Authored by Techno Fog via The Reactionary,

With House Republicans having decided on the Speaker, one of their next items of business is one that is well overdue: the formation of a new subcommittee on the “Weaponization of the Federal Government,” which would conduct a thorough investigation of abuses by federal law enforcement and national security agencies.  

According to a recent interview with Rep. Chip Roy, Speaker Kevin McCarthy has “committed to giving the subcommittee at least as much funding and staffing as the House special committee in the last Congress that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.”

It’s about time.

Of course, the very name of the subcommittee – the “Weaponization of the Federal Government” – suggests a wide-ranging inquiry that could look into the actions of a number of federal agencies – the FBI/DOJ, Department of Homeland Security, the CIA and NSA, etc. It would include efforts by the Biden Administration and FDA/CDC to eliminate unapproved speech about COVID-19 and how the FBI made sure social media companies, including Twitter, took down alleged misinformation about the 2020 election and had a part in the suppression of the Hunter Biden story.

And that’s just the more recent history of governmental abuses. What else is out there, still waiting to be uncovered? There is sure to be more. We just haven’t heard of it yet.

Then there are the federal abuses of their investigative powers, starting with the Russiagate fiasco. Yet even with Russiagate there’s much we don’t know. It’s either hidden under layers of classifications or kept secret as part of federal investigative steps. Or the evidence remains with the DNC and Crowdstrike, assuming it hasn’t been destroyed.

But if we could suggest areas of Russiagate-related focus for Congressional investigators – a long list that we’ve had to narrow down to things we’re personally most curious about – here’s where we would start. 1

1. The DNC “Hack”

Topping the list is the holy grail of them all, the purported Russian hack of the DNC servers. Initially leading the investigation and response to the hack was no other than Michael Sussmann, the DNC/Hillary Campaign lawyer who would later draw charges from Special Counsel John Durham for lying to the FBI about other Russian information: the Alfa Bank/Trump connections.

As has been documented here and elsewhere, the investigation into the DNC hack was bungled from the start. The FBI never took possession of the DNC servers, instead relying on conclusions formed by DNC contractor Crowdstrike (which, by the way, was hired by Michael Sussmann on behalf of his clients). The FBI never obtained the complete reports from Crowdstrike. And even Crowdstrike had no direct evidence of exfiltration. As explained by Aaron Mate, the manner in which the Russian attribution is described by US intelligence officials signals that they “lacked concrete evidence for their Russian hacking claim.”

Part of the DNC hack inquiry would be further documentation of who at the FBI raised red flags about the investigation’s scope and seemingly pre-determined outcome. It would also get into who made the decisions. That gets us to the next topic.

2. Corrupted Leadership of the FBI and DOJ

This is an admittedly broad category, covering years of investigative and prosecutorial decision. But its importance is underscored by what we have learned about how the dubious investigations they decided to pursue (like how they targeted Flynn) and how that leadership’s killed necessary investigative into witnesses damning to their “collusion” narrative.

With respect to the FBI, the Michael Sussmann trial revealed how FBI headquarters ordered there to be a “full field investigation” opened into the Trump-Alfa Bank allegations. This decision was made by the FBI’s 7th floor, including Director James Comey. And it was a significant step according to one FBI Special Agent: “In order to open a full field investigation, we would need specific and articulable facts that a threat to U.S. national security has occurred or there’s been a violation of federal law.” Based on what information did Comey possess to make that order?

The Sussmann trial also demonstrated that FBI Headquarters disapproved the request from FBI agents investigating the Alfa Bank allegations to interview the source of the information. Which FBI leader denied that request?

3. Corruption of Special Counsel Mueller

Regarding the Mueller Special Counsel, one former FBI Intelligence Analyst testified that members of the Mueller Special Counsel took the position “to not investigate Mr. [Charles] Dolan.” (If you recall, Dolan was a Clinton ally who ended up being a source for the Steele reports.) This former FBI Intelligence Analyst explained:

“We had been instructed at SCO not to take further action on the matter involving Mr. Dolan and Mr. Danchenko’s relationship.”

By that time, the Mueller Special Counsel was aware the connection between Dolan and Danchenko and there were suspicions, if not direct knowledge, that Dolan had informed the Steele reports. The FBI asked Danchenko about Dolan on June 15, 2017 – before Mueller asked for the 4th FISA warrant on Carter Page, which was submitted to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on June 29, 2017.

Later on, the Mueller Special Counsel would prevent the FBI agents under its supervision from investigating Dolan. One FBI Agent compiled a comprehensive report on Dolan and corroborated Dolan’s involvement in the Steele reports. She submitted that report to the Mueller Special Counsel and requested further investigation of Dolan. She was told that investigation “was not going to be opened.”  

It’s hard to overstate the importance of this inquiry. The instructions by Team Mueller to not investigate the Dolan-Danchenko relationship, and to shut down the investigation of Dolan himself, are informed by Team Mueller’s understanding of the consequences of those investigative steps: blowing up the Carter Page FISA warrants, exposing the deception to the FISA court, and the accountability from the FBI/DOJ/Mueller that would come from revealing the truth.

That’s just scratching the surface. Other matters that deserve inquiry include the wiping of Special Counsel phones (a potentially criminal act).

4. The DARPA Connection

As documented by our friends Undead and Margot Cleveland, “The U.S. Department of Defense and private individuals pumping the Alfa Bank hoax also assisted former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Donald Trump for supposed collusion with Russia.”

But there’s more to it than that, as provided by Cleveland in this must-read. There’s the allegation that these researchers helped assist with the “DNC attack attribution.” This raised a question from a member of Special Counsel John Durham’s team:

“Do you believe that DARPA should be instructing you to investigate the origins of a hacker (Guccifer_2.0) that hacked a political entity (DNC)?”

5. The FBI’s 2018 deceptive letter to the FISA Court

In this letter, the FBI assured the FISA court that they found Danchenko to be “truthful and cooperative.” This was written after the FBI knew that Danchenko had lied to them, with his deception starting in January 2017.

That letter was purportedly reviewed by the FBI, which “confirmed its factual accuracy.” It still must be determined who at the FBI reviewed that letter and who vouched for the accuracy of Danchenko. Hopefully we can be provided answers.

6. The CIA Collecting Information on President-Elect Trump

As we detailed in this article, in February 2017 the CIA received manipulated information and data from Michael Sussmann that purported to show that Trump, or Trump associates, “had suspicious interactions with internet protocol (IP) addresses affiliated with a Russian mobile phone provider.”

Currently, we don’t know what the CIA did with that information. Maybe they analyzed the data. Maybe that simply passed it on to the FBI. But, at a minimum, we should ask why the CIA was so willing to accept a meeting and take possession of information from a DNC lawyer that was allegedly damning to the President-elect. And there’s another important question: what else did they collect on American soil?

7. Current Conflicts within the Office of Attorney General Garland

As we’ve reported, Jake Sullivan is a witness in the Durham inquiry, being there for the Clinton Campaign’s Fusion GPS misconduct. He was mentioned during the Michael Sussmann trial as one of the campaign staffers who received updates on the Fusion GPS “opposition research.”

Sullivan’s wife is Margaret Goodlander, who servers as counsel to AG Garland. We have strong reason to believe that Goodlander is keeping tabs on the Durham investigation. There’s a serious concern that she’s being provided non-public information on what happens in the Durham investigation. Totally improper for a government official who happens to be the spouse of a witness.

8. Release the materials, the unredacted reports and 302s.

Let the public see what happened for themselves.

9. Finally, and this one is unrelated to Trump/Russia – but how about House Republicans demand all CIA and FBI documents on Jeffrey Epstein?

We know they’re out there.

*  *  *

1. We’re limited on space and couldn’t include everything that should be investigated. We also note that Special Counsel Durham is looking into some of these very same issues. His report, whenever its submitted, may answer many of these questions.

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The Seattle city school district has sued several social media giants, which they blame for causing a mental health crisis.

According to the lawsuit – filed late Friday in Seattle federal court against Alphabet, Meta, Snap and TikTok owner ByteDance – students have been suffering from anxiety, depression and other psychological troubles stemming from their use of social media.

The district serves around 50,000 children across more than 100 schools.

The suit appears to be the first of its kind in the US brought by a school district, following similar claims filed last year by scores of families, including more than a dozen blaming the tech companies for suicides.

The idea that social media companies shoulder responsibility for the potential damage their products cause to young people came to the fore late in 2021 when former Meta employee Frances Haugen revealed documents about its internal operations. Among Haugen’s allegations was a claim that the company was knowingly preying on vulnerable young people to boost profits. Congress held hearings and some state attorneys general launched investigations. –Bloomberg

In Friday’s lawsuit, Seattle School District #1 is asking a judge to find that big tech has created a nuisance, and seeks remedies which include monetary damages, as well as funding to prevent and treat the excessive use of social media. The district cites a spike in suicides and ER mental health visits, as well as President Joe Biden’s 2022 State of the Union speech in which he called to “hold social media platforms accountable for the national experiment they’re conducting on our children for profit.”

“Seattle School District No. 1 brings this action to do just that,” reads the complaint. “Youth in plaintiff’s community are experiencing the same mental health crisis observed nationally.”

No word on whether Seattle schools will also sue the US government and the media over life-altering lockdowns and three years of pandemic hysteria, which also affected the mental health of young Americans.

Via The Cradle,

During a speech in Ankara last Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hinted that a meeting with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad may soon take place, “as part of efforts for peace.” He added that a tripartite meeting between the foreign ministers of Turkiye, Russia and Syria is scheduled to be held in the near future for the first time since 2011.

Erdogan said, “As Russia-Turkey-Syria, we have launched a process through the meeting of our intelligence chiefs and defense ministers in Moscow. Then, God willing, we will bring our foreign ministers together trilaterally. Then, depending on the developments, we will come together as leaders.”

The upcoming meeting aims to enhance communication after Russian-sponsored talks between the Turkish and Syrian defense ministers were held in Moscow on 28 December. The meeting was the highest-level of official meetings between Ankara and Damascus since the start of the Syrian war.

In a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on 5 January, Erdogan called on the Syrian government to ‘take the steps to achieve a tangible solution concerning the case of Syria.”

The US sis seeking to establish a middle ground between Ankara and the SDF in order to prevent Turkish-Syrian reconciliation.

The Syrian-Turkish rapprochement via declared Russian mediation was paralleled by Emirati-Syrian rapprochement – the latest of which was a “brotherly” meeting aimed at strengthening cooperation and restoring historical relations between Assad and Foreign Minister of the UAE Abdallah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, according to SANA.

Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported that the UAE seeks “to join Russia in sponsoring Syrian-Turkish relations at a high level,” noting that the Emirati foreign minister’s visit to Damascus sought to arrange Turkiye’s participation in the tripartite meeting of Syrian-Turkish-Russian foreign ministers, making it a quadripartite meeting.

The meeting is meant to pave the way for a presidential meeting between Erdogan and Assad in the presence of Putin. Reportedly, the UAE has offered to host this summit, with a possibility of a high-level UAE official being present at the meeting if it will be held in Moscow.

Asharq Al-Awsat added that Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu plans to visit Washington on 16-17 January to brief US officials on the developments of Turkish-Syrian normalization, his meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Faysal Mikdad, and the “roadmap” sponsored by Moscow in the context of security, military, political and economic fields – as agreed upon by the defense ministers as well as the intelligence chiefs in Syria, Turkiye and Russia over the past weeks.

As Turkey has been launching successive operations against Kurdish groups both on the Turkish-Syrian border as well as within Syria itself under ‘Operation Claw Sword,’ a Western official informed Asharq Al-Awsat that a high-ranking US official will be visiting Ankara in the coming hours as part of efforts to mediate between Turkiye and the SDF in northeastern Syria.

Ankara has demanded that Moscow and Washington commit to the implementation of the bilateral military agreements signed at the end of 2019. The agreements stipulate the withdrawal of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to beyond 30 kilometers from the Turkish border, and from the areas of Manbij and Tal Rifaat, in addition to the withdrawal of all heavy weaponry.

The SDF says that it has fulfilled its obligations, and will not withdraw its police force – known as the Asayish – nor dismantle its local councils, despite Turkiye’s insistence on dissolving all Kurdish military and civil institutions in the area.

Meanwhile, Cavusoglu told media on 29 December that Ankara is willing to withdraw from the territory it occupies in northern Syria and hand it over to Damascus in the event that “political stability” is reached – after cooperation in “neutralizing ISIS members, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the YPG.”

The Saudi newspaper’s report stated that US mediation seeks to reach a “compromise” between the Kurdish groups and Ankara without a new Turkish incursion taking place ahead of the Turkish presidential and parliamentary elections in mid-2023. This mediation seems to be an attempt at circumventing the imminent Syrian-Turkish reconciliation.

Another official source disclosed that Ankara was “uncomfortable with the leaks following the meeting of the Syrian, Turkish and Russian defense ministers in Moscow, and that it had agreed to a full withdrawal.” However, the source confirmed that, “it is true that Ankara and Damascus consider the PKK a common threat, and will work against any separatist agenda, because it is an existential threat to both countries,” adding that the two countries will “work to open the Aleppo-Latakia Highway.”

Following the UAE’s visit to Damascus, which came after the US called on its allies and international partners to refrain from normalizing ties with Syria, Asharq Al-Awsat quoted an official as saying that the US has been the only western country to issue a statement against normalization, and is working alongside Paris, Berlin, and London to assume a united stance against normalization with Syria.

Communication is currently underway for a meeting between the representatives of Paris, Berlin, London, and Washington and UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pederson in Geneva on 23 January. This meeting will take place before Pedersen’s visit to Damascus to meet with the Syrian foreign minister to “confirm the position against normalization, and support the provision of funding for electricity projects within the timeline of early recovery,” stipulated by a resolution for international aid that will be extended before 10 January.

Asharq Al-Awsat said that the UAE has proposed to contribute to the funding of economic and electrical projects in Syria – within the confines of the Caesar Act.

A poll indicates that there is strong support across all Turkish political parties for Erdogan to meet with Assad.

Overall 59% for, 28.9% against.

Via @OmarKadkoy: pic.twitter.com/HJCZ36kD63

— Aron Lund (@aronlund) January 8, 2023

Simultaneously, Jordan, who was the first to open high-level channels of communication with Damascus, is leading efforts alongside other Arab countries to reach a “united Arab position that defines Arab demands in order to make normalization possible.”

The newspaper quoted another western official as saying that Jordan is calling for coordination to put pressure on Damascus to provide political and geopolitical steps for the coming phase in southern Syria, as Amman confirmed that there has been an increase in the smuggling of Captagon, weapons and ammunition across the Syrian border following the start of the normalization process. Additionally, Amman has said that the Iranian presence in southern Syria near the Jordanian border has not diminished, and that there has been an expansion of ISIS activity in the area, according to the official.

Syria’s Arab League membership was suspended in November of 2011 following the start of the Syrian war, and it has been excluded ever since.

Authored by Ron Paul via The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity,

The final act of the Democrat majority on the House Ways and Means Committee was to make public several years of Donald Trump’s tax returns, which the Committee obtained after a prolonged legal battle. The tax returns confirmed that, despite being one of the richest people in America, Donald Trump paid very little in federal income tax. In fact, in at least one year he paid under a thousand dollars.

Trump’s success in minimizing his tax liability without ever being audited is surprising only to those who think IRS audits are mainly used to catch rich “tax cheats.” According to data released by the Syracuse University Transactional Records Clearinghouse, in 2022 lower-income taxpayers were five and half times more likely than millionaires and billionaires to be audited! This is because low-income taxpayers cannot afford to hire top-notch tax attorneys and accountants to help fight the IRS, so they are more likely to give in to the agency’s demands.

Despite claims of the Biden Administration and its Congressional allies, the $80 million in additional funds provided to the agency as a part of the misnamed “Inflation Reduction Act” will likely increase the tax agency’s targeting of low- and middle-income Americans.

Proponents of a flat tax or national sales tax argue that such a system would ensure millionaires and billionaires paid their “fair share” of taxes. Saying we must all pay our “fair share” of taxes assumes we have a moral obligation to the government that can only be fulfilled by turning over as much of our income as our so-called “public servants” demand. This is not the case. Individuals have a moral duty to support their families, and to support private charities if they wish. They do not have a moral duty to support the government.

Tax reform proponents also complain that the current tax code contains too many loopholes that cause economic distortions and inefficiencies. It is true that the current tax system promotes inefficiency, but this is caused by the income tax itself, not the loopholes. Conversely, loopholes actually promote economic efficiency by giving taxpayers the ability to spend more of their money the way they prefer, rather than allowing politicians to spend it. As economist Thomas DiLorenzo put it, “private individuals always spend their own money more efficiently than government bureaucrats do.”

Some have expressed concerns that the use of President Trump’s tax records as part of the Democrat and Deep State effort to discredit him sets a dangerous precedent that will lead to increased use of tax information as a political weapon. The sad fact is that ever since its creation, politicians have used the IRS as a tool for punishing political opponents. As an IRS agent told the head of conservative organization who was being audited after calling for the impeachment of then-President Bill Clinton, “What do you expect when you target the President?”

The major problem with the income tax, and the reason it must be eliminated, not merely “reformed,” is that it is rooted in the idea that the government has first claim on our income. This idea is incompatible with a free society. Furthermore, the income tax must also be repealed because the force of the IRS, along with the fraud of the Federal Reserve, is one of the two foundations of the welfare-warfare state that erodes our liberty and prosperity. The only way to avoid 1984 is to repeal 1913.

A weekly round-up of geopolitical flashpoint and energy news we’re keeping our eyes on, and trends impacting global markets, which will later be accessible for Premium members and above…

With the smoke still clearing from Brazil’s capital amid the pro-Bolsonaro unrest, Lula is ready to go on the offensive and ‘punish’ the ‘rioters’ and so-called “terrorists”, with the to-be-expected comparisons to Jan.6 filling mainstream headlines. Bolsonaro himself has been in Florida since last month, and Monday was admitted to the hospital, but there’s growing calls from US progressive lawmakers to cancel his visa. This despite widespread admissions, including from the NYT, that he called on his supporters to allow for peaceful transition of power, and to essentially ‘move on’. Brazil’s currency slipped in the immediate aftermath, with uncertainty in still spooked Brazilian markets after volatile trade amid the initial ‘shock’ of the capital chaos…

Brasil events meant that media consumers were given a brief respite from non-stop Russia-Ukraine developments dominating headlines, as CNN and others focused on scenes of the weekend chaos which gripped Brasilia. And yet the conflict in Eastern Europe is still escalating, with the Kremlin on Monday stressing it sees itself as already at war with NATO inside Ukraine. This as Western allies, with the UK leading the way, are now weighing heavy tanks for Ukraine, and not just the troop carriers or ‘light tanks’ earlier pledged by France and the US. The West continues to go ‘all in’ regarding keeping Kiev away from the negotiating table, as was on display concerning Putin’s failed Christmas truce attempt. Zelensky is meanwhile thanking Washington for the latest $3 billion “Christmas present”. The White House is touting that Ukraine aid is “rock solid” through at least 2023.

China continues its big reopening amid its Covid strategy pivot, with reports of Chinese citizens scrambling to get their passports in order, perhaps just waiting anxiously for a reversal by Beijing authorities and planners. But reports of huge numbers of infected amid the Covid wave continue unabated for now. China and the US keep signaling over Taiwan, with the Chinese PLA steadily ramping up war drills and muscle-flexing, with breaches of the Taiwan Strait median line now becoming a regular thing. The US-Taiwan trade delegation talks – with the involvement of Biden administration officials – are set to kick off Saturday, with Beijing’s reaction anticipated to be fierce. 

Below are global developments we are closely following this week…

Russia-Ukraine

• Putin’s Christmas ceasefire is being widely seen as a failure, with NY Times calling it ‘effort to divide the West’: NYT

• Heavy shelling was reported in Ukraine’s east through much of the ‘ceasefire’: Rtrs

• Friday’s new $3.075 billion weapons package is to include some 50 Bradley Fighting Vehicles for the first time: Politico

• Western allies weigh sending heavy tanks: WSJ

• “Bloodiest fighting” currently at Bakhmut and Soledar: Axios

• Russians fleeing possibility of being sent to war stranded at Seoul airport: Moscow Times

• Kremlin official says ‘not at war with Ukraine, but whole of NATO’: TASS

• Over 100 Russian artists and public figures on a Ukraine sanctions list: AJ

• Zelensky revoked the citizenship of 13 Orthodox priests: IFX

• Russia probes its own prominent critics: AP

• US alleged Iran “contributing to widespread war crimes” in Ukraine: Axios

• Sweden says Turkey making demands it can’t fulfil for NATO membership: FT

• Sweden conscription for better defense readiness? RT

• Erdogan says he’s ready to mediate “lasting peace” in Ukraine: AA

• Russia claimed Sunday it conducted a retaliation strike on Ukrainian troops, killing 600: VOA

• Ukraine vehemently denies the Russian strike claims on a barracks in Kramatorsk: BBC

• Ukraine school at location rejects claim: AP

• Foreign policy “experts” think Russia will collapse or break apart in next decade: BI

• US not seeing any indications Belarus will send troops into Ukraine: Sky News

• Both sides in talks for more prisoner swaps: Sky News

• Kiev claims Moscow to mobilize 500k more conscripts: Politico

China-Asia

• New Chinese drills near Taiwan: Rtrs

• Beijing angry after US Navy’s 1st Taiwan Strait transit of 2023: Maritime Executive

• War-gaming a China-Taiwan conflict: CNN

• US military deepens ties with Japan and Philippines to prepare for China threat: FT

• China extending supply and logistics network deep into South Pacific? SCMP

• European delegation visits Taiwan: Republic World

• Readying for US-Taiwan trade delegation talks involving Biden admin: BBG

• Qin Gang’s first trip as FM is to Africa: SCMP

• Travel influx as China reopens: AP 

• Chinese citizens rush to renew passports as Covid border curbs lifted: Rtrs

• Hong Kong, China border reopening: Japan Times

• Official says than 88 million people in 3rd most populous province have Covid: BBC

• Kim Jong-un recently called for an “exponential” increase in the production of nuclear weapons

• Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing recently, pledged that maritime disputes will be handled in “friendly” manner: Al Arabiya 

• Japan PM Kishida starts tour of G7 countries, talks military build-up and chip supply: Rtrs

Middle East

• Drone shot down over Iraqi air base, Ain al-Asad, hosting US forces: New Arab

• Iranians demonstrate against protest-related executions: BBC

• Iranian diplomats to be expelled from Western countries?: VOA

• Israeli gov bars Palestinian flags from all public places: MEE

• Over $9BN pledged by international donors for Pakistan flood recovery: AJ

• Heavy fighting in oil-rich Yemeni province: Xinhua

• Economic collapse, misery especially in northern Syria: MEE

• US not happy with Syria-Turkey reconciliation talks; Assad & Erdogan to meet? The Cradle

Latin America/World

• Immigration, trade top agenda for Biden’s Mexico visit: VOA

• Biden first president to visit Mexico since 2014: WaPo

• Biden’s “tightly controlled visit” to southern border his 1st time as president: CNN

• Venezuelan Embassy in US shuttered as opposition crumbles: AW

• Brazil unrest: hundreds of Bolsonaro supporters arrested: WSJ

• Pundits make J6 comparisons, condemn “terrorism”, Lula vows punishment: WaPo

• Wife says Bolsonaro admitted to hospital in Florida: BBC

• US progressive lawmakers want Bolsonaro booted: NYT

• Russian ship under US sanctions stops in S.Africa, prompting questions: WSJ

Energy

• US gasoline demand and prices still rising: OP

• China expands South China Sea gas field: SCMP

• Kuwait plans to increase diesel exports to EU: The Cradle

• Energy crisis makes Europe the world’s premium LNG market: OP

• Russia’s Rosneft looks to supply gas to China via Power Of Siberia 2 Pipeline: OP

• ‘Meltdown’ of European industry averted with warm winter, Germany’s Habeck says: BBG

• Oil rises over 1% on demand optimism as China reopens borders: Rtrs

• Canadians will see high oil, gas prices through 2023, experts say: ‘A very expensive time’: GN

Authored by Jeffrey A. Tucker via the Brownstone Institute (emphasis ours),

The latest of the Twitter Files is reported by Alex Berenson, who was granted access to messaging systems from the times before Elon Musk took over. His first round of reporting concerns the role of Scott Gottlieb, who is a perfect example of an influencer who is technically outside of government but might as well be a powerful official within it. 

Gottlieb’s main gig now is as a senior fellow of the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC, but he also serves as a board member of Pfizer. Before joining AEI and Pfizer, he headed the Food and Drug Administration under Trump from 2017 to 2019. Before that, he was at Health and Human Services as a member of its Federal Health IT Policy Committee from 2013 to 2017. 

You probably know him from TV because he has been a ubiquitous presence since the beginning of the pandemic lockdowns, defending the government’s actions and pushing the vaccines from the company whose board he serves. 

In August 2021, he wrote Twitter to complain about a tweet from his successor at the FDA, Brett Giroir. Giroir wrote to report the results of a study in Israel that clearly demonstrated what most anyone could have known even without the study: natural immunity is superior to vaccinated immunity. 

Gottlieb complained that the tweet is “corrosive” and might “go viral.” Twitter acted by slapping a “misleading” tag on the tweet, one that still remains to this day. 

It’s now clear #COVID19 natural immunity is superior to #vaccine immunity, by ALOT. There’s no science justification for #vax proof if a person had prior infection. @CDCDirector @POTUS must follow the science. If no previous infection? Get vaccinated! https://t.co/jFc0yHpF2f

— Brett Giroir (@DrGiroir) August 28, 2021

Here is the email. 

Now, one might observe that Gottlieb is merely a private person and that it was certainly his right to object to anyone’s opinions. Maybe that’s true, except that he served Pfizer at the time and his company enjoyed billions in subsidies to make its product which not only gained a patent but benefitted from product-liability protection that is conventional with such vaccines. In addition, the product was only distributed thanks to an Emergency Use Authorization that bypassed the usual federal standards. 

“I’ve raised concerns about social media and the threats that are being made on these platforms,” says @ScottGottliebMD on Alex Berenson being kicked off Twitter. “I’m unconcerned about debate being made. I’m concerned about physical threats being made for people’s safety.” pic.twitter.com/hxpALiT6dZ

— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) October 14, 2022

That aside, he had been massively influential on lockdown policies from the very beginning, urging the Trump administration to be as extreme as possible in its attack on civil liberties and freedoms. 

We know this because Jared Kushner’s book reports every detail. He led the effort to present the guidelines for lockdowns that occurred on March 16, 2022, and he did it with the help of two tech executives he tapped to hang around the White House. Kushner reports:

As we dealt with the shortage of cotton swabs and other supplies, we faced another problem: the need to develop public health guidelines. Given that people across the country were confused and concerned, Birx and Fauci had been discussing the need for a unified set of federal standards to help Americans understand what they should do to keep themselves safe and slow the spread of the virus. They insisted that these guidelines would help prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed. Despite all the talk over the past week, no one had taken steps to produce a document. When Nat Turner flagged the issue, I asked him to coordinate with Derek Lyons to produce a draft and encouraged him to call Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former head of the FDA and a renowned public health expert. I had been trying to persuade Gottlieb to come back into government for a short-term stint to help us better organize our response and support our effort to develop a vaccine. 

When we called Gottlieb, he was grateful that we were preparing guidelines. “They should go a little bit further than you are comfortable with,” he said. “When you feel like you are doing more than you should, that is a sign that you are doing them right.”

So here we have a former government official now working as a board member for one of the companies chosen to produce and distribute vaccines who was directly involved and hugely influential in crafting a policy for the Trump administration that ended up not only dooming the Trump presidency but setting the entire country on the course to recession and a public health crisis. Still Pfizer benefited, obviously. 

Sure enough, he got his way and the Trump administration issued the draconian guidance: “bars, restaurants, food courts, gyms, and other indoor and outdoor venues where groups of people congregate should be closed.”

And why call out Gottlieb alone when many thousands of serious scientists and medical professionals would have strongly advised against locking down?

This is why what Berenson reports here is so significant. Gottlieb was anxious not only to lock down the entire country but also to censor any report on what used to be common-sense observations about natural immunity, even when it comes from credentialed experts and cites peer-reviewed studies. 

After his lockdown advocacy, and before his intervention to pull down a tweet celebrating natural immunity, but only after the vaccine came to market, he took to the pages of the Wall Street Journal to say that the CDC had gone too far, especially with its enforcement of social distancing: “The reliance on a flu model caused public-health authorities to underestimate and overestimate Covid in important ways.”

The person and role of Gottlieb is a paradigmatic case of why and how unraveling the mysteries of the lockdowns and vaccine mandates is such a complicated undertaking. It’s not just about government intervention and it’s not just about private corruption. It’s about a complicated relationship between the two, involving a range of public and private actors in and out of government who seized control of the policy machinery to achieve private ends at enormous public expense. 

Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev has issued ultra-provocative words claiming that it’s not fundamentally Ukraine that Russia is at war with, but that the Russian military is facing all of NATO inside Ukraine.

“The events in Ukraine aren’t a clash between Moscow and Kiev. It’s a military confrontation of NATO, first of all the US and Britain, with Russia. Fearing a direct engagement, NATO instructors push Ukrainian men to certain death,” he said in a fresh interview with state-owned newspaper aif.ru.

Patrushev continued by describing Russia’s military as geared toward seeking to “free its regions from occupation and must put an end to the West’s bloody experiment to destroy the fraternal people of Ukraine.”

“We are not at war with Ukraine because we can’t have hatred for ordinary Ukrainians by default,” he stressed. He then presented Russian and Ukrainian heritage and closely bound up together, according to state media: 

“Get this: the Ukrainian language is one of the official languages in Crimea. Ukrainian cultural centers, Ukrainian folk song and dance groups continue to exist in many cities. A considerable number of people in the south of the Far East regard Ukrainian culture as their own, given a large proportion of migrants from the times of Stolypin,” he said, referring to Pyotr Stolypin, a prime minister of the Russian Empire in the early 1900s, who oversaw a resettlement policy.

“The sooner the people of Ukraine realize that the West is using them to wage a war on Russia, the more lives will be saved,” Patrushev added. “Many have realized that long ago, but they are afraid to say that publicly out of fear of reprisals. It’s not a part of the West’s plans to save someone’s life to the detriment of its enrichment and other ambitions. Even so, the Americans, the British and other Europeans often create an illusion that they protect civilization from barbarians.”

He then referenced the ongoing Western backed attempts of Kiev to make Russian language and culture illegal, which directly impacts millions in the region: “all this story with Ukraine was engineered by Washington to rehearse the technologies of dividing a people that’s one and sow discord,” he said.

Meanwhile, there’s a growing move among leading NATO countries to begin transferring Western tanks and troop carriers to the Ukrainian battlefield. Starting last week, France began leading the way, resulting in a fierce response from the Kremlin…

French President Emmanuel Macron, by agreeing to send AMX-10 RC wheeled tanks to Ukraine, has crossed a red line and broke a military taboo, becoming the first Western leader to make the step, the Daily Telegraph reported:https://t.co/0fSr32AjrR pic.twitter.com/6lFh1xsMa3

— TASS (@tassagency_en) January 7, 2023

But following this warning that a “red line” has been crossed, the Biden administration approved sending Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and now Britain is the next to be mulling tanks for Ukrainian forces, as Sky News reports Monday:

The UK is considering supplying Ukraine with British tanks for the first time to fight Russia’s invading forces, Sky News understands.

Discussions have been taking place “for a few weeks” about delivering a number of the British Army’s Challenger 2 main battle tank to the Ukrainian armed forces, a Western source with knowledge of the conversations said.

A Ukrainian official was cited in the report as saying that the UK sending tanks would in turn “encourage others to give tanks.” President Zelensky during his December in-person address to US Congress mentioned that his country is in dire need of tanks, and he’s specifically multiple times asked Washington for M1 Abrams tanks.

The US has still remained reluctant, however, largely on fears that to much heavy weaponry too fast would lead to direct NATO-Russia confrontation, ostensibly at least.

Possible use of FAB-500 in Bakhmut. pic.twitter.com/vfv2JvrFeD

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) January 9, 2023

But based on the words of Russian Security Council Secretary Patrushev, it seems Russia increasingly sees military confrontation with NATO as already happening. After all, the massive loss of Russian troops in the Makiivka barracks attack was reportedly accomplished with US-supplied HIMARS missile systems.

By Mark Cudmore, Bloomberg Markets Live reporter and analyst

US stocks are trading positively since Friday’s US data due to raised hopes for rate cuts, not on some Goldilocks narrative. It’s important the driver is clear as there are different implications.

The NFP jobs data was indeed a so-called Goldilocks report: an increase in the labor force and lots of new jobs added, particularly in the private sector. Wage inflation not only fell sharply, but with the bonus of revisions lower to prior wage increases. For those who believe that the US can bring inflation back down to target without a hard landing, it was about as good as you could get. It suggests that the economy can cope with the policy-tightening seen, so it should have resulted in curve-steepening and equities getting a bid. And that’s exactly what we got… BOOM! All makes sense.

But wait… We then got the big bad wolf of the ISM report. It was horrible data. The headline came in at 49.6 (recession territory) versus 55 forecast, and 56.6 prior. The new orders component was even more traumatic at 45.2 versus 56 prior. Not helped by the fact that the more backward-looking factory orders data released at the same time missed expectations and revised the prior figures lower too. Oh, and the final durable good print was slightly softer, as well. Recession alarm bells blaring loudly. The bit of the ISM report that stayed very high was the prices paid component — uh-oh, stagflation sounds?

So you’d think that stocks would hate that? No! Quite to the contrary, S&P 500 e-minis only rallied 0.6% on the Goldilocks NFP jobs data, but then managed a further 1.8% before Friday’s close on the stagflationary ISM report, while the dollar slumped.

What gives? Well, US 2-year yields collapsed by a further 16 basis points after the ISM report, and it was that hope for easier monetary policy that fueled stocks. Which is fine in isolation, but does undermine any suggestion that Friday’s moves were about a Goldilocks scenario.

It also means that, if you’re wondering what would upset stocks most in the short-term, it’s anything that undermines the prospect of easier policy, more so than data that confirms a US recession. Personally, I think they probably should fear a recession too, but that’s a story for another month.

Update (1445ET): There’s word of a ‘much-fabled 3-page House rules addendum’ circulating throughout certain GOP offices in which McCarthy reportedly agrees on everything from the 20-holdout demands on everything from strategy on the debt ceiling, to committee assignments.

Via Axios‘ Andrew Solender:

At least one GOP office apparently has the much-fabled 3-page House rules addendum.

“We’re taking a look at it … we’re just going through it,” Rep. Ken Calvert, a Steering Committee member, tells @Axios

Asked if members have received a copy: “I don’t know if everybody has.”

— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) January 9, 2023

According to Punchbowl News,

there’s also a secret three-page addendum that McCarthy and his allies hashed out during several days of grueling negotiations with the House Freedom Caucus. This pact includes the most controversial concessions McCarthy made in order to become speaker – three seats on the Rules Committee for conservatives, freezing spending at FY2022 levels, a debt-ceiling strategy, coveted committee assignments and more.

*  *  *

How that Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has been elected Speaker of the House, his first order of business is presiding over the Republican rules package for the 118th Congress.

That said, in order to finally win the gavel after 14 failed votes, McCarthy had to make massive concessions to a group of 20 holdout Republicans, including the ability for just one member to vote to vacate the speaker’s chair.

In a Sunday night tweet, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) tweeted “This is what we’ve been fighting for,” in relation to seven bills that the holdouts were able to include in the rules package, which is expected to be put to a vote on Monday.

1) A bill to cut some of the additional funding that was made available to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

2) A bill to authorize the secretary of Homeland Security to turn away people crossing the border illegally.

3) A bill that includes prohibiting the secretary of energy from sending petroleum products from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China.

4) A tough-on-crime bill that includes amending the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act to direct the district attorney and prosecutor’s office to report to the attorney general.

5) A bill to require a national instant crime background check system to notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other law enforcement agencies when information surfaces that a person present in the United States illegally may be trying to obtain a firearm.

6) A bill to prohibit taxpayer funded abortions.

7) A bill to amend Title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a health care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion. –Epoch Times

“When we come back, our very first bill will repeal the funding for 87,000 new IRS agents,” McCarthy said on Jan. 7, shortly after being elected Speaker, adding that Republicans “believe government should be to help you, not go after you.”

In a recent letter, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), said that legislation is “ready to go” which will be brought to the House floor over the next two weeks. According to the Epoch Times, the House rules package largely mirrors Scalise’s list.

More via The Epoch Times‘ Tom Ozimek:

According to Scalise’s letter, the first bill, dubbed the Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act (pdf), aims to revoke some of the additional IRS funding that Democrats passed as part of their Inflation Reduction Act that the agency plans to use for tax enforcement.

With the first bill, Republicans are targeting what Scalise said was “tens of billions of dollars allocated to the IRS for 87,000 new IRS agents.” That figure is in dispute, with the Biden administration saying much of the money would go to non-enforcement staff like customer service.

Another bill Scalise put in the schedule is the Strategic Production Response Act (pdf), which would prohibit non-emergency drawdowns of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve without a parallel plan to boost energy production on federal lands.

Republicans have been highly critical of President Joe Biden for ordering the release of oil from the strategic reserve, arguing that it was a ploy to win votes ahead of the midterms by trying to lower pump prices.

Biden, for his part, has insisted the release was meant to stabilize global oil markets amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing energy price shock, as well as trying to lower prices for Americans amid decades-high inflation, of which a major component is the cost of energy.

Scalise has scheduled another related bill, called Protecting America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve from China Act (pdf), which would restrict the energy secretary from selling oil from the strategic reserve to China.

Another bill is the Prosecutors Need to Prosecute Act (pdf), which would allow the public to see how many cases prosecutors are declining to prosecute, along with the number of criminals released onto the streets and the number of offenses committed by career criminals.

On border security, Scalise put forward a bill called the Border Safety and Security Act (pdf), which would give the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) the power to turn away people crossing the border illegally in order to gain “operational control” of the border.

Another bill, called the Illegal Alien NICS Alert Act (pdf) would require the National Instant Criminal Background Check system (NICS) to notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and relevant local law enforcement if someone trying to buy a firearm is an illegal immigrant.

One bill, called the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act (pdf), seeks to make the Hyde Amendment permanent and prohibit federal funding for abortions as well as funding for any insurance plans that include on-demand abortion.

Another bill, called Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (pdf), would ensure that infants born alive after a failed abortion would receive the same legal protection and health care as a newborn.

McCarthy’s Concessions

Besides the bills, McCarthy had to make numerous concessions to win over the holdout Republicans, including giving the Freedom Caucus members seats on the powerful House Rules Committee, taking a hard line on the debt limit, and reducing spending.

McCarthy was elected as the 55th House Speaker in the early hours of Jan. 7 by a vote of 216–212.

While it normally takes 218 votes—a majority of the House—to become speaker, that threshold can be reduced if members are absent or merely vote present.

It’s precisely this maneuver that gave McCarthy his coveted win, as six Republicans voted “present” instead of “yea” in the final vote: Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Bob Good (R-Va.), and Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.).

In a 20-minute speech following the vote, McCarthy laid out his priorities for the 118th Congress, including securing the southern border, combating “woke” indoctrination in American schools, and unleashing domestic energy production.

“We must get America back on track,” he said. “We’ll hold the swamp accountable.”

Cox Automotive reported that its Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index (MUVVI), which tracks the auction prices of used cars, plunged the most on record in December from a year ago as the auto market cools. 

MUVVI increased 0.8% in December from November and rose slightly to 219.3, but was down 14.9% from a year ago. “This was the largest annualized decline in the series’ history,” Manheim wrote in a statement. 

Despite the most significant yearly decline on record, used car prices at auction houses remain 14% below record highs. 

The Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index was down 14.9% from a year ago. This was the largest annualized decline in the series’ history. The non-adjusted price change in December was a decline of 1.9% compared to November pic.twitter.com/cB3X1N8jAY

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 9, 2023

Manheim wrote that all eight segments of the used car market recorded lower seasonally adjusted prices year over year in December. They noted, “vans had the smallest decline at 12.0%, followed by pickups, sports cars, and compact cars at 12.2%, 12.6%, and 13.5%, respectively.” 

December’s plunge surpassed November’s decline of 14.2%, which was the largest decline at the time. 

Cox chief economist Jonathan Smoke recently explained, “new inventory is finally starting to build, and that’s producing momentum in new retail sales, but that momentum appears to be at the expense of used retail. Especially it’s the traditionally used car buyer that’s most impacted by payment affordability.” 

Cooling of the used car market comes as the interest rate paid for used car loans hits the highest rate in more than a decade, sparking a price affordability crisis for buyers. 

During the virus pandemic, Americans used the most debt to fund record car prices — fast-forwarding to today, used car prices have dropped, and the economy is weakening, which might signal recession. We outlined last month the US could be on the cusp of a crushing auto loan crisis, unleashing a wave of repossessions and loan defaults. 

The good news is that runaway inflation in 2021 and 2022 is cooling. Remember when soaring car prices were the leading indicator of red-hot inflation prints? Now the opposite is happening.