Sep 292025
 


René Magritte Sixteenth of September 1956

 

John Mearsheimer On Trump Passing The Buck To Europe (ZH)
UK Journalist Blows Holes In Western Myths About Russia (RT)
Vance Calls On Russia To ‘Wake Up’ And Accept Reality (RT)
Vance Claims Russia ‘Refused’ Meetings With Trump (RT)
US Considering Tomahawks For Ukraine – Vance (RT)
Ukraine ‘Unlikely’ To Regain Territory Lost To Russia – Independent (RT)
Zelensky Confirms Israel Sent Patriot Missile Battery To Ukraine
Kash Patel On Why There Were 100s of FBI Agents on the Hill on January 6 (Vespa)
Kash Patel Accuses Christopher Wray of Lying to Congress About Capitol Riot (Margolis)
Is the Fix Already in to Protect James Comey? (Margolis)
While Men Wonder, ‘What Can I Do?’ They Already Know (Tim O’brien)
We Now Have a 4th Theory of Charlie Kirk’s Assassination (Paul Craig Roberts)

 

 

https://twitter.com/Bubblebathgirl/status/1972292337427738821

https://twitter.com/JasonJournoDC/status/1972334411229057323

https://twitter.com/SilentlySirs/status/1972382218480922969

 

 

 

 

A very rare clear head and voice.

John Mearsheimer On Trump Passing The Buck To Europe (ZH)

Professor John J. Mearsheimer’s now famous 2014 hour-and-fifteen minute lecture on how NATO led Ukraine down the primrose path, once it was popularly ‘discovered’ on YouTube after the Russian invasion of 2022, has since racked up several tens of millions of views. We wrote about his insights and forecasts in Mearsheimer’s Ukraine Crystal Ball as well as his 2024 talk on “Social Engineering At The End Of A Rifle Barrel”. And now in 2025 more and more people continue to say: John Mearsheimer was right, and his analysis continues to be accurate as ever.

In his latest appearance on “Judging Freedom”, he talked with the Judge about Trump’s famous Truth Social tweet where the president subtly said that the US is turning responsibility for the Ukraine war to the Europeans and Ukraine, while at the same time he is going to great lengths as the war goes south to protect himself against the charge he “lost Ukraine.” Mearsheimer and Judge Napolitano also discussed the roots of America’s harmful relationship with Israel and Tucker Carlson’s comment that Netanyahu has been telling others that “I control the United States.” Trump insists he has long been seeking to wind down the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, but what’s really going on behind the scenes. Watch the foremost realism foreign policy expert of our time unpack it…

As a reminder, here’s what Trump wrote on Truth Social regarding the future of the Ukraine crisis this week, ‘stunning’ some European officials while unleashing an avalanche of speculation over what precisely he meant.

Read more …

“Believe it or not, Russia is great..”

UK Journalist Blows Holes In Western Myths About Russia (RT)

British journalist and commentator James Delingpole has shared a provocative account of his recent visit to Moscow, painting a picture of Russia that sharply contrasts with the prevailing negative tone in the Western media. In an essay subtitled “Believe it or not, Russia is great,” published in the UK political and cultural weekly The Spectator earlier this week, Delingpole describes how an invitation from a Russian Orthodox archbishop, an avid listener of his podcast, set the stage for his journey. The columnist admits that many friends and family members considered the trip reckless, some even warning he might be trailed by Russian intelligence or struck by a drone. But instead of a hostile or oppressive environment, he encountered a country that defied many of his expectations.

Delingpole praises Moscow’s clean and safe streets, efficient public transport, and the warmth and dignity of its inhabitants. The award-winning journalist also reflects on the deep spirituality and traditions upheld by the Russian Orthodox Church, drawing a sharp contrast with what he views as the West’s drift into secularism and aggressive progressivism. One part of the essay focuses on Moldova, where he claims the Orthodox Church is facing persecution by pro-EU authorities. Delingpole argues that Western support for such governments often leads to the suppression of conservative religious voices, particularly those opposing gay marriage, LGBT parades or abortion. The writer recounts small but meaningful moments from his trip, such as a local woman teaching him the proper way to cross himself, and the honor of venerating a saint’s relics offered as a gesture of hospitality.

“Though I’m not planning on abandoning my Anglican parish in Northamptonshire, with its six or seven picturesque medieval churches and its Book of Common Prayer communion services, I do find the mysteries of Orthodoxy awfully seductive,” Delingpole noted. The essay does not touch upon any aspects of Russian politics, but does challenge readers to reconsider blanket narratives concerning the country. The author suggests that in condemning everything associated with Russia, the West may “be in danger of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.”

Read more …

Where did he come from? Trump tired?

Vance Calls On Russia To ‘Wake Up’ And Accept Reality (RT)

US Vice President J.D. Vance has called on Moscow to “’wake up and accept reality,” claiming that Russia has little “to show for” its military effort in the Ukraine conflict. His words echo those of President Donald Trump, who has recently also changed his rhetoric on the issue by stating that Kiev could defeat Moscow. For months, Washington insisted that Kiev would need to give up on certain territorial claims for a US-mediated peace deal with Moscow to move forward. This week, however, the US President made a U-turn by dismissing Russia as a “paper tiger” and urging Kiev to “act.” Vance called on Moscow to sit down at the negotiating table in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.

The US would “keep on working for peace, and we hope the Russians actually wake up to the reality on the ground,” he stated while largely repeating Trump’s recent arguments. According to the vice president, Moscow’s forces have “really stalled” and “don’t have much territorial gain to show for” their efforts, with the Russian economy allegedly “in shambles.” Moscow has repeatedly stated it is open to a peaceful resolution of the hostilities at any time but has maintained that any deal must address the roots of the conflict and respect the realities on the ground. This includes the status of the former Ukrainian territories that joined Russia after public referendums.

Contrary to recent statements by both Trump and Vance, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Thursday that its forces have taken control of 4,700 square kilometers and 205 settlements this year alone. The Russian economy has also been demonstrating steady growth over the past few years despite the pressure of unprecedented Western sanctions. The nation’s GDP grew by 4.1% in 2023 and by 4.3% in 2024. Although a slowdown is expected this year, it is still projected to grow by 2.5%. The Kremlin had earlier responded to Trump’s original remarks by saying that Russia is traditionally associated with a bear rather than a tiger and there is “no such thing as a paper bear.”

https://twitter.com/rinalu_/status/1972353752800657510

Read more …

They want them well-prepared.

Vance Claims Russia ‘Refused’ Meetings With Trump (RT)

The Russian side has refused trilateral meetings with US President Donald Trump and representatives from Ukraine, US Vice President J.D. Vance claimed in an interview with Fox News on Sunday. Trump has increasingly expressed impatience with the pace of Ukraine peace talks. The Kremlin says Kiev has demonstrated that it is not interested in peace by sticking to megaphone diplomacy and ignoring Russian settlement proposals. “Unfortunately, what we have seen over the last couple weeks, the Russians have refused to sit down with any bilateral meetings with the Ukrainians,” Vance told Fox News.

“They have refused to sit down with any trilateral meetings, where the president or some other member of the administration could sit down with the Russians and the Ukrainians,” he added. According to Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to meet Trump if the US leader chooses to take up the invitation and visit Moscow. The offer was extended shortly after their summit in Alaska in August. “This invitation still stands,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS on Sunday. “Putin is ready and will be glad to meet President Trump. It will then all depend on Trump’s decision.”

However, a meeting with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky would first require the peace talks to make some headway, Moscow has argued. An “unprepared” meeting with Zelensky would amount to “a PR-stunt doomed to failure,” Peskov said on Wednesday. Moscow has maintained that it is ready and willing to settle the Ukraine conflict via diplomatic means.

Read more …

“The missiles have a range of up to 2,500km and can be equipped with nuclear warheads.”

If they can, you must presume they do.

US Considering Tomahawks For Ukraine – Vance (RT)

The US is considering making long-range Tomahawk missiles available for Ukraine, Vice President J.D. Vance told Fox News on Sunday. Several Western news media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal and The Telegraph, previously reported that Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky specifically requested the missiles during a meeting with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York last week. According to the WSJ, Trump did not oppose the idea and was also open to lifting restrictions on Kiev’s use of US-made weapons for strikes deep into Russian territory, but made no specific commitments during the meeting. The president was previously against giving Tomahawks to Ukraine, according to Axios.

“We’re certainly looking at it,” Vance said when asked if Washington is considering selling the missiles to other NATO members so that they could be handed over to Kiev. When further pressed on the issue of a potential escalation that could follow such a step, Vance said that Trump would ultimately determine Washington’s course of action. The US president’s special envoy, Keith Kellogg, who also talked to Fox News on Sunday, said that “the decision has not been made,” while confirming that Zelensky did ask Trump for Tomahawks. The missiles have a range of up to 2,500km and can be equipped with nuclear warheads. Moscow has repeatedly warned that Western arms supplies to Kiev will not change the situation on the front line and only risk further escalation, potentially leading to a direct conflict between Russia and NATO.

In November 2024, President Vladimir Putin cautioned that “the regional conflict in Ukraine provoked by the West has assumed elements of a global nature,” and warned of a backlash if tensions escalate further. His comments came after Kiev launched several strikes using US-made ATACMS and HIMARS systems, as well as British-made Storm Shadow missiles, deep inside Russian territory after receiving the green light from its Western backers. The Kremlin also warned that “reckless decisions” of Western nations supplying Ukraine with long-range missiles cannot be left unanswered.

Read more …

“..he did not even entirely understand what Zelensky was “actually talking about.”

Ukraine ‘Unlikely’ To Regain Territory Lost To Russia – Independent (RT)

Kiev is in no position to reclaim the former Ukrainian regions it lost to Russia without the active participation of its NATO backers, The Independent has reported, citing a group of experts. Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump claimed that the country could potentially win back the territory it lays claim to. The US president likened Russia to a “paper tiger” and said it was “time for Ukraine to act” in a post on Truth Social that was praised by Vladimir Zelensky. However, the experts approached by The Independent poured cold water on Kiev’s hopes. Ukraine would need its NATO backers to provide it with an effective “sky shield” and long-range weapons if it hopes to overpower Russia, according to John Lough, the head of foreign policy at the New Eurasian Strategies Center.

“It doesn’t really look realistic unless Russia can be crippled economically,” he added. Emil Kastehelmi, a military analyst at Black Bird Group, a Finnish open-source intelligence project, called such a prospect nearly unimaginable. “I do not find it possible, under the current circumstances, that Ukraine would be able to take all of its land back,” he told The Independent, adding that such an “immense task” would require the direct participation of NATO nations. He also questioned recent statements by Zelensky about an offensive in the Donetsk People’s Republic, where the Ukrainian leader claimed Kiev’s troops had thwarted a major Russian attack.

“The amount of land that he’s saying has been taken back seems to be over-exaggerated,” the analyst said, adding that he did not even entirely understand what Zelensky was “actually talking about.” Contrary to Trump’s “paper tiger” claims, the Russian Defense Ministry has been reporting steady advances in recent months, particularly in the Donetsk People’s Republic. Russian forces have taken control of 4,700 square kilometers and 205 settlements this year, it reported on Thursday. Earlier this month, Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Aleksandr Syrsky also admitted that Russia was superior on the front line, with its troops prevailing in all key areas.

.

Read more …

What good are Patriots vs hypersonics?

Zelensky Confirms Israel Sent Patriot Missile Battery To Ukraine

It was a surprised announcement, given that for over three years of the Ukraine war, Israel has been persistent in resisting calls to send arms to Israel, given it is more concerned with keeping its delicate relations with Moscow positive. Until now it had only sent non-lethal and humanitarian aid. Also, Russia has long maintained a military presence on the Mediterranean, along Syria’s coast. But times have changed, and Russia could be packing up its Syrian naval and air bases, given the December overthrow of its ally Assad and the Jolani regime being installed in Damascus. Moscow is suddenly left with less leverage in the region, and has pivoted to growing closer with Iran, which has supplied it with kamikaze drones used in Ukraine.

It likely rubbed Tel Aviv the wrong way seeing Russia deepen its economic, defense, and technological cooperation with Iran, so in light of all of this it has softened its resistance to arming Ukraine. Back in June, Israel’s ambassador to Ukraine Michael Brodsky was the first to let slip that Patriot systems would protect Ukrainian cities, which was a risk given it has angered Russia. Yet the Ukrainian government had never officially acknowledged this. But to get US-supplied Patriots to Ukraine, there’s been some trickery and serious diplomatic maneuvering involved in order to make it appear all very ‘indirect’ – in part to prevent Israel from provoking too much wrath out of Moscow. Back in May, the NY Times presented how the scheme would work:

A Patriot air-defense system that was based in Israel will be sent to Ukraine after it is refurbished, four current and former U.S. officials said in recent days, and Western allies are discussing the logistics of Germany or Greece giving another one. The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions, declined to describe President Trump’s view of the decision to transfer more Patriot systems to Ukraine. And Kyiv Post has newly acknowledged, “The deployment confirmed an intricate plan, first reported by US media in May, that involved Washington requesting that Israel return an older Patriot system for refurbishment before it was routed to Kyiv.”

Ukraine is seeking to establish a layered permanent defensive air shield based on advanced systems provided by the West. The Trump administration has largely put the brakes on simply donating arms directly, but wants Europe and allies to foot the bill and make the transfers.

Read more …

“Agents were sent into a crowd control mission after the riot was declared by Metro Police – something that goes against FBI standards..”

Kash Patel On Why There Were 100s of FBI Agents on the Hill on January 6 (Vespa)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been cagey regarding its activities on January 6. The allegation that undercover operatives were embedded in the crowd during the riot isn’t tin foil hat material—the bureau admitted it. The inspector general tried to deny it, but there was no spinning this. The FBI had agents on the ground, some of whom entered the Capitol Building. Now, we’ve learned that there were hundreds of agents on the ground this week, around 275. FBI Director Kash Patel had to clarify what the FBI was doing over the weekend, and former FBI Director Chris Wray might be hauled before Congress again. Mr. Patel said that agents were dispatched for crowd control (via Fox News):

“The FBI responded on Saturday to a report that 274 plainclothes agents were at the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, clarifying the role of bureau personnel while still blasting former Director Christopher Wray. While the agents were on hand, they were sent in after the riot had begun to try to control the unruly crowd, officials told Fox News Digital. That is not the proper role of FBI agents, and Wray was not forthcoming about what happened when he testified numerous times on Capitol Hill, Director Kash Patel said. “Agents were sent into a crowd control mission after the riot was declared by Metro Police – something that goes against FBI standards,” Patel told Fox News Digital. “This was the failure of a corrupt leadership that lied to Congress and to the American people about what really happened.” He added, “Thanks to agents coming forward, we are now uncovering the truth. We are fully committed to transparency, and justice and accountability continues with this FBI.”

[…]
Wray told a House Committee on Nov. 15, 2023, “If you are asking if the violence at the Capitol was part of some operation orchestrated by FBI sources or agents, the answer is no,” but he wouldn’t disclose if any agents or sources were embedded within the crowd.” So, did Wray lie to Congress? It might be time to ask him some more questions.

Read more …

“..only showed up after Capitol Police begged for help with crowd control—a job agents resented because they aren’t trained for it..”

Kash Patel Accuses Christopher Wray of Lying to Congress About Capitol Riot (Margolis)

The narrative that January 6 was purely an organic riot keeps collapsing under the weight of new revelations. For years, the left branded anyone who suggested the FBI had undercover operatives in the crowd a conspiracy theorist. Now, the bureau has admitted it. The inspector general tried to soft-pedal it but couldn’t—FBI agents were on the ground, and some even entered the Capitol Building. This week’s disclosure was even more stunning: about 274 agents were operating on January 6. That’s not “a few.” That’s a coordinated presence. Over the weekend, FBI Director Kash Patel offered some clarification about this new revelation, and there may be implications for former Director Chris Wray. According to a report from Fox News Digital, the bureau now claims its personnel showed up only after the chaos started and handled “crowd control.”

But here’s the problem: that’s not the job of FBI agents. The bureau isn’t a riot squad, and Patel called out the excuse directly. He also reminded everyone that Wray wasn’t honest when he testified on Capitol Hill—he concealed key facts about the bureau’s actions, and that deception continues to hang over his record. “Agents were sent into a crowd control mission after the riot was declared by Metro Police – something that goes against FBI standards,” Patel said. “This was the failure of a corrupt leadership that lied to Congress and to the American people about what really happened.” Patel added, “Thanks to agents coming forward, we are now uncovering the truth. We are fully committed to transparency, and justice and accountability continues with this FBI.”

There’s no indication any FBI agents were involved in any events related to Trump’s speech on the morning of Jan. 6 at the Ellipse, an FBI official told Fox News Digital, adding that Wray should have disclosed that agents were there when he was asked by congressional leaders. President Donald Trump, citing a report that the agents were in the crowd which did not make clear their mission, said earlier that Wray, “has some major explaining to do.” “It was just revealed that the FBI had secretly placed, against all Rules, Regulations, Protocols, and Standards, 274 FBI Agents into the Crowd just prior to, and during, the January 6th Hoax,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Saturday afternoon following a report from The Blaze, revealing the number of agents that were there.

Trump added, “This is different from what Director Christopher Wray stated, over and over again! That’s right, as it now turns out, FBI Agents were at, and in, the January 6th Protest, probably acting as Agitators and Insurrectionists, but certainly not as ‘Law Enforcement Officials.’” The president said he wanted to know each officer’s identity and what they were doing at the U.S. Capitol. “Many Great American Patriots were made to pay a very big price only for the love of their Country,” he said, referring to Trump supporters who faced charges for their involvement on Jan. 6.

A December report from DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz insisted there were no undercover FBI agents in the crowds that day, though he admitted there were informants, including three directed by the FBI. The bureau claims its agents only showed up after Capitol Police begged for help with crowd control—a job agents resented because they aren’t trained for it. According to officials, the first FBI personnel didn’t even arrive until after 2:30 p.m., well after the chaos had begun.

Read more …

“The deep state isn’t afraid of justice—they’re afraid of accountability.”

Is the Fix Already in to Protect James Comey? (Margolis)

The swamp never wastes time protecting its own, and James Comey is no exception. The disgraced former FBI director, who has finally been indicted for lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding, is already benefiting from the familiar playbook: put the right judge in place, create an appearance of fairness, and then quietly shield him from any real accountability. On Thursday, following the grand jury indictment, Comey’s case was “randomly” assigned to U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff. In 2021, Joe Biden nominated Nachmanoff, and the Senate confirmed him to the federal bench with a razor-thin 52-46 vote, as three Senate Republicans — Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski — crossed over to support his confirmation. If you believe that selecting Nachmanoff to preside over this case was truly random, then you haven’t been paying attention.

Washington’s so-called “random assignments” seem to have a funny way of putting the most Trump-hostile judges on politically charged cases. Take Judge James Boasberg, a Barack Obama appointee, who just happened to land multiple Trump-related cases. Every single time, Boasberg ruled in ways that stretched or outright ignored constitutional boundaries to work against Trump. Yet, somehow, we’re supposed to believe these assignments are pure chance. Sure. Judge Nachmanoff’s résumé doesn’t exactly inspire confidence either. Before becoming a magistrate judge for six years, he spent over a decade working as a federal public defender. That’s a career steeped in finding loopholes, bending rules, and negotiating ways to avoid accountability for defendants. He also defended al Qaeda member Zacarias Moussaoui.

And now he’s tasked with presiding over perhaps the most politically sensitive case since the Trump-Russia debacle that Comey himself helped orchestrate. It has all the makings of yet another judicial performance meant not to obtain justice, but to wash Comey clean. Comey himself is projecting confidence, even smugness. After his indictment, he declared, “I’m not afraid,” clearly confident of his inevitable vindication. Of course he’s not afraid—why would he be? He knows exactly how the swamp game works: the very corrupt institutions that targeted Trump are now circling the wagons to protect him. Washington knows that convicting Comey would mean vindicating Trump’s long-standing claims of a deep-state sabotage. They’ll never allow that because it would expose years of abuse and corruption.

Let’s not forget how deep the animosity runs. Comey’s feud with Trump dates back to 2017 when Trump fired him for insubordination and dishonesty. From there, Comey reinvented himself as the loudest of Trump’s critics, playing the role of “principled public servant” while running cover for the FBI’s disastrous handling of the 2016 campaign and the Russia hoax. I guess we should have seen this coming. The Washington swamp protects its own. James Comey presided over one of the darkest abuses of power in modern American politics, weaponizing the FBI against a duly elected president. Now, as he faces the charges he should have faced years ago, the establishment is already stacking the deck in his favor. The deep state isn’t afraid of justice—they’re afraid of accountability. And once again, it looks like the fix is in.

Read more …

“We can no longer afford to give a free pass to the people who are engineering the destruction of America as we know it. “It’s time.”

While Men Wonder, ‘What Can I Do?’ They Already Know (Tim O’brien)

Scott Adams, the Dilbert cartoonist and now “cancelled” conservative podcaster, signaled a broad imperative on his podcast in the days prior to the 2024 presidential election. He said, “Men, it’s time.” He said men would know what he meant, and he was correct. He realized that not all men in America were listening to him and waiting for his instructions, but he knew that enough of them were listening and did hear his rallying cry. He acknowledged that his audience was both male and female, but his message was for the men. He said he had a strong feeling about what men in America were pondering at that moment in America’s history. He pointed to how nature shapes men in their responses to threats or danger, and that biology instinctively drives them to assume the role of protector.

Paraphrasing Adams here, he said essentially that men will wait until the threat can no longer be ignored and the obligation to respond can no longer be ignored. Of course, none of this ignores the fact that conservative women were seeing the same things, going through something very similar at the same time, and responding in their own way. Just prior to the election, Adams said men in America now saw where the country was headed and that a Kamala Harris victory would put America on a path to a very dark place. Action had to be taken now. Men throughout America knew they had a responsibility to respond. They had to flat-out reject the left’s propaganda and the eft’s definition of “the new normal.” They didn’t need Adams or someone like him to tell them what to do or what to see. They already innately knew, Adams said. They just needed a nudge: “It’s time.”

During the Republican National Convention in July of 2024, the CNN analysts were discussing the speaker line-up the night when Kid Rock, wrestling legend Hulk Hogan, and UFC President Dana White took the stage. The pundits didn’t know what to make of it. That’s when Chris Wallace piped up and said, “A lot of testosterone tonight.” He was right. After the attempted assassination of Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, you started to see people, but particularly young men, unapologetically wearing their MAGA hats outside of just those Trump rallies. Increasingly, you’d see them in stores, on the beach, or at your kid’s baseball game. “Bro humor” broke out, and it became acceptable to mercilessly ridicule the cover-up of Joe Biden’s mental incompetence and the steady diet of word salads Kamala Harris was serving up. No amount of Barack Obama’s finger-wagging, aimed particularly at young black men, could resonate.

Across demographics, enough men knew what to do and they did it. They did what guys do when they get motivated. They spoke their minds. They laughed at what needed to be laughed at, especially while taking it seriously. They openly rejected stupidity and things that lacked common sense. In the process, a contagion was unleashed. Most men caught it, but again, especially young men. No more disengagement. No more looking the other way. No more playing along to get along, as men often do. Instead, men in general made a collective decision: “We are not tolerating the BS anymore. We reject the lies, the dictates, the nonsensical new woke protocols in society. All of it.”They pushed b ack at every turn. In personal conversations, in texts, on social media, in bars and restaurants, with family and friends, on the golf course, in the gym, and at work. They just quit overlooking it and letting it go.

They wore those MAGA hats where “polite company” doesn’t do that. They went to Trump rallies and other events. They tuned into Joe Rogan, Theo Von and other podcasters who interviewed Trump. They registered to vote and voted.They put Donald Trump over the top in a big way. Since then, many have gone back to their old ways, disengaging from politics, going back to watching sports, going to work, coaching their kids’ teams, and cutting the grass. Like their better halves, they work, they pay taxes, and they raise families. And besides, politics does not consume them. But now different things are happening. Strange things. Things that weren’t on the calendar like an election date was in 2024. Violent transgender and leftist killers have started to shoot up schools and churches with more frequency. Unsuspecting young women are being attacked and killed in places like light rail transit cars, and no one is helping.

A Christian bridge builder was assassinated for trying to go to the opposition to build dialogue. To make matters worse, he has been smeared online, in the halls of Congress, and in the media after death. ICE officers just trying to do their jobs are being targeted and told by Democrat politicians and leftist mobs to take off their masks so they can be personally doxed and targeted. While the left likes to pretend it hates guns, the gun has become its weapon of choice when trying to kill free speech, kill conservative momentum, and kill commonsense governing policies that people democratically voted for. Policies that are committed to deporting illegal immigrants; policies that affirm that men are men and women are women; policies that recognize my family and I have a right to speak, a right to hear, and a right to be safe in our own community

Those same men Scott Adams was talking to last year are now well aware of this vibe shift in the country. Now, with the women in their lives, they’re watching. They’re looking for something, some indicator that once again the threat can no longer be ignored and that they must do something. But what to do? The answer is pretty simple and nothing we haven’t done before. We need to reject the BS, the excuses, and the victim-blaming when the victims don’t fit the leftist narrative. There must be zero tolerance for violence in all forms, even if it means overwhelming that violence through bolstered law enforcement and federal resources as in Washington, D.C. Men now see the threat and know it won’t go away on its own or just because we voted on election day. Unlike 2024, this is not a battle for votes’ it’s a battle for the culture. We know this.

Deep down, we know we have to do what we did before. Women and men. We must call out the instigators openly and unapologetically. Hold them to account. Laugh at those who need to be laughed at and trivialize what needs to be trivialized, all the while taking the left very seriously. Whether we’re on a transit car or in a public space, we know that if something happens, we have to step up. We have no choice. Men have to get involved. This battle will be won in the course of our daily routines. At parent-teacher meetings, in school board meetings, by speaking up in everyday conversations or through firm but reasonable social media activity. In all cases, all of us must reject leftist hate in all forms, such as by boycotting weaselly late-night comedians. We need to reject what has now become serious political and religious persecution. We must refuse to let woke dictates and protocols rule.

We must refuse to let the left’s distorted version of reality become reality. Back in New York City after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, law enforcement came up with a catchy saying that is relevant right now: If you see something, say something. That’s where we are. When we see something that isn’t right, whether it feels like an immediate threat, or one that if allowed to stand will add to the decline of our culture, we have a duty to do something or say something. Nothing will change unless we, and millions like us, do the same. Men can’t leave it to the government, to the Trump administration, or to their wives. They must be present and accounted for. We can no longer afford to give a free pass to the people who are engineering the destruction of America as we know it. “It’s time.”

Read more …

Not a complete story. Video hardly accessible.

We Now Have a 4th Theory of Charlie Kirk’s Assassination (Paul Craig Roberts)

“There is now video evidence that is extremely compelling that Charlie Kirk was fitted with an explosive lavalier mic, attached to his T-shirt that fired a small caliber projectile through the right side of his neck, creating a bloody exit wound on his neck’s left side. The mini-explosion under Charlie’s shirt caused a momentary ballooning of the shirt and smoke coming from under his garment that would not seem to have been caused by a bullet fired at him from a distance. These details are readily visible in the video attached below.

The apparent assassin was a man with a large-square-patterned, brown shirt in the audience several feet away from Kirk. He seems to have “shot” Charlie, not by firing a Derringer-sized pistol at him, as some have speculated, but by triggering the detonator under Charlie’s shirt with a remote-control device under the killer’s own shirt sleeve. He was captured on video on the front row in the audience, “pulling the trigger” through his sleeve, which is precisely synchronized with the sound of the exploding detonator. In the video, the man then exhibits a completely different reaction from the other frightened people around him at the moment after Charlie is shot. Thereafter, he immediately rushes to the crime scene where his accomplices appear to be removing the spent mic detonator, or “squib,” from Charlie’s shirt, and perhaps the spent bullet on the ground as well.

Another man in a blue shirt appears to be putting something in his back pocket, while the man in the brown shirt hands off what appears to be the remote control trigger device used in the assassination to yet another man in a white shirt, who puts that item in his back pocket. Both men in the blue shirt and white shirt run off behind the stage and disappear. The assassin or “trigger man” remains at the crime scene, apparently combing the area and sweeping up any remaining evidence.

Another person moves quickly to remove the SD card in the camera behind Charlie that captured the murder on video up close, although from a rear angle. However this too was an illegal removal of evidence from the crime scene. Even the rushed removal of Kirk’s body, ostensibly, “to the hospital,” when he was obviously already dead was also a criminal removal of evidence. Incredibly, the same man with the brown shirt who “pulled the trigger,” can also be seen in another video (linked below, as well) directing five other men, uniformly dressed in dark shirts and khaki pants, as they hurriedly carry Kirk’s lifeless body to a black Suburban, as one or two clueless police look on and still do nothing to secure the crime scene. Then the man in the brown shirt enters the black Suburban to accompany Kirk’s dead body to the hospital. He was not only the “trigger man” but apparently the person coordinating the entire criminal cooperation.

During the ride to the hospital, there would have been enough time to remove Charlie’s shirt, and perhaps replace it with an identical garment. This would have precluded any forensic discovery of spent gunpowder from the explosive that was discharged underneath the material of his original clothing. Of course, just as we were presented with falsified photos of the entry and exit wounds on President Kennedy’s skull, and misleading testimonies by the government’s obviously compromised and/or threatened pathologists at Bethesda, Maryland, so also was the published report on Kirk’s wounds a total lie. This operation was necessarily conducted by multiple persons known to Charlie, who were either employees of TPUSA or “contractors” hired by Charlie’s organization. They are now helping to perpetuate the cover-up, as if those in Charlie’s inner circle were covert Mossad and/or CIA operatives tasked with “keeping him in line,” or eliminating him if he deviated from the script approved by Israel.

As many will recall, the Israelis developed explosive pagers that made their way into the pockets of administrators of the Hamas government structures, killing the people who were carrying those devices, and injuring many others in the process, on 17 September 2024. The Mossad’s remote control executions continued on 18 September 2024 with explosive walkie-talkies that had been sold to Iranian officials. In this manner, Israel’s remote-control assassination operations resulted in 42 deaths and over 3500 injuries.

A remotely-detonated explosive lapel microphone, magnetically attached to Kirk’s T-shirt with part of the device hidden from view under the shirt, and modified to fire a deadly projectile at close range, would certainly have been within the Mossad’s capabilities in its war against public figures that threaten Israel’s agenda. Moreover, the Mossad would have been able to call on our own government to assist in the murder, as the obedient slave to the Jewish state that it has become, in totality during the first several months of Trump’s second term.

The presenter of this brief video, Stew Peters, is the courageous producer of the riveting documentary, “Died Suddenly,” which exposed the government’s massive killing spree with the COVID vaccine. Peters lays the blame on Kirk’s “Israeli security detail,” for having executed the murder. If so, they were likely aided in the crime by members of Charlie Kirk’s own staff that remain high up in the organization he founded, Turning Point USA. From early on, Kirk’s operation was heavily funded by Jewish donors, and was run by maniacal “Christian-Zionists” who some time ago stopped following the teachings of Jesus Christ after they became deranged, radicalized Zionists. Once Kirk had gone rogue and began calling out both Israel and domestic Jewish influencers, the members of Kirk’s inner circle had to choose between Charlie and the object of their first loyalty – Talmudic Jewry and the Zionist bandit state.

Israel will not tolerate someone taking their money and then turning on them, nor will their non-Jewish sycophants who have become caught up in the mindset of Talmudic Jewry. The Talmud justifies the killing of non-Jews, and its powerful adherents will not allow anyone seen as a threat to Israel to live. Natanyahu kills people with impunity around the world, and his brainwashed, cultish, non-Jewish, Zionist allies cheer him on.

As you well know, these same kinds of twisted souls financed the Trump campaign and now occupy the Trump Administration, in every single key position. No doubt this is why President Trump never deviates from the Israeli playbook. And this will guarantee that his Justice Department will allow the government’s patsy, who, just like Harvey Oswald, has denied shooting anyone, to be “suicided” while in federal custody, resulting in the immediate closure of the case. Just like LBJ, who was the designated custodian for the cover-up of the murder of JFK before the president was assassinated, so also President Trump is already complicit in the murder of Charlie Kirk by falsely blaming his death on “radical leftists.” And he will continue to allow his corrupt FBI director to lie non-stop to the American people during the agency’s sham “investigation” into the murder of Charlie Kirk from beginning to end.

Kirk’s supposed “best friend,” Andrew Kolvet, is also a bad actor, parroting the ridiculous claim that Charlie’s “man of steel” neck bones prevented the alleged assassin’s 30-06 bullet (which has yet to be produced) from piercing his neck. Kolvet went on camera to present this obviously bogus “coroner’s report,” but no one is buying it.

Every distraction imaginable was spring-loaded and ready to go before Kirk’s murder, including an elderly professional crisis actor (also Jewish) claiming to have shot Kirk, to preoccupy the local police while the killers were sweeping the the crime scene, uninhibited. Plus, multiple decoy shooters were positioned on the roof of the buildings that surrounded the temporary arena where Kirk was speaking. Moreover, there is a plethora of misleading videos and false explanations being put out that have been deliberately engineered to confuse the public. However, a consensus among those determined to uncover the true identity of Kirk’s murderers is beginning to coalesce around Stew Peter’s brief video, linked below.

https://stewpeters.locals.com/post/7312395/breaking-charlie-kirk-assassin-identified

Read more …

 

 

 

 


https://twitter.com/FarmGirlCarrie/status/1971980846455541929

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1972440255992066434

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

 

 

Sep 272025
 


René Magritte The song of the storm 1937

 

Martyr or Liar? Comey Indicted on Two Counts (Turley)
Former FBI Director James Comey Indicted on Three Counts (CTH)
Days of Judgment (James Howard Kunstler)
Yet Again, Deep State Attacks DNI Tulsi Gabbard (CTH)
Leaked Memo Reveals FBI Deployed A Stunning 274 Agents On J6 (ZH)
Kiev False-Flag Provocation Could Lead To World War 3 – Zakharova (RT)
Kremlin Slams ‘Reckless’ NATO Threats To Shoot Down Russian Planes (RT)
EU Moves To Bypass Hungary’s Veto On Russia Sanctions (RT)
Crazy Idea On How To Steal Russia’s Assets: Make EU Taxpayers Pay For It (MoA)
Kallas Insists US Shouldn’t Offload Ukraine On EU (RT)
West Invented The ‘Russian Threat’ – And Kept It For 500 Years (Bordachev)
Gaza Deal Near – Trump (RT)
He Destroyed A Country and Half A Million Lives and Got Five Years (Fetouri)
Elon Musk Says Charlie Kirk Was Shot From The Rear (Paul Craig Roberts)

 

 

https://twitter.com/JesseBWatters/status/1971742140704096733

 

 

 

 

As I said yesterday, this will be a difffiult case to bring. They are all in it together, and all for one, one for all etc. But there’s a weakness to that too. The rats may try to be first to leave the ship if they expect rain. Several sources now say McCabe may turn on Comey, on whose orders he leaked.

“This is a city that floats on a rolling sea of leaks.”

“He is also a sophisticated player. Perhaps that is why he issued a videotaped message saying effectively “bring it on” and let’s go to trial. While an improvement over Comey’s bizarre seashell messages, the videotape may be too confident.”

Martyr or Liar? Comey Indicted on Two Counts (Turley)

Yesterday, James Comey became the first former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to be indicted for a federal crime. That is likely the only fact upon which you will receive anything close to agreement in the country. For some, the two-count indictment is a long-overdue accountability for a man who pushed through the now-debunked Russian collusion investigation. For others, it is another abuse on President Donald Trump’s revenge tour. There are legitimate concerns about the targeting of a political critic of the President, particularly after he publicly complained just days ago that Attorney General Pam Bondi was not indicting Comey and others.

However, Comey is hardly the pristine model of “ethical leadership” that he described in his book. Putting aside his critical role in the Russian collusion investigation, Comey tossed aside even the pretense of ethics after Trump fired him. The Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, issued a scathing report that found Comey was a leaker and had violated FBI policy in his handling of FBI memos. On his way out of the Bureau, Comey stole FBI materials, including those containing the “code name and true identity” of a sensitive source. While he did not find that he disclosed the classified information, Horowitz found that Comey took “the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive investigative information, obtained during the course of FBI employment, in order to achieve a personally desired outcome.”

He further added that Comey “set a dangerous example for the over 35,000 current FBI employees—and the many thousands of more former FBI employees—who similarly have access to or knowledge of non-public information.” Comey later admitted that he asked his friend, Columbia Law Professor Daniel Richman, to leak information from the documents to the New York Times. Comey’s close associate, former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, stated that Comey did instruct him to leak information to the media. Comey denied that repeatedly under oath. James Baker, FBI general counsel and a close adviser to Comey, also told investigators that he was “under the belief” that he was “ultimately instructed and authorized to [provide information to the Times] by then FBI Director James Comey.”

That sets up a straightforward question: who is lying? It could also set up a bizarre scene of McCabe testifying against his friend. McCabe despises Trump as much as Comey, so he may prove to be an overtly hostile witness for the prosecutors. Washington will be glued to any such trial. The only thing more unnerving than the alleged targeting of a political critic in Washington is the prosecution of a leaker. This is a city that floats on a rolling sea of leaks. The Justice Department is notorious for leaks made with lethal effect against targets. Now the former FBI director will stand trial to see if he is a leaker and a liar. There is one individual who is likely to be watching with particular interest and perhaps satisfaction: former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Comey is facing two counts of making false statements and obstructing a congressional proceeding. The first count under 18 U.S.C. 1001 (a)(2) is the exact charge that Comey engineered against Flynn. Comey gave a book tour where he thrilled audiences about how he secured a criminal charge against Flynn for making false statements. In one event, an audience cheered as Comey took credit for the controversial charge. He explained that what he did was not exactly proper. It was, he explained, “something we’ve, I probably wouldn’t have done or maybe gotten away with in a more organized investigation, a more organized administration…I thought, ‘It’s early enough, let’s just send a couple of guys over.’”

The actual agents who interviewed Flynn did not believe that he intentionally lied about a meeting with Russian diplomats, but Comey and his investigators pushed for charges anyway. They drained Flynn of resources, threatened to indict his son, and ultimately secured a guilty plea. Now it will be Comey in the dock, facing a charge of making a false statement. He will do so as someone who has admitted to improperly removing FBI material and leaking information to the media. The odds still favor Comey. He will have a jury taken from a generally liberal, Democratic jury pool. He is also a sophisticated player. Perhaps that is why he issued a videotaped message saying effectively “bring it on” and let’s go to trial. While an improvement over Comey’s bizarre seashell messages, the videotape may be too confident.

Perjury or false statements can be challenging to prove, particularly when vague or nuanced language is used. This is neither vague nor nuanced. Comey repeatedly swore that he never asked anyone at the FBI to leak information. That is either true or it is not. Comey will continue to be vilified and lionized by different parts of the population. Yet, this is an ignoble moment that he helped bring about. Notably, this indictment comes 50 years after the only Attorney General was convicted of crimes (including false statements and obstruction). That was John Mitchell after the Watergate scandal. Now the man who bragged about nailing Michael Flynn will face the same false statement charge. The man who celebrated the charging of Donald Trump (including obstruction-related charges) will face his own obstruction charge. Whether karma or lawfare, Comey will now have his day in court.

Read more …

“This count could open the door to public testimony by McCabe, Rice, Mook, Brennan and even Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton herself as to Comey’s knowledge; each was a first-hand witness.”

Former FBI Director James Comey Indicted on Three Counts (CTH)

Newly appointed U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, from the Eastern District of Viginia, has released a criminal indictment of former FBI Director James Comey . The indictment alleges three counts. Counts one and two are ‘false statements’ to congress on September 30, 2020, [18 U.S.C. § 1001(a)(2)] and count three is ‘obstruction of a federal proceeding’ stemming from the same testimony. [18U.S.C. § 1505] The first false statement charge surrounds Hillary Clinton’s “approval of a plan concerning” Donald Trump and the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election.

COUNT #1 – James Comey claimed he could not remember being made aware of the Trump-Russia collusion plan, and there is ample evidence from his own previous public statements, from public and sworn statements by former CIA Director John Brennan, from former statements by officials in the January 5, 2017, meeting memorialized by Susan Rice, from statements that remain sealed as recounted by former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and from statements under oath by the former Clinton campaign team -including campaign manager Robby Mook- that James Comey was well aware of the plan. While this first count is based on the tenuous “I don’t remember” aspect, this count holds more material benefit than simply Comey’s recollection.

This count could open the door to public testimony by McCabe, Rice, Mook, Brennan and even Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton herself as to Comey’s knowledge; each was a first-hand witness. This first count holds strong material value in a public trial regardless of the outcome. This first count establishes the baseline for USAO Lindsey Halligan to bring all material witnesses into court and publicly put them on record outlining the Trump-Russia collusion scheme. You could say, I hope the intent is not just to incarcerate Comey per se’ – but rather to use what Comey represents to indict the entire enterprise around him. The facts behind Count #1 make this possible. Let’s all hope this strategic intent unfolds.

Count #2, involves James Comey falsely testify he did not direct former his FBI Special Government Employee (SGE) Daniel Richman to leak information to New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt. This second count is easily evidenced through the prior investigation of Office of Inspector General Michael Horowitz and all prior witness statements therein. Again, that includes testimony to Horowitz given by former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. Additionally, the second count is evidenced by the direct testimony of Daniel Richman himself, who was hired by James Comey and given special access privileges to classified information systems. Richman was likely a grand jury witness during the assembly of the case against Comey. Count #2 is the easiest to prove beyond any reasonable doubt.

BIG PICTURE – One of the frustrations felt by many people who have researched or followed the Trump-Russia collusion nonsense, is the lack of accountability for the internal actors who operated within a highly weaponized DOJ and FBI system. Perhaps this indictment is the first step in holding those to account. I am often asked about why the second term cabinet members of President Trump do not take action. My response is consistent. They refuse to acknowledge or assert the corruption within the institutions they lead. They are fraught with fear. The administration of President Donald Trump does not have the same institutional operations in place that Joe Biden visibly deployed post January 6, 2021.

President Barack Obama spent eight years working with Attorney General Eric Holder, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Deputy AG Sally Yates, former FBI Director James Comey, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and former FBI Chief Legal Counsel James Baker, on a process of weaponizing the Dept of Justice and FBI. All of the agents and attorneys within the Obama network, in addition to their private sector media and Lawfare partners, spent over a decade building out their ideological targeting tools. Bondi, Patel and to a lesser extent Bongino, spent a ridiculous amount of time denying the institutional constructs that sit beneath them. Still, to this day, they do not publicly admit the internal challenge with each organization. All institutional change first requires a public admission of the problem.

Main Justice and FBI remain -to this day- in private acceptance but public denial of the problem. In essence they are stuck in a pretending loop. Each day that follows grows the Gordian knot their denial & fear creates. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy; an outcome born of both fear and inability. Those who created the weaponized institutions are heavily reliant upon the retention of pretense. We the people, are continually witnessing this dynamic and frustrated at the lack of accountability. Yet even within that frustrated annoyance, too few boldly outline exactly how comprehensively corrupt the institutions are – by former design. Pam Bondi and Kash Patel are afraid of the organizations they lead. Their fear stems from a desire to be viewed as effective, and yet their ineffectiveness at correcting the problem is driven by their fear. Thus, the loop.

Yes, Main Justice and the FBI can change the dynamic, but it starts -as all massive institutional reform efforts must- with a seismic release of sunlight upon the toxic corruption that sits at their feet. As long as Pam Bondi and Kash Patel continue to maintain a pretense of top-down control, the embedded system operators will continue undermining them and acting maliciously. The effort to hold James Comey to account is highlighting just how corrupt THEIR SYSTEM is. It is not accidental that President Trump needed to shake them up and change this dynamic with the very public appointment of Lindsey Halligan.

How do Bondi and Patel stop entwining the knot and finally cut it? Well, that begins with sunlight, firings, investigations and criminal indictments of former officials AND current holdovers inside their agencies. In essence, they must purposefully and righteously ‘turn the tables‘ in their own temples. Perhaps the indictment of James Comey will finally begin the process.

Read more …

“If you’re want a friend in DC, get a dog. We’re coming for you.” —Dan Bongino, Deputy Director, FBI

Days of Judgment (James Howard Kunstler)

You better believe Martha Stewart baked a cake last night — the lovely Gâteau Opéra perhaps? — when she got the news that the ham sandwich known as James Comey got indicted by a federal grand jury twenty-two years after that same ham sandwich indicted the goddess of hearth and home for lying to the FBI and the SEC over a trumped-up insider-trading rap, and sent her to federal prison for a five-month stretch plus five additional months of confined home-making and two years of supervised redecorating.

Mr. Comey’s indictment is probably just the opening salvo in what will be a barrage of indictments coming down against government officials who used their powers-under-law to harass, disable, cancel, dis-bar, bankrupt, persecute and ruin thousands of their fellow citizens, including especially the 45th president and the people who worked for him.

Jim Comey was the engine who pulled the choo-choo train of seditious fakery known as RussiaGate (Donald Trump colluding with Vladimir Putin) into America’s public life, which then expanded into the years-long ass-covering operations of the Mueller Investigation, then Impeachments One and Two, then the J-6 FBI-engineered “insurrection,” then Nancy Pelosi’s Congressional J-6 committee gong show, and then the four various fugazi prosecutions against Mr. Trump in 2024 designed to derail his re-run for office bankrupt his family, and stuff him in prison for the rest of his life.

Mr. Comey and his associates must be astounded that none of that worked. It really was a mighty organized criminal endeavor. And, as such, it stands to be prosecutable under the RICO statutes, which means that these current two charges against Mr. Comey should be a coming attraction of much more to come against him and many other familiar characters, possibly including his successor as FBI Director Christopher Wray. (The Blaze reports overnight that the FBI deployed roughly 275 plainclothes agents into the J-6 protest crowd at the US Capitol, as opposed to the 26 agents that Mr. Wray testified about to Congress.)

The smuggery of this gang in the years since all this business started in 2016 has also been out of this world. Mr. Comey dropped one rancid video after another either making threats or sanctimoniously declaring his sainthood, as if he expected the dreadful day would never come that he might face charges. Likewise, former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe ran his mouth all over CNN for years, former CIA Director John Brennan spun fibs on MSNBC, while FBI RussiaGate straw-boss Peter Strzok rode shotgun regularly with fake news confabulator Rachel Maddow. All of it was designed to bamboozle the public, and it worked!

You can expect more than one RICO case to come because these crimes against our country occurred in many discrete episodes of organized misconduct over many years. The RussiaGate op involving Comey, Brennan, Hillary, Obama, Biden, et al., was quite separate from Adam Schiff’s orchestrated seditious Impeachment #1 featuring CIA mole Eric Ciaramella, Col. Alexander Vindman, and ICIG Michael Atkinson. As was the activity of the Mueller group actually supervised by Andrew Weissmann (because Robert Mueller was secretly non compos mentis). As were the J-6 shenanigans of Mr. Wray’s FBI, including the DNC Pipe Bomb sideshow.

As were the Lawfare exploits of Norm Eisen and Mary McCord conniving with “Joe Biden’s” White House to arrange the Trump prosecutions by DA Alvin Bragg and AG Letitia James in New York and DA Fani Willis in Fulton County, GA. As were the dark deeds of Merrick Garland and his Special Counsels Jake Smith, David Weiss, and Robert Hur. As were the 2020 and 2022 election-rigging capers of Marc Elias & Company. As were whatever peculiar directives were ordered by Alejandro Mayorkas to throw the US borders wide open. As was the “autopen” abuse by the White House staff and their cover-up of “Joe Biden’s” mental decline.

Read more …

“It is certainly true that AG Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel have refused to look internally; and it is also true that DNI Tulsi Gabbard has spent much of her focus time looking internally.”

Yet Again, Deep State Attacks DNI Tulsi Gabbard (CTH)

It is difficult not to notice the strategy of how certain Trump administration officials are targeted. Any cabinet member that looks inward to reveal the status of corrupt activity within the information silo itself becomes a target. Cabinet officials who focus externally, meaning the majority of their effort looks outside government, are seemingly left alone. HHS Secretary RFK Jr and Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, are examples of those receiving the worst ideological targeting from operations within HHS and the Intelligence Community respectively. Conversely, CIA Director John Ratcliffe faces almost no scrutiny or targeting by the Intelligence Community as the silo operators frame narratives almost exclusively against DNI Gabbard.

The latest effort surfaces as embeds within Main Justice and the CIA frame a storyline that Tulsi Gabbard’s action in removing the security clearances of 37 current and former officials, has now resulted in those same officials being incapable of testifying against former CIA Director John Brennan (and others). The premise of the narrative is ridiculous. If we are to accept some current or former IC officials are willing to testify against Brennan (or others), regardless of whether Tulsi Gabbard has revoked their security clearances, their retroactive knowledge is still pertinent. They are completely free to give statements and testimony based on their prior conduct. What the leakers to Axios and the New York Times are trying to establish, is groundwork for the removal of Tulsi Gabbard.

This stops her objective of investigating internal corruption. I suspect most of the people trying desperately to undermine Gabbard are from within the CIA Directorate of Analysis, or at least in alignment with the directorate’s agenda. The narrative’s author, Marc Caputo, claims AG Pam Bondi is hampered in her effort to criminally indict John Brennan because the witnesses Main Justice would use have lost their security clearances. Again, the game of leveraging internecine friendships in/around the office of Trump becomes an overlay. It is certainly true that AG Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel have refused to look internally; and it is also true that DNI Tulsi Gabbard has spent much of her focus time looking internally. Bondi and Patel continue the preferred game of institutional blame-casting in Main Justice. Meanwhile, Gabbard is busy focused on cleaning up her IC house.

The Fourth Branch embeds do not fear the approach of Bondi/Patel, but the Fourth Branch embeds are petrified by the approach of Tulsi Gabbard. That reality underpins the baseline of opposition against the Director of National Intelligence. As the dynamic unfolds, CIA Director John Ratcliffe is certainly not corrupt; however, nor is he brave. Director Ratcliffe is willing to let Director Gabbard clean up his house, and then he takes credit for the reform. As the weeks unfold into months, this is becoming increasingly obvious.

Mark Zaid is the current anti-Trump Lawfare operative likely seeding the narrative to Axios/New York Times. “Mark Zaid, a Trump administration critic who represents six of the intelligence professionals whose clearances were revoked, said administration officials fretting about the Brennan case have “valid concerns.” “This seems to be, as usual, an unforced error by Trump administration officials who don’t think things through in the long game in favor of a quick-pass completion,” he said. “If I were the defense counsel [for Brennan], I would raise the revocation in an attempt to undermine the credibility of the witnesses.”

Mark Zaid knows the game-changing process that DNI Tulsi Gabbard is using. Gabbard is directly going into each IC agency to review and retrieve information. When she finds something that connects to the overall plots being used by the Fourth Branch, the DNI takes that information directly to President Trump who subsequently declassifies it and then she releases it. Zaid and the Deep State operatives he represents, want to stop Tulsi Gabbard with urgency. They are throwing every available IC narrative into the media flow in the hope that something stops Tulsi’s effectiveness.

Read more …

And then lie about it 1,000 times…

Leaked Memo Reveals FBI Deployed A Stunning 274 Agents On J6 (ZH)

The FBI deployed nearly 300 plainclothes agents to the US Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot, in an effort that became so chaotic it caused an internal schism within the agency that led many rank-and-file at the bureau that core competencies had been lost to “wokeness,” and that employees had become “pawns in a political war,” according to an after-action report hidden from the public for over four years until it was obtained by Just the News. Anonymous complaints were sent to the after-action team by scores of FBI agents and other personnel – many from the bureau’s premier Washington field office (WFO) – detailing how agents were sent into a dangerous situation without proper safety equipment or even the ability to identify themselves as armed officers to other police agencies.

Most common among the complaints was that under former directors Chris Wray and just-indicted James Comey, the bureau had become infected with political bias and liberal ideology that treated the Trump-supporting Jan. 6 protesters much differently from Black Lives Matter rioters from the summer of 2020. “The FBI should make clear to its personnel and the public that, despite its obvious political bias, it ultimately still takes its mission and priorities seriously,” wrote one employee. “It should equally and aggressively investigate criminal activity regardless of the offenders’ perceived race, political affiliations, or motivations; and it should equally and aggressively protect all Americans regardless of perceived race, political affiliations, or motivations.”

The agent suggested that leaders “identify viable exit options for FBI personnel who no longer feel it is legally or morally acceptable to support a federal law enforcement and intelligence agency motivated by political bias.” Another agent suggested that the problem was widespread throughout the FBI. “Currently, the US Attorneys office is dictating what it is that gets investigated. This is a dangerous precedent because we can barely get them to prosecute investigations that clearly meet thresholds needed for Federal prosecutions,” the agent wrote. “However, their willingness to conduct a search warrant on someone’s life for a misdemeanor seems ridiculous. It is unreasonable for the FBI to conduct investigations involving misdemeanor violations at a federal level… it is not our role.”

Several employees directly mentioned the Washington Field Office (WFO) and its culture. “WFO is a hopelessly broken office that’s more concerned about wearing masks and recruiting preferred racial/sexual groups than catching actual bad guys,” wrote one worker. “I wish you all would pay more attention to our safety than what type of masks we wear. If you are going to deploy us to a riot situation, then give us the proper damn safety equipment–helmet, face shield, protective clothing–and training!” wrote another. In total, the after-action feedback spanned 50 pages, which were located by current FBI Director Kash Patel’s office and turned over to the House Judiciary Committed and its subcommittee

As Just the News notes further; the document has proven a bombshell to lawmakers, revealing for the first time that the FBI had a total of 274 agents deployed to the Capitol in plainclothes and with guns but no clear safety gear of way to be recognized by other law enforcement agencies working in the chaos of the riot. Wray, Patel’s predecessor, steadfastly refused to tell Congress how many if any agents went to the Capitol that day. And a prior DOJ Inspector General Report did not divulge the number, referring only to a SWAT team the bureau sent into the Capitol and having more than two dozen informants in the crowd. The existence of mass FBI agents at the Capitol on Jan. 6 could also be a problem in many of the cases that were subsequently brought in court. If agents were witnesses at the Capitol and did not disclose it in the subsequent affidavits during prosecutions it could create grounds for defendants to appeal.

The document also reveals for the first time that there were widespread concerns for years inside the bureau – sentiments that boiled over after the FBI began sending SWAT teams to arrest Jan. 6 participants on misdemeanor charges – that the FBI had become biased in favor of liberals and against conservatives. Despite the pre-existing report, Wray rejected that notion in testimony before Congress. “The idea that I’m biased against conservatives seems somewhat insane to me, given my own personal background,” Wray told Congress in 2023. “I have found almost invariably, the people screaming the loudest about the politicization of the FBI are themselves the most political, and more often than not, making claims of politicization to advance their own views or goals, and they often don’t know the facts or are choosing to ignore them,” Wray added in an episode of the podcast “FBI Retired Case File Review” that aired the same year.

Read more …

MO: take a downed Russia drone, repair it, use it to attack Europe. Everyone will think Russia did it.

Kiev False-Flag Provocation Could Lead To World War 3 – Zakharova (RT)

Ukraine is planning a possible false-flag operation in Romania or Poland that could escalate into a third world war, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said. In a Telegram post on Friday, she pointed to reports in Hungarian media alleging that Kiev intends to stage acts of sabotage in neighboring NATO countries and place responsibility on Moscow. ”Europe has never been so close to the outbreak of World War 3 in modern history,” Zakharova wrote. According to the information available, the Kiev regime’s plan is to repair several downed or intercepted Russian UAVs, fit them with lethal warheads, and – controlled by Ukrainian specialists – send them disguised as “Russian drones” to major NATO transport hubs in Poland and Romania, Zakharova continued.

https://twitter.com/MyLordBebo/status/1971614761889726746

At the same time, they would run a disinformation campaign across Europe to pin the blame on Moscow and thereby try to provoke an armed conflict between the Russian Federation and NATO, she added. In order to carry out this alleged provocation, Russian-made ‘Geran’ drones were reportedly delivered on September 16 to the Yavorov training ground in western Ukraine, which hosts the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security of the Hetman Petro Sagaidachny National Academy. The UAVs had reportedly earlier been repaired at the LORTA plant in Lviv.

Zakharova cited Hungarian journalists as saying that the reason for these actions by Vladimir Zelensky is straightforward: the Ukrainian armed forces are suffering a crushing defeat. The collapse of the army, they argued, is no longer limited to the tactical level but has taken on a strategic dimension. If all this is confirmed, it means that Europe has never been so close to the start of World War 3, Zakharova concluded.

https://twitter.com/Alex_Oloyede2/status/1971655097034633621

Read more …

You can bet the Russian pilots are under strict orders NOT to breach protocol.

Kremlin Slams ‘Reckless’ NATO Threats To Shoot Down Russian Planes (RT)

Threats by NATO member states to shoot down Russian warplanes are “reckless and irresponsible,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said. He insisted that no hard evidence has been presented to back up allegations that Russian fighter jets violated bloc members’ airspace. Earlier this month, Poland alleged that multiple Russian drones had entered its territory. Estonia made similar claims of airspace violations last Friday, requesting urgent consultations with fellow NATO member states. Moscow has denied any breaches of the military bloc’s airspace. Responding to the Estonia claim, the Russian Defense Ministry said three MiG-31s were conducting a routine flight from Karelia Region, east of Finland, to an airfield in Kaliningrad Region, a Russian exclave bordering Poland and Lithuania, and that they strictly flew over neutral waters of the Baltic Sea.

https://twitter.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1971640205116654076

When asked to comment on a report by Bloomberg, in which Western diplomats were cited as threatening to shoot down intruding Russian warplanes, Peskov said on Friday that “this is a very reckless and irresponsible statement.” “Allegations against Russia that its warplanes have violated someone’s airspace are groundless,” the official said, noting that “no credible evidence has been produced” to corroborate the claims. The Bloomberg report cited anonymous officials as claiming that earlier this week, British, French, and German representatives had held a closed-door meeting with Russian officials in Moscow. According to the publication, the Western diplomats warned that NATO was prepared to shoot down Russian warplanes in the event of airspace violations.

Earlier this week, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said he would not rule out such a scenario, but that decisions are made strictly on a case-by-case basis. In an interview with France’s RTL radio station on Thursday, Moscow’s ambassador to Paris, Aleksey Meshkov, cautioned that such an incident would trigger a “war” between NATO and Russia.

Read more …

Democracy and sunlight. This sort of thing always reminds me of Groucho: ‘These are my principles, and if you don’t like them, well, I have others’.

EU Moves To Bypass Hungary’s Veto On Russia Sanctions (RT)

The European Commission has proposed extending sanctions against Russia by qualified majority rather than unanimity in order to prevent Hungary from blocking them, Politico reported on Friday, citing an EC document.EU diplomats are due to discuss the proposal and a new sanctions package later on Friday, the outlet said. Currently, Brussels renews anti-Russian sanctions every six months with unanimous approval. Hungary has consistently opposed the bloc’s unconditional support for Kiev, favoring peace talks over continued military aid, and has repeatedly used its veto to block EU financial and military assistance. Under the Commission’s plan, only a qualified majority would be needed to extend the restrictions, curbing Budapest’s ability to wield its veto and demand concessions such as releasing frozen Russian assets.

The outlet said that ahead of Friday’s meeting of EU permanent representatives, the Commission also outlined a plan to provide Ukraine with a €140 billion loan backed by frozen Russian central bank assets, to be disbursed in tranches for defense and budget support. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz endorsed the idea this week, but said the funds should go solely to pay for military equipment and only be repaid when Russia compensates Kiev for damages. Earlier this month, the Commission floated a proposal to use Russian assets to back a reparation loan to Ukraine, repayable only if Kiev receives “compensation” from Moscow.

Reuters earlier put the plan at €130 billion, describing it as a “reparations credit” replacing Moscow assets with zero-coupon bonds issued by the Commission, guaranteed by all EU states or a coalition of willing countries. Diplomats for the bloc are expected to debate these initiatives alongside a 19th sanctions package. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the measures would target Russian banks, liquefied natural gas, the Mir payment system and vessels in what Brussels calls Moscow’s “shadow fleet.” Russia, which has denounced Western sanctions as “illegal,” has warned that any attempt to seize or redirect its assets would deliver a “very serious blow” to the international financial system and has vowed to retaliate.

Read more …

“If countries see that central bank money can disappear when European politicians see fit, they might decide to withdraw their reserves from the eurozone.”

Crazy Idea On How To Steal Russia’s Assets: Make EU Taxpayers Pay For It (MoA)

The war hawks have long tried to steal Russian assets held in West to then use the money to finance the proxy war against Russia. The sums involved are serious: “Nearly three years after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Belgium holds €258 billion in frozen or immobilised Russian assets. The General Administration of Treasury at the Ministry of Finance confirmed the figures on Wednesday to La Libre and De Tijd.” Some of these assets belong to institutions not sanctioned by the European Union. Frozen assets amount to €65 billion, with an additional €193 billion in immobilised transactions, primarily from the Central Bank of Russia.”

The money is not really held by Belgium but by the Belgium company Euroclear which acts as depository for international central bank assets denominated in Euros. Currently the EU is confiscating the interest, not the principal, of that money to distribute it to Ukraine. That step is likely already illegal and Russia will certainly use the courts to get it back. There were also talks to invest the Russian assets in junk bonds with aim of achieving a higher yield:

“Euroclear chief executive Valérie Urbain told the Financial Times that European Union plans to raise additional revenue from frozen Russian assets by investing them in higher-risk securities would amount to “expropriation.” Urbain also warned that such a move could prompt “Russian retaliation in all sorts of forms,” as well as damage Euroclear’s reputation. The majority of Russian assets frozen after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine are currently held at Euroclear. The E.U. has reportedly been discussing the possibility of transferring these assets to a special E.U.-administered fund that would make higher-risk investments. The goal is to generate greater returns to support Ukraine.”

That move was blocked as no one was ready to accept the potential liability for it. Not only Belgium, but also Germany and other fiscal conservative states, have warned that such a move would endanger their own assets. Russia has announced that it will retaliate against any confiscation of its money. It threatens to confiscate whatever European companies own or hold in Russia. Those companies would then have to sue their own governments for cover of their losses. Now a new idea has crept up. How it is supposed to work is not clear to me but it seems to have the support of the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

In a Financial Times op-ed Merz claims (archived): “Germany has been, and remains, cautious on the issue of confiscating the Russian central bank’s assets that are frozen in Europe, and with good reason. There are not only questions of international law to consider, but also fundamental issues concerning the euro’s role as a global reserve currency. But this must not hold us back: we must consider how, by circumventing these problems, we can make these funds available for the defence of Ukraine. In my view a viable solution should now be developed whereby — without intervening in property rights — we can make available to Ukraine an interest-free loan of almost €140 billion in total. That loan would only be repaid once Russia has compensated Ukraine for the damage it has caused during this war. Until then, the Russian assets will remain frozen, as decided by the European Council. Such extensive assistance will require budgetary guarantees from member states. Those bilateral guarantees should, as soon as the next Multiannual Financial Framework is in place in 2028, be replaced by collateralisation under the EU’s long-term budget.”

What sounds like AI slop is not Merz’ own idea but a plan that had been proffered earlier by the EU commission. But no one seems to understands how its is different from an outright confiscation of those assets: “Frustration has been building in EU capitals around the lack of details surrounding the so-called reparations loan, which Commission President Ursula von der Leyen first pitched in her State of the European Union speech Sept. 10. The bulk of the Russian assets are held by the Brussels-based financial firm Euroclear and are invested in Western government bonds that have matured into cash. The cash is sitting in a deposit account with the European Central Bank.

The idea is for the EU to redirect the cash to Ukraine and “enter into a tailored debt contract with Euroclear at 0 percent interest,” according to the note. Euroclear holds €185 billion in cash balances linked to the Russian assets, a part of which will pay back a preexisting G7 loan to Ukraine. The remaining €140 billion will be paid out to Ukraine in tranches and used for “defense cooperation” as well as supporting Kyiv’s ordinary budget needs.” Reuters has more details on it: “To avoid seizing the Russian assets, the idea is to transfer the cash from Euroclear to a newly created Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) owned by EU governments, or G7 governments as well. In exchange, the European Commission would issue Euroclear with zero-coupon bonds guaranteed by the owners of the SPV.

The EU bonds would cover Euroclear’s risk against Russian litigation while the cash in the SPV could be invested more profitably than overnight deposits in the ECB and thus generate a higher return for Ukraine. Why would this scheme, as Merz say, ‘require budgetary guarantees from member states’? Doesn’t that mean that the tax-payers of those member state will eventually have to pay it? Who’s money is at risk when Russia wins its litigation? Who pays if something goes wrong? Some 62% of German voters disapprove (in German) Merz’ policies. Only a record low 35.5% says that he is right in what he is doing. In the fiscal conservative Germany any attempt to borrow more money for the war in Ukraine will further sink his and his party’s chances of ever being reelected.

Merz knows that the scheme has little chance to find unanimous EU approval. He plans to circumvent opposition to it: “I propose that, at the European Council at the end of October, we give the mandate to prepare this instrument in a legally secure manner. That decision should, ideally, be unanimous — failing that, it should be adopted by the large majority of member states who are firmly committed to Ukraine. We should also invite partners around the world that have frozen Russian assets to join the instrument. To this end, we will co-ordinate closely with our partners in the G7”. Luckily it is Belgium which has the last says in this. It is, naturally, opposing the scheme:

Speaking in the margins of the UN General Assembly, Mr De Wever said that Chancellor Merz’s proposal “will never happen”. The Belgian Prime Minister argues that seizing central bank assets of a third country would set a dangerous precedent “If countries see that central bank money can disappear when European politicians see fit, they might decide to withdraw their reserves from the eurozone.” De Wever added Chancellor Merz’s public statement regarding this is regrettable. “I’ve told everyone that I am happy to discuss this. But let’s talk and come up with something, rather than sharing an opinion on it every day. I find it quite frustrating.” It is, in the end, Russia’s money. Any attempt to seize is outright thievery. How long will it take for sane people to intervene and to shoot this idea down?

Read more …

Scared shitless that the US will distance itself from Kiev.

Kallas Insists US Shouldn’t Offload Ukraine On EU (RT)

Brussels is not solely responsible for helping Ukraine end its conflict with Russia, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told Politico on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday. The comments follow US President Donald Trump’s recent apparent change of stance on Ukraine, after he suggested that Kiev, “with the support of the European Union,” was “in a position to fight and win.” Some observers saw the remark as Trump stepping back from the conflict after failing to make good on his pledge to end it quickly. “He was the one who promised to stop the killing,” Kallas said. “So it can’t be on us.”

After taking office in January, Trump engaged in brokering peace negotiations while suspending military aid to Kiev and refraining from imposing sanctions on Russia. He has insisted that the EU countries take greater responsibility for their own security, urging European NATO members to increase military spending to 5% of their GDP. Brussels’ top diplomat insisted that there is no NATO without the US, adding that America is one of the military bloc’s key members and any discussion of NATO’s role must reflect Washington’s responsibilities. The EU has faced challenges in financing long-term support for Ukraine, limited by constraints in its budgetary mechanisms and resistance from some members.

Kallas, a long-time Russia hawk, put forward an ambitious plan in March to mobilize new military aid for Ukraine worth €40 billion via EU member states. Several countries, including France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, resisted the proposal, wary of the formidable commitments. After weeks of negotiations, the package was scaled back to €5 billion for ammunition, underscoring both the limits of EU unity and the challenges Kallas faces in translating her hawkish stance into collective action. Russia has repeatedly accused the EU of undermining the peace efforts around Ukraine and militarizing in preparation for any conflict with Moscow. Moscow’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday that the EU and NATO have declared “an actual war” on Russia, accusing the West of orchestrating the Ukraine conflict.

Read more …

“The myth of the bogeyman from Moscow was born of cowardice and kept alive by greed..”

West Invented The ‘Russian Threat’ – And Kept It For 500 Years (Bordachev)

In recent weeks, tensions between European political elites and Russia have flared once more. A drone incident in Poland, an alleged violation of Estonian airspace by Russian jets, and calls from Eastern European politicians to shoot down Russian aircraft all point to a deliberate effort at escalation. This sudden surge of provocation is less about Moscow and more about the EU’s own insecurity. With the United States steadily reducing its security guarantees, the bloc’s governments are grasping at their oldest weapon: the myth of the ‘Russian threat’.It is a myth that has lingered in the European imagination for over 500 years, and it tells us more about Western Europe’s cowardice and greed than about Russia itself

Two realities drive the EU’s current posture. First, Washington’s appetite for underwriting European defense is waning. Reports in Western media suggest that US officials recently told their European counterparts that direct military aid to Eastern Europe may soon be scaled back. For elites in the Baltics and former Soviet republics, this is a nightmare scenario. Their foreign policy has always revolved around one thing: provoking Russia to extract protection and resources from abroad.Second, the EU has no alternative strategy. Without US leadership, it cannot conceive of a foreign policy beyond confrontation with Moscow. Reviving the Russian bogeyman provides a convenient way to retain Washington’s attention – and money.

Yet the irony is obvious. Russia has no interest in punishing its smaller neighbors. Moscow does not seek revenge on the Baltics, Poland, or Finland for decades of anti-Russian rhetoric. Their importance in world affairs is negligible. But for their elites, clinging to the myth of Russian aggression has been the only foreign policy achievement of their independence. The roots of this myth lie not in the Cold War or the 19th century rivalry between empires, but in the late 15th century. Historians trace its emergence to the cowardice of the Baltic barons and the opportunism of German knights in Livonia and Prussia. In the 1480s, Poland’s kings considered sending these knights south to fight the expanding Ottoman Empire. The plan terrified them.

For centuries, they had lived comfortably in the Baltics, bullying local populations and skirmishing with Russian militias at little risk. Facing the Turks was another matter. The memory of Nicopolis – where Ottoman forces executed nearly all captured knights – was still fresh. Unwilling to face a real war, the Livonian and Prussian knights launched a propaganda campaign. Their aim was to convince the rest of Europe that Russia was as dangerous as, or even more dangerous than, the Turks. If successful, they could keep their privileges at home, avoid Ottoman swords, and secure papal approval to treat their border clashes with Russians as a holy war. The strategy worked. Rome granted indulgences and support, ensuring the knights could stay put while still enjoying the prestige of crusaders.

As historian Marina Bessudnova notes, the 1508 Livonian chronicle ‘The Wonderful Story of the Struggle of the Livonian Landgraves against the Russians and Tatars’ provided the finishing touches to this propaganda. Tellingly, the Baltic barons’ private letters contain no mention of a Russian threat. The danger was never real on the ground – only in the stories they sold to Europe. Thus, the myth was born: a fusion of fear, convenience, and profit. Over time, Western Europe, particularly France and England, absorbed it into a broader Russophobia – equal parts contempt and anxiety over a vast empire they could neither conquer nor ignore.

Read more …

I don’t think you can save Netanyahu anymore. Best you can do is to argue he is not Israel.

Gaza Deal Near – Trump (RT)

US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that a deal on ending the war in Gaza is close, but without providing any details. His comments came just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the UN General Assembly he would “finish the job” of eliminating Hamas in the enclave. “I think we have maybe a deal on Gaza, and very close to a deal on Gaza, it’s looking like we have a deal,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday. Trump and Netanyahu are planning to meet in Washington on Monday. ”I think it’s a deal that will get the hostages back. It’s going to be a deal that will end the war,” Trump added.

Earlier this week, Trump and senior US officials presented a 21-point peace plan to Arab and Islamic leaders, the president’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said at the UNGA. The plan calls for a permanent ceasefire, the release of all hostages, new governance for Gaza without Hamas, and a phased Israeli withdrawal, according to media sources. ”I think it addresses Israeli concerns and, as well, the concerns of all the neighbors in the in the region,” Witkoff said. “And we’re hopeful, and I might say, even confident, that in the coming days, we’ll be able to announce some sort of breakthrough.”

Trump’s position on the future of Gaza has not been consistent. In March, Trump said that “nobody is expelling any Palestinians” from the enclave, but later in May, he reiterated his desire for the US to take over the territory and “make it a freedom zone,” urging residents to leave. However, ahead of Netanyahu’s UN speech on Friday, Trump said he would not allow the annexation of the occupied West Bank, rejecting calls from some far-right politicians in Israel who want to extend sovereignty over the area. “It’s not going to happen,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, adding: “There’s been enough. It’s time to stop now.” Netanyahu signed a controversial West Bank settlement expansion plan this month.

Read more …

“The former French president’s conviction is a rare glimpse of justice – but his true crime goes unpunished..”

He Destroyed A Country and Half A Million Lives and Got Five Years (Fetouri)

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty and sentenced to five years in jail for campaign finance violations, a historic ruling in a case that has long captivated Parisian politics. The court concluded that Sarkozy had exceeded legal spending limits during his 2007 presidential election campaign, and engaged in a conspiracy to obscure the sources of illicit funds he received from Libya’s late leader Muammar Gaddafi, as various evidence has demonstrated. However, while the conviction targets money, it leaves untouched the far heavier human toll of his foreign policy decisions – from the 2011 Libya intervention to its cascade of wars, state collapse, and crises brought on by migration across the Mediterranean and Sahel. In other words, France’s courts can punish illicit euros, but fails to account for the blood spilled in the pursuit of regime change.

Earlier this year, while discussing the saga surrounding Sarkozy’s campaign funds, a source speaking to me anonymously, and corroborated by a former Libyan intelligence official, revealed for the first time that “a portion of the money reportedly came from Libyan intelligence, delivered across the Italian border by a female operative.” While the court did not definitively link these funds to Sarkozy’s campaign expenditures, the claims echo earlier allegations by Ziad Takieddine, who passed away in Beirut on September 23. He had maintained that he transported cash from Libyan officials to Paris. The murky trail of intermediaries underscores the complexity of the financial networks and how covert foreign influence can intersect with domestic politics, even when the legal system stops short of proving direct use.

The fallout from Sarkozy’s Libyan intervention extends far beyond financial scandals. By leading France – and later the entire NATO alliance – into the 2011 regime-change operation against Muammar Gaddafi, he helped dismantle Libya’s institutions, creating a vacuum that allowed jihadist networks to expand across the Sahel. Fourteen years on, Libya has yet to recover from that invasion. The resulting instability triggered waves of displacement, forcing thousands of migrants to risk crossing the Mediterranean in search of safety. What began as a “humanitarian intervention” became a cascade of unintended consequences: weakened states, regional insecurity, and a humanitarian crisis that Europe continues to grapple with more than a decade later. Sarkozy’s decisions illustrate how foreign policy choices can have profound, long-term effects reaching far beyond the immediate political or financial sphere.

Sarkozy’s Libyan gamble continues to reverberate across Africa, where resentment toward France has deepened amid coups, political instability, and ongoing foreign interventions. From Mali and Niger to Burkina Faso, anti-French sentiment has surged, fuelled by perceptions of neo-colonial arrogance and broken promises. At the UN General Assembly on September 23, 2023, Mali’s Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop recalled the 2011 UN Security Council authorization for NATO’s military intervention in Libya, noting that it went against the objections of African leaders and resulted in “consequences [that] have permanently destabilized this fraternal country as well as the entire region.”

The betrayal of Gaddafi, once considered a potential strategic ally, has become a symbol of Western leaders’ disregard for African sovereignty, illustrating how regime-change adventures can leave a continent grappling with the fallout for years. Sarkozy’s conviction for campaign finance violations, while significant in Paris, cannot erase the broader geopolitical upheaval his decisions unleashed – a reckoning with the enduring shadow of neo-colonial interference. Many believe French intelligence played a role in Gaddafi’s murder in order to cover up the campaign funding scandal.

Read more …

“I think all that we really know is that the official narrative is false.”

Elon Musk Says Charlie Kirk Was Shot From The Rear (Paul Craig Roberts)

Much of what Musk says makes sense, but not the globalism part that the assassination of Kirk is a way of dividing us. We have been divided for decades by the teaching of critical race theory, aversive racism and by the DEI policy created by Blumrosen in the EEOC in the 1960s, by abortion, by the legalization of sexual perversity, by the feminist attack on men, and so on. Division has long existed and worsened. Musk’s “globalism” explanation is an effort to rationalize division that has long existed and grown. Liberal-left American professors had done a thorough job of creating division. It is all they are good for.

The globalism theory assumes that the US is the only obstacle to the WEA’s global management of the world. But of course there is Russia, China, and the rest of the world. As for division it is the neoconservatives that have the US aligned against Russia, China, Iran, India, and in Israel’s pocket. Perhaps it is Israel that is attaining world control.

As for forensic evidence, the front neck wound is too small to be an exit wound. Possibly it could be an exit wound of a small caliber such as .17 or .22. But it is most certainly not an exit wound of a powerful round. Moreover, Kirk’s right hand man says the surgeon said there is no exit wound and that the surgeon found the bullet inside Kirk’s neck. Musk did not give evidence for the trajectory he asserts of rear entry and front exit. Still no one has identified the caliber of the bullet. It clearly is not a 30-06 as the official narrative asserts. I find the video of the palm pistol shot more convincing, at least convincing enough to be investigated. Indeed, all explanations should be investigated.

As we already have multiple explanations of Kirk’s assassination, it reminds me of what James Jesus Angleton once told me. When the CIA pulls off an event it has a pre-packaged cover story that instantly becomes the explanation, and several more pre-packaged stories in reserve. If the first narrative wears thin, a couple more narratives are released. People then argue over which is correct and the focus is shifted off the question why the first narrative was wrong. I think all that we really know is that the official narrative is false. The important question is why is the FBI satisfied with a false narrative?

Read more …

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1971324014279917971

https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1971432886633972153

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

 

 

Sep 242025
 


Vincent van Gogh Almond blossom 1890

 

Trump Changes Rhetoric On Ukraine Conflict (RT)
Trump Says Ukraine Can Win Back All Territory Lost to Russia (ZH)
NATO States Can Shoot Down Russian Planes – Trump (RT) /td>
Hungary Pledges To Keep Buying Russian Energy (RT)
Western Europe ‘Going To Hell’ – Trump (RT)
Turning Point Campus Tour Continues with Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson etc (CTH)
Who Charlie Kirk Really Was (CTH)
Is This the Media’s Newest Spin on Charlie Kirk’s Murder? (Margolis)
The Evolution of MAGA and The Perils Ahead (Pinsker)
President Trump Calls Out Democrats for Threatening Shutdown (CTH)
Secret Service Foils Massive Plot To Cripple NYC Cell Network (NYP)
Jimmy Kimmel Set For Return To ABC (NYP)
Bill O’Reilly Shreds Liberals’ ‘Free Speech’ Spin (ZH)
US Officials Say Regime Change in Venezuela Is the Real Goal (Antiwar)
Is Wired Trying to Get Elon Musk Assassinated Next? (Stephen Green)

 

 


https://twitter.com/SaiKate108/status/1970089397199802437

 

 

 

 

It looks like a sudden 180º. But how exactly do you get from Zelensky has no cards, to now is “time for Ukraine to act?” What changed?

Trump Changes Rhetoric On Ukraine Conflict (RT)

US President Donald Trump has claimed that Ukraine can still prevail in the conflict with Russia three years into the fighting, even as Kiev’s forces have been steadily losing ground in recent months. The statement marks a stark shift in rhetoric from the US leader. Since taking office, Trump has made repeated attempts to mediate the Ukraine conflict, initiating numerous rounds of talks with Russian officials, which culminated in a summit with Putin in Alaska in mid-August. The US president has recently expressed frustration over the lack of progress in settling the conflict but still referred to Russia as a powerful nation while arguing that Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky had no “cards.”

However, in a Truth Social post on Tuesday, following a meeting with Zelensky, Trump claimed that he believes Kiev is “in a position to fight and win all of Ukraine back,” if the EU and NATO continue to support it. He also referred to Russia as a “paper tiger,” arguing that it had failed to defeat Kiev’s forces in three and a half years. The US president also claimed that Russia is “in [a] big economic trouble” over the conflict and it was “time for Ukraine to act.” He did not announce any new financial or military aid packages for Kiev, though, stating instead that the US would continue to “supply weapons to NATO” for the bloc to use them as it sees fit.

The Russian economy has recently showed signs of slowing down compared to the growth of 4.1% in 2023 and 4.3% in 2024. It is still expected to grow 2.5% this year, despite sweeping Western sanctions. President Vladimir Putin said last week that the country “is still far from a recession,” citing the “historically low unemployment rates.” The governor of Russia’s central bank, Elvira Nabiullina, also recently dismissed the rumors about recession. “The economy is slowing, but there is no recession,” she said at the Moscow Financial Forum last week. The nation’s military have also been steadily advancing on the front lines for months. Moscow’s forces had taken control of 3,500 square kilometers and 149 settlements since March, Chief of the General Staff General Valery Gerasimov reported in late August.

Read more …

To me, it feels like he’s hallucinating. But what do I know, right?

Trump Says Ukraine Can Win Back All Territory Lost to Russia (ZH)

In a dramatic reversal from his previous stance where he urged Zelensky to seek a ceasefire with Putin promptly as recently as a month ago following his summit with Putin in Alaska, on Tuesday afternoon President Donald Trump said that Ukraine should go on the offensive against Russia and reclaim all occupied territories. “After getting to know and fully understand the Ukraine/Russia Military and Economic situation and, after seeing the Economic trouble it is causing Russia, I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

The president said that, with backing from Europe and NATO and enough time and patience, it is “very much an option” for Ukraine to drive Russian forces out and restore its borders. “Why not? Russia has been fighting aimlessly for three and a half years a War that should have taken a Real Military Power less than a week to win,” Trump wrote. “This is not distinguishing Russia. In fact, it is very much making them look like ‘a paper tiger.’” Trump said Russia’s faltering economy, shortages at home, and growing public discontent could tip the balance further in Ukraine’s favor. He described Ukraine as having “Great Spirit” and growing stronger as the war drags on, while warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin faces “BIG Economic trouble.” “This is the time for Ukraine to act,” Trump wrote, adding that he wishes both countries well, and that the United States would continue to supply weapons to NATO “for NATO to do what they want with them.”

Read more …

Oh sure, suddenly Russia flies war planes all over Poland, Romania and Estonia.

NATO States Can Shoot Down Russian Planes – Trump (RT)

US President Donald Trump has replied affirmatively when asked if NATO states should shoot down Russian aircraft that breach their airspace. The US president was asked the question at a joint press conference alongside Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky on Tuesday. “Yes, I do,” Trump replied. Estonia, a Baltic member of the US-led military bloc, last week claimed that three Russian MIG-31 jets breached its airspace. Moscow has denied the claims, saying that the planes did not deviate from their routine flight path, and arguing that NATO lacked evidence. Tallinn called for urgent consultations with bloc members under NATO Article 4, which allows members to seek talks if they believe their security or territorial integrity is threatened. Bloc members convened in Brussels on Tuesday.

According to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, the US-led military bloc decides whether to shoot down planes that violate the bloc’s airspace on a real-time case-by-case basis depending on the threat level. In the alleged Estonian incident, “NATO forces promptly intercepted and escorted the aircraft without escalation as no immediate threat was assessed,” he claimed during a press conference following the meeting. Earlier this month, another NATO member, Poland, accused Russia of sending at least 19 drones into its airspace – a claim Moscow has dismissed as baseless. The only damage from the incident was allegedly caused by a missile fired by a Polish F-16, which struck a residential building, the news outlet Rzeczpospolita reported last week.

The incident in Poland was a fabricated provocation meant to “undermine a political settlement of the Ukraine conflict,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last week. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that the accusations were levied without a shred of evidence. The claims “have never been supported by any reliable data or convincing arguments,” he told journalists on Tuesday.

Read more …

“Brussels has reportedly included twelve Chinese and three Indian entities in its 19th sanctions package..”

Hungary Pledges To Keep Buying Russian Energy (RT)

Hungary will continue importing Russian oil and gas, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has said, rejecting pressure from Washington and Brussels for a clean break from Moscow’s energy supplies. Szijjarto made the comments in an interview with The Guardian published on Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. For landlocked Hungary, he said, the issue of energy security is a matter of physical infrastructure – pipelines, refineries and existing contracts – that limit where it can source energy. “We can’t ensure the safe supply for our country without Russian oil or gas sources,” he said. “It can be nice to dream about buying oil and gas from somewhere else … but we can only buy from where we have infrastructure.”

In recent weeks, Washington has increasingly pushed its European NATO partners to stop purchasing Russian energy – and to introduce secondary tariffs on India and China – while refusing to impose any new sanctions unilaterally. President Donald Trump mocked them in his UNGA address on Tuesday, claiming “some in NATO are funding the war against themselves.” Hungary’s state-owned MOL Group imports about five million tonnes of crude annually via the Druzhba (“Friendship”) pipeline, which also supplies Slovakia. The route has come under direct threat in recent months, with Ukrainian forces striking pumping stations and other facilities along the line, causing temporary disruptions to shipments.

The European Commission has set a goal of phasing out Russian fossil fuels by 2027. Brussels has reportedly included twelve Chinese and three Indian entities in its 19th sanctions package, which must be unanimously approved before being adopted. Brussels has also been weighing separate trade measures that could curtail oil deliveries through Druzhba, even without unanimous consent, effectively allowing other EU members to outvote Budapest and Bratislava, according to Bloomberg. When asked about mounting European pressure, Szijjarto said it was “totally impossible to carry out a fact-based, rational dialogue based on common sense” with Western officials, whom he described as “fanatics.”

Read more …

No doubt there. “..each country is unique. But to stay this way, every sovereign nation must have the right to control their own borders and to limit the sheer number of migrants entering their countries,” he said.”

Western Europe ‘Going To Hell’ – Trump (RT)

US President Donald Trump has warned that open border policies and “suicidal energy ideas” will be “the death of Western Europe,” insisting that something must be done immediately to reverse course. “This cannot be sustained,” Trump told the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, calling the crisis of uncontrolled migration “the number one political issue of our time.” Your countries are being ruined,” he said, accusing the UN of funding an “assault on Western countries and their borders,” citing the $372 million spent by the organization in 2024 on supporting an estimated 624,000 people migrating to the US.

He went on to claim that Europe is in “serious trouble” and has been “invaded” by an unprecedented “force of illegal aliens” that is “pouring” into the continent. He criticized European leaders for failing to do anything about it due to political correctness. Trump pointed to London and its “terrible mayor,” Sadiq Khan, claiming that the city has changed beyond recognition and is moving toward Sharia law. “What makes the world so beautiful is that each country is unique. But to stay this way, every sovereign nation must have the right to control their own borders and to limit the sheer number of migrants entering their countries,” he said.

He stressed that while the US remains compassionate to people who have truly struggled in their home countries, it is important to “solve problems in their countries, not create new ones in our countries” by importing people from different cultural and religious backgrounds who break the law and make false asylum claims.“You’re doing it because you want to be nice,” Trump said, addressing his European counterparts. “You want to be politically correct, and you’re destroying your heritage,” he claimed, calling for an end to “the failed experiment of open borders.”

Read more …

Looks promising. But what if it takes a unique set of talents?

Turning Point Campus Tour Continues with Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson etc (CTH)

Turning Point USA has announced speakers to help maintain the TPUSA mission of Charlie Kirk. The schedule is being worked out, but names like Megyn Kelly, Vivek Ramaswamy, Rob Schieder, Tucker Carlson, Glenn Beck and Michael Knowles will assist. It is awesome to see people stepping into the breach.

Read more …

“Charlie Kirk’s Best Friend Debunks the Conspiracy Theories..”

Who Charlie Kirk Really Was (CTH)

Andrew Kolvet, the Executive Producer of The Charlie Kirk Show was Charlie’s best friend. Following the memorial service he sat down for a lengthy podcast interview with Alex Clark. WATCH:

Reference points:
0:00 intro
1:38 Charlie’s last weeks
3:59 Charlie’s urge for International travels
4:38 His favorite form of exercise
5:50 Sharing the Gospel in Tokyo
6:55 Conservative infighting about Israel

15:22 Prepping Erika for Opportunists
18:04 Andrew’s “out-of-body” experience
20:06 How Charlie treated women
22:14 Andrew calls Charlie a “prophet”
24:05 Erika’s confidence in Charlie’s investigation
26:29 Charlie’s problems with Alex
28:17 Charlie & Erika behind the scenes
31:10 Fox vs. Charlie?
34:16 Charlie was “Mr. MAHA”
36:26 Why did TPUSA Team take down cameras?
38:40 Charlie’s true view of politics
39:22 The future for Charlie’s tours & Charlie’s show
42:34 Andrew’s remedy for healing a sick culture

Read more …

“Not political”.

Is This the Media’s Newest Spin on Charlie Kirk’s Murder? (Margolis)

When it comes to political violence, the left far outpaces anyone else. Naturally, after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the media scrambled to obscure that reality. First, they falsely claimed that Kirk’s killer was a MAGA Republican, and that lie collapsed almost immediately. Then they trotted out bogus studies claiming that political violence is mostly a right-wing problem, only for conservative outlets to expose their deception. So what’s their next move? Now they’re trying to spin Kirk’s murder as “not political.”As PJ Media has previously reported, Tyler Robinson’s own text messages revealed that he killed Kirk because he was “tired of his hatred.” His mother told investigators that Robinson had become increasingly “pro-gay and trans-rights oriented” over the past year, and prosecutors indicate he acted because of Kirk’s stance on transgender issues.

But according to ABC News’ Jonathan Karl, Kirk’s murder “was not a political act.” “Later today, family, friends and supporters of Charlie Kirk will gather in Phoenix for his memorial service,” Karl said. “The 31-year-old activist’s murder shocked the nation and was condemned by sensible and compassionate Americans in and out of politics and across the political spectrum. It was also senselessly celebrated by some, a small minority, who didn’t like what Kirk stood for.” Karl continued: Celebrating or excusing violence is abhorrent. The murder of Charlie Kirk was not a political act. It was gruesome crime. His alleged killer now faces the death penalty. Our thoughts this morning are with the Kirk family, especially his two young children who will now grow up without their father.

Whatever you think of his political views – and there are many people deeply offended by things he said – Charlie Kirk was an unwavering advocate for free speech. On a personal note – he was always willing to engage with me and answer my questions. He welcomed debate with those he disagreed with. He didn’t try to silence his critics. He listened to them and tried to change their minds.”

Notice the sleight of hand? Karl acknowledges that some people celebrated Kirk’s murder because they “didn’t like what Kirk stood for,” then immediately claims that the murder itself wasn’t political. When someone kills you specifically because they disagree with your political views, that constitutes a political action, not a random crime of passion. This is media spin at its best. By this twisted logic, the assassination attempts against President Donald Trump weren’t political either. Perhaps Karl thinks the Capitol riot wasn’t political either. Oh, no, I’m sure that was. It’s only violence against the right that isn’t political. And when the outrage poured in, Karl’s cleanup attempt got even more ridiculous.

Of course, Karl’s claim that a small minority of people celebrated Kirk’s death is a gross attempt at gaslighting. A YouGov poll found that 24% of very liberal Americans agree it’s acceptable to be happy about the death of opposing political figures, compared to just 3% of very conservative Americans. The same poll revealed that 25% of very liberal Americans believe violence can be justified to achieve political goals, while only 3% of very conservative Americans agree.

That’s not a “small minority.” These numbers dismantle the left’s carefully constructed narrative about who really supports political violence in America. Liberal Americans consistently endorse both celebrating political opponents’ deaths and using violence for political purposes, yet the media continues pushing the fiction that conservatives are the real threat.

Read more …

“From now on, it’ll be commonplace for GOP candidates to urge supporters to attend church, surrender themselves to Christ, and emulate His example. The two are now permanently intertwined. This is the true legacy of Charlie Kirk..”

The Evolution of MAGA and The Perils Ahead (Pinsker)

“One day spent with someone you love can change everything.” —Mitch Albom

Charlie Kirk’s memorial service — and what a beautiful, sorrowful, unforgettable service it was — signaled the closing of one chapter and the beginning of a new one. Because, for a solid decade, Charlie’s journey and the Make America Great Again movement were indistinguishable; Charlie’s mission was MAGA’s mission — his path was MAGA’s path. Then, on the fateful day of Sept. 10, Charlie earned a new path. And today, he’s walking hand-in-hand with Jesus Christ; his horrible wounds cleansed, healed, and purified. Charlie’s earthly mission is now complete; his eternal rewards await.= Yet somehow, his widow, his young children — and the MAGA movement he so dearly loved — must endure.

The Democratic Party gave a master class on what NOT to do on Oct. 29, 2002: A week before the midterm elections, Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) died in a tragic plane crash. The Democrats staged a made-for-TV “memorial service” — and I’m using quote marks because it was less a memorial than a nakedly partisan political rally where Republican guests (including Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott) and independent guests (including Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura) were booed, cursed, and heckled until they left in protest. As CNN reported: “[Gov. Jesse] Ventura, who walked out of the service, said Democrats “should hang their head in shame.” […] “I feel used. I feel violated and duped over the fact that that turned into nothing more than a political rally,” [Ventura] said.”

The damage to Democrats was immediate: Ex-V.P. Walter Mondale, the favorite son of Minnesota who was tapped to replace Wellstone, went from the sentimental choice and a slam-dunk winner — buoyed by an eight-point lead over Republican Norm Coleman with just a week left — to losing the election by 2.2%. That won’t happen to the Republican Party. Not when the service’s most viral moment was Erika Kirk declaring her forgiveness of the man who made her a widow: And instead of boos, protests, or howls of indignation, her forgiveness was met with rapturous applause. Erika Kirk’s love and faith overshadowed everything else and everyone else — including the president and vice president. In an evening of indelible images and unforgettable moments, an army of angels sang as she spoke: The earth trembled and the heavens rejoiced.

And the trumpets of troubadours toppled more than the walls of Jericho. Charlie Kirk’s dearly beloved was baptized in a flash of gunfire, transformed from wife to widow to beacon of hope. None of us will ever be the same again. That includes the MAGA movement. As of today, the MAGA movement is now a Christian movement. That doesn’t mean Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and atheists are persona non grata in the Republican Party, but brands and movements evolve over time. Nothing stays the same. MAGA is no different. Since the end of World War II, the Republican Party has been governed by three key constituencies: The so-called Religious Right (pro-life, prayer in school, traditional values), economic conservatives (business leaders and the tax-cut crowd), and military hawks.

After the broken promises, exaggerated claims, and staggering cost of the Iraq War, the military hawks were diminished. They still haven’t recovered. A few years later, the 2008 Too Big to Fail financial crisis sullied the image of economic conservatives. From government bailouts to cries of cronyism, this gave an opening to today’s economic populists. It’s how the party of tax cuts became the party of tariffs. Unlike the other two, the Religious Right wasn’t damaged by a single watershed moment. Even after a few notable TV evangelists humiliated themselves in high-profile scandals, the Religious Right was mostly unfazed: Pat Robertson unapologetically carried their banner in the 1988 Republican primaries, finishing second in Iowa — ahead of George H. W. Bush — and first in Washington state.

In retrospect, that was the high-water mark for the Religious Right movement… until yesterday evening. When Americans yawned in indifference to the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal, conservative pundits and political strategists interpreted it as a cue to relegate moral conflicts to the back burner and focus instead on pocketbook issues. This, along with other cultural trendlines — including a 12-point drop among U.S. adults who regularly attend religious services — created an impression that Americans didn’t want to hear about God anymore. That impression was further reinforced when the thrice-married Donald Trump overcame the “grab ‘em by the p***y” Access Hollywood leak, winning the presidency. The Religious Right, they assumed, was dead and buried. Not anymore: We just witnessed its miraculous resurrection.

The MAGA mission is now a faith-based mission (and maybe it always was). From now on, it’ll be commonplace for GOP candidates to urge supporters to attend church, surrender themselves to Christ, and emulate His example. The two are now permanently intertwined. This is the true legacy of Charlie Kirk. Unfortunately, with it comes a new line of attack for GOP grifters. Because, whether we like it or not, grifters are gonna grift. That’s what they do. It’s how they make money. All movements have ‘em, and MAGA, alas, is no exception. Fortunately, they’re easy to spot:

Their success depends on attention, views, and clicks. They’re suddenly obsessed with causes and issues that they’ve never shown a heightened interest in before (cough, Israel, cough). They’ve flip-flopped on key positions over the last 10 years, often trafficking in conspiracy theories. They claim to speak on behalf of Charlie Kirk, putting words in his mouth that he never said. And now that Christianity has ascended, they’ll weaponize their faith to attack “the other.” Even if “the other” is a fellow conservative! No, I’m not gonna name names — because I don’t have to: If you’ve read the list, you already know EXACTLY who they are. Consider yourself warned. Consider all of us warned.

Read more …

“..Otherwise, it will just be another long and brutal slog through their radicalized quicksand.”

“All Congressional Democrats want to do is enact Radical Left Policies that nobody voted for — High Taxes, Open Borders, No Consequences for Violent Criminals, Men in Women’s Sports, Taxpayer funded “TRANSGENDER” surgery, and much more.”

President Trump Calls Out Democrats for Threatening Shutdown (CTH)

The Democrats are threatening to refuse to support a stopgap spending measure to extend federal spending. President Trump is calling them out and refusing to meet with them until they get serious about it. After passing a clean CR in the House, Republicans in the Senate are pushing a “clean” seven-week continuing resolution, which they say will buy time for more negotiations on full-year spending bills and possibly an extension of expiring health insurance subsidies. Democrats, meanwhile, wrote an alternative four-week punt that tacks on a laundry list of other demands, including a permanent extension of the insurance subsidies. Should the government shut down, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought will determine which elements and agencies of the government are considered essential and which will be shuttered until the budget is extended.

President Donald Trump – “After reviewing the details of the unserious and ridiculous demands being made by the Minority Radical Left Democrats in return for their Votes to keep our thriving Country open, I have decided that no meeting with their Congressional Leaders could possibly be productive. They are threatening to shut down the Government of the United States unless they can have over $1 Trillion Dollars in new spending to continue free healthcare for Illegal Aliens (A monumental cost!), force Taxpayers to fund Transgender surgery for minors, have dead people on the Medicaid roles, allow Illegal Alien Criminals to steal Billions of Dollars in American Taxpayer Benefits, try to force our Country to again open our Borders to Criminals and to the World, allow men to play in women’s sports, and essentially create Transgender operations for everybody.”

“These Radical Left Views and Policies is what allowed me to win the Presidential Election, including all seven Swing States, and the Popular Vote, IN A HISTORIC LANDSLIDE. There are consequences to losing Elections but based on their letter to me, the Democrats haven’t figured that out yet. They are trying to eliminate the popular $50 Billion Dollar Rural and Vulnerable Hospital Fund, which was passed with only Republican Votes, and proudly signed into Law by ME. The Democrats in Congress seem to have totally lost their way. They obviously have no idea what it means to put America First or to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! All Congressional Democrats want to do is enact Radical Left Policies that nobody voted for — High Taxes, Open Borders, No Consequences for Violent Criminals, Men in Women’s Sports, Taxpayer funded “TRANSGENDER” surgery, and much more. Few people voted for what they represent, which would lead to the destruction of America.

Instead, people voted for COMMON SENSE, and that’s what the Republicans and your President, “DONALD J. TRUMP,” stand for. I look forward to meeting with them if they get serious about the future of our Nation. We must keep the Government open and legislate like true Patriots rather than hold American Citizens hostage, knowing that they want our now thriving Country closed. I’ll be happy to meet with them if they agree to the Principles in this Letter. They must do their job! Otherwise, it will just be another long and brutal slog through their radicalized quicksand. To the Leaders of the Democrat Party, the ball is in your court. I look forward to meeting with you when you become realistic about the things that our Country stands for. DO THE RIGHT THING!”

DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Read more …

This is massive big. We’ll hear more about it.

“..a wide-range of telecommunications attacks — including spamming networks with up to 30 million text messages a minute..”

Secret Service Foils Massive Plot To Cripple NYC Cell Network (NYP)

A massive illegal electronic device network capable of crippling cell towers and jamming 911 calls across New York City was uncovered by the Secret Service — just as world leaders prepared to descend on Manhattan for the UN General Assembly, officials said Tuesday. Investigators discovered the trove of devices — including more than 300 co-located SIM servers and 100,000 SIM cards – at multiple locations within 35 miles of the United Nations. “The potential for disruption to our country’s telecommunications posed by this network of devices cannot be overstated,” Secret Service Director Sean Curran said. Officials warned the devices had the capability of carrying out a wide-range of telecommunications attacks — including spamming networks with up to 30 million text messages a minute — that could have had “catastrophic” consequences for the city.

“It can take down cell towers, so then no longer can people communicate, right? …. You can’t text message, you can’t use your cell phone. And if you coupled that with some sort of other event associated with UNGA, you know, use your imagination there, it could be catastrophic to the city,” Matt McCool, the special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s New York field office, said. “Given the timing, location and proximity and potential for significant disruptions to the New York telecoms system, we moved quickly to disrupt this network.” It wasn’t immediately clear exactly when the cache of hidden devices was seized. The hidden network was found as part of a sweeping Secret Service probe that kicked off in the spring following telecommunications-related threats targeting senior US government officials, according to investigators.

When agents ultimately raided the locations, they uncovered rows of servers and shelves stacked with SIM cards – including more than 100,000 that had already been activated, as well as a large number still waiting to be deployed, McCool said. McCool warned of the havoc the network could have caused if it had been left intact — comparing the potential impact to cellular blackouts that followed the 9/11 terror attacks when networks crippled under the strain. Officials said they haven’t uncovered a direct plot to disrupt the UN General Assembly but noted there was no ongoing threat to the Big Apple. Investigators are still probing who is responsible but believe perps from certain countries used the system to send encrypted messages to organized crime groups, cartels and terrorist organizations.

Forensic analysis is still in its early stages, McCool said. “We need to do forensics on 100,000 cell phones, essentially all the phone calls, all the text messages, anything to do with communications, see where those numbers end up,” he said.

Read more …

More attention than Kimmel had in many years.

Now more people can voluntarily not watch. It all looks like one big PR thing.

“Where has all the leadership gone?”

Jimmy Kimmel Set For Return To ABC (NYP)

Jimmy Kimmel will be back on ABC Tuesday, but the country’s largest owner of its local affiliate stations won’t air his show as he still refuses to apologize for his incendiary, false claim about Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer. The $15 million-per-year ABC late-night host negotiated his return to the airwaves directly with Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger and his No. 2, Disney Entertainment Co-Chair Dana Walden, sources with knowledge of the situation told The Post. Kimmel will address the controversy during his monologue on Tuesday though he will stop short of apologizing, the sources said. The episode, however, won’t be aired on dozens of local ABC stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which announced Monday night that it will instead air news programming in its place.

“Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming. Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return,” the company said in a statement. In response, Turning Point USA posted on X, “Good for @WeAre-Sinclair for blocking Kimmell [sic] from its 31 ABC affiliates. Reminder, Kimmell has yet to apologize for saying the assassin was MAGA, and he was reportedly going to double down. He’s an unrepentant liar, and affiliates have every right to demand accountability.” Sinclair had previously demanded Kimmel apologize to Kirk’s family and pledge a donation to Turning Point USA, the activist group Kirk founded. Nexstar Media Group, the other largest ABC station owner, has not yet said whether it’ll air Kimmel on its stations Tuesday. The Post has sought comment from the company.

Both media conglomerates had successfully pushed ABC to yank him from the airways for the Sept. 15 comments about Kirk’s assassination. In a statement Monday, Disney said it suspended Kimmel last Wednesday “to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country,” calling some of his comments “ill-timed and thus insensitive.” The suspension followed a monologue in which Kimmel claimed Kirk was killed by other Trump supporters — despite authorities saying the alleged shooter had left-wing views. It remains unclear what Disney and Kimmel agreed to secure his return to air. The company has not disclosed whether the talks involved new contract terms or a donation to Kirk’s organization. Reports have suggested those points were central to discussions, but no final details have been confirmed.

Kimmel’s current contract with ABC runs through May 2026, following a three-year extension signed in 2022. He reportedly earns between $15 and $16 million per year, with total compensation potentially exceeding $20 million with bonuses. The move left Disney squeezed from both sides: conservatives enraged by Kimmel’s remarks and his apparent refusal to apologize, and liberals angered that the company appeared to bow to pressure from FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and pro-Trump voices. Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner ripped the company for pulling “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in the first place. Eisner accused Disney of capitulating to “intimidation” from Washington regulators and demanded to know, “Where has all the leadership gone?”

Read more …

“..they have BANISHED all traditional conservative thought and discourse on all of their programs.”

Bill O’Reilly Shreds Liberals’ ‘Free Speech’ Spin (ZH)

Jimmy Kimmel will finally return to the air on Tuesday night, after his show was briefly yanked for falsely labeling Kirk’s suspected assassin as “one of them” in a distasteful dig at conservatives. Democrats rushed to defend Kimmel, calling it a “First Amendment issue.” But Bill O’Reilly says that story is, frankly, bullsh*t. The real free speech story, he argues, is what these mainstream networks have been doing for years. “Look, this [Trump v. Kimmel] story is bogus,” O’Reilly told Vittert. “The [real] story is that Disney and Kimmel, for three years, would not put on a non-liberal voice on his program.”

“You talk about no freedom of speech and expression? That story has been totally ignored,” O’Reilly lamented. “And it’s not just ABC. It was CBS, NBC, MSNBC, and CNN. Okay? They will not put any non-liberal voice on the air.” O’Reilly recalled how, before the Trump era, he was booked regularly on mainstream networks. Now, he says he and other conservatives have been deliberately excluded from those programs — something he called “Putin stuff.”“This whole freedom of speech BS is coming from the far left to make Kimmel a victim and to make Trump a villain when, for ten years, they have BANISHED all traditional conservative thought and discourse on all of their programs.” “All of them,” O’Reilly continued. “They don’t want non-liberal voices. That is Putin stuff!”

https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1970310297689678327

Read more …

Mario’s hobby.

US Officials Say Regime Change in Venezuela Is the Real Goal (Antiwar)

US officials have told The New York Times that the real goal of the US military buildup in the Caribbean, and the bombing of boats in the region, is regime change in Venezuela. The policy is being largely driven by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has long wanted to remove Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power. Back in 2019, when the first Trump administration attempted to back a coup against Maduro, Rubio posted a photo on Twitter of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in the moment he was being brutally murdered in an apparent threat to the Venezuelan leader. The Trump administration claims that Maduro is the leader of a drug cartel, but has not produced any evidence for the charge.

Maduro and other Venezuelan officials have forcefully rejected the accusation and have pointed to data that shows the majority of the cocaine that is produced in Colombia doesn’t go through Venezuela. President Trump has also framed the military campaign in the region as a response to overdose deaths in the US due to fentanyl, but fentanyl isn’t produced in Venezuela, and it does not go through the country on its way to the US. The Times report, which was published over the weekend, reads: “Several current and former military officials, diplomats, and intelligence officers say that while fighting drugs is the pretext for the recent US attacks, the real goal is to drive Mr. Maduro from power, one way or another.”

The US began bombing boats allegedly running drugs in the Caribbean on September 2. According to numbers released by President Trump, at least 17 people have been extrajudicially executed by the US military since the campaign began. US officials have said the Trump administration is considering direct strikes on Venezuelan territory, which could lead to a full-blown war with the country. One US official speaking to Axios last month suggested that the US military buildup in the region could lead to a “Noriega part 2,” referring to the 1989 US invasion of Panama that led to the ouster of Manuel Noriega. Other US officials hope that the pressure and $50 million bounty on Maduro leads to his assassination.

Read more …

“With Starship, SpaceX hopes to reduce the cost to orbit by an additional 90-99%.”

Is Wired Trying to Get Elon Musk Assassinated Next? (Stephen Green)

You might think that the days and weeks after an assassin took the life of the guy who wanted nothing more than to engage with people would be a good time to tone down the “NAZI!” rhetoric against other public figures. Tell that to Wired’s Noah Shachtman, whose latest piece paints Elon Musk as an evil Bond villain “out to rule space” and demands to know “When the orbiting rifles are handed out, how many gun lockers will Elon have the keys to?” I’m trying hard not to sound paranoid here. But when Shachtman tells Wired readers that “you’ve watched Elon Musk stomp and smash and rage his way through politics and policy,” so they “get what’s at stake if he’s given an outsize role in the weaponization of space,” it’s easy to imagine the next Tyler Robinson carving death messages into a few shell casings.

Am I insane? Normally, this is where I’d urge you to go read the whole thing, but Shachtman’s article is behind Wired’s paywall (link here). Apple News seems to have it available to the public (link here). I’m not an Apple News subscriber, but they’re pushing one of those “Three Months Free!” offers at me since I bought a new phone. So maybe that link will work, maybe it won’t — good luck! Here’s more: Musk often lets Starlinks run under the table, sometimes as a way of pressuring governments to license the service legitimately. “But in Iran, they’re just straight-up flouting the rules,” says one knowledgeable observer, “trying to overthrow the government by giving power, giving internet access” to Tehran’s opponents. It wasn’t the first—or last—time Musk used Starlink in ways that seemed to support the Israeli government’s objectives.

Musk also likes and works with President Donald Trump, who is Literally Hitler™, except when Bibi Netanyahu is. “Musk isn’t afraid to use his technologies to advance his politics,” Shachtman warns. “We’ve seen Musk enable [Israel’s] war effort, and we’ve seen him deny that aid when it suited him to do so.” But Musk’s evil ambitions go so much further than just enabling Nazis, foreign and domestic. “This is really the elephant in the room. And Musk just points at Mars like, ‘This is my objective. Don’t look at Starlink,’” Novaspace’s Lucas Pleney told Shachtman. “This is why I’m thinking: Is he really pointing the finger toward Mars and believing in it? Or is he just trying to divert us from the big thing, which is Starlink and how much it will take over?”

Then there’s Golden Dome, which is where Shachtman’s Hitler-meets-Bond-villain theme shines through: “In an unusual twist, SpaceX has proposed setting up its role in Golden Dome as a ‘subscription service’ in which the government would pay for access to the technology rather than own the system outright.” Of course, a subscription is something that can be turned off. Musk would have the kill switch to America’s orbiting weapons system. The man behind “MechaHilter.” The guy who gave the thumbs up to using his satellites as part of a campaign to overthrow a government and appeared to do very little as hundreds of thousands starved. That dude, with an outsize role in the making and maintaining of an arsenal in space—one in which the guns are pointed down at Earth.

Somewhere, a deranged young man reads this and wonders what to carve into a 30-06 shell. While I’m a big supporter of Musk’s politics — and also a happy Starlink customer — Longtime Sharp VodkaPundit Readers™ know that what I’m really crazy about is Musk’s space ambitions. SpaceX, with its reusable Falcon 9 workhorse, has already reduced the cost of putting stuff in Low Earth Orbit by 25-40%, depending on the launch. That’s made things possible (like Starlink, our military’s growing Starshield, and much more) that simply weren’t possible before. With Starship, SpaceX hopes to reduce the cost to orbit by an additional 90-99%. At that price, Musk won’t just make a lot of money for his investors; he’ll open up the Solar System to the human race. There are riches out on the final frontier, starting with metals-rich 16 Psyche, just waiting for the nation able to reach them first.

Exploration? Pure science? Settlement? Whatever your space dream — and even if you don’t have one, because SpaceX is paying its own way to Mars — Musk could prove to be the most impactful human being since Christopher Columbus. It’s no coincidence that Lefties hate Columbus, too. I have one last question. Couldn’t we put politics aside long enough to give humanity its best shot at ending our dependence on a single, fragile planet?”Nah,” says the Left. “Let’s see if we can spur another nutcase like Tyler Robinson into action.”

Read more …

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

galagos

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

 

 

Sep 232025
 


Frans Hals Two Laughing Boys with a Mug of Beer 1626

 

‘Absolute Miracle’ May Have Saved Lives During Charlie Kirk Murder (ET)
Bullet That Hit Charlie Kirk Purportedly Made No Exit Wound (HUSA)
Building a Legacy: Charlie Kirk’s Memorial (Salgado)
Moscow Ready To Respond To Any Threat – Putin (RT)
Putin Makes Nuclear Treaty Offer To US (RT)
Trump Declares Antifa a Terrorist Group (Catherine Salgado)
Biden’s FBI Tried to Entrap Trump’s Border Czar Before the Election (Margolis)
Why We Are at War (Richard C. Lyons)
Disney Gives Kimmel Show Back, But Nexstar & Sinclair Still Refuse To Air (ZH)
The Funniest Joke Jimmy Kimmel Never Told (Turley)
Trump Links Tylenol To Autism Risk During Pregnancy (RT)
Personal Note (James Howard Kunstler)
EU Looks To ‘Le Pen-Proof’ Its Budget – Politico (RT)
Macron Warns Against Seizing Frozen Russian Assets (RT)
Britain’s Fate Is Decline, Not Upheaval – And History Explains Why (Bordachev)

 

 

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1970169307867890068

https://twitter.com/Juliesnark1731/status/1970092182196642217

https://twitter.com/TheBritLad/status/1970047562565488823

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1970153374310945092

 

 

 

 

Hmmmm. “‘This would have taken a moose or two down, [or] an elk.’”

‘Absolute Miracle’ May Have Saved Lives During Charlie Kirk Murder (ET)

A spokesperson for Turning Point USA provided an update on the assassination of the group’s founder, Charlie Kirk, earlier in September and said Kirk’s body “stopped” the bullet from producing an exit wound. Citing a surgeon at the hospital that assisted Kirk, spokesman Andrew Kolvet wrote in a post on X that the bullet that killed Kirk on Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University “‘absolutely should have gone through, which is very very normal for a high powered, high velocity round.’ “‘I’ve seen wounds from this caliber many times and they always just go through everything,’” the surgeon said, according to Kolvet’s post. “‘This would have taken a moose or two down, [or] an elk.’” But the bullet “didn’t go through” because “Charlie’s body stopped it,” Kolvet said in the Sept. 20 post.

“I mentioned to his doctor that there were dozens of staff, students, and special guests standing directly behind Charlie on the other side of the tent,” he said. The doctor then told Kolvet, according to his post, that it “‘was an absolute miracle that someone else didn’t get killed’” by the bullet. According to the doctor, the shot “‘likely would have killed those standing behind [Kirk] too.’” “Even in death, Charlie managed to save the lives of those around him,” Kolvet wrote, noting that the doctor told him that the bullet had been recovered. It was discovered underneath Kirk’s skin. Officials have said the gun used in the shooting was a Mauser 98 model chambered in .30-06. According to prosecutors, the suspected assassin, Tyler Robinson, had told a male with whom he was in a romantic relationship that it was his grandfather’s gun. Authorities also said DNA on the trigger of the rifle that killed Kirk matched that of Robinson.

The authorities have released text messages said to be between Robinson and his romantic partner, whom prosecutors said identifies as a transgender female and was Robinson’s roommate. In these messages, Robinson allegedly said he plotted the attack for about a week and used a scope. Officials said Robinson had become “more political” in recent years, expressing more left-wing and pro-transgender views. When the roommate asked the suspect why he shot Kirk, according to the charging documents, Robinson said in response: “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”Kirk had become a prominent force in politics and was credited with energizing the Republican base, particularly among youth, and helping President Donald Trump win back the White House in 2024.

Robinson’s roommate appeared shocked in the text exchange after the shooting, according to court documents, asking Robinson “why he did it and how long he’d been planning it.” While authorities say Robinson has not been cooperating with investigators, they say his family and friends have been talking to officials. Robinson made his first court appearance last week, with a judge declaring the suspect indigent and provisionally appointing a public defender. That public defender has not yet been named. The suspect faces capital aggravated murder, obstruction, witness tampering, and other charges. A capital murder charge means that Robinson could receive the death penalty. His next court date is set for Sept. 29. Robinson has not issued any public statements in response to the allegations.

Read more …

“Kolvet’s claims have been met with widespread skepticism online.”

Bullet That Hit Charlie Kirk Purportedly Made No Exit Wound (HUSA)

Call it a miracle—though many are calling bullshit. Andrew Kolvet, the executive producer of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” said Saturday that he spoke with the surgeon who worked on conservative activist Charlie Kirk at the hospital. According to Kolvet, the surgeon said the .30-caliber bullet that hit conservative activist Charlie Kirk made no exit wound because Kirk is “like the man of steel.” “He said the bullet ‘absolutely should have gone through, which is very very normal for a high powered, high velocity round. I’ve seen wounds from this caliber many times and they always just go through everything. This would have taken a moose or two down, an elk, etc.’ But it didn’t go through. Charlie’s body stopped it,” Kolvet said on Twitter/X.

The surgeon supposedly explained that “his bone was so healthy and the density was so so impressive that he’s like the man of steel. It should have just gone through and through. It likely would have killed those standing behind him too.” The coroner found the round just beneath Kirk’s skin, Kolvet added. By comparison, the .30-caliber round that Secret Service counter-sniper David King fired at alleged would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks made five wounds. According to the medical examiner who autopsied Crooks, he suffered five gunshot wounds—an entry wound, an exit wound, a re-entry wound, and “two corresponding, partial re-exit wounds.”

“There is a corresponding, partial gunshot re-exit wound on the lateral right upper back … There is an additional, corresponding partial gunshot re-exit wound on the lateral right upper back,” stated Crooks’s autopsy report, which was obtained exclusively by Headline USA. The bullet that hit Crooks came from a 300 Win Mag cartridge, which is more powerful than the .30-06 that allegedly was used in the Kirk assassination—but both have the same caliber bullet. Kolvet’s statement comes amidst public questions about what happened to the .30-06 round said to have slain Kirk. Ballistics experts have floated various theories about what really happened, speculating that Kirk may have been shot from somewhere else—possibly from his right side or even from below. Kolvet’s claims have been met with widespread skepticism online.

https://twitter.com/KitKlarenberg/status/1969707314618790326?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1969707314618790326%7Ctwgr%5E47736aecc70ef1bad7a6a7699346024dd87bba18%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fheadlineusa.com%2Fbullet-that-hit-charlie-kirk-purportedly-made-no-exit-wound%2F

Read more …

“‘Except a corn of wheat fall onto the ground and die, it abideth alone.”

Building a Legacy: Charlie Kirk’s Memorial (Salgado)

The most important officials in the United States, including the president, gathered to pay tribute to one man yesterday. Pastors glorified his faith, academics praised his intellect, and hundreds of thousands of people chanted his name. This man did not hold elected office. He was not a billionaire or an entertainer or a star athlete. He was a patriot who believed so strongly in free speech and the truth that he changed history. In a little over a decade, Charlie Kirk went from being a teenager with a lot of enthusiasm but no money or connections to becoming leader of a world-shaping movement, a man whom the most famous and powerful patriots of our era were proud to know. His loss to assassination was a grievous blow for America, which needed his talent and his vision for years to come. It was also a personal tragedy for his wife and little children.

But at only 31 years of age, Charlie Kirk left behind him a legacy much greater than that of many an octogenarian. As Donald Trump said, Charlie was “one of the giants of our nation,” a true “martyr for American freedom.” White House official Stephen Miller, speaking with intensity, declared, “The day Charlie died the angels wept, but their tears have turned to fire in our hearts.” He told Charlie’s enemies, “You have nothing, you are nothing, you are wickedness….You thought you could kill Charlie Kirk; you have made him immortal.” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth compared Kirk to St. Paul and described him as “a warrior for country, a warrior for [Christ],” in the best tradition of American courage. His fellow cabinet member, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said that Charlie Kirk, like Christ his Master, “changed the trajectory of history.

Charlie’s other overarching passion was free speech,” and “there’s a lot worse things than death and one of those is if we lost our constitutional rights in this country.” As the true warrior he was, Hegseth continued, “Charlie died with his boots on, and he died so that we did not have to undergo those fates worse than death.” Every speaker referred to the importance of faith for Kirk, from his pastor Rob McCoy to gospel singers to the president (read Chris Queen’s piece). As Kennedy said, “Charlie’s mission was Jesus Christ and also free speech.” Erika Kirk, before forgiving her husband’s murderer, said that “more than anything, Charlie wanted to do not his will but God’s will,” and “after Charlie’s assassination we didn’t see violence, we didn’t see rioting,” but “instead we saw what my husband always prayed we’d see in this country. We saw revival.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Charlie would want everyone watching or attending the memorial to believe we’re created by God, that we sinned and were redeemed, and that at the end of time all believers will have a great re-union, including with Charlie himself. Jack Posobiec, rosary in hand, urged attendees to put on the armor of God, “for Charlie.” Dr. Ben Carson read John 12:24 because Charlie was shot, he said, at 12:24 p.m. on Sept. 10: “‘Except a corn of wheat fall onto the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.’ And I want to thank Charlie for his sacrifice, because much fruit is going to be realized.” Kirk’s encouragement to young people to get married and raise families was also a recurring theme. Kirk’s Chief of Staff, Mikey McCoy, thanked Charlie for urging him to get married and helping him meet his wife, who stood beside him holding his arm.

While some ignorant, elitist leftists sneered at Kirk’s lack of a college degree, Hillsdale College President Dr. Larry Arnn lauded Kirk’s intellect and was proud to remember that Kirk had taken multiple online courses through Hillsdale. “I keep a list in my head of the 6 or 8 young people, and I’m very privileged, I get to know many inspiring young people who are the best I ever saw. Charlie is the only one who was never a full-time student at Hillsdale College who was on that list,” Arnn said, announcing an honorary degree for Kirk. Donald Trump Jr. said Kirk “was like a little brother to me,” but amid the heartbreaking tragedy, “we won’t be intimidated…Our message of faith, family, and country will not be silenced.” Don Jr. urged, “His legacy must be that when they took his life, a million more Charlies stepped up to fill the void. We are all Charlie!”

Vice President JD Vance, tears in his eyes, said of Kirk, “He changed the face of conservatism in our time and in doing so he changed the course of history….[Debate] was the vehicle for bringing the light of truth to dark places.” The most moving speech of the day was the eulogy by Mrs. Erika Kirk, who stood strong even as she wept, filled with love and forgiveness for friends and foes alike, describing the beauty of her marriage, the excruciating heartache of Charlie’s assassination, and her plans to carry on her husband’s vital work of free speech and outreach to young Americans.

Finally, Donald Trump paid tribute to the man he credits with ensuring his 2024 election victory. “Charlie’s murder was not just an attack on one man,” Trump stated, but on “our entire nation….The gun was pointed at him but the bullet was aimed at all of us.” Kirk changed history in his three decades of life on earth, Trump declared, before ending by calling Erika out on stage again to embrace her.

It was my great honor to attend the memorial of Charlie Kirk, a visionary and American hero. As someone only a few years younger than Kirk, his sudden death provokes a question in me as well as many of my fellow Gen Z and millennial Americans — what will my legacy be? Charlie Kirk was one in a billion. But while he was the indispensable man, he needed the staff, volunteers, fans, and friends who helped him make his movement a success. Now that he is gone, We the People are left to take up his banner, practice his courage, display his faith and patriotism, and prove to the bloodthirsty Democrats that we are all Charlie Kirk now.

Read more …

Trying to beat Russia amounts to suicide.

Moscow Ready To Respond To Any Threat – Putin (RT)

Russia is ready to respond to any threats, President Vladimir Putin has said, adding that Moscow still supports a diplomatic path to ease tensions despite the West’s destructive policies.Speaking ahead of the Security Council meeting on Monday, Putin sounded the alarm with regard to the “extreme danger of further deterioration” of the geopolitical situation, particularly amid the Ukraine conflict.= He added that while Russia had offered “specific ideas” to correct this trajectory, these “warnings and initiatives received no clear response.”There should be no doubt about this: Russia is capable of responding to any existing and newly emerging threats. Responding not with words, but through the application of military-technical measures, Putin warned.

He noted Moscow’s decision to abandon the unilateral moratorium on the deployment of ground-based intermediate- and shorter-range missiles last month, describing it as a forced step caused by the need to counter plans to deploy US- and other Western-made missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Putin stressed, however, that Russia is not interested in warmongering and saber-rattling. “We are confident in the reliability and effectiveness of our national deterrent forces, but at the same time we are not interested in further escalating tensions or fueling an arms race.” He added that Russia has always prioritized “political and diplomatic methods for maintaining international peace, based on the principles of equality, indivisibility of security, and mutual consideration of interests.”

Putin signaled that Moscow is ready to prolong the 2010 New START Treaty, the last remaining arms control pact between Russia and the US, which expires in February. It limits each side to no more than 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads and 700 deployed delivery systems, and provides for inspections and data exchanges to verify compliance. This initiative, Putin said, “could make a significant contribution to creating an atmosphere conducive to substantive strategic dialogue with the United States.”

Read more …

“The New START Treaty will expire on February 5, 2026, signaling the imminent end of the last international accord directly limiting nuclear missile capabilities.”

Putin Makes Nuclear Treaty Offer To US (RT)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow will continue to adhere to a key nuclear arms control treaty signed with the US for one year after its expiration, provided Washington agrees to do the same. Speaking ahead of a Security Council meeting on Monday, Putin said global strategic stability has been increasingly threatened by what he described as the destructive actions of Western nations. He stressed that while Moscow is ready to meet any threat, it is and always has been interested in political and diplomatic methods of resolving conflicts.

Russia is prepared to follow the 2010 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) treaty for one year after its expiration next February, provided the US reciprocates and refrains from actions that could break the nuclear status quo, such as deploying interceptor systems in space, Putin offered. The Russia-US treaty establishes limits on the numbers of intercontinental-range nuclear weapons both sides can deploy. Below is the full text of Putin’s speech, as published on the Kremlin website:

Good afternoon, colleagues,

We have several topics to discuss today, including matters related to migration policy. However, I would like to begin with an issue of prime importance, one that is critical to safeguarding our national interests, Russia’s sovereignty, and without exaggeration, international security as a whole. I am referring to the situation in the realm of strategic stability, which, regrettably, continues to deteriorate. This is driven by a combination of factors, which are negative, compounding existing strategic risks and generating new ones. As a result of the destructive actions previously taken by Western countries, the foundations of constructive relations and practical cooperation between nuclear powers have been significantly undermined.

The basis for dialogue within relevant bilateral and multilateral frameworks has been eroded. Gradually, the system of Soviet-American and Russian-American agreements on nuclear missile and strategic defense arms control – long relied upon to stabilize relations between the two largest nuclear powers and to enhance global security – has been nearly dismantled. Let me reiterate: We have repeatedly examined the causes and potential consequences of this situation. We attribute the numerous challenges that have accumulated in the strategic sphere since the beginning of the 21st century to the destructive actions of the West, their destabilizing doctrines and military-technical programs designed to undermine global parity and pursue absolute, overwhelming superiority.

We have consistently and thoroughly addressed these issues, criticized this approach, and not only highlighted the extreme dangers of further deterioration but also repeatedly proposed concrete ideas for joint solutions. However, our warnings and initiatives have not received a clear response. Let me emphasize and let there be no doubt: Russia is fully capable of responding to any current or emerging threat, not with words, but through concrete military-technical measures. A clear example is our decision to end the unilateral moratorium on the deployment of ground-based short- and intermediate-range missiles. This was a forced move needed for ensuring an adequate response to the deployment of similar US and other Western-made weapons in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, which poses a direct threat to Russia’s security.

Our plans to strengthen the country’s defense capability are being developed with full regard to the evolving international situation, and they are being implemented in a comprehensive and timely manner. We are confident in the reliability and effectiveness of our national deterrent forces. At the same time, we are not seeking to further escalate tensions or fuel an arms race. Russia has consistently upheld the primacy of political and diplomatic methods for maintaining global peace, based on the principles of equality, the indivisibility of security, and mutual respect for interests.

Let me remind you that the last major political and diplomatic achievement in the field of strategic stability was the conclusion of the Russian-American New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) in 2010. However, owing to the profoundly hostile policies of the Biden administration, which undermined the fundamental principles on which this treaty was built, its full implementation was suspended in 2023. Nevertheless, both parties have declared their intention to continue voluntarily observing the central quantitative limits of the strategic offensive arms treaty until its expiry. For nearly 15 years, this agreement has played a constructive role in maintaining balance and predictability in the sphere of strategic offensive weapons.

The New START Treaty will expire on February 5, 2026, signaling the imminent end of the last international accord directly limiting nuclear missile capabilities. A complete renunciation of this treaty’s legacy would, from many points, be a grave and short-sighted mistake. It would also have adverse implications for the objectives of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. In order to prevent the emergence of a new strategic arms race and to preserve an acceptable degree of predictability and restraint, we consider it reasonable to maintain at this turbulent time the status quo established under New START. Accordingly, Russia is prepared to continue observing the treaty’s central quantitative restrictions for one year after February 5, 2026.

Following that date, based on a careful assessment of the situation, we will make a definite decision on whether to uphold these voluntary self-limitations. We believe that this measure is only feasible if the United States acts in a similar spirit and refrains from steps that would undermine or disrupt the existing balance of deterrence. In this connection, I would like to ask the relevant agencies to maintain close oversight of American activities related to the START arsenal in the first place. Particular attention must be directed towards US plans to expand strategic components of its missile defense system, including preparations for the deployment of interceptors in outer space. We believe that the practical implementation of such destabilizing measures could nullify our efforts to maintain the status quo in the field of strategic offensive arms. We will respond appropriately in this case.

I believe that Russia’s initiative, if implemented, could make a substantial contribution to creating the conditions necessary for a substantive strategic dialogue with the United States – provided, of course, that the grounds for its full resumption are secured and that broader steps are taken to normalize bilateral relations and remove core security contradictions.

Let us now turn to the current agenda.

Read more …

“..a militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law.”

Trump Declares Antifa a Terrorist Group (Catherine Salgado)

President Donald Trump officially designated Antifa a domestic terror organization on Monday. In his Sept. 22 executive order, Trump defined Antifa as “a militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law. It uses illegal means to organize and execute a campaign of violence and terrorism nationwide to accomplish these goals.” Antifa became particularly infamous during the 2020 summer of love and the so-called “mostly peaceful” protests, and it remains a source of violence in the United States, with Portland just one city still enduring months of anti-ICE Antifa riots.

Antifa, as defined, Trump continued, “involves coordinated efforts to obstruct enforcement of Federal laws through armed standoffs with law enforcement, organized riots, violent assaults on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other law enforcement officers, and routine doxing of and other threats against political figures and activists.” It is obvious that the federal government needs to take action against Antifa, which follows in a very long tradition of Democrat domestic terrorism stretching back to the mid-19th century. The KKK’s power is almost entirely a matter of the past, and hopefully that will be said one day soon of Antifa.

The president explained further that “Antifa recruits, trains, and radicalizes young Americans to engage in this violence and suppression of political activity, then employs elaborate means and mechanisms to shield the identities of its operatives, conceal its funding sources and operations in an effort to frustrate law enforcement, and recruit additional members.” This enhances the threat, as does the fact that Antifa has ties to other political organizations. Therefore, since Antifa has made it obvious through the cities it has torched and the other crimes that its members have committed that it is a domestic terror organization, Trump officially announced:

Because of the aforementioned pattern of political violence designed to suppress lawful political activity and obstruct the rule of law, I hereby designate Antifa as a “domestic terrorist organization.” All relevant executive departments and agencies shall utilize all applicable authorities to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle any and all illegal operations — especially those involving terrorist actions — conducted by Antifa or any person claiming to act on behalf of Antifa, or for which Antifa or any person claiming to act on behalf of Antifa provided material support, including necessary investigatory and prosecutorial actions against those who fund such operations. The president previously expressed his intention not only of investigating Antifa and its funding sources further, but of designating other radical leftist organizations as domestic terror groups too.

Read more …

And these guys still work at the FBI?

Biden’s FBI Tried to Entrap Trump’s Border Czar Before the Election (Margolis)

Another day, another Biden scandal that the media desperately tries to dump on Trump. This time, MSNBC is working overtime to spin a damning story about Joe Biden’s FBI into yet another bogus hit piece on the Trump administration. Last year, while Biden and his minions were still calling the shots at the FBI, the bureau launched a brazen undercover operation targeting incoming Border Czar Tom Homan. Federal agents, posing as shady businessmen, tried to bait Homan with a $50,000 bribe in exchange for help securing contracts under a future Trump administration. It was a manufactured setup, designed from the start to entrap a Trump ally. The whole thing blew up in Biden’s face. When FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche reviewed the case, they immediately exposed it as a political hit job.

“This matter originated under the previous administration,” they said in a joint statement. “They found no credible evidence of any criminal wrongdoing.” Translation: Biden’s FBI wasted taxpayer dollars trying to entrap one of Trump’s top immigration advisors, and they failed. But instead of admitting Biden’s corruption, MSNBC twisted the story with a headline that made it sound like Trump’s DOJ covered up wrongdoing: “Tom Homan was investigated for accepting $50,000 from undercover FBI agents. Trump’s DOJ shut it down.” This isn’t journalism—it’s propaganda. Do you think it’s a mere coincidence that Biden’s team launched the sting while Homan was advising Trump’s 2024 campaign—knowing full well he would play a major role in Trump’s second term? They weren’t investigating a crime; they were trying to create one.

“Mr. Homan never took the $50,000 that you’re referring to. So you should get your facts straight, number one,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday during the White House daily press briefing. “Number two, this was another example of the weaponization of the Biden Department of Justice against one of President Trump’s strongest and most vocal supporters in the midst of a presidential campaign.” She added, “You had FBI agents going undercover to try and entrap one of the president’s top allies and supporters, someone who they knew very well would be taking a government position months later.” Leavitt continued, “They found zero evidence of illegal activity or criminal wrongdoing. And the White House and the president stand by Tom Homan 100% because he did absolutely nothing wrong, and he is a brave public servant who has done a phenomenal job in helping the president shut down the border.”

This is the Biden playbook: weaponize the Justice Department against political enemies. They tried it with Trump himself, dragging him through endless witch hunts. When that didn’t stop him, they moved on to targeting his inner circle. And when even that failed, the media stepped in to try and salvage the narrative. MSNBC’s shameless story proves the corporate media isn’t just biased—they’re active participants in political persecution. They took a story that completely vindicates Homan and twisted it into anti-Trump propaganda, counting on their audience to never read past the headline. The sad truth here is that Americans are being lied to by “journalists” who sold their souls to the Democrat Party.

Read more …

“..a Democratic Party that is diametrically opposed to the reconciling systems on which this nation was founded.”

Why We Are at War (Richard C. Lyons)

Polarity is in the nature of things, in fact, just as the poles of north and south exist, matter itself is drawn into being at opposites, as in the forces of magnets. So are we; we are social creatures of this world given to being at opposites. When our nation’s founders gathered in Philadelphia 238 summers ago, with the wealth of all of their collected libraries, they studied history’s opposed factions: from the Plains and Coastal parties of the Athenians, to the factions of Marius and Sulla in Rome, to the Byzantine parties of the Blue and the Green, to the Guelphs and Ghibellines of the Florentines, to the literary houses of Verona, the Montagues and Capulets, whose differences devoured the lives and loves of innocents. One of the great fears of that great intellectual company was that America would fall, broken by such opposing factions.

They deliberately wrote the Constitution, our social compact, to overcome such factions. Firstly, by creating a Constitution based on common law, with protections of individual and property that shield everyone against the ambitions of government, or any party thereof. The founders crafted a Constitutional Republic based first on federalism, which allowed people as varied in interests as a Boston lawyer and a Key West fisherman to live under distinct state and local laws best suited to themselves. Much of our Constitution has to do with voting into office, by a majority, those representatives freely chosen to represent the citizens’ interests. If anyone does not represent the citizens’ interests, they are as easily voted out, thus ensuring that governance is representative of the people’s will.

Our free enterprise system came into being with our nation; The Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith, was published in the same year as the Declaration of Independence; and the personal property rights espoused by John Locke were ensconced in our highest law in the 5th Amendment, among the Bill of Rights, including the “takings clause,” which forbids government from taking from an individual what they have earned by their labors and investments. Lastly, at the time of our nation’s founding, the Judeo-Christian ethic was omnipresent, with it’s Ten Commandments, the first common law of humanity, and its highest law: to “love thy neighbor as thyself.” Each of these systems of law, of federalism, of representation, of free enterprise and of the ethos of Judeo-Christianity has helped reconcile our society as a whole and has been responsible for our nation’s peace and prosperity since the Constitution’s signing 237 years ago.

Who can argue with a common law that protects the wealthy and the poor? Who can argue about a system of diffused power, allowing localities and states to create their own laws? Who can argue with the right of people to empower those whom they would wish to represent them? Who can argue with the principle that the people who are entitled to wealth are those who have earned that wealth themselves? Who can argue with the notion that Judeo-Christianity is perhaps the best ethos for advancing peace through mutual respect, respect for the law, charitability, and humility? So why are we so opposed and at the point of war with one another in our nation today? Until November1963, both of our political parties, their patrons and, their constituents believed in every one of these societally reconciling systems. Then the momentum in the Democratic Party to more fully institute socialism began.

Today, the Democrats believe devoutly that the Constitution is a “living” document, which is to say, they can change or disregard whatever they don’t like in the text or kill it altogether as a document of “negative rights.” Today, the Democrats don’t believe in federalism; they desire all the wealth and power of the nation to be invested in one capital, Washington D.C., to be parceled out to family, friends and allies of their own. Today, Democrats do not believe in representative government; they believe in bureaucrats appointed for life to eternal agencies in the never constitutionally enumerated power of the Administrative State. Their only concern for the chambers of Congress is as a central exchange between the taxpayer and those agencies, which are the power base of the Democrat Party.

Today, Democrats do not believe in property rights; they believe that what is theirs is theirs and what is yours is theirs. They believe anyone who has earned wealth has done so illegitimately and those who haven’t have a superior moral right to it anyway, so long as the Democrats get an overall cut. Lastly, the Democrats’ idea of Judeo-Christianity is to pronounce publicly that they privately believe in it, while acting against it with every meaningful national vote they take and every regulatory rule they make. What is at opposition today is a conservative Republican Party that believes profoundly in the reconciling promise of these foundations of our society. And a Democratic Party that is diametrically opposed to the reconciling systems on which this nation was founded.

The Democratic Party has become what this nation fought against in the Second World War, the Cold War and the Middle Eastern wars. The Democrats — or the liberal left, progressives, or Democratic Socialists — have become a tyrannical bunch of bastards who have renounced their good parentage, and they are getting very violent about it. God Bless Charlie Kirk, who fought and died for all of these reconciling societal blessings.

Read more …

But you can still not watch it.

Disney Gives Kimmel Show Back, But Nexstar & Sinclair Still Refuse To Air (ZH)

Hours after 400 artists signed an ACLU letter in response to Jimmy Kimmel’s firing, the late-night host’s ‘indefinite termination’ for propaganda surrounding the Charlie Kirk assassination has been turned into a week’s vacation. According to Variety, Disney and ABC are bringing the comedian back to its schedule Tuesday night. “Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country. It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive,” the company said in a statement. “We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.”

Of note, none of the Nexstar or Sinclair affiliates will carry the show. Despite Kimmel’s return, it is not immediately clear if his show will be available across the entire country. Sinclair, for its part, had said that it would not go back to running Kimmel’s show on its stations until the late night host apologized for his comments, met with Sinclair representatives and made a donation to Turning Point, the organization that Kirk founded. Sinclair, it should be noted, owns the ABC station in the Washington, D.C., metro area, among other markets. Nexstar, similarly, could also choose to continue to preempt the show, though of course it would still be accessible online across the country after it runs on ABC. -Hollywood Reporter

Kimmel’s show was pulled last Wednesday after the host said that Charlie Kirk assassination suspect Tyler Robinson was ‘MAGA’ – when he’s very clearly not based on what we know. In response, FCC Chair Brendan Carr threatened to revoke ABC affiliate licenses over the comments, which he described in a podcast interview with host Benny Johnson as “the sickest conduct possible.” As The Blaze’s Auron Macintyre opines: “ABC is putting Jimmy Kimmel back on the air because terrorism works in America.” Guess who predicted it? Does Roseanne Barr get her show back too now?

Read more …

“So Kimmel is now a hero of democracy — all he had to do was spread disinformation. That makes this the funniest joke that Kimmel never told.”

The Funniest Joke Jimmy Kimmel Never Told (Turley)

Democrats were finally outraged this week. No, it was not about the murder of Charlie Kirk, but rather the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night comedy show. Democratic leaders are taking to the airways to denounce the decision to take Kimmel off the air after he spread disinformation about Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer. The same leaders and pundits who have for years fought for censorship in the name of combating disinformation are now making the very arguments they ridiculed just months ago. Democrats once wrote letters to Internet carriers suggesting that Fox News, the most popular cable news network, should be taken off the air in the name of combating disinformation. That was when the Democrats controlled the White House and were targeting conservatives.

Suddenly, now, disinformation is no longer a valid reason to censor and alleged government-corporate alliances are a menace to free speech. After the tragedy in Utah, many on the left immediately tried to deflect responsibility for the murder by claiming that Kirk’s killer was actually a Trump supporter. On his show, Kimmel declared that “the MAGA Gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.” The far-left motivations of the alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, were already well known. His family confirmed that he had been radicalized with leftist ideology and cited pro-transgender views. This was not even a joke — it was just a false factual claim made by Kimmel on national television. And it came at a time when others were spreading this lie.

Despite stories to the contrary, many repeated the false claim. For example, Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe posted that “Kirk’s apparent assassin seems to have been ultra-MAGA, exploding the GOP/MAGA attempt to pin the blame for this tragedy on liberals.” (Previously, Tribe had claimed that the October 2023 massacre of Israelis by Hamas was a “wag-the-dog” operation to distract from corruption allegations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu). The disinformation took hold on the Internet and social media. One poll showed that a plurality of Americans think Robinson was a conservative. Call it assassination denial. It is all the rage. Former MSNBC and ESPN host Keith Olbermann wrote after Kimmel’s suspension, “Burn in hell, Sinclair. Alongside Charlie Kirk.” He added that “nothing [Kimmel] said was untrue.”

Curiously, some of these politicians and pundits are claiming that, yet again, democracy will die if Kimmel is not allowed to spread disinformation. There are reports that Kimmel was refusing to apologize and planned to double down on the attacks on conservatives in his next show. Faced with a revolt by affiliates and a potential exodus of advertisers, Disney’s head, Bob Iger, pulled the plug. (By the way, Kimmel’s ratings had been falling for years, and he had a smaller audience than the Colbert Show, which was itself discontinued due to loss of money). The hypocrisy was pure comedy. For years, these same voices demanded censorship of individuals deemed to be spreading disinformation, misinformation, and malinformation. The last category was used by the Biden administration to target statements “based on fact, but used out of context to mislead, harm, or manipulate.”

At the same time, they mocked claims that corporations were working with the government to maintain this censorship system. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) ran on a pledge to impose new criminal and civil penalties for anyone spreading disinformation. Now, however, censorship is intolerable. Warren told CNN “we know there was federal interference … We saw the government step up and give a hard shove and then we saw a compliant company turn around and suspend Mr. Kimmel.” She added that his collaboration with corporations “truly undermines the whole premise of the First Amendment.”

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) called the suspension one of “the most blatant attacks on the free press in American history.” Schiff had previously demanded that Twitter suspend an array of users and “reduce the visibility” of blacklisted individuals — including a journalist who held opposing views. When Elon Musk reduced censorship at X, it was Schiff who warned Facebook not to follow his example by restoring free speech protections. Schiff threatened legislative action if the company moved to “alter or roll back certain misinformation policies.” This week, Schiff is outraged by a company’s decision to suspend a host who refused to correct a false story he had spread.

For years, I appeared before these same leaders in Congress as they defended corporate censorship and dismissed allegations of collaboration with the government. I would not cancel Kimmel so long as his show was profitable. But I have long maintained that companies can limit the free speech of employees at work. I do not believe Kimmel should be censored on social media for spreading false information. At the same time, ABC does not have to lose money or viewers because an employee attacks others with vile, false claims. Now Disney is accused of killing democracy itself, in league with Trump. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) attacked Trump for “trying to destroy our democracy” and acting like “many would-be despots.”

Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) used Kimmel’s suspension as evidence that “fascism is not on the way, it is here.” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) insisted that suspending a host for spreading false information about a murder was “North Korea-style stuff” while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) insisted that it is “what Putin would do.” It is a curious spin, since Putin and Kim Jong Un value media figures who spread false information — particularly about murders. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) went so far as to compare Kimmel to Thomas Paine, the author of Common Sense and “Penman of the revolution.” So Kimmel is now a hero of democracy — all he had to do was spread disinformation. That makes this the funniest joke that Kimmel never told.

Read more …

It deactivates something?!

Trump Links Tylenol To Autism Risk During Pregnancy (RT)

US President Donald Trump has drawn a connection between the use of Tylenol during pregnancy and rising autism rates in America, calling the increase in diagnoses “one of the most alarming public health developments in history.”Speaking at a White House briefing alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday, Trump said pregnant women should avoid acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, unless absolutely necessary. He said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would begin updating warning labels and launch an information campaign aimed at pregnant women.

“Taking Tylenol is not good,” Trump said during the event. “They are strongly recommending that women limit Tylenol use during pregnancy unless medically necessary… If you can’t tough it out, if there’s a problem, you’re going to end up doing it, but ideally you don’t take it at all.”= Citing an increase in autism rates, Trump said the condition has become far more prevalent over the last two decades. “The meteoric rise in autism is among the most alarming public health developments in history,” he said. The FDA issued two separate news releases confirming a formal response to growing evidence of neurological risks linked to acetaminophen during pregnancy. The agency said it has initiated a label change for all acetaminophen-containing products, including Tylenol, to reflect studies suggesting an association with autism and ADHD.

“The FDA is taking action to make parents and doctors aware of a considerable body of evidence about potential risks associated with acetaminophen,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said. The FDA acknowledged that while some studies show an association between prenatal acetaminophen use and neurodevelopmental disorders, a causal link has not been established. It stressed that acetaminophen remains the only over-the-counter medication approved for fever relief during pregnancy and warned that alternatives like ibuprofen and aspirin can pose known risks to fetal development.

Tylenol manufacturer Kenvue responded to the developments by defending the drug’s safety. “We strongly disagree with any suggestion that acetaminophen causes autism,” the company said, warning that discouraging appropriate use during pregnancy may put mothers and infants at risk from untreated fever or pain. In another announcement, the FDA said it is initiating approval of leucovorin calcium tablets for patients with cerebral folate deficiency (CFD), a condition linked to developmental delays and autistic features. Though the agency cautioned that more studies are needed to assess the drug’s full efficacy in autism-related populations, it said the initiative reflects a broader strategy to repurpose existing medications for neurological conditions.

Read more …

“I’ve never talked to a Democrat who ever wanted to listen. They start to glitch out if you try.” — Sasha Stone

Personal Note (James Howard Kunstler)

This past summer, I tried to open a line of communication with a West Coast relative. We exchanged a few letters. I tactically steered the conversation away from the political. Here was the closer salvo from my relative:

Jimmy, on a completely personal level, and in different times, I think we could have been very good friends. At this point in our history, I find what you say in your blogs and Kunstlercast to be outrageous, deceptive, and ugly. I disagree with almost everything you hold dear politically, and even if, for instance, we agree about the horrors of Big Pharma, your worship of Kennedy makes me ill. Your language falls right into all the clichés of the far right ideologies I loathe.Maybe someday things will change. For now, this is the last you’ll be hearing from me.

Frankly, what stung most keenly was the accusation that my language fell “into all the clichés of the far right ideologies. . . .” I like to think that I am allergic to clichés, though it’s possible that I am deluded about that. If anything, the dynamic collective thought disorders of our time present themselves in astonishingly fresh ways — for instance, a Supreme Court nominee who can’t define what a woman is. (Makes you kind of wonder how such a mind could parse Article Two of the Constitution.)

Mostly, I would have liked to know what those “far right ideologies” are, exactly, but it looks like I will never find out now. Maybe it is being opposed to censorship. . . or against Ukraine’s entry into NATO. . . or wanting coherent procedure for foreigners seeking to enter the USA. . . or keeping biological men out of the women’s swim lanes. . . or saying that ivermectin is a safe and effective anti-viral med. . . or supposing that people charged with felonies should not be released to the streets without significant cash bail. Stuff like that.

As it happened, we were not discussing these matters in our brief correspondence, but I was at something of a disadvantage since I am a professional writer who posts his opinion for public scrutiny and my relative is not. Of course, I describe what is a pandemic of broken family relations in our country. And social relations. I have been cancelled by most of my old friends, too, and I’m quite sure that I am not a special case. I am mystified by what these relatives and old friends actually believe these days. When we were hippies back in the day, they were very much opposed to war, turned-off by attempts at censorship, and deeply averse to the dark operations of the CIA and FBI. Now, they seem avid for intel ops and hoaxes, eager for war, and all-in for censoring ideas that make them feel “unsafe.”

There are various useful theories for this state-of-affairs, all pretty cross-compatible. Strauss and Howe’s Fourth Turning template of generational cycles explains a lot. Elizabeth Nickson has some fine insights about the extreme discontents of women these days leading them to summon political demons. Mattias Desmet, the Belgian psych professor has his Mass Formation theory, which states that societal anxieties provoke aligned “radical intolerance” among a populace. I recommend Wendy Williamson’s recent blog discussion of The Law of Reversal. Joseph Tainter’s classic, The Collapse of Complex Societies lays out the pitfalls of our “over-investments in complexity.” I wrote a book in 2005 titled The Long Emergency which describes the drawn-out collapse of our techno-industrial economy — the widespread apprehension of which helps define the societal anxieties described by Dr. Desmet that bring on his “Mass Formation Psychosis.”

All these theories tend to imply an inflection point where our assumptions about human progress get undermined, provoking an intense loss of faith in institutions and authorities, resulting in epochal socio-political disorder. Wouldn’t you agree we are seeing exactly that now? That the net effect of all this is of a society driven insane. Surely, the craziness is amplified by the novel connectivities of the Internet and exacerbated by many other high-tech innovations from ubiquitous camera surveillance to cryptocurrency to drone warfare.

In our country these days, all of this has apparently produced two camps at war psychologically, now verging on something like a hot civil war. One camp calling itself “progressive” insists on a roster of ideas, policies, and practices that look patently absurd, abusive of the public interest, and hostile to the values of Western Civ. The other camp styles itself as “conservative” seeking to preserve Western Civ and the advancement of our so-called way of life — an ever growth-seeking high-tech economy.

Personally, I doubt that the latter is possible. I believe we’re due for a pretty serious time-out from the sort of economic “growth” we enjoyed the past two-hundred years. That high-tech mega-fiesta has thrown off a lot of entropy, which is now working hard to slow things down and make us stop a lot of what we are doing. It manifests in many ways, but most vividly by flinging us into social disorder, turning what had been communication and correspondence into a rising babel that is driving us crazy. That is exactly why it is so hard to talk to our relatives and old friends. But mark this: there is a time coming when we will get tired of being crazy, and then things will go differently for us. We’ll start talking again.

Read more …

“At the European Council in December 2026, there will be blood on the walls..”

EU Looks To ‘Le Pen-Proof’ Its Budget – Politico (RT)

The EU leadership is trying to fast-track talks to reach a deal on the bloc’s new budget before the French presidential election in April 2027, Politico reports. EU officials reportedly fear it could be won by right-wing firebrand Marine Le Pen or one of her allies from the National Rally party. The EU’s next seven-year budget is scheduled to come into force on January 1, 2028. The proposal by the European Commission currently being discussed amounts to €1,816 trillion ($2,136). It requires unanimous approval from all 27 member states to pass. The risk of the right-wing forces defeating French President Emmanuel Macron in the election is the main reason budget negotiations are being accelerated, the outlet said in an article on Monday, citing five officials and EU diplomats.

The concern in Brussels is that the National Rally’s platform, which includes slashing Paris’ contribution to the EU budget and reducing military aid to Ukraine, could disrupt the already complex talks, it said. Le Pen has been banned from running for public office after a French court found her guilty of embezzling European Parliament funds earlier this year. She has challenged the ruling. The National Rally’s second most prominent figure, Jordan Bardella, is also believed to be capable of winning the election, according to the article. European Council President Antonio Costa is working to secure a budget deal in the council by the end of 2026, his spokesperson, Maria Tomasik, told journalists on Friday.

“At the European Council in December 2026, there will be blood on the walls,” a senior EU diplomat told Politico, referring to the negotiations. There is “annoyance” over attempts to speed up the budget talks in countries including Italy and Poland, which argue that it leaves them less time to make changes to the proposal and benefits the Northern European nations, according to the outlet. A poll by Ifop published on Saturday suggested that Macron’s ratings have fallen to 17%, the lowest during his two-term presidency. Hundreds of thousands protested across France last week against government policies, including additional austerity measures proposed by newly appointed Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu.

Read more …

Word from your banker.

“Ignoring international law would lead to “the beginning of total chaos,” the French president has said..”

Macron Warns Against Seizing Frozen Russian Assets (RT)

French President Emmanuel Macron has pushed back against the idea of seizing frozen Russian assets, warning that doing so could backfire on the West and undermine global stability. In an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation aired on Sunday, Macron was asked about what the West was planning to do with the $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets which were frozen after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. “We are all very much attached to being compliant with international rules. You cannot seize these assets from the central bank, even in such a situation,” the French leader said, describing it as “a matter of credibility.”

“When some countries start to disrespect international laws… this is the beginning of a total chaos. So we will respect international law. We are predictable, and we will not do all impossible things with these frozen assets,” he added, recalling that Kiev’s Western backers are already using proceeds from the frozen assets to prop up Ukraine. Throughout the conflict, Western policymakers have considered seizing Russian assets – most of which fall under EU jurisdiction – but have so far refrained due to the lack of a legal basis and fears it would damage global trust.

Last year, however, G7 nations supported a $50 billion loan to Ukraine secured by the income from Russian reserves. Western nations have also directly handed over to Kiev approximately $4.3 billion in proceeds from Russian assets. This month, the EU Commission floated a proposal to use Russian assets to back a reparation loan to Ukraine, which Kiev would be obligated to repay only if it receives “compensation” for damages from Moscow. Russia has denounced both the freeze and the profit-transfer scheme as “theft,” warning that confiscation would damage the global financial system and trigger retaliation from Moscow.

Read more …

“Protests in London will change nothing – Britain’s people were bred to endure..”

Britain’s Fate Is Decline, Not Upheaval – And History Explains Why (Bordachev)

The demonstrations in London earlier this month – up to 150,000 people protesting immigration and government incompetence – drew attention in Russia and abroad. Some observers even wondered if Britain might finally be approaching a breaking point. Perhaps, like Nepal or France in past years, mass anger could reshape politics. But such hopes are misplaced. Britain will never experience revolutionary upheaval. Its culture is not one of defiance but of endurance. The United Kingdom has, over centuries, become a bastion of injustice disguised as stability, where ordinary people are conditioned to accept their powerlessness. This cultural inheritance, once an imperial advantage, now guarantees slow decline.

Britain is unique in Western Europe: it was created not through union or invitation, but through conquest. In 1066 Norman knights crushed the native English and divided the land into fiefdoms. Unlike Russia, where foreign warriors were invited to defend the realm, or Hungary, where nomads fused with locals to form a people, England’s story was one of subjugation. That pattern hardened in 1215, when barons forced King John to sign the Magna Carta. Propaganda later elevated the charter as the foundation of English liberty. In reality it entrenched oligarchy: the power of the wealthy over crown and people alike. Where monarchs elsewhere often stood with peasants against feudal tyranny, in England the crown itself was shackled by landowners. Injustice became not an aberration but the system’s operating principle.

Geography reinforced the pattern. For centuries there was no frontier of freedom. Only in 1620 did dissenters finally flee on the Mayflower, planting English settlements in North America. By then, 600 years of endurance had shaped a national character: patient, fatalistic, and resigned. In Russia, by contrast, peasants had begun migrating east as early as the 11th century. Freedom was found in movement: new villages, new lands, and eventually a new people. This restless expansion created Russia’s unique statehood and ethnic identity. The English, trapped on their island, cultivated instead a tradition of enduring injustice. By the 18th century, Britain was sending its sons to wars around the world. They returned crippled, if at all – as Rudyard Kipling later immortalized. Yet they went meekly. A society drilled in obedience did not question orders, however insane. That made Britain dangerous abroad, but docile at home.

Popular uprisings were crushed without hesitation. Laws such as the Settlement Act of 1662, tying workers to their parishes, or the Poor Law of 1834, abolishing basic relief, stripped away rights. Only after 1945, under pressure from the USSR’s example, did Britain adopt limited welfare protections. Even these are now eroding, with no real resistance. This tradition once gave Britain its edge. Armies could be raised, colonies conquered, wars fought with little domestic dissent. But in the modern world, where political vitality depends on public will, the same habit of resignation has become a liability. Unlike Russians, who carved out freedom by settling new lands, or French and Germans, who rebelled and migrated, the English learned to endure. Their legacy is a society where injustice is not challenged but accepted – and where any hope of transformation evaporates before it begins.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

statin

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

 

 

Sep 222025
 


 

Trump Praises Charlie Kirk: The ‘Martyr for American Freedom’ (Salgado)
The Band Is Back Together: Trump and Musk Reunite at Kirk Memorial (Margolis)
President Trump Asked if Truth Social Post Was Critical of Pam Bondi (CTH)
Rep. Crockett Slams ‘Caucasian’ Dems For Honoring ‘Racist’ Kirk (VF)
Great Tribulation Volcanos, Earthquakes & Tsunamis – Steve Quayle (USAW)
Kremlin Comments On State of Putin-Trump Relationship (RT)
Brussels Bureaucrats Are Running Around Like Panicked Chickens – Orban (RT)
Great Britain Recognizes Palestinian Statehood (TASS)
Antifa Is A Very Real And Organized Terror Threat (ZH)
Far-Left Protesters Will Not Be Satisfied Until France Collapses (ZH)

 

 

https://twitter.com/MAGAVoice/status/1969903262955663756

 

 

President Trump’s Cabinet Remembers and Honors Charlie Kirk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And oh, that’s right: not one single instance of violence. Nothing at all.

I tried to watch it all yesterday. That was a long trek. Gospelrock -if that’s what it’s called- starts working on my patience after mere seconds. And all those speakers. Only two were interesting: Erika Kirk, because she’s who she is, and Donald Trump, because he’s so good at it, he’s a natural. Noticed also how safe Erika feels in Trump’s arms. None of the other speakers are really speakers. Much of that may be unlearning things, not learning.

Trump Praises Kirk: The ‘Martyr for American Freedom’ (Catherine Salgado)

On Sunday, President Donald Trump delivered a powerful eulogy to “our greatest evangelist,” a man to whom we owe a “profound and eternal debt of gratitude now,” Charlie Kirk. America is now “a nation in grief, a nation in shock,” Trump began, because it “was robbed of one of the giants of our nation.” Trump declared that “none of us will forget Charlie Kirk, and neither now will history.” Charlie Kirk, Trump continued, “was violently killed because he spoke for reason and for justice,” and “he argued brilliantly without apology.” The president described the work and legacy of a man he dubbed a true “martyr for American freedom.” Trump promised that “his voice on earth will echo through the generations,” and thanked Charlie’s widow Erika, promising to work for her and her children to create “a land where there father is honored and revered as a great American hero.”

He spoke directly to Charlie’s parents and described how Charlie went from being a teen with no money or connections to the leader of a history-shaping movement in a little over a decade. As Trump stated, Charlie “in his 31 years [did] than most people…can bring in a lifetime.” And as Kirk loved America, so “America loved Charlie Kirk.” Trump praised the faith of the crowd, labeling it “like an old time revival.” And while “it is agonizing and unthinkable to say goodbye to a patriot whose heart still had so much to give,” Trump said, we must carry on his work. For instance, Trump recalled that one of Charlie’s last messages was, “Please sir, save Chicago,” which Trump aims to do. “Inspired by faith and his love of freedom Charlie did something remarkable,” he “devoted his life to converting young people to the conservative cause,” and “the young man from Illinois whom no one had ever heard of started an organization” that launched him to international fame.

In the early days, Charlie wouldn’t accept a paycheck and wore Goodwill clothes, working around the clock, as “he was always in it for the mission.” Trump described Charlie as “actually a master builder, a master builder of people…it was Charlie who stood up for persecuted Jews and Christians,” who fought censorship, who “helped unite MAGA” and created the union of Robert F. Kennedy’s health movement with MAGA. When Trump makes an important health announcement, he “will be missing [Charlie] tomorrow.” Charlie also urged Trump to take notice of JD Vance. The president remembered with fondness how Charlie would call him up at night during the election campaign and ask, “Do you think you can come speak at the event [tomorrow]?” Trump said he would usually object, then often agree, because “you never wanted to let Charlie down, he worked so hard” and “he made me feel guilty…he always gave more than he took.”

Not only that, but “no one was too small for him to notice,” and Kirk even agreed to appear on a fourth grader’s podcast! Kirk worked tirelessly; “he did this until his dying breath.” Trump said that when Kirk was assassinated, he ordered some very important people out of the Oval Office to focus on Charlie. TPUSA under Trump’s leadership became “a juggernaut of American politics,” and “Charlie didn’t just bring young people into the movement,” he delivered a historic number of young votes for Trump in 2024. Even the day he was assassinated, when warned that Utah Valley University had hostile students and staff, Kirk declared, “I want to know them and love them.” This made him “a missionary with a noble spirit and a great, great purpose.” With a flash of humor, Trump admitted, “that’s where I disagree with Charlie, I hate my opponent.”

But “the more success Charlie had,” Trump said, “the more dangerous his mission became.” Leftist violence is a growing threat, which Trump plans to address. Charlie “knew the risks,” but he was determined to go on without fear, and “he was winning, and he was winning big, he was taking over college campuses….They lied about him because they did not want you to listen to him…. He won the hearts, he won the minds, and yes, he won the elections.” The 2024 GOP election victory was Charlie Kirk’s win. Trump remembered how when the results came through, Charlie “was overcome with emotion…his eyes were filled with tears,” and he put his face in his hands until his beloved Erika ran to give him a hat. Charlie “had a tremendous heart,” and when he finally looked up on Election Day he said, “I am humbled by God’s grace.”

Trump urged everyone to think how twisted must be the “soul of a man who would kill a man like Charlie,” so charitable and good. “Charlie’s murder was not just an attack on one man,” the president said, but on “our entire nation…The gun was pointed at him but the bullet was aimed at all of us.” Yet Charlie is bigger than ever and “the depraved assassin who” killed Charlie, “God willing, he will receive the full and ultimate punishment.” Trump marveled at the hypocrisy of people who claim preferred pronouns are morally necessary but “were filled with glee at the murder of a young father.” Democrat rhetoric is to blame. “If speech is violence, some are bound to conclude that violence is [the response] to speech,” he cautioned. In spite of all the violence, our liberties are “among the most treasured achievements of civilization, and we will carry forward the torch of liberty that Charlie Kirk held,” working for “a spiritual reawakening,” because “without borders, law and order, and religion you really don’t have a country anymore.” So “we want God back.”

The marvel was that “within minutes of the gunshot in Utah millions of Americans young and old dropped to their knees” to pray for Charlie, Trump said. While Charlie died, “those prayers for a miracle have already been answered…his legacy has touched so many millions around the world,” as we have seen. Therefore, Trump said, “you should never underestimate what one man can do with …a righteous spirit” and “the will to fight, fight, fight.” While Charlie Kirk “started with only an idea,” Trump added, he ended up “changing history.” So “we grieve for the friend and leader that we have lost but we go forward …[to] defend the country he fought for.” And as Trump stood with his arms around Erika Kirk, facing that stadium, one could not doubt that he will try to carry on the legacy that Charlie Kirk left to him. May the same be said of us.

Read more …

Inevitable. They really like each other.

“..in June, Kirk predicted they would find their way back. “I actually think they’re going to reconcile at some point, though, because, deep down, I would like to believe they both want the same thing..”

The Band Is Back Together: Trump and Musk Reunite at Kirk Memorial (Margolis)

Charlie Kirk knew that if conservatives were going to stop the radical left, unity was non-negotiable. He often warned that America’s survival depended on it. And on Sunday, his words rang truer than ever. At his memorial service in Arizona, Kirk’s prediction that Donald Trump and Elon Musk would reconcile came to life as the two shook hands—a moment that felt like history bending to prove him right. There was Trump, sitting behind bulletproof glass in his presidential box, when Musk approached and extended his hand. The brief exchange captured by lip readers revealed something beautifully human: “It’s good to talk,” Trump said, according the lip reader who spoke with the Daily Mail, with Musk responding “very much so.” Then came the kicker—Trump’s admission that “I’ve missed you” as he squeezed Musk’s hand before the Tesla CEO quickly departed.

Eric Trump’s Instagram post said it all: “the band is back together!” The younger Trump understood what many observers missed — this wasn’t just political theater. This was two men who’d let their egos get in the way of a shared mission to save America, finally remembering what really mattered.Trump and Musk’s feud blew up in June over Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” and for a while, it looked irreparable. “Elon’s upset because we took the EV mandate,” Trump said at the time, calling the original subsidy a billion-dollar handout to Tesla and other EV makers. Trump insisted Musk knew every detail of the bill all along and only started complaining once the gravy train was derailed. “He knew everything about it… better than almost anybody,” Trump said. “He never had a problem until right after he left.”

Things got even uglier on Truth Social, where Trump accused Musk of going “CRAZY!” over the subsidy cuts and admitted he had grown tired of the Tesla CEO’s behavior. Then came the real bombshell: Trump threatened to terminate Musk’s federal contracts. “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” he wrote, taking an unmistakable jab at Biden for not doing it sooner. At the time, hopes of reconciliation seemed dead. Trump told reporters he had no desire to patch things up, leaving conservatives worried that a powerful and promising alliance had collapsed. “If [Musk] and the President are in some blood feud… most importantly, it’s going to be bad for the country,” Vice President JD Vance warned. “But I don’t think it’s going to be good for either of them.”

Charlie Kirk, though, saw what most missed. Even as the titans traded barbs in June, Kirk predicted they would find their way back. “I actually think they’re going to reconcile at some point, though, because, deep down, I would like to believe they both want the same thing,” he said. Kirk understood something crucial—shared purpose always outweighs wounded pride. So, I think Kirk would have loved seeing Trump and Musk bury the hatchet at his memorial service. He believed in the power of unity among conservatives, understanding that petty squabbles only strengthen the left. And maybe, just maybe, this is a sign that their alliance—the one so many of us have been waiting for—is finally on the path to restoration.

Read more …

“As long as Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is safe and in solid position, Pam Bondi is safe and in solid position.”

President Trump Asked if Truth Social Post Was Critical of Pam Bondi (CTH)

My analytical and historic opinion of Pam Bondi is well known. CTH previously faced anger and scorn from those who disagreed. However, from CTH long-term perspective, Bondi was/is a political animal lacking intellectual acumen and carrying outlooks subject to popular political perspectives. She was over her head from day one, but Susie Wiles liked her former colleague a lot. As U.S. Attorney General Bondi does not have the ability to independently strategize against the Lawfare system that has corrupted Main Justice and U.S. politics. That said, from the position of protecting President Trump from attacks Bondi is effective, and thus criticism of her inabilities should be tempered. Last night, President Trump posted on Truth Social that the clock was ticking and no accountability has yet been delivered against those who weaponized government power structures against himself and the American people. Shortly thereafter, President Trump was asked about his criticisms of Bondi. WATCH:

President Trump’s social media post: “Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, “same old story as last time, all talk, no action. Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam “Shifty” Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done.” Then we almost put in a Democrat supported U.S. Attorney, in Virginia, with a really bad Republican past. A Woke RINO, who was never going to do his job. That’s why two of the worst Dem Senators PUSHED him so hard. He even lied to the media and said he quit, and that we had no case. No, I fired him, and there is a GREAT CASE, and many lawyers, and legal pundits, say so. Lindsey Halligan is a really good lawyer, and likes you, a lot. We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!! President DJT“

One hour later, President Trump posted this:

As noted in the original post, “nothing is being done” because, well, nothing is being done. Apparently, President Trump is receiving information from those in/around his orbit who are increasingly hearing the frustrated voices of his supporters. However, simultaneously the value of AG Pam Bondi lies in her primary skillset of keeping President Trump protected from political and lawfare attacks. As previously noted by The Associated Press: […] Bondi worked as a lobbyist for Ballard Partners, the powerful Florida-based firm where Trump’s campaign chief and incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles was a partner. Her U.S. clients have included General Motors, the commissioner of Major League Baseball and a Christian anti-human-trafficking advocacy group.

As long as Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is safe and in solid position, Pam Bondi is safe and in solid position. Susie Wiles is the filter that controls information that reaches President Trump. Susie Wiles controls the people, subjects, inputs and information who reach the Oval Office. If President Trump is unaware of an issue, it’s entirely because Susie Wiles keeps that issue away from President Trump. If President Trump is advocating a specific position with strong determination, it’s because that position is very important to Susie Wiles. That’s the reality of the dynamic. According to Susie Wiles she was “asked by a mutual friend” to travel to New York and meet with candidate Trump in “late December 2015.” That timeline would be post-Fox Debate (Megyn Kelly attempted hit – Aug ’15) when President Trump was leading every republican primary poll and became the enemy of the professional Republican establishment.

That mutual friend was likely well-known lobbyist and friend of President Trump, Brian Ballard. Susie Wiles was a “partner” at Ballard Partners. Both Susie Wiles and Pam Bondi connect to President Trump personally and professionally through Brian Ballard. 2018 – “Ballard, like most of Florida’s Republican establishment, backed Jeb Bush in the primary, but when Trump called he offered to do what he could for his client. In September, as it became clear that Trump’s lead in the polls wasn’t going away, Ballard dispatched Wiles to New York to meet with Trump. Wiles was named the Trump campaign’s Florida co-chairwoman a few weeks later.” Susie Wiles was also the advocate behind Mike Waltz being selected as the first National Security Advisor. We said at the time of the announcement that NSA Waltz would fail and likely be the first to exit; he did and was.

Read more …

“..the Congresswoman calling President Donald Trump an “enemy to the United States” and comparing him to Hitler..”

Rep. Crockett Slams ‘Caucasian’ Dems For Honoring ‘Racist’ Kirk (VF)

Rep. Jasmine Crockett is now claiming that Charlie Kirk’s “rhetoric” was racist…and not only did she vote against the House resolution to honor him, she’s furious that MORE Democrats didn’t do the same. She’s now openly attacking the “Caucasians” in her own party who supported the resolution. What a sick and vile human being. “One of the things I do want to point out that’s not been laid out, that honestly hurts my heart, is when I saw the no votes, there were only two caucasians.” “For the most part, the only people that voted no were people of color.” “Because the rhetoric that Charlie Kirk continuously put out, there was rhetoric that specifically targeted people of color.” “And so it is unfortunate that even our colleagues could not see how harmful his rhetoric was specifically to us.”

“And I can tell you that a month prior to him passing away, he had actually gotten out on his podcast, I wasn’t aware of this at the time, but he got out there and he was talking negatively about me directly.” “So if there was any way that I was going to honor somebody who decided that they were just going to negatively talk about me and proclaim that I was somehow involved in the great white replacement, yeah, I’m not honoring that kind of stuff.”“So to me, just like we wanted to make sure that those confederate relics were taken down, the idea of a new age relic being propped up was something that I just could not subscribe to, and it is unfortunate that more of my colleagues, even on my side of the aisle, could not see the the amount of harm that this man was attempting to inflict upon our communities.” Disgraceful.

https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1969765432753107045

Scott Jennings just came out swinging in response to Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s vile comments about Charlie Kirk. He said what no one else on CNN seems willing to admit…after the network gave her a platform to smear a man who hasn’t even been buried yet. “To say that he was continuously targeting people of color is nothing but a malicious smear, on the very day that people are remembering Charlie, and he’s going to be laid to rest.” “And so I think when you combine the no votes on the resolution and then you look at the leading Democratic voices like Ilhan Omar and Jasmine Crockett, who’ve gone out to smear Charlie before he’s even had his funeral.” “When I hear people say, we need to come together and both sides need to turn down the rhetoric, you know, a lot of the people saying that need to look inward right now.”

https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1969814757503852911

But, Crockett was far from done. After CNN anchor Dana Bash on Sunday played clips of the Congresswoman calling President Donald Trump an “enemy to the United States” and comparing him to Hitler, the Texas Democrat doubled down. Bash asked Crockett on “State of the Union” if she had “a responsibility” to cool down her rhetoric, but she said she did not and that the president was using Hitler’s “playbook.” “I think that my responsibility is to be transparent and to be honest. And the reality is that we are living in a time in which this administration and this regime is not interested in making sure that people understand history,” Crockett said. “We need to understand why they are so problematic.” “So I am using that language because it is accurate language,” she continued, saying Trump’s policies are “a playbook out of Hitler and I won’t deny it! Like, these are the facts.” Speech may be free, but it has its costs!!

Read more …

“It’s not they are going to drag us in, they have drug us in.”

Great Tribulation Volcanos, Earthquakes & Tsunamis – Steve Quayle (USAW)

Renowned radio host, filmmaker, book author and archeological dig expert Steve Quayle is back warning about intensifying earthquakes, volcanos and tsunamis all over the world that governments and media are covering up. Add this to the political violence, possible financial breakdown, multiple wars intensifying at the same time, battles over catastrophic climate destroying geoengineering in Congress and you are witnessing a time like the world has never seen before. This is starting to look like what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 24:21 when he said, “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will again.” Let’s start with the increasing numbers of volcanos becoming active such as the world-famous Mt. Kilauea in Hawaii shooting molten lava 500 feet into the air happening now.

Quayle says, “The Kilauea volcano on the big island of Hawaii has record lava plumes going off. Fountains is a more correct term. In the last week to 10 days, and this affects what is going on in Hawaii, we have watched the Kamchatka Peninsula with an 8.8 earthquake. Then we watched a 7.7, but what is not being talked about is the ring of fire with the volcanic activity with a ring around the Pacific Ocean. . .. I want people to understand the volcanos, earthquakes and tsunamis effect everything and everyone.” Quayle has been predicting a huge quake coming in the Pacific Northwest for a few years now, and he also points out the Hilina Slope in Hawaii could set off “a 500-foot-tall tsunami that could destroy the west coast of America.” Quayle says, “These are the mega events that are happening all over the world. There are earthquakes taking place on Mount Rainier.

I am watching the quakes taking place on Mount Hood and Mount Saint Helens. . .. People have to recognize, and this is an easy call, that our lives are going to change dramatically. . .. This will affect the whole country in terms of food and transportation, and it will also affect power throughout the electrical grid.” Quayle says his sources are telling him that we are close to a mega financial event. This is similar to what financial expert Ed Dowd said on USAW recently. What’s going to happen in the markets? Quayle says, “50% down and a cascading amount of failure in everything from banking to housing, emergency proclamations and even to the point of martial law. That is going to take place because the Blue states are getting ready to go to war with the Red states.”

Some people are hoping the US will stay out of the NATO war shaping up with Russia over Ukraine. Quayle says the US will get pulled in and says, “It’s not they are going to drag us in, they have drug us in. You can’t say you want peace with Russia and then send weapons to Ukraine. . .. You don’t steal $300 billion from Russia; that is what the West has done . . . and used it to buy weapons to make war on them.” Gold hit a record high on Friday, and silver is at levels not seen in years. Quayle says, “There is 750 ounces of fake paper gold for every ounce of real physical gold. . .. Whales, mega liquid investors, when they decide to go into the gold and silver markets, they can buy all deliverable gold in under three hours. . .. When you want your gold in hand, there will be no delivery. This is not a scare tactic. It’s the reality of what is going on behind the scenes.”

Read more …

“..adding that Trump’s “emotional” attitude toward the peace process is “completely understandable.”

Kremlin Comments On State of Putin-Trump Relationship (RT)

Russian President Vladimir Putin “values the constructive relations” he has with his US counterpart Donald Trump, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said, adding that both leaders want the Ukraine conflict to move toward a peaceful resolution. In an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin aired on Sunday, Peskov said Putin appreciates that the two leaders can “openly discuss the most urgent and sensitive issues.” He added: “Putin, like President Trump, remains interested and open to bringing the entire Ukrainian crisis into the path of a peaceful settlement,” noting that Moscow will “keep working to feel out an opportunity” for continued diplomacy. “We count on the US and President Trump personally to make efforts to help in this matter. We’ll see what comes of it,” Peskov said.

The spokesman also weighed in on Trump’s recent visit to the UK, which has been one of Ukraine’s most stalwart supporters. “The United Kingdom is one of the leaders of this pro-war camp,” he said, adding that Trump “was probably told a lot about their plans to keep putting pressure on Russia,” including by using sanctions. Since taking office, Trump has made repeated attempts to mediate the Ukraine conflict, initiating numerous rounds of talks with Russian officials, which culminated in a summit with Putin in Alaska in mid-August. While no breakthrough was achieved, both sides described the talks as productive.

Since then, Trump has signaled a shift from pressing for an immediate ceasefire to seeking a permanent settlement. He said Ukraine cannot hope to join NATO or reclaim Crimea, which voted to join Russia in 2014 after a Western-backed coup in Kiev. On Friday, Trump suggested that Putin had “let me down” over the lack of progress in settling the conflict. Responding to those remarks, Peskov said Moscow assumes that the US leader maintains the “political will and intention” to pursue a settlement, adding that Trump’s “emotional” attitude toward the peace process is “completely understandable.”

Read more …

“Europe, as we knew and loved it, is over,” Orban warned. “If we deny this, we lose time. If we say it out loud, we gain time.”

Brussels Bureaucrats Are Running Around Like Panicked Chickens – Orban (RT)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has slammed Brussels, accusing the EU leadership of mismanaging key areas such as the economy, immigration, and security.In a critical speech at Digital Civic Circles, a network of digital groups promoting conservative values in Hungary, he claimed the bloc was on the brink of collapse due to the failures of its current leaders. The prime minister painted a stark picture of “mountains of debt, crowds of migrants, street violence, the increasingly dark shadow of war, mass layoffs, skyrocketing utility costs, impoverished households, and Brussels bureaucrats running around like panicked chickens,” on Saturday while describing the EU’s troubles.

According to Orban, the EU has fallen short of establishing itself as a credible global power. Instead of rising to meet these challenges, the bloc has become a symbol of weakness, indecision, and internal chaos, he said. He criticized what he called the “tragic” trade deal with the US signed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, adding that the EU’s green policies are “killing European industry.” Energy prices, Orban noted, are “three to four times higher” than in the US, while countries like France are edging toward unsustainable debt levels. “Europe, as we knew and loved it, is over,” Orban warned. “If we deny this, we lose time. If we say it out loud, we gain time.”

The politician contrasted Budapest’s own approach with that of Brussels, pointing to stricter migration controls, a family policy tied to employment, and a tax system that, he said, supports jobseekers. Orban’s criticism, while sharply worded, taps into broader concerns which have been echoed by economists and analysts. Experts from the International Monetary Fund and other institutions have warned that the EU risks long-term stagnation. The IMF projects euro-area growth at just 0.8% in 2025 and 1.2% in 2026, while public debt remains near 90% of GDP and deficits continue to exceed 3%, well above pre-pandemic levels.

Read more …

UK, Australia, Canada, and now Portugal.

Great Britain Recognizes Palestinian Statehood (TASS)

London has recognized the state of Palestine, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced. “Today, to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis, and a two state solution, the United Kingdom formally recognizes the State of Palestine,” he said in a video address broadcast on the X social network. The British premier announced the decision in a video message on Sunday afternoon at the same time that Canada and Australia also recognized Palestinian statehood. He said: “Let’s be frank. Hamas is a brutal terror organization. Our call for a genuine two-state solution is the exact opposite of their hateful vision. We are clear this solution is not a reward for Hamas, because it means Hamas can have no future, no role in government, no role in security.”

On September 19, in an open letter, the US Republican Party threatened allied countries with response measures should they recognize Palestine as an independent state. The letter was addressed to Australia, the UK, Canada and France, among others. Tensions erupted again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza-based Palestinian movement Hamas launched a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, killing residents of border settlements and seizing hostages. In response, Israel initiated a military operation in the enclave to dismantle Hamas’ military and political structure and rescue all those kidnapped.

Read more …

“The end game, though, is always the same. Burn the west to the ground. Burn free markets to the ground.”

Antifa Is A Very Real And Organized Terror Threat (ZH)

In the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk assassination as well as the confirmation that alleged killer Tyler Robinson is a far-left ideologue and gay man living with a transgender partner, the public’s attention has once again turned to the issue of Antifa, an activist network that shares many similar political beliefs with the shooter. Federal authorities are currently investigating the Discord sever groups used by Robinson in the lead up to the attack to find any potential co-conspirators. Discord has been identified as a common forum used by Antifa for organizing members for specific events while pretending as if their protests are random and “grassroots”. In the meantime, the corporate media is once again running interference for Antifa, claiming that the group is nothing more than a gaggle of disconnected people without no affiliation other than they “agree to oppose fascists”.

Of course, simply declaring yourself the “good guys” does not necessarily make it so. The Antifa of pre-war and post-war Europe used a similar tactic, claiming that they were a loose collection of concerned citizens seeking to fight fascism and participate in civil discourse. In reality, they were being directly funded by the Soviet Union and their ultimate goal was the downfall of the western world to make way for a communist “Utopia”. One expert on Antifa, Andy Ngo, says that the claim that Antifa is nothing more than a disorganized protest ideal is a lie. He notes that the decentralized cell structure of Antifa is similar to structures used by Islamic terror groups. Ngo is deeply acquainted with the operations of Antifa; he has tracked hundreds of violent incidents involving member of the group over the years. He was also attacked and nearly killed by a mob of Antifa activists in Portland, Oregon after they recognized him in the street.

Portland authorities failed to arrest and prosecute the attackers despite some of them being identified on video footage. In a subsequent civil trial, Antifa intimidated the jury into returning a verdict which favored the assailants. Andy Ngo and many other investigators into Antifa activities note that the group enjoys a number of protections, including legal protections and funding for operations. Financial aid comes from crowdfunding pages, but also from NGOs and even government agencies feeding cash into adjacent activism groups. This helps to explain why Antifa protesters often have the same signs, the same tents, the same riot shields, access to safe houses, etc. Many activists travel from outside of the locations that they protest in, which means funding for gas, food, lodging, etc.

Considering the average full-time protester isn’t able to maintain a job to pay for these excursions, the money has to come from somewhere. NGOs and state government funds are the primary sources. Antifa and related leftist groups exploit various civil and political conflicts, hijack these causes and then use them as a means to further their own goals. Recent examples include the mass deportation debate and the protests over Gaza. It’s important to understand that leftist militants do not necessarily care about immigrants or Palestinians, they only see their “plight” as a useful tool for radicalizing activists into using violent tactics.

The problems of the world become the justifications for Antifa terror, melding gay, trans, migrant and Islamic grievances under a single communist umbrella. The end game, though, is always the same. Burn the west to the ground. Burn free markets to the ground. Destroy as many conservatives and nationalists as possible in the process until there is no one left to oppose them.

Read more …

Antifa in Europe too.

Far-Left Protesters Will Not Be Satisfied Until France Collapses (ZH)

Paris is crippled this week by constant protests designed to throttle traffic and shit down basic services, and the majority of the mob is comprised of far left activists including Antifa. The Paris actions are coupled with nationwide demonstrations that saw sporadic clashes with police who fired volleys of tear gas. Activists argue that eight years of leadership by France’s “business-friendly president” Emmanuel Macron have benefited too few people and hurt too many. The protests ignited in response to austerity measures issued by the struggling government, including cuts to socialist programs and an increase in the national retirement age.

Macron’s opponents complain that taxpayer-funded public services – free schools and public hospitals, subsidized health care, unemployment benefits and other safety nets that are cherished in France – are being eroded. France has crawled from one crisis to another since he dissolved parliament in 2024, triggering a legislative election that stacked Parliament’s lower house with critics of the president. Left-wing parties and their supporters want higher taxes for the wealthy and businesses to pay more to help rein in France’s debts, rather than see public spending cuts that they contend will hit low-paid and middle-class workers. France’s national debt was reported at $3.6 trillion US by the end of 2024, growing by nearly $1 trillion since 2023. This is over 100% of the country’s annual GDP.

Placards at the Paris demonstration read: “Tax the rich.” However, similar taxation efforts have been tried across the EU and in the UK, causing companies and business owners to simply close up shop and leave. In 2024, the UK lost 25% of its billionaires and 16,500 millionaires due to increasing taxation. This has led to a black hole effect in the economy, with an acceleration in job losses and slowing investment. The current tax rate for top earners in France is 45% of income over €180,471 ($211,000). High-income earners also face additional surtaxes and social charges that significantly increase the total tax rate. As is common in any country or US state that targets high earners with socialist tax measures, the people with the money walk away and go where they are better appreciated.

Leftists protesters indicate that they are not interested in fair taxation, but rather, wealth redistribution. Activists argue that French President Emmanuel Macron is “far right wing” and compared him to Donald Trump while espousing a laundry list of communist demands. Macron is a previous member of the socialist party now described as a “centrist liberal”. He has angered leftists with his shift to center and his increasing support for border controls. In other words, being “centrist” is “far right wing” in the minds of Antifa activists. The riots seem to be motivated more by typical Antifa goals, including the “Free Palestine” movement and the destruction of “nationalism”.

France’s conservative and anti-mass immigration movements have been growing exponentially along with similar movements across Europe. Leftists may be trying to flex their numbers as a way to frighten political leaders from seeking to appease these movements with tighter borders and fiscal responsibility. Ultimately, Antifa activists want a the collapse of the current government and a reformation. What the reformation would look like is hard to say, given that many of the protesters don’t seem to know. Of course, if the Bolshevik campaigns of the early 20th Century are any indication, then the end game will not be pleasant for the vast majority of people.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Nobivac
https://twitter.com/NicHulscher/status/1969794022572208586

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

 

 

Sep 212025
 


Dora Maar Model in swimsuit 1936

 

President Trump Will Declare Martial Law – Larry Klayman (USAW)
Charlie Kirk’s Fight vs University Indoctrination (Victor Davis Hanson)
Kirk’s Funeral Tests Secret Service Yet Again (RCW)
Fear, Dread and How America Got to This Point (J. Peder Zane)
Notes of Caution – The Story of Telemachus (CTH)
Top Biden Aide Releases Kraken On Autopen, Hunter’s Role In Pardongate (ZH)
Does This Prove Hunter Biden Orchestrated His Own Pardon? (Margolis)
Media Disguise Airspace Violation Claims (MoA)
Lithuanian Defense Chief Urges Shooting Down Russian Warplanes (ZH)
US ‘Quietly’ Curtailing Arms Sales To Western Europe – The Atlantic (RT)
EU To Unlock €500mn In Bid For Orban’s Russia Sanctions Backing – FT (RT)

 

 

Today’s a day of reflection.

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1969388030734586253
https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/1969272802134954306
https://twitter.com/Chicago1Ray/status/1969219687922745811


https://twitter.com/its_The_Dr/status/1969273095325114638

 

 

 

 

“..the rats are out of the woodwork, and they want to kill us. They want to kill everyone of us. If you are out there talking and you are a conservative, Republican, Libertarian or a religious activist, you are in their line of fire.”

President Trump Will Declare Martial Law – Larry Klayman (USAW)

Renowned attorney Larry Klayman predicted early on that the Left would resort to violence when they lose in court to try to stop the Trump Administration agenda. Back in July, Klayman said, “Violence is what they are left with, and we see it happening. We are now seeing calls to violence repeatedly.”

Calls for violence have turned into actual deadly violence with the murder of Charlie Kirk and other shootings by violent transexuals and the far liberal Left. It looks like we are not going to hug it out. In April, Klayman predicted, “If violence breaks out in a bigger way, Trump can declare martial law.” We have already seen this with mass violence against ICE in LA and President Trump cracking down on crime in Washington D.C. Now, Trump is heading to Memphis, and then on Chicago where dozens are shot every weekend. Klayman says don’t kid yourself, martial law is coming to a city near you–and coming soon. Klayman explains, “You cut off their funding, you cut off their food and they become wounded beasts or wounded animals. That’s what I said earlier. . .. Trump knows that right now, with the death of Charlie Kirk, he can basically run the table.

We need to support him. I believe the flood gates are going to open. He now has a valid reason to take control on a temporary basis until you clear the rats out of these cities. This includes the rats like (Illinois Governor) Pritzker. He needs to be legally eliminated. Pritzker can do nothing about it if Trump declares martial law. . .. Whether Trump declares martial law immediately or not, I think it is still going to be soon. Trump said he is going into Chicago in a matter of days. You have tens of people killed every weekend and many wounded all the time. If that is not a situation where you need to declare martial law to restore order, I don’t know what is.”

Klayman says the Left is well organized and backed by billionaires funding them. That funding is beginning to be cut off. Trump has vowed to go after them with RICO cases. Trump has just declared groups such as Antifa domestic terrorists. Klayman says, “It is a war between the Right and the Left. The Right must win. We are right, and we must do it peacefully and legally. We must relegate these people to the ash heap of history. We can’t be sitting and listening to chamber music on the Titanic as the ship of state sinks. We can’t allow that to happen.

They did not succeed the way they wanted to succeed with their court cases. They won some . . . but they saw they could not use lawfare anymore to take control of this country and to take it down to ground zero so they could enslave all of us. Now, they have gone to violence. Now, it’s clear the rats are out of the woodwork, and they want to kill us. They want to kill everyone of us. If you are out there talking and you are a conservative, Republican, Libertarian or a religious activist, you are in their line of fire.”

Read more …

“..where did these things come from? And he said they came from the campus. “And therefore, I’m going to the campus and trying to stop this indoctrination by offering a different pathway.”

Charlie Kirk’s Fight vs University Indoctrination (Victor Davis Hanson)

I think we all want to put the passing of Charlie Kirk in perspective. And it’s been a terrible week. And what are we to make sense of this terrible incident? One thing is to remember what Charlie Kirk did. He was a political organizer. He was a media figure. But he was not trying to persuade people on the basis solely of politics. He didn’t go to the campuses and say, “This is the conservative agenda. This is the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill.’ This is the immigration. And I want you to vote along this ticket.” That’s what a traditional politician does. He wasn’t. What he was trying to do was address root causes that make people vote in a particular way. So, he was saying to the Republican Party: We’ve got to address this existential crisis of young people—that was his forte—on campuses and off campuses that can’t afford to buy a car, that can’t afford to buy a home, that can’t afford, right away, to have children.

And that has enormous consequences, not just for the Republican Party—this alienation of the youth and its flirtation with socialisms and its false answers to these real problems. But more importantly, it’s creating a social, cultural problem called ”prolonged adolescence.”People are not getting married at the age they used to. They’re not having as many children or as early in their lives as they used to. They’re not buying homes in their late 20s or early 30s. They’re going to school, not for four years, but for six or eight years. They’re not going and graduating after four years and getting a good job. They’re graduating at six, eight years with a quarter million dollars—in some cases—in student loans. So, he was trying to address the cultural, the economic, the social maladies of this country that expressed themselves in politics.

And he thought if he took care of that, then he would be successful elsewhere. And so, he was. So, if you look at 2020, why Donald Trump lost, one of the reasons was that the youth vote that traditionally goes to Democrats really went to Democrats, Joe Biden in 2020. That key demographic of 19- to 40-year-olds. However, in 2024, Donald Trump made amazing rebounds. He got, nationwide, 6% to 8%, about 8% higher of that youth vote than he did in 2020. But more importantly, in the key swing states—that would be places like Michigan, like Wisconsin, like North Carolina, like Arizona and Georgia—in some cases, he got up to 18% to 19%, flipping a greater margin in 2024 than he did 2020. And that ensured him an Electoral College. And that was largely, not exclusively, due to Charlie Kirk’s efforts at addressing the real issues that young people were worried about.

There’s a couple of other things about him that were unusual. He was the most successful political activist under 40 of either party, Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative. And one of the reasons is it’s very hard for someone coming out of college to be a political organizer, a political activist, to create a business-like organization, although it was a 501(c)(3), it was nonprofit. But it was huge, with $100 million budget. He was a writer. He was a podcaster. Part of that was because he did not go in the traditional academic pathway. He dropped out of college at 18. And he had to live by his wits, not in the artificial bubble of academia or the la-la land of the campus, where there are no consequences to behavior. But he had to earn a living. And he had to form an organization. And he had to appeal to people.

So, pragmatism was his benchmark. And so, he learned to speak to people in a practical way. He learned to write with people in a pragmatic way. He learned to organize and galvanize people in a practical way. And he said, “The universities are training generation after generation after generation in this seriously dangerous leftist dogma.” In other words, if you’re worried about this bizarre transgender movement, this cult-like effort to have biological men compete in women’s sports, to take one example; or you’re worried about the idea that you can steal $950 and not be prosecuted; or if you think that race is essential and not incidental to who you are—where did these things come from? And he said they came from the campus. “And therefore, I’m going to the campus and trying to stop this indoctrination by offering a different pathway.”

You put it all together and if people want to remember Charles Kirk’s legacy, I think the best thing they could do is register, according to your station. Get as many people as you can to register to vote. And try to upset the historical law that says a president will lose and lose badly in his first midterm. If that should happen, President Donald Trump will have an agenda that will be derailed, and he will not be able to fulfill the promises that he made. And the Democratic House, in its lunatic fashion, will try to impeach him. But if you do go out and register and you show the same energy and creativity that Charlie Kirk did, then you can pull off a historical upset and defeat the out party and ensure a large Republican majority in both the House and the Senate. And that will force multiply the Trump agenda.

Read more …

You’re in charge of the secuity of 100,000 people, including an absolute who’s who.

Kirk’s Funeral Tests Secret Service Yet Again (RCW)

Amid a fiery national debate over political violence and free speech, the Secret Service faces one of its biggest tests yet in securing Charlie Kirk’s massive funeral in Arizona this weekend. President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and numerous dignitaries, conservative figures, prominent reporters, television anchors, and up to 100,000 members of the public are expected to attend the tribute to Kirk’s life this Sunday at State Farm Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals, in Glendale. The Secret Service has been under serious scrutiny since multiple failures provided an opening for two near-miss assassination attempts against Trump last year, the first of which resulted in the death of rallygoer Corey Comperatore and the serious injury of two other attendees.

The Secret Service successfully protected the inauguration of President Trump in January without a hitch, even though the agency moved the swearing-in ceremony indoors and canceled the traditional outdoor parade, purportedly because of low temperatures in D.C. But the massive Arizona memorial service honoring Kirk, the assassinated conservative activist and organizer known for his influence with young people across the country and the world, poses a serious challenge for law enforcement and the Secret Service, an agency already facing manpower strains and pressure as it strives to repair its reputation to execute a zero-fail mission. The stadium in Glendale can seat 63,400, and the local police department is planning for a crowd of up to 100,000 people to descend on the area, with at least one overflow location designated at the Desert Diamond Arena where the event will livestream on jumbotrons.

Kirk’s memorial comes during tumultuous times for the nation. His supporters mourn his brutal killing amid a national debate over gun violence and what types of limits, if any, private and government entities can place on free speech. Conservative and liberal politicians and political commentators are facing off over ABC’s Wednesday decision to abruptly fire late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel after he misrepresented the assassin’s likely motives for murdering Kirk. And Trump on Wednesday designated the far-left Antifa group a “terrorist organization” and said he was strongly recommending that those funding the movement be thoroughly investigated “in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices.”

It’s also a difficult moment for the Secret Service, which has faced serious retention issues since the assassination attempts, with a recent Department of Homeland Security Department Office of the Inspector General’s report exposing the agency as seriously understaffed when it comes to counter snipers – 73% below mission requirements. A large contingent of top-flight Secret Service agents traveled to the United Kingdom with Trump and first lady Melania this week for an official state visit. And the United Nations General Assembly will be in full swing next week in New York City, where the Secret Service is charged with securing more than 100 visiting foreign dignitaries at hotels and events around Manhattan. Meanwhile, the agency must also maintain security teams around all Cabinet secretaries and former presidents.

“Where are they getting all these assets?” Rich Staropoli, former Secret Service agent and former Department of Homeland Security undersecretary, asked in an interview with RealClearPolitics. “It’s going to be very difficult to find the manpower, given the UN is in session and then you probably have a couple of hundred guys on their way back from London right now that won’t get back until the day after the president,” he added. “And then you’ve got this event, this huge event out in Arizona. It’s not like we got a couple of hundred agents out there on a normal basis.” Other sources in the Secret Service community argue that the agency is well prepared to handle both UNGA and the Kirk memorial service, especially since Trump and Vance will be there with their USSS details, some of the most highly trained agents, and elite units designed for high-risk scenarios.

Back in New York City, the Secret Service has a high trust in the New York Police Department’s robust team of counter snipers in their Emergency Services Unit, with which the agency partners for protection. Not all foreign dignitaries show up at once; they arrive and participate in the summit on a rolling basis, former Secret Service agent Charles Marino explains. “The fact that we’ve got a great deal of confidence in the NYPD, that does free up some resources for the USSS to use for this memorial,” Marino tells RCP. The Department of Homeland Security has designated the Kirk funeral as a Special Event Assessment Rating (SEAR) 1 event with the same level of security as the Super Bowl or the Boston Marathon. The designation is different than a National Special Security Event, a category for events that could affect the nation and the world.

In SEAR events, state and local authorities make the assessments and DHS provides the assets. The Secret Service agent in charge of the Phoenix Field Office will serve as the federal coordinator for the service, working side by side with local partners. Those Secret Service and local law enforcement partnerships broke down during the assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, when the agency and local police maintained siloed communications and even two separate command posts. On the one-year anniversary of the Butler event, Secret Service Director Sean Curran issued a statement declaring that the agency is “laser-focused on ensuring that those we are sworn to protect, the public, and the dedicated men and women of the Secret Service are never let down again.”

Curran said the agency has implemented changes to the Secret Service’s protective operations policies “to ensure clear lines of accountability and improved information sharing with local law enforcement partners.” In the wake of Kirk’s assassination, House Republicans this week also included $88 million in a stop-gap funding bill to bolster security for federal officials. The funds would include $30 million for congressional security, $30 million for the executive branch, and $28 million for the judiciary. “[Kirk’s killing] initiated a number of uncomfortable but necessary conversations about important issues like the safety and security of our members and the responsibility of public service, and the need for political leaders to turn down the temperature and the violent rhetoric in America,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said.

Despite these efforts, the Secret Service was fumbling again just days before Kirk’s killing in ways that funding boosts may not fix. RCP reported last week that Secret Service screeners missed a Glock in the bag of someone who had entered Trump National Golf Course in Sterling, Virginia, while Trump was golfing over Labor Day weekend. Thankfully, the individual posed no harm to the president and self-reported the security breach. Last Thursday, the night before Kirk’s assassination, anti-Israel Code Pink protesters ambushed Trump, Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as they were dining out in D.C. just a short walk from the White House. The protesters unfurled pro-Palestinian flags and banners and yelled epithets at Trump from just a few feet away.

After Kirk’s murder, RCP reported that a Secret Service agent named Anthony Pough posted on Facebook that the conservative activist was a “racist” and essentially deserved to be killed because of “karma.” The Secret Service placed the agent on administrative leave late last week. The Secret Service defended its response to the protesters who verbally accosted Trump at the restaurant last week, arguing that agents escorted them out quickly. An agency spokesperson also said that the Secret Service had screened everyone in the establishment for weapons and explained that the protesters had made reservations to dine at the restaurant along with all the other patrons.

But Staropoli and other former agents argued that the Code Pink incident was another embarrassing breach – that the Secret Service should have acted more quickly to remove the protesters or should have screened restaurant patrons more thoroughly to prevent such a menacing display. With the Kirk assassination consuming the following day’s news cycle, the press never asked the White House whether the Secret Service should have prevented the Code Pink confrontation from occurring. Just hours before that incident, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday evening told RCP that the Secret Service has opened an investigation into the missed Glock incident “to figure out exactly how the gun made it onto the property.” “As for the president, in the past he has said he trusts USSS and the job they do to protect him,” Leavitt added.

Leavitt did not say whether Trump’s trust in the Secret Service remains – or whether magnetometers would be required at his golf clubs in the future, a question RCP posed to her. Some Secret Service agents chock up the recent breaches to either a lowering of standards as the agency tries to beef up its numbers during a severe manpower shortage or fatigue because existing agents and Uniformed Division officers used for screening are continuing to be stretched too thin. “The backdrop here is the Service has got to move quickly in building up these numbers as quickly as possible because these types of big competing security events are not going away – they’re just not,” Marino remarked.

Read more …

“..we must acknowledge our many blessings that were bequeathed to us by our ancestors. Reflecting on these gifts might inspire the gratitude that can once again give flight to the better angles of our nature. If we don’t, lord help us.”

Fear, Dread and How America Got to This Point (J. Peder Zane)

A week before Charlie Kirk’s murder, some friends and I were trying to identify the seminal events that have shaped this American century. We all lead happy lives, but the incidents we listed told a story of fear and dread. We immediately mentioned 9/11 and the economic collapse of 2008, both of which galvanized an aching sense of vulnerability. If JFK’s assassination marked the loss of American innocence, those events symbolized the withering sense of safety and security. We agreed that the Iraq War and COVID-19 intensified the growing belief that our government was not only incompetent but dishonest. The BLM riots of 2020 and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol suggested that the center was no longer holding, that passionate intensity was overwhelming reason.

“Don’t forget Trump,” I said. Although most of my friends support the president, they believe that our politics would not have taken such an ugly turn if he had never stepped onto that escalator. The hatred Trump inspires in his opponents, and his relish at fighting fire with fire, have amped up the discord. Acknowledging that he has helped bring out the worst in his adversaries – and, too often, in his supporters – is not to blame him for our circumstances but to recognize that he is a singularly polarizing figure. A friend said the rise of social media may be an even more important factor, noting how it has helped create political echo chambers in a strange space of connected loneliness that makes it harder for us to relate to others. It may still be true that “no man is an island,” but we seem to be trying. Our growing mental health crisis, especially among younger Americans, is hard to explain without reference to this phenomenon.

The fear, mistrust, anger, division, and violence – it was all there. Still, it struck us that these events were more flashpoints than triggering events, which did not adequately capture how and why our nation appears to have gone off the rails. Individuals and countries can respond to what life throws at them in any number of ways – with courage or cowardice, love or hate. The question became: Why have these and many other events unleashed darkness instead of light? We would have needed a lot more time, and wine, to begin to answer that one. But it struck me, later, that important roots of our current crisis can be found in the unsettling ideas that have taken hold in our culture for the past few decades. Although much of this thinking has come from the progressive left – developed in academia and advanced by elite media – it has been absorbed by people of all political stripes as well as those alienated from politics.

As Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay detailed in their indispensable book, “Cynical Theories,” the fall of communism in the early 1990s created a crisis for the innumerable scholars influenced by Marxism. In response to the discrediting of their worldview, they set out to “problematize” – i.e., find the fault – in other ideologies. This is not hard, because every system of human thought and action is deeply flawed, filled with tensions and inconsistencies. We don’t live in a perfect world. The observation made famous by Churchill, that “democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried,” can be applied to most of the assumptions and structures we rely on.

Emboldened by the postmodern idea that there is no truth, just versions of reality, these scholars set out to undermine every pillar of society. Pluckrose and Lindsay observed: “They are obsessed with power, language, knowledge, and the relationships between them. They interpret the world through a lens that detects power dynamics in every interaction, utterance, and cultural artifact – even when they aren’t obvious or real. This is a worldview that centers social and cultural grievances and aims to make everything into a zero-sum political struggle revolving around identity markers like race, sex, gender, sexuality; and many others.”

In fairness, there is much to say and debate about their targets, which included religion, capitalism, American history, the nuclear family, gender roles, race, and our legal system. But the thrust of their critiques was not aimed at building a better nation but razing the one we have – of sowing doubt without offering an alternative beyond empty slogans. We live in a world of fear in large part because they have worked to strip us of certainty about everything. It is hard to calculate, for example, the irreparable harm they have done to children through the confusion they unleashed by telling them that gender is assigned at birth. Similarly, their efforts to cast America as a despicable nation with a shameful history have made it increasingly hard for many people to harbor the love of country that is essential to building a national community.

No matter how much disruption, human beings inherently crave certainty and stability; these are the bedrocks that justify our actions. This is why the left, incoherently but necessarily, still claims it is the guardian of its chief target: truth. But if there is no truth, then there is only power. If reality is just a social construct, facts and language are merely tools that can be twisted in any way to prevail. The further down this path we have traveled, the harder it has become to sustain a functioning democracy, which hinges on the ability of disparate people to come to common understandings to forge compromises. As we have retreated into our own versions of reality, misinformation and disinformation have run rampant in part because people (and major media outlets) feel freer to assert their own results-oriented versions of truth, and in part because each side’s truth strikes the other as deceit.

The inability of half the people to talk to, much less convince, the other half foments frustration, anger, and resentment. Lacking the tools of dialogue and persuasion, ramping up rhetoric seems the only recourse. Hence, Democrats label their opponents as Nazis and fascists as they cast every issue as an existential threat. President Trump calls his adversaries scum and insists we are ever on the verge of losing our country. Principle bows to opportunity as each side becomes enraged when the other mimics its own egregious conduct – as we are seeing right now as conservatives embrace the cancel culture they once abhorred. If war is the failure of diplomacy – of the ability to solve problems civilly – the political violence that is engulfing our culture is no surprise. Recent polls show that young, often university-educated students in particular, accept violence as a proper response to unwelcome speech, which reflects the spread of poisonous ideas.

If Charlie Kirk’s assassination is to be a wake-up call rather than a harbinger, we must reject the nihilistic thinking advanced by reckless elites. This is a monumental task. No single atrocity is going to flip a switch. The evidence following Kirk’s murder suggests we are more likely to embrace conflict. That said, we have one towering strength that can help us keep our Republic: the truth about our country. We are lucky beyond measure to be spending our one chance at life in the freest and most prosperous land in human history. Even as we confront our problems, we must acknowledge our many blessings that were bequeathed to us by our ancestors. Reflecting on these gifts might inspire the gratitude that can once again give flight to the better angles of our nature. If we don’t, lord help us.

Read more …

‘In the Name of Christ, stop!’

Notes of Caution – The Story of Telemachus (CTH)

The Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement has gained in ranks mostly due to the pragmatic messenger who cuts through party lines, Donald Trump; but also, because the political left went too far into the world of social crazy. For several years, traditional moderates and Democrats have been turning away from the messaging of the leftist party now controlled by radical Marxists and publicly declared socialists. Almost everything they created as a point of advocacy made their following spiral into an ever-diminishing circle. Democrats are the party of censorship, gleefully cheering as conservative voices were deplatformed, demonetized, targeted by the social media system operators who controlled the public square, targeted by an aligned government and mainstream media, and evidenced in their full-throated demands around the COVID-19 madness and vaccine protocols.

Democrats cheered as government collaborated with tech donors to diminish their opposition, while simultaneously they affirmed some of the evilest enterprises around DEI, toxic advocacy for transgender and LGBTQ+ ideology, the mutilation of children and far worse. Socially their policies became increasingly toxic and ridiculous. As they descended this spiral, Democrats became increasingly dangerous – visibly so – and the outcome of their advocacy was not in alignment with anything resembling ‘domestic tranquility’. None of this is questioned by serious people who have watched the last 18 years unfold. The leftist ideology is abusive in the extreme. As the left pushed further and further into their created system of social madness, violence and evil enterprise, they lost support and MAGA Republicans were beneficiaries.

Despite our lack of control over the power centers, the MAGA tent expanded as the party of the individual not the collective; the party of freedom, free speech and, well, functionally common sense. The toxic abusers held power, but culturally they were losing control. MAGA represented the rebellion, and the rebel ranks gained even while, and perhaps because, we were being abused. Then a 22-year-old radical leftist, fully indoctrinated within the 18-years of social Marxist advancement, shot the Christian representation of the MAGA rebellion, Charlie Kirk, in the neck – killing him in front of millions.

Telemachus was a Christian monk from Asia who went to Rome and saw the gladiatorial games at the Colosseum. Telemachus watched the brutality of men slaughtering men, animals ripping the flesh and limbs from humans, while eighty thousand in the audience cheered. As a Christian, Telemachus was horrified. Telemachus cried out, ‘In the Name of Christ, stop!’ Yet, his voice was lost in the roar within the great Colosseum. He descended the stairs, made his way to the edge of the arena, jumped down and stood between two Gladiators. ‘In the Name of Christ, stop!’, he declared. The crowd jeered, whistled and shouted down the much smaller monk, but Telemachus would not relent,

‘In the Name of Christ, stop!,’ he desperately kept repeating. The angry jeers of the crowd turned violent, and they threw stones upon Telemachus; but the monk would only reply, ‘In the Name of Christ, stop!’. The stoning continued to rain down upon the small Asian monk, until Telemachus was dead. His only recorded words were, ‘In the Name of Christ, stop!’… until he was dead. Telemachus’ body was dragged away, the games continued, but the moment changed how many perceived the brutality that took place within the Colosseum. The horrific injustice of the events forever changed how the blood lust within the venue was evaluated. Thereafter, Emperor Honorius recognized Telemachus’ martyrdom, and the gladiator games ended.

Read more …

Hunter pardoned himself.

Top Biden Aide Releases Kraken On Autopen, Hunter’s Role In Pardongate (ZH)

One of former President Joe Biden’s top aides – Jeff Zients, told the House Oversight Committee on Thursday that an aide with his email credentials was green lighting some of the most controversial ‘autopen’ pardons, that Hunter Biden – who received an insane pardon himself – was involved in the pardon discussions, and that Joe Biden’s brain was pea soup. According to Axios, Zients – one of the highest ranking officials from the Biden White House – confirmed that Joe Biden had difficulty remembering dates and names, and often required extra briefings to make decisions during the final years of his presidency. Instead of having three meetings before making a decision, for example, Biden would want four. Zients said Biden had long had trouble with names and dates, but acknowledged to investigators that the president’s memory of such facts got worse in the final years of his term.

Jill Biden, meanwhile, spoke with Zients about ‘managing Joe’ as Zients was readying himself to take on the role of Chief of Staff in early 2023 – urging him to adjust Biden’s schedule so he could get more rest and return to the White House residence earlier in the evening. Longtime Biden aide and deputy CoS Annie Tomasini also spoke with Zients about limiting Biden’s schedule and shortening distances and stairs. According to Fox News, Zients “admitted that President Biden’s speech stumbles increased as he aged,” adding “He also noted that the president’s difficulty remembering dates and names worsened over time, including during the administration.”

Also interesting – Zients told investigators that Hunter Biden was involved in discussions about presidential pardons towards the end of Biden’s term, which included the blanket pardons of several members of the Biden family issued during Joe’s final 24 hours in office. It had been previously reported by NBC News that Hunter was sitting in on White House meetings following the former president’s horrible performance during a June 2024 debate against Donald Trump. Hunter received a “full and unconditional” pardon for his crimes in early December, just under two months before Joe left office.

Biden approved nearly 2,500 commutations on Jan. 17, days before leaving the White House, (and issued over 4,200 in total over his term) – the most of any US president, and the most ever in a single day. Zients also said that he did not personally send the email authorizing the use of the autopen, and that instead “he had an aide with access to his email account send the authorization on his behalf for some of the most controversial pardons in recent history.” The interview was part of an investigation by House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY) into Biden’s use of the autopen, and whether Biden’s top aides covered up his mental decline as part of their use of the autopen.

Read more …

Joe had said he would never pardon Hunter. And he didn’t.

Does This Prove Hunter Biden Orchestrated His Own Pardon? (Margolis)

The pieces of this puzzle are starting to come together, and what emerges is a picture that makes perfect sense when viewed through the lens of raw self-interest. Hunter Biden, a man who has spent decades leveraging his father’s position for personal gain, may have personally engineered his own presidential pardon. Why do I think this may have been the case? Well, Biden’s former chief of staff, Jeff Zients, revealed during his House Oversight Committee testimony this week that Hunter Biden wasn’t just sitting on the sidelines during those crucial final weeks of his father’s presidency—he was actively participating in pardon discussions, attending multiple meetings with White House aides. This is extraordinary, when considering that Hunter held no official position in the administration, and had no legitimate reason to be influencing such weighty executive decisions.

Yet there he was, the convicted felon son weighing in on clemency matters while his own legal troubles still hung over his head. The timing tells us everything we need to know. Joe Biden had repeatedly and categorically denied that he would pardon Hunter, making those assurances to the American people on multiple occasions throughout his presidency. Then, less than two months before leaving office, Biden suddenly executed a complete reversal, granting Hunter a “full and unconditional” pardon that covered nearly eleven years of potential criminal activity. This wasn’t just any pardon—it was uniquely comprehensive, stretching from Jan. 2014 through Dec. 2024, essentially providing blanket immunity for anything Hunter might have done during his most lucrative influence-peddling years.

Here’s where the story gets truly fascinating. While Joe Biden was using an autopen machine to sign nearly twenty-five hundred commutations and pardons for various family members and political allies in his final days, Hunter’s pardon received special treatment. It was the only pardon that Joe Biden himself hand-signed. This wasn’t an oversight or a sentimental gesture—it was calculated legal insurance. The investigation that James Comer has led has uncovered a troubling pattern of potential unauthorized decision-making during Biden’s mental decline, with questions swirling about whether the president was fully aware of all the executive actions taken in his name. Yet Hunter’s hand-signed pardon stands apart from this controversy. Why? Well, we know that the Biden White House knew that autopen pardons were treading in a legal gray zone.

Back in Feb. 2021, White House staff secretary Jess Hertz issued guidance making it clear that clemency actions needed Biden’s personal review and signature. But by Feb. 2024, things had clearly gone off the rails. A memo from Biden’s own White House Counsel’s office admitted that the process had eroded so much that Biden wasn’t even directly involved anymore—his approval was effectively reduced to whatever Kamala Harris signed off on. So not only did the White House know that Biden should have personally reviewed and signed clemency actions, but Biden had already largely checked himself out of the process during his final year in office. And yet Hunter was the only person who got a bona fide, hand-signed pardon. Are we supposed to believe that’s a coincidence?

Clearly, Hunter was aware that autopen-signed pardons were legally dubious, and wasn’t taking any chances. By attending those pardon meetings, he positioned himself to influence not just the scope of his clemency, but also its execution method. While his uncle James Biden, aunt Valerie Biden Owens, and other family members received autopen pardons, Hunter ensured his father personally signed his pardon—a pardon that Joe Biden said repeatedly he was not gonna grant. This action eliminated any potential legal challenge regarding the signature method, guaranteeing Hunter a legally ironclad pardon. Consider the broader context of Hunter’s legal jeopardy. He faced federal firearms charges and tax evasion charges that could have resulted in significant prison time.

More troubling for the Biden family, ongoing investigations into Hunter’s business dealings with foreign entities, particularly in Ukraine and China, threatened to expose the full extent of the family’s influence-peddling operation. Hunter’s pardon doesn’t just cover his known crimes—it preemptively shields him from prosecution for any federal offense he may have committed during those crucial eleven years. So was this really a father’s last-minute act of mercy, or a carefully orchestrated insurance policy that the beneficiary himself, Hunter Biden, negotiated? By inserting himself into pardon discussions and ensuring his clemency was hand-signed while others received potentially vulnerable autopen treatment, it sure looks as if Hunter essentially wrote himself the perfect get-out-of-jail-free card.

Read more …

“Lithuania has no fighters of its own. Not even one. So what she’s really demanding is that others light the match for World War Three. The small and often imaginary incidents, like this ‘incursion’, add up in the public mind with the effect of making it more anti-Russian.”

Media Disguise Airspace Violation Claims (MoA)

The warmongering stunts by the east European states and NATO are laughable.

“Russian Fighter Jets Enter Airspace of Estonia, a NATO Member (archived) – NY Times, Sep 19 2025. Estonia’s foreign minister described the flights, which lasted for an unusually long 12 minutes, as an “unprecedentedly brazen” intrusion. Three Russian fighter jets violated Estonia’s airspace on Friday for an unusually long period, some 12 minutes, in what Estonia’s foreign minister called an “unprecedentedly brazen” intrusion over the NATO country. NATO responded to intercept the Russian jets, Allison Hart, the military alliance’s spokeswoman, said in a statement on X. “This is yet another example of reckless Russian behavior and NATO’s ability to respond,” she said. [..]Tensions were already high after at least 21 Russian drones flew in Polish airspace 10 days ago, prompting NATO to scramble fighter jets to shoot down some of them. That incursion was regarded by Polish officials, who provided an updated count of the drones, as a deliberate effort to test the alliance’s readiness and a dangerous escalation of the war in Ukraine.“

The unarmed Russian Gebera decoy drones that flew over Poland do a have a range of some 600 kilometer (370 mi). If they had been launched from behind Russian lines they would not have reached Poland. The drones were most likely found in Ukraine, patched up and reprogrammed by Ukrainian services, and sent towards Poland. They were just on the ways Ukraine tries to drag NATO into its war. The ‘unprecedentedly brazen intrusion’ into the airspace of Estonia, if it has happened at all, did not take place over Estonia’s mainland but near Vaindloo, an uninhabited rock in the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea, some 26 kilometer (16 mi) north of the Estonian coast. The NY Times piece does, of course, NOT mention that. It is worded to make the reader believe that Estonia was somehow endangered.

The Russian military says that its jets did not violate Estonian airspace: “MOSCOW, September 20. /TASS/. Three Russian MiG-31 jets carried out a scheduled flight from Karelia to the Kaliningrad Region without violating Estonian airspace, the Russian Defense Ministry reported. “On September 19, three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets made a scheduled flight from Karelia to an airfield in the Kaliningrad Region. The flight was conducted in strict accordance with international airspace rules, without violating the borders of other states, which is confirmed by objective monitoring. During the flight, the Russian aircraft did not deviate from the agreed flight path and did not violate Estonian airspace. The aircraft’s flight path lay over the neutral waters of the Baltic Sea, more than three kilometers from the island of Vaindloo,” the statement said.

The statements by Estonia’s foreign minister Margus Tsahkna amount, in sight of the facts, to hysterical nonsense: “Russia has violated Estonian airspace four times already this year, which is unacceptable in itself, but today’s violation, during which three fighter jets entered our airspace, is unprecedentedly brazen,” Mr. Tsahkna said in a statement, which he issued in slightly different form on X. He called it “clear proof of Russia’s growing aggression.” Members of NATO should respond with more pressure on Moscow, Mr. Tsahkna said. “Russia’s ever-increasing testing of borders and aggressiveness must be responded to by rapidly strengthening political and economic pressure,” he said. Estonia summoned the Russian chargé d’affaires to protest the flights, the ministry said.

Estonia’s prime minister, Kristen Michal, said he would seek urgent talks with his NATO allies. “The Government of Estonia has decided to request NATO Article 4 consultations,” Mr. Michal wrote, invoking the section of the alliance’s charter that allows a member state to begin formal discussions about threats to its security. The ‘western’ media do not reveal the details of the ‘intrusion’. They no longer report, but disguise the facts to create opinions. On top of that some dimwit officials chip in: “Brian McDonald @27khv – 10:04 utc · Sep 20, 2025. – Lithuania’s defence minister falsely claims Russian jets flew “over Tallinn.” It was allegedly over Vaindloo Island in the Gulf of Finland, 100km from the capital. She then urges a replay of Turkey’s 2015 shoot-down (an F-16 bringing down a Russian Su-24).

The trouble is, Lithuania has no fighters of its own. Not even one. So what she’s really demanding is that others light the match for World War Three. The small and often imaginary incidents, like this ‘incursion’, add up in the public mind with the effect of making it more anti-Russian. This is one of the reasons why the president of Russia is concerned that we are sliding toward World War III.

Read more …

If you’re too small to count, but you thiink you can still start WWIII.

Lithuanian Defense Chief Urges Shooting Down Russian Warplanes (ZH)

A top government official from a NATO country is calling for shooting down Russian aircraft the next time they breach an alliance member’s airspace, following several drone and border incidents this month. “NATO’s border in the North East is being tested for a reason. We need to mean business,” Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene wrote on X Friday, the same day that three Russian warplanes reportedly breached neighboring Estonia’s airspace over the Gulf of Finland. “Three Russian fighter jets over Tallinn is one more hard proof that Eastern Sentry is long due,” she stated. The Lithuanian defense chief concluded her message by invoking an incident which makes clear she’s in favor of shooting down Russian jets.

“Türkiye set an example 10 years ago. Some food for thought,” the minister wrote. This was in reference to the unprecedented incident in which Turkish Air Force F-16s downed a Russian Su-24 over the Turkey-Syria border area in November 2015. Lithuania has joined Poland’s call for urgent consultations with members of the NATO alliance under its Article 4. Article 4 consultations can lead to the alliance taking action if the consensus is reached. Regional observer Notes from Poland says “It has previously been invoked seven times, including by Poland and seven other countries when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.” Upon Friday’s incident the Estonian foreign ministry described that three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets “entered Estonian airspace without permission and remained there for a total of 12 minutes.”

Additionally, EU diplomat Kaja Kallas, who hails from the Baltic country and was the first female prime minister, blasted the incursion as “an extremely dangerous provocation”. European leaders are using these increasing instances to push for an ‘eastern flank’ aerial defense shield protecting NATO. Just last week the two largest eastern members of NATO said that Russian drones breached their airspace. The Polish instance was the most serious, given Warsaw accused Russia of intentionally sending a ‘wave’ of drones – up to 19 – which resulted in its military urgently scrambling jets to track them. Trump later seemed to downplay the incident.

Read more …

“..the constant hysteria about Russia allegedly planning to attack Europe… is either a provocation or sheer incompetence.”

US ‘Quietly’ Curtailing Arms Sales To Western Europe – The Atlantic (RT)

The US has ‘quietly’ paused sales of certain weapons to its European allies, The Atlantic has reported. The Trump administration is seeking to stockpile arms as part of its ‘America First’ agenda. Washington has provided Kiev with over $67 billion in arms and military assistance since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Most of the deliveries were made under the administration of former US President Joe Biden. The Pentagon has now identified some weapons as being in short supply and is moving to block new requests for those systems from NATO countries, the outlet said in an article on Friday. The unnamed current and former US administration officials who spoke to The Atlantic could not say how long the hold will last or name the exact hardware on the list.

According to the report, the first evidence of a shift in policy was the Pentagon’s recent decision not to go ahead with the sale of “a multibillion-dollar” Patriot air-defense system to Denmark, despite US and French negotiators previously pressuring Copenhagen to make the purchase. US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby said during a call earlier this month that “he did not believe in the value of certain foreign military sales,” two administration officials told the outlet. The sources claimed that Colby also “did not like” the idea of selling Patriots to Denmark because they are in short supply and should remain in the US.

The Atlantic warned that a prolonged pause in weapons sales to Western Europe “risks creating new rifts with allies, weakening their defenses at a time when Russia poses an imminent threat, and diminishing US military influence across the continent.” Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated in early September that “the constant hysteria about Russia allegedly planning to attack Europe… is either a provocation or sheer incompetence.” “Russia has never had, does not have, and never will have any desire to attack anyone,” Putin said. As for the Ukraine conflict, it was provoked by the West, and Moscow is only defending itself, he stressed.

Read more …

He doesn’t want sanctions.

EU To Unlock €500mn In Bid For Orban’s Russia Sanctions Backing – FT (RT)

The European Commission is preparing to release more than half a billion euros in frozen funds for Hungary, as it seeks to overcome Budapest’s veto on the bloc’s latest package of sanctions against Russia, Financial Times has reported. The 19th package, put forward by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday, targets Russia’s energy, trade, and financial sector, as well as third-country buyers of Russian oil. To take effect, it must win unanimous approval from all 27 EU members. Hungary and Slovakia, which rely on Russian crude, have previously delayed or threatened to block sanctions.

Sources told FT that Brussels may release part of the €22 billion ($26 billion) in EU funds frozen for Hungary in 2022 over alleged rule-of-law concerns. The money comes from the Cohesion Fund, designed to narrow economic gaps between member states and support infrastructure, education, and social projects. After months of talks, the Commission is expected to approve around €550 million of the €605 million requested by Budapest in May under a midterm budget review. Brussels has previously released funds to head off Budapest’s veto threats. Last year, over €10 billion was unfrozen after the Commission claimed progress on judicial independence – a decision that came just before a summit on a €50 billion aid package for Ukraine. Another tranche followed when the EU said the country had made progress on gender equality, days after Hungary ratified Sweden’s NATO bid.

Earlier this year, Hungary also accessed €157 million through an EU rule allowing frozen funds to be reassigned. The new sanctions include a full ban on Russian LNG imports by January 2027. Brussels had previously dropped the idea of an outright embargo after opposition from Hungary and Slovakia, but revived it in May as part of a wider plan to phase out Russian oil and gas. This week, both countries signaled they would resist pressure to cut Russian energy supplies until alternatives are secured. Budapest said it would veto sanctions that threaten its supplies, calling the measures ineffective. Russia has repeatedly denounced sanctions as illegal, saying they primarily harm the countries that impose them.

Read more …

 

 


https://twitter.com/WallStreetApes/status/1969106503216038394
https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1969254859456065920

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

 

 

Sep 202025
 


Paul Gauguin Blue Trees (Your Turn Will Come, My Beauty!) 1888

 

Charlie Kirk’s Tour To Continue, Including Stop At Utah State (CB)
The Power of God Compels You! (James Howard Kunstler)
Senate Passes ‘National Day of Remembrance for Charlie Kirk’ Resolution (ET)
The Real Story Behind Jimmy Kimmel’s Firing (ZH)
Trump Requests Supreme Court Intervention in Lisa Cook Removal from Fed (CTH)
Drone Attack Claims Meant To Derail Ukraine Peace Talks – Zakharova (RT)
Poland’s Attempt To Blackmail China Will Hurt Itself Most (MoA)
Trump Admits Possibility Of US Government Shutdown From October 1 (TASS)
US Senators Introduce Bill To Transfer Frozen Russian Assets To Kiev (TASS)
Medvedev Slams EU’s Ukraine ‘Compensation’ Plan, Vows Response (TASS)
Kremlin Replies After Trump Says ‘Putin Let Me Down’ (RT)
EU Names Member States Still Importing Russian Gas (RT)
EU Spent €8.7 Billion On Russian Imports In Three Months (RT)
India Ramping Up Russian Oil Imports Amid US Trade Talks (RT)
How The West Screwed Itself In Energy Geopolitics (Doshi)
Larry Ellison To Become Most Powerful US Media Mogul Ever – NYT (RT)

 

 

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1968878332008706498

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1969041696940859805

 

 

 

 

We’ve had 10 days for Charlie. That seems about right. Tomorrow’s funeral will be the spectacular culmination. In many religions, once the body is in the ground, it’s time to party, so the deceased arrives in a good mood.

Charlie Kirk’s Tour To Continue, Including Stop At Utah State (CB)

Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, announced that his “American Comeback Tour” would continue. “Our campus tour this fall will continue,” she said. “There will be even more tours in the years to come. AmericaFest here in Phoenix this December will go on. It will be greater than ever. The radio and podcast show that he was so proud of will go on. And in a world filled with chaos, doubt, and uncertainty, my husband’s voice will remain. And it will ring out louder and more clearly than ever. And his wisdom will endure.” Tyler Bowyer, chief operating officer of Turning Point Action, confirmed that the tour would continue this fall, including a stop at Utah State University on Sept. 30.

A new release from law enforcement suggests a political motive in the killing of Charlie Kirk. Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray said accused gunman Tyler Robinson, 22, texted his transgender roommate, urging him to “drop everything” and read a note he had left under his keyboard. “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it,” the note read, according to charging documents. “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out,” he added in his texts, referring to Kirk. Furious Republicans have pushed back on the left-wing narrative that Robinson was somehow tied to President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement. They have also called out Democrats for days after Kirk’s assassination over their years-long use of harsh rhetoric to describe Trump and his supporters, calling them “Nazis,” “fascists,” “homophobes,” and “threats to democracy,” among others.

In that vein, tensions flared on Fox News’ The Five on Monday after co-host Greg Gutfeld forcefully rejected fellow co-host and lefty Jessica Tarlov’s attempt to frame political violence as a “both sides” issue in the wake of the assassination. Gutfeld opened by noting a one-sided trend. “What is interesting here is, why is only this happening on the left and not the right? That’s all we need to know,” he said. Tarlov interjected, pointing to other recent incidents of political violence, including the killing of Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and other attacks that have targeted Democrats. Gutfeld immediately cut her off, raising his voice. “None of us were spending every single day talking about Mrs. Hortman. I never heard of her until after she died.

And the… Don’t play that bulls—t with me. There was no demonization, amplification about that woman before she died. It was a specific crime against her by somebody who knew her.” The back-and-forth escalated as Gutfeld rejected the premise of equivalence between Kirk’s assassination and other killings. “The both sides argument not only doesn’t fly, we don’t care. We don’t care about your both sides argument. That s—t is dead,” he said. He framed the dispute as one between reality and rationalization. “On your side, your beliefs do not match reality, so you’re coming up with these rationalizations, like, ‘What about this,’ or, ‘What about that?’ We’re not doing that, because we saw it happen. We saw a young, bright man assassinated and we know who did it. We are not coming up with rationalizations. We are calm, we are honest, and we are resolute. We’re not defensive.”

Gutfeld argued that left-wing rhetoric had created the conditions for violence. “If you sat around and you defended the mutilation of children, you’re not the good guys. If you sat 600, 700 cases of harassment against Republicans and you said, ‘But what about this? What about this?’ And then you see this murderer after calling somebody a fascist, you realize, ‘Maybe I’m not the good guy.’” He added that Kirk’s assassin, Robinson, had been influenced by what he called “direct-to-consumer nihilism” and radical ideologies. “He was a patsy. He was under the hypnotic spell of a direct-to-consumer nihilism, the trans cult,” Gutfeld said. “If you can decide that biology is false, you can agree that murder is okay and that humanity’s expendable.”

Read more …

“You have no idea the fire you have ignited.” – Erika Kirk.

The Power of God Compels You! (James Howard Kunstler)

He was about as fine a young man as you could have dreamed up in a country so busy disgracing itself, Jesus-like in quality, if not in exact manner. Jesus, after all, was not a family man. But then there was nothing supernatural about Charlie Kirk. He was vividly of this time and place on earth. Now, in death, you can imagine him up on a mural in the post office. They’ve gone and turned him into legend, like Davy Crockett, Joseph Smith, Abe Lincoln. Yeah, it goes that deep. The Woke-Jacobin Left broke into a happy-dance when they heard the news, and I bet 90-percent of them didn’t even know what Charlie was about, except that their minders had painted a bullseye on him and somebody hit it. They have forgotten what their country is about, too. They have unwittingly acted-out Biblical-grade wickedness.

Jimmy Kimmel didn’t just tell a bad joke about the president — “This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish” — he made a Judas of himself. He demonstrated exactly what it means to betray whatever remains of goodness in this land. You are at a loss to understand how bad it got, years of officially enforced insanity, absurdities jammed down your craw, treasonous mischief, vile abuses under color-of-law (Tina Peters still rots in jail in Colorado!), and, lately, gunning down whoever stands in their way. You look at an old, established political party and you begin to see actual demons. You understand that destroying the country might not be enough for them. At this point, nothing will save the Democratic Party from itself. It will not fade quietly into irrelevance like the Whigs did in the 1850s.

No, you are witnessing something more like spontaneous combustion, a conflagration of the vicious and unholy. If you happened to watch Kash Patel in the Senate Judiciary Committee the other day going at Adam Schiff, what you saw was an actual exorcism. Mr. Patel said, “You are the biggest fraud to ever sit in the United States Senate. You are a disgrace to this institution and an utter coward. You continue to lie from your perch and put on a show so you can go raise money for your charades. You are a political buffoon at best! I challenge you to say anything credible to the truth. Go ahead and run to the cameras where you wanna go now!”

He might as well have just said: “I cast you out, unclean spirit, along with every satanic power of the enemy, every specter from hell, and all your fell companions. . . .” In the process, Mr. Patel reminded Senator Schiff that he is Director of the FBI now and, well. . . things have changed. Perhaps other Senators who have trafficked in sedition and malicious perfidy — say, Mark Warner on the Intel Committee — viewed these goings-on with a twinge of dread for what is coming. Notice that no one on the Judiciary Committee dared move to hold Mr. Patel in contempt, because what he said is self-evidently true, and they all know it. Senator Schiff is, of course, already under investigation for mortgage fraud, which is inconvenient enough, but before long he will have to answer graver charges for offenses against the nation, along with many co-conspirators in and out of office.

His over-speaking the witness (Mr. Patel) in committee the other day was the sort of climactic mummery you see in movies when the iniquitous are brought low in an official proceeding — think the babbling Bryan character in Inherit the Wind or Captain Queeg in the Caine Mutiny Court-Martial. Schiff knows he is cooked and Mr. Patel just flambéed him. If Mr. Trump had any qualms about turning the full force of the law on this party and its demonic confederates in government and the old news media, then you can safely assume that after Charlie Kirk’s murder every lever of power will be used to get them all into courtrooms under fair and correct proceedings with the basic aim of laying out the truth of what has happened to our country, so that everyone can see what it was.

By the way, and in case you missed it, Associate Deputy Attorney General Ed Martin, on or about September 5, visited Tina Peters in her cell in the Colorado State Prison at Pueblo. Peters (who turns 70 today), the former Mesa County Clerk convicted in 2024 of nine felony counts related to a security breach of voting equipment (stemming from efforts to “prove” 2020 election fraud claims), was sentenced to nine years in prison. The DOJ has filed a “review” of her conviction in federal court. I wouldn’t want to be Jena Griswold, Colorado Secretary of State, who spearheaded Tina Peter’s prosecution for daring to voice concern over election fraud.

Then, just this week, the same Ed Martin paid a call to the Fulton County, GA, election headquarters to initiate federal grand jury proceedings to access 148,000 ballots held under seal and unexamined in a county warehouse since the 2020 election. The ballots have long been suspected of irregularities and possible fraud. “Joe Biden” won the state by 11,799 votes out of 5,017,000 cast (a 0.23% plurality), and thus the national election — as did both of Georgia’s Democratic senators, Jon Ossof and Raphael Warnock.

The post -Charlie Kirk America is a new reality. Prepare accordingly.

Read more …

They need a Charlie Kirk Day under the same conditions as Martin Luther King Day.

Senate Passes ‘National Day of Remembrance for Charlie Kirk’ Resolution (ET)

The U.S. Senate passed a resolution on Sept. 18 expressing support for Oct. 14, 2025, to be designated a “National Day of Remembrance for Charlie Kirk,” the conservative commentator who was assassinated during an event at a Utah university on Sept. 10. The resolution, introduced by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), recognizes Kirk’s contributions to civic education and public service. The date coincides with what would have been Kirk’s 32nd birthday. “Charlie was taken from us in a disgusting act of political violence on September 10, 2025, but his legacy lives on,” Scott told the Senate floor before the resolution’s passage. In his remarks, Scott described Kirk as a “good man” whose life was “shaped by his faith and the idea that in America, debate and discussion are crucial to the betterment of our country.”

“We have the opportunity to carry on his memory by believing in the power of our ideas, discussion, and the values of our nation,” he added. The simple resolution encourages educational institutions, civic organizations, and citizens to observe Oct. 14, 2025, “with appropriate programs, activities, prayers, and ceremonies” promoting civic engagement and the principles that Kirk championed. A simple resolution is used to express the sentiments of a single house and does not create a federally mandated holiday. Kirk’s death has been mourned at vigils and memorial services across the country, where students and community members have gathered to honor his life. This included vigils in Salt Lake City, Washington, Houston, Phoenix, Florida, and cities around the world.

A similar resolution was introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Jimmy Patronis (R-Fla.). House Speaker Mike Johnson said the House will pass the resolution to honor Kirk and to condemn the “political violence that led to his untimely passing.” “Charlie Kirk was more than a conservative thought leader. He was a fearless warrior of free speech, faith, and the principles that make America the greatest country in the world,” Patronis said on Sept. 16. Kirk, who co-founded nonprofit organization Turning Point USA, was shot and killed on Sept. 10 while speaking to a crowd of students at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. He is survived by his wife, Erika Kirk, and their two young children.

Erika was appointed CEO and board chair of Turning Point USA on Sept. 18. In a live-streamed message on Sept. 12, she emphasized that her late husband’s mission would continue. “I will never let your legacy die,” she said. “I’ll make Turning Point USA the biggest thing this nation has ever seen.” Authorities have arrested Tyler Robinson, 22, as the suspected gunman. He faces multiple charges, including aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, witness tampering, and committing a violent offense in the presence of a child.

Read more …

Dying on the hill of a show that nobody was watching … Seems quite desperate.

The Real Story Behind Jimmy Kimmel’s Firing (ZH)

After Wednesday’s decision by Disney / ABC to fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel for lying about the suspect in Charlie Kirk’s assassination, the left (the architects of cancel culture) exploded with rage – saying that Kimmel’s firing was because major affiliate Nexstar needs the FCC to sign off on its $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna. To recap, during Kimmel’s opening monologue on Monday, he suggested that Tyler Robinson – the 22-year-old charged in the fatal shooting at Utah University – was aligned with conservatives. “The MAGA gang [is] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them.” By Wednesday, he was fired – leading to cries of censorship and ‘free speech’ by the left, which is hilarious.

Yet, according to an insider report by the Wall Street Journal, Kimmel’s ouster was prompted by an immediate revolt by viewers and affiliate networks including Nexstar, and concerned advertisers. “Advertisers and affiliates soon called the network expressing concern about Kimmel’s show… -WSJ” “Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located,” said Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division. “Continuing to give Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show.”

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr blasted Kimmel on Wednesday, telling podcaster Benny Johnson that Kimmel’s comments were “truly sick,” and that there’s a “strong case” for legal action against both ABC and Disney (ABC is a Disney subsidiary). “This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney,” said Carr. “These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.” Yet according to Nexstar, Carr’s comments weren’t a factor. “The decision to preempt ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ was made unilaterally by the senior executive team at Nexstar, and they had no communication with the FCC or any government agency prior to making that decision,” a Nexstar spokesman said.

Disney executives weighed whether Kimmel should address the controversy directly on Wednesday night’s program. According to people familiar with the matter, Dana Walden, co-chairman of Disney Entertainment, and Chief Executive Robert Iger decided his planned remarks risked inflaming the situation further. After the conversation between Kimmel and Walden, she and other senior executives thought that the star’s approach could make the situation worse, people familiar with their conversations said. Executives also discussed staff safety, including threatening emails staff on Kimmel’s show had received after Carr’s remarks and the posting of some of their personal information online, the people said. Walden huddled with her team and Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger before the two executives decided to temporarily take “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” off the air, the people said. She then informed Kimmel of the decision. -WSJ

According to a person close to the show, Kimmel was planning to say that MAGA was purposefully twisting his words. So, another lie. Hollywood unions and producers criticized Disney’s move, calling it corporate capitulation. Damon Lindelof, co-creator of the ABC drama Lost, said he would not want to work for a company that sidelined Kimmel. Former late-night host David Letterman described the decision as “managed media” and warned of broader consequences. “We all see where this is going, correct? It’s managed media. And it’s no good,” David Letterman, the former late-night host, said at an Atlantic magazine event Thursday. Actor Ben Stiller said (and then blocked replies) “This isn’t right,” to which Elon Musk replied “He went full retard. Never go full retard.”

Democratic lawmakers and former President Barack Obama accused the Trump administration of censorship, while Trump applauded the decision and urged other networks to follow. “They give me only bad press, but they’re getting a license,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One. Some media critics said Kimmel’s benching, coupled with CBS’s recent decision to cancel its late-night show hosted by frequent Trump critic Stephen Colbert when its season ends in May 2026, will lead shows to self-censor. Kimmel’s removal comes as CBS prepares to sunset Stephen Colbert’s late-night program in 2026. Media critics say the combination of events could have a chilling effect on political commentary in late-night television.

“The degree of capitulation going forward will to some extent be a function of what kind of financial cudgel the administration has to wield,” said Lee Levine, a retired media lawyer. “Whenever the cudgel has been pretty significant, sooner or later the network caved in the recent past.” For Disney, the choice to take Kimmel off the air was the product of overlapping political pressure, regulatory risk, affiliate revolt, and advertiser anxiety – a convergence that left little room for delay. By late Wednesday afternoon, the decision was made: Jimmy Kimmel Live! would be “preempted indefinitely.” Of course, who was even watching?

Read more …

“..interest rates paid by the American people should not be set by a Governor who appears to have lied about facts material to the interest rates she secured for herself..”

NNB: I love this Modern English: “Cook maintains she dindunuffin.”

Trump Requests Supreme Court Intervention in Lisa Cook Removal from Fed (CTH)

U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer has filed a motion with the Supreme Court requesting intervention in a lower court ruling that blocks President Trump from firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.
As noted in the filing, “As her removal notice observed, before taking office, Cook had made contradictory representations in two mortgage agreements a short time apart, claiming that both a property in Michigan and a property in Georgia would simultaneously serve as her principal residence. Each mortgage agreement described the representation as material to the lender, reflecting the reality that lenders usually offer lower interest rates for principal-residence mortgages because they view such mortgages as less risky.

When her apparent misconduct came to light, the President determined that Cook’s “deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter” renders her unfit to continue serving on the Federal Reserve Board, and at a minimum demonstrates “the sort of gross negligence in financial transactions that calls into question[her] competence and trustworthiness as a financial regulator.” App., infra, 29a. To this day, Cook has never attempted to reconcile these representations.”

“The Federal Reserve Act’s broad ‘for cause’ provision rules out removal for no reason at all, or for policy disagreement,” Sauer wrote. “But so long as the President identifies a cause, the determination … is within the President’s unreviewable discretion.”“The President may reasonably determine that interest rates paid by the American people should not be set by a Governor who appears to have lied about facts material to the interest rates she secured for herself — and refuses to explain the apparent misrepresentations,” Sauer wrote.

Cook maintains she dindunuffin.

Read more …

“Militants of the neo-Nazi Kiev regime are using drones to hunt defenseless people virtually around the clock, cynically targeting children, women, and the elderly”..

Drone Attack Claims Meant To Derail Ukraine Peace Talks – Zakharova (RT)

Accusations of Russian drone violations of Polish airspace have been fabricated to demonize Moscow and derail the Ukraine peace process, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said. Polish officials have claimed that 19 Russian drones entered the country’s airspace on September 10, describing the incident as a deliberate provocation intended to test NATO’s response. Several western European governments have summoned Russian diplomats in protest while NATO has announced additional military measures. In a statement on Friday, Zakharova stressed that the episode follows a familiar pattern and that Russia has again been blamed without any investigation or evidence. She added that Warsaw has refused Moscow’s proposal for consultations and has dismissed facts provided by the Russian Defense Ministry.

“This is clearly yet another element in a large-scale information campaign aimed at demonizing Russia and mobilizing additional support for the Kiev regime, as well as an attempt to undermine a political settlement of the Ukraine conflict,” Zakharova said. Russian officials have said drones used in operations against Ukrainian military targets could not physically have reached Polish territory, and have suggested that the incident may have been a provocation by Kiev designed to pit NATO directly against Moscow. Zakharova also drew attention to the 20-nation “drone coalition” supplying Kiev, accusing its members of ignoring the daily reality of Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian civilians.

“Moralizing and demarches by the coalition states regarding Russia’s alleged violations of international law are, in this context, blatantly hypocritical and inappropriate,” she said.According to the spokeswoman, Ukrainian drone attacks killed 16 people and injured 116 more in Russian regions over the summer and early September, with the victims including children. “Militants of the neo-Nazi Kiev regime are using drones to hunt defenseless people virtually around the clock, cynically targeting children, women, and the elderly” while deliberately targeting residential buildings, medical and social institutions, schools, and stores, Zakharova said. She added that by supplying such weapons, Western states have become complicit in the crimes committed by Kiev’s forces.

Read more …

“Poland is currently the recipient of the largest EU’s agricultural subsidies. Why should Germany and others continue to pay for those when Poland is impeding their trade?”

Poland’s Attempt To Blackmail China Will Hurt Itself Most (MoA)

Over the last decade China developed the longest railway in the world running more than 8,000 miles from the east coast of China to Spain. The line crosses China, Russia, Belarus and Poland before splitting up into various European connections. Over the last year the railway has carried goods between China and Europe at a value of about $25 billion. The line is now blocked: “Poland’s decision to close its border with Belarus in response to thequadrennial Zapad-2025 military exercises and Russian drone incursion on September 10 has abruptly severed one of the fastest-growing trade arteries between China and the EU.”

“The impact of the closure of the Belarusian border is significant. The land corridor already represents 3.7% of all EU–China trade, up from 2.1% a year earlier. While that share remains small compared to seaborne shipments, its importance lies in speed and reliability.[..] Poland’s government underlined that the decision was driven by security imperatives rather than economics. Warsaw stated that “the logic of trade” was being replaced by “the logic of security,” underscoring the geopolitical risks attached to the Belt and Road corridors.” The Zapad-2025 military exerciss is long over but Poland continues to block the railroad. Its government is taking Europe’s trade with China as hostage to press China to change its policy towards Russia:

“Polish Foreign Minister RadosBaw Sikorski has said that during his meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in a suburb of Warsaw on Monday 15 September, he will insist that China put pressure on Russia to stop “a hybrid operation” on Poland s eastern border, which has led to the closure of Beijing s key trade route to Europe. [..] Tensions escalated in May last year, when a Polish border guard was attacked and killed by a migrant. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused Belarus and Russia of weaponising migration. Last year, Warsaw threatened to block the export route to the European Union to secure China’s help. Polish then-president Andrzej Duda raised the border tensions issue during his visit to Beijing, which “helped for a few months”, Sikorski said. “But unfortunately, this hybrid operation has intensified again. So, we need to talk again,” he added.

Interestingly the Chinese reporting on the meeting between Wang Ye and Sikorski did not mention the blocking: “At the 4th meeting of Poland-China Intergovernmental Committee on Monday, the two parties exchanged views on the importance of developing effective and economically competitive Eurasian transport corridors and the pivotal role of Poland in this process. The two sides recognized the benefits of providing mutually beneficial services for volumes of goods transported by railway, maritime and air means and of consolidating the existing and potential routes and logistical chains. Both sides expressed their willingness to ensure the safety and accessibility of the China-Europe Railway Express.”

I suspect that, behind the scene, less polite words were used by Wang Yi to express the Chinese view on Poland’s attempt the hinder the freedom of global trade. The migrants do not ride on Chinese freight trains. Blocking the railroad connection between China and Europe to prevent migrants from coming through Belarus is a very crude form of blackmail that will hit back. Should the blockade continue Poland will have to bury all hope of any future investment from China. Western European companies who depend on the railroad connection for their trade will also become more hostile to Poland. The coming defeat of NATO in Ukraine will contribute to the end of the military alliance. Poland’s outrageous behavior makes it more likely that the defeat in Ukraine will also help to break up the European Union. Poland is currently the recipient of the largest EU’s agricultural subsidies. Why should Germany and others continue to pay for those when Poland is impeding their trade?

Read more …

It’s all animosity as far as the eye can see. Perfect for a shutdown.

Trump Admits Possibility Of US Government Shutdown From October 1 (TASS)

US President Donald Trump admitted that the federal government could shut down if Republicans and Democrats in Congress fail to reach a consensus on a bill to fund the government by October 1. “We’ll continue to talk to the Democrats, but I think you could end up with a closed country for a period of time,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We’ll take care of the military, we’ll take care of Social Security, we’ll take care of the things that we have to take care of,” he noted, adding that in the event of a shutdown, “a lot of the things that Democrats fight for, which in many cases aren’t very good, will not be able to be paid for.”

“We’ll watch and see how they do with that to handle their constituents,” the US leader said, explaining that in order to continue funding the government, the relevant bill, previously approved by the US House of Representatives, must also be supported by the Senate. “But in the Senate, we have 53 Republicans in total, and we need 60 votes. That means we need Democrat votes [in favor of the bill drafted by Republicans]. And I don’t know if you can make a deal with these people,” Trump concluded.

Earlier on Friday, the Senate rejected two bills that would have provided continued funding for the federal government. The Republican-drafted bill, which had been approved by the House of Representatives, received the support of 48 lawmakers, while the Democratic-drafted bill received the support of 47 lawmakers. Thus, the Senate failed to pass a bill that would have prevented a potential government shutdown on October 1. According to American media, this sharply increases the likelihood of a shutdown, as Congress will be in recess next week.

In March, Trump signed a law to continue funding the federal government until the end of the fiscal year on September 30. This prevented a shutdown that had been expected on March 15. Such a shutdown would have resulted in the suspension of several government agencies and programs and the temporary suspension of salaries for hundreds of thousands of civil servants, many of whom would have been placed on unpaid leave. Since 1977, funding has been interrupted more than 20 times due to disagreements between the administration and Congress. The longest shutdown, which occurred during Trump’s first presidential term, lasted 35 days, from December 22, 2018, to January 25, 2019.

Read more …

“Moscow will take immediate action in response to the possible confiscation of its assets in the West.”

US Senators Introduce Bill To Transfer Frozen Russian Assets To Kiev (TASS)

A group of US senators from both parties introduced a bill that would require Washington to regularly transfer Russian assets frozen in the US to Kiev.According to a document published by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, several amendments must be made to laws signed by former President Joe Biden in 2024. These laws allow the US government to confiscate Russia’s frozen assets and provide military assistance to Ukraine. According to lawmakers from both parties, the Washington administration, in particular, should begin transferring the aforementioned funds to Kiev “every 90 days.” It is assumed that the top US diplomat would allocate at least $250 million to Ukraine during this period.

According to the bill, the Washington administration should “implement a robust, sustained diplomatic campaign to persuade US allies” to also start using at least 5% of frozen Russian assets in Ukraine’s interests. US lawmakers estimate that this would initially amount to approximately $15 billion. Senators believe that other countries should transfer funds to Kiev at least once every 90 days. In addition, senators want to require the Washington administration to report on the amount of Russian sovereign assets, including frozen assets, held outside the United States.

Since the start of the special military operation, the EU, Canada, the US, and Japan have frozen approximately $300 billion in Russian assets. Of these, about $5-6 billion are in the US, with most in Europe, including $210 billion held at the Euroclear international platform in Belgium. As the Russian Foreign Ministry has warned, Moscow will take immediate action in response to the possible confiscation of its assets in the West.

Read more …

“The boundless folly of the authors of this project will not absolve them from responsibility or retribution.”

Medvedev Slams EU’s Ukraine ‘Compensation’ Plan, Vows Response (TASS)

Moscow will deliver a firm response to the creation of yet another Russophobic structure within the Council of Europe aimed at extracting “compensation” from Russia in connection with the situation in Ukraine, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said on his Max channel.”The closer we approach the moment of our ultimate victory over the Kiev neo-Nazis, the further into its own cosmos this strange and senseless organization – the Council of Europe – drifts. Our withdrawal from this discriminatory farcical entity was by no means accidental. A truly psychedelic draft convention has now emerged, proposing the creation of an international claims commission for Ukraine,” he said.

De facto, Medvedev continued, the initiative represents an attempt to establish, under the “umbrella” of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, “yet another anti-Russian quasi-judicial body aimed at extracting from [Russia] compensation for alleged ‘consequences of aggression against Kiev.’” He added, “our firm response to it will not be long in coming. The boundless folly of the authors of this project will not absolve them from responsibility or retribution.”

Read more …

“I’m willing to do other things, but not when the people that I’m fighting for are buying oil from Russia,”

Kremlin Replies After Trump Says ‘Putin Let Me Down’ (RT)

The “emotional” attitude of US President Donald Trump to the Ukraine peace process is “completely understandable,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. The US leader has repeatedly expressed his frustration with the state of the process lately, admitting that he had previously believed Ukraine “would be easiest” to resolve given his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “He’s really let me down,” Trump said on Thursday. Asked for comment on Trump’s remarks, Peskov signaled that Moscow understands his frustration, given the US president’s personal investment in trying to settle the hostilities.

“We assume that the US and President Trump personally maintain their political will and intention to continue their efforts to facilitate a settlement in Ukraine. Therefore, of course, President Trump is quite emotional, so to speak, about this issue. This is completely understandable,” Peskov told reporters on Friday. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov touched upon Trump’s remarks in an interview with Russia’s Channel One, suggesting his disappointment stems from his business-like approach to politics. The US president is “a man of action, deals, and business, as he himself constantly emphasizes,” Russia’s top diplomat said.

“When President Trump says he’s disappointed… it’s partially explained by the fact that he wants quick solutions,” Lavrov stated. “In some areas, this may work; in others, it’s unlikely.” In recent weeks, the US president voiced his displeasure with the lack of progress in negotiations, threatening new sanctions on Russia. In the past few days, he has repeatedly reaffirmed his willingness to impose more restrictions on Moscow, but urged Washington’s European partners to halt their purchases of Russian oil first. “I’m willing to do other things, but not when the people that I’m fighting for are buying oil from Russia,” Trump said on Thursday.

Read more …

“..the economies of EU countries have already lost €1.3 trillion ($1.5 trillion) due to reduced Russian gas supplies..”

EU Names Member States Still Importing Russian Gas (RT)

Eight EU countries continue to import Russian gas, media cited European Commission energy spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen as saying. Earlier on Friday, Brussels unveiled plans to ban Russian energy imports to the bloc. Belgium, France, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, and Spain are still receiving Russian supplies, either by pipeline or in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Itkonen added that the European Commission does not have data on the shipments’ ultimate end users. Despite repeated pledges to cut dependence, around 19% of the EU’s gas imports still come from Russia – down from about 45% before 2022.

Reuters noted that Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and France import LNG, while pipeline deliveries through TurkStream reach Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria. With Nord Stream pipelines disabled by sabotage in 2022 and transit via Ukraine halted this year, TurkStream remains the only direct route for Russian pipeline gas into the EU. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Friday that the bloc intends to end imports of Russian LNG from January 1, 2027, as part of new sanctions proposals. At present, there is no blanket ban, with restrictions limited to certain terminals and re-exports.

Earlier this year, Brussels dropped the idea of an outright LNG embargo after resistance from several member states, including Hungary and Slovakia, but in May set out a roadmap to phase out Russian oil and gas by the end of 2027.Moscow has maintained that every new wave of restrictions primarily harms the very countries that initiate them. Presidential aide on international economic affairs, Kirill Dmitriev, said in June that the economies of EU countries have already lost €1.3 trillion ($1.5 trillion) due to reduced Russian gas supplies.

Read more …

“..this is the true cost of the EU’s anti-Russian agenda.” “Russophobia is an expensive obsession..”

EU Spent €8.7 Billion On Russian Imports In Three Months (RT)

EU member states imported €8.7 billion ($10.2 billion) worth of Russian goods in the first three months of 2025 alone, Bild has reported, citing data from the German Economic Institute. In the first quarter of this year, the EU-Russia trade balance was slightly skewed in Moscow’s favor, meaning that the bloc purchased more from its eastern neighbor than it sold. The German media outlet singled out natural gas imports, accounting for €4.4 billion, and crude oil at €1.4 billion as the top two items being imported by Russia to the EU In the wake of the Ukraine conflict escalation in February 2022, the bloc declared its intention to cut economic ties with Moscow. While imports of Russian gas and oil have dropped significantly since, a number of EU nations still source a large proportion of their energy supplies from Russia.

Several member states have watched their industries lose ground globally after switching to costlier alternatives. Also topping the list in early 2025 were Russian fertilizers, iron and steel, as well as nickel, according to Bild. Earlier this year, the European Commission proposed its RePowerEU Roadmap that envisages a complete phase-out of all Russian energy imports by the end of 2027. Hungary and Slovakia, both heavily dependent on Russian energy supplies, have strongly opposed the plan, saying that it would undermine their respective energy security. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto accused certain member states earlier this month of “hypocrisy,” claiming that they are still buying “Russian oil secretly” via Asian intermediaries.

In August, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz acknowledged that his country was “not just in a period of economic weakness, we are in a structural crisis of our economy,” citing falling earnings by Germany’s major automakers. Commenting on the bloc’s economic woes back in April, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that “this is the true cost of the EU’s anti-Russian agenda.” “Russophobia is an expensive obsession,” she concluded.

Read more …

They’re not going to stop.

India Ramping Up Russian Oil Imports Amid US Trade Talks (RT)

Indian refiners intend to continue purchasing Russian crude to meet rising fuel demand, even as New Delhi restarts trade talks with the US for a bilateral deal, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. India’s imports of Russian oil are likely to remain strong for November and December deliveries, although volumes may fall short of recent highs, the media outlet said, citing people familiar with the procurement plans. Deliveries of Russian crude to India rose by 5.6% in August to 1.6 million barrels per day (mbd), according to data from analytics firm Kpler. New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian oil have drawn the ire of the US, which has slapped 25% punitive tariffs on India, in addition to 25% levies imposed after the two countries could not arrive at a trade deal.

At a press conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday, US President Donald Trump said he had imposed “sanctions” on India, a country he claimed to have a close relationship with, in an effort to help bring an end to the Ukraine conflict. ”When I found out that the European nations were buying oil from Russia… And, as you know, I am very close to India, I am very close to the prime minister of India. I spoke to him the other day, I wished him a happy birthday. We have a very good relationship. He put out a beautiful statement, too… But I sanctioned them,” Trump said.

Before Trump’s comments on Thursday, India’s chief economic adviser, V. Ananatha Nageswaran, said he felt the US may soon scrap the penal import tariff on Indian goods and also cut the tariff to 10-15% from the existing 25%, according to a Reuters report. A delegation led by US Trade Representative for South Asia Brendan Lynch held a new round of negotiations with Indian officials in New Delhi on Monday. Following the talks, India’s Commerce Ministry characterized the discussions as “positive and forward-looking.”

Read more …

In 1,000 different ways.

How The West Screwed Itself In Energy Geopolitics (Doshi)

The recent Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin, China, offered vivid optics of a shifting global order. Images of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping sharing smiles and warm embraces spoke volumes about a realignment that few could have predicted at the start of 2025. Against the backdrop of a “binding memorandum” for the Power of Siberia 2 (POS-2) pipeline supplying Russian natural gas to China, this summit was no mere public relations exercise. The summit marks a profound shift in global energy geopolitics, one that underscores Europe’s slide into irrelevance, the competitive headwinds facing US LNG exports and the spectacular failure of former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski’s vision of US strategic supremacy over Russia largely constructed during the tumultuous 1990s.

The United States, in its pursuit of Eurasian hegemony, has alienated a critical ally in India, pushed Russia and China closer together, and left Germany — once an industrial powerhouse — prostrate. This is a tale of hubris, miscalculation and unintended consequences. The Tianjin summit crystallised a new geopolitical reality. The warm camaraderie among the leaders of India, Russia, and China —three of the world’s five largest economies — signalled a growing alignment, not just in rhetoric and optics but in tangible energy partnerships. The “binding memorandum” for POS-2, a 50 billion cubic meter pipeline to deliver gas from Russia’s Yamal fields to China via Mongolia, is a cornerstone of this realignment.

Unlike the existing Power of Siberia 1, which draws gas from Irkutsk (north of Mongolia), POS-2 taps into the same Arctic reserves in Yamal that once fuelled Germany’s industrial might for half a century. For decades, German prosperity rested on a bargain: cheap Russian gas in exchange for high-value German manufactured exports. This was the essence of Willy Brandt’s Ostpolitik and the foundation of Germany’s rise as Europe’s economic powerhouse. Russia’s pivot to Asia – accelerated by Western sanctions since 2014 (after the annexation of Crimea) and intensified after the 2022 Ukraine invasion – is now consolidating. With POS-2 and the expansion of existing pipelines, Russia could supply China with up to 100 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas annually after 2030 when the new pipeline would be up and running.

This is significantly less than the 150 bcm Russia once exported to Europe at its peak. Furthermore, the price for Russia’s natural gas sold to a price-sensitive China will be materially less than what it received from its European customers. But this re-orientation, while costing Russia lost revenues from lower prices and volumes, significantly alleviates Russia’s economic security after the Nordstream pipeline sabotage. It also reduces China’s reliance on seaborne LNG, which is typically two to four times as expensive as piped gas. Critically, this reduces China’s vulnerability to US naval dominance in chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz and Straits of Malacca through which all Middle East gas exports to China must pass through.

[..] The results of the sanctions regime have been contrary to what was predicted. In 2022, European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen said that the “Russian industry was in tatters” and it was “taking chips from dishwashers and refrigerators to fix their military hardware”. Von Der Leyen is eating crow now as Germany, France and the UK teeter on the edge of economic and political collapse while Russian shows little sign of being in “tatters”. Russia has pivoted East to forge energy and trade ties with China and India as well as other countries such as Turkey and Brazil.

The POS-2 deal, though not yet a finalised sales and purchase contract between buyer and seller, signals Russia’s success in finding alternative markets for its gas. The “binding memo” still lacks details on price, ‘take or pay’ terms, tenor of the long-term contract and relative contributions to capital costs. Nevertheless, the POS-2 memorandum signed in Tianjin shows that China is now willing to overcome its longstanding reservations over greater dependence on Russia’s energy resources. The gas that powered German factories and made the country the world’s manufacturing export powerhouse will now underpin China’s ambitions for continued economic dominance.

Read more …

“..giving Trump “an extraordinarily powerful media ally..”

Larry Ellison To Become Most Powerful US Media Mogul Ever – NYT (RT)

Billionaire Larry Ellison, 81, is set to become the most powerful media magnate in US history, the New York Times has claimed. In a Thursday opinion piece, the outlet lamented that one of the world’s richest men, and a supporter of US President Donald Trump, is preparing to take control of major American media. The founder of Oracle already holds a large stake in CBS and Paramount through his son David Ellison’s Skydance Media, which closed an $8.4 billion merger with Paramount last month, creating Paramount Skydance Corporation. Within weeks of the merger, Paramount Skydance signed a seven-year, $7.7 billion contract to broadcast and stream Ultimate Fighting Championship events. UFC’s chief executive Dana White, a longtime Trump supporter, spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention.

”The effect of Mr. Ellison’s gambit could be every bit as consequential, if not more so, than what happened a generation ago when Rupert Murdoch… created what has become Fox News, intensifying our political polarization,” the NYT wrote. Ellison’s expected push into Hollywood and big media could go further than other tech moguls’ forays, according to the outlet. Plans also include joining a consortium with Oracle and Andreessen Horowitz to take a major stake in TikTok as part of a Trump-backed deal. The Ellisons are also reportedly preparing an all-cash bid of up to $80 billion for Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN, HBO and Warner Bros. studios.

Ellison could soon control “a powerful social media platform, an iconic Hollywood movie studio and one of the largest content streaming services,” as well as two of the country’s leading news outlets, giving Trump “an extraordinarily powerful media ally,” the NYT claimed. Trump has repeatedly argued that most mainstream outlets, including the NYT, are left-leaning, with bias against conservatives. He has accused them spreading false stories about him to undermine his presidency.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Elon

https://twitter.com/RickyDoggin/status/1968867510805021009

rfk

Putin
https://twitter.com/RussiaIsntEnemy/status/1968728683767570509

Banff

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

 

 

Sep 192025
 


Caspar David Friedrich The Monk by the Sea c1809

 

Prove Charlie Right (David DesRosiers)
TPUSA Names Charlie Kirk’s Widow Erika as New CEO (Salgado)
Chris Cuomo Schools the Left on Kimmel’s Suspension (Margolis)
Jimmy Kimmel Missed This Clue About Trump; It Was His Downfall (Tim O’Brien)
Kimmel Has No One to Blame but Himself for Cancellation by ABC (Perrotta)
Trump to Antifa: IT’S GOING DOWN (Victoria Taft)
Brigitte Macron To Prove To US Court She’s A Woman (NYP)
Macron Is In A Political Death Spiral (Amar)
‘Not The Right Time’ To Call For Russia-Ukraine Ceasefire – Trump (RT)
Trump Files Emergency Request With SCOTUS To Make Lisa Cook Fired Again (ZH)
RFK Jr. Cannot Proceed With Overhaul of Health Agencies, Court Rules (ET)
The ‘Golden Billion’ Has Lost Its Crown (Bobrov)
Bank of Russia Governor Dismisses Talk Of Recession (RT)
Great Moments In The History Of Chrystia Freeland’s Failure (Helmer)
China To Test Arctic Express Route To Europe (RT)

 

 

https://twitter.com/TONYxTWO/status/1968488772468650199

Benny

 

 

 

 

The Charlie tragedy enters day 10 today.

Prove Charlie Right (David DesRosiers)

On Sept. 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk was assassinated for the political sin of showing up on college campuses across our country and taking and answering questions. These queries came from students and guests whether they were allies or adversaries – or simply curious-minded Americans engaging in their unalienable birthright to engage in civics openly. Charlie Kirk was martyred for the free exercise of his First Amendment rights. And the right to free speech, which he championed, was critically wounded in the attack. The aftermath marks a turning point in our nation’s “house divided” future. Let’s do as Charlie did masterfully and probe the mindset of the other – in this case his assassin’s and that of his like-minded enablers. It was Charlie’s way. It is the Socratic way. It is the Western Civ, the American way.

Who will rid us of this meddlesome apostle of free expression? Progressives don’t like to think of themselves as King Henry, the man who uttered the fateful words that caused four loyalists to murder Thomas Becket. But where else can their constant denunciations of Republicans as “Nazis” or “fascists” lead? A young man, who was being groomed to be a moral monster by our culture and the passions it unleashes, heard the dog whistle call to arms, seized the opportunity of a public event in his home state, and did what was collectively seen by his ilk as necessary and proper. To do so, he suspended morality, the rule of law, and human decency in order serve what he and too many others see as a higher political purpose. Sadly, this moral madness is what is taught in our nation’s colleges. This is the ethic that guided the global left – paired now with America’s identitarian vanguard –to fundamentally remake America.

Their immoral reasoning not only led to the killing of Charlie Kirk, but it is also the rationale of messianic monsters through the ages. In the 20th century alone, under the guise of National Socialism and global communism, it led to the murder of a hundred million souls. Social media has given it another Great Leap Forward. It is the justification for the show trials, the guillotine, the oven, the suicide vest, and the lone sniper. This assassin’s creed is not for everyone. Only a few have the wherewithal to take this beyond-good-and-evil step. But those who do take things to their evil conclusion do so knowing that those with less nerve but shared adjacency on the ends will find in their partisan hearts that what they did was needed and therefore good, if not praiseworthy.

This is the recipe for political madness and incompatible with our venerable experiment in self-government that we must now defend in common. What does Charlie Kirk’s assassination portend for our country? I see the potential of a natural turning point towards the good, the restoration of the First Amendment’s spirit, and a return of political, civic, cultural, religious, and economic toleration. That would be a big rainbow following a storm. So far, there has been little call for retaliatory violence. So much for the “Hitler Youth” handwringing. There have only been completely peaceful prayer vigils. Unlike this assassin’s creed and its enablers, Charlie Kirk’s soul and mind would not allow such a demonic transvaluation of value. His true followers share that moral position. On this point, the partisan calls for moral equivalence don’t hold.

The good news for us, the living, is that Charlie is being honored in death by his followers in a way that gives us all a new political lease on life. I first heard of his shooting from my 28-year-old son and 18-year-old nephew. They saw Charlie’s execution with their own eyes within moments of it happening and captured the core un-American inhumanity of it all. “A man is gunned down for the thought crime of debating on a college campus.” “This guy is a family man,” they said. “He has a wife and two young children.” What happens going forward? Charlie’s influence was huge before he was shot. It appears to be growing by the day in death. I hope something good is happening in real time. I believe you can see, hear, and feel it.

It turns out that when a public figure with 35 million followers gets assassinated for the whole world to see for simply speaking on a college campus, those who never heard of him – or heard something, good or bad – will naturally check it out themselves. A national re-examination may be happening. The curious are finding an immediate and growing corpus, which is deconstructing the demonic caricature made of him, and are standing up for this smart, fast-talking, civil, happy man in the prime of this life. Charlie’s wife Erika gave a speech full of love and principle that brought tears to those with open hearts. This organization Charlie dedicated half of his life to is not going anywhere but onward and upward. Since his assassination, Turning Point USA has received tens of thousands of applications to set up TPP college chapters.

College Mandarins in charge of green-lighting or gaslighting student organizations and regulating speech to their Orwellian liking should tread lightly going forward. The Justice Department will be watching. Charlie is dead but not gone. His happy warrior spirit and first-rate mind are already immortalized in the cloud. TPP should enlist the help of AI to give Charlie’s mind and his “Prove Me Wrong” method a second lease on life for our collective sake. To the legion of young people whose hearts are broken and want to do more, you know that Charlie would want you to follow in his footsteps. The time for being a spectator was canceled with an assassin’s bullet. Today, it is time to stand up, show up, and be like Charlie. You know his mind and his method. From heaven, Charlie is saying to all those who love him, “Prove Me Right.”

Read more …

“We have a country to save.”

TPUSA Names Charlie Kirk’s Widow Erika as New CEO (Salgado)

Turning Point USA lost its beloved CEO and founder, Charlie Kirk, to an assassination last week. Who better to take his place than his widow, Erika? Erika Kirk not only lost a friend and inspirational leader but also her much-loved husband last Wednesday. Now she has to raise their children alone. But she is not cowed by the horrific leftist violence that took her husband’s life, and she will be taking his place as the CEO and chairwoman of the board at TPUSA.= During her heartbreaking but inspiring comments after Charlie’s death, Erika declared, “You have no idea the fire that you have ignited within this wife. The cries of this widow will echo around the world like a battle cry. To everyone listening tonight across America, the movement my husband built will not die.” She is more committed than ever to his life’s work.

In the X post announcing Mrs. Kirk’s new position, TPUSA’s Board explained that Charlie had told multiple executives within the organization that, if he should die prematurely, he would want his wife to take over his job. The TPUSA Board voted accordingly for her yesterday, on Constitution Day. The statement from TPUSA began by citing Ecclesiastes in the Bible and expressing faith in God, just as Charlie always did: In Ecclesiastes, King Solomon wrote that mankind is to be tested by God. Today we are facing such a test, yet we also know that God has prepared us with everything we need to overcome this ordeal. It was the honor of our lives to serve as board members at Charlie’s side. Charlie prepared all of us for a moment like this one. He worked tirelessly to ensure Turning Point USA was built to survive even the greatest tests. And now, it is our great pride to announce Erika Kirk as the new CEO and Chair of the Board for Turning Point USA.

Charlie said he wanted his legacy to be his faith. And he wanted to inspire a whole generation of young patriots to carry on his work. The outpouring of love for him, not just in America but around the world, highlights his great success. The TPUSA board emphasized that every member of the organization has “a special role in carrying Charlie Kirk’s mantle and completing his vision of bringing us all closer to our Lord and fostering a prosperous country for generations to come.” It quoted Charlie’s famous saying, “We have a country to save.” Notably, just before his death, Charlie expressed a goal of putting a TPUSA “Club America” chapter at every high school in the country (somewhere around 25,000). Since Charlie’s assassination, TPUSA has had 37,000+ applications for new chapters.

Therefore, the Board affirmed: We will not surrender or kneel before evil. We will carry on. The attempt to destroy Charlie’s work will become our chance to make it more powerful and enduring than ever before. May God Bless Erika, the Kirk family, and the entire team at Turning Point USA. As Erika Kirk very truly said to her husband’s murderer, “You have no idea what you have just unleashed across this entire country and this world.”

Read more …

If Kimmel had been a big hit, he would never have been cancelled. Nothing to do with Trump.

Chris Cuomo Schools the Left on Kimmel’s Suspension (Margolis)

Chris Cuomo just dropped a dose of inconvenient truth about Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension, and it’s not what the left wants to hear. Instead of feeding the narrative that this was some grand assault on free speech, Cuomo cut through the noise—and his blunt take won’t sit well with leftists desperate to turn Kimmel into a martyr. Cuomo began by stripping the drama down to the essentials: “You can like or not like Disney’s decision on Kimmel.” He then explained the obvious point the media refuses to entertain: absent evidence of state interference, this is a brand protecting itself. “But until I see proof of actual government coercion of their decision, this is about Disney making a business decision about its brand and the responsibility it has to respect the desires of its audience and its license.”

Throughout, Cuomo refused to barter facts for feelings. “I don’t care how you feel about it,” he said, adding bluntly, “We don’t have the proof before us. Maybe we will, then I’ll change my analysis.” In other words: show me the evidence or stop pretending the First Amendment has been violated. After the tragic murder of Charlie Kirk, the facts quickly confirmed what many already suspected: his killer was a radicalized leftist. Yet on his show, Jimmy Kimmel mocked the truth, sneering, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

https://twitter.com/JasonJournoDC/status/1968833785513828511

That wasn’t just inaccurate—it was blatant propaganda, and it crossed a legal line. Under 47 CFR § 73.1217, better known as the FCC’s “broadcast hoaxes” rule, television networks and radio stations are strictly prohibited from airing false information about crimes or catastrophes when they know it isn’t true. And it simply wasn’t and there was no excuse for anyone at ABC not to know that. Cuomo reiterated the point that should shut down every hysterical hot take on the left: the First Amendment limits government action, not private companies. “And no, it is not a First Amendment issue until you have proof of government intervention because the First Amendment doesn’t apply to private industry in this context. It’s a restriction on government regulation. Okay?”

That’s the core of Cuomo’s point. The idea that a network’s license hinges on personal loyalty to a president—or that Disney somehow lost its autonomy because of political pressure—is the stuff of tabloid headlines, not court-ready proof. “The basis of having a license is not on whether or not you are good to Trump. Okay?” Cuomo said, cutting through the noise. That suspicion is precisely why he insists on proof. And right now, the left has none.

Read more …

“And she reassured the president, because as his friend, she knew he may have needed this reassuring, that Charlie knew the president loved him, too. This is powerful because anyone who knows how men actually think knows that there is a good chance this was on the president’s mind..”

Jimmy Kimmel Missed This Clue About Trump; It Was His Downfall (Tim O’Brien)

If you didn’t know that Jimmy Kimmel has been suspended from his nightly gig producing a propaganda broadcast in front of a live audience, you’ll be forgiven for actually having a life. But for those of us who’ve been inundated with online reports of how this is bad or good for Western civilization, our forensic investigation continues. My colleague Stephen Kruiser put it all in perspective in The Morning Briefing today. And if gloating is your thing, you have to read about Roseanne Barr’s epic reaction, courtesy of Matt Margolis. Going by the headlines, the major reason Kimmel now has more time on his hands is that, when he inserted the Charlie Kirk assassination into his “comedy” monologue, he spread the myth that the alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson, was MAGA.

This has raised the question of whether comedians should be held to the same standards for truth and accuracy as journalists. While it’s one thing to debate how far-reaching the government should be in policing speech, it’s certainly within the purview of Disney, the owner of Kimmel’s show, to make the prudent decision to take him off the air if he’s spreading a dishonest narrative that adds to the current culture of toxicity. A culture that many blame for Charlie’s assassination. But there was another part to Kimmel’s monologue that demonstrated just how out-of-touch he has become and why his humor so consistently misses the mark.

He set up his joke by saying, “On a human level, you can see how hard the president is taking this.” And then he played a clip of President Trump taking impromptu questions from a scrum of White House reporters. One off-camera reporter offered the president his condolences and asked him how he was holding up. The president in DJT style answered by deflecting and pivoting in less than a second. “I think very good, and by the way right there you see all the trucks. They just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House,” the president said as he proceeded to change the subject. Kimmel’s punchline then is that Trump is at the fourth stage of grieving, “construction.” He then went on to frame the president’s approach to grieving as that of how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.

OK, we all know it’s a joke, and a bad one, and timing-wise, a very insensitive one. But it also shows just how clueless Kimmel is when it comes to how real men deal with personal loss and grief. Kimmel, who’s surrounded by Hollywood types who revel in their identities of victimhood, doesn’t get real men, which is why he doesn’t get Trump. Trump is among the richest people in the world, and yet he does not afford himself the luxury of showing off his vulnerabilities to the world. He grew up on movies where John Wayne and Clint Eastwood presented the classic male archetype. Fortitude in the face of danger, death, and tragedy. In all of these stories, the hero is not distracted by all of the madness around him. He stays cool and focused, and he serves as a solid guidepost for those around him.

The current, more fashionable term for this is stoicism. Trump came up in the construction industry. It’s always been a man’s world, populated by no small number of tough and unsavory characters. To deal with all of the interests he’s had to deal with over the years, and to change skylines, he’s learned not to show weakness. Now in his second term as president, he knows the world is watching his every move. The Middle East is watching. Europe is watching. Vladimir Putin is watching. Xi Jinping is watching. The last thing Trump wants to show them is a crack in his armor. In terms of his public persona, Trump is easy to understand. He almost never takes off his tie or suit, and when he does, he’s on the golf course. When he talks in public, he’s rarely introspective.

For those who’ve met him, it’s always about you when he talks. He wants to talk about you. When he talks to the press, it’s almost always about the thing he’s trying to get done, or the people who stand in his way. One of his skills is to break this up often enough to entertain, and he does that by bragging a little (or a lot) and by praising or taking shots at famous people. He never uses the media to serve as his therapist, as so many celebrities do. This approach to compartmentalizing personal feelings is not unique to Trump. Most men are this way in some fashion, especially men of his generation. But Kimmel has lost sight of that, and that’s why he couldn’t comprehend why the President of the United States wouldn’t vomit his vulnerabilities to the press corps on demand.

Last Friday night, when Erika Kirk gave her address to the nation, one of the most touching parts of an extremely touching speech was when she looked into the camera and spoke directly to Charlie’s friend, President Trump. She told the president that Charlie loved him. And she reassured the president, because as his friend, she knew he may have needed this reassuring, that Charlie knew the president loved him, too. This is powerful because anyone who knows how men actually think knows that there is a good chance this was on the president’s mind. Just don’t expect him to talk about such a personal and intimate thing in public. It’s ironic that Kimmel’s breakout venture into entertainment was a show about men called “The Man Show,” and in 2025, the one thing Kimmel doesn’t have a clue about is men.

Read more …

“(A decision made easier by the fact Kimmel’s audience is down to about 12 leftists and whatever tourists and homeless he can drag off Hollywood Boulevard into his studio.)”

Kimmel Has No One to Blame but Himself for Cancellation by ABC (Perrotta)

Jimmy Kimmel has been yanked faster than a pitcher who gave up five home runs in a row … and spit on the bat boy. The longtime late-night host who self-identifies as a comedian was pulled off the air “indefinitely” by ABC/Disney after making a horrific slur against the “MAGA gang” in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Specifically, despite mountains of public evidence that the suspect held in connection with Kirk’s killing is an antifa-echoing, trans-loving, MAGA-loathing leftist, Kimmel declared in somber tones Monday night: “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

He lied to his audience. Period. He explicitly pinned the killing on supporters of President Donald Trump. Period. This was not a poor attempt at a joke. At this point, Kimmel wouldn’t know a joke from a jukebox. This was not a live, on-the-air slip-up. (Like ABC News reporter Matt Gutman gushing about the “very touching” nature of accused gunman Tyler Robinson’s texts to his live-in transitioning lover.) This was a deliberate, scripted, placed on the cue-cards, vicious character assassination against a grieving segment of the population. It would be like Johnny Carson after James Earl Ray’s arrest for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1968 assassination going on “The Tonight Show” and saying, “The Negroes are acting like a white man did this to hide that it was a brother, just so they can get more welfare.”

It was outrageous, and decent people agree: “No more.” As conservative podcaster Megyn Kelly posted on the social media platform X: “But what the Left doesn’t seem to understand and needs to hear is that MAGA has f****** HAD IT. We are ANGRY. We are INCENSED watching the [Left] smear us, our [people], literally getting some of our friends killed (not to mention our president shot and nearly assassinated again weeks later) and then LYING about it. (‘Trump faked his injury! He wasn’t actually shot!’ ‘We have no idea what the motives ever are … if they are bad for our side!’)” Two major TV-station owners of ABC affiliates, Sinclair and Nexstar, also had enough. ABC/Disney finally had it as well. (A decision made easier by the fact Kimmel’s audience is down to about 12 leftists and whatever tourists and homeless he can drag off Hollywood Boulevard into his studio.)

Faux Outrage
Naturally, Democrats and some in the liberal media are gnashing their teeth over Kimmel’s cancellation. As are those dozen Kimmel viewers. Daily Signal Executive Editor Rob Bluey laid out five of the most egregious examples, from Sen. Chris Murphy to CNN’s Van Jones. Too bad the Emmys were last Sunday night. These performances would have swept the awards. Even Barack Obama, the nation’s Divider Emeritus, weighed in. They’re the worst breed of hypocrites. As Bluey noted, these sudden champions of free speech were perfectly happy to sit on their pampered rear ends while the Biden administration launched an all-out war on conservative voices. And Obama? He’s the one who unleashed the rabid dogs of the IRS to maul the Tea Party movement to death. On this, he should on Mount Shushmore.

It’s not just that they’re hypocrites. They’re gaslighters. Again, they’re talking about the oppressive Trump regime (read “fascists”) stamping out dissent, the same basic messaging that got Kirk killed, when Kimmel’s canning was simply a corporate decision. In recent years, when cancel culture was at its peak, the very same woke ABC/Disney machine: • Fired Roseanne Barr from her show because of a single Ambien-fueled joke on Twitter about former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett that was deemed racist. • Fired “The Mandalorian” star Gina Carano over some pointed political posts on social media that did not fit their woke view of the world. • Forced out longtime “Bachelor” host Chris Harrison for showing sympathy for a contestant who got canceled after trolls dug up that she had attended an antebellum plantation-themed party years before in college. Not a peep from those weeping and gnashing teeth over Kimmel’s ouster.

Let’s go back even further. This same ABC canceled Bill Maher’s show “Politically Incorrect” after 9/11 when he suggested the hijackers were not “cowards” because they undertook a suicide mission … as opposed to the U.S. military lobbing bombs from a thousand miles away. Nobody’s infringing Kimmel’s free speech. He’s free to launch a podcast tomorrow … free to play the martyr on X …. free to do more blackface. Free to hit open mic nights and pretend to again be a comedian. And ABC is free to say they don’t want Kimmel representing the network.

Read more …

Shapiro undoubtedly thinks he makes a coherent argument. It’s just that I don’t see it.

The Assassination and the Violent Movements We Must Denounce (Ben Shapiro)

This week, my friend Charlie Kirk was murdered in cold blood in front of a crowd of thousands at Utah Valley University. He was assassinated while debating with students — something Charlie did frequently, and with aplomb — by a radicalized leftist with a trans boyfriend. That assassin decided to kill Charlie because of Charlie’s belief that men cannot become women, and vice versa; as he allegedly wrote in a text message to that trans boyfriend, “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out. If I am able to grab my rifle unseen, I will have left no evidence.”

I was in Los Angeles when Charlie was shot. My first reaction was shock; my second, horror; and my third, the realization that the shooting was almost certainly the result of a radicalized leftist, probably associated with transgender ideology. If we are to be honest with ourselves, we all have such reactions upon learning of acts of evil: We jump to the most likely conclusion about the source of that evil. If a synagogue is targeted in a mass shooting, the suspect will almost certainly be either a radical Muslim or a white supremacist; if a church is targeted, a radical Muslim or a trans activist; if a CEO is shot, a Marxist radical of some sort. There is a reason for such suppositions: Not all ideologies are equally likely to produce violence at the margins.

Ideologies that breed violence share three specific elements. First, they share a conspiratorial view of the universe in which a shadowy cabal of powerful people are responsible for all of your failures and shortcomings, and in which their arguments are not in fact arguments, but instead, a la Michel Foucault, a facade for power. Second, such ideologies share a belief that you or your group are being targeted for destruction by that shadowy cabal. Finally, such ideologies hold that violence is justifiable self-defense.

All the ideologies listed above fit this model. Trans ideology argues that trans people are victims of a conspiracy — a conspiracy to deny their identity; that such denial is responsible for all their life problems and amounts to a form of “erasure” or “genocide”; and that the proper response to such “hate” is violence. Radical Marxism argues that poor people are victims of a conspiracy of the wealthy, who exploit them; arguments on behalf of free markets are merely false consciousness promoted by the powerful; violence is therefore an appropriate response (“FREE LUIGI!”). White supremacy argues that whites are being targeted by people of color, Jews, and other minorities and fellow travelers; their very existence is a threat, and force is thus a justifiable response. Radical Islam argues that the failures of Islamic civilization are due to imperialism and colonialism; that the success of the West is inherently violent; and that violence is the proper response.

When politicians say, therefore, that they are against “political violence” but then move to justify violence by massaging these ideologies, their words are useless. They are a prettification of reality, an attempt to gloss over radical evils gnawing at the intestines of a functional society. Even worse, politicians who continue to foment such ideologies provide a permission structure for violence, excusing it and even valorizing it. The only way to truly fight political violence is to denounce the ideologies that breed it. Anything less means that more radicals take their ideologies to the logical extreme — and the result is blood in the streets, innocents dead and an ever-widening cycle of violence.

Read more …

“..it’s possible that the very organizations he needed to carry out his order — the FBI and DOJ — were too busy trying to destroy his presidency.”

Trump to Antifa: IT’S GOING DOWN (Victoria Taft)

President Trump announced on TruthSocial on Constitution Day that he is officially designating Antifa a domestic terrorist organization. To commemorate the occasion, I’ve used one of Antifa’s own hype quotes from its posters, websites, and signs to announce: Antifa: It’s Going Down. It’ll take some work, but at least some of the people in this destructive, antisocial organization will likely get rolled up in the Trump Administration’s efforts to treat Antifa like the terror organization it has proven itself to be. Trump 45 gave oxygen to the idea of treating Antifa like a terrorist organization, but it’s possible that the very organizations he needed to carry out his order — the FBI and DOJ — were too busy trying to destroy his presidency. Political treachery carries a cost. And Portland has carried much of that cost.

Despite Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s endorsement of Antifa in that feature photo above, Antifa has been a scourge on the American political landscape for more than a decade. You saw their work in Portland, starting in 2015 when they made their presence known by running “security” as “allies” of the Black Lives Matter movement. There were swarming assaults on independent journalists such as Mike Strickland and Andy Ngo before and after Donald Trump’s election, and, most notoriously, you, like most of the nation, were horrified by the “Summer of Love” in 2020. Those riots were so calamitous that Portland hasn’t yet recovered from the untold hundreds of millions of dollars in damage and the ongoing public relations disaster that cost the city and local businesses millions more. The recent sale of a downtown high-rise for pennies on the dollar shows the disrepute in which Portland — and the security of its citizens — is held.

Seattle’s autonomous zone, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Kenosha, and Antifa in San Diego were all involved in what looks like a conspiracy to foment violence. Professional protesters started hundreds or thousands of riots with impunity. Those few who were arrested were freed by woke George Soros district attorneys. The damage done by this group is unquantifiable. It certainly was for Aaron Danielson’s family. He’s the man who was assassinated on the streets of Portland in 2020 during Antifa’s “Summer of Love.” Danielson was part of the group Patriot Prayer. That group would hold free speech rallies, and when Antifa invariably showed up to start the violence, the Patriot Prayer guys would make sure the Anti-First Amendment collection of trans, soy boys, and strapped and trained Antifa members regretted it.

Patriot Prayer was eventually and unofficially PNG’d from Portland by city and county officials. That’s right: Portland eventually kicked out the only people doing anything about Antifa. That happened after an Antifa shoot-out on Portland streets. We digress, however. Danielson was walking with his buddy in downtown Portland during the riots and was shot at point-blank range by a “100% Antifa” assassin. I wrote about it in this story, “Police Say Suspected Antifa Hit-Man Stalked Pro-Trump Victim Before Portland Murder.” Oh, Antifa has much to answer for. If you think designating them as a terrorist organization is impossible because of our First Amendment laws, however, you may have a point. But there is hope of finally bringing these bastards to court.

In 2021, God bless San Diego County for charging a violent sect of Antifa, some of them on loan from L.A., under state law. I wrote about it then in this story, “Violent Antifa Terrorists Are Finally Prosecuted for Attacking Conservatives,” and in 2023, a swath of this group was found guilty. Three years later, I wrote about their sentencing in my West Coast, Messed Coast™ report, in which one of the defendants apologized at his sentencing, saying, “I want to apologize to the victims and the city of San Diego. No one should be attacked for their political views.” I wrote at the time, “…another blaring advertisement for requiring civics to be taught in schools.” Defendants were brought up on a variety of charges. But they were also charged with a conspiracy to commit riot.

The Antifa of their day were members of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and Animal Liberation Front (ALF). A federal prosecution that few remember occurred in Oregon — if you can believe it — and was against ELF and ALF, which the feds dubbed “The Family.” These were the same losers that, over a period of years from mid-1990s until someone set that Vail ski lodge on fire, incinerated a lab and 20 years of research at the University of Washington Horticulture Center, burned a “street of dreams” multi-million dollar home in Seattle, torched a San Diego condo complex under construction, and firebombed SUV dealerships, attacked furriers, torched an excavator in Mexico, and conspired to do it all in their commune in Eugene, Ore. It was a case that no one thought would ever come to fruition, and the members of those domestic terrorist groups were rolled up by the feds in Operation Backfire in 2006. The last person was sentenced in 2009.

On Wednesday, Ryan Mauro of the Capital Research Center released his report about the tentacles of the George Soros empire in the violent movements on college campuses and America’s streets. It’s quite enlightening. You should read it. The most salient part of his research concerns the funding of Antifa’s violent takeover of what they called “Cop City” in Atlanta. Antifa expert, independent reporter Andy Ngo, said he thinks there might be some problem going after Antifa as a terrorist organization because, under current U.S. law, there must be an international touchstone. Mauro’s report may indeed be the international touchstone connecting Antifa in America. On page 60 of his 95-page report, Mauro discovered that the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, which has ties to Hamas and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees, helped support the Antifa group in their “Stop Cop City” reign of terror.

The Alliance has also come to the defense of the aforementioned Stop Cop City/Defend the Atlanta Forest terrorists. …In 2020, the Alliance endorsed violence against law enforcement, posting a graphic showing weapons and criminal tactics used by protestors, such as blockading roads in order to impede police cars and encouraging demonstrators not to provide information about each other’s crimes. Over 40 of the anarchists are being prosecuted on domestic terrorism charges as of February 2024 and over 60 were indicted in August 2023 on racketeering charges. Among those accused of being terrorists is Thomas Jurgens, one of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s attorneys.

Read more …

This should be good.

Brigitte Macron To Prove To US Court She’s A Woman (NYP)

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, will present photographic and scientific evidence to a US court to prove the French first lady is, in fact, a woman. The two are submitting the documentation as part of a defamation lawsuit against conservative influencer Candace Owens, who claimed that Brigitte Macron was born a male and later secretly transitioned. The Macrons’ attorney, Tom Clare, told the BBC’s “Fame Under Fire” podcast that there will be “expert testimony that will come out that will be scientific in nature.” The attorney did not elaborate on exactly what it would be, beyond that it would include pictures of Brigitte, now 72, when she was pregnant with their kids.

The French power couple is ready to demonstrate “both generically and specifically” that the allegations are false, Clare stated firmly. “It is incredibly upsetting to think that you have to go and subject yourself, to put this type of proof forward,” he said of the distress it has caused the first lady. “It is a process that she will have to subject herself to in a very public way. But she’s willing to do it. She is firmly resolved to do what it takes to set the record straight,” he said. Owens has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that Brigitte Macron, 72, was born male — going as far as to say on her podcast earlier this year that she “would stake my entire professional career on all of those points.”

The Macrons filed a lawsuit against Owens in Delaware in July, alleging Owens “disregarded all credible evidence disproving her claim in favor of platforming known conspiracy theorists and proven defamers.”Owens’ claims are similar to those previously made in France by two women whom Brigitte Macron sued in 2021. That case was initially ruled in the French first lady’s favor but has been overturned on appeal. She has taken the case to France’s highest appeals court. Brigitte Macron was 39 years old when she became the future French leader’s teacher when he was 15 in 1993. The pair married in 2007.

Read more …

“Two British experts discussing the French mess for the conservative British magazine Spectator could not help but recall that the French Revolution – the big one, 1789 – started with a debt crisis, too.”

Macron Is In A Political Death Spiral (Amar)

The France of President Emmanuel Macron, who is really the egomaniac-in-chief, is somewhere on the spectrum between “spiraling political crisis” (Financial Times), “big trouble” (The Economist) and terminal collapse. Again. Barely a week after a new, if fragile, government was cobbled together in acute crisis mode, the country is bracing “for big anti-austerity street marches and labor strikes,” while the state’s finances are “pernicious” and the budget for 2026 a big question without an answer. In Paris, for instance, the Metro is semi-comatose; in the country as whole, a third of teachers are on strike. An earlier wave of protests – under the slogan “Let’s block everything”– did not quite achieve that ambitious aim, but it did attract double the number of participants the authorities had expected.

In that respect – even if they were different in their ideological background – the French protests resemble the recent ‘Unite the Kingdom’ rally in London. On both sides of the Channel, decrepit, unpopular, unresponsive Centrist regimes are barely hanging on now. As the French have taught us to say “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” (“The more things change, the more they stay the same”). Especially after Macron’s two irresponsible and egotistic decisions of 2024, France can’t find a way out of the mess he has created: first, he called snap parliamentary elections to then, second, ignore the will of the French voters.

If Macron had respected the results of the elections that he himself initiated, he would have had to charge either a left-wing bloc, with the most combined votes, or the new-right Rassemblement National (RN), which obtained the most votes for a single party, with building a new government. Yet the man with a vast ego and an incredibly shrinking popularity base, clearly rejected by a preponderant majority of his people, felt he knew better. Since then Macron has tried to impose his will against parliament. The problem? Parliament won’t agree.

So, after what the YouTube channel of venerable left journal l’Humanité calls “the parliamentary hara-kiri” of the last politically short-lived prime minister, here we go again. Total deadlock at the political center; in the streets, picturesque unrest featuring traditional folklore, such as burning rubbish bins, baton-charging police, and teargas galore; and finally, yet another compulsive attempt by Macron the Unpopular to succeed with what keeps failing: installing a new – his fifth in less than two years – prime minister (his name is Sébastien Lecornu, but don’t bother remembering) who has no majority in parliament and thus, cannot possibly pass the budget ex-investment banker Macron wants in order to get his kind of austeritarian-neoliberal handle on France’s very real debt crisis. Please the rich, squeeze all others.

In short, since Macron refuses to either call fresh parliamentary elections or go away, let’s do the doom loop again. That at least is a tempting reading of the current situation in Paris and the unfortunate country that its detached president plagues. And yet, perhaps things are different this time. As in, even worse. Maybe this crisis is not just bad-business-as-usual but a sign that a bigger political earthquake is coming, the kind that reshapes the landscape. Consider for starters the intriguing frequency with which commentators are making historic comparisons. Two British experts discussing the French mess for the conservative British magazine Spectator could not help but recall that the French Revolution – the big one, 1789 – started with a debt crisis, too.

Read more …

“Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that Trump had shifted “from issuing an ultimatum for an unconditional ceasefire to advocating for a long-term, sustainable solution.”

‘Not The Right Time’ To Call For Russia-Ukraine Ceasefire – Trump (RT)

US President Donald Trump said it is not the right time for him to call for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. A reporter asked Trump aboard Air Force One whether it was time to press for a ceasefire, noting that a month has passed since his rare face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. “It doesn’t feel like it,” Trump said. “But at the right time, if I have to do it, it will be harsh,” he added. Trump, who has at times criticized both Russia and Ukraine, recently admitted that negotiating an end to the conflict would be harder than he had anticipated. Speaking at a press conference with Prime Minister Keir Starmer during his trip to the UK on Thursday, Trump said that Putin had “really let me down.”

Last week, the US president said he would impose additional “major sanctions” on Moscow, but only if all NATO members stop purchasing Russian oil. “This is not TRUMP’S WAR (it would never have started if I was president!), it is Biden’s and Zelenskyy’s WAR,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform, referring to his predecessor and the leader of Ukraine. In an interview aired on Russian TV on Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that Trump had shifted “from issuing an ultimatum for an unconditional ceasefire to advocating for a long-term, sustainable solution.” Moscow has demanded that Ukraine recognize its new borders, abandon its plan to join NATO in favor of permanent neutrality, and agree to limit its military. Zelensky has rejected these terms.

Read more …

“..the district court judge “lacked authority to order reinstatement as an equitable remedy for the removal of an officer of the United States..”

Trump Files Emergency Request With SCOTUS To Make Lisa Cook Fired Again (ZH)

The Trump administration filed an emergency request with the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow it to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook from the central bank’s board while a lawsuit plays out in lower court over Cook’s ouster by President Trump last month. The request comes after a federal appeals court in Washington DC rejected the administration’s attempt to remove an order blocking Cook’s removal in a 2-1 decision the night before the Fed’s meeting earlier this week. “This application involves yet another case of improper judicial interference with the President’s removal authority — here, interference with the President’s authority to remove members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors for cause,” wrote the administration’s lawyer, Solicitor General John Sauer.

According to court filings, the Trump administration maintains that Cook committed mortgage fraud based on evidence provided by Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte – which showed that Cook claimed two properties as her primary residence within weeks of each other. On Aug. 25, Trump announced that he was firing Cook from the seven-member Fed Board. Cook sued in response, resulting in a federal district court on Sept. 9 barring her removal while the suit plays out – which the appeals court upheld. Sauer says that the Supreme Court, for various reasons, should stay the district court judge’s preliminary injunction reinstating Cook to the Fed, claiming that the DOJ is likely to prevail in the lawsuit “because Cook lacks a Fifth Amendment property interest in her continued service as a Governor of the Federal Reserve System,” and her job is not protected by due process considerations.

Sauer also disputed the judge’s alternative finding that Cook’s firing “for cause” was invalid because the alleged conduct occurred before she was appointed to the Fed. “The Federal Reserve Act’s broad ‘for cause’ provision rules out removal for no reason at all, or for policy disagreement,” he wrote, adding “But so long as the President identifies a cause, the determination of ‘some cause relating to the conduct, ability, fitness, or competence of the officer’ is within the President’s unreviewable discretion.” “Cook had made contradictory representations in two mortgage agreements a short time apart, claiming that both a property in Michigan and a property in Georgia would simultaneously serve as her principal residence,” Sauer continued. “Each mortgage agreement described the representation as material to the lender, reflecting the reality that lenders usually offer lower interest rates for principal-residence mortgages because they view such mortgages as less risky.”

“When her apparent misconduct came to light, the President determined that Cook’s ‘deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter’ renders her unfit to continue serving on the Federal Reserve Board, and at a minimum demonstrates ‘the sort of gross negligence in financial transactions that calls into question [her] competence and trustworthiness as a financial regulator.” Sauer also says that the district court judge “lacked authority to order reinstatement as an equitable remedy for the removal of an officer of the United States, as we have discussed in several recent stay applications.” Cook has denied wrongdoing, and has argued that unproven allegations are not sufficient grounds for removing the Biden appointee.

Read more …

“.. the administration “does not have the authority to order, organize, or implement wholesale changes to the structure and function of the agencies created by Congress.”

RFK Jr. Cannot Proceed With Overhaul of Health Agencies, Court Rules (ET)

A federal appeals court on Sept. 17 declined to lift a preliminary injunction blocking a plan by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to overhaul the department in line with the Trump administration’s policy priorities. Attorneys general from 19 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit in May challenging Kennedy’s restructuring of HHS, including layoffs and the reorganization of several agencies, arguing that the changes violate federal law and the U.S. Constitution.= On Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the Boston-based First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Trump administration’s claim that the states could not show they would be immediately harmed if the injunction were lifted pending an appeal. The panel noted that the lower court relied on hundreds of pages of testimony from state officials.

“The government does not explain how the district court clearly erred in crediting these uncontroverted facts,” the court said in an unsigned order. Kennedy announced on March 27 that his department would “streamline the functions” of its federal workforce by consolidating subagencies, reducing the number of regional offices, and implementing a reduction-in-force plan that would impact 10,000 HHS employees. They were all offered buy-out options to incentivize them to quit ahead of the announced job cuts. The restructuring plan looked to streamline 28 divisions into 15, and close half of the department’s 10 regional offices. Four HHS sub-agencies were named in the restructuring: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Head Start, and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE).

Attorneys general filed a lawsuit in federal court in Rhode Island challenging the restructuring plan. Plaintiffs said the executive action violated the Administrative Procedure Act and exceeded the scope of executive authority, violating the Constitution’s separation of powers doctrine and appropriations clause. They also pointed to potential harms their states would face if the executive action were allowed to proceed, saying their agencies would be unable to conduct sufficient laboratory testing or process critical health data needed to track infectious diseases and improve maternal and infant health outcomes. They added that the reforms would create financial strain, forcing the states to cover funding gaps left by the pullback in federal resources.

The Trump administration had argued that the states’ case rested on speculation about what harms they would suffer as a result of changes to department services, and that any challenges to the firings had to be pursued by the federal employees themselves before the Merit Systems Protection Board. In July, the District Court for the District of Rhode Island granted a preliminary injunction to the plaintiffs. U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose ruled that the administration “does not have the authority to order, organize, or implement wholesale changes to the structure and function of the agencies created by Congress.” Her injunction ordered the HHS to freeze its reduction-in-force and restructuring plans at the four agencies. On Aug. 12, the government filed to temporarily lift the injunction, pending court proceedings.

In its appeal, the HHS said that the lower court ruling should be set aside as the lawsuit was functionally identical to two earlier cases in which the U.S. Supreme Court lifted orders requiring it to reinstate employees let go en masse at other agencies by the administration. The Epoch Times contacted the HHS and the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, which is spearheading the lawsuit, for comment but received no response by publication time. HHS’s mandate is to “enhance the health and well-being of all Americans, by providing for effective health and human services and by fostering sound, sustained advances in the sciences underlying medicine, public health, and social services,” according to its website.

Read more …

“Today, these countries not only occupy most of the earth’s land and constitute the majority of the world’s population but they also account for the majority of the world’s GDP.”

The ‘Golden Billion’ Has Lost Its Crown (Bobrov)

In economics and sociology, there’s a well-known observation called the Pareto Principle. Named after the Franco-Italian thinker Vilfredo Pareto, it is often summarized as the “80/20 rule”: 20 percent of efforts yield 80 percent of results, while the remaining 80 percent of efforts account for just 20 percent. Over time, this idea inspired Western “elite theory,” a convenient justification for why every society contains an active minority that dominates a passive majority – why 20 percent of the population holds 80 percent of the wealth. Today, the principle has outgrown national borders. In diplomacy, it has come to symbolize a deeper conflict: the “global minority” versus the “global majority.”

The first group, sometimes called the “golden billion,” began to take shape in the late 20th and early 21st centuries under the Democratic administrations in the United States and their allies in the G7 and NATO. This group gradually solidified its position through exploiting globalization in their favor. In contrast, the latter group, resisting the formation of a unipolar world and advocating for a more equitable multipolar global order, has gained increasing significance on the world stage. This momentum has been fueled not only by the individual efforts of nations like Russia, China, and India but also through the establishment of fundamentally new institutions for multilateral diplomacy such as BRICS, the SCO, and others.

Achieving significant progress in diminishing the hegemony of the collective West, evidenced by the SCO+ summit in Tianjin (August 31 – September 1, 2025) which became the largest in the organization’s history, and the second BRICS summit during Brazil’s presidency this year (September 8, 2025), the nations of the ‘global majority’ have effectively reversed the Pareto principle. Today, these countries not only occupy most of the earth’s land and constitute the majority of the world’s population but they also account for the majority of the world’s GDP. Leveraging their vast reserves of essential resources and consistently demonstrating robust economic growth, these nations have achieved remarkable success by overcoming internal divisions and consolidating power with the support of their populations.

In stark contrast, the countries of the “global minority” are witnessing an opposite trend. As they lose their leading positions in the global economy and access to key natural resources, political fragmentation is becoming prevalent. In many of these nations, an active minority with low trust ratings clings to power. This has resulted in deepening societal divides in numerous countries – from the US, UK, and France to Poland and Israel – and a clear paralysis of government authority. For instance, in the US, the Democrats, who are rapidly losing ground, are resorting to increasingly radical political tactics.

Read more …

NOTE: Russian debt-to-GDP is 18-20%. US debt-to-GDP is 124%.

Bank of Russia Governor Dismisses Talk Of Recession (RT)

Russia is not in recession, central bank governor Elvira Nabiullina said on Thursday, adding that a slowdown in growth should not be mistaken for an outright contraction. Since the Ukraine conflict escalated in 2022, Russia has operated under sweeping Western sanctions. The economy, however, has proved resilient, with GDP expanding 4.1% in 2023 and 4.3% in 2024. Growth is expected to slow to 2.5% this year, with the central bank’s forecast even more cautious, at 1-2%. Nabiullina said Russia was experiencing an economic slowdown but not a recession, stressing that even the criteria for a technical recession — two consecutive quarters of contraction — had not been met.

“One should not confuse a recession, which I agree is associated with very negative phenomena, with an economic slowdown. Yes, the economy is slowing, but there is no recession,” she said at the Moscow Financial Forum. She noted that growth had cooled to more moderate levels after a period of overheating, though the summer months had brought signs of renewed activity, including stronger consumer demand and rising corporate lending. Earlier this month, Russian Economic Development Minister Maksim Reshetnikov said growth was slowing faster than expected and that forecasts were being revised. He had earlier warned that the country was close to recession, with the outcome hinging on policy and interest rates.

The central bank, which raised its key rate to a record 21% in October 2024 to curb inflation, has since cut it to 17%. His warnings were echoed by Sberbank CEO Herman Gref, who described the second quarter (April-June) as a period of “technical stagnation” and urged timely measures, including lower borrowing costs, to avoid slipping into recession. “July and August showed clear signs we are approaching zero growth,” he said. Russian President Vladimir Putin disagreed with the assessment, saying that while many were unhappy with the central bank’s key rate, it was necessary to fight inflation. He warned that sharp cuts to the rate could trigger higher prices.

Read more …

She almost took over Canada.

“ACHIEVED MORE FOR UKRAINIAN FASCISM (2013-2025) THAN HER GRANDFATHER ACHIEVED AS HITLER’S PROPAGANDIST AND SPY (1939-45)”

Great Moments In The History Of Chrystia Freeland’s Failure (Helmer)

Chrystia Freeland’s final leap at political power in her 12-year attempt to rule Canada ended yesterday when she fell flat on her face. Prime Minister Mark Carney, whose push has proved more kinetic than Freeland’s jump, allowed this to be understood when he offered Freeland the less than face-saving post of reconstructing the Ukraine which her warfighting campaign against Russia has all but destroyed. The cost to Canada of this destruction since the Special Military Operation began in February 2022 has been C$22 billion, including about C$13 billion in loans which the Kiev regime cannot repay but which are being serviced from the interest earned on Russian assets seized by the NATO allies. Freeland’s ouster was so rushed, there was no time for her to explain what the hurry was in her departure, nor for Carney to prepare what Freeland would be doing as his special envoy to the Ukraine without any staff or diplomatic rank.

In his official release, Carney appeared not to know that Freeland is resigning her parliamentary seat. According to Carney’s announcement, Freeland had “helped to secure historic trade negotiations, guide the response to a global pandemic, complete early learning and child care agreements across Canada, and…remove all federal barriers to internal trade.” Not a word about the priorities of Freeland’s career, war against Russia and war against China. “I have asked Chrystia to serve as Canada’s new Representative for the Reconstruction of Ukraine,” Carney said, “in addition to her responsibilities as a Member of Parliament.” Carney is believed to have authorized press leaks ahead of his cabinet meeting on Tuesday to reveal Freeland was resigning her combined portfolio of internal trade and transport. In the rush, Carney took several hours before deciding to split the portfolios and assign them to different individuals.

After the cabinet meeting Freeland avoided the press. Returning to her office, she drafted the social media post of a letter which she addressed, not to the prime minister, but to “dear neighbours, dear Canadians.” She then announced: “I do not intend to run in the next federal election.” As her reason for the exit, Freeland claimed she “is not leaving to spend more time with my family or because the burden of elected office is too heavy to bear.” Instead, “after twelve fulfilling years in public life, I know that now is the right time for me to make way for others and to seek fresh changes for myself.”

Freeland had her 57th birthday last month. A Canadian source in a position to know commented that there have been growing policy differences between Carney and Freeland. “Carney has signaled his willingness to lower tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle (EV) imports in order to secure Chinese cooperation on their tariffs on Canadian canola. Freeland is recognized in Beijing as a China-hater who, as we know, made sabotaging Canada’s relationship with Beijing a top priority.” Canola is Canada’s most valuable field crop and farm export, with farm cash receipts of C$12.9 billion in 2024.

China had been importing about two-thirds of the Canadian canola crop until Beijing imposed a 100% tariff on canola oil and canola meal in March, and then a 76% tariff on canola seed in August. This was retaliation against a series of hostile Canadian political and trade attacks on China, culminating in August 2024 in a 100% tariff on EV imports and a 25% tariff on imported Chinese steel and aluminium. Freeland’s “past behaviour”, said the source, “displays that she’s not at all trustworthy, let alone capable of putting the government’s goals in front of her own ambitions. Other members of cabinet didn’t hide their dislike of her from Carney. She has the reputation of blowing up cabinet meetings with clumsy, hysterical attempts to run everyone else’s business. That has threatened Carney. Freeland then underestimated his ruthlessness in getting rid of her.”

Read more …

One oil tanker disaster and….

China To Test Arctic Express Route To Europe (RT)

China is preparing to launch a new shipping route along Russia’s Northern coast, via the Arctic to Europe, Politico has reported on Thursday. The Northern Sea Route (NSR), which runs for thousands of miles through Russia’s Arctic waters along its northern coast, has become more accessible due to receding sea ice and has been hailed in Moscow as an opportunity for new international projects. On September 20 China is sending the Istanbul Bridge container ship on an 18-day trip with icebreaker escort from Ningbo-Zhoushan port to Felixstowe in the UK. The new route is significantly faster than traditional voyages, which take about 40 days via the Suez Canal, 50 days via the Cape of Good Hope at Africa’s southern tip, and around 25 days via Eurasian railways.

“The Arctic is the first region where climate change is changing the geopolitical map,” Malte Humpert of the Arctic Institute told Politico, adding that the region is “changing the geopolitical dynamics because of resources and access to shipping routes.” He noted that while most trade still flows through the Suez Canal, Mediterranean and Singapore, the Arctic could soon become an alternative because the voyage is about 40% shorter and faces “a lot less geopolitical uncertainty.” His comments come as traditional corridors like the Suez Canal have faced piracy flare-ups near the Horn of Africa and missile and drone threats in the Red Sea, pushing some carriers to detour around Africa.

Russia has repeatedly called for international cooperation to develop the Arctic. Earlier this year, President Vladimir Putin outlined goals for the region, including making the Northern Sea Route a central part of the Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor and raising cargo volumes to 70–100 million tons by the end of the decade. He also announced plans to ensure year-round navigation supported by Russia’s exclusive nuclear icebreaker fleet, as well as to expand existing ports such as Murmansk and build new ones along the route. Putin has further highlighted the vast opportunities for oil, gas, metals and rare earth extraction in the Arctic, calling for joint ventures with foreign partners such as China, India, the UAE and others. He has also pledged to expand development of Arctic cities and promote tourism across the region.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Rogan

Yeadon

statins

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

 

 

Sep 182025
 
 September 18, 2025  Posted by at 10:10 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,  60 Responses »


Georgia O’Keeffe Sky above clouds III 1963

 

President Trump and Vice President JD Vance To Attend Charlie Kirk Funeral (CTH)
When Charlie Kirk Died, So Did the Democratic Party (Pinsker)
Kid Rock Blasts Mainstream Media as ‘Public Enemy Number One’ (MN)
Jimmy Kimmel’s Rejection By Broadcasters a ‘Turning Point’ In Media (NYP)
This Ain’t Your Democratic Party’s FBI (Margolis)
Antigone 2.0: Liberals Denounce and Destroy Memorials for Charlie Kirk (Turley)
‘We’d Kick Russia’s Ass’ – Trump’s Special Envoy To Ukraine (RMX)
Zelensky Has No Intention of Ending Conflict With Moscow – MP (RT)
Zelensky Tells West To Put Ukraine First (RT)
EU Plans To Seize €170bn of Russia’s Frozen Funds – FT (RT)
‘No Place’ For EU At Ukraine Talks – Lavrov (RT)
Zelensky Reveals Major Change In Ukrainian Troop Training (RT)
Lavrov Accuses Kiev of ‘Sabotaging’ US Peace Efforts (RT)
Zelensky ‘Losing Touch With Reality’ – Foreign Policy Analysis (RT)
Western ‘Peacekeepers’ In Ukraine Would Be Seen As Occupiers – Lavrov (RT)
‘Russian Drone Attack’ Damage Was Caused By Polish Missile (RT)

 

 

https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/1968410917638397998

https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1968109282886398179

jordan
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1968334714860974158

fetterman

https://twitter.com/SaltyGoat17/status/1968277053050167446

 

 

 

 

“..my prayers and life lessons have guided me to understand that is exactly when it is best to say nothing..”

President Trump and Vice President JD Vance To Attend Charlie Kirk Funeral (CTH)

It is not common when both the sitting President of the United States and the Vice President attend the same funeral together, when it is not a nationally recognized dignitary. Both President Trump and Vice President JD Vance will be honoring Charlie Kirk at the funeral service. It is a fitting and considerate reflection of great honor, worthy of Kirk’s impact.

My dear friends, there is so much background stuff happening we are all watching in the aftermath of the Kirk assassination, it is difficult to find the words for any outline of value. I cannot imagine how challenging life is for Charlie Kirk’s family right now, and out of the greatest respect I feel the best thing to do is just do nothing except honor his faith, work and legacy. I have made the decision not to cover any of the controversial aspects, direct or ancillary, beyond what I have already shared.

Do I have opinions, yes. And when my brain is full of things I want to say – my prayers and life lessons have guided me to understand that is exactly when it is best to say nothing. My inner voice tells me to remain silent on any of the ancillary subjects until Charlie Kirk is laid to rest with great honor and tribute. Then, when it is appropriate, to provide my personal thoughts on facets that may be valuable in context. Feel free to share any subject matter in/around the storyline of this tragedy on any open thread where we can gather in fellowship. I know a lot of people are hurting. Channel that hurt into meaningful prayer for them.

Read more …

“What’s Coming Next Is Even Worse.”

When Charlie Kirk Died, So Did the Democratic Party (Pinsker)

Up until the early 2010s, the emotional appeal of being a good, loyal Democrat was twofold: It signaled to your peers how much you cared about the poor, the environment, and the disadvantaged; and — if you were white — it was “proof” you weren’t a racist. Meanwhile, the GOP was the party of old white dudes, business tycoons, and religious weirdos. As Bill Maher put it in 2011, “[Republicans are] the squares. I’m not putting them down. You need squares to run s**t.” And more or less, that’s how the media portrayed the two parties: Republicans were the stodgy old farts in “Footloose,” and the Democrats were the cool kids who simply wanted to dance, dance, dance. That’s how it was for a very long time. Those were the long-established brand identities, pushed and promoted by Hollywood propaganda.

In the 1972 rom-com Butterflies Are Free, Goldie Hawn quipped, “I joined the Young Republicans. Another mistake. There’s no such thing as a young Republican.” It was a funny line with more than a kernel of truth. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party branded itself as the one-stop shop for young people with big hearts — the party of people with compassion and empathy. The Donkeys were the dreamers, thinkers, lovers, and optimists. Whereas Republicans were bitter, unimaginative, stuck-in-the-past realists, the Democrats led with love. It was showcased in their sloganeering: Make love, not war! Love conquers hate! Keep hope alive! Give peace a chance! Putting people first! The man from Hope! Yes we can! That all began to unravel during the Obama years.

Before, the Democrats were a left-leaning coalition party, comprised of union workers, Catholics, minorities, feminists, tradesmen, Jews, gays, and others. But by the beginning of President Obama’s second term, the Democratic Party had handed the keys to the far left — and the far left alone. This was the first shoe to drop. A union dockworker in New Jersey never had much in common with, say, a committed socialist from Portland, but they still voted Democratic because they believed the Democratic Party better protected their political interests. But when the far left ascended, union workers — and other essential parts of the Donkey’s coalition — began looking elsewhere for representation. Enter Donald Trump and the MAGA movement.

“Give a man a mask, and he will show you his true face.”
—Oscar Wilde

When the Democratic Party swung to the far left, it created an opening for an outsider like Trump to champion the plight of all the Americans left behind. This became the backbone of the MAGA movement, and if the Democrats had half a brain, they would’ve realized this a helluva lot sooner. But they didn’t. They figured that Donald Trump was a bizarre, historic anomaly — a master propagandist with an inexplicable, Svengali-like hold over a gullible audience — and if they got rid of Trump, they’d get rid of the movement. They didn’t understand that MAGA was as much about the left as it was about the right. So they tried character assassination. Criminal charges. A nonstop #Resistance campaign. They even called him Hitler, a fascist, a dictator, a Nazi, and an existential threat to democracy. The American people listened to them, listened to Trump, and then voted MAGA in an electoral landslide.

“Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster. For when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”
—Fredrich Nietzsche

The Democrats failed to change Donald Trump’s brand identity: Trump is still Trump. But they spectacularly succeeded in changing how we perceive them. Between 2016 and 2018 (Trump’s first term), Republicans gained 100,000 more registered voters than Democrats. But just between 2024 and today, the Republican edge has exploded tenfold: They’ve now gained over a million. Something big is happening in the heartland. It’s no secret that the Democratic Party’s brand is in the toilet. As NBC News reported in March of 2025: The Democratic Party has reached an all-time low in popularity in the latest national NBC News poll, as it searches for a path forward after a painful loss to President Donald Trump — and as the party’s voters spoil for a fight between their leaders in Washington and Trump.

Just over a quarter of registered voters (27%) say they have positive views of the party, which is the party’s lowest positive rating in NBC News polling dating back to 1990. Just 7% say those views are “very” positive. And that was all BEFORE the murder of 31-year-old Charlie Kirk shocked and appalled the nation. Question for the audience: If the Democrats’ brand was in the toilet before, where do you think it is today?

“The tiger can’t change his spots. No, wait, he did! Good for him!”
—Jack Handey

Changing a long-established brand identity is very difficult. There’s a reason why rebranding campaigns are so frickin’ expensive: Changing minds and hearts isn’t easy. Usually, it happens one of two ways: “Gradually, then suddenly.” After the gruesome murder of Charlie Kirk, we’re now in the “suddenly” part. For decades, the Democratic Party was shielded by the halo effect: They were the party of love, compassion, and virtue signaling. It gave their brand Teflon. That Teflon is now gone. After a decade of unhinged rhetoric, violence, hate, lawfare, and anger, the American people have realized the ugly truth about today’s Democratic Party:

In 2022, 82% of Democrats said that political violence in the U.S. was a problem. Today, it’s just 58% — a 24-point drop in just three years! (Guess for Democrats, it all depends on who’s in office.) Liberals are four times more likely than conservatives to celebrate the deaths of their political opponents. (Which, if you’ve been online lately, you’ve almost certainly witnessed.) A jaw-dropping one in four “very liberal” Americans believe political violence is justified. (Just 6% of conservatives agreed.) That’s an astonishing 25% of American liberals!

They’ve gone from “Make love not war” to “Make war not love.” They went from “Do your own thing” and “Give peace a chance” to murdering Charlie Kirk because, in the killer’s own words, “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.” On this, the killer is exactly right: Some hate can’t be negotiated out. Instead, it needs to be excised completely. Not just Charlie Kirk died on Sept. 10, 2025. So did the old Democratic Party. Unfortunately, what’s coming in its place is even worse. Today’s Democratic Party is in the process of transitioning to the Democratic Socialist Party. A new national poll from Jacobin makes it crystal clear:

Democrats prefer democratic socialism to capitalism by a 58 point margin. Socialism wins overall with likely voters under forty-five years old. […] Candidates who identify as democratic socialists are viewed just as favorably (+69) among registered Democrats as candidates who identify only as Democrats (+67). Prediction: The Democratic Party will rebrand itself as the Democratic Socialist Party, because that’s what their liberal base demands. Each year, as older Democrats die off, the Democratic Socialist advantage will steadily grow within the party. This divide will spread like wildfire during the 2026 midterms — and by 2028, it will devour the remnants of whatever’s left. The future is theirs. The Democratic Party is dead. Long live the Democratic Socialists.

Read more …

“..the media is “incentivizing these loner kids to take shots so that they can be heroes.”

Kid Rock Blasts Mainstream Media as ‘Public Enemy Number One’ (MN)

Musician and outspoken conservative Kid Rock has labelled the mainstream media as “public enemy number one” in the aftermath of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s shocking murder… In an interview with Fox News’ Jesse Watters, Rock argued that inflammatory rhetoric from outlets like The New York Times and other “nut houses” has fueled dangerous narratives. “I’ve said it and I’ll say it again… The mainstream media is the fricking public enemy number one right now,” he declared, further noting that repeated labels of “racist” and “Nazi” directed at conservatives like himself and Kirk incite unstable individuals to violence.

https://twitter.com/JesseBWatters/status/1967765814473294227?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1967765814473294227%7Ctwgr%5E6ec01cdec1cbe1a86846d2d037fa5993658d73cf%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmodernity.news%2F2025%2F09%2F16%2Fkid-rock-blasts-mainstream-media-as-public-enemy-number-one-following-kirk-assassination%2F

Drawing from personal experience, Rock noted, “They’ve called me a racist Nazi for years now… Go look up the few facts about my life.” He described how such echoes build up, influencing “nut house kids” who spend their time “playing video games, watching these occult movies that are all over our streaming services” instead of engaging in productive activities. These individuals, he said, end up thinking, “I’m going to go kill a Nazi, I’ma go kill a racist,” leading to tragic outcomes like Kirk’s death. Rock, a longtime Trump supporter, warned that the media is “incentivizing these loner kids to take shots so that they can be heroes.” He criticized the cycle where, after violence, calls for unity quickly dissolve into more divisive language, with conservatives again branded as “fascists.”

Shifting to a broader message, Rock emphasized restraint but issued a stark warning to those celebrating Kirk’s death or vandalizing vigils: “You’re gonna keep it up, you’re gonna run into the wrong people.” “It’s not gonna be pretty. It’s gonna be very ugly, terrible,” he further urged. The musician stressed the need for dialogue, saying, “We gotta start listening to each other and respect one another,” while acknowledging extremists exist on both sides but pointing to the left’s “echo chamber” as particularly problematic. Rock highlighted the need for de-escalation while holding the media accountable for escalating rhetoric.

Read more …

Not some top down decision. It was the small local broadcasters who’d had enough.

Jimmy Kimmel’s Rejection By Broadcasters a ‘Turning Point’ In Media (NYP)

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr described the “unprecedented” rejection of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel by local broadcasters on Wednesday as a “turning point” for legacy media outlets — which he argued have been serving viewers “progressive foie gras.” The comedian’s show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was taken off the air indefinitely by ABC earlier Wednesday after local broadcasters Nexstar and Sinclair announced plans to pre-empt the program over the host’s controversial comments about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. “This action today by NexStar and Sinclair, frankly, it’s unprecedented,” Carr told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “I can’t imagine another time when we’ve had local broadcasters tell a national programmer like Disney that your content no longer meets the needs and the values of our community.”

Disney is the parent company of ABC, which airs Kimmel’s show on several independently owned affiliates. NexStar and Sinclair, which have licenses with the FCC that require them to operate in the public interest, “stood up” to Disney and ABC, according to Carr. “This is an important turning point,” he said of Kimmel’s show being taken off the air. “There’s more work to go, but I’m very glad to see that American broadcasters are standing up to serve the interests of their community, and we don’t just have this progressive foie gras coming out from New York and Hollywood,” the chairman added. Kimmel, who has long been held in low regard by Republicans and President Trump, outraged conservative viewers Monday by starting his show arguing that Kirk’s suspected killer was part of the “MAGA gang.”

“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” the late-night host said, one day after authorities announced that suspected assassin held a “leftist ideology.” Kimmel has also mocked Trump’s response to the assassination of the Turning Point USA founder, describing it as “how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish,” and he has accused the president of “fanning the flames” of violence. In an interview with conservative podcaster Benny Johnson, Carr had suggested the FCC might take action against Kimmel, ABC and Disney over the comedian’s “news distortion.” “Any license granted by us at the FCC, that comes with it an obligation to operate in the public interest,” the chairman explained.

“You can make a strong argument that this is sort of an intentional effort to mislead the American people, about a very core, fundamental fact, of a very important matter,” Carr said of Kimmel’s remarks about Kirk’s alleged killer. “Frankly, when you see stuff like this, I mean, look, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” he continued, teasing that action against Kimmel isn’t taken by ABC or Disney “there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.” Sinclair, the nation’s largest ABC affiliate group, informed ABC earlier Wednesday that it would not continue to air “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” as a result of the host’s comments. “Mr. Kimmel’s remarks were inappropriate and deeply insensitive at a critical moment for our country,” Vice Chairman Jason Smith said in a statement. “We believe broadcasters have a responsibility to educate and elevate respectful, constructive dialogue in our communities.”

“We appreciate FCC Chairman Carr’s remarks today and this incident highlights the critical need for the FCC to take immediate regulatory action to address control held over local broadcasters by the big national networks.” Nexstar, which owns dozens of stations affiliated with ABC, similarly said it would pre-empt Kimmel’s show “for the foreseeable future.” “Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located,” Nexstar President Andrew Alford said in a statement. “Continuing to give Mr. Kimmel a broadcast platform in the communities we serve is simply not in the public interest at the current time, and we have made the difficult decision to preempt his show in an effort to let cooler heads prevail as we move toward the resumption of respectful, constructive dialogue.”

Read more …

“Americans deserve an FBI that protects the country, not political agendas.”

This Ain’t Your Democratic Party’s FBI (Margolis)

FBI Director Kash Patel returned to Capitol Hill this week, and Democrats probably wish he hadn’t. After embarrassing them in the Senate on Tuesday, Patel appeared before the House on Wednesday, where Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) teed up one of the most devastating moments yet. In a rapid-fire back-and-forth, Jordan highlighted the FBI’s most notorious past controversies, giving Patel the chance to dismantle the smears against him and prove just how different the Bureau looks under his leadership. The exchange left Democrats’ talking points in tatters. “Director, yes or no? Is the FBI still spying on parents at school board meetings?” Jordan asked. “Uh, no sir,” Patel responded. “Is the FBI still targeting Catholics?” Jordan pressed. “No sir.” “Is the FBI still spying on President Trump?” Jordan continued. “I don’t believe so,” Patel said.

Jordan then asked, “Is the FBI still censoring Americans?” “Uh, no sir,” Patel replied. Moving down the list of scandals, Jordan asked if Americans were still being targeted for shopping at Cabela’s or buying Bibles. Patel was clear: “Nobody is targeted for their faith.” Jordan followed up: “Is the FBI still targeting Americans who are pro-life?” “Nobody is targeting anyone for their beliefs,” Patel said.= “What about cooking the books on crime data?” Jordan asked. “The crime data is real,” Patel answered. Jordan pressed further: “Is the FBI still purging agents for conservative viewpoints?” “No one at the FBI is asked their viewpoints on policy,” Patel said. Finally, Jordan raised another notorious controversy: “Is the FBI still labeling the Betsy Ross flag, the flag of the American Revolution, a hate symbol?” “No,” Patel replied.

With those answers on record, Jordan pivoted to the FBI’s progress. “Well, maybe that’s why you’ve been able to… What was the number? Twenty-three thousand bad guys you’ve arrested? A huge increase from the same time period in the previous administration. Think you said 1,400 predators, 4,000 children rescued. It’s those, were those the facts?” “Forty-seven thousand, 35% increase on children rescued,” Patel confirmed. Jordan then referenced the capture of the terrorist responsible for the Abbey Gate bombing during the botched Afghanistan withdrawal. “Yeah. And you got the guy that… Abbey Gate? We had, we had—” “We got the Abbey, we got the Abbey Gate guy,” Patel said.

Jordan noted the sacrifice of a soldier from his own district who was killed in that attack. “Got a guy from the Fourth District of Ohio, lost his life there serving our country. We appreciate that. Maybe when you’re not focused on politics, you can actually do what the FBI is supposed to do, go get the bad guys, right?” “That’s what the men and women of the FBI do,” Patel agreed.

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1968334714860974158

For years, Americans wondered if they could ever trust the FBI again. Under questioning, Patel made one thing clear: sunlight and accountability work. Corruption and political bias don’t survive exposure. Under previous Democrat administrations, the Bureau spied on parents, targeted conservatives, and questioned people for their faith or politics, turning inward on Americans instead of focusing on real threats. Now the FBI is finally doing what it’s supposed to do: going after criminals, rescuing children, and bringing terrorists to justice. The results speak for themselves. The challenge is keeping it that way. Oversight must remain strong, and Congress must hold the bureau accountable. Americans deserve an FBI that protects the country, not political agendas. This ain’t the Democratic Party’s FBI anymore.

Read more …

“A city which belongs to just one man is no true city.”

Antigone 2.0: Liberals Denounce and Destroy Memorials for Charlie Kirk (Turley)

Throughout his short life, Charlie Kirk enraged many by exposing the hate and hypocrisy of the left in higher education. What is astonishing is that he continues to do it even in death. As millions mourn his murder around the world, any expressions of sorrow or respect for Kirk are triggering some on the left. Liberals have been arrested for stomping on or burning memorials to Kirk and others have taken to social media to denounce or mock people expressing regrets over the loss. A courthouse memorial was vandalized while a mural to Kirk had to be restored after an attack. Former Gawker editor Elizabeth Spiers wrote an essay for Nation under the headline: “Charlie Kirk’s Legacy Deserves No Mourning.”

Some of the loudest voices have come from academia. University of California Irvine lecturer Larry Tenney went on the liberal safe space site, BlueSky, to rave in all caps: “WE KNOW WHO CHARLIE KIRK WAS…”F**k off America” “F**k off Trump” and “F**k all you motherfuckers, idgag about any of you.” (For the non-profane literate, “idgag” means “I don’t give a f**k”). What is clear from the diatribe is that Kirk also knew exactly who people like Tenney are. He knew that even his appearance or that of his group on campus would trigger many in academia. For the speech-intolerant, any invitation to debate issues like abortion or transgender policies is intolerable. You are expected to accept their positions as righteous or face their rage.

What was even more annoying was the fact that Kirk was winning the debate, young people trapped in the academic echo chamber were showing up en masse as they did at the rally where he died. Faculty converted higher education into the current echo chamber and then treated students as a captive audience. When given a choice, many rushed to hear alternative views. Fordham School of Law Professor John Pfaff joined the chorus of those objecting to expressions of respect or regret. Most tellingly, the sin that disqualified Kirk was that he implemented Professor Watchlist, a list of professors deemed the most intolerant and partisan on campuses, so that students could avoid their classes. Pfaff posted: “Just a reminder Kirk’s organization established the Professor Watchlist, which even the NYT framed as a threat to academic freedom. I don’t get why ppl keep describing him as a good-faith debater. One can say ‘Kirk should not have been murdered’ (which is true!) without engaging in hagiography.”

In Pfaff’s siloed world, the New York Times is apparently so conservative that it is remarkable that “even the NYT” criticized the list. The comment only served to confirm that the relevant scale of comparison for academics today runs exclusively from the left to the far left. At the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Anthropology professor Tamar Shirinian. Tamar Shirinian wrote: “The world is better off without him in it. Even those who are claiming to be sad for his wife and kids….like, his kids are better off living in a world without a disgusting psychopath like him and his wife, well, she’s a sick fuck for marrying him so I dont care about her feelings.”

Syracuse University political science assistant professor Jenn M. Jackson announced “him dying this ways seems both ironic and in line with his own politics.” Others warned that anyone expressing sorrow was only self-identifying for future lists of fascists. Martin Pfeiffer, PH.D candidate at the University of New Mexico, warned, “Charlie Kirk was a vicious, hateful fascist and white supremacist. To say anything else is a lie and, quite frankly, fascist collaboration.” Across the country, efforts by a few professors to get their colleagues to sign letters expressing condolences or concerns over the murder were derailed by some of the same passive-aggressive ideologues who engaged in pearl-clutching objections over divisive positions.

What is most striking about these academics is the total lack of self-awareness, even as they adopt the very intolerance of historical villains in their classes. The response of these professors is reminiscent of the Greek tragedy Antigone by Sophocles in 441 BCE. In the story, the two sons of Oedipus fight to the death for the throne of Thebes. The tyrant ruler Creon ordered that his favorite of the brothers, Eteocles, be buried with honors while banning anyone from mourning or burying the other brother, Polynices. To be left on the ground unburied and unmourned was considered a great dishonor and sacrilege. It was too much for his sister, Antigone, who defied the tyrant and buried her brother. For that, Antigone was walled up in a cave and committed suicide. Kirk’s critics will allow him to be buried, of course, but some cannot tolerate mourning his passing any more than they could tolerate his speaking.

I have opposed calls for firing academics making hateful comments outside of their official duties or accounts. Charlie spent his life opposing cancel campaigns and censorship. However, it is crushingly ironic to see media and faculty suddenly outraged about cancel campaigns after years of ignoring the purging of conservatives from campuses. Most faculty crying foul today have been entirely silent when conservatives, including Kirk, were targeted in the past. Faculty have spent decades purging conservatives and libertarians from departments, leaving higher education mired in orthodoxy and intolerance. It is the education version of what Sophocles wrote in Antigone: “A city which belongs to just one man is no true city.” In the same way, a university which belongs to only liberal idelogy is no true university.

Read more …

Trump has two special envoys. Witkoff travels around, Kellogg stays in Kiev. He’s either too dumb to be true, or an empty propaganda tool. In either case, he can be useful to Trump.

‘We’d Kick Russia’s Ass’ – Trump’s Special Envoy To Ukraine (RMX)

Assistant to U.S. President Donald Trump and Special Presidential Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg had a lot to say on Russia’s famed might and those recent drone incursions into NATO airspace. Claiming 19 incursions cannot be an accident, Trump’s envoy said Vladimir Putin “is acting purposefully, he’s sending a signal, and he wants to hear a response,” reports Ukrainska Pravda. “Ukraine will not lose this war. Ukrainians have a moral superiority over Russia, that’s obvious,” Kellogg also noted, specifically praising Ukraine’s advanced drone production capabilities. As to Russia, he said during the interview at the YES Annual Meeting 2025, “They talk a big game,” adding that Putin often likes to tout that Russia is a nuclear power, but other Western powers have nuclear weapons too.

On the topic of Russian superiority, “We’d kick their ass (…) They’re not as good as Putin says they are.” He also credits Ukraine with helping curb Moscow’s military might. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine also confirmed to U.S. President Trump that Russia is “not winning” the war, according to Kellog. “If he was winning, he’d be in Kyiv,” Kellog added, again giving credit to Ukraine for slashing Russia’s military power. Posting on X, Kellog said, “The vision of our country is to see a halt to the death and destruction and restore peace and stability in Europe. Promoting peace over endless wars and proxy conflicts abroad is a defining feature of the America First leadership of President Donald J. Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.”

Kellogg also spoke about Russia’s total dependence on China. “Russia has now become China’s junior partner. At present, we can say that China has both an economic advantage over Russia and a military advantage, and even historically. I will say more – if China completely cut off its aid to Russia, – this war would end tomorrow,” Kellogg claims. Urging more aggressive action, including further sanctions, against Putin, Trump’s envoy maintained that Russia does not have “the capacity that they had that they could march towards Berlin or anywhere else.”

Read more …

“..he intends to fight to the last, but, of course, with others doing the fighting..”

Zelensky Has No Intention of Ending Conflict With Moscow – MP (RT)

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has no intention of ending the hostilities with Russia, while ordinary people pay the price, Verkhovna Rada MP Georgy Mazurashu has said. Mazurashu said Zelensky outlined his position at a meeting with members of his Servant of the People party on Tuesday, a stance the MP claimed is widely shared by the Ukrainian leader’s inner circle. ”At yesterday’s closed meeting… Zelensky, like other individuals exempt from military service, made it clear that he intends to fight to the last, but, of course, with others doing the fighting,” the deputy said in a video on his Telegram channel on Wednesday.

Ukraine’s mobilization drive, launched to refill depleted ranks amid heavy losses and Russia’s steady frontline advances, has become increasingly chaotic and violent, marred by abuse, injuries, and even deaths of conscripts. Mazurashu has previously called it a “shameful hunt for citizens.” The MP said Zelensky estimated Ukraine would need another $120 billion to fund the armed forces if the conflict drags into 2026, adding that the leader was “still unclear where to get” half of that sum. “And he now wants to focus on finding these funds – abroad, of course,” Mazurashu remarked. Amid battlefield losses, Zelensky has pressed Western backers for more aid, tying it to the security guarantees he says Kiev needs before agreeing to any settlement.

In a Sky News interview on Tuesday, he urged the West to put Ukraine’s needs above its own, boost financial and military support, and impose sanctions that would “really hurt” Russia’s economy.Moscow has warned that foreign aid only prolongs the conflict. It says it does not oppose security guarantees for Kiev in principle, but insists they must follow a peace deal – one requiring Ukraine’s neutrality, demilitarization, and recognition of new territorial realities – not precede it. On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused Kiev of sabotaging peace efforts, including mediation by US President Donald Trump. He said Washington understands the conflict cannot be resolved without addressing its root causes, while Kiev and its European backers refuse to do so.

Read more …

“I believe that all countries need to stop thinking about themselves..”

Zelensky Tells West To Put Ukraine First (RT)

Western states should put Ukraine’s needs above their own, Vladimir Zelensky has suggested, accusing the EU and US of dragging their feet on new sanctions against Russia. Moscow has faced sweeping restrictions from Kiev’s Western backers since the Ukraine conflict escalated in 2022. The EU has adopted 18 sanctions packages and is debating its next measures. Since Donald Trump returned to the White House, Washington has been cautious about new measures amid a thaw with Moscow. Trump has warned, however, that he could turn to sanctions if the conflict persists. In an interview with Sky News aired on Tuesday, Zelensky claimed deliberations about possible blowback from further sanctions were a “dangerous” waste of time.

“I believe that all countries need to stop thinking about themselves and their future relations with Russia, but instead think more about Ukraine, because it’s today and now,” he said. “This is very dangerous, and to be frank, dishonest.” Zelensky said Trump’s call for European countries to cut Russian energy imports and impose tariffs on buyers such as China and India was understandable, but claimed the US must not wait for Brussels, which he accused of hiding behind bureaucracy. “President Trump, I think, believes that if he were to apply all strong sanctions, he would close diplomacy with Russians… But we can’t wait for all European countries to stop relations with Russia,” he said. “All that’s lacking now is a strong sanctions package from the US.”

Zelensky also insisted that Kiev needs a “clear position” from Trump on sanctions and firm security guarantees before any settlement. Trump has urged European countries to stop importing Russian oil and gas and pledged to then consider sanctions. He has also demanded the bloc impose steep tariffs on India and China, the top buyers of Russian crude. According to reports on Tuesday, the European Commission will delay its next sanctions package while members weigh how to meet Trump’s demands. Moscow insists sanctions have been unable to harm its economy and that they will inevitably backfire. It says any settlement must include Ukrainian neutrality, demilitarization, and recognition of territorial changes, while security guarantees for Kiev are possible only after a final deal.

Read more …

Plenty European assets in Russia. American, even better. Tell Chevron to apply for compensation in Brussels.

EU Plans To Seize €170bn of Russia’s Frozen Funds – FT (RT)

Brussels is pressing ahead with a plan to use €170 billion of Russia’s frozen sovereign assets to back “reparation loans” for Ukraine, the Financial Times has reported. The EU faces growing pressure to find additional funding for Kiev as US cuts back its support. Moscow has condemned the asset freeze and warned that any seizure of its money would amount to “theft.” Western nations froze an estimated $300 billion in Russian funds after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022 – some €200 billion of which is held by Brussels-based clearinghouse Euroclear. The funds have accrued billions in interest, and the West has explored ways to use this revenue to finance Ukraine. While refraining from outright seizure, the G7 last year backed a plan to provide Kiev with $50 billion in loans to be repaid using the profits generated by the funds. The EU pledged $21 billion.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has proposed going further by creating a ‘reparation loans’ mechanism, which she described as urgently needed to finance Kiev. People familiar with discussions said the plan involves channeling cash balances from Russia’s immobilized assets into EU-issued bonds, with the proceeds transferred to Ukraine in tranches. Brussels argues the system would provide Kiev with immediate support while sidestepping a formal seizure. A second option under consideration would involve creating a special-purpose vehicle to manage the loans, which could also allow non-EU partners to take part.

Of the funds frozen at Euroclear, about €170 billion has already matured and now sits as cash on the clearinghouse’s books, the sources said. The plans have already drawn objections from member states. Belgium, Germany, and France have warned that dipping into the principal risks breaking the law and undermining confidence in the euro. Brussels is under pressure to cover a significant portion of Ukraine’s needs as Washington holds back on new aid, the FT wrote. According to a US note circulated among G7 capitals and cited by the outlet, members were urged to consider seizing the sovereign assets principal “innovatively” to fund Ukraine. Moscow warned that any attempt to use the assets “will not go unanswered.”

Read more …

“..maintains a “position of revanchism, of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia” while debating a potential troop deployment to Ukraine in case of a ceasefire.”

‘No Place’ For EU At Ukraine Talks – Lavrov (RT)

EU nations are trying to elbow their way into the Ukraine peace process despite their openly hostile stance toward Russia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said, stressing that the bloc should be kept out of the talks for that reason. Speaking at an embassy roundtable about the Ukraine crisis on Wednesday, Lavrov said that EU countries are “clearly trying, quite brazenly, to reclaim a place at the negotiating table.” The minister, however, signaled that they have no business there. The bloc, he argued, maintains a “position of revanchism, of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia” while debating a potential troop deployment to Ukraine in case of a ceasefire. “There is, of course, no place for it at the negotiating table,” he stressed.

Moscow has consistently opposed the deployment of any Western troops in the neighboring country under any pretext, saying that one of the key reasons for the conflict was NATO’s expansion towards Russia’s doorstep. It has also warned that any unauthorized foreign troops in Ukraine would be considered “a legitimate military target.” Lavrov also noted that both the EU and Kiev are seeking to convince US President Donald Trump to abandon his push to settle the conflict and relapse into a stand-off with Russia. [They want], essentially, to turn Biden’s war into Trump’s war,” he said.

Since returning to office in January, Trump has been seeking to mediate an end to the Ukraine conflict, spearheading several rounds of talks with Russia. The effort culminated in a US-Russia summit in Alaska in mid-August — notably without EU or Ukrainian participation — which both sides described as highly productive. Although no breakthrough was reached, Trump later said Ukraine could neither expect to join NATO nor reclaim Crimea, which voted to join Russia in a 2014 referendum held after a Western-backed coup in Kiev. He has also shifted focus from seeking a temporary ceasefire to pursuing a permanent peace settlement.

Read more …

HA! They will train “at home” from now on, because:

“Earlier this year, it was revealed that Ukraine’s elite 155th Mechanized Brigade, partially trained in France, was plagued with mass desertion, with dozens of recruits reportedly going AWOL on French soil.”

Zelensky Reveals Major Change In Ukrainian Troop Training (RT)

Kiev no longer needs to send soldiers to train abroad because its troops learn more by fighting the Russian army, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has said. Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, Kiev has dispatched groups of recruits to Britain, France, Germany, Poland, the US, and other countries, primarily to train using Western-made armored vehicles and artillery. By 2023, “we understood that we can’t train our people there because the war [has] changed,” Zelensky told Sky News in an interview aired on Tuesday. When the soldiers returned home, they already had to be “retrained,” he added.

Earlier this year, it was revealed that Ukraine’s elite 155th Mechanized Brigade, partially trained in France, was plagued with mass desertion, with dozens of recruits reportedly going AWOL on French soil. Mikhail Drapaty, who led Ukraine’s Ground Forces at the time, said that the poor quality and low morale of the officers contributed to the unit’s problems. Zelensky claimed that currently only Russia and Ukraine know how to fight a modern “technological” war, particularly using state-of-the-art drones, adding that Kiev is ready to share its knowledge.

“We are inviting officers and representatives of other countries to learn here. Some of them are coming,” he said. “We are in the best shape technologically. We can be helpful to all of the world.” The technology and tactics on the battlefield evolve faster than the West makes decisions to fund Ukraine’s military, Zelensky said, urging Kiev’s backers to put more pressure on Russia. In March, Vadim Sukharevsky, the then-commander of Ukraine’s UAV forces, warned that “not a single NATO army is ready to resist the cascade of drones.” Military experts have said that a recent alleged drone incursion in Poland exposed the lack of robust anti-UAV defenses.

Read more …

“..neither Kiev nor its European backers appear to be genuinely interested in peace and are actively trying to prolong the conflict.”

Lavrov Accuses Kiev of ‘Sabotaging’ US Peace Efforts (RT)

Kiev is actively trying to sabotage US President Donald Trump’s efforts to peacefully resolve the Ukraine conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. He added that Washington appears to understand the need to resolve the root causes of the crisis.Speaking at a roundtable discussion of the Ukraine conflict on Wednesday, Lavrov noted that during the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska last month, the American side agreed that actions need to be taken to address the underlying issues of the crisis. He added that US special envoy Steve Witkoff later conveyed his assessment of the summit to the Ukrainian side.

”As we understand it, these assessments, these considerations, and these proposals have been rejected by Kiev,” Lavrov said, adding that the Ukrainian side is “trying in every way to sabotage this American administration’s line.” The foreign minister suggested that both Ukrainian and Western European leaders are trying to convince Trump to abandon his peacemaking efforts and return to confrontation with Russia, and “essentially turn Biden’s war into Trump’s.”

Lavrov went on to say that Europe has been desperately trying to win a place for itself at the negotiating table. He stressed, however, that given its open position of revanchism and its goal of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia, it has “nothing to do at the negotiating table.” Throughout the conflict, Moscow has stressed that it is open to a peaceful settlement, as long as it includes a Ukrainian commitment to neutrality, demilitarization, denazification, and acceptance of the new territorial realities. However, Russian officials, including Lavrov, have said neither Kiev nor its European backers appear to be genuinely interested in peace and are actively trying to prolong the conflict.

Read more …

“A draft law imposing sentences for military insubordination, described as “draconian,” proposed that desertion or absence without leave carry a prison term of up to 12 years, with no amnesty even for voluntary return.”

Zelensky ‘Losing Touch With Reality’ – Foreign Policy Analysis (RT)

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky and his closest advisers are “losing touch with reality,” as shown by a series of policy and legislative mistakes that have sparked public uproar, analysis published in Foreign Policy claims, citing local sources and experts. The Ukrainian government recently attempted to push through two major measures designed to buttress the armed forces, but sources in Kiev have told journalist Paul Hockenos that each spawned backlash and raised questions about whether the country’s leadership is in tune with the concerns of ordinary Ukrainians. A draft law imposing sentences for military insubordination, described as “draconian,” proposed that desertion or absence without leave carry a prison term of up to 12 years, with no amnesty even for voluntary return.

The bill triggered protests, with activists carrying placards reading “Army service is not slavery,” prompting the authorities to withdraw the legislation. The second move relaxed martial law travel restrictions by allowing men aged between 18 and 22 to leave Ukraine. Martial law had previously barred all men aged between 18 and 60 from travel outside the country. Instead of relief, the reform stirred concern that young men might leave in large numbers, undermining future recruitment and worsening Ukraine’s long-standing demographic problems. One of the most significant blunders of Zelensky’s team was an attempt to crack down on anti-corruption bodies. This summer, Kiev attempted to strip the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) of independence, citing Russian influence, but the move resulted in mass protests, prompting the Ukrainian leadership to backpedal on the reform.

Defense analyst Dmitry K. told Hockenos that Zelensky’s inner circle “exists in a vacuum … They live in a bubble. Some advisers are very good, but they’re obviously not getting a consistent flow of relevant information.” An August poll by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology suggested that public trust in Zelensky had slumped by 7% in a month, standing at 58%. In July, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service reported that Western officials had secretly met with key Ukrainian powerbrokers to discuss ousting Zelensky and lining up a potential replacement.

Read more …

“[Western Europeans] tried… to prevent [US President Donald] Trump’s administration from moving toward promoting a real settlement…”

Western ‘Peacekeepers’ In Ukraine Would Be Seen As Occupiers – Lavrov (RT)

Russia would view Western ‘peacekeepers’ in Ukraine simply as “occupation forces,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. Speaking at an embassy roundtable on Wednesday, Lavrov warned that any foreign troops entering the conflict zone alongside Kiev’s forces would be treated as legitimate targets by the Russian military. Members of the so-called “coalition of the willing,” a group of Western states pushing for continued aid to Kiev, have floated deploying NATO troops to Ukraine to monitor a potential ceasefire as part of security guarantees demanded by Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky. Moscow has repeatedly rejected any Western military presence, whether labeled peacekeepers or otherwise.

Lavrov dismissed the proposals as absurd, likening the people behind them to pompous characters from old Russian satire – full of themselves but with no real influence. He argued that these initiatives are just a way to delay serious peace talks that could actually deal with the deeper causes of the conflict. “[Western Europeans] tried… to prevent [US President Donald] Trump’s administration from moving toward promoting a real settlement… by pumping up the Zelensky regime with weapons, and recently also by forming some peacekeeping, but essentially occupational, forces, by talking about creating a no-fly zone over Ukraine,” Lavrov said. “If some part of Ukraine becomes a territory where so-called peacekeepers are deployed, and Western security guarantees aimed against Russia are in effect for this part of Ukraine, this will mean only one thing: that the West has occupied [this territory],” he added.

The diplomat stressed that any European military contingents in Ukraine would be legitimate targets for the Russian military, noting that Moscow has long warned about this. While Russia says it does not oppose Western security guarantees for Ukraine in principle, it insists they be backed by UN Security Council members, including China. Moscow has stressed that such guarantees must not be “one-sided” or aimed at containing Russia and should come only after a peace deal, not before. Moscow has repeatedly said it is open to a diplomatic solution to the conflict but insists any settlement must address its underlying causes and include Ukraine abandoning its NATO ambitions, pledging neutrality, demilitarizing, and recognizing the new territorial realities.

Read more …

“.. cited sources in Poland’s security agencies as saying the object was in fact an AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missile fired from a Polish F-16 jet.”

‘Russian Drone Attack’ Damage Was Caused By Polish Missile (RT)

The only confirmed damage from what Poland claims was a Russian drone incursion was actually caused by a Polish missile which struck a residential building by mistake, Rzeczpospolita has reported, citing sources. Polish officials last week reported at least 19 violations of the country’s airspace by drones, saying up to four UAVs had been downed while accusing Moscow of being behind the incident. Russia has rejected the accusation, insisting its drones only strike Ukrainian military-related facilities and noting that Western leaders “accuse Russia of provocations on a daily basis, most often declining to offer any arguments.” Rzeczpospolita reported on Tuesday that most of the drones involved in the incident were not carrying explosives and caused no damage.

However, one exception was in the village of Wyryki Wola near the border with Belarus, where what was described by Poland as an “unidentified flying object” crashed into a private home, damaging the roof but without causing casualties. Western media reports claimed that the home had been hit by a Russian drone. Investigators have declined to say what exactly struck the building, only stating that the object was not identified as a drone. Rzeczpospolita, however, cited sources in Poland’s security agencies as saying the object was in fact an AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missile fired from a Polish F-16 jet. The missile reportedly suffered a guidance system malfunction and did not explode only because its safety devices prevented detonation.

The missile, around three meters long and weighing over 150kg, is said to have struck the house after being fired in an attempt to shoot down a drone.Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk did not comment on the report but scrambled to take aim at Moscow. “The entire responsibility for the damage to the house in Wyryki rests with… Russia… Hands off Polish soldiers,” he said. On Sunday, Tusk also complained that the drone incident had caused a wave of “antipathy towards a struggling Ukraine,” claiming, without proof, that this was being fueled by Moscow. He stressed that Warsaw’s goal is “to stem this tide,” portraying it as a “test of patriotism.”

Read more …

 

 

 

 

CDC


https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1968344861829943330

GMO

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

 

 

Sep 172025
 


Camille Pissarro Plum Trees in Blossom, Éragny 1894

 

Charlie Kirk’s Challenge to a Generation To Be His Legacy (Victor Davis Hanson)
Charlie Kirk Murder Investigation Expands (Margolis)
News Anchor Resigns After Being Suspended Over On-Air Charlie Kirk Tribute (ET)
Utah Attorney Reveals Why Robinson Killed Kirk in Shooter’s Own Words (Salgado)
Charlie Kirk Shooter Confessed to Murder in Discord Chat Group (CTH)
Biden’s FBI Targeted Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA (Margolis)
Appeals Court Rules Lisa Cook Can Remain On Federal Reserve Board For Now (JTN)
Fed Governor Lisa Cook Used as Tool Against Trump Administration (CTH)
Georgia Supreme Court Rejects Fani Willis’ Bid To Prosecute Trump (JTN)
The American Dilemma (Paul Craig Roberts)
Arab States Call For UN Suspension of Israel (RT)
Israel Guilty of Genocide In Gaza – UN Commission (RT)
Zelensky Is ‘Going To Have To Make A Deal’ With Russia, Trump Urges (ZH)
Kaja Kallas’ Ignorance Betrays The EU’s Bleak Future (Gao Jian)
EU Delays New Russia Sanctions Indefinitely – Politico (RT)
Lindsey Graham Threatens Hungary and Slovakia Over Russian Oil (RT)
Von der Leyen Facing Two No-Confidence Motions – Politico (RT)
Russians Largely Aligned With Americans On Moral Values (RT)

 

 

https://twitter.com/MonBreeden/status/1968020140899045394

https://twitter.com/JesseBWatters/status/1968121351434350616

https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1968108500094955605

https://twitter.com/CharlieKirk4evr/status/1968141785450140145

Cruz

https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1967983048479400253

https://twitter.com/GuntherEagleman/status/1967964208751853918

Bongino
https://twitter.com/TRUMP_ARMY_/status/1967927698887499835

 

 

 

 

“..he was a rare individual. And I don’t think we’re gonna see anybody like him. I can’t think of anybody on the conservative or the Left that has that many skills and that many talents and that much energy..”

Charlie Kirk’s Challenge to a Generation To Be His Legacy (Victor Davis Hanson)

I’d like to comment on the legacy of the late Charlie Kirk and why he is going to be remembered and what he accomplished. There’s been a lot of encomia about him, but I think one of the most unusual things that he did was he changed politics, but he didn’t address political issues first. In other words, he saw politics as a reflection of deeper social, economic, and cultural issues. I talked to him in late August, and what he was intent on was trying to tell a new generation of Americans that they were suffering from prolonged adolescence, and part of that wasn’t their fault. He was arguing that the Republican Party cannot empower people like [New York City mayoral candidate] Zohran Mamdani and the socialist Left, who have no solutions and will make things worse, but they have to address why they are popular.

Some of it, of course, is ignorance, but what he was trying to say is that people who cannot afford a home, they cannot afford energy, they cannot afford gasoline, they can’t afford to buy a car, they prolong their adolescence. They do not get married, or they’ve been indoctrinated in college that the nuclear family is toxic, or they don’t understand the beauty of child raising or raising children. And in a larger sense, these personal decisions they’re making are not only making them unhappy, but they’re hurting the country. In other words, we’re suffering from 1.6 fertility, a radical drop in the last quarter century from 2.0 at the turn of the millennium.

And what he was also trying to say is that there were solutions to these problems in sort of the red state paradigm in places like Florida, in places like Texas, in places like Arizona, in places somewhat like Nevada, where people were moving to—4 million, 6 million people a year—and they felt they could afford insurance, they could buy a car, it was safe, homes were affordable, they could get married at an earlier age, they could rediscover traditional norms of their grandparents. So, he was concentrated, not in those areas, but in the swing states, especially in the 2024 election—Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota, not Minnesota so much, but Michigan, somewhat Minnesota—and then blue states because he thought the battle had been won. We turned to common sense in half the country, but he was going as an emissary into hostile territory and telling people:

There is a reason why you’re leaving in the millions. There is a reason why you’re not buying houses. We have to look at zoning laws. We have to look at energy production. We have to unleash people’s individual talent to produce more goods and services at an affordable price. We have to champion the idea that a two-parent family is not aberrant. It was the historical norm for 2,500 years. It’s a good thing to have two or three children. It’s a good thing to be a young person and wanna buy a house in your 20s and not in your 40s, or to have a child in your 20s and not in your late 30s. Nothing wrong with the latter, but he was trying to offer a different paradigm that had proved successful.

The second thing, very quickly, about him is his methodology was as varied as his message. In other words, to get that message across that there were cultural, social, economic factors that reflected one’s political view, and if you’re gonna win people over to the conservative politics, you have to explain socially, culturally, and economically why they’re not receptive at first and what can be done about it. But he also was a good orator. He spoke extemporaneously. He had one year of college, and he waded into Oxford and Cambridge and took on people at, supposedly, the most prestigious universities in the English-speaking world. He could write. He created this huge organization, $100 million budget, somebody—we don’t do that in America without an MBA or a B.A. So, he was a multitalented figure.

And then, finally, as Aristotle said, courage is the most important of all virtues. And he was not afraid of his person. He was not afraid of getting into arguments with people. He was not intimidated by Ph.D.s, J.D.s, MBAs. So, he was a rare individual. And I don’t think we’re gonna see anybody like him. I can’t think of anybody on the conservative or the Left that has that many skills and that many talents and that much energy, and more importantly, saw that the problem with America is not whether you’re conservative or liberal per se, not necessarily, but why you are. And people who have some faith and some vision of being economically viable, and they can marry at an age at which they want to, they can have as many children as they please, they can buy a home, they are happier people. And the Republican Party in the past has not always ensured that they have that opportunity, and he was trying to address it.

Read more …

“Investigators are now pressed with the job of sorting out which of these messages were bluster and which could represent credible coordination or foreknowledge.”

Charlie Kirk Murder Investigation Expands (Margolis)

The investigation into Charlie Kirk’s murder is expanding, and what’s surfacing should trouble every American who still believes that political violence has no place in this country. The shocking assassination during a Turning Point USA event is now looking more and more like a disturbing level of online chatter may have preceded it, some of it so precise that it pointed to the exact day Kirk was killed. According to a report from the Washington Free Beacon, federal investigators are now digging into at least seven social media accounts that showed apparent advance knowledge of the September 10 shooting. These weren’t vague threats or passing remarks. Some of the archived posts, later deleted, referenced that date more than a month in advance. One account posted, “september 10th will be a very interesting day.”

After Kirk was pronounced dead, the same account mockingly added, “I plead the fifth.” Another user wrote on Sept. 3, “itd be funny if someone like charlie kirk got shot on september 10th LMAO.” And strikingly, within minutes of Kirk’s death, a different account crowed, “WE F*****G DID IT.” These aren’t coincidences. They are signals — ugly, public ones — that suggest that elements of the far-left digital underworld were not only cheering for Kirk’s assassination but potentially knew it was coming. Investigators are now pressed with the job of sorting out which of these messages were bluster and which could represent credible coordination or foreknowledge.

Outside sources preserved screenshots of these posts, which allowed federal agents to review data that might otherwise have been lost. Given how swiftly many of these messages got deleted, the push for platform records, IP logs, and account ID information suddenly matters a great deal. Equally alarming are reports that several of the accounts under scrutiny appear tied to transgender-identifying individuals or figures closely adjacent to that ideology. At least one apparently followed Tyler Robinson’s trans partner on TikTok.

Are we supposed to believe that this is all a coincidence? I can’t buy that. That same circle is believed to have reposted the August 6 “interesting day” prediction before gleefully celebrating Kirk’s death. This raises the uncomfortable but unavoidable question: was this purely one man’s crime, or did the poison brew more widely within extremist circles online and offline? We cannot ignore the larger implications. The FBI is now investigating whether other left-leaning groups in Utah had prior knowledge of or even connections to Robinson’s plans. As authorities dig through the tangled web of leftist online chatter, they’re discovering that Kirk’s assassination isn’t merely the act of a lone shooter on a rooftop. It reflects a culture increasingly willing to tolerate, and at times even celebrate, political violence aimed at conservatives. The harsh reality is that when a bullet silences a right-leaning voice, there are corners of America that respond not with outrage but with applause.

Read more …

“..if you do one thing today, make it be with passion, with conviction. Stand up for your friends, stand up for your beliefs, and speak loudly, even if your voice shakes. Your words have meaning, your values have purpose…”

“My resignation is guided by values that are essential to who I am, which I refuse to set aside in order to keep a job. I choose my faith and love of country, and always will.”

News Anchor Resigns After Being Suspended Over On-Air Charlie Kirk Tribute (ET)

A WICS-ABC20 News anchor in Springfield, Illinois, has announced that she is resigning from her position after her employer suspended her for paying tribute to the late Charlie Kirk on air. Beni Harmony paid an impassioned tribute to Kirk, whom she knew personally, during a Sept. 12 segment on ABC20’s Marketplace program. “I want you to know that it’s OK if you feel sadness, it’s OK if you’re grieving,” the host told her TV audience. “Two days ago, I lost a mentor, my first boss, the first person who made me believe in myself, that encouraged me to chase this dream that you’re watching right now, Charlie Kirk. “I want to share with you one of my favourite sayings that Charlie would always tell us at the office, he would yell it from the mountain-tops, so please listen: When conversations stop happening, when individuals become wordless, that’s when violence begins. So, if you do one thing today, make it be with passion, with conviction. Stand up for your friends, stand up for your beliefs, and speak loudly, even if your voice shakes. Your words have meaning, your values have purpose. Never forget that.

“Thank you, CK, you changed my life.”

According to a post Harmony made three days later, she was suspended by her network for the tribute to her former employer, whose assassination on a Utah college campus on Sept. 10 made national headlines. “Many in the mainstream media have been fired or punished for mocking his assassination,” Harmony wrote in a Sept. 15 post on X. “I believe I am the first to be targeted for honoring him on air. “Effective immediately, I have resigned from @WICS_ABC20 after being SUSPENDED for airing a non-partisan tribute to Charlie Kirk this past Friday.” Explaining the reasoning behind her decision to leave the network, Harmony wrote: “My resignation is guided by values that are essential to who I am, which I refuse to set aside in order to keep a job. I choose my faith and love of country, and always will.”

She then thanked her community in the city of Springfield and shared a prayer for the country, Kirk, and his wife and two young children. When asked on X about how people could support her, Harmony said, “While I’m still looking for my next job in media, I recommend everyone support Charlie’s family first.”

Numerous people in leadership positions have lost employment over inappropriate comments in response to the assassination of Kirk. One of the more prominent early cases was the firing of MSNBC analyst Matthew Dowd on Sept. 11, the day after Kirk was fatally shot. Another media commentator, Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah, also said she had been fired over her comments on the assassination of the conservative influencer. Several universities, including Clemson University in South Carolina, and companies, including American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, have terminated employees over their inappropriate comments on Kirk’s murder. Military officials have also said they are looking into disparaging remarks made by service members about the assassination, and that actions that discredit the service will be addressed immediately.

Vice President JD Vance, who was a close friend of Kirk, hosted a special broadcast of “The Charlie Kirk Show” on Sept. 15—a show that Kirk personally hosted every day from October 2020, right up until his death on Sept. 10, 2025. In the special broadcast, Vance called on his fellow Americans to confront the problem of political violence, which he said has “terrible consequences,” such as the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump and the shooting of GOP leader Steve Scalise. “I really do believe we can come together in this country. I believe we must. But unity, real unity, can be found only after climbing the mountain of truth, and there are difficult truths we must confront in our country,” Vance said.

“One truth is that 24 percent of self-described liberals believe it is acceptable to be happy about the death of a political opponent, while only 3 percent of self-described very conservatives agree. Three percent is too many, of course. “Another truth is that 26 percent of young liberals believe political violence is sometimes justified, and only 7 percent of young conservatives say the same—again, too high a number. “The data is clear, people on the left are much likelier to defend and celebrate political violence—this is not a both-sides problem. If both sides have a problem, one side has a much bigger and malignant problem, and that is the truth that must be told.”

His comments come after Kirk’s suspected assassin was identified as Tyler Robinson, who Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said had “clearly a leftist ideology.” FBI Director Kash Patel said on Sept. 13 that Robinson’s father identified his son from footage released during the manhunt for the suspect. Cox also confirmed that investigators are assessing writings, some with anti-fascist content, allegedly left by Robinson, who had a transgender romantic partner. Authorities have not publicly said whether this is relevant as they investigate Robinson’s motive.

Read more …

“If I am able to grab my rifle and … I will have left no evidence, I have to retrieve it again. Hopefully they have moved on. I haven’t seen anything about them finding it.’

Utah Attorney Reveals Why Robinson Killed Kirk in Shooter’s Own Words (Salgado)

Hearing a murderer’s reasons for committing an atrocity will always be disturbing, and the new information released by authorities on the messages of Charlie Kirk’s accused shooter, Tyler Robinson, is sickening and insane. Kirk’s young wife is a widow, and his children will grow up without their father. His family, friends, employees, and many fans will never be able to meet or hear him again. All Kirk did was respectfully and charitably debate people, exposing lies without personally attacking the liars. And yet, Robinson proudly murdered Kirk, based on new allegations, and not only boasted about it to his partner, but justified it as laudable because he claimed Kirk was full of hate. Robinson was so blinded by his own hate that he killed a young father for free speech.

Utah County District Attorney Jeff Gray, after announcing charges against Robinson, including aggravated murder, for which he aims to request the death penalty upon conviction, went on to provide more details from the case. Robinson’s parents both thought that the image released of the shooter looked like their son, and also thought they recognized the rifle once it was retrieved. It seems that Robinson had used his grandfather‘s rather distinctive rifle. Family recalled that Robinson had raged against Kirk’s event at Utah Valley University before it occurred and, ironically, accused Kirk of spreading hatred. Robinson‘s mother also knew that her son had been increasingly radicalized by LGBTQ ideology and was dating a man who identified as a woman, much to his more conservative parents’ chagrin.

After some initial refusal to respond, Robinson did communicate with his father and indicated his desire to commit suicide. Instead, the family ended up convincing him to turn himself in. But the most shocking information came from Robinson‘s roommate, the transgender boyfriend who reportedly disclaimed any prior knowledge of the crime and was able to provide text messages to police. On September 10, the day he assassinated Kirk, Robinson texted his roommate, “Drop what you’re doing. Look under my keyboard.” Gray explained: The roommate looked under the keyboard and found a note that stated ‘I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I’m going to take it.’ Police found a photograph of this note, the following … text exchange then took place. After reading the note, the roommate responded, ‘what you’re joking, right?’

Robinson: ‘I am still okay, my love, but I’m stuck in Orem for a little while longer. It shouldn’t be long until I can come home, but I gotta grab my rifle still. To be honest, I had hoped to keep this secret till I died of old age. I am sorry to involve you.’ The apparently stunned roommate pressed, “You are the one who did it, right?” Robinson replied, “I am, I’m sorry.” The roommate asked about the initial report that the shooter was caught, but Robinson stated that the person was a “crazy old dude” and that the second person interrogated by authorities had simply been wearing similar clothes to Robinson. I think what I found most disturbing about the conversation Gray read out is that Robinson did not seem to have the slightest guilt or regret for what he did. His only regret was that he had not gotten rid of all the evidence to his own satisfaction.

In his mind, it seems, he was a hero for murdering a peaceful debater simply because his victim had not agreed that ideology trumps biology. Gray continued to read: [Robinson:] ‘I had planned to grab my rifle from my drop point shortly after, but most of that side of town got locked down. It’s quiet, almost enough to get out, but there’s one vehicle lingering.’ Roommate: ‘why?’ …Robinson: ‘I had enough of his [Kirk’s] hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out. If I am able to grab my rifle and … I will have left no evidence, I have to retrieve it again. Hopefully they have moved on. I haven’t seen anything about them finding it.’ Roommate: ‘How long have you been planning this?’ Robinson: ‘A bit over a week. I believe I can get close to [the gun], but there is a squad car parked right by it. I think they already swept that spot, but I don’t want to chance it.’

Robinson again: ‘I’m wishing I had circled back and grabbed it as soon as I got to my vehicle, I’m worried what my old man would do if I didn’t bring back grandpa’s rifle.’ Robinson didn’t believe police could trace the weapon to him just based on the serial number since it was technically not his. He was, however, preoccupied by the thought of fingerprints. “I had to leave it in a bush where I changed outfits. Didn’t have the ability or time to bring it with,” Robinson texted. “I might have to abandon it and hope they don’t find prints.” Still displaying no guilt, Robinson amusedly recounted how he had engraved messages on bullet casings that were “mostly a big meme” and cussed about having to abandon the weapon, smugly saying, “grandpa’s gun does just fine.”

And, ever focused on covering his tracks, Robinson urged the roommate to delete the exchange and worriedly said his father, whom he described as “die hard MAGA,” was asking for pictures of the rifle. Robinson did end up messaging his roommate that he was going to turn himself in, but advised the roommate to “stay silent.” The FBI announced, however, that the roommate was cooperating with the FBI, and police executed a search warrant at the residence, which turned up used target boards and engraved shell casings. All of the Democrats who falsely vilified Kirk and continue to do so have blood on their hands. They are complicit in the radicalization of Tyler Robinson. For example, today’s worst take:

Read more …

“It was me at UVU yesterday. im sorry for all of this.”

Charlie Kirk Shooter Confessed to Murder in Discord Chat Group (CTH)

There is a great deal of psychological darkness in the background of the Charlie Kirk murder. I strongly urge readers to stay grounded to faith as you engage review in any aspect of this story. The war between good and evil is taking place in the battle for minds. Originally reported by the Washington Post, apparently Charlie Kirk’s assassin, Tyler Robinson, confessed in a chat room just a few hours before he turned himself in.

WASHINGTON POST – […] The 22-year-old suspect in Charlie Kirk’s killing appears to have confessed to friends in an online chat shortly before turning himself in to law enforcement, according to two people familiar with the chat and screenshots obtained by The Washington Post. “Hey guys, I have bad news for you all,” said a message from an account belonging to the suspect, Tyler Robinson, on the online platform Discord. “It was me at UVU yesterday. im sorry for all of this.” The message was sent Thursday night, about two hours before officials said Robinson was taken into custody. Additionally, as state law enforcement and FBI now say they are expanding their investigation to identify if there was a network working with Tyler Robinson (which seems obvious based on the Discord chat), attention is now being paid to militant transgender groups and NGO’s in the Utah area who seem to connect to Robinson and his transgender boyfriend Lance Twiggs.

All of the research being done is preliminary; however, there does appear to be a Utah network of people within the militant left, connected to both Antifa outlooks and armed transgender activism. The scope of how the networks connect to various funding mechanisms is not yet clear, but radicalization does not happen in a vacuum. “Armed Queers SLC” and a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) known as “Utah Global Diplomacy,” partly funded by the UN appear to be two groups in the region with connections to the overall militant transgender movement: a preliminary motive being explored by federal investigators. The fact that Tyler Robinson was in a Discord chat group with approximately 30 other individuals, does indicate some network of mutually aligned interests that seem to circle around far-left transgender activism.

[…] Discord provided a copy of the message with the confession to authorities, according to a person familiar with the company’s interaction with law enforcement. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation. The message was sent from Robinson’s account to a small private group of online friends, the person said. Discord is working closely with the FBI and local authorities, providing information about Robinson’s online activities on the platform, the person added. Discord has said that an internal investigation found “no evidence that the suspect planned this incident or promoted violence on Discord.”

[…] The Discord conversation shared with The Post shows members of the group chat reacting to Kirk’s shooting Wednesday — before the news broke that Robinson was allegedly involved. The group included about 30 people, according to the person who provided screenshots. “Charlie Kirk got shot,” one friend wrote Wednesday afternoon, according to an image of the messages. “I just saw the video holy s—,” another user wrote about an hour and a half later, adding of Kirk: “Bro didn’t deserve to go out like that sad.” The only response from Robinson’s account came the next day with the message announcing, “bad news i’m surrendering through a sheriff friend in a few moments,” the message, posted at 7:57 p.m. local time in Utah, continued. “thanks for all the good times and laughs, you’ve all been so amazing, thank you all for everything.”

Read more …

“On that political list was one of Charlie Kirk’s groups, Turning Point USA.” [..] Arctic Frost was more than just an anti-Trump operation. It was actually about crippling the Republican political infrastructure.”

Biden’s FBI Targeted Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA (Margolis)

FBI Director Kash Patel faces questions during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday morning, during which Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) revealed that whistleblower revelations showed that Joe Biden’s FBI targeted not just Donald Trump, but a wide swath of Republican organizations — including Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA. Grassley reminded Patel of the FBI’s recent history of political weaponization, pointing directly to an operation known as “Arctic Frost.” “At your nomination hearing, I made public records that whistleblowers provide me about Arctic Frost,” Grassley said. “Arctic Frost was the FBI case opened and approved by anti-Trump FBI Agent Thibeau. Arctic Frost then became Jack Smith’s elector case against then-citizen Trump and now-President Trump.”

According to Grassley, newly obtained records show that the Arctic Frost probe was far broader than previously known. “The case was expanded to Republican organizations,” Grassley explained. “Some examples of the group that Wray and FBI sought to place under political investigation included the Republican National Committee, Republican Attorney General’s Association, and various Trump political groups.” The scope was staggering. “In total, 92 Republican targets, including Republican groups and Republican-linked individuals, were placed under investigative scope of Arctic Frost,” Grassley said. “On that political list was one of Charlie Kirk’s groups, Turning Point USA.” Grassley argued that the evidence proves that Arctic Frost was more than just an anti-Trump operation. It was actually about crippling the Republican political infrastructure.

“In other words, Arctic Frost wasn’t just a case to politically investigate Trump,” Grassley declared. “It was the vehicle by which partisan FBI agents and Department of Justice prosecutors could achieve their partisan ends and improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus.” “So today, Sen. Johnson and I are making these records public for the entire country to see, and I hope a lot of people are interested in seeing what government can do when various agencies have a political agenda,” Grassley said. Grassley also connected the dots to the politically charged prosecution of former Trump adviser Peter Navarro. “My investigative work has also exposed the political way in which Peter Navarro was investigated and prosecuted,” he said, noting one FBI agent’s reaction to Navarro’s charges: “When FBI Agent Thibeau found out that Biden’s DOJ would prosecute Navarro, he said, ‘Wow, great.’ That’s a quote-unquote.”

The exposed weaponization of the FBI isn’t just a matter for Washington insiders; it’s a direct assault on the very foundation of our republic. Americans must demand full transparency and accountability before our institutions become irreparably politicized. This scandal isn’t some partisan gripe; it’s a glaring threat to the democratic process that affects every voter and every election ahead. And let’s not forget, Biden himself set the tone by labeling Trump supporters as enemies of the state. That rhetoric, coupled with a weaponized FBI, created the toxic political climate that ultimately led to Kirk’s assassination.

Read more …

Does she get to keep her cheap mortgage too?

Would murder also not be considered “for cause”?

Appeals Court Rules Lisa Cook Can Remain On Federal Reserve Board For Now (JTN)

A federal appeals court on Monday ruled Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain on the panel while litigation over President Donald Trump’s attempts to fire her plays out. The Trump administration last week appealed a lower court’s ruling that allowed Cook to retain her position on the board of governors. The judge ruled that the allegations of mortgage fraud would likely prove insufficient to justify her dismissal. Cook is accused of mortgage fraud for allegedly listing a secondary residence as a primary residence. Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte filed a criminal referral to the Justice Department to alert them of the issue.

The appeals court sided with the lower court’s ruling in a split 2-1 ruling, according to CNN, ruling that U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb was correct in her assessment that Cook would likely be successful at this stage in two of her claims, including Cook’s claim that the firing violated the Federal Reserve Act’s “for cause” provision. “In this court, the government does not dispute that it failed to provide Cook even minimal process—that is, notice of the allegation against her and a meaningful opportunity to respond—before she was purportedly removed,” Judges Bradley Garcia and Michelle Childs wrote in their opinion.

“The district court issued its preliminary injunction after finding that Cook is likely to succeed on two of her claims: her substantive, statutory claim that she was removed without ‘cause’… and her procedural claim that she did not receive sufficient process prior to her removal in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment,” they added. Judge Gregory Katsas wrote the dissenting opinion, arguing that Trump did attempt to remove Cook “for cause.” The ruling comes ahead of a two-day meeting where the Federal Reserve Board is expected to consider lowering interest rates. The meeting begins on Tuesday.

Read more …

“..the issue around Cook is not as much about her unlawful conduct, as it is the value of what Cook represents in the fight against President Trump.”

Fed Governor Lisa Cook Used as Tool Against Trump Administration (CTH)

We see things for what they are, not what media try to have us believe. Unlike the first term playbook, the Lawfare operation against President Trump is facing a more affirmed attack posture. Instead of Trump (T1) being on constant defense, Trump (T2) is strategically willing to be more confrontational and direct against the use of Lawfare and corrupt courts against Trump’s intended policy changes. T2 Main Justice is still not going to the mattresses as many of us would like, and factually the DOJ and FBI operations are still a weakness in the overall war against the radical left; however, they do appear to recognize that direct aggressive confrontation is needed – despite the shortcomings in their capabilities. In the fight between the executive authority and Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook, the embattled fed governor is being represented by Norm Eisen. Eisen, together with Mary McCord and other ideological travelers represent Lisa Cook and are using the issue as a point of attack against executive power.

In the latest development, in a 2-1 decision, a federal appeals court has rejected President Donald Trump’s bid to quickly fire Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook. The two justices who decided to block Trump were appointed by Joe Biden. The justice who sided with the executive authority was appointed by President Trump. Ultimately, this issue is going to the Supreme Court where hopefully the highest court will rule that President Trump can remove Lisa Cook for cause, because Cook falsified federal mortgage loan documents. But in the bigger picture, the issue around Cook is not as much about her unlawful conduct, as it is the value of what Cook represents in the fight against President Trump.

WASHINGTON DC – […] Judges J, Michelle Childs and Bradley Garcia, both Biden appointees, voted to leave Cook in her post, while Judge Gregory Katsas, a Trump appointee, dissented. The Department of Justice declined comment. Last week, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb rejected Trump’s bid to remove Cook just three years into her 14-year term, saying the president’s justification for the firing — mortgage fraud allegations that have not been adjudicated in any forum — did not meet the legal requirements to overcome laws protecting the independence of the Federal Reserve. While the Supreme Court has repeatedly endorsed Trump’s efforts to remove executive branch officials Congress has sought to insulate from politics, the justices have signaled they view the Federal Reserve as a unique “quasi-private” institution that may put it in a different legal category.

Federal law gives Trump the power to fire members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors “for cause,” which typically means misconduct or malfeasance on the job. Trump said he had cause to fire Cook due to allegations that she claimed in separate mortgage applications that two different homes were her primary residence, which can entitle a homeowner to lower rates. Cook has denied the allegations. The D.C. Circuit’s majority said there was “no need” at this stage of the case for the appeals court to address whether the allegations against Cook meet the “for cause” standard to fire a Fed member or what that standard would require. Childs and Garcia agreed with Cobb’s finding that Cook’s due process rights appeared to have been violated because she wasn’t properly notified of the accusations against her and given a chance to dispute them.

In his dissent, Katsas grappled directly with the definition of “for cause” firing protections for Federal Reserve board members, concluding that the law gives the president broad power to define the “cause.” “The Board of Governors no doubt is important, but that only heightens the government’s interest in ensuring that its Governors are competent and capable of projecting confidence into markets,” Katsas wrote. “And in empowering the President to remove Governors for cause, Congress has specifically assigned that task to the President.” Delving into the president’s determination of cause, Katsas wrote, “would enable a potentially compromised Governor to engage in significant governmental action — such as voting on whether to adjust interest rates, which Cook says she must do tomorrow.”

The Trump administration’s expected emergency appeal will go to Chief Justice John Roberts, who oversees such appeals out of the D.C. Circuit. He’s all but certain to escalate the issue to the full court, but could issue a temporary order blocking Cook from remaining in her post while the litigation plays out. [..] Norm Eisen is a well-known Lawfare operative, second only to Mary McCord in his high visibility and connections to all of the anti-Trump efforts. Eisen, like McCord, is at the center of the leftist effort to stop the Trump agenda through the manipulation of the courts, ie. ‘Lawfare.’

Read more …

“..Georgia’s Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council could appoint a new prosecutor to take the case, that could be a months-long process, leaving the case in limbo.”

Georgia Supreme Court Rejects Fani Willis’ Bid To Prosecute Trump (JTN)

The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ (D) bid to prosecute President Trump over the 2020 presidential election. The court’s 4-3 decision upholds a lower court ruling disqualifying Willis over a “significant appearance of impropriety” because of her romantic relationship with a top prosecutor in the case, The Hill news outlet reported. Willis had attempted to prosecute Trump and his allies in the state on racketeering charges for allegedly attempting to overthrow the 2020 election. While the Georgia’s Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council could appoint a new prosecutor to take the case, that could be a months-long process, leaving the case in limbo.

Trump’s lead attorney in Georgia, Steve Sadow, said in a statement that the state’s high court had “correctly denied review.” “Willis’ misconduct during the investigation and prosecution of President Trump was egregious and she deserved nothing less than disqualification. This proper decision should bring an end to the wrongful political, lawfare persecutions of the President,” Sadow said. Willis’s office had not yet responded to The Hill’s request for comment.

Read more …

“The two most powerful vested interests in America are the US military/security complex and the Israel Lobby. As they share the interest in war and its profits in terms of money and territory, peace faces a powerful counterforce..”

The American Dilemma (Paul Craig Roberts)

The problem that ethnic Americans face is that neither Republicans nor Democrats can represent their interest. The Republicans represent Israel’s interest. The reason for this is that Republicans tend to be more conservative, more religious, and more patriotic than Democrats and are often seen by their opponents as jingoistic. The Republican mentality toward Israel comes from the “Judeo-Christian ethic” and the long Cold War against the Soviet Union. The Judeo-Christian ethic is an oxymoron. God in the Old Testament is angry and vengeful. In the New Testament he is loving and forgiving. The “Judeo-Christian ethnic” is a propaganda term that disarms Christians from seeing Zionists for what they are. During the Cold War of the 20th century, there was much focus on the Middle East. Washington was determined to minimize Soviet influence and to control oil flows.

Israel was hyped as our ally, our base in the Arab Middle East against Soviet Communism. Thus, for conservatives, Israel is just part of America. Two consequences are that conservative Americans are blind to Zionist Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians and to the fake “war on terror” which in actual fact was Israel’s use of American lives and money against Israel’s opponents in the Middle East. Washington has spent the first quarter of the 21st century clearing away obstacles to Greater Israel. The Democrats represent the interests of those who are alleged to be “oppressed by prudes and white racists.” Democrats are the defenders of immigrant-invaders who enter our country illegally. They champion “multiculturalism,” which is white replacement and a Tower of Babel.

Democrats are the champions of sexual perverts. It is more important to a progressive, liberal, leftist Democrat that a male who declares himself a female have access to women’s spaces and athletic competitions than for a criminal suspect to have a fair trial. Democrats think that the most important civil right in the world is for biological males who self-declare themselves “transgendered” into females to take a woman’s place on a swim or soccer team and share the showers with the biological female members of the teams. The Democrats have no concern with the rights of the displaced real women to compete in sports. Similarly, Democrats are concerned with the sexual preference rights of “minor-directed persons” (pedophiles), not with the sexual abuse of children.

Have you not noticed how vehement the Democrat progressive liberal left is in defending the rights of sexual perverts? Indeed, you are not even allowed to use such a term as sexual perverts, because sexual perversions have been normalized by the Democrat liberal left. It is entirely possible that the Democrats will criminalize heterosexual sex, because it produces more “aversive racists,” thus perpetuating white racism. Yes, laugh, but the prospect has already been explored in science fiction. The consequence of the two parties’ indoctrinated biases is that it is impossible for either to represent the values and interests of the ethnic base of America. By supporting whatever crime Israel commits, Republicans maintain their pro-Israel base at the expense of the moral values of their base. Even red states such as Texas and Florida will not give you a state contract or job if you criticize or boycott Israel.

The Democrats, committed as they are to white replacement as all whites are aversive racists, refuse to protect American borders from immigrant-invaders. Democrats are committed to emptying citizenship from meaning. What is the result of the inability of either party to represent Americans? If Republicans are in office, it means wars for Israel. If Democrats are in office, it means open borders and wars against the family, wars against real Christianity not the fake Christian Zionist variety created by Israel, wars against normal heterosexuality, wars against merit and, thereby, the destruction of educational standards, and advancement based on skin color and perverse sexuality. For the Biden regime the ideal candidate was a black transgendered. Biden’s black Secretary of Defense announced that there would be no promotion of white heterosexual males until “equity had been attained.”

Elon Musk was correct when he said that America needs a new political party, one independent of economic, foreign, and ideological interests. But Musk did not say who would finance it. It would take Musk’s entire wealth. The combination of the corrupt US Supreme Court ruling that it is legal for corporations to purchase the US government with campaign contributions and the stupidity of the annual subsidy of billions of US dollars to Israel, which is used by Israel to purchase the House of Representatives, the US Senate, the President and the administration, make it abundantly clear that Americans have a government that is totally incapable of representing Americans.

Throughout the Western World it is not democracy that rules. The Western World is ruled by vested interests whose campaign contributions determine policy. When Putin and Lavrov negotiate with Washington officials, they are not negotiating with a government. They are negotiating with representatives of the private interests whose money places Representatives, Senators, and Presidents in office. The two most powerful vested interests in America are the US military/security complex and the Israel Lobby. As they share the interest in war and its profits in terms of money and territory, peace faces a powerful counterforce as peace does not serve the interests of the two most powerful interest groups in the United States.

Read more …

“..the Qatari capital had been used as a key venue for peace talks between West Jerusalem and Hamas.”

Arab States Call For UN Suspension of Israel (RT)

Arab and Islamic leaders have called for Israel to be suspended from the United Nations over its alleged violations of the organization’s charter. The demand comes amid Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and after last week’s airstrike on Doha which left six people dead, including a Qatari security officer. On Monday, the leaders of the League of Arab States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation convened an emergency summit in Doha. In a final statement following the summit, the group called on member nations to “consider the compatibility of Israel’s membership in the UN with its Charter” and coordinate efforts to suspend Israel from the organization.

Israel has said its Doha strike targeted Hamas officials, although Arab and Islamic leaders branded it a “dangerous escalation that exposes the extremist hostility of the Israeli government.” They also accused Israel of undermining the international mediation and peacemaking process, given that the Qatari capital had been used as a key venue for peace talks between West Jerusalem and Hamas. The statement urged all states to review diplomatic and economic relations with Israel and take “legal and effective measures” to stop Israeli actions, including sanctions, suspension of arms, and dual-use exports. The Israeli offensive in Gaza began on October 7, 2023 after Hamas attacked southern Israel, leaving about 1,200 people dead and more than 250 taken hostage. Over 64,000 people, including women and children, have since reportedly been killed in Israel’s military campaign in the Palestinian enclave.

The conflict has drawn international condemnation with many countries accusing Israel of genocide against the Palestinian people. Israel’s attacks on neighboring countries have also been widely criticized, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denouncing the recent Doha strike as a violation of Qatar’s sovereignty. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani called it “state terrorism.” Russia also said the strike was a blatant violation of international law and the UN Charter. Israel has defended its operations, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisting the Hamas leadership must be eradicated.

Read more …

“It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention.”

Israel Guilty of Genocide In Gaza – UN Commission (RT)

Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, a UN commission of inquiry said in a report published on Tuesday. According to the findings, Israel has committed four of the five genocidal acts defined under the 1948 Genocide Convention since the start of its war with Hamas in 2023. These include killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life aimed at destroying Palestinians in whole or in part, and imposing measures to prevent births. “The commission finds that Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza,” Navi Pillay, chair of the UN body, said at a press conference in Geneva. “It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention.”

Pillay blamed “Israeli authorities at the highest echelons” for “these atrocity crimes,” saying they “have orchestrated a genocidal campaign for almost two years now with the specific intent to destroy the Palestinian group in Gaza.” She added that Israeli authorities have also failed to prevent or punish those responsible by not investigating or prosecuting the perpetrators of genocidal acts. The commission said it had analyzed Israeli actions in Gaza, including “imposing starvation and inhumane conditions of life for Palestinians,” concluding that “genocidal intent was the only reasonable inference.” It also cited the “systematic destruction” of healthcare and education, along with “systematic” sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinians. The commission urged Israel to “end the genocide in Gaza” and called on UN member states to halt arms transfers and prosecute individuals or companies complicit in genocide.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry has rejected the commission’s report as “fake,” accusing its authors of being “Hamas proxies” and calling for the “immediate abolition” of the panel. “The report relies entirely on Hamas falsehoods, laundered and repeated by others,” the ministry claimed. “Israel categorically rejects this distorted and false report and calls for the immediate abolition of this commission of inquiry.” The conflict has continued since October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants launched a surprise assault on southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 250 captive. The Palestinian death toll has risen to 64,905 as of Monday, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. On Tuesday, Israel launched a ground offensive in Gaza City – one of the few areas still outside IDF control – after weeks of intensified strikes on alleged Hamas targets. The move followed the Israeli Security Cabinet’s approval of plans to seize the city last month.

Read more …

“..So far Trump has not been willing. He could simply cut off the weapons and money flows to the Zelensky government if he wanted to – but he’s not even threatening to at this point.”

Zelensky Is ‘Going To Have To Make A Deal’ With Russia, Trump Urges (ZH)

President Trump told reporters in passing on the White House lawn Tuesday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “is going to have to make a deal” with Russia to end the the long-running war. Last month’s historic Alaska Trump-Putin summit failed to produce or lead to anything substantial, other than perhaps an improvement of bilateral relations. Trump acknowledged in the fresh remarks that the Ukrainian and Russian leaders “hate each other,” and said “it looks like I have to sit in the room with them, because they can’t sit in a room together.” “There’s great hatred there. But no, that meeting accomplished a lot,” he said in reference to the Alaska summit. And yet the reality remains that Putin and Zelensky are at this point no closer to actually being in the same room together, much less the same venue, even if other mediators like Trump are there.

Trump also in his comments took the opportunity to apply more pressure on the European Union, saying it must stop all purchases of Russian oil “immediately”. “They’ve got to stop immediately, not fair to us. They’re purchasing Russian oil, and we have to do this,” he said. Ukraine’s Zelensky without doubt wants the next round of EU sanctions to hit Moscow, but has also appeared supportive of Trump calling out Europe’s oil and other energy imports. “I’m sure the US can apply enough sanctions in order to hurt the Russian economy, plus Donald Trump has enough force to make Putin afraid of him,” Zelensky said. Still, Kiev wants to see more and more robust sanctions leveled from Washington’s direction. “Europe has already introduced 18 sanctions packages against Russia. And all that’s lacking now is a strong sanctions package from the US,” Zelensky has said.

As for Trump admitting that Zelensky must make a deal, the big question remains whether Trump is willing to use the significant leverage the United States has over the Ukrainian leader. So far Trump has not been willing. He could simply cut off the weapons and money flows to the Zelensky government if he wanted to – but he’s not even threatening to at this point. Such actions would result in huge pushback from Trump’s own Republicans. So for now, his urging Zelensky to the peace table appears to just be empty words, with no threat of repercussions. Meanwhile: TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CLEARS FIRST UKRAINE ARMS AID PACKAGE PAID FOR BY ALLIES, SOURCES SAY. Currently, there are reports indicating that Trump and Zelensky might meet again next week. At this point, there’s no sign of a Putin-Zelensky meeting being anywhere on the horizon.

Read more …

“.. the EU’s politicians have over-consumed its accountability and jeopardize a still possible peace not just for Europe, but for global balance and security.”

Kaja Kallas’ Ignorance Betrays The EU’s Bleak Future (Gao Jian)

China and Russia on the victorious side of World War II? “That is something new.” When EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas questioned whether China and Russia belonged to the victorious side of WWII during a conference organized by the EU Institute for Security Studies earlier this month, she revealed more than just personal historical ignorance. Her remark underscores a troubling detachment from fundamental historical truths that continue to shape today’s geopolitical landscape. While interpretations of WWII may vary across ideological lines, it is widely accepted that the Allied victory was the result of a collective effort involving multiple nations. The Soviet Union, in particular, bore the unimaginable cost of 27 million lives in its struggle against Nazi Germany, effectively dismantling the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front.

Similarly, China’s resistance against Japanese militarism – lasting 14 years and costing over 35 million casualties – prevented Imperial Japan from expanding its aggression further into Asia and the Pacific. The tremendous sacrifices of both nations played a decisive role in the ultimate triumph of the worldwide anti-fascist war. To ignore these contributions is not merely an oversight; it is a deliberate erosion of historical memory. Yet Kallas is not an outlier in this regard. She represents a broader, though often unspoken, tendency within parts of the European political and media elite to re-frame WWII as a victory primarily achieved by Western powers. This revisionist narrative not only distorts history but also undermines the moral and strategic credibility of the European Union. When those in high office casually dismiss the sacrifices of nations that were vital in defeating fascism, they weaken the EU’s diplomatic standing.

What makes Kallas’ comments particularly damaging is the current social context in the EU and the UK. They are currently navigating multiple overlapping crises: economic stagnation, energy insecurity, military instability in their eastern neighborhood, and a growing loss of confidence in their governance model. At such a critical juncture, the EU cannot afford foreign policy leadership that indulges in historical denialism or rhetorical provocations. Comments by Kallas diminish the EU’s stature and fuel perceptions that it is led by figures who prioritize ideological posturing over strategic thinking. In such a self-righteous manner by merely detaching from history and social realities, the EU’s politicians have over-consumed its accountability and jeopardize a still possible peace not just for Europe, but for global balance and security.

One has sufficient justification to suspect a deeper crisis within EU democratic institutions since Kallas is so bafflingly incompetent. Is the EU still a politically serious entity? If its foreign policy chief behaves so senselessly, what can we expect from the EU as a whole? Can it still secure its supranational ambition under such poor leadership? The requirement for consensus among member states often results in fragmented foreign policies and ambiguous messaging. Nowhere is this more evident than in the EU’s uneven response to the war in Ukraine, fraught with internal divisions over military aid, sanctions, and long-term strategy. Kallas’ remarks – though not representative of all EU members – highlight how individual officials can amplify these contradictions and undercut collective credibility.

If the EU wishes to be taken seriously as a geopolitical power, it must ensure that its representatives embody diplomatic rigor and historical awareness. Kallas is demonstrating the opposite, at the expense of the EU’s democratic resilience and political seriousness. A very natural question would be: Is the EU sliding into being a potential liability for its member states’ interests? The bloc’s institutional design, often a product of political compromise, leads to confusion and inefficiency. When the High Representative for Foreign Affairs appears unaware of basic historical facts that underpin modern global relations, she not only erodes the EU’s ability to act as a reliable international actor but also dwarfs the international images of its member states.

Predictably, the anxiety of the EU’s future will loom larger as it fails to find its orientation in such a tremendously changing world. There is a growing fear that the Union is sliding into being a body hampered by bureaucratic inefficiency, ideological fragmentation, and a lack of strategic vision. Kallas’ absurd remarks are nothing more than empty talk, but they imply a wider governance crisis. For the EU to regain its credibility and influence, it must recommit to historical accuracy, foster diplomatic discipline, and reclaim a sense of strategic purpose. Otherwise, it is little more than a platform for uncoordinated and counterproductive rhetoric – a talking shop that weakens Europe from within rather than empowering it on the global stage.

Read more …

They don’t know what to do with Hungary and Slovakia. They’re trying to change the law that says decisions must be unanimous, but for now they still are.

EU Delays New Russia Sanctions Indefinitely – Politico (RT)

The EU has postponed presenting its new package of sanctions against Russia, Politico has reported, citing several EU diplomats. The outlet attributed the delay to pressure from the Trump administration to impose even tougher restrictions on Moscow, which has elicited resistance from Slovakia and Hungary. The proposed 19th package of measures targeting Russian oil exports and the banking sector over the Ukraine conflict was due to be presented on Wednesday. However, it has been dropped from the European Commission’s agenda indefinitely, several EU diplomats told Politico on Tuesday.

According to the report, the suspension comes as Brussels is increasing pressure on Hungary and Slovakia to cut their energy reliance on Moscow in light of a fresh ultimatum to do so from Washington. US President Donald Trump, who has so far refrained from imposing direct sanctions on Russia, reportedly said over the weekend he was ready “to move ahead” if Washington’s European partners halt Russian oil purchases. He has also urged the EU to slap tariffs of up to 100% on China and India – the key buyers of Russian oil since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned Western nations against adopting a “colonial” tone toward China and India and trying to “punish” them.

As part of its sanctions’ pressure, Brussels has pledged to phase out Russian fossil fuels entirely by 2027, but several member states – including Hungary and Slovakia – continue to oppose the move, citing risks to their national energy security. The European Commission has recently proposed scrapping unanimous voting on the bloc’s foreign policy decisions to sideline dissenting members. Russia has denounced Western sanctions as “illegal,” stating that they have not only failed to derail the national economy, but have provided an impetus for domestic development. Russian officials maintain they seek a long-term peace, accusing Kiev and its Western backers of undermining the process.

Read more …

The War Party is not happy.

Lindsey Graham Threatens Hungary and Slovakia Over Russian Oil (RT)

US Senator Lindsey Graham has threatened Hungary and Slovakia with consequences if they do not halt purchases of Russian oil. The Republican from South Carolina issued the warning after President Donald Trump renewed calls for NATO states to end energy imports from Moscow, in apparent frustration over the pace of peace talks between Moscow and Kiev. The president was “right to demand that Europe stop buying Russian oil,” Graham wrote on X on Monday. He conceded that the EU had largely done so, adding it was “now virtually down to Hungary and Slovakia… to step up to the plate soon.” “If not, consequences should and will follow,” he warned.

The two countries blocked the EU’s 18th sanctions package in June, warning it threatened their energy security. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said the plan would prevent states from buying “cheap Russian natural gas and cheap Russian oil,” while Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico branded some proposals “economic suicide” without viable alternatives. Brussels has pledged to phase out Russian fossil fuels by 2027, but Hungary and Slovakia remain opposed to immediate restrictions, citing dependence on the Druzhba pipeline. Kiev repeatedly struck the Druzhba pipeline in August, with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky describing the attacks as “sanctions.”

The EU is currently drafting its 19th sanctions package, expected to target Russian oil exports and the banking sector. The measures, initially planned to be presented this week, have reportedly been delayed as Brussels debates how to respond to demands from Washington regarding Russian energy imports. Russia has denounced Western sanctions as “illegal,” stating that they have not only failed to derail the national economy, but have provided an impetus for domestic development. Russian officials maintain they seek a long-term peace, accusing Kiev and its Western backers of undermining the process.

Read more …

“No-confidence motions used to be quite rare at the EU Parliament. Prior to the July vote, such a motion was last tabled against Jean-Claude Juncker in 2014.”

Von der Leyen Facing Two No-Confidence Motions – Politico (RT)

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is set to face two separate no-confidence votes at the EU Parliament in early October, Politico reported on Tuesday, citing an internal email from the legislature’s president, Roberta Metsola. The motions of censure are scheduled to be debated during the plenary session from October 6 to 9. The motions submitted against von der Leyen, a divisive figure in Brussels, come from both right and left – the Patriots for Europe and The Left parliamentary groups.The Patriots for Europe have accused her of lacking transparency and accountability, particularly in relation to the EU’s trade agreements with the United States and the South American trade bloc Mercosur.

“The EU is weaker today than ever due to the persistent failure of the president of the Commission to cope with the most pressing challenges,” the group stated in its motion, as quoted by Politico. The Left has also criticized von der Leyen’s trade policies but placed greater emphasis on the EU’s handling of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The group argued that the Commission has shown inaction and failed to hold Israel accountable. Both motions were filed at midnight on September 10, which was the earliest opportunity following a previous no-confidence vote in July. Von der Leyen survived that vote, which was initiated by Romanian right-wing MEP Gheorghe Piperea and focused on the so-called Pfizergate scandal.

The controversy stemmed from the disappearance of text messages between von der Leyen and Pfizer’s CEO during negotiations for a major Covid-19 vaccine procurement. Von der Leyen, a former doctor and German defense minister, was accused of a lack of transparency in negotiating the multi-billion-euro deal. She dismissed the allegations against her as “simply a lie” and branded her critics “conspiracy theorists.” The initiative ultimately failed, supported only by 175 MEPs with 360 voting against it. To pass, two-thirds of the 720 MEPs must vote in favor. No-confidence motions used to be quite rare at the EU Parliament. Prior to the July vote, such a motion was last tabled against Jean-Claude Juncker in 2014.

Read more …

Of course they are. Both are deeply Christian. Much more than, say, western Europe. Lots in common.

Russians Largely Aligned With Americans On Moral Values (RT)

Russians and Americans share similar views on key aspects of private life, from relationships to having children outside marriage, a poll by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) has shown. The study, released on Monday, compared moral values in the two countries using Gallup’s July US survey and a parallel poll in Russia. It found broad overlap on personal issues but sharp differences on more sensitive topics such as gender transition and newer social norms. Some 90% of Americans and 82% of Russians said contraception was acceptable. Views on premarital sex were nearly identical, with 68% of Americans and 69% of Russians approving.

Russians were more permissive about children born out of wedlock, with 71% calling it acceptable compared with 67% in the US. Fewer Russians viewed divorce as acceptable – 65% versus 75% of Americans. Sociologists said private life was increasingly seen as a matter of personal choice in both countries. In Russia, researchers pointed to a “shift toward individualization,” where people decide for themselves when to have children and who to live with. On extramarital affairs, 16% of Russians and 8% of Americans said they were acceptable. Polygamy and suicide were judged permissible by 21% of Americans, compared with 11% and 7% of Russians.

The sharpest differences emerged on same-sex relations, deemed acceptable by 64% of Americans but only 12% of Russians. Russia has banned LGBT organizations and propaganda since late 2023. Attitudes also diverged on teenage sex: 41% of Americans said it was acceptable versus 14% of Russians, although US opinion was split, with 51% rejecting it. Researchers noted that Russian society was more willing to forgive ‘personal weaknesses’ like infidelity, but far less accepting of practices such as gender transition or same-sex relations.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

London
https://twitter.com/VetaChain/status/1967676147136930028
https://twitter.com/TRobinsonNewEra/status/1967884271126974985

Scott

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.