Last Week Today Episode 167 Show Notes for Monday, September 23rd, 2024
Bank of Canada Says No to Digital Currency for Now, Trudeau & Macron Get Together, Recent Censorship, Israel and Lebanon & The Kilner Screen.
Bank of Canada Says No to Digital Currency for Now
As outlined in the September 20th, 2024 Cointelgraph post, “Bank of Canada says no to retail CBDC in reshuffling of priorities,” Canada’s central bank has decided, for now at least, to wind down its work researching central bank digital currencies (CBDC’s).
But the Bank of Canada sure does seem to want to eventually implement CBDC’s or “digital loony’s” and will likely continue to explore the possibility of replacing Canada’s current fiat currency, with CBDC’s.
As outlined in pieces like the July 15th, 2024 the Logic post, “Digital Loonie ‘likely’ necessary to maintain monetary sovereignty as cash declines, Bank of Canada report argues,” the Bank of Canada’s continued viability as an independent central bank depends on the continued viability and independence of the Canadian dollar.
The current viability of the Canadian dollar depends on usability, interchangeability with other currencies and a number of other features and functionality, all of which will expand enormously when the dollar is tied to a CBDC.
But Canadian’s have serious trust issues when it comes to CBDC, at least according to posts like the December 11th, 2023 the Conversation post, “Canadians have serious trust issues when it comes to a central bank digital currency,” which notes tracking, trust and privacy issues, political ignorance of the technical challenges and how decisions around CBDC much be “transparent” or no one will use them.
As noted in the September 20th, 2024 True North post, “Bank of Canada shelves plans to create a “digital Loonie,” Canada’s central bank:
…initially launched a research project into the possibility of a digital dollar in 2017, however, it said it will be shifting its focus away from the concept after completing public consultations in 2022.
According to a Bank of Canada staff discussion paper released this summer, Canada would require its own digital currency to maintain monetary sovereignty.
But the Bank of Canada, along with other central banks each face huge challenges tamping down ongoing inflationary pressures after several years of major deficit spending designed to support lockdowns and reroute supply chains around old friends and new enemies.
There is also the question of how to respond to the alternative international economy being set up by the BRICS nations.
So western banks are performing triage, moving off the focus around rolling out CBDC’s and focusing on other, more pressing issues.
On the criminal front, and as outlined in the September 19th, 2024 Biometric Update post, “Deep fake financial fraud to surge over the next 12 months, Deloitte reveals,” the financial services industry is particularly vulnerable to new technologies, such as deep fake threats and AI.
But the real accounting challenge facing central banks might just be represented by this chart, currently making the rounds on social media.
The graph is Chart 7 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Quarterly Banking Profile for the Second Quarter 2024. It tracks “Unrealized Gains (Losses) on Investment Securities,” essentially financial gains or losses everyone mostly agrees have to be included within financial statements eventually, but aren’t now.
When the accountants eventually catch up on these “unrealized losses,” large banks and entire economies will begin to collapse.
Also in the News this Week
Trudeau & Macron Get Together
French president Immanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are meeting in Canada on Wednesday and Thursday after attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
As outlined in the September 20th, 2024 Global News post, “Macron and Trudeau will meet in Canada next week. What’s on the agenda?” the two leaders are expected to discuss collaboration on geopolitical issues including their ongoing support for Ukraine.
They are also expected to discuss ways to strengthen the response to emerging threats, such as “disinformation,” which is pretty convenient, since they’ll be spending their UN time discussing much the same stuff at the UN Summit of the Future, being held at the UN from September 22nd – 23rd.
Freedom Forum covered the UN Summit of the Future and the propaganda surrounding the UN in our September 15th, 2024 episode of Roasting the Press,” and while Trudeau and Macron undoubtedly believe that their propaganda is better, not everyone agrees.
For example and as outlined in the September 20th, 2024 Activist post piece, “Sign the Open Letter: Defend Freedom and Sovereignty against the UN’s Overreach,” there is a growing perception that the UN is mostly blowing hot air. According to the post:
While the (UN) summit’s goal is to address global challenges such as climate change, inequality, and public health, there is growing concern that the implementation of these initiatives may come at the cost of freedom, sovereignty, and democracy.
It’s also worth noting that other globalists, like Canada’s Mark Carney, are also getting into the act, receiving favored status and funding for projects intended to advance their stated globalist agenda.
Who knows…
Maybe in a few weeks, and because of Trudeau’s and Macron’s policy positions, maybe we won’t be able to spread malicious truths about banksters like Carney.
It’s not that this strategy hasn’t been successful in the past.
Check out the Aug 30, 2024 Tucker Carlson Network on YouTube post, “How ‘Countering Disinformation’ Became the Pentagon’s Gateway to Political Power.”
Recent Censorship
There has been lots of attempts at censorship and lots of calls for censorship over the last few weeks.
Here’s a few examples:
A US Department of Justice indictment is exploring whether the money used to fund start-up Tenant Media originated in Russia through the Kremlin and was aimed at promoting narratives that would “amplify domestic divisions in the United States, ostensibly benefiting Russia's interests.” As outlined in the September 5th, 2024 Gistly post, “The Tenant Media Controversy: Unveiling the Alleged Political Influence,” Tenant is a newly emerged media company, operated by Canadian podcaster Lauren Chen and her husband, which helped fund other podcasters including Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, Dave Rubin, and Matt Christensen, among others. Although neither the US Department of Justice nor any other outlet is objecting to any specific stories published by content creators funded by Tenant, their bodies of work are beginning to be considered as examples of Russian propaganda, due to the US government actions.
The Tenant Media situation has also affected other media outlets not affiliated with Tenant. As outlined in the September 20th, 2024 Rebel News on Bitchute post, “NDP asks NATO affiliate about defence mechanisms against independent media outlets like Rebel News,” NDP MP Lindsay Mathyssen asked about combating “Russian propaganda” in at least one recent Rebel News story.
Canadian based “The Iron Will Report” is claiming that bulk emailer MailChimp, has cancelled its service because of Iron Will’s editorial stance. As outlined in the September 20th, 2024 Iron Will email, “We Got Censored!,” the news service has changed it bulk mailer in response.
Spotify has removed an episode of True North’s The Faulkner Show which featured an interview with former residential school worker Rodney Clifton claiming it promoted dangerous content. As outlined in the September 18th, 2024 True North post, “Spotify censors True North residential school interview as “dangerous content,” the episode in question involved an interview with Clifton, who argued that historical narratives surrounding residential schools have been distorted by far-left activists.
Liberal-appointed Canadian Senator Lucie Moncion, says government has a duty to correct subsidized media content. The Senator says she successfully called up edits to an August 21st, 2024 commentary that complained of Senate overspending. But hundreds of publications are currently receiving billions of taxpayer dollars annually. They include the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the CBC, CTV News, Global News, the National Post and a great many more. Is the Federal government responsible for “fact checking” each and everyone of these outlets? Only time will tell.
Here’s an example of subtle but scary censorship.
Dr. Jay K. Varma, recently caught on a secret camera talking about holding sex parties and going to secret dance clubs during the darkest days of the Covid pandemic while also insisting that everyone else in New York socially distance, isolate and close their business in his role as the New York Mayors public health adviser from 2020 - 2021, has mostly dropped off the public radar.
This is due mostly to ongoing US government censorship which considers the story, while true, to be not beneficial to government policy.
As outlined in the September 22nd, 2024 Insult to Intuition on Substack post, “NYC mayor's former public health advisor exposed for breaking his own rules,” the original story was compiled by Steven Crowder, a “conservative” American-Canadian political commentator who correctly noted that Varma was clearly unafraid of the same virus which he insisted the rest of us should deathly fear,
On the other hand, and as noted in the September 23rd, 2024 CBS New York pn YouTube post, “Dr. Jay Varma fired after sex party scandal,” the good doctor will suffer at least some consequences for his actions.
We’re all pretty sure the censorship is going to eventually fail, just as it has in other authoritarian regimes.
While the censors seem to be in charge now, it won’t stay that way.
Israel and Lebanon
The recent cyber-physical attacks in Lebanon, involving exploding pagers and walkie-talkies, heralds a new age of remote assassinations.
As outlined in the September 19th, 2024 Activist post story, “Death by Remote,” Israel just conducted the most spectacular cyber-physical twin sabotage in history, managing to blow up thousands of encrypted pagers:
… carried by Hezbollah operatives across Lebanon, Syria and Iraq exploded simultaneously, killing at least a dozen individuals, including two children at the time of writing.
A day later, hundreds of walkie-talkies used by the militia exploded at the same time, and they were apparently potent enough to set fire to an apartment and a car. More than a dozen individuals were reportedly killed in the second incident.
The next day, Israel followed-up on its attack deep into Lebanon.
Here’s the September 22nd, 2024 Times on YouTube post, “Israel launches major strike on Hezbollah in Lebanon” with more on the topic.
In essence, Lebanon is now in a state of war with Israel and maybe we are as well.
As outlined in the September 18th, 2024 Activist post story, “Exploding Pagers Kill Hezbollah In Lebanon–Why We Should Care,” if hand-held devices, such as walkie talkies or pagers, can be implanted with explosives and can kill targets, how safe are any of us from this mode of attack?
The US government is sending troops to the Middle East to officially “stabilize the situation” and unofficially help the democrats win the November election.
There’s 40K US soldiers there now.
The Kilner Screen
And finally tonight, we’re going to talk about the Kilner Screen.
Here’s a quick overview on the topic, from the September 21st, 2024 Mongo Minds on Bitchute post, “The Kilner Screen.”
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