Posted originally on the conservative tree house on September 3, 2021 | Sundance | 52 Comments

Now that we understand the problem [CRITICAL BACKGROUND HERE], we move into the solution discussion.   There is a way to deconstruct the current system of corruption within the U.S. government that follows a path outlined by the framers of our constitution.  In this series of articles we will outline what I believe to be the way forward.  It is a narrow path, and each step is dependent on the American electorate understanding the challenge.

There is a way to stop the Intelligence Branch, but it requires some outside-the-box thinking and reliance on the Constitution as a tool to radically change one element within government. In order to achieve it, we must focus on three tiers needed for success:

• Tier One is “tactical civics” at a local level. Engaged and active citizen participation at the community, city, town and hamlet level of society. This is what might be described as grassroots level. School Board level; City Council level; County Commissioner level.

• Tier Two is “extreme federalism” at a state level. Engaged and active citizen participation through your State House and State Senate representative. This is state level assembly and action demands upon the House, Senate and State Governor.

• Tier Three the challenge of “federal offices” on a national level. This is where a singular action can be taken upstream that allows the first two tiers to retake control over federal offices. This is where we throw the One Ring into the fire of Mordor.  CTH has tested this approach with a multitude of political allies who understand the issue.  All eventually agreed with the solution at a federal level; it won’t be easy, but it will be possible.

I cannot emphasize enough how each tier is dependent on the preceding tier.  Additionally, each voter has to understand the larger objective in order to see how they are all connected.  That is the goal of this outline.

• Tier One – The lack of attention to local or ‘tactical civics’ is now manifest in your community with examples of school boards dictating mandates to you and your family.  In almost all of these instances where local officials running amok, you will note their baseline detachment.  They have lost their ability to identify exactly who they work for; perhaps they never had it to begin with.  Various local officials no longer view YOU as their employer.  Instead they view you as someone they need to protect themselves from.  We cannot address the state level disconnect that is needed for correction unless and until we first reset the relationship at a local level between the citizen and the community government.  That means you MUST get involved.

• Tier Two – The lack of attention to federalism, states rights, responsibilities and state government overall, is manifested most clearly in the outcome of the 2020 election; and the issue of election integrity.  Even in states where republicans are in control of the state House and Senate, there are few legislative bodies focused on ensuring election integrity.  Just look at how much difficulty grassroots organizations are having with the demand for audits, reviews, and election controls.  This is an outcome of detachment from the legislatures.

It will be impossible to correct the federal issues of government without first and foremost making sure we have the right representatives in our state legislature.  You will see why that is going to become more important when we talk about the needed action in tier three.  The outlook of every single state representative toward the federal government is critical.  We must elect state level representatives who understand and cherish the principles behind ‘state’s rights‘ and the tenth amendment.

If we have the right state-level representation, then -and only then- can we move into the third tier and begin traveling the path that addresses the federal issues.

• Tier Three – The nucleus of corruption amid every element of the federal institutions of government is the United States Senate.   The U.S. Senate is the single most powerful part of the federal government.  All other federal corruption is dependent on a corrupt and ineffective Senate.  If we correct the problems with the Senate and reconnect the representation within the chamber to the state-level legislative bodies, we will then be able to demand change.

There will be ZERO institutional allies in this effort.  Because of the scale of their power, the Senate will not give up control easily; and every institution of society and government will attempt to stop We The People from taking back control of the upper chamber.  Every entity from Wall Street to multinational corporations, big tech, banks, foreign governments and world organizations will be aligned against us.   When you truly understand the epicenter of the corruption, then you are able to see the tentacles extending from it.

It would be easy to say “repeal the 17th amendment“, it is another thing entirely to walk through the process to make that happen.  Yes, ultimately we do need a full repeal of the 17th amendment, and return the selection of the senators from each state with a nomination and appointment process within the state legislature.  [Common Explainer Here]

Seventeenth Amendment- “The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.” (link)

Prior to the 17th amendment, there was significant state level corruption as business interests and senate candidates worked in power groups with party officials to attain the position.  Politicians seeking Senate seats began campaigning for state legislative candidates in order to assemble support.  The state legislative races then became a process of influence amid powerful interests seeking to support their Senate candidate.   Get the right people in the State legislature and you can get the Senator appointed.

Those state-level entities, bankers, wealthy people of influence, later became the permanent K-Street lobbying groups once the 17th amendment was ratified. In essence, they just shifted the location of their influence operation from the state to an office in Washington DC.   [Those same power groups, albeit much larger, now write the physical legislation we see in congress.]  Additionally, prior to the 17th amendment, there were issues of vacancies in federal senate seats as state legislatures could not agree on an individual Senator.

The biggest issue following the passage of the 17th amendment became Senators who were no longer representing the interests of their state.  Instead they were representing the interests of the power elite groups who were helping them fund the mechanisms of their re-election efforts.  A Senator only needs to run for re-election every six years.  The 17th amendment is the only amendment that changed the structure of the congress as it was written by the founders.

Over time, the Senate chamber itself began using their advise and consent authority to control the executive and judicial branch.  The origination of a nomination now holds the question: “Can this person pass the Senate confirmation process?”  The Senate now abuses this power to ensure no one challenges them.  Additionally, the Senate began using their oversight capacity to control elements within the executive branch and judicial branch.   The full scope of that issue in modern form is OUTLINED HERE – which is the cornerstone of the Intelligence Branch of Government.

If we can repeal the 17th amendment and return the selection to the state legislature, you can see where the background work of Tactical Civics and Extreme Federalism begin to take on importance.   [NOTE: Within the repeal effort we would need to include a recall process for states to reach out and yank back their Senator if they go astray; the ability to recall was missing in the original construct of the framers; it would need to be added.]

In part-II we will outline the process for repealing the 17th amendment in the current era.  It will take the creation of two paths being built simultaneously in the background of the 2024 federal election.

◊ PATH ONE is the primary platform of the presidential candidate…. a visible and emphasized mandate that includes: “vote me into office and you are voting to repeal the 17th amendment“.  This specific election issue would need to be the #1 priority of the candidate and spoken at every event.  This approach would give the presidential candidate the mandate to demand congress to act if he won the 2024 election.  We would need a warrior of epic strength, resolve and fortitude.  A Trumpian candidate, if not Trump himself.

◊ PATH TWO is the parallel path built along with the 2024 election platform path, and put into place in the event that Congress refused to accept the mandate.  Obviously, this could be an ugly battle.   The second path is a convention of states in the first year of the successful presidential candidate’s term in office.  The ‘convention of states‘ would be detailed, strategically planned, and the future schedule determined during the 2024 GOP convention preceding the November election (assuming the right candidate wins).   That way, if congress refuses to act on their own, within say the first 100 days of the new administration, the state legislatures will then assemble a convention for the singular and limited purpose of one action item: “repeal the 17th amendment“.  That’s it. Full Stop.  Nothing more. Nothing else entertained.

There is a lot more to this, and a lot more to cover in discussion of this.  However, this is the path that can resolve most of the issues we face with an out of control federal government.   The shift in power would kneecap the Intelligence Branch of Government by re-instituting genuine oversight and control. A repeal of the 17th amendment stops Senators from campaigning, needing to raise money and puts them directly into the accountability position as a steward for the interests of their state.

The people within each state would then have a mechanism to address any negative federal action by contacting their state legislative representative.  In a worst case scenario, a rogue Senator could be removed within days if they support any federal legislative activity that is not in alignment with the state interest.  This approach also wipes out most of the power amid the Senate Majority Leader, as he/she could also be recalled by the state and would be less likely to work against the interests of the majority in the chamber.

More details to come soon….

Posted originally on the conservative tree house on September 3, 2021 | Sundance | 168 Comments

The latest round of national media pandemic messaging is targeted and intentional.  The objective is fear… and the scale of the narrative pushed by the national media toward that effort is large.  Conversely, the same media objective is to Alinsky those who would be a visible push-back against COVID fear, and that is why Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is being targeted.

In the background of this effort is the California recall of Gavin Newsom.  The governor and national allied media are working together to weaponize the fear of COVID as a closing message against the recall effort.  Newsom’s latest commercials [SEE HERE] spotlight his advocacy for forced vaccinations and forced masking policy.

The direct message is, ‘if I am recalled you will all die from COVID, but if you keep me in office I will protect you’.  The message reeks of desperation.

We can expect the nationally promoted panic around COVID to increase exponentially over the next 10 days, and then lessen significantly immediately following the September 14th recall vote.   It is critical for the effort of Governor Newsom that national fear over COVID is maintained.

(Via Politico) […] “What’s at stake in the September 14 recall? It’s a matter of life and death,” states a new ad against the recall, slamming top GOP candidate Larry Elder for having a “radically different” approach to vaccines than Newsom and for pushing “deadly conspiracy theories” about the virus. Newsom’s team was quick to circulate a CNN interview this week in which Elder suggested children did not need to be vaccinated and downplayed their risk of infection.

The election season messaging might seem counterintuitive given it was anger over pandemic lockdowns that helped make the recall possible. But Democrats far outnumber Republicans in California, which means Newsom need only turn out his base to survive.

Sean Gailmard, a political science professor at the University of California, Berkeley and close observer of the recall, noted a shift in Newsom’s messaging since May when he was riding rollercoasters, giving away checks to the vaccinated like a game-show host and celebrating California’s comeback following a whirlwind winter of curfews and stay-at-home orders.

The mood now is more solemn and, luckily for Newsom, the focus is not on a California-specific problem. (read more)

Posted originally on the conservative tree house on September 3, 2021 | Sundance | 157 Comments

As previously noted, the Biden administration State Department claimed approximately 124,000 persons were evacuated from the Kabul airport.  Of that number approximately 6 to 7 thousand were Americans.  Now mainstream media [Bloomberg Reporting] is beginning to admit that no one knows who the approximately 118,000 other people really are.

This is quite a stunning admission from Bloomberg, putting the spotlight on the White House:

[Bloomberg] – Days after the Biden administration finished evacuating about 124,000 people from Afghanistan, it’s coming to grips with the reality that it doesn’t know who many of those people are.

What’s emerging, according to government officials and advocates, is that a small percentage of the Afghan citizens who got out are the ones the U.S. pledged to place at the top of its priority list: the thousands who had worked for the U.S. and its allies as well as employees of nongovernmental groups and media organizations.

Instead, initial findings suggest that while some who escaped were locally employed staff, many got out because they were part of the initial crush of people who made it to Kabul’s airport as the city fell to the Taliban or secured passage through airport gates thanks to luck or help from people in the U.S. or elsewhere.

The U.S. is looking into reports that older men may have been admitted along with young girls they claimed as “brides” or otherwise sexually abused, according to an official who discussed the concern on condition of anonymity. That issue was reported earlier Friday by the Associated Press.

In fact, many of the Afghans who were most vulnerable to the Taliban — applicants for the Special Immigrant Visa program intended for translators and others who aided the American war effort — didn’t make it out because the U.S. told them going to the airport would be too dangerous. And they never got a call to come before the last U.S. plane departed to meet President Joe Biden’s Aug. 31 departure deadline.  (read more)

Video of press conference below:

Posted originally on the conservative tree house on September 3, 2021 | Sundance | 157 Comments

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released the August jobs report [Data Link Here] showing only 235,000 jobs created in August.  Economists and financial analysts were predicting 750,000+.

While the financial punditry are jaw-agape with disappointment, these results are in line with the background data and should not have been a surprise.  Within the BLS data you will note the retail sector lost 29,000 jobs, and the leisure and hospitality sector remained unchanged.

Massive inflation and price increases in fuel, gasoline, energy costs and food pricing is slowing down retail purchasing of non-essential goods.  The working class are cutting back non-essential purchases and focusing on how to pay for groceries, electricity and gasoline.  Connected to this checkbook issue, the working class are not spending on leisure and hospitality.   Everyone is focused on making ends meet.  Spending decisions are prioritized.

The government COVID subsidies have also created a false bottom.  Service sector workers could make more money from COVID bailouts than they could by returning to work.  Some families made the decision to stay home, drop the daycare cost for their kids, and actually net a higher overall income position from government relief funds.  This dynamic is mostly noted in the lower tier of the income and wage earning employment category.

Government run education, local and state, also saw a drop in jobs of -26,000 simultaneous to kids returning to school.  Why did this happen?  Well, private sector education gained +40,000 jobs. This is in line with the cultural shift.  There is so much COVID propaganda, and manipulation of teaching outcomes as a result of unionized education dictates around COVID, many parents have had enough with the nonsense, mask mandates and indoctrination and are taking their kids out of public schools.

We have yet to see the issues of low wage growth and higher costs-of-living hit the housing sector, but it will come.  On a macro level mid-range home values peaked, then plateaued in late May and early June.  New home construction has slowed significantly.  These issues are all connected to a very serious drop in real wages.  The current paychecks of the middle-class cannot keep pace with inflation, the result is less net income…. which means less spending…. with means less jobs in sectors that benefit from consumer spending.

Yes, there are regional housing markets with home/property values increasing.  Not coincidentally, those markets are in the regions where COVID freedom is highest and government restrictions on the economy are lowest.   However, on the overall macro level the housing/property values are flat now.  People are hunkering down, making ends meet and having kitchen table conversations about spending priorities.

Remember, two-thirds of the U.S. economy  is dependent on consumer spending.  When consumer spending contracts, because worker wages are eaten up by price increases on unavoidable essential goods, the economy overall begins to stall out.  This outcome of “stagflation” is the primary reason why so few jobs were created in August.

COVID will be blamed, but the root issue is massive inflation combined with government spending… which creates lower dollar values….. which creates even more inflation.

During our previous discussion on historic, predictable and purposeful food inflation, on August 13th CTH noted, “BigAg has likely already made deals for increases in government welfare payments (EBT and Foodstamps, WIC etc.). BigAg lobbies congress for higher reimbursement rates so they can raise the prices of food and export domestic product to other nations. Food assistance payments increase, and BigAg benefits. In essence, BigAg takes the fed food subsidies and fattens their profit margin. Then, they payback the politicians. It’s a circle of money.“….

If you know how the game is rigged, it’s actually easy to predict the background.  A few days later, exactly on cue, several media outlets began reporting that Joe Biden was going to increase the amount of food stamp assistance by 25% per recipient, and expand the program.

New York Times – WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has revised the nutrition standards of the food stamp program and prompted the largest permanent increase to benefits in the program’s history, a move that will give poor people more power to fill their grocery carts but add billions of dollars to the cost of a program that feeds one in eight Americans.

Under rules to be announced on Monday and put in place in October, average benefits will rise more than 25 percent from prepandemic levels. All 42 million people in the program will receive additional aid. The move does not require congressional approval, and unlike the large pandemic-era expansions, which are starting to expire, the changes are intended to last. (read more)

This announcement is actually revealing in more ways than just the predictability of it.

♦ First, the 25% permanent increase is an admission by the Biden administration that food price inflation is here to stay.  The massive scale of the increase also highlights the actual reality of how much food prices are rising.   This massive and permanent increase directly undercuts the previous White House and Biden claims that inflation was “temporary”, “transitional” and likely to end soon.

However, to that point… remember, in order for leftist ideologues (Alinskly types) to continue advancing their ideological belief systems they have to pretend not to know things.  They pretend not to know inflation is higher than it is, because they must continue making claims that are counter to the reality around us.

♦ Second, no massive increase for those on fixed-income social security.  This does not go unnoticed and should anger everyone who is seeing their standard of living crushed by these insane Biden fiscal, monetary and economic policies.

♦ Third, now you can see the fingerprints of the background quid-pro-quo that led to the GOPe DeceptiCons agreeing to the massive “infrastructure spending bill.”  I can guarantee you McConnell, Thune, Barasso, Ernst, Grassley and crew (all farm states with Big Ag lobbying money) already knew this massive hike in foodstamp and SNAP assistance was coming.  This was the deal that bought their votes.   This is what the DeceptiCons got out of it.

Part of the lobbying in the food industry by BigAg multinationals is to advocate for the expansion of U.S. taxpayer benefits to underwrite the costs of the domestic food products they control. By lobbying DC,  these multinational corporations get congress and policy-makers to expand the basis of who can use Food Stamps, EBT and SNAP benefits (state reimbursement rates).  Expanding the federal subsidy for food purchases is part of the corporate profit dynamic.

With increased taxpayer subsidies, the food price controllers (BigAg Multinationals) can charge more domestically and export more of the product internationally. Taxes, via subsidies, go into their profit margins. The corporations then use a portion of those enhanced profits in contributions to the politicians. It’s a circle of money.

THINK COMMON SENSE – If Joe Biden and crew thought the economy was genuinely going to grow; and if the Biden administration really planned on creating jobs; the administration would not be raising welfare payments.   They are not shocked by poor jobs numbers because their policies specifically create poor jobs numbers.  They know this.  These are not people acting accidentally or stupidly.  The JoeBama crew is intentionally expanding the welfare state.

Armstrong Economics Blog/WEF Re-Posted Sep 3, 2021 by Martin Armstrong

I have reported how Schwab controls Europe and the entire international system of agencies set up among nations. He controls deep into the United Nations, and right into the World Health Organization. Schwab is a mythological control freak. He tries to control 100% over the agenda. Inside the WEF, he has a zero error policy.

Meanwhile, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is the head of the World Health Organization. Tedros is the first person in the 72-year history of the WHO who is NOT even a medical doctor, just like Bill Gates. It was Schwab who supported him for that post, just as he recommended Legarde for the IMF and then for the European Central Bank. He has also put in the head of the IMF from his board of the WEF as well. Schwab also has the WHO in his back pocket. To put someone who is not a medical doctor at the head of the World Health Organization would be like putting Jeffrey Epstein as the head of a monastery. There have been long-standing concerns about Tedros as well as calls for his resignation which go unanswered.

Tedros is now trying to gear up the fear factor again saying there is now another mutant they call “mu” which nullifies all the Gates vaccines. Schwab also works hand-in-hand with Bill Gates.