Fake Space News - Lunar Standard Time

 Read: https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/30/science/lunar-time-zone-scale-nasa-artemis-scn/index.html

"On the lunar surface, a single Earth day would be roughly 56 microseconds shorter than on our home planet — a tiny number that can lead to significant inconsistencies over time. NASA and its international partners are currently grappling with this conundrum. Scientists aren’t just looking to create a new “time zone” on the moon, as some headlines have suggested, said Cheryl Gramling, the lunar position, navigation, and timing and standards lead at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. Rather, the space agency and its partners are looking to create an entirely new “time scale,” or system of measurement that accounts for that fact that seconds tick by faster on the moon, Gramling noted. Astronauts on the moon, for example, are going to leave their habitats to explore the surface and carry out science investigations, she said. They’re also going to be communicating with one another or driving their moon buggies while on the lunar surface."

A microsecond is a millionth of a second.  So 56 microseconds per day would take about 49 years to equal a second.

Problems with the Special Counsel in Trump's case

 Read: https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/JustSecurityMar-a-LagoTrumpClearinghouse%E2%80%94Trump-reply-in-support-of-MTD-based-on-the-unlawful-appointment-and-funding-of-Special-Counsel-Jack-Smith-March-24-2024.pdf

"Section 515 allows the Attorney General to “specially appoint[]” U.S. Attorneys in certain prosecutions. 28 U.S.C. § 515(a). The statute does not, however, authorize the Attorney General to appoint attorneys other than Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorneys to exercise the Department’s full prosecutorial authority, as the Special Counsel’s Office seeks to do here. Interpreting § 515(a) in that fashion would permit the Attorney General to appoint prosecutors more powerful than a U.S. Attorney without input from Congress, as Jack Smith wields the full prosecutorial power of the United States, yet answers to no one and exercises nationwide jurisdiction.  

There is significant tension between the Office’s assurances to that court that Smith is independent, and not prosecuting the Republican nominee for President at the direction of the Biden Administration, and the Office’s assurance here that Smith is not independent and is instead so thoroughly supervised and accountable to President Biden and Attorney General Garland that this Court should not be concerned about such tremendous power being exercised to alter the trajectory of the ongoing presidential election."

Update: https://www.politico.com/news/2024/06/21/trump-classified-documents-jack-smith-constitutional-00164368

Problems with the Special Prosecutor in Hunter Biden's case

 Read: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/judge-denies-hunter-bidens-frivolous-bid-halt-delaware-gun-case

I don't like Hunter Biden. I think he is a scumbag and should be in prison.  However, he deserves a fair trial.  His attorneys filed a motion to enjoin the Special Counsel because he didn't have an appropriation from Congress.  The judge denied the motion and she thinks the appellate court will deny it as well.

I think it has merit.  Who is paying the Special Counsel - is it the judicial branch?  Is it the Department of Justice (I think this is the case)? Who appointed the Special Counsel, and who could fire him?  If the judge appointed him, does the judge have the authority to order that the DOJ pay him?  I think these are valid questions, and deserve more thought.  

This case is in US District Court in Delaware.  Why couldn't the regular US District Attorney prosecute this case?  If it turns out the Special Counsel was improperly appointed, then the whole case could be thrown out.

Update: The court docket is available here: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67511701/united-states-v-biden/  I am asking the wrong questions.  The Special Counsel is supposed to be from outside the government, but David Weiss is the US District Attorney for Delaware.  So why did he need to be Special Counsel?

Prebunking is Thought Control

 Read: https://thelibertydaily.com/global-elections-face-growing-censorship-threat-rise-prebunking/

Censorship enthusiasts, who habitually use the terms “dis/misinformation” to go after lawful online speech that happens to not suit their political or ideological agenda, now feel that debunking has failed them. (That can be yet another euphemism for censorship – when “debunking” political speech means removing information those directly or indirectly in control of platforms don’t like.) Enter “prebunking” – and regardless of how risky, especially when applied in a democracy, this is, those who support the method are not swayed even by the possibility it may not work. Prebunking is a distinctly dystopian notion that the audiences and social media users can be “programmed” (proponents use the term, “inoculated”) to reject information as untrustworthy. To achieve that, speech must be discredited and suppressed as “misinformation” (via warnings from censors) before, not after it is seen by people.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/05/26/us-election-misinformation-prebunking/

"Election officials and researchers from Arizona to Taiwan are adopting a radical playbook to stop falsehoods about voting before they spread online, amid fears that traditional strategies to battle misinformation are insufficient in a perilous year for democracies around the world. Modeled after vaccines, these campaigns — dubbed “prebunking” — expose people to weakened doses of misinformation paired with explanations and are aimed at helping the public develop “mental antibodies” to recognize and fend off hoaxes in a heated election year.  Prebunking draws inspiration from “inoculation theory,” which was developed by the social psychologist William J. McGuire in the 1960s. McGuire posited that you could prepare people to reject a misguided argument by first exposing them to a weakened form of that argument, along with a strong refutation of it — sort of like a vaccine for the mind. Then when people encounter that argument in the wild, the theory goes, they recognize it and are less likely to fall for it." (Washington Post)

See also https://jigsaw.google.com/

Prebunking is like a vaccine for the brain.

Another J6 political prisoner - Ryan Samsel

 See: https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/05/shocking-courageous-j6-politcial-prisoner-shares-deplorable-life/

"Ryan reports black mold in the showers, a lack of cleaning supplies, leaking toilets, no emergency buttons in cells,  dirty and extremely dusty and dirty units, expired food, undercooked food, brown drinking water, extremely long waits to see medical, “if any,” and exposed electrical wires sticking out all over."

I haven't read up on Ryan Samsel, but I repeat what I said about Jake Lang.  He is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a jury of his peers and he should be released on reasonable bond with ankle bracelet until his trial.  

Update: He had a bench trial on 2/2/24 where he was found guilty on 8 charges.  Sentencing set for 6/13/24.  I don't consider him a political prisoner anymore, since he was given a trial.  The next step for him is to appeal.  I don't know why The Gateway Pundit article above didn't mention his trial.

Update 2: There is more info about J6 prisoners at https://americangulag.org/  It says that Ryan Samsel was beaten so hard by prison guards on March 21, 2021 that he lost permanent vision in one eye.

Deferred Assets are now $160 billion

"Deferred Assets" is the politically correct term for cumulative losses by the Federal Reserve.  The number was $133 billion on 12/31/23 and it is now (as of 3/31/24) $160 billion.  So the Fed lost $27 billion for the quarter.  Most of this loss is because the Fed paid out more in interest to banks who have reserves at the Fed, than it received in interest on its assets, which are Treasury securities that it owns as well as mortgage-backed securities.  This is a subsidy to banks, many of which are struggling with losses on their bond portfolios.  

The Fed is supposed to be accountable to Congress.  Before 2023 they would pay their profits to the US Treasury. (They have paid more than $1 trillion to the Treasury since 2000).  But the Deferred Assets is a shield to protect it from Treasury oversight.  The Fed has really declared itself independent of the US government.  (Not totally independent because the Board of Governors is nominated by the president, and because the Fed feels obligated to purchase Treasury bonds).  And in some ways it is superior to the US government - it can spend as much money as it wants and is accountable to nobody, whereas the Treasury gets money only by taxes and by borrowing (at interest).

The Fed supposedly will cover the deferred assets by 2027.  But what if it doesn't - what if it keeps losing money and keeps growing into an out of control monster?  Nobody else seems worried about this, they think the losses will max out at about $200 billion before the Fed turns profitable again.  I think we should keep an eye on it.  

Note that the losses in the March 31 2024 quarter were $27 billion, the same as in the December 31 2023 quarter.  So they aren't decreasing.

 ===========================

The Supreme Court just blessed the funding of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  The CFPB sucks up about $700 million per year and it adds to the losses of the Fed.  What if the CFPB is just the start and other government agencies also get funded by the Fed?

Why not mandate that the Federal Reserve cover the losses in Social Security after 2035?  It's free money right?  What could go wrong with this scheme?  Could it cause hyperinflation?  Are we at the edge of a black hole getting ready to be sucked in?

===========================

One economist thinks that losses could continue "well into the next decade".  "The longer rates stay high, however, the harder it will be for the Fed to repair its balance sheet. Importantly, restrictive rates also could end up costing the Fed around $100 billion a year well into the next decade, according to Ali Meli, chief investment officer of Monachil Capital Partners, a credit fund he founded in 2019."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/fed-s-1-trillion-pile-of-paper-losses-are-turning-into-actual-losses-with-more-in-sight/ar-BB1o6w8P

=================

Update: The current balance (as of 6/12/24) of "Earnings Remittances Due to the U.S. Treasury" (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RESPPLLOPNWW) are negative $174.86 billion.   So the rate of change is about negative $6 billion per month, which is better than negative $9 billion per month.  

When will the rate of change hit zero? I think about January 1, 2025, when the total will reach about negative $200 billion and then will slowly start going back to zero, which it should hit about January 1, 2027.

===============

Here is another article about it: https://wallstreetonparade.com/2024/06/the-fed-posts-historic-operating-losses-as-it-pays-out-5-40-percent-interest-to-banks/

Is Jake Lang a political prisoner?

 So, I saw this headline: J6er Jake Lang Emerges From 36 Days in Sensory Deprivation Chamber.  He had been in solitary confinement for 36 days.  The article doesn't mention his location.  I did a search at https://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/ and it says he is at Brooklyn MDC.  His attorneys did a motion for bail in September 2021 which was denied.

He was arrested on 1/16/21 and he has been in jail ever since.  He was arraigned on 2/9/21 and pled not guilty. The charges include allegations that he hit police officers with a baseball bat.  He is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a jury of his peers.  

In my opinion, he is a political prisoner, and should be released on bail with a reasonable bond ($1 million?) and ankle bracelet, until his trial.  I think they are holding him in jail to coerce him into pleading guilty.

Here are some facts from his motion:

Lang’s physical abuse includes being dragged, shoved, denied regular shower access, and getting an entire can of mace in his face, while standing inside of cell with photos and a bible in his hand. Lang’s other abuses include sleep deprivation, verbal abuse, and being denied the right to counsel. Just recently, Lang was taken to “The Hole”, where he remained for two straight months, without a single disciplinary ticket. After being taken out of “The Hole”, he received a hero’s welcome upon returning to the Patriot Unit. Within 14 hours of being back on the Patriot Unit, the guards opened his’ cell door, and maced him directly in his eyes. When Lang was maced he was standing in his cell with a bible in one hand and family photos in the other. Overall, Jake has been held in the hole in 24-hour a day solitary confinement on three separate occasions, totaling more than three months. While Jake is currently back on the Patriot Unit, the unit with other J6 Defendants at the DC jail, he has been and will continue to be subject to these abuses at anytime.

=========================

Update:  His case status is here: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/58955673/united-states-v-lang/?page=2  This includes info about his latest motion for bond on 2/8/24 and the response by the government attorney, which I haven't read.

New deficit forecast - crisis in 2059

 Here is my latest deficit forecast, showing a breaking point in 2059.  This is based in part on the CBO forecast at https://www.cbo.gov/data/budget-economic-data (see the Feb 2024 10 year forecast and Mar 2024 long-term budget projections).  

I assume that nominal GDP will increase by 5.5% per year.  (This 5.5% comes from one of the estimates prepared by Social Security).  

The expenditures as a percent of GDP comes from CBO, and I use its numbers through 2054, and then I use the same number for 2054, (which is 21% of GDP), for later years.

I made one change to their model starting in 2035, where I increase expenditures by 1% per year to account for the Social Security trust fund running out.  This increases expenditures by about $500 billion in 2035.  This 1% increase is arbitrary and I don't know if it will be enough to close the gap.  

This shows $100 trillion in Debt to the Public being reached in 2044.  Earlier, I speculated that this $100 trillion could be reached as soon as 2038, so this is a more positive estimate.

My last forecast showed a breaking point in 2039.  The main differences between this forecast and that one is here I am showing much higher GDP growth and also assuming lower interest rates.

So if the system can remain pretty much as is until 2059, then we are good, right?  And I can finally close this blog and stop worrying.

==============

Update: This is already obsolete.  The GDP forecast is too optimistic, and maybe 5% GDP growth is a better figure to use.  But I want to wait until fiscal year 2024 is over and the results in before updating this again.  So I won't update this until after the election on November 5.  It doesn't matter who wins, we are doomed in about 15 to 20 years anyway.

Fake Space News: NASA will build a floating robotic railroad on the moon by 2030

 

Source: https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/stmd/niac/niac-studies/flexible-levitation-on-a-track-float/

We propose developing FLOAT — Flexible Levitation on a Track — to meet these transportation needs. The FLOAT system employs unpowered magnetic robots that levitate over a 3-layer flexible film track: a graphite layer enables robots to passively float over tracks using diamagnetic levitation, a flex-circuit layer generates electromagnetic thrust to controllably propel robots along tracks, and an optional thin-film solar panel layer generates power for the base when in sunlight. FLOAT robots have no moving parts and levitate over the track to minimize lunar dust abrasion / wear, unlike lunar robots with wheels, legs, or tracks.

See also https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13403585/NASA-build-TRAIN-moon-lunar-base.html .

If I were 8 years old again, I would think this would be very cool.

Also, in more fake space news, NASA says it is planning on "returning" to the Moon in September 2026 when Artemis III astronauts will spend a week near the South Pole of the Moon.

[Insert photoshop of astronaut holding a pickaxe looking at a moon rock]

See: https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-iii/

Oh for kids, there is a cool video on how to draw Artemis with just a ruler.  And they have a coloring book of planets and dogs. See "Exoplanet Coloring Book".  

Update: More cool space coloring books: https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/coloring-pages/en/

Update 2: Here is an interview with NASA directory Bill Nelson on going to the moon.

https://www.npr.org/2024/05/06/1249249941/nasa-bill-nelson-moon-artemis-china-starliner

Surplus of $208 Billion in April 2024

 See https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2024-05/60193-MBR.pdf

Because of the large inflow of tax payments, the federal government usually records a budget surplus in April. This year, that surplus was $208 billion, CBO estimates—$32 billion more than the amount recorded last April.

The federal budget deficit was $857 billion in the first seven months of fiscal year 2024, the Congressional Budget Office estimates—$68 billion less than the deficit recorded during the same period last fiscal year. Revenues were $278 billion (or 10 percent) higher and outlays were $210 billion (or 6 percent) higher from October through April than during the same period in fiscal year 2023.

Net Interest Expense for April was $91 billion, up from $66 billion in April 2023.

On 4/30/2024, the total national debt was $34.617 trillion, and one year earlier on 4/28/2023 it was $31.458 trillion.  So that is an increase of 10.0% from one year ago.

=========

As of 4/24/2024, the Federal Reserve now has a deficit of $165.39 billion, up from $159.47 billion (as of 3/27/2024).  This is an increase of $5.9 billion for the month.

2024 Social Security Report

 The 2024 Social Security Report was just released. These are the magic words.

Under the Trustees’ intermediate assumptions, OASDI cost exceeds total income in 2024 and in every year thereafter through 2098, and the level of the hypothetical combined trust fund reserves declines until reserves become depleted in 2035, one year later than projected in last year’s report.

Expressed in present-value dollars discounted to January 1, 2024, the open-group unfunded obligation for OASDI is $22.6 trillion over the 75-year projection period through 2098. This value is $0.2 trillion more than the measured level in last year’s report of $22.4 trillion over the 75-year projection period through 2097, discounted to January 1, 2023.

This is good news.  Social Security will be solvent until 2035, and the open-group unfunded obligation went up only $200 billion since last year.  If every year the solvency date is pushed out 1 year then it will never go unsolvent.

Is Martin Armstrong a convicted felon?

 The first line of the Wikipedia entry on Martin Armstrong says: 

Martin Arthur Armstrong (born November 1, 1949) is an American self-taught economic forecaster and convicted felon who spent 11 years in jail for cheating investors out of $700 million and hiding $15 million in assets from regulators. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_A._Armstrong

He was thrown in jail on contempt charges sometime in 2000 (I can't find the exact date).  The contempt was for his refusal to turn over gold bars, gold coins and antiquities worth about $15 million. He claimed that he didn't have them. He sat in jail for 7 years until sometime in 2007 he was coerced to pleading guilty to fraud, and then he spent another 4 years in prison and was released on Sept 2, 2011.

What were the fraud charges?  There were "24 related counts of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, commodities fraud, and wire fraud" and the Japanese investors lost nearly $1 billion. In his plea bargain, he plead guilty to one of these counts.

In 2017, some of the gold coins appeared.  A thrift shop was going to auction them off, and Martin Armstrong popped up and said they were his.  The US government now may have them (it isn't clear), or the bankruptcy receiver may have them.

Did Armstrong lie about not knowing where he hid the gold coins?  It seems so, but why didn't he just dig them up when he got out of prison - did he forget where he buried them?  Were they part of a different stash of gold coins, separate from the $15 million stash?  That seems like a stretch.  If he did truly forget where he buried them, does that help against the contempt charge, since he was unable to comply?

Armstrong claims he is innocent of the fraud charges.  Maybe he is.  A person is presumed innocent until proven guilty.  He never faced a trial, because he pled guilty.  But a guilty plea must be made willingly, and he didn't make it willingly.  But if a defendant is going to challenge a guilty plea, he has to do it within a certain amount of time (6 months?).  Did he challenge it within the time frame?  Are their extenuating circumstances?  

I see a Supreme Court petition that he filed that raises some of these issues:

At the outset, Armstrong was deprived of the ability to use his own untainted assets to secure counsel of choice. In the middle of this case, Armstrong was deprived of his liberty, confined to a prison cell for more than a decade on a charge that carries a five-year maximum. And now at the end of this case, Armstrong has been deprived of the untainted personal property the court-ordered receiver seized from him two decades ago. Needless to say, if a criminal defendant has a constitutional right to use untainted assets to secure counsel of choice, then he has no less of a constitutional right to the return of those assets that are not subject to forfeiture.  https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/19/19-392/116539/20190920142602151_2019-09-20%20Armstrong%20cert%20petition.pdf

Here is the reply brief: https://www.justice.gov/osg/media/1047066/dl?inline=

The Supreme Court denied his petition. https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/armstrong-v-securities-and-exchange-commission/

In conclusion, yes he is a convicted felon.  But the way the case was prosecuted seems unfair, in particular the use of contempt of court in order to coerce a plea bargain.   I wouldn't invest money with Martin Armstrong.  But I do want to hear what he has to say.

===========================

Update:  This is Martin Armstrong in his own words explaining why he pled guilty:

The civil contempt was used to force me to plea for I was never entitled to a trial. The government said I could be held in prison indefinitely until I die and even denied me a lawyer. That was inside a tower in New York never being allowed to see grass again or feel rain. The compromise was that I would plea but refuse to ever say I stole anything. All I had to say to end the confrontation was about the bank stole the money – not me.  https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/armstrong-in-the-media/armstrong-trial/supreme-court-status/

Is Martin Armstrong a scam artist?

 I ran across this website by a guy who HATES Martin Armstrong.  See:

https://armstrongecmscam.blogspot.com/

Of course the guy also trashes ZeroHedge.com, Alex Jones, Jim Sinclair's MineSet, USAWatchDog.com, etc.  The guy's name is ... anonymous.  

I like Martin Armstrong, and I think he has some interesting theories. I don't think he is infallible.  I like his PI theory, which states that there is an economic cycle that repeats every 3,142 days (about 8.6 years).  I subscribe to the double pi theory which runs about 17.1 years.

I think Anonymous Hater is, how shall I say, "mistaken", to say the least, but I haven't read everything on his website.  I may respond in more detail later.