Gardner Goldsmith

The week changes on a cliffhanger, like the old serial movies, or classic Doctor Who… Will Trump immorally and unconstitutionally attack Iran? He “kiiinda” pulled back late Thursday into Friday, but, as we go to print, he is moving naval resources to the Gulf, and NATO is shifting resources to get closer to Iran, as well. We’ll cover that, here, and look for your thoughts at the bottom of the Assembly and on Monday’s Liberty Conspiracy Live.

As always, please feel free to read all, or just portions, of this special report, to leave and return, and to SHARE the internal links and the whole release! Be sure to head to Rumble or Gardner’s X at 6 PM eastern each M-F for the news, from Liberty Conspiracy LIVE! We hope to provide as much big info for freedom fighters as we can!! ALSO, check out the new Former Star Trek Writing Fellow Channels - On YT, and on Rumble!

Feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of the Assembly, and you also can donate to help the Liberty Conspiracy, itself! Just visit PayPal to help out!

And now, as Mario and Luigi might say, “Let’s-a-GO!!

Subscribe now

Share

Breaking issues are popping up so rapidly, one could live-stream all day, every hour, and see new reports of ICE criminality piled atop the already criminal US government’s existence. Here is something lighter, but pointed, to start things off:

Again, most of the Oglala Sioux men whom ICE kidnapped are still missing.

-More, on ICE going after an American Indian

-I believe this man

-Another death… DHS confirms Mexican citizen's death in ICE custody in Georgia LINK
-And the ICE Gestapo have the attire of their leader to consider here… You might recognize the Nazi motif, many people are noticing…

-Bovino, again, is being cited for lying

-And, to reiterate, the family in Minneapolis who got gassed by ICE and who suffered their 6-month old child going into cardiac arrest, they were not even a part of some protest.

-40 More instances of ICE goons using “banned” choke-holds on their kidnapping victims

-Minnesota Gov Tim Walz has called up the state Guard to try to handle ICE-on-protester violence.

-A Minnesota federal judge Saturday ruled that ICE lacks authority to detain individuals or deploy tear gas at peaceful protests without probable cause, supposedly addressing complaints of warrantless interference in Twin Cities demonstrations, but the “probable cause” term is, of course, in the hands of govt, and malleable. ICE murdering a woman and using a battering ram to break into a Liberian refugee’s home without a judicial warrant are among the many crimes they have committed. LINK MORE x 2:

-MORE
-The DHS appropriations bill is to be put up for a vote in the Senate on the 30th

-In case you eat at Chipotle LINK

Share

Trump just hit NATO nations with a threat of a 25% tariff starting June 1 over their opposition to Trump grabbing Greenland. LINK In response? The EU is pulling out of its still-unratified tariff “deal” with Trump, meaning, their tariffs will rise again, and the “investments” they had discussed with Trump, are on hold

-Following the EU’s decision to halt ratification of the July, 2025, “US-EU Trade Agreement” the US maintains a baseline 10% tariff on most EU imports, with reciprocal rates up to 41% for specific goods, though the paused deal had capped it at 15% for EU products (excluding 50% on steel/aluminum). Trump has imposed additional 10% tariffs starting February 1, 2026, on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, Netherlands, and Finland, and this new “tariff” actually is a threat to escalate to 25% by June 1. That’s right… the additional tariffs on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, and Finland will start at 10% on February 1, 2026, and escalate to 25% on June 1, 2026, if no agreement is reached for the U.S. to purchase Greenland.
EU-wide tariffs on US goods remain intact at pre-deal levels, including 10% on American cars.
US targets vary by origin; e.g., higher rates could apply to French wines or German autos atop the EU baseline, potentially compounded by member states’ retaliatory measures if escalated.
The new tiff puts off tariff eliminations for US industrial goods, seafood, and agriculture, stalling EU investments in US sectors like manufacturing and energy. EU-based firms’ US expansions, facilitated by eased market access, face uncertainty, risking billions in cross-border deals. Under the July ‘25 US-EU trade agreement, titled the “Framework on an Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair, and Balanced Trade,” European companies were expected to invest an additional $600 billion in so-called “strategic US sectors” through 2028. This included expansions in manufacturing (e.g., automotive and industrial goods), energy infrastructure (supporting LNG, oil, and nuclear facilities), and “technology hubs.” It was quite the US-mercantilist set-up. The deal also featured EU commitments to purchase at least $40 billion in US AI chips for computing centers, bolstering semiconductor firms like Intel (the US under Trump, just acquired a 10% share of Intel, making it the largest stakeholder) and Nvidia. Additionally, the EU planned substantial procurement of US military equipment in the “hundreds of billions,” benefiting defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing. These investments are now stalled due to the halted ratification.
-By the way, Stephen Miller seems to think his bellicosity makes up for a lack of logic, historicism, or ethics.

-More “might makes right” blather, from Miller

-Contrary to Trump’s childish claims, the US has no “claim” over Greenland. Technically, no state has any legitimate claim over anything, because states all operate through illegitimate means such as taxation and coercion, and they assume “authority” over people without their consent.

This is kind of amusing to see

And the streets of Copenhagen were filled today

-David Stockman says it well

Share Gardner Goldsmith

-Trump is demanding oodles of cash from nations that want to have a say in the occupation of what is left of Gaza. And he is claiming that HE will control where that cash is invested. - What memory does he have of the US Constitution magically amending itself to allow any of this, even on their statist level? BTW, of course, the Constitution is imposed on us, and, thus, has no moral “authority” over any of us.

Trump also has appointed mass-murderer and liar Tony Blair to the board of his “Board of Peace”. Doesn’t that name make ya wanna puke? Unbelievable.

-Peace advocate Yanis Varoufakis is being hounded by the Greek government (he once was a Parliament member there), simply because he promotes peace for Palestine and Iran, and opposes the EU warmongering against Russia.

-ISRAEL-ARGENTINA - Given the reach of the Zionist criminal enterprise, this confirmation of a much-mentioned problem in Argentina comes as no surprise.

Argentina officials blame Israeli tourists for Patagonia fires LINK

The recent “protests” that both Lindsay Graham and Mike Pompeo mentioned were driven by Israeli and US teams are getting further scrutiny, with revelations of Kurdish-Iranian separatist groups being involved. These are groups that previously have been tied to the CIA LINK

Here are Max Blumenthal and Scott Horton on it, time-linked to the section in Scott’s show that covers this (the whole show is superb)!

And more on this, from Mint Press

Subscribe now

-A sixth tanker. Seriously. US Seizes Sixth Venezuela-Linked Tanker - News From Antiwar.com LINK
-Remember, Trump went after Maduro to stop those eeeeeevil drugs!

Ukraine Reports 200,000 Soldiers AWOL, 2 Million Ukrainians Avoid Conscription - News From Antiwar.com LINK

Subscribe now

The Congress has a draft bill to “regulate” both Crypto and so-called “Stable Coins” LINK The way they break things down deflects from the fact that none of it is constitutional, and the US pushing so-called “stable coins” is their political method to “allow” (i.e. promote) financial institutions to buy US debt, then issue “digital coins” based on those purchases, creating a mirror of the Federal Reserve that will buy more of the mounting US bonds.

Trump’s ‘Department of War’ rebrand could cost $125 million to replace all the stationery and signs, the CBO says… LINK

And, the US Economy is not being kind to Popeye’s, a great chicken place! LINK

Why does collectivism inspire such bizarre arguments and control people’s money to involve them? UK court declares 'transgender' males in nurses' changing rooms illegal in 'landmark' ruling - LifeSite LINK

That’s it for “News Sites and Print” links! Now, how about some VIDEO LINKS!!

First, to reiterate, the entire vid of Scott and Max B is excellent

And Daniel Davis has a great set of thoughts re Trump and NATO!

That’s it for now, all! Thank you for believing in freedom!

And come back Monday for our new DAILY NEWS NOTES! It’s for paid subscribers, and will give you a midday look at some of the breaking news you might want to follow, to compare notes with others, and utilize to keep an eye on the statists in politics and the statists in the “commentary/reporting” realm! Remember, you can watch Liberty Conspiracy Live, each weeknight, at 6 eastern! Help others learn about all the facets of freedom, from markets, to privacy, to speech, to parental control and education, and much MORE! You can watch, listen, and join the chat for freedom as we broadcast on my X and Rumble. Hit me up at X as @gardgoldsmith there and on GAB as “GardnerGoldsmith”! And, of course, I want to mention that if you’d like to get some of my fiction, grab my current novellas at Amazon and Barnes and Noble!! As a rocking opener, I recommend “Fishing” as a dark, well-composed crime tale with some very unusual turns (this contains some scenes of dark violence, so please, be warned)…

…Or feel free to get “Bite” for a different take on vampirism, and “Wall” for a cryptoarcheological adventure set in 1960s China. And I have three novels and two more novellas in their final editing phases, soon to be on the way!

You also can donate to help the Liberty Conspiracy, itself! Just visit PayPal to help out! You also can mail GG at:

Gardner Goldsmith
PO Box 581
Amherst, NH, 03031 Be Seeing You!

Thank you for supporting the ideas and the scholarship of freedom. God bless, everyone!

Share

Leave a comment

Subscribe now

Greetings, fellow Conspirators!!

Happy Friday! Big thanks to all the journalists whom we featured, thanks for their work. Thanks to our audience, too, for joining us tonight, and we'll be sure to keep promoting the work of good folks like AntiWar and others who are so devoted to peace. Here are some of the big matters we explored tonight…

Subscribe now

Share

We reported on this yesterday, and here we have a good conversation about it, a chat between Scott and Judge Napolitano, time-linked from the Judging Freedom cast that went live this morning:

Lindsay Graham not only looks upset that the Trump Admin did not breach the Constitution some more and attack Iran AGAIN, he lets loose a comment that reveals the fact that the US was involved with the fomenting of revolution on the ground in Iran. This comports with Mike Pompeo’s arrogant X post the other day, when it acknowledged that Mossad agents were on the ground in Iran, working with agitators.

-Key insights on the US-Israeli plan to topple the Iranian govt, a plan that only is on pause. This comes to us via Judge Napolitano’s Intel RoundTable with Larry Johnson and Ray McGovern. This links to a few min into the stream as it went out at 4 pm eastern.

Jonathan Greenblat, of the ADL, lets loose an egomaniacal list of the areas in which his deep-pockets organization is monitoring social media, personal statements, and more, and then leveraging power w the federal government, to silence people who might be critical of the Zionist genocide and occupation machine.

-The ADL also is involved in training Alibaba’s Large Language Model (so be warned), and Chat GBT, to steer rhetoric and speech and narratives within META, Wikipedia, and others. Amazingly brazen.

-MORE

-Israel killed ten more people in what remains of Gaza - during this “ceasefire” LINK

-The US is showing through actions - this buildup - that Trump, as usual, cannot be trusted. He supposedly backed off an attack, as we heard yesterday, buuut the US is sending more ships to the Gulf LINK.
-The US just hit mor Iranian govt officials with even more “sanctions” LINK
Steve Witkoff spelled out the US “demands” on Iran — ie, he reiterated threats from the unconstitutional, unethical, Trump Admin against the Iranian government, and he calls it part of “negotiations.” LINK
-And Treas Sec Bessent shows his utter derangement with this

To follow-up on our coverage of the Senate voting DOWN (due to Vance breaking the tie) the War Powers Res (again, not needed in a nation that might bother adhering to its Constitution, because Trump should have been impeached for using the military on his own a long time ago) — we have this excellent point, from Prof Glenn Diesen,

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Share

So, yeah. Trump thinks he is all-powerful, it seems.

And…

-France and other EU national figures are warning the US to steer clear of a military adventure in Greenland LINK the French, German, Dutch govts have sent troops to Greenland as a warning to fellow NATO ally the US. Yep.
-And… China and Canada just signed a bunch of trade deals - a response to Trump’s Greenland threats and his tariff terrorism LINK

-Another death of a kidnapping victim, in the hands of ICE. Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban immigrant and U.S. resident, died in ICE “custody” on January 3, at Camp East Montana (an ICE detention facility at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas). A preliminary autopsy indicates the cause of death as asphyxia due to neck and chest compression, and it’s expected to be ruled a homicide. Witnesses, including a fellow detainee, reported seeing ICE guards choke and pin him during an altercation after he resisted being moved to a segregation unit without his medications. ICE initially claimed staff observed him “in distress” and attempted to save him, but accounts differ, with some suggesting it was portrayed as a suicide attempt.This comes amid broader scrutiny of ICE operations, including other recent deaths, but this case specifically matches the description of choking/asphyxiation. LINK

-AND… the Liberian man kidnapped by ICE, which we discussed last night? He was released per a judge’s order then… re-kidnapped today! Jeez!

This

And

And this…

And more, on the six-month old hit by ICE teargas

On the four Sioux men kidnapped by ICE in MN… As of today (January 16, 2026), the latest available information indicates that one of the four Oglala Sioux Tribe members detained during the ICE operations in Minneapolis has been released. The remaining three are still considered missing/unaccounted for by tribal leaders and advocates, despite ongoing efforts to locate them.Key Updates from Reports and Statements

• Tribal leaders, including Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out and attorney Chase Iron Eyes, accessed the Fort Snelling Whipple Federal Building (an ICE-related facility) on January 15, 2026, but were informed that the three men were not present there.

• Earlier reports (from January 13–14) stated that three of the four had been transferred to an ICE detention center at Fort Snelling after initial detention, with one already released.

• There’s confusion about their exact current location: Some sources suggest they may still be in ICE custody elsewhere, while tribal officials describe them as “missing” in custody and continue searching with new contact information.

• The men are unhoused U.S. citizens (enrolled tribal members), and the tribe argues their detention violates treaties, federal law (including the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924), and constitutional protections. ICE/DHS has not fully confirmed the detentions or provided detailed status updates in public statements.

This situation remains fluid, with calls for their immediate release, an ACLU class-action lawsuit alleging rights violations during the broader Minneapolis raids, and widespread criticism of the operations. Tribal advocates are actively pursuing leads, but no confirmed reports of the three being fully freed or definitively located have emerged as of the most recent posts and news coverage today.

MORE

And…

Share Gardner Goldsmith

-Trump just engaged in more fascism, plunking down more taxpayer money to own a portion of a corporation. (Here is more, from Mr. Lincicome, on the ten others… LINK)

-Institutional-bank-govt-tied earners (the top 10%) now comprise nearly half of all consumer spending. There are other, minor factors involved, seeing one consider that high earners generally will be able to spend more than others, and seeing that Baby Boomers have been able to create revenue streams that younger people have not had the opportunity yet to establish, but this is a major reflection of price increases for what consumers buy every day - price increases caused by inflation of the money supply and strangling of the supply chain via regulations and tariffs.

Share

Subscribe now

Please note, of course, that the reference to a “trade deficit” or a “trade surplus” is not economically valid because the “deficit” or “surplus” is just measuring goods and services, and trade always is balanced, seeing the liquidity move in a reciprocal action from the goods and services, i.e. the money sent to some other nation returns as investment, and as long as a government is not sucking up that investment with its bonds, that liquidity helps new domestic businesses grow. But this info is valuable to see how Chinese sellers changed their behavior and found new buyers after Trump went insane with his insane tariffs

The share of the GDP reflected by employee compensation is the lowest it has been since 1947. LINK

AND THIS… Great economics and history, from Jacob Hornberger and Richard Ebeling

That’s it for tonight! Join us, m-f 6 PM, everyone!

Many thanks for supporting freedom, and for sharing the links! And remember, you can back us here by becoming a paid subscriber if you would like, and feel free to watch Liberty Conspiracy LIVE on Gardner’s X @gardgoldsmith and on Rumble! Spread the word! Thanks, again! Please feel free to SHARE the links, and join us every M-F at 6 PM on Rumble, and my X @gardgoldsmith — and you also can donate to help the Liberty Conspiracy, itself! Just visit PayPal to help out! You also can mail GG at:

Gardner Goldsmith
PO Box 581
Amherst, NH, 03031 :)

Leave a comment

Share

Subscribe now

If you missed the live program, we hope you dig the audio pod! Many thanks to our fellow Conspirators for freedom who joined, and will join, us, and to the great journalists whose work we got to mention. Join us, m-f, 6 pm on Rumble and X live, and tell others they can find the audio pod via Spotify and Substack! Here are some of the big stories we explored tonight!

Share

Subscribe now

Yep. RT reports, another VZ tanker. Stand and deliver… The state is always a pirate, of many facets of our lives. LINK

The US Supreme Court just ruled that cops entering a home sans judge-issued warrant, in order to “check on welfare” inside, then SHOOTING someone, is… perfectly fine. Seriously.

-Also, via the SCOTUS, they will hear a big gun issue… LINK

Subscribe now

Scott Ritter was just de-banked by Citizens. Evidently, they dislike people who expose the genocide and who call for NATO to stop pushing war.

Trump returned to the Detroit Economic Club (he was there last April, as he pushed his insane tariffs) to lie about the economy, stopping a million or so wars, and more LINK

-A DHS whistleblower (or more than one), has revealed key, forbidding, facets of the ICE direction, acting as a new Gestapo. LINK

-Noem confirms that ICE agents believe they can stop anyone and demand “Papers!”

Share Gardner Goldsmith

-ICE threatened a family for a half-hour, following a man to his home, then SHOT HIM IN THE LEG after the family called police for help.

-MORE on that, from the NYT LINK
-Records show that, despite Noem admitting to shooting her own dog, her DHS spent $75 K on housing agents’ DOGS in a special doggie hotel.

-The founder of the Proud Boys is listed as an employee of ICE now (this is confirmed by many ICE investigators working with revelation groups). What a shock. SO the group that tried to defend itself against accusations of being White Supremacist now sees its head (a scion of migrants) embrace a fed goon gang that, itself, embraces White Supremacist language, as we noted in posts and on Liberty Conspiracy Live, yesterday.

-The Chicago Tribune is reporting that ICE is looking for snitches

-Jerry Nadler is correct

-And, with the “chaos” HE is causing, Trump juuuuust confirmed what many critics claimed he would prefer - he said that it might be a good thing NOT to have mid-term elections

Subscribe now

-And while Trump contemplates invoking the unconstitutional “Insurrection Act” (the act runs counter to Article 4, Sec 4, and his “policing power” to “protect federal buildings” not only is not a pretext here, but the very presence of the “federal buildings” would, in a strictly constitutional US, have to be on federal land (meaning either on territories, in military garrisons, or in DC - which are the only three forms of land the Constitution allows the feds to own/run) - Let’s not forget that Trump called for the people of Iran to “take to the streets” and “take over” their government. (link here is to Judge Napolitano w Aaron Mate, showing Trump….)

And more - Stephen Miller claims that ICE agents are completely immune from prosecution for their crimes… What a dumb thing to say. Judge Nap and Aaron, here, on it, from a diff portion of their conversation

-This Liberian man had his home busted, he was kidnapped, as his wife had to watch.

-ICE shooting pepper spray into car vents

-And, as I oft mention, those who oppose the death penalty also should oppose armed police.

-This appears confirmed

-ACLU making a big move. Good work here

-A Congressman is having second thoughts about his previous police-state positions — but only a few

-The CA statute mandating that ICE NOT WEAR MASKS is in court LINK
-The Border Goon Capt blames the victims for ICE aggression. LINK
-A mom, kidnapped for 25 days

-This, from a recent MN press conf

Leavitt lies again…
Karoline Leavitt, White House Press Secretary, today said that the national average price for a gallon of regular gas had fallen to its lowest level in five years, attributing it to policy changes and citing a GasBuddy report. This implies that current prices (around $2.78–$2.84 per gallon) are lower than at any point since approximately January 2021. Buuuuuuut, historical data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows this is, of course, FALSE.
National average prices for regular gasoline were notably lower at several points within the last five years:

• In January 2021, the monthly average was $2.334 per gallon.

• Prices remained below $2.80 through February 2021 ($2.501) and were under $3.00 until mid-2021.

• For context, the annual average in 2021 was around $3.01, but early-year lows were well below current levels.

These figures are from EIA’s monthly retail gasoline price data for regular formulations. Similarly, all-grades data confirms lows around $2.42 in January 2021. Current prices, such as the EIA weekly average of $2.779 for the week ending January 12, 2026, or AAA’s national average of $2.844 as of January 15, 2026, are higher than those early 2021 lows. While prices have declined recently (e.g., from $3.315 in January 2025), they do not represent the absolute lowest in the five-year period. The GasBuddy forecast Leavitt referenced projects a 2026 annual average of $2.97, which would be the lowest since 2020. Utterly fake.

-A great piece from our friend David Henderson, on Trump’s attempt to cap credit card rates LINK

UK DESPERATION FOR WAR

Yep. The Home Office just told males up to 65 to be ready to be conscripted. Seriously

-The US Congress just told Trump to borrow another $3.3 BILLION and hand it to Israel.

-The Israeli Occupation Force has killed appx 450 people since the start of the “ceasefire” - now they US is ready for “phase two”? What a disgusting farce. LINK

-Vance cast the tie-breaking vote against the War Powers resolution that would have stopped Trump from attacking VZ. As Dave DeCamp notes, the VP did not vote against it because it is superfluous (since the US Constitution requires a Dec of War before a Prez can use the military), he has voted for such measures in the past, but changed his position here. LINK
-The Trump DoJ just added “environmental” accusations to the “case” against Maduro. Again, this is not a joke.

Trump says he won’t attack — but we all know how much we can trust him LINK

Anna Paluna - aka Una Paloma Blanca - is always a mix of good and really, really bad LINK

Yep. It’s likely to pass. LINK Redacted discussed this with Maria Zee, today.

Subscribe now

That’s it for tonight! Join us, m-f 6 PM, everyone!

Many thanks for supporting freedom, and for sharing the links! And remember, you can back us here by becoming a paid subscriber if you would like, and feel free to watch Liberty Conspiracy LIVE on Gardner’s X @gardgoldsmith and on Rumble! Spread the word! Thanks, again! Please feel free to SHARE the links, and join us every M-F at 6 PM on Rumble, and my X @gardgoldsmith — and you also can donate to help the Liberty Conspiracy, itself! Just visit PayPal to help out! You also can mail GG at:

Gardner Goldsmith
PO Box 581
Amherst, NH, 03031 :)

Share

Leave a comment

LIBERTY CONSPIRACY NEWS NOTES:

Welcome, fellow Conspirators!

Whether it's ICE, the IRS, the NSA, the CIA, the USDA, the TSA, the FBI, or any of the other poisons created by statism, the landscape is dangerous to our liberty, and I want to thank everyone who joined us tonight for the program. I also want to thank all the good people whose journalism was featured tonight on the show. Join us, m-f 6 PM on Rumble, or on X, and find the audio via Spotify or here at Substack, free. Here are some of the key issues we hit tonight!

Subscribe now

Share

What Scott Adams had to say prior to his death, knowing it was imminent. We will discuss the lack of faith problem that many people experience.

-The US is using old White Supremacist language for ICE and the DHS agenda

-This information, via NPR, is important to consider as an example of how the Trump Admin moves its tax-funded chess pieces to set up even more “need” for policing. These people are trying to work though the “becoming a citizen” process. Now, the feds have closed the office where they were carrying out that process. Meaning: most of these people will be put into “delinquent” positions on their work to become citizens, meaning they will be easy targets for US kidnappers to grab them, claiming they have strayed from the “process”

MORE, showing similar tactics on the streets in MN - flood the zone, use the backlog as a pretext for kidnapping and deportation

By JULY of LAST year, the ICE budget was bigger than most national defense budgets. LINK And it is going to grow. The provided reference discusses the recent reconciliation bill (often referred to as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” or OBBBA) that allocates approximately $150-170 billion over four years (FY 2025-2029) for enhanced immigration enforcement, with significant portions directed toward ICE, DHS components (including CBP/Border Patrol), and related activities. This funding is on top of baseline agency budgets and represents a major increase driven by policy priorities. AND… Projections beyond FY 2029 are not explicitly detailed in government sources, but analyses suggest sustained high levels could continue if policies persist, potentially adding hundreds of billions more through 2030 and beyond due to ongoing deportation and enforcement costs. Exact annual budgets can fluctuate based on Congressional appropriations, but here is a breakdown of projected funding based on the bill’s allocations, baseline figures, and expert estimates. Figures are in billions of USD and represent discretionary budgets (excluding fees or offsets). Annual averages assume even distribution over the four-year period where specified, with baselines drawn from FY 2025 levels (ICE ~$10.4B, DHS total ~$99.1B discretionary, CBP/Border Patrol ~$20B including operations). Projected? - These are estimates combine baselines with current bill add-ons that I can find: ICE and Border Patrol (under CBP) see the sharpest increases for enforcement and deportation. DHS totals include all sub-agencies (e.g., ICE, CBP, FEMA, etc.) plus the $175B multi-year investment noted in the FY 2026 request, with ~$43.8B allocated in FY 2026 alone for border security. Projections assume steady-state funding post-2029 unless policies change.
-More accusations of ICE criminality

-Reason is pretty good on this re ICE agents claiming “immunity” LINK
-This kind of commentary is valuable, but doesn’t go deep enough to see that the US is not supposed to be involved in immigration policing.

and…

And this. Just vile.

MORE - Judge Nap noted the sickness behind these guys

IRAN (VZ, CUBA, MORE) - Author and Cambridge Prof Jostein Hauge offers a reminder re sanctions. Of course, even if one were to debate the numbers that represent the evil outcome of “sanctions”, the immorality of their imposition, the very idea that a gang of thugs calling themselves “government” can threaten others merely because those others want to engage in peaceful commerce? That is enough to despise the “sanctions” and hold in contempt those who impose them.

The US is pulling soldiers out of Middle Eastern bases (where they should not be, in the first place), which looks like a sign that the US and Israel are preparing to attack Iran and they are readying for retaliation.

The VZ govt just released a few Americans it was holding. These are not the people Trump’s ICE/DHS kidnapped, then sent to CECOT in El Salvador, and who subsequently were funneled to VZ. These appear to be private citizens, though some might be tied to US intel. Their detentions stemmed from a mix of circumstances, such as travel-related issues or potential criminal charges (e.g., possible drug smuggling in some cases), but available details describe them as civilians—such as tourists or individuals with personal ties to the region—rather than official US personnel. One example from recent detentions is James Luckey-Lange, a 28-year-old from Staten Island, New York, who was held by Venezuelan military counterintelligence after entering the country as a traveler in early December 2025. He had been on a multi-year personal journey through South America following his mother’s death and has no mentioned affiliations beyond being a private citizen. LINK

The quote of the day, as we see major economic powers drop US debt. “

Share Gardner Goldsmith

Though Trumpola hates it when WE buy Chinese goods (usually allowing us to save, relatively speaking, and invest the savings in new jobs, other products, and an expanding economy), Mr. Trump DOES like it when Chinese corporations open plants here. (Evidently, that doesn’t inspire their BOGEYMAN fears of TikTok-like eeevil Chinese influence). The MI Senator here has made good points about US soldiers only following “lawful” orders (this was a weakening of the actual requirement, of CONSTITUTIONAL orders), but here, we can see her reacting to Trump inviting Chinese corporations to make plants in the US. She sees this as a form of colonization, perhaps. The two positions here, with Trump pushing tariffs, but saying, “come on in if you want to create a plant here and not import your products” and Ms. Slotkin pushing back against the investment - both are politicized manipulations and threats to real freedom.

More, from Ms. Slotkin, with a reminder that one keep the larger universe of government meddling in mind.

Subscribe now

January 10th marked the anniversary of its publication! Here is the Tenth Amendment Center on it! LINK

That’s it for tonight! Join us, m-f 6 PM, everyone!

Many thanks for supporting freedom, and for sharing the links! And remember, you can back us here by becoming a paid subscriber if you would like, and feel free to watch Liberty Conspiracy LIVE on Gardner’s X @gardgoldsmith and on Rumble! Spread the word! Thanks, again! Please feel free to SHARE the links, and join us every M-F at 6 PM on Rumble, and my X @gardgoldsmith — and you also can donate to help the Liberty Conspiracy, itself! Just visit PayPal to help out! You also can mail GG at:

Gardner Goldsmith
PO Box 581
Amherst, NH, 03031 :)

Leave a comment

Subscribe now

Share

Liberty Conspiracy News Notes:

Welcome, fellow Conspirators!

It was a busy night, full of positivity from people supporting freedom. Thanks to all who streamed live at 6 and to all the journalists we got to feature. Join us, live, at 6 PM m-f on Rumble or on X. The audio pod is here, and here is a bunch of the material we got to discuss!

Subscribe now

Share

Cartoonist and political-cultural commentator Scott Adams has died, aged 68. He streamed yesterday, appearing weak, clearly near death, but sharp and engaged with guests Greg Guttfeld and Drew Pinsky. Last week, he announced that he was going to convert to Christianity. LINK

-Trump unilaterally is imposing a 25% tariff on any product from any nation which, as a national entity, or with individuals therein, do business with any entity from Iran.

This is part of Trump’s fakery regarding “concern” for the mostly-US-Israeli-backed rioters in Iran, a mentality that we saw played out to disastrous results in the Maidan Coup in Ukraine, circa late 2013, early 2014. The Chinese government, which JUST finished months of back and forth with Trump over his insane tariffs, now sees many goods they try to sell to us hit with 75% total tariffs. Daniel McAdams has this covered, on the Ron Paul Liberty Report, which I’ve linked to that portion of the program LINK
-As Antiwar reports, Trump openly called for revolution against the “institutions” of Iran. This, while he accuses innocent Americans on their own streets of being “insurrectionists” and “terrorists” and he rounds up migrants, imprisoning them or deporting them without due process. Totally consistent (not). LINK
-Larry Johnson notes that, though the US has not gathered carriers near Iran, as would be expected as a sign of invasion, they have been delivering massive loads of arms to US bases in Bahrain, Kuwait, and many others LINK
-** Judge Nap and Jeffrey Sachs offer key thoughts on the US-Israeli-pushed regime change operation in Iran, similar to that in Ukraine from late 2013.

-Daniel McAdams also notes that Lindsay Graham is thrilled by the prospect of war w Iran. LINK
-And Max Blumenthal, of The GrayZone observes that the “news” on Iran being pushed by the US comes from groups funded by the National Endowment for Democracy. LINK
-Thomas Massie notes that the NED was supposed to have been shut down, but there’s a lot of money ($315 Mil) in the new “stop-gap” spending bill to keep it doing its nefarious deeds LINK
-A reminder, from US history and its bloodthirsty actions

-Hegseth said that the US military that hit VZ boats and engaged in war crimes by doing so ALSO were disguised as civilian vessels. RT notes that this is a war crime.

The SCOTUS not only is weighing Trump’s Executive Madness Tariffs, it is weighing “transgender in sports” - How that has anything to do with the federal government might be something they address. LINK

Subscribe now

In the NJ area - cronyism? LINK

Trump’s proposal to cap credit card rates not only is unconstitutional, it is anti-economic. But, of course, so is the federal claim to confer “corporate” status on business people, so it the central bank that sets interest rates and invents new money to pump into the system and hand it to cozy friends who can spend it before it loses its purchasing power some more, and so is Trump’s system of tariffs, which he has no problem forcing onto us, while he cries crocodile tears over the banks/credit-card companies charging us higher rates. Cute. LINK
Trump, also is readying to bail-out Fannie and Freddie (like Obama did) this time to the tune of $200 Billion. But remember, he doesn’t like “institutional” home investment by “big home buyers” — unless they are corporations created by the federal government and repeatedly bailed out by the US as they continue to buy bundled mortgages from banks. LINK

Trump also just announced that he will apply a new 25% tariff on any product from a nation “doing business” with any business from Iran. Because… he claims he loves freedom. See? Here is AntiWar on it LINK and here is Dave, on video

-Chinese government officials have expressed their fury, and some simple facts about Trump’s insane tariffs. LINK

This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

As we last week noted on Liberty Conspiracy LIVE, the Trump DOJ recently argued in court that REAL ID, imposed unconstitutionally, requiring citizens to give up personal information to the government without any tie to the 4th Amendment, does not “sufficiently” ID people to tell whether they are “illegal” or “legal” human beings. See if you can filter out all the arbitrary political wording and hubristic arrogations of power in this story, as the New American digs into it some more. LINK
-ICE is paying “influencers” - just like Israeli genocide maniacs have paid them - to push a pro-ICE message. LINK
-DOJ Officials have resigned after the Trump Admin refused to do a standard investigation of the ICE-committed murder of Ms. Good in Minneapolis LINK MORE

-The DHS Queen is saying that they are readying DRONES to deploy all over the US LINK
-Marco Rubio responded to a judge ruling that the feds had to do something to rectify the lack of due process shown by the US last March kidnapping over-one-hundred people and sending them to El Salvador and Venezuela. Despite the US PAYING CECOT to hold many of them, and despite the US paying all the goons to apprehend people and fly them out, Rubio now claims that the US can’t do anything to bring those men back. Seriously. LINK
-MANY more reports of ICE violence. LINK
-And, in the wake of ICE killing Renee Good, we are reminded of Trump’s National Security Memorandum 7, in which he claimed the magical power to declare anyone a “domestic terrorist” based on their stated positions on issues. The Trumpers are implying that Ms. Good was a “terrorist” now. LINK This US Atty just resigned because of the behavior of the Trump Justice Dept evidently telling him to “investigate” Ms. Good’s “wife” as part of his welfare scam research in MN. WOW — So cravenly corrupt from DC. Good for him to get out.

-ICE sees its narrative about a Maryland shooting fall apart. LINK
-Trump hypocrisy about “low-wage foreign labor”

That’s it for tonight! Join us, m-f 6 PM, everyone!

Many thanks for supporting freedom, and for sharing the links! And remember, you can back us here by becoming a paid subscriber if you would like, and feel free to watch Liberty Conspiracy LIVE on Gardner’s X @gardgoldsmith and on Rumble! Spread the word! Thanks, again! Please feel free to SHARE the links, and join us every M-F at 6 PM on Rumble, and my X @gardgoldsmith — and you also can donate to help the Liberty Conspiracy, itself! Just visit PayPal to help out! You also can mail GG at:

Gardner Goldsmith
PO Box 581
Amherst, NH, 03031 :)

Leave a comment

Subscribe now

Share

Welcome, fellow Conspirators!

If you missed the big news program tonight, here is the Audio Replay. Immense thanks to Eric Peters of EricPetersAustosDotCom for joining me to discuss his new article on the ICE police state, natural rights, and the aberrant practice of govt-run roads. Federalism's final sinews are thin and weak, but Eric bolsters the intellectual and moral argument against centralization. Thank you, also, to all the journalists whose work we featured, and to our audience for adding so much to our presentation tonight. Here is some of what you will find in our new Pod! Take care!

Share Gardner Goldsmith

Subscribe now

Share

Indeed, last night, Fed Chair Jerome Powell announced on X that he had been notified that Trump’s DoJ, under grinning gun-grabber Pam Bondi, was “investigating him”. LINK By the way, this is NOT Trump “making moves to eventually eliminate the Federal Reserve” - it is him pressuring for lower rates from the corrupt money system.

Of course, the investigation, evidently announced to Powell on January 9, ostensibly is about possible “fraud” regarding Powell putting up a new Federal Reserve building, but it actually has to do with Powell not PULLING DOWN interest rates as swiftly and deeply as Trump wants, and with Trump’s desire to see Powell out of his slot. Powell said, in part: “The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Fed setting rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President…” Of course, anyone who understands economics and freedom (you can’t have a properly functioning economic system without true freedom, allowing consumers to express preferences and suppliers to adjust behavior and compete based on that consumer expression) knows that a government-granted monopoly, or a government-claimed monopoly, over the “legal tender” is backed by government threat and incentivizes government to print fiat, fractional reserve currency to pay debts, thus debasing the currency. Trump wants this at an accelerated pace. He wants a weaker dollar to facilitate exports and impede imports, and he wants it because that will see lower interest rates, which will mean lower interest rates for the $1.2 TRILLION debt servicing the federal government has to do each year (it is rising, rapidly). All of the Trump Admin activity on the monetary front is destructive to your savings.
-MORE LINK

-The Kobeissi Letter is claiming that the SCOTUS this Wednesday will release its opinion on Trump’s OBVIOUSLY unconstitutional tariff impositions.

The tariffs have slammed aluminum producers in the US

-The US has lost manufacturing jobs EVERY MONTH since so-called “liberation day. LINK
-And Trump seems to have forgotten his promise to package some of that graft and hand it back to us in the form of $2,000 checks.

Some realism about the US economy LINK

Share Gardner Goldsmith

-Homan blames the rhetoric for his goons killing people. See? Makes total sense.

-The Door-Dash worker, trying to escape the goons

-More threats

-Trump is sending more ICE goons, 1,000 more, to MN.

-There literally is a recently passed US statute that requires the ICE facilities to open for Congressmembers

ILL Gov JD Pritzker Sunday noted that two ICE-committed shootings in his state later saw revelations that the federal government was dishonest about the course of those incidents. LINK
-At 16:18 David Knight hits key points, with power and valuable ethics

-Another ICE Goon

-MORE ICE THREATS, against local sheriffs

-ICE is getting caught, over and over, engaging in criminal activity. LINK MORE

-Eric Peters nails key points here re MINN, the ICE goons, and the police state. We will welcome him as our guest at 6:30 this evening on Liberty Conspiracy LIVE - LINK
-This man offers his own experience at the hands of armed ICE invaders

Let’s recall this excellent piece on federal data-facial-recognition contracting, via 404 media LINK

They do a good job noting many other instances of the fraud being sent to other recipients than those who were intended to receive the ill-gotten tax money, but they don’t address the problem of the taking of the tax money in the first place. LINK

The Mirror has a good piece, offering some of his hubristic displays (displays tied to many, many deaths, in some cases) LINK

-Iran appears to have mountains of evidence that the Israeli and American govts were behind many of the groups engaging in civil unrest in Tehran over the weekend. LINK
While the Mossad pumped up young teens to riot and burn property via subgroups like the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK - Between 2010 and 2012, at least five Iranian nuclear scientists were assassinated in Iran, with U.S. officials and media reports attributing the operations to Mossad, executed by MEK agents trained and equipped by Israel), and while compliant US media pushed the false narratives that the Iranian government had killed thousands, the Iranian government successfully blocked Starlink, which was being used by Israeli agents to foment “uprisings”. This pits freedom-minded people with a series of questions when it comes to states trying to overthrow other states, and the responses of those states to things such as propaganda spreading to violent groups. Here is some of the X chatter about it

-Netanyahu’s stunning evil

-Daniel McAdams and Ron Paul offer key insights on the Trump hypocrisy re “safety for people seeking freedom.” LINK
-And Judge Napolitano and Alistaire Crooke offer more keen thoughts, re Iran, US sanctions, and the propaganda machine of the US and Israel LINK
-The US tried to puff up Resa over the weekend, but, as they’d say in movies, it was a “damp squib”

-The EU is pushing for massive military spending LINK
-As we noted in the Sunday News Assembly, the UK Defense Minister didn’t add to anything by claiming it would be great to kidnap Putin. This, after the CIA was revealed to have been tied to the Ukraine drone attack on Putin’s Novgorod home. LINK
-Mislav Kolakušić is a member of the EU Parliament, “representing” (no politican actually offers real representation, of course) Croatia — he is a Croatian lawyer, and former judge, and this statement (I have no exact date, but it appears to be within the past week, and is garnering a lot of attention) shows us the valid pushback against the warmongering, “steal Russian assets” spending maniacs who follow figures like Ursula von der Leyen.

Jackson Hinkle has a very good ‘back and forth’ with imprisoned former Ukrainian Parliamentarian, Oleksandr Dubinskyi. If you scroll in to 6:59, you will see Dubinskyi delve into his torture in prison, the things the Zelensky regime wanted him to say about “connivance” with Russia, and more valuable info.

-Trump, saying more dumb things

-Disclose TV is on top of the growing evidence that Trump not only wants to take over Greenland to stop Chinese and Russian transport of goods through that portion of the north, but that Trump also is working to back the interests of certain AI techlords who want to create ZEDE-like “entrepreneur” zones (really, mercantilist, not entrepreneurial) to mine rare earth minerals.

Here is the Forbes piece on which Disclose based its X Post LINK
**AND, in an AI-Related, POWER-RELATED story, Reason has a report on something POSITIVE from Ark Sen Tom Cotton (R), a bill that would allow AI-energy sources to generate power off-grid, and not be reliant on the already stressed communal energy grids so many regions and states have established for fascist/mercantilist favors. Here is the LINK
- AND, The Netherlands just bought weapons… from the US

Trump is calling himself the “acting President of Venezuela”.

As Brian notes in that X post: “A US president declaring himself president of another nation 1000 miles from his own nation’s borders is unhinged criminality.
This is done to prime the US public for wider criminality to come.
This is a wake up call to the rest of the world, nations big and small, that this is no longer a matter of diplomacy, international relations, or deal-making. This is a life and death struggle against a nuclear-armed criminal enterprise with 300+ million people under its control and a gun pointed at the head of the rest of the world.
Every hour that goes by that short-sighted selfish business and political leaders place comfort and profit ahead of long-term self-preservation will be vital opportunity lost.
The US doesn’t have a seat at the table for you no matter who you think you are. They are not sharing and in the end no one will be spared. They will continue stripping the world bare of sovereignty and atomizing the world’s ability to resist until everything is consumed or until they are stopped. I’m not saying nations need to immediately confront the US immediately in open warfare, I’m saying this never was, and now is obviously not “business as usual” and preparations, cooperation, and moves need to be made - just like dealing with an armed, dangerous hostage-taker, start planning and preparing and act when it is time to act. Pretending this isn’t happening and nothing needs to be done isn’t an option. It was always happening and it is now no longer even being hidden.”

THE AMERICAN PROSPECT has an excellent piece investigating the Rubio ties to drug smugglers and politicians in Central and Southern America. LINK
-Trump wants to use $83 BILLION in our tax cash to provide for the refining and other infrastructure needed for his crony friends in the OIL SECTOR to make a “go” in VZ

Patagonia?

Because… Trump added his name to it. What is wrong with this guy? Jeez. LINK

Share Gardner Goldsmith

As many people know, and as we pointed out yesterday, in the Sunday News Assembly, Trump Friday held a nonsensical meeting with numerous oil company execs. It didn’t go well for Donaldo. Here the EXXON head tells Donald that his sanctions pushed their company out…

And part of the problem is that he is making political decisions that, obviously, have nothing to do with consumer interests and freedom. No one seems to have told him about the type of oil in Venezuela.
Even if the Trump-connected try and take it, not only is it heavy, it’s extremely “sour crude”. You can’t pump it. You have to hydraulically lift it out of the ground to get it. You’ve got to pull it out and then cleanse it. And the people dealing with it all have to have special protective clothing because it’s such a vicious liquid. And so all of the 300 or more rigs are in Venezuela, and this type of crude, wears down rigs very quickly because. It’s not like in Saudi Arabia or in the desert, where you almost have to stop it coming up. It just gushes. In Venezuela, it lies like muck at great depths and has to be physically lifted out and then sent to be powerfully cleansed. There are not many companies that are ready to refine it. America has a limited number of refineries that were made to deal with this strange product. The only other place that has it is Canada with its tar sands, which also has to be washed/pumped out of the sand. Then, it can be exported to the United States and China. Pepe Escobar has described the Venezuelan oil as “thick as tar,” and I don’t know if Mr. Trump understands that. One would think he would have spoken to the oil executives ahead of time, and he must have been embarrassed when Darren Woods, the head of ExxonMobil, the largest oil company in the world, said in the White House, “You can’t invest money in Venezuela now. It’s uninvestable.”
Trump responded in the last 36 hours by saying he might “punish” Exxon for the CEO’s statement, blocking the company from working in VZ if the execs decided it was something they MIGHT want to do...

One begins to think if this is just this invasion of Venezuela, it was just some self-absorbed act of violent vanity.
And then there are Trump’s conflicting statements about his desire to offer benefits to the oil companies, while he simultaneously claims that this move will bring down oil prices for consumers. That won’t happen any time soon. The oil execs must have been bewildered because he said at the same meeting that he wanted the price of oil to be down to $50 a barrel. That means a lot of American oil production would become economically unviable. For example, in other countries that are heavily leveraged for oil sales, say, a nation such as Saudi Arabia, their break-even price is about $100. And even in, the fracking fields of the United States, they need $60 as absolutely the minimum. So, there Trump is, saying, “We’re trying to get the price of oil down,” but then he’s saying you’re going to have to invest a huge amount in refurbishing, rehabilitating these rigs to get anything out of Venezuela, let alone get it out and sell it. It’s not that attractive for much of the world. It’s only people like Paul Singer and his CITGO, who have refineries that need that sort of crude, that were built, engineered to use that sort of crude.

Subscribe now

That’s it for tonight! Join us, m-f 6 PM, everyone!

Many thanks for supporting freedom, and for sharing the links! And remember, you can back us here by becoming a paid subscriber if you would like, and feel free to watch Liberty Conspiracy LIVE on Gardner’s X @gardgoldsmith and on Rumble! Spread the word! Thanks, again! Please feel free to SHARE the links, and join us every M-F at 6 PM on Rumble, and my X @gardgoldsmith — and you also can donate to help the Liberty Conspiracy, itself! Just visit PayPal to help out! You also can mail GG at:

Gardner Goldsmith
PO Box 581
Amherst, NH, 03031 :)

Leave a comment

Share