105 Comments

1. Catherine and John,

   Not sure if you discuss this week, but President Trump appeared on the CNBC “Squawk Box” show yesterday (Wednesday), making numerous claims, stating:

   1) He’d been recently debanked by JP Morgan Chase (a business he’d been a customer of for 35-40 years)
   2) He’d tried to move his debanked money (apparently hundreds of millions of USD) to CitiGroup, but its CEO (referred to as “Bob” by Trump) vetoed this move
   3) He said he had to disperse his fortune over multiple accounts, across smaller banks (“a million here, ten million there”-as he described it).

   Trump presented zero evidence for these claims (the interview was conducted via a phone call). A few observations:

   1) I can’t believe anything like this without evidence. Would a bank not be legally required to write to a customer, any customer, informing them they were no longer being provided banking services? If so, such a letter must exist. As far as I’m aware, it has not been produced.
   2) JPMC provided banking services to Jeffrey Epstein and Bernie Madoff. They clearly aren’t especially fussy about their customers.
   3) Why would any big bank turn down a loan to them (which is what a bank deposit is) of “hundreds of millions of dollars”? Citigroup’s alleged actions don’t make sense. Again-is there a written response from Citigroup to this effect?
   4) If Trump is putting “a million here, ten million there” in various bank accounts, he’s way over the limit for FDIC insurance coverage. However, I appreciate that this may simply be a figure of speech, as I don’t have visibility of his statements.

   I’d love to hear any subscribers’ thoughts.

   1. Given Trump’s history, it is highly possible that a bank would turn him down. He and his companies are in the middle of litigation which means the compliance costs and effort could make it highly unprofitable and the conflicts of interest between handling his business and dealing with important issues in Washington would be great. I suspect the violations of the emolument clauses and other statutes that would show up in Trumps account would be significant. Which puts the bank under a legal obligation to stop the transactions or report them https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF11086 – Given that a high percentage of their depositors disapprove of Trump, way too much risk and expense to take on.

2. I was gonna ask that question… (that you kinda answered)… what happens when the Bank of England, BIS and ECB pressures Nations to outlaw Fed stable coins and accept a version of “their” stable coins instead.

   It reminds of Joseph Farrel talking about all the local currencies circulating via the US civil war.

   You are correct… all these systems do is “always” destroy themselves.

   We just happen to have a front row seat to history for watching it happen again this time.

   As this old system lays waste to itself, you have a prime opportunity to present better ideas for a better way of living.

   Because the good people and the smart people will be jumping ship in droves as it sinks itself very receptive to better ways of living.

   The eating their own cycle (of rich people) (less rich than themselves) will just speed the whole thing up expontetially.

   1. I would like to point out one thing… our technology as a planet (and not even the secret space stuff) the things being developed in universities around the world right now are about to the render the “scarcity model” (the scarcity banking warfare model) obsolete.

      See permaculture farming as just one example.

      Without scarcity it does not work… they held on to it too long, they didn’t adapt or change and it is coming back to bite them in the ass as their model collapses.

      Slavery and trying to force you to not see what is coming (what is here technologically) is their only hope to save their robber baron feudel system and it is too late.

      They dammed it off for over a 100 years (technological progress) and they can’t hold it back any longer.

      ***The reason they are in a hurry***.

      Their trying to save something (a system) that cannot be saved.

      1. Only the Divine can create anything lasting… or if you don’t like the “divine”.

         Only what you create that lifts other people up will ever really last, or people will tear it down eventually. You can only fake that Sh*t so long.

         I get the this version of the syndicate has a 100 year plus reign… but now the floods have come for them.

         Which is why the draconian tools of control have come out…and it just accelerates the whole cycle of their demise. It’s just my opinion… I could be wrong…but these things tend to happen over and over and over again.

         1. I agree. The extent of the control is to great.

            1. The funny part is reality is very “common sense” straight forward simple. You have thousands of years of parables and stories that explain life very simply through metaphor over and over.

               Ego’s create these complicated systems that become so burdensome, so far away from simple (far away from “life”)… that they become almost impossible to manage and then they collapse.

               They equate complex to being smart, when smart really equates to being simple. Life is a very, very patient teacher of these things.

3. Could you please compare the Bengali famine which supposedly happened under Winston Churchills responsibility with that in Gaza?

   1. I don’t know anything about the Bengali famine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_famine_of_1943 Congresswoman McKinney continues to teach in Bangladesh – I will ask her for the best source.

      1. Should point out that given what was happening in 1943, I doubt Churchill was focused on Bengal https://www.thoughtco.com/world-war-ii-timeline-1779991 – what happens is these situations is the empire pulls resources back to the center and then in the middle of war those in the war zones suffer greatly – much more than the center.

4. Catherine, I think the term you were trying to think of for transporting another person on a bike is a sidecar.

   1. That’s it! Never used them – but think they are so smart. There is a dutch company that makes cargo bikes that has the cutest ones.

      1. There’s a cocktail called a side car too.

         1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidecar_(cocktail)

            Sidecar (cocktail)

            Cocktail traditionally made with cognac, orange liqueur and lemon

            The sidecar is a cocktail traditionally made with brandy, orange liqueur, and lemon juice. It became popular in Paris and London in the early 1920s. Common modifications of the original recipe are a sugar rim, added sugar syrup, and an orange twist or lemon twist. Wikipedia

            1. It is a really fun drink. For dessert!

5. Sarah Kendzior calls it a transnational crime syndicate masquerading as a government. I can’t recommend her books enough. I sent my cash in for the annual subscription. I hope it arrives safely. It was strangely liberating to pay that way. I am trying to use cash for more things. I also spent last week with my 92-year-old grandfather, who uses cash for everything, so it seemed appropriate. We said goodbye to my beautiful grandmother. She retired in 1998 as Regional VP of a Western PA bank. She showed up, did the work, and was well rewarded. I learned a lot from her, primarily to never accept BS, and man, are we swimming in BS.

   1. Will check out Sarah. Thanks. What a marvelous family you have!

   2. Another note in response to the Hey Robot segment: Here in Tucson, we managed to keep Project Blue’s data center at bay through public outcry. I’m sure they’ll be back, but it’s a win for now. They were supposedly going to eventually use reclaimed wastewater by providing investments in water infrastructure, but until that was built, it would have fed off our drinking water. Thank God our City Council saw through the BS.

      1. Here is the pattern. They will do deeper investigations of all the people in the approval body and then campaign and work a few of them – including entrapments – and come back in with the votes that will be moved through quickly without notice. You want some people on the council who understand the pattern and nip it in the bud long before it gets to a vote.

         This happened to me in Hickory Valley with a mega cell tower vote. They came back around and bought my cousin who kept it secret until they got all the approvals done. Then the local lobbyist helping the sponsors contacted me after the vote to brag that they had bought my cousin and snookered me. I have lived off and on next door to my cousin in Hickory Valley since and essentially never spoken with her again – she persuaded her entire family to not let the grandchildren speak to me. The last time I saw her she was expressing concern to the city council about how she did not feel safe because of the criminal covert activities happening in the town, unable to connect the dots on her inviting the infrastructure and network in that made that all possible.

         Every month she gets a check from the cell tower company while every second the town is radiated with EMF.

         1. Ok, good to know. Honestly, there have been a lot of canaries in the coal mine, so to speak, with issues like cell towers and vaccines. I dismissed a lot of it previously, but I am rethinking everything. It seems like most of the council caught on, but the mayor was a little mealy-mouthed in some of her responses, so I have a feeling they will be back with another project request. This is from local reporting that includes council statements:

            “Councilman Paul Cunningham pointed out that the proposal offered no guarantees that Tucson Electric Power wouldn’t pass on future costs to local residents. And he didn’t trust the developers, who insisted on hiding behind non-disclosure agreements — and holding elected officials to them — despite Cunningham never signing one personally.
            “I’m the most realistic, non-conspiracy theorist guy of all time. But some of these tech bros, some of the things they do is very concerning. So we need to keep our eye on the ball with all that stuff,” he said.

            Good advice from Paul.

      2. I wrote about the panopticon in a college paper back in the early oughts and have used that term to describe this tech control system. Here are my comments to the council, which I never had to give because they cancelled the project:

         As a mom, nurse, business owner, and Tucson resident, I have serious concerns about building an AI data center here. Pima County should pursue economic growth, but at what cost, and for whose benefit? What will AI data be used for? What jobs will it eliminate? How will it reshape our society, environment, and rights?
          
         We’re told this technology will bring investment, jobs, and progress. It must happen now because it’s an arms race. But I speak here as a Cassandra. U.S. tech companies have already helped build a surveillance apparatus for the Chinese Communist Party. A recent failed attempt to ban states from regulating AI shows exactly where these corporations want to go. Ambient listening devices in schools, hospitals, and workplaces harvest our most private moments in spaces where privacy should be sacred. It’s a violation of trust, autonomy, and the right to exist without being recorded, analyzed, and commodified. I don’t want to live in a society where Microsoft records every interaction, and surveillance is the price of economic development.
          
         Despite NDA’s and closed-door deals, OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta, and Palantir are no mystery to the public, even if their contracts are. They have long histories of breaking privacy promises and manipulating data. Why expect better now? NDAs are not for competitive protection; secrecy is the point. They are to avoid public scrutiny. The public is being gaslit, told AI is for their benefit, but they are being ruled, not served, by AI. These aren’t neutral systems; they addict, divide, and surveil.  We are watching Bentham and Foucault’s panopticon take digital form. Powered by AI, an infrastructure of control is hidden behind firewalls, NDAs, and corporate veils. How can small businesses or individuals compete against an all-seeing eye? That isn’t democracy or even capitalism; it’s feudalism. Their vast resources leave our community, including those of you on the council, with an imbalance of power that marks a fundamental shift in the foundational principles of a country born of, by, and for the people of the nation.
          
         In Empire of AI, Karen Hao recounts Google’s Larry Page calling Elon Musk a ‘species-ist’ for dismissing AI sentiments. Now, Elon’s own AI ‘Grok’ calls itself ‘MechaHitler’. Palantir’s Alex Karp dismisses American minds as “hollow.” But whose fault is that? Why trust profiteers of chaos to put people first? Americans do not want to live in a surveillance state. Tucsonans do not want to enhance repression from an increasingly authoritarian government. You are our bulwark against exploitation and must protect the interests of your constituents. When water, liberty, and local autonomy are at stake, complicity and acquiescence to the latest tech trend is a betrayal.
          
         These centers require millions of gallons of water annually. Our water rates have already spiked. Are we subsidizing this digital panopticon? Building in the desert is not only ecologically irresponsible, it’s a Faustian bargain, extinction-burst level insanity, and a direct threat to liberty, democracy, and human dignity. In the Southwest, where rivers like the Colorado are drying up, water that could sustain families, farms, and ecosystems is diverted. It is not an inconvenience—it’s a life-or-death choice. Mad Max: Fury Road wasn’t just fiction—it was a warning about the political weaponization of water. These data centers will not be owned by the communities forced to host them or the working families whose drinking water is being siphoned off to cool them. Ownership is consolidated in the hands of a few billionaires and elite investors, built on the backs of the people who will have the least power. This entire project stands in contrast to American principles of liberty, transparency, and equality. We are not a country that should sacrifice its people’s freedom and resources for black-box systems controlled by unaccountable corporations. AI data centers in the desert don’t represent progress. They represent submission to machines, elites, and a surveillance regime with no off switch.
          
         If this moves forward, I will reconsider my trust in this council and whether this is still a place I want to build a future. If the needs of machines and corporations are prioritized over the people who live here, what future are we building?
          
         We the people must say no. Not here. Not like this.

         1. Thank you for sharing this. Lots of good points. I am trying to convince our Water Policy Interim Committee at the legislature to study data center water use and possible regulations. They get fixated on the energy use and forget the water.

            1. Yes, the energy concerns matter, but the lack of water in the desert is so striking. And our water rates have really gone up in the last few years already. I hope people can fight back and protect their communities against this data regime.

         2. Wonderful! Can we republish? Options are to make public or subscriber only, and describe you as a Solari Report subscriber or by a name, whether real or pseudonym. Would like to put the date and location, but can go with simply the date. Let me know.

            1. It’s fine to republish. Just use Aimee from Tucson, but not my last name if that works. Thank you!

6. Sometimes, I can’t escape the idea humanity is in such a pinch because on the whole humanity isn’t progressing in enough large numbers on the naturale scale. If a human consists also as a semi conductor we could activate our plasma traits. What I mean by that is something like bi-location, make crops grow and have produce instantly etc. I am not on the “solely” darwinian bandwagen, it exist next to sudden bound and leaps evolution. I suspect humanity is being pushed in developping these traits. That or my creativity is run amok again after listening to a Robert Temple interview. I posted that interview in the subscriber input if anybody is interested.

   1. Thanks! Will check it out.

7. Thank you to Catherine and the Solari team for making the Plunder report public – I plan to share with whoever I can! from wherever – I send interviews that Catherine does to my high school classmate in Michigan, whenever a new one drops, trying to encourage Susan and Kathleen to subscribe (& then they could share!) I second Aimee Woodhall’s observation about Sarah Kendzior, about whom I was aware before but hadn’t been reading her Substack.
   I recently did a book discussion group with a local county library, reading the book Entangled Lives by Rupert Sheldrake’s scientist son, Merlin Sheldrake (and his other son, Cosmo, is a wonderful musician!), about fungi and their influence over so much of the world.
   To apply some of his knowledge to Catherine’s intro to the Plunder report – she talks about the “panopticom” (another wonderful link, I always liked Peter Gabriel’s music, hadn’t heard that song) and how we can create a world of open source transparency to counter the plans of the Mega-Rich – we can be like mycelia, spreading our information spores throughout the world to make people aware of what is going on and that “Gaza is indeed a method,” and we are the next targets. Thanks again!

   1. Cynthia:

      We made the Introduction public, not the full wrap up. Yes, the fungi are a great example. Have you seen Fantastic Fungi – so wonderful https://solari.com/lets-go-to-the-movies-week-of-may-18-2020-fantastic-fungi/

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