Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser closes the nation’s capital until April 25th, effectively closing all public gatherings for one month. [Order pdf Here]

There is a certain aspect to dèjá-vu showing up on the horizon… Welcome to an economic civil war. But first, the latest details.

WASHINGTON DC –  The intent of the Order is to temporarily cease all non-essential business activities, including tour guides and touring services; gyms, health clubs, spas, and massage establishments; theaters, auditoriums, and other places of large gatherings; nightclubs; hair, nail, and tanning salons and barbershops; tattoo parlors; sales not involved in essential services; retail clothing stores; and professional services not devoted to assisting essential business operations.

The Order goes into effect on March 25, 2020, at 10 pm, through April 24, 2020 (link)

On the horizon it appears the state and regional shutdowns are going to mirror the shutdowns from Obama’s infamous sequester-fiasco from the spring of 2013.  That looks like the road-map that will be followed as the coronavirus issue starts to level-off.

(more…)

Over the past three days a bipartisan group of senators, not leadership, constructed a $1.6 Trillion emergency aid package to rescue the U.S. economy and American workers.  The package had the support of Mitch McConnell. It is called The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or “CARE Act“. [READ BILL S.548 HERE]

However, at the last minute House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, having returned from her House recess vacation sipping cocktails poolside, instructed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to crush the senate effort.

Power hungry Pelosi sees an opportunity to use the looming economic crisis as leverage for selecting winners & losers amid the K-Street lobbying community.  Donors for Democrats will be rewarded; supporters of Republicans, not-so-much.  This is DC at it’s worst and Pelosi isn’t going to lose another opportunity.  It’s the same process she used in ’08/’09.

“Twice in one lifetime… How blessed am I?”

Senator Schumer did as he was instructed.  The relief bill did not pass cloture (60 votes needed), and the three-day effort collapsed.  Immediately the DOW futures dropped 5%.

WASHINGTON DC – “I want everybody to fully understand if we aren’t able to act tomorrow, it will be because of our colleagues on the other side continuing to dicker when the country expects us to come together and address the problem,” McConnell said on the floor. He added that over the last 48 hours there were bipartisan discussions among “regular members of the Senate, not in the Leadership office, not in the speaker’s office for goodness sakes.”

“She’s the Speaker of the House, not the Speaker of the Senate,” McConnell added. “We were doing just fine until that intervention.”  (more)

There are two main points Pelosi is targeting.  First, because COVID-19 creates a MASSIVE SPENDING opportunity, Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to include the elimination of college debt, literally wipe out student loans – which ironically and intentionally were created under Obamacare, in the coronavirus bill.

(more…)

There’s been a debate about possible political motives surrounding the panic he has created; the massive economic damage he has inflicted; and the conflicting assertions of National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci.

CTH identifies the motives as sketchy.  He appears to use his position to advance theories and yet position himself to avoid scrutiny.

Sometimes within a 24 hour period Fauci will make a statement, then contradict the initial assertion, then attempt to cloud his own conflict with obtuse and wordy explanations.  After watching for several weeks, we called it out HERE.

Perhaps one way to help see through the professional obfuscation, and identify just exactly how political Dr. Fauci is, would be to: compare and contrast Dr. Fauci under President Obama in September 2009 after 3,000 to 4,000 H1N1 deaths in the USA  -vs- Dr. Fauci under President Trump in March 2020 after 200 to 300 COVID-19 deaths.  WATCH:

.

Now, to better absorb the information…. According to the CDC final estimate of 2009 U.S. H1N1 cases (published in 2011): from April 12, 2009 to April 10, 2010 approximately 60.8 million U.S. cases, 274,304 U.S. hospitalizations, and 12,469 U.S. deaths occurred due to H1N1. That’s the empirical data.

After: (1) watching that 2009 video; and (2) comparing the 2009 H1N1 response to the current 2020 COVID-19 response; and (3) reviewing the empirical data; we must admit to ourselves there is a VERY BIG difference.  So now, with the baseline established, we look for why such a big difference; and to do that we (4) evaluate the politics:

(more…)

The entire nation is being impacted by a multitude of consequences from coronavirus; millions of Americans concerned about lost work, lost wages and possibly lost jobs; the largest economy in the world at a near standstill; trillions of wealth lost and rippling economic consequences yet to be properly quantified;…. and yet the White House press pool is worried about calling COVID-19 the “Chinese coronavirus”?

Amid all of the seemingly unending and insufferable nonsense from American journalists, this is, yet again, reaching an all time high of stupidity.  WATCH:

.

Nuts !

(more…)

CTH is spending time on this issue because the food distribution sector is the most important sector in all commerce. Having some familiarity with the supply chain might help people to understand the challenges; and possibly help you locate product.

The Inversion – Big chain markets; those who spent millions developing their own proprietary ‘just-in-time’ distribution networks and automated ordering systems; are currently the least equipped to deal with the level of demand.  Meanwhile smaller chains, or mom-and-pops, who rely on third-party brokered distribution are faster to respond.

Several factors have increased retail market demand for food products and non-perishables.  People stocking up, kids out of school, some panic shopping (example toilet paper) and now curfews/quarantines have people purchasing more for ‘meals prepared at home’.  Add in a level of closed restaurants and the demand on retail food markets is severely stressed.

In major urban areas the larger retailers are unable to keep up with demand.  This is creating an outward spread as people drive further and further distances to find their needs.  Those who travel a distance ultimately stock-up more; thus the outward spider web-cycle is created.  Based on ground reports Atlanta Georgia is a prime example.

(more…)

The level of media opposition and snark against President Trump is simply so ridiculous at this point there’s a desperation to it.  So let us consider…
From the outset of Donald Trump’s entry into the world of politics he espoused a series of key tenets around what he called his “America-First” objectives:

1. The U.S. needed to have control over our borders, and a greater ability to control who was migrating to the United States.  A shift toward stopping ‘illegal’ migration.
2. The U.S. needed to stop the manufacture of goods overseas and return critical manufacturing back to the United States.  A return to economic independence.
3. The U.S. needed to decouple from an over-reliance on Chinese industrial and consumer products.  China viewed as a geopolitical and economic risk.

Donald Trump was alone on these issues.  No-one else was raising them; no-one else was so urgently pushing that discussion. In 2015, 2016 and even 2017, no-one other than Trump was talking about how close we were to the dependence point of no return.
Given the status of very consequential issues stemming from the Chinese Coronavirus threat; and the myriad of serious issues with critical supply chain dependencies; wasn’t President Trump correct in his warnings and proposals?
In early 2017 President Trump and his administration coined the phrase: “economic security is national security”, and the economic team set about starting a very complex process to ensure the past three decades of trade policy was reversed.
(more…)

An assembly of government reports and public records now indicates a political exploitation of the NSA database, for weaponized intelligence surveillance of politicians, began mid 2012.  After an initial attempt to exploit IRS records, the legal tool used to access the NSA database was the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA.
With research files on the ’15, ’16 and ’17 political surveillance program; including information from the Mueller report and information from the IG Horowitz report; in combination with the Obama-era DOJ “secret research project” (their words, not mine); we are able to overlay the Obama-era domestic IC operations & gain a full understanding of how political surveillance was conducted over a period of four to six years.

The FISA-702 database extraction process, and utilization of the protections within the smaller intelligence community, became the primary process only after a previous DOJ effort ran into trouble. The established record from the 99-page FISC opinion rendered by Presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer on April 26, 2017, helps explain the details.
I would strongly urge everyone to read the FISC report (full pdf below) because Judge Collyer outlines how the DOJ, which includes the FBI, had an “institutional lack of candor” in responses to the FISA court.  Very specifically, the court outlined how the Obama administration was continually lying to the court about both their activity, and the rate of fourth amendment violations for illegal searches and seizures of U.S. persons’ private information. These violations continued for multiple years throughout Obama’s terms.
Unfortunately, due to intelligence terminology Judge Collyer’s brief and ruling is not an easy read for anyone unfamiliar with the FISA processes outlined. The complexity also helps the media avoid discussing, and as a result most Americans have no idea the scale and scope of the issues. So we’ll try to break down the language.
(more…)

HPSCI Ranking Member Devin Nunes discusses the fraudulent narrative that surrounds the Steele Dossier, and the credibility of Christopher Steele, against the backdrop of recent lawsuits by himself and the Trump administration against U.S. media.

(more…)

In November of 2019 buried deep in the congressional budget Continuing Resolution (CR) was a short-term extension to reauthorize the FISA “business records provision”, the “roving wiretap” provision, the “lone wolf” provision, and the more controversial bulk metadata provisions [Call Detail Records (CDR)], all parts of the Patriot Act.  As a result of the FISA CR inclusion the terminal deadline was pushed to March 15, 2020.

~ Something has to happen this week

The Senate is scheduled to recess March 13, 2020.  Additionally, the DOJ/FBI response to the FISA court order (due February 5th) has still not been made public.  If congress is going to reauthorize the controversial FISA provisions, they now have only *FIVE* days; and the good news today is Doug Collins confirming the House does not have enough votes to support a “clean reauthorization.” Hopefully, that means FISA is going to change.

.
According to Senator Rand Paul, President Trump is committed to seeing that FISA is not reauthorized without “significant” reform. Senator Paul has proposed to significantly change the FISA process by forcing the DOJ, FBI and Intelligence Community to apply for search and surveillance warrants to Title-3 courts in order to access any NSA database containing private information of American citizens.
(more…)

Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions came in second place to former Auburn head football coach Tommy Tuberville in the Alabama primary. Now the two will head into a March 31st runoff to decide the Republican nominee for a U.S. Senate seat.
Tommy Tuberville won approximately 33 percent of the vote while Jeff Sessions won 31 percent. U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne placed third with 25 percent. The result sets up an interesting four-week race between Sessions and Tuberville; and it would appear Jeff Sessions is not likely to get any support from his old boss:

Comeuppance !

June 2019 – PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I would say if I had one do over, it would be, I would not have appointed Jeff Sessions to be attorney general. That would be my one —
CHUCK TODD: That’s your, in your mind, that’s your worst mistake?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, that was the biggest mistake. (link)

(more…)