Thursday April 23rd – Open Thread

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

.

(more…)

The Declassified Impeachment Material Was Stunning, but What Came Before It Is Worse

Prior to 2018 any public mention of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) would be cause for you to immediately lose your security clearance in government. However, by mid-2018 DC officials were not only openly discussing FISA in public settings, but the DOJ released a Top-Secret Compartmented Intelligence Title-1 FISA warrant.

Why was a TSCI Title-1 FISA warrant made public in 2018?

The Carter Page FISA application and subsequent warrant would have been the easiest document to keep hidden from the public. You cannot FOIA classified documents. However, someone in the DOJ released their exclusive national security equity. I am certain it was Andrew Weissmann who made the call.

Additionally, when the DOJ FISA application was made public, few people noticed the date stamp on the application itself [copy from FISC 3/17/17].

Why was the DOJ releasing the warrant to the public, and why did they use that specific copy that came from the FISC on March 17, 2017. Why not release their own copies from their own DOJ-NSD files? What was it about the FISC copy that made it the option of their choice?

Just as the Atkinson transcript, whistleblower report and IC IG investigative material showed a fraudulent and corrupt impeachment effort, the background details of the FISA application being made public shows the fraudulent and corrupt intent of the Robert Mueller investigation that preceded it.

You will remember the massive media debate in early 2018 about the FISA application deployed against former short-time Trump campaign aide Carter Page.  The DOJ, at the time under the control of the Mueller special counsel for all things Trump-Russia related, wouldn’t let congress see the FISA application. Devin Nunes complained to House Speaker Paul Ryan.

Eventually a deal was struck and two members from the House Intelligence committee (democrats and republicans) and two members from the House Judiciary Committee, were allowed to go to Main Justice and read the FISA application, but not copy it.  Four congressmen were allowed to go read and take notes. Trey Gowdy and John Ratcliffe represented the two republicans, and their notes formed the basis for what later was called “The Nunes Memo.

The Democrats were not happy with the claims in the Nunes memo, and subsequently HPSCI ranking member Adam Schiff wrote the democrat version.

Both of those sets of memos then needed to be declassified, more delays, before they could be made public.  For weeks and weeks, the Nunes -vs- Schiff memos were debated by both sides, with each saying their version was the truth and the other party’s version was spin and/or false.   All of this was happening in January, February and March 2018.

Then, later in the summer, something really weird happened.  On July 21, 2018, Main Justice completely reversed position on keeping the FISA application secret, and for the first time in U.S. history a top secret classified Title-1 FISA application was released to the public (with redactions).

People were so filled with curiosity about the Carter Page FISA application that few, heck, almost no one, stopped to ask why it was released?

Why the sudden secrecy reversal by the DOJ?

(more…)

Promethean PAC Outlines Why Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney Must Battle President Trump

A generally good big-picture overview here from the folks at Promethean PAC.

“In this midweek update, Susan Kokinda argues that Kevin Warsh’s Senate Banking Committee testimony—calling for “regime change” at the Federal Reserve and blaming inflation on excessive money creation—signals a broader shift aligned with the Trump administration against what she describes as an Imperial, British-led free-trade order.

Kokinda highlights Warsh’s criticism of post-2008 quantitative easing as benefiting financial asset holders while many Americans own no assets, and contrasts this with Democrats’ focus on divestment issues. Kokinda ties Warsh’s stance to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s emphasis on raising living standards over bailing out markets and to Trump’s comments on Fed independence. She then points to Trump’s April 20 Defense Production Act action citing market failures in energy infrastructure, including transformer shortages, as national-security threats, linking this to energy independence and Iran, and contrasts it with Mark Carney’s globalist posture and references to the War of 1812.”

.

(more…)

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Holds a Press Availability

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt held an impromptu press availability today at the White House.  The primary focus of the questioning relates to the status in Iran.

Mrs Leavitt notes there is an internal political fracture within Iran between hardline religious extremists and moderate religious extremists, and President Trump is giving those two factions space to come to a unified negotiation approach.  WATCH:

.

(more…)

Canada Does NOT Want to Open USMCA (CUSMA) for Renegotiations

Consider the amount of money involved in the trilateral USMCA trade agreement.  It’s not just about trade and commerce between the USA, Canada and Mexico; the totality of the equation is derived from all of the third-party nations who trade into the North American trade bloc.  There are tens-of-trillions at stake.

As we have outlined for several years the trilateral trade agreement has several material flaws.  With the U.S. economy as the primary consumption economy, both Mexico and Canada derive significant benefits within the USMCA.  Additionally, both Canada and Mexico leverage their unique positions to gain economic benefit from third parties who want to use either country as a backdoor into the U.S. market.

President Trump has long wanted to eliminate the trilateral trade deal in favor of two more controllable bilateral deals, one with Mexico and one with Canada.  In large measure this approach is specifically to end the exploitation by third parties.  President Trump also noted in his discussions with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney that the primary function of the USMCA was to eliminate NAFTA.

Keep this in mind.  The purpose of the USMCA was to eliminate NAFTA.

Now we enter the phase of the USMCA where President Trump can exit the agreement or modify the core foundation of the agreement.

For the past fourteen months Mexico has been modifying their trade and economic policy in anticipation of a USMCA change. However, for the past fourteen months Canada has been combative against President Trump, stoking anger toward Trump, and the government of Canada has been openly proclaiming their intention to economically and politically fight and defeat President Trump.

Again, remember the scale of the money involved here.  Additionally, Canada doesn’t have an organic economy if they cannot exploit their market access.  If Trump restricts third party exploitation, Canada loses massive amounts of money.  This is the baseline for Canada’s reluctance to open up the USMCA for renegotiation; they cannot lose their third-party loophole or else they are really in a bad place.

This sets the stage for trillion-dollar interests to frame opposition not only toward President Trump, but also toward any of his economic team who are in alignment with the renegotiation of the USMCA.  Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is chief among those targets along with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick outlines the issue in the first part of this recent discussion. WATCH:

(more…)

CIA Security Officer Shauni Kerkhoff Files Lawsuit Against Steve Baker and The Blaze for Identifying Her as J6 Bomber

Steve Baker and The Blaze are being sued by former Capitol Hill police officer Shauni Kerkhoff, who Baker accused of being the J6 pipe bomber based on “gait” analysis and other dubious claims.

Mr Baker, a former FBI employee named Kyle Seraphin and Kentucky representative Thomas Massie also pushed the accusation, saying FBI Director Kash and other FBI officials were lying and an innocent guy was arrested. The arrested suspect, Brian J. Cole, Jr., confessed to the crimes.

Yesterday, Shauni Kerkhoff, who now works for the CIA security office, filed a lawsuit against Steve Baker and The Blaze [SEE HERE], claiming Steve Baker was motivated by anger over his arrest for activity in the J6 event where Ms. Kerkhoff was present providing security.

According to the lawsuit, Steve Baker and The Blaze created a conspiracy theory using Shauni Kerkhoff as the target of their claims.

This is going to be an interesting lawsuit to watch unfold as there are various types of conspiracy claims similar to Mr Baker that are circulating.  If their claim is false, both Mr Baker and The Blaze could end up in the same financial position as Alex Jones.

(more…)

Wednesday April 22nd – Open Thread

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

.

(more…)

Justice Dept Indictment of SPLC Confirms Long-Held Suspicions of Leftist/Progressive Groups Funding Racism and Chaos

The DOJ indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center for wire fraud, money laundering and false statements [Indictment Here], confirms long-held suspicions that Democrat-aligned activist groups have been financing racism, hate mobs and political violence.

For all intents and purposes, the SPLC is a leftist/progressive activist organization who bills itself as anti-racism, yet this same SPLC organization was using cut outs to fund the Ku Klux Klan, the United Klans of America, Unite the Right, National Alliance, National Socialist Movement, Aryan Nations affiliated, Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club, National Socialist Party of America (American Nazi Party) and American Front.

In essence, Democrats funding extremist groups, just so they can label them as right-wing.

For years we have suspected that financing for civic unrest and racist endeavors was coming from the far-left, today’s indictment proves that very point. Democrats fuel chaos and finance the organizations they label as Facist or racist. Democrats funding the Unite the Right chaos in Charlottesville, then Democrats construct a false narrative about Unite the Right supporting republicans.  Antifa, Occupy Wall Street, Anarchists, Black Lives Matter, Dream Defenders, etc. etc.

The DOJ indictment identifies the SPLC as one organization doing this: but really, it’s an entire network.  Keep digging into this issue, specifically this type of approach, and we will likely find the financial mechanism of most toxic American division – Democrats.

(VIA DOJ) – A Grand Jury in Montgomery, Alabama, today returned an indictment charging the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) with 11 counts of wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.  The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama Northern Division filed two forfeiture actions to recover alleged proceeds of the organization’s fraud scheme. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigated this case with assistance from the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).

“The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Using donor money to allegedly profit off Klansmen cannot go unchecked. This Department of Justice will hold the SPLC and every other fraudulent organization operating with the same deceptive playbook accountable. No entity is above the law.”

(more…)