Taiwan Declines US Demand to Offshore Chip Production


originally on Posted Oct 3, 2025 by Martin Armstrong | 

Semiconductor.Chip_

The threat of losing military protection did not persuade Taiwan to move half its chip manufacturing to the United States. Top trade negotiator and vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun stated that the 50-50 proposal would not be considered or even discussed. Instead, Taiwan plans to focus on lowering US-imposed tariffs that now stand at 20%.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick believes that Taiwan’s chip production would be safer on US soil. The US relies on Taiwan for an astounding 95% of chip production and cannot lose this strategic trade. “My objective, and this administration’s objective, is to get chip manufacturing significantly onshored — we need to make our own chips,” Lutnick said. “The idea that I pitched [Taiwan] was, let’s get to 50-50. We’re producing half, and you’re producing half.”

There is a belief that the “Silicon Shield” deters Chinese military aggression as the island has global dominance over semiconductor manufacturing. It is true that semiconductor production is the best, if not only, leverage the nation holds.

China accused Taiwan of “selling out” to US influence, repeatedly reminding the nation that they are a province and not a sovereign country. Separatist ambitions are impossible without US military backing. Yet, now there is a concern that the nation would be surrendering its key economic component to the US. Both China and the US want to corner Taiwan and one will win.

China v Taiwan 3

Eric Chu, leader of Kuomintang opposition party, is less keen to cave to US demands than President Tsai Ing-wen. “No one can sell out Taiwan or TSMC, and no one can undermine Taiwan’s silicon shield,” Chu said, in reference to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).

Manufacturing on US soil is far more costly and there is a concern that this could slow innovation and create new logistical issues. Yet, China has been ramping up One China policy rhetoric. President Xi Jinping called on the nation to “firmly oppose Taiwan independence separatist activities and external interference,” reaffirming China’s commitment to defend its “sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 established the “one-China principle” that states Taiwan is a Chinese province under international law. The majority of UN member states agree and Taiwan has been blocked from participating in international organizations. The resolution, however, is vague and does not explicitly mention Taiwan. Rather, it “expels forthwith the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek from the place which they unlawfully occupy in the United Nations and in all the organizations related to it.” Chiang Kai-shek was the leader of the communist Republic of China (ROC) who was forced to retreat to Taiwan in 1949 after losing the Chinese civil war. Chiang Kai-shek ran Taiwan as an independent nation to the dismay of the international community. The UN officially recognized the People’s Republic of China over the ROC in 1971 and has not changed its stance.

Governments are increasingly undermining globalist organizations like the UN and ignoring past treaties. This matter cannot be solved with pen and paper.

Exxon Announces Mass Layoffs


originally on Posted Oct 3, 2025 by Martin Armstrong |  

Exxon

Recent data from the Chicago Fed and ADP indicate new hires at a 16-year low. The ADP offered a bit of promising news for large corporations as they managed to expand by 33,000 positions last month. Yet, no corporation is immune to the increased cost of goods, excessive regulation, and taxation. Socrates has warned that unemployment will top 6% by 2026, and we are beginning to see the warning signs in Q4.

Exxon Mobil plans to slash 2,000 positions, representing 3% to 4% of the global workforce. “Our global office network was established decades ago under very different circumstances,” Exxon said in a statement to Barron’s. “To support the collaboration so critical to our success, we are aligning our global footprint with our operating model and bringing our teams together.”

Exxon Chairman and CEO Darren Woods stated that the company is aiming to “redesign work processes and improve cost competitiveness.” “We are making tough decisions, some of which will result in friends and colleagues leaving the company,” Woods said back in 2020. The global economy never truly recovered from the pandemic. I discussed the ongoing issue with crude and the broader implications on the private blog.

CRUDE M Array 5 2 25

Numerous oil giants announced mass layoffs. Chevron drastically reduced its payroll by cutting over 15% of its workforce. Imperial Oil is slashing its staff by 20% over the next two years. Total Energies is looking for a way to save $7.5 billion over the next five years.

Oil shocks are typically geopolitical in nature. It is not inflationary or demand-driven. Oil is a global reserve commodity that responds to shifts in capital flows and confidence. Energy is leverage and power, which is why is closely aligns with the war cycle. Companies overall are hedging against expected volatility by cutting costs, but oil companies are especially prone to stress due to the current geopolitical atmosphere.

WATCH: Leftist NGOs Aiding And Abetting Illegal Aliens Outside Courthouse in Portland, Oregon


Posted originally on Rumble on By Bannon’s War Room on: October, 01, 2025

WADE MILLER: Russ Vought Is Uniquely Capable Of Taking A Scalpel To Thousands Of Bloated, Woke, Weaponized Government Programs While Minimizing The Impact On The American People


Posted originally on Rumble on By Bannon’s War Room on: October, 01, 2025

The NSA Report No One Has Ever Seen


Posted originally on CTH on September 30, 2025 | Sundance

During the period of Nov 2015 to April 2016, the Obama administration, through the FBI under James Comey and Andrew McCabe, was conducting a political spying operation against all Republican presidential primary candidates using the power of their offices.

The intent was two-fold. (1) Tracking the candidates to identify activity; and (2) conducting opposition research to be fed to the campaign of Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton.

This surveillance activity was happening in concert with Comey, McCabe and a small group inside the FBI, running a defensive operation for the issues surrounding Hillary Clinton’s prior use of private email servers -which included classified information transmission- during her tenure as Secretary of State. SOURCE: DNI

Documentary evidence of the Obama spying operation surfaced as an outcome of the NSA compliance officer discovering the FBI activity.

The compliance officer reported the activity to National Security Agency Director, Admiral Mike Rogers.

The spying operation is not an issue of FISA-702, or any FISA system or process. However, the availability of FBI access to the NSA database is what triggered the discovery of the spy operation.

That FBI access is created under the auspices of FISA, but FISA-702, or any aspect therein, was not the issue. The issue was the spying operation.

FISA, and using the NSA database to conduct the electronic surveillance, was simply the tool to exploit the electronic communication (metadata) of the targets.

The Obama administration was spying on their political opposition and telling the Clinton team the results of their surveillance.

Put another way, the United States government was spying on political candidates for office, in order to control the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

After Director Mike Rogers was made aware of the operation, and the exploitation of the NSA database, the NSA Director blocked the FBI from access and began an investigation.

That investigation culminated in Director Mike Rogers informing the regulatory body in charge of protecting the database from exploitation.

FISC SIDEBAR: With the NSA now collecting the private electronic communication of Americans, the FISA Court was assigned the responsibility of oversight; it was intended to protect the growing metadata library and ensure the 4th Amendment provisions to the constitution were maintained.

The FISC oversight was intended to stop the government from reviewing the private records of Americans, the NSA database, without a warrant.

Because the NSA database was used by the Obama administration, the FBI, to conduct political spying operations, the only normal compliance venue Director Mike Rogers had to reveal the spying, was to inform the FISA court (FISC).

NSA Director Mike Rogers was a cabinet member working for President Obama at the time the Obama administration was exploiting the NSA database.

Director Mike Rogers does not appear to have informed congressional oversight. That would have violated the chain-of-command, and the President held absolute power.

Director Rogers could have chosen to inform the congressional Gang-of-Eight of the issue. He did not.

[This is an issue Director Rogers would later address by moving custodial control of the NSA database to Cyber Command (a DoD agency)].

NSA Director Mike Rogers informed the FISA Court of the issue, by detailing who the people were who were searched within the database, and what the results were over the timeframe of Nov ’15 to April ’16.

The compliance officer provided the audit-trail, audit logs showing who was being spied on, who was being searched (queried), how often and how many times. The audit-trail also showed who was logging in to conduct the spy operations, and what FBI authorized workstations they were using.

Director Rogers informed the court he had blocked FBI access and removed part of the functionality for how the system could be exploited.

The internal investigation by the NSA compliance officer and Rogers was completed and sent to the FISA Court in October 2016, with additional information sent in March 2017.

The FISA Court then responded in April 2017, where Presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer outlined the events in a heavily redacted 99-page opinion. Citation HERE.

President Obama conducting political spying operations, through a politically weaponized FBI, against the Republican opposition elements is colloquially called “Spygate.”

Hillary Clinton manufacturing a political dirty trick against Donald Trump, accusing him of a Trump-Russia collusion conspiracy, is called “Russiagate.”

President Obama and every member of his cabinet, that was involved in the spying operations, used Clinton’s “Russiagate” to cover up Obama’s “Spygate.”

The two controversies are distinct and separate.

Within the evidence trail, that documents the Obama spying operation exists: (1) the NSA audit-trail, and, more importantly, (2) the specific document where the NSA notified the FISA Court. Those have never been seen.

While a redacted 99-page response from the court has been reviewed in granular detail, the missing piece of the puzzle; -the evidence that proves the operation beyond any reasonable doubt – is the NSA investigative outcome, the notification to the FISC given by NSA Director Mike Rogers to the FISA Court.

The NSA report to the FISA Court is a specific, actionable, discoverable document. I have been on the hunt for that notification report for 8 years.

Now you know why this position is so important.

Sunday Talks – JD Vance Discusses Comey, Gaza and Russia


Posted originally on CTH on September 28, 2025 | Sundance

Vice President JD Vance appears on Fox News Sunday to discuss the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, the “deal” that seems close at hand in the Israeli-Hamas war, and the ongoing Russian conflict with Ukraine.

As to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, there appears to be a race afoot.  NATO and the EU team are funneling more lethal and long-range weapons into Ukraine in order to escalate the attacks deeper into Russia.  Alarmingly, it does not seem as if JD Vance is ¹aware of that shift.

Even more concerningly, this weapons escalation in Ukraine is happening simultaneous with the same Intelligence Community team controlling the election outcome in ²Moldova, specifically to increase the likelihood of direct NATO conflict against Russia.  Again, both President Trump and Vice President Vance seem unaware of it.

The bottom line is that direct military conflict between NATO allies and Russia is almost a foregone conclusion now, while Trump and Vance ponder the unwillingness of Russia to negotiate with Ukraine or the United States.  WATCH:

[¹,² I know this sounds crazy but…. I’m beginning to wonder if the White House is being intentionally kept in the dark by the National Security Council, or by other professionals (Ratcliffe) who should be normally briefing them on significant changes in day-to-day events.  There are a lot of unknowns looking from the outside; however, the recent comments from Vance/Trump do not align with demonstrable realities on the ground.]

FBI Director Kash Patel Says Agents in J6 Crowd Were Dispatched to Quell Riot Underway


Posted originally on CTH on September 28, 2025 | Sundance

FBI Director Kash Patel once again rises to defend the integrity of the institution he leads.

While Tweeting a link to a Fox News story quoting him, the FBI director says, “274 FBI agents were thrown into crowd control on Jan 6 against FBI standards. That failure was on corrupt leadership. Thanks to agents stepping up, the truth is coming out. Transparency. Justice. Accountability.”

Which begs the questions: 274 FBI plainclothes agents were going to do what, exactly?… How did the FBI know to have 274 agents “on hand” prepared to intervene?  And where exactly is “on hand” located?

(VIA FOX NEWS) – The FBI responded on Saturday to a report that 274 plainclothes agents were at the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, clarifying the role of bureau personnel while still blasting former Director Christopher Wray.

While the agents were on hand, they were sent in after the riot had begun to try to control the unruly crowd, officials told Fox News Digital. That is not the proper role of FBI agents, and Wray was not forthcoming about what happened when he testified numerous times on Capitol Hill, Director Kash Patel said.

“Agents were sent into a crowd control mission after the riot was declared by Metro Police – something that goes against FBI standards,” Patel told Fox News Digital. “This was the failure of a corrupt leadership that lied to Congress and to the American people about what really happened.”

He added, “Thanks to agents coming forward, we are now uncovering the truth. We are fully committed to transparency, and justice and accountability continues with this FBI.” 

There’s no indication any FBI agents were involved in any events related to Trump’s speech on the morning of Jan. 6 at the Ellipse, an FBI official told Fox News Digital, adding that Wray should have disclosed that agents were there when he was asked by congressional leaders. (read more)

Suspicious Cat remains, well, suspicious…

Moldova Votes Today – The NATO/EU Influence, and Potential Expanded War With Russia, Hangs in the Balance


Posted originally on CTH on September 28, 2025 | Sundance

It is not hyperbole to think the Moldovan election today may possibly determine whether a NATO war with Russia takes place, or whether the NATO desire for conflict slowly begins to dissolve. {GO DEEP}

The small country squeezed between Romania (the largest NATO super-base constructed) and Ukraine, is located in a critical area. Whether Moldova joins the EU, or whether Moldova remains independently free from Brussels influence, is part of the outcome. The Moldova Parliamentary Elections are today.

The EU/NATO are at a zero-sum inflection point. THIS is the tinderbox.

There are roughly 2.5 million registered Moldovan voters living in Moldova. However, the govt of President Maia Sandu and her EU control agents expect 500,000+ votes from outside Moldova to determine the election outcome.

Of the 3,000 poll watchers, 900 members of the international coalition to influence critical elections (aka western intelligence operatives) are currently active in Moldova providing real-time voter feedback.

The non-pretenders will note the intelligence these operatives return helps western IC determine how many mail-in ballots are needed for EU/NATO success to support President Sandu.

There are 300 polling stations opened across 41 countries. Britain hosts 24 stations, Germany 36, Italy 75, and Russia has two.

Voting in Moldova ends at 21:00 local (9pm)/15:00 ET, but mail in ballots will continue flowing. The first preliminary results should become known around 23:00 (11pm local). [5pm Eastern US.]

Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of Telegram, provides the following context:

“About a year ago, while I was stuck in Paris, the French intelligence services reached out to me through an intermediary, asking me to help the Moldovan government censor certain Telegram channels ahead of the presidential elections in Moldova.

After reviewing the channels flagged by French (and Moldovan) authorities, we identified a few that clearly violated our rules and removed them. The intermediary then informed me that, in exchange for this cooperation, French intelligence would “say good things” about me to the judge who had ordered my arrest in August last year.

This was unacceptable on several levels. If the agency did in fact approach the judge — it constituted an attempt to interfere in the judicial process. If it did not, and merely claimed to have done so, then it was exploiting my legal situation in France to influence political developments in Eastern Europe — a pattern we have also observed in Romania 

Shortly thereafter, the Telegram team received a second list of so-called “problematic” Moldovan channels. Unlike the first, nearly all of these channels were legitimate and fully compliant with our rules. Their only commonality was that they voiced political positions disliked by the French and Moldovan governments.

We refused to act on this request.

Telegram is committed to freedom of speech and will not remove content for political reasons. I will continue to expose every attempt to pressure Telegram into censoring our platform. Stay tuned.”  (source)

Most people think of this Moldovan election as something happening “over there.”  However, the outcome of this election will have ramifications for U.S. policy, up to and including potential war with Russia.

[GO DEEP]

UPDATE: DOJ Investigator Ed Martin Begins Questioning FBI Agent Bill Aldenberg’s Conflict in Alex Jones Lawsuit


Posted originally on CTH on September 24, 2025 | Sundance 

UPDATE: According to CNN“in a new letter addressed to attorney Christopher Mattei on Wednesday, Martin withdrew his initial letter entirely. In a brief note, according to a person familiar with the letter, Martin wrote that there is no investigation of Aldenberg and “because of this, I hereby withdraw my request for information from you or your former client.” {SOURCE}

As noted in the original outline below, it wasn’t particularly smart for Alex Jones to post the letter on his Twitter account.  Without much doubt the Ed Martin retraction was due to this knuckleheaded move.

— Original Outline Below —

William “Bill” Aldenberg was the lead investigator for John Durham in 2020.  Bill Aldenberg was also a plaintiff in the case against Alex Jones in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting 2012, lawsuit and civil trial 2022.

According to a U.S. News and World Report article, “Aldenberg was among the law enforcement officers who responded to the school and found the dead children. That then led to years of abuse from people who believed the shooting was a hoax, he has said. His share of the judgment totaled around $120 million.”

Bill Aldenberg was the first witness in the 2022 case against InfoWars.  Alex Jones and InfoWars lost the lawsuit and were punished by a $1.4 billion damage award to the plaintiffs. InfoWars filed bankruptcy and the arguments over liquidation of assets is underway in Texas.

Here’s where things get weird.  We know the FBI was conducting an operation called “Arctic Frost,” essentially the targeting of Donald Trump and key figures who aligned with Trump in the aftermath of the 2020 election. {Citation}

It is widely suspected, the massive amount of evidence captured in the Arctic Frost operation, was eventually fed to the January 6th Committee for use in their expanded investigation.  That evidence then underpinned the case against President Trump that was being assembled by Jack Smith. {Go Deep}

Essentially, operation Arctic Frost was the evidence gathering operation, then the J6 Committee and special counsel Jack Smith used the FBI evidence to frame their cases.  [Readers will note, this process is similar to the FBI “Crossfire Hurricane” operation, which fed evidence to special counsel Robert Mueller, to frame their cases.]

Back to FBI Investigative Agent William Aldenberg, who was lead for John Durham.

DOJ attorney Ed Martin is looking at the connective tissue around all of the FBI targeting operations.  He now asks the lawyers for William Aldenberg about details of their client’s involvement in the case against Alex Jones.

[SOURCE]

Alex Jones posted a copy of the letter on his Twitter [X] feed, along with a picture of him and Ed Martin.  A rather knuckleheaded move by Jones considering how Ed Martin says in the letter he would prefer not to litigate the issue in the media.  Then again, wisdom and sound judgement have never been Jones’ strong points.

Really, it’s a convoluted mess making the serious issues around Arctic Frost get lost in the weeds.  Then again, perhaps that is a feature not a flaw.  Many people, CTH included, view Alex Jones through the prism of compromise ever since the $1.4 billion sword of Damocles was established over his head.

(USN&WR) – […] Ed Martin Jr., who leads the Justice Department’s “weaponization working group,” asked in the letter whether retired agent William Aldenberg received any financial benefits from helping to organize the lawsuit, in which he was a plaintiff along with victims’ family members.

Aldenberg, like the parents and other relatives of the 20 children and six educators killed in the 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, has been the subject of false conspiracy theories spread by Jones on his “Infowars” broadcasts.

Aldenberg was among the law enforcement officers who responded to the school and found the dead children. That then led to years of abuse from people who believed the shooting was a hoax, he has said. His share of the judgment totaled around $120 million.

In a Sept. 15 letter to Christopher Mattei, a lawyer who represents Sandy Hook families, Martin suggested he was scrutinizing Aldenberg’s role in the lawsuit.

Mattei responded to the letter in a text message to The Associated Press.

“Thanks to the courage of the Sandy Hook families, Infowars will soon be finished,” he said, referring to the families’ efforts in court to liquidate Jones’ assets to help pay the judgment. “In his last gasps, Jones is once again harassing them, only now with the corrupt complicity of at least one DOJ official. It’s as disgusting as it is pathetic, and we will not stand for it.” (more)

Chad Mizelle Departs the DOJ


Posted originally on CTH on September 24, 2025 | Sundance

I have continued to point out that Chad Mizelle was Rod Rosenstein’s chief legal counsel during the first term of President Trump. As Rosenstein’s legal counsel, it was Chad Mizelle who literally wrote the “scope memos” that authorized the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate President Trump.

Mizelle also wrote the expanded scope memos for Mueller and Andrew Weissmann that permitted the targeting of Michael Flynn Jr, Michael Flynn, George Papadopolous, Paul Manafort and more. Chad Mizelle would have intimate knowledge of Rosenstein’s intent to hire Robert Mueller, before, during and after the Special Counsel was appointed.

Because of everything above, Chad Mizelle was always looked at with strong suspicion. There is no way to intellectually reconcile Chad Mizelle as a good faith actor knowing the intents and purposes of Robert Mueller. It just didn’t make sense.

Subsequently, when Chad Mizelle was selected to guide Attorney General Pam Bondi through the nomination process as Attorney General we watched with concern. After the successful confirmation, Mizelle then took up position as AG Pam Bondi’s Chief of Staff.

[It should also be noted that Chad Mizelle is reported to be very close friends and allies with Stephen Miller. Yet, another irreconcilable aspect.]

On September 20th, President Trump sent a seemingly frustrated Truth Social message, outwardly questioning the slow to non-existent reality that Main Justice was not holding the bad actors within the Lawfare operation accountable.

Three days later, it is now reported that Chief of Staff Chad Mizelle is departing Main Justice.

WASHINGTON – Chad Mizelle will leave as chief of staff at the Department of Justice in the next few weeks to return to his family in Tampa, Axios has learned.

Mizelle, a key ally of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, told us he’ll continue to support the Trump administration’s work, and plans to continue “exposing the left-wing groups responsible for violence across America.”

Bondi says Mizelle “served this Department with professionalism, sound judgment, and dedication. As Chief of Staff, Chad played a central role in coordinating the Department’s operations, ensuring its resources were aligned and our efforts were carried out with integrity and efficiency. His counsel strengthened our work to advance justice and protect the American people. I am grateful for his service and friendship.”

Todd Blanche, deputy attorney general, said: “Chad’s tenure at the Department has been marked by exceptional leadership and dedication to the Department. He provided Attorney General Bondi and all of us with outstanding counsel, and his steady hand helped guide our work. Chad played a key role in advancing the President’s America First agenda here at the Department, and his efforts strengthened our mission to protect the American people.” (link)

All of that may be true. However, it is also true that without Chad Mizelle there would never have been a Robert Mueller investigation and expanded scope memos for Andrew Weissmann.

Curious timing when contrast against President Trump’s statements a few days prior.

President Trump’s social media post: “Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, “same old story as last time, all talk, no action. Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam “Shifty” Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done.” Then we almost put in a Democrat supported U.S. Attorney, in Virginia, with a really bad Republican past. A Woke RINO, who was never going to do his job. That’s why two of the worst Dem Senators PUSHED him so hard. He even lied to the media and said he quit, and that we had no case. No, I fired him, and there is a GREAT CASE, and many lawyers, and legal pundits, say so. Lindsey Halligan is a really good lawyer, and likes you, a lot. We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!! President DJT

Laura Loomer never had an issue with Chad Mizelle.