newswars--2020-05-04--FBI Director Wray’s Dirty Secret?—Part 8 of the CMU Series

PLEASE NOTE : The author has made this series available at FreeMartyG.com under the latest Creative Commons by-attribution commercial-use-permitted share-alike no-derivatives license .
This is part 8 .
Click here to read Inside the Black Sites Where Obama , Clinton , and Holder Buried Their Secrets—Part 1 of the CMU Series or click here to read Abandon All Hope , Ye Who Enter Here—Part 7 of the CMU Series .
FBI Director Christopher A. Wray and his colleagues framed Robert Ethan Miller in the 1990s and he ’ s been in federal prison ever since , according to three witnesses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ instruction to lie under oath during Miller ’ s trial .
Miller ( not to be confused with Mueller ) was the operational manager and part owner of the Gold Club on Atlanta ’ s busy Piedmont Road when Wray indicted him on charges of counterfeiting and conspiracy to kill a federal witness .
It ’ s the DOJ , however , that seems to be engaged in an ongoing conspiracy to cover for Wray , one that prevented the White House and the Senate from learning about Miller ’ s case in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wray for the role of FBI Director and the Senate convened confirmation hearings .
Miller ’ s case appears reminiscent of a scandal that broke during Robert Mueller ’ s tenure as FBI Director .
In 2007 , Boston-based Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts , Nancy Gertner ( since retired ) ruled that multiple FBI directors and other top brass , indeed , “ The entire FBI hierarchy , ” going as far back as 1967 , “ was implicated ” in the framing of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out by “ Top Echelon ” FBI informants .
Judge Gertner also found that the FBI engaged in a decades-long cover-up , even after its chief trial witness , Joseph “ The Animal ” Barboza , had a crisis of conscience and tried to recant his false testimony .
Joseph “ The Animal ” Barboza had a crisis of conscience—unlike his FBI handlers—and tried to recant his false testimony after it was used to frame four innocent men .
( Boston Police Department , 1965 ) The new case started when Miller refused @ @ @ @ @ @ @ against the Gambinos and the Gottis in 1997 , says Miller .
The DOJ has now held Miller nearly incommunicado for over a decade and interfered with his court filings due to his efforts to prove that he ’ s innocent ; until today , his first chance to clear the air in a media interview about his experiences with Wray .
“ I was told to say what they wanted to hear or I ’ d get 35 years , ” Miller reports .
Miller and the three informants who helped convict @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and allege that Wray knowingly used bogus evidence and false sworn testimony to trick a federal judge and jury into sending Miller to federal prison to serve a three-and-a-half-decade sentence for made-up crimes .
Miller has been locked up ever since—for what is now 22 years—while documents from his trial , including his indictment and sentencing transcript , have conspicuously gone missing from federal-court record .
Miller has spent much of that time in the DOJ ’ s communication management units ( CMUs ) , where department personnel , particularly CMU administrator Katherine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all of his attempts to correspond with attorneys , family , friends , journalists , the courts , and the DOJ ’ s internal watchdog , the Office of the Inspector General ( OIG ) .
Miller reports that he only felt this scrutiny intensify after Wray was named to replace James Comey as FBI director .
The Senate confirmation of FBI Director Christopher Wray ( picture ) may have intensified the DOJ ’ s desire to keep Wray ’ s past in the past .
( U.S. DOJ/ Public domain , 2017 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tens of millions of tax dollars each year on its CMUs in order to keep a constant eye on about 80 of its roughly 175,000 federal prisoners Or put another way , Miller is among the 0.05 % of the nationwide federal prison population whose communications most concern the upper echelons of the DOJ .
Indeed , the DOJ seems less concerned by correspondence to and from record-setting Ponzi-schemer Bernie Madoff , because unlike Miller , the DOJ never put Madoff in a CMU .
And the DOJ ’ s apparent obsession with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ little to do with organized crime—at least of the Italian-Mafia variety .
Instead , Siereveld and the DOJ are blocking Miller from conferring with Wray ’ s other accusers , the men who now swear under penalty of perjury , with nothing apparent to gain for themselves , that Wray similarly threatened them with 30-year federal prison sentences if they refused to say what he wanted .
Thus , Miller is perhaps the latest stark reminder of an important lesson that seems to have been scorned repeatedly by FBI directors from J. Edgar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and his replacement Christopher Wray : The ends of political advancement can ’ t always justify the means .
In the earlier example from the heyday of the “ old ” Boston FBI , decades before Wray allegedly was investigating the Gambinos and the Gottis , crooked agents who were supposed to be working to bring to justice La Cosa Nostra ( LCN ) , ( or Sicilian Mafia ) , instead knowingly used lying murderer/informant Joseph “ The Animal ” Barboza to frame four scapegoats , Enrico Tameleo , Louis Greco @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , for the murder of a man named Edward Deegan , who in reality was killed by the FBI ’ s own “ Top Echelon ” informants .
Salvati got life .
Tameleo , Greco , and Limone were sentenced to die in the electric chair .
Four innocent men framed by the Boston FBI spent 30 years , or died , in prison before their convictions were overturned .
( Courtesy of Hollywood Goodfella , date unknown ) That was 1968 .
In 1972 , the Supreme Court struck down the sentencing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cases , and the three electrocutions were commuted to life imprisonment .
( Four years later the Supreme Court approved a different sentencing procedure used today for death-penalty cases that requires a separate penalty phase , but death sentences that were already commuted , including the three in the Deegan case , didn ’ t change back .
Regardless , Tameleo died in prison after 18 years .
And Greco died behind bars a decade later—after he served 28 years—and after both men and their families first stared down the possibility they ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ knew they didn ’ t commit , by absorbing 1,000+ volts of electricity while awake , strapped down , and fully conscious in the electric chair .
“ I literally was not committing crimes , ” Miller says now , referring to the 1990s when he was operator and minority owner of Atlanta ’ s Gold Club , which was well known as the biggest club in the city , as well as for its adult entertainment .
It was then , Miller says , that Wray , who at the time was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ testify against the Gambinos and the Gottis ( who are of no known relation to reporter Martin Gottesfeld ) .
“ They gave me a three-ring binder full of information and said , ‘ Let us know what you know and everything will be good , ’ ” Miller recounts , noting the agent ’ s poor grammar .
The procedure of giving potential witnesses information first , before asking what they know , is a commonly reported tactic to get unscrupulous informants to testify to whatever agents want from them .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ‘ I know you ’ re innocent , Mr. Miller .
I don ’ t want to see you go to prison for 35 years .
But this is how the system works , ’ ” Miller says .
A decade or so earlier , Miller ’ s father may have been a “ made man ” when he was murdered .
Miller , whose family and friends call him Bobby , was 13 and had only recently started to get to know his dad at age 11 .
Miller ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when he was a boy .
Then , at age 18 , Miller says he was attacked by two men , whom he shot in self-defense .
He doesn ’ t believe the incident was related to the earlier murders .
And state prosecutors seemed to credit Miller ’ s version of events .
Charges were dropped as part of an agreement in which he enlisted in the U.S. Navy .
“ I wanted to become a SEAL , ” Miller says .
“ Two years in , though , they wouldn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ me to the training program for Navy SEALs .
So , I exercised an opt-out clause in my enlistment agreement .
It gave me an honorable discharge if they hadn ’ t sent me to SEAL training by that point.
” Miller says he would rather have taken the SEAL training and stayed in the Navy , but after two years of getting the run-around , the chances of that seemed slim .
Miller was 19 when he left the Navy in 1989 .
“ I was below the drinking age , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have wanted to “ make me , ” as Miller puts it .
“ It ’ s not like the movies , ” however , Miller says .
“ Not everybody wants to be made and wants to be a boss .
I chose to get away from that life.
” Miller feels that in light of the murders of his father and his uncle , anyone who may have wanted him to follow in their footsteps would ’ ve understood his decision to leave the Northeast and get far away from that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well .
Miller ’ s younger brother was later murdered , while he may have been becoming “ a made man.
” Fresh out of the Navy , Miller says he was presented with other options .
One of them may have been assuming operational management and minority ownership of the Gold Club in Atlanta , where Miller had acquaintances .
Rumeal Robinson , Miller ’ s friend from their time together at the noteworthy Rindge & Latin School in Cambridge , Massachusetts , was drafted to the NBA in the first round @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after Robinson scored the winning free throws for the University of Michigan Wolverines in their 80-79 overtime victory against Seton Hall for the 1989 men ’ s NCAA Division I championship .
Rumeal Robinson throws the game-winning foul shot for Michigan in the 1989 NCAA—Division-I championship ( YouTube screengrabs ) “ Glen Rice was on that Wolverines team too , ” pointed out Miller , who is an avid sports fan .
Miller soon found others drawing him to Atlanta as well , including Jennifer Ashford .
Asked if he was in love @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In a flash , 20 years of age seemed to disappear from his face as he gave in to a boyish smile and answered unequivocally , “ Yes.
” There were no ifs , ands , or mays about Miller ’ s answer .
Soon , Miller and Ashford learned they were expecting a son .
Though Miller and Ashford later separated , Miller remained a dedicated father .
“ I coached my son ’ s Pop-Warner football team , his baseball team , and his basketball team , ” says Miller @ @ @ @ @ @ @ PTA.
” That was before Miller met Wray , and before the CMUs .
“ They ’ ve destroyed that whole relationship , ” Miller now says regarding the long-term effect of the CMUs on him and his now—29-year-old son , who is older today than Miller was when Wray entered their lives .
Others also find it tough to maintain family ties in the CMUs .
A federal appeals court in Washington , DC noted more than 3 years ago , in a case brought by the Manhattan-based Center for Constitutional Rights @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like Miller , “ may spend years denied contact with their loved ones and with diminished ability to communicate with them .
The harms of these deprivations are heightened over time , as children grow older and relationships with the outside become more difficult to maintain.
” The U.S. Court of Appeals then quoted a lower federal court in Louisiana , reflecting on similar conditions , “ With each passing day its effects are exponentially increased , just as surely as a single drop of water repeated endlessly will eventually bore through the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the indictments started dropping and Miller ’ s name entered the news cycle in 1997 , he had a new fiancé .
He ’ d met Katherine Miller while he was out and about in Atlanta .
Their common surname was just a coincidence and they quickly established that they weren ’ t relatives .
This coincidence , however , would prove important after the authorities arrested Miller .
Katherine stood by Miller , who asserted that he was innocent while many in media labeled him “ John Gotti , Jr. ” “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Miller says .
“ When I got to the CMU , they blocked her .
She comes from a great family.
” Miller ’ s fiancé was adopted by James B. Miller , the source of her surname , and the founder and president of Fidelity National Bank , headquartered on Piedmont Road .
“ I was engaged to marry into a banking family , why would I counterfeit $ 2,500 ?
” asks Miller , referring to the small amount of cash that Wray initially alleged he counterfeited .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after I refused to lie , they hit me with the witness-tampering charge to raise the stakes.
” “ They sent a lot of people into my cell block to inform on me , ” Miller recalls .
“ One of them stole my mail from Katherine to see if there was anything he could use .
Since Katherine and I have the same last name , he assumed we were married when we were not.
” The Cobb County Jail in Marietta , Georgia , where informants say the plot to frame @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( YouTube screengrab ) The man who grabbed Miller ’ s mail has since admitted that he helped Wray frame Miller on the witness-tampering charge .
“ He said that he was willing to testify that I offered to pay him to kill my wife , ” Miller says , “ which is ridiculous because I didn ’ t have a wife .
He just assumed that I did based on my mail from ‘ Katherine Miller.
’ ” That narrative later changed , Miller says , to accuse him of plotting to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ son .
Regardless , Miller ’ s supposed coconspirator is now adamant that in reality he and Miller never planned to harm anyone .
In fact , Robert Ethan Miller , Jr. at no time mentioned any desire or intention to kill [ Ashford ] , ” the informant declared under penalty of perjury on July 14th , 2005 , some 12 years before Wray was named FBI director .
“ When I told this to Mr. Wray , he told me that if I have told anyone else , I was going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he declared again in 2018 .
“ I was terrified by the threats made to me by Mr. Wray.
” The question now seems to be , can the same be said of FBI Director Wray ?
One possible answer , taken from a sworn affidavit : “ Mr .
Wray ’ s office stole the lives of several families , while judges did all they could to cover up the fact that Mr. Miller was innocent , to keep the corruption out of public eyes.
” These and other documents from Miller @ @ @ @ @ @ @ At the end of the interview , Miller listens to the following introduction from Judge Gerner ’ s 287-page decision vindicating the four innocent men the FBI framed three decades before his similar experience .
Afterwards , Miller notes that what Gertner found is commonplace in today ’ s federal justice system .
“ Why aren ’ t they correcting more people ’ s cases ?
He asks , “ How do you still have my case after that ?
” Despite the complexity of the record , this decision is far , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wished .
It has taken much more time to complete than I had predicted .
But there was no other alternative .
The conclusions that the plaintiffs have asked me to draw—that government agents suborned perjury , framed four innocent men , conspired to keep them in jail for three decades—are so shocking that I felt obliged to analyze this complex record with special care in order that the public , and especially the parties , could be fully confident of my conclusions .
I have concluded that the plaintiffs ’ accusations that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are proved .
In the pages that follow , I will describe why in detail .
This introduction summarizes some of those findings .
The plaintiffs were convicted of Deegan ’ s murder based on the perjured testimony of Joseph “ The Animal ” Barboza ( “ Barboza ” ) .
The FBI agents ‘ handling ” Barboza , Dennis Condon ( “ Condon ” ) and H. Paul Rico ( “ Rico ” ) , and their superiors—all the way up to the FBI Director—knew that Barboza would perjure himself .
They @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many times over , had told them so—directly and indirectly .
Barboza ’ s testimony about the plaintiffs contradicted every shred of evidence in the FBI ’ s possession at the time— and the FBI had extraordinary information .
Barboza ’ s testimony contradicted evidence from an illegal wiretap that had intercepted stunning plans for the Deegan murder before it had taken place , plans that never included the plaintiffs .
It contradicted multiple reports from informants , including the very killers who were the FBI ’ s “ Top Echelon ” informants @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Barboza ’ s story was false , they encouraged him to testify in the Deegan murder trial .
They never bothered to tell the truth to the Suffolk County District Attorney ’ s Office .
Worse yet , they assured the District Attorney that Barboza ’ s story “ checked out.
” The FBI knew Barboza ’ s testimony was perjured because they suborned that perjury .
They met with Barboza long before the state authorities ever did .
They coddled him , nurtured him , debriefed him , protected him , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
When Barboza told them he would not accuse the man they knew to be one of Deegan ’ s killers , his friend and FBI informant , Jimmy Flemmi , they urged Barboza to testify nonetheless .
And when he announced that he would accuse four men who had never been linked to this murder , they were undaunted .
The continued to press for his testimony .
Indeed , they took steps to make certain that Barboza ’ s false story would withstand cross-examination , and even be corroborated by other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the FBI condoned Barboza ’ s lies .
FBI agent Dennis Condon even told the Deegan jury that he was “ always concerned with the purity of testimony on the part of ” his witnesses , referring to Barboza , the perjurer .
When Tameleo , Greco , and Limone were sentenced to death , Salvati to life imprisonment , the FBI did not stand silently ; they congratulated the agents for a job well done .
Nor did the FBI ’ s misconduct stop after the plaintiffs were convicted .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new trial , one even took and passed a polygraph test on public television—over and over again protesting their innocence .
They sought commutations , appeared before parole boards , seeking clemency from the governor , even appealing to the press .
On each occasion , when asked about the plaintiffs , on each occasion when the FBI could have disclosed the truth—the perfidy of Barboza and their complicity in it—they did not .
This was so even as more and more evidence surfaced casting more and more doubt on these convictions .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Barboza tried to recant his testimony , not in all cases in which he had participated , but only as to the plaintiffs in this case—the very men the FBI knew to be innocent .
In the 1980s , Agent Rico was found by a court to have suborned the perjury of another witness under similar circumstances .
Yet , there was still no FBI investigation , no searching inquiry to see if an injustice had been done in this case .
Rather , while Salvati and Limone languished in jail for thirty-odd @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in prison , Barboza and his FBI handlers flourished .
The FBI agents were given raises and promotions precisely for their extraordinary role in procuring the Deegan convictions .
Even when Barboza , the “ poster boy ” for the new federal witness protection program , committed yet another murder , three federal officials testified—now for the second time—on his behalf .
FBI officials up the line allowed their employees to break laws , violate rules and ruin lives , interrupted only with the occasional burst of applause .
The FBI knew Barboza @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the plaintiffs ’ convictions had been procured by perjury , that critical exculpatory information had been withheld—but they did not flinch .
After all , the killers they protected—Jimmy Flemmi , along with Barboza , and Jimmy ’ s brother , Stephen—were providing valued information in the “ war ” against the Italian Mafia , La Cosa Nostra ( “ LCN ” ) .
The pieties the FBI offered to justify their actions are the usual ones : The benefits outweighed the costs .
Put otherwise , in terms that are more recently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ collateral damage ” in the LCN war .
To the FBI , the plaintiffs ’ lives , and those of their family , just did not matter .
As Agent Rico put it in his testimony before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform , when asked if he had any remorse that four innocent men went to prison , he replied : “ Would you like tears or something ?
” Now is the time to say and say without equivocation : This “ cost ” to the liberty @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of justice is not remotely acceptable .
No man ’ s liberty is dispensable .
No human being may be traded for another .
Our system cherishes each individual .
We have fought wars over this principle .
We are still fighting those wars .
Sadly , when law enforcement perverts its mission , the criminal justice system does not easily self-correct .
We understand that our system makes mistakes ; we have appeals to address them , But this case goes beyond mistakes , beyond the unavoidable errors of a fallible system @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , subornation of perjury , conspiracy , the framing of innocent men .
While judges are scrutinized—our decisions made in public and appealed—law enforcement decisions like these rarely see the light of day .
The public necessarily relies on the integrity and professionalism of its officials .
It took nearly thirty years to uncover this injustice .
It took the extraordinary efforts of [ another ] judge , a lawyer [ Victor Garo ] , even a [ news ] reporter [ Dan Rea of CBS4 Television Stations , who relentlessly pursued the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , to finally bring out the facts .
Proof of innocence in this democracy should not depend upon efforts as gargantuan as these .
White House spokesperson Hogan Gidley did not immediately respond to a request for comment prior to publication as to whether the White House knew about the above information during Wray ’ s confirmation .
Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsay Graham did not immediately respond ] to a request for comment prior to publication as to whether the White House knew about the above information during Wray ’ s confirmation .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ this part of the CMU Series due to an anticipated scheduling conflict .

PLEASE NOTE: The author has made this series available at FreeMartyG.com under the latest Creative Commons by-attribution commercial-use-permitted share-alike no-derivatives license.
This is part 8. Click here to read Inside the Black Sites Where Obama, Clinton, and Holder Buried Their Secrets—Part 1 of the CMU Series or click here to read Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here—Part 7 of the CMU Series.
FBI Director Christopher A. Wray and his colleagues framed Robert Ethan Miller in the 1990s and he’s been in federal prison ever since, according to three witnesses who confess to following Wray’s instruction to lie under oath during Miller’s trial. Miller (not to be confused with Mueller) was the operational manager and part owner of the Gold Club on Atlanta’s busy Piedmont Road when Wray indicted him on charges of counterfeiting and conspiracy to kill a federal witness.
It’s the DOJ, however, that seems to be engaged in an ongoing conspiracy to cover for Wray, one that prevented the White House and the Senate from learning about Miller’s case in 2017, when the White House vetted Wray for the role of FBI Director and the Senate convened confirmation hearings.
Miller’s case appears reminiscent of a scandal that broke during Robert Mueller’s tenure as FBI Director. In 2007, Boston-based Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Nancy Gertner (since retired) ruled that multiple FBI directors and other top brass, indeed, “The entire FBI hierarchy,” going as far back as 1967, “was implicated” in the framing of four innocent men for a murder carried out by “Top Echelon” FBI informants. Judge Gertner also found that the FBI engaged in a decades-long cover-up, even after its chief trial witness, Joseph “The Animal” Barboza, had a crisis of conscience and tried to recant his false testimony.
Joseph “The Animal” Barboza had a crisis of conscience—unlike his FBI handlers—and tried to recant his false testimony after it was used to frame four innocent men. (Boston Police Department, 1965)
The new case started when Miller refused Wray’s demand to testify falsely against the Gambinos and the Gottis in 1997, says Miller. The DOJ has now held Miller nearly incommunicado for over a decade and interfered with his court filings due to his efforts to prove that he’s innocent; until today, his first chance to clear the air in a media interview about his experiences with Wray.
“I was told to say what they wanted to hear or I’d get 35 years,” Miller reports.
Miller and the three informants who helped convict him now stand firm against the DOJ and allege that Wray knowingly used bogus evidence and false sworn testimony to trick a federal judge and jury into sending Miller to federal prison to serve a three-and-a-half-decade sentence for made-up crimes. Miller has been locked up ever since—for what is now 22 years—while documents from his trial, including his indictment and sentencing transcript, have conspicuously gone missing from federal-court record.
Miller has spent much of that time in the DOJ’s communication management units (CMUs), where department personnel, particularly CMU administrator Katherine Siereveld, preemptively screen and block nearly all of his attempts to correspond with attorneys, family, friends, journalists, the courts, and the DOJ’s internal watchdog, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). Miller reports that he only felt this scrutiny intensify after Wray was named to replace James Comey as FBI director.
The Senate confirmation of FBI Director Christopher Wray (picture) may have intensified the DOJ’s desire to keep Wray’s past in the past. (U.S. DOJ/ Public domain, 2017)
Records show that the DOJ spends tens of millions of tax dollars each year on its CMUs in order to keep a constant eye on about 80 of its roughly 175,000 federal prisoners Or put another way, Miller is among the 0.05% of the nationwide federal prison population whose communications most concern the upper echelons of the DOJ. Indeed, the DOJ seems less concerned by correspondence to and from record-setting Ponzi-schemer Bernie Madoff, because unlike Miller, the DOJ never put Madoff in a CMU.
And the DOJ’s apparent obsession with Miller’s communications seems to have little to do with organized crime—at least of the Italian-Mafia variety. Instead, Siereveld and the DOJ are blocking Miller from conferring with Wray’s other accusers, the men who now swear under penalty of perjury, with nothing apparent to gain for themselves, that Wray similarly threatened them with 30-year federal prison sentences if they refused to say what he wanted.
Thus, Miller is perhaps the latest stark reminder of an important lesson that seems to have been scorned repeatedly by FBI directors from J. Edgar Hoover to Robert Mueller, James Comey, and his replacement Christopher Wray: The ends of political advancement can’t always justify the means.
In the earlier example from the heyday of the “old” Boston FBI, decades before Wray allegedly was investigating the Gambinos and the Gottis, crooked agents who were supposed to be working to bring to justice La Cosa Nostra (LCN), (or Sicilian Mafia), instead knowingly used lying murderer/informant Joseph “The Animal” Barboza to frame four scapegoats, Enrico Tameleo, Louis Greco, Joseph Salvati, and Peter Limone, for the murder of a man named Edward Deegan, who in reality was killed by the FBI’s own “Top Echelon” informants. Salvati got life. Tameleo, Greco, and Limone were sentenced to die in the electric chair.
Four innocent men framed by the Boston FBI spent 30 years, or died, in prison before their convictions were overturned. (Courtesy of Hollywood Goodfella, date unknown)
That was 1968. In 1972, the Supreme Court struck down the sentencing procedure that was regularly used in death-penalty cases, and the three electrocutions were commuted to life imprisonment. (Four years later the Supreme Court approved a different sentencing procedure used today for death-penalty cases that requires a separate penalty phase, but death sentences that were already commuted, including the three in the Deegan case, didn’t change back.
Regardless, Tameleo died in prison after 18 years. And Greco died behind bars a decade later—after he served 28 years—and after both men and their families first stared down the possibility they’d be executed for a crime they knew they didn’t commit, by absorbing 1,000+ volts of electricity while awake, strapped down, and fully conscious in the electric chair.
“I literally was not committing crimes,” Miller says now, referring to the 1990s when he was operator and minority owner of Atlanta’s Gold Club, which was well known as the biggest club in the city, as well as for its adult entertainment.
It was then, Miller says, that Wray, who at the time was an assistant U.S. attorney, demanded he testify against the Gambinos and the Gottis (who are of no known relation to reporter Martin Gottesfeld).
“They gave me a three-ring binder full of information and said, ‘Let us know what you know and everything will be good,’” Miller recounts, noting the agent’s poor grammar.
The procedure of giving potential witnesses information first, before asking what they know, is a commonly reported tactic to get unscrupulous informants to testify to whatever agents want from them.
“Secret Service Agent Donna James told me, ‘I know you’re innocent, Mr. Miller. I don’t want to see you go to prison for 35 years. But this is how the system works,’” Miller says.
A decade or so earlier, Miller’s father may have been a “made man” when he was murdered. Miller, whose family and friends call him Bobby, was 13 and had only recently started to get to know his dad at age 11.
Miller’s uncle was also murdered under similar circumstances when he was a boy.
Then, at age 18, Miller says he was attacked by two men, whom he shot in self-defense. He doesn’t believe the incident was related to the earlier murders. And state prosecutors seemed to credit Miller’s version of events. Charges were dropped as part of an agreement in which he enlisted in the U.S. Navy.
“I wanted to become a SEAL,” Miller says. “Two years in, though, they wouldn’t give me my rating and send me to the training program for Navy SEALs. So, I exercised an opt-out clause in my enlistment agreement. It gave me an honorable discharge if they hadn’t sent me to SEAL training by that point.”
Miller says he would rather have taken the SEAL training and stayed in the Navy, but after two years of getting the run-around, the chances of that seemed slim.
Miller was 19 when he left the Navy in 1989.
“I was below the drinking age,” he reflects.
The Gambino family may have wanted to “make me,” as Miller puts it.
“It’s not like the movies,” however, Miller says. “Not everybody wants to be made and wants to be a boss. I chose to get away from that life.”
Miller feels that in light of the murders of his father and his uncle, anyone who may have wanted him to follow in their footsteps would’ve understood his decision to leave the Northeast and get far away from that lifestyle. And he may have chosen well. Miller’s younger brother was later murdered, while he may have been becoming “a made man.”
Fresh out of the Navy, Miller says he was presented with other options. One of them may have been assuming operational management and minority ownership of the Gold Club in Atlanta, where Miller had acquaintances.
Rumeal Robinson, Miller’s friend from their time together at the noteworthy Rindge & Latin School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was drafted to the NBA in the first round by the young Atlanta Hawks franchise, after Robinson scored the winning free throws for the University of Michigan Wolverines in their 80-79 overtime victory against Seton Hall for the 1989 men’s NCAA Division I championship.
Rumeal Robinson throws the game-winning foul shot for Michigan in the 1989 NCAA—Division-I championship (YouTube screengrabs)
“Glen Rice was on that Wolverines team too,” pointed out Miller, who is an avid sports fan.
Miller soon found others drawing him to Atlanta as well, including Jennifer Ashford.
Asked if he was in love with Ashford, Miller quickly turned bashful. In a flash, 20 years of age seemed to disappear from his face as he gave in to a boyish smile and answered unequivocally, “Yes.”
There were no ifs, ands, or mays about Miller’s answer.
Soon, Miller and Ashford learned they were expecting a son.
Though Miller and Ashford later separated, Miller remained a dedicated father.
“I coached my son’s Pop-Warner football team, his baseball team, and his basketball team,” says Miller. “I was part of the PTA.”
That was before Miller met Wray, and before the CMUs.
“They’ve destroyed that whole relationship,” Miller now says regarding the long-term effect of the CMUs on him and his now—29-year-old son, who is older today than Miller was when Wray entered their lives.
Others also find it tough to maintain family ties in the CMUs. A federal appeals court in Washington, DC noted more than 3 years ago, in a case brought by the Manhattan-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), that CMU inmates like Miller, “may spend years denied contact with their loved ones and with diminished ability to communicate with them. The harms of these deprivations are heightened over time, as children grow older and relationships with the outside become more difficult to maintain.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals then quoted a lower federal court in Louisiana, reflecting on similar conditions, “With each passing day its effects are exponentially increased, just as surely as a single drop of water repeated endlessly will eventually bore through the hardest of stones.”
By the time the indictments started dropping and Miller’s name entered the news cycle in 1997, he had a new fiancé. He’d met Katherine Miller while he was out and about in Atlanta. Their common surname was just a coincidence and they quickly established that they weren’t relatives. This coincidence, however, would prove important after the authorities arrested Miller.
Katherine stood by Miller, who asserted that he was innocent while many in media labeled him “John Gotti, Jr.”
“She stood by me the whole time,” Miller says. “When I got to the CMU, they blocked her. She comes from a great family.”
Miller’s fiancé was adopted by James B. Miller, the source of her surname, and the founder and president of Fidelity National Bank, headquartered on Piedmont Road.
“I was engaged to marry into a banking family, why would I counterfeit $2,500?” asks Miller, referring to the small amount of cash that Wray initially alleged he counterfeited. “That makes no sense. Then, after I refused to lie, they hit me with the witness-tampering charge to raise the stakes.”
“They sent a lot of people into my cell block to inform on me,” Miller recalls. “One of them stole my mail from Katherine to see if there was anything he could use. Since Katherine and I have the same last name, he assumed we were married when we were not.”
The Cobb County Jail in Marietta, Georgia, where informants say the plot to frame Robert Miller got off the ground. (YouTube screengrab)
The man who grabbed Miller’s mail has since admitted that he helped Wray frame Miller on the witness-tampering charge.
“He said that he was willing to testify that I offered to pay him to kill my wife,” Miller says, “which is ridiculous because I didn’t have a wife. He just assumed that I did based on my mail from ‘Katherine Miller.’”
That narrative later changed, Miller says, to accuse him of plotting to kill Ashford, the mother of his son. Regardless, Miller’s supposed coconspirator is now adamant that in reality he and Miller never planned to harm anyone.
In fact, Robert Ethan Miller, Jr. at no time mentioned any desire or intention to kill [Ashford],” the informant declared under penalty of perjury on July 14th, 2005, some 12 years before Wray was named FBI director.
“When I told this to Mr. Wray, he told me that if I have told anyone else, I was going to jail for 30 years,” he declared again in 2018. “I was terrified by the threats made to me by Mr. Wray.”
“I don’t victimize people,” Miller says today. “I’ve never victimized people.”
The question now seems to be, can the same be said of FBI Director Wray?
One possible answer, taken from a sworn affidavit: “Mr. Wray’s office stole the lives of several families, while judges did all they could to cover up the fact that Mr. Miller was innocent, to keep the corruption out of public eyes.”
These and other documents from Miller’s case are available here.
At the end of the interview, Miller listens to the following introduction from Judge Gerner’s 287-page decision vindicating the four innocent men the FBI framed three decades before his similar experience.
Afterwards, Miller notes that what Gertner found is commonplace in today’s federal justice system.
“Why aren’t they correcting more people’s cases? He asks, “How do you still have my case after that?”
Despite the complexity of the record, this decision is far, far, longer than I would have wished. It has taken much more time to complete than I had predicted. But there was no other alternative. The conclusions that the plaintiffs have asked me to draw—that government agents suborned perjury, framed four innocent men, conspired to keep them in jail for three decades—are so shocking that I felt obliged to analyze this complex record with special care in order that the public, and especially the parties, could be fully confident of my conclusions.
I have concluded that the plaintiffs’ accusations that the United States government violated the law are proved. In the pages that follow, I will describe why in detail. This introduction summarizes some of those findings.
The plaintiffs were convicted of Deegan’s murder based on the perjured testimony of Joseph “The Animal” Barboza (“Barboza”). The FBI agents ‘handling” Barboza, Dennis Condon (“Condon”) and H. Paul Rico (“Rico”), and their superiors—all the way up to the FBI Director—knew that Barboza would perjure himself. They knew this because Barboza, a killer many times over, had told them so—directly and indirectly. Barboza’s testimony about the plaintiffs contradicted every shred of evidence in the FBI’s possession at the time— and the FBI had extraordinary information. Barboza’s testimony contradicted evidence from an illegal wiretap that had intercepted stunning plans for the Deegan murder before it had taken place, plans that never included the plaintiffs. It contradicted multiple reports from informants, including the very killers who were the FBI’s “Top Echelon” informants.
And even though the FBI knew Barboza’s story was false, they encouraged him to testify in the Deegan murder trial. They never bothered to tell the truth to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. Worse yet, they assured the District Attorney that Barboza’s story “checked out.”
The FBI knew Barboza’s testimony was perjured because they suborned that perjury. They met with Barboza long before the state authorities ever did. They coddled him, nurtured him, debriefed him, protected him, and rewarded him—no matter how much he lied. When Barboza told them he would not accuse the man they knew to be one of Deegan’s killers, his friend and FBI informant, Jimmy Flemmi, they urged Barboza to testify nonetheless. And when he announced that he would accuse four men who had never been linked to this murder, they were undaunted. The continued to press for his testimony. Indeed, they took steps to make certain that Barboza’s false story would withstand cross-examination, and even be corroborated by other witnesses.
In word and in deed, the FBI condoned Barboza’s lies. FBI agent Dennis Condon even told the Deegan jury that he was “always concerned with the purity of testimony on the part of” his witnesses, referring to Barboza, the perjurer. When Tameleo, Greco, and Limone were sentenced to death, Salvati to life imprisonment, the FBI did not stand silently; they congratulated the agents for a job well done.
Nor did the FBI’s misconduct stop after the plaintiffs were convicted. The plaintiffs appealed, filed motions for a new trial, one even took and passed a polygraph test on public television—over and over again protesting their innocence. They sought commutations, appeared before parole boards, seeking clemency from the governor, even appealing to the press. On each occasion, when asked about the plaintiffs, on each occasion when the FBI could have disclosed the truth—the perfidy of Barboza and their complicity in it—they did not. This was so even as more and more evidence surfaced casting more and more doubt on these convictions. In the 1970s, for example, Barboza tried to recant his testimony, not in all cases in which he had participated, but only as to the plaintiffs in this case—the very men the FBI knew to be innocent. In the 1980s, Agent Rico was found by a court to have suborned the perjury of another witness under similar circumstances. Yet, there was still no FBI investigation, no searching inquiry to see if an injustice had been done in this case.
Rather, while Salvati and Limone languished in jail for thirty-odd years, and Greco and Tameleo died in prison, Barboza and his FBI handlers flourished. The FBI agents were given raises and promotions precisely for their extraordinary role in procuring the Deegan convictions. Even when Barboza, the “poster boy” for the new federal witness protection program, committed yet another murder, three federal officials testified—now for the second time—on his behalf. FBI officials up the line allowed their employees to break laws, violate rules and ruin lives, interrupted only with the occasional burst of applause.
The FBI knew Barboza’s testimony was false, that the plaintiffs’ convictions had been procured by perjury, that critical exculpatory information had been withheld—but they did not flinch. After all, the killers they protected—Jimmy Flemmi, along with Barboza, and Jimmy’s brother, Stephen—were providing valued information in the “war” against the Italian Mafia, La Cosa Nostra (“LCN”). The pieties the FBI offered to justify their actions are the usual ones: The benefits outweighed the costs. Put otherwise, in terms that are more recently familiar, these four men were “collateral damage” in the LCN war. To the FBI, the plaintiffs’ lives, and those of their family, just did not matter. As Agent Rico put it in his testimony before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform, when asked if he had any remorse that four innocent men went to prison, he replied: “Would you like tears or something?”
Now is the time to say and say without equivocation: This “cost” to the liberty of four men, to our system of justice is not remotely acceptable. No man’s liberty is dispensable. No human being may be traded for another. Our system cherishes each individual. We have fought wars over this principle. We are still fighting those wars.
Sadly, when law enforcement perverts its mission, the criminal justice system does not easily self-correct. We understand that our system makes mistakes; we have appeals to address them, But this case goes beyond mistakes, beyond the unavoidable errors of a fallible system. This case is about intentional misconduct, subornation of perjury, conspiracy, the framing of innocent men. While judges are scrutinized—our decisions made in public and appealed—law enforcement decisions like these rarely see the light of day. The public necessarily relies on the integrity and professionalism of its officials.
It took nearly thirty years to uncover this injustice. It took the extraordinary efforts of [another] judge, a lawyer [Victor Garo], even a [news] reporter [Dan Rea of CBS4 Television Stations, who relentlessly pursued the case of Salvati’s innocence], to finally bring out the facts. Proof of innocence in this democracy should not depend upon efforts as gargantuan as these.
White House spokesperson Hogan Gidley did not immediately respond to a request for comment prior to publication as to whether the White House knew about the above information during Wray’s confirmation.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsay Graham did not immediately respond] to a request for comment prior to publication as to whether the White House knew about the above information during Wray’s confirmation.
Francis Schaeffer Cox did not contribute to this part of the CMU Series due to an anticipated scheduling conflict.


newswars--2020-05-04--Over A Thousand Illegals Released By ICE After Federal Court Ruling

U.S. District Court Judge Marcia G. Cooke has ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ) to release 1,200 illegal aliens held in the Miami metropolitan area , after far-left activists sued .
The Daily Mail reports that both non-violent criminals and violent criminals with underlying medical conditions are eligible for release on parole with phone check-ins .
Cooke , who serves on the District Court for the Southern District of Florida , accused ICE of not providing for adequate “ social distancing ” of the criminal migrants .
“ There is record evidence demonstrating that ICE has failed in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ general well-being of the petitioners , ” her ruling said .
“ Social distancing at Krome is not only practically impossible , the conditions are becoming worse every day .
Further , ICE has failed to provide detainees in some detention centers with masks , soap and other cleaning supplies , and failed to ensure that all detainees housed at the three detention centers can practice social distancing.
” The three detention centers affected by the order are Miami ’ s Krome Service Processing Center , Moore Haven ’ s Glades County Detention @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Broward Transitional Center .
Four left-wing organizations were behind the lawsuit – the Southern Poverty Law Center , the Rapid Defense Network , the Miami Law Immigration Clinic , and Americans for Immigrant Justice .
“ Great news in FL .
It is unethical to hold immigrants in these centers during the pandemic !
Congrats [ to ] Americans for Immigrant Justice & all those advocates in this fight , ” wrote Freedom Network USA , another pro-illegal immigration organization , in response to the ruling .
America First conservatives were infuriated by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Daniel Horowitz describing it as an “ illegal ruling ” .
He called on the President to take action to force the expulsion of the criminal aliens in an op-ed for Conservative Review : “ All things equal , the law provides these illegal aliens with an immigration court process .
But that requires detention , and if a judge is going to subvert detention , then Trump has every right to remove them from the country .
The Supreme Court has said for 130 years , in what is considered one of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , that illegal aliens who have not been affirmatively and consensually admitted to this country are as if they are standing physically outside our country .
Clarence Thomas has suggested that perhaps the president has inherent authority to deport even a legal immigrant who is here under statute .
But Trump certainly can apply that to an illegal alien who is considered as if he ’ s standing outside our country.
” Most people don ’ t realize that as much as 90 % of the medicine they use comes from China !

U.S. District Court Judge Marcia G. Cooke has ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to release 1,200 illegal aliens held in the Miami metropolitan area, after far-left activists sued.
The Daily Mail reports that both non-violent criminals and violent criminals with underlying medical conditions are eligible for release on parole with phone check-ins.
Cooke, who serves on the District Court for the Southern District of Florida, accused ICE of not providing for adequate “social distancing” of the criminal migrants.
“There is record evidence demonstrating that ICE has failed in its duty to protect the safety and general well-being of the petitioners,” her ruling said. “Social distancing at Krome is not only practically impossible, the conditions are becoming worse every day. Further, ICE has failed to provide detainees in some detention centers with masks, soap and other cleaning supplies, and failed to ensure that all detainees housed at the three detention centers can practice social distancing.”
The three detention centers affected by the order are Miami’s Krome Service Processing Center, Moore Haven’s Glades County Detention Center, and Pompano Beach’s Broward Transitional Center.
Four left-wing organizations were behind the lawsuit – the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Rapid Defense Network, the Miami Law Immigration Clinic, and Americans for Immigrant Justice.
“Great news in FL. It is unethical to hold immigrants in these centers during the pandemic! Congrats [to] Americans for Immigrant Justice & all those advocates in this fight,” wrote Freedom Network USA, another pro-illegal immigration organization, in response to the ruling.
America First conservatives were infuriated by the judgement, with columnist and lawyer Daniel Horowitz describing it as an “illegal ruling”. He called on the President to take action to force the expulsion of the criminal aliens in an op-ed for Conservative Review:
“All things equal, the law provides these illegal aliens with an immigration court process. But that requires detention, and if a judge is going to subvert detention, then Trump has every right to remove them from the country. The Supreme Court has said for 130 years, in what is considered one of the most uninterrupted chains of case law, that illegal aliens who have not been affirmatively and consensually admitted to this country are as if they are standing physically outside our country. Clarence Thomas has suggested that perhaps the president has inherent authority to deport even a legal immigrant who is here under statute. But Trump certainly can apply that to an illegal alien who is considered as if he’s standing outside our country.”
Most people don’t realize that as much as 90% of the medicine they use comes from China!


newswars--2020-05-04--America Must Reclaim Its Medicine

America Must Reclaim Its Medicine

Hypothetically speaking , China and the United States elevate tensions in the South China Sea .
Iran , North Korea and the globalist combine become a modern-day axis of evil , and now everything made in China is either under embargo or severely limited .
Just how deep of a whole have we dug when it comes to the supply of necessities we need to survive ?
Most people don ’ t realize that as much as ninety percent of the medicine they use comes from China , where pharmaceutical companies avoid US regulations and benefit from lower production costs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ largest producer of acetaminophen , commonly used in Benadryl , Sudafed , and Theraflu to name a few .
China is also the world ’ s largest producer of Vitamin C , exporting an annual production of over 100,000 tons .
How did America fall into such a deep decline ?
We can thank the Rockefellers .
John D. Rockefeller upended our healthcare system in the early 20th Century .
The discovery of petrochemicals led to the vilification of natural , nutritional and holistic medicine in order to establish a pharmaceutical Goliath shelling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rather than offering cures while increasing the scope of the Rockefeller ’ s monopolies .
Years later , David Rockefeller and his globalist cronies saw to the exportation of the industry , leaving Americans defenseless in a time of crisis .
And today , Bill Gates is using the old John D. Rockefeller method of problem-reaction-solution to con the American citizen into accepting a chip to monitor manufactured antibodies under a Microsoft , 5G , big brother technocracy .
This is how the globalists intend on achieving total control of the population .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ call as iconic American brands like Levi ’ s , Radio Flyer and even G.I .
Joe were all made in China .
While the Economic downturn caused by the Chinese Coronavirus may mean the end for American retailers like JC Penney , The Gap , and Old Navy .
Perhaps a Chinese embargo would finally wake average Americans from their tv zombie slumber .
Because we don ’ t make televisions in the United States anymore either .

Hypothetically speaking, China and the United States elevate tensions in the South China Sea.
Iran, North Korea and the globalist combine become a modern-day axis of evil, and now everything made in China is either under embargo or severely limited.
Just how deep of a whole have we dug when it comes to the supply of necessities we need to survive?
Most people don’t realize that as much as ninety percent of the medicine they use comes from China, where pharmaceutical companies avoid US regulations and benefit from lower production costs.
China is the world’s largest producer of acetaminophen, commonly used in Benadryl, Sudafed, and Theraflu to name a few.
China is also the world’s largest producer of Vitamin C, exporting an annual production of over 100,000 tons.
How did America fall into such a deep decline?
We can thank the Rockefellers.
John D. Rockefeller upended our healthcare system in the early 20th Century.
The discovery of petrochemicals led to the vilification of natural, nutritional and holistic medicine in order to establish a pharmaceutical Goliath shelling out patented synthetics that only treated symptoms rather than offering cures while increasing the scope of the Rockefeller’s monopolies.
Years later, David Rockefeller and his globalist cronies saw to the exportation of the industry, leaving Americans defenseless in a time of crisis.
And today, Bill Gates is using the old John D. Rockefeller method of problem-reaction-solution to con the American citizen into accepting a chip to monitor manufactured antibodies under a Microsoft, 5G, big brother technocracy.
This is how the globalists intend on achieving total control of the population.
It should have been a wake up call as iconic American brands like Levi’s, Radio Flyer and even G.I. Joe were all made in China. While the Economic downturn caused by the Chinese Coronavirus may mean the end for American retailers like JC Penney, The Gap, and Old Navy. Perhaps a Chinese embargo would finally wake average Americans from their tv zombie slumber. Because we don’t make televisions in the United States anymore either.


newswars--2020-05-04--Watch: Don Lemon Says Trump Jealous Because Michelle Obama “Better Looking” Than Melania Trump

CNN anchor Don Lemon went on a disturbing rant slamming First Lady Melania Trump ’ s looks while asking why President Trump is obsessed with his predecessor Barack Obama .
In a clip that went viral on social media , Lemon claimed not only is Obama better educated than Trump , but that his wife Michelle is also more accomplished than Melania – and better looking !
“ What is it about President Obama that really gets under your skin ?
” Lemon asked .
“ Is it because he ’ s smarter than you ?
Better educated ?
Made @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t need Daddy ’ s help ?
Wife is more accomplished ?
Better looking ?
” Lemon then pivoted to race and the birther issue , saying Trump is annoyed “ That he ’ s a black man that ’ s accomplished , became president ?
That he punked you on the whole birth certificate thing ?
” “ What is it about him ?
” Lemon questioned , adding , “ Just wondering.
” The rant was slammed as an example of CNN ’ s blatant anti-Trump bias , while others pointed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ obsessed with Trump .
The president has not yet issued a rebuttal as of writing .
Trump often refers to the fake news anchor as “ the dumbest man on television.
” Owen breaks down this shocking clip in which Michelle Obama proclaimed her belief that black people are better than white people .

CNN anchor Don Lemon went on a disturbing rant slamming First Lady Melania Trump’s looks while asking why President Trump is obsessed with his predecessor Barack Obama.
In a clip that went viral on social media, Lemon claimed not only is Obama better educated than Trump, but that his wife Michelle is also more accomplished than Melania – and better looking!
“What is it about President Obama that really gets under your skin?” Lemon asked.
“Is it because he’s smarter than you? Better educated? Made it on his own — didn’t need Daddy’s help? Wife is more accomplished? Better looking?”
Lemon then pivoted to race and the birther issue, saying Trump is annoyed “That he’s a black man that’s accomplished, became president? That he punked you on the whole birth certificate thing?”
“What is it about him?” Lemon questioned, adding, “Just wondering.”
The rant was slammed as an example of CNN’s blatant anti-Trump bias, while others pointed out it is Lemon who’s obsessed with Trump.
#DonLemon asks Trump, “Why are you so obsessed with Obama?” on Don Lemon’s 5,000th consecutive show ranting about Trump. — Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) May 4, 2020 Don Lemon doesn’t even try to be an objective journalist anymore
pic.twitter.com/J6wm4sx2yE — Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) May 4, 2020 Don Lemon is not a journalist. He is a paid political hack that says what he bosses at the DNC order him to say. — RD (@real_defender) May 4, 2020 The part where Don Lemon says Michelle Obama is better looking than Melania Trump pic.twitter.com/ykDZvk5Oyg — Melissa A. (@TheRightMelissa) May 4, 2020
The president has not yet issued a rebuttal as of writing.
Trump often refers to the fake news anchor as “the dumbest man on television.”
Owen breaks down this shocking clip in which Michelle Obama proclaimed her belief that black people are better than white people.


newswars--2020-05-04--The Time To Stand Is Now!

The Time To Stand Is Now!

The president must act against the Deep State .
The time for half measures is over .
Countless Americans gave @ @ @ @ @ freedoms those in political positions of power detest .
A Chinese virus of totalitarian dominance @ @ @ @ @ nightmare is sickening our country and as our liberty hangs in the balance , the @ @ @ @ @ .
Will you stand with the rest of America and push back against this scourge @ @ @ @

The president must act against the Deep State.
The time for half measures is over.
Countless Americans gave their lives for the very freedoms those in political positions of power detest.
A Chinese virus of totalitarian dominance fueled by a technocratic globalist nightmare is sickening our country and as our liberty hangs in the balance, the protests are growing in number.
Will you stand with the rest of America and push back against this scourge of engineered tyranny?


newswars--2020-05-04--Town Tells Shoppers to ‘Tip Their Mask’ to Prevent ‘Racial Bias’

It turns out Surgeon General Vice Admiral Jerome Adams was probably right .
Masks don ’ t help prevent the spread of COVID-19 .
Not because barrier protections don ’ t help stop disease transmission .
Medical professionals use them with good effect all the time .
They are the basis for Universal Precautions that prevent the spread of bloodborne illnesses .
But medical professionals and first responders are trained in their use .
The general public is not .
Case in point .
Governor J.B. Pritzker has made masks mandatory in Illinois effective May 1 .
In response to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ politicize the order and is putting out the following guidance : Since the CDC recommended everyone wears face masks when out in public and Governor J.B. Pritzker is mandating Illinois residents wear them starting May 1st , we will begin to see them more frequently .
However , for some communities , that causes anxiety .
The Village of a Thousand Elders is creating a safety initiative called “ Tip Your Mask ” to help prevent confusion and racial biases .
“ Tip Your Mask ” is in coordination with various police departments @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a store or building , you ’ re now asked to “ tip your mask ” by lowering it slightly so the business owner can see your face .
As someone trained in the use of PPE this made my headache .
Then I saw the poster that accompanies the program .
That simple gesture depicted in the poster completely negates the benefit of wearing the mask .
The germs are supposed to be on the outside of the mask which you are never supposed to touch the front of with your bare @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been wearing the mask for hours in multiple locations .
The public is reusing PPE or fashioning their own .
Healthcare providers don and doff equipment multiple times and use new equipment several times during the course of caring for patients .
The stated rationale is to relieve shop owner anxiety regarding people wearing masks : Reverend Wonder Harris who founded the Village of A Thousand Elders explains , “ if people were to commit a crime , they wouldn ’ t tip the mask because they ’ d be caught on camera.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ East Moline and said business owners agreed that tipping masks would ease their minds to know a customer is just inside to shop , and not commit a crime .
The program advocates washing your hands as soon as is practical after tipping your mask .
If that means after you have made your purchases and get home , just don ’ t wear the mask .
If after you have touched the outside of your mask , touched the cart , the purchases you ’ ve made , your steering wheel and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ provided zero protection .
Especially if you had been in close contact wearing the mask in other quarters prior to going to the store .
Normally I tell people to embrace the power of ‘ and.
’ In this case , it is really an either-or .
Either you require masks and teach people the appropriate way to utilize them , placing a priority on public health .
Or you don ’ t and prioritize public safety .
You really can not effectively do both .
Even with Georgia reopening , masks are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ employees that work with the public such as hairdressers .
Even some retail outlets are requiring them in departments where plexiglass barriers can ’ t be used effectively .
I watch how they are being worn and how the employees are handling them and cringe .
Adjusting them constantly due to poor fit , letting them sag below their nose , and pushing them up by the front make them quite literally useless in preventing disease transmission .
Perhaps these policies are meant to stem fear of disease transmission .
However , those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this equipment know better .
These policies will provide a false sense of security and make people less attentive to the things they can effectively control .
Maintain your social distance , consciously avoid touching your face and rubbing your eyes .
And for heaven ’ s sake wash your hands .
Most people don ’ t realize that as much as 90 % of the medicine they use comes from China !

It turns out Surgeon General Vice Admiral Jerome Adams was probably right.
Masks don’t help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Not because barrier protections don’t help stop disease transmission. Medical professionals use them with good effect all the time. They are the basis for Universal Precautions that prevent the spread of bloodborne illnesses.
But medical professionals and first responders are trained in their use. The general public is not.
Case in point. Governor J.B. Pritzker has made masks mandatory in Illinois effective May 1. In response to this, one community has decided to politicize the order and is putting out the following guidance:
Since the CDC recommended everyone wears face masks when out in public and Governor J.B. Pritzker is mandating Illinois residents wear them starting May 1st, we will begin to see them more frequently. However, for some communities, that causes anxiety. The Village of a Thousand Elders is creating a safety initiative called “Tip Your Mask” to help prevent confusion and racial biases.
“Tip Your Mask” is in coordination with various police departments in Illinois. When you go into a store or building, you’re now asked to “tip your mask” by lowering it slightly so the business owner can see your face.
As someone trained in the use of PPE this made my headache. Then I saw the poster that accompanies the program.
When you go into a store, you’re now asked to “tip your mask” by lowering it slightly so the business owner can see your face. You should wash your hands or sanitize right after. https://t.co/pdukL54tAu — KWQC TV6 News (@kwqcnews) April 24, 2020
That simple gesture depicted in the poster completely negates the benefit of wearing the mask. The germs are supposed to be on the outside of the mask which you are never supposed to touch the front of with your bare hands. Especially when you may have been wearing the mask for hours in multiple locations. The public is reusing PPE or fashioning their own. Healthcare providers don and doff equipment multiple times and use new equipment several times during the course of caring for patients.
The stated rationale is to relieve shop owner anxiety regarding people wearing masks:
Reverend Wonder Harris who founded the Village of A Thousand Elders explains, “if people were to commit a crime, they wouldn’t tip the mask because they’d be caught on camera.” He visited various local businesses in East Moline and said business owners agreed that tipping masks would ease their minds to know a customer is just inside to shop, and not commit a crime.
The program advocates washing your hands as soon as is practical after tipping your mask. If that means after you have made your purchases and get home, just don’t wear the mask. If after you have touched the outside of your mask, touched the cart, the purchases you’ve made, your steering wheel and brought your purchases home, it has provided zero protection. Especially if you had been in close contact wearing the mask in other quarters prior to going to the store.
Normally I tell people to embrace the power of ‘and.’ In this case, it is really an either-or. Either you require masks and teach people the appropriate way to utilize them, placing a priority on public health. Or you don’t and prioritize public safety. You really cannot effectively do both.
Even with Georgia reopening, masks are still required of restaurant staff and other employees that work with the public such as hairdressers. Even some retail outlets are requiring them in departments where plexiglass barriers can’t be used effectively. I watch how they are being worn and how the employees are handling them and cringe. Adjusting them constantly due to poor fit, letting them sag below their nose, and pushing them up by the front make them quite literally useless in preventing disease transmission.
Perhaps these policies are meant to stem fear of disease transmission. However, those of us who understand how to use this equipment know better. These policies will provide a false sense of security and make people less attentive to the things they can effectively control. Maintain your social distance, consciously avoid touching your face and rubbing your eyes. And for heaven’s sake wash your hands.
Most people don’t realize that as much as 90% of the medicine they use comes from China!


newswars--2020-05-04--German Leaders Split on Prospect of US Nuclear Weapons Leaving Country

Leading politicians from the Social Democrats , a partner in Germany ’ s ruling coalition , have called for scrapping all US nuclear weapons in the country , but the other parties remain opposed to such a move .
Members of German Chancellor Angela Merkel ’ s conservative Christian Democratic Union ( CDU ) have scorned a recently renewed call by politicians from the junior partner in the coalition , the Social Democratic Party ( SDP ) , to withdraw US nuclear arms from German territory .
“ The SPD is in total nirvana about security policy , ” CDU @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as saying by Handelsblatt .
According to him , the Social Democrats forget “ that US nuclear weapons are primarily for our protection ” and , if the politicians persist with their calls , “ our international partners will doubt Germany ’ s ability to fulfill its role in the future , within the transatlantic security scheme.
” The comments by SPD politicians were deplored not only by the CDU but also by the Free Democratic Party ( FDP ) .
“ The demand from SPD parliamentary leader Mützenich is the wrong signal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to believe that Germany would have the same influence on NATO ’ s nuclear strategy if US nuclear weapons were withdrawn , ” DW quoted the FDP defense affairs spokeswoman Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann as saying .
The spokeswoman added that Germany must quickly decide on a successor to the Tornado aircraft currently used by Germany ’ s military if it was to fulfill its responsibilities as part of the alliance .
The escalating debate around the presence of US nuclear arms in Germany was recently reignited when two senior figures in the Social Democratic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the American weapons .
“ Nuclear arms on German soil do not strengthen our security , quite the contrary .
It is time Germany ruled out them being stationed here in future , ” the SPD ’ s parliamentary leader Rolf Muetzenich was quoted by Tagesspiegel daily .
His view was echoed by the party ’ s co-president Norbert Walter-Borjans .
“ My position is clear against their being stationed ( in Germany ) , being made available and of course the use of nuclear arms , ” he was cited as saying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mutzenich justified his call largely by referring to the revised US nuclear strategy under President Donald Trump .
Reiterating that the Trump administration saw atomic weapons not solely as deterrents but as weapons of aggression , the politician warned of the “ incalculable ” risk of escalation .
The remarks by the SPD ’ s parliamentary leader followed suggestions by Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer , who is also Chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union ( CDU ) to replace the ageing fleet of Tornado aircraft currently used by Germany ’ s military with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as part of the NATO deterrence .
The US has stored nuclear bombs across Europe , including at the Büchel air base in Germany , since the cold war when they were seen as an alleged “ deterrent against Russia ” .
The Germany government officially terms the deal with Washington a “ nuclear sharing agreement.
” While the precise number of US bombs stored in Europe is unknown , estimates put them at roughly 150 , with Germany , Belgium , the Netherlands and Italy all part of the sharing agreement , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Germany ’ s parliament passed a cross-party resolution calling on the government to “ emphatically ” work towards removing all nuclear weapons from Germany , yet the country seems unlikely to withdraw from the deal any time soon and is , in fact , set to receive modernized bombs .
According to Hans Kristensen , director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists , cited by the outlet , nuclear weapons stored at the German base are approaching the end of their life cycle and the US is seeking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t realize that as much as 90 % of the medicine they use comes from China !

Leading politicians from the Social Democrats, a partner in Germany’s ruling coalition, have called for scrapping all US nuclear weapons in the country, but the other parties remain opposed to such a move.
Members of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) have scorned a recently renewed call by politicians from the junior partner in the coalition, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), to withdraw US nuclear arms from German territory.
“The SPD is in total nirvana about security policy,” CDU member of parliament Patrick Sensburg was quoted as saying by Handelsblatt.
According to him, the Social Democrats forget “that US nuclear weapons are primarily for our protection” and, if the politicians persist with their calls, “our international partners will doubt Germany’s ability to fulfill its role in the future, within the transatlantic security scheme.”
The comments by SPD politicians were deplored not only by the CDU but also by the Free Democratic Party (FDP).
“The demand from SPD parliamentary leader Mützenich is the wrong signal at the wrong time… It is naive to believe that Germany would have the same influence on NATO’s nuclear strategy if US nuclear weapons were withdrawn,” DW quoted the FDP defense affairs spokeswoman Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann as saying.
The spokeswoman added that Germany must quickly decide on a successor to the Tornado aircraft currently used by Germany’s military if it was to fulfill its responsibilities as part of the alliance.
The escalating debate around the presence of US nuclear arms in Germany was recently reignited when two senior figures in the Social Democratic Party talked of the need to scrap the American weapons.
“Nuclear arms on German soil do not strengthen our security, quite the contrary. It is time Germany ruled out them being stationed here in future,” the SPD’s parliamentary leader Rolf Muetzenich was quoted by Tagesspiegel daily.
His view was echoed by the party’s co-president Norbert Walter-Borjans.
“My position is clear against their being stationed (in Germany), being made available and of course the use of nuclear arms,” he was cited as saying by Sunday’s Frankfurter Allgemeine.
‘Incalculable Risk’
Mutzenich justified his call largely by referring to the revised US nuclear strategy under President Donald Trump. Reiterating that the Trump administration saw atomic weapons not solely as deterrents but as weapons of aggression, the politician warned of the “incalculable” risk of escalation.
The remarks by the SPD’s parliamentary leader followed suggestions by Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who is also Chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to replace the ageing fleet of Tornado aircraft currently used by Germany’s military with Eurofighter and US F-18 multirole combat jets as part of the NATO deterrence.
‘Deterrent against Russia’
The US has stored nuclear bombs across Europe, including at the Büchel air base in Germany, since the cold war when they were seen as an alleged “deterrent against Russia”.
The Germany government officially terms the deal with Washington a “nuclear sharing agreement.”
While the precise number of US bombs stored in Europe is unknown, estimates put them at roughly 150, with Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy all part of the sharing agreement, writes DW.
In March 2010, Germany’s parliament passed a cross-party resolution calling on the government to “emphatically” work towards removing all nuclear weapons from Germany, yet the country seems unlikely to withdraw from the deal any time soon and is, in fact, set to receive modernized bombs.
According to Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, cited by the outlet, nuclear weapons stored at the German base are approaching the end of their life cycle and the US is seeking to upgrade them.
Most people don’t realize that as much as 90% of the medicine they use comes from China!


newswars--2020-05-04--New study examines which galaxies are best for intelligent life

Giant elliptical galaxies are not as likely as previously thought to be cradles of technological civilizations such as our own , according to a recent paper by a University of Arkansas astrophysicist .
The paper , published May 1 in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , contradicts a 2015 study that theorized giant elliptical galaxies would be 10,000 times more likely than spiral disk galaxies such as the Milky Way to harbor planets that could nurture advanced , technological civilizations .
The increased likelihood , the authors of the 2015 study argued , would be because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and have low rates of potentially lethal supernovae .
But Daniel Whitmire , a retired professor of astrophysics who is an instructor in the U of A Department of Mathematical Sciences , believes that the 2015 study contradicts a statistical rule called the principle of mediocrity , also known as the Copernican Principle , which states that in the absence of evidence to the contrary , an object or some property of an object should be considered typical of its class rather than atypical .
Historically , the principle has been employed several @ @ @ @ @ @ @ such as when Sir Isaac Newton calculated the approximate distance to the star Sirius by assuming that the sun is a typical star and then comparing the relative brightness of the two .
“ The 2015 paper had a serious problem with the principle of mediocrity , ” said Whitmire .
“ In other words , why don ’ t we find ourselves living in a large elliptical galaxy ?
To me this raised a red flag .
Any time you find yourself as an outlier , i.e .
atypical , then that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mediocrity.
” He also had to show that most stars and therefore planets reside in large elliptical galaxies in order to nail down his argument that the earlier paper violated the principle of mediocrity .
According to the principle of mediocrity , Earth and its resident technological society should be typical , not atypical , of planets with technological civilizations elsewhere in the universe .
That means that its location in a spiral-shaped disk galaxy should also be typical .
But the 2015 paper suggests the opposite , that most habitable planets would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ours , but rather in large , spherical-shaped elliptical galaxies .
In his paper , Whitmire suggests a reason why large elliptical galaxies may not be cradles of life : They were awash in lethal radiation when they were younger and smaller , and they went through a series of quasar and star-burst supernovae events at that time .
“ The evolution of elliptical galaxies is totally different than the Milky Way , ” said Whitmire .
“ These galaxies went through an early phase in which there is so much radiation that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ habitable planets in the galaxy and subsequently the star formation rate , and thus any new planets , went to essentially zero .
There are no new stars forming and all the old stars have been irradiated and sterilized.
” If habitable planets hosting intelligent life are unlikely in large elliptical galaxies , where most stars and planets reside , then by default galaxies such as the Milky Way will be the primary sites of these civilizations , as expected by the principle of mediocrity , Whitmire said .

Giant elliptical galaxies are not as likely as previously thought to be cradles of technological civilizations such as our own, according to a recent paper by a University of Arkansas astrophysicist.
The paper, published May 1 in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, contradicts a 2015 study that theorized giant elliptical galaxies would be 10,000 times more likely than spiral disk galaxies such as the Milky Way to harbor planets that could nurture advanced, technological civilizations.
The increased likelihood, the authors of the 2015 study argued, would be because giant elliptical galaxies hold many more stars and have low rates of potentially lethal supernovae.
But Daniel Whitmire, a retired professor of astrophysics who is an instructor in the U of A Department of Mathematical Sciences, believes that the 2015 study contradicts a statistical rule called the principle of mediocrity, also known as the Copernican Principle, which states that in the absence of evidence to the contrary, an object or some property of an object should be considered typical of its class rather than atypical.
Historically, the principle has been employed several times to predict new physical phenomena, such as when Sir Isaac Newton calculated the approximate distance to the star Sirius by assuming that the sun is a typical star and then comparing the relative brightness of the two.
“The 2015 paper had a serious problem with the principle of mediocrity,” said Whitmire. “In other words, why don’t we find ourselves living in a large elliptical galaxy? To me this raised a red flag. Any time you find yourself as an outlier, i.e. atypical, then that is a problem for the principle of mediocrity.”
He also had to show that most stars and therefore planets reside in large elliptical galaxies in order to nail down his argument that the earlier paper violated the principle of mediocrity.
According to the principle of mediocrity, Earth and its resident technological society should be typical, not atypical, of planets with technological civilizations elsewhere in the universe. That means that its location in a spiral-shaped disk galaxy should also be typical. But the 2015 paper suggests the opposite, that most habitable planets would not be located in galaxies similar to ours, but rather in large, spherical-shaped elliptical galaxies.
In his paper, Whitmire suggests a reason why large elliptical galaxies may not be cradles of life: They were awash in lethal radiation when they were younger and smaller, and they went through a series of quasar and star-burst supernovae events at that time.
“The evolution of elliptical galaxies is totally different than the Milky Way,” said Whitmire. “These galaxies went through an early phase in which there is so much radiation that it would just completely have nuked any habitable planets in the galaxy and subsequently the star formation rate, and thus any new planets, went to essentially zero. There are no new stars forming and all the old stars have been irradiated and sterilized.”
If habitable planets hosting intelligent life are unlikely in large elliptical galaxies, where most stars and planets reside, then by default galaxies such as the Milky Way will be the primary sites of these civilizations, as expected by the principle of mediocrity, Whitmire said.


newswars--2020-05-04--The Federal Reserve: More Lethal than Coronavirus

Last week the Federal Reserve announced it will keep interest rates at or near zero until the economy recovers from the government-imposed shutdown .
Following this announcement , Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell urged Congress and the Trump administration to put aside any concerns about the deficit and spend whatever it takes to stimulate the economy and combat coronavirus .
The Federal Reserve previously announced it would make unlimited purchases of Treasury securities , thus encouraging Congress and the president to increase spending and debt .
With some members of Congress talking about another multi-trillion-dollar stimulus bill , and with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ infrastructure plan as a way to get Americans back to work , it is obvious , and not surprising , that Congress and President Trump gleefully agree with Powell ’ s advice .
Increasing the purchase of federal debt is not the only action the Fed has taken in a desperate attempt to keep the economy afloat .
Since the coronavirus lockdowns began in early March , the Fed has greatly expanded its balance sheet .
The Federal Reserve has also launched an unprecedented program to “ loan ” money directly to businesses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ end the lockdowns , it may be months or even another year before all the lockdowns are finally ended .
It is unlikely that the economy will completely recover after the shutdown ends .
The economy was teetering on the brink of a recession months before anyone heard of coronavirus .
Last September , a panicked Fed began emergency infusions of cash into the repurchasing market , which is where banks make short-term loans to each other .
The Fed ’ s balance sheet expansion also began in September .
The Fed was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus panic , and it will likely keep rates at or even below zero long after the crisis related to the shutdown subsides .
Economic stagnation combined with zero or negative interest rates remove incentive for people to save .
This depletes the supply of private capital available to invest in businesses and jobs .
The lack of private capital will put pressure on the Federal Reserve to maintain , and even expand , its new lending programs indefinitely .
Each of the Federal Reserve ’ s responses to the coronavirus shutdown increases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Federal Reserve ’ s meddling with the money supply and interest rates .
These increased distortions guarantee the inevitable crash will be much more severe than the current downturn .
The one upside is that the next meltdown will likely lead to the end of the fiat money system and thus the end of the welfare-warfare state .
The only way to minimize the coming crisis is to begin immediately unwinding the current system .
The first step is to end the lockdown and let businesses reopen and people go back to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ monetary policy by passing the Audit the Fed bill .
Congress should also cut spending , starting with ending our hyper-interventionist foreign policy and bringing the troops home .
Ending the welfare-warfare state and the fiat money system may cause some short-term pain , but that pain will be dwarfed by the long-term gains in liberty , peace , and prosperity .
This article first appeared at RonPaulInstitute.org .
Community currency offers another way to fight Federal Reserve ’ s devaluation & support local businesses .
So are local officials & sheriffs who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the state & federal level

Last week the Federal Reserve announced it will keep interest rates at or near zero until the economy recovers from the government-imposed shutdown. Following this announcement, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell urged Congress and the Trump administration to put aside any concerns about the deficit and spend whatever it takes to stimulate the economy and combat coronavirus.
The Federal Reserve previously announced it would make unlimited purchases of Treasury securities, thus encouraging Congress and the president to increase spending and debt. With some members of Congress talking about another multi-trillion-dollar stimulus bill, and with President Trump proposing a two trillion dollars infrastructure plan as a way to get Americans back to work, it is obvious, and not surprising, that Congress and President Trump gleefully agree with Powell’s advice.
Increasing the purchase of federal debt is not the only action the Fed has taken in a desperate attempt to keep the economy afloat. Since the coronavirus lockdowns began in early March, the Fed has greatly expanded its balance sheet. The Federal Reserve has also launched an unprecedented program to “loan” money directly to businesses.
While some states are beginning to end the lockdowns, it may be months or even another year before all the lockdowns are finally ended. It is unlikely that the economy will completely recover after the shutdown ends.
The economy was teetering on the brink of a recession months before anyone heard of coronavirus. Last September, a panicked Fed began emergency infusions of cash into the repurchasing market, which is where banks make short-term loans to each other. The Fed’s balance sheet expansion also began in September. The Fed was also pushing interest rates down before the coronavirus panic, and it will likely keep rates at or even below zero long after the crisis related to the shutdown subsides.
Economic stagnation combined with zero or negative interest rates remove incentive for people to save. This depletes the supply of private capital available to invest in businesses and jobs. The lack of private capital will put pressure on the Federal Reserve to maintain, and even expand, its new lending programs indefinitely.
Each of the Federal Reserve’s responses to the coronavirus shutdown increases the distortions of the market caused by the Federal Reserve’s meddling with the money supply and interest rates. These increased distortions guarantee the inevitable crash will be much more severe than the current downturn. The one upside is that the next meltdown will likely lead to the end of the fiat money system and thus the end of the welfare-warfare state.
The only way to minimize the coming crisis is to begin immediately unwinding the current system. The first step is to end the lockdown and let businesses reopen and people go back to work. Congress must then begin challenging monetary policy by passing the Audit the Fed bill. Congress should also cut spending, starting with ending our hyper-interventionist foreign policy and bringing the troops home. Ending the welfare-warfare state and the fiat money system may cause some short-term pain, but that pain will be dwarfed by the long-term gains in liberty, peace, and prosperity.
This article first appeared at RonPaulInstitute.org.
Community currency offers another way to fight Federal Reserve’s devaluation & support local businesses. So are local officials & sheriffs who protect you from tyrants, at both the state & federal level


newswars--2020-05-04--Crude Storms Above $20 On Report Of Far Smaller Cushing Build

Hot on the heels of Goldman ’ s bullish reversal on the oil sector , in which the bank ’ s commodity strategist Damien Courvalin said on Friday that “ it now appears likely that the market is passing its test on storage capacity ” and projected that the recent rally can extend further in May , back to cash-cost levels ( $ 25/bbl for WTI ) , albeit with still-high price volatility .
Oil is storming higher after initially sinking lower , with the June WTI contract rising as much as 3.9 % to $ 20.55/bbl , erasing earlier @ @ @ @ @ @ @ above $ 27/bbl , more than $ 1.4 from session lows .
The catalyst for the sharp move higher appears to be a report that inventories at Cushing rose only 1.8MM bbl last week , which if confirmed , would represent the smallest increase since mid-March , and would indicate that the supply glut is starting to ease .
It also demonstrates just how sensitive the market has become to any changes from the prevailing narrative in which global storage space could potentially fill as soon as late May , early June .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ a Friday report from Morgan Stanley according to which there are now more than 350 tankers currently being used for floating oil ( crude and product ) storage globally .
With total oil held in floating storage rising to 375mn bbl , up 220mn bbl from mid-March and 230mn bbl from the start of the year .
The question then becomes whether we have hit an inflection point in gasoline demand , something which the following charts from Morgan Stanley showing an increase in mobility trends , would suggest is indeed the case @

Hot on the heels of Goldman’s bullish reversal on the oil sector, in which the bank’s commodity strategist Damien Courvalin said on Friday that “it now appears likely that the market is passing its test on storage capacity” and projected that the recent rally can extend further in May, back to cash-cost levels ($25/bbl for WTI), albeit with still-high price volatility.
Oil is storming higher after initially sinking lower, with the June WTI contract rising as much as 3.9% to $20.55/bbl, erasing earlier losses, while Brent crude briefly rising above $27/bbl, more than $1.4 from session lows.
The catalyst for the sharp move higher appears to be a report that inventories at Cushing rose only 1.8MM bbl last week, which if confirmed, would represent the smallest increase since mid-March, and would indicate that the supply glut is starting to ease.
It also demonstrates just how sensitive the market has become to any changes from the prevailing narrative in which global storage space could potentially fill as soon as late May, early June. Today’s rally also comes following a Friday report from Morgan Stanley according to which there are now more than 350 tankers currently being used for floating oil (crude and product) storage globally.
With total oil held in floating storage rising to 375mn bbl, up 220mn bbl from mid-March and 230mn bbl from the start of the year. The question then becomes whether we have hit an inflection point in gasoline demand, something which the following charts from Morgan Stanley showing an increase in mobility trends, would suggest is indeed the case.