Henri Matisse Cap d’Antibes 1922
An idea
I have an idea. https://t.co/xMHsXRPChI
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) May 27, 2025
No he’s not.
• Putin ‘Playing With Fire’ – Trump (RT)
US President Donald Trump has suggested that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin is “playing with fire,” without elaborating on what exactly he means. In recent days, Trump has increasingly criticized the Kremlin over what he perceives as a lack of progress in peace negotiations between Moscow and Kiev. Last week, Trump and Putin held a telephone conversation during which they discussed the prospects of a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine conflict. Both leaders characterized the call as productive. In a post on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, Trump claimed that “if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD.” The US president added that Putin is “playing with fire!”
Later in the day, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce emphasized that Trump’s remark was not a sign of the US president’s “frustration,” but that he is just being “transparent about his opinion.” “I think this is what Russia should take seriously; Americans certainly do,” she added. Bruce further emphasized that Washington continues to favor “direct talks between Russia and Ukraine.” Meanwhile, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in response to Trump’s latest remark, said on X that he only knows “of one REALLY BAD thing — WWIII.” “I hope Trump understands this!” the official, who currently serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, added. nIn a post on Sunday, Trump also criticized Moscow’s actions in Ukraine, claiming that the Russian president had “gone absolutely CRAZY” and alleging that he had targeted the neighboring country with recent strikes “for no reason whatsoever.”
However, Trump also stated that Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky “is doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does.” Moscow has stressed that it was carrying out strikes on Ukrainian military-linked installations in response to Kiev’s attempts to launch drone raids on civilian facilities in Russia.Over the past week alone, Russian air defenses have downed 1,465 Ukrainian drones over areas outside the active conflict zone, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said on Tuesday.According to the military, “the Kiev regime, supported by certain European countries, has taken a number of provocative steps aimed at disrupting the negotiation process.” There has been a considerable increase in Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory, involving drones as well as Western-made missiles since the start of May, it added.
Russian forces retaliated with high-precision missile and drone strikes aimed “exclusively at Ukraine’s military and defense industrial facilities,” the ministry said.On Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov chalked Trump’s harsh rhetoric up to “emotional overload” experienced by the US president in light of the very complicated peace talks between Russia and Ukraine that have gotten underway.
“The EU and US are divided on measures tackling Russia’s alleged restrictions evasion, Süddeutsche Zeitung reports citing an internal Foreign Office document..”
• German Officials Reveal Major Change To Russia Sanctions Enforcement (RT)
EU officials in charge of enforcing Russia sanctions have lamented a major disconnection with Washington, following US President Donald Trump’s change in policy towards Moscow. According to a report by Süddeutsche Zeitung citing an internal document from Germany’s Foreign Office, the US and EU have failed to reach an agreement on efforts to counter circumvention of restrictions. Experts have warned the EU/US divide could spell an end to the Russia sanctions regime altogether.According to the document, the EU’s sanctions envoy David O’Sullivan lamented the lack of unity between Brussels and Washington towards anti-Russia restrictions, during a bloc Foreign Affairs Council meeting last week.Since the Ukraine conflict escalated in 2022, the US and EU have imposed sweeping sanctions to isolate Russia, including bans on seaborne oil, asset freezes, and restrictions targeting the country’s economy, trade, and defense sectors.
Recent efforts have focused on alleged sanctions evasion, citing purported attempts by Russia to acquire weapons components through third parties using a so-called “shadow fleet,” a Western term for tankers operating outside recognised insurance systems. The EU has been pushing for additional measures to prevent vessels from operating, including by sanctioning Russia’s trade partners, such as China. According to the report, however, the US does not support Brussels’ moves: O’Sullivan at the meeting reportedly acknowledged a total breakdown in coordination with Washington on measures targeting Russia.“There is no more joint outreach,” he reportedly admitted, adding that G7 cooperation has also “lost momentum.”
US President Donald Trump has threatened tougher sanctions on Russia if negotiations to end the Ukraine conflict fail, without naming any concrete proposals. He has repeatedly noted that he looks forward to boosting trade and economic cooperation with Russia once the conflict is over. Officials cited in the report believe he is looking to restore business ties sooner rather than later. A recent Bloomberg report citing EU sources also claimed the US has become “unresponsive” in working groups focused on sanctions enforcement. The next EU sanctions package is expected to target Russia’s energy and banking sectors, the report notes, but its approval is now uncertain. Hungary, which has repeatedly opposed sanctions, is reportedly blocking key elements of the proposal. Washington’s fading support has further cast doubt on its passage.
German MEP Sergey Lagodinsky told Süddeutsche Zeitung that a full US withdrawal from the sanctions regime would likely bring the entire system to a halt. “The problem is that the US has been the de facto driving force behind the sanctions,” he said. Moscow has repeatedly denounced Western sanctions as illegal and ineffective, arguing they have failed to destabilize the Russian economy and have instead backfired on the countries that imposed them.
Russia won’t shoot first.
• Germany Risks Becoming A Target For Russia – For The First Time Since Hitler (RT)
Chancellor Friedrich Merz, from Germany’s mainstream CDU/CSU conservatives, has caused a stir. This time with statements about German weapons in Ukraine. Or to be precise, how exactly Kiev’s troops may use weapons provided by Berlin.Speaking at a public forum organized by a major German TV station, Merz declared that there are no range limits anymore on how far the Ukrainian military can shoot German weapons into Russia. Merz’s statements managed to be both sensational (sort of) and a muddle. He implied that they mark a change, but by now his Social Democrat coalition partners and even Merz himself are saying the opposite: That he wasn’t telling us anything new.
It seems Merz has been improvising without thinking things through. In that case, no biggie. That’s just the way he is: Not as dissimilar from the American impulse monster Donald Trump as the dour chancellor from orderly Germany may wish to imagine. Moreover, the weapons – the MARS II system and the Panzerhaubitze 2000 – that Ukraine currently has from Germany only have modest ranges (84 and 56 kilometers). Removing political limits on them is largely militarily irrelevant. But what if Merz has been more devious? That is an interpretation popular with those German politicians who want to drag Germany even deeper into the great Western proxy war against Russia via Ukraine. For his fellow conservative – and head of the Defense Committee of the German parliament – Thomas Roewekamp, Merz’s explicit ‘no’ to any range restrictions for German weapons is meant to prepare the ground for delivering the powerful Taurus cruise missile to Kiev.
They know Europe better than it knows itself.
• Europe Once Again Rallying Under Nazi Flag Against Russia – Lavrov (RT)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused some European leaders of reviving Nazi-era ambitions by supporting efforts to inflict a strategic defeat on Moscow. Lavrov was responding on Tuesday to remarks by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who the previous day declared there were “no more range limitations” for weapons sent to Ukraine by the West, including Germany. Merz has also vowed to turn the German military into Europe’s strongest conventional force. “Europe has once again found itself a Nazi flag by committing to a completely misguided, disastrous venture of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia,” Lavrov stated. v“To hear from the current German leader that Germany will regain its position as the leading military power in Europe, just after we have celebrated the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Hitler’s Nazism, is quite symptomatic. History, apparently, taught these people nothing.”
Merz’s remarks on long-range weapons drew concern even within his own coalition. German Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil told reporters shortly after the chancellor’s statement that no agreements had been reached regarding the range of Ukrainian strikes using German weapons on Russian territory beyond what the previous government had in place. Lavrov said Merz’s confused and uninformed position “reflects the level of competence of modern European leaders.” While Germany has not supplied long-range weapons to Ukraine, Merz’s comments have stirred speculation about a possible policy shift, particularly regarding the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles. Former Chancellor Olaf Scholz consistently rejected the idea, warning it would dangerously escalate the conflict.
Lavrov also addressed remarks by French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, who on Monday claimed France is not at war with Russia. “He’s not telling the truth. France is fighting against Russia because its long-range missiles are being used by the Nazi regime in Kiev to attack the territory of the Russian Federation. And these are mainly attacks on civilian targets,” Lavrov said. He stressed that the only path to ending the Ukraine conflict lies in halting Europe’s militaristic course. “The main thing here… is to ensure that Europe stops sabotaging the movement towards peace, which is supported by both the United States and Türkiye, and to which the Russian Federation is fully committed,” Lavrov said.
Pirates and Parrots.
• Poland Wants To ‘Earn Big Money’ On Ukraine – Tusk (RT)
Poland intends to profit from Ukraine’s post-conflict reconstruction, Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said. During a visit to the Euroterminal Slawkow railway facility in the south of the country on Monday, Tusk pitched the expansion of the site into a key hub for materials bound for Ukraine.“It is not wrong to say: we want to earn big money for Poland on the reconstruction of Ukraine,” he told reporters. “We want to help, but we also want to earn money on it, and this special hub is needed for this purpose.” Poland has been one of Ukraine’s top donors since the conflict with Russia escalated in 2022, providing over €5.1 billion ($5.7 billion) in aid – more than 70% of it military – according to Germany’s Kiel Institute. Warsaw is also part of the so-called “coalition of the willing,” a group of European nations advocating continued military aid for Kiev. Polish officials have repeatedly urged EU-wide militarization in response to what they describe as a growing threat from Russia – claims that Moscow has repeatedly dismissed as “nonsense” and “fearmongering.”
The Euroterminal Slawkow, established in 2010, lies near the intersection of Pan-European Transport Corridors III and VI. It currently supports regular connections within Poland, Lithuania, Germany, Italy, and several Ukrainian locations. According to Tusk, the terminal has the potential to become a major transshipment center, thanks to its location at the junction of rail lines linking Western Europe with Ukraine and Asia. Tusk complained about Poland’s minimal role in reconstruction efforts after the Iraq War, insisting that the country will not be sidelined again. “It cannot be like it used to be… where everyone got involved, including Poland, and then the bigger players made money on the reconstruction, and Poland was left out in the cold,” he said.
“If we are talking about tens, hundreds of billions of zloty th at the world, Europe, Poland, Ukraine will spend on the reconstruction, then among other things we are expanding this logistics hub… so that Poland can make money on it,” he concluded. The World Bank estimates that Ukraine’s recovery could cost more than $500 billion over the next decade. Some EU countries, including Poland, have suggested using frozen Russian sovereign assets to fund the effort. Others, however, have warned that doing so without clear legal grounds could set a dangerous precedent and discourage global investment in Europe. Moscow has condemned the proposed move as “theft” and threatened to retaliate against Western investments in Russia.
What? Shameless.
• Biden Aides Confess They Did Undemocratic Things To Stop Trump?! (ZH)
Alex Thompson, co-author of the provocative new book Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, has ignited a firestorm across Democrat Party circles, asserting that a secretive cadre of aides ran the White House like a shadowy “politburo” to conceal President Joe Biden’s failing mental health. Thompson told The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg that he began questioning the White House’s narrative about Biden’s mental fitness in April 2023, after hearing concerns from administration insiders about Biden’s capacity to endure a reelection campaign or another term.
Despite repeated denials from the White House, which labeled such claims false, Thompson’s reporting uncovered a different reality, eroding his trust in their statements. He described a tight-knit group of aides – referred to by some within the administration as the “Politburo” – effectively steering the White House. This inner circle, Thompson noted, included longtime Biden aides like Mike Donilon, Steve Ricchetti, Bruce Reed, and Ron Klain, alongside key figures close to the Biden family, such as First Lady Jill Biden, Hunter Biden, Jill’s chief of staff Anthony Bernal, and deputy Annie Tomasini, who often serves as Biden’s traveling chief of staff.
The term “politburo” refers to the elite inner circle of a communist regime, wielding unchecked power at the top. We note that Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas are conspicuously absent from this list.In an interview, Thompson claimed Biden’s inner circle was prepared to take “undemocratic” measures to hide the former president’s mental decline, desperately clinging to power for another four years while blocking President Donald Trump’s triumphant return to the White House.“If you believe — and I think a lot of these people do sincerely believe that Donald Trump was and is an existential threat to democracy — you can rationalize anything, including sometimes doing undemocratic things, which I think is what this person is talking about,” Thompson told Fox News host Shannon Bream.
A Biden staffer also reportedly told Thompson that the then-president “just had to win, and then he could disappear for four years.” “He’d only have to show proof of life every once in a while,” the author said the aide relayed to him. “His aides could pick up the slack.”“When you’re voting for president, you’re voting for the aides around him,” the aide reportedly said. Thompson told CNN on Saturday that multiple Biden cabinet members expressed doubts about the president’s ability to handle a critical “2:00 a.m. crisis call.” “We talked to two cabinet members that believed that he wasn’t up to that. If the 2:00 a.m. crisis phone call, they said like maybe he could have done it, but they did not have confidence that he was at every single day capable of responding to a national security crisis at 2:00 a.m.,” the author told the network. “And just because that 2:00 a.m. crisis did not happen doesn’t mean that it was not irresponsible in the views of these senior members of his own administration.”
“We have Senator Mark Warner in the book Democrat of Virginia saying that he, during a foreign policy national security conversation, they believe that Biden was not really up to snuff on all the issues,” he added. “We also have Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, a Democrat, also probably running for governor, believing that Biden’s age made him unable to handle the immigration portfolio and all the factions of the Democratic Party which led to such incoherence with the border and immigration policies of this country.” Last week, Biden’s office announced that the former president was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. “On Friday he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone,” the statement said. “While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management. The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.” Meanwhile, these two seem to have escaped the list unscathed…
https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/1927029587243848095
https://twitter.com/ProjectConstitu/status/1925645964724797711
https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/1927029587243848095
Even slower didn’t work.
• COVID Vaccine Removed from Childhood Schedule (PJM)
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has removed the dangerous mRNA COVID-19 vaccines from the childhood schedule, and healthy pregnant women will no longer be advised to get them. On Tuesday, Secretary Kennedy posted on X, “Today, the COVID vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from @CDCgov recommended immunization schedule. Bottom line: it’s common sense and it’s good science. We are now one step closer to realizing @POTUS’s promise to Make America Healthy Again.”
https://tw.com/SecKennedy/status/1927368440811008138?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1927368440811008138%7Ctwgr%5Ed81cf079054c442408c079d55ab46968db711d73%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpjmedia.com%2Fcatherinesalgado%2F2025%2F05%2F27%2Fbreaking-covid-vaccine-removed-from-childhood-schedule-n4940186
Independent Medical Alliance celebrated the news. “There was no medical justification for keeping mRNA COVID-19 vaccines on the childhood and pregnant women’s schedules, and we applaud Secretary Kennedy and the HHS staff for their quick action in making this change,” said Dr. Kat Lindley, the director of IMA’s Fellowship Program. “There continues to be mounting evidence of significant risks that far outweigh any potential benefit. That’s why we’re also urging the full repeal of the mRNA emergency use authorization for rigorous evaluation.”
Not so long ago, doctors were honest and wise enough to advise pregnant women not to get vaccines at all during pregnancy, because it is always unclear exactly how the vaccines might affect the unborn babies. And certainly pregnant women didn’t need the COVID-19 shot, considering that it was for a virus with an over 99% survival rate. The same certainly goes for children, who were in the least danger from COVID-19. Kennedy is actually following the science by removing unnecessary and harmful COVID-19 vaccine recommendations.
Trump’s Only Winning Move: Not to Play.
• China Just Punched a Massive Hole in Trump’s Golden Dome (Sp.)
Trump’s new missile defense shield could cost taxpayers up to $831B, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate.Too bad it won’t work against China’s new super-duper stealth tech. Scientists at China’s Zhejiang University have created a composite, multi-layered, heat-absorbing stealth material they say can evade detection by infrared and microwave systems at long ranges. The best part? It operates at temperatures up to 700 °C, meaning it can be potentially used in an array of military and space applications. That’s bad news for Golden Dome, which will rely on ground and space-based early warning, tracking, fire control and AESA radars to detect and track threats. Without help from its sensor-based eyes and ears, Golden Dome’s interceptors would be essentially useless and firing blind in the event of a crisis.
China’s Anti-Golden Dome Toolkit If implemented in a real-world defense application, the new stealth tech will add to the list of means China already has at its disposal to render Golden Dome obsolete, like:pairing ICBMs or carrier-killer missiles with electronic warfare drones or aircraft, deploying decoy/dummy warheadcyber warfare Individually and together, these systems can jam radar, spoof sensors, mimic missile signatures and suppress communications. China could even announce a drone and missile buildup to simply overwhelm US defenses and exhaust interceptors. It worked for Moscow when Reagan toyed with his Strategic Defense Initiative in the 80s. It can work for Beijing against Trump’s Golden Dome.
Targeting the Dome Itself The US system could be targeted with:
• ground/space-based anti-satellite weapons (missiles, killer satellites)
• hypersonic weapons that maneuver to evade interception
• laser & microwave weapons targeting sensors
• sabotage & cyber opsTrump’s Only Winning Move: Not to Play. Like Reagan before him, President Trump sees Golden Dome as a magical weapon with which to defend America. In reality, it will serve to undermine strategic stability, since its real purpose, whether Trump realizes it or not, is to give the Pentagon the ability to launch first strike attacks with a false sense of impunity, thus undermining the Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) doctrine. Unless it’s cancelled, the Golden Dome will trigger a new global arms race unlike anything seen so far this century, pushing rivals to: build more warheads to saturate US defenses Create new hypersonic weapons to evade itdevelop decoys, new multiple independent reentry vehicle, early warning and radar-absorbing materials to defeat itAs for the US, it will spend up to $831B on a system that doesn’t work.
Kellogg’s time has expired.
• Trump’s Ukraine Envoy Condemns Medvedev’s ‘Reckless’ WW3 Comment (RT)
The US presidential envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, has accused former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev of warmongering, following Medvedev’s warning that tensions with the US could escalate into World War III.Medvedev, who now serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, made the remarks in response to comments by US President Donald Trump. “Stoking fears of WWIII is an unfortunate, reckless comment by [Medvedev] and unfitting of a world power,” Kellogg wrote on X on Wednesday. He added, “President Trump is working to stop this war and end the killing.” Kellogg said the US is awaiting Russia’s submission of a memorandum outlining its terms for a ceasefire, as agreed during the first direct Russia-Ukraine talks in three years, held in Istanbul earlier this month.
Medvedev was reacting to a social media post in which Trump accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of “playing with fire,” and claimed that, without his own efforts, “lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia.”“Regarding Trump’s words about Putin ‘playing with fire’ and ‘really bad things’ happening to Russia. I only know of one REALLY BAD thing – WWIII. I hope Trump understands this!” Medvedev posted on X on Tuesday. Medvedev, who is known for his hawkish rhetoric, previously warned that Ukraine has “one last chance to preserve… some kind of statehood” by accepting Russia’s terms. He also cautioned that failed negotiations could lead to “a more terrible stage of war.”
Trump has pushed for an immediate ceasefire between Moscow and Kiev and has threatened to impose new sanctions on Russia if progress is not made. He has also criticized Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, accusing him earlier this year of “gambling with World War III.” The US president has frequently raised concerns about the potential for a broader global conflict. “There’s no profit for anyone in having World War III, and you’re not so far away from it,” he said during a business summit in Miami in February. At the Istanbul talks, Russia and Ukraine agreed to a major prisoner exchange and pledged to submit detailed ceasefire proposals. Putin has reiterated that, for a full ceasefire to be achieved, Ukraine must halt its mobilization, stop receiving weapons from abroad, and withdraw its forces from Russian territory. He also insists that Kiev must abandon plans to join NATO and formally recognize Crimea and four other regions as part of Russia.
Harvard wants to be a state within a state.
• Trump Admin Blocks Harvard From Enrolling International Students (ZH)
Harvard is having a really bad year. From feds yanking billions in grants, to House Republicans alleging ties to the Chinese military, to President Trump threatening their tax-exempt status, to detained embryo-smuggling scientists (and most of that’s just this month), the university has now been blocked from enrolling international students – which constitute nearly 1/3 of Harvard admissions. “I am writing to inform you that effective immediately, Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification is revoked,” according to a letter sent to the university by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, which they promptly shot over to the NY Times. The university has 72 hours to hand over requested information. The decision followed a back-and-forth in recent days over the legality of a wide-ranging records request by the Department of Homeland Security.
According to Bloomberg, existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status, the notice reads. In April DHS threatened to block Harvard from enrolling international students if the university refused to hand over detailed records about the student body containing “relevant information” on student visa holders who have been involved in “known illegal” or “dangerous” activity. “It is a privilege to have foreign students attend Harvard University, not a guarantee,” Noem wrote in an April letter. “The United States government understands that Harvard University relies heavily on foreign student funding from over 10,000 foreign students to build and maintain their substantial endowment.”Harvard dug in last month following the Trump admin’s demands – with president Alan Garber saying in a statement “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”
This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus.
It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments… pic.twitter.com/12hJWd1J86
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) May 22, 2025
Concurrently, a federal judge in California has blocked the Trump administration from terminating the legal status of international students nationwide while a court case challenging previous terminations is pending. The order by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White in Oakland bars the government from arresting or incarcerating the plaintiffs and similarly situated students; from transferring any of them outside the jurisdiction of their residence; from imposing any adverse legal effect on students and from reversing the reinstatement of the legal status until the case is resolved. Students can still be arrested for violent crimes. -AP. According to White, the government’s actions “wreaked havoc not only on the lives of Plaintiffs here but on similarly situated F-1 nonimmigrants across the United States and continues do so.”
https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1927609657981272288
owl
Watch the moment this mother owl who lost her babies meets two orphaned chickspic.twitter.com/qBhUeQCJv8
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) May 28, 2025
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