Jun 292022
 
 June 29, 2022  Posted by at 9:09 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,


Keith Haring Untitled 1984

 

The J6 Committee Went Full Jussie Smollett Today and It is Hilarious (CTH)
Trump White House Attorney Disputes Cassidy Hutchinson’s Testimony (ABC)
Hillary Clinton Can Rescue Democrats In The Midterms (Juan Williams)
NATO Tells Ukraine ‘We Do Not Want You’ – Zelensky Aide (Celente)
Behind the Tin Curtain: BRICS+ vs NATO/G7 (Escobar)
CIA Ops, Commandos In Ukraine: Can We Just Admit We Are Fighting This War? (RS)
Lavrov Compares European Union And NATO To Hitler’s Old Axis (Wilbert)
Russia Promises Nuclear Weapons on Finland, Sweden’s ‘Doorstep’ (Celente)
Johnson Warns Macron Not To Attempt Ukraine Settlement Now (Pol.eu)
Omicron BA.5 Prefers Hypervaccinated Masking West Germans (Eugyp)
Docs Show Pfizer Made Its Vaccine Appear More Effective Than It Was (Harper)
“Deceleration” and “Tipping Point” of the Raging Mania (WS)
South Africa Moving Towards A Total Blackout (Enca)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greenwald: Sonia Sotomayor has worked closely with Clarence Thomas for 13 years — since she joined the Court in 2009 — and her description of Thomas from this month is the exact opposite of the ugly-trope-and-stereotype-heavy depiction Hillary Clinton spewed:

 

 

Clarence Thomas WaPo doc

 

 

 

 

She was 23 at the time, and had already worked for multiple Republican politicians?! All she said was based on hearsay. But there is no cross examination allowed. Still, she may well have committed perjury.

“He told me, that she heard from him, that she heard, from another guy, that she said he told her that she heard, that Trump may have said something, which was overheard, by her, about something, to the best of my knowledge.” -Cassidy Hutchinson

“BREAKING: Jan 6 Committee Video Shows President Trump was in an SUV after the rally, not the Beast.”

The J6 Committee Went Full Jussie Smollett Today and It is Hilarious (CTH)

Either J6 committee witness Cassidy Hutchinson is currently working for Donald Trump in a weird effort to make the J6 committee look absolutely silly, or Cassidy Hutchinson is the latest Jussie Smollett or Christine Blasey-Ford. Ms. Hutchinson’s testimony was so outlandish only the most intellectually deficient left-wing loons could or would believe it. Ms. Hutchinson claimed she heard a story from some unknown person that President Trump was so insistent on traveling to the Capitol building on January 6, 2021, that he assaulted his secret service detail and grabbed the steering wheel on the presidential limousine. She heard it from someone, who heard it from someone, and so Ms. Hutchinson was pushed in front of the J6 cameras to proclaim it. The claim is so silly, it was impossible to believe. Yet the congressional committee media ran with it, and the media promoted the story, because Trump.

Within minutes of Cassidy Hutchinson’s unsubstantiated claims, the secret service was refuting it. Even NBC White House correspondent Peter Alexander was forced to refute it. “A source close to the Secret Service tells me both Bobby Engel, the lead agent, and the presidential limousine/SUV driver are prepared to testify under oath that neither man was assaulted, and that Mr. Trump never lunged for the steering wheel.” he tweeted. Whoops. Ms. Hutchinson also completely fabricated a story when she claimed she wrote a note with dictation from Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. ABC reported, “At Tuesday’s Jan. 6 committee hearing, Rep. Liz Cheney displayed a handwritten note which Hutchinson testified she wrote after Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows handed her a note card and pen to take his dictation.” Only there’s a problem, she never wrote it.

ABC News –” Former Trump White House lawyer Eric Herschmann is claiming that a handwritten note regarding a potential statement for then-President Donald Trump to release during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was written by him during a meeting at the White House that afternoon, and not by White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.” As John Cardillo noted on Twitter, “Junior nobody Hutchinson testified under oath that Tony Ornato told her that Trump tried to grab the steering wheel of the presidential limo. Ornato, a 23-year veteran of the USSS is stating unequivocally that it never happened. Ornato is currently the Asst. Director of Training for the United States Secret Service.”

Read more …

They liked Herschmann’s testimony when it suited them…

Still, “we understand that she and Mr. Herschmann may have differing recollections of who wrote the note”? It’s handwritten, easy to find out…

Trump White House Attorney Disputes Cassidy Hutchinson’s Testimony (ABC)

Former Trump White House lawyer Eric Herschmann is claiming that a handwritten note regarding a potential statement for then-President Donald Trump to release during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was written by him during a meeting at the White House that afternoon, and not by White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News. At Tuesday’s Jan. 6 committee hearing, Rep. Liz Cheney displayed a handwritten note which Hutchinson testified she wrote after Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows handed her a note card and pen to take his dictation. Sources familiar with the matter said that Herschmann had previously told the committee that he had penned the note.

“The handwritten note that Cassidy Hutchinson testified was written by her was in fact written by Eric Herschmann on January 6, 2021,” a spokesperson for Herschmann told ABC News Tuesday evening. “All sources with direct knowledge and law enforcement have and will confirm that it was written by Mr. Herschmann,” the spokesperson said. At Tuesday’s hearing, Hutchinson, testifying about the note, said, “That’s a note that I wrote at the direction of the chief of staff on Jan. 6, likely around 3 o’clock.” “And it’s written on the chief of staff note card, but that’s your handwriting, Ms. Hutchinson?” Rep. Cheney asked. “That’s my handwriting,” Hutchinson replied. Hutchinson, a former top aide to Meadows, said that Meadows handed her the note card and a pen and started dictating a potential statement for Trump to release amid the Capitol riot.

Hutchinson also said that Herschmann had suggested changing the statement and to “put ‘without legal authority.'” In response to Herschmann’s claim, a spokesperson for the Jan. 6 committee said, “The committee has done its diligence on this and found Ms. Hutchinson’s account of this matter credible. While we understand that she and Mr. Herschmann may have differing recollections of who wrote the note, what’s ultimately important is that both White House officials believed that the President should have immediately instructed his supporters to leave the Capitol building.” “The note memorialized this,” the committee spokesperson said. “But Mr. Trump did not take that action at the time.”

The Jan. 6 committee has repeatedly relied on Herschmann’s candid and sometimes vulgar testimony throughout the hearings in June, including when the former White House lawyer testified that he shot down former Trump Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark’s plan to overturn the 2020 election. Herschmann, a former Trump White House lawyer, also defended former President Trump during Trump’s first impeachment trial and worked in the West Wing as a senior adviser.

Read more …

Some savior.

Hillary Clinton Can Rescue Democrats In The Midterms (Juan Williams)

Democrats need a strong voice ready to fight to restore women’s rights, now that the Supreme Court has struck down Roe v. Wade. There’s only one Hillary Clinton. Right-wingers on the Supreme Court rescinding the constitutional right to abortion is incredibly dangerous and it is not just about a woman s right to choose. It is about much more than that, Clinton told CBS News back in May, when a draft version of Friday s decision emerged. Any American who says, Look, I m not a woman, this doesn t affect me. I m not Black, that doesn t affect me. I m not gay, that doesn t affect me once you allow this kind of extreme power to take hold, you have no idea who they will come for next, she said. Go, Hillary.

Unlike most Democrats at a loss for a midterms message, Clinton knows how to deal with the far right’s bullying. The GOP’s media echo chamber long ago demonized her. She still beat Donald Trump in the popular vote in 2016. Now it is her turn to lash the GOP extremists for ending nationwide abortion rights, putting more guns on the streets, punishing corporations for supporting gay rights and dismissing history lessons on race as upsetting to white children. Clinton is exactly the right person to put steel in the Democrats’ spine and bring attention to the reality that “ultra-MAGA” Republicans, as President Biden calls them, are tearing apart the nation. The Supreme Court justices last week acted as political enforcers for extremist views that are far out of line with public opinion on abortion and gun safety.

They opened the door to women losing control over their lives without the right to have an abortion. They also gave a pass to more violent shootings on the streets by striking down a New York safeguard that required people who want to carry a firearm in public to demonstrate a specific need. These decisions amount to a political powerplay by former President Trump’s three nominees. Biden measures his words about the far right out of fear of being charged with further polarizing the country. So let Hillary roar her message to suburban white women who will be key to deciding the outcome of the midterms.

Read more …

Clear enough.

NATO Tells Ukraine ‘We Do Not Want You’ – Zelensky Aide (Celente)

Ihor Zhovkva, the deputy chief of staff for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said in an interview Tuesday that Kyiv was told by NATO that it is “not a member because we do not want you.” Zhovkva made the comment shortly after the Alliance announced that Turkey agreed to allow Finland and Sweden to join. “NATO is telling us we are not giving you anything,” he said in an interview with a local news outlet in Kyiv, according to Bloomberg. Finland and Sweden announced that they would seek membership shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and were greeted with open arms by Alliance leadership. They were even told that they would benefit from security guarantees during the waiting period.


But Ukraine has not benefited from its “partner” status in the Alliance. Sure, the country received billions in aid and weapons, but Kyiv has been forced to stand up to Russia on its own. Some could argue that Ukraine was the victim misleading public statements from the U.S. and NATO prior to the invasion. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Moscow would be met with a“forceful” response if there was an invasion. Blinken went further and said the U.S. has a “sacred obligation” to defend its allies. [..] Under Article 10 of the 1949 Washington Treaty, NATO has the right to invite any willing European country into the fold. But Stoltenberg made it clear, before the invasion, that there is a distinction between a NATO partner and ally. Kyiv is a partner. NATO is compelled to only defend allies. NATO countries never embraced Ukraine as an ally because it meant certain war with Russia.

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“..by 2030, a quarter of the planet’s oil demand will come from China and India, with Russia as the major supplier.”

Behind the Tin Curtain: BRICS+ vs NATO/G7 (Escobar)

[..] there now exists what should be called a Tin Curtain, fabricated by the fearful, clueless, collective west, via G7 and NATO: this time, to essentially contain the integration of the Global South. The most recent and significant example of this integration has been the coming out of BRICS+ at last week’s online summit hosted by Beijing. This went far beyond establishing the lineaments of a ‘new G8,’ let alone an alternative to the G7. Just look at the interlocutors of the five historical BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa): we find a microcosm of the Global South, encompassing Southeast Asia, Central Asia, West Asia, Africa and South America – truly putting the “Global” in the Global South. Revealingly, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s clear messages during the Beijing summit, in sharp contrast to G7 propaganda, were actually addressed to the whole Global South:

– Russia will fulfill its obligations to supply energy and fertilizers. – Russia expects a good grain harvest – and to supply up to 50 million tons to world markets. – Russia will ensure passage of grain ships into international waters even as Kiev mined Ukrainian ports. – The negative situation on Ukrainian grain is artificially inflated. – The sharp increase in inflation around the world is the result of the irresponsibility of G7 countries, not Operation Z in Ukraine. – The imbalance of world relations has been brewing for a long time and has become an inevitable result of the erosion of international law. Putin also directly addressed one of the key themes that the BRICS have been discussing in depth since the 2000s — the design and implementation of an international reserve currency.

“The Russian Financial Messaging System is open for connection with banks of the BRICS countries.” “The Russian MIR payment system is expanding its presence. We are exploring the possibility of creating an international reserve currency based on the basket of BRICS currencies,” the Russian leader said. This is inevitable after the hysterical western sanctions post-Operation Z; the total de-dollarization imposed upon Moscow; and increasing trade between BRICS nations. For instance, by 2030, a quarter of the planet’s oil demand will come from China and India, with Russia as the major supplier. The “RIC” in BRICS simply cannot risk being locked out of a G7-dominated financial system. Even tightrope-walking India is starting to catch the drift.

At its current stage, BRICS represent 40 percent of world population, 25 percent of the global economy, 18 percent of world trade, and contribute over 50 percent for world economic growth. All indicators are on the way up. Sergey Storchak, CEO of Russian bank VEG, framed it quite diplomatically: “If the voices of emerging markets are not being heard in the coming years, we need to think very seriously about setting up a parallel regional system, or maybe a global system.” A “parallel regional system” is already being actively discussed between the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU) and China, coordinated by Minister of Integration and Macroeconomics Sergey Glazyev, who has recently authored a stunning manifesto amplifying his ideas about world economic sovereignty.

Read more …

“The Russians may not see the distinction and consider this news as further evidence that their war is more with Washington and NATO than with Ukraine.”

CIA Ops, Commandos In Ukraine: Can We Just Admit We Are Fighting This War? (RS)

The Central Intelligence Agency is operating in Kyiv and has been for some time, according to new reporting by the New York Times. So, while Biden has insisted on “no U.S. boots on the ground” in Ukraine, there are soft-soled operatives, otherwise known as American spies, providing intelligence and other tactical assistance to Ukraine in its war with Russia. Sounds like Americans are in this war, like it or not. The news, based on sourcing from current and former U.S. government officials, is part of a broader report about a “stealthy network” of U.S. and European commandos and spies in “cells” run by the Pentagon’s European Command “to speed allied assistance to Ukrainian troops.” Much of this is operating from military bases in France and Germany and elsewhere. But as the NYT points out, there are European commandos and CIA agents working on the inside.

The commandos are not on the front lines with Ukrainian troops and instead advise from headquarters in other parts of the country or remotely by encrypted communications, according to American and other Western officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters. But the signs of their stealthy logistics, training and intelligence support are tangible on the battlefield. Several lower-level Ukrainian commanders recently expressed appreciation to the United States for intelligence gleaned from satellite imagery, which they can call up on tablet computers provided by the allies. The tablets run a battlefield mapping app that the Ukrainians use to target and attack Russian troops.

As usual it appears that the administration wants to have it both ways: assure the American people that it is being “restrained” and that we are not “at war” with the Russians, but doing everything but planting a U.S. soldier and a flag inside Ukraine. The CIA, as you will recall, has increasingly had an operational combat focus since 9/11, running elaborate secret prisons overseas, engaging in enhanced interrogations (torture) and manhunting with armed drones and commando teams over the last 20 years. There may be a sliver of daylight between the CIA operatives there today and the U.S. special forces that left Ukraine after Russia invaded, but given the circumstances, is it a meaningful one? Is it all about who is pulling the trigger? The Russians may not see the distinction and consider this news as further evidence that their war is more with Washington and NATO than with Ukraine.

Gonzalo Sitzkrieg

Read more …

“They are creating a new coalition for fighting, that is, for war with Russia. We will follow this very closely..”

Lavrov Compares European Union And NATO To Hitler’s Old Axis (Wilbert)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated on 06/24/2022 that the European Union and NATO appear to be carrying out a military coalition for a war against Russia. The statement was given in Baku in Azerbaijan during an interview. “They are creating a new coalition for fighting, that is, for war with Russia. We will follow this very closely,” the Minister rightly declared, because that is what has been happening anyway. But first let’s go to the archetypes of the entities mentioned. The European Union, in its initial design, may have come up with good proposals for the integration of Europeans, with some Balkan countries, for example, applying to be part of the economic and diplomatic bloc, but it so happens that few people pay attention to history, especially during World War II.

Hitler wanted a union of the European countries, what he called a “Pan-European Union”, a form of closer integration between countries that would naturally be against the Soviet Union and communism in general. No wonder Hitler set up puppet governments in some European countries such as Denmark, for example, which was under the tutelage of Nazi Germany during the period August 1943 until May 1945, after the success of Operation Weserübung. As for NATO for example, it is seen as a super aggressive military alliance that causes barbarism in various parts of the world, especially in the former Yugoslavia, which had its territory balkanized after an intervention in the country in 1999 where some war crimes were committed because those bombs would hit civilian buildings, such as the famous bombing of Serbian TV, which was not a legitimate military target, but turned out to be a Yugoslav “propaganda broadcast” (obviously) at the time.

So it didn’t take much effort on the part of some “non-aligned diplomats” (which is the case of Lavrov) to understand that the European Union and NATO act together to stand up to the former Soviet Union, now Russia. NATO even characterized the country as an “enemy” several times, emphasized by Vladimir Putin in his speeches. After NATO’s expansions into Eastern European countries, even after a verbal agreement made between Soviet and American diplomats at the time that they would not move “an inch east” in the early 2000s, the opposite was seen and this was stated several times before the start of Operation Z, and was characterized in various ways by Kremlin spokespersons that Ukraine’s entry into NATO was a criminal act. And it was.

And like any criminal act, the police power, even if governed by a country’s Armed Forces, needed to come into effect because after the NATO vs. Russia diplomatic rounds no documentary agreement of truth properly bound by international law was reached. And to make matters worse, Zelensky would state on 02/19/2022 in a speech at the European Security Conference in Munich (just 5 days before the start of Operation Z) that he would no longer ratify the Budapest Memorandum, which is a treaty that denuclearizes Ukraine since 1994.

Read more …

Before Turkey gave in.

Russia Promises Nuclear Weapons on Finland, Sweden’s ‘Doorstep’ (Celente)

Just hours before NATO’s General-Secretary Jens Stoltenberg announced that Turkey now supports Sweden and Finland’s bid to join the Alliance, Russia issued a stark warning for the countries. Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, said Moscow will have to strengthen its borders. “The Baltic region’s nonnuclear status will become a thing of the past, the group of land and naval forces in the northern sector will be seriously increased,” he said, according to The Wall Street Journal. “No one is happy with this, not the citizens of these two NATO candidate countries.” It’s not the best prospect for them to have our Iskanders, hypersonic missiles, warships with nuclear weapons on their doorstep,” he continued.

Shortly after Russia’s 24 February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden announced that they will begin the process of seeking NATO. Polls in both countries showed a palpable shift in public opinion about the two Nordic nations about joining the alliance. Finland has a formidable military although it only has a population of 5.5 million. The country has about the same number of reservists as Germany with a population of 83 million. Finland also shares an expansive, 830-mile border with Russia and was invaded by its neighbor during WWII, which resulted in a brutal confrontation that ultimately resulted in Helsinki and Moscow signing a peace treaty in 1948, which included Finland’s assurances that it will not join NATO. Pekka Haavisto, Finland’s foreign minister, said the security environment in the country has “dramatically changed.”

Haavisto told The Guardian that Russia has become “more unpredictable” and seems ready to take bolder risks than Georgia in 2008 and Crimea in 2014. He called those “calculated risks.” Stoltenberg said he is “confident” that Finland and Sweden will be able to join the Alliance after the agreement with Turkey. Ankara was seen as a roadblock in the effort by these countries to join NATO. Turkey accused the countries of harboring terrorists tied to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and it also sought to have an arms embargo lifted due to its incursions into Syria, DW.com reported. Turkey said in a statement that it “got what it wanted,” and “made significant gains in the fight against terrorist organizations.”

Read more …

Boris likes the war. Better than his own country.

Johnson Warns Macron Not To Attempt Ukraine Settlement Now (Pol.eu)

Boris Johnson warned Emmanuel Macron that to settle the conflict in Ukraine now would only cause “enduring instability,” according to the U.K. government. In a British account of the pair’s Sunday encounter at the G7 summit — disputed by the Elysée — Downing Street said Johnson had told Macron such a move would “give [Russian President Vladimir] Putin license to manipulate both sovereign countries and international markets in perpetuity.” In the lead-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the French president was one of the few Western leaders who maintained dialogue with Vladimir Putin, and has regularly spoken to the Russian president since the conflict begun. Macron has also warned that Russia should not be “humiliated” over Putin’s “historic and fundamental mistake.”


An Elysée official said Macron and the British prime minister had “reaffirmed their strong determination to support Ukraine in the defense of its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to prepare the reconstruction of the country.” But the French side disputed Downing Street’s version of events. “No, the prime minister [Johnson] did not warn the president [Macron],” the official said. “They had a discussion about Ukraine, during which the president strongly reaffirmed his determination to support Ukraine.” Downing Street said Johnson and Macron had agreed now is a “critical moment for the course of the conflict” and that there is an “opportunity to turn the tide in the war.”

Read more …

“Vaccine failure in one map..”

Omicron BA.5 Prefers Hypervaccinated Masking West Germans (Eugyp)

This is the Omicron BA.5 wave in central Europe, and it is attended by a curious phenomenon: Every day, you can see more clearly the borders of the old DDR in the district-level data. I’ve traced these in green just to make the phenomenon clearer. Yes yes, there are systematic demographic differences between East and West Germans, and there are probably some differences in testing rates, but above all, there is an important difference in vaccine uptake. [..] East Germans have direct experience with government propaganda, and have proven more resistent to the vaccination campaign than Westerners. Their reward, after being much maligned by state media, is now higher levels of natural immunity and lower rates of BA.5 infection, which appears to prefer vaccinated populations. As the effects of vaccine failure grow clearer, you have to wonder how long the pandemicists will be able to publish even simple infection statistics, without raising extremely awkward questions.

Read more …

“No results from the trial have yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.”

It was true. The Phase 3 trials of the vaccine were still ongoing, but the vaccine was now approved for use in the UK.”

Docs Show Pfizer Made Its Vaccine Appear More Effective Than It Was (Harper)

On May 24th, the anonymous Twitter account JikkyLeaks claimed that data contained inside the massive Pfizer Documents release shows their vaccine had close to zero efficacy even when it launched. There is some correcting of the raw data required to reach this conclusion, but the raw data alone hints at an efficacy of 53%. The data contradicts Pfizer’s published claims the vaccine was 95% effective, a claim still published on gov.uk domains. The original data and specifically the “95% efficacy” claim was key to getting the vaccines onto global markets around the world. If Pfizer reached this conclusion dishonourably, there could be sizable implications. At least one other researcher has publicly reached the same results using data contained in the court-ordered Pfizer documents. I have already verified that the data exists, and using very simple public code, that the numbers add up to what Josh and Jikky claim.

[..] In November 2020, Pfizer started to make its successes with the vaccine known to the media. Towards the end of the month, they published a press release stating their vaccine was 95% effective. In the release, they said they planned “to submit within days to the FDA [and other regulators] for Emergency Use Authorisation.” With their guard down, the media didn’t hold these claims to account. Instead, and perhaps understandably, they choose to jump for joy. The regulators were pleased too; just two weeks after Pfizer’s press release, the UK regulator announced it had approved the Pfizer vaccine and that rollout would start within a week. Reporting the announcement, the British Medical Journal made note of something quite remarkable: “No results from the trial have yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.”

It was true. The Phase 3 trials of the vaccine were still ongoing, but the vaccine was now approved for use in the UK. The trials are still ongoing according to the registered protocol, which says they’re not scheduled to be complete until February 8, 2024. So how did the vaccine come to be approved before the full completion of Phase 3 trials? According to an FOI request, and a public article, the UK regulator addressed the question and said it had used a ‘rolling review’ process to approve the Pfizer vaccine. The review was done “as the packages of data become available from ongoing studies”. Whatever that regulatory process was, it wasn’t exactly public. To make matters worse, the trial had problems with impartiality and data sharing, which, two years later, is something that still frustrates Peter Doshi at the British Medical Journal.

Read more …

Wait a few months.

“Deceleration” and “Tipping Point” of the Raging Mania (WS)

The first “deceleration” and “signs of a tipping point” cropped up in the S&P CoreLogic Home Price Index, which was released today. But today’s data for “April” consists of the three-month average of closed home sales that were entered into public records in February, March, and April, representing deals that were made a few weeks earlier, roughly in January, February, and March, funded with mortgage rates prevalent at that time and earlier for home buyers with pre-approved mortgages with rate locks when they were pre-approved, so roughly based on the mortgage rates prevalent in December through March, ranging from 3.2% to 4.7% (green box):

Other indicators of the housing market that don’t lag as far behind have shown more advanced shifts in the underlying dynamics, including sagging sales amid a surge in supply in May, a sharp drop in mortgage applications in May and into June, and a surge in active listings in May. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index will gradually begin to reflect those dynamics over the next few months. Today’s release for “April,” looking back at a period earlier this year, when mortgage rates were a lot lower, still reflects the mad scramble to buy a home and lock in the mortgage rates at the time before they rise even further.


The National Case-Shiller Index still jumped by 2.1% in April from March, but that was down from the 2.6% spike in March. Year-over-year, the index spiked by 20.4%, but that was down from the 20.6% spike in the prior month. This suggests “further deceleration ahead,” said CoreLogic Deputy Chief Economist Selma Hepp said in a note this morning. “In particular, there is a buildup in overall active inventory as fewer buyers are rushing to make offers, resulting in an increase in the share of homes that have reduced their prices from the original list price,” Hepp said. “Also, there is a notable deceleration of monthly gains in the Western markets where a rush to lock in favorable mortgage rates pushed home price growth higher in prior months,” Hepp said.

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“Once we get to that level it’s going to be very difficult for us to reawaken the entire system we are sitting in a difficult situation as things stand.”

South Africa Moving Towards A Total Blackout (Enca)

Energy analyst Sampson Mamphweli warns that South Africa is heading towards a total blackout. Earlier, Eskom warned of the possibility of Stage 6 power cuts. In a briefing earlier, the power utility explained it had suffered significant losses overnight. It adds the current strike by employees also poses a serious challenge. “The strike itself came at the wrong time because it came at a time when the system is heavily constrained with more than 40 megawatts that’s not available due to a number of factors like breakdowns,” Mamphweli said. “So, it is quite difficult. The coal fleet isn’t performing. They gave details in terms of the backlog and the maintenance. “We are moving towards a blackout. Stage 6 is one stage away from total blackout. “Once we get to that level it’s going to be very difficult for us to reawaken the entire system we are sitting in a difficult situation as things stand.”

Read more …

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle June 29 2022

Viewing 19 posts - 41 through 59 (of 59 total)
  • Author
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  • #110648
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    For a change, … a report from NATO Summit – in Madrid – by the Canadian MSM:

    The United States opened the NATO leaders summit in Madrid on Wednesday by putting some serious firepower on the table to bolster the alliance’s defences throughout Europe while Canada separately signed an agreement with Latvia to increase the Western military alliance’s presence in the country.

    Whether it means additional Canadian troops will be dispatched to the Baltic country — or whether they will come from other allied nations — is unclear. The deal was hastily signed Wednesday afternoon and the prime minister’s office has provided no details.

    Both the secretary general of NATO and Estonia’s prime minister thanked Canada publicly and through Twitter for its additional support before the agreement was formally signed.

    The U.S. will be adding a rotational brigade of troops to Romania where a battle group led by France was recently established, and plans to further bolster contingents in the Baltic states, President Joe Biden told other Western leaders as the meeting opened.

    The U.S. will also send two more F-35 squadrons to the United Kingdom and set up surface-to-air defence systems in Germany and Italy.

    Also, significantly, the U.S. will establish a permanent headquarters in Poland for the Fifth Army Corps, which will co-ordinate defence in eastern Europe in the event of further Russian aggression.

    The measures announced Wednesday are on top of the existing 100,000 U.S. troops that are already based in Europe.

    peace’

    “In a moment where [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has shattered peace in Europe and attacked the very, very tenets of the rule-based order, the United States and our allies — we’re stepping up,” Biden said at the summit. “The steps we’re taking during this summit are going to further augment our collective strength.”

    NATO leaders are discussing what amounts to a two-step process to bolster the security of its 30 — soon to be 32 — members. […]

    U.S. increases its firepower in eastern Europe as Canada signs deal to bolster NATO presence in Latvia
    https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/nato-summit-europe-defence-measures-1.6505065

    … and so in a nutshell:

    U.S. and it’s chihuahuas gang is further expanding its territories simply because the previous NATO expansions resulted in the current war that is now raging in Ukraine! Got it, …

    https://memegenerator.net/img/instances/59626912/this-is-not-going-to-end-well.jpg

    F.S.

    #110649
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    @willem #110633

    Just goes to show we have been living a dream of sorts in the western world.

    The comment well articulates the experience of waking up to reality here in the West.

    The mainstream media lies destroyed many lives and allowed them to steal nearly everything.

    #110650
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    @Dr-D

    Is it murder to terminate a viable human (with malice of forethought)? Let’s say my son is in the hospital. He’s on life support but there’s a 99% chance he will survive in perfect health if only we can sustain life support for six months and have a relatively minor surgery at the end. But we pull the plug on him instead. SIX MONTHS IS JUST TOO LONG! It’s too inconvenient. People will find out! I know I wanted the child, took vigorous, sweaty actions to have him, but I changed my mind. He and the hospital are expensive and keeping me up sick at night.

    If that were the case, could you see how terminating your child’s life 6 months short of saving him might not be just some abstract equality of self, self-determination? More than a choice only YOU are having?

    First off, Brilliant analogy! 😉

    Terminating a child’s life should NEVER be in the hands of one individual, & NEVER would be in a society of ethically, morally, spiritually balanced humans.

    Moreover, your scenario involves conspiring with “other” humans to terminate the life of the child. Thus More than a choice only YOU are having

    Just. Like. Abortion. Does. 😕

    Choices have consequences, no matter what avenues of denial & rationalization are fantastically invoked by EGOcentrically unbalanced humans…

    What does it do? Just this: They feel that it HAD TO BE RIGHT. It just HAS to be. Because if it wasn’t Right, the right and only thing to do, they can’t live with themselves. Therefore, just like that street bum you all killed to join the Crips, you have total solidarity, total buy-in, total support, and belief.

    And yet… And yet why doth the lady protest too loudly? Because I didn’t tell you anything, you told ME I’m judging you, sitting here eating a sandwich. Why would you think that of me when you have a clear and perfect conscience? You’d ignore me and go on your life. Don’t need me or my opinions in it. If I told you you were responsible for the dinosaur extinction you’d ignore me, why not this?

    Yes, that tells me most do NOT have a clean conscience about it. They feel bad. And I feel bad for them. They feel bad and guilty, and if so they are probably correct in their own assessment: only they would know, after all. They feel guilty, and the neuroses to assuage the guilt are harming them. BUT: they are also easily channeled by a Fix-it-up Chappie with a political Star to sell. Ka-ching!

    *Ba-Ba-BINGO!*

    It’s all about that *pesky* inner voice, that we ALL are created & born with, where The Infinite’s Universal Laws of RIGHT vs. WRONG are indelibly inscribed.

    No amount of sex, drugs, entertainment, lies, narcissism, ad nauseam will shut it up, make it go away, alter The Truth that EVERY SINGLE CHILD OF THE INFINITE KNOWS IS TRUE.

    Add to The Rebellion all sorts of EGOcentric maladies, promiscuity, homosexuality, predation upon non-CULT humans, criminal pathology, et al. ~ Expansion of the depravity is only confined by the limits of the EGO imagination…

    The Rebellion manifests in all sorts of wickedly selfish phenomena & mental, emotional & physical DISEASE.

    When a CULTure is able to unify in shared madness, rejecting The Infinite in an illusion that they can eradicate their TRUE SELVES, the result is MASS FORMATION PSYCHOSIS…

    Once that happens no amount of spiritually attuned leadership will be accepted, in contrast quite the opposite (WAR) as The Awakened Ones words & actions echo the very Voice Within they have spent their lives since “childhood” trying to invalidate & extinguish (ie aborting their TRUE self).

    Some men, you just can’t reach. So you get what we had here last week — which is the way he wants it.

    Voila! The Empire of the Child.

    My parents (should have) said know NO!, indeed!

    Ultimately, the terminally ill CULTure seeks, supports & submits to Fix-it-up Chappie with a political Star to expand & legitimize the pathological Rebellion

    No Fathers.

    No Mothers.

    No Family.

    No God.

    More than 20 such places have been firebombed by the same people this week, and many more doxxed with hope for more deadly attacks. Now WHY, if I’m not correct, would they feel the overwhelming need to do that? “Food…to…women…must…be…stopped…!”

    What is up with all that?

    The inevitably rotted fruit of Democratic Self-Government, once The Rebellion has stripped all ethical, moral & spiritual constraints from the former Republic, that prevented majority tribal CULTure…

    Cancelling the Supreme Court is just the latest New, New! thing 🙄

    #110651
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    @ John Day #110641

    I fully support the view articulated in your comment.

    I would add that there are many sexual activities to provide intimacy and orgasm and do not cause pregnancy. I feel this is essential knowledge that gets wrongly suppressed.

    Kids need to know what could get them pregnant. The fact is kids are going to do things. That is human nature. They should know what will not get them pregnant.

    I don’t see religion as being helpful with this subject.

    Other essential knowledge is how to pleasure oneself which is a zero risk activity. We know there is a problem when a sexually active woman has not experienced orgasm.

    #110652
    John Day
    Participant

    There is a logical fallacy to comparing a developing fetus or embryo to an established human life, already existent and engaged in family and community, which needs 6 months of intensive care.

    The reductio-ad-absurdum in laid out in this song: “Every Sperm is Sacred” from “The Meaning of Life”.

    The neurological development of a 12 week human fetus is similar to that of a tadpole, but not self-sufficient like a tadpole.

    Our feelings as humans anticipate the humanity to come, which we expect to join us, but which is not yet a reality in space-time.

    We will reason best, if we all reason honestly.

    #110653
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    #110654
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    Our feelings as humans anticipate the humanity to come, which we expect to join us, but which is not yet a reality in space-time.

    We will reason best, if we all reason honestly.

    John, your small thinking (reason) is blocking you from the *bigger* picture…

    Your pronouncements of rational, asserting definitive correlation, are *blindly* excluding causation, your perception is entirely EGOcentric, therefore not “spiritual” in the least 😕

    #110655
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    Some things are not known.

    Some things might never be known.

    It is not necessary to know all things.

    It is fantasy to invent knowledge of things which are unknown.

    It is wrong to declare fantasy truth.

    #110656
    Neal
    Participant

    If big pharma thinks they will have a permanent immunity from liability if their shots kill millions of kids then they are mistaken. Firstly that immunity might only apply in the US, what about the other 200 sovereign nations? Secondly laws can be changed, made retrospective or overruled by interpretations of the law.
    And that is just legal consequences, nothing to stop other countries sending hit squads to take out the trash or to abduct and export for rendition those guilty of crimes against humanity.
    Then there are going to be millions of men (and women) who have lost spouses and children to clot shots, are now lonely, depressed and remorseful with nothing left to lose. Do all those pharma executives and their minions and those public officials who pushed the shots (no jab no job, no jab no college) as “safe and effective” have anywhere to escape to from those with guns, knives, ropes, clubs, SUVs etc that want an eye for an eye?
    Getting sued will be the least of big pharmas worry.

    #110657
    John Day
    Participant

    @Neal: I’m glad you started posting. I used to enjoy TOD also, and frequented both this and that fom around early 2008.

    Big Pharma is at the oligarchy-table and we are not.
    If their is a pan-western regime change, war crimes might be prosecuted. It is very clear that there has been massive fraud and collusion, but pharma still pushes to make these COVID vaccine-products routine for young American children, no matter how many die or are disabled, because it’s about their own survival in changing times.
    They are losing narrative control and just have to pull out the stops and rush, appearances-be-damned.

    #110658
    John Day
    Participant

    Rules Based Oligarchy post with picture of a couple married 37 years https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/rules-based-oligarchy

    I include this story as a perspective piece. This same ruling oligarchy remains in power today, after 54 years of consolidating that power.
    RFK Jr is like his Dad, but 26 years older than dad lived to be. He knows all of this information. He fights honorably for truth, knowing that he may “die funny” some day.

    ​ ​New Evidence Implicates CIA, LAPD, FBI and Mafia as Plotters in Elaborate “Hit” Plan to Prevent RFK From Ever Reaching White House
    ..In a 2018 interview with The Washington Post, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., said that he traveled to meet with Sirhan at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional facility in San Diego County, and, after a relatively lengthy conversation, believed that Sirhan did not kill his father and that a second gunman was involved.
    ​ ​Kennedy Jr.’s view is shared by his sister, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, and by Paul Schrade, regional director of the United Auto Workers (UAW) and one of Bobby’s closest advisers, who was shot the night that he was killed.
    ​ ​In 2016, Schrade testified in support of Sirhan’s parole, stating his belief that a second shooter killed Kennedy and that Sirhan was intended to be a distraction from the real gunman by an unknown conspiracy.
    ​ ​Kennedy Jr. has pointed out that Sirhan’s appointed lawyer at his original trial, Grant Cooper, was Johnny Rosselli’s personal lawyer. “Roselli,” he said, “was the mobster who ran the assassination program for the CIA against Castro. Cooper pressured Sirhan to plead guilty so that there was no trial.”
    ​ ​Kennedy believes the real assassin was Thane Eugene Cesar, an employee of Lockheed’s Burbank facility—which manufactured the CIA produced U-2 spy plane—and previously Hughes Aircraft who was moonlighting as a security guard for Ace Security Services.
    After the shooting, Kennedy Sr. was photographed with Cesar’s clip-on tie next to him, which he had apparently yanked off.
    https://www.globalresearch.ca/new-evidence-implicates-cia-lapd-fbi-mafia-plotters-elaborate-hit-plan-prevent-rfk-from-ever-reaching-white-house-2/5782652

    ​This is what a “good day” looks like for NATO these days.
    ​ Hours after Turkey’s announcement yesterday that it would support Finland’s and Sweden’s accession to NATO, Alliance Secretary – General Jens Stoltenberg called this morning (Wednesday) at the annual conference in Madrid to unite and expedite the process of joining. At the same time, he attacked Russia and China, claiming that Russia posed a “direct threat” to NATO.

    NATO secretary general attacks China and Russia: “poses a direct threat”

    Understanding the New York Times Article on the CIA in Ukraine
    ​ ​When you read some so-called bombshell report dishing the dirt on some Top Secret U.S. operation in the New York Times or the Washington Post, you need to understand that this was not the result of some intrepid, eager beaver reporter who took the initiative and came up with a nifty idea for a story. Such stories are based on official or sanctioned leaks and always have an ulterior motive…
    ​..​Got that? The most acute problem is that the best Ukrainian troops are dead, wounded or captured. There are no first rate troops left to train.
    Oh my. That is a problem and the United States is not going to put any of our troops into harms way.
    That is, for now, the Biden Administration’s policy.
    Putting “modern special operations teams” on the ground to train Ukrainians is, per the NY Times piece, too great a risk and carries a price that is not worth the outcome.
    https://www.globalresearch.ca/understanding-new-york-times-article-cia-ukraine/5784948

    #110659
    John Day
    Participant

    This shouldn’t be a problem. It’s not like we’re at war with anybody that can cut off our oil, is it?​
    (Well, just as a thought problem, what would happen if outside supplies of oil to the US were stopped?)
    US Emergency Oil Reserves Tumble To Record Low 27 Days Worth Of Supply
    https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/us-emergency-oil-reserves-tumble-record-low-27-days-worth-supply

    ​It’s not just about “weapons”, but about covertly adjusting the brain function of billions of humans​ in order to manipulate them (us).
    ​Spartacus : ​The Weaponization of Biotech​
    The unregulated advancement of biotech is creating a new arms race and threatening our personal autonomy
    https://iceni.substack.com/p/the-weaponization-of-biotech

    ​What do Germany, Switzerland and Taiwan have in common this year?
    Igor Chudov, Depopulation of Taiwan Birth Rate Dropped by 23% in ONE YEAR — And it is NOT Covid
    ​ ​This is a continuation of my post from yesterday about a massive 13% decline in births in Germany. Such a decline is a nine-sigma event, meaning that it is so unlikely to occur by chance, that it would naturally happen as rarely as an asteroid striking the Earth.
    https://igorchudov.substack.com/p/depopulation-of-taiwan?

    Dramatic Decline in Births in Germany​ (and Taiwan, Belgium, Switzerland, North Dakota)​
    ​..​If this is happening in Q1 in Germany after a MINORITY of 18-49 yo were vaccinated in Q2 2021, what will happen in subsequent quarters?
    Will the birth rate decline even further?
    https://igorchudov.substack.com/p/dramatic-decrease-in-births-in-germany?

    ​Swiss Policy Research noticed that same bar graph of live births in Switzerland.
    (The Pfizer study data aboutvaccine-study-participant miscarriages ceased to be recorded after a sudden early rise. Poof. Not writing that down any more.)
    Covid Vaccines and Fertility
    ​ ​Why is there a substantial decrease in births in Germany, Switzerland, and other countries – nine months after the beginning of covid mass vaccinations?
    ​ ​Do covid vaccines impact male or female fertility?
    ​ ​An Israeli study recently published in the scientific journal Andrology seemed to have found a 15% decrease in sperm concentration three months after mRNA covid vaccination. The authors argued the decrease was temporary, but the data didn’t actually show a recovery…
    ​https://swprs.org/covid-vaccines-and-fertility/

    #110661
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    The Subnatural Realm: A Speculation

    The Subnatural Realm: A Speculation

    #110662
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    @ Veracious poet
    It seems to me that since God has new human life gestating in the woman, that God has left it up to the woman to be in charge of the unborn. God could have chosen the egg method.

    #110663
    aspnaz
    Participant

    @John Day said

    There is a logical fallacy to comparing a developing fetus or embryo to an established human life, already existent and engaged in family and community, which needs 6 months of intensive care.

    The reductio-ad-absurdum in laid out in this song: “Every Sperm is Sacred” from “The Meaning of Life”.

    The neurological development of a 12 week human fetus is similar to that of a tadpole, but not self-sufficient like a tadpole.

    Your use of “Every Sperm is Sacred” is a cheap shot as this song was aimed at Catholicism: read the lyrics and you will see that the primary target is the “sin” of masturbation. Including this reference is a meaningless diversion indicating a lack of real logical argument.

    The human embryo is by definition of the human species and is part of nature’s process of creating new members of the human population. Lots of materials come together in this process and you could argue that all the food ever eaten by the parents of the embryo are sacred components, but natural menstuation indicates that some waste will be involved in the reproductive process when an embryo is not created or not viable.

    The human species needs the woman to reproduce and to nurture the child into adulthood. The man is there to provide while this process is underway. Nature provides us with all the tools needed to do this, including the traditional traits such as sexual pleasure, maternal instinct, hormones, male protectiveness, male single mindedness etc.

    The woman makes the decision to create the embryo. Conception is the start of the reproduction process even though, as mentioned above, it is obviously using materials created prior to conception. The woman decides, in all but a tiny number of cases (such as rape, a seperate issue), to start the process of creating a human being. This is her choice to undertake the process of creating a child.

    The privilege of being a mother comes with the tools required to be a mother, and killing your unborn will not come naturally to the maternal instinct. The question is whether she should be allowed to kill the embryo/fetus simply because she has changed her mind about having a baby or never wanted one in the first place but took the risk of getting pregnant.

    If the embryo/fetus is not granted any rights then the government has no business getting involved in this process. If the embryo/fetus does have rights then the government should protect this new member of society. The neurological development argument is irrelevant because we are protecting the potential in the same way as we do for babies that have been born, have no life experience and cannot survive without assistance, regardless of whether they are premature.

    Protecting a baby but not protecting an embryo means you deprive the embryo/fetus of rights and empower the mother to kill the embryo. Nature says that conception is the time when the embryo is created. Many humans find that point in time to be inconvenient, so they argue that nature is wrong and that humans should postpone granting rights to the embryo, the aim being to provide a window during which the mother can kill the embryo.

    Will society allow women to be irresponsible and to abuse their privilege of motherhood? The woman wants the sex part of the process but not the responsibility part of the process. How are we to look at this as a society? Personally I go with nature as there is no valid argument against nature.

    #110664
    John Day
    Participant

    I’m reading everything people say. I’m sorry to have given offense, but did not intend to.

    Our feelings about pregnancy likely fit better with the traditional definition of pregnancy, which was “quickening”, feeling a baby move inside oneself, which happens later, though still before “viability”, which is highly variable, but sometimes as early as 22 weeks of gestation. That is really early, and it is exceptional, but occasionally happens.

    Many societies have practiced infanticide, even in our lifetimes (some of us).
    My own feelings, are not different, I think, from many on the other side of right-to-choose, but I only hold myself to them. Granted, that seems easy for me … I have long pondered this since teenage years, always seeking further understanding. It is inherently complicated and with a wide gray zone.

    Lots of gray zones in life…

    #110665
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    @phoenixvoice

    It seems to me that since God has new human life gestating in the woman, that God has left it up to the woman to be in charge of the unborn. God could have chosen the egg method.

    Yep, “God” could have made “humans” strictly follow innate programming, like his egg laying children, but “Free Will” was granted to “humans” for some purpose that’s still not entirely clear to me, yet…

    There is a logical fallacy to comparing a developing fetus or embryo to an established human life, already existent and engaged in family and community…which is not yet a reality in space-time.

    I’m not going to play “God”, pretending to know at what point in pregnancy “an established human life” is occurring, nor would I encourage “others” to engage in limiting the Rights of the Creator bestowed on ALL living beings ~ That is one *HELL* of a slippery slope, where many will find themselves segregated to the non-human side of the equation, if they’re not careful…

    In fact, that very *EVIL* is seemingly already spreading like a cancer (as it has for millennia), far & wide across the land, destroying ALL life like a slowly unfolding apocalypse.

    So, I’m really just on the journey towards understanding the mystery, but I have gleaned some new insight into the dark side of conscientiousness, starting with my own.

    Also blessed with living on the sunny side of the street, through the act of pure grace…

    One thing I have been shown is that The Infinite does not pass judgment, we do that all on our own.

    Of course, to first expand the Loving, Healing, Creative Power of the Universe within, we must humble ourselves & admit or errors (ongoing as we become aware), asking forgiveness for our trespasses before we are empowered to forgive others & ourselves…

    Sadly, it seems all to commonplace for EGO-based “humans” to double-down on error, engaging in all sorts of chicanery seeking to avoid personal responsibility for past wrongs committed…

    And that is all I have left to say ~ I’m done now 😉

    I’ll let my brother Jung close it out for me…

    #110674
    Formerly T-Bear
    Participant

    For what it’s worth, I subscribe fully with John Day’s well considered point of view concerning pregnancy and its safe termination by the host and her medical practitioner with no outside constraints, interference from alien parties. Alien opinions and moralities have no standing in the issue whatsoever. Stifle

    Looks like another division has been made in the population: organic and GMO to add to all the others.

    #110676
    Formerly T-Bear
    Participant

    one further matter:

    Positions gained by fraud are not validly held, no rights or protection pertain. Pfizer is pfraudulence

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