Jan 302025
 
 January 30, 2025  Posted by at 10:45 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,  Add comments


Edward Hopper The Sheridan Theatre 1937

 

RFK Jr. Warns ‘Chronic Disease’ Leading To ‘Sea Of Desperation And Debt’ (JTN)
Midair Collision Over Nation’s Capital Preceded By Months Of Near Misses (JTN)
OpenAI Finds “Substantial Evidence” DeepSeek Ripped Off GPT (ZH)
OpenAI Promises Close Cooperation With US Authorities (RT)
Ray Dalio Warns Of Brutal AI War Between U.S. And China (ZH)
Trump’s DOGE Says It’s Already Saving Billion Dollars A Day (RT)
Pentagon To Investigate Milley And Possibly Demote Him (ZH)
Trump To Finish What Reagan Started, A Missile Defense System For The US (JTN)
Trump To Send Deported Migrants To Guantanamo (RT)
Kash Patel To Face Senate Hearing In Bid To Reform Scandal-Plagued FBI (JTN)
Gabbard’s DNI Nod Walks A Tightrope Over The Precipice Ahead Of Key Hearing (JTN)
White House Comments On ‘Mystery’ Drones (RT)
Trump’s Fight Against Online Censorship Quickly Goes Global (RCI)
Zelensky Wanted Protocol Signed Before Meeting Took Place – Slovak PM (RT)
Jordan, Egypt Reject US Plan To Resettle Gazans As Trump Doubles Down (ZH)
Trump Asks Musk To ‘Go Get’ Astronauts Stranded In Orbit (RT)
The Democrats Who Stole an Election Must Be Held Accountable (PCR)

 

 

 

 

Leavitt

Homan

Ted Cruz

AfD
https://twitter.com/i/status/1884658882456203448

 

 

 

 

“..90% of health care spending goes toward managing chronic disease..”

I watched part of this. In disbelief. That the US health care system is about to collapse didn’t appear to be the priority. Or people’s health, for that matter. Liz Warren spent all her time demanding that RFK wouldn’t sue any party in the industry, suggesting he’s in it for profit. What are her interests, really? Is she on some payroll? But no-one can dispute he seems to be the best person for the job, to MAHA. And that should be everyone’s priority.

RFK Jr. Warns ‘Chronic Disease’ Leading To ‘Sea Of Desperation And Debt’ (JTN)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday warned that the nation faced a “sea of desperation and debt” if it did not significantly address “chronic disease.” Kennedy faced questioning before the Senate Finance Committee. He will appear in front of another panel on Thursday. Long an advocate for reform to American federal health programs and a critic of chemical additives in food, Kennedy’s nomination has roiled lawmakers, some of whom have called him anti-vaccine. “Our country will sink beneath the sea of desperation debt if they don’t change the course and ask, ‘Why Are health care costs so high in the first place?’ The obvious answer is chronic disease,” Kennedy said during his confirmation hearing.

“The CDC says 90% of health care spending goes toward managing chronic disease, which hits lower income Americans the hardest,” he added. “The president’s pledge is not to make some Americans happy again, healthy again, but to make all of our people healthy again.” “For a long time, the nation has been locked in a divisive health care debate about who pays when health care costs,” Kennedy lamented. “There are no good options, only bad ones, shifting the burden around between government and corporations and insurers and providers and families, is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.”

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Why are there Blackhawks on that airport?

Midair Collision Over Nation’s Capital Preceded By Months Of Near Misses (JTN)

The midair collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army Blackhawk helicopter over the nation’s capital was preceded by months of harrowing near misses at airports across America, as well as increasingly shrill warnings that the nation’s air traffic control and safety system is stretched to the limit. Just 14 months before Wednesday night’s fatal mishap near Ronald Reagan National Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration received a safety expert report that warned America’s air traffic control system is suffering from quality control issues and staffing shortages that put safety at risk. That report warned that “challenges, in the areas of process integrity, staffing, and facilities, equipment, and technology, all have ties to inadequate, inconsistent funding. Together, these challenges contribute to increased safety risk and should be regarded as incident precursor.”

The November 2023 report also warned that personnel shortages among air traffic controllers were forcing people to work longer hours and make sudden last-minute changes to flight plans that increased risks. “Overtime is at a historically high level and increasing,” the report warned. “High rates of overtime for extended periods introduces risk into the NAS. Several associated issues include absenteeism, lower productivity and fatigue. “When air traffic is rerouted, put into holding, or space is increased between aircraft to accommodate understaffed adjacent areas, the opportunity for mistakes in instruction is multiplied due to the abrupt change in the operation and the increased communications required to facilitate the irregular operation,” it added. “While each element of risk may not be material, the combined effect of irregular operations necessitated by staff shortages erodes the margin of safety.”

Regulators acknowledged that in 2023 there were 19 serious near misses at U.S. airports that could’ve been catastrophic, one of the largest totals in many years. This past October, the FAA followed up with an audit looking at the increased risks of runway incursions at the nation’s 45 busiest airports. While that audit was still underway, several harrowing near misses were reported at airports, including at Reagan in Washington, D.C. and with a men’s college basketball team. Just two weeks ago, the FAA opened an investigation of a near miss in the skies above Phoenix, Arizona. The agency said there was a “loss of separation incident” involving a United B737-900 and a Delta A330-300 arriving at Phoenix Sky Harbor on Jan. 11.

Back in April, a dangerous collision nearly occurred at Reagan. The FAA said an air traffic controller instructed Southwest Flight 2937 to cross Runway 4, while JetBlue Flight 1554 was starting its takeoff roll down the same runway.The JetBlue flight had to abort. Likewise, FAA began investigating an incident at Los Angeles’ main airport in December when a private jet carrying the Gonzaga University men’s basketball team nearly crossed a runway as a Delta flight was taking off. Audio from the control tower showed an alarmed flight controller yelling “stop, stop, stop.“

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Guess that’s what I would say if I were outperformed like that.

OpenAI Finds “Substantial Evidence” DeepSeek Ripped Off GPT (ZH)

David Sacks, the White House’s AI and crypto czar, told Fox News on Tuesday that there is “substantial evidence” Chinese AI startup DeepSeek “distilled” knowledge from OpenAI’s models—an act he likened to IP theft. This poses a massive national security risk and might be critical for US AI firms to tighten IP protections. “There is substantial evidence that what DeepSeek did here is they distilled the knowledge out of OpenAI’s model. I don’t think OpenAI is very happy about this. One thing you will see over the next few months is that our leading AI companies will take steps to prevent distillation,” Sacks said.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1884344113488879732

On Wednesday, OpenAI confirmed to the Financial Times that evidence of “distillation” was found in how the Chinese AI startup used the OpenAI application programming interface (API) to siphon large amounts of data for building its model. “The issue is when you [take it out of the platform and] are doing it to create your own model for your own purposes,” a source close to OpenAI told FT. They noted distillation is a breach of OpenAI’s terms of service. Bloomberg reported that OpenAI’s partner Microsoft was also investigating distillation concerns and found evidence that DeepSeek researchers violated OpenAI’s terms of service last year. Meanwhile, DeepSeek’s research even admits its R1 model is based on other open-source systems:

“We demonstrate that the reasoning patterns of larger models can be distilled into smaller models, resulting in better performance compared to the reasoning patterns discovered through RL on small models. The open source DeepSeek-R1, as well as its API, will benefit the research community to distill better smaller models in the future.” AI experts told FT that DeepSeek’s model generated responses that indicated it had been trained on OpenAI’s GPT-4. DeepSeek claimed its latest model was only trained on 2,048 Nvidia H800 GPUs over two months, costing about $5.5 million, with 2.8 million GPU hours, far less than rival models by MAG7 companies that spent years and tens of billions of dollars.

On Monday, Goldman’s Rich Privorotsky told clients that DeepSeek’s model is allegedly “40-50x more efficient than other large language models,” and this “naturally raises the question of whether so much data center capacity is necessary.” Ironically, DeepSeek’s IP theft of OpenAI’s model through distillation comes as the US startup faces lawsuits for scraping training data from media outlets and other sources.

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You give me $500 billion, I’ll cooperate with you…

OpenAI Promises Close Cooperation With US Authorities (RT)

OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has vowed to protect its intellectual property following the launch of its Chinese rival DeepSeek. The US government suspects that the new startup could have “distilled” data from the American company to build its product, according to White House AI advisor David Sacks.Earlier this month, DeepSeek unveiled an open-source AI model designated R1, which its creators said had outperformed leading products from US developers on some industry benchmarks. The launch has led to a decline in the stock prices of major US tech companies, erasing almost $1 trillion in market value. In a Tuesday interview with Fox News, Sacks claimed there was “substantial evidence” that DeepSeek had “distilled the knowledge out of OpenAI’s models.” He assessed R1 capabilities as comparable to those of OpenAI’s 01 model, released about four months prior.

Knowledge distillation is a method involving an AI student model using feedback from a teacher model to improve itself. In some cases, it may violate terms of use. Developers have imposed limits on data traffic and other restrictions to counteract such practices. Sacks suggested that US companies will be introducing stronger barriers to eliminate “copycat models” in the near future. Responding to Sacks’ remarks, OpenAI said it was aware that some Chinese and non-Chinese companies are distilling American models. The company is actively pursuing “countermeasures to protect our [Intellectual Property].” “We are working closely with the US government to best protect the most capable models from efforts by adversaries and competitors to take US technology,” the statement added.

According to Bloomberg, OpenAI and its primary investor, Microsoft, are investigating DeepSeek for potential violations. Software developers are normally required to pay license fees to use OpenAI technology in their own applications, the news agency explained. The report cited sources “familiar with the matter” who spoke on condition of anonymity. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called DeepSeek’s launch a “wake-up call to the American AI industry” during a regular media briefing on Tuesday. The administration of Donald Trump has designated AI development as one of its priorities. Last week, the president announced Stargate, an initiative to build data centers across the US to serve as the backbone of future AI projects, with an investment target of up to $500 billion.

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‘No Country Can (Afford To) Lose’

Ray Dalio Warns Of Brutal AI War Between U.S. And China (ZH)

Billionaire investor and Bridgewater hedge fund founder Ray Dalio warned in an interview with All-In podcast co-host David Friedberg that neither the United States nor China can afford to lose the race for AI supremacy, stressing that this technological “war” is far more critical than “profits.” DAVID FRIEDBERG: I’m a productive asset guy. I like owning businesses that make stuff. In this environment, where do I own a productive asset—a business that can still see its revenue and its income grow as this inflationary effect and this devaluation occurs as we get through a debt crisis like this? What would be the best kind of productive asset? Is it a mining business? Is it a commodity trading business?

RAY DALIO: I’m with you. So, you know, that chart that we showed in the beginning has this line where productivity is going up. And it tends to compound on itself. And I think that’s where AI, and that is fantastic, but it depends where you’re referring to AI. I think the super scalers in this world have risk issues. You know, you think about the super scalers like Nvidia or others. I think that the tech war, certainly productivity, I’m with you man, but you want to invest in productivity. But there’s great disruption that’s going to take place, and there are going to be the disruptors and the disrupted. It’s not necessarily those who are producing the vehicles, but those who are implementing and changing as a result of having their big impact.

I think that the tech war, the AI war is more important. It is actually more important. It’s a war that no country can lose because it’s more important than profits. If you lose, if China or the U.S. really lose this war, it’s more important than profits. You have to play that war that way. It could be something like electric vehicles, or more in terms of Chinese electric vehicles, where they can produce them. But I think there are such high expectations. I think we are going to see applications. I think the Chinese are a bit behind in the chips, but they’re ahead in the applications.

DAVID FRIEDBERG: Did you see the DeepSeek announcement this weekend? RAY DALIO: Yes, and that was known for a little while now. The Chinese play is going to be chips—very inexpensive chips embedded into manufactured goods. You’ll see robotics. The Chinese are unbelievably [good] at making things inexpensively. They own 33% of all world-manufactured goods, which is more than the combined US, German, and Japanese manufactured goods. The Chinese produce more. You’re going to see that type of competition, and it may be like solar panels or something. Profit doesn’t matter. I think that where there’s productivity and innovation and disruptors to be. Essentially, being long those who are benefiting themselves through usage or creating the applications that are having the big effect is certainly one thing.

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“..mostly from stopping the hiring of people into unnecessary positions, deletion of DEI, and stopping improper payments to foreign organizations..”

Trump’s DOGE Says It’s Already Saving Billion Dollars A Day (RT)

The US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), created by President Donald Trump and led by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, claims it has already cut federal spending by approximately $1 billion per day. The agency announced the figure on Wednesday via its official X account, stating that it aims to reduce costs by more than $3 billion daily. DOGE was first proposed during Trump’s presidential campaign last summer and later formalized as a presidential advisory commission. Despite its name, the agency is not a full-fledged federal executive department but a temporary organization focused on reducing government spending. It aims to cut up to $2 trillion in federal expenditure by July 2026. “DOGE is saving the Federal Government approx. $1 billion/day, mostly from stopping the hiring of people into unnecessary positions, deletion of DEI, and stopping improper payments to foreign organizations, all consistent with the President’s Executive Orders,” the agency said, without providing further details.

The reference to “improper payments to foreign organizations” appears to relate to the Trump administration’s recent 90-day pause on virtually all foreign-aid programs, pending a review.Since taking office on January 20, the Trump administration has aggressively moved to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives across the federal government. On Tuesday, the president signed an executive order barring “radical gender ideology” from the US military, stating that service members must meet physical and mental fitness standards for duty. “This policy is inconsistent with the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals with gender dysphoria,” the order states. “This policy is also inconsistent with shifting pronoun usage or use of pronouns that inaccurately reflect an individual’s sex.”

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“In addition to pulling Milley’s security clearance and yanking his personal security detail, Hegseth will also ask the Pentagon’s inspector general to investigate his conduct..”

Pentagon To Investigate Milley And Possibly Demote Him (ZH)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is about to drop the hammer on retired Gen. Mark Milley, Trump’s former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and one of the president’s favorite rhetorical punching bags. In addition to pulling Milley’s security clearance and yanking his personal security detail, Hegseth will also ask the Pentagon’s inspector general to investigate his conduct, and the probe could end in Milley receiving a demotion, Fox News reported Tuesday. The IG investigation will center on allegations that Milley worked to “undermine the chain of command” during the first Trump administration. The probe is certain to scrutinize two calls Milley made to senior Chinese officials in the last days of Trump’s first term.

First reported by Bob Woodward in his book, “War,” the calls were apparently made with the goal of diffusing military tensions between the two powers, and were said to have had the blessing of other Trump officials. In 2023, Trump used a social media post to say that, by giving China “a heads up on the thinking of the president of the United States,” Milley had committed “an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!” Woodward also reported that, at a March 2023 reception in Washington, Milley told him that Trump was “fascist to the core!” Milley was still on active duty at the time, and Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice makes it a crime for commissioned officers to use “contemptuous words against the president.” Milley doesn’t have to worry about criminal prosecution: President Biden gave him a pre-emptive pardon that covers “any offenses against the United States” that were committed between January 1, 2014 and January 20, 2025.

Fox’s sources suggest that Milley could lose one of his four stars. In addition to humiliation, that would also put a dent in Milley’s rich military pension. However, as The Intercept reported last year, he has plenty of opportunities to turn his past service into stacks of cash: Since retiring from the military last year, former Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley has become a senior adviser to JPMorgan Chase bank, joined the faculties of Princeton and Georgetown, and embraced the lucrative paid speaking circuit. From military pay of $204,000 a year, Milley is sure to skyrocket to compensation in the millions, especially because he is represented by the same high-powered speakers’ agency as Hillary Clinton.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1882163144866578657

Milley oversaw the long-overdue but disastrously-executed withdrawal of military forces from Afghanistan. The botched undertaking saw 13 US service-members killed, another 45 wounded, and the deaths of 170 Afghan civilians in a bombing at Kabul’s principal airport. It also resulted in the Taliban inheriting a huge arsenal of US weapons. In June 2021, Milley assured legislators that a withdrawal would look nothing like the US departure from Vietnam. “I don’t see Saigon 1975 in Afghanistan. The Taliban just aren’t the North Vietnamese Army,” he said. The first official manifestation of the new administration’s utter contempt for Milley came just hours after Trump was inaugurated. A brand-new painting of Milley that had just been unveiled on Jan. 10 was yanked from a Pentagon hallway. Fox reports that a second painting in a different hallway was to have been taken down as early as Tuesday night.

Until Trump took office, the Secret Service had continued to guard Milley, former national security advisor John Bolton and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, on the chance that Iran may seek to kill them to avenge Trump’s Israel-assisted, Neta assassination of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani via a 2020 drone strike in Iraq. Trump removed Pompeo and Bolton’s security details last week. Senior US officials frequently retain their security clearances well after they’ve left government, a practice that is supposedly aimed at facilitating transitions, enabling ongoing advice and counsel, and anticipating officials’ potential return to government.

Milley

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“U.S. Iron Dome”

Trump To Finish What Reagan Started, A Missile Defense System For The US (JTN)

Just hours after Pete Hegseth was sworn in as the country’s Defense secretary, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Pentagon to begin the process of implementing a “next-generation missile defense” system for the U.S. aiming to complete the comprehensive project originally envisioned by President Reagan at the height of the Cold War. Trump dubbed the missile defense system – which the order says would be designed to protect the U.S. homeland from ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other new aerial threats – the “U.S. Iron Dome” after the highly successful Israeli conventional missile defense system. The executive order explicitly notes that the policy aims to achieve what was left unfinished by Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative – which critics dubbed “Star Wars” after the 1977 pop-culture film of that name – which endeavored to create a space-based defense shield against Soviet missiles.

Ultimately the intuitive fizzled out as scientists estimated the technology wouldn’t be ready for decades and the end of the Cold War reduced the urgency of the threat. But now, the old Soviet Union superpower has been replaced by China and Russia, which possess sizable nuclear arsenals and are currently in stiff competition with the United States. The Trump administration in the order specifically identified the threats from these “peer and near-peer adversaries” as the primary driver of a comprehensive missile defense system, which marks a major shift in policy documents from the first Trump, then Biden administration, which focused on using missile defense technologies to prevent attacks from smaller threats, namely North Korea and Iran. “The threat of attack by ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles, and other advanced aerial attacks, remains the most catastrophic threat facing the United States,” the executive order reads.

It continues, “Over the past 40 years, rather than lessening, the threat from next-generation strategic weapons has become more intense and complex with the development by peer and near-peer adversaries of next-generation delivery systems and their own homeland integrated air and missile defense capabilities.”The shift to focus on the nuclear threats posed by China and Russia comes as both countries have developed more advanced weapons and have expanded their arsenals while also becoming close partners. This presents a hard problem for the U.S. to solve with the traditional nuclear deterrence doctrine that endured until the previous Biden administration.

“During the Cold War the United States had one nuclear peer to deter, the United States now faces two – Russia and China. This is a much harder problem and the United States has to make big adaptations to the programs we have to deter both countries simultaneously,” Rebeccah Heinrichs, senior fellow and director of the Keystone Defense Initiative at the Hudson Institute, told Just the News. “We must outsmart and out-innovate China in particular and no area is more important than in the protection of the American homeland. Both of those actors, plus North Korea (and Iran is a threshold nuclear state with a space launch program that could be leveraged for a long-range missile program) could coerce the United States with ballistic or cruise missiles if they believe the United States is vulnerable to them,” Heinrichs also said.

She continued, “By building a layered homeland missile defense system, the United States complicates the adversaries’ calculations and makes it harder for them to plan an attack on the United States with even a handful of missiles.” President Trump, appearing to recognize the need for modernization and new ways of deterring attacks from adversaries, directs the Pentagon in the executive order to develop a plan within 60 days for implementing the “next-generation missile shield.” The requirements outlined by the executive order are sweeping. The plans are to include defense-against-missile systems, the deployment of tracking lasers, development of space-based interceptors, development of new methods to intercept threats pre-launch and securing the supply chains for these new defense systems.

This marks a major shift from the policy of the Biden administration, which in its 2022 National Defense Strategy unequivocally stated that the United States’ existing missile defense systems “neither intended for, nor capable of, defeating large and sophisticated ICBM, air-, or sea-launched ballistic missile threats from Russia and the PRC.” The 2017 National Security Strategy promulgated by the first Trump administration also made clear that missile defense was not geared toward China and Russia. While calling for an enhanced missile defense system, it noted that it is “not intended to undermine strategic stability or disrupt longstanding strategic relationships with Russia or China.” Missile defense, which is not part of the traditional U.S. nuclear doctrine, has seen renewed interest as the nuclear arsenals and capabilities of China and Russia have grown in recent years.

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“..some individuals are “so bad, we don’t even trust the countries to hold them, because we don’t want them coming back.”

Trump To Send Deported Migrants To Guantanamo (RT)

President Donald Trump has announced plans to expand detention facilities at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to accommodate thousands of deported immigrants as part of his intensified efforts to remove illegal aliens from US soil. The initiative was revealed on Wednesday during the signing of the bipartisan Laken Riley Act, which mandates the detention and potential deportation of undocumented individuals accused of theft and violent crimes, even before conviction. Justifying the use of Guantanamo Bay, Trump argued that some individuals are “so bad, we don’t even trust the countries to hold them, because we don’t want them coming back.” “So we’re going to send them out to Guantanamo,” Trump added, calling the facility “a tough place to get out of.”

Guantanamo Bay, best known for holding terrorism suspects, also hosts a separate migrant processing center. Trump said he would sign an executive order directing the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to expand and prepare the facilities for new arrivals. “Most people don’t even know that we have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people,” Trump stated. He added that the move would “bring us one step closer to eradicating the scourge of migrant crime in our communities once and for all.” Since his first day back in office, President Trump has enacted a series of executive orders aimed at overhauling the US immigration system.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been carrying out raids across the country, detaining hundreds of people daily. Targeted cities include Boston, New York, Newark, and San Francisco, with agents focusing on arresting immigrants who had committed crimes after entering the US illegally, according to the agency. The Trump administration has also escalated deportation efforts, using military planes for removal flights and threatening tariffs and other repercussions for countries that refuse to accept deportees.

Guantanamo Bay has been a US naval base since 1903 and was transformed into a detention center in 2002 under President George W. Bush to house suspected terrorists following the September 11 attacks. The facility has long been criticized for torture and indefinite detentions without charge or trial. As of January 2025, 15 detainees remain at the site, many of whom have been imprisoned for over two decades without formal charges. The Cuban government has consistently denounced the presence of the US military base at Guantanamo Bay, calling it a violation of Cuban sovereignty and raising concerns over human rights abuses at the detention facility. On his first day in office, Trump reinstated Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, reversing an executive order issued by former President Joe Biden just a week prior.

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They’re very scared of him.

Kash Patel To Face Senate Hearing In Bid To Reform Scandal-Plagued FBI (JTN)

FBI Director-designate Kash Patel will field questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, capping off a charm offensive that has seen most of the Senate Republican Conference warm to the Trump-aligned critic of the intelligence committee. A Trump advisor from the first administration, Patel has been a stalwart backer of Trump for most of his political tenure and a vocal critic of what he calls institutional rot in key American agencies. His 2023 book “Government Gansters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy” provided what President Donald Trump himself called a “brilliant roadmap” for uprooting a politicized bureaucracy.Trump picked Patel for the role in late November as grassroots supporters led #kashonly to trend on X.

The then-president-elect called Patel “a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People.” His nomination roiled FBI insiders, with reports emerging that the bureau could face mass resignations should he secure the post. But it landed better with the senators, who saw him as a far more conventional nominee than Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon. Patel has previously served as a prosecutor, public defender, senior advisor to the director of national intelligence, and as the Defense Department’s chief of staff.Even intelligence hawks and moderate lawmakers such as Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, have been optimistic Patel’s prospects in the narrowly divided Senate. Pressed in December on whether Patel would secure confirmation, Cornyn simply told radio host Hugh Hewitt that “yes, he will be.”

During the Trump administration and President Joe Biden’s subsequent four years, the FBI became mired in political controversy and scandal. It’s conduct was a leading factor in driving Trump’s claims of political weaponization. Among the earliest controversies were the anti-Trump messages of now-former FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, both of whom worked on special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russian interference investigation. Those messages referenced “an insurance policy” should Trump win. The bureau also came under fire over a memo from the Richmond Field Office suggesting that attendees of the traditional Catholic Latin Mass might harbor extremist sympathies. FBI Director Christopher Wray’s tenure, also saw allegations of retaliation against whistleblowers, the abuse of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants, and politicized security clearance reviews.

Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz in December published a report confirming that the FBI had secured Patel’s phone records, along with those of two members of Congress and dozens of other staffers. The move came as part of an investigation into leaks of classified materials to the media. Horowitz further found that the FBI failed to inform the court that the materials they sought “related to requests for records of Members of Congress or congressional staffers.” The report drew outrage from Trump supporters, as well as lawmakers, some of whom had warm words for Patel amid the revelations. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who leads the Judiciary Committee, said afterward that “Kash understands that cooperation with Congress is not optional and whistleblower protection is essential.”

“This report highlights exactly why Kash Patel is the perfect leader to reform and rebuild the FBI,” a spokeswoman for Patel said at the time. “Kash understands the critical balance between national security and protecting civil liberties. His commitment to accountability, transparency, and upholding constitutional principles makes him uniquely equipped to ensure the FBI serves the American people with integrity and fairness.”

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They have nothing on her. But Trump may still have to say “the only way you can get to her is to go through me first”

Gabbard’s DNI Nod Walks A Tightrope Over The Precipice Ahead Of Key Hearing (JTN)

Tulsi Gabbard, the Hawaii Democrat-turned-Republican, faces a tense confirmation hearing this week as intelligence hawks raise concerns over her skepticism of surveillance practices and Democrats push narratives of pro-Kremlin sympathies. A stalwart privacy advocate and social moderate, Gabbard unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, earning attention for her exchanges with former Vice President Kamala Harris. She later left the party and helped President Donald Trump prepare for his own debate with Harris. Gabbard joined the Republicans during the 2024 campaign and received Trump’s nod to head the nation’s intelligence apparatus. Her nomination received cheers from privacy advocates and MAGA-aligned critics of the intelligence community, many of whom hope she will work alongside FBI Director-designate Kash Patel to substantially uproot the nation’s intelligence apparatus and end practices that raise serious questions about politicization in the agencies.

The Senate Intelligence Committee will question Gabbard on Thursday in what is sure to be a contentious row. The panel is stacked with intelligence hawks, including some Republicans who have expressed public concerns over her past opposition to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows for the warrantless surveillance of foreigners abroad. With the confirmation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth concluded, Gabbard’s confirmation appears poised to mark the next battle between Trump’s MAGA disruptors and the old guard GOP of the Washington establishment. Gabbard has long been critical of Section 702, sharing the concerns of conservative Republicans on the Judiciary Committee that it allows for the collection of information on Americans in the process. An American speaking with a foreigner under surveillance, for instance, would see their half of the conversation swept up in intelligence gathering and ultimately entered into the Section 702 intelligence database.

The expiration of Section 702 led to a dispute between the House GOP Judiciary and Intelligence Committees last year, with the pro-surveillance Intelligence panel winning out and shutting the door on major reform. Gabbard’s opposition to Section 702 was such a point of concern for Republicans that she ultimately reversed her position amid the nomination process. “Section 702, unlike other FISA authorities, is crucial for gathering foreign intelligence on non-U.S. persons abroad. This unique capability cannot be replicated and must be safeguarded to protect our nation while ensuring the civil liberties of Americans,” she told CNN earlier this month. “If confirmed as DNI, I will uphold Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights while maintaining vital national security tools like Section 702 to ensure the safety and freedom of the American people.”

That about-face could serve to assuage establishment concerns, but she will likely need to persuade Republican members of the panel that she will be able to balance privacy and national security concerns in the post. The 9-8 Republican-led panel includes two potential swing votes: Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine; and Todd Young, Ind; according to The Hill. She is not expected to secure any Democratic support. Gabbard in 2017 visited Syria and met with now-ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose regime fell just weeks ago amid a surprise offensive from the Al-Qaeda derivative Tahrir al-Sham. She had previously insisted Assad was not an enemy of the United States and voiced opposition to American intervention in the Syrian Civil War. Gabbard herself is a veteran, having served in Iraq and was awarded the Combat Medical Badge.

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Still a weird story.

White House Comments On ‘Mystery’ Drones (RT)

US authorities have dismissed speculation that mass sightings of drones in the past few months were linked to hostile activities. Last year, then-President Joe Biden’s administration faced widespread criticism for not identifying the origins of the objects. The UAVs were “not the enemy,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at the first press briefing of President Donald Trump’s new administration on Tuesday. She conveyed a message “directly from the president,” giving an update on a news story that made headlines throughout November and December. Sightings of unidentified aircraft were reported in New York City, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, while arrests were made in connection with drone operations near restricted areas in Massachusetts and California.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorized the unmanned aircraft operating over New Jersey “for research and various other reasons,” Leavitt told the media, adding that many of them belonged to “private individuals that enjoy flying drones.” The Morris County Prosecutor’s Office first reported the aerial activity, leading to temporary flight restrictions, including at Stewart International Airport in New York. At the time, the FBI reported receiving thousands of tip-offs from citizens about drones they witnessed, and the Biden administration reassured the public that the objects posed no threat. ”There are thousands of drones flown every day in the United States, recreational drones, commercial drones,” then-Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas stated. According to FAA data, around a million civilian UAVs are registered nationwide.

In December, Trump accused the outgoing administration of withholding information about the unmanned planes, insisting: “Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, shoot them down!” Before his inauguration, Trump promised to provide information about drones “about one day” into his administration, during a conversation with Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago on January 9. He said it’s “ridiculous” that people are not being informed about what is happening with the aircraft. Amid public debate over the drones’ possible foreign origins, senior lawmakers have called for additional powers to be given to federal and state authorities, to tackle such situations.

Read more …

It’s ironic how hard it has become to fight censorship.

Trump’s Fight Against Online Censorship Quickly Goes Global (RCI)

Flanked by some of the Big Tech executives whose companies had suppressed the views of his supporters throughout his predecessor’s term, President Trump on Jan. 20 declared the days of such speech policing over. Hours later, the president put action behind his words, signing an executive order prohibiting the federal government from engaging in, facilitating, or funding “any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen.” The move was celebrated by those who see it as a blow against what they decry as the Censorship Industrial Complex. Others cast the executive order as giving dangerous license to “misinformation” and “disinformation.” What is clear is that this is just the latest salvo in an ongoing war over the digital public square, pitting the Trump administration and like-minded Republican congressional allies against not only domestic opponents but the global counter-disinformation eco-system.

The global speech-policing effort is looking like an early target. Trump himself seemed to convey that when he touted his order in a remote address last week to the World Economic Forum in Davos. The elite global conclave had recently declared “misinformation and disinformation” the leading short-term risk to the globe for the second-straight year, “underlining their persistent threat to societal cohesion and governance by eroding trust and exacerbating divisions within and between nations.” Two days after the inauguration, Trump’s Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, released the “Priorities and Mission of the Second Trump Administration’s Department of State.” The short document included the charge that Foggy Bottom “must stop censorship and suppression of information.” Rubio continued: “The State Department’s efforts to combat malign propaganda have expanded and fundamentally changed since the Cold War era and we must reprioritize truth.

The State Department I lead will support and defend Americans’ rights to free speech, terminating any programs that in any way lead to censoring the American people. It is not yet known whether and to what extent Rubio’s approach will affect the reorganized successor to the State Department’s recently shuttered Global Engagement Center, whose efforts defenders had called essential to combating foreign propaganda. Critics have dismissed the reorganization – of an office that funded entities targeting disfavored domestic speech – as an effort to simply rebrand and persist. The global “counter-disinformation” ecosystem encompasses research centers at top academic institutions and think tanks, fact-checkers, news raters, and like-minded for-profits – often funded and/or promoted by government agencies and powerful foundations, and operating and seeking to influence governments both stateside and across the Atlantic.

RealClearInvestigations, which recently previewed the censorship fight, e-mailed questions to other United States agencies and departments believed to be involved, directly or indirectly, in speech suppression on social media or otherwise likely to have a role in implementing the order. These included the Department of Justice and the FBI; the Department of Homeland Security and its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security sub-agency; Departments of Defense and Health and Human Services; National Science Foundation; and Office of Management and Budget.

[..] Trump has previously called for enacting “new laws laying out clear criminal penalties for federal bureaucrats who partner with private entities to do an end-run around the Constitution and deprive Americans of their First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendment rights.” To that end, the Judiciary Committee spokesperson told RCI that the panel would “move quickly to reintroduce legislation that will protect Americans’ First Amendment rights, such as the Censorship Accountability Act and the No Censors on our Shores Act.” The former would provide a right of action against federal employees for First Amendment violations. The latter would render any foreign official who engages in censorship of American speech inadmissible and deportable. In the Senate, two days after the release of President Trump’s order, Kentucky Republican Rand Paul re-introduced the “Free Speech Protection Act.”

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“That protocol outlined what we would do for Ukraine, including supporting its NATO membership. Gas wasn’t mentioned at all..”

Zelensky Wanted Protocol Signed Before Meeting Took Place – Slovak PM (RT)

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky wanted Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico to sign a protocol promising to support Kiev’s bid for NATO membership before meeting to discuss crucial gas transit through Ukraine, the Slovak prime minister has claimed. Fico had sought to meet Zelensky on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos following weeks of barbed messages between Kiev and Bratislava, in the wake of Ukraine’s decision to block the flow of Russian gas to Slovakia. The invitation was openly mocked by Zelensky, and the proposed meeting did not take place. Fico revealed details of the failed attempt to meet Zelensky with members of his SMER-SD party on Tuesday. “I was ready to meet [with Zelensky] in Davos. And what did he do? Zelensky sent me a protocol for the meeting, and I was supposed to sign it. The meeting hadn’t even taken place yet, but there was already a prepared protocol.

“That protocol outlined what we would do for Ukraine, including supporting its NATO membership. Gas wasn’t mentioned at all,” the prime minister said in a video posted on social media. The Ukrainian leader responded to Fico’s post, claiming that the Slovak prime minister “chooses Moscow over America and other partners.” “You have to pay for Russian gas not only with money but also with independence and sovereignty,” Zelensky wrote on his Telegram channel on Wednesday. “Many in Europe have already gone through this and chose to preserve their independence and sovereignty.” The Slovak prime minister had initially proposed meeting for negotiations with Zelensky on the border between the two countries, but the Ukrainian leader used a social media post to suggest he comes to Kiev instead. Fico narrowly survived an assassination attempt by a pro-Ukraine activist last year.

He warned earlier this week that Bratislava would veto any EU aid to Ukraine if the transit of Russian natural gas was not resumed, calling Zelensky an “enemy” and accusing him of causing “problems” for Slovakia. Slovakia, which had received up to 60% of its gas through a Soviet-era pipeline, has been badly affected by Ukraine’s decision to cut off the transit of Russian gas to Central Europe. The Slovak prime minister added that he plans to raise the issue with the European Commission on Thursday. According to Fico, the best resolution to the dispute would involve purchasing gas at Russia’s border and having it transported through Ukraine as Slovak property.

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“The Gaza ceasefire would likely collapse if Palestinians were suddenly pushed out in large waves into Egypt and Jordan.”

Jordan, Egypt Reject US Plan To Resettle Gazans As Trump Doubles Down (ZH)

After last Saturday President Trump floated a plan to ‘clean out’ Gaza by conducting a mass resettlement of Palestinians in neighboring countries, namely Egypt and Jordan, he’s now doubling down on the idea. Egypt and Jordan are not happy, but are also feeling the pressure as a result, and it must be remembered that both are recipients of huge amounts of foreign aid each year – with Egypt receiving billions. Israeli media underscores there’s been wall-to-wall firm opposition by Arab leaders: “US President Donald Trump dug in his heels Monday over a controversial suggestion that large numbers of Gazans take refuge in Egypt and Jordan, shrugging off wall-to-wall opposition to the proposal from Arab leaders.”

“Fresh off what he said were calls with Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi and Jordan’s King Abdullah, Trump insisted both leaders would take in Palestinians from the war-ravaged territory and said the issue would be discussed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when the two meet sometime soon, amid speculation in Israel that Trump’s gambit was being coordinated with Jerusalem,” the report details. “Egyptian media on Tuesday cited government sources as saying that Trump and Sissi had yet to speak. If they did, Sissi’s office would issue a readout, the Egyptian officials told local media,” it continues. This would involve these countries absorbing hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees – something which Jordan has already done historically over the last some seventy years.

Here are the latest remarks from Trump which are driving the controversy: Asked about those comments, Trump told reporters on Air Force One Monday evening he would “like to get them living in an area where they can live without disruption and revolution and violence so much.”“When you look at the Gaza Strip, it’s been hell for so many years,” Trump said. “There have been various civilizations on that strip. It didn’t start here. It started thousands of years before, and there’s always been violence associated with it. You could get people living in areas that are a lot safer and maybe a lot better and maybe a lot more comfortable.”

Interestingly, the tiny Balkan country of Albania has entered the discussion after an Israeli Channel 12 media report said that Trump was in talks with Albania for it to take 100,000 Palestinians from Gaza. But Albania’s prime minister quickly batted this down, calling it false. “I haven’t heard something so fake in quite some time – and there’s been a lot of fake news lately! It is absolutely not true,” Prime Minister Edi Rama tweeted. If such talks actually did exist, the Muslim-majority population of this country would surely be outraged.

As for Egypt and Jordan, Trump may use the outsized US assistance provided to pressure their leaders to agree to his plan at least on some level. But the reality is that this is ultra politically sensitive. Past historic waves of Palestinian refugees and armed groups flooding nearby Arab countries have literally erupted in wars, which especially Lebanon can attest to. Jordan has also seen its country destabilized at times. There’s also the logistics – with Palestinians now rushing back to their largely destroyed communities in northern Gaza, they are defiantly telling the world they don’t plan to leave their homeland. The Gaza ceasefire would likely collapse if Palestinians were suddenly pushed out in large waves into Egypt and Jordan.

Read more …

“@POTUS has asked @SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the @Space_Station as soon as possible. We will do so.”

Trump Asks Musk To ‘Go Get’ Astronauts Stranded In Orbit (RT)

US President Donald Trump has asked SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to bring back two NASA astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been stuck on the International Space Station for nearly 200 days, instead of the originally planned eight. Return flights to Earth have been repeatedly postponed due to a combination of technical issues. In a post on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, the US president wrote: “I have just asked Elon Musk and @SpaceX to “go get” the 2 brave astronauts who have been virtually abandoned in space by the Biden Administration.” The Republican added that “Elon will soon be on his way.” In a post on X that same day, the US-based tech tycoon confirmed that the “@POTUS has asked @SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the @Space_Station as soon as possible. We will do so.” He also wrote, “Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long.”

In another message, Musk published a screenshot of Trump’s original post, accompanying it with a saluting face emoji. On Tuesday a NASA spokesperson acknowledged an inquiry about Musk’s statement and said the agency “will follow up as soon as we can.” Wilmore (61) and Williams (58) launched for the ISS on board the Boeing Starliner’s June 5 maiden voyage. However, NASA engineers soon discovered four helium leaks and thruster pressurization issues. After days of tests and discussions, NASA decided on August 24 to leave the two astronauts aboard the space station and bring the Starliner back without the crew, by remote control. The agency later reassigned two astronauts originally slated for the Crew-9 mission with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, to free up seats for Wilmore and Williams, extending their intended eight-day stay to more than seven months.

In December NASA announced that the Crew-10 launch was postponed to late March to allow SpaceX time to complete a new spacecraft. This delay was expected to push the Crew-9 return to early April. Industry rumors suggested further delays for Crew-10, which could lead to SpaceX using another Crew Dragon, possibly the one being prepared for the Ax-4 private astronaut mission, scheduled for launch as soon as April for Axiom Space. The astronauts themselves have maintained a professional stance on the situation. “Things that I can’t control I’m not going to fret over,” Wilmore said in a September briefing. Williams added, “You sort of turn to and just take on the next activity of the day. That’s what we do. We’re professionals.”

Read more …

“Is there to be no accountability for election theft and wielders of weaponized law and prosecutions?”

The Democrats Who Stole an Election Must Be Held Accountable (PCR)

The release of the pardoned J6 political prisoners has, for the most part, gone well, but in a few instances vindictive Democrat officials still hold a few of the pardoned. It is a fluid situation, and my figures might be out of date by the time you read them. The worst offender is the black female mayor of D.C. who at last report has not released 12 of the pardoned. Kentucky is still holding 6, and there are a few others being held here and there. Democrats in Pennsylvania were looking for a way of duplicating the pardoned federal charges with state charges in order to continue the incarceration of the pardoned political prisoners. It is possible that some of the non released J6 political prisoners have outstanding state charges unrelated to the J6 fake charges. It seems that at the time of Trump’s pardon there were 242 J6 political prisoners still in prison and a number I don’t have in halfway houses.

The issue has been raised whether some of the J6 prisoners had chargeable offenses and should not have been pardoned. This is a red herring as rally attendees were arrested irrespective of whether they committed an offense. Before buying this argument, remember the facts. The only reason there was a rally on January 6 was that the Democrats stole the 2020 presidential election, refused the evidence to be investigated, instead bringing court cases against those who made evidence-backed charges of electoral fraud. The rally was held to support the Republican senators who intended to present evidence of theft at the January 6 meeting when Congress assembled to certify Biden’s election. To prevent the presentation of the evidence, the Democrats and RINO Republicans such as Mitch McConnell used the FBI and police to stage an “insurrection” in order to break up the meeting and prevent the presentation of the evidence.

Remember that President Trump wanted to send 10,000 National Guardsmen to keep matters under control, but this interfered with the insurrection plot and Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi prevented the deployment of the National Guard. Remember also that the FBI as revealed by FBI whistleblowers had agents embedded in the rally who incited violence at the Capitol. Remember also that the police began the violence by firing rubber bullets and teargas into the crowd of peaceful protesters. These acts of violence committed by corrupt police incited the rally attendees to push back police barricades, which the whore US media played to the hilt as an “insurrection.” Remember also that an appearance of violence was created by having a corrupt police officer fatally shoot US Airforce veteran Ashley Babbitt. The shooting was never investigated, and the officer was promoted for murdering an Airforce veteran without cause.

Remember that Democrats refused to release the videos of the alleged “storming of the Capitol.” After Republicans regained control of the House, the videos were released. The videos showed that there was no storming. The police opened he doors and escorted the rally attendees around the Capitol. There was no “invasion” of the Capitol. Remember also that Derrick Garland lied through his teeth that the rally attendees killed a police officer. The police officer’s family denied this. The officer died the next day from a heart attack. Remember also that the police attacked rally attendees with batons and bats, and attendees who raised their arms in defense were charged with “assaulting a police officer.” Remember also that a totally corrupt Justice (sic) Department violated privacy rights in order to hunt down and charge anyone who was present at the Capitol part of the rally. Instead of calling “suspects” in for questioning, FBI SWAT teams, reincarnations of the Nazi Gestapo, broke into Americans’ homes in the middle of the night terrorizing children while dragging handcuffed parents out of the house.

Remember also the false and invented charges were enhanced with serious felony charges for those who refused to self-incriminate with a plea bargain. The Democrats just wanted “convictions” for the whore media to hype to protect their rigged scheme from collapse. Remember also the instances of the wrongly incarcerated being held in solitary confinement, beaten, and imprisoned far from home in order to deny them support from visitations. Many were constantly shifted from prison to prison so that families did not know where they were.

The false indictments and convictions cost many their careers, their wives, their businesses, their homes. A young millionaire businessman lost his business and his wife. A medical student was disowned by his cowardly and stupid parents who fell for the bullshit fed to them. The abuses suffered by the J6 did not stop with their pardon. Had Gary Heavin and others not organized to meet the pardoned upon their release, some might have frozen to death. Some of the pardoned were released from prisons in the middle of nowhere in short pants into freezing temperatures without a cent and no ability to get to a safe place.

The stinking dirty Biden Regime and the gang of despicable criminals that comprised its Justice (sic) Department gave America FOUR YEARS of a Stalinist Gulag Archipelago. Pardons for their innocent victims is just the first step of restoring justice to America. All of those responsible for the “insurrection” hoax and convictions of innocent Americans must be hunted down, arrested, indicted, and convicted. If the Democrats’ criminal act of stealing a presidential election and then, in order to cover up their theft, refocusing attention on a concocted “insurrection” and falsely convicting 1,500 innocent Americans for something that never happened can escape accountability, Trump has no chance of making America great again.

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Home Forums Debt Rattle January 30 2025

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 138 total)
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  • #180716

    Edward Hopper The Sheridan Theatre 1937   • RFK Jr. Warns ‘Chronic Disease’ Leading To ‘Sea Of Desperation And Debt’ (JTN) • Midair Collision Ove
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle January 30 2025]

    #180718
    Dr. D
    Participant

    A.M.

    #180719
    Dr. D
    Participant

    x

    Western Iberia.

    #180720
    aspnaz
    Participant

    RFK needs confirmation, while Musk just wanders in and controls the money, including the new budget to get the Boeing astronauts back …. did that contract go through US government purchasing procedures, or was it handed to Trump’s mate? Banana republic.

    #180721
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Trump Secretary helpfully explains the FAA and drones:

    Smoke

    #180722
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Short answer is Musk has no power whatsoever. Legally, he doesn’t exist. He’s there to draw fire and keep their eye off the ball, because they know reporters are too retarded to realize that. Don’t follow behind them, it’s embarrassing.

    #180723
    oxymoron
    Participant

    • China Finds “Substantial Evidence” the UD Dollar Ripped Off the Yuan (ZH)

    #180724
    aspnaz
    Participant

    https://www.swentr.com/news/611891-washington-crash-figure-skaters/

    So lots of Russians died from American “incompetence” that all of us over a certain age know is American deliberate action. Why kill Russian figure skaters, is this part of Trump’s 5D chess? Either way, tourists heading to the USA should check their insurance before they fly. You don’t want to end up having medical treatment in a mud hut.

    #180725
    aspnaz
    Participant

    https://www.swentr.com/news/611895-russia-confirms-australian-fighter-capture/

    Now Australia is pretending that captured mercenaries – paid murderers – are somehow prisoners of war. The west has no moral fibre at all, that Albanese – the best impression I have seen of a bowl of cat sick – is pretending that he is fighting for Australia, is kin dof pathetic. The trouble is, the majority of people in Oz live a very comfortable lifestyle, so they are not too interested in what their politicians do, in fact, they tend to support them, because they provide lots of services, paid for by exported minerals. People are dumb.

    #180726
    oxymoron
    Participant

    Billie Eilish has those 1% or less ice eyes.

    #180728
    aspnaz
    Participant
    #180729
    aspnaz
    Participant

    Dr. D said

    Short answer is Musk has no power whatsoever.

    Trump just gave him a contract, how is that no power? Trump didn’t just give me a contract, so what is so special about Musk that he just gets handed government contracts, without due process? Where is the money coming from for this rescue mission? Why is Trump spouting such drivel in support of his mate Musk? Trump will get the feedback, not Musk.

    #180730
    aspnaz
    Participant

    Dr D said

    it’s embarrassing.

    Indeed, the whole Trump experience is embarrassing in the USSR oligarch sense.

    #180731
    Celticbiker
    Participant

    Gaza is the world’s microcosm. Power vs. People. Hackable animals, useless eaters, cattle vs. $. What began with them will end with you.

    #180732
    aspnaz
    Participant

    @CelticBiker Trump is hiding behing the bulldozers flattening Gaza, he can’t keep up because he is a leader who leads from the safety of his personal protection team, in the rear. Very much like Churchill, who, if you read about him, was probably the UK’s leading coward during WW2, willing to let the peasants die, while using his secret government information to determine tonight’s safest place, then ordering his driver to take him there. Meanwhile his voters were dying on the front, thinking they were saving Britain, rather than the British government and its Jewish overlords … ready to create Israel.

    #180733
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Okay listened to the Martin Armstrong interview, and he’s got it in one. And as usual, hasn’t a clue he has it, calling everyone stupid. They’re not stupid, dumdum, they’re DISHONEST, there’s a difference.

    So how are they planning on doing this new dips—t “Error” that crashes the market 1987 style? Devaluing the currency. “Don’t do it!!!” Uh-huh. What happens IF they do that? WHY does it crash? Well, duh, everyone who bought bonds, the bonds drop 40%. Everyone who bought the Dow, the Dow (can) drop 40% (caveat bc best stock market in the world was Zimbabwe, have to account + timing). Uh-huh Martin.

    You do Capital Flows, sir, that’s your area of expertise. So WHO gets screwed with the 40% bonds? Well Yellen has been force-levitating the Eurobond market by selling short (Under 10 year) to Europe. At record lows. Traitor. So she does this both to screw Powell AND to screw you. We have/had near 0% rates, and she took that window and didn’t issue 100 YEAR bonds? One hunned? Hang her outside the Eccles building, now we have to re-finance $1T in interest, in one year, in fact this month I think, because she sold only short-dates.

    Oh well, that’s the game, that’s how those moves were played with the pieces (Europe) had.

    Sooo…and now? Oh yeah! I almost forgot! Who owns the Bonds? EUROPE. All of them. Bank of England ALL OF THEM. Why? That’s how BoE was trying to strengthen their currency, say “Look, Uk may be a greater s—thole than Rwanda, with more per capita rapes than Sbreniska, but our currency is good! It’s backed by the thing second only to gold! US Dollars!” Huh. Wow, what a very most excellent idea, Carney. I guess you got us this time!!!

    BANNNNNNNNN!!!!!! We drop the US$ 40%, punching a hole the size of a Sunburn missile in their UK balance sheet. Oops! You were on the very bleeding edge? Held up only by your US$ reserves? Aw shucks, but we need that low dollar for manufacturing! ….Not anything to do with YOU of course, or how your tried to force us into WWIII, fight it for you for free, and in fact moved 20k troops to Romania only today?

    Oh Switzerland? Owns nothing but Apple and FAANGS Stocks? Gee, so sorry Europe, Oops! “Unintended consequences” about how we won’t pay you back but have screwed you out of like $10 Trillion while WE JUST TOOK all your money from Nov>April for Trump’s new “Invest in America” plan.

    Ohhhhh….something like that. So Stock market, which mathematically can’t go up, shouldn’t have in 10+ years, needs to come down? “But muh that will crash the U.S. “They won’t let that happen.””? Uh, yea, well, if that happens and we make $10T on the crash and $10T in Wall Street FRONT RUNNING the short, then I guess we can probably help pay for the short-term, 1921 Coolidge, Reagan 1987 damage that would cause, yes? Vance still elected because it’s all forgotten in 4 years?

    But remember: Armstrong says it’s an accident and there’s no rigging or collusion.

    “​They removed ​General Milley’s ​official portrait from the Pentagon. Pentagon To Investigate Milley And Possibly Demote Him – Security Clearance Pulled”

    Great but he hasn’t been hung yet? What’s the holdup? He specifically told China he would call them with any inside news and plans from America. It was all reported, he admitted it. …Oh and THEN he supported Ukraine, Gaza, and Covid.

    Powell says Banks can freely offer crypto services now. Boy, I’m sure glad the Fed isn’t political or nothin’! This decision totally has nothing to do with the election.

    “taken money from the manufacturer of that product, a European company called Novo Nordisk.”

    Europe is bankrupt. Money pump FROM U.S. TO Europe. On the same Project Paper Clip companies.

    “Dem Senator: “You keep citing the Trump administration, and you’re just going to follow what they say?”

    Yes, obviously, seen everywhere, all employees must do the #Opposite of what their employer says. That’s just common sense. This is in “Stacked with Trump Loyalists”. …Because he’s supposed to hire Trump DISloyalists? Same as rolling coal, yesterday: IF you get in a fight, you’re bad. IF you DON’T get in a fight, you’re also bad. (Do what you’re told)

    The only way to have a loyal democratic government upholding the will of the people is to hire exclusively Disloyalists and traitors who refuse all orders. Duh. That’s what Democrats say! I say fine! We’ll do it when they’re elected too!

    Speaking of, Chief Inspector USDA, says Trump’s not the boss of her, refuses to leave. …Immediately escorted from the building by Federal Security. Well Jesus, it’s about time! In her defense, she says he doesn’t have the legal power, blah blah, okay so she can wait OUTSIDE the building for that court case to conclude.

    Now, back to reality: WHY is Trump able to do this??? Suddenly everyone is obeying, while they weren’t obeying last time. The Reporter exchange is good and healthy, she SHOULD ask these questions as just a second ago, everyone was pretending that this WASN’T legal. There have been no cases, but now it is? What gives? (Trump has the Epstein tapes for the Judges). She says they’ll win in court, as a Libertarian I agree, but the cases haven’t been brought and they haven’t supported the Constitution in 100 years.

    BTW, the real story is that there was a Press Meeting, and the President is talking, working, and not on vacation. (40% of the time, officially. 99% of the time, actually)

    “• RFK Jr. Warns ‘Chronic Disease’ Leading To ‘Sea Of Desperation And Debt’ (JTN)

    Like most of these Press Kerfuffles, just cut through the noise: WHILE we all agree the U.S. health is (suddenly) the worst in the world and (Since 1994) the most expensive in the world, and while that makes us both dead and militarily unready, all focus, from everyone, is on, say RFK, and not this issue? Okay, you don’t like RFK, great! Because you have Vlad the Impaler in the wings to take the battle and post up everyone like Spartacus from Denver to the sea to whoever has done this to us? Nope! Their Meta – as well as their actual – statements are that “Everything is awesome!!!! Don’t rock the boat!” I mean, we haven’t ACTUALLY completely collapsed militarily, with ZERO applicants able to fight, can’t we wait ‘til then?

    That is, every word, every minute, they demonstrate they WANT the world’s worst health and will fight fight fight to insure it. (Turns to the American people on camera: “What? What???”)

    “Chinese AI startup DeepSeek “distilled” knowledge from OpenAI’s models—an act he likened to IP theft.”

    Neither AI can tell the truth, so I believe it. Also: SOOOOO???? Hahahahaha! Cry me a river, you’re so retarded you didn’t think that would happen and call Mommy? GTFO. Oh my “Patent Rights”. Hahahahahaha! What are you, a Republican? Hie thee to a nunnery.

    “You give me $500 billion, I’ll cooperate with you…
    • OpenAI Promises Close Cooperation With US Authorities (RT)

    To “Lower costs” is going to cost Taxpayers $500B? Uh, no thank you please. Just don’t help. Stop helping. “We lower costs by raising them”!

    Hey, how can you be sure Trump isn’t a new fascist regime? Well, because we won’t see Government go into a complete economic merger with private corporations, of course! I mean, certainly has to be below the threshhold of $1B right?

    “‘No Country Can (Afford To) Lose’
    • Ray Dalio Warns Of Brutal AI War Between U.S. And China (ZH)

    They both lost: neither AI works. And we used every drop of drinking water on the East Coast. #Winning!

    “• Trump To Finish What Reagan Started, A Missile Defense System For The US (JTN)

    You’re high. Both we can’t do this, nor do it in time. What are you up to? The S500 can’t shoot down an Oreshnik either.

    “• Trump To Send Deported Migrants To Guantanamo (RT)

    Uhhhh, whut? First, Whut, legally. Second, it’s not big enough. So you’re choosing them on some basis you’re not admitting, just like the drones you’re not admitting. I can guess, but I’m not supposed to, you’re making me hypothesize conspiracy theories. Just say it. As RFK says, I PAID for that info, and to be an informed voter, I need to know. Cough it up, Beavis.

    “• Trump’s Fight Against Online Censorship Quickly Goes Global (RCI)

    You know how to really get this going global? Arrest everyone who was involved in hundred million counts of human rights abuses. Heck, I’ll even let Zuck n co go. (They can be arrested on other crimes). Just round up everyone in the U.S. Ministry of Information, Mary Poppins, and every liaison taking their calls in Twitter, Facebook, Google. You don’t even have to imprison them. I just want the – extremely legal and appropriate – court cases to go forward like a real, normal thing, for years and years, and we can all have juries decide verdicts with open court records. That’s a MINIMUM. But: Republicans. They exist NOT to do the minimum, but to help Democrats erase the Constitution and all Human Rights on earth.

    “THE RETURN TO THE NORTH OF GAZA”

    Driving whole populations to and fro at their detriment is a war crime and almost certainly an act of open genocide.

    “• Trump Asks Musk To ‘Go Get’ Astronauts Stranded In Orbit (RT)

    Wouldn’t it be easier just to use the Space Planes we admit we have? Oh yeah: it’s an odd-numbered day, we don’t’ have them.

    “• The Democrats Who Stole an Election Must Be Held Accountable (PCR)

    As a minimum. But see above: Republicans don’t do the minimum. …Unless it’s on behalf of the Democratic Party.

    #180734
    aspnaz
    Participant

    Dr. D said

    Short answer is Musk has no power whatsoever.

    Sorry to harp on about this, but yours was the most ridiculous comment today, so ripe for the picking. “Musk has no power whatsoever” … wow, I don’t know where to begin, after he magically took over Twitter, with a swath of oligarchs supposedly providing the cash, although we will never know who really provided the money. And he hosts Netanyahu as his guest, yeah, totally powerless, as judged by the world’s number one genocider …. good call D for Dumb, Musk has no power at all.

    #180735
    aspnaz
    Participant

    https://www.swentr.com/news/611847-scholz-musk-afd-disgusting/

    The powerless Musk is pissing off the German government, well I never.

    #180736
    aspnaz
    Participant

    https://www.swentr.com/news/611841-doge-billion-saving-claim/

    One for the Trump/Musk masturbators, looks like Batman and Robin are already saving the USA 1 billion per day … that is 365 billion a year [no audits allowed]. Wow, for such a limp dick, Robin is doing rather well, if you believe Batman.

    #180737
    Red
    Participant

    Eye colours interesting. I have what most would call brown eyes. That is until my level of agitation starts to climb. My eyes will go from brownish to green and if the level of agitation gets high enough they go to that ice colour. My wife has seen it happen more than once with no malice toward her what so ever. It usually happens in a work situation involving levels of incompetence that borders on mind numbing. I wonder what percentage of the population has this mutation?

    #180738
    aspnaz
    Participant

    @Red Real white people have blue eyes, the rest are mongrels.

    #180739
    Dora
    Participant

    Meryl Nass reports:
    Italy proposes to leave the WHO
    https://merylnass.substack.com/p/italy-proposes-to-leave-the-who

    ‘ Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has presented a bill to withdraw his own country from the WHO.

    Matteo Salvini wrote in a post on X: “This morning the Federation presented its bill to LEAVE the WHO (World Health Organisation), as the US did with Donald Trump.”

    “Italy no longer has to deal with a supranational power centre – richly funded by Italian taxpayers – that goes hand in hand with multinational pharmaceutical companies.”

    He added: “Let’s use this 100 million to support the sick in Italy and fund our hospitals and doctors!” ‘

    #180745
    The Markster
    Participant

    Quite rich of Ted Cruz, an unrepentant imperialist and warmonger, to criticize China for “debt trap diplomacy to enable political and economic coercion”. L. O. Freaking. L. Talk about pointing a finger and having ten more point back at you. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man ring any bells?

    Ron Wyden, Oregon’s Big Pharma Senator from New York and the primary author of Medicare Part D which prevents the government from bargaining with drug companies over prices charged to Medicare and Medicaid, is a liar and drug company whore/fascisti just like Senator Warren. Both harm their people and nation to make a fast buck, virtue signaling and projecting their own crimes on others with every single breath. Both Oregon and Massachusetts could do so much better!

    Appreciate the sage advice about Alzheimer’s and highly processed vegetable fats. Wish I could take a long walk in the country with that guy. Really need to break my Fritos habit lol, damn scary…

    Loved the eye video. Like Red I have noticed mine change from Amber to Hazel sometimes (brown on the driver’s license) but going forward I will pay attention to their color in various emo-spirito-physico states as an experiment. And a chuckle to aspnaz on the blue eye/”white” connection. I am precisely 25% Swedish, 25% Norwegian, and the other half is a mongrel mix of Welsh and English. And are all cats white for the first few weeks of their life?

    Fun stuff! Thanks Ilargi! ☮️

    #180746
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Panama Canal

    Very interesting. I am not in the habit of trusting Ted Cruz, but his words on the state of the canal are straightforward enough.

    Just as I find it logical that Russia would have interest in Ukraine and which of its border states are in NATO, it is logical that the US would have interest in details surrounding the Panama Canal — even more so since the US built the canal. The treaty is the most salient aspect — I did not previously realize that the gift of the canal to Panama was conditional.

    #180747
    jb-hb
    Participant

    Safe, Reliable, and Uninhabited: First Autonomous BLACK HAWK® Helicopter Flight
    https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/news/features/2022/safe-reliable-and-uninhabited-first-autonomous-black-hawk-flight.html

    February 08, 2022
    Sitting on the runway in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, one of Sikorsky’s pilots in an S-70™ BLACK HAWK® helicopter flips the optionally piloted cockpit switch from two to zero, exits the aircraft and walks across the runway.

    Moments later, the Model A BLACK HAWK aircraft, identifiable by DARPA’s logo and tail number N60-OPV, completes a pre-flight check list, starts its engines, spins up its rotors and takes off with no crew onboard. All of it happens fully autonomously.

    or for pop-out https://youtu.be/VbtyBIO8dXA

    #180748
    jb-hb
    Participant

    ADSB would give things like location, speed, heading, altitude

    “The FAA confirms tonight’s collision near DCA involved #AA5342 and a US military H60. The helicopter was not broadcasting ADS-B data. The last received ADS-B position from the CRJ was at 01:48 UTC. ”

    https://x.com/flightradar24/status/1884803434274075060

    #180749
    zerosum
    Participant

    Problem # 1: Spending Imaginary Money
    —————-
    • Trump To Finish What Reagan Started, A Missile Defense System For The US (JTN)
    ————-
    • RFK Jr. Warns ‘Chronic Disease’ Leading To ‘Sea Of Desperation And Debt’ (JTN)
    ————-
    Why is the news coming from RT?
    RT is a Russian state-funded television network that includes eight news and documentary channels, …

    • Trump’s DOGE Says It’s Already Saving Billion Dollars A Day (RT)
    https://swentr.site/news/611841-doge-billion-saving-claim/
    The government efficiency watchdog has said it has stopped “unnecessary” new hires, diversity initiatives and certain “improper payments”
    ————-

    AI Deepseek can Improve human supervision of air traffic
    • Midair Collision Over Nation’s Capital Preceded By Months Of Near Misses (JTN)

    ” America’s air traffic control system is suffering from quality control issues and staffing shortages that put safety at risk.
    That report warned that “challenges, in the areas of process integrity, staffing, and facilities, equipment, and technology, all have ties to inadequate, inconsistent funding.
    Together, these challenges contribute to increased safety risk and should be regarded as incident precursor.”

    ————-
    Battle against Secrets and Lies
    • Trump’s Fight Against Online Censorship Quickly Goes Global (RCI)
    • The Democrats Who Stole an Election Must Be Held Accountable (PCR)

    —————

    #180750
    jb-hb
    Participant

    remember this?

    When DEI Becomes DIE: FAA Now Hiring People With “Severe Intellectual And Psychiatric Disability”

    When DEI Becomes DIE: FAA Now Hiring People With “Severe Intellectual and Psychiatric Disability”

    that was January last year

    https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/GD1Uca3WMAA7Qt8.jpg?itok=_w7BYyY6

    https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/styles/inline_image_mobile/public/inline-images/GD1TTdWXYAEX2kQ.jpg?itok=I8zZGRwp

    #180751
    WES
    Participant

    Deporting US’s Venezuelan Convicts:

    Since Venezuela is already sanctioned by the US, Trump can’t use the threat of tariffs to force Venezuela to take back all of their released convicted criminals!

    And Venezuela took Joe up on his open borders, by emptying all of their prisons and telling the freed inmates they would be killed, if they ever returned home from the US!

    So Trump has a problem with what to do with all of these Venezuelan convicts he can’t deport home!
    But he can’t admit the truth, now can he!
    So, off to Cuba you go!
    Nice winning political spin!

    Plane/Helicopter Crash:

    The best conspiracy theory I have seen, so far, says 3 dead US soldiers from Ukraine put were put on the Helicopter and remotely flown directly into the plane to kill somebody on the plane who needed to die!
    Pretty much covers all the bases.

    #180752
    jb-hb
    Participant

    3 dead US soldiers from Ukraine put were put on the Helicopter and remotely flown directly into the plane to kill somebody on the plane who needed to die!

    use every part of the buffalo

    #180753
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    RIM: “Why are there Blackhawks on that airport?”

    The crashed Black Hawk helicopter flight was identified as PAT25 in the air traffic controller radio communications. “PAT” designates the US Department of the Army’s “Priority Air Transport” which was set up in 1988 to provide executive transport to Senior Army leadership and key government officials, according to Wiki.

    FlightFinder data shows a previous flight PAT25 on 18-JAN-2025, a 58 minute flight with both takeoff and landing at airport DAA, which “corresponds to Davison Army Airfield Airport in Fort Belvoir, Virginia”, according to Wiki.

    That previous flight PAT25 on the 18th was earlier in the day (5:45PM takeoff), and the route similarly went along the Potomac River near DCA (Reagan National Airport) in both directions, almost like a figure 8.

    https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/PAT25

    If it comes down to human error on the part of the crew members or air traffic controllers, I’m wondering whether the humans who erred were hired or promoted to their positions based on DEI considerations instead of competency?

    #180759
    those darned kids
    Participant

    doc d: firstly, thanks for reading AND answering:

    “If Trump cut a deal why would you follow him?

    •• that’s cutting a deal with, as wes had said, the “deepstate”. these people are murderers. no deal is possible. ¿would YOU make a deal with a deal with murderers.?

    Uhhhh, good sir, if so why would you vote for ANYONE?
    •• elections must be scrapped. governments must be chosen by lottery.

    If that’s your posture then ONLY full-on shooting war of everyone remains.
    •• not at all. there are plenty of non-murderers who could run for president of america. for me, however, if someone has killed, they are no longer an option.

    If that’s the case, you’ve already decided there’s no point in voting for anyone, since in a democracy, all positions and motions are defined by compromise.
    •• i’m not referring to environmental policy. i am talking about blowing up babies.

    I mean, fire, fire away good sir, but some of us would like to wait longer if it’s at all morally possible.
    •• it’s not. the vast majority of the american congress and the executive branch are murderers. every u.s. military intervention since 1945 has been for the sole benefit of america, yet NO ONE HAS ATTACKED AMERICA. it’s all for the advancement of greed, and that, my friend, is murder.

    What you’re saying means you dispensed with the idea of elections years ago, then how do you restore the Republic? What in fact, are you fighting for then?”
    •• if you want elections, there are plenty of non-murderers available who would make excellent candidates.

    ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

    as far as i know, the presidents and prime mininsters of the following countries are not murderers:

    nepal
    costa rica
    mongolia
    malaysia
    kiribati
    botswana

    i think you get the idea. mr trump is a murderer because america needs murder in order to thrive.

    humans really, really need to grow up.

    (obviously this is all just nonsense from some hopeless dreamer who thinks people who be better off helping each other, not decapitating toddlers on the other side of the planet)

    #180760
    kultsommer
    Participant

    Almost quarter century after:

    #180761
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @DrD

    Where did you get that distorted map of Spain & Portugal (the two countries on the Iberian Peninsula) ? It stretches Cape Finisterre to 10 times its actual size and shrinks Portugal to the sane degree in the opposite direction. That’s so weird that it makes me curious.

    I think the reason that 99% of people can’t identify the the “country” of Iberia is that there isn’t one., and hasn’t been since the Romans took the place over on or around 200 BC.

    #180762
    those darned kids
    Participant

    “So, off to Cuba you go!
    Nice winning political spin!”

    i’m sorry, wes, but this is frikkin’ ridiculous.

    the u.s. is illegally occupying cuba. and now, the u.s. is going to make its torture hell-hole blight upon that fair land even worse by stuffing it full of criminals.

    w
    t
    f
    ?

    #180763
    those darned kids
    Participant

    ““THE RETURN TO THE NORTH OF GAZA”

    Driving whole populations to and fro at their detriment is a war crime and almost certainly an act of open genocide.”

    which mr trump fully supports, thus just one more example of his war criminal status.

    every american should be embarrassed to be “represented” by such a morally degraded individual.

    embarrassed and angry.

    #180764

    Larded programs, larded projects, larded people, too.
    What’s the answer? MORE, of course! It’s what we always do!
    (And then we sue.)

    “countermeasures to protect our [Intellectual Property].”
    Does that mean we’re gonna make a vaccine for AI?

    #180765
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    The REAL joke (*and I ain’t laughing about it, AT ALL) about the screwy map is that it is using a very provenly effective Psychological Warfare technique to subconsciously instill in people’s minds that notion that the European Union (which is the unlabeled GREEN portions of the map) is actually a country WHICH IT IS NOT!

    Full explanation of the technique would not interest most readers of this forum, but BASICALLY it works by confusing the recipient with utter nonsense, creating mental discomfort which is then RELIEVED by showing the recipient that it was all a trick or joke. The false datum is then associated with the relief and sense of understanding and belief that (in the recipient) they now “get it”.

    That new (but false) belief, for example the false belief that the EU is ” a country”, is now part of the recipient’s belief system. If challenged the new (false) belief will be defended and the recipient will FEEL as though they are being attacked. As for the recipient of the propaganda PsyOp they will never critically re-examine the belief, and will resist efforts by others to get them to do so.

    The mechanism is very similar to, and a large part of, the dynamics of how Mass Formation Psychosis is formed and manipulated by those adept in its dark art.

    #180766
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @DrD

    That Iberian “trick map” has really put a burr under my blanket (not to mention a bee in my bonnet and a worm in my ear.)

    That map thing was a VERY skillful and sophisticated bit of Psychological Warfare kit. Whoever set it up is a bloody (LITERALLY) evil genius.

    Might I inquire where you acquired the item in question? I am peeing my pants with curiosity. I really do want to know where you found it (like a web link or searchable names) because whoever done it is very very much NOT our friend.

    RSVP

    #180767
    John Day
    Participant

    Tulsi is getting weasel-hit again and again for not believing US intel lies above facts obtained from “adversaries”.
    Tough spot. She is upholding the principle of truth, and that the American people have a right to it.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/stop-nonsense-and-confirm-tulsi-gabbard

    Going to a closed-session now. Crowd cheers.

    Tulsi dressed in white suit of purity hugs supportive Senators on her way to the back door.

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