DebateGate

Thanks Religious Dick!

This is some interesting stuff:

Why Trump Will Win


"Absolutely frightening" evidence of entrenched fraud.

During his campaign rallies, President Donald Trump proclaimed, "We got 'em all" or "We have it all!" In the coming weeks -- if not days -- Americans will find out specifically what he means.

Those specifics promise to shake Americans to their core by revealing years of entrenched political corruption reflected in electoral fraud.

Lawyer Sidney Powell is providing a preview. Powell, who apparently had been helping Trump's legal team prepare a case against alleged election fraud, told Howie Carr, a conservative radio host in Boston, on Friday:

"We've got a number of smoking guns -- and we may have to get witness protection for some of them. We have a lot of extremely solid evidence. It's beyond impressive and absolutely terrifying."

Among those smoking guns:

-- Hillary Clinton used fraud to steal California's Democratic Presidential primary four years ago from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. "When people told him about it," Powell said, "instead of exposing it, he sold out."

-- An employee of the Defense Department, in a conference call that included Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, told government officials how to commit sabotage in their respective offices. "There were a couple of hundred people on that call," Powell said.

-- China, Iran, Serbia and Liechtenstein played key roles in interfering with the Presidential election.

On Saturday night in an interview with Newsmax, Powell mentioned:

-- Each Democratic candidate in Pennsylvania received 35,000 extra votes. "I would be willing to bet it happened everywhere," Powell said.

-- States recalibrated voting machines after deadlines for modification passed.

-- Machines awarded a value of 1.25 for each vote former Vice President Joe Biden received but calculated every Trump vote at only .75. "You can see the reports of fractional numbers for the votes." Powell said.

-- A former Venezuelan military officer who helped develop the machines testified they could be manipulated. "He knew as soon as the machines were turned off in those key states," Powell said, that massive support for Trump "had broken the algorithm that had been programmed. So they had to stop counting and backfill the vote with fraudulent mail-in ballots or whatever means they used."

This same officer, Powell told Fox's Lou Dobbs on Nov. 16, "was personally in briefings when all of this was discussed and planned, beginning with Hugo Chavez, how it was designed there and then saw it happening in this country." (Emphasis added)

Powell -- who filed a lawsuit challenging Georgia's tabulation Wednesday -- continues to receive severe criticism and ridicule, even accusations of lying. But Powell is subject to the same laws against libel and slander as any other American.

If her assertions against Clinton, Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, for starters, were found to show malicious disregard for the truth, an ensuing conviction would destroy her reputation and career.

"Sidney Powell is a serious lawyer. She is not going to make a false claim. Period," said Larry Johnson, a counter-terrorism specialist who spent four years in the State Department and 22 years devising anti-terrorism exercises for military special operations.

Meanwhile, Rudy Giuliani, one if Trump's main attorneys, issued this statement Sunday:

"Sidney Powell is practicing law on her own. She is not a member of the Trump Legal Team. She is also not a lawyer for the President in his personal capacity.?

Powell corroborated that release with her own:

"I agree with the campaign's statement that I am not part of the campaign's legal team. I never signed a retainer agreement or sent the President or the campaign a bill for my expenses or fees.

"My intent has always been to expose all the fraud I could find and let the chips fall where they may -- whether it be upon Republicans or Democrats."

Trump's team is filing civil cases. Powell approaches the allegations of electoral fraud as a criminal matter.

"We're pursuing two different theories," Giuliani told Dobbs on Monday night. Trump's team is concentrating on "misconduct of the election by state officials in at least five or six different states" involving "the deprivation of Constitutional rights for the President," Giuliani said.

So how does Powell know what she knows? As she told Dobbs, "I'm going to release the Kraken."

In this case, "Kraken" is not a mythical sea monster but a program the CIA and Defense Department use to get information about the nation's enemies by hacking computers and cellphones.

The program includes various forms of malware, such as viruses, Trojan horses and remote-control systems -- and even was used against ostensible allies.

In 2017, WikiLeaks released numerous CIA documents detailing "Kraken." They included orders to spy on all major candidates in France's 2012 presidential election, including the incumbent at the time, Nicholas Sarkozy. "Kraken" would provide information on each party's election strategy and each candidate's private conferences and ability to influence political decisions.

The CIA uses another program in conjunction with "Kraken," called "Hammer" (or "Hamr" in the files WikiLeaks released), which Powell referenced. "Hamr" spies on protected networks without being detected.

Numerous plugins accompany "Hamr" to enhance its effectiveness. One, "AngerManagement," targets Android devices. Another, "WildTurkey," tests and refines its capabilities.

If WikiLeaks made CIA documents available to the public, Powell surely could access them and use specialists to translate the code and jargon.

After Powell spoke with Dobbs, reports began circulating about an American military operation conducted to take servers in Germany. At first, many thought the servers belonged to two election technology firms, Dominion and Scytl. Dominion -- founded by Venezuelans -- manufactured the questionable voting machines used in this month's election.

But those servers apparently belong to the CIA, which has a field office in Frankfurt. The State Department also operates a consulate in that city.

"The U.S. military has full authority to do this because any CIA activity in the European theater is being conducted using military cover," Johnson said. "In other words, CIA officers would be identified to the German government (and anyone else asking) as military employees or consultants.

"Such an operation would have been carried out with U.S. law enforcement present to take custody of the evidence. That means that the evidence will be under the control of the Department of Justice through U.S. Attorneys and can be used in court or other judicial proceedings."

Neither CIA Director Gina Haspel nor FBI Director Christopher Wray knew about the operation, Johnson added.

Since Dominion owns servers in Germany and Scytl operates them in Spain -- servers that received raw election data -- "Kraken" could be used to manipulate that data.

If Powell does not represent Trump directly, she works in tandem with his legal team. If so, Trump would have the authority to declassify any information Powell could use.

Such a scenario would explain these comments Powell made to Carr:

"You have to realize how many forces -- including many in the government -- have benefited from this system. They knew it worked the way it worked, and they used it to install the people they wanted to install in particular offices.

"I think the fraud in the election goes much farther than the president. I think they did it to any particularly strong Republican candidate this time around."

In other words, the United States faces its biggest political and existential crisis since the Civil War -- if not in its history.

https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/88-trillion-world-economy-one-chart

China Threatens Total Economic War by Dumping Treasuries: Be My Guest

September 10, 2020 at 5:00 am

China's Communist Party publicly talking about an American default is... essentially a declaration of intent to destroy the American economy. Washington should fight back.

No amount of persuading, cajoling or badgering has worked to convince China to accept agreements and norms.

Trump can hasten the departure of businesses from Chinese soil with tariffs and administrative measures restricting international commerce. The loss of access to the U.S. market would shake China. Last year, China's merchandise trade surplus against America amounted to 81.8% of its overall merchandise trade surplus, showing extreme dependence on the American market.... Trump can also order American companies to end their technical cooperation agreements with Chinese entities, prohibit portfolio investments in Chinese markets, and end all sales of tech products.

China may not recover from such actions. Case in point: There is now talk that Huawei Technologies, which six months ago looked as if it would take over the world's 5G networks, may go out of business because it is having difficulty buying chips to install in equipment

Many Americans have been intimidated, saying Washington cannot oppose China because it owns Treasury debt. That is a hollow threat... The net result of China carrying through on its threat is to leave U.S. Treasury obligations in the hands of countries far more friendly to the United States.

On September 3, the Global Times, the Communist Party tabloid, reported that Beijing was "likely" to sell some or all of its U.S. Treasury holdings.

More important, the paper suggested the United States might for the first time ever default on its debt obligations.

China is certainly trying to destabilize the United States, and it looks as if it's about to declare total economic war on America.

Beijing has tipped its hand. The question for the Trump administration, therefore, is whether America should strike first.

Yes, it should, and Washington should hit Beijing as hard as it can. A vicious attack merits an overwhelming response.

"China," the Global Times reported, "may gradually reduce its holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds to about $800 billion from the current level of more than $1 trillion, as the ballooning U.S. federal deficit increases default risks and the Trump administration continues its blistering attack on China, experts said."

The Chinese paper then quoted Zhou Maohua of China's Everbright Bank: "Not defaulting before does not mean it won't default in the future, and risks are accumulating with the ballooning debts and the slumping economic outlook in the U.S."

Yes, debts are "ballooning." As a result, a two-year upward swing in the value of the dollar ended in March. Thank China for the reversal in the greenback's fortunes. Large federal budget deficits resulting from coronavirus-relief measures and the expectation that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates ultra-low have undermined the American currency.

Yes, Mr. Zhou, the American economy did "slump," suffering a stunning 31.7% quarter-on-quarter GDP plunge in the second quarter of this year. Nonetheless, the U.S. is slumping no more.

On the contrary, America is now quickly recovering. The economy added 1.8 million jobs in July and 1.4 million jobs last month, and most indicators point to strong growth in the quarter ending the last day of this month. For instance, the latest Atlanta Fed estimate, dated September 3, forecasts 29.6% GDP growth for this period. President Trump's Labor Day predictions of a "super V," suggesting a rocket-like recovery, cannot be far off the mark.

In any event, China's Communist Party publicly talking about an American default is grossly irresponsible. Its words are unwarranted, malicious-looking, and essentially a declaration of intent to destroy the American economy.

Washington should fight back.

For decades, American policymakers ignored criminal and other predatory Chinese trade practices in the hopes China would "enmesh" itself in the rules of the global economy. Unfortunately, those hopes have been dashed as Beijing has ramped up theft of American intellectual property and continued to violate trade and other obligations. No amount of persuading, cajoling or badgering has worked to convince China to accept agreements and norms.

In these circumstances, "decoupling" becomes attractive, as Trump discussed in his Labor Day press conference. "We lose billions of dollars and if we didn't do business with them we wouldn't lose billions of dollars," the President said, undoubtedly making economists gnash their teeth.

Trump's rationale for decoupling may not find support in classical economic theory ? trade deficits do not necessarily translate into "losses" and are not considered inherently good or bad ? but he is ultimately correct on the economic damage China has caused and what should be done.

Decoupling, in the first instance, means bringing manufacturing back to America, something that began in slow motion about a half decade ago as Xi Jinping, the Chinese ruler, started pushing foreign companies out, as companies decided to make goods close to customers, and as the difference in Chinese and American manufacturing costs narrowed.

Now, the pace of decoupling has picked up. President Trump's tariffs, imposed under the authority of Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 as a remedy for the theft of intellectual property, have convinced many businesses that U.S.-China trade friction ? and uncertainty ? will only worsen over time.

In addition, Beijing this year has doubled down on making itself an unreliable member of global supply chains. In March, for example, it threatened to throw the United States into a "mighty sea of coronavirus," in other words, to cut off critical supplies such as pharmaceuticals and medical protective gear.

The threat, far from frightening Americans, galvanized President Trump into taking action, such as his August 6 executive order requiring the buying of "essential" drugs from U.S. businesses. Other countries, including Japan, are moving in the same direction, also trying to get their companies out of China.

Trump can hasten the departure of businesses from Chinese soil with tariffs and administrative measures, like enhanced customs inspections, designed to prevent China-made goods from coming into the U.S.

The loss of access to the U.S. market would shake China. Last year, China's merchandise trade surplus against America amounted to 81.8% of its overall merchandise trade surplus, showing extreme dependence on the American market.

Trump, employing his powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 and even the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, can also order American companies to end their technical cooperation agreements with Chinese entities, prohibit portfolio investments in Chinese markets, and end all sales of tech products.

China may not recover from such actions. Case in point: There is now talk that Huawei Technologies, which six months ago looked as if it would take over the world's 5G networks, may soon have to stop shipping network equipment because it is having difficulty buying chips. Although it is now the world's largest seller of smartphones, Huawei will have to end production. The Chinese company announced that production of its Kirin chipsets, for use in its mobile devices, will stop on the 15th of this month.

All this brings us back to the Global Times's threat to sell U.S. Treasuries. Chinese officials have been talking about dumping U.S. debt ? the so-called "nuclear option" ? since at least the middle of 2008.

Many Americans have been intimidated, saying Washington cannot oppose China because it owns Treasury debt. That is, however, a hollow threat even though China is the second-largest holder of those obligations, carrying $1.074 trillion of them, according to Treasury Department figures.

Chinese officials have not carried through for several reasons. For instance, if they sell Treasuries, they get back dollars because 100 percent of America's obligations are denominated in its own currency. If Chinese officials mean to hurt America, they have to convert the proceeds of the sales into other currencies. That conversion will drive the values of those other currencies through the ceiling, and the central banks in those countries will have to rebalance values. In other words, they will have to reduce the values of their currencies by buying... dollars.

The net result of China carrying through on its threat is to leave U.S. Treasury obligations in the hands of countries far more friendly to the United States. Yes, the Chinese can cause turmoil in global markets for a few weeks, but the end result of their effort will be a United States that no longer feels beholden to Chinese communists.

Moreover, any move to suddenly attack the dollar by selling Treasuries will tend to make the renminbi extraordinarily expensive, thereby killing off the Chinese export sector, still a mainstay of the Chinese economy.

China has already unloaded about a trillion dollars of Treasury obligations since the middle of 2014 to support the value of its own currency, and there has been no effect on either the global markets or America's ability to borrow.

The tenure of China's Communist Party depends on its continual delivery of prosperity to the Chinese people, so that organization exists only with the permission of the United States. After the hostility evident in the Global Times threat of last week, it is time to withdraw that permission by cutting off trade, investment and technical cooperation.

So, China wants to sell American debt? Be my guest.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16485/china-threatens-dumping-treasuries

we're having trouble getting people to come to work because they are making more sitting at home vs working
if you add state and federal COVID benefits.....it is more for them
not good because we actually need a couple of them back
applicants that I had interviewed before COVID and wanted the job, now don't respond
most likely same reason....dumbass gvt paying people equal or more than they get if they work
why should anyone get MORE money from gvt vs working?

kind of long....but this explains exactly what is happeening in this country
they are trying to divide us!

https://youtu.be/ixBsVodyJP0

very true kimba!

how is the Bay area holding up?

my brother's business in wwalnut creek is still open