birthright citizenship Archives - The Automatic Earth

Jensen Huang just killed the AI jobs panic.

Not with a forecast. With a pattern.

Huang: “The fact of the matter is PCs made us more busy. The internet made us more busy. Mobile devices made us super busy.”

Every tool that promised to free us expanded what we could reach… pic.twitter.com/wi6tiFA404
— Dustin (@r0ck3t23) April 5, 2026

Pay attention to this America, this is a warning

“Islam is taking over Europe faster than you think

– France is already nearly 10% Muslim
– Sweden, over 8%
– Germany and UK around 7% and integration is going absolutely fantastic (sarcasm)
– In the uk, only 51% of working-age… pic.twitter.com/WQfOT0dBlg
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) April 5, 2026

TOP 10 richest people in the world from 1996 to 2023. pic.twitter.com/gmoYpS2Wfw
— Xavi Ruiz (@xruiztru) April 5, 2026

The City of London is collapsing and they're terrified. New Epstein files expose Mandelson, Rothschild banks, and the WEF. Watch Christopher Steele desperately blame Russia (again) while their entire corrupt empire burns. pic.twitter.com/SS7jf2Nrs7
— matrixbot (@thematrixb0t) April 5, 2026

Elon Musk has been predicting the death of the gas-powered car for over two decades, but his latest reality check for the legacy auto industry is the sharpest one yet. The massive shift to EVs isn't just about saving the environment; it’s about finally acknowledging a vastly… pic.twitter.com/fkMrGNApu0
— Ian Miles Cheong (@ianmiles) April 5, 2026

“And notice how nonchalant it sounds. Trump didn’t go for epic, carnage-heavy branding. He branded it the way you’d casually announce National Potato Chip Day.” American Debunk on X.

• Not Bluffing (James Howard Kunstler)

Note: you are living through the FAFO of all FAFOs just now. The USA is brooking no more aspersions from whomever is still left alive to speak for the jihad posse in Iran. These are the terms: open the strait, layoff the other Gulf states, surrender those thousand pounds of enriched uranium. You can still go forward in time as a developed nation, enjoy the modern Persian life. Or, you can go backward in time to the twelfth century without electric service, bridges, and other conveniences. Your choice.

Over the weekend, further demonstration of what we can do. Such as, against all odds and expectations, rescue an American airman stuck under fire in the middle of Iranian mountain nowhere and do it with no casualties. The Lefty-lefties were so disappointed! No body-bags to celebrate. No Trump failure to trumpet. They were praying out loud Sunday to the Easter Bunny for war crimes they can do a hate-dance over. They insist the USA must be defeated in Iran so that Chuck Schumer and Hakim Jeffries can win the mid-terms. . . so they can destroy Trump in Congress. (Uh, okay, and then what?)
Meanwhile, another couple of dozen Iranian military higher-ups got kinetically removed from operations Saturday. Good luck with your military command structure over there. Got carrier pigeons? But, as far as is known, President Masoud Pezeshkian is still above ground, along with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, with whom US negotiators have at least been messaging, if not talking directly.
Trouble is, their civilian government has no authority over the Revolutionary Guard (the IRGC), which controls all the missiles and drones, the proxy Quds forces outside Iran, and what’s left of the Basij secret police for terrorizing Iran’s people. Remember, it was the Revolutionary Guard who started this jihad long ago in 1979 when they seized the US embassy in Teheran and held 52 Americans hostages for more than a year.
The ultimatum to roll over Iran’s vital infrastructure on Tuesday is a forcing function to clarify who exactly can speak for the Iranian nation if they sincerely want the punishment to stop. It is unlikely to be anyone atop the IRGC, which is the rectified essence of the Islamic death cult. It lives for death! Death to America. . . death to ourselves for that ticket to paradise where the seventy-two virgins beckon. . . death to the global economy, if Allah requires it! Lovely, lovely death!
What part of that does Western Civ not understand? Jihad rolls across Europe without opposition. Nightclub massacres, trucks smashing through bodies in the Christmas markets, rape gangs, beheadings of teachers and Christian priests in broad daylight — none of that was enough to bestir the prime ministers and presidents of Euroland to consider expelling the uninvited hordes. New York City, the bastion of Lefty-left masochism, now lives under the sway of Momdani’s soft jihad, the Islamic call-to-prayer rings through the neighborhoods twenty-five years after 9-11. The Jews of the Upper West Side voted for it. Compassion for the oppressed, as always. . . at one’s own expense.
The US President will have none of that, of course. So, he put it in the starkest form possible, with a touch of manic glee to annoy his homeland enemies. Developments since then? An Israeli air strike overnight took out Majid Khademi, the IRGC Intel chief. Who’s next? Step right up. Foreign Minister Araghchi hastily proposed a forty-five-day ceasefire through Egyptian-Turkish-Pakistani mediators. I doubt that our side wants to give them forty-five days to re-shuffle their remaining assets around. Mr. Trump is not bluffing about those bridges and power plants. Russia and China are not riding to the rescue. And Europe is still off in its corner, pearl-clutching and sniveling while its economies sputter.
Epic Fury leads to epic change on the global landscape. The old arrangements are over, especially the sponsored export of jihadi terror. The Hormuz crisis is the actualization of the global resource scramble underway. The winners and losers are sorting themselves out now, and Mr. Trump seeks to make sure that America is on the winners’ side. So, you must ask: why does the American Left, as personified in the Democratic Party, so desperately want our country to lose?

“On April 9, the last tanker carrying jet fuel from the Persian Gulf will reach Rotterdam; existing reserves are likely to sustain European flight operations for three to four weeks.”

• Europe Is On The Verge of a Massive Jet Fuel Shortfall (Kolbe)

Politics has established a new routine. Right at 12 noon, prices at German gas stations now rise day after day. The government’s pricing decree, a hastily assembled mechanism, acts like an accelerant in an already dramatically strained fuel supply situation. Anyone with rudimentary economic understanding already knew that this form of price regulation would amount to political posturing with fatal consequences. The market is reacting as expected. Gas station operators anticipate general price increases and indirectly coordinate their pricing behavior. If everyone is only allowed to raise prices once per day, that shot will be fired deliberately — better too high than too low.

After that, it becomes a waiting game, observing how competitors react. If the next move can only be a price reduction, the risk can be solved in simple game-theoretical terms: prices are simply kept high as long as competitors do not move. This creates a cartel-like situation that avoids the risk of rapid price cuts and the resulting loss of individual margins. Market dynamics thus turn into generalized tactical hesitation. At the same time, political leadership is marked by a striking lack of direction in the face of real scarcity and a rapidly worsening supply situation. Hormuz is exposing the limits of political emergency measures.
The measures taken so far by the German government to curb rising prices are classic political camouflage — a well-rehearsed play for the public. The fundamental question of how to deal with energy imports is not being seriously addressed. Europe must import 60 percent of its energy to meet demand. And the stubborn stance toward Russia, Europe’s most important supplier of energy and raw materials, will likely prove to be the most fatal mistake of European policy — quite an achievement, given that it is already riddled with misjudgments and ideologically driven, erratic decisions.
It is also significant that Brussels’ CO2regime has severely damaged Europe’s refining capacity. Europe no longer has the infrastructure required to rapidly activate refining capacity in an emergency and close the widening gap in oil and gas supply, regardless of where new raw materials might be sourced. EU policy is knowingly and deliberately escalating the current situation. This finding applies in particular to jet fuel imports. Europe’s aviation sector imports around 40 percent of its jet fuel from the Persian Gulf, making the current situation effectively unsolvable.
Since the beginning of the war, the price of jet fuel has roughly doubled, from $800 to $1,800 per ton. The fact that the United States is taking its time to bring the Strait of Hormuz under military control is putting enormous pressure on European airlines. Scandinavian carrier SAS has already canceled 1,000 flights in April. Lufthansa is also considering grounding parts of its fleet. Airlines that have hedged their fuel purchases may be able to cushion price increases somewhat — Lufthansa among them — but this does nothing to address the physical shortage of available jet fuel. Europe is on the verge of a massive jet fuel shortfall.
On April 9, the last tanker carrying jet fuel from the Persian Gulf will reach Rotterdam; existing reserves are likely to sustain European flight operations for three to four weeks. What happens afterward remains completely uncertain.Given the destruction of refining capacity and related infrastructure in the name of the Green Deal, European policymakers find their hands effectively tied. The Hormuz crisis is likely to erupt with full force. If there is no rapid resolution to the Iran conflict, a loss of 40% of available jet fuel simply cannot be compensated.

The Hungarian prime minister warned that “Europe is nearing an extremely serious energy crisis, and the coming days will be critical”

• Orban Urges End To Sanctions Against Russian Energy (TASS)

Hungary is firmly advocating for the lifting of sanctions on Russian oil and gas supplies to Europe, emphasizing the urgency of this move amid the looming threat of a global energy crisis linked to the ongoing situation in Iran. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban conveyed this stance during a visit to inspect a section of the gas pipeline and the measuring station in Kiskundorozsma, near the border with Serbia.”The Hungarian position is clear: we must end sanctions against Russian energy,” Orban declared, with his remarks broadcast on Hungarian television. He warned that “Europe is nearing an extremely serious energy crisis, and the coming days will be critical.” In his view, “competition for energy resources could resemble the scramble we saw with vaccines during the coronavirus pandemic.”

Orban’s inspection followed an attempted terrorist attack on the Serbian segment of the TurkStream pipeline, which supplies gas to Hungary and Slovakia. In response, on April 5, he ordered the entire 250-kilometer stretch of the pipeline within Hungarian territory to be placed under military protection. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto accompanied him to the Serbia border. “Currently, Hungary’s energy supplies are secure, but the pipeline must be protected,” Orban emphasized, adding that “the situation is extremely serious.” He warned that “if this pipeline were to be cut, Hungary’s economy would come to a standstill.”
When questioned by journalists, Orban said it was too early to identify those responsible for the sabotage attempt, as investigations by Serbian authorities were ongoing. He also recalled that Ukraine had previously blown up the Nord Stream pipeline, halted Russian gas transit to Hungary, and this year imposed an oil blockade on Hungary by refusing to resume supplies via the Druzhba pipeline. Szijjarto further stated that “the Ukrainians aim to completely exclude Russian gas and oil from Europe.” He pointed out that “political actions, as well as terrorist attacks, have been undertaken to achieve this goal,” citing the explosion of the Nord Stream pipeline as the first such act.

“While US Boosts Ship Reinsurance Guarantees To $40BN ..”

Note: Iraq, not Iran

This is where the US (Trump) takes over Britain’s long-standing (re-)insurance business.

• Iraq Tells Buyers To Collect Crude Which Can Now Cross Hormuz (ZH)

Over the long weekend, we reported that with traffic across the Hormuz strait continuing to rise, and reaching the highest since the war began, one particularly favorable development was Iran’s permission for Iraqi ships to use the Strait. We also noted that this declaration had the potential to unleash as much as 3 million barrels a day of Iraqi oil cargoes.That said, there was the caveat that it was not immediately clear if the exemption will apply to all Iraqi oil or just the nation’s tankers, or indeed how it will be enforced. Furthermore, an Iraqi official cautioned that the usefulness of the exemption will depend on whether shipping companies are willing to risk entering the strait to collect cargoes.

Today Iraq underscored this last point when the Gulf state told traders and refiners they can collect crude cargoes as vessels carrying the country’s oil are now able to transit the Strait of Hormuz thanks to an Iranian exemption, testing buyers’ confidence in the security guarantee. In a notice sent on Sunday, the country’s State Organization for Marketing of Oil, known as SOMO, said Iraqi shipments were now “exempt from any potential restrictions,” citing media reports. It asked buyers for lifting schedules, including vessel details and volumes requested, adding all loading terminals including Basrah were “fully operational.” Customers were given 24 hours to respond.
As previously reported, Iran said over the weekend that its neighbor was now free from shipping restrictions around the vital waterway. The country’s military spokesman did not provide details on whether the arrangement applied to vessels or cargoes. The Turkish-owned tanker Ocean Thunder, carrying a million barrels of Iraqi crude to Malaysia crossed the narrow waterway after the announcement. As Bloomberg notes, Iraq often sells oil on a free-on-board (FOB) basis, meaning refiners sort out their own shipping, but it has struggled to export crude since the effective closure of Hormuz a month ago. Asian buyers reached by Bloomberg said they were seeking clarity on conditions, including whether Iraq would offer the use of its own tankers, thereby providing extra security, although judging by Iraq’s comments it is inviting buyers to send their own tankers.
Separately, the Iraqi Basra Oil company announced that Iraq can restore oil exports to 3.4 million barrels per day within a week if Hormuz shipping resumed. Meanwhile, in hopes of kickstarting frozen traffic – and potentially taking over the lucrative shipping insurance market from London – on Friday the US announced it would double to $40 billion its commitment to provide reinsurance guarantees to ships willing to travel through the Strait of Hormuz with the addition of new insurance partners, including AIG and Berkshire Hathaway. The move was the latest US effort to ease worries over the vital waterway and to encourage traffic to resume.
Recall a month ago the US International Development Finance Corp. announced a $20 billion reinsurance program. On Friday, the agency said Travelers, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Berkshire Hathaway, AIG, Starr and CNA will join Chubb to provide an additional $20 billion in reinsurance for the agency’s maritime facility. “Along with Chubb, these leading American insurers bring deep underwriting experience in marine and marine war coverage, strengthening our efforts to help restore confidence in maritime trade,” DFC Chief Executive Officer Ben Black said in a statement.
The DFC also said in the statement that the agency and insurance partners will determine which vessels are eligible for the reinsurance facility. To qualify, the DFC is requiring applicants to provide, among other details, the origin and destination country of the vessel; major beneficial owners of the ship and domicile; owner of the cargo and domicile of the owner; and information about the lenders financing the vessels. Trump on Friday reiterated his frustration over the strait’s closure and the failure of allies to help the US reopen the waterway.
“With a little more time, we can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE,” Trump said in a social media post. It wasn’t immediately clear what actions the president was considering. Shippers remain doubtful, though, of a wholesale return to the Strait of Hormuz even after Trump’s promise to protect ships and his primetime speech on Wednesday in which he repeated that the war will soon end. The key concern about traversing the sea route is that it puts the lives of crews at risk as Iran continues to threaten vessels with drone attacks, missiles and water mines.

“Trump revealed that he thinks there can be no alternative for a state or a people or a god but submission or destruction. Theirs, or his.”

• The Collapse of Trump’s Mind Leaves No Alternative (Helmer)

In the four days between April 1 and April 5, President Donald Trump made a record of the collapse of his mind into genocidal violence which none of his officials can dissuade, limit, control, if they try, or even conceal. Not the military experts of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; not the pollsters of the White House Chief of Staff; not the lawyers of the White House Counsel; not even the spell-checkers of the Director of Communications. Between declaring “we’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong” and “Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell. JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah”, Trump revealed that he thinks there can be no alternative for a state or a people or a god but submission or destruction. Theirs, or his.

In Moscow, there has been silence except for Trump’s advocate inside the Kremlin, Kirill Dmitriev. He has tweeted in support of Trump’s attacks on one of his domestic bugbears, the New York Times, and one of his foreign ones, Europe.This record has been compiled by analysing Trump’s remarks from his rehearsal of the “Stone Ages” line just before his national television speech at 9 pm on April 1 through his early morning tweet on April 5; putting them in the sequence out of Trump’s mouth and time log of their publication; and then locating them in the chain of official meetings and other activities, including inactivities and secrets, identified in the published “Presidential Public Schedule”.
The words speak for themselves. For political analysis of the April 1 speech, read this. The legal standard for genocide includes both intention as Trump has expressed it in this record and acts as he has both threatened and decided, then celebrated in this record. This is how the United Nations sets the standard: “To constitute genocide, there must be a proven intent on the part of perpetrators to physically destroy a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. Cultural destruction does not suffice, nor does an intention to simply disperse a group. It is this special intent, or dolus specialis, that makes the crime of genocide so unique. In addition, case law has associated intent with the existence of a State or organizational plan or policy, even if the definition of genocide in international law does not include that element.”
Trump’s words and the calendar context in which he said them do more than this. The April 1 speech was composed by a committee of advisors who met with him at 3 pm to compose the final draft. In the Calendar, this is noted as a “policy meeting”. According to the account of White House decision-making reported by Time Magazine on April 2, and the motives of the anonymous sources and leakers behind it, there is a deep division in Trump’s policy-making group on the risks he is running in continuing the war against Iran, and escalating instead of exiting from it.

New war, new tools.

• Iran Threatens “Annihilation” of OpenAI’s $30BN Data Center In Abu Dhabi (ZH)

In a move that may well have been sponsored by Dario Amodei or Elon Musk, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) issued a clear public warning to the US that any damage inflicted on Iran’s power infrastructure will be met with decisive retaliation. Specifically, IRGC spokesperson Brigadier General Ebrahim Zolfaghari threatened the “complete and utter annihilation” of U.S. and Israeli facilities, with Stargate’s $30 billion “hidden” AI datacenter in Abu Dhabi singled out as a juicy target for Iranian destruction later in the video. The threats come on the heels of Iran reportedly delivering enough damage via rocket strikes to some Amazon AWS data centers that they have shut down.

Iran leveling up
They released a video of threatening to strike 1GW Stargate AI datacenter in the UAE.

The data center is hidden on Google maps they even shown that pic.twitter.com/LuOGIp3BVj
— Furkan Gözükara (@FurkanGozukara) April 3, 2026

In the video, Zolfaghari warned that “should the USA proceed with its threats concerning Iran’s power plant facilities the following retaliatory measures shall be promptly enacted: All power plants, energy infrastructure, and information and communications technology of the Zionist regime, and all similar companies within the region that have American shareholders shall face complete and utter annihilation.”
As Tom’s Hardware notes, after Zolfaghari’s remarks end, the video switches to a shot of the Earth from space, which zooms into Abu Dhabi on Google Maps. A zone not far from the coast is then centered on, showing an apparently ‘empty’ area of desert. However, a message is overlaid on this bleak view, stating “Nothing stays hidden to our sight, though hidden by Google.” The video then switches to a ‘night vision’ view of the same area of the map with the full extent of the Stargate AI datacenter in Abu Dhabi clear to see.

The threat comes after the IRGC claimed they targeted Oracle’s data centers in Dubai.

IRAN'S REVOLUTIONARY GUARDS SAY THEY HAVE TARGETED ORACLE'S DATA CENTER IN DUBAI – STATE MEDIA
— Phil Stewart (@phildstewart) April 2, 2026

There has been no confirmation whether the facility was hit or what damage it may have sustained.

Between Trump and Iran, it looks like a bragging competition.

• Trump Dragging Americans “Into Hell” – Iranian Parliament Speaker (RT)

US President Donald Trump’s war with Iran is making life worse for ordinary Americans, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said in response to ultimatums over the Strait of Hormuz.In an expletive-laden post on Truth Social on Sunday, Trump warned that Iran would be “living in hell” unless the vital waterway is reopened to shipping by Tuesday, 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time (Wednesday, 12:00 a.m. GMT). He also repeated his threat to bomb Iran’s power plants and bridges.Responding on X hours later, Qalibaf urged Trump to end what he described as a “dangerous game.”

“Your reckless moves are dragging the United States into a living HELL for every single family, and our whole region is going to burn because you insist on following Netanyahu’s commands,” Qalibaf wrote, referring to the Israeli prime minister. “Make no mistake: You won’t gain anything through war crimes,” the Iranian official added.Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz to “enemy ships” shortly after the US and Israel initiated their air campaign on February 28. Tehran later said navigation rules would change and that the strait would remain inaccessible to the US and Israel for an extended period.
Traffic through the strait normally accounts for 20–25% of global oil shipments and around 20% of liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade. Disruptions linked to the ongoing conflict are driving up energy prices, including in the US, where the average price of gasoline has risen to $4 per gallon for the first time since 2022. Russia’s envoy to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, said Washington fails to understand that Tehran would only accept agreements based on “reasonable compromises,” not ultimatums.

“We’re in a new world now … where eight billion people are one plane ride away from having a child who’s a U.S. citizen.”

• Is it Time for a New Amendment on the Meaning of Citizenship? (Turley)

“Well, it’s a new world. It’s the same Constitution.” Those words from Chief Justice John Roberts during this week’s oral arguments signaled that the conservative justices are unlikely to reject birthright citizenship. Of course, nothing is certain until this summer when the Court issues its opinion in Trump v. Barbara. However, we need to consider the need for a 28th Amendment to reaffirm the meaning of citizenship.

As some of us stressed before the oral argument, the odds were against the administration prevailing in the case, given more than a century of countervailing precedent. There are good-faith arguments against reading the 14th Amendment as supporting citizenship for any child born in this country. It is doubtful that the drafters of the 14th Amendment could have envisioned millions of births to illegal aliens. They surely did not imagine foreigners coming to this country for the purpose of giving birth — or even, without ever entering the U.S., contracting multiple U.S. residents to carry babies to term for them as surrogates.
The historical record is highly conflicted. Some drafters expressly denied that they intended for birthright citizenship to be covered by the 14th Amendment. The rampant abuse in this country and the widespread rejection of birthright citizenship by other countries (including some that once followed it) did not seem to impress the conservative justices. Roberts’s statement was in response to Solicitor General John Sauer’s argument that “We’re in a new world now … where eight billion people are one plane ride away from having a child who’s a U.S. citizen.”
Although President Trump has lashed out with personal attacks on the conservative justices as “disloyal” and “stupid,” they are doing what they are bound by oath to do: apply the law without political favor or interest. I expect most of the justices agree with the vast majority of countries — and the president — that birthright citizenship is a foolish and harmful policy. But they are not legislators; they are jurists tasked with constitutional interpretation. Trump appointed three principled justices to the court. To their (and to his) credit, Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett have proven that they are driven by the underlying law, not the ultimate outcome of cases.
For conservatives, constitutional interpretations offer less leeway than their liberal colleagues or believers in the “living constitution.” If you believe in continually updating the Constitution from the bench to meet contemporary demands, constitutional language is barely a speed bump on your path to the preferred outcome in any given case. In my Supreme Court class, I call this a “default case” in which justices tend to run home. When a record or the law is uncertain, conservative justices tend to avoid expansive, new interpretations. That was precisely what Trump said he wanted in nominees.
These justices are not being “disloyal” to him, but rather loyal to what they view as the meaning of the Constitution. I have at times disagreed with their view of the law, but I have never questioned their integrity. None of this means we should accept the expected outcome in this case as the final word on birthright citizenship. Justice Robert Jackson once observed that he and his colleagues “are not final because we are infallible, we are infallible because we are final.” The final word actually rests with the public. We can amend the Constitution to join most of the world in barring birthright citizenship. There is no more important question in a republic than the definition of citizenship.
We are becoming a virtual mockery as we watch millions game the birthright citizenship system. China alone has hundreds of tourism firms that have made fortunes in arranging for Chinese citizens to come to U.S. territory to give birth and then return home. No republic can last without controlling its borders and the qualifications for citizenship. We have allowed U.S. citizenship to become a mere commodity for the most affluent or unscrupulous among us.
The combination of open borders and open-ended citizenship can be an existential threat to this Republic. It is not that we cannot absorb millions of births, but rather that no republic can retain its core identity without more clearly defining and controlling the meaning of being a citizen. The U.S. is and will remain a nation of immigrants. We welcome lawful immigrants who come to this country to embrace our values and our common identity. But being a nation of immigrants does not mean that we are a nation of chumps.

“It’s basically Trump in architectural form: the deal-doing warrior and man with the Midas touch, presided over by his gleaming, gloating, engorged effigy.” —The Guardian

• April 2026 | Eyesore (James Howard Kunstler)

Behold: the proposed Donald J. Trump Presidential Library coming in for a landing on Biscayne Boulevard, Miami a few years hence. It is already catching a lot of TDS flak, and deservedly so, for its gilded grandiosity — including a gigantic golden statue of “47” himself inside somewhere, and the gold “Trump” brand logo plastered on the 47th floor. Mr. Trump has always been a comedian, and this monument is, at least partly, a bit of trollery against his millions of hate-inflamed detractors, a 47-story middle finger (with a smile). All of that is too self-evident to belabor.

Don’t expect this library to house many books, either. Rather, the building is a combo temple / museum, filled with artifacts and objects of worship, like the jumbo jet (of various Air Force Ones) to be installed in the ground floor entrance.

The more curious aspect of this project is its manifestation as a skyscraper. Such megastructures are just now going obsolete all over the world, and the world is stuck with them. Working from home, or the corner cafe, or just about anywhere, killed the need for organizing office work in this manner, and artificial intelligence is apt to sweep away countless middle-management, information handling jobs in any case. Another skyscraper is just not what the world needs these days.
So, you’d also have to ask: aside from exhibit halls, study rooms, and auditoriums, what the heck else is expected to occupy the many other floors of the building? Document storage makes more sense in low-slung structures (filing cabinets are heavy) or underground, with elaborate climate-control. Is the plan to offer some upper floor market rental space to companies who might want to locate at a “prestige address?” But, we’ve already established that the traditional office milieu is on its way out.
The answer probably is that building skyscrapers is just what DJT did in life, besides being president of the USA twice. It’s what he knows how to do, and this scheme reflects on the triumphs of his prior career in real estate development. Really, it’s just another Trump Tower, perhaps, ultimately, another Trump hotel for folks who want to bask in the glow of the Golden Golem of Greatness and his legendary doings. The final joke is that it’s being financed with the awards from the various lawsuits Mr. T has won against the old legacy media giants who defamed him over years. For all that, we say GO, MAGA. . . !

What are the odds the royal family will survive? The only reason they’re still there is Elizabeth. But all her kids are retards. And some day Charles will face his own crisis. Look at how he treated Lady Di. A king first should behave as one.

• British King Makes Easter Message After Backlash Over Ramadan Greeting (RT)

British King Charles III has issued an Easter message to Christians, after Buckingham Palace came under fire earlier this week for stating that he would not make one. He recently delivered greetings to Muslims on Ramadan. The British monarch is traditionally the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. On Thursday, GB News quoted a Buckingham Palace representative as saying that King Charles would not issue an Easter message. The announcement drew criticism from social media users, many of whom described the king’s Easter silence as “disappointing.” “We are hurting as a nation, we needed a message of Easter hope,” one user wrote.

Some critics took issue with the fact that, in February, the Royal family posted a message on its social media accounts marking the beginning of Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar. “Wishing all Muslims in the UK, the Commonwealth and around the world a blessed and peaceful Ramadan,” the greeting read. In March, as Muslims around the world celebrated Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the month-long fast, Buckingham Palace also published a post reading, “Eid Mubarak to Muslims celebrating in the UK and around the world.”Several British Christian clerics criticized the Royal family’s initial refusal to do the same for the country’s largest religious community.
Gavin Ashenden, a former chaplain to the late Queen Elizabeth II, issued a statement in which he suggested that the King’s silence gave his subjects the impression that the monarch “is more sympathetic to Islam.” He added that this was particularly disheartening at a time when “Christianity throughout the West – but particularly in this country, and Anglicanism above all – is beginning to sink into decay.” Bishop Ceirion H. Dewar similarly wrote on X that the Royal family’s silence on Easter was a “grave disappointment.” On Sunday, the Royal family ultimately released a short message to wish “a joyous Easter Sunday to Christians celebrating in the UK, the Commonwealth and around the world.”

“Beyond building an expanded facility to host guests, the Trump administration said the White House construction project includes new protective measures.”

• Trump Admin Appeals Order Halting White House Ballroom Construction (ET)

The Trump administration on April 3 appealed a judge’s order to halt construction on a new White House ballroom, elevating security concerns associated with the project. On March 31, Judge Richard Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued an order declaring that the president lacked the authority to order the $400 million addition on the presidential residence. Leon’s ruling came as a win for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a congressionally chartered nonprofit for the preservation of U.S. monuments and historic sites, which has challenged the White House renovation.

The National Park Service filed an emergency motion before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on April 3, arguing that halting the construction in progress exposes a construction site with highly sensitive security features. Beyond simply building an expanded facility to host guests, the National Park Service said the ongoing construction includes the installation of new protective features to withstand attacks from high-powered rifles, drones, missiles, and other unspecified “emerging national-security technologies and threats.”
Supporting the National Park Service in the case, Secret Service Deputy Director Matthew Quinn described the open construction site as a “managed safety hazard” that creates added challenges for the president’s security detail. The National Park Service argued that the project should be finished quickly, writing, “Time is of the essence!” In his ruling enjoining the construction project, Leon said that as president, Trump is the steward of the White House, but not an owner who can do with the residence as he chooses. The district judge wrote that the true authority over federal property rests with Congress, not the president.
However, in its appeal, the National Park Service argued that presidential authority covers security-related renovations at the residence. “The district court took the erroneous, sweeping view that Congress did not authorize the ballroom construction at the White House—yet correctly allows construction ‘necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House and its grounds, including the ballroom construction site, and provide for the personal safety of the President and his staff,’” the National Park Service wrote. Leon acknowledged security issues in his March 31 order to halt the construction.
In a separate order, the district judge said construction could not proceed on the development of the ballroom, but left room for the Trump administration to proceed with construction actions “strictly necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House and its grounds, including the ballroom construction site, and provide for the personal safety of the President and his staff.” Leon’s order calls for a halt to the ballroom construction by April 14.

Ha ha.

• Ukrainian Children ‘Harassing’ Draft Officers – Ombudsman (RT)

Ukrainian schoolchildren are increasingly “harassing” draft officers on the streets after watching viral TikTok videos of the officers attempting to press reluctant recruits into service, Ukraine’s military ombudsman, Olga Reshetilova, has said. Speaking on NV Radio on Saturday, Reshetilova accused Russia of spreading videos of violent acts amid the conscription campaign – which has become known in Ukraine as ‘busification’ – but conceded that the narrative has found “fertile ground.” “Schoolchildren, having watched Russian TikTok videos about the recruitment centers, start harassing people in military uniform on the streets,” she said, calling it “a very dangerous signal, because children’s psyche is not ready.”

Reshetilova also noted that parents are compounding the problem by openly discussing forced conscription in front of their children. She added that when “teenage aggression is directed at servicemen, this requires our counteraction,” such as pursuing a “nationwide information policy… in cultivating respect for a person in uniform.”nReshetilova’s comments come amid Ukraine’s contentious draft campaign, which has spawned thousands of videos showing officers clashing with reluctant recruits. Some altercations result in serious consequences, including injuries and even death in some documented cases. Many of the clips also feature ordinary civilians trying to protect people from being pressed into military service.
A Council of Europe report in July 2025 found systemic human rights violations in Ukraine’s recruitment process, citing beatings and the conscription of people with disabilities. While Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has acknowledged issues with the draft and ordered defense officials to implement the necessary reforms, the head of his office, Kirill Budanov, dampened hopes for swift reform, stressing that forced conscription is vital to staving off a collapse of the front lines and replenishing battlefield losses.

How many kids do it long enough to qualify for “long-term use”?

• Long-Term Social Media Use Linked to Depression, Self-Harm (ET)

An Australian-led study has found children and teenagers who spend more time on social media are more likely to experience depression, self-harm, substance use, and lower achievement later in life. Published in JAMA Pediatrics, the systematic review examined data from 153 studies consisting of over 350,000 children and adolescents aged between 2 and 19 years, for up to two decades. “The strongest pattern we saw was between social media use and later problematic media use, suggesting early patterns of engagement may become more entrenched and difficult to manage over time,” said Sam Teague, a senior research fellow at James Cook University.

The study focused on longitudinal research, which follows participants over time and offers stronger insight into how behaviours and outcomes develop. Teague said previous research in the field often relied on snapshots collected at a single point in time, making it harder to determine whether social media use preceded negative outcomes. However, she stressed the findings do not prove social media causes harm. Instead, the results show consistent links between higher use and a range of developmental outcomes, including cognitive, social-emotional, physical health, and motor development.
Amy Orben, a professor at the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at the University of Cambridge, said the relationship may be more complex.“It may be that children who are already struggling spend more time on social media, rather than social media being the cause of their difficulties,” Orben said. “Similarly, some personality traits or life circumstances might make certain children both more likely to use social media heavily and more likely to experience poorer developmental outcomes.” Teague said one possible explanation is that time spent online may displace activities linked to better mental health.
“Time spent on digital media [could] displace time that would otherwise be spent on things that are linked to improved mental health, like exercise and connecting with family and peers in real life,” Teague told The Epoch Times in an email. She also contrasted the interactive nature of social media with traditional media.“Unique to digital media over traditional media, is its interactive nature, whereby children and teens are encouraged to keep engaging with content through addictive features like auto-play and auto-scroll,” she said. Adolescents in particular were identified as more vulnerable to the effects of social media.
“Early adolescence is when identity formation and peer relationships become key developmental systems for young people,” she said. She added that social media can magnify these pressures through constant external feedback and large social comparison. “Action is needed at the policy and platform level most to make our online environments, that are designed largely for adults, appropriate for children,” she said. “Addictive design features particularly need attention, like auto-play and auto-scroll, as well as exposure to harmful content.”

“..it takes a year to build an aircraft. It takes 200 years to build a military tradition where you don’t leave anybody behind.”

• Former CENTCOM Commander Discusses US Rescue Operation in Iran (CTH)

Former Commander of CENTCOM, General Frank McKenzie, appears on CBS to give his analysis of ongoing Operation Epic Fury, along with the successful rescue of the F-15 crew.

[Transcript] – ED O’KEEFE: We’re joined now by the former head of U.S. Central Command, retired General Frank McKenzie. General, Happy Easter.
GEN. FRANK MCKENZIE: And the same to you, Ed.
ED O’KEEFE: So it took just under 48 hours to find the missing weapons systems officer. After the jet they were in went down in a remote and mountainous area of southwestern Iran, the weapons officer was hiding in a mountainous crevice. We’re told by a senior administration official, what’s your assessment of how the search and rescue operation went?
GEN. MCKENZIE: So I think I’d draw two lessons from it, Ed. First of all, the excellence of the joint force, our ability to rapidly pivot, to look for a downed air crewman. We train for this endlessly. It’s a part of every time we send air crew over enemy territory, we have detailed, elaborate plans to go get them. It’s a very basic part of who we are as American fighting men and women. So that plan swung into action. I think it was executed pretty effectively. As always, you’ve got somebody on the ground, may be injured. They got to get to a position where they can hide until you can get to them. All that seemed to work out very well. And you know, we did, in fact, lose a couple of aircraft in that in that mission.
But I would just tell you, it takes a year to build an aircraft. It takes 200 years to build a military tradition where you don’t leave anybody behind. You take the aircraft trade any day in a situation like this. The other lesson, I think, is a hard lesson for Iran. First of all, they were not able to find the missing air crewman. Second, you know, they put out a broad appeal to their people to turn him in reward, asking for all kinds of leads, that does not appear to have been successful. And that would- I think that’s maybe a sign of disaffection, don’t know, but you can’t, you can’t be happy with that if you’re a senior leader in Tehran this morning.
D O’KEEFE: Yeah, you know Iran’s Revolutionary Guards now claiming responsibility for attacks on petrochemical plants in the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain. They warn its attacks against U.S. economic interests will intensify if attacks on civilian targets in Iran are repeated, does Iran and its proxies retain the capacity to inflict serious damage at this point?
GEN. MCKENZIE: They have the ability to inflict damage. They do not have the ability to gain mass effects. And by mass effects, I mean firing many, many dozens of rockets, missiles or drones. I think that capability has been eroded steadily since this campaign began. And frankly, at about plus 30 days into this campaign, I think if you’re at Central Command, you’ve got to be reasonably satisfied with where you are right now. In fact, Ed, when I was the CENTCOM Commander, if you had given me this situation at plus 30 days, I would have rejected it as being too optimistic by far. So we’ve had good effect. Our effects are going to continue. It’s going to be increasingly harder for them to launch missiles and rockets. We may not get to zero for a while, and I think there’s still some time ahead, but everyone realizes that. But I think we’re on track here. This campaign is moving very effectively, and I believe the pace will pick up every day.

WSO=Weapons Systems Officer.

• The European Mind Can’t Comprehend Why We’re Such Bad A****s (Stephen Green)

After an F-15E Weapons Systems Officer ejected injured over Iranian territory, the United States military and intelligence community moved Heaven and Earth to find him, rescue him, and return him safely home. While we might never know the exact figures, somewhere between 100-200 personnel were involved in the rescue, including perhaps two small Night Stalker helicopters, and two MC-130J Commando II Special Forces cargo planes that had to be destroyed on the ground. Four specialized aircraft for one WSO? What a bargain! But it isn’t a bargain our NATO partners in Western Europe can afford.

Let me take you on a quick detour through exactly how American forces were able to track and finally pinpoint the location of the injured WSO. It’s a nifty little device called the Combat Survivor Evader Locator (CSEL), and it’s worn by pilots and combat aircrews at risk of getting shot down over enemy territory. CSEL looks a little like an old-school satellite phone, and that’s because they share some DNA. Automatically activated during ejection, a CSEL communicates in short, encrypted bursts the ejectee’s location and movement. Short bursts prevent the enemy from triangulating a position (assuming they knew what to listen for), frequency hopping prevents repeated attempts at listening, and encryption means the bad guys can’t read the location data if even they did manage to intercept a transmission.
When a rescue team gets close, CSEL changes modes, “guiding helicopters straight to them in terrain that would otherwise swallow a man alive,” as Gene Robinson put it on X.Even with near-perfect data, rescue crews don’t necessarily have it easy. Tehran’s $60,000 bounty on our WSO’s life drew all kinds of armed vermin out of the woodwork, and our Special Forces are believed to have killed an unknown numbers of them during the extraction, estimated anywhere from dozens up to 100.
So let’s put this all together. U.S. forces established a hasty airhead in enemy territory, landed two Special Forces cargo planes there, held it against heavy enemy fire — and when things went south, destroyed the planes before calling in two more just like them to complete the rescue. We got our man out and lost zero men doing it. So, yeah, when President Donald Trump says this was one of the most “daring” rescues in history, he’s right. All made possible by a CSEL whose only purpose is to “phone home” via satellite by the most secure means possible — and there’s no other country on Earth that can make that kind of extraction so deep in enemy territory.
If one of our NATO allies, God forbid, had a pilot shot down over Iran — I know, I know; they’d have to send some warplane first — it would be American men and women putting their lives on the line to bring them out. This post is indicative of the mindset, and Western Europe’s comparative inability to conduct such rescues But as I replied on X, we don’t call it our “greatest military success of all time.” We call it “business as usual.” “If you want to know why the U.S. & IAF have the best and most committed pilots/aviators in the world, it’s because they know we will do everything in our power to bring them home.”
Or as former CENTCOM commander Ret. Gen. Frank McKenzie put it Sunday on Face the Nation, “It takes a year to build an aircraft, and it takes 200 years to build a military tradition where you don’t leave anybody behind.” As another wit said, France can’t afford to lose two of its 14 cargo planes, but we have hundreds. That’s the inevitable result of free-rider military budgets that countries like France and Britain are willing to make. Our air crews know that when they go out, they have the entire force and will of the United States military backing them up. Is it any wonder they’re so damn good?

Greece is hardcore Christian and Nationalistic. Every day there is something historic to honor for the nation!

The town of Mesolonghi combined the traditional religious celebration of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem with a major national commemoration through their procession!

The… https://t.co/20UpAPYuXh pic.twitter.com/ye3UXYy5UU
— TheBlackWolf (@thewolvenhour) April 5, 2026

The Muslim occupation of Spain, lasted for 780 years. From 711 to 1492.

In 711 a Muslim army from North Africa crossed the product of Gibraltar. At the head of the force was Tarek Ibn Ziad, a barbaric commander who acted on behalf of the national khalifat.

They defeated the… pic.twitter.com/6eUvZgWZGk
— Imtiaz Mahmood (@ImtiazMadmood) April 5, 2026

https://twitter.com/Old_But_Gold50s/status/2041025609858531577?s=20

Here are some goats on a vertical cliff face.

They are not alarmed. They are not reconsidering their choices. They are licking salt deposits with the energy of animals that have been doing this for ten thousand years and find your concern mildly irritating.

The Zagros… pic.twitter.com/oqKzFegiVe
— Sama Hoole (@SamaHoole) April 5, 2026

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Debt Rattle January 23 2025

Jan 232025

January 23, 2025 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 10:50 am Finance Tagged with: birthright citizenship, Deep State, mRNA, Putin, transition, Trump, Ukraine 65 Responses »

Wassily Kandinsky Succession 1935

• Trump Ready To Meet With Putin ‘Anytime’ (RT)

• Trump Admits Love For Russian People And Offers Putin ‘A Deal’ (RT)

• This Transition Is Already a Huge Historical Marker (Jeffrey Tucker)

• Trump’s Sweeping Orders Will ‘Transform’ The World – Orban (RT)

• EU and UK ‘Prepared’ For Trump – Politico (RT)

• The Second Era of Trump Begins (Wegmann)

• Trump Begins Deep State Purge At DOJ (ZH)

• Trump Signs Executive Order to Fire Top Career Federal Managers Faster (PCR)

• A Ukrainian Victory Was Never Biden’s Goal: Time Magazine (Antiwar)

• Kiev Closest To Joining EU – Serbian President (RT)

• Hungary Blocks Renewal of Sanctions Against Russia – Bloomberg (RT)

• Cost Of Potatoes, Cost Of Blood – When Inflation Is Lethal (Helmer)

• The Age of Interplanetary Exceptionalism (Pepe Escobar)

• Oracle Boss Pledges Individual AI MRNA Cancer Vaccines (RT)

• Birthright Citizenship Isn’t Real (Ryan McMaken)

• The Final Corruption of Joe Biden (Turley)

Heli
https://twitter.com/i/status/1882102112861179990

500B
https://twitter.com/i/status/1881835411238170624

4 years
https://twitter.com/i/status/1882264205988159547

Salute
https://twitter.com/i/status/1881946617672311012

Bolton
https://twitter.com/i/status/1881871704978575771

Nixon

The CIA murders JFK.

The Warren Commission absolves the CIA.

Nixon knows the CIA murdered JFK.

4 of the 5 Watergate burglars work for the CIA.

The CIA frames Nixon for Watergate.

Ford is chosen as Nixon's replacement.

Ford was on the Warren… pic.twitter.com/aBIjRp0e8V

— Bridgett Fertig (@LightOnLiberty) January 22, 2025

Bondi

OBSTRUCTION: Democrats are desperate to stop President Trump from Making American Great Again. Freshman Senator Adam Schiff placed a seven day hold on @PamBondi's confirmation as Trump's Attorney General. This is deplorable.

h/t @nicksortor pic.twitter.com/8Y8IMCdaLB

— @amuse (@amuse) January 21, 2025

Dimon

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon: Elon is our Einstein. It's rational he checks our government efficiency.

“You’ve got to look at Elon, at SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink – the guy is our Einstein. I'd like to be helpful to him and his companies as much as we can.

I think it is completely… pic.twitter.com/Z4FupNluVF

— ELON CLIPS (@ElonClipsX) January 22, 2025

Boeing

A speech that needs to be made at every major company… pic.twitter.com/KVdCBMpyoH

— Tryb Media (@xTRYB_Media) January 22, 2025

Trump appears to go in with bluster. Not sure he’s fully aware a lot has changed since he first was president. You think you get peace by threatening sanctions? Hmm. He also apparently said Ukraine lost 600,000 soldiers, and Russia over 1 million. Makes you wonder where he gets his info.

• Trump Ready To Meet With Putin ‘Anytime’ (RT)

US President Donald Trump has said that he is ready to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin anytime in order to discuss a diplomatic settlement to the conflict between Moscow and Kiev. During a press conference at the White House on Tuesday, Trump repeated his earlier claim that if he had been president in 2022, the Ukraine crisis “would have never happened.” “Russia never would have gone into Ukraine. I had a very strong understanding with Putin,” he stressed. Trump described the Russian leader as “smart” and insisted that Putin launched the military operation in the neighboring country only because “he disrespected [then-US President Joe] Biden.” The US head of state again insisted he is now interested in swiftly finding a way to stop the Ukraine conflict, saying: “I would like to see that end.”

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky “would like to have peace. He has told me that very strongly… but it takes two to tango,” Trump explained. When asked about when he is going to hold face-to-face talks with Putin, he replied by saying: “Anytime they want – I will meet.” “We are talking to Zelensky. We are going to be talking with President Putin very soon and we will see how it all happens,” the US president stressed. Trump also said that Washington would “likely” slap additional sanctions on Moscow if the Kremlin refuses to engage in peace talks, and that his administration would “look into” the possibility of providing more weapons to Ukraine. During a Russian National Security Council meeting on Monday, Putin commended Trump’s intention to resume contacts between Russia and the US, which had been halted by the Biden administration. However, he stressed that dialogue can only happen on an “equal and mutually respectful basis.”

The Russian authorities have noted Trump’s statements about Washington’s desire to restore communication links and “about the need to do everything to prevent World War Three,” Putin stressed. “Of course, we welcome such an attitude and congratulate the elected US president on taking office,” he added. The Kremlin has not yet been contacted by the White House to schedule a phone call between Putin and Trump, the Russian president’s foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said on Tuesday. Moscow is “following media reports… that Trump allegedly instructed his team to contact Russia,” Ushakov stressed, adding that the Kremlin is open for discussions with the new US administration.

Bluster: “I’m going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR.”

• Trump Admits Love For Russian People And Offers Putin ‘A Deal’ (RT)

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued a thinly-veiled ultimatum to Russia, urging it to bring the Ukraine conflict to an end and strike a “deal,” or face new sanctions and high import tariffs. Trump issued the warning in a post on his Truth Social online platform, proclaiming his “love” for the Russian people and insisting he was “not looking to hurt Russia.” “We must never forget that Russia helped us win the Second World War, losing almost 60,000,000 lives in the process,” he wrote, exaggerating the estimated Soviet Union losses more than twofold. “All of that being said, I’m going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR. Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE,” Trump asserted.

Should no “deal” on the matter materialize “soon” enough, Trump would “have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries.” The US president also reiterated that the Russia-Ukraine conflict “never would have started” if he had been in office. “We can do it the easy way, or the hard way – and the easy way is always better,” Trump warned Moscow. Earlier in the day, Trump reiterated his readiness to engage in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, insisting he’d had a “very strong understanding with” the Russian leader before. Asked when exactly the talk could happen, Trump said “anytime they want – I will meet.”

“We are talking to [Ukraine’s Vladimir] Zelensky. We are going to be talking with President Putin very soon and we will see how it all happens,” Trump said. On Monday, Putin commended Trump’s proclaimed intention to resume contact between Russia and the US, which was halted under the Biden administration. The potential dialogue, however, can only happen on an “equal and mutually respectful basis,” the president warned during a meeting of the Russian National Security Council.

“Nothing is written that moral courage cannot overcome.”

• This Transition Is Already a Huge Historical Marker (Jeffrey Tucker)

There is plenty of time ahead for the peanut gallery to discuss the ins and outs of the daily goings-on with the new Trump administration. There will be good and bad, and everyone is free to call out which is what and can do so for fully four years. For now, we pause to consider the historic nature of what is taking place in our times and be grateful that we are all around to watch it unfold. And we should consider the lessons it offers for our own lives. There is the obvious data point that President Donald Trump is only the second nonconsecutive second-term president after Grover Cleveland. That’s interesting but hardly scratches the surface of the significance of this presidency. Anyone who prophesied two years ago that Trump would be taking the oath of office would have likely been considered a lunatic. The whole of corporate media was railing against his legacy. The historians were writing him off.

Google was gaming its search results to shame anyone who still defended him. Big tech and nearly the whole of academia were united in loathing. The sneering on late-night television was the only consistent theme. Meanwhile, the big guns were coming for him personally with indictment after indictment. There is warfare and there is lawfare but the desire to destroy is the same. There was talk of confiscating Trump Tower and even jail. The revenge fantasies were out of control, while his attorneys’ fees were sky-high, millions upon millions of dollars. There was no power center in the United States or really the world that was not overflowing with loathing and brutal attacks, including every attempted extortion and smear. It is impossible to not give Trump personal credit for seeing his way through a series of threats and attacks that would have broken even the strongest character.

Somehow he managed to get through it all with his physical and mental well-being not only saved but even strengthened. How did he sleep? How did he keep his spirits high? How did he see the light at the end of this long, dark tunnel? It’s unfathomable. I don’t care what your politics are: If you cannot see this example of steadfastness and courage as inspiring, there is something wrong. Is there anything wrong in your life to compare? It’s doubtful. He made it through and so can you. If nothing else is true, his personal example of courage in the face of grave danger is exemplary. He had plenty of competitors for the Republican nomination, and they were right to challenge him, not based on a lack of respect but simply because of their own confidence that they could do the job.

But at this stage of history, Trump was already legendary and approaching a status of personal grandeur that no one could match. Thus did he get the nomination and his competitors defer. Panic among mainstream opinion makers ensued once again. The unthinkable happened: the first assassination attempt. It’s impossible to look at the circumstances surrounding that quarter-inch miss and not feel a sense of awe. It’s difficult to explain without taking recourse to divine intervention. Equally remarkable was Trump’s response, not to cower and collapse but stand and assure the people for whom he felt responsibility that he was alive. And he used that precious and catastrophic moment to rally the people with immortal words, fist in the air.

Will that moment go down in history? It became obvious in the days following that the powers that be did not want it to do so. Within a week or so, it was hard to find information about this at all, as the major national media simply stopped talking about it. That left it to the masses of regular people who simply could not suppress their astonishment at what transpired. Alternative media swung into action as did the meme makers and the merchants with shirts, cups, and posters. There was to be no burying this event.

Our times are absolutely desperate for examples of masculine heroism. The culture has been nearly purged of such, from movies to television to music. What Trump did was countercultural in every sense of the term: It went against the grain and disturbed the powers that be. This event became a mighty symbol of cultural renewal, a template for an entire generation to understand the sacrifices that are often necessary for success. Behind the scenes, the Trump loyalists were hard at work, mostly in private by design, and with one focus: Get him to a second term. How in the world could they have confidence that this was possible? It comes down to one word—math. They knew what the whole of mainstream culture denied, namely that the results of the 2020 election were not mathematically possible.

“..the EU leadership continues to advocate for liberal policies on migration, family, and gender issues..”

• Trump’s Sweeping Orders Will ‘Transform’ The World – Orban (RT)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has endorsed the executive orders signed by US President Donald Trump immediately after his inauguration on Monday, claiming they will transform the world. Trump signed a slew of mandates on his first day back in office, aimed at reversing a number of policies pursued by the administation of Joe Biden. Orban, a strong supporter of Trump, took to X on Tuesday to congratulate the newly inaugurated US president, remarking that his executive orders would “transform not only the US, but the entire world.” He further commented that with Trump’s return to office, “the rebellion against woke liberal democracy has entered a new stage” and urged “patriotic forces to occupy Brussels.”

Orban, who views Trump’s return to the White House as a game-changer for US-EU relations, believes the new president will bring a more conservative shift to US policies, creating opportunities to challenge EU leadership. Speaking in Budapest on Monday, hours before Trump’s swearing-in, the Hungarian leader called for sensible EU leaders to recognize a shift toward a “new world order,” declaring that “soon, the sun will shine differently over Brussels.” According to Orban, Trump’s policies could deepen divisions between Washington and Brussels, where the EU leadership continues to advocate for liberal policies on migration, family, and gender issues. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto echoed Orban’s sentiments, stating that Trump’s initial executive actions indicate an end to “pro-war and pro-migration madness” and the beginning of “the era of peace, security, national sovereignty and common sense.”

The flurry of Trump’s presidential mandates incorporates various measures to ramp up security, including declaring a national emergency at the southern border, designating drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, as well as ending automatic birthright citizenship for children born to parents who are neither US citizens nor lawful permanent residents. Trump has repealed 78 executive orders signed by his predecessor, Joe Biden, including at least a dozen measures supporting ‘racial equity’ and combating discrimination against gay and transgender people. Regarding international agreements, Trump launched a US withdrawal from the World Health Organization and from the Paris Climate Agreement. The measures, which reflect Trump’s campaign pledge to restore what he has described as “common sense” governance, with a focus on national security and traditional values, elicited mixed reactions, drawing both praise and censure globally.

“Trump is impulsive and it’s impossible to know what he may decide to do next.”

• EU and UK ‘Prepared’ For Trump – Politico (RT)

The European Union and the United Kingdom are well prepared for a possible trade war with the United States, Politico has reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. On his first day back in the White House, President Donald Trump signed an executive order outlining an ‘America First’ trade policy, directing federal agencies to review existing trade agreements with partner countries. Last month, Trump urged the EU to purchase more American oil and gas or face a barrage of tariffs. According to Politico, the European Commission has confirmed that it was taking the offer seriously and would follow up on it. “While it’s clear Europe doesn’t want to be at odds with the United States, it has also done much more work to prepare for conflicts this time than it had ahead of Trump’s first term,” the publication wrote on Wednesday.

In 2018 Brussels was caught off guard by sudden US tariffs on steel and aluminum. In response, the EU imposed retaliatory tariffs on a range of US goods worth €2.8 billion ($2.9 billion), including iconic American products such as motorcycles and bourbon whiskey. The EU and the UK have been “war-gaming scenarios” for months and have prepared an “arsenal of weapons for a trade war,” wrote Politico. According to the publication’s sources, officials hope Trump can be persuaded not to hit European exports with punitive tariffs but have readied a wide array of potential responses, including retaliatory tariffs.

European leaders are also concerned about the implications of Trump’s stance on NATO and support for Ukraine. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky on Tuesday urged Europe to bolster its own defense capabilities, questioning whether the US will maintain its commitment to European security under Trump’s leadership. European leaders, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, have been swiftly preparing strategies to demonstrate their readiness to shoulder responsibilities and engage in future negotiations with Trump, wrote Politico. The outlet concluded by saying that “Trump is impulsive and it’s impossible to know what he may decide to do next.” The view was echoed on Wednesday by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who argued that US foreign policy remains “completely unpredictable.”

“Trump 2.0 will be a lot more direct and assertive administration this time around.”

• The Second Era of Trump Begins (Wegmann)

Under the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, Donald Trump was again inaugurated, this time as the 47th president of the United States, capping a historic return to power that serves as a resounding rebuke to the established political order. Said the returning president after taking the oath of office, “The golden age of America begins right now.” Outgoing Vice President Harris, his rival, observed without emotion during the remarks of the new president, and an equally blank-faced now former President Biden sat with his head propped up in his hand. Thus began the second era of Trump.

His was an uphill path back to the White House, marked not just by the normal battles of politics but by legal prosecutions and two failed assassination attempts. “I felt then and believe even more so now,” Trump said recalling the moment last summer when a bullet came millimeters from killing him, “that my life was saved for a reason; I was saved by God to make America great again.” When Secret Service agents covered him with their bodies in Butler, Pennsylvania, a bloodied Trump pumped his fist in defiance and shouted, “Fight, fight, fight!” At his second inaugural, he defined that work, declaring “My recent election is a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal and all these many betrayals that have taken place and give people back their faith, their wealth, their democracy and indeed their freedom. From this moment on, America’s decline is over.”

He said the date would be forever immortalized as “Liberation Day,” promising hundreds of executive actions that would reverse and make only a memory of the Biden presidency. His administration will declare a national emergency at the border and designate drug cartels as terrorist organizations. He vowed to put an end to the government practices of “socially engineering race and gender” into every aspect of life, “all government censorship,” and even birthright citizenship. He marshaled the 19th-century rhetoric of American exceptionalism and nationalism, casting an eye on both new lands on Earth and in the cosmos. “We are taking it back,” Trump said of the Panama Canal. “We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars,” he added later, predicting that an American flag would soon be planted on Martian soil.

Mars may be beyond his reach. The federal register is not. The Trump administration placed a desk on stage at the Capitol One Arena in downtown Washington, D.C. His second presidency is expected to begin with a live display of authority as he signs executive order after executive order. On the steps of the U.S. Capitol, Trump vowed eight years ago that “American carnage stops here and right now.” He’s made the same promise but without much of the lofty rhetoric. Instead, the new president was more workmanlike.

Mick Mulvaney, who served as his White House chief of staff, told RealClearPolitics to expect that “Trump 2.0 will be a lot more direct and assertive administration this time around.” A political apprentice no more, Trump returns to power after both remaking the Republican Party in his own image and shifting public opinion on everything from immigration policy to the old consensus on relations with China. And this time, the president has surrounded himself not with converts, but with a Cabinet of true believers in his vision. They were all there to watch their new boss.

“We will expel the warmongers from our government. We will drive out the globalists. We will cast out the communists, Marxists and fascists. We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country..”

• Trump Begins Deep State Purge At DOJ (ZH)

President Donald Trump has begun delivering on a central promise of his historic 2024 campaign by removing officials who obstruct his America First agenda. Numerous top officials have been fired at the Department of Justice’s Executive Office of Immigration Review, which oversees the country’s immigration courts, NBC News reports. The firings, which occurred late Monday evening, include the following officials: chief immigration judge, Sheila McNulty; the acting director of the Executive Office of Immigration Review, Mary Cheng; the office’s general counsel, Jill Anderson; and its head of policy, Lauren Alder Reid, the news outlet noted. Reid told the outlet that she was ‘severely disappointed’ that nobody gave her a heads up.

“My career Senior Executive Service colleagues and I are shocked and severely disappointed in the decision to remove us from our positions without notice or cause,” she bitterly told NBC News. “We have dedicated our careers to upholding the rule of law, regardless of the administration. Our continued pursuit of justice will not be diminished.” The terminated officials were all civil servants, not political appointees. Additionally, some DOJ officials were reassigned to different roles within the agency, sources familiar with the developments told the Associated Press. Bruce Swartz, veteran head of the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, has been shifted to another job – while George Toscas, a longtime deputy assistant attorney general in the National Security Division, was reassigned.

Toscas played roles in both former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information and Trump’s classified documents probe. Nearly two dozen officials have been moved to new roles, AP said. Trump, who recently faced twin (now closed) investigations from Biden-DOJ-appointed Special Counsel Jack Smith, vowed through his latest White House campaign to “demolish the ‘deep state.” “We will expel the warmongers from our government. We will drive out the globalists. We will cast out the communists, Marxists and fascists. We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country,” Trump pledged in Windham, New Hampshire in a 2023 speech. Nonetheless, Trump’s efforts to improve the DOJ is already being met with resistance and chicanery from the Left.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has postponed the confirmation hearing for attorney general nominee Pam Bondi by one week due to an unnamed Democrat lawmaker. The hearing, originally planned to advance Bondi’s nomination for a full Senate vote, has been rescheduled for January 29th. Bondi, who served as Florida’s first female Attorney General, has vowed to restore a “one tier of justice for all” if confirmed to lead the DOJ. “My overriding objective will be to return the Department of Justice to its core mission of keeping Americans safe and vigorously prosecuting criminals, and that includes getting back to basics, gangs, drugs, terrorists, cartels, our border and our foreign adversaries,” she testified during her confirmation process. “I believe we are on the cusp of a new golden age where the Department of Justice can and will do better if I am confirmed.”

“That is the agenda of the US Democrat Party. It is also the agenda of the ruling American elite, because it destroys society and leaves them in control.”

• Trump Signs Executive Order to Fire Top Career Federal Managers Faster (PCR)

Trump keeps doing the right things. The Reagan administration certainly could have used this ability to keep a Democrat civil service from sandbagging its policies. The civil service, indeed, the entire cabinet level Justice Department and the FBI were completely politicized by the Biden Democrats. US Rep. Gerry Connolly, Democrat from Virginia, is up in arms against Trump’s executive order. But Connolly had no objections when the Democrats completely politicized the US Department of Justice (sic) and the FBI and turned them into weapons against Trump Republicans. .

When I was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, in one of the departments that reported to me was a senior executive civil service manager who came to work drunk daily. The department’s personnel said it was demoralizing. I spoke with the source of trouble and found that he wasn’t interested in a paid leave to get himself back into performance mode. I decided that I would have to fire him and found that to fire him I had for one year to assign him tasks, evaluate his performance of the tasks, go before a board and convince the board that he failed to perform the assigned tasks. In other words, I would be completely distracted and used up in the effort it required for a presidential appointee to fire one non-performing and uncooperative senior civil servant. To get rid of one non-performing civil servant would have drained my time and energy from the task that President Reagan assigned me.

I solved the problem by giving the position away to an administrative department in the Treasury that was glad to grow by one more person. When a president is elected, it means that the voters have chosen his policies. To have the policies blocked and derailed by unelected bureaucrats is an absurdity. The bureaucracy is supposed to serve the president, not oppose him. They have to be equally supportive of Democrats and Republicans, not the ally of one against the other. Democrat Rep. Gerry Connolly is a good example of what I mean by the institutionalized establishment and the many ways the establishment has to make a president serve them and not the American people. Connolly has already on the first day of Trump’s second term introduced the “Saving the Civil Service Act,” which is intended to stop Trump from requiring government employees to corporate with the will of the people.

MAGA Americans need to comprehend that Trump’s re-election is only the beginning of the fight. Trump and his administration are essentially isolated. The Democrats are opposed to the traditional America of MAGA Americans. Democrats want the US and Western Civilization to be held accountable for all of the alleged crimes, some real, some invented, associated with US and Western dominance. They want all sexual preference legitimized, including that of “minor directed persons” formerly known as pedophiles. They want heterosexual males punished for being interested in women. They want to brainwash white kids that they and their parents and grandparents are racists and to convince them that they have been born into the wrong body.

The Democrat Party is the operative division of the Cultural Marxists who teach that the way to overthrow a society is “to march through the institutions,” corrupting them and turning them against the country. From the standpoint of Democrats and the Woke left, the ideal America is a Sodom and Gomorrah Tower of Babel. That is the agenda of the US Democrat Party. It is also the agenda of the ruling American elite, because it destroys society and leaves them in control. Trump, and I think he realizes it, is in a fight for the life of America. The Establishment controls all of society’s institutions. Trump knows it and is attacking them head on. The outcome of the fight depends on the awareness, intelligence, and commitment of the majority of the American people. Both the people and Trump can fail. If they do, America is lost.

“..the administration never gave any promises to help Ukraine take back the land Russian forces had captured..”

• A Ukrainian Victory Was Never Biden’s Goal: Time Magazine (Antiwar)

President Biden spent hundreds of billions of dollars supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia, but according to a report from Time Magazine, a Ukrainian victory was never his goal. Throughout the nearly three-year proxy war, the Biden administration never set any clear goals and only repeated mantras, such as the promise to support Ukraine for “as long as it takes.” Eric Green, who was on Biden’s National Security Council at the time of the invasion, told Time that the administration never gave any promises to help Ukraine take back the land Russian forces had captured. “We were deliberately not talking about the territorial parameters,” Green said. “That was not going to be a success story ultimately. The more important objective was for Ukraine to survive as a sovereign, democratic country free to pursue integration with the West.”

The report said Biden set three objectives for the war: ensure Ukraine would survive as a sovereign state, keep the US and its allies united, and avoid a direct war with Russia. However, there was another goal not mentioned in the report: weakening Russia, something then-Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin acknowledged back in April 2022 after his first trip to Ukraine during the war. Austin’s trip came after the US and its allies discouraged peace talks between Russia and Ukraine even though there was a deal on the table that could have led to a Russian withdrawal in exchange for Ukrainian neutrality.

On their way out, Biden administration officials claimed the proxy war was a success despite Ukraine’s lack of a path toward victory. “It’s unfortunately the kind of success where you don’t feel great about it,” Green told Time. “Because there is so much suffering for Ukraine and so much uncertainty about where it’s ultimately going to land.” The Time report noted that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who defined victory as expelling Russian forces and taking Crimea, recently complained about Biden despite the massive amount of aid he provided. “With all due respect to the United States and the administration,” Zelensky told podcast host Lex Fridman, “I don’t want the same situation like we had with Biden. I ask for sanctions now, please, and weapons now.”

Pure insanity.

• Kiev Closest To Joining EU – Serbian President (RT)

Ukraine is closer to joining the EU than Serbia or any other candidate country, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has said. Vucic told Pink TV on Wednesday that the countries’ candidacy was among the issues he discussed with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky during their meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland earlier in the day. “When it comes to joining the EU, Ukraine is closer than us… probably closer than anyone else, to it,” he said. Belgrade “has been on this path for much longer,” but Kiev has an advantage due to “political reasons,” the president said, apparently referring to the military and political support that Brussels has been providing to Ukraine during the conflict with Russia.

Serbia became a candidate for EU membership in 2012. However, the accession talks have been hampered by the Kosovo issue, as Belgrade refuses Brussels’ demands to agree to also provide candidate status to the breakaway region, arguing that it would be tantamount to the recognition of its independence. EU officials also have concerns about Serbia’s close ties to Russia and the rule of law and media freedom in the country. Ukraine and another former Soviet Republic, Moldova, were granted EU candidate status in June 2022, several months after the escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Brussels’ move was widely seen as a political snub to Moscow. Kiev’s aspirations to join NATO have been singled out by Moscow as one of the main reasons it launched its military operation almost three years ago.

However, Russia initially said that it would have no issue with Ukraine becoming an EU member. Moscow changed its stance in 2022, when Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said “the EU has turned from a constructive economic platform… into an aggressive militant player that declares its ambitions far beyond the European continent.” Last year, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that Ukraine and Moldova are not fit to join the EU and that their inclusion might “have a very negative impact on the prospects for the existence of this union.” In addition to Serbia, Ukraine and Moldova, candidates for EU membership include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Turkey.

“European businesses and industries cannot focus on development goals and growth opportunities when there is a war going on..”

• Hungary Blocks Renewal of Sanctions Against Russia – Bloomberg (RT)

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban is blocking the extension of sanctions the European Union imposed on Russia over the Ukraine conflict, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. The penalties, set to expire on January 31, require unanimous approval from the bloc’s 27 member states every six months. No alternative plan currently exists to extend the sanctions if Hungary continues its protest, the publication has said, citing several unnamed diplomats. Orban is a frequent critic of the EU’s sanctions regime. He reiterated on Tuesday his position that the fifteen rounds of restrictions imposed on Moscow are causing more harm to the bloc’s economies.

“It is time to throw sanctions out the window,” he said in an interview with Kossuth Radio last Friday, adding that the goal for the EU in 2025 should be to “establish a sanction-free relationship with Russia.” The bloc’s ambassadors will hold multiple meetings this week to break the deadlock, Bloomberg said. If they fail, the issue will be escalated to its foreign ministers, according to the article. They are set to meet on January 27 in Brussels, just days before the sanctions are due to expire. According to a Bloomberg report in December, Orban surprised his counterparts at an EU summit by stating he was not ready to support the extension of sanctions until US President Donald Trump assumed office. T

he Financial Times previously reported that EU officials are concerned that Trump could overturn some of the US restrictions against Russia, “simply because they were taken by [Joe] Biden.” However, Trump threatened new sanctions and high import tariffs on Wednesday, urging Russia to bring the Ukraine conflict to an end and strike a “deal.” Orban has long been at odds with Brussels over its approach to Ukraine, opposing both aid to Kiev and sanctions on Moscow. Tensions grew further after he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of his Ukraine ‘peace mission’ in July 2024. The EU declared the elimination of its reliance on Russian energy as a key priority after the Ukraine conflict escalated in February 2022.

Sanctions and the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines later that year have led to a dramatic drop in Russia’s gas supplies to the bloc, resulting in a spike in energy prices and soaring inflation. Orban previously said that European businesses and industries cannot focus on development goals and growth opportunities when there is a war going on, so everything needs to be done to end the Ukraine conflict. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto warned in October that Hungary could block EU sanctions on Russia if the union’s policies jeopardize its energy security. Budapest will only permit the imposition of restrictions if they retain their current exemptions on Russian energy supplies, he said.

9.2% inflation looks bad. But when salaries rise 9%, who complains?

• Cost Of Potatoes, Cost Of Blood – When Inflation Is Lethal (Helmer)

No government can survive when it fails to control the cost in blood on the battlefield and the cost of potatoes, butter and bread on the home front. The combination at the same time is politically lethal. US President Lyndon Johnson learned this between 1965 and 1968, when the rate of domestic inflation was quadrupling and the Killed in Action (KIA) numbers in the Vietnam War jumped ninefold. On March 31, 1968, Johnson announced he was withdrawing from the presidential election later that year.* President Vladimir Putin has managed the KIA half of the lethal equation by fighting a limited expeditionary campaign in the Ukraine, restricting the General Staff’s resources, plans, targets and operations; attacking with standoff, mostly airborne weapons; shifting the casualty burden of ground fighting to socially marginal groups; and keeping the majority of voters out of the line of fire. His success is in high and stable voter support.

For the time being, the president has escaped public blame for the inflationary surge in food prices over 2024. According to one report, beets were up by 71%; potatoes by 65.4%; eggs by 48.5%; garlic by 41%; salt by 27%; vegetable oil by 24%; butter by 22%. According to the AB Centre calculation, the price of potatoes jumped 65.2%; olive oil, 35.5%; butter, 35.2%; garlic, 24.7%; beets, 22.7%. The state statistics agency Rosstat claims that the overall, official inflation rate for the country was 8.6% for 2024, while retail food price inflation, according to Rosstat was 9.5%. No one believes this, according to consumer polling and expert analyses. Consumer anticipation and expert forecasts are for the surge in food prices to continue this year at rates, depending on the food item, of between 50% and 100%.

Sergei Glazyev, a well-known public economist, presidential candidate in 2004, and a senior official of the Eurasian Economic Commission, is blunt on his attack. “Rising prices are hitting everyone’s pockets and making everyone poorer. Both citizens and businesses. Only banks are swollen with money. “The Bank of Russia’s policy is driving the economy into a stagflationary trap, in which falling production, devaluation of the ruble and rising inflation are mutually reinforcing: an increase in the key rate [21%] compresses production lending, which leads to lower volumes and higher production costs, the technical level and production efficiency decline, the competitiveness of the economy decreases, which is offset by the devaluation of the ruble. That then causes a new surge of inflation, which the Bank of Russia is trying to pay off with another increase in the key rate. After ten years of ineffectual targeting of inflation, it is clear that the continuation of this insane policy has no prospects.”

Mikhail Delyagin, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, is just as scathing. He says the official rate of inflation for 2024 was not 8.5%, as the government insists, but closer to 19%; he warns it may reach 29% this year. The Central Bank interest rate of 21% is to blame: “this, in my opinion, is more destructive than the use of tactical nuclear weapons. But there is some good news. If tactical nuclear weapons are suddenly used against us, it will certainly be a severe shock and many people will die, but for the economy as a whole it will not be a greater shock than the policy of Elvira Sakhipzadovna Nabiullina. And [Finance Minister] Anton Germanovich Siluanov, who should also not be forgotten.”

“However, as we know, at the December 20 [2024] meeting, the Central Bank did not raise the key rate to 23 percent once again, as many, including me, expected. This is probably a good signal, because by raising the key rate in conditions of a shortage of money supply, the Bank of Russia thereby accelerates inflation. So far, Elvira Sakhipzadovna has refused to further accelerate inflation, but there is no guarantee that she will not return to this practice at the beginning of next year.”

So serious has been the failure of Central Bank Governor Nabiullina to halt inflation, and so widespread is public suspicion of her competence and intentions, on January 13 the Central Bank issued a public release denying that Nabiullina is planning a freeze on Russian individual savings by blocking withdrawals from bank accounts. “It is quite obvious that in any market economy, of which bank lending is an integral part, such a step is unthinkable,” the Central Bank has announced on Telegram. “Firstly, it will immediately undermine confidence in the banking system and put an end to lending to the economy. Secondly, freezing deposits will not help reduce inflation. People will rush to invest money not in deposits, but in goods and real estate with the corresponding sad consequences for rising prices.”

National polling of public attitudes towards leading officials has never identified Nabiullina positively. In open-ended questioning of those whom voters trust, Nabiullina’s name has not come up. Instead, she appears fifteenth on the countrywide list of officials and politicians who are distrusted – she ranks equal to the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov; State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, and the Mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin. No critic of the domestic inflation and Central Bank policy mentions President Putin. He is understood, however, to be Nabiullina’s protector against her domestic critics. In the past month, however, he has been pressed to qualify this.

At his press conference on December 19, the day before the Central Bank met to decide whether to raise the interest rate to 23%, Putin said: “Only yesterday, while preparing for today’s event, I talked to the Central Bank Governor, and Elvira Nabiullina told me that the inflation rate has already reached about 9.2–9.3 percent year-to-date. That said, salaries have increased by 9 percent, and I am talking about an increase in real terms, minus inflation. In addition, disposable incomes have also increased. So, the overall situation is stable and, let me reiterate, solid.”

“Imperial decline is over. Embrace the new, brutally benign Empire.”

• The Age of Interplanetary Exceptionalism (Pepe Escobar)

Let’s start with the key take away: Manifest Destiny reaching the stars. Literally. Trump 2.0 – the greatest show on earth – did start with a (big) bang: “We will pursue our Manifest Destiny into the stars.” And that means planting the American flag on Mars. The real thing. Not a Netflix flick. No wonder platinum sidekick Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO, achieved instant rapture. Welcome to Interplanetary Exceptionalism. Literally. As in the land of the free, home of the brave, in this new golden era, will be “far more exceptional than ever before”. Imperial decline is over. Embrace the new, brutally benign Empire. Or else. In practical terms, it all started, predictably, with a flurry of executive orders – like a psychedelic vortex. Time to send troops to the southern border (El Paso is already blocked) to stop the illegal immigrant “invasion”; declare drug cartels as terrorist organizations; and rename the Gulf of Mexico “Gulf of America”.

Add to it declaring a state of emergency to boost energy production: “We’re going to be using our emergency powers to allow countries and entrepreneurs and people with a lot of money build big plans, AI plans. We need double the energy that we already have.” That’s code for the Empire necessarily exercising total control on AI and massive, energy-consuming AI data centers. In between, Trump 2.0 will suspend every “foreign aid” scheme for 90 days to assess their “consistency with U.S. national interests and foreign policy goals” (Translation: Kiev, run for cover.) Trump 2.0 will recognize only two genders – male and female; get “wokeness the hell out of our military immediately and make it like it used to be”; and “take back” the Panama Canal (“American Canal”, anyone?)

And never forget the intimation of a Big Trade War: possible 25% tariffs slapped on Canada and Mexico starting February 1st, to force negotiations. And further on down the road, the target will be the EU: Brussels is already on deep freak out mode. Tik Tok, who’s there? On the domestic front, one of the most intriguing gambits is the Tik Tok dossier: “U.S. Tik Tok deal may be worth a trillion dollars”, the President said. Buying 50% of Tik Tok might be a joint venture. With essential input by Trump’s son Barron, Tik Tok de facto helped Trump and Republicans to gain no less than 36% of the youth vote. The possible Tik Tok deal essentially forces China to split 50% of ownership with American shareholders – so it may continue to sell ads in the U.S. This is all about financial gains linked to advertising.

The equity structure of Tik Tok is quite intriguing. 20% is held by the founder, Zhang Yiming. Other 20% is held by Tik Tok’s employees around the world. The remaining 60% is held by three American funds. So the U.S. in fact has long held more than 50% of the shares. The difference now is that Trump/the U.S. government want to force founder Zhang Yiming to sell his shares. Now imagine a parallel world where Brussels would force 50% of YouTube or X to be bought by a European oligarch so it would be allowed to do business in Europe (this in fact might even actually happen one day).

Yeah, people really want more mRNA.

• Oracle Boss Pledges Individual AI MRNA Cancer Vaccines (RT)

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has announced that his company is developing an AI-driven approach to creating personalized cancer vaccines. He highlighted that by utilizing artificial intelligence, an mRNA vaccine can be produced “robotically” in approximately 48 hours. Ellison’s remarks came as President Donald Trump hosted him and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, as well as CEO Masayoshi Son of the Japanese investment firm SoftBank, at the White House on Tuesday to announce the launch of Stargate – a new initiative set to invest up to $500 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure. Welcoming the program, Ellison said that “one of the most exciting things we’re working on, using the tools that Sam [Altman] and [Masayoshi Son] are providing, is a cancer vaccine.” He explained that the novel approach is two-pronged, with AI first being deployed to detect “little fragments of those [cancer] tumors float[ing] around in your” blood sample.

Messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules carry the genetic directions cells need to make proteins. On top of this early cancer detection, “once we gene-sequence that cancer tumor, you can then vaccinate the person – design a vaccine for every individual person that vaccinates them against that cancer,” the tech executive stressed. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman similarly predicted that “we will be amazed at how quickly we’re curing this cancer and that one – and heart disease.” The US president hailed Stargate as a “monumental undertaking” and a “resounding declaration of confidence in America’s potential” that would create around 100,000 new jobs, while ensuring the “future of technology” in the US amid its competition with China. During Tuesday’s event, Ellison stated that the first Stargate data centers are already under construction in Texas.

Among Trump’s first decisions in office on Monday was the reversal of an executive order issued by his predecessor Joe Biden in 2023 that aimed to mitigate AI risks. Last week, MIT Technology Review reported that OpenAI, in collaboration with Retro Biosciences, a start-up, had developed a new language model named GPT-4b micro, which is specifically designed to help scientists extend the human lifespan. The new technology has apparently enabled researchers to more effectively redesign proteins in a way that improves stem cell production. The latter play a key role in regenerative medicine as they are able to differentiate into various cell types, offering potential treatments for age-related diseases.

CHD
https://twitter.com/i/status/1882097905991057837

Solid explanation.

• Birthright Citizenship Isn’t Real (Ryan McMaken)

Donald Trump yesterday issued a new executive order declaring that so-called “birthright citizenship” does not apply to the children of foreign nationals residing illegally within the United States. The order reads, in part: “(a) It is the policy of the United States that no department or agency of the United States government shall issue documents recognizing United States citizenship, or accept documents issued by State, local, or other governments or authorities purporting to recognize United States citizenship, to persons: (1) when that person’s mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the person’s father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth, or (2) when that person’s mother’s presence in the United States was lawful but temporary, and the person’s father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth.”

There is a common misconception in the United States that the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution mandates that the US government grant citizenship to anyone and everyone born within the borders of the United States. This misconception is largely due to the fact that, for several decades, US courts and technocrats have conspired to redefine the original meaning of the amendment, and thus apply it to every child of every tourist and foreign national who happens to be born on this side of the US border. Some have even attempted to define access to birthright citizenship as some sort of natural right. This is a common tactic among some libertarians who have twisted the idea of property rights to extend the idea of a “right” to the governmental administrative act known as “naturalization.”

Even when looking at the issue strictly in terms of procedural legal rights, however, it is clear that the current definition of birthright citizenship is in conflict with the law as originally intended and interpreted. To understand the central point of contention, let’s note the text of the Fourteenth Amendment itself, which states that citizenship shall be extended to: “[a]ll persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof…” Note that there are two qualifying phrases here. The persons in question must be both born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof. It is this second qualification that remains a matter of debate. What does it mean to be subject to the jurisdiction of the United States? This issue is explained by legal scholar Hans Spakovsky who notes that advocates of granting birthright citizenship to anyone born in the United States…

“…erroneously believe that anyone present in the United States has “subjected” himself “to the jurisdiction” of the United States, which would extend citizenship to the children of tourists, diplomats, and illegal aliens alike. But that is not what that qualifying phrase means. Its original meaning refers to the political allegiance of an individual and the jurisdiction that a foreign government has over that individual. The fact that a tourist or illegal alien is subject to our laws and our courts if they violate our laws does not place them within the political “jurisdiction” of the United States as that phrase was defined by the framers of the 14th Amendment. This amendment’s language was derived from the 1866 Civil Rights Act, which provided that “[a]ll persons born in the United States, and not subject to any foreign power” would be considered citizens. Sen. Lyman Trumbull, a key figure in the adoption of the 14th Amendment, said that “subject to the jurisdiction” of the U.S. included not owing allegiance to any other country.“

The courts themselves have historically recognized this distinction, noting that the whole purpose of the Fourteenth Amendment was to grant citizenship to former slaves who obviously were not connected to any other country or sovereign. In the Slaughter-House Cases, 83 U.S. 36 (1872), the court ruled: That [the Fourteenth Amendment’s] main purpose was to establish the citizenship of the negro can admit of no doubt. The phrase ‘subject to its jurisdiction’ was intended to exclude from its operation children of ministers, consuls, and citizens or subjects of foreign States born within the United States. That second sentence is key: ”The phrase ‘subject to its jurisdiction’ was intended to exclude from its operation … citizens or subjects of foreign States born within the United States.” This was further confirmed by the Court in 1884 (in Elk v. Wilkins, 112 U.S. 94) when the Court stated that the idea of birthright citizenship did not apply to Native American tribes which were nonetheless within the borders of the United States:

“[The Fourteenth Amendment] contemplates two sources of citizenship, and two sources only: birth and naturalization. The persons declared to be citizens are ‘all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.’ The evident meaning of these last words is, not merely subject in some respect or degree to the jurisdiction of the United States, but completely subject to their political jurisdiction, and owing them direct and immediate allegiance. And the words relate to the time of birth in the one case, as they do to the time of naturalization in the other. Persons not thus subject to the jurisdiction of the United States at the time of birth cannot become so afterwards, except by being naturalized, either individually, as by proceedings under the naturalization acts; or collectively, as by the force of a treaty by which foreign territory is acquired. Indians born within the territorial limits of the United States, members of, and owing immediate allegiance to, one of the Indian tribes (an alien though dependent power,) although in a geographical sense born in the United States, are no more ‘born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,’ within the meaning of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment, than the children of subjects of any foreign government born within the domain of that government, or the children born within the United States, of ambassadors or other public ministers of foreign nations.”

In short, the court recognized that the tribal lands were within the legal jurisdiction of the United States, but this did not mean that everyone born within those borders was automatically granted citizenship. Those tribal members believed to be subjects of “foreign” tribal governments were therefore not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States in a way that conferred automatic citizenship. Congress further reinforced the court’s interpretation by adopting new legislation granting citizenship to all tribal members in 1924. Had the Fourteenth Amendment really granted automatic citizenship to everyone born within the borders of the United States, no such legislation would have been necessary.

In the year 2024, however, advocates of the new and novel interpretation of “birthright citizenship” insist that the child of foreign nationals automatically becomes a citizen of the United States based entirely on the location of birth. This is a rather odd way of doing things. In historical practice nearly everywhere, citizenship depends largely on the citizenship of parents, or on the parents’ place of birth, and not on the place where parents happen to temporarily reside when the child is born. Thus, historically and globally, the child of foreign nationals is himself a foreign national. This is true, for instance, of children born to American nationals overseas.

“For a president who liked to call others “lying dog-faced pony soldiers,” Biden proved that, in the world of political corruption, the ponies are entirely optional.”

• The Final Corruption of Joe Biden (Turley)

With only 15 minutes to go as president, Joe Biden snatched infamy from the jaws of obscurity. With record-low polling and widely viewed as a “failed” president, Biden completed his one-man race to the bottom of ethics by issuing preemptive pardons to members of his own family. The pardons were timed to guarantee that the media would not focus on yet another unethical act by this president. He need not have worried. For four years, the media worked tirelessly to deny or deflect the corruption scandal surrounding the Biden family. The pardoning of James Biden, Sara Jones Biden, Valerie Biden Owens, John Owens and Francis Biden brought an inescapable clarity to the corruption of what is known in Washington as Biden Inc.

I have written about the Biden family’s corruption for decades. Influence-peddling has always been the favorite form of corruption in Washington, but this city has never seen the likes of the Biden family. Millions of dollars were secured from foreign sources and distributed to various Biden family members. Biden repeatedly lied about the influence peddling. He long denied knowing about his son’s foreign clients or business. He denied ever meeting Hunter’s clients. Later, photos and emails showed that Biden had clearly met these clients and knew about the business deals. He was fully aware that his family was cashing in on his name and various offices. Even Biden’s claims about handling the Trump cases were recently contradicted.

While long claiming that he left these cases to the Justice Department and took no position on the merits, the Washington Post recently reported that Biden was irate over the failure to prosecute Trump before the election. He also reportedly lashed out at Attorney General Merrick Garland and said he regretted his appointment in light of the failure to nail Trump. One of the most glaring lies was that he would never pardon his son. Few people believed him. Indeed, Hunter Biden’s bizarre criminal defense made no sense unless he knew that he had a pocket pardon if all else failed. Once he was forced out of the presidential race, Biden was freed up to sign a pardon for any and all crimes committed over a ten-year period by his son. He insisted that he really hadn’t been lying. He claimed that no ordinary person would have been tried for his son’s crimes — a manifestly untrue statement. He also emphasized that he had to take this step as a father of a son who was a hopeless addict and has now been clean for years.

However, the latest family pardon shatters even that rationalization. These Bidens are not even charged with any crimes, but Biden wanted to give them cover from any possible prosecution for anything. It was the ultimate sign of contempt for the intelligence of the American public and the integrity of his office. Biden has long exercised situational ethics and, with his powers coming to an end, the situation demanded that he cash out before his credit ended. In granting these pardons, Biden was seeking to protect not just his family but also himself. He was the object of the influence peddling and repeatedly lied to bury the scandal. This insulation of his family serves to move the threat farther from himself. Biden, however, may have been too clever by half this time. In the final moments of his presidency, He broke into the open and exposed not just himself but his allies in the media.

Reporters are now fully visible as willing dupes in one of the greatest corruption scandals in the history of this country. In his pardon statement, Biden insisted that “the issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense.” Of course, that is the very opposite of what most people will conclude. More importantly, the pardons will not end the threat to his family. Figures such as James Biden have been accused of lying to Congress about the influence-peddling operation. He can still be subpoenaed and, if he lies, he can be charged with a new crime.

Indeed, after James Biden’s pardon, it will be argued that he has less basis to claim the right to remain silent about any alleged crimes committed during the period for which the pardon applies. (He could argue that there is a danger of state charges, but that is less credible due to the running of statutes of limitation and other factors.) The pardons, if anything, make such an investigation even more compelling for those who want answers to longstanding questions of corruption. Biden sealed his legacy with a finality that escapes most presidents. While his diminished mental capacity will remain an issue for historians, his longstanding lack of ethics was conclusively established with these pardons. It was Biden’s final act of corruption. For a president who liked to call others “lying dog-faced pony soldiers,” Biden proved that, in the world of political corruption, the ponies are entirely optional.

WHO

"The entire world is rejecting this international health regulations and pandemic treaty alliance."

Dr. Peter McCullough

full interview below https://t.co/MJSVUrXjIB pic.twitter.com/T3HdKLAMtw

— DrRay (@DrNoMask) January 22, 2025

Ball skills
https://twitter.com/i/status/1882037573075521761

Nara
https://twitter.com/i/status/1882080746212593767

Awesome

Awesome
pic.twitter.com/yLbrsm25x3

— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) January 22, 2025

Moose

Extraordinary white moose was spotted taking a dip in a pool in Sweden's Varmland County pic.twitter.com/x8nUSmAZop

— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) January 22, 2025

Nureyev

This is ballet dancer Rudolph Nureyev's resting place, in a Paris suburb, features bronze and glass mosaics designed by his close friend Ezio Frigerio.

It resembles his favorite oriental kilim rug.

pic.twitter.com/hYZOhKGF8u

— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) January 22, 2025

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