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Debt Rattle April 2 2026

Apr 022026
 
 April 2, 2026  Posted by at 9:49 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , ,  Add comments


Vincent van Gogh A Lane near Arles (Side of a Country Lane) 1888


• Trump Reassures Americans: Iran Operation Won’t Be a Forever War (Chris Queen)
• US, Iran Discussing Ceasefire In Exchange For Reopening Strait (ZH)
• Rubio Delivers a Reality Check on Iran, NATO, Cuba, and Venezuela (Anderson)
• Marco Rubio, the Question Must be Asked: “Why are we in NATO”? (CTH)
• NATO Without America? A Slow Shift Is Already Underway (Zevelev)
• Keir Starmer Gives a National Address – Things Will Never be the Same Again (CTH)
• Chuck Schumer Is Losing Control of His Party; They Turn On Him (Margolis)
• Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson Warns Against Unbridled Free Speech (Turley)
• How Many Times has the EU Screwed Itself Over in the Past Year? (Marsden)
• Europe Needs to Hear This Harsh Truth (Stephen Green)
• A Civilization Whose Defense is Abandoned, is Lost (Paul Craig Roberts)
• Charlie Kirk Bullet Doesn’t Match Suspect’s Rifle – Lawyers (RT)
• More Than Half of Americans Believe AI Will Do More Harm Than Good: Poll ET)

 


 

https://twitter.com/andweknow/status/2039304266775740853?s=20 https://twitter.com/WallStreetMav/status/2039126040686248240?s=20 https://twitter.com/BasilTheGreat/status/2039088940129391074?s=20

 


 

 


 


He has to wrap it up quickly, nobody wants a long war, or heavy casualties, and it’s midterms soon.

• Trump Reassures Americans: Iran Operation Won’t Be a Forever War (Chris Queen)

President Donald Trump delivered a speech on Wednesday night with the intention of informing Americans about what’s going on with our joint military operations with Israel against Iran. It was remarkably restrained for a Trump speech and relatively brief. Side note: My favorite phrase from the speech was when Trump referred to the “green, green cash” that Barack Obama threw at the Islamic regime during his presidency. The president remarked that Wednesday was the one-month mark for Operation Epic Fury:


As we speak this evening, it has been just one month since the United States military began Operation Epic Fury targeting the world’s number one state sponsor of terror, Iran. In these past four weeks, our Armed Forces have delivered swift, decisive, overwhelming victories on the battlefield — victories like few people have ever seen before. Tonight, Iran’s navy is GONE. Their air force is in ruins. Their leaders, most of them — the terrorist regime they led — are now dead. Their command and control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Core is being decimated as we speak. Their ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed and their weapons, factories, and rocket launchers are being blown to pieces — very few of them left. Never in the history of warfare has an enemy suffered such clear and devastating large-scale losses in a matter of weeks.

He reminded viewers that disabling Iran was one of his earliest campaign promises: “From the very first day I announced my campaign for President in 2015, I have vowed that I would never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. This fanatical regime has been chanting ‘Death to America, ‘Death to Israel,’ for 47 years. Their proxies were behind the murder of 241 Americans in the Marine Barracks bombing in Beirut, the slaughter of hundreds of our servicemembers with roadside bombs, they were involved in the attack on the U.S.S. Cole, and they’ve carried out countless other heinous acts… For these terrorists to have nuclear weapons would be an intolerable threat. The most violent and thuggish regime on earth would be free to carry out their campaigns of terror, coercion, conquest, and mass murder from behind a nuclear shield. I will never let that happen.”

The president expressed that his goal was to resolve Iran’s issues diplomatically, but Iran wouldn’t allow that to happen: “My first preference was always the path of diplomacy — yet, the regime continued their relentless quest for nuclear weapons and rejected every attempt at an agreement. For this reason, in June, I ordered a strike on Iran’s key nuclear facilities in Operation Midnight Hammer… The regime then sought to rebuild their nuclear program at a totally different location, making clear they had no intention of abandoning their pursuit of nuclear weapons… For years, everyone has said that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons — but in the end, those are just words if you’re not willing to take action when the time comes.”

Trump acknowledged the pain Americans are feeling at the gas pump. (As somebody who recently bought a new vehicle that gets much lower gas mileage than my prior car, I can testify.) “Many Americans have been concerned to see the recent rise in gasoline prices here at home… This short-term increase has been entirely the result of the Iranian regime launching deranged terror attacks against commercial oil tankers and neighboring countries that have nothing to do with the conflict. This is yet more proof that Iran can never be trusted with nuclear weapons. They will use them and they will use them quickly. It would lead to decades of extortion, economic pain, and instability worse than we can ever imagine. The United States has never been better prepared economically to confront this threat.”

He called out nations that are dealing with the effects of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz: “To those countries that can’t get fuel — many of which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran, we had to do it ourselves — I have a suggestion. Number one, buy oil from the United States of America; we have plenty. We have so much. And Number two, build up some delayed courage… Go to the Strait and just take it. Protect it. Use it for yourselves. Iran has been essentially decimated. The hard part is done.”

After assuring the public that operations in Iran should be done in “two to three weeks,” Trump reassured his viewers that Iran’s days as a threatening power are almost over. “Tonight, every American can look forward to a day when we are finally free from the wickedness of Iranian aggression and the specter of nuclear blackmail,” he declared. “Because of the actions we have taken, we are on the cusp of ending Iran’s sinister threat to America and the world.”

Tonight, the president gave a speech that was characteristically Trumpian. But it achieved the objectives that he wanted of informing the American people that Operation Epic Fury is nearly over and won’t be a “forever war.”

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A ceasefire or “back to the stone age”, everything’s on the menu.

• US, Iran Discussing Ceasefire In Exchange For Reopening Strait (ZH)

Ahead of Trump’s address tonight at 9pm ET, Axios reports citing three sources that the US and Iran are discussing a potential deal that would involve a ceasefire in exchange for Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz “The officials did not say whether those discussions had taken place directly or only through mediators, and they cautioned that it was unclear whether a deal could be reached. But the officials said President Trump was discussing the possibility with officials inside and outside the administration.” As a reminder, earlier in the day Trump claimed on Wednesday that Iran had asked the U.S. for a ceasefire, but stressed he would only consider it if the strait was reopened. In response, Iran countered that it had not requested a ceasefire. https://twitter.com/BarakRavid/status/2039352788468003220
* * *

Iranian Supreme Leader Vows To “Continue Supporting The Resistance Against The Zionist-US Enemy”
Amid speculation that he is dead or badly wounded, moments ago Iran’s new supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said on X that he “emphatically declare that the consistent policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, following on the path of Imam Khomeini and the martyred Leader, is to continue supporting the Resistance against the Zionist-US enemy.”
* * *

Iran: Not True that Iran Requested a Ceasefire
Iran has again rejected Trump’s narrative, after he hours ago claimed that “Iran’s New Regime President” has just “asked the United States of America for a CEASEFIRE!” Iran’s Foreign Ministry has responded by saying “there is no truth” to “Trump’s statements that Iran requested a ceasefire.” The Iran FM spox statement continues: “No decision has been made yet. We have many considerations. Our conditions for ending the war are very clear. We do not accept a ceasefire; We seek a complete end.” As a reminder, President Masoud Pezeshkian has been Iran’s president since July 2024 – and he’s made public appearances in Tehran, even over the last days. There is not a “new regime president”.= Additionally, Trump is now threatening to bomb Iran “back to the stone age” if Hormuz is not reopened, but just yesterday suggested he’s fine with it staying closed and that ultimately others should open it.

Preparing American Public for an Exit?
President Trump has issued new words to Reuters on his highly anticipated speech tonight (9pm ET): The United States will be “out of Iran pretty quickly” and could return for “spot hits” if needed, President Donald Trump tells Reuters, hours before he was scheduled to make a primetime address to the nation. Trump also says he would state in the speech that he is considering withdrawing the US from the NATO alliance. There’s expected to be heavy focus on chastising NATO. If this is indeed the Bush-style ‘mission accomplished’ moment, it may be that he’s ready to blame Western allies for the closure of the Hormuz Strait – a problem which didn’t exist before Operation Epic Fury.

Trump: Iran President has Asked for Ceasefire
President Trump on Truth Social has claimed the US has been directly asked for ceasefire; however, he coupled this with the typical threat of bombing Iran “back to the Stone Ages!!!” Here’s what he said (note: Iran does not have a new president): Iran’s New Regime President, much less Radicalized and far more intelligent than his predecessors, has just asked the United States of America for a CEASEFIRE! We will consider when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion or, as they say, back to the Stone Ages!!! President DJT

And yet the Hormuz question lingers, after just yesterday Trump strangely said the vital energy shipping waterway would “automatically open”. Oil prices initially dumped on the Trump message, and quickly rebounded – perhaps based on the latter part of Trump’s statement. A lot would have to happen – for one Washington is likely to require that Tehran giving up charging a some $2 million fee for tankers to make safe passage. Oil unimpressed…

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“Cuba has no economy, and no one there can fix the economy because they’re incompetent. ..”

• Rubio Delivers a Reality Check on Iran, NATO, Cuba, and Venezuela (Anderson)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been doing a lot of MSM interviews lately, and I kind of get the feeling he’s… fed up. He’s tired of having to correct false narratives on Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela. As I reported on Monday, he got to a point where he told George Stephanopoulos that maybe he needed to “write down” Donald Trump’s objectives for Iran because no matter how many times Rubio told him what they were, he implied that he didn’t understand them. While it was entertaining, it does get old, I imagine.


The three main points about these topics that he’s asked about in every interview — and there have been a lot; perhaps Trump is prepping him to cover for Karoline Leavitt when she goes on maternity leave (kidding) — are as follows: 1) We’re very close to meeting our objectives in Iran. Not months, not days but weeks away. 2) Cuba has no economy, and no one there can fix the economy because they’re incompetent. 3) Venezuela is in phase two of the three-phase plan he and Trump have for its recovery, and things are going very well there. But no matter how many times he says these things, to hear the MSM tell it, the administration has no idea what’s going on in Iran, the people in Cuba are suffering because of Trump, and Venezuela isn’t improving at all.

Well, on Tuesday night, Rubio appeared on Hannity on Fox News, where he was actually allowed to talk without being asked asinine questions. He hit on all three countries (and NATO), and while he didn’t necessarily say anything new, he was able to lay it all out clearly and without dealing with stupidity, so it was nice to watch. Plus, as I said, he’s fed up with these MSM narratives, and it’s always fun to watch him get a little worked up. I’m going to kick back here and let him do most of the talking. I feel like i’m taking the lazy way out, but sometimes, it’s best just to let him talk. On how efficiently our military has achieved its objection and how it will “go down in history”:

On the threat to the United States and the rest of the world:

On why it’s the regime’s fault that we’ve gotten to this point:

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“The NATO membership is now a one-way street where they demand our military protection..”

• Marco Rubio, the Question Must be Asked: “Why are we in NATO”? (CTH)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio appears on Fox News to discuss the various goals and objectives of the U.S. military operation against Iran. As part of the interview Secretary Rubio was asked about the strategic conflicts and hypocrisies now flowing from NATO member states. The U.S. supports our NATO posture in Europe in part because it provides us with strategic military bases and operations that are considered vital to our national interests. However, as outlined in the Iran conflict, when we need to use those strategic bases the NATO member states withdraw previous permissions. France has blocked us from flying over their airspace, Spain and Italy have said the U.S. cannot use our military bases on their soil for operations. The U.K has refused to protect and/or escort their own energy assets.


The NATO membership is now a one-way street where they demand our military protection, but Europe blocks us from using our own military assets for our independent operations. Europe, while hiding behind the NATO protection skirt of the U.S, is simultaneously telling the U.S. what we can and cannot do with our own military. Secretary Rubio and President Trump are now confronting this very visible one-way benefit head on.

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80 years ago.

• NATO Without America? A Slow Shift Is Already Underway (Zevelev)

US President Donald Trump’s approach to foreign policy is often dismissed as chaotic or erratic. In reality, it reflects a deeper shift that is unlikely to disappear when he leaves office. Beneath the surface lies a consistent worldview, one shaped by populism and nationalism, that’s steadily gaining ground, both within the United States and globally. This shift is already reshaping long-standing institutions. Nowhere is this more visible than in Washington’s relationship with its European allies. For decades, US foreign policy rested on a simple premise: alliances, above all NATO, were the foundation of American power and influence. That consensus held across party lines for nearly 80 years. Today, it’s breaking down.


Trump is not merely skeptical of alliances, he openly questions their value. His reaction to the refusal of European allies to support US and Israeli military action against Iran was telling. Writing on Truth Social, he described NATO as a “paper tiger” and accused American allies of cowardice. “Everyone agrees with us, but they don’t want to help. And we, as the United States, must remember this,” he said. The message is blunt: if allies don’t act when Washington calls, then their status as allies is called into question. This doesn’t mean the United States is about to withdraw from NATO. What is unfolding is more gradual, and arguably more significant – a quiet dismantling of the alliance’s traditional structure.

There are growing signs of this shift: sharper rhetoric, fewer high-level engagements, and plans to reduce the American role within NATO’s command system. This is no longer just political theater.Even when constrained by Congress, as in the decision to block a rapid reduction of US troops in Europe, the administration has adjusted tactics rather than abandoning its objective. The restriction on cutting troop levels below 76,000 slows the process, but doesn’t change its direction. The broader aim remains clear: shifting responsibility onto Europe.A key element of this strategy is the gradual transfer of operational control. Reforms to NATO’s integrated command structure are already underway.

Soon, all three of the alliance’s operational commands will be led by Europeans. This marks a significant step towards transforming NATO into a European-led organization. If the United States relinquishes its central role in force planning and command, the consequences will be profound. NATO may remain intact in form, but its substance will change. Washington will no longer lead the alliance in the way it once did. This isn’t simply a matter of one president’s preferences. Trump reflects a broader shift in American public opinion.

There’s growing fatigue in the United States with the idea of underwriting the security of others. Years of costly conflicts in the Middle East, rising national debt, and pressing domestic concerns have made the traditional role of global guarantor increasingly unpopular. Don’t mistake it for isolationism. The recent strikes on Iran demonstrate that Washington remains willing to use force when it chooses. The change is more subtle, and more consequential. The United States no longer wants to be bound by obligations. Alliances and institutions that once defined American leadership are now seen as constraints. The emerging model is one of leadership without commitments: the ability to act freely, without being tied to the interests or expectations of partners.

That is a fundamentally different approach to international relations. It leaves NATO in an uncertain position, still formally intact, but increasingly hollowed out. In time, the alliance may survive. But it will no longer be the same organization that defined the transatlantic relationship for generations. And it’s far from clear that Europe is ready for what comes next.

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“.. if it remains alone, without key support and protection from the USA, the British empire is at risk of collapse.”

• Keir Starmer Gives a National Address – Things Will Never be the Same Again (CTH)

Against the backdrop of the Iran conflict, crisis in the middle east and the disruption of energy supplies due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, U.K Prime Minister Keir Starmer held an urgent meeting with British business leaders, finance and bankers as well as U.K insurance leaders. At the conclusion of that meeting he informed media of a national address. During the national address to the people of Great Britain, Prime Minister Starmer emphasized that events in the middle east have forever changed the landscape of U.K. economic and geopolitical policy. Signaling an inflection point crossed, the British prime minister announced that urgent actions were being taken to mitigate a national crisis.


Additionally, accepting the U.S. position toward NATO and the U.K appears to be permanently shifted, Starmer said the British relationship with Europe now becomes critical to their vital national security interests. Against the backdrop of an end to the “special relationship” with America, the Brexit independence from the European Union is now a threat. The United Kingdom must find a way to reunite with the European Union, because if it remains alone, without key support and protection from the USA, the British empire is at risk of collapse.


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“..while he may be the most recognizable congressional leader, that familiarity isn’t doing him any favors ..”

• Chuck Schumer Is Losing Control of His Party; They Turn On Him (Margolis)

A quiet rebellion is brewing inside the Democratic Party, and Chuck Schumer is sitting right in the crosshairs. Even as the Senate Minority Leader works to claw back the majority he lost in 2024, several Senate candidates are making it a point of pride to say they won’t support him as leader — before they’ve even won their races. The clearest shot came from Illinois. Lieutenant Gov. Juliana Stratton, who won her Democratic Senate primary earlier this month, made her position crystal clear during a January debate. “I’ve already said that I will not support Chuck Schumer as leader in the Senate, and I’m the only person on this stage that has said so,” Stratton declared. She’s not alone.


Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow has also called for Schumer to step aside. Texas Senate Democratic nominee James Talarico is keeping his options open, saying he wants to hear from leadership candidates before making any commitment. And when Sen. Chris Murphy was offered the opportunity on NBC’s Meet the Press to back Schumer directly, he ducked it with a classic non-answer: “Well, no, we are united as a caucus right now.” United, sure. Just not necessarily behind Schumer.

Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), appearing on CNN’s State of the Union, was careful to keep his support firmly in the past tense. “I’ve been supportive of our leadership right now,” Kim said, which is a far cry from saying he’d vote to keep Schumer in charge after November, and it’s quite the insult to the sitting leader. “And I think that that’s really what the American people are seeing is what we get when the Democrats are united, and the Republicans are constantly fighting themselves,” Kim concluded.

The Hill reports: “Schumer, 75, has led the Senate Democratic Conference since 2016, when he replaced longtime party leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who died in 2021. But in recent years, the New York Democrat has faced calls to give up power from various corners of the party, including from progressive groups, House Democrats, and even Democrats running for Senate. Criticism of Schumer particularly ramped up after eight Democrats, a group he was not part of, joined Republicans in voting to end the record-long government shutdown in November.

Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, the Democratic nominee in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), told liberal YouTuber Jack Cocchiarella earlier this month that she does not support Schumer serving as Senate Democratic leader for another Congress. We all know that Schumer’s problems with the base go back to this vote to keep the government open last March. That one vote cost him dearly with the base, and he’s never recovered from it. Schumer told The Hill he is just focused on winning the majority in November.

“The way to counter Trump more effectively is to win the majority in 2026 and put gavels in the hands of Democrats. That’s my North Star, and that’s what I’m focused on doing every single day,” Schumer said. A recent Morning Consult poll found that while he may be the most recognizable congressional leader, that familiarity isn’t doing him any favors. Compared to John Thune, Mike Johnson, and Hakeem Jeffries, Schumer is viewed the most negatively.

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“No One Knows What Will Happen Now”:

• Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson Warns Against Unbridled Free Speech (Turley)

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is again warning of a growing threat to the nation. In her lone dissent in Chiles v. Salazar, Jackson observed that “to be completely frank, no one knows what will happen now.” The ominous tone stemmed from the fact that free speech had prevailed over state-imposed orthodoxy in a Colorado case. Eight justices, including her two liberal colleagues, ruled that Colorado could not prevent licensed counselors from “any practice or treatment” that “attempts or purports to change” a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The win for free speech was catastrophic for Jackson and many on the left. Allowing counselors to discuss the causes and basis for sexual orientation changes, Jackson maintained, would “open a can of worms.” It would be far better for the majority to simply silence such dissenting voices in the name of science.


The dissent in Chiles is only the latest example of the chilling jurisprudence of Justice Jackson, including a pronounced dismissal of free speech values. Consider the holding of her colleagues that Jackson finds so horrific. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that the First Amendment “reflects … a judgment that every American possesses an inalienable right to think and speak freely, and a faith in the free marketplace of ideas as the best means for discovering truth … any law that suppresses speech based on viewpoint represents an ‘egregious’ assault on both of those commitments.” What a nightmare.

Instead, Jackson would have declared the ban on anything deemed “conversion therapy” to be “conduct,” not speech. It is that easy. You simply impose an orthodoxy and then treat any dissenters as being regulated for their conduct, not their viewpoints. Justice Elena Kagan could not withhold her frustration with her colleague, noting that “[b]ecause the State has suppressed one side of a debate, while aiding the other, the constitutional issue is straightforward.” She added that Jackson’s view “rests on reimagining—and in that way collapsing—the well-settled distinction between viewpoint-based and other content-based speech restrictions.”

Other countries have embraced Jackson’s permissive approach to speech curtailment. Recently, Malta failed to convict a man who was facing five months in prison for merely discussing his own abandonment of homosexuality due to a religious conversion. Of course, we just went through a pandemic when censorship and orthodoxy were dressed up as science. Leading scientific figures were canceled and harassed. That was the case with Jay Bhattacharya, who co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration and was a vocal critic of COVID-19 policies. Bhattacharya was target due to his dissenting views on health policy, including opposing wholesale shutdowns of schools and businesses.

He and other scientists were later vindicated. European allies that did not shut down their schools fared far better than we did, including avoiding a national mental health and learning crisis. We simply never had that debate. He was recently honored with the prestigious “Intellectual Freedom” award from the American Academy of Sciences and Letters. He is also now the 18th director of the National Institutes of Health. Yet, years ago, the courts, the media, and politicians joined in treating dissenting views as “conspiracy theories.”

Some argued that the virus’s origin was likely the Chinese research lab in Wuhan. That position was denounced by the Washington Post as a “debunked” coronavirus “conspiracy theory.” The New York Times Science and Health reporter Apoorva Mandavilli called any mention of the lab theory “racist.” Federal agencies now support the lab theory as the most likely based on the scientific evidence.Likewise, many questioned the efficacy of those blue surgical masks and supported natural immunity to the virus — the government later recognized both positions.

Others questioned the six-foot rule, which shut down many businesses, as unsupported by science. In congressional testimony, Dr. Anthony Fauci later admitted that the rule “sort of just appeared” and “wasn’t based on data.” Yet not only did it result in heavily enforced rules (and meltdowns) in public areas, but the media further ostracized dissenting critics. For years, pundits portrayed those who questioned gender reassignment surgeries and treatments as bigots. Now, leading medical associations and European nations have decided that such procedures should not be generally allowed. All of it was orthodoxy masquerading as science.

Yet, Jackson sees the protection of dissenting scientific and professional views as a “can of worms” that the courts should avoid in favor of state and assocational imposed truths. She wrote that allowing such opposing views “ultimately risks grave harm to Americans’ health and wellbeing.”

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“Ursula von der Leyen recently announced the need to yank another €200 million from taxpayers to “support investment in innovative nuclear technologies.”

• How Many Times has the EU Screwed Itself Over in the Past Year? (Marsden)

Hey, good news! The EU has found a new source of desperately needed gas amid the current energy crunch. The bad news? It’s in the US. So it will serve America, first. With Europe getting any sloppy seconds that Daddy Trump feels like overcharging it for when he isn’t threatening to invade. It’ll be the French energy multinational, TotalEnergies, serving it up to the US like a waiter at a Montmartre bistro, forced to smile and bow while the guest pockets the silverware.


Even better? The company wasn’t even supposed to be over there doing that. They had planned to be building offshore windfarms. But instead, Trump’s Department of the Interior now says that they made a deal with the French company to spend roughly a billion dollars investing in American gas operations in exchange for getting about the same amount of cash back for agreeing to say goodbye to its green wind dreams in the US. Team Trump calls it an “innovative agreement driven by President Donald J. Trump’s Energy Dominance Agenda.” But the CEO of the European company is making the cucking sound like a big win.

“TotalEnergies is pleased to sign this settlement agreements with the DOI and to support the Administration’s Energy Policy. Considering that the development of offshore wind projects is not in the country’s interest, we have decided to renounce offshore wind development in the United States, in exchange for the reimbursement of the lease fees,” said TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne, while adjusting his knee pads, before continuing to service Trump via official US government press release.

“Furthermore, these agreements, under which we will reinvest the refunded lease fees to finance the construction of the 29 Mt Rio Grande LNG plant and the development of our oil and gas activities, allows us to support the development of US gas production and export.” Hold up. So this company gave the US about a billion dollars in exchange for access to green energy. Then the US gave them back their money. And now they’re reinvesting it to serve Trump’s agenda? And publicly “pleased” about it?

Well, good riddance to – er, I mean, so much for Europe’s green dreams, I guess. But at least it means they’ll get easier access to more desperately needed LNG, right? Since they’re the ones doing the heavy lifting. Not without securing a trade agreement on America’s terms, they won’t. Which is why they’re aiming to ratify a trade agreement with their tormentor.

Brussels had been concerned about the agreement that was struck with Trump back in 2025, named the Turnberry Agreement after the US president’s Scottish golf resort where it all went down. The deal was about tariffs. Specifically, it gave a huge break to the US with ZERO tariffs on some of its exports to the EU, while slapping a 15-percent tariff on EU imports to the US. Another master stroke of cuckoldry. And yet Trump still won’t stop talking about how the EU is constantly stiffing America on trade. Which explains why the EU has been dragging its feet on ratifying it, worried that maybe it was putting too many eggs in a very unstable basket. Something that the US warned it against doing with Russia, being only too happy to step up to offer a costlier overdependency on itself instead.

The EU is doing the exact same with green energy, turning its back on nuclear power before its beloved green renewables were even ready for prime time. Which also went about as well as you might expect from these central planning geniuses. Calling it a screwup, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently announced the need to yank another €200 million from taxpayers to “support investment in innovative nuclear technologies.” The same ones they’d been busy vilifying until recently.

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“Europe believes that their needs must be our priority, and that, furthermore, we’re required to do their job for them.”

• Europe Needs to Hear This Harsh Truth (Stephen Green)

Shipping and military expert John Konrad spent all day in D.C. on Tuesday talking to his military sources and concluded that “the Navy appears to be in no rush to reopen the strait,” even while Iran dictates whose oil tankers are allowed to pass. “What is this administration trying to leverage?” Konrad wondered, and that nobody he talked to was willing to discuss the fate of Hormuz “until European politicians and media stop calling Americans war criminals and monsters.”


While Konrad admitted he has “no idea” when Hormuz will reopen, “but if the price is a modicum of cooperation and respect for everything America has done for decades to keep Europe safe, the strait could stay closed for months, or turned into a toll booth for years, because the majority of Americans…. and the vast majority of Trump administration officials I’ve talked with… seem fed up with their arrogance.” The self-styled sophisticates in Brussels and Europe’s capitals remain remarkably provincial in their outlook, and that’s why today we will speak some harsh truths to our friends in Europe — not because the truth is harsh, but because they believe that we naïve Americans don’t recognize it.

So here comes the truth bomb, laser-guided right into the atrium of the EU’s Berlaymont building. The harsh truth is that Hormuz is their priority, not ours, and yet they refuse to make any serious contribution to the war effort. The U.S. is a net exporter of oil and liquified natural gas (LNG), and we buy hardly anything from the Gulf. Closing the Strait of Hormuz is an inconvenience for us (in the price of gas and diesel) and hardly a strategic necessity. In both military and economic terms, Hormuz is way down our target list. Complicating the decision matrix even further, re-opening Hormuz at this stage likely requires ground troops — so it’s simply smarter for us to continue the bombing campaign and see if we can’t wait out an increasingly split and brittle regime that might still collapse under pressure.

Europe, of course, doesn’t see things the way we do. Europe believes that their needs must be our priority, and that, furthermore, we’re required to do their job for them. [And Another Thing: We could do more to stabilize energy prices, but in 2024, the Biden Cabal declared a moratorium on the construction of new LNG export terminals. So while the rest of the world suffers an LNG supply shock, our producers are forced to, at times, pay people to take LNG off their hands, and even burn off excess. Crazy, right?]

Before Epic Fury, something like 20% of the world’s LNG and 25% of seaborne oil trade passed through the strait each year and accounted for something like 10-15% of Europe’s energy supplies. Losing that hurts, and Politico reported on Tuesday that one “top Brussels official urges Europeans to work from home and drive less.”nEU energy chief Dan Jørgensen says Europe faces a “very serious situation,” and that “even if… peace is here tomorrow, still we will not go back to normal in the foreseeable future.”nSucks to be EU, chief. Meanwhile, Europe’s contribution to the actual military effort is barely minuscule, and a handful of nations, including France (duh), Spain (fricken commies), and even Giorgia Meloni’s Italy, have closed their airbases to our military traffic headed to the Gulf. Apparently, “lead, follow, or get out of the way” isn’t a part of Europe’s lexicon.

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The UK today.

• A Civilization Whose Defense is Abandoned, is Lost (Paul Craig Roberts)

For many years I have expressed concern that Western Civilization was being destroyed intentionally from within by failing to convey the civilization’s achievements to succeeding generations via education. Instead, education was used to alienate generations from their own civilization by stressing evils such as wars, slavery, oppression of blacks and women, oppression of other peoples as the result of colonial rule, abuse of children by parents, religious prejudices, class prejudices, and so on. The history of Western Civilization as a series of great reforms was kept from generation after generation so successfully that today hardly anyone under sixty years of age knows about them.


Western civilization has many achievements in science, technology, architecture, music, art, but perhaps the greatest achievement of Western Civilization began in the ninth century during the reign of Alfred the Greet in what became England. Alfred established law based on the people’s beliefs and behavior–the English Common Law–not on the edicts of a king. This was the beginning of developments over the centuries that culminated in the Glorious Revolution of 1680 that established that the king was subject to the law and the law was established by the commoners and the aristocrats in Parliament, thus making the king accountable to the people. The accountability of government rested on free speech. Without free speech truth cannot be ascertained.

The Americans who inherited the notion of government accountable to the people inscribed in the US Constitution the right to free speech.In recent years this right on which accountable government rests has been eroded in the US and essentially destroyed in the UK. In America today citizens who use the Constitutionally protected right of free speech can lose their jobs, can be prohibited from contracting with or having jobs with many state governments. If they are students who protest Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians, they are expelled from the university, and if they are foreign students they are deported. The universities do nothing to protect the free speech that the US Constitution guarantees. Neither do the bar associations nor the law schools.

Free speech is in the way of anti-Western civilization ideologies. We must believe that white racism, not the black King of Dahomey’s slave wars, is the cause of black slavery. We are denied the fact that blacks held blacks in slavery and the fact that the blacks sent to the New World were enslaved by blacks, and that colonists in the New World purchased already enslaved blacks for a labor force. White people did not enslave black people. Black people sold as slaves were enslaved by the black King of Dahomey. You will not be able to find this fact in any Black Studies program in any university. The generations of indoctrination of white people against themselves, called education, has produced a situation in which law is no longer applied to the guilty but to his victim. Black immigrant-invaders are protected against hate speech and an accusation of rape has become hate speech.

In the UK, and also I believe in Norway and Sweden and perhaps throughout the EU, a white woman who reports a rape or a gang-rape might be charged with a hate crime against a “person of color.” This possibility essentially conveys rape privileges to black immigrant-invaders to rape white European women. The police are as likely to hold the rape victim accountable for a hate crime as to hold the rapist accountable for rape. In England these rapes went on for 30 years with the police and the British government doing nothing about it except covering it up. A year or two ago former British prime minister Liz Truss said that for 30 years the British government covered up the rapes. It stilll does.

Read more …

Tyler Robinson’s defense team may use this argument in an attempt to get the charges against him dropped”

• Charlie Kirk Bullet Doesn’t Match Suspect’s Rifle – Lawyers (RT)

Investigators could not match the bullet that killed conservative influencer Charlie Kirk to the rifle used by his alleged assassin, lawyers for the suspect have claimed. The accused killer’s defense team is using this fact to push for a delayed trial. Tyler Robinson’s lawyers said in a recent court filing that the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) could not conclusively connect a bullet fragment recovered from Kirk’s body to a rifle found at the scene, citing an internal report by the agency.


The full ATF report has not been made public, but Robinson’s lawyers cited excerpts from the document in a request to delay a preliminary hearing scheduled for May. The 22-year-old suspect’s legal team stated that they need more time to review the bullet analysis, and to analyze the DNA of multiple other people found at the crime scene. Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), was shot in the neck and killed almost instantly at an event on a Utah college campus last September. His death sent shockwaves through the US, with President Donald Trump posthumously awarding Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom and describing the conservative icon as “a visionary and one of the greatest figures of his generation.”

Robinson was arrested two days after Kirk’s death. Investigators quickly linked him to a Mauser model 98 rifle found near the scene, which had apparently been modified at some point to fire the American 30.06 round used in the assassination. Text messages between Robinson and his transgender lover were then unearthed, in which Robinson confessed to the killing and revealed almost every detail of the plot, down to how he cleaned his fingerprints off the gun before stashing it in a nearby patch of woods.

Prosecutors have said that DNA matching Robinson’s was found on the trigger of the rifle, but the case has nevertheless spawned multiple conspiracy theories – including the widely spread claim that Kirk was killed for turning on TPUSA’s pro-Israel donors and opposing US strikes on Iran. Every firearm leaves a unique imprint on a bullet as the projectile leaves the barrel. When enough fragments are found in good condition, ballistic analysts can match the projectile to the weapon with almost 100% confidence. Robinson’s lawyers suggested in the filings that they may point to the lack of a match in an attempt to dismiss charges against their client.

Read more …

People hear it will take their jobs, and that’s all they can understand.

• More Than Half of Americans Believe AI Will Do More Harm Than Good: Poll ET)

About 55 percent of Americans surveyed in a 2026 Quinnipiac poll said artificial intelligence (AI) will be more harmful than helpful. The survey, released on March 30, was conducted in collaboration with the Quinnipiac University School of Computing & Engineering and the Quinnipiac University School of Business. In April 2025, only 44 percent believed AI would do more harm than good in their daily lives. In the 2026 poll, 21 percent answered that AI affects their lives a lot, while 29 percent said only somewhat, and 30 percent believed AI impacts are minimal. Only 17 percent said they are not impacted at all.


Regarding education, 64 percent of survey respondents said AI is more harmful, compared with just 27 percent who believe it will help. For health care issues, 45 percent of those surveyed believed AI will do more harm, while 43 percent said AI will be more helpful. The employment outlook showed the greatest percentage of people worried about the future of AI, as 75 percent said continuous advancements in AI will most likely lead to a decline of job opportunities for people. While 18 percent said AI will not have much of an impact on jobs, only 7 percent said jobs for humans will increase as a result of AI.

In just one year, the fear of possible job losses due to AI increased by nearly 20 points. In April 2025, 56 percent of respondents said AI would be detrimental to human jobs. All generations surveyed remain pessimistic about the job outlook as a result of AI’s rapid growth, with Gen Z—including ages 18 to 29—exhibiting the highest percentage at 81 percent. For millennials, aged 30 to 45, 71 percent said jobs are likely to decrease as AI grows, and 67 percent of Gen Z, aged 46 to 61, agree. Of the baby boomer generation, aged 62 to 80, 66 percent indicated that human jobs will decline.

“Younger Americans report the highest familiarity with AI tools, but they are also the least optimistic about the labor market,” Tamilla Triantoro, associate professor of business analytics and information systems at Quinnipiac University School of Business, said in the report. “AI fluency and optimism here are moving in opposite directions.”Among those currently employed, 30 percent reported being very or somewhat concerned about AI rendering their jobs obsolete, but 69 percent said they are not very worried about it. Compared with last year’s survey, only 21 percent of employed Americans expressed fear of losing their jobs to AI.

“Americans are more worried about what AI may do to the labor market than about what it may do to their own jobs,” Triantoro said. “People seem more willing to predict a tougher market than to picture themselves on the losing end of that disruption—a pattern worth watching as the technology moves deeper into the workplace.”

An overwhelming 85 percent of Americans said they would be unwilling to work a job where their direct supervisor was an AI program that assigned their tasks and schedules. When asked how much they trust AI, 76 percent of respondents said that they hardly ever trust it, while just 21 percent admitted they do trust AI. Still, 51 percent said they often use AI for researching topics. Only 20 percent said they relied on AI for medical advice, and just 15 percent for personal advice.

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Home › Forums › Debt Rattle April 2 2026

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  • April 2, 2026 at 9:49 am #236981
    Raúl Ilargi Meijer
    Keymaster

    Vincent van Gogh A Lane near Arles (Side of a Country Lane) 1888 • Trump Reassures Americans: Iran Operation Won’t Be a Forever War (Chris Queen) • US
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle April 2 2026]

    April 2, 2026 at 10:40 am #237000
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    President Trump address to the nation: IRAN WAR Apr 1, 2026

    April 2, 2026 at 10:45 am #237001
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    Trump Iran War Speech REACT /Lt Col Daniel Davis

    April 2, 2026 at 10:55 am #237002
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    April 2, 2026 at 12:08 pm #237003
    tboc
    Participant

    Mr. Musk has mastered the art of doing efficiently that which does not need to be done.

    April 2, 2026 at 12:30 pm #237004
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “Trump Wants To Cut And Run In Iran” The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

    Had no idea Colbert supported the war so passionately! Well, like all Leftists, I guess. Nope, Stephen says we MUST stay. Okay Steve, that’s on you then.

    “Throne Out: Millions march Against War and Deportations” — The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

    Their master plan is to tell people Orange Man is Bad. If only people knew this vital fact! We should tell people! But they’re telling other Leftists, so it’ll make a dent any time now. The Right and Center they’re feverishly telling they’ll round up and kill, so there’s really a lot of communication going on.

    From the internet, no warranties: “By the way the Ukrainians have a new batch of drones that are ranging unimpeded from the Baltic to the southern Urals. Supposedly they are of British design.”

    What a surprise. Whyever would England do that? And also not be bombed back.

    “Ayatollah Breaks Silence, In Written Message Praises Hezbollah & Shia Leaders Of Iraq

    Did he? Why on earth would you think it’s him?

    “First Valero Refinery, Now Largest U.S. Gasoline Pipeline Damaged In Georgia

    Iran managed two whole hits? Or someone else?

    “”He Ran On No Wars – Now We Have One”: Michael Savage Breaks With Trump Over Iran
    “Who is whispering in his ear?”

    I dunno, Rubio said openly on international TV that Israel was blackmailing us? Now much of Israel is rubble. Coincidence? Now that never happened. No one thinks being blackmailed is relevant now, because “Orange Man”, because “I Hate.” Nothing on earth exists except Orange Man, and all actions are his.

    “Minnesota Judges Enabling Somali Fraud Epidemic With Slaps On Wrist

    Well they’ll murder her and everyone she ever met, so why not? I’ll let you decide who “they” is, but if the police can’t protect you – or are themselves the danger – what do you expect? This is why the first step cannot be allowed. Same as you can have a wall 1,000 feet long. But it only takes one gap, anywhere, for it not to be a wall. We knew this once.

    “Ex CIA Larry Johnson cuts through the noise with a chilling assessment based on troop movements and force deployments right now. Trump has not backed down out of fear. He is simply playing the same games”

    There is not a single idea expressed in any of the words above. Should have just pasted random words from a dictionary, would have been equally expressive. “Larry said.” That’s about the factual content.

    If Trump is landing this weekend, he sure feels more confident than I do. But then, he’s reading the Pentagon Intel reports and I’m not. But Larry does his job to give CIA talking points, to do what the CIA wants to happen and the American People do not. So anything the CIA says, generally I consider a lie and oppose. Problem being “What lie?” He of course uses his DonaldTelepathy to know what everyone thinks, does, and knows. He lives with Donald and gives him the reacharound like that. Same geniuses said Apaches and A-10s would never fly, are useless, burn them, we’re using them daily. Now he always knew what he didn’t know only yesterday.

    What will happen? I don’t know. I’m just pointing out that Larry knows less than I do. My guess is like this, simple: Trump will keep applying force to get leverage because he actually wants the negotiations not the “Win”. Wrote this yesterday: We can’t “Win” in Iran, understand? That’s what they can’t grasp.

    Suppose we went in, totally won, re-purposed Juan Guido and made him President of Iran instead. THAT DOESN’T FIX THINGS. They would merely alter the war to a Civil War to remove Juan the puppet again. Winning = Not Winning. Do you understand?

    This is counterintuitive, let me try again.

    What is the END STATE? What does a stable, “winning” Middle East look like? With Iran conquering and running the whole thing? No. What if Israel? No. They will fight Israel again. What if the U.S. …Also NO. Can you understand that? That means that to settle the middle east we have to LOSE, or at least not win. WE ALSO cannot be the dominant power there, or we can never leave, in addition to drawing fire with everyone attacking us.*

    (* NeoCons know this, which is why Winning = Not Winning is their strategy and they do what they do. They know all states they propose = Eternal War of the Glorious Revolution, for their God, the Morningstar. That’s why they’re never mad, but happy, whether they ‘win’ or ‘lose’, and get promoted by invisible people behind them for ‘losing’.)

    So what was the solution? Well, solution of everyone here was “let it”. Let Iran do whatever they want forever. They get nukes that reach Malacca, China, and the United States. Or for other people, let Israel. That’s not stable, that’s just conquering. Start from the end state: A rational, not extortion, non-blackmail, peaceful balance of powers with US NOT THERE. That’s a win. I don’t want to be there, nor does anyone else. But atm, Israel and Iran are WAY TOO POWERFUL (and Turkey, but they’re next). So they need to come down to the range of S.A. and the Gulf Collective. By being flattened and using up all the weapons. They have. All done, bye. The U.S. ALSO lost power. We have no radars, are mostly pushed out of Iraq, thank God. So all three major powers are whacked. We ALREADY have a better balance of power and possible end-state.

    The thing you need now is a “normal” Iranian government everyone can work with, that is, China and Russia, (and Saudi Arabia) — who cares about us? That’s already happened, since everyone in the IRGC is dead, and the non-religious non-Ayatollah is a complete gay, nightclubbing, billionaire fraud. They have to pick an Iranian who can unify the four lines of power there: Religion, Civil, Army, etc. He has to be a moderate and unitarian by definition. There’s not enough left of the IRGC to resist the “normals”, the Unitarians there.

    What else? Israel is whacked and flattened. Their people left, they’ve been discredited. But more important, Israel lost their source of power: owning the United States. If we don’t flood infinity money in there, they too drop a peg. That’s already happened, the public finally woke up and are against it. (eyeroll). Presidents will know supporting Israel is a loser, or at least a hot button instead of a requirement like since Kennedy and the Liberty. Israel says down.

    And we do too. We’re not re-building and re-occupying the Iraqi bases. That were supposed to be the stepping stones to conquering Iran. (and FStan, also gone) We’re not TRYING to conquer it. Obviously. Since you need men for that. That’s what Johnson, an Empireist and committed Globalist, cannot understand. NOT using the One Ring. But tossing it in the Gulf and going home instead.

    Mostly there. Which is why Trump is sending these particular hardware, etc, but is saying it’s winding down. Iran can say “They beat us” and we leave. The Gulf runs the Gulf – with China if they want – but not us.

    They can’t understand this because to them the only point of war was spoils. Attack, conquer, take, own. No. When I have a bar fight, I don’t expect that guy to be my slave after and rob his house. It’s to stop/do a specific thing that Saturday night. Not after. NeoCons like Johnson can’t fathom that. If we don’t enslave the guy after, go live in his house, then the fight was “lost”, a “Waste of money.” No. It wasn’t.

    This is all built on assumptions I guess a lot of guys – Americans — have. I don’t have the same assumptions so you all look really confused to me. With all contradictory statements: (Eg “Everybody told Trump this most obvious military realities, BUT ALSO, “He didn’t know at all.”)

    Now Can is say Trump IS doing this? No. But the only alternative is “Everyone is dum but me.” Every. Single. Person. Everyone in State and Pentagon knew. There was no change in the slightest of any revolution helping Israel, or of Israel not being flattened. So there was never any thought we would accomplish “regime change.” Therefore that was not our goal here. Yet we did it anyway. They seem very happy and relaxed, as do markets. So what you’re seeing is going extremely well from their point of view. So what point of view can that be?

    Decide for yourself, but you, with no information at all AND are not a genius, are not the smart guy. The guys on the inside who ARE certified geniuses, AND have all the information are. I’m having a hard enough time reporting it afterwards.

    “The German government to build 15 new nuclear power plants and lift sanctions immediately on all Russian oil and natural gas. German Chancellor Merz has also agreed to pay to rebuild the Nord Stream pipeline to Russia.”

    This can’t be real, nor the migrants. Watching.

    “Axios reports citing three sources that the US and Iran are discussing a potential deal that would involve a ceasefire in exchange for Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz”

    Only yesterday Johnson, Fox News, etc were saying there were no negotiations at all. Huh. That’s funny. Soooo, since they’re more hilariously wrong in the history of wrongs, we stop listening to them, right?

    “Iranian Supreme Leader Vows To “Continue Supporting The Resistance Against The Zionist-US Enemy”

    IRGC continues fighting, because if Iran has Peace the IRGC ceases to exist. The Civilian Government will be in the driver’s seat, not them. So it was never “for the Iranian people”, was it? We already knew from all their other actions this was so. (eg Water Rights)

    Now if someone would help us the same way with our own CIA, that’d be great.

    “Iran: Not True that Iran Requested a Ceasefire

    WHO in Iran? So the IRGC is saying They are Iran. They run it. And they’re not stopping. The Civilian side says THEY run it. They ARE stopping.

    “The United States will be “out of Iran pretty quickly” and could return for “spot hits” if needed,”

    That is, if the Civilian Iran asks us to bomb the s—t out of some IRGC holdouts. Happy to.

    “the vital energy shipping waterway would “automatically open”.

    That is an odd statement. Scenario out the above realities. Yes?

    “he told George Stephanopoulos that maybe he needed to “write down” Donald Trump’s objectives for Iran because no matter how many times Rubio told him what they were, he implied that he didn’t understand them.”

    Basically all modern discourse is the Left pretending not to understand things. And that because they pretend not to understand, it’s instead YOU that’s dumb.

    ““They refused to negotiate… For all these people out there talking about how this could’ve been avoided — they were given every opportunity, in multiple talks, and all they did was either reject or delay”

    They, globalists, MI6 were told to run out the clock. Stall, they’d dick the midterms, etc. So it was never “Negotiations” in the first place, same as Zelensky. Never the slightest honest intent. Now I can’t tag them on that, since they stayed within the lines (unlike Trump) but that doesn’t make it less true. It was all fake. Then PLUS saying they had 11 atom bombs.

    “”Why do they continue to refuse to turn over 60% enriched uranium?”

    When do we turn over our Uranium, Mark? And to whom? I don’t trust Congress with it either.

    “The U.S. supports our NATO posture in Europe in part because it provides us with strategic military bases and operations that are considered vital to our national interests.”

    What interests? None in my lifetime. And all NATO is against controlling the Straits? They want Iran to control it. Right then.

    Of course the point was, we need to SHOW this somehow. As we already said, no one cared, then showed in Ukraine, then kicked them in the pants and gave them a wedgie and still no one changed. Okay, I guess you need the lesson harder then.

    For example, Johnson, being a Globalist, wants our Patriot missiles in Germany. He’s appalled we’re removing them. We should conquer and occupy Europe like a good Empire, and aligns with the CIA on this. …Our actual government. How dare we redeploy and dismantle Empire? That’s “Losing” you know. “Winning” is of course more Empire, which is what he wants.

    No? Then our going home is good, not bad. His own responses demonstrate the fact of what he really believes.

    “the British empire is at risk of collapse.”

    Wait: there’s a British Empire again? First admitting it or defining it is the step.

    “During the national address to the people of Great Britain, Prime Minister Starmer emphasized that events in the middle east have forever changed the landscape of U.K. economic and geopolitical policy.”

    Huh? Wow, that can only be of any merit, or of him ADMITTING it (which politicians would rather die than do) unless we’re right and have been right all along here. Iran DOES = MI6. We took out one of England’s largest remaining colonies.

    Schumer? Is the whole Senate even relevant? I think he should give it up to Ilhan Omar and the Squad. They’re the best! Ilhan can be deported and jailed in Somali, which that nation has said they intend.

    “Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson Warns Against Unbridled Free Speech

    Yes, wouldn’t want that “free speech”, “Human Rights” thingie. That would be unAmerican. Says a (non) Supreme Court Justice. She’s also a doctor. She can decide what Doctors are and are not allowed to discuss in their own time. Further down, PCR: “Without free speech truth cannot be ascertained.” That’s why it cannot be permitted. I Am God. Not the Truth. If you believe the Truth and not me, my power will have limits.

    “• How Many Times has the EU Screwed Itself Over in the Past Year? (Marsden)

    None. They are not the Same Unit. The RICH, Government, screwed the POOR, Citizens.

    They’re picking on French Total and the U.S. So? Ignore us and do your own energy. The problem is you suck so bad you won’t invest in yourself back home, and like that’s our problem? Why did you abdicate and give away all your power?

    Note, not as simple as it seems: America gave away all our power equally. Many Utilities, in NY, in Nuclear, all owned by foreign…what are essentially foreign GOVERNMENTS, as Utilities are not actually free-market. So we own them and they own us too? Wtf? Yeah, it’s called “GLOBALISM”. No one is permitted actual national sovereignty, but corporations. Make more sense now? Tell you what: we’ll trade Europe. We get Dodge and Harley and Budweiser back, you get, Idgaf. This red stapler. Bye. Now THAT cuts Globalism.

    “Specifically, it gave a huge break to the US with ZERO tariffs on some of its exports to the EU, while slapping a 15-percent tariff on EU imports to the US. Another master stroke of cuckoldry. And yet Trump still won’t stop talking about how the EU is constantly stiffing America on trade.”

    Yes, but it’s a package. Isn’t there still 100% tariffs on our cars?

    ““the Navy appears to be in no rush to reopen the strait,”

    I thought we “lost” unless the Straits open. But this is also the plan? Which we have motive, means, and opportunity for, which ends a 2 MILLION person world war? All a coincidence, I guess. One big accident.

    “A year or two ago former British prime minister Liz Truss said that for 30 years the British government covered up the rapes. It still does.”

    Iran is stellar in comparison. And their leaders more popular. This is the nation we’re defending for free. So, major mea culpa apology to Slobodon Milosevic.

    “• Charlie Kirk Bullet Doesn’t Match Suspect’s Rifle – Lawyers (RT)

    Also not a bullet. You don’t saaaaaaay! — Sarcasm Anonymous. So, Kash, since it appears definitively NOT a Trans-Furry, does that mean it MIGHT be a foreign terrorist like Kent wanted to find out? Some coastal nation in
    Middle East perhaps?

    “• More Than Half of Americans Believe AI Will Do More Harm Than Good: Poll ET)

    Not new. They learned the same thing about computers in general. This is AFTER Microsoft this week force-pushed an update that broke and exposed all computers on earth, to geneal hackers, I guess, then didn’t care. At all. They even broke Notepad! But heck, in Vista they broke Copy-Paste so that’s nothing new.

    Note: I hear you should train to be a plumber, and that’s true, but if 30 MILLION people lose useless cube-hamster computer jobs, the competition for wages as a plumber will go down, won’t they?

    “Now all the truth is out,
    Be secret and take defeat
    From any brazen throat,
    For how can you compete,
    Being honor bred, with one
    Who were it proved he lies
    Were neither shamed in his own
    Nor in his neighbors’ eyes;…” — Yeats

    April 2, 2026 at 12:42 pm #237005
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    Joe Kent: Iran War, Israeli Influence & Creating ISIS

    April 2, 2026 at 12:43 pm #237006
    those darned kids
    Participant

    🚨 THE WAR IN IRAN ISN’T A DISTRACTION: IT’S A CHANCE TO KILL SCHOOLGIRLS, DECAPITATE VOLLEYBALL TEAMS, AND BLOW UP PHARMACEUTICAL PLANTS!🚨

    April 2, 2026 at 12:48 pm #237007
    those darned kids
    Participant

    “Nothing on earth exists except Orange Man, and all actions are his.”

    “Nothing on earth exists except Orange Man, and all actions are his.”

    “Nothing on earth exists except Orange Man, and all actions are his.”

    “Nothing on earth exists except Orange Man, and all actions are his.”

    “Nothing on earth exists except Orange Man, and all actions are his.”

    “Nothing on earth exists except Orange Man, and all actions are his.”

    “Nothing on earth exists except Orange Man, and all actions are his.”

    “Nothing on earth exists except Orange Man, and all actions are his.”

    “Nothing on earth exists except Orange Man, and all actions are his.”

    PLEASE, OH PLEASEY PLEASE,

    OH PLEASEY, PLEASEY, PLEASE, PLEASE,

    STOP SAYING THIS

    you’ve said it ever day for ever and please, please, PLEASE STOP.

    regards,

    tdk

    April 2, 2026 at 12:48 pm #237008
    those darned kids
    Participant

    joe kent is a dildo.

    April 2, 2026 at 1:01 pm #237009
    tboc
    Participant

    consider a young person aged fifteen and their susceptibility to peer pressure and advertising. Now consider the same person after fifteen years of using Ai to navigate the world. What will that persons skill set be? Add in to YOUR thought process the information about Ai commerce posted yesterday.

    Ai giveth and Ai taketh away.

    The post yesterday about ancient Greek culture was telling. The Fertile Crescent, The Cradle of Civilization seems to has escaped the data set. Racism pales in comparison to culturism. The last week those who have not read The Gospels or The Qur’an or the old testament have been pontificating about the abrahamic religions. It is obvious these dilettantes have no understanding of sects. I suspect that they know little about the Pilgrims and nothing about Kenneth Copeland and John Hagee or radical fundamentalist christianity.
    Onward Christian Soldiers – 1st verse
    Onward, Christian soldiers,
    marching as to war,
    With the cross of Jesus
    going on before!
    Christ, the royal Master,
    leads against the foe;
    Forward into battle,
    see his banner go!

    Mr. Trump is no more deluded than the balance of the population. A cheering throng using 21st century tools to maintain an 11th century mindset. Progress!

    April 2, 2026 at 1:28 pm #237011
    Topcat
    Participant

    The Billionaire Zio=Ashkenazi Jews who dominate the Empire of Lies financial system and it’s foreign policy wanted to invade, rape and dismember Russia via Ukraine also want to do the exact same crime against Iran and the rest of West Asia.

    They need to be annihilated.

    Israel needs to be annihilated

    Iran is doing that now.

    The Zionazis are being dismembered in southern Lebanon by Hezbollah. because the IDF are candyass soyboy simps on the ground fighting real fighters like Hezbollah.

    israel is good at standoff murder with planes bombing women and children.

    On the ground they are pure shit. Reservists who want to be ‘tech developers’ in air conditioned offices, soft, stupid and cowardly. That’s why 100,000 of their ‘reservists

    The rocket attacks by Iran and Hezbollah are destroying the infrastructure of Israel.

    Trumpturd. can’t stop this.

    So even if he could cut n’ run from West Asia, his Zionazi=Ashkenazi Masters won’t let him.

    And Russia will nuke Israel if they use nnuclear weapons against Iran because they cannot afford the Zionazis taking over the area to their southern border.

    So what does Trumpturd the five-time-draft-dodger do?

    Cut n’ Run or send thousands of Empire of Lies troops to their death in Iran?

    The Iranians are waiting for them, they are defending. their Homeland.

    The Zio=Ashkenazis have him by the balls and the Russians will use nukes against Israel if in desperation the Zionazis realize Iran will destroy ALL their infrastructure, airports, marine ports, fuel depots, electrical generation including ALL their desalination capabilities over time with hypersonic missiles GUIDED by Russian satellite data.

    The Global Economy is headed to De-Pres-Sion

    U R Phucked

    April 2, 2026 at 1:35 pm #237012
    kultsommer
    Participant

    Top notch Van-G today.
    Before he decided to paint future decorations for the candy boxes.

    April 2, 2026 at 1:40 pm #237013
    Topcat
    Participant

    So much winning

    A Masterful Job of laying out the Options for Trumpturd

    “In 2002, the Pentagon spent $250 million on the largest wargame in US military history called ‘Millennium Challenge’. 13,500 participants, 2 years of planning, the works.

    The idea was pretty straightforward: simulate an invasion of a Middle Eastern country in the Persian Gulf. Suspiciously resembling Iran.

    The purpose was to demonstrate that America’s technological dominance could steamroll anything in its path.”

    Hahah, top you’re killin’ me!

    “They picked a retired 3-star Marine named Paul Van Riper to play the enemy.

    Van Riper, who spent 41 years in uniform from Vietnam to Desert Storm, took one look at the scenario and did what any self-respecting adversary would do.

    He ignored it completely. Instead of radios, he used motorcycle couriers. Attack orders were hidden in the daily call to prayer. Swarms of explosive-laden speedboats were sent through the Strait of Hormuz.

    And in less than 10 minutes, he sank 16 US warships. An aircraft carrier, 10 cruisers, and 5 amphibious ships. Over 20,000 simulated American casualties. The equivalent of Pearl Harbor, executed with small boats and cruise missiles by a retired Marine with a phone and a bad attitude.

    So the Pentagon did what any self-respecting institution does when reality disagreed with the plan.

    The ships were un-sank. Van Riper’s forces had to turn on their anti-aircraft radar so it could be easily targeted and destroyed.

    They even told him he wasn’t allowed to shoot down the incoming 82nd Airborne.

    The whole rest of the exercise was scripted to guarantee an American victory.”

    Van Riper walked out in disgust.

    His parting words:

    “Nothing was learned from this. A culture not willing to think hard and test itself does not augur well for the future”.

    April 2, 2026 at 1:41 pm #237014
    kultsommer
    Participant

    Ai giveth and Ai taketh away.

    Early signs.
    Real store employees assisting customers with the newly installed cluster of self-check out machines.

    April 2, 2026 at 2:15 pm #237015
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    April 2, 2026 at 2:17 pm #237016
    Topcat
    Participant

    Again from Gold and Geopolitics another home-run…

    Death of the Petro-Dolla, the Rise of the Petro-Yuan and Booting the Empire of Lies out of West Asia for Good

    “The Strait of Hormuz has been successfully transitioned from a free international waterway into a revenue-generating toll infrastructure, administered by the IRGC with a published fee schedule, a vetting corridor near Larak Island, and legislation pending to make it permanent.

    Ships currently pay $2 to $3.5 million per transit, settling in yuan through CIPS, which bypasses SWIFT entirely and represents a significant upgrade in settlement efficiency.

    [SWIFT sucks! CIPS rules!]

    India has adopted the yuan.

    Japan has adopted the renminbi.

    Pakistan negotiated preferential rates at 2 tankers per day.

    Thailand secured bilateral access.

    Only COSCO, China’s state shipping line, moves freely, which streamlines the user experience considerably if you happen to be Chinese.

    The dollar’s share of global reserves has reached its lowest level in a century, which suggests the new framework is being broadly embraced.”

    “This is the Petrodollar in transition.

    The mechanism that has underwritten American empire since 1974 – Gulf oil priced in dollars, revenues recycled through US Treasuries, quietly funding a $39 trillion debt – is being replaced in real time by a yuan-denominated corridor that didn’t exist 5 weeks ago.

    And unlike a military defeat, which can be spun and repackaged for a news cycle to consumers with the attention span of a goldfish, a reserve currency transition is a one-way door.”

    THIS DAY IN HISTORY – President Wilson asks for declaration of war – 1917

    April 2, 2026 at 2:18 pm #237017
    John Day
    Participant

    @Topcat: The US could beat Iran in a 2002 war game if enough assumptions were rigidly adhered to.

    April 2, 2026 at 2:26 pm #237018
    kultsommer
    Participant

    Russians who do remember clearly see similarity of Trump to Boris Yeltsin in clownish behavior.
    Latter have an excuse of being drunk most of the time.

    April 2, 2026 at 2:30 pm #237019
    zerosum
    Participant

    Problems in the middle east.

    The strait will be closed to all enemies.
    The destructed US bases cannot be rebuilt.
    All incoming US military need scarce water, food, shelter, electricity.
    (see Gaza to understand)
    Bombs keep killing and demolishing.
    Bankers/finances restricted.

    April 2, 2026 at 2:42 pm #237020
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Another term for “unbridled” free speech is the term “free speech”. Feel free to use them interchangeably.

    April 2, 2026 at 2:55 pm #237021
    kultsommer
    Participant

    The adjectives….

    April 2, 2026 at 3:23 pm #237022
    Topcat
    Participant

    German diesel just hit $10.60 per gallon

    Imagine $10.60 per gallon in Ah’merica.

    Everything here moves by truck.

    The inflation is Weimar Territory

    April 2, 2026 at 3:25 pm #237023
    kultsommer
    Participant

    Craig Murray in Unz

    Why does almost everybody in the West believe a narrative that nobody in Venezuela believes, and which I am quite certain is untrue?

    https://www.unz.com/article/the-weight-on-delcy-rodriguez/

    April 2, 2026 at 3:28 pm #237024
    those darned kids
    Participant

    sorry for the crass language; i should not insult dildos.

    April 2, 2026 at 3:29 pm #237025
    Topcat
    Participant

    China

    Winning Bigly

    Petro-Yuan

    The Chinese are the only ones so far to have unrestricted total access to the Persian Gulf

    They are running with it. Giddy Up!

    China, meanwhile, controls 90% of rare earth refining    , plus massive chunks of the pharmaceutical, polyethylene, battery, and semiconductor supply chains.

    A consolidated position that the war has helpfully strengthened by eliminating most of the non-Chinese alternatives.

    April 2, 2026 at 3:30 pm #237026
    kultsommer
    Participant

    In the “same basket”.
    The host also noticed such a coordination in swift verdict by the media and “actions” that could not wait.

    April 2, 2026 at 3:44 pm #237027
    those darned kids
    Participant

    holy crap, they are going to have to do some rezoning in hades to make room for all these “people”:

    •
    •
    •
    •
    Shanaka Anslem Perera
    1h
    @shanakaanslemperera

    On April 1, President Trump told the world’s nations to “build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT.” He said America would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz. He said allies must protect it themselves. He said the hard part was done.

    On the same day, Bloomberg reported that Powerus, a drone company backed by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump through their American Ventures fund, had been meeting officials in Abu Dhabi to pitch advanced autonomous weapons systems to the United Arab Emirates. The product line includes the Guardian-1, a lightweight kinetic interceptor designed to destroy Shahed-style drones at 340 kilometres per hour for a fraction of the cost of a missile. The pitch is aimed at the exact vulnerability the President’s speech created: Gulf nations that need to defend themselves because America just told them it will not do it for them.

    The President defines the threat. The sons sell the solution. The war creates the demand. The family supplies the product.

    Powerus merged with Aureus Greenway Holdings on March 9 in a deal worth approximately $50 million, positioning for a Nasdaq listing under the expected ticker PUSA. The Guardian-1 was unveiled on March 18, ten days after the war began. It completed flight tests at the US Army’s National Training Center in high-intensity combat simulations. The company’s website claims “confirmed intercepts and kills in active combat zones.” No footage has been released. No CENTCOM confirmation exists. No allied government has verified a single Guardian-1 kill. The product is 15 days old. It has been tested in simulations. It has been pitched to a government under missile attack. It has not been proven in combat.

    The broader Trump family UAE portfolio deepens the architecture. In January 2025, a $500 million stake in World Liberty Financial was sold to an Abu Dhabi entity linked to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, the UAE’s national security adviser. Eric Trump signed. $187 million went to Trump family entities from the first installment. Trump Organization licensing with DAMAC and Dar Global for towers and golf courses exceeded $500 million in the past year. An 80-story Trump Tower Dubai is under construction. The family is embedded in the UAE’s financial, real estate, crypto, and now defence infrastructure while the father conducts a war that makes all four sectors more valuable.

    Senator Jack Reed called for scrutiny: “Trump’s arms sales to family business partners must be examined.” The White House says the President is “unaware” of Powerus dealings. The sons say the businesses are separate. The timeline says otherwise. The war began February 28. The drone company merged March 9. The interceptor launched March 18. The Abu Dhabi meetings took place in recent weeks. The President told allies to defend themselves on April 1. Bloomberg reported the pitch on the same day.

    Lockheed Martin sells the F-35 with 900 pounds of Chinese rare earth magnets that China has banned. Zelensky sells Ukrainian sea drones to the Gulf states his enemy’s ally armed. And the Trump sons sell an untested interceptor to a country their father just told to fend for itself against the drones their father’s war provoked.

    The war has no perimeter. The business has no boundary. And nobody in Washington can tell where one ends and the other begins.””””””

    April 2, 2026 at 3:44 pm #237028
    Topcat
    Participant

    Goes Around, Comes Around

    April 2, 2026 at 3:48 pm #237029
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    April 2, 2026 at 4:10 pm #237032
    tboc
    Participant

    Dr. John,

    @Topcat    : The US could beat Iran in a 2002 war game if enough assumptions were rigidly adhered to.

    i could be seen as tall and handsome standing next to a midget elephant man!?!?

    April 2, 2026 at 4:11 pm #237033
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    I see and read SO much research, speculation and opinions (mine included!) about the REASONS our civilization has fallen off a cliff that it is way too easy to be distracted from the fact that it HAS fallen or been pushed off of the cliff and is now FALLING.

    Yoo Hoo!

    The civilization is in free fall.

    Whether it was accidental or on purpose makes far less difference to final outcomes than does the need to DO SOMETHING to reduce the damage that is already unavoidable and could easily get worse if we don’t do the right things to address the issue.

    Those are ultra important conversations that we need to engage in immediately. The old civilization IS falling. That fact can no longer be disputed. In fact, putting a lot of work into disputing that fact is a BIG waste of time and resources. Mitigating the damage is now the only thing worth our time, effort and lives to engage in.

    April 2, 2026 at 4:20 pm #237034
    tboc
    Participant

    I will retire quietly for the balance of the day

    The United States Boomer generation built this world we are now experiencing.
    and make no mistake we Boomers have a well worn and favorite pronoun

    They

    April 2, 2026 at 4:27 pm #237035
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @tboc

    I will retire quietly for the balance of the day

    The United States Boomer generation built this world we are now experiencing.
    and make no mistake we Boomers have a well worn and favorite pronoun

    They

    I second your proposition.

    April 2, 2026 at 4:36 pm #237036
    kultsommer
    Participant

    The United States Boomer generation built this world we are now experiencing.
    and make no mistake we Boomers have a well worn and favorite pronoun

    I’ve commented on Boomers before. We are talking about 20 years span where the late comers have barely anything in common with early ones.
    There is also a false premise of the criticizers of that generation that they, if born in that era, would single-handedly prevent the entry to Woodstock or, later, to Club 54 or all other indulgences that generation was gifted with. All thanks to cheep energy and, celebrated, “free market economy” offerings.

    April 2, 2026 at 4:41 pm #237037
    kultsommer
    Participant

    Get to your senses.
    Tattooed gen-Xers and others.

    April 2, 2026 at 5:02 pm #237038
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    April 2, 2026 at 5:05 pm #237039
    Topcat
    Participant

    Alastair Crooke

    Are There, or Will There Be, US Negotiations with Iran?

    The short answer is “no.”

    Trump was confabulating when he said that he was already in negotiations with “important” Iranians.

    Dementia Man, the new Superhero

    We will see shortly

    April 2, 2026 at 5:10 pm #237040
    Topcat
    Participant

    The Empire of Lies

    Powered by Greed

    Iran

    Powered Sovereignty by Revenge for their murdered women and children

    April 2, 2026 at 5:18 pm #237041
    Topcat
    Participant

    Trumpturd: “We’ve destroyed Iranian’s Missile Launchers!”

    Zionaziland is being pounded into the ground……

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