In the last few weeks there’s been increasing public talk of achieving peace through direct negotiations coming out of both Ukrainian and Russian officials. But for now, each side is sticking to their respective strict demands, making the possibility of serious talks coming to fruition anytime soon highly unlikely. Yet it’s at least a positive that the word “negotiations” is even in the air at this point.

The latest back-and-forth began with a Monday statement by Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba, who called for a peace summit to be held by the end of February with the mediation of UN Secretary-General António Guterres. However, his key sticking point, which proved to be a non-starter for Moscow, was that Russian officials first face a “war crimes court” for the invasion of Ukraine.

“Every war ends in a diplomatic way,” Kuleba said. “Every war ends as a result of the actions taken on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.” He added while talking about a UN venue, “This is really about bringing everyone on board.”

And as Politico reported of the top Ukrainian diplomat’s Monday remarks, “Asked about whether they would invite Russia to the summit, he said that Moscow would first need to face prosecution for war crimes at an international court.” Kuleba then stipulated, “They can only be invited to this step in this way.”

Kuleba then went on the attack, speaking of the Russians: “They regularly say that they are ready for negotiations, which is not true, because everything they do on the battlefield proves the opposite.”

In part, this was all a reaction to weekend comments by President Vladimir Putin saying he’s ready to negotiate “with everyone involved” in the Ukraine conflict.

The Kremlin’s official response to Kuleba’s latest comments came via head of the Russian State Duma Committee on international affairs Leonid Slutsky – who it should be noted would likely head any future Russian delegation in talks with Ukraine. Slutsky dismissed the Ukrainian calls for a war crimes tribunal as a “smoke screen.” 

“Ukraine is still not ready to hold peace negotiations; all the statements made by [Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry] Kuleba are a smoke screen,” Slutsky said, and further according to state media:

Slutsky underscored that it was the Ukrainian side that withdrew from the Istanbul peace process, instead choosing a path of escalation. “It wasn’t us who were evading peace talks, it wasn’t us who staged the provocation in Bucha,” he added.

Slutsky noted that “the ball is still in Kiev’s court,” adding that the goals of the special military operation remain the same, those being the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine.

He emphasized Moscow’s key stipulation that talks are possible if the West halts its ongoing weapons pipeline to Ukraine’s armed forces.

“Russia has repeatedly called on the international community, including at the parliamentary level, asking to stop arming the Kiev regime; however, Western states continue sponsoring and supplying heavy weapons. This is what the UN should pay greater attention to,” the lawmaker said, after UN leadership appeared to back Kuleba’s call for peace talks.

Authored by Ashley Allen via The Organic Prepper blog,

Emergency preparedness is serious business but not all of our endeavors need to take on the gravity of life and death. This is a fun list, and while the suggestions are solid, it is by no means a list that covers everything you need to be prepared.

Without further ado, here’s an alphabetical list of preps that could serve you well.

Emergency Preps from A-Z

I’ve chosen one prep for each letter of the alphabet to help you get ready for disasters large or small.

A – Alcohol-based hand sanitizer: It’s important to have hand sanitizer on hand in case you don’t have access to soap and water. Alcohol-based hand sanitizer can help reduce the spread of germs and bacteria. Not a fan of hand sanitizer and prefer a natural approach? Here’s an article that explains when to use what kind of product.

B – Battery-powered radio: In the event of a power outage, a battery-powered or hand-crank radio can be a vital source of information. It can help you stay updated on weather forecasts, evacuation orders, and other important alerts. We recommend this one.

C – Cash: In an emergency, ATMs and credit card machines may not be available, so it’s important to have a supply of cash on hand. This can be used to purchase necessary supplies or pay for evacuation expenses. Put back small bills. You may not be able to get change during a crisis.

D – Drinking water: It’s important to have a supply of clean drinking water in case the water supply is disrupted or contaminated. Consider storing bottled water, or filling up jugs or other containers with tap water in case of an emergency. Here’s an article on water storage.

E – Emergency contact list: Having a list of emergency contacts can be invaluable in an emergency situation. This should include phone numbers for family members, friends, neighbors, and any relevant agencies or organizations. This is an important part of an emergency binder. Get a printable template here.

F – Fire extinguisher: A fire extinguisher can be a crucial tool for putting out small fires or containing them until the fire department arrives. It’s important to have one on hand in case of a fire emergency. Here’s an article on choosing and maintaining your fire extinguishers.

G – Generator: A generator can provide a reliable source of power in the event of a power outage. This can be especially important for those who rely on electricity for medical equipment or other essential needs. Daisy has this one for her apartment, and here’s some advice on choosing a larger one.

H – Hazardous materials kit: In the event of a chemical spill or other hazardous materials incident, it’s important to have a hazardous materials kit on hand. This should include protective gear, such as gloves and respirators, as well as supplies for cleaning up and neutralizing the hazard.

I – Insurance documents: In the event of a natural disaster or other emergencies, it’s important to have copies of your insurance documents on hand. This can help you quickly file a claim and get the financial assistance you need to recover. This printable helps you create a home inventory for insurance purposes.

J – Jacket: A warm jacket can be essential in an emergency situation, especially if you are evacuated to a location with a different climate than you are used to. It’s important to have a jacket that is appropriate for the weather in your area, as well as any locations you may need to evacuate to.

K – Knife: A knife can be a useful tool in a variety of emergency situations, including cutting through debris, opening cans, and preparing food. It’s important to have a reliable and durable knife on hand in case you need it. Here’s some advice on choosing a knife.

L – Light source: In the event of a power outage, a light source can be essential for navigating your home and performing tasks. This can include flashlights, candles, or a headlamp. This article discusses different types of emergency lighting.

M – Medical supplies: A basic first aid kit should be part of your emergency preparedness kit. This should include supplies like bandages, gauze, and pain medication, as well as any prescription medications you or your family members may need. Check out this article about OTC medications and medical supplies.

N – Non-perishable food: It’s important to have a supply of non-perishable food, such as canned goods, dried fruits and nuts, and protein bars, in case you don’t have access to fresh food. These items will keep for a long time without refrigeration and can help sustain you in an emergency situation. Here’s some advice on building your prepper food supply.

O – Oxygen tanks: If you or a family member relies on oxygen tanks for medical purposes, it’s important to have a supply of tanks on hand in case of an emergency.

P – Pet supplies: If you have pets, it’s important to include them in your emergency. Here’s a printable checklist.

Q – Quick clotting products: Quick clotting powder is a highly effective bleeding control agent that helps to stop bleeding within minutes of application. It is made from a clay-like substance that is applied directly to the wound, where it absorbs excess blood and helps to form a clot. This can be a lifesaving tool in situations where traditional methods of bleeding control, such as applying pressure to the wound, are not enough. Here’s a source of Quik Clot gauze and Celox powder.

R – Respirator mask: In the event of a natural disaster or other emergency situation, it’s possible that the air quality may be compromised. A respirator mask can help protect you from inhaling harmful particles and contaminants in the air. Here’s our guide to respirators and masks.

S – Smoke detector: A smoke detector is a vital component of any emergency preparedness plan. It can alert you to the presence of fire in your home, giving you the opportunity to evacuate or take other safety measures. Be sure to test your smoke detectors regularly and replace the batteries as needed.

T – Tent: A tent is an important item to have in an emergency because it can provide shelter in case you need to evacuate your home or if you are caught in an unexpected outdoor situation. A tent can protect you from the elements and provide a sense of security. Here are the pros and cons of bugging out with a tent.

U – USB charger: In an emergency, it’s important to have a way to charge your phone or other electronic devices. A USB charger can be a lifesaver, especially if you need to use your phone to call for help or stay in touch with loved ones. This portable charger has fantastic reviews on Amazon and is very reliable.

V – Vaseline: Vaseline is a versatile product that can be used in a variety of emergency situations. It can be used to protect and moisturize skin, as well as to seal small cuts and scratches. In a survival situation, Vaseline can also be used as a fire starter or to lubricate gear.

W – Water filter: A water filter is essential in an emergency because it can allow you to access clean drinking water if your regular source is compromised. There are many different types of water filters available, including straw filters, gravity filters, and pump filters. Choose one that is appropriate for the situation you may face. We recommend a gravity-fed water filter for home use and a Sawyer Mini or Lifestraw when you’re on the go.

X – X-Acto knife: An X-Acto knife is a precise cutting tool that can be used to cut through a variety of materials, including paper, fabric, and plastic. It can be especially useful in an emergency if you need to cut through small items or make precise cuts.

Y – Y: Yellow rubber cleaning gloves – You know the kind – your mother and grandmother swore by them to protect their hands when doing dishes. Yellow rubber gloves can be worn when handling hazardous materials, cleaning up after an emergency, or handling human waste.

Z – Ziptop bags: Ziptop bags are a useful item to have in an emergency because they can be used to store and protect a variety of items. They are great for organizing supplies and keeping them dry, and they can also be used to store food or other perishable items.

Poverty stricken Canadians are going to food banks not just for help in feeding themselves and their families, but also to ask about government assisted suicide as a potential solution to their struggles.  Canada’s cost of living crisis is growing (as is America’s crisis), with inflation ongoing and spiking interest rates crushing lower and middle class workers with increased debt burdens.  The average monthly food costs for a family of four in Ottawa is around $1000 and the average monthly rent is $2000.   

Canada’s euthanasia laws are becoming alluring to those people that cannot afford rising expenses and see no other way out.

The nation’s revised medical assistance in dying (MAID) came into force on March 17, 2021. The new law includes changes to eligibility, procedural safeguards, and the framework for the federal government’s data collection and reporting regime. 

On March 17, 2021, Parliament passed legislation that makes important changes to who may be eligible to obtain medical assistance in dying and the process of assessment. These changes took effect immediately.  Under the current laws a patient must have a grievous and irremediable medical condition in order to receive assisted suicide, but apparently many Canadians believe they should have access even when they are healthy.  

Justin Trudeau was confronted by Global News with a video interview of a food bank CEO relating her story of multiple recipients asking about government supported suicide.  His response is politically typical, with a show of general concern and assertions that his resolve is deepened to “step up” and help impoverished families (discussion begins at 13:30).  

Immediately after this interview, Trudeau is set to enjoy a scheduled family vacation to Jamaica.  In 2019, Trudeau’s vacation to Costa Rica leeched Canadian taxpayers for nearly $200,000 in flight costs, and this does not include the added costs of extended protection in a foreign province by Royal Canadian Mounted Police.  That’s a lot of money that could go to helping hundreds of families in need.

It should be noted that it was Trudeau’s oppressive (and long running) pandemic restrictions that directly aided in triggering declining economic conditions in Canada, including supply chain disruptions and higher inflation.  While Trudeau tries to blame the war in Ukraine for the terrible conditions (the inflation crisis started long before the Ukraine conflict), it cannot be denied that his authoritarian policies are at least partly responsible for the financial troubles of millions of Canadian citizens.  

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

The CIA has been using a European NATO country’s intelligence services to conduct sabotage attacks inside Russia since the February invasion of Ukraine, investigative journalist Jack Murphy reported on Saturday, citing unnamed former US intelligence and military officials.

The report said that no US personnel are on the ground in Russia but that the operations are being directed by the CIA. The US is using an ally’s intelligence services to add an extra layer of plausible deniability, and a former US special operations official told Murphy that layer was a major factor in President Biden signing off on the attacks.

Murphy said he didn’t name the NATO country whose intelligence services were being used in the report because “doing so might endanger the operational security of cells that are still operational inside of Russia.”

The report appeared on Murphy’s personal website, and in a note at the end of the piece, he explained why it wasn’t published by a media outlet. “While working with editors at mainstream publications I was asked to do things that were illegal and unethical in one instance, and in another instance I felt that a senior CIA official was able to edit my article by making off the record statements, before he leaked a story to The New York Times to undermine this piece,” he wrote.

According to the report, the covert campaign inside Russia has been years in the making. Two former military officials said that the NATO country’s spy services had hidden a cache of explosives and equipment in Russia more than a decade ago, and some of the gear has been used recently.

A former US special operations official and US person briefed on the campaign said that the CIA didn’t get involved with the NATO country’s operations inside Russia until 2014. The first time sleeper cells entered Russia that were directed by both the CIA and the NATO ally’s spy service was in 2016, and more entered the country in the following years.

The NATO ally provided the undercover operatives with stories to explain their presence in Russia and documents to back them up. The report said that around the time Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the NATO ally’s spy service activated its sleeper cells inside Russia using covert communication, and they were ready for orders on what targets to strike.

It’s not clear how many attacks the sleeper cells have been responsible for, but there has been a series of mysterious explosions at Russian military facilities, powerplants, and railways since the invasion. The report suggested that the saboteurs could have been behind an April fire at the research institute of Russia’s Aerospace Defense Forces, which killed over 20 people.

The sabotage operations that the CIA is overseeing require a presidential finding. President Obama signed a finding before he left office that allowed covert action against Russia over allegations that Moscow interfered in the 2016 election, a claim that has never been proven.

Certainly plausible, given the number of strategic objects that have gone boom in Russia since Feb. 24… https://t.co/JvGQRivZcT

— Mark MacKinnon (@markmackinnon) December 25, 2022

According to The Washington Post, Obama’s finding allows “planting cyberweapons in Russia’s infrastructure, the digital equivalent of bombs that could be detonated if the United States found itself in an escalating exchange with Moscow.” Murphy cited a former CIA official who said the finding also allowed sabotage operations against Russia, although other former officials he spoke with said the current operations would have required an amendment or an entirely new finding.

A CIA spokesperson denied the allegations made in the report, but Murphy pointed out that the spy agency can legally deny the existence of its covert operations.

The CIA directing sabotage inside Russia risks a major escalation between NATO and Russia and could lead to a nuclear escalation. Ukraine has recently stepped up its own attacks inside Russian territory, and according to The Times, the Pentagon tacitly endorsed recent drone strikes that hit air bases deep inside Russian territory, adding to the risk of escalation.

In his note at the end of the report, Murphy said that he published the story to inform the public:

“Indeed, the Russian government knows perfectly well who is sponsoring these sabotage strikes. Moreover, the intelligence community wants them to know. The only party left in the dark is the public at large, left unaware of the shadow war taking place behind the scenes,” he wrote.

The CIA is using a European NATO ally’s spy service to conduct a covert sabotage campaign inside Russia under the agency’s direction, according to former U.S. intelligence and military officials.

-> My guess is secret NATO ally here is Poland! https://t.co/3A10CsZpH0

— Jeffrey Kaye (@jeff_kaye) December 25, 2022

Murphy said that the article “went through a vigorous fact-checking process, and was deemed newsworthy as the strategic bombings of Laos and Cambodia or the CIA’s secret drone campaign in Pakistan.”

* * *

Note: Jack Murphy is a US special forces combat veteran turned journalist who specializes in reporting on clandestine operations, including investigative reports for Yahoo News and other major publications.

With Sam Bankman-Fried – a democrat donor so generous a March 2021 interview in the leftist outlet VOX said that SBF was “among the people most responsible” for Joe Biden being in office – spending hundreds of millions to buy favors, influence and fawning media support, it was hardly a surprise when we learned last week that Judge Ronnie Abrams (appointed by Barack Obama in 2012) recused herself from prosecuting SBF in his upcoming criminal case due to work her husband Greg Andres’ law firm Davis Polk did for FTX (before joining Davis Polk, Andres served as an Assistant Special Counsel for Russian interference in 2016 United States elections under Robert Mueller).

So fast forward to today when Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal case was reassigned to Bill Clinton-appointed District Judge Lewis Kaplan, recently known for handling a Epstein-linked sexual abuse lawsuit against Britain’s Prince Andrew, and defamation lawsuits against Donald Trump, and is also known for presiding over a number of federal racketeering cases involving Mafia members. In April 2010, Kaplan was assigned to preside over the cases of 14 Gambino crime family members arrested on charges, among others, of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, witness tampering (in the 1992 trial of John Gotti), and sex trafficking of a minor.

Known for his no-nonsense demeanor in the courtroom, Kaplan, 78, who has held senior status in Manhattan federal court for over a decade, oversees two civil lawsuits by former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll accusing Trump of defaming her by denying he raped her in a Manhattan department store dressing room 27 years ago.

Kaplan also recently oversaw Virginia Giuffre’s civil lawsuit accusing Prince Andrew of sexually abusing her when she was 17 at the London home of Ghislaine Maxwell, the now-convicted former associate of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew declared that he never meant to malign her character and agreeing to donate to the woman’s charity. Prior to the settlement, Kaplan had refused Andrew’s request to toss the lawsuit. That said, not a single VIP on Epstein’s rolodex or flight logs has been prosecuted.

In 2010, Kaplan presided over the first case where charges against Guantanamo captives were laid in a civilian court. On February 9 of that year, Kaplan ordered Ahmed Ghailani’s prosecution to review the record of Ghailani’s detention in the CIA’s network of black sites.

Kaplan has also overseen numerous high-profile trials and several cases notable in the financial world, including what authorities had described as the first federal bitcoin securities fraud prosecution. According to Fortune, Kaplan sentenced the defendant to 18 months in prison.

In 2014, he blocked U.S. courts from being used to collect a $9 billion Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron for rainforest damage, saying lawyers in the case had poisoned an honorable quest with illegal and wrongful conduct. And in 2012, he delayed his acceptance of a guilty plea by a Utah banker, ordering prosecutors to explain in writing why they were letting the banker plead guilty to a misdemeanor bank gambling charge rather than a felony.

Also in 2014, Kaplan sentenced Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, to life in prison for serving as al-Qaida’s mouthpiece after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Most recently, Kaplan presided over the fall civil trial of Kevin Spacey after a fellow actor accused him of trying to molest him in his apartment after a party when he was 14 and Spacey was 26. A jury sided with Spacey, finding that actor Anthony Rapp had not proved his case against him.

Kaplan has been known over the years to become irritable with lawyers on all sides. In 1997, he blasted the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, as the government’s immigration department was once known, for not acting fast enough in an asylum case.

Last week the DOJ accused Bankman-Fried of causing billions of dollars of losses related to FTX, once the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, including by using customer funds to support his Alameda Research crypto trading platform, which he then used as his own personal piggybank. SBF has claimed that the collapse of FTX was due to risk-management failures, but said he does not believe he is criminally liable for what prosecutors called a “fraud of epic proportions.” Alas, that defense no longer works now that both of his top two partners in crime, Allameda “boss” Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang, have flipped on Sam and are cooperating with prosecutors.

After being extradited to New York from the Bahamas to face the charges, the 30-year-old Bankman-Fried was released on Thursday on a $250 million bond, and required to remain under detention at his parents’ California home. He has not entered a plea.

Authored by Katie Spence via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Devin Nunes subpoenaed the DOJ and FBI for documents related to their involvement with the Russia collusion hoax when he was a congressman and chair of the House Intelligence Committee. In response, the DOJ engaged in “reverse spying” to try and stop the investigation, Nunes alleged in an interview that aired on Newsmakers by NTD and The Epoch Times on Dec. 21.

“It’s all common knowledge now that the FBI, DOJ, the Democrat National Party, they were all in cahoots together, taking made-up, phony dirt and taking it before a FISA court,” said Nunes, who was chair of the intelligence committee from 2015–2019.

But, at the time, the general public didn’t know about that collusion.

“At that time, nobody knew that publicly. We knew that. The FBI and the DOJ knew that we knew that. They knew that they were under investigation by [Nunes’ team]. So, what do they do? … They target my lawyers so they can try and figure out what we knew, when we knew it, and what we were going to do with the information.”

Nunes stated that to suppress the investigation, the FBI and the DOJ purposefully tried to find “blackmail” to use against Nunes’ staff.

“It wasn’t like they were in search of some crime. What they were really after was intelligence, and potentially blackmail, to figure out how they could stop the information,” Nunes alleged.

But ultimately, the DOJ’s reverse spying was unsuccessful, Nunes stated, and he was able to openly shed light on the cooperation between the DOJ, the FBI, and the Democrat National Party to bring down then-President Donald Trump.

No Valid Predicate

According to Nunes, if the DOJ was acting in compliance with the law, it should have informed Nunes when it demanded Google turn over personal email and phone data from at least two senior intelligence members of Nunes’ team. Nunes specified that the team members were working on the congressional probe into the Russia hoax.

“Look, it’s a serious issue if I’ve got staff that work for me that are handling the nation’s highest secrets. If I have staff that are somehow doing something wrong, [the DOJ] should have come to me and told me.”

Nunes said that the only way for the DOJ to get around that requirement is to use the National Security Division and “essentially accuse” Nunes and his team of being “agents of Putin.”

“There’s no other way around [informing me]. They have a duty and a responsibility if there are staffers that are involved in some shenanigans or nefarious activity, they should have come to me immediately,” Nunes states.

But, Nunes said, the DOJ never informed him of a potential issue with his staffers. And the reason is the DOJ was acting outside of a “valid predicate” and instead acting on a “lie.” Nunes stated unequivocally that there was never evidence to suggest that his staff were Russian agents.

As such, Nunes claimed, there are only two possible reasons for the subpoenas against Nunes’ staff.

“The only two logical reasons: They were there to grab intelligence on us as we were conducting our investigation, and two, to look for anything they could possibly do to find blackmail so they could stop this information from coming out and their involvement from coming out.”

Read more here…

After a week of total silence, New York Representative-elect George Santos admitted to a laundry list of lies, ranging from his education, professional background, property ownership, and religion.

And he’s still going to take the oath of office on Jan. 3, joining the House majority.

Santos, who was elected in November to represent residents from north Long Island and northeast Queens, was confronted by the New York Times with several falsehoods.

“My sins here are embellishing my résumé,” he told the NY Post in a Monday interview.

The lies include;

• Graduating from college
• Claiming he worked for Citigroup or Goldman Sachs
• That his family owns a real estate portfolio of 13 properties (he admitted Monday he’s not a landlord)
• That he’s Jewish

“I never claimed to be Jewish,” he told the Post, adding “I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was ‘Jew-ish.’“

Santos also acknowledged owing thousands in unpaid rent and, despite being openly gay, a yearslong marriage he never revealed.

“I dated women in the past. I married a woman. It’s personal stuff,” he told the Post, adding that he is “OK with my sexuality. People change.”

Mr. Santos acknowledged that a string of financial difficulties had left him owing thousands to landlords and creditors. But he failed to fully explain in the interviews how his fortunes reversed so significantly that, by 2022, he was able to lend $700,000 to his congressional campaign.

Mr. Santos also firmly denied committing a crime anywhere in the world, even though The Times had uncovered Brazilian court records showing that Mr. Santos had been charged with fraud as a young man after he was caught writing checks with a stolen checkbook. –NY Times

“I am not a criminal here — not here or in Brazil or any jurisdiction in the world,” he told the Post. “Absolutely not. That didn’t happen.”

Except, court records show that he confessed to the crime and was charged, but the case was unable to move forward because authorities were unable to locate him.

Santos also said he graduated from Baruch College in 2010 before working for Citigroup, and then went on to Goldman Sachs – which made its way to a biography on the National Republican Congressional Committee website (which also included a degree from NY University).

The colleges and companies told the Times they have no record of Santos.

“I didn’t graduate from any institution of higher learning. I’m embarrassed and sorry for having embellished my résumé,” later said, adding “We do stupid things in life.”

He also admitted that he never worked directly for Goldman Sachs or Citigroup, blaming a “poor choice of words” for creating the impression that he had.

Past statements of Mr. Santos are relatively clear however: An archived version of Mr. Santos’s former campaign website preserved by the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine says he “began working at Citigroup as an associate and quickly advanced to become an associate asset manager in the real asset division of the firm.”

Instead, he told The Post on Monday, he dealt with both firms through his work at another company, LinkBridge Investors, which connects investors with potential clients. LinkBridge, he said, had “limited partnerships” with the two Wall Street firms. -NY Times

The Times was unable to confirm his employment with LinkBridge. 

What he did confirm was that he worked at a call center in Queens in late 2011 and early 2012.

And while Santos could face ethics investigations once seated, legal experts say the House can only prevent candidates from office of they violate the Constitution’s age, citizenship or state residency requirements.

Questions do remain, however – such as how he was able to reportedly earn millions of dollars from his company, the Devolder Organization.

“I had the relationships and I started making a lot of money. And I fundamentally started building wealth, and I decided I’d invest in my race for Congress,” said Santos, adding “There’s nothing wrong with that — no criminal conduct. No anything of the sort,” he told City & State.

In short, he’s perfect for Congress.

Authored by Michael Maharrey via SchiffGold.com,

Just before Christmas, Congress passed a massive omnibus spending bill. This is yet another blow to the Federal Reserve’s feckless fight against inflation.

The $1.7 trillion bill will fund government operations for the remainder of fiscal 2023. It includes some $800 billion in domestic spending, a 9.3% increase over fiscal 2022. It also includes $858 billion in military spending, a 10% increase over last year’s levels.

Overall, the omnibus bill authorized about $1.5 trillion more than last year’s budget.

“Yes, indeed the goose is getting fat – we have a big bill here because we had big needs for our country,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

Of course, this is only one component of federal expenditures. In March 2021, Congress approved $1.9 trillion in spending to address the pandemic, and earlier this year, it passed the euphemistically named “Inflation Reduction Act.” All of that spending will pile on top of this most recent allocation of funding.

Of course, all of this spending will only increase inflation.

And it’s a big problem for the Federal Reserve as it attempts to stem the tide of rising prices.

In fact, it is impossible for the central bank to get a handle on inflation when the government keeps running bigger and bigger deficits that can only be sustained by more inflation.

The Fed’s Problem

The Federal Reserve has primarily relied on interest rate cuts to battle inflation. But it can’t slay the inflation dragon with monetary policy alone. A paper published by the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank even acknowledged that fact. In a nutshell, the authors argue that the Fed can’t control inflation alone. US government fiscal policy contributes to inflationary pressure and makes it impossible for the Fed to do its job.

Trend inflation is fully controlled by the monetary authority only when public debt can be successfully stabilized by credible future fiscal plans. When the fiscal authority is not perceived as fully responsible for covering the existing fiscal imbalances, the private sector expects that inflation will rise to ensure sustainability of national debt. As a result, a large fiscal imbalance combined with a weakening fiscal credibility may lead trend inflation to drift away from the long-run target chosen by the monetary authority.” [Emphasis added]

And why does the private sector expect more inflation in order to sustain the debt? Because ultimately the central bank has to monetize that debt. That means money printing in order to buy US debt. Without the Fed intervening in the bond market, the US Treasury cannot sell enough bonds with a low enough interest rate to keep the borrowing and spending going.

Even with pandemic-era spending winding down, the US government ran a $1.38 trillion budget deficit in fiscal 2022. This despite government receipts at near-record levels. Revenues are expected to decline in the months ahead and spending clearly isn’t coming down. That means bigger deficits. And bigger deficits mean more borrowing.

The Federal Reserve enables the US government’s borrowing and spending spree. During the pandemic, the Fed bought trillions in US Treasury bonds. This artificial demand kept bond prices higher than they otherwise would have been and interest rates lower. Without the Fed’s big fat thumb on the bond market, all of the borrowing would have driven interest rates to unsustainable levels.

But in order to fight inflation, the Fed has to shrink its balance sheet. That means it is no longer buying bonds. This is a huge problem for the US Treasury as it tries to find willing buyers for its debt.

On the other side of the equation, the Fed pays for bonds with money it creates out of thin air and the banks inject that new money into the economy. That is, by definition, inflation.

The question is how will the government finance these massive deficits that will only get bigger with this new spending bill when the Fed is on the sideline?

The answer is it won’t. Not in over the long term. If the Fed doesn’t go back to quantitative easing (bond buying), interest rates will rise much higher and crush the federal government under interest payments.

In fact, the US government is already having trouble with rising interest rates.

In fiscal 2022, the US Treasury forked out $475 billion just to fund the government’s interest payments. That was up about 30% from fiscal 2021. Interest expense already ranks as the sixth largest budget expense category, about $250 billion below Medicare.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, interest expense is about to balloon. It projects interest payments will triple from nearly $400 billion in fiscal 2022 to $1.2 trillion in 2032. And it’s worse than that. The CBO made this estimate in May. Interest rates are already higher than those used in its analysis.

If interest rates remain elevated or continue rising, interest expenses could climb rapidly into the top three federal expenses. (You can read a more in-depth analysis of the national debt HERE.)

The bottom line is the Fed can’t slay inflation while the federal government is spending itself deeper and deeper into debt. Given that there is no end in sight to the spending, we should expect inflation to remain with us for the indefinite future.

Having promised that it would reveal its response to the recently implemented by the G7 price cap on Russian oil exports, moments ago the Kremlin did not disappoint, and as the WSJ reports, Russian President Vladimir Putin banned the supply of Russian oil and oil products to countries that impose a price cap, allowing deliveries to those nations only on the basis of a special permission from the Kremlin leader.

According to the decree, the retaliatory measures are scheduled to come into effect Feb. 1 and last through July 1, 2023.

Russia’s actions are a response to what the decree described as unfriendly actions of the U.S., foreign states and international organizations that contradict international law, and are designed “to protect the national interests of the Russian Federation,” the decree said.

The European Union and the U.K. earlier this month banned the import of seaborne Russian crude, while the Group of Seven nations put a ceiling on other sales by barring Western companies from insuring, financing or shipping Russian crude at above $60 a barrel.

And now, Russia has flipped the story on its head, saying the not only will it not sell below $60, but it has banned the sale outright to all countries that engaged in this most glaring virtue-signaling exercise, one which paradoxically was not meant to punish Putin but to keep Russian oil flowing.

While the price cap has not seen a major impact on pricing so far, that will likely change soon: As shown below, Urals oil is trading with a generous discount to spot Brent, and was last seen around $50.

In other words, those nations buying Urals – mostly China and India – are not violating the G-7 pact… yet. However, once Urals follows Brent higher, and its price rises above $60/barrel that will change, and at that point it will be interesting to see how the G7 responds to the two fastest growing economies and two most populous nations openly defying the G7’s Russian oil price floor.

The news, which was largely as expected, has not had an impact on the price of oil with WTI and Brent both trading at three week highs following news that China was ending zero-covid policies and reopening its economy.

As for the US stepping in a providing emergency cover to nations who may be caught in the crossfire, sorry – Joe already drained a third of the SPR to get Democrats reelected.

Authored by Mimi Nguyen Ly via The Epoch Times,.

Dr. Martin Kulldorff, a prominent epidemiologist and biostatistician and former Harvard School of Medicine professor, said he was “not surprised” after seeing concrete evidence that a post he shared on Twitter was flagged and prevented from wider dissemination.

Dr. Martin Kulldorff, epidemiologist and statistician. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

He expressed disapproval and said that the social media giant’s overall censorship actions have stifled free debate on COVID-19 topics and undermined trust in science.

In the latest installment of the Elon Musk-endorsed “Twitter Files” published early on Dec. 26, journalist David Zweig shared how posts from Kulldorff and several others about COVID-19, including about vaccines, were flagged and censored in various ways by Twitter.

It marked the first trove of direct evidence from the “Twitter Files” showing how Twitter censored scientists, potentially at the behest of the U.S. government, ever since journalist Bari Weiss revealed in early December that Stanford University professor Dr. Jay Bhattacharya had been put on a blacklist due to his views on COVID-19-related lockdowns and school closures.

While Kulldorff said he was not surprised by evidence showing how he and others were censored, he said Twitter should not be the arbiter of which scientists have valid views, and that such censorship shouldn’t happen.

“There should be an open discussion. You can’t expect people to trust public health and trust the scientific community if you don’t have that open communication and open debate,” Kulldorff told The Epoch Times.

In the Twitter post of concern, dated March 26, 2021, Kulldorff said that children and those who had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 do not need to be vaccinated, but that vaccines were important for older high-risk people and their caretakers. The post was flagged by a Twitter moderator as having violated the company’s COVID-19 “misinformation policy.”

An internal email shared by Zweig showed that the moderator claimed Kulldorff had shared “false information regarding the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines, which goes against CDC guidelines.” Twitter subsequently labeled the post as “misleading” and turned off all likes and replies.

“But Kulldorff’s statement was an expert’s opinion—one which also happened to be in line with vaccine policies in numerous other countries. Yet it was deemed ‘false information’ by Twitter moderators merely because it differed from CDC guidelines,” Zweig wrote.

“After Twitter took action, Kulldorff’s tweet was slapped with a ‘Misleading’ label and all replies and likes were shut off, throttling the tweet’s ability to be seen and shared by many people, the ostensible core function of the platform.”

A child receives a dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine in Los Angeles, Calif., on Nov. 5, 2021. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

Kulldorff reiterated his views on COVID-19 vaccination in children, telling The Epoch Times late Monday: “We know and we’ve known ever since the very beginning of the pandemic, and the data from Wuhan, that children are at minuscule risk … from dying from COVID-19.”

“So the benefit of the vaccine, therefore, is almost nothing, because it doesn’t prevent [transmission]. [And] the risk of death and hospitalization [with children] is very low. The benefit is very, very small. We know that,” he added.

“So then the question is, what are the potential harms? And we know there are potential harms, with myocarditis, for example. I think the benefit is so tiny it’s not worth taking the risks of adverse reactions, which we know there is myocarditis, but we don’t know the full extent of adverse reactions yet.”

Kulldorff also dismissed the view that had been promulgated incessantly by health officials and media outlets that COVID-19 vaccination is “safe and effective” at large.

“I think for many people, they only heard one voice. And when they heard alternative voices, [those voices] were sort of dismissed as cranks. But that’s not how medicine or science works,” he said.

“There are many vaccines and many drugs that are important for some people, but unnecessary for others. So to say that everybody should get a vaccine, that’s not very scientific way of thinking about things,” he said.

“Just like saying that nobody should ever be vaccinated is equally unscientific,” he added.

“But we get sort of a polarizing view between the anti-vaxxers and vaccine fanatics,” Kulldorff observed, adding that in his opinion, “the vaccine fanatics have done much more damage to vaccine confidence than anybody else with pushing vaccine mandates based on flawed scientific thinking.”

“I think that [the push for vaccine mandates] has had consequences not only for the COVID-19 vaccine but also for childhood vaccines—important childhood vaccines like polio, for example,” he said.

“So vaccine fanatics who have been pushing for mandates—that everybody should get vaccinated—they have done a lot of damage to vaccine confidence in the U.S. and other parts of the world as well.”

Amid emerging evidence that U.S. government officials have exerted influence on social media companies with regard to the sharing of views on COVID-19, Kulldorff expressed that the government “should not at all be involved” in any such influence.

While various examples have now come to light with regard to Twitter’s censorship of scientists, Kulldorff said he hopes to see the full extent of this censorship one day, such as “a summary of how many were censored, how many were blacklisted, for how long, and so on.”

He said it would also be important to know which person or people were behind the decisions to censor and whether there were people who were reporting posts to Twitter to be censored.

“Were other scientists involved in urging Twitter to censor their fellow scientists who had a different opinion?” he pondered. “And if so, to what extent, and who were those scientists?”

“I have never sent in a report to Twitter, asking them to censor a scientist with a different opinion of mine. I don’t think scientists should engage in such activity.”