Last Week Today Episode 179 Show Notes for Monday, December 16th, 2024

Freeland Resigns Hours before “Budget Update,” January 6th Report Released & Pardons Coming, the wars in Ukraine & Syria Continue, French Credit Downgraded & More on Drones.

To view the full video, please click on the image above.

Freeland Resigns as Finance Minister Hours before “Budget Update.”

In a shocking move, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announce she's resigning from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet on Monday morning, just hours before she was set to deliver the government's fall economic statement.

As outlined in the December 16th, 2024 CBC News post, “Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland resigns from Trudeau's cabinet,” it's a disastrous development “that throws the government's economic agenda into a tailspin and leaves a huge gap on Trudeau's front bench at a time when Liberal Party support has collapsed in the polls.”

The December 16th, 2024 “X” overview, “Freeland’s Resignation Signals Discord in Trudeau’s Cabinet,” cites “a fundamental disagreement on policy, particularly in response to Donald Trump's policies.”

The December 17th, 2024 Strat News Global post, “Canada Adrift As Finance Minister Quits Amid Looming US Tariffs,” notes that Freeland’s resignation “has left the government in turmoil just weeks before the inauguration of a new U.S. administration that may impose severe sanctions on Canadian exports.”

Legacy media coverage of the resignation is all over the map and most accounts forget to mention that, as noted in the December 16th, 2024 Bloomberg News post, “Canada’s Housing Minister Resigns from Trudeau’s Cabinet,“ Liberal Party Housing Minister Sean Fraser also resigned the same day as Freeland.

As for the budget itself, as outlined in the December 16th, 2024 CBC News post, “Federal deficit balloons to $61.9B as government tables economic update on chaotic day in Ottawa,” with spending 50% higher than promised and a further $20Bln Cdn planned over the next three months, its not a pretty site.

The December 16th, 2024 National Post article, “Liberals' fiscal update to detail deficit target amid cabinet chaos,” notes that Freeland had promised to hold the budget deficit to $40Bln CDN in the current budget, but obviously that didn’t happen.

Freeland will stay on as a Liberal MP and contest the next Federal election sometimes next year.

Government House leader Karina Gould tabled the fall economic statement on Monday in Freeland’s absence and without comment.

For now at least, Dominic Leblanc, the current minister of Intergovernmental affairs will be taking over as finance minister.

The December 16th, 2024 Financial Post story, “Federal government blew through fiscal guardrail to post $61.9-billion deficit,” bites that Liberal government is also projected to go beyond the $40.1-billion guardrail for the next two fiscal years, with a deficit projection of $48.3 billion in 2024-2025 and $42.2 billion in 2025-2026, higher than what was forecast in the budget last spring.

According to the post:

The federal government is on track to stick to two of its three fiscal guardrails, with the debt-to-GDP ratio set to be 42.1 per cent for 2023-2024 and decline to 41.9 per cent the following year.

Additionally, the deficit-to-GDP ratio is projected to fall to under one per cent in 2026-2027.

Department of finance officials said the deficit was $21.8 billion higher than expected for 2023-2024 due to two “exceptional“ exceptional factors, which everyone knew about but no one included in the budget previously.

Future payments to compensate First Nations children and families who faced discrimination under the First Nations Child and Family Services program and under Jordan’s principle. The government previously set aside nearly $23.3 billion for compensation.

Money that still hasn’t been recovered under the Covid-19 pandemic support programs. The higher-than-anticipated provision for these two categories accounted for $21.1 billion in accounting charges.

Both of these items were costed out and well known to the government. But the Liberals essentially lied about the deficit until the situation became to big to hide.

To follow the full thread on “X,“ please click on the image above.

In the past, a government this incompetent would have fallen by now, but in the current year, no one really knows what’s going to happen next.

Adding to the confusion, NDP kingmaker Jagmeet Singh, has sort of, but not totally withdrawn his support, promising only to vote against the government after February/March 2025, maybe.

For more on that story, check out the December 16th, 2024 Northern Perspective on YouTube post, “NDP Actually ADMITS they will ONLY Topple Liberals AFTER Jagmeet GETS HIS PENSION!”

For a legacy media overview of the story, check out the December 16th, 2024 CBC News on YouTube post, “Why Chrystia Freeland just blew up Trudeau’s cabinet | About That.”

Also in the News this Week

January 6th Report Released & Pardons Coming

Meanwhile, in US news, the US Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General has released its “Report on the FBI’s Handling of Its Confidential Human Sources and Intelligence Collection Efforts in the Lead Up to the January 6, 2021 Electoral Certification.”

The report, compiled by General Michael Horowitz, the Inspector General of the United States Department of Justice, covers at least some of the events which occurred during what some have called the “January 6 United States Capitol attack.”

As per the December 12th, 2024 James Howard Kunstler on Substack post, “Modified Limited Hang-out,” the Department of Justice report concludes that, while “Undercover agents were at the January 6^th, 2021 demonstrations in Washington but they didn’t do anything wrong” and weren’t amongst the Capitol crowds.

Expect those conclusions to be revised beginning in February 2025. The current report seems to be a “limited hangout,” which admits some of the truth of the event while still managing to withhold key and damaging facts.

Some of the reveal is already happening as outlined in the December 13^th, 2024 Zero Hedge post, “Legal Scholar Raises Concerns Over DOD Hiding FBI Informants At Jan. 6.”

More will come in the upcoming weeks.

As new political information comes out its worth noting that US President Joe Biden has commuted roughly 1,500 sentences and pardons 39 people in biggest single-day act of clemency so far, according to the December 12th, 2024 CTV News post, “Biden commutes roughly 1,500 sentences and pardons 39 people in biggest single-day act of clemency.”

But Biden has also commuted the sentence of Michael T. Conahan, a former Luzerne County Judge involved in the 'Kids-for-Cash' scandal, where judges received payments to send children to for-profit detention centers.

This decision has sparked outrage among victims and local leaders, including Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who criticized the commutation as lacking consideration of the case's specifics.

As outlined in the December 13^th, 2024 Activist Post story, “President Biden Commutes the Sentence of a Dirty Judge—What Does This Really Signify,” the reason Biden granted 1500 clemency requests at one time was because he wants to hide the ones that are really bad.

On the other hand, US president elect Donald Trump is on the cover of Time this week, and even referenced in a good way.

The magazine recognized the president-elect as “the individual deemed to have wielded the greatest influence on global affairs,” over the last year.

The wars in Ukraine & Syria Continue, French Credit Downgraded

The world remains an unsettled place as players jockey for position in preparation for the inauguration of incoming US president Donald Trump on January 19th, 2024.

• Russia has launched a massive attack on Ukrainian "critical fuel & energy infrastructure." As outlined in the December 12^th. 2024 Zero Hedge post, “Russia Launches Massive Attack On Ukrainian "Critical Fuel & Energy Infrastructure," the main thrust of the attack relied on drone launches. As noted in the December 16th, 2024 BBC News post, “North Korean troops killed fighting Ukraine, says US,” North Korean troops have been killed fighting Ukrainian forces in Russia's Kursk border region.

• According to the December 10th, 2024 BBC News post, “Israel confirms attack on Syrian naval fleet,“ Israel has confirms its attacking Syria, “officially to prevent the reestablishment of Iranian arms smuggling routes to Lebanon through Syrian territory and border crossings plus continue destroying strategic heavy weapons systems throughout Syria, including air defense networks, missile systems, and coastal defense installations.” But unofficially and as noted in the December 13th, 2024 Zero Hedge post, “Israel Sees 'Opportunity' For Attacking Iran Nuke Sites With Syria Knocked Out,” the fear is growing that Israel is also positioning itself for future attacks against Iran.

• The December 14th, 2024 France24 post, “Moody's downgrades France credit rating over 'political fragmentation',” notes the effect politics are increasingly having over fiscal policy in France and elsewhere. Moody’s, a bond credit rating agency, dropped French credit worthiness last week after the French government had their own “Justin Trudeau meltdown.”

• France and Canada aren’t the only western nations collapsing economically. According to the December 13th, 2024 Proactive Thinker on YouTube post, “Germany's Economy is Collapsing, It's much worse than I thought,” Germany is up next.

More on Drones

Either drones or UFO’s are flying up and down the US Eastern Seaboard, disrupting air traffic closing airports and seemingly confounding state, local and even military authorities.

Here’s an overview from the December 12^th, 2024 Al Jazerra on YouTube post, “Mystery in the US skies: Concern over unidentified drones.”

Perhaps the best explanation of what’s going on is the December 15th, 2024 Activist post piece, “NJ Drone ‘Invasion’ Just In Time For Congress To Reauthorize Orwellian Law,” which notes that:

… the purported drone sightings could be a “psyop against you to manipulate Congress into passing the new H.R.8610 (Counter-UAS Authority Security, Safety, and Reauthorization Act of 2024) which will include appropriations and enhanced government powers to control you, and they’re even going so far as to use it to push for acts of war against other countries.”

US president Donald Trump says he knows what’s going on even if we don’t.

To follow the full thread on “X,“ please click on the image above.

What’s in the Skies

And finally tonight, here’s the December 14th, 2024 Mongo Minds on Bitchute post, “What’s That.”

To view the full video, please click on the image above.

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