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Doug Casey on the Push for Global Taxation… and What Comes Next

Posted by M. C. on June 21, 2023

There is no clause that says, “unless you’re the government, then it’s taxation and not theft anymore.” Theft is theft, even if you and a few associates set yourselves up as the government and decide to call it something else. 

There’s always been a move towards world government on the part of a certain type of person—the kind who thinks they know what’s best for everyone else. Busybodies who are willing to use force to ensure you do what they think is right. It’s a disastrous idea. These people are the enemies of individualism, liberty, free markets, and Western values in general. They’re actually antihuman.

International Man: Last year, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and more than 130 countries agreed to set a minimum global corporate tax rate of 15%.

What’s your take on this push for global taxation?

Doug Casey: They say only two things in the world are inevitable: death and taxes. Both evils, to be avoided. With technology developing at its current pace, let’s discuss the inevitability of death another time. But, unlike death, taxes aren’t part of the cosmic firmament. They’re neither necessary nor desirable.

Let’s go back to the basics, define the word in question, and look at the moral concepts that surround the subject.

What is taxation? It’s actually theft. Why do I say that?

If you look up the dictionary definition of theft, it says, “the act of stealing, specifically the felonious taking and removing of personal property with intent to deprive the rightful owner of it.”

There is no clause that says, “unless you’re the government, then it’s taxation and not theft anymore.” Theft is theft, even if you and a few associates set yourselves up as the government and decide to call it something else. It’s still destructive, criminal, and immoral, even if you decide the theft is for a “good” purpose.

The ideal in a moral society is voluntarism. Coercion is kept to a minimum. It certainly isn’t institutionalized and made part of the cultural fabric. If funds are needed or wanted, no one has a right to hold a gun to someone else’s head and steal them.

How you think and feel about the subject of taxation is a reflection of your worldview, your ethical makeup, and your essential character. Do you prefer voluntary exchange or coercion? Of course, coercion is the essence of government. That’s why government should be limited to the greatest degree possible.

In that light, it’s very disturbing that 130 national governments have already endorsed the notion of a 15% minimum tax. Why aren’t they, instead, talking about a 15% maximum tax?

If this destructive idea is implemented, at best, we’re going to wind up another layer of bureaucracy to administer worldwide pork barrel spending. Those who are already rich, the politically connected, and the apparatchiks will be huge beneficiaries. Society at large will suffer a big drop in the standard of living.

This trend is evil, destructive, and unnecessary. It should be fought against, not just because it will slow, distort, or even destroy the world economy. Taxes degrade everything, as does any form of theft. But taxes shouldn’t be fought with practical or economic arguments; they should be fought primarily on an ethical and a moral basis.

International Man: So far, the US government hasn’t signed on to the OECD deal even though Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen has strongly supported the creation of a minimum global corporate tax rate.

Do you think American companies and citizens will eventually be under the yoke of a global taxation regime?

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We Need a Peace President

Posted by M. C. on June 20, 2023

Historians now tell us that President Kennedy agreed to remove US missiles from Turkey in exchange for the Soviets removing missiles from Cuba. It was a classic case of how diplomacy can work if properly employed.

Congress is silent – or compliant – as we lurch forward toward disaster for no discernable US strategic goal. Biden – or whoever is actually running the show – is forging straight ahead

http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2023/june/19/we-need-a-peace-president/

written by ron paul

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Most people agree that we are closer to nuclear war than at any time since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Some would even argue that we are closer now than we were in those fateful days, when Soviet missiles in Cuba almost triggered a nuclear war between the US and the USSR.

In those days we were told that we were in a life-or-death struggle with Communism and thus could not cede a square foot of territory or the dominoes would fall one-by-one until the “Reds” ruled over us.

That crisis was very real to me, as I was drafted into the military in the middle of the US/USSR standoff over Cuba and we could all feel how close we were to annihilation.

Fortunately, we had a president in the White House at the time who understood the dangers of nuclear brinkmanship. Even though he was surrounded by hawks who could never forgive him for aborting the idiotic Bay of Pigs Cuba invasion, President John F. Kennedy picked up the telephone for a discussion with his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, which eventually saved the world.

Historians now tell us that President Kennedy agreed to remove US missiles from Turkey in exchange for the Soviets removing missiles from Cuba. It was a classic case of how diplomacy can work if properly employed.

It is all too clear that we do not have a John F. Kennedy in the White House today. Although we no longer face a Soviet empire and communist ideology as justification for taking a confrontational tone toward Russia, the Biden Administration is still dragging the US toward a nuclear conflict. Why are they putting us all at risk? The same old “domino theory” that was discredited in the Cold War: If we don’t fight Russia down to the last Ukrainian, Putin will soon be marching through Berlin.

This all started with Biden promising to only send uniforms and medical supplies to Ukraine for fear of sparking a Russian retaliation. From there we went to anti-tank missiles, multiple-rocket launchers, Patriot missiles, Bradley fighting vehicles, and millions of rounds of ammunition. The Biden Administration announced last week that it would send depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine, which poisons the earth for millennia to come. Rumors are that long-range ATACMs missiles are to be delivered soon, which could strike deep into Russia.

Apparently, F-16 fighter jets are also on the way.

The escalation rationale from Washington, we are told, is that since the Russians have not directly retaliated against NATO for NATO’s direct support of Ukraine’s war machine, we can be sure they never will respond.

Is that really a wise bet? It is clear to many that US-built F-16 fighters taking off from NATO bases with NATO pilots attacking Russians in Ukraine – or even Russia itself – would be a declaration of war on Russia.

That means World War III – something we managed to avoid for the whole Cold War.

Congress is silent – or compliant – as we lurch forward toward disaster for no discernable US strategic goal. Biden – or whoever is actually running the show – is forging straight ahead.

As we move into the US presidential election cycle one thing is clear: we desperately need a peace president to do for us what JFK did for the US during the Cuba crisis. Hopefully it won’t be too late!


Copyright © 2023 by RonPaul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.
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If Ukraine Attacked NATO by Blowing Up Nordstream, Why Do They Keep Getting Billions From The U.S.?

Posted by M. C. on June 19, 2023

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The G7 in Hiroshima: The Latest Attempt to Impose a Unipolar World | Mises Wire

Posted by M. C. on June 19, 2023

As was already proposed through the Mises Institute, libertarians should support the multipolar world against the unipolar world. Yet rejecting US economic and legal imperialism does not, of course, signify supporting the Chinese political system. On the contrary, libertarians see that illiberal practices already in existence in China have been, or are about to be, implemented in the West, such as mandatory confinements, intelligence agencies’ control of social media, the introduction of a universal digital pass, and the use of facial recognition technologies by the authorities.

https://mises.org/wire/g7-hiroshima-latest-attempt-impose-unipolar-world

Finn Andreen

The last Group of Seven (G7) summit that took place May 19–21, 2023, in Hiroshima deserves attention because it exposes the latest Western attempt to impose its unipolar worldview. But first, a bit of background on the G7.

The G7 is the group of seven nations (USA, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, and the United Kingdom) that in the ’70s comprised the major industrialized countries of the capitalist world. But because of the enrichment of a large part of the world’s population and the economic stagnation of many Western nations, the situation has changed dramatically. The G7’s share of the world gross domestic product has gone from 70 percent to only 27 percent, contributing just 15 percent of overall growth in 2012–21. Moreover, they now account for only 10 percent of the world’s population.

By comparison, the five “BRICS” nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) now contribute almost 31.5 percent of world gross domestic product and account for a significant share of global growth as well as 42 percent of the world’s population.

Moreover, these differences between the G7 and the BRICS will only become starker. Most G7 members are teetering on the brink of economic recession, self-inflicted by years of irresponsible monetary policy and price inflation (a result of artificially low interest rates and a voluntary increase of energy prices).

The G7 nations therefore no longer convene, in reality, as major industrial powers but rather as ideological and geostrategic allies. This becomes obvious in view of the agenda of the Hiroshima summit, aimed at giving the rest of the world the Western position to adopt on virtually every subject from security to climate change.

The G7 against Russia

With regard to the Ukrainian conflict, the G7 was an opportunity for President Joe Biden to announce the training of Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16s, although this training has probably already started. This announcement is not only an exercise in political communication to confirm continued US support, but it is also a worrying Western escalation of the conflict, which increasingly resembles a North Atlantic Treaty Organization proxy war against Russia.

It is not the likely delivery of F-16s itself that is worrying because a few dozen or so old fighter jets will have no impact on the conflict, as has been confirmed by both the Pentagon and the Kremlin. What is concerning about this decision is the determination of the G7 leaders to continue to support this conflict, rejecting negotiations. This attitude reflects a long-standing geopolitical goal as well as an ideological obsession to weaken Russia, as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin put it. The costs of this senseless policy are being borne by the Ukrainian people through their loss of life and the destruction of their country as well as by all Westerners in the form of long-term decline.

Given the turn of the war in Ukraine, with the Ukrainian army in ever more dire straits as its recent defeat in the city of Bakhmut confirms, Western leaders are trying to pressure China, insistently but vainly, to use its influence with Moscow to prevent the conflict from ending in debacle for the West.

The G7 versus China

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Gee, Thanks America! U.S. Sanctions Make Russian Economy Stronger and Precipitate Multipolar World

Posted by M. C. on June 19, 2023

As with many other empires in the annals of history that have collapsed, arrogance and hubris often precede the fall. The American and Western elite thought they had an eternal license to wreak havoc for their own selfish gain. Their economic plunder and weaponry are now turning on their own heads. And it’s long overdue.

The paradoxical thing is that U.S. and European sanctions against Russia while intended to cripple the Russian economy have made the stronger.

Russia’s economy is performing strongly, according to recent forecasts from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The outcome defies earlier predictions by the United States and its European allies which held that Western sanctions would bring the Russian economy to its knees and force it to submissively “Cry Uncle”.

When the conflict in Ukraine escalated 16 months ago (after eight years of NATO-sponsored aggression using the Kiev Neo-Nazi regime), various Western politicians and pundits were relishing the prospect of the Russian economy collapsing from “Total War” launched against its international banking and trade.

Well, it didn’t turn out like that. Far from it. As the World Bank noted above, the Western sanctions have simply helped Russia boost alternative markets in China, India, and elsewhere around the globe. A principal earner for Russia is energy exports of oil and gas. Increased sales to Asia have maintained revenues despite the loss of European markets due to Western sanctions.

The paradoxical thing is that U.S. and European sanctions against Russia while intended to cripple the Russian economy have actually made the latter stronger.

Michael Hudson, an American global economics analyst, points out: “The sanctions have obliged Russia to become self-sufficient in food production, manufacturing production and consumer goods.”

Hudson also notes that the U.S. geopolitical strategy is to use sanctions in order to make its supposed European allies more dependent and subservient to Washington.

Another respected commentator, Glenn Diesen, a Norwegian geoeconomics professor, likened the use of Western sanctions to the self-destructive behavior of “self-harm”. The United States and European Union, he says, have “handed over a huge market to the rest of the world”.

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It’s Not Just the FBI: The IRS Goes Into ‘Beast Mode’

Posted by M. C. on June 19, 2023

Every federal employee with a badge and gun seems to think he’s a law unto himself.

We have recently received allegations that an Internal Revenue Service Agent provided a false name to an Ohio taxpayer as part of a deception to gain entry into the taxpayer’s home to confront her about delinquent tax filings. When the taxpayer rightfully objected to the agent’s tactics, the IRS agent insisted that he “can …go into anyone’s house at any time” as an IRS agent.” 

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/06/its_not_just_the_fbi_the_irs_goes_into_beast_mode.html

By Clarice Feldman

We have seen for some time how off-the-rails the FBI has become, a danger to a free society. More and more evidence now shows it’s not just the FBI. Every federal employee with a badge and gun seems to think he’s a law unto himself. This week the spotlight is on the IRS, and the Congress has to step up and rein the agency in.

While Matt Taibbi was testifying before Congress on the administration’s extensive censoring of social media content, the IRS appeared at his door, ostensibly to question him about his taxes, but obviously to intimidate him for showing up government censorship.

Mr. Taibbi has told Mr. Jordan’s committee that an IRS agent showed up at his personal residence in New Jersey on March 9. That happens to be the same day Mr. Taibbi testified before the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government about what he learned about Twitter. The taxman left a note instructing Mr. Taibbi to call the IRS four days later. Mr. Taibbi was told in a call with the agent that both his 2018 and 2021 tax returns had been rejected owing to concerns over identity theft.

Mr. Taibbi has provided the committee with documentation showing his 2018 return had been electronically accepted, and he says the IRS never notified him or his accountants of a problem after he filed that 2018 return more than four-and-a-half years ago.

He says the IRS initially rejected his 2021 return, which he later refiled, and it was rejected again — even though Mr. Taibbi says his accountants refiled it with an IRS-provided pin number. Mr. Taibbi notes that in neither case was the issue “monetary,” and that the IRS owes him a “considerable” sum.

The bigger question is when did the IRS start to dispatch agents for surprise house calls? Typically, when the IRS challenges some part of a tax return, it sends a dunning letter. Or it might seek more information from the taxpayer or tax preparer. If the IRS wants to audit a return, it schedules a meeting at the agent’s office. It doesn’t drop by unannounced.

But that was just the beginning of a series of outrageous actions.

As Congressman Jim Jordan detailed in a letter to IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel this week:

We have recently received allegations that an Internal Revenue Service Agent provided a false name to an Ohio taxpayer as part of a deception to gain entry into the taxpayer’s home to confront her about delinquent tax filings. When the taxpayer rightfully objected to the agent’s tactics, the IRS agent insisted that he “can …go into anyone’s house at any time” as an IRS agent.”

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FBI Groomed Developmentally Challenged 16-Year-Old To Become A Terrorist, Then Arrested Him

Posted by M. C. on June 19, 2023

Yet, according to the government’s own criminal complaint, Ventura never gave a dime to any terrorist groups, while the only “terrorist” he actually had any contact with was an undercover FBI agent who befriended him when he was 16-years-old and convinced him to produce gift cards with small amounts of cash on them. The FBI agent told Ventura not to tell anyone about their ‘intimate online relationship,’ including his family, according to The Intercept.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fbi-groomed-developmentally-challenged-16-year-old-become-terrorist-then-arrested-him

Tyler Durden's Photo

BY TYLER DURDEN

Earlier this month, the FBI announced the arrest of 18-year-old Mateo Ventura of Wakefield, Massachusetts, over allegations that he provided financial support to ISIS. According to the DOJ’s press release, Ventura was indicted for “knowingly concealing the source of material support or resources that he intended to go to a foreign terrorist organization.”

Yet, according to the government’s own criminal complaint, Ventura never gave a dime to any terrorist groups, while the only “terrorist” he actually had any contact with was an undercover FBI agent who befriended him when he was 16-years-old and convinced him to produce gift cards with small amounts of cash on them. The FBI agent told Ventura not to tell anyone about their ‘intimate online relationship,’ including his family, according to The Intercept.

Contrary to the sensational narrative fed to the news media of terrorist financing in the U.S., the charging documents show that Ventura gave an undercover FBI agent gift cards for pitifully small amounts of cash, sometimes in $25 increments. In his initial bid to travel to the Islamic State, the teenager balked — making up an excuse, by the FBI’s own account, to explain why he did not want to go. When another opportunity to travel abroad arose, Ventura balked again, staying home on the evening of his supposed flight instead of traveling to the airport. By the time the investigation was winding down, he appeared ready to turn in his purported ISIS contact — an FBI agent — to the FBI. -The Intercept

Whats more, Ventura’s father, Paul, told the outlet that his son suffered from childhood developmental issues which were so bad that he was forced to leave school due to constant bullying from other students.

“He was born prematurely, he had brain development issues. I had the school do a neurosurgery evaluation on him and they said his brain was underdeveloped,” said Ventura. “He was suffering endless bullying at school with other kids taking food off his plate, tripping him in the hallway, humiliating him, laughing at him.

In short, instead of an actual terrorist – or terrorist adjacent, Ventura’s case is yet another example of the FBI grooming a mentally unfit young man to commit a crime that would not have other wise occurred.

“There is still significant use of informants and undercover agents in FBI investigations who aren’t just gathering information about potential crimes but are actively suggesting ideas for crimes or making it easier for people to do the things that they claim they want to do,” said Naz Ahmad, acting director of the Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility, or CLEAR, project at the City University of New York School of Law. “There are documented cases where the government has provided people everything that they needed to execute a plot. Informants and undercover agents have often been used as a tool in these investigations to prod things along.”

In 2021, Paul Ventura said that armed FBI agents visited his home to inform him that his son had been browsing websites “he should be looking at,” and connected the father with who the FBI said was a counselor – who Paul says had no knowledge of his son’s ongoing communications with the undercover FBI agent.

“Two years ago, the FBI came to my house and they took his computer and said he’s on these sites he shouldn’t be on. We said OK, and he wasn’t arrested at that time or anything. I didn’t hear from them again after that, but I guess over time things escalated,” said Paul. “I wasn’t home a lot because I work, and he wasn’t at school because of the bullying. Instead of them telling me that he’s doing what he’s doing online and to take his computer away, they let him keep doing it.”

In their case against Ventura, the government reveals that the boy began communicating with the undercover FBI agent when he was 16-years-old, and told the agent of his desire to make “hijrah,” which means to migrate to territories under ISIS control. Yet, by the time the discussion happened, ISIS had been largely eliminated throughout Iraq and Syria. The DOJ says that the undercover FBI agent impersonated an ISIS member by using broken English, who then encouraged Ventura to pursue his ISIS dreams, and then told the boy not to tell anyone about their conversations.

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There Goes the Neighbourhood

Posted by M. C. on June 19, 2023

By every standard, she’s a “loyal American.” However, she’s not by any means stupid. Recently, she’s come to realise that her loyalty is not to the government of her country, but to the concept that her country was founded on. She’s leaving for what people always leave for: better opportunities, greater freedom, and an escape from the fear that her home country’s direction will not end well.

And yet, she’ll be going alone, with few of her peers believing she is making the right choice.

For anyone who is questioning whether to make an exit, the question should not be, “Can I survive this if I remain here?” It should be, “Is there a better future elsewhere?”

by Jeff Thomas

Throughout history, there have been periods when people who were otherwise quite settled in their towns and villages, pulled up stakes and headed elsewhere.

During the decline of Rome, many of those who had been the net producers chose to move north and live amongst the barbarians, as life amongst them, although less sophisticated than in Rome, offered more freedom and opportunity. Certainly, it must have been a difficult decision, but for many, it proved to be for the best.

In the 17th century, the Pilgrims also sought greater freedom. Initially, they attempted a socialistic approach to farming (from each according to his ability; to each according to his need), and most died as a result of this faulty logic. In desperation, those remaining opted for a change to a free-market system. The following year, the resultant productivity led them to hold the first Thanksgiving.

The Amish, too, sought greater freedom and found it in America. In the 19th century, many other Europeans moved across the ocean to America in search of a more fruitful way of life.

Since that time, many Americans have moved within the US. Farmers from Oklahoma went west out of desperation when their crops failed due to a prolonged drought. By contrast, millions of Americans moved out to suburbia in the 1950s, following the dream of a house with a white picket fence, away from the crime, smog, and crowding that had taken over the cities.

Some of these people travelled a long way; some travelled less than fifty miles. Some went out of desperation; some relocated due to the promise of upward mobility. What they had in common is that they all made their moves because the grass appeared greener elsewhere.

Historically, such people have always been praised for their gumption. But history is hindsight. At the time when they made their moves, there were many, many people who remained behind, urging those exiting not to go. Again historically, those who remained behind have always ended up as the forgotten ones, as they did not have the fortitude to make the change. They did not go forth to build the next new neighbourhood or new country.

It should be said that the majority rarely leave a neighbourhood (both in the village sense and the country sense). Most remain behind and become casualties of the decline. A dying city (Detroit in the US? Bradford in the UK?) never completely empties out. Many people remain behind, clinging to whatever scraps are tossed to them.

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By Gambling on Deterrance, Washington Must Prepare for Failure in the Pacific

Posted by M. C. on June 19, 2023

Japanese leaders chose war rather than capitulation, even though some of them, including Admiral IsorokuYamamoto, the architect of the attack on Pearl Harbor, suspected that their country could not win a war against the United States.

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/by-gambling-on-deterrance-washington-must-prepare-for-failure-in-the-pacific/

by Ted Galen Carpenter

china us flags on table

It has become increasingly apparent that any notion of U.S. “strategic ambiguity” with respect to Taiwan is dead. Both the Joe Biden administration’s rhetoric and U.S. military deployments in the western Pacific indicate that the United States will come to Taiwan’s defense if the People’s Republic of China (PRC) uses force against the island. The logic underlying this more confrontational stance is that it will deter Beijing from taking rash actions. It is far more likely to produce a potentially catastrophic military collision between the United States and China.

The reliability and credibility of any U.S. security assurances to Taipei are based on the assumption that U.S. forces would prevail if fighting broke out. However, it is most unclear whether that would be the case. Simulations run by the Pentagon and think tanks in recent years have produced mixed results. Some of them indicate that the United States would lose such a war; others point to a hard-fought U.S. victory. Both scenarios entail a horrific cost in lives and treasure. Looming in the background is the worry that either country might conclude that an escalation to the use of nuclear weapons was necessary to avoid a humiliating defeat.

The Pentagon and its supporters increasingly focus on ways to strengthen the U.S. military presence in the western Pacific to maximize the credibility of deterrence. A recent article by Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery (ret.) and Bradley Bowman is typical. They recommend five steps to prevent defeat: enhancing the ability to strike attacking PRC forces; strengthening Taiwan’s ability to defend itself; bolstering the survivability of forward deployed U.S. units; improving the capabilities of U.S. and allied forces to fight together; and building more cyber resilient infrastructure to support military mobility.

Such analyses focus on only one element of deterrence—the balance of military forces. Even with that narrow focus, U.S. prospects are not bright. Over the past two decades, the PRC has dedicated itself to an extraordinarily ambitious military modernization program. The focus of that effort has been on air and naval weapons systems that would make a U.S. intervention to defend Taiwan prohibitively problematic and costly. Beijing may already have achieved that capability. If not, it is just a few years away.

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J6 Pipe Bomber Story Goes Boom

Posted by M. C. on June 17, 2023

The FBI conducted a halfhearted inquiry, at best.
Now we know why.

In perhaps the most alarming portion of D’Antuono’s testimony, he revealed that the FBI does not have a complete account of cell phone use in the area on January 5, data that would easily result in tracking the perpetrator’s identity. In what Revolver News’ Darren Beattie described as “the dog ate the geofencing data” excuse, D’Antuono claimed data from one provider was “corrupted” and unusable. 

https://amgreatness.com/2023/06/15/j6-pipe-bomber-story-goes-boom/

By Julie Kelly

It remains the greatest unsolved mystery related to the events of January 6: Who placed pipe bombs near the headquarters of both the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee the night before?

Shortly before the joint session of Congress convened at 1 p.m. to debate the results of the 2020 Electoral College vote, a woman on her way to do some laundry looked down and spotted a device in an alley adjacent to the RNC building. Karlin Younger ran to notify security guards, who then called police. Law enforcement conducted a search of the area and located another device outside the DNC building.

Panic quickly ensued. “I just had to evacuate my office because of a pipe bomb reported outside,” Representative Elaine Luria (D-Va.) tweeted at 1:46 p.m. “I don’t recognize our country today and the members of Congress who have supported this anarchy do not deserve to represent their fellow Americans.”

“I’m sheltering in place in my office,” Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) tweeted at the same time. “The building next door has been evacuated. I can’t believe I have to write this.”

The media immediately suggested the explosives had been planted by someone loyal to the president; the New York Times noted in its breaking report that the bombs were found “just a few blocks away from the U.S. Capitol, which Mr. Trump’s supporters stormed on Wednesday afternoon.”

Federal authorities promised a full-throated investigation. During a press conference on January 12, 2021, acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Michael Sherwin and Washington FBI Field Office chief Steven D’Antuono emphasized the seriousness of the pipe bomb threat. “They were real devices. They had explosive ignitors,” Sherwin told reporters. D’Antuono announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to the identity and arrest of the perpetrator. The FBI, D’Antuono warned, was “looking at all angles, every tool, every rock is being unturned” in pursuit of the bomber.

A few months later, D’Antuono made another desperate plea for the public’s help in his investigation and doubled the reward. “We know it can be a difficult decision to report information about family, friends, or coworkers but this is about protecting human life. We need your help to identify the individual responsible for placing these pipe bombs to ensure that they will not harm themselves or anyone else.”

But despite sophisticated surveillance tools including geofence warrants that were at D’Antuono’s disposal—methods the FBI continues to use to this day in its ongoing manhunt for January 6 protesters—the trail went cold. So, too, did the national news media’s interest in the story. The January 6 Select Committee completely ignored the pipe bomb threats, relegating the story to two mentions buried deep in the final report’s appendix.

D’Antuono’s bluster notwithstanding, his office conducted a halfhearted inquiry at best. And now the public knows why. During an interview with the House Judiciary Committee earlier this month, D’Antuono disputed claims the bombs were planted to divert law enforcement presence away from the Capitol just before protesters assembled outside the building, a view commonly shared at the time.

Not only did the FBI fail to identify the individual, D’Antuono admitted the FBI does not even know the “gender” of the bomber. He also backtracked on numerous public statements insisting the devices were viable, indeed, deadly. Pressed by Rep. Tom Massie (R-Ky.) to explain how the bombs were operable considering the use of a one-hour kitchen timer attached to the metal tube, D’Antuono admitted that they couldn’t have detonated during January 6. “I don’t know when they were supposed to go off. Maybe they weren’t supposed to go off.”

In perhaps the most alarming portion of D’Antuono’s testimony, he revealed that the FBI does not have a complete account of cell phone use in the area on January 5, data that would easily result in tracking the perpetrator’s identity. In what Revolver News’ Darren Beattie described as “the dog ate the geofencing data” excuse, D’Antuono claimed data from one provider was “corrupted” and unusable.

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