Senator Ray Lujan from New Mexico suffered a stroke recently.  Thankfully, despite the seriousness of his medical situation, he is expected to make a recovery.  However, he will likely miss all U.S. Senate work for at least a month.  Lujan’s absence creates a significant issue for Senate Democrats in an upper chamber with a 50/50 split.

Lujan suffered the stroke last Thursday, on the same day Joe Biden announced the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.  The news of Senator Lujan’s major medical condition has been essentially quiet.

With Joe Biden expecting to nominate a Supreme Court justice very soon, the senator’s absence could be problematic.

However, not to worry, creepy Joe’s recent praise of Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham will likely assist.

WASHINGTON DC – […] While the 49-year-old New Mexico Democrat is expected to make a full recovery, no one knew when he would return to the evenly divided Senate, or what it means for the immediate agenda.

Luján’s unexpected medical condition comes at a moment when Senate Democrats simply don’t have any votes to spare to pass party priorities, including reviving their social spending bill and now confirming a Supreme Court justice. The latest news could leave Democrats reliant on Republican votes to move forward on nominees and other priorities.

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According to the White House, 50 special forces operators attacked the leadership compound of Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, the ISIS replacement head for Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who was killed in 2019.  According to the White House occupant, after a lengthy engagement with U.S. forces, al-Qurayshi killed himself the same way al-Baghdadi did, by exploding a bomb.  There were no U.S. casualties.

(Via ABC) First responders reported that 13 people had been killed, including six children and four women. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said U.S. officials believe al-Qurayshi’s explosive killed himself, his wife, and three children. She added that U.S. officials were conducting an assessment to determine whether American action resulted in any civilian deaths. (more)

The White House background briefing on the strike IS HERE.  The remarks by Joe Biden ARE HERE.

Sending 50 special operators for one building engagement is a little heavy; however, obviously the White House was petrified that something would go wrong, and the last thing Ron Klain wants would be another boondoggle to add to the pile of disasters this administration has created.

That said, rather than debate the mission, I would draw attention to the location and bigger picture.  Northern Syria is part of the Muslim Brotherhood territory under the influence of Turkish President Recep Erdogan.  ISIS, al-Qaeda, al-Nusra, and all extremist Islamic factions therein are all just various shades of authentic Islam as promoted by The Muslim Brotherhood.

Turkey is a member of NATO.  Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi and all of the various offshoots of ISIS could not operate in Northern Syria without the assistance of Turkey.  But we are not allowed to talk about that.  Notice how none of the media ask the White House or Pentagon if we discussed the attack with Turkey in advance?

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As the Ottawa police chief ponders the deployment of the Canadian military to remove protestors and is concerned that more protest groups are likely to arrive in support of the existing convoy, city officials in Quebec have deployed a proactive strategy – block the streets with city trucks.

A Radio Canada journalist in Quebec shares the following picture:

Quebec City officials have moved municipal trucks into place to block the streets from protest trucks.  Yes Alice, Canadian officials are blocking the streets with trucks in order to stop trucks from blocking the streets.  Brilliant!

Meanwhile, as many of the locals join in celebration and merriment with the protest groups, some of the more leftist Ottawans are now protesting at the police department for not removing the protestors.  They accuse the Freedom protestors of “running amok.”

(Via CBC) – […] Rhys McGaw, a downtown resident, and others gathered for a second night on Wednesday to object to what they view as inaction by police.  “In my neighbourhood, on my street, down the street, in the stores of Centretown or Lowertown — that’s where people are just running amok,” McGaw said.” (more)

Despite earlier requests by city officials for the Canadian military to get involved, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says -from his secret bunker- that’s “not in the cards.”  Trudeau also doubled down on his position that he will not negotiate with the Freedom Convoy protestors.

However, the prime minister did affirm that RCMP officials will be present in Ottawa to provide safe space emotional counseling for residents experiencing trauma and psychological violence committed by the scruffy and unmasked working-class horde now occupying Parliament Hill.

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The border crossing between Coutts, Alberta (CA) and Sweet Grass, Montana (USA) continues to be closed despite truckers opening a lane in either direction as a show of good faith.  The dynamics in this regional part of the larger Freedom Convoy protests are very interesting.  The Alberta protests are in support of the larger trucker protest taking place in Ottawa.

Last night, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney (the Robert the Bruce character in the province), disparaged the truckers in the protest group and claimed, without evidence, that violence was taking place in the confrontation between RCMP and the Truckers.  It was all lies.

Just like Justin Trudeau makes stuff up for media stenographers to draw an alternate framework of reality, so too did Jason Kenney have the same motive. The painfully political Kenney, a visible elitist and detached politician, was playing his controlled opposition role and attacking the Freedom Truckers.

Just to give appropriate understanding for how detached these conservatives in Canada are from the people they claim to represent, Jason Kenney’s political worm traits were on full display during his prepared remarks on Tuesday.  However, 24 hours later, as soon as his brother in controlled opposition Erin O’Toole was removed from political power, suddenly Premier Kenney has a change of heart and proclaims his allegiance to the Truckers, saying, “I’m on your side.”  The slime oozes from this guy.

Despite all that, the truckers remained focused -reinforced their ranks- and engaged in conversation with the rural Ministers of Alberta’s Legislative Assembly (MLA’s).  The MLA’s are apparently slightly less slimy creatures akin to political clan leaders in the province.

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Several days ago CTH presented the following meme/metaphor, because history has a tendency to rhyme:

Those who recognize and appreciate history will note that whenever hardline leftism is confronted anywhere in history, there always comes an inflection point when the ruling state police have to make a decision.

When the Chinese communists decided it was time to rid themselves of the dissident protests in Tiananmen Square, the local military encircled the student and academic activists in an effort to protect them (pictured above).  However, the ruling Chinese officials were not happy, and sent for the Mongolian army divisions, those without familial connections in the movement, to do the dirty work.  The rest of history you likely know.

In Ottawa, Canada, again another exhibition of confronting hardline totalitarian leftists, the voices of those within the Freedom Convoy movement are similarly not going to be deterred.  The protestors want the government COVID dictates removed, they want vaccine passport rules dropped, they want mandated vaccinations and forced medical procedures stopped, and they want their freedom back.

Into this equation and confrontation, The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and local law enforcement are also unlikely to want to bring blood and violence upon the streets.  However, the hardline leftists will not allow dissent to challenge their power. As history repeats, the local police are now opening the possibility of bringing in the military.

Yes, history is rhyming again.

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The business and financial wires are melting down today as ADP Payrolls, the nation’s largest private sector payroll providing service, releases data from January showing a drop of 301,000 jobs.  [ADP Raw Data Here]

The financial, economic and business pundits are completely caught off guard and using the words “shocked”, “unexpected” and “surprised,” within their analysis.  These employment numbers just don’t align with an economy growing at 6.9%, as measured by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).  However, for CTH readers who have carefully scrutinized the economic claims and looked at the bigger picture through the prism of kitchen table checkbook economics, these results are not a surprise.

Every sector of the employment picture on Main Street USA is hit.  The pundits, following the narrative first seeded by the White House on Monday, are pointing to Omicron as the justification inside their review.  That’s nonsense.  For the better part of seven months these same pundits first claimed Delta, then shifted to Omicron as a way to explain the structurally weak economy.  All of that is nonsense.

What we are witnessing are the outcomes of massive inflation now hitting the labor market.  A drop in demand, and a subsequent drop in the employment of goods and services, is an unavoidable outcome of inflationary pressure on wages.

Let me say it again, on a macro level, natural consumer DEMAND has dropped – we are only now starting to see it surfacing in the statistical measures.

This is why White House spokesperson Jen Psaki made that weird statement on Monday.

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Jeff Zucker abruptly resigned from CNN releasing a statement: “As part of the investigation into Chris Cuomo’s tenure at CNN, I was asked about a consensual relationship with my closest colleague, someone I have worked with for more than 20 years,” Mr. Zucker wrote. “I acknowledged the relationship evolved in recent years. I was required to disclose it when it began but I didn’t. I was wrong.”

Apparently, Jeff Zucker has been involved in a long-term relationship with a woman named Allison Gollust as she worked her way through the ranks at CNN throughout her career.

Ms. Gollust is currently CNN’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer, positioning her as one of the highest-ranking leaders within the network, closely involved in major business and communications decisions.

Ms. Gollust said in another statement Wednesday she was remaining in her role at CNN: “Jeff and I have been close friends and professional partners for over 20 years,” she wrote. “Recently, our relationship changed during Covid. I regret that we didn’t disclose it at the right time. I’m incredibly proud of my time at CNN and look forward to continuing the great work we do every day.”

Essentially, what appears to have taken place is then married Jeff Zucker and then married Allison Gollust beginning a relationship many years ago, and Zucker advancing Gollust throughout her career, even to the point of her physical location living above him.   Both of them eventually divorced from their respective spouses, and yet the network, or at least the board of directors, was “unaware” of their relationship.

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At this point in our nation’s history, certain acceptances are needed in order to accurately identify the current status of our situation.

• • The Legislative Branch (SSCI) created the Intelligence State, the Fourth Branch of superseding government.
  • The Executive Branch (FBI, DOJ, NSA) control the Fourth Branch of superseding government.
  • The Judicial Branch (FISA Court) is the facilitating approval apparatus for the Fourth Branch.

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With that empirical and well documented reality in place, all three branches of U.S. government work in unison.  Who or what can intervene to stop the Fourth Branch of government from operating unilaterally?

This is the serious question that no one ever discusses.

The FISA Court is the private, secret, unchecked judicial system authorizing the power for the Intelligence State.

As a result, we continue to see NSA reports showing the unconstitutional surveillance of the American people continuing without consequence [NSA Release Here].

This is the 5th straight year where the National Security Agency (NSA) produces a document admitting their metadata capturing system, the system that captures all electronic communication of every single American and puts it into a stored database, is continually used as a research library for unnamed federal agents to scour (without search warrants) for the private documents of American citizens.

At this point, the NSA admission without consequence is simply just another Tuesday, it literally doesn’t even make the headlines anymore.

The executive summary does, however, include the NSA introducing the latest admissions about violating the 4th amendment right of Americans, while bragging about how their diversity hiring efforts have paid off.

So, there’s that.

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An interesting study from Johns Hopkins University [DATA HERE] shows the 2021 government lockdown did virtually nothing to stem death from the pandemic, but likely created more adverse “social ills” and long-term negative health outcomes.

WASHINGTON – […] The lockdowns during the early phase of the pandemic in 2020 reduced COVID-19 mortality by about 0.2%, said the broad review of multiple scientific studies.

“We find no evidence that lockdowns, school closures, border closures, and limiting gatherings have had a noticeable effect on COVID-19 mortality,” the researchers wrote. But the research paper said lockdowns did have “devastating effects” on the economy and contributed to numerous social ills.

“They have contributed to reducing economic activity, raising unemployment, reducing schooling, causing political unrest, contributing to domestic violence, and undermining liberal democracy,” the report said.

“Such a standard benefit-cost calculation leads to a strong conclusion: lockdowns should be rejected out of hand as a pandemic policy instrument,” the paper concluded. (read more)

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The latest BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLT) report [DATA HERE] reflects a headline of 4.3 million U.S. workers quitting in December.  However, that number is 161,000 fewer quits than November. The job openings are starting to fill up.

While there is evidence the mandatory vaccine requirements are still working through the job market, we are still about another month away before the fog clears from the private sector employment data.

This Friday we will see the unemployment data from December, but in the interim this JOLT’s report is tracking with CTH expectations.

The primary driver of the quits rate has been inflation.  Workers seeking higher wages in an effort to deal with inflation can get faster paycheck results by switching jobs rather than asking current employers for more money.

We have been watching this trend for several months.  However, the rate of job-jumping is slowing down as the available jobs to jump into are fewer, and the vaccine mandate impact is settling down.

Despite the number of job openings, blue collar workers are starting to see job vacancies decreasing.  The service industries around accommodation, food services and basic dirty fingernail positions still have many vacancies; this is the epicenter of where the job jumping takes place. Employment in durable goods manufacturing is at that phase where things are about to get sketchy for tradespeople and union workers.

The white collar jobs are static and/or slightly downsizing.  The total number of hires was 6.3 million for December, a drop of 333,000 from prior month.  The number of people hired in professional and business services dropped by 159,000.

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