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Mon, 08 Nov 2021
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The central banks made the US stock market crash, and the worst is yet to come

stock market crash
© Brendan McDermid / Reuters
Everyone who's asking "why did the stock market crash Monday?" is asking the wrong question. The real poser is "why did it take so long for this crash to happen?"

The crash itself was significant-Donald Trump's favorite index, the Dow Jones Industrial (DJIA) fell 4.6 percent in one day. This is about four times the standard range of the index-and so according to conventional economics, it should almost never happen.

Of course, mainstream economists are wildly wrong about this, as they have been about almost everything else for some time now. In fact, a four percent fall in the market is unusual, but far from rare: there are well over 100 days in the last century that the Dow Jones tumbled by this much.

Whistle

Australia's new espionage laws could silence whistle-blowers and activists

Malcolm Turnbull
© Reuters
The Australian government insists Mr Turnbull’s sweeping new espionage bill are necessary and worded carefully, but critics say the new rules threaten to turn the country into an authoritarian regime.
When Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia recently proposed new espionage laws, he stressed the need for disclosure: Public officials with ties to overseas governments and entities would have to report any foreign effort to shape domestic politics.

The bills, first introduced in December, were seen by many in government as a vital tool for protecting against meddling by countries like China and Russia.

But lawyers groups, human rights organisations, journalists and government watchdogs have all criticised the new rules as so far-reaching that they threaten to make Australia more like the authoritarian regimes it aims to resist.

"It's giving government a hell of a lot of power, and it's dangerous," said Elaine Pearson, the Australia director for Human Rights Watch.

Gem

Eva Bartlett talks about Syria, media lies on 'Sputnik Orbiting the World'

Eva Barlett on Sputnik Orbiting the World
© Eva Bartlett
While in the UK giving talks on Syria (and the DPRK/North Korea) last week, I was invited to speak on 'Sputnik Orbiting the World', the program hosted by George & Gayatri Galloway.

The program description:
Speaking truth to power ought to be the duty of journalism but it is not. Speaking the power's "truth" is the way to get and keep the gig in today's media - and if you do so, you'll be richly rewarded with money and flattery.

One of our frequent guests, Patrick Cockburn, had a great journalist father, Claud Cockburn, who said that the relationship of the journalist to power should be that of the dog to the lamp-post. Nothing is true, he'd say, until it has been officially denied. Fortunately, every now and then a journalist emerges who goes where few dare, who speaks what few will speak, without fear or favor. One such journalist is Eva Bartlett, so we invited her into the Sputnik studio to speak truth to power.

TV

No more free press: French news law forces media to cooperate with state in blocking 'fake news'

Françoise Nyssen
© Eric Feferberg, AFP
French Culture Minister Françoise Nyssen at press conference in Paris on January 23, 2018.
The French Minister of Culture Françoise Nyssen said that a judicial procedure would be established to stop the dissemination of fake news, as she introduced the anti-fake news law.

"The measures that we will be working on from now until March are to create a law about 'confidence in information' that will permit us to act very quickly when a fake news story goes viral, particularly during an election period," said Nyssen in an interview with Journal du Dimanche on February 4.

"This new law will establish new responsibilities for the different media platforms, which will have to cooperate with the state and be transparent about their sponsored content. A judicial procedure will be put in place to allow rapid blocking of the dissemination of fake news once it has become manifest."

Comment: There can be no real freedom of the press when news organizations are forced by law to toe the government's party line. The ridiculous accusation of Russia disseminating 'fake news' meant to undermine Western democracies is used as the pretext for this law, but the real driving force here is the French government seeking a finer order of control over the minds of its people.


Sherlock

Nunes Memo hints Christopher Steele was paid FBI informant BEFORE being hired by Fusion GPS

clinton collusion russia
Do you want to know why the FBI continued to insist that the Nunes' memo not be declassified and released to the public? The answer is right there on page 2, (see 1b) in the discussion about what was excluded from the application to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court:
The application does not mention Steele was ultimately working on behalf of - and paid by - the DNC and Clinton campaign, or that the FBI had separately authorized payment to Steele for the same information.
I believe that the part in bold is what the FBI wanted out of the memo because it exposes the uncomfortable fact that Christopher Steele was (and had been for some time) a paid asset of the FBI. That is huge news. In other words, Steele was not a mere consultant or sub-contractor for the FBI. He was being paid to provide information/intelligence to the FBI.

There are two classes of FBI "informants." One is serving as a "criminal informant" and the other is as an "intelligence asset." Information from "criminal informants" can be used in a U.S. judicial proceeding and the informant called as a witness. Getting money under that circumstance can be problematic because the source's credibility can be impeached by defense counsel, who can argue that the testimony is purloined.

Comment: So if this theory is correct, then Steele was originally hired by Fusion GPS, who in turn were commissioned by the Clinton campaign/DNC, to get dirt on Trump connections with Russia, but when Steele found 'explosive stuff' - possibly gifted to him by Russians preying on his gullibility - he went around Fusion GPS and the Dems to report directly to the FBI because he had a history of being a source for them.


Attention

Why we should fear the 'Washington establishment' string pullers in the Trump administration

Stringpullers
© Saeed
The 'String Pullers'
The poor judgement of the very people who are meant to be a restraining force on Trump was shown when Tillerson made a classic blunder that may have negative results for the US for years to come...

People sitting in cafes in Baghdad under the rule of Saddam Hussein used to be nervous of accidentally spilling their cup of coffee over the front page of the newspaper spread out before them. They had a good reason for their anxiety, because Iraqi newspapers at that time always carried a picture of Saddam on their front page. Defacing his features might be interpreted as an indication of disrespect or even of a critical or treasonous attitude towards the great leader.

Saddam Hussein invariably got star billing in the Iraqi press, but he would be impressed at the astonishing way in which it has become the norm in the US media for the words and doings of President Trump to monopolise the top of the news. Day after day, the three or four lead stories in The New York Times and CNN relate directly or indirectly to Trump. And, unlike Saddam, this blanket coverage is voluntary on the part of the news outlets and overwhelmingly critical.

Trump's outrageous insults and lies have succeeded in keeping the spotlight firmly on him ever since he declared his candidacy for the presidency in 2015. Whatever else he may be, he is seldom boring, unlike so many of his defeated rivals and opponents, who believed that his obvious failings must inevitably sink him.

Comment: It is past time for a new direction and dynamic in Washington, should it ever be allowed to fully take place. Trump, by providing the 'wrecking ball', has upended decades of complacency, grooved response and beltway corruption, without which the US would, unfettered, continue on its downward path of slow and painful degradation.


Snakes in Suits

House approves the release of Dem's rebuttal memo

SchiffNunesEl
© Getty Images/Emily Bruce/KJN
The House Intelligence Committee has voted to publish the memo authored by the Democrats challenging last week's majority report about the FBI and DOJ abuses of surveillance powers to spy on Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

On Monday evening, the committee voted unanimously to release the Democrats' memo and sent it to the White House for final approval, following the same path the document commissioned by chairman Devin Nunes (R-California) took last week. Democrats voted against that memorandum's publication.

The Nunes memo accused the senior FBI and Justice Department officials of obtaining a FISA warrant to spy on a Trump campaign staffer chiefly on the basis of the dodgy dossier authored by British ex-spy Christopher Steele and paid for by Hillary Clinton's campaign, without disclosing the political bias behind it.

"Did we catch them in the act or what?" Trump told a crowd in Ohio on Monday, hinting at the memo's fallout in Washington.

The rebuttal memo was written by ranking member Adam Schiff (D-California), who has accused Nunes of "cherry-picking" information in his document and tried to prevent its publication. Schiff's memo was approved for distribution to House members last Monday, and has attracted more interest from Republicans than Democrats so far.

Comment: The Democrats are in such a tizzy they had to leak their memo to NBC in a ploy to lead MSM around by the nose. There is an elephant in the room and it is somewhere between what the Democrats can cover up and what the Republicans can prove. See what else Schiffty has been up to:


X

US waives sanctions on Russian spy chief Naryshkin so he can meet CIA Director Pompeo

Naryshkin
© Unknown
Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Director, Sergey Naryshkin
National security trumps politics with the SVR head's exemption from sanctions-imposed visa restrictions.

The sanctions levied by the United States against the Russian Federation are portrayed as stone walls, intended to isolate and pinch the government of Russia and to cow them to fulfill American demands on the geopolitical and cultural (relativist) scenes.

Taken in that context, the Tuesday release of what has come to be called the "Kremlin List", naming some 210 government officials and wealthy business leaders, was regarded by some officials in the Russian Federation as very unfriendly, though no sanctions were imposed in any connection with this list.

Although some Russian officials complained about the document, President Putin was unimpressed, and simply gave one of his quiet but pointed remarks that he was "disappointed not to have been included on this list." But went on to say that the "dogs bark and then they move on," suggesting that the Russian president may be somewhat annoyed with the actions taken by his American counterparts, but they certainly do not bother him.

Post-It Note

The Nunes memo release leaves anti-Russia campaign in disarray

TrumpRussia
© Countercurrents
The Democratic Party was thrown into disarray Friday after the publication of a classified memo exposing as a factionally-motivated witch hunt the investigation by leading intelligence agencies into the Trump administration's alleged collusion with Russia.

The so-called Nunes memo, which Democratic lawmakers, US intelligence agencies and major newspapers had been seeking to block for days, alleges that the FBI under the Obama administration used discredited sources and withheld key information to initiate a wiretap of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

The Democrats responded to the prospective release of the Nunes memo with undisguised hysteria, declaring that it threatened national security and was insufficiently deferential to the US intelligence agencies. Now that the memo has been released, the Democrats' claim that it contains sensitive national security secrets has been exposed as lies.

Comment: Several points were scored and underscored in this article. The more the Dems protest and flail, the more desperate they look in the battle for information versus propaganda.


Clipboard

House Intel Committee has five more memos exposing 'politically motivated' abuses by FBI, DOJ

ELEDONKMemo
© WJMK/KJN
If you thought Friday's FISA abuse memo could be the sole report on FBI and Justice Department corruption, House Intelligence chairman Devin Nunes may have a surprise.

According to Axios, the Committee could publish up to five more reports outlining "politically motivated "wrongdoing" across various agencies, including the FBI, the broader Justice Department, and the State Department."

Axios reports:
What we're hearing: Republicans close to Nunes say there could be as many as five additional memos or reports of "wrongdoing." But a source on the House Intelligence Committee tells me there's no current plan to use the same extraordinary and highly controversial process they just went through, with a vote and ultimately a presidential approval to declassify sensitive information.
A Republican member briefed on Nunes' investigations told me: "There are several areas of concern where federal agencies used government resources to try to create a narrative and influence the election. Some have suggested coordination with Hillary Clinton operatives, [Sydney] Blumenthal and [Cody] Shearer, to back up the false narrative."

Comment: Democrats have upped the ante when they decided to indiscriminately (or couldn't help themselves) offer up almost 100 leaks to the press, the public. Level of panic: 'Extreme'. Level of responsibility: 'Negligent'.

See also: Nunes blasts Schiff: 'Almost 100 leaks' by Dems on House Intel Committee