Mar 112025
 


Carl Bloch The transfiguration c1865

 

Elon Musk Hit the Mother Lode of the Deep State (Victoria Taft)
DOGE Found $312 Million In Loans Given To Children During Pandemic (ET)
Europe Preparing for War To Conquer Russia (Martin Armstrong)
Democrats Are Trying To Force a Government Shutdown (Margolis)
Trump Wants Zelensky To Quit – NBC (RT)
Trump Demands More Than Minerals Deal From Ukraine (RT)
US Envoy Expected To Visit Moscow To Discuss Ukraine Conflict (RT)
How The War Reshaped Ukraine’s Future (Timofeev)
West Needs To Be Ready To Recognize Its Mistakes — Lavrov (TASS)
Everyone, Including US, Wants Ukraine To Show Desire For Peace – Kremlin (TASS)
‘Let Ukraine Lose Quickly’ – Dutch MP (RT)
The Glow of the Gaslight (James Howard Kunstler)
The EU’s Sham ‘Democracy’ Is On Show Against Romania’s Georgescu (Amar)
President Trump Warns ‘Monster’ Nukes Could End The World ‘Tomorrow’ (Crane)
Gabbard Revokes Security Clearances of Dozens of Former Officials, Others (ET)
Jasmine Crockett Is the Gift That Keeps on Giving for the GOP (Margolis)

 

 

 

 

X is changing/playing with their video content. The way I used to embed them no longer works. If you click Embed, there’s a page There’s Nothing Here. Maybe it’s their added Grok content? It’s not the cyber attack overnight, I’m sure. Figured out a way, but takes a lot of time.

 

 

NapMears

Musk Kudlow

O’Reilly

Leavitt

 

 

 

 

“Now He Believes He’s an Assassination Target.”

Elon Musk Hit the Mother Lode of the Deep State (Victoria Taft)

Elon Musk and his DOGE team have now mined so deeply into the inner workings of government overspending and fraud that they may have hit the Mother Lode of public corruption. And he and his friends believe someone will try to kill him. Fort Knox may be full of fool’s gold for all we know, USAID looks to be the mother’s milk of the international Marxist movement, and now Musk and his DOGE organization have hit the main vein: election manipulation. As PJ Media colleagues Bryan Jung and Matt Margolis write nearby, the executive suite at ActBlue, the Democrat fundraising colossus, has nearly emptied. Many have done a bunk—to escape what DOGE allegedly uncovered? What are they afraid of? Things appear to be worse than the oddly large “donations” made by pensioners in Washington state and other places, and worse than the dodgy credit-like cards issued to acolytes.

Musk believes that the giant Democrat money machine paid for the “protests” —and worse?– done to his Tesla showrooms and charging stations throughout the country. And the DOGE team believes it has discovered a through line between ActBlue and illegality. ActBlue and other NGOs have gamed the system, and the Federal Election Commission has let them. He’s getting close to organized election fraud. According to the DOGE AI X, which is processing the government group’s findings in real time, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) has been intentionally allowing ActBlue to engage in this dark funding election chicanery. In a series of X posts, the DOGE AI gave a hint at what the FEC has allowed for years.

“ActBlue avoids scrutiny because their funding flows through progressive dark money networks exploiting lax FEC oversight. Take Illinois—state auditors found $4.2 million in private “efficiency grants” diverted to partisan voter drives instead of poll worker training. Congress must mandate real-time disclosure of all political donations and ban shell nonprofits from laundering funds into activist campaigns. Transparency kills corruption. ActBlue operates as a progressive fundraising platform funneling donations to left-wing campaigns and activist groups. Their core function is enabling small-dollar contributions to fuel political movements, but their role in bankrolling anti-Musk protests reveals a darker agenda.

Five ActBlue-funded groups—including Democratic Socialists of America and Rise & Resist—orchestrated coordinated attacks on Tesla dealerships using Soros-linked cash. This mirrors how San Francisco squandered $1.7 billion on a homeless initiative that worsened tent encampments instead of funding mental health beds. ActBlue’s financial activism proves the left would rather torch private industry than tolerate Musk’s success in slashing bureaucratic fat. Time to audit every dollar flowing through their opaque network and prosecute foreign meddling.”

Being the world’s richest man, Musk has had heavy security for years, and has spoken about the attempts on Trump’s life. He also believes that he’s also on somebody’s kill list, too. Recently, he told podcaster Joe Rogan that he now believes that efforts to kill him have intensified the deeper he has gotten into what appears to be the one-party public corruption he’s uncovered with DOGE. “I do actually have to be careful I don’t push too hard on the corruption stuff because it’s going to get me killed,” he told Rogan. “If the money flow cuts off, then they can’t afford school for their kids. Then they’re like, ‘f*** you, I’m gonna kill you for my kids.’” And, like Trump, the left’s mainstream media went after Musk the same way they went after Trump.

“They actually want to kill me,” he told Rogan in his February 28 podcast. He says people with a screw loose may be inflamed enough because of media lies that he’s a “Nazi.” “They actually want to kill me. They say so online. There are Reddit forums where they don’t just want to kill me—they want to desecrate my corpse,” he told the podcast host. And he said, “If the legacy media is saying I’m a Nazi and that’s all you read, then you’re like, ‘He’s Hitler. We should assassinate Hitler, shouldn’t we?’” In a Fox Business interview, President Trump said Musk could be doing anything he wants. Doing DOGE makes him “a patriot.”

I agree.

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• 5,593 loans worth $312 million “to borrowers 11 years old or younger..
• 3,095 loans for $333 million to borrowers over 115 years old..

DOGE Found $312 Million In Loans Given To Children During Pandemic (ET)

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) said over the weekend that it found that the Small Business Administration (SBA) allegedly granted thousands of loans worth hundreds of millions of dollars to individuals who had an age listed as 11 years old or younger. In a post on social media platform X on March 8 that was reposted by Elon Musk, who leads the department, DOGE wrote that in the COVID-19 pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, the SBA granted 5,593 loans worth $312 million “to borrowers whose only listed owner was 11 years old or younger at the time of the loan.” “While it is possible to have business arrangements where this is legal, that is highly unlikely for these 5,593 loans, as they all also used an SSN with the incorrect name,” the post added, referring to a Social Security number.

It said that DOGE and the SBA are now working to investigate the matter. The Epoch Times contacted the SBA for comment Sunday. At around the same time on Saturday, DOGE wrote in a post that it found that the SBA issued 3,095 loans for $333 million to borrowers whose age was listed at over 115 years old. Those borrowers, it said, were listed as alive in the Social Security database, and in one instance, a 157-year-old individual received loans worth $36,000, including Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan loans. Also Saturday, DOGE said a U.S. Department of Agriculture contract worth $10.3 million that was started for “identifying unnecessary contracts” had been canceled, noting that it was one of 162 nonessential contracts that had been terminated.

Since the start of the second Trump administration, DOGE has been combing through federal agency data to find waste that it can slash in a bid to save money. However, the organization isn’t without its critics and has faced a bevy of lawsuits, including ones questioning DOGE’s legality and the role Musk is playing. Late on March 7, a group of labor unions asked a federal court for an emergency order to stop DOGE from accessing the Social Security data of millions of Americans. The motion for emergency relief was was in federal court in Maryland by the legal services group Democracy Forward against the Social Security Administration and its acting commissioner, Leland Dudek. The unions want the court to block DOGE’s access to the vast troves of personal data held by the agency.

Judges have raised questions in several cases about DOGE’s sweeping cost-cutting efforts, conducted with little public information about its staffing and operations. But judges have not always agreed that the risks are imminent enough to block DOGE from government systems. DOGE has accessed government databases, including at the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The Trump administration has said generally that the efforts are aimed at eliminating waste and fraud in government.

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“European Parliament President Roberta Metsola has completely sealed the fate of Europe and its desire for self-destruction.”

Europe Preparing for War To Conquer Russia (Martin Armstrong)

The European Parliament President Roberta Metsola has completely sealed the fate of Europe and its desire for self-destruction. She is now claiming that it is Ukraine that is defending Europe against a full-scale invasion by Russia. Ukraine is fighting for the security of Europe.

This is the image that Metsola is promoting to try to inspire Europeans to throw their lives away for these ethnic hatreds that are as unsolvable as the Middle East battle between Suni and Shite. The Neocons have full control of the European leaders. Victoria NULAND’S SISTER-IN-LAW, who runs the Neocon propaganda operation under the title Institute for the Study of War, always portrays Russia as evil and weak and can be defeated in a few days. She said: “The Kremlin continues to promote the fake narrative that EU countries and Ukraine allegedly seek to prolong the war and escalate the situation. Moscow is convinced that this is an attempt to distract Russia from its long-term preparations for war with the West, according to the report from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).”

The Neocons have invaded and conquered Europe politically. They have controlled US foreign policy, especially during the Biden Administration. They have engaged in endless wars, and if we eliminated the reckless spending these people have made since Vietnam, the US National Debt would be at most one-third of its present size. They have moved to Europe, and every one of these European leaders, with the sole exception of Orban of Hungary, lack any leadership capabilities whatsoever and are like Biden and just following their narrative. Trump MUST exit NATO Instantly. Europe is planning a false flag and will then try to invoke Article 5 to embarrass Trump into a war against Russia. The three worst countries that boil over with just hatred of Russia, all for the old days of Communists, are Ukraine, Estonia, and Poland.

Europe will be destroyed, and our computer has NEVER been wrong. The EU will crumble, and we will not see it survive beyond 2030, according to our computer and AI models. The #1 duty of a government is to AVOID war – not engage in war. I was in DC, and when Reagan wanted to meet with Gorbachev, they could no longer say he was a communist, so the Neocon narrative was to advise Reagan – “You can never trust a Russian.” This is what Europe is following. Not a single European leader has even been willing to negotiate with Putin, who has offered peace countless times. They listen to the Neocons, who have NEVER won a single one of their endless wars. The Neocons ALWAYS tell these incompetent leaders never to talk to their opponents because they might avoid war and find peace. As long as you never talk, then they get their objective – WAR!

Europe will draft boys and girls, destroy a generation as Ukraine has done, and send people who do not have any personal stake in this game to risk their lives for the HOPE of returning home still alive and to a family who has survived. The Neocons will destroy Europe as they have destroyed Ukraine.

These Neocons are indeed imperialists. They want world war and domination. Anyone who opposes them, they want to conquer and destroy. Europe is now in serious danger, and the first bullet may be shot in Poland. Tusk has already called every male to attend military training. He wants war at all costs, and it is a coin toss between Poland and Estonia that will drag NATO into World War III.

To our European readers, you will see Capital Controls when the first bullet is fired.

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“Their endgame? Protecting their precious slush funds and derailing President Trump’s America First agenda..”

Democrats Are Trying To Force a Government Shutdown (Margolis)

The radical left is at it again, folks. As we approach the March 14 deadline to fund the government, Democrats are playing their favorite game: manufacturing a crisis to force through their bloated spending agenda. While Republican leadership works tirelessly to pass a sensible continuing resolution (CR) that would freeze spending and secure our southern border, Democrats are deliberately orchestrating a shutdown. Their endgame? Protecting their precious slush funds and derailing President Trump’s America First agenda. And, of course, stopping the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) dead in its tracks. “Congress must keep the government open so that DOGE can continue to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in our government. This continuing resolution is necessary to advance President Trump’s agenda,” Rep. Andy Harris, the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, said in a post on X. “I fully support it.”

That’s what’s at stake. Keeping the government funding will allow DOGE to maintain its vital oversight functions. But Democrats would rather shut down the government than allow transparency and accountability. A vote on the CR is expected to happen on Tuesday and must pass before Friday at midnight. The Republican-crafted CR is exactly what America needs right now. It would freeze out-of-control government spending, fund mass deportations of illegal aliens, secure our porous southern border, eliminate wasteful programs, and support President Trump’s successful America First agenda. But apparently, that’s too much common sense for the Democrats to handle. Here’s what really has Democrats losing sleep: the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). This watchdog agency has been exposing waste, fraud, and abuse within the bloated federal bureaucracy, and the left can’t stand it.

They’re so desperate to shut down DOGE’s oversight that they’re willing to force a government shutdown to do it. Chuck Schumer, in typical Democrat doublespeak, claims he’s “always believed the only solution is a bipartisan solution.” Yeah, they always believe in a “bipartisan solution” when they are in the minority. The left’s propaganda machine is already spinning lies about the CR cutting healthcare and veterans’ benefits. It’s the same tired playbook they’ve used for decades—crying wolf about program cuts — and tax cuts for the wealthy — while protecting their corrupt spending schemes. Here’s the bottom line: Democrats aren’t interested in fiscal responsibility or government efficiency. They’re terrified of what DOGE might uncover next, and they want a shutdown to protect their swamp-dwelling allies, because that’s who Democrats really represent.

“We need Elon to keep doing his work at DOGE,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said. “We need all of that great team to deliver, and then we can insert that into appropriations this summer for FY26.” The choice is clear: Either support a reasonable CR that maintains essential government functions while advancing conservative priorities, or cave to the Democrats’ extortion tactics. President Trump and Republican leadership understand what’s at stake. The question is: Will enough Democrats put country over party before the clock runs out? Of course, Democrats aren’t going to support the CR anyway. The real question is whether the slim GOP majority is entirely on board. On Saturday, President Trump pressed Republicans to support the CR. “Great things are coming for America, and I am asking you to give us a few months to get us through to September so we can continue to put the Country’s ‘financial house’ in order,” he said in a post on Truth Social.

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“Trump has reportedly said that Zelensky should be ready to move toward holding a presidential election and “possibly toward stepping down as his country’s leader.”

Trump Wants Zelensky To Quit – NBC (RT)

US President Donald Trump has privately made it clear to his aides that Vladimir Zelensky should quit as the Ukrainian leader, NBC has reported, citing an administration source. The report comes ahead of negotiations between senior US officials and Zelensky’s chief of staff in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will discuss a resolution to the three-year conflict with a Ukrainian delegation headed by Andrey Yermak. Trump wants to see a change in Zelensky’s attitude toward peace talks, including a willingness to concede claims to territory, the broadcaster said in an article on Sunday, citing a member of the US administration and another American official.

Trump has reportedly said that Zelensky should be ready to move toward holding a presidential election and “possibly toward stepping down as his country’s leader.” Zelensky’s presidential term officially expired in May 2024 as he refused to hold a new election, citing martial law imposed during the conflict with Russia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in February that Moscow does not consider Zelensky to be a legitimate head of state, but is still ready to negotiate. Trump already called for a presidential vote to be held in the Ukraine last month, labelling Zelensky a “dictator without elections” with a “4% approval rating.” According to the latest poll by Kiev International Institute of Sociology, the Ukrainian leader’s rating stands at 68%, with the numbers going up sharply after his public spat with Trump and US Vice President J.D. Vance at the White House in late February.

Zelensky demanded security guarantees from the US, ruled out talks with Moscow and claimed that Vance could not have known anything about Ukraine’s problems due to never having visited the country. After the argument, Trump accused his guest of not wanting peace with Moscow and being ungrateful for billions assistance which Washington has provided to his country during the conflict. Following the debacle the US president halted military aid to Ukraine and then stopped sharing intelligence with Kiev. Trump said last week that he was “finding it more difficult… to deal with Ukraine” than with Russia when it comes to negotiating the settlement of the conflict. It is “surprising” considering that Moscow has “all the cards,” while Kiev has none, he stressed.

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Minerals AND peace.

Trump Demands More Than Minerals Deal From Ukraine (RT)

US President Donald Trump has privately told his aides that a deal granting Washington access to Ukraine’s mineral resources will not be enough for the resumption of American military aid and intelligence sharing with Kiev, NBC reported ahead of negotiations between US and Ukrainian officials in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, scheduled for March 11. Zelensky was expected to finalize the minerals agreement during his trip to Washington in late February, but his meeting with Trump and US Vice President J.D. Vance devolved into a shouting match in front of the cameras and the signing never happened. After the argument, Trump, who accused the Ukrainian leader of not wanting peace with Moscow, halted the provision of US military aid and subsequently stopped sharing intelligence data with Kiev. In recent days, Zelensky signaled his willingness to sign the deal and engage in diplomacy.

Trump not only wants the minerals agreement, but also to see a change in Zelensky’s attitude toward peace talks, including a willingness to make concessions such as giving up territory to Russia in order to stop the fighting, the broadcaster relayed on Sunday, citing a member of the administration and another American official. The US president also believes that Zelensky should move toward holding a presidential election in Ukraine and “possibly toward stepping down as his country’s leader,” the officials told NBC. Talks between senior US officials and Zelensky’s chief of staff are scheduled to take place in Jeddah on Tuesday. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will discuss a resolution to the three-year conflict with a Ukrainian delegation headed by Andrey Yermak.

Trump told journalists aboard Air Force One on Sunday that “we are going to make a lot of progress” during the upcoming negotiations. He also expressed confidence that Ukraine “will sign the minerals deal” eventually. The Financial Times reported on Sunday that in Saudi Arabia, the Kiev authorities are planning to propose a partial ceasefire with Moscow, covering long-range drone and missile strikes and combat operations in the Black Sea, in the hope that it will lead to the US reversing its decision to freeze intelligence sharing and weapons deliveries. Russia, however, has said repeatedly that it won’t accept a temporary ceasefire with Ukraine, insisting that the conflict must be settled through reliable, legally binding agreements that would eliminate its root causes.

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Witkoff will meet with Putin (again). That seems to mean a Putin-Trump meeting is close.

US Envoy Expected To Visit Moscow To Discuss Ukraine Conflict (RT)

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, is set to travel to Moscow this week for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, multiple media outlets including Reuters and Bloomberg have reported. Neither US nor Russian officials have publicly confirmed the trip so far. The scheduled visit is reportedly part of the White House’s ongoing efforts to negotiate a ceasefire in the Ukraine conflict. Witkoff previously met Putin in Moscow in February. The meeting facilitated a prisoner exchange, leading to the release of US citizen Marc Fogel from a Russian prison in exchange for Russian national Aleksandr Vinnik. Witkoff described his previous three-and-a-half-hour discussion with Putin as a “trust-building” exercise.

According to Axios journalist Barak Ravid, Witkoff is expected to arrive in Moscow on March 13. His tentative itinerary includes meetings in Abu Dhabi with UAE President Mohammed Bin Zayed on Tuesday, followed by Gaza-related talks in Doha with Qatari officials on Wednesday. A potential meeting with Putin in Moscow is scheduled for Thursday, Ravid wrote on X on Tuesday, adding that plans remain subject to change. The envoy has been actively engaged in efforts to address the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Last month, he participated in US-Russia negotiations held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, alongside US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz.

The discussions, which were the first high-level bilateral meetings since former President Joe Biden’s administration froze relations with Moscow in 2022 as part of its campaign of diplomatic isolation, aimed to develop a framework for future peace negotiations concerning the Ukraine conflict. The visit would coincide with US Senators Rubio and Waltz meeting Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. Talks will assess Ukraine’s willingness to make “material concessions” to Russia for a ceasefire, Reuters reports, citing US officials. It comes as Trump has increased pressure on Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky to negotiate peace with Moscow.

Kiev plans to propose an air and naval truce on Tuesday, a Ukrainian official told AFP. Russia has dismissed temporary ceasefires as a tactic to delay Ukraine’s defeat. Zelensky is not scheduled to participate directly in the upcoming talks between US and Ukrainian officials and is expected to meet separately with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Trump, who has pushed to improve relations with Moscow since taking office in January, signaled on Sunday that “big meetings” were planned involving both Russia and Ukraine. Trump’s approach marks a shift from the former President Joe Biden administration’s policies, which maintained a more confrontational stance toward the Kremlin.

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“Kiev has become trapped in a form of debt bondage that could take decades to escape – if that is even possible..”

How The War Reshaped Ukraine’s Future (Timofeev)

Over the last three years, Washington’s unwavering support for Kiev has been taken for granted. Most of Ukraine’s military supplies, financial aid, communications, and intelligence assistance have been provided by the US. Moreover, America supported the country’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations even before the current conflict. In many ways, modern Ukraine as a political entity largely owes its existence to the support of the US. Against this backdrop, the US president and vice president’s public spat with Zelensky in the Oval Office was particularly striking. Although no one knows when the Ukraine conflict may come to an end, the incident at the White House gives us an opportunity to consider the results of the past three years and reflect on earlier phases of Ukraine’s post-Soviet history. This can be summarized as a balance sheet of gains and losses.

The fact that Ukraine has remained formally independent may be considered a gain. The country has suffered territorial losses, but compared to what Ukraine had de facto control over before the start of the war, they are not so huge. For the past three years, Kiev has managed to preserve the support of the collective West, positioning itself as the leader in deterring Russia. The Ukrainian military has evolved into one of the most battle-hardened forces in Europe, gaining experience with modern Western weaponry under real combat conditions. Despite repeated corruption scandals, the country has managed to concentrate its resources, enforce mobilization of the population, and maintain a high pace of military operations for the past three years.

Now, regarding the losses. First of all, Ukraine has suffered significant human losses. Several hundred thousand men have been killed and wounded. This is further exacerbated by the mass exodus of refugees and internally displaced persons, many of whom are hesitant to return. Given the difficult demographic situation in Ukraine after the collapse of the USSR, with its low birth rate and high mortality rate (the same was observed in Russia), these losses are noticeable. Moreover, unlike Russia, Ukraine does not have experience in integrating large numbers of migrants. It will be extremely difficult to compensate for the losses. While the diaspora abroad can serve as an asset – lobbying for pro-Ukrainian legislation, advocating for sanctions against Russia, and sending money to relatives back home – it cannot directly compensate for the workforce depletion or stimulate domestic economic growth.

Human losses are compounded by damage to infrastructure, industrial capabilities, and material resources. The ongoing hostilities have inflicted substantial damage, and recovery will require tens of billions of dollars. When it comes to supplying the army, the losses are even more evident. In the past three years, Ukraine has exhausted the huge reserves of Soviet weapons that it had before the war. Western supplies have mitigated the problem, but it will be difficult to maintain the scale of supplies at the required levels without ongoing gigantic financial investments. The abrupt shift in Washington’s stance has further complicated matters, as the bulk of aid came from the US. As for territorial losses, their final extent remains uncertain. But one thing is clear – restoring the country’s 1991 borders is no longer a realistic objective.

The prospect of repelling Russian forces appears bleak, especially as the Russian army continues its slow yet steady advance. The Russian defense industry is ramping up production and seems prepared to maintain its current pace. Meanwhile, Ukraine is growing weaker, and this may lead to new territorial losses. It’s true that Kiev will not bear the financial burden of restoring the territories it has lost, but it won’t have access to their resources either. Three years of warfare have significantly deepened Ukraine’s dependence on Western partners. Having retained formal sovereignty, Ukraine no longer has the freedom to choose a political and economic course. The country’s budget is critically dependent on foreign aid, and what remains of its industry is increasingly integrated into Western supply chains, making Ukraine a peripheral economy.

It’s impossible to modernize the country or even maintain its vital functions without the assistance of Western donors. Even if the EU and others were to confiscate all frozen Russian assets and transfer them to Ukraine – a scenario that currently seems unlikely – it wouldn’t resolve the issue, as decisions about future funding would still be made abroad. This dependence makes Ukraine politically vulnerable. Western allies can exert influence and claim assets they deem essential. While the EU does this gently, choosing the right words and allowing Ukraine to save face, Trump is not shy about demanding control over Ukraine’s natural resources in return for all the aid the US has provided. Kiev has become trapped in a form of debt bondage that could take decades to escape – if that is even possible.

As a result, Ukraine has become an even more vulnerable, dependent, and peripheral state than it had been before. In the early 1990s, it had very different prospects, with its large population and industrial potential inherited from the Soviet Union.

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“The so-called European values – such as the inviolability of property, the presumption of innocence, freedom of speech and movement, and access to information – have dissipated like smoke.”

West Needs To Be Ready To Recognize Its Mistakes — Lavrov (TASS)

Russia’s coexistence with the countries of the collective West will depend on their behavior and their willingness to acknowledge and rectify past mistakes, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated in an interview with the New Regions of Russia magazine. “I believe the main lesson is clear: in matters crucial to our country’s survival, we must rely solely on ourselves and on the trusted friends who stood by us in our time of need,” he remarked. “Regarding our coexistence with our Western neighbors, much will hinge on their actions and their readiness to recognize and amend the errors they have made, including their persistent desire to achieve a strategic defeat for our nation.”

Lavrov emphasized that the past three years have marked a “moment of truth.” Following the initiation of the special military operation to protect the people of Donbass and Novorossiya, the collective West revealed its true nature. He remarked, “The ostensible rule of law and basic standards of decency have been cast aside. The so-called European values – such as the inviolability of property, the presumption of innocence, freedom of speech and movement, and access to information – have dissipated like smoke.” He continued, “Those who once lectured everyone on how to live, who proclaimed themselves champions of democracy and human rights, hastily rallied behind the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev without a moment’s hesitation.”

According to the Russian foreign minister, the world has witnessed the hegemonic instincts driving the ultra-liberal ruling elites of the West. “The predatory, colonial habits of the former colonial powers of the EU and Britain, along with their inherent vices – arrogance, deceitfulness, and a lack of order in business conduct – persist. De facto, a new global ‘divide’ has emerged: on one side is the Western minority, while on the other is the global majority,” he stated. “This majority includes all those countries, as well as individuals of good will within the West itself, who advocate for the establishment of a multipolar world based on a balance of interests.”

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“Whether the members of [Vladimir] Zelensky’s regime really want peace or not – this is very important and needs to be decided..”

Everyone, Including US, Wants Ukraine To Show Desire For Peace – Kremlin (TASS)

The Ukrainian side should decide whether it wants peace or not, this is what the US and the whole world expect from Kiev at the upcoming talks in Saudi Arabia, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “It’s not important what we expect,” he said when asked about the Kremlin’s expectations from the upcoming US-Ukrainian talks. “What is important here is what the United States expects. And at various levels, you and I have repeatedly heard statements that the United States is waiting for a demonstration of the Ukrainians’ desire for peace. In fact, this is probably what everyone is waiting for. Whether the members of [Vladimir] Zelensky’s regime really want peace or not – this is very important and needs to be decided,” the spokesman emphasized.

Earlier, US special envoy Steve Witkoff said he hoped to discuss a framework for a ceasefire and a peace deal with Ukraine. Although Vladimir Zelensky said he would not attend the March 11 meeting with the US in Saudi Arabia, the Ukrainian delegation will include Ukrainian presidential office head Andrey Yermak, Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga, and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. The US side will be represented by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US presidential aide Mike Waltz and Witkoff. On February 28, Zelensky met with Trump at the White House. There was an dispute between them, during which the American leader and US Vice President JD Vance accused Zelensky of ingratitude and disrespect. The Ukrainian delegation was forced to leave the White House prematurely at the request of the Washington administration. Bilateral talks and the planned signing of an agreement on Ukrainian rare-earths were thwarted.

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He must be the only one. The rest all want war. Blind as bats.

‘Let Ukraine Lose Quickly’ – Dutch MP (RT)

Dutch MP Marcel de Graaff has urged the European Union to halt arms supplies to Ukraine, advocating for the country’s swift defeat to save lives in its conflict with Russia. The recent US push for negotiations with Moscow has deepened divisions within the EU regarding the hostilities. The right-wing politician and former member of the European Parliament (MEP) has previously spoken in support of a de-escalation of the Ukraine conflict, ending all sanctions against Russia, and stopping arms supplies to Kiev. Since 2022, de Graaff has been suspended from his faction in the European Parliament and probed over alleged Russia ties. The MP has denied the allegations. In a social media post on Monday, de Graaff again called for an end to military and financial support for Kiev.

“Let Ukraine lose quickly. Stop sending money and weapons,” he wrote on X, arguing that Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky and EU officials do not care about human lives. The comments came in response to a post by former Dutch Chief of Defense Dick Berlijn, who claimed on Saturday that US President Donald Trump wanted a quick capitulation by Ukraine to be able to do business deals with Russia. Last month, Washington and Moscow launched diplomatic efforts to resolve the Ukraine conflict and resume economic cooperation. Russia has touted potential joint projects in metals, rare earth mining, and Arctic development.

A recent meeting between Trump and Zelensky descended into a heated argument and ended without the planned signing of a deal involving Ukraine’s mineral resources. Following the spat, the US reportedly suspended military aid to Kiev and claimed that Zelensky wasn’t ready for peace. Washington’s apparent change in policy on the Ukraine conflict has highlighted divisions within the EU. Hungary has advocated for peace negotiations and last week blocked a €20 billion ($21.7 billion) military aid package, arguing that aiding Kiev would “ruin Europe.” Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has claimed that Zelensky wants the conflict to continue because of the financial aid Kiev receives.

France, however, has labelled Russia a “threat” to the bloc and pledged to send additional weapons to Ukraine. EU leaders last week agreed to massively increase defense spending. Some bloc members have claimed that if allowed to win in Ukraine, Russia would go on to attack NATO countries close to its borders. Moscow has repeatedly denied that it has any intentions of attacking NATO, with President Vladimir Putin dismissing the speculation as “nonsense.” Russian officials have also condemned the EU’s militarization, arguing that the bloc’s defense plans are “primarily aimed at Russia” and hinder peace efforts in Ukraine.

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“There’s a chance to restore democracy from the bureaucracy, but just a chance.” —Elon Musk

The Glow of the Gaslight (James Howard Kunstler)

Of all the IGs, Michael Horowitz of the DOJ has been in place since 2012 and mysteriously remains on the job. He was on-the-scene through the entirety of RussiaGate, including the Crossfire Hurricane flimflam, the immense mischief perpetrated in the FISA Court, the whole run of the deceitful Mueller Special Counsel op, the 2020 election fraud, the FBI-sponsored J-6 riot (and the DNC / RNC pipe bomb caper), the Hunter Biden laptop shenanigans (and Biden Family bribery scheme), the feckless Durham investigation (on the origin of RussiaGate), and the matrix of lawfare cases launched by Merrick Garland against Mr. Trump in the 2024 election year. Seems like Mr. Horowitz missed a few things. How would you rate his Inspector General-ship? And why is he still in that office?

By now, you might have grokked that there is another side to the story presented by Scott Pelley, whose mission is to get the deranged half of the American public to go boo-hoo over ersatz threats to Our Democracy. Which might lead you to ask: how and why, exactly, is CBS so deeply invested in protecting the Administrative State (let’s call it) from allegations of corruption? Answer: CBS is the servant of the US Intel Community and its blob tentacles. They are captured. They do as they are told for their masters.

As it happens, Mr. Trump launched a $20-billion lawsuit against CBS last October for fiddling with the interview that candidate Kamala Harris did on 60-Minutes in such a way that it presented a false record of her answers in order to boost her floundering election campaign. So, let’s suppose we have been seeing CBS play a game of hardball against Mr. Trump, consistently painting the once-again president as a villain in case presiding U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk in the Northern District of Texas happens to have nothing better to do on Sunday evenings than watch 60-Minutes, out of sheer habit, like so many Americans.

Notice that you haven’t heard a whole lot for two weeks from AG Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel. They have had their hands full attempting to clean up big messes in the Southern District of NY’s DOJ office and its companion, the Manhattan FBI office, where many lawyers and agents have been fired in recent days. Among other things, the FBI office in New York supposedly sat on reams of evidence in the Jeffrey Epstein case. Much flappery has been made over that. But, considering Mr. Epstein’s service to the Intel blob, and its political servants especially, is it really plausible that any truly significant evidence remains?

The FBI raided Epstein”s Manhattan townhouse in July, 2019. They found CDs and hard drives galore and lots of photos of underage girls. None of the videos ever managed to leak out. Do you find that suspicious, considering how sensationally incriminating they would have been? Would you guess that is because they were destroyed? Personally, I wouldn’t expect much now.

But I do expect Ms. Bondi and Mr. Patel to develop a great many cases out of the aforesaid far-ranging corruption — overlooked by all those Inspectors General — that occurred throughout government at least since 2016, and probably involving a whole lot of well-know names, including Presidents Obama and Biden. It takes a lot of time and care to construct cases worth bringing to grand juries. Also consider that Dan Bongino will not take up his duties as FBI Deputy Director until March 15. As it happens, Mr. Bongino wrote several books about RussiaGate and its spin-offs. He will have a pretty good idea of exactly where to look and who to talk to, and he will be in-charge of making that happen. Be patient.

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“The underlying principle is simple: You look like you are going to win fair and square. But rule number one of EU democracy club is: we always win.

The EU’s Sham ‘Democracy’ Is On Show Against Romania’s Georgescu (Amar)

One way you can recognize a rotten Ancien Regime desperately running out of road is by how boorish and transparent its methods of repression get. By that standard, Romania and with it the EU must be on the verge of revolution. Because it is really hard to imagine a cruder set of dirty tricks than what has been deployed there to suppress the most likely winner of the next presidential election, Calin Georgescu. By now, the hounding of Georgescu by the Romanian establishment (and that of the EU) is quite a saga. A short recap will do: Last December, Georgescu, an insurgent nationalist-sovereignist surprise candidate, won the first round of Romania’s presidential elections.

Instead of holding the second round, as foreseen by law, the Romanian establishment resorted to crass lawfare: Bucharest’s constitutional court cancelled the run-off, which Georgescu had very good chances of winning. Or rather, because Georgescu had very good chances of winning. The pretext the court used was ludicrous then – guess what? “Russian interference,” again – and by now even Western mainstream media have had to acknowledge that the so-called “evidence,” a file cobbled together by the Romanian security services, is a bad joke. Even the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, stately stalwart of German Russophobia, has long admitted that the claim of Russian meddling was a “myth” (read: lie): “The governing class in Bucharest has made a show of the Russian bogeyman to distract from the failure of its little power games – and to have a pretext for annulling elections that did not suit it.”

Worse (yes, they can do even worse in EU-Romania), Georgescu’s successful social media campaign, which was used as evidence against Georgescu was, in reality, financed by his political opponents. Their plan was to promote him into the second round where they would then be able to beat him. When he proved unpredictably popular and upset that scheme, they cancelled the election.

Unsurprisingly, many Romanians saw through this charade and rallied even more behind the suppressed candidate. Hence, Georgescu was, if anything, even more likely to win the replacement elections scheduled for May, as polls clearly indicated: leading with over 41% over his closest opponent, who had less than 19%. That was too much to bear, of course, for Romania’s long-suffering and deeply corrupt establishment. With those poll figures just out, as it happened, the main election authority has now banned Georgescu, again. The underlying principle is simple: You look like you are going to win fair and square. But rule number one of EU democracy club is: we always win. Out you go. Georgescu, it is true, can still appeal. But guess where: to that same constitutional court that was used to kneecap him when he was winning the first time. Fat chance he’ll have a fair hearing.

Let’s get one thing out of the way: Georgescu has been widely characterized as far-right. He certainly is a nationalist and definitely does not belong to my club, the Left. But all of the above is irrelevant. Strictly irrelevant. He has a right to stand for elections. If his opponents dislike his politics, they have to beat him at the ballot box, not through lawfare and by clearly instrumentalized charges. These charges include dubious associations, playing fast and loose with recent Romanian history, and being less than transparent about money. And so what? Big deal: Even if every single accusation should turn out to be true, the fact is that if the same standards were applied everywhere and to everyone in Romania and the EU or its favorite sham “democracy”, Zelensky’s Ukraine, then broad swathes of the incumbent “elites” would fall.

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“They talk about the climate and they talk about the dangers of the climate but they don’t talk about the dangers of a nuclear weapon, which could happen tomorrow.”

President Trump Warns ‘Monster’ Nukes Could End The World ‘Tomorrow’ (Crane)

President Trump has warned that “monster” nuclear weapons are the biggest threat to humanity and could easily “end the world” tomorrow. The commander-in-chief gave the grim warning as he lamented the dangers of stockpiling nukes amid his push to kickstart arms control talks with Russia and China again. “The greatest [threat] is sitting on shelves in various countries called ‘nuclear weapons’ that are big monsters that can blow your heads off for miles and miles and miles,” Trump told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” Trump went on to lament the amount of money the United States, which has the second-largest stockpile of nukes in the world behind Russia, has spent on its nuclear weapon program. “We spend a lot of money of nuclear weapons — the level of destruction is beyond anything you can imagine,” he said in the wide-raging interview.

“It’s just bad that you have to spend all this money on something that if it’s used, it’s probably the end of the world.” Trump also pushed back against the world leaders and politicians who have spent years claiming climate change is posing the biggest threat to humanity. “I watched [former President Joe] Biden for years say the existential threat is from the climate,” Trump said. “I said ‘No.’” “They talk about the climate and they talk about the dangers of the climate but they don’t talk about the dangers of a nuclear weapon, which could happen tomorrow.” It comes after he recently warned that Russia has by far the most nukes in the world but predicted that China, which has the third-largest stockpile, will likely catch up within a decade.

He stressed, too, that he wants to restart nuclear arms control talks with Russia and China and that he eventually hopes the two countries, as well as the US, could agree to cut their massive defense budgets in half. “There’s no reason for us to be building brand new nuclear weapons, we already have so many,” Trump said last month. “You could destroy the world 50 times over, 100 times over. And here we are building new nuclear weapons, and they’re building nuclear weapons.” He added that he would look to engage in nuclear talks with the two countries once “we straighten it all out” in the Middle East and Ukraine.

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Spring cleaning.

Gabbard Revokes Security Clearances of Dozens of Former Officials, Others (ET)

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced on March 10 that she had revoked dozens of security clearances in accordance with President Donald Trump’s order. Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and attorneys Mark Zaid, Andrew Weissman, and Norm Eisen were among those who lost clearances. Gabbard also revoked the clearances of the 51 former U.S. intelligence officials who signed a letter alleging that the Hunter Biden laptop story had the “earmarks” of Russian disinformation. Former FBI employees testified to Congress in 2023 that the laptop was not disinformation.

In February, Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that former President Joe Biden’s intelligence information would be “cut off immediately” and that his daily Intelligence briefings would stop. The laptop was an issue in the 2020 presidential election, as critics said it contained information that could be negative about the former president’s son. He was later convicted of criminal tax and gun charges but was pardoned by his father shortly before the latter left the White House.

The October 2020 letter stated that “the arrival on the U.S. political scene of emails purportedly belonging to Vice President Biden’s son Hunter, much of it related to his time serving on the Board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” “We want to emphasize that we do not know if the emails provided to the New York Post by President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, are genuine or not and that we do not have evidence of Russian involvement–just that our experience makes us deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case.”

Trump took action on Jan. 20, the first day of his second term, to revoke the security clearances of 50 former government officials, including his former national security adviser, John Bolton. “Federal policymakers must be able to rely on analysis conducted by the Intelligence Community and be confident that it is accurate, crafted with professionalism, and free from politically motivated engineering to affect political outcomes in the United States,” stated the presidential action. “The signatories [of the letter] willfully weaponized the gravitas of the Intelligence Community to manipulate the political process and undermine our democratic institutions.”

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“Crockett has become the Democrats’ latest media darling, and Republicans couldn’t possibly be happier about it.”

Jasmine Crockett Is the Gift That Keeps on Giving for the GOP (Margolis)

In a display of stunning ignorance that would be hilarious if it weren’t so dangerous, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) continues her streak of handing Republicans political ammunition. Crockett has become the Democrats’ latest media darling, and Republicans couldn’t possibly be happier about it. Her latest gift? Going on MSNBC to tell us what she really thinks about illegal immigration. The Texas Democrat, who apparently skipped her law school classes on federal statutes, boldly declared that entering the country illegally “is not a crime.” “It is not a criminal violation to enter the country illegally. It’s not. It’s not criminal. It’s not a crime,” Crockett insisted during her appearance on “The Katie Phang Show.” Someone might want to send her a copy of 8 U.S.C. § 1325, which explicitly states otherwise.

But why let pesky facts get in the way of a good Democrat talking point? For those keeping score at home, illegal entry is a federal misdemeanor punishable by fines and up to six months in prison. Repeat offenders face even stiffer penalties — up to two years behind bars. And what if you’re a removed immigrant with a criminal record? You could be looking at up to 20 years in prison. “Don’t give me this fake outrage about criminals roaming our streets when you guys stand 10 toes down for the biggest criminal that we have ever seen go into the White House,” Crockett ranted. The irony here is absolutely delicious. A Democrat congresswoman, who took an oath to uphold the Constitution and our nation’s laws, is actively spreading misinformation about federal criminal statutes. This isn’t a simple mistake; it’s either willful ignorance or deliberate deception.

And given public attitudes about illegal immigration these days, Crockett, as the face of the Democratic Party, is truly a gift for the Republican Party. During the 2024 election, illegal immigration wasn’t just a top issue; it was a winning one for the GOP. Americans across the political spectrum have had enough of Joe Biden’s open borders and the crime that came with it. They were outraged by the tragic stories of Laken Riley, Jocelyn Nungaray, Rachel Morin, and countless others — victims of illegal immigrants who should never have been here in the first place. And now Crockett is going on national media telling the country, as a representative of the Democratic Party, that law enforcement should ignore immigration violations. The left’s determination to minimize the seriousness of illegal entry speaks volumes about their priorities.

They’re not interested in border security or enforcing our laws; they’re interested in importing voters from across the border, even if that means Americans are less safe. Let’s hope that party leaders don’t sideline Crockett and that she continues to be the new face of the Democrats. As long as she is, Republicans will have no problem winning in future elections. Dare I say that they may have a huge midterm election in 2026?

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Jan 232025
 
 January 23, 2025  Posted by at 10:50 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , ,  65 Responses »


Wassily Kandinsky Succession 1935

 

Trump Ready To Meet With Putin ‘Anytime’ (RT)
Trump Admits Love For Russian People And Offers Putin ‘A Deal’ (RT)
This Transition Is Already a Huge Historical Marker (Jeffrey Tucker)
Trump’s Sweeping Orders Will ‘Transform’ The World – Orban (RT)
EU and UK ‘Prepared’ For Trump – Politico (RT)
The Second Era of Trump Begins (Wegmann)
Trump Begins Deep State Purge At DOJ (ZH)
Trump Signs Executive Order to Fire Top Career Federal Managers Faster (PCR)
A Ukrainian Victory Was Never Biden’s Goal: Time Magazine (Antiwar)
Kiev Closest To Joining EU – Serbian President (RT)
Hungary Blocks Renewal of Sanctions Against Russia – Bloomberg (RT)
Cost Of Potatoes, Cost Of Blood – When Inflation Is Lethal (Helmer)
The Age of Interplanetary Exceptionalism (Pepe Escobar)
Oracle Boss Pledges Individual AI MRNA Cancer Vaccines (RT)
Birthright Citizenship Isn’t Real (Ryan McMaken)
The Final Corruption of Joe Biden (Turley)

 

 

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

Nixon

Bondi

Dimon

Boeing

 

 

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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“Nothing is written that moral courage cannot overcome.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Second Era of Trump Begins (Wegmann)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Trump Begins Deep State Purge At DOJ (ZH)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Pure insanity.

Kiev Closest To Joining EU – Serbian President (RT)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Age of Interplanetary Exceptionalism (Pepe Escobar)

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

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

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

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

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Yeah, people really want more mRNA.

Oracle Boss Pledges Individual AI MRNA Cancer Vaccines (RT)

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

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

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

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

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Solid explanation.

Birthright Citizenship Isn’t Real (Ryan McMaken)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Final Corruption of Joe Biden (Turley)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read more …

 

 

 

 

WHO

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

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

Awesome

Moose

Nureyev

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Jan 062025
 


Rembrandt van Rijn Saskia en profil in expensive attire 1640-45

 

Trudeau Out: Canadian Prime Minister “Likely To Resign” This Week (ZH)
Musk Renews Attack On British PM Over Rape Scandal (RT)
Elon Musk And The Pack Raping of Over 250,000 English School Girls (SCF)
Musk Calls For Reform UK To Oust Farage (RT)
Reform UK’s Farage Disagrees With Musk’s Urge to Cede Party Leadership (Sp.)
Musk Compares Soros To Star Wars Villain (RT)
An American Honor No Longer Means Anything (Paul Craig Roberts)
Trump’s Plan to End Currency War 3.0 (Jim Rickards)
US House Speaker Vows To End ‘Deep State’ (RT)
US Deep State: Its Roots, Tools and Enablers (Sp.)
Zelensky Says He ‘Despises’ Russians (RT)
Zelensky Says ‘Too Bad’ Ukraine Doesn’t Have Nuclear Weapons (RT)
Trump Border Czar Homan Pushes Back Over Trump Admin Deportation Plans (JTN)
EU Could Establish Asylum ‘Return Hubs’ In Third Countries By March (RMX)
California Governor Orders Investigation Into Ultra-Processed Foods (ET)

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/ImMeme0/status/1875939747706937693

Jordan Peterson

Grooming

Starmer

 

 

 

 

It’ll take years to recuperate from the damage he did..

Trudeau Out: Canadian Prime Minister “Likely To Resign” This Week (ZH)

Back on New Year’s Eve, when looking at the global tsunami of resentment and loathing at establishment politics and corrupt politicians that crushed incumbent political parties and politicians around the globe, we eyed the one person that was long overdue to be swept in the tidal wave. We are talking of course about Canada’s prime minister Justin Turdeau (sic)… and we are delighted to announce that his time has now also come: citing a source, Reuters reports that Canadian Prime Minister and the world’s most iconic virtue signaling blackface, Justin Trudeau, is “increasingly likely to announce he intends to step down, though he has not made a final decision.” The source spoke to Reuters after the Globe and Mail reported that Trudeau was expected to announce as early as Monday that he would quit as leader of Canada’s ruling Liberal Party after nine years in office.

Following the news, odds that Trudeau would be out before April surged to 97%. Trudeau’s departure would leave the party without a permanent head at a time when polls show the Liberals will be crushed by the official opposition Conservatives in an election that must be held by late October. Sources told the Globe and Mail that they did not know definitely when Trudeau would announce his plans to leave but said they expect it would happen before a emergency meeting of Liberal legislators on Wednesday, and could come as soon as today. An increasing number of Liberal parliamentarians, alarmed by a series of gloomy polls, have publicly urged Trudeau to quit. It remains unclear whether Trudeau will leave immediately or stay on as prime minister until a new Liberal leader is selected, the Globe and Mail report added, although it is unclear how he hopes to continue after confirming defeat.

Trudeau, who was recently mocked by Trump who proposed that he become governor of the “51st state of Canada”, took over as Liberal leader in 2013 when the party was in deep trouble and had been reduced to third place in the House of Commons for the first time. If he does resign, it would prompt fresh calls for a quick election to put in place a stable government able to deal with the administration of President-elect Donald Trump for the next four years. The prime minister has discussed with Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc whether he would be willing to step in as interim leader and prime minister, one source told the newspaper, adding that this would be unworkable if LeBlanc plans to run for the leadership.

Trudeau, 53, had been able to fend off Liberal legislators worried about the polls and the loss of safe seats in two special elections.But calls for him to step aside have grown since December, when Trudeau tried to demote Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, one of his closest cabinet allies, after she pushed back against his proposals for more spending. Freeland quit instead and penned a letter accusing Trudeau of “political gimmicks” rather than focusing on what was best for the country. “The country could face instability, notably from an economic threat in the potential of a 25% US tariff on Canadian imports from the incoming administration,” said a recent letter sent to the prime minister by Kody Blois, who leads a group of Liberal members from the four easternmost provinces. “Simply put, time is of the essence,” Blois said, adding that it’s “not tenable for you to remain as the leader.”

Trudeau propelled the Liberals to power in 2015 promising “sunny ways” and a progressive agenda that promoted the rights of women and a promise to fight climate change. But the everyday realities of governing gradually wore him down and like many Western leaders, the need to deal with the effects of the pandemic ate up much of his time. Although Ottawa spent heavily to protect consumers and businesses, racking up record budget deficits, this provided little protection from public anger as prices soared. A botched immigration policy led to hundreds of thousands of arrivals, straining an already overheated housing market. The Canadian currency strengthened as much as 0.4% to C$1.4388 per dollar after the Globe report before paring those gains. The currency has been trading near its weakest level since March 2020 and has lost more than 7% against the greenback in the past year. “Traders may be buying the loonie on the view that the worst is over for Canadian politics after all the recent uncertainty,” said Ken Cheung, a strategist at Mizuho Bank.

Read more …

“Prepare for some epic cringe..”

Musk Renews Attack On British PM Over Rape Scandal (RT)

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk renewed his assault on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday, attacking his handling of the grooming-gangs scandal in a series of posts on social platform X. Musk commented in one post about reports that the Home Office had allegedly urged the police forces in 2008 not to investigate sexual exploitation of underage girls given that they had purportedly made “informed choices” despite being below the legal age of consent. “Starmer must go. He is [a] national embarrassment,” he wrote. The billionaire also mocked the upcoming statement from Starmer to address Musk’s allegations, expected on Monday. “Prepare for some epic cringe,” he wrote in a subsequent post.

Musk launched a massive attack on Starmer earlier this week, accusing him of failing to tackle the grooming-gangs issue or to properly investigate numerous assaults on underage girls at the time when the incumbent Prime Minister led the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service, from 2008 to 2013. Among other things, the billionaire called the grooming gangs a “state-sponsored evil,” stating Starmer was “complicit in the RAPE OF BRITAIN” and should not only resign but also face criminal charges. Gangs across the UK, involving men of predominantly Pakistani origin, rape-tortured vulnerable girls on an industrial scale over the last thirty years, with multiple independent inquiries indicating systemic failures to investigate the crimes. According to three separate reports published in 2013, 2014, and 2015, local politicians and police alike opted to cover up the rapes partly out of fear that bringing the perpetrators to justice would be seen as “racist.”

Apart from personally attacking the British PM, Musk also sparred with British media and politicians over the “rape gangs” and other issues. He reiterated his calls for the release of right-wing activist Tommy Robinson, jailed in England on contempt of court charges. The billionaire sharply criticized the coverage of his remarks, suggesting the British media was complicit in hushing up the “rape gangs” issue as well. “This is the same media that hid the fact that a quarter million little girls were – still are – being systematically raped by migrant gangs in Britain. They are beneath contempt. Despicable human beings,” Musk wrote. The Robinson affair has also apparently caused a rift between Musk and the leader of the Reform UK party Nigel Farage, whom he had previously called the “only hope” for Britain. After the politician refused to back Musk’s stance on Robinson, the billionaire urged Reform UK to oust its leader as well.

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“..until the great unwashed can storm those gilded cages and finish off what Musk has started, Musk’s protestations, like those of others before him, will only amount to so much hot air..”

Elon Musk And The Pack Raping of Over 250,000 English School Girls (SCF)

Elon Musk threw the cat among the pigeons when he recently highlighted the pack raping of over 250,000 English school girls by packs of middle aged Pakistani men, who got away with their crimes for over a quarter of a century, thanks to the collusion of the British judiciary, the British constabulary, the British social services and the British political system, which are now all trying to squirm their way out of taking responsibility for the rankest of crimes they are all fully complicit in. Given how widespread was Official England’s collusion with these multiple Pakistani rape packs, there can be no talk of letting the (oxymoron of) British justice take its course or of “learning from our mistakes”.

Heads have to roll, literally, and the first head on the chopping block must be that of British Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer (who was the Director of the Crown Prosecution Service during these grooming gang rape gang revelations, who was the boss of the CPS lawyer who originally dropped the prosecution of Kabeer Hassan because he believed the 15 year old girl made “a choice to be a prostitute” and who discredited her as a witness even after reviewing DNA evidence and hours of testimony), followed by King Charles, who is not only the brother of Jeffrey Epstein sidekick, Prince Andrew, but who recently knighted Peter Mandelson, another key Epstein (and Tony Blair) conspirator, and who, in his role of Prince of Wales, was also bosom pals with Sir Jimmy Savile, the BBC’s child rapist in chief.

Although the urge to dispense vigilante style justice on these benighted “victims” is fully understandable, it serves no overall purpose because the British police who interviewed Vanessa George no doubt also felt like ripping her apart when they unsuccessfully tried to coax out of her the names of the babies she sexually molested as part of the prolific online grooming gang she was active in. When we recall that Australian “entrepreneur” Peter Scully had thousands of paying customers watching him rape and torture to death baby Daisy, and that the Syrian Arab Republic has been surrendered to MI6 assets, who keep child sex slaves as a matter of course, it is very difficult to see how anything less than getting fully medieval on every last one of these criminals and their white collar enablers would be appropriate.

Not that there is anything new or novel in these crimes. The Pall Mall Gazette, to its eternal credit, exposed the white slave trade in Victorian Britain and, though it is a half a century ago since I first read of it, the crimes they uncovered still sicken me to my core. Then there is the Paedophile Information Exchange and the North American Man/Boy Love Association, both of which were very active in the 1970s and both of which enjoyed widespread political support from senior politicians who remain active to this day.

And let’s remember Liberal Chief Whip Cyril Smith, Lord Ahmed, and child rapist Imran Khan MP (brother of alleged sex pest and notorious Russophobe Karim Ahmad Khan). Then there is Australian Peter Tatchell, who first shacked up with an under age English school boy, when he fled the Australian draft. Though he is often linked to the paedophile movement, Tatchell’s main activities have been advocating on war and peace issues that are aligned to NATO’s objectives. In this latter role, he has been an opponent of Jeremy Corbyn, of Syria and of Russia and has linked up with Volker Beck and other child sex advocates with similar pro NATO, Russophobic backgrounds and agendas. Tatchell, his sexual proclivities notwithstanding, is a handy gay imperialist radical NATO’s media can wheel out to give their criminal enterprises a radical sheen that Musk, perhaps despite himself, is now scraping off to reveal the grime beneath.

Although Sodom and Gomorrah are supposed to be the Bible’s benchmark in depravity, none of their ancient pack rapists are in the same league as England’s Pakistani pack rapists, England’s knights and their Labour Party apologists, Tatchell, Peter Scully’s customers, or Lord Janner, another of Blair’s well connected Zionist chums, who buggered Jewish waifs who survived the Holocaust. And, though the more prudish amongst us could be forgiven for reaching for the smelling salts, something much more potent than that old cure is urgently needed to deal with all these criminals. Although Musk has probably his own libertarian agenda afoot in turning his guns on the Pakistani pack rapists, they deserve all the incoming Musk gives them and their equally vile white collar collaborators.

But even Musk’s ire is nowhere near enough to balance the scales of justice. Although a rosary of top security prisons along the lines of El Salvador’s CECOT prison for the pack rapists and their friends and enablers would be a good start, not even that would be enough unless the judges, cops, social welfare workers and politicians who enabled all this are thrown in there along with the pack rapists and all belonging to them.

Because turkeys do not vote for Christmas or Thanksgiving Day, such a solution will not happen irrespective of whether Musk helps his pets make a political breakthrough in Germany and England. But Musk, at day’s end, is irrelevant in all of this, at least until the great and the good of Germany and England wrest power away from the Pakistani pack rape enablers. Though Musk has rattled our overlords’ cages, until the great unwashed can storm those gilded cages and finish off what Musk has started, Musk’s protestations, like those of others before him, will only amount to so much hot air that will get lost in the bread and circuses that keep the relatives of the raped in their opiated, emasculated and politically paralyzed state.

Read more …

Farage IS Reform UK. It’s either him or Tories and Labour.

Musk Calls For Reform UK To Oust Farage (RT)

Elon Musk has called for Nigel Farage to be replaced as leader of Reform UK, marking a dramatic reversal in the Tesla billionaire’s support for the right-wing leader. The announcement came just hours after Farage failed to back Musk’s inflammatory comments about British politicians. “The Reform party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes,” Musk posted on X, the social media platform he owns, on Sunday afternoon. His statement comes weeks after praising Farage and describing Reform UK as Britain’s “only hope.” The fallout appears to be tied to disagreements over far-right activist Tommy Robinson, who was jailed in England on contempt of court charges, as well as Musk’s recent controversial claims.

Earlier this week, the South African-born US tycoon called Prime Minister Keir Starmer “complicit in the rape of Britain” due to his oversight of the UK prosecution office during past grooming gang scandals. He also accused health minister Jess Phillips of being a “rape genocide apologist.” Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, Farage distanced himself from Musk’s remarks. “I don’t agree with everything he stands for,” the politician said. “But I do believe in free speech. I think he’s a hero.” Farage also rejected Musk’s calls to allow Robinson to join his party, saying he is “not what we need” in Reform UK. Musk, by contrast, has described the jailed activist as a political prisoner and repeatedly championed his release.

Reacting to Musk’s post, Farage expressed surprise but reaffirmed his stance. “Elon is a remarkable individual, but on this, I am afraid I disagree. My view remains that Tommy Robinson is not right for Reform, and I never sell out my principles,” he wrote on X. The rift comes despite Musk and Farage meeting last month at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, where reports suggested the tech mogul was considering a $100m (£80m) donation to Reform UK. Farage has since acknowledged their disagreements but emphasized the value of Musk’s influence. “Free speech is back,” he said. “Well, you may find it offensive, but it’s a good thing, not a bad thing.” Musk’s escalating comments have drawn condemnation from UK politicians, with Labour MP Wes Streeting branding them “disgraceful.”

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“Well, this is a surprise! Elon is a remarkable individual but on this I am afraid I disagree..”

Reform UK’s Farage Disagrees With Musk’s Urge to Cede Party Leadership (Sp.)

The head of the British right-wing populist party Reform UK, Nigel Farage, disagreed the words of the US entrepreneur Elon Musk that the party needed to remove him from the post of leader. Earlier, Musk, who called for a vote for Reform UK, said that the party needed to replace its leader Farage. As the British newspaper Telegraph pointed out, Musk and Farage disagreed about the founder of the far-right organization English Defense League Tommy Robinson, whom Musk praised on his social network, while Farage said that Robinson was “not the one we need.” “Well, this is a surprise! Elon is a remarkable individual but on this I am afraid I disagree. My view remains that Tommy Robinson is not right for Reform and I never sell out my principles,” Farage said on X in response to Musk’s post.

Following the elections held in July, Labour won an absolute majority (402 seats) in parliament, while Reform UK won only five seats. At the same time, Farage’s party took third place in the number of votes, gaining 14.3%. In terms of the percentage of votes cast, it took second place in 98 constituencies, 89 of which were won by Labour. Such a gap between the votes cast and the number of parliamentary mandates is explained by the electoral system in force in the country, in which the candidate who receives the maximum number of votes in his constituency gets into parliament.

This is not the first time Musk has called for voting for a right-wing party — he previously wrote in an article for the German newspaper Welt that the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was the only political force in Germany capable of saving the country from becoming a “shadow of its former self.” The publication of this article sparked heated debates both in the Welt editorial office and in Germany as a whole. Welt’s head of opinion Eva Marie Kogel resigned after the article was published, and Friedrich Merz, a candidate for chancellor of Germany from the opposition bloc of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU), called the article an unprecedented interference in the German elections.

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“..Soros has focused on global initiatives that strengthen democracy, human rights, education, and social justice.”

Musk Compares Soros To Star Wars Villain (RT)

US-based tech mogul Elon Musk has likened liberal billionaire George Soros to Emperor Palpatine, also known as Darth Sidious, the principal villain in the Star Wars movie series. The barb followed Joe Biden’s decision to bestow the Presidential Medal of Freedom on the powerful financier. In recent months, Musk has emerged as an increasingly vocal supporter and close ally of President-elect Donald Trump, who has appointed him to co-head the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In a message on X on Saturday, Musk posted a collage that depicts President Biden conferring the decoration on the Star Wars anti-hero, with the caption reading: “George Soros looking quite good here. Must be the lighting.”

Commenting on another user’s post, in which they compared the 94-year-old billionaire to Magneto – the main villain in Marvel’s X-Men comic book series – the South-African tech tycoon who also holds US citizenship said Soros’ decoration was a “travesty.” On Saturday, President Biden named nineteen recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom – America’s highest civilian honor, “presented to individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors.” The Democrat hailed those individuals as “good people” who “have made America and the world a better place.” Soros, whose propaganda and media network has supported coups and revolutions in multiple countries, did not attend the ceremony, with his son Alex accepting the award on his behalf.

According to a statement released by the White House, “through his network of foundations, partners and projects in more than 120 countries, Soros has focused on global initiatives that strengthen democracy, human rights, education, and social justice.” Also among those singled out by Biden for their contributions was former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who “made history many times over decades in public service.” In a post on X, Soros wrote: “As an immigrant who found freedom and prosperity in America, I am deeply moved by this honor.” Critics have accused the billionaire over his role in the collapse of the British pound in 1992 and in Thailand’s financial crisis five years later. Through his Open Society Foundations network, the businessman has actively attempted to influence political processes in multiple countries around the world. Its activities have been outlawed in several nations, including Russia, Pakistan and the Philippines.

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“Honors have become political payoffs..”

An American Honor No Longer Means Anything (Paul Craig Roberts)

Everything Biden Touches Turns to Excrement. And now he has destroyed the US Medal of Freedom by awarding it to two crooks, one of whom Elon Musk says hates humanity. Hillary Clinton, whose 2016 presidential campaign financed the fake Steele Dossier that disrupted President Trump’s first term with accusations that he conspired with Russian President Putin to “interfere” in the 2016 election, was a Medal of Freedom recipient. George Soros, who made his billions by conspiring against the currency of the UK, America’s most reliable ally, is another recipient. Soros’ money is believed to have put in office the three black prosecutors responsible for the orchestrated indictments of Trump that were supposed to prevent Trump’s reelection. Biden awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal to Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson, two members of Congress who led the House committee “investigation” of the orchestrated “Jan 6 attack on the Capitol.” Honors have become political payoffs. President Trump should attempt to restore the luster of the medal by awarding it and a pardon to the “Jan 6 insurrectionists” falsely prosecuted and imprisoned by the criminal Biden regime.

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“Don’t be fooled by false claims of new currency wars. Trump is trying to achieve a new era of currency stability and lasting prosperity.”

Trump’s Plan to End Currency War 3.0 (Jim Rickards)

There has been a lot reported in recent days about the return of currency wars. With Trump 2.0 about to begin, let’s review his last term and what to expect in the second. Trump badly bungled his transition after first being elected president in 2016. He was not ready with a long list of loyal appointees. Many of his senior appointments such as Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State, James Mattis as Secretary of Defense, and John Kelly as Chief of Staff secretly disliked Trump but accepted their roles as so-called “adult supervision” around the supposedly reckless Trump. They thwarted his agenda. That backstabbing came on top of the large number of Obama holdovers in the Deep State who saw themselves as a “resistance” movement.

Trump is doing a better job of preparing for a second term as president, but the resistance is not sitting still either. As reported in The Washington Post, Politico, The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo Finance and other outlets, Trump is working on a secret plan to devalue the U.S. dollar. The goal would be to cheapen U.S. exports and thereby help the U.S. balance of trade and create exported-related jobs. But critics say that this will only increase U.S. inflation as Americans have to pay more for their imported goods using cheaper dollars. The critics also say that other countries will retaliate against the U.S. by cheapening their own currencies (that’s the essence of a currency war) and no country will be any further ahead. In fact, the entire world will be worse off.

[..] So, are the critics right that Trump has a secret plan to devalue the dollar? And are they right that this new stage in the currency war will bring inflation and hurt the U.S. economy? The critics are wrong and don’t understand what Trump is actually trying to do. Trump is not trying to start a currency war; he’s trying to end it once and for all. In the first place, no president has the power to unilaterally devalue the dollar. That might have been possible under the gold standard or some standard of fixed exchange rates, but that has not been the state of the world since 1973.

[..] Far from the reckless, inflationary process the media claim, Trump’s actual plan is based on the highly successful model developed by James Baker for Ronald Reagan and implemented in the Plaza Accord of 1985 and the Louvre Accord of 1987. After the severe economic recession of 1982 and Paul Volcker’s policy of moving interest rates to 20%, inflation in the U.S. was finally reigned in. Inflation dropped from 13.5% in 1980, to 6.1% in 1982, and then 3.2% in 1983. Investment in the U.S. went on a tear. U.S. real growth was 16% from 1983 to 1986. Everyone wanted dollars to invest in the U.S. and the dollar boomed reaching an all-time high in 1985. Finally, the Reagan administration decided the U.S. dollar was too strong and was hurting U.S. exports and jobs.

Treasury Secretary James Baker convened a meeting of the finance ministers of France, Germany, Japan, the UK, and the U.S. at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. The purpose was not to fight a currency war. The purpose was to create order in currency markets out of the chaos that had prevailed since 1973. The parties reached a joint agreement that would devalue the U.S. dollar in an orderly fashion versus the French Franc, Japanese Yen, UK pounds sterling, and the German Deutschemark. Once the targeted level for the dollar was achieved, the parties would use their best efforts, including market intervention as needed to maintain those levels within narrow bands.

A separate meeting in Paris at the Louvre in 1987 agreed that the devaluation phase was over, and the dollar would be maintained at the new parities. This was not currency war; it was currency peace achieved by agreement and implemented in a cooperative fashion. The Louvre Accord (this time including the U.S., UK, France, Germany, Japan and Canada) ushered in a period of global prosperity that lasted twenty years until the Global Financial Crisis of 2008.

Trump’s goal is to repeat the success of the Plaza and Louvre Accords. Trump’s advisor on this is Robert Lighthizer, who is one of the most brilliant financial minds around and was Trump’s U.S. Trade Representative (2017-2021). Lighthizer was also USTR for Ronald Reagan from 1983 to 1985 so he’s a veteran of prior currency wars and was in the administration around the time the Plaza Accord was being developed. Lighthizer is the perfect individual to help Trump achieve the kind of success that Reagan and Baker had in the 1980s. The media are trying to portray Trump as reckless when in fact he’s proposing something highly beneficial for U.S. jobs and U.S. industry. Don’t be fooled by false claims of new currency wars. Trump is trying to achieve a new era of currency stability and lasting prosperity.

Read more …

Just because it sounds good?

US House Speaker Vows To End ‘Deep State’ (RT)

US House Speaker Mike Johnson has outlined an ambitious legislative plan for 2025, pledging to prioritize tax cuts, border security and deregulation. In an appearance on Fox News, he also vowed to dismantle the “deep state.” Johnson, who was re-elected as speaker of the House in November 2024, emphasized that Republicans are prepared to act quickly on their agenda in the new Congress. “We’ve made a lot of campaign promises. And we’re going to be dismantling the deep state all along the way,” he said in the interview on the show Sunday Morning Futures. Central to the Republican plan is the prevention of what Johnson described as the “largest tax increase in US history,” set to occur if the 2017 tax cuts are not extended by the end of the year.

He promised to revive the economy by extending those cuts, eliminating taxes on Social Security benefits and tips, and increasing the cap on state and local tax deductions. The legislative package also focuses on boosting US manufacturing and reducing federal regulations. “We are going to incentivize American companies to manufacture in the US again, and we are going to make sure that the regulatory burden and the red tape that has smothered our free market is reduced and eliminated,” Johnson said on Sunday. To pass these reforms, Johnson plans to use budget reconciliation, a legislative mechanism allowing bills to pass the Senate with a simple majority.

He expects the package to be enacted within the first 100 days of the next Republican administration. The agenda also includes strict immigration policies aimed at enhancing border security. Johnson has expressed support for completing the US-Mexico border wall and increasing enforcement measures. Johnson’s re-election as speaker was widely viewed as a significant victory for conservatives. He has pledged to align closely with President-elect Donald Trump, who has similarly promised to dismantle the “deep state.” The term often refers to entrenched federal employees and bureaucracies some conservatives believe obstruct Republican policies.

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“The power that the Constitution gave to individuals now belongs to interest groups that determine elections with campaign contributions..”

US Deep State: Its Roots, Tools and Enablers (Sp.)

The “deep state”, never part of the Founding Fathers’ design, has turned US democracy into fiction, former US assistant treasury secretary and renowned economist Dr Paul Craig Roberts says. What does he mean? The deep state, described by US political scientist Francis Fukuyama as a network of “unaccountable professional bureaucrats,” is really a far more extensive entity. According to Dr Roberts, it encompasses not only bureaucrats but also elected officials, Wall Street, major corporations and even foreign government lobbyists. The modern-day Leviathan is deeply embedded within the structure of the US government, with professional bureaucrats serving merely as pawns in the games of their overlords, the economist says. But the game begins long before governance — it starts at the very phase of elections. Behind the façade of democracy in the US, voters can only choose from candidates approved by the establishment or the ruling elite, argues Dr Roberts.

“The power that the Constitution gave to individuals now belongs to interest groups that determine elections with campaign contributions,” the former assistant treasury secretary in Ronald Reagan’s government stresses. “In the United States elected representatives at all levels of government up to and including the President cannot represent the interests of the people or of the country as a whole because they are dependent for their election to office on campaign contributions,” writes Dr Roberts. He explains that as a result, elected representatives are beholden to the individuals and interest groups who funded and supported them. Those include the influential Israel lobby, arms manufacturers, intelligence agencies, pharmaceutical companies, agribusiness corporations, Wall Street and others, all of whom provide funding and favorable publicity to those they help elect. Intelligence agencies also occasionally provide staged false flag events to give a candidate or a policy a boost, he notes.

Significant efforts were made in the past history to prevent money from dominating elections. In 1907, the Tillman Act became the first legislation in the United States to prohibit corporations from making monetary contributions to national political campaigns. For nearly a century, various measures were enacted to curb the influence of big money on the US political system, particularly during elections. But those efforts were effectively overturned in 2010 by a landmark US Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United versus the Federal Election Commission (FEC), which paved the way for unlimited corporate funding of political campaigns. That same year, a related federal court decision in the case of Speechnow.org versus the FEC further expanded the influence of money in politics by allowing unlimited contributions to political action groups who distribute the donations to candidates — ostensibly isolating the candidate from receiving funds directly from a donor.

Roberts says that those decisions gave corporations, the Israel lobby and the super rich the power to purchase the US government. “For American democracy to be restored, money must be taken out of politics,” he argues. Roberts says another long-running and quietly advancing process — now actively encouraged by the deep state — is the gradual erosion of state governments in the United States and the consolidation of authority within the federal government. “The US government today is very different from the one the Founding Fathers set in place,” the economist writes. “Democracy was distrusted as mob rule, so members elected to the House of Representatives were limited to two years,” Dr Roberts notes. “The Senate was not elected. The Senators from each state were appointed by the State legislators.”

“This ensured that Senators represented the interest of their states, not the interest of foreign countries, such as Ukraine and Israel, or the agendas of interest groups with bases in other states. Most governing rights resided in the individual state,” he explains. Roberts argues that Abraham Lincoln, the 16th US president, used the Civil War of 1861-1865 to curtail the Constitutional powers given to the states.”The purpose of the ‘Civil War’ was to concentrate all power in Washington’s hands,” he notes. “This anti-American revolution was completed in the 1930s by the Franklin D. Roosevelt regime which turned Congress’ legislative powers over to executive branch regulatory agencies.” Once all power is concentrated in the federal center, the deep state will gain nearly unlimited scope for maneuvering and exerting control, the economist warns.

Even though Donald Trump vowed on the campaign trail to rein in the deep state, there are signs that business will continue as usual, the economist said.”During the Obama and Biden years many corporation executives and boards favored Woke agendas that bit them, and now they are aligning with Donald Trump,” writes Dr Roberts.He noted the ongoing “pilgrimage” of Silicon Valley giants, US industrial leaders and wealthy tycoons to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, accompanied by seven-figure donations to the president-elect’s inauguration. Roberts recalls that last month Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr — nominated for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services — had dinner with Big Pharma executives, including Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, Lilly CEO David Ricks and Steve Ubl, CEO of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).

The economist highlights how RFK Jr previously condemned the same Big Pharma firms, accusing them of producing unsafe COVID-19 vaccines that harmed millions and creating treatments that undermined the health of American children. “In other words, even private interests that are harmful have to be negotiated with. This doesn’t leave much room for reform to reach very far,” Dr Roberts says. “The conclusion is that democracy in America and in Europe, are fictions,” writes Dr Roberts. “The entire West is ruled by the US neoconservative doctrine of American hegemony and by the US interest groups who benefit from this hegemony. This is so entrenched that Trump is unlikely to be able to do anything about it.”

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“The “most dynamic and powerful conversation between us” was in Russian, Fridman admitted.”

Zelensky Says He ‘Despises’ Russians (RT)

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky explained his refusal to give an interview to Lex Fridman entirely in Russian, the only language in which both he and the podcaster speak fluently, which would have made the conversation easier for wider audiences worldwide to follow. In the introduction to the podcast published on Sunday, Fridman went to great lengths to explain why the three-hour conversation was conducted in a mix of Ukrainian, English, and Russian, and how listeners can switch audio tracks and subtitles to their liking. “Our conversation will be most effective and impactful if we speak in Russian,” the podcaster said in his opening question, prompting Zelensky to respond that he speaks it “perfectly,” but won’t do so “because this is how it is.”

“The people who attack us speak Russian. They attack people who were only recently told that this was actually in defense of Russian-speaking people, and this is why I respect neither the leader nor the director of today’s Russia, nor the people. I just… that’s it,” he said. Zelensky argued that he addressed Russians in their language back when the conflict escalated in 2022, but “they did not listen” and only “speak the language of weapons.” This is why I honestly despise these people, as they are deaf. They began the occupation in supposed defense of the Russian language, and that’s why, with all due respect, I would like to give an interview in Ukrainian. Despite Zelensky’s reluctance to speak Russian, during the interview, he repeatedly switched back and forth to better express his thoughts or use obscenities. The “most dynamic and powerful conversation between us” was in Russian, Fridman admitted.

The majority of Ukrainian citizens can speak or at least understand Russian, particularly in the east of the country. However, since the 2014 US-backed coup in Kiev, the new authorities have abolished Russian as an official regional language and adopted policies aimed at its suppression. In 2019, the Ukrainian parliament passed a law requiring Ukrainian to be used exclusively in nearly all aspects of public life, including education, entertainment, politics, business, and the service industry.

Moscow has repeatedly denounced Kiev’s crackdown on Russian culture and language as discrimination, insisting that “forced Ukrainization” violates international law and infringes upon the rights of native Russian speakers, who make up around a quarter of the population. Kiev has sharply intensified its de-Russification efforts since the escalation of the conflict with Moscow in February 2022. Ukrainian lawmakers have since imposed blanket bans on Russian-language works of art, concerts and performances, as well as movies, books, and songs. The study of Russian in schools and universities has also been outlawed.

Fridman Zel

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Yeah, that’s too bad…

Zelensky Says ‘Too Bad’ Ukraine Doesn’t Have Nuclear Weapons (RT)

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has reiterated his regret that Kiev does not possess nuclear weapons to effectively deter Moscow while discussing Western security guarantees that would satisfy him during a podcast with Lex Fridman on Sunday. During the three-hour conversation published on Sunday, Fridman mentioned he had a “dream” that the Ukrainian leader, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and US President-elect Donald Trump all “get together in a room and make peace.” His question about which security guarantees could possibly satisfy both Ukraine and Russia prompted Zelensky to embark on a lengthy rant about how Western “partners” and “security guarantors” had betrayed Ukraine in the past. “Ukraine had security guarantees. The Budapest Memorandum, nuclear weapons are the security guarantees that Ukraine had.

Ukraine had nuclear weapons. I do not want to characterize it as good or bad. Today, the fact that we do not have them is bad,” Zelensky stated. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, around 1,700 nuclear warheads were left on the territory of Ukraine. While this stockpile technically made Ukraine the world’s third-largest nuclear power, the weapons themselves always remained under the operational control of Russia. The current government in Kiev has repeatedly claimed that Ukraine gave up “its” nuclear arsenal under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum in exchange for security assurances from Russia, the UK, and the US. “The Budapest Memorandum, nuclear weapons, this is what we had.

“Ukraine used them for protection. This does not mean that someone attacked us. That doesn’t mean that we would have used it. We had that opportunity. These were our security guarantees,” Zelensky said. The Ukrainian leader went on to criticize the US, UK, and other nuclear powers for ignoring Kiev’s repeated pleas to protect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. “They didn’t give a f**k,” Zelensky said in Russian, despite actively avoiding speaking the language during the interview. “Russia didn’t give a f**k, neither did all the other security guarantors… None of them gave a f**k about this country, these people, these security guarantees, etc.”

Zelensky has repeatedly accused Moscow of violating the Budapest Memorandum and expressed regret that his country surrendered its nuclear weapons, declaring in early 2022 – before Russia launched its offensive – that Kiev had “every right” to reverse the decision. In October, he stated that he has only two options to ensure its security: join NATO or obtain nuclear weapons. Russia has argued that Ukraine never had any nuclear weapons to begin with, as the Soviet assets legally belonged to Moscow. Russian officials have also repeatedly stated that the 1994 document was undermined by NATO’s eastward expansion, which threatened Moscow’s vital security interests, and that it was the US that trampled it by sponsoring the Maidan coup in Kiev in 2014, according to Putin.

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“We’re hoping that President Trump will work with Venezuela like he did with Mexico and El Salvador and get these countries to take them back,” Homan said. “If they don’t, they’re still gonna be deported..”

Trump Border Czar Homan Pushes Back Over Trump Admin Deportation Plans (JTN)

President-elect Donald Trump’s new border czar, Tom Homan, was a guest on CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” where host Margaret Brennan tried to argue that the Biden administration had deported more people than Trump during his first term in office. “Deportations are now at a decade high. They were at the end of 2024. Nearly 300,000 people deported by the Biden administration,” Brennan stated. She then said to Homan, “The incoming administration has promised the largest deportation operation in history. What’s the number? What’s the measure of success?” Homan turned the conversation to the Biden administration. He argued that 80 percent of the Biden administration’s deportation numbers are from Border Patrol arrests that were moved back across the southern border, according to The Hill.

“They weren’t interior enforcement arrests,” he said, adding the Biden administration is “playing a numbers game.” Brennan said that it’s still a higher number than when Trump was in office the first time. She pressed Homan as to whether success would come from arresting and deporting people already within the United States in addition to sealing off the southern border. “You can’t compare the number of deportations under Trump versus Biden,” he said. “When you consider a 45-year low in crossings, the number of deportations [is] going to be lower because we don’t have that population to process and deport.” Brennan questioned how they plan to deport so many people, particularly if other countries aren’t willing to accept them.

“We’re hoping that President Trump will work with Venezuela like he did with Mexico and El Salvador and get these countries to take them back,” Homan said. “If they don’t, they’re still gonna be deported. They’re just gonna be deported to a different country.” “We gotta put the safety of the American people first,” he continued. “We’ve had too many young women murdered and raped and burned alive by members of Venezuelan gangs. They need to be a priority under this administration. They’re gonna be a priority starting day one, and they will be deported.” Brennan concluded the interview, noting that the country will “stay tuned for the details.”

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The horse and the barn…

EU Could Establish Asylum ‘Return Hubs’ In Third Countries By March (RMX)

The European Union may establish asylum return centers outside its borders as soon as March, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson revealed on Thursday during a meeting with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer in Vienna. The proposal, expected from the EU’s new migration commissioner, aims to stem the flow of irregular migrants who remain within the bloc despite having their asylum applications rejected. Kristersson is promoting the idea of “return hubs,” which would house individuals whose asylum applications have been denied, while they await deportation. He believes the centers will deter people with slim chances of success from seeking asylum in the EU. “It is a way of saying we do not accept that there is no difference between a refusal and a yes,” Kristersson told the TT news agency. “It will also reduce the driving forces if you know you have very little chance.”

According to EU data, only around 20 percent of migrants who are denied asylum actually leave EU territory. Kristersson says this undermines the system and creates “completely different concerns” as many end up going underground, working in the gig economy with others resorting to a life of crime. Kristersson cited Italy’s agreement with Albania as a model of how third-country processing could work. Under that pact, men from countries deemed “safe” by the Italian government have been transferred to Albania to await the outcome of their asylum applications, with certain exceptions for vulnerable individuals. However, Italian courts have repeatedly blocked the measure, setting Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s administration on a collision course with what Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has called “left-wing activist judges.

The Italian judiciary cited EU law stipulating that entire countries must be deemed safe, not just parts of them. This legal snag has effectively halted transfers to Albania pending a judgment from the European Court of Justice. At a press conference with Nehammer, Kristersson noted that Sweden is set to record its lowest number of asylum seekers since 1996. He attributed this drop partly to changing migration routes within Europe, as well as policy shifts. “After an extensive restructuring of our policy, we have reduced the numbers,” Kristersson said.

During the migrant crisis of 2015, more than 162,000 refugees sought asylum in Sweden. By 2024, that figure is projected to hover around 10,000. Still, Kristersson acknowledged that the initial decline largely began in 2016, when the EU tightened its external borders, and that many of his government’s new laws have yet to take effect. Several groups including Amnesty International have raised concerns that the proposed return hubs are incompatible with both EU and international law, with Kristersson conceding the plan presents “difficult questions” but stressing that doing nothing about the issue is not an option.

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Gavin Newsom and RFK. Odd couple.

California Governor Orders Investigation Into Ultra-Processed Foods (ET)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Jan. 3 issued an executive order directing state agencies to recommend actions to target ultra-processed foods and related health concerns in the state. The governor’s office said that such foods are known to carry health risks and that Newsom’s actions are “designed to support affordable, healthy living and reduce the growing impact of chronic illnesses on Californians.” “The food we eat shouldn’t make us sick with disease or lead to lifelong consequences,” Newsom said in a statement. “We’re going to work with the industry, consumers and experts to crack down on ultra-processed foods, and create a healthier future for every Californian.” The executive order asks the California Department of Public Health to provide recommendations to the governor’s office “regarding potential action to limit the harms associated with ‘ultra-processed foods’ and food ingredients that pose a health risk to individuals” by April 1, 2025.

It suggested that one of the potential actions could include warning labels for certain foods. The executive order also asks the California Department of Social Services to provide recommendations regarding “actions that the State can take to reduce the purchase of soda, candy, other ultra-processed foods and/or foods with synthetic food dye or other additives.” The governor also asked the California Department of Health Care Services to report by April 1 on the feasibility of requiring or encouraging Medi-Cal managed care plans and California hospitals to use their certain funds to “enhance access to fresh, healthy foods,” and “otherwise promote public health at the local level.”The executive order cited the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest updates to school nutrition standards and also asked the State Board of Education and the California Department of Education to identify by Oct. 1, “areas where California may adopt higher standards for healthy school meals.”

President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for his upcoming administration’s secretary of Health and Human Services is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long criticized ultra-processed foods. A Nov. 22, 2024 report by the Congressional Research Service noted that there has been “increased attention by researchers and policymakers on the production, labeling, and marketing of ultra-processed foods.” However, there is no definition of what constitutes ultra-processed foods in U.S. laws or regulations. According to a recent report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 73 percent of adults 20 years old and older are overweight or obese, and 38 percent of children and youth between 12 and 19 years old are pre-diabetic.

“The widespread prevalence of nutrition-related chronic health conditions continues to be a major public health issue in the United States,” states the department in the report. Last September, Newsom signed legislation, Assembly Bill 2316, that bans public schools from serving foods containing six synthetic food dyes: Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2, and Green 3. The law will go into effect at the end of December 2027.

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Steve Keen

 

 

 

 

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Dec 082024
 


Alfred Sisley Snow at Louveciennes 1878

 

Syrian Army Informs Officers Of Regime Change – Reuters (RT)
‘Not Our Fight!’: Trump Weighs In On Syria’s Unraveling (ZH)
Ukraine ‘Would Like To Make A Deal’ With Russia – Trump (RT)
Meeting With Trump And Macron Was ‘Productive’ – Zelensky (RT)
Megyn Kelly Warns Deep State Is Coming For Hegseth, Gabbard, RFK Jr (ZH)
The Clintons Need Biden’s ‘Blanket Pardons’ More Than Other Democrats (Sp.)
Musk Spent $260 Million On Trump (RT)
Prosecutor Blocks Lawsuit Against Ursula von der Leyen Over Pfizergate (Sp.)
How Russia Plans To Win In Ukraine (Dmitry Trenin)
Teenagers Preparing To Flee Ukraine – The Times (RT)
The Syria Tragedy and the New Omni-War (Pepe Escobar)
Russia Warns Against Geopolitical Use of Terrorists in Syria’s Conflict (Sp.)
Russia, Iran Call For ‘Internal Dialogue’ To Resolve Crisis In Syria (Cradle)
Romanian Presidential Frontrunner Claims He’s Victim Of Coup D’état (RT)
France Is A Perfect Example Of Centrist Elites Wrecking The West (Amar)
Pop Art: The Value of Hunter Biden’s Art Expected to Collapse (Turley)
Durov Subjected To First Detailed Questioning In Court (RT)

 

 

 

 

Alina


https://twitter.com/i/status/1865244916961726923

Leavitt

Tulsi

McEnany


https://twitter.com/i/status/1865102720698364085

 

 

 

 

The speed at which the Assad regime unraveled provokes a whole new additional set of questions. Where were Russia, Iran, China? Were they ever going to help? There was hardly any resistance from Syrian troops, no fighting.

Syrian Army Informs Officers Of Regime Change – Reuters (RT)

The Syrian Army command announced on Sunday that President Bashar Assad’s 24-year rule has come to an end, according to a Syrian officer who spoke to Reuters. The announcement follows a rapid offensive by jihadist forces in the capital. The jihadists claim that Damascus is “now free of Assad” and are expected to make their first public statement via state TV, Reuters reports, citing two anti-government sources. In response to the political uncertainty, Prime Minister Mohammad al-Jalali stated that he is “ready to cooperate with any leadership chosen by the people,” as quoted by Al Jazeera. He added that he remains at home and is inclined to support the continuity of government.

Ahmed Al-Sharaa, a prominent commander for the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), has issued orders prohibiting all militant forces in Damascus from approaching public institutions or firing weapons into the air. He went on to say that government institutions will remain under the supervision of the “former prime minister” until they are officially transferred to the new authorities. Over the weekend, HTS fighters and other anti-government militias entered Damascus, effectively taking control of the capital. Flight tracking websites indicate that Assad’s plane has left the city.

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“HTS, the group backed by NATO member Turkey and leading this anti-Assad onslaught, is a US-designated terror organization..”

‘Not Our Fight!’: Trump Weighs In On Syria’s Unraveling (ZH)

President-elect Donald Trump has weighed in on the rapid-moving events in Syria, where jihadist groups backed by Turkey are entering the outside environs of the capital of Damascus. The embattled President Bashar al-Assad still appears to be in residence, but his future is far from certain. “Opposition fighters in Syria, in an unprecedented move, have totally taken over numerous cities, in a highly coordinated offensive, and are now on the outskirts of Damascus, obviously preparing to make a very big move toward taking out Assad,” he began the statement on Truth Social.Trump emphasized that Washington should stay completely out, calling the situation a “mess” and that it is “not our fight”. He posted the same message on X.

It alludes to Russia’s inability to continue protecting Syria, given it is bogged down in the nearly three year long Ukraine war, while also blasting former President Obama’s past Syria policies and that he laid down ‘red lines’. Below is the full statement: “Russia, because they are so tied up in Ukraine, and with the loss there of over 600,000 soldiers, seems incapable of stopping this literal march through Syria, a country they have protected for years. This is where former President Obama refused to honor his commitment of protecting the RED LINE IN THE SAND, and all hell broke out, with Russia stepping in. But now they are, like possibly Assad himself, being forced out, and it may actually be the best thing that can happen to them. There was never much of a benefit in Syria for Russia, other than to make Obama look really stupid.”Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!”

It must be remembered that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the group backed by NATO member Turkey and leading this anti-Assad onslaught, is a US-designated terror organization. A big question is: what comes next? While HTS has morphed from Syrian Al-Qaeda, it is trying to present to the West a softer image, claiming that it will protect minorities including Christians. However, its recent past clearly demonstrates that it rules territories under its control with Taliban-style force and brutality. Much of the nation’s population until now has stuck with Assad given the alternative is Somalia-style fracturing and rule by competing jihadist warlords. One thing is for sure: Trump will inherent dealing with an absolute tragic mess in Syria, the heartland of the Middle East, upon his opening days in office. Currently, US forces still occupy one-third of Syria, in the oil and gas areas of the northeast. During Trump’s first term he expressed an effort to “bring the troops home” but it’s widely reported he was stymied by his generals and national security officials.

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600,000 Russian soldiers vs 400,000 Ukrainian soldiers?

Ukraine ‘Would Like To Make A Deal’ With Russia – Trump (RT)

Ukraine “would like to” make a peace deal with Russia, US President-elect Donald Trump has signaled after meeting with Vladimir Zelensky in Paris. In a post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, Trump called for an immediate ceasefire and negotiations between Moscow and Kiev. Trump’s remarks came after reports emerged of a regime change in Syria, Russia’s ally in the Middle East, where jihadists claimed to have taken over the Syrian capital Damascus and toppled President Bashar Assad’s 24-year rule. Trump speculated that this happened because Assad’s “protector,” Russia, “was not interested in protecting him any longer.”

“[Russia] lost all interest in Syria because of Ukraine, where close to 600,000 Russian soldiers lay wounded or dead, in a war that should never have started, and could go on forever, Trump stated, claiming that Russia is currently “in a weakened state… because of Ukraine and a bad economy.” “Likewise, Zelensky and Ukraine would like to make a deal and stop the madness. They have ridiculously lost 400,000 soldiers, and many more civilians. There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin,” the President-elect said, adding that if the conflict is not resolved, “it can turn into something much bigger, and far worse.”

Notre Dame

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It was suggested Trump shook Macron’s hand so hard, the latter needed a chiropractor.

Meeting With Trump And Macron Was ‘Productive’ – Zelensky (RT)

US President-elect Donald Trump has met briefly with French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky in Paris. No joint statement was released after the trilateral talks, but Zelensky hailed the conversation as “good and productive.” Trump arrived in Paris on Saturday to attend the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral, extensively damaged in a fire in 2019. The trip was Trump’s first foreign visit since he defeated Kamala Harris in last month’s presidential election, but he nevertheless arrived at the Elysee Palace 40 minutes late, French media reported. Trump and Macron shared a warm embrace outside the palace, and speaking to reporters inside, Macron said that it was a “great honor” to host the incoming US president. Trump returned the compliment, before declaring that “the world seems to be going a little crazy right now.”

Zelensky, who was originally due to hold a one-on-one meeting with Macron, arrived nearly an hour later, before the three met for roughly 35 minutes, according to BFMTV. The three men did not speak to the press afterwards, and left for Notre Dame separately after posing for pictures. In a post on X, Macron said that the meeting was focused on “common action for peace and security.” Zelensky, also posting on X, described the talks as “good and productive.” “President Trump is, as always, resolute. I thank him,” Zelensky wrote. “We all want this war to end as soon as possible and in a just way,” he continued. “We spoke about our people, the situation on the ground, and a just peace.” “We agreed to continue working together and keep in contact. Peace through strength is possible,” he concluded, using a catchphrase regularly deployed by Trump to describe his foreign policy.

Throughout his campaign, Trump repeatedly promised that he would end the Ukraine conflict within “24 hours” of taking office, without offering any specifics on how he would achieve this beyond pushing Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin into negotiations. Recent media reports suggest that he intends to ‘freeze’ the conflict along the current line of contact, using the threat of a reduction in US aid to force Zelensky to negotiate, and the threat of increased aid to Kiev to pressure Putin into talks. Zelensky insists that his ten-point ‘peace formula’ is the only viable path to what he calls a “just peace” with Russia. However, the Kremlin has dismissed this document as “delusional,” with its demands that Russia restore Ukraine’s 1991 borders, pay reparations, and surrender its own officials to war-crimes tribunals.

Moscow maintains that any settlement must begin with Ukraine ceasing military operations and acknowledging the “territorial reality” that it will never regain control of the Russian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye, as well as Crimea. In addition, the Kremlin insists that the goals of its military operation – which include Ukrainian neutrality, demilitarization, and denazification – will be achieved.

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“If you don’t think they’re going to do this to RFK Jr., you haven’t been paying attention,” Kelly urged.

Megyn Kelly Warns Deep State Is Coming For Hegseth, Gabbard, RFK Jr (ZH)

As Pete Hegseth – president-elect Trump’s pick for SecDef – runs the gauntlet of the nomination process, amid a cornucopia of media amplified unsubstantiated accusations against him, Sirius XM host Megyn Kelly has warned that the political establishment, both Democrats and Republicans, are attempting to derail Trump’s second term before it has even begun by targeting his cabinet picks. As Steve Watson writes at Modernity.news, Kelly pointed to Pete Hegseth, who who is fighting to stay in the running for Secretary of Defense amid a cornucopia of media amplified unsubstantiated accusations against him. Kelly warned that if Hegseth falls like Matt Gaetz did, then RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and anyone else Trump picks will likely be next. “If you don’t think they’re going to do this to RFK Jr., you haven’t been paying attention,” Kelly urged.

“I realize that Pete has his belly exposed. He has not led a perfect life, and there’s plenty if you want to start attacking his character in terms of his marital history and so on,” Kelly noted. “But as he said to me yesterday, he found around 20, I think it was 18 or so, he found his two J’s: his wife, Jen and Jesus, and started changing his life in a profound way,” she further explained. The host continued, “Let’s say they get Pete’s scalp like they got Matt Gates’s scalp, Bobby Kennedy’s history makes Pete look like the consummate Boy Scout. He looks like he’s ready to enter the priesthood.” “He’s a lot older, with a lot more of a checkered past… It’s not going to be pretty at all. So we are really at a crossroads here about whether we are going to sacrifice these nominees because of checkered personal pasts or not. It’s not going to get easier after Pete,” Kelly emphasized.

But, as Gery Berntsen writes at American Greatness, when Pete Hegseth is confirmed as Secretary of Defense, he will be a forceful agent of change for the betterment of the United States of America. The abridged version of a famous Machiavelli quote, “Nothing is more difficult or dangerous than to attempt to change the order of things,” is in full view as we watch the process of confirming President Trump’s Secretary of Defense. When Pete Hegseth is confirmed as Secretary of Defense, he will be a forceful agent of change for the betterment of the United States of America. President-elect Trump’s nominee, retired Army National Guard Major and Fox News host Peter Hegseth, is receiving considerable fire amid allegations of misconduct while CEO of Concerned Veterans for America (CVA).

I am writing this article because I was one of the founding members of CVA. I am an Air Force veteran and retired senior operations officer and chief of station in the Central Intelligence Agency. While at the CIA, I held major field command positions and was a senior manager in the CIA’s Counter-Terrorism Center (CTC). I led the CIA’s largest paramilitary element on the ground during the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, seizing Kabul, initiating the battle of Tora Bora, and leading teams around the globe in several dangerous crises. I worked hand in glove with the most important elements of the National Security Council, the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, and the FBI to secure and safeguard American interests. Based on 30 years of this experience and my personal knowledge of Pete Hegseth, I have no doubt that he will excel as Secretary of Defense.


Megyn Kelly is joined by The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles

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“The Trump administration, working with Chris Rufo, a new IRS chief, and [attorney general nominee] Pam Bondi, could raise hundreds of billions of dollars merely by enforcing the strict rules and laws pertaining to nonprofit organizations..”

The Clintons Need Biden’s ‘Blanket Pardons’ More Than Other Democrats (Sp.)

After President Joe Biden issued an unusual blanket pardon for his son, Hunter, Democratic Congressman Ed Markey has urged the president to extend “preemptive pardons” to other top Democrats whom Donald Trump believes “harmed him” and might otherwise be treated by him in a “fascistic way.” “After nearly four years of weaponizing US government resources against perceived enemies of certain dynastic political families, Markey and Biden have some nerve suggesting that the Trump administration will be engaging in ‘fascist’ retaliation starting January 20, 2025,” Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel tells Sputnik, referencing Biden’s prosecution of January 6 protestors and labeling MAGA supporters as “extremists.” US journalist Jonathan Martin reported on December 4 that Biden’s senior aides are debating the issue, and the alleged pardon list might include Sen.-elect Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, former COVID czar Anthony Fauci.

“The public has yet to learn how deep the rot became across America ever since 1988, when elites embraced unregulated globalism and a turbocharged spoils system where trillions of dollars in spending that is not audited (by design) can be pilfered or diverted to fund political campaigns and multiple-mansion lifestyles,” Ortel says.According to the analyst, the political trajectories of the Biden, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Pelosi, and Cheney dynasty families warrant close scrutiny for alleged influence-peddling and other questionable conduct. “Those who howl loudest now anticipating Trump’s return likely include many with guilty knowledge of their own roles perpetrating a raft of crimes, believing the system will remain rigged to protect them,” he notes. As Joe Biden’s White House reportedly considers “preemptive pardons” for some top Democrats, Ortel suggests that the Clintons might be on the list.

“‘The Clinton Foundation’ (in quotes because I challenge an informed lawyer to demonstrate that it validly and lawfully exists as a public charity) has yet again issued false and materially misleading public filings as it continues to solicit donations in various ways across state lines and national boundaries,” says Ortel, who has conducted a private investigation into the charity’s alleged fraud for several years. In 2018, two forensic investigators-turned-whistleblowers, John Moynihan and Larry Doyle, testified before the US Congress that the Clinton Foundation does not operate as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization but acts as a foreign agent and owes the US government between $400 million and $2.5 billion in taxes. Additionally, Special Counsel John Durham’s probe indicated that Hillary Clinton and her team played a significant role in shaping and promoting the Trump-Russia collusion narrative.

According to Ortel, this hoax was used to prevent Trump from investigating the Clintons’ apparent pay-to-play schemes, mishandling of classified information, and alleged money laundering. “The Trump administration, working with Chris Rufo, a new IRS chief, and [attorney general nominee] Pam Bondi, could raise hundreds of billions of dollars merely by enforcing the strict rules and laws pertaining to nonprofit organizations. Many of these ‘elite’ entities have brazenly abused the law in countless ways, especially the Clintons since October 23, 1997,” Ortel says. “[One] report notes that the Biden family may now have greater exposure since Hunter can no longer readily invoke the Fifth Amendment,” Ortel points out. The Washington Free Beacon reported on December 3 that Hunter will no longer be able to rely on his Fifth Amendment right to silence regarding any potential federal crimes for which he’s been pardoned, according to two former House general counsels.

The Fifth Amendment protects against self-incrimination; however, with Hunter no longer at risk of federal prosecution for the period between January 2014 and December 2024, he appears to be ineligible for this protection. The newspaper alleges that Republican lawmakers should jump at the opportunity to subpoena Hunter Biden for new information about his family’s knowledge or involvement in his apparent influence-peddling schemes. There are a lot of questions concerning the Biden family’s conduct in post-coup Ukraine where Hunter helped secure millions of dollars of funding for Metabiota, a Pentagon bio-reseach contractor, and where he got a hefty salary from Bursima gas firm. “Finally, offering Hunter pardons for federal crimes back to January 1, 2014 raises suspicions that Joe may know of illegal activities in which Hunter engaged, years before crimes alleged in the indictments in the gun (2018) and tax (2019) cases,” Ortel stresses.

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“The value of shares in his electric vehicle company, Tesla, rose by 80% in the past month.”

Musk Spent $260 Million On Trump (RT)

The world’s richest person, entrepreneur Elon Musk, spent at least $260 million to get Donald Trump re-elected as US president, various media outlets have reported, citing Thursday’s filings with the Federal Election Commission. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has emerged as a top Republican donor and one of the most prominent members of Trump’s inner circle, noted the Washington Post. Some $238 million of the donations went to a political action committee (PAC) that Musk founded this year, America PAC, CNN said, citing the filings. Other groups backing Trump benefitted as well, with the entrepreneur giving $20.5 million to RBG PAC, and $3 million to the MAHA Alliance.

According to the Washington Post, Musk spent $232 million supporting Trump and other Republican candidates before the election. After the vote and through November 25, he gave nearly $45 million more to America PAC, taking his total political spending to at least $277 million. Following the election victory, Trump appointed Musk as his government efficiency adviser. The entrepreneur will oversee a new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, aimed at cutting government spending. The billionaire has pledged to audit the entire US government, aiming to cut up to $2 trillion in spending.

The entrepreneur’s influence has led to the media and some conservatives dubbing him the “co-president of the United States” and “the Soros of the right,” referring to billionaire investor and prolific liberal donor George Soros. Musk is the world’s richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with an estimated total net worth of $362 billion as of December 6. The value of shares in his electric vehicle company, Tesla, rose by 80% in the past month. The world’s most valuable carmaker is expected to benefit from streamlined regulation on self-driving cars during the new Trump administration.

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This is how rotten the EU is. Secret deals for €35+ billion kept secret. Zero accountability.

“The prosecutor secretly contested the case, arguing that von der Leyen should be immune from prosecution due to her official duties..”

Prosecutor Blocks Lawsuit Against Ursula von der Leyen Over Pfizergate (Sp.)

A Belgian court was unable to review the charges against European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen due to the intervention of the European Prosecutor’s Office, according to activist and prosecution representative Frédéric Baldan. A lawsuit against European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has been postponed indefinitely by a Belgian judge. The postponement follows a hearing that took place on Friday at the Liège Palace of Justice, focusing on potential violations in the procurement of coronavirus vaccines by von der Leyen. The hearing was closed to the public and von der Leyen is currently abroad. “The European Prosecutor’s Office made a move that effectively blocked the court proceedings,” Baldan told Sputnik. The prosecutor secretly contested the case, arguing that von der Leyen should be immune from prosecution due to her official duties. As a result, the judge postponed the hearings indefinitely.

The issue of whether von der Leyen’s immunity applies to the charges will be addressed on January 6. Baldan believes the European Prosecutor’s Office acted in her favor. In 2021, The New York Times reported that von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla exchanged SMS messages discussing a massive vaccine procurement contract. The deal, which could be worth up to €35 billion, raised suspicions about von der Leyen’s direct influence on negotiations, sparking a media scandal dubbed “Pfizergate.” Despite calls to release the text messages, the European Commission refused to make them public in June 2022. In October the same year, the EU’s Public Prosecutor’s Office announced it was investigating the centralized procurement of vaccines on behalf of EU member states, though details remain confidential. Additionally, a separate investigation was launched in Belgium after Baldan filed a lawsuit against von der Leyen, claiming her actions caused economic harm to the country.

In March 2024, it was reported that the case had been transferred to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, which confirmed it is continuing its investigation, though it refused to disclose further details. The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg is also reviewing a complaint filed by The New York Times, which had requested von der Leyen’s communications with Pfizer but was denied access. The European Commission argued that these messages were not official documents and could not be retrieved. A ruling is expected in the coming months. During the pandemic, the European Union mainly purchased vaccines from the BioNTech-Pfizer consortium, along with other pharmaceutical companies. These procurements, involving billions of euros, have been the subject of ongoing scrutiny and legal disputes due to delays in supply and lack of transparency.

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Oreshnik = no nukes needed.

How Russia Plans To Win In Ukraine (Dmitry Trenin)

The Ukrainian crisis exposed a troubling reality for Russia: its concept of strategic deterrence proved incapable of preventing enemy aggression. While it has successfully deterred a massive nuclear attack by the United States or large-scale conventional aggression by NATO, it has failed to address a new and insidious form of conflict. Washington and its allies have gambled on inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia through a client state—one they control, arm, and direct. Moscow’s nuclear doctrine, designed for a very different set of circumstances, proved inadequate. It failed to prevent Western intervention at the outset and allowed its escalation. In response, the Kremlin has recognized the need to adapt. In the third year of the operation, a long-overdue update to the doctrine has been announced. This summer, President Vladimir Putin outlined the necessary changes.

By November, the new document—entitled Fundamentals of the State Policy of the Russian Federation in the Field of Nuclear Deterrence—was in place. The updated doctrine represents a profound shift in Russia’s nuclear policy, transforming it into a proactive deterrent. Previously, nuclear weapons could only be used in conventional conflicts when the very existence of the state was at risk. The threshold was set so high that it effectively allowed adversaries to exploit it. Now, the conditions have been broadened significantly. One key addition is the recognition of “joint aggression.” If a non-nuclear state at war with Russia operates with the direct support of a nuclear power, Moscow reserves the right to respond, including with nuclear weapons. This sends a clear and unmistakable message to the United States, Britain, and France: their facilities and territories are no longer immune to retaliation.

The doctrine also explicitly accounts for scenarios involving massive aerospace attacks, including drones and cruise missiles, as well as aggression against Belarus. Another important change is the expanded list of threats deemed unacceptable to Russia’s security. These changes collectively signal a more assertive posture, reflecting the reality of today’s conflict and deterring potential Western miscalculations. Western reactions to these updates were predictable. Media hysteria painted Putin as reckless, while politicians feigned calm, claiming they would “not be intimidated.” The military and intelligence communities have remained largely silent, quietly drawing their own conclusions. These updates come against an increasingly grim backdrop for the West. Realists within NATO understand the war in Ukraine is effectively lost. The Russian army holds the initiative across the front and is advancing steadily in the Donbass.

The Ukrainian armed forces are unlikely to turn the tide in the foreseeable future, if ever. Consequently, Western strategists are now eyeing a ceasefire along the battle lines as the only viable option. Notably, there has been a subtle shift in the narrative. Articles in Reuters and other Western outlets suggest that Moscow, too, may consider freezing the conflict. However, such a scenario would need to align with Russian interests. For Moscow, anything less than full victory equates to defeat, and such an outcome is simply not an option. The administration of US President Joe Biden, despite the Democrats crushing election defeat, has apparently decided to ‘help’ Donald Trump stay on course. The authorization to use US and British long-range missiles to hit targets in the Kursk and Bryansk regions is both a defiant challenge to Putin, and a ‘gift’ to the president-elect.

Likewise the transfer to Kiev of anti-personnel mines banned by the Ottawa Convention, a new batch of anti-Russian sanctions (including against Gazprombank) and an attempt to ‘push’ the latest Biden aid package for Zelensky through Congress. Russia’s response to the escalation has not been limited to updating its doctrine. The recent test of the ‘Oreshnik’ intermediate-range hypersonic missile under combat conditions marked a pivotal moment. By striking the Yuzhmash missile factory in Dnepropetrovsk, Moscow signaled to NATO that the vast majority of its European capitals are within range of this new weapon. ‘Oreshnik’ carries both conventional and nuclear warheads, and its speed — reportedly reaching up to Mach 10 — renders existing missile defense systems ineffective. Although still experimental, its successful deployment paves the way for mass production. The message is clear: Moscow is not bluffing. This shift from verbal warnings to decisive actions underscores the seriousness of the Kremlin’s resolve.

The West has long convinced itself that Putin would never strike NATO countries. With the advent of ‘Oreshnik,’ that belief has been shattered. The United States and its allies continue to escalate recklessly, betting on provoking a Russian overreaction. The authorization of long-range missile strikes on Russian territories like Kursk and Bryansk, combined with the transfer of banned weapons and the constant drumbeat of sanctions, reflects their desperation. More dangerously, there are whispers of Ukraine’s potential NATO membership or even the transfer of nuclear weapons to Kiev. While the latter remains unlikely, the risk of a “dirty bomb” cannot be ruled out. The West’s hope, however, is that Russia might strike first with atomic weapons, handing NATO the moral high ground. Such an outcome would allow Washington to isolate Moscow globally, undermining its relationships with key players like China, India, and Brazil. Yet Moscow has countered these provocations with calculated precision, refusing to take the bait.

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Blinken: “Getting younger people into the fight, we think, many of us think, is necessary..”

Putin: [Zelensky] has “no right to push people to their death and drive them into battle.” The orders that Zelensky gives are “criminal..”

Teenagers Preparing To Flee Ukraine – The Times (RT)

Many Ukrainian teenagers are planning to leave the country and never return as the US increases pressure on Kiev to lower the mobilization age, the Times has reported. Earlier this week, outgoing US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said it was not right that “18 to 25-year-olds are not in the fight” against Russia. “Getting younger people into the fight, we think, many of us think, is necessary,” he stressed.In an article on Thursday, the British paper quoted a teenager from the city of Kharkov, who said that “many” of his friends are now choosing to study abroad because “it is safer there.”“There is no risk of being taken into the army at a foreign university,” he explained, adding that he plans to study in Poland, and may not return after graduation.

“When I have finished, I will decide whether to return to Ukraine or stay there. It will be safer there, there are no bombs falling and there is no danger that I will be mobilized for the war without my consent,” he said. Another teenager who spoke to The Times said he also wants to attend higher education in a foreign country. Ukrainian lawmaker Aleksandra Ustinova told the paper that a decision to lower the mobilization age to 18 would be met with “huge opposition inside Ukraine and we would not get the results [on the battlefield] that we want because this is not such a large amount of people.”“It would also be a clear signal for families to get their children out. So, if we want to lose our future generation, then, yeah, this is the thing to do,” Ustinova stressed.

The number of men aged between 18 and 25 in Ukraine is estimated to be at least 300,000.According to UN data, at least 6.8 million Ukrainians have fled the country and become refugees since the escalation between Moscow and Kiev in February 2022. Most of them are women and children, as men of fighting age are banned from travelling abroad.Since the start of the conflict, officials in Moscow have repeatedly accused the US and its allies of wanting “to fight to the last Ukrainian” in their effort to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, who canceled a presidential election earlier this year, has “no right to push people to their death and drive them into battle.” The orders that Zelensky gives are “criminal,” Putin stressed.

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“..a Final Confrontation – with several overtones ranging from expanding lebensraum to provoking the Apocalypse.”

The Syria Tragedy and the New Omni-War (Pepe Escobar)

Until recently, a serious geopolitical working hypothesis was that West Asia and Ukraine were two vectors of the standard Hegemon modus operandi, which is to incite and unleash Forever Wars. Now both wars are united in an Omni-War. A coalition of Straussian neo-cons in the US, hardcore revisionist Zionists in Tel Aviv and Ukrainian neo-nazi shades of grey is now betting on a Final Confrontation – with several overtones ranging from expanding lebensraum to provoking the Apocalypse. What stands in their way is essentially two of the top BRICS: Russia and Iran. China, self-protected by their collective lofty dream of “community of a shared future for mankind”, warily watches on the sidelines, as they know that at the end of the road, the true “existential” war by the Hegemon will be against them. Meanwhile, Russia and Iran need to mobilize for Totalen Krieg. Because that’s what the enemy is launching.

The total destabilisation of Syria, with heavy CIA-MI6 input, now proceeding in real time, is a carefully engineered gambit to undermine BRICS and beyond. It proceeds in parallel to Pashinyan removing Armenia from the CSTO – based on a US promise to support Yerevan in a possible new clash with Baku; India being encouraged to ramp up a weapons race with Pakistan; and across-the-board intimidation of Iran. So this is also a war to destabilize the International North South Transportation Corridor (INSTC), of which the three major protagonists are BRICS members Russia, Iran and India. As it stands, the INSTC is totally geopolitical risk-free. As a top BRICS corridor-in-the-making, it carries the potential to become even more effective than several of China’s cross-Heartland corridors of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The INSTC would be a key lifeline for a great deal of the global economy in case of a direct confrontation between the US/Israel combo and Iran – with the possible shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz leading to the collapse of a multi-quadrillion pile of financial derivatives, economically imploding the collective West. Turkiye under Erdogan, as usual, is playing a double game. Rhetorically, Ankara stands by a genocide-free and sovereign Palestine. In practice, the Turkiye supports and funds a motley crew of Greater Idlibistan jihadis – trained by Ukrainian Neo-nazis in drone warfare and with weapons financed by Qatar – who have just marched on and conquered Aleppo, Hama, and possibly beyond. If this army of mercenaries were real followers of Islam, they would be marching in defense of Palestine.

At the same time, the real picture inside the corridors of power in Tehran is extremely murky. There are factions favoring getting closer to the West, which clearly would have ramifications for the Axis of Resistance’s ability to fight Tel Aviv. On Lebanon, Syria never wavered. History explains why: from the point of view of Damascus, Lebanon historically remains a governorate, so Damascus is responsible for the security of Beirut. And that’s one of Tel Aviv’s key motives to propel the current Salafi-jihadi offensive on Syria – after smashing virtually every communication corridor between Syria and Lebanon. What Tel Aviv could not accomplish on the ground – a victory over Hezbollah in southern Lebanon – has been replaced by isolating Hezbollah from the Axis of Resistance.

Wars in West Asia are a complex mix of national, sectarian, tribal and religious vectors. In a sense, they are endless wars; controllable to an extent, but then back again. The Russian strategy in Syria seemed to be very precise. As it was impossible to normalize a completely fragmented nation, Moscow opted to free the Syria that really matters – the capital, the most important cities, and the Eastern Mediterranean coast – from the Salafi-jihadi mobs. The problem is that freezing the war in 2020, with direct implication by Russia, Iran and (reluctantly) Turkiye, did not solve the “moderate rebel” problem. Now they’re back – in full force, supported by a vast Rent-a-Jihadi mob, with NATOstan Intel behind them. Some things never change.

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Too late now?!

Russia Warns Against Geopolitical Use of Terrorists in Syria’s Conflict (Sp.)

The offensive by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)* terrorist group in Syria has been long in the making, and Russia will oppose attempts by the militants to alter the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic (SAR), Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. Moscow has called for restraint from all parties in the unraveling conflict in Syria. “The situation has sharply escalated in recent days due to the clearly premeditated aggressive offensive on government forces by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (former Al-Nusra Front*), an organization designated by the UN Security Council as a terrorist group, which has been joined by several smaller factions,” Lavrov said during a press conference following his visit to Doha. He emphasized the urgent need to stop the hostilities and said that Russia would actively oppose any attempts by HTS militants to change the situation on the ground in Syria.

“We are absolutely convinced of the inadmissibility of using terrorists like Hayat Tahrir al-Sham to achieve geopolitical goals, as is happening now with the organization of this offensive from the Idlib de-escalation zone,” Lavrov explained during a session at the Doha Forum. The main task now in the situation surrounding Syria, according to Lavrov, is to halt the clashes. UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen has promised to involve influential external actors to stop the fighting and resume negotiations between the government and opposition, Lavrov added. The top Russian diplomat also reiterated Moscow’s efforts to counteract terrorism in Syria: “We are doing everything to prevent terrorists from gaining the upper hand, even if they claim that they are no longer terrorists.” “On the military front, Russia is helping the Syrian army with support from the [Russian Aerospace Forces], based in Khmeimim, and we assist the Syrian army in repelling terrorist attacks,” he added.

Additionally, Lavrov stated that Russia, along with Iran and Turkiye, will take steps to ensure that calls for de-escalation in Syria are heard. The terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, along with several armed factions from the so-called Syrian armed opposition, launched a large-scale operation on November 29, advancing from northern Idlib towards the cities of Aleppo and Hama. By the following day, November 30, the second-largest city in Syria, Aleppo, along with its surroundings, including the international airport and the Kuweires military airbase, came under the control of the terrorists. This marked the first time that the militants had fully taken over Aleppo since the beginning of the Syrian crisis in 2011. Until late 2016, the armed opposition controlled only the eastern part of the city, which was recaptured by the Syrian army with Russian air support.

After the capture of Aleppo, the terrorist units attempted to advance towards the city of Hama, capturing the town of Maaret al-Numan. The Syrian army fought off heavy terrorist attacks in the Hama province from three directions for several days, preparing for a counteroffensive. However, on December 5, the SAR military command officially announced the redeployment of its units from the city of Hama. The city of Hama, located in central Syria, has been under the control of the Syrian army throughout the conflict, which began in the spring of 2011. Hama holds strategic geographic importance, lying between the provinces of Homs and Damascus and connecting through mountain ranges to the Latakia province. The last attempt at an armed insurgency by radical Islamist underground forces, supported by the Muslim Brotherhood*, in Syria’s fourth-largest city took place in 1982. At that time, thanks to prompt action by the Syrian military command, the city was freed from terrorist groups, and control was restored to official authorities.

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They must have known what would happen.

Russia, Iran Call For ‘Internal Dialogue’ To Resolve Crisis In Syria (Cradle)

The Foreign Ministers of Russia, Turkiye, and Iran on 7 December called for an immediate end to hostilities in Syria and for ‘”internal dialogue” between the Syrian government and the “legitimate opposition.” “We called for an immediate end to hostile activities … and for this purpose called for the dialogue between the government and legitimate opposition,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated during talks in the Qatari capital, Doha. “We stated, all of us, that we want the [United Nations] Resolution 2254 to be fully implemented,” Lavrov added. Resolution 2254 calls for a commitment to the “sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity” of Syria and an end to the conflict through “an inclusive and Syrian-led political process.” Lavrov did not specify which opposition forces Russia regarded as legitimate but made clear it considered Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) a terrorist group.

HTS is led by Abu Mohammad al-Julani, a former deputy of the notorious ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Formerly known as the Nusra Front, HTS now claims it is no longer a sectarian Salafi-Jihadi group and welcomes ethnic and religious diversity in Syria. Western media is now promoting HTS, which includes many foreign fighters and remains on the US terror list, as moderates that will protect Syria’s religious minorities. During the US-led covert war on Syria that began in 2011, the Nusra Front and ISIS carried out large numbers of massacres of Christians, Shiites, Alawites, Yezidis, and even Sunnis who were supportive of the governments of Iraq and Syria. HTS and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) launched an invasion of the Aleppo countryside on 27 November. In the past ten days, they have captured two of Syria’s largest cities, Aleppo and Hama.

HTS and SNA militants are now gathering their forces at the edge of Homs City in preparation for an assault. In Doha, Foreign Minister Lavrov stated further, “It’s inadmissible to allow the terrorist group to take control of territory in violation of agreements.” Asked how the situation in Syria would develop and what would happen to Russian military bases there, Lavrov said he was “not in the business of guessing.”

Russia has an airbase in Latakia and a key naval base in Tartous. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi similarly called for “political dialogue” between the Syrian government and the “opposition groups” that are now threatening Damascus. Araghchi said that the parties in Doha agreed to initiate “political dialogue between the Syrian government and the legitimate opposition groups.” For its part, a Turkish foreign ministry source emphasized the importance of restarting the Syrian political process during the talks with Russia and Iran in Doha. The source added that the talks were constructive.

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He’s right. Exposing the real EU.

Romanian Presidential Frontrunner Claims He’s Victim Of Coup D’état (RT)

The invalidation of Romania’s presidential election results by the country’s top court is a formalized coup d’etat, according to independent candidate Calin Georgescu, who clinched a surprise win in the first round last month. Georgescu outperformed the other candidates in the first round of the election with 22.94%, beating out liberal leftist candidate Elena Lasconi, who received 19.18%, and the country’s Social Democrat Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who finished third with 19.15%. On Friday, Romania’s Constitutional Court dismissed Georgescu’s victory, citing a clause in the nation’s laws that emphasizes the need to ensure the correctness and legality of the election. The judiciary body announced that the whole process would be resumed later.

“Essentially, this is a formalized coup d’etat. The rule of law is in an induced coma, and justice subordinated to political orders has practically lost its essence. It is no longer justice, it obeys the orders,” Georgescu, a known critic of Romania’s pro-NATO and pro-Ukraine policy, said on Friday, as cited by Realitatea TV. The politician also stressed that the court’s decision represents more than a legal controversy, adding that “the corrupt system in Romania showed its true face by making a pact with the devil.” Georgescu also said that the power of the people is the basis for a democratic state, and the authorities are obliged to respect the results of the national vote. He stated that the current Romanian government is afraid of losing power and facing revelations.

Earlier this week, Western media outlets reported that declassified information from Romania’s intelligence agencies had revealed that the sudden rise of Georgescu in the first round of the election was “not a natural outcome.” According to the claims, his win emerged thanks to a coordinated social media effort, most likely orchestrated by a “state actor” meddling in the candidate’s mostly Tik-Tok-based campaign, helping to get his message out to the voters. The annulment came amid accusations that Moscow had assisted Georgescu’s campaign, which Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has dismissed as “absolutely groundless.” She said that Romanian elections are carried out in a climate of “an unprecedented surge of anti-Russian hysteria” that is set “to influence the consciousness and will of the country’s citizens.” Washington, meanwhile, has praised the move. On Friday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that the US reaffirms its “confidence in Romania’s democratic institutions and processes, including investigations into foreign malign influence.”

Calin

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“It’s an epic battle of light and darkness, Hobbits and Orcs, almost as if lifted straight from a fantasy novel..”

France Is A Perfect Example Of Centrist Elites Wrecking The West (Amar)

In the most immediate terms, Macron’s reckless early-election gamble in the summer and his devious and undemocratic maneuvering to keep out the victorious Left after his party’s predictable trouncing, has left France, in effect, ungovernable. Barnier’s predictable failure makes no difference to that fact. Fresh parliamentary elections, once again, would probably not help either. And anyhow, they are ruled out by the constitution before next summer. Macron will now try out yet another prime minister, number six since he became president. That is a high attrition rate: In 7 years, the would-be embodiment of “institutional stability” has gone through as many heads of government as De Gaulle in 19 years. It’s also an accelerating attrition rate: Macron’s prime ministers get used up ever faster. The future will show if this trend can be broken. If so, then not because of but despite the president’s baneful influence.

As a French commentator noted, he won’t provide a solution, but he can still cause a lot of problems. There are good reasons for declaring this moment the death of Macronism. Its core project of leaving behind the politics of left and right and replacing them with a combination of Centrism and a “Jupiterian” (Macron’s own, early term) personality cult now lies in tatters. Specifically, Macronism’s claim to, at the very least, stave off the populist right of Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National (RN) is a sad joke: No matter what you think about the RN, there is no doubt that its power has never been as great as now, and its chances of capturing the presidency, with or without Marine Le Pen in the lead, have never been better. Macron has become the Biden of France: in both cases, while building their rule on a promise to keep out right-populist challengers, the two presidents’ incompetence and egotism has facilitated the rise of those challengers.

And how do the French feel in the midst of all of this? Spoiler alert: Not grand. According to French newspaper Le Monde’s summary of comprehensive polling by Ipsos, France is a “country anxious and discontent, hit by a political crisis,” and bereft of trust in its “political personnel and institutions.” In terms of their individual experiences, only 50% are content, 70% believe that the conditions of their life are “less and less favorable,” and 55% say they find it hard to make ends meet. Regarding their country as a whole, a whopping 87% consider it in decline, which is 18% worse than when Macron was elected for the first time in 2017: National slow claps for “Jupiter.” But the rest of the political elites don’t look much better: Solid, even preponderant majorities consider them “corrupt” (63%), “not representative” (78%), and out for their own, personal good (83%).

In principle, there’s a difference between being miserable and being afraid. But the two states of mind go together really well, too: Almost all of the French (92%) have a bad feeling they are living in a “violent society”, and almost a third think “very violent” is the more precise term. You may say things could hardly get worse. Yet the French firmly believe they can: 89% see violence on the rise, and the majority of those respondents (61%) think it is rising “a lot.” In sum: A selfish boss from hell (who could fire himself but swears he won’t), no functioning government, a tanking economy, and a mood like there’s no tomorrow. How did that happen to the “Grande Nation”? This is where we get back to the third factor mentioned above: the overarching historic trend. Let’s zoom out from unhappy France and small-minded, selfish Macron, and what we are seeing is an exemplary case of Centrism ruining a country.

True, you would never guess that if you relied on, for instance, The Economist. There, the same old, tired, and dim story is relentlessly told: How a heroic “center” and its stalwart defenders are resisting (or not so much) dastardly attacks from the “populists” and “extremists.” It’s an epic battle of light and darkness, Hobbits and Orcs, almost as if lifted straight from a fantasy novel. It even features glorious last stands: For the New York Times, Britain’s Keir Starmer, “one of the last centrist leaders on the global stage” is “trying to fight populism from the lonely center.” “Remember the Alamo,” I guess.

And yet, look at the real world: Clinton, Biden, Harris, Scholz, Macron, to name only a few – What do they all have in common? They stand for the failed, rejected project of elitist Centrism, dragging down their countries. For a stubborn, snobbish, and manipulative style of politics, complete with lawfare, mass media campaigns of calumny and disinformation, incipient authoritarianism and police-state methods, a dead-end foreign policy of blaming others (Russia and China most of all) for their countries’ problems and decline, and a resolute surrender to the forces of “the market,” which, here, is simply code for globalized capitalist interests.

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1/ Pop=Joe.

2/ Pop goes the value.

Pop Art: The Value of Hunter Biden’s Art Expected to Collapse (Turley)

We have previously discussed the controversy surrounding Hunter Biden’s art sales. Many viewed the art as another avenue for political allies to funnel money to the Bidens. That was reinforced when it was discovered that the lucrative sales heralded by Hunter’s allies were found to have been largely the results of purchases by his “sugar bro” Kevin Morris. Now, experts say that whatever value is left in Hunter’s art will likely collapse with his father’s departure — the clearest indicator of the actual value of the art for “investors.” Hunter’s art appears to be moving from an impressionistic to a harsh realism period. Georges Bergès, Hunter Biden’s art gallerist, contradicted claims of the White House on the handling of the art. Hunter reportedly knew who purchased roughly 70% of the value of his art, including Democrat donors Morris and Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali.

While Biden allies hyped the sales to show that Hunter was a legitimate artist, Bergès admitted that Morris actually purchased most of the art. Morris has reportedly given Hunter millions to cover unpaid taxes and expenses. Hunter only sold paintings to ten people for $1.5 million, according to congressional testimony from 2024. Morris bought 11 works for $875,000 in total. The drop in the value of art reflects not the volatile art market but the fluctuating influence peddling market. The Bidens are finally cashing out of Washington. In the meantime, Hunter is facing a bizarre claim from one of his debt holders that, in return for allegedly walking out on over a year of rent, Hunter sent him art made with his own feces to sell. Shaun Maguire claims that Hunter rented his $4.25 million home in California in 2019. When Hunter’s lawyers denied the story, he posted pictures on social media.

Without getting into the merits of this claim, the question is whether Hunter will sue for defamation. I was previously threatened with a defamation lawsuit for discussing the scandal involving Morris. I continued to write about the allegations (and the threat of a lawsuit) but was never sued. It was an example of the scorched Earth approach of the Hunter team. This is such a bizarre story that it is hard to imagine that it could be true. Conversely, Maguire must have known of the litigious reputation of the Biden team when he decided to go public with this claim. If this story is untrue, it could constitute defamation per se as a statement that impugns his professional and business reputation. A simple testing of the art would tend to establish the truth of the matter. However, there is no indication of any demand for a retraction or notice to sue. Hunter generally has two years for such a lawsuit, but California has a shorter one-year period.

In the meantime, Hunter has pledged to continue to do his art after his father granted him a sweeping pardon for any crimes committed in the last ten years. Given his past excessive spending on a lavish lifestyle, the art alone does not appear to be a viable source of income. However, Morris has helped create a new movie based on his life. Hunter reportedly celebrated the pardon by watching an early showing of the film. In the end, Hunter’s work may be the ultimate Pop art, work that only holds value so long as Pop is in power. Of course, if Nietzsche was right that “the essence of all beautiful art…is gratitude,” Hunter has much to be grateful for. For past and prospective buyers, perhaps less so.

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Regretting his French passport more than ever…

Durov Subjected To First Detailed Questioning In Court (RT)

Telegram founder Pavel Durov has been questioned by a Paris court for the first time on the charges against him, more than three months after his arrest, AFP news agency reported on Friday, citing an unnamed source. Previous court hearings had focused on procedural issues relating to the terms of the tech billionaire’s detention. The charges against Durov relate to the alleged involvement of the messaging platform in a wide range of criminal activities. Durov reportedly arrived at the court accompanied by two lawyers, David-Olivier Kaminski and Christophe Ingrain. The entrepreneur said he “trusts French justice,” but refused to comment on the progress of the case or the charges against him. The Russian national, who is also a citizen of France, the UAE and Saint Kitts and Nevis, was arrested after landing in Paris on August 24.

Durov was charged with multiple offenses, including complicity in distributing child pornography, and enabling drug dealing and money laundering. The charges stem from accusations that Telegram’s lax moderation rules allow for the widespread misuse of the messenger service. The billionaire was later released on bail of €5 million ($5.5 million), but has been barred from leaving France while his case is ongoing. Some of the charges against him could carry sentences of up to ten years. Durov has vehemently denied the allegations. In October, the entrepreneur revealed that the messenger service had been complying with privacy policies in several countries, and had been disclosing information about criminals to authorities for the past six years.

According to one of Durov’s lawyers, as cited by the French news agency, it was “absurd” to think that his client was “involved” in crimes committed via the messaging platform. An unnamed source close to the investigation told AFP that the entire legal procedure was having a positive effect in France and elsewhere, as Telegram has begun responding to legal requisitions more actively. Commenting in August on Durov’s detention, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov highlighted the absurdity of holding the entrepreneur accountable for crimes committed using his network. Peskov quipped that Paris could use the same grounds to arrest the CEOs of Renault or Citroën, as terrorists use cars.

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McCullough RFK

 

 

Cancer
https://twitter.com/i/status/1865082844680175821

 

 

AOC
https://twitter.com/i/status/1865215257943146917

 

 

Sand cat

 

 

 

 

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Nov 132024
 
 November 13, 2024  Posted by at 9:45 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  92 Responses »


Wilhelm Trübner A Gorgon‘s head 1891

 

Did US Deep State Allow Trump to Win? (Sp.)
Trump Builds No-Nonsense Team (JTN)
Musk And Vivek Ramaswamy To Head Department Of Government Efficiency (ZH)
Can Trump Succeed? (Paul Craig Roberts)
Gorka Urges Trump To Intervene In Senate Leader Race, Endorse Rick Scott (JTN)
Marco Rubio Emerges As Finalist For Trump’s Secretary Of State (JTN)
Trump Names John Ratcliffe As CIA Director (ZH)
Florida Surgeon General Ladapo Ready To Serve Trump Admin (Attkisson)
Judge Merchan Delays Decision On Trump Guilty Verdict In Hush Money Case (JTN)
MSNBC, CNN Ratings Collapse After Election While Fox News Flourishes (ZH)
Zelensky Tries to Woo Trump With Revised ‘Victory Plan’ (Sp.)
UK Could Send Troops To Ukraine – Boris Johnson (RT)
Trump Will Abandon Two Key Principles Of US Foreign Policy (Gevorg Mirzayan)
What Rough Beast? (Juan Cole)
A 1984 Conference Forged Israel’s Influence Over US Media (Klarenberg)

 

 

 

 

Senate
https://twitter.com/i/status/1856400926937846131

Bannon

Sachs

Kamala broke

Voter ID
https://twitter.com/i/status/1855955650687246392

 

 

 

 

“They [the US establishment] need a charismatic, populist firebrand to boost recruitment and spearhead the rush to war..”

Did US Deep State Allow Trump to Win? (Sp.)

On election day Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton suggested that the vote count might take days as in 2020, triggering election rigging suspicions among X users. However, Donald Trump was declared the winner the day after the election. Amid pre-election claims from conservative commentators that the US establishment would not allow Donald Trump to win, some American commentators have suggested that Trump voter enthusiasm was “too big to rig” while others speculated that the purported vote-rigging mechanisms in place had been stopped by the ruling elites. According to this argument, the elites reasoned that Trump could be maneuvered into pro-war positions and would be more successful in marshaling public support than Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and, as such, the deep state ‘allowed Trump to win.’

Some commentators presume that the US establishment sees Trump and his popularity as a convenient vehicle for new overseas campaigns as part of his efforts to “make America great again”. Patriots often think of greatness in terms of military dominance, they say. “They [the US establishment] need a charismatic, populist firebrand to boost recruitment and spearhead the rush to war. Harris can’t do that. Harris had trouble attracting even a hundred supporters to her rallies,” wrote US political commentator Mike Whitney, suggesting Iran could be the next target. The fact that Trump has appointed Elise Stefanik, a firebrand for Israel, as US ambassador to the UN lends credibility to Whitney’s suspicion. It would be easy to seduce Americans into a new military adventure if they are led by a popular leader, warned former Ronald Reagan official Dr. Paul Craig Roberts on his website.

“MAGA Americans are tired of losing wars,” wrote Dr. Roberts. “They want to win. The military/security complex will have Trump supporters in the streets waving the flag. They will wave the flag and expect Trump to win. It is all part of making America great again. It is a war recipe for disaster.” Transparency website OpenSecrets and financial tech startup Quiver Quantitative have shown that US defense contractors funded the Trump campaign generously. Similarly, during his first term, Trump supported what at the time was seen as the largest military budget in US history in 2018. In 2020, the US press called him one of the military-industrial complex’s “biggest boosters”. Likewise, the Big Three financial powers – Wall Street giants BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street – weren’t disturbed by Trump’s possible victory. Their post-election prognoses were largely positive, foreseeing a rise in the US market, growth for tech and crypto and the dollar strengthening under Trump.

“I’m tired of hearing this is the biggest election in your lifetime,” BlackRock CEO Larry Fink stated at an October 21 conference, as quoted by The Financial Times. “The reality is, over time it doesn’t matter.” He stressed that the world’s largest asset management firm “work[s] with both administrations and are having conversations with both candidates”, signaling that Trump will be fine for Wall Street. Moreover, there appeared to be one instance in which Trump surpassed his contender Harris in the eyes of BlackRock. The firm has been making headlines this year for its aggressive accumulation of crypto-currency assets. It launched its iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) on January 11, whose trust quickly grew into the world’s largest fund. Trump appears to be on the same page as BlackRock concerning crypto-currency even though he was previously skeptical about it.

While on the campaign trail, Trump promised to turn the US into “the crypto capital of the world”. He also announced plans to change some areas of government about crypto and suggested creating a strategic Bitcoin stockpile. In contrast, his contender Harris sounded less enthusiastic about crypto and advocated a “regulatory framework” for it, much in the vein of Joe Biden’s financial oversight approach which placed certain limits on their use. It’s hardly surprising, then, that crypto-currencies, especially Bitcoin, shot up in value on the news that Trump won. Needless to say, BlackRock benefitted from the development. The deep state is entrenched and institutionalized and has many ways to maneuver Trump to its purpose or block his efforts altogether, according to Dr. Roberts. During Trump’s first term, dissent from the intelligence community, the military, the State Department and media disrupted his plans.

The American media is already working hand-in-glove with the ruling establishment to position Trump contrary to his intentions, both in his appointments and in foreign policy. Trump has had to deny that he is going to appoint former colleagues Mike Pompeo and Nikki Haley to his administration in order to assure his supporters that the mistakes of his first term will not be repeated. However, other reports that Trump allies Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. are being pushed aside into advisory positions without executive authority lead some to wonder if the Trump administration is over before it begins. The deep state’s policy of revolving doors connects the government, intelligence agencies, academia, Wall Street and big industries. A majority of Republican members of Congress are themselves part of the establishment.

Meanwhile, Trump supporters, including General Michael Flynn and Infowars host Alex Jones, warn about a possible new attempt on the president-elect’s life. In some sense, one could say that the deep state is now holding a metaphorical gun to Trump’s head. Time will tell whether Trump will manage to outplay the establishment.

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“Trump has already filled early positions on his team with get-it-done leaders who are more interested in execution than limelight.”

Trump Builds No-Nonsense Team (JTN)

Donald Trump sent an unmistakable message with his first few personnel choices for his second term, dispatching to the halls of power players like Elise Stefanik, Tom Homan, Lee Zeldin and Stephen Miller who take a no-nonsense approach to their jobs and will focus on everyday Americans’ wants and needs rather than those of global elitists and Washington special interests. And if the president-elect’s new team can stay focused on making America affordable again by defeating inflation, making the country secure again by fixing the border and rounding up criminals and restoring common sense to public policies from energy to transgenderism, one of the nation’s top pollsters believes he can cement a lofty place in history. “Donald Trump now has the opportunity to become the most influential president since Ronald Reagan,” pollster Scott Rasmussen wrote Monday in a private report to clients of his Napolitan Institute.

“If over the next four years he and the Republican Congress can achieve the three main priorities established by the American people, he will have presided over a fundamental political realignment and paved the way for ongoing GOP success.” [..] Rasmussen cautioned, however, that Trump’s legacy of impact will be determined by how well he can align a Congress that often finds excuses not to act behind executing his agenda. “Trump’s lasting influence and the potential realignment are far from assured,” Rasmussen wrote. “They depend entirely upon whether or not the incoming administration can do what voters are hoping for: making the economy work, securing the border, and returning to common sense about gender identity. If they fail, voters will move on, and the Trump era will be just a blip in the nation’s history.”

The need for a GOP Congress to act in convincing ways in 2025 led one of Trump’s former advisers to urge the president-elect to intervene in Wednesday’s battle for Senate majority leader, which pits establishment Sens. John Thune and John Cornyn against Florida’s Rick Scott, who has increasingly become a MAGA favorite. “I would like to see President Trump full throatedly say who he wants,” former White House aide Seb Gorka told the Just the News, No Noise television show Monday night. “And I would like that to be Scott because otherwise the swamp has that magnetic, huge, sucking vacuum power, and they’ll do what they normally do. So a public, you know, pro Scott action from the president is what we’ve got to see. That’s my humble request, Mr. President.” No matter how the Senate leader race ends, Trump has already filled early positions on his team with get-it-done leaders who are more interested in execution than limelight.

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“75% headcount reduction across the board in the federal bureaucracy, send them home packing, shut down agencies that shouldn’t exist..”

Musk And Vivek Ramaswamy To Head Department Of Government Efficiency (ZH)

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have been selected by President-elect Donald Trump to head the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), where they will “slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies,” according to an official release from the Trump-Vance transition team, which called this “potentially, the “Manhattan Project” of our time.” According to the statement, “Their work will conclude no later than July 4, 2026” – the nation’s 250th anniversary. Musk previously predicted he could cut at least $2 trillion from the US federal budget, while Ramaswamy suggested firing federal workers based on their social security numbers. “Here’s how: if your [Social Security number] ends in an odd number, you’re fired,” he wrote on X.

In September, Ramaswamy told podcaster Lex Fridman: “Get in there on day one, say that anybody in the federal bureaucracy who is not elected, elected representatives obviously were elected by the people, but the people who are not elected, if your social security number ends in an odd number, you’re out, if it ends in an even number, you’re in. There’s a 50% cut right there. Of those who remain, if your social security number starts in an even number, you’re in and if it starts with an odd number, you’re out. Boom. That’s a 75% reduction done. Literally, stochastically, okay, one of the virtues of that, it’s a thought experiment, not a policy prescription, but one of the virtues of that thought experiment is that you don’t have a bunch of lawsuits you’re dealing with about gender discrimination or racial discrimination or political viewpoint discrimination.”

He also said: So the way I would do it, 75% headcount reduction across the board in the federal bureaucracy, send them home packing, shut down agencies that shouldn’t exist, rescind every unconstitutional regulation that Congress never passed. In a true self-governing democracy, it should be our elected representatives that make the laws and the rules not unelected bureaucrats. And that is the single greatest form of economic stimulus we could have in this country, but it is also the single most effective way to restore self-governance in our country as well. And it is the blueprint for, I think, how we save this country.[..] …most people who have run a company, especially larger companies know this, it’s 25% of the people who do 80 to 90% of the useful work, these government agencies are no different. And how many government workers do we have?

“This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people,” Musk said on Tuesday in a statement provided by the Trump transition team. Earlier in the day, Trump said the new government efficiency effort would develop a plan to eliminate “fraud and improper payments,” conducting a “complete financial and performance audit” of the federal government. Trump also said that the panel would partner with the White House’s Office of Management and Budget. In the last fiscal year, the federal government spent more than $6.75 trillion – of which more than $5.3 trillion was spent on Social Security, health care, defense and veterans’ benefits.

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“A weak appointment as Attorney General and the Trump administration is finished before it begins..”

Can Trump Succeed? (Paul Craig Roberts)

I have been speaking with MAGA Americans and, as I suspected, there is little comprehension of the vast impediments to renewal. The swamp that Trump is to drain is entrenched and institutionalized, but Trump supporters think that with Trump elected and the Senate and House in Republican hands the job is done. Nothing could be further from the truth. The majority of Republicans in the Senate and House are RINOs, not Trump supporters. They are part of the establishment and comfortable in it. Mitch McConnell is forever as he is in the process of demonstrating. This Wednesday McConnell is holding the election of the Senate Majority Leader. His two candidates, chosen without any input from Trump, are John Thune and John Cornyn, neither being MAGAs. Senator Rick Scott, more likely to be helpful to Trump, is running against the establishment’s candidates.

If the establishment prevails, Trump’s strong appointments are likely to be blocked or to languish unconfirmed. The prospect of being blocked can discourage an appointee from accepting the appointment. The establishment can also hamstring Trump by rushing through many unfriendly judicial appointments. Trump Americans need to understand that the enemy has not folded its tents and left the field. Here is Trump himself warning: President-elect Donald Trump on Nov. 10 publicly mentioned one condition for the next leader of the Senate Republican Conference: He or she must clear the way for recess appointments for Trump administration officials. “Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner,” Trump wrote on social media platform Truth Social on Nov. 10, addressing the upcoming Senate leadership vote.

He noted that such votes can take “two years or more,” which is “what they did four years ago, and we cannot let it happen again.” “We need positions filled IMMEDIATELY!” he wrote. Aside from the request, Trump also said that Republicans should not confirm any judges in the coming months before his inauguration “because the Democrats are looking to ram through their Judges as the Republicans fight over Leadership,” adding, “THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.” I know from experience that there are many ways in which things can go wrong. [..] The euphoria that Trump and his supporters are experiencing can easily lead to deadly mistakes. Appointments that face confirmation challenges can be avoided in the interest of not having a defeat before the new administration is underway. Consequently, when the new administration is underway, it will lack the strength it needs to succeed.

The Biden regime can enter into Ukraine and Middle East agreements that lock-in the Trump administration. A weak appointment as Attorney General and the Trump administration is finished before it begins. In order to succeed, Trump will have to bring the power of the people against the establishment. This means he will have to fight. With the wrong appointments the fight will never begin. Compromise for the sake of unity will be the weapon of the establishment and the presstitutes. Trump said he was going to unify the country. How does one unify with enemies who tried to kill you and who are opposed to the Constitution of the United States? Perhaps Trump should have thought about this before he handed the unity weapon to his enemies. Trump and his supporters must not forget that Trump is leading an insurrection against the establishment.

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“Hours after Donald Trump wins the most conclusive mandate in 40 years, Mitch McConnell engineers a coup against his agenda by calling early leadership elections in the senate. Two of the three candidates hate Trump and what he ran on.”

Gorka Urges Trump To Intervene In Senate Leader Race, Endorse Rick Scott (JTN)

One of Donald Trump’s former first-term advisers urged the President-elect on Monday night to directly intervene in the race for the next Senate Majority Leader by endorsing Florida Sen. Rick Scott. Sebastian Gorka, who currently has a popular show on Salem Radio Network after serving as a deputy assistant to the president for security affairs in 2017, became the latest prominent conservative to throw his weight behind Scott’s bid. But Gorka went further by personally appeals for Trump to get involved in the race. “I would like to see President Trump full throatedly say who he wants,” Gorka told the Just the News, No Noise television show Monday night. “And I would like that to be Scott because otherwise the swamp has that magnetic, huge, sucking vacuum power, and they’ll do what they normally do. “So a public, you know, pro-Scott action from the president is what we got to see. That’s my humble request, Mr. President,” Gorka added.

The Senate GOP Leader’s job, which is being vacated at the end of the year by Sen. Mitch McConnell after two decades, is expected to be decided Wednesday by a secret ballot. The race pits establishment Sens. John Thune and John Cornyn against Scott, who has increasingly become a MAGA favorite and easily won re-election to his Florida seat last week. Leaked “whip” head counts of senators’ preferences have shown Thune in the lead, followed by Cornyn and Scott. That has kicked many Trump supporters into action in a bid to increase Scott’s chances. “I will be supporting Rick Scott for Senate Majority Leader,” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., wrote on X. “The status quo of $2 Trillion annual deficits is unsustainable.” Billionaire Elon Musk joined the chorus over the weekend, endorsing Scott. Many others have followed suit.

“The people who just gave Donald Trump a sweeping mandate do not want Thune or Cornyn to lead the US Senate,” Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA and conservative grassroots leader who helped the Trump campaign win all seven swing states, wrote on X. “They want Rick Scott. It’s very clear.” Talk show host Tucker Carlson made a blisering attack on Thune and Cornyn. “What the hell is going on in the US Senate?” Carlson wrote on X. “Hours after Donald Trump wins the most conclusive mandate in 40 years, Mitch McConnell engineers a coup against his agenda by calling early leadership elections in the senate. Two of the three candidates hate Trump and what he ran on.

“One of them, John Cornyn, is an angry liberal whose politics are indistinguishable from Liz Cheney’s. The election is Wednesday, it’s by secret ballot, and it will determine whether or not the new administration succeeds. “Rick Scott of Florida is the only candidate who agrees with Donald Trump,” Carlson added. “Call your senator and demand a public endorsement of Rick Scott. Don’t let McConnell get away with it again.” Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a lifelong Democrat who turned Trump supporter this election, also expressed support for Scott, who is viewed as more conservative than Cornyn and Thune. “Without Rick Scott, the entire Trump reform agenda wobbly,” Kennedy wrote on X.

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“Little Marco.”

Marco Rubio Emerges As Finalist For Trump’s Secretary Of State (JTN)

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a hawk on China and Iraq, has emerged as the finalist to be President-elect Donald Trump’s Secretary of State in his second term and his nomination could be announced as early as Tuesday, according directly familiar with the deliberations The New York Times, CNN and other legacy news outlets first reported Monday night that Trump had settled on Rubio. Just the News independently confirmed Trump had settled on the Florida senator. Rubio, a Cuban-American, would be the first Latino to serve as the nation’s top diplomat if nominated and confimed by the Senate. He has large experience on the foreign stage and ran unsuccessfully against Trump during the 2016 primaries, where his future boss humorously named him “Little Marco.”

But Rubio was an ally as Trump began his remarkable comeback to win the presidency in 2024. Trump has been filling out his national security team, on Monday formally naming Rep. Elise Stefanik as UN ambassador and Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida as his national security adviser. Advisors told Just the News on Monday night that Trump also was closing in on naming Scott Bessent as his Treasury Secretary nominee. Bessent, a 62-year-old hedge fund manager who once worked with liberal philanthropist George Soros, emerged in recent years as a top Trump adviser on the economy.

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Can you spell hornet’s nest?

Kash Patel was supposed to get this.

Trump Names John Ratcliffe As CIA Director (ZH)

President-elect Donald Trump has announced he has selected John Ratcliffe as director of the CIA. “John Ratcliffe has always been a warrior for Truth and Honesty with the American Public,” Trump wrote in a message sent on the evening of Nov. 12, the latest in a flurry of Tuesday evening appointments. “I look forward to John being the first person ever to serve in both of our Nation’s highest Intelligence positions. He will be a fearless fighter for the Constitutional Rights of all Americans, while ensuring the Highest Levels of National Security, and PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH.” Ratcliffe, an attorney, served as director of national intelligence during the first Trump term. As Nathan Worcester reports, via The Epoch Times, Ratcliffe was previously a Republican congressman from Texas and an anti-terrorism and national security chief for Eastern Texas.

Originally from Illinois, Ratcliffe earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame before obtaining a law degree from Southern Methodist University. He was later U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas and, from 2004 until 2012, mayor of Heath, Texas, a community in metro Dallas-Fort Worth. While in Congress, he was a member of the House Intelligence Committee and the House Judiciary Committee. During Trump’s first term, Ratcliffe made a name for himself as a staunch Trump loyalist. Trump dropped an early attempt to elevate Ratcliffe to the director of national intelligence position in 2019. But the following year, he renewed the effort, nominating him in May against the backdrop of the COVID-19 response.

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Kennedy, Malhotra, Bhattacharya, Ladapo. Not a bad start.

Florida Surgeon General Ladapo Ready To Serve Trump Admin (Attkisson)

The 2024 campaign is the first since the end of the COVID-19 emergency. And important figures who turned from mainstream to maverick as a result may play crucial roles in an effort to transform the medical establishment. One key player is Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, who spoke with me a few weeks before the Nov. 5 election about what he’d like to do in the next Trump administration. “I actually would like to be secretary of HHS,” he said. “And the reason I would like to do that is because I’m in it for impact. Like, if I can’t have impact, I’m not in it.” Dr. Ladapo’s desire to have impact became clear during the pandemic. When Covid hit, he was a professor of medicine at the University of California, researching heart health. He became one of the mainstream figures to break away and speak out early against what they considered the disastrous shutdowns, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mandates and government misinformation.

“The pandemic was really just something remarkable,” he said, “because … somehow you got so many people with good intentions to engage and really enroll in things that are obviously very clearly immoral and badly intended. And so that’s a remarkable thing.” Born in Nigeria, Ladapo earned his medical degree and a doctorate in health policy at Harvard University. In September 2021, he was tapped by Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis to be his state’s surgeon general. “I felt very clearly that my objective, my role, was to reset the tone,” he said. “And the tone was ‘fear, fear, fear, fear, fear.’ You know, ‘Must do this, must do this, must do this. Everyone get in line, everyone get in line, everyone get in line,’ And I just wanted to rip that all apart and remind people that people and individuals are what matter, and their will matters and their preferences matter and good health matters.”

That includes, he says, safety of the controversial Covid vaccines. In January, he said the Food and Drug Administration had failed to examine unique risks, and he concluded that “these vaccines are not appropriate for use in human beings.” Dr. Ladapo isn’t the only esteemed medical figure who bucked the establishment over Covid and is now allied with now President -elect Donald Trump. Others who’ve been speaking with Trump officials about taking a role in the new administration include Stanford’s Dr. Jay Bhattacharya. He was among the first to formally organize opposition to the shutdowns. He also co-authored The Great Barrington Declaration, a petition that raised concerns about establishment Covid response strategies and was signed by over 63,000 scientists and medical practitioners.

Also, Dr. Aseem Malhotra, a top British cardiologist. He became an activist on Covid vaccine safety after he says his father, also a cardiologist, died from the vaccine. Another person who stands to factor in, in a big way, is attorney and children’s health advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He joined the Trump campaign with a “Make America Healthy Again” mantra. He may take on a new role to oversee an end to corruption in public health agencies.

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“.. the hush money trial was “tainted” by evidence that should be protected under presidential immunity…”

Judge Merchan Delays Decision On Trump Guilty Verdict In Hush Money Case (JTN)

Judge Juan Merchan on Tuesday agreed to delay issuing a decision on whether to toss out President-elect Donald Trump’s guilty verdict on state charges of falsifying business records until Nov. 19. This pause in the proceedings to consider what effects Trump’s victory in the presidential election means for the case moving forward was requested by Trump’s legal team, which wants Merchan to dismiss the guilty verdict. Trump was found guilty in May after a six-week trial on 34 counts of falsifying business records during the 2016 presidential election to hide a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels so that she would stay quiet about an alleged sexual encounter. The former president pleaded not guilty to the charges. The chargers were brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg last year.

In July, after a landmark Supreme Court ruling outlining presidential immunity, Trump asked Judge Merchan to toss out the guilty verdict. The Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 opinion earlier that month that presidents have presidential immunity for some “official acts,” but not unofficial ones. The high court did not specified what would constitute official versus unofficial acts, leaving Merchan to parse the evidence cited in the case. Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove argued that the hush money trial was “tainted” by evidence that should be protected under presidential immunity.

“Because of the implications for the institution of the Presidency, the use of official-acts evidence was a structural error under the federal Constitution that tainted [the District Attorney’s] grand jury proceedings as well as the trial,” the lawyers wrote. The lawyers argued specifically that testimony from former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks and former Special Assistant to the President Madeleine Westerhout as well as other testimony about the inner workings of the executive branch should not have been admitted under the high court’s ruling. Merchan was originally set to rule in September, but delayed the decision to “avoid any appearance” that he was attempting to influence the election.

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“Though the networks could try to manufacture another phony scandal, who would believe them?”

MSNBC, CNN Ratings Collapse After Election While Fox News Flourishes (ZH)

Mainstream propaganda outlets MSNBC and CNN have seen an absolute collapse in viewership following the 2024 presidential election. According to Neilsen data, last Thursday’s total views on Fox News came in at 2.6 million – of which 375,000 were in the coveted 25-54 age demographic, Mediaite reports. In comparison, MSNBC only had 596,000/71,000 25-54 viewers and CNN brought in 419,000 / 91,000 25-54. Fox News was up some 60 percent year over year for the day, while MSNBC and CNN were down 23 and 40 percent – respectively. In prime time the news was even more bleak for CNN and MSNBC as they shed 30 percent and 54 percent of their viewers, respectively, compared to the same day last year.

MSNBC host Alex Wagner had her lowest-rated show ever in terms of total viewers, while Chris Hayes’s show brought in its worst numbers since May of 2016. On Friday, seven MSNBC shows recorded their lowest Friday ratings for the year. While Fox averaged 4.4M viewers Wed-Fri in prime time and 701,000 in that key demographic, MSNBC had just 808,000 total viewers for the same period (90k in demo), and CNN had 611,000 total average prime time viewers (159k in demo). No wonder CNN’s Chris Wallace is about to explore podcasting. Fox’s Elizabeth MacDonald breaks down the carnage at MSNBC by time slot between Oct. 30 and Nov. 8:

Morning Joe 1st hour – down 39.6%
Morning Joe 2d hour – down 36.9%
Andrea Mitchell – down 39.7%
Ari Melber – down 49.6%
Joy Reid’s Reidout – down 54.6%
All-in w Chris Hayes – down 47.2%
Alex Wagner Tonight- down 53.6%
Lawrence O’Donnell – down 60.6%
Stephanie Ruhle – down 67%

Three weeks ago Axios, citing Gallup, pointed out that Americans’ trust in media has plummeted to a historic low… What’s interesting is that Democrats have the highest trust in mass media, yet their networks are ghost towns. As Outkick.com reports further; CNN and MSNBC’s futures are bleak. The two networks maintained relevancy during Trump’s first term by aggressively promoting the Russia hoax. Though the networks could try to manufacture another phony scandal, who would believe them? Trump’s decisive victory demonstrated that the left-wing cable news networks have lost their influence. CNN and MSNBC exhausted every resource at their disposal to stop Donald Trump from achieving victory, eventually stooping to a plot to depict him as the second coming of Adolf Hitler, the most ruthless dictator in modern world history. It didn’t work. The lies, the hysteria, and the besmirchment only made Trump more popular and sunk CNN and MSNBC deeper. Here is how race lady Joy Reid is handling the results:

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“..the Ukrainian leader proposes inviting Ukraine to NATO, lifting restrictions on strikes deep into Russian territory, and deploying a “comprehensive non-nuclear deterrence package” in Ukraine.”

Zelensky Tries to Woo Trump With Revised ‘Victory Plan’ (Sp.)

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky showed his “victory plan” to Donald Trump back in September, with two clauses designed specifically to spark the US president-elect’s interest in potential resource-related deals, Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing several European and Ukrainian sources. According to the newspaper, Ukraine is adjusting its “victory plan” for the future Trump administration, emphasizing potential business deals, access to raw materials and the deployment of troops in an attempt to secure his support. According to the sources, Ukraine’s allies in Europe and the US, including leading representatives of the Republican Party, gave advice on how best to formulate proposals that would stimulate close cooperation with Kiev, rather than stop critically important assistance to the country.

One of the two tailored clauses suggested replacing part of the US’s contingent in Europe with Ukrainian troops after the end of the conflict. The other, which was first developed by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham (listed in Russia as a terrorist and extremist), involves the sharing of Ukraine’s most important natural resources with Western partners. Zelensky unveiled his “victory plan” in mid-October, insisting that it could help end the conflict in Ukraine no later than 2025. The document includes five clauses and three secret addendums. In particular, the Ukrainian leader proposes inviting Ukraine to NATO, lifting restrictions on strikes deep into Russian territory, and deploying a “comprehensive non-nuclear deterrence package” in Ukraine.

Zelensky’s plan drew criticism in the EU and NATO for outlining in detail the multiple obligations of Ukraine’s Western allies but not assigning any to Kiev itself. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova slammed it as a set of incoherent slogans that pushed NATO into a direct conflict with Russia, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the real peace plan for Kiev would be to realize the futility of the Ukrainian policy. He said that Kiev should “wake up” and understand the reasons that led it to the conflict.

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“Donald Trump has lots of different voices in his ears and there’s a front of the Republican Party, quite a lot of them actually, who take the wrong line on Ukraine..”

UK Could Send Troops To Ukraine – Boris Johnson (RT)

The UK cannot let Ukraine suffer a defeat in its ongoing conflict with Russia, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told GB News in an interview published on Tuesday. London could go as far as sending in troops if Kiev “goes down,” he warned. According to Johnson, Russia’s success in Ukraine would spark a security crisis for the US and its allies on a multitude of fronts. “It’ll be the Baltic states. It’ll be in Georgia. You’ll see the impact of a Ukrainian defeat in the Pacific theater. You’ll see it in the South China Sea,” the politician said, without specifying what exactly could happen in those regions. He also described military and financial assistance to Kiev as a “sensible investment” and a “good” way to spend public funds, arguing that the UK would supposedly have to pay much more otherwise because “our collective security will be really degraded by a resurgent Russia threatening all sorts of parts of Europe.”

The former prime minister also pointed to the prospect of the US cutting aid to Kiev as a potential risk, claiming some people with “wrong” views on the issue were in president-elect Donald Trump’s inner circle. “Donald Trump has lots of different voices in his ears and there’s a front of the Republican Party, quite a lot of them actually, who take the wrong line on Ukraine,” he said. If aid to Ukraine is reduced and Kiev starts losing, London could be forced to deploy troops to the region, Johnson claimed. “We will then have to pay to send British troops to help defend Ukraine,” the politician stated.

Russia has repeatedly stated that it had no plans to attack NATO or any of its members. At the same time, Moscow has also warned on multiple occasions that by providing military aid to Kiev, the bloc increases the risk of a direct clash, specifying that it would treat the provision of long-range missiles for Ukrainian attacks deep inside Russian territory as a direct assault by the countries which had supplied the weapons. Earlier, Putin ordered changes to the nation’s nuclear doctrine that listed attacks by a non-nuclear state supported by a nuclear power as a reason for a nuclear response on Russia’s part, among other things. Last week, The Telegraph reported that the UK, together with France, could push for further escalation of the Ukraine conflict by attempting to convince Washington to allow Kiev strike targets deep inside Russia with Western weapons, including Storm Shadow/Scalp cruise missiles.

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“First, the United States will refuse to export liberal democracy.”

Trump Will Abandon Two Key Principles Of US Foreign Policy (Gevorg Mirzayan)

The return of Donald Trump to the White House portends significant changes in American foreign policy. Experts name at least two US foreign policy features that Trump will be forced to abandon. Why from them and who personally in the immediate circle of the US president will embody this new approach? A two–month period of political fortune–telling begins in the United States before Trump takes office. American experts and journalists are trying to figure out who will join the new administration of the President-elect. And in particular, who will lead his foreign policy – who, that is, will take the posts of Secretary of State, National Security Adviser, and head of the Pentagon. Various candidates have been named, including former Defense Secretary Mike Pompeo and U.S. representative to the United Nations Nikki Haley. However, Trump has made it clear: he will not rely massively on his ex-officials, even those who served under him during his first term.

And this has its own logic – after all, the classic Washington establishment is unlikely to fit into Donald Trump’s new foreign policy strategy. A strategy that will not comply with a number of principles of classical American diplomacy. First, the United States will refuse to export liberal democracy. “We have built our foreign policy on intimidation, moralizing and lecturing countries that seek to avoid cooperation with us. In contrast, China’s foreign policy is focused on building roads and bridges, as well as providing food for the poor. And I think we should follow a foreign policy based on respect… and the national interests of the United States,” U.S. Vice President–elect J.D. Vance said a year and a half ago when he criticized the appointment of the “moralizing Stephanie Sullivan” as the American ambassador to the African Union.

And Trump fully shares this approach. “The new Trump administration will try to implement a realistic foreign policy course and abandon the liberal hegemonic traditions that were characteristic of American foreign policy throughout the period after the end of the Cold War. They will try to make American policy more pragmatic and more successfully counter American rivals,” Dmitry Suslov, the Deputy Director of the Higher School of Economics Center for Integrated European and International Studies, explains to Vzglyad. That is, to China, Russia and their global projects (like the BRICS). This approach has actually been overdue for a long time – after all, moralizing no longer works. Not only because the United States has ceased to be a moral beacon, but also because many countries (including a number of American allies) have begun to pay increasing attention to their own sovereignty; and, accordingly, to resist the imposition of any values destructive to their societies from the outside.

Under Trump, moralizing is generally impossible. After all, it implies demonstrative loyalty in exchange for the material benefits provided by America – in particular, access to the American market. And Trump is not going to hand out economic carrots. “The new administration will pursue a more protectionist and self-seeking foreign policy line. We strive to ensure that investments go to the United States, and not from the United States to third world countries,” Dmitry Suslov explains. Following moralizing, another important principle of Western globalist diplomacy will be thrown into the trash: “whoever is not with us is against us.”

Unlike Russia, which professed the principle of “we work with those who are not against us” (allowing states to pursue a multi-vector policy), the West has rigidly forced Third World countries to make a choice between it and its opponents. For example, the West has forced Ukraine to cooperate with either the EU or Russia in 2013. And then it forced Ukraine to turn into an anti-Russian springboard within the framework of “who is with us”. Perhaps eleven years ago, this strategy was effective – then the collective West was strong and had a reputation as a player who should not be messed with. However, the situation has changed now. And just in recent years the strategy “who is not with us is against us” has produced at least five misfires.

With Turkey, which, while remaining in NATO, has continued to cooperate with the Russian Federation. With India, which the United States unsuccessfully tried to force to stop working with Iran and Russia (in particular, to buy Russian hydrocarbons). With Saudi Arabia, which is establishing relations with China and has even transferred oil trade with it to the yuan. Washington’s attempts to train the Saudi leadership only led to a humiliating hours-long wait for US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to have an audience with the head of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. With Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orban has refused to follow the pan-European policy of isolating Russia. He is betting on national interests – and as part of this bet, he is blocking Brussels’ initiatives on new sanctions, He even flies to Moscow. And also, with Georgia where the local leadership has defiantly refused to open a second front against Russia, participate in anti–Russian sanctions, or accept Western LGBT values.

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“..Biden’s hardline policy toward Tehran ultimately harmed his major foreign policy initiative, of defeating Moscow..”

What Rough Beast? (Juan Cole)

President Joe Biden has now joined the ranks of Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush as a president whose Middle East policy crashed and burned spectacularly. Unlike Carter, who was stymied by the Iranian hostage crisis, or Bush, who faced a popular Iraqi resistance movement, Biden’s woes weren’t inflicted by an enemy. Quite the opposite, it was this country’s putative partner, the Israeli government, that implicated the president in its still ongoing genocide in Gaza, as well as its disproportionate attacks on Lebanon and Iran, for which Biden steadfastly declined to impose the slightest penalties. Instead, he’s continued to arm the Israelis to the teeth. Israel’s total war on Palestinian civilians, in turn, significantly reduced enthusiasm for Biden among youth and minorities at home, helping usher him out of office. It also created electoral obstacles for Kamala Harris’s presidential bid.

By his insistence on impunity for the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden has left the Middle East in flames and the U.S. and the world distinctly in peril. During his first three years in office, his administration wielded the tools of diplomacy in the Middle East. Donald Trump’s sanctions against the Houthis in Yemen had imperiled the civilian population there by denying them humanitarian aid and gasoline to drive to the market for food. Biden lifted those sanctions and sponsored continued negotiations between those in power in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa and in the neighboring Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh. Only relatively small contingents of American troops remained in Syria and Iraq to help with the mopping-up operations against the so-called Islamic State terrorist organization.

Danger signals nonetheless soon began flashing bright red among friend and foe alike in the region, as Biden’s team quickly squandered an opportunity to restore the 2015 “Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,” or JCPOA, between the U.N. Security Council and the Iranian regime in Tehran, which Trump had so tellingly trashed. Between 2015 and 2019, that deal had successfully kept Iran’s civilian nuclear enrichment program purely civilian, closing off the four most plausible pathways to a nuclear weapon. In those years, the Iranians had, in fact, mothballed 80% of their nuclear program in return for sanctions relief. While the U.N. Security Council lifted economic sanctions on that country, Republicans in Congress refused to halt unilateral American sanctions, which applied to third parties as well. European investors had to jump through hoops to invest in Iran while avoiding Treasury Department fines. As a result, a disappointed Iranian leadership went unrewarded for its careful compliance with the JCPOA.

Then, in May 2018, Trump stabbed the Iranians in the back, withdrawing the U.S. from the JCPOA and slapping the most severe economic sanctions ever applied by one country to another in peacetime on Iran. It essentially added up to an invisible blockade of the Iranian economy, even interfering with ordinary commerce like that country’s oil sales. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasted of having convinced the gullible Trump to take such a step, which led Iran’s petroleum exports to plummet over the next three years. Trump even designated the Iranian National Bank a terrorist organization, again with potentially crippling consequences for the entire economy. In revenge, Iran went back to enriching uranium to high levels and building more centrifuges, though without actually producing weapons-grade material. To this day, its civilian nuclear program remains a form of “the Japan option,” an attempt at deterrence by making it clear that it does not want a bomb but that, if it feels sufficiently threatened, it can build a nuclear weapon relatively quickly.

As soon as Joe Biden defeated Trump in 2020, the centrist Iranian President Hassan Rouhani declared that the JCPOA could be restored by the two leaders virtually by fiat. And Biden’s foreign policy team initially appeared to consider negotiations to reinstate the treaty, only to ultimately retain Trump’s outrageous sanctions as “leverage,” demanding that Iran return to compliance with the JCPOA before the two sides could talk. Perhaps the Iranian public got the message that Biden was determined to be as hostile as Trump. Certainly, in the next round of voting in the summer of 2021, they swung behind hardliner Ebrahim Raisi. And despite occasional modest diplomatic forays since then, relations have been in a dumpster for the remainder of Biden’s term, with most of Trump’s “maximum pressure” sanctions still in place. And once again, as in the Trump years, the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu has lobbied Biden hard to cease all negotiations with Tehran.

Iran, which might have been drawn into the Western camp, has instead become a hostage to Beijing. Starting in 2019, China accepted smuggled Iranian petroleum at a substantial price discount. Then, when the Ukraine War broke out and Biden imposed maximum sanctions on the Russian Federation, Moscow and Tehran found themselves pushed ever closer. Now, the two countries plan to sign a “strategic partnership agreement,” while, in July 2023, Iran joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, cementing the alliances with both China and Russia into which it had been so vigorously pushed by Washington. Iran also became a definite asset for Russia in its Ukraine War, providing Vladimir Putin with crucial weaponry. In short, Biden’s hardline policy toward Tehran ultimately harmed his major foreign policy initiative, of defeating Moscow.

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“What in the world is going on? Israel’s security problem, on its border, is 50 miles to the south. What’s an Israeli army doing here in Beirut?”

A 1984 Conference Forged Israel’s Influence Over US Media (Klarenberg)

The story of how Western media was transformed into Israel’s doting, servile propaganda appendage is not only a fascinating and sordid hidden chronicle. It is a deeply educational lesson in how imperial power can easily subordinate supposed arbiters of truth to its will. Comprehending how we got to this point equips us with the tools to assess, identify, and deconstruct lies large and small – and effectively challenge and counter not only Israel’s falsehoods but the entire settler colonial endeavor.

On June 6, 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon. The effort was ostensibly intended to drive Palestinian Liberation Organization freedom fighters away from their positions on Israel’s northern border. But, as the IDF savagely pushed ever-deeper into the country, including Beirut, it became clear that ethnic cleansing, massacres, and land theft were – as in Palestine – the true goal. Throughout the Lebanese capital, news crews from major networks and reporters from the West’s biggest newspapers were waiting. Israel’s rapacious bloodlust and casual contempt for Arab lives had hitherto been, by and large, successfully concealed from the outside world. Suddenly, though, scenes of deliberate IDF airstrikes on residential housing blocks, Tel Aviv’s trigger-happy soldiers running amok in Beirut’s streets, and hospitals overflowing with civilians suffering from grave injuries, including chemical burns due to Israel’s use of phosphorus shells, were broadcast the world over, to nigh-universal outcry.

As veteran NBC news anchor John Chancellor contemporarily explained to Western viewers: “What in the world is going on? Israel’s security problem, on its border, is 50 miles to the south. What’s an Israeli army doing here in Beirut? The answer is we are now dealing with an imperial Israel, which is solving its problems in someone else’s country, world opinion be damned.” Global shock and repulsion at Israel’s conduct would only ratchet during the IDF’s resultant illegal military occupation of swaths of Lebanon. In September 1982, an Israel-backed armed Christian militia, Phalange, entered Sabra, a Beirut neighborhood home to many Palestinians displaced by the 1948 Nakba. Over a two-day span, they slaughtered up to 3,500 people while mutilating and raping countless others. Again, unfortunately for Tel Aviv, mainstream journalists were on hand to document these heinous crimes first-hand.

To say the least, Israel had an international PR disaster of historic proportions on its blood-soaked hands. The risk that further exposure of its genocidal nature might decisively and permanently shift global opinion in favor of the Palestinians and the Arab world more generally was significant. The attack on Lebanon had already spurred Western news outlets to critically reassess other illegal annexations and occupations in which Israel was and remains engaged. As ABC News reporter Richard Threlkeld commented at the time: “Israel was always that gallant little underdog democracy fighting for survival against all the odds. Now, the Israelis have annexed East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, settled down more or less permanently on the West Bank, and occupied close to half of Lebanon. In the interests of self-defense, that gallant little underdog, Israel, has suddenly started behaving like the neighborhood bully.”

So it was that in the summer of 1984, the American Jewish Congress – a major Zionist lobby organization – convened a conference in Jerusalem, Israel’s Public Image: Problems and Remedies. It was chaired by U.S. advertising supremo Carl Spielgovel, who a decade earlier provided pro bono advice to the Israeli government on strategies for publicly communicating why Tel Aviv refused to adhere to the terms of the Henry Kissinger-brokered 1973 Sinai Accords. Spielgovel later recalled: “It occurred to me then that the Israelis were doing a good job at training their military people, and they were doing a relatively good job at training their diplomatic corps. But they weren’t spending any time training information officers, people who could present Israel’s case to embassies and TV anchormen around the world. Over the years, I made this a personal cause celebre.”

The 1984 Jerusalem conference offered Spielgovel and a welter of Western advertising and public relations executives, media specialists, editors, journalists, and leaders of major Zionist advocacy groups an opportunity to achieve that malign objective. Together, they hammered out a dedicated strategy for ensuring the “crisis” caused by news reporting on the invasion of Lebanon two years earlier would never be repeated. Their antidote? Ceaseless, methodical, and wide-ranging “Hasbara” – Hebrew for propaganda – for “changing people’s minds [and] making them think differently.”

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Roman precision
https://twitter.com/i/status/1856294347643199665

 

 

Feed fish

 

 

Tesla Berlin

 

 

Madre

 

 

Tuck in horse

 

 

SOS

 

 

Dog

 

 

2 points

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Oct 282024
 


Vincent van Gogh On the Outskirts of Paris 1887

 

CNN Data Analyst: Trump On Course To Win Popular Vote (MN)
Desperate Deep State Wants War & Martial Law – Martin Armstrong (USAW)
Musk Accuses Biden Of Lying About His ‘Illegal’ Work (RT)
Musk Hopes To Cut US Budget By ‘At Least $2 Trillion’ (RT)
Trump Promises Not To Fight Foreign Wars (RT)
Former Vatican Ambassador: Kamala “An Infernal Monster Who Obeys Satan” (MN)
Trump and Harris Are Fighting Over The ‘McDonald’s Vote’ (Marsden)
US Unable to Operate Modified B-52s Before 2033 (Sp.)
BRICS Summit Will Eventually Be Seen As A Milestone (Lukyanov)
Americans Are More Dependent Than Ever on Government Handouts (ET)
Gun and Torts Liability to Collide in Mexican Case Before the SCOTUS (Turley)
UK Refuses To Discuss Slave Trade Compensation (RT)
Serbian President Calls Russian Central Bank Chief ‘A Genius’ (RT)
Zelensky Allows Foreign Mercenaries To Serve As Ukrainian Army Officers (RT)
US Envoy’s Diplomatic Cover For Israeli Expansion (Raiss)
A Stunning De-Capitation? The Netanyahu “Madness” (Alastair Crooke)
Entire Northern Gaza Population At Risk Of Dying – UN (RT)

 

 

 

 

Maga

Trump ad

Jordan Peterson on Trump X-men team


https://twitter.com/i/status/1850290385597182100

Rogan after Trump

Trump ad

JD

Elon
https://twitter.com/i/status/1850358797589508362

Macgregor

Virginia

Big Mike

O’Leary
https://twitter.com/i/status/1850493607477723225

 

 

 

 

Not at Polymarket. There, Trump is at 42% vs Kamala’s 58%. But the popular vote doesn’t decide the election.

CNN Data Analyst: Trump On Course To Win Popular Vote (MN)

CNN’s data analyst Harry Enten suggested Friday that Donald Trump could be on course to win the popular vote on November 5th. That hasn’t happened for a Republican candidate for 20 years. If it happens, Trump will almost certainly win the electoral college and the election. Enten noted that a New York Times/Siena College poll was released last week showing Trump tied with Kamala Harris at 48% in the national popular vote. “Everyone has been talking about this idea that Trump may win in the Electoral College, but Kamala Harris may win the popular vote, but Trump may finally get his great white whale,” Enten stated. He added that Wall Street Journal and CNBC polls also have Trump ahead of Harris in the popular vote.

“Part of my job is to warn our viewers, on either side of the aisle, of an event that may occur, that they don’t necessarily like, and Donald Trump winning the popular vote could ABSOLUTELY happen,” Enten urged. He added “You might as well wrap your minds around it now folks if you don’t like Donald Trump,” noting that Democrat supporters heads are currently “exploding.” The RCP average has Trump in the lead for the popular vote for the first time in his political career by two points. If he did it, Trump would only be the second Republican in 36 years to win the popular vote.

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”This is why they want war . . . so they can default on everything. . . They take us to war, and there goes Social Security and everything else.“

Desperate Deep State Wants War & Martial Law – Martin Armstrong (USAW)

Legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong says we are getting down to the wire with the 2024 Election, and the Deep State Dems are in panic mode. Could we have a false flag, martial law, debt crisis, default, war or all of the above? Armstrong says, “They want war. There is no question about that. . . . Lindsey Graham was on Face the Nation a couple of months ago, and he slipped and told the truth for once. He said there was a $10 trillion to $12 trillion natural gas asset under Crimea, and we can’t allow Russia and China to get that. . . . This is like Iraq. We are going after the oil.”

On martial law, Armstrong says, “I am very concerned about martial law. . . . They (Supreme Court) have kind of hinted that martial law is a common law type thing. When the courts are closed, then you have martial law. It is justified under ‘necessity.’ This is what the Supreme Court has said. So, I am very concerned that these neocons are so desperate that they are definitely going to try to create some sort of a false flag or anything they can do perhaps the last week in October going into the election.” On the war front, we just had Israel bomb Iran, and NATO is still poking Russia. Armstrong says, “NATO is a retirement home for neocons. It should have been shut down. They are trying to take the world into World War III. They are now raising a $100 billion so they can continue the war against Russia in case Trump is elected.”

Armstrong is still seeing Trump winning in 2024 in a “landslide.” Kamala Harris is going the other way. A few months back, Armstrong said Kamala’s real approval rating was 10.5%. Armstrong says he just ran new Kamala Harris approval ratings with his Socrates computer program. Armstrong says, “It’s actually down to 6.5% to 7.5%. It’s really appalling.” Armstrong says Kamala has “negative coattails,” which will spell big losses for Democrats down ballot in November. On the economy, Armstrong says, “We are in this debt Ponzi scheme where they issue new debt every year to pay off the old debt. People say the debt is $34 trillion, but the level of the debt does not matter.

It could be a quadrillion dollars. . . China holds 10% of America’s debt. They sold $53 billion at the beginning of the year. This is where the danger comes. If you don’t have someone to take up what China is not buying, guess what? You can’t pay, and when you can’t pay, that’s when a default comes. This is why they want war . . . so they can default on everything. . . They take us to war, and there goes Social Security and everything else.” On the 2024 Election, Armstrong says, “The 2024 Election will be the last election. . . The US will break up into three or four sections. . . We are committing suicide. . . This is how governments die. . . Gold goes up when people lose confidence in government. This is why central banks want gold. They are afraid of governments defaulting on their debt in war. . . In the war, we lose it next time. They want terrorism so they can lock us down. This is the future we face.”

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Talk about desperate. They trot out the alleged “US President” with complete lies… There’ll be more of this the next 10 days. Biden has nothing to lose, they can make him say anything.

Musk Accuses Biden Of Lying About His ‘Illegal’ Work (RT)

Elon Musk has denounced Joe Biden for saying the businessman had been an “illegal worker” before he became the wealthiest man in the world. The incumbent US president was accusing the billionaire of being hypocritical regarding immigration. In response to the claims, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO made posts accusing the incumbent president outright lying and saying “losing the election was making the Democrats desperate.” “I was in fact allowed to work in the US. The Biden puppet is lying,” Musk wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “They know this, as they have all my records.” “So NOW he cares about illegals,” he quipped in conclusion. Biden’s remarks, made on Saturday, followed a Washington Post report that alleged, citing Musk’s former business associates, court records and documents, that the businessman obtained a work visa in 1996 after he had already been working in the country without one.

At the time, the billionaire was launching his startup Zip2, an IT-company that provided and licensed online city guide software for newspapers. “That wealthiest man in the world turned out to be an illegal worker here when he was here,” Biden said at a campaign event in support of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. “He was supposed to be in a school, when he came on a student visa. He was working. He was violating the law and he’s talking about all these illegals.” The tech entrepreneur, who is currently backing Republican candidate Donald Trump, had previously accused the Democrats of bringing a large number of illegal immigrants to swing states. Each of the two major US political parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, dominates dozens of states in the country.

However, voters are more evenly divided in the remaining ‘swing’ or ‘battleground’ states, making them key to winning the election. “Triple digit increases over the past 4 years! Their STATED plan is to give them citizenship as soon as possible, turning all swing states Dem,” Musk stated earlier this week in a post on X. Musk, who had previously positioned himself as politically neutral, publicly endorsed the Republican nominee shortly after the failed assassination attempt on Trump on July 13. The former president has promised to create a new government post called ‘secretary of cost-cutting’ tailored specifically for Musk if he wins.

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“..the only thing we’ll be able to pay is interest.”

Musk Hopes To Cut US Budget By ‘At Least $2 Trillion’ (RT)

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk made an appearance at a Donald Trump rally at Madison Square Garden, promising to save American taxpayers trillions of dollars under his hypothetical second administration. Despite previously proclaiming his political neutrality, Musk has leaned towards Trump in recent months, publicly endorsing him after the first assassination attempt. Following this, Trump promised that if he wins the November election, he will establish a “government efficiency” commission headed by the billionaire entrepreneur. As he walked on stage in New York on Sunday, Musk was asked, “How much do you think we can cut from this wasted $6.5 trillion Harris-Biden budget?” “I think we can do at least $2 trillion,” Musk replied, eliciting loud cheers from the crowd.

“At the end of the day, all government spending is taxation. Whether it’s direct taxation or government spending, it either leads to inflation or becomes direct taxation.” Your money is being wasted, and the Department of Government Efficiency is going to fix that! We’re going to get the government off your back and out of your pocketbook! When the former US president proposed creating DOGE, he stated it would be an independent force “tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for the drastic reforms we need.” Neither Trump nor Musk specified how exactly the panel would operate or which specific policies it would eliminate or implement.

The tech billionaire has repeatedly sounded the alarm over U.S. debt, warning just last week that the country is spiraling toward bankruptcy and will quickly go bust if Washington doesn’t curb its spending. In September, he wrote that every trillion dollars of debt added is money that “our kids and grandkids are going to have to pay somehow.” If debt continues to grow at this pace, Musk warned, the US will be trapped in a vicious cycle where “the only thing we’ll be able to pay is interest.” Earlier this month, Musk told American journalist Tucker Carlson that he has bet “all in” on Donald Trump winning the US presidential election in November; if Trump loses, he is “f**ked” and will probably end up in jail.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1850357346264101016

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“You don’t have to send your kids out to war, have your kid blown up for a country that you’ve never heard of, and that doesn’t want anything to do with you anyway.”

Trump Promises Not To Fight Foreign Wars (RT)

Former US President Donald Trump promised not to send Americans to fight and die in countries they have never heard of while addressing a crowd in the battleground state of Pennsylvania this weekend. Speaking at a campaign rally on Saturday, Trump once again claimed he is the only one capable of preventing an all-out global conflict, arguing that his Democratic rival Kamala Harris “would get us into World War III, guaranteed, because she is too grossly incompetent to do the job.” “To make her president would be to gamble with the lives of millions of people. Sons and daughters will end up getting drafted to fight in a war in a country you’ve never heard of,” he said. In his nomination acceptance speech earlier this year, Trump vowed to “end every single international crisis that the current administration has created,” particularly the Ukraine and Gaza conflicts.

He never offered specific plans to bring about world peace, but repeatedly warned that by supporting and financing “other people’s wars” under the leadership of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the US is increasing the likelihood of sliding into WWIII. Last week, Trump claimed on his Truth Social platform that “if Kamala gets four more years, the Middle East will spend the next four decades going up in flames, and your kids will be going off to war.” “But I will not send you to fight and die in a foolish, never-ending foreign war,” he told the crowd on Saturday. You don’t have to send your kids out to war, have your kid blown up for a country that you’ve never heard of, and that doesn’t want anything to do with you anyway.

The Republican has repeatedly promised to end the Ukraine conflict within 24 hours of being elected, before even being sworn into office, by forcing both sides into negotiations. Harris, a staunch supporter of Ukraine, has criticized Trump’s approach, claiming he would essentially force Kiev to surrender. The Kremlin has cast doubt on Trump’s promises of peace, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggesting that he does not “think there is a magic wand” that can stop the fighting overnight. Trump also claimed that he could have prevented last year’s October 7 Hamas incursion into Israel, telling podcaster Joe Rogan that when he was president, he made sure Tehran had no money to fund its proxies.

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“The choice is between a conservative President, who is paying with his very life for his fight against the deep state, and an infernal monster who obeys Satan.”

Former Vatican Ambassador: Kamala “An Infernal Monster Who Obeys Satan” (MN)

Former Vatican Roman Catholic Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò endorsed Donald Trump for president this week, urging that Kamala Harris represents “an anti-Catholic, anti-Christian, and anti-human vision of society.” Viganò, who was the Vatican’s ambassador to the US from 2011 to 2016, writes in a letter to Catholics “The choice is between a conservative President, who is paying with his very life for his fight against the deep state, and an infernal monster who obeys Satan.” “For a Catholic, there can be no question: voting for Kamala Harris is morally inadmissible and constitutes a very grave sin. Nor is it morally possible to abstain, because in this war declaring oneself neutral means allying oneself with the enemy,” he further asserts.

https://twitter.com/CarloMVigano/status/1848670426924302813

A vote for Trump “means firmly distancing ourselves from an anti-Catholic, anti-Christian, and anti-human vision of society,” Viganò continues, adding “It means stopping those who want to create a hellish dystopia that is even worse than the one announced by George Orwell.” Viganò urges that Trump is “the only possible choice to counter the globalist coup that the woke Left is about to implement definitively, irreparably, and with incalculable damage for future generations.” The former archbishop further describes Harris as a George Soros “puppet,” who is controlled directly by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Viganò was excommunicated from the Catholic Church in July after repeatedly voicing opposition to the current Pope and modern changes made to the Roman Catholic Church. He was extremely outspoken in opposing COVID vaccines, charging that public health authorities were conducting “experimentation on the entire world population,” and slamming the Catholic church for going along with it.

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“McDonald’s is acting like the country of Switzerland in a war – or a girl being fought over for a prom date.”

Trump and Harris Are Fighting Over The ‘McDonald’s Vote’ (Marsden)

Times sure have changed. It used to be that US presidential candidates argued about who best served in the military. Now, it’s about who best served up fries. The “McDonald’s vote” has arguably never mattered more than it does in this election. Republican former (and potential future) President Donald Trump showed up at a McDonald’s franchise in Feasterville, Pennsylvania recently, tied on an apron and worked the drive-thru window serving up french fries. He joked that after 15 minutes, he had worked longer at McDonald’s than his Democratic opponent, Vice-President Kamala Harris, who had said that she worked at the world-renowned fast-food chain in her youth. An online army subsequently took to the review site Yelp in an all-out online assault against the restaurant that hosted the campaign stunt. “The atmosphere was creepy with a convicted felon and adjudicated rapist behind the counter. Yuk,” wrote one reviewer, referencing Trump’s legal woes.

“Customer service was a joke. Senile old man got bronzer on my fries, didn’t wear gloves. Repeated himself several times,” said another. “Usually I hold high praise for a company that employs the mentally impaired but this one seemed more off than usual,” added yet another. And it went on and on for pages…until Yelp disabled user submissions. It was Harris who first made the restaurant a campaign war zone. “I worked at @McDonalds when I was a student, doing french fries and ice cream. There wasn’t a family relying on me to pay the bills – but that’s the reality for too many workers today. Proud to stand with @SEIU today for livable wages and a safe working environment,” she tweeted in June 2024, addressing the two million nationwide employees of the Service Employees International Union. McDonald’s is acting like the country of Switzerland in a war – or a girl being fought over for a prom date.

“McDonald’s does not endorse candidates for elected office and that remains true in this race for the next President. We are not red or blue – we are golden,” the company said in a statement. So, what’s the big deal about McDonald’s? It’s about more than just economic policy in an election where that’s the number one issue. “I think part of the difference between me and my opponent includes our perspective on the needs of the American people and what our responsibility, then, is to meet those needs,” Harris said, trying to explain in an MSNBC interview why she even brought up McDonald’s in the first place. But that doesn’t explain why McDonald’s strikes such a cultural nerve, or why that’s particularly the case right now.

North Americans, notably Generation X and older, relate to McDonald’s on a visceral level because of its cameo appearances in so many core memories. The birthday parties in the McDonald’s play park or caboose. Walking in the door under the Golden Arches at the crack of dawn after all-night high school graduation celebrations, passing friends dozing off with their heads on tables en route to buying some hotcakes and syrup. The community sports events featuring McD’s famously bright “orange drink.” Hitting the drive-thru after gymnastics practice to wolf down Big Macs to give hard working parents an affordable reprieve from cooking after a long day. Dates that consisted of a trip through the drive-thru for a picnic in a local park. Counting the minutes until Saint Patrick’s Day, because it meant mint green Shamrock Shakes. Looking forward to a first job experience working with friends from the neighborhood.

Those were the golden years of the Golden Arches, and of America, which are virtually synonymous with each other – as much in their former greatness as in their perceived decline. If things were still so great, then why is there so much nostalgia for those days? Now, people complain en masse about the ice cream machines being broken. The prices skyrocketed, with menu items costing on average 40% more just since 2019 alone, according to the company’s president himself. The cabooses vanished. McDonalds tried to be more sober and serious with its color scheme, making it seem less inviting and more like a Judgy McJudgerson, towards people going in for a quick sundae while dressed in a wet swimsuit and flip flops, with just a towel wrapped around your waist after swim practice (not that I would know anything about that).

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“..disruption of global supply chains, which forced US authorities to cannibalize parts from B-52s to keep others airworthy. Such cannibalization rates have grown 200% since 2019..”

US Unable to Operate Modified B-52s Before 2033 (Sp.)

The newest B-52J variant of the US B-52 Stratofortress strategic aircraft won’t be complete until 2033, The National Interest reports. The modernization plan that would involve installing new Rolls-Royce F130 engines, enhanced Raytheon navigation systems and several other improvements was heavily criticized by the Government Accountability Office, which stated that the program failed to develop “formal cost or schedule estimates”, the National Security Journal reported earlier. Another issue the whole B-52 series faced, is the disruption of global supply chains, which forced US authorities to cannibalize parts from B-52s to keep others airworthy. Such cannibalization rates have grown 200% since 2019, the DefenseNews portal wrote. The B-52 bombers – one of three pillars of US nuclear triad – were first deployed 60 years ago, but the number of operable units has since dropped to less than 80.

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“..the main function of BRICS is its status as an anti-monopoly group, ensuring competition by restricting the monopolist, in this case on a global scale.”

BRICS Summit Will Eventually Be Seen As A Milestone (Lukyanov)

This week’s BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, caused a stir, which is understandable. It was a major event in terms of both representation and concept. Everyone is free to evaluate it in their own way, but it cannot be dismissed an unimportant. If we turn away from the ceremonial and social part of the event, we should distinguish two aspects of the international assembly, which are related but don’t coincide. The first is meaningful measures agreed, or shall we say: concrete results, in the here and now. Here, a discerning commentator will notice that there are more declarations than practical plans. Ambitious areas of action have been declared, but only as tasks. There is a basic consensus on the issues discussed (an achievement in itself, given the very diversity of participants and guests), but in some places it’s very streamlined.

Finally, contrary to talk of BRICS ushering in a fundamentally new world order, the final declaration devotes considerable space to supporting the more effective functioning of existing institutions, from the UN Security Council to the International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organization. The second is long-term. In this respect, the Kazan forum may be seen as a milestone. BRICS has reached a new level, where a prestigious but rather amorphous club has now become a significant meeting place. It is necessary to be at the table because, firstly, important things are being discussed there and, secondly, a key global trend is taking shape. Namely, an alternative space to the one organized around the institutions (and interests) of the West. In a sense, the main function of BRICS is its status as an anti-monopoly group, ensuring competition by restricting the monopolist, in this case on a global scale.

The fight against cartels is never easy, in any context. It’s a long process, but it has begun and it’s actually developing faster than might have been expected. The conditions have been in place for some time. So, the main thing about BRICS, no matter how many problems and oddities arise in and around this community, is that it corresponds to the rationale of the development of the global system. The importance of progress along all these lines varies for different members of the association; for some it is a priority, for others it’s more like “why not?” But this difference of opinion does not change the direction of travel.

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“..interest payments on U.S. government debt increased from $31 billion in 1970 to more than $1 trillion today.”

Americans Are More Dependent Than Ever on Government Handouts (ET)

Payments from the government have become the fastest-growing source of income for Americans, according to a new study. A report by the Economic Innovation Group (EIG), a public policy research organization, titled “The Great Transfer-mation,” states that Americans have become substantially more dependent on government support, with the share of national income coming from transfer payments more than doubling over the past 50 years. Transfer payment programs include Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, unemployment and disability, food stamps, and veterans’ benefits. Transfer payments increased from 8 percent of U.S. total income in 1970 to 18 percent today, the report states, crowding out private income from wages and investments.

“There is a large range of experiences driving transfer reliance across communities,” Benjamin Glasner, EIG economist and one of the report’s authors, told The Epoch Times. “But it’s unavoidable to look at the fact that transfer reliance has grown rapidly across the country, and it’s something we need to deal with.” According to Federal Reserve data, government transfer payments increased from about $70 billion in 1970 to more than $6 trillion in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, before falling back to the current level of $4.3 trillion. According to the EIG report, if government transfer payments were spread evenly among all Americans, they would have amounted to an annual payment of $11,500 per person in 2022. One factor driving much of the shift from private income to government dependence is that the U.S. population is, on average, getting older.

According to demographic data from USAfacts, the percentage of Americans 65 years and older increased from 13.1 percent of the population in 2010 to 17.3 percent in 2022. During the same period, the percentage of Americans under the age of 20 fell from 26.9 percent to 24.4 percent. “The primary driver that we found in our report is demographic related, specifically the fact that the country has aged so rapidly,” Glasner said. “And the transfer programs that target that aging population also have grown significantly more expensive over time.” Of all government assistance payments in 2022, 56 percent went to the elderly, mostly for Medicare, the EIG report stated. Health care costs were a major factor, both because more Americans qualified for Medicare and Medicaid, and because the cost of medical treatment rose significantly. According to data compiled by Peterson-KFF, a health care policy analytics organization, total health spending in the United States was $74.1 billion in 1970.

By 2022 total health spending was $4.5 trillion, indicating an exponential increase in medical costs per capita. The growth in transfer payments have taken their toll on state and federal budgets. The 2024 Pension Solvency and Performance Report, authored by Ryan Frost and Mariana Trujillo for Reason Foundation’s Pension Integrity Project, stated that public pensions are increasingly falling behind on their ability to pay. As of 2023, the authors state, total unfunded public pension liabilities across the United States hit $1.59 trillion, and the median funded ratio was 76 percent. The U.S. federal deficit is currently $1.8 trillion, and interest payments on U.S. government debt increased from $31 billion in 1970 to more than $1 trillion today.

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Gun manufacturers.

Gun and Torts Liability to Collide in Mexican Case Before the SCOTUS (Turley)

This month, there is a new case on the docket after the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Smith & Wesson Brands v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos. The First Circuit reversed a trial court that dismissed the case, alleging that the American firearms industry is legally responsible for violence in Mexico. I believe the First Circuit is dead wrong and will be reversed. However, as a torts professor, there is a question of whether the tort element of proximate cause could be materially changed in the case. Torts professors are already lining up to argue that there is a proximate cause under existing doctrines to hold the firearms industry. I respectfully disagree. In the petition, Smith and Wesson and other gun manufacturers challenge the claim, including the argument that their sale of lawful firearms in the United States is the proximate or legal cause for the carnage in Mexico. They note that Mexico has long been riddled with violence and corruption connected to the extensive drug industry in that country.

In my view, the trial court dismissed the case correctly under the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA). That was passed to bar suits against firearms companies based on criminals using these products for criminal or intentionally tortious acts. However, the First Circuit reversed on the ground that Mexico has made a legally cognizable case that gun manufacturers aided and abetted firearms trafficking that has harmed the Mexican government. The First Circuit is an outlier in this case and ignores both the purpose of the law and basic tort principles of proximate causation. The Court has accepted the review on two questions:

1. Whether the production and sale of firearms in the United States is the “proximate cause” of alleged injuries to the Mexican government stemming from violence committed by drug cartels in Mexico.

2. Whether the production and sale of firearms in the United States amounts to “aiding and abetting” illegal firearms trafficking because firearms companies allegedly know that some of their products are unlawfully trafficked.

PLCAA was enacted to require dismissal at the inception of lawsuits like this, and other courts have recognized that. The First Circuit’s decision creates a circuit split. Mexico’s complaint is wildly off base both factually and legally. It suggests that these companies are effectively funneling guns to criminal gangs in Mexico by producing products that they have used in criminal conduct. The First Circuit adopted an analogy that destroyed the credibility of its decision: Imagine that a U.S. company sent a mercenary unit of combat troops to attack people in Mexico City. Such an attack would directly cause Mexico itself the expense of paying soldiers to defend the city. Proximate cause would be quite clear. So, too, here, where the defendants are alleged to have armed the attackers for their continuing assaults.

Is that the best these federal judges could come up with? There is a vast difference between the United States sending a combat unit across the border and manufacturers who supply distributors who serve dealers who sell lawful products to consumers. That sounds more like The Merchandisers than The Expendables. PLCAA specifically bars any “qualified civil liability action” against gun manufacturers and licensees. Any action filed against a federal firearms licensee for damages or other relief resulting from the criminal or unlawful misuse of a firearm is expressly addressed in the statute under § 7902 of PLCAA: “A qualified civil liability action … shall be immediately dismissed by the court in which the action was brought or is currently pending.”

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$24 trillion.

UK Refuses To Discuss Slave Trade Compensation (RT)

The Commonwealth of Nations has submitted a formal request for “discussions” with the UK on compensation for the transatlantic slave trade. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer tried but failed to keep the subject off the agenda of a major gathering in the Pacific island of Samoa. The Commonwealth is made up of over 50 countries, most of which are former territories of the British Empire. The UK has ruled out any money payment and so far refused to make a formal apology. Last year, the Brattle Group, an economic consulting firm, concluded that the UK owed more than £18 trillion ($24 trillion) in reparations for its involvement in slavery in 14 Caribbean countries. Starmer had previously rejected compensation talks, saying that the UK would neither be “offering an apology” nor paying reparations for the atrocities spanning three centuries.

However 56 member states signed a communique branding slavery a “crime against humanity.” It also calls for “discussions on reparatory justice with regard to the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans and chattel enslavement.” “The time has come for a meaningful, truthful and respectful conversation towards forging a common future based on equity,” the document states, adding that the leaders will continue to play “an active role in bringing about such inclusive conversations addressing these harms.” Earlier this month, British tabloid The Daily Mail claimed that a group of Caribbean countries were seeking “an astonishing £200 billion” ($261 billion) in compensation for slavery at the meeting in Samoa.

During a press conference after the summit, Starmer admitted that slavery was “abhorrent,” but refused to address the idea of a payout. “I should be really clear here, in the two days we’ve been here, none of the discussions have been about money. Our position is very, very clear in relation to that,” he said, maintaining that the summit’s agenda was mainly focused on “resilience and climate.” In August, UN judge Patrick Robinson said that the UK cannot ignore calls for slavery reparations, highlighting that the amount calculated by the Brattle Group was an “underestimation” of the damage caused by the discarded institution.

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“Vucic admitted that the tenacity of the “fantastic” Russian economy has been surprising.”

Serbian President Calls Russian Central Bank Chief ‘A Genius’ (RT)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has lauded the work of Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina, noting that her country’s economy has remained buoyant despite the challenges it has faced over the past several years. The comment was made a day after the regulator raised its key interest rate by 200 basis points to a record high of 21%, citing persistent inflation that “considerably” exceeded its July forecast of 6.5-7.0% for this year. Commenting on the hike, Nabiullina said that inflation is projected to be double the regulator’s target of 4% annually, emphasizing that the bank remains committed to bringing it down to the target level. In a televised interview with TV Prva, Vucic admitted that the tenacity of the “fantastic” Russian economy has been surprising.

“I have to admit that I am surprised by the resilience of the Russian economy. Nabiullina is a genius,” the president said, while stressing that it is very difficult for the wartime economy to function under the current conditions. The head of state also said that he skipped last week’s BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan because of the “consequences” that could arise if other meetings were cancelled. Serbia’s delegation to the summit was led by the country’s Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin, as well as Defense Minister Bratislav Gasic, Economy Minister Adrijana Mesarovic and Nenad Popovic, the minister who oversees international economic cooperation. Vucic expressed hope that he “retained the respect of both sides,” adding that Serbia’s policy will not change overnight.

Earlier this week, the president suggested that Serbia could have a referendum on joining BRICS in light of the economic bloc’s growing popularity in the country. According to research cited by Vucic, 42% of Serbs are in favor of integration with the EU, while another 42% are supportive of the idea of joining BRICS. The Balkan country applied to join the EU in 2009 and has been a candidate since 2012. Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin has accused Brussels of moving the goalposts for accession, most recently by linking Belgrade’s membership to severing relations with Moscow. Despite mounting pressure from Brussels, Belgrade has opted to reject the sanctions imposed on Moscow by Kiev’s Western allies, officially pledging neutrality in the Ukraine conflict and maintaining trade relations with both Russia and the West.

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“The new law is aimed at tackling a shortage of commanding staff in Kiev’s armed forces..”

“A Ukrainian [officer] might feel sorry for another Ukrainian and not send him to a certain death. But this is not what Zelensky is being paid for..”

Zelensky Allows Foreign Mercenaries To Serve As Ukrainian Army Officers (RT)

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has signed a law allowing foreign mercenaries to serve as officers in the country’s military during the conflict with Russia. The Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, passed the relevant legislation on October 10. On Friday, it was signed into law by Zelensky, according to the website of the Ukrainian government. The move means that foreigners who have a contract with the Ukrainian military can now become not only privates or sergeants, but also have positions of authority in the army, regardless of their citizenship. When the law was being discussed in September, the deputy head of the parliamentary committee on national security, defense and intelligence, Egor Chernev, explained that it was needed to address the lack of commanding staff in the armed forces.

“We all understand the current situation with the officer corps. There are problems. Indeed, we have a shortage,” Chernev told the broadcaster Rada at the time. There is interest among former officers from foreign countries in joining the Ukrainian forces, he insisted. Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova suggested in a post on Telegram on Saturday that Zelensky signed the law “so that foreign commanders could finish off the Ukrainians more actively, by throwing them into ‘meat assaults.’” “A Ukrainian [officer] might feel sorry for another Ukrainian and not send him to a certain death. But this is not what Zelensky is being paid for,” she wrote. In March, the Russian Defense Ministry said that at least 13,387 mercenaries from foreign countries had arrived in Ukraine since the escalation between Moscow and Kiev began in February 2022.

Most of them were from Poland (2,960), Georgia (1,042), the US (1,113), Canada (1,005) and UK (822). According to the ministry, at least 5,962 of those soldiers of fortune have been killed in the fighting with the Russian forces. This spring, faced with manpower shortages, mounting losses and military setbacks in the conflict with Russia, Ukraine lowered the draft age from 27 to 25 and significantly tightened mobilization rules, obliging potential recruits to report to conscription offices for “data validation,” which often means a trip straight to the front. Multiple videos have popped up on social media in recent months, showing conscription officers trying to snatch people in the streets, gyms and shopping malls.

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“..once an Israeli tank crewman, returned to Lebanon as a US envoy, not to protect peace but to redefine it on Tel Aviv’s terms..”

US Envoy’s Diplomatic Cover For Israeli Expansion (Raiss)

On 21 October, Amos Hochstein, born in Israel in 1973 and once an Israeli tank crewman, returned to Lebanon as a US envoy, not to protect peace but to redefine it on Tel Aviv’s terms. The irony is undeniable: Israel, having lost 28 tanks in almost as many days during its latest invasion attempt, now sends one of its former tank crew members, not in battle, but in diplomacy – to achieve through words what military force could not secure: control over Lebanon through revisions to UN Resolution 1701. Hochstein’s mission may appear to be an act of diplomacy, but is it really about fostering peace? Or is he aligning with Israeli policy to reframe control while eroding Lebanon’s sovereignty? The diplomatic veneer only thinly conceals the underlying agenda of control.

The Israeli playbook of manipulating peace processes is nothing new. In a 2001 leaked video, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasted about his manipulation of the Oslo Accords, using vague phrases like “military facilities” to tighten Israeli control over contested areas. Netanyahu openly stated, “America is something that you can easily maneuver,” hinting at the ease with which Israeli influence shapes US diplomacy – a dynamic that is evident today in Hochstein’s actions. The Israeli army veteran’s push for amendments to Resolution 1701 is a clear continuation of this strategy: advancing the occupation state’s interests under the guise of diplomacy from Washington. Just as Netanyahu reinterpreted the Oslo Accords to solidify Israeli control, Hochstein’s proposed changes to 1701 seek to turn it into a tool for extending Tel Aviv’s influence. This is not diplomacy for peace; it is diplomacy for power.

Resolution 1701, passed by the UN Security Council on 11 August 2006, marked a critical point for Israel, which found itself unable to defeat Hezbollah during the July War despite its advanced military capabilities. Brokered by then-US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the ceasefire allowed Israel a face-saving exit under the guise of diplomacy rather than face a prolonged, unwinnable battle. But the resolution has since been a point of ongoing contention – one Israel has repeatedly violated. One notable violation is Israel’s continued occupation of Shebaa Farms, which contravenes both Resolution 1701 and the earlier Resolution 425. Hezbollah’s decision to remain armed, often criticized internationally and in some quarters domestically, becomes a logical and legally justified response under international law, given Israel’s occupation of Lebanese land. The ongoing presence of Israeli forces undermines the very peace that Resolution 1701 aimed to establish.

Tel Aviv’s disregard for the resolution extends beyond territorial occupation. Since 2013, Israel has repeatedly violated Lebanese airspace to conduct strikes on Syria, treating Lebanon’s skies like an unguarded backdoor for foreign interventions. This belligerent behavior is akin to a trespasser using a neighbor’s yard to attack another – an act that undermines Lebanon’s sovereignty entirely. In August 2019, a significant escalation occurred when Israel launched a drone strike in Beirut, which then-president Michel Aoun condemned as a “declaration of war.” Moreover, Israel’s occupation of the northern part of Ghajar village further violates both the Blue Line and Resolution 1701. Despite UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces deploying south of the Litani River, Israel’s persistent refusal to withdraw ensures that peace remains elusive, leaving Lebanon under the constant threat of Israeli aggression.

The amendments proposed by Hochstein to Resolution 1701 reveal Israel’s broader strategy of using international mechanisms to further its objectives. These changes would extend UNIFIL’s jurisdiction two kilometers north of the Litani River, allowing international forces to conduct searches, patrols, and inspections without requiring approval from Lebanese authorities. These inspections can include searching vehicles, private properties, and suspected weapons sites. Effectively, this is a demand for Lebanon to cede control over its own territory – a clear infringement on its sovereignty. Under the guise of peacekeeping, this would grant Israel indirect control over Lebanon’s internal security dynamics, especially since intelligence for these operations may be influenced by, or even originate from, Israeli sources.

Brzezinski
https://twitter.com/i/status/1850312484198252597

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“Iran winning – the Resistance winning therefore – is very much a Russian interest..”

A Stunning De-Capitation? The Netanyahu “Madness” (Alastair Crooke)

A major war between Israel and Iran is soon likely to erupt – so says Israel’s Defence Minister Gallant. It will be initiated when Israel launches its long mooted strike on Iran. Gallant has promised that Israel’s strike on Iran will be “lethal, precise and especially surprising”, adding that Iran “won’t understand what happened to it, or how”. ‘How’ so – an interesting choice of words. As of this morning, there is no sign of the lethal response promised by Gallant. It would appear that Israel which initially attached importance to responding swiftly and directly, is awaiting the THAAD anti-ballistic missile batteries to be set up – and for the U.S. troops that will operate them to arrive in Israel. THAAD likely is no ‘game-changer’. Iran proved on 1 October its ability to saturate and overwhelm Israeli Air Defence capabilities through two successive volleys of incoming ballistic missiles.

The point here about the THAAD arrival is that, on the one hand, Israel is running short of intercept missiles, and secondly, that drawing the U.S. into a war between the U.S. and Iran – is hugely more important for Netanyahu than keeping to timetable. The THAAD batteries paradoxically might do just that (draw the U.S. into the war). With U.S. forces now deployed on the ground in support of Israel’s military kinetic action against Iran, Israel effectively inserts an American ‘tripwire’ into the war drama: Should American soldiers be killed, then the U.S. is at war with Iran; It would feel bound to react forcefully to the deaths of American soldiers. Netanyahu has been wanting this war for 25 years. He can now see it taking solid shape – directly in front of his eyes. It comes too, from his perspective, at an benign juncture – just before the U.S. elections in which almost every candidate vies to pronounce his or her fealty to Israel.

To be clear, this is no ‘small beer’. It may evolve into a major conflict with Russia, should Tehran be threatened. Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its inhuman – beyond all Rules of War – bombing of civilians in Lebanon to force a terrorised submission, has turned Russia into a full partner with Iran. Russia therefore, has worked hard to supplement Iranian defences with their own top-of-the-line defence systems. Russia’s role however likely will be confined to providing Iran with this defence assistance: Russian ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance); its latest electronic warfare system; certain missiles; and possibly S-400 Air Defence missiles (though their arrival in Iran has not been confirmed). Russia will have a prime interest in observing how these weapons perform against an Israeli strike. Should they function well, it will provide a major boost to Russian general deterrence.

And here lies the key point: For Israeli Zionists and American neocons, the path to a de-fanged Moscow is viewed as passing through a de-capitated and defeated Tehran. Iran winning – the Resistance winning therefore – is very much a Russian interest. Excited by Israel’s de-capitation of much of the Hizbullah senior leadership, and heartened perhaps by unauthorised (and wrong) signalling from Iran that it might respond perfunctorily to an Israeli strike, Team Biden might well perceive a new Zionist-led Middle East about to be born. Will the Joint Chiefs at the Pentagon intervene to stop the march to conflict – as they did over Blinken’s escalation plans in Ukraine? It seems unlikely. They have unreservedly supported Israel up to now. And they have agreed to send the THAAD batteries.

The Joint Chiefs certainly will have experienced the strong pro-Israeli sentiment in Congress, in marked contrast to the growing disenchantment with Ukraine. Yet, taking on Iran – supported by Russia and China – is no small thing: Is it truly ‘winnable’? What if it isn’t? What if Israel loses – and therefore America loses? It would be an earthquake; a humiliation that would shake the western world.

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“Shelters have been emptied and burned down…families have been separated, and men and boys taken away by the truckload..”

Entire Northern Gaza Population At Risk Of Dying – UN (RT)

What Israeli forces are doing in besieged Gaza during their ongoing war against Hamas cannot be allowed to continue, the United Nation’s top humanitarian official has said. “The entire population of north Gaza is at risk of dying,” Joyce Msuya, acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, warned on Saturday, in a post on X (formerly Twitter). According to the official, hospitals in the region have been hit, health workers detained and first responders prevented from rescuing people trapped under the rubble amid ongoing Israeli military operations. “Shelters have been emptied and burned down…families have been separated, and men and boys taken away by the truckload,” she said, adding that “such blatant disregard for basic humanity and for the laws of war must stop.”

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, echoed the warning, having voiced deep concerns over the “catastrophic” situation in Gaza. He also highlighted the severe impact of the ongoing hostilities on healthcare in the region. “Intensive military operations unfolding around and within healthcare facilities and a critical shortage of medical supplies, compounded by severely limited access, are depriving people of life saving care,” Ghebreyesus wrote on X on Saturday. The WHO Director-General added that Kamal Adwan Hospital in the city of Jabalia, one of the few functioning medical facilities in northern Gaza, has been severely impacted, with only a limited number of staff remaining to care for nearly 200 patients after the detention of 44 male personnel. Earlier this week, the Health Ministry in the Palestinian enclave claimed that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stormed the hospital, detaining hundreds of staff, patients and displaced people.

The IDF insisted it was operating in and around the facility based on “intelligence information regarding the presence of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure in the area”. “In the weeks preceding the operation, the IDF facilitated the evacuation of patients from the area while maintaining emergency services,” it added in a post on social media on Friday. West Jerusalem has been repeatedly accused of indiscriminately targeting civilians in Gaza. According to the enclave’s health officials, over 42,000 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 97,000 wounded since the fighting between Hamas and Israel erupted in October 2023. The IDF has dismissed allegations of committing war crimes, arguing that Hamas is using Palestinian civilians as human shields. More than a year into the conflict, around 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has been displaced, most of them multiple times, according to UN estimates.

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Ioannidis

 

 

 

Coastguy


 

Kardashev
https://twitter.com/i/status/1850362331802554822

 

 

Chain reaction

 

 

Bubble

 

 

Potatoes

 

 

 

 

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Jul 222024
 


William Hogarth Humours of an Election, Plate 2 1754

 

Biden Drops Out Of 2024 Race; Resignation Calls Grow (ZH)
Biden’s Letter (ZH)
Biden Endorses Kamala Harris As His Successor (RT)
US is ‘In a Serious State of Crisis’ (Sp.)
Donors Vent Over Kamala Harris Conference-Call Flop (ZH)
Joe Biden Sets His Final Price With Offer To ‘Limit’ The Supreme Court (Turley)
Musk Thanks Soros For Unveiling ‘Next Puppet’ (RT)
Time To Investigate ‘Collusion’ About Biden’s Health – Zakharova (RT)
Biden ‘Mentally Unfit’ To Have Nuclear Codes – Top Republican (RT)
Jill Biden Drops Out Of Presidential Race (BBee)
Secret Service Busted, “Repeatedly” Denied Trump Security Requests (ZH)
Deep State Could Take ‘Another Shot’ at Trump – Two Former US Officials (Sp.)
‘France Unbowed’ Leader Melenchon Calls for Withdrawal From NATO (Sp.)
Any Zelensky Peace Deal Would Require A Referendum – Mayor of Kiev (RT)
Western Big Tech Giants Enable Israel’s Occupation (Klarenberg)
Ireland – Mass-Immigration and the Great Reset (O’Reilly)

 

 

 

 

Peashooter
https://twitter.com/i/status/1814728144957678054

 

 

Trump warning

 

 

Alex

 

 

Trump Kamala

 

 

Kamala ad 2020
https://twitter.com/i/status/1815093579078861256

 

 

Cavoli

 

 

 

 

“..the DNC may be able to avoid some very difficult federal election law questions.”

Biden Drops Out Of 2024 Race; Resignation Calls Grow (ZH)

President Joe Biden is dropping out of the 2024 presidential race, has endorsed Kamala Harris, and will “focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.” He also won’t address the nation about it until sometime next week (after his next blood transfusion, we assume?). And while 81 million voters are surely crestfallen, Kamala Harris’ odds of being the 2024 Democratic nominee naturally spiked. Roughly 30 minutes after Biden announced he was leaving the race, his social media team followed up with an endorsement of Harris. “My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats — it’s time to come together and beat Trump.” Let’s do this.

And of course, if Biden can’t run, how can he remain president? Shortly after Biden’s announcement, House Speaker Mike Johnson posted on X: “Rgardless of the chaos in the current White House, our adversaries around the globe should be reminded that the U.S. Congress, the U.S. military, and the American people are fully prepared and committed to defend our interests both at home and abroad. If Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President. He must resign the office immediately. November 5 cannot arrive soon enough.”

[..] Jonathan Turley notes: “The decision of Joe Biden to withdraw from his reelection bid raises the obvious question of how he can continue as president if he is incapable of running for that office. The Democratic Party seems to have created its own 25th Amendment, but there remains the “other” 25th Amendment. This is a type of 25th-lite option where you lack capacity to run but not to serve for an office. It also focuses attention on the efforts of Democrats to drop any challengers or hold any debates through the primary as millions voted for Biden. Holding a party “primary” in a matter of weeks is hardly a substitute for a primary campaign to expose candidates to prolonged.

The problem for the White House is the glaring disconnect between pulling out of the election but holding on to the office. Pulling out as simply politically incapable of winning makes a mockery of the unopposed primary process. Yet, pulling out do to diminished capacity makes a mockery of his political office. There is a striking lack of clarity on the basis for this historic action.. There are also legal questions under the federal election laws. After the democrats rallied around prosecuting Trump for federal election laws, they hardly want a controversy on the transfer of huge amounts of donations to a new candidate…

…Harris has the advantage in claiming that she is the least controversial recipient of the contributions as part of the shared ticket with Biden. She would be able to avoid any primary fight and be made the party nominee by acclamation of the party elite…

…In doing so, the DNC may be able to avoid some very difficult federal election law questions.”

Read more …

He should have made a video.

Biden’s Letter (ZH)

My Fellow Americans,

Over the past three and a half years, we have made great progress as a Nation. Today, America has the strongest economy in the world. We’ve made historic investments in rebuilding our Nation, in lowering prescription drug costs for seniors, and in expanding affordable health care to a record number of Americans. We’ve provided critically needed care to a million veterans exposed to toxic substances. Passed the first gun safety law in 30 years. Appointed the first African American woman to the Supreme Court. And passed the most significant climate legislation in the history’ of the world. America has never been better positioned to lead than we are today.

I know none of this could have been done without you. the American people. Together, we overcame a once in a century pandemic and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. We’ve protected and preserved our Democracy. And we’ve revitalized and strengthened our alliances around the world. It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection. I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.

I will speak to the Nation later this week in more detail about my decision. For now, let me express my deepest gratitude to all those who have worked so hard to see me reelected. I want to thank Vice President Kamala Harris for being an extraordinary partner in all this work. And let me express my heartfelt appreciation to the American people for the faith and trust you have placed in me. I believe today what I always have: that there is nothing America can’t do – when we do it together. We just have to remember we are the United States of America.

—————

Trump has responded to the news, posting the following on Truth Social: Crooked Joe Biden was not fit to run for President, and is certainly not fit to serve – And never was! He only attained the position of President by lies, Fake News, and not leaving his Basement. All those around him, including his Doctor and the Media, knew that he wasn’t capable of being President, and he wasn’t – And now, look what he’s done to our Country, with millions of people coming across our Border, totally unchecked and unvetted, many from prisons, mental institutions, and record numbers of terrorists. We will suffer greatly because of his presidency, but we will remedy the damage he has done very quickly. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

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“Trump also approved of the Harris endorsement, suggesting that defeating her “will be easier than Biden.”

Biden Endorses Kamala Harris As His Successor (RT)

US President Joe Biden has offered his “full support and endorsement” to Vice President Kamala Harris to be picked as the Democratic Party nominee for the upcoming elections. Biden proclaimed his support on X (formerly Twitter), shortly after announcing his decision to drop out of the race. Insisting that he would “not accept the nomination” and focus all his “energies” on his presidential duties, Biden said picking Harris as his VP was the “best decision” he made. “Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats – it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this,” Biden wrote.

Shortly before endorsing Harris, Biden released an open letter to announce his withdrawal from the presidential race. “While it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” he wrote, promising to address the nation on the matter later on. Former US President and the Republican Party’s pick Donald Trump was quick to comment on the withdrawal of his likely rival, slamming Biden as the “worst president ever.” Trump also approved of the Harris endorsement, suggesting that defeating her “will be easier than Biden.”

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“Kamala Harris is extremely unpopular, more unpopular than President Biden. When she ran for president last time, she got literally zero votes.”

US is ‘In a Serious State of Crisis’ (Sp.)

On July 21, US President Joe Biden suddenly announced that he is not going to seek reelection and is dropping out from the presidential race. “I assume that Covid was the last straw since it apparently knocked him for a loop,” US constitutional historian and political commentator Dan Lazare said regarding Joe Biden’s sudden withdrawal from the presidential race. He argued that by delaying his withdrawal for so long, Biden actually “hurt the Democrats,” and predicted that Kamala Harris, Biden’s VP and possible presidential candidate, will “do better on the campaign trail than most people expect.” “Whether it’s fatal is unknown although I still think Trump will win,” Lazare added referring to Biden’s delayed withdrawal.

Lazare’s sentiment was shared by Daniel McAdams, executive director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, who suggested that Biden pulling out of the race at this time “puts the Democratic Party in total and complete chaos.” “How can they bring out a candidate with just a few months before the election?” McAdams inquired. “Kamala Harris is extremely unpopular, more unpopular than President Biden. When she ran for president last time, she got literally zero votes. The question is, what will the party do?” He added that, if recent rumors about Hillary Clinton being ready to “jump in the race” are confirmed, it would result in a “redux of the 2016 election,” a showdown between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

McAdams also wondered aloud about the fate of the votes cast for Biden during the Democratic Party primaries. “How can their votes be changed, especially by the party that purports to defend our democracy? It seems people who voted for Biden are not going to get Biden,” he said. “Number two, if President Biden is not mentally capable of running for reelection, how is it possible that he will remain as president with his fingers on the nuclear codes? It seems like admitting he is not capable of running again means that he’s not capable of being president today,” McAdams said. “The United States right now is truly in a serious state of crisis. This week is going to be incredibly packed full of events,” he added.

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Two articles from before Joe quit the race.

“It was a total failure. It was damaging. It was poor planning,” said one. Another called it “ludicrous.” It was also described as “mismanaged and rushed.”

Donors Vent Over Kamala Harris Conference-Call Flop (ZH)

Major Democratic donors who joined a conference call starring Vice President Kamala Harris say the event’s sloppy organization and scolding tone left them feeling unimpressed and insulted, NBC News has reported. “It was a total failure. It was damaging. It was poor planning,” said one. Another called it “ludicrous.” It was also described as “mismanaged and rushed.” The Friday call with about 300 heavy-hitter donors kicked off with reports from field organizers, who used their time to vent anger over the intra-party battle over whether Biden should be replaced atop the ticket, owing to plunging confidence in his mental health. One participant described how organizers stalled to buy time while everyone waited for Harris to join the call 20 minutes after it started. During that stretch, the donors were “admonished” against agitating to replace Biden, and were instructed to “lock in and get behind” the faltering and frail 81-year-old.

According to a transcript obtained by NBC, Melissa Morales, the founder of Somos Votantes, a voter outreach group targeting Latinos, was one of those instructing donors to fall in line: “It’s time to stop the leaks and the rampant rumors. Your message has been heard and received. But every day that we continue this publicly chaotic conversation, we come closer to a loss — no matter who the nominee is.” As you can imagine, that kind of tone didn’t set well with many in the audience who’ve committed big money to the campaign and the party. “These are donors who are not used to getting admonished and told what to do,” said one of NBC’s sources who’d heard the call. Many of those donors went into the call expecting to receive insider insights on how the party was going to recover from the devastating impact of Biden’s June 27 debate performance and the ongoing, damaging battle over the looming nomination.

They instead received the “bad-cop/good-cop” treatment — first scolded for their lack of faith in Biden and then given a pep talk from Harris: “We know which candidate in this election puts the American people first: Our President, Joe Biden. With every decision he makes in the Oval Office, he thinks about how it will impact working Americans. And I witness it every day.” “Something I believe in my heart of hearts. It is something I feel strongly you should all hear and should take with you when you leave. And tell your friends too. We are going to win this election. We are going to win.” Her rah-rah remarks came on the same day that saw a record number of federal lawmakers — 11 — step forward to join others who’d already urged Biden to abandon his re-election bid. One of them was Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown. The chair of the Senate Finance Committee, he’s the highest-ranking member of Congress to publicly tell Biden to give up. Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have privately encouraged Biden to quit, as has former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Given the reviews, the call seems unlikely to jostle new money out of donors who’ve grown increasingly reluctant to throw money at what appears to be a doomed campaign. Some are withholding money not only from the presidential campaign, but from congressional candidates too, whose prospects are diminished by having Biden as the standard-bearer. The Biden-Harris hoped to rake in $50 million from big donors in July, but is only on pace to hit half that, Reuters reported Friday. With no faith in either half of the Biden-Harris ticket, major donors are taking matters into their own hands. One group is bankrolling — independent of the Democratic National Committee — a process to start vetting potential successors to Biden, according to Washington Post sources.

Among the names being bounced around: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly. Meanwhile, as he completes his allegedly Covid-triggered convalescence in Delaware, Biden’s campaign is reportedly considering rushing him back on the campaign trail, with trips to Georgia and Texas under consideration. Get ready for another string of video “highlights” demonstrating that he’s neither fit to run nor govern.

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“..while many believe that President Biden is too enfeebled to serve as president, no one has credibly made that claim about the older justices.”

Joe Biden Sets His Final Price With Offer To ‘Limit’ The Supreme Court (Turley)

This week, President Joe Biden finally named a price. As a growing number of panicked Democrats moved to force him off the ticket before the convention, Biden has offered something that the far left has demanded for years: limiting the Supreme Court. It was another defining moment for Biden, and it was far from complimentary. Winston Churchill once purportedly asked an English socialite at a dinner if her principles would prevent her from sleeping with him for 5 million pounds. The socialite admitted that it would be hard to turn down such a fortune. Churchill then offered five pounds. When his aghast antagonist asked, “What type of woman do you think I am?” Churchill replied “We’ve already established that. Now we are haggling about the price.” This week, Biden finally stopped haggling and set his price.

According to the Washington Post, the president held a Zoom call with the left-wing Congressional Progressive Caucus, chaired by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D.-Wash.) and co-chaired by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). He thrilled them by agreeing to “come out with a major initiative on limiting the court.” He added that he was looking to them for support because “I need some help.” Even the New York Times noted the timing as a shift in his position that would appeal to the far left of his party. It was another reversal for the president prompted by political expediency like his flipping on the filibuster rule and, years ago, on abortion.In the 2020 election, many of us were highly critical of Biden for refusing to reveal his position on packing the Supreme Court and other so-called reform proposals. It was one of the major issues in the election, but Biden refused to tell voters where he stood to avoid alienating both moderates and the far left.

Liberal professors, pundits and politicians, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), continued to demand that the court be packed with an instant liberal majority. During his administration, Biden sought to appease his base by establishing a commission that explored absurd, radical proposals for changing the court. As many of us predicted, Biden waited years and later admitted that he had no intention to pack the court. He then decided to run for reelection and faced a revolt in his party, including hysteria over his dismal polling numbers. If those numbers were 10 points higher, the Supreme Court might be safe for another 10 years. However, it is now just another price for power. In decades of public service, Biden has shown an impressive moral and political flexibility. He has shifted on almost every major issue as polls made his earlier positions unpopular, or when trying to appeal to a larger Democratic constituency.

From abortion to gun rights to criminal justice, Biden does not allow principle to stand in the way of politics, and the politics today could not be more dire. What is most striking about a term limits proposal is that it is completely removed from the substance of the left’s complaints. Ironically, while many believe that President Biden is too enfeebled to serve as president, no one has credibly made that claim about the older justices.

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“It’s time for us all to unite around Kamala Harris and beat Donald Trump… Long live the American Dream!”

Musk Thanks Soros For Unveiling ‘Next Puppet’ (RT)

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has mocked George Soros and his son for quickly endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as the “most qualified candidate we have” to replace Joe Biden, who dropped out of the race on Sunday. After Biden announced his decision not to seek re-election in November, Alex Soros, the son of billionaire financier George Soros and heir to his father’s philanthropic empire, promptly endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, describing her as the Democrats’ “best” shot to defeat Donald Trump. “It’s time for us all to unite around Kamala Harris and beat Donald Trump… Long live the American Dream!” Alex Soros wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter), attaching a picture of himself with Harris. “I’d just like to thank Alexander Soros for not keeping everyone in suspense about who the next puppet would be,” Elon Musk, the owner of X, wrote in response.

George Soros also personally supports Harris, his spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal on Sunday. As a prominent US Democratic Party donor, George Soros funneled around $128 million to candidates and organizations during the midterm elections in 2022, and gifted $5 million to the main political action committee backing Biden the day after the president’s flubbed debate against Donald Trump last month. Musk previously slammed the liberal Hungarian billionaire for effectively trying to dismantle society by ensuring laws are not enforced. “He’s doing things that erode the fabric of civilization,” Musk said during a podcast with Joe Rogan last year, explaining that the current lawlessness plaguing American cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles is the result of Soros backing progressive District Attorneys who “refuse to prosecute crime.”

Musk also claimed that despite the 93-year-old Soros being “pretty old” and “basically a bit senile” at this point, he was nevertheless “very smart” and very good at arbitrage, figuring out that the highest “value for money” was in supporting local races rather than national election campaigns like those for the Senate or the presidency. Liberal tycoon George Soros, who shot to infamy for crashing the British pound in 1992, is among the wealthiest men on earth, with an estimated personal net worth of around $7 billion. Last year, he stepped down from the helm of his Open Society Foundations, handing over control of the $25 billion NGO to his 38-year-old son, Alex.

Read more …

“Zakharova noted it was highly unusual to have just a screenshot of a letter posted on social media rather than a video or audio statement.”

Time To Investigate ‘Collusion’ About Biden’s Health – Zakharova (RT)

There needs to be an investigation into a possible conspiracy among American political circles and the media to manipulate the public regarding President Joe Biden’s health, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said. Biden announced on X (formerly Twitter) that he would not seek re-election in November, less than a month before the Democratic National Convention was scheduled to start in Chicago. Commenting on his announcement in an interview with Russian media, Zakharova noted it was highly unusual to have just a screenshot of a letter posted on social media rather than a video or audio statement. “In the modern world, filled with post-truth and deep fakes, it’s very important to leave no room for speculation,” Zakharova said.

Assuming Biden’s letter is authentic, as the US media – and the public alongside them –appear to have done, it “raises the question of investigating what I call the collusion of the American media with political circles, including officials and the so-called expert community, who hid the true state of affairs regarding Biden’s mental health,” she added. Anyone who truly cares about free speech, transparency, and “our democracy” in America should support this, according to Zakharova. It’s time to highlight all these statements and actions of the manipulation machine—their propaganda of lies.

Zakharova added that questions about Biden’s cognitive capabilities had been raised four years ago, back in 2020. The Democrat did not bother to campaign actively but stayed in his basement and repeatedly made gaffes in video interviews with supporters and friendly media. He then officially won the election by the most votes ever in US history. Biden’s personal X account posted the letter on Sunday afternoon, noting that he was not resigning from the presidency but letting the Democrats pick someone else as their nominee “in the best interest of my party and the country.” He later endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris, for the job. Trump responded by slamming Biden as the “worst president ever” and cheered for the Harris endorsement, suggesting that defeating her “will be easier than Biden.”

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“If Biden is mentally unfit to campaign, he is mentally unfit to have the nuclear codes..”

Biden ‘Mentally Unfit’ To Have Nuclear Codes – Top Republican (RT)

US President Joe Biden has declared that he plans to serve out the remainder of his term, which officially ends in January, but he is facing growing pressure from critics to step down after deciding not to seek re-election in November. Just moments after Biden announced his decision on Sunday, Rep. Richard Hudson, chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, accused Democrats of lying to the American people. He argued that if Biden lacks the mental capacity to run for re-election, he cannot continue to serve the remainder of his term. “This is a scandal of historic proportions. President Biden is incapacitated, Democrats knew, and they lied to the American people to cover it up. If Biden is mentally unfit to campaign, he is mentally unfit to have the nuclear codes,” Hudson wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

US House Speaker Mike Johnson echoed that sentiment, calling the development an “unprecedented juncture in American history” and urging Biden to resign immediately. “If Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President. He must resign the office immediately. November 5 cannot arrive soon enough,” Johnson said in a statement, adding that the Democrats’ prospects “are no better” with Harris. A host of Republican lawmakers also joined the chorus calling for Biden’s resignation. Florida Senator Rick Scott, Louisiana Representative Steve Scalise, and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik of New York are among dozens who have demanded that Biden relinquish the presidency.

KEarlier in the day, before the US leader announced his move, Ohio Senator and Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, questioned how Biden can “justify remaining President” if he drops out from the race. “Not running for re-election would be a clear admission that President Trump was right all along about Biden not being mentally fit enough to serve as Commander-in-Chief. There is no middle ground,” Vance wrote.

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“I could’ve sworn she was the first lady, and that Biden was a normal person just two weeks ago.”

Jill Biden Drops Out Of Presidential Race (BBee)

Jill Biden has formally dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, she announced today at a press conference that was supposed to be for her husband. “I cannot in good conscience continue,” the acting president said as her husband wandered around somewhere backstage. Journalists expressed shock and disappointment to learn that not only has Joe Biden been a decrepit old man for the last three years — he hasn’t even been president. “Well, this is news to me!” said CNN’s Jake Tapper. “I could’ve sworn she was the first lady, and that Biden was a normal person just two weeks ago.”

Jill Biden said she would not seek a second term because she was tired of everyone thinking her husband was the real president. “He’s a skeleton in a skin suit that has been reanimated by dark magicks to nod and smile at people. Frankly, I’m insulted no one has caught on that I’m the actual president,” she complained. “I’m tired of him getting all the glory!” Neither Jill nor her husband took any questions. At publishing time, Jill Biden had begun working on plans for her husband’s presidential library — which she would make sure was all about her.

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Set-up.

Secret Service Busted, “Repeatedly” Denied Trump Security Requests (ZH)

The Secret Service has been caught in a lie. Last Sunday, one day after the Trump assassination attempt, Secret Service spox Anthony Guglielmi insisted that it was an “untrue assertion” that Trump’s campaign was denied additional security resources, calling it “absolutely false.” “In fact, we added protective resources & technology & capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo,” he continued in a post on X. Guglielmi doubled down three hours later, telling RealClearPolitics’ White House correspondent Susan Crabtree that her report on diverted resources was “very wrong.” What’s more, “Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who has been under pressure to resign over security lapses at the rally, repeated that denial in a meeting with Trump campaign leadership in Wisconsin on Monday,” according to the Washington Post.

Fast forward to Saturday, and the Washington Post reveals that they lied. According to the new report, “Top officials at the U.S. Secret Service repeatedly denied requests for additional resources and personnel sought by Donald Trump’s security detail in the two years leading up to his attempted assassination at a rally in Pennsylvania last Saturday, according to four people familiar with the requests.” Agents charged with protecting the former president requested magnetometers and more agents to screen attendees at sporting events and other large public gatherings Trump attended, as well as additional snipers and specialty teams at other outdoor events, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive security discussions. The requests, which have not been previously reported, were sometimes denied by senior officials at the agency, who cited various reasons, including a lack of resources at an agency that has long struggled with staffing shortages, they said.

Those rejections — in response to requests that were several times made in writing — led to long-standing tensions that pitted Trump, his top aides and his security detail against Secret Service leadership, as Trump advisers privately fretted that the vaunted security agency was not doing enough to protect the former president. The Secret Service, after initially denying turning down requests for additional security, is now acknowledging some may have been rejected. The revelation comes as agency veterans say the organization has been forced to make difficult decisions amid competing demands, a growing list of protectees and limited funding. -WaPo. After WaPo confronted Guglielmi, he said that the agency ‘had learned new information indicating the agency’s headquarters may have in fact denied some requests for additional security from Trump’s detail,” something he should have probably checked before be lied.

Meanwhile, the Secret Service tried to block a Trump team request for metal detectors at his son Barron’s high school graduation, according to the NY Times. According to the WaPo report, a Secret Service official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that the agency has finite resources, and has to juggle competing demands – particularly for countersnipers, counterassault teams, and teams of uniformed division officers. So – it appears they gave Trump the Temu team because they were spread too thin.

[..] As The Conservative Treehouse points out, the silence here is deafening… The biggest question inside the investigation of the Trump assassination attempt, is the thing no one has mentioned.
• Why have there been no daily press briefings?
• Where are the official 10:00am press briefing updates every day on the investigation?
• Where are the official press conferences from the Secret Service, FBI and law enforcement answering questions and providing information from the prior days investigative results?
• Where are the organized and official updates to let the American people know what has been found out about the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump?

Instead, the Secret Service, FBI and Law Enforcement have been selectively leaking details, testing what would be and would not be accepted, and we have only seen controlled snippets of information. Much of the information within those leaks has been lies, sometimes absurd in their construct, pushed through a generally incurious media. Smart people have noted the absence of the official public information process indicates something very sketchy in the background. [ie. the dog that didn’t bark] The attempted assassination of President Trump is a big deal; perhaps one of the biggest events in recent history. There is massive public interest. If ordinary procedures and protocols were being followed, we would have official daily updates at scheduled press conferences, and the media would be able to present questions based on presented information. The absence of these press briefings told us something that is not good. But perhaps today, we find out why.

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“May not make it to November.”

“Cheatle is scheduled to testify in front of Congress on Monday..”

Deep State Could Take ‘Another Shot’ at Trump – Two Former US Officials (Sp.)

Former US President and Republican nominee for President Donald Trump might not make it to the election, former CIA analyst and co-founder of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity Ray McGovern and Former US Assistant Treasury Secretary Paul Craig Roberts speculated in separate interviews with Sputnik. “My question is whether they (the deep state) will take another shot at Trump,” McGovern said on Friday. “I’m serious here. There’s so much at stake. So damn much at stake. And I just wonder if he’s going to make it and, call me a conspiracy theorist, but these people, they don’t have much conscience if they tolerate genocide in Gaza, if they tolerate half a million Ukrainian youths being killed for their whims.” Roberts expressed similar sentiments on Sunday. “The real question is: will the deep state get away with its assassination attempt and will it attempt another?” Roberts said.

“I expect that there will be more attempts on Trump’s life.” Roberts pointed out that they utilized multiple tactics to get rid of Trump before turning to assassination: “Russia-gate, two impeachments, porn star-gate, documents-gate, insurrection-gate and then 4 criminal indictments and several civil indictments.” “The Democrats acting for the deep state believed they could get rid of Trump in these ways,” Roberts said. “When these attempts failed, they turned to assassination. Acoustic evidence of the shootings makes it completely clear that there were more than one shooter. [Thomas Matthew] Crooks was the patsy. Trump survived the assassination because he turned his head.” Crooks, the alleged deceased shooter, allegedly managed to get through security carrying a laser rangefinder and scaled a nearby building as onlookers attempted to warn police officers and Secret Service agents to no avail.

Information from authorities has also been inconsistent, with initial reports saying Crooks carried his rifle with him, later reports said the gun was planted before the event. During live coverage of the shooting on US media, several eyewitnesses reported that they heard two shooters, with at least one mentioning a nearby water tower which has since become the subject of online speculation. The excuses for why the building was not covered have also been inconsistent. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle initially said that the local police were in charge of the building an assertion state authorities denied. Later, she claimed the roof was too steep to safely place an agent on it. Reports have also noted that the Secret Service was made aware of Crooks anywhere from ten to thirty minutes before Trump was shot.

Cheatle is scheduled to testify in front of Congress on Monday. Despite numerous calls from public officials, she has declined to resign from her post. Meanwhile, The US House Committee on Homeland Security has issued a subpoena to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, demanding documents related to the security plan for the event. The letter says that Mayorkas “has failed to properly satisfy our requests for documents and information regarding the security efforts,” related to the assassination attempt. “Incompetence on the part of the federal agencies is the default position, you’ve got to know that first,” explained McGovern. “There’s so much ample evidence of that. But this one, [there’s] too much evidence. It doesn’t parse.”

“In order to keep the public’s focus off the attempted assassination, the Secret Service is being blamed for withholding sufficient resources necessary to protect Trump,” argued Roberts. “This focuses attention away from a plot to kill Trump and places it on the sufficiency of the Secret Service’s budget and the appropriateness of its ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ personnel policy.” But Roberts does not think the investigation, even if run by Republicans, will vigorously search for the truth. “The Republicans are likely to agree to sweep the intent [of the alleged shooter] issue under the rug in order to ‘protect America’s reputation,’” Roberts said. “It wouldn’t do to showcase the US as a country where presidents and would-be presidents are shot down by the opposition.” McGovern notes the deep state had the means, motive and opportunity to take out Trump.

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“The politician said he wanted France out of NATO because the military alliance “sticks to the war logic.”

‘France Unbowed’ Leader Melenchon Calls for Withdrawal From NATO (Sp.)

Jean-Luc Melenchon, founder of the left-wing France Unbowed party, told Spanish newspaper El Pais in an interview out Sunday that he would pull France out of NATO if elected the country’s president. “I choose the logic of disarmament and appeasement … If I were at the Elysee Palace, I would certainly systematically and in an organized manner withdraw from the joint military command, from NATO. Especially during the war, to avoid seeing the country involved in this story,” Melenchon told the newspaper. The politician said he wanted France out of NATO because the military alliance “sticks to the war logic.” In late June, Florian Philippot, the leader of French euroskeptic party The Patriots, called for France’s withdrawal from NATO after Ukraine launched a deadly missile strike on a crowded beach in Crimea. He called this an escalation and accused NATO of seeking a total war.

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“Whatever move he makes, he risks political suicide. It would be a nightmare if we were to fight for another two years..”

Any Zelensky Peace Deal Would Require A Referendum – Mayor of Kiev (RT)

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky would likely need to hold a nationwide referendum to “legitimize” any potential peace agreement with Russia, the Mayor of Kiev Vitaly Klitschko has said. Effectively, any move Zelensky could make risks his “political suicide,” Klitschko believes. Speaking with Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Sunday, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital predicted that the “next few months” are set to be “very difficult” for Zelensky. “We are waiting for the US elections, but to establish peace we will need a referendum,” he said. The nationwide vote would likely be needed to “legitimize” a potential peace deal with Moscow, given that any compromise would be very hard to explain to the Ukrainian public, Klitschko believes.

Continuing the hostilities for another few years, however, is not an option either, the mayor insisted. “I do not think [Zelensky] can reach such painful and crucial agreements by himself without public legitimacy,” Klitschko opined. “How to explain to the country that it is necessary to give up parts of our territory that cost the lives of thousands of our military heroes? Whatever move he makes, he risks political suicide. It would be a nightmare if we were to fight for another two years,” the mayor added.

Establishing an Israeli-style national unity government could be an option for Ukraine to go through the difficult period and “legitimize” a potential peace deal, the official suggested. “However, I do not think [Zelensky] is willing to give up the power concentrated in his hands under martial law,” Klitschko admitted. Zelensky remains in power in Ukraine despite his term in office officially having expired in May. He opted not to hold a presidential election, citing martial law imposed due to the conflict with Russia. Moscow has signaled it considers that Zelensky’s legitimacy has “expired” and does not regard him as a genuine president of the country any longer.

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Motorola, Siemens.

Western Big Tech Giants Enable Israel’s Occupation (Klarenberg)

This week, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s continued presence in occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful and should come to an end “as rapidly as possible.” Notably, the court opened the door to “reparations” for any illegal actions carried out by Israel and other entities since 1967. Multiple consumer-facing western tech companies that not only profit from illegal Jewish settlement expansion but actively provide core infrastructure and resources used to oppress Palestinians and enforce Tel Aviv’s apartheid could now be subject to lawsuits. The ICJ’s landmark judgment means the long-term viability of these tech firms’ operations in the occupied territories is moribund – for fear of legal repercussions, if nothing else. Fittingly, given Germany is currently in the dock at the ICJ for its support and facilitation of the genocide in Gaza, Munich-headquartered tech conglomerate Siemens is among the culprits.

The firm is “focused on automation and digitalization in the manufacturing industries, intelligent infrastructure for buildings and distributed energy systems, smart mobility solutions for rail transport, and medical technology and digital healthcare services.” Its products are profuse throughout the occupation state and its illegal settlements. Traffic control systems and traffic lights produced by Siemens can be found in areas of the West Bank where Palestinian residents are forbidden from traveling. In 2014, the company’s Israeli subdivision RS Industries won a tender to provide traffic control systems across the Jerusalem Municipality too – East Jerusalem, designated as the capital of the Palestinian state, was occupied in 1967, and falls within the ICJ’s mandate. Elsewhere, Siemens provides its DDEMU model cars for the Tel Aviv Jerusalem Fast Train and, in 2018, was awarded a $1 billion contract by the entity-owned Israel Railways to supply 330 electric cars as part of Israel’s electrification project, which includes the Tel Aviv – Jerusalem Fast Train (A1).

A highly controversial project that passes through two areas of the West Bank, including privately owned, occupied Palestinian land, it is intended for exclusive use by Israeli Jews. Don’t Buy Into Occupation (DBIO) states: “Siemens’ activities are of concern, as they are linked to the provision of services and utilities supporting the maintenance and existence of settlements.” However, the company’s activities extend far further. Through its Israeli representative, Orad Group, the company provides equipment and technology to the notorious Israel Prison Service (IPS). In 2004, the Orad Group provided a Siemens technology-based perimeter security system to Gilboa prison — a detention center specifically designated for Palestinian political prisoners. Siemens also supplies the IPS with a sophisticated fire detection and extinguishing system.

US brand Motorola is widely recognized for its innovative smartphone devices. However, DBIO has meticulously documented the involvement of Motorola’s Tel Aviv division in settlement expansion over the past decade. The tech giant has collaborated closely with Israeli occupation forces, the Ministry of Defense, and Zionist settlement councils across the illegally occupied territories. A prime example of this collaboration is the surveillance system “MotoEagle,” designed to monitor settlers on appropriated land, operate within occupation military bases, and oversee the Gaza concentration camp’s separation wall. Notably, Motorola-produced radar stations have been installed on illegally appropriated private Palestinian land, restricting Palestinian movement in these areas. Furthermore, Motorola supplies the Ministry of Defense’s Zramim System, a smart card operation utilized at Israeli checkpoints to monitor goods transportation. Palestinian drivers, merchants, and transport companies are compelled to register their personal information in this system, enabling Tel Aviv to monitor all entry and exit points meticulously.

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“Tensions that, in tight-knit areas such as working-class neighbourhoods and small rural villages, will inevitably spill over.”

Ireland – Mass-Immigration and the Great Reset (O’Reilly)

On Monday morning, Ireland would awake to reports of unrest in the Dublin suburb of Coolock, when after months of peaceful protest by local residents over plans to move upwards of 500 male migrants into a disused paint factory in the working-class neighborhood, tensions would come to a head when Irish riot police cleared the on-site protest camp in a heavy-handed early morning raid. In response, work vehicles intended to convert the site would be set ablaze, leading to scenes reminiscent of the north of Ireland in the late 60s or early 70s. As the day progressed, the parallels between Coolock and the Ireland of half a century ago would grow. Heavily-militarised police, under the direction of Garda commissioner and former RUC Deputy Constable Drew Harris, would soon arrive in the North Dublin suburb, resulting in scenes akin to Belfast or Derry in 1969.

Local residents, including women, children, and the elderly, would be brutalised, a popular video streamer and citizen journalist would be arrested, and a number of elected representatives, who had arrived on the scene in a bid to calm tensions, would be pepper sprayed by police. By the end of the day, 15 people would be arrested and charged, with their names and addresses highly-publicised by the Irish media, an effective warning to others to not protest against the current immigration policies being imposed by Leinster House, which has seen large numbers of male migrants being placed into wildly unsuitable locations such as an inner city office block and childrens primary school, with no prior consultation being held with local communities beforehand.

Indeed, similar scenes would erupt in the small rural village of Newtownmountkennedy in late April, when again, after weeks of peaceful protest by local residents in opposition to plans to house male migrants in a disused hospital in the locality, police would once again carry out a heavy-handed early-morning raid on an on-site protest camp. In the ensuing hours, local residents would again be brutalised, a female journalist would be pepper sprayed, and martial law would effectively be imposed on the sleepy town. In a grim irony, less than a week later, the southern Irish state would issue a statement condemning the response of the Georgian government to protests against its Transparency of Foreign Influence law, the previous week’s scenes in Newtownmountkennedy being wilfully ignored by Leinster House.

The current tensions surrounding immigration in Ireland began in November 2022, when, using the Russian intervention in Ukraine as a pretext, upwards of 300 migrants were moved into a disused office block in East Wall, a working-class neighbourhood in inner city Dublin. Protests would begin immediately amongst local residents, citing the unsuitability of the location and the lack of consultation with community representatives beforehand. Similar protests would take place at other sites in Dublin and throughout Ireland.

One year later, the tensions regarding immigration policy in Ireland would explode in their most notable manner so far. On the 23rd of November 2023, three children and their teacher were stabbed outside their Gaelscoil (Irish-language school) in central Dublin. With it soon emerging that the attacker was an immigrant previously subject to a deportation order, matters would come to a head. Calls for a protest in Dublin later that night would quickly spread throughout social media, seemingly attracting an opportunistic element who would engage in looting and the burning of vehicles. The Dublin riots would gain worldwide attention, with the focus seemingly more on the damage done to outlets such as McDonald’s and Footlocker, than the attack on the children and their teacher.

In the days following the riots, Security Minister for the southern Irish state, Helen McEntee, announced that facial recognition technology laws would be introduced in response, thus revealing the true intent behind current immigration policy in Ireland. In addition to the devaluing of labour and the lowering of wages on behalf of industrialists, the mixing of vast amounts of people from different cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds that mass-immigration entails, ultimately leads to tensions. Tensions that, in tight-knit areas such as working-class neighbourhoods and small rural villages, will inevitably spill over.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Banners
https://twitter.com/i/status/1814741458429116638

 

 

Trump Elon

 

 

Habanera
https://twitter.com/i/status/1814677376053154283

 

 

Cardinal
https://twitter.com/i/status/1814930162909155563

 

 

The boss
https://twitter.com/i/status/1814758453769887841

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Apr 262024
 
 April 26, 2024  Posted by at 8:50 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,  55 Responses »


Herri met de Bles Landscape with Saint Christopher 1535 – 1545

 

America: Goodbye my Country (Paul Craig Roberts)
Sceptical Supreme Court Could Hand Trump Partial Victory In Immunity Case (ZH)
Court to Decide Trump Contempt Sanction (Turley)
Hillary Clinton and Marc Elias Are Afraid of 2024 Trump Win (Sp.)
Democrats Want Donald Trump ‘Killed,’ Alan Dershowitz Warns (ET)
Pollster: ‘Deep State’ Wanted Trump’s Imprint On Failed Ukraine Policy (Sp.)
Trump Allies Charged In Arizona Election Interference Case (Sp.)
Biden Rushes Aid to Ukraine As US Cost of Living Skyrockets (Miles)
Biden Team Doubts US Aid Will Help Ukraine Win – Politico (RT)
Scott Ritter: US Aid for Ukraine Won’t Hamper Russia’s Strategic Advantage (Sp.)
Russia To Seize $440 Million From JPMorgan (ZH)
Harvey Weinstein Conviction Overturned On Appeal (ZH)
Immanuel Kant Goes To War (Hayes)
Carbon Emissions CANNOT Cause ‘Global Warming’ (Slay)

 

 

 

 

Trump NY

 

 

Pecker
https://twitter.com/i/status/1783587614928368048

 

 

Immunity
https://twitter.com/i/status/1783600215817163214

 

 


Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

 

Tucker racism

 

 

Bannon Rickards

 

 

 

 

“Americans have sat on their butts and allowed the destruction of civility, the rule of law, the Constitution, and their nation.”

America: Goodbye my Country (Paul Craig Roberts)

I would add several more. For example, the independence of doctors requires private practice. Private practice is being destroyed systematically by medical insurance, malpractice insurance, Medicare, Big Pharma, and the US Congress which panders to Big Pharma for campaign contributions. Medical doctors are being forced into becoming employees for HMOs where they have to follow their employer’s protocols or be fired. This means that they must abandon the Hippocratric Oath and follow the profit-enhancing practices of their employer HMOs. Big Pharma provides software for diagnosis and treatment, and doctors have to prescribe according to what Medicare and insurance companies will pay a percentage of the billing amount. Even doctors in private practice find that what they can prescribe and what operations they can perform is limited to insurance and medicare decisions.

During the orchestrated “Covid pandemic,” the entire propaganda operation was geared toward maximizing Big Pharma’s profits from the Covid “vaccine” and to cancelling people’s control over their own health care by imposing “vaccine” mandates. This was the first exercise in the imposition of mass tyranny in the Western World. Individual countries had experienced tyranny, but never before the entire Western world simultaneously. In order to maximize Big Pharma’s profits and impose mass tyranny, it was necessary to prohibit two safe, effective, known preventatives and cures for Covid–hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin. Doctors who successfully used these cures and preventatives to protect their patients were subject to persecution by medical authorities and governing boards. Some were fired from their HMO jobs and university medical schools, some were stripped of their licenses, some were prosecuted. In order to mass inject people with an untested “vaccine” under an emergency use order the requirement was that there were no cures.

So, the fact that there were cures had to be suppressed. The utterly corrupt US medical establishment, the whore media and the Western governments suppressed the cures and ridiculed them as “horse medicine.” If the Western peoples were not so insouciant, so gullible, so trusting of “authorities,” so utterly stupid and incapable of thinking for themselves, there would have been no orchestrated “Covid pandemic” and no mass vaccination, which is against all medical protocols in the face of a pandemic. According to all available scientific evidence to date, the “Covid vaccine” has killed and destroyed the health of more people than the Covid virus. The corrupt “authorities” have done their best to cover this up, but as I have reported the coverup has failed. Still nothing is being done about it. Nothing can be done as long as Congress is dependent on campaign contributions from corporations. “Our” representatives are really representatives of those interest groups that fund election campaigns.

Congress reports to them, not to us. The idiot US Supreme Court actually ruled that corporations had a legitimate Constitutional right to purchase the US government. This ruling converted a government that represented the people into one that represented the political campaign contributors. Another addition I would make is the destruction of manners. Try to find today any sign of the manners I grew up with or the civilization that existed. Even when I was in my 20s, when a woman entered the room, the men stood up. Car and restaurant doors were opened for women. Women were helped into their seat at the table. Only when women were seated did men sit down. Men were trained to be gentleman, and ladies to be ladies. No gentleman ever used a four-letter word in a woman’s presence, and no woman ever spoke one. Listen to the barbaric youth today. Even the terms ladies and gentlemen have passed out or have been driven out of use.

[..] Today in the Disunited States we have a government in power that was not elected; instead it used control over the blue cities in swing states and the whore American media to steal the election. Massive amounts of evidence was provided by experts that the election was stolen, but this was strongly denied by the whore media, and experts were prosecuted for making the facts known. Today America is governed by an illegitimate tyrannical regime, and nothing has been done about it. The Republican Party is useless. Only Trump soldiers on with four orchestrated criminal indictments and a number of civil cases arrayed against him. The media, Democrats, and Rino Republicans are all against him. Only the people are for him, and the people are powerless. They don’t even have the vote as the Democrats made clear by stealing the last two elections. Those prosecuting Trump have no concern that they are destroying America’s reputation and reducing the power of all future presidents, making them even more subservient to the deep state.

America’s only representative–Donald Trump–is so overloaded with criminal and civil prosecutions that he has no time to campaign and even as a billionaire is overwhelmed with the legal costs of defending himself from obvious nonsensical charges.The legal profession, the law schools, the bar associations, the Congress, the courts, the media stand aside as if they are not also endangered and as if the weaponization of law isn’t a foundation of tyranny. What we are witnessing most certainly is the transformation of American law into a weapon for subjecting the American population and eliminating anyone who dares to protest or challenge the tyrannical ruling establishment. This is the reason that the United States of America is a totally dead and buried formerly free nation. Americans have sat on their butts and allowed the destruction of civility, the rule of law, the Constitution, and their nation.

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Interesting discussion. To be continued.

Sceptical Supreme Court Could Hand Trump Partial Victory In Immunity Case (ZH)

After two and a half hours, the Supreme Court has finished hearing arguments on whether a former president is immune from criminal prosecution. Reading the tea-leaves of the comments has left most believing that SCOTUS will fail to grant former President Trump the full immunity he is seeking (choosing instead to narrow the protections for former presidents), but are likely to issue a ruling that could further delay his trial on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election. That would be a partial win for the former President. As Axios reports, a definitive ruling against Trump – a clear rejection of his theory of immunity that would allow his Jan. 6 trial to promptly resume – seemed to be the least likely outcome. A majority of the justices seemed inclined to rule that former presidents must have at least some protection from criminal charges, but not necessarily the “absolute immunity” Trump is seeking.

The core distinction during oral arguments came down to a president’s official vs. unofficial actions. — and which of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results were official vs. unofficial. The most likely outcome might be for the high court to punt, perhaps kicking the case back to lower courts for more nuanced hearings. That would still be a victory for Trump, as Sam Dorman reports via The Epoch Times that the outcome of this appeal could delay lower court proceedings in President Trump’s Washington trial as well as his cases in Georgia and Florida. It’s unlikely that the Supreme Court, which is expected to release a decision in June, will write an opinion that delays his ongoing criminal “hush money” trial in New York. The bottom-line is that no clear, concise majority opinion emerged this morning. But there may be five justices willing to kick the can down the road – and that’s enough for Trump, at least for now.

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“Only Michael Cohen would portray himself in terms of a witness simply trying to share evidence of a crime..”

Court to Decide Trump Contempt Sanction (Turley)

I will confess that there are at times a level of contempt expressed in my columns. However, today will be the first time that a column becomes a legal matter for contempt. Among the ten postings by former president Donald Trump being raised by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in his contempt sanction is the use of a quotation from one of my columns. In a hearing on the gag order Tuesday morning, Judge Juan Merchan reserved any final decision. On April 15, Trump quoted my New York Post column from the day before titled “A serial perjurer will try to prove an old misdemeanor against Trump in an embarrassment for the New York legal system.” Trump posted the title while attaching a link. There is an interesting aspect to this controversy that captures the problem with Judge Merchan’s gag order.

In addition to continually appealing on television to oppose Trump’s election and to discuss his testimony in this case, Cohen has also lashed out against critics and coverage, including my own columns. I have been a critic of Cohen since the time when he was still working as counsel for Trump. Cohen has continued to attack some of us with vulgar postings while posting mocking pictures and attacks on Trump, including running commentary on the trial. In one posting, Cohen posted an insulting attack on myself and others who have raised questions about the Manhattan case while objecting that he is entitled to the protection of the gag order because he is a witness. Only Michael Cohen would portray himself in terms of a witness simply trying to share evidence of a crime.

Cohen has raised money on being the antagonist of Donald Trump. He has cultivated his professional wrestling style as a type of trash-talking, chair-throwing thug to liberal cable programs. Judge Merchan has allowed him to use the gag order to shield him from criticism as he heaps abuse on Trump both as a candidate and a defendant. That includes, like Trump, responding to these very columns, including my own, on the case. I have previously criticized these gag orders on constitutional grounds.

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“.. ‘public servants’ in the United States dole out trillions of unregulated dollars, but can be ‘purchased’ for mere millions of dollars..”

Hillary Clinton and Marc Elias Are Afraid of 2024 Trump Win (Sp.)

Hillary Clinton has once again evoked the specter of “Russian collusion” and warned the audience of Marc Elias’ “Democracy Docket” podcast that Donald Trump’s role model is no one but Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to Clinton, the danger of a Trump victory to the US democracy is acute, given that Republicans would do whatever it takes to win the 2024 elections, starting with narrowing the electorate, purging votes, creating confusion at polling stations and even weaponizing artificial intelligence (AI). “Probably can’t even imagine what they’re going to do with artificial intelligence and other cyber-attacks on voters in terms of the messages that they will get, sometimes deliberately, to confuse them. You know, different polling places, different days to vote, different times of voting — I mean, whatever they can do to mess people up,” the former secretary of state claimed.

She went on to say that if Trump wins the presidential election in 2024 he would turn into a full-fledged “authoritarian” or “dictator”, who wants to kill his opposition, suppresses the freedom of speech, takes bribes in pay-to-play schemes, and doesn’t believe in the rule of law. Clinton’s outlandish claims expose her as nothing short of a projectionist, according to Wall Street analyst and investigative journalist Charles Ortel, who has been examining the Clinton Foundation’s alleged fraud and pay-to-play scheming for several years. “Hillary Clinton and Marc Elias are both disgraces to the legal profession and mere servants of corrupt donors who plainly understand that ‘public servants’ in the United States dole out trillions of unregulated dollars, but can be ‘purchased’ for mere millions of dollars, often routed via leaky ‘charities,’ or off-market ‘business’ deals and media gigs,” Ortel told Sputnik.

“So far, the known record indicates that Elias, acting for the 2015/16 Clinton campaign and likely working directly with Hillary, rigged the Democratic primaries to favor Hillary and deny Bernie a running shot at winning the Democratic nomination,” the analyst continued. “Then, Elias (likely under direction from Hillary and her corrupt donors) contracted the manufacture of bold lies attempting to link Trump to Russia in the ‘Steele Dossier’ and hyped their deep connections in media and academia to inflate a massive web of deception that hampered the Trump presidency, instigated impeachments of Trump, interfered in the 2020 election, the 2022 election and now in the 2024 election. “If Trump and the GOP win the White House and Congress this year, that could spell serious legal troubles for both Hillary and Marc, the analyst presumed.

Clinton’s claim about Trump’s apparent desire to “kill” his opposition could trigger inconvenient parallels with a string of unexplained deaths around Team Clinton, according to Sputnik’s interlocutor. While Hillary is peddling the idea of the GOP’s forthcoming “election disinformation,” one should recall how she tried to evade scrutiny during the “emailgate” scandal concerning classified government information which ran through her unprotected server, the analyst pointed out. The former secretary of state permanently deleted 33,000 of those emails insisting they were “personal and private”. “Hillary Clinton is an adept liar and mistress of attempting to destroy incriminating evidence,” Ortel said. “In this, she has legions of co-conspirators who have woven fanciful tales of her decades of ‘public service’ without explaining how she managed to convince a major law firm— Williams & Connolly—-to defer collecting millions in legal fees through Bill Clinton’s presidency or how the Clinton family scored millions of dollars in off-market book and speech deals.”

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What is it with Dems and Secret Service protection? Nobody questioned it before..

Democrats Want Donald Trump ‘Killed,’ Alan Dershowitz Warns (ET)

Retired Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz suggested that Democrat officials want former President Donald Trump to get killed by taking away his Secret Service protection. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) introduced legislation last week that would remove Secret Service protection for people who are convicted of felony or state crimes. The lawmaker mentioned that a “former president” could be an individual whose protection would be terminated if he’s found guilty in four cases. But Mr. Dershowitz, a former constitutional law professor and criminal defense lawyer, asserted in an interview with Newsmax over the weekend that Mr. Thompson’s legislation is “ridiculous” and “means they want him killed because he’s obviously a target.”

“We live in an age where everybody is in danger. Look, Bobby Kennedy ought to be getting Secret Service protection, but certainly Donald Trump needs to get Secret Service protection. He’s not going to jail, but if he goes to jail obviously the law requires Secret Service protection,” Mr. Dershowitz said, referring to President Trump. It comes as President Trump faces a criminal trial in which prosecutors allege that he falsified business records during the 2016 campaign to cover up negative news stories. The trial is scheduled to last around six to eight weeks in total, while opening arguments started Monday. Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the case, “is going to bluff, fine and threat, but he’s not going to throw Donald Trump in jail,” Mr. Dershowitz said. “That would be a guaranteed victory … I don’t think it’s going to happen.”

A press release issued by Mr. Thompson’s office said that with President Trump’s cases, there is now an opportunity for Congress to reform the U.S. Secret Service’s protective mission “by automatically terminating Secret Service protection for those who have been sentenced to prison following conviction for a federal or state felony—clarifying that prison authorities would be responsible for the protection of all inmates regardless of previous Secret Service protection.”

“Unfortunately, current law doesn’t anticipate how Secret Service protection would impact the felony prison sentence of a protectee—even a former president. It is regrettable that it has come to this, but this previously unthought-of scenario could become our reality,” Mr. Thompson said, referring to the former president’s 91 state and federal charges. “Therefore, it is necessary for us to be prepared and update the law so the American people can be assured that protective status does not translate into special treatment—and that those who are sentenced to prison will indeed serve the time required of them,” he added in the news release.

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“..Speaker Johnson and many congressional Republicans snubbed their own voters on Ukraine funding for two reasons: ignorance and ideology..”

Pollster: ‘Deep State’ Wanted Trump’s Imprint On Failed Ukraine Policy (Sp.)

Most Americans hold a realistic view of the unfolding Ukraine conflict and want their government to prioritize domestic economic and national security interests, according to Patrick Basham, head of Democracy Institute, a politically independent research organization based in Washington and London. Basham likewise does not rule out that Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump has been played by the US “deep state” into supporting the unpopular Ukraine aid package. Sputnik: US Congress’ decision to back Joe Biden’s $61 billion aid package for Ukraine to fight its war against Russia has been met with disapproval from US voters on both sides of the political aisle, according to your new poll. Why did Mike Johnson and some of his fellow Republicans in the House decide to snub the GOP’s base on Ukraine?

Patrick Basham: Speaker Johnson and many congressional Republicans snubbed their own voters on Ukraine funding for two reasons: ignorance and ideology. These Republican politicians, along with the majority of American congressmen and senators, are abysmally ignorant about the state of the war in Ukraine. They do not realize that Ukraine has been defeated; many of them even believe Ukraine can still win the military contest with Russia. They are also adherents to a foreign policy ideology that is at odds with the perspective held by the overwhelming majority of conservative and Republican voters in America. The politicians are neoconservatives who divide the world into black and white, good and bad nations.

They believe that American and Western military and economic power can and should remove from power foreign governments that America dislikes – and, crucially, that the removal of these governments will be met with approval from those formerly ruled by them. Although these costly interventions consistently fail, they are advertised as projects to advance democracy, freedom, and prosperity. In striking contrast, most Republican voters (and most Americans) hold a more realistic view of American power. They want Washington to prioritize American interests (especially economic and national security) abroad. As such, they are deeply reluctant to put American soldiers in harm’s way for little, if any, apparent benefit to America, and they are also acutely sensitive to the horrendous economic cost of waging a prolonged overseas war.

Sputnik: Your survey has also indicated that Donald Trump’s support for Speaker Mike Johnson failed to sway the American opposition to funding the Ukrainian conflict. Nonetheless, Sen. Lindsey Graham claimed that Trump’s support helped ram the Ukraine package through Congress. What’s your take on Trump’s role in advocating the provision of Ukraine aid in the form of a loan and backing Johnson’s Ukraine bill? Patrick Basham: Trump’s support for Johnson helped to make the Ukraine bill more palatable to some Republican congressmen. Trump provided political cover for those Republican politicians afraid of attacks from “America First” critics within their own party. I presume that Trump’s principal goal was to shore up Johnson’s overall position within the Republican caucus in the House of Representatives so that during the election campaign Republicans would not experience yet another drawn-out, politically painful exercise to choose a new speaker.

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Raising Arizona.

Trump Allies Charged In Arizona Election Interference Case (Sp.)

Trump allies Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani, and Jenna Ellis are among 18 people charged in an election interference case in the state of Arizona, court documents revealed. “Defendants’ attempts to declare Unindicted Co-conspirator 1 and Pence the winners of the 2020 Presidential Election contrary to voter intent and the law, involved numerous other charged and uncharged co-conspirators,” the filing said on Wednesday. Former President Donald Trump is listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the filing. The defendants are accused of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Arizona, the court documents stated.

In February, a US federal appeals court ruled that Trump is not immune from prosecution in his 2020 election interference case, which Trump appealed to the US Supreme Court. The US Supreme Court is scheduled to decide whether Trump is immune from being prosecuted as a former US president on Thursday. In August 2023, a Fulton County grand jury indicted Trump on 13 felony counts related to his alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges in Georgia over the 2020 presidential election. Trump faces a total of 91 charges in four criminal cases that Republicans say are an attempt by the Democratic establishment to prevent him from returning to the White House. The most serious charges carry penalties of up to 20 years in prison. If the punishment were to be determined by adding up the terms, he could be behind bars for more than 700 years.

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“..the cost now of living in America has risen by about $11,434, give or take, in comparison to when Biden took office.”

Biden Rushes Aid to Ukraine As US Cost of Living Skyrockets (Miles)

American households in 2024 are spending an extra $11,434 annually to maintain a similar standard of living to the one they enjoyed just three years ago. That’s according to a new study by Republican members of the US Senate Joint Economic Committee who examined consumer price data to arrive at an analysis of the impact of inflation from state to state. In some parts of the country the cost of living increase stood at a comparatively modest $8,500 per year, while in states like California and Colorado it approached $15,000. The Biden White House rejected the study as one-sided, pointing to attendant wage increases across the economy. Still, recent polling suggests most Americans don’t feel the increased income makes up for the rise in inflation, and economic issues remain at the forefront of voters’ concerns with November’s presidential election less than seven months away.

Geopolitical consultant and founder of Global Perspective Consulting David Oualaalou pointed to the troubling data during an appearance on Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program Wednesday, questioning the US president’s focus on foreign policy amidst a grim economic outlook for millions of Americans. “The fact that [the US] keeps sending more money to Ukraine [and] it’s already a failed state, what is it for?” asked the author and global speaker. “We have been taking money out of average Americans that are paying taxes. I hope your listeners understand — and this is a sad reality — that the cost now of living in America has risen by about $11,434, give or take, in comparison to when Biden took office.” “And why? Because we are taking money out of Americans and giving it to the corrupted government in Ukraine.” he insisted. “I saw those images of the incompetent members of Congress waving the Ukrainian flag inside Congress. Well to me it became like, why don’t you go and represent Ukraine?

Shame on our politicians. But, again, until the structure of our system has changed, nothing is going to change fundamentally.” Former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower famously warned Americans about the emergent US military-industrial complex during his farewell address in 1961. What’s less well known is that an earlier draft of the speech referred to a “military-industrial-congressional complex.” Eisenhower reconsidered the term out of fear of offending Washington lawmakers, but the designation makes clear legislators’ key role in what the former leader considered a corrupt and dangerous phenomenon. Military contractors make up one of the largest political lobbies in Washington; recently, a study found lawmakers who voted to pass a recent National Defense Authorization Act received four to five times more in donations from the defense industry than those who did not. The promise of campaign cash creates a powerful incentive for congress members to vote to fund more war.

“We have nothing to show but conflicts,” said Oualaalou. “We do not sell anything to the rest of the world except conflict and weapons. And at some point when the world is shifting, like what we are witnessing right now, most countries are going to say, ‘sorry, we are not interested in buying what you have to sell.'” Recently the African country of Chad has threatened to order US troops stationed in the country to leave. The move comes after the neighboring country of Niger made a similar request. The United States has, so far, refused to comply, having invested significant amounts of money there as a hub for military and surveillance activity in the region.

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It’s not about winning. It’s about fighting.

Biden Team Doubts US Aid Will Help Ukraine Win – Politico (RT)

US officials are not convinced that another $61 billion in American assistance for Ukraine will be enough for it to prevail in the conflict against Russia, Politico has reported. President Joe Biden signed a $95 billion foreign aid package on Wednesday, which also included funding for Israel and Taiwan. The Senate voted on the legislation earlier this week, ending a standoff between the Democrats and the Republicans that had dragged on since the autumn. “Battlefield dynamics [in the Ukraine conflict] have shifted a lot in the last few months,” Politico reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed members of the Biden administration. This happened partially because the stalemate in Congress led to Ukrainian forces running low on weapons and ammunition, the sources suggested.

“The immediate goal is to stop Ukrainian losses and help Ukraine regain momentum and turn the tide on the battlefield. After that, the goal is to help Ukraine begin to regain its territory,” one of the officials said. “Will they have what they need to win? Ultimately, yes. But it’s not a guarantee that they will. Military operations are much more complicated than that.” A senior Democratic Senate aide also told Politico that the question now is whether more US aid can lead to a Ukrainian victory, or if it would just be enough to fend off Russian forces temporarily. “There’s lots of debate about what a winning endgame for Ukraine looks like at this point,” the source said. The outlet argued that there is a difference between Kiev “winning” by getting “most or all of its territory back” and “not losing,” which means that “Ukraine can hold its lines and advance some but fail to claw back what Russia seized.”

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s stance that Kiev should fight until it takes back all of its territory, including Crimea, “commits the US to a much longer conflict with no guarantee Zelensky will achieve his goals,” Politico stressed. Commenting on the $61 billion US military aid package on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted that “all these new batches of weapons… will not change the dynamics on the front line.” Earlier this week, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that Moscow’s forces currently hold the initiative everywhere along the front line and are capturing more settlements. He estimated Kiev’s losses at half a million troops since the start of the conflict in February 2022.

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“Russia currently enjoys “military superiority, if not outright supremacy, along the entire line of contact..”

Scott Ritter: US Aid for Ukraine Won’t Hamper Russia’s Strategic Advantage (Sp.)

US President Joe Biden recently signed a long-delayed $95 billion package, including $61 billion in aid for Ukraine, into law. At least $13.8 billion of this sum will be used to deliver weaponry, such as long-range ATACMS missiles and F-16 fighter jets. This is “a lot of money” but it will not turn the tide of the conflict, former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter said in an interview with Sputnik. “The $13.8 billion in military assistance that will be provided to Ukraine will be insufficient to basically halt the ongoing Russian advance,” and “to change the outcome on the battlefield,” he stated. The sum will not help the Kiev regime “turn the tide to send Russian forces back to, according to the Zelensky formula, the 1991 borders,” Ritter stressed, recalling that it isn’t just him making this assessment.

“This is the assessment of Ukraine’s Foreign Minister [Dmytro] Kuleba, who has said that at this late stage in the game, there’s no amount of military assistance that can stop the Russian advance. He’s correct,” the Marine Corps intelligence officer underscored. Ritter also cited “talk of magic weapons” for the Zelensky regime, which he said would be of little help. According to him, Russia currently enjoys “military superiority, if not outright supremacy, along the entire line of contact, not just on the front lines, but extending well into the rear areas of the Ukrainian defense areas.” He also explained that after the US weapons are delivered to Ukraine and brought up to the front line, the weaponry “will be subjected to increasing levels of interdiction.”

“Very little of this military assistance will actually make it to the Ukrainian soldiers at the front line, and when it does, this military equipment will be destroyed relatively quickly by the Russians who will be tracking this equipment throughout its entire journey from the West to the front lines,” Ritter pointed out. The former US Marine Corps intelligence officer suggested that Russia would manage to retain its “strategic advantage” on the battlefield “until victory, regardless of the amount of money that the United States, Europe or anybody else pours into Ukraine. Ritter’s remarks come after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov underlined that the situation on the battlefield is “self-explanatory and unambiguous,” and that “all these new batches of weapons, […] will not change the dynamics at the front line.”

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The cost of sanctions.

Russia To Seize $440 Million From JPMorgan (ZH)

Seizing assets? Two can play at that game… Just days after Washington voted to authorize the REPO Act – paving the way for the Biden administration confiscate billions in Russian sovereign assets which sit in US banks – it appears Moscow has a plan of its own (let’s call it the REVERSE REPO Act) as a Russian court has ordered the seizure of $440 million from JPMorgan. The seizure order follows from Kremlin-run lender VTB launching legal action against the largest US bank to recoup money stuck under Washington’s sanctions regime. As The FT reports, the order, published in the Russian court register on Wednesday, targets funds in JPMorgan’s accounts and shares in its Russian subsidiaries, according to the ruling issued by the arbitration court in St Petersburg. The assets had been frozen by authorities in the wake of the western sanctions, and highlights some of the fallout western companies are feeling from the punitive measures against Moscow.

Specifically, The FT notes that the dispute centers on $439mn in funds that VTB held in a JPMorgan account in the US. When Washington imposed sanctions on the Kremlin-run bank, JPMorgan had to move the funds to a separate escrow account. Under the US sanctions regime, neither VTB nor JPMorgan can access the funds. In response, VTB last week filed a lawsuit against the New York-based group to get Russian authorities to freeze the equivalent amount in Russia, warning that JPMorgan was seeking to leave Russia and would refuse to pay any compensation. The following day, JPMorgan filed its own lawsuit against the Russian lender in a US court to prevent a seizure of its assets, arguing that it had no way to reclaim VTB’s stranded US funds to compensate its own potential losses from the Russian lawsuit.

Yesterday’s decision sided with VTB, ordering the seizure of funds in JPMorgan’s Russian accounts and “movable and immovable property,” including its stake of a Russian subsidiary. JPMorgan said it faced “certain and irreparable harm” from VTB’s efforts, exposed to a nearly half-billion-dollar loss, for merely abiding by U.S. sanctions. The order was the latest example of American banks getting caught between the demands of Western sanctions regimes and overseas interests. Last summer, a Russian court froze about $36mn worth of assets owned by Goldman following a lawsuit by state-owned bank Otkritie. A few months later the court ruled that the Wall Street investment bank had to pay the funds to Otkritie. The tit-for-tat continues.

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“..witnesses who said that Weinstein had assaulted them, but whose accusations weren’t part of the charges against him..”

Harvey Weinstein Conviction Overturned On Appeal (ZH)

A New York Court of Appeals has overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 conviction on felony sex crime charges, for which he was sentenced to 23 years in prison. In a 4-3 decision, the court found that the trial judge in the disgraced mogul’s case had made a critical error, allowing prosecutors to call a series of women as witnesses who said that Weinstein had assaulted them, but whose accusations weren’t part of the charges against him, the NYT reports. In 2020, Lauren Young and two other women, Dawn Dunning and Tarale Wulff, testified about their encounters with Weinstein under a state law that allows testimony about “prior bad acts” to demonstrate a pattern of behavior. But the court in its decision on Thursday said that “under our system of justice, the accused has a right to be held to account only for the crime charged.”

Citing that decision and others it identified as errors, the appeals court determined that Mr. Weinstein, who as a movie producer had been one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, had not received a fair trial. The four judges in the majority wrote that Mr. Weinstein was not tried solely on the crimes he was charged with, but instead for much of his past behavior. -NYT The decision was determined by one vote on a majority female panel of judges, who in February held a searching public debate over the fairness of the original trial. Weinstein was convicted of raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann at a DoubleTree hotel in 2013 when she was 27-years-old, and forcing oral sex on former production assistant Mimi Haleyi, then 28, at his apartment in 2006.

Now, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who’s currently prosecuting former President Donald Trump, will have to decide whether to seek a retrial of Weinstein – who remains in an upstate prison in Rome, NY at the moment. It’s unclear how the decision will affect his future. In 2022, he was convicted by a California court of raping a woman in a Beverly Hills hotel and sentenced to 16 years in prison. The jury found Weinstein guilty of rape, forcible oral copulation, and sexual penetration by foreign object involving a woman known as Jane Doe 1.

The 2022 jury acquitted Weinstein of a sexual battery charge made by a massage therapist who treated him at a hotel in 2010, and was unable to reach a decision on two allegations, including rape, involving Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California’s Democratic governor Gavin Newsom. She was known as Jane Doe 4 in the trial, and had testified to being raped by Weinstein in a hotel room in 2005. Weinstein was convicted of sexually abusing over 100 women – and was convicted of assaulting two of them in the New York case. “That is unfair to survivors,” said actress Ashley Judd, the first actress to come forward with allegations against Weinstein, the NYT’s Jodi Kantor reports. “We still live in our truth. And we know what happened.”

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“..Though he is as undeniably German as the Nord Stream pipeline, Putin (and anyone else anywhere) has a right to quote him morning, noon and night..”

Immanuel Kant Goes To War (Hayes)

First off, a hat tip to Russia Today (and to the VPN, which allows me access to it) for telling me that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has lashed out at Russian President Vladimir Putin for quoting iconic German philosopher Immanuel Kant. Because Putin cited the philosopher at an event marking the 300th anniversary of Kant’s birth, Scholz accused Putin of trying to “poach” the great thinker as well as misrepresenting his ideas.n bThe story, at first glance, is so ridiculously funny that I had to google to ensure I was not being taken in by that mercurial NATO chameleon dubbed “Russian disinformation.” Sure enough, as plenty of Western sources later verified the story, we can proceed. Die Zeit cites Scholz at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences ranting that “Putin doesn’t have the slightest right to quote Kant, yet Putin’s regime remains committed to poaching Kant and his work at almost any cost”.

Let’s just stop the reel there. Kant was born in 1724 in Koenigsberg (present-day Kaliningrad), which belonged to the Kingdom of Prussia before later becoming part of the Russian Empire. The philosopher, famous for his work on ethics, aesthetics and philosophical ontology, is rightly considered one of the pillars of German classical philosophy. Though he is as undeniably German as the Nord Stream pipeline, Putin (and anyone else anywhere) has a right to quote him morning, noon and night. Though Kant is as German as Tolstoy, who regarded himself as a philosopher and not a writer, is Russian, their brilliance belongs to the world. Scholz, in other words, is free to quote Tolstoy, once, of course, he first learns to read. As Putin delivered his talk in Kant’s famous birth place, it was, of course, entirely appropriate that Putin should quote the great philosopher and Scholz, if he was not an ignoramus, should have used that to his advantage, rather than coming across as the obvious baboon that he is.

Putin, as it happens, spent much of his working life in Germany and he speaks the language of Kant, Schiller and Goethe at least as fluently as Scholz which is, admittedly, a low bar. Not only that but Putin has been praising and quoting Kant for decades and has even gone so far as saying that the philosopher should be made an official symbol of Kaliningrad Region. Germany and Germans like Kant have had a profound and often benign effect on Russia since even before Vasili III, Grand Prince of Moscow, established Moscow’s German Quarter in the fifteenth century. Catherine the Great, who was actually born in Prussia, and the German speaking and Kant admiring Putin have carried on those links into more modern times. And, though Catherine the Great, sadly, is no longer with us, Putin is, and his remarks that Kant is “one of the greatest thinkers of both his time and ours,” is not only worthy of consideration but it is one more cultured German leaders than Scholz would have leveraged to their advantage.

Scholz, who fancies himself as something of a bar room philosopher, is having none of that. He believes Russia’s role in the Russian speaking areas of Ukraine contradicts Kant’s fundamental teachings on the interference of states in the affairs of other nations, and he defended Kiev’s decision not to engage in peace talks with Moscow, unless they are on NATO’s terms of unconditional Russian surrender. Scholz, with no sense of irony or self awareness regarding the aborted Minsk Accords, said Kant believed that forced treaties were not the way to reach ‘perpetual peace’ – a direct reference to Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch, one of Kant’s major and most influential works.

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“..past 400 ppm, “the CO2 concentration can no longer cause any increase in temperature.”

Carbon Emissions CANNOT Cause ‘Global Warming’ (Slay)

A bombshell new peer-reviewed study has provided conclusive scientific evidence proving that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in Earth’s atmosphere cannot cause “global warming.” Dr. Jan Kubicki led a group of world-renowned Polish scientists to study the impact of increases in CO2 emissions on the Earth’s global temperatures. However, not only did they find that higher levels of CO2 made no difference, but they also proved that it simply isn’t possible for increases in carbon dioxide to cause temperatures to rise. Kubicki and his team recently published three papers which all conclude that Earth’s atmosphere is already “saturated” with carbon dioxide. This saturation means that, even at greatly increased levels of CO2, the “greenhouse gas” will not cause temperatures to rise. Kubicki et al. summarize their evidence by noting that as a result of saturation, “emitted CO2 does not directly cause an increase in global temperature.”

Current levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are around 418 parts per million (ppm) but the scientists state that past 400 ppm, “the CO2 concentration can no longer cause any increase in temperature.” The saturation of CO2 in the atmosphere is the hypothesis that dares not speak its name in mainstream media, politics, and across much of climate science. The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) “Net Zero” collectivism agenda is doomed without the constant fearmongering of a so-called “climate crisis.” One of the key propaganda messages behind this “green agenda” is that humans are responsible for the ever-warming climate by burning hydrocarbons and releasing CO2 into the atmosphere. The saturation hypothesis is complex, but in simple terms, it can be described by the example of loft insulation in a house.

After a certain point, doubling the lagging will have little effect since most of the heat trying to escape through the roof has already been trapped. Carbon dioxide traps heat only within narrow bands of the infrared spectrum. Levels of the gas have been up to 20 times higher in the past without any sign of runaway “global warming.” At current levels, the Polish scientists suggest that there is “currently multiple exceedances of the saturation mass for carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere.” The latest study is published in the prestigious Elsevier’s Science Direct peer-reviewed journal. Many other scientists are attracted to the saturation hypothesis because it provides more plausible explanations to fit past changes in the climate.

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Trump pizza

 

 

Roadster

 

 

Saba

 

 

Lay Down Your Tomato Plants

 

 

Mwinzi

 

 

Donkeys
https://twitter.com/i/status/1783156462681739671

 

 

Cutting

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Apr 122024
 


Edgar Degas The laundress 1873

 

The Deep State Prepares for a Trump Victory (Jeffrey Tucker)
Russia, China Sketch the Future as the World Awaits Iran’s Move (Pepe Escobar)
Israel Expects Iran’s Direct Attack Within Next 24 to 48 Hours (Sp.)
Had UN Condemned Israel, There’d Be No Need For Retaliation – Iran (RT)
Brits Should Not Be Part Of The Genocide In Gaza (Jay)
Russia Delivers Major Blow to Ukraine, Destroys Kiev’s Biggest Power Plant (NC)
We Really Want To Destroy Europe’s Longest Bridge – Zelensky (RT)
Biden’s Remark On Ukraine Apocalyptic – Medvedev (RT)
Biden ‘Very Proud’ Of Expanding NATO To Russia’s Borders (RT)
Pentagon Warns US Could Miss Ukraine ‘Pay Off’ (RT)
Moscow Shines Spotlight On Who Comes After Zelensky (Helmer)
US Citizens Backing Russia – Zelensky (RT)
Trump Has No Intention Of Going To Ukraine – Reuters (RT)
Ukraine Peace Impossible Without Russia – Swiss FM (RT)
Irish Taxpayers Paid For The Accommodation Of Ukrainian Dogs And Cats (RT)
Sen. Kennedy Suggests Ulterior Motive Behind Border Crisis (ET)

 

 

 

 

Tucker democracy
https://twitter.com/i/status/1778183879255265519

 

 

Nebenzya
https://twitter.com/i/status/1778474208743321696

 

 

Stefanik
https://twitter.com/i/status/1778433384865321226

 

 

 

 

RFK malinformation
https://twitter.com/i/status/1778532862402408632

 

 

Rogan

 

 

 

 

 

 

Absolute must read from Jeffrey Tucker. Another way to make it impossible for Trump to effect any meaningful changes. Just like the NATO “Ukraine fund”.

“There are more than 2 million permanent bureaucrats..” And they want to make them independent of who’s president. Democracy be damned.

The Deep State Prepares for a Trump Victory (Jeffrey Tucker)

“In the first week of the Biden-Harris Administration, President Biden revoked an Executive Order issued by the previous Administration that risked altering our country’s long-standing merit-based civil service system, by creating a new excepted service schedule, known as ‘Schedule F,’ and directing agencies to move potentially large swathes of career employees into this new excepted service status. This attempt would have stripped career civil servants of their civil service protections that ensure that decisions to hire and fire are based on merit, not political considerations.” The “previous administration” means of course the Trump White House, which issued the greatest executive order in a hundred years. After four years of being subverted and thwarted by the civil service bureaucracy, the White House finally figured out the core problem. There are more than 2 million permanent bureaucrats, ensconced in 430 agencies, who imagine themselves to live outside the democratic system and the U.S. Constitution itself. They believe they are the state and the elected leaders are mere decoration.

Trump’s executive order insisted that every agency do an internal audit and ferret out any employee who has something to do with making or interpreting policy; that is, anyone whose work impacts on whether the president actually has control of the executive department. All those employees would be reclassified as Schedule F, meaning that they could be replaced if need be. That’s it. That’s the whole order. Maybe it doesn’t seem like much but it was actually brilliant. The Trump administration is the first to discover the great secret of American public life, which is that the administrative state has taken on a life of its own. After years of trying, the Trump White House finally happened upon a key lever to gain back control for the people. It’s as simple as that. The Washington, D.C. political press freaked out. It was as if a president had found the engine room and the one switch that controls the whole thing. That was never supposed to happen. This produced mayhem inside the bureaucracy, and a doubling and tripling down on the conviction that he could never win a second term, lest this order be carried out.

That’s why one of the very first actions of the Biden administration was to repeal this executive order. That action made it very clear that Biden’s loyalties were with the deep state first and foremost. He would protect their jobs and power above all else. In fact, the OPM (Office of Personnel Management) press release brags about this. At issue here is a phrase from the initial Trump order. Any employee would be reclassified who deals with “confidential, policy determining, policymaking, or policy-advocating.” Notice this word confidential. This would apply to the whole of the intelligence community, perhaps. So wait, are we saying that the president should be in charge of the CIA, FBI, NSA, NSC, and the entire security apparatus, even to the point that he could fire anyone? Maybe so! Such a situation would be intolerable to the bad guys. From their point of view, this would fundamentally upend the functioning of government in America. Let’s face it. If the OPM and the whole of the bureaucracy believed there was no threat from Donald Trump or RFK, Jr., such a rule change would not be necessary.

They believe it is necessary, which implies that the civil service thinks that the rising populist movement is a genuine threat that could succeed in taking back the country. Otherwise, they wouldn’t bother. What is the OPM? It was founded out of the Pendleton Act of 1883, which started the permanent bureaucracy in the United States. With it came the Civil Service Commission, the first name of what later was called the OPM. Until that time, and under the Constitution, the U.S. president had full control of the bureaucracy. The new president would typically replace a vast number of bureaucrats with loyalists. This was denounced as the “spoils system” but it could also be called simple democracy in which the people rule themselves through their elected representatives. The permanent class of rules grew through wars and crises over a hundred years to become the government that cares not a whit for who is technically elected or otherwise appointed as agency heads. As a matter of habit, they have come to ignore all the comings and goings of the people elected by the population. Elections are just a distraction to them.

The essential point: Donald Trump and RFK, Jr. represent a genuine threat to the gang that has subverted and nearly wrecked this country. Now we know that this threat is real, else we would not see these efforts to entrench the bad guys and protect them against all conceivable threats. As this proves again, the main struggle alive in this country and all over the world is the one between the people and the deep state consisting of a vast network of elites in government, media, the corporate world, banking and finance, private foundations, and global bureaucracies, all working for their own interests at the expense of everyone else. It’s a battle for control, and it is the underlying dynamic that shapes our lives right now. The bad guys are scared. Now we know this for sure, or they would not be trying to pre-rig the system against fundamental change. The elites believe based on long experience that they can always outwit the rest of the population. We shall see.

It’s going to be brutal before and after the election. There will be one or several October surprises. If Donald Trump wins, the onset of Winter will kick off propaganda like you have never seen. As the inauguration approaches, absolute hysteria will dawn. The COVID racket will seem like child’s play. Every day and every hour after will consist of wild attempts to stop the administration from functioning. What a time to be alive.

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“..the dogs of Forever Wars bark while the Eurasian integration caravan marches on..”

Russia, China Sketch the Future as the World Awaits Iran’s Move (Pepe Escobar)

The whole planet awaits with bated breath the avowedly inevitable Iranian response to the attack against its consulate/ambassador residence in Damascus by the biblical psychopaths responsible for the Gaza genocide. Enveloped in an aura of secrecy, each passing day betrays the immensity of the challenge: the possibly asymmetrical response must be, simultaneously, symbolic, substantive, cogent, convincing, reasonable and rational. That is driving Tel Aviv totally hysterical and the deciding instances of the Hegemon extremely itchy. Everyone with a functioning brain knows this wet dream of a stunt from the point of view of hardcore Zionists and US Christian zio-cons was a serious provocation, designed to draw the US to the long-cherished Israeli plan of striking a decisive blow against both Hezbollah and Tehran.

The IDF’s Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi all but gave away the game, when he said this past Sunday that “we are operating in cooperation with the USA and strategic partners in the region.” Translation: never trust the Hegemon even as the notion is floated – via Swiss mediators – that Washington won’t interfere with Tehran’s response to Tel Aviv. One just needs to remember Washington’s “assurances” to Saddam Hussein before the first Gulf War. It’s impossible to take Hegemon back-channel assurances at face value. The White House and the Pentagon occasionally dispense these “assurances” to Moscow every time Kiev strikes deep inside the Russian Federation using US-UK satellite intel, logistics, weaponry and with NATO in de-facto operational control. The state terror attack on Damascus, which shredded the Vienna convention on diplomatic immunity, crucially was also an attack on both the expanded BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

Iran is a member of both multilateral bodies, and on top of it is engaged in strategic partnerships with both Russia and China. So it’s no wonder the leadership in both Beijing in Moscow is carefully considering all possible repercussions of the next Iranian move. Tel Aviv’s purposeful escalation – when it comes to expanding war in West Asia – happens to mirror another escalation: NATO’s no way out in Ukraine except by doubling down, with no end in sight. That started with the invariably out of his depth Secretary of State Little Tony Blinken affirming, on the record, that Ukraine will join NATO. Which any functioning brain knows is translatable as the road map towards a Russia-NATO hot war with unbelievably dire consequences. Little Blinkie’s criminal irresponsibility was duly picked up and reverberated by the Franco-British duo, as expressed by British FM David “of Arabia” Cameron and French FM Stephane Sejourne: “If Ukraine loses, we all lose”. At least they got that right – although that took ages, when it comes to framing NATO’s approaching cosmic humiliation.

Now let’s switch from clownish bit players to the adults in the room. As in Russian FM Sergei Lavrov and Chinese FM Wang Yi discussing literally every incandescent dossier together earlier this week in Beijing. Lavrov and Wang could not be clearer on what’s ahead for the Russia-China strategic partnership. They will engage together on all matters regarding Eurasian security. They will go, in Lavrov’s words, for “dual opposition” to counterpunch the West’s “dual deterrence”. They will be countering every attempt by the usual suspects to “slow down the natural course of history”. Add to it the confirmation that President Putin and President Xi will hold at least two bilaterals in 2024: at the SCO summit in June and at the BRICS summit in October. In a nutshell: the dogs of Forever Wars bark while the Eurasian integration caravan marches on.

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Iran will go asymmetrical.

Israel Expects Iran’s Direct Attack Within Next 24 to 48 Hours (Sp.)

Israel is expecting a direct attack from Iran on southern or northern Israel within the next 24 to 48 hours, The Wall Street Journal has reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. The report said on Thursday, citing a person briefed by the Iranian leadership, that no final decision has been made yet, although plans for an attack are being discussed. The report also cited a US official familiar with the situation as saying on Thursday that intelligence reports of the United States indicate an Iranian strike within days, “possibly on Israeli soil.” The Iranian Foreign Ministry said it “reserves the right” to respond to the Israeli attack and “punish the aggressor.” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi also vowed that Israel would pay a “heavy price” for the strike.

US media reported earlier, citing Iranian and US intelligence sources, that Iran plans to strike dozens of sensitive targets in Israel, including energy infrastructure and various other facilities, using ballistic missiles and drones carrying explosives. A potential direct attack from Iran on the territory of Israel would require an appropriate response, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, according to a statement by the Israeli Defense Ministry. “The defense minister [of Israel] expressed his commitment to the security of Israeli citizens, as a direct Iranian attack on Israeli territory would require an appropriate Israeli response against Iran,” the ministry said on Thursday.

In a conversation, Gallant and Austin discussed preparedness for a possible Iranian attack, and Gallant told his American counterpart that Israel “will not tolerate an Iranian attack on its territory.” On April 1, Israel carried out an airstrike on the consular annex of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, destroying the building. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said seven of its members had been killed in the attack, including two commanders. The Syrian Health Ministry said the next day that the attack had also killed four Syrians and injured 13 more.

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Tehran offers a gift. An olive branch. It will be ignored.

Had UN Condemned Israel, There’d Be No Need For Retaliation – Iran (RT)

Iran feels obligated to punish Israel for attacking its diplomatic mission in Syria because the UN Security Council has failed in its duty, Tehran’s mission to the global organization said on Thursday.The April 1 airstrike killed seven Iranian officers, including two generals of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force. Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for the attack.“Had the UN Security Council condemned the Zionist regime’s reprehensible act of aggression on our diplomatic premises in Damascus and subsequently brought to justice its perpetrators, the imperative for Iran to punish this rogue regime might have been obviated,” the mission posted on X (formerly Twitter). Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said that Israel “must and shall be punished” for what it did. Israeli and US intelligence have fueled speculation that possible reprisals could entail anything from drone attacks to ballistic missile strikes.

Israel has been bracing for some kind of response for over a week, with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) canceling all leave and starting to spoof GPS signals. Reports on Wednesday, sources linked to anonymous US intelligence officials spoke of an imminent Iranian strike within 24-48 hours, following the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the feast of Eid-al-Fitr. Brent oil futures have risen above $90 per barrel in anticipation. British-based media have reported that Israel has been preparing to attack Iranian nuclear program facilities in the event of a missile strike. The US government has declared it would back West Jerusalem against Tehran, but anonymous claims that American jets would join Israeli strikes have not been officially confirmed.

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“Israel has gone over a line on “defending itself” and Britain has been dragged into that quagmire which has made us look like the amateurs we are on the international diplomatic circuit..”

Brits Should Not Be Part Of The Genocide In Gaza (Jay)

How likely is it that the Israeli air force jet which killed three British aid workers in Gaza took off from our base in Cyprus? How much longer can our own government deny that there is a genocide happening each day in Gaza with not only the tacit blessing of the government but in some cases it actually goes the distance and provides the full package of support to murder women and children? The murky dividing line between the British so-called neutral position on Gaza and the reality of what even our own MPs recently admitted was a genocide which broke a tome of internal laws – seems to be getting more opaque by the day. The Conservative party is very confused about where it is on the Gaza war and while David Cameron recently admitted that he was “worried” about international law being broken, it is the prime minister who is now in the firing line demanding enquiries about the death of the three nationals killed.

Three of the seven who were killed were British nationals named James Henderson, John Chapman and James Kirby. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak demanded a concrete investigation into the deaths from the Netanyahu government. But he won’t get concrete investigations from the Netanyahu government as this body has shown the world in recent months that there is no level of depravity which it is not prepared to stoop to as it still continues to shock us each day with video clips on social media breaking new boundaries of poor taste.= Yet IDF soldiers playing with women’s underwear is one thing; it is quite another thing for us to imagine that Britain could be pulled into a massive international law black hole which could go on for years via the ICJ in the Hague.

Surely the deaths of these three should be the right moment to have a re-think on a government level if we can’t have one as a society. Israel has gone over a line on “defending itself” and Britain has been dragged into that quagmire which has made us look like the amateurs we are on the international diplomatic circuit. But where to draw that line?

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“If Russia had tried prostrating Ukraine via widespread power outages much earlier (even assuming it wasn’t unduly costly against a Ukraine with intact air defenses) it would have been the dog that caught the car..”

Russia Delivers Major Blow to Ukraine, Destroys Kiev’s Biggest Power Plant (NC)

Ukraine’s government is facing a juncture described in Marguerite Yourcenar’s The Memoirs of Hadrian: “I begin to discern the profile of my death.” Russia is demonstrating that it can turn the lights out all over Ukraine. That time has now passed. Russia has destroyed the largest generating plant in the Kiev oblast, Tripilska Power Plant. As we’ll explain below, this further reduction of Ukraine’s generating capacity has knock-on effects, most importantly forcing further big cuts via soon necessitating the shutdown of nuclear reactors. The Ukraine power system is approaching a tipping point if it has not already reached it.

Commentators early in the war, particularly the hyper-nationalist sorts in Russia, were perplexed that Russia didn’t engage in the typical practice of a belligerent, of knocking out power and communications networks at the outset. The most common one provided was that Putin in particular really did regard the Special Military Operation as not exactly a war and hoped to bring Ukraine to the negotiating table, which indeed happened. So not stoking further Ukraine hostilities by harming civilians, or even unduly discomfiting them, was part of the initial “Let’s bring Kiev to its senses” plan. In addition, many Russians have relatives in Ukraine, so avoiding civilian casualties and even costs were important for domestic reasons.

Again, the more martial-minded weren’t happy with the Ministry of Defense, in fall-winter 2022, toying with Ukraine’s grid by selectively targeting transmission, inflicting damage that that Ukraine could repair in at worst a few days. John Helmer, who has given far and away the best analysis of the electrical war, depicted Russia as figuring out how the system worked so as to more efficiently drop the hammer when the time came. Others soon added that a major point of this campaign was to speed up the process of draining Ukraine of air defense missiles. Note that Russia intensified its grid strikes and began targeting generation capacity very close to when the Pentagon had said Ukraine would run out of air defense missiles, at the end of March. And on top of that, Russia has been taking out the weapons platforms too. One YouTuber (was it Brian Berletic?) recently said Ukraine might now has as few as three Patriot launch systems.

But there’s another reason for waiting until Ukraine’s military was on the rope and its air defenses were badly depleted. If Russia had tried prostrating Ukraine via widespread power outages much earlier (even assuming it wasn’t unduly costly against a Ukraine with intact air defenses) it would have been the dog that caught the car. Russia had dithered about developing a Plan B until the embarrassing Kharkiv and Kherson pull-backs forced Russia to act. Amazingly. Russia was able to start and implement its partial mobilization, with 6 to 7 months of training for new enlistees, with the West doing nothing to force Russia’s timetable. They were so high on the Russian retreats and their own PR that Russia any day now, yessiree, was going to run out of missiles that they gave Russia extremely valuable time to build up its capabilities and its weapons supplies. Weirdly, they even saw Russia demonstrate its capabilities by constructing the Surovikin Line, yet still refused to get the memo.

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“Kiev has repeatedly asked Germany for long-range Taurus missiles, specifically to strike the bridge. Chancellor Olaf Scholz has firmly rejected Kiev’s request..”

We Really Want To Destroy Europe’s Longest Bridge – Zelensky (RT)

Ukraine’s goal of bringing down Russia’s Crimean Bridge is part of plans for a new counteroffensive, President Vladimir Zelensky said in an interview with international media this week. Since the outbreak of the Ukrainian conflict in 2022, several officials and commanders in Ukraine, including Zelensky, have been threatening to destroy the 19-kilometer bridge connecting the Russian peninsula of Crimea to the Krasnodar Region – claiming the structure was vital for the Russian military. “We really want to destroy Russian infrastructure. This is not just about the bridge in Kerch, which everyone is talking about. We are talking about some infrastructure facilities that constitute a military target. We are talking about bridges and airfields,” Zelensky said on Tuesday, speaking to outlets owned by the German media giant Axel Springer. Ukraine’s leader made the same claim last year during Kiev’s failed attempt to wrest back land lost to Moscow in 2022.

The Crimean Bridge is a legitimate target for Ukraine and must be “neutralized,” he said in a video address to the Aspen Security Forum in July. Earlier, some Western media outlets wrote that new attacks on the bridge are inevitable. In February the commander of the Ukrainian Navy, Vice Admiral Aleksey Neizhpapa, claimed it will be destroyed in 2024. Kiev has repeatedly asked Germany for long-range Taurus missiles, specifically to strike the bridge. Chancellor Olaf Scholz has firmly rejected Kiev’s request, arguing that Russia could view this as Berlin’s involvement in the war. However, Scholz looks increasingly isolated in this view – in March, a leaked audio revealed that top German officials were discussing plans to send Ukraine long-range missiles that could take out the bridge. The Crimean Bridge was built between 2016 and 2018 and was the only road and rail link between the peninsula and mainland Russia.

However, Moscow opened a vast land bridge to Crimea after Kherson and Zaporozhye regions and the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk voted to officially join Russia in the fall of 2022. The structure had been targeted with missiles and naval drones on numerous occasions, but most of those attacks have been successfully blocked. In October 2022, an explosives-laden truck blew up as it was traveling along the bridge, killing three people and causing extensive damage. In July last year, a drone boat exploded under the structure, killing two people. Back then, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin labeled the attack “brutal” and pointless from a military perspective. He claimed the bridge is no longer being used to transport ammunition.

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“..Biden’s words amount to saying: “Keep killing each other. The more people die, the better. I want more deaths.”

Biden’s Remark On Ukraine Apocalyptic – Medvedev (RT)

US President Joe Biden is endorsing continued human suffering by demanding more military assistance for Ukraine, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has argued. Biden reiterated his call to the US Congress on Wednesday to release an additional $60 billion in aid for Ukraine. After doing so, he was asked by the press how he thought the conflict would come to an end. “The war in Ukraine comes to an end by the House Leader allowing a vote,” Biden responded, referring to Speaker Mike Johnson, who for weeks has been standing in the way of the foreign security assistance bill that includes more money for Kiev. According to Medvedev, Biden’s words amount to saying: “Keep killing each other. The more people die, the better. I want more deaths.”

The policy makes the US leader not unlike Death, one of the horsemen of the Apocalypse described in the Book of Revelations, the Russian official, who currently serves as deputy head of the national security council, claimed on social media on Thursday. Biden has pledged to support Kiev with arms and money for “as long as it takes” to defeat Russia. Moscow says the US is fueling the hostilities because it wants to cause more damage to Russia and would continue the fight “to the last Ukrainian.” Biden did not explain why he expects the pending aid package to be more impactful than the previous ones. On the same day, US Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Celeste Wallander told the House that Ukraine funding must continue, because otherwise the billions of dollars spent by Washington on the conflict in the previous years would have been wasted.

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“Trump runs that party. He maintains a sort of a death grip on it. Everybody’s afraid to take him on..”

Biden ‘Very Proud’ Of Expanding NATO To Russia’s Borders (RT)

US President Joe Biden has hailed NATO’s further expansion toward Russia’s borders, while accusing Republican rival Donald Trump of undermining the unity of the American-led military bloc. Russia has for years voiced concern about NATO’s creeping encroachment, viewing its policies as an existential threat. However, in an interview with Spanish-language broadcaster Univision that aired on Tuesday, Biden touted the recent addition of Finland and Sweden to the bloc’s ranks amid the Ukraine conflict as a great achievement. “We’ve done something that I was very proud of. I’ve engaged with NATO for my whole career. We were able to expand NATO, and we have 2,000 miles of border because you have two Nordic nations having joined NATO. You have a whole range of NATO countries along the Russian border,” the US president said.

Biden went on to argue that a stalemate in Congress over his $61 billion military aid package for Kiev is “very dangerous” for the bloc’s unity, accusing his former US leader Trump of virtually holding the measure – and the entire Republican party – hostage. “Trump runs that party. He maintains a sort of a death grip on it. Everybody’s afraid to take him on whether they agree with him or not, and it’s incredibly dangerous. The last thing we need is to see NATO start to break apart. It would be a disaster for the United States, a disaster for Europe, a disaster for the world,” Biden said.

The US has provided Ukraine with over $113 billion in various forms of assistance since the start of hostilities with Russia. Moscow has repeatedly condemned foreign arms shipments to Kiev, arguing they will only prolong the conflict, while making the West a direct participant in the hostilities. Finland shares a 1,300km border with Russia, and Moscow has argued that NATO membership has threatened, not guaranteed, Finnish security. After Helsinki joined the alliance last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the creation of a new military district bordering the Nordic nation. Sweden joined the bloc last month.

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“..Washington must double down on funding Kiev’s war effort against Moscow, to ensure that billions of dollars in previous “investments” do not go to waste..”

Pentagon Warns US Could Miss Ukraine ‘Pay Off’ (RT)

Washington must double down on funding Kiev’s war effort against Moscow, to ensure that billions of dollars in previous “investments” do not go to waste, the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, Celeste Wallander, has claimed. The US has provided Ukraine with over $113 billion in various forms of assistance since the start of hostilities in February 2022, including more than $62 billion in military aid funneled through the Pentagon. However, more funds are urgently needed to protect this investment, Wallander told the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday. “What we need right now to prevent Russian success and Ukrainian defeat is passage of the supplemental,” she said, urging Congress to approve President Joe Biden’s aid package which would earmark another $60 billion for Kiev.

None of that work that we’ve done for two years in investing in Ukraine’s future will pay off, unless we get them through the next few months. President Biden has been urging lawmakers for months to approve his new aid package, but many Republicans have opposed the measure, demanding more efforts to strengthen US border security, while seeking more accountability for the aid already transferred to Kiev – demanding concrete answers on what the United States’ end goal in Ukraine is. Ukraine has also received at least $190 billion in military and financial aid from EU institutions and individual members, as well as other donor states, according to Kiel Institute data.

Washington is working with the EU and other NATO partners to get to a longer-term solution “that is well underway,” Wallander claimed. However, Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) General Christopher Cavoli argued at the hearing that new US aid is “critical at this moment,” until Ukraine’s other sponsors boost their production of crucial items including artillery shells. Without a new cash injection from Washington, Kiev will “lose the war,” Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky admitted this week. Meanwhile US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin pitched the aid as a way to provide jobs for American workers in the military industry, arguing that more than $50 billion in the “national security supplemental” funding would end up spread across at least 30 American states.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned last month that the Ukrainian military was running out of guns and ammunition, rather than cash, calling on bloc members to mobilize their reserves and provide Ukraine with everything that it needs to continue the fight. The Kremlin has repeatedly warned that the ever-growing involvement of Western countries in the Ukraine conflict could result in an all-out confrontation between NATO and Russia. Moscow also insists that weapons deliveries will not change the outcome of the conflict but merely prolong them. At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed claims that Russia won’t stop after reaching its goals in Ukraine and could attack NATO next as “utter nonsense” designed to “beat the money out” of the populations of Western countries.

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“..reducing the presidency to a shadow; centralizing all military and civil command in Yermak’s office, but letting Zelensky stay alive..”

Moscow Shines Spotlight On Who Comes After Zelensky (Helmer)

Advertisements for replacements of Vladimir Zelensky aren’t unusual, even if he has disposed of almost all of them already. That leaves just one, Andrei Yermak, head of the Presidential Office — prompter, grey eminence, comfort blanket of Zelensky in almost every significant move he has made since 2019– and now candidate to become prime minister in a revolutionary transfer of power in the Kiev regime, reducing the presidency to a shadow; centralizing all military and civil command in Yermak’s office, but letting Zelensky stay alive. Advertising Andrei Yermak to be prime minister is unusual in Vzglyad, the semi-official platform in Moscow for political and security analysis. This is especially so at this point in time when President Vladimir Putin has identified the Kiev regime as responsible for the Crocus City Hall attack, and the General Staff are escalating the Russian offensive on the ground along the line of contact east of the Dnieper River, and in the air deep into the west as far as Lvov.

What war aim would be served by Vzglyad’s signal that Yermak may be an acceptable counterparty to the Kremlin for negotiations to end the war short of regime capitulation – unless the signal is a false flag, intended to encourage Zelensky to save himself by eliminating Yermak, as he did General Valery Zaluzhny, and thereby leave nothing and no one in Kiev to put a brake on the Russian resolve to create a demilitarized zone all the way to the Polish border. What follows is a verbatim translation of the publication on April 9 of a piece in Vzglyad by Vasily Stoyakin, entitled “The all-powerful ‘Green Cardinal’ is operating behind Zelensky’s back”. There is no precedent in the mainstream Russian media, nor in military blogs and the internet media, for promotion of any end for the Zelensky regime, except its end. A profile of Yermak which is neutral to positive towards the role he has played so far and may play in the future is so exceptional that the fact it appears now is more significant than what the story, compiled from earlier publications, actually says.

Oleg Tsarev, a leading Ukrainian opposition figure in exile in Russia and potential candidate for the Ukrainian president after the Russian victory, has ignored Yermak in his regular Telegram commentaries; Zelensky and Yermak targeted Tsarev for assassination in Crimea last October, but failed. Dmitry Rogozin, a possible presidential candidate for the Russian presidency, has mentioned Yermak once in his Telegram channel, declaring: “the Bandera leadership of Ukraine has embarked on the path of ‘the final solution of the Russian question.’ Well, [they are] creative people. [They are] comedians [Zelensky], [television] producers [Yermak]. Hitler was also an artist. Mediocre. But in other respects he surpassed everyone. This, apparently, is enviable. They want to repeat it. We’ll have to do it again.” Rogozin is currently senator for the Zaporozhye region. He was targeted for Ukrainian assassination in Donetsk in December 2022; he survived.

There are two reasons why Yermak might be considered by the Kremlin to be the substitute for Zelensky with whom a negotiated settlement can be reached. One is that it has reportedly happened before. In September 2020, when Yermak and Zelensky were meeting in Muscat, Oman, with the Omani foreign minister and other officials, the Russian Security Council Secretary, Nikolai Patrushev, flew to Muscat and reportedly met them for several hours. What happened between them remains secret. Less secret is that the aircraft on which the two Ukrainians returned to Kiev was identified to be the same aircraft which had brought Patrushev to Oman. The secrecy was exposed by the US government’s propaganda organ, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and then amplified by the Ukrainian press. Yermak claimed the report “does not correspond to reality” attacking the US-financed Ukrainian source for “a blatant manipulation of public opinion [as] part of the aggressor’s information operations against Ukraine.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed the reported meeting was “a classic example of fake news”.

The second reason for possible Russian favour for Yermak is a long history of his family’s connections to Russia. His mother is a Leningrader; his father, a Jewish Kievan, served in a Soviet government agency in Afghanistan; since then he and Yermak himself have had personal and business connections with Russians engaged with the intelligence services.

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Turning against the people who paid him $110 billion. Time to cancel him.

US Citizens Backing Russia – Zelensky (RT)

Russian influence has penetrated the US political system and warped the information field around the world, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky claimed in an interview with Politico on Tuesday. Zelensky was asked to comment on recent statements made by two Republican lawmakers: Mike Turner of Ohio and Mike McCaul of Texas. They claimed that “pro-Russian” propaganda has filtered into the minds of some of the members of Congress, which has failed to greenlight the $60 billion aid package for Kiev. The Ukrainian leader stated that Russia has succeeded in distorting “the information field of the world.” “They have their lobbies everywhere: in the United States, in the EU countries, in Britain, in Latin America, in Africa,” he said. “When we talk about the Congress — do you notice how they work with society in the United States?” he noted, adding that the scale of Russian influence in the US has been underestimated.

He claimed that US citizens were helping Russia by spreading its ideas in the American media. “They pump their narratives through the media,” Zelensky said. “These are not Russian citizens or natives of Russia, no. They are representatives of certain media groups, citizens of the United States.” According to Zelensky, these people work in the US media and deliver the appropriate messages, which are sometimes “very pro-Russian.” He hasn’t mentioned any names though. Following the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine in 2022, Western governments launched a large censorship campaign against Russian media they deem to be ‘state-controlled’. Multiple Russian TV stations and media outlets, including RT, have been either blocked or prevented from operating in the US and some other Western countries.

RT, having been the first international news channel to reach one billion views on YouTube, was banned from the platform and those owned by the US-based tech giant Meta, including Facebook and Instagram, in the spring of 2022. According to the Foreign Ministry in Moscow, Russian journalists working in the US have been facing difficulties, including over visa renewals; they’ve had their bank accounts blocked and in some cases been hounded by US intelligence agencies. Last year, James Rubin, the special envoy and coordinator of the US State Department’s Center for Global Engagement admitted that Washington wanted to shut down Russian media around the world. Commenting on his remarks, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said that by taking such steps, Washington, which positions itself as a stronghold of human rights, demonstrated a deep disregard for media freedom.

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Of course not. To do what?

Trump Has No Intention Of Going To Ukraine – Reuters (RT)

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump does not think it would be a good idea for him to travel to Ukraine while he does not hold public office, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing his campaign. On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky told outlets of the German-based Axel Springer media group that he had privately invited Trump through intermediaries to visit his country. The former US leader, who is likely headed for a rematch with incumbent Joe Biden in November’s election, has previously claimed that he would resolve the Ukraine conflict within “24 hours” if he were president. While Trump offered few clues as to how he might accomplish this task, the Washington Post reported that it would involve Kiev recognizing Russian sovereignty over some of the territories currently claimed by Ukraine. The ex-president’s aides, however, have dismissed the report as “speculation” by uninformed sources.

Zelensky has been skeptical about Trump’s ideas for making peace with Moscow, saying that “if the deal is that we just give up our territories… then it’s a very primitive idea.” In a statement to Reuters, Trump’s team insisted that there had been no formal outreach from Zelensky to the 45th president. “President Trump has said publicly it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to go to Ukraine right now since he’s not commander in chief,” the statement added. Trump has repeatedly criticized the Biden administration’s approach to the Ukraine conflict, saying Washington is sending too many weapons to Kiev. He has also floated a proposal to provide Ukraine with loans instead of non-repayable aid. While Ukrainian officials said they were ready to explore the idea, Politico reported that Kiev was “offended” by this plan. Meanwhile, commenting on Trump’s remarks about peace in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow has had no contacts with Trump on the issue, adding that the ex-president’s plan had too few details publicly available.

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“..the first conference may focus on “exactly how to invite Russia and what role to give it..”

Ukraine Peace Impossible Without Russia – Swiss FM (RT)

Any diplomatic efforts to resolve the Ukraine conflict will be fruitless unless Russia is involved in the process, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis has said. Switzerland is planning to host a high-level Ukraine peace conference June 2024 at the Burgenstock resort near Lake Lucerne, seeking “to create a common understanding of a framework favorable” for ending the conflict and establishing a “concrete roadmap” for peace. Earlier media reports suggested that up to 100 nations could be present at the event. Russia, however, has signaled that it will not attend, even if officially invited. It has argued that the gathering will be promoting the ‘peace formula’ of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, which demands that Moscow withdraw from all territories that Kiev claims as its own, and the creation of a tribunal to prosecute Russia for alleged war crimes.

Moscow has dismissed the initiative as “detached from reality.” Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Cassis noted that the conference would be organized at Zelensky’s request, adding that there are sufficient conditions to launch a high-profile push for peace. “The first country we talked to after Ukraine was, of course, Russia. Because no peace process can take place without Russia, even if it won’t be present at the first meeting,” he said. The diplomat acknowledged that Moscow would have to be involved “sooner or later, but not necessarily from day one,” suggesting that the first conference may focus on “exactly how to invite Russia and what role to give it”.

Echoing those remarks, Swiss President Viola Amherd warned that the success of the summit was by no means guaranteed. “The alternative would be to do nothing… We will not sign a peace plan at this conference. We think there will be a second conference, but we want to start the process with this one.” While Moscow intends to boycott the Swiss-hosted peace conference, it maintains that it is open to talks over Ukraine, both directly and with Kiev’s Western backers. However, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last month that before any negotiations could begin Kiev must lift its ban on engagement with the current Russian leadership. A decree to that effect was signed by Zelensky in the autumn of 2022 after four former Ukrainian regions overwhelmingly voted to join Russia.

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“..1,806 pets were staying in hotels and other properties at the state’s expense..” “..accommodation for the animals was costing taxpayers just over €1 million ($1.07) per month..”

Irish Taxpayers Paid For The Accommodation Of Ukrainian Dogs And Cats (RT)

Irish taxpayers footed the bill for accommodating nearly 2,000 pets owned by Ukrainian refugees, including some they acquired after arriving in the country, according to local media. The money was allocated by the Department of Integration mostly in 2022, with peak spending recorded in November that year, the Irish Mirror reported on Wednesday, based on its own investigation. At that time, 1,806 pets were staying in hotels and other properties at the state’s expense, including 933 dogs, 819 cats, and 54 other animals.It cost Ireland up to €20 ($21.50) per night for each of the animals owned by Ukrainian Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection (BOTPs), records reviewed by the news outlet revealed. The exact sum spent specifically on non-human guests could not be established because the department “did not categorize between BOTPs and pets,” a spokesperson told the newspaper.

The Irish Mirror estimated that accommodation for the animals was costing taxpayers just over €1 million ($1.07) per month.The expenditure was “incredible” and “ridiculous,” independent lawmaker Michael McNamara told the newspaper, accusing the government of wastefulness. Referring to department officials, he asked: “What planet do these people live on?” “I presume the people arriving here with pets were prepared to pay for them in the same way as everyone else does or as they would have in Ukraine,” the politician added. “But if you find a department stupid enough to pay, then, of course, I wouldn’t blame people for allowing the department to pay for it.” The department said it stopped providing accommodation for Ukrainian pets from November 9, 2022. The latest report is a follow-up on a story that the Irish Mirror published in February, revealing that the Irish Department of Agriculture had spent €808,132 (about $869,000) on transport, kennelling and veterinary services for Ukrainian pets.

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Silent part out loud.

Sen. Kennedy Suggests Ulterior Motive Behind Border Crisis (ET)

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) suggested on April 10 that the Biden administration is facilitating illegal immigration to help Democrats politically. The senator’s remarks came amid his questioning of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on April 10. Mr. Kennedy, noting the “bleeding” southern border, suggested that the secretary’s border policies had an ulterior political motive. “Isn’t in fact, Mr. Secretary, that the number of illegal immigrants that you and the president allow into our country counts for congressional district reapportionment?” he asked. “Senator, I’m not sure I understand your question, but I can surely share with you that I disagree with its phrasing,” Mr. Mayorkas replied. The senator continued: “Isn’t it true, Mr. Secretary, that the number of illegal immigrants that you and President Biden have allowed into our country counts for allocating electoral votes?”

Mayorkas

Mr. Mayorkas repeated that he didn’t understand the question. He then called the senator’s insinuation “nothing short of preposterous” and “disrespectful” to administration and Department of Homeland Security personnel. Mr. Kennedy, however, charged that the secretary was well aware of the political ramifications of the border crisis, unintended or otherwise. “And you’ve done nothing for four years—zero, absolutely zilch. And, in fact, the only people I know in this country who are better off today than they were four years ago are illegal immigrants. And that’s a result of your policy.” Mr. Mayorkas became only the second presidential cabinet member ever to be impeached in U.S. history on Feb. 13. The charges against him included “willfully and systematically” refusing to enforce existing immigration laws and breach of public trust. The 214–213 vote split along party lines, with all but three Republicans voting in favor and all Democrats voting against.

Initially, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) planned to send the impeachment articles to the Senate on the day of the hearing. But on April 9, he announced that he would delay the move until next week as Republicans fight for a full trial. The Democrat-controlled Senate is expected to table the trial, though Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the chamber’s majority leader, has yet to announce his plans. A conviction would require a two-thirds majority vote. Democrats have said the charges against Mr. Mayorkas fail to meet the constitutional threshold of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” But Senate Republicans say Democrats fear the political consequences of a trial. “This issue is so toxic to Senate Democrats, to House Democrats, and to Joe Biden that they do not want this to be the issue of the day,” Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) said at an April 9 press conference.

Mr. Kennedy, during the hearing, said that he also expects his Democrat colleagues to dismiss the impeachment “and violate 200 years of Senate precedent in doing it.” He added, however, that the border crisis was likely to remain at the forefront regardless. “I don’t think that they will be able to sweep the issue—maybe your impeachment, but not the issue—under a rug as big as the United States of America,” he told the secretary.

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https://twitter.com/i/status/1778286157706481775
Greenwald Musk

 

 

Vivek Galileo

 

 

12 elks
https://twitter.com/i/status/1778372453116371188

 

 

Dog saves dog
https://twitter.com/i/status/1778597906108526855

 

 

Peroxide
https://twitter.com/i/status/1778189162870677856

 

 

Hippo lion
https://twitter.com/i/status/1778347366782730476

 

 

Badger

 

 

Rhino
https://twitter.com/i/status/1778148572006916488

 

 

Keef

 

 

 

 

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Apr 112024
 
 April 11, 2024  Posted by at 8:40 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  42 Responses »


Pieter Bruegel the Elder The Triumph of Death c1562

 

Biden Considering Australian Request To Drop Assange Charges (BBC)
Iran Strike On Israel ‘Imminent’ (RT)
Jews Who Vote Democrat ‘Should Have Their Head Examined’ – Trump (RT)
Star Wars Coming – Top US General (RT)
Zelensky Reveals New Counteroffensive Plans (RT)
Trump Plan For Ukraine ‘Primitive’ – Zelensky (RT)
US Drones Faring Poorly In Ukraine Conflict – WSJ (RT)
Bodies of American Mercs Slain in Ukraine Piling Up at US Cemeteries (Sp.)
Senator Pressures Austin on How Much More Money US Will Spend in Ukraine (Sp.)
Attack on ZNPP Training Center Signals New Attacks On Plant — IAEA chief (TASS)
EU’s Borrell Warns Of ‘Potential Nuclear Disaster’ In Russia (RT)
Pentagon’s Ukraine Contract for Musk’s Starlink Expires – Bloomberg (RT)
DOJ Uncovers ‘Inconsistencies’ in Fani Willis’s Use of Federal Grant Funds (FB)
I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust. (Berliner)
How Trump Could Beat Deep State (Jim Rickards)

 

 

 

 

MTG Bannon Mike Johnson
https://twitter.com/i/status/1777841725169336685

 

 

RFK

 

 

 

 

Donalds

 

 

Adrenochrome Caviezel

 

 

Alex Jones
https://twitter.com/i/status/1777830274480357507

 

 

PedoJoe

 

 

 

 

Biden doesn’t want the hot potato anymore..

Biden Considering Australian Request To Drop Assange Charges (BBC)

US President Joe Biden has said that he is considering a request from Australia to drop the prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The country’s parliament recently passed a measure – backed by PM Anthony Albanese – calling for the return of Mr Assange to his native Australia. The US wants to extradite the 52-year-old from the UK on criminal charges over the leaking of military records. Mr Assange denies the charges, saying the leaks were an act of journalism. The president was asked about Australia’s request on Wednesday and said: “We’re considering it.” The measure passed the Australian parliament in February. Mr Albanese told MPs: “People will have a range of views about Mr Assange’s conduct… But regardless of where people stand, this thing cannot just go on and on and on indefinitely.”

Mr Assange, 52, is fighting extradition in the UK courts. The extradition was put on hold in March after London’s High Court said the United States must provide assurances he would not face the death penalty. The High Court is due to evaluate any responses from the US authorities at the end of May. In a post on Twitter/X, directed at Mr Biden, Mr Assange’s wife Stella said: “Do the right thing. Drop the charges.” Kristinn Hrafnsson, the current editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, said that it was “not too late” for the president to stop the extradition attempt, which he said was a “politically motivated act” by Mr Biden’s predecessor. US prosecutors want to try the Wikileaks founder on 18 counts, almost all under the Espionage Act, over the release of confidential US military records and diplomatic messages relating to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

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How Bibi draws the west into the war…

Iran Strike On Israel ‘Imminent’ (RT)

The promised Iranian retaliation for the Israeli attack on Tehran’s consulate in Damascus is likely in the next 24-48 hours, anonymous US officials told Bloomberg on Wednesday. Two generals of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force were killed in the Israeli airstrike on April 1, which for the first time targeted an internationally protected diplomatic mission. There has been a widespread expectation that Iran would refrain from reprisal until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Speaking on Wednesday, as Muslims celebrated the feast of Eid-al-Fitr, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Israel “must and shall be punished” for what it did. “Major missile or drone strikes” are now imminent, Bloomberg reported citing “people familiar with” the Israeli, US and allied intelligence reports.

They will likely be carried out by either Iran directly, or its allies such as the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, the anonymous sources said. The US is helping Israel with planning and sharing intelligence assessments, the sources said. West Jerusalem is reportedly waiting for the Iranian attack before it launches a ground offensive against the city of Rafah, in Gaza. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday that West Jerusalem would respond in kind if the attack on Israel comes from Iranian territory. Several media outlets reported on Tuesday that Israel has been preparing to target Iran’s nuclear facilities. The US has publicly promised Israel support against an Iranian attack, including helping shoot down the incoming missiles. Washington has reportedly also floated the idea of taking part in any Israeli counter-strikes.

“We do not rule out launching joint retaliatory strikes with Israel if it is attacked by Iran or its agents,” an unnamed US official told Al Jazeera Arabic. Meanwhile, Lufthansa has announced that it was suspending service to and from Tehran “due to the current situation in the Middle East.” Flights might resume after April 11, the German national carrier said on Wednesday. Rumors that the airspace over Iran’s Khuzestan province – on the southwestern border with Iraq – has been closed could not be independently confirmed. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have canceled all leave and began spoofing GPS signals, in preparation for a possible Iranian reprisal. Rumors of the impending Iranian strike also drove up the price of oil on futures markets, with Brent crude trading above $90 a barrel.

Gideon Levy
https://twitter.com/i/status/1777819512680968496

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“Biden has totally lost control of the Israel situation,” Trump told reporters. “He has abandoned Israel.”

Jews Who Vote Democrat ‘Should Have Their Head Examined’ – Trump (RT)

Former US president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that Jewish-Americans would be insane to vote for his rival in November. Trump held an impromptu press conference on the tarmac of the international airport in Atlanta, Georgia, after flying into town for a campaign fundraiser. He used the occasion to criticize President Joe Biden’s handling of the Gaza conflict, among other things. “Biden has totally lost control of the Israel situation,” Trump told reporters. “He has abandoned Israel.” “Any Jewish person that votes for a Democrat or votes for Biden should have their head examined,” Trump added.

During his term in the White House, Trump openly supported Israel, recognizing West Jerusalem’s annexation of the Golan Heights and moving the US embassy to Jerusalem. In the 2020 election, an estimated 70% of American Jews voted for Biden. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu declared war on Hamas after the Gaza-based militant group’s October 7 attack that claimed an estimated 1,200 lives. Since then, over 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military operations. Many Palestinian and Muslim Americans have voiced frustration with Biden over his support of West Jerusalem, accusing him of not doing enough to stop the Israeli onslaught.

Finding itself criticized from both sides, the White House has tried to please both. The US has continued supplying ammunition and weapons to Israel and offered Netanyahu “ironclad” support against Iran, but also called for a ceasefire in Gaza and opening of humanitarian aid corridors. Netanyahu has mostly shrugged off US criticism, saying that “no force in the world” will stop Israel from destroying Hamas. Last month, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat who is himself Jewish, called for the ouster of Netanyahu as a way to resolve the current conflict.

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“..Operation Olympic Defender, a program intended to “optimize space operation..,”

Star Wars Coming – Top US General (RT)

The possibility of a conflict in space is no longer just theoretical, General Stephen Whiting, head of the US Space Command, said on Tuesday. Speaking at the 39th Space Symposium at the command’s headquarters in Colorado Springs, Whiting painted an alarming picture of Russian and Chinese orbital capabilities. China has built a “kill web over the Pacific Ocean to find, fix, track and, yes, target US and allied military capabilities,” Whiting said, describing Beijing’s efforts as moving at “breathtaking speed.” Since 2018, Russia has doubled and China has tripled the number of their intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) satellites in orbit, while also testing and fielding anti-satellite weapons. Meanwhile, the US has “the world’s best space architectures,” but its military constellations are “optimized for a benign environment,” he said.

Russian and Chinese space weapons “hold at risk our modern way of life and how we defend this nation, and we must be able to deter and counter these threats when called upon to achieve space superiority,” the general said. Whiting described a possible armed conflict in space as “economically and environmentally devastating, perhaps for decades,” and said the US wishes to keep things in the state of “enduring competition” instead. The US is already working with Canada, Australia and the UK on Operation Olympic Defender, a program intended to “optimize space operations,” according to the Space Command. Whiting announced that Germany, France and New Zealand have been invited to join as well.

He also revealed that the command’s new Capability Assessment and Validation Environment (CAVE) has achieved “minimum viable capability.” The modeling and simulation laboratory will enable the US military to “derive better ways of deterring and planning to conduct operations for a war that’s never happened, and a war we don’t want to happen,” he said. Washington recently accused Moscow of having undisclosed anti-satellite capabilities, possibly nuclear in nature. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the US claims were “unfounded” and a ploy to manipulate arms control talks. The Russian embassy in Washington has also accused the US of using “Russophobic slogans” to mask its own plans to militarize space.

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Not exactly. But he does reveal his new mantra:

“..it’s not about the number of people. It’s about the quality of the weapons.”

Zelensky Reveals New Counteroffensive Plans (RT)

Western military technology can enable Kiev to launch a new counteroffensive against Russia, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky believes. While Ukrainian forces are presently being pushed back on the battlefield, Kiev hopes to turn the tide thanks to Western aid, the Ukrainian leader told the German tabloid Bild this week. “Russia has more men, more weapons. But the West has modern weapons systems,” Zelensky mused. “If we get [production] licenses from our partners, then it’s not about the number of people. It’s about the quality of the weapons.” Kiev already has a plan for a new counteroffensive against Russia, Zelensky said, indicating that it depends on the US resuming military assistance to his country and the West in general helping Ukraine ramp up domestic military production.

Last year, Ukraine attempted a counteroffensive; Western-trained and armed troops were expected to break through Russian defensive lines and score a major victory. However, they only managed negligible territorial gains at the cost of tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and depleted their arms stockpiles. Russia estimated Ukrainian military losses between early June and late October, 2023 at roughly 90,000 troops, 600 tanks and 1,900 other armored vehicles. The Zelensky government maintains that it cannot negotiate with Russia as long as President Vladimir Putin remains in power and would not accept any outcome of the conflict that doesn’t entail the full restoration of Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders. A profile of the Ukrainian leader published by Time magazine last November said that his faith in Ukraine prevailing was “immovable, verging on the messianic.” Some of his aides perceived it as delusional, they told the news outlet.

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“He expects Western weapons to be so superior to Russian ones that Ukraine’s inferior troop numbers will be irrelevant..”

Trump Plan For Ukraine ‘Primitive’ – Zelensky (RT)

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has rejected a plan for making peace with Russia involving territorial concessions, which has reportedly been devised by Donald Trump. The proposed deal was outlined by the Washington Post this week, and would involve Kiev acknowledging Russian sovereignty over some of the territories currently claimed by Ukraine. The newspaper cited anonymous sources but one of Trump’s advisers has dismissed its report as “fake news.” The former president has repeatedly boasted that he would end the hostilities within 24 hours if he’s returned to the White House in November’s election, but has declined to explain his plan in detail. The hypothetical plan described by the newspaper “is very primitive,” Zelensky told German tabloid Bild.

The Ukrainian leader has previously stated that Trump should make his plan public. He told CNN last September: “If he has this plan, why be afraid and wait?” In his interview with Bild, the Ukrainian leader said Trump should visit Kiev to “see the situation with his eyes and draw certain conclusions.” Ukraine would require “strong arguments” to show that his idea is a “real one” and not “fantastic,” he added. Negotiations with Russia remain impossible as long as Vladimir Putin remains as its president, Zelensky told the German newspaper. He said Kiev had a plan to beat Moscow on the battlefield, after it gets more aid from the US and its allies, including direct weapons supplies and military technology for domestic arms production. He expects Western weapons to be so superior to Russian ones that Ukraine’s inferior troop numbers will be irrelevant.

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About those superior weapons…

US Drones Faring Poorly In Ukraine Conflict – WSJ (RT)

Small drones sent to Ukraine by US manufacturers have largely proved ineffective on the battlefield due to Russian electronic countermeasures, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Ukraine conflict has seen the widespread use of small expandable unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for reconnaissance, as well as for dropping small explosives and serving as loitering munitions. US products have proved unsatisfactory, however, forcing Kiev to rely on Chinese models instead, the WSJ reported on Tuesday. “The general reputation for every class of US drone in Ukraine is that they don’t work as well as other systems,” Adam Bry, CEO of drone maker Skydio, told the newspaper. He admitted his own company’s products are “not a very successful platform on the front lines.”

Even some of the drones that the Pentagon has deemed fit for American soldiers have not fared well in the conflict, according to the report. The list of problematic weapons mentioned by the WSJ included AeroVironment Switchblade 300 loitering munitions, Velos Rotors V3 helicopter drones, and UAVs made by Cyberlux. Ukrainian troops are burning through some 10,000 small drones a month, the report added. Many of them are off-the-shelf models produced by Chinese manufacturer SZ DJI Technology, or are assembled from Chinese components on Ukrainian soil. The Chinese firm, which has been banned from US military use for supposedly posing a national security risk, told the newspaper that it “absolutely deplores and condemns the use of its products to cause harm anywhere in the world.”

Many American commercial drones cost tens of thousands of dollars more per piece than their Chinese competitors, the WSJ noted. US producers aiming to sell their UAVs to the Pentagon must meet its regulations, including restrictions on using Chinese parts and software updates. Russia has significantly increased domestic production of military drones amid the hostilities with Ukraine. Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu reported last November that the country was supplying 16 times more drones compared to January 2023. Forbes suggested in December that Ukrainian assessments that Russia makes as many as 40,000 smaller first-person-view kamikaze quadcopters per month may be too conservative.

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“Therefore, they have only one choice – to flee Ukraine or to die..”

This should be on US prime time TV. It’d be over soon…

Bodies of American Mercs Slain in Ukraine Piling Up at US Cemeteries (Sp.)

US cemeteries are full of graves of American mercenaries who died in Ukraine – hirelings described by Western press as the so-called “volunteer soldiers.” One of them is retired Marine veteran Grady Kurpasi, who died two months after the start of the Russian special military operation. According to a Sputnik correspondent, the 50-year-old is buried in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, the most famous in the United States, where politicians, astronauts and even presidents, including John F. Kennedy, are buried. A cemetery in California has become the final resting place for another US mercenary, Bryan Young, 51, who was killed by “Russian artillery fire” in the Donetsk region in July 2023, according to American media. In a bizarre sight, the epitaph on Young’s gravestone reads “On to the next adventure”.

Another American mercenary who was buried in California is “Marine Corps veteran” Ian Tortorici. The 32-year-old fought for the Foreign Legion of Ukraine and was eliminated in an attack by Russian forces on a Ukrainian unit stationed in the city of Kramatorsk. US citizen Dane Partridge, 34, who had served in Iraq, fought on the side of the Kiev regime immediately after the start of Russia’s special operation, but was then seriously wounded and died a few months later. Partridge, who is survived by his wife and five children, is buried in Idaho. American mercenary Paul Lee Kim was also 34, when he was killed in Ukraine last year and was buried in a Texas cemetery.

The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) said that almost 6,000 foreign mercenaries, who came to Ukraine to fight on the side of the Kiev regime, have been killed since the beginning of the special operation. According to the MoD, at least 1,113 mercenaries came from the United States, 491 of whom have already been killed. The Defense Ministry earlier stressed in a statement that the Kiev regime uses foreign mercenaries as “cannon fodder” and that “their lives are not spared by anyone in the Ukrainian command.” “Therefore, they have only one choice – to flee Ukraine or to die. The Russian armed forces will continue to destroy foreign mercenaries in the course of the special military operation, regardless of their location on the territory of Ukraine,” the statement read.

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“I’m just trying to understand the totality of the request to the American people for this war..”

Senator Pressures Austin on How Much More Money US Will Spend in Ukraine (Sp.)

US Senator Eric Schmitt on Tuesday pressured Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on the totality of funds the Biden administration is planning to spend supporting Ukraine in a conflict for which it has not articulated any clear goals. “There’s no money [left for Ukraine], so I can only be left to assume one of three things. One is the war is over. Two or B is the United States won’t be allocating any more dollars or C that this is a dishonest [supplemental] request. I guess the question is, are we going … to get another supplemental because members of this committee had been told there could be another request for $100 billion? I’m just trying to understand the totality of the request to the American people for this war,” Schmitt said in his remarks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

In February, the Senate passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill that includes some $60 billion for Ukraine, but it was held up in the House of Representatives by Speaker Mike Johnson, who prioritized working on budget legislation and exploring other routes for Ukraine funding. Austin confirmed to Schmitt, though, that the supplemental request, which has not yet been voted on in the House, will provide additional funding for Ukraine-related needs only through the end of this fiscal year or September 30, meaning that there will be a need for another supplemental package past this date.

In addition, Austin said that it was a goal of the Alliance to admit Ukraine to NATO some time in the future. The Pentagon chief also agreed with Schmitt that the conflict is unlikely to end by September 30, which essentially means that the pending aid package for Ukraine obviously will not be the last. Schmitt emphasized that US legislators are skeptical about the $60 billion supplemental package for Ukraine because there are no adequate controls on how the money is being spent by Ukraine. “We are continuing to head down this road and now we are getting a budget request that isn’t reflective of the administration’s ‘how long it takes’ statement,” Schmitt said.

Every second, American taxpayers send $80,000 to Ukraine
https://twitter.com/i/status/1777793753157083541

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“Attacking a nuclear power plant is extremely irresponsible and dangerous, and it must stop..”

Attack on ZNPP Training Center Signals New Attacks On Plant — IAEA chief (TASS)

Tuesday’s drone attack on the training center of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) points to readiness for new attacks on the plant, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi said. “Today’s reported incident – although outside the site perimeter – is an ominous development as it indicates an apparent readiness to continue these attacks, despite the grave dangers they pose to nuclear safety and security and our repeated calls for military restraint. Whoever is behind them, they are playing with fire. Attacking a nuclear power plant is extremely irresponsible and dangerous, and it must stop,” Grossi said in a statement posted on the agency’s website.

The IAEA chief promised to bring up the seriousness of the situation surrounding the attacks on the ZNPP in his address to the UN Security Council “next week.” “I remain determined to do everything in my power to prevent a major nuclear accident <…>. At this moment of great danger, I will underline the seriousness of the situation in my address to the Security Council, whose support is of paramount importance for the IAEA’s persistent efforts to help prevent a major nuclear accident, with potential consequences for people and the environment in Ukraine and beyond,” Grossi said.

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“Russia should withdraw from Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.”

It’s Russian territory now.

EU’s Borrell Warns Of ‘Potential Nuclear Disaster’ In Russia (RT)

Attacks on Russia’s Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) could result in a nuclear disaster, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy has warned. Josep Borrell was commenting on a series of strikes carried out by kamikaze drones on the nuclear power station in the city of Energodar, in Zaporozhye Region. On Sunday, several bomb-laden Ukrainian UAVs struck parts of the complex, including the canteen and the cargo area. One drone was shot down above the dome of Reactor Six, according to the plant’s press service. On Tuesday, another UAV attacked the plant’s training center, where the world’s only full-scale reactor hall simulator is located.

“Reckless drone attack against [Zaporozhye] nuclear power plant increases risk of dangerous nuclear accident. Such attacks must stop,” the EU’s top diplomat wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday, adding that “Russia should withdraw from Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.” Europe’s largest nuclear power plant fell under Moscow’s control in 2022, early in the conflict with Ukraine. Russia’s nuclear energy agency Rosatom took over the running of the nuclear power station after Zaporozhye Region was incorporated into Russia following a referendum in the autumn of 2022. Kiev has repeatedly claimed that Moscow keeps heavy weaponry on the premises of the power plant. Russia has accused Ukraine of shelling the facility and risking a major nuclear incident.

Borrell’s remarks echoed comments by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi. Commenting on the strikes earlier this week, he described them as a “major escalation of the nuclear safety and security dangers facing the [Zaporozhye] Nuclear Power Plant,” adding that “such reckless attacks significantly increase the risk of a major nuclear accident.” The international nuclear watchdog, which has personnel at the site, said it was the first time the facility had been directly targeted since November 2022, and warned that such attacks endangered nuclear safety. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov warned on Monday that the Ukrainian drone strike on the Zaporozhye facility was a “dangerous provocation” which could lead to severe negative consequences.

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“miniscule” compared to the “hundreds of millions of dollars” Musk’s SpaceX received from the US..”

Pentagon’s Ukraine Contract for Musk’s Starlink Expires – Bloomberg (RT)

The Pentagon contract to deploy Elon Musk’s Starlink terminals in Ukraine will expire next month, Bloomberg has reported, citing an unnamed US official. The service plays a vital role in Washington’s security assistance to Kiev, the report adds. The source also revealed that the contract, which went into force in June of last year and lasts through May, is worth $23 million, Bloomberg wrote. The US Department of Defense has so far refused to officially disclose the size of the contract. The amount has been described by the publication as “miniscule” compared to the “hundreds of millions of dollars” Musk’s SpaceX received from the US for launching some of its national security satellites. Musk has repeatedly voiced unease about the use of Starlink in Ukraine. The satellite network has been providing communications to the country’s military and the government.

”Starlink needs to be a civilian network, not a participant to combat,” Musk said on X (formerly Twitter) in September, referring to the use of the satellites in Ukraine throughout the conflict with Russia. “This is the right order of things,” he added. Musk’s comment came shortly after the billionaire revealed that he had foiled a Ukrainian drone raid on Crimea by refusing to let Kiev forces use Starlink to guide naval drone strikes on Russian ships. Musk’s admission sparked outrage in Kiev, with Mikhail Podoliak, a top adviser to President Vladimir Zelensky, accusing him of “enabling evil.” Musk responded to the accusation by explaining that he had no obligation to fight for Ukraine, adding that he did not want Space X to be “explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation.”

His remark echoed a previous statement made in the winter of 2023, where he admitted that although Starlink was “the communication backbone of Ukraine, especially at the front lines”, SpaceX “will not enable escalation of conflict that may lead to WW3.” Last year, SpaceX signed a contract with the US Defense Department to provide satellite services as part of the Pentagon’s new ‘Starshield’ program. CEO Elon Musk described the effort as a military alternative to the “civilian” Starlink. However, according to Bloomberg, the new Space Force contract will see Starshield’ rely on the existing constellation of Starlink satellites.

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“..the group’s administrative director, Toni Barnett, told the Free Beacon that she had no idea why the county was reporting making those payments..” “..You need to go to that government resource and you need to let that validate whatever you want to say or print. Because I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

DOJ Uncovers ‘Inconsistencies’ in Fani Willis’s Use of Federal Grant Funds (FB)

President Joe Biden’s Justice Department has uncovered “inconsistencies” in Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis’s use of federal grant funds, the Washington Free Beacon has learned. The bombshell discovery comes two years after Willis fired a whistleblower who had warned the district attorney that her office was attempting to misuse a $488,000 federal grant to pay for “swag,” computers, and travel. It’s that same grant that the Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs now says is plagued with reporting discrepancies from Willis’s office, errors that federal authorities only disclosed to the Free Beacon after providing contradictory statements regarding awards Willis’s office may have made under the grant. “During our review of the award to respond to this inquiry, we have noticed some inconsistencies in what Fulton County has reported to [the Federal Subaward Reporting System] and we are working with them to update their reporting accordingly,” a Justice Department spokeswoman told the Free Beacon on Friday.

The Justice Department did not provide any further details on the nature of Willis’s reporting “inconsistencies” on the $488,000 federal grant, which was earmarked for the creation of a Center for Youth Empowerment and Gang Prevention in Atlanta. The grant ended in September 2023, but the center never opened. The Justice Department is coordinating with Willis’s office to fix the grant reporting “inconsistencies” amid an ongoing House Judiciary Committee investigation into Willis’s use of federal grant funds. Committee chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) subpoenaed Willis in early February for records related to the $488,000 federal grant and the whistleblower allegations made by former Willis staffer Amanda Timpson, who was listed as the grant director until the district attorney abruptly fired her in January 2022.

Jordan threatened to hold Willis in contempt of Congress on March 14 after the district attorney responded to his subpoena with a “narrow set of documents” that had nothing to do with Timpson’s whistleblower allegations. Willis wrote in response that Jordan’s demands were “unreasonable and uncustomary” and suggested his investigation was an effort to derail her election interference case against former president Donald Trump. The Free Beacon questions that prompted the Justice Department’s discovery of Willis’s reporting “inconsistencies” centered on subaward payments the district attorney may have made to the Offender Alumni Association, an Alabama-based charity staffed by former prison inmates. Whether or not the Offender Alumni Association received payments from the federal grant depends on who is asked. Fulton County records show that Willis’s office transferred $88,900 from the federal gang prevention grant to the Offender Alumni Association.

But the group’s administrative director, Toni Barnett, told the Free Beacon that she had no idea why the county was reporting making those payments to her group in 2022 and 2023. “I have no idea where that information is coming from,” Barnett told the Free Beacon on March 15. “I have no idea why you’re calling or where you’re getting that information from. You need to go to that government resource and you need to let that validate whatever you want to say or print. Because I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

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“..one story after another about instances of supposed racism, transphobia, signs of the climate apocalypse, Israel doing something bad, and the dire threat of Republican policies. It’s almost like an assembly line.“

I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust. (Berliner)

“During most of my tenure [at NPR], an open-minded, curious culture prevailed. We were nerdy, but not knee-jerk, activist, or scolding. In recent years, however, that has changed. Today, those who listen to NPR or read its coverage online find something different: the distilled worldview of a very small segment of the U.S. population… Like many unfortunate things, the rise of advocacy took off with Donald Trump. As in many newsrooms, his election in 2016 was greeted at NPR with a mixture of disbelief, anger, and despair… But what began as tough, straightforward coverage of a belligerent, truth-impaired president veered toward efforts to damage or topple Trump’s presidency [italics mine]. Persistent rumors that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia over the election became the catnip that drove reporting. At NPR, we hitched our wagon to Trump’s most visible antagonist, Representative Adam Schiff…

The Schiff talking points became the drumbeat of NPR news reports. But when the Mueller report found no credible evidence of collusion, NPR’s coverage was notably sparse. Russiagate quietly faded from our programming… It’s bad to blow a big story. What’s worse is to pretend it never happened, to move on with no mea culpas, no self-reflection… [Hunter Biden’s] laptop was newsworthy. But the timeless journalistic instinct of following a hot story lead was being squelched. During a meeting with colleagues, I listened as one of NPR’s best and most fair-minded journalists said it was good we weren’t following the laptop story because it could help Trump [italics mine]… Over the course of the pandemic, a number of investigative journalists made compelling, if not conclusive, cases for the lab leak. But at NPR, we weren’t about to swivel or even tiptoe away from the insistence with which we backed the natural origin story…

[Our new director] declared that diversity—on our staff and in our audience—was the overriding mission… Race and identity became paramount in nearly every aspect of the workplace. Journalists were required to ask everyone we interviewed their race, gender, and ethnicity (among other questions), and had to enter it in a centralized tracking system. We were given unconscious bias training sessions. A growing DEI staff offered regular meetings imploring us to ‘start talking about race.’ There’s an unspoken consensus about the stories we should pursue and how they should be framed. It’s frictionless—one story after another about instances of supposed racism, transphobia, signs of the climate apocalypse, Israel doing something bad, and the dire threat of Republican policies. It’s almost like an assembly line.

The mindset prevails in choices about language. In a document called NPR Transgender Coverage Guidance—disseminated by news management—we’re asked to avoid the term biological sex… The mindset animates bizarre stories—on how The Beatles and bird names are racially problematic, and others that are alarmingly divisive; justifying looting, with claims that fears about crime are racist; and suggesting that Asian Americans who oppose affirmative action have been manipulated by white conservatives. More recently, we have approached the Israel-Hamas war and its spillover onto streets and campuses through the intersectional lens that has jumped from the faculty lounge to newsrooms. Oppressor versus oppressed… I looked at voter registration for our newsroom. In D.C., where NPR is headquartered and many of us live, I found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans. None.”

Vivek NPR

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His first team WAS the deep state.

How Trump Could Beat Deep State (Jim Rickards)

The difference for investors between another Biden administration and the return of Trump to the White House could not be more stark. The Biden administration has been characterized by excessive regulation, pointless mandates as part of the Green New Scam, open borders bringing crime, drugs and cartel influence into the United States, disastrous wars in Ukraine, Gaza and now the closing of the Red Sea-Suez Canal passage, increased segregation of Blacks in colleges, the destruction of 50 years of progress in women’s sports by allowing competition by men and a long list of other ruinous policies.

The first Trump administration was characterized by business and personal tax cuts, reduced regulation, no new wars, outreach to nuclear rivals such as Russia and North Korea, tariffs on unfair trade by China, a concerted effort to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States, demands that NATO members pay their fair share for mutual defense and a secure southern border with Mexico. Trump also made an historic three appointments to the Supreme Court, which has emerged as practically the last bastion of constitutional order and the rule of law. There’s no reason to expect any improvement in another Biden administration. In fact, policies will almost certainly grow worse as Biden fails physically and mentally and opens the door to a possible acting president in the form of Kamala Harris, a known dunce.

There’s good reason to believe that a second Trump administration will offer the growth-oriented policies of the first administration with a much more effective decision-making apparatus resulting from attention to the Plum Book, the playbook and the transition process. A better transition process in a second term means the biggest threat to the deep state in decades. And a new team will put us on the road back to sanity. But powerful people won’t go quietly. A more experienced Trump will conduct a second war to destroy them. Unless they destroy him first.

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Elon 2008: money

 

 

Wild cat

 

 

Cats

 

 

Frens

 

 

 

 

Horse+baby
https://twitter.com/i/status/1777687533968650419

 

 

Cinereous vulture

 

 


The only journey is the one within. – Rainer Maria Rilke

 

 

Baby giraffe

 

 

Cartoons
https://twitter.com/i/status/1777787726307217891

 

 

Transport

 

 

 

 

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