Dec 042019
 
 December 4, 2019  Posted by at 9:53 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,


Arthur Rothstein Oregon or Bust, family fleeing South Dakota drought Jul 1936

 

‘Rumblings’ From Democrats On Censuring Trump Instead Of Impeachment (Hill)
Democrats Accuse Trump Of Abusing Power, Obstructing Impeachment Probe (R.)
Trump Unloads On ‘Maniac’ Adam Schiff: ‘He’s A Deranged Human Being’ (Fox)
Nunes Sues CNN Over ‘Demonstrably False’ Ukraine Report (York)
Durham Needs to Bring Indictments (Farrell)
Trump Says Barr Was Misquoted Regarding Horowitz (SAC)
Trump Was Right Before He Was Wrong: NATO Should Be Obsolete (CD)
Hillary Clinton Still Refuses To Rule Out Running For President (PJW)
China Steps In As Conglomerate Unravels (WS)
Investors Urge Big Oil To Follow ‘Poster Child’ Repsol’s Climate Pledge (R.)
Tackling Degraded Oceans Could Mitigate Climate Crisis (G.)

 

 

Lots of US politics today. It feels inevitable.

First, the way, the seeming certainty, with which the Dems issued their report yesterday, does not rhyme with the move from impeachment to censure. If the “evidence” were as strong as they claim it is, we would not be where we are today. The Dems would not ponder ‘only’ censure, and the GOP would not be united.

‘Rumblings’ From Democrats On Censuring Trump Instead Of Impeachment (Hill)

CNN senior global affairs analyst Bianna Golodryga said Tuesday that she’s hearing “rumblings” within the Democratic caucus that perhaps the party “should just go with censure” instead of trying to impeach President Trump. “You’re now hearing rumblings within, Democrats saying, ‘Maybe we should just go with censure,’ or not really knowing how to move forward on this given where the president is and given where Republicans are,” said Golodryga, who joined CNN after stints with ABC, CBS and Yahoo News. She pointed out that two weeks of public testimony on Trump’s dealings with Ukraine “did not move at all” the positions of Republicans ranging from moderates such as Rep. Will Hurd (Texas) to more vocal Trump defenders such as Rep. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.).


“They said that they do not believe anything the president did was impeachable and, in fact, they seem to be protecting the president more than they were prior to these two weeks,” she said. Polls in 2020 battleground states indicate that voters aren’t fully sold on House Democrats’ impeachment efforts. Surveys taken in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Wisconsin show an average of 51 percent opposing impeachment and 44 percent supporting it, according to a Tuesday Washington Post story.

Read more …

The probe so far has been clearly a partisan one, and that should never happen. What we’ve seen is opinions and interpretations, not facts.

Democrats Accuse Trump Of Abusing Power, Obstructing Impeachment Probe (R.)

U.S. President Donald Trump solicited foreign interference to boost his re-election chances, undermined national security and ordered an “unprecedented” campaign to obstruct Congress, Democrats said on Tuesday in a report that lawmakers will use as the basis of any formal impeachment charges. In the 300-page report, Democrats leading the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee leveled allegations of sweeping abuse of power by Trump, saying he used U.S. military aid and the prospect of a White House visit to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to undertake investigations that would benefit Trump politically. Republican Trump, who will stand for re-election in November 2020, denies any wrongdoing and calls the inquiry a hoax.

The heart of the impeachment probe is whether Trump misused the power of his office to pressure Ukraine to investigate the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading contender for the Democratic nomination to face Trump in the 2020 election. The public release of the report is a milestone in a weeks-long investigation into whether Trump should be removed from office over his dealings on Ukraine. It summarizes hours of private testimony and televised hearings in which former government officials described a months-long effort to pressure Ukraine to carry out the investigations sought by Trump in July.

The report’s completions hands the process over to the House Judiciary Committee, which will now be responsible for drafting actual articles of impeachment should lawmakers decide to move forward. That panel will begin proceedings on Wednesday. In the report, Democrats detail accusations that Trump obstructed their investigation, including refusing to provide documents and testimony from his top advisers, unsuccessful attempts to block career government officials from testifying and intimidation of witnesses. The Democrats argue that “damage … will be long-lasting and potentially irrevocable if the President’s ability to stonewall Congress goes unchecked.”

Making their case to move forward with impeachment, the report said that “any future President will feel empowered to resist an investigation into their own wrongdoing, malfeasance, or corruption, and the result will be a nation at far greater risk of all three.” In a news conference, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff described Trump as a “president who believes that he is beyond indictment, beyond impeachment, beyond any form of accountability and indeed above the law.”

Read more …

Gloves off.

Trump Unloads On ‘Maniac’ Adam Schiff: ‘He’s A Deranged Human Being’ (Fox)

President Trump tore into Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., in harsh terms on Tuesday, taking a moment from his overseas tour in London to call the House Intelligence Committee chairman a “maniac” and a “deranged human being” over his handling of the impeachment inquiry. Trump was speaking to reporters alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of a NATO summit, when he was asked what he would hope to learn from having Schiff testify in a possible Senate impeachment trial – a scenario some Republicans would like to see. “I learn nothing from Adam Schiff, I think he’s a maniac,” Trump said. “I think Adam Schiff is a deranged human being. I think he grew up with a complex for lots of reasons that are obvious. I think he’s a very sick man, and he lies.”

The comments demonstrated how the impeachment fight has followed Trump even as he meets with world leaders in London on issues ranging from defense spending to ISIS. Trump focused Tuesday on a controversial move by Schiff in September, where he read out a hyperbolic account of Trump’s controversial July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “I have a favor I want from you,” Schiff said in a hearing while appearing to read from a piece of paper. “And I’m going to say this only seven times, so you better listen good. I want you to make up dirt on my political opponent, understand? Lots of it, on this and on that.” Schiff later chalked up his fictional summary of the phone call to a joke as he came under fire from conservatives for making up quotes.

“My summary of the president’s call was meant to be at least, part, in parody,” Schiff said. “The fact that that’s not clear is a separate problem in and of itself. Of course, the president never said, ‘If you don’t understand me I’m going to say it seven more times.’ My point is, that’s the message that the Ukraine president was receiving in not so many words.” Trump has repeatedly criticized Schiff for the move. “This guy is sick,” he said on Tuesday. “If he didn’t do that in the halls of Congress, he’d be thrown in jail.”

Read more …

“..a $435 million defamation suit ..” Wonder what CNN’s defense will be.

Nunes Sues CNN Over ‘Demonstrably False’ Ukraine Report (York)

Rep. Devin Nunes, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, has filed a $435 million defamation suit against CNN over a story that alleged Nunes met with a fired Ukrainian prosecutor in an effort to dig up dirt on Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. The story — “Giuliani associate willing to tell Congress Nunes met with ex-Ukrainian official to get dirt on Biden” — was published Nov. 22. It was based on the words of Joseph Bondy, the attorney for Ukrainian-born Lev Parnas, who worked closely with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani in pursuing allegations of Ukrainian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election as well as allegations of corruption in Ukraine involving Biden’s son Hunter. Parnas is currently under indictment on campaign finance charges.

CNN reported that Bondy said Parnas was “willing to tell Congress” that in December 2018, Nunes traveled to Vienna to meet with Viktor Shokin, the top Ukrainian prosecutor who was famously fired in 2016 under pressure from the United States, represented by Biden, who said Shokin did not do enough to prosecute corruption in Ukraine. CNN cited congressional travel records showing Nunes and a few aides traveled to Europe between Nov. 30 and Dec. 3, 2018. Quoting Bondy, the CNN report said, “Mr. Parnas learned from former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Victor Shokin that Nunes had met with Shokin in Vienna last December.” Shortly after the report was published, Nunes said it was “demonstrably false” but declined to elaborate. In the lawsuit, Nunes has provided the details.

Nunes did travel between Nov. 30 and Dec. 3. The lawsuit says that on those dates, Nunes was in Libya and Malta. Nunes traveled to Libya to “discuss security issues with General Khalifa Haftar,” the suit says. In Malta, Nunes “met with U.S. and Maltese officials, including Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, and participated in a repatriation ceremony for the remains of an American World War II soldier missing in action,” according to the suit. The lawsuit provides photos of Nunes with Haftar, with Muscat, and at the repatriation ceremony. “[Nunes] was not in Vienna in December 2018,” the suit says. “Further, he has never met Shokin; never spoken to Shokin; and never communicated with Shokin.”

Read more …

Chris Farrell is a former counterintelligence case officer.

“The alternative to a purely domestic intelligence operation targeting a major political party’s candidate for the presidency (and later, president) was to manufacture a foreign counterintelligence (FCI) “threat” that could then be “imported” back into the United States.”

Durham Needs to Bring Indictments (Farrell)

The seditious coup plotters working against Trump knew the legal prohibitions on what they planned to do. How to target Trump & Co. in a “legal” manner? Was it possible, or more importantly, desirable, to have a legal finding from Attorney General Loretta Lynch justifying their plan to frame-up Trump & Co.? That would authorize their operation — but would Lynch support it? Could Lynch be counted on? Did they want a piece of paper like that floating around Washington D.C.? No, there had to be a better way to pull off the coup. The alternative to a purely domestic intelligence operation targeting a major political party’s candidate for the presidency (and later, president) was to manufacture a foreign counterintelligence (FCI) “threat” that could then be “imported” back into the United States.

Plausible deniability, the Holy Grail of covert activities, was in reach for the plotters if they could develop an FCI operation outside the continental United States (OCONUS) involving FBI confidential human sources (Halper, Mifsud, others?) that would act as “lures” (intelligence jargon associated with double agent operations) to ensnare Trump associates. We have evidence of these machinations from December 2015 when FBI lawyer Lisa Page texts to her boyfriend, the now infamous FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok, “You get all our oconus lures approved? ;).” To inoculate themselves from further charges of misconduct and criminality, the FBI’s mutually agreed upon lie is that their investigation of Trump/Russia began on July 31, 2016 with the improbable name “Crossfire Hurricane.”

That coincides nicely with their manufactured FCI “event,” allowing the full-bore sabotage of all things and persons “Trump.” The coup plotters used a July 2016 event at the University of Cambridge as the opportunity for Carter Page to meet and develop a friendship with Stefan Halper. This is roughly the same time period that Australian diplomat Alexander Downer reported the supposedly drunken ramblings of George Papadopoulos concerning the Russians having Hillary’s emails to the FBI. Papadopoulos had already serendipitously met the mysterious Joseph Mifsud in Rome during the second week of March 2016. Learning that Papadopoulos would be joining the Trump campaign, Mifsud let Papadopoulos know that he had many important connections with Russian government officials.

Read more …

Why did the FBO fire Strzok? And how does that make Lisa Page’s claims look?

Trump Says Barr Was Misquoted Regarding Horowitz (SAC)

A recent report by the New York Times said former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith altered documents associated with the FISA application on Carter Page. The paper described Clinesmith as a low-level lawyer with the bureau and suggested that Horowitz won’t be hard the bureau’s handling of the case. The description of Clinesmith as a low-level lawyer is also in dispute, as Clinesmith was part of former Special Counsel Robert Muller’s investigation into Trump and he was an attorney with the FBI’s National Security and Cyber Law Branch. He also worked under FBI General Counsel James Baker, who left the FBI and is now under investigation for leaking national security related information. Clinesmith, who sent numerous anti-Trump texts, also worked for Deputy General Counsel Trisha Anderson.

On Sunday, former FBI Lawyer Lisa Page, whose name became national after reports revealed she was having an affair with FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok, spoke to the Daily Beast after years of silence. She said she had to speak out because Trump made her a target of his Tweets and speeches. The FBI fired Strzok last year and Page has since left the bureau. Strzok and Page sent thousands of text messages to one another during their affair. Many of the text messages discovered by Horowitz and Congress were vehemently anti-Trump. The discovery of the texts led to their removal from Mueller’s investigation.

Here’s some texts: “[Trump’s] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!” Page texted Strzok in August 2016, during the investigation into the campaign. “No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it,” Strzok responded. In another text message sent in August by Strzok to Page, he “I want to believe the path you threw out in Andy’s [McCabe’s] office—that there’s no way he gets elected—but I’m afraid we can’t take the risk. It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40.” Page only told Molly Jong-Fast, also anti-Trump and a columnist from the Daily Beast, that people misunderstood their text messages but she never clarified what she and Strzok actually meant.

Read more …

“NATO is a Cold War relic that accounts for three-quarters of military spending and weapons dealing around the globe.”

Frank Zappa: “Politics is the entertainment division of the military-industrial complex”

Trump Was Right Before He Was Wrong: NATO Should Be Obsolete (CD)

The three smartest words that Donald Trump uttered during his presidential campaign are “NATO is obsolete.” His adversary, Hillary Clinton, retorted that NATO was “the strongest military alliance in the history of the world.” Now that Trump has been in power, the White House parrots the same worn line that NATO is “the most successful Alliance in history, guaranteeing the security, prosperity, and freedom of its members.” But Trump was right the first time around: Rather than being a strong alliance with a clear purpose, this 70-year-old organization that is meeting in London on December 4 is a stale military holdover from the Cold War days that should have gracefully retired many years ago.

[..] While claiming to “preserve peace,” NATO has a history of bombing civilians and committing war crimes. In 1999, NATO engaged in military operations without UN approval in Yugoslavia. Its illegal airstrikes during the Kosovo War left hundreds of civilians dead. And far from the “North Atlantic,” NATO joined the United States in invading Afghanistan in 2001, where it is still bogged down two decades later. In 2011, NATO forces illegally invaded Libya, creating a failed state that caused masses of people to flee. Rather than take responsibility for these refugees, NATO countries have turned back desperate migrants on the Mediterranean Sea, letting thousands die.

[..] In an age where people around the world want to avoid war and to focus instead on the climate chaos that threatens future life on earth, NATO is an anachronism. It now accounts for about three-quarters of military spending and weapons dealing around the globe. Instead of preventing war, it promotes militarism, exacerbates global tensions and makes war more likely. This Cold War relic shouldn’t be reconfigured to maintain U.S. domination in Europe, or to mobilize against Russia or China, or to launch new wars in space. It should not be expanded, but disbanded. Seventy years of militarism is more than enough.

Read more …

Her people are polling like crazy, and they don’t like what they see so far.

Hillary Clinton Still Refuses To Rule Out Running For President (PJW)

Hillary Clinton is still refusing to rule out running for president despite already missing the filing deadline for the New Hampshire primary. During an appearance on Britain’s Graham Norton Show, Clinton was again asked about her presidential aspirations. Clinton was quizzed as to why she included a story about a U.S. women’s soccer star who retired on the tagline “forget me.” Hillary said the intention of the words were to “make way for new people” and “get off the stage.” However, when asked by Norton, “Are you saying ‘Forget me’ now?” – Hillary responded, “Not yet.” She then said she was aware of the presidential rumor mill and had been “deluged” with questions about running again.


“Right now, I’m not, at all, uh, you know, planning that, I’d have to make up my mind really quickly,” she said, “because it’s moving very fast.” Back in October, long time Clinton advisor Dick Morris insisted that Hillary will become the Democratic nominee because she believes “she was put on Earth to be President.” “Make no mistake. She wants it,” said Morris. “She’s planning on it. She’ll do everything she can to achieve it.” Earlier that month, Clinton teased another presidential run, despite having already failed twice, telling PBS Newshour, “Obviously I can beat him again.” She also fanned the flames of speculation when she tweeted at Trump, “Don’t tempt me.”

Read more …

“..the Chinese government has been stepping in and pulling all kinds of levers, with huge sums involved, to bail out the airlines and assorted investors, moral hazard be damned.”

China Steps In As Conglomerate Unravels (WS)

HNA Group, the highly-leverage Chinese conglomerate with an opaque ownership structure that had gone on an immense debt-fueled global acquisition binge, including in the US, and owned about 18 airlines in China and Hong Kong, has been unraveling ever since Bank of American pulled the ripcord in mid-2017. But to prevent this unraveling from becoming too messy and to prevent the airlines from collapsing on top of the markets they serve, and to prevent investors and lenders from getting whacked by massive and well-deserved losses – well-deserved because they had been backing a nutty global acquisition binge – the Chinese government has been stepping in and pulling all kinds of levers, with huge sums involved, to bail out the airlines and assorted investors, moral hazard be damned.

The latest is HNA-controlled Hong Kong Airlines, the city’s third largest airline. The bailout is unfolding right now, amid uncertainties if it will actually unfold, and how much of the bailout money HNA Holdings, the parent company of multiple to-be-bailed-out airlines, will even channel to Hong Kong Airlines. The debt-fueled binge by HNA Group bagged 30 acquisitions in the two-year span between mid-2015 and May 2017, including large real estate deals, such as the $2.2 billion trophy office tower in Manhattan, a 25% stake in Hilton Hotels, a deviously obtained 9.9% stake in Deutsche Bank, the $6 billion acquisition of Ingram Micro in California, and forays into global aircraft leasing and global airport services. In addition, HNA Group owned outright or controlled 18 airlines mostly in China and Hong Kong before it all began to unravel.

Financial pressures began in 2017. In 2018, as the company began to run out of money, it started dumping some of its acquisitions to raise cash, including big batches of its stake in Deutsche Bank, office properties in Manhattan and in London, but that wasn’t enough. It’s never enough once a conglomerate starts unraveling because there is too much debt. Rather than allowing this monster to collapse and then sort through the debris, the Chinese government has stepped with series of bailout via its state-owned banking system, and has been restructuring the debts, and has been transferring ownership of bailed-out airlines to participating local governments, including Urumqi Air, Capital Airlines, and Guangxi Beibu Gulf Airlines.

Read more …

Zero emission oil companies. Reminds me of that trick where the lady is sawed in half.

According to EIA, so far in 2019:
– About 94% of the energy used in the transportation sector was petroleum (including natural gas)
– About 0.094% was electricity (despite the sharp increase in sales of #ElectricVehicles)

Investors Urge Big Oil To Follow ‘Poster Child’ Repsol’s Climate Pledge (R.)

Investors cheered Spanish group Repsol’s pledge to slash net carbon emissions to zero by mid-century, saying they hope it will pile pressure on rival oil and gas companies to follow suit in the fight against climate change. The world’s top oil and gas companies are under heavy pressure, not only from environmental groups but also from institutional investors, to fall in line with targets set in the 2015 Paris climate agreement to limit global warming. Repsol on Monday became the first leading energy firm to commit to a net-zero emission target, outdoing Royal Dutch Shell that had set out an ambition to halve emissions by 2050.

“It is clear that this is a very significant commitment from Repsol that raises the bar across the oil and gas sector,” said Adam Matthews, Director for Ethics and Engagement at the Church of England Pensions Board, who co-led discussion between a major group of investors with Shell on a climate resolution last year. Several companies set short-term targets to reduce emissions by limiting gas leaks and burning of excess gas, but none have set out long-term reduction targets before Repsol. “We have been pressing fossil fuel companies to commit to align with a net zero emissions pathway by 2050 for some time. It is good to see Repsol showing this leadership, including clear milestones along the way,” said Natasha Landell-Mills, head of stewardship, Sarasin & Partners. “In the end, shareholders need to know their companies are looking forward, not back, when it comes to the energy transition.”

[..] Repsol’s targets encompass 95% of all its emissions, including from fuels sold to clients. It also wrote down 4.8 billion euros ($5.3 billion) in the value of its oil and gas assets to reflect its lower oil and gas price outlook. Net-zero targets are generally expected to be achieved by offsetting emissions through investments in carbon storage technology or in natural sinks such as forests. Companies are also increasing production of natural gas, the least polluting fossil fuel, as well as renewable power such as solar and wind, whose consumption is expected to jump in coming decades as demand for electricity grows.

Read more …

So we could and would keep killing everything in the oceans if not for the climate? I don’t like the reasoning nor the priorities. We should stop the killing for the oceans’ sake, not our own narrow ones. We should learn to like beauty.

Tackling Degraded Oceans Could Mitigate Climate Crisis (G.)

Halting overfishing and the plastic pollution of the oceans could help tackle the climate emergency by improving the degraded state of the world’s biggest carbon sink, a report has found. The oceans absorb both the excess heat generated by our greenhouse gas emissions, and absorb carbon dioxide itself, helping to reduce the impacts of climate chaos. But we are rapidly reaching the limits of the oceans’ absorptive capacity as our pillage of marine life is disrupting vital ecosystems and the natural carbon cycle. Creating ocean sanctuaries and forging a new treaty to protect the oceans, with a target of safeguarding at least 30% of the oceans by 2030, could restore many areas to health and combat global heating, according to the report entitled Hot Water: the climate crisis and the urgent need for ocean protection, published by Greenpeace International on Wednesday.

Phytoplankton such as algae, for instance, transform dissolved carbon dioxide into organic carbon, which then forms part of the food chain. Gradually some of this sinks to the sea bottom where it is buried in sediment. Without the biological carbon pump that this entails concentrations of carbon in the atmosphere today would be about 50% higher, according to estimates cited in the report. Krill – a species of small fish – also form a vital part of the carbon cycle in the seas as they move through levels of the ocean, and play a big role in the diet of larger species. But krill populations have been in long-term decline since the 1970s due to pollution, overfishing and climate change.

Marine life at the other end of the scale also plays an important role. Large baleen whales are estimated to store 910m tonnes less carbon than they did before commercial whaling began, Greenpeace noted, while working to rebuild key whale populations would remove 160,000 tonnes of carbon every year. “The ocean’s biology is one of our best allies in the fight against climate change,” said Louisa Casson, oceans campaigner at Greenpeace UK. “But over-exploitation and our addiction to fossil fuels have pushed our ocean to the brink of collapse. Ocean protection is climate action – if we can save our ocean, it can save us.”

Read more …

 

 

 

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle December 4 2019

Viewing 18 posts - 1 through 18 (of 18 total)
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  • #51914

    Arthur Rothstein Oregon or Bust, family fleeing South Dakota drought Jul 1936   • ‘Rumblings’ From Democrats On Censuring Trump Instead Of Impeac
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle December 4 2019]

    #51915
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    So we could and would keep killing everything in the oceans if not for the climate? I don’t like the reasoning nor the priorities. We should stop the killing for the oceans’ sake, not our own narrow ones. We should learn to like beauty.

    I’m so glad you highlighted exactly this.
    One reason I’m so pessimistic is that the obvious; is no longer obvious!
    What’s with that? Are we stupid? Are we lazy? Are we willfully ignorant?
    Or are we just now, the walking dead? Devoid of all emotions?
    Incapable of feelings? Dead humans walking………………………

    #51916
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    Moral hazard? As opposed to morally resolute quantitative easing and oversubscribed repo markets and selective too big to fail bank bailouts and financing Money hemorrhaging companies like Amazon for decades until they become profitable monopolies and bailing out the auto industry and nominal GDP targeting where rich “folk” were permitted to live for several years without the mortgage being paid to keep prices propped up as opposed to the less affluent “folk” who were permitted to watch their assets sold to cash flush clients at rock bottom distressed prices……on and on ad nauseam. Why does the manifestation of MMT sound so much like a press release from Roman Catholic Church or the CIA?

    #51917
    J.A.Kosmos
    Participant

    “We should learn to like beauty.”

    Amen! A lot of our problems stem from this in my view. A human who cant appreciate beauty is a spiritual amputee. So many ways to frame it and one way is Ian Mcgilchrists from The Master And His Emissary, letting the left hemisphere rule leaves us less than half wise while at the same time giving us the illusion that we are completely on top of things.

    #51918
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Dr. D
    What a great rant; do carry on… 😉

    #51919

    I wouldn’t confuse Dr. D with Dr D Rich. And besides, VA, no comment on some of those people looking at the camera? 😉

    #51920
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Harris out of race, weird how the front-runner, right after Biden in the news at her peak, actually has no support at all. It’s almost like the polls are made-up to attempt to corral the public toward candidates they prefer. In other words, THEY’RE ALL COMPLETELY FALSE. Which you know, because they were written by an adult and published in the news.

    “If you want your lie, you can keep your lie.”

    33% increase in homelessness in L.A., San Fran’s poop on the streets somehow DOUBLES in just one year. #Winning!

    SF

    Of course NYC admits they give them a one-way ticket to CA or HI, (or NJ, they’re being sued) as do many other states btw. WV was sending them TO NY. Are we done yet? Can we move to a different approach, like the Republican one for JOBS, and leaving people alone so they can live in a shack in the woods with an outhouse if they like? (A: Nope. There is never a time I will leave people alone or stop telling them what to do. …Or paying for it. Helping! Helping so, so much until you just can’t STAND it!)

    Speaking of, https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/climate/letter-how-to-advise-a-teenage-daughter-on-climate-change/

    “Since the girl on TV demanded “we need to get rid of our dependency on fossil fuels” and our daughter agreed with her, we have disconnected the heat vent in her room. The temperature is now dropping to twelve degrees in the evening, and will drop below freezing in the winter, we have promised to buy her an extra sweater, hat, tights, gloves and a blanket.
    For the same reason we have decided that from now on she only takes a cold shower. She will wash her clothes by hand, with a wooden washboard, because the washing machine is simply a power consumer and since the dryer uses natural gas, she will hang her clothes on the clothes line to dry, just like my parents and grandparents used to do.” etc

    And like her parents, I’m not kidding about that either. I’m perfectly willing to do those things, but if I did, IT WOULD BE ILLEGAL, the sheriff would show up, take the kids, confiscate everything, and involuntarily hold me until I promised to return to central electricity, central heating, phone bills, taxes, rent, debt, a car, and the whole shebang. How do I know? HAPPENS EVERY DAY with homeschoolers, homesteaders, and off-grid people, primarily the religious. Verboten, citizen. Babylon is not an option: it’s an order. Even the Amish are being SWATTED.

    So go ahead and try to be environmental and live in a tipi or a bark house. It won’t be a week before you’re #Helped right into prison, if the locals don’t steal everything you own for not having a lock first, while the police look on and laugh, and abuse you themselves just for fun.

    Do I detect a bit of an environmental problem here, where if you DON’T use 5x the world’s average energy use while in the Western world, you effectively go to prison? Sounds like that problem will be hard to solve when it’s required by #Helping law and enforced by #UniversalViolence.

    ““should just go with censure”

    It’s too late to just go with censure. They already DID the impeachment thing, and unlike the 2016 elections, no do-over. They’re getting plastered in the moderate swing states, and have probably just guaranteed Trump wins 2020 in a landslide. Congratulations. Do Pelosi, Schiff, and Schumer work for Trump or something? Seriously, because the things they do are inexplicable otherwise.

    They HAVE, however, increased their support in NY and CA. …States they already had and were not in danger til now. Is this the HRC plan for the 2020? Campaign everywhere you’re already liked, then piss off and ignore WI, MI, and PA? ‘Cause I think that’s what they just did. …They wanted a 2016 do-over in 2020, but maybe that’s not the part they had in mind.

    Democrats Accuse Trump Of Abusing Power, Obstructing Impeachment Probe (R.)”

    As I say every day, with every one of these articles: “Okay, great! Where?” Surely you can say, October the 23rd, IN the Library, WITH the candlestick. Instead it’s, “Well he didn’t stand with the Rohingas, so we Steady State Generals started a coup.” (Not kidding, see Vindman, Zaid, Strozk, Page, and https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/welcome-to-the-potemkin-village-of-washington-power/ )

    “Schiff later chalked up his fictional summary of the phone call to a joke”

    Schiff does standup, LIVE from the floor of Congress! Better keep your day job. …I wouldn’t make a lot of it, however, and that the Cheeto HAS made a lot of it shows there’s a something going on. …Probably my theory that Schiff was paraphrasing the fake transcript the CIA stole off the White House servers.

    Nunes Sues CNN Over ‘Demonstrably False’ Ukraine Report (York)”

    They need to sue every one of them every time, like the old days. Although pistols at dawn is good too. Then no matter who gets shot, the people win.

    Durham Needs to Bring Indictments (Farrell)”

    …Aaaaand 3 years later, no indictments are had. For all the smoke and hair-on-fire the media puts out, you’d think somebody had done something, but nope. This is the same media that calls Armageddon when there’s snow, in the north, at 6,000 feet, in the winter. Unprecedented! Travelers in Atlanta might experience…rain. Heavens!

    Why did the FBO fire Strzok? And how does that make Lisa Page’s claims look?”

    Poor Lisa only said she hated the way WalMart deplorables even SMELL, and they had a plan with Andy and would do ANYTHING to prevent Cheeto from getting in. …But that didn’t affect her judgement, neutrality, or her job in any way. Huh. Poor girl. She’s right: she is a victim…of dementia.

    In an age where people around the world want to avoid war and to focus instead on the climate chaos that threatens future life on earth,”

    Ah, of course. Despite unprecedented COLD through the whole northern hemisphere, there can be no permitted article, anywhere, on any subject, that do not throw in on this. Cheeto is talking out both sides of his mouth about every minute on NATO, which has the effect of smashing everything in NATO and in Europe. …Which is exactly what the American people sent him there to do. Smash away, brother! When NATO fails for the joke that it is, we can stop occupying Europe, paying their defense bills while they make fun of us for the free health care our multi-trillion-dollar allows them, and start fixing Flint’s water lines back home. Can’t smash Macron and NATO fast enough for me. With a guy who shoots the eyes out of French ladies for fun and profit, Trump’s far too easy on him.

    Hillary Clinton Still Refuses to Rule Out Running for President (PJW)”

    Please, please, PLEASE run. This would be the best thing evah! To watch her violent, psychotic, narcissistic dreams be shattered before her eyes not once, but TWICE? There is no better or greater punishment for her, not even prison. Can we donate and FORCE her to run or something?

    About 94% of the energy used in the transportation sector was petroleum”

    And we’ll be carbon-neutral by 2030. No ICE cars will be sold in Europe in like one year. Hahahahahahaha. But if they asked any engineer, ever, they would have told them. Because they DID ask, and they DID tell them, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 100 years ago. They even told them “there are not enough square feet in all of Germany to produce enough wind to run a fraction of the economy.” Now there are windmills on every square foot, and Germany has no energy. They import toxic energy with complete and fatal national security risk from France and Russia, just like the engineers all said. But in an #AntiLogos world, reality is optional. “We MAKE reality now,” as a famous zealot of that religion once said.

    Tackling Degraded Oceans Could Mitigate Climate Crisis (G.)”

    OMG what dips. Without unlimited DEBT, issued by the central banks, the economy would HAVE to fall to a steady state. Then we would not be ABLE to pollute the oceans this fast, and both environment, and carbon would fall massively. …But along with GDP being cut 1/3 to 1/2, and taxes falling too, along with the ability to send wars, and kill millions for sport in 30 nations worldwide. Awwwww. No wars? No pollution? No carbon? No dead rhinos from China printing endless money and driving horn prices beyond Mars? Life’s hardly worth living then. Can’t we destroy some stuff and blame poor people for it or something? Worked for the last 50 years, why not now?

    #51921

    It’s too late to just go with censure. They already DID the impeachment thing..

    I think they’ll try censure regardless. Schiff et al overpowered Pelosi, and now of course the ranks are closed -to the outside world-, but internally, there are major talks going on. There’s Schiff, and probably AOC et al, who insist on impeachment, and then there’s others who say: but look at the hearings, you don’t have anything! Well, other than hearsay, opinion, interpretation. But guys, the Senate is really different, it’ll be an actual trial, and none of that stuff counts, much of it won’t even be admissible.

    “But he tried to bribe Ukraine!”. Uh, that’s not what the call or the transcript say. That’s just what the witnesses make of it, and they are all from the same old-school bureaucracy. And the US president has the constitutional right to determine foreign policy, while none of these people do.

    I think what they’ll spin it into is: censure for now, but once we beat him inn the elections, and we take the Senate as well, we’ll go after him for all the charges on the table today which we can’t prove.

    I don’t think people like Schiff fully grasp the difference between closed-door hearings they entirely control, and the full-on trial that will follow if they persist with impeachment. But someone is explaining it to them right now.

    #51922
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    And besides, VA, no comment on some of those people looking at the camera?

    Mostly, it depends on context; anyway, it’s all subjective in the end, no? 😉

    #51923
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    But I’m the real Dr D

    #51924
    Dr. D
    Participant

    …But I’m not rich.

    Speaking of our awesome justice system throughout the west, “Pedophile Mueller Witness Charged with Steering Illegal Campaign Contributions to Hillary Clinton” https://www.zerohedge.com/political/pedophile-mueller-witness-charged-steering-illegal-campaign-contributions-hillary-clinton

    Ah, pretty petty and partisan. “A convicted pedophile who became a key witness in Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation has been indicted on charges of illegally funneling campaign funds to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign using straw donors, according to Politico.”

    “Nader, also a Lebanese businessman, has a shadowy record that includes a 1991 conviction on child pornography charges in the US – for which he served only six months in a halfway house thanks to his role in helping to free American hostages in Beirut.”

    And was freed.

    “He was also charged and convicted in the Czech Republic in 2002 on 10 counts of sexually abusing minors, and eventually received a one-year prison sentence.”

    And was freed.

    In initial charges filed against him, authorities alleged he had carried child pornography when he arrived in the country from Dubai in January 2018.”

    And was freed.

    The explicit videos of minors were found on one of the phones Nader gave to FBI agents working for the special counsel. He came and went from the country several times while being interviewed by Mueller’s team”

    And was freed.

    Lobbyist George Nader, who was arrested this June at JFK airport for sex-trafficking a 14-year-old boy, has lobbied on both sides of the aisle.”

    Well, he hasn’t been freed yet, but statistics are clearly in his favor.

    This guy’s in jail though: “Feds raid Amish dairy farm—twice—for selling unpasteurized milk”.

    “SWAT agents stormed a Pennsylvania Amish dairy farm wrongfully accusing the owner of selling raw milk interstate. The agents arrived at 4.30am while the owner Dan Allgyer’s family was still asleep and he was preparing to milk the cows. A warrant was served upon him claiming the police had “credible evidence” he was involved in interstate commerce.
    https://www.salon.com/2013/08/29/11_over_the_top_u_s_police_raids_that_victimized_innocents/

    #51925
    zerosum
    Participant

    I don’t know why …. but the comments, this morning had me laughing out loud …. the comments this morning really, really cheered me up.

    I hope that everyone realize that laughter is better than appreciating the beauty of nature. I regularly go into the mountain to appreciate the beauty of mother nature. The trail cam pictures that I obtain of nature make me laugh. I’ve discovered, sorry, …. observed, many things that bring a smile. Did you ever see a video of a bush moving/following the sun? Have you ever discovered “needle ice? I’ve seen a elk calf push her mother away because she was eager to have her turn to look at the camera. (Today, we say, “getting a selfy”.)

    I have been around the mountains enough to realize that there is not enough wild life to sustain a man for one year. (Not enough for me and other competing hunters or other competing wild predators such as wolves, bears, and cats).
    Modern logging reveal the ancient forestry roads and show evidence of the cedar stumps that were logged 50 years and even 100 years. Yes, I’ve also walked among old growth trees.

    I would guess that 50 years of no gas would probably be enough reset nature to a new balance around another/different “strange attractor”.
    I wonder, would cattle and dogs revert to their previous role of being the prey and predators and set up a new balance.

    Enough, its time to go back to our regular news channel.
    🙂

    #51926
    John Day
    Participant

    http://www.johndayblog.com/2019/12/world-of-equals.html
    Eleni has sent this extensively informative article about all of the trade organizations, trade routes, pipelines, information exchanges, financial exchanges and the geography they cover, which are outside the US Dollar, NATO, SWIFT, etc.
    It is vast, and a lot of decisions are being made whether to use these networks more or less, compared to the currently dominant, dollar-based, western financial empire.
    I think the weaponization of the dollar reveals that it is a waning asset now, to be exploited for short term objectives, until it is replaced.
    One thing I have gained from all of this detailed information is the view that it is possible to have a world of peaceful trade, and that is being offered as an alternative to the militarily backed petro-dollar, which is so coercive these days.
    Importantly, a multipolar world, backing way off on bombings and invasions, false-flags and choke-holds, can potentially be much more efficient, and might work on large-scale cooperative projects, like not killing us all.

    Is there any global power which approaches the ideals propounded in this quote?

    According to Chinese philosopher Xunzi, there were three types of leadership: humane authority, hegemony and tyranny. Humane authority begins by creating a desirable model at home that inspires people abroad. Xunzi[2], proposed that, though hegemons know how to win wars, “The ruler who makes his own state act correctly will attain international primacy.” The domestic determines the international and, since humane authority based on morality rather than power, is superior to hegemony it is more important to win over people than territory. States wishing to exercise humane authority must be the first to respect the norms they advocate and leaders of high ethical reputation and great administrative ability will attract other states.

    Russia, China, and the European Peninsula

    OOPS! Meeting adjourned. Press conference canceled…
    ​ ​The leak by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation of a clip showing Justin Trudeau, Emmanuel Macron and Boris Johnson caught on a hot mic appearing to ridicule President Trump at the NATO 70 year anniversary summit, appears to have made an already tense diplomatic situation, downright unbearable​…
    TRUMP: IF NATO COUNTRIES DON’T PAY `WE’LL GET THEM ON TRADE
    ​ ​This was a really unusual trip for Trump, who abided by Boris Johnson’s wishes to not interfere in UK elections, got an earful from Macron, woke up to footage of close allies mocking him, and, on top of it all, decided not to get the final say with a presser.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/angry-trump-cancels-press-confedence-leaves-nato-summit-early-after-video-world
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/trudeau-macron-bojo-caught-hot-mic-laughing-trump

    ​ ​Bloomberg says he is “Running for president to stop Donald Trump and rebuild America.” In reality he is running to stop Bernie Sanders because he knows that given a level playing field Sanders would emerge triumphant. Bloomberg’s strategy is to skip the early states and focus on Super Tuesday in March. This plan is a sign that he is more interested in being a spoiler than in actually being president himself.
    ​ ​Bloomberg’s impact on New York will be felt for years to come. He described New York as “a luxury product” and he acted accordingly by accelerating the displacement of black people through gentrification. In order to make sure that black New Yorkers got the memo and quickly left town he instituted the notorious stop and frisk police program.
    https://ahtribune.com/us/2020-election/3678-michael-bloomberg-bernie-sanders.html

    #51927
    John Day
    Participant

    But wait, there’s MORE!

    Hunter Biden’s Lawyer Abruptly Quits After ‘Father-Of-The-Year’ Blows Off Child Support Hearing
    ​ ​Hunter Biden’s lawyer abruptly quit on Monday after the former Vice President’s son and Ukraine energy expert failed to show up for a child support hearing regarding his out-of-wedlock child with a D.C. stripper from Arkansas…
    ​​Biden has requested that his financial records be sealed to avoid public ’embarrassment’ over claims of ‘significant debts’ ​(and massive Ukrainian bribes and laundered money…)​
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/hunter-bidens-lawyer-abruptly-quits-after-father-year-blows-child-support-hearing

    The Clintons regularly stayed at Jeffrey Epstein’s weird New Mexico ranch where the deceased pedophile had grand plans to seed the human race with his DNA, according to his estate manager.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/clintons-vacationed-extensively-epsteins-new-mexico-baby-making-ranch-report

    Lobbyist known for Trump ties charged with steering illegal contributions to Clinton
    ​ ​A lobbyist known for his ties to the inner circle of President Donald Trump has been indicted on campaign finance charges for allegedly using straw donors to conceal contributions to Trump’s 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton, the Justice Department revealed on Tuesday…
    ​ ​In July, Nader pleaded not guilty to unrelated charges of importing child pornography and traveling with a minor to engage in sexual activity. Nader pleaded guilty to other federal child pornography charges in 1991.
    https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/03/george-nader-mueller-indicted-campaign-finance-075046

    The U.S. Government Has Been Run as a Criminal Enterprise: Financial Fraud, Criminal Cash Flows
    Interview with Catherine Austin Fitts​ (12/10/17, still pertinent)
    ​ ​“The U.S. economy is deeply dependent on criminal cash flows. We’re the global leader in money laundering. If we stopped doing that, the economy would be in for a major, major change. . . . The preference for most Americans is to keep that system going as long as it works for them. So, it you are a public official, you are between a rock and a hard place. If you press the red button and stop the illegal cash flows, then all hell breaks loose. . . . The U.S. Government has been run as a criminal enterprise, and I have documented and proved that on multiple occasions. The swamp that exists in Washington is from sea to shining sea. It’s not just in Washington. It’s in every county and every state house in the country. If we are going to change and clean ourselves of enormous financial dependencies on criminal activities, we are talking about a very big change, and it’s not just in Washington.”
    ​ ​Why are so many top people in politics and Hollywood being taken down?
    Fitts says,
    ​ ​“These people are expensive. This is a fundamental re-engineering. . . . We are watching purges, but these purges are knocking out the expensive people, people we no longer need from the financial coup d’état period, and you are bringing in a new wave of people or you are just downsizing. So, we see sex purges in Hollywood and in various forms of media and entertainment. . . . You have various purges going on because the reality is the world needs to move on. This money needs to be reinvested, and you can’t afford a bunch of egotistical maniacs who were good at stealing money. You can’t use them to build the future, and you can’t afford them. . . . There is a huge amount of money that is floating around in fixed income and derivative markets, and now you’ve got to bring it down into the hard economy and hard assets. How do you do that? You need to switch the caliber of the people for management and reinvestment of the money. You have to do it in a way that doesn’t kick off hyperinflation.”
    ​ ​So, what are the rich doing with their money?
    Fitts says,
    ​ ​“Gold is what it has always been and that is a real store of value. I am a gold girl.
    If you look at the smart money and central banks around the world . . . the smart money is buying gold, and the smart money is buying land. If you read the land report, that’s the top holders of land in the United States. Their holdings have doubled since 2008. I see tremendous amounts of money moving into hard assets.”

    The U.S. Government Has Been Run as a Criminal Enterprise: Financial Fraud, Criminal Cash Flows

    #51930

    John,

    I think the weaponization of the dollar reveals that it is a waning asset now, to be exploited for short term objectives, until it is replaced. One thing I have gained from all of this detailed information is the view that it is possible to have a world of peaceful trade, and that is being offered as an alternative to the militarily backed petro-dollar, which is so coercive these days.

    That waning asset thing is old. The one thing that could make it reality is a replacement. It doesn’t exist. Nobody wants ruble or yuan. It’s not even about the petrodollar, you can’t do forex with centrally controlled currencies. I’ve tried to explain this in, among many essays and posts, The Fed Detests Free Markets.

    There has always been cross border trade in yuan and rubles, and numerous other currencies, but it’s always been minor. You have to remember, the USD is the reserve currency, and it’s very hard to push those things off their thrones. It usually takes a big war. The euro has carved itself a nice path when you look at international trade, but that’s mainly thru EU nations trading amongst themselves.

    Sure, the USD will lose its current status, but it won’t be tomorrow, and it won’t be replaced by yuan as long as that’s under Xi control, or euro as long as France and Germany and UK are at each other’s throat. FX runs into the $multi-trillions every day (it’s insane), and volatility, any sign of it even, is its enemy.

    FX basically is the dollar, against which everything can be “scaled”, and there is nothing else that comes close. All the rest is just dreams. As I just said, it usually takes a big war. Perhaps an even bigger one, seeing how much we “progressed” since we went from sterling to USD 100 years or so ago.

    #51932
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    Dr D,
    I’d hope you would expound on your expertly crafted statement from Dec 2nd, “So the woman is a deep-knowledge specialist, same as a surgeon.” In other words, how to convey that meaningful message to nonphysician hospital administrators without offending their tender sensibilities and losing your job? my gmail is kdus23 so as not to hijack Raúl’s excellent thread

    #51934
    John Day
    Participant

    Ilargi,

    Thanks for the reply, and you know I’ve been reading you almost 12 years, now, and steadily.
    The dollar being a “waning asset”, up in history for replacement sometime historically-soonish, isn’t contrary to your observation that the petrobuck is still the biggest reserve currency, without an openly nominated replacement.
    We can all speculate what might replace it.
    I vote “Gold”, but I’m unimaginative.
    Gold is popular amongst central bankers again, and the ones I see in the news stories are even keeping it at home, now.

    #51937
    redshift
    Participant

    Physical currency? Doubtful, that limits the fractional reserve system since it makes it harder to keep the fraud going without getting called out, that’s why they got rid of gold.

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