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Fearing a Complete Shutdown from Russia, Europe Scraps Plans to Cap Russian Gas Prices

War is an outcome of ideology and economics, and the latter is perhaps the most powerful weapon.  As the harsh reality of Europe’s insufferable decades-long efforts to embrace the virtues of climate change begin to settle in, the reasonable adults in the conversation are able to see how their weakness is being exploited by their adversary.

On Sept 7, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen held a press conference in Brussels, announcing five initiatives to contain the expensive EU energy crisis: “The goal is clear. We must cut the revenues of Russia that Putin uses to finance this atrocious war against Ukraine.” {Go Deep}

However, Russian President Vladimir Putin made it very clear that any further efforts to weaken his economy, via western sanctions and interventionist efforts against his economy, would be met with retaliation in the form of cutting off all oil and gas supplies to Europe.  It appears the Europeans now understand the nature of their vulnerability.

(Via Reuters) – The EU has dropped plans to cap the price it pays for Russian gas.

Energy ministers from the bloc met Friday (September 9) in Brussels. They scrapped plans for the cap after the idea failed to win broad support.

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President Trump and DOJ Present Their Selections for Special Master Appointment

Lawyers representing the DOJ National Security Division (DOJ-NSD) and lawyers representing President Trump have presented their list of candidates for Special Master to review documents seized from Mar-a-Lago. [8-page pdf Here]

The DOJ-NSD has listed their candidates including:

♦ The Honorable Barbara S. Jones (ret.) – retired judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, partner in Bracewell LLP, and special master in In re: in the Matter of Search Warrants Executed on April 28, 2021 and In the Matter of Search Warrants Executed on April 9, 2018.

♦ The Honorable Thomas B. Griffith (ret.) – retired Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, special counsel in Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, and Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School.

President Trump lawyers have listed their candidates including:

♦ The Honorable Raymond J. Dearie (ret.) – former Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, formerly the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

♦ Paul Huck, Jr.—founder, The Huck Law Firm, former Jones Day partner, former General Counsel to the Governor, former Deputy Attorney General for the State of Florida.

The majority of the remaining filing lists the agreements of both the DOJ-NSD and Trump lawyers, as well as points of disagreement for how the special master process should continue.   The position of the DOJ-NSD is the special master should not review any documents they deem classified or vital to national security, regardless of whether they contain markings or not.   The DOJ just doesn’t want anyone to review what they are calling “classified documents.”

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Professor Alan Dershowitz Recommends a Retired Federal Judge Should Hold Special Master Appointment in Mar-a-Lago Raid Document Review

The deadline for both the Trump Team and DOJ-NSD Team to submit their recommendations for a special master to review the Mar-a-Lago documents is tonight at midnight.

During an interview presented by Newsmax, Harvard Professor Emeritus and legal scholar Alan Dershowitz gives his impression on the appointment itself as well as the background issues surrounding the documents at the heart of the conflict.

Mr. Dershowitz recommends that a former federal judge would be the best candidate for the role of special master and supports the opinion with his viewpoint. WATCH:

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U.S. Household Net Worth Drops $6.1 Trillion in Second Quarter, Despite Home Values Increasing $1.5 Trillion

The U.S. Federal Reserve has published the second quarter 2022 balance sheet of U.S. total household wealth [DATA HERE].

In the second quarter (April, May, June) 2022, the total U.S. household wealth dropped $6.1 trillion, despite a calculated increase in home value of $1.5 trillion.  The majority of the loss is connected to a drop in Corporate Equity (stock market) and household investment in the stock market.

FED “The net worth of households and nonprofit organizations declined $6.1 trillion to $143.8 trillion in the second quarter. The value of stocks on the household balance sheet declined by $7.7 trillion, while the value of real estate increased by $1.5 trillion.”  Keep in mind this is backward looking data, and after a period of decelerating rates of growth, the overall real estate market is now in a period of decline as calculated for the most recent month of July [DATA].

The equity position of homeowners is now considerably less than the equity position when the feds calculated the second quarter household wealth (two months ago).  Part of the issue goes back to what we have been discussing with inflation and specifically energy driven increases in fuel and electricity.

Inflation sucks money out of the economy, making people less wealthy.  Energy inflation sucks money exponentially faster out of each household, potentially making the already working-class poor, much poorer.

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Steve Bannon, FBI Raided Homes of 35 Bannon Affiliated MAGA Allies Yesterday

During a podcast interview between Charlie Kirk (Turning Point USA / Club4Growth) and Warroom host Steve Bannon, Mr. Bannon stated the FBI raided 35 homes, offices and residences yesterday in seemingly coordinated activity timed with his arrest in Manhattan. {Direct Rumble Link}

Bannon was arrested under dubious fraud charges in Manhattan Thursday, connected to claims he duped donors who gave money to a We Build The Wall nonprofit organization established by Bannon and his partners. The case seems to hinge on statements made by the founders of the organization that “every penny” of the $15 to $25 million raised would be spent on the wall. However, according to New York prosecutors, several hundred thousand was used by Bannon and team to pay their own salaries and expenses.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg gave Steve Bannon the handcuffed perp walk treatment, parading him through the courthouse like a captured political trophy. Mr. Bannon pled not guilty and was released after his arraignment for money laundering, conspiracy, fraud and other charges related to the “We Build the Wall” campaign.

The statement of 35 simultaneous FBI raids is the first mention of something coordinated like this. Perhaps further details will soon surface.

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McConnell Senate PAC Urging MAGA Senate Candidates to Ask Trump PAC for More Money

The internecine angle to the intra-party political and financial conflicts come via Politico, so apply that prism accordingly. However, the overarching background of the story (as presented) does align with the internal party power conflict we all know about.

According to the outline, Mitch McConnell has withdrawn spending of the Senate PAC funds from MAGA senate candidates. McConnell is telling his senators who are more favorably aligned with President Trump, to push the Trump PAC to spend more on them if Trump wants to see them win in 2022.

President Trump has, and continues to, support all of the MAGA candidates with direct funding [See FEC Filing], campaign rallies [LINK], and major big donor fundraisers [LINK], including at least one example of excessive funds distributed [LINK].   However, whenever anything involves McConnell, particularly when it involves money, it is critical to apply a Machiavellian prism to McConnell’s DeceptiCon motives.

By now everyone should know Senator McConnell holds no fundamental interest in being in the majority.  Nothing in his power structure changes if Democrats are in the majority.  From McConnell and the club approach, the “control of the senate” argument is a fundraising gimmick.  Give the DeceptiCons control of the senate and nothing structurally changes in the policy or legislative sphere.  Reference the 2014 to 2020 GOPe control, anti-Trump resistance, budgets and support for Obamacare, as examples of the last time the GOPe had senate majorities.

Absent of any real motivation to gain a republican majority in the senate, illusions and pretenses dropped, the “battle for control of the senate” simply comes down to a strategy of what is best to support Big Corps, and downstream fundraising.  However, the fundraising angle does afford Mitch the opportunity to leverage more power and eliminate influence.

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Secretary Yellen Celebrates Treasury Policy Making “Future U.S. Economy Dependent on the Wind and the Sun”

Every institution of the JoeBama administration is filled with climate change ideologues. Never is that more abundantly clear than a U.S. Treasury Secretary who celebrates the future of the U.S. economy becoming “dependent on the wind and the Sun“.  {Direct Rumble Link}

[Transcript] – “Our plan – powered by the Inflation Reduction Act – represents the largest investment in fighting climate change in our country’s history. It will put us well on our way toward a future where we depend on the wind, sun, and other clean sources for our energy. We will rid ourselves from our current dependence on fossil fuels.” (link)

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To understand the scale of the ideological effort, review this earlier statement in her prepared remarks, “In markets where we could not help lower prices by expanding supply, we have aimed to mitigate the pain directly, through cost relief.”  The admission here is that ideologically the Biden administration cannot expand energy supplies to lower energy prices without compromising their climate change mission.

[Full Transcript Here]

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Justice Dept Appeals Order to Appoint Special Master, Threatens Judge to Shop for Friendly Court, Demands No Party Outside DOJ Should Have Right to See or Review Their Identified Classified Documents

A comprehensively corrupt and politically motivated U.S. Justice Department has appealed the part of Judge Cannon’s previous order appointing a special master with authority to review documents the FBI collected at Mar-a-Lago last month. [Appeal for ‘stay’ pdf motion Here]

The corrupt and politically motivated Lawfare prosecutors state they have serious concerns about handing government secrets to a third party and will not allow it.

In essence, the DOJ-NSD, an agency within the justice department created by Eric Holder, is claiming no one outside the DOJ-NSD should be allowed to review the documents they have defined as “national security” interests. Main Justice really, really doesn’t want anyone seeing what the DOJ-NSD are defining.

The DOJ lawyers begin by telling the judge she must respond to them on their timeline, or else they will go to the eleventh circuit court of appeals and have them block her ruling. Do as we say, or else…

The majority of the rest of the motion for the Judge to stay her own prior ruling, surrounds various claims of national security compromise.

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President Trump Pays Tribute to Queen Elizabeth II During Interview with Nigel Farage

As the announcement of Queen Elizabeth’s passing starts to settle-in across the United Kingdom and all British commonwealths, GBNews broadcaster Nigel Farage interviews President Donald Trump about his recollections of the Queen.  WATCH (4 minutes):

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EU Central Bank Raises Interest Rate 75 Points in Further Effort to Withstand Storm of Energy Driven Inflation

Energy inflation continues to pummel all western nations as they chase the climate change agenda. Today, the European Central Bank has raised interest rates to support the goal of lowered economic activity.   Lowering economic activity lowers energy use.

Absent of any desire to raise energy supply and/or energy production, monetary policy can support the goal of lowering energy use by driving down all economic activity.

In the big transition picture, the economies within the western alliance must be reduced until they match the energy output of windmills and solar farms.

FRANKFURT—The European Central Bank raised interest rates by the largest amount since the early days of Europe’s currency union, moving aggressively to combat record inflation even as an energy crisis puts Europe on the brink of recession.

The bank said in a statement that it would increase its key rate to 0.75% from zero—its second hike this year following a 50-basis-point rise in July—and signaled that further rises were likely over the coming months.

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