White House Soap Operas Distract From Real Global Dangers

This report was originally published by Brandon Smith at Alt-Market.com

In the liberty movement, we often refer to the historical tactic of the Roman “bread and circuses” when describing the deliberate mass distraction of the public of today. In the era when Roman emperors supplanted the senate and dominated political and social life, it was deemed advantageous to create various forms of “entertainment,” often violent, in order to keep the citizenry preoccupied and thus less likely to physically act against the power structure as the empire suffered economic decline. The use of bread and circuses continues into our era, but the method has been refined and the manipulations have become in some ways more subtle.

For example, in ancient Rome the horrors of the Colosseum were meant to keep the public’s attention AWAY from the government. Today, the soap opera of government keeps people’s attention away from the true power brokers within global finance.

The White House itself has been molded into just another reality TV show, and mainstream media coverage has been relentless. With Donald Trump (no stranger to reality TV) at center stage, it is difficult for the citizenry to gauge what is politically legitimate and important. What we are bombarded with is an ever escalating drama between Trump, his staff, and the media, and instead of ignoring the theater many people are desperately seeking to interpret the meaning behind a show that is actually meaningless.

Every two weeks or so another episode develops in which Trump, playing the character of the brash and aggressive “populist,” fires one of his cabinet as if The Apprentice never ended, but was simply transferred to the Oval Office. Some people find this entertaining as it is Trump doing what he is most recently famous for doing. Those on the political left interpret this as reckless abandon and confirmation that their fears over Trump being ill suited to the presidency are justified. Still others in the liberty movement who originally supported Trump’s campaign are perhaps desperately looking for vindication. They wanted so badly to avoid the inevitable evils of a Clinton regime that they are now willing to give Trump a pass on almost anything, and they argue that the endless turnover in the Trump White House is Trump fulfilling his election promise of “draining the swamp.”

It is important to note that Trump is NOT draining the swamp of elitism in Washington D.C. The public is so focused on who Trump gives the boot they are forgetting to pay attention to the institutions that never leave. But what do I mean by this?

Let’s look at the some of the more widely publicized staff changes at the White House. Dina Powell, a Goldman Sachs alumni, was recently replaced as National Security Adviser, and so, the argument that Trump is “draining the swamp” persists. Yet, Powell was replaced by H.R. McMaster, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and hardly a stranger to elitist circles.

Gary Cohn, another Goldman Sachs agent, has left his post as Chief Economic Adviser and has been replaced by “conservative” Larry Kudlow, ostensibly as Trump is “cleaning house” and removing globalist influences in preparation for his war to balance the trade deficit. Yet, Kudlow is was a campaign coordinator who worked closely with the likes of Bill Clinton and John Podesta, as well as other major Democrat personalities. He began his career as a staff economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and oversaw the fall of Bear Stearns which was one of the sparks that launched the 2008 credit crisis. This guy is in no way a true conservative, nor is he some kind of anti-globalist replacement for Gary Cohn.

Rex Tillerson’s firing, one of the most recent dramas, has led to the position of Secretary of State being filled by CIA Director Mike Pompeo. Pompeo is often portrayed as a former “Tea Party congressmen”, yet he is a rabid supporter of mass surveillance of the American people by the NSA through FISA related programs, and has referred to Wikileaks as a “non-state hostile intelligence service.” First, this only proves further the “Tea Party” label has been so thoroughly co-opted by the establishment that it is laughable to refer to it in any relation to true conservatives and liberty champions. Second, it also shows that Trump has no intention of making any significant changes to the Beltway; only cosmetic changes are allowed.

And so it goes on and on. If one looks closely at the Trump administration, they will find that the people within the cabinet are changing constantly, but the elitist and globalist organizations and ideologies those people represent are always present within the White House. They never leave.

The swamp is not being “drained,” it is simply being shifted around so that the American people can’t keep up with the names of the swamp creatures and the positions they hold.

Ever since the days of Woodrow Wilson, a president purportedly controlled from within the White House by adviser Col. Mandel House (the founder of the Council On Foreign Relations), it has been common practice for globalists to use presidents as proxies. That is to say, the president is generally a mascot held up to the public as a target for political criticism or as a rallying tool to push the population in a particular direction. All the while, the true power brokers work from behind the curtain, dictating policy towards the paths of either globalization or disaster.

Trump is an interesting case as far as this 4^th generation warfare is concerned. Never in modern times has a president’s rhetoric been so openly hostile to the globalists, while at the same time harboring those very same globalists within his administration. Never before has a fabricated battle between the White House and globalization as an ideology been used as a distraction from globalism itself. This is something entirely new.

The issue is something I warned about consistently before Trump was even elected, and it is the reason I predicted that he would become president. Trump, in my view according to the evidence so far, is controlled opposition. He is a foil for the globalist battle against ideas of conservatism, sovereignty and nationalism. Instead of attacking these ideas outright (a losing battle), the elitists have presented a strawman in the form of Donald Trump. Trump’s actions seem to follow conservative guidelines but his policies are poorly executed, which sets the stage for future failures on an epic scale.

As I mentioned in my article Trump Trade Wars A Perfect Smokescreen For A Market Crash, the timing of Trump’s initiatives could not be more perfect…for international financiers and central banks, that is.

Currently, the Federal Reserve and other central banks around the world are embarking on a process of tightening stimulus measures that have been artificially propping up stock markets and bond markets since the 2008 crash. In particular, the Fed’s move to continue hiking interest rates and cut its balance sheet as negative economic data rolls in has set light to the fuse of a fiscal explosion. Market dependency on cheap debt is total. Corporate debt levels are at all time highs as companies sink further and further into the red in a desperate attempt to inflate their own stock prices through stock buybacks. The Fed has been facilitating this market manipulation for quite some time, but now the party is over.

With each new rate hike and balance sheet reduction markets become more volatile and unstable. The Fed under new chairman Jerome Powell is well aware of what it is doing, considering Powell warned of the consequences of this as far back as 2012. It is highly unlikely though that when the economy crashes central bankers will get the blame.

As March rolls into April, it is also important to note that the Fed’s balance sheet reductions are slated to expand to $30 billion per month or more. So far, the Fed has shown a habit of cutting far beyond their publicly stated goals.  With markets dropping by thousands of points every time there is a balance sheet reduction, the instability is only going to increase exponentially.

Also, is it just a coincidence that every new Trump tariff and trade war announcement seems to take place at the same time as the Fed’s rate hikes and balance sheet cuts?  This sure does make it appear as though Trump is the cause of the subsequent stock market declines rather than the central bank, doesn’t it?

Trump’s continued soap opera theater is building up the narrative of a slapdash presidency run by a bumbling novice. Trump’s initiation of a trade war without necessary preparations, such as giving corporations incentives to move manufacturing back to the U.S. and creating production independence, is an excellent smokescreen for a collapse of stock markets and a dumping of U.S. Treasury bonds by foreign creditors.

For those wondering why globalist elements would deliberately crash the American economy, I suggest they read my article The Economic Endgame Explained. To summarize, in order to reach their openly stated goals of a one world currency system, as well as total centralization of global economic administration, certain appendages of the current system must be sacrificed. One of those appendages is the American economy as it exists now, along with the U.S. dollar as the world reserve currency.

Such an attack on our country and our society would not go without notice or possible retaliation. Therefore, the banking elitists need a scapegoat. I have said it before and I’ll say it again — there is no better scapegoat that the Trump White House. Why? Because the Trump White House has been painted since the election as a symbol of stalwart conservatism, even though it is not. The demonization of conservative principles such as limited government, true free markets, personal liberty, etc. becomes much easier when globalists can attach them to an international catastrophe such as a financial collapse.

And, since Trump has been set up as the strawman for conservative ideals, attaching catastrophe to Trump also vicariously attaches catastrophe to the rest of us.

The only way to undermine this 4^th generation warfare tactic is for conservatives to ignore the White House soap opera and to question Donald Trump’s policies publicly when they do not meet logical or practical standards. Blindly supporting Trump because of his rhetoric only harms our cause in the long run, and refusing to acknowledge the fact that he has surrounded himself with the very globalists he is supposedly at war with only sets us up for tragedy. If we remain skeptical and maintain our principles, however, it becomes much harder for the mainstream media or anyone else to implicate us in any great calamity that Trump is blamed for.

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You can contact Brandon Smith at: brandon@alt-market.com

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Ben Garrison"s 12 Days Of Trumpmas

Authored by Ben Garrison via GrrrrGraphics.com,

‘Twas the night before Christmas, and in the White House
Trump’s words were stirring; Obama felt like a mouse.

A populist president with a broom that swept clean,
Trump accomplished much in 2017.

Yet out past the lawn there arose such a clatter,
Pussy Hatters were yelling along with Black Lives Matter.

The Deep State pushed back—the Swamp became bitter,
They always get triggered when Trump is on Twitter.

Fake News Media compared Trump with Nixon,
“Impeach him!” said Maddow, Mika and Wolf Blitzen.

Rich kneelers were kneeling and sitting on hands,
Stadiums were emptied, they angered their fans.

Rocket Man’s missiles were threatening Seoul,
Kim Jong-Un’s stocking was soon stuffed with coal.

Respect, fame and fortune many women were hoping,
Instead they were molested–the gropers were groping!

Crooked Hillary lied about Trump’s Russian collusion,
The evidence showed it was just an illusion.

The Ass Clowns were angry and showing no poise,
They were loud and obnoxious–empty barrels of noise.

Trump’s eyes twinkled with MAGA delight. He yelled,
“MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!”

–Merry Christmas from Ben and Tina Garrison

Trump Dissolves Charitable Foundation (As Promised)

Fulfilling a promise he made in December 2016, NBC News reports that President Trump is in the process of dissolving his charitable foundation, which admitted last year that it violated federal rules on "self-dealing."

As we noted in December, the foundation, which has been the subject of several controversies and investigations, was originally set up to give away the proceeds from Trump"s bestselling book, "The Art of the Deal." As The Hill writes, the book"s co-writer, Tony Schwartz, told CBS News he has received $1.6 million in royalties, per a 50-50 split agreement with Trump. A Washington Post investigation in June found that Trump had personally given his foundation $2.8 million of the book"s proceeds over the past 15 years, and nothing since 2009.

The foundation itself has given more than $13 million to charity since it was founded, but only $4.9 million has come from Trump himself, according to the CBS report.

"I am very proud of the money that has been raised for many organizations in need, and I am also very proud of the fact that the Foundation has operated at essentially no cost for decades, with 100% of the money going to charity," Trump said Saturday.

 

"But because I will be devoting so much time and energy to the Presidency and solving the many problems facing our country and the world, I don’t want to allow good work to be associated with a possible conflict of interest," he added.

 

"The Foundation has done enormous good works over the years in contributing millions of dollars to countless worthy groups, including supporting veterans, law enforcement officers and children," Trump said in a statement.

 

"However, to avoid even the appearance of any conflict with my role as President I have decided to continue to pursue my strong interest in philanthropy in other ways," he added.

NBC News reports that at the end of 2016, the foundation had assets of about $970,000, and in its previous tax filing in 2015, the foundation acknowledged violating a legal prohibition against a "self-dealing" rule barring nonprofit leaders from funneling their charity"s money to themselves, their businesses or their families.

New York"s attorney general ordered the foundation to stop soliciting contributions in October 2016.

And now, NBC News reports that according to newly filed documents, the foundation is is in the process of dissolving... just as President Trump had said he would.

The Republican Tax Plan Is Very Swampy

Authored by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,

Unsurprisingly, the Republican tax plan moving forward in the U.S. Congress and championed by Donald “Drain the Swamp” Trump, is very swampy.

Today’s post will highlight a few examples.

First, let’s hear some of what billionaire fund manager Jeffrey Gundlach had to say. Via Bloomberg:

Jeffrey Gundlach, chief investment officer of DoubleLine Capital, said the congressional tax plan would expand the federal deficit and help a small fraction of the U.S. population, including hedge fund managers.

 

“I’m very disappointed incidentally about the shape of this tax cut that is being proposed,” Gundlach told a gathering of industry participants at the Drake Hotel in Chicago on Wednesday. “I am just appalled that we are going to continue to have a carried-interest scheme for hedge funds.”

 

The House bill set to be voted on Thursday keeps the carried-interest tax treatment that benefits private-equity managers, venture capitalists, hedge-fund managers and certain real estate investors. During last year’s campaign, President Donald Trump had vowed to get rid of the loophole. White House top economic adviser Gary Cohn has said Trump is committed to ending the tax break.

 

“After I saw that tax bill, I lost hope with the drain the swamp concept,” Gundlach said. “The swamp keeps getting bigger.”

 

Carried interest is the portion of a fund’s profit — usually a 20 percent share — that’s paid to managers. Currently, tax authorities treat that income as capital gains, making it eligible for a rate as low as 20 percent. The top tax rate for ordinary income is 39.6 percent.

 

He called the tax plan “a cosmetic tax decrease for the middle class that will go away over time.”

Of course, none of this is really surprising. Donald Trump’s been a Wall Street bootlicker ever since he came into office, just like Barack Obama before him.

But there’s much more swampiness to be had. For example, there’s the fact that the corporate tax rate cut is permanent, while the individual cut is temporary. From the Los Angeles Times:

A gambit by Senate Republicans to make a large corporate tax cut permanent by having benefits for individuals expire at the end of 2025 created new problems for the legislation Wednesday as lawmakers were still grappling with the controversial decision to add the repeal of a key Obamacare provision.

 

The decision by Republican leaders to double down on risky maneuvers to overcome budgetary hurdles with their tax overhaul threatened to put the entire effort in jeopardy.

 

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) declared he would not support the bill because it treats large corporations differently than many small businesses, which pay taxes through the individual code.

 

“If they can pass it without me, let them,” Johnson told the Wall Street Journal. “I’m not going to vote for this tax package.”

 

He later said he hoped “to address the disparity so I can support the final version.”

Here’s some more on what Ron Johnson’s complaining about, via CNBC:

Johnson said he’s been working for months behind the scenes to make changes, but he added that he’s not going to let his “version of perfect” sink tax reform. “I want to get this thing fixed, and vote for pro-growth tax reform that makes all American businesses competitive globally,” he said. “I care deeply about this country, I care deeply about this deficit.”

 

As a former small business owner, Johnson said he’s particularly concerned about the so-called pass-through rate, in which the profits and losses of sole proprietorships, partnerships, and S-corporations “pass through” to their owners who are then taxed at individual income-tax rates, currently as high as 39.6 percent.

 

“We can’t leave anybody behind, which is why they came up with the 25 rate for pass throughs,” he said. “The problem is, neither the House or the Senate version really honored that commitment to pass-through businesses, which I argue are a huge engine of economic growth.”

 

“I don’t have the information on how much it would cost, how many pass-through businesses are being left behind that do compete globally. I can’t get the information. I’ve been asking. They don’t give it to me,” said Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

Moving on, if you’re still in denial that this “tax reform” was written for oligarchs and mega corps, take a look at the reaction of former Goldman Sachs executive and Trump’s White House Economic Council director, Gary Cohn, when his audience of corporate executives were asked a simple question.

As Zerohedge perfectly summarized:

The eagerness to shift incentives away from buybacks to capex is also the basis for much of Trump’s economic policy as designed over the past year by his top economic advisor, former Goldman COO Gary Cohn who is the White House Economic Council director. In fact, the motive behind the administration’s entire push for tax reform (cutting corporate tax rates) and offshore cash repatriation, is to the funds domestically, though not on buybacks and M&A (which also leads to “synergies” and other headcount reductions), but on reinvesting the funds in growing one’s business and hiring.

 

Which is why we were amused to observe the following brief interchange yesterday between Gary Cohn and an audience made up of executives, where in the span of a few seconds Gary Cohn realized that his entire economic policy had been a disaster.

 

During an event for the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council, an editor at The Wall Street Journal asked the room: “If the tax reform bill goes through, do you plan to increase investment — your company’s investment, capital investment?” He asked for a show of hands.

 

Alas, as the camera revealed, virtually nobody raised their hand.

 

Responding to this “unexpected” lack of enthusiasm to invest in growth, Cohn had one question: “Why aren’t the other hands up?"

 

 

Ironically, Cohn’s epiphany took place just as tax reform is approaching the final stretch in Congress and it increasingly appears that at least some form of corporate tax cut will be enacted. We say ironically, because the only thing Trump’s reform will achieve is to dramatically accelerate recently slowing buybacks, which in turn will push stocks to new all time highs as price-indescriminate CFOs and Tresurers tells their favorite VWAP trading desk to just “wave it in.” Which means that the White House paper suggesting corporate tax cuts will boost household income is correct… if it focuses only on the incomes of the richest 1% of households.

Don’t despair, I promise there’s something in there for the average joe. For instance, after years of repression, owners of private jets will finally get that tax break they desperately need.

The Hill reports:

The latest version of the Senate Republican tax reform bill includes a break for companies that manage private jets.

 

A measure in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would lower taxes on some of the payments made by owners of private aircraft to management companies that help maintain, store and staff those planes for owners.

 

The language would exempt owners or leasers of private aircraft from paying taxes on certain costs related to the upkeep and maintenance of the jets, according to a description from the Joint Committee on Taxation.

I know, Congress sells out to special interests pretty cheaply. Fortunately, Rep. Joe Barton of Texas is looking out for the plebs.

Texas Rep. happy about tax bill because he gets to build a new colosseum. pic.twitter.com/eeq88tLJB5

— Michael Krieger (@LibertyBlitz) November 16, 2017

Meanwhile, a recent Quinnipiac showed that this oligarch giveaway isn’t particularly popular. How surprising.

The WSJ reported:

In a new Quinnipiac poll, 25% of American voters approve of the Republican tax plan, compared with 52% who disapprove.

 

Among Republicans, support was 60%.

 

President Donald Trump has cast the tax plan as a boon to middle-class households. Nearly 60% of American voters in the Quinnipiac poll believe the Republican plan favors the rich at the expense of the middle class.

 

About 24% of American voters say the middle class will mainly benefit from the tax plan, while 61% say the wealthy would be the primary beneficiaries.

 

About 36% of voters believe the tax plan will propel economic growth, while 52% don’t believe it will.

But here’s the best part. Former Goldman Sachs partner, Steven “Let them Eat Cake” Mnuchin, doesn’t want to hear it.

Asked whether Senate Republicans have 51 votes to pass the bill as it stands, Mr. Mnuchin said, “I am confident we are going to get this passed in the Senate.”

 

Mr. Mnuchin brushed aside suggestions that the bill is unpopular, refusing to comment on a Quinnipiac poll showing 16% of voters believe the bill will reduce taxes.

 

He also said “virtually everybody in the middle class will get a tax cut,” and that only “people who are making more than $1 million in high-tax states who will be making more.” Even people in high-tax states would reap the benefits of a lower corporate tax rate and other changes meant to help businesses that will boost economic activity, he said.

Guess he missed the recent video of his buddy Gary Cohn.

The more people learn about this monstrosity, the less they like it. Unfortunately, by that point it’ll be too late.

You lose again America. Make Wall Street Great Again.

*  *  *

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Trick Or Treat: One Year Later, Is Trump A Blessing Or A Curse To The Deep State?

Authored by John Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

Has Donald Trump been a blessing or a curse to the architects of the American police state?

One thing is for sure: a year into his presidency, Trump hasn’t done much to improve the lot of the American people.

The predators of the police state are still wreaking havoc on our freedoms, our communities, and our lives.

The government still doesn’t listen to the citizenry, it still refuses to abide by the Constitution, which is our rule of law, and it still treats the citizenry as a source of funding and little else. Police officers are still shooting unarmed citizens and their household pets. Government agents—including local police—are still being armed to the teeth and encouraged to act like soldiers on a battlefield. Bloated government agencies are still fleecing taxpayers. Government technicians are still spying on our emails and phone calls. Government contractors are still making a killing by waging endless wars abroad.

In other words, the American police state is still alive and well and flourishing.

Nothing has changed.

Rather than draining the corrupt swamps of Washington, as he repeatedly promised, Trump and his brand of reality TV politics have merely redirected our attention.

Trust me, the swamps are still stagnant with corruption.

Indeed, we are still the unwitting victims of a system so corrupt that it spans all branches of government.

We are still ruled by an elite class of individuals who are completely out of touch with the travails of the average American.

We are still viewed as relatively expendable in the eyes of government: faceless numbers of individuals who serve one purpose, which is to keep the government machine running through our labor and our tax dollars.

We are still being made to suffer countless abuses at the government’s hands.

We still have little protection against standing armies (domestic and military), invasive surveillance, marauding SWAT teams, an overwhelming government arsenal of assault vehicles and firepower, and a barrage of laws that criminalize everything from vegetable gardens to lemonade stands.

In other words, despite Trump (or because of him), freedom—or what’s left of it—is still being threatened from every direction.

Trump has done nothing to wrest control of the government from the Deep State, that shadowy elite group of powerbrokers and corporations who call the shots in Washington.

Trump has done nothing to prevent the government from continuing to plunder and steal from the American taxpayer. In fact, his administration has paved the way for even more theft in the form of civil asset forfeiture.

Trump has failed to end the government’s endless wars. To the contrary, he has fallen in line with the military industrial complex.

Most of all, Trump has proven to be as deaf, dumb and blind as every president before him when it comes to the plight of the citizenry.

The new boss really is just the same as the old boss.

We’re still on the losing end of a tug-of-war over control of our country and our lives.

The Deep State is winning.

Get ready.

We’re just a few short years away from the dystopian future depicted in the film V for Vendetta, which is no future at all.

Written and produced by the Wachowskis, V for Vendetta (2005) provides a powerful visual commentary on how totalitarian governments such as our own exploit fear and use mass surveillance, censorship, terrorism, and militarized tactics to control, oppress and enslave.

The lesson is this: once a free people allows the government to make inroads into their freedoms or uses those same freedoms as bargaining chips for security, it quickly becomes a slippery slope to outright tyranny.

In other words, it makes no difference whether it’s a Democrat or a Republican at the helm, because the bureaucratic mindset on both sides of the aisle now embodies the same philosophy of authoritarian government, whose priority is to remain in power.

So where does that leave us?

In V for Vendetta, it takes a desperate act of terrorism (V blows up the seat of government on the fifth of November) for the people to finally mobilize and stand up to the government’s tyranny.

This is what happens when a parasitical government muzzles the citizenry, fences them in, herds them, brands them, whips them into submission, forces them to ante up the sweat of their brows while giving them little in return, and then provides them with little to no outlet for voicing their discontent: people get desperate, citizens lose hope, and lawful, nonviolent resistance gives way to unlawful, violent resistance.

Do not wait to act until there is no alternative but violence.

We’ve got to make the government hear us using every nonviolent means available to us: picket, protest, march, boycott, speak up, sound off and reclaim control over the narrative about what is really going on in this country.

Mind you, the government doesn’t want to hear us. It doesn’t even want us to speak. In fact, it’s done a diabolically good job of establishing roadblocks to prevent us from exercising our First Amendment right to speech and assembly and protest.

Still we must persist.

For starters, stop worshipping false idols. Stop waiting for Trump to drain the swamps, or some whistleblower to topple the tyrants, or some other political savior to swoop in and fix all that’s wrong with this country. Stop allowing yourselves to be drawn into divisive party politics. Stop thinking of yourselves as members of a particular political party, as opposed to citizens of the United States. Most of all, stop looking away from the injustices and cruelties and endless acts of tyranny that have become hallmarks of American police state.

Remember, remember the fifth of November, warns V for Vendetta.

Why should we remember the fifth of November?

Because it commemorates a day in history when a desperate vigilante tried to bring about a violent revolution.

Trust me, no one wants a violent revolution.

Americans speak reverently of how our founders mounted a revolution to secure our freedoms, but our platitudes gloss over the terrible toll it demanded of them: families torn apart, lives lost and years of misery and hardship.

As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the moral choice before us is clear: it is the choice between tyranny and freedom, dictatorship and autonomy, peaceful slavery and dangerous freedom, and manufactured pipedreams of what America used to be versus the gritty reality of what she is today.

Gold Jumps As Trump Says "Very, Very Close" To Fed Chair Decision

The Dollar index dropped and gold jumped as President Trump told reporters during a meeting with the prime minister of Singapore that he was "very very close" to a decision on who would be the next chair(person) of The Fed...

Jerome Powell continues to be the front-runner...

And gold is up...

 

Pushing the precious metal above its 100DMA...

Gold Star Widow Releases Trump"s Call: "Tell Your Children I Said Their Father Was A Great Hero"

As the imbrogilio over President Trump"s private call to the widow of Sgt. David Johnson killed in action in Niger continues to torment, The Daily Caller"s Henry Rodgers reports Gold Star widow Natasha De Alencar released the audio of a phone conversation she had with President Donald Trump in April about the death of her husband who was killed in Afghanistan.

“I am so sorry to hear about the whole situation. What a horrible thing, except that he’s an unbelievable hero,” Trump told her in the call about her husband Army Staff Sgt. Mark R. De Alencar, which The Washington Post released.

 

“Thank you. I really, really appreciated it,” she said. “I really do, sir.”

Trump also told the widow if she is ever in Washington D.C. that she is welcome in the Oval Office.

“If you’re around Washington, you come over and see me in the Oval Office,” he said.

 

“You just come over and see me because you are just the kind of family … this is what we want.”

 

“Say hello to your children, and tell them your father he was a great hero that I respected,” Trump said.

 

“Just tell them I said your father was a great hero.”

The phone call was released after White House chief of staff Gen. John Kelly pushed back against Florida Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson’s criticism that Trump told Sgt. Johnson’s widow “he knew what he signed up for,” during Thursday’s White House press briefing.

And finally, the story has now morphed to being about General Kelly and not what President Trump may or may not have said to Sgt. Johnson"s widow - it appears MSNBC has decided that Kelly"s emotional comments...

Were driven by his racism...

MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell said he was “stunned” by White House chief of staff John Kelly’s remarks about Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson of Florida, suggesting that the former general was a product of a racist upbringing.

 

“John Kelly never sat next to Frederica Wilson in his elementary school,” he added.

 

Joy-Ann Reid lauded fellow MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell’s Thursday night segment in which he characterized White House Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly’s attack on Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson as the product of his “segregated” Irish Catholic upbringing.

O'Keefe Drops Part IV: 20-Year NYT Veteran Exposes "Culture Of Anti-Trump Bias"

First it was Audience Strategy Editor, Nick Dudich, who admitted to repeatedly promoting content that intentionally sought to, among other things, damage President Trump"s businesses as a means towards forcing his resignation. 

Next came the NYT"s senior Home Page Editor, Des Shoe, who described Trump as an “oblivious idiot” and Pence as “f***ing horrible” while admitting that her company"s perpetual bias and "shocking" headlines were often nothing more than click-bait designed to attract readers in a hyper-competitive industry.

Now, James O"Keefe and the team at Project Veritas would like for you to meet Todd Gordon, a 20-year veteran IT consultant at the New York Times who says the "culture of anti-Trump bias" has become so pervasive at the Times that not a single person within the organization has a positive opinion of the President.

PV Journalist: “Have you ever had anybody in New York Times’ office come up to you and say, I actually enjoy Trump?”

Todd Gordon: “No, no, no.”

PV Journalist: “Really?”

Todd Gordon: “Not one person.”

PV Journalist: “Not one person?”

Todd Gordon: “Not one, not one. Everyone hates him. They hate him like the plague dude.  I’m like, beautiful day, today. And they’re like, as good as it could be, fuck Trump. Everywhere I go, everywhere I go they’re like as good as it could be, but we’re fucked.”

"They unfairly, yes. I agree 100%. They unfairly report on him[Trump]" Watch the latest #AmericanPravda NYT video below... @realdonaldtrump pic.twitter.com/3P7dF0sSlM

— James O"Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) October 19, 2017

Gordon goes on to say that without a voice of dissent, it is impossible to believe that The Times can be impartial towards Trump, “They unfairly, yes. I agree 100 percent. They unfairly report on him.”

PV Journalist: “How can they report…”

Todd Gordon: “They can’t.”

PV Journalist: “Without being biased, right?”

Todd Gordon: “You’re right, 100%. 100%.”

He continues to explain how a lack of real sourcing for the Russia story has resulted in a nonstop barrage of "heresay"...something we"ve noted numerous times over the past year..

Todd Gordon: “Right, it’s all been here-say. Maybe he did this, maybe he did that. You’re right, 100%. They haven’t been able to prove it.”

PV Journalist: “But 100%, that’s how I feel like Times…”

Todd Gordon: “You’re right.”

PV Journalist: “…has covered this, right?”

Todd Gordon: “Yeah, 100% you’re right. It’s all heresay.”

PV Journalist: “You’re in the office all the time, so you get to see it firsthand.”

Todd Gordon: “Yeah, heresay, it’s all heresay. And they’re like grab that heresay and let’s put it out there.”

Although we know #NYTimesLies, we think Todd Gordon is telling the truth. #AmericanPravda #NYTimes

See more: https://t.co/H6PG5xkL7P pic.twitter.com/sBgDgvcYwg

— Project Veritas (@Project_Veritas) October 19, 2017

With that intro, here is "NYT Part IV" in its entirety:

North Korea Drops Propaganda Leaflets On Seoul: "Let's Behead Mad Dog Trump, Death To The Old Lunatic"

Following President Trump"s United Nations" speech threats to "totally destroy" North Korea, lambasting the North"s leader Kim Jong-un as "a rocket man on a suicide mission," it appears he is not the only one capable of public and aggressive hyperbole.

As The Independent reports, propaganda fliers presumed to be from North Korea and calling US President Donald Trump a “mad dog” have turned up across central Seoul, including near the presidential Blue House, according to posts on social media and people who found them.

“Death to old lunatic Trump!” reads one poster, with a North Korean soldier with rifle in hand, crushing what looks to be Trump’s head with his tongue dangling out of his mouth.

Near the soldier’s head is the line: “Complete obliteration.”

Another poster shows Trump with the body of a dog being decapitated by an axe...

Blood is shown splattered on the axe in the poster, which states:

“Let’s behead mad dog Trump for the future of a peaceful and warless world and mankind!”

And In an apparent jab at Trump’s UN speech, one of the propaganda posters featured Trump standing behind a podium with a rocket in his mouth painted with the words “totally destroy North Korea”.

Again, Trump is depicted as a dog with a human face and labelled as “mad dog Trump”.

Men in suits (on the right) with surprised looks on their faces are shown in the poster saying:

“He’s gone completely insane” and “If we let him be, there will be war”.

Of course none of this is new to Trump as liberal so-called comedians have gone there...

And so has German magazine Der Spiegel...

But, it is reportedly not difficult to find North Korean propaganda posters in South Korea, usually flown by balloon over the highly fortified demilitarised zone.

Military images and anti-US threats are common in North Korea propaganda as Pyongyang demands the United States cease what it says is its preparations for invasion.

“I am pretty sure it came from North Korea by balloon, since the prevailing winds during October have been from north to south and we’ve been getting reports of others finding them throughout Seoul,” said Chad O‘Carroll, managing director of NK News, a Seoul-based news subscription service, who found the leaflets while jogging in central Seoul.

But, as The Indepdent reports, the new series of fliers posted recently on Twitter and other social media target Trump specifically.

Healthcare Stocks Slide After Trump Says "Drug Prices Out Of Control"

Another day, another Trump soundbite to bring the algos out of hibernation. Moments ago the commented on tax and welfare reform, stating that "some people are taking advantage of the system while others are not receiving enough to live."

• TRUMP SAYS LOOKING TO REDUCE GOVERNMENT SPENDING HEADING INTO NEXT BUDGET SEASON


• TRUMP SAYS LOOKING AT WELFARE REFORM IDEAS


• TRUMP SAYS SOME PEOPLE ARE TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE SYSTEM WHILE OTHERS ARE NOT RECEIVING ENOUGH TO LIVE

But what really spooked the market was Trump reprising Hillary circa the summer of 2015, when the president said that "prescription drug prices are out of control."

• TRUMP SAYS PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICES ARE OUT OF CONTROL

As Bloomberg adds, Trum told reporters at start of cabinet meeting that “prescription drug prices are out of control” and that "the drug companies frankly are getting away with murder.”

Says Americans pay as much as quadruple for drugs, compared with other countries, and that he wants to bring prices down to levels seen elsewhere.

“The world is taking advantage of the United States”

This was enough for the headline scanning algos to immediately send the IBB, XBI and the S&P healthcare index tumbling, wiping out the day"s gains.

However, as by now it has become all too clear to the algos that any Trump-inspired selloff is merely an opportunity to reload the BTFDs, we begin the countdown to how long it will take the algos to fill the gap, as if Trump never said anything at all...

War With Iran Was Planned Decades Ago

Authored by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,

Last week, as I reflected on my recent three-part series filled with bold predictions, I began to question whether or not I was being too negative. Upon hearing Trump’s Iran speech Friday, I became convinced that everything I wrote had merit.

The speech was downright terrifying, serving to confirm all my worst fears about what he’s up to in the Middle East.

There’s no way you can listen to that disingenuous rant and not recognize that he’s already made up his mind about war with Iran. What comes next will be a series of U.S. imposed redlines and demands, which Iran will eventually be said to violate, at which point the U.S. will escalate bigly.

I expect the most wretched cretins in America to rally behind the coming war push, including much of the corporate media. We already saw evidence of this...

Many of you will accuse me of exhibiting unwarranted confidence about where all this is headed, but it’s not that. The reason I feel so strongly about this forecast is because war with Iran has been planned for decades.

For proof, take a watch of this classic video of General Wesley Clark explaining the foreign policy establishment’s post 9/11 plans.

Friday’s speech by Trump makes me even more confident regarding what I wrote over the past few days. In case you missed the series the first time around, links are below.

Empire Destroying Wars Are Coming to America Under Trump – Part 1

Empire Destroying Wars Are Coming to America Under Trump – Part 2

Empire Destroying Wars Are Coming to America Under Trump – Part 3

If you liked this article and enjoy my work, consider becoming a monthly Patron, or visit our Support Page to show your appreciation for independent content creators.

Europe Braces For End Of Iran Nuclear Deal

Authored by Damir Kaletovic vias OilPrice.com,

Europe is scrambling to come up with a contingency plan in the face of a U.S. threat to end the nuclear deal with Iran - a move that lends a high level of uncertainty to European megadeals, including French Total SA’s $5-billion oil deal with Tehran.

At stake if Trump refuses to certify Tehran’s compliance with the nuclear accord on 15 October and sanctions are re-imposed are deals with European companies worth over $55 billion in total, according to figures from the Financial Times.

If Trump refuses certification on 15 October, Congress would then have 60 days to make a decision on new sanctions, giving Europe two months tome come up with a contingency plan. 

Right now, there isn’t one.

“People in Brussels are looking at whether blocking statutes need to be upgraded or updated,” David O’Sullivan, EU ambassador to the US, told the Financial Times on Thursday.

“There’s no definitive plan yet. But if the US were to do something which impinged on the ability of Europeans to do what we could consider legitimate business with Iran, this is something we would like to look at.”

Earlier in October, the French oil giant shrugged off the US sanctions threat, with Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne telling media,

“We knew when we signed that it will not be an easy road. But I prefer to have a problem to solve and to have the opportunity rather than having not signed [and] no opportunities.”

Total signed its deal with Iran in July, making recent history. This was the first deal Iran signed with a foreign energy company since sanctions were lifted in January 2016.

The $4.8-billion deal is to develop Iran’s prolific South Pars natural gas field—the largest gas field in the world, shared with Qatar. Total would lead the consortium.

Iran was the European Union’s top trading partner before sanctions were slapped on Tehran in 2010.

Since sanctions were lifted, trade has still been hampered due to some U.S. financial sanctions that make Western banking institutions still wary of doing business with Iran.

Europe’s options are limited as it seeks a contingency plan. According to analysts interviewed by the Financial Times, one option could be an effort to block legislation related to a new imposition of sanctions by the US, but this would be a complicated “by the international reach of U.S. laws on financial transactions”. 

Trump is expected to have a decision on the nuclear deal this afternoon.

NFL Caves: Owners Consider Rule Change Requiring Players To Stand For National Anthem

It appears that Trump is about to have the last laugh in his long-running spat with the NFL.

Moments ago, Dow Jones reported that NFL owners are considering a rule change that would require players to stand for national anthem.

A league spokesman said that the owners would discuss the potential change during a meeting next week, Dow Jones reported.

In recent seasons, primarily black professional football players have knelt during the national anthem to protest racial inequality in the United States. The protests started after former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick last year began kneeling during the anthem to protest police mistreatment of black Americans.

As a reminder, earlier on Tuesday Trump tweeted that tax laws should be changed so that the NFL doesn"t get "massive tax breaks while at the same time disrespecting our Anthem, Flag and Country."

Why is the NFL getting massive tax breaks while at the same time disrespecting our Anthem, Flag and Country? Change tax law!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 10, 2017

The Feud started in late September, when the president renewed discussion about the protests when he urged owners to "fire" the "son of a bitch" who kneels during the anthem.

And while we await more details, we wonder just how dramatic the NFL viewership - and ad revenue - collapse in the past few weeks must have been for the football league, which initially was so vocally against Trump, to make such an dramatic and unexpected U-turn.

Britain Draws Up Plans For War With North Korea

Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,

While the United States remains distracted and divided, Great Britain draws up plans for an upcoming war with North Korea.

Tossing major issues aside, Americans have all but forgotten that the world stands on the precipice of World War 3.

While the left is focusing on implementing more gun control and the right is worried about what athletes do during the national anthem, Britain is drawing up plans for a massive war with the rogue nation of North Korea. Britain is preparing for war in the event that the communist regime conducts another successful missile test and the United States responds with a strike.

North Korea is being closely watched right now, especially since the recent ratcheting up of tensions. Amid fears it could launch another long-range missile test on Tuesday to mark the anniversary of the founding of its ruling party, some countries refuse to take the threat lightly. And bellicose rhetoric from Donald Trump has heightened tensions in the region in recent months, prompting British officials to draw up military plans for a response to a break out of hostilities  it was reported.

According to the Daily Mail, part of the wartime preparations include the deployment of the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, before it has undergone flight trials.

“We have plenty of ships to send… the Type-45 destroyers, the Type-23 frigates. Britain’s new aircraft carrier could be pressed into service early if things turn south,” a senior Whitehall source told the newspaper.

Details of Britain’s secret operation plan have emerged after Donald Trump warned that “only one thing will work” when it comes to dealing with North Korea’s antics.

Presidents and their administrations have been talking to North Korea for 25 years, agreements made and massive amounts of money paid......

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2017

...hasn"t worked, agreements violated before the ink was dry, makings fools of U.S. negotiators. Sorry, but only one thing will work!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2017

The tyrannical fascist in power in North Korea, Kim Jong-Un, has continued nuclear and rocket tests despite widespread condemnation and sanctions.

HMS Queen Elizabeth, which arrived at its home in Portsmouth in August after extensive sea trials, is not due to enter service until 2020. But the possible move to deploy it ahead of schedule drew comparisons with the start of the Falklands War.

“In the Falklands, we had to react to an event and HMS Illustrious was accelerated to respond,” a Navy source told the Mail.

“This was a reaction to protect British territory, however. In this case [North Korea], the UK would be part of a united global coalition. We would see what support we could give.”

Sir Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, said last week that the UK should increase its military spending in the face of growing threats from states such as North Korea. Last month, Sir Michael told the BBC that Britain was at risk from Pyongyang’’s long-range nuclear missile programme.

“The US is fully entitled to defend its own territory, to defend its bases and to look after its people, but this involves us, London is closer to North Korea and its missiles than Los Angeles,” he said.

Gary Cohn: "I Can't Guarantee" Taxes Won't Go Up For The Middle Class

While proclaiming that "the biggest winners will be everyday American workers," President Trump"s top economic adviser, Gary Cohn told ABC News" George Stephanopoulos that he can"t guarantee that taxes won"t go up for some middle-class families under the administration"s sweeping tax overhaul.

"The biggest winners will be the everyday American workers as jobs start pouring into our country, as companies start competing for American labor and as wages start going up at levels that you haven"t seen in many years," Trump said.

Following Matt Drudge"s cries of "betrayal" yesterday, it appears confusion truly reigns as to just who benefits from the so-called "greatest tax cuts in the history of the world" as we know absolutely nothing because the government has yet to release the income brackets (or get close to guessing at just how "progressive" and "punitive" the optional 4th bracket will be).

Reflecting on what President Trump called "The Middle Class Miracle", Cohn remarked...

"I can"t guarantee anything," said Cohn, the director of the White House Economic Council. "You can always find a unique family somewhere."

He said Trump"s plan is "purely aimed at middle-class families." But Cohn acknowledged that "it depends which state you live in."

"When we looked at the tax plan and we look at what it does for Americans, we are very confident that Americans are getting a great deal here," he replied.

"We"ve also said that wealthy Americans are not getting a tax cut."

So "everyday Americans" win, "can"t guarantee" that the middle-class won"t pay more, and the rich will definitely feel the "progressive" pinch (though definitions of "everyday", "middle-class", and "rich" are unclear). However, it appears clear there is one cohort of "losers"...

Hillary Compares Trump To Putin: "Hopefully He Hasn't Ordered The Killing Of Journalists"

As Hillary Clinton tours the country desperately trying to explain "What Happened" during the 2016 election, she aggressively ramped up her rhetoric game to an 11 during a recent interview with Charlie Rose.  After saying that Trump has authoritarian tendencies, Clinton went on to compare him to Putin and said that she can only hope he hasn"t "ordered the killing of people and journalists and the like."

Clinton: "I don’t think he really values democracy, Charlie."

Rose:  "He doesn’t value democracy? So he’s not a ‘democrat,’ little ‘d?""

Clinton:  "No, he’s not, he’s a top-down guy."

Rose:  "He’s an authoritarian?"

Clinton::  "He has tendencies toward authoritarianism."

Rose:  "So, he’s no different than Putin?"

Clinton:  "Well, hopefully he hasn’t ordered the killing of people and journalists and the like."

Of course, if Trump is truly that bad then it"s only a matter of time before he"s breaking federal laws, deleting emails subject to congressional subpoenas, destroying evidence with hammers and sending Melania out to meet privately with the Attorney General of the United States when criminal investigations are at risk of "going too far"...oh wait, that was Hillary.

Oh well, here is the clip anyway:

Pieczenik, Jones Get into Heated Debate Over Trump Conspiracies

Content originally published at iBankCoin.com

There are some people who apologize for Trump for virtually every single thing he does. They like to blame the usual cast of villains, including Dina Powell, Jared Kushner, Gary Cohn, Gen. McMaster, Mattis and Kelly -- even his own daughter Ivanka Trump. It"s easy to get swept into drama-filled theories of palace intrigue -- depicting a cabal of evil people, all with ties to George Soros, trying to take down Trump.

But if you followed that logic all the way down to its root, it would suggest that Trump was, in fact, an idiot -- unable to manage his affairs, permitting horrible people control and manage him, even isolate him from the grandeur of the alt-right media. None of this is conducive with the overarching theory by his sycophants that the President is always playing 3D intergalactic speed fencing championship tier chess -- so they resort to blaming others for isolating the President.

Case in point. During today"s broadcast of the Alex Jones show, Roger Stone made the outrageous implication that the President was being drugged -- as a precursor to a coup. He segued into that after discussing the resignation of long time Trump bodyguard, Keith Schiller. Stone said that Schiller had always been "the canary in the coal mine" for the President and that with him out of the way, forced out by Gen. Kelly, the President"s life was in danger.

This all makes for a good radio show, drives up the click views on the website -- but it cannot be substantiated, aside from a few "unnamed sources." Stone even said that McMaster made disparaging remarks about Trump while dining with the CEO of Oracle recently, with Jones chiming in that the behavior was in fact "treasonous."

All of this rhetoric was checked and flushed down a Floridian toilet bowl when Jones called up Dr. Pieczenik to get his take on this "bombshell" news. Starting off the conversation, Dr. Pie chastised him thricely for not being polite enough to ask how he was fairing during Hurricane Irma -- then he laid waste to Jones" conspiracies, pointing out that the President wasn"t a child and was smart enough to manage his own affairs.

I"ve never seen these two clash. Watch.

Gold Sinks As Trump, Congress Agree On 3-Month Debt Limit Extension

It appears President Trump has sided with the Democrats" plan - derided earlier by Paul Ryan - to keep any "fix" for the debt-ceiling, short-term; has worked. Bloomberg reports that President Trump and Congress have agreed on a Harvey Aid, Debt-Limit extension continuing resolution through Dec 15th.

Politico"s Jake Sherman reports that:

"i am told by multiple sources Rs are furious. The Democratic ploy — to keep debt limit short term — worked. It took just a few hours"

"TRUMP also agreed to extend government funding until December 15, setting up a wild final month of the year."

"TRUMP agrees to 3-month debt limit increase in meeting w hill leaders. All GOP leaders were opposed, per multiple sources."

"TO BE CLEAR: Debt limit, govt funding expires 12/15. Ryan, McConnell, McCarthy were all opposed. Trump, Pelosi, Schumer were on same side"

T-Bill yields confirmed their earlier plunge

and gold is tumbling on the short-term can-kicking effort.

So now we watch the Dec 15th T-Bills for signals of chaos.

Trading Desks Passing Around A "Worst Case" Scenario Of North Korea

The reason why the VIX has spiked by over 3 vols, or 3.13 to be precise, rising as high as 13.26 as this moment, is being attributed - by several buyside desks - to a "worst case" scenario analysis passed around the trader community from a prominent sellside analyst, according to whom a military outcome in North Korea now appears practically inevitable should North Korea launch its ICBM, as reports overnight have speculated it will do in the coming days.

The report claims that the Trump administration is now a position where it will be virtually impossible to not take military action against North Korea, as the sanctions route has achieved nothing, and absent a trade blockade of N.Korea"s ally China, the strategy is unlikely to yield any benefits. Furthermore, as discussed earlier, Russia has officially joined China in publicly stating that it too is now against further sanctions on the rogue regime.

What has attracted particular attention is the listing of next steps, according to which if North Korea launches another ICBM, as it is gearing up to do, it would be impossible for the US to ignore this latest provocation, and some form of military response or retaliation would be forthcoming. It is unclear as this point if such a response would be joined by military reinforcement from South Korea, including ground troops and other military assets, or if it would be confined to limited surgical strikes against critical targets.

The question then posed by both the analyst and traders, is why the market response hasn"t been more aggressive to the downside, with one offered response is that the market consensus, if only for the time being, is that the US will not take military action, and instead deterrence by the Trump team (and his close circle of retired military advisors) will be the most likely outcome according to risk assets, something we first suggested weeks ago when Kelly replaced Bannon as Trump"s chief of staff.

Then again, with a sudden trapdoor emerging under the S&P, and the sharp move higher in the VIX, the "worst case" scenario appears to be taking hold...

Martin Armstrong Warns Of War In September: "We Must Be On Guard..."

Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,

You may have thought that tensions with North Korea were abating following Kim Jong Un’s missile test stand-down earlier this month.

But as we and others outside of the mainstream media propaganda machine warned, absolutely nothing has been resolved between the United States and the rogue nation.

The only proof you need is the fact that Kim just recently launched a missile directly over Japan and is now threatening a new nuclear weapons test to take place some time in the next two weeks.

As noted earlier today, both sides are preparing for the next level of escalation at this very moment, with President Trump continuing to shift military assets into the region. Moreover, Russia has been deploying troops to the Baltic states for “military exercises,” but from a strategic standpoint one can only conclude they are massing troops just in case hostilities break out.

According to cyclical forecaster Martin Armstrong, who has accurately predicted global crisis scenarios since the 1970’s, September may well be the month that propels the world into its next great conflict:

Our models seem to be right on target for the escalation of military threats from North Korea. We gave our two targets for the opening of  this window for a conflict on our war model with North Korea  to watch were August 12/13, 2017 and September 11/12, 2017. We must be on guard for this is the prime period where a confrontation could emerge.

…

We expect tensions to rise into the next target September 11/12th.

Via ArmstrongEconomics.com

Armstrong’s cyclical war model forecasts echo a similar sentiment from Brandon Smith of Alt-Market.com, who himself has been quite accurate with his predictions about everything from political election results to Federal Reserve policy decisions. In a recent analysis, while everyone was ignoring the continuing North Korean threat, Smith warned that conflict seems inevitable:

The mainstream media has instead been going out of its way to downplay any chance that the current inflamed rhetoric on both sides of the Pacific is anything other than bluster that will end with a whimper rather than bomb blasts. This is one of the reasons why I think war is imminent; the media is a notorious contrarian indicator. Whatever they predict is usually the opposite of what comes true (just look at Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, for starters).  Another generalization that is a sure bet is that the mainstream media usually lies, or at the very least, they are mostly wrong.

That said, if we are to believe the latest polls, unfortunately, one thing is clear: The American people, on both sides of the political spectrum, are becoming more galvanized around supporting a potential conflict with North Korea. For the establishment, war is a winning sell, at least for now.

His full assessment, Korean War Part II: Why It’s Probably Going To Happen, is worthy of a read as it explains the many facets behind why war appears to be inevitable.

One of those facets, as noted by Zero Hedge on Tuesday, is that both China and Russia now appear to have given up on a peaceful resolution on the peninsula:

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov told reporters that while we can expect new sanctions pressure on the DPRK after the last launch, such pressure is exhausted..

“Judging by how colleges from the US and other countries acted in similar situations, the US allies – of course, we can expect new steps towards strengthening the sanctions regime,” he said.

“But it will not solve the problems, it is already obvious that the resource of sanctions pressure on the DPRK has been exhausted.”

“It is no longer possible to adopt resolutions in the UN Security Council that do not contain a clear indication that there can not be a military solution to the problem, but only a political one. A provision that would rule out additional unilateral sanctions beyond those that are collectively taken by the UN Security Council, “the Russian diplomat continued.

Either way, it appears Russia and China are pushing back to Trump to ‘do something’.

In short, the Russians and Chinese have now put the ball in President Trump’s court.

Martin Armstrong’s forecast, coupled with a flurry of missile tests, nuclear tests, combative rhetoric, and military deployments to the region, suggest that war – complete with a nuclear exchange – may be much closer than we think.