Fox News Host Shannon Bream, one of the true Machiavellian conscripts, is given the responsibility to maintain the great pretending on behalf of the Republican chattering class. One of the key tactics of the professional pretenders is to ¹frame constant opposition narratives as questions.
To reply, Representative Jim Jordan is responsible for dispatching the pretending narrative delivered by Bream and hitting back with the reality hammer.
¹This is why I do not watch Fox News puppets much. Their production group is a functional set of background puppeteers. This is also why Fox News host Tucker Carlson produces and directs his own show from outside the system, just like Lou Dobbs used to. Tucker Carlson Tonight is essentially a podcast distributed by broadcast media.
As previously noted, the 118th Congress is expected to authorize a “Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.” The subcommittee will fall under the jurisdiction of the House Judiciary Committee led by Chairman Jim Jordan. Additionally, Thomas Massie (R-KY) is being reported as a representative under consideration for the chairmanship the House subcommittee.
In order to avoid another complete waste of time; and considering the background of the current political dynamic which will surround this subcommittee; and considering my accurate predictions for all other special committees and House investigations; and considering that I have ZERO optimism that this committee will generate anything any different than the prior investigative sub and select-committees that preceded it (Fast and Furious, IRS Targeting, Benghazi, etc.); and with full understanding of the complexity of the daunting challenge such an undertaking would require; I have been asked to outline an actual roadmap for success in this noble endeavor.
So, I will…. Even if I believe it is futile.
Let me also say up front that many readers will not like this approach, and most professionally Republican along with media in/around Washington DC will absolutely hate the ideas as they are presented.
Assuming Jim Jordan and Thomas Massie have some grasp of the scale and scope of the opposition they are about to face; and assuming they have a fully prepared staff to support them – willing to take on the most consequential investigation in our lifetimes; then we begin by first defining who will oppose any effort to investigate the “weaponization of government“. Which is to say everyone!
The entire apparatus of the DC political system will do everything in their power, individually and with collective assistance, to ensure this committee fails. The stakes are basically for all the marbles. DC politics is a system of compartmentalized silos. A collection of weaponized institutions that view their common enemy as the American people not within them.
Specifically, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), and every Republican member therein, including SSCI Vice-Chairman Marco Rubio, will make it their priority mission to block any investigation that touches on how the intelligence apparatus of the United States government is weaponized against the people. The SSCI facilitated the creation of the National Security State, and any effort to investigate the outcome will make the House investigators mortal enemies to the Senate.
I like Neil Oliver a lot. I like his perspective, his deliberate nature, his refusal to accept the bullshit, and this monologue is one of the reasons why. I have said it before that in the era of great pretending, the influential people will be those who do not play the game of pretense. Neil Oliver is one of those people who refuses to play.
In this monologue Oliver uses two of my favorite metaphors to describe modern western civilization. First, the Potemkin Villages constructed by political elite in their effort to make it seem like the world is something it is not. Second, the great pretending that is needed in order to sell it.
Though the monologue is specific to the current status of our cousin across the pond, the eloquence of the issues could just as easily apply here; indeed, they are almost identical. WATCH:
[Transcript] – While reading around the subject of Russia and Ukraine this week, I came across the story of the Potemkin villages.
A legend, dismissed as mostly fiction by modern historians, has 18th century Russian statesman Grigory Potemkin building phoney villages along the banks of the Dnipro River just for effect, to create a useful illusion.
His lover, Catherine the Great and her foreign guests, were due to sail down the river on a tour and Potemkin, the story goes, wanted to give them an impressive show of a populous and thriving nation.
As I say, the idea is largely dismissed now – but the term Potemkin village has stuck and is still used today to describe the lengths to which the leaders of a failing, broken country might go in order to create the illusion of success and prosperity when the truth is altogether different.
In the Taibbi release (Twitter File #12) he outlines how Senate Select Committee Vice-Chair Mark Warner was instrumental in framing a media narrative that boxed in Twitter, forcing them to allow the intelligence apparatus through the front door.
Within the Russiagate and intelligence state storyline, the one person who has not been given enough scrutiny is Senate Mark Warner. In fact, Warner was elevated to his position inside the SSCI in January of 2017 specifically as an outcome of the 2016 election. Senator Warner replaced Senator Dianne Feinstein with the specific mission to coverup the committee involvement in 2016 election operations.
Given the nature of our current political dynamic, some may find this interesting; I did.
Because it is rather lengthy, I have prompted the video to begin at a certain place pertinent to our current conversation. Just hit play and then exit when you find yourself no longer interested; but try to stick with it at least through to the Senator Mark Warner and Adam Waldman stuff. WATCH:
Part of the successful negotiations amid the 21 congressional holdouts to the McCarthy speakership, was a pledge to create a subcommittee styled after the Frank Church committee. The purpose of the subcommittee would be to investigate the intelligence apparatus of the U.S. government and the conflicting intersections created by the unconstitutional surveillance state.
It appears from a review of the 6-page framework [See Proposal HERE], the subcommittee will fall under the jurisdiction of the House Judiciary Committee which will likely be chaired by Jim Jordan (R-OH). The framework of the committee as it is surfacing would be structured to have investigative authorities into U.S. intelligence operations, Homeland Security, FBI and DOJ-NSD activity. Thomas Massie will likely be a member of the committee and appeared with Tucker Carlson to discuss. {Direct Rumble Link} – WATCH:
Readers here are very familiar with how the intelligence and national security interests have risen to control almost every institution of government. CTH has deeply outlined how these intelligence departments and homeland security systems have enmeshed to control the executive, legislative and judicial branch of government.
What this committee appears to be motivated toward, and what Massie is outlining in that interview, is the process of going into each of the purposefully created information silos (CIA, DHS, ODNI, FBI, DOJ-NSD etc), reviewing their operational missions, extracting the evidence of their activity and then cross-referencing with unconstitutional outcomes.
The subcommittee has a noble goal; however, the success or lack thereof will ultimately come down to the personnel choices on and in the committee itself. Additionally, and this is a major hurdle, the subcommittee is going to run head-first into the Senate Intelligence Committee obstruction and disinformation system.
The operational mission of the current Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), is entirely to stop any government action that might impede, investigate or attempt to remove the Fourth Branch of Government the Senate has created. The SSCI, the U.S. Intelligence Community and the Dept of Homeland Security will target this House Subcommittee, the members, the staffers and their families, with extreme prejudice.
California Representative Kevin McCarthy finally succeeded on the 15th ballot during the overnight hours of Friday to Saturday. Mr McCarthy ultimately prevailed with 216 votes after six conservatives switched their votes to present. This lowered the threshold for a majority vote and essentially reversed their prior opposition. Their change followed 14 other holdout Republicans who flipped their votes to McCarthy during the 12th ballot and Andy Harris (R-Md.), switching to McCarthy on the 13th.
After Speaker Kevin McCarthy was sworn into office, he delivered a speech to the entire House.
How many months ago did CTH start saying ‘watch Mexico’? Having said that, what is unfolding right now in the battle between the Sinaloa cartel and the Mexican military is fraught with unknown variables and hidden U.S. interests.
Use the example of the U.S. manipulating Ukraine as the reference point for what is happening in Mexico right now with Joe Biden and Justin Trudeau scheduled to visit Mexico City in four days for the North American Summit.
It’s all sketchy. Do not formulate opinions because we have no idea how many peas and shells are being maneuvered by U.S. intelligence and national security state interests.
We are told the Mexican military arrested Ovidio Guzman-Lopez, the son of El Chapo, who it is claimed to be running the drug cartel Culiacan, Sinaloa state. Some form of Mexican or U.S. military unit, contractor or federal office with guns and big juice then transferred Ovidio Guzman-Lopez to Mexico City where the summit is supposed to take place.
The Sinaloa cartel has now begun a rampage of revenge across the Sinaloa state attacking, police, government buildings, transportation, airports and planes, setting vehicles ablaze and setting up roadblocks. At least seven Mexican security force personnel are reported to have been killed in clashes where the government was trying to retake control. Eight civilians are also reported dead.
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) released the December jobs report today [DATA HERE] showing 223,000 jobs gained in December ’22.
Most of the job growth was in the “leisure and hospitality” sector (+67,000), healthcare (+55,000), construction (+28,000) and social assistance (+20,000). Additionally, average hourly earnings rose by 0.3%, with a year-over-year measure of wage growth at 4.6%.
At this point in the history of our economic pretending game, we are well aware the employment numbers are heavily manipulated in order to support the government policymaking that is destroying the same workforce they claim to represent. It’s all a ruse, just look around your community and you will see what I am talking about.
The financial pundits, Wall Street, government policy makers and various individuals and economic gaslighters are concerned that worker wage growth could drive inflation. This is one of the most aggravating aspects to reviewing the majority of economic punditry. [Example:]
This knuckleheaded narrative engineer from the New York Times/Atlantic even has the audacity to say, “let prices continue to fall to target,” as if there is a single item at any price that is dropping. His spin is a good example of gaslighting just from the use of the statement “price inflation is falling back towards where we want it.”
Price inflation is not price. ‘Price inflation’ is the rate of increase. There’s a BIG DIFFERENCE between “inflation falling back” and prices dropping. Inflation falling back is merely a lessening of the rate of price increase. The price does not drop, and never will.
This reality is why it is infuriating to see government policymakers and pundits decry wage growth as a bad thing that might cause inflation.
Our dear friend Sharon always reminds us, “Those whose motives are based on deception, will always find an audience willing to be deceived.” That, my friends, is the current status of the Republican party watchers and one of the primary reasons this little corner of the internet, The Last Refuge, was formed.
We accept things as they are, not as we would wish them to be and never as we would pretend them to be. Pretending is an endless quest akin to convincing. Those who operate in the world of political pretense expend an exhaustive amount of energy in constant vigilance against those who speak plain truths.
The House of Representatives has adjourned until 10pm tonight, when another vote will be taken, as outlined by the design of the Kevin McCarthy supporters.
Why adjourn? Why return at 10:00pm on a Friday evening? Simply, because the McCarthy team is counting on several House members (mostly Democrats) not being in attendance for the quorum, facilitating a lower threshold of the vote to achieve a majority.
435/434 members present = 218 votes needed
433/432 members present = 217 votes needed
431/430 members present = 216 votes needed
429/428 members present = 215 votes needed etc.
