Apr 062022
 


Pablo Picasso Standing nude 1928

 

Zelensky Tells Security Council that “Russians Killed for Pleasure” (GR)
Biden’s Folly In Ukraine (Gen. Douglas Macgregor)
…But It Rhymes. Russia, Ukraine and Nazi Europe Mark II (Leslie)
Gen. Milley Says Risk of Conflict ‘Between Great Powers’ Is Increasing (Antiwar)
Australia, US, UK Military Alliance to Develop Hypersonic Missiles (Antiwar)
What Would It Take for Military Spending in America to Go Down? (Astore)
Jen Psaki Should Resign (WE)
Pfizer Hired 600+ People to Process Vaccine Injury Reports (CHD)
President Xi Faces An Impossible Dilemma In Shanghai COVID Outbreak (ZH)
10,000 Health Workers Sent To Help Control Shanghai Outbreak (AP)
Durham Lowers the Boom on Former Clinton Counsel Michael Sussmann (Turley)
Sussmann Doesn’t Want Steele Dossier Brought Up During Durham Trial (WE)
‘If I Did 1/100 Of What Hunter Biden Did, I’d Be In Jail’ – Eric Trump (JTN)
When A Country Is Destroyed By Its Own Propaganda (Ugo Bardi)

 

 

The west: “Russia executed 410 people in Bucha!!!”

Russia: “No we didn’t, but we’d be more than happy to convene the security council and open up internationally recognized institutional channels for thorough investigation.”

The west: “No”

 

 

 

 

Gonzalo Lira “YouTube bans any open discussion about the Bucha false flag”

 

 

 

 

 

 

We live inside a cartoon.

Zelensky Tells Security Council that “Russians Killed for Pleasure” (GR)

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has shown the UN Security Council on Tuesday a harrowing video from Ukraine in an apparent attempt to embarrass Russia and rally world opinion. The clip lasted about a minute and showed image after image of dead Ukrainians – including some burned and disfigured bodies. Speaking to the Security Council for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, he said Russian troops have killed civilians and raped women. Zelensky’s comments follow his visit to the town of Bucha on Monday, where the bodies of dead Ukrainian civilians were seen. He claimed that in the town people were shot in the street, in their homes, thrown into wells, and crushed by tanks in the middle of the road “just for the pleasure” of the Russian soldiers.

“The Russian military searched for and purposefully killed anyone who served our country,” he said, as Russia’s UN ambassador was looking on. Joe Biden called for Vladimir Putin to be tried for war crimes on Monday following the killings of civilians in the city of Bucha, Ukraine. Biden said the images coming from Bucha warranted calling Putin a “war criminal,” adding, “but we have to gather the information. We have to continue to provide Ukraine with the weapons they need to continue the fight and we have to get all the details so this can be an actual…war-crime trial.” “This guy (Putin) is brutal and what’s happening in Bucha is outrageous and everyone’s seen it,” Biden said.

Meanwhile, the United States ambassador to the UN called for Russia’s expulsion from the UN Human Rights Council. “Russia should not have a position of authority in a body whose very purpose is to promote respect for human rights. Not only is it the height of hypocrisy, it is dangerous,” Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said addressing the Security Council Tuesday. “Every day, we see more and more how little Russia respects human rights,” she added. “Russia’s participation on the Human Rights Council hurts the Council’s credibility. It undermines the entire UN. And it is just plain wrong.”

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“Moscow can no more lose the war with Ukraine than Washington could lose a war with Mexico.”

Biden’s Folly In Ukraine (Gen. Douglas Macgregor)

Americans find it difficult to determine whether the Biden administration’s policy decisions regarding Ukraine are the product of a deliberate strategy, extraordinary incompetence, or some combination of both. Threatening Russia, a nuclear armed power, with regime change and then annunciating a nuclear weapons policy that allows for the United States’ first-strike use of nuclear weapons under “extreme circumstances”—responding to an invasion by conventional forces, or chemical or biological attacks—suggests President Biden and his administration really are out of touch with reality. American voters instinctively grasp the truth that Americans have nothing to gain from a war with Russia, declared or undeclared. A short trip to almost any supermarket or gas station in America explains why. Last week, inflation hit its highest point in nearly 40 years and gas prices have skyrocketed since the conflict in Ukraine began.

Thanks to the Western media’s non-stop dissemination of unfavorable images of Russia’s leaders and its military, it would appear that President Biden is able to espouse any narrative that suits his purpose. Obscuring the true origins of this tragic conflict, however—NATO’s eastward expansion to include Ukraine—cannot alter strategic reality. Moscow can no more lose the war with Ukraine than Washington could lose a war with Mexico. Ukraine’s proximity to Russia gives Moscow unconstrained and immediate access to Russia’s reserves of military manpower, equipment, and firepower. Notwithstanding Moscow’s determination to avoid unnecessary collateral damage to Ukraine’s population and infrastructure, Russian Air and Ground Forces are at liberty to methodically destroy Ukrainian resistance in detail.

Russia’s commodity-based economy, with its abundance of food, energy, minerals, and other resources, creates enormous strategic depth for Moscow on the Eurasian landmass. These resources make Moscow Beijing’s natural strategic partner, thus securing Moscow’s Asian border. Moscow’s role in stabilizing Central Asia also makes Russian strength indispensable for the success of China’s Belt and Road Initiative rooted as it is in the historical Silk Road, linking the economies of East Asia to Europe, Africa, and the Near East. At the same time, Washington’s frequent use of financial sanctions have severely weakened, if not wrecked trust in the U.S. led global financial system. It is far more likely that countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa will either bypass sanctions to buy discounted Russian and Belorussian commodities or simply refuse to enforce them.

To minimize the impact of financial sanctions imposed by Washington and the European Union, Russia began “de-dollarizing” its economy years ago. Unburdened by the kind of odious sovereign debt that plagues Washington, Moscow has been able to stabilize the ruble with interest rate increases, and links to gold reserves. Now, de-dollarization is spreading. China, India, and Saudi Arabia are introducing de-dollarization policies as an anti-sanction measure. Saudi Arabia’s offer to sell oil in Chinese yuan raises real questions about the future of the petrodollar. Despite Japan’s public display of solidarity with Washington, Tokyo really made its bed with Eurasia when Tokyo signed on to membership in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Program (RCEP), the world’s largest trade bloc. Predictably, Tokyo already declared it will not ban Russian oil and natural gas imports and Japan will continue to work with Russia on important joint economic projects.

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“Do you see the core and the rings? Do you see the suppression of everything Russian (Hitler never banned Russian music) and the weaponisation of the despicable ukro Nazi ideology? History might not repeat but it has just provided the rhyme of the century.”

…But It Rhymes. Russia, Ukraine and Nazi Europe Mark II (Leslie)

Before I set off on my brief journey through history, there is a general point I want to address: There is a lot of anxiety floating around. Well-meaning people (including yours truly) are riding the waves of war, experiencing exaltation and dejection with every Russian triumph and setback. This is completely understandable and I would be less than honest if I did not admit to being utterly exhausted by worry and seesawing emotions. At the same time, I’ve come to understand one thing. My willing Russia to win will not make one bit of difference – well, perhaps it might. Russia is what it is – a great, fascinating, freedom-loving land of endless steppes and kind people whose mission is to rid the world of evil, full stop. As such, Russia must prevail, and it will.

However, such a great accomplishment – that no other country or civilization is close to being able to emulate – must come at a cost. This means that Russia’s struggle will (as always) involve setbacks, errors, losses, treachery and perhaps even tragedies. This is not something the Russians or their supporters want to countenance but please, hear me out. I am trying to desensitise you to the maelstrom of emotionally-charged information that can be very harmful if digested uncritically. Be strong but be prepared – like Russia – to sustain emotional losses that this long and immensely dangerous undertaking must produce. In the end, all we have is the belief that good must prevail and we should let that belief carry us all the way to victory.

[..] It was only the heroic offensive by the Red army that broke the back of the Euro beast – at a very high cost. However, not even they could break the back of the fanatical Ukrainian Nazis who continued with open terror until about 1956 and then went underground to await a fresh opportunity. Ukrainian terror against Russians which started in the 1910s has never stopped. Funded and supported by the Vatican, Austria-Hungary, Imperial Germany, Hitler’s Germany and Poland, the UK, US and West and the current German state, the Ukrainian Nazi virus was released again as soon as the Soviet Union collapsed (note the similarities with Yugoslavia and Croatia). Many Russians refused to see the truth and continued to support the increasingly anti-Russian ukro regimes in the name of “brotherhood” inculcated during Soviet times.

This is a simple replay of 1918, 1939, 1945 and 2014 when the Soviets/Russians forgave their hangmen only to have to fight the same battle again and again. This fully explains President Putin’s demand for a full denazification of the Ukraine. I can only hope that he completes this historic task fully. Can you see it yet? Do you see the geopolitical pattern that is currently forming? A deeply Russophobic Euro Reich centred on Germany, France and the Vatican (with a wholehearted Anglo-American support) is rapidly being turned into an anti-Russian fortress. Do you see the core and the rings? Do you see the suppression of everything Russian (Hitler never banned Russian music) and the weaponisation of the despicable ukro Nazi ideology? History might not repeat but it has just provided the rhyme of the century.

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And he’s stoking it.

Gen. Milley Says Risk of Conflict ‘Between Great Powers’ Is Increasing (Antiwar)

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley warned Congress on Tuesday that the chances of a “significant international conflict between great powers” are increasing. Milley warned that both China and Russia are threats to the so-called “rules-based” global order. “We are now facing two global powers: China and Russia, each with significant military capabilities both who intend to fundamentally change the rules-based current global order,” Milley told the House Armed Services Committee. “We are entering a world that is becoming more unstable. The potential for significant international conflict between great powers is increasing, not decreasing.” The hearing was focused on the Pentagon’s $773 billion budget request for 2023, part of the $813 billion in military spending President Biden has asked Congress for.


Milley said the budget is in alignment with the new National Defense Strategy (NDS) that was recently briefed to Congress but has yet to be declassified. In a fact sheet on the new NDS, the Pentagon named China as the top “threat” facing the US military, while Russia was second. The US military’s shift in focus towards “great power competition” was first outlined by the 2018 NDS, which put China and Russia as equal concerns. The Pentagon has plans to boost the US military’s presence in the Asia Pacific to counter China and in Eastern Europe to face Russia. While done in the name of deterrence, US military buildups in the regions will only make a conflict more likely. This is demonstrated by the fact that one of Russia’s main justifications for invading Ukraine was Kyiv’s alignment with NATO and the military alliance’s presence in the region.

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Miles behind China and Russia. But trillions more for Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon.

Australia, US, UK Military Alliance to Develop Hypersonic Missiles (Antiwar)

The US, Britain, and Australia announced on Tuesday that they will work together to develop hypersonic missiles under the recently created AUKUS military alliance. President Biden, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the plan in a joint statement. The leaders said they are “committed today to commence new trilateral cooperation on hypersonics and counter-hypersonics, and electronic warfare capabilities, as well as to expand information sharing and to deepen cooperation on defense innovation.” US military leaders have been calling for more investment in the development of hypersonics and other advanced weaponry, which they see as vital for competing with China and Russia.


The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) said Tuesday that the US Air Force recently successfully tested a hypersonic cruise missile made by Lockheed Martin. The AUKUS military pact was signed by the three countries last September and is focused on increasing military technology ties to counter Beijing. Under the deal, Australia will get access to technology to build nuclear-powered submarines, which could be used to patrol waters near China. When asked about the AUKUS hypersonic plan, China’s UN Ambassador Zhang warned that such measures could lead to a crisis similar to what’s happening in Ukraine. “Anyone who do not want to see the Ukrainian crisis should refrain from doing things which may lead the other parts of the world into a crisis like this,” he said.

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Nothing that I can see.

What Would It Take for Military Spending in America to Go Down? (Astore)

I have a question for you: What would it take in today’s world for America’s military spending to go down? Here’s one admittedly farfetched scenario: Vladimir Putin loses his grip on power and Russia retrenches militarily while reaching out to normalize relations with the West. At the same time, China prudently decides to spend less on its military, pursuing economic power while abandoning any pretense to a militarized superpower status. Assuming such an unlikely scenario, with a “new cold war” nipped in the bud and the U.S. as the world’s unchallenged global hegemon, Pentagon spending would surely shrink, right? Well, I wouldn’t count on it. Based on developments after the Soviet Union’s collapse three decades ago, here’s what I suspect would be far more likely to happen.

The U.S. military, aided by various strap-hanging think tanks, intelligence agencies, and weapons manufacturers, would simply shift into overdrive. As its spokespeople would explain to anyone who’d listen (especially in Congress), the disappearance of the Russian and Chinese threats would carry its own awesome dangers, leaving this country prospectively even less safe than before. You’d hear things like: we’ve suddenly been plunged into a more complex multipolar world, significantly more chaotic now that our “near-peer” rivals are no longer challenging us, with even more asymmetrical threats to U.S. military dominance. The key word, of course, would be “more” — linked, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, to omnipresent Pentagon demands for yet more military spending.

When it comes to weapons, budgets, and war, the military-industrial complex’s philosophy is captured by an arch comment of the legendary actress Mae West: “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.” Even without Russia and China as serious threats to American hegemony, you’d hear again about an “unbalanced” Kim Jong-un in North Korea and his deeply alarming ballistic missiles; you’d hear about Iran and its alleged urge to build nuclear weapons; and, if those two countries proved too little, perhaps the war on terror would be resuscitated. (Indeed, during the ongoing wall-to-wall coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, North Korea did test a ballistic missile, an event a distracted media greeted with a collective shrug.) My point is this: when you define the entire globe as your sphere of influence, as the U.S. government does, there will always be threats somewhere.

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But who still recognizes why?

Jen Psaki Should Resign (WE)

The career path of White House press secretary-turned-TV pundit isn’t new. Tony Snow worked for Fox News and then moved to the George W. Bush White House. Dana Perino did the reverse. But never before has a chief press secretary for the president of the United States leveraged the position to negotiate a career move to cable news. That’s exactly what Jen Psaki has done, according to Axios . Psaki will soon be heading off to what’s likely a very lucrative contract with MSNBC. The White House press secretary should have resigned last week when this news broke. Let’s be clear — this is an unprecedented breach of public ethics. Unfortunately, most of Psaki’s colleagues in the press briefing room seem to be OK with it. Psaki was only questioned briefly by CBS News reporter Ed O’Keefe on the possible ethical ramifications of these negotiations.

Then everyone simply moved on. Psaki’s move and the media’s nonchalant apathy about it explain so much about what is wrong with the incestuous nature of the Washington media’s relationship with the Biden White House. In turn, it helps explain why the public reputation of both institutions is hovering somewhere just above the popularity of bubbling street sewage. That media watchdogs such as CNN’s Brian Stelter see no conflict of interest here speaks more about corporate media’s agenda bias than it does about Psaki. It’s worth noting that Psaki is a former CNN contributor, serving the network after leaving the Obama administration’s State Department.

Psaki is not a free agent a la the world of sports. Her podium is not for sale to the highest media bidder. Any job in the executive branch is a job paid for by the people. But we know what comes next. Psaki will move from spinning for the Biden White House in the White House to spinning for the White House at MSNBC. And think about this: Psaki has been in her role as press secretary for just a little over a year. That means negotiations with MSNBC likely began not soon after she started! Consider something else: What’s the likelihood that NBC White House reporters Peter Alexander or Kristen Welker will aggressively challenge someone they know that they’ll soon share office space with? The very possibility of this concern is outrageous by itself. Equally absurd is the hypocrisy.

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They know much more about adverse events than they let on.

Pfizer Hired 600+ People to Process Vaccine Injury Reports (CHD)

Pfizer hired about 600 additional full-time employees to process adverse event reports during the three months following the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of its COVID-19 vaccine, newly released documents reveal. According to the documents, Pfizer said, “More are joining each month with an expected total of more than 1,800 additional resources by the end of June 2021.” The information was contained in a 10,000-page document cache released April 1 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and made public as part of a court-ordered disclosure schedule stemming from an expedited Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The latest revelations appeared in a document, “Cumulative analysis of post-authorization adverse event reports” of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, highlighting such adverse events identified through Feb. 28, 2021.

The document was previously released in November 2021, but was partially redacted. The redactions included the number of employees Pfizer hired and/or was planning to hire. According to the unredacted document released April 1: “Pfizer has also taken a multiple actions [sic] to help alleviate the large increase of adverse event reports. This includes significant technology enhancements, and process and workflow solutions, as well as increasing the number of data entry and case processing colleagues. “To date, Pfizer has onboarded approximately 600 additional full-time employees (FTEs). “More are joining each month with an expected total of more than 1,800 additional resources by the end of June 2021.”

The unredacted version also revealed the number of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses shipped worldwide between December 2020 and February 2021: “It is estimated that approximately 126,212,580 doses of BNT162b2 [the Pfizer EUA vaccine] were shipped worldwide from the receipt of the first temporary authorisation for emergency supply on 01 December 2020 through 28 February 2021.” The number of shipped doses previously was redacted.

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“..backing down from its lockdown in Shanghai would mean admitting that the “Zero COVID” approach has been an abject failure..”

President Xi Faces An Impossible Dilemma In Shanghai COVID Outbreak (ZH)

In the span of just over a week, CCP authorities have gone from denying plans for a citywide lockdown of Shanghai to announcing what was supposed to be a two-part staggered lockdown – to simply locking down the entire city and sending in the military and a contingent of medical workers as locals accuse the government of violating its social compact to put the people’s interests first. Now, as the entire city of roughly 26 million faces what’s already shaping up to be the most punishing lockdown in China since the original three-month Wuhan lockdown nightmare, Nikkei reports that Beijing has found itself in an incredibly difficult position. On Sunday, Shanghai counted 9,006 mainly asymptomatic infections, more than two-thirds of the national tally.

The reason the situation in Shanghai presents such a difficult conundrum is that backing down from its lockdown in Shanghai would mean admitting that the “Zero COVID” approach has been an abject failure. But continuing with the heavy-handed lockdown risks spurring even more unrest – something the CCP has bent over backwards to avoid. For the CCP, it’s an impossible dilemma. Already, social media has been flooded with reports of locals dying from neglect as hospital resources have been stretched thin (and not from COVID; it’s other ailments that are killing people now). While the entire city has been locked down for less than a week, many individual residential compounds have been locked down for much longer – some since mid-March.


“It is so uncharacteristic of Shanghai to have to go through this,” said Zhong Lei, a teacher in the city, whose residential compound was locked down even earlier, in mid-March. On Tuesday, authorities reiterated that they must try to keep the city’s port and its factories running at full capacity. But accomplishing this – as we have already reported – will require even more draconian measures like forcing workers to essentially live inside the city’s factories.

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10,000 health workers for a city of 25 million.

10,000 Health Workers Sent To Help Control Shanghai Outbreak (AP)

China has sent more than 10,000 health workers from around the country to Shanghai, including 2,000 from the military, as it struggles to stamp out a rapidly spreading outbreak in its largest city under its zero-COVID strategy. Shanghai was conducting a mass testing of its 25 million residents Monday as what was announced as a two-phase lockdown entered its second week. Most of eastern Shanghai, which was supposed to re-open last Friday, remained locked down along with the western half of the city. While many factories and financial companies have been allowed to keep operating if they isolate their employees, concern was growing about the potential economic impact of an extended lockdown in China’s financial capital, a major shipping and manufacturing center.


The highly contagious omicron BA.2 form of the virus is testing China’s ability to maintain its zero-COVID approach, which aims to stop outbreaks from spreading by isolating everyone who tests positive, whether they have symptoms or not. Shanghai has converted an exhibition hall and other facilities into massive isolation centers where people with mild or no symptoms are housed in a sea of beds separated by temporary partitions. China on Monday reported more than 13,000 new cases nationwide in the previous 24 hours, of which nearly 12,000 were asymptomatic. About 9,000 of the cases were in Shanghai. The other large outbreak is in northeastern China’s Jilin province, where new cases topped 3,500. The Shanghai lockdown has sparked numerous complaints, from food shortages to limited staff and facilities at hastily constructed isolation sites. Some people who tested positive have remained at home for extended periods because of a shortage of isolation beds or transportation to take them to a center, the business news publication Caixin said.

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Lying to the FBI…which was busy propagating its own lies.

Durham Lowers the Boom on Former Clinton Counsel Michael Sussmann (Turley)

In a Monday night filing, Durham revealed that he has an incriminating statement by Sussmann that dramatically undermined his defense. In the text message, Sussmann denied that he was representing anyone before his critical meeting with the FBI. He then repeated the false statement in that meeting as he pushed a false Russian collusion claim against Donald Trump. Sussmann has been seeking the dismissal on the single charge under 18 U.S.C. 1001 for lying to the FBI in a meeting with the then-FBI General Counsel James Baker. In the indictment, Sussmann is accused of “mak[ing] a materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statement or representation” in conversations with Baker. Durham argued that “the defendant provided the FBI General Counsel with purported data and ‘white papers’ that allegedly demonstrated a covert communications channel between the Trump Organization and a Russia-based bank.”

That institution was Alfa Bank and Sussmann’s effort paralleled the work of his partner at the law firm Perkins Coie, Marc Elias, in pushing the Steele Dossier in a separate debunked collusion claim. The FEC recently fined the Clinton Campaign and the DNC for hiding the funding of the dossier as a legal cost by Elias at Perkins Coie. The Clinton Campaign’s Alfa Bank conspiracy was found to be baseless but the FBI did not know that it was being offered by someone being paid by the campaign to spread the claim. Had they known, Durham alleges the department might have been able to avoid the investigation costs and effort spent on the Alfa matter.

Sussmann has sounded a lot like Michael Flynn in court as he argued that this was trivial and inconsequential comment. On Monday night, Durham lowered the boom. He revealed that, before the meeting, Sussmann sent “the same lie in writing” that his effort was “not on behalf of a client or company.” Durham is seeking the introduction of a text message to Baker that said: “Jim—it’s Michael Sussmann. I have something time-sensitive (and sensitive) I need to discuss. Do you have availability for a short meeting tomorrow? I’m coming on my own—not on behalf of a client or company—want to help the Bureau. Thanks.” Thus, Durham writes that “on September 18, 2016 at 7:24 p.m., i.e., the night before the defendant met with the General Counsel, the defendant conveyed the same lie in writing and sent the following text message to the General Counsel’s personal cellphone.”

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He was actively pushing the dossier. The campaign paid for it.

Sussmann Doesn’t Want Steele Dossier Brought Up During Durham Trial (WE)

The Democratic cybersecurity lawyer charged by special counsel John Durham with lying to the FBI about working for the Clinton campaign doesn’t want British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s dossier brought up at the trial following indications from the special counsel that it will be. Michael Sussmann was indicted last year on charges of concealing his clients, Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and “tech executive” Rodney Joffe, from FBI general counsel James Baker when he pushed since-debunked claims of a secret backchannel between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa-Bank. He has pleaded not guilty. Steele created his now-discredited dossier after being hired by opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which was itself hired by Perkins Coie and Marc Elias, the general counsel for Clinton’s campaign.

Durham appears to be building a case that many collusion claims can be sourced back to Democratic operatives or linked to the Clinton campaign. Sussmann’s lawyers asked a federal judge on Monday to preclude three categories of evidence: the gathering of domain name system data by Joffe and others; the accuracy of that data and conclusions based on it; and “Christopher Steele and information he separately provided to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (including the so-called ‘Steele Dossier’).” The defense team argued: “The single false statement charge brought against Mr. Sussmann surely does not flow from the gathering of data, the accuracy of that data, the accuracy of the conclusions based on that data, or any information Mr. Steele may have provided to the FBI.”

The lawyers argued Sussmann did not have “any awareness” that Steele was “separately providing information to the FBI.” “The Special Counsel has not charged a substantive scheme to defraud the government, nor has he charged a conspiracy to defraud the government,” Sussmann’s lawyers argued. “The manner in which the data was gathered, the objective strength and reliability of that data and/or conclusions drawn from the data, and the information that Christopher Steele separately provided to the FBI all have no bearing on the only crime the Special Counsel chose to charge.” Sussmann’s lawyers said that during a phone conference last month, Durham indicated that “he intends to introduce evidence and argument pertaining to reports and information” that Steele provided to the FBI, adding that Durham “presumably” intends to call Steele as a witness.

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Anyone want to question this?

‘If I Did 1/100 Of What Hunter Biden Did, I’d Be In Jail’ – Eric Trump (JTN)

Eric Trump, son of former President Donald Trump, called out what he sees as a double standard between him and President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. “If I did 1/100 of what Hunter Biden did, I’d be in jail for the rest of my life,” Eric Trump told NTD’s “Capitol Report.” Records Just the News obtained Wednesday show Hunter Biden and his business partners attempted to make millions off of the first Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014. A report surfaced Monday that the Secret Service is paying more than $30,000 per month to rent a mansion in Malibu to provide security for Hunter. A retired intelligence officer told Just the News that the U.S. government was concerned the contents from Hunter Biden’s laptop could compromise the first family. “The mainstream media hasn’t mentioned Hunter Biden’s name in 258 days. There’s a serious problem with that. They let him skirt by. They carry Joe Biden’s water,” Eric Trump told NTD over the weekend.


“Based on their approval rating, [the mainstream media] is really damaged because they’ve got 7 percent approval rating in this country. It’s horrible,” he said. “People don’t trust them anymore.” He also said that the establishment media has been covering up for Hunter Biden’s father. He told NTD that if Donald Trump had said 1/100 of the “stupid things” that President Joe Biden has, the media would call for him to be removed from office under Article 25. “But again, they’re on that side, and they’ll do anything to cover up for him and let him get away with just about anything under the sun,” Eric Trump said. “You don’t have equal scales of justice in this country. You don’t have equal media coverage,” he said. “The media is the propaganda wing of the left-wing party. And I think that [has] become very clear to all Americans.”

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“..their destiny was in the “place in the sun,” the way Ethiopia started to be described (as if Italy didn’t have enough sun)..”

When A Country Is Destroyed By Its Own Propaganda (Ugo Bardi)

let’s put ourselves in the shoes of British admiralty in the 1920s. We have this problem. This British-created creature, Italy, that was supposed to be just a counterweight against France, now has started to behave like a golem. And to disobey her creators. It needs to be controlled before it is too late. Fine, but how? We already said that at, the time of the unification of Italy, the French ruler, Louis Napoleon, had been controlled by using a beautiful woman. But Mussolini didn’t seem to be the kind of man who would easily fall under a woman’s spell. He was closer to the prototypical “mad dictator,” more interested in power than in sex. So, to influence him, one needed to use his craving for power. As we enter this line of thought, we find an interesting event.

In 1925, there was an “exchange of notes” between Britain and Italy regarding Ethiopia. Known as the “Anglo-Italian Agreement” it essentially said that Ethiopia was part of the Italian sphere of influence. This agreement had a deep strategic significance. Essentially, the British were telling Italians, “go ahead, you can do whatever you want in Ethiopia. We won’t stop you” Perfidious Albion? I think so. VERY perfidious. We cannot know what went on inside Mussolini’s mind but, by 1932, he had taken the fateful decision of accepting Britain’s offer and invade Ethiopia. A major propaganda campaign started with the idea of convincing the public that Italy had a manifest destiny that consisted in re-creating the Roman Empire, and that this could be done by conquering Ethiopia and getting rid of the inferior races who lived there.

It involved slander campaigns against Ethiopia, scientific studies showing the inferiority of the black races in comparison to the white ones, and how modern Italians were the true heirs of the noble Roman warriors who had created and defended the greatest empire in history. That kind of thing. The slander campaign implied painting Ethiopians as insects to be exterminated with insecticides (it was done for real, using chemical weapons). After three years of campaign, the Italian public was completely bamboozled into believing that, yes, their destiny was in the “place in the sun,” the way Ethiopia started to be described (as if Italy didn’t have enough sun). You have to read the documents of the time to understand how well it worked. People were completely hypnotized. Just imagine yourself in 1934 asking the question, “you know, folks, before we attack Ethiopia, wouldn’t it be a good idea to carry out a cost-benefit analysis?” And you would have discovered that propaganda reduces the level of the discussion to that of the most stupid person involved in it.

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Home Forums Debt Rattle April 6 2022

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  • #105566

    Pablo Picasso Standing nude 1928   • Zelensky Tells Security Council that “Russians Killed for Pleasure” (GR) • Biden’s Folly In Ukraine (Gen. Do
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle April 6 2022]

    #105567
    a kullervo
    Participant

    (Sobornost)

    Finally, some good news:

    Carbon is no longer an issue.

    All it took was to cancel Mendeleev’s periodic table of elements.
    There you have it: carbon’s (and all other elements) gone.
    [Those pesky Russians and their dumb ideas – just gotta cancel them all (here looking at you, Mr. Solzhenitsyn.)]

    As required, Mr. Putin and his enablers (tip of the hat to Zerosum) are converting the Russian people into the epoch’s real martyrs. The intriguing part is the promotion(?) of the Ukrainians to the status of XXI century’s New Jews (are they one of the lost tribes?). Meanwhile – and by the way – Israel has adopted a conspicuous low-profile regarding the current events… the plot thickens.

    Burning petroleum as a fuel “would be akin to firing up a kitchen stove with bank notes“.
    (A remark credited to) Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev

    #105568
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Pablo Picasso Standing nude 1928

    Wow, an enigma, wrapped in a mystery, couched in a riddle…

    By Ken Leslie for the Saker Blog
    • …But It Rhymes. Russia, Ukraine and Nazi Europe Mark II (Leslie)
    Very good read; spot on for the most part, IMHO…

    For those living in the west; breakers on the lee shore ahead…

    #105569
    Michael Reid
    Participant


    Dutch activist Willem Engel has proven to be such a thorn in the side of the government that they have arrested him twice in a week. He’s been pushing hard against tyranny, mandates, and the illegitimate Covid restrictions. He’s awaiting trial for “sedition” but is optimistic that he will win because the allegation is so outlandish. The WEF directly instructs ministers, but the layer behind it is even more sinister. The consultancy firms (e.g. McKinsey, Accenture) is where the power is. They write the laws and the civil servants implement them. He thinks things will get worse and we’ll go into lockdown again in the autumn. Social media and intelligence agencies are very intertwined so we have to be smart about how we use it. It’s important to take care of yourself, love your family, form communities, and couple these communities. We need to embody the values of love, truth, and freedom which can go viral.

    Willem Engel: We Must Embody the Values of Love, Truth, & Freedom

    #105570
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    Canada explores transhuman society

    Canada explores transhuman society

    #105571
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Elon Musk buys a tiny part of Twitter. The universe explodes. I’m sorry, I thought Elon WAS “Liberal”, or at least a minor god to Liberals. But not from the reaction I seem to see.

    Twitterati: “Muh private company, they can censor whoever they want!”
    Musk buys 9% and sits on the board: “We can’t allow unelected oligarchs to control free speech!”

    Not to be outdone, “(Amazon) Project Kuiper will provide fast, affordable broadband to tens of millions of customers…” Who? Everybody already has fast affordable broadband. Besides, it ruins your life and happiness quotients drop wherever social media is found. We are wildly increasing the happiness of Russians this month and contributing to Putin’s approval by cancelling FB and Twitter.

    “We now see a significant movement of (Russian) troops away from Kyiv to regroup, re-arm and re-supply and shift their focus to the east,” NATO’s Stoltenberg”

    They said they would work for a week, then pause, rebuild, repair and resupply. Clearly they have no fear whatsoever to stop and hang out doing R&R in enemy territory. Why should they? It’s Ukraine. And a 0 mile supply chain.

    New high in 10y bond rates. That indicates rising trend. But the market and system cannot survive rising rates. Not just because it’s overleveraged, but because that’s how it’s built. It’s a debt-based system. What happens when debt falls, defaults, vanishes?

    Thousands of U.S. flights canceled. Is that from lack of pilots they won’t admit? Or are they rationing jet fuel that they won’t admit? Since there are no markets and prices can’t rise, rationing is the result. But not like WWII rationing, it’s by social status: my friends get all, and you’ll get nothing and like it.

    “For now, Macron is [in the lead and] basking in the limelight of Zelensky and the threat of Putin to Europe. But our model shows that this will be the last president to be elected in the Fifth Republic of France. Jacques Chirac (1932–2019) was elected in 1995 initially as a Gaullist, but he turned Neo-Gaullist, and thus the slippery slope of France began. We will see a new government emerge by 2030. The risk of a European war will be at its peak in 2027. There will be NO return to normal…Rome lasted for 1,000 years, but it collapsed in just 8.6 years.” –Armstrong

    There’s that magic number again. For him it’s relation to Pi, the brother to Phi.

    “Danish Politician Margrethe Vestager [says] the only solution is for the people of the EU to continue sacrificing their quality of life: “Everyone is asking what I can do. You can do two things: control your own and your teenagers’ showers. And when you turn off that water, you say — “Take that Putin!” … Germany’s economic minister Robert Habeck went as far as denying the supply chain crisis. “There are currently no supply shortages,” –Armstrong

    Wow, what a relief!

    This is a bit ominous:
    War
    https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022_04_04_Economist-Cover.png

    I could care less if they win. I’m 10,000 miles away and could really use that $3B they spent to lose over there. Any new bridges falling into the Mississippi lately? Do we have any new fertilizer plants? How’s that initiative to return manufacturing to the U.S. going? Wasn’t that stupid, they said? “Those jobs are never coming back. –Obama,” they said? Gee, I guess we should keep making those parts in China and Ukraine, that’s schmartz!

    Russia America should not have a position of authority in a body whose very purpose is to promote respect for human rights. Not only is it the height of hypocrisy, it is dangerous,” Fixed it.

    “Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley warned Congress on Tuesday that the chances of a “significant international conflict between great powers” are increasing.” “…Thanks to me.” Fixed it.

    ““We are entering a world that is becoming more unstable.” Thanks to us sending $3B in weapons no one asked for to Ukraine theatre and everywhere else we can find: Middle East, Hong Kong, Mexico…

    Moscow can no more lose the war with Ukraine than Washington could lose a war with Mexico.”

    But we can send $3B to our friends there. And kill a bunch of people. And by “people” I mean Americans, with high prices and supply disruptions. Now that I’m following medical a little bit, they are out of common supplies like tubing and gauze. Third world. 2 years after Covid we have zero antibiotics made here, all from China. We have hospital-shaped objects, which have no staff nor supplies inside the hospital-painted rooms. It’s a stage set, created to fool you, not heal you. Like the rest of the nation.

    Speaking of, the Nurse trial where they fabricated a death certificate to blame the nurse, the prosecuting D.A. was not an ALUMNI of the school/hospital, or they were that too, they were an ACTIVE EMPLOYEE of the Vanderbilt Hospital/School, a professor. Um, conflict of interest much?

    Similar to that case, the NEXT nurse to be arrested is in prison. 5 Prison guards hog-tied a guy who couldn’t breathe. When the nurse arrived, he was unresponsive, dead, and she did CPR. Out of everyone involved, guess who is getting prosecuted? The nurse who arrived after the patient was dead. Well I ain’t gonna arrest myself! Somebody (else) is to blame!

    So if you want zero nurses and health care providers working by 2025, this is the fastest way to get there. By design. On purpose.

    Australia, US, UK Military Alliance to Develop Hypersonic Missiles (Antiwar)”

    Meaning they’re a generation (20 years) behind? Or that they’re going to admit what we already have and get them into warehouses? None of our other weapons work, why should this one?

    “Here’s one admittedly farfetched scenario: Vladimir Putin loses his grip on power and Russia retrenches militarily while reaching out to normalize relations with the West.”

    They did that in 1990. We increased spending and started a war and crushing occupation of them, dropping life expectancy by 10+ years. This and the hyper-profit weapons above just mean we spend more than the world combined to lose. Under non-General Milley.

    “[Psaki] this is an unprecedented breach of public ethics.”

    100% of retired generals work million-dollar for Defense Contractors. Wouldn’t that be a more concerning breach of ethics? Psaki is a paid liar, in a job we know is for paid liars. The only difference is, her lies don’t get us into wars that bankrupt the home country. (They cover up for the illegal wars after they’ve already begun). No one in America has any morality, or they would notice. That “Morality” comes from “God”, however you define it. We have no faith, no god, only ourselves and ego, therefore no connection to morality or principle. Like the Twitter quote above. The only morality is POWER. I want it. You give it. Or else I’ll kill you.

    “The reason the situation in Shanghai presents such a difficult conundrum is that backing down from its lockdown in Shanghai would mean admitting that the “Zero COVID” approach has been an abject failure.”

    “We follow the “Science.” Political Science. What does your feelz or embarrassment have to do with Science? Nothing. Therefore, you are not following it, you are an anti-scientific science denier. Suppose China was open and said: “Here is what we discovered. Here is our new procedure going forward based on what we’ve learned.” People would accept it because it’s honest and real. But they are mentally incapable of being either honest or real, so that door is closed to them. And us. As they cannot be honest, everything they say is a lie and no one believes government or doctors anymore. #Winning.

    “I’m coming on my own—not on behalf of a client or company—want to help the Bureau.”

    This is where the conflict of interest and breach of ethics from Psaki above comes in. Will the rules keep you from talking to your D.C. friends, even as a “concerned citizen”? That’s crazy, no one can see what harm that would do or why it would be illegal. But that’s WHY we have the Chinese Walls (ironic reference here) where lawyers can’t even talk to opposition witnesses, you recuse if anyone is even remotely related to family, where you once worked for anyone involved. Because we don’t even want the APPEARANCE of impropriety. –You know, like Fed chairmen insider trading million dollar bets all day. And yes, that’s annoying and closes some doors for you. It’s the cost of being honest and keeping a reputation, as men have done for a thousand years. So when you say “No Rulz” “Everything Goes and Nothing Matters”, it will CERTAINLY lead to not only appearances of impropriety that undermine the whole institution and culture, undermine your own reputation and get accused of wrongdoing, but ACTUAL impropriety and open illegality you can’t imagine yet. So don’t do it. Don’t get started. That’s what your father did to keep things simple and avoid problems, so you do the same. That’s why it’s a “Conservative” position and not “Progressive.” Do the tradition that worked and everyone understands, don’t make it up from convenience as you go.

    “ Sussmann Doesn’t Want Steele Dossier Brought Up During Durham Trial (WE)”

    We can’t bring up they think he’s accused of? Like we can’t bring up the bank robbery when you cut the wires two days before?

    “go ahead, you can do whatever you want in Ethiopia. We won’t stop you” Perfidious Albion?”

    Probably every diplomatic telegram from them ever. “Go ahead, invade and kill everyone. It’s a great idea has our full support!” …Czechoslovakia, Kuwait, Ukraine…

    P.S. Ethiopia? Did they pick a random nations’ name out of a top hat? “Sorry Ethiopia, but you’re the loser this time! Good thing it wasn’t ANOTHER thousand miles away and they picked Tibet or Java randomly.” Ethiopia? Rome didn’t even hold it. Your manifest destiny is France. Where DO they get this nonsense? I’d like to know to stop my OWN country from thinking they have a manifest destiny in Syria, Iran, and Ukraine.

    9 Symptoms: “Being Sick”

    Um, how would you know unless that “Sick” had a symptom, above?

    You get this in other jobs: “My Car/computer/knee isn’t working.” “How do you KNOW it isn’t working?” That is to say, what is the symptoms/evidence for what you’re describing is a CONCLUSION. “Duh, it no working!”

    House Committee: “We don’t have any symptoms or evidence, we just want to arrest Trump.”

    In that case: Carry on, good fellow! Clearly you have outsmarted me!

    #105572
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Water Heating in Germany 2022-23

    .

    #105573
    John Day
    Participant

    Picture of staining/sealing the staircase I am building: https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/verification?s=w

    (Lots about the 3-days-late-after-Russians-all-gone Bucha massacre, right after Azov arrived to clear out “saboteurs and sympathizers”, but you already know that)

    There is no need for an investigation or for Russia’s “lies” to be aired…
    Zelensky Demands Russia Be Expelled From UN Security Council
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/watch-zelenksy-addresses-un-security-council-bucha-mass-killing-allegations

    Putin, Xi Open To ‘Direct Talks’ With Zelensky As Pentagon Fails To Confirm Russian Involvement In Bucha Killings
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/putin-xi-open-direct-talks-zelensky-pentagon-fails-confirm-russian-involvement-bucha

    Gonzalo Lira: “YouTube bans any open discussion about the Bucha false flag”​ (Maybe Twitter will allow these discussions?)
    https://thesaker.is/gonzalo-lira-youtube-bans-any-open-discussion-about-the-bucha-false-flag/

    ​Ukraine War Update from the Saker Blog (brief excerpt):
    ​ The powers that be know that once Mariupol falls, the Russian, Chechen, and DPR forces therein will be freed to immediately begin Phase 2 of the operation. And all indications from my analysis points to the fact that Phase 2 will be much more brutal and swift than what we’ve seen so far, for the following reasons:
    Particularly after the pullbacks from Kiev, Sumy, Chirnihiv regions, and the injection of freed Mariupol forces, Russia will have more forces than ever concentrated on a much smaller area of operations. This will have a big compounding effect.
    Freed from the constraints of large urban warfare, where the Russian forces are at a disadvantage, they will instead be facing the open plains of the western Donbass and Dnieper regions which favor the Russian force disposition in every way imaginable.
    https://thesaker.is/sitrep-operation-z-5/

    #105574
    John Day
    Participant

    Yesterday, Figmund Sreud posted this from “Formosa Club, Russian Office”

    Unconfirmed sources from Russia Military:
    The Russian army captured the
    U.S Major General Roger L. Cloutier Jr. Maj. Gen. Roger L. Cloutier, the U.S. Africa Command HQ Chief of Staff in the besieged Ukrainian Azov camp in Mariupol

    Anybody got updates on this important rumor. It would explain why the choppers were coming in across the Azov Sea to evacuate some high value persons, when they got shot down a few days ago.

    #105575
    John Day
    Participant

    Figmund Sreud supplied this link to John Helmer, who got Russian Military Analysts to do analysis and explain the very unusual tactics and techniques used.
    Part of understanding it is in changing some baseline assumptions. Russia defined the area of battle as extending far into Russia, and had large reserves just inside Russia.
    Another consideration is that the Ukrainian military had been prepared for 8 years to draw Russia into a long, draining quagmire, like Afghanistan was.
    The US could be certain of a Russian attack, because the Ukrainian army was prepared to invade Donbass AND Russia. The US miscalculated the Russian and has miscalculated the Russian ability to sustain a conflict, and seems to have overestimated the effects of global financial warfare against Russia above all. The Ruble is valued about where it was valued a month ago, back from the depths, similar to usual. This miscalculation may be the “own goal” for the empire.
    HOW TO READ THE WAR IN REVERSE WITHOUT OUTSMARTING YOURSELF

    HOW TO READ THE WAR IN REVERSE WITHOUT OUTSMARTING YOURSELF

    As reported in an interview with The Financial Times
    (Do look at Ms. Gopinath’s hands in the photograph; most expressive.)
    IMF Warns That Sanctions Against Russia Threaten To Weaken The Dominance Of The Dollar
    ​ ​The recent financial sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine are threatening to weaken the dominance of the U.S. petrodollar as the world currency, said First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to The Financial Times.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/imf-warns-sanctions-against-russia-threaten-weaken-dominance-dollar

    ​The EnergySkeptic asks, “Is there a Long Emergency Plan for Peak Oil?”​
    All of the emergency plans seem to be for brief disruptions of supply, not the reality of limited and dwindling supplies of the good cheap oil we know and depend upon.
    This very good historical review goes back to Richard Nixon’s plans for America to be “Energy Independent By 1980”, remember that?

    Is there a long emergency plan for peak oil?

    ​A very very good interview and transcript about where all that good stuff actually went over the past 50 years, what’s left, and what that means for us.
    (Individual humans can make decisions which governments cannot make.)​
    Dennis Meadows on the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Limits to Growth​, ​ By Richard Heinberg, Dennis Meadows

    Dennis Meadows on the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Limits to Growth

    #105576
    John Day
    Participant

    Charles Hugh Smith, The Global Order Has Cracked​ [Note: If your nation is making the wrong choices, you are on your own, friend, as am I.​]​
    Nations that fail to adapt to the end of financialization and globalization will unravel​.
    ..The existing order is breaking down on multiple fronts.
    Those who have benefited from this arrangement are doing everything in their power to patch the cracks, while those who chafed under the old order’s chains seek a new order that suits their interests.
    ​ ​Two statements summarize the transition from the existing global order to the next iteration:
    1. Finance dominated resources in the old order. Now the roles will reverse and real-world resources will dominate finance.
    We can’t “print our way” out of scarcities.
    2. Reshuffling currencies and credit will not stop the breakdown of the global order’s “waste is growth” Landfill Economy Model.
    ​http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-global-order-has-cracked.html

    ​This makes Russia the good-guy to wealthy financiers who are being robbed of their payments.
    Tough crowd…
    Washington Blocks Russian Dollar Bond Payments In Latest Attempt To Isolate Moscow
    Per Reuters, the Russian state will no longer be allowed to make dollar debt payments from its accounts at US banks going forward.​..
    ​The most recent stress test came when a $2 billion dollar bond matured Monday…
    https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/washington-blocks-russian-dollar-bond-payments-latest-attempt-isolate-moscow

    ​Donald Trump’s Twitter account has been reinstated…
    Founder and former CEO, Jack Dorsey is happy about Musk becoming the largest shareholder, board-member and looks forward to less censorship on the platform.
    Elon Musk Appointed To Twitter Board Of Directors; Vows To Make “Significant Improvements”
    ​https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/twitter-appoints-elon-musk-board-directors-stock-jumps-hopes-more-unwokeness

    Meryl Nass MD:
    It’s Official! CDC and UK government data reveal the COVID vaccines do not prevent cases, transmission, severe illness or deaths
    So what DO they do, and WHY are we using them?
    https://merylnass.substack.com/p/its-official-cdc-and-uk-government?s=r

    #105577
    oxymoron
    Participant

    Michael Reid – from your WEF Canadian transhuman article – the funniest bit is this
    As these futuristic technologies continue to evolve, it’s possible we may witness a shift from the concept of vitalism. Vitalism is the idea natural life is purely chemical or physical in nature. Rather, our understanding of nature might alter to accommodate the idea that nature is predictable, controllable, programmable, and malleable using and integrating digital and nano technologies.

    #105578
    John Day
    Participant

    Veterans Today (VT) had this yesterday: It’s pretty thorough. This looks REAL.

    Total News Blackout: US General Captured Leading Azov Nazis in Mariupol (confirmations coming in)

    Total News Blackout: US General Captured Leading Azov Nazis in Mariupol (confirmations coming in)

    In the UK The Express has had to put up something, since the news is incompletely blacked out over there:

    DESPERATE Russian claims that a US Lieutenant General has been captured in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol have been torn apart by a BBC expert…
    He tweeted: “There are rumours doing the rounds that the chief of NATO’s Allied Land Command has been captured in Mariupol.
    “This comes as news to Lt General Cloutier himself, who just told me he’s alive, safe and well.
    “If you’re going to spread disinformation, at least get the details right. Roger Cloutier is a Lt General, not a Major General; and he’s no longer the Commander of US Army Africa – he’s been Commander Allied Land Command for two years.”
    “NATO tells me: ‘Completely fake news. LTG Cloutier has NOT been captured and is currently with his command in Izmir’.
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1592018/russia-news-us-lieutenant-general-roger-cloutier-captured-twitter-fake-news

    #105579
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Gen. Cloutier visited Ukraine a year ago which is why his name popped up as a rumor. I’m not buying that yet. However, there is someone(s) cornered in the Azov Steel complex who is desparately trying to escape because of the potential for enormous political embarrassment and damaging the Empire of Lies narrative.

    Probably different western intel and military advisors and some high profile mercs.

    Will they be executed as spies if caught? Probably not, they will be trading like hog belly futures for something Russia deems more valuable. Like confessions.

    Want your top level spies back?

    Tell the world press the truth about what has been going on in Ukraine since 2014 or we snuff your spooks or better yet, indict them at a real war crimes tribunal in Moscow, televised to the whole planet, complete with a guilty verdict and death sentence.

    How about them apples?

    When the Russians say they are going to do x,y and z, I believe them

    They have plainly said they are going to bring the Ukronazis to trial as war criminals.

    Demented Joe and the Western Witches Coven don’t believe it, but it’s coming.

    Cause when you shake hands with the Empire of Lies….

    You better count your fingers

    .

    #105580
    Oroboros
    Participant

    .

    #105581
    Oroboros
    Participant

    it did it again, sorry for the double image post.

    #105582
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    I am trying the reply link to oxy

    I believe they are delusional if they think they can control nature. Something unexpected will happen and it likely won’t be good

    #105583
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    JMG The End of the European Age

    The End of the European Age

    #105584
    Mr. House
    Participant

    @michael Reed

    Probably Jeff Goldblums best line in his entire acting career ” Nature finds a way”

    Ah the good ole days when you were still allowed to point out the hubris of man.

    #105585
    Mr. House
    Participant

    I wonder if the Ukrainians and the Russians are practicing social distancing while they fight each other, or at the very least wearing masks. To think that geopolitics doesn’t take a back seat to the deadliest virus of all time.

    #105586
    zerosum
    Participant

    War for your minds …
    Hints …. Use your mind ….. figure it out ….

    War …. Throw a tantrum …. throw a dish …. eat off the floor

    non-stop dissemination … nothing to gain from a war …. Obscuring the truth

    Sanctions is a knife that cuts off your nose

    Humanitarian corridors enforces the effectiveness of the siege against the enemy ….. less rationing of needed/critical supplies

    USA leaders lie …. lalaland ….. seesawing emotions

    The media is the propaganda wing …..

    I hope to see you on the other side of the culling

    #105587
    those darned kids
    Participant
    #105588
    ctbarnum
    Participant

    #105589
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Dr D quoted:
    “Danish Politician Margrethe Vestager [says] the only solution is for the people of the EU to continue sacrificing their quality of life: “Everyone is asking what I can do. You can do two things: control your own and your teenagers’ showers. And when you turn off that water, you say — “Take that Putin!” … Germany’s economic minister Robert Habeck went as far as denying the supply chain crisis. “There are currently no supply shortages,” –Armstrong

    Shorter showers? Well, the one thing that truly made solar hot water heaters non-viable was the low cost of natural gas for standard water heaters. European installers of solar hot water heaters take note. (Which will only help the upper classes who can afford such a thing. As for the lower classes, there is always the DIY batch solar water heater. Might not want to show it to the city inspector.)

    #105590
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    @ Michael Reid
    “ I believe they are delusional if they think they can control nature. Something unexpected will happen and it likely won’t be good”

    Exactly. I find myself hoping that the general populace will come to realize that the Covid injections are like the thalidomide debacle and stop blindly embracing every new technology that comes their way — especially those that are taken into the body. Here’s to hoping.

    Partner and I passed a T-Mobile store last night with a sign promoting 5G and I commented “I don’t even want 5G; I see no need.” Whatever is the point? I have phone and internet throughout the city and even much of the time when I travel. With 4G the internet to my phone is speedy enough to watch a video. Yet I know that, eventually, my current phone’s operating system will be obsolete, it will stop working in the way that I need it to do, and I will not be able to upgrade the OS. I will end up purchasing a newer phone that will have 5G, because at that point ALL of the non-obsolete phones will have 5G technology. I’ve been through this pattern before, despite my aversion to a new device when I have no complaints about the current one. (Ironic — I work with technology and am endlessly setting up brand new devices for clients.)

    I weary of Ring doorbells. I know that every time I approach one I’m likely being recognized and tracked in a database somewhere, corroborated with my phone’s GPS. This is really getting ridiculous.

    One rosy note in efforts to thwart TPTB from spying on everything. I set up a rocket.chat server on my local network. Now partner and I can send messages while at home that stay on the home network, behind a firewall, with no journey to the internet beyond. Eventually, I’ll get it set up with encryption and able to communicate outside of the local network as well.

    #105591
    Bishko
    Participant

    My friends and acquaintances keep asking me “What can I do?” regarding the events unfolding. I always answer “Plant Potatoes.”

    #105592
    Mr. House
    Participant

    About to get banned from NC again, i can feel it coming 😉

    #105593
    John Day
    Participant

    @TDK:
    The Complete History of Depopulation Vaccines is a good find. I found it a couple of hours ago, too.
    https://amidwesterndoctor.substack.com/p/the-complete-history-of-depopulation?

    #105594
    chettt
    Participant

    @ Dr Day

    Re: Meryl Nass MD
    Maybe I missed something in my skimming of your link but is this really an apple to apple comparison? While it does show that the unvaccinated with prior infections do have superior protection to the vaccinated uninfected it also seems to have a huge hole in it’s logic that excludes the death rate comparison of the unvaccinated uninfected vs the vaccinated uninfected. If I were a vax proponent (which I’m not), I’d have a serious problem with the inferred conclusions.

    #105595
    Mr. House
    Participant

    @chett

    If you’re jabbed, are you really uninfected?

    #105596
    Mr. House
    Participant

    You know what the most pathetic thing about watching every “crisis” we’ve had in the past few years? I do not believe a single “adult” is in a position of power. It’s all high school politics, maybe that should be a 101 course for political science. Add it to the syllabus!

    #105597
    Michael Reid
    Participant


    International Man: While the Fed exercises undue influence over interest rates, what other significant factors are at play?

    Doug Casey: Let’s look at the bond market.

    Right now, bonds are about the worst possible place to allocate your capital. They’re a triple threat to your financial future because of three things: inflation, creditworthiness, and interest rates.

    First, all bonds are denominated in currency, and all currencies today are fiat paper. As the currency is inflated and loses value due to money printing, the value of your bonds go down.

    Second, there are scores of trillions of dollars of bonds outstanding. If anything serious goes wrong in today’s very unstable world economy, a lot of that will be defaulted. Plenty will go wrong during the Greater Depression. Just because you lent $100 to some entity doesn’t mean that you’re going to get it back. So you have a credit risk in addition to inflation risk.

    Third is the interest rate risk. If interest rates go up, the value of your bonds will go down proportionately. In other words, when—not if, but when—rates go from the current 2% to, say, 6%, the value of a 30-year bond will fall from 100 to about 40. If long bond rates go back to the levels of the early 80s, bonds will collapse to about a quarter of present prices.

    Unfortunately, all three factors are now working against bonds. I’m short bonds and expect to remain short for the foreseeable future.

    International Man: Interest rates rise and fall through decades-long cycles. Where are we in the cycle right now, and what happens next?

    Doug Casey: This is an easy question to answer. Interest rates last peaked in the early 1980s.

    Back in the early eighties, at one point, the US government was paying 20% on T-Bills. Interest rates have been going down for the last 40 years. It’s dangerous to pick tops or bottoms in the market, but my guess is that interest rates reached their ultimate bottom in the last year.

    Now, because there’s so much debt in the world, and money is being printed so fast, interest rates are headed up to and beyond the levels they were in the early 1980s. And it will take a lot less than 40 years this time around.

    That will have real consequences—bad ones—for people who own homes, finance cars, save money and have money in the stock market.

    International Man: Given your outlook on interest rates, what are the implications for the average person’s portfolio? How should our readers be positioned?

    Doug Casey: Well, if I’m right and long-term interest rates go way up, it’s going to be disastrous for the typical investor’s portfolio.

    When interest rates go up, it generally hurts a company’s stocks for several reasons. Most of them need to borrow money. When the cost of money goes up, their earnings get hurt. Further, as the economy slows down and people consume less, it hurts corporations’ sales and earnings. And most directly, if interest rates are 12%, 15%, or 20%—and they’re real interest rates, not just nominal high-interest rates—people will start buying and holding dollars as opposed to speculating in stocks. They’ll sell stocks. Generally speaking, low-interest rates mean a high stock market. High rates mean a low stock market. And we’re headed for years of much higher rates.

    As I said, if interest rates go from 2% to 20%—I know that sounds unbelievable, but things are now much worse than they were in the early ’80s— the price of the average long-term bond will drop roughly 80%. And that’s going to devastate pension funds, insurance companies, and banks. They mostly own bonds. The stock market will go down in tandem.

    I expect we’re headed into a bear market for most conventional assets—in real terms—for the foreseeable future. Considering how inflated and overvalued all the markets are, collapse could be gruesome.

    One consequence of this—there will be many others—will be what I call the Greater Depression. The general standard of living is likely to drop significantly in the years to come. It’s been artificially high for many years—mainly due to low-interest rates, which have encouraged people to consume capital, malinvest, speculate, gamble, and generally live above their means.

    Editor’s Note: We’re headed into a truly turbulent situation. What the Federal Reserve does next could create chaos in the stock market…

    It’s an enormous—and urgent—threat to your portfolio and your savings.

    #105598
    zerosum
    Participant
    #105599
    John Day
    Participant

    @Chett: (Please say, “Goodnight, David”)
    DR. Nass quotes the California study first, and it surely does show that having had (pre-Omicron) COVID and survived was about 3 times better in 2021 (aggregate) than having had “vaccination”. She goes onto look (as we have done here) at the UK data to draw the remaining conclusions, which I think she substantiates. Each conclusion is specific. I agree that too much blending is not supported all around.
    Here are her conclusions:
    High quality, official data obtained on over 30 million American adults and 48 million residents of England incontrovertibly reveal that:

    1. Natural immunity was 3 times better at preventing cases than vaccination alone, even before Omicron.

    2. Natural immunity was somewhat better at preventing serious illness, measured as hospitalizations, than vaccination alone, even before Omicron.

    3. Boosters (a 3d shot) reduced the death rate in England of the vaccinated from Omicron, but the benefit was starting to drop off by January 2022.

    4. Natural immunity provided 3 times more protection against infection (and therefore against transmission) than did double vaccination, during the Delta wave. After Omicron arrived, vaccine efficacy was even worse.

    5. Overall, England’s unvaccinated population had a lower COVID death rate during the Omicron wave than the COVID death rate in its doubly vaccinated population.

    6. The vast majority of COVID deaths occur in those over 70. In this age group, the doubly vaccinated died from COVID at higher rates during Omicron than the unvaccinated.

    #105600
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    Filed under WTF?!?

    If you think prepubescent kids shouldn’t be pumped full of artificial hormones that in many cases permanently castrate them, then Apple is lobbying against you, and attempting to bring the might of the Fortune 500 to their side.

    The tech giant is engaged in an intense lobbying effort against bills aimed at protecting kids from what progressives call “gender-affirming” medical treatment — meaning medical procedures such as so-called sex-change procedures that may leave them permanently infertile, before they’ve reached the legal age of consent.

    https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2022/04/04/apple-lobbies-corporate-world-to-denounce-bills-protecting-children-from-body-altering-procedures/

    Buh bye Apple, I’m glad we haven’t given you any ca$h since 2017 🙄

    #105601
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    Interesting, … this perhaps is one of the first financial advise portal that plunged a bit deeper into the issue of US $, Russian ₽, … and gold. Mind you largely quite inadequately.

    Summary:

    We are not suggesting the dollar loses reserve status. But we do want you to consider that some countries now have more incentive to seek an alternative payments source to the dollar. Gold is not the only solution but a currency that has worked for millennia and is helping Russia today.

    Will enemies of the U.S. stop using dollars? Highly doubtful. Will they possibly add gold to their reserves? Most likely.

    Gold has been used in trade for over 5000 years, and we suspect its popularity will increase going forward.

    We leave you with a recent headline from the IMF:

    IMF WARNS RUSSIA SANCTIONS THREATEN TO CHIP AWAY AT DOLLAR DOMINANCE

    Gold Or Rubles? A Pickle Worth Exploring
    https://realinvestmentadvice.com/gold-or-rubles-a-pickle-worth-exploring

    F.S.

    #105602
    Figmund Sreud
    Participant

    @Michael Reid

    Right now, bonds are about the worst possible place to allocate your capital. They’re a triple threat to your financial future because of three things: inflation, creditworthiness, and interest rates. – Doug Casey.

    Not quite true, … If you buy bonds and hold them for the interest, sure! But if you buy and trade US Treasury bond ETF, … like iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF [TLT] for example, … and treat it like a stock – trade it like stock – you can make pretty big bucks, … especially when the market is at the cusp a recession, … like right now! In fact, recession is here, it started. You just have to wait for confirming data that always lags, … fwiw.

    F.S.

    #105603
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    @ phoenixvoice

    It has been a busy day but managed to listen a little to Callender’s interview and around 4:19:30 I thought of you and recommend you stay away from the 5G

    #105604
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    @ phoenixvoice the video did not post

    #105605
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    @ F. S.

    I know nothing about investing but have been receiving email from Doug Casey / International man and he seems to be tracking the events. I have my money spent into real things like tools/equipment/shelter so not an issue for me

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