Judge Napolitano ~ Bank Payday For Feds
Hat Tip: BB
Hat Tip: BB
Hat Tip: BB
By: Dick Manasseri
WatchDog Wire
Did you hear the AARP advertisement on the Frank Beckmann show on WJR Detroit today, threatening seniors that they are about to lose Social Security and Medicare benefits due to cuts to spending in D.C.? The ad ends by inviting listeners to call an 800 number and tell a single person, Kerry Bentivolio, to stop attacking seniors and their benefits – strange?
Did you read the national news article, “Who’s behind GOP’s rush to the right?” by Doyle McManus, a Los Angeles Times columnist?
McManus writes, “But they (DeMint and Heritage Action) should expect some push-back. Some of those K Street Republican lobbyists told me last week that they are already organizing to support endangered incumbents, including McConnell, and plan to do some “primarying” of their own, funding moderate GOP challengers against several tea-party members of the House, including two Michigan Republicans, Justin Amash and Kerry Bentivolio.”
Only two names in a national article, and one is Kerry Bentivolio – odd co-incidence? What’s going on here?
Could it be that K Street Republican lobbyists, with money from large GOP donors, like Bentivolio’s announced GOP challenger, David Trott, are funding a campaign with national co-conspirators like AARP to discredit one of the few leaders in D.C. who:
Wouldn’t the GOP national and Michigan money be better spent attacking the AARP-favored campaign of avowed leftist Gary Peters for the U.S. Senate from Michigan?
Tea Party activists, libertarians, and grassroots Republicans are uniting more every day in the anger they feel toward the progressive GOP establishment; they are hardening their commitment to stand with statesmen like Kerry Bentivolio, Justin Amash, and Ted Cruz as part of the emerging Cruz Coalition.
Dick Manasseri, a resident of Rochester Hills, is a big fan of the US Constitution, doing whatever he can to preserve and protect it for his children and grandchildren.
By: Maggie Thornton
Maggie’s Notebook
Senator Ted Cruz received an 8-minute standing ovation when he returned to Texas today. Let the left and the only-slightly-right establishment yap on. We have Defending Fathers and Mothers out there. Cruz has been Palinized, and like Sarah, he doesn’t give a fruity fig. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) stood with Cruz and spoke like a true statesman on Obamacare every time I heard him speak. Lee had a great interview with Rush Limbaugh. Read portions of it here. He hasn’t waivered. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) did not waiver. It’s our job to support them and many others that I can’t mention here today. The photos below, some you may not recognize, are only a few of those who voted ‘no’ to continue the fight to achieve something productive before signing the Continuing Resolution and putting another Trillion-plus in Obama’s pocket. Establishment Republicans were fine with nothing.
L-R Top Row: Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Mike Lee (R-UT) Jim Inhofe (R-OK) Second Row: Reps. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Jim Bridenstine (R-OK), James Lankford (R-OK) Third Row: Reps. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Diane Black (R-TN) Fourth Row: Reps. Renee Ellmers (R-NC), Kay Granger (R-TX), Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) (Senator Inhofe did not vote due to heart surgery but vigorously defended Cruz and Lee)
Cruz was greeted with an eight-minute standing ovation in an appearance organized by the Texas Federation of Republican Women. People in attendance, many of them wearing red to show their support for keeping Texas a conservative-leaning state, lined up to greet him. . . .
“We saw what can happen when the American people unite, when the American people stand up,” he said. “What the American people want is economic growth and job creation. They are crying out for something that fixes all the enormous damage that Obamacare is causing.” Source: Yahoo News
The remainder of the Yahoo article went on to chronicle how John McCain and Democrats blasted Cruz and others for doing what they were voted into office to do. Sure they did.
For the third time today I’ve seen stories using the words, “Communism,” Marxism, or “Lenin.” Then I found “Stalin,” “Hitler,” “Castro,” “Pol Pot” and “Mugabe.” This caught my attention after spending much of last night devouring Trevor Loudon’s new book The Enemies Within.
Doug Ross reminds us that if we are “thinking of sitting things out in 2014″ we must come to terms with another Nancy Pelosi speakership and be up for the fight of our lives, literally, to keep our gun rights. We could lose that fight. It’s a reality. You surely understand how things work today and you know who the reality-ignorant are in the Republican Party.
Doug Ross
For the first time in American history, mainstream Democrats are openly calling for the arrests of their political opponents. Yes, the hard left Democrat Party’s tactics come straight out of the playbooks of Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Castro, Pol Pot, and Mugabe.
They will be coming for anyone who expresses dissent against their Marxist policies, but before they do, they’ll be coming for your guns.
If Democrats regain control of the House, rest assured that your Second Amendment rights will be eviscerated as they very nearly did following the mass shooting by the lunatic in Sandy Hook. Dianne Feinstein — the loathsome and brazen crook from California – had her gun ban bill in place, just waiting for a nice, bloody tragedy to exploit.
These are some truly frightening portents. Read them at Doug Ross’ place.
Reading Trevor Loudon’s book, The Enemies Within, gives a clear and footnoted understanding of the part unions play in American elections and the transformational change that we see happening in here today:
Trevor Loudon
All the major international communist fronts created by the Soviets in the 1940s and 50s — World Peace Council, World Federation of Trade Unions, Women’s International Democratic Federation, World Federation of Democratic Youth and International Association of Democratic Lawyers… are still promoting the communist “line” wherever they can….
As Lenin said of trade unions — they are the “transmission belts from the Communist Party to the masses.” Communist control of the labor movement is the key to the implementation phase of communist policy infiltration into Western countries.
Every major communist party does its level best to take over the local labor movement. There are several reasons for this, but the most important and overlooked one is this… Every mainstream left wing party in the Western democracies is dominated by the labor movement. The Unions fund these parties; contribute manpower at election time and bloc vote at their conferences. Labor unions effectively dominate every major left win political party in every major and most minor, Western countries.
What the Communist Party wants today, the Labor Party will implement tomorrow. And the vast bulk of the voting public and will have no idea that the policies they are voting for originated in Moscow, Havana, Beijing, or in local Communist Party headquarters.
This process has been carried out countless times all over the world.
Loudon says it wasn’t easy bringing the Communist Party agenda to bloom in the U.S., but Labor finally made it happen:
…the left took over the U.S. labor movement in 1995 and installed Democratic Socialists of America member John Sweeney as President of the AFL-CIO…. The next step was to remove the clause from the AFL-CIO constitution banning communists from holding office in AFL-CIO affiliated unions. . . .
That is why the move to U.S. socialism has gone into overdrive since the Democrats took power in 2008. Trevor Loudon, The Enemies Within
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) plays a huge part in our elections today. The SEIU is the largest union in the U.S. Members work everywhere – in hotels, motels, hospitals, nursing homes, restaurants. You can’t go a full day without interacting with an SEIU member unless you don’t leave your domicile, maybe the pool boy. Ask him. They are organized and they work only for leftists – or more accurately, the leftist work for them and their votes. The SEIU tightly embraces legalization for illegal aliens. The agenda is that of the Communist Party USA and Democratic Socialists of America. This is the long-range Communist agenda, designed many years ago, coming to fruition today in the U.S. beginning in 1995 – not all that long ago; the Oklahoma City Bombing happened in 1995 and O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murder. I doubt many union members understand where their leadership is taking them.
Click the graphic to visit Trevor Loudon’s New Zeal Blog
The jewel of the book is the discussion by name of the “The Enemies Within: Communists, Socialists and Progressives in the U.S. Congress,” exposes one of communism’s biggest secrets.
Socialists, Communists and Progressives in the U.S. Congress. Buy Trevor’s book at The Pacific Freedom Foundation, or at Amazon (no, I don’t make a dime for the referral).
By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton
Cross-Posted at Right Wing News
James Rawles of Survival Blog is someone that I have long trusted and admired. He has been a stable voice in the wilderness as the US rockets towards an impending financial catastrophe brought on by Progressive Marxists on both sides of the political aisle. He is famous for telling people to ‘hold’ and not run for cover – until now. America had better listen… a modern day Cassandra is telling you: The Time Has Come To Fully Diversify: Retreating From Banks And From The Dollar Itself.
This has been a long time coming. Our debt now is sooo massive, there is no way to avoid hyperinflation. Once interest rates inevitably rise, the deal is done. In an effort to share Rawles’ sage advice, I am cross-posting here what he shared this morning:
The recent political crisis over the delayed raising of the U.S. debt ceiling was just a precursor of a much larger crisis that will occur when interest rates inevitably rise. Once they do rise, it will become impossible for the Federal government to service its debt without massive monetization and concomitant mass inflation. There may also be some draconian stopgap measures such as levies on bank accounts (a.k.a. “bail ins”), nationalization of private pension funds, nationalization or forced common stock purchases for IRA and 401(k) plans, currency controls, bank holidays, bank withdrawal limits, currency recalls, limited access to safe deposit boxes, IRA and 401(k) withdrawals limits, and perhaps even another ban on privately held gold bullion.
For the past seven years I have urged my readers to diversify their investments out of U.S. Dollars and into tangibles. I am now repeating that with an even greater sense of urgency. It is high time to deliberately draw down you bank accounts and stop rolling over your CDs. I now urge my readers to gradually withdraw as much cash as you can, leaving only as much in your checking accounts as you need to pay your monthly expenses and to make your tax payments.
Beware of CTRs
If you have more than $10,000 in your account and you attempt withdraw it all at once, then by law your bank teller will fill out a Currency Transaction Report (CTR). These reports are available to the IRS and other government agencies. To avoid this, you need to gradually withdraw your cash, in unequal amounts, over a period of weeks or months. If you have a lot of cash to move, then one viable approach is to write checks to open bank accounts in other banking institutions, and then deliberately draw down those new accounts with numerous small cash withdrawals.(Less than $7,000 each.) According to Wikipedia, CTRs include “an optional checkbox at the top if the bank employee believes the transaction to be suspicious or fraudulent, commonly called a SAR, or Suspicious Activity Report.” If your bankers suspects that you are “structuring” withdrawals, then they will feel obliged to file a SAR.
What to do with the cash you withdraw:
1.) Get your beans, bullets and Band-Aids squared away. This should be your highest priority. Don’t consider “investing” in anything else until you get your key preparations established.
2.) Keep some greenback cash “mattress money” in small bills. If possible, keep enough cash for a couple of months worth of expenses. Again, keep it very well hidden at home, or bury it in waterproof containers.
3.) Only after accomplishing Steps 1 and 2, buy some physical silver. In the U.S., pre-1965 dimes, and quarters are the best choice. Keep your silver very well hidden at home, or bury it in waterproof containers. Make sure that you let a couple of trusted relatives know exactly where it is hidden, in case you might come to harm.
4.) Invest in some common caliber ammunition. Here is your shopping list, in a nutshell: Rifle: .30-06, .308 Win., 5.56 NATO, 5.45×39, 7.62×39, .30-30, and .22 LR. Pistol: .45 ACP, 9mm, .40 S&W., .357. 38 Special. Shotgun: 12 Gauge, 2-3/4″ length. (Buy a good mix of buckshot, slug and birdshot shotshells, with an emphasis on buckshot.)
5.) Invest in some good quality battle rifles, handguns, and full capacity magazines.
6.) Buy productive farm or ranch land (with good pasture and hay ground) that is in a viable retreat region.
7.) Invest in your education. That is the ultimate form of portable wealth. A second stream of income may become important in the coming years, so getting an education in a practical trade would be wise.
8.) If you have substantial liquid wealth (more than $500,000), then start shuttling some of it offshore. But because of the coming currency fluctuations, I recommend that the majority of that be stored offshore in physical precious metals. If you don’t already have a deeply trusted relationship with a family in your offshore host country (you should!), then you will have to trust a bank deposit box in your offshore host country.
9.) Buy a few books of “Forever” postage stamps. These may become useful for barter, as they will hold their value against inflation better than cash.
10.) Invest in a depression-proof business that is portable. (See the blog article links in my reply to these letters.)
11.) Build your personal reference library.
12.) If you are elderly, then invest in preparedness for your children and grandchildren. In the depths of the Second Great Depression, you won’t be able to count on the government to help you. But you can count on your close relatives.
What NOT to do with the cash you withdraw:
1.) Unless you are a multimillionaire, don’t buy large quantities of gold or gemstones. Not only is gold too compact a form of wealth for practical barter, but it is also far more likely to be confiscated than silver.
2.) Don’t build up your Bitcoin wallet balance above 15 BTC. Because Bitcoins are a synthetic currency and Internet-based, they are subject the whims of larcenous politicians. Bitcoin transactions can be tracked, because nearly every Bitcoin transaction has a corresponding e-mail trail. (And anyone who thinks that their e-mails are all “safely encrypted” is fooling themselves.)
3.) Don’t buy urban or suburban real estate.
4.) Don’t buy a second home in a “resort” area. As I’ve mentioned before in SurvivalBlog, resort areas will be targeted by looters in times of social chaos.
5.) Don’t invest in fine art, vintage wines, rare postage stamps, classic cars, or collectibles. Those will sell for just pennies on the dollar in the Depression. (If you want any of those, then wait for the opportunity to “buy low.”)
6.) Other than some home security webcams, a starlight scope, and a Dakota Alert passive IR intrusion detection system, don’t waste your money on electronic gadgets.
7.) Don’t invest in foreign currencies. There are no more “safe” currencies!
8.) Don’t invest in foreign stocks. Tangibles will trump, worldwide.
9.) Don’t over-prepare or over-invest in one area, at the expense of others. (For example, buying all guns and no storage food, or vice versa.) Balanced preparedness is the key!
Bottom line: The time for hesitation has passed. If you leave your liquid assets in a bank or in a savings and loan, then you are now a sitting duck.
– JWR
You can call me a survivalist, you can call me a nut… I’ll take Jim’s advice any day, any where, any time. The looming threat of hyperinflation approaches; you better diversify now just in case. Better safe than sorry or dead.
Every week on Monday morning, the Council and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher’s Forum with short takes on a major issue of the day. This week’s question: What Lessons Can We Take Away From The Government Shutdown And Its Aftermath?
The Independent Sentinel: I learned that no matter what the government does wrong, it will be the Republican’s fault.
Even Republican’s blame Republicans.
When Obamacare tanks, it will be the Republican’s fault for not trying hard enough to repeal it.
The Razor: There are three political factions in power in Washington. The progressive Democrats exemplified by Elizabeth “Redskin” Warren. Moderate Democrats such as Senator Harry Reid and John McCain and Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner in the House. The Tea Party as represented by Ted Cruz and Rand Paul. As Britt Hume pointed out in segment explaining why the Tea Party chose to mount this challenge against raising the debt limit, conservatives and small government libertarians have been watching the government get larger for generations under both Republican and Democratic administrations. The difference between the two seems to be on which part of the government they are going to grow more, social programs or military spending. Spice things up with a few social issues that really don’t impact most Americans much (Are you gay, black, and pregnant? Then do I have a party for you) and you have the sham of choice in a two party system.
The GOP really is an outdated concept like the term “Washington Redskins.” Let’s just drop the façade, make everyone to the left of Rand Paul Democrats, and give the team in Washington a name that is truly representative of the town: The Washington Weasels. Given how weak the NFC East is this year, I’m not sure anyone would notice.
We also learned that the citizenry exists for the federal government. If the people are unhappy with the government there is little they can do to change it but if the government is unhappy with the people, look out! The State will crush everyone in its path whether you are an elderly WW2 veteran or a stay-at-home mom organizing a Tea Party PAC. But if the people are unhappy with the government, they can vote it out can’t they? That’s another lesson we’ve learned. We’ve created a monster that exists beyond the scope of our elected representatives to control it. For example, when the intelligence establishment was unhappy with the Bush Administration, it leaked like a sieve and undermined Bush’s policy efforts. While Obama and the Democrats have aligned with the interests of the State, one doesn’t need much imagination to see it turning on them just as easily. The lesson is that this beast is uncontrollable. It can’t be starved, only fed and it demands more and more every day.
When a human being exists for a government’s pleasure, it’s called fascism. The shutdown taught us just how close to fascism we are and how little we can do about it.
The Colossus of Rhodey: I think I may have already answered it here.
Liberty’s Spirit: I had actually answered this question in a post HERE:
My take….
A President who doesn’t care about anything but his own political agenda to remake the United States into a version of the European Union complete with a Statist economic agenda. A POTUS who lives with the imperial notion that he can do no wrong and that he has a right to punish the People for their refusal to bow to his superior will.
A Democratic party that only cares about implementing the President’s socialist economic agenda, relying mostly on the practice of identity-politics in order to divide and conquer the political sphere. Disingenuous and bullying liars who consider themselves morally superior because of their political leanings.
An insipid GOP full of spineless, useless politicos who are only interested in their own powerbase to the point that they will eat their own.
The reality that the majority of capital hill know-it-alls do not care about, or honor, the US Constitution.
That We The People are basically on our own if we want to save what the foundling fathers tried to build and what we have worked hard to achieve..
By the way I also blame this turn of events on the over 3 million republicans who did not come out to vote for Romney, either because he wasn’t conservative enough or due to the fact that he was a Mormon (and don’t say there was no anti-Mormon bigotry involved, we all know better than that). They decided that they were going to teach the GOP a lesson about their power in the party. So they sacrificed the country with their temper tantrum.
The GOP establishment in turn decided to go after the Tea Party and conservatives in order to maintain their hold on the Party. Instead of standing strong and united in the face of opposition they have become petulant and infantile. Whoring before the cameras to see who can get the most airtime.
To hell with the lot of you. Don’t call. Don’t write. And you had better not ask for one freakin’ penny. I am going to take that money and put it aside so I can afford the higher medical costs for the care my family will continue to need without having to rely on the government’s permission to survive.
The Right Planet: For me, one of the biggest lessons learned is the importance of pushing back against the Obama Administration’s agenda. Although many wish to paint Sen. Ted Cruz and his stand against Obamacare as nothing but “lunacy” and “political theater,” Cruz’s strong opposition to Obamacare has forced the issue into the spotlight, which segues into the alarming national debt problem. This is where the battle needs to be fought, in my opinion–focus on the debt, and the the need for prioritizing and balancing the budget. Not too long from now, the whole budget issue will be right back in the spotlight because we keep kicking the proverbial can down the road by consistently raising the debt ceiling via continuing resolutions–stopgap measures that do nothing to address the real source of the problem: massive unconstrained federal spending.
The other lesson I’ll take away from the government shutdown is the willingness of some in the GOP–folks like Sen. John McCain, Rep. Pete King, Karl Rove, for example–to impugn and attack their own colleagues. This has infuriated many in the base, including myself. Apparently the Republican Establishment is an exclusive country club after all. It’s amazing to watch the progressive leaders of the GOP’s circular firing squad go after their own with fangs out, spitting venom, but refuse to direct such vitriol and invective at the administration or the Democrats.
The shutdown has really highlighted the rift which exists within the GOP between so-called “Tea Party” Republicans and the progressive wing of the RNC. One thing the “go-along-to-get-along” crowd within the Republican Party might want to keep in mind: Sen. Ted Cruz received an eight-minute long standing ovation for his strong stand against Obamacare when he returned to Texas. I wonder if Sen. John McCain received an eight-minute long standing ovation for his strong opposition to Sen. Ted Cruz when he returned to Arizona? Just sayin’.
The Glittering Eye: That’s a complicated question, one you could write a book about rather than giving a quick answer suitable for including in the Forum. I’ll limit myself to the political implications.
I think that the entire process, outcome included, has resulted in a hardening of positions. The “Tea Party” Republicans are probably less willing to give ground than they had been previously (which wasn’t much). And the Congressional Democrats and the president, flushed with victory, probably believe they’ll be able to crack the Republicans whenever they care to. No bridges have been built. There has been no positioning for future agreements.
I think pretty much the opposite may be the case. I suspect that even the Republicans who voted to end the shutdown and lift the debt ceiling might feel that they’ve been put into an unwanted position and will be less likely to go along next time around. Which is only in a few months.
GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD: Gotta go with Greg Gutfeld’s take on it.
Whenever something bad happens, some bozo will call it a learning experience. I’ve had a lot of learning experiences, ask my mom. But with the shutdown it’s true, for example, I learned that 93 percent of the workers at the Environmental Protection Agency are non-essential. Now I didn’t major in math, but I’m pretty sure that’s more than nine out of ten.
Of the 16,000, roughly 1,000 are essential making the EPA about as necessary as shoulder pads on a snake or another hangover sequel, or Vermont. And so we learn the difference between essential and non- essential in government. A non-essential employee is what you get when a citizen foots the bill and the government doesn’t care. We are the wallets, they are the spoiled brats.
In a private business, a non-essential employee would be a non- employee. He or she would be home eating funyons, which are delicious, in their undies scratching the luck he would like Andy Dick.
A non-essential employee is what you get when you feed cash into a bloated bureaucracy, without ever designating its necessity. So those EPA jobs are there simply because they can be but also to ensure the survival of a ravenous bureaucracy.
It’s a lot like the movie “The Blob,” but without the happy ending.
Well, there you have it.
Make sure to tune in every Monday for the Watcher’s Forum. And remember, every Wednesday, the Council has its weekly contest with the members nominating two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The votes are cast by the Council and the results are posted on Friday morning.
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