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Debt Rattle April 8 2026

Apr 082026
 
 April 8, 2026  Posted by at 9:50 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,  Add comments


Emil Nolde Half Moon Over The Sea 1945


• Trump Announces a Ceasefire (Sarah Anderson)
• President Trump, Iran Agree To 2-Week Ceasefire (ZH)
• President Trump Threatened Iran, the Democrats Blinked (Tim O’Brien)
• Trump Threatens To ‘Take Out Entire Country Of Iran’ (ZH)
• Defiance Without Leverage: Tehran’s Fatal Miscalculation (David Manney)
• Trump: ‘A Whole Civilization Will Die Tonight’ (Catherine Salgado)
• The New York Times Says We Lost the War (Scott Pinsker)
• German ‘Militaristic Frenzy’ Could End In Tragedy – Zakharova (RT)
• Foldable Apple iPhone Hits Engineering Snags, Raising Risk Of Delays (ZH)
• Here’s How Bad the Midterms Situation for the Democrats Really Is (Margolis)
• Mullin Drops a Bombshell on Sanctuary Cities (Matt Margolis)
• Marc Andreessen Calls AI Job-Loss Fears ‘Fake’, Expects Employment Gains (ZH)

 


 

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2041488240062906637?s=20 https://twitter.com/maggiewise111/status/2041472711365403054?s=20

 


 


Trump might claim it is a normal negotiation. Though it’s not for everyone.

Then again, some of the language coming out of Tehran sounds like they studied and imitated Trump. And he knows it.

Then again again, we don’t know who speaks for Iran. Is it a mullah? The IRGC?

To be sure, everyone’s threatening battles they don’t want.

• Trump Announces a Ceasefire (Sarah Anderson)

UPDATE: 8:08 p.m. EST: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Iran will allow safe passage for maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz for two weeks, provided there is coordination with Iran’s armed forces.


Original article

Well, it doesn’t look like he’ll be destroying any civilizations on Tuesday night. Donald Trump has announced, via his Truth Social account, that there will be a two-week ceasefire with Iran, subject to “complete, immediate, and safe” opening of the Strait of Hormuz. He said that Iran has proposed a 10-point peace plan — he called the plan significant but “not good enough” on Monday — and he now believes it’s “a workable basis on which to negotiate.” The two-week ceasefire period will allow an agreement to be finalized. He also said that it’s an “honor to have this long-term problem close to resolution.” Here’s his full statement.

“Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks. This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE! The reason for doing so is that we have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East. We received a 10 point proposal from Iran, and believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate. Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two week period will allow the Agreement to be finalized and consummated. On behalf of the United States of America, as President, and also representing the Countries of the Middle East, it is an Honor to have this Longterm problem close to resolution.

Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP”

This comes after Trump issued a strong warning for Iran earlier on Tuesday, stating, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.” He continued: “However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!”

As my colleague Rick Moran reported earlier, “Iran rejected a ceasefire proposal by Pakistan on Monday, which would have included the immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.” Obviously, some last-minute diplomacy has taken place, but whether it will hold remains to be seen.

https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/2041649076500869158

Fox News’ Laura Ingraham says she spoke to Trump just after he announced the ceasefire and claims he is “extremely serious” and “cautiously but seriously optimistic.” He also said the negotiations were incredibly complex and he doesn’t want anything to jeopardize them.

Read more …

“This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE!”

• President Trump, Iran Agree To 2-Week Ceasefire (ZH)

Building on the conversations leaked all day, it appears President Trump has withdrawn his threat to end Iranian civilization as they know it…


“Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks. This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE! The reason for doing so is that we have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Long-term PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East.

We received a 10 point proposal from Iran, and believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate. Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two week period will allow the Agreement to be finalized and consummated.On behalf of the United States of America, as President, and also representing the Countries of the Middle East, it is an Honor to have this Long-term problem close to resolution. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP

Additionally, CNN reports that Israel has agree to suspend bombing while talks are ongoing.

Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) Israel is a part of the two-week ceasefire Trump agreed to just an hour and a half before his deadline, a senior White House official tells CNN. Israel has agreed to also suspend its bombing campaign while negotiations continue, the official said. And the most important variable, Iran, is also on the same page, and accepts Pakistan’s two-week ceasefire proposal with the deal approved by the New Supreme Leaders, according to Iran’s Foreign Minster, Aragchi. More importantly, Iran has said that safe passage via Hormuz “possible” for two weeks.

Talks between the US and Iran will start on Friday, although Iran was quick to note that it will engage in talks with complete distrust.

* * *

The reaction is as you would expect.

Oil plunged (WTI -16%)…

Stocks spiked (S&P Futs +2%)…

Gold ($4800) and Bitcoin ($72500) are soaring.

Treasury yields and the dollar are tumbling. …well it wouldn’t be Tuesday without TACOs.

Last Ditch Peace Effort by Pakistan Prime Minister With just hours until Trump’s self declared deadline wherein he said a “whole civilization will die tonight” – Pakistan’s leader and host of mediation efforts, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, has tried to introduce a last minute olive branch, hoping that the US will avoid its decimation campaign:

“I earnestly request President Trump to extend the deadline for two weeks. Pakistan, in all sincerity, requests the Iranian brothers to open Strait of Hormuz for a corresponding period of two weeks as a goodwill gesture. We also urge all warring parties to observe a ceasefire everywhere for two weeks to allow diplomacy to achieve conclusive termination of war, in the interest of long-term peace and stability in the region.”

Will Trump latch on to this plea and last minute effort of good will? The sides are aware of the proposal:
TEHRAN IS POSITIVELY REVIEWING PAKISTAN’S REQUEST FOR A TWO-WEEK CEASEFIRE: SENIOR IRANIAN OFFICIAL
TRUMP IS AWARE OF PAKISTAN’S PROPOSAL: AXIOS CITING LEAVITT

Diplomatic efforts for peaceful settlement of the ongoing war in the Middle East are progressing steadily, strongly and powerfully with the potential to lead to substantive results in near future. To allow diplomacy to run its course, I earnestly request President Trump to extend… — Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) April 7, 2026

In the meantime, some fresh statements via state Tasnim:

“If Trump wants to fall into a hole with his madness, we have prepared a black hole for him from which it will be impossible for him to get out”, Tasnim reports citing an Iranian military source “Have prepared good surprises for Trump’s possible madness; One of them is the addition of Aramco oil facilities, Yanba oil facilities and the Fujairah pipeline to Iran’s goals, and in case of Trump’s crime, Iran will not hesitate to impose heavy costs on America and its partners.” “Trump thinks that with these threats the strait will be opened and the price of oil will go down! He doesn’t know that if he carries out his threat, he will have to wait for the oil price of $200 in the coming days.”

Read more …

Talk about being caught with your pants down your ankles.

• President Trump Threatened Iran, the Democrats Blinked (Tim O’Brien)

By now you’ve seen the reports of the latest threat President Donald Trump made against Iran. My colleague Catherine Salgado detailed: President Donald Trump made a dramatic threat on Tuesday morning as his deadline approaches for the terrorist Iranian regime to surrender or face bigger and more devastating strikes than ever from the United States and Israel. ‘A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,’ Trump began in explosive style in his April 7 Truth Social post. He had threatened on Easter Sunday to bring such terrible retribution against the terrorist Iranian regime that its tyrants would think they were in hell, and it appears that since talks are unsurprisingly going nowhere, he will execute his threat.


Before that, our colleague Rick Moran covered the president’s description of what would happen to Iran if it continued to rebuff his attempts to negotiate and arrive at a diplomatic solution to the current situation in Iran. ‘We have a plan where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night. Where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be used again. I mean complete demolition by 12 o’clock, and it will happen over a period of four hours if we wanted to,’ Trump said. “We don’t want that to happen. Iran rejected a ceasefire proposal by Pakistan on Monday, which would have included the immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, they offered a 10-point ceasefire proposal of their own that no one is taking seriously.

It would seem Iran got Trump’s message and has now returned to the bargaining table, agreeing to a two-week ceasefire one day after rejecting it. Our Sarah Anderson has the latest. I’d say that Trump’s tough talk, most likely backed up by the very credible threat real action against what remains of Iranian leadership, worked. Don’t tell that to the Democrats. Before Iran flinched, the Democrats outright panicked. Some of it was fake and by design, but a good bit of it was honest-to-goodness panic. Their scripted, AstroTurfed narrative has gone full 25th Amendment and “war crimes.” Keep in mind tat all of these accusations are about something Trump threatened to do but has not done. Question: Is it a war crime if you just talk about it on social media?

The Democrats always attack Trump and the right for things they imagine but that never happened, but when it comes to things that have happened, if it doesn’t benefit them, they ignore it. Like the time a few weeks ago when the legacy media all but ignored Iran slaughtering some 40,000 actual peaceful protesters. So, when I tell you the left flinched, let’s start with RINO Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).

After watching what the Iranian regime just did to its own people, she had the gall to put the entire onus on the victims of Iranian oppression to rise up. The gun-less people of Iran. What are they supposed to do to overthrow that regime? Stage a sit-in? Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) got the memo. His X post is representative of a large number of Democrats in Congress and the Senate, and in the media.

Now that Trump has effectively induced the Iranian regime to talk, will Quigley step up and admit that Trump is speaking the only language the murderous leadership of that country understands? Of course not. Quigley will do what all leftists are doing, which is to notice Trump’s rhetoric and then ignore it or downplay it when it works. Worse, some will try to get away with saying that Iran came back to the bargaining table in spite of Trump’s threats, not because of them, even when the exact opposite is true.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) is always good for repeating the left’s focus-grouped messaging, and he delivered here.

He made sure to include both the 25th Amendment and the “war crimes” narratives because Trump said a thing. Meanwhile, speaking of the 25th Amendment, while Khanna wants to use it to get Trump out of office, I guess we’re to believe Khanna couldn’t see President Joe Biden’s mental decline days before that disastrous debate performance with Trump, which helped force him to drop out of the race in 2024.

You can always tell which messages are contrived by who delivers them on the Democrat side. Khanna is one. Others include Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who by the way, couldn’t pass this opportunity up.

In Congress, Iran could have no better friend that Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.). See if you notice a pattern emerging. Could it be that someone told these Democrats what to say, and that these aren’t things they thought up on their own?

Read more …

In the process:

• Trump Threatens To ‘Take Out Entire Country Of Iran’ (ZH)

US-Israeli strikes have been on a noticeable uptick against Iranian institutions of higher learning over the last days. This has included a large-scale aerial assault on Tehran’s Sharif University, which is often dubbed the “MIT of Iran”. After this attack, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi threatened Iranian retaliation, warning “aggressors will see our might.” He said several other universities have also been struck over the last days. One regional report (Al Jazeera) says that at least 30 Iranian colleges and universities have suffered damage amid the ongoing attacks.


Neither the US nor Israel divulged the reasons behind attacking university campuses. Many of the students at these very campuses were involved in the January protests. The US claims to be “helping” the protesters through the Trump-ordered massive bombing campaign. Shahid Beheshti University in northern Tehran was attacked last Friday. It issued a statement saying: “This hostile act not only targets the security of academics and the country’s scientific environment, but is also a clear attack on reason, research, and freedom of thought.”

Trump Threatens Iran’s Decimation By Midnight Tues If No Deal
Having already spoken to reporters earlier in the day (before, during, and after the Easter Egg party), discussing ceasefire proposals (‘not good enough’) and his desire to ‘take the oil’, President Trump took the lectern in the White House Briefing Room at 1pm ET to discuss the rescue of the downed airmen over the weekend. President Trump centered his remarks on the weekend search-and-rescue operation for downed airmen, highlighting its success while condemning the leak of details surrounding the mission. “Rescue leak is a national security concern,” he said, adding that authorities “will examine media firm that reported rescue leak.” He further declared, “we have to find that leaker, that’s a sick person,” and warning of potential legal action, as he “threatens to jail journalist over leak,” before adding, “The left will love that!”

He then pivoted to a more aggressive stance on Iran, stating, “Iran can be taken out in one night, maybe tomorrow,” and doubling down with, “entire country of Iran could be taken out in one night.” He also at one point said, “we won.” Pete Hegseth then stepped in and reinforced the escalation, stating, “today will be largest volume of strikes on Iran,” and warning, “tomorrow’s strikes on Iran will be more than today.” During the Q&A session, Trump signaled undisclosed strategy, saying, “I have the best plan of all, won’t tell you what it is,” while insisting, “we didn’t do this for regime change.” He described Iran’s leadership shift in stark terms: “new regime is smarter, sharper, less radical.”

Vital infrastructure attacks already in progress… He also addressed the Iranian public directly, stating, “Iranians should rise up, but the consequences are great,” while claiming, “Iranians want us to keep bombing,” and adding, “Iranian people are willing to suffer for freedom.” He also emphasized that “free traffic of oil” in the Hormuz Strait “must in the Iran deal”. He has warned that “every bridge” and power plant will be decimated by midnight tomorrow night if the Iranians don’t accept a ceasefire deal. This followed a report from The Wall Street Journal that the US military is making preparations for potential strikes on energy targets in Iran, according to multiple U.S. officials – as President Trump ratchets up his demand for Tehran to open the Strait of Hormuz – sending oil prices significantly higher…

That military planners are pulling out existing lists of potential targets to provide the president options if he decides to attack energy infrastructure (according to WSJ sources), this should not be new news for traders (but the market is so sensitive), since Trump has ramped up his threats to do just that in recent days, telling The Wall Street Journal on Sunday that he would destroy all of Iran’s power plants if the regime doesn’t agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by Tuesday evening.

IRGC Intel Chief Taken Out; Israel Suffers Heavy Casualties The head of the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was killed in a Monday airstrike, according to confirmation in Iranian media. IRGC-linked Tasnim News Agency reported that the IRGC Public Relations Department confirmed Monday that Major General Majid Khademi was killed earlier in the day during an attack by US and Israeli forces. However, Tasnim did not disclose the location of the strike.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) earlier stated on X that Khademi was one of the IRGC’s most senior commanders with decades of experience. “Khademi worked to advance terrorist attacks worldwide, and was responsible for monitoring Iranian civilians as part of the regime’s suppression of internal protests,” it claimed.RFE/RL reported that Khademi assumed the post last summer after Mohammad Kazemi was killed in Israeli strikes during the 12-day war. Before that, he led the Intelligence Protection Organization of the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics. Iran is now vowing to enact vengeance on Israel for his death.

Meanwhile Sunday into Monday saw significant casualties in Israel, after the IRGC claimed in a statement carried by state media that Iranian forces had targeted an oil refinery in Haifa. But instead, it appears that the missile slammed directly into a residential building, killing at least four Israelis. Search and rescue teams have spent some 18 hours pouring through the ruins of the complex, recovering two bodies early Monday after an initial two had been found. The casualties could climb amid ongoing recovery efforts. Another regional source stated that “Over 160 Israelis have been transferred to hospitals over the past 24 hours, Israel’s Health Ministry said on Monday.”

Read more …

“And if they don’t, they’ll have no bridges. They’ll have no power plants. They’ll have no anything.”

• Defiance Without Leverage: Tehran’s Fatal Miscalculation (David Manney)

Iranian leaders rejected a United States proposal for a long ceasefire delivered through Pakistani intermediaries on April 5. Iran communicated its response through Pakistan, signaling that it is unwilling to accept a temporary pause in hostilities. “We won’t merely accept a ceasefire,” Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, head of Iran’s diplomatic mission in Cairo, said in remarks to the Associated Press. “We only accept an end to the war with guarantees that we won’t be attacked again.” At the White House, Trump said Iran is making a mistake by rejecting the proposal. “They just don’t want to say ‘uncle,’” Trump told reporters. “They don’t want to cry, as the expression goes, ‘uncle,’ but they will. And if they don’t, they’ll have no bridges. They’ll have no power plants. They’ll have no anything.


“I won’t go further because there are other things that are worse than those two.” The offer called for a 45-day pause in fighting and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical energy corridors. Tehran responded with a 10-point counterproposal, demanding a permanent end to hostilities, full security guarantees, sanctions relief, and control over the Strait. Mojaba Ferdousi Pour, head of Iran’s diplomatic mission in Cairo, stated that Iran would accept nothing short of a definitive halt to military action. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi delivered the counter-demands and positioned Tehran as seeking “peace with dignity.”

According to IRNA, Tehran’s proposal includes 10 provisions, such as ending regional conflicts, ensuring safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, lifting economic sanctions, and initiating reconstruction efforts. Iranian and Omani officials are working on a framework to manage shipping through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, a critical global energy corridor. Tensions escalated further as Israel launched strikes on Iran’s South Pars natural gas field—the world’s largest, shared with Qatar—targeting a major source of the country’s revenue.The attack also killed two senior commanders of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Israel described the strike as an effort to weaken Iran’s economic capacity, although it appeared separate from the U.S. ultimatum.

The development raises doubts about the viability of a proposed 45-day cease-fire amid rapidly intensifying hostilities. The framework, however, required the United States and Israel to surrender military leverage already demonstrated on the battlefield. President Donald Trump made his position unmistakable, speaking the day after the rescue of a downed American airman, warning that Iran could be “taken out in one night” if escalation continues. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stood beside him and confirmed that recent operations inflicted heavy losses on Iranian naval vessels and missile infrastructure.

It’s an obvious strategic imbalance: American forces maintain air dominance, precision strike capability, and maritime superiority in the region. Iranian naval units have already suffered substantial losses. Missile facilities have been degraded; shipping lanes remain vulnerable to further disruption if Tehran continues hostilities. Instead of accepting a pause that would’ve allowed regrouping and diplomatic maneuvering, Iran’s leadership demanded sweeping concessions.

Mojtaba Khamenei was selected by Iran’s Assembly of Experts on March 8 and is the “current” supreme leader of Iran, succeeding his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was directly targeted on February 28, the beginning of Operation Epic Fury.

Mojtaba’s supposed approval or rejection of diplomatic overtures (he may be hooked up to medical machinery) signals that hardliners within Iran’s leadership continue to favor a posture of defiance in the face of U.S. pressure. The supreme leader has the final say on major foreign and security decisions under Iran’s constitutional system, and Mojtaba’s stance suggests Tehran believes firm resistance strengthens internal unity and extracts better terms at the negotiating table.

Read more …

“.. but unfortunately, their regime is satanically stubborn.”

• Trump: ‘A Whole Civilization Will Die Tonight’ (Catherine Salgado)

President Donald Trump made a dramatic threat on Tuesday morning as his deadline approaches for the terrorist Iranian regime to surrender or face bigger and more devastating strikes than ever from the United States and Israel. “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” Trump began in explosive style in his April 7 Truth Social post. He had threatened on Easter Sunday to bring such terrible retribution against the terrorist Iranian regime that its tyrants would think they were in hell, and it appears that since talks are unsurprisingly going nowhere, he will execute his threat.


After having issued his formidable warning Tuesday, Trump continued, “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World.” Referring to the current regime’s lengthy record of tyranny and terror, Trump ended his statement, “47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!”

The message is somewhat cryptic, and it doesn’t clarify whether the regime change is to happen after tonight, or whether Trump thinks it has already begun. Hopefully, it is the former, because we cannot trust a single member of the government that has proudly made “death to America” and “death to Israel” its favorite slogans for half a century. The leader who was the negotiator with America, Mohammad Ghalibaf, is still swearing vengeance. Some members of the government might be willing to agree to terms made by the great Satan, but that does not mean they will live up to those terms. After all, the Islamic concept of taqiyya endorses lies to non-Muslims for the sake of accomplishing Jihad.

Of course, Trump had already issued a more specific and definite threat against Iran’s murderous regime, as my colleague Rick Moran reported earlier. After insisting the “entire country could be taken out in one night, and it might be tomorrow night,” Trump wrote, “We have a plan where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night.” He expatiated, “Where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be used again. I mean complete demolition by 12 o’clock, and it will happen over a period of four hours if we wanted to. We don’t want that to happen.”

Naturally, America wants to leave infrastructure for the much-oppressed Persian people, but unfortunately, their regime is satanically stubborn. As we learned during WWII with a similarly genocidal regime — imperial Japan — sometimes peace comes only after massive devastation and unconditional surrender. The Iranian regime has been attacking Americans directly or through proxies for almost 50 years now. We have long been at war — the murderous mullahs did not leave us that choice. But while we didn’t get to choose when the war began, Americans can choose how the war will end. May Trump eliminate the threat of the Islamic regime once and for all.

Read more …

“The Times regrets the error. Want more?”

• The New York Times Says We Lost the War (Scott Pinsker)

At least it’s colorful: The Gray Lady just gave us the green light to wave the white flag.Running in the April 7 edition of The New York Times: “The Iran War Is Turning Iran Into a Major World Power.” The author, Professor Robert Pape of the University of Chicago, offers the following thesis:

1) Iran will keep control of the Strait of Hormuz for “months or years,” and there’s nothing militarily we can do about it. (Sorry, guys.)
2) The U.S. and Europe are now in decline — and the axis of China, Russia, and Iran is ascending.
3) Iran will emerge as a “new major world power” and the “fourth center of global power” (the other three: America, China, Russia).

But before we pulverize Professor Pape’s preposterously pessimistic proposal, here’s an earlier example of The New York Times’ piercing wisdom, courtesy of author Hans Mahncke:

It’s an X post about a New York Times story from 1903: “Flying Machines Which Do Not Fly.” (And if that story sounds familiar, it’s because beloved PJ Media alum and/or Supreme Leader Editor Paula Bolyard wrote about it in 2024. From Mahncke: “The New York Times did not dismiss the possibility of powered flight at random. There was a very specific reason behind it. At the time, America’s most prominent scientific authority, Smithsonian Secretary Samuel Langley, had been showered with large amounts of taxpayer funding to build an aircraft, the Langley Aerodrome. Despite all the money, institutional backing, and elite prestige, Langley and his team could not get it to fly, culminating in a series of very public failures, the last on December 8, 1903.”

So when the New York Times declared that flight was millions of years away, what it was really saying was that if the most credentialed and well-funded “experts” cannot do it, then it cannot be done. A mere nine days later, the elites’ proclamation of impossibility lay in ruins. Two totally unknown bicycle mechanics from Ohio achieved the first powered flight using improvised parts, a few hundred dollars of their own money, and sheer persistence. From stupid ideas that crash and burn to lame-brained theories that never get off the ground, there’s a long and illustrious history of the Gray Lady getting caught red-handed practicing yellow journalism.

In fact, in honor of Artemis, there’s also this doozy from Jan. 13, 1920, when The New York Times insisted that rockets cannot function in space: That professor [Robert] Goddard, with his ‘chair’ in Clark College and the countenancing of the Smithsonian Institution [from which Goddard held a grant to research rocket flight], does not know the relation of action to reaction, and of the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react — to say that would be absurd. Of course he only seems to lack the knowledge ladled out daily in high schools. [emphasis added]

It was only AFTER Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins left the surly bonds of earth — on a rocket, by the way — that the Times offered a correction: “Further investigation and experimentation have confirmed the findings of Isaac Newton in the 17th century, and it is now definitely established that a rocket can function in a vacuum as well as in an atmosphere. […] The Times regrets the error. Want more?

Read more …

“Berlin should not forget the lessons of World War II, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman has said.“

Russia has not forgotten.

• German ‘Militaristic Frenzy’ Could End In Tragedy – Zakharova (RT)

Germany’s continued military buildup could lead to another tragedy on a global scale, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has warned. Last week, German media reported that male citizens who remain abroad for more than three months without prior approval could face penalties in line with a new requirement under the Military Service Modernization Act. The rule, which came into force on January 1, 2026, obliges German males between the ages of 17 and 45 to obtain permission before leaving the country for an extended period. The Defense Ministry said the measure is intended to maintain a reliable registry of individuals eligible for military service.


In a post on Telegram on Monday, Zakharova noted that previously German men were required to register before going abroad only during a “state of tension” or a “state of defense,” but that the measure has now been expanded to peacetime “as part of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s strategy of militarizing the country.” Germany recently moved to reintroduce lottery-based conscription as Berlin is looking to increase the number of its active troops from 180,000 to more than 260,000 by 2035. The spokeswoman suggested that “in the heat of militaristic frenzy, Germany has completely forgotten the lessons of history.” “

The last time the German political elite set out to make their country ‘the main military power in Europe,’ it ended in tragedy for all of humanity,” Zakharova said, referring to the Second World War, in which between 60 to 65 million people are estimated to have been killed. Following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Germany launched a massive military buildup, with reported plans of spending more than €500 billion (around $580 billion) on defense by 2029. According to officials in Berlin, the armed forces must be “war-ready” for a potential conflict with Russia by that date. Moscow has repeatedly rejected as “nonsense” claims of it harboring any aggressive plans against the European members of NATO, saying that they are only being made by Western politicians to scare the population and justify increased military spending.

Read more …

Up in the air. Free promotion.

• Foldable Apple iPhone Hits Engineering Snags, Raising Risk Of Delays (ZH)

Hours after Nikkei Asia reported that Apple’s first foldable iPhone could face delays in mass production, Bloomberg pushed back on the report, citing sources who say the foldable iPhone remains on track for a September debut alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max. Apple shares fell as much as 5.1% in the U.S. cash session after the Nikkei report raised concerns about engineering test issues with the new device, potentially delaying mass production.


Initial production could be heavily constrained by the complexity of the foldable phone, but Bloomberg’s sources suggest Apple is still aiming to put it on store shelves within the same launch window as the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max. Bloomberg’s report, countering Nikkei Asia’s earlier story, fits a familiar pattern of information operations, and Apple was likely not thrilled with the stock’s performance after the overnight note. Polymarket odds of the foldable iPhone launching before 2027 stood at around 81% as of early Tuesday afternoon, up from 75% during the overnight hours.

Apple is about 8 years late to the foldable smartphone space, with Samsung’s Galaxy Fold released in October 2018. Now, Tim Cook’s big launch of Apple’s first foldable smartphone could face “delays in its mass production and product shipment schedule,” according to new Nikkei Asia sources deep within the handset supply chain. Supply chain sources told the Japanese business outlet that the complexity of the new foldable iPhone is causing engineering problems during early testing, and these issues could delay mass production and shipments by months.

Some suppliers have already been warned that component production schedules could be pushed back. “It’s true that more issues than expected have emerged during the early test production phase, and additional time will be needed to resolve them and make necessary adjustments. … The current situation could put the mass production timeline at risk,” one of those sources said. The source added, “April will mark a crucial stage of the engineering verification test, and this month through early May is extremely critical.”

Nikkei previously reported that Apple adjusted its iPhone launch strategy for 2026, pushing back production of base model iPhones to early 2027 to prioritize production of premium models, including foldable iPhones. This move is intended to allocate constrained supplies of memory chips and other key components more efficiently. Another person in the handset supply chain said the potential schedule delay has very little to do with memory chips, but rather with “engineering challenges” for Apple’s first foldable iPhone: “Apple and the supply chain are working under a tight timeline, and the current solutions are not enough to completely solve the engineering challenges. More time is needed.”

Read more …

They have no-one.

• Here’s How Bad the Midterms Situation for the Democrats Really Is (Margolis)

Conventional wisdom says that Democrats are going to have a good year in the midterms. In fact, Democrats think a six-point lead in the generic congressional ballot is something to feel good about. Maybe they should take a closer look at the numbers before popping the champagne because the truth is that it looks like Democrats are blowing it. And you don’t have to take my word for it either. CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten broke it down on Monday, and the picture for Democrats is a lot less rosy than party leadership would probably like to admit.Yes, they’re ahead — but only barely. Given historical precedent and the current political environment, they should be running away with it. But they’re not.


“This lead is historically low for Democrats at this point with a Republican president,” Enten said. “On average, their lead’s actually slightly less. It’s five points. That’s less than it was back in 2018 when it was eight points and way less than it was during the 2006 cycle when it was 11 points.” Five points. Now, I don’t exactly trust the approval rating polls showing that President Donald Trump at -20 or -30, but still, with numbers like that, Democrats should be crushing the GOP in the general congressional ballot, but they’re not.”You’d make the argument, Democrats should be way ahead, and they’re just only sort of slightly ahead,” Enten pointed out.

It’s not just me saying that. What does this mean in practical terms? Host John Berman noted that five points might be enough to flip the House, which operates on razor-thin margins. But the Senate? That’s a completely different story. Democrats really want to flip the Senate because they think that if they do, they can impeach President Trump next year and convict him.”I think five points is enough to take back the House,” Enten said. “But in the Senate, five points is almost certainly not enough if you apply it to the Senate map.”

The map is brutal for Democrats. Even in a scenario where Republicans hold only states Trump won by more than 10 points, the GOP still comes out ahead 51-49. Democrats would flip North Carolina and Maine, sure, but Ohio, Texas, and Alaska would stay red. Trump won all three by double digits, and Enten pointed to a sobering historical pattern to explain why that matters so much.

“During the Trump era, look at this, flip the Senate seat, midterm and presidential years, states the other party won by ten plus points in the last presidential election, zero, zero, zero times did a party flip those states.” Then there’s the favorability problem, which might be the most damaging data point of all. In 2018, Democrats led Republicans on net favorability by 12 points. In 2006, they led by 18. Today? Republicans are actually ahead by five points on net favorability. Berman tried to soften it slightly, noting that both parties are deeply unpopular with voters right now. Enten wasn’t having it.

“Democrats are even more unpopular than Republicans,” he pointed out. That’s the core of the problem. Democrats are running behind every relevant benchmark from their two big wave election cycles in an environment that should theoretically be handing them a massive structural advantage. A six-point generic ballot lead sounds decent until you realize it’s probably not enough to take the Senate, too. And that puts a huge dent in their plans for the second half of Trump’s term.

Read more …

Very clear”

“.. without CBP, there can be no customs clearance. Without customs clearance, you can’t accept international arrivals.”

• Mullin Drops a Bombshell on Sanctuary Cities (Matt Margolis)

Freshly confirmed DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin has wasted no time making his presence felt. Just days into the job, he sat down with Fox News host Bret Baier Monday night and floated an idea so simple and so devastating that it’s a wonder nobody tried it sooner: Pull Customs and Border Protection officers out of international airports in sanctuary cities. Remember, without CBP, there can be no customs clearance. Without customs clearance, you can’t accept international arrivals.


The math isn’t complicated. If Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, Denver, Philadelphia, Newark, and New Orleans want to play sanctuary politics, they can explain to thousands of stranded international travelers why their city’s ideological grandstanding just shut down their airport. I love it. I knew Mullin was onto something huge when I watched the interview.”If they are a sanctuary city, should they really be processing customs into their city?” he asked. “Seriously, if they are a sanctuary city and they are receiving international flights, and we’re asking them to partner with us at the airport, but once they walk out of the airport, they’re not going to enforce immigration policy? Maybe we need to have a really hard look at that because we need to focus on cities that want to work with us.”

It’s hard to argue with the logic. These cities actively obstruct federal immigration enforcement, refuse cooperation with ICE, and then expect no consequences?Let’s face it: The time for playing nice has long expired. The DHS shutdown is pushing toward two months, and Democrats show zero interest in negotiating in good faith. They’re demanding absurd reforms for ICE that would effectively kneecap immigration enforcement. And that just isn’t going to happen. Mullin clearly didn’t take the job to play nice with those who’ve declared war on federal immigration law. Democrats were practically giddy when Kristi Noem got fired. They may want to pump the brakes on that celebration because Mullin looks like he’s ready to make her tenure look tame by comparison.

Mullin’s sanctuary city proposal makes perfect sense, and should get Democrats in these cities to reconsider just how far they really want to fight the federal government. Cities that use their local governments as shields against federal immigration law have long operated without real consequences, and Mullin just put consequences on the table. Whether the proposal moves forward depends on how serious the administration is about turning up the pressure. I think they are very serious. But even floating it sends a message: the days of sanctuary cities not suffering consequences for violating federal law are over. Let’s not forget, it was Democrats who created this standoff. They’re the ones who are putting national security at risk over a policy dispute. This is a situation of their own making, and Mullin just handed them the bill.

Read more …

He’s someone I would listen to.

• Marc Andreessen Calls AI Job-Loss Fears ‘Fake’, Expects Employment Gains (ZH)

It is not the first time that the venture capital guru has questioned some of the fundamentally dystopian scenarios being proposition in an AI world. In February, we noted that amid an armada of dystopian futurists, projecting linear thoughts into a future of ‘AI uber alles’, Marc Andreessen stands as a beacon of potential utopian light, seeing a future that looks very different and very positive for young and old alike. In a brief few minutes, the co-founder of Netscape and VC firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) believes instead that we are living through a unique (and most incredible) time in history with the rise of AI coming right as human civilization needs it… “we’re going to have AI and robots precisely when we actually need them [with populations shrinking] to keep the economy from actually shrinking.”


Simply put, Andreessen says that fears of AI-driven mass job loss are overly simplistic. After decades of unusually slow technological change and low job churn, AI could restore historical productivity levels (exemplified by the period from 1870-1930), sparking opportunity, innovation, and net job growth rather than displacement. Declining populations and reduced immigration will make human labor increasingly valuable. AI’s timing is “miraculous”, Andreessen exclaims, preventing economic shrinkage from depopulation. In even radical scenarios, explosive productivity leads to output gluts, collapsing prices, and massive real-wealth gains – equivalent to “giant raises” for everyone – while making safety-nets more affordable.

Whether incremental or transformative, Andreessen sees the outcome as fundamentally positive economic news. Of course, he does have a lot of skin in this game… Building on that, CoinTelegraph’s Christina Comben reports that Andreessen said artificial intelligence will spark a “massive jobs boom,” dismissing fears of widespread job losses as “all fake” in a Sunday post on X. His optimism contrasts with a March US jobs report showing unemployment holding steady at 4.3%, while the number of people unemployed for 27 weeks or more rose by 322,000 over the past year.

Andreesen shared a Business Insider report showing a sharp rise in tech job openings in 2026, with more than 67,000 software engineering roles, a twofold increase from 2023, and argued that employers had recovered from post-pandemic hiring corrections and the interest rate spike. “The ‘AI job loss’ narratives are all fake,” he wrote. “AI = massive ramp in productivity = massive ramp in demand = massive jobs boom. Watch.” Andreessen is one of Silicon Valley’s most influential investors, a co-founder of Netscape and venture firm Andreessen Horowitz. He is also a major backer of US crypto and AI companies.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/JoshHall2024/status/2041502407750758533?s=20 https://twitter.com/ed_fin/status/2041250524285084128?s=20 https://twitter.com/maximumpain333/status/2041335149309431863?s=20

 

 

 

 

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Home › Forums › Debt Rattle April 8 2026

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  • April 8, 2026 at 9:50 am #237602
    Raúl Ilargi Meijer
    Keymaster

    Emil Nolde Half Moon Over The Sea 1945 • Trump Announces a Ceasefire (Sarah Anderson) • President Trump, Iran Agree To 2-Week Ceasefire (ZH) • Preside
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle April 8 2026]

    April 8, 2026 at 10:26 am #237626
    Topcat
    Participant

    “JD Vance just went hard against the European Union, slamming tyrannical bureaucrats for trying to destroy Hungary because nationalist Viktor Orban leads them”

    JD whine, “Foreign election interference!”

    Kidnapping the head of a foreign government is OK though.

    Assassinating the head of a foreign government and his family members is OK though

    Sponsoring the Maiden Coup in Ukraine is OK though

    Vance’s Boss….the Emperor of Lies

    April 8, 2026 at 10:32 am #237627
    Topcat
    Participant

    Strait of Iran

    Kinda like the name change for the Gulf of America

    For Trumpturd it’s similar to being grabbed by the balls….just sayin’……

    April 8, 2026 at 10:34 am #237628
    tboc
    Participant

    Islam is six hundred years younger than Christianity if 610 C.E is taken as the year of the first revelation.
    would someone remind us of what chrisitanity has been up to six hundred years ago to the present?
    silly me I keep forgetting

    i have come to the conclusion Dante’s inscription is posted at the exit of the human birth canal.

    April 8, 2026 at 10:42 am #237629
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    NOTE: The United States has retreated unceremoniously, and Iran has declared a “historic victory,” stamping its authority as a new global superpower.

    Forty days that shook the Empire: How Iran turned the tables on US and prevailed
    Wednesday, 08 April 2026 3:58 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 08 April 2026 3:58 AM ]

    By Sarwar Abbas

    Forty days into the war imposed illegally on the Islamic Republic of Iran, the unthinkable has happened. The United States has retreated unceremoniously, and Iran has declared a “historic victory,” stamping its authority as a new global superpower.

    And the enemy, despite unleashing overwhelming force, has been forced to accept a 10-point Iranian proposal that includes a permanent ceasefire, the removal of all primary and secondary sanctions, and the withdrawal of US combat forces from the region.

    The proposal also includes Iran’s complete and firm control over the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway that disrupted the global energy momentum in the past month.

    After 40 days of the war that should never have happened in the first place, the aggressors have failed to achieve any of their stated objectives. Trump desperately looked for an off-ramp from the quagmire he helped create, and the world witnessed something unprecedented: the defeat of a superpower at the hands of a nation that refuses to bend.

    The war of aggression was launched against Iran on February 28, amid indirect nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington. Its initial aim was audacious: “regime change” in Iran. The first wave of strikes specifically targeted the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, along with several top-ranking military commanders. The subsequent waves targeted both commanders and top officials.

    Washington and Tel Aviv believed this time would be different. Unlike the 12-day war of June last year, which also came in the middle of nuclear talks, this time the proponents of “regime change” felt that the collapse of the Islamic Republic was imminent. They were catastrophically wrong, which they must have realised now.

    Immediately after launching what was dubbed “Operation Epic Fury,” Trump exuded confidence that the US aggression would allow the Iranian people to overthrow their own government, hoping to plant someone subservient to Washington.

    Perhaps the plan was to do what they did in Venezuela. But Trump and his aides forgot that Iran is not Venezuela. And the Iranian people are not passive bystanders.

    Following devastating Iranian retaliatory strikes that obliterated nearly all US military installations across the region, President Trump made a strained declaration two weeks ago. He claimed that “regime change” had already happened in Iran, referring to the election of Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei as the country’s new Leader.

    He was ridiculed for making such an outlandish claim. As one observer quipped, the US-Israeli war machine could not even change Iran’s revolutionary slogans, let alone topple the system that has survived nearly five decades of plots and conspiracies.

    When Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei addressed the nation on March 13, he struck a defiant tone – vowing revenge for martyrs, reaffirming resistance against aggression, and emphasizing the strategic value of controlling the Strait of Hormuz.

    Far from indicating collapse, his election demonstrated institutional strength, which the products of the Epstein class will never understand. The Islamic Republic rests on constitutional structures that are not tied to one individual. Its strategic doctrine remains unshaken, which has been demonstrated yet again during this war.

    Trump has long framed Iran’s nuclear program as an existential danger. Before the Ramadan war, he threatened military action to dismantle it, even though, as many social media users pointed out, he had, after the 12-day war, claimed the program was already “obliterated.”

    Eventually, after 40 days of war and mindless rhetoric, the “regime change” fantasy also evaporated. His attempt to attack nuclear facilities in Isfahan failed spectacularly, as Americans lost a vast fleet of aircraft in the process, without achieving anything.

    Trump was also fixated on the Strait of Hormuz, vowing to open it. Iran’s navy had effectively closed the waterway to American and allied vessels following the launch of the unprovoked war. Any attempt to cross the Strait without Iran’s consent was a recipe for disaster.

    Trump issued several warnings: reopen the strait or face strikes on Iranian power plants. Deadlines changed from 48 hours to five days to ten days and then again 48 hours before he eventually gave up and accepted Iran’s 10-point proposal.

    The shifting goals of America’s futile military campaign, from day one to day forty, revealed a stunning absence of strategy or clarity. Even US politicians and pundits condemned the war as unnecessary and unprovoked, with many of them even suggesting the 25th Amendment to have the megalomaniac president removed from office.

    Beyond strategic failure, the United States suffered crippling military and economic damage from Iran’s Operation True Promise 4 retaliatory strikes – 99 of them in 40 days.

    During the first week alone, Iranian retaliatory strikes cost American taxpayers over $1 billion, as per reports. Carrier and warplane deployment accounted for $630 million, while lost F-15E jets in Kuwait added nearly $300 million, as per Press TV analysis.

    The war had become a costly trap for the Trump administration, widely seen as a strategic miscalculation with no gains and only losses. That’s precisely why the role of Netanyahu was the key. He couldn’t do it on his own, so he dragged Trump into the unnecessary war.

    A total of 99 waves of Iranian missile and drone strikes leveled US bases across the region, as American forces were compelled to abandon fortified positions for hotels and office spaces. Americans have downplayed the casualty toll, particularly the death toll, but independent estimates have put the deaths into hundreds, if not thousands.

    The Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, the bastion of US military presence in the region, particularly suffered the heaviest damage. Iranian strikes repeatedly targeted its headquarters in Manama, demonstrating a new model of asymmetric warfare, inflicting irreparable damage on infrastructure, ammunition depots, and command buildings there.

    American air power was completely decimated in the region. On March 27, the IRGC destroyed a $700 million E-3 Sentry AWACS at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, along with multiple electronic warfare planes and refueling aircraft. Days earlier, Iran and Iraqi resistance forces downed six KC-135 Stratotankers, the important air-refueling backbone.

    Days later, Iran successfully hit an F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter for the first time ever. The multi-trillion-dollar asset of the American military was targeted in central Iran.

    A number of F-15s, F-16s, F-18s, over a dozen MQ-9 Reaper drones and over 170 drones were also downed or damaged. Four AN/TPY-2 THAAD radars and a billion-dollar Qatar early-warning installation were also hit.

    On April 3, dubbed the “darkest day” for the US Air Force, F-15E Strike Eagle, an A-10 Thunderbolt II, multiple MQ-9 Reaper drones, and Hermes reconnaissance platforms were also downed by the Iranian air defenses, which have vastly improved since the 12-day war.

    On the other hand, due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz for American and allied vessels, oil prices hit three-year highs, which had ripple effects across the globe.

    Gasoline prices in the US climbed above $4 per gallon, and diesel also hit $6 in many states. Supply disruptions spread to LNG, fertilizer, and other commodities as well.

    To make it worse, Trump’s approval rating nosedived to 36 percent, his lowest since returning to office, with 59 percent disapproval, the highest of his political career.

    Now the Republicans are concerned about the midterm elections.

    Now, 40 days after launching its war of aggression, the US has been forced to accept Tehran’s 10-point proposal: a permanent ceasefire, Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz, acceptance of enrichment, full sanctions removal, termination of all UN resolutions, war compensation, US combat withdrawal from the region, and an end to fighting on all fronts, including against Lebanon’s Islamic Resistance.

    This is not a stalemate. This is a defeat – historic, undeniable, and crushing.

    The era of unchecked American power in West Asia has ended. Iran has emerged as a regional superpower and the world must come to terms with this undeniable fact.

    Sarwar Abbas is a Pakistan-based writer and commentator.

    (The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press TV.)
    https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2026/04/08/766475/forty-days-shook-empire-how-iran-turned-tables-us-prevailed

    April 8, 2026 at 10:50 am #237630
    Topcat
    Participant

    Marc Andreessen

    “we’re going to have AI and robots precisely when we actually need them [with populations shrinking] to keep the economy from actually shrinking.”

    You mean after Andreessen backed the Californacate Woke Psy-op Agenda of Trans-queer-feminazi-unlimited-abortionondemand-anti family formation-homes to expensive to afford-highest homelessness rate in the nation…. good old Marc sees AI as Jesus Christ come to save the Plebs

    Andreessen drips with hypocritical California Dreamin’ condescension.

    Don’t have babies ladies, have robots waiting on your every whim.

    Or as Musk says, “Just cut them all welfare checks or something just to keep the peace.”

    Sell the Ah’mericans Sea Monkeys!

    April 8, 2026 at 10:57 am #237631
    Topcat
    Participant

    Secretary of War

    SOW, the War Pig Cometh

    Trumpturd’s Hegsdeath

    “Want a piece-o-me Pussies?”

    April 8, 2026 at 11:44 am #237632
    Topcat
    Participant

    April 8, 2026 at 11:45 am #237633
    Topcat
    Participant

    Strait of Hormuz and Zionists and their Shabbos (shoeshine) goy DJT

    April 8, 2026 at 12:26 pm #237634
    Topcat
    Participant

    HEADLINE:

    A Conditional Ceasefire Where the Conditions Were Written by Iran

    The Iranians maintain control of the Strait and the shipping passing through still have to pay a toll

    Coming or Going

    And future discussions will be based of Iranians ten point proposal

    Sounds like a Big Win for Iran

    And a Big “L” for Trumpturd, desperate to get out of the Clusterfuck of his own doing.

    April 8, 2026 at 12:43 pm #237635
    Topcat
    Participant

    John Rat Cliff

    War Criminal CIA Mafiocracy Boss

    I didn’t tell Trumpturd that Iran was a Gargantuan Clusterfuck because I’m a Coward & Traitor

    April 8, 2026 at 1:03 pm #237636
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    Timofei Bordachev: A New Great Game for Central Asia?

    April 8, 2026 at 1:08 pm #237637
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    Laith Marouf: Hezbollah’s Position on US-Iran Ceasefire: What You’re Not Being Told

    April 8, 2026 at 1:12 pm #237638
    those darned kids
    Participant

    “-Donald Trump is going to put the British Empire out of Business ”

    and replace it with ¿¡what!?

    April 8, 2026 at 1:15 pm #237639
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    The most tragic irony about people like Trump is that they feel worse and worse every ensuing day of their lives until eventually they die of it.

    Eventually they feel so bad that there isn’t any other person in the whole world that they like well enough that they would not just as soon that the other person was dead, especially if there was some benefit to themselves from killing them. Talk about selfish!

    And how well off is that person who is so important and valuable that it was necessary to kill everyone else so that that wonderful self could live?

    I just described them. How wonderfully valuable does that person seem to you?

    Trump. Netanyahu, Musk, (and so on for a few thousands or millions of like people).

    They don’t feel better and better. They feel worse and worse. Until it kills them (or someone else does them the favor.)

    April 8, 2026 at 1:18 pm #237640
    those darned kids
    Participant

    “i have come to the conclusion Dante’s inscription is posted at the exit of the human birth canal.”

    ah, but what is posted at the entrance?

    April 8, 2026 at 1:24 pm #237641
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @Topcat

    That photograph of John Ratcliff belongs in the Psychiatric textbooks under the title “smug serial killer”. There’s a chance him and Ted Bundy are blood related.

    April 8, 2026 at 1:45 pm #237642
    zerosum
    Participant


    (The VIEWSCLAIMS expressed in this BLOG/COMmENTS do not necessarily reflect the VIEWS/CLAIMS of EVERYONE.)

    WE WON!
    WE HAVE A CEASEFIRE!
    WE HAVE PEACE!
    THE KILLING HAS STOPPED!

    This is a defeat! – historic, undeniable, and crushing.
    ———-

    So Who Really Won In The Middle East❓
    Russia And Ukraine Have Exchanged New Strikes💥
    MS 2026.04.08


    ———–
    April 8, 2026
    War On Iran: – April Ceasefire – A Tick Tock Of Statements And Comments
    Trump has chickened out from his threat of committing a genocide in Iran by agreeing to a ceasefire based on Iran’s 10 point declaration.

    The war isn’t over.

    Israel will do its best to sabotage the ceasefire by all means.

    https://www.moonofalabama.org/

    ————–

    April 8, 2026 at 1:47 pm #237643
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    AI is a weapon. Use it like one! It sure has been used as a weapon against you for long enough! (and very effectively, too, I should add). So, like it or not the weapon exists , That genie is out of the bottleand that genie ain’t going back into no bottle, neither.

    In addition to be a very effective weapon (of self defense!) it is also one amazingly fast text book, designing table and testing board.

    Like EVERY other tool and weapon in the whole wide universe if you use it correctly you’ll get faster better results, and if you use it poorly or for wrong purposes then you will almost certainly get seriously injured or killed. Be advised!

    This applies to intelligence of ALL kinds, not just the so-called “artificial” kind.

    April 8, 2026 at 1:54 pm #237644
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Soon after gunpowder was invented those who wanted to be overlords turned it into firearms and used it to overlord folks. Soon after that the overlorded folks got their hands on firearms and used those guns to shoot the damn overlords. It got very energetic there for a while but was starting to settle down just a bit until digital computers and “artificial thinking” came along.

    And it has been going the same way with computers and AI robotics as things went with gunpowder.

    The peasants are now armed, and there’s simply no way to disarm them.

    April 8, 2026 at 1:57 pm #237645
    zerosum
    Participant

    @ D Benton Smith

    A.I. will continue to make money for the advertisers and the promotors to the basic uncontrolled desires/emotions of humanity that use modern technology.

    April 8, 2026 at 2:08 pm #237646
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    I’m one of those formerly unarmed peasants.

    Allow me to speak clearly to any overlords who may (hopefully!) be eavesdropping at the moment. I’m armed now, and I’m dangerous</strong, and so are my many many friends.

    April 8, 2026 at 2:14 pm #237647
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @zerosum

    A.I. will continue to make money for the advertisers

    Only for so long as the advertisers and their minions know how AI actually works, and their victims do not know.

    Once the former victims learn how AI actually works (and it’s easily knowable once the knowledge is shown to you) then the advertisers and their minions have no control over it any more. In fact, they LOSE the control that they previously had.

    They are being blown up with their own gunpowder.

    April 8, 2026 at 2:16 pm #237648
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    Victory? Don’t Insult Our Intelligence, Mr. Sec of War

    April 8, 2026 at 2:17 pm #237649
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Pizzagate, for example, or MK ULTRA

    April 8, 2026 at 2:17 pm #237650
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    or Gaza and Iran.

    April 8, 2026 at 2:20 pm #237651
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    How about Covid 19 and the deadly vaxxines?

    So-called “artificial intelligence” is doing what it does.

    The truth is coming out and the genie is never going back into that bottle again.

    April 8, 2026 at 2:24 pm #237652
    zerosum
    Participant

    Have you seen what the DOW is doing? +1,200

    April 8, 2026 at 2:32 pm #237656
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Intelligence is the technical (step by step) means by which isolated aware beings find and share discovered facts with each other using symbols, procedures and patterns transmitted to others through material systems.

    Our language is the perfect example of what such an “intelligence” machine looks like.

    Once the process is known it becomes instantly obvious that one does not need material machines with which to do it, although such devices can be wonderfully useful at times like this.

    Material minded selfish Blobulists are unable to see this because they can only “see” the material part, and are more or less blind to the rest. That is a tragically ironic pity, once again.

    Not only is the side of truth, love and spirituality going to win, but that’s the only thing that CAN happen.

    That’s how intelligence works.

    April 8, 2026 at 2:37 pm #237660
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    You don’t have to kill or maim a bully to make their bullying stop. You just have to beat up on them enough, every time they try to bully, that they learn that they can’t get away with bullying any more.

    April 8, 2026 at 2:39 pm #237661
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Most bullies are slow learners. Maybe that basic stupidity is the reason they think they can only get what they want by bullying others.

    April 8, 2026 at 2:47 pm #237662
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “US, Iran, Israel Agree To 2-Week Ceasefire, Iran Will Allow Safe Passage Via Hormuz For Two Weeks

    Peace is “Chickening out”. So who wants a victory dance that Trump did NOT bomb Iran? That’s all I’ve heard these two weeks: NOT BOMBING is the real cowardice and crime. Well, here’s your chance.

    “Ukrainian sources confirm: 4,000 Ukrainian coup specialists have already been transferred to Hungary. They plan to seize buildings in Budapest, organize riots, and refuse to recognize PM Viktor Orbán’s victory.”

    Holy S—t! We thought we’d seen stuff before, but they didn’t even get serious yet. Again, read build-up to WWII. Or Gladio, whatever.

    It’s easy to break things, hard to create. If you pay people to make a mess, it’s hard to stop.

    “The one thing they can do is just issue people money.”

    Clearly do not want to, because any payouts would favor Trump. Better every human in America is killed first. So yes and no.

    This “printing money” (for inflation) is the same right now: the forces are so large, it will go straight up (like gold), the straight down (like gold). Stocks straight up, straight down. Etc.

    Why? Have a crash, everyone sells gold, like ‘08. But then after the front edge, goes back up because people begin to understand it and want it. But the same is true of things as large as US$ and UST, which are THE PLANET.

    And it sort of has to, right? Everything is mispriced. Everything is hooked together. Half the things collapsed (like Europe) haven’t been priced, but when they are, it will take out a banking system. As that deflation strikes, they print, but the crash takes a month and the printing takes two months to kick in.

    TL;DR: Prices will go Up AND Down. Both. Which is which and when? I bet even best traders will get wiped out, catching one and not the other. Or winning but the casino closes before they leave.

    AfD: Remigration or death.”

    No. Remigration AND death. Any very serious attempt at this will be resisted far stronger than in Minnesota. And by the migrants, if not also the public. And a lot of it was trip-wired, set up on purpose. So the Migrants will feel under attack and not want to be deported to a Kuwait that has no water. So they will shoot everyone in France to resist and being “Oppressed”.

    I could tell you that 10 years ago, and did, but no one ELSE takes it seriously until they’re into it. Ultimately, it will become a +100,000 person bloodbath. Maybe it still needs to happen, and maybe we’re perfectly fair: we set the rules and you’re resisting arrest with deadly force. But are you serious in your determination?

    And that’s true in America too, just a lot less so.

    “• Trump Announces a Ceasefire (Sarah Anderson)

    It’s the Janitor and the Volleyball team on the other side of the ceasefire. Look: we don’t know. Again, everyone will be sad and say Bad Man Bad because he’s not bombing.

    This is also Iran not talking in good faith, as ever (and yes, why should they, but we’re talking about now, today) they need to drag it out. Because Trump only wins if we leave.

    Which you all will call a “Loss” and a “Defeat” insuring he can’t do that and has to keep bombing, congratulations, you’re on the side of war.

    “Treasury yields and the dollar are tumbling. …well it wouldn’t be Tuesday without TACOs.”

    ZeroHedge helping, being radically blood gore guts, veins in their teeth Pro-War. No, Trump, you lose when you DON’T bomb!! Bombing is winning now. ZeroHedge is now George W. Bush.

    “We also urge all warring parties to observe a ceasefire everywhere for two weeks to allow diplomacy to achieve conclusive termination of war, in the interest of long-term peace and stability in the region.” Will Trump latch on to this plea and last minute effort of good will?”

    Again, if he “Latches on” it’s a surrender. The only non-losing move is to keep bombing. Everyone just constructs all their words, their thoughts this way. I Don’t! WTF are you thinking? Not Bombing is always the win, actually!

    Here’s an idea: Let’s not bomb things! And if we are now, we stop!

    “Iran will not hesitate to impose heavy costs on America and its partners.”

    As no one is serious at all, Iran has imposed NO COSTS on the U.S., at home, but DOES impose heavy costs on Europe, who is opposed to the war, and essentially Iran’s ally. …In #Oppositeland, where Iran lives. Iran’s answer: BOMB the peace people, let go the war people.

    “He doesn’t know that if he carries out his threat, he will have to wait for the oil price of $200 in the coming days.”

    Great! Also as no one is serious and in #Oppositeland, WE SELL OIL, you retards! You’re making US rich! And “If the Straits are closed” by definition YOU are NOT selling oil, taking money, and getting rich. So great planning! Jesus, I thought Iranians were smart, who are these retards speaking for the Iranian people?

    “Iran came back to the bargaining table in spite of Trump’s threats, not because of them, even when the exact opposite is true.”

    Probably, but we can never know. And we wouldn’t be in this mess if it hadn’t started, but that just goes back one iteration: they wouldn’t negotiate legitimately before without the same strongarming. And THAT goes back ANOTHER iteration to years and decades, etc. But we can’t Un-Do the egg. We’re here, so how do we work from here.

    “Iran came back to the bargaining table in spite of Trump’s threats, not because of them, even when the exact opposite is true.”

    Correct me if I’m wrong but that’s not The 25th. That’s for when you’ve been shot and are a vegetable. Sooo….??? YOUR legal path (which no one in government ever chooses willingly) is to Just Impeach. That’s it. That’s your main duty. No other, just that one. And you can cut off funding, but the results would be unclear. So? Do your job, legally and correctly. They Can’t. They Won’t. Because that would be non-insane behavior from insane people.

    Okay, WHY then? A: Because they’re calling on the CABINET to remove Trump, on the GENERALS. That way they don’t have to, can sit and drink tea and collect money for nothing. They don’t think they can impeach right now, but want it, so they just tell OTHER people to do the work for them. I want a Pony.

    And again, he invokes “The Law”. Hahahahaha! There is no Law! “The Law” requires good faith, actual, honest non-insane belief in it and adherence to it. As the article points out, Joe Biden was NOT “The 25th”. Why? ‘Coz I don’t want it to be. It’s true but then I don’t win and kill you all, drink from the skulls of my enemies.

    Yes, in any case like that, there is no Law, only Power. And the reason for Power is More Power. It doesn’t end. It becomes madness of “Whatever I feel like this minute,” obviously, because even that statement, above, shows it. Yes, that’s the definition of Insanity. No, I can’t be ruled by insane people, because we’ll all be killed.

    “That military planners are pulling out existing lists of potential targets to provide the president options if he decides to attack energy infrastructure (according to WSJ sources), this should not be new news for traders (but the market is so sensitive)”

    Or not sensitive. It doesn’t seem like, but the market has priced nothing more happening. Gold: no move; US$, no move; Dow, no move; Oil, high but no move. BTC, no move. It’s saying it will be no worse and taper off.

    Again, market isn’t perfect. Also market is rigged. But for front-running reasons, this remains roughly functional.

    “Defiance Without Leverage: Tehran’s Fatal Miscalculation (David Manney)

    Good way to put it. Again: CAN Iran “defy” (stupid term) “us” (stupid term) and keep bombing? Sure. And they’ll be Yemen. Which London will like, but the world will go around them. What is best for the success of the Iranian people? A: Not to be run by a death cult, that’s for sure! And the same here. You complain about Epstein, Death Cults, warmongers, terrorism here in the U.S. we too are trying to unseat government to root out. But it’s okay in Iran? They SHOULD be run by their ‘CIA’, their MICMAC Complex? No.

    The IRGC – which is the entire military, it’s like they would PRETEND the rest of the nation exists – does NOT care about the Iranian people. They want to WIN. To make a point. And if every Iranian dies, so be it. That’s not actually, rational, boys. That’s Dr. Strangelove stuff, same as we make fun and root it out here.

    “Mojtaba Khamenei was selected by Iran’s Assembly of Experts on March 8 and is the “current” supreme leader of Iran,”

    Was he really? Is he really? And he’s not “Ayatollah” because he’s not religious, how does that work? That’s a three-fer, a Hat Trick.

    “• Here’s How Bad the Midterms Situation for the Democrats Really Is (Margolis)

    It’s impossible to tell as everything is a lie, but my bet is if Trump removes only 5% of election fraud, Democrats will lose. He’s not pushing for more, because it makes a big mess. He’s nudging it to a win, and we can plausibly deny we haven’t had real elections in years, certainly since Gore 2001.

    Why? Because what if we print world headlines, “The U.S. is entirely fake, has no democracy, no rule of law because every law and regulation passed last 26 years is illegitimate”? SellSellSell. They WANT us to do that. While China and Europe are worse. While if we say “Well, SOME election fraud was found…but we cleaned that up…”

    “Free trade depends on Greece”

    Depends on the “flag” but Good on ya.

    April 8, 2026 at 2:51 pm #237663
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    April 8, 2026 at 2:53 pm #237664
    those darned kids
    Participant

    jump ship, rat!

    jump!

    April 8, 2026 at 2:59 pm #237665
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    The resounding defeat of the ZioAmerican Empire in it’s failed attempt to conquer and occupy Iran is the best news I’ve heard all morning.

    Anyone who feels bad about it is obviously a little morally cockeyed, leading to consequent cognitive disorders as well.

    Now if we can just manage to minimize the oncoming famine being generated (as we speak) by the disruption of anergy production and distribution and the damage it is doing to our ability to grow and distribute enough food in the nick of time.

    April 8, 2026 at 3:01 pm #237666
    zerosum
    Participant

    Israel ceasefire for Lebanon is no different than for Gaza.
    Israel still attacking Lebanon.

    April 8, 2026 at 3:11 pm #237667
    zerosum
    Participant

    Strait opening ??? after Israel strike Beirut

    April 8, 2026 at 3:21 pm #237668
    John Day
    Participant

    Last night WES mused:
    “A few days ago, Trump said he had a better plan, than bombing Iran back into the stone ages, but couldn’t tell anyone.
    Rember that, or did you miss it?

    Well, seizing Iran’s uranium, while rescuing the F15 airmen, was to be Trump’s new off ramp to end the war.

    So, what went wrong?
    Simple, Israel leaked the plan to Iran, to prevent Trump from ending the war.

    If, you were Trump, would you be upset?
    Slightly?
    Or, really pissed off?

    Today, Trump suddenly agreed to a 2 week ceasefire!
    My guess, was he was really, really, pissed off!

    Now, Israel is really pissed off, that the war might suddenly end!”

    The war is worth watching in this light, innit?

    April 8, 2026 at 3:32 pm #237669
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    As long as one remains open to the truth one never has to worry about being wrong. Being open to the truth one simply accepts the truth, and voila, right again!

    April 8, 2026 at 3:36 pm #237670
    zerosum
    Participant

    Israel continued striking Lebanon immediately after the ceasefire
    Multiple outlets confirm that Israel did not pause operations in Lebanon, because the U.S.–Iran ceasefire does not include Lebanon.

    The ceasefire you’re referring to does not apply to Gaza or the West Bank.
    As a result:
    – West Bank: Raids, arrests, and settler violence have continued.
    – Gaza: Airstrikes, shelling, and ground operations have continued.

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