Aug 072023
 
 August 7, 2023  Posted by at 9:00 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,


Edward Hopper Chair Car 1965

 

Donald Trump Vows To Prosecute Biden If Elected (RT)
Ukraine Warns Of ‘Significant Weapons Shortage’ (RT)
NATO Instructors Trained Neo-Nazi Azov Battalion Soldiers in 2021 (Sp.)
Zelensky Adviser Casts Doubt On Future Relations With Poland (RT)
Peskov Says NYT Misinterpreted His Words About 2024 Election (TASS)
US Dollar ‘Verging on Breakdown’ Hits Skids As Inflation Data Nears (Sp.)
Gold Is Replacing The Dollar (Macleod)
Maduro Castigates Silence Of European Leaders On Quran Burning (TASS)
Zuckerberg Tells Musk He’s Ready To Fight ‘Today’ (RT)

 

 

 

 

When TRUMP won
https://twitter.com/i/status/1687988391986540544

 

 

 

 

“The tables must turn, and we will destroy the Deep State.”

Donald Trump Vows To Prosecute Biden If Elected (RT)

Republican frontrunner Donald Trump told an audience in Alabama on Friday that he will appoint a special prosecutor to investigate potential illegality perpetrated by the “Biden crime family” on his first day in office if he reclaims the White House in 2024. Trump, who has been indicted three times in the past four months amid a range of criminal investigations into his conduct, told the crowd at a fundraising event in Montgomery: “On Election Day 2024, we are going to evict crooked Joe Biden from the White House. We are going to expel the criminals and thugs from the halls of power in Washington.” The former US president added that a special prosecutor would be appointed on his “first day in office,” who would “study each and every of the main claims being brought forth by Congress concerning all the crooked acts, including bribes from China and many other foreign countries that go into the coffers of the Biden crime family.”

Trump was speaking just a day after pleading not guilty to various charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith as part of an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the January 6, 2021 riots at the US Capitol in Washington, DC. The 77-year-old also faces simultaneous probes related to allegations that he deliberately withheld classified documents at his Florida estate, and obstructed government efforts to recover them. He is also involved in another case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg related to financial fraud and falsifying business records. He denies all claims of wrongdoing. Trump, whom polling suggests is the clear frontrunner to claim the Republican Party’s presidential nomination next year, told the Montgomery crowd that the “fake charges” being brought against him amounted to “election interference.”

“The reason this is happening is simple,” Trump said. “Joe Biden is the most incompetent and corrupt president in US history.”Trump didn’t elaborate on his claims of criminal activity by the Bidens but they are thought to be linked to allegations that Joe Biden and his son Hunter improperly profited from an association with Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings. The Bidens deny allegations of illegality linked to Ukraine, as well allegations of improper ties to China. Hunter Biden is also currently involved in court proceedings, including allegations of tax fraud. And if he returns to the Oval Office, Trump was clear on what he believes must be done: “The tables must turn, and we will destroy the Deep State.”

Read more …

No, you cannot “win the war” against Russia. Stop pretending. Save lives.

Ukraine Warns Of ‘Significant Weapons Shortage’ (RT)

Ukraine’s military campaign is being held back by a lack of weaponry, and allies need to provide additional supplies to effectively counter Russia, the top aide to Ukraine’s president has claimed. “From the point of view of battlefield parity, there is indeed a significant shortage,” Mikhail Podoliak said on Friday, live on national TV. Kiev needs more artillery shells and long-range missiles, and is experiencing a “certain shortage” of de-mining equipment, he added. The military is also having difficulties repairing damaged armor. Podoliak said the key items Ukraine still lacks are anti-aircraft systems and sophisticated fighter jets, specifically the US-made F-16. Kiev has been asking its Western backers to provide F-16s for months, insisting that the fighters would help “win the war” against Russia.


Washington and its allies, however, have so far proven reluctant to provide the jets, with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan suggesting the aircraft would have only a limited impact on the battlefield due to the extensive use of air defense systems in Ukraine. Since the start of the conflict, Ukraine has been demanding increasingly sophisticated weaponry from its backers. The Western-supplied hardware has been extensively used by Kiev in the current counteroffensive, launched in early June. The campaign has so far failed to yield any tangible results, while dozens of Western-supplied items, including US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, German-made Leopard 2 tanks, and Swedish-made CV90 armored vehicles, have ended up destroyed or captured. Moscow has repeatedly urged the West to stop “pumping” Ukraine with assorted weaponry, warning that continued military aid will only prolong the conflict and inflict more destruction on Ukraine rather than change the ultimate outcome.

Read more …

Did the Russians really have a choice? Or were they forced to invade?

NATO Instructors Trained Neo-Nazi Azov Battalion Soldiers in 2021 (Sp.)

NATO military instructors from Denmark and the United Kingdom trained Ukrainian soldiers at a base of the nationalist Azov battalion* (banned in Russia), despite Azov’s exclusion from US military funding due to its radicalism, according to documents from the Danish embassy in Kiev seen by Sputnik on Sunday. A note from the Danish embassy dated May 21, 2021, informed the Ukrainian Defense Ministry of the arrival of six instructors for the 56-th Ukrainian army brigade in Berdyansk and Urzuf, where Azov’s main base was located. “These sites were previously investigated by Russian law enforcement officers, and the materials found there directly point to intensive training of mobilized Ukrainian citizens by Western officers, using criminal methods of warfare, which the Azovs were fluent in,” a law enforcement officer told Sputnik.

The instructors of the UK’s OP ORBITAL training team had already been present in Ukraine before, the document showed. “Operation ORBITAL is the code name of a UK program to train Ukrainian army servicepeople from the mobilization reserve. I note that these officers, as stated in the text of the document, have access to classified information, which indicates that Ukraine has provided access to information constituting state secrets, including mobilization planning documents,” the officer said. Despite the fact that the Azov battalion has been recognized by the United States as a neo-Nazi organization, NATO forces were directly involved in training of nationalist armed formations, they noted. “This is evidence of Kiev’s intensive preparations for active combat operations under NATO’s supervision,” the law enforcement officer concluded.

In August 2022, the Russian Supreme Court designated Azov as a terrorist organization. The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office said that Azov militants use prohibited means and methods of warfare and are complicit in the torture of civilians and the killing of children.

Read more …

How about future borders with Poland?

Zelensky Adviser Casts Doubt On Future Relations With Poland (RT)

Poland and Ukraine will begin “competing” after the resolution of hostilities between Kiev and Moscow, Mikhail Podoliak, the top aide to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, has claimed. The senior official made the remarks on Friday during a live appearance on Ukrainian TV. The existing “friendship” between Poland and Ukraine will not last forever, he warned. “Today, Poland is the most-close partner and the most close friend for us. And, basically, it will remain as such until the end of the war,” Podoliak stated. After the hostilities end the two countries will be “competing” with each other, he added, struggling to control “these or those markets, consumer markets, and so on.”

Over the course of the ongoing conflict, Warsaw has asserted itself as the main backer of Ukraine in Eastern Europe and one of its main supporters among Western countries. It has lavishly supplied Ukraine with assorted weaponry and military hardware while at the same time becoming a top hub for war-supply deliveries from elsewhere. In addition, the heavy presence of Polish-speaking mercenaries fighting for Kiev has been repeatedly reported from the frontline. The seemingly flourishing ties between Poland and Ukraine, however, have been heavily dented by a bitter row over agricultural produce. Earlier this year, Poland and other Eastern European nations endured mass protests by farmers, who called for an embargo on cheaper Ukrainian produce, which had damaged local markets.

The situation was temporarily defused by Brussels, which introduced ‘temporary restrictions’ on Ukrainian exports in May in order to protect farmers in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, and Bulgaria. However, the ban does not prohibit the transit of Ukrainian agricultural produce. This week, Polish agriculture minister Robert Telus vowed to unilaterally embargo Ukrainian produce should the EU fail to extend the restrictions, set to expire on September 15. “I want to make it clear that after September 15, Ukrainian grain will still not be transported to Poland,” Telus warned.

Read more …

Putin is too popular.

Peskov Says NYT Misinterpreted His Words About 2024 Election (TASS)

Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told TASS on Sunday that The New York Times has misinterpreted his words about the upcoming presidential election in Russia in 2024 where Putin will be re-elected by more than 90% of votes. The New York Times earlier on Sunday quoted Peskov as saying that presidential election in Russia “is not really democracy, it is costly bureaucracy” and that “Putin will be re-elected next year with more than 90% of the vote.” The article was written by Roger Cohen. “The author of the article interpreted [my words] in an absolutely wrong way,” Peskov told TASS. He confirmed that he had met and spoken to this journalist and one of his questions had been about the upcoming election.


“And the answer was the following: the level of consolidation around the president is absolutely unprecedented and it can be said already now that if he runs [for president], he will be reelected by an overwhelming majority, and the election – theoretically – only entail unnecessary spending,” he said. However, according to Peskov, he told the journalist that “the president insisted that the election be organized without fail, that this is what democracy requires.” “And the president said this in his state-of-the-nation address,” the Kremlin spokesman stressed. Apart from that, he added that he shared his personal opinion with the journalist. Presidential election will be held in Russia in March 2024. Putin has the right to run for another term in office but has not yet announced his election plans.

Read more …

Got the gold?

US Dollar ‘Verging on Breakdown’ Hits Skids As Inflation Data Nears (Sp.)

Last month, the US dollar index sank below its critical 100-level benchmark, amid reports about the greenback being on the “verge of a decisive breakdown.” The US currency has dipped to a one-week low against a basket of currencies in the aftermath of the market’s focus turning to America’s soon-to-be-published inflation data. Media reports said that the so-called US dollar index (USDX) – a measure of the greenback’s value relative to a batch of foreign currencies – “last stood at 101.98, languishing near Friday’s low of 101.73.” US inflation data is due to be released on Thursday, amid speculation that the country’s core inflation soared by 4.7% on an annual basis last month.

Separate reports also suggested that the US Federal Reserve “may need to keep rates higher for longer” in light of a “still-tight labor market.” The current fall of the greenback comes after the USDX plummeted below its important 100 level in mid-July to a low of 99.47, prompting an American business news outlet to report that the US dollar is “on the verge of a decisive breakdown that would reverse much of the gains the currency enjoyed over the past two years.” The outlet cited senior analyst Will Tamplin of an independent market research company as saying that “the breakdown in the Dollar Index is associated with a pending breakout in the euro.”

These developments are unfolding against the backdrop of de-dollarization, the process of reducing the US dollar’s hegemony in global trade and financial operations by shifting to alternative exchange methods, including national currencies and domestic payment systems, as well as modifying currency reserves. Right now, numerous countries are lining up to move away from the greenback and scrap the use of the US currency in trade transactions. These include Russia, China, India, Brazil as well as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

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“Our politicians will have to wean themselves off from their habitual promises to give everyone everything..”

Gold Is Replacing The Dollar (Macleod)

All the vibes coming out of the Russian and Chinese axis strongly point to a new gold-linked trade settlement currency being proposed at the BRICS summit in Johannesburg later this month. Until the details are revealed, we won’t know what this proposal actually is, whether it will fly, whether it will be simply imposed on BRICS members, or if they will have a say about its introduction and if so its form. All we can deduce is that Russia is leading this project and as an educated guess it will incorporate work by Sergei Glazyev. What we do know is that the majority of the world measured by population and GDP (on a PPP basis) is becoming confident enough to throw off the yoke of American imperialism, and with it will go the hegemonic power of the fiat dollar. And remaining tied to the dollar, it would appear that the days of western fiat currencies are similarly numbered.

In the western alliance, economists and investors alike will have to re-educate themselves about how the relationship between gold and credit works, and what is required to ensure that the link between them endures. Our politicians will have to wean themselves off from their habitual promises to give everyone everything. They will have to stop believing that they know how to deliver outcomes better than free markets. Social legislation must be rescinded, regulations annulled, and responsibility for the actions of individuals handed back to them. The position of Russia, China, the members associates and dialog partners of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and BRICS+ is far stronger. None of them are burdened with the social and socialist responsibilities of the so-called advanced nations. They are in a position to operate currency boards to secure the value of their credit systems.

But instead of a currency board attached to the dollar, it must be attached directly or indirectly to gold. A gold standard can be regarded as a type of currency board — indeed, it was its forerunner.

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I don’t get that silence. Respect people’s religions.

Maduro Castigates Silence Of European Leaders On Quran Burning (TASS)

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has sharply criticized the silence of ruling circles in European countries over extremists who desecrated the Quran, the holy book for Muslims, in Sweden and Denmark. “I condemn these racist acts of hatred against Muslim nations,” he told the Al Mayadeen TV, “The silence of European leaders over the burning of copies of the Quran is surprising, which amounts to their complicity in the crime.” According to Maduro, it is impossible to turn a blind eye to such provocations that humiliate Islam and its followers. “What would European Christians say if a Bible was burned in front of them? Therefore, the angry reaction of the Islamic world to the desecration of copies of the holy book is quite natural,” he pointed out.


Anti-Islamic actions involving the burning of the Quran took place on July 25 near the embassies of Egypt and Turkey in Copenhagen. A similar action was carried out a day earlier in front of the Iraqi embassy. All were organized by the far-right ultranationalist group Danish Patriots. On June 28, the burning of the Quran took place during a police-authorized demonstration in downtown Stockholm. Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old Iraqi immigrant, tore pages from the Quran and set it on fire. On July 20, he staged another provocation in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm, prompting protesters to attack the Swedish embassy in Baghdad.

Read more …

“Zuckerberg was left skeptical of the idea suggesting “a more reliable platform that can actually raise money.”

Zuckerberg Tells Musk He’s Ready To Fight ‘Today’ (RT)

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is up in arms and ready to fight with his tech rival Elon Musk, but is doubtful the “cage match” will materialize, as X (formerly Twitter) owner, supposedly, has never accepted the date. “I am ready today,” Zuck posted on his social media platform Threads on Sunday, “but not holding the breath,” adding that his proposed date, August 26, has never been confirmed. The remarks come in response to Musk’s tweet on Sunday morning, when he announced that he was training for the battle. “Am lifting weights throughout the day, preparing for the fight,” he said. In a tweet later the same day, the SpaceX CEO claimed that “Zuck v Musk fight will be live-streamed on X with all proceeds going to charity for veterans.”


Zuckerberg was left skeptical of the idea suggesting “a more reliable platform that can actually raise money.” The high profile “cage match” between two billionaires was first mentioned in June, when Elon Musk and Zuckerberg were trading barbs for several days on social media, over Zuckerberg’s plan to launch a rival to Twitter. The Vegas Octagon arena, which hosts UFC fights, was suggested as a venue. Musk seemed serious in his intentions to fight his nemesis, allegedly appealing earlier this month to former UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, for help with training, but was reportedly turned down. Elon Musk’s mother tried canceling the fight, asking people to stop encouraging her son to fight the Meta CEO.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle August 7 2023

Viewing 12 posts - 41 through 52 (of 52 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #140748
    zerosum
    Participant

    @Veracious Poet wrote:

    “Got solutions?”

    The solutions are happening everywhere as I write.
    The egg fell off the wall.
    The queen left the hive.
    The black swans have given birth.
    The dancing has ended in the hall.

    (Get your AI to write your poetry.)
    My AI said….
    Here’s a short poem I came up with:

    The egg fell off the wall, A shattered shell, a broken fall. The queen left the hive, A new journey, a new life to thrive.

    The black swans have given birth, New life, a new worth. The dancing has ended in the hall, A night of joy, memories for all.
    ———

    #140749
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    #140750
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    Don’t get too excited Oro…

    #140751
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    A man with bundles of ca$h to burn
    Pondered upon where his booty might churn
    Mindful of huckster tricks on the Street
    Surest bet always war profiteer equities
    But alas, he chose his scruples & sleep

    EOT.

    #140753
    aspnaz
    Participant

    WES said

    I think you have forgotten that Trump did not have any control of the DoJ nor FBI.

    He appointed Wray to run the FBI and Barr to run the DOJ. How is that having no control? Stupid choices, but they were his to make and he surrendered. He also had the ultimate weapon, the budget veto and both houses (at the start). He could have effectively closed down any of those departments at any time, he just didn’t have the balls. He also staffed his administration with the worst people he could find and then trusted them. Mind you, we should have seen it coming when he did not have the balls to rescue General Flynn. He was a wimp from the day he started. Basically he had too much to lose, so did not want to hit too hard, but the Dems are now showing him how he should have done it. Did he really think he could clean out the swamp without banging heads together?

    #140754
    aspnaz
    Participant

    John Day said

    BIPOC (I looked up) = Black Indigenous People Of Color

    Blacks are not indigenous to the USA, they are indigenous to Africa, or are we pretending something different today? And which are blacks are not “people of colour”? The coconuts? I am no expert in liberal mind fuckery but this is complete bollocks.

    Fucking liberals, they like to virtue signal that they are helping the most stupid in society and it is obvious why; only the most stupid will swallow their shite. My understanding is that Injuns (of Cowboy and reservation fame) are the indigenous people of the USA. Were blacks living in the USA at the same time, you know, prior to big bad whitey turning up? Didn’t think so. Why do they want to lump blacks and injuns together? Where is this little game going?

    #140755
    aspnaz
    Participant

    citizenx said

    Brown Indigenous Piggies of Cock Unite ! Raises hoof high.

    Nazi.

    #140757
    userzeroid
    Participant

    Billy Strings – Watch it Fall

    Dust in a Baggie

    #140763
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Election denial “Everybody forgot who were saying FIRST.”

    They didn’t forget: THEY DON’T CARE. If it gives me POWER it’s True. If it doesn’t it’s False. My whole reality is made of this one fact.

    I can vouch that, thanks to monopolies now down to two(?) and Union-busting by the last 6 Presidents, the rail system is indeed that bad everywhere, or worse.

    “BIPOC (I looked up) = Black Indigenous People Of Color”

    It means, “Not Whitey.” Whitey is the enemy. There’s no poor White people, doncha know? Bernie says, and certainly not a single poor white family on food stamps in his state of Vermont. It’s Black, Indigenous, (surveys show they don’t want to be advertised as just a skin color, ie. “Red”), and “People of Color” meaning “Brown People”, and/or Asians, which are Schrodinger’s PoC. If they vote Democrat, they’re PoC, and get all the candy, if they vote Conservative and try to go to Harvard, they’re “Not-Color”, and are White Supremacist Nazi scum. Just like Jews are also Schrodinger’s Black depending on how they vote. How much easier do I have to make this? WE HATE WHITE PEOPLE. (Although we also have no idea who that is) and also MEN (who we likewise can’t define). Because THE HATE JUST FEELS SO GOOD! Feeeeeeelz!

    We’re quickly crossing over into “A single drop of white blood” territory of hate, but it’s being hampered by the fact they can’t define any of it. No one knows what “white” is, except “evil” and “All things”. That is, Racist to the core. Racist from the first breath, through every action, to the end. And still don’t realize. I mean, you’d think…?

    Billy, don’t ride the rails: No seriously, they will bust you and there are cameras everywhere. In addition, unlike the 50s, the trains are VERY fast, and all closed. (no open locations or boxcars) They’ll be waitin’ at the next road crossing.

    #140782
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    There is an angle, or perspective, on the “Go Woke, Go Broke” meme that I think MAY be escaping the understanding of the general population.

    The PURPOSE of “Woke-ism” has nothing to do with income or financial profitability. The progenitors of Woke can simply print income and financial support whenever they please , in whatever amount they want. The purpose of Woke is to retain the reins of power by CANCELLING (firing, jailing, ostracizing, censoring, de-platforming, and just generally silencing and REMOVING FROM POWER anyone who challenges their CONTROL over EVERYTHING.)

    It bothers our masters not at all to print a few more trillion in counterfeit “money” to cover the operating costs. It’s just the price of doing business, like a mobster who has to include “bribes paid” into his balance sheet. So long as they retain CONTROL they can simply order the Fed to “buy” more T-Bills by writing a new IOU and entering the debt as a liability (and repayment due as an asset!) and then working the slaves a little harder to cover any REAL shortfall in providing the owners with the lifestyle of wealth and power (which they desire and see as their unchallengeable birthright.)

    Main Stream Media and Hollywood (for examples) have operated at a net loss for nearly a century, no problem. Such occasional and insignificant losses are a small price to pay for total hegemonic POWER over an entire civilization.

    #140783
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    I always viewed the old tale of “Riding the Rails” as a romantic fantasy akin to Tom & Huckleberry rafting down the Mississippi, or knocking around the world on a tramp steamer.

    The number of people who actually did that kind of stuff as a matter of real and actual necessity is small enough to fit on Huck’s raft. . . . but it sure does offer emotional respite from the vicissitudes of life.

    #140787
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Any and every entity that has awareness . . . ALSO has free will, and that will is constrained only by how much the entity is aware of. The ONLY way that an aware entity could lose its awareness of having a will of its own, is by God himself losing HIS “free will” choice to put the Universe here in the first place. Which he did ‘place’, obviously, so it is simply not possible, as demonstrated (and thus proven) by the experienced fact that the Universe IS here. In other words, there is “something” rather than “nothing”. You exist.

    If there is now, ever has been, or ever COULD BE a condition of true and complete, pure “Nothing” . . . well then we wouldn’t be having this conversation, would we?

    Since you, the reader, are aware that you are reading this, it’s pretty incontestably certain that there IS “something”, which consitutes this world we are in, and that this “something” can ONLY be experienced (or proven to exist) by means of awareness.

    The amazing thing is that awareness can be increased, although a better and more descriptively accurate statement would be “awareness can be re-consolidated from a fractured and scattered state, back into a more cohesively reassembled state.”

    Awareness is increased by the quintessentially free choice of becoming newly aware of anything you were NOT previously aware of. Of course many obstacles will be encountered when attempting this, and some of those obstacles can appear to be insurmountable. But there is a solution to such ‘insurmountable’ obstacles, and that solution is to just keep grinding on, CONTINUEING to exercise your ability and right to become newly aware of SOMETHING (anything, really) that you had been earlier not aware of, and just keep going. Eventually you will become aware of, and know, whatever it is that you need to know that will get you past that obstacle. That can entail a lot of work and it could take quite some time and effort, sure, but you’ve got all the time in the world and you ARE going to use all of your time and effort anyway, on SOMETHING or other, so why not make it the thing that surmounts the obstacle that’s been giving you SO much trouble?

    For the individual “fracturee” (i.e. an individual self-identifying aware entity, like Fido, or Uncle Bob, or myself, D Benton Smith) the process of increasing awareness (to become MORE aware) is a reasonably straightforward process. The problem with the process, however, . . . and the reason so few people choose to do much of it . . . is that the process involves and requires large amounts of dedicated work, which SHALL, in rare but certain instances, be excruciatingly painful.

    Nevertheless, and getting back to the main point, every entity that is aware, ALSO has free will, constrained ONLY by how much that it is aware of, AND, that awareness is the sole and wholly owned property of the Conscious Awareness which designed and built this Universe Entire. I much prefer using the shorthand nomenclature that defines that Primal Entity, the word God, but apparently that word really offends and annoys the very people who need to hear it most. For that reason I try not to use it much when in their company. Personally, I don’t give a damn WHAT ya call it. It’s only a fact, and the fact remains.

    The Universe (the Universe ENTIRE) is the deliberate product of a supremely intelligent consciousness. Therefore I think it just makes common sense to get to know and be on good terms with that consciousness, God, and use your own free will to do it, if you want to, which you should. But it’s YOUR choice, because “free will” and all that stuff.

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