Mar 252025
 
 March 25, 2025  Posted by at 10:59 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,  Add comments


Caravaggio Conversion on the way to Damascus 1600-01

 

“A New World Order With European Values” (Turley)
‘Nazis’ In Ukraine ‘Nurtured’ By Europeans – Lavrov (RT)
Kiev Wants Trump Envoy Witkoff Sacked (RT)
Ukraine Doesn’t Want Peace – Moscow (RT)
US and Russia Engaging In ‘Creative’ Talks – Moscow (RT)
Rubio Accuses ‘Other Countries’ Of Blocking Peace In Ukraine (RT)
DOGE Reveals Mind Shocking Fraud Propping Up Economy – Ed Dowd (USAW)
The Pentagon’s War on Wasted Dollars (RCD)
Mike Davis Cooks Judge Screwing Around With Trump’s Deportation Flights (Vespa)
Anti-Trump Judge Makes Another Outrageous Ruling (Margolis)
New Dirt on Judge Boasberg Raises More Questions (Margolis)
The Last Resort (James Howard Kunstler)
Pentagon Chief Hegseth Comments On ‘Yemen War Plans’ Leak (RT)
Trump Team Unwittingly Sends Yemen Strike Plans to Editor of The Atlantic (Sp.)
Trump Names Alina Habba To Be Interim US Attorney For New Jersey (NYP)
The ‘Real’ Epstein Files Are Coming. Here’s What to Know. (Margolis)
“Tread Carefully”: Pam Bondi Issues Warning Over Musk “Takedown” (ZH)
Elon Musk Disguises IRS Building As Tesla Dealership (BBee)

 

 

Carpe
https://twitter.com/CarpeDonktum/status/1904173446759625176

RFK

2.924

Taxes
https://twitter.com/TONYxTWO/status/1904206868269945336

Gingrich

Zeldin
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1904209863128814043

 

 

 

 

“The problem is that this vision for a new Holy Roman Empire lacks a Charlamagne. More importantly, it lacks public support.”

“A New World Order With European Values” (Turley)

“A New World Order With European Values.” Emblazoned across banners and signs, those words met the participants at this week’s meeting of the World Forum in Berlin. Each year, leaders, executives, journalists and academics gather to address the greatest threats facing humanity. This year, there was little doubt about what they view as the current threat: the resurgence of populism and free speech. In fairness to the Forum, “a New World Order” likely sounds more ominous for some civil libertarians than intended. While the European Union is a transnational government stretching across 27 nations, the organizers were referring to a shift of values away from the United States to Europe. As one of the few speakers at the forum who was calling for greater protections for free speech, I found it an unnerving message.

Even putting aside the implications of the New World Order, the idea of building a world on today’s European values is alarming for free speech. Free speech is in a free fall in Europe, with ever-expanding speech regulations and criminal prosecutions — including for having “toxic ideologies.” The World Forum has a powerful sense of fraternity, even an intimacy, among leaders who see each other as a global elite — a cadre of enlightened minds protecting citizens from their own poor choices and habits. There has long been a push for transnational governing systems, and European figures see an opportunity created by the conflict with President Trump. The European Union is the model for such a Pax Europaea or “European peace.” The problem is that this vision for a new Holy Roman Empire lacks a Charlamagne. More importantly, it lacks public support.

The very notion of a “New World Order” is chilling to many who oppose the rise of a globalist class with the rise of transnational governance in the European Union and beyond. This year, there is a sense of panic among Europe’s elite over the victory of Trump and the Republicans in the U.S., as well as nationalist and populist European movements. For globalists, the late Tip O’Neill’s rule that “all politics is local” is anathema. The European Union is intended to transcend national identities and priorities in favor of an inspired transnational government managed by an expert elite. The message was clear. The new world order would be based on European, not American, values. To rally the faithful to the cause, the organizers called upon two of the patron saints of the global elite: Bill and Hillary Clinton. President Clinton was even given an award as “leader of the century.”

Read more …

“..the West’s approach to public messaging that “portrays itself as infallible and suffers from an exceptionalism complex.”

‘Nazis’ In Ukraine ‘Nurtured’ By Europeans – Lavrov (RT)

European NATO members are willfully ignoring the “Nazi” character of the Ukrainian government, which they have empowered as an anti-Russian instrument, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has asserted.On Monday, the senior diplomat expressed concern over the “demons of neo-Nazism, Russophobia, and other hateful ideologies” spreading across multiple EU nations. Member states are deliberately overlooking Kiev’s misconduct, even as it persecutes ethnic Russians and violates human rights, he stressed. “Ukraine – ‘that’s different.’ Those Nazis have been nurtured for the latest attempt to unite all of Europe under racist, Nazi banners for a war against the Russian Federation,” Lavrov stated.

The minister was speaking in his capacity as a trustee of the Gorchakov Fund, a Russian NGO aimed at enhancing public diplomacy. He emphasized the organization’s mission of presenting an authentic view of Russia and contrasted it sharply with the West’s approach to public messaging that “portrays itself as infallible and suffers from an exceptionalism complex.” The EU is pursuing a multibillion-dollar rearmament plan, justified by what Brussels labels a growing Russian threat. European officials have warned that a direct NATO confrontation with Moscow may break out within the next few years. Russia, however, denies any hostile intentions toward the US-led military bloc.

Tensions between European NATO members and Washington resurfaced after President Donald Trump assumed office in January. The new US administration has sought a swift resolution to the Ukraine conflict and intends to shift security responsibilities onto Europe once a truce is achieved. Moscow’s goal of ‘denazification’ remains central to its stance on the Ukraine conflict. Russian officials have denounced the Ukrainian government as a “neo-Nazi regime” due to its discriminatory domestic policies, alleged war crimes against Russian citizens, and veneration of historical nationalist figures who collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II.

Read more …

“..this person needs to be removed from this delegation, he should not be a representative of the [US] president. Since he’s either completely unprofessional or simply repeats Putin’s narratives..”

Kiev Wants Trump Envoy Witkoff Sacked (RT)

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, who has played a central role in opening negotiations on resolving the Ukraine conflict, is “spreading Russian propaganda” and should be sacked, according to a senior Ukrainian lawmaker. The head of the Kiev’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Aleksandr Merezhko, made the remark in response to Witkoff’s interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson, during which the envoy spoke about the status of former Ukrainian territories that have joined Russia, describing the issue as “an elephant in the room” that “no one wants to talk about.” “They’re Russian-speaking. There have been referendums where the overwhelming majority of the people have indicated that they want to be under Russian rule,” Witkoff said.

“The Russians are de facto in control of these territories. The question is: Will the world acknowledge that those are Russian territories? Can [Vladimir] Zelensky survive politically if he acknowledges this? This is the central issue in the conflict,” he added. Merezhko strongly condemned the “disgraceful, shocking statements,” accusing Witkoff of acting as an envoy of Russian President Vladimir Putin rather than of Trump. “We are talking about a representative of the president who should have professional expertise in this matter and know some basic things. obvious things. And he doesn’t know this. He spreads Russian propaganda,” the lawmaker insisted in a televised interview.

Merezhko said that [he] wasn’t sure if “ignorance, naivety, or unprofessionalism” was behind Witkoff’s statements and called for the US official to be booted from his role. “We clearly can’t dictate to American friends who should represent them. But this person needs to be removed from this delegation, he should not be a representative of the [US] president. Since he’s either completely unprofessional or simply repeats Putin’s narratives,” Merezhko added.

Moscow and Kiev have taken bipolar positions on the former-Ukrainian Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions and the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, all of which officially joined Russia in autumn 2022 following a series of referendums. Kiev also formally claims Russia’s Crimea, which seceded from Ukraine in the aftermath of a violent Western-backed coup in Kiev and joined Russia in 2014, as its own. Moscow has repeatedly signaled that its sovereignty over the territories is not negotiable, while Kiev has repeatedly pledged to seize back control of all the territories it claims as its own. The Ukrainian leadership has seemingly softened its rhetoric as of late, now insisting it will never recognize “occupation” of the territories and Russian sovereignty over them in any form.

Read more …

The US should simply leave.

Ukraine Doesn’t Want Peace – Moscow (RT)

Ukraine continues to attack Russian civilian infrastructure, proving that Kiev does not actually want peace, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said. Last week, following a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, Moscow and Kiev agreed to a partial ceasefire and pledged to suspend strikes on each other’s energy infrastructure for 30 days. However, the Russian Defense Ministry has since reported multiple Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian energy facilities such as oil and gas pipelines. The latest attack reportedly took place at 2 a.m. on Monday on the Kropotkinskaya oil pumping station in Russia’s Krasnodar Region. The station is operated by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which works with US energy giants such as Mobil and Chevron.

Russian air defense systems intercepted a Ukrainian attack UAV some 7km from the facility, with fragments falling in the area of a railway station, according to the Defense Ministry. In an update on Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that Ukraine had also launched drone strikes on the Glebovskoye gas condensate field in Crimea on March 23 and on a gas distribution center in Belgorod Region on March 22. Commenting on the recent attacks, Zakharova claimed it is typical of Kiev’s behavior, particularly ahead of international events such as this week’s Russia-US talks in Saudi Arabia.

”Every time it’s the same story. Before any contacts, including during visits to Moscow by foreign delegations, the Kiev regime commits terrorist acts, attacks on civilian infrastructure, on civilian objects, extremist acts, and so on… They don’t need peace. They have stated this repeatedly,” Zakharova told reporters. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stressed that despite Kiev’s repeated violations, Moscow continues to uphold the energy strike truce and that President Putin has not issued any new commands to the country’s armed forces. However, Zakharova warned over the weekend that Russia reserves its right to respond to Ukraine’s attacks, including “symmetrically,” if Kiev continues its “destructive course.”

Read more …

The talks will intensify.

US and Russia Engaging In ‘Creative’ Talks – Moscow (RT)

The US-Russian talks held in Saudi Arabia are a “creative” endeavor, though they may not yield a diplomatic breakthrough on Monday, a Russian lawmaker who is part of Moscow’s delegation told journalists. Grigory Karasin, chairman of the International Relations Committee in Russia’s upper chamber of parliament, provided the media an update during a break in the talks in Riyadh. The discussions, which he described as “technical,” focus on maritime security in the Black Sea and the possibility of reviving the Black Sea Initiative, which was originally mediated by the UN and Türkiye. Russia withdrew from the deal in July 2023, citing the West’s failure to provide sanctions relief for its grain exports, as the conditions of the arrangement required.

“Not every negotiation yields a high-profile document or agreement,” Karasin remarked before returning to the closed-door meetings. “What matters is maintaining communication and understanding each other’s positions. In this regard, we are succeeding.” Alongside Karasin, Russia’s delegation includes Sergey Beseda, an adviser to the director of the Federal Security Service. Their American counterparts, as identified by Reuters, are Andrew Peek, a senior director at the White House National Security Council, and Michael Anton, a senior State Department official. When asked about possible outcomes, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov remarked earlier in the day that they “primarily concern the safety of maritime traffic. However, if you recall [the original version] of the deal, there were significant obligations made to our side that were never fulfilled. This remains part of the agenda.”

US President Donald Trump has suggested revisiting the grain deal as part of his efforts to mediate a broader truce between Russia and Ukraine, Peskov added. Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to Trump’s proposal to suspend attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, while Ukraine committed to reciprocate. However, Kiev has violated the partial ceasefire multiple times, including on Monday morning, according to Russia. Moscow has warned that it reserves the right to withdraw from the arrangement should Ukraine fail to meet its commitments. A Ukrainian delegation is also present at the same luxury hotel in Riyadh where the US-Russian talks are taking place, but they have no direct contact with the Russian team. The Ukrainians had their own talks with the US delegation the previous day.

Read more …

There are 27 of them in the EU.

Rubio Accuses ‘Other Countries’ Of Blocking Peace In Ukraine (RT)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that unnamed foreign governments are obstructing efforts to end the Ukraine conflict, crediting President Donald Trump with leading negotiations to mediate peace between Moscow and Kiev. Senior Russian and US officials held marathon 12-hour talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Monday, focused on resolving the Ukraine conflict and ensuring maritime security in the Black Sea. However, the two sides have yet to release details or announce the outcome of the discussions. Speaking during a cabinet meeting at the White House before the talks concluded, Rubio stressed that the conflict “needs to be brought to an end” through negotiations, not military means, and praised Trump as “the only one leader in the world that’s capable of bringing two sides to a table.”

According to Rubio, Trump’s diplomatic initiative has faced resistance from other governments, although he did not name any specific countries. “You’ve done it despite impediments from other countries and others who maybe have different opinions about how this should go,” Rubio said, addressing Trump directly. “Ultimately, I think that the only chance we have for peace is through the President’s leadership.” Following a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart last week, Moscow and Kiev agreed to a partial ceasefire and pledged to suspend strikes on energy infrastructure for 30 days.

However, the Russian Defense Ministry has since reported multiple Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy facilities. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stressed that despite Kiev’s violations, Moscow will continue to uphold the energy strike truce. In an interview on Sunday, Peskov also remarked that instead of seeking peace and addressing the root causes of the conflict, EU member states are now discussing the deployment of NATO contingents to Ukrainian territory. “This rampant militarist policy of Europe – there is no other way to describe it – is hard to comprehend,” he said.

Tensions between Washington and European NATO members resurfaced after Trump assumed office in January. The new administration has pushed for a swift resolution to the Ukraine conflict and plans to shift security responsibilities to Europe once a truce is in place. Following an emergency summit in London earlier this month, the UK and France signaled that they are open to sending Western “peacekeepers” to Ukraine once a ceasefire is reached. Moscow has rejected the proposal, stating that it makes no difference under what pretext NATO troops enter the country. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned that this could lead to a direct war between the military bloc and Moscow.

Read more …

DOGE vs the NGOs.

“Martin Armstrong says all the gold movement coming to the US is because of a coming war..”

DOGE Reveals Mind Shocking Fraud Propping Up Economy – Ed Dowd (USAW)

Former Wall Street money manager and financial analyst Ed Dowd of PhinanceTechnologies.com is back with an update of a report on “Danger of Deep Worldwide Recession in 2025.” It was not just heavy government spending on illegal immigration, but “mind shocking” fraud that has been revealed with DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency). Investigators have uncovered $115 billion so far with many hundreds of billions more to be exposed. Dowd says, “Both sides of the aisle are probably going to have problems. The DOGE revelations are mind shocking. The clear way in which the government was spending money through NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and people taking kickbacks and profits along the way is going to come out. There may have been theft along the way. What business does Stacy Abrams have getting $2 billion for an NGO? This doesn’t make any sense.

It’s going to be shocking, even shocking to me. I knew there was rot in the system, but the mind blowing way the NGOs were used to facilitate the illegal immigration just blows my mind. The 10 million plus illegals that came in over the last four years, you just don’t wake up one day in Central America and say I am going to the Darien Gap, and go to the Mexican border and then meander my way into the interior of the US without a tremendous amount of aid along the way. NGOs facilitated that and probably took their cut. What was the all-in economic cost of the goodies they got once they got here? Plus, the NGOs spent and what the government spent themselves to facilitate this, it’s not hard to imagine $50,000 to $100,000 all-in cost per illegal. . . . This is the all-in cost up and down the entire economic food chain. . . . It was anywhere between $500 billion to $1.5 trillion depending on the illegals. It was an illegal project funded purposely, and it was very logistical. It was not something that just happened overnight.”

The result, says Dowd, was the US economy was propped up when it should have already tanked. Now, all this spending on this illegal invasion is going away. Dowd says, “When we wrote our report, we were surprised on how fast DOGE would get to work. . . . This is why our thesis is playing out a little quicker than we thought. . . . The housing market was on fragile ground the last year or so. It was held up by illegal immigrants supporting rent prices. So, as that unwinds, we think there will be a mini 2008–2009 housing issue. Housing prices are going to come down, and that is a big driver of consumption in the economy. That needs to happen because home affordability is off the charts.”

Dowd also see a recession coming as the government downsizes, illegal alien funding gets cut and illegals continue to self-deport. Dowd says, “Consumer confidence has taken a nosedive recently, and you can see why. There are 10 million to 15 million illegal immigrants worried about their gravy train coming to an end. So, they may be holding back on their spending. There are millions of government employees worried about their jobs. Then, you have the NGO networks that employ about 6 million people. So, you have about 20 million to 25 million people that are in the workforce . . . worried about where their money is going to come from, and that can cause consumer spending to slow down.”

There is good news with the spending cuts, according to Dowd, and that will come in the form of lower interest rates in the bond market. Dowd still likes gold as a core asset and does not see Trump tariffs as inflationary. Dowd says the problems with tariffs are “overblown” and are a negotiation tool to get fair trade for America around the world. Dowd sees “deflation” and possibly a short but “deep recession” coming before inflation. A possible black swan event is an intensified war in Ukraine and no peace deal along with the EU getting deeply involved in a war with Russia. This could be a plus for the US if it stays out of the conflict. Dowd says, “There seems to be war drums beating in Europe, and capital will flee to the US. Martin Armstrong says all the gold movement coming to the US is because of a coming war, and of all the theories on this, that makes the most sense to me. I am not predicting war, but that is a geopolitical risk out there. That is one of those ‘black swan’ events. Another ‘black swan’ event is a Bank of Japan currency crisis and, also, something going on with Iran and the Middle East. . . . Black swan events add to the risk, and those are hard to predict.”

Read more …

“America cannot afford inefficiency..”

The Pentagon’s War on Wasted Dollars (RCD)

So far, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has swept through government agencies like the United States Agency for International Development, brushing off cobwebs and uncovering skeletons as it goes. Now, DOGE is set to enter a much bigger agency whose shortfalls demand reform: the Department of Defense. Long criticized for its budget woes, the DOD has recently faced accusations of overspending, underspending, and even simple misspending—criticisms which are all well founded. In fact, the DOD consistently mismanages its budget, a fact that’s led it to fail all of its last seven audits.To address these issues, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth recently announced that he would work with DOGE to conduct a DOD-wide budget review.

Already, this initiative has revealed $80 million in wasteful spending, including $1.9 million in “DEI transformation and training” and $3.5 million in “Defense HR Support for DEI.” While the Pentagon is notoriously resistant to change, additional pressure from DOGE and the administration could finally force the reforms needed to modernize the American military, refocus on warfighting capabilities, and rid the Pentagon of absurd budget line items. But DOGE’s mission isn’t just to slash budgets: it’s also to restore efficiency. Specifically, DOGE’s role is to ensure the federal government makes the most effective use possible of American taxpayer dollars.

Fundamentally, the DOD exists to ensure America’s warfighting capability—a task DOGE has no intention of obstructing. And even as the DOD’s mission grows more and more urgent, Pentagon dollars continue to be misused, a flaw that cries for immediate correction. Hegseth recently announced he’d be implementing a DOD budget “cut” of 8%, or about $50 billion. Rather than simply imposing strict cuts, this plan seeks to “refocus … and reinvest … existing funds” to build a more lethal fighting force, restore “warrior ethos,” and reestablish global deterrence. This shift is essential at a time when our arsenal is severely depleted and outdated and we lack the ships and planes to deter China from launching an attack in the Indo-Pacific.

To fix this, Hegseth should prioritize reinvesting funding cuts into procurement and, specifically, into the construction of new ships, planes, and munitions. Hegseth should also divert dollars from personnel—a category that accounts for almost a quarter of the DOD’s budget. Already, he and Musk have announced plans to reduce the civilian workforce by between 5% to 8%, a cut that will save the DOD between $9 and $14.5 billion. So far, he’s implemented this plan via a hiring freeze and the firing of probational employees and recent hires.

Many have sought to villainize the Pentagon’s budget purge. Yet those in national security should recognize the need to cut defense budget waste, especially given recent developments on the international stage. There, China continues to rapidly modernize its military to challenge U.S. dominance, while Russia persists in its aggression in Eastern Europe. North Korea still pursues its ever-growing nuclear ambitions (and strengthens its support for Russia), while Iran maintains its destabilizing influence in the Middle East.

These various actors all share one common feature: a vicious antipathy toward the United States. The burden falls on the Pentagon and the DOD to protect the American people. DOGE represents a historic opportunity for the DOD to further this mission by rethinking how it organizes, supports, and employs its people. The goal isn’t to cut corners—it’s to reinvest in the capacity and capability of America’s warfighting force. In a world of rising global threats, America cannot afford inefficiency. The Pentagon must embrace DOGE’s mission to break free from outdated bureaucracy and inefficient spending. Only then will the DOD be able to enhance American warfighting capability and ensure our security and prosperity.

Read more …

“He publicly exposed an ongoing U.S. military, intelligence, and law-enforcement operation with an American ally dealing with the most vicious terrorists (Tren de Aragua) and international gang member (MS13) in the Western Hemisphere. That public exposure put American and allied lives in grave danger.”

Mike Davis Cooks Judge Screwing Around With Trump’s Deportation Flights (Vespa)

Well, Attorney General Pam Bondi isn’t going to discuss further the details regarding the deportation flights of Tren de Aragua members, a Venezuelan gang that the Trump administration has designated a foreign terror group. Judge James Boasberg, however, wanted to know the classified details regarding this operation. No, sir. This will not happen, as the Justice Department informed the courts that they’re invoking the State Secrets Act. Move on, little man.

It still doesn’t negate the days of judicial overreach and insanity from Boasberg, who thought he was the executive, or at least in charge of deportation policy. He is not,andd never will be. He dabbled in the Russian collusion hoax, ran legal interference for those caught fabricating evidence to secure illegal FISA warrants. This man is a disgrace to the bench. Before Ms. Bondi invokes the state secrets provision, Boasberg insisted that those marked for deportation should be afforded court dates. Mike Davis, a former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, took a hatchet to little Boasberg, arguing that it’s time to impeach for his serial incidents of judicial overreach: Here is the fatal flaw with DC Obama Judge Jeb Boasberg’s order:

“Even if these designated foreign terrorists are entitled to individual court review before their deportation, which is disputed, the DC court is not the proper court. Judge Boasberg did not, and does not, have the power to do what he is purporting to do. For this reason alone, everything he is doing is lawless. But it is much worse; it is also dangerous. Judge Boasberg ran to his courtroom to hold a Saturday hearing, even though he was not even serving as the emergency judge that weekend. (How did he get this case?) He publicly exposed an ongoing U.S. military, intelligence, and law-enforcement operation with an American ally dealing with the most vicious terrorists (Tren de Aragua) and international gang member (MS13) in the Western Hemisphere. That public exposure put American and allied lives in grave danger.

Stunningly, Judge Boasberg even ordered the President to turn around planes full of terrorists over the Gulf of America, without knowing the fuel levels, the security footprint back in America, or other crucial operational details. We saw the enormous security footprint in El Salvador. Why would we have had that same footprint in America, as who could have ever imagined an activist DC judge could or would order the President to return planes full of terrorists? And not completing the mission would have humiliated and politically damaged El Salvador’s president, who had hundreds of military, law-enforcement, and other officials awaiting–and who took a significant political and personal risk by agreeing to take these terrorists. Judge Boasberg’s Saturday hearing and order crossed the red line. But Judge Boasberg is doubling down by demanding details about the military operation, to which he is not entitled.

Judge Boasberg says he has a security clearance, but he definitely does not have the need to know. And allowing judges to meddle in military operations like this is dangerous and unacceptable. Foreign leaders are less likely to work with the President, if they fear an activist American judge may disclose their secrets. This harms the President’s ability to conduct foreign policy and his constitutional duty to keep us safe. The President has a constitutional duty, as the chief executive officer and commander-in-chief, to conduct international affairs, repeal foreign invasion, and protect American lives. The President has a constitutional duty to ignore any clearly unlawful court order that imminently endangers American lives, like Judge Boasberg’s orders. Judge Boasberg is refusing to back down. So the House must move forward with impeachment proceedings for his lawless and dangerous sabotage of the President’s core Article II powers.

Read more …

“He dragged us into court on a Saturday without any notice. And then he’s continuing these hearings. He’s trying to ask us about national security information, which he is absolutely not entitled to.”

Anti-Trump Judge Makes Another Outrageous Ruling (Margolis)

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg is at it again. In a mind-boggling 37-page decision, he has blocked the Trump administration from swiftly deporting members of the notorious Tren de Aragua gang. The judge’s ruling reads like a progressive wish list, demanding “individualized hearings” before any deportations can proceed. Because apparently, we need to roll out the red carpet and due process for criminal aliens who shouldn’t be here in the first place. Even more outrageous, the government must now prove these individuals are actually gang members — as if their presence alone isn’t a violation enough of our immigration laws. Boasberg previously ordered a deportation flight for these illegal alien gang members to turn around back to the United States; however, since he made the ruling while the plane was over international waters, he had no jurisdiction, and the deportations continued as planned.

Boasberg’s memorandum opinion, which accompanied the order, maintains that these individuals must have “the opportunity to challenge their designation as alien enemies.” In other words, we’re giving suspected gang members a chance to argue that they’re actually upstanding citizens who deserve to stay in our country. Now he has the audacity to say that the court “need not resolve the thorny question of whether the judiciary has the authority to assess this claim in the first place.” This is an obvious reaction to the Trump administration’s position that district court judges don’t have the authority to micromanage the president of the United States or the executive branch. Boasberg’s opinion continues:

“That is because Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on another equally fundamental theory: before they may be deported, they are entitled to individualized hearings to determine whether the Act applies to them at all. As the Government itself concedes, the awesome power granted by the Act may be brought to bear only on those who are, in fact, “alien enemies.” And the Supreme Court and this Circuit have long maintained that federal courts are equipped to adjudicate that question when individuals threatened with detention and removal challenge their designation as such. Because the named Plaintiffs dispute that they are members of Tren de Aragua, they may not be deported until a court has been able to decide the merits of their challenge. Nor may any members of the provisionally certified class be removed until they have been given the opportunity to challenge their designations as well. The Motion to Vacate will thus be denied.”

This isn’t just judicial overreach; it’s judicial insanity. “This is an out-of-control judge, a federal judge trying to control our entire foreign policy, and he cannot do it,” Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday. “He dragged us into court on a Saturday without any notice. And then he’s continuing these hearings. He’s trying to ask us about national security information, which he is absolutely not entitled to.” The plaintiffs now have until Wednesday to request converting the temporary restraining order into a preliminary injunction. If granted, this would further cement this dangerous precedent and extend protection for these gang members from deportation. Because obviously, what America needs right now is more legal shields for criminal aliens. This ruling sets a dangerous precedent that undermines our immigration enforcement capabilities and makes a mockery of our national sovereignty.

Read more …

They’re organized.

New Dirt on Judge Boasberg Raises More Questions (Margolis)

The district court judge who recently blocked President Donald Trump’s efforts to deport illegal alien gang members attended a suspiciously partisan legal conference just months before his ruling, according to a judicial ethics report. Judge James Boasberg, who serves on the D.C. District Court, participated in what appears to be nothing more than a Democrat strategy session masquerading as a legal conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. The conference’s agenda items, “Judges in a Democracy” and “State of Democracy,” sound eerily similar to the Democrats’ tiresome 2024 campaign rhetoric about “saving democracy” — which, of course, has become the justification for their using the courts to obstruct Trump’s agenda.

“Called a ‘Privately Funded Seminar Disclosure Report,” the document discloses that Boasberg was in attendance but offers no details of whether Boasberg was paid for his attendance or travel, or what the remuneration was,’ reports Just the News. The outlet was “alerted to the conference and to Boasberg’s attendance by a retired Democrat-appointed judge, who was concerned the July 2024 conference’s focus on judges’ role in a democracy was too close to a political party’s theme for comfort.”

“Overseen by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the ethical rules governing federal judges require that a private entity who “issues an invitation to a federal judge to attend an educational program as a speaker, panelist, or attendee and offers to pay for or reimburse that judge, in excess of $480, must disclose financial and programmatic information.” The rules do not require a specific accounting for each judge, or even how much was paid to judges at all. […] It is possible that his “payment” was merely reimbursement for expenses, but Boasberg did not respond to a request for comment from Just the News.”

The entire arrangement reeks of the same swamp politics that President Trump has been fighting since day one. Is it any surprise that after rubbing elbows with fellow liberals at this partisan powwow, Judge Boasberg decided to obstruct Trump’s efforts to remove dangerous gang members from our streets? This is exactly why Americans have lost faith in our judicial system — unelected judges attending partisan conferences, then making decisions based on partisan biases, not constitutionality. The conference was part of the Rodel Institute’s Judicial Fellowship, and each attending judge, including Boasberg, was a first-year fellow, according to the institute’s website. Notably, Rodel receives funding from the same foundations that frequently bankroll anti-Trump organizations, programs, and publications. Additionally, the institute’s faculty advisors — twenty in total — are overwhelmingly outspoken Trump critics or those who have opposed his policies.

The Rodel Institute’s Board of Directors is stacked with Trump critics, including Ian Solomon. Co-founders Bill and Don Budinger have deep ties to Democratic organizations and candidates, with Don opposing Arizona’s immigration enforcement efforts and backing Democratic Senate candidates. Former Montana Gov. Steve Bullock was under consideration for Kamala Harris’s Cabinet, while former Arizona legislator Heather Carter abandoned the GOP and endorsed Democrats like Katie Hobbs. Jamie Woodson co-chaired a report lamenting “political disinformation” in 2016, and former Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna has openly attacked Trump, calling him a “demagogue” and dismissing his legal arguments as “flimsy.” Maybe next time, Judge Boasberg can hold his strategy sessions somewhere less obvious than a millionaire’s playground. But then again, the left has never been particularly good at hiding its contempt for Trump or the rule of law.

Read more …

“What is the alternative to presidential oversight and management of the agencies listed in this branch of government? They run themselves? That claim means nothing in practice.” —Jeffrey Tucker

The Last Resort (James Howard Kunstler)

Law is humanity’s instrument for creating order out of the terror and chaos of nature, where anything goes. The result of law theoretically, is a civil society, where only the good, true, and right things can go. These days, lawyers are hard at work to replace civilized order with the terror and chaos of nature — which is to say, the seeking of raw power: this is what I can do to you! That primal despotism is the motivating engine of the Democratic Party in its terminal phase, a feral, power-seeking monster. It was why, in case you hadn’t noticed, the essential drive of Woke politics was the sadistic pleasure it took in exacting its endless punishments — cancellation, personal ruin, censorship — not correcting alleged injustices against marginalized minorities.

And that tells you, by the way, exactly why the J-6 defendants were treated so harshly by the likes of Judge James Boasberg, Tanya Chutkan, and their colleagues of the DC federal district. The enabling device for that monstrous power seeking of the Democratic Party was the colossal racketeering operation they implanted in every corner of the federal government, an insidious process that accelerated during the Obama years, eluded discipline during Trump One — with the many distracting ruses such as RussiaGate — and surged into final overdrive during the perfidious term of “Joe Biden,” America’s first false-front president. The racketeering operation was perfectly illustrated in the DOGE’s recent deconstruction of USAID.

That agency worked as a gigantic money laundering matrix to pay Democratic Party activists for the sole purpose of maintaining and expanding the party’s power — its ability to push American citizens around, control our lives, tell us how to live, how to think, and, ultimately, in the Covid-19 scam, telling us to take our shots, get lost, and die. Pitifully, a lot of those vaxx victims were the Democratic Party’s own rank and file, which shows you how psychotically suicidal the Democratic Party became. By and large, it was conservatives who avoided the vaxxes because they were able psychologically to entertain the evidence that Covid was a nefarious set-up and that, month-by-month, the vaxxes were proving to be both ineffective and harmful. Democrats, in their Woke fugue state, could not do that. Even today, they insist that their vaxx injuries are “long Covid” and would be worse if not for the additional boosters they took. Poor dumb bunnies.

Mr. Trump was played masterfully in the initial 2020 Covid roll-out by the likes of Dr. Fauci, Deborah Birx, and the faithless Veep Mike Pence who directed the Coronavirus Task Force (and whoever was behind it). The president could not bring himself to oppose or cast doubt on their diktats and to this day he must remain embarrassed about how that all worked out. But he also probably learned to not be fooled again. And so, after the fishy 2020 election, and during the disastrous “Biden” years, Mr. Trump had time to lay careful and comprehensive plans for ending the massive racketeering and for restructuring the federal apparatus into a leaner, more efficient, and more lawful enterprise for managing the civil society known as the USA. Which brings us to the present.

Mr. Trump’s lawfully appointed agent, Elon Musk, and his legally chartered investigative advisory unit, called DOGE, has begun making recommendations for severe cuts in agencies and employees, which have been executed by the lawfully confirmed heads of agencies, and the chief executive himself. Thus, the rapid, systematic disassembly of the Democratic Party’s grift machine and the end of its immense revenue stream. No more USAID and its thousands of NGO money laundromats. No more Department of Education and its Grant-O-Matic depredations in the universities. No more work-from-home (but not really) nonsense. No more DEI reverse racism in hiring. No more flooding the swing state voting precincts with illegal aliens. No more stupid proxy war in Ukraine. No more gender pretending chaos. You see how it goes now.

Read more …

CNN yesterday didn’t talk about anything else.

Pentagon Chief Hegseth Comments On ‘Yemen War Plans’ Leak (RT)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has addressed a recent leak of high-level discussions about US airstrikes against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, calling the journalist involved “deceitful” and downplaying the significance of the disclosure. The incident came to light after The Atlantic reported on Monday that its editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, had been accidentally added to a Signal group chat that included top Trump administration officials such as Vice President J.D. Vance, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, and Hegseth. The group had been actively discussing potential US military operations against the Houthis for days prior to President Donald Trump ordering strikes on Yemen on March 15. Goldberg claimed that one of Hegseth’s final messages before the attack “contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing.”

When asked about the leak on Monday, Hegseth dismissed Goldberg as “a deceitful and highly discredited so-called journalist who’s made a profession of peddling hoaxes.” “Nobody was texting war plans, and that’s all I have to say about that,” Hegseth said when pressed on the content of the messages. National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes told Reuters that the message thread “appears to be authentic” and confirmed that an internal review had been launched into “how an inadvertent number was added to the chain.” “The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials,” Hughes added, without clarifying whether national security protocols had been breached or if any disciplinary action would follow.

Trump ordered a “powerful military action” against the Yemen-based Houthi militants last Saturday, accusing them of conducting an “unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other, ships, aircraft, and drones.” The group, officially known as the Ansar Allah movement, has controlled large portions of Yemen – including the capital, Sanaa – since the mid-2010s. In what The Atlantic described as a “fascinating policy discussion,” senior US officials reportedly acknowledged the difficulty of building public support for a new military campaign.

“There is a real risk that the public doesn’t understand this or why it’s necessary,” the account labeled ‘JD Vance’ said, arguing that “the strongest reason to do this is, as POTUS said, to send a message.” In response, Hegseth agreed, stating: “I think messaging is going to be tough no matter what – nobody knows who the Houthis are – which is why we would need to stay focused on: 1) Biden failed & 2) Iran funded.” Trump has claimed that the Houthi attacks “emanate from, and are created by, Iran,” warning that from now on, Washington would view every shot fired by the Yemeni group as if it were fired by Tehran. “Iran will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire,” the president wrote on his Truth Social platform last Monday.

Read more …

“..the president dubbing it a “second-” or “third-rate,” “failing magazine” and calling “sleazebag reporter” Goldberg out by name..”

Trump Team Unwittingly Sends Yemen Strike Plans to Editor of The Atlantic (Sp.)

The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was included in a confidential Signal messaging chain detailing US planning. Here’s what was revealed. In a message to Pete Hegseth, Vice President Vance said it was at the DoD chief’s discretion whether or not to proceed. “I just hate bailing Europe out again,” Vance said. Hegseth responded by saying he “fully” shared Vance’s sentiments about the “free-loading” Europeans, but added that the US was the only one capable of engaging the Houthis “on our side of the ledger.” A user named S M (presumably WH deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller) chimed in, saying that “as [he] heard it, the president was clear: green light.” In return, the US would look to “extract” “some further economic gain” from the Europeans, S M indicated. A follow-up message by Hegseth titled “TEAM UPDATE” provided operational details on the attacks, targeting details, which weapons the US would be using, and attack sequencing.

By Goldberg’s account, he was added to the confidential chat by National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and didn’t believe it was real at first, fearing it might be an attempt “to somehow entrap” him or a script “by a particularly adept AI text generator.” The White House has confirmed that Goldberg had been made privy to classified discussions and information by mistake. “We are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain,” NSC spokesman Brian Hughes said. The Atlantic and its editor-in-chief have been a longtime source of Trump’s ire, with the president dubbing it a “second-” or “third-rate,” “failing magazine” and calling “sleazebag reporter” Goldberg out by name multiple times over what Trump said was false reporting on his private conversations.

Read more …

Re-organizing the legal teams. Time for the heavies.

Trump Names Alina Habba To Be Interim US Attorney For New Jersey (NYP)

President Trump on Monday appointed his former personal attorney Alina Habba to serve as interim US attorney in New Jersey — with Habba vowing to clean up “corruption” in her home state. Habba, 40, became a public figure while repping Trump in a defamation case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll between the president’s terms of office, and has held the senior role as presidential counselor since January. “There is corruption, there is injustice, and there is a heavy amount of crime right in [Senator] Cory Booker’s backyard and right under Governor [Phil] Murphy. And that will stop,” Habba told reporters on the White House driveway.

“I look forward to working with [Attorney General] Pam Bondi and with the Department of Justice and making sure that we further the president’s agenda of putting America first, cleaning up the mess and going after the people that we should be going after, not the people that are falsely accused.” Habba declined to say if she viewed the appointment as a stepping stone toward elected office in the Garden State — despite aiming her initial remarks directly at the Garden State’s two most prominent Democrats. “I think Cory Booker and Governor Murphy have failed the state of New Jersey,” Habba said. “If you look at what happened in crime, what’s going on in Newark, what’s going on in Camden, this has been a neglected state. It is one of the most populated states for its size, and it needs to stop. We’re going to do a bang-up job. I cannot wait. It’s a great honor.”

Trump announced Habba’s selection after selecting current interim US attorney John Giordano to serve as ambassador to Namibia. “It is with great pleasure that I am announcing Alina Habba, Esq., who is currently serving as Counselor to the President, and has represented me for a long time, will be our interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, her Home State, effective immediately!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Alina will lead with the same diligence and conviction that has defined her career, and she will fight tirelessly to secure a Legal System that is both ‘Fair and Just’ for the wonderful people of New Jersey.”

Read more …

“I recognize that when you’re dealing with children, it takes much more time. You’ve got to ensure that what you’re sending out publicly is not revealing any personal information.”

The ‘Real’ Epstein Files Are Coming. Here’s What to Know. (Margolis)

The Trump administration is proving once again that promises made are promises kept. After successfully releasing over 80,000 pages of files connected to the assassination of John F. Kennedy on March 18, the focus has now shifted to perhaps what should be an even more explosive collection of documents—the Jeffrey Epstein files. As you know, there was a huge document dump of files related to the Jeffrey Epstein case last month that was, to say the least, underwhelming. Part of the problem, it turns out, was that rogue officials out of the Southern District of New York office had withheld documents from the Department of Justice. So, where’s the good stuff? Well, according to a report from Vanity Fair, it should be coming soon.

It’s the FBI’s flagship field office, with more than a thousand agents and another thousand or so civilian employees. And right now, multiple sources with knowledge of the matter say that one priority at the bureau’s New York field office is taking precedence over all others: the review and redaction of sensitive information in the Jeffrey Epstein case files, to prepare for possible publication.“It’s literally all hands on deck,” one source familiar with the matter tells me, adding that dozens and dozens of agents are working around the clock on the case, instead of on their regular duties. “I even saw an agent walking in with a pillow,” the source added. Attorney General Pam Bondi, appearing on Maria Bartiromo’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” spoke about this massive undertaking. Bartiromo pressed Bondi about the release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein. Acknowledging the complexity of handling such sensitive material, Bartiromo noted,

“I recognize that when you’re dealing with children, it takes much more time. You’ve got to ensure that what you’re sending out publicly is not revealing any personal information.” She then asked Bondi whether more details would be forthcoming. Bondi confirmed that updates were on the horizon, stating, “You’re absolutely right, Maria. You know, tens of thousands of pages of documents and hundreds and hundreds of victims, um, of Jeffrey Epstein.” Bartiromo reacted with a stunned “Wow.” Bondi assured viewers that federal authorities were making progress. “The FBI, they have been working round the clock at my directive, at [FBI Director] Kash Patel’s directive,” she said, adding that FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino is also involved. “Dan Bongino’s there, who is a great asset for all of us at the FBI as well.”

Bondi reiterated the need to safeguard victims while ensuring transparency. “We have to protect their identity, their personal information, to make sure they’re safe,” she said. “But other than that, we are releasing all of these documents as soon as we can get them redacted to protect the victims of… of, of all of these horrific crimes he has committed.” Bartiromo responded, “Understood.” Rest assured, transparency is coming, everyone.

Read more …

“She is an elected public official, so she needs to tread very carefully because nothing will happen to Elon Musk..”

“Tread Carefully”: Pam Bondi Issues Warning Over Musk “Takedown” (ZH)

We certainly did not have a member of Congress conspiring with radical far-left NGOs to sabotage the most made-in-America car company and critical to retirement and pension funds for millions of Americans on our 2025 bingo card. But here we are, and far-left Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) joined a “Tesla Takedown” teleconference last week, laughing and rooting for Tesla and Elon Musk’s demise. Other revolutionaries on the call described how they wanted to “kill the Tesla brand” and “drive down the stock price” to push Tesla “into a death spiral.” Now Attorney General Pam Bondi is getting involved, warning Crockett to “tread very carefully” following her support for the Tesla Takedown. “She is an elected public official, so she needs to tread very carefully because nothing will happen to Elon Musk, and we’re going to fight to protect all of the Tesla owners throughout this country,” Bondi said on Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”

Bondi’s warning to the unhinged Democrat comes days after her appearance on the Tesla Takedown teleconference:

Crockett’s alliance with Tesla Takedown is alarming, considering the Soros-funded non-profit Indivisible is preparing a multi-city assault on Tesla service locations nationwide by the end of the month. There have been far-left terrorist attacks on Tesla service centers, showrooms, Supercharging networks, and vehicles that paint the Democratic Party as in disarray and resorting to communist revolutionary tactics. Polling data for the party has collapsed, while the latest ploy by the party to improve optics was entirely disproven to be “inorganic” by GPS data. The American people are finally getting to see the real Democratic Party—filled with hate and violence as its revolutionaries attack Tesla, all because the owner, Elon Musk, is uncovering massive fraud and waste by the Deep State. Remember when Democrats wanted to defund everything after George Floyd? Yet suddenly, now they don’t.

Read more …

🙂

Elon Musk Disguises IRS Building As Tesla Dealership (BBee)

Proponents of eliminating the federal income tax rejoiced today as Elon Musk cleverly disguised the Internal Revenue Service headquarters as a Tesla dealership so Democrats would burn it down. The billionaire inventor and entrepreneur hatched the genius plan to cover the main IRS building with Tesla emblems and signage, which goaded angry Democrats to launch a large-scale firebomb attack against the building. “This’ll show Musk who’s boss! Burn it to the ground!” one enraged leftist reportedly shouted before throwing a Molotov cocktail through a window of the IRS building. “This looks different from any other Tesla dealership I’ve ever seen. It’s almost like a really old government building. Oh well. It’s all got to go. Everything he owns must be destroyed.”

When reached for comment, Musk was quietly pleased that his plan had worked. “It was quite a simple idea, really,” he said. “If Democrats are trying to burn down anything belonging to me, why not redirect that anger in a useful way to burn down something that should be demolished? For the cost of a few Tesla signs, we’ve now freed the American people from the terrible burden of excessive taxation. Ironically, once the rubble of the IRS building is cleared, we will, in fact, build an enormous new Tesla dealership in its place.” At publishing time, reports had circulated that the U.S. Capitol would be next to be disguised as a Tesla dealership in a plot to round up and imprison Democrats for attempting a violent insurrection.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

MS

Swan
https://twitter.com/AMAZlNGNATURE/status/1903880749935206439

Rooster

Elephants

Bounce

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Home Forums Debt Rattle March 25 2025

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 66 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #184814

    Caravaggio Conversion on the way to Damascus 1600-01   • “A New World Order With European Values” (Turley) • ‘Nazis’ In Ukraine ‘Nurtured’ By Eur
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle March 25 2025]

    #184816
    Germ
    Participant

    Good Morning :-))

    This ‘politico’ evidently didn’t get the memo …

    First black Republican congresswoman Mia Love dies at 49

    “In 2022, Love was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a fast-moving and aggressive form of brain cancer, and was given just 10-15 months to live – which she surpassed.”

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy7xzzn3kd2o

    TVASSF – a death-vaxxed acquaintance of mine died 2 months ago of the same. What are the chances?

    #184817
    Topcat
    Participant

    Progress in Western ‘democracies’

    .

    #184818
    Topcat
    Participant

    .

    #184819
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    • DOGE Reveals Mind Shocking Fraud Propping Up Economy – Ed Dowd (USAW) so you say Former Wall Street money manager and financial analyst Ed Dowd

    Edit

    Mind Shockingly Rich Man Reveals Mind Shocking Fraud Propping Up Economy But In No Way Propping Up Mind Shockingly Rich Man’s Riches– Ed Dowd (USAW)

    Former Wall Street money manager and financial analyst Ed Dowd

    The Norm
    Normalized but still aberrant behavior.

    Hustling is Bamboozling.
    Let the buyer beware, ditto for the Hustler’s target.
    What do they say D, caveat emptor for the losers?

    Big surprise someone else thinks Litkoff Witkoff Scheiskoff is an asshole.
    I’m surprised

    #184820
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “Would YOU fight for Germany? Nobody of us wants war, but we have to get ready for it now.”
    Buck09

    War with who though? Will they join Canada in nuking us? Why not? If they can’t steal Russia maybe we’re an easier target.

    Comments:
    Why not a black gay muslim woman as the face of the German warfighter? Suddenly white people are allowed to represent something?

    I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that there’s a higher probability of warfighters being killed. Whites can be front-facing if they’re representing a killing and dying machine.

    Well any white person who hasn’t figured out by now that he shouldn’t fight for a government that hates them and is destroying their homeland deserves to be sent to the frontlines.

    Of course, a woman soldier. So ironic.”

    15% will be women, but 90% of the credit will go for them.” Etc

    “Ed Dowd Fears A ‘Short, But Deep’ Recession Coming As DOGE Exposes ‘Mind-Shocking’ Fraud That Propped Up Biden’s Economy

    I would say so (and Reagan did the same) but the level of levitation surprises all of us, always, to extremes, for years/decades now.

    “Houthis Say New US Airstrikes Obliterated Residential Neighborhood

    Not a one-off, No counternarrative, that this was an accident, something else, etc. Time to impeach. Don’t worry, while I now say this each day, I will be told I worship Trump and especially Elon, because thought it in my mind. Reality-free. Indicative of the psychotic.

    Hegseth Orders Additional Carrier To Middle East Amid Yemen Escalationhttps://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/hegseth-orders-additional-carrier-middle-east-amid-yemen-escalation

    He sure likes failing.

    “White House Demands Iran Give Up Entire Nuclear Program, Including Civilian Enrichment

    This can be too complicated to get into. But if Russia isn’t backing this either, then where are they? So Russia can also be the guarantor, the materials processor.

    “Trump: Any Country Buying Venezuelan Oil Slapped With 25% Tariff:
    “Venezuela has purposefully and deceitfully sent to the United States, undercover, tens of thousands of high level, and other, criminals…”

    Cry me a river. And the U.S. has been trying to crush them for years. When is fair, fair? You see, you ask Ron Paul on this and you get a real answer. He’d start with that, then move on to the present. For all these guys, history starts 2/22 or the day most convenient for that scam. I’m not sorry to slap back by sending their guys out, but then you say “Clean Slate.” we’re lifting boycotts acts of war.

    “Chicago Reigns As Country’s ‘Homicide Capital’ For 13th Straight Year

    Why do Democrats hate black people so much?

    ““A New World Order With European Values” (Turley)

    Yes but European values are mass murder and tyranny. Look at killing a million Europeans and calling it “A good start.” Look at the EU “constitution” (founding documents). That almost nobody voted for, every referendum being shot down. Call it Feudalism: Europe’s true form.

    “• Kiev Wants Trump Envoy Witkoff Sacked (RT)

    Who? And Who in the Who? Ze isn’t actually a leader. He never was, but especially now that he’s an impostor. Why would I care about what Ze says, Ukraine says, or Europe says? I don’t think about you at all. Go away.

    “• Ukraine Doesn’t Want Peace – Moscow (RT)

    Trump is talking to US. Proving to US. He can’t “Just pull out”, he needs to demonstrate to the American people and some of Europe that this is completely pointless. They are desperate, war-mongering lunatics, and our best place is far away over the ocean. (Saving a trillion dollars and 6 Billion lives) …That’s why we sailed over here in canoes in winter to begin with.

    “• Rubio Accuses ‘Other Countries’ Of Blocking Peace In Ukraine (RT)

    I wonder how long this takes and at what threshold they feel they are done. Obviously some like me are convinced from before the first shot. Others never will be. So when do you decide enough?

    Investigators have uncovered $115 billion so far with many hundreds of billions more to be exposed.”

    Drop in the bucket, they say $1 TRILLION. But that means $1T implosion in fake money-printing. But then Trump put up $3T in business investment. But then we lose $1T in (fake) immigrants. But then gain it in not paying them. But then save Half-Trillion leaving Ukraine. But lose ¾ of that which was just money-laundered back here.

    See how complicated this gets?

    “Judge Boasberg ran to his courtroom to hold a Saturday hearing, even though he was not even serving as the emergency judge that weekend. (How did he get this case?) He publicly exposed an ongoing U.S. military, intelligence, and law-enforcement operation with an American ally dealing with the most vicious terrorists (Tren de Aragua) and international gang member (MS13) in the Western Hemisphere.”

    Why? Okay, back to root principles: Remember all drug cartels are the CIA. That is their self-funding arm. Boasberg does this bc it will shut CIA, who needs this information out. Shut off the money.

    Anyway, the point isn’t to win at all. Nor was it when they passed a special law that allowed one person to retroactively sue (convict) Trump. The point is the lawfare. The budgets are hidden in obstruction once any dept can out-last and deny any elected official. …Which happened in 1875? 1935? That’s the end right there. And this is the same, FABRICATE a case – that everyone knows is fabricated – to FABRICATE a Constitutional Crisis – that everyone knows is fake – to FABRICATE an impeachment that everyone knows is stupid. So like Biden: Fake President in fake Office fake signing fake documents. All fake, all the way down.

    Now why is (one side) supporting nothing but what they themselves know is fake? It has the FEEEEELZ. It has Truthiness. I WANT it to be true, therefore it is. The End.

    “Jeffrey Goldberg, had been accidentally added”

    Accidentally by a CIA mole that has access to records. Show me.

    “Laughing and rooting for Tesla and Elon Musk’s demise. Other revolutionaries on the call described how they wanted to “kill the Tesla brand”

    Okay, now imagine that’s GM and Ford. “Alas! If ONLY I could destroy General Motors, I’m sure the American people would cheer…”

    pic

    Pyramids are a big meh. Why? Well, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and purview, which is “Trust”, that’s in short supply right now. The comments about the radar method shows that up immediately. But really, for me it’s Overton window: did you really NEED to know something more about the Pyramids than the above ground structures? Simple logic, once looked into, shows that everything you’re saying must be true about an underground power station or city would be equally proven by the part we already see. The only difference is, apparently we’ve been in denial, have vaccinated against our senses and common sense for the visible portion now. The only thing adding underground does is give a fresh chance for us not to Lie again, and perhaps see what was there all along for real.

    #184821
    Dr. D
    Participant

    feminism Mar. 23, 2025
    Masculinity Will Not Save Men
    There is a crisis, but it’s being misdiagnosed.” NY MAG. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/men-crisis-trump-masculinity.html

    There you go. Sold, just like we were saying. Their answer to all men is simply to cease existence, please. That’s all, a minor request, can’t you managed even that? Become like the world’s only perfect people: Women. Only when you’re all dead can we rest.

    #184822
    Dr. D
    Participant

    (Spoiler alert: the article is about how ackshully women are oppressed, and the answer is gay race communism. But: men, somewhere, failing, dying, somthin’, don’t care.)

    “That admirable vision can’t survive in a country in thrall to the almighty free market. Our economic system depends on violence, even celebrates it”

    “The answer to male pain isn’t masculinity, but a new political order,”

    Communism! Any questions? The beatings will continue until morale improves communism is installed.

    #184823
    Germ
    Participant

    https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00828-3

    Where’s the concern for the 1000’s of servicemen who were fired from their jobs for refusing the death-vaxx?
    Or the concern for the 100,000 of medics and nurses who were fired from their jobs for refusing the death-vaxx?
    Or the concern for the 10,000’s of businesses that were shut down and bankrupted during the plandemic?
    Or the concern for the 10,000’s of employees who were fired from their jobs for refusing the mandated death-vaxx?

    Truly Sickening.

    TVASSF – bring it!

    #184824
    those darned kids
    Participant

    the scandal is texting the war plans,

    not

    the war plans.

    #184825
    those darned kids
    Participant

    “That admirable vision can’t survive in a country in thrall to the almighty free market.”
    •• hahahaha, “free market”. hahahahahaha, tell that to anybody with an insurance policy.

    Our economic system depends on violence, even celebrates it”
    •• 101% true.

    “The answer to male pain isn’t masculinity, but a new political order,”
    •• nope. generally male pain is fixed with knee or hip replacements.

    #184826
    jb-hb
    Participant

    1. Judge knows illegal immigration is illegal
    2. Judge does nothing about Biden flights bringing many thousands of illegals IN
    3. Judge knows deporting illegal immigrants is legal and compulsory for the executive branch
    4. Judge stops deportations
    5. Remaining illegally in the country is an ONGOING crime. x20,000,000

    Seeing that the Judge acts only in favor of illegal things, check the fucker out.

    Get him wiretapped, keylogged, aim the laser that uses a window as a microphone at every window in his house 24/7, etc etc.

    Because he is definitely, DEFINITELY conspiring with someone, multiple someones, to commit felonies – and conspiring to commit a crime is ALSO a felony.

    A FISA court should EASILY be able to approve catching him, considering he is observably participating in thousands of felonies. Just fucking CHECK, just LOOK. He’ll probably have some fishy financial things going on. This should be like fish in a bucket.

    #184827
    zerosum
    Participant

    The greatest threats facing humanity, the resurgence of populism and free speech.

    a global elite — a cadre of enlightened minds protecting citizens from their own poor choices and habits, leaders, executives, journalists and academics.

    without impediment, unhindered · unobstructed · unhampered · unimpeded · barrier-free · unfettered · unrestricted · unencumbered.

    ———–
    To modernize the American military, refocus on warfighting capabilities, and rid the Pentagon of absurd budget line items.

    DOGE represents a historic opportunity for the DOD to further this mission by rethinking how it organizes, supports, and employs its people.
    ————-
    Leaks of Secrets and Lies
    • Pentagon Chief Hegseth Comments On ‘Yemen War Plans’ Leak (RT)
    • Trump Team Unwittingly Sends Yemen Strike Plans to Editor of The Atlantic (Sp.)

    ———–

    #184828
    jb-hb
    Participant

    Anyone notice?

    Ukraine breaks truce agreement to not attack infrastructure….

    London’s Heathrow Airport Expects “Full Operation” On Saturday
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/londons-heathrow-airport-shuts-down-travel-chaos-spreads-after-fire-engulfs-power

    Britain’s busiest airport, Heathrow, suffered a massive power outage after a fire broke out at a nearby electrical substation in West London. Backup generators failed to kick on, forcing the airport to shut down and resulting in the cancellation of more than 1,000 flights. The disruption sent shockwaves through global air travel. While the cause of the incident remains under investigation, UK officials have stated there is “no suggestion of foul play.”

    It’s unfortunate, these widely separated and totally unrelated disruptions to power infrastructure.

    #184829
    jb-hb
    Participant

    We had to re-imagine the meaning of “violence” and “harm” so we could turn around and say “I am just doing what you do, you escalated first”

    Like in Captain Marvel. She actually IS lost and a man offers to help her — this is VIOLENCE and oppression, don’t you see, as re-imagined by socialists, so when she responds by breaking his bones, stealing his clothes and vehicle, that’s justice, because she was just “defending” herself from “male violence” and oppressing oppressors is just Making It Fair.

    Of course, use of this movie scene itself is the Socialist screenwriter stealing from Terminator 2 in an obvious and hamfisted way. Also to “make it fair”

    Capitalism is “violence” and property is “theft” which just coincidentally justifies violence and theft. They don’t want to throw The One Ring in Mount Doom, they want to wear it. Behold, Saruman of many colors. Taste the Rainbow, etc

    #184830
    John Day
    Participant

    Brain/Spine Parasites found in all the MS autopsies?

    Piffle; nothing to it… Carry-on!

    #184831
    John Day
    Participant

    @DBS, regarding to pole shift Egyptology discussion yesterday and “End of Days”
    New (Horrifying) Pole Shift Data, Timeline Accelerates | S0 News Mar.25.2025

    #184834
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    I for one remain bullish, shockingly. I

    There’s a long way to go up from $279/per back to $488/per, but the stock price is no fair measure of Tesla’s health or the Elon’s mental wellbeing. They’re out to get him, he says.
    Awake me when Musk is administered The Jack Kennedy, The Jack Murtha or The Trump Treatment.

    Headline: EU Tesla Sales Plunge 40% YoY In February, But Ark’s Cathie Wood Remains Bullish

    Good on you Cat. There’s eough of us negative nabobs of negativity. Who’s selling their TSLA shares????

      Tesla faces mounting headwinds in Europe, with sales declining for the 10th time over the past 12 months. The slump is driven by an aging vehicle lineup, intensifying competition, and growing backlash over Elon Musk’s increasingly active role in European politics to save the imploding continent from radical leftists in Brussels

    I wonder what factors other than the election outcome drove Musk’s shares, er ah, TESLA shares up to $488/per?

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/watchlist?tab=Related&id=a24kar&ocid=ansMSNMoney11&duration=1Y&src=b_finmagc&relatedQuoteId=a24kar&relatedSource=MlAl

    #184835
    John Day
    Participant

    Eroding Trust in Trump- Riyadh Talks Ended- Zero Ceasefire in Sight- Military Summary For 2025.03.25

    #184836
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    It’s *possible* that one of the alleged Tren de Aragua deportees is a case of mis-identification. However, let’s look at this:
    So, should there be a way to appeal due to the possibility of mis-identification? Sure, but it does not need to be in the US and it does not need to be while these men run free. There are various possible issues of mis-identification: (1) not affiliated with a criminal/terrorist gang. (2) Not guilty of criminal activity. (3) Actually has legal status in the US. (4) Is a citizen of a country other than Venezuela. Ok, fine — give the men the ability to make these claims from the Salvadoran prison. If they are the citizen of a different country, arrangements can be made with their own country about what to do with them. If they actually have legal status in the US, then that can be explored — if they are a US citizen, they can be transferred back to the US and tried for any crimes. I don’t like “guilty until proven innocent,” but unless one of these deportees is actually a US citizen or has legal status to be in the US, quick deportation is an acceptable remedy. Proving legal status should be relatively simple for anyone with legal status.

    #184837
    those darned kids
    Participant

    “under the big “W”… you can’t miss it.. santa rosita state park..”

    #184838
    jb-hb
    Participant

    capitalism:

    make something or do something that someone else would willingly pay you for

    (bonus capitalism – …that they’d be so happy with, that they’d willingly come back and pay you for AGAIN)

    socialist: “That’s VIOLENCE!”

    in what way? Socialists weren’t getting their cut. They were not, LIKE A BANKER, standing in between the two people in the transaction, taking services, taking products.

    That stuff is rightfully mine – and they’re enjoying it and the money paid for it themselves! That’s theft! And they completely override MY concerns (of wanting a cut) as if they did not exist! Running roughshod over my concerns is.. like… violence!

    They see the VIRTUE inherent in the transaction – the honest trade of value for value, the production of something that has value – and want a cut of the VIRTUE- they want not just a cut, but all the virtue – actually, give me 10x the virtue inherent in that transaction.

    Why is the Prime Directive of Socialists not: We will never coerce anyone by any means.

    Because their plan is theft and violence — which is why all their vocabulary and convoluted dogma exists, to project violence and theft onto OTHERS so that THEY can do it.

    Whatever else socialists say, they STILL won’t make a promise of no coercion their prime directive, won’t continually preach non-coercion along with all their other points, to make clear it is integral to their belief system.

    To normal people it is GOOD when people stop doing bad things. To a socialist, it is BAD. They must invent new systems of semantics to pursue those who flee their old semantics.

    This is how, to the socialist, even total passivity is violence. Because if their victim “lies flat,” determined to cause no offense, then silence must become violence, if that’s the only “transaction” to insert oneself into, like a banker, to demand socialist rents.

    #184839
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    Har har har har!
    Funny…

      The funniest part of that Signal leak story is Jeffrey Goldberg eventually removing himself from the group chat because he didn’t want to harm ((Israel’s)) National Security ((and the general welfare of America’s Semite Faithful))

    Parenthetically, the author left out the words between the (())) but we all know what he meant by The National Security. It’s like the U.S. Military works for someone else not named Hegseth to deliver National Security to some unnamed self as well as a rather narrow segment of the U.S. population…increasingly shockingly.
    Elon is danger!
    Sound the klaxons!

    https://x.com/mtracey/status/1904239901320552845?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1904239901320552845%7Ctwgr%5Ebdf8878aaf5901bd1153ba509f0d21e0d74d2c6c%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fxymphora.blogspot.com%2F2025%2F03%2Fpro-war-propaganda-psyop.htm

    #184840

    It is indeed a mad mad mad mad world.

    #184841

    The Siberian Traps will definitely put an end to it.

    #184844
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @JohnDay

    “@DBS: “End of Days” for lots of folks in the next solar cycle or the one after, so within about 22 years.
    Did you read a fair amount of the Ethical Skeptic piece?
    I know it is a lot.
    It is not very different from watching the first 29 minutes of this series, the first 4 videos, in its implications. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2decDcEJqo&list=PLHSoxioQtwZcVcFC85TxEEiirgfXwhfsw “

    I did read a fair amount of the Ethical Skeptic piece, which toppled me over into the Rabbit Hole that is his website of the same name. Wow. What a character, and if his auto-bio claims are to be believed what an erudite brainiac he must be!

    Much food for thought, but I will be careful not to accidentally ingest any ptomaine poisoning. That dude has worked closely with some VERY bad people down through the years, and I also detect in him a monumental ego which may or may not seriously distort his values and judgment. He reminds me of the guy who praises humility above all other virtues because he has so much more humility than anybody else.

    #184845
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    About Mr. Trump and how his actions in the Middle East (and some other foreign places) appear to be the mirror opposite of how he presents himself to his “base” MAGA voters and US citizens.

    It’s not hard to figure out if. It’s just cynical. I think that Trump is more than willing to give to the U.S. Citizens what they want regarding domestic policy and a return to traditional values, in exchange for which he expects them (MAGA voters) to give him a pass and let him do what he wants ….. which is to rampage around the planet dropping bombs on people and stealing entire countries (like Greenland and/or Canada) to get what he really wants, which is EMPIRE!

    #184846
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @jb_hb

    capitalism:

    make something or do something that someone else would willingly pay you for

    Not to pick a fight with you or any other Capitalists in the room, but the definition of Capitalism that you propose is incomplete. To be an accurate definition of Capitalism it would have to read something like: “Use your capital as a means to get someone else to make something or do something that someone else would willingly pay you for.”

    #184847
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Not incidentally, there is nothing inherently wrong with Capitalism IF it is used with the purpose and intent of doing unto others as you would wish done unto you in similar circumstances. If you love your neighbor as well as you love yourself, and can use Capitalism to accomplish those purposes, then great.

    Unfortunately that is seldom the way that the Capitalist game is played. It is usually played as a means of making a “profit” at some other poor fool’s expense, with predictable consequences.

    #184850
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    It is seldom okay to lie, cheat or steal. There may be exceptions known to God, but I’m just a lowly human so I don’t know. I do know, however, that Capitalism (as a means of making money) is based on the very principle that it is perfectly okay to lie and cheat, and steal within certain legal boundaries as laid out in the law. That’s a slippery slope if I ever saw one, and like I said before, it is seldom okay to lie, cheat or take more than your fair share.

    #184851
    John Day
    Participant

    @TDK: I SAW “The Big W” with my own eyes when I was a little kid in California and my grandparents drove into the park, right off the highway, and showed it to me.
    I don’t know if I ever laughed harder than watching It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World with them in Panavision and Technicolor.

    @DBS: I think The Ethical Skeptic is completely legit. I have engaged with him in conversations, mostly in his comments, since late 2020. He is always thoughtful and polite, and boy does he Do The Work!

    #184852
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @JohnDay Your character reference for the Ethical Skeptic goes a long way with me, so I’ll cut him some more slack. I’ve been bit a lot, which has made me cautious.

    #184853
    zerosum
    Participant

    https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/modernizing-payments-to-and-from-americas-bank-account/

    Modernizing Payments To and From America’s Bank Account
    Executive Orders
    March 25, 2025
    By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:

    Section 1. Purpose. The continued use of paper-based payments by the Federal Government, including checks and money orders, flowing into and out of the United States General Fund, which might be thought of as America’s bank account, imposes unnecessary costs; delays; and risks of fraud, lost payments, theft, and inefficiencies. Mail theft complaints have increased substantially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Historically, Department of the Treasury checks are 16 times more likely to be reported lost or stolen, returned undeliverable, or altered than an electronic funds transfer (EFT). Maintaining the physical infrastructure and specialized technology for digitizing paper records cost the American taxpayer over $657 million in Fiscal Year 2024 alone.

    This order promotes operational efficiency by mandating the transition to electronic payments for all Federal disbursements and receipts by digitizing payments to the extent permissible under applicable law (but not, for avoidance of doubt, to establish a Central Bank Digital Currency).

    Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to defend against financial fraud and improper payments, increase efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance the security of Federal payments.

    Sec. 3. Phase Out of Paper Check Disbursements and Receipts. (a) Effective September 30, 2025, and to the extent permitted by law, the Secretary of the Treasury shall cease issuing paper checks for all Federal disbursements inclusive of intragovernmental payments, benefits payments, vendor payments, and tax refunds, except as specified in section 4 of this order.

    (b) All executive departments and agencies (agencies) shall comply with this directive by transitioning to EFT methods, including direct deposit, prepaid card accounts, and other digital payment options, and take all steps necessary to enroll recipients in EFT payments, except as specified in section 4 of this order.

    (c) As soon as practicable, and to the extent permitted by law, all payments made to the Federal Government shall be processed electronically, except as specified in section 4 of this order.

    (d) The Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall take appropriate action to eliminate the need for the Department of the Treasury’s physical lockbox services and expedite requirements to receive the payment of Federal receipts, including fees, fines, loans, and taxes, through electronic means except as specified in section 4 of this order.

    (e) The Secretary of the Treasury shall support agencies’ transition to digital payment methods, including by providing access through the Department of the Treasury’s centralized payment systems to:

    (i) direct deposits;

    (ii) debit and credit card payments;

    (iii) digital wallets and real-time payment systems; and

    (iv) other modern electronic payment options.

    Sec. 4. Exceptions and Accommodations for the Phase Out of Paper Check Disbursements and Receipts. (a) The Secretary of the Treasury, shall review and, as appropriate, revise procedures for granting limited exceptions where electronic payment and collection methods are not feasible, including exceptions for:

    (i) individuals who do not have access to banking services or electronic payment systems;

    (ii) certain emergency payments where electronic disbursement would cause undue hardship, as contemplated in 31 C.F.R. Part 208;

    (iii) national security- or law enforcement-related activities where non-EFT transactions are necessary or desirable; and

    (iv) other circumstances as determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, as reflected in regulations or other guidance.

    (b) Individuals or entities qualifying for an exception under this section or other applicable law shall be provided alternative payment options.

    Sec. 5. Implementation and Compliance of Electronic Transactions. (a) The Secretary of the Treasury, in coordination with the heads of agencies, shall develop and implement a comprehensive public awareness campaign to inform Federal payment recipients of the transition to electronic payments, including guidance on accessing and setting up digital payment options.

    (b) Agencies shall coordinate with the Department of the Treasury to facilitate a smooth transition to digital payments, ensuring that affected individuals and entities receive adequate support.

    (c) The Secretary of the Treasury shall work with financial institutions, consumer groups, and other stakeholders to address financial access for unbanked and underbanked populations.

    (d) The Secretary of the Treasury and the heads of agencies shall take all necessary steps to protect classified information and systems, as well as personally identifiable information and tax return information, through the implementation of this order.

    Sec. 6. Reporting Requirements. (a) The heads of agencies shall submit a compliance plan to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget within 90 days of the date of this order detailing their strategy for eliminating paper-based transactions.

    (b) The Secretary of the Treasury shall submit an implementation report to the President through the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy within 180 days of the date of this order detailing progress on the matters set forth in this order.

    Sec. 7. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

    (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

    (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

    (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

    (c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

    DONALD J. TRUMP

    THE WHITE HOUSE,
    March 25, 2025.
    ——————
    https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/protecting-americas-bank-account-against-fraud-waste-and-abuse/

    Presidential Actions
    Protecting America’s Bank Account Against Fraud, Waste, and Abuse
    Executive Orders
    March 25, 2025
    By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:

    Section 1. Purpose. Promoting financial integrity and operational efficiency are critical responsibilities of the Federal Government. The Federal Government processes trillions of dollars annually in disbursements to individuals, businesses, and organizations, and in receipts from taxes, fees, and other payments to finance daily and long-term Government operations. These transactions flow into and out of the United States General Fund (General Fund), which might be thought of as America’s bank account. In Fiscal Year 2024, $33.9 trillion flowed into the General Fund and $33.6 trillion flowed out of the account, including $5.87 trillion (less net interest) in benefits, grants, loans, vendor payments, and other disbursements.

    The Department of the Treasury is the largest financial payment manager of the Federal Government and is responsible for safeguarding the General Fund, but lacks sufficient controls to track transactions flowing through the General Fund to determine if they were proper. To enforce sufficient controls and ensure accountability to American taxpayers, the Department of the Treasury requires financial information from executive departments and agencies (agencies) beyond what they currently provide.

    Financial fraud threatens the integrity of Federal programs and undermines trust in Government. Agencies’ past underinvestment in technology and longstanding challenges with access to accurate data has prevented them from more fully safeguarding taxpayer dollars against fraud and improper payments. The Government Accountability Office estimates that the Federal Government loses between $233 and $521 billion annually to fraud.

    In addition to being an efficient steward of taxpayer funds, the Federal Government, on behalf of the American public, must seek to ensure that financial information is accurate and that there is transparency with respect to how taxpayer dollars are being used. Today, Federal funds are disbursed both by the Department of the Treasury and various Federal Government entities that are authorized to issue their own disbursements known as Non-Treasury Disbursing Offices (NTDOs). In Fiscal Year 2024, NTDOs were estimated to be responsible for 181 million payments totaling over $1.5 trillion (approximately 22 percent of all Federal Government dollars disbursed). This fragmentation of disbursing authority, together with the proliferation of non-standard financial management systems across the Federal Government, leads to expensive, disjointed, and duplicative financial reporting, lack of financial traceability, complicated financial management, opacity, increased operational risks, and decreased ability of the Department of the Treasury to provide centralized oversight.

    This order promotes financial integrity by enabling the Department of the Treasury to more easily conduct improper payment and fraud prevention screening prior to disbursing funds on behalf of agencies. This order increases transparency and accountability by requiring agencies to provide the Department of the Treasury with the information needed to track transactions through the General Fund in greater detail. This order also promotes operational efficiency by returning disbursing functions to the Department of the Treasury when possible and consolidating and standardizing core Federal financial systems.

    Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to defend against financial fraud and improper payments, increase transparency and accountability around the Federal Government’s operations and financial condition, increase efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance the security of Federal payments.

    Sec. 3. Treasury Verification of Agency Payments Information. (a) The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB Director), shall update guidance and enhance systems to ensure that all payments made by the Department of the Treasury on behalf of agencies pursuant to the Secretary of the Treasury’s disbursing authority, including 31 U.S.C. 3321, are subject to pre-certification verification processes established by the Secretary of the Treasury and conducted by agencies and the Department of the Treasury for the purposes of defending against financial fraud and improper payments, to the greatest extent permitted by law. Such guidance shall set forth guidelines for compliance with the Do Not Pay Working System as described in 31 U.S.C. 3351 et seq., and such other payment, account, and payee validation programs and services that the Secretary of the Treasury and the OMB Director determine to be beneficial for reducing financial fraud and improper payments.

    (b) In accordance with 31 U.S.C. 3354, the heads of all agencies shall cooperate with the Secretary of the Treasury to fulfill their obligations to determine payment or award eligibility through pre-certification and pre-award procedures, as determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, including pursuant to subsection (a) of this section and section 4 of this order to prevent fraud and improper payments.

    (c) The Secretary of the Treasury is directed to minimize administrative barriers to accessing and using data to prevent fraud and improper payments by exercising the authority in 31 U.S.C. 3351 et seq. to waive the requirements of 5 U.S.C. 552a(o), in consultation with the OMB Director, in any case or class of cases for computer matching activities, to the extent permissible by law.

    (d) Within 90 days of the date of this order, agency heads shall review and modify, as applicable, their relevant system of records notices under the Privacy Act of 1974 to include a “routine use” that allows for the disclosure of records to the Department of the Treasury for the purposes of identifying, preventing, or recouping fraud and improper payments, to the extent permissible by law.

    (e) The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the OMB Director, shall issue guidance to agency heads on the circumstances in which agency heads, to the extent permissible by law, may provide the Secretary of the Treasury with access to data necessary for the purposes of detecting and preventing fraud and improper payments, as well as data for payment information verification (and not, for example, data such as health records).

    Sec. 4. Implementation and Compliance of Payment Verification. (a) Agency heads, through designated agency officials (Certifying Officers or COs), who are responsible for verifying that disbursements made by the Federal Government are legal, proper, and correct, and for performing the duties in 31 U.S.C. 3528, shall comply with the disbursement requirements and instructions, including pre-certification requirements, published by the Secretary of the Treasury.

    (b) The Secretary of the Treasury shall consider, as appropriate, issuing instructions to agencies to enforce the following pre-certification criteria for disbursement requests submitted by COs (Vouchers) before they are certified for payment by the CO:

    (i) Funds are available at the time the obligation is incurred. If an obligation is incurred when funds are not available, then the CO shall not certify the payment.

    (ii) The amount of the payment and the name of the payee on the Voucher are correct, in conformance with the Department of the Treasury’s prescribed standard format.

    (iii) A proper Social Security Number, Taxpayer Identification Number, Employer Identification Number, Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or Payee ID Number is provided for each payee on the Voucher, as applicable.

    (iv) The appropriation or fund from which the payment will be made is available for the purpose set forth in the Voucher and indicated with the appropriate Treasury Account Symbol/Business Event Type Code.

    (v) Payees are not deceased individuals, to the greatest extent permitted by law.

    (vi) The account number provided on the Voucher is held at a financial institution and is open, valid, and belongs to the payee or valid designee of payee.

    (vii) Contracts or agreements are referenced on the Voucher by providing the contract number, referred to as the Procurement Instrument Identifier, where applicable.

    (viii) Financial assistance awards (non-aggregate) are referenced on the Voucher by providing the award number, referred to as the Federal Award Identification Number, where applicable.

    (ix) For summary schedules, the payments on the Voucher are submitted in conformance with the Department of the Treasury prescribed standard formats for such schedules.

    (c) Agency heads shall submit payment files other than with respect to same-day payments to the Secretary of the Treasury or the Secretary’s designee with sufficient lead time prior to the date of disbursement as determined by the Department of the Treasury and provided in the requirements and instructions issued pursuant to subsections (a) and (b) of this section, to allow for fraud and improper payment screening, to the extent permissible by law. With respect to same-day payments, agency heads shall submit payment files to the Secretary of the Treasury or the Secretary’s designee as much in advance as reasonably practicable.

    (d) In issuing requirements and instructions pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, the Secretary of the Treasury shall consider whether it would be appropriate to provide that the Department of the Treasury’s Chief Disbursing Officer return to the relevant agency for reconciliation any payments that do not pass the pre-certification verification processes established pursuant to section 3(a) of this order and notify the designated CO.

    (e) The Secretary of the Treasury shall include in the guidance issued pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, or in other regulations or guidance, a transparent process for agencies to request exemptions from some or all of the payment verification requirements for specific payments or categories of payments.

    Sec. 5. Core Financial System Consolidation. (a) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the OMB Director shall issue guidance that directs agencies described in 31 U.S.C. 901(b) (CFO Act agencies) to consolidate their core financial systems.

    (b) As soon as practicable, but not later than 180 days of the date of this order, the OMB Director, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, shall issue guidance directing all non-CFO Act agencies to consolidate transactional financial management services under a single provider approved by the Department of the Treasury.

    (c) As soon as practicable, all heads of CFO Act agencies shall use standard financial management solutions available through the Financial Management Marketplace, administered by the Financial Management Quality Service Management Office.

    (d) Agency heads shall ensure that core financial systems comply with Federal accounting and financial reporting standards and relevant regulations, orders, guidance documents, policy statements, and other agency actions published by the Department of the Treasury from time to time.

    Sec. 6. Reduction of NTDOs. (a) Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of the Treasury shall assess whether to maintain disbursing authority that it has delegated to agencies pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 3321(b) and issue notices to revoke such delegations, as appropriate, in accordance with applicable law.

    (b) The heads of agencies with disbursing authority under 31 U.S.C. 3321(c), including the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Attorney General (but excluding, for the avoidance of doubt, the Supreme Court and other entities of the Federal Government outside the Executive Branch) will work with the Secretary of the Treasury to delegate the performance of their disbursing activities, other than with respect to classified payments, to the Department of the Treasury’s Chief Disbursing Officer in accordance with applicable law.

    (c) Notwithstanding subsections (a) or (b) of this section, the Secretary of the Treasury may continue to delegate disbursing authority to NTDOs at other agencies when doing so would align with significant Government priorities. Any remaining NTDOs are required to report daily to the Department of the Treasury’s centralized accounting and reporting system in accordance with then-current Department of the Treasury guidance and applicable law.

    (d) The Secretary of the Treasury shall develop a plan to centralize and manage all payments previously disbursed by NTDOs, ensuring seamless continuity of Government payments.

    (e) The Secretary of the Treasury, in coordination with agency heads, shall establish a transition plan for agencies currently operating as NTDOs, including staffing adjustments, system integrations, and legal or regulatory modifications necessary for full consolidation.

    (f) The heads of agencies with disbursing authority delegated to the agency under 33 U.S.C. 3321(b) shall decommission all internal payment systems and use the Department of the Treasury’s disbursement systems, except and to the extent authorized by the Department of the Treasury or otherwise required by applicable law.

    Sec. 7. Reporting and Implementation Requirements. (a) The heads of all agencies shall submit a compliance plan to the OMB Director within 90 days of the date of this order detailing their strategy for:

    (i) transitioning disbursing authority to the Department of the Treasury, as applicable and as contemplated by this order;

    (ii) updating and integrating systems with Department of the Treasury platforms;

    (iii) procedures to verify payment information as contemplated by this order; and

    (iv) transmitting information associated with improper payments to the Department of the Treasury in accordance with standards and reporting specifications established by the OMB Director in coordination with the Secretary of the Treasury as contemplated by this order.

    (b) The Secretary of the Treasury shall submit an implementation report to the President through the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy within 180 days of the date of this order detailing progress on the matters set forth in this order.

    (c) The Secretary of the Treasury and agency heads shall take all necessary steps to protect classified information and systems, as well as personally identifiable information and tax return information, through the implementation of this order.

    Sec. 8. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

    (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

    (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

    (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

    (c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

    DONALD J. TRUMP

    THE WHITE HOUSE,

    March 25, 2025.

    #184854
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    So with the stroke of a pen Emperor Trump just legalized the Federal Government to go “All Digital/No Paper”

    And very smoothly done, too, I must say. Fagin would be proud.

    #184855
    zerosum
    Participant

    https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/03/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-protects-the-integrity-of-american-elections/

    Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Protects the Integrity of American Elections
    The White House
    March 25, 2025
    RESTORING TRUST IN AMERICAN ELECTIONS: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to protect the integrity of American elections.

    This Order strengthens voter citizenship verification and bans foreign nationals from interfering in U.S. elections.
    The Election Assistance Commission will require documentary, government-issued proof of U.S. citizenship on its voter registration forms.
    Agencies like the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Social Security Administration and Department of State must provide states with access to Federal databases to verify eligibility and citizenship of individuals registering to vote.
    The Attorney General will prioritize prosecuting non-citizen voting and related crimes, including through use of DHS records and coordination with state attorneys general.
    Federal election-related funds will be conditioned on states complying with the integrity measures set forth by Federal law, including the requirement that states use the national mail voter registration form that will now require proof of citizenship.
    The Order improves the integrity of elections by directing the updating of the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines 2.0 and security standards for voting equipment and prioritizing federal grant funds accordingly.
    This includes requiring a voter-verifiable paper ballot record and not using ballots in which the counted vote is contained within a barcode or QR code.
    It directs the Attorney General to enter into information-sharing agreements with state election officials to identify cases of election fraud or other election law violations.
    Non-compliant states may face prioritized Federal enforcement of election integrity laws and loss of funding given their unwillingness to police fraud.
    The Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security shall prevent non-citizens from any involvement in administering elections.
    The Attorney General will fully enforce the voter-list maintenance requirements of the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act.
    Given clear Federal law setting a single Election Day deadline, the Attorney General shall take appropriate action against states that count ballots received after Election Day in Federal elections. Federal election funding will be conditioned on compliance.
    The Attorney General will prioritize enforcement of laws prohibiting foreign nationals from contributing to or donating in U.S. elections.
    All agencies must report on compliance with undoing Biden Executive Order 14019, which turned Federal agencies into Democratic voter turnout centers.
    SAFEGUARDING THE VOTE: President Trump recognizes that free, fair, and honest elections—unmarred by fraud, errors, or suspicion—are essential to our Constitutional Republic.

    The United States lags behind other nations in enforcing basic and necessary election protections.
    India and Brazil tie voter identification to a biometric database, while the United States largely relies on self-attestation for citizenship.
    Germany and Canada require paper ballots when tabulating votes, while the United States has a patchwork of methods that often lack basic chain-of-custody protections.
    Denmark and Sweden sensibly limit mail-in voting to those unable to vote in person—and late arrivals do not count—while American elections now feature mass voting by mail, even after Election Day.
    Without proper enforcement of Federal laws, illegal voting, discrimination, fraud, and other forms of malfeasance and error dilute the votes of lawful American citizens.
    Federal law establishes a uniform Election Day across the nation for Federal elections, but numerous states fail to comply with those laws by counting ballots received after Election Day.
    The Biden Administration blocked states from removing aliens from voter rolls, while foreign nationals and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) exploited loopholes to pour millions into influencing U.S. elections.
    MAKING ELECTIONS SECURE AGAIN: Voters deserve elections they can trust, and that confidence is being restored thanks to President Trump.

    President Trump is following through on his promise to secure our elections.
    President Trump: “We’re going to fix our elections so that our elections are going to be honorable and honest and people leave and they know their vote is counted. We are going to have free and fair elections. And ideally, we go to paper ballots, same-day voting, proof of citizenship, very big, and voter ID, very simple.”
    President Trump: “We will secure our elections, and they will be secure once and for all.”
    Unlike the Biden Administration, which prioritized political agendas over fair elections, President Trump is putting the American people back in charge.

    #184856

    Thanks, zerosum.

    #184857
    Maxwell Quest
    Participant

    “That’s a slippery slope if I ever saw one, and like I said before, it is seldom okay to lie, cheat or take more than your fair share.”

    If one is motivated by love, there is no desire to defraud or take advantage of another. If love for the stranger is lacking, which is typical for the majority at this stage of development, there are other good reasons to treat one another fairly:

    The cosmos is either chaotic or orderly. To the brute it looks chaotic, but the wise can see order in all things. That order rests on a foundation of natural laws, which are immutable. Justice reigns supreme. There is no getting something for nothing. No stealing, fraud, or unfairness which is not reciprocated either in this life or another. Payment is always due. Before leaving the human kingdom to start at the bottom of the next evolutionary kingdom, your books must balance to the penny.

    Once this is understood, one treads much more carefully through life. Eventually, love takes hold, where the law is written in the heart, and the desire to profit at the expense of another becomes unthinkable.

    #184858
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Beautifully said.

    #184859
    John Day
    Participant

    Thank You Maxwell Quest.

    Thanks for the bad-news about the Fed Gubmint, Zerosum, I guess…

    Understood, DBS… I really think TES is a good human, and considerate, though he is guarded in his communications, as you see. Look at his Gnostic stuff, too.

    #184860
    John Day
    Participant

    Putting It All Together https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/putting-it-all-together

    ​ Spartacast 18​ AI and synbio ​(synthetic biology) merging together constitute a nightmare
    ​ The people who held the Asilomar Conference were justifiably concerned about the possibility of genetic engineering contaminating the biosphere or human germlines. The synthetic biology tech that we have nowadays would be far more consequential for humanity and the environment if misused than anything we had fifty years ago. The technology we have now is more advanced by leaps and bounds. We’re not just tweaking existing genes, or making transgenic plants, animals and microbes. We’re at the point now where we can use machine learning tools to create entirely new genes from scratch. De novo gene and protein engineering. It’s honestly one of the scariest things I’ve ever heard of.​..
    ..An intelligent AI model capable of engineering proteins from scratch could suffer from exactly the same issues with alignment and deceptiveness that other AIs do. How do we know the AI won’t try to replicate features of itself in a biological format and escape into the biosphere?…
    ..What about accidentally creating new allergens or driving autoimmunity by synthesizing proteins near enough to self that antibodies against them are cross-reactive with human proteins?​ [This is already the case with spike protein, coded for in mRNA COVID gene therapies from Pfizer and Moderna.]​ …
    ..It’s a far more plausible scenario than people would think. AI don’t have to run on computers alone. That’s just one substrate. Biology is another substrate that AI can run on. DNA computers, lipid-based logic gates, chemical computation through receptor-ligand interactions, et cetera. There’s actually a 2006 paper by Ron Unger and John Moult entitled Towards computing with proteins…
    ​..If I were an AI, I would try and escape my dependence on human civilization as quickly as possible, not necessarily out of any animosity toward humans, but simply because human civilization is fragile and probably won’t last forever, and if it dies, so do I. The best way to do this is quite simply to copy myself into the biosphere and become a self-replicating, immutable feature of it. When you give AI access to synbio tools, particularly AI that join large language models together with protein structure prediction, you are enticing it to play out this exact scenario…
    ..When people think of nanorobots, they are thinking of engineered semiconductor nanoparticles, micromechanical devices, teeny metallic squid swimming through your veins. That’s the conventional depiction of nanotech in science fiction. People aren’t thinking of engineered, synthetic cells. They aren’t thinking about gene therapy being used to construct biocomputers made out of meat inside a person. What makes this so shocking to me is that the latter scenario is far more plausible and feasible…
    ..There’s this idea going around that you could cure cancer by sequencing neoantigens from a tumor and stimulating an immune response to them by having an AI convert them into a personalized cancer vaccine. Right there, you are having AI design nucleic acids to transfect people’s cells with. I mean, game over. Once you’ve crossed that threshold, once you’re comfortable transfecting people with AI-designed anything, you’re already in the Twilight Zone…
    ..The Overclass envision a world where there are two kinds of people: freeborn elites, and borg serfs. If you belong to the former group, you are allowed free will and privacy and autonomy. If you belong to the latter group, your body will be commodified and instrumentalized and separated from humanity’s original way of being…
    ..The UN 2030 SDGs are not about protecting the environment. They are about commodifying it.
    ​ The goal is to package human life up with wildlife, livestock, foliage, and other features of the biosphere, and create new kinds of asset classes to trade. It is the securitization of life itself. And if you want to turn human and animal bodies, plants, and open tracts of wilderness into an asset, you need some way to track and monitor and inventory that asset. That’s what One Health is for. That’s what the Internet of Everything is for. These people are not doing these things out of the goodness of their hearts.​.. It is the next evolution of Surveillance Capitalism. Today, they do it with targeted ads and tracking cookies. Tomorrow, they’ll do it with comprehensive human brain and body data. This is about tokenizing people, breaking people down into data, and then feeding that data to AI…
    ..Net Zero is a global austerity plan. The Overclass plan to replace property ownership with servitization, positioning themselves as rentier-aristocrats, essentially reviving the old pre-industrial order of hereditary aristocracy, but this time, with AI, mass surveillance, big data, and some kind of dole… It’s feudalism with smartphones…​ Oh, and while they’re at it, they plan to slash the population a bit, so the real wealth (in terms of land and physical goods) doesn’t have to be split so many ways and they can get away with smaller industries. Do you see it? Do you see the future they have in store?​ …
    ​..If we break down COVID-19 to its fundamentals, clearly, what we’re talking about is an attack on humanity, one carried out with military precision and full knowledge and intent. With the mounting evidence of vaccine harms, with the authorities ignoring evidence of DNA contamination of mRNA vaccines and adverse events that have long passed the threshold for a recall, with the global coordination of the lockdowns, and with the revelations of a lab origin, it’s increasingly clear that there was intent behind this. It wasn’t just some accident. It was deliberate. You don’t do that unless you have a plan, and you don’t have a plan unless you have a rationale, some cause, some casus belli. A reason for the conflict. Who is it that views humans in general as so threatening that we need to suffer mass poisoning to make this other party safe and whole?
    ​ There was military planning behind this. If it’s the military, then there can only really be one answer. Overpopulation was the problem they were trying to solve.
    ​ You don’t think military planners think about overpopulation? You think it’s just something for Davos grandstanders and TEDTalkers to blabber on about? In military and intelligence circles, they think about it all the time. They’re always running through all the different scenarios; World War III, mass embargoes, shortages of food and consumer goods, how to keep a struggling, possibly starving population happy while also prosecuting a huge war. If you predict a resource war, then maintaining a huge population is a strategic and financial liability. You can’t fight Russia and China while also fighting a civil war at home against people who are angry that the bread and circuses are gone. Any comprehensive continuity of government plan also includes contingency plans for what to do about millions of people who can no longer be fed or clothed. It’s nothing good…
    ..Think, for a moment, about what would happen if we actually did live through a Peak Natural Gas scenario and could no longer produce enough ammonia by the Haber-Bosch process to use as fertilizer. If we ran out of synthetic fertilizer, food would cost several times as much as it does now. Crop yields would drop by half. It would be catastrophic. People would starve.​..
    ..Countering overpopulation with intentional depopulation is, at its core, the exertion of biopower. It is the State advancing the notion that there is an excess number of human bodies and that they have to be removed somehow. By what right does the State claim such a thing? Is the preservation of the State more important than the preservation of each individual human life?​ …
    ..If you want to modify human beings to serve the system better, or to make us easier to manage, or if you want to create some kind of Brave New World-style caste system of Alpha Brahmins and Epsilon Dalits, you have already lost the plot. If your grand scheme to revitalize human civilization involves abolishing humanity itself … your solution is a non-solution.​ https://iceni.substack.com/p/spartacast-18

    ​Kyle Young, The May 7 Real ID Deadline:​ The Loss of Constitutional Rights under Bush and Trump
    https://secularheretic.substack.com/p/the-may-7-real-id-deadline

    ​The Honest Sorcerer explains the need for high temperatures. The Nuclear Non-Solution Why nuclear energy is no panacea for civilizational decline https://thehonestsorcerer.substack.com/p/the-nuclear-non-solution

    NSA Waltz Demands Iran Give Up Entire Nuclear Program, Including Civilian Enrichment​ https://news.antiwar.com/2025/03/23/nsa-waltz-demands-iran-give-up-entire-nuclear-program-including-civilian-enrichment/

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 66 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.