Rep. John Ratcliffe: John Durham Interviewed US Embassy Official Dudley Who Reached Out to Papadopoulos Months Before Crossfire Hurricane

Rep. John Ratcliffe, a former US Attorney from Texas, joined Maria Bartiromo on Sunday Morning Futures earlier today to discuss the Pelosi slapdash impeachment scandal.

Ratcliffe also broke more news on the Obama spying scandal.

Rep. John Ratcliffe: Now we come up with evidence that’s recently been reported that one of the folks that John Durham talked to was an embassy official who reached out to George Papadopoulos three months before Crossfire Hurricane was ever opened. That’s a sign that John Durham is looking at the fact that this may include Obama administration officials beyond law enforcement, perhaps to include our intelligence community.

Prosecutors working for Special Counsel Robert Mueller interviewed Terrence Dudley at the U.S. embassy in London last year about his contacts during the 2016 presidential campaign with George Papadopoulos months before Crossfire Hurricane.

Ratcliffe went on to say that Brennan and Comey gave conflicting testimony under oath blaming eachother for pushing the bogus Steele Dossier to spy on Trump before the election and as a sitting president!

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/01/rep-john-ratcliffe-john-durham-interviewed-us-embassy-official-terrence-dudley-who-reached-out-to-papadopoulos-months-before-crossfire-hurricane-video/

Iran Can Pay $80 Million Bounty on Trump with Their Obama Cash

On Friday morning the United States killed General Qassim Soleimani, a top commander of Iran’s al-Quds Force, in an airstrike at Baghdad’s International Airport.

The strike also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iran-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces.

Iran has promised revenge for the death of their terror leader.

On Sunday the Iranian Regime offered an $80 million bounty for anyone who brings in the head of President Donald Trump for killing Qassam Soleimani.

Iran can just use the cash that Barack Obama sent them on wooden pallets in unmarked cargo planes.

In January of 2016, Barack Obama sent $400 million in Euros and Swiss Francs to Iran on unmarked cargo planes — the very same day, Tehran agreed to release 4 Americans who were being held.

An additional $1.3 billion of cash was sent to Iran as payment on ‘estimated interest’ on so-called Iranian cash that the US had been holding since the 1970’s.

Obama lied and claimed the cash payments to Iran were not a ransom payment.

Iran can now use part of that $1.7 billion in cash that their buddy Obama sent them to fund the $80 million bounty on Trump’s head.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/01/thanks-obama-iran-can-pay-80-million-bounty-on-trump-with-their-obama-cash/

Iraq Votes To Expel US Troops As Iranian MPs Chant "Death To America"

If President Trump wanted to reduce America's troop presence in the Middle East, he may have just got his wish, albeit not at his orders.

During an emergency parliamentary session this morning, the Iraqi government just voted to have foreign troops removed from the country.

Interim Iraqi prime minister, Adil Abdul Mahdi, stressed during the session, that while the US government notified the Iraqi military of the planned strike on Soleimani, his government denied Washington permission to continue with the operation.

As RT reports, Mahdi said after the incident that it was clear it was in the interest of both the US and Iraq to end the presence of foreign forces on Iraqi soil.

"Despite the internal and external difficulties that we might face, it remains best for Iraq on principle and practically."

Still there are plenty more US bases around…

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/iranian-mps-chant-death-america-iraq-votes-have-us-troops-removed-country

2020 will be all about the great unmasking and control.

In 2019 central banks once again succeeded in masking all the underlying problems in the economy, the underlying structural problems of debt, deflation and demographics, and the slowing of global growth and offering the pretense that 2019’s policy responses were nothing but a complete system failure acknowledging that markets can’t stand on their own two feet without central bank intervention. In process asset prices were artificially inflated across the board and valuations pushed far above the growth and size of global economies and volatility once again compressed.

2020 is then all about whether control over asset prices can be maintained and whether reflation can be achieved to support exaggerated asset prices or whether failure on either count will bring about the great unmasking of the largest asset bubble since the year 2000.

Bond markets and economic data so far shows few signs of true reflation as key individual stocks ($MSFT, $AAPL) are vastly extended and markets are in a state of imbalance partying like it’s 1999.

Optimism is high for 2020 and bulls enter the year in full control. The price target charade offers again positive outlooks despite all economic and growth projections having been off base.

Trust is placed in a phase one China trade deal to be signed on January 15 that nobody has seen or read or has any insight into specifics as to how it will bring about reflation.

Trust is placed in an administration keen on continuing to push asset prices higher into the US November election, even outlining specific asset price targets. (DJIA 32K).

Trust is placed in central banks to keep all troubles contained and to continue to “calm markets” as unexpected events such as the most recent Iran crisis pop up.

Markets are priced to perfection and the first quarter is likely to see a larger first correction. The historical script suggests that the first sizable correction of 2020 will get bought for a new rally to either new highs or lower highs.

It is the unfolding of economic data and earnings throughout the year that will then need to show evidence and match the high expectations priced into markets. Without such evidence markets and global economies may well proceed on the path of the great unmasking that the structural economy has been pointing toward for a while.

While central banks have successfully again kicked the can, they have yet to prove that reflation can be achieved. Non confirmation signals keep increasing as does the list of factors that need to be ignored to keep the ‘it’s different this time’ narrative alive.

Join me in this week’s market video for an in-depth discussion of technicals and key macro factors/concerns that suggest risk may be greatly misprized :

https://northmantrader.com/2020/01/05/2020-vision-3/

AFRICOM Confirms Attack On US Base In Kenya

U.S. Africa Command has confirmed militants attacked a base used by U.S. forces in Kenya on Sunday. The Sunday attack was led by terrorist organization al-Shabaab at Manda Bay Airfield.

U.S. Africa Command said, "Working alongside our Kenyan partners, the airfield is cleared and still in the process of being fully secured" adding that the security situation at Manda Bay is "fluid."

"Al-Shabaab is a brutal terrorist organization," said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. William Gayler, U.S. Africa Command director of operations. "It is an al-Qaeda affiliate seeking to establish a self-governed Islamic territory in East Africa, to remove Western influence and ideals from the region, and to further its jihadist agenda. U.S. presence in Africa is critically important to counter-terrorism efforts."

There was no report of U.S. or Kenyan deaths. U.S. Africa Command said, "accountability of personnel assessment is underway." There were reports on Twitter that infrastructure and equipment on the base were heavily damaged during the intense firefight.

Twitter handle Intel Air & Sea provided several pictures of a commercial twin-engine passenger aircraft engulfed in flames.

More

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/africom-confirms-terrorist-attack-us-base-kenya

Governor Huckabee on Soleimani Strike: Can You Imagine Telling Adam Schiff in Advance? He would have held a Press Conference!

Former Governor Mike Huckabee joined FOX and Friends on Sunday morning to discuss the death of Iranian al-Quds leader Qassam Soleimani in Baghdad.

The US targeted and killed Soleimani while he was leaving the Baghdad airport early in the morning on Friday.

Democrats were outraged that they were not told about the mission prior to the strike.

Governor Huckabee tore into the current crop of Democrats in Congress.

Governor Huckabee: When Barack Obama took out Osama bin Laden we all celebrated, Republican, Democrat. It was an American celebration to get rid of this guy behind 9-11… Well, Nancy Pelosi and all of the Democrats were whining because they didn’t get notified. Can you have seen telling Adam Schiff in advance? He would have held a press conference and even given the coordinates of where the attack was going to take place. These people aren’t trustworthy. More than that, he did notify them in the 48 hours that was required.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/01/governor-huckabee-on-soleimani-strike-can-you-imagine-telling-adam-schiff-in-advance-he-would-have-held-a-press-conference-video/

Make no mistake: Military robots are not there to preserve human life, they are there to allow even more endless wars

When human troops are replaced by robots on the battlefield, it won’t be because the Pentagon's had some revelation about the value of human life – it’ll be an effort to defuse anti-war protests by minimizing visible casualties.

US military commanders are itching to get their hands on some killer robots after an Army war game saw a human-robot coalition repeatedly rout an all-human company three times its size. The technology used in the computer-simulated clashes doesn’t exist quite yet – the concept was only devised a few months ago – but it’s in the pipeline, and that should concern anyone who prefers peace to war.

“We reduced the risk to US forces to zero, basically, and were still able to accomplish the mission,” Army Captain Philip Belanger gushed to Breaking Defense last week, after commanding the silicon soldiers through close to a dozen battles at Fort Benning Maneuver Battle Lab. When they tried to fight an army three times their size again without the robotic reinforcements? “Things did not go well for us,” Belanger admitted.

What could go wrong?

So why shouldn’t the US military save its troops by sending in specially-designed robots to do their killing? While protecting American lives is one reason to oppose the US’ ever-metastasizing endless wars, it’s far from the only reason. Civilian casualties are already a huge problem with drone strikes, which by some estimates kill their intended target only 10 percent of the time. Drones, an early form of killer robot, offer minimal sensory input for the operator, making it difficult to distinguish combatants from non. Soldiers controlling infantry-bots from afar will have even less visibility, being stuck to the ground, and their physical distance from the action means shooting first and asking questions later becomes an act no more significant than pulling the trigger in a first-person-shooter video game.

https://www.rt.com/op-ed/476705-killer-robots-save-lives-war/

California’s Increasing Weed Taxes are Fueling Crime, Destroying Environment, and Killing Jobs

California — It’s been two years since California began licensing businesses to sell legal marijuana. Unfortunately, however, the legal scene is far outmatched by the black market and the state government is 100% responsible. Instead of reacting to the negative effects of state involvement in the cannabis market, the government of California has doubled down and will vastly increase the burden on legal operations which is certain to create more crime, damage the environment further, and stoke unemployment and business closures.

And the state couldn’t care less.

At the end of 2019, the Cannabis Advisory Committee warned Gov. Gavin Newsom and California legislators that high taxes, overly burdensome regulations and local control issues posed debilitating obstacles to the legal marijuana market. In response, California officials enacted a new a law on New Year’s day to increase these taxes and overly burdensome regulations.

“Essentially, the state is raising our taxes $3 on every $100,” said Eric Miramon, co-owner of All About Wellness in Sacramento.

Miramon told KCRA his pot shop pays a whopping $120,000 a month in combined state and city taxes — and those fees are going up.

Cannabis wholesalers were already paying outrageous excise fees of 60%. But this year, those fees went up to 80%. Cultivation fees are also going through the roof. The effects of extorting the legal cannabis industry for more and more money are devastating both for crime and the environment.

“Increasing the taxes over and over a little bit every month, this is pushing people further and further into the black market,” Miramon said.

The effects of officials steadily stealing more and more from the market via higher taxes and more regulations have been staggering. In fact, despite bringing in $3.1 billion in licensed pot sales — becoming the largest market in the world in 2019 — it is estimated that over 80% of cannabis sales still take place in the black market.

That is nearly $9 billion going to people who are willing to break the law. While many of the folks on the black market are good people who simply wish to conduct business outside the burdensome economy taxed into oblivion by the state, others are ruthless killers and members of the cartel.

El Dorado County sheriff’s Deputy Brian Ishmael was one of the victims of this policy. A private resident who was allowing the cartel to illegally grow weed on his property called police in October after the cartel refused to pay him all his money. When Ishmael responded to the call, cartel members harvesting the last of their weed, shot and killed him.

Ishmael is one of many victims in this drug war that’s been created and maintained by prohibition and government regulation.

https://thefreethoughtproject.com/california-cannabis-industry-danger-statists/