Oil prices shot passed $90/bbl today after Saudi Arabia and then Russia announced a continuance of production cuts through the end of this year.

The BRICS alliance is going to deliver some pain to the Western alliance.  Those people living in the yellow zone, with leadership chasing climate change and Green New Deal policies, are going to see more durable inflation as the cost of oil is attached to just about every product and service.

Gasoline, energy products, petroleum products, home heating oil, groceries, everything will cost more as the geopolitical battle continues; but we are supposed to pretend we are unaware of the global political dynamic.

(Zero Hedge) – […] Just after 9am ET, Saudi Arabia said it would extend the voluntary cut of 1 million b/d of for another 3 months, from October until the end of December, well beyond the expectation of just 1 more month. Saudi press agency SPA notes that the voluntary cut decision will be reviewed monthly to consider deepening the cut or increasing production.

The extension of cuts is meant to reinforce the precautionary efforts made by OPEC countries with the aim of supporting the stability of the oil market. The Saudi announcement came a shock to market as 20 of 25 traders and analysts surveyed by Bloomberg last week had predicted the additional cutback would be continued for just one additional month.

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That’s BILLION, with a “B”.   According to recently revealed court transcripts, in the US Virgin Islands lawsuit against JPMorgan, in the aftermath of Epstein’s death the massive bank reported over $1 billion in suspicious activity reports to the U.S. Treasury.

Attorney for USVA, Mimi Liu, outlined details to Judge Jed Rakoff in U.S. District Court in Manhattan last Thursday.  According to the astonishing revelations, the entire financial relationship between Jeffrey Epstein and JPMorgan was centered around payments for sex trafficking.  There was no other business between the two entities in the 16 years of Epstein’s use of the bank.  All of the Epstein account transactions were based around his sex trafficking operation.

Additionally, in the aftermath of Epstein’s death, JPMorgan then reported at least $1 billion worth of transactions under the auspices of “suspicious activity.”  This certainly looks like what lawyer Mimi Liu called in court, “covering their ass.”

[VIA CNBC] – JPMorgan Chase notified the Treasury Department of more than $1 billion in transactions related to “human trafficking” by Jeffrey Epstein dating back 16 years after the notorious sex predator killed himself in 2019, a lawyer for the U.S. Virgin Islands told a federal judge at a hearing.

“Epstein’s entire business with JPMorgan and JPMorgan’s entire business with Epstein was human trafficking,” Mimi Liu, an attorney for the Virgin Islands, told Judge Jed Rakoff in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Thursday, according to a transcript reviewed by CNBC.

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President Trump sat down for an extensive interview with former National Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow from Fox Business News. {Direct Rumble Link}

Within the interview President Trump first starts talking about the Fulton County, Georgia, prosecution by Fani Willis, then shifts to discuss the current state of the economy and the outcomes of Bidenomics.  WATCH: 

Part 2 below:

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Some economic data released by the land of the rising sun points to a larger global weakness in manufacturing demand.   Within the data year-over-year exports from Japan fell in July by 0.3%, which is the first time since 2021 the contraction was noted.

Digging a little deeper, the weakness in Japanese exports is driven primarily by a decline in exports to China of 14.3% in July, which follows a 10.9% decline in June.  Japan is a component supplier to China, which would indicate the demand for Chinese products globally is substantially less than Beijing has previously admitted.

That said, Japan’s direct export of finished goods to the U.S. actually increased 13.5%, mostly driven by the export of electric vehicles.

However, 13.5% is identical to the overall decrease in Japanese imports.

Essentially, component parts to China are down, but completed finished goods to the U.S. are up.  Overall, the results from Japan point to a soft overall global economic status, the result of continued contraction of Western economic activity.

TOKYO, Aug 17 (Reuters) – Japan’s exports fell in July for the first time in nearly 2-1/2 years, dragged down by faltering demand for light oil and chip-making equipment, underlining concerns about a global recession as demand in key markets such as China weaken.

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Collapse is never a sudden occurrence; it is an outcome of gradual erosion over time. A weakening that takes place almost invisible to those who pass through the construct, until eventually, at an uneventful time in the mechanics of history, the process gives way.

Fitch has joined with the prior position of Standard & Poors to downgrade the USA credit rating. The weight of debt, in combination with reverberations from the continued hammering deep inside the political fundamental change operation, has triggered another flare.

In the bigger picture, this is a self-fulfilling prophecy driven by the latest focus on unsustainable economic policy, aka The Green New Deal. The efforts of the fiscal, monetary and economic policy are all aligned to shrink the U.S. economy, thereby creating the era of “sustainable energy” a possibility. Unfortunately, this is akin to a household intentionally shrinking their income while at the same time taking on credit card debt. The process itself is not sustainable.

(Reuters) – Rating agency Fitch on Tuesday downgraded the U.S. government’s top credit rating, a move that drew an angry response from the White House and surprised investors, coming despite the resolution of the debt ceiling crisis two months ago.

Traders’ immediate response was to embark on a safe-haven push out of stocks and into government bonds and the dollar.

Fitch downgraded the United States to AA+ from AAA, citing fiscal deterioration over the next three years and repeated down-the-wire debt ceiling negotiations that threaten the government’s ability to pay its bills.

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Today at 1:00pm ET the House Oversight Committee will accept testimony from two IRS investigators who are whistleblowers with allegations the DOJ and FBI intentionally interfered with their investigation of Hunter and Joe Biden in an effort to politically protect the Biden family.

The statements by the whistleblowers have been corroborated recently by an FBI supervisory special agent.  The hearing is scheduled to begin at 1:00pm ET, with livestream link below.  [HOUSE LIVESTREAM LINK]

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The sanctions levied against Russia by the collective West have essentially failed.  There is inconvenience within Russia amid ordinary citizens for global and economic transactions, but most of the govt transactions have continued.

On the opposite side of the consequence coin, absent the ability to purchase consumer goods on the global market, Russian domestic consumer independence has grown dramatically.  There is more stuff being made and created inside Russia, for Russians to purchase, than ever before.

I cannot see how the Russian GDP doesn’t benefit from this in the long-term.

Then again, I don’t buy the official Western narrative about the “horrible” life inside Russia, because I talk to ordinary middle class Russians who seem to have found a way to organize life without too much disturbance.

Russia is actually a case study in the elimination of imports and the economic outcomes therein.

It doesn’t suck to be a consumer; average Russians are doing fine, and it seems to get better over time.  Ironically, give them a few more years of Western sanctions, and Russia could be a manufacturing powerhouse.  Russia is a big country with a lot of raw material resources.

UNITED NATIONS, July 12 (Reuters) – U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has proposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he extend a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of grain from Ukraine in return for connecting a subsidiary of Russia’s agricultural bank to the SWIFT international payment system, sources told Reuters.

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Against some recent data, there is a potential restructuring that is worthy of discussion. The epic failures of the DeSantis campaign and Never Back Down SuperPAC are well documented.

In essence, everything has backfired because the origin of almost everything was/is built upon a fraudulent premise. From the scheming and conniving going all the way back to the original 2018 campaign, to the proactive recruitment of the exact wrong influencers 18 months prior to the official launch, to the enlistment of the Cruz crew, to the covert national campaign under the faked auspices of a book tour, everything paid for by the Sea Island group has been a hot mess.

Now the clock is ticking faster.  Ken Cuccinelli and Jeff Roe are under pressure.  Javier Manjarres, a solid insider in Florida media, shares today that Pushaw is getting the loyal but firm campaign stiff arm:

The DC chattering class then release an article talking about Youngkin or Kemp as alternatives to DeSantis:

[…] A Republican strategist who keeps in regular contact with several Republican presidential campaigns predicted DeSantis will “retool” his super PAC in the next few weeks.  “They probably got another month to turn this thing around and if they don’t they’re going to have to bring someone and do a major retooling,” the source said. (read more)

They are not waiting a month; the retooling indications are already evident.

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At the heart of the IRS whistleblower statements, is a meeting that took place on October 7, 2022, where U.S. Attorney David Weiss told six witnesses that he was not able to pursue a full case against Hunter Biden due to Dept of Justice roadblocks.

Notes and a contemporaneous email in regard to the explosive meeting were taken by IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley, who then testified to Congress and delivered the evidence which contradicts the statements by Attorney General Merrick Garland and Deputy AG Lisa Monaco.  Shapley’s lawyers documented some of the participants from the meeting on behalf of their client, as they refute the claims of Main Justice (Garland & Monaco):

Today, buried 21 paragraphs deep in their own reporting, the New York Times now confirms the content of the meeting and the statement by USAO David Weiss.

[New York Times] – […] in mid-2022, Mr. Weiss reached out to the top federal prosecutor in Washington, Matthew Graves, to ask his office to pursue charges and was rebuffed, according to Mr. Shapley’s testimony.

A similar request to prosecutors in the Central District of California, which includes Los Angeles, was also rejected, Mr. Shapley testified. A second former I.R.S. official, who has not been identified, told House Republicans the same story. That episode was confirmed independently to The New York Times by a person with knowledge of the situation.

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Nothing shouts “complicity” quite like paying $290 million to make the issues disappear.  However, according to the Wall Street Journal, fortunately ““The U.S. Virgin Islands will continue to proceed with its enforcement action to ensure full accountability for JPMorgan’s violations of law,” said a spokeswoman for the U.S. Virgin Islands attorney general.”

In one of the biggest settlements within the banking industry relating to sexploitation, JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay the victims of Jeffrey Epstein $290 million in damages in order to settle a class action lawsuit against the bank.   Epstein used JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank as the financial mechanisms to pay for the sex trafficking operation he ran.  There are other civil and legal cases still ongoing, but JPMorgan hopes to extricate themselves from the collateral damage of Epstein’s horrific exploits.

Wall Street Journal – JPMorgan Chase JPM -0.25%decrease; red down pointing triangle agreed to pay $290 million to settle a lawsuit over its ties to Jeffrey Epstein, said lawyers for Epstein accusers, shortly after top executives were questioned about the bank’s years of dealings with the convicted sex offender.

The lawsuit on behalf of women who accused Epstein of abuse helped expose details about the bank’s relationship with Epstein for years after his conviction, forced Chief Executive Jamie Dimon to answer questions under oath, and led the bank to turn around and sue a former top leader, Jes Staley.

Dimon said in his deposition last month that he had never discussed Epstein or his accounts. Staley was deposed over the weekend.

The lawsuit was brought by an unnamed accuser who claimed the bank ignored red flags about Epstein until 2013 because he was bringing wealthy clients to the bank. JPMorgan has denied any wrongdoing. The bank still faces a related lawsuit from the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein had a residence.

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