The Trouble with John Roberts’ Brand of Legal Conservatism
by Damon Root
Reason.com
Writing in The Washington Post, law professor Adrian Vermeule and historian Varad Mehta lambast Chief Justice John Roberts, claiming his “apostasies have demoralized the right” and “emboldened the left.” As they see it, Roberts “has engaged in strategic maneuvering,” casting his lot with the Court’s Democratic appointees in certain high-profile cases solely in order to protect the Court’s reputation. “His goal appears to be to preserve what he takes to be the legitimacy of the Supreme Court, by disproving any suspicion that the justices vote ideologically or otherwise engage in political behavior.” The chief justice is guilty of unprincipled judging, they assert, and his shenanigans are doing damage to the Court’s legitimacy.
It has certainly become commonplace to think of Roberts as a sort of politician in robes, sticking his finger in the air to see which way the political winds blow. The problem with that way of thinking is that it misses something crucial about Roberts and his judicial handiwork. Namely, Roberts does have an underlying judicial philosophy that motivates him in many of these big cases; it just happens that this philosophy has rapidly fallen out of favor among many of his fellow conservatives.
Quantitative Easing: The Fed’s Big Lie
by David Kranzler
Investment Research Dynamics
“How do you print out of thin air $3 trillion and get it into the stock market this year without anybody seeing you do it? ‘Stock market’ meaning ‘stock market and other high risk/high yielding assets…’ The answer as it turns out is you don’t print $3 trillion, you print $6 trillion. You print a $3 trillion original, a master, and you print a $3 trillion clone right behind it.” – John Titus, Best Evidence
“QE is intended to to boost the amount of money in the economy by purchasing assets, mainly from non-bank financial companies. QE initially increases the amount of bank deposits those companies hold (in place of the assets they sell). Those companies will then wish to rebalance their portfolios of assets [i.e. reinvest the cash they receive from the Central Bank via the QE transactions] by buying higher-yielding assets, raising the price of those assets and stimulating spending in the economy.” – Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, 2014 Q1, “Money Creation in the Modern Economy”
Federal Court Throws Out Cuomo’s Capacity Limits On Churches
by Damjan Tutarkov
LaCorte News
A New York federal appeals court has blocked Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s COVID-19-related limitations on gatherings in houses of worship.
A three-judge panel on the Manhattan-based U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday unanimously ruled in favor of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, the Orthodox Jewish group Agudath Israel of America and two synagogues who had sued the Democratic governor over his October order limiting gatherings inside religious establishments.
The judges argued Cuomo’s restrictions on religious gatherings violated the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and discriminated “against religion on its face.”
“The restrictions challenged here specially and disproportionately burden religious exercise,” Judge Michael Park wrote in the ruling, according to the New York Post. “We conclude that [Cuomo’s] Order discriminates against religion on its face.”
Trump’s Populist Last Stand
by Susan Crabtree
Real Clear Politics
President Trump is going out the way he came in. Nearly four years after starting his term with a series of fractious pronouncements, the disrupter-in-chief has no problem creating last-minute chaos for his own party leaders, especially those he believes have been fair-weathered friends.
Trump’s threat to veto a $900 billion COVID stimulus package on the grounds that the $600 payments to individuals was too paltry was ostensibly a plea for more generous government help for average Americans after an incredibly painful year. But it also seemed aimed at creating havoc for top Republicans on Trump’s way out the door.
McConnell Blocks Schumer’s Bid to Unanimously Pass $2,000 Stimulus Checks
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked an attempt by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to unanimously approve a House-passed bill to increase direct payments in the coronavirus relief package to $2,000 from $600.
by Jacob Pramuk
CNBC.com
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday blocked Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s attempt to unanimously pass a bill to increase direct payments in the year-end coronavirus relief package to $2,000.
The Kentucky Republican faces pressure to act after the House — with nearly all Democrats and a few dozen Republicans on board — voted Monday to boost the cash deposits to $2,000 from $600. Now, Senate Republicans wary of spending more on pandemic aid have to decide how to handle a vote on a bill backed by President Donald Trump and Democrats as they try to hold on to their majority.
McConnell brought the chamber back this week with one major goal: overriding Trump’s veto of the annual National Defense Authorization Act. He has not yet committed to bringing the $2,000 payment bill up for a vote, and it is unclear now how one would take shape.
Outlook 2021: Further U.S. Dollar Debasement Ahead
by Stefan Gleason
GoldSeek
In a year that was marred by a global pandemic and a wave of economic restrictions that crippled many small businesses, financial markets proved to be resilient.
Of course, that resilience owes in no small part to the unprecedented outpouring of stimulus from Congress and the Federal Reserve.
More stimulus is on the way. On Sunday, President Donald Trump signed the latest COVID relief package into law.
Trump had earlier blasted the bill as a pork-laden “disgrace” with inadequate $600 direct payments. Under pressure to avert a government shutdown and keep unemployment benefits flowing, Trump finally relented.
And he will continue to push the Senate to take up his $2,000 stimulus check proposal.
California Finally Mulls Native American Controlled Burn Practices After Resisting Trump’s Forest Management Plans
by Penny Starr
Breitbart.com
California officials are finally taking a look at reducing the devastating wildfires that have plagued the state for years because of environmentalist opposition to managing forests.
As Breitbart News reported in September, environmentalists and the courts were still resisting calls for effective forest management, including efforts President Donald Trump has tried to implement, such as thinning forests to reduce fire fuel and controlled burns.
But environmental activists have taken the matter to court with judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruling the United States Forest Service put the plan in place “without assessing its environmental impact.”
$600 Stimulus Checks Won’t Pull America Out of This Mess…
by Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse Blog
Well, it looks like we are going to get $600 stimulus payments from the federal government after all. Oh goody! For the millions of Americans that are on the brink of being evicted from their homes, that will be enough for about half a mortgage payment or about half a month of rent. Many are referring to this as America’s “let them eat cake moment”, and that probably is not too far off target. As our politicians spend hundreds of billions of dollars on other nonsense, we are supposed to be deeply grateful to them for tossing a few hundred bucks our way. But the truth is that $600 dollars does not go as far as it once did. 20 years ago, it would have bought more groceries than any of us could have possibly put into a single vehicle, but today it will buy about two carts of food and maybe a tank of gas.
If we are going to go “full Weimar” and destroy any hope of ever getting our national finances under control, we might as well make the checks big enough to smile about.
2021 to Surpass 2020 for Precious Metals
by David Brady
Sprott Money
BIG PICTURE
Last week, I covered Goldman’s purchase of the Perth Mint’s ETF. The latter allowed holders of the ETF to readily convert their shares into physical Gold. While Goldman kept most of the characteristics of that ETF in place, it changed the key one—that physical convertibility. Now it’s just like any other ETF. Why, and why now? Perhaps because the Perth Mint is running out of the physical metal or Gold is just becoming more scarce in general. Perhaps Goldman wants to delude the peasants into thinking they own Gold when in fact it is just another cash-settled ETF that tracks the price of Gold. One thing is for sure, Goldman would not be buying an ETF if demand was going down just to earn a paltry 0.18%. Simply put, this is bullish Gold medium and long-term, imho.
Fauci Says “The Worst is Yet to Come” Again
by Mac Slavo
SHTF Plan
Once again, authoritarian Dr. Anthony Fauci, who wants the slaves to obey his commands and edicts to their own detriment, has said that with regards to the hoax scamdemic, “the worst is yet to come.” Fauci and other tyrants have been repeating this like a mantra and trying their best to force it to come true even when the official numbers don’t stack up.
Tyrant Fauci: “Now Is The Time To Do What You’re Told”
Third Wave Panic Begins: MSM Says “It’s The Worst One Yet”
Fauci has made similar predictions before, as RT pointed out in a report. Back when the U.S.’ cases numbered in the thousands (our of 300 million-plus) back in March, he told Congress that “things will get worse than they are right now.” Three months later, he called the pandemic his “worst nightmare,” and warned that “it isn’t over yet.” In August, he again reminded the public he wasn’t “pleased with how things are going,” and told them to expect “big spikes” in positive tests.
Former SAGE Advisor Admits He Thought “We Couldn’t Get Away With” Chinese-Style Lockdown in Europe
But draconian measures were accepted by population.
by Paul Joseph Watson
Info Wars
Former UK government COVID-19 advisor Neil Ferguson admits that he thought “we couldn’t get away with” imposing Communist Chinese-style lockdowns in Europe because they were too draconian.
Ferguson, an Imperial College professor whose highly disputed model convinced Prime Minister Boris Johnson to impose the first UK lockdown, made the comments during an interview with the London Times.
“It’s a communist one party state, we said. We couldn’t get away with it in Europe, we thought,” said Ferguson.
“And then Italy did it. And we realised we could,” he added.
Ferguson also labeled China’s lockdown “an effective policy” despite the fact that the official death toll released by authorities there was suspected to be wildly underestimated.
2020 the “Worst Year Ever” – You’re Joking, Right?
by Charles Hugh Smith
Of Two Minds
So party on, because “the worst year ever” is ending and the rebound of financial markets, already the greatest in recorded history, will only become more fabulous.
Of the lavish banquet of absurdities laid out in 2020, one of the most delectable is Time magazine’s December 14 cover declaring that 2020 was the “worst year ever.” You’re joking, right? In history’s immense tapestry of human misery, it’s not even in the top 100 worst years.
Consider 1177 B.C., when many of the great civilizations of the Mediterranean Sea and Mideast collapsed, and the survivors struggled through a pre-modern Dark Ages. This book assembles what is known about this catastrophic era: 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed.
Then there’s 1644 A.D., when the Ming Dynasty was overthrown by the Manchu invasion, a series of self-reinforcing misfortunes stemming from extremes of climate (a.k.a. The Little Ice Age) that left millions hungry and vulnerable to disease and the predation of roving bandit armies.
W.H.O. Chief Scientist Warns “Bo Evidence Covid Vaccine Prevents Viral Transmission”
from Zero Hedge
Once again, the WHO has stepped in to offer some confusing comments about the coronavirus vaccine, warning that there is “no evidence to be confident shots prevent transmission” and that people who receive the vaccine should continue wearing masks and following all social distancing and travel guidelines.
The comments were made by WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan during what appears to have been a virtual press conference held Monday.
A clip of the offending line has begun circulating on social media.
2020: The Year the Tree of Liberty Was Torched
by John W. Whitehead
The Rutherford Institute
“The people are unaware. They’re not educated to realize that they have power. The system is so geared that everyone believes the government will fix everything. We are the government.” – John Lennon
No doubt about it: 2020—a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year for freedom—was the culmination of a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad decade for freedom.
Government corruption, tyranny, and abuse coupled with a Big Brother-knows-best mindset and the COVID-19 pandemic propelled us at warp speed towards a full-blown police state in which nationwide lockdowns, egregious surveillance, roadside strip searches, police shootings of unarmed citizens, censorship, retaliatory arrests, the criminalization of lawful activities, warmongering, indefinite detentions, SWAT team raids, asset forfeiture, police brutality, profit-driven prisons, and pay-to-play politicians were accepted as the norm.
What Denying Election Fraud Accomplishes
by Mark Andrew Dwyer
American Thinker
There were voluminous reports, from eyewitnesses and experts, of widespread election fraud in the so-called battle states and beyond. Specific allegations were made, and evidence of election rules violations and statistical anomalies were collected. Yet the courts refused to listen to virtually all witnesses and experts, rejected most of the evidence, and refused to subpoena more evidence requested by the plaintiffs. Many state government officials and some top representatives of companies supplying voting machines and software categorically denied any election fraud.
So, on the one hand, there is plenty of evidence strongly suggesting that the widely observed election fraud took place during the 2020 presidential elections. On the other hand, all we have are assurances of the election fraud–deniers that there was no election fraud, which were later changed to admissions that although election fraud did take place, it wasn’t large enough to sway the results.