The ideology of these elitist minded control officers is really remarkable.  The president of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, has given several statements to media saying policy measures must be put into place in order to stop wage growth from fueling inflation.

Think about this in the most practical of terms.  Western politicians have created massive inflation through their collective ‘Build Back Better’ energy policy.  The central banks have raised interest rates, an effort to shrink the economy by lowering energy demand, to offset the skyrocketing costs of the energy problem the politicians created.

With workers demanding pay raises to help afford the skyrocketing costs of energy, the central EU bank is now worried that wage increases will fuel inflation.

There’s a truckload of pretending needed to avoid seeing the insufferable dynamic of reality.

Political policy drives up energy costs. Central banks try to drive down energy demand.  Workers unable to afford the energy prices created by politicians, are then blamed for the inflation the political policy creates.

Sooner or later ordinary people are going to figure out this abusive cycle.

(Via Reuters) – Euro zone wages are growing quicker than earlier thought and the European Central Bank must prevent this from adding to already high inflation, ECB President Christine Lagarde told a Croatian newspaper.

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Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was named the 265th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church on April 19, 2005, at the age of 78. He was the first German pope in several centuries and chose the name Benedict XVI.

Pope Benedict resigned in February 2013 at the age of 85 and the Vatican announced earlier today he died, age 95.

ABC News reports: “With sorrow I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 in the Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican. Further information will be provided as soon as possible,” said the Director of the Holy See press office Matteo Bruni’s statement.

The Vatican press office has said that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s body will lie in state in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican for the faithful to pay their respects. No further details have been announced. (more)

It’s very unusual for a pope to die while another is in office.

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the JoeBama Administration and Presidency.

“This is no small thing, to restore a republic after it has fallen into corruption. I have studied history for years and I cannot recall it ever happening. It may be that our task is impossible. Yet, if we do not try then how will we know it can’t be done? And if we do not try, it most certainly won’t be done. The Founders’ Republic, and the larger war for western civilization, will be lost.”

“But I tell you this: We will not go gently into that bloody collectivist good night. Indeed, we will make with our defiance such a sound as ALL history from that day forward will be forced to note, even if they despise us in the writing of it.”

~ Mike Vanderboegh

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

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Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

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The criminal complaint against California serial killer Wesley Brownlee (pictured left) has been amended to include four more victims.

A total of seven murders are attributed to Brownlee and more will possibly be added.  Details via NPR.

STOCKTON, Calif. — A man suspected in Northern California serial killings has been charged in four additional slayings this week, bringing the total to seven deaths since April 2021, authorities said.

The shootings terrorized the Central Valley city of Stockton earlier this year as police searched for a man clad in black who appeared to be “on a mission” as he hunted victims for ambush-style shootings. He was also tied violence in Alameda County.

[…] Brownlee was initially only charged in the deaths of three victims in Stockton: Jonathan Rodriguez Hernandez, 21, who died Aug. 30; Juan Cruz, 52, who died Sept. 21; and Lawrence Lopez Sr., 54, who died Sept. 27.

The amended complaint, filed Tuesday, additionally charges Brownlee with the killings of Paul Yaw, 35, who died July 8, and Salvador Debudey Jr., 43, who died Aug. 11, in Stockton, as well as the Alameda County fatal shootings of Juan Vasquez Serrano, 39, on April 10, 2021, and Mervin Harmon on April 16, 2021.

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Barbara Walters died today, aged 93.  [Story Here]

Ms. Walters is credited with blazing the trail for women in media.   Walters legacy includes many facets, including the modern era launch of the most transparently biased interview technique in opinion journalism.  Barbara Walters never let the details of a good story get in the way of her opinion of it.

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Underreported and essentially invisible within the mainstream news cycles, a critical shortage of ordinary U.S. medicine has been growing and becoming an emergency situation for many families.  If rationing kicks in fully, be careful about what you post on social media.  Determining allowances based on political ideology is a real concern.

In a general sense the issue is mostly an outcome of the U.S. outsourcing drug ingredient procurement and manufacture to China and India.  Many companies in both of those countries have been struggling with operational interruptions as a result of COVID-19.  As supplies in the U.S. rapidly dwindle, local news media outlets are now starting to pick up on the issue.  WATCH:

(Via Fox Business) – The nationwide shortage of basic antibiotics and critical medications that treat chronic conditions and bacterial infections has become the latest issue to hit the medical world. Consequently, it is forcing many doctors to rely on alternative medicines to treat patients.

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During my trip to DC in the summer of 2020 there were a myriad of disconcerting datapoints assembled; revelations that made sense of the madness and disappointments found everywhere. However, one of the key notations for future reference was to watch the political evolution of Dept of Homeland Security (DHS) and spot the jump where the ideological outlook turns into specific government action.

With that in mind, this recent discovery of a 2010 to 2015 DHS contract to a very well-known USG defense contractor, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems Inc., surfaces.

As many are now becoming aware, DHS is the lead agency behind all of the engagements with Twitter and other social media.

[SOURCE HERE]

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), specifically created as an outcome of the post-911 Patriot Act, is the pivot point on the surveillance radar sweep.

Prior to the DNI the general Intelligence Community (IC) surveillance faced offshore and swept foreign adversaries. If any threat was picked up that included the potential for domestic terrorism, the identified contact transferred from the CIA, NSA, DoD into the DOJ and FBI.  The DOJ then used the FISA Court to request transfer of targeting from foreign to domestic.

However, after 911 it was determined the national security surveillance radar needed to sweep a full 360° to include domestic surveillance.  The ODNI was the office created to manage the pivot point.  As a specific outcome of the Patriot Act, American citizens were now under the same surveillance as foreign adversaries.  The new definition of American citizens being threats to the national security state is ultimately what led to our taking off shoes at TSA checkpoints in airports.   TSA is a subsidiary agency of DHS.

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Police and federal officials in Moscow, Idaho are scheduled to give a press conference at 4:00pm ET today after the arrest of 28-year-old suspect Bryan Christopher Kohberger. Livestream Links Below.

According to The Daily Mail, “Police found the DNA of a criminal justice graduate at the scene of the murders of four University of Idaho students – and tracked him using his white Hyundai Elantra. Arrest records obtained by DailyMail.com show that Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, was arrested after a SWAT team swooped in Chestnut Hill Township, Pennsylvania, at around 3am this morning. A white Hyundai Elantra – the same make and model of car being sought by cops in connection to the killing – is said to have been towed from outside Kohberger’s home.” {LINK}  VIDEO ADDED:

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Andrew and Tristan Tate are controversial figures in the industry of what has been called online influencing.  There is generally a gray area when it comes to personalities who arise from one field of fame, in this case kickboxing, and then segway into other financial exploits where politics and pop culture are blended.  One person’s hero is another’s archvillain.

Andrew Tate, and to a somewhat lesser extent his brother Tristan, are pop culture personalities who have been controversial, removed from various social media platforms and ostracized for conduct many have defined as toxic and misogynistic.  CTH has limited knowledge of them but apparently the brothers have a considerable following online and in their various endeavors.  They have strong supporters and strong opposition.

[FWIW, from the outside looking in, they look sketchy.]

Last night the pair were arrested in Romania on charges of running a criminal enterprise (what might be considered RICO violations in the U.S), human trafficking and rape.  The two brothers, and two other people who are accused of collaboration in the enterprise, stand accused of luring women into the world of online pornography and forcibly holding them against their will. [Romania Legal Charges Here]

According to Romanian authorities, Andrew Tate had been under investigation since April 2022, after accusations from one American woman claiming to have been forced into their pornography business and held under threat and duress.  Prosecutors said they found six women who the suspects had sexually exploited, and that the suspects appear to have created an organized group to recruit, house and exploit women by forcing them to create pornographic content to be viewed on certain websites for money, according to Reuters.

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