René Magritte The human condition 1935
© Sebastien SALOM-GOMIS/AFP
Stolen election
This lady delivered a letter to Trump on Christmas Eve 2020 telling him who stole the election,
How they stole it, and where they stole it. pic.twitter.com/c5Bs1gdmMh— Not A Number (@myhiddenvalue) June 29, 2024
Bannon
This ABC interview is heavy metal as all hell. Bannon controls the frame from start to finish. Jonathan Karl is left squeaking in the pit bull's jaws.
Every time Karl comes with some limp "gotcha" question or a schoolmarm accusation, Bannon cuts him off and chews on that lil'… pic.twitter.com/UCNcGDSh2D
— Joe Allen (@JOEBOTxyz) June 30, 2024
Marc Elias has the answer: Blame SCOTUS!
The Supreme Court chooses the cases it hears:
They chose a case to make it harder to prosecute Jan. 6 insurrectionists.
They chose a case to delay Trump's trial.
They chose a case to undermine expertise in government.
They didn't choose any cases to protect democracy. pic.twitter.com/glxRQD1Zar
— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) June 29, 2024
Vivek
Reviving the economy isn’t hard. Dismantle the regulatory state – which the Supreme Court just made easier. Get our oil & gas out of the ground, sell it, and buy down the debt. This isn’t rocket science. pic.twitter.com/NkaRrqSV2a
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) June 29, 2024
Galloway
https://twitter.com/i/status/1807113580803743754
Democracy
I never grow tired of this video.
pic.twitter.com/DZBfE5BHcA— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) June 30, 2024
“..a 28 year old kid may soon be a prime minister of the 2nd largest European economy…”
Far right? Not strong enough. In Holland, someone’s come up with “radical right”.
• Le Pen’s Conservative National Rally Crushes Macron, Socialists (ZH)
As expected, Le Pen’s conservative (or in the world’s of the liberal media, “Far Right”) National Rally (RN) party won the first round of France’s parliamentary election on Sunday, exit polls showed, but the final result will depend on several days of horsetrading before next week’s run-off. The RN was seen winning around 34% of the vote, exit polls from Ipsos, Ifop, OpinionWay and Elabe showed. That was ahead of both far-left and centrist rivals, including President Emmanuel Macron’s Together alliance, whose bloc was seen winning a paltry 20.5%-23%, a far cry from his crushing victory several years ago. The New Popular Front (NFP), a hastily assembled left-wing coalition, was projected to win around 29% of the vote, the exit polls showed. The exit polls were in line with opinion polls ahead of the election, but provided little clarity on whether the anti-immigrant, eurosceptic RN will be able to form a government to “cohabit” with the pro-EU Macron after next Sunday’s run-off.
The RN’s chances of winning power next week will depend on the political dealmaking made by its rivals over the coming days. In the past, centre-right and centre-left parties have teamed up to keep the RN from power, but that dynamic, known as the “republican front,” is less certain than ever. If no candidate reaches 50% in the first round, the top two contenders automatically qualify for the second round, as well as all those with 12.5% of registered voters. In the run-off, whoever wins the most votes take the constituency. According to Reuters, the high turnout on Sunday suggests France is heading for a record number of three-way run-offs. These generally benefit the RN much more than two-way contests, experts say. Sure enough, the horsetrading began almost immediately on Sunday night. In a written statement to the press, Macron called on voters to rally behind candidates who are “clearly republican and democratic”, which, based on his recent declarations, would exclude candidates from the RN and from the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party.
The problem, of course, is that Macron’s party was crushed in the recent European parliamentary elections precisely because the people have had enough with “clearly republican and democratic” puppets of the World Economic Forum and want actual change. LFI leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said the second-placed NFP alliance will withdraw all its candidates who came third in the first round.”Our guideline is simple and clear: not a single more vote for the National Rally,” he said. It is, however, unlikely that many will care what the French socialists want: after all, last week the French socialist leftist alliance said it would raise the top marginal income tax rate to 90% if it were to take over the government. Meanwhile, Jordan Bardella, the 28-year-old RN party president, said he was ready to be prime minister – if his party wins an absolute majority. That’s right, a 28 year old kid may soon be a prime minister of the 2nd largest European economy.
He has ruled out trying to form a minority government and neither Macron nor the NFP will form an alliance with him. “I will be a “cohabitation” Prime Minister, respectful of the constitution and of the office of President of the Republic, but uncompromising about the policies we will implement,” he said. While the RN is seen winning the most seats in the National Assembly, only one of the pollsters – Elabe – had the party winning an absolute majority of 289 seats in the run-off. Experts say that seat projections after first-round votes can be highly inaccurate, and especially so in this election. Voter participation was high compared with previous parliamentary elections, illustrating the political fervour Macron aroused with his stunning decision to call a parliamentary vote after the RN trounced his party in European Parliament elections earlier this month.
His decision plunged France into political uncertainty, sent shockwaves around Europe and prompted a sell-off of French assets on financial markets. A longtime pariah, the RN is now closer to power than it has ever been. Le Pen has sought to clean up the image of a party known for racism and antisemitism, a tactic that has worked amid voter anger at Macron, the high cost of living and growing concerns over immigration. At 1500 GMT, turnout was nearly 60%, compared with 39.42% two years ago – the highest comparable turnout figures since the 1986 legislative vote, Ipsos France’s research director Mathieu Gallard said. In short, the people have had enough and they finally want to be heard.
More right wing. Orban chairs the EU as per today, July 1.
• Orban Announces New EU Parliament Alliance (RT)
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has announced the creation of a new EU Parliament alliance, in cooperation with right-wing parties from Austria and the Czech Republic. The announcement comes a day before Budapest takes on the rotating six-month EU presidency. The new group, presented as “Patriots for Europe” comprises Fidesz, the party led by Orban; the Czech Republic’s largest opposition bloc, ANO, chaired by the country’s former prime minister, Andrej Babis; and the Austrian Freedom Party (FPO), headed by Herbert Kickl. “Today we are creating a political formation that I believe will very quickly become the largest faction of the European right-wing,” Orban said during a press briefing which was also attended by Babis and Kickl. The Hungarian leader expressed hope that the alliance would dominate the right of the EU’s political spectrum.
The bloc’s policies must be altered in accordance with the results of the latest European Parliament elections, according to the Hungarian leader, who stressed that the current parliamentary groups will inevitably split. The results of the election carried out on June 9 revealed that citizens across the 27-nation bloc had mostly shifted away from the left, although the performance of the right-wing and conservative parties varied from country to country. The ruling coalitions in Germany, France and Italy were effectively trounced by the right. Orban’s Fidesz won 11 seats in the EU parliament, while FPO and ANO have six and seven seats respectively, with all three parties becoming strongest in their countries’ elections. According to the current rules, 23 members are needed to form a political group in the European Parliament, and at least one-quarter of the member states must be represented within the alliance.
In a statement to the media, the leaders of the three parties expressed hope that the new group would be joined by many other European parties in the coming days. Hungary is set to take over the presidency of the Council of the European Union on July 1 and will remain in charge until the end of the year. During the period, Hungarian diplomats will chair meetings in Brussels and shape the EU’s political agenda. Orban has faced sharp criticism in the EU for pursuing policies that run counter to those of Brussels. Since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Budapest has refused to provide weapons to Kiev, calling for a diplomatic solution instead, and has maintained economic ties with Russia. The prime minister had previously said that the results of the election had won time for the bloc and “slowed the train hurtling towards war.”
“Russia is a huge country, America is too. Of course, there will be communication and trade again someday. There always has been and there always will be after the war.”
• Russia Will Recover, ‘Not Disappear’ Due to Sanctions – Jim Rogers (Sp.)
Anti-Russia sanctions imposed by the West will not make Russia’s economy disappear, the country will recover, renowned US investor Jim Rogers told Sputnik. “Russia is not going to disappear. There have been sanctions against Russia in history, there will be again. There have been sanctions against everybody in history. Russia will recover,” Rogers said. The investor noted that Russia is experiencing a record number of sanctions, which would hurt any country. Rogers said that many people in such circumstances would turn to the black market and go around the sanctions, while many others would abide by them, and Russia will have to deal with the reality of sanctions. “If any country has a lot of sanctions against it, they would hurt the country for a while. So, Russia is going to have to deal with the fact that there are many sanctions against it,” Rogers said.
The investor emphasized that Russia has a lot of oil and agricultural products, which are needed around the world, and has so far done a good job of working around the sanctions. “Russia is finding a way to get around the sanctions. But this always happens whenever somebody imposes sanctions. Many people try to find a way to get around the sanctions and they do,” Rogers said. Once the conflict in Ukraine is over, Russia will start opening up again and people will open up to Russia again, Rogers added. The countries of the collective West stepped up sanctions pressure on Russia after the start of the special military operation in Ukraine in 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the collective West’s long-term strategy of containing Russia was instead hurting the global economy.
Rogers is also optimistic that Russian-US relations will improve, and begin communicating and trading as both are huge countries with consequential economies, renowned US investor Jim Rogers told Sputnik. When asked whether he thinks that relations between Russia and the United States will improve one day, Rogers stated, “Of course, they will someday.” “I can remember when Americans wouldn’t even talk to Russians. And the Russians wouldn’t talk to Americans. That will change again,” he said. “Russia is a huge country, America is too. Of course, there will be communication and trade again someday. There always has been and there always will be after the war.”
“Whenever people have economic problems they blame somebody and that always leads to change.”
• EU, Euro Will Break Up Someday – Jim Rogers (Sp.)
The ongoing conflict in Ukraine is slowing down the European countries’ economies and some will not be as prosperous as they used to be, renowned US investor Jim Rogers told Sputnik. “It [the Ukraine conflict] causes economies to slow down and some countries will not be as prosperous as they have been,” Rogers said. “Whenever people have economic problems they blame somebody and that always leads to change.” Rogers said the issues facing the global economy will affect not only Europe but also other parts of the world in the next couple of years. “There are many countries in Europe that will try to get around the European problems. So there may be more countries that will leave the European Union,” Rogers said. The investor noted that the United Kingdom left the European Union despite some people speculating such a move would destroy its economy, but added he believes other politicians will start “doing the same thing.”
Rogers expressed doubt that the European Union would survive given that few blocs have lasted for very long. “Most of them have broken up. I’m afraid the Euro will break up someday,” Rogers said. In early June, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the Eurozone economy was gradually recovering from the coronavirus pandemic measures, the cut in gas supplies from Russia and the consequences of the Ukraine conflict, but the bloc’s aging population and sluggish productivity present risks to growth in the medium term. The IMF warned that intensifying geopolitical tensions, trade disputes and distortive industrial policy could further complicate economic prospects and the policy making environment for a region highly open to trade. The collective West stepped up sanctions pressure on Russia after the start of the special military operation in Ukraine in 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the West’s long-term strategy of containing Russia hurts the global economy.
“..discussions were being held with political advisers on “arcane rules” that may allow Biden to be forced off the 2024 ballot..”
• Major Democratic Donors Weighing Biden’s Future – NYT (RT)
US Democratic Party donors are looking at ways Joe Biden can be removed from the presidential race against his will, and replaced with a stronger candidate, The New York Times reported on Sunday, citing sources familiar with the efforts. The discussions follow Biden’s poor performance in Thursday’s debate with Republican challenger Donald Trump. A flash poll conducted by CNN revealed that 67% of registered voters who watched the televised clash in Atlanta, Georgia, felt that Trump had won. People close to the situation told the New York Times that discussions were being held with political advisers on “arcane rules” that may allow Biden to be forced off the 2024 ballot before the Democratic National Convention, scheduled for August .
One Silicon Valley donor who had planned to host a fundraiser featuring Biden later this summer has reportedly called off the event, and a major California sponsor left a debate watch party and emailed a friend with the subject line “Utter disaster,” according to a copy of the email obtained by the NYT. Other wealthy Democrats have reportedly expressed hope that Biden will “have an epiphany and decide to exit on his own.” The idea of reaching out to first lady Jill Biden is also being considered, the sources said. NBC News earlier quoted sources as saying that the only person who can impact Biden’s decision is his wife. The couple will reportedly join their children and grandchildren on Sunday at Camp David, where Biden expected to “decide whether to move forward or to end his campaign early.”
He’s done. The GOP should hope he stays on.
• Biden Campaign’s Future Hinges On His Wife – NBC (RT)
US President Joe Biden is expected to discuss the future of his re-election campaign with his family following a disastrous debate with Republican challenger Donald Trump, NBC News reported on Saturday. The network cited sources as saying the only opinion that can influence Biden’s decision will be that of his wife, Jill. Thursday’s televised face-off highlighted concerns about the 81-year-old president’s fitness for office, with Biden’s performance described in the media as “incoherent,” “stumbling” and “unclear”. Senior Democrats and their donors are now actively pushing for his withdrawal from the race, according to multiple reports.
NBC cited five people familiar with the matter as saying Joe and Jill Biden would join their children and grandchildren at Camp David on Sunday as part of a pre-planned trip. The network said there is “an understanding among top Democrats that Biden should be given space to determine next steps” and that “only the president, in consultation with his family, can decide whether to move forward or to end his campaign early”. One source told the outlet that only two people have a genuine say on the matter – the president and his wife. “Anyone who doesn’t understand how deeply personal and familial this decision will be isn’t knowledgeable about the situation,” he added.
The view was echoed by another NBC source, saying: “The only person who has ultimate influence with him is the first lady. If she decides there should be a change of course, there will be a change of course”. Despite the debate being widely seen as a humiliation for Biden, his team has publicly insisted that he has no plans to drop out of the race. The president has acknowledged his poor performance against Trump, saying at a rally on Friday: “I don’t debate as well as I used to,” but “know how to tell the truth… I know right from wrong. And I know how to do this job, I know how to get things done. And I know what millions of Americans know: When you get knocked down, you get back up.”
She found a way to make the news…
• Nikki Haley Urges Republicans To Prepare For Biden’s Replacement (RT)
The US Democratic Party is going to replace Joe Biden with a younger presidential candidate after his failure in the debate, and the Republicans must be ready for this, Nikki Haley, who lost to Donald Trump in the race for the GOP nomination, has said. The 81-year-old president’s display during his televised face-off with Trump in Atlanta on Thursday was “shocking,” Haley said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Saturday. “What we saw was that Trump was strong, but I don’t even think that mattered because Biden was so amazingly unfit. The way he lost his train of thought, the way he couldn’t grasp topics of what he needed to talk about,” she said.
The US president’s performance projected weakness and “our enemies just saw that they have between now and [the inauguration day on] January 20 to do whatever it is they want to do,” the former US envoy to the UN and ex-governor of South Carolina added. Since the debate, reports have emerged that some Democratic donors are insisting that Biden be dropped as the party’s nominee for the November 5 election, and Haley expressed her belief that their demands will be met. The Democrats “are going to be smart about it: they’re going to bring somebody younger, they’re going to bring somebody vibrant, they’re going to bring somebody tested,” the Republican politician predicted. “This is a time for Republicans to prepare and get ready for what’s to come because there is no way that there will be a surviving Democratic Party if they allow Joe Biden to continue to be the candidate,” she said.
Haley reiterated her call for cognitive testing of all federal candidates, which she made as she competed with 78-year-old Trump in the primaries earlier this year. Washington is “full of older people” and voters should be able to see “who is up to the challenge and who is not,” Haley argued. If the Democrats “continue down this path and they have Biden as their nominee, they are committing to hurting America,” the Republican politician stressed. The president should be replaced on the rival party’s ticket “for the good of the country,” she added. On Friday, Axios published the results of a poll by Morning Consult, which suggested that 60% of voters believe that Biden should “definitely” or “probably” be replaced as the Democratic presidential nominee. When asked by journalists after the debate if the president was planning to step aside, the Biden campaign said “of course not.”
“We’re needed to protect the world because our own safety is at stake..”
• Biden Beat Trump In The Spinach Debate (Helmer)
If you think that Popeye beat Bluto because he ate spinach, this US presidential cartoon, I mean debate, was for you. That President Joseph Biden, handicapped as he was by Parkinson’s Disease and Lewy body dementia, won the 120-minute television fight with Donald Trump seems so obvious to Russians, they express surprise at the near-unanimity in the US that the opposite was the outcome. While the Russian state propaganda organs are repeating the “Joe Must Go” line — the US-funded Russian opposition media also — military and intelligence analysts in Moscow are concluding that Biden and Trump proved they are equally dangerous for Russia, but that Trump is now the candidate for much bigger wars in the Middle East and against China. Replacing Biden, Russian sources believe, is now an operation of the Zionist and Taiwan lobbies in Washington.
“The Democratic party elites started to think of ways to get Biden out of the way,” according to one Moscow source. “so sending him into a long debate, so early in the campaign, was exactly meant to achieve this – he will look bad but there is enough time to replace him. Republicans have always been this racist but Trump says it more plainly. Biden has always been a wolf in sheep’s clothing but he can no longer find new words to keep up the charade. What is there to see? America has never been weaker. The important thing to see here [Moscow] is the reluctance to drive American imperial power off the cliff.” “Despite Biden’s obvious handicap, I thought he won,” adds a second source. “Biden telling Trump ‘you have the morals of an alley cat’, won it as far as I’m concerned. He also called Trump out on the racism and fascism, something Trump had no answer for except to double down. Didn’t anyone notice Trump’s compulsive repetitiveness? He repeated the same lies and aspersions over and over again. He’s more lucid than Biden, but not by much. He’s an ageing, narcissistic, racist crook.”
The Russian sources also believe that support for Trump in Moscow is an oligarch operation with a similar fondness for Israel. That has been the line of Roman Abramovich since his abortive attempts to save himself from sanctions and defeat the Russian Army failed at the beginning of the Special Military Operation in March and April 2022. “I believe,” said one source, “ ‘Joe must go’ because he expressed some trepidation regarding Israel. He was set up — the guns were loaded and cocked before the debate even started.” There were nineteen references in all to Russia in the debate; seventeen to President Vladimir Putin. Leaving aside mentions by the CNN moderators of the debate, Trump referred to Russia fourteen times; Biden none. Trump named Putin seven times, Biden the same number. The Ukraine was named twenty-two times, Vladimir Zelensky twice. NATO was named thirteen times.
This count reveals that the war in Europe was significantly more important to both candidates than any other foreign policy issue. Compared to the war in the Ukraine, there were eighteen mentions of Israel; thirteen of Hamas; fourteen of China; six of Iran; one of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, one of President Xi Jinping. North Korean President Kim Jong-Un got three. Both Biden and Trump claimed to be tougher and the other weaker in the war against Russia. Said Biden: “we found ourselves in a situation where, if you take a look at what Trump did in Ukraine, he’s – this guy told Ukraine – told Trump, do whatever you want. Do whatever you want. And that’s exactly what Trump did to Putin, encouraged him, do whatever you want. And he went in. And listen to what he said when he went in, he was going to take Kyiv in five days, remember?
Because it’s part of the old Soviet Union. That’s what he wanted to re-establish, Kyiv. And he, in fact, didn’t do it at all. He didn’t – wasn’t able to get it done. And they’ve lost over – they’ve lost thousands and thousands of troops, 500,000 troops…If you want a World War Three, let him follow and win, and let Putin say, do what you want to NATO – just do what you want…I can’t think of a single major leader in the world who wouldn’t trade places with what job I’ve done and what they’ve done because we are a powerful nation…right now, we’re needed. We’re needed to protect the world because our own safety is at stake. And again, you want to have war, just let Putin go ahead and take Kyiv, make sure they move on, see what happens in Poland, Hungary, and other places along that border. Then you have a war.”
That’s more than the aid..
• West Loses $257 Billion on Trade Restrictions With Russia (Sp.)
Western trade restrictions forced Russian companies to focus on markets in the Global South with enormous purchasing power. Importers from unfriendly countries received less Russian goods in the amount of $256.5 billion, while Russia managed to sell these goods to other states and made a profit of almost $31 billion, Sputnik calculated using open data. According to the trade statistics, Russian exports to unfriendly countries were uneven – while some items grew, others shrank. Russia saw an increase in exports compared to the pre-sanctions period, with companies earning an additional $31 billion from trade with friendly countries, data from the Federal Customs Service show.
Western importers were mostly undersupplied with Russian minerals ($107 billion), jewelry ($38 billion) and metals ($21 billion). Russia has repeatedly stressed that it is happy to trade with friendly nations in the wake of Western economic sanctions and warned that these restrictive measures will backfire, spurring inflation and triggering a cost-of-living crisis. In January-February trade between Russia and China grew by 9.3%, with exports from Russia exceeding $20 billion. Earlier, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping set the goal of doubling bilateral trade. The goal was reached in November 2023.
You’re done. Get out of the way..
• Zelensky Outlines Model For Talks With Russia (RT)
Kiev is not ruling out peace talks with Moscow, but they can only be held through intermediaries, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky told the Philadelphia Inquirer on Sunday. He suggested that the format used to broker the 2022 Black Sea grain deal could provide a foundation for negotiations. Ukraine has previously refused to accept Russia’s terms as the basis for talks and has accused Moscow of being incapable of good-faith negotiations. In late 2022, Zelensky issued a decree proclaiming the “impossibility” of talks with Moscow while Russian President Vladimir Putin remains in power. Moscow, meanwhile, has maintained that it is ready to restart negotiations, but only if Kiev renounces claims to former territories that have become part of Russia. In autumn 2022, four former Ukrainian territories – the two breakaway Donbass republics and the regions of Kherson and Zaporozhye – formally joined Russia following a series of referendums.
Ukraine has never recognized the results and continues to lay claim to these regions, as well as Crimea, which joined Russia following a similar referendum in 2014. In his interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, Zelensky claimed that Ukraine “can find a model” for a potential settlement with Russia. He pointed to the deal brokered two years ago by Türkiye and the UN that allowed the establishment of a corridor for agricultural exports from Ukrainian ports. According to Zelensky, Ankara and the UN signed separate agreements with Moscow and Kiev. “It worked,” he said, adding that the grain corridor then existed “long enough.” Moscow and Kiev were close to reaching another grain deal in March, but Ukrainian negotiators abruptly walked away after two months of talks, according to Reuters.
Agreements on “territorial integrity, energy and freedom of navigation” could be struck between Moscow and Kiev in the same format, Zelensky stated. He suggested that other countries could be invited to mediate. “No one should say that it is… just Europe and the US,” he said, adding that nations from Asia, Africa, and South America should participate and help prepare the documents that would be presented to Moscow and Kiev. “So far, there is only this model,” Zelensky added. He stressed, however, that the final agreement must “suit” Kiev and be based on Ukraine’s terms. Zelensky has long sought to promote his own ten-point “peace formula,” most recently during the summit in Switzerland on June 15-16, to which Russia was not invited. Moscow has flatly rejected Zelensky’s terms, insisting that the status of its newly acquired territories is non-negotiable.
Putin further demanded in June that Kiev withdraw all its troops from the areas of the four Russian regions it currently controls. According to Putin, Ukraine must also renounce its plan to join NATO and become a neutral country, as well as limit the size of its army. Despite rejecting Russia’s terms, Kiev has recently signaled its willingness to end the fighting. In June, the deputy head of Vladimir Zelensky’s office, Igor Zhovkva, said Ukraine wanted “peace as soon as possible.” Zelensky said last week that Kiev does not want to “prolong the war” or make it “last for years.”
Confusing numbers.
• Ukraine Aid Hits Record Low of $2Bln Per Month Since February 2022 (Sp.)
Foreign financial assistance to Ukraine has hit record lows since February 2022 after falling to a monthly average of 1.9 billion euros ($2 billion) in the first half of 2024, an analysis of the Ukrainian Finance Ministry’s data conducted by Sputnik showed on Saturday, adding that Kiev received no funds in May. In 2022, Ukraine’s budget received an average of 2.9 billion euros per month from 17 countries and the European Union, with the United States providing the largest disbursement of 11.4 billion euros, the EU 7.6 billion euros and Canada 1.8 billion euros, the data showed. In 2023, 13 countries and the European Union, which became the largest donor (18.1 billion euros), provided Ukraine with a monthly average of 3 billion euros, the data said. The United States took the second place with 10.1 billion euros, followed by Japan with 3.4 billion euros, the data showed.
Austria, Albania, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania and Latvia did not provide any financial assistance to Ukraine last year, the data said. This year, Kiev received financial support from the European Union, Canada, Japan, Norway, Spain, the United Kingdom and the monthly allocations dropped to 1.9 billion euros, the data showed. Earlier in June, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that Ukraine would receive 1.5 billion euros from profits generated by frozen Russian assets in July. Kiev is also set to receive 1.9 billion euros from the European Union by the end of June for reforms and investment, she said.
Earlier experts explained to Sputnik that Western voters are gradually getting tired of the Ukrainian crisis and do not want to see their governments sending more aid to the corrupt Kiev regime. Western countries have been providing massive military and financial aid to Kiev since the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. The Kremlin has consistently warned against continued arms deliveries to Kiev, saying it would lead to further escalation of the conflict.
“The new McCarthyism is by young people, and it represents our future. So we have a dark future unless we can reverse this new McCarthyism.”
• Alan Dershowitz Compares Lawfare Against Trump To McCarthyism (JTN)
Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz is comparing the political lawfare occurring against former President Donald Trump to McCarthyism which began in the late 1950s. “I know lawyers who have been asked to defend Donald Trump on First Amendment grounds,” Dershowitz said on the Wednesday edition of the Just the News, No Noise TV show. “They would normally take the case, but they say, ‘we can’t afford it for our family because they’re coming after our bar license.’ It’s exactly what happened during McCarthyism.” McCarthyism, also called the “Red Scare,” started when Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis., said he obtained a list of over 200 card-carrying communists that worked at the U.S. Department of State. This resulted in congressional hearings about “communist subversion” in the United States and it led to repression and targeting of left-wing individuals for fear of spreading communist ideas.
“I’m seeing a return of it now,” Dershowitz said. “But it’s much more dangerous today. Because the old McCarthyism…..it was a thing of the past where you were communist in the 1930s. The new McCarthyism is by young people, and it represents our future. So we have a dark future unless we can reverse this new McCarthyism.” Last month, Trump was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree for his reimbursement of a $130,000 payment his then-lawyer Michael Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump had argued that this lawsuit and lawsuits on other states were part of a political witch hunt, which other GOP politicians have echoed. Recently, Missouri GOP Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced he would be filing a lawsuit against the state of New York for using ‘lawfare’ against former President Donald Trump.
“This is a lawsuit to vindicate Missourians rights to have access [and] to and hear from a chosen candidate for President of the United States in the heat of a campaign in the most consequential election in this nation’s history,” Bailey said on a “Just the News, No Noise” special. Trump recently had a gag order lifted that was imposed on him by the New York judge. Trump’s lawyers argued the gag order was stifling his campaign speech, and said it might limit his ability to respond to attacks from Democratic President Joe Biden during the first presidential debate. Bailey argued that lawfare and the politicization of the judicial system is a sign that the U.S. is headed towards a banana republic. “We are absolutely slouching towards a tyrannical dictatorial Banana Republic where the law becomes a joke,” he said. We used to be a country of laws……certainly the law under the Biden administration has hastened this departure from those basic principles of the rule of law. ”
Bailey said that Biden does not respect the rule of law and Trump needs to get back into office. “If the Chief Executive Officer of the United States of America doesn’t support the law and doesn’t support the United States of America, we lose credibility,” he said. “President Trump put America first. He enforced the rule of law.” Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., suggested that if former President Donald Trump gets back into office, he should go after federal agencies like General Ulysses S. Grant attacked Richmond, Virginia, during the Civil War. “When Trump gets back in, he better go through these departments like Grant through Richmond — you can look it up. Grant, during the Civil War, went through Richmond pretty brutally,” Burchett said on the Just the News, No Noise TV show.
Now investigate the Jan 6 committee. They locked up 100s of people for insurrection.
• Supreme Court Downsizes the “Insurrection” to Largely Trespassing (Turley)
The Supreme Court’s decision on Friday in Fischer v. U.S. struck down one of the most common charges against January 6 defendants. “Obstruction of an official proceeding” had been used in hundreds of cases, and those convictions are now invalid. But the biggest impact of the decision may occur elsewhere. For years, calling January 6 an “insurrection” has been a litmus test for press, pundits and politicians. Members of Congress such as Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) claimed a conspiracy of “armed and organized insurrectionists.” The claim is legally absurd but politically advantageous. It now seems like the insurrection increasingly looks more like a legal case of mass trespass and unlawful entry. I have always believed that criminal charges were warranted for the riot of Jan. 6, 2021. But this week’s decision shows how the Justice Department has wrongly prosecuted hundreds of people for the obstruction crime.
It was all part of what Justice Department official Michael Sherwin proudly declared in a television interview, that “our office wanted to ensure that there was shock and awe…it worked because we saw through media posts that people were afraid to come back to D.C. because they’re, like, ‘If we go there, we’re gonna get charged.’ …We wanted to take out those individuals that essentially were thumbing their noses at the public for what they did.” The Fischer opinion will bring an end to a minority of cases that were based entirely on the charge under 1512(c)(2). The section had been enacted after the Enron scandal in 2001 with the collapse of an energy company accused of corporate fraud. It was designed to allow criminal charges for the destruction of evidence in the form of documents and records. The Justice Department chose to interpret that provision to broadly include any obstruction of any legal proceeding, and then used it in hundreds of Jan. 6 cases.
At least a quarter of the prosecutions included this charge. Most also included other charges, including trespass and unlawful entry. A small number involved serious offenses like violence against officers and an even smaller number involved charges for “seditious conspiracy.” For most cases, the decision may require resentencing. Others with pending charges will go to trial without an obstruction claim. One of those is former President Donald Trump. Special Counsel Jack Smith brought four charges in Washington, D.C.: obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy against rights. The Fischer ruling means that half of the indictment would be dropped. Smith could be compelled to seek a superseding indictment. The loss of the obstruction counts seemed to rip the wings off the plane that Smith has been trying to get off the ground before November.
It was the obstruction theory that held the indictment together — the notion that Trump was directing his followers to stop the certification from occurring by charging the Congress. The court rejected this theory and noted that that the “novel interpretation would criminalize a broad swath of prosaic conduct, exposing activists and lobbyists alike to decades in prison.” Smith has been here before. He was unanimously overturned by the Supreme Court in his conviction of Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell. Notably, as with today, the court found his theory to be dangerously “boundless.”
[..] Biden has also become the most anti-free speech president since John Adams, including the establishment of a massive censorship system described by one court as “Orwellian.” As I discuss in my new book, the Biden administration has brought together an unprecedented alliance of government, corporate and academic interests to target and silence those with opposing views. These, combined with the weaponization of the legal system and his party’s efforts at ballot cleansing, hardly make Biden look like the defender of democracy to many citizens. For those who have been found guilty under these unlawful charges, it is a bit late to convert the Justice Department’s “shock and awe” into a mere “aw shucks.” It can also seem just awful for many citizens who see the political rage of Jan. 6 replaced by a type of state rage. As a result, Fischer suggests for many that democracy may be on the ballot, but the threat is not exactly what the press and the pundits have suggested.
“It’s particularly distressing when contrasted with the eagerness and earnestness with which many of us joined the forum..”
• Klaus Schwab Reportedly Facing Sexual Harassment Allegations (Sp.)
Under Klaus Schwab’s decades-long oversight, the World Economic Forum “has allowed to fester an atmosphere” of sexual harassment and discrimination against women and Black people, the World Street Journal has cited numerous sources, including current and former forum employees, as saying. An array of female staffers described sexual harassment they experienced at the hands of senior managers, some of whom remain at the forum, “a tone that was set at the very top of the organization,” according to the WSJ. “Since the Forum’s earliest years, staffers say women received warnings about Schwab: If you find yourself alone with him, he may make uncomfortable comments about your appearance. They describe his behavior as more awkward than menacing, but inappropriate for a leader,” the newspaper pointed out.
Former forum staffer Farid Ben Amor, for his part, told the WSJ, “It was distressing to witness colleagues visibly withdraw from themselves with the onslaught of harassment at the hands of high-level staff, going from social and cheerful to self-isolating, avoiding eye contact, sharing nightmares for years after.” “It’s particularly distressing when contrasted with the eagerness and earnestness with which many of us joined the forum,” Ben Amor added. In separate incidents, white managers reportedly used the N-word around Black employees, who also raised formal complaints to its leaders about being passed over for promotions or left out of Davos. Forum spokesman Yann Zopf has, meanwhile, rejected all the accusations, insisting that the WSJ article purportedly mischaracterizes “our organization, culture and colleagues, including our founder,” who “does not and has never engaged in the vulgar behaviors” the newspaper described.
They will have to listen to the victims’ families. There are too many to ignore.
“.. the families oppose the plea deal because it does not include any company executives being prosecuted..”
• DOJ to Charge Boeing With Criminal Fraud (Sp.)
The US Department of Justice will indict US aerospace company Boeing on criminal fraud charges over its alleged breach of a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement, a source familiar with the matter told Sputnik.
The source said Sunday that Boeing will face one charge of defrauding the US government regarding the safety of its planes. The Justice Department notified Boeing in May that it was subject to criminal prosecution after it determined the company had breached a 2021 agreement to avoid criminal charges for two fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019. Under the agreement, Boeing paid $2.5 billion in penalties and vowed to improve its safety and compliance protocols. But federal prosecutors recently recommended to senior Justice Department officials that Boeing be prosecuted for failing to improve the safety of its aircraft after a series of mishaps this year, including a door panel that blew off an Alaska Airlines flight shortly after takeoff.The legal team representing the families of victims of the 737 MAX aircraft crashes was notified of the decision the Justice Department reached to prosecute Boeing, but they do not believe it does enough to hold the company accountable. “The Justice Department is preparing to offer to Boeing another sweetheart plea deal. The deal will not acknowledge, in any way, that Boeing’s crime killed 346 people. It also appears to rest on the idea that Boeing did not harm any victim. The families will strenuously object to this plea deal,” the legal team said in a press release without disclosing details of the expected charge against Boeing. The release added that the families oppose the plea deal because it does not include any company executives being prosecuted and there are also issues with the amount of the fine federal prosecutors intend to ask the court to impose.
Trouble began for the aircraft manufacturer in 2018 when a Boeing 737 MAX plane operated by Lion Air in Indonesia crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 189 on board. The same model aircraft experienced another catastrophic failure just five months later, when all 157 people on board a flight from Ethiopia were killed under similar circumstances. It was later revealed the two aircraft lacked optional safety features Boeing sold to airlines at a premium, a decision that was sharply criticized.
A series of shocking whistleblower testimonies have offered troubling details about the company’s safety practices, including reports of employee drug use and allegations that contractors use substandard parts and ignore manufacturing defects. One former employee claimed he was pressured to overlook hundreds of production faults in order to ensure that Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems continued to meet its quotas. Whistleblower Santiago Paredes claimed he was demoted and moved to a different part of the factory after reporting numerous concerns. Two Boeing whistleblowers, Joshua Dean and John Barnett, suddenly died shortly after going public with their concerns.
Neuralink 1st patient
Neuralink's First Patient Leaves Us Speechless.
Noland Arbaugh @ModdedQuad, @neuralink's first brain chip patient, joins us for an in-depth look into some truly mind blowing stuff (pun intended).
You do not want to miss this one.@HansCNelson @elonmusk @chapman_bliss pic.twitter.com/NSKGlZN31A
— Farzad (@farzyness) June 30, 2024
Cow pool
This is the best thing i've seen today!! pic.twitter.com/TcNKR6yeF5
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) June 30, 2024
Fibonacci
The Fibonacci sequence is everywhere in Earth's life, but goes much beyond our own world.
The spiral that exists in the center of sunflowers, heads of cabbage and chambered nautilus shells is the same that shapes galaxies and the orbits of Earth and Venus, strikingly related to… pic.twitter.com/EPGFSK1MNe
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) June 30, 2024
Bowie Ricky
https://twitter.com/i/status/1807092337610240080
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