Jan 202025
 
 January 20, 2025  Posted by at 10:45 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  Add comments


Jean-Francois Millet Charity 1859

 

Promises of Security, Prosperity, Accountability … And Fairness (JTN)
Trump Vows To Repeal Biden’s ‘Foolish’ Orders (RT)
TikTok Restores US Service, Thanks Trump For Executive Order (JTN)
Trump Team Preparing Early Talks With Putin – CNN (RT)
Trump Planning Early China Trip (RT)
Can Trump Make A Difference? (Paul Craig Roberts)
Trump Vows To Release JFK, RFK and MLK Assassination Records (RT)
German Envoy Believes Trump Plans To ‘Destroy’ America (RT)
‘Weirdo’ Zelensky Begged For Inauguration Invite – Trump Jr. (RT)
Soros ‘Lost The Battle In America’ – Orban (RT)
Why The West-Centric World Order Is Doomed (von Hoffmeister)
Bill In Congress To Reinstate 8,400 Troops Forced Out Over Covid Vaccine (JTN)
Trump To Suspend Security Clearances Of 51 Former Intelligence Officials (ZH)
Blinken Overruled America’s Top General On Ukraine Peace Talks – NYT (RT)
Biden’s Last-Minute Oil Sanctions Target Russia But Will Hurt US (Sp.)

 

 


Just Married – Mr. Fish

 

 

Kipling

 

 

Security

Reagan

Sortor

Craig Murray

 

 

 

 

“I lost count on how many impeachments, how many prosecutions, how many assassination attempts to come back and to win the popular vote and to be the voice of the people.”

Promises of Security, Prosperity, Accountability … And Fairness (JTN)

Donald Trump’s arduous journey back to the White House — which slogged through four indictments, two impeachments and two assassination attempts – ends Monday on a frosty afternoon in Washington D.C. with the oath of office and then quickly transitions to the job of governing again. The policies that the soon-to-be 47th American president promised would restore security, accountability, affordability and prosperity will be roaring into action on Inauguration Day with scores of executive orders, and even a few raids to round up dangerous illegal aliens. But the billionaire businessman who relentlessly vowed to “Make America Great Again” also signaled he is navigating to make America fair again. Fair to the working and middle Americans who voted him into office after four years of insufferable inflation. Fair to American businesses suffering from decades of lopsided advantages to China.

Fair to vaccine-resisting soldiers, female athletes, non-violent Jan. 6 protesters and pro-life activists whose lives were turned upside down by the Biden years’ failed experiment with far-left policies and lawfare. Fair even to lawful immigrants who watched illegal aliens jump the line to American entry. Over the weekend, Trump signaled his push to return America to a new “golden age” of greatness will also focus sharp attention on a new issue. “You have to be treating people fairly,” Trump said in a far-reaching interview with NBC News that surveyed his vision for his second stint in Washington. “You can’t just say, ‘Oh, everything’s going to be wonderful.’ You know, we went through hell for four years with these people. And so, you know, something has to be done about it. … You can’t have that happen, and we shouldn’t have that happen.”

Expect fairness, along with unity, to be offered as central themes in Trump’s inauguration speech and to be embedded as justifications for the record number of first-day executive actions Trump will sign Monday. The returning chief executive will be greeted with a different dynamic than his first term. His team is far more seasoned in the ways of Washington that tripped him up as an outsider starting in 2017. Voters have soured on the far-left extremism exhibited during the Biden years with such policies as DEI and CRT to ESG and transgenderism. And Americans at large are putting far more wind behind Trump’s back this time. A poll over the weekend found 60% are optimistic about Trump’s second term, a major shift from the gloomy sentiments that ended the Biden presidency.

“This team, this is a different Donald Trump that is being sworn in than in 2017, and there’s a whole lot of experience that has come,” Sen. Ted Cruz told The Hill on Sunday. “I think the first term, there were some mistakes in Cabinet nominees and some nominees that he came to regret because they were people that were not fighting with him to accomplish his agenda,” he added. “I think this, the current team of nominees, I think is really strong.” Before the hard work launches in full, political experts reflected on just how improbable Trump’s return to power was. Written off for political death after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot fiasco, with two impeachments in his rear view mirror and four indictments on his horizon, the New York-grizzled politician launched his return to Washington in 2021 with little public support.

But he relentlessly fought his detractors in court, vanquished an impressive field of GOP challenges in the 2024 primaries and then sailed to a historic victory that Democrats couldn’t stop with lawfare or even a switcheroo atop their presidential ticket. “I think he has inherited the ‘Comeback Kid’ moniker from Bill Clinton,” pollster and former Clinton adviser Mark Penn told the “John Solomon Reports” podcast. “We thought that that Bill Clinton came back. But Trump came back to him, I mean, from, I lost count on how many impeachments, how many prosecutions, how many assassination attempts to come back and to win the popular vote and to be the voice of the people. “It is an incredible comeback. I would have bet you 100 to one against it four years ago,” Penn added.

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“By the time the sun sets tomorrow, the invasion of our country will have come to a halt..”

Trump Vows To Repeal Biden’s ‘Foolish’ Orders (RT)

US President-elect Donald Trump has announced sweeping plans to repeal outgoing President Joe Biden’s final executive actions. Speaking to a rally crowd in Washington DC on Sunday, Trump reiterated his key reelection campaign promises, vowing once more to launch a massive crackdown on illegal immigration in the US, stop the Ukraine conflict, and “prevent World War III.” “Every radical, foolish executive order of the Biden administration will be repealed within hours of when I take the oath of office,” Trump stated. “By the time the sun sets tomorrow, the invasion of our country will have come to a halt,” he added. “The border security measures I will outline in my inaugural address tomorrow will be the most aggressive, sweeping effort to restore our borders that the world has ever seen.”

Trump echoed his campaign promise to launch an unprecedented deportation of illegal immigrants, while pledging to take immediate action on education and military policies. “We will get radical woke ideologies the hell out of our military,” he stated. “We will get critical race theory and transgender insanity the hell out of schools… We will keep men out of women’s sports.” Additionally, Trump hinted at an upcoming announcement regarding individuals detained for their roles in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots. His supporters “will be very happy with my decision on the J6 hostages,” he told the crowd. The president-elect further promised to stop the Ukraine conflict, which he has long criticized for claiming too many lives and costing US taxpayers billions in perpetual military aid to Kiev.

“I will end the war in Ukraine, I will stop the chaos in the Middle East and I will prevent WWIII from happening,” Trump said. Biden has signed dozens of executive orders in the last months of his presidency, in what Time Magazine has described as an effort to polish his legacy. These have included providing clemency to death row inmates, barring offshore drilling, providing deportation protection to nearly 1 million migrants, and fast-tracking military aid to Ukraine. Trump has promised to sign a slew of his own executive orders upon taking office on Monday afternoon. He plans to take more than 200 executive actions the day he’s sworn in, according to a source familiar with the planning efforts cited by Reuters. Despite objections from his team about the time frame, “we’re doing them tomorrow,” Trump told the cheering crowd on Sunday.

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Little thing I didn’t realize: He wants people to be able to watch the inauguration on TikTok.

TikTok Restores US Service, Thanks Trump For Executive Order (JTN)

TikTok on Sunday restored service to users in the United States after a brief shutdown after President-elect Donald Trump vowed to issue an executive order temporarily allowing the social media app to keep operating despite a law banning it as long as it is Chinese controlled. “We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive,” TikTok said in a statement. “It’s a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship,” it added. “We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”

Trump had announced earlier Sunday on Truth Social that he plans to issue an executive order extending the length of time for TikTok to comply with the law that forces its parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app to a U.S. entity or face a ban. TikTok went dark on Saturday night but began roaring back to life around midday Sunday. Trump had said on Saturday he was considering a 90-day extension for TikTok. “I’m asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark! I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security,” he wrote on Sunday. “The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.”

Trump also said that Americans “deserve to see our exciting inauguration on Monday” as well as other events. “I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture. By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to stay up. Without U.S. approval, there is no Tik Tok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars – maybe trillions,” he said.

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“..a significant shift from President Joe Biden’s approach, who has not spoken directly with Putin for nearly three years.”

“We are calmly waiting for Trump’s team to take over. After that, let’s see what happens..”

Trump Team Preparing Early Talks With Putin – CNN (RT)

Donald Trump’s team is preparing a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which could come shortly after the president-elect’s inauguration, CNN reported on Sunday, citing sources. According to people familiar with the matter interviewed by the network, the primary aim of the call would be to discuss a face-to-face meeting in the coming months to explore ways to resolve the Ukraine conflict. Officials within Trump’s national security team reportedly began planning for the call several weeks ago, CNN reported, adding that it remains unclear whether a date for the conversation has been finalized. The network noted that the phone call would be a significant shift from President Joe Biden’s approach, who has not spoken directly with Putin for nearly three years.

Earlier this month, Trump confirmed his intention to speak with Putin, stating that the Russian leader “wants to meet, and we are setting it up.” The president-elect, who has been critical of US aid to Kiev, has repeatedly vowed to swiftly end the Ukraine conflict. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said that Putin is open to negotiations with the US president without any preconditions. However, he stressed that there have been no substantial preparations for talks, while suggesting waiting until Trump is sworn in. Commenting on the potential Ukraine talks, Putin foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov suggested that the incoming US president would be the one to initiate a dialogue. “We are calmly waiting for Trump’s team to take over. After that, let’s see what happens,” he said.

In recent weeks, US media outlets have reported that Trump’s team is mulling a peace plan for Ukraine which could include a ceasefire along the current front lines and the creation of an 1,300-km (800-mile) demilitarized zone patrolled by European troops. Additionally, Ukraine would agree to delay its aspirations for NATO membership for at least 20 years. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has criticized parts of the reported plan, saying Moscow “is of course not satisfied” with the proposals to postpone Ukraine’s NATO ambitions and deploy a Western peacekeeping contingent to Ukraine. Moscow has also rejected a freezing of the conflict, insisting that it must achieve all of the goals of its military operation, including permanent Ukrainian neutrality, demilitarization, and denazification. Russia has also signaled that it would immediately declare a ceasefire once Kiev begins withdrawing from Russian territory, including the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye.

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Xi will be happy to welcome a worthy opponsent.

Trump Planning Early China Trip (RT)

US President-elect Donald Trump wants to visit China in his first 100 days in office to improve relations with Xi Jinping, as the prospect of a new trade war looms, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday citing sources. The trip would aim to deepen ties with the Chinese leader in the face of geopolitical tensions between the two countries fueled by the stand-off over the self-governed island of Taiwan and Trump’s promise to impose tariffs on Chinese imports. However, while people familiar with the matter told the paper that Trump has expressed a certain interest in going, no final decision has been made.

On Friday, Trump and Xi spoke on the phone to discuss a range of issues including trade, Taiwan, and the situation with the Chinese-owned Tiktok social media platform, which went dark in the US over an imminent federal ban. It is unclear, however, whether the president-elect raised the idea of a China visit during the call. At the same time, the two delegated discussions about a potential in-person meeting to their aides, the WSJ said. Besides China, Trump also expressed interest in a possible trip to India, the outlet’s sources said. However, it is said his immediate attention will gravitate to domestic issues, including the border crisis and wildfires in California.

During his first term, Trump traveled to Beijing in late 2017, more than nine months after taking office. The four years of the Trump administration have been marred by a tense stand-off with China, with the president-elect imposing tariffs on billions of dollars in Chinese goods. His administration also labeled China “a currency manipulator” and imposed tough restrictions on Chinese tech giants like Huawei and ZTE, citing national security risks. During the election campaign, Trump proposed a 60% tariff on Chinese imports. Responding to a potential hike, Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen warned that the restrictions could backfire, forcing American consumers to pay higher prices. Meanwhile, he added, China would be able to weather the impact of such “external shocks.”

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Quite positive for PCR.

“The Democrats are Satanists. They reek of evil. Let us hope that tomorrow the FBI/CIA/NSA doesn’t attack the inauguration with a drone, blame Iran, and rush us off to war for Israel.”

Can Trump Make A Difference? (Paul Craig Roberts)

I have done my best to alert MAGA Americans to the difficulty of regaining control of the US government. For decades the US government and its policies have been controlled by the organized interest groups that fund political campaigns. Regardless of the candidates voters elect, the legislation enacted and the federal government’s policies are the work of lobby groups. Among the powerful lobbies are the Israel Lobby, the military/security complex, Big Pharma, Wall Street, and agri-business. American voters are repeatedly disappointed that little ever changes regardless of who they elect. Sometimes an administration can achieve changes in a few areas, as Kennedy, Nixon, and Reagan did in reducing tensions with the Soviet Union. But even these achievements were overturned by subsequent administrations in response to the military/security complex’s demand for an enemy to secure their profit and power.

Without an enemy, why does the US need a military budget that exceeds the GDP of most countries on earth? [..] The resistance to change is because the interests of what constitutes the American Establishment is institutionalized. American social and governmental institutions have become homes of The Establishment. It was 64 years ago on January 17, 1961, that President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the five-star general in charge of the Normandy invasion, at the end of his second term warned Americans about the increasing power of the military-security complex. As a congressional staffer in both House and Senate I experienced the power almost daily. I still remember the day when I was on the floor of the US Senate and Strom Thurmond, the fourth longest serving senator in US history, tapped me on the shoulder.

A vote was before the Senate whether to partially pay for a reduction in marginal income tax rates by reducing a military appropriation. Senator Thurmond said to me: “Don’t ever let your senator vote for a reduction in military spending. If he does, he won’t be reelected, and you will be out of a job.” He brought clarity to me that survival as a senator meant accommodating the profits of the armaments corporations, not the living standards of the taxpayers. Thurmond, who served in the Senate for almost half a century, was no novice. He was educating me that whatever the interest of Wall Street and the financial sector in lower tax rates, their power was less than that of the military/security complex. As sometimes there were conflicts between the interests of lobby groups, it was important for a Senate staffer to know the hierarchy of power rankings.

Having experienced all this first hand, I warned readers that the US Senate is an Establishment-owned institution, and that the US Senate has the power to deny federal office to a president’s nominations. I explained that this establishment power over an incoming administration could render it impotent. Tulsi Gabbard is Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence. As a member of the House, she was a strong critic of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, legislation that I am convinced is unconstitutional and the foundation of a police state. Fear of non-existent “Muslim terrorist threat,” hyped by a whore media, made insouciant Americans accept the foundation of a police state. In 2020 together with Rep. Thomas Massie, the only independent member of the House today, she introduced a bill to repeal the entire Patriot Act, a police state measure imposed on us by the Republican regime of Bush/Cheney, the worst in modern American history until Biden.

Clearly, Gabbard had targets painted all over her. Both Democrat and Republican senators have made it clear to her that any repeal or lax enforcement of “national security” legislation must be disavowed if she expects the Senate to confirm her in office. Gabbard got the message and backed off her opposition to the unconstitutional surveillance of Americans without submitting to judges that the surveillance was needed for national security and obtaining a warrant. Commentators unfamiliar with Washington are denouncing Gabbard for “selling out”. A commentator in the Unz Review says Gabbard has betrayed herself and many others, but will have her 30 pieces of silver. It is so much easier to denounce than to understand. I often think that Americans do not want to understand how things really work, because it is so distressing. So they stay in denial, and this renders them useless in bringing change and protecting their liberties.

Tell me before you condemn Tulsi Gabbard, would you rather have her, a person fiercely opposed by the military/security complex, or a person to whom the military/security complex has no opposition? Tulsi can tell the blackmailing bought-and-paid-for US Senate one thing and do another once she is in office. I would bet on her integrity, not denounce it. It is the US Senate that is devoid of integrity. We will get Trump’s measure this Monday, January 20. As I explained last Friday, on the Oval Office desk awaits pardons for all the J6 victims of a totally corrupt Democrat administration and a US Department of Justice (sic) devoid of an ounce of integrity, essentially a collection of criminals. The criminality of the Biden Regime is unrivaled in American History. As an instrument of justice, Biden’s “justice” department ranks with Joseph Stalin’s purge of the Bolsheviks in his show trials of the 1930s when the leaders of the Russian revolution were sentenced to death for being capitalist spies.

In my opinion, Democrats are so corrupt, so anti-American, so anti-normality, so anti-white, so anti-citizen that they are discredited as a political party. Republicans are stupid beyond belief and ignorant of what needs to be done, but Democrats are Satanic. The second party in the American political system belongs to Satan. The Democrats are Satanists. They reek of evil. Let us hope that tomorrow the FBI/CIA/NSA doesn’t attack the inauguration with a drone, blame Iran, and rush us off to war for Israel.

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He hesitated in his first term. This time around, RFK Jr. will insist.

Trump Vows To Release JFK, RFK and MLK Assassination Records (RT)

US President-elect Donald Trump has promised to make public more classified government documents related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and civil rights campaigner Martin Luther King Jr. Speaking at a victory rally at the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC on Sunday, Trump declared his intention to declassify the records. He said his administration will “reverse the overclassification of government documents,” including those related to the historic crimes, as “the first step toward restoring transparency and accountability.” He added: “It’s all going to be released, Uncle Sam.” The murders of President Kennedy in 1963, his brother and political ally Robert in 1968, and King, the leader of the black rights movement, the same year remains the subject of speculation about the potential involvement of rogue elements within the US government.

Trump has nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the son of Senator Robert Kennedy, to serve as the health secretary in his administration. The Kennedy scion has campaigned for the full release of government materials pertaining to the tragedies in his family. RFK Jr. has previously suggested that the CIA could have been involved in his uncle’s death. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) houses over 5 million records related to President Kennedy’s assassination in a single collection. In the 1990s, the federal government mandated its almost-full release by October 2017, although the president has the authority to order exemptions. The declassification process continued during the first Trump presidency and the single term of his successor, Joe Biden, but an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 documents are yet to be disclosed.

During his first term Trump pledged to declassify documents related to President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. While he did authorize the release of several such documents, he ultimately withheld a significant portion, citing national security concerns and yielding to pressures from the CIA and FBI. In his recent announcement, Trump did not specify which documents would be released, nor did he commit to a blanket declassification. Trump’s scheduled inauguration on January 20 coincides with this year’s MLK Day, a federal holiday dedicated to King’s contribution to civil rights reforms in the 1960s, observed on the third Monday of January each year. During his speech on Sunday, the incoming president said he will sign a series of executive orders on a wide range of policies immediately after taking office.

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A certified fool is the German ambassador to the US. Crazy.

German Envoy Believes Trump Plans To ‘Destroy’ America (RT)

The German ambassador to the US, Andreas Michaelis, has warned Berlin that incoming President Donald Trump will likely try to undermine key principles underpinning American democracy, Reuters has claimed, citing a confidential document. The Republican firebrand has repeatedly accused the Biden administration of weaponizing the FBI and Department of Justice, accusing them of launching a “witch hunt” against him. Back in 2022, he denounced both as “vicious monsters, controlled by radical-left scoundrels, lawyers and the media.” In an exclusive report on Saturday, Reuters quoted the confidential cable supposedly signed by Michaelis and dated January 14 as predicting that Trump will seek the “maximum concentration of power… at the expense of Congress and the federal states.”

“Basic democratic principles and checks and balances will be largely undermined, the legislature, law enforcement and media will be robbed of their independence and misused as a political arm, Big Tech will be given co-governing power,” the diplomat allegedly wrote. According to the outlet, the German envoy thinks Trump will not hesitate to deploy the military domestically to make good on his campaign pledges, such as mass deportations of illegal immigrants. Michaelis also is said to have suggested that Trump’s second term in office would likely bring about a “redefinition of the First Amendment,” with the new administration going after its critics. While the German government has not made any hostile remarks about the Republican, Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday lashed out at US-based tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has recently emerged as one of Trump’s closest allies.

He accused the Tesla and SpaceX CEO of attempting to interfere in EU politics by supporting the “extreme right throughout Europe, in Britain, in Germany.” Last month, Musk described Scholz as an “incompetent fool,” stating that the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) was the only party capable of “saving Germany.” Last week, the tech mogul hosted a livestream with AfD co-chair Alice Weidel on X, his social media platform. Several weeks after his victory in the November 5 presidential election, Trump named former adviser and ultra-loyalist Kash Patel as the next FBI director. In a recently published book, the former public defender slammed the agency’s work, calling for its complete overhaul.

While his opponents have routinely accused Trump of posing a threat to US democracy, the real estate kingpin tuned politician charged in December 2023 that President Joe Biden had “been weaponizing government against his political opponents like a Third World political tyrant.” “Biden and his radical left allies like to pose as standing up as allies of democracy,” Trump told his supporters, concluding that the Democrat “is not the defender of American democracy, Joe Biden is the destroyer of American democracy.”

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“..the funniest part is that he asked for an invite like three times unofficially, and each time got turned down.”

‘Weirdo’ Zelensky Begged For Inauguration Invite – Trump Jr. (RT)

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky asked incoming US President Donald Trump to invite him to the inauguration several times, but was consistently snubbed, his son Donald Trump Jr. has claimed. Writing on Instagram, Trump Jr. mocked the Ukrainian leader’s interview with American podcaster Lex Fridman earlier this month, during which Zelensky stated that he could not attend the inauguration on January 20. “I can’t come especially during the war, unless President Trump invites me personally. I’m not sure it’s proper to come because I know that in general, leaders are for some reason not usually invited to the inauguration of presidents of the United States of America,” he told Fridman. Trump Jr. opined in response that “the funniest part is that he asked for an invite like three times unofficially, and each time got turned down.”

“Now he’s acting like he decided not to go himself,” he added, branding Zelensky “a weirdo.” While incoming US presidents typically do not invite foreign leaders to their inauguration, Trump deviated from tradition and extended offers to Chinese President Xi Jinping, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Argentinian President Javier Milei, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa and Paraguayan President Santiago Pena. While Xi and Orban have excused themselves, the rest have pledged to come.

Trump has been skeptical of the US campaign to help Ukraine and has vowed to quickly end the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, with Ukrainian officials fearing a ceasefire deal proposed by the president-elect will put their country at a disadvantage. Zelensky and Trump met in late September in New York, with the latter saying afterward that the Ukrainian leader “wants [the conflict] to stop,” and that both of them want “a fair deal.” Zelensky’s presidential term expired last May, and he has refused to call new elections, citing martial law. Russia considers him “illegitimate,” and says that the only legal authority now rests with the Ukrainian parliament and its speaker.

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“..the Soros network is funded by the EU budget.” “The biggest corruption scandal in politics is that Brussels is in George Soros’s pocket..”

Soros ‘Lost The Battle In America’ – Orban (RT)

US President-elect Donald Trump’s victory was a major defeat for activist billionaire George Soros and his allies in the Democratic Party, who sought to plunge America into a “gender frenzy,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said. Speaking in an interview with Kossuth Radio on Friday, Orban accused the 94-year-old Hungarian-born philanthropist of maintaining a “large network” intertwined with the Democratic Party, claiming their efforts were focused on imposing globalist ideologies in a bid to further their economic interests. “They believe that it is their duty… to fix humanity. In other words, to impose on the countries what they consider right,” he said, adding that “migration chaos” often follows those efforts.

According to Orban, Democratic dominance also led to an uncontrolled spread of woke politics. “Here come the American Democrats, because then there will be Pride, rainbow flags, and transgender issues,” he said. However, according to Orban, Trump’s victory ushered a significant shift in this regard. “George Soros lost the battle in America. I could say that America was liberated by Donald Trump,” the prime minister said, suggesting that the tycoon’s allies had been forced to withdraw back to Brussels. “We, Europeans, now have to face a very difficult period as they entrench themselves in Brussels… they need to be squeezed out of Brussels,” he said. Orban also expressed outrage at the fact that the Soros network is funded by the EU budget.

“We cannot tolerate this, it is our money too… The biggest corruption scandal in politics is that Brussels is in George Soros’s pocket,” he charged. Orban has long been critical of Soros and his Open Society Foundations (OSF), accusing them of funding pro-migration policies, undermining traditional family values, and promoting a globalist agenda. Critics of Soros have also accused him of fueling several so-called ‘color’ revolutions and having financial ties to hundreds of media outlets, which shield him from any backlash, shape public opinion, and promote what Orban called “LGBT fanaticism.” OSF, however, insists that its sole mission is to support human rights and democracy worldwide.

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Interesting view: Maritime empires ruled for centuries, but no more.

Why The West-Centric World Order Is Doomed (von Hoffmeister)

The unipolar era is collapsing, and in its place rises a new world, shaped by distinct centers of power, each bound to its traditions, values, and histories. Multipolarity rejects the artificial imposition of a single worldview, instead proclaiming the beneficial heterogeneity of human existence. It is a call to rediscover the strength of firmly established identities and to embrace a stabilized global order. For centuries, the world was lorded over by empires that sought to impose their singular, myopic vision upon all peoples. Liberal universalism, with its insistence (like Star Trek’s Borg with their hive mind) on assimilating the world into one model, has failed to create harmony. Multipolarity, on the other hand, recognizes that genuine coexistence depends on respecting the uniqueness of each civilization.

It seeks not to erase differences but to create a world where each culture thrives on its own terms, contributing to a dynamic and unadulterated global reality. A profound transformation is underway. Multipolarity marks a return to the natural state of a world composed of many civilizations, each pursuing its destiny. This revival is seen in the resurgence of ancient powers such as Orthodox Russia, Confucian China, and Hindu India. These nations are not relics of the past but living civilizations, reconnecting with their historical roots to take their proper places in the present. They reject the unipolar dictatorship of the Atlanticist model, which imposes liberal democracy and market capitalism as universal truths.

The conflict between land-based and sea-based powers is central to the unfolding multipolar world. Maritime empires, like Britain and the United States, long preeminent in global trade and geopolitics, are now facing the comeback of continental alliances. The seas, once the lifelines of Western hegemony, are giving way to the strategic establishment of the land as the new focus of commercial and political activity. Tellurocracy, the reign of the land, confronts thalassocracy, the reign of the sea – tipping the geopolitical scale of power. Eurasia exemplifies the triumph of the land. Its vast connectivity through infrastructure and economic corridors, from railroads to energy pipelines, undermines the primacy of maritime trade routes. This contest is not merely about command over resources but reflects a deeper philosophical divide.

The land represents rootedness, tradition, and stability, while the sea symbolizes fluidity, disruption, and the unmoored aspirations of modernity. Multipolarity restores the equilibrium between these forces, defying the centuries-long dominance of oceanic powers and placing the ancient, grounded civilizations of Eurasia at the forefront of global affairs. At the heart of multipolarity lies ethnopluralism – the recognition that distinct peoples cannot be blended into a single identity without destroying what makes them unique. Ethnopluralism opposes the liberal dream of the “melting pot,” viewing it as a forced amalgamation of disparate cultures. Instead, it argues for the coexistence of separate communities, each displaying its characteristics within its own boundaries.

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“Thousands of patriots were cast aside by the very nation they swore to defend, stripped of their careers, their benefits, and their dignity ..”

Bill In Congress To Reinstate 8,400 Troops Forced Out Over Covid Vaccine (JTN)

North Carolina’s freshman congressman, a Green Beret veteran, and Texas’ third-term junior senator, have introduced legislation reversing Biden administration policies in the military tied to the COVID-19 vaccine. U.S. Rep. Pat Harrigan’s AMERICANS Act, filed Thursday morning, would reinstate 8,400 service members he says were wrongfully discharged. It clears their records, restores benefits and “ensures no future administration can weaponize mandates against our armed forces,” a release says. The acronym is short for the formal title of Allowing Military Exemptions, Recognizing Individual Concerns About New Shots Act of 2025. Harrigan’s release said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, would have companion legislation in the upper chamber. At time of publication, more information on his bill was yet to be made available.

Republicans, led by President-elect Donald Trump, have long said throughout the election campaign the action was coming. “This mandate wasn’t about science or readiness – it was about control,” Harrigan said in the release. “Thousands of patriots were cast aside by the very nation they swore to defend, stripped of their careers, their benefits, and their dignity – not because they failed to serve honorably, but because of political overreach.” He emphasized it wasn’t just about restoration; it’s preventative in future administrations. “It ensures,” Harrigan said, “no administration can ever again use its power to undermine the honor and integrity of our armed forces.” Cruz, in the release, said the consequences of President Joe Biden’s actions with vaccine mandates are still impacting readiness for armed forces.

Retired Army Gen. Lloyd Austin was secretary of the Defense Department at the time of the Aug. 23, 2021, decision. “Even though I led the successful charge for Congress to repeal that mandate, there is still more work to be done,” Cruz said in the Harrigan release. “The AMERICANS Act would provide remedies for servicemembers whom the Biden Department of Defense punished for standing by their convictions. It’s the right thing to do.” Harrigan is a graduate of West Point twice deployed to Afghanistan. Before Congress, he had been a businessman producing American-made defense products. Cruz, with Ivy League degrees from Princeton (undergrad) and Harvard Law, has worked in the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission and served as solicitor general of Texas. The worksheet includes nine oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Read more …

“It’s going to be a fun week, eh?”

Trump To Suspend Security Clearances Of 51 Former Intelligence Officials (ZH)

President-elect Donald Trump will suspend the security clearances of 51 former intelligence officials who were found to have coordinated with the 2020 Biden campaign to discredit credible and serious allegations contained on Hunter Biden’s laptop about his family’s influence peddling operation. According to Fox News, citing a senior administration official, Trump will take action against the so-called “Spies Who Lie,” as one of at least 100 executive orders he’s expected to sign on his first day back in the Oval Office.

Not only did federal investigators eventually confirm that Hunter’s laptop was authentic, a June 2024 report from the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of Federal Government and the Permanent Select Subcommittee on Intelligence found that “The 51 former intelligence officials’ Hunter Biden statement was a blatant political operation from the start. It originated with a call from top Biden campaign official—and now Secretary of State—Antony Blinken to former Deputy Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Michael Morell. “The Committees’ investigation revealed that without this outreach from Blinken, Morell would not have written the statement. Indeed, Morell told the Committees that the Blinken phone call “triggered” his intent to write the statement. The statement’s drafters were open about the goal of the project: “[W]e think Trump will attack Biden on the issue at this week’s debate”6 and “we want to give the [Vice President] a talking point to use in response.”

The Committees also found that:
• High ranking CIA officials, up to and including then-CIA Director Gina Haspel, were made aware of the Hunter Biden statement prior to its approval and publication.
• Some of the statement’s signatories, including Michael Morell, were on active contract with the CIA at the time of the Hunter Biden statement’s publication.
• After publication of the Hunter Biden statement, CIA employees internally expressed concern about the statement’s politicized content, acknowledging it was not “helpful to the Agency in the long run.”

It’s going to be a fun week, eh?

Read more …

Never call him a diplomat again.

Blinken Overruled America’s Top General On Ukraine Peace Talks – NYT (RT)

Outgoing US State Secretary Antony Blinken urged Ukraine to continue its military efforts against Russia rather than pursue peace negotiations in 2022, the New York Times reported on Saturday. In late 2022, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley advised Kiev to capitalize on its battlefield successes by seeking peace talks with Moscow. However, Blinken insisted that Ukraine should press on with its military campaign, the newspaper wrote. “Less a peacemaker than a war strategist,” the US diplomat frequently argued against more “risk-averse Pentagon officials,” lobbying for advanced American weaponry to be sent to Ukraine, NYT wrote. Washington has spent “approximately $100 billion” on Ukraine since the conflict escalated in February 2022, while allies and partners have contributed an additional $150 billion, Blinken said during a January appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations.

The outgoing Biden administration has expedited arms deliveries to Kiev ahead of the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, who has indicated that he might reduce military aid to Ukraine in favor of addressing domestic priorities. The Biden administration had been covertly arming Ukraine months before the conflict intensified, Blinken admitted in a January interview with the NYT. “Starting in September and then again in December, we quietly got a lot of weapons to Ukraine to make sure that they had in hand what they needed to defend themselves – things like Stingers, Javelins that they could use,” he said. Russia and Ukraine initially engaged in peace negotiations in early 2022 in Istanbul. Both sides provisionally agreed to a truce under which Kiev would renounce its NATO membership ambitions, adopt neutrality, and limit its military size in exchange for international security guarantees.

However, Ukraine later withdrew from the talks at the urging of then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, according to David Arakhamia, a Zelensky-allied MP and chief negotiator for Kiev. Last month, Swiss diplomat Jean-Daniel Ruch similarly accused the US and UK of derailing peace talks between Kiev and Moscow. Speaking to the French-language media outlet Anti-Thèse, Ruch claimed that Johnson acted “on duty for the Americans.” Moscow has reiterated its willingness to resume peace negotiations, provided they are based on the Istanbul draft agreements and reflect the “new territorial realities,” including the accession of four former Ukrainian regions to Russia and recent battlefield developments.

Read more …

By now, we all know how this works.

Biden’s Last-Minute Oil Sanctions Target Russia But Will Hurt US (Sp.)

“I’m not going to be out of sight or out of mind,” Joe Biden quipped at one of his final conversations with reporters as president last week. He’s not wrong. If the Treasury sanctions targeting Russian maritime oil exports succeed, Biden will remain in Americans’ minds for a long time to come. But not for the reasons he might like. The outgoing administration’s recent decisions suggest that their overarching goal is to create as many problems as possible for its successor in every area. This applies both to foreign policy, where a policy of maximum escalation has been observed in virtually every conflict zone, as well as the domestic front.

With mere hours now left in Biden’s term, the most effective tool in the waning days of his presidency has been sanctions, which can be quickly imposed but are difficult to revoke, given their political justifications. “Today, the US Department of the Treasury took sweeping action to fulfill the G7 commitment to reduce Russian revenues from energy, including blocking two major Russian oil producers. Today’s actions also impose sanctions on an unprecedented number of oil-carrying vessels, many of which are part of the ‘shadow fleet,’ opaque traders of Russian oil, Russia-based oilfield service providers, and Russian energy officials,” the Treasury said in a press release last week announcing new sanctions against Russia’s oil and gas sector.

“The United States is taking sweeping action against Russia’s key source of revenue for funding its brutal and illegal war against Ukraine,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said. “This action builds on, and strengthens, our focus since the beginning of the war on disrupting the Kremlin’s energy revenues…With today’s actions, we are ratcheting up the sanctions risk associated with Russia’s oil trade, including shipping and financial facilitation in support of Russia’s oil exports,” Yellen added. But Team Biden’s sloganeering about the sanctions’ purpose being ‘continuing support for Ukraine’ is just cynical ideological cover for their true goal: disrupting the president-elect’s plans, primarily in the economic and social sphere. As for hurting Russia, that won’t work, and here’s why.

Russian Maritime Oil Exports: The Math
US sanctions will result in a significant bump in global oil prices, simultaneously offsetting the drop in production volumes by making up revenues into the Russian budget. Russia’s maritime exports of oil and petroleum products amount to about 5.8 million barrels per day, of which 3.5 million barrels per day are crude oil. Currently, global energy agencies and international banks predict a surplus in the oil market in 2025 averaging 0.8 million barrels per day. The consensus forecast for Brent crude prices in 2025 stands at about $71 per barrel, according to major banks.


Maritime Export of Russian Crude Oil by Destination Country (million barrels per day)

A complete halt to Russian maritime exports of oil and petroleum products (that is, a reduction in Russian oil production by that volume) would cause one of the largest-ever deficits in the global oil market in history (assuming oil production dynamics in other countries remain consistent with forecasts). According to calculations by the Bank of America, based on historical data, a change in the supply-demand balance by 100,000 barrels per day results in an inverse change in oil prices by $1.50–$2 per barrel. Consequently, the loss of such a significant volume of Russian exports (5.8 million barrels per day) from the global balance would lead to an increase in oil prices by $80–$90 per barrel, to $150–$160 per barrel. The loss of far smaller amounts of Russian oil from the world market has already had devastating and immediate impact.

In 2022, for example, when Russian oil and petroleum product exports dropped by 1.5 million barrels per day, oil prices rose to over $120 per barrel. Crunching the numbers, with Brent crude priced at $158 per barrel, the export price of Russian oil for taxation purposes would be between $147 and $156 per barrel (depending on the size of the discount for Russian oil delivered via pipelines) compared to the roughly $70 per barrel assumed in the 2025 budget plan. That means that under conditions of a full embargo on maritime oil exports, Russia’s state budget revenues would increase (to $88.2 billion, compared to $82.3 billion under the current plan), despite a reduction in production and various associated costs.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Street

X

Cries

Secret

Donkey
https://twitter.com/i/status/1880864169005638022

Flying

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

 

 

Home Forums Debt Rattle January 20 2025

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 82 total)
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  • #179824

    Jean-Francois Millet Charity 1859   • Promises of Security, Prosperity, Accountability … And Fairness (JTN) • Trump Vows To Repeal Biden’s ‘Fooli
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle January 20 2025]

    #179834
    Germ
    Participant
    #179835
    Germ
    Participant
    #179836
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “It’s a Make-or-Break Moment for Housing in California:
    The future of the state depends on how leaders rebuild after the Los Angeles fires.” Vox

    Why would leaders rebuild? It’s not their property. Oh yeah: government owns everything everywhere and they only let you use it. If you beg. That’s the difference between being under a King, or under a Democracy. In a democracy, the people are sovereign. In a dictatorship, they ask permission to build from the king. Doesn’t even occur to journalists, or socialists (but I repeat myself) because we know which assumption they take for granted.

    Note: They were a COMPLETE failure. Complete. Not even ONE house is left standing. Even if a tribe of Bonobo monkeys had built it after typing on 100 typewriters, at least ONE house would be left standing. SOMEONE would have a mass-wall adobe/earthship/Roman Villa/fire-steel pole barn/Japanese castle. But those are all illegal. Because they’d also be cheaper.

    “The Fascinating Backstory Behind Red Dye No. 3:
    Now that it’s banned, a dietitian explains what’s next.” Men’s Health

    Funny how everyone now agrees it’s been deadly all along. Huh. Maybe speak up 40 years earlier next time? Before a million people are killed? …And no one was arrested. Do it again, but harder!

    “This Aggressive Baby Name Trend Is ‘Alarming’ Experts
    “It’s rare for me to outright reject a name or name trend, but … “ HuffPost

    Fear, FEAR baby names!!! They are forms of audio signatures that will vibrate your ear. Karen has moved on to telling everyone what names they can have and what words they can use. Oh wait: they always were.

    Duran pointed out something we sort of know, but doesn’t take the fore: the U.S. is IN Europe, and Europe will do anything to keep us there to suck and sap us to fight their wars, so they can make fun of us for not having health care, while having no army. We know that part. We’re their useless b—h. Pimp hand! Trump will try to draw back as it’s retarded and bad business, why are we there? And Europe will nuke themselves – or us – to prevent that. We know this.

    Here’s the other part: it’s not just that we being there organizes, say, NATO, Europe, and Russia. One of the key unspoken issue is if the U.S. leaves, we leave…what? That’s right, Europe now has to deal with ITSELF. Like Germany vs Hungary vs Italy, vs France. Like BEFORE all this, before we came, and they can’t. Not a decade or more ago, but it’s very easy to see today that Europe will fracture, eat, and fight itself – Instantly – if they aren’t all looking to Big Dummy, the United States, to organize it all with our size and singular outlook.

    This is actually waaaaaaaay more deadly than just not fighting a war for them, one they’re not at any risk for and can GDP themselves if they want – like they did for the 200 years before 1940. So we were providing not one massive service – Trillions in free defense – but this other, more intangible effect Europe is well aware of but we’re not.

    In that case, that’s TWICE as many reasons to leave. Bye. Good luck with that. They will turn the planet to cinder to stop that, release Smallpox+Plague+Marburg. They’ve actually said so.

    “Lithuania Becomes First NATO Ally To Commit To Trump’s 5% Defense-Spending Goal

    See? It’s not all bad. There’s $50 bucks we’ll get back.

    “Trump ‘Makes More Than $58 Billion’ Shilling Meme Coin Before Taking Office
    President-elect Donald Trump made over $58 billion for himself “
    “Trump Unveils “Official” MemeCoin Late Friday; 12 Hours Later It Is Up 16,000% To $30 Billion

    And? There’s really nothing here. Anyone who knows the first sentence of how this works, it’s essentially a direct donation to Trump. Everybody knows it, it’s not a secret how it works. So we’re not allowed to donate? Donate = Scam now? Asking for donations = shilling? I think it’s stupid AF but what can I say? They’re adults, completely informed this isn’t even new, Memecoins have been running hot a year now. Again: government, Elite glue-sniffers with their underwear on the outside say “All that money is MY money. ALL money is MY money. You’re not allowed to spend it but only the ways I want.”

    “Outgoing FBI Director Says China Is ‘Defining Threat of Our Generation’

    Which is why he’s let a completely unknown number, possibly a million, across the border. Somewhere between 5 people and 5 million, but who’s counting?

    NPR Shopped for 96 Items at Walmart to Track How Prices Are Really Changing” Ackschully….

    “A Diet Discovery Reveals That Our Ancestors Were Once Vegetarian” Discover Magazine

    That’s why every human ancestor has canine teeth. Also that’s literally impossible, do a calorie count, dope. The only reason gorillas and orangutans can get anywhere near such a diet is the reason their guts are twice as large as ours and they sit all day. –And they’re still not vegetarians. That’s like saying cows are an aquatic species. Hey: they can swim a few meters, same thing, right?

    “Climate Whiplash and Fire Come to L.A.:
    Climate change has brought both fiercer rains and deeper droughts,” The New Yorker

    But because they knew and been telling us this for 30 years, they quadrupled-down and saved exactly zero water. Bill Maher was like, “They want to raise taxes to pay for this, NO! I want them to use the exorbitant taxes I’ve been paying the LAST 20 years to fix it!” …Welcome to being a Republican, Bill.

    Mr. Fish: so that’s Churchill and America?

    “Planned perfectly. Late switch. Enemies thwarted.”

    Totally agree.

    “Expect fairness, along with unity, to be offered as central themes in Trump’s inauguration speech”

    It’ll be in his speech. Will he take a single action about it?

    TikTok, I know it’s stupid but they’re stupid people. The amount him saving TikTok burns them is immeasurable. It’s all young, addicted, ultra-far head-in-a-blender liberal women on TikTok. That Trump saved their bacon, their smack, their fix, which is something they’ll shoot, kill, and die for, they can’t stand it and are thrashing around like a bucket of dying eels. The one I’ve heard is “The saving is not the real saving.” Uh-huh. And a minute ago you had no saving at all. What about Trump is shutting down free speech? By opening it?

    Well, logic doesn’t matter and has no effect whatsoever, so your guess is as good as mine, but they have to do something. If they don’t “poke” them, they will stay locked in the tunnels, eating soy, waiting for Hale-Bopp.

    “• Trump Team Preparing Early Talks With Putin – CNN (RT)

    Like TikTok, Peace = War. Trump talking to Putin and calling a ceasefire ackshully means he’s a murdering war monger of the military industrial complex. A war profiteering corporatist fascist, not like all those peace loving Socialists we voted in with Albright, Hillary, Obama and Biden. Peace first with all those guys. Not a single rifle was sold. Darn Republicans!!!

    “I have done my best to alert MAGA Americans to the difficulty of regaining control of the US government.”

    Does anyone not know? The problem is they’re still piddling around the edges. That’s why historically it takes a civil war: chilling in an era where you can kill 100 million people in 20 minutes. But so what if we are Rome under Julius, which is quite similar? Yeah, they then limped on, coming and going, but say, “Virtue” was never restored.

    “He hesitated in his first term. This time around, RFK Jr. will insist.
    Trump Vows To Release JFK, RFK and MLK Assassination Records (RT)

    It’s very likely he won concessions from the CIA for doing this. Now he won those concessions and releases them later anyway. I don’t LIKE it, but you have to understand it.

    “he German ambassador to the US, Andreas Michaelis, has warned Berlin that incoming President Donald Trump will likely try to undermine key principles underpinning American democracy,”

    As per TikTok, this is the universal “We all know” sentiment. If only Trump had been President before so we would know what would happen and whether he would leave or not!! : Reality has no hold. None.

    “A person who was demoralized is unable to assess true information. The facts tell nothing to him. Even if I shower him with information, with authentic proof, with documents, with pictures; even if I take him by force to the Soviet Union and show him [a] concentration camp, he will refuse to believe it, until he [receives] a kick in his fan-bottom. When a military boot crashes his balls then he will understand. But not before that. That’s the [tragedy] of the situation of demoralization.” — Bezmenov.

    ““..the Soros network is funded by the EU budget.” “The biggest corruption scandal in politics is that Brussels is in George Soros’s pocket..”

    And Soros is created, run, funded, and directed by MI6. That’s where he got his money from. They “Broke the Bank of England” – which everyone on earth told them, including Armstrong – and they did it anyway and weren’t mad a bit! Nope, they happily paid them. Poker hand were everyone at the table loses to a guy with a pair of twos. Good show, old chum! …Compare to treatment of the Hunt Brothers, search for Satoshi, any other human in the literal history of Britain, etc.

    So UK>MI6>Soros>EU/WEF. WEF>Canada + Congress, Blackrock, All media, CIA, Navy Intel, etc. Tell me this is not your first rodeo and you’ve read at least ONE history book.

    “For centuries, the world was lorded over by empires that sought to impose their singular, myopic vision upon all peoples”

    Not untrue, but you could also call it “Cohesion”. You think the cohesive group beats the atomized group? Ask Pontiac.

    “• Bill In Congress To Reinstate 8,400 Troops Forced Out Over Covid Vaccine (JTN)

    Why bother? They’re crazy to go back unless 1) Everyone is arrested and tried, 2) They pay $1M a piece for civil rights violations. So all can f—k right off. When you get to where you f—ked off, go ahead and f—k right off again. Then keep going.

    This is what I mean by “piddling around the edges” “Aw shucks, you tried to murder me in my sleep again!! Good one! But we’ll just shake hands and put it in the past, right, honey?”

    “Donald Trump’s nominee for CIA Director just called out the “51 spies who lied”

    Yes, but no one will believe it, so who cares? This half of America will think you’re making it up because, “ even if I take him by force to the Soviet Union and show him [a] concentration camp, he will refuse to believe it, until he [receives] a kick in[the balls]”

    Women don’t have balls, so I guess we’ll all die of old age first. Or maybe you know all the women who are quick to say they were totally, violently wrong, forgive and move on.

    For Australia today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hielN17IxSI

    pic

    #179837
    poppie
    Participant

    Charity. For some it is precocious. Great effort needed to be confounded. For others it is beyond their reach. They make the great effort to confound. It is easier to confound if the basis of your culture, your religion dictates that all others are feral and that charity has no place for them. Precocious charity displaced by fear of the feral. But being feral is being free. The slightest of creatures has a soul. The soul longs to be free.

    #179839
    zerosum
    Participant

    Breaking News:
    In his final hours, Biden offered immunity/protection from Trump, to the worst of the worst of the innocents. (Fauci, etc.)

    #179840
    Oroboros
    Participant

    A certified fool is the German ambassador to the US. Crazy.”

    As a general rule, German’s have no sense of humor. Let’s say 90% don’t, the other 10% are hilarious.

    But a lack of humor always highlights an Inner Authoritarian to the core.

    Germans have an innate, slavish, tenacious incomprehension of the absurdity of Life at every level.

    The first two world wars showed everyone around the Globe their true colorlessness

    Like the Monty Python skit of WWI British Soldiers telling a “german” joke so funny that it would kill German troops in the trenches.

    Hans: “Hey Fritz, my dog does not smell very well”

    Fritz: “Why Hans? Has he always been like that?”

    Hans: “No, because he is dead”

    How a German bartender tells you ‘enough’

    .

    #179841
    Dimitri
    Participant

    As predicted

    “ Biden pardons Fauci, Milley, and members of the Jan. 6 committee | AP News”

    And The Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff!

    https://x.com/walterkirn/status/1881318598599209020

    #179842
    Oroboros
    Participant

    @ poppie

    I thought you were preempting my thought on Germans.

    Hahahahahahahahahaha!

    #179843
    Oroboros
    Participant

    First “Beta Test” of podcasting

    .

    #179844
    Oroboros
    Participant

    A complete lack of Entrepreneurial Vision

    In my restaurant if you smelled like pot you’d get a 50% off coupon.

    .

    #179845
    Oroboros
    Participant

    I should come out with a trendy new Cologne, Ode du Mary Jane

    #179846
    zerosum
    Participant

    “Every radical, foolish executive order of the Biden administration will be repealed within hours of when I take the oath of office,” Trump stated.
    ————
    Additionally, Trump hinted at an upcoming announcement regarding individuals detained for their roles in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots.
    His supporters “will be very happy with my decision on the J6 hostages,” he told the crowd. The president-elect further promised to stop the Ukraine conflict, which he has long criticized for claiming too many lives and costing US taxpayers billions in perpetual military aid to Kiev.

    “I will end the war in Ukraine, I will stop the chaos in the Middle East and I will prevent WWIII from happening,” Trump said
    ————–
    • Can Trump Make A Difference? (Paul Craig Roberts).
    Read and find out …

    ———
    Change is coming.
    Wait for it.

    ———–

    #179847
    Oroboros
    Participant

    • Soros ‘Lost The Battle In America’ – Orban

    Tom Luongo goes on about Eurotardistan’s war against Duh’merica as a rewrite of Orwell’s Oceania vs Westasia

    Soro being funding by the Eurotrashtards plays into this very well.

    [Soros]…….fueling several so-called ‘color’ revolutions and having financial ties to hundreds of media outlets, which shield him from any backlash, shape public opinion, and promote what Orban called “LGBT fanaticism.”

    Indeed, Soros perfected ritual cultural humiliation

    Pissing on everyone’s head and tellin’ them it’s rain. Sweet George

    “I approve this message” ………George ‘Of the Jungle’ Soros

    .

    #179848
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Another Soros Meme Warfare creation:

    .

    .

    #179849
    Oroboros
    Participant

    .

    #179850
    Oroboros
    Participant

    .

    .

    #179851
    Noirette
    Participant

    Peter 47 on Jan 19 posted: I would be interested if Skripals are still alive, nobody mentions that.

    Imho Yulia and Sergei are still alive. There have been some reports, more or less credible, that they were given new identities and moved to New Zealand.

    Imho, the deal for ‘new identities’ for them was planned quite quickly. “Killing them off” was not an option — as saved by British Health System, Police, Gvmt., from Super-Evil.

    Yulia when she makes her TV statement (while held somewhere ‘safe’ in England) makes it clear that she does not wish help from the Russians (Embassy etc.), that she is fine, and a future awaits. Link below is excerpts not full version.

    In the Inquiry into Sturgess’ death testimony from Sergei *in absentia* dated some time in 2024 exists. It doesn’t add anything terribly vital, nor is it proof, but it sounds very like him to me. Sorry no link, I did keep many links, but the Sturgess Inquiry Site has re-vamped itself, and for now I don’t have time to hunt docs. up, if they still exist.

    https://tinyurl.com/34ssxrdc

    #179852
    ezlxa1949
    Participant

    Russia takes in Crimea. Bad.
    USA takes in Greenland. Good.

    Sigh.

    #179859
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    Biden’s preemptive pardons include not just Milley, Fauci, Liz Cheney and Adam Schiff, but everyone on the Select Committee and their unnamed staff.

    Plus “the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the Select Committee.”

    That is why I am exercising my authority under the Constitution to pardon General Mark A. Milley, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the Members of Congress and staff who served on the Select Committee, and the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the Select Committee.

    https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2025/01/20/statement-from-president-joe-biden-15/

    #179860
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    people vs. the banks


    a world system of financial control in private hands
    able to dominate the political system of each country and
    the economy of the world as a whole

    https://alexkrainer.substack.com/p/it-starts-tomorrow-people-vs-the

    #179861
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    Preemptive pardons to the “staff who served on the Select Committee” include these people (plus unnamed junior staff and other staff?):

    In July 2021, Thompson announced the senior staff:
    David Buckley as staff director. Served as CIA inspector general and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence minority staff director.
    Kristin Amerling as deputy staff director and chief counsel. Served as deputy general counsel at the Transportation Department and chief counsel of multiple congressional committees, including Committees on Energy and Commerce and Oversight and Government Reform. She also served as Chief Investigative Counsel and Director of Oversight for the Senate’s Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.
    Hope Goins as counsel to Chairman Thompson. Served as top advisor to Thompson on homeland security and national security matters.
    Candyce Phoenix as senior counsel and senior advisor. Serves as staff director of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
    Tim Mulvey as communications director. Served as communications director for the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

    In August 2021, Thompson announced additional staff:
    Denver Riggleman, senior technical adviser for the January 6 Committee. He previously served as a Republican U.S. Representative from Virginia and was an ex-military intelligence officer.
    Riggleman left the committee in April 2022.[68]
    Joe Maher as principal deputy general counsel from the Department of Homeland Security.
    Timothy J. Heaphy was appointed as the committee’s chief investigative counsel.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Select_Committee_on_the_January_6_Attack

    #179862
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    You don’t have to look to the Supreme Court or any other arbitrarily appointed judicial body to decide for yourself the starkly obvious logical conclusion that anything even remotely like a so-called “preemptive pardon” is identical to the complete and total abnegation of law itself.

    Please allow me to restate that in a shorter simpler way. If “preemptive pardon” exists, then law does not exist.

    In other words, and more to the point that affects our daily lives. If Fauci and Milley (both of whom are self aware intentional mass murderers) are allowed to be preemptively pardoned, then there is no law in America whatsoever. There will only be RULES which will be either enforced or not enforced, purely on the whim of an authority which claims and believes itself to have the uncheckable power over whatever it chooses.

    So those absurd attempted pardons are a very visible and good litmus test of the New Trumpian Paradigm of Pragmatic Paradise. If the perps get the slammer then he’s legit. And if they walk then we know for certain that he’s just another junior grade Mafia capo protecting his hit men.

    #179863
    zerosum
    Participant

    https://www.federalregister.gov/presidential-documents/executive-orders/joe-biden/2025
    2025 Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Executive Orders
    In 2025, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., signed 11 Executive orders (Updates are not done)

    #179864
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Incidentally, Biden’s latest and last round of “preemptive pardons” is an excellent confirmation of our well founded suspicions about which of the bad guys are the most vulnerable to successful prosecution. The Attorney General should thank Joe for saving her a lot of work in deciding who to arrest and prosecute first.

    #179865
    zerosum
    Participant

    https://www.justice.gov/pardon/pardons-granted-president-joseph-biden-2021-present#19-Jan-2025-pardon
    January 19, 2025
    DESCRIPTION PUBLIC DISCLOSURE
    Pardon
    Warrant 1

    Warrant 2

    Warrant 3

    Updated January 20, 2025

    #179866
    John Day
    Participant

    @ Doc Robinson. That’s the pardon-list quote I was going to post. Thanks for providing the link yesterday.

    #179867
    WES
    Participant

    Today’s Presidential Parade:

    Today, in a surprised appearance, Julius Ceasar’s four world famous legions, Legio VII, VIII, IX, & X are due to march in the presidential parade, piped in by the Royal Scotish Highlanders Bag Pipe Band.

    Oh, you mean their appearance has now been cancelled?
    Why?
    Moved indoors!
    What a shame!
    There are plenty of D.C. folks, who could each have their own safe spaces, nailed to crosses!

    #179868
    John Day
    Participant

    @MichaelReid: Yes, I’ve got Alex Krainer’s tab up to work-in today, too.

    Also, we’re already quite cold for central Texas, and may get all the roads heavily iced over tonight.

    #179869
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @MichaelReid

    a world system of financial control in private hands
    able to dominate the political system of each country and
    the economy of the world as a whole

    The United States has always and only been a colony of England. A careful study of the history of the United States documents this fact incontrovertibly. Those people (and I use the term loosely) owned America then and they own it now.

    They MIGHT NOT, however go on owning it for very much longer.

    #179870
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    Preemptive pardons to “staff who served on the Select Committee” presumably includes at least these 64 staff members (plus 33 contractors and consultants?) named in the Final Report of the Select Committee:

    iii COMMITTEE STAFF
    DAVID B. BUCKLEY Staff Director
    KRISTIN L. AMERLING Deputy Staff Director and Chief Counsel
    HOPE GOINS Senior Counsel to the Chairman
    JOSEPH B. MAHER Senior Counsel to the Vice Chair
    TIMOTHY J. HEAPHY Chief Investigative Counsel
    JAMIE FLEET Senior Advisor
    TIMOTHY R. MULVEY Communications Director
    CANDYCE PHOENIX Senior Counsel and Senior Advisor
    JOHN F. WOOD Senior Investigative Counsel and
    Of Counsel to the Vice Chair
    KATHERINE B. ABRAMS, Staff Associate
    TEMIDAYO AGANGA-WILLIAMS, Senior
    Investigative Counsel
    ALEJANDRA APECECHEA, Investigative Counsel
    LISA A. BIANCO, Director of Member Services
    and Security Manager
    JEROME P. BJELOPERA, Investigator
    BRYAN BONNER, Investigative Counsel
    RICHARD R. BRUNO, Senior Administrative
    Assistant
    MARCUS CHILDRESS, Investigative Counsel
    JOHN MARCUS CLARK, Security Director
    JACQUELINE N. COLVETT, Digital Director
    HEATHER I. CONNELLY, Professional Staff
    Member
    MEGHAN E. CONROY, Investigator
    HEATHER L. CROWELL, Printer Proofreader
    WILLIAM C. DANVERS, Senior Researcher
    SOUMYALATHA O. DAYANANDA, Senior
    Investigative Counsel
    STEPHEN W. DEVINE, Senior Counsel
    LAWRENCE J. EAGLEBURGER, Professional
    Staff Member
    KEVIN S. ELLIKER, Investigative Counsel
    MARGARET E. EMAMZADEH, Staff Associate
    SADALLAH A. FARAH, Professional Staff
    Member
    DANIEL GEORGE, Senior Investigative Counsel
    JACOB H. GLICK, Investigative Counsel
    AARON S. GREENE, Clerk
    MARC S. HARRIS, Senior Investigative Counsel
    ALICE K. HAYES, Clerk
    QUINCY T. HENDERSON, Staff Assistant
    JENNA HOPKINS, Professional Staff Member
    CAMISHA L. JOHNSON, Professional Staff
    Member
    THOMAS E. JOSCELYN, Senior Professional
    Staff Member
    REBECCA L. KNOOIHUIZEN, Financial
    Investigator
    CASEY E. LUCIER, Investigative Counsel
    DAMON M. MARX, Professional Staff Member
    EVAN B. MAULDIN, Chief Clerk
    YONATAN L. MOSKOWITZ, Senior Counsel
    HANNAH G. MULDAVIN, Deputy
    Communications Director
    JONATHAN D. MURRAY, Professional Staff
    Member
    JACOB A. NELSON, Professional Staff Member
    ELIZABETH OBRAND, Staff Associate
    RAYMOND O’MARA, Director of External
    Affairs
    ELYES OUECHTATI, Technology Partner
    ROBIN M. PEGUERO, Investigative Counsel
    SANDEEP A. PRASANNA, Investigative Counsel
    BARRY PUMP, Parliamentarian
    SEAN M. QUINN, Investigative Counsel
    BRITTANY M. J. RECORD, Senior Counsel
    DENVER RIGGLEMAN, Senior Technical Advisor
    JOSHUA D. ROSELMAN, Investigative Counsel
    JAMES N. SASSO, Senior Investigative Counsel
    GRANT H. SAUNDERS, Professional Staff
    Member
    SAMANTHA O. STILES, Chief Administrative
    Officer
    SEAN P. TONOLLI, Senior Investigative Counsel
    DAVID A. WEINBERG, Senior Professional Staff
    Member
    AMANDA S. WICK, Senior Investigative
    Counsel
    DARRIN L. WILLIAMS, JR., Staff Assistant
    ZACHARY S. WOOD, Clerk

    iv CONTRACTORS & CONSULTANTS
    RAWAA ALOBAIDI
    MELINDA ARONS
    STEVE BAKER
    ELIZABETH BISBEE
    DAVID CANADY
    JOHN COUGHLIN
    AARON DIETZEN
    GINA FERRISE
    ANGEL GOLDSBOROUGH
    JAMES GOLDSTON
    POLLY GRUBE
    L. CHRISTINE HEALEY
    DANNY HOLLADAY
    PERCY HOWARD
    DEAN JACKSON
    STEPHANIE J. JONES
    HYATT MAMOUN
    MARY MARSH
    TODD MASON
    RYAN MAYERS
    JEFF MCBRIDE
    FRED MURAM
    ALEX NEWHOUSE
    JOHN NORTON
    ORLANDO PINDER
    OWEN PRATT
    DAN PRYZGODA
    BRIAN SASSER
    WILLIAM SCHERER
    DRISS SEKKAT
    CHRIS STUART
    PRESTON SULLIVAN
    BRIAN YOUNG

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-REPORT/pdf/GPO-J6-REPORT.pdf

    #179871
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Dr D
    It’s all young, addicted, ultra-far head-in-a-blender liberal women on TikTok.

    Also, my kids tell me that their father’s fiancée’s teenage daughter with cerebral palsy LOVES TikTok — she was in love with a boy on TikTok and therefore decided that she needed to be a boy, just like him. My daughter has the fiancée’s old phone, and the screen has TikTok burn-in, because the fiancée uses TikTok with such frequency. My son with many challenges came out of his room Saturday night on a rant because TikTok was going away, railing against and blaming Donald Trump for taking it away. I had to spend a few minutes letting him know that, indeed, Trump was not president when the law was passed, did not sign it into law, and is not currently president and not the one enforcing the ban, but will become president Monday and is planning a 90-day reprieve. My son declared that on Monday Trump should repeal the law. I sighed — he took Civics last year and passed the class, didn’t he pay any attention? — and informed him that a president cannot unilaterally repeal laws, Congress can repeal and the courts can invalidate them as unconstitutional. Gee whiz — I think that he has been watching too much TikTok.

    #179872
    Oroboros
    Participant

    A Light Comes On

    .

    #179873
    Oroboros
    Participant

    An Inspirational Message to Live By in These Trying Time

    .

    #179874
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Pre-emptive pardons

    …it has been like one of those “wait for it” videos — knowing that *it* is going to happen, and the closer it gets to the ending timestamp of the video knowing that it is going to come any moment now — and then it hits…but is no where near as exciting as the buildup.

    #179875
    Oroboros
    Participant

    .

    #179876
    Oroboros
    Participant

    .

    #179877
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Inauguration Day

    Just sayin’, just in time….

    .

    #179878
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    Even more, some last minute preemptive pardons announced, including Biden family members:

    I am issuing pardons to Gerald G. Lundergan and Ernest William Cromartie. I am also commuting the life sentence imposed on Leonard Peltier so that he serves the remainder of his sentence in home confinement.

    ****

    My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me—the worst kind of partisan politics. Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end.

    I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics. But baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families. Even when individuals have done nothing wrong and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage their reputations and finances.

    That is why I am exercising my power under the Constitution to pardon James B. Biden, Sara Jones Biden, Valerie Biden Owens, John T. Owens, and Francis W. Biden.

    https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2025/01/20/statement-from-president-joe-biden-16/

    #179879
    WES
    Participant

    Question:

    Has any president before Joe Biden, ever issued preemptive pardons?
    Is there such a legal term as preemptive pardon in the US constitution?

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