COMMENT: Mr. Armstrong, I am a newcomer. I watched your WEC virtually. It was very eye-opening. I also want to thank you for Socrates and for covering Bitcoin. Your service is the only thing out there that isn’t biased, and you are not trying to sell me some crypto. Also, thank you for explaining that nothing can be fixed and that the sales pitch behind Bitcoin was just false. You have explained it is an asset class and approach it like anything else. It’s just a trade. I look at it in different currencies, as you said. It has opened my mind to a dynamic world, as you put it at the WEC.

Once again, thank you.

Paul

REPLY: With the political chaos surrounding us and the push for war, these are the times that cause capital to move. Look at our map that tracks the capital flows every day. Both the Chinese and Russians are pulling back the capital from the West. The capital is fleeing the Baltics right now, but Brazil is also experiencing political chaos there. When you look at Bitcoin in various currencies, you can see that it is being used as a vehicle to get capital out of Europe right now.

Graver Cleveland was the previous president who, like Trump, was elected to non-consecutive terms. Like Donald Trump, he also stood against his own party. He expressed this best during the Panic of 1893. Capital can flee and move offshore. It is the middle class that cannot hoard their labor or move it offshore without leaving their country.

Bitcoin is a trading vehicle, and it may not be suited for a reserve currency since the money supply MUST increase with population and the expansion of the economy, or else you create deflation. Nevertheless, it has become an international digital means of moving money, and this is happening right now, so it is important to look at anything from a global perspective. Bitcoin has become like gold, which is the same product that is traded internationally. That makes it an interesting, distinct international class.

We have more subscribers to Bitcoin than probably everyone else combined because it is a separate international class like gold.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has been criminalizing airline passengers since the Patriot Act gave them the permission to treat everyone as a suspected terrorist. The Justice Department has finally suspended the DEA from most passenger searches after an investigation revealed that the DEA was perhaps violating the Constitution with illegal and warrantless searches.

A Justice Department Office of Inspector General (OIG) memorandum outlined a DECADE worth of “significant concerns” about how DEA agents have been fabricating the criteria necessary to search passengers. In fact, the OIG found that one airline employee was paid tens of thousands of dollars as a kickback for seizing cash from unsuspecting passengers on behalf of the DEA.

The majority of searches and seizures at airports never find an actual crime. That does not prevent DEA agents from coercing passengers into forfeiting their assets. There are countless stories of innocent passengers losing everything for carrying an amount greater than $5,000 on board.

The DEA attempted to steal the life savings of a retired railroad engineer who had $82,373 in cash. The agency was forced to return he funds when the case went public. In another instance, a woman had over $40,000 confiscated without valid reason. Yet again, the DEA had to return the money when the story hit the news. This happens extremely frequently, but it is rare for the agency to return funds once they have been confiscated.

According to the Justice Department Office of Inspector General, the DEA seized $4 billion in cash from potential drug smugglers from 2007 to 2017, but only $3.2 billion was found to be connected to criminal activity. The report concluded: “”When seizure and administrative forfeitures do not ultimately advance an investigation or prosecution, law enforcement creates the appearance, and risks the reality, that it is more interested in seizing and forfeiting cash than advancing an investigation or prosecution.”

What is considered suspicious activity? “When you buy a last-minute ticket, we get alerts,” one DEA officer explained. “We come out, and we talk to those people, which I’ve tried to do to you, but you wouldn’t allow me to do it.” Purchasing a flight with an immediate return could set off the alarm, as could purchasing a ticket within 24 hours of travel. The DEA considers it suspicious if you travel without checked luggage.

Once, I flew back to the States from Europe during the July Fourth holiday. My ticket was originally booked for JFK in New York. I then remembered the traffic would be horrific so I switched to Philadelphia. When I landed, I was met by two IRS agents. Apparently, there was sting they set up at JFK looking for Americans coming home for holidays who do not pay taxes here. I said, “You can check. I pay my taxes here and do not live overseas.” That was not good enough. They thought I was tipped off to their sting in NYC, so they sent two agents to intercept me in Philadelphia simply because I switched planes.

How do we permit government agencies to seize assets on the premise of suspicion? Then, we allow these agencies to split the proceeds they illegally seized even if no crime was committed. Does the Constitution not apply at the airport?

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban believes “peace will be within reach” once Donald Trump in inaugurated in January, adding that the Ukraine-Russia war has “entered its most dangerous phase.” In an admittance likely to anger Brussels once more, Orban said that Europe has no chance of defeating Russia without the help of the United States.

Orban is concerned about Hungarians living in Transcarpathia, Russia, and has long called for a peace treaty between Ukraine and Russia. You may recall that Orban personally met with Vladamir Putin months ago, placing him at odds with Brussels indefinitely as the EU’s position is to continue the war by any means necessary.

“If America backs out from behind Ukraine, then Europe is not in a strong enough military position to support Ukraine with even the slightest chance of success,” Orban admitted. He stated that the Hungarian defense council examined scenarios on what would happen if America pulled out of the war but none of them made sense.

Orban is worried about what Joe Biden may say in the months leading up to Trump’s inauguration, adding that every sentence must be carefully thought out over the next two months and “common sense must prevail, otherwise there will be trouble. Contrary, he warned that leaders must listen to what Putin is saying as in Russia “if the president says something, it is not just babble.”

“The war must end in order for us to achieve our goals, because each and every one of the problems of the Hungarian economy stems from the war,” the prime minister said. It all comes down to finances. This war does not benefit the people of Europe in any shape or form. For now, Orban is calling upon Biden not to escalate any “war-approving steps.”

Orban also noted that he will be inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Hungary and criticized the ICC for declaring him a war criminal. This man does not consult with Brussels before arranging critical meetings. He has not adopted the centralized European mentality that Brussels expects member states to share. The unelected officials controlling the EU seemingly cannot control Orban or others who are increasingly defying demands.

With US and UK missiles now being used against targets in Russia and Russia sending ICBMs against Ukraine, we are teetering on WW3. It is the closest we have been since the 1962 and 1973 crises. I seriously question whi sanctioned these missiles since Biden did not publicly come out and make the announcement for something this major. Teddy Altas famously says that “what someone does at the end is what they planned to do all along.”

What I would add to that is that you will always be remembered for your last deed—not your first. Biden’s entire life will be remembered for this single decision, just as George Bush Jr. will be remembered for Iraq.

The good news is that the British Parliament is at least going to debate calling for an election. Russia just flew drones over their three nuclear facilities, and they had no idea they were coming. This has been set in motion by Starmer’s support for a lame-duck president’s efforts to start World War III or at least by the NEOCONs in his name.

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Sources from Ukraine confirm that Dnipro (Dnipropetrovsk), Ukraine, was a major facility for manufacturing missiles from Western components and relabeling them “made in Ukraine” to shelter the Western suppliers in the NATO war against Russia. The Russian ICBM attack utterly destroyed the Yuzhmash manufacturing, which was an industrial giant even during the USSR. It made rockets during the former USSR and intercontinental missiles for the USSR. According to sources, the Yuzhmash plant no longer exists.

Most of the facility was underground. Ukraine was manufacturing drones and rocket engines, and this was where they assembled their weapons. There were three floors underground, each 18+ feet (6 meters) high. Zelensky never thought Russia could possibly destroy this operation, but it has.

While this was just a conventional weapon, the impact was so powerful that buildings several kilometers from the plant shook and suffered damage. Because this facility was underground, all the pipes for the water supply in the city have been destroyed. Messages have gotten out, and the residents commented that it felt like an earthquake. Keep in mind this was devastating, yet it was still just conventional. They could also deploy six nuclear warheads. Those hiding in bunkers are no longer safe during nuclear war. Perhaps the Neocons are trying to dig a deeper rabbit hole now.

Despite the Western Press still preaching the Neocon propaganda, emergency meetings reflect that this is a very serious development for warfare. Putin could have easily taken out Europe and American nuclear capability if he really wanted to conquer Europe, but he has been against turning this into World War III. The hardline Russian Neocons behind him also would love to wipe out their counterparts in America.