THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2019

Volume 6, Number 251

EIR Daily Alert Service

P.O. Box 17390, Washington, DC 20041-0390

• LaRouche Tells You Why You Must Defend This Strong Presidency
• Like the Presidency, the Moon-Mars-Mission Is Embattled
• President Trump Sends Letter to Pelosi, for Purposes of History
• Democrats, as New Robespierres, Plan Permanent Impeachment Chaos
• Viewed From Abroad, Impeachment Exposes’Decay of U.S. Political System’
• Ratification of U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement To Add Manufacturing Jobs in U.S.
• ‘No Farmer, No Food’ Say German Farmers as They Back Protesting Dutch Farmers
• Russian Chief of Staff Gerasimov Gives Briefing on NATO Threat and Russia’s Battlefield Laser Systems
• Spotless Sun Breaks New Record

EDITORIAL

LaRouche Tells You Why You Must Defend This Strong Presidency

Dec. 18 (EIRNS)—When, at a September 9, 2012 event celebrating his 90th birthday the day before, Lyndon LaRouche denounced the “two-potty system” as a plague on American political life, it was just such anti-Constitutional maneuvers and desperate schemes as are now being run and planned by the impeachment Democrats. Despite public sentiment slowly but steadily shifting against them and the big flop of “rallies for impeachment” across the country Tuesday night, the House Democratic leadership continues to attempt to paralyze not only the Presidency, but now even the Senate as well. The scheme they contemplated today—to pass articles of impeachment but refuse to send them to the Senate until some much later time, try to tie up and blackmail the Senate—stinks of British parliamentary political games. There, prime ministers are dismissed as soon as they lose a political game of chess.

President Donald Trump correctly calls it an “attempted coup,” as we have. In his letter confronting Speaker Nancy Pelosi today, he states: “House Democrats are trying to impeach the duly elected President of the United States for asserting Constitutionally based privileges that have been asserted on a bipartisan basis by administrations of both political parties throughout our Nation’s history. … It’s your abuse of power.”

Donald Trump has strongly reasserted the power of the U.S. Presidency foreseen by the Founders, particularly Alexander Hamilton and George Washington, as essential to the American Republic. That includes the power not only to “conduct foreign policy.” It involves the authority to articulate and carry out long-term missions of peace and prosperity both in cooperation and in competition with other powers, including the longest-term visions for technological breakthroughs and explorations of space.

Throughout his extraordinary life as a statesman, American System economist and frequent campaigner Lyndon LaRouche worked to bring this strength to and shape the vision of the American Presidency. He explained why the U.S. Constitution defined a Hamiltonian credit system for economic growth, not a London-style monetary system.

Now the nation has been enmired in nearly 30 years of disastrous “endless wars,” because both parties that run Congress, and the intelligence agencies, believe in British geopolitics. It is facing a financial breakdown perhaps worse than the crash of 2008, because the City of London and Wall Street control economic policy. Worse, it has been deindustrialized and demoralized for 45 years because the British Empire broke up President Franklin Roosevelt’s credit system and imposed “free trade.”

And as we have proven to the country, British intelligence launched this now years-long attempted coup against President Trump, and U.S. intelligence agencies joined it. They do not want to allow the President to established cooperation with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and end the endless wars. They do not want to allow President Trump to handle a financial crisis, because a strong President could adopt LaRouche’s Glass-Steagall and national credit policies for dealing with it.

So now that the attempted coup against President Trump is veering off toward the extreme claims of “parliamentary power,” “no-confidence votes” and worse—Defend the American Republic as Lyndon LaRouche did, and would do. Defend the Presidency and work for the “Four Economic Laws To Save the Nation” of LaRouche.

U.S. POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

Like the Presidency, the Moon-Mars Mission Is Embattled

Dec. 18 (EIRNS)—The massive non-defense budget appropriation for the remaining nine months of FY2020, apparently going through both Houses of Congress this week, leaves it up to the American people to fight for realization of the Moon-Mars space mission called Artemis, announced by the Trump Administration on March 26, 2019. That mission would have American men and women returning to the Moon by just 2024 to develop both its surface and the orbital space around it for human habitation and economy and as the launch point for human travel to Mars by 2033. In the national celebrations in July of 50 years since the first Apollo Project landing, it was clear that many millions of Americans support just such a mission as an inspiration and a “science driver” for progress.

But the NASA budget being passed this week critically underfunds Artemis right at its opening stage. In particular, there is less than half the $1.4 billion NASA needs as it starts, from scratch, developing a lunar lander to take astronauts down to the Moon’s surface from the lunar-orbit space station to be called Gateway—whose development is also short-funded. In fact, the funding is essentially at the level the White House requested this past January—months before the launching of the “Artemis” Moon-Mars mission.

The future of Artemis was impacted not only by the indifference of subcommittee chair Rep. Jose Serrano and other Democrats to any NASA timetable for a successful mission. There was also some heavily-lobbied shifting of funds to Boeing for an upper-stage rocket it wants to develop, but which NASA Administrator James Bridenstine made clear NASA did not need or want for Phase I of the Moon-Mars mission.

So Bridenstine will now need massive popular backing for his presentation in February of a much larger investment in Artemis over Fiscal Years 2021-24. Lyndon LaRouche called for just such a Moon-Mars mission in a nationally televised broadcast in 1988, when other leaders had forgotten space exploration, and made this central to his “fourth economic law,” science drivers for the economy. This is an issue of the power of the Presidency to conceive and set long-term missions in science and infrastructure development for the nation, visions for America’s future capacities and those of humanity.

The Moon and Mars are for exploration by the human race, not for billionaire tourists alone.

President Trump Sends Letter to Pelosi, for Purposes of History

Dec. 18 (EIRNS)—President Donald Trump drove the coup masters wild yesterday, releasing a letter addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, with copies to every member of the House of Representatives and Senate, detailing the “open war on American Democracy” being carried out by Democrat lawmakers through an “impeachment crusade” whose tenets “are not recognizable under any standard of Constitutional theory, interpretation or jurisprudence.” The letter, available on the White House website, was, remarkably, published in full by the Washington Post.

He was writing, he explained, not with any expectation of convincing Pelosi, but “for the purpose of history and to put my thoughts on a permanent and indelible record. One hundred years from now, when people look back at this affair, I want them to understand it, and learn from it, so that it can never happen to another President again.”

“You are unwilling and unable to accept the verdict issued at the ballot box during the great Election of 2016. So you have spent three straight years attempting to overturn the will of the American people and nullify their votes. You view democracy as your enemy!

“Speaker Pelosi, you admitted just last week at a public forum that your party’s impeachment effort has been going on for ‘two and a half years,’ long before you ever heard about a phone call with Ukraine. Nineteen minutes after I took the oath of office, the Washington Post published a story headlined, ‘The Campaign to Impeach President Trump Has Begun.’ Less than three months after my inauguration, Representative Maxine Waters stated, ‘I’m going to fight every day until he’s impeached.’ House Democrats introduced the first impeachment resolution against me within months of my inauguration, for what will be regarded as one of our country’s best decisions, the firing of James Comey (see Inspector General Reports)—who the world now knows is one of the dirtiest cops our Nation has ever seen. A ranting and raving Congresswoman, Rashida Tlaib, declared just hours after she was sworn into office, ‘We’re gonna go in there and we’re gonna impeach the motherf****r.’ Representative Al Green said in May, ‘I’m concerned that if we don’t impeach this president, he will get re-elected.’ Again, you and your allies said, and did, all of these things long before you ever heard ofPresident Zelensky or anything related to Ukraine. As you know very well, this impeachment drive has nothing to do with Ukraine, or the totally appropriate conversation I had with its new president. It only has to do with your attempt to undo the election of 2016 and steal the election of 2020!…

“You are the ones interfering in America’s elections. You are the ones subverting America’s Democracy. You are the ones Obstructing Justice. You are the ones bringing pain and suffering to our Republic for your own selfish personal, political, and partisan gain….

“Any member of Congress who votes in support of impeachment—against every shred of truth, fact, evidence, and legal principle—is showing how deeply they revile the voters and how truly they detest America’s Constitutional order. Our Founders feared the tribalization of partisan politics, and you are bringing their worst fears to life….

“This is nothing more than an illegal, partisan attempted coup…. History will judge you harshly as you proceed with this impeachment charade. Your legacy will be that of turning the House of Representatives from a revered legislative body into a Star Chamber of partisan persecution.”

Democrats, as New Robespierres, Plan Permanent Impeachment Chaos

Dec. 18 (EIRNS)—Washington Examiner’s Byron York warned the White House yesterday that it had better prepare for a “Brett Kavanaugh model of impeachment,” where as one charge fails, another is introduced. He pointed to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s demand that four witnesses not interviewed by the House for its impeachment “investigation,” now be called before the Senate during the trial, John Bolton and Mike Mulvaney among them. Schumer needs to get just four Republicans to join the 47 Democratic Senators in supporting this demand to force it through, York pointed out.

“If Schumer gets what he wants, it seems hard to believe that will be the end of it. The request for more witnesses appears designed to lead not to closure but to reopening the case against Trump. In this way, if Democrats can introduce new testimony in the trial, they can say the new testimony has raised new questions that will require new investigation. And a new investigation will require more new witnesses, which will surely lead to more new questions, which….” Likewise, demands for other new witnesses could come out of the House Judiciary Committee’s filing in federal court yesterday for the release of material from Mueller’s grand jury, York writes.

York’s warning still falls short of the scenario of permanent impeachment chaos until Trump is ousted, being prepared by a group of House Democrats led by that rabid advocate of euthanasia and green economic death, Oregon’s Rep. Earl Blumenauer.

The Washington Post reported today that Blumenauer is organizing fellow Democrats to support the idea espoused by Obama advisor and Harvard constitutional law Professor Laurence Tribe in his op-ed, “Don’t Let Mitch McConnell Conduct a Potemkin Impeachment Trial,” in the Dec. 16 Post: thus, that the House should vote up the articles of impeachment against Trump, but not transmit them to the Senate for trial until such time as the conditions have been created for the President to be convicted.

According to the Post story, promoters argue that “the trial could be delayed indefinitely, denying Trump an expected acquittal…. Blumenauer said that if McConnell does not agree to call the Democratic witnesses and stage a fair trial, Democrats could simply hold on to the articles indefinitely and continue to investigate Trump. The House is involved in multiple court cases seeking documents and testimony that have yet to be resolved. ‘Who knows what would happen to augment the record? This ought to be able to play out,’ he said. ‘There’s no advantage to rushing this.’ ”

Blumenauer claims he has spoken to three dozen Democratic lawmakers who expressed some enthusiasm for the idea.

Viewed from Abroad, Impeachment Exposes ‘Decay of U.S. Political System’

Dec. 18 (EIRNS)—Global Times commentator Shi Tian today reflected the effect on U.S. standing in the world resulting from the current extreme degradation of our U.S. republic by British parliamentary-style party politics. Shi argued in the Chinese state paper about the spectacle of the impeachment process:

“Democracy itself is a good thing, but the point is how to utilize it. Democracy is never the purpose, but an approach, of governing. A government’s primary job should be meeting the needs of the vast majority of the people and driving the country forward, which requires national consensus,” he wrote.

“In other words, it is true that all people should be entitled to freedom of expression. But when it comes to policymaking, democracy alone is not enough—democratic centralism is needed….

“Democracy has already been turned into a tool for party politics and a battlefield for different interest groups in the U.S. This is the tragedy of democracy. The decay of the U.S. political system has ruined democracy.

“With the strength the country accumulated for decades, the U.S. might be able to withstand the chaos caused by such democracy. But as U.S.-style democracy imposes an adverse effect on the rest of the world, can other countries and regions afford it?”

Ratification of U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement To Add Manufacturing Jobs in U.S.

Dec. 18 (EIRNS)—In what is very likely the first result of the ratification of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA) replacing the failed NAFTA, Ford announced new production at plants in Wayne and Dearborn, Michigan, adding about 3,000 auto manufacturing jobs. This comes at a time that auto sales have been falling, for a year, everywhere in the world—most slowly in the United States, but falling nonetheless.

The company’s announcement was reported by AP on Dec. 17. It plans to invest $1.45 billion in capital funds to build new pickup trucks, SUVs, and electric and autonomous vehicles: $750 million will to the Michigan Assembly Plant in the Detroit suburb of Wayne, where 2,700 jobs will be added during the next three years; and $700 million in the truck plant in Dearborn, where 300 new jobs will be added. “Hiring will begin next year for the jobs that will pay on average about $61,000 a year,” AP reported.

The AFL-CIO had estimated earlier this week that ratification and implementation of the USMCA, as finally agreed with Congress and the unions as well as Mexico and Canada, would cause 30-50,000 productive jobs to be created in America. The USMCA was launched and pushed by President Donald Trump after he declared in 2017 that the United States would end the “job-destroying” NAFTA agreement.

Michigan’s economic-development arm, the Michigan Strategic Fund, on Dec. 17 approved state tax incentives for Ford that are worth approximately $35 million over 15 years. Michigan was chosen for the expansions over competing sites in various other states and countries, according to Ford.

Seven months ago, Ford let 7,000 white collar workers go, many of them in Dearborn. Auto sales have fallen sharply in 2019 in China, Asia outside China, Europe, South America, and India.

COLLAPSING WESTERN FINANCIAL SYSTEM

‘No Farmers, No Food’ Say German Farmers as They Back Protesting Dutch Farmers

Dec. 18 (EIRNS)—Today in the Netherlands, the Farmers Defense Force which had held big protest actions, including road blockades on Oct. 1 and 14, staged new protests against the government’s plans to reduce nitrogen dioxide and ammonia emissions in agriculture by punitive taxes. Since the German government, in line with the EU Commission, has similar plans, German farmers living near the Netherlands border, supported their Dutch colleagues with 100 tractors deployed to join a blockade of the Dutch A1 highway at De Lutte. Another 40 tractors coming from the German region of Frisia joined Dutch protests at another national road, and in the German Emsland region, farmers announced protest rallies with tractors in the cities of Leer and Aurich for late this afternoon. “No Farmers, No Food” is one of the main slogans.

The Dutch farmers also received support from construction workers protesting on the same issue with a national strike action today. Farmers and construction workers across the Netherlands drove in slow-moving convoys during the morning rush hour to demonstrate against government policies aimed at cutting “pollution.” The protests were well-coordinated, all of them beginning punctually at 7 a.m. in numerous cities of the Netherlands.

Police issued fines to some farmers for driving their tractors on the highway as the latest protests clogged roads around the country at rush hour. Police closed off a major highway near Amsterdam when farmers drove their tractorcade onto the roadway, in the biggest protest action. It was expected that protests would last into the evening hours in many places.

STRATEGIC WAR DANGER

Russian Chief of Staff Gerasimov Gives Briefing on NATO Threat and Russia’s Battlefield Laser Systems

Dec. 18 (EIRNS)—The Chief of Russia’s General Staff, First Deputy Minister of Defense Gen. Valery Gerasimov, briefed military attachés in Moscow on Dec. 17, making several statements on NATO and on Russia’s deployment of its laser battlefield system, as reported in the Defense Ministry newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda. His full briefing, which was attended by about 150 representatives of the military diplomatic corps from more than 70 countries, is posted to the Defense Ministry website.

Gerasimov criticized what Russia sees as a NATO buildup on the “eastern flank” as an obvious threat to Russia. Pointing to the deployment of U.S. missile defense components in Europe, an increase of military exercises in the Baltic countries and Poland, the Black Sea, and Baltic Sea, he described how NATO’s scenarios point to “targeted preparation for engaging its forces in a large-scale military conflict.

“At the same time, the Western allies are advancing the thesis of the so-called Russian military threat. Any step of Russia in the field of ensuring its military security, any planned and ongoing event to build an army and navy is presented as a threat to peace,” he said.

Gerasimov stated that there is an urgent need for a dialogue between Russia and NATO: “The reduction of risks of dangerous military incidents should remain the most important area in the dialogue between Russia with the United States and NATO. It is necessary to resume interaction between Russia and NATO in order to resolve the accumulated problematic issues,” Gerasimov said.

When asked by Norway’s representative if there were a possibility of a major war in the future by 2050, and in what areas it could be waged, the General Gerasimov replied: “In our opinion, there are currently no prerequisites for a large-scale war. At the same time, the situation in the world remains unstable, and its development is becoming more and more dynamic. Unprecedented political, economic, and information pressure is exerted on states trying to pursue an independent policy, including Russia. In such conditions, we can’t rule out that crises could emerge that may get out of control and develop into a large-scale military conflict.

“We must be prepared for any scenario of the development of the situation. Therefore, the defense potential of Russia will now and in the future be maintained at a level required to repel any-scale aggression against our state from any environment,” Gerasimov said.

After mentioning that “three missile regiments of Strategic Missile Forces have been re-equipped with modern Yars missile systems,” and that the Avangard ICBM “will take combat duty in the near future,” Gerasimov also announced: “Since early December, Peresvet laser systems have been on combat duty in the positional areas of mobile ground missile systems with the task of covering up their maneuvering operations.”

Peresvet is one of the advanced systems that President Vladimir Putin announced during his annual Address to the Federal Assembly on March 1, 2018, along with the Avangard and Kinzhal hypersonic missile systems, and the Poseidon underwater drone.

SCIENCE AND INFRASTRUCTURE

Spotless Sun Breaks New Record

Dec. 18 (EIRNS)— Our Sun has broken a new record since the Space Age began: So far, in 2019 the Sun has been without sunspots for more than 270 days, including the last 33 days in a row. The Sun is currently in the deepest point of the Solar Minimum cycle, a natural cycle lasting about 11 years, when there’s a reduction of solar flares and other solar activity.

Since the Earth lives within the Sun’s atmosphere, when the sunspots disappear and activity decreases, the magnetic field of the Earth weakens slightly, enough to allow increased amounts of cosmic rays to strike the Earth, since it has less shielding from the Sun’s atmosphere.

Scientists have found evidence that the increased level of cosmic rays affects Earth’s weather, promoting increased low-lying cloud cover globally, resulting in a cooling trend. This increased cloud cover can influence the East Asian monsoons to become stronger. For in-depth discussion, see “Studies Show Weakening Sun, Possible New Ice Age,” EIR, June 24, 2011; and more recently, “What Causes Climate Change? The Sun, the Solar System, and the Galaxy,” in the EIR Special Report, “ ‘CO2 Reduction’ Is a Mass Murder Policy Designed by Wall Street and the City of London” (September 2019).

This low sunspot activity also intersects another, very long cycle—that of the “flipping” of the Earth’s magnetic field. Recent studies show that the magnetic north pole is drifting at a rate of about 35 miles per year for the past two decades, and the magnetic field is weakening—for unknown reasons. This weakening also allows more cosmic rays to affect Earth’s environment. The magnetic north pole has now passed the prime meridian, and is expected to continue in a southerly direction, although possibly at a slower pace. This magnetic field reversal is also a natural event, occurring about every 200,000 to 300,000 years.
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