Rembrandt van Rijn Student at a table by candlelight c.1642
https://twitter.com/ricwe123/status/1973657381872562557
https://twitter.com/MyLordBebo/status/1973671919305028041
Tucker Carlson has revealed that during the brief Iran-Israel war earlier this year, Israeli soldiers were barging into U.S. military meetings at the Pentagon, issuing demands, and telling American officers what to do.
He says Pentagon officials stood by in silence and is… pic.twitter.com/u5vhYwaOwI
— Shadow of Ezra (@ShadowofEzra) October 2, 2025
Tucker Carlson went there…
The Oldest of Christian Heresies is that God somehow prefers “The Chosen People”— “No, The Only Chosen People are those who choose Jesus. PERIOD.”
But daily, we have people like Lindsey Graham in Congress telling everyone that if you don’t support… https://t.co/xS7cmvmbXZ pic.twitter.com/IpFRQhrO7Q
— MJTruthUltra (@MJTruthUltra) October 2, 2025
Elon Musk exposed California NGOs are receiving nearly $1 million dollars PER HOMELESS PERSON, per year
The City of Los Angeles data shows Democrats spending $900,000 per homeless person per year
People getting filthy rich is why the problem will never be solved. It’s a racket pic.twitter.com/pcjLHL1NKC
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) October 2, 2025
FOR YEARS, Democrats have unapologetically argued FOR putting illegals on Medicaid. Several Dem governors have already done it. Why lie about it now? The American people aren’t fooled. I don’t give an INCH on @cnn in my latest debate. pic.twitter.com/G99AjTZkCJ
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) October 2, 2025
How could you not laugh?
• Vance Destroys Jeffries’ Claim That Sombrero Meme Is ‘Racist’ (Cantrell)
Vice President JD Vance shrugged off liberal outrage over President Donald Trump sharing a meme video of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wearing a sombrero, saying he couldn’t understand claims that it was “racist.” The radical left truly has no sense of humor. Is it any wonder they always look miserable, mean, and nasty to anyone who holds different beliefs? Maybe if they learned how to laugh once in a while, they wouldn’t be so violent. A reporter asked Vance on Wednesday if Trump’s meme helped efforts to reach a government funding deal. “Oh, I think it’s funny. The president’s joking and we’re having a good time,” Vance replied. “You can negotiate in good faith while still poking fun at the absurdity of Democrats’ positions—and yes, even the absurdity of Democrats themselves.”
Then he added with a grin: “I’ll tell Hakeem Jeffries right now, I make this solemn promise to you—help us reopen the government, and the sombrero memes will stop.” Vance appeared at a White House briefing on Wednesday to discuss the government shutdown, which took effect after Democrats and Republicans failed to reach a funding deal. The Trump administration blamed Democrats, saying they tried to sneak in healthcare for illegal migrants. Leftists denied it, of course. But given the left’s agenda, I’d bet the administration is right.Fox News reported the now-infamous meme appeared on Truth Social. The video showed Jeffries with a sombrero and mustache while mariachi music played in the background. Honestly? That sounds hilarious.
After Hakeem Jeffries lost it on MSNBC over Trump’s meme putting him in a sombrero, 47 went right back at him, this time with Trump popping up as part of a mariachi band.
Trump is the undisputed king of trolling. pic.twitter.com/z4PUssRtwo
— Barstool Patriot (@BarstoolPatriot) October 1, 2025
Jeffries’ buddy, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, also made a cameo in the video. An AI-generated voice mocked Democrats for their “woke, trans agenda” and quipped that “nobody likes Democrats anymore.” Again—hilarious. The video, laced with profanity, mocked Democrats for pandering to illegal immigrants as potential new voters. Predictably, Jeffries and his liberal pals pulled the tired “racist” card. “Mr. P resident, the next time you have something to say about me, don’t cop out through a racist and fake AI video,” Jeffries fumed to reporters Tuesday. “When I’m back in the Oval Office, say it to my face.” Vance pushed back, blasting liberal media outlets for obsessing over the fact that the video was AI-generated.
“Hakeem Jeffries said it was racist, and I know he said that,” Vance noted. “And I honestly don’t even know what that means. Is he a Mexican-American who feels offended by a sombrero meme?” He laughed off the media’s pearl-clutching: “One of the major networks even showed the meme and solemnly announced it was AI-generated. But the guy had a curly cartoon mustache and a sombrero! Do you really think Americans believe Jeffries walked into the White House dressed like that? Give the country a little credit.”
Democrats assume Americans are both stupid and uneducated. It’s the very line of thinking that made them so arrogant as to believe they could get away with the destruction wrought during the Biden administration and still defeat Republicans in 2024. Once again, the perpetually offended Democratic Party exposed itself as the party of intolerance, anger, violence—and absolutely no fun.
No defense.
• Ukraine’s Patriots Can’t Tackle Russian Missiles – FT (RT))
The Russian military has modified its missiles to better evade Ukrainian air defenses, including US-made Patriot systems – often seen as a key linchpin of Kiev’s shield – the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing officials in Kiev and the West. According to officials interviewed by the FT, Russian missiles can now follow a normal arc before veering into a steep terminal dive or executing maneuvers that “confuse and avoid” Patriot interceptors. The outlet cited recent strikes against Ukrainian drone facilities as a strong indication that Russia has likely upgraded the Iskander-M mobile system and the air-launched Kinzhal.
One former Ukrainian official called the added maneuverability “a game changer for Russia,” the newspaper reported, adding that deliveries of US-supplied Patriot interceptors, essentially the only weapon in Ukraine’s arsenal capable of tackling Moscow’s ballistic missiles, are not coming as quickly as planned. The paper also noted that data released by the Ukrainian Air Force shows that the rate of interception of Russian ballistic missiles improved over the summer, reaching 37% in August, but then fell to just 6% in September. Ukraine shares data on Patriot battlefield performance with the Pentagon and weapons producers, according to the FT. Officials told the outlet that while efforts are being made to improve the Patriots’ performance, they often lag behind Moscow’s evolving tactics.
Ukraine’s Air Force flagged similar concerns in May. Spokesman Yury Ignat said that the ballistic trajectories of the Iskander-M missiles “have been improved and modernized” while the projectiles could fire off radar decoys. He also complained that Ukraine’s domestically designed air defenses are unable to shoot down most of the Russian missiles, while those produced in the West are used to cover key infrastructure and other high-priority targets. Moscow has repeatedly said its strikes only target military-related infrastructure, defense industry, and troop deployment bases and are never aimed at civilians.
“We must now put a stick in the wheels of this machine in Brussels,” Merz told business leaders..”
• Merz Rivalry With Von Der Leyen Heating Up – Bloomberg (RT)
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is seeking to claw back decision-making power from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing diplomats familiar with the matter. Merz, increasingly critical of Brussels, wants Berlin to have greater influence over issues directly affecting EU members, according to one of the sources. He has already opposed von der Leyen’s proposals for new EU taxes and her plan to send peacekeepers to Ukraine, while also clashing with her over a tariff agreement with the US and climate regulations. “We must now put a stick in the wheels of this machine in Brussels,” Merz told business leaders on Friday, Bloomberg noted.
Ahead of an informal EU leaders’ summit in Copenhagen on Wednesday, he again pressed for a “fundamental correction” of what he described as excessive regulation. “It is simply too much,” he said, as quoted by the German Press Agency. The European Commission has introduced several measures to cut red tape this year, including the Defense Readiness Omnibus, aimed at streamlining EU defense market procedures. The initiative is part of von der Leyen’s broader effort to raise up to €800 billion ($938 billion) in investments for weapons and ammunition procurement by 2030.
And now Optimus comes…
• Musk Becomes First Person Worth $500 Billion – Forbes (RT)
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has become the world’s first person to reach a net worth of $500 billion, according to Forbes. Musk’s fortune has been boosted recently by a rally in Tesla shares and soaring valuations of his private firms. Tesla stock jumped nearly 4% on Wednesday, adding $9.3 billion to Musk’s fortune and pushing it to $500.1 billion, according to the Forbes Billionaires List. Musk’s 12% stake in the carmaker is valued at $191 billion. Analysts credit the recent surge in Musk’s wealth to his renewed focus on business. Tesla shares have nearly doubled since April, when he first announced during an earnings call that he would step down from his post as head of US President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to devote more time to the automaker and his other business interests. Musk departed the agency after a rift with the president over a major tax-and-spending bill.
Tesla board chair Robyn Denholm said last month that Musk was again “front and center” after months of distraction. Days later, he bought nearly $1 billion worth of Tesla stock, signaling confidence as the company expands into AI and robotics. Outside Tesla, Musk’s space venture SpaceX was valued at $400 billion in an August tender offer, up from $350 billion in December. His 42% stake is worth $168 billion. Musk also owns 53% of xAI Holdings, the company formed when he merged his AI startup with X. Currently valued at $113 billion, reports suggest xAI could soon target $200 billion.
Musk has repeatedly set net worth records. He first topped Forbes’ list in January 2021 at $190 billion, hit $300 billion that November and crossed $400 billion in December 2024. He now outpaces Oracle founder Larry Ellison, the second-richest person, by $150 billion. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which uses a different wealth tracking method, places Musk’s fortune slightly lower – at $470 billion – but still the highest among the world’s top 500.
Norway has a camp in Poland for Ukr soldiers…
• Large Training Center For Ukrainian Troops Opens In Poland (RT)
A Norwegian-led training center for Ukrainian soldiers opened in southeastern Poland on Wednesday. Camp Jomsborg, constructed by engineers from Norway’s Brigade Nord in the town of Lipa, can host up to 1,200 troops at a time, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz wrote on X. He added that the base will focus on “developing drone capabilities.” Kosiniak-Kamysz stressed that NATO would also benefit from Ukrainian combat experience. “This is not a one-way street. An important element is that we will draw on Ukrainian experience. Right next to us is a drone launch strip,” he said.
Poland has been a key logistical and training hub for Western military aid to Ukraine since the outbreak of open conflict with Russia in 2022.Also on Wednesday, EU leaders agreed to create a “drone wall” along the bloc’s eastern flank, following Polish claims last month that Russian UAVs had violated its airspace. Estonia likewise alleged that three Russian fighter jets entered its airspace in September. Moscow dismissed both accusations as baseless and accused the EU of warmongering.
“I believe the Russians will secure victory using the Oreshniki rather than a massive ground offensive.”
• When Tomahawk Meets Bear, The Hazel Tree (Oreshnik) Wins (Helmer)
A week ago on September 23, President Donald Trump called President Vladimir Putin’s military power a “paper tiger”, and declared ”this is the time for Ukraine to act”.By that he said he meant “to take back their Country in its original form and, who knows, maybe even go further than that!” Five days later, the successor president, Vice President J D Vance, explained that deployment on the Ukrainian battlefield by NATO-supplied Tomahawk cruise missiles, with a 2,500-km range, is the next step he and Trump are considering. “Russia is really stalled,” Vance claimed, “The Russian economy is in shambles. The Russians are not gaining much on the battlefield… The Russians have refused to sit down in any bilateral meetings with the Ukrainians. They have refused to sit down in any trilateral meetings with the President…
The Russians have got to wake up and accept reality here… About Tomahawks, it’s something the President is going to make the final determination on. What the President is going to do is what’s in the best interest of the United States of America.” The scheme, Vance intimated, is to allow NATO member states with Tomahawk batteries – at the moment this means the UK and Germany – to deliver them to Kiev, or for other European states to buy the missiles from the US and send them on. This means that the crews operating the Tomahawk systems in the Ukraine would be British, German, or other Europeans. “What we’re doing,” Vance said, “is asking the Europeans to buy that weaponry that shows some European skin in the game. I think that gets them really invested in both what’s happening in their own backyard, but also in the peace process that the president has been pushing for, for the last eight months,” Vance said.
The skins at risk of Russian counterattack, Vance meant but omitted to acknowledge, would be European, not American. The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, responded with the obvious followed by a placebo. “We have heard these statements. We are thoroughly analyzing them. Our military specialists are closely monitoring it.” “Even if it happens that the United States sends its Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, currently there is no cure-all that could be a game changer on the front lines for the Kiev regime. No magical weapons exist, and Tomahawk or other missiles simply won’t be a game changer.”
Then Peskov muffled a warning: “The question… is this: who can launch these missiles…? Can only Ukrainians launch them, or do American soldiers have to do that?” The answer is already obvious – Vance made it plain. The operators of the Tomahawks would be Europeans. Peskov’s questions also avoided Vance’s and Trump’s strategic point. They are now aiming to intensify the domestic damage they can inflict deep inside Russian territory – Moscow and St. Petersburg if they can — in the belief this will trigger loss of Russian morale and voter opposition to Putin. “This war is terrible for their economy,” Vance repeated several times, as has Trump. The Russians, Vance declared, “have to ask themselves how many more people are they willing to lose…for very little military advantage.”
What is happening from the Russian point of view which isn’t public?The US “understanding” from the Anchorage summit meeting on August 16 is no longer the Russian interpretation as Putin himself first explained it. “Hopefully, the understanding [singular] we have reached will bring us closer to this goal and open up the road to peace in Ukraine,” Putin said at his brief press conference after meeting with Trump. “We see that the US President has a clear idea of what he wants to achieve, that he sincerely cares about his country’s prosperity while showing awareness of Russia’s national interests. I hope that today’s agreements [plural] will become a reference point, not only for resolving the Ukrainian problem but also for resuming the pragmatic business relations between Russia and the United States.”
Escalation to Tomahawk attacks on the Russia hinterland is also not the “understanding” with the US which the Russian Foreign Ministry announced after Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met at the United Nations with Secretary of State Marco Rubio: “The heads of the foreign offices exchanged opinions on the Ukraine crisis settlement as a follow up to the understandings [plural] reached at the Russia-US summit in Anchorage. The parties have reaffirmed mutual interest in the search for peaceful solutions. Sergey Lavrov emphasised our country’s readiness to adhere to the line developed by the Russian and US leaders in Alaska, including to coordinate efforts with the US side to remove the root causes of the Ukraine conflict. The minister stressed the unacceptability of the schemes intended to protract the conflict promoted by Kiev and some European countries. The parties compared their positions on the entire bilateral agenda including the prospects of restoring their socio-political contacts. They have reaffirmed the importance of using the impetus given by Russian and US presidents to the process of normalising bilateral relations.”
Speaking to Russian reporters, Lavrov then added: “We operate on the premise that everything we have heard from our US colleagues at the top and other levels tells us that they want to help us end this conflict by addressing and eliminating its root causes. There are no other countries in the Western camp that abide by such a position. I have no doubt that the US President is genuinely interested in this outcome. Some people are trying to have influence on him, but that’s another matter… The 2022 borders are off the table today. What we are now discussing are the borders as enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation.”
The “reality on the ground”, as Vance and Trump say they understand it on the battlefield, is plainly now not the reality on the ground as the Russian side sees it. The US is announcing that Russia the paper tiger has lost escalation dominance on the battlefield, and is vulnerable to even greater domestic insecurity than it faced three years ago, when the Special Military Operation began. If that was the “root cause” of the war, as Putin and Lavrov say they have explained to their US counterparts, Trump and Vance are now dismissing “root cause” as the basis for terms to end the war.
When Vance announced that the Tomahawk deployment will be decided “in the interests of the United States of America”, he meant to say that the Russian military and Putin have lost their power of deterrence. A Moscow source in a position to know says the General Staff will convince the President on the measures required to prove the Americans wrong. “I believe the Russians will secure victory using the Oreshniki rather than a massive ground offensive. But there is also a build-up many of us can tell. That is why Americans and Europeans are getting very nervous, threatening Russians with a direct confrontation unless they back off.”
“..which means good-bye to several European capitals, if not all of them..”
• We Are Approaching The Oreshnik Moment (Paul Craig Roberts)
John Helmer thinks that the Russian response to the ever-widening war that Putin has conducted will be the Oreshnik missile, which means good-bye to several European capitals, if not all of them. https://johnhelmer.net/when-tomahawk-meets-bear-the-hazel-tree-oreshnik-wins/
Washington giving missiles to Ukraine that can reach Moscow and St. Petersburg does not “normalize relations.” This is the path to war, not to peace. Such a gift of missiles would clearly indicate that the US military/security complex has taken policy away from President Trump and is continuing the war instead of peace negotiations, From John Helmer’s report, I conclude that Putin, Lavrov, and the Russian media are too naive, too unaware, too gullible, too unrealistic and too idealistic in the way they think about the West to comprehend the danger. I find it extraordinarily that Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov is so lost to reality that he actually said: “We operate on the premise that everything we have heard from our US colleagues at the top and other levels tells us that they want to help us end this conflict by addressing and eliminating its root causes.”
If the Russian government operates on this basis, Russia is definitely doomed. The “root causes” are NATO on Russia’s borders which causes Russian insecurity. To remove the root cause means to remove the source of Russian insecurity. For many years the combined West has refused Russia’s request to join NATO and Russia’s pleadings for a mutual defense agreement. Yet the Kremlin is still hopeful??!! Russia has experienced this feeling of insecurity since American President Clinton violated the word of the US government, thus making the US government untrustworthy to the world since the last years of the 20th century. Clinton violated the word of the George H.W. Bush administration that in exchange for the Soviet Union’s agreement to permit the reunification of Germany, NATO would not move one inch toward the Soviet borders. Clinton, little doubt well paid, moved NATO to Russia’s borders, and by doing so made the word of the US Government completely worthless. Yet Putin and Lavrov rely on Washington’s word !
For Putin and the Russian military command to permit a limited territorial conflict with Ukraine to continue for so long that it now approaches four years was a fantastic strategic blunder that is widening into World War 3. Putin is not responsible for the conflict. It was forced on him, but his response to the conflict–permitting it to endure and widen–was a massive mistake in judgment. I don’t know if anything can bring the Kremlin out of its stupor. Perhaps it might help if the Russians read this article: https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2025/09/28/presidents-have-little-control-over-their-governments/
We are approaching the point where to avoid a world destroying nuclear war, Putin will have to surrender Russia. Putin, unlike the ruthless American Zionist neoconservatives, is capable of surrendering his country to save the world from nuclear war. But would the Russian nationalists permit him to do so? Are the Russian people willing to be the sacrificial lamb that saves the world from nuclear war by going into subservience to the Satanic West?
For now, a Mexican stand off
• Bessent Outlines Ramifications of Dem Shutdown Day #2 (CTH)
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appears on CNBC to discuss the second full day of the government shutdown and the potential ramifications therein.Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought is meeting with President Trump today to discuss the facets of the government that will be closed and for the duration therein. Secretary Bessent is asked if the furloughs will be a long-term feature of the backfire created by the Democrat strategy.Bessent reemphasizes he personally joined the Trump administration to shrink the scale of government spending, and the administration is not going to flinch on any CR agreement that backtracks on existing spending reductions.
https://twitter.com/WallStreetApes/status/1973387980388884779
18 years ago: At his Nobel Peace Prize speech in December 2007, Al Gore warns the Arctic could be ice free as soon as 2014.
Reality: The Arctic ice cap had 500,000 square kilometers of ice more in September 2025 than when Al Gore made this call in 2007. pic.twitter.com/xB6dYBsjN5
— Steve Milloy (@JunkScience) October 1, 2025
The @bankofengland, allegedly in public ownership, wants to hide from the public its plans for Digital ID and Central Bank Dystopian Control (CBDC), aka "Digital Pound".
This leaves us no option but to assume the worst of this technocrat digital Gulag system. https://t.co/Y8kFVZ1Zfv
— Richard Werner (@scientificecon) October 1, 2025
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