Jan 012025
 
 January 1, 2025  Posted by at 11:22 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  Add comments


Paolo Uccello Story of Noah 1447

 

Ukraine ‘Has Ceased To Exist’ – Ex-Commander (RT)
Trump Eager To Settle Ukraine Conflict – Zelensky (RT)
Fuel Prices in Europe Surge Amid Looming End to Russian Gas Transit (Sp.)
Russia Halts Gas Supplies To EU Via Ukraine (RT)
Musk Living In Trump’s House – NYT (RT)
Musk Predicts Election Loss For ‘Chancellor Oaf Schitz’ (RT)
Scholz Hits Back At Musk In New Year’s Address (RT)
Encode Joins Musk in Fight Against OpenAI’s For-Profit Transition (ET)
Appeals Court Upholds Trump’s Liability in E. Jean Carroll Case (Spencer)
Jack Smith Drops Appeal Of Classified Docs Case (JTN)
Even With Trump’s Endorsement, Johnson’s Speakership Is Far From Secure (JTN)
Let’s Get the United States Out of the Censorship Business (Turley)
2025: A Second Renaissance, Or Chaos? (Pepe Escobar)
COVID Catechists Come For Incoming NIH Chief Bhattacharya (JTN)
Jimmy Carter’s Legacy Still Hampers A World Trump Must Fix (JTN)
Paramount Series ‘Landman’ Surprises With Anti-Climate Agenda Message (ZH)

 

 

Happy New Year everyone!

 

 

 

 

451

Eva

 

 

 

 

“..ceased to exist” as a functional state due to widespread graft and mismanagement..”

“Ukrainian leaders have transformed the nation into a “concentration camp..”

Ukraine ‘Has Ceased To Exist’ – Ex-Commander (RT)

The Ukrainian state has essentially ceased to exist, is plagued by endemic institutional failure and corruption, with Kiev’s troops continuing to hold on by sheer will alone, a former commander has argued. He also warned that Ukraine’s defenses could collapse, allowing Russia to march all the way to the Dnieper River. In an interview with Novyni Live on Monday, Vladimir Shylov, former commander of the 3rd Company in the 134th Separate Territorial Defense Battalion, lashed out at Ukraine’s political leadership, stating that the country has “ceased to exist” as a functional state due to widespread graft and mismanagement. Shylov expressed concern that these woes could allow Russian forces to increase their gains, warning that they may be able to overrun frontline positions in Donbass and reach as far as the Dnieper River. The advances could be facilitated by internal chaos, he added, stating “In our country, everything is a mess…the front is holding only thanks to the Ukrainian people.”

Ukrainian leaders have transformed the nation into a “concentration camp,” Shylov claimed, highlighting systemic failures across all branches of government, including the legislative, executive, and judicial sectors. Shylov also specifically criticized the country’s leader, Vladimir Zelensky, for what he described as a blatant neglect of his defense responsibilities, alleging that his government had ignored Western warnings of a Russian offensive prior to the special military operation, resulting in the inadequate preparation of Kiev’s forces. The ex-commander went on to comment on Ukraine’s ongoing incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region, portraying it as a political ploy without any real strategic military value. He argued that the Ukrainian offensive had turned out to be a symbolic gesture which does not compensate for the substantial territorial losses Ukraine has suffered, particularly in Donbass.

Over the past several months, Russia has made significant gains in Donbass and elsewhere, with President Vladimir Putin noting that regular advances now amount to kilometers rather than hundreds of meters. Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov said earlier this month that Ukraine had lost one million service members since February 2022, with more than half of that number in 2024 alone, adding that Moscow’s forces are in full control of the strategic initiative. Meanwhile, Ukrainian battlefield commanders continue to complain of a critical shortage of manpower, despite Kiev implementing stricter mobilization rules and lowering the draft age from 27 to 25 this spring.

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“..the full-scale aggression of a mad state against a civilized one.”

Trump Eager To Settle Ukraine Conflict – Zelensky (RT)

US President-elect Donald Trump is fully capable of achieving peace in Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky has said, suggesting that Trump understands the necessity of containing Russia. Zelensky made the remarks in his New Year’s address on Tuesday, stressing that “Ukraine is not alone” in its conflict with Russia, while praising Kiev’s Western allies, particularly the US, for their consistent support. He recalled conversations he had with both US President Joe Biden and Trump, noting that he has “no doubt that the new American president is willing and capable of achieving peace and ending [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s aggression.” According to Zelensky, Trump “understands that the first is impossible without the second. Because this is not a street fight where you have to calm down both sides,” calling the conflict “the full-scale aggression of a mad state against a civilized one.”

“I believe that we, together with the United States, are capable of exerting that force. Of compelling Russia into a just peace,” he said, adding, however, that “a truly just peace cannot be based on the principle of ‘let’s start with a clean slate,’” due to the numerous casualties and widespread destruction in the conflict. Trump vowed during the 2024 election campaign to swiftly end the Ukraine conflict, with his team’s reported peace plans calling for a 20-year delay in Ukraine’s NATO membership aspirations, a freeze of the conflict, and the establishment of a demilitarized zone patrolled by European peacekeepers to monitor the ceasefire.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has signaled that while Moscow is open to talks with the Trump administration, it will not accept NATO membership for Ukraine in any form. Lavrov stressed that Russia seeks a legally binding peace agreement ensuring its long-term security and opposes any freeze of the conflict that would merely prolong the hostilities. Moscow has said Kiev’s aspirations to join NATO are among the root causes of the conflict and insists that all the goals of its military operation, including Ukrainian neutrality, demilitarization, and denazification, must be achieved. Russia has also signaled that it is ready to declare an immediate ceasefire and begin peace talks as soon as Kiev begins withdrawing from all Russian territory, including the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye.

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Ain’t seen nothing yet.

Fuel Prices in Europe Surge Amid Looming End to Russian Gas Transit (Sp.)

Gas prices in Europe have shot up to $536 per 1,000 cubic meters during ICE trading, the highest since November 27, 2023, amid expectations of halted Russian gas transit through Ukraine starting January 1. Prices rose by over 4% since the day’s start. February futures at the Dutch TTF hub exceeded $536 per 1,000 cubic meters (€50 per MWh). The current transit agreement, allowing the transport of 40 billion cubic meters annually through Ukraine, expires on January 1. Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that no new agreement would be signed before the New Year, and Kiev announced plans to halt Russian gas transit at 8:00 a.m. Moscow time on January 1.

Ukraine stated, however, that it is open to resuming transit upon the European Commission’s request, provided it is non-Russian gas. Putin suggested contracts with third-party suppliers, including Turkish, Hungarian, Slovak, or Azerbaijani companies. Meanwhile, gas transit bids from Russia through Ukraine for January 1 have dropped to zero, according to data from the Ukrainian Gas Transmission System Operator. Supplies will end at 8:00 a.m. Moscow time (05:00 GMT) on January 1, according to a contractual document on gas transit. Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly stated they do not plan to extend the transit agreement.

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“Ukrainian officials confirmed the cessation of transit, calling it a “historic event” in the interests of national security..”

Russia Halts Gas Supplies To EU Via Ukraine (RT)

Russia has officially ceased gas transit through Ukraine as of 8am Moscow time on January 1, confirming the expected end of contracts that have been in place since 2019. Russian energy giant Gazprom announced the halt after negotiations to extend the transit agreements with Ukrainian companies Naftogaz and the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine fell through. In a press release issued on Wednesday, Gazprom said, “Due to the repeated and clear refusal of the Ukrainian side to extend these agreements, Gazprom was deprived of the technical and legal opportunity to supply gas for transit through Ukraine starting from January 1, 2025.” As a result, gas supplies to Europe via this route are now completely suspended. The gas pipeline that traverses Ukraine leads into Slovakia, which had hoped to continue receiving Russian gas and urged Ukraine to extend the transit agreements.

In response to Kiev’s decision to stop the gas transit, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico threatened last week to cut electricity supplies to Ukraine. The five-year contract for Russian gas deliveries through Ukraine expired despite ongoing long-term agreements between Gazprom and several European buyers. Ukrainian officials confirmed the cessation of transit, calling it a “historic event” in the interests of national security. Kiev has long denied the possibility of a new transit deal with Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed the finality of the situation during his annual press conference on December 19, stating, “This transit contract will not exist anymore, it’s clear. But we will manage; Gazprom will manage.”

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“The tech mogul’s stay at Mar-a-Lago allegedly began around Election Day..”

Musk Living In Trump’s House – NYT (RT)

Billionaire Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has reportedly been living in a cottage on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida since the US presidential election in November, according to The New York Times. Musk took up residence at the Banyan Cottage, which typically rents for $2,000 per night and is situated just a few hundred feet from Trump’s main house, providing Musk with easy access to the president-elect, the NYT reported on Monday, citing a person familiar with the property. This arrangement underscores Musk’s significant influence on Trump’s transition team and has allowed him frequent visits with the president-elect, including dinners and policy discussions, the newspaper noted. Since publicly endorsing Trump following a failed assassination attempt in July, Musk has gradually become one of his key advisors on both policy and personnel decisions.

He attended meetings at the Mar-a-Lago Teahouse, participated in phone calls with foreign leaders, and involved his employees in vetting candidates for senior administration roles. Recently, Musk joined Trump for dinner with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, a rival in the tech industry. Musk’s financial contributions to Trump’s campaign have also been substantial: he reportedly spent around $250 million in the final months of the election cycle to support Trump. This level of backing has cemented Musk’s role as one of the most important donors and social media promoters for the president-elect. The tech mogul’s stay at Mar-a-Lago allegedly began around Election Day, during which he watched the returns with Trump.

He left the property briefly around Christmas but is expected to return soon, the newspaper wrote, noting that the exact amount Musk will pay for his stay at Mar-a-Lago remains unclear. Vice President-elect JD Vance has also been frequently seen at Mar-a-Lago during the transition period. Last week, Trump posted what appears to be a private text to Musk on his social media platform, extending an invitation to visit Mar-a-Lago. Screenshots shared by several outlets included Musk’s acknowledgment of the invitation but did not confirm whether he planned to attend. ”Where are you? When are you coming to the ‘Center of the Universe,’ Mar-a-Lago?” Trump wrote in a soon-deleted post, adding, “We miss you and X! New Year’s Eve is going to be AMAZING!!!” before signing off with his initials, “DJT.”

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They have no idea what to do with his comments.

Musk Predicts Election Loss For ‘Chancellor Oaf Schitz’ (RT)

Elon Musk has forecasted that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who he mockingly referred to as “Oaf Schitz,” as well as his Social Democratic Party (SPD) will lose the Federal Republic’s upcoming parliamentary elections. Germany will hold snap elections at the end of February; Scholz’s ‘traffic light’ coalition government has collapsed over disagreements regarding Ukraine aid, economic reforms and climate policy. Earlier this month, the SPD leader lost a vote of confidence in parliament, leading to its dissolution. According to Statista, 56% of Germans believe Scholz has done a poor job, while 37% are satisfied with his performance. The rating was influenced by Germany’s economic stagnation, his migration policies, and a general perception of ineffective government.

Musk, who has been a consistent critic of the current German government, took a jab at Scholz on Monday, predicting that “Chancellor Oaf Schitz or whatever his name is will lose.” The tycoon also suggested that the right-wing, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party – which he previously praised as the country’s “last spark of hope” – would “win an epic victory” in the election. Musk’s apparent endorsement, however, has sparked a backlash from German officials, who described his comments as “intrusive and arrogant,” suggesting they constitute unwelcome interference.

Chancellor Scholz noted that the country’s future “will not be decided by the owners of social media channels” but rather by the country’s “vast majority of reasonable and decent people.” The billionaire’s comments follow a terrorist attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg earlier this month, in which a car rammed into a crowd, killing five people and injuring nearly 200. The incident, linked to a Saudi asylum seeker, has intensified criticism of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government, with opposition parties and far-right groups blaming lax migration policies ahead of Germany’s snap elections.

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Yeah, if you’re a head of state, you really want to get into a war of words with a foreign citizen. That shows statesmanship..

Scholz Hits Back At Musk In New Year’s Address (RT)

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz took a veiled swipe at tech billionaire Elon Musk during his annual New Year’s Eve address, warning that the country’s future will be decided by its citizens, not the owners of social media platforms. In a televised message on Tuesday, Scholz highlighted national unity and called for solidarity amid economic challenges. However, he also addressed a more contentious issue: Alleged “foreign interference” in German politics, particularly by Musk, who has openly supported the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as the country’s “last spark of hope.” “Where Germany goes from here will be decided by you – the citizens. It will not be decided by the owners of social media channels,” Scholz said, without calling the X owner out by name.

“In our debates, one might be forgiven for thinking that the more extreme an opinion is, the more attention it garners. But it won’t be the person who yells the loudest who will decide where Germany goes from here. Rather, that will be up to the vast majority of reasonable and decent people,” he added. Musk’s recent endorsements of the AfD, which is under surveillance by domestic intelligence for its alleged “extremist” views, has drawn widespread criticism from German officials. The billionaire, a key adviser to US President-elect Donald Trump, has been vocal on social media and in opinion pieces, praising the AfD and criticizing mainstream German politicians. Friedrich Merz, the head of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), called Musk’s endorsement “overbearing and presumptuous.” Lars Klingbeil, co-chairman of Scholz’s Social Democrats, compared Musk to Russian President Vladimir Putin, claiming that both aim to weaken Germany and plunge it into chaos.

A government spokeswoman, Christiane Hoffmann, said at a news conference on Monday that while everyone has the right to an opinion, Musk is attempting to influence the German election. Scholz’s coalition government collapsed in November over disagreements regarding Ukraine aid and economic policies. The chancellor lost a confidence vote in December, leading to the dissolution of parliament and the scheduling of snap elections on February 23. The chancellor’s New Year’s Eve address also touched on other pressing issues, including Germany’s flagging economy, the recent attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, and the upcoming 35th anniversary of German reunification. Scholz urged Germans to resist manipulation and “not let ourselves be played off each other.”

According to Statista, 56% of Germans believe Scholz has done a poor job, while 37% are satisfied with his performance. This rating reflects concerns over Germany’s economic stagnation, his migration policies, and a general perception of ineffective governance. The AfD is currently polling second with around 20%, behind the CDU/CSU bloc at about 31%. However, a strong performance by the AfD could make forming a government more challenging, as all mainstream parties have ruled out a coalition with it.

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AI is very dangerous. Make no mistake.

Encode Joins Musk in Fight Against OpenAI’s For-Profit Transition (ET)

Encode, an artificial intelligence (AI) advocacy group, filed a brief in support of Elon Musk’s recent lawsuit against OpenAI, arguing that enabling the conversion toward a for-profit entity could endanger public interest. Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI last month, arguing that the entity was formed on promises that it would retain its nonprofit status focused on safe AI use. Musk said he invested in the project based on this premise. Disrupting the status quo “will seriously harm plaintiffs and the public at large,” the complaint said. In the brief, Encode is described as “a youth-led organization advocating for safe and responsible artificial intelligence (AI)” with “a network of over 1,000 volunteers across 40 countries.” On Dec. 27, Encode filed a proposed amicus curiae brief with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Oakland Division, supporting Musk’s motion for a preliminary injunction against the transition.

“If the world truly is at the cusp of a new age of artificial general intelligence (AGI), then the public has a profound interest in having that technology controlled by a public charity legally bound to prioritize safety and the public benefit rather than an organization focused on generating financial returns for a few privileged investors,” the brief said. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has admitted that AI poses severe risks to humanity, Encode said. Altman signed a statement along with numerous luminaries, including Nobel Prize winners, saying that “mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority.” People worldwide are already facing challenges from AI technologies including disinformation, algorithmic bias, labor displacement, and democratic erosion, which makes keeping AI safe a “pressing, immediate concern,” the advocacy group said.

OpenAI currently runs a capped-profit subsidiary that is fully controlled by the OpenAI nonprofit parent company, which is expected to ensure the safe use of AGI. In Delaware, where OpenAI is incorporated, the boards of nonprofit charitable corporations owe fiduciary duties toward their beneficiaries, which in this case would be humanity, Encode said. By transferring operations to a Delaware public benefit corporation (PBC), OpenAI’s priorities would shift from ensuring the safety of advanced AI to shareholder interests. Allowing such a transition is harmful to the public interest, the brief said. In a Dec. 27 blog post titled “Why OpenAI’s Structure Must Evolve to Advance Our Mission”, OpenAI said that transitioning to a PBC would be best for the long-term success of the nonprofit’s mission to ensure that AI benefits all of humanity.

“The PBC is a structure used by many others that requires the company to balance shareholder interests, stakeholder interests, and a public benefit interest in its decision making”, the post said. OpenAI began as a research lab in 2015. It had a goal of advancing AI in a way “most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return,” the post said. Out of the $137 million in donations it collected initially, less than a third came from Musk. After OpenAI management realized the project would require “far more capital,” they created the current for-profit structure controlled by the nonprofit in a bid to collect funds from investors. According to OpenAI, the new PBC “will run and control OpenAI’s operations and business, while the non-profit will hire a leadership team and staff to pursue charitable initiatives in sectors such as health care, education, and science.”

In a Dec. 13 post, OpenAI had dismissed claims made by Musk in his lawsuit. It said the lawsuit was the fourth legal challenge against OpenAI by the billionaire in less than a year. “In 2017, Elon not only wanted, but actually created, a for-profit as OpenAI’s proposed new structure. When he didn’t get majority equity and full control, he walked away and told us we would fail,” it said. “Now that OpenAI is the leading AI research lab and Elon runs a competing AI company, he’s asking the court to stop us from effectively pursuing our mission.” Besides the ethical concerns, Musk alleged in the complaint that OpenAI and its investor Microsoft roughly control around 70 percent of the generative AI market and engage in “anticompetitive conduct.”

OpenAI and Microsoft ban investors from funding OpenAI’s competitors, specifically Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, it said. “OpenAI’s path from a nonprofit to for-profit behemoth is replete with per se anticompetitive practices, flagrant breaches of its charitable mission, and rampant self-dealing,” the complaint said. xAI was formed in July 2023. The company introduced the Grok-1 AI model on the X social media platform a few months later, in November 2023, and has introduced updates to the tool. In May, xAI raised $6 billion in funding. Last week, xAI said it has closed the funding and that the company’s progress is “accelerating rapidly.”

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30-year old hearsay devoid of any evidence. Wonder what the Supreme Court thinks of that..

Appeals Court Upholds Trump’s Liability in E. Jean Carroll Case (Spencer)

The election is over, Trump has been reelected, but the lawfare continues nonetheless. On Monday, a federal appeals court that must have been under the influence of some psychotropic drug upheld Trump’s liability for supposedly sexually abusing the partisan fantasist E. Jean Carroll in a Bloomingdale’s dressing room sometime in the 1990s. Carroll’s story has more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese that has been used for target practice, but despite lacking any evidence, she keeps winning in court — believe all women, doncha know, even the crazy mendacious ones. Trump’s team is going to keep on appealing, and that’s good. Maybe sanity will prevail at some point. Fox News reported Monday that the appeals court’s is “a blow to the president-elect,” and leaves him “on the hook for the $5 million payout ordered by the jury.”

An unnamed panel of three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which consists of 27 judges in all, issued an unsigned ruling claiming that Trump’s attorneys had not succeeded in establishing “that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings.” The Trump team “has not carried his burden to show that any claimed error or combination of claimed errors affected his substantial rights as required to warrant a new trial.” In the immortal words of Peter Lorre in the cinematic classic “All Through the Night,” “But that’s silly!” Back in Sept. 2024, the Post Millennial reported that Trump attorney Will Scharf, “speaking at Trump Tower in New York City after a hearing to ask to overturn the final verdict against Trump in the E Jean Carroll case,” pointed out quite correctly that the alleged victim’s story “at its heart is an utterly implausible, he said she said story.”

Serious allegations of this kind are supposed to be established on the basis of evidence and witnesses, but Scharf noted that in this case, there was “no corroboration for anything” that Carroll claimed about what went on between her and Trump. The fix was in from the beginning: Carroll’s attorneys never produced any “corroborating witnesses” or “confirmatory DNA.” She filed no police report at the time of the supposed incident, and couldn’t even say when exactly her encounter with Trump was supposed to have happened. “No surveillance evidence or witnesses have ever been found or come forward confirming any asked of E Jean Carroll’s story.” Even worse, the case only went to court in the first place because corrupt leftists changed the rules so that they could get Trump.

As PJM’s Ben Bartee noted back in Apr. 2023, Carroll was only able to file her case at all because of “an exception carved out in the New York state legal code that many speculate was crafted especially to enable the prosecution of Trump.” New York Magazine explained at that time that Carroll was able to file her suit “because of the Adult Survivors Act, a new New York state law that went into effect that same month giving adult survivors of sexual misconduct a one-year window to file civil cases that would otherwise be outside the statute of limitations.” So New York changed the law to get Trump, Carroll took immediate advantage and now the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is playing along with this vicious and partisan charade.

There are more problems besides all that. In 2019, Carroll appeared on the cover of New York Magazine beside a large headline that read: “This is what I was wearing 23 years ago when Donald Trump attacked me in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room.” Yet the Donna Karan dress she was wearing on the magazine cover wasn’t manufactured at the time of the alleged encounter between Trump and Carroll. And while the magazine cover is certain that the “attack” took place in 1996, Carroll has never been that definite.

This sort of thing should have gotten the case thrown out of court on the first day, but that would require those who brought it into court in the first place to be interested in justice when all they really wanted to do was get Trump. And get him they did: Fox notes that the appeals court’s ruling “comes after a New York jury last year found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll, a former Elle magazine advice columnist, in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman store in the mid-1990s—and for subsequently defaming her when she came forward with her story during his first term in office.”

This isn’t over. Steven Cheung, a Trump transition spokesman and incoming White House communications director, stated: “The American People have re-elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate, and they demand an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and a swift dismissal of all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded Carroll Hoax, which will continue to be appealed. We look forward to uniting our country in the new administration as President Trump makes America great again.” So do we, Mr. Cheung. We look forward to the day when all the plotters against our free republic are unmasked, and E. Jean Carroll is publicly known as what she really is. Are there still courts that are free enough of corruption and politicization to bring that day closer?

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Jack is licking his wounds.

Jack Smith Drops Appeal Of Classified Docs Case (JTN)

Special counsel Jack Smith on Monday withdrew his appeals request for his Florida classified documents case against President-elect Donald Trump’s co-defendants. The attorney dropped his appeal against Trump last month after Trump won reelection to the White House, citing a Justice Department policy not to prosecute sitting presidents. Trump will be sworn in next month. Smith previously accused Trump in 2022 of improperly taking classified documents from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. But the case was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in July, who cited the constitutionality of Smith’s appointment as special counsel.

Trump and the co-defendants, longtime Trump aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago employee Carlos De Oliveira, all pleaded not guilty to the charges. The new order withdraws Smith’s appeal in the prosecution of the two co-defendants, per ABC News. Smith also passed the appeal to federal prosecutors in Florida, including U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Markenzy Lapointe. It is not clear whether the prosecutors intend to continue the appeal. Smith is expected to step down from his post ahead of Trump’s inauguration next month.

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Time for Trump to apply force. Without a speaker in place, everything he wants will be delayed.

Even With Trump’s Endorsement, Johnson’s Speakership Is Far From Secure (JTN)

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R., La., faces a difficult path toward retaining the speaker’s gavel in the next Congress, even with President-elect Donald Trump’s endorsement. When the House votes on Friday, lawmakers will hold a formal contest in which the prospective leader must secure a majority of votes to lead the chamber. That process is likely to give irate conservatives an opportunity to keep the Louisiana Republican from returning to the top job. The House elections returned a narrow Republican majority, which will temporarily shrink as Trump has tapped members of the lower chamber to serve in his administration. In early 2023, Kevin McCarthy, then the Republican leader, struggled to claim the gavel as roughly 20 Republicans sought to extract budgetary concessions from him. McCarthy ultimately lost the post when roughly half a dozen Republicans voted with Democrats to boot him from the job.

Republicans won 220 seats in the 2024 House elections, compared to the 215 that went for the Democrats. Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., left Congress after Trump named him as his pick for attorney general, though he later withdrew himself from consideration. His seat will not be filled by the time of the leadership contest. At least some journalists, however, have raised questions as to whether Gaetz may yet take the oath of office to vote this week as he was elected to the next Congress. Johnson will face a narrower majority than McCarthy did two years prior, and, arguably, a more frustrated bloc of budget hawks. Johnson only claimed the gavel after several other Republicans failed to win the support of the disparate wings of the conference. But Trump’s endorsement could prove a boon to him as he seeks to unify Republicans.

“Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man. He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social. That endorsement seems to have one over at least one member of the anti-McCarthy bloc that brought down Johnson’s predecessor. “Trump endorsing Johnson is ‘art of the deal’ level practicality. We could never have held up McCarthy two years ago for concessions if a Trump certification hung in the balance,” Gaetz posted. “Now, it does. We were able to hold up McCarthy because Republican voters weren’t all that eager to see us getting back to being Biden’s bitch (which Kevin ultimately did anyway). The resistance to [Johnson] is now futile. Let’s work to make him the best version of himself (which was more like the 2023 vintage of Mike).”

Unfortunately for Johnson, Gaetz’s ability to vote at all appears unlikely. Other dissidents, however, have suggested they will not support Johnson, with Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Victoria Sparz, R-Ind., among the most prominent of his critics. “I respect and support President Trump, but his endorsement of Mike Johnson is going to work out about as well as his endorsement of Speaker Paul Ryan,” Massie posted on X. “We’ve seen Johnson partner with the democrats to send money to Ukraine, authorize spying on Americans, and blow the budget.” “Mike Johnson is the next Paul Ryan. On January 3rd, 2025, I won’t be voting for Mike Johnson. I hope my colleague will join me because history will not give America another ‘do-over,’” he added.

“There are a lot of other people who are interested,” Spartz said Monday on “Fox and Friends.” “He didn’t deliver for President Trump, too, what he promised just recently.” “He needs to be able to convince the American people that he is able to do it,” she added.

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“These groups form a censorship consortium where the suppression of speech attracts millions in federal dollars.”

Let’s Get the United States Out of the Censorship Business (Turley)

On this New Year’s Eve, billions of people will gather with friends to ring in 2025 with the hope of a better year to come. For the first time in many years, free-speech advocates have a reason to celebrate. With 2024, we will say goodbye to one of the most reviled offices in the Biden Administration: The Global Engagement Center. I discuss the Center in my recent book, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage as one of the most active components in the massive censorship system funded by the Biden Administration. The demise of the GEC is a good start. However, like weight loss resolutions, it will take much more of a commitment if we are going to restore free speech in the United States. It is time to make the ultimate resolution to rip out the censorship root and stem from our government.

This month, the Biden Administration fought to keep the GEC funded, but Republicans refused to include it in the continuing resolution for the budget. However, even with the closure of this one office, Biden will leave behind the most comprehensive censorship system in the history of the United States. Over the last three years, many of us have detailed a comprehensive system of grants to academic and third party organizations to create blacklists or to pressure advertisers to withdraw support for targeted sites. The subjects for censorship ranged from election fraud to social justice to climate change. I testified at the first hearing by the special committee investigating the censorship system funded or coordinated by the Biden Administration.

It is an unprecedented alliance of corporate, government, and academic groups against free speech in the United States. The Biden Administration established the most anti-free speech record since the Adams Administration. House investigations showed the critical role played by government officials in “switchboarding,” or channeling demands for removal or bans in social media. Officials evaded the limits of the First Amendment by using these groups as surrogates for censorship. Even with the elimination of the GEC, other offices remain in various agencies, including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in the Department of Homeland Security, which emerged as one of the critical control centers in this system.

CISA head Jen Easterly declared that her agency’s mandate over critical infrastructure would be extended to include “our cognitive infrastructure.” That includes not just “disinformation” and “misinformation,” but combating “malinformation” – described as information “based on fact, but used out of context to mislead, harm, or manipulate.” These groups form a censorship consortium where the suppression of speech attracts millions in federal dollars. Election Integrity Partnership (EIP) was created in association with Stanford University “at the request of DHS/CISA.” EIP supplied a “centralized reporting system” to process what were known as “Jira tickets” targeting unacceptable views. It would include not only politicians but commentators and pundits as well as the satirical site The Babylon Bee.

Stanford’s Virality Project pushed to censor even true facts since “true stories … could fuel hesitancy” over taking the vaccine or other measures. Emails show government officials stressing that they could not be seen as “openly endors[ing]” censorship while other groups sought to minimize public scrutiny of their work. For example, one article featured the work of Kate Starbird, director and co-founder of the University of Washington Center for an Informed Public. In one communication, Starbird cautioned against giving examples of disinformation to keep them from being used by critics, adding “since everything is politicized and disinformation inherently political, every example is bait.” Likewise, University of Michigan’s James Park is shown pitching that school’s WiseDex First Pitch program, promising that “our misinformation service helps policy makers at platforms who want to . . . push responsibility for difficult judgments to someone outside the company . . . by externalizing the difficult responsibility of censorship.”

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“Trump for his part has less than zero incentive to be dragged into a further quagmire; leave that to the clueless European chihuahuas.”

2025: A Second Renaissance, Or Chaos? (Pepe Escobar)

FLORENCE – It’s a dazzling Tuscan winter morning, and I am inside the legendary Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella, founded in the early 13th century and finally consecrated in 1420, in a very special place in History of Art: right in front of one of the monochrome frescos painted in 1447-1448 by master of perspective Paolo Uccello, depicting the Universal Deluge. It’s as if Paolo Uccello was depicting us – in our current times of trouble. So inspired by neoplatonic superstar Marsilio Ficino – immortalized in a chic red robe by Ghirlandaio at the Cappella Tornabuoni – I tried to pull off a back to the future and ideally imagine who and what Paolo Uccello would feature in his depiction of our current deluge.

Let’s start with the positives. 2024 was the Year of the BRICS – with the merit for all the accomplishments going for the tireless work of the Russian presidency. 2024 was also the Year of the Axis of Resistance – until the serial blows suffered during the past few months, a serious challenge which will propel its rejuvenation. And 2024 was the year that defined the lineaments of the endgame in the proxy war in Ukraine: what remains to be seen is how deep the “rules-based international order” will be buried in the black soil of Novorossiya. Now let’s turn to the auspicious prospects ahead. 2025 will be the year of consolidation of China as the paramount geoeconomics force on the planet. It will be the year where the defining battle of the 21st century – Eurasia v. NATOstan – will be sharpened in an array of unpredictable vectors. And it will be the year of advancing, interlocking connectivity corridors – the defining factor in Eurasia integration.

Not by accident Iran is central to this interlocking connectivity – from the Strait of Hormuz (through which transits, daily, at least 23% of the world’s oil) to the port of Chabahar, which links West Asia with South Asia. Connectivity corridors to watch are the return of one of the top Pipelineistan sagas, the 1,800 km-long Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline; the International North South Transportation Corridor (INSTC), which links three BRICS (Russia-Iran-India) and several aspiring BRICS partners; the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) project; and last but not least, the fast advancing Northern Sea Route (or Northern Silk Road, as the Chinese call it), which will eventually become the cheapest and fastest alternative to the Suez canal.

A few days before the start of Trump 2.0 in Washington, Russia and Iran will finally, officially sign a comprehensive strategic partnership deal in Moscow, over two years in the making: once again, a key deal between two top BRICS, with immense, cascading repercussions in Eurasia integration terms. A completely sealed channel of negotiation Dmitri Trenin, respected member of Russia’s Foreign and Defense Policy Council, has what is so far the most realist road map for an acceptable end of the proxy war in Ukraine. “Acceptable” does not even begin to describe it – because from the point of view of the collective West political “elites” which bet the farm and the bank on this war, nothing is acceptable except Russia’s strategic defeat, which will never happen.

As it stands, President Putin is in fact containing elite sectors in Moscow who favor not only cutting off the head of the snake but the body as well. Trump for his part has less than zero incentive to be dragged into a further quagmire; leave that to the clueless European chihuahuas.

Read more …

Everything linked to healthcare will be fought in bloody battles. RFK, Makary, Bhattacharya et al. Too much money involved. Nothing to do with care quality. A sad picture.

COVID Catechists Come For Incoming NIH Chief Bhattacharya (JTN)

Proponents of once-dominant COVID-19 views and policy, from the natural origin of SARS-CoV-2 to mandatory lockdowns, remote learning, masking and vaccines, often chose between two strategies to marginalize dissenters. They flooded medical licensing boards with complaints against doctors such as Minnesota’s Scott Jensen, who faced new investigations from Democratic Gov. Tim Walz’s administration after announcing his candidacy for governor, or sought to destroy their reputations in general, scientific and social media, calling them racist, cold-hearted and “fringe.” The Supreme Court will soon vote on hearing a First Amendment case that could put the kibosh on such license investigations, while COVID catechists are making a last-ditch effort to stop Senate confirmation of an epidemiologist targeted by name by his predecessor.

Justice Clarence Thomas scheduled a judicial conference for Jan. 10 on whether to block Washington state’s crusade against doctors based on their COVID views before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules in the case by NBA legend John Stockton, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Children’s Health Defense and several doctors. The plaintiffs’ application for injunction, rejected by Justice Elena Kagan on Nov. 20, also invites the high court to accept the whole case “to provide a definitive nationwide ruling on whether physicians’ public speech is fully protected” and requires the strict-scrutiny standard of judicial review, given “an ongoing nationwide campaign to censor dissenting speech.” Scientific American raised eyebrows with a Dec. 19 opinion essay that allegedly retcons the mainstream response to Stanford medical professor Jay Bhattacharya, nominated by President-elect Trump for National Institutes of Health director, who is also a plaintiff in a First Amendment lawsuit rebooted after an early SCOTUS setback.

Its sibling Nature Medicine required the authors of “Proximal Origin,” covertly shaped by then-NIH Director Francis Collins and then-National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, to completely rule out a COVID lab leak before it would publish their paper, which cemented natural origin as gospel. Bhattacharya made himself persona non grata with the public health establishment in spring 2020 by running a seroprevalence study in Stanford’s backyard that found infection was already widespread before lockdowns, undermining elite narratives of COVID’s universal risk. Months later he cowrote the Great Barrington Declaration against lockdowns and in favor of “focused protection” for populations most vulnerable to COVID, which played a role in Stanford faculty pressuring the university to dump the Hoover Institution, with which Bhattacharya and fellow lockdown critic Scott Atlas are affiliated.

Bhattacharya accused university leadership of cowardice for not speaking against faculty efforts to censor him, Atlas and meta-research pioneer John Ioannidis, whose seroprevalence studies similarly undermined COVID narratives and who first warned of the weak evidence for drastic mitigation efforts he compared to “an elephant being attacked by a house cat.” Collins told Fauci, who is now a non-teaching professor at Georgetown, that he wanted a “quick and devastating public take down” of the “fringe epidemiologists” who wrote the GBD, because they were “getting too much traction” and it was even signed by “a Nobel Prize winner,” Stanford biophysicist Michael Levitt. Bhattacharya told Just the News, No Noise before President Biden’s reelection withdrawal that he was working on a public health reform plan for the next president, which would remove large pharmaceutical influence from the Food and Drug Administration and refocus the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention away from politics and back on science.

Read more …

Article’s much longer. Iran etc.

Jimmy Carter’s Legacy Still Hampers A World Trump Must Fix (JTN)

As the tributes roll in before America bids farewell to Jimmy Carter, current global turbulence provides fresh reminders that the decisions the late 39th president made in office continue to impact the world four decades later and present both challenges and opportunities for the man about to assume the White House for a second term. Many of the issues confronting President-elect Donald Trump – Iran, the Panama Canal, the Education Department and appeasement diplomacy – have their roots in the Carter presidency, a reality that can’t be erased by the significant humanitarian achievements the former president aggregated after he left office or the widely recognized kindness of the God-fearing, Navy-serving peanut farmer who lived to be 100.

“I don’t think there’s anyone that would say a bad thing about him, personally,” said Nicholas Giordano, a political science professor at Suffolk Community College and a popular podcaster. “He was genuinely a good and decent human being. “But it shows you that sometimes being good and decent isn’t necessarily equating to success as president,” he added. Here are a few of the good-guy-bad-policy debates that arose in Carter’s final days on earth as Trump prepares to return to the White House next month.

Panama Canal The Panama Canal was an engineering marvel that the United States built and paid for in 1914 and that Carter gifted away in a 1977 treaty. That treaty gave Panama full control of the canal as of 1999 after decades of U.S. operation, but it also codified it would remain free and neutral to shipping traffic. Carter declared at the time the transaction removed “the last remnant of alleged American colonialism.” Critics like Ronald Reagan, however, warned the treaty gave away America’s hard-earned construction genius and would one day place the western world in a security lurch over one of the most important marine passageways in the world. “The canal is ours, we bought and we paid for it and we should keep it,” the late Republican Sen. Strom Thurmond said at the time.

China and Panama Those security concerns are coming into clearer focus today as communist China’s companies have won bids in the last decade for several major infrastructure projects like power plants, a bridge and canal locks near the site. To show his newfound influence in Panama, President Xi also made a state visit to Panama in 2018 after the Latin American country joined Beijing’s “Belt and Road” initiative. Today, Panamanian exports to China dwarf those to the United States and imports from Beijing have caught up to those from America, a tilt in economic allegiance that is nearly as concerning to members of Congress as the growth of the Chinese presence around the famed canal.

“A visitor to the Panama Canal might think they were in China. Ports at both ends of the Canal are managed by companies from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), while Huawei dominates the country’s telecoms system,” then-Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., wrote in a Newsweek Op/Ed a year ago as part of his leadership of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. “Panama illustrates the relentless advance of CCP influence across the Western Hemisphere,” he added. “…. The real prize is control—not only control of strategic points such as the Panama Canal and ports but of natural resources, telecommunications, and ultimately governments.”

Trump began raising such concerns in 2019 and he catapulted the issue to the front of public consciousness over the Christmas holiday with a bold declaration. If Panama doesn’t begin lowering shipping rates for passage through the canal, “we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, quickly and without question,” he wrote on Truth Social. Liberals and Panamanians scoffed at such a notion. But Trump’s declaration seized public fascination, prompting a debate unlike anything since Carter first touched off a firestorm with the treaty. Even left-leaning National Public Radio had to admit “it feels like 1976 all over again.” Wherever Trump’s quest on the canal ends, the debate was just one reminder in Carter’s final days that his decisions five decades ago continue to raise concern today.

[..] The Biden department’s advocacy for far-left ideologies like DEI and allowing transgender men in women’s sports also disillusioned many Americans, adding fresh public support for a smaller, if not eliminated agency. While the statistics show student performance has stagnated, many feel the overall state of education has declined. “All of these things have gotten worse since we created a Federal Department of Education,” Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters told Just the News on Monday. “We’ve allowed the left to win this argument for too long: give more power to bureaucrats, give more power to government, and our kids will magically get smarter. Well, that’s just not true,” he added. “As a matter of fact, the opposite is true. The more that you give power to the government, the less power families have.”

When the nation mourns Carter at his Jan. 9 State Funeral in Washington, D.C., he will accurately be remembered for his kindness, his faith, his service to country and the humanitarian achievements of his years out of office. But his successor as the 47th president will also be face global and national challenges that were also of Carter’s making, and history will ultimately write the final chapter on how those turned out. “Look, he was a statesman,” Walters said of Carter. “His impact, especially after coming out of the White House, was tremendous. You know, a guy that really gave a tremendous amount from him and his family to his fellow man. But listen, I. I think when you study history, we’ve got to be up front with our kids. “It doesn’t matter if you’re Republican, Democrat, what your background is. We’ve got to go in and say, here’s what happened while this person was president. Here were their policies. Here was the impact,” he added.

Read more …

Saw the first clip a while back. Looks good.

Paramount Series ‘Landman’ Surprises With Anti-Climate Agenda Message (ZH)

It’s been a long time since conservatives were treated like the “good guys” by Hollywood, largely because ESG initiatives and the over-representation of social justice cultism on social media convinced production companies that it was more lucrative to go woke. However, this assumption turned out to be a massive error in calculation as “Get Woke, Go Broke” became the mantra that ultimately toppled the media industry and the Democratic Party.Today, the majority of entertainment companies are struggling with failure after failure; most of their projects lose vast sums of money and producers have been unable to squeeze any blood from the classic franchises they used to rely on. When corporations like Disney are actually losing money on Star Wars and Marvel, you know that audience boycotts are becoming effective.

Well, it appear that someone in Tinsel Town is finally listening. Paramount, another company known for a steady stream of woke disasters, saw some streaming series gold with the success of ‘Yellowstone’ – The Kevin Costner led show featured conservative Montana ranchers battling to maintain their legacy. Though, the company could not help itself and started implanting woke messaging in the later seasons.Yellowstone might have given Paramount a taste of that old-school era of big money entertainment, and they have doubled down on what can only be described as an ultra-MAGA series called ‘Landman’ starring Billy Bob Thornton.

Thornton plays Tommy Norris, a “crisis executive” or “fixer” for a small Texas oil company. While the show does involve some extraordinary plot twists to keep the audience invested, each event ties back to very real problems related to the dangerous business of oil drilling, the open US border, Mexican drug cartels, government interference and disinformation from the environmental lobby. You might not find a more fair or factual depiction of the American oil industry in modern media.

Perhaps the most exciting thing about Landman is that someone at Paramount had the stones to green light a show that speaks against the man-made climate change agenda and the fraudulent claims of the “sustainable” energy lobby. It doesn’t glamorize oil, but it acknowledges that there are no practical alternatives. In terms of story, Thornton’s character is great at his job, but terrible at raising his family. This leads to some hilarious discomfort as his histrionic ex-wife, impulsive teenage daughter and strong-headed 20-something son come back into his life and collide. Though highly flawed, Thornton’s sharp Texas wit keeps you laughing at his domestic mistakes and misfortunes. Keep in mind, Landman is definitely not a family show.

Conservatives will probably gravitate to the straightforward depiction of the working man’s world and the dangers involved in resource industries like oil. These are the vital jobs and men that keep the world running, and many of them die while trying to earn a paycheck. Landman makes no attempt to demean or belittle blue collar workers and its simple exploration of their daily lives comes off as shockingly empathetic. Appealing to the working man in media without pandering is a tough balance, but Landman does it well. There’s also no absurd melodrama or unrealistic character changes to artificially drive the plot forward. What you see is what you get, which is incredibly refreshing these days.

Overall, Landman is definitely worth a watch. It’s important to encourage entertainment companies by rewarding them when they abandon woke messaging and make something intelligent. This is not to say that they won’t screw up the show by adding leftist propaganda in later seasons (we all know liberal executives can’t control themselves), but the first season of Landman is a win.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Commercial

 

 

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Howl

 

 

Great white
https://twitter.com/i/status/1874098182403330264

 

 

Kestrel

 

 

Heaven
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Auld

 

 

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle January 1 2025

  • This topic has 59 replies, 14 voices, and was last updated 1 month ago by Dr. D.
Viewing 20 posts - 41 through 60 (of 60 total)
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  • #178247
    those darned kids
    Participant

    #178248
    John Day
    Participant

    Am I In Heaven https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/am-i-in-heaven

    ​ The old world is dying, the new one has not yet been born. It’s the time of monsters
    ​ Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s former chief and architect of the West’s aggressive escalation against Russia, is stepping into his role as co-chair of the Bilderberg Group, a fitting appointment for an era where Western hegemony is fracturing.
    ​ His tenure at NATO transformed Europe into a militarized vassal, funneling billions into U.S.-led defense ventures under the guise of “collective security.” Now, Stoltenberg is tasked with ensuring that the Atlanticist (NATO) machine continues to churn, even as Trump’s “America First” agenda looms over the alliance.
    ​ With Stoltenberg at the helm, Bilderberg solidifies its role as the backroom engine of endless wars. This is no mere “discussion forum.” Its steering committee is packed with defense industry titans and Big Tech moguls, from Palantir’s Alex Karp, who brags about “targeting in Ukraine” to Eric Schmidt, now peddling kamikaze drones. These aren’t strategists, they’re profiteers, ensuring war remains the most lucrative business model on Earth.​..
    ..Here’s the bitter truth: Bilderberg’s facelift under Stoltenberg doesn’t change its essence. It remains a club for empire managers desperate to cling to a world order that no longer works. The question isn’t whether Bilderberg can adapt, it’s whether the world will allow this cabal of warmongers and profiteers to dictate humanity’s future.​ https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/news-selections/world-news/op-ed-the-old-world-is-dying-the-new-one-has-not-yet-been-born-its-the-time-of-monsters

    Biden announces $5.9 billion for Ukraine amid final aid push​ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/12/31/world/politics/biden-ukraine-final-aid-push/

    ​ Ukraine, World Bank sign $15B agreement funded by US: Premier
    “The United States will provide Ukraine with $15 billion, secured by revenues from frozen Russian assets,” Shmyhal said in a statement on Telegram.​ https://www.yenisafak.com/en/world/ukraine-world-bank-sign-15b-agreement-funded-by-us-premier-3696493

    Ukraine ends transit of Russian gas to EU​ (Not a “threat”, but a natural consequence) Slovakia has threatened to cut electricity to Kiev following the suspension​ https://swentr.site/russia/610258-russia-halt-gas-supply-eu-ukraine/

    #178249
    John Day
    Participant

    ​ The period of good fortune is over: Europe prepares for an era of constant fear of an energy crisis
    A combination of cold weather and weak winds has already forced Europe to use more of its gas reserves than is typical for this time of year, with levels reaching below 75% in mid-winter. With supplies from Russia now guaranteed to be cut off, Europe is starting a tough life on its own in the energy sector, which will cause problems elsewhere.​ https://en.topcor.ru/55163-period-vezenija-zakonchilsja-evropa-gotovitsja-k-jepohe-postojannogo-straha-jenergeticheskogo-krizisa.html

    ​ Russia plans to reconnect ZNPP to grid, aims full reactor activation
    According to the plant’s administration, ensuring nuclear safety remains a top priority, especially given the ongoing risks from strikes by Ukrainian forces.
    ​ This announcement was made by Sergei Kiriyenko, Russia’s first deputy chief of staff in the presidential executive office, during his visit to Energodar and the ZNPP.
    ​Kiriyenko expressed optimism about the plant’s role in enhancing Russia’s energy system, stating, “The Zaporizhzhia NPP will be reconnected to the energy system of our country as soon as the situation allows and will make a significant contribution to achieving energy sustainability in Russia.”​ https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/russia-plans-to-reconnect-znpp-to-grid–aims-full-reactor-ac

    ​ Moon of Alabama, 2025 – Ukraine On The Verge Of Defeat
    ​ In 2023 the situation in Ukraine had developed into what looked like a stalemate. But 2024 proved that bigger things had been in the making. In 2024, after taking Avdivka, the Russian forces began to deliberate and steadily move forward.
    ​ The introduction of FAB bombs, precision ammunition delivered from airplanes flying outside Ukrainian air defenses, broke the Ukrainian defense fortifications. Russian infantry, covered by ample artillery and with the help drones, infiltrated and overwhelmed Ukrainian lines. An ever increasing shortage of Ukrainian troops helped to increase the tempo of progress.
    ​ Diversion action, by Russia in the Kharkiv region and by Ukraine itself due to its attack into the Kursk region, further weakened the Ukrainian lines. A high number of casualties, unmotivated troops and a lack of heavy equipment have since diminished the Ukrainian forces. The downward spiral the Ukrainian army is currently in is likely to continue.​ https://www.moonofalabama.org/2025/01/ukraine-sitrep.html#more

    ​ US must make first step to restore ties with Russia — Lavrov
    “So we’ll see. If the Americans begin to take our interests into account, dialogue will gradually recover. If not – then everything will remain the way it is​.”​ https://tass.com/politics/1895241

    Russia may be willing to pay to rebuild Ukraine along USSR-infrastructure models as a sweetener, if they officially get the 4 oblasts, and guaranties of No-NATO-ever. Russia not satisfied with Trump team’s proposals on Ukraine — Lavrov
    At the same time, Lavrov noted that Moscow has not received any official signals from the United States on the Ukrainian settlement at the moment​ https://tass.com/politics/1895237

    #178250
    John Day
    Participant

    ​”Whistle while you work”… Israeli soldiers post videos of Gaza homes torched with racist song.​ Videos accompanied by racist song, “Let your village burn”. https://www.trtworld.com/discrimination/israeli-soldiers-post-videos-of-gaza-homes-torched-with-racist-song-18248432

    ​ BBC staffers reveal editor’s ‘entire job’ to whitewash Jewish war crimes
    News editor Raffi Berg reportedly controls online coverage of genocide in Gaza to ensure Israeli crimes are ‘watered down’ or ignored​. https://www.vtforeignpolicy.com/2024/12/bbc-staffers-reveal-editors-entire-job-to-whitewash-jewish-war-crimes/

    ​ Israel splashes $150m in international PR to sway foreign opinion over Gaza genocide​
    Israel allocates millions for its 2025 budget to bolster international public relations over its military actions in Gaza.​ https://www.newarab.com/news/israel-splashes-150m-global-pr-sway-opinion-over-gaza-war

    ​Israel National News: US Jewish leaders to Pope: Refrain from making incendiary comments against Israel
    Conference of Presidents writes letter to Pope Francis following his criticism of Israel’s counterterrorism operations in Gaza:
    ​ “We appreciate and share your concern for the suffering of innocent civilians and desire to spread peace and compassion around the world. However, statements you have made including, ‘Yesterday children were bombed. This is cruelty, this is not war,’ only serve to distort Israel’s legitimate military campaign and fuel antisemitism and unjust targeting of the Jewish state.”​ https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/401619

    ​ BBC Staff in Open Revolt Over Gaza.
    The BBC is dealing with a major internal revolt about its reporting on the Israel-Gaza conflict. Journalists are claiming the organization is systematically biased and frames the story in a particular way.
    ​ The Dutch version of this article was censored by Facebook. Ironically, reporting on this censorship is also being censored
    The BBC is being generously funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to produce fake news. the amounts of money allocated by Bill Gates are in the billions.​..As outsiders, we are usually unaware of how reporting is manipulated and directed. There is no real gag order, but an individual journalist who spills the beans can fear for his or her career prospects.
    ​ It is only when things get out of hand and a group of journalists publicly express their grievances that we get a glimpse of this invisible but very present pressure on reporting. In recent months, this has been the case with regard to BBC reporting on the war against Gaza.
    ​ In November 2024, more than 100 journalists from the public broadcaster signed an open letter calling for fairer and more accurate reporting.
    They accuse the BBC of systematic bias, emphasizing Israeli narratives, undervaluing Palestinian victims, and failing to reflect the asymmetry of the conflict. https://www.globalresearch.ca/bbc-staff-open-revolt-gaza/5876030

    #178251
    John Day
    Participant

    ​ EU Ministers reject Israeli Arms BAN despite Gaza War Crimes and Genocide Evidence
    European Union foreign ministers rejected a proposal to halt arms exports to “Israel” last month, despite being presented with evidence of war crimes and genocide in an internal EU assessment.
    ​ The 35-page report, authored by Olof Skoog, the EU’s special representative for human rights, was sent to ministers ahead of a council meeting on November 18.
    ​ The document, which had not been disclosed before, presented findings from United Nations sources on violations of international humanitarian law committed by “Israel” and Hamas since the start of the war in October 2023.
    ​ The report emphasized the disproportionate toll on civilians in Gaza, with an estimated 45,000 deaths, more than half of whom were women and children.​ https://www.vtforeignpolicy.com/2024/12/eu-ministers-reject-israeli-arms-ban-despite-gaza-war-crimes-and-genocide-evidence/

    ​ When Democrats and liberals smeared Jimmy Carter for criticizing Israel
    Jimmy Carter, who died on Sunday at the age of 100, was attacked for telling the truth about Israel. Many Democrats joined the smear campaign.​ Carter was often celebrated for the humanitarian work he did after leaving office in 1981 and, unlike many other ex-presidents, he didn’t shy from weighing in on contemporary political debates.
    ​ In 2006, he published Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, which was based on his participation in the Camp David Accords. In the book, Carter argues that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land and continued expansion of illegal settlements are preventing a peace agreement from being reached…
    ​..“While I have tremendous respect for former President Carter, I fundamentally disagree and do not support his analysis of Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” said then Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, “On this issue President Carter speaks for himself, the opinions in his book are his own, they are not the views or position of the Democratic Party. I and other Democrats will continue to stand with Israel in its battle against terrorism and for a lasting peace with its neighbors.”
    ​ Then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi also helped distance the party from the book. “With all due respect to former President Carter, he does not speak for the Democratic Party on Israel,” she explained. “Democrats have been steadfast in their support of Israel from its birth, in part because we recognize that to do so is in the national security interests of the United States. We stand with Israel now and we stand with Israel forever.”​ https://mondoweiss.net/2024/12/when-democrats-and-liberals-smeared-jimmy-carter-for-criticizing-israel/

    ​ Bibi owns Donald, so he can ​safely say that. Gaza war not to end unless ordered by US president: Israeli media
    Israeli media explains that Benjamin Netanyahu would not end the war on Gaza unless a direct order comes from the president of the United States.​ https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/gaza-war-not-to-end-unless-ordered-by-us-president–israeli

    ​ ‘Can’t imagine how things can get any worse’: Doctors back from Gaza share horrors inflicted on Palestinians
    ‘When I was treating her, she asked me to come in closer to her. I came in closer to her, and she asked me, ‘doctor, am I in heaven,’ Doctor Mohamed Ashraf​ https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/cant-imagine-how-things-can-get-any-worse-doctors-back-from-gaza-share-horrors-inflicted-on-palestinians/3438994

    ​ 8-year-old boy is first 2025 victim of Israel’s Gaza genocide​. Israeli military kills Palestinian boy Adam Farhallah along with Khuloud Abu Daher, 27, in wee hours of the New Year​ https://www.trtworld.com/middle-east/8-year-old-boy-is-first-2025-victim-of-israels-gaza-genocide-18249274

    #178252
    John Day
    Participant

    ​ UN experts say Israel ‘must face consequences’ for undermining international law
    ​ A group of UN experts on Monday said that Israel “must face the consequences” of its campaign to undermine the legal framework for the protection of civilians in armed conflicts as the military aggression continues unabated…
    ​..“Indiscriminate attacks, including on shelters for displaced persons and the Kamal Adwan Hospital and its vicinity, and the intensification of siege conditions on northern Gaza for the last three months run contrary to Israel’s legal duty to ensure the protection of the civilian population,” they said.
    ​ “We are disturbed that this siege, coupled with expanding evacuation orders, appears intended to permanently displace the local population as a precursor to Gaza’s annexation in further violation of international law.”
    ​ Although Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territory was labeled “unlawful” by the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister, the experts said: “Nonetheless, Israel continues to face no real consequences, largely due to protection offered by its allies, who have gone so far as to join Israel in delegitimizing international institutions and besmirching Special Procedures mandate-holders.”
    ​ The experts reiterated the urgency of allowing independent and thorough investigations of serious violations of international law.
    ​ “Israel’s continued impunity sends a dangerous message suggesting that parties to other conflicts around the world need not comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law,” they said. “We cannot afford to lose the force of the multilateral system. Israel and its leaders must be held accountable.”​ https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241230-un-experts-say-israel-must-face-consequences-for-undermining-international-law/

    ​ Israel won’t allow Kamal Adwan Hospital to reopen
    Footage released by Israeli occupation forces captures the moments leading up to the detention of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, during a raid on Friday. The video shows Abu Safiya entering an Israeli military vehicle. He was subsequently detained and his current whereabouts remain unknown. Israel has since said it detained 240 Palestinians, including hospital staff, during the raid on the medical facility, which was then set on fire and rendered out of service.​ https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241230-report-israel-wont-allow-kamal-adwan-hospital-to-reopen/

    ​ Israeli army damages Baptist Hospital in Gaza
    ​The Israeli army targeted the Baptist Hospital in Gaza on Sunday, escalating the ongoing destruction in the northern areas of the Gaza Strip, reports Anadolu Agency.
    ​ Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that an Israeli artillery shell struck the top floor of the Baptist Hospital.
    The hospital remains the last functioning medical facility in northern Gaza after the Kamal Adwan Hospital was rendered inoperable after the Israeli army destroyed and partially burned the Kamal Adwan Hospital, according to Anadolu’s correspondent.​ https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241229-israeli-army-damages-baptist-hospital-in-gaza/

    ​ Another Palestinian detainee from Gaza dies in Israeli custody
    ​ Ashraf Fakhri Abu Warda, 51, breathed his last at Soroka Medical Center in the southern city of Beersheba, two days after he was transferred from the Negev Desert Prison in southern Israel, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement…
    ..Palestinian detainee Ashraf abu Warda has been declared killed due to harsh torture in #Israeli investigation slaughterhouse.​..
    ​..His family said that Abu Warda, who was detained by Israeli army forces in Gaza on 20 November 2023, had no known health issues before his detention.​ https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241229-another-palestinian-detainee-from-gaza-dies-in-israeli-custody/

    ​ At least 7 killed in Israeli strike on hospital in Gaza City
    ​At least seven people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a hospital in Gaza City on Sunday, the Civil Defence Service said, Anadolu news agency reported.
    ​ Spokesman Mahmoud Basal said several people were also injured in the attack that targeted the upper floor of Al-Wafa Hospital in the centre of the city.
    According to witnesses, an Israeli fighter jet hit the upper floor of the hospital, where scores of displaced civilians have taken shelter.​ https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241229-at-least-7-killed-in-israeli-strike-on-hospital-in-gaza-city/

    #178253
    John Day
    Participant

    “I don’t think it means what you think it means.” Israel violates cease-fire with Lebanon 6 times on 32nd day
    The Israeli military violated the cease-fire with Lebanon six times on its 32nd day, marking ongoing tensions in the region, the authorities said on Saturday.
    Since the cease-fire was declared on November 27, the Israeli army has committed a total of 325 violations, resulting in 33 deaths and 37 injuries.​ https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/israel-violates-cease-fire-with-lebanon-6-times-on-32nd-day/3437038

    Israel might stay in southern Lebanon beyond 60-day cease-fire deal: Report​ https://www.yenisafak.com/en/world/israel-might-stay-in-southern-lebanon-beyond-60-day-cease-fire-deal-report-3696446

    ​ Uh, “Yes”? Did the U.S. Army THAAD System Just Fail its First Ever Combat Test? Why Advanced Yemeni Missiles Pose New Challenges
    ​ On December 26 the U.S. Army for the first time employed a THAAD surface-to-air missile system to attempt to neutralise an airborne target. The system’s first combat test has long been anticipated, with THAAD having first entered service in 2006 with the promise of revolutionising American ground forces’ ability to intercept intermediate range ballistic missiles in the upper atmosphere…​ While the primary threat against which THAAD was deployed was the Iranian ballistic missile arsenal, its target on December 26 was a ballistic missile fired by Yemeni Ansurullah Coalition forces, with an unnamed American military source cited by local media stating that it was not confirmed whether the system hit its target.​..
    ​..Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Bill LaPlante in November highlighted the growing consensus to this effect, stating that its arsenal included missiles which “can do things that are just amazing.” “I’m an engineer and a physicist, and I’ve been around missiles my whole career. What I’ve seen of what the Houthis [Ansurullah] have done in the last six months is something that — I’m just shocked,” he stated.​ https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/us-army-thaad-fail-first-combat-test-yemeni-missiles

    ​ US, UK renew airstrikes on Yemen
    According to Arab sources, the warplanes of the United States and the United Kingdom bombed the southern Al Hudaydah province of Yemen two times.
    There were no immediate reports of possible casualties.​..
    ​..Yemeni Armed Forces have said that they won’t stop their attacks until unrelenting Israeli ground and aerial offensives in Gaza, which have killed at least 27,948 people and wounded another 67,459 individuals, come to an end.​ https://en.mehrnews.com/news/226271/US-UK-renew-airstrikes-on-Yemen

    ​Good video of the shoot-down: Houthi forces use Soviet Kub SAM to down the 13th MQ-9 drone https://bulgarianmilitary.com/2024/12/29/houthi-forces-use-soviet-kub-sam-to-down-the-13th-mq-9-drone/

    #178254
    John Day
    Participant

    ​ Israel threatens to escalate conflict with Yemen’s Houthis
    Israel’s UN ambassador warned Yemen’s Houthis to stop missile attacks or face the same fate as Hamas, Hezbollah, and Assad.​ https://www.newarab.com/news/israel-threatens-escalate-conflict-yemens-houthis

    Military escalation | Turkish forces and their proxies fire heavy artillery shells on three villages, silos and water station in Al-Hasakah and Al-Raqqah countryside​ https://www.syriahr.com/en/352526/

    ​ al-Jolani/al-Sharaa offers Kurds ​to keep their weapons if they join his army. Syria’s de facto leader al-Sharaa holds talks with Kurds
    In the past month, deadly clashes have erupted in northern Syria between Turkish-backed factions and the SDF.
    ​ Earlier Tuesday, Turkish-backed fighters killed three pro-Kurdish security personnel in Syria’s second city Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
    On Sunday, Sharaa told Al Arabiya TV that the Kurdish-led forces should be integrated into the new national army.
    ​ “Weapons must be in the hands of the state alone. Whoever is armed and qualified to join the defence ministry, we will welcome them,” he said.​ “Under these terms and conditions, we will open a negotiations dialogue with the SDF… to perhaps find an appropriate solution.”​ https://www.newarab.com/news/syrias-de-facto-leader-al-sharaa-holds-talks-kurds

    ​This fellow, Jolani/Sharaa seems to be supported long term by the US, Israel and Turkey. Syria to target Iran with $300 billion compensation demand https://www.iranintl.com/en/202412254184

    It’s way too early to poke the bear. New Syrian leader wants close ties with Russia
    Speaking of Moscow’s military bases in the country, Ahmed al-Sharaa has said Damascus has “strategic interests” with one of the world powers​ https://www.rt.com/news/610166-syrian-leader-russia-relations-bases/

    #178255
    John Day
    Participant

    The bear has been playing this game a very long time. Western satellites record construction of major Russian airbase in southeastern Libya https://en.topcor.ru/55187-zapadnye-sputniki-fiksirujut-stroitelstvo-krupnoj-rossijskoj-aviabazy-na-jugo-vostoke-livii.html

    Who has been cutting the payroll checks? US, Turkey and Israel: How will the new Syria handle its ‘Greater Israel’ problem? https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241231-how-will-the-new-syria-handle-its-greater-israel-problem/

    Setting low expectations: Syria may take four years to organize elections — new authorities
    “Before any real elections, we need to hold a general census,” Ahmed Sharaa pointed out​ https://tass.com/world/1895223

    Like Russia in the 1990s​. Steal it & charge rent: Privatising Syria: US Plans Post-Assad Selloff​ https://scheerpost.com/2024/12/29/privatising-syria-us-plans-post-assad-selloff/

    ​ Google ads know the aisle you are shopping, already. AI may soon shape human decision-making, study warns
    Cambridge University researchers say artificial intelligence could influence choices from voting to online shopping​ https://www.aa.com.tr/en/artificial-intelligence/ai-may-soon-shape-human-decision-making-study-warns/3438086

    #178256
    John Day
    Participant

    Joshua Stylman, Engineering Reality: Part III
    ​ In my research on the tech-industrial complex, I’ve documented how today’s digital giants weren’t simply co-opted by power structures – many were potentially designed from their inception as tools for mass surveillance and social control. From Google’s origins in a DARPA-funded CIA project to Amazon’s founder’s familial ties to ARPA, these weren’t just successful startups that later aligned with government interests.
    ​ What Tavistock discovered through years of careful study—emotional resonance trumps facts, peer influence outweighs authority, and indirect manipulation succeeds where direct propaganda fails—now forms the foundational logic of social media algorithms. Facebook’s emotion manipulation study and Netflix’s A/B testing of thumbnails (explored in detail later) exemplify the digital automation of these century-old insights, as AI systems perform billions of real-time experiments, continuously refining the art of influence at an unprecedented scale.​..
    ..Understanding these systems is the first step toward liberation. As the machinery of control reaches its peak, so too does the opportunity for resistance. The endgame for centralized power presents a paradox: the same systems designed to limit freedom also expose their own vulnerabilities…
    ​..The battle for freedom of consciousness is now our most fundamental struggle. Without it, we are not autonomous actors but non-player characters (NPCs) in someone else’s game, making seemingly free choices within carefully constructed parameters. Each time we question an algorithmic recommendation or seek out independent voices, we crack the control matrix. When we build in​-person local communities and support decentralized platforms, we create spaces beyond algorithmic manipulation. These aren’t just acts of resistance – they’re steps toward reclaiming our autonomy as conscious human actors rather than programmed NPCs.​ The choice between authentic consciousness and programmed behavior requires daily discernment… https://stylman.substack.com/p/engineering-reality-part-iii

    ​ Mom of OpenAI Whistleblower Speaks Out on His Suicide Days After His Birthday
    The family of former OpenAI researcher and company whistleblower Suchir Balaji has arranged for a second autopsy to be conducted
    ​ In an interview with Business Insider published on Thursday, Dec. 26, Poornima Ramarao spoke about her 26-year-old son, whose body was discovered in his San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26, according to CNBC.​ “He was upbeat and happy,” Ramarao said of Balaji. “What can go wrong within a few hours that his life is lost?”
    ​ Balaji had celebrated his 26th birthday on Nov. 21 with his friends while on vacation, the outlet reported. He later contacted Ramarao to let her know when his flight home was to take place, and he spoke on the phone with his father who wished him a happy birthday.​ https://people.com/mom-of-openai-whistleblower-who-died-by-suicide-days-after-his-birthday-speaks-out-8766991

    ​ ‘Godfather of AI’ issues new warning to humanity
    ​ Artificial intelligence could lead to human extinction within three decades with a likelihood of up to 20%, according to Geoffrey Hinton, a pioneering figure in AI and recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics. This marks an increase from a 10% risk, his estimate just a year ago.​ https://www.theburningplatform.com/2024/12/29/godfather-of-ai-issues-new-warning-to-humanity/

    ​ Catherine Austin Fitts, BITCOIN BAILOUT: Why a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Is a Bailout of the Big Boys https://home.solari.com/bitcoin-bailout-why-a-bitcoin-strategic-reserve-is-a-bailout-of-the-big-boys/

    #178257
    John Day
    Participant

    Take activity breaks hourly. Too Much Sitting Can Still Be Harmful Even if You Exercise, Study Warns https://www.sciencealert.com/too-much-sitting-can-still-be-harmful-even-if-you-exercise-study-warns

    In 2018: “Self-spreading vaccine” means a mild infectious-virus.: Drones Spray ‘Self-Spreading’ COVID-19 Vaccine for ‘Large-Area Inoculation of Humans’ in ‘DEFUSE’ EcoHealth/DARPA Project
    ​ Was the COVID-19 pandemic a premeditated operation involving aerosolized bioweapons deployed on unsuspecting populations?​ (duh)​ https://jonfleetwood.substack.com/p/drones-to-spray-self-spreading-covid

    ​ Sasha Latypova always said Ken was taking a blind-alley on purpose. Breaking: The lawsuit v Pfizer by TX Attorney General, Ken Paxton is dismissed
    PREP Act and EUA law pre-empt civil lawsuits. These suits are theater/political campaigning. AGs serious about prosecution should bring criminal charges, not civil complaints.​ https://sashalatypova.substack.com/p/breaking-the-lawsuit-v-pfizer-by

    ​Ugo Bardi explains specifics, which matter. Clouds: do they Warm or Cool the Atmosphere?, Complex systems are always full of surprises. https://livingearth.substack.com/p/clouds-clouds-clouds

    #178258
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Holy crap, a 2nd must-read article in the same day, on the same subject. Stunning, unrecoverable knockout blows for H1B on pure data.
    https://barsoom.substack.com/p/the-great-christmas-h1b-war-of-2024

    ” the conversation having finally moved on from the ridiculous dichotomy between ‘illegal’ and ‘legal’ immigration … with humanitarian arguments for the former, and economic arguments for the latter, having entirely lost their force … it is finally, at long last, possible for us to begin having an adult conversation about hypermigration. Economics and legality are distractions, chaff thrown up by one side or the other to keep attention away from the primal psychological forces that are actually at work:

    The territory of one people being given to others.

    In particular, the white peoples of the world being displaced and disinherited, as their lands, their institutions, and their infrastructure are taken from them lot by lot and job by job by colonizers from the global south.

    That is, in the end, what it comes down to.

    Some are doing this out of pure short-sighted greed. Others are animated by barely-concealed ethnic resentment. Both of these motivations are ignoble and ugly, and the people of America – and increasingly, the rest of the world’s besieged white peoples – are done with all of it. You don’t get to spit in our faces and tell us it’s raining.

    There are a couple of other aspects of the Great Christmas H1B War that are worth touching on.

    First, the legacy media was nowhere to be seen. The same was true of academia. These establishment institutions watched, impotent and ignored on the sidelines, as a political earthquake shattered a narrative framing that had been carefully built up over decades. I feel that this is an important turning point. Those institutions are now essentially irrelevant as mechanisms for enforcing social consensus. As Elon Musk loves to tell his users on X, ‘you are the media now’.

    This has been coming for some time. A decade ago, social networks, alt-media, call it what you will, were in a reactive state, responding to official deceptions by critiquing them. COVID was probably the last great hurrah of the legacy institutions as consensus-makers. They bullied and manipulated the world into lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and all the rest of their destructive and unnecessary nonsense, and along the way a critical mass of the populace simply developed herd immunity to the mind viruses the media specializes in spreading. Sometime during COVID, amidst all the official censorship and the rising elite panic of ‘disinformation’, it started to feel like the legacy media was reacting to the social networks, with the latter increasingly driving the news cycle, deciding what would be discussed and what the frame of that discussion would be. Now, we’ve entered a time in which the legacy media simply doesn’t matter.

    [That’s officially. We can look to this as the pivot event]

    The most notable impact of the absence of the legacy media and its virtue-signalling academic pets was that we got to have an actual, robust, masculine, no-holds-barred debate for the first time in at least a decade. The familiar shame-and-ostracize tactics were tried – mainly by centre-right classical liberals who have been trying to force-meme ‘woke right’ for months now – but fell entirely on deaf ears, and served mainly to marginalize the people resorting to such tricks. Instead, the debate focused on verifiable fact, on peoples’ direct experiences, on logical argument, and yes, on rhetoric and memes. Ordinary anon accounts with a few hundred followers were ratioing some of the worlds’ most powerful people, without any intermediation by gatekeepers.

    It’s worth pointing out that none of this would have been possible if Musk hadn’t bought X and turned it into a genuine public square. He may have been on the wrong side of the debate, but we should not forget that he made this possible in the first place. It also shouldn’t be overlooked that he took his lumps like a man. A few people got deverified after ratioing him (it is dangerous to strike at the king, and hit…), but so far as I know the only mass banning was of groyper accounts who (allegedly) got caught botting.

    Second, there were a lot of people screeching that this was a fatal MAGA crackup, that the coalition of populists, nativists, and tech elites that had placed Trump in the White House was over, that now that the tech bros had purchased MAGA Trump had betrayed his base yet again, that even if the tens of millions of illegals that were brought in get deported, they’d just be replaced with huge numbers of Indians that would be brought in ‘legally’, that this was the plan all along. A lot of this kind of talk seemed like it was almost gloating, as though they were at some level happy to be betrayed … they were expecting to lose, hoping to lose, and oh, look at this, thank God, we’ve lost, we told you, there’s no hope!

    So far as that goes, it’s too early to tell, but frankly, I think this is simply wrong. The Christmas H1B War was essentially a negotiation between two factions, and over the course of the debate, the tech bros got routed. They lost every single argument they tried to make, even as political opposition to the continued existence of the H1B program – and to the usage of foreign labour in general – snowballed to monstrous proportions. They failed to read the room, and when they finally did, they found the people in that room to be universally hostile. They squared off against MAGA, which quite clearly had not been bought, and they lost. Decisively.”

    And in just a few hours. We ran them RIGHT out of words. Words end = speechless, nothing to say, no rebuttle, sputtering retreat. In a few minutes. As I said, and that other article said the same, this is OUR MAGA. You don’t own it. We do NOTHING that you say. We follow NO ONE.

    Bye.

    #178259
    Dr. D
    Participant
    #178260
    Oroboros
    Participant

    My neighbor:

    Got a deer from the outdoor hot tub

    .

    #178261
    Oroboros
    Participant

    .

    #178262
    Oroboros
    Participant

    .

    #178263
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Picture’s worth a thousand words

    H1-B vistas

    Kiss my ass say the Indians

    .

    #178269
    WES
    Participant

    Russian Gas:

    The US owns Ukraine.
    The US shut off Russian gas to Europe.

    AI:

    AI is artifical intelligence designed by a committee.
    You are not a member of this special committee.

    Biden Looting the US Treasury:

    Biden/Democrats are rounding up all the US taxpayer money they can find, to grift to their favorite Ukrainian money laundrymat.
    This clean money needs to be enough to tide them over, for the next 4 years, until they return to power.

    Gaza:

    Gaza proves how incompetent Israelis are at genocide.
    Can’t even kill 1.7 million prisoners trapped inside of a prison!

    US Treasury Auctions Strongest Ever:

    Foreigners buying US Treasury bonds is the strongest ever!
    The Fed is monetizing US government debt at the fastess rate ever!
    (The US government is buying it’s own debt – no wonder buying demand is so strong!)

    #178270

    Would you tell someone about your favorite fishing hole?
    Would you talk at a party about your pristine place to vacation?
    Can you keep your treasures private and it is enough that you alone know of them?

    #178271
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Store up my treasures in heaven, so if I told them, they wouldn’t believe me. They’d run away and say they don’t want another word! Easy!

    A problem that solves itself.

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