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Debt Rattle August 23 2026

Aug 232026
 
 August 23, 2026  Posted by at 9:51 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  No Responses »


René Magritte Blow to the heart 1952


• How Trump Tried To Bribe The Head Of The IRGC (Pepe Escobar)
• President Trump Could to Be the Greatest Statesman of the 21st Century (PCR)
• Russia Says Ready For ‘New Ideas’ From US On Ending Ukraine War (ZH)
• With Ukraine’s Corruption, You Haven’t Seen The Worst Yet (Amar)
• Who Needs Islam? (A.J. Christopher)
• US Islamic Leaders See Ballot Box as Path to Paradise (Paul Sperry)
• Democracy R.I.P. (Paul Craig Roberts)
• Trump Takes the Ballroom Fight to the Supreme Court, Wins a Reprieve (Manney)
• Trump Destroys Tucker, MTG and Massie in One Epic Post (Matt Margolis)
• Why Embracing AI Is Essential for Higher Education (Kent Ingle)
• JPMorgan Saw Humanoid Production Inside Tesla’s Fremont Factory (ZH)

 


 

 


 


“Empire of Chaos, Lies, Plunder, Piracy. And bribes.”

That’s the US according to Pepe… Then what would Pepe say about Iran, one wonders.

NB: If Trump can gain advantage by bribing the IRGC head, kudos for him.

• How Trump Tried To Bribe The Head Of The IRGC (Pepe Escobar)

Empire of Chaos, Lies, Plunder, Piracy. And bribes.


Mike Pompeo, former aspiring Tony Soprano, admitted: “We lie, we cheat, we steal.” And we bribe.

A Transition Protocol source, as we revealed live, is unequivocal: The President of the United States – despite having “won” the war on Iran countless times, at least in the Vociferation stakes – made a major attempt to induce IRGC Commander-in-Chief Gen. Ahmad Vahidi and senior Iranian military leadership to break with the government in Tehran through enormous financial inducements. So here we have POTUS playing good ol’ Divide and Rule – which the Brits learned from the Roman Empire – to fracture the IRGC from the inside.

This was not a mere exploratory diplomatic contact. Trump did not merely want to determine whether Vahidi supported U.S.-Iran negotiations.According to our source – placed in the tight inner circle of Leader Mojtaba Khamenei – this was a full leadership-buyout operation, modeled on the Venezuela playbook, to fracture the Iranian state.The attempt miserably failed. Because Ahmad Vahidi completely rejected it.

The Trump administration had already created a somewhat direct conduit to Vahidi through Nechirvan Barzani, the President of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq, way back in May 2026. Then-DNI Tulsi Gabbard contacted Barzani – fully authorized by Trump and Vice-President JD Vance – and an encrypted connection to Vahidi was subsequently established through Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. The channel stayed dormant – or in coma, for nearly 3 months. This time though Trump attempted to turn the channel into a de facto fracturing of the Iranian leadership, employing the conceptual precedent in Venezuela: isolate the central command; handsomely bribe those immediately around it for “cooperation”; and create the internal conditions for regime decapitation.

The source describes “billions of dollars” being waved as inducements to several members of the senior IRGC leadership through Vahidi. All that while Trump was on Hardcore Vociferation mode threatening Tehran and spinning his “control” of the Strait of Hormuz. Nothing so far has been independently confirmed in public. And probably will not. But that does not mean the source is not credible. The source is part of Leader Mojtaba’s tight inner circle; heard all about it directly from Vahidi; and later was fully authorized to disclose the extremely sensitive information to Pakistani mediators, especially Field Marshal Asim Munir, who Trump keeps calling virtually every day asking for “help” getting the Iranians back at the negotiating table (when he in fact blew up the negotiating table).

I bribe, therefore I am
Vahidi is not a peripheral military figure. Far from it: he is the commander of the IRGC – the institutional center of gravity of Iranian hard power. The Trump administration wanted access to the top of the IRGC itself.But they bet on the wrong man. The number two man in Iran right now, overseeing everything including top IRGC decisions, is Mohsen Rezaee: the new secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and personal representative of Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

Mohsen Rezaee is a former IRGC commander and his leadership is uncontested – as proven by the trust placed in him by the Leader. The overarching framework guiding his decisions – and people like Vahidi – is the Shi’te sense of moral duty, ethics, self-sacrifice and the spirit of Sovereign Resistance, values completely alien to an Empire of Grifters. It’s no wonder that a crass neo-Crassus in War-a-Lago/Washington actually believed that a battle-tested military leader – and those around him – could sell the fate of a civilization-state for a mere bribe, and induced to defect, stand aside or facilitate regime change.

Applying the exact same Venezuela methodology means that the Trump administration actually believed they could translate it to a Shi’ite Iran context. That proves once again an astonishing degree of cultural stupidity. The methodology may work for corrupt Latin American political/military elites: History tells us it happened so many times. But to believe that offering protection, political survival, loads of money and/or a future share of the spoils to an IRGC that is far from being a loose political entourage around a vulnerable presidential palace fully demonstrates how the Empire of Grifters has no clue about the institutional cohesion of the Iranian security state.

All across the Global South, this will be regarded for what it is: another episode of the neo-Crassus Art of the Deal. Complementing another recent episode, where the capo fraternizes with the DPRK then asks South Korea – “I asked for $10 billion” – for protection money. That’s the pizzo. Not to be confused with pizza. Pizzo is Sicilian slang for extortion money.

Mafia, piracy, bribing, extortion: talk about a flexible Empire at work.

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“President Trump Has the Opportunity to Be the Greatest Statesman of the 21st Century But there is No One in Trump’s Government to show Trump his Opportunity..”

Paul Craig Roberts

Trump should admit Iran was a mistake?! But it wasn’t.

• President Trump Could to Be the Greatest Statesman of the 21st Century (PCR)

Some responses to my discussion with Nima on Dialogue Works https://www.youtube.com/live/RSeBWcdz9vI and to my posted column https://paulcraigroberts.org/admitting-a-mistake-is-the-road-to-peace/ agreed that


[..] my proposal that President Trump end Washington’s conflict with Iran by admitting it was a mistake and stating that the war was over made a lot of sense. But they questioned whether a narcissist, such as Trump, could admit a mistake even it the admission rescued him from a dilemma for which he has no solution except talk of using nuclear weapons.

Think about it for a moment. A narcissist wants the rest of humanity to think as well of himself as he does. By admitting a mistake and, thereby, disposing of a dangerous conflict, the narcissist Trump receives praise from the world. He is elevated from buffoon to Statesman. So, of course, President Trump can admit a mistake and, thereby, deliver into his hands the Nobel Peace Prize. Trump can raise his estimation in the eyes of the world by admitting that Washington’s war with Russia using Ukraine as the proxy was also a mistake and is over.

The world would explode in applause for President Trump. America would be redeemed for all of its illegitimate wars. America would be re-established as the moral leader of the world. The problem is not that Trump is a narcissist, but that he is surrounded by Zionists, including his son-in-law to whom he trusts various negotiations. There is no one to tell Trump how easy it is for him to become the most successful and admired Statesman of the 21st century. Trump himself is too preoccupied issuing threats to see his opportunity.

When I made my suggestion I made the point that there was no one around President Trump to show him his opportunity. Trump’s government, essentially, is allied with Israel, and this leaves Trump with the likelihood of going down as the worst president in US history instead of the Greatest Statesman Of All Time.

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Chase out the nazis. Is Russia’s first “idea”. Call them when you’re done.

• Russia Says Ready For ‘New Ideas’ From US On Ending Ukraine War (ZH)

The Kremlin has newly said it is ready for dialogue with Washington and open to ideas for ending the conflict in Ukraine, but still says it will not compromise on Russia’s core aims. A senior Russian diplomat has stressed that any future talks must align with President Vladimir Putin’s position. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov stated in an interview published by national media on Friday that Russia is open to proposals that are in line with “realities on the ground.”

“The Russian Federation is ready to listen to any reasonable proposals and ideas that are in line with the goals set by the Russian president and meet the ‘realities on the ground’,” Ryabkov said. “At this stage, it is more important to what extent Washington is able to influence the decisions of the Kyiv regime and its European sponsors, who still dream of a ‘strategic defeat’ of Russia,” he added.

The remarks suggest that the Kremlin is responding positively and openly to recent overtures initiated by Washington. “US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has indicated the need to put forward new ideas toward a settlement, and we are ready to listen to them if this constitutes the mentioned ‘efforts’ of the Americans,” Ryabkov continued. “We remain open to dialogue with Washington, but that does not mean that we will abandon our fundamental positions,” he added. Time is working against Ukraine and its Western backers in Europe, “something they will have to reckon with,” Ryabkov additionally pointed out.

President Trump has this summer signaled that his outlook on Ukraine’s chances on the battlefield may have softened or changed of late: By the time Trump and Zelensky met at a NATO summit in July, the American president said the Ukrainian leader had “been very effective” in the war. “We’ve actually developed a good relationship,” Trump added. But as Ukraine’s strikes have intensified, so have Russia’s — and Kyiv faces major challenges in defending against them because of shortages of American Patriot air defense missiles.

Zelensky, for his part, has been explicit that the new long-range strikes are meant to force Moscow to the negotiating table under conditions that favor Kiev. The LA Times has recently outlined significant developments this summer, which are part of this risky strategy:

As part of the campaign against oil infrastructure, Kyiv said it hit Russia’s largest oil refinery, more than 1,550 miles from Ukraine.
Kyiv has also targeted defense manufacturing centers. It hit a factory making navigation systems multiple times, including with its own Flamingo missile.
In July and August, Ukraine struck warehouses for major Russian online retailer Wildberries. Kyiv said the company helps supply the Russian military. Moscow denies that.
Many of Ukraine’s strikes on Russian air defenses and radar are around Russian-held Crimea and are often carried out with drones.


But there are still no signs that Russia’s own retaliatory strikes are letting up – instead they are intensifying and becoming more and more deadly – also at a moment Ukraine’s air defense munitions and capabilities are dwindling fast.

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Each new scandal around Zelensky’s circle exposes a system of theft, cover-ups and rival clans – while suggesting worse still lies beneath..

• With Ukraine’s Corruption, You Haven’t Seen The Worst Yet (Amar)

The politics of Vladimir Zelensky’s Ukraine remain a smelly swamp, producing a ceaseless seepage of scandals occasionally percolating to the surface in big, toxic bubbles that pop with a noxious stink. Recently, for instance, the returning ambassador to the US – no less – has become the subject of a corruption case bad enough to require bail equivalent to $130,000.


The very latest Zelensky regime stink bubble to burst, however, is centered on a former double minister. Before ending up at the center of yet another big pile of dirt, compliments of Zelensky and cronies, Herman Galushchenko had served as minister of energy and then of justice. And if you know Kiev’s political culture – for want of better terms – you won’t be surprised to hear that, in the end, he ended up arrested under suspicion of very large-scale corruption.

To be precise, Galushchenko is one of the main suspects in the massive scandal featuring the Energoatom, aka Mindich-Gate after Timur Mindich, an intimate friend of Zelensky who, clearly tipped off about his impending arrest, has long fled to Israel. Galushchenko, too, tried to run, but was not fast enough, or more likely, lacked the same level of premium protection, namely from the president himself, and got caught at the border.

Yet if the story had ended there, this would not be Ukraine. Now we are into the sequel, and it’s at least as bad as the first part. Because in essence, Galushchenko in a cell was a thought that Zelensky and his crew could not tolerate. Surely out of sheer mafia-like camaraderie! Perish the thought – they were afraid of any deals the former minister might strike and names he might name. But getting Galushchenko out was expensive: Here as well the court had set bail, and as Mindich-Gate was a $100-million case, the bail wasn’t cheap.

Hence, this time the scandal is not about the embezzling, extorting, or stealing of humungous amounts of money, Ukrainian-establishment style. But that’s only because the stealing had been done already and phase two had started: laundering the loot. In legalese, the official case is about an attempt to “legalize criminally acquired property.” In practice, this meant weaving up a web of criminal deception to pay Galushchenko’s bail, well above $3 million – we are in the big league now – with dirty money made to look clean.

Central to this operation and the highest-ranking official to have lost her position at this point is Irina Mudraya, the deputy head of Zelensky’s very own office, as well as a former deputy minister of justice. But the circle of suspects is much wider, as always in Ukraine where corruption is the passionate national sport of those running and ruining the country, while its ordinary citizens are hunted by military press gangs in broad daylight.

Also officially under suspicion and investigation are Maksim Mikitas, a former parliamentary deputy; Vadim Stolar, a currently serving parliamentary deputy; Viktor Dubovik, another high official from Zelensky’s presidential office; Elena Ferens, a deputy minister of justice; Nikolay Gladishchenko, Oleg Stupak, Liudmila Snygur, all three high up in the management of state-owned Sens Bank, which served as the financial vehicle for the launder-and-pay-for-Galushchenko scheme.

Then we also have “businessman,” a “person linked to Mikitas,” the director of the Metrostroy company, a driver who also happens to run Montazh Servis (a construction company by the name of it – good for concrete foundations to bury the talkative), and a bodyguard who doubles as the director of a firm calling itself The Philosophy of Development.

These, in sum, are typical pillars of the Ukrainian establishment as it really is. Suffice it to say that, in 2018, high-flyer Irina Mudraya, trained at Lviv University, received a ‘Best Legal Adviser in Banking and Financial Law’ award (sure, just be honest next time and call it ‘Best Consigliere in Mafia Ukraine’). In 2021, she won ‘Women Leaders who have Influenced the Development of the Legal Community’ (and unfortunately, she probably has). And just two years ago, Business Woman magazine honored her achievements in “Politics and Diplomacy.”

In short, if the Cohen Brothers were to make a very dark, caustic comedy about corruption in Ukraine, this would be their cast. Not all of it, of course, because rest assured, many accomplices and even leaders have not been caught and won’t ever be caught, including the man everyone is always thinking about but can’t ever name when the latest stink bubble pops – the president himself.

Yet one man who may be looking at an uncertain near-future in conjunction with ‘Operation Forrest Gump’ – the code name for this investigation – is the current head of Zelensky’s administration, Kirill Budanov. Formerly mostly busy with black ops, lies, and terrorism, Budanov has taken his office as Zelensky’s top manager only recently. His predecessor Andrey Yermak, another very close, intimate friend of Zelensky, had been forced out because of his deep involvement in Mindich-Gate. Or probably, really due to both his own crimes and those of Zelensky himself that needed a fall guy.

As caught by eavesdropping, Mudraya reminded an accomplice that “he says that corruption needs to be organized and controlled; we must not fight it.” According to Ukrainska Pravda, the mysterious “he,” the real author of that arrogantly direct and brashly cynical statement, was her boss Budanov.

It is intriguing, as another Ukrainian publication has pointed out that it is precisely Ukrainska Pravda that has dared name Budanov. For the outlet is among the supporters of Mikhail Fedorov, the tech whizz kid and former minister of defense, who has turned from a Zelensky regime insider into a challenger by calling for presidential elections even during wartime. That is, in reality, for calling for an end to the Zelensky regime, because the incumbent, polls show, can be beaten.

Let’s set aside that Fedorov has demolished, in passing, a favorite propaganda lie shared by official Kiev and the West, namely that the Ukrainian constitution does not allow for such elections during wartime. In reality, the constitution does no such thing. Politically, the key fact is that Fedorov has thrown his hat in the ring. And in that coming fight, it is very likely that one of his main rivals will be Budanov.

The swamp that is Ukrainian politics keeps festering. The greed and cynicism of Kiev’s ‘elite’ knows no limits. At the same time what may be even more tragic for Ukraine is that any attempt to reign in the rampant corruption by finally holding everyone accountable, no matter how high up, is not only unlikely to succeed but dishonest too.

Naming Budanov? Yes, but not because he should face scrutiny and accountability but because he needs to be weakened so that another ambitious establishment representative has a better chance at beating him at coming elections. In Kiev, stories of messianic redeemers are popular again and again. Zelensky was once the most enthusiastically endorsed of them all. And yet it is his regime that has become the very worst. Why would Fedorov be any different? Or for that matter, anyone else. Ukraine does not need personnel change; it needs a massive reset.

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It’s either Christianity or Islam. There is no space in between. but the Christians who leave the Church, think there is. Ask the French. You can only fight a religious war with .. religion.

• Who Needs Islam? (A.J. Christopher)

Short answer: Nobody.


Long answer: Not only does nobody need it, but the world would be better without it. Nowhere does Islam touch that doesn’t get worse. Nowhere does Islam conquer that doesn’t leave its inhabitants more oppressed. Nowhere does Islam “flourish” that doesn’t witness a new dark age in terms of freedom, education, and human progress. And nowhere does Islam reign that doesn’t unleash the darkest impulses of man’s insatiable desire for power.

Look around the world. Where are the trouble spots? In Nigeria and Sudan, Muslims are massacring Christians. In Israel, Muslims are massacring Jews. In India, Muslims are massacring Hindus. In Bangladesh, Muslims are massacring Buddhists. All across Europe, Muslims are massacring atheists. And within majority-Muslim countries, Muslims are murdering women. Muslims are murdering gays. Muslims are murdering religious minorities. Muslims are murdering men whose beards aren’t long enough. Muslims are murdering young, unarmed protesters marching for the right to their own consciences.

And for practitioners of selective history who sniff that Islamic Spain was a far more tolerant and learned place than anywhere else in medieval Europe, I’ll remind them that this “tolerance” extended only insofar as Christians and Jews accepted permanent status as second-class citizens. The Islamic caliphate ran the most brutal slave trade on the entire continent, outdone only in later years by the Ottoman slave trade on the other end. Not coincidentally, the only places in the world that chattel slavery still exists are in Islamic countries.

Now, I imagine that Muslims would counterargue that the vulgar terrorism and oppression and slavery aside, the point of religion is not to make your life easier, but to make you a better person. And they would argue that, to this end, the average Muslim lives a more austere, pious life than the average Western Christian. And fair enough. One of my biggest peeves against modern Christianity in America is that too many so-called “Christians” simply church shop until they settle on some woke, easygoing, “you do you” church which tells them they’re fine exactly the way they are. The “Christian” then gets to feel spiritual and check a box every Sunday without ever having to do the hard work of self-betterment.

I’m not arguing for the beards and white dresses for all men, nor the bee suits for all women. But there is something to be said for cultures that value at least a little modesty, where tween girls don’t walk into the local Starbucks dressed like pole dancers, and where tween boys don’t slouch around in dirty basketball shorts while sporting those repugnant “llama” haircuts. There is fair criticism to be lodged against a culture that worships “choice” and then uses that “choice” to make the absolute worst choices available every single time in every walk of life. There is a human decency and maturity that resists the temptation to immerse oneself in lifestyles that value only the immediate gratification of the vulgar sensual pleasures.

But wishy-washy Christianity and materialistic atheism are still preferable to arrogant, sociopathic Islam. Living a more austere lifestyle is meaningless unless it results in making you a better person. How does Islam make you better? If it makes you a devoted father, a faithful husband, a merciful brother, and a humble neighbor, that’s great. But if it makes you an abusive father, a misogynistic husband, a genocidal brother, and a tyrannical neighbor, then Islam has made you far worse than you would have been without it. And it will not have mattered how much pork you avoided or how many times a day you prayed.

The Muslim who plows his truck through a Christmas market in Europe, who throws acid in the face of an uncovered woman in Pakistan, or who shoots fellow soldiers on an American army base is raging not against the unbeliever, but against his own impotency. And the same goes for their millions upon millions of Muslim sympathizers worldwide. The allure isn’t a desire for a relationship with God. The allure is control and revenge, with envy and resentment fueling it. Islam is toxic masculinity in its vilest form.

You don’t rage against the West because you think it’s God’s will. You rage against the West because we outperform you in every measurable metric of human achievement and success, and you hate us for it. And spare me the talk about the inherent mercy of your religion. Sure, you’re peaceful enough when you’re less than one percent of the population. But in every instance where enough Muslims amass to gain the upper hand over non-Muslims, you instantly turn on them.

Dearborn. Minneapolis. Paris. Ceuta. Marseille. Rotterdam. London. Malmo. Brussels. New York City. Rinse. Repeat. This isn’t a bug, it’s a feature. It is woven into, and inseparable from, the edicts of your religion. And if the entity you worship is commanding you to commit slavery, rape, and genocide against innocent people, I got some bad news for you. That’s not God you’re worshipping.

It’s the other guy.

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“We are letting Muslim Brotherhood jihadists set up an apartheid system inside America, a double society that will give them a dangerous foothold when they have the numbers to really push their broader jihadi agenda,”

• US Islamic Leaders See Ballot Box as Path to Paradise (Paul Sperry)

The call to prayer is sounding across America. From Hamtramck, Michigan, to Paterson, New Jersey, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, rooftop amplifiers remind growing numbers of Muslim faithful five times a day of their duties with the Arabic message that “Allah is the Greatest! There is no god but Allah!”


The so-called “adhan” is just one sign of how Islam is transforming pockets of the nation. As more Muslims participate in the country’s political life, running for office, influencing, and in some cases, even controlling local governments, they are putting their own stamps on their communities: renaming city streets after Arab homelands and mandating Islamic holidays and halal-only lunches in public schools, while even changing noise ordinances to the consternation of many non-Muslim neighbors.

Like Polish, German, Irish, and Italian immigrants before them, American Muslims now control several small cities. These include Hamtramck, which has an all-Muslim city council, as well as midsize cities like neighboring Dearborn. They are also wielding influence in large metropolises like New York City, where Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top staff is composed almost entirely of Muslims.

In one sense, this is just the continuation of the country’s deep tradition of offering newcomers the opportunity to contribute their own customs to American society. But some critics say this iteration of the immigrant story offers a distinct challenge. A number of leading Muslim candidates for office, for example, are so opposed to America’s longtime ally Israel that their rhetoric veers into antisemitism. And some, such as the Democratic Party candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, are being supported with campaign funds linked to Hamas front groups and the radical, pro-jihad Muslim Brotherhood, which federal authorities say has a secret plan for “destroying” America “from within.”

El-Sayed won his primary with at least $315,000 in Muslim Brotherhood-tied funds, a RealClearInvestigations examination of Federal Election Commission filings reveals, and he hopes his harsh attacks on “evil” Israel will help him become the first Muslim to sit in the U.S. Senate. Other Muslim candidates have ties to groups that have officially been designated as terror organizations, including al-Qaeda. Adam Hisham Hamawy, the Democratic nominee running for New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District, once maintained close ties to the late al-Qaeda “Blind Sheikh,” who was convicted for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, including acting as his translator, driver and defense witness.

Critics say electing Muslims to public office is freighted with other concerns. Many come from Islamic nations where corruption is the norm, and those ways have carried over to places like Hamtramck, where the majority of the city council is under active investigation for election fraud; and to Minneapolis, where Muslim lawmakers and the Muslim attorney general have been accused of protecting, even enabling, Somali immigrants who stole hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars from state and federal welfare agencies as part of a massive fraud ring, according to the Justice Department. The 2026 Directory of Elected Muslim Officials reports that there are currently 228 American Muslim elected officials serving across 26 states.

Critics also warn that, unlike mainstream modern Christianity, Islam does not distinguish between the spiritual and political realms. Sharia law, for example, applies to religious and civic life because they are one and the same in Islam. Based on the Quran and other holy Islamic scripture, Sharia regulates Muslim worship, dress and diet. But it also sanctions practices at odds with not only American culture but also the U.S. legal system including domestic violence, polygamy, female circumcision, forced child marriage, honor killings, and militant jihad.

European Warning Signs
Republican lawmakers and counterterrorism experts fear that as Muslims win control of towns and cities, they may weaken the nation’s separation of church and state while creating the kind of dangerous “no-go” areas for non-Muslims that authorities now identify in some 900 enclaves of Europe with heavy concentrations of Muslim immigrants. Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Portugal, and Switzerland are among EU members that have passed laws aimed at curbing radical Islam. The French Senate also passed a law in May aimed at countering “Islamist Infiltration” of the country following a 2025 government report, “Muslim Brotherhood and Political Islam in France,” and a poll that year finding a majority of Muslims in France aged 15 to 24 prefer Sharia law over French law.

Many Republicans say Europe offers a warning sign. “Tolerating beachheads of radical Islam in our country is literally civilization suicide,” said Missouri Rep. Bob Onder during a recent House Judiciary Committee hearing on the growing internal threat from Islam. “We’re seeing in many cases a lack of assimilation [from Muslim immigrants]. They join these very closed groups that are committed to imposing Sharia law.” Tolerating that seems to be utter insanity, Onder added, especially if we see what s going on in Europe right now, what s going on in Germany, in London, in France. Democrats and Muslim-rights groups counter that fears of Sharia creeping deeper into society are overblown and a symptom of Islamophobia.

Actually, it doesn’t appear to be an issue anywhere in this country, countered Pennsylvania Rep. Mary Scanlon. In my district, we have a growing cultural center, Africatown, founded by immigrants-turned-citizens, many of whom are Muslim and have made huge contributions to our economic, cultural, charitable and civic life. There’s no evidence of any plot to impose Sharia law on non-believers of Islam, she added./ It s just not happening. ”

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PCR blames the Democrats. “[..].. it seems abandonment of citizen responsibility to vote for a Democrat Party that deliberately builds fraud into the voting system.”

• Democracy R.I.P. (Paul Craig Roberts)

The Democrats have completely corrupted the electoral system. Mail-in voting and street corner ballot boxes permit a significant number of fake ballots to be received at the last minute in order to “win” an election. Reasons have been institutionalized for throwing out ballots that vote “the wrong way.” Voter lists are crowded with dead people who are voted. The CARS system in Michigan is programmed to automatically register non-citizens to vote. Electronic voting machines are programmed to count Republican votes as fractions. It could take several votes for a Republican candidate to equal one vote. And the list goes on.


The Republicans are unable to correct these corruptions, because the Democrat judges and election officials will not permit it, declaring the corrective measures to be “racist.” Republicans would do likewise, but the Democrat judges won’t let them. What is allowable for Democrats is “racist” for Republicans. In Minnesota, a registered voter can personally vouch for the validity, and thereby right to vote, of eight unregistered voters without IDs, and a healthcare facility worker can vouch for an unlimited number of residents in healthcare facilities.

James O’Keefe has also demonstrated that this is the case. He appeared in Minnesota voting precincts dressed as a Muslim and was assured that it was possible for a registered voter to vouch for 8 others without IDs who could vote on the basis of his vouch for them. This is indeed Minnesota law since 1973. However the Minnesota Democrat Secretary of State was angered at the visual demonstration that such a law was really on the books and denounced the visual demonstration as “outrageous and totally unacceptable misconduct. We have zero tolerance for lying, lawbreaking, and disruptions at our polling places.”

There was no disruption, only politely asked questions answered matter-of-factly by election personnel. The corrupt Minnesota Democrats are trying to find some way of criminalizing impersonation of a Muslim. This is America today, a foreign country for someone of my generation.

In North Carolina, the Jewish Democrat governor vetoed a bill that would have required the state to cross-check voter registration rolls with death records. By vetoing the bill, he protected the Democrats’ ability to continue voting the dead. With Republicans representing Israel and Democrats adding socialism to their representation of immigrant-invaders, there is no one to represent Americans, who have no stake in the system.

To understand how corrupt the US electoral system is, consider that Judicial Watch had to bring lawsuits to force blue state Oregon to remove 800,000 ineligible voters from the voter rolls, and blue state Colorado to remove 372,000 ineligible voters. The US Justice Department has just joined Judicial Watch’s lawsuit to force blue state California to remove 873,000 ineligibles from voter rolls in order to comply with the National Voter Registration Act.

There are plenty of reasons not to vote for either party. But it seems abandonment of citizen responsibility to vote for a Democrat Party that deliberately builds fraud into the voting system.

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Good history lesson.

• Trump Takes the Ballroom Fight to the Supreme Court, Wins a Reprieve (Manney)

Chief Justice John Roberts gave President Donald Trump something Friday that lower courts were determined to deny him: time to keep building. Roberts issued an administrative stay allowing construction of Trump’s White House ballroom project to continue while the Supreme Court considers the administration’s emergency request. Work that was supposed to stop Friday can keep moving.


This isn’t the final Supreme Court ruling, and Roberts didn’t settle the larger dispute. His order simply freezes the lower-court restriction while the justices consider what comes next.

For Trump, though, a project already about 65% complete doesn’t grind to a halt while lawyers argue over whether he was allowed to improve the White House in the first place. Trump was understandably pleased. Trump described the ballroom and military complex as vital to national security. The complex includes the ballroom above ground and extensive security facilities below it. Here’s where the outrage becomes harder to swallow. Presidents have been altering the White House for generations. Theodore Roosevelt ordered construction of the East and West Wings in 1902, while William Howard Taft enlarged the West Wing in 1909 and built the first Oval Office.

From White House History:
• 1909: The West Wing was doubled in size and included the first presidential Oval Office centered on the south facade. William Howard Taft became the first president to work in the Oval Office.
• 1912: On February 14, President Taft signed legislation in an Oval Office ceremony authorizing statehood for Arizona and New Mexico. He became the first chief executive to preside over 48 states.
• 1917: President Wilson signed the declaration of war against the Central Powers on April 7. The Executive Office Building immediately became a war center open around the clock as 60 to 75 clerks and other personnel manned the telegraphs, telephones, and the equivalent of a map room.
• 1923: Warren Harding became the first president to die in office since the construction of the executive offices. His desk in the Oval Office was draped with black crepe in memoriam.

Franklin Roosevelt later expanded the West Wing from 15,000 to 40,000 square feet, added another story, enlarged the basement, and moved the Oval Office.

White House History:
• 1929: Herbert Hoover was the first president to have a telephone installed on his desk on March 27. A fire on Christmas Eve 1929 gutted the executive office building and a reconstruction began immediately.
• 1934: President Franklin D. Roosevelt increased the office area of a now permanent office wing from 15,000 to 40,000 square feet. A “penthouse” story and an enlarged subterranean office area with a light well were built. The Oval Office was relocated to the West Wing’s southeast corner-its present location-to overlook the Wilson Rose Garden.
• 1935: The Social Security Act was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a bill-signing ceremony in the Cabinet Room on August 14.
• 1941: Crowds of angry Americans surrounded the White House grounds on December 7 as news spread of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. The Secret Service installed bulletproof glass in the windows of the president’s Oval Office, sentries patrolled the roof with machine guns, and builders constructed a bomb shelter under a new East Wing (1942).
• 1945: On April 12, Harry S. Truman was sworn in as president in the Cabinet Room. The ceremony, according to Truman’s recollections, took one minute, 7:08-7:09 p.m. On August 14, 1945, President Truman held a press conference in the Oval Office to announce Japan’s surrender and the end of World War II.
•1949: To avoid confusion the White House Executive Office Building became known officially as the West Wing when the adjacent Department of State Building (Eisenhower EOB) was converted for use as executive offices.

Franklin Roosevelt also expanded the East Wing in 1942 and added a second story, with a bomb shelter built underneath. Harry Truman went much further; from 1948 to 1952, the White House interior was essentially gutted, leaving the exterior walls while the inside was rebuilt with steel and concrete.

White House History:
• 1942 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt expanded the East Wing’s footprint and added a second story. He originally intended it to house a White House museum, but the space became filled with offices and support staff. During the expansion, an underground bomb shelter was constructed as the United States had recently entered World War II. President Roosevelt also converted a room previously used as a coat room into a movie theater.

• 1965 – First Lady Lady Bird Johnson dedicated the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden in honor of the former first lady. The garden, adjacent to the East Wing and Colonnade, was designed by Rachel “Bunny” Mellon, who also designed the Rose Garden outside the Oval Office during the John F. Kennedy presidency and intended the two gardens to complement each other.

• 1977 – First Lady Rosalynn Carter moved her office to the East Wing, becoming the first presidential spouse to have her own office there. A year later, Congress passed the White House Personnel Authorization Act, creating the official Office of the First Lady. Since then, all first ladies and their staff have worked in the East Wing.

• 2025 – On July 31, 2025, the White House announced plans for construction to begin on a new Ballroom, citing the need to host major functions for world leaders, dignitaries, and guests. The White House stated: “The site of the new ballroom will be where the small, heavily changed, and reconstructed East Wing currently sits.” White House public tours were closed by September, and demolition of the East Wing began on October 20. Two days later, the White House Historical Association announced that it had supported efforts to digitally preserve the East Wing and Jacqueline Kennedy Garden with comprehensive scanning and photography projects.

Presidential alterations to the White House are hardly some Trump invention. What’s different is the familiar reaction whenever his name gets attached to something. A renovation becomes a constitutional crisis; a construction project becomes another lawsuit; a ballroom somehow requires the federal judiciary to determine whether the elected president can continue building at the presidential residence. The ballroom itself was announced as privately funded by Trump and other donors. The White House originally put the cost at about $200 million, later updating its project page to $250 million. Court filings now say roughly $200 million in private donations has already been spent or committed, while the larger project includes separate security work.

Nobody complained that Theodore Roosevelt permanently changed the White House by creating the modern West Wing. We don’t demand that Franklin Roosevelt’s additions be torn apart because the purpose looked different afterward. Truman practically rebuilt the place from the inside out, and America survived.

Trump wants to leave behind a ballroom future presidents can use for state dinners and major events, while modernizing security underneath it. Naturally, his opponents have fought him through the courts. For now, the Supreme Court has told them the construction can continue.

Sometimes even a ballroom needs nine justices nearby.

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No prisoners.

• Trump Destroys Tucker, MTG and Massie in One Epic Post (Matt Margolis)

President Donald Trump unloaded on three of his most persistent critics late Friday night, and he didn’t hold back. In a scorching Truth Social post, Trump branded Tucker Carlson, former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) “losers” after learning the trio had huddled together. “Tucker Carlson just met with Lightweight ‘Former’ Congressman, Thomas Massie, and Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Greene, LOSERS ALL!” Trump wrote. “Tucker’s ‘Views’ have fallen through the floor, and will only get worse.”


Make no mistake about it: Carlson has spent the past few years torching every bridge he ever built with the MAGA movement. He’s morphed into an anti-Israel conspiracy theorist who says whatever wild thing pops into his head, and his audience has noticed. I remember being excited when he started his show on X. It stopped being a must-watch a long, long, long time ago. And Trump certainly has noticed, too. “Nobody cares about him any longer in that he has become totally irrelevant, and happens to be, surprisingly, a very Low I.Q. individual,” Trump said. “He could barely get out of College, and maybe he didn’t, but only really dumb people can’t make it through that wonderful four year time in life!”

Trump wasn’t finished. He suggested Carlson’s reported political ambitions ought to come with a screening process first. “Tucker wants to run for political office, but he should be required to take a cognitive test,” Trump said. “He’s got no chance, but could probably take a couple of points away from whatever the Republican ticket happens to be!” Then came Greene, who has spent recent months chasing the Epstein Files story with the enthusiasm of a woman auditioning for a regular spot on CNN or even MSNOW. She ditched the conservative movement that made her a star and started parroting left-wing talking points instead. Trump wasn’t shy about connecting the dots.

“Marjorie Taylor Brown (Green turns to Brown under stress!), a highly neurotic young woman, went from Ultra Conservative to a Liberal ‘Fool,’ all in a matter of weeks, because I refused to return her phone calls — Not because I didn’t like her, just because I had no time,” Trump said. “She was way down in the Polls in Georgia (because I took away my Endorsement), and would have had no chance at winning, so she, just like everyone else, ‘QUIT!'” And then came Massie.

“Thomas Massie has turned out to be a failed politician, and a real JERK,” Trump said. “He thought it was really wonderful to vote, ‘NO,’ on everything, no matter how good, strong, or proper the Legislation would be.” Trump summed up the meeting of the minds with a line that will live in political infamy. “What a team this would be, THREE LOSERS, and a pocketful of change!” he wrote, adding that their only real shot at relevance now is jumping ship entirely. “The only chance they have is to join the Radical Left Dumocrats, and try breaking into the Primary System.”

Carlson, Greene, and Massie each burned their MAGA credibility chasing headlines and relevance, and Trump just handed them a receipt for it.

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We need to embrace something smarter than us. Something we can’t understand. I wonder how that would work.

• Why Embracing AI Is Essential for Higher Education (Kent Ingle)

Rather than fearing generative tools or treating them as mere compliance threats, higher education must train students to master AI as an exponential multiplier for innovation, career success, and national prosperity. Generative artificial intelligence is vastly more prevalent, sophisticated, and accessible today than it was even six months ago. Today’s incoming students arrive on campus with the collective knowledge of human history sitting directly in their pockets.


They are navigating a digital landscape that is fundamentally rewriting how information is processed, analyzed, and created. Predictably, administrators across the country are responding with panic. Elite institutions are rushing to expand their rulebooks, update honor codes, and purchase unreliable detection software in a futile attempt to police the classroom. This reactionary mindset misses the entire point. When higher education views artificial intelligence primarily as a cheating hazard, it defaults to censorship and control. But when we approach technology through the lens of human potential and future readiness, our entire perspective transforms. We should be asking how to train our students to master it responsibly from the ground up.

Attempting to ban these platforms is like trying to ban the calculator in a modern engineering department. Whether we choose to embrace it or not, generative software is now a permanent fixture of the global economy. In fact, it is currently the number one most marketable skill for people looking for new jobs out of college. Recent labor market data reveals that demand for artificial intelligence competency in entry-level roles has nearly tripled in less than a year, extending far beyond traditional technology companies into marketing, operations, human resources, and finance. To compete in a rapidly evolving market, the next generation cannot simply be passive consumers of technology. They must be fluent directors of it.

When leveraged properly, artificial intelligence becomes an exponential work and impact multiplier. It streamlines complex research, accelerates problem-solving, and synthesizes massive datasets in seconds. A properly equipped student learns to direct artificial intelligence as a powerful research assistant while maintaining total ownership over the final outcome. We must teach our young adults the difference between outsourcing their intellect and augmenting their capabilities.

Using artificial intelligence to skip the hard work of learning is a misuse of human potential. But using these platforms to elevate our thinking, automate routine labor, and tackle grand challenges is the exact formula for lifelong success and prosperity. This is not just about individual career placement. It is about national survival. Artificial intelligence is currently the fastest-growing economic sector in our country. It is catalyzing a trillion-dollar infrastructure buildout that is reaching all fifty states, revitalizing communities, and creating unprecedented opportunities across every sector.

If American industry is going to maintain its leadership on the global stage, our workforce requires graduates who understand how to harness these tools to innovate at breakneck speeds. If we are going to continue to lead on the global industrial stage, we need more students ready to embrace AI, not less.

Censoring students from trying to cheat does not protect academic integrity. It simply leaves our graduates woefully unprepared for the economic realities of tomorrow. Relying on software for baseline tasks means that the value of genuine critical thinking and strategic foresight is actually higher than ever. Employers are actively seeking out graduates who possess the discernment to evaluate machine-generated outputs, spot inaccuracies, and apply human judgment to elevate mediocre drafts into exceptional final products.

Our duty as educational leaders is to prepare students for a life of success, prosperity, and leadership in a highly competitive world. We completely fail in that core mission if we allow administrative fear to prevent us from teaching digital mastery. Instead of building higher digital walls, universities must build stronger practical foundations. We must teach students that true excellence lies in combining technological fluency with unshakeable personal integrity. We must show them exactly how to prompt, evaluate, refine, and deploy these tools ethically so that they enter their careers equipped to perform.

Artificial intelligence is driving the fastest economic transformation of our lifetime, and it is the key to America’s future competitive edge. The universities that thrive in this new era will not be the ones that tried to ban the future. They will be the ones that trained their students to lead it. As a new academic year begins, we owe it to the next generation to step forward with vision and confidence, equipping them to master this technology and secure the ongoing prosperity of American industry.

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Well, they “saw the future of Humanoid Production..”

• JPMorgan Saw Humanoid Production Inside Tesla’s Fremont Factory (ZH)

Retail flows across Asia remained heavily concentrated in newly listed, high-beta names, most notably Chinese robotics maker Unitree following its blockbuster Shanghai debut. The retail craze surrounding physical AI merely shows Beijing’s accelerating push to dominate the humanoid market. To close out the week, we pivot across the Pacific for a peek inside the US humanoid-robotics supply chain, where Tesla’s Fremont buildout provides a timely indicator of how quickly physical AI is advancing.

Rajat Gupta, a JPMorgan analyst who covers Tesla, recently toured Tesla’s Fremont factory and reported to clients this week that the facility, once the birthplace of the company’s electric vehicles, is now pivoting toward producing robotaxis and humanoid robots. Gupta and his colleagues toured the roughly 5-million-square-foot facility and found that the discontinued Model S and Model X production lines are being replaced by manufacturing equipment for Tesla’s Optimus humanoid.

“On Optimus, production lines are being installed at Fremont (the area was tarped off at the time of our visit), and TSLA remains largely on schedule for the targeted four-month transition following the end of S/X production in May, with initial humanoid deployments in 2H26 expected to focus on Optimus Academy for training and data collection, followed by internal factory use and external sales as early as 2H27,” the analyst said.

He said that Optimus robots are not currently working inside the Fremont plant. Initial deployments in the second half of 2026 will instead take place at the “Optimus Academy,” where the robots will collect real-world training data before being deployed in factories.

“Overall, we came away from the factory tour with greater conviction in the robotaxi fleet ramp through late 2026 and early 2027, as well as an Optimus SoP that remains largely aligned with previously communicated timelines, both of which are central to the long-term thesis, while near-term commentary on demand drivers and FSD uptake remains constructive,” the analyst said.

Here are Gupta’s top takeaways from walking the Fremont factory floor:

Facility details. TSLA’s Fremont facility serves as the company’s primary test bed for innovation, supporting the launch of both new vehicles and humanoids across its expansive roughly 5-million-square-foot footprint. The plant manufactures premium Model Y variants and performance and premium Model 3 variants, while the recently decommissioned S/X lines, retired in early May, are being replaced by Optimus production lines.

The factory showcases the breadth of TSLA’s automation capabilities, featuring numerous custom-built robots and proprietary software designed to enhance manufacturing speed and precision. Production continues under several modernized tents, originally erected during the Model 3 “production hell” days, which remain integral to the facility’s operations. During our visit, we observed gigapress machines, stamping operations and general assembly lines and participated in FSD demonstrations involving the Model Y L variant and the Cybertruck.

Giga casting and stamping. TSLA’s innovative giga-casting process, first introduced with the Model Y, consolidates 70 underbody components that would otherwise require welding, significantly streamlining production. This approach reduces the number of robots needed on the welding line. The Model Y utilizes roughly 300 robots, compared with approximately 1,000 for the Model 3. TSLA also attributes this advancement to its materials-science expertise, including the development of a custom aluminum alloy, a capability enhanced through its collaboration with SpaceX. For stamping, TSLA employs Schuler presses with six progressive, interchangeable dies. TSLA stamps roughly 10 visible vehicle components in-house, while hundreds of remaining stamped parts are sourced from suppliers.

Unboxed manufacturing. TSLA emphasized that Cybercab production leverages an unboxed manufacturing process in which large subassemblies are built independently and in parallel, then joined together during the final stage. This approach allows open access from all angles, enabling simultaneous installation and streamlining the overall assembly process.

FSD demos. We participated in FSD demonstrations involving the Model Y L and Cybertruck, with the team walking us through the various modes, ranging from Sloth to Mad Max. The vehicles demonstrated notable driving accuracy, including navigating through a construction zone without manual intervention. The Autopark function worked seamlessly as well.

The Cybercab ramp-up is closely tied to the FSD v15 rollout. Management expressed optimism about the trajectory and pace of the Cybercab production ramp, highlighting that technology validation and production through unboxed manufacturing are advancing in parallel. The fleet deployment timeline will be largely dictated by the upcoming FSD v15 launch later this year. TSLA indicated that it is intentionally holding back on adding Model Y units to the robotaxi fleet, reflecting confidence in its ability to scale the Cybercab fleet in the near term. TSLA views FSD v15 as a step change in performance, comparable to the leap from v13 to v14, which produced a significant increase in parameter count, a larger context window and a roughly 20% reduction in latency.

The v15 upgrade encompasses seven core technologies, approximately 40% of which are currently being tested in the robotaxi fleet, where initial feedback has been encouraging. TSLA continues to focus on minimizing regression in core driving functions as it introduces new capabilities, and FSD v15 is viewed as the primary gateway to scaling unsupervised FSD. While the current AI/HW4 stack can run v15 and support unsupervised FSD, TSLA’s AI4.5 compute system is designed to accommodate rising compute and memory demands as robotaxi models scale and context windows expand. The system offers roughly 10% more FLOPS and twice the memory.

Robotaxi unit economics remain compelling with the Model 3 and Model Y, although Cybercab is designed to broaden the TAM beyond traditional ridesharing. TSLA highlighted that current robotaxi economics are attractive, with the Model Y and Model 3 carrying total ownership costs of roughly $0.60 to $0.70 per mile at average personal-vehicle utilization rates. Those costs fall to approximately $0.50 to $0.60 per mile at utilization rates four to five times higher, as is typical for robotaxis. That remains well below the roughly $2.50 to $3 per mile charged by incumbent rideshare operators.

However, TSLA’s vision for robotaxis extends beyond the traditional rideshare segment, which represents only a low-single-digit percentage of the overall mobility market, and calls for a purpose-built robotaxi platform capable of driving total ownership costs down to approximately $0.30 per mile. Management also reiterated that Cybercab is only the initial form factor, with additional vehicle types expected to follow as the platform evolves, citing the Robovan demonstration from the October 10 event as an example.

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