Cliff Varnell
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Posts posted by Cliff Varnell
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2 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:
Does anyone need any more evidence that this will be Obama Part 2?
I mean Vilsack aka Mr Monsanto, and Rice, let us bomb Libya for kicks and see what happens?
Biden opposed the Libya operation, or so he said during the ‘16 campaign.
Biden: I was right about Libya
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/joe-biden-libya-wrong-224595
2 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:Time to move to Costa RIca? Do they have good internet there?
Can’t give Obama credit for anything. Ever.
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7 minutes ago, Joe Bauer said:
Here are the latest CDC figures for U.S. Covid deaths versus infections up to 12,05,2020.
All ages 261,530 2,703,232 Under 1 year 29 15,187 1–4 years 17 2,823 5–14 years 46 4,540 15–24 years 449 29,167 25–34 years 1,909 59,676 35–44 years 4,917 84,397 45–54 years 13,080 153,621 55–64 years 31,973 352,562 65–74 years 55,985 536,982 75–84 years 70,815 654,482 85 years and over 82,310 809,795 Look at the numbers.
100,000 American Covid deaths occurred between 45 and 75 years old. More than 1/3rd of all the deaths. Americans that had 20 to 30 more years of living and producing and loving and protecting?
So, Covid deaths of people 75 and older is simply removing the chaff, but 45 to 75 year olds?
Middle aged to pre and mid-senior aged Americans dying in these numbers is less important than WW II combat deaths?
The life expectancy of an American male in 1946 was around 64.
Life expectancy of all Americans today is around 78.
It runs against the Pro-Trump narrative to compare war death with the covid dead.
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Back on the trad tip.
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43 minutes ago, Robert Wheeler said:
Johnson was a lifelong Democrat, yet here we are.
The Governor of Georgia, the Lt Governor, the State Attorney General and Secretary of State are all Republicans who conspired with Republican poll watchers to steal the election for Democrat Biden.
Such perfidy must be punished! GOP voters need to boycott all elections!
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45 minutes ago, Robert Wheeler said:
20,000 pages for a mugging gone wrong. I’m guessing there is a little more to the Seth Rich murder than what the MSM has been saying.
...FBI has completed the initial search identifying approximately 50 cross-reference serials, with attachments totaling over 20,000 pages, in which Seth Rich is mentioned. FBI has also located leads that indicate additional potential records that require further searching. . . . FBI is also currently working on getting the files from Seth Rich’s personal laptop into a format to be reviewed. As you can imagine, there are thousands of files of many types. The goal right now is to describe, generally, the types of files/personal information contained in this computer.
Seth Rich!
Oldie but goody...By bringing up Rich in the context of Wikileaks’ sources, Assange was telling us Rich had nothing to do with the DNC e-mails.
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52 minutes ago, Robert Wheeler said:
How do you like my new profile picture gentleman?
I think it adds a level of authenticity.
Instead of using the same one year after year.
With the ruins of Trumpism in the background?
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13 minutes ago, Robert Wheeler said:
18 now - Arizona just joined.
Did Robert Wheeler miss the part in this filing which described the election fraud as “undetectable”?
Robert claims extensive detectable fraud but the Trump team trashes all that.
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4 hours ago, Dennis Berube said:
Great article. Apparently, despite all of that, the majority of the Democratic party views the Obama time as at least "decent". It's obvious that is far from the case.
Spoken like a true partisan.
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Trump’s Supreme Court filing says he can’t prove fraud — which means there must be fraud
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/12/trumps-supreme-court-filing-says-he-cant-prove-fraud-which-means-there-must-be-fraud/President Donald Trump joined the case brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton suing states that voted for Joe Biden in the November election. According to the filing from Trump, however, they can’t actually find any fraud.
“Despite the chaos of election night and the days which followed, the media has consistently proclaimed that no widespread voter fraud has been proven. But this observation misses the point. The constitutional issue is not whether voters committed fraud but whether state officials violated the law by systematically loosening the measures for ballot integrity so that fraud becomes undetectable,” the filing said.
</q>
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2 hours ago, Robert Wheeler said:
Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina, South Dakota, Missouri, Indiana, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia.
Now 17 Total
Experts mock Trump for only being able to get a ‘disgraced white supremacist’ attorney for ‘crazy’ SCOTUS case
Legal experts are having a field day with the latest Supreme Court lawsuit, filed by 17 red states, trying to overturn the election by literally disenfranchising millions upon millions of U.S. citizens.
The case is without merit, legal experts say, but what may be even more embarrassing and ridiculous is President Donald Trump is trying to join the case. To do so, he must petition the Supreme Court, which he just did.
It appears the only attorney Trump could convince to file his motion is a “disgraced white supremacist” who “who thinks Kamala Harris and Marco Rubio are not U.S. citizens.”
That attorney is John Eastman, a law professor at Chapman University School of Law.
If the name sounds familiar, it should. Eastman is also the chairman of the National Organization For Marriage (NOM), the far right wing anti-LGBTQ faith-based organization that spent millions of dollars of dark money in a failed attempt to ban same-sex couples from marrying.
</q>
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On 12/7/2020 at 8:29 PM, Cliff Varnell said:
DemHawk Flournoy passed over for SECDEF.
Biden’s Choice for Pentagon Faces Questions on Ties to Contractors
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/08/us/politics/lloyd-austin-pentagon-military-contractors.html
WASHINGTON — Three weeks ago, a Navy ship off Hawaii launched a military contractor’s experimental missile to successfully intercept and destroy for the first time in space a decoy pretending to be an incoming nuclear weapon.
The same company that helped pull off this feat, Raytheon Technologies, was picked this year for another contract for a program that could end up costing as much as $20 billion to build a new generation of nuclear-armed cruise missiles for the United States.
And Raytheon — whose 195,000 employees make fighter jet engines, weapons, high-tech sensors and dozens of other military products — spent the past several years selling billions of dollars’ worth of weapons and radar systems to allies in the Middle East, some of which were used to fight a war in Yemen.
Now Raytheon could soon have another point of distinction: a member of its board, retired Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III of the Army, has been named by President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. to be the next secretary of defense.
Raytheon is not General Austin’s only link to military contractors. He has also been a partner in an investment firm that has been buying small defense firms. And his move from the weapons business to a leadership role in the Pentagon continues a pattern begun by President Trump in recent years.
Mr. Trump picked James N. Mattis, also a retired four-star general who then served on the board of General Dynamics, another major military contractor, as his first defense secretary. Mark T. Esper, a former Raytheonchief lobbyist, succeeded Mr. Mattis.
This is a departure from the norm. Defense secretaries who served before Mr. Trump’s tenure — at least three decades dating to the tenure of President George Bush — did not come directly from boards or executive suites of contractors, although some, like Ashton Carter, President Barack Obama’s last defense secretary, had served as industry consultants.
The decision by Mr. Biden to nominate General Austin has drawn a new wave of questions about the corporate ties of people Mr. Biden is choosing for his administration.
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18 hours ago, Cliff Varnell said:
DemHawk Flournoy passed over for SECDEF.
How Michèle Flournoy's Pentagon dreams collapsed: Progressives fought back
https://www.salon.com/2020/12/08/how-michle-flournoys-pentagon-dreams-collapsed-progressives-fought-back/ -
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On 11/14/2020 at 1:46 PM, Cliff Varnell said:
Biden Watch
Biden: I was right about Libya
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/joe-biden-libya-wrong-224595
"My — my question was, 'OK, tell me what happens?,'" Biden recalled. "'He's gone. What happens? Doesn't the country disintegrate? What happens then? Doesn't it become a place where it becomes a — Petri dish for the growth of extremism? Tell me. Tell me what we're gonna do."
Rose responded, "And it has."
"And it has," Biden said, going on to say that the United States should not use force unless the interests of the country or its allies are directly threatened, whether it can be done "efficaciously" and whether it can be sustained. </q>
Biden likely to break barriers, pick woman to lead Pentagon
From Michele Flournoy's wiki:
In 2011, in the midst of the Arab Spring and popular street uprisings, Flournoy, then Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, helped persuade President Obama to intervene militarily in Libya, despite opposition from members of Congress and key White House advisors, such as Joe Biden, Vice President; Tom Donilon, National Security Advisor; and Robert Gates, Defense Secretary.[29]. Flournoy supported the NATO-led imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya to oust resistant leader Muammar Gaddafi, accused of ordering the killing of demonstrators and promising to "hunt the rebels down and show no mercy."[29] Flournoy said imposition of a no-fly zone necessitated first destroying Libya's air defenses with U.S. and British cruise missiles targeting the Libyan missile defense system, and U.S. B-2 bombers attacking Libyan airfields.[1] In a 2013 conversation with the Council on Foreign Relations, Flournoy said she had supported US military intervention on humanitarian grounds.[30] Critics who disagreed with Flournoy described the war on Libya as "disastrous" in its destabilization of entire regions in the Middle East and North Africa,[31] facilitating the transfer of arms to extremists across countries. Two years after the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi, Flournoy defended the U.S. military intervention in Libya, telling the Council on Foreign Relations: “I think we were right to do it.” </q>
Biden doesn't have a problem hiring women with whom he's had sharp disagreements.
We'll see...
DemHawk Flournoy passed over for SECDEF.
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Biden Watch
Biden's economic adviser picks are underwhelming the left, to say the least
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They. Never. Give. Obama. Credit. For. Anything...Ever!
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dodd-frank-financial-regulatory-reform-bill.asp
What Is the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act?
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is a massive piece of financial reform legislation that was passed in 2010, during the Obama administration. It was created as a response to the financial crisis of 2008. Named after sponsors Senator Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) and Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the act contains numerous provisions, spelled out over roughly 2,300 pages, that were to be implemented over a period of several years.
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act—typically shortened to just the Dodd-Frank Act—established a number of new government agencies tasked with overseeing the various components of the act and, by extension, various aspects of the financial system. When Donald Trump was elected President in 2016, he pledged to repeal Dodd-Frank; in May 2018, the Trump administration signed a new law rolling back significant portions of it.
How the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act Works
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act has many components. These are some of its key provisions and how they work:
Financial Stability
Under the Dodd-Frank Act, the Financial Stability Oversight Council and Orderly Liquidation Authority monitor the financial stability of major financial firms because the failure of these companies could have a serious negative impact on the U.S. economy (companies deemed "too big to fail").
The law also provides for liquidations or restructurings via the Orderly Liquidation Fund, established to assist with the dismantling of financial companies that have been placed in receivership and prevent tax dollars from being used to prop up such firms.
The council has the authority to break up banks that are considered so large as to pose systemic risk; it can also force them to increase their reserve requirements.3 Similarly, the new Federal Insurance Office was tasked with identifying and monitoring insurance companies considered "too big to fail."4
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), established under Dodd-Frank, was given the job of preventing predatory mortgage lending (reflecting the widespread sentiment that the subprime mortgage market was the underlying cause of the 2008 catastrophe) and make it easier for consumers to understand the terms of a mortgage before agreeing to them. It deters mortgage brokers from earning higher commissions for closing loans with higher fees and/or higher interest rates and requires that mortgage originators not steer potential borrowers to the loan that will result in the highest payment for the originator.
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was intended to prevent another financial crisis like the one in 2008.
The CFPB also governs other types of consumer lending, including credit and debit cards, and addresses consumer complaints. It requires lenders, excluding automobile lenders, to disclose information in a form that is easy for consumers to read and understand; an example is the simplified terms now on credit card applications.
The Volcker Rule
Another key component of Dodd-Frank, the Volcker Rule, restricts the ways banks can invest, limiting speculative trading, and eliminating proprietary trading. Banks are not allowed to be involved with hedge funds or private equity firms, which are considered too risky. In an effort to minimize possible conflicts of interest, financial firms are not allowed to trade proprietarily without sufficient "skin in the game."6 The Volcker Rule is clearly a push back in the direction of the Glass-Steagall Actof 1933, which first recognized the inherent dangers of financial entities extending commercial and investment banking services at the same time.7
The act also contains a provision for regulating derivatives, such as the credit default swaps that were widely blamed for contributing to the 2008 financial crisis. Dodd-Frank set up centralized exchanges for swaps trading to reduce the possibility of counterparty default and also required greater disclosure of swaps trading information to increase transparency in those markets.8 The Volcker Rule also regulates financial firms' use of derivatives in an attempt to prevent "too big to fail" institutions from taking large risks that might wreak havoc on the broader economy.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Office of Credit Ratings
Because credit rating agencies were accused of contributing to the financial crisis by giving out misleadingly favorable investment ratings, Dodd-Frank established the SEC Office of Credit Ratings. The office is charged with ensuring that agencies provide meaningful and reliable credit ratings of the businesses, municipalities, and other entities they evaluate.9
Whistleblower Program
Dodd-Frank also strengthened and expanded the existing whistleblower program promulgated by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). Specifically, it established a mandatory bounty program under which whistleblowers can receive from 10% to 30% of the proceeds from a litigation settlement, broadened the scope of a covered employee by including employees of a company's subsidiaries and affiliatesand extended the statute of limitations under which whistleblowers can bring forward a claim against their employer from 90 to 180 days after a violation is discovered.
Criticisms of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
Proponents of Dodd-Frank believed the Act would prevent the economy from experiencing a crisis like that of 2008 and protect consumers from many of the abuses that contributed to the crisis. Detractors, however, have argued that the act could harm the competitiveness of U.S. firms relative to their foreign counterparts. In particular, they contend that its regulatory compliance requirements unduly burden community banks and smaller financial institutions—despite the fact that they played no role in causing the financial crisis.
Such financial-world notables as former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, Blackstone Group L.P. (BX) CEO Stephen Schwarzman, activist Carl Icahn, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon also argue that, while each institution is undoubtedly safer due to the capital constraints imposed by Dodd-Frank, the constraints also make for a more illiquid market overall. The lack of liquidity can be especially potent in the bond market, where all securities are not mark to marketand many bonds lack a constant supply of buyers and sellers.The higher reserve requirements under Dodd-Frank mean banks must keep a higher percentage of their assets in cash, which decreases the amount they are able to hold in marketable securities. In effect, this limits the bond market-making role that banks have traditionally undertaken. With banks unable to play the part of a market maker, prospective buyers are likely to have a harder time finding counteracting sellers. More importantly, prospective sellers may find it more difficult to find counteracting buyers.History of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
Siding with the critics, the U.S. Congress passed a bill in 2018 called the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, which rolls back significant portions of the Dodd-Frank Act. It was signed into law by President Trump on May 24, 2018.11 These are some of the provisions of the new law, and some of the areas in which standards were loosened:
Small and Regional Banks
The new law eases the Dodd-Frank regulations for small and regional banks by increasing the asset threshold for the application of prudential standards, stress test requirements, and mandatory risk committees.
Large Custodial Banks
For institutions that have custody of clients' assets but do not function as lenders or traditional bankers, the new law provides for lower capital requirements and leverage ratios.
Mortgage Credit
The new law exempts escrow requirements for residential mortgage loans held by a depository institution or credit union under certain conditions. It also directs the Federal Housing Finance Agency to set up standards for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to consider alternative credit scoring methods
Small Lenders
The law exempts lenders with assets of less than $10 billion from requirements of the Volcker rule and imposes less stringent reporting and capital norms on small lenders.
Credit Bureaus
The law requires that the three major credit reporting agencies allow consumers to "freeze" their credit files free of charge as a way of deterring fraud.
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1 hour ago, Dennis Berube said:
That's why major corporate/tech/bio powers and some groups of Republicans were doing everything they could against Trump, and still are of course.
Trump’s manifest unfitness, aggressively ignorant incompetence, and drive for one-man rule wouldn’t have anything to do with The Resistance on all levels?
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"Are the JFK Conspiracies Slowly Dying?" by Craig Colgan
in JFK Assassination Debate
Posted · Edited by Cliff Varnell
Where do all cold case homicide investigations start?
A thorough examination of the physical evidence found with the body.
Why people don’t start the JFKA there has always mystified me.
After decades of blowing the “citizens’ investigation” the JFKA Master Class finally got it right.
https://kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/proof-of-conspiracy-in-jfk-assassination-rev