"Today the path to total dictatorship in the U.S. can be laid by strictly legal means, unseen and unheard by Congress, the President, or the people. Outwardly we have a Constitutional government. We have operating within our government and political system ... a well-organized political-action group in this country, determined to destroy our Constitution and establish a one-party state.... The important point to remember about this group is not its ideology but its organization... It operates secretly, silently, continuously to transform our Government.... This group ... is answerable neither to the President, the Congress, nor the courts. It is practically irremovable."— Senator William Jenner, 1954 speech

Unaffected by elections. Unaltered by populist movements. Beyond the reach of the law.

Say hello to America's shadow government.

A corporatized, militarized, entrenched bureaucracy that is fully operational and staffed by unelected officials who are, in essence, running the country, this shadow government represents the hidden face of a government that has no respect for the freedom of its citizenry.

No matter which candidate wins the presidential election, this shadow government is here to stay. Indeed, as recent documents by the FBI reveal, this shadow government—also referred to as "The 7th Floor Group"—may well have played a part in who will win the White House this year.

To be precise, however, the future president will actually inherit not one but two shadow governments.

The first shadow government, referred to as COG or Continuity of Government, is made up of unelected individuals who have been appointed to run the government in the event of a "catastrophe." COG is a phantom menace waiting for the right circumstances—a terrorist attack, a natural disaster, an economic meltdown—to bring it out of the shadows, where it operates even now. When and if COG takes over, the police state will transition to martial law.

Yet it is the second shadow government—also referred to as the Deep State—that poses the greater threat to freedom right now. Comprised of unelected government bureaucrats, corporations, contractors, paper-pushers, and button-pushers who are actually calling the shots behind the scenes, this government within a government is the real reason "we the people" have no real control over our government.

The Deep State, which "operates according to its own compass heading regardless of who is formally in power," makes a mockery of elections and the entire concept of a representative government.

So who or what is the Deep State?

It's the militarized police, which have joined forces with state and federal law enforcement agencies in order to establish themselves as a standing army. It's the fusion centers and spy agencies that have created a surveillance state and turned all of us into suspects. It's the courthouses and prisons that have allowed corporate profits to take precedence over due process and justice. It's the military empire with its private contractors and defense industry that is bankrupting the nation. It's the private sector with its 854,000 contract personnel with top-secret clearances, "a number greater than that of top-secret-cleared civilian employees of the government." It's what former congressional staffer Mike Lofgren refers to as "a hybrid of national security and law enforcement agencies": the Department of Defense, the State Department, Homeland Security, the CIA, the Justice Department, the Treasury, the Executive Office of the President via the National Security Council, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a handful of vital federal trial courts, and members of the defense and intelligence committees.

It's every facet of a government that is no longer friendly to freedom and is working overtime to trample the Constitution underfoot and render the citizenry powerless in the face of the government's power grabs, corruption and abusive tactics.

These are the key players that drive the shadow government.

This is the hidden face of the American police state that will continue long past Election Day.

Just consider some of the key programs and policies advanced by the shadow government that will continue no matter who occupies the Oval Office.

Chelsea Clinton's bold decision in 2011 to launch an "internal investigation" into the finances of the Clinton Foundation and Clinton Global Initiative was the equivalent of a declaration of war by the first daughter and a bombshell about the financial mess she discovered at the foundation.

The latest revelation came out Tuesday in a new batch of WikiLeaks emails sent to and from Clinton confidant John Podesta, who now is Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign chairman.

Two emails — one dated Nov. 12, 2011 and another dated Jan. 4, 2012 — show Chelsea was aggressively looking into the foundation's money flows and talking to others about it.

Her actions worried President Bill Clinton's long-time handler Doug Band, who complained to Podesta about Chelsea's intervention into the internal operations of the foundation.

Civil war redux?

This current United States presidential election cycle is completely out of the ordinary. Even though the division and contentions between Hillary Clinton's supporters and Donald Trump's supporters are not policy oriented, like they should be, they are nonetheless extremely vivid in the realm of rage and raw emotions. It appears that most Americans will be motivated to cast their ballots with hatred in their guts. In other words many will vote for Trump because they hate Hillary with a passion, and vice versa. The divide in the US collective psyche seems so great, that many could reject the outcome of the result, especially if Hillary Clinton wins. When a candidate calls the supporters of the other "the deplorables," this is hardly acting like someone who wants to unite all Americans.

The right-wing forces backing Trump largely because of his running mate Pence and their aversion to Hillary Clinton, are the evangelical Christians. They are the ones Clinton calls deplorable. They represent a strong voting block of about 10 percent overall nationwide, and much more in rural areas. When you look at a map of the electoral divide in the US, it is rather fascinating both sociologically and historically. It is as if the mid-19th century Civil War was never lost or won. The old Confederate south will go to Donald Trump, and this is precisely where a new form of resistance to a corrupt political class might begin. Most people like Trump because he is considered to be an anti-establishment candidate. Trump is a right-wing populist reacting against the ultra-globalist Clinton. Many will vote for Trump as a form of protest against a political class they despise. One could say, especially considering that this election cycle has become such an exercise in sleaze, depravity and joyful roll in the gutter, that a vote for Trump is a "f**k you" vote echoing the recent Brexit vote in the United Kingdom.

We really have entered a macabre twilight zone when US-led warplanes are massacring civilians in several countries - and yet Washington and its allies condemn others for war crimes.

Of course, governments that act criminally cannot be expected to be honest. But what about nominally independent organizations like the United Nations and Western media? The collective deception is damning of systematic complicity.

What makes it more disturbing is that if criminality can be so capriciously covered-up by institutions that are relied upon for law and accountability then the world really is in a dangerous, dark place.

Another landmark in the censorship of Palestinians from the official discourse: This John Podesta email at Wikileaks is getting a workout on twitter today. The Clinton campaign chairman urged speechwriters to take out a cue to "how Israel is treating the Palestinians" from a speech Hillary Clinton was giving to the Saban Forum in Washington the next day, December 6, 2015.

On page 16, in the graph beginning Many Americans feel a deep emotional connection...the paragraph is about Israel, but evokes how people feel about how Israel is treating the Palestinians. I think I'd cut or rework.

Clinton gave the speech that Sunday to the pro-Israel shop at Brookings, with Haim Saban on stage. There was only one reference in her speech to Palestinian suffering, and no indication of who causes it: "Israeli children have been killed as have Palestinian children."

The world monetary order is changing. Slowly but steadily, global trade and currency markets are becoming less dollar-centric. Formerly marginal currencies such as the Chinese yuan now stand to become serious competitors to U.S. dollar dominance.

Could gold also begin to emerge as a leading currency in world trade? Over time, it certainly could. But the more immediate implications for gold's monetary role center on its increasing accumulation by central banks such as China's.

As of October 1st, the Chinese yuan has entered the International Monetary Fund's Special Drawing Right (SDR) basket of top-tier currencies. It now shares SDR status with the U.S. dollar, euro, British pound, and Japanese yen.

Before the yuan officially becomes an SDR currency, the World Bank intends to sell $2.8 billion in SDR bonds in Chinese markets. The rollout of SDR bonds in China began August 31st. According to Reuters, China's promotion of SDR bonds "is part of a wider push in China to... boost demand for Chinese yuan and diminish reliance on the U.S. dollar in global reserves."

Is the press declaring the presidential race over? The tenor of the coverage certainly suggests that Donald Trump has no hope and Hillary Clinton is coasting to victory. Whether it's the third debate, the latest polls, the Al Smith dinner or a feeling that they've finally slayed the Trump dragon, many pundits are now portraying the billionaire's plight as Mission Impossible.

I'm always more cautious than that. I've seen too many elections where a candidate bounced back after being written off, the polls were off, or some unexpected event moved the needle. Is Clinton now the favorite to reach 270 electoral votes, or, according to some forecasts, much more? Sure. But it's not over.

The outlook from the Moody's rating agency for Russia's banking system has been revised to stable from negative due to "emerging signs of the country's economic recovery which will likely benefit its banks." The upgrade reflects Moody's expectation on the evolving bank creditworthiness in Russia over the next 12-18 months, the agency said.

"Slow economic recovery and stabilization of macroeconomic indicators in Russia will support the operating environment for Russian banks," said Vice President and Senior Credit Officer at Moody's Irakli Pipia. "We therefore expect improvements in banks' profitability and capital retention," he added.

Moody's expects the Russian economy to contract by only one percent this year, with "stabilization in oil prices and strong government stimulus fueling prospects for positive growth in 2017." Russian banks are likely to post positive net profitability in 2016 and show a gradual improvement, the rating agency said.

End of unilateral ceasefire likely to be followed by renewed Syrian army offensive to capture Jihadi held eastern districts of the city, whilst Jihadi hopes of relief by Turkey unlikely to be realised.

As anticipated, the unilateral ceasefire declared by the Syrians and the Russians in Aleppo has not been extended beyond Saturday, and fighting in the city between the Syrian army and its allies, and Al-Qaeda ("Jabhat Al-Nusra") and its allies, has resumed with a vengeance.

On its own terms the experiment with the unilateral ceasefire has been a failure. Neither the Al-Qaeda fighters in the Jihadi controlled pocket of eastern Aleppo nor any of the other Jihadi fighters there have left by way of the 'humanitarian corridors', and Al-Qaeda also successfully prevented those civilians who wanted to leave eastern Aleppo by way of the 'humanitarian corridors' from doing so. Al-Qaeda also successfully blocked aid deliveries to eastern Aleppo.

Given the sort of people they are fighting in eastern Aleppo, it is doubtful the Syrians or the Russians ever really believed the ceasefire would succeed on its own terms.

As discussed previously, it should be seen principally for what it surely was: an exercise in public relations, intended to make the Russians' position stronger when future demands for ceasefires are made by the West, demonstrating that it is the intransigence of the Jihadi fighters in eastern Aleppo which actually make ceasefires and aid deliveries to eastern Aleppo impossible.

In my opinion it is unlikely there will be any more ceasefires in eastern Aleppo.

During the third and last presidential debate between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, debate moderator Chris Wallace pulled a quote from a speech Clinton had given to Brazilian bankers, noting the information had been made available to the public via WikiLeaks.

Instead of answering the question, Clinton blamed the Russian government for the leaks, alleging "[t]he Russian government has engaged in espionage against Americans," hacking "American websites, American accounts of private people, of institutions ... in an effort, as 17 of our intelligence agencies have confirmed, to influence our election."

Following the claim, Clinton criticized Trump for saying "[Clinton] has no idea whether it's Russia, China, or anybody else," repeating her assertion that 17 U.S. intelligence agencies had determined the Russian government had been behind the Democratic National Committee (DNC) hack.

Despite her claim, reality couldn't be more different.