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Debt Rattle June 5 2026

Jun 052026
 
 June 5, 2026  Posted by at 9:54 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,  Add comments


Ivan Aivazovsky Constantinople in Moonlight 1846


• US House Votes To Limit Trump’s Iran War Powers (RT)
• Trump’s Best Iran Deal Might Be No Deal at All (Scott Pinsker)
• President Donald Trump Talks To Miranda Devine (CTH)
• What in the Actual Hell Is a Democrat These Days? (Stephen Green)
• Zelensky Wrtes Open Letter To Putin (CTH)
• Zelensky’s Fascism Fetish is Booming (Amar)
• Has Hungary Opened The EU Door For Kiev? (RT)
• The President Endorses the Tiger (Sarah Anderson)
• Scott Bessent Just Humiliated a Democrat Senator Over Jeffrey Epstein (Margolis)
• John Bolton to Plead Guilty to Retaining Classified Information (Margolis)
• Trump Signs Executive Order to Facilitate Firing Federal Employees (AmG)
• Senate Fails Again to Pass Save America Act (CTH)
• Texas AG Launches Investigation Into Glyphosate in Food (ET)

 


 

 


 


The House votes to give itself that power.

• US House Votes To Limit Trump’s Iran War Powers (RT)

The US House of Representatives has passed a resolution aimed at making it impossible for US President Donald Trump to take further military action against Iran without the approval of Congress. The Trump administration did not consult with lawmakers when it launched ‘Operation Epic Fury’ and attacked Iran together with Israel in late February. Under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, the president is required to withdraw American forces from a war after two months if it has not been approved by Congress. The 60-day deadline passed on May 1, but US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth argued that the announcement of a ceasefire with Tehran in early April had reset the clock.


House Democrats, who have made several attempts to pass a resolution to limit Trump’s war powers since the start of the conflict, succeeded in doing so on Wednesday. However, it still requires backing from the Senate, which remains under Republican control. The vote in the House was 215 to 208, with support coming from all Democrats and four members of the Republican Party: Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Tom Barrett of Michigan, and Warren Davidson of Ohio.

New York Democratic Representative Gregory Meeks, who introduced the resolution, said that he was thrilled “that we’ve had the opportunity to have some members from the Republican side stand up.” The House will remain “a check and a balance when the administration doesn’t follow the Constitution,” he stressed. Barrett explained that he voted together with the Democrats because the American people are “tired of this war… they’re tired of $5 gallon gas and $6 gallon diesel, and fertilizer we can’t afford to put on our fields.”

Before the vote, House Speaker Mike Johnson warned his colleagues against passing the resolution, arguing that it could have a “very negative” impact on the talks with Iran. “It weakens us, our position, and our leverage in negotiation on the peace in that situation. ‘Operation Epic Fury’ is concluded,” Johnson told CNN. Washington and Tehran exchanged fire earlier this week amid stalled negotiations. The US Central Command announced carrying out “self-defense strikes” on Iran’s Qeshm Island on Wednesday, while the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it targeted US-linked assets in the Gulf in response.

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“.. this situation [had] enabled hardline factions within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to take control of affairs, and that under circumstances, he [was] unable to run the government.” Pezeshkian gets it — so why can’t the White House?

• Trump’s Best Iran Deal Might Be No Deal at All (Scott Pinsker)

Trivia question: What are the three top-selling erectile dysfunction (E.D.) medications in America?nAccording to the ol’ Google machine, it’s Viagra ($1.39 billion in 2025 sales), Cialis ($1.2 billion), and Levitra ($0.65 billion).mnBut I think Google is wrong: By far, the top-selling E.D. medication in America is… Ozempic ($18.6 billion).nDon’t shoot the messenger, but couldn’t Ozempic — for some couples, at least — be considered an E.D. medication? (It’s just the only E.D. medication that the “other person” has to take.)


I call it the Obi-Wan Kenobi PR clause: “From a certain point of view,” it could be this, or it could be that. Acceptance — or rejection — of a premise depends on our expectations. To quote the bearded Jedi, “Luke, you’re going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.” This means that if we want an audience to reach a different conclusion, change their expectations.nThis brings us to the increasingly unpopular Iran War, Donald Trump’s never-ending peace talks, and day 59 of a “ceasefire” that Hezbollah and Iran are no longer following. Meanwhile, President Trump hasn’t exactly been understated with his own expectations: [,,]

The Iran War began in February; it’s now June 4. Iran still hasn’t surrendered, the Strait of Hormuz still isn’t open, the mullahs are still in control, and Iran is still launching missiles and drones all over the Middle East.nFor months now, President Trump has been telling us that Iran is desperate to make peace — and a blockbuster deal is imminent:

President Trump takes pride in his dealmaking prowess. He’s the author, after all, of The Art of the Deal — and his own state department has heralded him as “the best dealmaker in the world.” He’d love to sign a historic deal that brings lasting peace to the Middle East. But what if there’s no deal to be made because the Iranians have zero interest in abandoning their nuclear goals, support for terrorist proxies, ballistic missiles, or control of the Strait of Hormuz? Increasingly, more observers are reaching this conclusion. From The Hill (June 4), “Iran Refuses to Play by Trump’s Rules, to His Great Frustration”:

President Trump’s forever ceasefire with Iran is now 59 days running. So is his dance with Iranian negotiators. Both are bad optics for the White House. A stubbornly determined Trump insists that “Iran really wants to make a deal” with the U.S. At least that is what they tell his negotiating team of Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner behind closed doors. Iran’s actions — especially those of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, under the leadership of Ahmad Vahidi — suggest otherwise. And this led Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to submit his resignation to the Office of the Supreme Leader last weekend.

Pezeshkian said he has been “effectively excluded from major and vital decision-making processes in the country, and that the vacuum created by this situation [had] enabled hardline factions within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to take control of affairs, and that under circumstances, he [was] unable to run the government.” Pezeshkian gets it — so why can’t the White House? Armed hard-liners are now running the country. A deal that compromises their power in the Middle East is not in the cards. [emphasis added]

It could very well be that Iran’s new strategy is endless negotiations — i.e., stringing U.S. diplomats along, promising great things behind closed doors, agreeing to 99% of demands, but perpetually keeping the final 1% from ever reaching a conclusion. It’s a strategy that has considerable upside for the mullahs:

With a ceasefire already in place (at least in name), the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign has stopped. No more mullahs have been killed. As long as the ceasefire continues, Iran has a free hand to rebuild its military — which it seems to be doing. By linking a peace deal to Hezbollah’s survival, Iran has gotten President Trump to order Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu to stop attacking its terrorist proxies in Lebanon. But once a peace deal is signed, Iran would lose that leverage.

The economic turmoil and higher oil prices will likely injure Republicans in the 2026 midterms, which would weaken Trump’s hand and empower the Democrats, Iran’s most dependable U.S. allies. Refusing to cede an inch to the Americans shows the Iranian citizens how strong, tough, and powerful the mullahs are. (Plus, it demoralizes dissent and dissuades rebellion.) The longer they drag negotiations out, the stronger they look — and by comparison, the weaker America looks. Eventually, the Americans will have to leave. (All the mullahs must do is survive.) Exhausting American patience — without any bombs dropping on their head — is the best of both worlds. [

..] Explain to the American people what we’ve already gained: Iran’s Supreme Leader is supremely dead. Iran’s navy and air force have been blown to bits. Its nuclear program is under a mountain of rubble; its economy is on life support. The bully of the Middle East is now the loser of the Middle East; its capacity for mischief was minimized. Americans are safer than ever before — and with U.S. oil companies now supplying the world, the economic benefits will be in the trillions. (Trump should cite the CNBC headline: “U.S. Crude Oil Exports Surge to Record as Tankers Flock to Gulf Coast During Iran War.”)

Instead of costing us money, this war will be a financial windfall — and the longer the Strait is closed, the more money we’ll make! Yes, there’s been an uptick in oil prices. But that’s temporary. In the long run, oil prices will be lower — and our 401(k)s higher. This is Making America Great Again!

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“I did. I always get angry. I was a little bit perturbed at him, constantly fighting with Lebanon..”

• President Donald Trump Talks To Miranda Devine (CTH)

President Trump Gives Extensive Interview on Iran Issues – Confirms Testy Conversation with Benjamin Netanyahu June 3, 2026 | Sundance | 137 Comments President Donald Trump sits down for an extensive interview with Miranda Devine and explains [at 13:22] why the frustration with Israel ended up with some salty words exchanged between himself and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “I did. I always get angry. I was a little bit perturbed at him, constantly fighting with Lebanon. I said, ‘at some point we’ve going to stop this’.”


President Trump is also asked about the perception of President Trump’s policy directive toward Iran being controlled by Israeli interests. President Trump rejects that perception. Additionally, Mrs Devine also asks President Trump about the continued efforts of the former CIA to target his administration (impeachment, Hunter Biden laptop, etc.) WATCH:

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Do people agree on how this has changed? Or is it only folks like Bobby Kennedy, Jim Kunstler and me?

• What in the Actual Hell Is a Democrat These Days? (Stephen Green)

Five days after Nazi soldiers marched into Paris, Congress unanimously voted 316–0 in favor of the Two-Ocean Navy Act authorizing the construction of more than 40 major surface ships, 115 destroyers,43 submarines, and (gulp!) 15,000 aircraft. Sponsored by Rep. Carl Vinson, a Georgia Democrat — if you ever wondered why we have a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier named after him — the bill was signed into law by FDR on July 19, 1940, belatedly readying this country for the rising Nazi threat in the Atlantic and Imperial Japan in the Pacific.


In Maine today, Democrats are about to nominate an actual Nazi-obsessed drug abuser for the United States Senate. I don’t know if the past is a different country, as the old saying goes, but for the Democrats, it’s certainly a different party. But we’re just getting started. Earlier this week, lefty columnist and author Joe Klein confessed that “There was a moment, a few weeks ago, when I thought the Dems might win the Senate in 2026,” but that now “the mood has changed in two of the more juicy races.” One would be the aforementioned campaign in Maine starring Nazi sympathizer Graham Platner, whom Klein describes as “a preppy pretending to be a proletarian.”

The other race that caused Klein to all but give up hope is — you guessed it — James Talarico in Texas, whom I might describe as “a queer enthusiast pretending to be a devout Christian.” Klein’s column is appropriately headlined “Two Dumb Dems.” Here’s more from Klein, sounding very much like a Bill Clinton DLC Democrat of 30 years ago: “If the Democrats are ever to regain Lone Star traction they need a red-meat campaigner, someone who doesn’t favor boys playing in girls sports, someone who believes in racial equality not racialist favoritism, someone who doesn’t want to understand criminals, but incarcerate them. I agree with Talarico about a non-binary Collective Consciousness (he calls it God), but I wouldn’t go around talking about it in mixed company if I were running for office.”

Indeed. But today’s Democrats have fully shunned DLC-style centrism. In fact, Democrats don’t just fly their freak flags; they’re working hard to purge the party of anyone who doesn’t fly one. Naturally, this brings us to San Francisco, where the race is on to replace retiring former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. While it could be weeks before we know the result because California is, to borrow President Donald Trump’s colorful language, a Third World s***hole, State Sen. Scott Wiener currently leads and will likely move on to the general election. Wiener’s claim to fame is sponsoring various bills involving sex, minors, trans issues, and sometimes all three. These are some of the bills he’s behind, collated last year by End Wokeness:

AB 957: Penalizes parents who don’t affirm a child’s trans identity
SB 107: Removes an out-of-state child from their parents if they travel to California to obtain a gender transition
SB 145: Reduced penalty for offenders who sodomize children as young as 14
SB 866: Allows kids to consent to medical decisions without parents
SB 239: Reduces penalty for deliberately spreading AIDS
SB 132: Requires prisons to put males in female prisons if they claim to feel like a woman

If the current primary count is close to correct, Weiner will square off against another Democrat, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, in November — and likely win. For whatever it’s worth, Pelosi endorsed Chan, but San Francisco primary voters apparently said, “Nah, we like this guy.”

And of course I went with the Drunk Republican’s post to, ah, show you Weiner, because that joke will never get old. Now let me take you to New Jersey, where Egyptian-born Adam Hisham Hamawy just won the Democratic primary for the state’s 12th Congressional District. A former combat medic and plastic surgeon, Hamaway “lied under oath as a defense witness for Omar Abdel Rahman aka ‘the Blind Sheikh,’ who incited the World Trade Center bombing in 1993,” according to a New York Post story that ran before New Jersey Dems gave him the nod.

“I’m reading the testimony of New Jersey Democrat nominee for Congress Adam Hamawy in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing trial transcripts and… wow,” Ronak Daneshman posted on Wednesday. “This is jaw dropping that we’re allowing someone like this to go to the House of Representatives with access to intelligence info.” He even “travelled to Bosnia where he volunteered for an Al Qaeda offshoot,” Ari Fleischer reminded readers. Cook Political rates the district D+13, so barring a miracle — or a GOP-held House that has the stones to refuse to seat him — Hamawy will soon be a Congressman.

I used to be very careful to differentiate between the corrupt Democrat pols who lied their way into office, and the merely gullible and/or greedy Democrat voters who put them there. But in one election cycle, Democrat primary voters have (or likely soon will) choose a Nazi, a heretic, a sex freak, and yet another Islamist, over much more palatable candidates. That’s on you, Dems — and I don’t know who the hell you even are anymore.

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Read that letter and tell me: where does he address Pution’s points since forever and a day: No Nukes No NATO No Nazis?

Answer that and you know what Putin will reply, if he repliues at all.

Note: this comes at a time when Ukraine runs out of weapons, so peace is an obvious message.

The Nazis, politicians and weapons guys don’t want peace.

• Zelensky Wrtes Open Letter To Putin (CTH)

In a lengthy open letter addressed to “The President of the Russian Federation” Vladimir Putin [SEE HERE], Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposes a ceasefire and direct negotiations between himself and President Putin. Two thirds of the letter are background constructed snark and ridicule aimed toward Western audiences sympathetic to the Ukraine side of the conflict. The last third of the letter contains the details of the offer:


Open Letter – […] “We have seen intelligence reports showing that you are now considering plans to continue the war into 2027 and 2028. We also know that you hope ballistic missiles will achieve for you what everything else has failed to achieve. You want to draw Belarus even deeper into this war, and we are now forced to prepare for that as well. We see that you are trying to orchestrate something around Transnistria. Your propagandists threaten, in one way or another, every country neighboring Russia. Do you really want to go through all of this?

The choice is yours now. Enough of war. Ukraine proposes to end this war.This must be done honestly, with dignity, and with guarantees that the war will not be reignited. We see that the United States is fully focused on the issue of Iran, and it would be wrong to simply wait until the war in Europe returns to the center of its attention. Ukraine proposes ending this war through direct engagement between us — and you.”

“I am proposing a meeting. Everyone heard your representatives, smiling, say that I could supposedly come to Moscow. But after these 26 years, there is nothing for a Ukrainian leader to do in your capital — just as there is nothing for a Russian leader to do in Kyiv. There are countries that have traditionally hosted leaders to resolve issues of war and peace. Switzerland, Türkiye, the countries of the Arab world — many are able and willing to host such a meeting. It is leaders who resolve the key issues. That has always been the case, and it always will be.

I propose to set a clear date for such a meeting. We have heard that you were promised in Alaska the resolution of certain issues concerning Ukraine and Europe. But you can see for yourself that Ukrainian and European issues are not decided in Anchorage. Other agreed participants could join the bilateral track to be established between us. Since the war is taking place in Europe, and since Ukraine needs security guarantees, while you also seek security guarantees for yourself, it would be logical to involve those who can genuinely serve as guarantors. We believe Europe should be part of this process — those who truly have the capacity to influence the situation.

We also believe that the United States must be part of the process. This is what could help shape a new security architecture for our part of the world. We’ve already experienced many agreements with Russia, including the Minsk agreements, that ultimately failed. That is why we must first find direct answers between us to the questions that remain, and not hide from difficult issues behind formulas, technical working groups, or endless time lost in shuttle diplomacy. Your war has permanently set Ukraine and Russia apart. The front line today is the line from which diplomacy must begin.

Ukraine is ready for a full ceasefire for the duration of the negotiations. This is standard practice, and current developments around Iran only reinforce that point. An attempt to establish real silence is the best way to begin talking to one another. We believe it would not simply be an attempt, but a real ceasefire — if that is what you want. You know that the United States has the capability to monitor a ceasefire along the line where hostilities stop. Ukraine is ready for an all-for-all exchange of prisoners of war, and this could become a good prologue to ending the war.

Serious steps must be taken to return civilians and children who were taken away during the war. We must determine what kind of future awaits the generations of Ukrainians and Russians who will come after us. If you do not personally come to the conclusion that it is time to end this war, Ukraine will continue fighting for its existence. We will have those who support us. But you, too, will have to fight much harder for your own existence — not Russia’s, but your own. And this is not a threat from me or from Ukraine. It is a fact of Russian history that you know well: when Russia grows tired, change comes. We can work toward that fatigue. You can stop your war. Eternal memory to all those whose lives were taken by this war. Glory to Ukraine!”

Of note within the text: Zelenskyy will not negotiate with Putin without the presence of EU/U.K leaders standing with him. Zelenskyy proposes the United States to be the ceasefire monitor. Zelenskyy’s note about the Trump-Putin Alaska summit is couched open verbiage implying President Trump gave Putin some form of guarantee the EU support for Zelenskyy would soften, and Zelenskyy has some knowledge of it.

In the background, domestically Zelenskyy’s government is suffering through a series of explosive scandals related to corruption and theft of international aid given to Ukraine and skimmed by Zelenskyy officials for personal wealth. Additionally, with the EU energy crisis worsening European economies are in a state of contraction; the financial underwriting of Ukraine from Europe is weakening as the EU economy shrinks. The beginning parts of the letter are written in order to project to the West a position of strength. However, the request itself outlines something entirely different when Zelenskyy gets to the last third of the proposal and notes forward planning by Russia for the next two years.

President Trump was asked about the letter earlier today. WATCH (Prompted)

:

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“The Ukrainian leader is exploiting his own Jewishness to promote the normalization of fascism – a stunning intellectual and moral perversion..“

• Zelensky’s Fascism Fetish is Booming (Amar)

It’s hard to believe one’s eyes while witnessing the latest performance put on by the comedian tyrant of Ukraine. Within the space of a week or so, the regime of president-for-eternity-no-elections-needed Vladimir Zelensky has repatriated and reburied with pomp and ceremony the remains of Andrey Melnik, a twentieth-century Ukrainian fascist leader and Nazi collaborator, and named a contemporary military elite unit “Heroes of the UPA” (the Ukrainian Insurgent Army of World War Two).


The UPA was, in effect, the military arm of the OUN, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. The OUN had two political wings that mattered, one under Andrey Melnik, the other under Stepan Bandera. They were rivals, but both were fascists. During the war between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, both OUN wings tried to collaborate with the Nazis. The Nazis, in their arrogance, did not always let them, but the whole OUN was very eager to please. The OUN and the UPA also participated in murderous German violence against Jews, serving as pro-active mass murder auxiliaries. In addition, they conducted a genocidal ethnic cleansing campaign of their own against Poles.

Predictably, the in-your-face obscenity of Kiev’s latest fascism worship has provoked Israel as well as Poland. Polish president Nawrocki would like to deprive Zelensky of the high state honors that Warsaw has foolishly bestowed on him and has threatened to curtail Poland’s support for Kiev’s EU ambitions. In Israel, both its official Holocaust remembrance and exploitation agency Yad Vashem and the foreign ministry have taken exception. That is, of course, ironic, since Israel itself engages obsessively in genocide and ethnic cleansing as well. Maybe, in this case, it takes a genocidal fascist to know one.

Official Kiev is in the middle of devastating corruption scandals – but to be fair, when is it not? – and shaken by mortifying revelations about Zelensky personally (surprise, surprise: a raging narcissist on coke and not a democrat but a kleptocrat) from a well-informed insider speaking to one of America’s most influential journalists. Yet its ruling clique finds time to really rub it in, again. How much it cannot stop hugging Nazis, dead and alive? Costs in foreign-policy terms? Apparently, no big deal: When the Nazi-loving urge itches really bad, to hell with caution and – very unusually for Kiev – even dissembling.

Some observers speculate that the fascism fetish is being escalated in public again because of the scandals and continually plunging popularity of the regime: Zelensky and the rest of his merry gang of war profiteers and proxy war meatgrinder jockeys, such commentators believe, are merely using the Nazi play “out of a position of weakness,” to distract from the unprecedently fetid swamp into which they have turned Ukraine’s sleazy politics.

This is a mistake. It is time that even the slowest in the West accept a simple truth about Zelensky, one he is not even hiding (like so many others): He genuinely likes fascists. And, with his extremely cynical manipulation techniques, his vicious persecution of political opposition and any dissent, his abuse of the mass media for propaganda, and his deep contempt for democracy, he has much heartfelt affinity with them, to say the least.

Silly – and, actually, racist – pseudo-arguments, advanced by Western proxy war boosters that Zelensky can’t possibly ally with a violent far-right because he is Jewish deserve no serious answer. The current Israeli regime and its policies of war, genocide, supremacy, and ethnic cleansing are fascist. Case closed.

In fact, the Zelensky regime has a longstanding, consistent habit of pandering to, working with, employing at high levels and on a large scale, and honoring the very far right. Some may love to quibble, in bored-academic-style, about pedantically precise terms for fine distinctions in one big pile of rottenness. But, in reality, those labeled Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, fascists, ultra-nationalists and so on form a large whole having much more in common than not.

Re-labelling has also served to spread big fat lies. In Ukraine, there is a long and foul tradition, reaching back far into the frozen depths of the first Cold War. Mendaciously re-packaging Ukrainian World War II fascists with their own bloody flavor of terror, genocide, and ethnic cleansing. But re-labelling these Ukrainian fascists as ‘integral nationalists’ makes about as much sense as calling Idi Amin Dada – the former ultraviolent dictator of Uganda rumored to have sampled a few of his victims – an ‘integral vegan.’

And so it is in the present, too. Play with words as much as you like, a fact remains a fact, that Zelensky’s Ukraine is state with a big fascism problem. In time, its roots reach back to the period between World Wars I and II, with a massive escalation during the latter. Regionally, it used to be concentrated in western Ukraine and, after the Soviet victory over the Nazis and Axis forces in 1945, among fugitives in the US, Canada, and Europe. There, with their brand of ready-to-kill fascist anti-Communism, they served the West in the first Cold War and systematically subverted Ukrainian communities and any institution they could buy their way into, such as Yale, Harvard, and Columbia Universities.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, this self-declared Ukrainian ‘diaspora’ – ironically, a term popularized out of the same Israel-envy that produced an unseemly urge to politically claim a Holocaust of one’s own in the shape of the Holodomor (preferably with even bigger victim counts) – re-entered independent Ukraine and “repatriated” its ideology. They impaired Ukraine’s culture and politics with, unfortunately, great success.

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“Peter Magyar has lifted a longstanding veto on possible bloc membership for Ukraine, while claiming he has the interest of Hungarian speakers in the country at heart”

• Has Hungary Opened The EU Door For Kiev? (RT)

Hungary has lifted its veto on Ukraine beginning formal accession talks with the EU, following days of hints from Prime Minister Peter Magyar and strategic leaks from Brussels, whose reporters announced the news with much fanfare on Wednesday.


Will Magyar compromise on Hungarian rights?
In the hours following the announcement Magyar claimed that a “comprehensive agreement on the linguistic, educational, cultural and political rights of the 100,000-strong Hungarian minority,” has been reached with Kiev, but no confirmation has come from the Ukrainian capital. Speaking alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin on Tuesday, Magyar said that he was “very optimistic” that a deal could be done to guarantee the rights of Ukraine’s Hungarian minority, in exchange for his government lifting the veto.

“The negotiations are progressing encouragingly,” he said, adding “I am ready to meet with Ukraine’s president at the beginning of next week, if we manage to agree on these fundamental human rights.” Within an hour of Magyar’s statement, Politico published an article claiming that Budapest had privately “signaled it will drop its long-standing opposition to Ukraine’s bid for EU membership,” citing four unnamed diplomats.

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Getting Colombia on your side is precious.

• The President Endorses the Tiger (Sarah Anderson)

On Sunday, I reported that the South American country of Colombia was on the verge of swinging back to the right after a four-year experiment with a corrupt socialist president, Gustavo Petro. This would be great for the Colombian people, of course, but it would also be huge for the entire region for any number of reasons — economics, crime, security, counter-narco-terrorism efforts, and further isolation of some of the few remaining socialist holdouts. It could even inspire Brazilian voters to make the right decision come October when their own little commie president is up for re-election.


I mean, Colombia is harboring guerrilla insurgencies and cartels whose violence spills over its borders into dozens of other countries, and it produces roughly two-thirds of all the cocaine in the world. Imagine the country having a leader who is aligned with Donald Trump and others in the region at this unique moment in time, and who is ready to actually combat all that.

So, back to the elections. On Sunday, it was expected that Petro’s hand-picked heir to the throne, Ivan Cepeda, would get the most of the vote. One reason why is that the right was kind of split between two candidates, and one of them hadn’t even won a primary. Well, that “outsider,” Abelardo de la Espriella, aka “El Tigre,” actually crushed expectations, and he got approximately 43.7% of the vote. Cepeda got around 41%. Few people saw that coming.

Unfortunately, de la Espriella didn’t get 50% of the vote, so he and Cepeda will face a runoff on June 21. The third candidate, Paloma Valencia, endorsed de la Espriella almost immediately on Sunday night, which will go a long way in helping him secure a win on June 21. But now, something else has happened that could help. I’ve wondered for months if Trump would endorse a candidate in this race (several members of Congress have), and on Tuesday night, he did just that, posting the following on social media:

Congratulations to Colombian Presidential Candidate, ‘El Tigre (THE TIGER),’ Abelardo de la Espriella, a Smart, Strong, and Tough Leader, on his decisive Victory in the first round of the Colombian Presidential Election! Abelardo fights tirelessly for, and loves, his Great Country and People, just like I do for the United States of America. As President, Abelardo would be tremendously successful in leading Colombia to Grow the Economy, Create Jobs, Promote Trade, Stop Illegal Immigration, Crack Down on Crime and Drugs, and Restore LAW AND ORDER! Abelardo will face off against a Radical Left Marxist in the Runoff on June 21st – The results of this Election are very important to the future of Colombia and its relationship to the United States. Because of his tremendous accomplishments in life, and his political support for me, personally, it is my Honor to give Abelardo my Complete and Total Endorsement. “EL TIGRE” ABELARDO DE LA ESPRIELLA WILL NOT LET THE WONDERFUL PEOPLE OF COLOMBIA DOWN! President DONALD J. TRUMP

As I mentioned on Sunday, de la Espriella’s political heroes are Trump, Argentine president Javier Milei, and Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele. That’s pretty much all you need to know about him. Here’s how he responded to the president (translated from Spanish). It’s quite long but worth the read because it gives you an even better idea of who he is and what he stands for.

“Dear President Donald J. Trump,

With my head held high and a heart full of patriotic gratitude, I receive your words and your steadfast support. Thank you, Mr. President!

In you, I see a leader of true strength and conviction — one who refuses to yield to passing ideological trends or the enemies of freedom. You have paved the way for the people to defeat the entrenched powers that have long held sway. In Colombia, we have now begun to follow that same path.

The United States and Colombia are sister nations, bound by the blood of heroes and by our shared destiny to defend Western civilization across the Americas. Together, we are unbreakable. This partnership—forged and strengthened by two leaders who respect each other and share the same unshakable values and principles—will bring greater prosperity to our peoples, greater security to our families, and a brighter future for both our nations.

Our security policies are fully aligned: narcoterrorism is the cancer destroying our societies, and we will confront it relentlessly, with iron resolve and without apology.

We stand together in the sacred defense of private property, free enterprise, productive growth, and the well-being of our citizens as the highest purpose of government. We defend liberty, we present a united front against the communism that seeks to poison our republics, and we will join the Alliance of the Shield of the Americas so that the light of freedom never dims in this hemisphere.

May God, Family, and Prosperity guide us. In this coming Era of the Tiger—which begins on June 21—we look forward to the full normalization of relations between Colombia and the United States, built on mutual respect, sovereignty, and mutual benefit.

May God bless Colombia and the United States of America!

Firm for the Homeland!

(A.D.L.E.)

He included an AI-generated image of a tiger and an eagle and a “Make Colombia Great Again” hat:

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“So did your son and Jeffrey Epstein talk about pole dancing as he begged him for money using your limited credibility?”

• Scott Bessent Just Humiliated a Democrat Senator Over Jeffrey Epstein (Margolis)

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) walked into a budget hearing Wednesday thinking he could grandstand his way through an attack on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Instead, Wyden walked out looking like a fool. The hearing was supposed to be about the federal budget, but Wyden, being a Democrat, had other plans. He opened with a broadside against President Donald Trump’s administration, accusing it of “widespread corruption” and personally dragging Bessent into it. He also wanted to make Jeffrey Epstein the issue, because it’s pretty much the only play Democrats have, and it’s not even a good one. He claimed that Bessent blocked congressional investigators from accessing Epstein’s financial records and participated in a cover-up lasting a year and a half.


“There’s no better example than the fact that there has been a cover-up of the massive file of Epstein’s financial records for a year and a half,” Wyden said. “This is part of the effort I’ve made, it’s the only one, to follow the money in the Epstein situation. And yet there’s been a denial of access to committee investigators and lying in public about their significance. That subject alone deserves its own hearing. Senate investigators are trying to figure out who paid Epstein for girls, and unfortunately, Secretary Bessent is involved in preventing that from happening.”

Strong words. Too bad they collapsed on contact with reality. As far as Epstein is concerned, the Trump administration has always been about transparency. The Trump administration released the Epstein files to the public, something the Biden administration refused to do. So the senator railing about cover-ups belongs to the party that actually kept those files buried for years. Bessent wasn’t about to sit there and take it. “I had hoped to keep this in terms of the economy — Senator Wyden has mendaciously slandered the Treasury building in an attempt to cover up his son having an investment meeting with Jeffrey Epstein to ask for funding,” Bessent said.

Wyden didn’t take it well. “Let’s be clear here. Nobody is interested in the ramblings of a capo in the most corrupt regime in American history. We want to get some facts about this deal. That’s what we’re here for,” Wyden shot back. And then Bessent went in for the kill. “And we would like to hear what Adam Wyden and Jeffrey Epstein talked about. Your son’s largest investment position was Rick’s Cabaret. So did your son and Jeffrey Epstein talk about pole dancing as he begged him for money using your limited credibility?” Bessent said. The room went quiet. Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) turned to Wyden to check whether he had a response. He didn’t.

Here’s what Wyden clearly didn’t want discussed: his own son, Adam Wyden, has his own Epstein connections. Recently unsealed Department of Justice documents show Adam Wyden met Epstein through a mutual fund and later sought to pitch him an investment opportunity. In a 2016 email, Adam Wyden told Epstein, “I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation and hope my passion and dedication for my business came through in the meeting.” So the senator who came in hot with Epstein accusations against Trump’s Treasury secretary has a son who was pitching investment deals to Epstein and sending him warm follow-up emails. But, hey… follow the money, right?

This is how the Democrats play it. They make accusations and insinuations about Trump and Epstein, yet every single time, the paper trail and the money trail, in this case, lead to Democrats.= The Democrat Party has been trying desperately to weaponize the Epstein investigation as a cudgel against Trump and Republicans. They just keep forgetting where all the breadcrumbs lead to, and that’s exactly what happened to Wyden. Bessent put Wyden’s own family business on the table and refused to let a senator with his own Epstein baggage play prosecutor unchallenged. What a moment!

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Bolton lived in this big house in Washington and sold his secret/private info to the highest bidder, including foreigners, getting rich in the process. .

• John Bolton to Plead Guilty to Retaining Classified Information (Margolis)

John Bolton is headed to federal court to plead guilty to one count of retaining classified information under a deal with the Justice Department. Under the deal, he could avoid prison time, according to the Associated Press. The deal would resolve a criminal case filed in October that charged Bolton with 18 counts of either retaining or disseminating classified information, including diary-like notes from his time in government that officials say he shared with his family members as he was preparing a memoir about his time in office.


Under the agreement, Bolton would also face a $2.25 million fine, said the person, who insisted on anonymity to discuss a deal that had not been made public. Any prison sentence would be capped at five years, but the agreement allows for him to avoid time behind bars, though the punishment will ultimately be up to a judge. The case has been building since August of last year, when FBI agents executed search warrants at Bolton’s home and office in Maryland. Federal prosecutors originally hit Bolton with 18 counts of either retaining or disseminating classified information.

Under the agreement, Bolton faces a sentence capped at five years in prison, though the deal leaves open the possibility of no prison time at all. A judge will make the final call. At the center of the case are diary-style notes Bolton kept during his government service. Prosecutors say he shared those notes with family members while he was preparing his memoir about his time in the Trump administration. The Trump administration attempted to block the book The Room Where It Happened prior to its publication, arguing that it contained classified material. The administration lost that fight, but the current plea agreement focuses on the classified notes Bolton shared with relatives, not on material that appeared in the published book.

Many on the left have tried to frame the case against Bolton as part of a pattern of “retribution” from Trump against his enemies. But even CNN had to admit the case had merit. Bolton, who served for one year in the first Trump administration, was originally charged with eight counts of transmission of national defense information and 10 counts of retention of national defense information. Trump had long been long been calling for Bolton to be arrested over his 2020 memoir that was highly critical of the president, claiming Bolton should have gone to jail because classified information was contained in the book.

But unlike cases against Trump’s other perceived enemies, like FBI Director James Comey and the now-dismissed case against New York Attorney General Letitia James, Bolton’s case has maintained the support of career prosecutors and investigators, people briefed on the matter previously told CNN. Trump’s first Justice Department opened criminal and civil investigations into the book in 2020, but it was closed within a year.

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The government can’t fire Bozo the Clowns?!

• Trump Signs Executive Order to Facilitate Firing Federal Employees (AmG)

President Donald Trump on Wednesday formally advanced a long-sought effort to make it easier to remove senior federal employees involved in policymaking, arguing the change will help ensure government agencies are responsive to elected leadership and the American people. Trump signed an executive order implementing Schedule Policy/Career, or Schedule P/C, a new employment classification that places certain career federal workers into positions that can be hired and removed in a manner similar to political appointees.


The policy is a revival of the first Trump administration’s Schedule F initiative and is expected to affect roughly 8,000 federal employees. According to the White House, the move is designed to address longstanding difficulties in removing federal workers accused of poor performance or misconduct. The executive order states that employees placed into the new category would be “exempted from the adverse action procedures that make removals for poor performance or misconduct so difficult.” The administration argued that some high-ranking career officials have remained in influential government positions despite poor performance or resistance to implementing presidential policies.

“Consequently, employees with significant policy-making responsibilities can stay in their jobs for years even if they perform poorly, engage in misconduct, or are unwilling to advance Presidential policy across administrations, making their agencies less capable of delivering for the American people,” the White House said in a fact sheet. The administration described the reclassified positions as “at-will positions.” Most of the employees expected to be affected occupy some of the highest-ranking career positions in government. According to the White House, approximately 97 percent of workers likely to be reclassified hold GS-15 positions, the highest level on the federal pay scale.

Supporters of the change argue it will strengthen accountability within the federal bureaucracy by ensuring policymakers can more effectively carry out the agenda voters elected them to implement. The White House also sought to reassure critics that political affiliation would not determine employment decisions. “These remain ‘career’ positions and the non-partisan hiring processes, competitive status, and other aspects of these roles will not change,” the administration said. “Removal decisions will also be made without respect to political affiliation,” the fact sheet added. Federal employee unions criticized the move, arguing it weakens longstanding civil service protections.

Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, called the order “a blatant attempt to corrupt the federal government by eliminating employees’ due process rights so they can be fired for political reasons.” Kelley argued that workers could become reluctant to report wrongdoing if they fear losing their jobs. “Workers who once felt comfortable reporting waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement at their place of employment because they were protected from retaliation will now be afraid for their jobs if they speak out,” Kelley said. The administration’s action comes amid a debate over the role and accountability of the federal bureaucracy.

The modern merit-based civil service system was established in 1883, replacing an earlier patronage system that often distributed government jobs based on political loyalty. The Trump administration finalized the rule creating Schedule P/C in February, but the policy remains the subject of multiple lawsuits filed by federal employee unions. Those lawsuits contend the new classification violates the Civil Service Reform Act by removing protections guaranteed under federal law and weakening the merit-based hiring system. The administration, however, maintains that the policy targets only employees with substantial policymaking authority and is intended to improve government performance rather than alter the nonpartisan nature of career civil service positions.

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An overwhelming majority of voters supports it, but the Senate votes it down.

• Senate Fails Again to Pass Save America Act (CTH)

The Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act was brought to the Senate as an amendment by Lindsey Graham as part of the $70 billion budget reconciliation package funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. The usual senate suspects, Thom Tillis, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Mitch McConnell voted with Democrats to kill the SAVE America Act amendment. 75% of Americans support the requirement for voter ID, the Senate doesn’t want that.


WASHINGTON – Four Senate Republicans broke ranks to kill another effort to pass President Donald Trump’s marquee voter ID and election integrity legislation as the GOP marches to fund immigration enforcement. Just like last time, Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Thom Tills, R-N.C., joined all Democrats to thwart the move. It’s the second attempt by Republicans to attach the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act to their budget reconciliation package, and the second time that they’ve failed to get the legislation across the line months after launching a quasi-floor takeover to debate the bill. (read more)

In related news, after three days California has only counted 63% of the vote and Spencer Pratt is losing ground on his second-place finish.

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“Glyphosate-based herbicides are a cornerstone of this Nation’s agricultural productivity and rural economy.”

• Texas AG Launches Investigation Into Glyphosate in Food (ET)

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has initiated an investigation into glyphosate contamination in food, with major manufacturers such as PepsiCo and Bayer being subjected to the probe. Glyphosate is a commonly used herbicide applied to genetically engineered crops and is the main ingredient in Roundup weed killer, Paxton’s office said in a June 2 statement. In 2015, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans.” The organization also concluded that the herbicide showed “strong” evidence for genotoxicity, which refers to the ability to damage a cell’s genetic information.


“Since then, extensive human and animal research has shown that glyphosate contributes to endocrine disruption, infertility, kidney disease, and autoimmune diseases, in addition to its cancer-causing properties,” the attorney general’s statement read. “More than 250 million pounds of glyphosate are sprayed in the United States each year. Research has found that over 70 percent of American adults have detectable traces of glyphosate in their bodies compared to a mere 12 percent in 1993. Scientists attribute much of this dramatic increase to the widespread use of glyphosate as a desiccant.”

Desiccation is the process of applying herbicides to crops prior to harvest to ensure they uniformly dry down, a practice responsible for more than 90 percent of glyphosate found in food. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) deems glyphosate as an effective way to manage noxious and invasive weeds, the agency said in a May 5 update. In agriculture, glyphosate is used in a wide range of crops, including corn, soybean, leafy vegetables, legumes, cereal grains, citrus, herbs and spices, nuts, oilseed crops, and sugarcane. The herbicide is also used for the conservation of pastures, forests, turf grass, rangeland, aquatic areas, parks, wildlife management areas, and paved areas.

The EPA said there are “no risks of concern to human health from current uses of glyphosate” and that there is “no indication that children are more sensitive to glyphosate.” However, Paxton’s office said in its recent statement that children are “particularly vulnerable to glyphosate’s harms” due to the widespread use of oats in cereals, cookies, and breakfast bars. While the EPA bans the use of glyphosate as a desiccant on oats in the United States, major companies import oats from nations where desiccation is allowed. Children are exposed to food products that are “some of the most glyphosate-contaminated” food items sold in the United States, including those that are marketed as “healthy.”

Paxton’s office has sent Civil Investigative Demands to major pesticide and food manufacturers, such as Bayer and PepsiCo. A Civil Investigative Demand is an administrative subpoena allowing government agencies to request private entities to submit significant information without having to first go through court procedures. “If any corporation is using regulatory loopholes to poison our kids with glyphosate, we will find out and we will secure justice,” Paxton said. “My office is also investigating whether major food companies are complying with Texas law and whether consumers, especially parents, have been misled about the health claims of common food products marketed to their families. No corporation is above the law, and no illegal action will go unpunished.”

Glyphosate Necessity In Farms
A major controversy erupted in February when President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring America’s supply of glyphosate a critical component of national and food security. “Lack of access to glyphosate-based herbicides would critically jeopardize agricultural productivity, adding pressure to the domestic food system, and may result in a transition of cropland to other uses due to low productivity,” the executive order said. “Glyphosate-based herbicides are a cornerstone of this Nation’s agricultural productivity and rural economy.”

The herbicide has faced criticism from the Make America Healthy Again movement, and thousands of lawsuits have been filed across the United States claiming that exposure to glyphosate is linked to several types of cancer. Last month, a group of lawmakers introduced the No Immunity for Glyphosate Act, which seeks to ensure that glyphosate manufacturers can be held liable under state and federal law if it is proven that the herbicide causes cancer, according to an April 29 statement from the office of Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.). The bill also seeks to ban the use of federal funds to enforce Trump’s glyphosate order.

“Exposure to glyphosate can cause cancer. The Supreme Court cannot and should not allow these verdicts to be overturned,” Heinrich said. “My constituents’ health and safety comes first. And I will not stand by while President Trump gives immunity to those who put my constituents’ health and safety at risk.” In February, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a social media post that pesticides and herbicides were toxic.

However, if the use of these chemicals were prohibited, “crop yields would fall, food prices would surge, and America would experience a massive loss of farms,” Kennedy said, while describing Trump’s glyphosate order as aiming to protect the country’s food supply. Moreover, the Trump administration is looking at shifting from the current agricultural system without harming food supply, such as by transitioning to regenerative agriculture, Kennedy said.

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