Jul 032025
 


Pablo Picasso Olga in a hat with feather 1920

 

Trumpworld Rages At GOP Holdouts After Tax Bill Stalls In House (ZH)
The Big Beautiful Bill Now Back in The House (CTH)
A Big Beautiful Bill for the Military-Industrial Complex (Ron Paul)
Coalition of Democrat Senators Challenge Layoffs As Rubio Shutters USAID (JTN)
President Trump Firm, No More Tariff Extensions Beyond July 8th (CTH)
Everywhere There Is Talk of War (Paul Craig Roberts)
The Keys to Trump’s Middle East Triumph (Joecks)
What Means ‘Winning’? (Alastair Crooke)
Biden’s Energy Department Disbursed $42 Billion in Its Final Hours (Varney)
Russiagate Was A Ploy To ‘Screw Trump’ – CIA Boss (RT)
NATO Chief ‘Totally Understands’ US Cutting Off Weapons For Ukraine (RT)
Halt To US Military Aid Could Spell Doom For Kiev – Bild (RT)
Polish President Approves Memorial Day For Victims Of Ukrainian Nazis (RT)
Women’s Sports Just Scored a Massive Win Against the Trans Agenda (Margolis)
Putin-Backed Effort Saves Siberian Tiger From Extinction (RT)

 

 

CNN

Bannon

Scott

 

 

 

 

A 940-page bill is not supposed to be easy.

“.. July 4th looks like a pipe dream from here – then again, we’ve seen these grifting gasbags shake a tail like nobody’s business when vacation is on the line.”

Trumpworld Rages At GOP Holdouts After Tax Bill Stalls In House (ZH)

Update (0018ET): Wednesday night came and went without the House GOP advancing the ‘Big Beautiful Bill Act’ to the floor for debate, after roughly a dozen Republicans stood their ground. As such, things have officially gotten ugly – with longtime Trump aides Jason Miller and Chris LaCivita telling the holdouts that they can either vote with Trump, “or you can vote with the Democrats.” “Buckle the fuck up,” said Miller, adding It’s a binary choice”. Top White House aide Stephen Miller, meanwhile, demanded that Republicans “stand with Trump” to show loyalty to the man who had peen persecuted by “the communist left.” Earlier in the evening, a procedural vote on adopting the rule for floor consideration of the Big Beautiful Bill was open for more than 2.5 hours, as Speaker Mike Johnson scrambled convince the holdouts to vote yes.

Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert indicated she’s sticking with her fellow Freedom Caucus members on any rule vote. “Not tonight,” she said, before several of the hard-liners huddled again, this time in Johnson’s office. -Politico Rep. Thomas Massie told the NY Times that he switched his vote to ‘no’ on the rule because if it ends up being the only vote on the BBB, he doesn’t want to be on record as having voted for it. “If it goes down, I can’t be a yes,” said Massie, who’s been a hard ‘no’ on the bill for weeks. That said, his comments seem to indicate that if his party is able to advance the procedural measure, he’d switch back and support bringing up the bill. Needless to say, July 4th looks like a pipe dream from here – then again, we’ve seen these grifting gasbags shake a tail like nobody’s business when vacation is on the line.

Update (2300ET): A dramatic scene is unfolding on the House floor, as four Republicans have voted ‘nay’ on the Senate-revised version of the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ – when House Speaker Mike Johnson could only afford three. According to Fox News’ Chad Pergram; ‘A 216-216 tie loses by rule. Dems got all of their members there and stuck together GOP needs to flip 1 mbr so long as other Republicans don’t vote no.’ So now the question is; will someone flip?

* * *
Update (1450ET): Are we having fun yet? Major divisions within the House threaten to derail the Big Beautiful Bill, with Speaker Mike Johnson struggling to overcome resistance by fiscal conservatives. Earlier in the day the House appeared ready to hold a test vote, however several conservative Republicans raised objections – suggesting that Johnson might not have the votes to move forward, given that he can only afford a handful of defections on the measure. As of midday, at least two Republicans were a hard ‘no’ on the bill in its current form. Meanwhile Rep. Thomas Massie says he has the votes to block it…

President Trump, meanwhile, met with holdouts at the White House as Democrats and Republicans argued over the merits of the bill on the House floor. At the end of the day, Johnson has little room for maneuvering – as any changes to the bill would send it back to the Senate for further deliberation that could drag on for weeks. Members of the House Freedom Caucus are livid over measures added to the Senate that increases costs. “The Senate doesn’t get to be the final say on everything. We’ve got to work this out,” said Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) Wednesday morning, adding that there are enough Republicans “right now” who wanted to reopen the bill and don’t care about the July 4 recess deadline. More moderate Republicans objected to Medicaid cuts approved by the Senate that went deeper than the House’s May iteration.

Read more …

“As they say, Trump’s been right about everything, and this is the easiest of them all to predict..”

The Big Beautiful Bill Now Back in The House (CTH)

With the BBB back in the House of Representatives, Speaker Mike Johnson now has the difficult job to push the bill to a final floor vote and get it to President Trump’s desk. Anticipating pushback and refusal of support from the House Freedom Caucus, earlier this morning President Trump sent a message via Truth Social drawing attention to the objective of the bill to generate economic growth:

PRESIDENT TRUMP – “Nobody wants to talk about GROWTH, which will be the primary reason that the Big, Beautiful Bill will be one of the most successful pieces of legislation ever passed. THIS GROWTH has already begun at levels never seen before. Trillions of Dollars are now being invested into the USA, more than ever before. Likewise, hundreds of Billions of Dollars in Tariffs are filling up the coffers of Treasury. The Tariff money has already arrived and is setting new records! We are growing our way out of the Sleepy Joe Biden MESS that he and the Democrats left us, and it is happening much faster than anyone thought possible. ”

“Our Country will make a fortune this year, more than any of our competitors, but only if the Big, Beautiful Bill is PASSED! As they say, Trump’s been right about everything, and this is the easiest of them all to predict. Republicans, don’t let the Radical Left Democrats push you around. We’ve got all the cards, and we are going to use them. Last year America was a “DEAD” Nation, with no hope for the future, and now it’s the “HOTTEST NATION IN THE WORLD!” MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Meanwhile, as noted by Politico: “House Freedom Caucus members like Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) blasted the Senate’s bill Tuesday for adding to the deficit and softening clean energy tax credits. Roy and Norman both voted against the bill in the Rules Committee overnight.” Speaker Johnson has to navigate the timing of the BBB reaching the floor, and in an effort to dissuade the concerns of the professional republican naysayers he is informing them of possible alternatives to changes in the current bill. “In an interview on Fox News on Tuesday night, Johnson said the House will plan to do two more reconciliation bills during this session of Congress, which ends in 2026.”

Read more …

“..America should return to the Founders’ vision of a country that, in the words of John Quincy Adams, does not go “abroad in search of monsters to destroy”..”

A Big Beautiful Bill for the Military-Industrial Complex (Ron Paul)

The US Senate worked through the weekend on the “Big Beautiful Bill.” The goal was to pass it quickly to ensure the House will then pass it and send it to President Trump’s desk before the July 4th holiday. However, disagreements among Republican Senators over reductions in spending on programs including Medicaid and food stamps as well as language in the bill eliminating “clean energy” tax credits were preventing Senate Republican leadership from getting enough votes to pass the bill. Also, some Republicans disagree with other Republicans in both the House and Senate on increasing the state and local tax (SALT) deduction. Many conservatives see this income tax deduction as encouraging states to maintain high taxes to fund big governments.

One item in the BBB that few Republicans are objecting to is the bill’s increase in military spending. The House version of the BBB added 150 billion dollars to the Pentagon’s already bloated budget. The Senate bill gave the military-industrial complex 156 billion dollars. Increasing military spending contradicts President Trump’s promise to stop wasting money on endless wars that have nothing to do with ensuring the security of the American people. Some of the BBB’s military spending will be used to put troops on the border. I support strengthening border security. However, I do not support using the military for domestic law enforcement, which includes enforcing immigration laws. Soldiers are trained to view people as potential enemies, not as innocent civilians to be protected. Introducing this mindset into domestic law enforcement will lead to abuses of liberty.

Increasing spending on militarism while cutting spending on programs that help low-income Americans is bad politics and bad policy. Polls show that the majority of Americans, including many Republicans, do not support overseas intervention. The growing opposition to our hyper-interventionist foreign policy is easy to understand. The US has engaged in numerous military actions in many countries including Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria since the beginning of the 21st century. The American people pay for this militarism in several ways. One is the “inflation tax” imposed by the Federal Reserve in order to monetize the debt incurred by the US government for endless wars. President Trump has turned his back on his antiwar supporters by bombing Iran and by increasing military spending to over a trillion dollars.

The Republican insistence on increasing military spending is the main reason Congress cannot cut taxes without increasing the debt, making cuts in domestic welfare programs, or both. If the Republicans want to be the Make America Great Again party, they need to embrace a true America First foreign policy. This means no more regime change wars or US taxpayer supported “color revolutions.” Instead, America should return to the Founders’ vision of a country that, in the words of John Quincy Adams, does not go “abroad in search of monsters to destroy” and instead is “the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all” while “the champion and vindicator only of her own.” A return to a noninterventionist foreign policy is the only way we will be able to begin to pay down the national debt and restore a government that adheres to the constitutional limits on its powers and respects all the people’s rights all the time.

Read more …

A lot of corruption at USAID has been uncovered. Something must obviously change. Are these senators just trying to keep the graft vehicle in place so the money keeps flowing?

Coalition of Democrat Senators Challenge Layoffs As Rubio Shutters USAID (JTN)

A coalition of Democratic senators introduced legislation Tuesday to combat reductions-in-force within the State Department as Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the shuttering of the U.S. Agency for International Development. “This legislation is crucial to protecting America’s ability to respond to global threats,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., a sponsor of the bill. The legislation specifically targets an agency’s ability to conduct a reduction-in-force, where it can lay off large numbers of employees for budgetary reasons. Large-scale RIFs across the federal government marked the early days of the Trump administration, prompting a flurry of legal action against the government. The Senate legislation specifically targets RIFs against employees at the State Department and the now-shuttered U.S. Agency for International Development.

“The Trump administration is systematically dismantling our diplomatic institutions and weakening the workforce we depend on to advance U.S. interests, respond to crises, and out-compete adversaries like the People’s Republic of China,” Shaheen said. Rubio criticized USAID for its practices in distributing assistance across the globe. “The era of government-sanctioned inefficiency is OVER,” Rubio wrote in a social media post. “From now on, our foreign assistance programs will be accountable to the American taxpayer.” The state department secretary said USAID’s assistance functions will be absorbed by his agency. The bill contains four provisions that would limit the timeline and effectiveness of RIFs within the State Department.

First, the bill requires an agency to report RIFs involving more than 50 people to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee 20 days in advance of the planned layoff. The layoff must be accompanied by an explanation of the reduction that includes alternatives considered, whether the RIF complies with associated laws and how the RIF affects the agency’s mission. Second, the legislation extends protection for foreign service officers by only allowing them to be included in RIFs only based on job performance, rather than budget needs. This would include considering employment tenure, language capabilities and military preference before laying off a foreign service officer. The bill also requires a minimum 120 days’ notice for foreign service officers and 60 days for civil service employees included in RIFs.

Lastly, the bill requires the State Department to provide at least 30 days’ advance notice before making changes to RIF procedures. The bill will likely not pass in the Republican-controlled Senate. Additionally, Rubio’s dismantling of USAID further cemented the agency’s desire to cut spending across its operations. “Americans will not pay taxes to fund failed governments in faraway lands,” Rubio said. “Moving forward, our assistance will be targeted and time limited.” It is estimated USAID spent $715 billion over several decades in its operation. “We will favor those nations that have demonstrated both the ability and willingness to help themselves and will target our resources to areas where they can have a multiplier effect and catalyze a durable private sector, including American companies, and global investment,” Rubio said. Rubio said he would implement a 15% cut in the State Department on July 1 but appeared to delay while nationwide injunctions held up the layoffs in court.

Read more …

“This firm date is why India has extended their negotiation team in Washington DC, and is also the reason why Europe is coming Thursday..”

President Trump Firm, No More Tariff Extensions Beyond July 8th (CTH)

There is some interesting information within the video of President Trump aboard AF-1 as he returns from Florida. However, one of the more interesting aspects comes around 05:39 when asked if he was thinking about extending the tariff pause beyond July 8, 2025. As noted by President Trump, very firmly, no. There is no reason to extend the deadline for reciprocal tariffs beyond July 8th for any country not in direct negotiations as of that date. Trump intends to just send them a letter outlining the applied tariff rate and that’s it. Done is done. WATCH:

This firm date is why India has extended their negotiation team in Washington DC, and is also the reason why Europe is coming Thursday. The baseline tariffs are done, everyone pays 10% regardless of a FTA or not. The reciprocal tariff rate will be applied to those without an FTA effective July 9th. [The EU (who wants a trade deal now) is eventually going to align with Canada (who will need a trade deal later). This factors into the current trade dynamic and looms over the decision making.] Post July 9th, President Trump moves on to other important geopolitical matters with the tariffs as an ancillary weapon for adherence to the new international trade alignment.

Those who want to benefit commit to the U.S. dollar as the trade currency (that’s the reason for India’s announcement today), and trade preferences are then used to shake up the geopolitical alignments. Watch for how this plays out with Trump’s planned UK visit. From there, and after the gnashing of teeth settles down, later in the summer President Trump then triggers the USMCA renegotiation phase with Mexico and Canada. President Trump is essentially ambivalent to the pleas from nations who want to continue their trade imbalance. This sequencing and outline appears clear; but let’s watch and see what happens.

Read more …

“What percentage of the Western population understands that the Kremlin was forced to intervene in the Russian provinces in Ukraine in order to prevent a Gaza-type destruction of Russian people?”

Everywhere There Is Talk of War (Paul Craig Roberts)

Pundits are debating when the Israel-Iran war will resume. They are debating the West’s use of its Ukraine proxy in the war with Russia. They are debating when and how the US conflict with China will flare up. But no one is asking what is the point of the wars. What are they about? This is the most relevant question, especially when four of the parties to the conflicts have nuclear weapons. The answer to the question is the wars are about hegemony. Israel wants hegemony over the Muslim Middle East, and so does Washington. And Washington wants hegemony over Russia and China. Israel’s war with Iran is about eliminating an opponent to Israel’s hegemony as expressed by the Zionist aspiration of Greater Israel–from the Nile to the Euphrates, recently expanded to include half of Saudi Arabia and all of Pakistan.

Washington’s war with Russia and China is based on the Wolfowitz doctrine that declares US hegemony over the world as the principle goal of American foreign policy. No American president has yet repudiated this doctrine. So the wars are about nothing but the selfish aspirations of Israel for regional hegemony and Washington for world hegemony. Be sure you comprehend that it is nothing but the selfish aspirations of two countries that are the cause of millions of dead, maimed, and dislocated peoples, for the destruction of entire countries in the Middle East –Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Palestine, and Lebanon, with Iran a current target and with Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey waiting in the wings. The US is responsible for massive deaths, injuries, displacement, and destruction in Ukraine (and Palestine) and for provocations of Russia, such as the attack on the Russian strategic triad that eventually will result in nuclear war, with China waiting in the wings.

The US currently is increasing the pressure on Russia by fomenting color revolutions in former Central Asian provinces of the Soviet Union. Washington’s intent is to create more Ukraines on Russia’s borders in hopes of destabilizing the Russian government. As the American military/security complex sees it, the more proxy wars Washington can get going on Russia’s borders, the quicker the Russian state will be overcome. Foreign policy commentary pretends that the West is defensively resisting Russian aggression that otherwise will spread beyond Ukraine into the EU. The proxy war against Russia that Washington initiated by overthrowing the democratically elected government in Ukraine and installing a neo-Nazi American puppet and siccing US trained Ukrainian forces on the break-away former Russian provinces in Ukraine is presented as defending Ukraine against a Russian invasion. This transparent lie is treated as truth in Western foreign affairs commentary.

What percentage of the Western population understands that the Kremlin was forced to intervene in the Russian provinces in Ukraine in order to prevent a Gaza-type destruction of Russian people? How many know that Putin refused the request of the Donbas Russians to be reunited with Russia when Crimea was? How many know that instead Putin relied on the Minsk Agreement, which the West used for eight years to deceive Putin while building up a large and well equipped Ukrainian army to invade the Donbas and slaughter the Russian population? How many understand that it was only after the Biden regime, NATO, and the EU cold-shouldered Putin and Lavrov’s frantic efforts to achieve a mutual defense agreement with the West during December 2021-February 2022 when the Ukrainian army was poised to attack Donbas that Putin was forced to intervene for which Russia was unprepared as Putin, averse to war, had relied on negotiations.

What has Iran done to us? Iran has not assassinated our leaders, sanctioned us, bombed us or stolen our bank reserves. All lran has done is to refuse to submit to Israel. Why is that a cause for an American war with Iran? None of these facts are part of the foreign policy discussion. Those of us who insist on facts are labeled “Russian agent/dupe” and demonized as spreaders of disinformation. Who is it that wants war so badly that facts are unacceptable? Alas, the Western World has no media to investigate, no congressional and parliamentary committees to investigate, and no one but a few of us demonized souls to hold liars accountable. This is the sad state of affairs in the Western World.

As one of a diminishing number who defends Western Civilization for its achievement of embedding values in society and its mores, law, and politics that raised humans from barbarity into civilization–values such as respect for truth over power, of forgiveness over vengeance, of empathy over unconcern, of love over hate, of integrity and self-respect over material gain, I wonder at times whether I am defending an entity that no longer exists. Perhaps a society whose values have eroded away brings itself to its end in self-destruction. The weapons for the end of life on earth exist in abundance. It only takes one mistake, and we live in a world where human mistakes are the ruling hallmark of humanity, a world that has succumbed to evil.

What excuse is there for the Genocide of Palestine, for the world to stand aside while a people and their country are exterminated? What did Palestinians ever do to anyone? Why did Americans provide Satan’s Chosen People with the means to destroy a people who never harmed anyone, a people who submitted for 78 years to Israel stealing their country from them village by village, all the while demonizing them as terrorists? When one looks honestly at the West today and its Israeli appendage, is its survival morally justified? How can Western Civilization be renewed? Who can do it? Where are the leaders? All are busy feathering their nests as Western Civilization collapses.

Yesterday I described how President Trump could end the war in the Middle East and Washington’s war with Russia. That would be a beginning, but is it a bridge too far for a civilization that has been loosened from its moorage? Can Western Civilization renew itself when its universities and pubic schools teach its failures and not its successes? Can America be made great again when law schools do not believe in the US Constitution, which they designate as a “racist document,” when journalism schools teach that service to liberal-left agendas, not to truth, is the function of journalists, when governments at every level are accountable to the self-interest of interest groups who supply their campaign funds, not to voters, when decades of open borders have replaced an American population with a tower of babel? What is left for Trump to work with?

Trump needs to come home from the world stage to America. He should turn off the money and diplomatic protection to Israel and Ukraine and focus on trying to save America and Western Civilization. He will get little, if any help, from Europe and Canada, whose politicians have already delivered their ethnicities to The Camp of the Saints. But possibly America could be saved. It is a long shot, but worth a try. People should lay off Trump. Give him a chance to understand the real challenge. Perhaps he will undertake the challenge. Perhaps he will succeed. What other chance do we have?

Read more …

Meet the fanclub.

The Keys to Trump’s Middle East Triumph (Joecks)

If you blinked, you just missed World War III. President Donald Trump on June 23 announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. That came two days after Trump sent B-2 stealth bombers to drop bunker-buster bombs on the Fordow nuclear enrichment plant. Only the United States had the capability to obliterate the deeply buried site. U.S. submarines also launched 30 Tomahawk missiles against two other Iranian nuclear sites in Natanz and Isfahan. Despite some initial attempts to test its boundaries, the agreement has held up as of this writing. According to some of the loudest voices on the Left and Right, it wasn’t supposed to end this way. Shortly after it happened, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., declared that Trump’s decision to bomb Iran was “disastrous.”

“He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations,” she wrote on X. “It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.” For months, Tucker Carlson has railed against attacking Iran. “It’s worth pointing out that a strike on the Iranian nuclear sites will almost certainly result in thousands of American deaths at bases throughout the Middle East,” he wrote on the social media platform X in March. He continued, “A bombing campaign against Iran will set off a war.” AOC and Carlson may not agree on much, but they now have this in common. They were both spectacularly wrong. It’s worth looking at what Trump understood, which they didn’t.

First, he rejected the false dichotomy of doing nothing or a regime-change war. This tactic is common in politics. It involves claiming that someone either supports your position or endorses an extremely unpopular position. In complicated policy issues, there are usually many options. Those opposed to Trump attacking Iran rushed out this line of attack. After the United States bombed Iran, Geraldo Rivera wrote on X that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “suckered Trump (and the USA!) into another forever war with Iran.” On June 23, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., posted on X, “Only 6 months in and we are back into foreign wars, regime change, and World War 3.” As Trump showed, there was another option. He destroyed Iran’s ability to make nuclear weapons and left the fate of the Iranian regime to the Iranian people.

Next, Trump exhibited moral clarity. There are many on the Left and some on the Right who are vocally anti-Israel. They attacked Israel as it fought Hamas after the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre. They attacked Israel for Operation Grim Beeper, which neutralized thousands of Hezbollah fighters. They attacked Israel for bombing Iran. But here’s the key point Trump understands. Some violent acts are morally good. In Michigan recently, a church member spotted a would-be mass shooter and ran into him with his pickup. An armed security guard then killed the gunman. Intentionally ramming someone with a car or shooting someone else is a violent act. In this circumstance, it was morally justified. Similarly, Israel acts violently to kill terrorists and foreign officials who plot to kill its civilians. That’s not morally equivalent to Iran and its terrorist proxies targeting Israeli civilians. Trump made that distinction.

Finally, Trump showed courage. It isn’t enough to have the world’s strongest military in theory. The country needs a leader with the internal fortitude to exercise that power. Just look at former President Joe Biden’s surrender in Afghanistan in 2021. Since Bill Clinton, every U.S. president has said that Iran can’t be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon. At the opportune moment, Trump had the guts to ensure it won’t any time soon. Unless the Iranian people overthrow it, the Iranian regime will remain America’s enemy. But by depriving it of access to nuclear weapons, Trump has made it a much less threatening one. Bravo.

Read more …

“..the Israeli promise of an ‘Iran ready to implode, Syria-style’ – an ‘Epic’ transformation to a ‘New Middle East’ – must have been alluring enough for Trump to brusquely sweep aside Tulsi Gabbard’s assertion that Iran had no nuclear weapon.”

What Means ‘Winning’? (Alastair Crooke)

At one level, Iran plainly ‘won’. Trump had wanted to be regaled with a reality-TV style, splendid ‘Victory’. Sunday’s attack on the three nuclear sites indeed was loudly proclaimed by Trump and Hegseth as such – having ‘obliterated’ Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme, they claimed. ‘Destroyed it completely’, they insist. Only … it didn’t: The strike caused superficial surface damage, perhaps. And seemingly was co-ordinated in advance with Iran via intermediaries to be a ‘once and done’ affair. This is a habitual Trump pattern (advance co-ordination). It was the mode in Syria, Yemen and even with Trump’s assassination of Qasem Soleimani – all intended to give Trump a quick media ‘victory’.

The so-called ‘ceasefire’ that rapidly followed the U.S. strikes – albeit not without some hiccoughs – was a hastily assembled ‘cessation of hostilities’ (and no ceasefire – as no terms were agreed). It was a ‘stop-gap’. What this means is that the negotiating impasse between Iran and Witkoff remains unresolved. The Supreme Leader has forcefully laid down Iran’s position: ‘No surrender’; Enrichment proceeds; and the U.S. should quit the region and keep its nose out of Iranian affairs. So, on the positive side of cost-benefit analysis, Iran likely has enough centrifuges and 450 kg of highly enriched uranium – and nobody (except Iran) now knows where the stash is hidden. Iran will resume processing. A second plus for Iran is that the IAEA and its Director-General Grossi have been so egregiously subversive of Iranian sovereignty that the Agency most likely will be expelled from Iran.

The Agency failed in its basic responsibility to safeguard sites at which enriched uranium was present. The U.S. and European intelligence services thus will lose their ‘eyes’ on the ground – as well as forego the IAEA’s Artificial Intelligence data collection (on which Israel’s identification of targets likely was heavily dependent). On the cost side, militarily, Iran of course suffered physical damage, but retains its missile potency. The U.S.-Israeli narrative of Iranian skies as ‘open wide’ to Israeli aircraft is yet another deception contrived to support the ‘winning narrative’: As Simplicius notes: “There remains not a single shred of proof that Israeli (or American, for that matter) planes ever significantly overflew Iran at any time.

Claims of ‘total air superiority’ have no grounds. [Footage] up until the final day shows Israel continued relying on their heavy UCAVs [large surveillance and strike drone aircraft] to strike Iranian ground targets”. Furthermore, drop tanks from Israeli planes were recorded washing up on Iran’s northernmost Caspian shores, suggesting rather, stand-off missile launches were being mounted by Israel’s Air Force from the north (i.e. from Azerbaijani airspace). Up a level in the cost-benefit analysis, one must move to the bigger picture: That the destruction of the nuclear programme was pretext, yet not the main objective. The Israelis themselves say that the decision to attack the Iranian State was taken last September/October (2024).

Israel’s intricate, costly and sophisticated plan (de-capitation, targeted assassinations, cyber-attack and the infiltration of drone-equipped sabotage cells) that unfolded during the 13 June sneak attack was focussed on one immediate aim: the implosion of the Iranian state, paving the path to chaos and ‘regime change’. Did Trump believe in the Israeli delusion that Iran was on the brink of imminent collapse? Very likely, he did. Did he believe the Israeli story (reportedly concocted by the IAEA Mosaic programme) that Iran was speeding ‘towards a nuclear weapon’? It seems possible that Trump was suckered – or more likely, was willing prey – to the Israeli and U.S. Israeli-Firster narrative building. As the Ukraine issue has proved more intractable than Trump expected, the Israeli promise of an ‘Iran ready to implode, Syria-style’ – an ‘Epic’ transformation to a ‘New Middle East’ – must have been alluring enough for Trump to brusquely sweep aside Tulsi Gabbard’s assertion that Iran had no nuclear weapon.

So, has the Iranian military response and the massive popular rallying to the flag been a ‘big win’ for Iran? Well, it is certainly a ‘win’ over the ‘brink of regime change’ pedlars; yet perhaps the ‘win’ needs refining? It is not a ‘forever win’. Iran cannot afford to let its guard down. ‘Iranian unconditional surrender’ is, of course, now off the cards. But the point here is that the Israel establishment, the pro-Israeli lobby in the U.S. (and possibly Trump too), will continue to believe that the only way to guarantee that Iran never moves toward threshold weapon status – is not through intrusive inspections and monitoring, but precisely via ‘regime change’ and the installation of a purely western puppet in Tehran.

Read more …

“..a sum that exceeded the total amount its Loan Programs Office (LPO) had put out in the past decade.”

Biden’s Energy Department Disbursed $42 Billion in Its Final Hours (Varney)

In its last two working days, the Biden administration’s Energy Department signed off on nearly $42 billion for green energy projects – a sum that exceeded the total amount its Loan Programs Office (LPO) had put out in the past decade. The frenzied activity on Jan. 16 and 17, 2025, capped a spending binge that saw the LPO approve at least $93 billion in current and future disbursements after Vice President Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election in November, according to documents provided by the department to RealClearInvestigations. It appears that Biden officials were rushing to deploy billions in approved funding in anticipation that the incoming Trump administration would seek to redirect uncommitted money away from clean energy projects.

The agreements were made despite a warning from the department’s inspector general, urging the loan office to suspend operations in December over concerns that post-election loans could present conflicts of interest. In just a few months, some of the deals have already become dicey, leading to fears that the Biden administration has created multiple Solyndras, the green energy company that went bankrupt after the Obama administration gave it $570 million. These deals include:

• Sunnova, a rooftop solar outfit that thus far had $382 million of its $3.3 billion loan guaranteed, filed for bankruptcy this month. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
• Li-Cycle, a battery recycling facility, had a $445 million loan approved in November, but since then, the company was put up for sale and has filed for bankruptcy. The Energy Department said no money has been disbursed on that deal. Li-Cycle did not respond to a request for comment.
• A $705 million loan was approved on Jan. 17 for Zum Energy, an electric school bus company in California, and its “Project Marigold.” At $350,000 and more, electric school buses currently cost more than twice as much as their diesel counterparts. So far, Zum has received $21.7 million from the government, according to usaspending.gov. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
• A $9.63 billion Blue Oval SK loan on Jan. 16 was the second largest post-election deal, topped only by a $15 billion loan the next day to Pacific Gas & Electric, with most of that for renewables. The Blue Oval project in Kentucky – a joint venture between Ford Motor Co. and a South Korean entity – has been dealing with numerous workplace complaints, and construction of a second EV battery manufacturing plant there has been delayed. More than $7 billion has been obligated on that deal, according to the Energy Department. Blue Oval did not respond to a request for comment.

The money and the hasty way in which it was earmarked have drawn the attention of the Trump administration. “It is extremely concerning how many dozens of billions of dollars were rushed out the door without proper due diligence in the final days of the Biden administration,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement to RCI. “DOE is undertaking a thorough review of financial assistance that identifies waste of taxpayer dollars.” The enormous sums came from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which injected $400 billion into the LPO, a previously sleepy Energy Department branch originally intended to spur nuclear energy projects. That total represented more than 10 times the amount the LPO had ever committed in any fiscal year of its existence.

Prior to the post-election blowout, the office’s biggest fiscal year was 2024, when it committed $34.8 billion, records show. Even with the rush to push billions out the door in its last months, close to $300 billion of the Inflation Reduction Act money remains uncommitted by the LPO. Trump administration officials have already nixed some smaller deals. Secretary Wright recently urged Congress to keep the money in place as the LPO now aims to use it to further the Trump administration’s energy policy, particularly with nuclear projects.

That unprecedented gusher of cash from the LPO echoes the efforts of the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency to push $20 billion out the door before it left office. As RCI has previously reported, the EPA – which had never been a consequential grant-making operation – was tasked with awarding $27 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funding through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and Solar For All programs. It did so in less than six months in 2024, including an unorthodox arrangement in which Biden officials parked some $20 billion outside the Treasury’s control. That money was earmarked for a handful of nonprofits, some of which had skimpy assets and were linked with politically connected directors.

The LPO’s post-election bonanza was put together in even less time. The Energy Department deals, however, involve mostly for-profit enterprises, which raises questions about whether the Biden administration was propping up companies that would not have survived in the private marketplace. Should any of the companies hit it big in the future, shareholders could get rich, while taxpayers will receive only the interest on the loan. “The loan office should not be in the virtual venture business,” said Mark Mills, executive director of the National Center on Energy Analytics. “But in a few cases, it could make sense to serve as a catalyst or backstop for viable and important projects from a national security or policy perspective.”

RCI spoke with several Trump administration officials who declined to comment on the record, given the extensive ongoing review of both the LPO’s post-election arrangements and other Energy Department projects linked to Biden’s climate agenda. “They wanted to get the billions to companies that probably wouldn’t exist unless they could get money from the government,” one current official said. “The business plans, such as they were, were ‘how do we secure capital from the government?’”

Read more …

“..calling the work on the report “chaotic,” “atypical,” and “markedly unconventional.”

Russiagate Was A Ploy To ‘Screw Trump’ – CIA Boss (RT)

A US intelligence report on Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election, commissioned by then-President Barack Obama, was nothing but a deliberate manipulation, CIA Director John Ratcliffe has said, citing his agency’s recent internal review. Known as the 2016 Intelligence Community Assessment on Russian Election Interference (ICA), the report kickstarted the Russiagate conspiracy, prompted special counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry, and “ate up the first two years” of President Donald Trump’s first term, Ratcliffe said in an interview with the New York Post published on Wednesday. The new CIA head ordered an internal review of the report in May.

Obama ordered the ICA just six weeks before leaving office. According to the CIA review of its drafting and rushed release, declassified on Wednesday, then-CIA Director John Brennan, FBI Director James Comey, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper were unusually and “excessively involved” in the process. “The rushed timeline to publish both classified and unclassified versions before the presidential transition raised questions about a potential political motive behind the White House tasking and timeline,” the review said, calling the work on the report “chaotic,” “atypical,” and “markedly unconventional.”

The CIA review found that Brennan effectively directed the compilation of the ICA and particularly insisted on including the later discredited Steele dossier. The dossier – a compilation of unverified rumors about Trump and his alleged links to Russia – was compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele and reportedly funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign. “This was Obama, Comey, Clapper, and Brennan deciding, ‘We’re going to screw Trump,’” Ratcliffe said, commenting on his agency’s findings. “It was, ‘We’re going to create this and put the imprimatur of an IC assessment in a way that nobody can question it.’ They stamped it as Russian collusion and then classified it so nobody could see it.” “Brennan and Clapper and Comey manipulated [and] silenced all the career professionals and railroaded the process,” the CIA director added.

American public opinion was further manipulated by constant media leaks and unnamed officials cited by The Washington Post, The New York Times, and other mainstream outlets. “Before work on the assessment even began, media leaks suggesting that the IC had already reached definitive conclusions risked creating an anchoring bias,” the review noted. The ICA, as well as the FBI’s 2016 ‘Crossfire Hurricane’ investigation and the subsequent Mueller inquiry, cast a long shadow over Trump’s first term, with allegations of “Russian collusion” persisting in the media even after Mueller’s report found no evidence to support them. Moscow has also repeatedly denied any election interference.

Read more …

But… Just this once…

NATO Chief ‘Totally Understands’ US Cutting Off Weapons For Ukraine (RT)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has said he “totally understands” the US prioritizing its own national interests, but stressed that European allies cannot continue backing Ukraine in its conflict with Russia without support from Washington. Rutte made the remarks in a Wednesday interview with Fox News, responding to reports that Washington has scaled back critical military aid to Kiev, including deliveries of air defense ammunition, missiles, and artillery shells. “I totally understand that the US always has to make sure that their own interests are covered,” the NATO chief said, but argued that “flexibility” was needed.

“In the short term, Ukraine cannot do without all the support it can get when it comes to ammunition and to air defense systems,” Rutte stated. When it comes to the burden shift from the US to Europe, that’s taking place, but we cannot do without the practical US support. According to Matthew Whitaker, Washington’s envoy to NATO, the cut in US aid to Ukraine is part of President Donald Trump’s domestic-focused policy shift. “This is what ‘America first’ looks like,” he told Fox News on Wednesday. The Pentagon needs to “make sure that the US has the strategic defense capabilities necessary to project power,” Whitaker stated.

The US president has previously criticized the hundreds of billions of dollars in aid sent to Ukraine under his predecessor Joe Biden. Trump has instead pushed for peace talks, while demanding that NATO allies take on a greater role in supporting Kiev and increase their own military spending. Last week, European members of the US-led military bloc pledged to provide Ukraine with more than €35 billion ($41 billion) in aid and vowed to increase their NATO military spending to 5% of GDP over the next decade, up from a longstanding 2% target. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that such a “catastrophic” burden on NATO state budgets could spell “the organization’s collapse.”

Read more …

“..could make Kiev’s situation dire in less than two months..”

Halt To US Military Aid Could Spell Doom For Kiev – Bild (RT)

The US decision to suspend its supply of weapons to Ukraine could make Kiev’s situation dire in less than two months, the German tabloid Bild has reported, citing military experts. Without America’s support, the Ukrainian military would struggle to fight Russia in several major fields, the outlet stated. Washington’s envoy to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, confirmed to Fox News on Wednesday that the decision to halt arms shipments was made as part of the “America first” policy. He also said that the US needs to focus on maintaining its own “strategic defense capabilities” and particularly make sure that “we have enough Patriot missiles.”

Patriot missiles were included by several Western media outlets, including Politico and NBC News, among the categories of weapons that will no longer be sent to Kiev. The list also includes Stinger and AIM air-to-air missiles, hundreds of Hellfire and GMLRS systems, and thousands of 155mm artillery shells. According to Bild, the lack of Patriot missiles could deal a particularly significant blow to Ukraine’s air defense capabilities as the US-made weapons are reportedly the only ones capable of intercepting Russian ballistic missiles.

The halt in deliveries of AIM missiles could potentially leave the Ukrainian military struggling to intercept Russian strike drones, the tabloid stated. The lack of GMLRS munitions would also reportedly be “devastating” as it would make US-made HIMARS multiple rocket launchers used by the Ukrainian military “virtually useless.” Kiev’s forces have just enough western-supplied weapons to last them until late summer, Bild reported, citing Carlo Masala, a political scientist and defense expert heading the Intelligence and Security Studies program at the Bundeswehr University of Munich.

After that, the situation “will become critical,” Masala told the tabloid, adding that the Ukrainian military is heavily reliant on Western arms shipments. US President Donald Trump has previously questioned the rationale behind endless aid to Ukraine. He also made no specific promises to Kiev at a meeting with Vladimir Zelensky on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague last week. Moscow has repeatedly stated that Western weapons supplies only prolong hostilities and human suffering while having no effect on the eventual outcome of the conflict.

Read more …

“Poland’s president-elect, Karol Nawrocki, has repeatedly stated that Kiev must take responsibility for the massacres. Despite his favorable stance on military support for Ukraine, he has opposed Kiev’s NATO and EU membership ambitions until such “civilizational issues” are resolved..”

Polish President Approves Memorial Day For Victims Of Ukrainian Nazis (RT)

Outgoing Polish President Andrzej Duda has established an official day of remembrance for the victims of the “genocide” committed by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) during World War II. From 1943 to 1945, Ukrainian Nazi collaborators murdered over 100,000 ethnic Poles in the regions of Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, now part of modern Ukraine. The peak of the massacres, which the Polish government has officially recognized as a genocide, occurred in mid-1943, when the residents of “about a hundred villages” were exterminated on July 11, according to the text of a bill passed by the Polish Parliament and Senate last month.

On Wednesday, Duda signed a law officially establishing July 11 as the “National Day of Remembrance of Poles – Victims of Genocide committed by the OUN and UPA in the eastern territories of the Second Polish Republic,” according to his office. “The martyrdom of Poles for belonging to the Polish nation deserves to be remembered with an annual day designated by the Polish state to honor the victims,” the document states. The massacres have long been a source of tension in relations between Kiev and Warsaw, despite Poland being one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters in its conflict with Moscow.

Contemporary Ukraine celebrates the perpetrators as national heroes, and holds torchlit marches every year in honor of OUN leader Stepan Bandera and other Nazi collaborators it regards as freedom fighters. Ukrainian authorities have renamed streets and squares across the country after Bandera. The government has also faced criticism for its reluctance to allow the exhumation of victims’ remains. Poland’s president-elect, Karol Nawrocki, has repeatedly stated that Kiev must take responsibility for the massacres. Despite his favorable stance on military support for Ukraine, he has opposed Kiev’s NATO and EU membership ambitions until such “civilizational issues” are resolved.

Read more …

There will come a day when we won’t believe we were ever this far gone.

“..You can’t trample women’s civil rights in the name of political correctness and expect to get away with it.”

Women’s Sports Just Scored a Massive Win Against the Trans Agenda (Margolis)

The Department of Education just delivered a major dose of accountability: The University of Pennsylvania has agreed to resolve Title IX violations tied to its decision to let Will “Lia” Thomas—a biological male—compete on the women’s swim team during the 2021-22 season. It’s the latest fallout from a controversy that never should have happened in the first place. UPenn’s reckless embrace of gender ideology came at the direct expense of female athletes, who were sidelined, stripped of titles, and told to stay silent in the name of “inclusion.” Now, they’re finally getting some justice. But it doesn’t stop there. The university will also restore the records and titles that were effectively stolen from female athletes and issue personal apologies to each woman impacted by the farce they were made to endure.

“I am deeply grateful to the Trump administration for standing firm in protecting women and girls and restoring our rightful accolades,” Paula Scanlan, one of Thomas’s former teammates, told OutKick. “It is because of their strong leadership that my alma mater now knows it has no choice but to begin the process of reforming its policies to uphold women’s rights. Today marks a momentous step toward repairing the past mistreatment of female athletes and forging a future where sex discrimination no longer limits girls’ potential.” This is a long-overdue win for common sense and fairness in women’s sports—and a brutal indictment of the woke insanity that allowed it to happen in the first place. It never should have taken federal intervention to make this right, but credit where it’s due: The Biden-era weaponization of Title IX is finally getting checked under Trump’s administration.

Let’s hope this sets the precedent. No more erasing women. No more ideological experiments on college athletes. Biology isn’t bigotry, and the women who earned those records deserve every last bit of recognition they were denied. This isn’t just a symbolic gesture. The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights ruled that UPenn’s decision to let Thomas compete wasn’t just unfair—it was illegal. The university, which raked in about a billion dollars in federal funds last year, was staring down the barrel of serious financial consequences if it didn’t comply. Unlike the state of Maine, which is still fighting the federal government over similar violations, UPenn chose to cut its losses and do the right thing—albeit only after being cornered.

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon put it plainly: “Today’s resolution agreement with UPenn is yet another example of the Trump effect in action. Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, UPenn has agreed both to apologize for its past Title IX violations and to ensure that women’s sports are protected at the University for future generations of female athletes.” This is what real leadership looks like—standing up to the mob and restoring sanity to American institutions. McMahon also made it clear that this isn’t just about apologies and paperwork. The university is erasing Thomas’ so-called “records” and giving them back to the women who actually earned them. “We wanted to make sure that it was emphasized that this was wrong and the university didn’t take the right kind of action and to apologize to these women for putting them in situations where they could have been hurt or where they would have lost opportunity or where they might have had their dignity impugned because they had to change in private spaces in front of males… So I think an apology was absolutely warranted.” That’s not just policy—it’s common decency.

Riley Gaines, another athlete who tied Thomas in NCAA competition, called the resolution “further proof that President Trump and his government agencies are committed to a pro-woman agenda.” Gaines is right. This administration isn’t just talking about women’s rights—they’re actually defending them, sending a clear message to every college and university in America: You can’t trample women’s civil rights in the name of political correctness and expect to get away with it. This resolution is a victory for every girl and woman who’s been told to sit down, shut up, and accept unfairness for the sake of someone else’s feelings. It’s a reminder that truth matters, biology matters, and women’s sports deserve protection—not just lip service. The days of universities hiding behind woke slogans while sacrificing the dignity and achievements of female athletes are over. This is the beginning of a long-overdue course correction, and it’s about time.

Read more …

Majesty.

Putin-Backed Effort Saves Siberian Tiger From Extinction (RT)

Russia’s population of Amur tigers, also known as Siberian tigers, is no longer under threat of extinction, the chair of the Amur Tiger Center announced on Wednesday. The foundation was launched in 2013 by Russian President Vladimir Putin, a long-time supporter of protecting the endangered animals.Over the past 13 years, conservation efforts have raised the number of the big cats in the Russian Far East from around 430 to 750, according to Konstantin Chuychenko. ”The goal set out in the national tiger conservation strategy has been achieved,” he told reporters at the Land of Big Cats exhibition in Moscow. Chuychenko encouraged the public to visit the Far East to see the animals in their natural habitat.


© Sputnik/Alexander Kryazhev

The Amur tiger is native to forests in Russia’s Far East and Northeast China. It is the world’s largest cat subspecies and the only one adapted to cold, snowy climates. Despite progress in Russia, the Amur tiger remains classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), meaning it still faces a very high risk of extinction globally. A formal status change would require further international assessment. Russia’s 750 Amur tigers live in protected areas and remote forests. Several hundred more are kept in zoos and wildlife parks around the world.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Baldwin

Duck
https://twitter.com/gunsnrosesgirl3/status/1940351468487549257

Moai
https://twitter.com/gunsnrosesgirl3/status/1940334765884014863

Melody

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home Forums Debt Rattle July 3 2025

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 53 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #191329
    Germ
    Participant

    What’s difference between “conspiracy theory” and FACT? …

    About 4 years!

    TVASSF

    #191330

    “ People should lay off Trump. Give him a chance to understand the real challenge. Perhaps he will undertake the challenge. Perhaps he will succeed.

    What other chance do we have?“

    I give PCR cred for laying out the basic truth in his outline, but methinks he is way out on the optimism branch, given Mr. Trumps behaviour thus far.

    #191331
    Germ
    Participant

    They poisoned the world.

    Cardiovascular Manifestation of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine in Adolescents

    “Cardiovascular manifestations were found in 29.24% of patients …”

    https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9414075/

    TVASSF -Tick … Tock … Tick … Tock …

    #191332
    those darned kids
    Participant

    “Cardiovascular Manifestation of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine in Adolescents”

    notice they don’t call it “comirnaty”?

    wonder why..

    #191333
    those darned kids
    Participant

    “A 940-page bill is not supposed to be easy.”

    you got that right!

    totatilitarian control grids require bills of at least 737 pages!¡!

    #191334
    those darned kids
    Participant

    thomas massie de la mancha

    #191335
    Dr. D
    Participant

    German women, stop raping black Muslim men, esp when they’re also handicapped.

    pic

    Damn those Germans. And why do they hate women so much?

    Budget:

    1) Put in 10,000 land mines.
    2) Congress removes 9,999.
    3) One poison pill is missed, essentially collapsing the entire U.S. betting industry.
    4) Stop the budget, run out the clock, prevent Trump “Win” even as anemic as it is.

    Repeat with revision 2, 3, 4, and 5.

    Oops!

    And you wonder why people want to expel/arrest all of Congress, especially the GOP.

    $16 Million to rig a Presidential election? Sold!!!

    The sad part is, this is considered BETTER than last month, where they were doing it unrestrained, for free.

    “Are these senators just trying to keep the graft vehicle in place so the money keeps flowing?”

    So many things: oppose all things. They don’t actually know how anything works, just take orders, with gossip and innuendo. It’s not their money. Yes, the money is going exclusively to them, I’m sure they’re dimly aware with deniability. Say s—t because it’s bad Cheeto, who cares if it’s true.

    More like this. There are some inside who actually plan, know, and write “The Memo”, but not these guys. They’re too dumb and too controlled to be trusted with any actual information.

    As you see, they vote FOR USAID, which may dislike (GOP side) and vote FOR infinity health care as long as you’re not a citizen, which no one likes. Explain using any logic except mine above: they’re blackmailed, control, don’t exist.

    • President Trump Firm, No More Tariff Extensions Beyond July 8th (CTH)

    Run out the clock, everywhere, on everything. That’s something government is an expert in: doing nothing, opposing everything.

    “• The Keys to Trump’s Middle East Triumph (Joecks)

    Yuck. None of this is helpful. Here’s one that is: They “took” Iran’s nuclear program. Where is it? Keep that question in mind when you ask “What happens next?” Iran either re-creates it publicly or doesn’t. If it doesn’t then what? The UN weapons inspectors more or less openly said he gave every bit of data to the Israelis and is proud of it, will do it again, and kill more Scientists anywhere he’s let in. Iran unsurprisingly won’t let him in.

    That means if Iran doesn’t instantly create a nuke – which they clearly didn’t WISH to do – they can only…

    Wait for it…

    JOIN BRIICS. That is, be under RUSSIA’S umbrella. CHINA’S umbrella. That is OUR security. That means they lose some sovereignty, and that’s unfair. But what? You tell me.

    Where’s the nuke? NoKo. They outsourced it. That means they can’t get in the cupboard without China. Something like that. Hey, don’t believe ME, how did CHINA act, RUSSIA act? Russia is very cool to Iran, chilly almost. Why? They will support and run Iran’s whole nuclear program. That seems forward, supportive, but yet the diplomatic situation is backward?

    That seems like they know something, don’t trust Iran, haven’t in decades, and need to clear this to get to the new thing. Iran can “Have a nuke” they “Can’t get to” everyone gets what they claim. Russia is guarantor.

    Okay, now WHO in Iran? Who. IRGC? Civilian? Ayatollah? Who has power, who has the MOST power? And Iran just purged every Israeli there as they were all activated for the war, hunted down, and shot. Iran is now in a more stable position than before. That alone was worth getting bombed a little.

    “..the Israeli promise of an ‘Iran ready to implode, Syria-style’ – an ‘Epic’ transformation to a ‘New Middle East’ – must have been alluring”

    Trump Telepathy. Very alluring. He knows everything Trump is thinking all the time, and everything every diplomat says that isn’t public and they all deny. Uh-huh.

    “• Biden’s Energy Department Disbursed $42 Billion in Its Final Hours (Varney)

    No one cares. Even asking alone is offensive. Partisan, hate. Gee, where’d that Medicare money go? Sounds like this would have helped a little. Anyone care? Not a bit. OMB.

    “• Russiagate Was A Ploy To ‘Screw Trump’ – CIA Boss (RT)

    It was so bad no one was arrested and isn’t now. It was so bad we’re going to do nothing to un-educate all the lies the public now believes about it.

    “first they came for the pedophiles, and i said “oh hell yeah do you guys need any help getting all the pedophiles?”

    #191336
    those darned kids
    Participant

    no firkin way!

    https://gettrumpfragrances.com/

    hahahahahahahaha,

    what a loser.

    #191337
    those darned kids
    Participant

    why don’t they ever come for the war criminals first?

    #191338
    those darned kids
    Participant

    here’s 375 papers to cite to friends and family”

    https://zenodo.org/records/15787612

    COVID-19 mRNA “vaccine” harms research collection

    #191339
    those darned kids
    Participant

    oops, more:

    I. Spike protein pathogenicity research library (n=375)

    Originally part of the outer coat of the SARS-CoV2 virus, where it functions as a “key” to “unlock” (infect) cells, spike proteins are also produced in large amounts by the mRNA “vaccines,” triggering a short-lived immune response in the form of antibodies. However, a growing body of evidence has shown that the spike protein is harmful by itself, including over 370 peer-reviewed scientific papers collected in section I.

    II. Spike protein and “vaccine” mRNA biodistribution studies (n=61)

    In addition to the pathogenic characteristics of the spike protein antigen, over 60 peer-reviewed studies have demonstrated that both the “vaccine” mRNA encoding for the spike protein antigen and the spike protein itself can penetrate distant tissues, causing systemic harms.

    III. Spike protein and “vaccine” mRNA persistence studies (n=41)

    Over 40 peer-reviewed studies confirm that “vaccine” mRNA and the resulting spike protein antigen persist in the tissues of human vaccine recipients and animal test subjects far longer than claimed by public health officials; viral spike proteins, resulting from natural infection, have been shown to persist even longer, bolstering concerns that the identical “vaccine” spike may also last longer than anticipated.

    IV. Lipid nanoparticle toxicity and allergenicity studies (n=80)

    80 peer-reviewed papers show that ionizable lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) used in the experimental mRNA injections are highly inflammatory on their own, including their polyethylene glycol (PEG) component, an established cause of anaphylaxis (an extreme allergic reaction).

    V. COVID-19 “vaccine” immune imprinting library (n=140)

    Immune imprinting, dubbed “original antigenic sin” by Thomas Francis Jr., occurs when memory B lymphocytes produced in response to an initial viral infection dominate subsequent responses to related viruses. 140 peer-reviewed papers suggest that COVID “vaccines” imprinted the immune systems of recipients through exposure to the “wild type” spike protein from the original Wuhan strain, shaping their response to subsequent variants in potentially harmful ways.

    VI. SARS-CoV2 vaccine and viral variant research library (n=70)

    In addition to the pathogenicity, distribution, and long persistence of the “vaccine” spike protein, this collection of 70 peer-reviewed papers suggests the “vaccines” applied strong selective pressure to the fast-mutating SARS-CoV2 virus, quickly giving rise to “vaccine”-resistant variants.

    #191340
    Topcat
    Participant

    #191341
    Topcat
    Participant

    #191342
    Topcat
    Participant

    Greta is diversifying her range of ’causes’

    #191343
    Germ
    Participant

    Think US “Gain of Function” research has been terminated?

    Fool me once, fool me twice …

    Researchers took canine influenza (H3N2-CIV) and deliberately co-infected dog tracheal tissue with:

    The 2009 pandemic swine flu (H1N1pdm) and the Avian flu H9N2 which is known for high cytokine storms in humans.
    They then serially passaged the virus i.e. sped up evolution in a lab.

    The result was “reassortants” or simply put, hybrid flu viruses containing gene segments from both parental viruses.

    In their own words:

    “The co-infection of canine tracheal explants by H3N2-CIV and H1N1pdm or H9N2-G1H led to a remarkably high rate of reassortment. […] All reassortants replicated with similar or greater efficiency as compared to the parental strains. […] The drastic enhancement in viral replication is concerning and implies a high potential of these reassortants to be introduced into the human population.”

    https://virologyj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12985-025-02836-1#author-information

    TVASSF – get ready for Round 2.

    #191344
    Topcat
    Participant

    #191345
    Topcat
    Participant

    #191346
    zerosum
    Participant

    Who is listening?

    I have a dream – BBB – HOUSE DEMOCRATS
    VS
    I have a dream – BBB – HOUSE REPUBLICAN

    ‘Big Beautiful Bill Act’ , the procedural measure

    PRESIDENT TRUMP – “Nobody wants to talk about GROWTH, which will be the primary reason that the Big, Beautiful Bill will be one of the most successful pieces of legislation ever passed.
    THIS GROWTH has already begun at levels never seen before.
    Trillions of Dollars are now being invested into the USA, more than ever before.
    Likewise, hundreds of Billions of Dollars in Tariffs are filling up the coffers of Treasury.
    ————-

    One item in the BBB that few Republicans are objecting to is the bill’s increase in military spending.
    The House version of the BBB added 150 billion dollars to the Pentagon’s already bloated budget.
    The Senate bill gave the military-industrial complex 156 billion dollars. Increasing military spending contradicts President Trump’s promise to stop wasting money on endless wars that have nothing to do with ensuring the security of the American people.

    A return to a noninterventionist foreign policy is the only way we will be able to begin to pay down the national debt and restore a government that adheres to the constitutional limits on its powers and respects all the people’s rights all the time.
    ———–

    Everywhere there is talk of war


    Everywhere there is talk of war
    July 2, 2025
    Paul Craig Roberts

    What is the purpose of war?

    So the wars are about nothing but the selfish aspirations of Israel for regional hegemony and Washington for world hegemony.
    Be sure you comprehend that it is nothing but the selfish aspirations of two countries that are the cause of millions of dead, maimed, and dislocated peoples, for the destruction of entire countries in the Middle East –Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Palestine, and Lebanon, with Iran a current target and with Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey waiting in the wings.

    The US is responsible for massive deaths, injuries, displacement, and destruction in Ukraine (and Palestine) and for provocations of Russia, such as the attack on the Russian strategic triad that eventually will result in nuclear war, with China waiting in the wings.

    The US currently is increasing the pressure on Russia by fomenting color revolutions in former Central Asian provinces of the Soviet Union.

    Who is it that wants war so badly that facts are unacceptable?
    —————–

    https://realclearwire.com/articles/2025/06/30/shovel_ready_despite_warnings_bidens_energy_department_disbursed_42_billion_in_its_final_hours_1119426.html

    Shovel Ready: Despite Warnings, Biden’s Energy Department Disbursed $42 Billion in Its Final Hours
    By James Varney
    ————-

    #191347
    Topcat
    Participant

    AI distorting “Reality”

    The next battleground.

    AI is going to accelerate the Reality Distortion Force Field into Warp Drive

    Your conformation bias will just allow you to go, “That’s an AI fake” everytime you don’t agree with something that someone else presents as ‘proof’

    #191348
    Topcat
    Participant

    A digital ‘photo’ is just a spread sheet.

    Modifying it is just tinkering with the content in certain rows and columns which if not done with amazing mathematical ‘blending’ precision is detectable.

    #191349
    kultsommer
    Participant

    He’s comin’ to town.
    Again.

    The July 7 visit will mark Netanyahu’s third trip to Washington to meet Trump since the US president returned to office in January 2025, and will ………

    Trump is practicing chair-assist move while congress-folks are eager for a new round of applauses.

    #191350
    Noirette
    Participant

    Re. the Trump support figures up top. Many polls are quite ‘partial’, some are ‘manipulated’, even without intent to skew, anyway let’s take it on, the results reflect that ‘cheap’ labor depresses long-term nationals / residents salaries, job opportunities, advancement, etc.

    Getting rid of the ‘intruders’ ‘illegals’ seems an obvious, simple solution, the hope being, our incomes will rise.

    Very real beefs imho as ‘productivity gains’ have been for a long time, say roughly 50 years, shunted to the top 10% – to the 1% – at the expense of the workers doing the job. This is common knowledge, but it leads to zero politically (see the like of Bush, Obiman, Pelosi or Sanders..)

    So manhandling and kicking out the ppl one can blame (poor immigrants, etc.) instead of destroying, changing, the system is an easy ‘out’ and allows some citizens to grasp some hope for change.

    Targetting some group for xtreme cruelty – incarceration – killing … is a common tactic. Bush opened Gitmo, Trump is opening some new prison? (Idk the details). Trump’s thing though is ‘deportation’, I doubt he beats on the numbers – Obama was tops (one link.)

    Getting rid of much cheap imported labor will kill, or reduce, or slowly strangle, many biz in the US who are dependent on it. Agri, fast food, landscaping, home hairdressing, pool maintaince, nail shops, and more, idk. Construction. Agri imho is the biggest choke-point.

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/deporter-in-chief-obama-surpassed-deportations-under-trumps-first-term

    So Trumpy is caught between a rock and a hard place. He needs to favor, represent, aid, his base, and at the same time be a Maga Leader who supports the MIC, Big Med, Big Pharma, and increasing Police State (DHS, etc.), cutting social benefits (Medicaid etc.), sending many to their death. (Military funding not taken into account here.)

    #191351
    jb-hb
    Participant

    So manhandling and kicking out the ppl one can blame (poor immigrants, etc.) instead of destroying, changing, the system is an easy ‘out’ and allows some citizens to grasp some hope for change.

    Part of the system is hundreds of billions of dollars in NGO budgets with huge, sophisticated transportation and logistics infrastructure to gather, transport, and funnel people into Europe and the US, a machine that continually runs, substituting one source population if one supply runs low. Never sleeping, always working while other people consider the issue every once in a while.

    Mass unlimited illegal migration IS The System.

    Although you and I never were evil enough to think of PEOPLE as a bioweapon, someone most definitely does and is consistently, relentlessly, aiming it at the poor.

    Getting rid of much cheap imported labor will kill, or reduce, or slowly strangle, many biz in the US who are dependent on it.

    Who will pick the cotton?

    Slavery always STOPS growth. Cato – for wealth growth, just buy land. Put sheep and slaves on it. Repeat. Why the hell would I do anything else?

    The Greeks and Romans made steam boilers and metal cylinders similar to Victorian steam machinery with tight tolerances. There was no particular reason they couldn’t have had steam locomotives and ships except that they had too many slaves. The US South pre Civil War was stunted in terms of science, engineering, industry, infrastructure, because they had slaves. They were stuck with LESS wealth because of the cheap labor.

    Plus what you GET with your cheap labor is people from a low-trust society who do things like attach every shingle on your roof with a single nail x millions of new homes and all the knockon effects from that – insurance claims, water damage, the need to do the roof again multiplied by millions etc.

    But it is easy to go ahead and use the cheap labor anyway if we refuse to measure or look at the costs. Not actually cheap. Benefit with cheapness in one particular area, tons of spread-out causes we look away from, someone else’s problem.

    #191352
    poppie
    Participant

    2 ways to photoshop. 1) Erase objects. Also called smudge, mask, etc. Detectable. Time consuming. Fairly easy. 2) take 2 pictures. move objects from picture B to picture A. Less detectable. Maybe less time. A little harder.
    Take a picture of the waterway and drop a copy of Stalin in it. The example given would not exist. So what that means is that photoshop detectors will have low fale alarms. High missed detects. It does not detect photoshop, you still dont know if its photoshoped.

    #191353
    John Day
    Participant

    Amex pays $70K for gay ‘throuple’ to get their mitts on a baby…

    Amex pays $70K for gay ‘throuple’ to get their mitts on a baby…

    Odd, no?

    #191354
    jb-hb
    Participant

    My new job really brings insurance to the top of awareness. I talk to a LOT of people who say rising insurance costs are deeply affecting them. A lot of them are in California.

    Think about California 10, 20, 50 years ago.

    The further you go back in time, are there less people who would vandalize or destroy your vehicle?

    Are there less people who would steal your vehicle?

    Do you feel your streets get safer as you look further back in time?

    As you go further back in time, are there less people driving around without insurance and/or without a license and/or driving extremely badly? Are there less or more hit and runs 20, 50 years ago?

    If you go back 20 years, 50 years, do you have more conscientious clearing of brush around power lines and other sensitive areas?

    If only reality worked on the basis of causality. If only there were something Californians DID over the past 50 years that could be identified. Don’t worry if anything bad happens “randomly” and inexplicably though, so long as you had insurance.

    And I still cannot figure out how every major city is so proud of “welcoming” tens or hundreds of thousands of “newcomers” in a single year, getting them all driver’s licenses for voting, and yet I never, ever see this reflected in people attending driving school on the roads. While my customers cannot understand why their auto insurance premiums are “so high”

    #191355
    Germ
    Participant

    Hey, Honey – let’s go and get death-vaxxed together! …

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-14870317/EastEnders-Heather-Peace-wife-Ellie-Dickinson-battling-breast-cancer-heartbreaking-admission.html

    TVASSF – and they have no idea. Absolutely none. Remarkable!

    #191356
    jb-hb
    Participant

    The wife mentioned a client got a weird horrific cancer and is undergoing a super rare, super difficult operation soon with fairly scant hopes of survival.

    The client base is fairly chatty and she gets to hear what is going on in their lives a lot of the time.

    Her overall reaction “Why are so many people getting such weird, rare cancers now?”

    My reaction, deadpan “Yes, if only we knew of something different we all did about, oh, about 4 years ago. If only there were some rational explanation.”

    “Spiritually Californian” — a term I heard when someone was explaining Jordan Peterson and his family members. Why they SEEM to have a grip on things only to slip and righteously go full blue-square in very embarrassing, obviously wrong ways. Jordan Peterson saying Kavenaugh should just give up on his Supreme Court nomination because a political operative who scrubbed her social media and had 2 doors on her house so she could rent office space instead of SEEKING JUSTICE based on THE TRUTH. (dude, weren’t YOU persecuted?!?!?? You remember?)

    Like yeah, yeah, the Petersons try to fight the good fight, sure they come from Canada, sure they had to flee that country because of how Liberalism has no antibodies against Leftism and he was being persecuted — but even when it attacks him personally, he can’t always fight it — he’s Spiritually Californian – this is his culture, tradition, underlying perception of reality. Spiritual Californians are everywhere.

    We’re finally moving. The Stabmore, (the hotel Denver converted to house criminals and illegals like California does) 100 yards away, has a lot to do with it. More garbage everywhere. Disturbing new people walking or staggering around. Incoherent insane yelling in public, day and night. Businesses around it inexplicably closing. And of course the general way Denver is being run layered on top of that. The local library is no good anymore, for instance. My car was broken into, but after popping the hatchback and crawling forward, they found the stick shift, so I still have a car.

    Anyone can realize the “Ew, it’s not so good anymore, we need to move” but the specifics as to why and even more so the causes are forbidden. They are to be invisible, but if they are brought up, noticing means you are a Big Meanie.

    I was kinda wtf, this is YOUR neighborhood being ruined that we will be fleeing. You can’t just consciously see it and talk about it? Compared to the time and effort of having to move across town BECAUSE OF IT, isn’t that LESS difficult?

    And then it hit me watching that rant about the Petersons. My wife’s mother in law, huge blue square. Her brother, same. The family moved to Denver back when she was a little girl… FROM CALIFORNIA. She’s mentioned that to her family members, SHE is suspect in their eyes. Possibly secret MAGA!!! (I promise you, not so, just a left leaning normie) The family is spiritually Californian.

    And that’s fine, it just means that there are costs to your religion (like to pay more for your housing, time and effort packing, moving, unpacking, expenditures on boxes, packing materials, a moving company…. higher insurance premiums for everything, increased feelings of indignation with increasing frequency, cognitive dissonance… extremely superior and correct expert-aligned exotic cancers…)

    #191357
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Congress and the BBB…

    …What Thomas Massie understands intuitively, (and perhaps the 10 holdouts as well,) is that you don’t get change by taking the usual, “tried and true” route — in this case, by compromising on 95% of the bill to get the 5% of what you want. The only way to get change is to go a different route: the “no” vote. “Nos” can be very powerful. When enough “no votes” band together, the BBB can be busted up into multiple bills.

    #191358
    kultsommer
    Participant

    Coincidentally returned, two weeks ago, from Chile and Rapa Nui. Childhood dream fulfilled.
    Five and a half hours to fly from Santiago to land on little dot in the Pacific. Fascinating place!
    As for the Moai transport, older indigenous folks are of an opinion that it was done by using a Mana – a special “Good given power”.

    #191359
    Topcat
    Participant

    @jb-hb

    Liked your take on ‘cheap’ labor.

    Spot on.

    No one in the USSA has had an honest Adult debate on cheap labor, especially cheap migrant labor like ever

    Both parties, the Rethugs and the Demonrats have wealthy donors who benefit enormously from migrant labor, illegal or legal, doesn’t matter.

    Trumptard’s ICE is under-staffed and at the rate they are deporting it will take DECADES to make a dent in the 20 million+ ‘illegal migrant’ numbers. It’s in the hundreds of thousands deported not the millions.

    Trumptard lies about everything including cheap migrant labor. His Class loves it.

    ICE is a puppet show for the Dumbasses

    I just saw an estimate saying there were actually closer to 50 million ‘illegals’ depending on your definition in the USSA, accumulated over generations.

    Upper Middleclass: OMG, who will nanny my offspring, and pick my lettuce and clean my commode!

    The USSA will Never out manufacture China. Like never ever. It’s too late to catch up.

    Not with cheap labor, not with ‘educated’ labor, not with nothing.

    The only purpose the USSA has for the rest of the world, it’s raison d’être is to CONSUME manufactured goods, not to make them.

    The USA MIC is a pitiful manufacturing grift, not a real industrial base.

    Multi billion dollar aircraft carriers that can be sent the the bottom of the ocean with a single cheap hypersonic missile.

    The F-35 Lardbucket that needs dozens of hours of maintenance to fly for one hour.

    M-1 Abrams tanks the Russians use for target practice.

    Himars that were made obsolete in months by Russian AD.

    The imaginary “Golden Dome’ AD boondoggle wet dream.

    The list is endless.

    None of it even qualifies as a ‘manufacturing base.’

    And the part about cheap labor stifling innovation rings true.

    Slaves are not entrepreneurs, neither is minimum wages labor.

    Innovation needs a middle class, the USSA has a dying middle class.

    #191360
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    Easter island statures were “walked” like that in a demonstration done back in 2011, as reported in a National Geographic article, July 2012. I recall reading the article at that time.

    Looking at the many moai abandoned there in various stages of completion, Rapu explained how they were engineered to walk: Fat bellies tilted them forward, and a D-shaped base allowed handlers to roll and rock them side to side. Last year, in experiments funded by National Geographic’s Expeditions Council, Hunt and Lipo showed that as few as 18 people could, with three strong ropes and a bit of practice, easily maneuver a 10-foot, 5-ton moai replica a few hundred yards. In real life, walking miles with much larger moai would have been a tense business. Dozens of fallen statues line the roads leading away from the quarry. But many more made it to their platforms intact.

    https://archive.org/details/if-they-could-only-talk/mode/2up

    #191361
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Amex “throuple”

    The most messed up part for me is how, once they got the baby-via-surrogacy that is biologically related to one of them, they left one month-long vacation — without the infant, using 4 weeks of the 20 weeks paid “paternity leave” for vacationing rather than bonding with the infant. Obviously, priorities are misplaced — the children are probably “trophies” rather than beloved projects.

    #191362
    John Day
    Participant

    Head Fakes https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/head-fakes

    Simplicius, Russia Launches Largest Drone Swarm of Entire War as Ukraine Gets Forgotten​
    This jumped out at me. Warfare is changing ra[pidly: This now makes multiple F-16s shot down by Geran drones. The problem appears to be they are incapable of locking onto the drone as it has a very small IR signature, so they are being forced to engage the drone at extremely close ranges, which peppers the F-16 with shrapnel after the drone explodes.​ https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sitrep-62925-russia-launches-largest

    The US has sent the old stockpiles to Ukraine and the new stockpiles to “Israel”, can’t produce weapons quickly, and is running low, so “Israel first”: Simplicius, Major Setback for Ukraine as US Cuts Aid Due to Critical Weapons Shortages
    ​ Politico revealed that the US is reportedly halting supplies of critical weapons systems to Ukraine because the US’ own stockpiles of these have sunk to record lows.​..
    ​..Included among the items being pulled back are missiles for Patriot air defense systems, precision artillery rounds, Hellfire and other missiles that Ukraine launches from its F-16 fighters and drones.
    ​ Note that GMLRS ammo for the HIMARS and 155mm artillery shells are amongst the key systems included, although as of yet I haven’t found any other sources validating these specific claims—rather, they all mention ‘weapons systems’ more ambiguously.​..
    ​..But now, breaking reports claim that the US has dropped back down to a mere 40k per month due to huge production problems:
    ​ The Army recently told Congress that 155mm production currently stands at 40,000/month. This is, of course, a decrease from the 50,000/m LaPlante stated last year.
    ​ We now have a likely explanation for why it fell. The new shell body production facility in Mesquite, TX is massively behind schedule. The first two of three production lines are still not fully completed, and the third is likely to miss its due date.
    ​ The Army has formally notified General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems that their management of the facility is being reviewed for breach of contract. They have until July 10 to detail how they might be able to get things back on track​.
    ​ As a result, the Army’s Load, Assemble and Pack capacity exceeds their ability to produce the metal parts of the projectiles. Previously there was a stockpile of shell bodies that were being drawn on by the LAP facilities, but those must have been exhausted, so projectile production has now fallen to 40,000 which is what the other metal parts plants can produce. Mesquite’s 3 lines are supposed to produce 10,000 shell bodies each.​..
    ..I had covered the “new” General Dynamics Mesquite factory before, particularly the fact that it was built by Turkey, featuring Turkish CNC lathes and other equipment, and staffed with Turkish workers. It’s not unlike the TSMC factory in Phoenix which was unable to find ‘suitable’ American workers to ably man the production lines. When I first learned of the Turkish sourcing, I immediately had my doubts that this boondoggle “automated” factory would amount to much; now it seems those doubts have been vindicated.​ https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/major-setback-for-ukraine-as-us-cuts

    ​ Russian forces discover cache of Ukrainian chemical drone munitions – FSB
    Moscow has accused Kiev of systematically violating the Chemical Weapons Convention​ https://swentr.site/russia/620814-russian-forces-drone-chemical/

    ​ Baltic Sea’s WW2 chemical legacy demands Russia-NATO cooperation – expert
    Germany has been trying to extract sunken munitions on its own, while Russia has been left out of the loop completely ​
    ​ An estimated 1.6 million tons of wartime ammunition, primarily left by Nazi Germany, are scattered across the seabed of the North and Baltic seas. While most of them are conventional shells, some 40 tons contain deadly chemical agents, such as mustard gas, phosgene, and other compounds. The munitions have been deteriorating over the decades and now pose a hazard to the marine environment​. https://swentr.site/news/620754-baltic-sea-chemical-weapons/

    #191363
    John Day
    Participant

    Iranian cheap-electricity for government Bitcoin mining was much reduced: BOMBING OF IRAN SABOTAGED THEIR BITCOIN MINING OPERATION!​ https://francesleader.substack.com/p/bombing-of-iran-sabotaged-their-bitcoin

    ​Bitcoin is useful to countries under $US sanctions. from 3/21/25: North Korea Becomes Third-Largest Government Bitcoin Holder https://www.fintechweekly.com/magazine/articles/north-korea-becomes-third-largest-bitcoin-holder-after-bybit-hack

    ​ No weapons-grade enrichment in Iran – Foreign Ministry spokesman
    Israel’s claims that Iran has been secretly developing nuclear weapons are false, Esmail Baghaei has said​ https://swentr.site/news/620722-iran-no-weapons-grade-enrichment/

    ​This is a treasure trove of detailed information about the (sometimes almost) “invisible” B-2 bomber and its vast network of complex high-tech life support.
    B-2 vs Iranian Air Defense: Genuine Game Changer or Expensive PR Stunt [i]
    ​ Did the B-2 genuinely change the game in Iran and bring peace through force, or was it just a masterfully orchestrated PR stunt?​
    (Israeli 5th-column sabateurs and spies helped take out Iranian air defenses, and Iran stood down and let B-2s bomb the 3 sites the US notified them of ahead of time, so B-52s would have worked.)​ https://bmanalysis.substack.com/p/b-2-vs-iranian-air-defense-genuine

    ​ British MPs invite deposed shah’s son to promote Iran regime change in parliament
    Pro-Israel Labour and Conservative MPs have organised Monday’s event with the controversial Reza Pahlavi​ https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/deposed-shahs-son-promote-iran-regime-change-uk-parliament-event

    #191364
    John Day
    Participant

    ​ Gaza’s Grassroots Effort to Ensure Humanitarian Aid Reaches Starving Palestinians
    Tribal and community leaders in Gaza are uniting to secure aid convoys after over 500 people have been killed in daily aid massacres.
    ​..Revelations published by Haaretz on Friday that confirmed what Palestinians in Gaza have been saying for the past four weeks—that Israeli soldiers are opening fire on unarmed Palestinians gathering near food distribution sites, even when they posed no threat. In the report, soldiers said Israeli commanders instructed troops to shoot at civilians approaching aid sites before they opened or after they closed—using machine guns, mortars, and grenades. Soldiers described systematic live fire, including from tanks and said the killings weren’t isolated mistakes but part of a pattern dubbed​ “Operation Salted Fish”—the Israeli version of Red Light, Green Light. “We shoot, they run, we shoot again,” one soldier said. “This is our communication.”​ https://www.globalresearch.ca/gaza-grassroots-effort-ensure-humanitarian-aid/5893252

    Israeli lawmakers accuse Netanyahu of trading Gaza war for end to his corruption trial​ https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250629-israeli-lawmakers-accuse-netanyahu-of-trading-gaza-war-for-end-to-his-corruption-trial/

    ​ Trump says ‘not going to stand’ for Netanyahu’s continued prosecution
    Trump slams Netanyahu’s corruption trial as a ‘witch hunt’, says US won’t tolerate it amid Israel-Iran tensions and ongoing Gaza ceasefire talks.​ https://www.newarab.com/news/trump-says-not-going-stand-netanyahus-prosecution

    Court Cancels Israel PM Netanyahu’s Trial Hearings this Week​ https://english.aawsat.com/world/5159500-court-cancels-israel-pm-netanyahus-trial-hearings-week

    Trump Pivots To Pressuring Israel For New Ceasefire Deal In Gaza​ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/trump-pivots-pressuring-israel-new-ceasefire-deal-gaza

    #191366
    John Day
    Participant

    Proof that Israel Has Lost the War: “Sizable Portion of Military, Intelligence, Energy, and R&D Facilities Destroyed”. Mike Whitney ​
    ​ Let’s say, some unexpected 9-11-type catastrophe was to take place in the next few weeks that had Iranian fingerprints all over it. And let’s say this false flag was destructive enough that the “usual suspects” on Capitol Hill and the MSM demanded that Trump take immediate action and bomb Iran. If that scenario were to unfold, then wouldn’t it better for Bibi and Trump to be able to point to their recent efforts for resolving the Gaza crisis? Wouldn’t they benefit from the perception (by the public) that they had been actively pursuing peace but were unexpectedly derailed by Iran’s actions?
    ​ Indeed, they would.
    ​ Of course, this is all just speculation; I don’t know what’s going to happen. But when you have hardliners like Katz, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and countless others in Netanyahu’s looneybin government who believe that Israel must “keep the sword raised” to ensure Iran does not recover its military capabilities (Smotrich), then a prudent person will prepare for the worst.
    ​ Keep in mind, a number of Israeli leaders have repeatedly stated that Netanyahu should “finish the job”, which is an intentionally vague term that refers to the use of a nuclear weapon.
    ​ In order to determine the probability of such an event, we must ask ourselves whether a government that justifies the killing and forced starvation of millions of women and children in their charge, has the moral scruples to oppose the use of the world’s most lethal weapon?​ https://www.globalresearch.ca/heres-proof-that-israel-lost-the-war-iran-destroyed-a-sizable-portion-of-israels-military-intelligence-industrial-energy-and-rd-facilities-mike-whitney/5893172

    ​ Israel kills 72 in Gaza, including hungry Palestinians waiting for food
    Calls for a ceasefire grow as US and Israeli leaders discuss a potential truce amid escalating violence in Gaza.​ https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/29/israeli-air-strikes-kill-dozens-in-gaza-amid-worsening-humanitarian-crisis

    ​ US contractors fire live rounds as desperate Palestinians seek food in Gaza
    Videos and testimony reveal chaotic scenes and alleged misconduct at the controversial American-run aid sites as Gaza reels under siege and starvation.​ https://trt.global/world/article/2a5e1859d0ce

    Israeli Military Orders New Evacuations in Northern Gaza​ https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5159408-israeli-military-orders-new-evacuations-northern-gaza

    Starvation and Anarchy Grip Gaza as Israel Tightens Siege​, Gaza Trapped: Two Million Civilians Caught in Blockade and Chaos​ https://english.pravda.ru/world/163035-gaza-crisis-israel-blockade/

    #191367
    John Day
    Participant

    US keeps Gaza truce details secret, voices support for Israel amid West Bank annexation calls
    State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce refuses to reveal modalities involved in Trump’s Gaza truce plan and reiterates Washington “stands with Israel” as senior Israeli ministers call for annexation of occupied West Bank.​ https://trt.global/world/article/83ca00104c5f

    ​Puppet rulers can get-things-done: Syria could drop demand that Israel return the Golan Heights – media
    Earlier, the IDF attacked the country, claiming to be protecting the Druze population​ https://swentr.site/news/620818-syria-golan-heights-claim/

    ​ Alex Krainer with financial primer (Prepare yourself): Why governments can’t balance their books – EVER!
    Without a radical reform of the monetary system, deficit spending and accumulation of public debts will continue to accelerate regardless of who is in power. The problem is systemic.​ https://alexkrainer.substack.com/p/why-governments-cant-balance-their

    Trump Vs. Musk: “Big, Beautiful Bill” Feud Sparks Overnight Political Firestorm​ https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-vs-musk-big-beautiful-bill-feud-sparks-overnight-political-firestorm

    ​ Trump says DOGE should investigate Musk​, The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has received more US government subsidies “than any human being in history,” the president claimed​ https://swentr.site/news/620816-musk-trump-tesla-subsidies/

    #191368
    John Day
    Participant

    Elon Musk Backing Thomas Massie Against Trump-AIPAC Challenger​ https://www.informationliberation.com/?id=64973

    Not So Fast: Massie Announces He Has Enough Votes To Block ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ In The House​ https://www.zerohedge.com/political/house-gop-faces-rebellion-johnson-scrambles-salvage-trump-tax-bill

    On The Cusp: House Democrats Stall ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ For Hours After GOP Votes To Advance​ https://www.zerohedge.com/political/cusp-house-democrats-stall-big-beautiful-bill-hours-after-gop-votes-advance

    After ‘8 Hours Of Hogwash’ From Rep. Jeffries, House Republicans Pass Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’​ https://www.zerohedge.com/political/cusp-house-democrats-stall-big-beautiful-bill-hours-after-gop-votes-advance

    Japan Finally Admits Its Carmakers Have Been Paying All Trump Tariff Costs As Trade Talks Collapse​ https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/japan-finally-admits-its-carmakers-have-been-paying-all-trump-tariff-costs-trade-talks

    #191369
    John Day
    Participant

    ​The trans-shipping-tax is against China. Trump Announces Trade Deal With Vietnam; Includes 20% Tariffs, 40% Tax On Transshipping https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/trump-announces-trade-deal-vietnam-includes-20-tariffs-40-tax-transshipping

    John Helmer has more details and context: President Donald Trump has just won the Vietnam War – except that he’s too modest to declare it a victory over Presidents Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, or claim theirs was a war against Vietnam which would never have happened if he had been president. https://johnhelmer.net/from-the-odour-of-trumps-body-parts-into-his-pockets-this-is-how-to-smell-victory-in-us-warfighting/#more-92002

    Florida has its own “Gitmo” now: Alligator Alcatraz Live: Trump Tours New Illegal Alien Deportation Camp In Florida Swamp https://www.zerohedge.com/political/alligator-alcatraz-live-trump-tours-new-illegal-deportation-camp-florida-swamp

    Meryl Nass MD, Debanking was yet one more government-initiated scam to rejigger the economy and punish enemies. https://merylnass.substack.com/p/debanking-was-yet-one-more-government

    Trump-proof funding: Not Just The EPA: Despite Warnings, Biden’s Energy Department Disbursed $42 Billion In Its Final Hours​ https://www.zerohedge.com/political/not-just-epa-despite-warnings-bidens-energy-department-disbursed-42-billion-its-final

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 53 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.