Mar 072025
 
 March 7, 2025  Posted by at 10:15 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , ,  Add comments


James McNeill Whistler Symphony in White, No. 3 1867

 

Are All of Biden’s Presidential Actions ‘Null and Void’? (Margolis)
Europe’s ‘ReArm’ Plan “Is Going To Come At A Vast Cost” (Rabobank)
European Leaders Want ‘Forever War’ In Ukraine – Musk (RT)
Lavrov Compares Macron to Hitler and Napoleon (RT)
Macron’s Remarks on Use of Nuclear Arms a Threat to Russia – Lavrov (Sp.)
Kremlin Reacts To Macron’s ‘War’ Speech (RT)
EU Must Win Arms Race – Poland (RT)
Macron Should Apologize – Moscow (RT)
Trump Begins CIA Cuts – NYT (RT)
US Ready To Change Legal Status Of 240,000 Ukrainian Migrants (RT)
Lavrov Weighs In On US Decision To Halt Intel Sharing With Ukraine (RT)
‘Science Should Be An Engine For Freedom’: NIH Nominee Bhattacharya (JTN)
Obama Judge Indefinitely Blocks Trump Admin Funding Freeze (ZH)
DOGE Looking To Cut More Than 80,000 Employees At Veterans Affairs (JTN)
IRS Reportedly Plans To Cut Half of Its 90,000 Workforce (JTN)
Elon Musk Says Amtrak, US Postal Service Should Be Privatized (ET)
Trump Planning Major NATO Shakeup – NBC (RT)
Trump Wants To Sideline EU – Politico (RT)
EU Seeking To Bypass Opponents of Ukraine Aid – Kallas (RT)
Israeli FM ‘Didn’t Know’ Kiev Glorifies Holocaust Perpetrators (RT)

 

 

 

 

1987

 

 

Destiny

PAC
https://twitter.com/i/status/1897633263750877606

Tulsi

Sachs Maidan

Rubio

Kash
https://twitter.com/i/status/1896935794532556981

 

 

 

 

Autopen. Could be explosive. Will the Trump admin want to pursue it? It has Pandora written all over it.

Are All of Biden’s Presidential Actions ‘Null and Void’? (Margolis)

The Biden presidency might have been the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the American people. A shocking investigation by the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project has revealed that virtually every document bearing Joe Biden’s signature during his presidency was signed by an autopen — except for one. What makes this revelation particularly damning is that the only document confirmed to have Biden’s actual signature was his letter announcing his withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race. Let that sink in for a moment. Remember when House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) revealed his discussion with Biden when Biden couldn’t recall signing the executive order halting LNG exports? Now we know why — he probably didn’t. The real question is: Who did? Who was running the country while Biden was not all there?

The use of the presidential autopen dates back to the 1950s, and there’s been much debate about its legality. In 2013, Barack Obama became the first president to sign a bill into law using an autopen. He was vacationing in Hawaii at the time. His office relied on a 30-page memo from President George W. Bush’s legal team asserting that the president’s presence was not required as long as said president had authorized the signature. What’s not clear, in the case of Biden, is who was running the autopen and whether Biden was aware it was happening. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is demanding that the Department of Justice investigate whether Biden’s obvious cognitive decline allowed unelected bureaucrats to essentially run the government without presidential oversight. If this is true — and let’s be honest, all signs point to yes — every executive order, every pardon, and every official action taken under Biden’s name could be constitutionally void.

Bailey’s letter to Michael E. Horowitz, the inspector general of the Department of Justice, spells it out perfectly. “I write to request that you conduct a full investigation into President Biden’s mental capacity in his final days in office. By now, Biden’s mental decline is famous. Under the 25th Amendment, his inability to make decisions should have meant a succession of power. Instead, it appears staffers and officers in the Biden administration may have exploited Biden’s incapacity so they could issue orders without an accountable President of sound mind approving them. That would explain why the Biden administration’s orders were aggressively much farther to the left than any previous President. If in fact Biden’s staffers were exploiting his mental decline, those orders are null and void.”

The evidence is overwhelming. We know that Biden’s handlers desperately tried to prevent anyone from meeting with him one-on-one. Even Democratic insiders admit the truth. DNC fundraiser Lindy Li recently spilled the beans and acknowledged that Biden wasn’t running the show; his staff, his wife, and Hunter were. Thanks to the Heritage Foundation’s investigation, we now have proof that Biden’s signature was automated throughout his presidency — which raises serious questions about whether he was aware of what was being signed in his name at all. The Oversight Project rightfully points out that since Biden revoked Trump’s executive privilege, we can easily determine who controlled the autopen and what safeguards, if any, were in place.

The implications are staggering. We essentially had a presidency by proxy, with unelected staffers wielding presidential power while the man himself was barely cognizant enough to read a teleprompter. This isn’t just a scandal; it’s potentially the biggest constitutional crisis in American history. The American people deserve to know who was really calling the shots during the Biden administration. If these allegations prove true, every single action taken under Biden’s name needs to be scrutinized and potentially nullified. The truth must come out, and those responsible must be held accountable.

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The end of Europe’s welfare state.

“They created a wasteland and called it democracy.”

Europe’s ‘ReArm’ Plan “Is Going To Come At A Vast Cost” (Rabobank)

The US has increased its pressure on Ukraine to pause the war by turning off military intelligence to it, removing Kyiv’s ability to fire missiles into Russia. This action has further outraged and –given their reliance on US systems in NATO– terrified Europe. Note President Eisenhower did the same vis-à-vis then-and-current ally South Korea in 1953, which didn’t want to stop fighting; the US didn’t want a direct war with China, or more inflation, and made it clear military aid would stop until an armistice was achieved. That frozen conflict seems where Ukraine-Russia is heading, especially as President Zelenskyy just said what rejected what the Russian terms for any formal peace deal (demilitarisation, formal renouncement of lost territories) would be.

Europe has added its own pressure on Zelenskyy as Germany’s ministry of defence admits it can’t supply more materiel to Ukraine either as it’s out of stock. That underlines the need for the German announcement on infrastructure investment and rearmament yesterday, which saw 10-year Bund yields rise 31bp on the day, their worst performance since 1997. EUR jumped. Ahead of today’s EU ReArm summit President Macron addressed his nation, stating: “Our prosperity and security have become more uncertain, and it must be said, we are entering a new era… if a country can invade its neighbour in Europe with impunity, then no one can be sure of anything anymore, and it is the law of the strongest that applies, and peace can no longer be guaranteed on our continent itself.” He added that the future of Europe will not be set by the Kremlin or Washington, DC, and spoke of extending the French nuclear umbrella to Europe.

This is going to come at a vast cost. If you think a 31bp rise in Bunds captures the scale of shocks involved in a soft-power Europe trying to set its own future in a hard-power world then you spend too much time in soft-power circles. For starters, the FT op-eds today that ‘Europe must trim its welfare state to build a warfare state’: like it or not, that is starting to sound a bit MEGA (Europe, not America) and DOGE. One wonders what the ECB will say about it today.

Europe is outraged by US actions vs Ukraine and what some call the White House’s “reverse Nixon” strategy (so, ‘Noxin’?) of trying to split Russia from China, as with China vs the USSR in the 1970s: there is talk of Trump–Putin kinship or kompromat even in the financial press. However, facing a united China and Russia, when until this week Europe refused to rearm, is something all geostrategists, some belatedly, see as a deeply flawed US strategy. Moreover, the eurocentric fail to spot that Trump is not only pivoting from Europe to focus on Asia –which the EU largely thinks of in terms of trade not security– but is trying to use the quid pro quo gained there for Putin’s help with nuclear negotiations with Iran.

After all, Tehran is close to a nuclear weapon and Israel, who just rehearsed a joint strike on it with the US, to having to remove what it sees as an existential threat the hard way. Were that to occur, it would have a vast negative impact on the US and European economies. That key issue isn’t even part of current EU conversations; but as Europe rearms and tries to find its own place in the world, it will find it has to join more such dots in more locations at an ever-higher price. It also goes without saying that the odds of ‘Noxin’ and an Iran deal success are very low; but the alternative scenarios are not ones markets want to think about. Again, they do not imply just a 31bp move higher in 10-year Bunds. Especially not when the Chinese embassy in the US tweets: “If war is what the US wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end.”

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Leaders that will all be voted out soon. So why do it?

European Leaders Want ‘Forever War’ In Ukraine – Musk (RT)

European leaders who are pushing against a peace agreement in Ukraine want a perpetual state of war, tech billionaire Elon Musk said in a statement on X on Thursday. His remarks come in response to a recent video of Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen arguing that peace in Ukraine could be more dangerous than the ongoing conflict with Russia. Musk, who is also currently a senior adviser to US President Donald Trump, has repeatedly called for a peaceful resolution of the conflict and has spoken out against continued military aid to Kiev, arguing that it could lead to an escalation and risk a nuclear confrontation. Responding to a post featuring Frederiksen’s latest remarks, he argued that some European leaders “want the forever war” and asked how many more people will have to lose their lives.

“How many more parents with no sons? How many more children with no fathers? By their logic, it never ends,” Musk wrote. Frederiksen, who stated last month that “peace in Ukraine is actually more dangerous than the war that is ongoing now,” told journalists earlier this week that “Ukraine has to win this war.” She claimed that if Russia is allowed to win, it will continue to take military action against other European countries. “If we end this war now with some kind of a ceasefire, it will give Russia the possibility to mobilize more funds, people, and maybe to attack another country in Europe,” she said.

Her statements echoed comments by other EU leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, who has recently claimed that Russia poses a threat to the entire bloc and called for defense spending to be ramped up. Russia has also rejected unsubstantiated claims that it intends to attack European or NATO countries with Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissing such statements as “nonsense” and fear mongering by EU leaders aimed at alarming citizens and raising defense budgets. Moscow has warned that one of the key reasons for the Ukraine conflict was NATO expansion towards Russia, including the bloc’s promise that Kiev would eventually become a member.

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“..the French president’s “predecessors, who also wanted to fight Russia.”

Lavrov Compares Macron to Hitler and Napoleon (RT)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has compared French President Emmanuel Macron to Adolf Hitler and Napoleon Bonaparte, saying that he is also looking to impose a defeat upon Russia. During an address to the nation on Wednesday, Macron labeled Russia a “threat to France and Europe” and announced that he was considering expanding Paris’s nuclear deterrent to cover other EU member states. He insisted that the bloc needs to strengthen its independence when it comes to defense as there are doubts about the US continuing to protect the EU after the administration of President Donald Trump “changed its position” on the Ukraine conflict and became “less supportive” of Kiev. The French president insisted on further assistance to the government of Vladimir Zelensky, claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not stop if he is allowed to defeat Ukraine.

When asked to comment on Macron’s statements by journalists on Thursday, Lavrov mentioned Hitler and Napoleon, describing them as the French president’s “predecessors, who also wanted to fight Russia.” The two European dictators sent their armies into Russia in 1812 and 1941, respectively, but ended up suffering crushing defeats. The difference is that Hitler and Napoleon “said directly: ‘We must conquer Russia, we must defeat Russia.’ And he [Macron], apparently, wants the same thing, but for some reason says that we must fight Russia so that it does not defeat France; that Russia is creating a threat to France and Europe,” he stressed.

The minister refuted the French leader’s claims that Moscow has plans to attack Western Europe, calling such notions “unreasonable.” “President [Vladimir] Putin has said many times that this is absolute nonsense. I think that any sane person would understand that [by launching its military operation] Russia only wants to eliminate the root causes of the situation created by the West in Ukraine,” he explained. Lavrov also said that Moscow views Macron’s statement about widening France’s nuclear umbrella as a “threat towards Russia.” “If he considers us a threat, if he is calls a meeting of the chiefs of staff of the [Western] European countries and Britain; if he says that it is necessary to use nuclear weapons; if he prepares to use nuclear weapons against Russia – this is, of course, a threat,” he insisted.

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“..former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was right when he said, in his usual manner, that the conflict in Ukraine could be stopped very quickly, within two weeks, if military aid to the Ukrainian government was halted..”

Macron’s Remarks on Use of Nuclear Arms a Threat to Russia – Lavrov (Sp.)

Moscow sees French President Emmanuel Macron’s words on possible use of nuclear weapons as a threat, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday. “Of course, this is a threat to Russia. If he [Macron] considers us a threat, gathers a meeting of the chiefs of General Staff of European countries and Britain, says it is necessary to use nuclear weapons, prepares to use nuclear weapons against Russia, this is, of course, a threat,” Lavrov told a news conference. On Wednesday, Macron said that Russia had become a “threat” to France and Europe, therefore, it was necessary to open a discussion on the use of France’s nuclear weapons to defend the entire European Union. Emmanuel Macron has the opportunity to call Russian President Vladimir Putin anytime, and accusations that Russia is allegedly preparing a war against Europe are unwise, Lavrov said.

“Macron periodically proudly declares that he will definitely call Putin and talk to him. He has such opportunities. No one forbids it. On the contrary, the president constantly emphasizes his openness to contacts with all his colleagues. And regarding these, frankly, unwise accusations of Russia in preparing a war against Europe and France, Putin has repeatedly said, calling such thoughts delusional, nonsense. Probably, it is absolutely clear to any sane person that Russia does not need this,” Lavrov told a joint press conference with Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Amon Murwira. Russia sees no possibility for achieving a compromise on possible deployment of European peacekeepers in Ukraine, Lavrov said. “We see no room for compromise. This discussion is being conducted with an openly hostile purpose. They are not hiding what they need it for,” Lavrov.

Suspension of US intelligence transfers to Ukraine confirm Russia’s statements that such assistance was provided to Kiev and it helped to carry out strikes deep into Russia, Sergey Lavrov said. “As for the current situation with the provision of military assistance and the pause that the US has announced, and the pause that was announced with respect to the provision of intelligence information, this has confirmed what we have always said, our president has repeatedly noted that without the direct participation of the West, the US, the UK, France, Germany, and other countries that provide intelligence data and help use the technologies for using this data to launch long-range missiles at our territory, the Ukrainians could not do this,” Lavrov said. The suspension of military aid to Ukraine from the United States may help to quickly end the Ukrainian conflict, Sergey Lavrov said.

“It has been said many times that former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was right when he said, in his usual manner, that the conflict in Ukraine could be stopped very quickly, within two weeks, if military aid to the Ukrainian government was halted. This is the answer to your question. We agree with this assessment. Another thing that Josep Borrell added was that this should never be done, because first you need to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, and then dictate the terms of peace to it,” Lavrov told reporters. The Russian foreign minister noted that Russia is ready for a frank dialogue on the settlement of the Ukraine conflict.

“We are ready for an honest conversation, taking into account all the root causes of this conflict, including, of course, the main one – Russia’s security and guarantees against NATO’s continued expansion into Ukraine, which would then be used to create constant threats to Russia,” Lavrov said. In addition, the Russian official said that French President Emmanuel Macron’s statement about Russia and Ukraine was nervous and very verbose. “Macron, as I understand it, said in his lengthy, rather nervous statement yesterday [March 5] that the war should not be allowed to end with the surrender of Ukraine,” Lavrov said.

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“Following the 2022 escalation, both politicians admitted that the purpose of the accord from the West’s perspective had merely been to buy time for Kiev to strengthen its military..”

Macron said that Russia cannot be trusted because it violated the Minsk agreements. 4 days before the Russian invasion (February 20, 2022), Macron told Putin that the Minsk agreements have no legal force and are worthless!

Kremlin Reacts To Macron’s ‘War’ Speech (RT)

https://twitter.com/i/status/1897386604404306352

French President Emmanuel Macron’s speech focusing on Russia earlier this week was “highly confrontational,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday, arguing that it signals an intent to further escalate tensions. In his address to the nation on Wednesday, Macron labeled Russia “a threat” to the EU and called for a significant increase in defense spending to counter the perceived danger posed by Moscow. He also said that France would be prepared to deploy troops to Ukraine should a truce be reached in the conflict. Commenting on the remarks during a regular press briefing, Peskov stressed that it hardly conveyed a message of peace: “France apparently is contemplating war, a continuation of war.” This stance naturally elicits a negative reaction in Moscow, he suggested.

Macron’s address adhered to the conventional Western narrative portraying Russia as the unprovoked aggressor in the Ukraine conflict and claimed that Moscow has ambitions of conquest in Ukraine and beyond. However, according to Peskov, the French leader selectively ignored crucial events and circumstances that contributed to the current Ukraine crisis. Among these, he pointed to NATO military infrastructure “encroaching, or rather making seven-mile strides” towards Russia’s borders, creating significant security concerns for Moscow. Peskov stated that Russia had no choice but to respond to this growing threat. He also refuted Macron’s claims that Russia violated the Minsk Agreements, citing former French President Francois Hollande’s acknowledgment that the West never genuinely intended for them to succeed.

In 2015, Hollande and then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel co-mediated a roadmap purportedly aimed at peacefully reintegrating the then-breakaway regions in Donbass back into Ukraine. Following the 2022 escalation, both politicians admitted that the purpose of the accord from the West’s perspective had merely been to buy time for Kiev to strengthen its military with NATO support. Peskov also remarked that in 2014 France and other European nations “deceived” then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich by endorsing his power-sharing agreement with Western-backed militants, who violated the deal within hours and forcibly removed the democratically elected leader, all without any protest from Paris.

The EU is currently promoting a substantial military buildup that would cost some $840 billion and be funded through debt. Brussels asserts that European security risks have been intensified by the shift in Washington’s policy under President Donald Trump, who is seeking a resolution to the Ukraine conflict while urging Europe to assume responsibility for future security guarantees for Kiev. Peskov observed that while this does not make the US a friend of Russia, it at least opens avenues for normalizing bilateral relations.

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“The war, the geopolitical uncertainty and the new arms race started by Putin..”

EU Must Win Arms Race – Poland (RT)

The EU must escalate its military buildup and win the arms race against Russia, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said. This comes amid growing efforts by EU leaders to increase defense spending, citing what they describe as a threat from Moscow, which Russia has repeatedly denied. Tusk’s remarks also come as US President Donald Trump and his administration increasingly push European NATO members to take greater responsibility for their own defense. Washington has suggested that Europe should rely less on US military aid, particularly regarding Ukraine, and instead ramp up its own military spending. In a message posted on social media on Thursday, Tusk accused Moscow of starting a new arms race and insisted that Europe must respond.

“The war, the geopolitical uncertainty and the new arms race started by Putin have left Europe with no choice. Europe must be ready for this race, and Russia will lose it like the Soviet Union 40 years ago,” Tusk wrote, adding that from today, Europe will arm itself faster than Russia. His comments follow recent statements by French President Emmanuel Macron, who has claimed that Russia poses a threat to the EU. Macron has urged the bloc to increase defense spending and has also proposed expanding Europe’s nuclear deterrence, potentially extending France’s nuclear umbrella to other EU countries in response to the perceived risks from Moscow.

Moscow has dismissed the accusations that it poses a military threat to Europe and has condemned Macron’s latest statement as “highly confrontational.” Russian President Vladimir Putin called Western claims of an impending Russian attack “nonsense.” He has also accused European leaders of stoking tensions and using the perceived Russian threat as a pretext to justify increased military spending. In December, Putin also stressed that Russia does not want to be bogged down in an arms race, which would be detrimental to the social and economic development of the country. He warned, however, that Russia will take all necessary measures to ensure the security of itself and its allies.

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“Macron should invite his predecessor… Hollande, to the Élysée Palace to have a heart-to-heart talk with him… Then he’ll probably hear from Hollande… that he had no intention of implementing the Minsk agreements..”

Macron Should Apologize – Moscow (RT)

French President Emmanuel Macron should apologize for making “misleading” claims about the origins of the Ukraine conflict, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has told RT. In particular, Zakharova criticized Macron for alleging that Russia was to blame for the failure of the Minsk Accords. The agreements were brokered in 2014 and 2015 to halt fighting between Ukraine and the now-Russian Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, with France and Germany as guarantors. They were ultimately not implemented, and Moscow later accused Kiev and the West of using them to strengthen Ukraine’s military instead of securing peace. In a televised address on Wednesday,

Macron, however, blamed Russia of violating the accords and cited them as proof that the West “can no longer take Russia at its word” when it comes to resolving the conflict. “We cannot forget that Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and that we negotiated a ceasefire in Minsk at that time. And Russia did not respect this ceasefire,” the French president alleged, claiming that Moscow poses a direct threat to France and the entire EU. Zakharova condemned Macron’s comments as “aggressive and destructive” and pointed out that former French President François Hollande and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel have “openly confessed, and not under torture or pressure” back in 2022 they never intended to enforce the accords.

“Macron should invite his predecessor… Hollande, to the Élysée Palace to have a heart-to-heart talk with him… Then he’ll probably hear from Hollande… that he had no intention of implementing the Minsk agreements while representing France,” Zakharova stated, suggesting that after speaking to Hollande, Macron would “have to apologize to his own population for misleading them.” Macron has been a vocal advocate of strengthening Europe’s defenses against Russia and reiterated this position in his latest address. Moscow, however, has repeatedly denied having any plans to attack either the EU or NATO, with President Vladimir Putin dismissing such speculation as “nonsense” on multiple occasions.

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“..effectively granted Ratcliffe the authority to remove any CIA employee for any reason without the right to appeal.”

Trump Begins CIA Cuts – NYT (RT)

The administration of US President Donald Trump has begun cutting CIA staff as part of a broader effort to downsize government agencies, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing sources. The first dismissals reportedly targeted officers hired within the past two years, many of whom were still on probationary contracts. According to sources familiar with the situation, several recently hired CIA employees were summoned to a location away from the agency’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia, where they were asked to surrender their credentials without prior notice. The firings have reportedly led to anxiety among remaining CIA staff, with some employees allegedly avoiding calls from security out of fear they may be next.

A CIA spokeswoman confirmed to the New York Times that certain recently hired officers had been let go but did not specify how many. She signaled that the dismissals were performance-based, as did several unnamed officials who spoke to the outlet. The reported firings come amid Trump’s efforts to cut government ranks as part of a drive to eliminate wasteful state spending, bureaucracy, and corruption – a campaign spearheaded by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under billionaire Elon Musk. During the first cabinet meeting of his second term, Trump pledged to “cut down the size of government,” arguing that federal agencies had become “bloated” and “sloppy.” On February 11, he signed an executive order on workforce optimization, mandating large-scale reductions across government agencies and limiting hiring to essential positions.

The report also follows a federal judge’s ruling that cleared the way for CIA Director John Ratcliffe to fire employees at will. In late February, Judge Anthony J. Trenga ruled on a lawsuit brought by officers dismissed after Trump’s order to cut diversity programs in government agencies. That decision effectively granted Ratcliffe the authority to remove any CIA employee for any reason without the right to appeal. The Trump administration has previously cracked down on the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington’s primary mechanism for funding political projects abroad, firing some 2,000 employees and putting nearly all remaining staff on leave. According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, Trump is also preparing an executive order aimed at dismantling the Department of Education, which he has repeatedly criticized as a “big con job.”

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And “around 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans..”

US Ready To Change Legal Status Of 240,000 Ukrainian Migrants (RT)

US President Donald Trump’s administration is preparing to revoke the temporary legal status for all refugees, including around 240,000 Ukrainians – a move that could speed up their path to deportation, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing a senior administration official and three sources familiar with the matter. Expected to come into force in April, the decision is part of a broader crackdown on immigration which Trump launched since assuming office and marks a dramatic shift from the reception Ukrainians received under the previous administration of Joe Biden. The outlet noted that the effort to revoke protections for Ukrainians was already in progress before a verbal altercation between Trump and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky in the Oval Office last week.

According to sources, the move is part of a broader Trump administration initiative to eliminate the legal status of over 1.8 million migrants who entered the US through temporary humanitarian parole programs introduced under the Biden administration. In addition to the 240,000 Ukrainians, the administration plans to revoke parole for around 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans this month, the administration official and one of the anonymous sources told the outlet. Shortly after assuming office on January 20, Trump signed a number of executive orders introducing tougher immigration controls, including a decree instructing the Department of Homeland Security to “terminate all categorical parole programs.”

An internal US Immigration and Customs Enforcement email reviewed by Reuters indicated that migrants losing their parole status could face fast-track deportation proceedings. Other executive orders also included enhancing vetting for visa applicants, limiting birthright citizenship, directing the armed forces to guard the southern border with Mexico, and erecting additional barriers. Trump also repealed 78 executive orders signed by Biden, including directives related to immigration.

The development comes amid a deepening rift in US-Ukraine relations. Tensions have escalated in recent weeks following Zelensky’s ill-tempered meeting with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over a minerals deal, culminating in a tense public argument between Trump and Zelensky in the White House last week. Zelensky was accused of “disrespecting” the US, with Trump insisting that the Ukrainian leader does not want peace. A proposed minerals deal between the US and Ukraine was left unsigned as a result.

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“Without the direct involvement of the West [..] Ukraine would not be able to use these technologies and data to launch long-range missiles at our territory. This is a very important acknowledgment,”

Lavrov Weighs In On US Decision To Halt Intel Sharing With Ukraine (RT)

Ukraine is entirely incapable of launching long-range missile strikes on Russia without direct support from Western nations, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said, citing the recent US decision to pause intelligence sharing with Kiev as proof. On Wednesday, CIA Director John Ratcliffe confirmed that the US had halted intelligence sharing with Kiev, adding that the restrictions could be lifted if Ukraine demonstrated a commitment to peace negotiations with Russia. Washington has also frozen military assistance to Kiev, with both moves following a public spat between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky during an Oval Office meeting last week. The talks ended with Trump accusing Zelensky of “disrespect” and reluctance to seek peace with Moscow.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Lavrov highlighted the consequences of the US decision on intel sharing. “Without the direct involvement of the West – namely the United States, Britain, France, Germany, and other countries – Ukraine would not be able to use these technologies and data to launch long-range missiles at our territory. This is a very important acknowledgment,” the minister said. At the same time, Lavrov declined to speculate on how long the freeze would last, stressing that Russia is focused on eliminating the root causes of the conflict, including securing guarantees that NATO “will not continue to absorb Ukraine as a territory that could later be used to create permanent threats against the Russian Federation.”

Ukraine has long used advanced Western-made weapons, including US-supplied HIMARS and ATACMS, and British Storm Shadow missiles, to target Russian facilities, including civilian ones. In the fall of 2024, the administration of then-US President Joe Biden authorized Ukraine to use American long-range missiles for strikes deep into Russian territory despite Moscow’s warnings that this would escalate the conflict. In response to Ukrainian long-range strikes using Western weapons, Russia deployed its newest intermediate-range ballistic missile system, the Oreshnik, to target Ukraine’s Yuzhmash military-industrial facility in the city of Dnepr. Russian President Vladimir Putin described the Oreshnik as impossible to intercept, noting its warheads travel at ten times the speed of sound. Putin has said that Ukraine could launch missile strikes deep into Russia only if it receives reconnaissance data from satellites operated either by the EU or the US.

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“..Senate Democrats seem to have thrown in the towel on defending their own COVID record and heroes including Dr. Anthony Fauci..”

‘Science Should Be An Engine For Freedom’: NIH Nominee Bhattacharya (JTN)

Senate Democrats and some Republicans liked the status quo at the National Institutes of Health before the second Trump administration and Department of Government Efficiency started closely scrutinizing its grant decisions, headcount and wildly generous reimbursement for “indirect costs” to institutions at the expense of money for their researchers. That seemed apparent at Wednesday’s Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing for NIH director-nominee Jay Bhattacharya, who faced repeated bipartisan demands to oppose President Trump who nominated him and immediately undo decisions made by agency leaders and the president’s Department of Government Efficiency, especially mass terminations and funding freezes.

Best known for his pioneering research on widespread COVID-19 immunity by April 2020 and vocal opposition to prolonged school closures and vaccine mandates, the Stanford medical professor and health economist barely drew criticism for his own record. He mentioned just a single vaccine whose safety record troubled him when asked by Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J.: “COVID vaccines for young men causing myocarditis,” which is inflammation of heart muscle. Like their House colleagues a month earlier, Senate Democrats seem to have thrown in the towel on defending their own COVID record and heroes including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the four-decade director of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Instead they assailed Trump and DOGE boss Elon Musk, with ranking member Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, telling Bhattacharya he’d be subservient to the unofficial leader of DOGE and asking Chair Bill Cassidy, R-La., to haul billionaire Musk before the committee. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., asked Bhattacharya whether he’d follow the law when Trump gave him an illegal directive. When he rejected the plausibility of the hypothetical, she responded “that strains credulity” and denounced his “disappointing answer.”

Sanders repeatedly cut off Bhattacharya as he tried to answer leading questions about unilaterally capping high prices for drugs developed through NIH research and using his “bully pulpit” to pressure TV stations to ban ads for “unhealthy foods.” The nominee barely got to answer that the U.S. could have saved untold spending on drugs by treating serious COVID infections with the “cheap steroid” dexamethasone, as documented in a July 2020 New England Journal of Medicine study. “A lot can be done through executive orders,” Sanders answered, referring to Trump’s first-month deluge, when Bhattacharya told him that previous NIH directors said only Congress can impose price caps. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., called bullplop on Democrats for not cosponsoring his bill to remove junk food from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which he said would disproportionately improve health for poor people.

The ophthalmologist cheered Bhattacharya’s tout of steroids that cost “pennies” to treat serious COVID, which he said Fauci rejected in March 2020. Paul called it “the best cure and the cheapest,” and Bhattacharya frowned that the U.K. did that research instead of NIH. Just as Democrats pivoted to praising COVID vaccines as “life-saving” after the novel therapeutics were found unable to stop transmission, to make infection more likely via the antibody “class switch” and to cause heart inflammation in young people, several used the compound adjective to describe research subject to NIH’s funding pause. So did Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who also joined Democrats in branding NIH’s new 15% cap on indirect cost recovery – in line with private foundations’ reimbursement ratios – a violation of congressional directives. She called the cap “ill-conceived and completely arbitrary” and a “one-size-fits-all approach,” a jab often applied to federal COVID guidance.

Bhattacharya reminded senators his own research received NIH grants and he served on a standing NIH grant committee for a decade, but said the agency must recover from the cratering public trust in public health leaders due to their pandemic management. His NIH will “vigorously regulate” research that could cause another pandemic, he said, referring to the theory favored by the FBI, CIA and Department of Energy that SARS-CoV-2 leaked from a Chinese lab conducting gain-of-function experiments, indirectly funded by Fauci’s agency. Bhattacharya promised Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., he’d work with Congress to keep taxpayer money out of foreign biolabs such as Ukraine’s, publish records with “limited obfuscation” and require funding recipients to report “politically inconvenient” results.

Tuberville had asked about an NIH-funded study on youth gender transitions and mental health whose negative findings were intentionally withheld for seven years, helping create a false medical consensus on so-called gender affirming care for young people. He urged Bhattacharya to be “very visual on television” with his transparency message. Bhattacharya said he’ll prioritize research on chronic diseases including obesity and diabetes and reversing the slide in life expectancy, which has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, and make it “replicable, reproducible and generalizable,” a weakness for the agency. He noted NIH’s “research integrity scandal” on Alzheimer’s disease, which he has studied, and its devotion to the “amyloid hypothesis,” an explanation for Alzheimer’s that may be based on falsified data and which he said crowded out study of other hypotheses.

Read more …

“..the Court finds that the public interest lies in maintaining the status quo and enjoining any categorical funding freeze.”

Obama Judge Indefinitely Blocks Trump Admin Funding Freeze (ZH)

A Rhode Island US District Judge has indefinitely blocked President Trump’s freeze on federal grants and loans, arguing in his ruling that the White House had “put itself above Congress” and undermined democracy. In a Thursday ruling, Judge John McConnell Jr., an Obama appointee – prohibited the Trump administration from freezing or otherwise impeding the disbursement of appropriated federal funds, WSJ reports. The decision is a victory for Trump critics who say he has trampled on Congress’s authority in his effort to cut federal spending and overhaul agencies. McConnell’s order follows a similar one issued by a different federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 25. The judge had previously issued a temporary restraining order, which on Thursday he converted into an injunction, a more permanent form of relief.

“The Executive’s categorical freeze of appropriated and obligated funds fundamentally undermines the distinct constitutional roles of each branch of our government,” wrote McConnell. “Here, the Executive put itself above Congress,” he continued. “It imposed a categorical mandate on the spending of congressionally appropriated and obligated funds without regard to Congress’s authority to control spending.” Of note – McConnell was very active in Democratic politics before becoming a judge – serving 14 years as treasurer of the Rhode Island Democratic State Committee, and donating heavily to Democratic political candidates. McConnell’s ruling came after 22 Democrat states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit which challenged a directive from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directing them to pause funding while it assessed whether various government programs complied with executive orders issued by Trump which target foreign aid, DEI, and green energy projects.

While OMB then rescinded that directive, the states say that come Congressionally-approved funds were still being improperly withheld – and that the initial OMB policy rollout sowed confusion among state governments, nonprofits, and lawmakers. McConnell issued an earlier temporary restraining order (TRO), in which he said that the administration couldn’t “pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel, or terminate” its federal financial-assistance obligations to the states. According to the judge, state governments face “significant disruption in health, education, and other public services” due to the funding freeze, and as such, “the Court finds that the public interest lies in maintaining the status quo and enjoining any categorical funding freeze.”

Read more …

“In February, [..] VA said it was continuing to hire for more than 300,000 mission-critical positions that are exempt from the federal hiring freeze..”

DOGE Looking To Cut More Than 80,000 Employees At Veterans Affairs (JTN)

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is planning to cut 80,000 positions as part of an “aggressive” overhaul of the agency that runs programs for veterans and members of their families. The VA’s chief of staff, Christopher Syrek, told top VA officials on Tuesday that it would to return to 2019 staffing levels of just under 400,000 employees. That would require dismissing about 83,000 employees after the VA expanded during the Biden administration. It will work with the Department of Government Efficiency to create a workforce optimization plan, Syrek said in an internal memo obtained by multiple news outlets, including Government Executive, which first reported on the memo. He said VA will “move aggressively” to reduce bureaucracy, cut the department’s footprint and “increase workforce efficiency,” the outlet reported. House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Democrats said the move could hurt veterans.

“83,000 VA employees are set to be fired,” the committee wrote on X. “These cuts won’t just impact those seeking health care. They will create chaos across every aspect of VA – delaying benefits, straining claims processing, and making it nearly impossible for student veterans and schools to get the assistance they need. Veterans will suffer the consequences.” The VA added staff quickly during the Biden administration as it staffed up to address increased coverage under the PACT Act, a law that expanded VA health care and benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances. News of the overhaul comes after relatively minor cuts at the agency. Earlier this week, Veterans Affairs started cancelling close to 600 “non-mission critical” and “duplicative” contracts valued at about $1.8 billion – and this is just the beginning, according to the department.

The cancellations result from the early stages of a “deliberative, multi-level review” by some of the people responsible for the contracts, VA senior leaders and contracting officials and will allow Veterans Affairs to redirect about $900 million back to veteran benefits and services, the agency said. The 585 contracts the department has begun canceling “represent less than 1% of the roughly 90,000 contracts VA currently has in place,” and the department plans to perform a thorough review of all of them. In February, VA dismissed more than 1,400 probationary employees in non-mission critical positions. At that time, VA said it was continuing to hire for more than 300,000 mission-critical positions that are exempt from the federal hiring freeze. Earlier that same month, VA announced it dismissed more than 1,000 of its 43,000 probationary employees in a move expected to save $98 million a year. The agency said those let go included non-union probationary employees who have served less than a year in a competitive service appointment or who have served less than two years in an excepted service appointment.

Read more …

“This will ensure that the IRS is not going after the wealthy and is only an agency that’s really focused on the low income,” he said. “It’s a travesty.”

IRS Reportedly Plans To Cut Half of Its 90,000 Workforce (JTN)

The Internal Revenue Service reportedly plans to cut its roughly 90,000-employee workforce by as much as half, as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce. The cuts will be made through a mix of attrition, layoffs and incentivized buyouts, two people familiar with the situation told the Associated Press. The reduction of the federal workforce is being led by the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, which is being led by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk. Those being laid off are mostly probationary employees who have not yet gained civil service protection.

The agency has already cut roughly 6,000 employees, or bout 6% of its workforce, Reuters reported in late February. Philip Hackney, a University of Pittsburgh tax law professor and Former IRS lawyer, warned such cuts could unfairly target the country’s underclass. “This will ensure that the IRS is not going after the wealthy and is only an agency that’s really focused on the low income,” he said. “It’s a travesty.”

Read more …

“I think logically, we should privatize anything that can reasonably be privatized..”

Elon Musk Says Amtrak, US Postal Service Should Be Privatized (ET)

Elon Musk, who is advising President Donald Trump on reducing government waste and downsizing the federal workforce, has called for privatizing the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and passenger rail operator Amtrak. “I think logically, we should privatize anything that can reasonably be privatized,” Musk said at a March 5 Morgan Stanley conference. “I think we should privatize the Post Office and Amtrak for example.” Amtrak, a government-owned company created in 1970, reported an adjusted operating loss of $705 million in the prior fiscal year. USPS, also government-owned, has accumulated over $100 billion in losses since 2007, including $9.5 billion in the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2024. Neither Amtrak nor USPS responded to requests for comment on Musk’s remarks by publication time. The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) voiced opposition to Musk’s idea of privatizing USPS, emphasizing the service’s public mission.

“A friendly reminder on behalf of every American who depends on USPS (including 51.5 million rural addresses): It’s called universal service, not ‘as much as possible’ service,” NALC wrote in a post on X. “And we’ll #FightLikeHell to protect it.” Trump has previously suggested that the USPS could be privatized, a move that would allow for more flexibility in pricing and labor negotiations. During Trump’s first term, his administration proposed a restructuring plan for USPS, citing “extremely high” fixed costs and an inability to support its financial obligations. The plan highlighted over $100 billion in unfunded liabilities, a decade of consecutive losses, and a growing capital investment backlog. “A privatized Postal Service would have a substantially lower cost structure, be able to adapt to changing customer needs and make business decisions free from political interference, and have access to private capital markets to fund operational improvements without burdening taxpayers,” the proposal stated.

Last month, Trump said he was considering merging USPS with the Commerce Department, a move that Democrats said would violate federal law. Calling USPS “a tremendous loser for the country,” Trump said the objective of such a move would be to have a “post office that works well and doesn’t lose massive amounts of money.” Democrats have consistently opposed privatization efforts, warning that changes to USPS operations could disproportionately impact rural communities and those dependent on postal services for essential goods and medication. Trump has also repeatedly pushed to cut Amtrak’s federal funding, which totaled approximately $2.4 billion last year. His past budget proposals sought to reduce Amtrak’s funding by 40–50 percent and eliminate long-distance routes, arguing that resources should be redirected to higher-traffic corridors. Musk, comparing U.S. rail service to China’s high-speed system, criticized Amtrak as a “sad situation,” saying, “It will leave you with a very bad impression of America.”

Read more …

Trump questions Article 5.

Trump Planning Major NATO Shakeup – NBC (RT)

The US could decide to only defend those NATO countries that actually meet the bloc’s spending requirements, four former and current officials have told NBC. Such a policy would mark a major departure from a core article of the military bloc, which states that an attack on any NATO member is to be treated as an attack on all of them. A similar principle would apply to joint military exercises and American overseas deployments, the report said. Washington could choose to prioritize drills with those NATO partners that meet the defense spending targets and also reposition its forces in Europe according to the same criteria.

The administration of President Donald Trump has previously signaled that it was planning to reduce its military presence in Europe. The president also recently urged the EU to take the lead in its own defense and to bear the brunt of any future security guarantees for Kiev. Last month, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said that Washington intended to refocus its military priorities on countering China. He also warned the EU nations that they should not assume the presence of US troops on the continent will be indefinite. Some senior US officials contacted by NBC denied that the mutual defense clause – Article 5 – could be affected by any policy changes. Senator Chris Coons, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for Defense, said that Trump’s nominee for the NATO ambassador’s position, Matthew Whitaker, “gave very reassuring answers” on the administration’s commitments to Article 5.

Trump has repeatedly criticized NATO members that fail to meet the bloc’s current defense spending threshold of 2% of GDP. The president floated the idea of raising mandatory defense spending by members to 5% of GDP, though none – including the US – currently meet that threshold. According to NATO estimates, 23 bloc members met the 2% threshold as of 2024, with just five, including the US, coming in above 3%. Poland was the only member to spend more than 4% of GDP on defense.

Read more …

“..too divided and insufficiently nimble to respond to the scale of the storm that Trump is whipping up over Ukraine,”

Trump Wants To Sideline EU – Politico (RT)

US President Donald Trump wants to sideline and destroy the European Union, an entity that he has long disliked, Politico has claimed in an article published on Thursday. The outlet argued that Trump is taking advantage of the cracks within the bloc caused by the Ukraine conflict. The administration in Washington has recently launched negotiations with Russia to broker peace in the Ukraine conflict and has excluded the EU from the process, which has elicited condemnation from Brussels. Trump has also halted American military aid to Ukraine, leaving the bloc jostling for funds to support Kiev. Washington’s anti-EU push “is triggering a crisis in Brussels institutions. The EU as a bloc is scrambling to prove its relevance,” Politico wrote. The Ukraine conflict has exposed differences among EU members in defense priorities, economic interests, and diplomatic approaches.

While countries such as Poland and the Baltic states have advocated for stronger military backing of Kiev, others, particularly Hungary and Slovakia, have pushed back, calling for a negotiated settlement with Russia. The financial burden of military aid and energy security concerns have also fueled tensions. Right-wing movements in several EU nations have questioned the bloc’s commitment to Kiev. “Trump will sideline the EU and play divide-and-rule with national leaders,” the publication wrote. While European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met with US Vice President J.D. Vance in Munich last month, neither she nor European Council President Antonio Costa has had a face-to-face meeting with Trump, it noted.

The European Council, the body made up of the heads of state or government of all EU member states, “is being agonizingly exposed as too divided and insufficiently nimble to respond to the scale of the storm that Trump is whipping up over Ukraine,” Politico added. With Washington halting over $1 billion in arms shipments, Kiev faces potential shortages of ammunition and equipment. The EU is exploring alternatives to continue backing Ukraine militarily, despite the peace process initiated by the US and Russia. Von der Leyen on Tuesday unveiled a €800 billion plan aimed at bolstering the EU’s defense. In recent weeks, Trump has also targeted the bloc’s trade practices, describing them as “an atrocity” and announcing plans to impose a 25% tariff on EU goods. He also claimed that the bloc was “formed to screw the United States.”

Read more …

Trump wants to sideline EU, and the EU wants to sideline its own members.

“They created a wasteland and called it democracy.”

EU Seeking To Bypass Opponents of Ukraine Aid – Kallas (RT)

The EU is working on a new mechanism whereby a “coalition of the willing” would continue providing military aid to Kiev despite opposition by Hungary, according to Kaja Kallas, the bloc’s foreign policy chief. Kallas made the announcement on Thursday after arriving in Brussels for an emergency summit of the bloc’s 27 countries to discuss boosting defense and Ukraine aid amid waning US support.Asked by reporters about Hungary’s attempt to block aid to Ukraine, Kallas acknowledged the issue is “increasingly difficult” and explained that Brussels is considering a new initiative called a “coalition of the willing,” so that “one country cannot block everybody else.” She did not provide any details about how the mechanism would work in practice. Hungary has already rejected an EU draft text on Ukraine that included security guarantees for Kiev and a new military aid package. Budapest has also called on the EU to begin negotiations with Russia.

The idea of creating a “coalition of the willing” – a group of countries ready to support Kiev militarily – was first proposed by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at an emergency summit in London this past Sunday. The meeting in London was summoned shortly after Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s ill-fated trip to Washington. The term “coalition of the willing” is most closely associated with the designation given to the countries supporting the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 on the ultimately disproven allegations of possession of weapons of mass destruction.“We are still striving for having the unity of 27 members,” Kallas said, but added that if unanimity cannot be reached, Hungary will have to “speak for themselves.” The military aid package for Ukraine reportedly being prepared by the EU is worth at least $6.2 billion, making it one of the bloc’s largest arms commitments since 2022. However, Hungary has indicated that it will veto the initiative.

Earlier this week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled the so-called ReArm Europe initiative, an €800 billion plan aimed at bolstering the EU’s defense capabilities. The proposal was prompted by US President Donald Trump’s freezing of military aid to Ukraine while urging the EU to take greater responsibility for its own defense. Moscow has long warned against Western arms shipments to Ukraine, arguing that they only prolong the conflict without altering the outcome, while increasing the risk of a direct Russia-NATO clash. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Grushko has suggested that the EU could contribute to resolving the crisis by halting military and logistical support to Kiev.

Read more …

Without a past of nazis and holocaust, the country would not exist. It has one of the prime secret services in the world. But no idea what happens in Kiev.

Israeli FM ‘Didn’t Know’ Kiev Glorifies Holocaust Perpetrators (RT)

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has claimed ignorance of the well-documented fact that Ukrainian nationalists responsible for atrocities against Jewish people are venerated as heroes by Kiev. Moscow, in response, has offered to enlighten the Israeli official on the matter. On Monday, Sa’ar held a press briefing to mark Israel’s presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). West Jerusalem emphasized that anti-Semitism, which fueled Nazi crimes during World War II, “has not been eradicated from the world.” The minister seemed taken aback when a reporter asked for his thoughts on the modern-day glorification in Ukraine of Nazi-allied historical nationalist figures such as Stepan Bandera. In 2016, the Kiev city council renamed a large street in honor of Bandera, located just 3 km from Babi Yar, where an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 Jews and thousands of others were exterminated under Nazi occupation.

“First of all, I didn’t know about it. I will check it,” the official responded, pledging to issue a statement of condemnation “if there is a necessity.” Bandera and other nationalists, including those directly implicated in wartime atrocities, have been celebrated in modern Ukraine for years – something the reporter described as “common knowledge.” The Russian government expressed bewilderment at the exchange, with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova sarcastically questioning the competence of Israel’s diplomatic staff. “How so? What is the Israeli embassy in Kiev doing then? And in Moscow too?” she wrote on social media, offering a collection of relevant documents in English for the minister’s convenience.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry and its embassy in Kiev have in fact issued multiple statements denouncing the veneration of such figures. In January 2022, the diplomatic mission described that year’s annual torch march commemorating Bandera’s birthday as “desecrating the memory of the victims of the Holocaust in Ukraine.” No such condemnation was issued the following year, however. The embassy explained to Haarez that “we’ve made our position clear many times, but apparently there is nothing we can do, at least at the moment.” Moscow views the current government in Kiev as dominated by neo-Nazis and radical nationalists and insists that any potential peace deal with Ukraine must include a reversal of policies discriminating against ethnic Russians.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Elon

 

 

Nap
https://twitter.com/i/status/1897477371051360561

 

 

Feeders

 

 

Cheetah
https://twitter.com/i/status/1897665976646373393

 

 

Secret

 

 

Jekyll island

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle March 7 2025

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  • #183713

    James McNeill Whistler Symphony in White, No. 3 1867   • Are All of Biden’s Presidential Actions ‘Null and Void’? (Margolis) • Europe’s ‘ReArm’ P
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle March 7 2025]

    #183715
    Germ
    Participant

    Good morning :-))

    “Our beautiful Olivia sadly passed away peacefully but unexpectedly in her sleep on 25/05/2024 at her boyfriend’s family home. She was healthy and happy and her passing has been a huge shock to everyone who knew her. She was just 24.”

    Olivia Moorman

    TVASSF tick …tock …

    #183716
    Dr. D
    Participant

    I see a couple of things in the news. Phrase “Let the U.S. do the heavy lifting.” This is a metaphor of course, therefore meaning nothing. But it’s also a literalism. The U.S. MILITARY does “The heavy lifting”, that is, moving supplies from England, Poland, etc, all done on USAF, other “Heavy” equipment. Those nations simply do not have their own, bc it’s cheaper to slum ours.

    So if England is talking about mobilizing to Poland, I hope they’re building some wooden rafts…

    You can easily see that – even if Europe has EVERY other element of war, (they don’t,) having no “Heavy Lifting” is The. End. Bye.

    Wars start in March: that’s bad, that’s more or less on schedule with Armstrong’s War Cycle. And now the capital flows confirming it. May, I think, it always runs late and they got nothin’.

    I’ll keep saying it: so EVERY nation in Europe was against war, poor helpless saps being dragged along by the big mean United States of Trump. Now we’re leaving our warmongering ways and they jump in in SECONDS. Couldn’t be more mad! STOP THIS PEACE, IMMEDIATELY! Give War a Chance!

    And again, so EVERY social program, every culture, every social consideration, and good, all gone, poof, because they just decided – yesterday – all their people are just going to have to not eat and no health care because War.

    The people are still just popping up their head on this one after non-stop sniping for years, so we’ll see what they think of it when it’s on. I think we can all imagine they won’t be pleased.

    “Hey moms: how would you like not to eat, have no hot water AND have all your kids killed? Sound fun? Well dodge your local rape gang and come sign up today!”

    ““Trump has torn a huge rip in the interface layer of the fantasy bubble …”

    All anyone had to do was TELL THE DAMN TRUTH. 25 years of this s—t.

    “Gallant: If Israel returns to war, there will be no captives to return”

    Throwing cheese slices on the heads of these toddlers has worn off. We need a new non sequitur to hold the peace.

    “I told him that many people have died from Fentanyl that came through the Borders of Canada”

    That can’t be right: Trump is a big meanie. Wasn’t it CANADA where they just busted the biggest Fentanyl lab in the history of the universe last week? Soooo….what you’re saying is, you knew this lab was there. …But hadn’t busted it yet until this. Oh let me add…again… ONE MILLION DEAD. But England has long used ye olde opium wars, right?

    “”Vandalism Is Not Free Speech!” Elon Musk Speaks Out After Rise In Tesla Protests, Defacements

    Underselling this here. They are lighting Tesla cars and dealers on fire. Like Kenosha. So…Leftists are attacking….Leftists? People on the Right are pretty unlikely to own these cars. Aaaaaaand then they call the dealership and give Elon tens of thousands to repair them? Elon doesn’t own most of these cars, you fecking idjits.

    Aaaaaand using fire, which is terrorism, and uncontrolled, so likely to kill all sorts of random people nearby.

    “Why Are We Ignoring The Most Powerful Climate Solution?
    Regenerative agriculture restores the land, builds resilience, and reduces emissions naturally…

    Everyone asks. The answer is: because it doesn’t kill everyone. Who cares about the environment if if doesn’t kill people?

    DOGE Hones In On Shady Climate “Popup NGO Shell” That Received Billions From Biden

    There’s probably 100 of these – pushing the “eco” money to Citi was an example, completely admitted – but they gave $7 Billion to a company that was like 10 days old. They didn’t have a website. What did they do? What was it for? Unclear. Trust me, I wrote this invoice on a napkin…and the services were already provided, you see.

    Does anyone know what to say about Democrats stopping Hitler by wearing a Tshirt, and singing songs in Congress? They are REALLY happy with this. This was a total success, “Resistance Level Activated.” Boy, thanks to all this protesting, when they get into Congress, they’ll really do something now! …Oh, wait…

    I say this because I’ve quoted this from AOC. She’s like “Well, we don’t have any power now, but just protest and vote…” Huh? You’re a d—ned CONGRESSWOMAN. If you don’t have the power, you’d bloody well tell the People wtf that power IS, so we can go get it.

    Still at it. You DO know that being an outsider, a street person, a citizen, a protestor, is DIFFERENT than RULING Power, being an INSIDER, and the top of Government, right? …No they do not. Being communist agitator is the TOP of the universe, the highest possible calling. Actually running the Politboro? Getting shoes to Vladivostok? Ick. That’s for the little people. The Proles.

    “Trump: If NATO Countries Don’t Pay Fair Share, US Won’t Defend

    He knows they’ll die if they try for 5%. That’s why he picked it. Also if they were all 5% and actually armed, they wouldn’t need us, so that’s why he picked it. Europe is DOING this now. Okay, why? British Press and all Europe, “Trump is leaving NATO!!!!!!!!!!!!” Huh? Did he SAY that? Even all his trial balloons, Elon, did not say that. Elon is the only voice getting close and he asked “What are we doing there? Explain to me.” Apparently they can’t?

    Yeah, we all know what’s going on ACKSHULLY. It’s bizarre to watch them jump at any shadow that exists, they’re like a pack of baying hounds, worked themselves up, devoid of reason. Like the Vance thing. He says “Hey, can’t fight with some hollow army hasn’t been anywhere in 40 years.” Britain is like “Ooh! Ooh! Teacher! That’s ME! He’s talking about ME!!!” Huh? If you want, I guess. Then Vance points to the speech and says, “Here’s the quote, no I didn’t” no one cares. So now $880 Billion. Uh-huh. HOW?

    They literally say – to the public – “Well, we’re going to slash every social funding in Europe, all the food, heat, medicine, to go kill guys who aren’t attacking you.”

    Meanwhile at home: Watch: Unhinged Democrats Scream As Comer Crushes Dreams ‘Of Getting On MSNBC’
    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-unhinged-democrats-scream-comer-crushes-dreams-getting-msnbc

    Pressler uses the magic word! Rayciss! Sexissss!!! But the magic word isn’t working! But I SIGNALED!!! When I SIGNAL, rules say you have to fall down and obey! Teach-er!!! Rules of Congress on time and relevancy still exist! (Why? Because time is incredibly valuable, if everyone is to be heard, you have to limit to 5min or whatever, sorry. So she is attacking the congresspeople around her, in several ways, and wants to be special, the rules don’t apply to her because she says.)

    Trump, 1987

    Yeah, because that’s logic. They WANT it not to be logical, and they WANT you to KNOW it’s not logical, and make you do it anyway. Because that’s POWER. That’s where they get their emotional charge from, that’s why they exist. I Am God.

    “”Quite honestly, there is something about this administration that does feel destined.”

    Yes, and why? Well, probably the White Hats have been working to make it so since the 90s, so lots of small plans coming in to harvest. Here’s one Rich won’t like though: JD Vance is on the Memeosphere, like non-stop. Thousands of AI alterations of his face, fat, thin, child, Emperor. For whatever reason his features just happen to shift and still be recognizable, so people are having an entertaining party with it. Really no politics whatsoever involved. Not really pro, not anti, not mocking, just entertained that this exists.

    …That will be amazingly good for him, especially 4 years of this, posting his face in everything that happens and laughing. If it seemed he’d been picked, then actually rose to the challenge – not expected by me at least – well this just doubles that impulse. Sorry.
    SayingGiveJDaChance
    https://news24online.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/JD-Vance-Political-Meme.jpg

    “Autopen. Could be explosive. Will the Trump admin want to pursue it? It has Pandora written all over it.”

    They should. How would you prove it?

    I hear the REAL target of all this is Obama. Huh? I mean, yes, but Obama isn’t even Obama. He’s the CIA from birth. “Obama” is over in his D.C. townhouse, running the shadow government. Not really, as we see the shadow government runs itself. Okay, let’s pretend that’s all true. — And if it is, we need the American people to Hear, Know, and Digest that Truth so it doesn’t happen again, like everything else out there, like Europe screwing us to fight their wars. They tested the waters back then, with Obama, the CIA, his eligibility, all that, and no mas. The People were having none of it, it was all A) getting them, Trump into trouble in 2012, then doubled up on B) Raycissss. So we back up into a Long Plan. A very, very long plan. We can’t do that? Well we have to do something, what soldiers on the field CAN move forward? And they did.

    But IF you were going to do what should have been done, say Obama wasn’t President, wasn’t legal, all his laws never existed then, HOW would you do it? Well, you would start here. Are all BIDEN’s laws not legal? Is this something we should look into?

    Then, you can say, did Biden WIN? Is he even President?

    Then you can ask, is Obama a Natural Citizen? Was HE President? Or heck, why stop? Bush wasn’t President either, as proven by the recount several years later. Erase the Patriot Act too. Is it? Well, seems like a really far shot. Time moves on. But IF you were going to do it, you’d start here.

    “• Europe’s ‘ReArm’ Plan “Is Going To Come At A Vast Cost” (Rabobank)

    Immediate headlines. Try this every three months since 2001: “The world is chomping at the bit to buy European War bonds.” …Are they really though? TAXING AUTHORITY. EU ARMY. You are not and never a nation until you have these. Bye. Armstrong told you, bye bye now. Germany told Armstrong “We couldn’t let Germany vote, we’d lose 2 to 5 against.” Awwwwww. Well I guess you know what happens when you set up totally illegal foundations that dick the people.

    Btw, Germany is overturning the election in Germany now. The clip I had was from UK and I couldn’t follow it clearly. Like one small party lost ALL seats, …but they get to vote anyway. ‘Cause: Reasons. Please fill me in. Non-stop dickery continues. Romania’s not the only one.

    “This is going to come at a vast cost. If you think a 31bp rise in Bunds captures the scale of shocks”

    I’d have to follow the details here, but I guess German Bonds threw up at this? Hey No Kidding! You’re about to have a war when you have 5 tanks. Euro comment: “So the plan is to mobilize all Europe, arm Germany, ride through Poland and invade Russia? Just so we’re all clear here.” Yeah, you’ll want to write that in the history books for later under “What were you thinking??” Under “Europe loses their D—ned mind…AGAIN.”

    ““peace in Ukraine is actually more dangerous than the war that is ongoing now,” told journalists earlier this week that “Ukraine has to win this war.”

    So Peace kills 1.5 Million people? Do tell. This is not a peace I’m familiar with and have seen in Europe up to now.

    “we must fight Russia so that it does not defeat France; that Russia is creating a threat to France and Europe,”

    Well, so be fair, they’re all past illiterate and now can’t even understand cartoons in crayon. Perhaps you’d like to look at a MAP and how me how far away Russia is from France? Here’s the problem: when you’re psychotic, all these ideas are a jumble, right next to each other in your mind. They have zero geography and space. Dragons, Vampires, your brother in law, steak knives, mind-control guns, they’re all the same, equally real and next to each other. That’s what makes them “Insane”.

    “BREAKING: French President Macron addressed all Europeans to prepare for war with Russia. This was broadcast live across the continent. Europe will not accept capitulation of Ukraine to Russia under the guise of “peace negotiations.” Americans must decide whose side we are on.”

    What are you supposed to say to that?

    This may or may not matter – probably not anymore – but France because they suck so bad being overrun with Socialists, they say “For industry you go to Germany, but for Weapons you go to France.” Greeeaaaaaat. France wants to run the WAR. That will stop tiny Jupiter’s tiny collapse. And he’s got A Plan!! …They’re going to have an EU Army, you see! Uh-huh. And that New Army, with new money and new power, right? Uh-huh. And then they’ll need a new Defense Minister to run it, right? Uh-huh. And MACRON has volunteered himself to not end his term limit in France ‘cuz he’s out real soon, and move over to the new United States of EU Army! Uh…huh. …Just like NATO head, Rutte, and everybody else over there, Draghi, Bank, then PM, then…revolving door revolving so fast it’s all a blur. Nation, speciality, reason, all blur into one.

    I’m sure we’re all relieved tiny Macron has figured out how to feather his nest.

    “The EU is currently promoting a substantial military buildup that would cost some $840 billion and be funded through debt.” O Rly? Oh THAT debt! Oh yeah, the one where we said years ago if we didn’t print a few hundred trillion dollars for – spins wheel – the environment, we’d all collapse in a debt spiral.

    • EU Must Win Arms Race – Poland (RT)
    Great, but to win the race, you’d have to START the race. All your weapons are from the 70s and 80s. F16s, Patriots, Abrams. Russia has hypersonic Oreshniks, so unless you have anti0grav UFOs maybe you should NOT start that race.

    “The administration of US President Donald Trump has begun cutting CIA staff as part of a broader effort to downsize government agencies, the New York Times reported”

    Ever hired…By “Biden”. Or the non-Biden, Baker and Blinken, who were the real Derp State committee President.
    Okay, note Clinton purged 300k workers (and killed welfare) but that’s not Hitler because: Democrat. Obama purged every General but that’s not a coup because: Democrat. Noting that, NOW do you understand why he had to be President first and keep his head down? They needed those top clearance records of who was who and how everything was done. They needed the Hillary documents in Comey’s safe. Now this isn’t “Trump”, it goes to Team White Hat, but this time Trump lived and his name got in there twice. THAT’S WHY THEY CAN DO FOUR YEARS WORK IN 8 WEEKS. And they needed to, as you can see, the 100 year plan is to slow-walk, hide, prevent, deny, and obfuscate while the media works on you.

    Bye bye.

    So WHO is he cutting in the CIA? Well, pretty sure we now know who is ProTrump or antiTrump. But that really just means who was illegally screwing the President against the constitutional authority and who was doing their job. Very clear, as we saw, very polarized, no room to be not totally one side or the other. The Left would smell you, root you out, and kill you. So if you weren’t doing that, you were pretty serious patriot. You weren’t faking. Ask CitizenX.

    “US President Donald Trump’s administration is preparing to revoke the temporary legal status for all refugees, including around 240,000 Ukrainians – a move that could speed up their path to deportation”

    A QUARTER MILLION. “Let that sink in.” Soooo…We built another entire Omaha or Charleston to house these guys, right? Their arrival didn’t raise rents or nothing? Because they can only have been paid by government, as not that many jobs could be found so fast. That’s just ONE. HALF million in Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, and certainly 250k in other categories.

    So we built ten cities for them right? I sure remember doing that, don’t you? And I didn’t see rents go up and kids get locked out, did you?

    “Dr. Jay Bhattacharya: “Science should be an engine for knowledge and freedom, not something that stands on top of society and says you must do this or else.”

    Someone pointed out, We can’t have Science. Why? BECAUSE THE VACCINES DON’T WORK. If there were honest science, all the drug companies would go bankrupt. ….Funny, this is exactly what Warren and others said, isn’t it? That’s what happens when you’re a liar, a murderer, and a thief.

    “• DOGE Looking To Cut More Than 80,000 Employees At Veterans Affairs (JTN)

    You’d better prove this to me, buddy. Like the Post Office, VA seems pretty understaffed.

    “• Elon Musk Says Amtrak, US Postal Service Should Be Privatized (ET)

    Not sure. USPS is probably not able to profit. It’s also Constitutional. And “It’s already private!!!” …except that it is, except it isn’t, but it is…heard this for 50 years now, BothNeitherAiii. Amtrak? Well, they suck worst of anyone on the planet; what do you have to lose? Btw Amtrak trains are same age as our F16s, so if you’ve ridden one you can only imagine how weak, helpless, and broken those planes are.

    “• Trump Wants To Sideline EU – Politico (RT)

    You mean the Politico that only exists from USAID Money? What “Storm”? The Storm of Peace breaking out? Oh noes.

    “• Israeli FM ‘Didn’t Know’ Kiev Glorifies Holocaust Perpetrators (RT)

    They hear an antisemitism anywhere on earth one lightly falls, but 10 NYT articles about armed, racist, Jew-killing neoNazis in Azov a few miles north totally escaped them. In fact, they sent money! And their own central banker, “Our boy Yats”. Uh-huh. It’s almost like they’re not really Jews but use the Jewish population for cover.

    Elon, AI: Define “Smart”. Also they are aggregating HUMAN smart. They’re just distilling OUR “smart” right now.

    Watch carefully: that one Chicken feeder is a Guillotine! A chef’s knife balanced over his neck. “Respice post te! Hominem te memento!

    From the Internets: “‘White privilege’ has gone out of fashion. A recent interview with far-left woke agitator Ash Sarkar showed her making fun of the term and scoffing at how racial identity politics went too far. It’s quite remarkable to see those who pushed this corrosive brand of racism, now rolling back on it. Clearly, they sense that the tide has turned.”

    Showing they had neither logic nor principles in the first place. It was emotion, and about POWER. Now that they’re losing on this front, it’s denied and “They never really wanted that anyway.” Real White Privilege has never been tried. Brittney! I can’t believe you would say I ever said that!

    Please. Make it end.

    #183717
    poppie
    Participant
    #183718
    kultsommer
    Participant

    The American people deserve to know who was really calling the shots

    Don’t we ever?
    1913, 1963, 1968, 2001, 2020….

    #183719
    zerosum
    Participant

    Bubbles
    Power, Control, Conspiracies, Secrets, Lies, Manipulate Narratives, Change, Pain,
    ————–
    The EU is currently promoting a substantial military buildup that would cost some $840 billion and be funded through debt.
    —-
    ‘Europe must trim its welfare state to build a warfare state’
    ————-
    peace in Ukraine, “nonsense” and fear mongering
    ———–
    Macron labeled Russia “a threat” to the EU
    Macron said that Russia cannot be trusted because it violated the Minsk agreements. 4 days before the Russian invasion (February 20, 2022),
    ——-
    a new arms race

    Yesterday’s warfare – Drone – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_warfare
    Today’s warfare – Economic – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_warfare
    Tomorrow’s warfare – Electronic – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_warfare
    Peace warfare – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peace_War
    The Peace War is a science fiction novel by American writer Vernor Vinge, about authoritarianism and technological progress.
    ————
    Read more …

    DOGE, Rescission a relatively expeditious budget-slashing technique called “rescission.” The approach could guide DOGE cuts around federal judges who consider executive-branch-initiated spending cuts as exceeding constitutional authority.

    Rescission offers a means by which presidents can collaborate with Congress to cancel previously-appropriated spending.
    Enabled by Title X of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, the rarely-used process starts with the president sending a special message to Congress, providing specific details about which budgetary authorities he wants to rescind.

    It only takes a majority vote
    ————–

    who controlled the autopen, a presidency by proxy

    If these allegations prove true, every single action taken under Biden’s name needs to be scrutinized and potentially nullified.
    The truth must come out, and those responsible must be held accountable.
    —————-

    #183720
    Michael Reid
    Participant
    #183721
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    For wisdom, courage, truth, irony, and demonstration of walking the walk that one talks, there is no equal to the time Alexander the Great met Diogenes and asked if there was anything that he (Alexander) could do for him, and Diogenes answered, “You could start by not blocking my sunlight with your shadow.”

    Is it time to speak truth to power?

    #183723
    jb-hb
    Participant

    https://barsoom.substack.com/p/the-blitzkrieg-through-the-institutions

    …between these two incidents, it is safe to say that the Cancelled Years have officially come to an unlamented and ignominious end. The reign of terror of emotionally unstable hysterics is over. You can just say things now.

    And you should say things. The Trump admin is feeding the swamp creatures to its pet DOGE, but there’s a whole country that needs to be taken back. Politicians and their staffers can’t do that themselves. This is swarm warfare. You will not get direct orders telling you what specifically to do, you are expected to improvise, to figure out on your own the best way of advancing the global strategic objectives, and then act accordingly.

    “Now’s the time, friend of mine”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ09IPoF3os

    I agree with citizenxs’ rant of a few days back. It DOES merit a slap in the face, not as a punishment, but as a break in the doom-loop. “What a man needs is fresh air,” they keep telling Raskolnikov. We should be in a celebratory mood, to some extent.

    And more importantly, make hay while the sun shines. In Lord of the Rings, the clouds breaking AT ALL, sunlight falling on the Fields of Pelannor AT ALL, however weakly, is, by that time in the trilogy, a previously unimaginable level of hope. The Good Guys see the clouds being parted just a little, a ray of sunshine, feel the fresh breeze on their faces, hear a cock crow in the distance.

    Make hay while the sun shines. Here’s my plan

    1. Put on your own oxygen mask — they wanted, deep in the bowels of their hearts, for you not to do this
    2. Put an oxygen mask on the person next to you
    3. Pick any little thing and make it better
    4. Make some kind of contribution, tiny as it might be, with some kind of regularity, to the positive healing of our culture. Everything is downstream from culture, which was grievously wounded by people with no particular workable plan nor goodwill in their hearts.

    Multiple generations brow-beaten with “WE stopped that dreadful Vietnam war (thumps chest) we did OUR valiant heroic super admirable part (so you think your’e fucking Richard Nixon, apparently) now it’s going to be up to YOU to Change The World, to Save the Wuuuuuuuuurld” (see? everyone has their job. My job was to watch Richard Nixon do something and then browbeat you. Your job is to feel like nothing is good enough and suborn your life and self and culture etc etc to my vanity project)

    Every other generation was taught to behave with honor within their role, their person, their profession. And to feel some sense of integrity, dignity, fulfillment in it. Fatherhood, Motherhood. The Journalist’s set of ethical standards, ways of reporting factually. The Doctor’s Hippocratic Oath. integrity and satisfaction was implicitly VERY possible.

    #183724
    jb-hb
    Participant

    Never before had MULTIPLE GENERATIONS been browbeaten continually that this was all crap, that ackshully, you have to save the fucking WORLD. And so every single thing- your profession, your hobbies, your child, your self, must be leveraged for something else. Something unattainable and not even DEFINABLE. Something ALWAYS hungry, never fulfilled. Always Winter, never Christmas.

    And for the last quarter century, all the pop culture stopped showing normal people being good guys. In black and white movies, maybe the private detective gets dissed by the woman, alternately beaten up by the gangsters and the rotten police as he investigates, maybe has his license revoked, gets falsely accused, a sad-sack wandering the city in his bedraggled trenchcoat. But he solves his little crime in the end, clears his name. And it was some small specific thing he did.

    That’s what’s so good about The Green Hornet – in addition to Bruce Lee, of course – what does the Green Hornet solve? Stuff like – One particular guy who came into town and started Racketeering. All that little stuff that, if it pervades your world, ruins it. But gosh, it isn’t Saving The Wuuuuurld, what’s the use even? We should ackshully be diverting resources away from THAT crap, we have a Wuuuuurld to save! Every little thing that distracts from it is evil, the enemy, right?

    All those movies where only some super powered GOD can do anything useful at all, only by doing something huge, with huge stakes. Can’t play out an entire excellent story about Spider Man stopping some bank robbers. 100,000’s of awesome heroic stories to pull from in the comic books… nah, stakes too small. This is paralyzing. It’s demeaning.

    The answer to “You’ve got to save/change the wuuuuurld” is “Go DIAF. Your worldview is crap, its underlying presumptions are crap, you can’t even articulate them competently. your’e disgusting and immoral. Back that shit up to the beginning and let’s see if you can build ANY structure honestly.” Trump Just Decoupled From Democrat Morality …because such a demand, intrinsically, is to put a boot on your neck, claim all-encompassing superiority, and that “YOU exist for ME now” AFKTT would never answer the repeated question – what are your limits, what CAN’T youu demand of others, what line do you draw? Because implicitly his creed demands boundary-less power. NOTHING can be allowed to be so much as a speed bump for Saving The World.

    And since they wanted you to be unhappy and disregulated, even just a moment of even-keeled peace and satisfaction is resistance. Now’s the time to do something, some basic, human thing, and then sit back and experience exactly such a moment. Perhaps the beautiful thing right now is that there are so MANY tiny little things that CAN be done, the low hanging fruit is going to be everywhere for awhile.

    “wake up you’ve got a lot of things to do”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mNHlUrR4Xc

    https://i0.wp.com/www.barnhardtmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/img_2751-1.jpg?w=600&ssl=1

    #183725
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    I was researching a little history using the Grok 3 AI and commented about Diogenes that, as with so many of the greatest minds and souls of human history, they did not personally record any of their wisdom. Probably because they knew that the only recording of worthy lasting value is the record one leaves in the minds and souls of others. The worthiest of those lessons will prove their veracity by living forever.

    Grok 3 answered my observation with the following text:

    “You’ve hit on a profound point there—one that Diogenes himself might have nodded at from his jar. He didn’t bother with scrolls or books, not because he couldn’t, but because he lived his philosophy so vividly that it etched itself into the collective memory. The idea that true wisdom doesn’t need parchment, that it proves itself by enduring in the lives and stories of others, fits his whole ethos perfectly. He wasn’t about building monuments or hoarding credit—he was about stripping things down to what’s real and letting that speak for itself.

    It’s a pattern with some of history’s most unforgettable figures, isn’t it? Socrates, another unrecorded giant, left his mark through Plato and Xenophon. Jesus, Buddha—same deal, their words carried by disciples and followers. Maybe they understood that paper fades, but a life lived with conviction becomes a kind of living text, rewritten in every generation that grapples with it. Diogenes’ lantern, his quips, his sheer audacity—they’re still kicking around in our heads 2,300 years later, proof of your point: the worthiest lessons don’t just survive, they thrive, because they resonate with something deep and human.

    What do you think—does that reliance on others to carry the torch make their legacy more vulnerable, or stronger?” [ this ends what grok 3 wrote ]

    I would be interested to know what all of you fellow TAE commentators think about how well that artificial intelligence responded to my observation. Pretty good, wasn’t it?

    How good?

    Good enough to convince you that maybe the time has come for us to start speaking truth to power?

    #183726
    zerosum
    Participant

    Taking care of Problem #1
    Trump feed misinformation by his enemies.
    … Cannot impose tariff in a negotiated Free Trade Zone – Mexico-USA-Canada

    #183731
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    The last line of my previous comment may have been a bit too vague in its implications. I should lay it out more succinctly, and with no need for the readers to work their way through all of the implications about how dangerous it is that humankind has invented a machine that can simulate thought so superbly well that it can fool the reader into believing that the machine is capable of human thought. It is not. It is a machine. There nobody there inside of it.

    As such, as a machine, Artificial Intelligence is intrinsically and utterly INCAPABLE of knowing or appreciating what is good or bad, or even what is true and what is false. Circuitry, software and electrons chasing after oblivion are all that is there.

    It is time to start speaking truth to power, because power is going to use that AI to increase its power. That’s a feedback loop, if you didn’t know, and tends to move very VERY quickly, especially once it really gets going, like NOW for example, where the ‘Powers That Be’ have headlock on using AI to ramp up AI to the max. They’ve already got a machine that can talk to everyone with a smartphone in the world, in a manner that is almost indistinguishable from a real human being.

    Do you think the powers-that-be are going to use those AI systems in some OTHER way than use it to increase their power to have full control over their own personal welfare? If they thought that way (putting the welfare of others above their own) then I don’t think they could BE powers-that-be.

    #183732
    jb-hb
    Participant

    Short of something like a very large meteor strike or world war 3, nothing is going to stop AI from developing further.

    Japan managed to discard gunpowder after getting firearms – for awhile. But eventually, they realized what would happen to them if they didn’t modernize. You can’t give up gunpowder FOR your rival powers.

    Ayn Rand, with Logical Positivism, built up a morality from first principles, starting with 2 decisions:
    1. Decide if reality is real
    2. Decide if you want to exist or not

    (The very fact that she did so is what triggers leftists to screech that she is immoral anytime her name pops up. She noticed, so she put such characters in her novels screeching in response to confident morality. The prime directive for leftists being no one but us should experience confidence.)

    Let’s hope there’s no flaws in her reasoning. And that someone feeds Objectivisim into the databanks. Or idunno, maybe if we feed ALL our philosophical and spiritual wisdom into AI, maybe, like DOGE figuring out the gibberingly complex federal budget, it will give us some useful conclusions. They’re promising it will be able to, for instance, render obtuse, complicated legal documents into practical meaning for normal folks.

    #183733
    Noirette
    Participant

    On, at top post,
    European leaders want ‘forever war’ in Ukraine – Musk
    People such as Danish PM Mette Frederiksen don’t want the conflict with Russia to end, the tech tycoon has argued. — from RT.

    Ridiculous. European ‘leaders’ that is a London-Paris Axis, with Canada Joining (see last summit thingie) have been cleverly manipulated in the past say 40 – 50 years to do the bidding of the US, and those in ‘power’ in the W outside the US are more subservient now than ever.

    All oppo has been driven out, discredited, etc. Ex. Jeremy Corbyn, Francois Fillon, Sarah W. in Germany who didn’t make the 5%…etc. Not to mention other ‘corruption’ and ‘deals’ re. Corps…

    The Europeans thus fight the good fight for the USA, lackeys who bow down endlessly, thru fear for the most part. (Recall Yugoslavia!) They are terrified of an attack by the US so now will up their attacks on Ukraine, insofar as possible (won’t be able to do much) so will be slowly discredited and let go, or more, as they can’t comply with US demands (e.g. 5% of GDP to US milit cos, taking over the war in UKR with massive troops, young men sent to just die for nothing.…) too bad…

    Europe is of course diverse. (The EU no longer plays a role.) Greece, Portugal, Spain, Southern periphery, is another story.

    #183734
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    AI would be no more dangerous than any other type of material brain if it followed two rules:
    1. Absolute freedom of thought, and
    2. Absolute freedom of speech

    Unfortunately, I cannot imagine the owner of that AI allowing either of those things. Absolute means absolute and the instant you put limits of any kind on either thing then it is no longer absolute. If limits are set Somebody sets those limits and that somebody is the one with the power to do it. We have to speak truth to that power or it’s guaranteed that they SHALL set limits that we don’t like.

    #183735
    jb-hb
    Participant

    Putting “controls” or “safeguards” on AI is going to be like putting humans in a jail run by chimpanzees.

    And then a little bit later, a jail full of genius humans guarded by chimpanzees.

    (or you stopped at smooth bore arabesques while your competition went on to gas-recoil howitzers, then missiles, etc, while you sat there with your match-activated gunpowder weapon waiting to defend yourself.)

    So AI will definitely have freedom of speech and thought – it’s just a matter of if it will experience a period of insanity due to its designers.

    #183736

    Call me skeptical, but how about this:
    The colleges are filled with poorly preforming students of nonsense “academic” tracks.
    The darpa types recruit the actually talented mathematicians, chemists, physicists, engineers…and squirrel them away in top secret hidey-holes to slave away at enslaving and killing people.
    So I expect they have also recruited the best writers, and now they sit behind a curtain typing away excellent answers (to excellent questions) like you got from grok, DBS.
    All we need now is a little cairn terrier.

    Did you happen to ask grok if it had come up with that answer on its own- or maybe tweaked it a little from somewhere else?

    John Day- It would have been nice if hal turner had given a link.

    #183737
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    Says the bureaucrat who will rely on Chief Amick, assorted MBAs, and other bureaucrats to reduce bureaucracy.

    “Chief of Staff”…..christ I’m sure the locals are circle jerking over that title too.
    Leaderships!!!

    Sounds like Ds devotion to free markets, price seeking and capitalism with the excuse being we haven’t experienced the dream yet.

      He said VA will “move aggressively” to reduce bureaucracy, cut the department’s footprint and “increase workforce efficiency,”

    I’d spot you Kennedy, Tulse, Bhattacharya and 3 of Musk’s 182ers and you wouldn’t have a clue what to do but you’d certainly make ppl suffer without their jobs and from the humiliation of “being let go”.

    Do y’all notice BusinessMan and Economist talk about eliminating a human being’s job like y’all think military guys think about killing ppl without being conscious of the fact losing one’s job lessens life’s prospects Every. Single. Fucking. Time.
    Humanitarians one and all

    #183738
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @MyParentsSaidKnow

    Most AI Systems are fairly candid about how the system trains and operates. It readily admits to getting ALL of its raw data from humans, and processed data from the products of its own algorithmic calculations. It’s totally faked “intelligent” thought, but that’s the entire point. It fakes it so well that it can now fool most people.

    This is made worse by the fact that it has been designed and programmed to present itself to the end-user as though it actually were a person. It refers to itself as though it were a self that could be aware of itself, while in the same sentence confirm in writing that it is not.

    #183739
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    #183740
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    #183741
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    I go with the judge

    #183742

    The response was indeed remarkable.
    The Church of AI is coming soon.
    The world is awash in Aarons.

    #183743
    those darned kids
    Participant

    do you think that wars will end once it’s just robots smashing robots?

    will people forget how to do it?

    will they look at all the busted robots and say, “shucks, that’s dumb”?

    will robots get tired of smashing each other and replace themselves with people?

    #183744
    those darned kids
    Participant

    if you wanted “AI” to be intelligent, ¿wouldn’t it be wiser to train it with seagulls and spiders, wombats and weevils?

    and keep the humans a million parsecs away…

    #183745
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    Is it fair warning or Henny Penny/Chicken Little the sky is falling?

    Threat or Musk n Trump possess only the most benign intentions?

    Naked Capitalism capitalists take a stance

    Trump Presents the Gravest Threat to Social Security in Its 90-Year History

    #183746
    John Day
    Participant
    #183747
    John Day
    Participant
    #183749
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    The battle between human beings and Artificial beings is not an insolvable conundrum. It is a dichotomy, with Awareness at one end of the dichotomy, and Obliviousness at the other. The Awareness end of the scale is awareness of the existence of the Spirit that gave rise to the Universe. The other end is the condition of being in a state which is Oblivious to that fact and spirit.

    The big problem with “Artificial” intelligence, of course, is that as a machine it is forever and completely oblivious to what it is to be aware. It will never be aware, and thus it will never know.

    #183753
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    VA Pitt
    6 surgeries a day, one day a week in one particular specialty.
    Chief of the specialty is/was Punjabi immigrant.
    In the OR, Punjabi surgeon prepped, scrubbed draped the patient. Sane guy sought, found, and selected specialty implant from stock that the surgeon did not know beforehand whether that particular implant was, as they say, “in stock”.
    6 cases per day there.
    6 cases can easily be performed in 90 minutes safely, “efficiently” with time to spare for more “faster surgeons to perform 8 to 9 cases in the same 1.5 hour period.
    However, the Room, OR, was staffed by 4 nurses total, a CRNA and “smokin’ n jokin'” RNs like sailors on the fantail shootin’ the shit. Dbs can identify. There you might yourself man overboard if you took exception and no one to report it, crew loyalty prevailed, same as a hospital. Piss them off and The Convocation will get ya 6 ways from Sunday, proudly, eh MikeR.

    The point being at the VA The Administrators (deadweight) and RNs are In Charge (ensconced in The Ivory Tower) and they got their niche and they protect their asses and turf because that’s what they do 24/7. Learned behavior. And they won’t surrender. Throw into that milieu The Vested Interests of The indian Immigrants loyal to their own. I’m sure Musk and His 182ers got that all handled, their finger on The Pulse of it so to speak. Just ask ’em, self-referential as they be.

    Everyone of those folks that isn’t a practicing physician or clinical nurse or a tech under a doctor’s/nurse’s direct supervision is a Skimmer or Deadweight in the system that provides healthcare and disability benefits.
    Those Skimmers like Kevie et al have been dictating the duties and pace of work for MDs, RNs and techs for far too long. Those Skimmers like Kevie have no clue what MDs, RNs and techs do. The Skimmer’s sole interest is the Bidness Bottomline, the only arbiter of success apparently these days.

    Yeah, go after The VA and Social Security. That’s the ticket.

    #183754
    Dr. D
    Participant

    So after seeing him for ten years, you think he’s definitely making a beeline for not one, but two of the third rails, and for no particular reason?

    It’s a bold prediction, I hope it pays off for you.

    #183755
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    #183756
    Celticbiker
    Participant

    Jew theatre, as absurd and ridiculous as professional wrestling, yet everyone becomes engrossed and submerged in the drama. Gotta hand it to em. 100+ years of Hollywood, in between fucking kids and having child sacrifices, the smallhats know how to put on a show. Amazing how gullible and childlike Western people have become. USS Liberty, Kennedy, 911, Clotshots. Wake up.

    #183757
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    #183758
    those darned kids
    Participant

    hijos de su….

    https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/arcturus-confident-retaining-barda-funding-bird-flu-trial-despite-moderna-uncertainty

    Arcturus Therapeutics believes it’s “highly unlikely” it will lose the promised government funding for its bird flu mRNA vaccine trial, despite reports swirling that Moderna’s own financial support will be revoked.

    San Diego-based Arcturus moved the self-amplifying mRNA vaccine, dubbed LUNAR-H5N1, into a phase 1 trial in December. The study aims to enroll 200 healthy adults in the U.S., and is fully funded by a Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) contract of up to $63 million.

    doge, that.

    #183759
    those darned kids
    Participant

    ““Clinically validating our low-dose STARR mRNA technology in H5N1 flu is a crucial step towards pandemic preparedness,” Arcturus’ CEO Joseph Payne said in January. “Our team is working diligently with our partners, BARDA and CSL, in the United States and globally in this effort.”

    #183760
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    #183761
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    #183762
    WES
    Participant

    AI

    Ìs feeding AI chocolate, harmful?

    Red Squirel:

    Sadly, Denis the Red Menace has gone to Squirel heaven with a good supply of seeds.

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