberals’ commitment to providing financial assistance to students during COVID-19 led to an accelerated implementation of the CSSG Program…which caused the PM to slow down the approval process because of the increased scrutiny and appearance of conflict of interest that his family affiliation with WE would bring…before then failing to recuse himself from the process. The Civil Service made all the decisions anyway, not the PM. If the logic is difficult to grasp here…well….

Although it is impossible to disconnect the damming, feculent bright-red Liberal dots leading from WE to the Prime Minister, distraught Liberal spin doctors had obviously been billing some overtime on damage control.

The central pivot from conflict of interest and Liberal corruption seems to be good intentions and the tremendous benefit to young Canadians that could have been…if only the unfortunate scandal hadn’t blown up (read, if they hadn’t been caught).

Canadians should blame the Conservatives and Bloc Quebecoise, for making a mountain out of a mole-hill, really…when you think about it…from a Liberal prospective…

The questioning began:

MP Pierre Poilievre – “What is the total dollar value of all expenses reimbursed and fees paid and any other consideration provided by the WE group to you, your mother, your spouse, your brother and any other member of your family? Just the total please.”

PM Trudeau – “Uh…I don’t have that exact figure…uh…reimbursing expenses is something done by an organization…uh…for example…so I don’t have…uh…those totals.”

Liberal MP Julie Dzerowicz (trying) – “Mister Speaker…uh…Point of Order…Mister Chair, sorry…not Mister Speaker. My Point of Order is what’s the relevance of these questions…uh…of ancillary…uh…fees paid to family members to the official motion…?”

Chairman Wayne Easter – “I don’t think that is a Point of Order Miss Dzerowicz, back to Mister Poilievre.”
Poilievre – “So you are telling me that you don’t know how much immediate family members have been paid in expense reimbursements by this organization.”
Trudeau – “Uh…my mother and my brother are professionals in their own right who…uh…have…uh engagements…uh…and have for many, many years with organizations across the country…”
Poilievre – “Do you know?”
Trudeau – “…uh…and I…uh…don’t have the details of their…uh…work…uh…work experiences of their…uh…expenses.”
Poilievre – “What about your spouse? What is the dollar figure?”
Trudeau – “Uh…WE…uh…I think WE Charity has been able to share those figures with you.”
Poilievre – “When was the last time that she had an expense reimbursed by WE Charity?”
Trudeau – “Uh…I…uh…believe it would have been to uh…”

As one can gather from this short excerpt, the Prime Minister was less than forthcoming. It’s a fine line between pivoting and refusing to answer. In Court, it may well have led to a charge of Contempt. Perhaps a Contempt of Parliament charge would be appropriate here.

Trudeau’s repetitive and vexatious use of the word “uh”

Also telling was Trudeau’s repetitive and vexatious use of the word “uh”. In linguistics, “uh” is known as a “hesitation form”, or “filler word”. Filler words are often a red flag for deception. In Psychology Today, Professor Jack Schafer of Western Illinois University, a behavioral analyst for the FBI, explains. “Little words, often ignored in normal speech, can signal deception. Words such as um and uh indicate cognitive load. Liars experience increased cognitive load. Um and uh signal impending delays is speech. Liars need time to evaluate their answers to ensure their lie will be believed. Liars also need additional time to choose the right words to camouflage the truth. Truthful people do not need extra time to convey information.”

The Prime Minister wouldn’t lie though, would he?

So, what are the issues with WE-Gate exactly?

The growing Hydra-like list may keep Commissioner Dion up at night:

  • Was CSSG designed specifically for WE to administer?
  • Why the Canada Service Corps was not tasked with CSSG?
  • Why a sole-source contract?
  • Details of due diligence done, due to the fact that WE appeared to be in financial trouble and in violation of bank covenants. WE Board Members had resigned and mass layoffs of staff had occurred. WE had also never delivered a similar program previously.
  • Why was WE paid $30M upfront, and how will it repay taxpayers?
  • Why was a WE real estate shell company used, instead of WE Charity?
  • Why was a $30M upfront payment made on contract award?
  • WE claimed initially that the PMO had called, asking if they wanted the CSSG contract.
  • Who authorized WE, and why, to begin spending money on May 5th, prior to June 23rd approval?
  • Failure to recuse/Conflict of Interest –
    • PM has spoken for WE in past
    • WE has paid for Trudeau campaign ads/gave Trudeau a platform to connect with hundreds of thousands of young voters
    • WE has paid Margaret and Alexander Trudeau
    • WE has paid Sophie Trudeau
    • WE relationship with Katie Telford
    • WE paid Bill Morneau $42K expenses
    • WE employs two Morneau daughters.

Beyond the blatant corruption

Beyond the blatant corruption issues however, the CSSG model may have also been fatally flawed from birth. The very real possibility exists that CSSG could violate Minimum Wage laws. CSSG would pay a student up to $10 per hour, which is less than the minimum wages in all of Canada’s provinces and territories. If the concept of paid volunteers seems counter-intuitive, the law actually recognizes two classes of volunteers. According to Labour Law firm Goldblatt Partners, “Volunteers are not covered by the Employment Standards Act in Ontario, and need not be paid the minimum wage. But that does not mean that an employer can evade its obligations under the Act by classifying anyone as a volunteer. Only a ‘true volunteer’ is excluded from the protections of the Act…if a participating student views the program as a means to make a livelihood during a time that fewer summer jobs are available, they may be able to argue that they are not a ‘true volunteer.’” A class action lawsuit waiting to happen then.

But, back to the show.

Poilievre (translation) – “I have a simple question for you. How many times does a Minister in your Government need to break the Ethics Act before being sacked? How many times?”
Trudeau (translation) – “We…uh…take it very seriously, every time there are Ethics issues…
Poilievre – “How many times?”
Trudeau – “…and…”
Poilievre – “How many times?”
Chair – “The Prime Minister has the floor…and he has the right to answer. Mister Prime Minister”

He had the right to answer, but apparently not the ability.

How many times? That is the question…for all Canadians.

Great campaign slogan for Conservatives next election cycle…

Jul 27 2020

Italexit – New Party in Italy to Exit the EU


Armstrong Economics Blog/European Union

Re-Posted Jul 27, 2020 by Martin Armstrong

We are witnessing the rise of the new party in Italy headed by Gianluigi Paragone calling for the exit of there EU. New Italian party calls for the exit from EU bolding saying: “Germany takes everything and leaves the crumbs to the rest of the states.” As the economic hardship rises thanks to the virus scam, this risk our computer shows is not that they will win, but they are sowing the seeds of their own destruction. They will move to eliminate the physical currency and then they will advocate for perpetual bonds.

Paragone began as a journalist. In 2018 he was elected Senator of the Five Star Movement. Then on January 1, 2020, he was officially excluded from the Five Star Movement but remained in the Senate as an independent. Then now in July 2020, Paragone has launched his own political movement, Italexit, with the aim of bringing Italy out of the European Union

The oppression of this virus agenda to force compliance with their Great Reset runs the risk of destroying the economies of Southern Europe which have a very high reliance upon tourism which has been brought to a halt in Europe.

Jul 25 2020

Trudeau Brand Analysis


What does the Trudeau brand really stand for? Privilege, Arrogance, Disdain, Self-Promotion, Indifference, and Failure. Image over substance

Ken Grafton image

Re-posted from the Canada Free Press By  —— Bio and Archives—July 24, 2020

 The Salmon Arm Salute – Jenn KovachikThe Salmon Arm Salute - Jenn Kovachik

With the Prime Minister facing yet another investigation by Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion, his third since taking office in 2015, Canadians need to take a hard look at the Trudeau brand.

How does brand promise contrast with operational reality?

What does the Trudeau brand really stand for?

The Trudeau brand values were Young, Hip, Smart and Liberal. Image over substance

In order to understand the Trudeau brand, it is necessary to travel back through the mists of time to a different age; the turbulent 1960s. Hippies, Pot, Acid, the Counterculture, Carnaby Street, Andy Warhol, the Grateful Dead, Timothy Leary, the Vietnam War, Civil Rights, rioting in the streets, Martin Luther King…Bobby Kennedy was running for President…the Beatles were still together…it was an exciting time to be young and alive.

In this atmosphere of social revolution, a little-known lawyer from Montreal named Pierre Elliott Trudeau was appointed Minister of Justice and Attorney General by then Prime Minister Lester Pearson. In April of 1968 Trudeau won the Liberal Party leadership and became Prime Minster in the June election. The first celebrity politician in Canada, his campaign ran on personality and generated an intense emotional energy amongst supporters that was dubbed “Trudeaumania”, due to the hoards of screaming female fans that drew a parallel to the hysteria of Beatles fans.

Against Conservative Robert Stanfield, the stodgy scion of a prominent New Brunswick family; the witty, charismatic, socially-liberal 48-year-old bachelor Trudeau cleaned up easily with 154 seats.

Despite being a middle-aged lawyer, Trudeau dated attractive movie stars, drove a Mercedes 300 SL, and sometimes wore denim. Somehow, he could pull it off. His initials were PET. Overnight, Canada was suddenly cool.

This was the genesis of the Trudeau brand. Forged in the psychedelic, drug-fueled, rock and roll, colour TV, FM radio atmosphere of the late 60s.
You had to be there.

The Trudeau brand values were Young, Hip, Smart and Liberal. Image over substance.

He was friendly with Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro—Bragged He Was A Communist

While Trudeau had charmed Canadians in 1968, the love affair didn’t last. Winning only a minority in 1972, he was defeated on a vote of non-confidence in 1974, which led to another majority win in the resulting election. He was defeated by Conservative Joe Clark in 1979, who was also brought down by a vote of non-confidence, and then defeated by Trudeau in the 1980 election. Facing dismal poll numbers, which had dropped to 25% by 1982, Trudeau resigned in 1984 and handed over to Finance Minister John Turner (making 70 unpopular backroom patronage appointments as part of the deal).

His time in office was fraught with controversy.

Feb 16th, 1971 Trudeau was accused of having told opposition MP’s in the House to go forth and multiply. This became known as the “fuddle duddle” incident. In a CBC interview (CBC Digital Archives, 1971) Tory MP, Lincoln Alexander “He mouthed two words. The first started with the letter F, the second word the letter O.”

During a vacation trip in 1982, the PM extended a middle finger to local BC protestors from the borrowed Governor General’s railcar, in an incident famously recorded in history as the “Salmon Arm Salute”. Visitors can view the preserved railcar (National Post, 22 Aug 16) and pose with a cardboard Trudeau at a resort near Craigellachie, BC.

He was friendly with Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro and praised the Soviet Union (Maclean’s, 28 Feb 18) during the Stalin years, bragging that he was a communist.

The Reality Behind the Image

In 1970 he deployed the military on Canadian streets under the War Measures Act.

In 1971, the 51-year-old Prime Minister married Margaret Sinclair, the 22-year-old flower-child daughter of Liberal MP and Cabinet Member James Sinclair of Vancouver.

The March 21st, 1977 cover story in Maclean’s featured a photo of Margaret Trudeau and Mick Jagger, with the banner “Margaret and the Rolling Stones” which detailed her exploits with the bad-boy rockers.

At a state dinner in Venezuela, she honored the country’s first lady with an impromptu song instead of a planned toast, and later admitted that she had taken peyote (Bazaar, 17 Mar 16) beforehand. The press had a field day.

In 1978 Margaret Trudeau, then separated from her husband, appeared in a High Society Magazine cover story entitled “Margaret Trudeau – Caught With No Panties!”. The photo, which showed Canada’s first lady seated on the floor of notorious New York disco Studio 54 sans lingerie, was auctioned in 2017.

She hung with Andy Warhol.

Not unlike say Paris Hilton officially representing Canada abroad. Viral quality clickbait potential definitely, but embarrassing for most Canadians.

Three decades later, in a new age of post-truth and social media, all that remained in the minds of a majority of Canadian voters was brand recognition. Succeeding generations and a large immigrant population were unaware that the Trudeau brand had tarnished since it’s introduction in 1968. Celebrity had become the key value in political contests, and almost seven-million Canadians looked no further than the Trudeau name and tinsel-town allure at the polls in 2015.

Since then, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has continued in the family tradition, with scandal after scandal keeping Liberal spin-doctors in a state of perpetual angst.

Justin Trudeau’s List of Scandals

Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, these include:

  1. Lavalin-gate
  2. Aga Khan Gate
  3. Embarrassing Indian Costumes and Bhangra dance
  4. Indian Terrorist Invited to Trudeau Reception in Delhi
  5. Elbow-gate
  6. Black Face x 3
  7. Vice Admiral Mark Norman Trial
  8. Various Cash for access scandals
  9. Praise for Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro
  10. Castro serves as pallbearer with Justin Trudeau at Pierre Trudeau’s funeral
  11. 20,000 Missing Public Works Projects
  12. WE Charity Scandal.

Pierre Trudeau tripled Federal spending between 1969-79 (MacDonald Laurier Info Wars Debate, 27 Sep 11) and plunged the country into recession in 1982, almost bankrupting it. His National Energy Program (NEP) nationalized foreign oil interests and repelled investors. Wage and Price controls contributed to the economic nightmare. It took thirty years to repair the damage done. He gutted the military, polarized parties through evoking the War Measures Act in 1970, and alienated English Canadians through his blatant favouritism of Quebec. As author Bob Plamondon wrote in his book “The Truth About Trudeau”, “No prime minister did more damage to national unity.”

Justin Trudeau has also virtually destroyed Canada’s economy, gutted the energy sector

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Since 2015, Justin Trudeau has also virtually destroyed Canada’s economy, gutted the energy sector, failed to win a UN Security Council seat, ditched his promise to create a proportional electoral system (which would have meant a Liberal loss in 2019), flooded the country with controversial refugees, inspired Quebec voters to elect a separatist party to Parliament, inspired a Western separatist party, and alienated just about everyone in the country without a special-interest lobby (and some who do). Disunity now threatens Canada’s future.

What does the Trudeau brand really stand for?

Privilege, Arrogance, Disdain, Self-Promotion, Indifference, and Failure. Image over substance.

Edmonton artist Jenn Kovachik captured it all in “The Salmon Arm Salute”. It would make a great logo.

Jul 11 2020

Europe Exploding into Civil Unrest – The Start of Revolutionary Cycle – 2020


Armstrong Economics Blog/Civil Unrest

Re-Posted Jul 11, 2020 by Martin Armstrong

Politicians are about to be confronted with the harsh reality of their insane lockdowns in Europe. Germany now realizes there is building massive civil unrest and there is no doubt that this New Green World Order is out to end the car industry which is a major industry the will leave the workers without a future. The government is preparing for major civil unrest and out computer has been warning Europe is being pushed into civil war as tourism has been crushed.

Meanwhile, yesterday night demonstrators in Belgrade attacked the Serbian Parliament throwing stones and bottles at the windows of the parliament building. We are looking at serious civil unrest which can lead to revolution insofar as breaking up the EU as they push for this New Green World Order which will destroy the future of so many in Europe. Only elitists view that such a transition is no problem. They underestimate the economic damage and this is the END of perpetually borrowing with no intension of ever repaying any debt.

Jun 1 2020

Macron Wants to Take Car Production from Germany


Armstrong Economics Blog/European Union

Re-Posted Jun 1, 2020 by Martin Armstrong

President Emmanuel Macron is waging war against Germany to usurp their car production by first killing it with climate change regulations. Then he announced an €8 billion plan to make France the top producer of “clean vehicles” in Europe. The rivalry between France has always been deep-seated. The number of wars between the two countries is high. It was at the Treaty of Versailles of 1871 which ended the Franco-Prussian War and was signed by Adolphe Thiers, of the French Third Republic, and Otto von Bismarck. This was actually the establishment of the newly-formed German Empire on February 26, 1871.

In retribution, France demanded Germany surrender at the end of World War I. The Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Where the Germany Empire was created in 1871, they chose the very same place to bring about its destruction 48 years later.

The political rivalry between France and Germany remains deeply entrenched within political circles. This does not really extend down to the people. Nevertheless, it illustrates that this idea of a single economy under the European Project has been nothing more than an unrealistic dream. There are too many centuries of distrust to overcome.
Mar 8 2020

Secretary of State Pompeo Meets With UN Secretary General Guterres


Any attempt by the ICC to enforce a warrant against any U.S. citizens must be fought by all means necessary

Joseph A. Klein, CFP United Nations Columnist imageRe Posted from The Canada Free Press By  —— Bio and Archives—March 7, 2020

Secretary of State Pompeo Meets With UN Secretary General GuterresSecretary of State Michael R. Pompeo met on March 6th with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres at UN headquarters in New York. The offices of the spokespersons for both the State Department and the Secretary General issued their own readouts of the meeting. One would think from reading them that the readouts were reporting on two different meetings.

The UN readout portrayed the meeting as a kumbaya moment. “The Secretary-General expressed appreciation for the continued engagement of the United States in the United Nation,” the UN statement said. It ticked off as topics of discussion “a range of situations around the world, including Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, the Sahel and the questions related to the implementation of the host country agreement.” The reference to the host country agreement implementation may have alluded to a dispute over the denial or delay of visas issued by the U.S. to UN diplomats from certain countries, principally Russia and Iran, seeking to attend UN meetings in New York. However, the statement completely sidestepped the substance of the issue. Nothing was even hinted regarding any other differences between the United States and the United Nations.

The State Department readout did not hold back, however. Half of the readout was devoted to the UN’s highly biased pro-Palestinian decision to release its blacklist of companies doing business with Israeli firms operating in disputed areas of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which includes several U.S. companies. It said that Secretary Pompeo “reiterated his outrage at the decision by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to publish a database of companies operating in Israeli-controlled territories.” The U.S. statement added that Secretary Pompeo “made clear that the United States will continue to engage UN officials and member states on this matter, will not tolerate the reckless mistreatment of U.S. companies, and will respond to actions harmful to our business community.”

The true agenda of the BDS, with which the UN is complicit, is the total destruction of the Jewish State of Israel and its full takeover by Palestinian militants

As usual, the UN Secretary General tried to paper over significant objections to the UN’s moral failures with diplomatic niceties. Secretary Pompeo, representing the UN’s biggest financial contributor by far, was not willing to be a part of such play-acting. What Bachelet did, with the Secretary General’s evident concurrence, blatantly undermines real human rights. The UN blacklist promotes the agenda of the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which discriminatorily singles out the Jewish State for economic punishment because of its “settlements” activities. Turkey, which illegally occupied Northern Cyprus in 1974, has since sent thousands of Turkish settlers and occupation troops to Northern Cyprus, without a whimper of objection by UN officials. Ironically, the livelihoods of Palestinians and their families will be jeopardized if Palestinians working for the affected businesses lose their jobs as a result of the boycott encouraged by the UN’s blacklist.

The true agenda of the BDS, with which the UN is complicit, is the total destruction of the Jewish State of Israel and its full takeover by Palestinian militants. “No Palestinian, rational Palestinian, not a sell-out Palestinian, will ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine,” said Omar Barghouti, BDS’s co-founder. The truth is that the BDS movement and its offshoot at the United Nations are a throwback to the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses.

Thus, the Trump administration correctly objects to the use of the American taxpayer-funded UN bureaucracy to promulgate a blacklist intended to intimidate U.S. businesses and others into complying with the BDS boycott. Secretary General Guterres should heed the message that Secretary Pompeo delivered to him during their face-to-face meeting on Friday or face the financial consequences from further cuts in U.S. contributions to the UN’s bloated budget.

We do not know for sure what was said during the meeting regarding implementation of the Agreement between the United Nations and the United States of America regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations – the so-called host country agreement.  However, Secretary General Guterres has expressed concerns in the past over failures or delays by the Trump administration in issuing visas to foreign government officials seeking entry to the United States to attend UN meetings as well as the imposition of travel restrictions.

Hopefully, Secretary of State Pompeo made it clear to Secretary General Guterres that the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and her investigatory staff will not be welcome to the United States as long as they pursue their vendetta against American officials, soldiers, and intelligence agents for perfectly lawful actions taken against terrorists in Afghanistan.

A panel of judges from the ICC’s Appeals Chamber has just reversed an earlier ruling by an ICC panel of judges, which had blocked a probe into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan. The Appeals Chamber judges decided unanimously on Thursday to allow the ICC prosecutor to investigate possible crimes on Afghan territory since May 2003 and other alleged crimes linked to the situation there since July 2002. The United States is not a party to the ICC Rome Statute and, moreover, has its own robust system of justice that the ICC has no valid jurisdiction to supplant or override.

The U.S. has already revoked ICC Prosecutor Bensouda’s entry visa to the United States

The ICC prosecutor called the decision “an important day for the cause of justice in the situation of Afghanistan, for the Court, and for international criminal justice more broadly.” To the contrary, the decision was, in Secretary Pompeo’s words, a “breathtaking action by an unaccountable political institution, masquerading as a legal body.” He added, “It is all the more reckless for this ruling to come just days after the United States signed a historic peace deal on Afghanistan, which is the best chance for peace in a generation. We’re going to take all the appropriate actions to ensure that American citizens are not hauled before this political body to settle political vendettas.”

The Trump administration can start by following through on Secretary Pompeo’s warning last year that the U.S. would deny or revoke visas for International Criminal Court staff. The U.S. has already revoked ICC Prosecutor Bensouda’s entry visa to the United States. She should continue to be barred entry, along with her investigators. They also must be barred from interviewing any past or present U.S. officials, soldiers or other government personnel anywhere in the world. Any attempt by the ICC to enforce a warrant against any U.S. citizens must be fought by all means necessary.

Feb 23 2020

The Coming French Revolution


Armstrong Economics Blog/France

Re-Posted Feb 22, 2020 by Martin Armstrong

 

Ever since the civil unrest began on May 5, 2013, there has been escalating economic tension within France. A lack of economic growth has plagued France and Europe as a whole. The French share market peaked in 2000 and has been unable to elect ANY Yearly Bullish Reversals to date, and 2018 appears to be no different for this year’s closing. With the insane taxes of Hollande, the rich French invested outside the country. Without private investment, there is no job creation of any worthwhile level. This is what the Socialists refuse to consider.

This latest series of popular rebellions erupted on November 17, 2018, and has spread quickly via social media, with protesters blocking roads across France and impeding access to shopping malls, factories, and some fuel depots. They gather at the Arc de Triomphe, chanting “Macron Resign” and writing graffiti on the Arch itself: “The yellow vests will triumph.”

I previously warned: “We will see that risk erupt by 2020 or 51.6 years from the May 1968 cultural revolution.” The tensions have not subsided, but instead, they have begun to escalate.