“Now we are aiming at Iran. The rumors in Washington (true or false we’ll soon know): around August we’ll be heading toward Iran from bases which are being established in eastern Afghanistan. That’ll be our next war. What nobody takes into account, since these people are as ignorant as any group that has ever governed the United States…they don’t know that Persia is one of the oldest and greatest cultures in the history of the Earth. They’re sitting on a sea of oil. They have worked out uranium deposits. They’ve worked out nuclear weapons. And if you get them grumpy, they’re going to drop them on us, and we the people are going to be killed, because they, the gas and oil lobby, will have their islands off Samoa. They’ll be taking trips when the bad days come, or maybe, dare I say it, they will be enjoying the rapture. But, then, I’m an optimist.” ~ Gore Vidal, 2005

By Catherine Austin Fitts

This coming week we begin our two-part publication of News Trends & Stories for the 1st Quarter 2019 Wrap Up. Dr. Joseph P. Farrell will join me for our analysis of what is happening in 2019—and where it is going. In Part I, we look at the 10 top stories in Economy & Financial Markets and Geopolitics:

Economy & Financial Markets:

• Story #1: Secret Books: Harvard, HUD, DOD, & U.S. Treasury Go Dark—The Pricing Mechanism Goes Dark, Too
• Story #2: U.S. Debt Spiral and Reserve Currency Pains
• Story #3: The Global Slowdown—Recession Looms
• Story #4: The Fed Backs Down
• Story #5: Monopolies Bite

Geopolitics:

• Story #6: Brexit: The Endless Agony
• Story #7: Technocracy and the Rise of Environmental Socialism
• Story #8: Censorship and Disinformation Explode
• Story #9: Oil Wars, Trade Wars, and the Rise of the Asian Consumer
• Story #10: Pushing for War—Secret Money for Secret Armies and War with Iran

As you listen, check out the News Trends & Stories section of the 1st Quarter 2019 Wrap Up web presentation, including our complete trends list, our choices for top news videos of the year, the Trump Report Card, and our headlines for the top stories.

In the week following, in News Trends & Stories, Part II, we will cover the 10 top stories in Culture, Science, Space & Technology, and Food & Health and will discuss Unanswered Questions, Inspiration, and Take Action.

In May, we will publish our 1st Quarter 2019 Wrap Up theme: Will ESG Turn the Red Button Green? ESG (environmental, social, and governance) refers to three factors used to measure the sustainability and ethical impact of an investment in a business or enterprise. The question is whether ESG will bring real change or just more whitewashing and technocracy—made possible by the secrecy delivered with the help of national security law FASAB 56, combined with trillions delivered to the military-industrial complex by taxes, the sovereign bond market, and privatization.

For those of you who don’t know the Red Button story, here it is:

Understanding the red button problem that our leadership is managing will help you follow the push to start a war with Iran, despite the opposition of most Americans.

In Let’s Go to the Movies, check out Defamation, a fascinating documentary by a charming young Israeli documentary filmmaker who decided to go on a global hunt for anti-Semitism. With the U.S. State Department now appointing a special envoy to eradicate anti-Semitism, Texas speech therapists losing their job because they decline to sign a pledge to never boycott Israel, and New York Orthodox Jewish communities opposed to Israeli government policies targeted by vaccine witch hunts, Defamation provides fascinating background on the logic behind the new State Department policy that anti-Zionism is now—abracadabra!—anti-Semitism.

https://youtu.be/XNWF9CeoZdE

This is the last week of the month—so no Money & Markets. Post your questions and story suggestions for the Money & Markets for the first week in May here.

Talk to you Thursday!