Via Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com,

Legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong says, “The cheating in the midterm election next week is going to be so great that it is almost impossible to make a prediction. . . . In a fair midterm election, the Republicans would win the House and the Senate.”

So, what does his Socrates program see for next week?  Armstrong, says, “It’s going to be tight, and the Republicans have a shot at taking the House.  Technically, they should take the House and the Senate.  I am just not sure.  The corruption is so bad, it’s crazy. ..”

“Pennsylvania sent out hundreds of thousands of ballots to people who are not documented or even American.  I’ve gotten emails from people in Canada, they are getting mail-in ballots.  They mailed them to Canada…

Where this ends up, who knows?  It’s just so corrupt, it is over the top.  It doesn’t matter who wins.  Nobody is going to accept this thing, and that is the problem.”

The cheating is going to be so in your face President Trump may not even be able to run for President two years from now.  Armstrong contends, “We may not even have an election in 2024…”

“It is not looking very good, and it’s probably because this election is not going to be accepted. 

When it is so over-the-top corrupt, what do you do for the next one? 

The United States will not exist after 2032.  After 2028 and 2029, we are going to have to redesign a government from scratch.  America is being destroyed. 

Republics always end in absolute corruption.  We just saw the same thing happen in Brazil.  They staged a major effort to take Bolsonaro out…

This is a worldwide effort.  They had to get rid of Trump.  The other one who stood in their way is Bolsonaro.  Then there is Putin (Russia) and Xi Jinping (China).  I think you are going to have historians look back at this 50 years from now, and they will call this period ‘The Climate Change Wars’…

They are trying to take down as much oil energy capacity as possible.”

Armstrong is still seeing very strong signals on domestic violence everywhere.  Armstrong explains, “Our computer is showing it’s going to be a rocket launch for volatility and civil unrest next year.”

Armstrong also contends there will be a major loss of confidence in government around the world.  That means gold will start having big demand from big money.  Armstrong also predicts,

“The whole monetary system as we know it is collapsing.  That was what the bond crisis in the UK was about.”

There is much more in the 1-hour and 7-minute interview for 11.5.22.

Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes One-on-One with Martin Armstrong, cycle expert and author of the new book “The Plot to Seize Russia, Manufacturing World War III.” Armstrong is giving the book away if you attend in-person the “2022 World Economic Conference” in Orlando, FL, next weekend.

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There is some free information, analysis and articles on ArmstrongEconomics.com. Armstrong’s book, “The Plot to Seize Russia, Manufacturing World War III,” will be given away if you sign up for the “In-Person” conference below.  There will be a book buying link posted soon on ArmstrongEconomics.com, so be on the lookout for it. For tickets to Armstrong’s “2022 World Economic Conference” in Orlando, FL, November 11, 12, and 13, click here.

By Eric Peters, CIO of One River Asset Management

“Wanna know what would make Biggie’s job easy?” barked Biggie Too, slipping into 3rd person like a warm bath. “On Valentine’s Day, non-farm payrolls is -250k, unemployment is above 4%, Powell says enough is enough, the S&P 500 troughs at 3300, and up we go,” bellowed Biggie, Chief Global Strategist for one of Wall Street’s Too-Big-To-Fail affairs. “The end of the bear market gets given to Biggie, wrapped up in a red bow.” Then Biggie went quiet. Agitating himself. “But Biggie doesn’t get gifts. Not for Valentine’s Day. Not for Christmas. Biggie doesn’t even get damn birthday cards.”

“Biggie is not going to get a signal we got a big low,” said Too. “Biggie is going to get a continuation of a series of lows next year, and it’s going be horrible, just horrible,” he said, not sounding terribly upset about it if I’m being honest. “And somewhere in the middle of it, something is going to break. It always does. Always.” We’ve seen the warning signs bubbling up. The UK pension LDI debacle. “You don’t hike rates this fast and not break something big. It’s coming,” said Biggie. “And listen, you’ll know when to trade the Fed pivot. It’ll be after everyone has given up on the Fed pivot.”  

MMT

“The Fed and almost everyone else misunderstands how interest rates affect the economy,” said Warren Mosler, father of MMT. “Higher rates increase interest payments on gov’t debt, and these dollars get pumped into the economy,” he said. US GDP is roughly $25trln. US national debt held by the public is currently $24trln. If the average interest rate on this debt is 1%, the gov’t will pay $240bln in interest. If overnight rates stay high and the average rate on our debt stock rises to 4%, the government will pay $1trln per year. That’s ~4% of GDP.

“The gov’t currently increases the deficit to pay interest on its debt, so higher interest rates increase the deficit and money in the system, and this lifts inflation,” continued Mossler. “If a gov’t wants to reduce demand, which I’m not saying is the problem, it should cut interest rates to 0% (keep them there forever), raise taxes, and/or cut federal spending. Lifting interest rates is the opposite of what it should do,” he said. “And raising rates pays interest only to the people in society who already have assets. It is the equivalent of Universal Basic Income for rich people.”

“The rate hikes have sustained earnings but shifted them from the high multiple stocks into low multiple names,” explained Mosler. “The effect is a one-time decline in overall market capitalization for stocks as a whole, but once we adjust to this shift, the market heads higher to reflect the rising inflation brought on by the Fed,” he said. “Stocks will then be a good inflation hedge until something breaks.” In each cycle, something snaps. “You never know what it will be, but my best guess is that something like $300/barrel oil eventually ends this cycle.”

“As for policy rates, it looks like the Fed will get rates to 5% or so,” said Mosler. “Inflation bumps around between 3%-6%,” he said.  “The federal deficit moves up toward 8%. Interest costs are quickly going to 3% of that and then headed higher still. Nominal GDP is probably in the range of 5%-6%,” said Mosler. “The rising amounts of money flowing into the economy from deficit spending, including things like student loan forgiveness, 8%-9% social security inflation adjustments, and infrastructure spending keeps inflation and nominal growth high. And stocks like nominal growth.” 

For the 2nd time in the past month, and just days after its “not all that bad” earnings presentation which helped AAPL be the only GAMMA stock not to tank after reporting Q3 earnings, late on Sunday Apple said shipments of its newest premium iPhones will be lower than previously expected after China lockdowns affected operations at a supplier’s factory.

In a brief, tersely worded statement, Apple said that it continues to see strong demand for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max models but the neverending Chinese lockdowns – which have long ago become just a scapegoat for the Chinese economic implosion – mean “customers will experience longer wait times to receive their new products.” Also, on its website, the company said that deliveries of iPhone 14 Pro handsets are currently listed for late November or early December.

Here is the full statement…

COVID-19 restrictions have temporarily impacted the primary iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max assembly facility located in Zhengzhou, China. The facility is currently operating at significantly reduced capacity. As we have done throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we are prioritizing the health and safety of the workers in our supply chain.

We continue to see strong demand for iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max models. However, we now expect lower iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max shipments than we previously anticipated and customers will experience longer wait times to receive their new products.

We are working closely with our supplier to return to normal production levels while ensuring the health and safety of every worker.

… which company shareholders will wonder why none of this was discussed a little over a week ago when the company reported earnings; to be sure, there was zero mentions of China issues on the earnings call yet anyone following the company knew that it would have to guide down in the future. The only surprise is that the future was just one week later.

Commenting on the release, Knowledge Vital’s Adam Crisafuli said that it was “so vague it almost makes us think the main intended audience was the Chinese government, not investors .. an indirect way for them to express their displeasure with the lack of change.”  Then again, we doubt China cares what Apple thinks.

The abrupt move by the Chinese government last Wednesday to lock down the Zhengzhou area that includes a Hon Hai Precision Industry iPhone assembly plant until Nov. 9 is expected to further disrupt a factory already grappling with an on-site coronavirus outbreak, worker exodus and enforced quarantine.

Apple said the facility is operating at “significantly reduced capacity,” while Hon Hai, the main listed arm of Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group, noted in a separate statement that it’s lowering its fourth-quarter outlook to factor in the lockdown.

“Foxconn is now working with the government in concerted effort to stamp out the pandemic and resume production to its full capacity as quickly as possible,” the Taiwanese company said in a statement.

In the latest Chinese covid-linked hysteria, the local government has ordered people and vehicles off the streets except for medical or other essential reasons, a prohibition that threatens to cut off the flow of additional workers and components needed to rev up production ahead of the holiday-season crush.

At what point does it become obvious to everyone that Xi is just using the Wuhan fugitive to cover up for the ongoing Chinese economic implosion.

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) November 7, 2022

The disruption comes at a crucial time for Apple, which launched the iPhone 14 during an unprecedented slump in global electronics demand. While faring better than other smartphone makers, it’s backed off plans to increase production of its new iPhones this year after an anticipated surge in demand failed to materialize, Bloomberg reported previously. Apple reported better-than-expected results but warned of a holiday slowdown.

As Bloomberg reminds us, Apple didn’t provide a specific revenue forecast for the current quarter, continuing an approach it adopted at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. But analysts estimate sales of about $128 billion, which would be an all-time record. That forecast is now in serious jeopardy, and futures have reacted appropriately, with Eminis sliding as much as 1.1% in early trading but have since made up nearly half the initial drop.

Unlike Facebook and Twitter, Apple has yet to unveil major layoffs. Instead, in the face of slowing growth, Apple has paused hiring for many jobs outside of research and development, an extension of its current plan to reduce budgets heading into next year.

Meanwhile, Foxconn’s plant continues to operate within a “closed loop,” or a self-contained bubble that limits contact with the outside world. That is keeping some production going. Apple said on Sunday it is working closely with its supplier to return to “normal production levels while ensuring the health and safety of every worker.”

By Eric Peters, CIO of One River Asset Management

“I am deeply troubled by the Federal Reserve’s rapid series of super-sized interest rate hikes, which may inflict unnecessary pain on millions of individuals and families while sending the economy into a devastating recession,” wrote Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee in a public letter to Fed Chairman Powell.

“This week’s Federal Open Market Committee decision marks the fourth consecutive mega rate hike by the Fed, resulting in the highest federal funds rate since before the 2008 global financial crisis and the fastest set of rate hikes by the Fed in four decades. Enough is enough,” continued Maxine Waters.

And this level of political pressure has started with unemployment rising just 0.2% to 3.7%.

* * *

“The last thing I’ll say is that I would want people to understand our commitment to getting this done and to not making the mistake of not doing enough or the mistake of withdrawing our strong policy and doing that too soon,” said America’s central bank chief, speaking to journalists, having just hiked interest rates another 75bps.

“I control those messages,” explained Jay Powell.

“That’s my job.”

And indeed, it is. In 1977, Congress set the Federal Reserve’s goals: maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates.

Our politicians did not tell central bankers how to achieve these goals. Neither did they quantify how much short-term pain they would be willing to bear in the pursuit of this mandate, nor did they make clear over what time horizon they would measure success.

And naturally, in such an infinitely complex system, there is no singular way to achieve these sensible goals. So, we appoint central bankers we believe will have the judgement required to navigate the labyrinth. But of course, the maze is always changing. So the Fed strategies must adapt to our present circumstances.

What worked during globalization and peace is now largely obsolete. That’s obvious. But what is not yet clear is how the actions of our central bankers and politicians are eroding our collective faith in the value of money.  In recent decades, central bankers and politicians grew increasingly aggressive in rescuing speculators from financial folly. Then Covid happened. And they created more money than anyone could possibly imagine. Presto. Magic. Everyone got something.

Now we’re forgiving student debt. Newsweek just reported 63% of Americans support federal inflation relief payments. This is before politicians fund vital projects in the decade ahead: military, infrastructure, environment, inequality.

And now Powell’s job is to navigate a labyrinth, unlike any in American history, in a quest to restore meaning to money.

Progressives who have descended upon Austin, Texas in recent years are starting to reverse course amid a state-wide shift towards conservatism, NY Mag reports.

“It was easy to just be in Never Neverland, floating with a bunch of other transplants having a good time,” said John Stettin, who relocated from Dallas to Austin five years ago and is now leaving for Massachusetts because of ‘too many Republicans,’ as one friend described the situation during Stettin’s going-away party.

Austin has been a predominantly Democratic city full of ‘liberal expats’ who seek progressive politics and an urban lifestyle ‘at a red-state cost-of-living discount,’ according to the report.

Then the pandemic hit – and mean Governor Greg Abbott banned municipalities – including Austin – from implementing various COVID measures, such as mask mandates. Then, Abbott codified permitless carry into law and, according to liberals, ‘further restricted voting access.’

Then, this past February, Abbott ordered child abuse investigations into parents of trans children – who, according to the report, began fleeing texas months ago.

“I’ve always said, ‘I’m gonna stay and fight until they try to take my kids away,;” said ‘Karen’ (name withheld), who has a trans child and says she did not want to risk being separated from her children. Karen has ‘fled from Austin to Portland, Oregon,’ causing her Republican father to ‘burst into tears.’

Karen says she has PTSD and survivor’s guilt for not staying behind.

By June, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Texas was 10 months into implementing an abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest, and a $10,000 reward for informants.

The overturning of Roe seemed to remove the last obstacle in the state’s march to the far right, which is likely to be cemented in the upcoming election where Beto O’Rourke is way behind Abbott. While the Democratic mayor and the liberal city council institute token measures such as decriminalizing abortion, it’s cold comfort. One 25-year-old woman said she had her tubes tied, fearing the consequences of an unwanted pregnancy. One couple may relocate to the Northeast to carry out their pregnancy. Some job candidates are refusing to relocate. At Stettin’s party, his friend Jeff swiped open his phone to a note entitled “New Austin Cities” — a list of places that are what Austin used to be to him before he moved here from New York. It read, “Pittsburgh, Durham, Boise, Columbus, Jackson Hole, Chattanooga. Factors: Climate change, demographics, economy, location, taxes, nature, weather.” He plans to stick it out at least for now. “Global warming in the next ten years,” he said. “That’s gonna be fucking real.” -NY Mag

“It’s like how a frog boils one degree at a time,” said Stettin. “They trigger-banned all abortion and they’re offering a bounty! What more do you need if you are a remotely liberal person to get the fuck out of here?”

“At least if I’m going to get into an argument with a guy in Boston, he’s probably not carrying an AR-15 in his trunk,” he said, referring to his upcoming move.

Good call John?

That said, while liberals are leaving Austin, it was ranked the fastest-growing metro in the US in February, which has seen its population grow by 33% over the past decade thanks to the draw of ‘hippie-cowboy capital’ tech jobs.

In the past year, rents in Austin have soared over 20%, while the media home price rose around the same percent over the same period, with companies such as Tesla acting as a primary driver of migration with the construction of a $1.1 billion “gigafactory” nearby.

If you thought the blue exodus was big now, just wait until after midterms…

Authored by Mimi Nguyen Ly via The Epoch Times,

Cybersecurity units from the National Guard will be activated in 14 U.S. states to help counter any threats to election officials’ networks ahead of, during, and after the upcoming Nov. 8 midterm elections, according to reports.

The 14 include battleground states Arizona, Iowa, and Pennsylvania, as well as Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, North Carolina, New Mexico, New York, Washington, and West Virginia, reported Politico.

Brig. Gen. Gent Welsh, the commander of the Washington Air National Guard, said at a virtual media briefing on Nov. 4 that not every state is doing it but states that are activating these units “have invested in cyber talent and cyber missions for years,” according to outlet Statescoop, which reports on technology-related news in government.

“If you don’t have a cyber unit in your state you’re not in a good position to help them protect elections,” Welsh said.

He added that the National Guard’s participation in election cybersecurity activities “does add an air of credibility to what’s out there,” noting that the National Guard “is still one of the most trusted institutions in the United States.”

‘As Secure Elections as Possible’

The plan comes after eight states received support from cyber units in the National Guard during the primary elections that took place earlier this year.

According to the outlets, there are 38 dedicated cyber units within the Air and Army National Guard across the United States that work to help state and local officials on cyber-related issues such as network assessments and risk mitigation. The cyber units collectively comprise over 2,200 personnel.

“Our goal is to make sure we have as secure elections as possible. We are at the really beginning stages of this,” said Air Force Maj. Gen. Rich Neely, head of the Illinois National Guard, reported Statescoop.

National Guard officials will receive security updates from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in their work to support the midterms, Politico reported.

According to its website, CISA was created in 2018 under the Trump administration to work with government and industry partners to defend against current and predicted threats to cyber and physical infrastructure, including election infrastructure.

No Indication of Potential Election Infrastructure Disruption: CISA Director

CISA Director Jen Easterly has repeatedly said she doesn’t expect any major disruptions to the midterms. Most recently, on Nov. 1, at an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Easterly said that there is “no information credible or specific about efforts to disrupt or compromise” election infrastructure and that she was “very confident that we have done everything we can to make election infrastructure as secure and as resilient as possible.”

Air Force Maj. Gen. Rich Neely, head of the Illinois National Guard, said that he and his team are “not expecting to see anything.”

“But much like we did after Jan. 6, if the Guard’s called in, the Guard responds as needed,” he said, reported Statescoop.

“We’re not expecting anything with what we’re seeing.”

Army Major General M. Todd Hunt, the adjutant general of the North Carolina National Guard, said at the media briefing on Nov. 4 that his state has a joint cyber mission center that will facilitate communication between the state’s cyber unit, its departments of Information Technology and Emergency Management, as well as federal contacts from CISA, the Department of Homeland Security, and the FBI.

According to the outlets, Hunt said there will be 25 National Guard members on duty in the cyber unit for North Carolina on Election Day, up from the usual core team of 10. The extra members will include federal and emergency management partners.

“We will surge during the election to ensure that we have 24-hour coverage throughout this whole process,” Hunt said, per Politico. “We are citizen soldiers, we live in this state, and we do have a vested interest in our state elections as well as our federal elections.”

Gas, groceries, electricity, and rent — the price of everything has soared to four-decade highs under the Biden administration. Household finances are under severe pressure as wage growth fails to outpace inflation for 18 months, leading many folks to find a second job. Even holding two jobs isn’t enough to sustain the cost-of-living crisis, as some are finding the nearest plasma clinic to donate blood to earn extra cash. 

Cashe Lewis, 31, of Denver, Colorado, works multiple jobs and is trying to find a third job due to rising shelter inflation. She told The Guardian she works six days a week, sometimes more than 16 hours per day, just to pay the bills. 

“I’m exhausted all the time … on the one day I have off a week, I donate plasma for extra money. I’m literally selling my blood to eat because I have no choice,” Lewis said. 

She said many of her “friends and family work multiple jobs” as inflation makes “nothing affordable and the roadblocks set up to keep people in the cycle of poverty benefit the most wealthy members of our society.” 

Lewis said: “We aren’t living, we’re barely surviving, and we have no choice but to keep doing it.”

More Americans than ever are working multiple jobs as inflation wipes out real wage growth.

Real wage growth has been negative for 18 consecutive months. 

The personal savings rate has tumbled to multi-decade lows at 3.1%, just shy of the record low of 3.0%…

And some experts are concerned about the pace of growth in consumer credit as debt loads for households soar as their wages can’t cover added costs of food, shelter, and energy. 

But according to MSNBC’s Joy Reid, her latest comments claim that Americans were oblivious to inflation until conservative political candidates started talking about it.

Reid’s suggestion insinuates that the public was comfortably unaware of the inflationary/stagflationary crisis and could have stayed that way had it not been for those meddling Republicans and their refusal to use the “common tongue” on the campaign trail. In other words, she believes the average voter is stupid.

Voters aren’t stupid, and they’re going to vote with their depleted wallets on Tuesday. A recent poll found that most Americans (over 90%) now rate inflation and the economic decline as their top worry going into the midterm elections. 

And it’s not just Lewis who has sold her blood plasma to feed her family. Many others like her are scouring the internet for where they can donate plasma for money. 

Over the summer, Fox 35 Orlando published a story titled “More people donating plasma to earn extra money amid inflation, rising costs.” They interviewed Dan Hernandez, the director of Octapharma Plasma in Orlando, who said, “We have countless people coming into our facilities saying it’s really hard to make ends meet.” 

Hernandez said the number of people donating has doubled in the last year, coinciding with the inflation spike in the economy. 

“Inflation. Everybody who comes here obviously they talk to us, and they tell us that it’s difficult to make ends meet,” he said.

The general public knows that working multiple jobs, barely affording to live while making frequent stops at the plasma clinic just to put food on the table isn’t normal. At least polling data shows many are awakening to Biden’s failed policies have made their lives worse. 

Via The Brownstone Institute,

The claim is now everywhere:

• We had to lock down because we just didn’t know about this virus.

• It was all very confusing and we had to play it safe.

• We had no other option because we just had no clarity about what we were dealing with.

• The precautionary principle dictated the unprecedented actions. 

Actually, the precautionary principle goes both directions.

It also dictates that we not enact policies that we know for sure would wreck lives and liberties. They did it anyway, without sufficient knowledge that the measures would achieve any positive good. 

We approach the third year and people have forgotten that all the harms of lockdowns were strongly warned about by many voices in many venues. In addition, the virus was much better understood back then and openly discussed. We knew for certain that the panic and fear were being wildly overblown.

Below follows resources assembled by the ‘Robber Baron‘ and many others who write for the Brownstone Institute. These citations from newspapers, magazines, academic journals and interviews, with many respected voices, show that we certainly knew tremendous amounts in the early days.

All the warnings and information were readily available to anyone paying attention.

• 2019: WHO Global Influenza Programme recommends against lockdowns and masks

• Sept 2019: Johns Hopkins pandemic preparedness study recommends against lockdowns

• Jan 24: Doctor warns that mass quarantine won’t work and will devastate society

• Jan 30: Obama health adviser says stop panicking

• Feb 5: Fauci says there’s no asymptomatic spread

• Feb 28: Fauci says this is more akin to flu than something more deadly

• Mar: 81% of Chinese Covid cases are mild

• Mar 1: Sweden: No effective measure to let healthy school children stay at home 

• Mar 2: Discussion on how Covid IFR was likely much lower than predicted

• Mar 2: 800 public health scientists warn against lockdowns, quartantines, restrictions

• Mar 3: Article on why masks are impractical

• Mar 3: Berkeley doctor indicates masks are not helpful in preventing Covid

• Mar 4: Doctor says Covid not nearly as deadly as feared

• Mar 4: Your doctor is not panicking and neither should you

• Mar 6: Doctor talking about unnecessary panic over Covid 

• Mar 9: Article on how Covid is only really dangerous to the elderly 

• Mar 12: Chief medical officer saying people shouldn’t wear masks

• Mar 13: Review found severe mental health problems from prolonged quarantine

• Mar 15: Medical organisation says stopping elective surgeries is unnecessary and dangerous

• Mar 17: Warning of financial crisis, unrest, civil strife, war, and a meltdown of the social fabric

• Mar 19: Article about Covid overaction and its issues

• Mar 25: Data about the health impacts of crushing the economy

• Mar 26: Early evidence of hospitals inaccurately listing Covid as cause of death

• Mar 26: Early data show we’re overreacting to Covid

• Mar 28: Predictions about the harms of lockdowns: Drugs, Suicide, and Crime

• Mar 28: Guardian outlines rise in domestic abuse throughout the world

• Mar 30: Study showing children are not the primary spreader of Covid 

• Apr 1: Article saying masks offer little to no advantage outside of hospital settings

• Apr 3: An overview on the dangers of lockdowns 

• Apr 4: Warning of the harm in delaying non-Covid medical procedures

• Apr 4: Research showing the seasonality of Coronaviruses

• Apr 6: U.N. warns about domestic violence surge

• Apr 6: Piece on domestic abuse during lockdown

• Apr 7: Study from China finds of 7,324 COVID-19 cases only two transmissions occurred outdoors

• Apr 7: Piece on the mental health cost of the lockdown on kids

• Apr 8: Research showing school lockdowns aren’t helpful and cause great harm

• Apr 13: More confirmation about domestic abuse rising due to lockdowns

• Apr 14: Children are very unlikely to contract Covid

• Apr 15: Barely any transmission from outdoor activities

• Apr 15: Different approaches by countries have little impact on Covid deaths

• Apr 15: Molecular Biologist suggests the cure is worse than the disease

• Apr 16: UN overview about the poverty/death that will come from lockdowns

• Apr 16: CDC mask study concludes that masks don’t work

• Apr 17: Info on how damaging cancelled procedures are

• Apr 20: Oxford professor says cases in U.K. peaked before lockdown 

• Apr 22: Potential for 60,000 cancer deaths due to lack of screening/treatment

• Apr 23: The harm lockdowns are having on people with heart conditions

• Apr 24: Data on the mental health toll of lockdowns

• Apr 24: Study showing school closings are the least cost-effective pandemic policy

• Apr 27: The rise of domestic abuse during lockdowns

• Apr 28: Increasing child abuse is a side effect of Covid lockdowns

• Apr 29: Cancer deaths could increase by 20% due to lockdown

• Apr 30: Santa Clara seroprevalence study shows high prevalence

• May 1: Indications from Europe that lockdowns are ineffective

We certainly live in an age of short attention span but many these signs and warnings came weeks or months before the world locked down and they chronicled the damage as it was happening.

Why all this came to be completely ignored remains the burning question. 

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

Former President Barack Obama continued the Democratic campaign theme this week in arguing that democracy is in danger if Republicans prevail in the midterm elections. I have a new column out this weekend addressing the over-the-top rhetoric coming from Democratic politicians and pundits. However, the former president’s speech was revealing as he cited the very arguments made by Democrats  . . . as attacks on democracy.  Obama did not go as far as some but he also seemed to channel the dire warnings of the imminent collapse of our democracy if the Republicans should prevail in the elections.

Obama remains one of the most impressive speakers of our time. With the unpopularity of President Joe Biden, candidates are relying heavily on Obama for good reason. His standard stump speech is still heads and shoulders above most other politicians.

Yet, the speech below was notable in the arguments that Obama warns voters not to heed.

“I understand that democracy might not seem like a top priority right now. Especially when it doesn’t seem like the results always work for you. When you don’t see enough progress on issues that matter to you and your family. Sometimes progress is slow. But we have seen throughout history and we’re seeing right now what happens when you give up on democracy.”

It was a curious argument given the effort of many in the party to pack the Supreme Court and push censorship on social media.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass, has declared the Supreme Court illegitimate and has called to pack the Court for rending opinions against “widely held public opinion.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., even questioned the institution’s value: “How much does the current structure benefit us? And I don’t think it does.” She has now demanded the impeachment of Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch based on the entirely false claim that they lied under oath in their confirmation hearings. After the Dobbs decision, Ocasio-Cortez demanded “there must be consequences” for the Court.

Elie Mystal (past writer for Above the Law and the Nation) called the Constitution “trash.” Some law professors want to “reclaim America from Constitutionalism.”

Obama added that you see the threat to democracy “in countries where the government tells you what books you can and cannot read.” Yet, many on the left are seeking to preserve censorship by surrogate on social media and seeking to prevent the publication of books by those with whom they disagree, including a book by Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. With corporate censorship threatened, many leaders like Hillary Clinton are turning to good old-fashioned state censorship.

Indeed, President Joe Biden has questioned how citizens will know the truth without censors framing what the truth is on social media and the Internet.

Obama ended this discussion with the same ominous warnings heard from other Democratic politicians and pundits:  “when true democracy goes away, people get hurt.”

Various pundits have been pushing the vote-Democratic-or-die mantra. On MSNBC, historian Michael Beschloss on MSNBC declared a Republican win could lead not only to the end of history books and democracy but lead to the killing of our children. That was then followed by another MSNBC interview with actor and Director Rob Reiner who claimed that Republicans “are willing to kill, literally kill, to get the power . . .  this might be the last election we have in a democracy.”

It is language that is not just demagoguery but dangerous. It is meant to spread fear in citizens and make them believe that our constitutional system is about to fail. We have the most successful constitutional system in the history of the world. It has weathered every storm and will weather our current political divisions. What kills democracy are self-inflicted wounds caused by those who cast doubts about our safety or demonize their opponents as enemies of the state.