The fate of Western Civilization, some three thousand years in the making, now hangs by a slender thread.  That thread is Executive Order 13848, signed on September 12, 2018.  The background to this is that the U.S. president can make law.  As Obama said, he had a "pen and a phone," and that was all he needed to remake the United States.

In the beginning there was Obama's Executive Order 13694, signed on April 1, 2015.  The executive order states that there is a national emergency due to malicious cyber-enabled activities originating from outside the United States that "constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States."

Section 1 of that executive order deals with blocking assets.  Section 7 states that no notice has to be given in the blocking of assets under Section 1.  It appears that blocking of assets has the same meaning as seizing of assets.  Executive Order 13694 was not rescinded by President Trump and remains in effect.  So assets can be seized without notice.

Executive Order 13757 followed on December 28, 2016.  This executive order appears to be just one of Obama's contributions to the Russia hysteria resulting from Hillary Clinton's loss of the 2016 election.  It names five Russian entities and four individual Russians that were sanctioned.  The list is a token effort in that it did not affect business between the Obama regime and Russian entities that it wanted to do business with — e.g., Hunter Biden was able to be paid $3.5 million by the wife of the mayor of Moscow.

But it does have wording in it that is useful in our current circumstances.  Part (ii) (E) of Section 1 of that executive order directs the seizing of assets of any persons:

... tampering with, altering, or causing a misappropriation of information with the purpose or effect of interfering with or undermining election processes or institutions[.]

Executive Order 13694 had not mentioned elections.

Part (iii) (B), Section 1 directs the seizing of assets of persons who "materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, any activity described" in part (ii).  Under Section 1, the secretary of the Treasury in consultation with the attorney general and the secretary of state determines who is complicit in electoral cyber-crimes.

Executive Order 13757 was not rescinded by President Trump, remains in effect, and is sufficient to reverse the fraud in the recent presidential election.

A couple of years and 91 executive orders later, seemingly unprompted by contemporary events, Executive Order 13848 was signed by President Trump on September 12, 2018.  The executive order is entitled "Imposing Certain Sanctions in the Event of Foreign Interference in a United States Election."

As part justification for the executive order, the president quotes the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment, which was a Deep State contribution to the Russia hysteria of the time.  This was released on January 6, 2017 to delegitimize the incoming Trump administration.  Trump quoted the Deep State's propaganda against them.

Section 1 says:

Not later than 45 days after a United State election, the Director of National Intelligence in consultation with the heads of any other appropriate executive departments and agencies shall conduct an assessment of any information indicating that a foreign government, or any person acting as an agent of or on behalf of a foreign government, has acted with the intent or purpose of interfering in that election. ...

The Director of National Intelligence shall deliver this assessment and appropriate supporting information to the President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of Homeland Security.

The 45 days is up today, Friday, December 18.  The attorney general and the secretary of homeland security are then are tasked to deliver a report to the president, the Secretary of State, the secretary of the Treasury, and the secretary of defense on foreign interference in the election, which, among other things, will recommend remedial actions to be taken by the United States government.

This explains why the Republican Party organized alternate slates of electors for the contested states.  The remedy that the report by the attorney general and the secretary of homeland security are likely to recommend is that on January 6, Vice President Pence recognize the alternate slates when he opens and tallies Electoral College votes in order to save the time and expense of new elections in those states.

However, according to the Epoch Times:

ODNI announced late Wednesday that the Intelligence Community (IC) has notified Ratcliffe that they will not meet the Dec. 18 deadline set by President Trump's executive order to submit the report on foreign threats during the November election as "agencies have not finished coordinating on the product."

"This afternoon the DNI was notified by career intelligence officials that the Intelligence Community (IC) will not meet the Dec. 18 deadline, set by executive order and Congress to submit the IC's classified assessment on foreign threats to the 2020 U.S. elections," said Schoch.

It is unclear if DNI Ratcliffe will delay his report due to I.C. stalling.  The path prescribed in Executive Order 13848 relies heavily on the attorney general.  The hapless Jeff Sessions was in that role when 13848 was signed.  He was replaced on February 14, 2019 by William Barr.  Barr seemed reliable but achieved nothing.  The reason he slow-walked everything, couldn't see corruption in the Hunter Biden laptop, etc. became apparent when he recently referred to President Trump as a "deposed king ranting."  Barr outed himself as a Deep State operative too soon, leaves his position on December 23, and so won't be involved in drafting the report in response to the report by the director of National Intelligence.  The fate of Western civilization hangs on such small matters.

David Archibald is the author of The Anticancer Garden in Australia.