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Sat, 01 Apr 2023 21:20:24 +0000
Google Co-Founder Among Billionaires Subpoenaed in Jeffrey Epstein Case
Top row: Thomas Pritzker, executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels, Sergy Brin, co-founder of Google, Michael Ovitz, venture capitalist and co-founder of the Creative Artists Agency, Mort Zuckerman, a real-estate billionaire who owns US News & World Report. Bottom row: Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase CEO, picture of Jeffrey Epstein.
Billionaires Sergey Brin, Thomas Pritzker, Mortimer Zuckerman and Michael Ovitz were issued subpoenas this week by the US Virgin Islands as part of its lawsuit against JPMorgan over the bank's relationship with now-deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter.
The subpoenas seek any communications or documents related to JPMorgan and Epstein.
The four men are some of the wealthiest people in the U.S., and it couldn't be determined why they were being asked for the communications and documents. In civil cases, lawyers can use subpoenas during the discovery process to get information from people who aren't a party to a lawsuit but could provide evidence related to the case. -WSJ
JPMorgan is being sued by the US Virgin Islands along with several Epstein accusers in a combined case over Epstein's sex trafficking operation. The plaintiffs claim that the bank facilitated abuse by allowing Epstein to remain a client while helping send money to his victims. The lawsuit also alleges that JPMorgan turned a blind eye to Epstein's activities after receiving referrals for high-value business opportunities.
Brin is a co-founder of Google and sits on the board of parent company Alphabet. Pritzker is executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels. Ovitz is a venture capitalist and co-founder of the Creative Artists Agency (CAA), and Zuckerman is a real-estate billionaire and owns US News & World Report.
As we noted on Tuesday, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is expected to be deposed under oath regarding the bank's relationship with Epstein – who banked with JPMorgan for 15 years until it eventually cut ties with the convicted sex offender in 2013.
"Jamie Dimon knew in 2008 that his billionaire client was a sex trafficker," argued US Virgin Islands attorney Mimi Liu during a March hearing in front of Manhattan US District Judge Jed Rakoff, referring to the year Epstein was first criminally charged with sex crimes, CNBC reported earlier this month.
Lawyers have questioned several JPMorgan employees so far in this case and another filed by an unnamed woman who accused Epstein of sexual abuse. The cases are running together in Manhattan federal court.
JPMorgan has sought to have the lawsuits dismissed. The bank has denied that it aided Epstein and has sought to blame any relationship on former executive Jes Staley, whom the bank has sued. Mr. Staley has maintained he was friendly with Epstein but never knew about his alleged crimes. -WSJ
"If Staley is a rogue employee, why isn't Jamie Dimon?" Liu said during the hearing to discuss the bank's efforts to have the USVI lawsuit against the bank dismissed, referring to former JPMorgan executive Jes Staley, who is not named in the current litigation.
"Staley knew, Dimon knew, JPMorgan Chase knew," Liu continued, noting that there were several cash transfers and wire transfers made by the prolific pedophile (Epstein), including several hundreds of thousands of dollars paid to several women which should have been flagged as suspicious.
Read the full article at ZeroHedge News.
As JPMorgan's ties to Jeffrey Epstein are being scrutinized in court, Whitney Webb reveals how the same powerful players who brought Epstein to prominence were largely responsible for the rise of JPMorgan CEO, Jamie Dimon.
by Whitney Webb
Unlimited Hangout
Earlier this month, a judge ruled that two different lawsuits against JPMorgan Chase over the bank's ties to deceased "financier" and pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein, would be allowed to advance in U.S. Courts. One of these cases, brought against the bank by the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), has been a particular focus of independent media since the new year began, in part because the Attorney General of the USVI, Denise George, was fired from her post just days after she filed that case.
In a hearing in the USVI case against JPMorgan earlier this month, a USVI lawyer argued that the CEO of JPMorgan – Jamie Dimon – "knew in 2008 that his billionaire client [Jeffrey Epstein] was a sex trafficker."
The lawyer, Mimi Liu, also stated that former JPMorgan Jes Staley also knew this about Epstein at the time, but noted: "This case was not just Jes Staley … there will be numerous documents that go far beyond his office to the executive suite." Liu also asserted that "Staley knew, Dimon knew, JPMorgan Chase knew" about Epstein's criminal activities against minors.
While the bank has disputed that Dimon knew anything about Epstein's accounts at the bank or what he was really up to at the time, this Unlimited Hangout investigation – a multi-part series – will reveal that Dimon's rise to the top post at JPMorgan was intimately linked to the very same group of people who enabled Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking activities as well as his extensive financial crimes.
In this article, we will examine how Dimon's rise to become one of the most powerful men on Wall Street was largely reliant on top executives and directors of Bank One, which boasts incredibly close ties to The Limited's Leslie Wexner and his right-hand man for many decades, Columbus-area real estate developer John W. Kessler. Kessler and other individuals tied to Wexner were the dominant forces that saw Dimon installed as Bank One's CEO in 2000.
Bank One was acquired by JPMorgan in 2003 and, shortly thereafter, Dimon became CEO of the combined entity. That acquisition, as well as the role of the Crown family in Chicago in Dimon's selection as Bank One's CEO, will be discussed in the second part of this series.
Yet, Dimon's ties to the same networks as Wexner, particularly those characterized by their connections to organized crime and intelligence, preceded his time as Bank One's CEO by many years.
As this article will show, Dimon's construction of what is now Citigroup, alongside his mentor Sandy Weill, began with their takeover of a company called Commercial Credit Corporation.
That company, as well as its parent company, Control Data Corporation, had a troubling history of ties to intelligence networks that were extensively involved in criminal activity – including the so-called "private CIA" formed by CIA veteran Ted Shackley in the 1970s as well as individuals crucial to the Epstein story like Robert Maxwell.
Given these connections, JPMorgan's claims that Dimon never knew what Jeffrey Epstein was up to during his time with the bank becomes much harder to believe. Furthermore, as future installments of this series will show, the players discussed here – Dimon and Epstein among them – were instrumental in the creation of what would manifest as the 2008 economic crisis.
Not unlike some of the events that sparked today's banking crisis, figures like Jeffrey Epstein, Dimon's mentor Sandy Weill and the former Treasury Secretaries with close associations with both men, Robert Rubin and Larry Summers, appeared to have engaged in actions that would intentionally provoke the collapse of certain banks to further consolidate the banking sector for their benefit.
The goal, both then and now, seems to have been a move towards the logical conclusion of the "too big to fail" banking model — the eventual creation of a centralized cartel of mega-banks that dominate, not only commercial banking, but also central banking.
Read the full article at Unlimited Hangout.
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Understand the Times We are Currently Living Through The God of All Comfort
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The post Google Co-Founder Among Billionaires Subpoenaed in Jeffrey Epstein Case first appeared on Health Impact News.
Sat, 01 Apr 2023 19:51:08 +0000
Is the War in Syria Intensifying? U.S. Carrier Strike Group Deployment Extended as U.S. Troops Suffer “Brain Injuries”
Aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush. Image source.
by Brian Shilhavy
Editor, Health Impact News
America's resolve to hang on to oil fields in Syria that former President Donald Trump seized in 2019 seems to be intensifying as the U.S. military has extended the deployment of the George HW Bush Carrier Strike Group, which has been under NATO command since last year, and is currently in the Mediterranean Sea.
The United States has decided to extend the deployment of the George H.W. Bush carrier strike group to provide options to policymakers after last week's deadly attacks in Syria by Iran-backed forces, U.S. military officials said on Friday.
The decision likely means the Bush strike group and its more than 5,000 U.S. forces, which are now in the European Command operational area, will not be returning to home port in the United States on schedule.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) spokesperson Colonel Joe Buccino confirmed the carrier group's extension, which was first reported by Reuters.
"The extension of the George HW Bush Carrier Strike Group, inclusive of the USS Leyte Gulf, the USS Delbert D. Black, and the USNS Arctic, allows options to potentially bolster the capabilities of CENTCOM to respond to a range of contingencies in the Middle East," Buccino said in a statement.
Buccino also noted a scheduled, expedited deployment of a squadron of A-10 attack aircraft to the region. (Source.)
The George HW Bush Carrier Strike Group includes flagship USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77), USS Leyte Gulf (CG-55), USS Delbert D. Black (DDG-119), USS Truxtun (DDG-103), USS Farragut (DDG-96) and USS Nitze (DDG-94). Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 7 is embarked on Bush. (Source.)
On 15 July 2021, Allied Joint Force Command Norfolk declared Full Operational Capability and marked the occasion with a ceremony presided over by its Commander, Vice Admiral Andrew Lewis. General Milley, the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff also attended the ceremony. Notice that although this event occurred in Norfolk, VA, that the U.S. flag appears nowhere on the stage. (Source.)
The George HW Bush Carrier Strike Group replaced the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group in the Mediterranean Sea last year. (Source.)
We reported on the original deployment of Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group to the Mediterranean Sea under NATO command last year, because it marked the first time that U.S. Navy forces based in Norfolk, Virginia were being commanded by a non-American as part of NATO.
This followed the annexation of the U.S. Naval base by NATO in 2021, even though the base is on U.S. soil.
Has NATO Now Taken Over Command of the U.S. Navy?Excerpts:
Has a non-U.S. citizen, a military general from France, now taken over command of the U.S. Navy under NATO?
General Philippe Lavigne from France. Image source.
French General Philippe Lavigne was appointed to the post of Supreme Allied Commander Transformation by the North Atlantic Council on May 28, 2021. (Source.)
The North Atlantic Council is the political organization that controls NATO:
The North Atlantic Council is the principal political decision-making body within NATO. It oversees the political and military process relating to security issues affecting the whole Alliance. It brings together representatives of each member country to discuss policy or operational questions requiring collective decisions, providing a forum for wide-ranging consultation between members on all issues affecting their peace and security. (Source.)
Former secretaries of state Hillary Clinton and Henry Kissinger. Source.
Who are the main leaders influencing and controlling The North Atlantic Council? Primarily, George Soros is the main donor to The North Atlantic Council.
Joe Schaeffer, writing for The World Tribune on October 25, 2019, reported:
What can you say about an organization that brings together George Soros, the Clintons, leading defense contractors, a powerful lobbying firm that employs ex-House speaker John Boehner and notoriously biased media outlets such as CNN and Reuters, all under the same umbrella?
The Atlantic Council's commitment to globalism is at the core of its mission statement. "Through the papers we write, the ideas we generate, and the communities we build, the Council shapes policy choices and strategies to create a more secure and prosperous world," the group says of itself.
Preserving the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and fostering a Cold War-era hostility to Russia are among its chief priorities. So it is no surprise that the Council is thoroughly engaged in Ukraine.
The Council is funded by and partners with Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company that paid Joe Biden's son Hunter $83,000 a month to serve as a consultant, despite the younger Biden having no experience whatsoever in the energy industry.
The think tank has publicly declared its great debt to progressive globalist billionaire George Soros. "Soros' political and strategic philanthropy is an inspirational example of how one man's vision and unflagging commitment to the open society ideal can change the lives of millions," the Council gushed in a 2015 article on its website simply titled "Thank You, George!"
"Soros has become one of the world's most ardent advocates of the new Ukraine," the article states.
Soros's Open Society Foundations is listed as one of the top donors to the Atlantic Council, coming in under the $250,000-$499,000 category in the Council's "Honor Roll of Contributors" for the 2018 fiscal year. (Full Article.)
Less than two months after the appointment of French General Philippe Lavigne to the post of Supreme Allied Commander Transformation by the North Atlantic Council, NATO annexed the largest naval base on U.S. soil, in Norfolk, Virginia, on July 15, 2021, bringing it completely under the control of NATO, even though the base is on U.S. soil.
There was almost no media coverage of this event, but we covered this story in September last year with a story published at GlobalResearch.ca:
U.S. Sovereignty? Largest Naval Base in the U.S. Now Operated by NATO – Norfolk Allied Joint Force Command U.S. Troops in Syria Suffered "Brain Injuries"
Coalition Forces showcase a Bradley Fighting Vehicle to Anti-Terror Forces before a live-fire range in Hasakah Province, Syria, Sept. 29, 2021 (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Brandon White – Source)
It is also now being reported that some American troops in Syria are suffering from "traumatic brain injuries" after recent attacks in Syria.
Six U.S. service members so far have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries from attacks by Iran-backed militants in Syria earlier this month that killed an American contractor, the Pentagon said Thursday.
The diagnoses were made as part of ongoing medical assessments of American personnel at the two locations in northeast Syria targeted by an Iran-made drone and militant rockets, and more TBI cases are possible, said Brig. Gen Pat Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman. (Source.)
This is not the first time U.S. troops based in the Middle East have suffered from these types of "traumatic brain injuries."
In 2020, American troops stationed in Al Asad Air Base in Iraq came under attack when Iran launched 15 ballistic missiles on the base in retaliation for a U.S. drone strike that killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran's Quds Force military branch.
Troops there also suffered "traumatic brain injuries," but then President Donald Trump and others refused to acknowledge the injuries for over two years.
Is the United States Losing Control of Middle Eastern Oil?Eventually, weeks later, it was revealed that at least 100 soldiers suffered traumatic brain injuries from the attack. For Futrell and others, the brain injuries would weigh on them daily and change their lives forever.
But the long road to National Guard troops receiving the Purple Heart awards they were entitled to would take another two years, following military shortcomings in tracking injuries and resistance from senior leadership.
"Nobody has treated these injuries with the seriousness they deserve," said Futrell, who is now medically retired.
The Iran attack was downplayed from the start. The assault was retaliation for a U.S. drone strike that killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran's Quds Force military branch. Then-President Donald Trump initially reported in the weeks following the attack that no one was injured in the Iranian strike on Al Asad.
"I heard they had headaches and a couple of other things," Trump told reporters. "But I would say, and I can report, it is not very serious. Not very serious."
But Futrell, and at least eight other National Guardsmen from Ohio and New Hampshire, did suffer what turned out to be serious injuries.
Futrell was medically retired from the Ohio National Guard in May after a constant struggle with headaches, mental fatigue and other health issues as a result of the missile barrage. He was awarded a 90% disability rating from the Department of Veterans Affairs. (Full article.)
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia December 8, 2022. Bandar Algaloud/Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court. Source.
This latest round of conflicts in Syria follows major announcements in the rapidly changing geopolitical makeup of the Middle East, where Saudi Arabia has put aside decades of conflict with Iran and has also agreed to start selling oil to China in China's currency, rather than U.S. dollars.
Turkey is another major player in the Middle Eastern oil conflicts, and they just announced this week that they were closing down their pipeline pumping oil out of Iraq due to ongoing conflicts with the Kurds in northern Iraq.
This action by Turkey has allegedly taken 450,000 barrels per day of crude exports out of the market.
Turkey Halts 450Kb/d In Oil Output Via Kirkuk-Ceyhan Pipeline Amid Dispute With Iraq
Iraq was forced to halt around 450,000 barrels per day of crude exports, or half a percent of global oil supply, from the Kurdistan region (KRI) on Saturday through a pipeline that runs from its northern Kirkuk oil fields to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, Reuters reported.
Turkey stopped pumping Iraqi crude from the pipeline after Iraq won an arbitration case in which it said Turkey had violated a joint agreement by allowing the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to export oil to Ceyhanwithout Baghdad's consent.
Iraq's government said it's up to Kurdistan to break the oil deadlock. "The ball now is the Kurds' court," Asim Jihad, a spokesman for Iraq's Federal Ministry of Oil, said in an interview.
Meanwhile, oil firms operating in the KRI are being forced to halt output or move production into storage, which many say will reach capacity within days, as talks drag between Turkey, Baghdad and the KRG to resume exports.
Norwegian oil firm DNO said on Wednesday it had begun shutting down production at its Tawke and Peshkabir fields, where production averaged 107,000 barrels per day (bpd) last year. This represents a quarter of total Kurdish region exports, DNO said. (Full article.)
Turkey's opposition to Kurdish separatists has extended to Syria over the past decade where Turkey still has troops on the ground, but relations between Turkey and Syria are taking a new turn now these days, as the two nations began discussing ways to reconcile late last year. (Source.)
This coming week, deputy foreign ministers from Syria, Turkey, and Iran will meet in Moscow as the Middle Eastern political landscape is rapidly changing.
The deputy foreign ministers of Syria, Turkey, Iran and Russia will meet in April in Moscow, Turkish and Iranian officials said on Tuesday, building on contacts between Ankara and Damascus after years of hostilities during the Syrian war.
Encouraged by President Bashar al-Assad's ally Russia, Syrian and Turkish officials held meetings last year, in a move towards normalising ties between states on opposing sides of Syria's 12-year-long conflict.
But Assad this month ruled out any meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan until Turkey is ready to withdraw its military from northern Syria, deemed occupying forces by the Syrian president.
The situation on the ground in Syria would be discussed at the April 3-4 in Moscow, a senior Turkish official said.
"This meeting is expected to be a continuation of the ministerial-level meetings that began during the normalization process," the official said. (Full article.)
Turkey is unique with their membership in NATO, being the only Muslim country in NATO. They are also the only NATO country that has also applied for membership in BRICS, led by China and Russia, where it is expected that their membership will be accepted, along with Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
The American Empire is Crumbling, as is their Control of Middle Eastern OilThe president of the BRICS International Forum expects Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia to join the group "very soon". In an interview with Russia's Izvestia, Purnima Anand said that China, Russia and India discussed this issue during the 14th BRICS Summit, which was held online last month.
"All these countries have shown an interest in joining and are preparing to apply for membership. I think this is a good step, because expansion is always perceived positively; this will clearly increase the influence of BRICS in the world," explained Anand. "I hope that the accession of countries to BRICS will happen very quickly, because now all representatives of the core of the association are interested in expanding the organisation, so it will be very soon."
Earlier, Li Kexin, Director-General of the Department of International Economic Affairs of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said that several countries were "knocking on the doors" of the organisation, including Indonesia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Argentina.
The BRICS forum is a political organisation that began negotiations for its formation in 2006 and held its first summit in 2009. Its members were the countries with emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, and China, operating under the name BRIC, before South Africa joined the organisation in 2010, making it BRICS.
The organisation's countries are characterised as being among the industrialised developing countries with large and emerging economies. Half of the world's population lives in these five countries, and their combined gross domestic product is equivalent to that of the US ($13.6 trillion). Their total foreign exchange reserves are $4 trillion. (Source.)
The American Empire is crumbling, as is their control of Middle Eastern oil.
The Biden Administration shows signs of panicking, as they are rapidly abandoning their stated goals of phasing out "fossil fuels" by expanding the drilling of new oil fields in the U.S.
Biden recently reversed his own position and risked the scorn of his own party by agreeing to approve ConocoPhillips' $7 billion oil and gas drilling Willow project in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve. (Source.)
Then this past week, it was announced that 73.3 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico will be leased for oil drilling.
As required by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) auctioned oil and gas drilling rights across 73.4 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico despite the Biden administration's pledge to end new leasing as part of climate change initiatives.
According to BOEM, 32 companies participated in the Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 259, submitting $309,798,397 in total bids. Reuters pointed out that Chevron Corp, ExxonMobil Corp, and BP Plc were among the top bidders.
The Guardian said the size of Lease 259 is comparable in size to Italy. (Source.)
The whole climate change agenda is a joke. America is not going to end their dependency on oil anytime soon, and they are rapidly losing control of the world's energy market.
It's time to bring our troops home, and concentrate on rebuilding our own economy, rather than trying to police the rest of the world.
Editor's Note: I lived in Turkey for several years in the 1980s, where I learned Turkish and taught English, and then also worked out of Southeastern Turkey in 1991 during the first Gulf War as a translator helping repatriate Kurds back to northern Iraq after the war.
I also lived in Saudi Arabia for several years in the 1990s teaching English at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals. So I probably understand more about the history and politics of this region than about 99% of the American journalists reporting on these events today.
Related:
Is the Collapse of NATO Imminent? A Non-Western Dire WarningSee Also:
Understand the Times We are Currently Living Through The God of All Comfort
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The post Is the War in Syria Intensifying? U.S. Carrier Strike Group Deployment Extended as U.S. Troops Suffer "Brain Injuries" first appeared on Health Impact News.
Fri, 31 Mar 2023 22:43:54 +0000
China And Brazil Strike Deal To Ditch The US Dollar
In a time when de-dollarization news are dropping fast and furious and even Elon Musk is now jumping on a bandwagon…
Combined with excess government spending, which forces other countries to absorb a significant part of our inflation
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 29, 2023
… which we first defined a decade ago, not a day goes by without some modest or not so modest shift toward a world in which the US currency – fully weaponized after February 2022 for the entire world to see and fear – is no longer the world's reserve. And today was no exception.
According to the Brazilian government, China and Brazil have reached a deal to trade in their own currencies, ditching the United States dollar as an intermediary entirely, AFP reported.
The deal, Beijing's latest salvo against the almighty greenback, will enable China, the top rival to US economic hegemony, and Brazil, the biggest economy in Latin America, to conduct their massive trade which amounts to $150 billion per year, and financial transactions directly, exchanging yuan for reais and vice versa instead of going through the US dollar.
In doing so China extends its bilateral, USD-exempting currency arrangements beyond countries such as Russia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to now include the Latin American exporting powerhouse.
"The expectation is that this will reduce costs… promote even greater bilateral trade and facilitate investment," the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil) said in a statement.
China is Brazil's biggest trading partner, with a record US$150.5 billion (S$200 billion) in bilateral trade last year.
The deal, which follows a preliminary agreement in January, was announced after a high-level China-Brazil business forum in Beijing.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was originally scheduled to attend the forum as part of a high-profile China visit, but had to postpone his trip indefinitely on Sunday after he came down with pneumonia.
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Bank of Communications BBM will execute the transactions, officials said.
To be sure, we are still a long away away from the yuan replacing the USD as global reserve currency, or maybe not so far if one reads the recent reports from Zoltan Pozsar. And yet, even such foaming Bretton Woods III skeptics as Rabobank's Michael Every is starting to realize that he may have been wrong. From his morning note today:
We showed in 'Why Bretton Woods 3 Won't Work' (2022) that an anti-US BW3 bloc does not balance its trade internally by value or structure: BW3 can sell commodities to China; but unless they absorb the exports China now sends to the West, or China runs trade deficits like the US, then it can't happen. Instead, we all just return to global mercantilism – which is happening, is inflationary, and ultimately suits the US – just not Wall Street (either in terms of mercantilism or monetary policy). When BW3 players no longer hold their official and unofficial savings in USD assets (if not Treasuries, then agencies or stocks, or property), and want to stash cash in Moscow and retire in China, then things are changing
Alas, at the rate the current US ruling regime is destroying the world's faith and confidence not only in the dollar but in what was once truly a superpower and is increasingly a third world banana republic – the latest news of Trump's indictment for political reasons being the third world cherry on top – we won't have very long to wait.
Read the full article at ZeroHedge News.
See Also:
Understand the Times We are Currently Living Through The God of All Comfort
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The post China And Brazil Strike Deal To Ditch The US Dollar first appeared on Health Impact News.
Fri, 31 Mar 2023 22:26:31 +0000
No Fooling: The End of “Private Banking” Starts Today with Bank Enrollments in the New FedNow Program
by Brian Shilhavy
Editor, Health Impact News
Note: While I am writing and publishing this article on March 31, 2023, most of you will be reading this on April 1, 2023, or later.
The first week of April, 2023 marks the beginning of the enrollment and certification process for financial institutions to start participating in the Federal Reserve's new FedNow "Instant Payments" services, which is scheduled to launch in July, 2023. (Source.)
What is FedNow?
The FedNow Service is a new instant payment infrastructure developed by the Federal Reserve that allows financial institutions of every size across the U.S. to provide safe and efficient instant payment services.
Through financial institutions participating in the FedNow Service, businesses and individuals can send and receive instant payments in real time, around the clock, every day of the year. Financial institutions and their service providers can use the service to provide innovative instant payment services to customers, and recipients will have full access to funds immediately, allowing for greater financial flexibility when making time-sensitive payments.
The FedNow Service will be deployed in phases, with the initial launch taking place July 2023.
The video below follows a payment over the FedNow Service from start to finish, highlighting what financial institutions need to know about their role in the process.
While many in the alternative media (myself included) have linked the FedNow program to Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), technically speaking, FedNow is NOT part of the development of CBDCs.
Michelle Bateman, Director of Product Management, Payments at Finastra, is a member of FedNow's pilot program, and she has stated that the project to develop CBDCs is completely separate from the FedNow Instant Payment service.
And what about central bank digital currency (CBDC)? As has been widely reported, the Fed, like most other central banks in developed nations, is investigating the potential of a digital currency or digital dollar.
Bateman noted that it is still being reviewed, and the two projects are completely separate. (Source.)
The main difference is that once CBDCs are rolled out, consumers will have accounts with a Federal Reserve Bank, while the FedNow program does not. The FedNow program will be offering "Master Accounts" at the Federal Reserve for financial institutions only.
However, as I have previously stated, rolling out CBDCs is a mammoth project, and cannot be done overnight. It would be foolish to believe that the FedNow program is not a stepping stone towards CBDCs.
As you can see from the flow chart at the top of this article, with the implementation of the FedNow Instant Transfer program, all the data involving a financial transaction between two "End-Users" will flow through the Federal Reserve banks.
So while they are advertising the FedNow program as a new system that will make payments and wire transfers much quicker and much more convenient, it is also a mass data collection system for the Fed to begin storing private bank information.
Will this include all the personal details of account holders in private banks?
Yes, apparently it does, based on "Operating Circular 1 (OC 1)", a document on the Federal Reserve website under "Rules and Regulations Resources."
In that document, Section 6.0 deals with "FEDERAL RESERVE BANK RESPONSE PROGRAM FOR UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO SENSITIVE CONSUMER INFORMATION OBTAINED IN THE COURSE OF PROVIDING FINANCIAL SERVICES."
Section 6.1, "THE RESERVE BANK'S POSSESSION AND USE OF CONSUMER INFORMATION" states:
The Reserve Banks do not hold accounts for individuals and do not provide Reserve Bank services to individuals. In the course of providing Financial Services to Depository Institutions and other authorized users of Reserve Bank services, the Reserve Banks obtain, store, and transmit information that includes Sensitive Consumer Information.
Under the general supervision of the Board of Governors, the Reserve Banks have implemented information security measures designed to protect the security and confidentiality of nonpublic personal information obtained by them, to protect against any anticipated threats or hazards to the security or integrity of such information, and to protect against unauthorized access to or use or reuse of such information that could result in substantial harm or inconvenience to a Depository Institution's customer.
In other words, the Fed needs all of your "Sensitive" information to protect you from hackers.
What is that "Sensitive Consumer Information"?
Section 6.2 defines that:
Sensitive Consumer Information means a consumer's name, address or telephone number, in conjunction with the consumer's social security number, driver's license number, account number, credit or debit card number, or a personal identification number or password that would permit access to the consumer's account, if the Reserve Bank or any other party that holds Sensitive Consumer Information as an agent of the Reserve Bank obtains such information in the course of providing Financial Services. (Source.)
How convenient. So when they are ready to roll out CBDCs and establish an account for you, they will already know everything about you and be able to open an account for you at the Federal Reserve, even if you choose not to participate, if your bank was already participating in the FedNow program.
This will save months, if not years, in trying to collect this data in order to implement CBDCs.
It still remains to be seen how many financial institutions decide to participate in FedNow, since it is voluntary. The U.S. Treasury is already part of the program, so if someone wants their tax returns instantaneously, the FedNow service will be very attractive.
Visa and Mastercard are also already part of FedNow. Banks will undoubtedly be pressured to participate for fear of being left out of the advantages of "Instant Payments."
This appears to be the beginning of the end for "private banking" in the U.S., no fooling.
See Also:
Understand the Times We are Currently Living Through The God of All Comfort
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If our website is seized and shut down, find us on Telegram, as well as Bitchute and Odysee for further instructions about where to find us.
If you use the TOR Onion browser, here are the links and corresponding URLs to use in the TOR browser to find us on the Dark Web: Health Impact News, Vaccine Impact, Medical Kidnap, Created4Health, CoconutOil.com.
The post No Fooling: The End of "Private Banking" Starts Today with Bank Enrollments in the New FedNow Program first appeared on Health Impact News.
Thu, 30 Mar 2023 22:22:27 +0000
All the Many Ways Big Tech is Selling Your Data to the Government Who is Spying on Americans without Warrants
Image Source: Revealed: US Military Bought Mass Monitoring Tool That Includes Internet Browsing, Email Data.
by Brian Shilhavy
Editor, Health Impact News
I am not going to cover the RESTRICT Act proposed legislation regarding TikTok, since just about everyone else in the alternative and right-wing corporate media seems to be covering that story, but I am going to highlight some of the many ways the U.S. Government already purchases data from Big Tech and spies on American citizens, illegally, without a warrant.
These articles are from the Cyber Vice topic, a great source of information on the darker side of Tech.
The DEA Bought Customer Data from Rogue Employees Instead of Getting a WarrantFor years the DEA has used paid informants inside airline, bus, and parcel companies to bypass needing to get a warrant. A pair of bipartisan Senators now want the DOJ to put an end to it.
by Joseph Cox
Vice.com
Excerpts:
For years, the DEA secretly paid workers inside U.S. agencies and companies for access to user data, rather than going to a court to obtain a search warrant for such data. That included paying sources inside the parcel industry to open and reroute packages; airline industry sources who provided flight itineraries, dates of birth, and seat numbers; and workers at private bus companies who provided daily lists of passengers who bought tickets in cash.
Paying moles inside companies allowed the DEA to passively monitor some services for potential targets without the friction of going through the courts, where such broad surveillance could be denied outright. In some cases, the DEA used the information to seize money or drugs from people. But buying the information in the first place may in some cases skirt Fourth Amendment protections.
Now, a pair of bipartisan lawmakers are pushing the Department of Justice to tighten policies around confidential human sources that would ban the practice entirely across the DOJ, including the DEA and FBI.
Here is the FBI's Contract to Buy Mass Internet DataThe FBI previously purchased access to "netflow" data, which a company called Team Cymru obtains from ISPs. Team Cymru then sells it to the government.
by Joseph Cox
Vice.com
Excerpts:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation paid tens of thousands of dollars on internet data, known as "netflow" data, collected in bulk by a private company, according to internal FBI documents obtained by Motherboard.
The documents provide more insight into the often overlooked trade of internet data. Motherboard has previously reported the U.S. Army's and FBI's purchase of such data. These new documents show the purchase was for the FBI's Cyber Division, which investigates hackers in the worlds of cybercrime and national security.
"Commercially provided net flow information/data—2 months of service," the internal document reads. Motherboard obtained the file through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the FBI.
Netflow data creates a picture of traffic volume and flow across a network. This can include which server communicated with another, information that is ordinarily only available to the owner of the server or to the internet service provider (ISP) carrying the traffic.
Team Cymru, the company ultimately selling this data to the FBI, obtains it from deals with ISPs by offering them threat intelligence in return. These deals are likely conducted without the informed consent of ISPs' users.
Team Cymru explicitly markets its product's capability of being able to track traffic through virtual private networks, and show which server traffic is originating from. Multiple sources previously told Motherboard that netflow data can be used to identify infrastructure used by hackers.
After Motherboard reported the U.S. Army and other purchases of Team Cymru data, the Tor Project, the organization behind the Tor anonymity network, said it was moving away from infrastructure that Team Cymru had donated. The Tor Project told Motherboard it expects that migration to be completed this Spring.
The FBI has bought other types of data from the commercial sector. Earlier this month, FBI Director Christopher Wray confirmed in a hearing that the FBI previously purchased American's smartphone location data.
Read the full article at Vice.com
Related:
You Are Being Watched! More Security Cameras Per Capita in the U.S. than in China: Silicon Valley WhistleblowerSee Also:
Understand the Times We are Currently Living Through The God of All Comfort
Having problems receiving our emails? See:
If our website is seized and shut down, find us on Telegram, as well as Bitchute and Odysee for further instructions about where to find us.
If you use the TOR Onion browser, here are the links and corresponding URLs to use in the TOR browser to find us on the Dark Web: Health Impact News, Vaccine Impact, Medical Kidnap, Created4Health, CoconutOil.com.
The post All the Many Ways Big Tech is Selling Your Data to the Government Who is Spying on Americans without Warrants first appeared on Health Impact News.
Thu, 30 Mar 2023 21:23:47 +0000
Second Wave of Bank Runs Start – Demise of the U.S. Dollar as the World’s Reserve Currency Accelerates
by Brian Shilhavy
Editor, Health Impact News
It's been over a week now since a bank has failed, but according to multiple sources, that does not mean that the banking crisis is over.
In fact, many sources are reporting that bank runs are continuing, with a "second wave" of bank runs now going on.
"Depositors Have Finally Awoken": The Second Wave Of The Bank Run Has Begun, Barclays Warns
It may seem like an eternity ago, now that we stuff a month's worth of trading and newsflow in a day, but it was exactly one week ago that Bill Ackman – who may or may not be long regional banks and/or commercial real estate – took to Twitter to bash Janet Yellen for restarting the bank run that defined much of the middle of March, when she unexpectedly told Congress that the Treasury was not considering a broad increase in deposit insurance, a line which promptly sent stocks tumbling.
Barclays' in-house repo guru Joseph Abate – the bank's equivalent to CS' Zoltan Pozsar and BofA's Mark Cabana – is out with a note, warning that while the first, acute wave of deposit outflows may be over now that the government has scrambled in its attempt to contain the fallout that is primarily the result of the Fed's aggressive rate hikes…
… a second, slower-burning but even more powerful, bank run wave has now begun.
In the note, Abate – who says that "bank deposits are in the midst of a two-stage shift" – explains the In the first phase of the bank run, deposits were pulled from banks driven by "solvency concerns." But as solvency fears fade, a second stage is emerging, one driven by interest rate differentials primarily between regional banks – who as we have noted before are unable to match the Fed Funds rate…
… and money market funds, which offer not only higher rates but a far safer asset base as collateral,to wit:
We suspect that banks are in the midst of a two-stage shift in deposit balances. Bank solvency concerns triggered the first wave of outflows. During this wave, balances have shifted from small to large institutions. Between March 1 and 15, deposits at the largest 25 banks fell about $20bn, but the decline in balances at small banks has been much steeper. Their deposit loss over the period ($140bn) is particularly acute, as these banks have been able to retain deposits more successfully than their larger competitors since lift-off (Figure 1).
At the same time, money fund balances have risen about $135bn. Inflows have since continued, with overall balances rising an additional $200bn – mostly into gov-only money funds (Figure 2).
(Full article.)
The first wave of deposit outflows is nearly over. A second wave has already started
The federal government's efforts to backstop the banking system, and deals found to put SVB Financial and Signature Bank in new ownership, seems to have stabilized the financial sector, and calmed markets.
Joseph Abate, an interest-rate strategist at Barclays, says the Federal Reserve's establishment of the Bank Term Funding Program as well as the abundant cash raised from advances borrowed from Federal Home Loan Banks has allowed banks to accumulate large buffers to meet deposit outflows. "And while market psychology is still fragile, our sense is that deposit outflows from small to large banks will fade as depositors recognize they can access and transfer their balances without any hitches," says Abate.
But Abate says a second wave of deposit departures has started — to money-market funds. Depositors generally have kept their money in banks despite paltry returns, usually thanks to the broad array of services that banks provide, as well as what Abate calls "deposit rate inattentiveness."
"It is too hard to shift balances or to establish a new relationship with another institution unless there is a large, convincing yield pickup. But some of it could reflect the fact that after 15 years of near-zero rates, depositors are not in the habit of paying much attention to the yield on their cash balances," he says.
Whatever the reason, depositors now see they can earn more yield in a money market fund with potentially less risk, Abate says. (Source.)
As Senate Banking Committee Convenes Hearing on Exploding Banks, an FDIC Chart Shows the Banking Crisis Is Far from Over
The two banks that failed and were taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) were Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank. Both had experienced bank runs in March and both had extreme exposure to uninsured deposits. One of the witnesses at today's hearing, Martin Gruenberg, Chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), explains as follows in his written testimony for today's hearing:
"A common thread between the failure of SVB and the failure of Signature Bank was the banks' heavy reliance on uninsured deposits. As of December 31, 2022, Signature Bank reported that approximately 90 percent of its deposits were uninsured, and SVB reported that 88 percent of its deposits were uninsured. The significant proportion of uninsured deposit balances exacerbated deposit run vulnerabilities and made both banks susceptible to contagion effects from the quickly evolving financial developments. One clear takeaway from recent events is that heavy reliance on uninsured deposits creates liquidity risks that are extremely difficult to manage, particularly in today's environment where money can flow out of institutions with incredible speed in response to news amplified through social media channels."
Gruenberg has included a chart in his written testimony that is nothing short of stunning. (See chart above.) It shows that the unrealized losses on investment securities at federally-insured U.S. banks during the 2008 financial crisis were less than $75 billion while at the end of the fourth quarter of 2022 they were over $600 billion.
Also, the chart above does not capture the losses and contagion the Wall Street banks themselves created in the broader financial system through their bundling and selling of hundreds of billions of dollars of toxic subprime mortgage debt and derivatives.
Full article here. See also:
The Banking Crisis Knock-On Effect Has Been a Stampede into Government Money Market Funds – Foiling the Fed's Effort to Raise Market Interest Rates
On Sunday, Financial Times reporters Brooke Masters, Harriet Clarfelt and Kate Duguid published an article under the headline: "Money market funds swell by more than $286bn as investors pull deposits from banks." (Full article.)
As we have previously reported, these modern-day bank runs are not always as noticeable today in the digital era, as you don't typically see people lining up at the banks to physically withdraw their money, as it all happens on the Internet.
And while today depositors are rushing into Money Market accounts, once the smaller banks start failing again, expect to see more money exit bank accounts, such as into the FedNow CBDC accounts scheduled to come online this summer, as well as into commodities such as Gold and Silver.
Are We Approaching The End Of The Dollar Reserve Currency System?The rest of the world is, of course, noticing this, and some are beginning to trade with currencies other than the U.S. Dollar.
France Buys 65,000 Tons Of LNG From China In First Ever Yuan-Denominated Trade
China has just completed its first trade of liquefied natural gas (LNG) settled in yuan, the Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange said on Tuesday. As OilPrice notes, the Chinese state oil and gas giant CNOOC and TotalEnergies completed the first LNG trade on the exchange with settlement in the Chinese currency, the exchange said in a statement carried by Reuters.
The trade involved around 65,000 tons of LNG imported from the United Arab Emirates (because China will never admit that it is re-exporting Russian LNG even though it now does it all the time) the Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange added.
The French supermajor, one of the world's top LNG traders, confirmed to Reuters that the trade involved LNG imported from the UAE, but declined to comment further on the deal.
France bought 65,000 tons of LNG using the Chinese yuan
The liquified natural gas was bought from the UAE, the payment is settled in the Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange, using Chinese yuan
We are witnessing the end of the US dollar hegemony. pic.twitter.com/GfX17nKxA1
— Zhao DaShuai 无条件爱国
(@zhao_dashuai) March 29, 2023
Read the full article here.
De-Dollarization Just Got RealGoldman: "Are We Approaching The End Of The Dollar Reserve Currency System"
Last week was book-ended with a focus on CS/UBS on Monday and a focus on Deutsche bank on Friday. FOMC came and went with a consensus read of a 25bps dovish hike that came alongside some reassurance that the end of the tightening cycle is near (language shift from 'ongoing' hikes to 'additional policy firming may be appropriate'). That being said, the US regional banking pressures persist… albeit with no 'new' bad news to deal with and First Citizens trading up over 50% on the back of SVB acquisition news…The European banks recovering from a bout of extreme and aggressive de-grossing.
In 2008 there was a credit issue coupled with a leverage issues. The Banks were the large and flexible balance sheets but could not offset the scale of the credit impairment or the scale of the leverage.
Today we have seen a shift of balance sheets from traditional and regulated spaces (banks) to less visible (private credit)… large… but inflexible balance sheets.
I think we are in the midst of dramatic regime change.
Is this 08? Or is it 1929? Is it a liquidity issue or a solvency issue? Is this a financial system issue?
There have been many arguments put forward about what 'this' is or 'where' we are.
One I have heard is that we are approaching the end of a $ reserve currency system and moving towards a more multipolar reserve system. (Full article. Subscription needed.)
Saudi Arabia to Join Shanghai Cooperation Organization
On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia's cabinet approved a decision for Riyadh to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a Eurasian security and economic bloc that was founded in 2001 by China, Russia, and several Central Asian countries.
According to Saudi state media, Riyadh has approved a memorandum that would make Saudi Arabia a dialogue partner of the SCO, the first step toward a permanent membership.
The news comes as Saudi Arabia is moving closer to Beijing, raising concern in Washington. According to Reuters, Riyadh joining the SCO was discussed when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Saudi Arabia in December.
Saudi Arabia and China have agreed to increase cooperation in all areas during Xi's visit. The Wall Street Journal reported this month that Riyadh is in talks with Beijing on pricing its oil in the yuan, a move that could impact the US dollar's dominance.
Saudi Arabia's decision to join the SCO comes after China brokered a surprise normalization deal between Riyadh and Tehran. Last year, Iran signed a memorandum to become a permanent member of the SCO, which is expected to become official this year. Other permanent members include India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
The SCO is a significant economic bloc as its members make up half of the entire world's population. Iran's ascension into the SCO will help the country weather US and other economic sanctions as it will help increase trade with Russia, China, and other major economies. (Full article.)
by John Rubino
Excerpts:
Since the 1970s it's been virtually impossible for a country to function without access to US dollars. And Washington maintained this highly-favorable status quo by putting various kinds of pressure — from sanctions to election theft to outright invasion — on anyone who stepped out of line.
This weaponization of the world's reserve currency has, not surprisingly, created resentment in a lot of foreign capitals. And after a long gestation period, that resentment is now erupting into a rebellion against dollar hegemony. Among the big recent events:
The BRICS coalition has become the hottest ticket in geopolitics. Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (the BRICS) have been toying with the idea of forming a political/monetary counterweight to U.S. dominance since 2001. But beyond some aggressive gold buying by Russia and China, there was more talk than action.
Then the floodgates opened. Whether due to the pandemic's supply chain disruptions, heavy-handed sanctions imposed by US-led NATO during the Russia-Ukraine war, or just the fact that de-dollarization was an idea whose time had finally come, the BRICS alliance has suddenly become the hottest ticket in town. In just the past year, Argentina, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Mexico, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Egypt have either applied to join or expressed an interest in doing so. And new bilateral trade deals that bypass the dollar are being discussed all over the place.
Combine the land mass, population, and natural resources of the BRICS countries with those of the potential new members and the result is more or less half the world. And now things are getting real:
China brokers a peace deal between Saudia Arabie and Iran, two bitter historical enemies who want to join the BRICS alliance but can't if they're in an undeclared war. Should they stop competing and start cooperating they could dominate the Middle East and raise China's clout in the region, at the petrodollar's expense. An example of the press coverage:
Eurasia's geo-economic integration took a great leap forward as a result of the Iranian–Saudi rapprochement, which unlocks the Gulf Cooperation Council's (GCC) trade potential with Russia and China. Its wealthy members can now tap into two series of Iranian-transiting megaprojects in one fell swoop through this deal, with the North-South Transport Corridor (NSTC) connecting them to Russia while the China-Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor (CCAWAEC) will do the same vis-à-vis China…
…Only two weeks after Saudi Arabia announced an effort to establish diplomatic ties to Iran in a deal mediated by China, more news surfaced that Saudi Arabia was also planning to reopen its embassy in Syria for the first time in over a decade. Rumors are swirling that Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria are on the verge of geopolitical and economic agreements that sidestep the US.
Russia and India agree to trade oil for rupees. Russia is now India's largest oil supplier, with 35% of that massive, growing country's imports. The U.S. is not happy about this — but India doesn't seem to care. From a recent article:
Even the US itself seems to have finally accepted that it can't reverse this trend, which is evidenced by former Indian Ambassador to Russia Kanwal Sibal recently telling TASS that "Lately, the discourse from Washington has changed and India is no longer being asked to stop buying oil from Russia. In a recent visit to India, the US Treasury Secretary actually said that India can buy discounted oil from Russia as much as it wants so long as western tankers and insurance companies are not used."
African leaders travel to Moscow. Representatives of 40 African nations traveled to Russia for the Second International Parliamentary Conference "Russia – Africa in a Multipolar World." According to the press release, the attendees:
… discussed the potential for collaboration across a range of sectors, their contribution to the African continent's economy and security, and their work in the realms of science and education, politics, and techno-military area.
During the conference, the African continent was invited to work together to form a new multipolar world order. This is especially important given the significant human resources of Africa, which is home to more than 1.5 billion people and has enormous mineral reserves in its soil.
Brazil and Argentina announce a common currency. In February, the two dominant Latin American economies announced plans for a common currency called the "sur" for use in bilateral trade. South America is a big, resource-rich place with numerous grudges against its intrusive northern neighbor. So a de-dollarization movement there, while not as immediately consequential as what's happening in the Middle East or Asia, is both plausible and potentially serious for the dollar.
First CNN does a segment on de-dollarization, now Fox News also.
What is going on here?
— Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) March 27, 2023
Read the full article at John Rubino.
See Also:
Understand the Times We are Currently Living Through The God of All Comfort
Having problems receiving our emails? See:
If our website is seized and shut down, find us on Telegram, as well as Bitchute and Odysee for further instructions about where to find us.
If you use the TOR Onion browser, here are the links and corresponding URLs to use in the TOR browser to find us on the Dark Web: Health Impact News, Vaccine Impact, Medical Kidnap, Created4Health, CoconutOil.com.
The post Second Wave of Bank Runs Start – Demise of the U.S. Dollar as the World's Reserve Currency Accelerates first appeared on Health Impact News.