Tuesday, December 27, 2016
Monday, December 26, 2016
Saturday, December 24, 2016
Federal Reserve is now initiating the economic end game [feedly]
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Federal Reserve is now initiating the economic end game
// Personal Liberty Digest™
For years, alternative economic analysts have been warning that the "miraculous" rise in U.S. stock markets has been the symptom of wider central bank intervention and that this will result in dire future consequences. We have heard endless lies and rationalizations as to why this could not be so, and why the U.S. "recovery" is real. At the beginning of 2016, the former head of the Dallas branch of the Federal Reserve crushed all the skeptics and vindicated our position in an interview with CNBC where he stated:
"What the Fed did — and I was part of that group — is we front-loaded a tremendous market rally, starting in 2009.
It's sort of what I call the "reverse Whimpy factor" — give me two hamburgers today for one tomorrow.
I'm not surprised that almost every index you can look at … was down significantly." [Referring to the results in the stock market after the Fed raised rates in December.]
Fisher continued his warning (though his predictions in my view are wildly conservative):
"…I was warning my colleagues, "Don't go wobbly if we have a 10-20 percent correction at some point. … Everybody you talk to … has been warning that these markets are heavily priced."
Here is the issue — stocks are a mostly meaningless factor when considering the economic health of a nation. Equities are a casino based on nothing but the luck of the draw when it comes to news headlines, central banker statements and algorithmic computers. Today, as Fischer openly admitted, stocks are a purely manipulated indicator representing nothing but the amount of stimulus central banks are willing to pour into them through various channels. Even with the incredible monetary support pooled together by international financiers, returns on equities investments continue to remain mostly flat.
It would seem that the propping up of indexes like the Dow has been only for the sake of keeping up appearances. For many people revenue is barely being generated.
Unfortunately, the majority of Americans do not care to educate themselves on the finer points of finance. Their only relation to the health of the economy is their daily glance at the Dow. If it is green, or at all time highs, they assume that all is well, even if their gut is telling them something is not quite right.
The elites that stand at the helm of the Federal Reserve understand this dynamic very well. They are not stupid. They know that the whole of the global economy could be in a shambles but as long as stocks remain positive the masses will continue to ignore reality until the flames of destabilization are at their very doorsteps.
With this fact in mind one might think that the Fed would consider it in their best interest to keep stimulus measures operating indefinitely; but that is not what they are doing.
In fact, the Fed has been slowly peeling back pillars of support from markets that have been in place since 2008-2009 and leaving the system open to a crisis event that should have been dealt with years ago. I examined this process of deliberate destabilization in my article "The global economic reset has begun."
In that piece I outlined the three major pillars holding up the U.S. market system and parts of our economy and how they were being systematically removed. The first pillar was the use of bailouts and quantitative easing measures. These were diminished through the implementation of the Fed "taper," which I predicted would happen three months prior that year.
The second pillar was the use of near zero interest rates, which allowed numerous banks and corporations to access low-cost and no-cost overnight loans from the Fed. These companies then used these loans in large part to support a never-ending program of stock buybacks, which reduced the stock pool and artificially boosted the values of the remaining stocks. I predicted in August of 2015 that the Fed would hike interest rates and that this would be the beginning of the end for the stock buyback bonanza. The Fed hiked rates in December of that year.
This process of removing backdoor manipulation through low interest rates should be our main concern. Early in 2016 I believed that the Fed would reach a position in which it would finally unleash a series of rate hikes. I did not think they would be so blatant as to wait until right after the U.S. presidential election to do so. I was wrong.
This is why I eventually predicted the launch of a series of rate hikes starting right after the election of Donald Trump in my article "World suffers from Trump shell shock — here's what will happen next." The Fed has now once again hiked interest rates with assertions that they will be "accelerating" such hikes throughout 2017.
As I have been arguing for most of the past year, the election of Donald Trump was inevitable and would precede the triggering of the final stage of our ongoing economic crisis. I came to realize that the Fed's timing of their latest rate hike is highly strategic. Not only does it set the stage for a series of hikes that will crush U.S. stock markets this coming year and finally shock the public out of their fiscal stupor, but it also maneuvers the crisis right into the lap of Donald Trump and the conservative movements that support him.
Beyond this, it perpetuates an increasing Left/Right division in America. Think about it — during a fiscal crisis under Trump, set off by accumulating Fed rate hikes, liberals will immediately set upon Trump as the culprit, while conservatives will immediately defend Trump as a victim of Federal Reserve meddling.
I have heard arguments from some that this tactic would simply not work. That people would "never buy" a narrative in which Trump and conservatives are blamed for a market collapse that was at least eight years in the making. I have to say, this view is incredibly naive.
I understand why people would want to embrace the notion that the public is as savvy as the liberty movement when looking at economic events, but this simply isn't reality. A large portion of the U.S. population identifies with the "Left" end of the political spectrum. We have already seen how they react in the face of a Trump election win. They are predisposed to believe that Trump is responsible for a market crash regardless of the facts. Not to mention, much of the rest of the world is economically ignorant and will likely jump on the anti-conservative bandwagon during a crisis as well.
But the real master stroke of this strategy on the part of the elites is that it creates the perfect platform for the destruction of the U.S. dollar's world reserve status — the third and final pillar I mentioned months ago that is supporting our economic system.
Imagine that the Fed's rate hike frenzy sparks an open feud between the central bank and Trump? Some people might say "Good! Shut the bastards down!" However, this is exactly what the elites want. With the Fed "at odds" with the president of the U.S., faith in the U.S. dollar will plummet. Its world reserve status will be destroyed. And instead of being blamed on central banks, the majority of people around the world will claim it was the fault of Trump.
With a historically sufficient excuse for the end of dollar dominance in hand, the elites can move forward with their great global reset, which includes the replacement of the dollar with the IMF's special drawing rights as the go-to reserve currency mechanism. This is an essential step in the formation of a single global monetary authority and a single global currency.
I believe that the Fed will not only continue hiking interest rates throughout 2017, but that some of these rate hikes may be larger than many people expect (50 basis points or more). I believe this will be designed to foster extreme tensions between the executive branch and the central bank.
A few months ago I would have said that Trump may or "may not" be aware of this dynamic and the potential that he is a scapegoat. Now that I have seen Trump's cabinet picks which include neo-con and Goldman Sachs alumni, I have little doubt that he is fully cognizant of the plan. In the meantime I would point out that all of the elements of psychological support for stock markets will also disappear.
All those leftist media outlets cherry picking economic stats and telling half truths to support the recovery lie now have no reason to continue cheerleading for the economy. I expect that propaganda rags like Reuters and Bloomberg will quickly change their tune with Trump in the Oval Office and begin a consistent chorus of negative financial data. Not only will the Fed remove all support from the system, but the mainstream media will be pounding day traders with the kind of "doom and gloom" headlines that they have been criticizing us for the past several years.
Make no mistake, the election of Trump may have some in the liberty movement ready to pack up their preps and forget about any national crisis in their lifetimes, but the truth is, vigilance is needed now more than ever. I said it before the election and I'll say it today — do not get comfortable; the times are about to get even more interesting.
— Brandon Smith
The post Federal Reserve is now initiating the economic end game appeared first on Personal Liberty®.
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Friday, December 23, 2016
Your body is not your own; it belongs to the state [feedly]
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Your body is not your own; it belongs to the state
// Personal Liberty Digest™
How can America be considered the land of the free when police can extract a urine or blood sample against your will?
While there is a multitude of case law regarding the 4th Amendment and searches of persons, vehicles and dwellings, there is little on the books regarding what police can do to the human body.
In March of 2009, Jamie Lockhard was pulled over in Lawrenceburg, Indiana by a police officer who said Lockhard failed to stop at a stop sign. Officers suspected Lockhard had been drinking so they had him take a breathalyzer test. It registered .07; .01 under the legal limit. Not satisfied with the breathalyzer results, police obtained a search warrant for blood and urine samples and transported Lockhard to a nearby hospital.
Lockhard cooperated and allowed a nurse to take a blood sample. But he claimed he was unable to produce a urine sample. Believing he was just being uncooperative, police took Lockhard to an emergency room where he was handcuffed to a bed, his feet were held down by two officers and he was catheterized by an ER nurse.
This practice is becoming more and more common as police in many states are now using forced catheterization following traffic stops. In these states at least — Indiana, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Idaho — police have taken uncooperative DUI suspects to medical facilities where they were catheterized against their will (and often without anesthesia) in order to obtain urine samples to determine their alcohol level. And it was not always done with a search warrant.
There have been several lawsuits filed over this. Some have been thrown out because police have "qualified immunity" from lawsuits; and some have been settled. But high courts have yet to rule on whether this is a violation of the 4th Amendment rights of individuals.
Lockhard, whose blood sample revealed a blood alcohol level of .05 – well below the threshold for a DUI charge – pleaded guilty to reckless driving and received a suspended sentence. He later sued the police officers who assaulted his body and the city of Lawrenceburg only to see his suit thrown out by a federal judge who ruled that police had qualified immunity. In his ruling, the judge claimed the officers' actions fell into "nebulous territory" of legality.
Forced catheterization is police state terrorism and barbarism. Don't believe it? Read this description of catheterization by Medscape. It is not a fit practice for a free and civilized society.
Related reading:
How the 'law and order' crowd surrenders its liberty
The police and culture problem
Cops are trained liars, and courts have sanctioned the practice
Would privatized police be better police?
Cops can enforce nonexistent laws with impunity
The post Your body is not your own; it belongs to the state appeared first on Personal Liberty®.
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Thursday, December 22, 2016
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Monday, December 19, 2016
Saturday, December 17, 2016
Friday, December 16, 2016
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Vladimir Putin was directly involved in US election hack, report says _____ more BS
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Vladimir Putin was directly involved in US election hack, report says
// The Verge

Russian President Vladimir Putin was personally involved in the operation to use sensitive Democrat emails obtained by hackers to undermine the campaign of Hillary Clinton, according to a report from NBC News. Citing anonymous US intelligence officials, the report says that diplomatic sources and spies working with US allies have determined with "high confidence" that Putin oversaw how the hacked emails were leaked and used in other capacities to undermine Clinton and disrupt the US presidential election.
Putin's involvement began as a supposed "vendetta" against Clinton for her role in condemning Russia's parliamentary elections in 2011. Western critics of Russia accused Putin at the time of rigging the election by participating in large-scale voter fraud, and Clinton, as secretary of state at the time, was a vocal member of that group. From there, Putin's vendetta evolved into what NBC's sources say was a mission to "split off key American allies by creating the image that [other countries] couldn't depend on the U.S. to be a credible global leader anymore."
Putin's involvement began as a 'vendetta' for Clinton's actions as Secretary of State
This information sheds new light on just how unprecedented Russia's recent espionage tactics are, as well as how deeply involved Putin has been in determining how the stolen data is used to harm the country's enemies. It's widely believed that hackers related to the Russian government were responsible both for hacking the Democratic National Committee and the email account of Clinton campaign chief John Podesta. This is also understood to have been an effort to harm Clinton's chances of victory. However, whether Russia actively did so in an effort to promote President-elect Donald Trump is a controversial topic disputed in the intelligence community.
A report from The Washington Post last Friday, citing anonymous CIA sources, was the first to quote intelligence officials stating Russia's actions were designed to both harm Clinton and help Trump win the election. The New York Times then reported that same evening that intelligence officials found evidence that both the DNC and the Republican National Committee were compromised by Russia hackers. However, Russia decided not to hand over the RNC data to WikiLeaks, according to those officials, as it did with the DNC data and Podesta's emails. The FBI has disputed this interpretation of Russia's actions, but the organization has not denied Russia's involvement in the hacks. Instead, the FBI thinks the overall goal of the operation was to undermine the American political system at large.
Regardless of the ultimate intent, the new revelation — that Putin was directly involved with the cyberespionage operation — is sure to heighten tensions between the US and Russia. Meanwhile, Trump and his transition team have vigorously attacked the intelligence community's findings, claiming in interviews that CIA reports are somehow a product of Democrats' shame over losing the election. Following Trump's initial outbursts, his team's more calculated defense — which has called for public evidence of Russia's involvement — is designed to cast doubt on any connections between cabinet nominees, like Exxon Mobil CEO and Secretary of State pick Rex Tillerson, and Russia's oligarchical leadership.
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Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Energy Department officials won’t give names of climate workers to Trump’s team [feedly]
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Energy Department officials won't give names of climate workers to Trump's team
// The Verge

Energy Department officials have refused to provide President-elect Donald Trump's transition team with a list of names of employees who have attended various climate meetings, according to The Washington Post.
Last week, Bloomberg first reported that Trump's team had sent a questionnaire to the Department of Energy inquiring about a variety of DOE programs and activities. Some of the questions, however, also asked for "a list of all Department of Energy employees or contractors" who have attended United Nations climate meetings, as well as meetings on the "social cost of carbon" — a way of estimating the economic damages associated with greenhouse gas emissions.
The request was alarming and intimidating
As we noted in an op-ed, the request was alarming and intimidating, and was viewed as singling out civil service employees and scientists who had worked on climate change during the Obama administration. Trump's request surprised and worried DOE leaders, as well as some members of Congress. Today, the Department of Energy said that the agency won't comply with the request and won't give out employees' names.
"The Department of Energy received significant feedback from our workforce throughout the department, including the National Labs, following the release of the transition team's questions. Some of the questions asked left many in our workforce unsettled," Eben Burnham-Snyder, a department spokesman, told the Washington Post. "Our career workforce, including our contractors and employees at our labs, comprise the backbone of DOE (Department of Energy) and the important work our department does to benefit the American people. We are going to respect the professional and scientific integrity and independence of our employees at our labs and across our department."
He added: "We will be forthcoming with all publically-available (sic) information with the transition team. We will not be providing any individual names to the transition team." (Burnham-Snyder's email used the boldface.)
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Monday, December 12, 2016
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