Apr 042023
 
 April 4, 2023  Posted by at 8:20 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,


John French Sloan McSorley’s Bar 1912

 

Trump Hit With 34 Felony Counts – No Handcuffs, No Mug Shot, No Jail Cell (GP)
Trump Lawyers Believe Manhattan Judge Will Impose A Gag Order On Monday (DM)
Trump’s Legal “Super Tuesday” (Turley)
How’s That War Going? (Kunstler)
Saudi Arabia Makes Its Eurasian Shift (Cradle)
More Countries May Join Oil Production Cut – Official (RT)
French Streets and American Sofas (Patrick Lawrence)
Why The Battle For Bakhmut May Decide The Ukraine Conflict (Poletaev)
Kiev, Western Puppeteers Do Everything To Prolong Conflict – Lavrov (TASS)
West ‘Not So Eager To Find Out’ Who Bombed Nord Stream – WaPo (RT)
EU Unfriendly To Russia – Lavrov (TASS)
Lavrov Ready To Meet Blinken At UN Headquarters (TASS)
“Türkiye Only NATO Country That Can Hold Discussions With Russia” (RT)
Stoltenberg Announces Finland’s NATO Accession Date Is Today (RT)
You Know (Denninger)

 

 

Update on the bombing in St. Petersburg:
– The package was not allowed in by security
– The bomber, Darja started talking to Vladlen from her seat during the event
– She said “I brought you a figurine as present”
– He asked “Where is it?”
– She said “They said it may be a bomb, so it’s at the entrance with the security”
– He asked for it to be brought forward
-> Couple of minutes later he was dead and dozens of people injured.

 

 

 

 

Putin Gaddafi
https://twitter.com/i/status/1642876085070098433

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In no time, they went from one misdemeanor count -which had expired- to 34 felony counts.

Trump Hit With 34 Felony Counts – No Handcuffs, No Mug Shot, No Jail Cell (GP)

Another day, another leak. President Trump was hit with 34 FELONY COUNTS for falsification of business records, according to a leak to the Deep State’s favorite actor Michael Isikoff. President Trump will not be handcuffed and there will be no mug shot, according to Yahoo’s Isikoff. Yahoo reported: “Donald Trump will be placed under arrest on Tuesday and informed that he has been charged with 34 felony counts for falsification of business records, according to a source who has been briefed on the procedures for the arraignment of the former president. A New York City Police arrest report summarizing the charges against Trump will then be prepared and entered into the court system before he is led into a courtroom to be formally arraigned on the charges, none of which are misdemeanors.”

“But, the source said, Trump will not be put in handcuffs, placed in a jail cell or subjected to a mug shot — typical procedures even for white-collar defendants until a judge has weighed in on pretrial conditions. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, which has been consulting with the Secret Service and New York City court officials, concluded that there was no reason to subject the former president to handcuffs or a mug shot. The stated reason for handcuffing defendants is on the grounds that the suspect might be a flight risk or a threat to the district attorney or court personnel, neither of which were judged to be relevant to the handling of a former president protected at all times by a phalanx of Secret Service agents.”

President Trump landed at New York’s LaGuardia Airport in Queens on Monday afternoon. President Trump will spend the night at Trump Tower New York and will show up to court for his arraignment on Tuesday at 2:15 pm ET. Trump’s lawyers will immediately file a motion to dismiss after they have the opportunity to review the indictment. Recall Michael Isikoff was involved in the Deep State’s attempt to oust Trump from office. No one in the media is more accommodating to the deep state than ‘old faithful’ – Yahoo’s Michael Isikoff. In 2017, it was reported that Isikoff’s Yahoo report was used to obtain FISA warrants to spy on President Trump while at the same time Isikoff was working with the DNC.

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Don’t seem to have happened. Maybe today. Still, gagging a presidential candidate?!

Trump Lawyers Believe Manhattan Judge Will Impose A Gag Order On Monday (DM)

Donald Trump’s legal team is preparing for a New York judge to slap a gag order on the former president on Monday, DailyMail.com can reveal, a day before he is due to be arrested in Manhattan. The extraordinary move to potentially silence a candidate for president will likely enflame Trump’s supporters as he prepares to fly out of his Florida home. ‘The Trump legal team now thinks that the Manhattan judge will take the unprecedented step of silencing the presidential frontrunner with an unconstitutional gag order tomorrow,’ said a source. ‘The Trump legal team is considering adding a First Amendment lawyer to the effort to combat this and will fight it all the way.’ Breaking the gag order could trigger a fine of $1000 and a prison sentence of as much as 30 days, under New York law.

On Sunday morning, Trump’s campaign announced that the former president would make a speech at his Mar-a-Lago home on Tuesday evening after returning from New York. That could now be in doubt. But it did not change his Sunday schedule. He headed to his West Palm Beach golf club where he could be seen playing the course accompanied by one of his lawyers, Lindsey Halligan. At the same time it emerged that his legal team will lodge a motion to immediately dismiss the case against him. ‘We will take the indictment. We will dissect it,’ Trump’s attorney Joe Tacopina told CNN on Sunday morning. ‘The team will look at every, every potential issue that we will be able to challenge, and we will challenge. ‘And of course, I very much anticipate a motion to dismiss coming because there’s no law that fits this.’

Taken together they mark the latest twists in a fast running story that exploded into life on Thursday when it emerged that a Manhattan jury voted to indict the former president. The charges remain sealed but are believed to relate to a $130,000 hush money payment made to adult movie actress Stormy Daniels in 2016. Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for pursuing a case that had been dropped by federal prosecutors. And he has also turned his fire on Manhattan’s Acting Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who will hear the case and is believed to be preparing a gag order. ‘The campaign is preparing for this scenario,’ said a Trump campaign source.

It will only add to Trump’s anger at Merchan, who previously presided over last year’s tax fraud case when the Trump Organization was found guilty. In a Truth Social post on Friday, Trump said the judge had ‘railroaded’ his former CFO to try to get him to take a plea deal. ‘The judge “assigned’ to my Witch Hunt Case, a “Case” that has NEVER BEEN CHARGED BEFORE, HATES ME,’ he wrote.

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“Elections often raise the politics of crime — but in this election, it may be hard to separate the politics from the crime.”

Trump’s Legal “Super Tuesday” (Turley)

While a newly elected Trump could only pardon himself for the federal crimes, it is the federal case that likely represents the greatest threat to him. Moreover, the two state cases would add to Trump’s narrative of facing ‘political prosecutions’ from a ‘weaponized’ legal system on every level. Trump often campaigns on just such a primal level. He knows that a man chased by a dog can spark public outcry — but a man chased by a pack of dogs can spark public outrage. It is not simply the election that could take a carceral turn, however. What would happen if Trump were elected but convicted in either state case? Such a trial would likely occur after the election. Even if courts extended a trial until after the 2024 election, it would be difficult to delay it for four years.

The last time a president faced the threat of a criminal trial was in 1872, when Ulysses S. Grant was arrested for speeding in his horse-drawn carriage in Washington. I have long maintained that a sitting president can be indicted and tried. Almost 25 years ago, I wrote an academic work, “‘From Pillar to Post’: The Prosecution of Sitting Presidents,” that challenged immunity theories protecting presidents. I do not believe the indictment of a president or former president is a national tragedy. To the contrary, it is the ultimate affirmation that no one is above the law. However, that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t get weird if Trump loses in court but wins in the election. If Trump were convicted in a state proceeding, it would not bar him from running — or serving — as president.

A state judge could grant probation or an alternative sentence to avoid imprisonment. Moreover, appeals on the issue of incarceration could take years to address a state order conflicting with the performance of a federal function. Once that time was exhausted, a court could order any incarceration to be delayed until after the end of the presidential term, since Trump could not be elected a third time. We may have to face one of these scenarios. The question is whether voters may not only accept this prospect but some might even invite it. Regardless of how it works out, this election is about to take a carceral turn. Elections often raise the politics of crime — but in this election, it may be hard to separate the politics from the crime.

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“..a judge with any self-respect would toss it in a pre-trial hearing like a six-day-dead carp at the slightest prompting by a defense attorney..”

How’s That War Going? (Kunstler)

Now how about that other war: our government’s war against us? What canny reporters (Taibbi, Schellenberger) are calling the Censorship Industrial Complex has been pretty well outed. Everybody knows that the FBI, CIA, DHS, and many other agencies, via hijacked social media, have worked tirelessly to confound and bamboozle the public debate about, really, everything that matters. The odd part is that roughly half of America doesn’t seem to care. Of course, that is the same half of the country that has fallen in love with surveillance, censorship, political prosecutions, election monkey business, mandated mRNA shots, and other excursions into bad faith. Their auditors in the mainstream news media actually seem to relish their roles as enforcers of unreality.

This degenerate wickedness has been escalating since one Donald Trump stepped onstage years ago. The “Joe Biden” regime affects to have trapped him finally in the lair of Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg. Now the game gets interesting. Since the charges are the sheerest vapor, the actual aim of this prosecution, as Tom Luongo and Martin Armstrong point out, is to goad Mr. Trump into a civil contempt citation that will allow the New York authorities to lock him up. The judge in the case will impose a gag order on Mr. Trump speaking out about the proceedings against him, and when he opens his yap — as he is certain to do — they’ll throw a net around him and drag him off to the hoosegow, and keep try to keep him there indefinitely, as they kept the Jan 6 suspects in the DC jail. That is, if the Bragg operation in New York City can extract the former president from the state of Florida, which may not be so easy, now that Governor DeSantis has indicated a disinclination to allow it.

As to the case itself, a judge with any self-respect would toss it in a pre-trial hearing like a six-day-dead carp at the slightest prompting by a defense attorney — based, as it is, on multiple specious novelties of criminal law, not to mention being well beyond the statute of limitations. If it can actually get to trial, the prosecution will be a jurisprudential joke for the ages. If they get a Big Apple jury to go along with the joke, it will be short-listed through the appeals process clean up to the Supreme Court in a New York minute.

And if that whole thing falls apart like the janky jenga tower it is, there are two other cases in the wings — the bullshit case in Fulton County, Georgia, where the grand jury process was already compromised by a jury fore-person, self-identified as a “witch,” shooting her mouth off to the press; and the operation out of the DC Federal District run by one Special Counsel Jack Smith in the Mar-a-Lago classified papers matter — another loser case, considering all the other high officials currently entangled in similar complaints, as yet unmolested by any official charges.

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Brent: Russia and India abandon Europe-dominated oil price, agree to use Dubai oil price benchmark.

Saudi Arabia Makes Its Eurasian Shift (Cradle)

On 6 March, 2023, Iranian and Saudi officials held a meeting in Beijing where they agreed to restore bilateral relations. The agreement was significant not only for the mutual de-escalation of tensions in West Asia, but also for Saudi Arabia’s growing importance in the process of Eurasian integration led by China and Russia. By welcoming Chinese mediation, the kingdom has positioned itself as an independent actor capable of opening doors for Beijing and Moscow in a region where they have traditionally been overshadowed by a great power rival, the US. This move boosts Saudi Arabia’s importance in the geopolitical landscape and strengthens its ties with Beijing and Moscow.

For much of its history, Saudi Arabia was a staunch ally of the US in the Persian Gulf region. However, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s (MbS) military quagmire in Yemen – among other things – damaged Washington’s perception of the kingdom as a stable and reliable outpost in the region. The feeling was mutual and forced MbS to seek assistance from other nations to help lower tensions on Saudi frontiers. Between 2021 and 2022, Riyadh engaged in several rounds of an Iraq-hosted dialogue with Iran to negotiate assistance from Tehran in preventing its allies in Yemen and Iraq from attacking Saudi territory. What is particularly noteworthy to China and Russia is that MbS did not use this diplomacy as a means to restore the US’ traditional centrality in the kingdom’s regional and security policies. Instead, he made a point of cooperation with Beijing and Moscow while simultaneously snubbing Washington.

For example, in October 2022, Saudi Arabia partnered with OPEC+ partner Russia to cut oil production, breaking commitments made to US President Joe Biden during his July visit to Jeddah. MbS also overshadowed Biden’s trip with a much grander welcome for Chinese President Xi Jinping in December, during which Riyadh also hosted the first China-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit to underscore the Saudi view of China as a regional partner rather than just a bilateral one. Against this backdrop, the Saudi decision to sign a Chinese-brokered deal with Iran without Washington’s involvement has been interpreted as a “middle-finger to Biden,” in the words of former US State Department analyst Aaron David Miller. Similarly, Riyadh’s nascent Russian-brokered detente with Syria, whose Iran and Russia-allied government is still opposed by the US, also illustrates Saudi Arabia’s willingness to move away from its traditional pro-American stance.

Rubio
https://twitter.com/i/status/1642872629282340870

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“..as you know, there are 23 members in OPEC+..”

More Countries May Join Oil Production Cut – Official (RT)

More oil-producing nations may slash their crude output, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak warned on Monday. His comments follow the decision on Sunday by several members of the OPEC+ group to introduce voluntary additional cuts to their output starting from May until the end of 2023, in order to stabilize the oil market. Some of the major producers, such as Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait, pledged a total of 1.66 million barrels per day (bpd) of cuts on top of the ones already introduced in November. The move sent oil prices roughly 6% higher on Monday, with US benchmark WTI Crude surpassing $80 a barrel.

“Since so far nine countries … have said that they would voluntarily cut [their oil output], and as you know, there are 23 members in OPEC+, there were discussions that other countries could also join and announce some additional cuts of their own, if they felt it was necessary in order to stabilize the market,” Novak said in an interview to the Rossiya 24 TV channel. Novak’s comments were echoed by a report from Chief OPEC Correspondent Amena Bakr, who said on Twitter that more OPEC+ states were being encouraged to join the voluntary cuts.

The latest reductions come on top of the 2 million bpd cut introduced last year that’s set to run until the end of 2023. Russia also announced on Sunday that it would synchronize with OPEC+ and extend its own 500,000 bpd cut to the end of this year. According to Novak, the measure is necessary to ensure predictability in the oil market in a period of high volatility due to the ongoing banking crisis in the US and Europe, general global economic uncertainty, and unpredictable and short-sighted energy policy decisions.

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“On March 16 Macron made his wrongest choice. Unwilling to risk a vote in the National Assembly, he resorted to a provision de Gaulle wrote into the Fifth Republic’s Constitution in 1958, which allows the president to pass legislation without parliamentary approval under certain defined and rare circumstances—emergencies..”

French Streets and American Sofas (Patrick Lawrence)

You might be Brazilian or Malian or Singaporean, it is remarkable the world over to watch the French explode into the streets of dozens of cities and towns to protest the imperial president residing in Élysée Palace. It is altogether singular to follow the demonstrations against Emmanuel Macron as an American. The French are still citoyens and take to their streets and public squares. Americans long ago cashed in their citizenship to live as consumers—and take to their sofas no matter how abusively political elites treat them, no matter how many wars they start, no matter how corrupt the financial system, no matter how many people live in poverty, no matter how grotesque the “defense” budget, no matter how poisoned the environment, no matter… let me not go on. Please pass the Fritos and turn on the big game.

They burned city hall in Bordeaux last week. The Place de la Concorde, where the French protested the monarchy in 1789, is again shoulder-to-shoulder every day and night. Video footage records fires, barricades, appalling confrontations with baton-wielding CRS, the French riot police. Uncollected garbage is everywhere in the capital. The luxury shops along the grand boulevards have boarded up their windows. This started, of course, as a protest against Macron’s plan to raise the retirement age in France from 62 to 64 as part of a sweeping reform of the pension system. I have heard many Americans ask, “Two years? What’s the big deal?” It is telling enough that Americans would pose this question, missing all the reasons why Macron’s plan is a very big deal. The French work to live, as they like to say, while Americans live to work. Pushing up the retirement age had a semiotic meaning from the first, signaling the creeping incursion of American neoliberalism into French society.

There is the choice Macron had. I don’t think too many people dispute the demographics and fiduciary numbers at issue. More older French are reaching retirement age while fewer younger French are advancing into the workforce. This is a reality in France as in many other developed nations, though not the near-term crisis Macron made it out to be. Macron’s choice lay between raising taxes on the wealthy and the corporations or pushing the problem on the shoulders of the working class. He made the wrong choice. Remember, Macron was a merchant banker before going into politics. Early in his first term he was nicknamed “the president of the rich.” He failed to understand that serving as a national leader meant leaving behind the merchant banking in favor of the common good. So he made himself a sort of comprador, an import agent introducing Anglo–American neoliberal orthodoxies into a society that has long, long stood outside the Anglosphere.

For the French, the English Channel and the Atlantic are wide. On March 16 Macron made his wrongest choice. Unwilling to risk a vote in the National Assembly, he resorted to a provision de Gaulle wrote into the Fifth Republic’s Constitution in 1958, which allows the president to pass legislation without parliamentary approval under certain defined and rare circumstances—emergencies, in a word. So has Macron turned a big deal into a big, big deal and now a big, big, big deal.At this point the pension reform crisis has jumped the levee to become something far broader. Now demonstrators tip over into protesting the war in Ukraine, U.S. hegemony, NATO, and, on the domestic side, de Gaulle’s constitution.

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“..a ‘strategically unimportant’ town..”

Why The Battle For Bakhmut May Decide The Ukraine Conflict (Poletaev)

Since the beginning of the year, the Ukrainian front has been shrouded in a deceptive silence. Various insiders and anonymous sources predicted a looming large-scale offensive by the Russian Armed Forces. First expected around New Year, it was then anticipated in early February, and again around February 24 – the anniversary of Russia’s attack, last year. Days came and went, but nothing happened. With the arrival of spring, there has been talk of an equally imminent offensive – but this time by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) in the south. Allegedly, the plan of the AFU is to break through to the Sea of Azov and cut off the land corridor to Crimea. Any success or failure in this direction will make a considerable strategic impact. If the estimates are correct, Kiev is preparing new military units and stocking up on Western weapons –including the widely discussed British tanks and depleted uranium shells to go with them– precisely for this endeavor.


However, in contrast to widespread opinion, Ukraine’s permanently ongoing mobilization is not being conducted to expand the army – the new recruits only make up for the losses. Estimates show that the number of service personnel in the AFU remains stable at about 400,000 active fighters. Considering the importance of the southern direction of the front, the Russian Armed Forces will either hold defense or cut off a possible Ukrainian breakthrough with counterattacks. This requires appropriate forces, shells, and equipment, as well as advance preparation. Russia’s intentions are quite serious. This is evident from its goal of capturing the city of Ugledar [“1” on the map] – a fortress in the area of the AFU’s possible breakthrough. Having Ugledar under Russian control is important since it would create a threat for the advancing units. A similar offensive has been carried out in the western section of the front in the Zaporozhye region, north of Vasilevka [“2” on map]. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation captured several small towns there in January. As is evident from the serious work done on the construction of defensive lines, Russia will not retreat from Melitopol and Berdyansk as easily as it backed out of Izium or Kherson. This time, the stakes are too high.

In recent weeks, the Russian army has been successful in the area of Kremennaya [“3” on the map] and managed to advance six or seven kilometers (a good indicator for a static front line) towards the city of Liman, which it retreated from last October. Liman is located on the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic, so Russia would need to take it in any case, as it’s claimed as Moscow’s territory. However, the Russian Army’s breakthrough area here is relatively narrow and this makes it vulnerable to flank attacks. Battles for the suburbs of the city of Donetsk, ongoing since the beginning of the military offensive, have finally begun to bear fruit. In recent weeks, the Russian Armed Forces have partially surrounded Avdeevka [“4” on the map].


This place is particularly important since the AFU have been launching attacks on Donetsk from this spot for the past four years. In order to stop the constant shelling of the city from barrel artillery and “Grad” rocket launchers, the front line must be moved at least several dozen kilometers away from Donetsk. Apparently, these advances have become possible due to the battles for Artyomovsk (Bakhmut) [“5” on the map] which have helped to drain Ukraine’s forces. By itself, Artyomovsk holds no strategic importance – it is just one of the many cities in Donbass that still need to be taken. That’s why in a sense, Moscow decided to “outsource” this painstaking, dirty, and bloody work.

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“..We note the West’s unwillingness to engage in an inter-state dialogue based on principles of equality..”

Kiev, Western Puppeteers Do Everything To Prolong Conflict – Lavrov (TASS)

The Kiev regime and its Western puppeteers do everything they can in order to prolong hostilities, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview for air.ru, published on the Foreign Ministry website Tuesday. Commenting on peace plan for Ukraine, proposed by China, Lavrov noted that it is consonant for key Russian approaches. “Especially regarding the need to ensure equal and indivisible security for all countries in Europe and in the world in general,” the Minister noted. “So far, the peace process has been hindered by Kiev and its Western puppeteers who exert all efforts in order to prolong the hostilities.” Lavrov noted that Russian and Chinese leaders Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping stated “the importance for further close coordination on foreign policy.”


“We see the causes of main challenges in the international security area in a similar way. We note the West’s unwillingness to engage in an inter-state dialogue based on principles of equality. We oppose the use of sanctions pressure methods and other instruments of unscrupulous competition,” the Foreign Minister continued. “Meanwhile, our strategic cooperation is not aimed against third countries. It contributes to balanced development of the entire international system.” The Minister underscored that the Chinese side reaffirmed its “weighted position on the Ukrainian issue.” “We welcome Beijing’s readiness to play a constructive role in political and diplomatic resolution of the conflict,” he concluded.

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Seymour Hersh’s is the only view left standing.

West ‘Not So Eager To Find Out’ Who Bombed Nord Stream – WaPo (RT)

Western officials would rather not know who bombed the Nord Stream pipelines, lest they discover that their allies were responsible, the Washington Post reported on Monday. The report listed Polish and Ukrainian operatives as likely perpetrators, but left out one key suspect. “Don’t talk about Nord Stream” is now an unwritten rule at gatherings of European and NATO policymakers, an unnamed European diplomat told the newspaper. “Leaders see little benefit from digging too deeply and finding an uncomfortable answer,” the Post added, stating that officials “would rather not have to deal with the possibility that Ukraine or its allies were involved.” “It’s like a corpse at a family gathering,” the diplomat continued, explaining that while everyone can see the metaphorical body, they pretend it’s not there. “It’s better not to know,” the source said.

The Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines were destroyed in a series of near-simultaneous explosions off the Danish island of Bornholm in September. The blasts severed a key conduit of Russian natural gas to Europe, although the flow along Nord Stream 1 had been shut earlier that month, and the German government halted the activation of the newly-constructed Nord Stream 2 immediately after Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine last February. Multiple European investigations into the explosions are ongoing, and a number of theories about who carried out the attack have emerged. The Post pointed to theories that a Polish company hired a yacht to transport explosives to the blast site on behalf of Kiev; that another “pro-Ukrainian group” was to blame; and that “saboteurs from other countries” committed the attack without the Ukrainian government’s knowledge.

The Post did not, however, entertain the idea that the US government blew up the pipelines. Citing US intelligence sources, American reporter Seymour Hersh claimed in February that the Biden administration ordered the CIA to bomb the lines with the help of the Norwegian Navy. The rented yacht story, Hersh said afterwards, was planted in the US and German media as a red herring by the CIA and its German counterpart, the BND. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that he “fully agrees” with Hersh’s conclusions. Prior to the publication of Hersh’s report, Putin blamed the explosions on “the Anglo-Saxons,” a Russian colloquialism for the US-UK transatlantic alliance. The Russian president argued that the US in particular benefited from the attack due to its position as a supplier of LNG to Europe.

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The EU is committing hara-kiri to please America.

EU Unfriendly To Russia – Lavrov (TASS)

Russia is viewing the European Union as an unfriendly association now, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with aif.ru posted on the Foreign Ministry’s website on Tuesday. “The European Union has ‘lost’ Russia. However, it is its own making. Exactly the EU member-states and leaders of the Union openly state the need of inflicting the strategic defeat to Russia, as they say. They are filling the criminal Kiev regime with weapons and munitions and send instructors and mercenaries to Ukraine. These are the reasons why we consider the EU to be the unfriendly association,” Lavrov said. The Russian side made necessary conclusions from this situation, the minister stressed. Moscow will act in response to hostile steps “decidedly if necessary, being governed by national interests of Russia and the reciprocity principle commonly adopted in the diplomatic practice,” he added.

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April 24-25.

Lavrov Ready To Meet Blinken At UN Headquarters (TASS)

Russia is ready to a possible meeting between Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Secretary of State Antony Blinken during the Minister’s visit to the UN Headquarters on April 24-25 if the US side has the desire to meet, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said at a press conference. “I think that depends on two factors. First, where Secretary Blinken will be at that time, and on his ability and willingness to meet with our Foreign Minister,” the Russian diplomat said. The Russian side has never “run away from whatever meetings with those people who want these meetings,” he noted. “If such a meeting is requested, I presume that Minister Lavrov will be ready to meet Secretary Blinken,” Nebenzya added.

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Probably true, and certainly insane.

“Türkiye Only NATO Country That Can Hold Discussions With Russia” (RT)

Today, Türkiye is the only country within NATO that can hold discussions with Russia and take steps per the interests of the international community, based on a common denominator in certain areas with Russia, Levent Gumrukcu, Turkish representative in NATO, told Anadolu, Report informs. He said that Türkiye is the only country that maintains contact with both sides in the war in Ukraine and tries to create an atmosphere of trust between the parties: “The role we play in matters such as the grain agreement and exchange of prisoners is a manifestation of this. This position of ours is of serious importance not only for Ukraine but also for the Euro-Atlantic area and NATO.” The diplomat added that NATO and Türkiye have common interests in many regions, including the Balkans, Central Asia, the South Caucasus, the Middle East, and North Africa.

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“Prime Minister Sanna Marin loses the Finnish elections. The Finns did not like her handling of the Russia conflict. She sold out Finland to NATO and the Anti-Russia coalition. She put international politics first and her people second.”

She did her job. Finland’s in NATO and she’s no longer needed. NATO can go place weapons along its longest border with Russia.

Stoltenberg Announces Finland’s NATO Accession Date Is Today (RT)

Finland will officially become the 31st member of NATO on Tuesday, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced in a statement on Monday. “This is a historic week,” Stoltenberg told reporters on the eve of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers. “From tomorrow, Finland will be a full member of the alliance,” he said, adding that “it will be a good day for Finland’s security, for Nordic security, and for NATO as a whole.” Finnish president Sauli Niinisto and Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen are expected to attend the accession ceremony in Brussels along with Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, who vowed to emphasize NATO’s support to Ukraine during the meeting.

The move comes just three days after Turkish President Reccep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed ratification of the Nordic country’s passage into the organization. It ends a protracted accession process that began last summer when Finland and Sweden abandoned their traditional position of neutrality and applied to join NATO, citing concerns of possible Russian aggression. Türkiye had objected to the bids by Helsinki and Stockholm citing their alleged support of “terrorist groups.” Last month, however, Erdogan praised Finland’s “authentic and concrete steps” to address Turkish security concerns. He has yet to give a clear indication as to when Ankara will ratify Sweden’s request to join the bloc.

Moscow, meanwhile, has reacted to Finland’s accession to NATO by stating that Russia will have no choice but to reinforce its military potential on the Western and North Western borders in response. “In the event that forces and assets of other NATO members are deployed in Finland, we will take additional steps to reliably ensure Russia’s military security,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told RIA Novosti on Monday. Last month, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow “regrets” Finland’s and Sweden’s decision to join the US-led bloc, stating that Russia “does not pose any threat to these countries, since it does not have any disputes with them.”

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The crowd called for the death of Christ in the same way it clamored for forced vaccination.

You Know (Denninger)

Palm Sunday. Many Christians share my dread of this Holy Day. It starts out fun, with all of us outside. We grab palm leaves. The kids immediately start sword fighting with them and the older folks fold them into crosses or other shapes like religious balloon animals! Then the mood shifts. We file into our pews in silence and a pall settles over the sanctuary. There is no music to guide our steps. We know what’s coming. Palm Sunday commemorates (because celebrate is not the right term for the second) two events: Jesus returning to Jerusalem and his crucifixion. Some of the disquiet is annoyance. It is the longest Mass most of us attend. But there is no denying the heavy reason we’re here. Palm Sunday’s Gospel reading is Christ’s crucifixion, and even worse, the congregation reads the parts of the crowd out loud.

Each of us demands the murder of an innocent man. Even though we know how it ends, it’s sobering. The silence is appropriate. For me, it was never only the heavy subject matter, it was doubt. What would I have done in the crowd? Scream to let a killer go? Would I participate in murdering the lamb of God? I really wanted to believe, “Of course not! I’m an upstanding person, I would never hand Christ over for execution!” Doubt crept in, no matter how forcefully I repeated the mantra. I am flawed, a sinner, and most importantly, rarely brave. After the past three years, I know the answer. So do all of you. Know, not believe.

I did not cave when “friends” tried to shame me into wearing a tard rag. People drifted out of my life. My blood is still pure, despite the crowd screaming for submission. These two actions mean there are very few left in my life, and almost none I call “friend” sincerely. It’s a reasonable conclusion to assume what held true recently would have in Jerusalem. God didn’t tell me His plan for the last three years, He wouldn’t have told me back then. I state this not out of grandiosity or claiming to hear the Word of God, simply my own actions. This year I will stand with the rest of the congregation, but not speak any of the lines because I would have walked off rather than go along with the crowd.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Roughnecks

 

 

Bricks
https://twitter.com/i/status/1642907102988337156

 

 

Bernoulli

 

 

Chameleon
https://twitter.com/i/status/1642859388409978881

 

 

Monkey frog
https://twitter.com/i/status/1642896852231020547

 

 

Hitchcock TO CATCH A THIEF (1955)

 

 

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle April 4 2023

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 60 total)
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  • #132723

    John French Sloan McSorley’s Bar 1912   • Trump Hit With 34 Felony Counts – No Handcuffs, No Mug Shot, No Jail Cell (GP) • Trump Lawyers Believe
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle April 4 2023]

    #132724
    Germ
    Participant

    Will we ever know what was really injected into folks?

    TVASF

    #132725
    Germ
    Participant

    Two dead on UK flights in a month.
    When can you last recall anybody dying on a UK flight?

    Jet2 passenger dies on flight from Tenerife to UK forcing emergency landing

    “A passenger died on board a Jet2 flight from Tenerife to Manchester that was forced to make an emergency landing…
    … It comes after a Jet2 flight was forced to make an emergency landing last month after a passenger (44) became unwell on a flight to Glasgow and died.”

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/jet2-tenerife-manchester-cornwall-death-b2313670.html

    The bodies are dropping all around us.

    TVASF

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/jet2-tenerife-manchester-cornwall-death-b2313670.html

    #132726
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “French Woman Faces $13,000 Fine For Facebook Post Calling President Macron “Filth”

    “Liberté, égalité, fraternité.” He hates you for your freedoms. Macron, I mean. The destroyer of France and all things French.

    I dunno, a guy was seen on the top of the Notre Dame just before it burned, are you sure you know where he was?

    Continuing, French Economic minister makes Playboy magazine,“The photo shoot is accompanied by a 12-page interview in which she talks about women’s and LGBT rights” while France is burning and the 5th Republic is about to be replaced. Again, their tippy-toppy, highest and only priority is 1 in 20,000 persons, who already have every right afforded to every other citizen. And the women? Well, I guess that will end when women have the right to vote in France. But unfortunately, they don’t know who that is.

    Really beggars all mockery and self-preservation, you know? It’s almost – gasp – like they want France and Western government to be discredited and fall. Perhaps replaced by people who can do things, like Corporations?

    P.S. “Playboy”; longtime hub and apex of Women’s Rights. Go Schiappa! Well, as a politician, we knew she was a whore already, so Centerfold is actually a step up. No wonder she’s not surprised.

    Putin: Actually no, it was the gold that was the first interest. London was collapsing (again). The 1st order of business, before the army, before printing business cards – or T-shirts and flags, we know how half the ISIS budget was spent on t-shirts and flags – was to establish a central bank. That talked to London. Libya’s gold was “ushered out” to London for “safekeeping.” No one has seen it again and the war stopped there. They want the oil? The oil is in limbo, barely being pumped compared to capacity. They didn’t want to deny the oil, because it IS being pumped. So it seems the gold is the thing.

    “Visiting Julian on 4-year-anniversary” of…being jailed without trial? Is this what they have planned for Trump, the Armstrong Plan? 7 year’s prison for no charges, no trial? Contempt? Hey, that’s the West now: it was too much trouble to perjure yourself wildly and fabricate evidence like the previous 50 years – you’d have to stop doing lines of coke to show up in court. So they don’t bother. They just jail. The guy next to Armstrong’s Judge took a vow he would NEVER rule in favor of a defendant in his whole career, and didn’t. When he retired the judge next to HIM put it in the papers and no one cared. SDNY. Strike you as maybe like Louis XVI stuff? Worse, probably? “If we don’t look out, something might happen here! We might lose our rights!”

    “gagging a presidential candidate?!”

    And still 1/3 of the country won’t notice, another 1/3rd will approve.

    “Russia and India abandon Europe-dominated oil price, agree to use Dubai oil price benchmark.”

    Blinken vows to interfere in Indian Elections now. The nation that has the greatest human right violations on planet earth, is shipping $150B to a war they’re not in, is using Uranium and Phosphorus and Cluster bombs to cause genocide in 3? 4? countries, the country that arrests reporters and Presidential candidates, has suddenly found “Human Rights Violations” in India. What can you add to that? Why exaggerate? Nothing is beyond what actually is.

    Well, Like I said, it needs to go down, and that can’t be under Trump. The political, economic, military collapse have to happen under Joe. Keep digging. Nothing I could do would possibly move this faster than Blinken, Milley, and Nuland.

    “US is worried about a de-dollarised world because it’s ability to impose country-breaking punishing sanctions”

    Rubio told the truth. Do they kick him out now? Or is he no longer a RINO? (Nope: just an accident; he’s top RINO #2)

    “pass legislation without parliamentary approval under certain defined and rare circumstances—emergencies..”

    Like the Canadian “Emergency” of throwing a winter Ice Party? This is why there’s no such thing as an “Emergency”, even in a pandemic. Nothing suspends the Rights of Man because they don’t come from you, they come from their Creator.

    “The luxury shops along the grand boulevards have boarded up their windows.” Yeah, but that’s just like Chicago and L.A.

    “Early in his first term he was nicknamed “the president of the rich.”

    Yes, he’s a hand-placed Rothschilds Bank guy if I remember.

    “Estimates show that the number of service personnel in the AFU remains stable at about 400,000 active fighters.”

    And you believed them? When their brigades are often half-staffed? After they said Bakhmut was both crucial and irrelevant? And when they said it’s not NATO, a week before admitting that a NATO bunker full of NATO generals was vaporized 400 feet below ground?

    You don’t get to do that. Liars are discredited. 1st rule.

    “Seymour Hersh’s is the only view left standing.”

    C’mon you don’t believe they had a 2-man decompression chamber in a 16’ Sunfish? What does it take to convince such a hardened skeptic?

    “The EU is committing hara-kiri to please America.”

    Yeah, except America isn’t giving the orders. Article yesterday (forgot to clip)spoken sentences on the “Close alliance between Biden and Europe” etc. Yes, Biden is Davos, as are the NeoCons. It’s not a secret. Davos is giving Biden his orders, as he’s incapable of human thought. Davos is having Trump arrested as they can’t have problems and rogue cards on the table at this time. Etc. THEY need to win the war. What does the U.S. get out of it? Literally nothing. P.S. NeoCons are from the LEFT. That’s why they were branded with the Ironic name, perhaps a mistake.

    “Stoltenberg Announces Finland’s NATO Accession Date Is Today (RT) “

    Yet Russia is completely unconcerned. I wonder why.

    Roughnecks: yes, they were largely Mohawks. Also same indicator: buildings built in honor of an enormous collapse. Last shot you see the weather, that’s residue from the broad coal burning. Although cleaner in major boilers, still nothing like today’s clean burns.

    #132727
    Germ
    Participant

    FLOYD MAYWEATHER JR.’S ASSISTANT KITCHIE’S SUDDEN DEATH LEAVES FANS SHOCKED

    https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2023/04/01/floyd-mayweather-jr-s-assistant-kitchies-sudden-death-leaves-fans-shocked/

    TVASF

    #132728
    Germ
    Participant

    WHO WAS MARY-BRIAN CLARKE? JEREMY RUEHLEMANN’S GIRLFRIEND DIES AT 24

    “She died on March 21 and the statement says that she passed away “unexpectedly” at the age of 24“.

    https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2023/03/31/who-was-mary-brian-clarke-jeremy-ruehlemanns-girlfriend-dies-at-24/

    TVASF

    #132729
    Germ
    Participant

    Valerie McCain, Bechtel Megaproject Leader, Dies Suddenly (33yo)

    https://www.enr.com/articles/56203-valerie-mccain-bechtel-megaproject-leader-dies-suddenly

    TVASF

    #132730
    Germ
    Participant

    A nation with wrecked immune systems.

    Aman who had noticed a spot on his leg died of sepsis soon afterwards

    https://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/other/man-dies-of-sepsis-after-noticing-spot-on-his-leg/ar-AA19n3Il

    TVASF

    #132731
    Germ
    Participant

    And now ….
    Some light entertainment:

    #132733
    Formerly T-Bear
    Participant

    Certainly appears a Gish gallop of felonies facing Former President Donald J. Trump in court. World is watching TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) show the legal system of the United States for what it has become – fraudulent justice. Fair justice is a glue that holds society together through an implied trust in the system; the January 6th felonious use of the courts is a stable Hercules cannot clean, the social glue is dangerously eroded. Republics do not stand for long without a strong social glue. YMMV

    #132735
    Dimitri
    Participant

    I hope Trump’s legal team is better this time than the last one.

    #132736
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Certainly appears a Gish gallop of felonies facing Former President Donald J. Trump in court. World is watching TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) show the legal system of the United States for what it has become – fraudulent justice. Fair justice is a glue that holds society together through an implied trust in the system; the January 6th felonious use of the courts is a stable Hercules cannot clean, the social glue is dangerously eroded. Republics do not stand for long without a strong social glue. YMMV

    Wow…
    Thanks T-Bear

    #132737
    Dora
    Participant

    US 19th century political cartoon captioned:
    Gulliver bound down by the Democratic Lilliputians.

    https://img.kansasmemory.org/00087086.jpg

    #132739
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Bah, bah Black Sheep

    .

    #132740
    Oroboros
    Participant

    The Empire of Lies has become an Aschhole

    #132742
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Blood Drinking Satanic Monsters, We Salute You

    .

    #132743
    Germ
    Participant

    Not only did they try to bamboozle the masses with the Absolute Risk Reduction/Relative Risk Reduction issue, but even their 95% effectiveness claim was a fraud.

    All Fraud. All The Time.

    “You’ve been Fizered”

    Pfizer COVID Vaccine Clinical Trials Are Fraudulent: Expert

    https://www.ntd.com/pfizer-covid-vaccine-clinical-trials-are-fraudulent-expert_910329.html

    TVASF

    #132744
    Oroboros
    Participant

    A Large Post-Indictment Trump Bump in Polling

    Manna from Heavan

    Styxhexenhammer666

    #132745
    zerosum
    Participant

    Can you have a war with a gov. for the people, by the people, and of the people?
    —————————-
    Can you have a war without batteries?
    https://www.enersys.com/en/industries/aerospace-defense/military-vehicles/
    (EnerSys® batteries play a critical role in providing the soldier the much-needed reserve power in a demanding environment.)
    ——————

    In Ukraine, Will the destroyed, (lead), batteries, cause a pollution problem for growing crops and the environment?

    Regulatory Requirements


    Lead is a know carcinogen and a bio-accumulative toxin
    —————-

    • How’s That War Going? (Kunstler)

    How’s That War Going?


    …. our government’s war against us? What canny reporters (Taibbi, Shellenberger) are calling the Censorship Industrial Complex has been pretty well outed. Everybody knows that the FBI, CIA, DHS, and many other agencies, via hijacked social media, have worked tirelessly to confound and bamboozle the public debate about, really, everything that matters. The odd part is that roughly half of America doesn’t seem to care.
    ————
    Can you have a war without oil?
    More countries may join oil production cut – official

    https://www.azerbaycan24.com/en/more-countries-may-join-oil-production-cut-official/
    Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait, pledged a total of 1.66 million barrels per day (bpd) of cuts on top of the ones already introduced in November. The move sent oil prices roughly 6% higher on Monday, with US benchmark WTI Crude surpassing $80 a barrel.

    “Since so far nine countries … have said that they would voluntarily cut [their oil output], and as you know, there are 23 members in OPEC+, there were discussions that other countries could also join and announce some additional cuts of their own, if they felt it was necessary in order to stabilize the market,” Novak said in an interview to the Rossiya 24 TV channel.

    Novak’s comments were echoed by a report from Chief OPEC Correspondent Amena Bakr, who said on Twitter that more OPEC+ states were being encouraged to join the voluntary cuts.
    ———————-
    Can you have a war with demonstrations, ongoing banking crisis,, etc.?
    • French Streets and American Sofas (Patrick Lawrence)

    Patrick Lawrence: French Streets and American Sofas


    …no matter how abusively political elites treat them, no matter how many wars they start, no matter how corrupt the financial system, no matter how many people live in poverty, no matter how grotesque the “defense” budget, no matter how poisoned the environment,
    ——————–
    Can you have a war if there are no qualified soldiers?

    #132747
    Oroboros
    Participant

    .

    #132748
    Germ
    Participant

    The 2023 collegiate National Debate Tournament is this weekend.
    Bivalent Death Vax is mandatory – for college kids.
    They are insane!

    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Te_2kGDssAgE6ucFBIiJaZwdnlhn_d7OLt2sFLZ4dtk/edit

    TVASF

    #132749
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Getting Practical with Jordan Peterson

    The Enemy can get up that early

    https://twitter.com/i/status/1642968952656793600

    #132750
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Um

    #132751
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Progress is Our Most Important Product

    #132752
    zerosum
    Participant

    NO BATTERIES NO WAR
    In total, since the beginning of the special military operation destroyed (losses over previous 24hrs(+?)):
    405 aircraft, (Daily avg 1.1)
    228 helicopters, (Daily avg 0.6)
    3,651(+3) unmanned aerial vehicles, (Daily avg 8.9)
    415 surface-to-air missile systems, (Daily avg 1.1)
    8,534(+13) tanks and other armored combat vehicles, (Daily avg 21.8)
    1,078 multiple rocket launchers, (Daily avg 2.8)
    4,501(+7) field artillery and mortars, (Daily avg 11.4) and
    9,292(+5) special military vehicles. (Daily avg 23.3)

    Posted by: Outraged Apr 4 2023 12:48 utc

    #132753
    zerosum
    Participant

    Peacekeepers
    If Canada sends men to be part of the peacekeepers in Ukraine, then the men should only/all be chosen from the 1.5+ expats Ukrainians living and voting in Canada.
    Nazis should not qualify.

    #132755
    Just Some Randomer
    Participant
    #132756
    Oroboros
    Participant

    ChatGPT 13

    It’s Coming for You

    Boga Boga

    #132757

    Those bricks! (The masonry ones.)

    Polemos (from yesterday)- I hardly see Trump as the anti-christ. He doesn’t have the followers, and his charisma is peculiar. He does have an unusually large gang of insane haters, but haters don’t count for an “anti-christ”, do they?
    He is what he appears to be- like Holly Golightly*: He’s a phony, but he’s a genuine phony.
    And I’ll give him this- he’s must be one of the cleanest politicians ever.

    *Holly Golightly is the main character from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. She is a prostitute with a heart of gold who wants to marry the richest man in the world.

    #132758

    Faced with the twilight of the Old USD,
    I sure as hell wish it weren’t MY currency.

    #132760

    I got a few pages into “There is No Antimimetics Division” last night and fell asleep to some very odd waking dreams of how to make people forget- a kind of intellectual invisibility. Strange.
    To whomever mentioned the book (sorry), thanks. I think.

    #132762
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    It’s all coming to monstrous climax, as the criminal-clown of Kiev has given Russia its ‘last warning’ before the UkoNazis launch ‘The Greatest Spring Offensive’ to take Crimea.

    If the NATOstan criminal-clowns don’t launch the offensive, they will completely lose credibility and the whole world will see them as the criminal-clowns they are.

    “The thinking of an eight-year-old child.” Keep the money spigot open.

    Meanwhile, Dima has reported that Russia turned its attention to Odesa again, largely demolishing a UkoNazi drone factory there.

    #132763
    tboc
    Participant

    Another sincere, rhetorical question:
    What state of being does one find themself within when everything they strived for comes to frution?

    The state of being of one who sees everything struggled against coming to fruition?
    Hopeful sadness.

    take care,
    cracker

    #132765
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    Background to the trumped up charges.

    #132766
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    Average dwelling values in Auckland down by almost $200,000 in last 12 months, Wellington values down almost $300,000

    https://www.interest.co.nz/property/120630/average-dwelling-values-auckland-down-almost-200000-last-12-months-wellington

    #132767
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    But today we start with tough local news. The overnight dairy auction saw prices fall -4.7% in USD terms, down -6.6% in NZD terms as the value of our currency rose. The key WMP price was down -5.2%, although the foodservice ingredients fared a bit better mainly with lower reductions. After the recent Fonterra cut to farmgate milk prices, analysts will be wondering whether another trimming will be in the works – and it will throw into question next season’s payout level.

    https://www.interest.co.nz/business/120636/dairy-prices-drop-hard-us-data-weak-chinas-job-market-tough-eu-ppi-drops-sharply

    Just wondering what has not been FUBARed by ‘the government’ and the international banksters of ‘Oceania’..

    Hard to think of anything they have not FUBARed.

    #132768
    Germ
    Participant


    TVASF

    #132769
    Germ
    Participant


    TVASF

    #132770
    zerosum
    Participant

    Trump pleads not guilty to 34 charges of lying

    ( Paid for sex?)
    ( Claimed the payment as a tax deduction? )
    The payment for sex was pennies compared to the (cost/wasted), money by all level of gov. for taking it to court.

    #132771
    Germ
    Participant

    New Study: AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 Vaccine Tripled Deaths in Young Women

    “According to the official UK statistics agency, the risk of cardiac death among young women was three times higher in the 12 weeks following any dose of non-mRNA vaccination.”

    https://www.theflstandard.com/new-study-astrazenecas-covid-19-vaccine-tripled-deaths-in-young-women/

    ☠️☠️☠️

    TVASF

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