Claude Monet Hollowed Cliff near Étretat 1883
Tack
https://twitter.com/i/status/1815929451256979636
Cart
This maybe the greatest clip on the internet… pic.twitter.com/Koe8wg2rHP
— Graham Allen (@GrahamAllen_1) July 23, 2024
So in a strange turn of events it turns out that, despite having a funny-looking swing, Trump is indeed a very, very good golfer.
Definitely capable of winning club tournaments and legitimately a single-digit handicap. pic.twitter.com/Uc3ZIsozxA
— Austen Allred (@Austen) July 24, 2024
Wray
Jerry Nadler just blamed Trump for the assassination attempt on his life by repeating the “bloodbath” lie, not once, but twice in his opening statement.
The “bloodbath” lie – statement which pre-dated the assassination attempt in any event.
It’s Trump’s fault someone tried to… pic.twitter.com/BhIn3etTFp
— Viva Frei (@thevivafrei) July 24, 2024
https://twitter.com/i/status/1816145592566833544
Rep. Jim Jordan asks FBI Director Wray point-blank:
"Prior to the rally, why was the President's security detail denied requests for extra resources? Why weren't all the buildings secured? Why was the President allowed to walk out on the stage when there was a suspicious person… pic.twitter.com/AWIuiThAwR
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 24, 2024
Elon
https://twitter.com/i/status/1815768540097495385
ELON: WE SHOULD BE CAUTIOUS ABOUT SOLVING LONGEVITY
“Death does play an important role.
I think you really could evolve humans to live much longer, most creatures to live much longer.
But over time, evolution has found that it's better for organisms to have a finite life.… pic.twitter.com/6C39rO8P1K
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) July 24, 2024
Harris Obama
How feasible is a Harris/Obama 2024 ticket? Constitutional attorney & scholar Dr. John Eastman addresses the "wild" theory that former President Obama could be a Harris running mate. Eastman breaks down exactly what the language in the Constitution allows for. pic.twitter.com/fOLUbgwJVW
— The Absolute Truth with @EmeraldRobinson (@AbsoluteWithE) July 24, 2024
Biden letter
EXCLUSIVE: "It's clear that it's not Joe Biden's [signature]." Former White House Executive Clerk's Office staffer Gabrielle Cuccia (@its_gabbygabs) analyzes the mismatching Biden signatures.
Plus, what White House sources tells her Jill Biden told staff in the days leading up… pic.twitter.com/TnwZaQPsuo
— The Absolute Truth with @EmeraldRobinson (@AbsoluteWithE) July 24, 2024
NKorea
https://twitter.com/i/status/1816196264935166412
MTG
“Obama can’t stand him, and he can’t stand Obama..”
• Obama ‘Dumped’ Biden – Trump (RT)
Former US President Barack Obama “can’t stand” President Joe Biden and was instrumental in killing his reelection campaign, Republican candidate Donald Trump has alleged. Biden announced on Sunday that he was dropping out of the race for the White House and endorsing his vice president, Kamala Harris, to run in his stead. In the runup to the announcement, Obama was reportedly one of several top Democrats privately urging Biden to end his campaign, out of concern that the visibly infirm 81-year-old could not defeat former president Trump in November. “Obama can’t stand him, and he can’t stand Obama,” Trump told the New York Post on Tuesday. “Obama had a part because he said he wasn’t going to support him.” “Nancy Pelosi dumped him,” Trump continued, referring to the former House Speaker taking to cable news to cast doubts on Biden’s ability to serve.
“They all dumped him, and they said, ‘Either you get out nice or we’re going to go after you.’ And that’s what happened. And he had no choice. There’s no question about it.” Biden announced his departure from the race via a social media post, made while he was cloistered away at his Delaware home recovering from Covid-19. This reportedly shocked some of the president’s aides, who told Politico that they had no inkling he would leave the race until they saw the posts on X. Biden has not spoken to the public since the announcement, and slurred his words during a phoned-in message delivered to Harris’ campaign headquarters on Monday. “He was pushed out of power like a dog,” Trump said of Biden on Wednesday, in a post to his Truth Social platform. Prior to Biden’s announcement, most polls showed Trump leading the 81-year-old by between one and nine points. A Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Tuesday showed Harris beating Trump by 44% to 42%, although analysts have cautioned that this initial “bump” in support will likely subside in the coming weeks.
“She’s the same as Biden but much more radical,” Trump said of Harris. “She wants open borders. She wants things that nobody wants…so I think she should be easier than Biden, because he was slightly more mainstream, but not much.” Obama did not join Biden in endorsing Harris. In a statement on Sunday praising Biden for stepping aside, the former president did not mention Harris, and called on Democrats to “create a process from which an outstanding nominee emerges” at the party’s convention in August. However, Harris has already won the support of enough Democratic delegates to secure the party’s nomination. Should she get the nod, she will be the first presidential candidate in 56 years to run for the White House without ever competing in a primary election. Harris dropped out of the race for the presidency in 2019 with her polling numbers between 1% and 2%.
“If everyone acknowledges that he’s incapable of running a campaign, he’s clearly not capable of running the country..”
• Decision To Leave Race Was About ‘Saving Democracy’ – Biden (RT)
The election in November will be “an inflection point” for the country, US President Joe Biden has said in his first public speech after deciding not to seek a second term and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement. Speaking from the Oval Office on Wednesday evening, Biden said he is determined to unite the Democratic Party and “pass the torch to a new generation.” “I revere this office, but I love my country more,” Biden said. “I believe my record as president, my leadership in the world, my vision for America’s future, all merit a second term. But nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy. That includes personal ambition.” Biden went on to stress the importance of the election, in which Harris is set to compete against the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump. “I ran for president four years ago because I believed and still do that the soul of America was at stake, the very nature of who we are was at stake. And that is still the case,” Biden said.
Initially defiant, Biden eventually succumbed to pressure from top Democrats and major party donors who argued that he is no longer capable of defeating Trump. Concerns over his age and deteriorating health increased rapidly after his disastrous performance during a televised debate with Trump last month, in which Biden appeared confused and struggled to finish his sentences. Biden announced the decision to withdraw his candidacy on Sunday, naming Harris as his successor. Harris is expected to officially become the nominee during the Democratic National Convention next month. The Republicans, meanwhile, have called on Biden to resign from the presidency. “If everyone acknowledges that he’s incapable of running a campaign, he’s clearly not capable of running the country,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters over the weekend.
Interesting legal squabble.
• Team Trump Files Complaint to Block Harris’ Use of Biden Campaign Funds (Sp.)
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign has filed a complaint with the US Federal Election Commission arguing that money raised for President Joe Biden’s reelection effort cannot be transferred to fund Vice President Kamala Harris’ election bid, CNN has reported. Legal experts had speculated an attempt to transfer funds raised by the Biden campaign to Harris could trigger a lawsuit. “Kamala Harris is seeking to perpetrate a $91.5 million dollar heist of Joe Biden’s leftover campaign cash — a brazen money grab that would constitute the single largest excessive contribution and biggest violation in the history of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended,” read the document as revealed by CNN Tuesday.
The complaint is leveled against Biden himself, his election campaign, Harris and campaign treasurer Keana Spencer, accusing them of “flagrantly violating the Act by making and receiving an excessive contribution of nearly one hundred million dollars, and for filing fraudulent forms with the Commission purporting to repurpose one candidate’s principal campaign committee for the use of another candidate,” the report said. An FEC spokesperson declined to comment, citing the FEC’s policy on not discussing enforcement matters as the reason, the broadcaster reported. Charles Kretchmer Lutvak, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, said the complaint represented “baseless legal claims.”
“Republicans may be jealous that Democrats are energized to defeat Donald Trump and his MAGA [Make America Great Again] allies, but baseless legal claims – like the ones they’ve made for years to try to suppress votes and steal elections – will only distract them while we sign up volunteers, talk to voters, and win this election,” said Lutvak in a statement released Tuesday. Biden announced his withdrawal from the 2024 US presidential race Sunday and endorsed Harris to be the Democratic Party’s nominee. Trump, for his part, has said more than once that it would be easier to defeat Harris, while his campaign has argued she would be worse than Biden as president.
“Kamala Harris is in the process of committing the largest campaign finance violation in American history and she is using the Commission’s own forms to do it.”
“$20 million [..] broken down into over 1,600,000 donations across 400,000 donors..”
• ActBlue Accused Of “MASSIVE Money Laundering Operation” (ZH)
Democrat donation platform ActBlue has been accused of a engaging in a “MASSIVE money laundering operation,” by which contributions from large donors are being funneled through hundreds of thousands of small donations made in the name of people who have no clue they’ve donated.
I’m told Harris campaign is already using ActBlue money laundering scheme, $20 million from Johann Georg Wyss known as Hansjörg Wyss, born 19 September 1935, a Swiss billionaire, and was broken down into over 1,600,000 donations across 400,000 donors. Dirty! Dirty! Dirty! pic.twitter.com/pHaJr3lzwC
— Tony Seruga (@TonySeruga) July 22, 2024
The accusation comes as the platform says it had its best day of 2024, and possibly of all time, in the wake of President Biden abandoning his reelection campaign on Sunday. ActBlue has been previously been fined for facilitating nearly $44,000 in illegal contributions. Meanwhile, journalist James O’Keefe approached alleged donors with hundreds of thousands of contributions listed in their name, who knew nothing about them. In related news, the Trump campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Tuesday accusing President Biden and VP Kamala Harris of violating campaign finance laws with the transfer of $91 million in fundraising cash to her new campaign.
This is how Kamala Harris raised all that money in one day.
Silver Throat’s donors mostly had no idea they even donated.
Watch every second of this: pic.twitter.com/vidc0D9uu7
— Joey Mannarino (@JoeyMannarinoUS) July 24, 2024
According to the complaint, Harris is “seeking to perpetrate a $91.5 million dollar heist of Joe Biden’s leftover campaign cash.” Trump campaign general counsel David Warrington called the act a “brazen money grab that would constitute the single largest excessive contribution and biggest violation in the history of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended,” adding “Kamala Harris is in the process of committing the largest campaign finance violation in American history and she is using the Commission’s own forms to do it.””The Commission must not and cannot sit idly by while one candidate takes nearly one hundred million dollars from the authorized committee of another, in violation of the Act and the will of the donors who gave the money in the first place.” The complaint names Biden, Harris, “Biden for President (aka Harris for President) and Keana Spencer, as treasurer, for flagrantly violating the Act by making and receiving an excessive contribution of nearly one hundred million dollars, and for filing fraudulent forms with the Commission purporting to repurpose one candidate’s principal campaign committee for the use of another candidate.”
The complaint argues that if “Kamala Harris were a candidate for something in 2024, federal law requires her to have filed a Statement of Candidacy and for her name to have appeared in the name of her authorized committee. But Kamala Harris’s name does not appear in the name of her purported authorized committee, ‘Biden for President,’ and, until Sunday, no Statement of Candidacy existed for her. Then Sunday, rather than filing her own Statement of Candidacy, she merely altered Joe Biden’s to replace his name with hers. There is no mechanism under the Act for one individual to end another’s federal candidacy by simply amending the other’s Form 2. Moreover, in that purported amended Form 2 Harris designated ‘Biden for President’ as her principal campaign committee and then renamed it. Altering a document submitted to a federal agency is a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1519.3.” -Fox News.
According to the Harris campaign, the complaint is “baseless.”
Coming after a botched murder orchestrated by … the same Secret Service. Convenient.
• Secret Service Tells Trump To Stop Having Outdoor Rallies (ZH)
The Secret Service is turning near-assassination lemons into Deep State lemonade. Following its catastrophic failure to secure Donald Trump’s July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the Secret Service has come up with a “fix” that reeks of ulterior motives: the agency has advised the Trump campaign to stop holding large outdoor rallies altogether. Broken by the Washington Post, news of the agency’s pathetic prescription came hours after Secret Service Director Kimberley Cheatle resigned, following a marathon Monday grilling on Capitol Hill that saw her used as a punching bag by members of both major parties. Her agency’s multi-dimensional incompetence in Pennsylvania left a former president and two spectators wounded — and another dead.
The Secret Service’s recommendation undermines a cornerstone of Trump campaign culture. Trump fans have turned his sprawling outdoor rallies into daylong parties complete with tailgate barbecues, merchants selling Trump-branded gear, and vehicles decorated in tribute to the former president. Thousands who can’t get into the rally itself are content to soak up the festive atmosphere in the immediate vicinity. The rallies often provide stunning visual indicators of Trump’s support, serving as campaign ads in and of themselves. Given Trump came within an inch of a fatal head-shot thanks to the Secret Service’s inadequacy — which could take a long time to fix — his campaign is perhaps reasonably taking the agency’s recommendation to heart:
For upcoming events, Trump’s team is scouting indoor venues, such as basketball arenas and other large spaces where thousands of people can fit, people familiar with the request said. The campaign is not currently planning any large outdoor events, a person close to Trump said. — Washington Post. From a security perspective, indoor events have many obvious advantages, from a finite number of entrances to fewer opportunities for snipers — including those who might attempt a shot from much longer distances than the chip-shot, 400-foot opportunity Trump’s shooter was given. A source tells Axios that the change doesn’t necessarily mean Trump won’t have any outdoor rallies at all. Meanwhile, even indoors, the Trump campaign will still be able to put on some impressive displays of strength…
…however, nixing outdoor rallies will hit the Trump campaign squarely in the checkbook, since it’s much more expensive to rent a major indoor arena than an exurban fairground like the Butler Farm Show grounds. Smaller venues cost less, but give far fewer fans the opportunity to attend. According to his campaign’s event schedule, Trump’s next two venues are the 9,600-seat Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte tonight, and the 6,000-seat Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minnesota on Saturday.
He googled it. Studied?! The FBI wants to promote the lone wolf.
• Trump Shooter Studied JFK Assassination – FBI (RT)
Would-be assassin Thomas Michael Crooks researched the assassination of John F Kennedy before opening fire on former President Donald Trump earlier this month, FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers on Wednesday. Crooks shot Trump in the ear during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13. Firing from a rooftop that Trump’s Secret Service detail had inexplicably left unguarded, the 20-year-old gunman killed one person in the audience and injured two others before Secret Service snipers shot him dead. Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Wray said that an FBI examination of Crooks’ computer revealed that he began researching the JFK assassination on July 6, the same day he registered to attend the Trump rally. “He did a Google search for – quote – ‘how far away was Oswald from Kennedy’,” Wray said, referring to Lee Harvey Oswald, the gunman accused of shooting Kennedy in 1963.
“That’s a search that’s obviously significant in terms of his state of mind,” Wray said, adding that Crooks had become “very focused on President Trump and his rally” at the time. Wray’s testimony shed little light on Crooks’ motivation. The FBI chief insisted that the shooter was not in contact with any accomplices or co-conspirators, and did not speculate about his political leanings. Before becoming fixated on Trump, Crooks did “a lot of searches of public figures in general,” Wray said, warning that “it is, quite frankly, a dangerous time to be a prominent public official.” Wray did not comment on how many Secret Service snipers were present at the rally, nor did he comment on allegations that the agency had pulled some staff from Trump’s detail before the event. Wray did, however, reveal that Crooks visited the site in Butler on three occasions, and on the day of the rally “was flying the drone around the area” just two hours before Trump took to the stage.
Republicans have fiercely criticized the Secret Service for failing to secure Crooks’ rooftop vantage point, despite it being around 150 meters from the stage, and for apparently disregarding reports of an armed Crooks crawling around on the roof minutes before opening fire. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on Tuesday, a day after telling the Oversight Committee that she took responsibility for the “most significant operational failure at the Secret Service in decades.”
They hand their -formerly- coveted Prize to a bunch of liars, and then try to defend that. An insult to anyone who deserved it. It’s worthless now.
• Court Rejects Bid to Throw Out Trump Case Against Pulitzer Board (ET)
A court in Florida has rejected a bid from members of the Pulitzer Prize Board to throw out a case brought against them by former President Donald Trump. The board’s statement in 2022 standing behind its awards to several news outlets for reporting on former President Trump’s purported links to Russia is actionable because it is not merely opinion, Florida Circuit Court Judge Robert Pegg ruled on July 20. Defendants withheld valuable information from readers, including the process by which complaints against the awards were evaluated, according to the judge. In the July 18, 2022, statement, the board said that it “carefully reviewed” complaints against the awards, which were given in 2018 to The New York Times and The Washington Post. “Both reviews were conducted by individuals with no connection to the institutions whose work was under examination, nor any connection to each other,” the board said at the time.
“The separate reviews converged in their conclusions: that no passages or headlines, contentions or assertions in any of the winning submissions were discredited by facts that emerged subsequent to the conferral of the prizes.” The brief statement, though, was not pure opinion because the board failed to identify any of the reviewers, reveal whether the reviewers had any connection to the board, and share the reviewers’ qualifications, Judge Pegg said. “If the defendants’ statement had included the foregoing facts, an ordinary reader might have been able to evaluate whether they agreed with defendants’ decision not to revoke the prizes, and whether the underlying reporting had actually survived the factual disclosures of several subsequent government investigations unscathed,” the judge wrote. “Instead, the alleged defamatory statement implies no fewer than seven undisclosed sets of foundational facts, making the defendants’ statement actionable mixed opinion.”
Under Florida law, people cannot sue over pure opinion. The board did not respond to a request for comment. Former President Trump cheered the ruling in a post on Truth Social, writing that the judge “did not allow Pulitzer to hide behind the deeply outdated Times v. Sullivan case.” The 1964 New York Times Company v. Sullivan ruling, handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court, found that people who bring defamation cases must show that defendants knew the questioned statements were false or that the defendants were reckless in publishing the statements without looking into their accuracy. The case in Florida, being adjudicated in the 19th Judicial Circuit in Okeechobee County, concerns the board’s awarding of the 2018 Pulitzer for national reporting to The New York Times and The Washington Post for stories about purported links between President Trump and his campaign and Russia.
The stories, which largely relied on anonymous sources, included one article discussing the FBI’s willingness to pay the author of a dossier funded by Hillary Clinton’s campaign that consisted of a series of memorandums compiled by ex-British spy Christopher Steele and another about comments from an aide for the Trump campaign that spurred the FBI’s Russia investigation. Subsequent government findings have undercut the stories; the findings include a report from special counsel Robert Mueller’s team that found no evidence of collusion between former President Trump or his campaign and Russia.
The Washington Post later corrected multiple stories about an individual who it said was one of Mr. Steele’s sources, acknowledging that its reporting was wrong. Reporters with the news outlet were among those who worked closely with Fusion GPS, an operative firm paid by Ms. Clinton’s campaign, the disclosed emails showed. Complaints from former President Trump’s campaign and others prompted the board’s 2022 statement, which then triggered the legal case. In a second ruling released over the weekend, Judge Pegg rejected a motion from defendants in the defamation case requesting that they be dismissed because they reside outside of Florida. The judge said that the former president had successfully alleged conspiracy among the defendants and that at least one of the defendants may have committed tortious acts in Florida to further the conspiracy.
“..von der Leyen is a “committed supporter of maximizing US control over the European continent.”
• Re-Electing von der Leyen Tragic For Western Europe -Zakharova (TASS)
Re-electing Ursula von der Leyen to the post of European Commission (EC) president has become a tragic episode in the history of Western Europe, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. The diplomat noted that the Russian mission at the EU has already commented on “this tragic page in the Western European history.” “To summarize, I can say that, unfortunately, indeed it is simply not possible to expect anything good for the stability and well-being of the residents of EU member states, moreover, for democracy and freedom, including the issue of security in that part of the world, as a result of Ursula von der Leyen’s confrontational attitude,” Zakharova stressed. According to the diplomat, von der Leyen is a “committed supporter of maximizing US control over the European continent.”
“She is also the main mouthpiece of Russophobic policy currently conducted by the European Union. This includes calls to invest increasingly more in the spheres of defense and security in the EU, in the creation of the so-called defense union which presumes its even deeper subjugation to NATO in the future and support for the Nazi regime on Bankovaya (Ukraine’s presidential administration – TASS). The resolution of all these problems, apparently, takes a toll on the EU with quite murky prospects at that,” she added. On April 18, the European Parliament elected von der Leyen as European Commission president for the second term. She garnered 401 out of 720 votes. During the session, both the right-and left-wing opposition criticized her for not fulfilling her obligations during the first term, destroying the European economy and not taking measures against poverty.
The F-16s will all be shot down.
• Ukraine Top General Acknowledges Russian Air Superiority, Questions F-16 (Sp.)
Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky has complained about the Russian air superiority and conceded that there were limits to what the long-promised F-16 fighter jets could achieve on the battlefield, British media reported Wednesday. Syrsky said in an interview with The Guardian newspaper that Russia had “superior aviation” and “very strong” air defenses. Because of this Ukraine was forced to rely more on unmanned aerial vehicles. The general explained that F-16 fighters could only be used 40 kilometers (25 miles) or further away from the front-line due to the risks of being downed. On July 10, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the first batch of F-16 fighter jets would be handed over to Ukraine in summer.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned the United States and its NATO allies that Moscow saw the presence of nuclear capable F-16s in Ukraine as a nuclear threat. Syrsky also said that mobilization was needed to create necessary reserves and demanded that those evading the mandatory draft joined the military to “fulfil their constitutional duty.” Martial law was introduced in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The next day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree on general mobilization. The martial law and mobilization have been extended repeatedly since then. Under martial law, men aged 18 to 60 are prohibited from leaving Ukraine.
it’s the Druzhba pipeline again. The US and EU think they can get Hungary and Slovakia “in line” this way.
• Slovakia President Issues Threat To Ukraine (RT)
Slovakia could take retaliatory measures against Ukraine if Kiev continues to stop Russian oil transiting via the Druzhba pipeline, President Peter Pellegrini has warned. Kiev stopped the flow of crude through the Druzhba pipeline to its energy-dependent neighbors – Hungary and Slovakia – last week, citing sanctions against Russia’s second-largest oil company Lukoil, thus depriving the two EU member states of oil that meets up to 40% of their needs. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Pellegrini described Kiev’s actions as a “very unpleasant interference in our good relations.” “I firmly believe that Ukraine will be able to put this in order as soon as possible, because Slovakia, as a sovereign state, will eventually have to take some kind of countermeasures,” he said without specifying the nature of a possible response.
He added, however, that this “would not benefit either Ukraine or its citizens.” Pelligrini recalled that Slovakia had helped Ukraine with the reverse flow of gas and has also been sending electricity to the country. Slovakian Defense Minister Robert Kalinak echoed the president’s criticism and warned that Kiev was “risking a lot” with its “irresponsible” actions. While the EU banned seaborne oil imports from Russia in December 2022, pipeline deliveries have received exemptions from the embargo to allow land-locked EU countries, including Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, to secure stable oil supplies.
Lukoil provides some 50% of the oil shipped via the southern branch of Druzhba, which is one of the world’s longest pipeline networks. Other suppliers include Russian state-owned Tatneft, Gazprom Neft, the private company Russneft, and several small producers. On Tuesday, Hungary also pledged to punish Kiev for its blockade of oil deliveries from Russia, with Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto saying Budapest would block €6.5 billion ($7 billion) in funds that the EU has earmarked for Ukraine until Kiev resumes transit. Hungary’s foreign minister said his country supplied 42% of Ukraine’s electricity in June.
“Everyone knows perfectly well that this is a man who can twist anything, who can lie, who can deny everything..”
• Russia Responds To Zelensky’s Talks Proposal (RT)
Vladimir Zelensky’s signal that Ukraine is ready to resume peace talks with Moscow is not credible, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said. In recent weeks, Zelensky has said that Kiev wants to end the conflict “as soon as possible,” preferably “by the end of this year.” He has also insisted on holding a second ‘peace summit’ to achieve that goal. The last such event, hosted by Switzerland, focused on Kiev’s ‘peace formula’ – which demands that Russia withdraw its troops from all territory claimed by Ukraine. Moscow has dismissed the plan as detached from reality. Commenting on the possibility of peace with Ukraine, Zakharova told reporters on Wednesday that “nobody trusts [Zelensky].” “Everyone knows perfectly well that this is a man who can twist anything, who can lie, who can deny everything,” she said.
She recalled that neither Ukraine nor its Western backers have done anything to rescind Zelensky’s presidential decree barring Kiev from any talks with the current leadership in Moscow. The Ukrainian leader approved the document in the fall of 2022 after four former Ukrainian regions voted overwhelmingly to join Russia. Last week, however, Zelensky suggested that he saw “no difference” in whether he had to engage with Russian President Vladimir Putin, or someone else, to end the conflict. “We hear a lot of words, but we don’t see actions at all,” Zakharova noted, suggesting that Zelensky’s statements are no more than another attempt to promote Kiev’s ‘peace formula’ and dupe countries around the world into supporting the initiative.
The spokeswoman added that Zelensky’s unexpected “flexibility” on peace talks could be linked to recent major shifts in the US political landscape, in reference to the shooting of Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the race. The GOP candidate has repeatedly vowed to end the conflict within 24 hours if elected and has criticized open-ended US support for Kiev. Zakharova’s comments come after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that Kiev “is willing to engage in dialogue and negotiations with Russia,” which he said must be “rational” and aimed at achieving a just and lasting peace. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described Kuleba’s words as being “in unison” with Russia’s stance. “The Russian side has never refused negotiations, [but] the details that we do not know yet are important here,” he added.
“..anyone who questions his legitimacy is “an enemy.”
• Zelensky Has No Legitimacy – Kremlin (RT)
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s status could pose a problem when Moscow and Kiev eventually agree to hold peace talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday. Russian President Vladimir Putin has called into question Zelensky’s legitimacy, noting that his term in office has expired. “Our president has repeatedly said that President Zelensky definitely lost his legitimacy,” Peskov told journalists. Another issue that “could seriously hinder the peace process” is Zelensky’s 2022 decree that “banned any Ukrainian head of state from engaging in talks with President Putin,” Peskov said.
Zelensky’s presidential term formally expired on May 20. He refused to hold an election in March, citing martial law which was imposed due to the conflict with Russia. He argued that his term was de facto extended in accordance with Ukrainian law. Putin has stated several times in recent months that an analysis of the Ukrainian constitution and other legislation leaves no room for an interpretation that would allow Zelensky to remain in power. Citing Article 111 of the Ukrainian constitution, Putin argued in May that Zelensky’s powers should have been transferred to the speaker of Ukraine’s parliament.
Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk, however, has insisted that Zelensky is the legitimate head of state and that anyone who questions his legitimacy is “an enemy.” Earlier on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told journalists that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba made it clear during a trip to Beijing that he is “ready and willing” to hold peace talks with Moscow. Russia responded by saying it would wait for details on the Ukrainian position. “We have not heard these statements from Kuleba himself,” Peskov said on Wednesday, adding that negotiations are preferable to continued hostilities. Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine broke down in spring 2022, with each side accusing the other of making unrealistic demands.
“Never again may we as Germans get involved in a war against Russia in any form. We need to unite and join to oppose this madness together.”
• The Berlin Wall Falls Again (John Helmer)
One of Germany’s most notorious prosecutions of free speech has collapsed, as the Berlin prosecutor’s office has dropped a case designed to stop Germans discussing the war against Russia in the Ukraine. Heinrich Buecher, owner of the COOP Anti-war Café on Rochstrasse, has been prosecuted in a Berlin district court and then in the higher regional court for statements he had made in a city park on June 22, 2022. On the anniversary of the German Army’s Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, Buecher had declared: “Never again may we as Germans get involved in a war against Russia in any form. We need to unite and join to oppose this madness together.” In the court proceedings which followed, the judges refused to allow Buecher to speak in his own defence. Instead, he published on the website of his café a re-statement of what he had been convicted of saying in June 2002.
“As an anti-fascist and anti-imperialist, I expressly oppose the policy of regime change, against wars of intervention and against any Interference in the internal affairs of independent states. I call on the German government to adopt a policy in the interest of International peace, in the interests of international security and peaceful coexistence of all peoples. The principles of the Charter of the United Nations must be respected and international law must be defended.” “I call for all arms deliveries and training programs for the Ukraine stop immediately. I demand diplomacy instead of weapons. I call for all efforts of our government to negotiate and allow opponents of war without preconditions. The sacrifice of the Ukraine for the geopolitical interests of the West, namely the strategic weakening of Russia, is a monstrous war crime and must have an end.”
The Buecher case has been followed by the Russian media but not the Anglo-American media. The mainstream German press has also avoided reporting the case. In January 2023, a Berlin district court judge named Tobias Pollman issued a summary judgement without hearing evidence or argument, ruling that Buecker’s crime came under Section 140 of the German Criminal Code, and had consisted of “publicly approving a crime of aggression (Section 138 of the International Criminal Code) in a manner likely to disturb the public peace at a meeting.” Pollman convicted Buecker of approving “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in violation of international law, the illegality of which you knew.” In German law, it wasn’t Buecher’s speech but the substance of what the judge said he meant which was judged illegal. He was sentenced to pay a €2,000 fine or 40 days in jail.
A radio interview of Buecher by John Helmer and George Eliason of April 15, 2023, was first published here, but subsequently erased by the broadcast company TNT. Buecher appealed, and on April 27, 2023, another Berlin judge named Marieluis Brinkmann ruled after a 90-minute proceeding in which she repeatedly stopped Buecher and his lawyer from testifying in defence. Brinkmann announced that the first judge had correctly applied the law in finding Buecher guilty of the crime of supporting Russia. But she dismissed the conviction and fine on the ground that Buecher’s speech had been a private one in front of his “fans”, not a public speech at all. The Berlin prosecutor, who refused to give her name in court or to allow photographs of herself, then appealed to the higher, Berlin region court. The higher court judges refused to reinstate Buecher’s conviction, and the prosecutors began new appeals. This month these appeals were dropped, and the prosecutors abandoned the case.
2000 kilometers without being intercepted. What Iron Dome?
• The Stunning Audacity Of Yemen’s Drone Strike On Tel Aviv (Cradle)
On 19 July, a low-altitude drone breached Tel Aviv’s airspace from the sea and detonated, causing one fatality and injuring ten others. The incident sent shockwaves through the occupation state, with a panicked populace and bewildered policymakers grappling with the Israeli army’s “mega-failure” to intercept a single drone amid prolonged aggression against Gaza and the mounting tensions with Hezbollah in Lebanon. The attack’s impact was magnified by its direct hit on Tel Aviv, the heart of Israel’s governmental and economic power, starkly exposing inadequacies in its defense strategies and further alarming a population that has for months been questioning the effectiveness of its military preparedness. It wasn’t long before the de facto Yemeni authorities in Sanaa claimed responsibility for the attack, calling the strike a retaliation for Israeli massacres and threatening more to come. But how did a Yemeni drone reach the heart of Israel’s most fortified region and strike a blow to Israeli military pride?
Suicide drones, as they are known, are a relatively modern weapon, posing significant challenges even for technologically advanced states like the US and Israel. These drones vary in range, warhead size, speed, and guidance methods. Analysis of the wreckage revealed that the “Yaffa” drone, an enhanced version of Yemen’s Sammad drones, was employed in the operation. The name is deeply symbolic as it references the ancient port city of Jaffa, also known as Yaffa in Arabic, which now forms part of modern-day Tel Aviv. Its rectangular wing shape and V-shaped tail distinguish it, but it is notably the more powerful 275 cc (16 kW) engine that sets it apart. This engine enables the drone to cover distances exceeding 2000 kilometers – sufficient to reach Tel Aviv from Yemen. Unlike with ballistic missiles, the difficulty in tracking drones lies in their ability to take unconventional paths, maneuver through winding routes, and hide behind terrain features, making them hard to detect by radar systems. This detection challenge is a daily issue in northern occupied Palestine, where drones operated by Lebanese resistance groups often go unseen by the increasingly blinded occupation army.
Moreover, drones are typically constructed from lightweight materials such as fiberglass, carbon fiber, or various reinforced plastics that do not reflect radar waves effectively, which is crucial for detection and tracking. Their low speeds reduce the need for the metallic compositions necessary in constructing conventional military hardware like missiles and fighter jets. Consequently, drones can be mistaken for birds by radar systems. This confusion has occurred regularly in northern occupied Palestine since the war’s onset, with Israel’s Iron Dome defense system spotted expending its limited supply of $50,000 projectiles shooting at birds during this conflict. The suicide drone likely took an unconventional path to evade detection. Previous Yemeni attempts have been intercepted in Egyptian Sinai airspace, with Israeli-allied Arab states such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt contributing to these detection and interception efforts.
On the night of the attack, however, no US aircraft carrier groups were in the Red Sea, and the nearest carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, was positioned in the Indian Ocean. Israel’s air force has suggested that the drone may have taken a non-traditional route via Eritrea, Sudan, and Egypt, crossing near the Suez Canal before entering the Mediterranean and turning east toward Tel Aviv. Some aspects of that route seem unlikely: the Suez Canal area is heavily patrolled by Egyptian air defense, with its 8th Brigade stationed there, so the Israeli announcement may have been an attempt to pressure Egypt. On 20 July, Israeli aircraft launched punishing airstrikes on the besieged Yemeni port of Hodeidah, specifically targeting areas designated for fuel and oil storage, as well as destroying port cranes used for loading and unloading cargo and a power station.
But these were civilian targets in a country already suffering from the effects of the Saudi-led coalition blockade, which has caused severe shortages of fuel and essential resources needed for power generation and transportation. The strike at these particular target banks, which killed at least six and wounded dozens of others, appears to be primarily aimed at creating significant explosions and large fires to help Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu score points at home. But the Israeli response against civilian targets also reveals that Tel Aviv suffers from a dearth of intelligence on potential Yemeni military targets. It was also evident that the selected targets were ones that Saudi Arabia and the US have refrained from striking due to fears of Yemeni retaliation, which could strike Saudi commercial ports or oil exports in one of the world’s most vital energy passages.
“Will China pull it off? Of course it will.”
• China Has Achieved Escape Velocity: It Is Now Unstoppable (Pepe Escobar)
The four-day, twice-a-decade plenum of the Communist Party of China that took place last week in Beijing, designing an economic road map all the way to 2029, was a stunning affair in more ways than one. Let’s start with continuity – and stability. There’s no question after the plenum that Xi Dada, or The Big Panda, will stay on the helm until 2029 – the end of the current five-year economic drive. And if Xi is healthy enough, he stays up to 2035: the fateful and uber game-changing target year for China to exhibit a GDP per capita of $30,000, with massive around-the-world reverberations. Here we see the confluence between the progression of “socialism with Chinese characteristics” and the defining contours if not of a Pax Sinica, at least of the non-Hegemon-centric, multi-nodal world. The proverbial U.S. Think Tankland/Sinophobia axis has been hysterical on China not being able to sustain a 5% a year growth rate for the next few years – the target once again stressed at the plenum.
A Russian analysis by the Center for Geopolitical Forecasts makes a crucial point: “The Chinese themselves have not bothered about the growth rate for a long time, since in 2018 they switched to a strategy of so-called qualitative development, that is, not at the expense of traditional industries, but on the basis of high technologies and the creation of new areas, such as the production of new energy sources and artificial intelligence.” That’s the rationale behind Made in China 2025 – which is being implemented at breakneck speed: high-tech development leading the way towards a “high-level socialist market economy”, to be consolidated by 2025 and fully constructed by 2035. The next step will be to attain the status of “modernized socialist power” by 2049, at the 100th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
The plenum proved once more that “socialism with Chinese characteristics” – or, for the recalcitrant, Chinese-modified capitalism – is “people-centric”. The supreme values are national interest and the people’s interests – attested by the fact that large private corporations remain under the strategic control of the CPC. It’s idle to try to find in the final communique at the end of the plenum any restrictions on private capital on the path to “universal prosperity”. The key point is that the role of capital should always be subordinated to the concept of “socialism with Chinese characteristics”. Everything is explained here in nearly didactic terms, chronicling the birth of the “Decision of the CPC Central Committee on further comprehensive deepening of reforms to promote Chinese modernization”. What is now already referred to colloquially all across China as “The Decision” spreads across 15 parts and 60 articles, divided into three main sections, proposing more than 300 important reforms.
“The Decision”, in full, has not yet been published; only the road map of how Beijing planners got there. Of course this is no mere policy paper: it’s a quintessentially CPC-style dissertation where the details of economic and political measures are obscured by clouds of images and metaphors. Take a look, for instance, at this passage: “To ensure that the reform ship sails forward steadily, the ‘Decision’ proposes that further comprehensive deepening of reform must implement the “six principles”: adhere to the party’s overall leadership, adhere to the people-centered approach, adhere to the principle of maintaining the integrity and promoting innovation, adhere to system building as the main line, adhere to the comprehensive rule of law, and adhere to a systematic approach.” Most of the “Decision” – 6 parts in a total of 13 – is about economic reform. Will China pull it off? Of course it will.
Gethsemani
https://twitter.com/i/status/1815905100084437033
Smart
How smart do you think an animal can be?pic.twitter.com/6sDx6FzhuT
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) July 24, 2024
Wolf
Grey wolf howls and gets response from the entire forest pic.twitter.com/0QDN3ZKh9I
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) July 24, 2024
Side eye
https://twitter.com/i/status/1816191336003068174
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Home › Forums › Debt Rattle July 25 2024