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Debt Rattle May 10 2025

May 102025
 
 May 10, 2025  Posted by at 10:04 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,  Add comments


Samuel Peploe Beach scene 1907

 

• America Humbled (Arthur Schaper)
• Hyperbole, Lies, and Delusions (Richard Porter)
• Trump Says “80% Tariffs On China Seems Right” (ZH)
• Fear Of Economic Collapse Forced China To Negotiate With Trump (ZH)
• Trump Delinks Saudi Nuclear Energy Deal From Israel Normalization (ZH)
• Putin and Trump Exchange Greetings On Victory Day – Moscow (RT)
• Germany To Declare Immigration Emergency (RT)
• Hungary Prepares for Battle Over EU’s Plan to Phase Out Russian Energy (Sp.)
• Putin ‘Doing Whatever Possible’ For Ukraine Peace – Kremlin (RT)
• Slovak PM Fico Slams Western ‘Iron Curtain’ In Talks With Putin (RT)
• UK Hits Russia With ‘Largest Ever’ Sanctions Package (RT)
• Poetic Justice Came for Letitia James, and It’s Glorious (Margolis)
• Going Around. . . Coming Back Around (James Howard Kunstler)
• Chris Cuomo Nails Why Dems Are Trying to Destroy John Fetterman (Matt Vespa)
• Ric Grenell Drops Some Reality on Kennedy Center Performers (Lower)
• Sources Say the Biden Crime Family Is Going Broke (Margolis)
• DNI Tulsi Gabbard Discusses Intel Community Leaks to Media Allies (CTH)

 

 

 

 

“He looks very old. He looks as if his first pet could have been a dinosaur.”
https://twitter.com/LangmanVince/status/1920594476948496894

Stock

Patterson

RFK

We’re talking pedophilia now, child porn.

JD walk away

 

 

 

 

The first two pieces would usually be more background, but I brought them forward- for good reasons.

“After decades of drift and decline, a humbled America turns to Trump—renewed, resolute, and ready to reclaim its purpose under God.”

“Ulysses has come home. He has finished off all the suitors, he has his wife Penelope, and the gods are smiling at him. He learned his lesson. He gets it.”

• America Humbled (Arthur Schaper)

The United States, the American people, Donald Trump, and even myself: we have all been humbled over the last four years—or the last sixteen years … or even thirty years. And we needed it. More than thirty years ago, following the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall, the United States emerged as the leader of the pack in a once-bipolar world. The Soviet Union collapsed, socialism sloughed off, free enterprise became commonplace as the solution to all our problems, and the liberal democratic process was winning. “It is the End of History,” Francis Fukuyama (arrogantly, short-sightedly) prophesied.Of course, history didn’t stop, and we had lessons to learn. Some suggest that this fantasy of global liberalism came crashing down on September 11, 2001. Let’s not forget February 26th, 1993, when Islamic terrorists attempted to topple the World Trade Center by detonating the foundation of one tower to crash into the other.

Islamic terror replaced the adversarial communist regimes as our enemies. America was complacent, prosperous, and secure in its secular liberalism. Instead of remembering what made the West the best—the Gospel, our Judeo-Christian heritage, Biblical truth, our reliance on a Living Savior instead of humanist self-reliance—we got self-righteous and self-satisfied. “We beat the Russians! We are the only player on the world stage!” Thus, it seemed that there was nothing left to fight but ourselves. But that was never the case. Marxism’s vision of a stateless world dominated by class conflict never emerged, but Pan-Americanism would never work, either. An America-defined globalism not only offended other nations, but it also undermined the American citizen and the American experiment.

With an obsessive focus on free trade, cheap labor, and making money while ignoring national identity—borders, language, culture, faith, family, and freedom—Americans witnessed the wonders of the American dream turn into an elite fantasy that only the rich and politically connected could enjoy. We got arrogant, then fearful and angry; we stopped believing in what really made America great. We forgot who we are. We needed to be humbled. And what is humility? A biblical definition is apropos, I think: “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” (Romans 12:3)

American exceptionalism is a real thing. We the People of the United States should be proud of our heritage. That recognition does not justify American supremacism, however. Nor does it mean our safety, security, or sovereignty depends on what other countries do and believe. The United States embraced some humiliating defeats not just on September 11, 2001, but in the waning year of the George W. Bush administration, when risky financing and overextended loans inflated housing prices and unleashed the Great Recession. Instead of taking stock of where we were wrong, we went with a false messiah, Barack Obama, who chimed, “We are the change we have been waiting for.” But we were the ones who caused our own downfall. How could we make changes if we did not change?

From this self-righteous refusal to own our failures came the Occupy Movement, Black Lives Matter, and the re-radicalization of race. Obama long harbored bitter disgust for the United States, and he seduced the American public. Under the Obama Administration, humility was minimized and disparaged, for sure. One of the most repeated words in the 44th president’s speeches was “I.” It was all about him, and to hell with America. And the country was humbled for the worse. Obama called us all racist and insisted that we needed the government to run our healthcare. He exhorted us to flood our country with “undocumented immigrants” so that we could pay back for all the wrongs that American imperialism had caused. America fell into decline. Then came Trump, and with him the mantra “Make America Great Again.”

He talked about God restoring America’s previous glory. But was that something he could do himself? Not at all. In too many ways, his first term had some of the hallmarks of amateur hour. He surrounded himself with bad advisors, went with tired ideas, and didn’t transform the Art of the Deal into the Art of Governing. Election 2020, with COVID, George Floyd, massive spending, and a frustrating Congress, did not help matters. Americans still had not learned their lesson. We need God. We need biblical truth. We need to restore our Judeo-Christian heritage, our Anglo-American legal traditions, and our revolutionary legacy. America’s further humbling came under bumbling Joe Biden. Defined by Biden-Harris’ arrogant incompetence, suffused with dementia and DEI, America became weaker, worn out, and adrift, all while witnessing the left’s culmination of all their wishes. Obama got his third term.

Then Trump ran again. He faced challenges from the right because he hadn’t gotten the job done. Perhaps those challenges shaped his second-term determination. Then came a would-be assassin’s bullet, which changed the course of history in our favor. Trump has acknowledged, “God saved my life.” And why? “To Make America Great Again.” His second inaugural speech was all business, with a clear reliance on where his—and our—power comes from: God. Trump is a different man, acting like the president I wanted in 2016, whom I had anticipated DeSantis would be. Like Homer’s eponymous hero, Trump is a man of many turns, and he’s turning out real results. Ulysses has come home. He has finished off all the suitors, he has his wife Penelope, and the gods are smiling at him. He learned his lesson. He gets it.

President Trump 2.0 has accomplished much of what we had expected in 2017, and more. Trump now knows his limits, and he knows what he can—and must—do. That is true humility. If his supercharged successes continue, it makes all the disappointments, frustrations, and confusions of the previous six years worth the aggravation.

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This is important because so many people claim Trump “lies all the time”. He doesn’t. He speaks in hyperbole all the time, but that’s not the same as lying. “Like the country’s never seen..”, “Better than anyone’s ever imagined..” or “I’ll end it in 24 hours..”, that’s just a way of talking (“exaggerated claims not meant to be taken literally”). And a 78-year old real estate developer will not change his way of talking. His vast majority of American voters didn’t demand it of him.

• Hyperbole, Lies, and Delusions (Richard Porter)

Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s speech in New Hampshire last week was greeted by the media as yet another stirring call to arms for the rudderless Democratic Party. “Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption – but I am now,” Pritzker thundered. “These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace. They have to understand that we will fight their cruelty with every megaphone and microphone that we have. We must castigate them on the soapbox and then punish them at the ballot box.” Republicans protested that the governor came close to inciting political violence – and they have a point, given the attempts to assassinate Donald Trump, the dangerous attacks on Tesla, and the near-kidnapping of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

However, what Pritzker had to say in his speech before channeling Maxine Waters’ infamous call to harass Republicans should not be overlooked. It raises an important question: Is Pritzker delusional, a liar, or merely hyperbolic? Hyperbole, lies, and delusions are all forms of falsehoods, but of different magnitudes. The first are exaggerated claims not meant to be taken literally. Trump himself is no stranger to this oratorical device. Lies are exaggerations or falsehoods the speaker wants others to believe – and, while shameful, are a too-frequent feature of modern political discourses. Delusions are false beliefs at odds with observable reality. Jerry Seinfeld’s “Soup Nazi” is an example of hyperbolic name calling. Seinfeld and his audience understood it was an exaggeration so grotesque that it was funny. No one thought the soup guy was actually a member of the SS. Jussie Smollett’s claim that MAGA bros assaulted him was a lie, albeit a calculated, elaborate, and harmful hoax. The Salem witch trials were the terrible consequence of a mass delusion.

So, is Pritzker channeling Seinfeld, Smollett, or Cotton Mather? “It’s wrong to snatch a person off the street and ship them to a foreign gulag with no chance to defend themselves in a court of law,” Pritzker said. “Standing for the idea that the government doesn’t have the right to kidnap you without due process is arguably the most effective campaign slogan in history,” he said before adding, “Today it’s an immigrant with a tattoo, tomorrow it’s a citizen whose Facebook post annoys Donald Trump.” He went on in this vein for a while: “Our retirees don’t deserve to be left destitute by a Social Security Administration decimated by Elon Musk.” “Our citizens don’t deserve to lose health care coverage because Republicans want to hand a tax cut to billionaires.” “Our federal workers don’t deserve to have, well, a 19-year-old DOGE bro called Big Balls destroy their careers.”

“Autistic kids and adults who are loving contributors to our society don’t deserve to be stigmatized by a weird nepo baby who once stashed a dead bear in the back of his car.” This is all absurd. Activists have brought hundreds of lawsuits on behalf of illegal migrants, as Democrats fight to keep criminals and gang members from being deported. Long-standing immigration laws set forth the process that’s due to non-U.S. citizens before they are deported – processes pursuant to which prior presidents of both political parties deported millions of non-citizens. There’s not the slightest suggestion that Republicans (who have been fighting Big Tech censorship) support criminalizing Facebook posts. To the contrary, Vice President J.D. Vance was widely criticized by Democrats for condemning Britain and Germany for criminalizing Facebook posts.

Not a single person receiving Social Security payments legally is losing their government pension. Improving efficiency, eliminating waste, and rooting out fraud protects retirees and strengthens the system. No American receiving health care legally will lose health care coverage. And preventing states (like Illinois) from providing health care to noncitizens under Medicaid will result in more funding to cover health care for U.S. citizens. There will be no tax cut for high earners in the budget reconciliation; the existing rate structure will be maintained. Trump is reducing federal employment through buyouts, layoffs, and dismissals to improve government efficiency (i.e., doing more with fewer workers) and to redirect government policy (i.e., eliminating DEI). In his speech, Pritzker also accused Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of nepotism.

That’s rich coming from the heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune who used inherited money to buy his way into office. In any case, it’s the opposite of nepotism for the scion of Democrat royalty to become a Republican leader. And Kennedy is trying to stop the autism epidemic, not shame autistic people. So, everything Pritzker said in New Hampshire was obviously false. What’s interesting to consider is: What does he, and what does his audience, actually believe about these topics? When asked by Jen Psaki on MSNBC about his speech, Pritzker replied with yet another apocalyptic fantasy: “We are in a perilous moment in this country,” he replied. “There is, I mean, tumult around everyone in this country. We have had our economic rights taken away, we have had our civil rights taken away, and it’s only been a hundred days.”

Consider further that in February, Pritzker – who helped build the Illinois Holocaust Museum – compared the new Trump Administration to the Third Reich, volunteering that he didn’t make the comparison to Nazis lightly. Put it all together, and it sounds like Pritzker is channeling Jussie Smollett, not Jerry Seinfeld. He’s not trying to entertain, and I think he knows better. He wants to frighten and anger people. He wants outrage, not knowing smiles. There’s a worst-case scenario, however. What if the governor of Illinois, and apparent 2028 presidential candidate, is delusional and believes his falsehoods? He wouldn’t be alone – and that’s even more scary. In a world in which many progressives believe Luigi Mangione is a hero, Pritzker’s lies in the cause of his ambition to be the Democratic Party’s nominee for president are more outrageous – and more perilous – than Smollett’s lies to make himself a civil rights icon.

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Consensus appears to be the 50%-to-54% range. Trump leaves himself space with 80%. Because negotiations are ongoing. And 80 is way down already from 145.

• Trump Says “80% Tariffs On China Seems Right” (ZH)

President Trump posted on Truth Social, “80% Tariff on China seems right!” while noting that the final decision rests with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.The comment lends credibility to an earlier New York Post report suggesting the administration is considering cutting tariffs on Chinese imports from 145% to a significantly lower baseline.Trump also said: “CHINA SHOULD OPEN UP ITS MARKET TO USA — WOULD BE SO GOOD FOR THEM!!! CLOSED MARKETS DON’T WORK ANYMORE!!!” In markets, S&P 500 futures puked, then recovered some losses. Most of the overnight gains have been erased. Perhaps traders were expecting a higher percentage of tariffs to be removed ahead of Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer’s meeting on Saturday with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Switzerland.

* * *
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and his Chinese counterpart are set to begin the first round of trade talks in Switzerland on Saturday. Traders and analysts are looking to yesterday’s “breakthrough” U.S.-U.K. trade deal as a potential preview of what may be announced over the weekend or early next week—possibly signaling a peak in the ongoing trade war. According to a source familiar with the discussions, the New York Post reports that the Trump administration is weighing a plan to slash tariffs on Chinese imports from 145% to between 50% and 54%. The same source said levies on neighboring South Asian countries would also be reduced to 25%. “They are going to be bringing it down to 50% while the negotiations are ongoing,” the source said, referring to tariffs on China.

Here’s more color from NYPost: Insiders said the 50%-to-54% range — down from the triple-digit level that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said this week “isn’t sustainable” this week — is in keeping with rates that were discussed last month when President Trump met with the bosses of the three biggest retailers in the U.S. Market participants are considering Thursday’s U.S.-U.K. trade framework as a potential preview of what to expect in upcoming trade announcements—not just with China but with dozens of other countries. The deal hints at broad tariff reductions and expanded market access for American exports, particularly in agriculture, energy, and industrial goods. However, as with the U.K. framework, a baseline 10% tariff appears likely to remain in place. Last week, Goldman offered some good news: peak trade war.

Earlier this week, Goldman chief economist Jan Hatzius told clients, “The mood music with China has improved, and we expect the U.S. tariff rate on China to drop from around 160% to around 60% relatively soon. (China is likely to reduce tariffs on the U.S. by a similar amount.)”

Plus, the Milken Institute Global Conference attendees in Beverly Hills on Monday “warmed up” to the tariff environment. Jay Foreman, CEO of Basic Fun—which manufactures retro toys like Tonka Trucks, Care Bears, and My Little Pony in China—told NYPost that “there will be an adjustment” in tariff policy “by the end of this week or next,” adding that it could begin a surge in orders from China. “We are hearing China at 50% to 54% and [other] Asian countries at 25%,” said Lawrence Rosen, chairman of New Jersey-based arts-and-crafts distributor Cra-Z-Art. During the US-UK trade deal, Trump told investors, “Better buy stocks now.”

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Not suprising. China maxed out its production capacity, and then lost its no. 1 client.

• Fear Of Economic Collapse Forced China To Negotiate With Trump (ZH)

Three weeks ago, when we first reported that as a result of the ongoing Trump trade war with China, “chinese factories are shutting down, laying off workers”, we said that as a result of this war of attrition in which the outcome of every incremental clash and battle will be used just as aggressively for media propaganda, “the fact that any marginal pain will be amplified as trade war weakness will mean that Beijing will do everything in its power to prevent the full extent of the shutdowns from being revealed.” Sure enough, last week the WSJ reported that whereas “not long ago, anyone could comb through a wide range of official data from China… then it started to disappear.” We detailed the unprecedented disappearance of Chinese “data”, fake as it traditionally may have been, earlier this week.

But while we had our theories why China quietly vaporized hundreds of data sets – naturally one wouldn’t be deleting the data if it was good, or could at least be massaged in a credible way – it was not until today when a Reuters report confirmed what we said from day one, namely that in the long run China’s economy has more to lose than the US, where the hit would be faster but would focus primarily on the market, and once the initial selloff shock wears off leverage would swing to benefit the White House. And just as we supposed, Beijing’s unprecedented propaganda campaign, it was the cracks in the economy that forced Xi to the negotiating. According to the Reuters report, “since U.S. President Donald Trump imposed steep tariffs on China last month, Beijing had responded in kind. On state and social media, it posted images of Mao Zedong, lambasted “imperialists,” and sent a message: capitulation to bullies is dangerous, and it wouldn’t back down.”

But behind closed doors, China was quietly preparing to do just that, and Reuters reports that according three sources, officials had grown “increasingly alarmed about tariffs’ impact on the economy and the risk of isolation as China’s trading partners have started negotiating deals with Washington.” China’s reasons for deciding to negotiate, Washington’s letter on fentanyl, U.S. diplomatic challenges in Beijing, and the early outreach between the two sides are reported by Reuters for the first time, based on interviews with nearly a dozen government officials and experts on both sides. As usual, China’s diplomatic efforts had two faces, one for popular domestic consumption, and one for private engagement with the adversary, in this case the US. Sure enough, China’s foreign ministry said in a statement to Reuters that it reiterated that “China’s firm opposition to the U.S. abuse of tariffs is consistent and clear, and there is no change.”

It added that “the U.S. has ignored China’s goodwill and unreasonably imposed tariffs on China under the pretext of fentanyl. This is a typical act of bullying, which seriously undermines dialogue and cooperation between the two sides in the field of drug control.” In retrospect, the pretext may have been “fentanyl” but as we learn in a follow up report today from the WSJ, it was anything but a facade: according to the Journal, Xi Jinping is sending his top public-security aide to Switzerland as part of Beijing’s trade talks with Washington, signaling the importance of the fentanyl issue to bilateral relations. Wang Xiaohong, who is the minister of public security and a senior leader within the State Council, China’s cabinet, will be part of the Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier He Lifeng, a trusted aide to Xi and a gatekeeper to the world’s second-largest economy….

Xi has designated Wang, a close lieutenant, as the point person in Beijing’s recent discussions with Washington over how to address President Trump’s concerns about China’s role in the fentanyl trade, The Wall Street Journal has reported, helping pave the way for the weekend trade talks. So no, the US had not “ignored China’s goodwill”, and judging by Xi’s response, clearly the issue of fentanyl is a very serious one, and more importantly, one which will allow Trump to score a quick and easy victory over the weekend, one which will further demonstrate the Trump admin’s growing leverage in the ongoing negotiations. But back to the Reuters report, according to which China’s Vice Foreign Minister Hua Chunying said on Friday that China has full confidence in its ability to manage U.S. trade issues, adding that “the Trump administration’s approach cannot be sustained.” Once again, however, we learn that it was China’s approach which was far more unsustainable.

The trade war between the world’s two largest economies, combined with Trump’s decision last month to impose duties on dozens of other countries, has disrupted supply chains, unsettled financial markets and stoked fears of a sharp downturn in global growth. After Trump’s tariff salvo last month, China took a hard line in its public messaging. Beijing posted footage on its official social media feeds of a Chinese MiG-15 fighter shooting down a U.S. jet in the Korean War, with commentary: “China won’t kneel down, because we know standing up for ourselves keeps the possibility of cooperation alive, while compromise snuffs it out.” The tone began to shift on April 30, when a state media-affiliated blog said the U.S. had “proactively reached out to China through multiple channels, hoping to discuss tariffs”, commentary which according to the White House was a lie.

Meanwhile, China was adamantly denying that there were any discussions taking place about trade talks, which was also a lie as just a day later we learned that discussions were in fact taking place ahead of this weekend’s trade talks. CSIS’s Kennedy said contacts between Chinese agencies, Beijing’s embassy in Washington and the Trump administration had been increasing in frequency in recent weeks. Some in-person interactions took place at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in late April, including with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, which paved the way for the Swiss meeting, said Kennedy, confirming what we reported two weeks ago (see “Chinese Delegation Spotted Entering Treasury Department, Demands Photos Be Deleted: Report”.) More importantly, we also learn today that it was China that first reached out, more than a month ago.

After Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, Reuters reports that Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao quietly reached out to his U.S. counterpart, Howard Lutnick, but was rebuffed as not senior enough, according to one official familiar with the exchanges. While Trump has been pushing for direct talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, China had originally rejected that idea as not in keeping with its traditional approach of working out the details first before the leaders sign any deal, according to public statements by both sides. Which is why after the original Chinese overture was shut down, both sides engaged in unprecedented diplomatic jingoism to deflect attention from the failure to pursue a diplomatic solution.

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Major development. Maybe Trump can show that Bibi is not the same as Israel. Bibi stands in the way of peace. Just like Zelensky.

• Trump Delinks Saudi Nuclear Energy Deal From Israel Normalization (ZH)

The United States is no longer linking negotiations for a Saudi nuclear energy program with a normalization deal for Riyadh to recognize Israel based on the Abraham Accords. US Energy Secretary Chris Wright in April while on a visit to Saudi Arabia mentioned a “pathway” to a civil nuclear agreement, even though the Saudis were insisting that there would be no normalized ties with Israel until it ceases Gaza military action, and allows for a Palestinian state. This was a first strong hint that the new administration was ready to delink the two issues. “Dropping the demand that Saudi Arabia establish diplomatic relations with Israel would be a major concession by Washington,” Reuters now reports. “Under former President Joe Biden, nuclear talks were an element of a wider U.S.-Saudi deal tied to normalization and to Riyadh’s goal of a defense treaty with Washington.”

This could pave the way for a Saudi nuclear deal breakthrough during President Trump’s visit next week. Wright explained, “For a US partnership and involvement in nuclear here, there will definitely be a 123 agreement … there’s lots of ways to structure a deal that will accomplish both the Saudi objectives and the American objectives.” As we detailed previously, US involvement in Saudi Arabia’s nuclear program would require a so-called “123 Agreement,” referring to Section 123 of the US Atomic Energy Act of 1954. This section outlines nine non-proliferation requirements designed to prevent the use of civil nuclear technology for weapons development or the transfer of sensitive materials. Washington appears to be readying an issuance of official permission regarding this key restriction. After all, Trump typically visits the Gulf while bearing ‘gifts’.

While the Joe Biden White House had sought a broader deal involving nuclear cooperation, security guarantees for the kingdom, and normalization with Israel, Wright’s April remarks focused narrowly on energy partnership. Saudi Arabia aims to expand renewable and nuclear energy as part of its Vision 2030 reforms. In addition to dropping the demand to normalize with Israel, the US has also nixed efforts to ink a US-Saudi mutual defense treaty with Riyadh. And crucially, these talks to approve a Saudi nuclear program are being advanced without consulting Israel. The Netanyahu government will no doubt reject the possibility of a future nuclear-capable Saudi Arabia.

Israel Hayom has written that “The president won’t be able to get approval to push forward a civilian nuclear program for Saudi Arabia without the Israeli component,” according to an Israeli official. “He doesn’t have a Senate majority for any agreement that doesn’t include Israel or that moves forward without its consent.” As for other things Trump is expected to announce on his Gulf tour next week, he will likely to announce a series of new major arms deals with the kingdom. While during his first administration he visited Saudi Arabia very early on, the Saudis have appeared to be lower on the list of priorities this time around.

Bibi

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Via aides… Both have felt the irony of that. They should be able to just pick up a phone.

• Putin and Trump Exchange Greetings On Victory Day – Moscow (RT)

Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump have congratulated each other on Victory Day, an aide to the Russian president, Yury Ushakov, told journalists on Friday. The two leaders extended the greetings through aides, according to the official. The presidents shared “heartfelt words, mutual greetings on a common holiday, great holiday,” Ushakov told the Russian Channel 1 broadcaster. Washington has not officially commented on the matter. On Friday, Russia celebrated the 80th anniversary of the Soviet triumph in the World War II against Nazi Germany. The day was packed with military parades and other ceremonial events across the nation that paid tribute to the valor and sacrifice of the Soviet people during the war.

The celebrations in Moscow, including the military parade on Red Square, were attended by upwards of 30 foreign leaders, including those of China, Brazil, Egypt, Slovakia, Serbia, and Uzbekistan. US Ambassador to Moscow Lynne Tracy skipped the event despite receiving an invitation, according to TASS. The Moscow parade was still attended by several US WWII veterans, who were invited alongside other foreign veterans, including from Mongolia, Israel and Armenia. On Thursday, Trump issued a public statement on the ‘Victory Day for World War II’. He described the victory over Nazism as “the Allied Powers’ triumph,” highlighting the role of the US and never mentioning the Soviet Union.

Earlier this month, similar statements by the US president drew criticism from Moscow. On Friday, during his speech at the annual military parade in Moscow, Putin stressed that Russia remembers the lessons of World War II and “will never accept the distortion of its events.” Since returning to office in January, Trump has pushed both Moscow and Kiev toward a truce in the ongoing conflict between the two nations but has recently voiced frustration over the lack of progress. On Thursday, he called for a month-long “unconditional ceasefire” amid a 72-hour Victory Day truce unilaterally declared by Russia. He expressed his hope that “an acceptable ceasefire will be observed” but warned that both sides would be held accountable if a ceasefire is reached but not respected.

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10+ years after Merkel f*cked it up.

• Germany To Declare Immigration Emergency (RT)

New German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will declare a national emergency to tackle the country’s issues with migration, Die Welt has reported. Merz, who was elected chancellor on Tuesday, said on his first day in office that his government would begin turning back illegal migrants at the border. Germany remains the top destination for asylum seekers in the EU. Last year, it received a quarter (over 237,000) of all asylum applications across the 27-member bloc. Berlin has already informed the ambassadors of neighboring countries about the chancellor’s decision to impose a national emergency, the paper said in an article on Thursday. The move would allow the German government to prioritize its own decisions over EU regulations, according to Die Welt.

In order to turn away migrants, Berlin will invoke Article 72 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which provides for “the maintenance of law and order and the safeguarding of internal security” by member states. Germany has a 3,700km land border with nine countries, including Poland, Austria, France, and the Netherlands. They are all part of the EU’s Schengen area, which allows passport-free travel for most EU citizens and many non-EU nationals.

On Wednesday, Germany’s newly appointed interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt, told journalists: “we will control the borders more strictly,” which will lead “to a higher number of rejections” of asylum applications. The goal is to “send a clear signal to the world and to Europe that the policy in Germany has changed,” he explained. In a letter seen by Bild, Dobrindt instructed the head of the Federal Police to disregard a 2015 directive from then-Chancellor Angela Merkel, who allowed more than a million migrants into the country at the height of Europe’s 2015-16 refugee crisis.

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This can’t go on forever. The EU must go.

• Hungary Prepares for Battle Over EU’s Plan to Phase Out Russian Energy (Sp.)

The EU executive is considering bypassing Hungary in the vote on its plan to phase out Russian energy imports by relying on a “qualified majority,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday. “We need to gather allies, to prepare legally. There really is a plan to bypass a unanimous decision and pass it by a qualified majority,” Orban told Kossuth Radio. Hungary is gearing up for an uphill battle in the coming weeks and months to ensure that Hungarian households are not forced to pay twice as much for power and utilities, Orban said. Orban estimated that Hungary would have to pay about 2 billion euros ($2.23 billion) more for energy than it does now if the European Commission gets its plan to abandon Russian energy imports adopted by the Council of the European Union.

A qualified majority requires at least 15 out of 27 EU member states representing at least 65% of the total EU population to support the proposal. On Tuesday, the Commission presented a project on ending Russian energy imports to the EU by the end of 2027. The Commission intends to submit a legislative proposal in June to ban all imports under new Russian gas contracts and existing spot contracts. This ban could come into effect by the end of 2025. Remaining imports of pipeline gas and LNG from Russia under long-term contracts could stop by the end of 2027.

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Vance et al may pretend that the past 3 years never happened, but they did. Putin does what he can inside the new paradigm, not some old one. He can’t, it would be like time travel.

• Putin ‘Doing Whatever Possible’ For Ukraine Peace – Kremlin (RT)

Russian President Vladimir Putin is “doing whatever is possible” to pursue peace in the Ukraine conflict, but has no other choice than to continue its military operation as long as Kiev refuses to hold talks with Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. In an interview with ABC News on Friday, Peskov said Ukraine “is trying to escape from negotiations” despite declaring that it is ready for a ceasefire. However, Moscow believes a truce will only give Kiev the opportunity to regroup its battered troops. ”Ukraine will continue their total mobilization, bringing new troops to [the] front line. Ukraine will use this period to train new military personnel and to give a rest to their existing ones. So why should we grant such an advantage to Ukraine?”

Another issue, he said, is arms shipments from the West, which should be ceased during a truce. “Otherwise, it will be [an] advantage for Ukraine.” “President Putin is doing whatever is possible to solve the problem, to achieve a settlement through peaceful and diplomatic means,” Peskov said. “But having no peaceful and democratic means at hand, we have to continue [the] military operation.” The Kremlin spokesman went on to say Moscow is hopeful that US President Donald Trump could play a role in mediating the conflict. Trump, he suggested, could help “bring a little bit more flexibility and a little more political will and wisdom to [the] Kiev regime.”

Russia offered a 72-hour ceasefire from midnight May 8 to midnight May 11 to mark the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany. Moscow described the offer as a humanitarian gesture aimed at paving the way for direct peace talks without preconditions.Ukraine has dismissed the overture as “manipulation” and demanded a 30-day ceasefire instead. Russian officials have said the pause would allow Ukraine to regroup and strengthen its military. The Russian Defense Ministry said Ukraine has launched thousands of attacks of various kinds, including four cross-border incursions into the Russian regions of Kursk and Belgorod.

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“There is a huge desire to build a new Iron Curtain in various forms..” “We will do everything to ensure that we can shake hands through this curtain.”

• Slovak PM Fico Slams Western ‘Iron Curtain’ In Talks With Putin (RT)

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin after attending the Victory Day parade on Red Square and other festivities marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. During talks at the Kremlin on Friday evening, Fico criticized what he described as a new “Iron Curtain” being imposed by Western nations, calling the obstacles he faced en route to Moscow due to airspace restrictions by some EU member states “a childish joke.” “There is a huge desire to build a new Iron Curtain in various forms,” Fico said, according to a Kremlin transcript. “We will do everything to ensure that we can shake hands through this curtain.”

Amid systematic desecration and destruction of World War II memorials in the Baltic states and Eastern Europe, Fico reaffirmed Slovakia’s commitment to preserving Soviet memorials – and proposed erecting a monument to Marshal Ivan Konev, a Soviet commander involved in the liberation of Czechoslovakia during the war. Putin welcomed Fico’s efforts to restore “long-standing ties between Russia and Slovakia that were effectively frozen” by the previous government in Bratislava, “which strictly followed the collective line of the West.” The Russian president noted that those in the EU who tried to prevent Fico from attending the event in Moscow “have once again been convinced that it is better not to do this… You achieve your goals no matter what.” Fico also expressed skepticism about the EU sanctions on Russia, arguing they harm the bloc more than Moscow. He stressed Slovakia’s interest in maintaining pragmatic relations with Russia, particularly in the energy sector. He noted that Slovakia’s nuclear power plants are not compatible with fuel from Western suppliers and warned that halting Russian gas and oil imports could destabilize the country’s energy infrastructure.

The Slovak prime minister’s visit drew condemnation from Brussels, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen describing his attendance as “regrettable.” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called it “unthinkable” for an EU leader to stand alongside Putin at the celebration of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany. Fico maintained that his presence in Moscow was a gesture of respect for the Soviet soldiers who sacrificed their lives to defeat fascism. “For me, it was a moral obligation to come here and commemorate,” he said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov praised Fico and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic as heroes for defying EU pressure. “These days… it is simply an act of heroism – showing one’s sovereign will to pay tribute to the memory of Victory Day, despite blatant, frenzied pressure,” Peskov said.

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Feels like it’s from 1999 or thereabouts.

• UK Hits Russia With ‘Largest Ever’ Sanctions Package (RT)

The British government has announced its “largest-ever” sanctions package against Russia, according to an official statement. The measure aim to deal a blow to the Russia’s oil transportation network and reduce Moscow’s energy revenues. The announcement was timed to coincide with Russia’s celebration of the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany on Friday. London, one of Kiev’s staunchest supporters – providing it with military and tactical support and billions in cash – has long claimed that Moscow poses a threat to the UK’s national security. Various British governments have implemented over 2,000 sanctions against Russian individuals and entities, since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict over three years ago. “The threat Russia poses to our national security cannot be underestimated. To ramp up the pressure on Putin, I’m announcing the largest package of sanctions yet,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrote on X.

The new measures blacklist up to 100 oil tankers that the West claims are part of a Russian “shadow fleet,” older vessels operating outside Western insurance systems. According to London, the vessels have carried more than $24 billion worth of cargo since the start of 2024. The EU and the US have also targeted Russian shipping and a 17th European sanctions package that would blacklist another 150 ships is expected to be approved later this month. Moscow has dismissed the restrictions as a “futile” gesture that will not harm the Russian economy, but instead drive-up energy costs and inflation across Europe. Russia’s oil revenues have remained robust thanks to non-Western buyers, such as China and India. Last month, the Russian Embassy in London urged the British government to stop “theatrical and short-lived gestures of hostility towards Russia.”

The UK has also accused the vessels of posing a threat to critical undersea infrastructure, such as telecommunications cables and oil and gas pipelines, dismissed by Moscow as “hastily concocted fantasy stories.” London’s tough sanctions rhetoric comes as Britain, along with the EU, is being sidelined from the peace process around Ukraine. A key London meeting on the conflict was downgraded last month after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio canceled his attendance. US President Donald Trump has also floated the idea of a possible partial lifting of restrictions on Moscow as part of a possible peace settlement.

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“She campaigned on a promise to bag Donald Trump on something. She didn’t even bother to name what it was. She literally campaigned… on the promise that she would nail him on anything, and then she filled in the violation later.”

• Poetic Justice Came for Letitia James, and It’s Glorious (Margolis)

On Thursday, we reported that federal authorities have launched a criminal investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James over allegations of mortgage fraud. Later, during a Fox Business interview about these charges, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley told host Elizabeth MacDonald that “the karma is crushing here.” During the segment, Turley pointed to contradictions in James’ defense strategy that he believes mirror accusations she previously made against former President Donald Trump. “These all have to be combed out,” Turley explained when asked about the seriousness of the charges. “The James defense team is saying that there were contradictions that were corrected, that, for example, that home was the primary residence of the other signatory.”

According to the referral from Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte, James is accused of falsifying records to obtain favorable loan terms on two properties: a Brooklyn brownstone she’s owned since 2001 and a Virginia home purchased in 2023. The case is now being handled by U.S. Attorney John Sarcone III, whose office in New York’s Northern District is leading the investigation. Pulte stated that James “appears to have falsified records” to meet lending requirements and secure better mortgage terms. Turley noted that James’ defense relies on an argument that financial institutions should have conducted their own due diligence, a standard she outright refused to grant Trump in her own case against him. “It’s an ironic defense because they’re saying, ‘Look, if the bank simply looked into this on their own, they could see that these were more units than just four, that this was not the primary residence of James,'” Turley stated.

He continued, “That’s a type of understanding and leeway that she refused to allow to Donald Trump. She insisted that everything that was… signed in his name… really are bound legally to him. And so, they said you have an obligation to make sure everything filed was absolutely accurate.” Turley did not hold back in his assessment of the situation, suggesting a certain poetic justice was at play. He reserved his strongest criticism for what he characterized as the most significant contradiction in James’ position. “The greatest irony, of course, is to hear her counsel and her spokesperson say, ‘You know, this is just wrong because Trump campaigned on moving against his enemies,'” he said.

This defense strategy particularly struck Turley as hypocritical, given James’ own campaign rhetoric when running for attorney general. “For those of us who have covered this litigation for years, having those words come out of the mouths of James’ staff really is breathtaking,” he emphasized. Turley recalled James’ previous statements during her campaign, noting, “She campaigned on a promise to bag Donald Trump on something. She didn’t even bother to name what it was. She literally campaigned… on the promise that she would nail him on anything, and then she filled in the violation later.” Naturally, we’ve come to expect that Democrats have one set of rules for themselves and another for everyone else. In their version of justice, Democrats commit the crimes—and Republicans serve the time.

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“I hope Ed Martin’s 1st assignment at DOJ is to investigate Thom Tillis’ corruption.” — Rogan O’Handley (aka’ DC Draino’ on X)

• Going Around. . . Coming Back Around (James Howard Kunstler)

The funny part is that this swarm of Jacobin botflies from Norm Eisen to Sen. Thom Tillis thought (and acted) as if Ed Martin was the only MAGA lawyer capable of uncovering the steaming pile of seditious poo festering, lo these many years, in the DC federal district (i.e., the Swamp). Like, get rid of Ed and our troubles are over. Really? Don’t you suppose that there are dozens of other capable, patriotic, seasoned lawyers, seething over the corruption that is Swamp crime, who can effectively occupy the office of US Attorney for the District of Columbia?

The second funniest part is apparently the Jacobins thought that Ed Martin would just skulk off into the gloaming like a whipped dog and be gone — when, in fact, Mr. Trump folded him at once into three jobs in the Department of Justice that don’t require confirmation by the Senate, and will allow him to attend to exactly the same set of grave problems afflicting this republic from a position of power. Mr. Martin will now serve as Director of the DOJ’s Weaponization Working Group, Associate Deputy Attorney General, and Pardon Attorney reviewing the legitimacy of “Joe Biden’s” auto-pen signing of important documents — meaning, he’ll have the power to bring cases on his own and make criminal referrals to the US Attorney for DC.

You must also imagine that in his 100-plus days as Interim US Attorney for DC, Mr. Martin assembled quite a portfolio of evidence around the manifold blob wrong-doings of the past decade, but especially the treachery of the J-6 / 2021 blob operation at the US Capitol, and the ensuing cover-up of all that, including the intel community’s role in it, the perfidy and perjuries of Chris Wray, Merrick Garland, Nancy Pelosi and others, and the gong show of lies and villainy that was the House J-6 committee chaired by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), (with remedial support from Adam Schiff, Liz Cheney, Jamie Raskin, and, backstage as always, lawfare ninjas Norm Eisen, Mary McCord, Marc Elias, Ben Wittes, and Andrew Weissmann).

On the ostensible defeat of Ed Martin’s nomination, the president instantly turned around and installed Jeanine Pirro as Interim US Attorney for DC. Before retiring into a career as a TV talking head, Ms. Pirro was a Westchester County, New York, judge, and then elected District Attorney, so she knows how to work criminal cases. The interim appointment runs 120 days. In theory, Mr. Trump can appoint a new Interim US Attorney every 120 days, and keep rotating them until the cows come home — each successive one with the same support staff of assistant US attorneys underneath, the same cases ongoing, and the same trove of evidence catalogued.

All of which is to say, the blob officials and lawfare stormtroopers are mistaken to think that their ongoing circus of legalistic monkey business has somehow gained immunity from appraisal, investigation, and prosecution by de-railing Ed Martin. The cases themselves are bigger than any one particular US attorney and have a momentum of their own as the nation struggles to overcome the organized assault on the law itself that lawfare represents.

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“He’s someone we can work with, and that makes him MAGA in the eyes of the Left, which is insane.”

• Chris Cuomo Nails Why Dems Are Trying to Destroy John Fetterman (Matt Vespa)

I’m not a fan of Chris Cuomo, but he has become more sensible since he left the confines of CNN. It’s funny how he, Chuck Todd, and others seem to be making more sense now that they don’t have to kowtow to the hyper-left-wing sensibilities of their former employers. They’re not red-pilled, but they dish out some decent takes now and then. Cuomo nailed why Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) is being targeted for destruction. He’s not a crazy person. He’s pro-Israel, focused on working Americans, and understands the realities of the 2024 election. You can’t scream about Trump 24/7 and block all his nominees. His side lost, and there were consequences. The former CNN host pointed out that’s the irony here: that Fetterman is being ‘canceled’ for trying to rebuild the party into one that can win elections:

Fetterman has been reaching across the aisle too much for them. The senator crushes Hamas and campus protests, which, as we all know, is a pet project of the radical left. He met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago — that’s a huge sin. And he worked with Republicans on passing the Laken Riley Act and voted for 10 of Trump’s cabinet picks. And now the senator is saying that Trump has keyed in correctly on the most important concern in our country: Helping the majority do better when it comes to workers and economic benefits. New York Magazine released a lengthy article that attacked the Pennsylvania Democrat, describing him as reckless, a quasi-conspiratorial thinker, and one who is not taking his mental health seriously. It was a textbook case of character assassination.

“Democrats, this is why you lost. You can’t cancel everyone who doesn’t hate the right and play by your stilted rules of purity,” Cuomo added. He’s right. I’m not going to endorse Fetterman. I wouldn’t vote for him if I were a Pennsylvania resident, but should he survive, it’s not a devastating loss. He’s someone we can work with, and that makes him MAGA in the eyes of the Left, which is insane.

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Trump’s envoy for the hardest cases. “Warn them that there are real-world consequences for their emotional virtue signaling–and let the chips fall where they may.”

• Ric Grenell Drops Some Reality on Kennedy Center Performers (Lower)

To paraphrase something my colleague Susie Moore stated in an earlier piece about the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals providing much-needed guidance to lower courts on a miniscule group of the barrage of cases against President Trump and his administration, we continue to follow the saga of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Readers likely remember the brouhaha by progressives near the beginning of Trump’s new term when he announced he was kicking off some of the board members and appointing himself the new chair of the famed arts venue. Although a few days later, the president named former U.S. ambassador to Germany and U.S. Envoy for Special Missions, Ric Grenell, as interim executive director.

During CPAC 2025, Grenell addressed the poor state of the Kennedy Center’s finances, sharing that Pres. Trump likely has the same concerns about the organization’s ability to “Make Art Great Again,” as Grenell put it in the interview with Politico’s Dasha Burns. I think, I don’t know for sure, but I think the frustration President Trump has is that the Kennedy Center has no cash on hand. No reserves. And they have been paying for the salaries with the debt reserves. While taking around more than 40 million dollars in public money. You can’t have that. If you’re going to take public money, then you get to have public input.

So, what we’re gonna say at the Kennedy Center, first of all, we gotta clean up the financial situation. We have to do the big productions that the masses and the public want to see. We want to have really big programming. And my colleague Jennifer Oliver O’Connell included one tidbit that leftists went wild over before Grenell cleared it up–and it relates to Thursday’s story: Grenell also cleared up some misinformation about an artist who supposedly dropped out from performing on the Kennedy Center stage because Trump took over the center and installed Grenell. Grenell made it known that some of these decisions were made before Trump took over, and the decision to drop the act was based on the performance not producing adequate ticket sales.

He also hinted that the Center will have a special Christmas show. Maybe we’ll get more details on that in the coming months. Anyway, earlier this week, some performers in the traveling cast of “Les Misérables” who were slated to take part in an upcoming charity fundraiser/performance at the Center threatened to boycott it … because Pres. Trump is set to appear. On Wednesday, while speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Ric Grenell just laid out the “Les Miz” performers, according to industry publication Variety. First, it seemed this was the first time he had heard the “rumor” about the controversy, then he added, “But the Kennedy Center will no longer fund intolerance.” He stated that it shows who isn’t “professional” in the performance company, and that any producer thinking of hiring any of these performers might be inspired to think again. Here’s his full quote:

“Any performer who isn’t professional enough to perform for patrons of all backgrounds, regardless of political affiliation, won’t be welcomed,” Grenell added. “In fact, we think it would be important to out those vapid and intolerant artists to ensure producers know who they shouldn’t hire — and that the public knows which shows have political litmus tests to sit in the audience.” He continued, “The Kennedy Center wants to be a place where people of all political stripes sit next to each other and never ask who someone voted for but instead enjoy a performance together.” This is exactly how Republicans need to handle this sort of childish wokeness from the “resistance” to America First principles and all things Trump. Let’s keep on this path. Warn them that there are real-world consequences for their emotional virtue signaling–and let the chips fall where they may.

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The whole family lived large. Now income has dried up.

• Sources Say the Biden Crime Family Is Going Broke (Margolis)

Aww, now isn’t this nice? The Biden crime family is facing a serious cash crunch now that its patriarch is out of power and the influence-peddling machine has ground to a halt. As we previously reported, on Thursday, Joe and Jill Biden made a live appearance on “The View” in New York City, and according to Mark Halperin, the move is part of a broader effort to rehabilitate Joe Biden’s image after a disastrous first 100 days back in private life. “There’s a story in Politico today that says they’ve hired the former Pentagon spokesperson to manage the Biden comeback,” Halperin said. “Joe Biden wants to be out there… He wants to speak out against Donald Trump. He wants to defend his reputation.” Halperin also noted that Politico is reporting the Trump administration plans to release audio of Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur, the one that led Hur to describe Biden as “an elderly man with a poor memory.”

]But Halperin offered a blunt insight from someone close to the family: “I talked to someone very familiar with the Bidens, and I think they’ve pointed out something that I’m gonna say now, that to me, is the explanation, or at least part of the explanation, which is Biden Inc. has collapsed.” He didn’t sugarcoat the financial rot. “All those Biden grandkids had a lavish lifestyle, which they very much liked. Hunter made hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars. Joe, as a former president, is not in a position to get the same kind of paid speeches, corporate boards, book deals.” “Wait, wait, wait! The paintings aren’t worth a lot?” Sean Spicer quipped. “The grift is over,” Spicer observed. “The big guy’s not getting his cut anymore, and that’s a problem. I get it; they’ve lived a very lavish lifestyle. There’s the beach house. I gotta imagine the property taxes aren’t cheap. Uh, they’re used to a certain lifestyle, but not just them. To your point, the whole family was coming from one source and they lost their USAID funding basically.”

Of course, we all know the “source” was the global network of influence built while Joe Biden was vice president and continued into his presidency. But that operation doesn’t function without power, and now, without it, the Bidens are scrambling to find new income. “They were pulling in $10 million a year, maybe more,” Halperin estimated. “What’s Biden Inc. pulling in today?” That really puts Biden’s decision to seek a second term into perspective, doesn’t it? Spicer was just as candid: “No one wants to know what he thinks. Number two, he doesn’t know what he thinks, and that’s a bigger problem.” Even Biden’s future prospects as a paid speaker are bleak. “You don’t think the Washington Speakers Bureau looked at him and said, ‘That guy needs to be flown all over the country giving $800,000 speeches’?” Halperin asked sarcastically.

Spicer replied, “No. I think they looked at him and said, ‘We’ll get back to you after the company retreat.’” As for the prospects of a presidential library — a traditional source of prestige and fundraising — Halperin was blunt: “He’s not a good fundraiser, and the donors are not currently in love with him.” So the Biden crime family is out of gas, out of influence, and running on fumes. The free ride is over — and the scramble for relevance (and revenue) has begun.

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“.. the politicization of our intelligence community needs to end—to even begin to start to earn the trust of the American people..”

• DNI Tulsi Gabbard Discusses Intel Community Leaks to Media Allies (CTH)

One of the least understood dynamics about how the DC silos operate, pertains to review and investigative work done by government officials into government misconduct. In essence, special counsels, special investigators and appointed special prosecutors do not look at government activity if that activity can be framed as political. The silos protect themselves from external review. As a consequence, the only administrative review of government misconduct happens when the silos look internally at their own agency. In this short video below Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard outlines that 11 internal investigations are ongoing to target Intelligence Community officials, staff and employees who are leaking classified information to the media. After the internal review, the DNI then sends (criminal) referrals to Main Justice and the FBI if warranted. Currently three criminal referrals have been sent to the FBI/DOJ as eleven investigations continue. WATCH:

TRANSCRIPT … […] “as I said, the politicization of our intelligence community needs to end—to even begin to start to earn the trust of the American people. The actions that we’ve taken—unfortunately—there continue to be significant leaks coming out of the intelligence community. Not only my organization, but the CIA and others—again, by those who are very directly trying to undermine the agenda and actions of President Trump. Once again, the President who was elected by the American people with an overwhelming mandate. The way that we start to end this is by bringing about transparency and accountability. In these cases, we conducted our own internal investigation.

In three cases, we referred them to the Department of Justice. As you know well, Matt, sometimes—or historically—we could refer things to the Department of Justice, and they would sit on a desk somewhere or get lost in the paper shuffle. And you end up having to wait and you wonder, Well, is anything ever going to happen? Well, I can tell you, with the leadership we have there now, not only has there been action taken, but they have been actioned by the FBI and are going through immediately to investigate these cases with the intent of bringing about prosecution. We have 11 other internal investigations ongoing now within ODNI, and we intend to continue to carry them out to completion—to hold those who are illegally leaking classified information, trying to undermine the President, politicizing intelligence—hold them accountable. Because this has got to end.”

DNI Tulsi Gabbard is following a frustratingly slow process. However, if she is successful the DC apparatus will target her for removal.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

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Home › Forums › Debt Rattle May 10 2025

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 43 total)
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  • Author
    Posts
  • May 10, 2025 at 10:04 am #187769
    Raúl Ilargi Meijer
    Keymaster

    Samuel Peploe Beach scene 1907   • America Humbled (Arthur Schaper) • Hyperbole, Lies, and Delusions (Richard Porter) • Trump Says “80% Tariffs O
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle May 10 2025]

    May 10, 2025 at 10:52 am #187771
    Topcat
    Participant

    Merkel is a Witch an a Bitch

    Germany deserves her.

    A Communist has been injecting Germany with a toxic cocktail of fanatic Islam.

    Like any work of culture, Germany was like a fine piece of Dresden china that took untold hours of skill and energy and sacrifice to make after rising from the rumble of WWII.

    Dropping it on the floor and shattering it took little skill but will take decades, again, to repair in the de-industrialized, de-energized hellscape of collapsing Europe, the inflamed hemorrhoid of Western Euasia.

    May 10, 2025 at 10:55 am #187772
    Topcat
    Participant

    The answer to apologists for Islam

    May 10, 2025 at 11:06 am #187773
    Topcat
    Participant

    • UK Hits Russia With ‘Largest Ever’ Sanctions Package (RT)

    The UK took Orwell’s book as manuals, not warnings.

    The UK a retarded organ grinder monkey throwing it’s poop at the blackboard, hoping the has-been Empire will rise like a rotting corpse to make England great again…….MEGA

    Truly, historically pathetic

    May 10, 2025 at 12:02 pm #187774
    Germ
    Participant

    Good morning :-))

    It’s 2025, and the rat juice is still flowing!

    Get injected, get infected – clown world indeed!

    Flu, COVID-19 vaccines now mandatory for Singapore Haj pilgrims

    https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/singapore-haj-pilgrims-vaccination-requirements-2025-influenza-covid-19-5119466

    TVASSF – you just can’t make this shit up.

    May 10, 2025 at 12:10 pm #187775
    Topcat
    Participant

    BREAKING: COVID-19 mRNA Shots Destroy Over 60% of Women’s Non-Renewable Egg Supply

    The baby replacement rate is so low already in the ‘developed’ parts of the world that this headline is like an oak stake to the heart for future ‘consumption’ driven economic systems that live or die on the model of an expanding economy.

    Stick a fork in it.

    Plus very few women statistically want more than 2 kids nowadays.

    So you’re not gonna fix this dilemma by having fewer fertile women make up the low numbers by having 6 or more kids, you know, like the ‘good old days of yore’

    The Future is in Your Hands

    Your move ladies….

    May 10, 2025 at 12:13 pm #187776
    aspnaz
    Participant

    I don’t read all of TAE, I just look at the Calvin cartoon, then I read a few of the comments. Some, like Dr D and John Day, are way too long and boring with nothing of interest to add to my daily scan, so I skip those. It still amazes me that anyone understands what Dr D is really trying to say, gibberish on steroids?

    The news these days is like watching flying foxes, in queensland, shit on your car; it is a fascinating business, each ff wants you to look at his turd, but you actually aren’t interested in any one turd, you just enjoy the pitter patter of turds as they land on your car and you think about how long it will take you to clean it. Each landing turd destroys your memory of the previous turd. But now I am bored of flying turds, and my interest in news sites, such as TAE, is declining to zero.

    Why read a bunch of comments when you can brew a beer, ride the waves on a windsurfing board, or ignore Trump the idiot? The western internet is like a 20 meter diameter pipeline full of shite, mostly from the USA. Who gives a fuck what these idiots think or do? I have finally realised that ignoring idiots is a healthy option, ignoring everybody else is an even healthier option. It is as if the internet is designed to steal your day with worthless bullshit; I am only writing this because my wife is cooking dinner and I am trying to pass the time; the internet offers very good “pass the time” content, everything else is trying to manipulate you into buying something.

    May 10, 2025 at 12:35 pm #187777
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Pepe Escobar: Trump in DEEP Trouble as China’s BRICS Power Move Kills His Tariff War
    Danny Haiphong

    Triumphalism x DonaldTelepathy. Trump already won. They’re already settled 18 treaties. China is already negotiating in Switzerland.

    Look, a lot of times I don’t like things either, but I don’t lie about it.

    Stocks: He will lose a lot of credibility, especially with this, so I expect this is true. Again, if he gets over the edge for capital flows to the U.S. )(From Europe) that’s entirely possible. And Crypto went from all-tech warnings to +20% overnight (ETH). …As it does. Saying, if you’re looking for fast money flows to somewhere, you just saw them. We’re at a $3T market (industry) cap over there now. That’s like a high in money and the price hasn’t followed yet.

    And gold $3330 from $3350. $100 moves a day now at this %

    Who remembers it at $270? 300% in 10 years.

    Btw, the internet is a garbage heap, no wonder people are using AI. Google “100 year gold chart” and nothing. That’s, uh, pretty direct. Very simple. Charts of 10 years, ending in 2012. Time limit: same thing. Scroll down, pictures of cartoons, anime, not “Charts” at all.

    Again, this is Internet growth theory: there’s too much to track. But also AI theory: as AI first read humans, who remarkably HAVE some sense in their heads, then reads more and more nonsense until it is gibbering useless and insane.

    “James O’Keefe has released footage showing Attorney General Pam Bondi in a restaurant just days ago,”

    This is a setup so Bondi can get pressure enough to cut the s—t and put this out. And good on her for it.

    “Francis Fukuyama (arrogantly, short-sightedly) prophesied.Of course, history didn’t stop, and we had lessons to learn.”

    As everyone in America told them at the time. WHO? Who believed this? We were already collapsing in this period he’s talking about as “That Giant Sucking Sound” was in 1992. It was SUCKING from then (and 1974, actually) every. Single. Day. Until…now when it’s still gutting the U.S. and every working (Union) man.

    Ohhhhh, so you mean all YOU morons: reporters, people from Harvard, Congressmen…the PMCs. YOU were all completely wrong and we were right. Now there’s “Exceptionalism” and you blame US for it. Like “We were all this together.” Uh, no: we weren’t.

    Oh we had to be humbled? …But we weren’t humbled when wages stagnated for 30 years and food stamps rose to 20% of population, ten millions not in workforce, and a million(s) dead on deaths of despair. That wasn’t the “Being humbled” nope! That didn’t count at all. Only now when the RICHIE Rich, elites, Egos find out, THEN it is “Being humbled.”

    “Not a single person receiving Social Security payments legally is losing their government pension.”

    Yes, but that’s reality and they left that long ago for the Feelz. We’ve tried everything to re-attach to them but nothing has worked.

    I’d point out that after years, Prizker is one of the worst cities of the worst states in the Union: totally failed. So if he knew anything, wouldn’t it be working there? If he cared, wouldn’t the caring show there? It’s all those Republicans in “MAGA country”: downtown Chicago.

    “And 80 is way down already from 145.
    • Trump Says “80% Tariffs On China Seems Right” (ZH)

    Here he is, doing to big ask, on national TV, day by day, and the reporters STILL don’t get it. The treaties are being signed but “No they aren’t.” That would be Trump winning, so blackout. That would be workers winning and communist organizers hate that more than cancer.

    “Major development. Maybe Trump can show that Bibi is not the same as Israel. Bibi stands in the way of peace. Just like Zelensky.”

    We’ve seen several layers of Trump mouthing Israel, then ambushing them, (the Gaza solution, x3) then now closing out Yemen and spinning them to the wind. So tough call – and may still be – but looks like I picked that one right. He’s no pal of Bibi, and although we’re not going to invade, we’re going to watch them get strangled and collapse. Best we can do, we’re busy.

    “• Germany To Declare Immigration Emergency (RT)

    Mother Merkel. Your Mommy. Feminine values!

    “The new measures blacklist up to 100 oil tankers that the West claims are part of a Russian “shadow fleet,” older vessels operating outside Western insurance systems”

    They were counting on insurance leverage. The End. Insurance now moved out of London and is competitive elsewhere. What sanction?

    “• Poetic Justice Came for Letitia James, and It’s Glorious (Margolis)

    They don’t pick up the headlines: she set her primary residence in Virginia. Explain, Ms. NY DA? You were commuting? I believe you are required residency in NY to hold your job? And vowed that her father was her husband. Wow, guess who was who just slipped her mind.

    “For years now, the hustles and hoaxes have seemed never-ending. I know it is more than a little tiresome to point out that nobody has gone to jail, or even to court, over any of this since 2017. Looks like that lucky streak is coming to an end.”

    Uh, yeah, about that. Believe it when I see it.

    ““[Fetterman]’s someone we can work with, and that makes him MAGA in the eyes of the Left, which is insane.”

    Seeing this online. They’re like “He’s unhinged! Secret, unnamed sources suddenly say! They’re reporting what he says in the bedroom to his wife!” Wait: so when he had a stroke and was completely non-verbal, all that was fine, don’t-you-dare-criticize a man who can’t walk, talk, or think, but now that he’s a Congressional MODERATE — as he’s in an in-peril Red district – he’s now a deranged lunatic? A: YES. That is precisely their position.

    …Actually, I can’t even tell what brought this on as his politics seem about the same as ever.

    If I ask the people posting this? Slander, rumors, innuendo. They are all the feminine, and none of it is required to be substantiated in the slightest if it is salacious. “Salacious” FEEEEEELZ so good, so right, so true! Therefore it is. You are ALWAYS guilty until proven innocent, if I say so. Facts are whatever I make up in my head!

    “So, what we’re gonna say at the Kennedy Center, first of all, we gotta clean up the financial situation. We have to do the big productions that the masses and the public want to see.”

    Codependent marriage. You see this in NYC: the Left gives everything, trashes everything, stops everything. Then Daddy gets in, from nothing working, all scandals, makes everyone take their medicine, do hard work, be the bad guy, then wanders off again and it defaults to the Left to be reckless, trash, and waste everything again. Over and over. This wouldn’t be so bad if you were the HERO for fixing this steaming wreck, but instead are criticized with the most sissy-girl screaming anyone has ever seen every time.

    He assaulted me! I knew it! Ohhhhhoohhhh! I’m melting! Melting away!

    “The 402 acre site would governed by SHARIA LAW. We’re not doing this crap in America.”

    What is with UK on the same thing? How about this: they’re broke, owe bonds toSaudi, who said “We promise not to sell if you turn the UK into an Islamic caliphate.” How do you do that? I don’t care, but importing muslims of any type seems to accomplish the goal. Denying Nigerian Christians would make it too obvious, but you’re just going to lose on the numbers.

    Oh and PS, we can’t a have a Shiria city, but we can have a SpaceX city? What’s the difference?

    “putting rooftop solar on *every roof in the world* could reduce global warming by up to 0.13°C “

    No it wouldn’t. Because producing and disposing the panels would raise it 0.2C

    Was watching “The Punisher”. Wow, what good scriptwriting. And the women characters. So we have the gurl boss, but she has CONSEQUENCES, being hard like that COSTS her. She is One way, but not the other, as no one can be both at the same time. And then has a story-arc to overcome. Another plays the feminine power card. Karen, and her actress is a very unique, raw sense. Even being in NYC, she can’t avoid being emotional, caring, raw, as a personality. So it’s her CARING that causes all the actions, bends all the characters and action around her. This is that subtle/powerful thing we never see as feminine energy, it has been entirely vaporized on the surface of the planet, and they only sort of sneak it in here sideways. So she seems “weak” and is constantly a hero for facing up her fears and challenges — much more so than the actual punching heroes. Same with Foggy in a different show, as he has no abilities whatsoever, and is entirely at risk. But because he TRIES, and acts anyway, his heroism has real danger, real consequences and is much more heart-felt and compelling than, say Daredevil or the Punisher.

    So now note there are problems, but they could write incredible scripts in only 2019. No problem with fans. No problems with women representation. No problem with girl bosses. No problems making government the hero or enemy without seeming political. Then, one minute later, nothing. Everyone FORGOT what being a “Human being” was like, how they operate, fear, are motivated, etc.

    Compare with “Last of Us.” Where a teeny-tiny gurl character is of course kicking 300lb weightlifter soldiers, on a lifelong vendetta, that has no impact on her psychology, so of course she’s joking and kissing the first girl she sees in lesbian foreplay…as one does when they’re shattered by trauma on a death-march vendetta, duh. So she’s the hard/soft, big/small, out/in, hero/villain, girl/boy character. What’s not to like? She both has no story arc and nothing to learn, AND is wandering around AS IF she has a story arc and her actions mean something because she has something to learn. And of course everyone’s favorite:

    Because who doesn’t want to see gay sex? 99% of the population, I’d think.

    “This show is not for you”. Sold!

    May 10, 2025 at 12:39 pm #187778
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Aspnaz, I think everyone has arc’ed into that conclusion, including myself. Must be astrology or something. Thank God.

    Compare with this TV thing: 2019, everyone…just went insane. No reason. Look back, you’re like “Wow, psychotic break” So we only have to go back a year or two to be “Normal” again? Okay, that sounds easy. And we become “Normal” by logging off?

    What a timesave! Shut up and take my money!

    May 10, 2025 at 12:52 pm #187779
    zerosum
    Participant

    Control – Complexities characterizes the behavior of a system or model whose components interact in multiple ways and follow local rules

    Projection/forecast requires accurate data points.
    ————–

    Trump’s tariff salvo last month has disrupted supply chains, unsettled financial markets and stoked fears of a sharp downturn in global growth.

    Traditional approach of working out the details first before the leaders sign any deal

    • Hyperbole, Lies, and Delusions (Richard Porter)
    ————–
    The celebrations in Moscow, including the military parade on Red Square, were attended by upwards of 30 foreign leaders.

    On Friday, during his speech at the annual military parade in Moscow, Putin stressed that Russia remembers the lessons of World War II and “will never accept the distortion of its events.”
    ————–
    You must also imagine that in his 100-plus days as Interim US Attorney for DC, Mr. Martin assembled quite a portfolio of evidence around the manifold blob wrong-doings of the past decade, but especially the treachery of the J-6 / 2021 blob operation at the US Capitol, and the ensuing cover-up of all that, including the intel community’s role in it, the perfidy and perjuries of Chris Wray, Merrick Garland, Nancy Pelosi and others, and the gong show of lies and villainy that was the House J-6 committee chaired by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), (with remedial support from Adam Schiff, Liz Cheney, Jamie Raskin, and, backstage as always, lawfare ninjas Norm Eisen, Mary McCord, Marc Elias, Ben Wittes, and Andrew Weissmann).

    • Going Around. . . Coming Back Around (James Howard Kunstler)

    In theory, Mr. Trump can appoint a new Interim US Attorney every 120 days, and keep rotating them until the cows come home — each successive one with the same support staff of assistant US attorneys underneath, the same cases ongoing, and the same trove of evidence catalogued.
    ————

    30-Day Ceasefire?
    Russians Push Forward, Prep ‘Oreshnik’Strike
    Military Summary For 2025.05.10
    ———-

    May 10, 2025 at 1:00 pm #187780
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    Interview: Alberta Separation, USD, Recession

    May 10, 2025 at 1:01 pm #187781
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    Inflation the Real Story

    May 10, 2025 at 1:37 pm #187782
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    The Georgia Guidestones,
    a granite monument near Elberton, Georgia,
    featured a set of ten guidelines
    inscribed in eight modern languages and four ancient ones.

    The text in English, which is one of the modern languages, reads as follows:

    1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
    2. Guide reproduction wisely — improving fitness and diversity.
    3. Unite humanity with a living new language.
    4. Rule passion — faith — tradition — and all things with tempered reason.
    5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
    6. Let all nations rule internally, resolving external disputes in a world court.
    7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
    8. Balance personal rights with social duties.
    9. Prize truth — beauty — love — seeking harmony with the infinite.
    10. Be not a cancer on the earth — Leave room for nature — Leave room for nature.

    They are working on 1.

    May 10, 2025 at 1:42 pm #187783
    Tree Frog
    Participant

    Just about every day I read TEA.

    Just about every day I read TEA I read Dr. D – not always all, but always much – because he’s taught me to think more broadly and more critically than I had. Look that gift horse in the mouth! Is it a horse? Is it a mouth? Could be the butt end of an aged trollop – or not! Think about it.

    May 10, 2025 at 2:03 pm #187784
    Topcat
    Participant

    TAE comment section

    It’s like Charlie & Marylin’s love child

    Have some sympathy

    May 10, 2025 at 2:04 pm #187785
    Topcat
    Participant

    May 10, 2025 at 3:06 pm #187787
    my parents said know
    Participant

    Pope Joan II?

    May 10, 2025 at 4:26 pm #187788
    zerosum
    Participant

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_derangement_syndrome

    Trump derangement syndrome (TDS) is a pejorative term used to describe negative reactions to US President Donald Trump that are perceived to be irrational and to have little regard for Trump’s actual policy positions.[1]
    The term has mainly been used by Trump supporters to discredit criticism of him, as a way of reframing the discussion by suggesting that his opponents are incapable of accurately perceiving the world.[2][3] Some journalists have used the term to call for restraint when judging Trump’s statements and actions.[4][5][6]
    The term has also come to be used to describe the nature of Trump supporters in their unwavering support of the president.[7][8][9]

    According to The Independent, “the highly-politicized term” was coined to dismiss criticism of Trump in his first term as liberal hysteria, suggesting that people abandon all logic and reason due to their dislike of the president.[15]

    Fareed Zakaria defined the term as “hatred of President Trump so intense that it impairs people’s judgment”.[4][16]

    In July 2018, Jeanine Pirro was a guest on The View to promote her newly published book. While she was responding to a question about how the “deep state” really works, she accused co-host Whoopi Goldberg of suffering from Trump derangement syndrome.[35]

    May 10, 2025 at 4:34 pm #187789
    Topcat
    Participant

    Killing Democracy To Save ‘Democracy’

    “Britain started arresting people for tweeting unapproved things, and France decided to arrest its leading opposition politician, so what happened in Germany was not a surprise.

    After all, Germans are the best at fascism.”

    The Germans are actively proud of their speech suppression, proving once and for all that Morgenthau was right.

    The Germans are de-industrializing just fine. Give them a little more rope and they will indeed hang themselves

    Morgenthau Plan

    The Morgenthau Plan was a proposal to weaken Germany following World War II by eliminating its arms industry and removing or destroying other key industries basic to military strength. This included the removal or destruction of all industrial plants and equipment in the Ruhr. It was first proposed by United States Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr. in a 1944 memorandum entitled Suggested Post-Surrender Program for Germany

    “Oh the Humanity!”

    The many faces of “fascism”

    May 10, 2025 at 5:31 pm #187795
    tboc
    Participant

    please forgive my inability to resist the gratification of whims and desires, i could not resist

    “it rhymes” Twain

    it is understandable that most have not read about the casino like atmosphere around the stock market during the 1920’s, our attention has been drawn to FDR and The New Deal. The sense of euphoria and the idea the market could only go up was to be blunt, every bit as addicting as opium on the streets of The United States. The dust of The Dustbowl obscured the reality that margin driven excesses of the years that led up to the Great Depression were a national moral failing. This of course hides the fact that the dustbowl itself was due to a total feeling of irreverance toward the land and indifference to the natural system that had created the topsoil soon be meet oblivion. The Steinbeck’s and Guthries are no more. I can understand that all of these things are less than a passing fancy to most.

    The era of The Dot Com is not as distant as the year 1929 yet there appears to be an equal disinterest in emotional and intellectual realities of the time. A similiar set of circumstances that did indeed rhyme with the earlier epoch.

    The international pandemic shenanagins have been cleverly instigated to hide the lingering realities of the Sub-Prime rape of all discipline, honor and justice. We are lying to ourselves and we know we are lying to ourselves about the economy that has emerged from the public financing and rewarding of that very rape of society.

    Does anyone even look at the level of debt being carried by households today? Just how would the average 150 thousand a year family invest in the stock market considering the obligations they carry? On the margin of course on the margin. This fictional family would then be competing with international investment as The U.S economy is being sold as The Safe Haven. Pick the name of your favorite fund or hedge fund and ask what limits to ensure sound judgement would be in place. What mechanism is to be inplace to bring discovery into the process? Would not a bubble be the only possible outcome based on a century of experience?

    “Let me tell you this. This country will be like a rocket ship that goes straight up. This is going to be numbers that nobody’s ever seen before.”

    uttering that phrase to human beings who have placed their hope, their faith, and their trust in you is the greatest betrayal and proof of amorality to date. it is the 20’s after all, only 4 years till October 2029

    May 10, 2025 at 5:53 pm #187796
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    “Trump is fed up with Netanyahu”
    ((((War with Iran and final dissolution of The Palestinians must be soon to follow such a lame, insincere, useless disclosure that benefits whom???)))

    I like the word ‘credulousness’ because it takes so long say and sounds opposite of what it means.
    Edentulous is good too. When I hear the word ‘edentulous’ miker and dbs come to mind since D lost his way.

    “D doesn’t lie” but a couple folk here claim to deduce his tea leaves and chicken bones.

    Shit, the performative art is getting chin deep today. Carry on….

    May 10, 2025 at 6:11 pm #187797
    jb-hb
    Participant

    Once I realized that the Wokeists (socialists, marxists, neo-marxists, communists, whatever you want) are waiting on the edge of their seat to meatsuit the Palestinian issue with hundreds of billions of dollars backing them, I said fine, it’s yours. Take it.

    But I will not lend a calorie of my effort to your meatsuit. And your cockblock of actual peace efforts is on YOUR heads. YOU thought it was better to “capture the energy” and make the answer MOAR socialism, moar intersectionalism, critical theory, etc. Instead of actual, real things that matter.

    I’ll wait until they disavow and put humanitarian concerns as top priority or until they are removed as a major force in the public sphere. In the meantime there will be crocodile tears, pearl-clutching, hand-wringing, nagging, browbeating from the very people cynically leveraging the suffering of others for something else.

    What was it socialists were totally retardedly saying about insurance “profiting about the suffering of others”? EVERY TIME, socialists do EXACTLY THAT. “Leverage” issues for moar socialism and make problems WORSE for socialism, not fixing things, not helping. Is a century and a half of making things WORSE for the working class, treating the working class as stupid dumb animal deplorable patsys, rubes, useful idiots who ought to “rise up” against their best interests, is that too long of PROFITING OFF THE SUFFERING OF OTHERS, socialists?

    Maybe like medieval monks making a vow of chastity, you could make a vow of HANDS OFF (you like Hands Off, right?) and just stay fucking SILENT on Gaza, stop with the paid agitators etc, just let people with an actual conscience decide things? Just this one time, this one thing, for decency’s sake?

    May 10, 2025 at 6:42 pm #187798
    those darned kids
    Participant

    “Trump now knows his limits, and he knows what he can—and must—do. That is true humility.”

    what utter crap. mr trump is a baby murderer.

    May 10, 2025 at 6:46 pm #187799
    jb-hb
    Participant

    But you’re pArT oF a sYsTeM, so you’re a baby murderer too, after all, Collective Guilt. You benefit from The System. Ergo Complicit. Ergo murderer, murderer.

    May 10, 2025 at 6:56 pm #187800
    jb-hb
    Participant

    You made clear yesterday anybody who eats a banana is guilty of overthrowing countries and causing the suffering and injustice towards millions. If eating a banana does THAT… I mean, it’s no big deal, I’m just CURIOUS…

    Since you KNOW you are part of a system and therefore benefit and are therefore complicit and are therefore guilty of baby murdering, I’m just wondering if you’ve turned yourself over to the authorities yet.

    And if the authorities expressed incomprehension, what have you done personally to see that justice is done? Have you imprisoned yourself for 20-25 years or perhaps opted for the death penalty? …because you seem to be posting to the internet and jail cells and the afterlife don’t have internet access to my knowledge.

    May 10, 2025 at 7:03 pm #187801
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    May 10, 2025 at 7:04 pm #187802
    those darned kids
    Participant

    denser than a white dwarf..

    i never said, “collective guilt” and blah, blah.

    i don’t speak in clichés.

    i made a comment obliquely remarking that all of us do benefit from the horrors of empire.

    may i recommend reading the works of mr vonnegut.

    May 10, 2025 at 8:23 pm #187804
    jb-hb
    Participant

    This is one of those Critical Theory things – every interaction has an oppressor and a victim.

    To find the oppressor, discover who benefits. That is the one who has Privilege and should be oppressed to Make It Fair.

    Decades of pounding in The Message means that someone can practically say “I call a #3!” and assume the other party must accept all of the givens underlying it.

    all of us do benefit from the horrors of empire

    You just argued Collective Guilt again while going “Ho-HO I never said it. I never SAID…”

    Yes exactly, you are being oblique.

    And you’re discussing with someone who owns every book by Vonnegut and has read them all multiple times. Sirens of Titan is my favorite. Fates Worse Than Death is underappreciated. My taste for Vonnegut is predictable, actually – in line with my Atheism towards Christianity, Socialism, and all other mystical superstitions.

    I had an accounting class in which the teacher recounted a difficulty he had with a boss. Boss kept giving him bad reviews based on the balance sheet for his department.

    He had tried earnestly to meet expectations, but eventually realized that most of the things on the report were not under his control.

    In exasperation, in a 1 on 1 during another berating, negative review, he said, ok, I’ll make changes right now, let’s discuss them together. Crossed his salary out on the balance sheet, wrote in double the number – “No, you can’ do that!” Okay, so that isn’t a cost I control. Crosses it out.

    Goes down the list suggesting reasonable, useful alterations to each line item – no, no, no, no, no. As he hears “no” he crosses them out. Does the math really quick and presents him with a new performance report based on just the things he can control. Basically nothing, but what’s left doesn’t deserve a negative review. Manager lost his shit, of course. Called it insubordinate. The old go-to.

    If you made a distinction between The Blob and normal, decent Americans, that would be a totally different thing.

    I’ve considered this invitation to feel-along-with, to tear my hair, wear sackcloth and ashes, experience demoralization regarding my nation, culture, civilization, and with QUITE a lot of thought, consideration, knowledge, I am declining the invitation. You can feel it by and for yourself. Own it.

    May 10, 2025 at 8:23 pm #187805
    zerosum
    Participant

    Russia has repeatedly said that introducing a prolonged ceasefire depends on establishing mechanisms to monitor and uphold such a move.

    I got an idea for a mechanism to determine who shoot first that will eliminate unproven accusations (lies)
    At less two spy drone recording and feeding the info to an accepted platform.

    May 10, 2025 at 8:44 pm #187806
    those darned kids
    Participant

    awesome, you write 37 words for each one i do.

    everything you imagine about me is completely wrong.

    your understanding of my beliefs is limited by your own suppositions.

    i have to resist pulling you along as it’s karmically dangerous..

    May 10, 2025 at 8:51 pm #187807
    jb-hb
    Participant

    all of us do benefit from the horrors of empire

    i never said, “collective guilt”

    I’ll allow that it’s possible you’re so broken it’s like the water you swim in, the air you breathe, and you cannot see it, as opposed to it being something you are cynically doing. In which case, I’m trying to help you.

    May 10, 2025 at 9:08 pm #187808
    jb-hb
    Participant

    Decades of pounding in The Message means that someone can practically say “I call a #3!” and assume the other party must accept all of the givens underlying it.

    fast, Robin, use the QuickAmnesia™

    you write 37 words for each one i do.

    Knowing you were going to say this, I explained it 3-4 times in the past couple days before you did it.

    I’m just not willing to accept the underlying givens, axioms, Boomer Truths on which Winning Quips™ are based. You get to reference pages of implicit message and be as oblique as you want and then I get to unpack it.

    I don’t know how you win by being oblique – but ok, I’m not arguing with you after all — I’m not missing the mark as far as the point I mean to make unless you go to the trouble to make an argument. So your post made me think of something that interested me – thanks then – uncontested, if I understand that we’re not actually having an argument, right? I argued, made my point, right past you.

    Because

    everything you imagine about me is completely wrong.

    And we both like Vonnegut. Want to dissavow the idea that I’m complicit in the sins of Empire, or what?

    May 10, 2025 at 10:14 pm #187809
    WES
    Participant

    Dr. D:

    I see that some folks just can’t quite catch onto the nuisance of Americans hanging their dirty laundry out for everyone to see.
    This Canadian does, so please carry on as before!

    Trump:

    I have noticed a certain pattern of operation, by President Trump, concerning the other 3 legs of the US government, Congress, courts, and Deep State, which he has little to no control over.

    Since he can’t stop them, he let’s them run wild the way they want, moar war, for example.
    This applies to Ukraine, Israel, Yemen, and Iran.

    Trump knnows they will run like a herd, and herds tend to think stupid, after running for a while.
    Their short sightedness them become glaringly obvious to most observers.

    While the herd runs wild, Trump then quietly tries to change the background, so the herd looks increasingly out of touch with the situation.
    So when Trumpm finally applies the choke chain, stupidity has already lead the herd to jump off the cliff, to their deserved Willie E. Coyote moment.
    By then ev,eryone can plainly see the stupidity of the herd.

    Deep State and Israeli herd stupidity demanded moar war in the Middle East, so Trump let them bomb Yemen like never before.
    It didn’t work this time, just as Trump knew it wouldn’t!
    Now Trump can say to these herd stupids, see I did exactly what you wanted to do, and it failed miserably, and everyone knows you failed, and you own it 100%, so shut up!

    Trump is simply letting the herd stupids, publically embarrasse themselves, by failng, so everyone can see their way is totally lacks common sense.
    Sadly failure is the only way to stop herd stupidity.
    Sometimes stupidity fails quickly, like Yemen, but Ukraine stupidity is taking much longer to play itself out, and fail.
    But fail it will.

    Bombing Iran herd stupidity, played out beautifully live on TV, by Trump, with Mr. Bomb Iran squirming in his seat, as Trump sprung the trap!
    What a nice way to set Bibi’s bounderies!

    May 10, 2025 at 10:23 pm #187810
    those darned kids
    Participant

    anyhoo,

    prep act still in effect..

    May 10, 2025 at 10:38 pm #187811
    zerosum
    Participant


    Putin’s Complete Speech: 80th Anniversary of Victory Day (9 May) | Full English Translation
    ————
    Trying to find
    Putin to deliver major address after Victory Day diplomatic marathon Midnight Moscow Sat. Su

    May 10, 2025 at 10:50 pm #187812
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    @those darned kids,
    try to think positive,
    I am having difficulty.
    Probably because we are not evil unlike everything seems to be.

    @ wes,
    I hope you are right
    I am loosing hope in trump and his gang.
    Hopefully they will transform into American patriots before it is too late.

    May 10, 2025 at 11:04 pm #187813
    those darned kids
    Participant

    hi, michael reid.

    oh, i’m positive in my personal life. you should see the garden!

    i just come here to vent about the psychopaths.

    ¡™£¢∞¡™£¢∞¡™£¢∞¡™£¢∞¡™£¢∞¡™£¢∞¡™£¢∞

    how can you have hope in mr trump – he proved he was evil in his first term.

    he should be on monster island, not in a luxury house in washington.

    May 10, 2025 at 11:15 pm #187815
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    A final destination of Moonraker is disgusting.

    Is the COVID19 destination any better?

    We might get past the Georgia Guidestones step 1 with the injections, the damage done, they are dropping like flies here

    May 11, 2025 at 12:20 am #187816
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    @ tdk,
    life without hope is not nice.

    you are closer, what is to be done.

    May 11, 2025 at 12:38 am #187817
    those darned kids
    Participant

    i believe every human must learn to be his or her own government.

    government must start in the heart and work outward from there.

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