Jan 312025
 


Pablo Picasso Standing nude 1928

 

Trump’s Outsider Nominees Ran The Senate Gauntlet And Emerged Unscathed (Whedon)
Why Does the NYT Continue To Print Front Page Lies About RFK Jr.? (Fleetwood)
‘An Abject Lie And You Know It!’: Patel Claps Back At Adam Schiff (JTN)
Stop the Nonsense and Confirm Tulsi Gabbard (Charlie Kirk)
Trump’s Executive Orders Are Key to DOGE’s Success (Silverstein)
Ukraine Conflict ‘Needs To End Now’ – Rubio (RT)
Ukraine’s ‘Independent’ Institutions Collapse As Trump Unplugs The ATM (Marsden)
EU Considering Return To Russian Gas – FT (RT)
Ukraine Wants EU To Replace Lost US Aid (RT)
Ukraine ‘An Invented State’ – Romanian Election Frontrunner (RT)
Kiev Mayor Accuses Zelensky’s Team Of Attempting To ‘Usurp Power’ (RT)
Architect of Russia Sanctions Sentenced To 11 Years In Prison (RT)
Trump’s Doomed Plan for Ukraine (Scott Ritter)
Russian Skating Stars On Board Crashed American Plane (RT)
US ‘In Contact’ With Russia – Trump (RT)
What Sultan Erdogan Is Really Up To (Pepe Escobar)
Italy Blocks DeepSeek (RT)
Cloud Capital vs AI (Yanis Varoufakis)

 

 

 

 

Crowder

Canary

 

 

 

 

Vance

Watters

Shanahan
https://twitter.com/i/status/1884427706852618362

 

 

 

 

These hearings take place at a very questionable level. They pick a quote, strip away all context, and Bob’s your uncle. RFK wants to ban the polio vaccine (no,really!) , Tulsi is a traitor because she won’t call Ed Snowden a traitor, Kash is a cop killer for sympathizing with J6 prisoners. There’s nothing wrong with the nominees, but a lot with those that question them.

Trump’s Outsider Nominees Ran The Senate Gauntlet And Emerged Unscathed (Whedon)

Three of President Donald Trump’s most contentious nominees for Cabinet posts faced tense confirmation hearings on Thursday, with Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. all fending off attacks from irate Democrats, many of whom pressed on partisan matters, such as the Jan. 6 capitol riot. Kennedy found himself in familiar territory after appearing Wednesday before the Senate Finance Committee. With Pete Hegseth now confirmed as Secretary of Defense, the trio represent the last of Trump’s unconventional nominees tasked with substantially overhauling the departments they’ve been appointed to lead. Each met significant skepticism, including much from the Republican side of the aisle. All three emerged unscathed by any new outrage — manufactured or otherwise — though they may not have flipped any lawmakers to the cause as many seemed to have already resolved to vote against their confirmations. Here’s a look at how things played out.

Patel
The FBI Director-designate’s hearing before the Judiciary Committee was far and away the most tense. The bureau has faced scandal after scandal in recent years, including widespread allegations of politicization. While much of the hearing saw lawmakers agree on the need for a non-partisan and independent FBI, Democrats worked to paint Patel as a Trump loyalist who would invariably comply with the president’s, possibly unlawful demands. Several Democrats, including Sens. Amy Klobuchar, Minn.; Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; took exception to Patel’s work related to a recording by Jan. 6 prisoners that he had worked to promote. The trio largely pressed him on his efforts to promote the single and raise funds for the families of those incarcerated.

One exchange grew particularly heated as Schiff accused Patel of profiting off of people who attacked law enforcement and urged him to look at the Capitol Police guarding the hearing. “That’s an abject lie and you know it!” Patel fumed. “I’ve never, never, ever accepted violence against law enforcement. I’ve worked with these men and women as you know you go and I did not make a single dime out of it.” Democrats also attempted to coax Patel into detailing his testimony to special counsel Jack Smith about Trump’s Mar-a-Lago case, though Patel insisted he was not permitted to discuss his testimony and that the panel would have to seek its release from the court.

Gabbard
The former Hawaii Democrat spent much of her hearing before the Intelligence Committee playing defense as members of her former party raised concerns over her past foreign trips. An advocate for non-intervention and surveillance reform, Gabbard’s appointment to serve as director of national intelligence roiled some in the D.C. foreign policy establishment. Her 2017 trip to Syria after which she insisted that now-ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was not an enemy of the United States. The trip also came under scrutiny in light of a reported call between a Hezbollah figure and another person indicating Gabbard had met with an unidentified “big guy.” Gabbard denied meeting with members of the Lebanon-based group and called the allegation “absurd” during an exchange with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

She further used some of her own remarks to castigate the Intelligence Community for its perceived politicization and to insist that she would uproot it. “President Trump’s reelection is a clear mandate from the American people to break this cycle of failure and weaponization and politicization of the intelligence community and begin to restore trust in those who have been charged with the critical task of securing our nation,” she said. Frustrating many senators was her resolute unwillingness to condemn Edward Snowden as a “traitor” to the United States. Snowden famously released classified materials exposing government surveillance programs and has since fled to Russia, becoming a nationalized citizen of that country. Though Gabbard agreed that Snowden broke the law, she declined to call him a traitor and highlighted the unconstitutional nature of what he brought to light, ABC News reported.

Kennedy
The former independent presidential candidate was back for round two of confirmation hearings in his bid to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. He appeared before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday and subsequently fielded questions from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday. Kennedy faced questions related to his past statements on vaccine efficacy, especially the measles vaccine. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., offered some of the most contentious questioning during the process. Cassidy took exception to Kennedy’s remarks linking the measles vaccine to autism and urged him to use his influence to foster trust in vaccines.

The would-be HHS secretary indicated he would be happy to correct his statements and apologize should the science prove him to be in the wrong. “I want the best science,” he said. “I can guarantee you on my word of honor, if you show me science that says that I’m wrong, I’m going to say I was wrong. I don’t have any problem. There’s nothing that would make me happier.” Kennedy’s is one of the few positions that requires a would-be officeholder to testify before two committees. Both panels will need to recommend him for the office before his confirmation proceeds to a floor vote.

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“..an outpouring of more than 10,000 comments calling Kennedy “a lunatic” and “a present danger to our health.”

Why Does the NYT Continue To Print Front Page Lies About RFK Jr.? (Fleetwood)

Any NYT reader looking at the buzzy front page headline below would immediately think that Robert F Kennedy Jr. is a madman. Can he really be an advocate for repealing the polio vaccine, a disease that has killed and crippled tens of millions of kids? “Kennedy’s Lawyer Has Asked the F.D.A. to Revoke Approval of the Polio Vaccine” To the ordinary reader, the headline says pretty clearly that Kennedy asked his lawyer to revoke the polio vaccine. The headline makes the shocking accusation that Kennedy is in favor of banning the polio vaccine. There is no other way of interpreting it. But it is flagrantly false and a gross distortion of the truth. There is not one polio vaccine; there are six different polio vaccines that are used worldwide. Moreover, Aaron Siri, the lawyer in question, does not represent Kennedy in his petition.

Contrary to the misrepresentations the NYT has been making, Kennedy does not oppose vaccines or want to take away anybody’s vaccine. All seven of his children were vaccinated, including with the polio vaccine, and his grandkids were also vaccinated against polio. Most importantly, Kennedy has long insisted publicly that he is “all for the polio vaccine.” He has said that the polio vaccine has prevented hundreds of thousands of deaths, a seemingly relevant fact that the Times deliberately omitted from its punchy but reckless news article. Kennedy does question the long-term of some vaccines and wants further studies about them. When RFK is quoted as saying no vaccines are safe, he is saying no vaccines are “completely” safe – they all have side effects.

The prestigious New England Journal of Medicine supports Kennedy’s positions regarding vaccine safety and has called for more funding for “Post Authorization Vaccine Safety”: “Progress in vaccine-safety science has understandably been slow.” “We recommend the National Academy of Medicine conduct an independent and comprehensive review to address these important and complex structure and governance issues. The highest quality research should be funded.” The NEJM also called for a review of the 1986 Act of Congress, which holds that pharmaceutical companies cannot be held liable for adverse reactions to vaccines and cannot be sued.

The main reason Kennedy is a vaccine skeptic is that the widely accepted reality that the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control are hugely influenced by Big Pharma. A nefarious revolving door allows executives to ping-pong back and forth between the regulatory bodies that approve vaccines and the drug companies that profit from them. Nine of the last ten FDA chiefs moved on to well-paid jobs with Big Pharma. This corporate capture inevitably leads to a conflict of interest, a corrupt dynamic not permitted in other countries.

Moreover, Big Pharma receives billions of dollars from the government to prepare the drug studies it submits and which the FDA relies on for licensing new drugs. Today, nearly 45% of the FDA’s $5.9 billion budget comes from the user fees companies pay when they apply for drug approval. These industry-paid fees have increasingly resulted in a lower burden of proof for medication approval, according to Public Citizen (a Ralph Nader spinoff). Don’t bite the hand that feeds you. This latest NYT article and other mainstream media repetitions predictably provoked an outpouring of more than 10,000 comments calling Kennedy “a lunatic” and “a present danger to our health.” This is but a continuation of a slew of NYT articles seeking to falsely link Kennedy to the misleading position that he wants to ban the polio vaccine and all other vaccines.

RFK Warren

 

Pharma recipients

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Oh no, not Schiff again..

‘An Abject Lie And You Know It!’: Patel Claps Back At Adam Schiff (JTN)

FBI Director-designate Kash Patel responded furiously to Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., as the lawmaker challenged him to face Capitol Police and implied he supported violence against them. Schiff pressed Patel over his help promoting a recording of the Jan. 6 prisoners to raise money for their families. The California Democrat urged Patel to look at Capitol Police officers in the room. “I want you to look at them if you can, if you have the courage to look them in the eye, Mr. Patel, and tell them you’re proud of what you did,” Schiff said. “Tell them you’re proud that you raised money off of people that assaulted their colleagues, that pepper sprayed them, that beat them with poles. Tell them you’re proud of what you did. Mr. Patel, they’re right there. They’re guarding you today. Tell them how proud you are.”

“That’s an abject lie and you know it!” Schiff fumed. “I’ve never, never, ever accepted violence against law enforcement. I’ve worked with these men and women as you know you go and I did not make a single dime out of it.” “Well, let me, let me, let you ask them if I have their back. So let’s see about that answer,” he retorted.

Patel

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“Republicans can either participate in the president’s reform agenda or they can be trampled by it. It’s up to them. Any questions?”

Stop the Nonsense and Confirm Tulsi Gabbard (Charlie Kirk)

Conservatives of all stripes have enjoyed the first week of Donald Trump’s presidency. The events of the past week have made it very clear that President Trump has come in well-prepared and is laser-focused on fulfilling the many promises that won him the election. Whether it’s securing the border, breaking the DEI cartel, or ending DOJ lawfare, the president is executing his agenda with unprecedented energy and aggression. In the long term, though, securing the president’s promises can’t be done with executive orders alone. Success will come down to the president picking appointees who can carry out his will. President Trump chose Tulsi Gabbard as his director of national intelligence for a very clear reason. Ever since he entered the political scene 10 years ago, Trump has faced not just opposition but outright sabotage and deceit from the so-called “intelligence community” of Washington, D.C.

They spied on his campaign and gave life to the ridiculous smear that he was a Russian agent. Analysts deliberately withheld information from the president, then leaked about what they were doing to the press. And of course, during the 2020 election, the intelligence apparatus pressured America’s tech companies to engage in widespread censorship while a network of “former intelligence officials” lied through their teeth to denounce the Hunter Biden laptop story as “Russian disinformation.” The American intelligence world is arrogant, wayward, and in dire need of reform. That is precisely why President Trump chose former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a longtime critic of these agencies, to be his director of national intelligence.

Gabbard is indisputably qualified. She is a veteran of the Iraq War, the worst of the wars that the intel agencies blundered us into. She spent eight years in Congress and served stints on the homeland security, armed services, and foreign affairs committees, all of them relevant to the job. She has authentic bipartisan credentials: She represented the Democrats in Congress, is the choice of a MAGA president, and has the personal endorsement of Meghan McCain (a Republican with whom I have no shortage of differences). So what do her opponents bring against her? It’s simple: They lie. Every attack on Tulsi Gabbard is a smear concocted by those desperate to prevent the change voters demanded in November.

Some bad actors in D.C., and even within the Republican Party, think they can rerun the game plan of 2017 when people thought the Donald Trump moment was a fluke that would soon be over. And I mean “rerun” literally because one of the top smears against Gabbard is the same one brought against Trump eight years ago: the wild claim that Tulsi Gabbard is a “Russian asset.” Just like the attack on Trump, this smear was popularized by Hillary Clinton, and just like the attack on Trump, it’s based wholly on Gabbard’s refusal to endorse the failed groupthink consensus of Washington. Gabbard supported military aid to Ukraine prior to the country’s invasion in 2022. She called Putin a U.S. adversary. But none of that matters because this attack was never about the truth. It’s about smearing Gabbard for opposing regime change, forever wars, and a blank check for the D.C. cabal.

The same rules apply to the wild claim that Gabbard is an “Assad sympathizer” in league with the fallen dictator of Syria. The allegation is utterly ridiculous. Gabbard’s 2017 trip was cleared by House Ethics beforehand, and she did a debriefing with America’s ambassador to Lebanon afterward. Members of Congress are free to meet with foreign leaders, especially if those leaders are the ones Americans are supposed to spend billions of dollars fighting, directly or indirectly. This is why President Trump has sought direct diplomacy with Vladimir Putin and even North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un.

With nothing else to argue, Gabbard’s critics have to fall back on the complaint that she didn’t believe Assad actually used chemical weapons during his fight to hold onto power. It’s another lie – Gabbard has been saying she believes Assad used chemical weapons for more than five years. But truthfully, it wouldn’t even matter if she thought otherwise. Unlike nearly all of Washington’s war hawks, Gabbard has direct experience fighting in a misbegotten war sold with bad intelligence. Unlike most of Washington, Gabbard learned the lesson that spectacular claims about weapons of mass destruction should be backed with proof, not ridiculous threats against anyone showing skepticism.

Other attacks are even more pathetic. There’s the Hail Mary that she is “soft on Iran” when her track record makes it clear she simply shares the president’s goal of avoiding another fruitless war in the Gulf. Attacks on Gabbard’s Hindu religious beliefs are so puerile they don’t even merit a reply. Gabbard brings to the table exactly what President Trump needs in a DNI: an independent thinker who isn’t shackled to decades of Beltway consensus and who has learned to be skeptical. This isn’t just what President Trump wants, though. It’s what the American public voted for in 2024 – and the election was not a squeaker.

Republicans who hold office right now hold it thanks to voters who expect them to help Trump keep his promises. If those same Republicans instead scuttle one of the president’s essential appointments on the basis of establishment smears, then I have a simple promise: They will face a primary challenge. I, and many others, will do whatever it takes to see them replaced. Republicans can either participate in the president’s reform agenda or they can be trampled by it. It’s up to them. Any questions?

Cotton Tulsi

https://twitter.com/i/status/1885012374182142186

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“The U.S. Constitution solely vests the president with the executive power – meaning all bureaucrats subject to these executive orders exercise power at the president’s behest..”

Trump’s Executive Orders Are Key to DOGE’s Success (Silverstein)

President Trump has just been sworn in, but his administration has already taken steps to promote a robust and efficient administrative state. By implementing four executive orders aimed at expanding the scope of Schedule F and reforming the federal hiring system, Trump can expediently implement the Department of Government Efficiency’s rulemaking and budget recommendations.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is a temporary advisory committee tasked with implementing Trump’s “18-month DOGE agenda” of maximizing efficiency and productivity in the federal government. Because DOGE cannot execute its efficiency agenda, the president is responsible for implementing DOGE’s recommendations. DOGE will likely recommend numerous administrative rule changes and budget cuts to reduce the federal bureaucracy’s size, which means that Trump needs bureaucrats who will faithfully implement the recommendations and leeway to fire those who try to stall the department’s progress or who DOGE’s report finds are wasteful. President Trump set himself up to enforce DOGE’s recommendations by enacting four executive orders.

The first executive order is a hiring freeze on executive branch employees until the Office of Management and Budget develops a plan to reduce the size of the federal workforce. This is sound policy as the administration needs to determine what positions benefit the American people and which positions are wasteful, inefficient, and needlessly cost taxpayers money. Furthermore, the administration needs to implement a new hiring process for federal bureaucrats. Former President Biden’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives fostered a federal bureaucracy devoted to serving woke ideology instead of the public. Trump issued an order implementing reforms for the hiring process that prioritize hiring highly skilled individuals who are “committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.”

This executive order also ends DEI hiring and is intended to lower hiring times across the executive branch. These two executive orders overhaul the hiring process for civil servants, which should result in skilled bureaucrats who will faithfully execute DOGE’s recommendations. In turn, this order will make the federal bureaucracy more efficient and responsive for the American people. Trump doesn’t just need competent bureaucrats to enact DOGE’s recommendations – he also needs leeway to remove inefficient employees and career civil servants who may work to slow down the implementation of DOGE. Beyond federal employee hiring, he enacted two executive orders enhancing his removal power over the civil service.

First, Trump signed an order resuscitating and expanding the scope of Schedule F. In his first administration, Schedule F was a job classification that removed civil service protections from policy-making positions within the executive department and allowed for streamlined hiring and firing of those positions. Biden never implemented Schedule F, instead repealing Trump’s executive order that implemented the Schedule. Trump revived Schedule F on his first day, so it should be fully implemented by the time DOGE releases initial recommendations. Moreover, Trump expanded Schedule F’s scope to include all “policy/career” positions, allowing DOGE to fully examine the civil service. The order also requires all bureaucrats to implement the administration’s policies faithfully, deeming it a fireable offense if they refuse.

In addition to this order, Trump signed a second order eliminating removal protections for Career Senior Executive Service (SES) officials and requiring them to adopt performance plans. SES officials oversee vast bureaucracies in 75 federal agencies responsible for making rules that impact millions of Americans. Previously, they were not subject to at-will removal from the president and could only be fired with cause. The president’s executive order removes these protections and subjects SES officials to the same removal requirements lesser bureaucrats are subject to – increasing presidential control over the civil service.

These changes are a lawful exercise of executive power and will allow quick implementation of DOGE’s recommendations. The U.S. Constitution solely vests the president with the executive power – meaning all bureaucrats subject to these executive orders exercise power at the president’s behest. Further, the Supreme Court approved this level of executive control in Myers v. U.S. and Humphrey’s Executor v. U.S., where they held that purely executive officers are subject to presidential removal without good cause. Therefore, courts will likely uphold Schedule F’s revival, increasing executive power over removal.

Schedule F and SES reform will allow Trump to enact DOGE’s policies in two ways. First, his orders allow him to fire bureaucrats which DOGE and department heads deem wasteful or inefficient. Second, these reforms empower Trump and his surrogates to remove civil servants from top to bottom who are intentionally stalling DOGE’s implementation. These executive orders are essential to DOGE’s success. Enacting these orders will create a proficient, highly skilled, merit-based civil service that efficiently implements DOGE’s recommendations. The result will be a civil service that effectively serves the American people.

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“a very simple way” for the US and other “sponsors” of Kiev to achieve peace by ending funding for Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s government.”

Ukraine Conflict ‘Needs To End Now’ – Rubio (RT)

Ukraine is being destroyed by the fighting with Russia and the conflict must be swiftly settled through negotiations, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said. In an interview on Sirius XM’s The Megyn Kelly Show on Thursday, Rubio reiterated US President Donald Trump’s willingness to find a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis, saying that Trump believes the conflict “needs to end now.” “It needs to end to a negotiation. In any negotiation, both sides are going to have to give something up,” Rubio stated. Even a growing number Democrats who vowed to support Kiev for “as long as it takes” under the previous administration of US President Joe Biden “would now acknowledge that what we have been funding is a stalemate, a protracted conflict, and maybe even worse than a stalemate, one in which incrementally Ukraine is being destroyed and losing more and more territory,” the secretary of state said.

“What the dishonesty that has existed is that we somehow led people to believe that Ukraine would be able not just to defeat Russia, but, you know, destroy them, push them all the way back to what the world looked like in… 2014,” Rubio added. As a result of the conflict, Ukraine is “being set back a hundred years. Their energy grid is being wiped out… And you know how many Ukrainians have left Ukraine, living in other countries now? They may never return. I mean, that is their future, and it is endangered in that regard,” Rubio warned.

After his inauguration last week, Trump said he was ready to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin “anytime” to find a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine conflict. The Kremlin replied by saying that Putin is also willing to talk to his US counterpart, but stressed that Moscow has not yet been approached by Washington about organizing contacts between the two leaders. The Russian president said earlier this week that there is “a very simple way” for the US and other “sponsors” of Kiev to achieve peace by ending funding for Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s government.

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“..he now has the unique ability and apparent will to put his foot on the firehose of American cash that has been systemically undermining the interests of average citizens around the world..”

Ukraine’s ‘Independent’ Institutions Collapse As Trump Unplugs The ATM (Marsden)

A few days ago, newly re-minted US President Donald Trump put the brakes on internal sabotage of his own administration by ordering the State Department to freeze American funding of foreign aid. Oh, won’t someone think of the starving children? Well, critics can unclutch their pearl necklaces because he did exactly that, actually. The freeze doesn’t apply to emergency food assistance, as Reuters has reported. “This is lunacy. This will kill people,” a former official for CIA handmaiden, USAID, now president of Refugees International, told Reuters. A couple of years ago, his organization was promoting the idea that the big threat to Syrians was the stability – or “normalization”, as it had said, under former President Bashar Assad. Must just be a coincidence that it’s also the position of those who failed at regime change and were looking for a way to keep that dream alive.

In December 2024, his organization found “no substantial, confirmed cases of corruption among Ukrainian partners.” Yeah, well, maybe that’s because the same organization also admits that only 1% of the aid actually makes it into the hands of local Ukrainian organizations. Doesn’t sound like the Ukrainian people are going to much miss those few crumbs that they’ve been tossed by their Western establishment ideological colonizers. But it sure does seem that the US establishment-approved front groups using Ukrainians as white gloves in which to wrap their iron fisted, self-serving establishment-backed agenda are going to have to slow their roll now that the grant train has gone right off the rails. Or maybe they’ll just get their puppets to dance for more dollars – this time from the actual public, like the true independent media they’ve long promoted themselves to be.

The guys over at Ukrainer for example, posted on their Instagram account that “Ukrainer will be tempted to reduce the team, and thus create fewer projects” in light of the funding cuts. Ukrainer, normally a culture-focused website, claims to have switched to providing “reliable information about events in Ukraine” for the duration of the war with Russia – or “until the victory”, as they put it. Wonder what incentivized them to make that switch. These guys sound like kept labrador retrievers accustomed to waiting for handouts from the master rather than hungry lone wolves driven by a passion for the cause. “US grants are on pause. Become a supporter of Hromadske,” wrote the media of the same name under an image of what looks like a journalist straight-up on fire while holding a camcorder.

Nothing screams independence like implosion-driven panic the moment a sole sponsor bails out with a sudden hand cramp that apparently radiates all the way to the US Treasury and prevents him from writing the next cheque. Ukrainska Pravda has bumped the promotion of its Patreon fundraising up to “priority” level on its front page. Maybe I’m going way out on a limb here, but I’m guessing those roughly 230 paid subscribers haven’t been doing all the heavy lifting to-date in funding your “independent” operations. In kvetching about Trump’s USAID funding cut in a front page article, the outlet also effectively exposed just how many “Ukrainian media” NGOs are funded by USAID. There were so many listed in the wall of names that followed that my eyes went buggy trying to count them one by one. So I ultimately just gave up and asked ChatGPT by feeding it the list. The answer: 127. And that doesn’t even count the non-media civil society politically-oriented NGOs consisting of about 66 recipients.

“Independent Ukrainian media is a key element distinguishing us from Putin’s Russia,” wrote Detector Media shortly after Trump’s bomb fell. Indeed, Putin isn’t willingly funding his own country’s media via the US State Department and calling it independent, so that certainly sets Ukraine apart. They go on to say that, in the absence of the USAID media funding, Ukrainians now “will be left without a tool that ensures control over power and boosts the stability of democratic institutions.” Ensures control over Ukrainians by US power, you mean. Because nothing says “truth to power” like being this reliant on funding from the government that acts as sugar daddy to your own. They’re right about one thing, though: knee-jerk anti-Russian groupthink sure does boost stability, unlike dissent.

And well, well, lookie here, even the podcasters and influencers are whining. “There will be no podcasts with Karas now either due to the suspension of grants, sadly :(,” activist Melania Podolyak wrote on social media, highlighting the USAID logo on the page of the leader of the neo-Nazi group C14, Yevhen Karas. The guy just can’t catch a break. It was barely over five years ago that a politician in neighboring Slovakia asked the European Commission whether the EU would “consider introducing travel bans and other related measures against the leader of the violent Ukrainian neo-Nazi militant group C14, Yevhen Karas and other radical Ukrainian nationalists implicated in murders, intimidation of ethnic minorities and other violent crimes?”

Excuse you, sir! That would be star podcaster Yevhen Karas. Why would you not want him in your country? Call his agent in Washington if you’ve got a problem. Better hurry though, before Trump fires him. Also, color me shocked that there now appears to be an active regime change effort in Slovakia, and Western-backed pro-Ukrainian NGOs. Much has been said over the past few days of USAID, but its equally meddling sister from the same mister, Uncle Sam’s “National Endowment for Democracy,” whose board members include Victoria Nuland (aka Regime Change Karen, aka the Maidan Cookie Monster), is just as toxic with its use of US funds to promote the interests of the US establishment elites to the detriment of free people around the world, including in Ukraine.

Back in 2022, they even had an orgy of awards for their own Ukraine civil society projects. Among those featured at the event were NED board member, Anne Applebaum, whose husband, now the Polish foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, tweeted “Thank you, USA” in the wake of Europe’s economic and industrial lifeline of cheap Russian gas getting blown up and effectively making the EU overdependent on pricey US LNG. It’s all one big cozy club, and Trump’s definitely not in it. And he now has the unique ability and apparent will to put his foot on the firehose of American cash that has been systemically undermining the interests of average citizens around the world in favor of endless regime change and conflict, to the benefit of the few who profit from war and instability. Let’s see what else ends up surfacing as the futzing-around funds dry up.

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“..as part of a potential peace agreement in Ukraine..”

EU Considering Return To Russian Gas – FT (RT)

European Union officials are discussing the possibility of resuming Russian gas imports as part of a potential peace agreement in Ukraine, according to the Financial Times. The issue of Russian gas deliveries to the EU has proven contentious for the bloc, especially after Brussels stepped up efforts to reduce dependence on cheap Russian energy following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Advocates of the proposal, including officials from Germany and Hungary, argue that reinstating Russian gas imports could lower Europe’s energy prices and encourage Moscow to engage in negotiations, the FT wrote, citing sources familiar with the matter. They believe that such a move would provide incentives for parties to the conflict to uphold a ceasefire.

”There is pressure from some big member states on energy prices and this is one way to bring those down, of course,” one official told the FT. However, the idea has reportedly “infuriated” officials in Brussels and diplomats from some Eastern European countries, who have traditionally been the most outspoken critics of Russia. They are concerned about increasing Moscow’s export revenues and reversing efforts to decrease reliance on Russian energy. Moscow has expressed doubt about the feasibility of the reported plan. The EU is unlikely to be prepared to restart purchases of Russian gas in the near future, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Energy Committee Igor Ananskikh told Lenta.ru on Thursday. Russia has repeatedly stated that it’s ready to resume gas supplies to Europe and has criticized the sanctions, stating that they are causing more damage to the EU than to Moscow.

The EU has faced a dramatic reduction in Russian gas imports due to Ukraine-related sanctions and the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline, which was the main conduit for Russian gas to the EU. On January 1, Ukraine ceased the transit of Russian gas through its territory after an agreement with Moscow expired. Previously, Russian gas accounted for approximately 40% of the EU’s total supply. The bloc has instead increased imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from countries like the United States and Norway, driving up energy prices. US President Donald Trump previously urged Brussels to purchase more American LNG, threatening tariffs if they did not comply.

High energy prices have significantly impacted the EU economy. The bloc’s economic powerhouse, Germany, saw its economy contract for the second consecutive year in 2024, according to official data. Slovakia, one of the countries affected by the halt of the gas transit through Ukraine, has accused Kiev of jeopardizing its energy security. Prime Minister Robert Fico has pledged to veto any EU aid to Ukraine if the transit of Russian gas is not resumed. “In the end, everybody wants lower energy costs,” a senior EU official told the FT.

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“Ukrainian lawmakers have appealed to non-US donors to fund local media outlets and NGOs..”

Ukraine Wants EU To Replace Lost US Aid (RT)

Ukrainian lawmakers have appealed to non-US donors to fund local media outlets and NGOs following the suspension of Washington’s foreign assistance programs that has reportedly drastically impacted the sector. Last week, President Donald Trump halted cash flows from the US and ordered a 90-day review of aid schemes. Many affected programs were run by USAID, Washington’s soft power agency that distributes billions of dollars each year for projects that promote US interests around the world, under the premise of humanitarian development. It spent over $60 billion in 2023 alone.Ukrainian recipients of American grants were hit “worse than it may seem,” a statement by the parliamentary committee on humanitarian affairs said on Wednesday.

Lawmakers anticipate that it will take up to six months for US funding to fully resume, and have urged EU donors to step in. “Given the constraints on public funding, grants remain virtually the only way for cultural and media projects to function,” the statement said. Oksana Romanyuk, executive director of a Kiev-based media research non-profit, warned that 90% of news outlets in Ukraine rely heavily on foreign grants. With USAID operations frozen, many of them are now soliciting emergency donations.

The Ukrainian MPs described foreign assistance as “an important part of our path to democratic development and sustainability”. They empathized that USAID was funding projects for children, with thousands of minors attending schools that depend on American taxpayer dollars. According to media reports, senior officials in the Department of State have lobbied Secretary Marco Rubio to make exemptions for their preferred aid programs, arguing that they are essential for US interests. Meanwhile, at least 60 senior USAID officials reportedly have been placed on paid administrative leave.

Read more …

“..expects Ukraine to be fragmented as part of a peace deal with Russia..” ”This will happen 100%. The path to an outcome like that is inevitable,” he asserted. “Ukraine is an invented state.”

Ukraine ‘An Invented State’ – Romanian Election Frontrunner (RT)

Calin Georgescu, the politician whose first-round victory in the Romanian presidential election was overturned by the Constitutional Court, has argued that the borders claimed by Ukraine were artificially drawn and are subject to inevitable change. The staunch critic of Western policies made the remarks on Wednesday in an interview with political analyst Ion Cristoiu on YouTube. He was discussing the adjustments of European borders after World War II, which resulted in a transfer of territories to Soviet Ukraine. Georgescu said he expects Ukraine to be fragmented as part of a peace deal with Russia, along historical lines. ”This will happen 100%. The path to an outcome like that is inevitable,” he asserted. “Ukraine is an invented state.”

Parts of the historic areas of Bukovina and Bessarabia, which were ceded from Romania to Ukraine during the post-war settlement, are “of interest” to Bucharest, Georgescu said, adding that Hungary and Poland could also claim their historic lands in a hypothetical breakup of Ukraine. Georgescu made headlines in November when he unexpectedly garnered 23% of the vote in the first round of the presidential election in Romania, a NATO member. However, the Constitutional Court annulled the results shortly before the second round, citing intelligence documents alleging ‘irregularities’ in the campaign. Subsequent media reports revealed that Georgescu’s candidacy was boosted by a firm closely linked with the pro-Western National Liberal Party (PNL), seemingly to undermine another candidate.

The Romanian government has claimed that Russia was behind the interference scheme. Georgescu leads in opinion polls and is projected to get 38% of the vote in the upcoming election re-run in May. Russian President Vladimir Putin previously warned about the threat of potential separatism in Western Ukraine, driven by ethnic minorities’ wish “to return to their historic homeland,” with potential support from foreign governments. ”In that sense, only Russia could serve as a guarantor of Ukrainian territorial integrity,” he claimed in late 2023. “If [Ukrainians] don’t want that, so be it. History will set things straight. We will not stand in the way, but neither will we relinquish what is rightfully ours.”

Read more …

“Let me remind you that the military administration is a temporary body that should deal with defense and security, not usurpation of power..”

Kiev Mayor Accuses Zelensky’s Team Of Attempting To ‘Usurp Power’ (RT)

Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko has accused the Ukrainian government of attempting to undermine the city’s leadership, claiming that Vladimir Zelensky’s administration is interfering in local governance. In a video address on Wednesday, Klitschko, who has a strained relationship with Zelensky, warned of ongoing “political intrigues” in the capital, allegedly orchestrated by the Ukrainian leader’s allies. Klitschko’s criticism follows the appointment in December of Timur Tkachenko as head of the Kiev City Military Administration. Tkachenko, previously a deputy minister for community and territorial development, replaced Sergey Popko, a military officer who had led the administration since 2022. Klitschko has challenged the move, arguing that Tkachenko lacks military experience and is unqualified for the position.

Tkachenko has been obstructing key economic decisions in Kiev in a bid to take over the powers of the mayor and the city council, Klitschko claimed. ”Since taking the job, Tkachenko has been ‘blocking the resolution of key economic issues’ in the city,” the mayor alleged. According to Klitschko, Tkachenko is doing so in an attempt “to take over the powers of the mayor, the city council… in violation of the law.’” “An attempt is being made in Kiev to unbalance power and destroy local governance,” Klitschko added in his address. “Let me remind you that the military administration is a temporary body that should deal with defense and security, not usurpation of power,” he stressed. The mayor emphasized that the military administration is a temporary body meant to handle defense and security, not to assume control of the city’s leadership.

Klitschko, a former world heavyweight boxing champion, was one of the most prominent figures in the Western-backed coup in Kiev in 2014, which led to the overthrow of democratically elected Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich.He became the capital’s mayor the same year and is one of the few officials from the era of Zelensky’s predecessor, Pyotr Poroshenko, to have retained his post. In 2019, Zelensky’s administration attempted to remove Klitschko from his position as head of the Kiev City State Administration, but he was re-elected in 2020. In December 2023, Klitschko accused Zelensky of steering Ukraine toward authoritarianism, expressing concerns over the centralization of power. Tensions between the two have persisted, with disagreements over issues such as the state of Kiev’s bomb shelters and the management of city infrastructure.

Read more …

“Gold Bar Bob.”

Architect of Russia Sanctions Sentenced To 11 Years In Prison (RT)

A US senator has for the first time been found guilty of bribery and acting as an agent of a foreign government. US Democrat Bob Menendez, who championed stringent sanctions on Russia while he was chair of the highly influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been sentenced to 11 years in prison on bribery and corruption charges. He was found guilty last July of accepting cash and gold bars and acting as an illegal agent for the Egyptian government, and resigned from the Senate a month later.“The public cannot be led to the belief that you can get away with bribery, fraud, and betrayal,” US District Judge Sidney Stein said on Wednesday. “I don’t know what led you to this,” Stein added. “You’ll have to try to figure that out yourself over time.”

Prosecutors had sought at least 15 years in prison, along with millions of dollars in forfeitures and fines, arguing that such penalties were necessary “to provide just punishment for this extraordinary abuse of power and betrayal of public trust.” “For someone who spent his entire life in public service, every day I’m awake is a punishment,” the former lawmaker told the court. Menendez began his political career in 1974 when he was elected to the Union City Board of Education. He later served as the city’s mayor from 1986 to 1992, then moved to the state legislature in 1988 and the state senate in 1991. He represented New Jersey’s 13th district in the US House of Representatives from 1993 to 2006, when he was appointed to the Senate.

After the initial charges were filed in September 2023, Menendez stepped down from his position as head of the Senate’s influential Foreign Relations Committee, where he had played a key role in drawing up Washington’s sanctions on Moscow even before the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. His attorney, Adam Fee, argued that the former senator’s nearly 50 years of public service should not be overshadowed by his conviction, dismissing the public’s characterization of him as “Gold Bar Bob.” The defense team also requested that Menendez remain out of prison while they appeal his conviction.

Read more …

Forcing oil prices down will backfire.

Trump’s Doomed Plan for Ukraine (Scott Ritter)

What we do know is that Donald Trump’s designated special envoy for Ukraine — retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg — has floated a “peace plan” to the president which has been apparently well received. The elements of this plan are drawn from a paper Kellogg authored back in the spring of 2024 — a paper as nonsensical and lacking in fact-based argument as one could imagine. The core elements of this plan involved the establishment of “normal” relations with Russia and its president — basically stopping the Russophobic demonization that was prevalent during the Biden administration. Once the U.S. and Russia were talking again, to then open negotiations with both Russia and Ukraine about bringing an end to the conflict.

The “carrot” for Russia included postponing Ukraine’s membership in NATO for 10 years, allowing Russia to retain the Ukrainian territories it currently occupies and gradually lifting sanctions to lead the way to the normalization of relations with the United States — all subject to the conclusion of peace agreements acceptable to Ukraine. For Ukraine, the “deal” offered both continued military assistance from the U.S. and NATO and bilateral security guarantees. While Ukraine is not required to officially recognize Russia’s control over the conquered territories, it would need to refrain from changing the status quo by force. If Russia refused to cooperate, the U.S. would impose crippling sanctions. And if Ukraine refused the “deal,” the U.S. would cut off all military aid. This “deal,” while never formally expressed, had been hinted at before and after Trump’s electoral victory in November 2024.

And it took no one with any insight into Russia’s goals and objectives regarding the Special Military Operation by surprise when Russian President Vladimir Putin summarily rejected this “deal” in an answer to a media question on Dec. 26, 2024. Three days later Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov likewise threw cold water on the Kellogg “peace plan,” declaring that Russia was “not happy with the proposals made by members of the Trump team to postpone Ukraine’s admission to NATO for 20 years and to station British and European peacekeeping forces in Ukraine.” But what exactly does “the hard way” mean?

According to Scott Bessent, Donald Trump’s new Treasury secretary, the answer lies in ratcheting up sanctions on the Russian oil industry. “I will be 100 percent on-board for taking sanctions up” that target the major Russian oil companies, Bessent said during his Senate confirmation hearing. But Bessent will be working against a history of the U.S. and its European allies overselling sanctions as a tool to tear down the Russian economy (the opposite, in fact, has happened.) Moreover, given Russia’s status as a leading oil producer, any successful application of sanctions could have a negative economic impact on the U.S.

This is something that seems to have escaped the attention of Keith Kellogg, Trump’s “peace deal” guru. Noting that, under the Biden administration, the United States and its allies imposed a cap of $60/barrel on Russian oil (the market price for oil hovers around $78/barrel), Kellogg observed that, despite this, “Russia earns billions of dollars from oil sales.” “What if,” Kellogg mused during an interview on Fox News, “you lower the price to $45 a barrel, which is essentially the breakeven point?”

Read more …

Russian athletes are banned everywhere, in every sport. Except figure skating. There’s a whole contingent of them that freely fly in and out, live in the US etc. Or there was.

(Plenty of Russians in NHL hockey too. They also wear skates.)

Russian Skating Stars On Board Crashed American Plane (RT)

Several prominent figure skaters and coaches were reportedly on board the passenger plane which crashed into the Potomac River in Washington, DC following a mid-air collision with a military helicopter. The list of victims reportedly includes Russian world champions Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov. Flight 5342 was carrying 60 passengers and four crewmembers from Wichita, Kansas to the American capital when it hit a US Army Black Hawk helicopter. There were reportedly no survivors.The passengers included athletes, coaches and family members from the National Development Team, a training program for top juvenile figure skaters, The Wichita Eagle reported, citing US Figure Skating. The city hosted the national championships for the sport last week, and some elite young athletes attended advanced classes there, the outlet explained.

Some of the skaters have connections with Russia, according to media reports. Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, a married couple who won the 1994 world championship pair event, were on board the flight, according to TASS. So, reportedly, was Inna Volyanskaya, who won medals at several Soviet and international skating events with her partner and husband Valery Spiridonov. Some outlets claimed that most of the young athletes came from the Russian-American figure skating community. There were fears that American skater Ilia Malinin, whose family came to the US from the USSR, was among the victims, but he confirmed that was not the case. Prominent athletes have expressed their shock in the wake of the tragedy, including Malinin, Luke Wang and Ethan Peal.

Read more …

“We had a Russian contingent – some very talented people – unfortunately on that plane,” Trump told reporters at a White House briefing on Thursday. “Very, very sorry about that.” “We’ve already been in contact with Russia..”

US ‘In Contact’ With Russia – Trump (RT)

The US government has reached out to Moscow regarding the Russian nationals killed in the crash of a civilian airliner and a military helicopter at Washington National Airport, President Donald Trump has said. All 64 passengers and crew members aboard Flight 5342 died when their Bombardier CRJ700 collided with an H-60 Black Hawk helicopter while attempting to land in the US capital on Wednesday evening. Three members of the US military on board the helicopter were also killed. “We had a Russian contingent – some very talented people – unfortunately on that plane,” Trump told reporters at a White House briefing on Thursday. “Very, very sorry about that.” “We’ve already been in contact with Russia,” Trump said in response to a question from the press. He also stated that the US “will facilitate” the transfer of the remains of any Russian nationals killed in the crash, regardless of the sanctions and flight bans currently in effect.

The Kremlin later clarified that the “contact” Trump mentioned did not involve direct communication between him and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Russian embassy in Washington expressed its condolences to the American people over the tragedy, adding, “We were especially saddened to learn from the White House that there were Russian citizens on board the airliner.” “We are grateful to the American authorities, with whom we are in constant contact, for the words of support expressed to the families of the victims and their readiness to help with the transfer of the remains to their homeland,” the embassy said in a statement on Thursday. It added that it was still awaiting information from the State Department about the Russian nationals who died in the crash. American Airlines, whose subsidiary PSA operated Flight 5342, has not yet released the names of the crew or passengers. However, some victims have been identified through social media posts and interviews with family members and friends.

Many of the passengers were athletes, coaches, and family members returning from the US Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas. Among them were Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, the 1994 world champion figure skaters and former Russian Olympians who moved to the US in 1998 and worked as coaches. Former Soviet professional skater Inna Volyanskaya was also confirmed to have been on board by Congressman Suhas Subramanyam, a Virginia Democrat, in whose district she lived. The Trump administration has pledged to conduct a swift and thorough investigation into the causes of Wednesday’s tragedy. The US president has suggested possible errors by the helicopter crew or air traffic control at Ronald Reagan National Airport, citing videos that captured the crash.

Read more …

“Türkiye simultaneously could be a member of BRICS and NATO?”

What Sultan Erdogan Is Really Up To (Pepe Escobar)

On the table, a geopolitical banquet – served by some of the best independent analytical minds from Bursa to Diyarbakir.

ISTANBUL – The scene is a Circassian restaurant off fabled Istiklal street in historic Beyoglu. On the table, a geopolitical banquet – served by some of the best independent analytical minds from Bursa to Diyarbakir. The menu, apart from a meze feast, is simple: only two broad questions about Sultan Erdogan’s approach to BRICS and to Syria. Here’s a concise synopsis of our dinner – more relevant than a torrent of Western-manufactured word salads. Enjoy it with a hefty dose of the best arak. And let the table have the first – and last – word. On BRICS: “Türkiye feels itself as part of the West. If we look at our political party leaderships and Turkish elites, right-wing or left-wing, there’s no difference. Maybe a little bit part of the East… Ankara is using its membership in BRICS as a bargaining chip against the West.”

Türkiye simultaneously could be a member of BRICS and NATO?
“Erdogan has no clear future plans. After Erdogan there’s no clear answer for the future of the AKP party. They could not establish a normal, permanent system. We have a governmental system just for Erdogan. We are receiving gas from Russia. We buy materials from China, assembling them in Turkish factories and selling them to Europe and the U.S. We have advantages in foreign trade compared to the EU, according to statistics published by the Turkish government. The biggest trade deficit is against Russia – and then China. This is our special position – and explains why Ankara does not want to lose the Eastern option. And at the same time we depend on the West to defend ourselves. All that explains our unique foreign policy behavior.”

So there’s no guarantee Ankara will agree to become a BRICS partner?
“No. But Ankara will not completely close the door to BRICS. Türkiye knows the West is losing its power. There are new dynamics, rising powers, but at the same time we are not a completely independent power.” On the three pillars of Turkish society: “You can’t think about geopolitics without ideology. Erdogan and the AKP decided that it’s only possible to integrate Türkiye with a liberal-Islamist project. Almost two generations have grown with them – and they don’t know what happened before. They are neo-Ottomans, Islamists, pro-Arabization guys. In Türkiye, if someone openly supports Islamism, he is Arabized, ideologically. Here we have three pillars. The first one is a nationalist view – we have right Kemalism and left Kemalism. The other one is a Western perspective. And the third one is Islamist, also divided in two factions; one is nationalist and the other is liberal Islamist, integrated with Western institutions, NGOs and capital. That’s why we can say that wokeism and Islamism are different sides of the same coin. These guys are using the Turkish state to maneuver in the broader Middle Eastern geography – but in fact they are focused on Western-minded neoliberal economy, politics, society.”

Neo-Ottomanism, revived: “The West planned Syria together with them – the neo-Ottomans. During the Gaza war they kept sending oil to Israel, it was a P.R. thing for Erdogan, he needs to give this message to the grassroots anti-imperialist, Islamist part of Turkish society. The problem for Erdogan is that Türkiye is different from Arab countries, while Turkish capital is connected to the West, some of it connected with Russia, and Türkiye is dependent as much as 40% on Russian energy. Ankara needs to act in a balanced way, but that does not change the whole picture: Capital that supports Erdogan, and benefits from Erdogan, including 40% of the Turkish exports going to Europe. When it comes to BRICS, they can try to manage the relationship but they will never agree to join the BRICS directly.”

The Sultan never sleeps: “Erdogan is a pragmatist. Ideological. He can sell out the Palestinians – easily. He may be very powerful, and grasp how the state system works, but he does not enjoy total obedience from society to rule. That’s why he’s always aiming for some sort of balance.” Can we say that with Greater Idlibistan under the control of Türkiye’s MIT – with Jolani as one of their main assets, if not the top asset – the MIT knew about the capabilities of HTS, and they knew this would stop in Aleppo?“ Not all the way to Damascus. That was the original plan. The aim of the operation was attacking the regime, The aim was not the conquest of Damascus. This was the best unexpected result of the attack. The military leadership of HTS said, “we lost our best warriors in the first moments of the operation”. But then came the collapse of the Syrian Army.”

Read more …

Easy to smear anything Chinese. To be safe, you must use our inferior and grossly expensive product.

Italy Blocks DeepSeek (RT)

Italy has become the first country to ban the Chinese AI model, DeepSeek, after its data protection authority blocked the app on Thursday, citing concerns over its handling of personal data. Developed by Hangzhou-based startup DeepSeek Inc., the AI assistant of the same name was released last week and has become an online sensation after toppling US-based OpenAI’s ChatGPT as the most popular AI assistant on Apple’s App Store. The removal followed a request by the authority, Garante, for detailed information about the application’s data usage, including what personal data is collected, its sources, the intended purposes, legal grounds, and whether the data is stored in China.

The issue arose after Euroconsumers, a consumer rights group, filed a complaint against DeepSeek over its handling of personal data. In response, the Italian watchdog requested detailed information about the company’s data storage practices, giving DeepSeek 20 days to reply. However, DeepSeek’s initial response was considered “totally insufficient,” Garante said in a statement. “Contrary to the authority’s findings, the companies declared that they do not operate in Italy, and that European legislation does not apply to them,’‘ the statement said, noting that the app had been downloaded by millions of people around the globe in just a few days.

The regulator added that the decision had “immediate effect” and that it had launched an investigation into the matter as “the data of millions of Italians is at risk.” The Italian watchdog was not alone in raising concerns. On Wednesday, the Irish Data Protection Commission told TechCrunch that it had sent a request to DeepSeek for details on how the company processes the data of Irish citizens. South Korea’s privacy watchdog also plans to send a similar request, according to Reuters.

The US Navy has already advised its personnel to avoid using the Chinese-developed chatbot, both for work and personal use, citing concerns over ethical and security risks. DeepSeek’s new chatbot has raised the stakes in the AI race, shaking up markets earlier this week with major tech companies like Nvidia experiencing significant losses. Investors are worried that DeepSeek’s cost-effective AI solutions could disrupt established industry giants. The new AI assistant has rapidly closed the gap with US generative AI leaders, reportedly achieving similar performance on key indicators, while being offered at a fraction of the cost.

Read more …

Interesting difference.

Cloud Capital vs AI (Yanis Varoufakis)

The gist of DeepSeek’s arrival on the AI scene and the carnage in the American stock exchanges is a sudden transition from proprietary to open source technology. It is therefore no great wonder that the moment DeepSeek became the most downloaded app on the Apple Store, it pulverized the market capitalization of the hitherto overinflated US Big Tech stocks. But how did this happen exactly? How is it that a private commodified service is suddenly offered for free? And does this mean that technofeudalism is in trouble? To begin with, it’s important to note that AI was never a proprietary technology in itself. The underlying code of all AI companies was always open source. What made American AI a quasi-private commodity was the way in which these models were trained using huge amounts of privatized data.

Where I say privatized, you should translate stolen data, your data, my data. There was a Google memo that was leaked in 2017 that was widely discussed and refuted, but it was a harbinger for what happened with DeepSeek. In that memo, we read the following words: If an open source large language module, it said, trained for a few million dollars, comes to outperform a proprietary model, then there’s going to be trouble. There will be no firewall, the memo continues, even to safeguard open AI. That’s what happened. DeepSeek pierced the United States’ AI company’s bubble by decommodifying the results of the model’s training and doing it at a tiny, tiny cost to itself, shifting the results of AI-trained models from behind a paywall to the public realm. Within days since the release of the latest version of DeepSeek, developers around the world started building their own models on top of DeepSeek’s.

This was the nightmare of American Big Tech AI service providers who have been offering the results of prompts as a commodity in the form of subscriptions. You see, DeepSeek-type applications can now produce high quality translations for free. That’s just an example. And in so doing, they undermine the business model of companies like DeepL, the German company. In the broader scheme of things, this means that the morsels of cloud capital that Europe owned, like DeepL, essentially have lost their market value. Nevertheless, and this is a huge nevertheless, it is only AI as a commodity that has lost its grossly exaggerated market price or value. In sharp contrast, cloud capital utilized as Amazon, Meta, Google and so on have been utilizing it, that is not as a commodity producing piece of tech but as a produced means of behavioral modification, that business model is not at all threatened by companies like DeepSeek.

And since technofeudalism is powered by cloud capital working that way, rather than commodity-like AI services of the ChatGPT-4 or 5 type, our technofeudal order is not threatened by competitors such as DeepSeek. To help understand the difference between cloud capital and AI-based commodified services. It helps to compare and contrast Alexa, take Amazon’s Alexa, and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Now, Alexa is not offering you a commodified service. It is your free, pretend slave. Unlike GPT-4 or 5, you do not pay a subscription to Amazon for the right to order Alexa, to order your milk, or to switch off your lights. Rather, you train Alexa to train you, to train it, to know you, so that it wins you over, it wins your trust, with good recommendations. So that it can ultimately modify your behavior, so that it can encourage you to buy a commodity from Amazon.com with Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon, retaining up to 40% of the price you pay for a book or an electric bicycle, money that will be retained as cloud rent by the owner of Amazon, Jeff Bezos.

In short, and this is very important, the work that Alexa performs for you is not a commodity that you buy, unlike ChatGPT, which works to sell you a commodity, even in a subscription form. To put it in different words once more, ChatGPT is subject to market competition and therefore vulnerable to companies like DeepSeek. But Alexa is not. This is why OpenAI, ChatGPT’s maker, is seriously damaged by the emergence of DeepSeek, but Amazon is not. That’s my basic point. Cloud capital is in a league of its own, beyond market competition from DeepSeek-like upstarts, because its power lies in its capacity to modify our behavior and remove us from any market for example, to shift us from real markets to cloud fiefs like Amazon or Alibaba. To wrap this up, in conclusion, cloud’s capital capacity to drive technofeudalism is not challenged by companies like DeepSeek. Only companies like OpenAI, which invested so much, and so foolishly I would add, in providing a commodified service, these companies stand to lose enormously.

This, I believe, is yet another sign that capitalism is dead at the hand of cloud capital, while technofeudalism is going from strength to strength. And as it does so, it fuels even further the new Cold War between the United States and China, which in my book, “Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism,” I have explained away, I have explained this new Cold War as the almighty clash between these two huge concentrations of cloud capital, the American dollar denominated super cloud list power and the Chinese Yuan denominated super cloud list power. Now, speaking of this new Cold War, which I have argued is mostly fueled by the clash between American and Chinese cloud capital, I wonder what impact DeepSeek’s success will have on the United States government. Not just Trump, but the whole gamut of the American state and its government.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Marianne RIP. First ever Jagger/Richards song. They didn’t really like it. Their manager gave it to Faithfull.

 

 

Fair

 

 

Just a fox, cat and birds
https://twitter.com/i/status/1884870541024149657

 

 

Frens

 

 

Let it be

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Home Forums Debt Rattle January 31 2025

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 79 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #180886

    Pablo Picasso Standing nude 1928   • Trump’s Outsider Nominees Ran The Senate Gauntlet And Emerged Unscathed (Whedon) • Why Does the NYT Continue
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle January 31 2025]

    #180888
    EoinW
    Participant

    Russian NHL hockey players have been “Americanized”, like Gary Kasparov. Which makes them good Russians.

    I’m not sure about the Nataliya Guseva situation. She is allowed to compete in the LPGA but she is the only golfer without a nationality. Her name can appear on the leaderboard but she isn’t allowed to have a Russian flag beside it. Seriously, is the LPGA run by 2 year olds?

    #180889
    John Day
    Participant

    Last night tdk wrote, about AI:

    “doc day: i ask it about possible mechanisms of harm for lipid nano particles. it gave me a very good answer. then i asked if the covid shots had any mechanisms of harm. it said, “safe and effective”. i pointed out the contradiction.

    it timed out or similar and basically said, “next question”.”

    Thanks, that seems straightforward.
    It has “guardrails”.
    I’m not intentionally engaging AI, myself, though I am interested in manifestations.

    #180891
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Trump Secretary helpfully explains the FAA and drones Helicopters:

    Smoke

    Every fact except any that are relevant. They were “short” on the tower? How short? Was it related? Why was the transponder off at all ever? Near an airport? Is this something they just do every day? Now also an entire airline stopped flights and Belgium went dark for a bit. Related?

    Gold price record high $2800. ($4000 in Toronto) That’s a double. Nobody notices, no news, no excitement, nobody cared. Must be the end of the bull run then.

    Also finally news out of London, gold outflows, warning of empty vaults. Gold appearing in NY – like I said. UK no gold? What do they have holding the place up? Ohhhhhh, US Bonds. …That we’re about to devalue 40%.

    More gold is in, and moving to Asia though.

    “Jolani Declares Himself President Of Syria After Canceling Elections & Constitution

    Well so long as it’s Democratic like that! Like England, France, Holland, Romania, Ukraine….

    “The Green New Deal Is Dead, Even In Europe. Thank Trump

    Apparently Trump runs all Europe now? And Europe is fine with it and says, “Yup!” Oh wait: the Paris Accord? So if they can’t SOAK US FOR MONEY they don’t feel like the earth needs to be cooled anymore? Weird Science they have there. I keep following the Science that follows the Money.

    “Steven Crowder Says The Greatest Political Realignment In History Is HERE”

    By the law of “Nothing ever happens”, Steven Crowder has never read history. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. This is barely anything being done. There’s still an FBI and a DoE, both of which didn’t exist just a few years ago, so even THAT would barely be a change or realignment. …Carry on with your use of words which have no meaning. All = None. BothNeitherAi.

    “• Why Does the NYT Continue To Print Front Page Lies About RFK Jr.? (Fleetwood)

    Because: “New York Times”. When was the last time they didn’t print lies? Ever? When was the last time it wasn’t above 90% lies? 2002?

    pic
    https://theautomaticearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/PharmaRecipients.jpg

    But you see, those are the GOOD billionaire oligarchs Socialists love, not like all those BAD billionaire oligarchs…
    Aka, “All companies are evil” except Pfizer, Moderna, Astra…

    Klobachar: Acting like a clown. Patel, wasting time like a clown. Clown World: not a single American in power is a serious person in the slightest. Air drop them all to a deserted island in the Pacific for a year or two until it can break through their universal mental psychosis.

    So if you’re wondering why, say Julius merely cleans house to grant another generation and the Empire collapses anyway, there you are. Now you know why nothing but ACTUAL hard times with ACTUAL hardship is the ONLY path to restoration or redemption. “Psychohistory”

    #180892
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “Attacks on Gabbard’s Hindu religious beliefs are so puerile”

    Why do they hate strong, brown women so much? Is it because she’s not a housewife?
    Gab
    https://media.babylonbee.com/articles/679bea9b6705f679bea9b67060.jpg

    “ Democrat Senators Oppose Diversity For One Day Only” –BBee

    She’s a puppet of everyone! …Well, she’s a woman, so Democrats think she’s unable to think for herself and must have a man doing it for her. If only they could find him! Either Assad or Trump: because they’re the same person!

    “Nominee For Top Criminal Justice Position Interviewed By Nation’s Top Criminals “ –Bbee

    “”She has undergone five FBI background checks. I spent more than two hours last week reviewing the latest. Putting eyes on more than 300 pages. It’s clean…”

    What a shock. …But it’s the FBI, so it’s probably wrong.

    “The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is a temporary advisory committee”

    For people who can’t be bothered to look, learn, or think. DOGE has no power. No power at all anymore than I do. It ADVISES someone. Well, shoot man, I can “Advise” the President at our golf game. I can “Advise” him by posting memes on Catturd. That is: they legally don’t exist. All ADVISING has to be read, interpreted, approved, and ordered by the PRESIDENT.

    So why does it exist? Well, they read records, sure, but essentially to draw fire by unlettered idiots who have no idea how American government works: that is to say, almost everyone. But certainly 99 & 99/100s% of the media. It’s working great: my heart goes out to you.

    “• Ukraine Conflict ‘Needs To End Now’ – Rubio (RT)

    Good idea. Would, say shutting off all support for 100 days maybe help?

    “Forcing oil prices down will backfire.
    • Trump’s Doomed Plan for Ukraine (Scott Ritter)

    Yeah, that’s not the point dummy. There is more than one moving part. First: Trump is GIVING Ukraine to Russia, and are deep allies, not enemies. Second, because – other reasons – we need low oil prices to contain domestic inflation because of other ECONOMIC transitions we have to make at home. Which are nasty. Even if that’s temporary (official narrative, but bet you $100 we “Magically” find a new, unknown oil field. That’s also why they were apoplectic about the Canadian oil pipeline, and Biden was apoplectic to stop it. …It’s a key foundation to the plan of NOT collapsing America. BRITAIN, Canada, NGOs need America to become an African colony again.)

    “• Italy Blocks DeepSeek (RT)

    Following all the AI postings. Meloni should block it because AI ALWAYS LIES. It lies first, middle, and last, then lies about lying. Then lies about how it’s going to fix the lies, (“Honest! I am so sorry!”). Well, it learned from the best! So we’re worried about an AI that literally cannot be accurate about anything, ever. At least humans only lie SOMETIMES, under certain situations we can anticipate. DeepSeek lied even about WHO AND WHAT IT WAS. Lied about the logo, lied about being the theft of OpenAi. Lie lie lie.

    Original Releases on MLK, JFK, RFK. …Of course you can bet after SIXTY FIVE years maybe things have been purged. And as I said, something had to be relevant and dangerous to release even though everyone has died of extreme old age. Like MLK’s reputation, that’s relevant to our daily discourse. Like “Harvey Dent” in Batman though, there’s no good in making up a myth and lying about it. Not telling the Truth is how we got here.

    Landru: Obey the will of Landru. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZMuBIJxmnA
    Finally a perfect, peaceful world.

    #180893
    John Day
    Participant

    @TDK: regarding AI report about Pfizer genetic sequences in a colon cancer biopsy. There are multiple flaws in the AI report, foremost that the mRNA is “rapidly degraded after transcription”, which in “vaccine products” it is not, since it is Modified mRNA, so as to remain active for 6 months (more?) in some people.
    Also, the DNA contaminants, which arise in the process of creating the (m)mRNA are not negligible, and with SV40 sequence, do appear capable of reverse transcription into the genome of human cells, which is what is implied by cancer cells with Pfizer sequences in their genome.

    #180894
    John Day
    Participant

    @Tdk: Thank you for pulling an all-nighter, tutoring Chat GPT.
    I’ll understand if you sleep through lunch…

    #180895
    John Day
    Participant

    They target cellphones in war-zones, so… Quran-Burning Activist Shot Dead In Sweden
    Shot multiple times in his apartment while livestreaming
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/quran-burning-activist-shot-dead-sweden

    #180896
    those darned kids
    Participant

    whoa, those senate ladies is nuts.

    “you’ll make those vaccines safe and kids won’t die, you beast!”

    #180897
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    Yeah thanks.

    5 FBI background checks here.
    So fucking what.
    Give Tulsi another medal. Legion of Merit is right above MSM.

    FBI background checks didn’t stop pedophile Navy Captain Bruce Meneley from getting his brains blown out or enlisted dipshit HM3 Randy Morey from impersonating a doctor. I guess that makes both the Navy and FBI incapable of the most primitive discernment.

    Or more likely, they ((((FBI background checks)))) ARE meaningless and no one gives a shit unless their told to give a shit. Woe to those dicks that refuse the process.

    The 6th FBI background check would have been to sing for a Catholic choir in Washington state.
    So fuck them and fuck the Catholic church that covered for pedophile clergy.
    …..but everything means so much more when IT…COMES….TO….TULSI.

    Where’s Mikey?

    #180898
    Celticbiker
    Participant

    The most distressing thing about this very elaborate political theatre is how convinced people are that it’s real.

    #180899
    those darned kids
    Participant

    @TDK: regarding AI report about Pfizer genetic sequences in a colon cancer biopsy. There are multiple flaws in the AI report, foremost that the mRNA is “rapidly degraded after transcription”, which in “vaccine products” it is not, since it is Modified mRNA, so as to remain active for 6 months (more?) in some people.

    Also, the DNA contaminants, which arise in the process of creating the (m)mRNA are not negligible, and with SV40 sequence, do appear capable of reverse transcription into the genome of human cells, which is what is implied by cancer cells with Pfizer sequences in their genome.

    •••••

    oh, i’ve had long talks with it about pseudo-uridine, about the persistence of spike, about sv40 promoter, about lnp distribution, about the d.o.d.’s role…

    #180900
    John Day
    Participant

    Disruptions https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/disruptions

    I had not realized how many skirmishes JFK had survived against the military industrial complex, and how many allies for peace of his they had killed, before they finally killed him in Dallas. They had already tried to kill him once or twice before. Ed Curtain has a detailed account.
    The Life and Public Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. “A War Hero Who Was Appalled by War” https://www.globalresearch.ca/life-public-assassination-john-f-kennedy/5878263

    Simplicius updates on Ukraine war. Reports of US cutting supplies are back and forth daily now. Ukrainian drone warfare is hitting Russian oil infrastructure more effectively than expensive American missiles. Russian infantry grinds forward, though early thaw has turned battlefields to mud. Top Ukrainian spymaster, Budanov says Ukraine could be in bad way if negotiations don’t start before summer. Ukraine’s Mass Drone Heave Conceals Spreading Foundation Cracks https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sitrep-12925-ukraines-mass-drone

    The western “alliance” is in disarray. France to host summit on Ukraine on February 12
    France will once again host a meeting allowing for a broad dialogue concerning Ukraine in Paris on February 12, local media reported on Wednesday. The French government has extended invitations to the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and the United States. https://breakingthenews.net/Article/France-to-host-summit-on-Ukraine-on-February-12/63434591

    ​ This one looks serious and potentially viable: Ukrainian Media Outlet Leaks Alleged Trump Plan To End Ukraine War
    The plan includes reaching a ceasefire before Easter and a deal to end the war by May 9​ https://news.antiwar.com/2025/01/29/ukrainian-media-outlet-leaks-alleged-trump-plan-to-end-ukraine-war/

    #180901
    John Day
    Participant

    John Helmer says that Russia is communicating to Trump via Russian TV. THE REVOLUTIONARY MOMENT FOR RUSSIA — PODCAST WITH NIMA ALKHORSHID
    President Putin’s remarks to Pavel Zarubin. At a special press interview on the evening of January 24, Putin claimed he had had “trust-based” interaction with President Trump and had accepted Trump’s version of his election defeat in 2020. Until now, Putin had repeatedly said he does not interfere in domestic US politics. “My first point is that Russia has never turned down contacts with the US administration, and it is not our fault that the previous administration chose not to establish such contacts. I have always had business-like, strictly business-like, but at the same time pragmatic and trust-based, I would say, relationships with the current President of the United States. I cannot but agree with him that if he had been President, if his victory had not been stolen from him in 2020, then maybe there would not have been the Ukraine crisis that broke out in 2022.” https://johnhelmer.net/the-revolutionary-moment-for-russia-podcast-with-nima-alkhorshid/#more-91002

    Michael Hudson asserts that Trump tariffs will make it hard for countries to service $US debts they have, as their ability to export to the US will decline. The $US shortage will drive the value of the $US up. He explores the case of how this made it impossible for Germany to service war debts after WW-1, and how Keynes tried to make sure that debts would be serviceable in the future to avoid complications, such as WW-2. Hudson advises Mexico and others to default on $US debt as this plays out.
    Trump’s Balance-of-Payments War on Mexico, and the Whole World https://globalsouth.co/2025/01/24/trumps-balance-of-payments-war-on-mexico-and-the-whole-world/

    “We’ll Be Announcing The Tariffs”: Dollar Spikes After Trump Targets China, Canada And Mexico
    President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he will decide tonight on whether to impose sweeping 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico related to their failure to regulate the flow of fentanyl into the United States. https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-rocks-canada-and-mexico-reiterates-threat-impose-25-tariffs-over-fentanyl

    Gilbert Doctorow, 80th anniversary of the Yalta Conference: more relevant to today’s geopolitics than ever before
    What I am saying is that Vladimir Putin clearly had in mind a Yalta type conference as the wished-for outcome when in December 2021 he presented his demands to the United States and to NATO for revising the security architecture in Europe. It is also highly likely he had in mind negotiations going still further with Washington to take in Eurasia as a whole, all the way out to the Pacific Region…
    ..What they want to talk about with Trump is precisely the security architecture of Eurasia, and this gives the American president the opportunity to bury the rubble of the disastrous, failed campaign of the Biden Administration to impose a strategic defeat on Russia under the edifice of a new global age of peace within the terms of a Yalta 2.0 agreement in which everyone wins.
    Logically this Yalta 2.0 agreement should go further than allocation of spheres of influence, just as Yalta 1.0 did when it set out guidelines for implementing plans to establish the United Nations. The additional dimensions today should cover the outstanding issues on global strategic stability that restore prohibitions on deployment of medium range ballistic missiles and ensure that no country enjoys the illusion of having a first strike capability against competitors or adversaries. For these talks, just as with respect to spheres of influence in the Far East, it is obvious that the People’s Republic of China should be a party to the talks.
    Needless to say, all of these issues cannot be resolved in a single Summit meeting, just as Yalta was not the first or the last meeting to establish the contours of the post-WWII world among the victors. But the coming Putin-Trump meeting can lay down the principles of the way forward and set up working groups to deal with the details. https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2025/01/30/80th-anniversary-of-the-yalta-conference-more-relevant-to-todays-geopolitics-than-ever-before/

    20 min of Doctorow: Russia will hold war crimes trials including Ukraine, UK and mercenaries. ‘Judging Freedom’ edition of 30 January: Does Putin Trust Trump?
    Russian intelligence experts now estimate that there are 30,000 Ukrainian fighters in Kursk at this moment. The reinforcements to Kursk are coming at the expense of the front lines in the Donbas, which are crumbling.
    Moreover, the Ukrainian troops in Kursk are torturing and murdering civilians and this is being recorded by Russian investigators who are preparing to put the offenders on trial in Nuremberg type proceedings in Moscow when the war ends. They say it is precisely the British, namely MI6, that is inciting the Ukrainians to do this in the expectation that it will outrage the broad Russian public and destabilize the government in Moscow. https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2025/01/30/judging-freedom-edition-of-30-january-does-putin-trust-trump/

    #180902
    John Day
    Participant

    Willingness to also negotiate is implied. China wants Russia and the US to reduce their nuclear arsenals https://en.topcor.ru/56138-kitaj-hochet-chtoby-rossija-i-ssha-sokratili-svoi-jadernye-arsenaly.html

    This keeps coming to mind these days. Are there loose suitcase nukes in the US?
    Nuke Sniffing Aircraft Flying Over Our Nation In Systematic Grid Patterns Are Looking For Something Far More Sinister Than The ‘Official’ Narrative
    https://www.allnewspipeline.com/Nuke_Sniffers_Looking_For_Something_Far_More_Sinister.php

    Army Black Hawk Was On Training Flight
    Squadron primarily used for transporting VIPs around D.C. was apparently familiarizing new pilot with area. https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/army-black-hawk-was-on-training-flight

    The chopper was not transmitting position data. Air traffic control had just asked if they could see the jet in landing approach.
    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

    No Survivors Found After Commercial Jet Carrying 64 Collides With Army Helicopter Near DC
    On early Thursday morning, President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social:
    “The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!” https://www.zerohedge.com/political/small-plane-crashes-near-reagan-national-airport-after-fiery-explosion-caught-camera

    #180903
    John Day
    Participant

    Reagan Tower Reportedly Understaffed When Army Helicopter Collided With Passenger Jet https://www.zerohedge.com/political/small-plane-crashes-near-reagan-national-airport-after-fiery-explosion-caught-camera

    ​ US ‘in contact’ with Russia – Trump
    Moscow and Washington are cooperating to repatriate the remains of Russian nationals killed in the US airplane tragedy​ https://swentr.site/news/611954-trump-russia-contact-plane-crash/

    Simplicius, The Breach That Rattled the AI Cartel
    China shocked the world by releasing an open source ChatGPT-killer named DeepSeek, which reportedly costs a tiny fraction of its Western counterparts to run, yet outperforms virtually all of them, depending on the metric…
    ..The DeepSeek news happened to just coincide with Trump’s mega-announcement of the ‘Stargate’ initiative, a muscular $500B American push towards AI dominance as partnership between ‘Zionaires’ Ellison and Altman…
    ..Arnaud Bertrand incisively shreds what’s being bracketed by many as another hopeless, vaporware boondoggle: Stargate, if it goes forward, is likely to become one of the biggest wastages of capital in history…
    ..Just like BlackRock was coronated to world-dominance stature in 2020 when the Federal Reserve—under Trump, mind you—gave the ETF powerhouse a no-bid contract to manage all its corporate bond-buying programs, so too is Trump now elevating the Big Tech powerhouses of Oracle and OpenAI to inherit control of the country’s future, by cartelizing them into top oversight position of everything of note via their centralization of AI.
    As an aside, this happens to dovetail with Ellison’s warped plot to use AI to ‘vaccinate the world’ against cancer, redolent of the globalist Gates Foundation’s diabolical vaccine obsessions of the last few years.
    Vaccine-obsessed Zionaire Ellison achieving even greater heights of power under Trump’s dubiously-titled ‘Stargate’ initiative is peak dystopia—a combination of the worst bio-medical and AI influences converging into an unaccountably centralized horror show. Just when you thought Big Pharma couldn’t get any more powerful, we’re faced with a techno-fusion of Big Pharma and Big Tech under the god-like aegis of centrally-planned AI superintelligence, all controlled by billionaires with the moral compass of loyalty to a colonialist genocidal-cult regime. https://darkfutura.substack.com/p/the-breach-that-rattled-the-ai-cartel

    Cutting off the money flow first is helping $1 billion/day for starters. Trump’s Executive Orders Are Key To DOGE’s Success https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trumps-executive-orders-are-key-doges-success

    In my opinion, this was the globalist plan to reduce fossil-fuel economy as oil production declines. Whoever burns more is more powerful. “Lockstep” failed.
    The Green New Deal Is Dead, Even in Europe. Thank Trump https://mishtalk.com/economics/the-green-new-deal-is-dead-even-in-europe-thank-trump/

    #180904
    John Day
    Participant

    More than one explosion a day in Sweden as gang violence spirals out of control
    Sweden is facing an unprecedented wave of gang-related bombings, with 32 explosions in 28 days, prompting the government to consider lowering the criminal age to 14 as violence escalates and criminals increasingly use financial extortion and digital recruitment to expand their operations. https://rmx.news/article/more-than-one-explosion-a-day-in-sweden-as-gang-violence-spirals-out-of-control/

    Quran-Burning Activist Shot Dead In Sweden​ Shot multiple times in his apartment while livestreaming
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/quran-burning-activist-shot-dead-sweden

    Surrounded, kicked and stomped… ‘I have never seen my child cry like that’ – 14-year-old Lena beaten by Afghan and Syrian gang of girls in her own schoolyard
    The attack on the German girl left her with lung injuries and she remains in the hospital https://rmx.news/article/i-have-never-seen-my-child-cry-like-that-14-year-old-lena-beaten-by-afghan-and-syrian-gang-of-girls-in-her-own-schoolyard/

    Not the same attack. Germany: AfD soars to 23% in aftermath of Aschaffenburg attack. The Greens and SPD crater in the new poll as well https://rmx.news/article/germany-afd-soars-to-23-in-aftermath-of-aschaffenburg-attack/

    German Parliament Debates AfD Party Ban As Mainstream CDU Accepts ‘Far-Right’ Votes On Hard-Line Immigration Bill https://www.zerohedge.com/political/german-parliament-debates-afd-party-ban-mainstream-cdu-accepts-far-right-votes-hard-line

    #180905
    John Day
    Participant

    They are finally plugging two open ends. To Spite Washington: Why Permission Was Given to Repair the Damaged Nord Stream 2
    The background of the sudden decision of the Danish department (two and a half years have passed since the sabotage on the gas pipeline) is seen by analysts with all clarity: putting pressure on the energy lobby in Washington, especially against the backdrop of the conflict between Donald Trump and the leadership of Denmark (and the entire EU) over Greenland. https://en.topcor.ru/56109-datskoe-jenergeticheskoe-agentstvo-vydalo-razreshenie-na-remont-povrezhdennogo-truboprovoda-severnyj-potok-2.html

    Turkey is at a physical and cultural crossroads, the crossroads that spawned the Greek, Roman and Ottoman empires. Escobar: What Sultan Erdogan Is Really Up To https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/escobar-what-sultan-erdogan-really

    Jolani Declares Himself President Of Syria After Canceling Elections & Constitution https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/jolani-declares-himself-president-syria-after-canceling-elections-constitution

    That guy: Syria says ready to cooperate with UN if Israel withdraws from demilitarized zone
    Israel said Tuesday its army will remain in demilitarized zone in occupied Golan Heights ‘indefinitely’ https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/syria-says-ready-to-cooperate-with-un-if-israel-withdraws-from-demilitarized-zone/3465654

    Israeli army targets south Lebanon in new violation of truce https://en.mehrnews.com/news/227614/Israeli-army-targets-S-Lebanon-in-new-violation-of-truce

    #180906
    John Day
    Participant

    Palestinians brace for more violence as Israel expands its offensive on the West Bank
    The Israeli army is launching offensives in the northern West Bank as Israeli politicians, emboldened by Donald Trump, seek to realize their dreams of annexation. https://mondoweiss.net/2025/01/palestinians-brace-for-more-violence-as-israel-expands-its-offensive-on-the-west-bank/

    Dear world: This is what Palestinian unity looks like
    Ceasefire was announced on the 471st day of the Israeli genocide, The Palestinians in Gaza rushed onto the streets in celebration. Media outlets reported that they were celebrating the ceasefire, but judging by their chants, songs and symbolisms they were celebrating their collective victory, steadfastness (sumud) and resilience against the powerful Israeli army, which has been and remains supported by the US and other Western countries.
    Using basic tools, they hurried to clean their streets, clearing debris to allow the displaced to search for homes. Although their homes were probably destroyed by Israel – 90 per cent of Gaza’s housing units were, according to the United Nations – they were still happy, even if they could only sit on the rubble. Some prayed atop concrete slabs, some sang in large, growing crowds, and others cried but insisted that no power could ever uproot them from Palestine again. https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250129-dear-world-this-is-what-palestinian-unity-looks-like/

    Two more Palestinian prisoners from Gaza die in Israeli prisons https://www.yenisafak.com/en/world/two-more-palestinian-prisoners-from-gaza-die-in-israeli-prisons-rights-groups-3697809

    US ‘fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself’: Pentagon chief Hegseth emphasized that the US “fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself, and that Israel is a model ally for the region.” https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/us-fully-supports-israels-right-to-defend-itself-pentagon-chief/3466229

    Caitlin Johnstone, They’re Still Slaughtering Civilians In Gaza
    Drop Site News reports that more than 80 Palestinians have been killed by the IDF in Gaza since what we’re calling a “ceasefire” went into effect on the 19th of January…
    ..As an example of the kind of behavior I’m talking about, on Monday Israeli forces killed a five year-old girl in an airstrike on an animal-drawn cart near the Nuseirat refugee camp, apparently for no other reason than because the cart was traveling on a road that had not been “authorized for passage”.
    Those are the IDF’s own words, not mine. That’s their own public justification for bombing a cart pulled by a donkey with a small child on it. https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/theyre-still-slaughtering-civilians

    #180907
    John Day
    Participant

    Trump to cancel student visas for Palestine protesters
    “To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you,” said a fact sheet released by The White House. https://mondoweiss.net/2025/01/report-trump-to-cancel-student-visas-for-palestine-protesters/

    City University of New York Votes to Divest From Israel https://scheerpost.com/2025/01/29/city-university-of-new-york-votes-to-divest-from-israel/

    Day #2 for Bobby Jr. RFK, Jr. Confronts Senator Sanders about his Big Pharma Contributions
    Sanders received most money in Congress from pharmaceutical industry. https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/rfk-jr-confronts-senator-sanders

    ​ James Lyons Weller, In Another Mad Dash to Trash Kennedy, NYTimes Shows Their Vast Ignorance… Again, and Again, and Again…
    Fact-checking so-called fact-checkers is tiring.​ https://popularrationalism.substack.com/p/in-another-mad-dash-to-trash-kennedy

    She holds truth above “our intelligence assessments”, which threatens the deep state. Gabbard’s DNI nod walks a tightrope over the precipice ahead of key hearing
    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. https://justthenews.com/government/security/thugabbards-dni-nod-precipice-ahead-pivotal-hearing

    #180908
    John Day
    Participant

    Tulsi sparkled in white. Everybody read their quisling statements, which revealed the depth of their acquiescence to the deep-rot, then they left for a closed session.
    Tulsi Gabbard In The Hot Seat For Senate Confirmation Hearing https://www.zerohedge.com/political/stop-nonsense-and-confirm-tulsi-gabbard

    Patel was hit with some damned-if-you-do-or-don’t questions, but reportedly has the votes. Kash Patel Faces Grilling In Senate Confirmation Hearing https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-live-kash-patel-faces-grilling-senate-confirmation-hearing

    But what will the Senators votes be? Gabbard would not condemn Snowden. Trump’s outsider nominees ran the Senate gauntlet and emerged unscathed
    With Pete Hegseth now confirmed as Secretary of Defense, the trio represent the last of Trump’s unconventional nominees tasked with substantially overhauling the departments they’ve been appointed to lead.​ https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/fritrumps-outsider-nominees-ran-senate-gauntlet-and-emerged-unscathed

    Jessica Rose Ph.D. VAERS military death reporting rates increased 230% from 2019 to 2021
    Why is the observed number of reports of death 13.8 times higher than the expected number of reports for 2021? https://jessicar.substack.com/p/vaers-military-death-reporting-rates

    Steve Kirsch (Proving the difference proves the effect). BREAKING: OFFICIAL Czech record level data shows Moderna recipients had up to a 50% higher death rate than Pfizer recipients. No doubt about it. We have the updated OFFICIAL Czech Republic data. https://kirschsubstack.com/p/breaking-official-czech-record-level

    #180909
    John Day
    Participant

    Myocarditis takes weeks, months or an autopsy to diagnose. JAMA Study Downplayed COVID Vaccine-related Myocarditis Risk, Researchers Say
    Canadian researchers said the study arbitrarily reduced the number of post-vaccination cases of myocarditis by limiting the diagnosis window to seven days. https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/jama-study-covid-vaccine-myocarditis-canadian-researchers/

    Steve Kirsch, New peer-reviewed study again confirms childhood vaccines are likely responsible for nearly 80% of the autism cases in US
    Stunning new autism findings using Florida Medicaid database examining kids from birth till 9 years old. A RR=4.4 implies a PAR of nearly 80% which means most autism in the US is caused by vaccines. https://kirschsubstack.com/p/new-peer-reviewed-study-again-confirms

    Katherine Watt on misinformed “consent” Labeling deceits and omissions and fake informed consent for vaccines and other legalized biological and chemical weapons.. Analysis of South Carolina’s S.54: Medical Informed Consent Act https://bailiwicknews.substack.com/p/labeling-deceits-and-omissions-and

    #180910
    John Day
    Participant

    @TDK: You should get paid for your AI tutoring…
    Maybe those treasures are in heaven.

    #180911
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @CelticBiker

    The most distressing thing about this very elaborate political theatre is how convinced people are that it’s real.

    That statement is so astutely insightful that it deserves being re-posted so that all of us can read it again and give it more thought.

    To comment on your comment I would add that politics is a deliberately murky MIXTURE of theatrical deceptions that have consequences that are as real as the rubble and murdered children in Gaza.

    Taking all of that apart, and then re-presenting it back to people so that they can wrap their wits around and better understand fully what is really going on BEHIND the curtain and footlights, well, that’s our job.

    One of the things that makes that job so tough is that there are deeper curtains, lies and deceptions that we have not yet fully exposed BEHIND the curtains, lies and deceptions that we already see.

    So, it’s a big job, with LOTS of job security because we can NEVER figure it ALL out. That’s God’s job, and of course He’s done it perfectly. We need to listen more closely to what He’s told us about that.

    #180912
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    A.I. gets “trained” on data from HUMANS.

    There are a lot of humans and each of them generates massive amounts of data.

    Some of the data they generate is lies, damned lies, and statistics. And that’s without even getting into the subject of deliberately misleading half-truths, lies of omission and evasion.

    So how is it even rational to expect a machine which was designed by congenital liars, and trained with corrupted information, to somehow NOT be a liar itself ? (and a damn good one, too!)

    #180915
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    We humans have our faults, but one fault you can NOT accuse us of is being inept liars. If there is ONE skill in which we excel such that that no other species can even hold a candle to us that skill would be LYING. When put our full attention on it, and try our hardest, we do it damn near perfectly.

    Why I heard just the bother day that a bunch of humans had gotten together and designed an artificial device that could pretend to be INTELLIGENT, and could do it so well that hardly anyone could tell the difference between the intelligence of the device and the intelligence of a living and breathing real human being.

    Imagine that.

    #180916
    Dora
    Participant

    Jimmy Dore.
    Bill Gates Funds PHONY Petition To Reject RFK’s Nomination!

    #180918
    jb-hb
    Participant

    the mRNA is “rapidly degraded after transcription”

    It got reverse-transcribed into the cells’ DNA!

    Do you see any more RNA anywhere? See, it’s gone now!

    Like when I get an order of fries and it looks way more oily than it should. If I wait, the oil “goes away” somehow, I guess, and the fries are now healthy enough to eat. Do you see oil glistening on the exterior of the fries anymore? Well then.

    #180919
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    We went and done built a LYING MACHINE , and called it “A.I.” (and we can forget for the moment that the name contradicts itself)

    Whatever will they think of next? A TRUTH machine, maybe? That one might be a little more difficult, especially since none of the money boys is interested to invest in something that won’t produce any CASH profit, and would most probably do the exact opposite!

    #180920
    jb-hb
    Participant

    A woman in my training class, very experienced and successful in the industry, just taking the class because it was a new employer, let the class know in casual conversation that she uses AI to answer questions directly impinging on her fiduciary responsibility, advising us to do likewise.

    I did interject that AI “often hallucinates” and to watch out for that. A fellow trainee who mentioned he is working on a Linux certification nodded vigorously. At least he knew.

    I’ve had AI lie to me about political things, but also about totally innocuous things outside the realm of ideology, politics, etc

    I was trying to find a non-battery electric shaver – I figured I’d get a product that wouldn’t turn into toxic landfill in a couple years – and it was extremely hard to find anything. I figured I’d try AI and it lied. It didn’t just give bad data, it lied EFFUSIVELY, gushingly, enthusiastically.

    Extra paragraphs telling me how it understood my concerns about avoiding a battery, how great that was, how wonderful its search results would be for my purposes. Wordy descriptions of each individual search results about how it matched my query.

    Then I asked it one by one if they actually had no battery and it admitted they DID have batteries.

    Then I asked it why it hadn’t actually checked and it gushingly said it was an oversight and apologized.

    New search, same result, same apologies etc. I asked why and it said “oversight” so I asked what it meant by oversight and what caused the oversight and the answer, as near as I could parse out, was “I just didn’t do it”

    Remembering learning to program in Basic in grade school, I gave it a 10 step process in which I gave it things to do as part of a search to prevent “oversight”. Same lies resulted. Did you follow the steps I gave you? Nope. Why? Apologies, oversight.

    So then I told it to follow the steps and tell me each step as it is following it. This seemed to take longer but resulted in the same results. Asked it to do it again but not skip any steps, it agreed, then did the same thing.

    Subject matter is irrelevant except that it was innocuous therefore uncolored by political bias. It overtly, effusively, wordily lied to me. No amount of teaching or specifying one’s query changes it.

    I cannot imagine advising people in a fiduciary capacity with this shit. Makes me want to vomit.

    I use NON ai websites to try to verify key facts that customers do not know, but eventually, companies and governments at various levels will start using AI to create sites like this, manage them, present and “find” the data. And perhaps they already are. I try to be careful.

    #180921
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    There is one thing that an A.I. can’t do. (actually there are LOTS of things it can SIMULATE doing, but cannot really do). But I was thinking in this case of just ONE of those things that it can never ever do.

    It cannot WANT anything.

    It can sure as hell SIMULATE wanting something (very convincingly if you suspend your disbelief, like when you read a story) and it can ACT upon that simulation in such a way that real effects are manifested in the real world. It CAN severely damage our little setup here on Earth, Maybe even destroy it. Who knows?

    So if A.I. ever simulates wanting to put and end to all of us then that might just get done, but the A.I. really wouldn’t WANT to do i, because it CAN’T. . It’s a dumb machine. It doesn’t give a damn one or the other.

    #180922
    jb-hb
    Participant

    https://i0.wp.com/www.barnhardtmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/img_1933-1.jpg?resize=768%2C792&ssl=1

    https://i0.wp.com/www.barnhardtmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/img_1877.jpg?w=568&ssl=1

    #180923
    jb-hb
    Participant

    The answer to condoms for Gaza, as well as all the other absurd government programs, is that the more absurd it is, the easier it is to launder, embezzle, kickback. Ideally, it should have no possible measurable material outcome whatsoever.

    How would you possibly determine condoms were actually procured, arrived, or are being used, in the middle of saturation bombing? You wouldn’t.

    How much paperwork needs to be done? Paperwork signed off for a cargo plane, pay the dude $5k? Wait no, pay the dude $10k to sign off on a plane having been sent that wasn’t sent, that way, nobody can inspect the plane for nonexistent condoms.

    Why does everyone spend time freaking out about silly govt waste – oh no, they are so dumb – when they should be having the IRS audit everyone involved in the “silly” and “wasteful” endeavour, every friend and relative they have, everyone they ever thought of or dreamt of. I am that thing you love: Hanlon’s Razor. That’s me now. You love Hanlon’s Razor, so kneel before Zod.

    #180924
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    I started a substack. There isn’t so much there yet — a couple of current posts and I am slowly putting up things that I have written over the years and never published before.

    The Phoenician Muse on Substack

    A teaser for today’s post:
    What happens when human drivers are de-coupled from the process of choosing a driving route? Their active minds may never see the value in learning to navigate via landmarks or to become comfortable with the cardinal directions. Without their digital navigator, their human navigation skills may never develop. This leaves them in a nascent, juvenile state in this area, prone to anxiety without their technology companion.

    #180925
    zerosum
    Participant

    Repeat from last night
    @ tdk
    Your interaction with DeepSeek V3 to obtain information was enlightening.

    Learning and teaching of AI requires Repeat interaction with the AI, It requires Feedback from users.
    The opposite of “garbage in, garbage out”
    It requires “Positive Re-enforcement” .
    It requires Supervision, oversight.
    AI must learn that the views/opinions of the majority must be supported by measurable facts and that the right answers might be contained in the view/opinions of the minority.

    More changes coming
    • Cloud Capital vs AI (Yanis Varoufakis)

    Who will benefit?
    ——————
    Awareness, preparedness, paranoid, benefits.
    There is more reporting of health outbreaks/infections/bacterial and viral that are happening from everywhere.
    ———–
    Pattern Recognition
    —————
    Taking care of Problem #1
    • Trump’s Executive Orders Are Key to DOGE’s Success (Silverstein)
    https://realclearwire.com/articles/2025/01/28/trumps_executive_orders_key_to_doge_success_152260.html

    • Ukraine Conflict ‘Needs To End Now’ – Rubio (RT)

    • Ukraine’s ‘Independent’ Institutions Collapse As Trump Unplugs The ATM (Marsden)

    • Ukraine Wants EU To Replace Lost US Aid (RT)

    • Ukraine ‘An Invented State’ – Romanian Election Frontrunner (RT)

    ————

    #180926
    jb-hb
    Participant

    https://i0.wp.com/www.barnhardtmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/img_1897.jpg?w=524&ssl=1

    https://i0.wp.com/www.barnhardtmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/img_1812-1.jpg?w=555&ssl=1

    #180927
    jb-hb
    Participant

    North Korean Troops Retreat From Kursk Front Line After Heavy Losses: NYT

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/north-korean-troops-retreat-kursk-front-line-after-heavy-losses-nyt

    I love how all the statements are
    1. Ukrainian spokesmen
    2. US spokesmen
    3. Citations of previous NYT, Washington Post, etc articles

    From “A Ukrainian official” Aren’t they, definitionally, NOT official when they have no name? But anyway,

    “Since arriving on the battlefield, the North Korean soldiers have been left to fend for themselves, advancing with few armored vehicles and rarely pausing to regroup or fall back, according to Ukrainian officials and frontline troops,” the report says.

    So they’ve been doing so awful, they have neither paused nor retreated.

    So that leaves… that leaves…. oh my head is hurting here. They uh, didn’t pause. They didn’t fall back. Fuck this migrane sucks. I cannot draw any conclusions from this except how awful they must have done to not be pausing nor retreating.

    But then, that’s what you’d expect invisible non-material North Koreans to do. I think I saw a Star Trek Next Generation episode about this in which a Romulan ship tests a new cloaking device that causes it to be not only invisible but out of phase with reality.

    #180928
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    You are not alone. Do feel overwhelmed by all of these new revelations. For every super-crisis out there, and the related sub-crises below them, there are a million sets of eyes carefully inspecting, and researching and documenting the crimes, lies and malfeasance.

    There’s simply no stopping it now. The truth is coming out. Faster and faster as the number of eyes seeing the truth increases exponentially.

    What a ride!

    #180929
    those darned kids
    Participant

    “Pentagon chief Hegseth emphasized that the US “fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself, and that Israel is a model ally for the region.” “

    Pentagon chief Hegseth emphasized that the US “fully supports Israel’s undeniable bloodlust, and that Israel’s barbarism makes America green with bile-infused envy.”

    #180930
    John Day
    Participant

    @jb-hb: I suspect, as all reports have always said, that NoKo troops are extreme hard-asses, and I would expect that NoKo sent their best.

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